75 Churning Thoughts

The Empress Dowager watched in stunned silence as her son allowed the other person to cluck and huff at him like henpecked Chicken.

She again took a closer look at the boy.

Ah!

She hadn't noticed earlier but he seemed to be wearing clothes stitched by The Imperial Seamstresses.

Ah!

Why did her son give this unknown child so much freedom?

From Empress Dowager was standing, it looked like her son was almost leaning all of his weight on that boy's shoulder.

Ah!

They were standing so close to each other. Ah!

It almost looked like they were sharing body warmth.

This...This position was far, far too intimate to be used between casual friends.

His Majesty's body language was far more relaxed as compared to the rigid stance he would usually take when anybody tried to encroach upon his personal space.

Even couples who had married for long wouldn't necessarily be so carefree around each other.

Quite frankly, she was starting to worry about her son. A shock of lightning struck, and she stood there dumbly.

However, now wasn't the time to ask questions and put her son in a difficult spot.

No.

Right now, she needed to gather accurate information, look at it from a third-person perspective, analyse it and if her fears turned out to be true, then and only then would she start asking questions and demanding answers from His Majesty.

With that thought, she composed herself. First things first, her son wasn't harmed by the dagger hastily thrown by Ning Fu.

Ah!

Ning Fu had been one of the few ones who had gone to the hollow at The Kumbh Mountains for The Rain Ritual.

He must have seen the interactions between His Majesty and this new interloper.

Giving it some further thought, she decided to start her enquiries from Ning Fu himself. With her Imperial mask firmly in place, she spoke, "Ah! Your Majesty, Ajia was thinking that since Your Excellency haven't been harmed - thankfully, Ajia will see to the punishment of Unit Commander. What does Your Majesty think?"

Her son looked at her with his own mask of politeness for a few seconds, turned to look at the kneeling Ning Fu and gave an almost hesitant nod.

He also spoke haltingly, "Zhen doesn't blame Unit Commander for what just happened here. Mohou, don't make things too difficult for beloved official."

Ah!

Even now, her child was worried about the well-being of others.

Ai...ai...why can't he see that his own mother is more worried about him.

Oh!

It wasn't that she was against him loving someone of the same gender.

No.No.

It was just that she was in despair because she had a duty to the late emperor.

She had to see to it that the late emperor's family line flourished and here she and the later emperor's only offspring was hellbent on hammering nails into the coffin of their dreams.

Ah..ah!

No.

She shouldn't think like that.

No.

She should try and see it from her son's perspective.

Try to see what that hitherto unknown child had in him, to attract and ensnare her son's heart so completely.

She had seen true life and a deep-seated longing in her son's eyes that eventful afternoon when they had talked about his marriage.

More often than not, this place was such a cesspool of treachery and political machinations.

It was seldom that an Imperial family member found someone to share their burdens with - someone who wasn't fawning over them because of their station or trying to curry favour.

No.

If her child loved that boy, she wouldn't interfere in their affairs. It was just...It was just that she was worried if it was really the right choice.

They wouldn't have their own flesh and blood to look after them.

Anyways, turning to Ning Fu, she beckoned him towards her and they left the garden area. "Come, Unit Commander."

Ning Fu didn't know what to say or think when he saw the annoying blankness on The Empress Dowager's face.

It was really perplexing to him, how these Imperial family members irrespective, of their titles, could leech away all the emotions from their face at command and leave a firm blankness on their faces.

He didn't know what to say to her. Anyways, she brought him into an adjoining pavilion and asked her own retinue to stay a few paces away from them.

He didn't let the fear he was feeling inside, faze him and waited patiently at the side for his subsequent punishment.

When the silence had almost become suffocating, The Empress Dowager spoke, "Unit Commander, since His Majesty didn't seem to blame you for your unintended actions, Ajia has nothing more to say about it."

Ning Fu eyed The Empress Dowager with a peculiar look on his face.

In his experience, getting any undue advantage or mercy from members of The Royal Clan was akin to asking a tiger for its hide.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

It never bodes well for the person on the receiving end of such care and mercies.

Anyways, when he saw the lady looking at him as if trying to catch the emotional byplay on his face, he slammed his own Unit Commander mask on his face and stood in complete stillness.

The Empress Dowager's hands curled into fists until she felt the pain emanating from her palms.

When she lifted her hand, she found out that the sharp points of her nail guards had pierced her skin.

Not paying any attention to the pain emanating from her hands, she looked at this person and tried to come to a decisive decision because she knew that once she set foot on this path and found out things that weren't in accordance with the usual way of things, she wouldn't be able to undo or forget it.

Taking a deep sigh, she turned towards Ning Fu and thus began another round of miscommunication and misunderstandings all around.

When Ning Fu was allowed to leave The Imperial Palace - after he had parched his mouth a countless number of times telling, retelling and answering The Empress Dowagers questions he heaved a sigh of relief.

He didn't know what was going on inside that mama-bear's mind but she kept on repeating her questions and even though he would give the same answer every time, she would look at him with the ferocious eyes of a lioness looking after her cub.

Huh!

Why did she keep asking him about how His Majesty met Zhou Sheng that day or how much time they spent together or what they did together?

In the end, he had become so frustrated that he had blurted out that the night of the altercation, he had seen Zhou Sheng lying on The Imperial Bed in the tent.

Thankfully, she hadn't asked him how he knew that since she must already know that nobody had been allowed inside The Imperial Tent that night.

Anyways, it was as if after that she didn't have any heart to ask him any questions and had allowed him to leave.

Looking around himself, Ning Fu couldn't wait to go home and drink tankards of water.

Oh!

His life had positively taken a turn for the worse.

Other generals or even soldiers would drink tankards of wine and he was thankful enough if someone could give him a glass of water right now.

He was so thirsty from all that talking earlier.

Today he really gained an appreciation for all those civil officers in The Imperial Court who would talk nonstop until they had either proved their point or His Majesty asked them to stop in annoyance.

However, Ning Fu knew that all these thoughts were pointless and that he was just trying to not think about the crux of the matter. He hoped that all of this was a dream and that he really hadn't heard what he had just a few minutes ago.

Yes, it's a dream and nothing else.

Just a dream conjured up by his tired brain.

Ning Fu tried to encourage himself but to no avail.

It has to be a nightmare.

That is the only thing that makes sense. Otherwise, how could things go this wrong?

As soon as Ning Fu reached home, he enclosed himself in his room and ordered his servants not to disturb him until and unless there was an Imperial Decree that he had to personally receive.

Changing his clothes, he saw that his hands were shivering and he clenched them into fists but he could still feel the soft tremors.

Ning Fu ground his teeth as he cannot help but recall what he had heard The Empress Dowager murmur to herself when he had left.

It was just two sentences but those two sentences could rock the foundation of the dynasty if anybody else got hold of this secret.

She had said, "It's him - that boy is the one who is in His Majesty's heart. Or else why would my son allow him so many liberties?"