‘We want to make him happy.’
Hearing Ji Yue’s voice, the first thing Wei Lian did was to step back to create space from Myrna.
But it only appeared like he was trying to cover something up.
Myrna performed the etiquette greeting of the Liang Empire. “Qin Emperor.”
Wei Lian nodded slightly. “Your Majesty.”
Ji Yue expressionlessly ordered, “Come here.”
Come here? Who are you calling?
Myrna was stunned and thought that the Qin Emperor appeared here because he took a fancy to her beauty?
The Saintess was known to possess unrivalled beauty. In the Liang Empire, even if everyone knew of her frivolous seductress reputation, the majority of them were still at her mercy.
Unexpectedly, it was the same for the Qin Emperor.
This was even better. The Qin Emperor was a giant among men. His imperial energy must be better than a hundred men.
As Myrna was about to take a step, she saw that the young man in white had stepped forward first and walked to the Qin Emperor’s side without changing his expression.
Then she watched as the Emperor in black dragged the young man in white away.
Myrna was completely dumbfounded.
No way, did the Qin Emperor not even pay regards to her?
To ignore a beauty such as herself!
Alas, fine, she was not as good-looking as the young man in white. How could a man be so beautiful?
Myrna’s confidence suffered a heavy blow.
She was the centre of attention back in the Liang Empire, the moon that all the stars admired. In the Qin Empire, first it was the man under the fox mask who was indifferent to her last night because he preferred men. Today, the Qin Emperor pulled away another man under broad daylight and treated her like air.
No wonder they all said that male homosexuality was popular in the Central Plains. All the emperors at the top were all cut sleeves, and the underlings could only follow suit one after another.
Myrna's whole body shivered, feeling goosebumps break out.
Ji Yue pulled Wei Lian all the way back to Yangxin Palace Hall. When he entered through the gate, he shouted coldly, “Everyone out!”
The palace workers trembled and quietly withdrew, none dared to even utter ‘understood’.
Oh dear, his Majesty was angry again.
Not a small one from the sound of it either.
They wondered if Wei Gongzi would be hit…his body couldn’t withstand all the tossing and turning!
Wei Lian was gentle and generous, as well as good at managing people’s hearts. Having lived in the Yangxin Palace Hall for a period of time, he had the majority of the staff's sympathy resting with him.
Now, seeing how displeased his Majesty was, they all sweated in concern for Wei Lian.
The other party involved was silent the whole way. After entering the palace hall, Wei Lian finally frowned and said, “You’re hurting me.”
Ji Yue immediately released his hand.
Looking down, there was indeed a faint trace on the young man’s pale wrist.
He was using too much strength just now.
Distress flashed through his eyes. “I’ll find yurong ointment and apply it for you.”
“Don’t waste your time.” Wei Lian closed his fan and lightly tapped Ji Yue on the shoulder. “Pour me a cup of tea.”
He went to sit on the couch like he was in his own backyard and admired the exquisite fan.
Ji Yue went to pour tea without thinking. When he touched the teapot, he suddenly noticed what he was doing and turned around. His sharp eyes slightly narrowed as he asked in a warning tone, “You dare to order us?”
Wei Lian pressed the fan against his lips to cover his smile. “Your Majesty dragged this subject in a run throughout the way. Now this subject is dying of thirst. Does your Majesty have the heart to allow this subject to die of thirst?”
“Yes.” Ji Yue said that coldly, but he still handed the other a cup of hot tea.
Wei Lian forged his heartbroken state. “Your Majesty is so cruel.” At the same time, he took the tea and drank it. “Another please.”
Ji Yue: “...”
If you think so, don’t drink!
Ji Yue angrily went to pour more tea.
Wei Lian suddenly noticed a book on the table. He casually grabbed it, looked at the big texts on the cover and raised his eyebrow.
Foreshadowed on Marriage.
…It appeared to be a romance story.
When Ji Yue returned with tea, he found Wei Lian flipping through his book.
His hands trembled as dismay filled his insides.
He forgot to put away the book he had read through last night.
Ji Yue had never experienced love before, and all the experience he lacked he would find in books. After his confession with Wei Lian last night, he came back to make up for his lack of knowledge.
Ji Yue’s learning method: Read large amounts of books.
Ji Yue put down the tea and went to snatch it away. “Give it!”
If it was found that the great Qin Emperor read romance books, it was fine. But to see the words he annotated on it…his reputation would be gone.
Wei Lian raised his hand to dodge. “No.”
“Wei Lian!”
With such a big reaction, what was in this book that the older man didn’t want him to read?
It couldn’t be that the Qin Emperor was secretly enriching his knowledge with a banned book after being teased by Wei Lian several times?
This poked Wei Lian’s curiosity as he was now determined to figure it out. He curled into himself, guarding the book in his arms. “Take it away from me if you think you can.”
Ji Yue really went for it. They each grabbed one end of the book. Ji Yue’s tone dropped an octave, “Let go.”
“No.”
“Then do not blame us for pulling you along with it.”
“Go ahead and pull.”
“...” Of course Ji Yue didn’t dare to actually do it for fear that it would really hurt the younger man.
When the two were deadlocked, Wei Lian suddenly looked up and gave Ji Yue a peck on the cheek.
Ji Yue: “!!!”
He let go in an instant.
“I will kiss you if you try that again.” Wei Lian grinned.
Ji Yue was more and more dejected as he covered his face. “You…you can read it...”
Wei Lian flipped through the book, and found that its content was very ordinary.
There was no colourful plot being described.
What was interesting were the annotations in the Qin Emperor’s handwriting.
Taking it as seriously as the memorial to the throne.
The contents were as follows:
When young lady of a wealthy family meets with a scholar with the help of the servant girl playing matchmaker—
The Qin Emperor’s annotation: This servant girl abetted her master and must be caned to death.
When the young lady and the scholar exchange lifelong vows amidst flowers under the moonlight—
The Qin Emperor’s annotation: Their secret exchanges without proper ceremonies, utterly ridiculous.
When the young lady decided to break off family ties and elope with the scholar—
The Qin Emperor’s annotation: There is actually such a fool in the world.
When the young lady finally lived happily and in secret with the scholar in the countryside—
The Qin Emperor’s annotation: Completely unmated in social status, incompatible three views, with accumulated conflicting views over time, inevitably be separated within three years. Not sure how a rotten scholar would act upon his fantasies. Waste of our time. Next.
Wei Lian almost burst out laughing from reading.
Ji Yue’s anger soon subsided after such a fuss.
“What were you doing in Bixia Hall?” He asked uneasily, trying to ignore the fact that his annotations were being publicly critiqued.
Wei Lian drank his tea slowly. “What was your Majesty doing there as well?”
Ji Yue huffed, “We asked first.”
Wei Lian put down his cup and slowly wiped his lips. “Oh.”
There was no explanation that followed.
Ji Yue: “...”
Wei Xiao Lian, you are so infuriating.
“We heard you went to the Bixia Hall.” In the end, Ji Yue spoke up first in a whisper, “So we came.”
Wei Lian was surprised. “Does your Majesty really care so much for this subject?”
Ji Yue blurted out, “Isn’t it normal for us to care about our beloved?”
Wei Lian exchanged glances with him quietly.
Ji Yue: “...”
Ji Yue blushed slowly under the stare and stammered, “Yo-you, explain yourself.”
Wei Lian said with a smile, “You are so cute. I like you.”
Ji Yue: “!!!”
Wei Lian suddenly straightened up from where he lay, still mostly on the couch, he wrapped an arm around Ji Yue’s neck and said, “What you just saw was fake.”
He opened his fan, covered their faces and went forward for a gentle kiss.
Their lips touched only for a moment, but it felt like an eternity.
Wei Lian opened his eyes and Ji Yue’s entire being was captured in his clear eyes.
He smiled. “This is a real kiss.”
Ji Yue: “...”
He was petrified from head to toe.
If Ji Yue was replaced with any ordinary emperor, the beauty on the couch who threw themselves at the emperor to initiate a kiss—the ambiguous atmosphere was just perfect so the emperor must take the person back to the bedchamber and properly shower them with love. If the emperor was impatient, doing it directly on the couch was also an option.
However, the Qin Emperor was worthy of his name, he was very different from other emperors.
At the moment, the cogs in his brain were lagging behind. He suddenly stepped back with an unflinching look. “Such disgraceful behaviour, tugging and whispering honeyed words in broad daylight?”
“...”
Wei Lian smiled, “I have never seen you lecture about such rules usually.”
“That’s fine. This subject will not violate the rules in the future.” He leaned back lazily, looking less enthusiastic.
Ji Yue immediately took back his previous remark, “Pretend we didn’t say it.”
“Your Majesty, emperors should not take their words back.”
“We order you to act as if you did not hear it.”
“...Understood.”
In Wei Lian’s opinion, it was too generous to compare Ji Yue with a three years old.
Ji Yue’s intellect was about the level of a three months infant and not any older.
“That Saintess was the one from last night.” After some buffoonery, Wei Lian finally began to talk business.
Ji Yue replied, “We did not forget.”
Of course he remembered.
“I thought her identity was not simple, so when I heard that the Liang Empire’s envoys were in the palace this morning, I wanted to go and have a look.”
“What does she have to look at?” Ji Yue protested in displeasure, “Her appearance is inferior to ours.”
“Pfff—” Wei Lian could not hold that puff of laughter in. “You are the Qin Emperor, how can you compare beauty with a woman?”
Ji Yue warned, “Whatever the case, you are not allowed to be close to her.”
Wei Lian leaned close and asked with a serious look, “Can you smell this strong sour scent酸味 The flavour of jealousy. 😉?”
Being stared by these soul-stealing eyes, Ji Yue’s eyes darkened and he whispered, “Wei Lian, that woman is from the Liang Empire. She armed herself with poisons from head to toe. You may not approach her. Remember at all costs.”
He was naturally not angry from the intimate manner between Wei Lian and Myrna. Only Li Fuquan with his cognitive impairment would think the two were having a private meeting. Anyone with a clear eyes could see that they were just talking.
…Although Ji Yue really didn’t like others to get close to Wei Lian.
But more importantly, he was afraid that something would happen to Wei Lian.
A foreign person with a different mindset and belief. If the Saintess from the Liang Empire did anything to Wei Lian…just thinking about it made lingering fear claw at Ji Yue’s heart.
He could not handle such consequences.
He must protect his beloved at all cost.
There was a subtle change to Wei Lian’s expression.
After a long time, he muttered, “So you are worried about this.”
That was not necessarily.
All of Myrna’s poison arts were ones he got tired of playing with early on. Child’s play really.
But the feeling of someone being concerned about him…was not bad.
“No need to worry.” Wei Lian said.
“How could we not worry? No matter how smart you are, you are not someone who is capable of carrying anything either on your shoulders or in your hands. If you were caught in a plot, to use as an object to blackmail us, what—” Ji Yue froze.
What should he do?
According to his previous way, if anything he loved was used by others to blackmail him, he would destroy it without hesitation.
He once loved a falcon very much. Usually, he let it soar in the sky and with a whistle, the falcon would listen and land on his shoulder.
He would smooth the bird’s feathers before sending it back to the sky again.
That was the young Qin Emperor, yearning for the outside world.
Later, the falcon was caught by the Empress Dowager and brought to him in a cage.
The Empress Dowager pressured him to announce an edict that would greatly benefit one of her foreign relatives, or the falcon was dead.
The Empress Dowager saw that Ji Yue was hard and cold on the outside, but there was a piece of weakness in his heart all along. The boy faced the cruellest control in the world, yet could still treat a flower, a falcon, things of insignificant life with tenderness.
She was sure that the youth would cave in.
And he would compromise for her.
An indecisive person would never achieve great things after all.
But what she did not expect was the young man to take the bow and arrow from the guard’s hand and shoot the falcon himself.
Better die than be trapped.
Since then, nothing ever occupied space in Ji Yue’s heart.
He did not allow himself to have weaknesses.
He did not allow himself to be coerced by others.
Even if one enemy had fallen, he still had thousands of enemies waiting.
He must stay invincible and powerful at all times.
But he made an exception at the age of twenty-one.
This year, he met someone he wanted to cherish. He did not have the heart to kill this beloved as well as be separated from him. He just wanted to very carefully protect him, hide him from everyone.
Ji Yue finished his last sentence, “...What should we do?”
If you were used by others to threaten us, we would definitely come save you.
Wei Lian went quiet for a moment.
During this silence, he had this impulsive urge.
He wanted to tell Ji Yue: You don’t have to worry. I am very strong, probably enough to be on equal ground with you.
He also wanted to add: You are such a nuisance. Why must you make me like you so much?
But in the end, he calmed his raging mind and replied with a soft smile, “Your Majesty should protect this subject well.”
A person accustomed to being clear-headed would continue to act differently from others, even if they were trapped in a heavy love dilemma.
Ji Yue said he liked him, but instead of offering him the antidote, the older man continued to guard against him. This was no longer to control his life, but to give him a security guarantee.
This was Ji Yue giving himself a retreat.
Wei Lian understood this very well. Those who grew up in a difficult environment and had suffered greatly were extremely wary of ordinary people. They always left a way to retreat for themselves.
So he also concealed his real strength, which was a hidden trump card when he needed to get out one day.
He hoped that day would never arrive.
But he must also prepare for that day.
They were like two people who have spent too long in the harsh winter. When the ice and snow suddenly melted, the sleeping tree came to life, welcoming spring. The shell was melted away by the warmth, but the bottom tip of their hearts remained as sharp and cold with deadly thorns.
Ji Yue agreed, “All right.”
Wei Lian smiled. He lowered his eyes and flipped through another page. Suddenly, he unconsciously focused on a sentence.
He could tell that Ji Yue struggled when writing this annotation, as many lines were crossed out with a line of ink.
The content was very ordinary, it was about the scholar gifting a handmade item to the young lady, who was very happy when receiving it.
The Qin Emperor’s annotation: Are you treating as if this young lady from an influential family will be happy with just this plaything? As if she has not seen the wider world?
Is a handmade item really that valuable?
Will it really make someone happy?
Then we will try our best to make one for Wei Xiao Lian.
The last sentence wasn’t crossed out—
We want to make him happy.
Oh gosh, I can just agree. JY is too cute :3 Moe moe kyun~
Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)