As soon as he opened his eyes, he spotted the familiar resplendent bed curtain. He also concluded in his heart that, luckily, he had the self-control and judgement to avoid dragging Mu Zhan and absorbing his pheromones. Otherwise, he would be judged sick in the head for daring to offend the emperor. They may have taken him out and hacked off his head before rolling him onto a tattered mat and dumping him.
Wen Mingyu had spent the entire day laying down. His entire body was weightless as a feather, and he purely wanted to rise on his feet. He just pushed himself up on the comfortable bedding just in time for Mu Zhan, who had arrived after returning from the court.
Mu Zhan stiffened for a second upon seeing the awakened man. His countenance instantly regained its composure, and he moved over to the side of the bed and sat down. Once again, as if checking to see whether his possessions had been damaged after a few days, he lifted his hand and squeezed his face. He said blandly, “Is there anything left that makes you uncomfortable?”
Wen Mingyu was nipped to the point of leaving a trace of a faint finger mark on the side of his face. The light cherry smeared across a fairly pale face turned fresh and vibrant. He grinned as his lips curved, “Your Majesty was alarmed. I am alright.”
Mu Zhan pressed the person back to bed and then ordered, “This one is short on patience. Hurry up and regain your health as soon as possible.”
Wen Mingyu was taken aback. How could he be made to lie down when he had only gotten out of the blanket? He had been sleeping for a few days, so his body felt weary. He simply desired to rise and move.
“I believe I can move rather well.”
Resembling a fish on a chopping board, he bounced twice and attempted to stand up, only for Mu Zhan to push him hard again, not allowing him the least chance.
“Bear till you are in good health.” Mu Zhan outright forbade him.
Zhao Dequan, too, cautiously advised him from behind. “Young Master Wen, you have recently overcome a serious illness. Your body is in poor health. Don’t strain yourself.”
Wen Mingyu had the image of someone who had nothing in life to long for, yet he was not sick at all. It was only a false estrus. He’d be fine after that.
He was compelled to transform into a salted fish and was immobilized on the bed.
Aside from that, the most agonizing part was drinking the boiled medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine is cooked and simmered gently over a mild heat, similar to how fire is used in martial arts. It would be presented in a large bowl, and as the foul odor filled one’s nostrils, one would feel as if they had been slaughtered before even sipping it.
Is this truly the cure for treating illnesses? Not a lethal toxin to kill people?
He’s clearly not unwell; why must he be subjected to inhumane treatment?!
Wen Mingyu was forced to pinch his nose as he picked up the bowl and drank it. He gurgled a few times, and when he believed he was down to the last drop, he opened his eyes to see that there was still three-quarters remaining. He nearly rolled both his eyes over.
The most concerning estrus period had passed, but he had not anticipated such horrors awaiting him in the back afterwards. In comparison, it appears that being in heat is not that bad since he can tolerate it and it will soon go away. This excruciating medicine, however, has no end and can not be tolerated!
Wen Mingyu was, at last, truthful with himself. He couldn’t stand it any longer, so when an idea hit him, he directed his attention to the potted plants in the courtyard.
He’s going to stealthily throw the medicine.
After sending the servants away with an excuse, he silently crept out of the hall like a cunning cat. He approached as he touched the corner of the wall. The person’s silhouette resembled that of a furtive dog. He then started assaulting the helpless potted plants.
The medicine bowl tipped over and spilled its contents. It landed in the soil beneath the leaves, swiftly soaking in and dissolving.
At heart, Wen Mingyu felt terrible after doing something wrong. His hands were trembling slightly, and he scanned the surroundings with his alert eyes, like a kitten that had stolen a dry fish.
Despite his scrupulousness, he was still unable to escape.
The first time he poured out the medicine, it was fruitful, but the second time, he was caught. Mu Zhan seemed to be squatting in ambush, waiting for him to do something bad.
Behind him, a faint voice called out. Wen Mingyu was so terrified that all his hair exploded all over him, and the entire person shook.
“What are you doing?”
Wen Mingyu whirled around automatically, his hands gripping the medicine bowl, at a railway speed, hid behind him. The curl at the corner of his lips was becoming more pronounced. He said with difficulty, “… Admire, admire the flowers?”
Mu Zhan looked down at the brown liquid he’d just tossed in his hands and splattered on the leaves. He spoke in a long-drawn out tone, “It’s watering the plants, isn’t it?”
“Ha, haha, not really. Your Majesty misjudged the situation.”
Wen Mingyu summoned his bold face to speak rubbish, thinking to himself that Mu Zhan’s power of ridicule was one hundred percent, which was not small at all. Sobbing, his head was about to be poked into a griddle.
“Remember who taught you the art of archery.”
Mu Zhan spoke so briskly, his words were as light as a breeze. He spun around and entered the hall.
Wen Mingyu froze for a second before realizing the meaning of his words. He scratched his head clumsily and, in a cowardly manner, trailed after Mu Zhan in vain. The expression was identical to that of an aggrieved child who had been apprehended by the family head after committing a mistake.
He entered, wilting, his head drooping low and his eyes fluttering in all directions, yet not daring to look Mu Zhan in the eye.
Mu Zhan sat, and Wen Mingyu stood, forming a large discrepancy. In spite of that, looking from bottom to top at people, his imposing demeanor, with no vulnerability, left a sensation of oppression, as if he was overseeing the ground below; and the irresistible force in his tone, not accepting any objection.
“You have the guts to throw out the medicine. How come you don’t dare to look this one in the eyes right now?”
Wen Mingyu raised his eyes and gave him a quick glance before returning his gaze to the carpet again. Finally, he firmly acknowledged his wrongdoing with an earnest and sincere attitude, “I’m sorry. I was wrong. I should not have discarded the medicine, but the medicine is really too bitter; can I stop drinking it?”
He didn’t become sick. To be honest, he doesn’t need to consume the medicine.
Mu Zhan, on the other hand, disregarded him and had someone fetch him a bowl of new medicine. It was a huge bowl, completely filled, and the taste was really powerful and could drive you to death. Wen Mingyu took a sniff and wanted to turn back, take a step, and run.
He silently took a modest step back, refusing to accept defeat. “Your Majesty, my body has already recovered…”
“Come here.”
Mu Zhan ordered, forcibly providing Wen Mingyu with no choice but to sit beside him.
Wen Mingyu had a glimpse at the medicine bowl. The pungent smell eventually flooded the entire room. It continued drilling into his nostrils, basically guiding his body to a higher level where he might soon achieve enlightenment.
He feigned to be in distress and glanced at Mu Zhan with watery eyes, wishing he wouldn’t drink.
“Your Majesty… woo!”
No sooner had he opened his lips and spoken two words when he was driven to chew them back. Because Mu Zhan seized the chance to scoop up a spoonful of medicine and place it in Wen Mingyu’s mouth.
Wen Mingyu felt the bitterness right away. It was so bitter that his eyebrows wrung together and his face crumpled into a ball. He looked terribly pitiful.
“I don’t…”
He instinctively opened his lips to decline. As a result, Mu Zhan embraced the opportunity. His mouth was once more filled with medicine liquid.
At that moment, Wen Mingyu was thoroughly and genuinely baffled. He never imagined Mu Zhan would operate so aggressively, so simply, and so crudely that he wouldn’t even give him a small chance to disagree.
He did not dare to bring himself to say anything else. He clamped his mouth hard and grudgingly gulped the medicine down. His tongue was so bitter and astringent that he suspected it was not his own. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he wasn’t sobbing; they were just bodily tears from bitter suffering.
However, when it landed in a specific person’s eyes, the image matched a small animal, with reddish eyes brimming with weeping tears.
Mu Zhan stretched out and stroked the edge of his eyes, pressing his finger softly and brushing away the tears. He remarked profoundly, “It’s pointless.”
In any case, no matter the taunt or mockery, he could cry even when drinking medicine. He was no worse than a child.
Wen Mingyu, in his thoughts, refused to cave in. If he was in terrible condition and required medication, then it was likely that he would have held his breath and drank the medicine. But the important thing to remember is that he has no need for it. Furthermore, it was not his fault that this medicine was not something ordinary people could drink.
He emphasized, “This medicine is difficult to consume, really.”
Mu Zhan, who was holding the spoon, didn’t think so. He replied bluntly, as he carelessly swirled the medicine, “Will you drink it on your own, or will this one have to keep feeding you?”
His manner of speaking was soft, as if he was receptive to persuasion, but in actuality, he provided no option to choose.
Wen Mingyu certainly comprehends far too well. Anyhow, if he’s going to drink, protracted agony is preferable to brief pain. One drink of suffocation is far preferable to spoonful after spoonful of torment.
Hence, he seized the spoon and declared, quite vehemently, “I’ll drink it myself!”
Mu Zhan didn’t get upset. He merely stared at him like a competent medicine-drinking boss.
Wen Mingyu was about to gulp it down when he inadvertently caught Mu Zhan’s too calm eyes. Suddenly, something “evil” grew from his gut, gaining courage, and a crafty notion sprang to him in his heart.
Without any warning, he acted fast and scooped up a spoonful of medicine and abruptly shoved it forcibly into Mu Zhan’s mouth for vengeance. Mu Zhan was unprepared, which allowed him to succeed.
After Wen Mingyu achieved his goal, he was like a cat that had shattered a vase, wagging its tail with his misty, round eyes. With a naive look, he said, “Your Majesty, I was not lying, am I? It’s really bitter.”
Mu Zhan: “….”
Wen Mingyu peeked at his complicated expression, which was impossible to convey in a single sentence. He couldn’t help but snicker a bit in his heart and say, “However, His Majesty is both the greatest and the most fearsome. He is, unquestionably, not frightened of adversity. Still, I am too useless.”
Mu Zhan scrunched his eyebrows. Bitterness only altered his look for a brief period. He soon regained his calm and cast a chilly gaze at him. He said to him in a warning tone, “Are you going to drink the medicine, or do you want this one to drink it?”
Wen Mingyu grinned coquettishly and hurriedly fed him a piece of candied fruit to alleviate the bitterness in his mouth.
Mu Zhan ate the candied fruit, but this did not stop him from slipping off. He once more picked up the medicine bowl and fed Wen Mingyu medicine.
What a great honor it was for His Majesty, the Emperor, to feed him scoop after scoop.
However, the person concerned merely wanted to shed tears and, deep down, repent. He regretted it very much. He shouldn’t have skinned that one.
But, when the large bowl of medicine was drained until the last drop and the bitterness was suppressed with candied fruit, he recalled Mu Zhan’s look, who felt the bitterness to the point of doubting his existence. He believed that if he could repeat it again, he would do it one more time since it was really so awesome.
Mu Zhan caught the corner of his lips curving upwards a little. The lips were plump and blooming with damp red, giving him the appearance of being soft and very kissable.
It serves to remind you of what transpired that day.
Mu Zhan suddenly reached out and cupped his chin, prompting him to fix his attention on him. “At that time, did you notice it then?”
Wen Mingyu’s face looked puzzled.
Mu Zhan: “When you were feverish and kissed this one that time.”
Wen Mingyu’s eyes instantly widened in shock and he didn’t dare to be skeptical. Wait a minute, does he have a problem with his ears? What did the tyrant claim he did?
In panic, he tripped over his words, as if he had forgotten how to speak. “I, that, is Your Majesty humoring me?”
As soon as the voice faded, Mu Zhan’s countenance quickly cooled. “You forgot?”
Wen Mingyu couldn’t help but shudder and recollect furiously, lest he might have overlooked a rabbit’s ear without noticing it. He said softly, “Your Majesty, I may be suffering from exhaustion and confusion…”
Asking, can the innocent be pardoned for being ignorant?
Wen Mingyu wanted to weep very much.
Mu Zhan’s complexion was dark and somber, and his demeanor was gloomy. Wen Mingyu dreaded death if he turned over, but after a minute of eerie stillness in the air, as if nothing had happened, Mu Zhan turned around expressionlessly and went to criticize the official reports.
Wen Mingyu remained stupefied.
How come he walked away? Did he, in the end, kiss Mu Zhan, or not?
Why would Mu Zhan make such a humorous joke if he hadn’t kissed him?
If he did kiss him, why didn’t Mu Zhan pursue it. As the Emperor, shouldn’t he be insulted and repulsed by being offended?
He couldn’t figure it out, but he intuitively avoided diving too deep into it. Since Mu Zhan just dismissed it, then he would also ignore it.
For the next two days, Wen Mingyu stayed at the Tai Chi hall to recuperate from his illness.
He knew he was well, but his unexplained lethargy and high fever seemed almost lethal to others. Mu Zhan took his sickness very seriously. While he claimed to be healthy enough that things could return to normal, Mu Zhan still thought of him as a weak chicken and a fragile piece of porcelain that could easily be broken.
When Mu Zhan arrived, Wen Mingyu was still collapsed feebly on his snack, reading a script and eating snacks. He was about to stand up per etiquette when Mu Zhan approached him and pressed him back to lie down.
Wen Mingyu’s dumbfounded face was riddled with questions. He was very confused. If not for the fact that he could still feel his legs, he would have assumed he was crippled.
After two days of lying down, Wen Mingyu was eventually able to return to the palace where he was residing.
Only that his residence has shifted.
From a sequestered and serene residence, it evolved into Penglai Hall, the closest place to Tai Chi Hall. It was said to be the abode where only successive empresses of previous dynasties were entitled to live, with its pearls and walls mirroring each other and its gold and jades vied with each other. It was a luxury treat for the eyes.
Wen Mingyu was at a loss for words. His mind wondered: how could he be somehow given a new place without reason? The grand palace was more pleasant to dwell in, yet what was on Mu Zhan’s mind made him flustered.
There were three times as many palace servants, all of whom served him, each more respectful and disciplined than the other.
Wen Mingyu kneeled down in full battle mode, turned around and cautiously looked at Mu Zhan, asking carefully, “Your Majesty, I did not do that half bad before. How…”
Mu Zhan asked instead, “Dislike it?”
“Is not. It’s just not right for me…”
He lacks the necessary status to reside in such a location. He will always feel as if he has become a demonic concubine of some wicked country at some point, and may die a swift death.
Mu Zhan was one of those who followed his sweet will, and so he said straight away, “If you like it, you can live there. There is no such thing as being out of place.”
Wen Mingyu wanted to talk more in order to buy more time, “But…”
Mu Zhan’s facial expression then grows somewhat annoyed and impatient, “Does this one have to crown you empress before you can abide?”
Wen Mingyu shook his head violently in an instant. His reaction had never been so fast. “I love it very much. I’m moving in right at this moment.”
Once he said this, Mu Zhan’s expression eased a little, and he said, “This is your reward for waking up within three days.”
Wen Mingyu wondered, “… Huh?”
When Zhao Dequan, who was standing on the side, heard this, his forehead started to drip cold sweat continuously. Yet he didn’t dare to reach out and brush it away.
He had heard what Mu Zhan had said at the beginning. If Young Master Wen awoke even a bit later, he would be put to death!
When he awoke, the emperor’s beloved was being bestowed with lavish treatment. Not waking up, he would have you killed. The tyrant’s affection is truly… He cannot help but sympathize with Young Master Wen.
Moving places is not as simple as changing one’s residence in a palace. It was like a drop of water trickling into boiling oil, sizzling and flying in all directions. The imperial palace was in turmoil.
All of the imperial servants recognized once again that Wen Mingyu bears unparalleled prestige in His Majesty’s heart, and so their attitude was one of awe and veneration. They handled him with great respect, yet still cautiously, as if he were His Majesty. After all, if they provoked him and His Majesty became aware of it, there would be just one exit leading to an unfathomable, dreadful end.
The exterior of Penglai Hall is already breathtaking and amazing, and when you step inside, it has even more exaggerated grandeur, with precious items of immense worth everywhere, totaling fifteen cities, any of which would cause a commotion if bought out. They are, nevertheless, underappreciated and undervalued here, just like a plethora of Chinese cabbages.
Even though Wen Mingyu didn’t know how to appraise antiques, he could see how valuable these items were, yet Mu Zhan just handed them away and casually allowed Wen Mingyu to use them as he pleased.
Wen Mingyu was under psychological stress at first, but in response to his ongoing pressure, Mu Zhan seemed to be fine with it, enough to see that Wen Mingyu, who was sipping tea from a gold-gilded porcelain cup, had inadvertently scalded himself. He tossed the cup aside, crushing it into pieces on the floor. They then substituted it with a more exquisite and pure grey jade cup without hesitation.
Wen Mingyu encountered more of these riches and followed Mu Zhan’s example after a long period, and he was getting numb. He looked at them as though they were sold at a clearance sale for one yuan, using them very casually and effortlessly.
Half a month later, Wen Mingyu’s body had entirely healed. He even grew healthier than before as a result of taking too much tonic, so much so that his skin was rosier and he appeared more beckoning than before.
It was also at this point that a welcoming banquet was organized at the palace to honor the great general’s triumphant arrival.
Wen Mingyu was also obliged to attend and was dressed in opulent attire. He had a section of the hall filled with various types of apparel, all of which were tailor-made. The tailored fabrics were trimmed with great care, perfectly accentuating the highlights of his stature. Glorious orchids and as warm as jade trees, just like the gentleness accompanying a young imperial prince.
San Xi served him as he changed into layers of garments. As he pulled up his long hair, his eyes widened in astonishment.
He trailed after Wen Mingyu out of the hall and saw His Majesty, who was identically dressed for the occasion.
The second Wen Mingyu raised his gaze, he tensed unconsciously upon seeing him.
Mu Zhan would not don such a formal style of attire on a regular basis. The fabrics were similarly of high quality, but his regular clothing style was significantly simpler. Unlike now, the air of a noble feudal ruler’s descendent is in full bloom. The cold and clear moonlight washed over him, and the night breeze rushed through, lifting up a few strands of his black hair. While the flowers in the courtyard swung, seemingly quivering slightly from the coldness.
Mu Zhan’s back was straight and upright. The frigid wind at night did not faze him as his body didn’t budge an inch. His visage was indifferent, haughty, and detached, a born monarch by nature, who made no one dare go near him.
But Wen Mingyu had no idea that as he looked at Mu Zhan, Mu Zhan was equally looking at him. His demeanor remained unchanged. His eyes were dark as he measured him, as if he was carving the person inch by inch, imprisoning him in his own territory.
They rode in the imperial carriage together.
This was the first time Wen Mingyu had met so many people at a public event since passing over here. It was tough to keep his innate curiosity and anxiousness under control. His hands were secretly clenched firmly under his spacious sleeves.
Mu Zhan noticed it straight away.
When the carriage came to a halt, Mu Zhan was the first to descend. He then turned around and effortlessly towed Wen Mingyu over, gripping him under his armpits with both hands and carrying him to the ground.
While Wen Mingyu was still in a daze, Mu Zhan took a grip of his hand, trailed down between the sleeves, and seized his wrist. He forced his jammed five fingers to gently extend and flatten. He touched hard on the markings of crescent curves that were light pink and faintly sunken due to his fingernails pressing on them.
Mu Zhan gave him a glance. The light in his eyes was nowhere to be found and was absolutely dark, deep, and serene. He said with firmness, “This is only a little feast. What are you afraid of? You are this one’s person. You have nothing to be concerned about. Just have a good time and play by yourself.”
Wen Mingyu was caught off guard and rendered speechless. In his absentmindedness, he had the illusion that he was protected by the tyrant.
The author has something to say:
Baby Yu got a fever and kissed someone. He forgot when he woke up.
Mu Zhan:… Slag man!
Chifu: Thanks for everyone’s kind words! No need to threaten me like the tyrant, I’m fine now (just a bit of coughing) I feel like a salted fish too. How nice to laze around for a little! That I completely forgot about translating… cough