Note: Euphemistic sex scene. 

'The little fox was rather over the moon as its heart burst into bloom.'

Wei Lian woke up from his afternoon nap. He propped his head on his hand, blinked slowly, suddenly raised his gaze and froze. 

His eyes fixed outside of the window. 

Across the window on the wall carved in a flower pattern, he saw a young man in black clothes staring at the plum tree planted against the outer wall, looking gloomy, as if he was standing in the corner to reflect on his mistakes. 

Wei Lian asked, “How long has he been standing there?”

The palace worker bowed and replied, “His Majesty has been waiting outside for an hour.”

Wei Lian massaged his temples. “Then why did none of you wake me?”

The palace workers hesitated for a moment. “Gongzi informed us last night that if his Majesty was to return again, he must be stopped just outside the palace.”

Wei Lian uttered after a short silence, “Oh.”

He forgot about that. 

Li Fuquan was outside. His whole body was freezing as he consistently rubbed his hands and blew hot air into them. 

He complained inside that Lian Gongzi should knock it off. If this continued, what face would his Majesty have left?

As he was thinking about this, Zhongling Palace’s gate opened slowly from the inside. A spotless young man stood quietly at the door, looking pale. 

“Your Majesty, what are you waiting here for? You terrified this subject. You are someone who can’t afford to be idle, how could you waste time…” Wei Lian’s voice vanished. 

Because he was embraced by Ji Yue. 

Ji Yue held him tightly, putting his chin on his shoulder and saying nothing. 

Wei Lian was startled before trying to push the other man away. “Let go.”

They were still in a cold war. 

How could he let Ji Yue coax him so easily? 

“Not letting go.” Ji Yue whispered. 

“Let go…many people are watching us.” Wei Lian lowered his voice. 

“Not letting go.” Ji Yue simply played the shameless card. “You are ours. Let them watch.”

“...” Wei Lian nearly laughed from his anger. “Why are you looking for me again?”

Didn’t he plainly walk out yesterday?

Ji Yue murmured, “Wei Lian.”

He spoke with great grievance. 

Wei Lian lowered his gaze. “What’s with your tone? I haven’t said anything yet and you’re the one being wronged here?”

What happened last night? Wasn’t he the one who was wronged from every angle?

Ji Yue said, “Sorry.”

He paused, gently kissed Wei Lian’s cheek and repeated, “Sorry.”

Wei Lian’s heart suddenly softened. 

As he was about to speak, Ji Yue continued, “We had been thinking. We really did not treat you well in our first meeting.”

“We should not have punished you for kneeling so long, and we should not have the thought of wanting you to die.”

“Ji Yue was a fool at the beginning, we have scolded him for you.” Ji Yue informed him seriously, “Don’t take it to heart, all right?”

He added after some thought, “If you are still angry, we can kneel down on durian跪榴蓮 It became an internet meme to apologise, and it’s a way for a wife/ girlfriend to punish the husband/ boyfriend. Another common thing to kneel on is the keyboard.
Durian image below... for you as well…”

“...”

Wei Lian said helplessly, “What is your head filled with?”

Did he really care about this?

All right, maybe in the past. The idea of regicide also came up several times. 

But since he fell for Ji Yue, those thoughts vanished like smoke in thin air. 

He was obviously angry that Ji Yue left him in bed last night. This person was really something. He had been here reflecting for a long time, not on what happened last night but events from ages ago. 

The older man completely missed the point. 

Wei Lian was torn between fuming with anger and finding this amusing. 

“It’s all in the past.” Wei Lian kept his eyes downcast. “I—”

I stopped caring long ago. 

“Well we felt very apologetic.” Ji Yue was like a child who did something wrong. “You must have been in great pain at that time.”

Wei Lian understood what the other meant. “You want me to forgive you?”

Ji Yue nodded. “We will do anything for you to forgive us.” 

The corner of Wei Lian’s lips raised. “All right, come in.”

Ji Yue was nervous. “To do what?”

Wei Lian lightly regarded, “Continue what you didn’t finish last night.”

Ji Yue blanked out. 

Made known of our obscene intention in broad daylight?

“No, no, no, can’t do that!” Ji Yue immediately denied. 

Wei Lian replied coldly, “You said you would do anything.”

That was indeed what he just said. 

Ji Yue shook his head frantically. “This one is an exception.”

Wei Lian frowned indifferently. “Reason.”

Ji Yue said, “You will be in pain.”

Wei Lian was quiet for a moment. 

Ji Yue stressed, “It will be very painful as well as cause irreversible damage to your physical body.”

Wei Lian’s eyes flickered, like a fish swimming in a circle and creating ripples. 

He smiled silently and asked, “Who told you this?”

“The Imperial Physician.”

Wei Lian raised his eyebrow. “Which quack?’

“...?”

“Why don’t you inquire with a few more professionals.” Wei Lian sneered, pushed him away, turned and entered the palace. 

Zhongling Palace gate was mercilessly closed on Ji Yue again. 

Ji Yue: “???”

Ji Yue sent someone to summon the imperial physician as soon as he returned to the imperial study. 

“Summon two physicians.”

He needed to hear standpoints from different parties.

“Not the one with the surname Xu.”

There were problems with that one. 

This time, the two summoned imperial physicians were very professional and acted as a neutral party. They did not dare even breathe too loudly in front of the Qin Emperor. Anything Ji Yue asked, they answered without daring to add unnecessary details at all. 

So he learned he was off his head because of Physician Xu’s advice. 

Ji Yue, who finally learned the truth, was so angry that he threw down the paperweight. 

The two imperial physicians were immediately frightened and trembled on their knees. 

“Xu Yongkang, to have the guts to deceive us.” Ji Yue was furious. “Pass this order. Physician Xu will forfeit his salary for half a year!”

The two imperial physicians: “...”

After making this a large deal, the punishment was only to relinquish one’s salary?

They thought someone was going to die from his Majesty’s attitude. 

Ji Yue, who found out the truth, ran to Zhongling Palace again. 

Originally, he thought that although what he did yesterday was not right, it was at least for the good of Wei Lian’s body. 

Now he just felt…

That was the stupidest decision in the world. 

That he was the stupidest man in the world who made that decision. This time, he was not blocked at the entrance as he entered Zhongling Palace easily. 

Wei Lian leaned on his couch reading a book. When he heard movements, he glanced at the newcomer lazily, “You came again?”

Ji Yue coughed softly. “Dinner has not been served…” He coughed, correcting his phrasing, “Have meals been requested?”

In this large palace, the only place where Ji Yue could relax was with Wei Lian. 

It was like being in his own home. 

“Have some sense, it is still early.” Wei Lian lowered his eyes and continued reading. “You will have to wait for the meal.”

“What are you reading this time?” Ji Yue leaned over curiously and slowly read the title out, “Manual on Jade Piller…”

“Why can’t you read proper books!” Ji Yue’s complexion quickly darkened, visible to the naked eye. “Every time we catch you reading, you will be reading these…”

These shameless things!

Although he had been cramming diligently with the same things recently…

“The subject had no choice.” Wei Lian ran his unrestrained mouth, “Your Majesty turned opportunities down every day without reason. This subject is lonely in the dark palace and could only rely on this thing for relief.”

Ji Yue was in a trance. “Did you…rely on that thing last night?”

Urr. 

Wei Lian had not yet. 

No matter how presumptuous his words were, it was all empty talk. In any event, he dared not put that thing anywhere near or in him. 

…It was such a big guy. 

He felt dread just by looking at it. 

It was just that Wei Lian had been accompanying Ji Yue on meals and feeding him tonic, when his effort went to waste, he was bound to be angry. He was abandoned in the middle of their session, of course it was unbearable for his body. 

He did have to relieve himself once. 

A proper gentleman with a pure heart and few desires had never been in such an embarrassing state. 

When he cleansed his body, he practically pushed Ji Yue to the highest slot on his hate list. 

To go through such extraordinary shame and humiliation, if he did not retaliate, then he did not deserve to call himself Wei Lian. 

“What else?” Wei Lian casually turned the page. 

Even if he did not use it, it was still a viable topic to tease Ji Yue with. 

Ji Yue: “...”

He was slightly jealous. 

He had not been that intimate towards Wei Xiao Lian yet. 

How could a jade pillar rob it before he did? 

If this news was to get out, he would be a laughingstock. 

The grand Qin Emperor was jealous of a jade pillar, and drinking vinegar. 

“Don’t use it in the future.” Ji Yue unhappily snatched the book. “We are confiscating this book.”

Wei Lian was not at all afraid of him. “You’re telling me what I can and cannot do?”

Ji Yue blurted out, “You can use us.”

Wei Lian raised his eyes and glanced at him. 

He didn’t speak, but the message was very clear in his eyes. 

—You are a useless thing.

“...” Ji Yue held back for a long time. “We are very useful.”

He quietly blushed to the tips of his ears. 

“Then can we…stay tonight?”

Wei Lian grinned. “Sure.”

Then, when Ji Yue was caught in the pleasure and before he could release the arrow from the bowstring, he would kick the older man out of the bed and inform him softly, ‘Have you forgotten? Because this subject has not. Go spend the night with your memorials.’

Let Ji Yue learn the taste of frustration. 

Did the other man really think he could be treated as if he would come at a wave of a command at any time?

Towards a vindictive individual?

“Oh, that’s right, speaking of jade.” Ji Yue suddenly remembered something. “Here, this is for you.”

He handed a piece of lustrous white jade to Wei Lian. 

Now threaded with a red string, the white jade could be worn as a necklace. 

Wei Lian accepted it and inspected it in the palm of his hand. It was a lifelike little fox. 

Smooth jade and exquisite details. 

The fox’s eyes were half closed, giving off a cunning and lazy aura. 

The most breathtaking characteristic was the flower branch the little fox was holding with its mouth. 

The flower just happened to be resting in front of the fox’s chest. 

Exhibiting the blossomed flower in the best possible way. 

It was clear at a glance just how much effort the sculptor had put into it. 

Wei Lian studied it quietly for a while, not saying a single word. 

Ji Yue was feeling nervous. “Do you like it?”

“We just craved it on a whim.” He tried his best to sell his ‘We are just doing this for play and you can have it. This is definitely not something we hurriedly carved with our blood, sweat, and lack of sleep’ manner. 

In the end, Ji Yue could not stand the silence. After seeing no response from Wei Lian, he had to ask, “Are you happy?”

The voice took on a hint of cautious expectation. 

Are you happy?

Wei Lian lowered his head and quietly rubbed the jade. 

His memory was so good that he immediately remembered the annotation on that book, word for word. 

—Are you treating it 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.

—We want to make him happy. ♥From Chapter 38.

He remembered that Ji Yue had been busy hiding in the imperial study. 

As well as the cut on the older man’s fingertip. 

In all of his life, there was roughly no one that had set their hearts on him like this. 

Wei Lian was silent for a long time before sighing softly. 

His childish grudge from before was gone. 

He could not deceive himself on what he was feeling from the bottom of his heart. 

He was happy. 

The little fox was rather over the moon as its heart burst into bloomThe idiom is literally (breaking down by words) 'releasing the passion from one’s heart like a flower'.. 

On this chilling night, the moon rose above the willow tree. 

Wei Lian, dressed in his inner clothes, sat in front of a bronze mirror, held a double-edged fine-toothed comb and slowly combed his long hair. 

Ji Yue paced back and forth in the room, looking more nervous than him. 

Wei Lian was catching the uneasiness from the other man and waved. “Can you stop?”

Ji Yue was at a loss. “We are afraid, more so than fighting on the battlefield.” 

“...Can you be a little more promising.”

The young man lowered his eyes, suppressed the shaking confusion inside and quietly began to undress. 

* * *

Five beautiful and thin fingers dipped lovingly in blush were clenching on the brocade quilt, one that was blessed with rare and radiant beauty was supporting himself with his other hand on the jade pillow, hiding his forehead in the crook of his arm. Occasionally there was a muffled groan during a harsh thrust. 

His long eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings, and cheeks were dyed with the deepest blush. 

A luxurious incense burning beside an affectionate couple under the brocade quilt like two joined branches of two separate trees, resting and staining on the same pillow. 

A jade-like beauty that was decorated with spring. 

* * *

There was a frost flower growing in the frozen soil. Then, it was bathed in a wisp of spring breeze as it carefully tried to break through the soil. Later, it found that there was an entire spring outside, so it happily extended out branches and buds, blooming into the most colourful of flowers. 

Blooming at the top of another person’s heart.