Chapter 1598

Liu Shun finished his shift and returned to his room to rest.

With a gloomy face, he asked the young eunuch serving him, "Where is Wu Ming?"

"Reporting to the Huangmen, after Huangmen Wu left the Taiji Palace, he disappeared. I couldn't keep up with him."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shun gnashed his teeth in anger. "Send people to find him. It's still duty hours; he won't have left the palace. Go to the office rooms to find him! Go to Huangmen Wei's place to find him! You must find him and bring him back. Tell him I have words for him. If he dares not to come, he can roll back to the detached palace from now on and never come to the imperial palace to serve again."

"Yes!"

The young eunuch accepted the order and instructed everyone to find Wu Ming.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Wu Ming was found and came to see Liu Shun.

"Huangmen Liu, you were looking for me; is there something you need?"

Liu Shun put down his teacup, smiling yet not smiling, his eyes exceptionally vicious. "Huangmen Wu, you have such a high opinion of yourself. To see you, I have to urge you three times and invite you four, and you only come when carried in an eight-bearer sedan chair."

Wu Ming was expressionless, not even moving his brows, and said in a calm tone, "If Huangmen Liu called me here just to vent your anger, I'm afraid I cannot accompany you."

Having said that, he turned and left.

Liu Shun was furious; he snatched up his teacup and smashed it right at the other man's feet. "You stand still! Wu Ming, who gave you the guts to dare challenge me? Even when Huangmen Wei sees me, he gives me three parts of face. What kind of thing are you!"

Wu Ming turned his head, swept a glance at Liu Shun, and then swept a glance at the tea stains at his feet.

He turned around and sat down casually. "Please give your instructions, Huangmen Liu!"

Liu Shun snorted coldly; no matter how high your cultivation or how arrogant you are, when you see him in the imperial palace, you have to kneel down and be a dog.

"The Emperor ordered you to serve, which is valuing you. And you? You messed things up! You're quite temperamental, thinking you're not wrong, even daring to talk back to the Emperor. Wu Ming, you're tired of living. Don't think that just because you have Huangmen Wei backing you, you can't be touched in the palace. There are plenty of people in the palace with profound cultivation; killing you is as easy as flipping a hand."

Liu Shun scolded Wu Ming as if he were scolding his own grandson.

Wu Ming maintained an expressionless face throughout, as if he had no emotions.

"Apart from scolding me for failing to handle the errand, does Huangmen Liu have anything else to say?"

"You are presumptuous! That you can stay alive today is because I helped you. Next time, whether I help you stay alive or not depends on my mood." Liu Shun snorted twice, his gaze sweeping over the other man, his eyes filled with undisguised malice and a desire for control.

He wanted Wu Ming to kneel down and be a dog, to be a dog of his own free will.

"What are the conditions?" Wu Ming asked directly, not playing games.

"You've acknowledged Huangmen Wei as your foster father, so I can't compete with him. You will become a pair with Auntie Li from the Palace of Gathered Elegance, and then you will take care of two people for me. If you perform well, I will protect you next time. If you are unwilling, I won't force you. When you die in the future, don't blame me for not reminding you."

Wu Ming lowered his head in thought. "Auntie Li from the Palace of Gathered Elegance, if I remember correctly, she is already over forty."

"So what!"

"Is she willing?"

"She might not be willing for others. If it's you, she'll certainly be happy!" Having said this, Liu Shun laughed heartily, unable to contain his joy.

"But I am not willing!" Wu Ming stood his ground!

Liu Shun froze instantly, his eyeballs trembling twice, his face full of disbelief. "What did you say? You're unwilling? Who cares if you're willing? Did anyone ask for your opinion? You'd better be honest. Otherwise, crushing you to death is just like crushing an ant."

By the end, Liu Shun's expression was twisted, not hiding his murderous intent in the slightest.

Wu Ming stood up. "Use whatever methods you have! If there are no other instructions, I will take my leave!"

This time, he didn't look back, and Liu Shun didn't fly into a rage and smash a teacup.

The two of them—one with an indifferent attitude, walking straight away; the other staring gloomily at the other's back, his mind already flashing through several ways to kill without shedding blood.

"Good guts! Let's see how long you can be arrogant!"

In the evening, Chen Guanlou arranged a banquet in his office, waiting for his guest to visit.

He poured himself a cup of wine and raised it toward the window. "Since you've come, why not come in and drink together!"

Wu Ming stepped into the office from the main entrance.

It was their first meeting, and they sized each other up.

"What a handsome eunuch!"

"What a handsome Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen, no wonder the girls in the brothel are willing to pay to be with you!"

Both stared at each other's faces, then both clicked their tongues, turned their heads, and looked at each other with extreme disdain. It was childish behavior not suited to their age, yet they did it anyway!

Chen Guanlou invited the other to sit down.

While pouring wine, he said, "Xiao Changsheng is dead!"

"I know!" Wu Ming did not dodge, deny, or conceal it.

Chen Guanlou raised his brows slightly; this Huangmen Wu was interesting.

It was rare to find such a frank eunuch.

Eunuchs were narrow-minded and always calculating. Whenever they spoke, they were weighing things; lying was an instinct, already carved into their bones and blood. Huangmen Wang Hai was like this, and other eunuchs were the same.

Huangmen Wu, however, was so frank it was a bit uncomfortable.

He chuckled and said bluntly, "The news of Xiao Changsheng's death hasn't been reported to the Ministry of Justice yet. Yet Huangmen Wu already knows. Can I conclude that you indeed entered the Grade A prison last night and saw my prisoner? And from that, judge that you killed Xiao Changsheng?"

Wu Ming shook his head and denied it bluntly. "Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen's conclusion is too arbitrary; you are clearly shifting the blame! Not only did I not kill him, on the contrary, Xiao Changsheng wanted to commit suicide, and it was thanks to my timely intervention that things were delayed until his passing this morning. Otherwise, by the time you discovered it, it would only have been a corpse!"

Chen Guanlou laughed. "Huangmen Wu is so frank it's a bit uncomfortable. So, you did indeed enter the Grade A prison last night."

"Yes! I was acting under imperial orders to obtain the confession of the prisoner Xiao Changsheng. Failing to inform Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen in time was because imperial orders are hard to disobey; I hope you will forgive me!"

Chen Guanlou:...

He had prepared a bellyful of reproaches, but now he couldn't say a word.

The other's attitude was too good—excessively so, and very cooperative.

He wondered, where did this alien crawl out from?

He asked curiously, "Are you popular in the palace? Do others constantly think about killing you?"

"Not popular! They are no match for me; they can't kill me!"

Confident, certain, arrogant...

Chen Guanlou even saw his own shadow in the other man.

He rubbed his chin and stared at the other man again. "Are you sure your surname is Wu, not Chen? Did you take your mother's surname?"

He couldn't help but suspect that his deadbeat father might have been fooling around outside and produced a brother for him.

Wait!

That's completely wrong!

Before he awakened his past-life wisdom, he was a completely different, yin-and-yang, weird-acting person whom everyone hated! Not like now, where everyone loves him!

"I am sure my surname is Wu! I took my father's surname! Also, my mother's surname is not Chen."

Wu Ming answered seriously.

"Why did you get such a strange name, Wu Ming? Is it 'Fifth Name'?"