The Little Consort's
Eps. 4: King Dongling

Long Ji Man, the owner of this palace, was sitting down inspecting the important documents of the officials. The person's eyes looked at the black writing array seriously. After reading one document, it moves to another.

His ears caught a familiar voice. Not long after, a man broke through a window made of paper until it was torn. As soon as he arrived in front of Long Ji Man, the man tripped over the altar that connected the ground floor with where Long Ji Man was sitting. The man fell down before him in a face down condition.

"Ah, I have to fix my window again," Long Ji Man lamented without distracting from the documents he held.

The man immediately stood up. In front of Long Ji Man, the man handed him a paper containing a picture of a woman that looked like a symbol in a mathematical formula. On the paper there is also another image, which is a picture of a rectangular object.

"What exactly are you drawing?"

Long Ji Man placed the paper near the pile of finished documents he checked. He simply did not understand the meaning of the image symbols drawn by his subordinates. Supposedly, he taught her to write properly so that her subordinates would not draw anything ugly anymore.

"Go!"

Long Ji Man told the man to leave. Without waiting twice for the command, the man jumped through the same window he used when barging in. The tear on the window was getting bigger.

That man was Wang Tianshi, Long Ji Man's personal bodyguard. Wang Tianshi was already by Long Ji Man's side when the man was four years old. The two grew up together despite their different statuses. Not many knew of Wang Tianshi's true identity and position other than Long Ji Man and a few of his confidants. Long Ji Man had always ordered Wang Tianshi to patrol the entire palace building secretly and asked him to report something if there was anything strange with one of the palaces and its occupants.

Long Ji Man made Wang Tianshi into a young man known as the trash of the royal academy when the two were teenagers to hide his identity and keep his safety. He deliberately made Wang Tianshi into his personal bodyguard with a hidden purpose. Let people think that Long Ji Man has a stupid personal bodyguard for Wang Tianshi to stay safe.

These few days, the illness on the corner of Wang Tianshi's lips had recurred to the point of making the man unable to speak. The whole mouth hurts. Long Ji Man had already ordered the royal healer to check on him. But the disease did not get better.

A young eunuch came in throngs while carrying a tray of tea and snacks. The eunuch was surprised to see the paper window of his superior's room being torn again. His work increased by one more: looking for people to fix the windows of the king's room.

"Your Majesty, the concubine from Xingyue Palace was pronounced dead from drowning yesterday afternoon."

The young eunuch named Xiao Biqi informed the news that reached his ears to Long Ji Man. Yesterday night, a subordinate eunuch who served in Xingyue Palace sent a lapora that the king's concubine who lived there was found floating in Houchi Lake. The Taoist physician Zhun, the royal physician of the king's creed, examined his pulse and declared that the concubine was dead.

"Xingyue Palace? Do I have a concubine there?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. The concubine was Consort An, daughter of the Noble Li Han, Li Anlan who entered the palace two years ago."

Long Ji Man put down the documents he was examining. As a king, he did not know the number of concubines he had in the harem palace. Long Ji Man certainly did not memorize the faces of his concubines. Although he was a king, he never touched his wives. The young king who committed abiseka four years ago only considers all his wives as decorations on display to beautify his harem palace.

He heard that the young girl of the Li family looked stupid and untalented. After entering the palace, the new concubine was placed in Xingyue Palace. Long Ji Man had never met her and had never seen her face until two years had passed.

Yesterday, as he was wandering around alone in Houchi Lake, he saw a woman poking out of the lake with a bloody forehead. Long Ji Man was actually surprised, it was just that he did not show it. The woman noisily asked him to throw a cloth of clothes that was lying on the side of the bridge that became the road to cross Houchi Lake and told her to help point the way.

There is a saying that if the boss is good, then the subordinates are good, if the boss is bad, then the subordinates are also bad. The rude and disrespectful behavior of the woman on that night must also have come from the teachings and behavior of her employer. The unethical woman was also from Xingyue Palace. He must be the servant of the palace.

"Bury him well and compensate his family."

"But, the noble Li Han's family only has him left, Your Majesty."

"Then give it to anyone in need."

Xiao Biqi bowed his body. The young eunuch then walked backwards leaving Long Ji Man alone. A while later, the eunuch returned with a puzzled face.

"What else is it?"

"Your Majesty, how much compensation has been given to her?"

"Give according to the written rules!"

"Okay, Your Majesty."

Xiao Biqi's departure was accompanied by the throwing of a document from Long Ji Man. The king of Dongling kingdom was upset that his personal eunuch brain sometimes did not function properly, the same as Wang Tianshi. Fortunately, the two were his loyal confidants.

Long Ji Man refocused on reading the documents from his royal ministers. Documents tens of thicknesses as thick as flour milling should be examined today. Otherwise, those chatty ministers would have nagged indistinctly at him.

He glanced at the paper that Wang Tianshi had given him. Didn't these ugly symbols also come from Xingyue Palace? The palace should be in mourning right now. Long Ji Man wanted to know what was really going on in that palace. He wanted to know why Wang Tianshi drew those ugly symbols that he did not understand his intent.

At night, he will take another walk.