Just as people were still immersed in Lord He’s performance of the ‘Hanging Golden Bell’ a sudden loud “thud!” echoed from a distance.
A dark figure fell from the horse, and He Heng finally concluded his painful “journey”.
Witnessing this, the hands that were vigorously applauding awkwardly froze in mid-air.
Everyone stood still, staring at each other in amazement. In that moment of silence, Xie Chong was the first to react. He shouted, “Lord He, how did you fall?” and immediately sprinted towards He Heng.
With a loud “clang!”
He Heng’s entire back slammed heavily onto the grass, and now, he felt even dizzier.
In this moment, his mind went completely blank. Perhaps the man before him, or rather, the Husky before him, was his natural enemy.
Xie Chong, who had slipped on his feet a moment ago, rushed out due to inertia. When he realized it, He Heng was already knocked down by him.
Looking down, after meeting He Heng’s gloomy face that seemed like it could drip water, he thought, “This is bad.” Quickly, he grabbed He Heng’s collar, pulled him up from the ground, and shook him vigorously while muttering.
“Lord He!”
Seeing He Heng not responding, Xie Chong shook him even harder. “Lord He! Are you okay?”
He Heng was initially just a bit dizzy and needed a moment to recover. However, with the vigorous shaking, he felt like his soul was about to leave his body. His stomach churned, fortunately, several hours had passed since breakfast; otherwise, he might have vomited all over the person shaking him.
Xie Chong had a loud voice. With his shout, not only could people in the vicinity hear, but even the animals in the area could hear him.
The accompanying ministers and eunuchs rushed over at this moment, all wearing panicked expressions. Leading the charge was Eunuch Tian Lianghan.
He Heng was about to tell them, “I’m fine, help me up.”
However, Xie Chong, looking at the crowd, preempted him and blurted out,
“Lord He seems to have knocked his brains silly. No matter what I say, he doesn’t respond.”
He Heng’s mouth twitched: “…” It’s you who’s being silly.
However, in the blink of an eye, a spark of inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind.
After the end of the first world, He Heng spent three days in the 996 system space. During this time, he diligently studied the tropes of hundreds of melodramatic novels, all in preparation for facing various dangerous plots in the future.
As a result, these melodramatic plotlines almost formed a systematic knowledge chain in his mind, engraved into his DNA.
Just like now, a single sentence from Xie Chong instantly sparked an idea in He Heng’s mind.
You see, there’s a common misconception about pursuing a wife in the knowledge domain. It’s often believed that scummy protagonists must go above and beyond in portraying their own misery to gain sympathy from their wives and win back their hearts. Some might even go as far as stabbing themselves a few times.
However, He Heng was definitely not going to stab himself. After all, the body is a gift from one’s parents, and he hadn’t even had a chance to cherish it properly. How could he engage in self-harm?
Especially considering the potential problems if he damaged his kidneys.
After reading a hundred melodramatic novels, He Heng had an epiphany. The essence of “pursuing a wife” lay not in how miserable you actually were but in how miserable the other person perceived you to be.
As long as you can subjectively change their feelings towards you, then you’ve succeeded.
The key is, if sadness isn’t enough, bring in some acting.
And now, Xie Chong had presented him with an excellent opportunity.
The originally gloomy, sickly, paranoid, cold, ruthless, and gentle Regent Prince, who stood high and mighty, suddenly fell from his horse, becoming a pitiful figure without memories. With amnesia, he forgot everyone but couldn’t forget the little emperor. He regarded the emperor as his only reliance, demanding to be held every day with constant whining and whimpering.
What a classic plot twist!
The little emperor loathed the once paranoid and ruthless person from his past, but what could he do with a pitiful figure suffering from amnesia?
And if he, as the Regent Prince, didn’t truly “lose his memory”, he would create a scenario of “amnesia” for himself.
Thinking of this, He Heng pushed away the hands of Tian Lianghan and others trying to help him up, closed his eyes, furrowed his brow, and began to brew his own emotions.
His appearance had the eunuchs and ministers in a state of anxiety.
Seeing He Heng silent for a long time, Tian Lianghan was as anxious as ants on a hot pot, fearing that the fall from the horse had caused some serious harm.
In the midst of their bewildered expressions, He Heng suddenly lifted his head. His eyes held a trance-like expression as he stared directly at every pair of concerned eyes fixed on him.
Tian Lianghan was startled by this look, and he couldn’t help but doubt Xie Chong’s earlier explanation. What if the Prince Regent had really damaged his brain? What should they do then?
So, he nervously looked at He Heng and said, “Uh, Lord He, you…”
Unexpectedly, as he spoke, He Heng grabbed his wrist.
“Who are you?”
“Where is this?”
“Where is my wife?”
The air around them suddenly seemed to freeze. He Heng’s three consecutive questions left everyone in a state of confusion.
They could reluctantly understand the amnesia caused by a brain injury from the fall.
But the Prince Regent was a confirmed bachelor before this. How on earth could he have a wife magically appear while riding a horse?
Seeing this, Xie Chong hurriedly went up to shake him again. While shaking, he extended two fingers and placed them in front of He Heng’s eyes, asking earnestly, “Lord He, how many fingers do you see?”
Once again, He Heng was left speechless and choked up.
Damn, he just lost his memory, not his sanity!
“Two.”
He Heng impatiently furrowed his brow, pushed Xie Chong away, and quickly walked towards the royal carriage. Taking advantage of the distraction, he left a group of eunuchs and ministers behind desperately chasing after him.
On the other side, inside the carriage,
Liu Fuyuan lifted the carriage curtain, leaned in, and somewhat nervously looked at Wen Liangyu, saying:
“Your Majesty, they said…”
“Hmm?”
Wen Liangyu raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.
He had been sitting in the carriage, yet to go out. Just as he heard the distant sound of bells and clattering, he was about to go out to check when the eunuch by his side hurriedly came to report.
“They say the Prince Regent accidentally fell off his horse while riding just now. Everyone is fine, but…” Liu Fuyuan said, pointing to his own temple, “there seems to be a problem here.”
“He doesn’t recognize anyone now, as if he’s lost all his memories and become a completely different person.”
Upon hearing this, Wen Liangyu furrowed his eyebrows slightly, pondering the change in personality from the careful and cautious “He Heng” who valued his own life above all and even went out with a personal guard.
Given his personality, how could something like this happen all of a sudden?
But if what Liu Fuyuan said is true, it means…
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
At that moment, a sudden cry from an attendant outside the carriage interrupted Wen Liangyu’s thoughts.
“Your Majesty, something’s wrong!” The attendant lifted the carriage curtain, stuck his head inside, and with a panicked expression, said to Wen Liangyu:
“He Lord, he’s insisting on seeing you. He keeps saying he needs to talk to you.”
“You are the one he’s looking for.”
“We couldn’t stop him!”
Wen Liangyu furrowed his brow, observing the attendant who seemed frightened and was stuttering. He raised his voice and asked:
“Which ‘one’ is he looking for?”
“The ‘one,’ the ‘one’ is…” The attendant, looking on the verge of tears, finally blurted out, “Your Majesty! Lord He says you’re his wife!”
The little emperor was dumbfounded, and Liu Fuyuan was too.
Setting aside how absurd it was for an emperor to be claimed as someone’s wife, not to mention that Wen Liangyu was also male, their genders didn’t match at all. What the hell, “wife”?
Seeing the emperor’s increasingly displeased expression and the atmosphere around them starting to freeze, the attendant trembled even more.
The next moment,
“Wife.”
A deep, masculine voice suddenly sounded from outside the carriage, causing both Liu Fuyuan and the young attendant to shudder.
Whose voice could it be if not the once cold and ruthless Prince Regent?
Immediately, the carriage curtain was lifted, and a tall man stood outside, staring straight at Wen Liangyu. Due to He Heng’s recent tumble on the ground, his clothes were still covered with grass stains.
Wen Liangyu instinctively retorted, “I-I’m not your wife.”
However, as soon as he said those words, he instantly regretted it. In that moment, the man before him raised his eyes, and He Heng’s deep gaze was filled with an expression of disbelief.
It was that kind of gaze that combined feelings of being wronged, sadness, helplessness, confusion, and deep affection.
Looking at his own reflection in He Heng’s eyes, it was as if he was seeing the image of an unparalleled scoundrel.
“They said you don’t want me anymore?”
The slightly resentful tone was spoken by the man in a low, deep voice, leaving Wen Liangyu questioning the meaning of life.
The young attendant and Liu Fuyuan simultaneously took in a sharp breath.
Firstly, the young attendant wasn’t sure who He Heng meant by “they”, but no one had ever said such a thing!
Secondly, when did their Majesty and the Prince Regent ever get along???
The atmosphere suddenly fell into silence. Seeing everyone in front of him baffled, He Heng felt a hidden satisfaction. It seemed like his method was working quite well.
Taking advantage of the stunned moment of everyone, he squeezed into the carriage without explanation, sitting next to the little emperor, and declared:
“I don’t care. Anyway, you have to take me home!”
The space inside the carriage was already small, and with He Heng’s tall stature and large frame, there was no room left for others. Liu Fuyuan and the young attendant were immediately squeezed out of the carriage.
Even if the regent was acting foolish, the two of them dared not mistreat the current powerful Prince Regent. Besides, it was said that fools were prone to doing inappropriate things, and after all was said and done, they wouldn’t be held responsible. They were afraid He Heng might get displeased and simply “click!” them away.
So, the two of them stood outside the carriage, with an expression that said, “Your Majesty, although we would like to help you, our own safety is at stake. You’re on your own!” as they looked at Wen Liangyu from a distance through the curtain.
The next moment, He Heng directly reached out and pulled down the carriage curtain, completely blocking those two “yearning-for-husbands”1Chinese idiom originating from an ancient story. In the tale, a woman, longing for her husband, stays by a stone near the window day and night, hoping for his swift return. The idiom is now commonly used to describe a situation where someone eagerly anticipates and waits for someone due to strong feelings of longing. statues outside the carriage. Immediately after, he embraced the slender waist of the little emperor, burying his head in the white fox fur collar and rubbing against it.
Anyway, he was “foolish” now, and wasn’t everything allowed for fools?
Moreover, during He Heng’s impromptu performance just now, he wholeheartedly portrayed the Prince Regent who underwent a drastic personality change after falling off the horse and damaging his brain, becoming a pitiful character who recognized no one but the little emperor.
So now, he was leaning on his “wife” in an overly affectionate manner. Wasn’t this acceptable?
On the other side,
Wen Liangyu was suddenly held by someone. He was dumbfounded, and on top of that, it was the man who had branded him with a hot iron a month ago and whipped him with a whip.
He first tried to struggle tentatively, but he couldn’t break free at all. Even though the other party wasn’t exerting force, they simply leaned on him, pinning him to one corner of the carriage.
Wen Liangyu had been sick for a week, had little appetite afterward, and now he had no strength to resist. In this moment, a sense of grievance suddenly surged in his heart.
Both being men, why did He Heng have to be so strong?
Amidst a wave of grievances, he uttered a dissatisfied mutter:
“I’m not your wife!”
After saying this, he felt the man behind him pause for a moment, as if he thought the other was going to let him go.
He Heng let out a soft sigh.
“Indeed.”
In that voice, there was a hint of sorrow, a hint of lament, and a realization of the cold and warmth of the world.
“I’m just your male pet.”
Wen Liangyu: “…”
Well, he thought being the “wife” was the pinnacle of the other’s foolishness, but he didn’t expect this twist to come.
What a ‘mantis catching cicadas with the oriole behind’ situation!
Seeing the little emperor completely silent and ceasing to struggle, He Heng smiled, hidden from the other’s view.
Didn’t see that coming, did you?
He, the fool, had a script with a thousand layers of plots.
On the surface, he portrayed the Prince Regent who had fallen into a pitiful state and now treated the emperor as his wife. However, in reality, all of this was just a role imagined by the pitiful one, because in his pitiful heart, he was well aware that he was nothing more than a male pet by the little emperor’s side.
Having awakened the “male pet” identity, the pitiful one would become even more difficult to deal with.
Of course, if the little emperor needed, he had a thousand identities to follow, each one more shocking than the last.
He Heng was right; Wen Liangyu was indeed frightened, afraid that he would continue to spout more nonsense.
The little emperor wasn’t afraid of the Prince Regent’s whip and torment from before. After all, enduring it for a while would eventually pass. However, facing this person who played by unconventional rules, he found himself at a loss.
So, resigned to his fate, he allowed He Heng to continue holding him like this.
Because of the Prince Regent’s fall from the horse, the autumn hunt came to an abrupt end.
Everyone packed their belongings and prepared to return to the mansion. The grand procession set off once again.
As for the fact that He Heng insisted on squeezing into the sedan chair with the emperor, no one dared to utter a word of objection.
So, the not-so-spacious carriage carried the two of them.
However, as the carriage continued to move, Wen Liangyu gradually felt something was amiss. His eyelids became heavier, and he started to feel drowsy. Unable to resist, he was about to doze off.
It turned out that while the carriage’s curtains were thick, they couldn’t completely block the cold wind seeping in from outside. There was no heating inside the carriage, and throughout the journey, Wen Liangyu sat alone on the cold seat. Even though he was wearing many layers, the penetrating cold wind still made his hands and feet chilly.
Now, nestled against the warmth of the man’s chest, He Heng blocked the chilly winds from outside. Being held by him, the jolting sensation of the carriage also diminished significantly, making the journey much more comfortable than before.
He Heng seemed like an automatic heater, warmer than the blankets he used to cover himself with while sleeping at night. For some reason, in this hazy state, the man’s embrace gave Wen Liangyu a very familiar feeling, as if he had been held like this frequently before.
The drowsiness made Wen Liangyu momentarily forget He Heng’s identity as the regent. The remaining shreds of his consciousness told him not to sleep, that he couldn’t sleep. Yet, every cell in his body seemed to scream frantically, urging him to doze off.
In that split second before closing his eyes, Wen Liangyu’s mind held onto one fleeting thought: it’s no wonder he felt this way; sitting in the carriage like this was indeed incredibly comfortable.
It had been a long time since he felt so sleepy. His mind started to drift away bit by bit, and he didn’t hold out for long before falling asleep in He Heng’s embrace.
He Heng initially wanted to play along with the “amnesiac pitiful regent” script seriously, but once he hugged him, he suddenly didn’t know how to naturally move his hand away.
How could he smoothly retract his hand without making it obvious that he wasn’t very clever?
On the other hand, he couldn’t help but feel that the texture of the fox fur collar on the Emperor’s clothes was really good. How could it be so silky?
He Heng couldn’t resist and touched a few times.
After fumbling for a long time, he still couldn’t figure out how to let go of the other party.
In the midst of his indecision, the person in his arms had already unconsciously let out a steady and long breath.
The Emperor’s head leaned to the side, directly against He Heng’s chest. His long and jet-black eyelashes trembled slightly, casting a shadow under his eyes.
As the sleeping Wen Liangyu, he appeared exceptionally gentle, with a slight baby fat still present on his cheeks. Perhaps due to the warmth around him, his lips now looked rosy. Long strands of dark hair cascaded down, and a few strands had accidentally fallen onto his forehead.
His skin was extremely fair, as smooth and delicate as fine jade. Coupled with his facial features, rosy lips, and a refined appearance, he looked even more enticing.
Looking at the familiar sleeping face, He Heng couldn’t help but curve his lips and reach out to brush away the stray hair on his forehead.
He couldn’t help but sigh at the memory of the Little Emperor’s disposition. Even with such a high level of blackening, his heart remained so big that he could fall asleep directly in the carriage.
In the future, he feared that the Little Emperor might end up being sold and still foolishly counting the money for others.
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