The Second Uncle and First Aunt were already in front of the Pingjiang Hou residence gate and ready to leave when Lou Jing arrived. They had a long distance to travel, and there were women in their company, so it was best to leave early to avoid the dangers of travelling at night.
“Jiujiu, Jiumu, safe travels,” Lou Jing said. He was very reluctant to see them leave, and it showed on his face.
Xu Che clapped Lou Jing on the shoulder. “You be careful yourself. If anything happens, let us know immediately. And if things get really bad, just come to us in Lingnan. I may not be good at very much else, but I can definitely keep you safe with this spear of mine,” he said.
Lou Jing nodded, and personally fastened a cloak over his Second Uncle’s shoulders. The days were getting colder, and Xu Che would be exposed to the elements on his horse the entire way. He didn’t want his uncle to fall sick from the cold.
“My dear Zhuoyu,” the First Aunt said, taking Lou Jing’s hand in hers and sighing deeply. “You and Min Wang… if you still want to maintain that kind of relationship with him, it’s your decision, and I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it work somehow. I do think though, that it might be best if you got yourself a good wife, who can produce descendants for the Lou family and carry on your lineage.”
Lou Jing’s lips curved gently upwards. “I have my own plans on this. Jiumu, don’t worry about me,” he said.
“Sigh, how could I not worry?” the Pingjiang Hou furen said, her brows creased deeply. Winter would be upon them very soon, and Lou Jing didn’t have anyone with him to take care of him. “There are some things that I ordinarily wouldn’t say, but since there aren’t any outsiders here today, I’ll be frank.”
Luotang Square was very quiet in the early light of dawn, save for the autumn winds whistling in their ears. They were standing at the wide entrance to the Pingjiang Hou mansion, and people would not ordinarily dare to come too close to it without good reason. It wasn’t possible for someone who was more than five steps away to hear what was being said, and the Pingjiang Hou furen was not afraid of being overheard as such.
“Jiumu, please speak your mind,” Lou Jing said, helping his First Aunt onto the horse carriage and making sure that she had sat down properly before she continued speaking.
“You may have married the Crown Prince as his male wife, but that was because you had no choice under the circumstances,” the First Aunt said, her face worried. “Jiumu just wants you to be able to lead a peaceful life. What’s important is not amassing great power and influence, but living a long, happy life, and that’s also what I wish for you to have. If your father cannot be bothered to help you find a good match, I can do it for you.”
Lou Jing was surprised. He hadn’t expected his Jiumu to say something like this. She had probably seen that he still had some personal entanglements with Xiao Chengjun that were not entirely above board, and was worried that he was submitting to Xiao Chengjun in exchange for political power. He couldn’t help chuckling. She was right about them having “personal entanglements”, but it wasn’t he who had submitted to Xiao Chengjun; quite the opposite, in fact. There was no way he could leave Xiao Chengjun and take a wife now.
With this in mind, Lou Jing raised his robes slightly, then knelt on the ground. He looked up at his Jiumu from this position. “This nephew wants to be completely honest with Jiumu. In truth, my heart belongs to Xiao Chengjun, and given a choice, I will certainly choose to marry him again,” he said.
The Pingjiang Hou furen sucked in a breath. “What travesty!” she exclaimed.
“You’re principled!” Xu Che said approvingly. He was standing behind Lou Jing, and when he heard the words leave Lou Jing’s mouth, he immediately pulled Lou Jing up and ruffled Lou Jing’s neatly arranged hair roughly. “Good men are true to their hearts. If you don’t want to take a wife, then don’t! It would be an insult to the woman you married otherwise. She’s also someone’s good daughter, and shouldn’t be dishonoured this way.”
“Second Brother-in-Law, stop adding oil to the flames,” the Pingjiang Hou furen said wearily. “Never mind. I can’t even convince your Second Uncle to take a wife, so why did I think you’d be any different? You can do as you please.” She sighed, moved further into the horse carriage and put down the privacy curtains. She didn’t want to talk to this silly uncle and nephew pair any more.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Xu Che felt a little uncomfortable under Lou Jing’s intent gaze. He coughed lightly, leapt on his horse, and hooked his spear onto the saddle with a flourish. He clapped Lou Jing on the shoulder in farewell.
Lou Jing straightened the hair and guan that had been mussed up by his Second Uncle earlier, and also got on a horse. He accompanied the Pingjiang Hou convoy until they were about ten li from the city, at which point, he was finally chased off by an impatient Xu Che.
When Lou Jing got back to the Capital, it was time to go to the Northern Barracks. Lou Jing marked his attendance there and slipped off. He first returned to Zhuque Hall to change out of his travel-stained clothes, ate a quick meal, then left with some nourishing herbs in hand. When he got to the main gate, he met Zhou Song, who had coincidentally come to look for him.
“Someone has suggested that Min Wang be the one to oversee that thing,” Zhou Song said. He watched Lou Jing’s reaction carefully, and on seeing that Lou Jing wasn’t perturbed by this news, continued. “Regardless of whether the one in charge is the Ministry of Works or Min Wang, we have to make sure Shen Lian doesn’t get his hands into this pie. Otherwise, we won’t even have soup to drink, let alone a pie to eat.”
Lou Jing was anxious to go and check on his husband and was in no mood to have this conversation. “I have a plan. You just make sure that we get in on this deal, and get back to the Barracks asap, or I’ll dock you for playing hooky.”
Zhou Song gave him a dirty look. Who was the one playing hooky here?! He turned and headed back to the Northern Barracks.
Lou Jing went straight into the Min Wang residence through the main gate. The guard at the gate couldn’t help but be surprised when he saw the Anguo Gong Shizi here yet again. Wasn’t he here just yesterday? “Shizi, what are you here for?” he asked politely.
“I heard that Dianxia is not feeling well today, so I came to pay a visit,” Lou Jing said, displaying the deer antler in his hands and looking every bit the concerned subordinate.
The butler had already given special instructions not to stop the Anguo Gong Shizi from entering no matter what time of the day it was, so the guard didn’t dare to say more, and opened the gate for Lou Jing to enter.
Before long, other ministers also arrived to look in on Xiao Chengjun after the Imperial Court session ended. The same guard stopped them at the gate. “Dianxia is not feeling well and is not seeing guests for now,” he said.
Lou Jing gave the deer antler to Chang En and asked him to get the chefs to make some herbal chicken soup with it. He himself padded lightly into the bedroom.
Xiao Chengjun was still asleep. The sunlight shone down on his long, thick eyelashes, casting a fan-like shadow on his cheeks. Even though Xiao Chengjun was exhausted, he still slept in a very proper manner. His lips were a little red and swollen, which made it look as if he was pouting a little. That imposing, dignified air he usually had about him had vanished, and he actually seemed a little childish this way.
Lou Jing could not resist scooting over and planting a kiss on those moist lips. He sat down gently on the bed and leaned against the headboard, taking Xiao Chengjun’s exposed hand in his. The slightly cold fingers of that hand quickly warmed up in his grasp.
This proud, dignified man was willing to submit to Lou Jing in bed. Even if Lou Jing had to watch the world burn to be true to this man, he would do it; what more something as insignificant as taking a wife?
“Shizi, the soup is ready,” Chang En said softly from outside the bedroom door.
Lou Jing realised only now how long he’d been mesmerized gazing at Min Wang Dianxia’s sleeping face. A full hour had already passed! He smiled, got up and opened the bedroom door. Chang En was standing outside with a worried look, and Le Xian was holding a tray with a bowl of chicken soup, looking away determinedly from the bedroom door.
“If Dianxia isn’t feeling well, shouldn’t we get an Imperial Physician here to have a look at him?” Chang En asked cautiously.
Lou Jing took the tray from Le Xian. “Send for one, then,” he said, after pondering for a bit.
Since he had taken leave, it was best to back it up with a solid reason.
Lou Jing set the tray down on the table, then filled a small bowl with soup and put it next to the bed. He gathered the soundly sleeping Xiao Chengjun into his arms and used a warm cloth to wipe his face. “Chengjun, wake up and have some soup,” he said gently. “You can continue sleeping later.”
Last night was Xiao Chengjun’s first time, and he naturally had suffered a little. Lou Jing had been completely hooked on that beguiling sensation, and had asked to do it a few more times, which was why Xiao Chengjun was completely tired out this morning. If Lou Jing continued to let Xiao Chengjun keep sleeping, he would probably feel even more tired when he woke up. It was better to let him drink some nourishing soup first before sleeping again.
“Mm…” Xiao Chengjun’s brows creased as he tried to open his eyes. The sunlight was too bright, and he had to squint for a while before opening them fully.
Lou Jing smiled as he brought some tea over for Xiao Chengjun to rinse his mouth. He picked up a white porcelain spoon, scooped up some steaming soup, blew on it, then fed it to Xiao Chengjun.
Xiao Chengjun had not fully woken up yet when that spoonful of fragrant chicken soup was placed next to his lips. He twitched his nose. He was indeed a little hungry, but he found it rather awkward to have Lou Jing feed him. “I’ll feed myself,” he said, reaching out to take the spoon from Lou Jing.
Lou Jing dodged nimbly, and simply pulled Xiao Chengjun into his arms. He used the blankets to wrap Xiao Chengjun up firmly. “It was my fault for tiring you out last night, so I have to make it up to you today,” he said.
Xiao Chengjun felt even more awkward now that the events of last night had been brought up. It had been painful at the start, but subsequently, it was very, very pleasant. He also hadn’t wanted to stop, which was why he hadn’t objected to Lou Jing’s requests for more. He berated himself for being too self-indulgent.
Lou Jing saw the look on Min Wang’s face and knew that he was giving himself a hard time over what happened last night. He couldn’t help leaning forward and giving him a kiss, then feeding a spoonful of chicken soup to the person in his arms. Deer antler had warming properties, but did not dry the body out, and it was also good for nourishing the blood, the bone marrow and the yang energy of men. It was also known to be good for spermatogenesis. It was the most appropriate tonic for men who had just engaged in certain vigorous nocturnal activities. The soup was also exquisite; the chefs in Xiao Chengjun’s residence had been Imperial chefs before leaving the palace and were all highly skilled.
Lou Jing also drank some soup in between feeding Xiao Chengjun, using the same spoon to feed himself and Xiao Chengjun in turns. They finished the big bowl of chicken soup between them very quickly.
“I asked Chang En to get an Imperial Physician in for you,” Lou Jing said, putting down the small bowl in his hand and wiping the corners of Xiao Chengjun’s mouth. “Today, a suggestion was made during the morning Court session for you to be the one in charge of the canal repairs in Qinghe.”
Xiao Chengjun lowered his eyes. He had anticipated that the Minister of the Right would do this. However, he had not expected that Chen Shichang would have been in such a hurry to do so. Then again, this quickfire tactic of his was very effective; if he had been in Court this morning, he would certainly have been in hot water. Thinking this, he couldn’t help looking up and smiling faintly at Lou Jing. “That’s certainly a good plan,” he said.
He might as well just claim to be ill and stay home. If the Chunde Emperor didn’t see him physically, then he couldn’t give him any work, either.
Lou Jing smiled proudly. “Dianxia was able to escape this calamity because of me. Shouldn’t you be thanking me?” he said.
Xiao Chengjun gave him a sideways glance. “Then your reward shall be that you don’t need to attend to me in bed for the next few nights,” he said.
“Huh?” Lou Jing shook his head immediately. “No, Chen is willing to work his very hardest for Dianxia. Dianxia, you need not have any pity for Chen in this regard,” he said, an innocent expression on his face.
As Min Wang did not attend the Imperial Court that morning, no decision was made as to who to put in charge of the Qinghe canal project. In the afternoon, an Imperial Physician checked on Min Wang’s condition, and the diagnosis was that he was a little anaemic and listless, so he should remain at home and rest quietly for a few days.
The Chunde Emperor wanted to settle the Qinghe issue quickly, and thus, did not consider Xiao Chengjun as an option any more.
In the afternoon, Min Wang chased Lou Jing off to go back and do his work at the Northern Barracks. Before long, a palace messenger was sent to the Northern Barracks to summon the Left Commander-General of the Yulin Troops to the Fengyi Palace.
The Empress was a man, and since the Shizong Emperor’s time, the Emperor’s honour guard had been managed by the Empress. It was therefore not out of the ordinary for the Empress to summon Lou Jing for an audience, particularly as Lou Jing had previously been his son-in-law until the recent deposition of the Crown Prince. The people in the Northern Barracks were very envious of Lou Jing’s status.
“Sigh, you just walked one round around the palace and managed to catch the Empress’ eye. If I’d known this earlier, I’d have found some way to marry into the Eastern Palace even if it killed me,” Zhou Song said, being a perfect sour grape.
“First, you’d need to have Lou Jing’s looks,” his colleague said, giving him a sideways glance.
“What? Hey, you little brat, are you saying that yours truly isn’t handsome enough?” Zhou Song ground a fist into his hand. “I might not be able to beat Lou Jing, but I can certainly beat you. Come here, let’s have a little match.”
As one of the Emperor’s personal guards, Lou Jing had the credentials to go in and out of the palace at will. He showed the guards his waist pendant, entered the Fengyi Palace without issue, and kowtowed before the Empress.
Ji Zhuo first asked about Xiao Chengjun’s condition, and after being told that there was nothing seriously wrong with him and that he was really just calling in sick to avoid the situation in the Imperial Court, he relaxed and moved on to chat with Lou Jing.
“The lychee wine you gave me the last time was really good. Do you have any more?” Ji Zhuo asked.