No, it's a nightmare.

Ji Yue and Wei Lian fought an unknown number of times, but the older man always ended in defeat.

Ji Yue was afraid that in this life, he would never be able to compete with the youth with words.

Wei Lian was gifted in this aspect, being quick to respond. More importantly, no matter what situation he was in, he could remain calm and even turn the tables.

Commonly known as being shameless.

As the Emperor, Ji Yue still valued his reputation.

At night, on top of the imperial bed

The young man beside him slept peacefully.

Ji Yue was, however, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

As he stared at the brocade quilt over his body, his mind immediately recalled the erratic lyrics created by the youth during the day.

On the beautiful decorated bed were two embracing lovers, trembling until dawn.

God damned embracing lovers and trembling until dawn.

Even Ji Yue was shocked when he heard it.

He cast a complicated glance at the sleeping Wei Lian inside the quilt. There was a metre of space between them. The youth was lying on his side with his back to him, and only a well-defined silhouette could be seen in the darkness.

How could such an elegant man come up with such vulgar lyrics?

It completely contradicted his elegant appearance.

With a last, thoughtful look, Ji Yue shut his eyes.

He had a dream.

He dreamt of a young man in white, whose face could not be seen clearly, and whose crimson lips exhaled utterly immoral words, mocking him with every word for being a fledgling, and how he could become so worked up by the lyrics.

The nerve of this outrageous man!

Ji Yue called forth someone to remove the offender’s tongue, to shut the insolent person up.

But in this dream, no matter how many times he shouted for his men, no one responded to his command.

He thought for a moment. Stepping toward him, he hooked the young man’s waist with his arm. He bent over and kissed the young man, essentially sealing those infuriating-to-death words.

The youth gave a startled cry, he could feel the other’s hand on his chest, trying to push him away to no avail.

The young man could only tilt his head and allow himself to be taken.

All the annoying words disappeared between the clash of lips, leaving only a faint gasping.

It was not until the youth was kissed until his eyes were red, his lips were slightly swollen, as he gasped breathlessly, that he softly called out, “Your Majesty...”

Ji Yue’s mind went blank as he picked the person up by the waist.

Then the dreamland changed the next moment, replaced with a hanging red peony gauze curtain, and the candlelight outlined the two shadowy figures.

He pressed the person down upon the bed and made love to him. The young man's hands were wrapped around his neck, with his fingertips weakly hanging down. He bit his lips, his eyelashes trembled with each blink and his cheeks blushed red.

Screens painted with light and flowing scenes were erected outside to hide the murmur of watery wet sounds.

“Your Majesty.” The youth pleaded in a whisper, “...Please be merciful on this subject.”

He frivolously and triumphantly asked the youth at his mercy, “Do you still dare to mock us as a feeble chick?”

“Never, this subject wouldn’t dare.” The youth gasped, “Your Majesty is more like a combat fowl.”

Ji Yue immediately felt proud, as though coming in victorious in a cockfight. Satisfied, he lifted the youth's chin for a kiss, but his body stiffened when he saw the youth's tearful face.

This was Wei Lian’s face.

Followed by a sharp rooster’s crow. 

The noise caused Ji Yue to sit up from his bed.

It was dawn, the natural time of the call from the rooster.

...He actually had a night of spring dreamsWet dreams. Think of spring as joyful, youth, love, and lust.

The person he dreamt of turned out to be Wei Lian.

Ji Yue's expression became extremely gloomy.

Ordinary royal families have palace maids to teach them mastery of bedsport, starting from the age of thirteen or fourteen. But Ji Yue drove out his instructor back then, and there had never been a concern for this topic for many years.

He was always uninterested in self-indulgence, let alone summoning a bed servant, he hadn’t masturbated even once. It was not until he was twenty-one that he had his first pleasant dream with this man with surname Wei and first name Lian.

There was no excuse for this. The only close contact Ji Yue had all year round were ministers and palace workers. He could not remember any of the court ladies around him, and none of the ministers could even consider his taste. There was no way for him to dream of doing that with Li Fuquan, right?

After reflection, the only suitable candidate was the young and handsome Wei Lian.

In normal circumstances, there was no need for him to ponder over it.

Ji Yue reassured himself as he planned to get out of the bed and call someone to freshen himself up. It was dawn, the time to prepare for the day’s court.

But he froze immediately after he moved.

His undergarment...was wet...

“...”

Ji Yue sat up further in bed, sunk into a daze.

To make matters worse, his movement disturbed the sleeping youth beside him.

Wei Lian blinked his eyes in a daze, unable to open them as he asked in a rough, sleepy voice, “Is your Majesty awake...?”

Ji Yue stiffened. “Yes.”

Wei Lian rubbed away the sleep in his eyes. “Would you like this subject to serve you in changing your outfit?”

Ji Yue exclaimed in a conditioned reflex, “No need!”

His voice was so severe that it immediately woke Wei Lian up completely.

Wei Lian studied the older man. “Did your Majesty not sleep well? Why is there a circle of dark bags under your eyes...?”

Ji Yue turned his head away. “It was but a nightmare.”

That was right, it was a nightmare. Not a spring dream. Ji Yue brainwashed himself.

Wei Lian showed a worried expression and tried to lean over. Ji Yue gave a jolt, fearing that a certain someone might notice something strange under the bedding, and immediately pushed the other away.

“...Oof!” Wei Lian was caught off guard by the push and smashed his shoulder against the headboard, enough to instantly bruise his fair skin.

When Ji Yue saw this, he wanted to help, and almost blurted out a word of apology when all of those were stopped by the noticeable sticky feeling beneath him.

His brain also calmed down.

He had never apologised to anyone before.

Ji Yue stated coldly, “There is nothing for you to do, go back to sleep.”

“But, your Majesty—”

“That is an order.”

Wei Lian: “...”

Ji Yue looked silently at the youth's appearance, and with a lump in his throat, he added harshly, “Apply some yurong ointment on your shoulder to stop the pain.”

It was actually a light bump more than a hard crush, it only appeared serious because of Wei Lian’s pale skin. Ji Yue, however, was being kind, to allow the younger man to use a priceless ointment on such a small injury.

Wei Lian lowered his head and chuckled. “There is no need. This is a minor injury, there is no need to use yurong ointment.”

He lay down again to sleep, returning to his prior posture of lying on his side with his back to Ji Yue. The only difference was the robe over his shoulder had slipped down a little, intentionally revealing the bruise on his shoulder, which left a bad taste in the older man’s mouth.

Ji Yue sat against the headboard for a while, calling for the court maid once he was sure Wei Lian was asleep.

Several palace maids entered in line with basins, handkerchiefs, and the court outfit. The leading lady was a beautiful woman with a colourful appearance named Zhu Yue, who specialised in waiting on the Qin Emperor to change his clothes.

In fact, if it was an imperial concubine resting in the Emperor’s chamber, she would be the one to serve him the next day, giving no chance for the palace maids to interfere. However, in order to show Ji Yue’s love for Wei Lian, he never woke the younger man up in the morning, letting him sleep his fill instead.

The same was true today. As Zhu Yue was about to present the court dress to Ji Yue, he commanded, “Prepare a bath. Also, when Wei Lang wakes up, change the bedding and blankets as well.”

Zhu Yue was stunned. Bathing this early in the morning? And a change of bedding?

Suddenly, Zhu Yue noticed a strange spot below the Emperor’s body, which seemed to be wet. With a glance, she saw a bruise on the youth’s shoulder on the other side of the bed.

Zhu Yue: “...” All right, I see.

She moved her sight away without making a sound, bent down on one knee. “Understood.”

* * *

The Yangxin Palace Hall’s west wing was the palace maids’ residence. The first thing Zhu Yue did when returning was slam the door, and sit on the bed in sulk.

Zhu Chu was sitting in a chair embroidering. When she witnessed this, she raised her head and asked, “What’s wrong? Who made you this angry so early in the morning?”

She thought for a moment. “Did you get yelled at by his Majesty?”

“That wouldn’t make sense either.” Zhu Chu threw her guess out of the window. “If you enrage his Majesty, you wouldn't be sitting in this room.”

Zhu Yue: “...”

She snapped, “I am angry at that bewitching vixen, Wei Lian!”

Zhu Chu’s hand that was embroidering paused. “How could you address the Gongzi by his name?”

“Gongzi? How dare a stray mutt from the Chu be regarded by his Majesty?”

Seeing that the other was getting more and more out of line, Zhu Chu hurriedly went to close the door properly, and her expression gradually turned unhappy. “Zhu Yue, you are going too far.”

“I just can't stand the sight of him!” Zhu Yue stood up and walked to the dressing mirror, gritting her teeth in rage. “Wasn't I born well enough? I've served his Majesty for three years, and his Majesty still hasn't remembered my name. Wei Lian? He was able to hook his Majesty’s heart in only three days. How am I inferior to him in any aspect?”

Zhu Chu stated calmly, “You are not as good looking as he is.”

Zhu Yue: “...”

“How could he feel not a tad of shame as a man to serve someone with sexual acts!”

“The Gongzi is not like that.” Zhu Chu immediately defended Wei Lian. “Gongzi had no choice.”

“What a good joke.” Zhu Yue sneered. “He only knows how to pester his Master with his wicked charm. I even saw the traces on his body this morning, and I think he is enjoying himself.”

Zhu Chu frowned. “At the end of the day, it’s you who is upset. He could attract his Majesty, while you failed. You are just jealous of him.”

She knew Zhu Yue had always been restless. As the most beautiful maid she had been transferred to the Emperor’s side to serve him. How could she accept remaining as a serving maid in this lifetime?

His Majesty was young with an impressive appearance, so it was normal for a young girl to have her heart set on flying to the top of the social ladder to become a concubine. But his Majesty was not a lover of sex, it was obvious from the empty harem, so Zhu Chu warned her several times, and only then did Zhu Yue gradually abandoned her foolish dream.

Zhu Yue could bear it if his Majesty never took concubine. But now that his Majesty was showing so much affection to a male pet, she was upset and this inevitably birthed resentment.

“I am jealous of him.” Zhu Yue admitted in tears. “Zhu Chu-jie, you used to say that my heart is set higher than heaven, how our lives as servant girls are too low to climb high, so we must not be delusional. Fine, I listened to you. But how is Wei Lian better than us? In the Qin Palace, he used to be even lower class than us. But what gave him the right...Just with that face of his?”

Zhu Chu was surprised. “Isn’t having that face enough?”

Lian Gongzi was a wondrous beauty. Even if Zhu Yue was bragging about her beauty, she was a far cry from him.

Zhu Yue: “...”

She didn’t want to continue this conversation with Zhu Chu anymore.

“Just you see.” Zhu Yue wiped her tears fiercely as a small amount of indignation filled her eyes. “His Majesty is a heartless man, I'll see how long Wei Lian can remain pleased with himself!”

Zhu Chu warned in a deep voice, “Zhu Yue, you'd better not have any unneeded thoughts, or else I fear you'll end up in a miserable situation.” She felt that Zhu Yue was now completely blinded by jealousy as the emotion was fuelling her mind, fearing that she would do something stupid.

“I won’t, Zhu Chu-jie,” Zhu Yue pulled out a faint smile. “I know.”

Chapters

2 Comments

  1. Muggelschmuggel

    »Ji Yue to sit up from his bed.« There’s smth missing here isn’t it?
    And the T/N for “spring dreams” is left in the main text, but also as a drop down thingy.

    OMG, JY is so pure in that sense that just a little poem can make him have such nice dreams lolol
    And that Zhu Yue will cause a lot of trouble later on, eh? :’D She should be careful..

    Thx for the ch ٩( >ヮ<)۶

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