The Sickly Beauty Substitute Called It Quits

The atmosphere between the two became ambiguous.

Shen Yu looked down at the man lying beneath him, and a hint of inexplicable emotion flashed in his eyes. With his hand resting on the man's chest, he could feel the strong and steady heartbeat, which made him curl his fingers slightly.

"Do you want to touch it, Ah Yu?" whispered Shang Junlin, as he took Shen Yu's hand and slowly explored under his clothes.

Shen Yu pursed his lips and his fingers curled slightly. As they moved further down, he couldn't help but glare at Shang Junlin and accuse him, "Your Majesty promised not to do anything today."

Shang Junlin had no intention of doing anything, but with the beautiful man in his arms, it was hard to resist the temptation. Seeing Shen Yu's accusing gaze, he had to reluctantly give up.

"Okay, I won't bother you today. Rest if you're tired," he said.

Shen Yu looked at him suspiciously, his eyes clearly asking, "Why are you being so easy to deal with today?"

Shang Junlin covered Shen Yu's eyes and said, "Don't look at me like that. I'm afraid I won't be able to resist."

When a man is in the mood and has his lover in his arms, it's hard to control himself.

Since Shang Junlin didn't have any intentions, Shen Yu relaxed and leaned against the man, closing his eyes. He was indeed tired.

"If Your Majesty likes, you can also touch me." Shen Yu murmured softly before falling asleep.

As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Yu felt a tightening around his waist. The man leaned in close to his ear and whispered in a low voice, "Is Ah Yu deliberately trying to keep Us1 awake?"

Shen Yu rubbed against the man's chest but didn't say anything.

Shang Junlin waited for a while, only to hear the young man's calm breathing. He looked at the canopy above and sighed bitterly.

Whether it was intentional or not, he couldn't do anything to Shen Yu.

Shen Yu slept soundly and woke up the next day, realizing that he was tightly held in someone's arms. He could smell the familiar scent on the man's body, he moved slightly.

"Ah Yu, are you awake?"

The man's deep voice came from above, and Shen Yu let out a soft "um" in response.

Still feeling groggy from just waking up, Shen Yu was slow to react to anything, not even noticing when the man's hand slipped into his clothes.

"I wanted to stay with Ah Yu today."

Shen Yu sat up and looked outside. It was dark and gloomy, and there was no sunlight, making the whole bedroom dim.

"Is it raining outside?"

"It was raining a moment ago, but it has stopped now," Shang Junlin held Shen Yu back in his arms, and wrapped him in a blanket, "It's chilly today, so don't catch a cold."

Shang Junlin had actually gone to court that day but ended up hurriedly returning to Yu Zhang Palace after seeing the bad weather, worried about leaving Shen Yu alone there. He still had lingering fears about the last time Shen Yu had a nightmare and thought that if he were there with him, it would be better if he had another nightmare.

After fully waking up, Shen Yu got up from bed.

Shang Junlin stayed in Yu Zhang Palace all day and even refused to see any officials who came to meet him. Shen Yu gave the prescription given to him by Shen Yue to the people below, and not long after, they made the finished product, which was reported to Mu Xi.

"So fast?" Shen Yu was surprised.

"I was also surprised," said Muxi, handing a small box to Shen Yu, "they even sent some finished products."

The things in the box were smaller than what Shen Yue made, but they were made in various shapes and looked more exquisite and pleasing to the eye. They were the kind of things that ladies would like.

"Something like this," Shen Yu picked up one, "how many can be made in a day?"

"An experienced person can make around twenty or thirty."

Shen Yu played with the small wooden box in his hand. There were enough people in the village for the time being, so he could try selling them in the shop first.

"You can let them make a batch first, not too many, and put them for sale in the shop in the north of the city. Only sell a certain amount each day, first come first served. As for the rest, let me think about it."

"Alright."

The goods made in the village were sent to Shen Yu first. He picked out what he could use and gave the rest to the palace maids in Yuzhang Palace and sent some to the Imperial Concubine's Palace.

"Have you been to the jewelry shop in the north of the city? They have recently released some new products that not only look beautiful but also work well."

"Are you talking about the various shaped soaps? I asked my older brother to buy me a piece, and it's really good for cleaning hands. After washing, it smells good."

"And their new lip rouge, look, I used it today, isn't it better looking than before?"

"Wow, it really is. The color suits you well."

"I also think so. They have many colors of lip rouge, and I have decided to buy from them in the future."

Considering some issues, Shen Yu temporarily only allowed the store to sell lip rouge and soap to the public, as these two items were relatively easy to make.

"Master," Mu Xi walked in with the account book, "many customers want to buy more, and the shopkeeper sent a letter to ask if we should increase the daily sales."

"You can ask if they can handle the increased production, and if they can, we can increase the sales accordingly."

Shen Yu opened the account book and looked at it. To be honest, the result of his work was far beyond his expectation. In just a few days, the profit of soap and lip balm was much higher than all the other products combined. This shop had always been in a downturn, but with the two new products, soap and lip balm, it suddenly became the most popular jewelry store for women.

"The price is good and it sells well. I didn't expect that," Shen Yu exclaimed.

Considering the uniqueness of the products and the fact that they were not easy to make, Shen Yu had set a relatively high price for them. Originally, the limited quantity was set for one day to avoid overstocking, but unexpectedly, the opposite happened.

"Besides the young ladies outside, there are also many people in the palace looking for servants to buy some. Don't underestimate the purchasing power of women, sir," Mu Xi said with a smile.

"I was thinking too much. Let them take care of these things," Shen Yu had someone specifically in charge of managing the shop, so he didn't need to worry about these things.

Before early summer arrived, the Ministry of Works had developed more uses for cement and put them into practice one by one. Shen Yu knew that to truly use this material on a large scale, it would take some time. With so many people in the Ministry of Works monitoring the situation, he and Shang Junlin only needed to wait for the final result.

"Your Majesty, the weather is getting hotter," even Shen Yu, who was sensitive to the cold, had changed into a thin shirt.

"When the weather gets really hot, I'll take you to the summer palace for a while," Shang Junlin said, brushing aside the hair on Shen Yu's face.

Dahuan had distinct four seasons. Winter was cold, and summer was particularly hot. During the hottest period each year, the emperor would take his concubines and ministers to the summer palace to escape the heat.

After Shang Junlin ascended to the throne, he spent a long time on the battlefield. When he returned to the capital, he was not very interested in going to the summer palace, so he had never been there until now.

After receiving Shang Junlin's order, both sides started preparing early. The emperor going to the summer palace was not a small project and required a lot of preparation in advance.

After some investigation, Eldest Brother He finally learned about his younger brother's situation.

The moment he received the news, he was so angry that he trembled. If it weren't for the servant who stopped him, he would have gone straight to his father and asked for an explanation.

He had always thought that his brother was in some place that they didn't know about, but he never thought that it would be a dungeon.

A dungeon without seeing daylight.

Ha, how ridiculous. Obviously, his father knew the result a long time ago, why didn't he tell them? Was he planning to rescue his brother from the beginning?

"Young master, calm down. It's only a guess, it doesn't mean that the young master is really there. You can't act recklessly. If something happens to you, who else will care about the young master?"

Master He barely regained his composure. "You're right. Keep investigating. If my younger brother is really there and my father is really not planning to do anything, don't blame me for rescuing him myself!"

He didn't want to be bothered with the so-called big picture. The people giving orders hadn't even shown their faces, and he didn't know why his father was so obedient to them.

"The information has already been leaked," Shang Junlin turned around. "It looks like the He family is also planning to take action. The only question is, what will happen when they find out that their son has caused such a huge mess?"

The He family had been lying low for such a long time. Since they weren't willing to take the initiative, Shang Junlin didn't mind adding fuel to the fire.

"What about the King of Yue? Aren't those people planning to do anything about his life or death?"

The King of Yue was almost certainly behind the scenes in the election fraud case, but those people hadn't made any moves yet. This didn't make sense.

"It doesn't matter. If they don't show up, the King of Yue will stay in the dungeon. If we're anxious, they'll only be more anxious."

They knew that it was a trap ahead, but what choice did they have besides jumping into it?

No, to be precise, they had no other choice but to jump.

Without making them wait any longer, Master He gave them a surprise.

"So, you're saying that Master He took the secret order that he negotiated with the other side and went to the dungeon with the people arranged by them for Master He's father?" Shen Yu raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Yes, that's correct."

"How did he command those people? Has the He family been waiting for these people all along without taking action in the capital?"

"Probably, otherwise with the people that the He family brought, they wouldn't be able to stir up any waves." It wasn't that Shang Junlin underestimated them, but the people brought by the He family were mostly servants and guards, and they didn't bring many people to avoid drawing attention.

"The He family and the forces behind them probably never expected that all their plans would be ruined by the He eldest son's desire to save his younger brother."

Shang Junlin smiled but didn't speak. The He eldest son would never know that the information he thought he had painstakingly obtained was actually intentionally leaked to him.

"But I also didn't expect that he could bring all those people back unscathed."

As they spoke, the leader of the imperial guards came to report: "Your Majesty, all the people have been captured."

Shang Junlin took Shen Yu's hand and asked, "Ah Yu, do you want to come with me to take a look?"

Shen Yu shook the hand that was held, "Your Majesty seems to have not given me a choice."