Ah Fu was watching over Wen Chan and slept on the floor in the room. But in the middle of the night, when he turned over and glanced at him in a daze, he found that his bed was empty.
At that time, he was so scared that he became awake. As soon as he turned his head, he saw that the door was a little open, but he didn’t know when it was opened. So Ah Fu quickly got up and went to the warm pavilion. But Qin Qi and Shu Hua were sleeping soundly drunk, and he couldn’t wake them up. He then looked around the yard and had no choice but to knock on Liang Yanbei’s door.
Liang Yanbei hurriedly put on his robe. Then Ah Fu and he went in two different directions to look for him.
At this hour, everyone was sleeping peacefully in their rooms. How can he run out alone?
But what if he didn’t run out by himself?
When Liang Yanbei thought of him getting in danger, he became anxious. After searching the courtyard, he went out of the courtyard and looked along the roadside.
The moon hung high in the sky, and the whole mansion was in a deep sleep. No one could be seen. And occasionally, there was the rustling sound of wind blowing through leaves.
Liang Yanbei didn’t go far. But suddenly he saw a person in the grass, standing with his back to him, motionless.
Because of the obstruction of a big tree, it was not very clear. But Wen Chan was wearing a light-coloured middle garment1It’s a clothing between the outer garment and the inner garment of traditional East Asian clothing.
, so it was obvious. Liang Yanbei slowed down his pace and approached closer. He then called out, asking, “Young Master Wen?”
“Don’t come over here.” The man suddenly spoke, and the voice was undoubtedly that of Wen Chan.
“What are you doing here.“ Liang Yanbei breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that he was still standing with his hands behind his back, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and wanted to go forward to pull him, “Come back with me.”
“Don’t move. Don’t step on them.” Wen Chan turned around and waved his hands repeatedly.
Liang Yanbei was taken aback. He immediately stopped and looked down. But he found nothing. So he asked in confusion, “Step on what?”
Wen Chan waved his sleeves and drew a range, including the entire grassland, “My2(used by an emperor or king) I; me. I am gonna make these bold. people.”
When he heard the word “my”, Liang Yanbei’s eyelids jumped fiercely, “Young Master Wen, don’t talk nonsense.”
If these words reached the ears of bad people, it was more than enough for them to accuse Wen Chan of treason.
He knew that Wen Chan hadn’t woken up from the wine, and he took two steps forward to take him away.
But when Wen Chan saw him stepping on the grass, his eyebrows frowned, and they pinched together tightly. Liang Yanbei hurriedly took a step back and compromised, “Okay, okay, I won’t go in. Can you come out? Aren’t you also stepping on your people now?”
“I’m not leaving.” Wen Chan said solemnly, “I want to protect the people of Xi Liang.”
Hearing him say “I” all the time, Liang Yanbei was nervous and said in a very low voice, “Your Majesty, your3you (courteous, as opposed to informal 你) people are fine. They don’t need you to protect them. You should go back to sleep now.”
After saying that, he smacked his lips, thinking to himself that his drunken nonsense should not be taken seriously.
“You’re lying.” Wen Chan pouted, “If I don’t protect them, no one will. That’s what you said.”
Liang Yanbei was stunned, “I said that?”
“That’s what you said. You said that if I am still alive, Xi Liang will have hope. You said that it is only because of me that you are a faithful official. You said you’ll kill all the evil people who stand opposite me. You also said……” His voice became lower and lower. And finally, his eyes were covered with a layer of mist, and his face was full of an obvious sense of loss, “You also said you have a crush on Situ, and you want to marry her.”
The more Liang Yanbei listened, the more surprised he became “How is that possible?”
Let’s not talk about the first part for now. But Situ grew up with him, just like a sister of his own. Who would marry their own sister?
“You asked me for a marriage decree. And when I didn’t give it to you, you even got angry……” Wen Chan blinked slightly, and droplets hung from his long eyelashes, “You got angry and ignored me for several days in a row. So I had no other choice but to give it to you, and I also gave you a betrothal gift, bestowed you a residence, and personally watched you get married……”
As he spoke, his beautiful eyes finally couldn’t hold the accumulated tears. And all of it then broke through the dike and flowed down his cheeks.
He stared at Liang Yanbei from a distance, and an aggrieved voice came, “You said that Xi Liang needs me. I listened to you and sat on the throne that was blood-soaked from head to toe. You said that you wanted to marry Situ, and I listened to you then too, and gave you both supreme glory. I also gave you a marriage ceremony to which multitudes of people came out from everywhere.”
“You said that I couldn’t be alone. So I should take concubines and have children. Then I had six sons and four daughters. After that, the court councillors advised me to marry my daughter to your son so that we could cement our old ties through marriage.” Wen Chan smiled with tears in his eyes, “How great.”
His tone was very calm and light. But in Liang Yanbei’s ears, every word and every sentence were heavy with heartbreak, making him frown tightly.
“I listened to everything you said, but you turned around and hugged your wife and son. Your family is so happy that it’s enviable.”
Wen Chan sighed, “Xi Liang is prosperous, the people are harmonious, and all nations are coming to pay tribute. But I am not happy at all.
Wen Chan heaved sighs continuously, “I’m so tired.”
Liang Yanbei was shocked when he heard what he said, but he couldn’t figure out the situation at all. Seeing his serious and sad face, people who didn’t know would think he was telling the truth. It was simply very absurd!
But Wen Chan’s words of complaints and grievances made him uncomfortable all over, as if a knife were poking at his heart, causing a dull pain.
Wen Chan seemed to be tired of talking, as he didn’t make any more sounds. Rather, he was just scratching his neck with his hand.
Only then did Liang Yanbei notice the traces of mosquito bites on his body. And not caring much anymore, he took two steps forward and picked the person up directly, saying softly, “Let’s talk about it after we get back.”
Still fearing that he would struggle, he tightened his arms.
But Wen Chan didn’t struggle this time. Instead, he hugged Liang Yanbei’s neck and buried his face in it. All his tears rubbed against his neck, and he let out a low “hmm”. He didn’t know if it was a sigh or a response.
This surprised Liang Yanbei a little. He glanced down at him and found that he wasn’t even wearing shoes. His white feet were covered in dirt.
The hot breath on his neck made Liang Yanbei feel itchy. He hugged him tightly and walked back with big strides.
Liang Yanbei placed Wen Chan on the bed and lit the candle in the room.
The moment the fire lit up, Wen Chan’s appearance was clearly seen. At this time, he had stopped crying. But his eyes were still wet, and the rim of his eye had turned red. Now he was looking up and staring at him.
With his hands folded together and his feet hanging outside the bed, he sat like a child.
Liang Yanbei laughed, his black eyes shining, “Sit still. I’ll go boil some water.”
Seeing Wen Chan nodding, Liang Yanbei left.
There was not much water to boil, so it didn’t take long. In addition, Liang Yanbei was a little worried about him being alone. So he went back to his room quickly. After entering, he found that Wen Chan was still sitting obediently on the bed, his posture unchanged.
He seemed to have been looking at the door, and as soon as Liang Yanbei came in, he met his gaze.
Great waves swayed and rose in the originally calm eyes the moment they met his gaze. It was as if they had lit up, with stars dotted around, and it looked very beautiful.
Wen Chan got out of bed and walked towards Liang Yanbei a little hurriedly.
“What are you doing here? Be careful of the cold.” Liang Yanbei placed the basin of warm water on the table and pulled Wen Chan back to the bed to sit down.
Taking a closer look, he found that Wen Chan had several red and swollen spots and scratches on his neck, which seemed to be severely tortured by mosquitoes.
“Why did you run out in the middle of the night if you had nothing to do?” Liang Yanbei had no choice but to wet a cloth and gently wipe Wen Chan’s face.
He knew that he was strong, so he tried his best to minimise his strength and wipe the tears from his face first.
Then he wiped down along his neck, wiped all the mosquito bites, wiped his hands, got up, rinsed the cloth, squeezed out the excess water, and used the damp cloth to wet his feet.
Pulling up his left foot, a string of chains appeared in front of him. Liang Yanbei took just a glance at it, and his heart became turbulent as if it had been pinched.
The red string wound around with the gold thread and strung with two copper coins made Wen Chan’s skin look even fairer. He stretched out his hand and touched the copper plates, and a smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Do you like this thing?” He asked softly.
Wen Chan swayed his feet and nodded sincerely.
“Then you should always wear it.” Liang Yanbei was happy and wiped his feet carefully, “It looks good when you wear it.”
After wiping one foot, he went to wipe the other, and only after wiping it clean did he put his foot on the bed.
Liang Yanbei brought some ointment to relieve itching and swelling and sat by the bed to apply it to him. He then asked with a smile, “Why do you hate Zhoulan so much?”
Liang Yanbei had always been puzzled in his heart. He remembered that when Wen Chan first met Zhoulan that day, his expression was clearly that of extreme disgust, and he was so stirred up that he spat out all the noodles he had eaten. Later, he also obviously rejected her.
But Zhoulan grew up in Jinling with Liang Yanbei. He had never had any contact with Wen Chan before, so how could Zhoulan have had any contact with him?
But his behaviour was not fake.
As soon as Wen Chan heard Situ Zhoulan, an extremely straightforward disdain appeared on his face. His mouth twitched, and he said very slowly, “I can’t hate you, nor can I hate your son. Nevertheless, I have to hate someone.”
But he also couldn’t do it wholeheartedly, as he had blessed that family with all his heart and eyes filled with tears.
“Besides, she is not a good person.” He said.
Liang Yanbei couldn’t help but laugh when he heard this and tilted his head to put ointment on his neck, “Why do you always say that I married her?”
“You did marry her. I didn’t say anything wrong.” Wen Chan was quite confident.
“Okay, okay, okay, you didn’t say anything wrong. I just remembered it wrong.” He joked, “I married a wife and had a son. How could I forget it.”
Wen Chan nodded heavily.
He raised his eyebrows, and his eyes were full of smiles, “Why did you cry when I got married? Were you so deeply hurt?”
“We have a good relationship.” Wen Chan thought for a while and said.
“Good relationship?” Liang Yanbei’s tone was very casual. He turned his neck again, and wiped the other side too, “Shouldn’t you be happy if we have a good relationship?”
Even after a while he asked this, he didn’t hear any reply from Wen Chan. So Liang Yanbei raised his eyes and looked into those bright eyes.
His gaze was both focused and serious, which made Liang Yanbei very curious, “Why do you always look at me?”
Before his voice fell, he saw Wen Chan suddenly pounce on him. And then his mouth became hot, and he was actually bit by him.
Liang Yanbei’s heart jumped with a ‘thump’, and his eyes widened slightly in shock. His cheeks were held by a pair of cool hands. The smell of Wen Chan’s body mixed with the fragrance of the ointment and lingered on his nose. His body was also bearing most of Wen Chan’s weight.
Wen Chan’s teeth did not exert force, but he gently bit Liang Yanbei’s lip and sucked on it. Then he stretched out the soft and hot tip of his tongue and licked it slowly, like tasting a small amount of dessert, both meticulously and patiently.
But this was a huge torment for Liang Yanbei. He could clearly see Wen Chan’s long and dense eyelashes and his fair face. And there still remained a hint of the plum wine’s fragrance in the breath coming from his mouth and his sharp teeth biting his lips, causing a slight sting.
Everything made his heart throb incessantly. The ripples spread from the tip of his heart, expanding in circles and finally turning into monstrous waves, causing his blood to undulate and roll on in waves.
His breathing gradually became unstable, and he swallowed his saliva unbearably.
Finally, when Wen Chan pried open his lips, he didn’t hold back and sucked them. The sweet taste spread on the tip of his tongue, went down his throat, and wound around his heart.
He closed the plaster he was holding in his hand and threw it aside. He was about to go deep, but Wen Chan suddenly left his lips and leaned his head on his shoulder.
As soon as Liang Yanbei’s breathing became smooth, his whole brain became clear, only to feel that his neck was itchy from the hot air coming out of his mouth.
When he helped him up, he saw that there was contentment and drowsiness between Wen Chan’s eyebrows, and he was a little depressed in his heart.
Did you get satisfied by just biting my mouth once? This appetite was too small……
Liang Yanbei felt that he needed to calm down at this moment. So he gently put Wen Chan on the bed, cleaned up the basin by himself, and carried it out.
Just when he went out and finished pouring out the water, he saw Ah Fu coming up in a hurry, looking like he was about to cry, “What should I do?! What should I do?! Young Master Liang, did you find him?”
Liang Yanbei had forgotten that there was also this person, Ah Fu. He touched his nose in shame, “Don’t worry, I found Young Master Wen. I just now wiped his hands and feet and applied mosquito repellent and anti-itch plaster to him. He has fallen asleep now.”
Ah Fu breathed a sigh of relief, trusting Liang Yanbei very much, “Then I have to bother Young Master Liang to take care of our Young Master for one night. I still have to go back and watch out if Qin Qi and Shu Hua vomit the wine.”
“Don’t worry, go.” Liang Yanbei was a very upright man, “I will take good care of him.”
Ah Fu had already been tired from being tossed around for a long time. After hearing this, he thanked him gratefully and went back to sleep happily.
After Liang Yanbei went back, Wen Chan was already asleep, lying on his side facing inward, curled up into a small ball.
He stood in front of the bed and stared at him thoughtfully for a long time. Then he spread out a thin brocade quilt to cover Wen Chan’s belly, extinguished the candle, and the gentleman himself also got on the couch.
Translator’s corner
Er, should I congratulate him for their first kiss or first bite?
I was supposed to post this chapter a few days ago and I had finished translating these. But I just couldn’t get time to edit it. That’s why I am doing a mass update today.
Thank you so much for reading the chapter. If you liked my translation and wanna support me, you can comment down your thoughts or send me a Kofi.
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Don’t feel shy to let me know in the comment section or in the discord of Knoxt if you find any mistakes~
