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Ch71 - The Seaside
The Tartars… an ambush… shot by an arrow…
Lou Jing’s heart skipped a beat. Wasn’t that exactly how his Grandfather had died? Something snapped in his brain, and his heart started beating wildly in his chest.
“Shizi…” Le Xian said uncertainly. Lou Jing had a strange expression on his face.
“Get some clothes for me. I’m going to look for Wang ye,” Lou Jing said, waving a hand to dismiss Le Xian. He sat down to think things through.
The Min Wang mansion here had a similar layout to the one in the Capital, with a study that was connected directly to the bedroom. The main difference was that the Minzhou mansion was much more spacious than the one in the Capital.
Lou Jing closed his eyes. He and the Fourth Prince had only met each other a few times, and he wasn’t very emotionally affected by his death; what he was struck by was the manner in which Xiao Chengzheng died. If he had met with the same ambush that had taken his Grandfather’s life, it would have been extremely difficult for him to escape alive. Even he, Lou Jing, might not have been able to make it out in one piece. However, that ambush strategy required a mole within the Empire’s army to cooperate if it was to succeed…
The old Anguo Gong’s death was still a mystery. Lou Jing had not been on the battlefield with him that day. He only knew that his Grandfather’s deputy had betrayed him, but without hard evidence, he couldn’t simply catch hold of the fellow and interrogate him. As such, he simply killed the fellow as a sacrifice to his Grandfather. The Fourth Prince’s death again happened under mysterious circumstances, and Lou Jing thought he might be able to take advantage of this opportunity to investigate his Grandfather’s death in detail.
Now that he had a plan, Lou Jing calmed down. He looked around once, then got up and went to the study.
The study was arranged in the manner that Xiao Chengjun liked best, and it was practically identical to the one on the Capital. Lou Jing suddenly felt like he had returned to the Eastern Palace’s Chongwen Chambers. At that time, they had both been tiptoeing around each other carefully, and they’d thought that their lives were full of hardship then. Looking back now, Lou Jing felt that that period of time had actually been a sweet, happy one. In the very least, they could both be together every day.
The study table had a carved jade brush holder and an inkwell, which contrasted nicely with the delicate jade brush washer in the shape of a lotus pond. As Lou Jing reached out to touch that exquisitely made brush washer, his lips curved upwards slightly into a faint smile. All the other objects in this study had been bought in Minzhou itself. The only thing that had been brought over from the Capital was this brush washer which he’d given Xiao Chengjun. In fact, this brush washer had never left Xiao Chengjun’s desk ever since he gave it to him.
His eyes fell upon the porcelain cylinder that held painting scrolls. There were a few scrolls there, all of which were just plain rolls of paper, save for one, which had been mounted properly as a painting scroll. “Eh?” Lou Jing said softly, going over to have a look. The mounting on that scroll looked familiar, but he’d never really paid attention to it before. Now, his curiosity was piqued, and he was about to pick it up to have a look when he was interrupted by Le Xian.
“Shizi, it’s done,” Le Xian said.
Lou Jing put back the unopened scroll into the cylinder and took the bag from Le Xian. “I’m leaving Yun Wu here. If anything urgent comes up, get him to send a message to me,” he said.
“Certainly,” Le Xian replied, smiling as he walked Lou Jing out the door.
It was less than a hundred li from Rong City to the seaside, and he got there in about four hours. The place Xiao Chengjun was in was called Tingzhi, and it was a small city in Rong County that had really beautiful scenery.
After asking about Min Wang’s whereabouts, Lou Jing left his Youyun guards behind and went to the seaside himself to look for his husband.
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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The beach was dotted with many rocks. Some were large, and others were small. They’d been polished by the waves and sand over thousands of years into smooth, round shapes. Great waves rolled in from the horizon where the sea and sky met and turned into smaller, gentle ones as they entered shallower waters, wetting the clothes of the person standing on the beach.
That person was wearing pale blue robes the colour of the moon. His long sleeves were made of a thin material, and they flapped in the sea breeze as the man stood tall on the sandy shore. He looked regal and dignified, as if he wasn’t looking at scenery, but instead was dealing with important matters of state.
Lou Jing walked over and raised the coconut leaf above that person’s head to shade him from the sun’s rays. “What are you looking at?” he asked.
“The ebb and flow of the tide is like the impermanence of the world. One moment, it’s vibrant, and in the very next, it’s silent,” Xiao Chengjun said. His voice was heavy with sorrow, and he didn’t turn to look at the person beside him, continuing to look instead at the sea stretching endlessly in front of him.
The sun in the sixth lunar month was scorching hot in the South, and it baked the sand under their feet. Lou Jing looked around and saw two rocks nearby. They were long and tall, and they leaned against each other to form a shady spot below them. He reached out and wrapped an arm around Min Wang, who was still staring into the distance. “Let’s go and sit over there. I’ve been on horseback for three days and I’m tired,” he said.
Xiao Chengjun turned to look at Lou Jing. That impossibly gorgeous face of his indeed showed traces of fatigue. Xiao Chengjun’s brows creased slightly, and he pulled Lou Jing to sit in the cool space between the rocks.
A round stone was under the two massive rocks, and the tide lapped at this base stone every now and then. Even though the weather was sweltering, this natural stone pavilion felt very cool, and it was very comfortable to sit there.
Lou Jing pulled his husband into his arms and caressed his sunburned face.
Surprisingly, Xiao Chengjun didn’t refuse Lou Jing’s affections this time, and simply lay quietly in Lou Jing embrace. “How were you able to come now?” he asked.
“The matters in Jiuchang have all been settled,” Lou Jing said, gathering Xiao Chengjun deeper into his embrace so that he would be more comfortable. “Open your mouth.”
A crystalline piece of candy appeared by Xiao Chengjun’s lips, and he opened his mouth obediently to eat it. It first had a fragrant, mellow taste that reminded him of hupo candy, and after sucking on it for a while, it started to taste like sweet milk. He narrowed his eyes in confusion. “What kind of candy is this?” he asked.
“Hupo milk candy,” Lou Jing said, giving him a secretive smile. That candy shop owner hadn’t made milk candy before, so he simply modified the hupo candy recipe and added milk into it. The result was surprisingly delicious.
The sweet fragrance of the hupo milk candy filled Xiao Chengjun’s mouth and nose, and it gave his aching heart some comfort. He sighed, then sat up. “Chengzheng and I grew up together. I might not have been as close to him as I am to Chengjin, but…” his voice trailed off.
Lou Jing took Xiao Chengjun’s hand in his own and didn’t say anything, letting his husband speak freely.
“I knew that this would happen. I knew it long ago,” Xiao Chengjun said, sighing again. He didn’t continue speaking after that. Everything he’d done since he’d been a little boy had all been carefully planned out. From his own deposition as Crown Prince, to obtaining Minzhou as his fief – every last detail had always been part of his strategy. However, he had never schemed to cause the Fourth Prince’s death.
“The future Emperor should not have these regrets,” Lou Jing said, gripping Xiao Chengjun’s slender hand tight. He didn’t want Xiao Chengjun to become a cold-blooded, emotionless Emperor, but even more than that, he didn’t want Xiao Chengjun to be an overly sentimental and indecisive one.
Xiao Chengjun smiled tiredly, then looked at the horizon. “He didn’t trust me, which meant he wasn’t part of my faction, and for that, he unfortunately paid the price. I don’t regret not doing more, but I still feel that it’s a pity,” he said.
It seemed that, in the Imperial family, unless one was born of the same mother and father, it was impossible to truly win over a brother’s heart no matter how much effort one made. All the brotherly affection he had for Chengzheng, all the things he’d done – they’d all been wasted. It was a pity, both for himself and for Chengzheng, but there was nothing to be done now…
Lou Jing looked intently at the person beside him. Xiao Chengjun was decisive, firm and resolute. How could he not fall for this kind of person? He reached out and wrapped his arms around Xiao Chengjun’s waist from behind, then rubbed his cheek against the back of Xiao Chengjun’s neck. “I swear on my life that I will never betray you,” he said.
Xiao Chengjun smiled faintly, then turned to pinch Lou Jing’s chin. “This Wang would never give you that chance. If there was ever a day you did betray me, I’d kill you with my own two hands,” he said.
That deep, melodious voice was blatantly threatening him, and Lou Jing should have been frightened or angry, but instead, he felt his heart beat faster in his chest. He looked deeply into those onyx-dark eyes and moved his face closer, rubbing the tip of his nose against Xiao Chengjun’s. “If it was by your hand, I’d die with a glad heart,” he said, his voice husky.
The two looked deep into each other’s eyes for a while, and their breaths started to intermingle. They suddenly drew in closer to each other and kissed. The sweet hupo milk candy slowly melted on their twining tongues, and they couldn’t help deepening the kiss. They’d depend on each other forever, and dream this sweet dream until the moon set and the stars burned cold.
The setting sun cast its last rays over the surface of the sea. The waves reflected little glints of fiery red light, like a thousand little red stars in a dark sky, making gentle lapping sounds against the sandy beach.
The two of them were lying down with their backs on the warm sand, snuggling each other and looking up at the brilliantly red sky. They both felt a deep sense of peace in their hearts.
“It’s really very cool by the seaside. Let’s just sleep here tonight,” Lou Jing said playfully, kissing his husband’s forehead.
“It’s not safe here. This is the time when pirates often come to attack,” Xiao Chengjun warned. This beach was hidden under a cliff, behind a dense forest of coconut trees. It was a lovely, quiet and scenic spot, but it was also very dangerous. This was the beach that the pirates often used to come ashore.
“Nah, we can’t possibly be that lucky,” Lou Jing said, smiling faintly. The sky was getting dark. He got up, thinking to get a few Youyun guards to catch and grill some fish for their dinner. However, before he got very far, his sixth sense tingled, and he turned back to look at the sea. He suddenly spotted a sharp wooden thing protruding not far away below the cliff – it looked like… the head of a boat!
He narrowed his eyes in that direction, trying to see the surroundings more clearly. In the weak light of dusk, he could see that something was moving in the middle of a bunch of dark rocks.
Lou Jing was alarmed. He quickly made his way back to Xiao Chengjun, who was still lying with his hands behind his head on the beach. There was a big rock about three steps away from Xiao Chengjun.
All of a sudden, a short little pirate emerged from behind the rock.
“Chengjun!” Lou Jing shouted. He ran with all his might toward his husband, but the soft sand under his feet didn’t give him much traction, and no matter how he tried, he couldn’t run as fast as he wanted to.
Xiao Chengjun turned to look at Lou Jing on hearing his shout. At the same time, a thin blade flashed in the waning light and struck downwards in the direction of Xiao Chengjun’s head.
Lou Jing kicked a small stone hard, aiming it at the pirate’s sword.
With a metallic clang, the stone hit the sword blade and deflected it a few inches away.
Xiao Chengjun realised what was happening now, and he rolled away from the pirate, pulling out his own sword to block the pirate’s attack.
Lou Jing leapt off lightly from a large rock into the air, kicking that pirate away in a single blow. Xiao Chengjun no longer needed to block the pirate’s blow and counter-attacked, stabbing forward powerfully.
That pirate was very agile. He thrust his sword forcefully at Scarlet Cloud, using the rebound from that clash to somersault in the air and land on his feet on the beach.
The two of them could now see clearly that this fellow was clad in black from head to toe, and that his calves were bound up firmly in what looked like bandages. He held the hilt of his sword in both hands, and he wore a black mask over his face. The front half of his head was shaven, and the hair on the back of his head was gathered into a tall topknot.
“Pirates!” Xiao Chengjun exclaimed, his pupils shrinking in shock.
“They’re so short?!” Lou Jing said in surprise. He’d never seen a Dongying pirate before, and even though he’d heard that the people of Dongying were all very short, he hadn’t thought that they’d only be about five feet tall.
Before he could jeer at the pirate, more black-clad men leapt out from behind other rocks. They all held strange-looking swords in their hands that were as slim as knives and as long as swords. The pirates surrounded the two of them in a trice.
“Who are you?” Xiao Chengjun asked coldly, holding the sword defensively in front of himself.
One of the black-clad men perched on a tall rock spoke in a strange-sounding language, and the pirates below him on the beach all yelled “Hai!” as one in reply.
“These pirates do seem quite orderly,” Lou Jing remarked. His back was pasted to Xiao Chengjun’s, and he was also holding his sword out in front of him. The pirates suddenly leapt forward and charged at them!
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Beansprout: Idk about you guys, but when I first read this chapter I was all like YASSS this must be the chapter with Sex on the Beach! But no, bloody pirates showed up and spoiled everything… *sips cocktail*