Hold His Hand

Breakfast is noodles made by Lu Yanzhou himself.

There are not many noodles, but there are many side dishes, and there’s also a big chicken drumstick on it.

Lu Yanzhou filled a large bowl with noodles, brought them to his room, then set up a table on the kang for Xie Chengze to eat on the kang.

“There are so many, I can’t finish it.” Xie Chengze was a little dazed when he saw the noodle bowl that was bigger than his own head.

Lu Yanzhou said: “It’s okay, I’ll eat the leftovers.”

After Lu Yanzhou finished speaking, he began to eat his own bowl of noodles. His bowl of noodles was similar to Xie Chengze’s, except that there were no chicken drumsticks. When he finished eating, Xie Chengze was already full.

Xie Chengze finished eating the noodles, but there were still some side dishes left and he hadn’t eaten the chicken drumstick.

Lu Yanzhou brought his noodle bowl in front of him and used his chopsticks to tear off some chicken thigh meat and gave it to Xie Chengze: “Come on, have another bite of meat. Eat more meat so you can be better.”

Xie Chengze was amused by his coaxing. He ate the meat, and then saw that Lu Yanzhou didn’t show any dislike eating all his leftovers.

Lu Yanzhou’s acting was truly flawless.

If he didn’t know that Lu Yanzhou was here for revenge, he would definitely feel that Lu Yanzhou loved him very much.

Of course, he can just pretend that Lu Yanzhou loves him deeply right now.

Xie Chengze leaned over and kissed Lu Yanzhou.

Lu Yanzhou took him into his arms without any hassle: “Are you feeling unwell?”

Xie Chengze said: “No.” Lu Yanzhou was very careful last night, he didn’t feel any discomfort, and he was quite comfortable.

“That’s good, you must tell me if you feel uncomfortable.” Lu Yanzhou held Xie Chengze’s wrist to check his pulse.

Xie Chengze’s physical condition was not bad, so Lu Yanzhou felt relieved. He was about to tell Xie Chengze that he would follow Xie Chengze and help take care of Xie Chengze when he heard a knock on the door, and then Zhou Xueya’s voice sounded: “Brother Cheng, are you there? Someone is looking for you.”

Hearing this, Lu Yanzhou let go of Xie Chengze and stood up to open the door. As soon as the door opened, he saw Zhou Xueya: “Who is looking for Brother Cheng?”

“There he is.” Zhou Xueya pointed to a white-faced and beardless young man not far away.

As soon as he put down his hands, he saw the white-faced and beardless man trotting over and said in a shrill voice to Xie Chengze who was following Lu Yanzhou out, “Your highness, some lords are looking for you urgently.”

“Your highness?” Lu Yanzhou looked surprised.

Seeing this, Xie Chengze said: “Jizhi, I’m sorry, I hid it from you before.”

Xie Chengze is ready for Lu Yanzhou to get ‘angry’, then he will apologize and pretend to be unwell and pass out…He is the crown prince, he also became one with Lu Yanzhou last night. Unless Lu Yanzhou doesn’t want to act with him anymore, he will certainly leave with him.

After Lu Yanzhou entered the East Palace, it would be difficult for him to get out.

However, Lu Yanzhou was not angry. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised: “Brother Cheng, so you are the crown prince. I said you are naturally noble, you are not an ordinary person at first glance.”

Lu Yanzhou thought, isn’t this when one is drowsy, someone came to give them a pillow.

Now that Xie Chengze has lost his horse1Others discover their identity, there is less distance between them. It will be convenient to do anything in the future.

Xie Chengze was stunned.

Lu Yanzhou smiled and said: “Brother Cheng…I can’t call you Brother Cheng anymore. Your highness, you are unwell and need someone to take care of you. I happen to know a little bit about herbal medicine…Can I go back with you?”

Lu Yanzhou also knew that it was a bit abrupt for him to make this request suddenly, but he didn’t want to play a back and forth scene where he was shocked and angry when he learned of Xie Chengze’s identity, and then he listened to Xie Chengze’s explanation and then cleared up his suspicions.

This is the person he likes, what kind of scene is he going to do in front of the person he likes? Just ask for it.

Xie Chengze should agree?

The progress is a bit too fast, but this is indeed like Xie Chengze’s plan, Xie Chengze did not hesitate: “Okay.”

After finishing speaking, Xie Chengze sent people to prepare the carriage, and then took Lu Yanzhou back to the capital.

Zhou Xueya: “…” He really couldn’t see through the relationship between these two!

Lu Rong: “…” The crown prince really listens to her brother…Her brother’s appearance clearly shows that he already knows his identity as the crown prince, but the crown prince doesn’t mind at all!

No matter what others thought, Lu Yanzhou got into Xie Chengze’s carriage.

His attitude towards Xie Chengze has not changed much, but the address has changed from ‘Brother Cheng’ to ‘your highness’.

Xie Chengze was a little puzzled.

What Lu Yanzhou did was really beyond his expectation. Following him to the East Palace would make it inconvenient for Lu Yanzhou to do anything. Why did Lu Yanzhou ask to go?

And when Lu Yanzhou learned that he was the crown prince, he didn’t even show his shock…Xie Chengze took advantage of the situation and asked, “You already knew my identity?”

Lu Yanzhou said: “I have a guess, but it was confirmed just now.”

“Aren’t you angry that I concealed it from you?” Xie Chengze continued asking, “There are the things between you and me…”

“What I like is you, it has nothing to do with your identity…Will your highness despise me too?” Lu Yanzhou asked with a smile.

“Of course not.” Said Xie Chengze. He actually wished that Lu Yanzhou was an ordinary person.

“Isn’t that all? No matter what your status is, we can get along as usual.” Lu Yanzhou said.

Xie Chengze took a deep look at Lu Yanzhou.

If this person has no enmity with him, then he is really a perfect lover.

The East Palace and the Imperial Palace are integrated, but there is a separate door to enter and exit. There are also guards between the East Palace and the Imperial Palace.

Of course, Xie Chengze has developed a lot of influence over the past few years. There are many of his people in the palace. If he wants to enter the palace, it will be like entering his own land.

The little eunuch came to find Xie Chengze because Xie Chengze asked Zhou Xueya to arrange, however, Xie Chengze did have a lot of things to do.

After returning, he arranged a courtyard for Lu Yanzhou to live in, then he was ready to deal with political affairs.

The courtyard he prepared was usually for the crown prince’s side concubine to live in, it was also the best courtyard in the East Palace except for the courtyard where the crown prince and his wangfei lived.

In the other two yards, it was not good to let Lu Yanzhou, an outsider male, to live so he could only choose here.

Xie Chengze was a little bit reluctant when he left the courtyard, but Lu Yanzhou said behind him: “Your highness, no matter how busy you are, you must pay attention to your health.”

“I will.” Xie Chengze smiled at Lu Yanzhou and left in a good mood.

Now it looks like Lu Yanzhou is his favorite concubine.

Xie Chengze went to the place where the ministers from the imperial court were discussing matters.

It was already the eighteenth day of the first lunar month at this time. Han Shengchang case had not been concluded yet, but now it has reached a conclusion.

Han Shengchang really committed all the crimes that King Rui said!

The rest of the Han family isn’t so innocent either!

Today, everyone mentioned this matter and asked Xie Chengze whether he wanted a strict sentence or a light sentence.

Xie Chengze answered: “If a prince violates the law, he must be punished like an ordinary person.”

Han Shengchang framed the Lu family and sold Lu Rong back then. This can be said to be ordered by the current emperor, so he cannot convict Han Shengchang based on this alone.

However, Han Shengchang has embezzled and accepted bribes to create unjust cases over the years. He even embezzled disaster relief funds.

Hearing what Xie Chengze said, everyone knew what he meant. Han Shengchang’s case should be judged as it should be judged.

After talking about this, everyone brought up the matter of the waterwheel again.

After Xie Chengze got the waterwheel model, he immediately asked the craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry to work overtime to start making it. Five days ago, the two water wheels were completed. Xie Chengze went to see it, and now it is time to promote it.

Xie Chengze discussed with these officials how to promote the water wheels.

After dealing with some miscellaneous matters, Xie Chengze left the palace and walked towards the East Palace.

After arriving at the East Palace, Xie Chengze did not rush to find Lu Yanzhou, but instead found another right-hand man beside him besides Zhou Xueya.

Xie Chengze didn’t say much, just said: “You find someone to spread some words outside, saying that although Han Shengchang has some relationship to me, but the crown prince is righteous, he will still punish him severely. And this waterwheel is something the crown prince spent a lot of hard work to make. Remember to weave some ballads for people to pass from person to person.”

The waterwheel was made by Lu Yanzhou. He wanted to use the waterwheel to make Lu Yanzhou famous, but Lu Yanzhou didn’t agree.

Xie Chengze knew that Lu Yanzhou didn’t want King Rui to know about it, so although he was a little displeased, he still agreed, so now, all the credit goes to him.

And he intends to spread it.

This was something he would never do before, but didn’t King Rui wholeheartedly want to surpass him? He refused to let King Rui succeed.

He didn’t like King Rui.

After Xie Chengze gave his orders, he went to the place where Lu Yanzhou lived.

After Xie Chengze left during the day, Lu Yanzhou continued to write his epidemic prevention manual.

The sooner this manual is written and promoted, the sooner he can earn merit.

Of course, it’s still a bit slow to earn merit only by this…Lu Yanzhou thought about it and planned to do something else.

In the ancient world, there were many ways he could think of, but he couldn’t do too many things beyond this era — this was not good for this small world. If there was too much movement, it would easily attract the heavenly dao’s attention too.

After much deliberation, Lu Yanzhou finally wrote down a prescription for soap and a prescription for firing glass.

When these two things are produced, it can earn money from the rich, and then use it to build infrastructure and help ordinary people.

While he was busy, Lu Yanzhou suddenly heard movement from the door. He raised his head and saw Xie Chengze coming in.

Back in the East Palace, Xie Chengze, who changed into the crown prince’s attire and covered his lips with rouge, looked handsome and extraordinary, which made people’s hearts flutter.

Lu Yanzhou’s eyes lit up almost immediately, then he hurried to meet him.

Seeing Lu Yanzhou like this, Xie Chengze couldn’t help but twitch his mouth.

The person he likes is waiting for him to come back home, this is definitely a happy thing: “Sorry, I have a lot of things to do, so I can’t accompany you.”

Lu Yanzhou said: “It’s okay, I also have a lot of things to do.”

He knew that Xie Chengze must be very busy. He had already made preparations, so he didn’t mind it.

Xie Chengze asked: “What do you want to eat tonight?”

“I’ll eat whatever you eat, I’m not picky,” Lu Yanzhou smiled, “The food in the East Palace must be much more refined than mine.”

Xie Chengze smiled when he heard the words and immediately ordered someone to cook, and then came to Lu Yanzhou’s side to read what Lu Yanzhou wrote.

Lu Yanzhou said: “The number of words in the epidemic prevention manual is a bit long. I can write three to four thousand words a day at most, so it will take many days to finish. However, I have two prescriptions here, which should be useful to your highness.”

“What prescription?” Xie Chengze asked.

Lu Yanzhou took out the soap prescription and the glass prescription, and explained the method in detail.

He only has a simple prescription, it takes a lot of attempts to make it successfully. Of course, Xie Chengze has many people under him, so he believes that Xie Chengze will definitely find someone to make these two things.

“That’s all for soap…Can glass really be fired?” Xie Chengze was a little surprised. There were soap toiletries at this time, but the effect was not as good as Lu Yanzhou said, but glass was different.

“Yes, but the specific formula and firing temperature need to be tested. The glass fired initially should have a color, it should be more green.” Lu Yanzhou said.

In the third world before, domestic technology was not very good at that time, and the glass fired by many glass factories at the beginning was green.

“I’ll let someone try it.” Xie Chengze looked at Lu Yanzhou, “Jizhi, why did you give me such a precious prescription?”

Lu Yanzhou said: “What’s mine is yours, there’s no need to divide it between us.”

Xie Chengze smiled when he heard this, he was in a very good mood.

He knew that what Lu Yanzhou said was a lie, but he was still very happy.

Lu Yanzhou continued: “Your highness, when the glass and soap are made and sold, I want 10% of the profit.”

“This is from you. I will give 40% of the profits to you.” Xie Chengze was very generous. In fact, it doesn’t matter if all the profits are given to Lu Yanzhou, after all, he won’t live long.

But if he was too good to Lu Yanzhou, what if Lu Yanzhou ran away?

When the time comes…if Lu Yanzhou makes him happy, he will just give Lu Yanzhou some money.

“Then thank you, your highness!” Lu Yanzhou laughed. His Aze is so generous!

Xie Chengze asked: “You have money, what do you plan to do? What do you want?”

Lu Yanzhou said: “I don’t want anything, I just hope that the money can be used to help the people.”

“Jizhi, you are so kind.” Xie Chengze said.

“Not at all.” Lu Yanzhou sighed. He did good deeds because he wanted something, he just hoped that Xie Chengze would be healthy.

Xie Chengze actually didn’t think that Lu Yanzhou was kindhearted.

If the soap and glass are really as Lu Yanzhou said…After they are made, the profits will be astonishing.

As for the glass, it might not be able to produce the glasses and bottles that Lu Yanzhou mentioned at the beginning, but even if only some green glazed stones are produced, polished and inlaid to make jewelry can still be sold at a high price.

He gave Lu Yanzhou 40% of the profit. After getting the money, Lu Yanzhou should recruit soldiers, right?

However, no matter what Lu Yanzhou wanted to do, he didn’t want to worry about it.

Xie Chengze and Lu Yanzhou had dinner and took a rest together.

Lu Yanzhou was afraid that Xie Chengze would feel unwell after messing around last night.

It’s just…he wanted Xie Chengze to go to bed earlier, but Xie Chengze didn’t want to, instead he pulled him and started to act willfully.

At the end of the night, water was brought in…

Lu Yanzhou was a little embarrassed, but Xie Chengze was very calm. The people in this yard are all his people, people outside will never know what he is doing here.

In fact, in Xie Chengze’s East Palace, there are many people placed by others — the emperor, empress, imperial consort, and King Rui all of them have placed someone in the East Palace.

However, after these people came to the East Palace, their real masters changed. They would only tell their ‘master’ what Xie Chengze asked them to say.

While Lu Yanzhou was helping Xie Chengze clean himself, Xie Chengze said, “It would be great if the soap could be made sooner.”

Without waiting for Lu Yanzhou to speak, Xie Chengze said again: “You said that this thing is especially good for washing greasy things. If I have this thing, my body won’t be greasy.”

Lu Yanzhou was taken aback for a moment, and then realized what Xie Chengze was talking about—whether it was last night or tonight, he used camellia seed oil.

The bed sheets he washed in the morning were a bit dirty from the oil stains on them, Xie Chengze’s body was naturally unavoidable.

Xie Chengze continued: “I always feel sticky when I sit today.”

Lu Yanzhou: “…” Xie Chengze’s words are really bold!

Lu Yanzhou fell asleep with Xie Chengze in his arms, and at this time, some ballad spread in the capital.

Some of the ballads talked about waterwheels, and some about Han Shengchang. In the final analysis, they all praised the crown prince.

Xie Chengze’s subordinates: The crown prince’s orders must be fulfilled carefully!

Although Xie Chengze brought Lu Yanzhou back to the East Palace, he was always worried that Lu Yanzhou would leave. After leaving…Will Lu Yanzhou go to King Rui?

There is also the matter of the bed, he is not in good health, Lu Yanzhou is always very restrained, he must not have fun, if Lu Yanzhou thinks of looking for someone else…

Xie Chengze arranged many people to watch Lu Yanzhou.

However, Lu Yanzhou had no intention of leaving from the beginning to the end.

Why would he leave?

The emperor’s affairs have been handed over to his brother-in-law, so he won’t interfere!

Although the emperor was not very kind to Xie Chengze, he was also Xie Chengze’s father. He certainly won’t get a little bit involved in the matter of the emperor taking pills and dying.

As for King Rui, he had told King Rui before that he would be preparing for the spring exam and would not go to King Rui.

Now he has entered the East Palace…Even if King Rui wanted to find him, he couldn’t find him.

Like this, he can stay with Xie Chengze in the East Palace with peace of mind.

Lu Yanzhou wrote and read books during the day, while thinking about ways to accumulate merit, then slept with Xie Chengze at night, living a fulfilling and happy life.

He couldn’t think of leaving anymore, he didn’t want to leave!

However, Lu Yanzhou was very happy every day, but King Rui was not so happy.

Han Shengchang has already been sentenced, the crown prince now is akin to having a broken arm, not only that, because Han Shengchang’s son married Xie Chengze’s cousin, his empress mother’s family is very dissatisfied with Xie Chengze. They often went against Xie Chengze in court recently.

Seeing this situation at first, King Rui was very happy and even went to show off in front of Xie Chengze.

Besides…Xie Chengze lost the spring exam job, lost his right hand, and right arm, so he was very happy!

King Rui is busy preparing for the spring exam and recruiting people, so busy that he loses a lot of hair. What about Xie Chengze? Xie Chengze’s face is glowing every day!

If not for the fact that Xie Chengze didn’t marry a crown princess and there were no women in the East Palace, King Rui will certainly think that he was openly having meat.

Seeing that Xie Chengze was idle, King Rui couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable, so he decided to make a private visit to get in touch with this juren in Jingzhong.

Then…he found out that the people he had been in contact with for a long time were writing poems in praise of the crown prince!

Just because the crown prince promoted two waterwheels! And severely punished Han Shengchang!

These people feel that it was an action of a gentleman that the crown prince punished the Han family under the pressure from the empress and his uncle’s family, which is worthy of admiration.

As for the waterwheel…the crown prince cares about farmers, such a person is undoubtedly the best candidate to be a monarch in their hearts, right?

King Rui, who has never revealed his identity, couldn’t help but ask, “What about King Rui?”

Everyone looked bewildered.

King Rui? These Juren are not familiar with King Rui, they don’t know him!

One must know that both the crown prince and King Rui are only twenty-one. The crown prince is fine. He started handling the court affair a few years ago, but King Rui…he is only in charge of the spring exam this time.

Everyone was stunned, then they started to praise King Rui.

Although they don’t know King Rui well, the members of the imperial family…boast and let it go!

King Rui: “…” He was angry!

King Rui was furious, he wanted to make trouble for Xie Chengze. As for how to make trouble…it must depend on Lu Yanzhou.

King Rui arranged someone at the gate of the East Palace, so when Lu Yanzhou came out, they would meet Lu Yanzhou. They will ask Lu Yanzhou to help him deal with Xie Chengze.

However…his people waited day after day, but Lu Yanzhou never came out!

It wasn’t until the day of the spring exam that Lu Yanzhou, who had been nesting in the East Palace, finally left the East Palace in a carriage, and then went straight to the examination room.

Ignoring that, with the crown prince by his side, there is no way for King Rui’s people to talk to Lu Yanzhou at all!

Lu Yanzhou has been exercising all the time, so he has a good mentality. When the spring exam was over, he was still very energetic.

After drinking the nourishing decoction that Xie Chengze prepared for him, he was over-nourished, so Xie Chengze still had to use his hands when he was tired at night.

So, on the second day after the end of the spring exam, when Xie Chengze went to deal with the memorial, his wrists were a little sore, so he had to rub it from time to time.

Xie Chengze felt that his body was not working well.

But he couldn’t help it. Because of his heart condition, he couldn’t run and jump since he was a child, so he wasn’t as strong as Lu Yanzhou.

While he was busy, outsiders came to report that Zhou Xueya had come.

After Xie Chengze asked Zhou Xueya to watch the daoist priest on his father’s side, Zhou Xueya rarely came to him.

Recently, the daoist priests around his father have been very active and caused a lot of trouble. Zhou Xueya should be very busy.

Now that Zhou Xueya came to him, what did he find out?

Xie Chengze asked Zhou Xueya to be called in.

When he saw Zhou Xueya, Xie Chengze couldn’t help but stop rubbing his wrist: “What happened?” Zhou Xueya’s expression at the moment was actually a little flustered.

Zhou Xueya said: “Your highness, I discovered something extraordinary!”

Xie Chengze asked, “What’s the matter?”

Zhou Xueya said: “Your highness, I have reported to you before that there is a daoist priest who has suddenly become prominent from the emperor’s side… The reason why the daoist priest is valued by the emperor is because he has some skills, and his skills were taught by the daoist boy beside him.”

Having said this, Zhou Xueya stopped and took a deep breath.

Xie Chengze looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

Zhou Xueya continued to say: “Your highness, the identity of that daoist boy is very clean. I didn’t find anything at first. Not long ago, that daoist boy came out of the palace. I followed him personally. I only saw him enter a daoist temple and didn’t find anything else, but…”

“What’s wrong?” Xie Chengze asked.

“The daoist boy didn’t come out after he entered the daoist temple, so I asked my subordinates to watch, then went to Jingning Temple by myself, wanting to ask for a meal…But, I saw the daoist boy over there.”

Xie Chengze: “…” He didn’t want Zhou Xueya to investigate Lu Yanzhou, but in the end Zhou Xueya checked and checked…It was traced back to Lu Yanzhou again?

1Others discover their identity