Author: Talking and Laughing 语笑阑珊

Liang Shu sent his people to Baihe Mountain Village and ordered them to discover what Liu Xian’an hated the most.

Several days later, his people returned with the information. Firstly, Second Young Master Liu hates copying books, and secondly, he hates you, my lord.

*

Liang Shu (gong) x Liu Xian’an (shou)

Translator’s Synopsis:

This is the story of a petty, jaded prince and a misunderstood genius doctor who come together against all odds to travel the country and protect the nation and the common people.

Tags: Ancient Setting, Medical Sect, Investigations, Indifferent Protagonist, Genius Protagonist, Prince ML, Slow Burn

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Table of Contents:

Chapter 1	Chapter 35	Chapter 69	Chapter 103
Chapter 2	Chapter 36	Chapter 70	Chapter 104
Chapter 3	Chapter 37	Chapter 71	Chapter 105
Chapter 4	Chapter 38	Chapter 72	Chapter 106
Chapter 5	Chapter 39	Chapter 73	Chapter 107
Chapter 6	Chapter 40	Chapter 74	Chapter 108
Chapter 7	Chapter 41	Chapter 75	Chapter 109
Chapter 8	Chapter 42	Chapter 76	Chapter 110
Chapter 9	Chapter 43	Chapter 77	Chapter 111
Chapter 10	Chapter 44	Chapter 78	Chapter 112
Chapter 11	Chapter 45	Chapter 79	Chapter 113
Chapter 12	Chapter 46	Chapter 80	Chapter 114
Chapter 13	Chapter 47	Chapter 81	Chapter 115
Chapter 14	Chapter 48	Chapter 82	Chapter 116
Chapter 15	Chapter 49	Chapter 83	Chapter 117
Chapter 16	Chapter 50	Chapter 84	Chapter 118
Chapter 17	Chapter 51	Chapter 85	Chapter 119
Chapter 18	Chapter 52	Chapter 86	Chapter 120
Chapter 19	Chapter 53	Chapter 87	Chapter 121
Chapter 20	Chapter 54	Chapter 88	Chapter 122
Chapter 21	Chapter 55	Chapter 89	Chapter 123
Chapter 22	Chapter 56	Chapter 90	Chapter 124
Chapter 23	Chapter 57	Chapter 91	Chapter 125
Chapter 24	Chapter 58	Chapter 92	Chapter 126
Chapter 25	Chapter 59	Chapter 93	Chapter 127
Chapter 26	Chapter 60	Chapter 94	Extra 1
Chapter 27	Chapter 61	Chapter 95	Extra 2
Chapter 28	Chapter 62	Chapter 96	Extra 3
Chapter 29	Chapter 63	Chapter 97	Extra 4
Chapter 30	Chapter 64	Chapter 98	Extra 5
Chapter 31	Chapter 65	Chapter 99	Extra 6
Chapter 32	Chapter 66	Chapter 100	Extra 7
Chapter 33	Chapter 67	Chapter 101
Chapter 34	Chapter 68	Chapter 102

After Zhao Yelan returned to his room, he quickly changed his clothes and sniffed his body for any smells.

He had been so busy these days that he had no time to groom himself at all, let alone have the luxury of taking a bath. He could only wet a handkerchief with water and wipe himself repeatedly all day, but he felt that he still stank during this time, so he wore two sachets at once.

Then he looked at the wound in the bronze mirror. A scab had formed and it itched a bit. It would take a few days to fully recover.

He inadvertently licked his lower lip in annoyance, finding that it was a little dry and his complexion was a little tanned. 

For a time, he was in a mad rush and didn’t know where to tidy up.

As soon as he picked up the handkerchief and was about to wash his face, the door of the room was pushed open with a “pa,” and Yan Mingting broke in.

He looked toward the door at once and took a deep breath, pretending to be calm: “I haven’t allowed you in yet.”

Yan Mingting had already come before him as soon as he spoke, holding his face in one hand to inspect the injury on his forehead: “How did it happen?”

Zhao Yelan averted his face in embarrassment and turned around: “I was accidentally hit by someone.”

“Didn’t you promise me to take good care of yourself?” Yan Mingting asked, following behind him.

Zhao Yelan kept his composure and quickened his steps: “The incident happened suddenly.”

“Then why are you hiding? What else is wrong?” Yan Mingting asked.

Yin Pinglu stood at the door, watched the two people circle the table three times, then smiled helplessly and closed the door for them. As soon as she walked to the front hall, she caught a glimpse of a figure rushing through the door.

“Pinglu! I’m here to find you!”

Yin Pinglu raised her head and saw a smiling person standing under the sun. Her face was unknowingly taken over by a smile, and when she raised her foot to step outside, Zuo Ran acted faster and ran towards her and into her arms.

. . . . . .

The two people in the room finally stopped when Yan Mingting grabbed Zhao Yelan and said: “No more, I’m going to faint.”

It’s better for you to be dizzy, Zhao Yelan thought.

Yan Mingting lowered his head to study the injury. Zhao Yelan subconsciously raised his hand to cover it, but Yan Mingting grabbed it.

“Don’t touch the wound, be careful of infection and inflammation. It’s scabbed over, just bear with it and it will heal,” Yan Mingting said.

Zhao Yelan glanced at him a few times, and seeing that he didn’t think the wound was ugly, he was secretly relieved. 

“Are there any other injuries?”

“None.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“There really aren’t.” Zhao Yelan even turned around to show him that he was safe and sound.

Unexpectedly, Yan Mingting grasped his shoulders, lowered his head, and kissed his lips: “I’m checking to see if you injured your mouth.”

“…….” Zhao Yelan didn’t know whether to laugh or get angry, but still acquiesced to his childish behavior, and the two kissed silently.

Absence making the heart grow fonder was no lie. Zhao Yelan could feel that his kiss was unequivocal this time, and his hands also caressed his back firmly. He wanted to speak but couldn’t, just humming twice. Yan Mingting became more enthusiastic, picking him up and setting him on the table.

Zhao Yelan was free to take a breath, and he looked down. From this angle, he could clearly see the infatuation in Yan Mingting’s eyes. He cupped the other’s cheek with the corners of his mouth curved, and lowered his head for a kiss.

The sun was shining outside as the two of them embraced each other inside the room. Zhao Yelan felt that his body was getting hot and sweaty, and sweating meant it would stink. He pushed the other person away and asked about business as if nothing had happened: “Have all the relief supplies come down?”

“En, the Imperial court squeezed out another 50,000 taels, as well as some everyday supplies, and local officials along the way also raised some silver.” Yan Mingting raised his hand with a smile and wiped away the traces of wetness around his mouth. “I met with the team when I was about to arrive at the capital. On the way, I sent a letter by pigeon to Zuo Ran to bring the original group of people and take the water route so that the journey would be faster.”

Zhao Yelan nodded.

“The new magistrate and the magistrate of Pi county are also here. They’re just outside, do you want to meet them?”

“Let’s go, ba.” Zhao Yelan had just taken two steps when he suddenly stopped and turned around.

Yan Mingting was almost trampled on. Seeing him take the initiative to throw himself into his arms, he couldn’t help wrapping him up in an embrace: “Why aren’t you going?”

“I haven’t checked on you yet.” Zhao Yelan gripped his chin, looked right and left, and stroked his cheek again.

After being exposed to the sun for several days on the road, his skin had not turned into charcoal and was only a little red, but……

“Where did the red mark on your neck come from?” Zhao Yelan asked with narrowed eyes.

“What red mark?” Yan Mingting rubbed his neck. “Oh, there were a lot of mosquitos at night. I’ve been bitten in several places and there are also some on the back. If you don’t believe me, look.”

He turned away, revealing the marks on the back of his neck.

Zhao Yelan touched them and they were still swollen, so he believed they were mosquito bites. He walked out without a change of expression: “Let’s go out and have a look.”

Two men, one old and one young, stood in the hall, listening to the head official’s introduction to the affairs of the government office.

Zhao Yelan went out to find that they were old acquaintances.

The elder was a bachelor of the Imperial Academy, who had come to take up the post of magistrate. They were both fourth-rank positions, so it could not be considered a promotion. It was only that his ancestral home was in Jiangnan, and he hoped to return to his roots when he became old, so he accepted this position.

And the younger person was Wang Guisheng, who was favored for his agreement with the Emperor’s political views. His upright temperament was just right for Jiangnan, so he was sent to Pi County to serve as the county magistrate.

“Zhao-daren.” Wang Guisheng was the first to notice Zhao Yelan’s figure, and saluted.

“Don’t be so polite.” Zhao Yelan stepped forward and led the two of them to the back office to discuss the drought.

“The General communicated the situation to us on the way here. If you have any orders, just mention them.” Wang Guisheng did not expect that he would face such a big problem when he first took office.

“You came at a good time. After you receive the official seal in the government office, you will take your people to Pi County and take away the three hundred people in the charity house as well. I’ve already planned the route. Try not to leave anyone behind, and I will arrange for the people who deliver dry food and water to meet with you.”

“What about after arriving in Pi County?”

“Then you arrange for the officers of Pi County to send these people to Quzhou. I have tallied the money, and you will pay the officers more money at that time. Then go to the disaster relief point in the next county to inform the person in charge, and move a little to the north to meet these people.”

“Alright.”

Zhao Yelan informed him of the current situation in Pi County, and Wang Guisheng nodded. After the discussion, he went to get the seal without stopping on the way, and then followed him to the charity house to lead the people.

When the people in the shelter saw Zhao Yelan coming, they all rushed up, calling Zhao-daren enthusiastically and expectantly.

Wang Guisheng was pushed aside when he wasn’t paying attention, while Zhao Yelan was well-protected by Yan Mingting.

“Calm down and listen to me. We’re taking 300 people from here and sending them to Quzhou, who wants to go?” Zhao Yelan said.

Everyone gradually quieted down, and no one spoke for a while because they were reluctant to leave. They had found work here, and still had food and shelter. They would not starve to death for a while. Who knew if they would face death once they left this place?

“There is no drought in Quzhou and Longzhou, but there is no certainty here in Huaizhou. If we continue to suffer, the last drop of water may be drained here, and then we will have to wait for death. It is a better choice to leave while the water source is still barely maintained. Don’t worry, someone will bring you food and water on the road, they won’t leave you alone.” After Zhao Yelan finished speaking, he looked around and pulled Wang Guisheng aside, saying, “This is the newly appointed magistrate of Pi County. He will leave with everyone, so can you rest assured?”

Wang Guisheng said: “Right, we will not abandon you. The most important thing right now is to move to other places. The surrounding areas are already dry, and sooner or later, gathering here will lead to nothing.”

Those people were moved, and someone asked: “Zhao-daren, can  you guarantee that we will not die of hunger or thirst on the way?”

“As long as you hurry on your way obediently and don’t delay other people’s schedules, someone will deliver the food on time,” Zhao Yelan said. 

“Then I will listen to Zhao-daren. I’ll go.”

“We’ll go too.” 

“I happen to have relatives in Quzhou, so I’ll join them.”

While counting the number of people, Wang Guisheng picked up the registration book. Zhao Yelan and Yan Mingting passed by him at this time, and he caught a glimpse of the two holding hands from the corner of his eye. 

He froze for a moment and scratched his hand unconsciously, looking back at them in surprise.

The two held hands all the way to the government office. Zhao Yelan let go, and Yan Mingting paused: “Why did you let go?”

“It’s hot.” Zhao Yelan’s palms were sweaty. “Stop pretending to be wronged here.”

Yan Mingting instantly failed, and followed with a smile.

Under the instruction of the head official, the new magistrate had already learned about the government office’s affairs. As soon as he breathed a sigh of relief, he was dragged off by Zhao Yelan to talk about the current situation. The immediate priority was to evacuate the people in the charity house to other places.

He had sent money to disaster relief sites, and sent people to places without drought to prepare food and water, ready to go meet the refugees at any time.

“I’ve already arranged the manpower, money, and supplies. You should keep an eye on these things and not make any mistakes,” Zhao Yelan said.

“You handed these to me so suddenly. What about you?”

“I must go to Zhizhou, the situation there is not optimistic. Huaizhou is under control for the time being and you are here to watch over the town, so I will go to Zhizhou myself.” Zhao Yelan said calmly, “Yan Mingting will leave some manpower for you, and we will take the rest to Zhizhou. You can use the disaster funds allocated by the Imperial court in Huaizhou, and the money I collected from the merchants will be taken to Zhizhou.”

Zhao Yelan was not worried that he would embezzle in this season. This person was cautious in his actions and would not act boldly upon first taking office.

After an early meal, the group set off in the evening since it was cooler at night.

Sitting in the carriage were Zhao Yelan and Yin Pinglu, while Yan Mingting and Zuo Ran guarded several large boxes of silver outside.

Zhao Yelan and Yin Pinglu discussed their plans after arriving in Zhizhou for a while, and then lifted the curtain to assess the drought situation in the place they passed by.

After a while, Zhao Yelan took another look.

A short time later, he raised the curtain again.

After repeating this several times, he noticed Yin Pinglu’s expression of restrained laughter, and explained awkwardly: “I’m just looking at the situation of this field.”

“En, we haven’t passed this field yet, and my lord has already looked at it seven or eight times.” Yin Pinglu couldn’t help but say, “Are you spying on the General?”

Zhao Yelan was mute, neither admitting nor denying it. After a while, he couldn’t help but lift the curtain with his hand. Upon realizing it, he put his hand down and touched his nose with embarrassment, pretending that nothing had happened.

Yin Pinglu lowered her head.

Zhao Yelan clearly saw the corners of her mouth rising manically.

“…….”

Yin Pinglu coughed to clear her throat, and said: “Zuo Ran told me that the General always wanted to write to you.”

Zhao Yelan paused and looked at her suspiciously.

“But he was on his way at that time and was afraid that you wouldn’t receive the letter, so he wrote it and threw it into the river. He urged the boatman to go faster every day, wishing he could paddle it himself.” Yin Pinglu laughed.

The corners of Zhao Yelan’s mouth rose slightly.

“The General also told Zuo Ran that my lord, you……”

“I what?”

“You kissed him in public.” Yin Pinglu covered her face. “He often brags about it to the lieutenants.”

“……..”

Zhao Yelan lifted the curtain and stared straight at Yan Mingting, who was a few meters behind. The other party felt his gaze and rode to the side of the carriage to ask: “Do you want a drink?” As he spoke, he handed the water bag to him.

Zhao Yelan took a small sip, not much, and returned it, saying: “Come over here.”

“What?” Yan Mingting’s eyes darted as he thought of something, and looked back at the team behind. Many people here had witnessed the scene where Zhao Yelan kissed him in full view, and they all watched curiously.

Yan Mingting leaned over distractedly and asked with a smile: “Do you want to kiss me again?”

Zhao Yelan stretched out his hand and pinched his face hard.

Yan Mingting pretended to have been kissed, and returned to the team with extreme pride.

In the middle of the night, everyone rested in place for a while. Zhao Yelan held a fire paper to check the conditions of the nearby fields.

Yan Mingting went around with him, and when they returned, they leaned against a nearby tree to rest. Feeling a little thirsty, he took out a pot of lotus wine from the carriage and drank it.

“Is there no water?” Zhao Yelan asked.

“There’s a bit more, I’ll leave it to you. Fortunately, there were still several jars of wine given by Magistrate Sun in the carriage.” After speaking, Yan Mingting took another big gulp of wine.

Zhao Yelan took a few glances at him, and his gaze fell on his wine-soaked lips. He suddenly went over to lick them, and seemed to taste lotus.

Yan Mingting stared at him, dumbstruck, then took a few sips and looked at him expectantly.

Zhao Yelan chuckled, but just raised his head to gaze at the starry sky. It seemed that tomorrow would be sunny again.

Seeing that he was not taking the initiative anymore, Yan Mingting simply grasped the other’s head, moved forward, and accurately planted his lips.

After a moment, Zhao Yelan tasted the lotus brew, and the aroma of wine diffused between the lips and teeth of the two.

There was only one last sip left in the jar. Yan Mingting asked him if he wanted to drink. His mouth was parched, so he simply finished the drink from Yan Mingting’s hand.

When they set out again, Yin Pinglu left the carriage. Now that it was late at night, it was inconvenient for her to ride in the same carriage as Zhao Yelan.

“It’s all right for you to ride a horse?” Yan Mingting confirmed.

“Don’t worry, ba, I used to be on horseback for days and nights when I was traveling.” Yin Pinglu smiled and walked to Zuo Ran, who stretched out a hand. She skillfully mounted the horse and sat in front of her.

Seeing this, Zhao Yelan secretly despised his own skills.

While the team was still moving forward, Yan Mingting rode his horse to follow beside the carriage.

Not long after, Zhao Yelan felt a little hot. These two sips of wine should not make him drunk, but perhaps due to the weather or eating very little, he had already started to feel a little inebriated. He opened the curtain and called quickly: “I’m dizzy.”

Yan Mingting came to the side and looked at his flushed face. He immediately realized the cause, and got into the carriage regardless of the eyes of others.

“Are you drunk?”

“Hot……” Zhao Yelan reclined weakly in the carriage and tried to untie his belt, but his outer layer got stuck and he couldn’t take it off no matter what.

Yan Minting had no choice but to help him take off his outer garment. Zhao Yelan tugged at his collar and then felt better, closing his eyes drowsily.

Yan Mingting was afraid he would be uncomfortable, so he fanned him with his fan. The other party was quiet for a while, as if he had fallen asleep.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Yan Mingting continued to fan him until the wheels hit a stone, jolting the carriage. Zhao Yelan opened his eyes in a daze and then stared at him intently.

Yan Mingting immediately shivered, and suddenly realized that he might be about to act abnormally again.

Sure enough, he saw the other party open his arms in the next moment and speak one word in a clear voice: “Hug.”

What else could Yan Minting do, of course he would hug him, ah!

As soon as he sat next to him, the other party hugged him and began to count his crimes: “Why would you rather throw the letter into the river than send it to me?”

Yan Mingting guessed that it was Zuo Ran who informed Yin Pinglu, and then Yin Pinglu turned around and told Zhao Yelan. He explained: “I was afraid you wouldn’t receive it, and feared that it would delay your business.”

“You are my business.”

Yan Mingting’s eyelashes fluttered and he looked sideways at him, the corners of his mouth crazily raised: “What did you say?”

Zhao Yelan blinked his eyes, but refused to say any more. He just found a comfortable angle again, but finally found that sitting like this was not conducive to hugging at all, so he turned around and sat directly on his lap.

Yan Mingting hugged him tighter to prevent him from falling down.

Zhao Yelan thought he was trying to touch his back, and said: “Don’t touch.”

“Okay, I won’t touch, I won’t touch.”

“Not allowed to look either.”

“Won’t look, won’t look.”

Zhao Yelan didn’t believe it. He picked up the belt next to him and covered his eyes.

Yan Mingting raised his head and smiled at him: “So worried about me?”

Zhao Yelan looked down at him, held his face in both hands, and narrowed his eyes slightly: “Tell me, what was written in the letter?”

“Nothing.”

“Say it, do you want me to punish you?”

Yan Mingting felt that his neck was being strangled, and gave a quiet laugh, saying: “Okay, I’ll tell you. The letter said — I miss you, so very much.”

Zhao Yelan released his grip, his fingertips lingering on his cheeks and caressing them gently. Then he put his arms around the back of his neck, lowered his head, and kissed his lips: “I missed you too.”

Yan Mingting’s sight was blocked, but the other four senses became more sensitive. 

Slight panting and moist sounds kept ringing in his ears, and he became more and more enthralled with the other party’s slight fragrance. He couldn’t help but entangle his tongue, plundering the air that belonged to him, and unconsciously fumbled with his hands.

With a “pa,” Zhao Yelan slapped his hand away: “I told you not to touch my back!”

“Oh, sorry, I couldn’t help it.” Yan Mingting assured him that he wouldn’t do it again, and continued to kiss him.

A moment later, Yan Mingting was slapped once more: “I won’t do it again! Believe me!”

---

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Chapter Sixty-Two <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Sixty-Four

Xia Xingchi was already asleep, but he was startled by Li Chengyuan’s sudden raised voice.

Although this person had a terrible temper, he was calm most of the time. It was rare for him to have such a moment of volatility, sudden and unprovoked.

“Why so loud all of a sudden?” Xia Xingchi tugged at his ears as his soul almost flew away. “I’m just talking nonsense, you —”

Before he could finish speaking, Li Chengyuan, who was anxious to get up just now, fell back down again.

Perhaps due to his urgency, he began to cough uncontrollably.

Xia Xingchi was at a loss. He couldn’t help but suspect that he had said something terrible in a daze just now, but after thinking about it, he felt that he really hadn’t said anything.

“Someone is waiting for me in the rain.” Wasn’t such a meaningless statement at best a bit literary?

After all, even a great poet hoped to meet a girl on a rainy lane.^[1] The difference was that she had symbolic meaning and connotation, while he was just chatting indiscriminately.

For some reason, these words stimulated the fragile glass heart of his big kitty cat apropos of nothing.

Xia Xingchi touched Li Chengyuan’s forehead, which was covered in cold sweat, then touched his palms and cramping stomach.

“Don’t get excited, don’t get excited!” Seeing that Li Chengyuan’s stomach hurt to the point of speechlessness, Xia Xingchi stroked his fur at once. “You took it seriously when I was talking in my sleep just now? Are you confused?”

“Did you……forget something……”

Li Chengyuan’s voice was low and difficult to understand, perhaps because of the intensified stomach pain or because of his fluctuating emotions.

He grabbed Xia Xingchi’s wrist with cold hands, gritted his teeth, and tried to sit up, but Xia Xingchi pushed him back down on the bed: “Lie down! Where is your medicine?”

Xia Xingchi had already figured out what kind of stomach medicine he was taking. The pain was so severe that he had to take anticonvulsants to relieve it.

“Xia Xingchi! Answer me!”

Raising his voice unexpectedly, Li Chengyuan promptly pulled Xia Xingchi’s wrist and dragged him back to the bed!

Xia Xingchi almost fell on top of him. Being yelled at by him was inexplicable. How could this person’s temper just come out of nowhere?

“Answer what, ah.” Xia Xingchi looked at how sick he was and didn’t argue with him for the time being. “What can I forget? I have a good memory – you don’t want to say that I have amnesia, do you?”

As soon as these words were spoken, Xia Xingchi finally understood what was going on with Li Chengyuan.

The second he encountered something related to his “White Moonlight,” he would go crazy. Xia Xingchi had thought he’d given up when he didn’t meet the age requirements before, realizing that he was not his White Moonlight.

Unexpectedly, he had deceived himself and others to the point that he would rather believe in idol drama tropes such as “amnesia.” He was really insane.

At the thought of this, Xia Xingchi sighed with mixed emotions. On the one hand, he felt sour and uncomfortable on his own behalf, and on the other, he felt sorry for the villain and hoped for his sake that he could find the real White Moonlight.

After hearing this firm denial, Li Chengyuan was completely silent.

Xia Xingchi only thought that he had finally lost hope, having confirmed that the substitute and the White Moonlight were two different people, so he got up and turned on the light to find medicine for him.

Fortunately, apart from the poor appliances and facilities, the program team tried their best to quietly replace all the accessories with the best ones, so that the guests would not really have to “experience life.”

The water in the thermos was still very hot. Xia Xingchi mixed a cup of warm water and poured in two packs of stomach medicine: “Boss, get up and take the medicine.”

Li Chengyuan’s face had turned pale from the pain, and it took him a long time to say haltingly in a hoarse voice: “I won’t, turn off the light and go to sleep.”

Xia Xingchi only thought that since his hopes of finding the White Moonlight had been dashed, he was so depressed and his stomach hurt so badly that he didn’t want to take medicine. He couldn’t help feeling sorry for him, but was also inexplicably annoyed, wanting to give him a hard punch.

He also wished he could really be his White Moonlight.

According to Li Chengyuan’s state of mad paranoia, if Xia Xingchi insisted that he lost his memory, and even if the age bug was there, even if he didn’t come from this world at all, maybe Li Chengyuan would believe it without hesitation.

Xia Xingchi sighed. There was a moral bottom line, after all.

It would be too vicious to use lies to impersonate and deceive in order to seize the affection that should belong to others.

“Hurry up and take the medicine!” Xia Xingchi forcibly helped Li Chengyuan up, feeling sour and uncomfortable. “If your White Moonlight knew that you were sick and didn’t take medicine, they would definitely be sad and distressed!”

He thought a certain person would be more heartbroken after hearing this, and expected that he would get angry or refuse to take medicine even more stubbornly.

Who could have imagined that after hearing this, Li Chengyuan would smile with difficulty: “Do you feel distressed?”

“I’m not your —” Xia Xingchi bit back half of the sentence.

Forget it, they didn’t need to talk about it now. He vaguely felt that Li Chengyuan’s mind was a little bit wrong, and it would be over if he became crazy again.

“Yes, I feel distressed.” Xia Xingchi seriously changed his words.

This sentence was not a lie. Although he wasn’t the right person, seeing him dripping with cold sweat from an attack of stomach pain made his heart ache.

Li Chengyuan’s pale lips were slightly pursed, and he obediently took the medicine as if he had been comfortably stroked.

Only then did Xia Xingchi heave a sigh of relief, turn off the light, and lay down to continue rubbing his stomach. He felt more and more that he was raising a bad-tempered big cat with a glass heart and a glass stomach.

If you competed with him, you would lose, and if he got angry, he may bite off the head of his keeper.

– – –

Because Xia Xingchi would overturn the car during the surprise shooting every morning, the program crew felt terrified that they might be included on young master Xia’s assassination list, and were quite nervous this morning.

Surprisingly, this time was entirely outside the norm. Xia Xingchi was actually squatting at the door ahead of them, and when he saw the people from the program team coming, he immediately made a gesture for silence so that they wouldn’t announce themselves with a megaphone this time.

“Shhh, he’s asleep, don’t wake him up,” Xia Xingchi whispered.

He’d thought he would be fine after taking medicine, but it didn’t take long for Li Chengyuan to start feeling sick.

He had barely eaten anything all day, and only clear water mixed with medicine was vomited up, but he still retched uncontrollably. Xia Xingchi could hardly bear witnessing his stomach pain, and could only worry about it from the sidelines.

Even so, this man was still able to push Xia Xingchi away with difficulty, muttering things like “dirty,” “stay away,” and “I’m fine,” and insisted on pushing him back to the room to sleep.

It was fortunate that Xia Xingchi didn’t actually leave. He had just taken a step back when Li Chengyuan swayed and almost passed out due to hypoglycemia.

In addition, the low-grade fever started up again in the second half of the night, and he wasn’t able to sleep for most of it. In any case, Li Chengyuan would definitely not be able to shoot the reality show today.

Xia Xingchi requested in a low voice: “He wasn’t feeling well yesterday, let him rest well today.”

Since discovering that the early bird catches the worm, a group of veteran CP fans had specially set their alarms in order to get up early to watch the live broadcast.

[Oh oh oh! Arranging this so naturally, he has the aura of the empress of the palace!]

[Sure enough, whoever knocks CP! Baby loves to sleep so much, but he can get up early to catch the program team in advance to prevent them from waking Mr. Li. Knock it!]

[Wu wu wu this beautiful love. Mr. Li’s original fans have almost all become CP fans these days, they love each other so much]

At the same time, fans who received the news promptly wailed: 

[President Li is sick? Is it serious? Oh my male god, wu wu]

[The conditions are too difficult! Mr. Li seems to be in weak health all the time. He didn’t eat much yesterday, so he might be done]

[Help, I feel so distressed, I want to see the male god!]

The program team immediately expressed concerns and worries on behalf of the fans, and Xia Xingchi said: “Don’t worry, everyone, he just has a stomach problem and a low-grade fever. When he wakes up, I’ll cook him some porridge, and he’ll be fine once his body temperature drops.”

Only then did the fans feel relieved, and then they couldn’t help but start knocking:

[This is too skillful, it’s certainly not his first time taking care of this! I don’t believe that they didn’t know each other before!]

[The genuine article is different, hahahaha Xia Yu’s leg hairs, is this not a slap in the face, ah?]

[I have already imagined the image of Xingchi leaning into Mr. Li’s arms and rubbing his stomach, I’m knocking to death! Yuanchi is the best ever!]

[@Program group, let Xingchi baby have a good rest, he must not have slept well last night]

[Seconding. Let baby sleep well, Mr. Li must be accompanied by someone. Of course! I wouldn’t mind seeing their sugar-sprinkling actions for myself!]

[This person begs Xingchi to feed the porridge with his own hands! Spoon or mouth feeding, we’re not picky! Begging for sugar, begging for sugar]

The program team naturally nodded. Even if the fans didn’t order them, they didn’t dare to tire Young Master Xia.

What’s more, after the gold master woke up, who knew if he would be furious to find out that the little fiance had been snatched up to record the show and was not by his side?

Xia Xingchi pricked up his ears, and when he heard that he could go back to sleep and still get paid, he was immediately overjoyed. Waving goodbye to everyone, he then quickly and happily returned to the room.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the door, he saw Li Chengyuan sitting up with a pale face, as if he wanted to get out of bed.

“Why are you awake? Go back to sleep, go back to sleep.” Xia Xingchi quickly pushed him back down. “What do you want? I’ll get it for you. Do you want some water?”

Li Chengyuan grabbed his hand. His voice was hoarse and weak, but still commanding: “Let me look at you.”

Xia Xingchi was taken aback by these words. So this person got up just to find him?

How could he be this clingy while he was sick, so afraid that he would run away?

In all honesty, where could he run in the deep mountains and old forests?

The low-grade fever was the biggest ordeal, and Li Chengyuan was obviously in a bad state of mind. This person was beginning to seem like a child again.

Xia Xingchi was worried that he would jump from this stage to the point of madness in a while, so he didn’t dare to provoke him at all, lest he suddenly explode.

He obediently listened to the villain’s order and took off his coat, then happily lay back on the bed to sleep with pay.

Li Chengyuan still seemed anxious, and stretched out his arms to hold him and prevent him from running around, then drowsily fell asleep.

– – –

Due to Xia Xingchi’s absence, everyone was a little torn between omitting breakfast or eating dark cuisine,^[2] and then chose to forgo eating without hesitation.

After all, when they added themselves together, the only one who knew a little bit of cooking was Han Yuanhe. But according to An Jing’s complaints, the food he made was so hard that even dogs wouldn’t eat it, and whoever ate it would go insane.

Han Yuanhe scratched his head and said: “I can still make noodles, ba. And I can also make pickles, which are actually quite good.”

Half an hour later, after a burst of chaos, there was a large bowl of half-raw mushy batter on the table.

The handful of people looked at each other, and finally affirmed An Jing’s evaluation of her boyfriend.

[Good god, a dog would indeed shake its head to see this]

[Life without Xia Xingchi turns out to be so difficult. I finally understand why this episode seems so easy, it’s because of Xia Xingchi!]

[Wu wu wu So what will they do for lunch? I’m so worried]

[It doesn’t matter, Xingchi should come to cook in a while. After all, Mr. Li has to eat porridge]

[I’m late today, can anyone tell me why there are only three people left on the screen?]

[Mr. Li has a stomach problem and Xingchi is taking care of him……but why isn’t Xia Yu here? What is he doing?]

[It must be because Xia Yu has to take care of his fiance, ah! Xiao Yu is his lover, Xia Xingchi is just an ordinary roommate. Oh, I mean male mistress]

[Latest news! There is rather credible inside information that Li Chengyuan just got engaged to the young master of the Xia family last month. There are pictures and evidence!]

[I saw it! I knew Xiao Yu was the real deal!]

This revelation was not only convincing, but it was indeed true. The black gold-stamped invitation card was not cheap at first glance, and the names of the Xia and Li families were written in golden characters.

According to research, the person who broke the news was a waiter at a top private club in Beijing, which was the venue for the engagement dinner.

It was said that this person broke the news offhandedly and with “good intentions,” because he had already resigned. In addition to the invitation, there was also a pixelated work badge. With the incomparably luxurious occasion that day and the celebrities from all walks of life who participated in the banquet, if you added it all together, it was indeed full of truth.

[What else can you say this time? Could it be that after saying that Xia Xingchi is his fiance, you want to say that he is the young master of the Xia family?]

[Is this a slap in the face? I think Xia Xingchi’s fans should eat more plums, now you know what it means to be well-matched socially, ba]

[Don’t think they’re the same because they both have the surname Xia. Xiao Yu is the young master of a wealthy family, and your idol is just third-rate trash from the countryside]

This breaking news was quickly put on the hot search by interested people. After much research, it turned out that none of it was fake, but all of it was true.

Li Chengyuan’s public relations team specially formed for Xia Xingchi was also a little confused about this. After all, although the trend of this hot search was completely wrong, everything was indeed true.

This was quite tricky. They wanted to guide the trend of public opinion, but couldn’t. The truth of “Xia Xingchi is the young master of the Xia family” had no foundation before this, and Li Chengyuan must be consulted if it was to be exposed.

Their boss couldn’t be contacted for the time being, so they could only adapt to the changes and wait, letting fans of both sides fight wildly first.

Xia Yu, who had disappeared early in the morning, suddenly appeared at this time, dressed neatly as if he had been doing something.

“Good morning, everyone!” Even if the brains of people online had turned into those of dogs, green tea feigned ignorance as always.

Because Xia Yu didn’t continue to forcibly insert himself yesterday in order to gain popularity, his CP fans had finally restrained themselves a bit. Unexpectedly, something happened today and they suddenly made a mighty comeback.

Seeing the three people looking at each other with bowls full of dark cuisine, and two people obviously missing, Xia Yu quickly asked with great concern: “Where are Mr. Li and Xingchi-ge?”

“President Li is sick, Xingchi is taking care of him.” Li Xiu thought for a moment and asked, “Speaking of which, why did you leave so early in the morning?”

When Xia Yu heard this, he imperceptibly clenched the hand in his pocket, then said without a change of expression: “I saw that Mr. Li didn’t feel very well yesterday, so I asked the assistant to deliver some stomach-nourishing ingredients and just went to the village entrance to get them.”

After that, he smiled and turned to the program team and said cutely: “For the sake of Mr. Li being non-staff personnel, let’s make an exception for him and give him special treatment.”

The observation was meticulous and considerate, as if he was very familiar with Li Chengyuan and even very affectionate. Knowing that he had a stomach problem, he bought the ingredients specially.

Not only that, but he even rolled up his sleeves, and the “young master” who wouldn’t touch spring water with his fingers decided to cook the porridge himself, which seemed to fit the newly revealed evidence.

“Alas, in fact, I can only cook porridge,” Xia Yu said to the camera, helplessly distressed.

“Mr. Li’s stomach has always been bad. When he was in school, he experienced stomach bleeds several times. He almost couldn’t be saved from one serious one……he’s usually busy with work and doesn’t pay it any attention.”

As if he was chatting with everyone, he talked a lot about Li Chengyuan’s childhood.

[Let me just say, knowing so many details, Xiao Yu is the real deal! Xia Xingchi is a green tea mistress!]

[Mr. Li said before that he and his lover knew each other when they were young. Xia Xingchi was still playing with mud in some backcountry back then, right?]

[This is true undying love! Xiao Yu actually wants to cook with his own hands, this is the first time I’ve seen Xiao Yu cooking!]

[Ah, this, shine a little light on your idol and he’s glorious. Just wait for a slap in the face]

[Laughing to death, a certain fool has already been slapped in the face. Are you still waiting for others to be slapped?]

[I think you guys have forgotten Mr. Li’s disgusted expression towards Xia Yu]

While Xia Yu was performing the tea ceremony, the three people sitting outside all looked at each other and clearly couldn’t bear to look directly at it.

Although they were unaware of the real and fake young masters, they knew very clearly who the real deal was. Yesterday Xia Yu had clearly realized the difficulty and toned it down, so why did he become so industrious again today?

Besides, was he talking nonsense, or did he really know so much about Li Chengyuan’s childhood? How did he know this?

Since no one wanted to come forward to be a green tea accomplice, they all pretended to be chatting and didn’t look at him.

Xia Yu had to complete a series of tasks including cooking porridge and lighting a fire by himself, which was miserable and toilsome. He seemed to be excluded by everyone but still only wanted to take care of his “fiance.” He was really a stubborn and unyielding white lotus.

– – –

Xia Xingchi woke up after going back to sleep once two hours or so had passed.

He’d actually slept a lot last night, because Li Chengyuan kept silent and didn’t bother anyone in the slightest, so Xia Xingchi had fallen asleep not long after leaning against him.

Xia Xingchi tiptoed out of his arms, intending to cook some porridge for him to drink when he woke up.

As he did so, he would make lunch for everyone. Otherwise, it was likely that the wisdom of the masses couldn’t exceed that of a mastermind, and lunch would be a big problem.

Unexpectedly, as soon as his feet touched the ground, the soundly-sleeping Li Chengyuan suddenly woke up. After realizing that his arms were empty, he sat up in a panic.

His blood sugar and blood pressure were low at this time, so when he got up so fast, his vision went black and he fell back immediately.

Xia Xingchi was taken aback by his corpse-like behavior, and quickly went to help him: “You have a good rest, I’ll make some porridge.”

Li Chengyuan closed his eyes for a moment. The black mist in front of his finally disappeared, and he ordered with a blank face: “Xia Xingchi, I told you not to leave.”

“Then you won’t eat?” Xia Xingchi simply had no way to deal with him, and said angrily, “It’s fine if you starve to death. Anyway, I have received ten months’ wages, and I’ll just go home.”

The two looked at each other for a moment, and suddenly heard a knock on the door: “Mr. Li, I made some porridge for you. Xingchi-ge, would you like to drink some too?”

So Xia Xingchi had no choice but to forfeit the staring contest with the rebellious big cat, and opened the door to see Xia Yu holding a large bowl of porridge in his hand.

His porridge was made of high-quality japonica rice, red dates, and lotus seeds. It looked quite delicate.

It was unlike the corn mush that could be obtained locally in the backcountry, which Xia Xingchi had fed to him like a cat abuser in the past two days.

Xia Xingchi blinked and gave pretty high marks to this exquisite porridge.

It seemed that the green tea really put a lot of effort into marrying into a wealthy family before, probably because he learned that Li Chengyuan had a bad stomach.

It just so happened that Li Chengyuan’s twisted desire for control didn’t allow him to go out and cook porridge. He didn’t care whether this green tea was brazenly seeking attention to fire up the CP discussion. In any case, he had exquisite cat food.

But before he took the porridge, the words “Li Shengrui” suddenly popped into Xia Xingchi’s mind.

As if intuitively sensing danger, he immediately withdrew his hand and changed his words to a refusal: “No need. Li Chengyuan won’t drink it, so take it away, ba.”

One didn’t need to look at the barrage to know it must have turned into a deep-fryer.

[What kind of a jerk is Xia Xingchi! He refused without asking Li Chengyuan? Xiao Yu’s hands were scalded just now by the porridge he slaved over!]

[Just now he said nicely in front of the camera that he wanted to cook porridge for Mr. Li, but in the end, he didn’t bother to cook it himself, so he didn’t allow Xiao Yu to bring it? What a malicious appearance]

[Your idol should be less impressed with himself, OK? Even if Mr. Li was here, he would only refuse with even more disgust (Li Cold-shoulder.GIF) He would say, “your hands are dirty,” understand?]

[Xia Yu is really losing more than he receives. 82-year Longjing – it’s old green tea. Can’t you tell that Mr. Li dislikes him so much?]

[Xia Yu has the financial resources to send food into the mountains, but that shit Xia Xingchi doesn’t. If you can’t take good care of Mr. Li, you aren’t good enough for Mr. Li!]

[So what? Anyway, Mr. Li likes Xingchi. Just asking, are you angry? I disagree with you upstairs, ah]

As soon as Xia Xingchi spoke, Xia Yu suddenly put on a tearful performance: 

“Xingchi-ge, I know we may have a misunderstanding……but can you stop being angry with me for the sake of Mr. Li’s health?”

“His blood sugar has been low, and he still hasn’t eaten, so he will definitely feel dizzy.”

Upon hearing this, Xia Xingchi really wanted to give this green tea two punches, bang bang, but of course he had to behave himself in front of the camera.

But Xia Yu, who was in league with Li Shengrui, was quite dangerous. Such a person might not break the law out of jealousy for the real young master, but he could definitely take risks for the inheritance of hundreds of billions.

Therefore, Xia Xingchi didn’t dare let Li Chengyuan eat such an unknown thing.

Just as he was about to grit his teeth and continue to refuse, making the storm of insults fall upon him more violently, he heard the closed door behind him open.

Li Chengyuan stood in front of the door wearing a coat, his pale and handsome face showing only indifference:

“Isn’t what Xia Xingchi said clear enough? I won’t drink it, take it away.”

“But Mr. Li, I just —”

Li Chengyuan said again calmly: “I only eat the food cooked by Xia Xingchi.”

Hearing this, Xia Xingchi immediately turned his head to stare, and secretly glared to remind him to restrain himself and save what little disguise he had left.

As soon as these words came out, people were completely confused, and for a while they couldn’t figure out what was true or false.

[Hahahaha this face-slapping reversal made me laugh so hard (Li Cold Shoulder.GIF)]

[Just asking, Xia Yu, does your face hurt? Braindead fans, do your faces hurt?]

[This melon stunned me too. Including the photos and various internal information, it is said that the real person is the young master of the Xia family, but Li Chengyuan’s attitude is more like Xia Xingchi is the real young master? What happened?]

[Could it be that Xia Xingchi is the young master Xia? If so, everything makes sense. Just a passer-by guessing]

[Are you crazy? The countryside vegetable-seller? I think he looks like a rentboy from a nightclub]

[You’re really in a hurry. What Xia Yu fans do best is clutching at straws and making personal attacks, so amazing]

. . . . . .

After the old green tea was driven away, Xia Xingchi closed the door and said angrily: “Dear Mr. Li, can you leave me some of my disguise? Why are you talking nonsense about only eating the food I cook!”

Li Chengyuan sat on the edge of the kang bed, took a sip of the freshly poured warm water from Xia Xingchi, and said nothing.

In fact, he spoke the truth. When he was a child, he was almost poisoned to death. Since then, he had been extremely vigilant against things of unknown origin.

He asked back: “Why didn’t you let him send it in?”

Xia Xingchi opened his mouth when he heard this, and thought that he couldn’t say, “I suspect that your future death will be caused by poisoning.”

Xia Yu was very strange today, as if he didn’t even have a minimum IQ. Xia Xingchi had to be more suspicious of him.

After organizing his words for a long time, Xia Xingchi finally spat out some nonsense: “I’m helping guard your chastity, lest your White Moonlight become jealous when they find out.”

“You’ll be jealous of Xia Yu?” Li Chengyuan naturally didn’t believe this excuse.

“I said, your White Moonlight!” Xia Xingchi said angrily. “Not me!”

Yesterday, because of his stomachache, Xia Xingchi didn’t lower himself to his level and followed along for the time being. But today, he once again said such annoying words.

Xia Xingchi stepped forward and snatched the glass from Li Chengyuan’s hand. He put it aside firmly, then fiercely pushed down someone who was frail and in poor health.

Of course, the main reason for being able to overcome Li Chengyuan was that he himself did not resist at all.

Not only did he not resist, but he also took advantage of the situation to pull Xia Xingchi down as well.

Li Chengyuan came to a conclusion calmly: “I think my White Moonlight is drinking his own vinegar.”

---

[1] This is likely referring to the poem, “Rainy Lane,”  (雨巷) by the Chinese poet Dai Wangshu in 1927. ⮐

[2] Dark cuisine is food made badly by an amateur or consisting of unusual combinations of ingredients. ⮐

---

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Chapter Thirty << Table of Contents >> Chapter Thirty-Two

Zhao Yelan was so busy these days that he hardly touched the ground. First, he put up notices reminding the common people to save water, store it properly, and stop waste. He also told them not to panic, and not to drive away refugees entering the city, but to guide them to shelter.

The charity house hadn’t been used for many years, so Zhao Yelan took the officers and soldiers from the government office to clean it up. Water was specially pulled from a mountain spring to be stored away, and many people were sent to investigate the water source.

Zhao Yelan sent Xiao Gao out again: “Kuang Sheng has slow legs, so he could only check the nearby area, but further away, someone still needs to investigate the situation. Go to Quzhou and Longzhou to have a look. If you find a disastrous situation, report it to the local government immediately. While you’re there, tell them not to reject refugees, but to settle them properly.”

A day later, Kuang Sheng returned with the nearest survey team. His complexion was dark, and his legs were still shaking when he sat down with a miserable expression: “The situation is not optimistic. The crops in the nearby area are all dry, and there are no people in the remote villages and towns. I don’t know where they went.”

“They will definitely move to a source of water.” Zhao Yelan found a detailed map of Huaizhou. “Tell me, how many are there?”

“Thirteen of the fourteen counties in Huaizhou are drought-stricken,” Kuang Sheng said. “The only one left is almost dry.”

Zhao Yelan frowned. The only remaining place would probably be flooded with refugees from the surrounding area, which may give rise to disputes.

It was obviously unrealistic for all of these refugees to squeeze into Huaizhou. For one, it would be too crowded, and the distance was also too long.

Fortunately, Yan Mingting left enough manpower for him.

“We must set up disaster relief sites as soon as possible.”

Yin Pinglu also rushed back exhaustedly at this moment. As soon as she entered the room, she poured half a pot of water and reported: “People in two counties have reported about the crops, but they were not taken seriously. I have already reprimanded those two county magistrates, and they expressed their willingness to face their crimes and make meritorious service by donating all of their belongings to cooperate with the disaster relief. The other counties promised to cooperate with my lord.”

“You have worked hard.” Zhao Yelan unfolded the map. “You are more familiar with Huaizou. Let’s see where it is most appropriate to set up disaster relief sites.”

Kuang Sheng divided five districts according to the distribution of rivers. On this basis, Yin Pinglu detailed the population and finally identified six disaster relief sites.

Zhao Yelan took half of the disaster funds and sent people to transport steamed buns and water to the six places respectively. He further expanded the scope to ensure that refugees could smoothly reach other places for refuge.

At night, many refugees suddenly poured in from outside the city. Zhao Yelan stood on the city wall and said: “Take these people to the charity house first and enter them into the register. Be sure not to miss any of them.”

The people in Huaizhou were quite obedient at first, but after seeing the refugees squeeze inside the next few days, they also started to become agitated. The living resources that once belonged to them were now taken away by these people. Who knew if the next drought would include Huaizhou? Then how would they save themselves?

“My lord, it’s not good, somebody threw something into the living quarters!”

Zhao Yelan had just returned from outside, and before he could catch his breath, he rushed to the charity house without stopping.

The sounds of commotion could be heard from a long distance away. The area was full of people, most of whom had come to watch the excitement, but this invisibly fueled the flames of the perpetrators.

It was originally a matter of a thrown egg, and the people around applauded it, but it gradually turned into throwing stones. The people inside also began to shout insults, and the two sides almost came to blows. The officers and soldiers guarding the door could barely control the scene.

“All of you, stop!” Zhao Yelan shouted. The soldiers behind him rushed in, and the people on both sides separated, but the cursing didn’t stop.

Just as Zhao Yelan walked to the door, a stone flew over and hit him on the forehead. Blood flowed down his eyebrows, contrasting against his pale face.

“My lord! Are you okay?” Yin Pinglu took a panicked step forward and hurriedly sent someone to find the doctor.

The crowd fell silent in an instant.

Zhao Yelan held his forehead, looked at the blood on his fingers, and sneered at once: “Very good, you are rather capable. First excluding foreigners, and then attacking court officials. You want to meet the king of hell earlier, is that right?”

The crowd was speechless, and after a long while, someone from the masses replied: “Zhao-daren, we didn’t mean to hit you.”

“Then stoning them was also unintentional?” Zhao Yelan said sternly, “Whoever made the first move, come out!”

Everyone was silent.

“Covering for each other, ba? Come, arrest them all!”

The crowd looked left and right in a panic, and at last someone stood forward: “A real man must bear the consequences of his own actions. I did it! Kill me or cut my flesh, it’s up to you!”

“Someone so big and strong thinks he can commit a crime.” Zhao Yelan covered his forehead with a handkerchief and stepped forward to look him up and down.

“My lord, don’t kill him, ah. His wife passed away, and there are only a few children left in the family. How can the children live like this, ah,” someone said.

“Yes, ah, he was just impulsive. My lord, just let him go, we will never cause trouble again in the future.”

Everyone said one sentence after another, helping to beg for mercy.

“Did I say I was going to kill him?” Although Zhao Yelan was furious, when it was a matter of life and death, it was easy to have extreme emotions. People should not be executed lightly, so as not to arouse the negative emotions of the masses. He asked, “Would you like to join the Self-Defense Force?”

The man was taken aback: “What is the Self-Defense Force?”

Just as Zhao Yelan was about to speak, he was struck by a headache and was unable to speak while pressing the wound. Yin Pinglu stepped forward and said for him: “In the past two days, Zhao-daren has been looking for ways to help everyone, and found a relatively remote water source. But the distance is a bit long, and it takes a day’s journey to go back and forth, so it is necessary to call up some manpower to carry the water. But it is not free labor, the government will pay these people double.”

“Is there really such a good thing?” When the people around heard this, they all cheered up. This was a great opportunity to make money.

Yin Pinglu: “Yes, those who want to go must come and register with me. Those who are strong and able to endure hardships and hard work will be given the priority.”

Yin Pinglu was soon surrounded by the crowd.

The purpose of the Self-Defense Force was actually to evacuate the population pressure in the city by sending the young and middle-aged people to the outside under the guise of transporting water. If all went well, they could really bring back some much-needed water.

Zhao Yelan was escorted back to the government office first. The doctor had already arrived, and while being bandaged, he looked at Gao Tan who had just rushed back: “There is no obvious drought in Longzhou or Quzhou?”

“Yes, they are close to the Yellow River, and the crops have not been affected,” Xiao Gao reported.

Zhao Yelan breathed a sigh of relief: “The evacuation of the refugees can begin.”

But there was still one problem – the money was running out. The disaster relief funds originally sent to Huaizhou only amounted to 38,000 taels. Adding the silver stored in the warehouse, the total was about 40,000 taels.

These days, the supplies at the six disaster relief sites, including the charity house, were almost exhausted. Now that they had added an additional expenditure for the Self-Defense Force, the money could barely last until the next day.

The height of the city lake had been reduced by half. The elegant boats on the lake in the past had been replaced by buckets, and all of the teahouses had been closed. The streets were so hot that everyone mostly stayed at home without going out, and only emerged at night to feel the wind.

And in the charity house, there were even more negative feelings, as if the group was waiting for death.

The disastrous situation was terrible, but the loss of spirit was also terrible. Therefore, Zhao Yelan wanted to cheer this group of people up.

Most of the people who went to join the Self-Defense Force were natives of Huaizhou, and those refugees could only try not to bother them.

Zhao Yelan made another announcement to the people in the charity house. The next meals would only be semi-finished products, and those who were willing to help cook would receive double the wages. The embroidery workshop was not yet closed, so those who were handy could apply to join, and those without skills would be given a certain amount of subsidies if they were willing to learn.

At this time, many women and children found work. The charity house had steamed buns to eat, a floor to sleep on, and they could go to the embroidery shop to learn crafts and earn some money. The negative emotions dissipated substantially. The shelter was no longer crowded with people, and the relationship between the refugees and the locals eased by a lot.

It was just a pity for Zhao Yelan’s wallet. All the money was taken from his private treasury.

He looked at the last banknote on his body with a broken heart.

Originally, all of that shining silver was for leisure and indulgence after leaving the Xuan Dynasty, and now this good thing was scattered across thousands of families.

All this because of Yan Mingting’s sentence, “There are tens of thousands of Mengtings waiting for our Mengting to rescue them.” Was it worth it?

He smiled to himself.

At this time, a little girl’s voice sounded at the door: “Zhao-daren, Zhao-daren!”

Going out curiously, he saw the guards at the door blocking the girl who wanted to rush in. It was the girl named Mengting. “Let her in,” he said.

Mengting was dressed in rags, but her face was bright. She ran up to him, touched the loose hair on her face, and asked: “Zhao-daren, have you eaten yet?”

“Not yet, what is it?” Zhao Yelan knelt down to look at her. “What do you want from me?”

“I was just passing by and thought that you seemed to live here.” Mengting took out a steamed bun from her bosom, held it in front of him, and said with a smile, “My mother made this at the charity house. I want to give it to you to eat.”

The steamed bun carried on the little girl’s body had been smothered, and the skin was stained by the little girls’ fingerprints. Zhao Yelan accepted it and took a bite, saying: “Delicious. Your mother’s cooking skills are good, but why did you want to give it to me?”

“Because you gave us steamed buns last time! We ate your steamed buns along the way, so we didn’t starve to death.” Mengting’s skin was a little tanned, but her teeth were exceptionally white and her smile was bright. “And my mother said you are a very good person, so I didn’t want you to be hungry.”

Zhao Yelan raised his eyebrows in surprise: “I am a good person?”

“That’s right, everyone says so, they say you’re better than the original Yin……Yin whatever. My lord is much better. If it weren’t for you, the rest of us would have starved to death. I’ll go to work with my mother in the embroidery workshop later. I think embroidery is much more fun than growing crops. When I learn this in the future, I will sew you an outfit, okay?”

Zhao Yelan took another bite of the steamed bun and his eyebrows curved: “Okay, ah.”

Mengting paused for a moment, then suddenly said: “Then when I grow up, can I marry you?”

Zhao Yelan was taken aback for a moment, and then laughed out loud: “This isn’t possible.”

“Why not?”

“Because……” Zhao Yelan thought for a moment. Regardless of whether the other party understood or not, he said, “I’m already married.”

“Ah, what a pity!” Mengting pouted.

The corners of Zhao Yelan’s mouth curled up, and he divided the steamed bun into halves, returning the untouched half to her: “I’m full, this is for you. Eat a little more so that you can grow up quickly. I’m waiting for your new clothes.”

“Okay!” Mengting took it and opened her mouth to take a big bite, and when she looked at him, she smiled again with squinting eyes.

Zhao Yelan sent her to the gate of the government office: “Go and find your mother.”

“En, goodbye, Zhao-daren!”

Zhao Yelan stood at the door and watched her leave. People passing by all around would automatically call: “Zhao-daren.”

“Zhao-daren, have you eaten yet?”

“Zhao-daren, will the Self-Defense Force come back? Nothing will happen to my stinky man, will it?”

“Zhao-daren seems to have lost weight, would you like to come to my house for a meal?”

The weather was hot. Zhao Yelan wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling his chest grow inexplicably warmer. Smiling, he looked at these people coming and going and thought: It’s worth it.

Inexplicably, he missed Yan Mingting very much.

He wanted to talk with him about the current situation, chat about everything that had happened these days, tell him everything in detail.

In the afternoon, Li Yucheng brought good news that his uncle was willing to provide five thousand taels for disaster relief.

“Only your uncle? What about the other merchants?”

“Just convincing my uncle has already exhausted all of my skills. I really can’t say anything to the others. After all, those people see me as a wastrel and don’t listen to my advice at all.”

“That’s reasonable.”

“…….”

“I’ll go meet with them for a while.” Zhao Yelan told him to gather all of them in the chamber of commerce.

The merchants sat in the hall and could guess with their toes what was going on. One of them couldn’t help being a little indignant: “These officials usually look down on us businessmen the most. Asking them to do anything is as difficult as ascending to heaven. Of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, they send us straight to the bottom and then come to bleed us dry when something happens. I’ve had enough of this nonsense!”

The others were also stirred up and decided to present a united front. They would not be persuaded even in the face of death.

It was difficult for Cheng Ying to speak with them. After all, his brother-in-law was the Prime Minister, and he had already agreed to donate five thousand taels.

After a while, Zhao Yelan answered and had to make some perfunctory remarks:

“It is a pleasure to meet you at last. You are all well-known Confucian businessmen in Jiangnan and seeing you today, you really deserve your reputation.”

“Zhao-daren, there is no need for these polite words. Just tell us what you want from us,” the speaker coldly scoffed.

“All right, I will just say it straight. I hope the chamber of commerce can donate a little silver or supplies.”

“We refuse.”

Zhao Yelan smiled: “I haven’t mentioned the conditions yet.”

“What conditions could you have?” The speaker asked disdainfully.

“Everyone here is involved in many industries, and there must be embroidery workshops among them. The weaving skills in Jiangnan need not be spoken of, but it is a pity that everything is sent directly to the palace. The people in the capital can only hear of it, but never see or wear it. And the silk from the Western Regions is also unique. After business contacts were made, the common people have also come to love buying cloth from the Western Regions. On the other hand, your Jiangnan goods can only be circulated in Jiangnan and the south, which is really a pity,” Zhao Yelan said.

Li Yucheng echoed: “That’s right, think about it, how many dignitaries are there in the capital? If you sell them in Beijing, you can earn a lot.”

These words hit the weak point of this group of businessmen, and the leader said: “We also want to sell in the capital, but in order to save the face of the royal family, the Imperial court only allows us to sell to the palace, and not to the common people at all, ah.”

This was an old rule left by the former Emperor. In order to show the superior status of the harem ladies, clothing from Jiangnan was only allowed to be sent to the palace. After Zhao Xuan ascended the throne, there were not many concubines in the palace and this omission was not noticed at all.

“Sooner or later, the whole country will know about the drought. If you all unite as one and show your kindness by helping the common people through these difficulties, I can also intercede with the Emperor on your behalf and allow you to distribute your goods in the northern market.”

“Just by opening your mouth, the Emperor will agree?”

“If the Emperor agrees, you can make a lot of profit in the future. After all, these goods were originally for the Imperial concubines, and if they are on the market, people will rush to buy them. If the Emperor does not agree, your situation will remain the same and you will not experience a loss. The donated money can be considered to be paying for your own lives. When the people are evacuated, you will be sent away first. Can you just sit back and relax? It’s better to earn a good reputation now, and have better standing and business opportunities in the future.”

Everyone exchanged glances, slightly tempted, and didn’t resist as fiercely as they did in the beginning.

Zhao Yelan gave Li Yucheng a meaningful look, and Li Yucheng immediately said: “To tell you the truth, I came to Jiangnan this time to learn from you, and I plan to start a small business after returning to the capital. Why don’t you cooperate with me, and I will send someone to Jiangnan to transport your goods, such as tea, porcelain, cloth, rice, medicinal materials and such. You won’t have to worry about losses on the road, or about slow sales. You can give me a thirty percent higher price, and the only requirement is that for three years, you can’t find someone else in the capital to work with.”

“Thirty percent higher? Then how do you plan to sell it?”

“I have my own ways,” Li Yucheng said. “After all, none of you know the capital better than me. If it sells well, I will order more. Even if it is unsalable, I will never trouble you.”

Just when everyone was weighing the pros and cons, Zhao Yelan took out the roster and said: “The Cheng family donated 4,000 taels. When I return to Beijing, I will be the first to report your kindness to the Emperor. At that time, the Emperor will allow silk to be distributed in the market, and you will be the only one allowed to do so.”

How could a family do it alone!?

This really stabbed everyone in the lungs. They would rather hurt themselves to damage the enemy, and never wanted one to come out on top. In an instant, everyone expressed their willingness to donate four thousand taels.

Cheng Ying’s eyes moved, settling on Zhao Yelan, and he suddenly understood why Zhao Yelan only said that he had donated four thousand and said: “Then I will give five thousand.”

Zhao Yelan sent him a gratified look, but the others were anxious.

“I’ll pay five thousand and five!”

“Six thousand from me!”

In the end, the leader was heartless: “I’ll pay eight thousand.”

The others: “…….” You traitor.

“I’ll also pay eight thousand!”

“Count me in!”

“I’ll go eight thousand and eight!”

“Hiss —”

Seeing that the speculation was getting higher and higher, Zhao Yelan smiled slightly: “Let’s do this, ba. For the sake of fairness, let’s unify at eight thousand taels, and then I will give an account of your loyalty to the Emperor and strive for your best interests.”

“Zhao-daren, please don’t slip up, ah, everything depends on you.”

“Naturally. I wouldn’t dare say this if I wasn’t sure. Everyone go back early, I will send people to collect the silver after dark and inform the common people of your donations,” Zhao Yelan said.

Everyone was really hurting, yet at the same time saying words of gratitude.

Cheng Ying stayed when they all departed in the end, sighing to Li Yucheng: “I agreed to five thousand, but in the blink of an eye, three thousand more was taken away.”

“Uncle, calm down.” Li Yucheng squeezed his shoulder and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, I will return it to you when I earn it back.”

“You? Do you think it’s so easy to make money?”

Li Yucheng gave a secretive smile: “Don’t forget, they have already signed an agreement with me, and all the goods in the capital will be handed over to me for distribution. As soon as the Emperor agrees to Zhao Yelan’s conditions, the silk will be sold by me first, and a steady stream of money will come rushing in.”

“But will this group of people agree?”

“I can give them a small profit, but not too much. Anyway, I can already make a lot of money for them, and it is a profitable business. If they want more, there is no way, and we have a contract to prove it. And we only set it up for three years, so if they want to go to the capital to do business by themselves, that’s no problem, ah.” Li Yucheng chuckled. “It’s just that Jiangnan silk will no longer be a rare commodity at that time.”

Cheng Ying came to a sudden realization: “Boy, you are really a schemer, ah.”

“I’m just a little clever. The real schemer is someone else.”

“You mean……” Cheng Ying asked in a low voice, “Zhao-daren?”

“It’s all his idea, I’m at most the second shopkeeper. We will be working together in the future,” Li Yucheng said proudly. “But to be the second shopkeeper, I feel that I am very rich, and there will be many better days in the future.”

As a merchant, Cheng Ying couldn’t help but admire Zhao Yelan’s business acumen, and he suddenly realized another thing: “If the market in the capital is really opened up, then the demand will increase, and the original embroiderers may not be enough……”

“So now he pays out of his own pocket to let these troubled women and children go to the embroidery workshop to learn skills, which not only alleviates the current predicament, but also prepares for future business.” Li Yucheng gave a sincere thumbs up. “Check out this foresight……”

Dumbfounded, Cheng Ying patted him heavily on the shoulder: “Uncle has nothing to teach you. You’d better go with Zhao-daren, and there will be many better days in the future.”

In the evening, the doctor came to treat Zhao Yelan’s wound. It had scabbed over and there was no need to wrap it with gauze.

Zhao Yelan counted the 80,000 taels of relief money raised and then called Yin Pinglu, Kuang Sheng, and the head official to discuss the route to evacuate the refugees to Quzhou and Longzhou, as well as how to keep enough dry food and water on the way.

The handful of people sat around and discussed for a while, and Xiao Gao suddenly ran in excitedly: “My lord, my lord! The General is back!”

Everyone was stunned for a moment, then raised their heads and looked toward the door.

“There are a lot of people here, escorting the disaster money and supplies from the court!” Xiao Gao said enthusiastically.

Everyone got up in surprise to greet them. Zhao Yelan’s footsteps were hurried, and he didn’t even have time to put down the brush in his hand. When he was approaching the gate, he thought of something and suddenly turned around and ran back into the back courtyard.

While everyone was wondering, Yan Mingting took a few steps into the gate and inspected the circle of people. After dealing with everyone’s greetings, he asked: “Where are the others?”

“My lord seems to have gone back to his room.”

Yan Mingting asked the head official to go outside and pick up the team, as well as the new magistrate of Pi county, and then walked quickly to the back courtyard.

Yin Pinglu saw that her help was not needed outside, and worriedly followed to check on the situation.

As soon as she arrived in the courtyard, she unexpectedly saw Yan Mingting knocking on the door: “I’m back, why won’t you come out to see me? Mengting, Mengting! I’ll count to three, and if you don’t come out, I’ll smash the door, ah.”

“If you dare to smash the door, I will smash you,” said the person inside.

“Then you come out, ah. Why don’t you want to see me? Have you broken your promise? Are you seeing another man?

His words became more outrageous the more he said. Yin Pinglu stepped forward and pulled Yan Mingting back, telling the truth in one sentence: “My lord is disfigured and doesn’t want you to see him.”

---

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Chapter Sixty-One <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Sixty-Three

The moment Xia Xingchi slipped into Li Chengyuan’s arms, a loud bang sounded, as if the whole earth was trembling.

But in fact, it was only Xia Xinchi who was trembling all over. He held his breath and grasped the only object nearby even harder, buried in the familiar warm embrace like a confused and panicked little animal.

This was the first thunderstorm he had experienced in this world. If he was in Li Chengyuan’s villa at the moment, he might not be so afraid.

But here there were deep, barren mountains, a dilapidated old bungalow, and an unfamiliar environment.

The only familiar thing was the person he was hugging tightly. The fear of death was completely beyond reason, entirely a product of biological instinct, which caused Xia Xingchi to burrow crazily into Li Chengyuan’s arms.

“What’s wrong?” Li Chengyuan immediately hugged him in his arms and gently stroked his head.

He was a little dazed at first, not having expected Xia Xingchi to suddenly burst into the room and take the initiative to embrace him tightly.

Now, Xia Xingchi whispered intermittently as if sobbing: “Li Chengyuan……I’m going to be struck to death. I, I’m scared……my head will split……it hurts……”

The words were incoherent, and it took a long time for Li Chengyuan to realize that he was afraid of thunder.

“Don’t be afraid.” Li Chengyuan covered his ears and coaxed him in a low voice: “I’m holding you, you won’t be hit.”

He repeated this in a whisper many times, and Xia Xingchi’s tense body finally relaxed after tireless comforting.

The thunderstorm didn’t last long before it gradually died down, and Li Chengyuan slowly let go of his ears.

Xia Xingchi had already fallen asleep leaning into Li Chengyuan’s embrace. His arms were still wrapped around the other’s waist, and even his fingers were still clenched tightly into his pajamas.

Li Chengyuan could feel his uneasiness, so he didn’t forcibly pry him from his body, and simply let him cling like this. He even actively adjusted his posture to hug him tighter.

Xia Xingchi finally relaxed all the way. He hummed comfortably twice as the night rain faded outside the window, then murmured Li Chengyuan’s name in a daze.

Li Chengyuan could only brush the tip of his nose with his knuckles, and found that the corners of his eyes were moist from the tears that had flowed down in his panic.

There were so many men and women who had racked their brains over the years to find a chance like this to leap into his arms. He would obviously suspect them of trying to seduce him if someone else tried it. After all, it was unheard of to be afraid of thunder to this extent.

But it was different if the person was Xia Xingchi. Li Chengyuan only felt ecstatic, as if a big surprise had fallen from the sky……he even felt a hint of gratitude toward the thunderstorm.

If not for this little hedgehog who was afraid of thunder, he might even hope for a few more such thunderstorms tomorrow night.

– – –

Early the next morning, Li Chengyuan, who always got up early, made the rare decision to lie in bed instead of getting up to get ready.

Because after waking up, he found that Xia Xingchi was still hugging him without letting go. Although he usually hugged him like this, it wasn’t as tightly as today, like a sticky red bean bun that wouldn’t release him.

Li Chengyuan didn’t want to wake him up, so he just lay motionless in bed and habitually stared at his features.

After a long while, he gently touched his arm with his fingertips and brushed against the expected crescent-shaped scar.

Xia Xingchi felt a little ticklish from those cold fingertips, and called “Summer” indiscriminately. After a while, perhaps sensing that this was a human and not a cat, he muttered again, “Li Chengyuan.”

Li Chengyuan pursed his lips and raised his hand expressionlessly to give his cheek a light poke, like a big cat playing with a ball of wool.

Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but hum irritably a few times, trying his best to get into the arms of the person beside him and away from the cold and malicious fingers.

“Li Chengyuan……” Xia Xingchi lay in his arms and murmured dreamily, “Don’t die, okay.”

This wasn’t the first time he had said such a thing. It was clear that it wasn’t just a nightmare, but seemed instead like something he really thought could happen.

Before Li Chengyuan could think further, he heard a voice suddenly come from outside the door:

“Is Mr. Li awake? Here we come!”

Yesterday, the program team was worried that the couple were engaged in activities between lovers, but since they split rooms, they didn’t have to worry so much today.

What’s more, the audience left messages one after another, asking them if they could stop giving warning and just directly attack.

If they treated Li Chengyuan like they did the other guests, they might be able to see a more lively side of the male god.

How dare the program team push the door straight open and directly enter. At most, they would push the door open after calling out, and try to walk a tightrope to satisfy both parties.

Xia Xingchi opened his eyes in a daze: “Li —”

The moment the wooden door opened, Li Chengyuan reached out and wrapped Xia Xingchi tightly in a blanket!

But when he tried to get up to block the camera like yesterday, he found himself hugged tightly by a little hedgehog of unknown condition who refused to let go.

It was too late to grab him, and the cameras of the photography team had already followed along inside.

[Ah ah ah this is the first time we’ve seen Mr. Li in only pajamas! These collarbones, this deep V! So perfect, nice, nice]

[Sure enough, a male god doesn’t need to dress up to be a male god. Designer pajamas! Make money!]

[In fact, it’s okay to not wear pajamas, hehehehe…..]

[Wait a minute, is there someone else on the bed?]

[I see it too! I think there really is another person in the bed, and by the posture, they seem to be hugging Mr. Li’s waist. That’s why he didn’t sit up completely]

The program team was taken aback for a moment. Netizens may not be able to see clearly through the lens, but they witnessed it with their own eyes and could clearly see Xia Xingchi trying to turn over beneath the blanket.

It never occurred to them that last night it wasn’t that the couple had a disagreement and wanted to sleep in separate rooms. This was obviously enjoying the fun of having a secret affair, ah!

Xia Xingchi stared in bewilderment. As soon as he opened his eyes, he was wrapped up in a blanket and couldn’t move. He couldn’t figure out what happened at all, and was so sleepy and rebellious that he insisted on breaking free.

Li Chengyuan had no choice but to hold his head with his hand to keep him from moving, and the two competed silently under the cover of the blanket.

“Go out,” Li Chengyuan said to the program team with a frown.

Only then did the team recover from the shock of the “playing” between husband and wife, and hurriedly pick up the camera for a quick evacuation.

Before they had time to step back, they suddenly heard a roar from the bed that didn’t sound fully awake:

“Li Chengyuan! How can I get out if you hold my head, ah! Release your claws quickly!”

Program group: ! ! !

Li Chengyuan: ……

Li Chengyuan never expected that someone would drop the ball at a critical moment, and suddenly let go of his head. Xia Xingchi then struggled to get out of bed, and rushed at him like a hungry tiger!

The moment he successfully pounced on Li Chengyuan, Xia Xingchi realized something was wrong and turned around to see the stunned program team standing aside.

Xia Xingchi: ? ! !

[Hahahahahahahaha! I don’t know what to say other than screaming]

[Is this something I can watch for free?! Pounce, baby Xingchi is so proactive! Boss Li, fry him up! ! !]

[I’m shocked. Didn’t they sleep in separate rooms yesterday? Why did they go to the same bed in the middle of the night?]

[Yuanchi CP is real! Sure enough, the early bird gets the worm! We can actually see this scene hehehe]

[Impossible! This must be a misunderstanding, isn’t Mr. Li Xiao Yu’s fiance? Why did Xia Xingchi come to climb into bed!]

[Dear, have you never thought that Mr. Li and Xia Yu have nothing to do with each other?]

[No way! It doesn’t matter how many photos were released in one day yesterday?!]

[Purely a passer-by, I just want to ask why they slept together again? Wasn’t there a room split last night?]

[Yes, ah! This is where the problem lies! Even if they have separate rooms, they had to sleep together, Yuanchi CP is real! A clingy young couple who don’t want to be temporarily separated hehehe]

The two sides fought again as they chatted, and the camera had already been covered by the cameraman’s hands.

There was no need to go to Xia Xingchi’s room, and the workers received the “benefits” of taking a few steps less and the risk of being assassinated by the young master Xia who had just caused a rollover crash.

Until everyone left, Xia Xingchi still hadn’t fully recovered from the shock.

He didn’t even get off Li Chengyuan’s body immediately, but lay on top of him in disbelief, saying with patronizing indignation and despair: “Li Chengyuan! Why did you come to my room!”

A black pot fell from the sky, and Li Chengyuan asked helplessly: “Whose room?”

Taken aback for a moment, Xia Xingchi looked around. After a moment, his consciousness gradually returned.

The moment thunder sounded last night, he completely lost his mind and fell to pieces. Now he vaguely remembered Li Chengyuan holding him in his arms and gently comforting him.

Thinking about yesterday’s sudden storm, Xia Xingchi couldn’t believe what had happened to him.

He never thought that the pain of death could actually bring a deep, indelible physiological terror to the mind.

Even before, he hadn’t liked thunderstorms. Although he wasn’t frightened to the point of madness at the time, he always felt flustered whenever thunder sounded.

It was as if something bad was about to happen, or was happening, just waiting for him.

“Do you remember?” Li Chengyuan asked lightly.

Xia Xingchi blushed and slowly crawled off him, retracting into the bed like a little turtle and wrapping himself tightly.

But after all, he and Li Chengyuan were in the same bed. Li Chengyuan lightly pressed his head with one hand and smiled faintly.

Obviously, Li Chengyuan’s tricks could not be blamed for overturning the car this time.

Even when the drowsy Xia Xingchi tried to get out of bed, he had taken the initiative to hold his head down to keep him from moving, trying to protect his persona.

– – –

When Xia Xingchi had no choice but to appear with a blush in front of the camera, he found that Li Xiu and Han Yuanhe had actually gotten up earlier than him.

Both of them sat at the table while drinking water exhaustedly, as if they had gone to steal chickens from the neighboring village in the middle of the night. Although their clothes were dry, their hair was damp and frizzy.

“What happened to you?” Xia Xingchi asked doubtfully. “Did you not sleep all night?”

Li Xiu took another trembling sip of hot water, waved his hand in misery, and said: “God, the useless life experience has increased.”

Xia Xingchi: ?

Han Yuanhe promptly freaked out and said: “I know the house leaks air, but I didn’t think it would leak rain! I know what it means to say, ‘The roof leaks when it rains, and there is no dry place in the house, the water trails down like twine!’”^[1]

At first, the two had been sleeping soundly. In the middle of the night, Li Xiu first felt water falling on his face and shoved Han Yuanhe, asking him if he felt it.

Han Yuanhe didn’t bother to open his eyes, and said faintly, “No, ba.” But before the word “ba” could be spoken, he was suddenly slapped in the face by a bucket of water.

The roof was uneven, and the low-lying water finally leaked through. First, a large jet of water hit Han Yuanhe’s face, and then the entire roof began to seep everywhere and Li Xiu also got a headful of water.

This time, the two of them couldn’t sleep any longer. They got up shivering in the middle of the night to find clothes, picked up their luggage, and left the room to squat for half the night in this small broken house where the farm tools were piled up and the door was not even secured.

Xia Xingchi couldn’t help feeling very sympathetic after hearing of their tragic experience.

At the same time, he had a flash of inspiration, and calmly said in front of the camera:

“Coincidentally, my roof leaked too……fortunately, Mr. Li was next door, so I had to squeeze in with him in the middle of the night.”

The two of them had no doubts. After all, the rooms allocated to this handful of people were similar, and the possibility of rain leakage was high, so it just depended on who was more unlucky.

Xia Xingchi heaved a sigh of relief. He had finally recovered his persona that had almost been stripped clean, and strived to hold out for one more day so that Li Chengyuan’s crazy girlfriend fans would have enough buffer time.

At exactly this time, Li Chengyuan came back from making a phone call for work, and smiled slightly after hearing this sentence. He didn’t expose Xia Xingchi’s little lie. In any case, it was only a matter of time.

Today the task was rather in keeping with the times, and turned out to be patching the roof.

Not only had his and Han Yuanhe’s rooms leaked, but who would have thought that Xia Yu’s room had leaked too. 

The big teapot turned into a drowned teapot, and came over similarly wet and tired. Today was a rare day where he didn’t cause trouble.

Xia Xingchi was helping to carry the repair materials while pondering why he didn’t see the usual tea ceremony session today.

Shouldn’t a green tea spirit be getting more and more courageous?

It must be that Xia Yu realized he was putting on a lively performance after watching Weibo last night, while at the same time Li Chengyuan was also quietly showing affection. The comparison between the two seemed ridiculous.

Xia Xingchi thought about it as he began to mix the mortar proficiently. At any rate, he had been a cement worker for several months, and would show off his skills in a while.

Before Li Xiu heard that he was going to repair the roof by himself, he was in complete despair.

This was not as good a job as setting the table. Please, god, let it stop raining. He didn’t know just what proportion of mortar to mix. He might not only be unable to repair it, but might also have to get his head drenched in half-dried cement rain in the middle of the night.

Seeing Xia Xingchi at this time, he felt as if he had seen his savior. He squatted to the side and looked at him expectantly, admiring the “man who mastered various skills.”

Although Xia Yu didn’t continue to approach Li Chengyuan, the green tea spirit was alive and well as he stood aside like a young master and merely watched.

He also gave strange praise: “Xingchi-ge is really amazing, he must have rich professional experience!”

For the fans, Xia Xingchi’s background may be the only thing that could be repeatedly ridiculed.

After all, in their eyes, Xia Yu was the “only young master of the Xia family,” and Xia Xingchi was just a poor waste from the countryside. In contrast, there was quite a sense of superiority.

“Watch closely.” Xia Xingchi raised his head with an impolite sneer. “You are permitted to be my apprentice, after all, you will have to repair your section of roof yourself later.”

Xia Yu promptly widened his eyes innocently: “What? Xingchi-ge, won’t you help —”

“You can learn, come on.” Xia Xingchi smiled.

Although it was fun to see the green tea spirit admit defeat, Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but feel a little worried.

Yesterday’s ideas were broken by thunder, and now he continued to think. If the person in the photos really was Li Shengrui, it was obvious that the protagonist’s plot had been greatly advanced.

If he remembered correctly, not long after the villain and the protagonist got together, the big villain boss died of illness without warning.

Through this period of observation, Xia Xingchi gradually felt that although Li Chengyuan’s physical condition was poor, he was far from dying of illness. After much deliberation, he couldn’t help coming to a terrifying conjecture —

Could he have been murdered?

Although the original novel was very strange, it must be written within legal norms, after all. Naturally, the murderer couldn’t be the protagonist who got a happy ending.

Therefore, the original text only vaguely mentioned that the villain died suddenly of illness. Could his frailty and sickness have been used to forcibly cover up the discordant illegal plot?

Thinking of this possibility, Xia Xingchi, who lived in a civilized society ruled by law, couldn’t help feeling horrified. A murderer hiding a knife in a smile was definitely more terrifying than an outright crazy villain.

In the end, Xia Yu was just a green tea spirit with despicable methods and distorted views, but the protagonist gong Li Shengrui was different. He was a vicious character who dared to do anything.

It stood to reason that Li Chengyuan was not the “First Young Master” originally, born with a golden spoon in his mouth since he was a child, the sole heir of a wealthy family and an upright young master.

He had unexpectedly witnessed his mother’s suicide when he was seven years old, and immediately afterward, such a cheap illegitimate brother and vicious stepmother appeared out of nowhere in less than three days. At that time, his mother’s funeral wasn’t even finished.

The book didn’t describe what kind of devastation he suffered at that time. There was only a blurb that mentioned how his character had become completely distorted and maddened once his mother died, and he later became a complete villain.

To be so cruel to a frail and sickly child, to cause the victim to become so twisted and crazy, and to beat him down as a villain, the three views of the original text’s strange theme were beyond comprehension —

The protagonist gong and shou consisted of two people: a vicious fake young master who had taken over the magpie’s nest and a despicable illegitimate son who successfully attained a high position. The theme was “Resisting the fate of the original sin.”^[2]

To put it bluntly, it was wicked and self-righteous. Even if someone else’s life was snatched, this was called “my fate is up to me,” and the inspirational message showed that if you want something, you can fight for it.

Thinking of this, Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but feel sorry for his big kitty cat.

His original fear of the crazy villain had almost completely vanished over time, and moreover, Li Chengyuan was different from the beginning.

He wasn’t crazy, reckless, and violent, but more and more agreeable.

After Xia Xingchi mixed the mortar, he went to step on the ladder to climb onto the roof, but Han Yuanhe and Li Xiu stopped him, saying that they should not bother him with such a dangerous job and that they would do it instead.

Xia Xingchi could feel everyone’s kindness, so he didn’t push back much. His eyes curved as he expressed that he would go back first and prepare a meal for everyone.

He wanted to see if the green tea spirit would be going to sleep in the rain again, or if he would lower his noble figure to try to plaster the mortar, but when he turned around, he didn’t see anyone.

Today he was well-behaved to a shocking degree. This was a good thing, but Xia Xingchi’s right eyelid kept twitching as he worried that he was holding back some sort of evil intentions.

– – –

Xia Yu stealthily confirmed that there was no one around before whispering into the phone: “It’s too dangerous, I can’t do it.”

On the other side of the phone, Li Shengrui said softly but firmly: 

“When he and Xia Xingchi receive the marriage certificate, we’ll have nothing. Xiao Yu, you know how ruthless he is. He won’t let me off.”

“This is a rare opportunity. He has been attacked before, so he is extremely vigilant. We won’t have the chance to try again after this.”

“He’s already in poor health, and it would be normal for him to become ill in such a harsh environment.”

Xia Yu frowned. A shrewd and calculating look flashed through his eyes, but his deceitful mouth was innocent: “But I’m afraid……A-Rui, I dreamt last night that you didn’t like me anymore, that you no longer wanted me.”

They were both clever people, and Li Shengrui naturally knew what he meant, so he smiled and said: “It will be okay, you still have the recording, right? We will get married after you return to Beijing, and we’ll share the inheritance.”

Xia Yu’s expression went cold, and he looked at the recording interface on the screen.

“Xiao Yu, Xia Xingchi will take everything from you soon. With Li Chengyuan here, he has already become popular. He will retaliate against you and let everyone know your identity.”

“But why should they have everything while we are said to be born out of sin?”

“Xiao Yu……”

These words clearly pierced Xia Yu’s heart. He gritted his teeth and said in a low voice after a while: “Happy cooperation. Wait till I get the stuff tomorrow, and I’ll look for a chance.”

– – –

The weather was clear in the afternoon, but it rained heavily in the evening.

When Han Yuanhe finally mastered the skill of plastering mortar and was eager to reinforce Xia Xingchi’s roof, Xia Xingchi said that there was no need to work during dinnertime, and that if it rained, he would go to Mr. Li’s place to make do for the night.

This was in case he was frightened by the thunder and got into Li Chengyuan’s bed again. There was really no other excuse if another accident happened, so the roof could not be repaired.

The rain was loud outside the window when Xia Xingchi snuck into the room with his pillow in his arms.

At this time, Li Chengyuan was taking stomach medicine with a pale face and holding a half glass of water.

Only then did Xia Xingchi remember Uncle Ding mentioning that Li Chengyuan was prone to stomach pains when it was rainy and cold.

He had come yesterday because he was afraid, and didn’t pay attention to whether he was uncomfortable or not.

No wonder he didn’t eat much today. It was probably because he wasn’t feeling well.

He likely wasn’t putting on an act this time. If Xia Xingchi didn’t find out, he would just take the medicine here in silence.

Spotting Xia Xingchi’s wide, round eyes peering in, Li Chengyuan dropped the hand resting on his stomach and said with expressionless indifference: “Go out. You won’t sleep well in the same room as me.”

Xia Xingchi hummed, thinking that this person was really vengeful. He was reminded of the issue of sleeping in separate rooms last night.

But in order to get into the arms of a reliable big pillow to escape the thunder, he had no choice but to coax with a smile: “Boss, do you have an upset stomach? I’m a professional masseuse, would you like the chance to experience it for free?”

“It’s so cold, but my hands are super warm! And I can warm the bed!”

Under such enthusiastic self-recommendation, Li Chengyuan finally smiled helplessly, and his unbearable stomach cramps eased a little according to his mood.

Seeing his acquiescence, Xia Xingchi jumped up happily while hugging the pillow, and quickly got into bed for fear that the other would suddenly change his mind.

As soon as the two of them turned off the lights and lay down, Li Chengyuan felt that the person beside him was silently getting closer and closer. Then a hand was blindly inserted into his clothes, and fumbled around in the dark.

Li Chengyuan’s whole body immediately froze. The soft, warm touch rushed straight to the top of his head, and then filled his limbs and bones.

He quickly squeezed Xia Xingchi’s wrist, and said in a low voice: “What are you doing?”

“I’m giving you a massage, ah.” Xia Xingchi was baffled, and couldn’t help feeling distressed: “Your lips are turning white from the pain, why are you still acting like nothing is wrong? Boss, ah, you have to tell me, and I will rub your stomach anytime.”

After speaking, he continued to grope Li Chengyuan’s abdomen in the dark, rubbing it gently.

The little money-grubber was truly a jack-of-all-trades. His massage technique was rather good, and the stomach that he been hurting for almost a day and night was indeed much more comfortable.

But with such relief, that unspeakable fervent yearning became even clearer.

Li Chengyuan frowned. Calling a stop to it now would be suspicious, so he had to change the topic to avert his attention: “Why are you afraid of thunder?”

He knew that Xia Xingchi was not like this before.

Xia Xingchi blinked in the darkness, thinking that he couldn’t say that he was struck to death by lightning, right? Telling such a scary ghost story at night could easily frighten his fragile benefactor.

He calmly lied: “Why? It’s just a natural fear, like people who fear dogs or mice.”

Li Chengyuan smiled coldly. Knowing that he was lying, he didn’t expose him, but just said in a low voice: “I don’t like thunderstorms either.”

The big villain seldom chatted, let alone used words like “like” or “dislike,” and it was as if he was indifferent to everything and had no preferences.

Xia Xingchi pricked up his ears curiously and asked: “Why?”

This question did not receive an answer for so long that Xia Xingchi suspected it would never come. Then Li Chengyuan said calmly: 

“Because it’s easy to get sick.”

He wasn’t talking about the stomach pain. It was a coincidence that the two outbreaks occurred in such weather.

The first time, he watched powerlessly as his mother hanged herself in the dark.

Apart from his helpless wide eyes, he couldn’t make a sound or move his entire body. Accompanied by thunder, lightning flashed across the room, illuminating his mother’s distorted and hideous face after her death.

With the rainstorm as the only background sound, her head hung from above, looking down at him. The young Li Chengyuan and his mother, who had become strange and terrifying, stared at each other for a whole night.

The second time, he watched a little liar disappear irretrievably into a rainstorm.

Even though he made a vow for a lifetime, even though he left behind a fake train ticket to nowhere that was said to be “very important,” he never came back.

Li Chengyuan nearly died after being abandoned by the little liar, and when he woke up, he searched for him for more than ten years.

Everyone said that he had a mental problem, that he invented a little boy who didn’t exist out of thin air, and used this as an excuse to force him to take an unknown amount of messy drugs.

Xia Xingchi blinked his heavy eyelids. Li Chengyuan didn’t speak for a long time, and he gradually began to feel sleepy.

But he faintly sensed that Li Chengyuan seemed to be in a bad mood, so he really wanted to spend more time chatting with his big kitty cat.

Trying his best, Xia Xingchi said semi-consciously: 

“I never liked it. Every time the weather is like this……I always feel as if there is something very urgent for me to do. There may be a very important person.”

“I have to go, someone is waiting for me in the rain……”

Li Chengyuan was stunned for a moment upon hearing these words, and then sat up abruptly: “What did you say!”

---

[1] These lines are taken from Du Fu’s poem, “The Thatched House Is Broken by the Autumn Wind.” ⮐

[2] The “original sin” here is being born out of wedlock. ⮐

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Chapter Twenty-Nine << Table of Contents >> Chapter Thirty-One

Zhizhou was a day and a half away from Huaizhou. After sitting in the carriage for half a day, Zhao Yelan opened the curtain in a dispirited mood and saw that there were a few people outside, and farmlands all around. Some people were sitting on the ridges of the fields, looking up at the sun.

Zhao Yelan also raised his head to take a look, and his eyes were dazzled by the scorching light. Ducking back into the carriage, he quickly waved his fan: “It’s too hot here. Is there still ice?”

“It’s gone.” Yan Mingting took his fan and waved it harder. “Bear with it, we will soon be in the forest and it will be cooler under the shade of the trees.”

Zhao Yelan feared the cold more than the heat. He turned to glance at the sweat on Yan Mingting’s face. It was almost dripping, so he moved the fan a little towards him, saying: “Fan yourself.”

“What about you?”

Zhao Yelan simply took off his outer robe.

Yan Mingting’s eyes flickered, and he similarly removed his outer robe.

“My lord, there is still an hour before the post station. There is a town, should we stop and get something to eat first?” Xiao Gao opened the curtain and saw the two men taking off their clothes. His face went red and he hurriedly backed away.

“Go and buy something, we won’t go out.” Zhao Yelan ordered, “If there are fans, buy a few more.”

“Okay.”

After a incense stick of time, Xiao Gao returned, handed over the things in his arms, and said awkwardly: “I could only buy these.”

Zhao Yelan took a look. There were a few stuffed steamed buns and a rice cake. “That’s it?”

“En, many inns are closed,” Xiao Gao said. “I went to fetch water, but those people wouldn’t let us fill the water bags, so there might not be enough.”

Zhao Yelan looked at Yan Mingting at once, and they both donned their outer layers in unison, their expressions a bit heavy.

Yan Mingting hopped out of the carriage first. Xiao Gao was about to get the stool for Zhao Yelan, but found that his lord had already been carried down by Yan Mingting. He opened his mouth slightly, then put down the stool and followed silently.

Only a few scattered shops on the street were still open, and after finding one that sold food, Zhao Yelan asked: “Shopkeeper, could you please fill our water? We’ll be on our way.”

“Water, ah? It’s not that I don’t want to give it to you, we all need water now. Look at these pancakes, do you want some?” the shopkeeper asked.

Zhao Yelan glanced back at the street. There were few pedestrians, and waves of heat could still be seen in the air.

Zhao Yelan first bought some pancakes, and then asked: “Where did everyone in town go?”

“To get water.” The shopkeeper pointed to a small mountain in the distance. “There is a mountain spring there. Everyone has gone to fetch water now, and our family also went, so it’s just me watching the shop alone. After selling this last bit, I’m going to hurry over there too.”

“There is a shortage of water here?” Zhao Yelan asked.

“Yes, ah, there has been a drought for almost two months, and the crops are almost dried up,” the shopkeeper said helplessly.

The carriage started moving again. Zhao Yelan’s expression was not good as he continued to watch the movement outside. When they passed the mountain, he saw the spring.

People were crowded together with wooden buckets in their hands. Even the children were holding basins or ladles, scrambling to grab the spring water, but there wasn’t enough. The people behind were anxious from the wait, so they began to snatch from others, and a fight was about to break out amongst the commotion.

“Stop!” Yan Mingting shouted loudly.

Everyone was stunned by his voice, and when they looked at the officers and soldiers behind them, they subconsciously fell silent.

Yan Mingting instructed them to line up one by one, then took the scoop from the little girl next to him and began to distribute three scoops of water to everyone, who then went back to line up again after receiving a round.

Zhao Yelan pulled the child over and asked: “Do you come here to fetch water every day?”

The little girl nodded and said aggrievedly: “It’s been more than ten days that we’ve been coming here. At first, it was only our family. Later, when everyone saw us coming, they also followed.”

“Does your family grow crops?”

“We plant there.” The little girl pointed to the rice fields in the distance.

“Can you take me to see it?”

The little girl looked back anxiously at her mother, so Zhao Yelan called her mother over to go to the field together.

The field was planted with rice, but the originally wet land was dried up at this time, and the countless cracks in the ground were shocking.

Zhao Yelan crouched down to look at the rice. The leaves were yellow and the grains were as small as sesame seeds, close to withering.

The eyes of the girl’s mother reddened, and she wiped her tears with her sleeve: “The family was just waiting for this year’s harvest, and it looked like it could be harvested soon. But with the drought happening now, how can we live, ah?

Infected by her emotions, the little girl standing to the side also began to cry.

Zhao Yelan gave them some pancakes. At this time, food was far more reliable than money, and he distributed the rest to other people. On the way, he inquired about the situation with these people, only to find that not only this place was experiencing a summer drought, but other small towns nearby were all in the same situation.

The situation had not been obvious before, and the officials couldn’t be bothered to manage the affairs of these remote places. They were busy dealing with the Imperial Envoy’s investigation, so these people were neglected.

After everyone received the water and gradually dispersed, Zhao Yelan said: “We must return to Huaizhou immediately.”

All these places belonged to Huaizhou, and now the area was leaderless. It would take a few days until the new magistrate arrived, but the disaster was imminent.

As they traveled without stopping, Zhao Yelan seemed to have forgotten about the heat, and discussed options with Yan Mingting late into the night. It was not until then that he closed his eyes and rested for a while.

When dawn touched the sky, he heard lively voices outside and woke in Yan Mingting’s arms. He was taken aback for a moment: “I didn’t fall asleep like this last night, did I?”

“Would falling asleep on the table be as comfortable as my chest?” Yan Mingting teased.

“Shameless.” After this buffoonery, Zhao Yelan felt a little more relaxed. He opened the curtain and saw that they had already arrived in Huaizhou City.

The carriage went straight to the government office. After sitting in the carriage for a day and a night, his legs and feet were a little weak. Yan Mingting helped him out, and after taking a few steps, Zhao Yelan almost fell onto him.

“Such a wanton young master, you even take the initiative to throw yourself into my arms,” Yan Mingting teased.

Zhao Yelan slanted a glance at him, opened his fan, and took a moment to recover before striding toward the government office.

The head official had been overseeing the town for the past two days, and seeing him back was like seeing a relative: “Zhao-daren, you’ve returned. Kuang Sheng and Miss Yin have come here urgently several times.”

“Are they looking for me?”

“Yes, ah.”

Zhao Yelan guessed what was going on and said, “Go and bring them here.”

Taking advantage of this time, Yan Mingting quickly took time to wash up, and then directly brought Kuang Sheng, Yin Pinglu, and Li Yucheng to the dining table.

Zhao Yelan was already eating, and they exchanged glances.

“Have you eaten? If not, let’s sit down together to save time,” Yan Mingting said.

The three of them looked at each other, and the thicker-skinned Li Yucheng immediately sat down, followed by Yin Pinglu.

Kuang Sheng scratched his head, then sat down hesitantly. He took two mouthfuls of stuffed steamed bun and said cautiously: “My lord, although I am no longer a water reporter, I still have something to report.”

“Are you speaking of the drought in the surrounding area?” Zhao Yelan asked.

“My lord knows?” Kuang Sheng was surprised for a moment, and nodded. “There are many lakes here in Huaizhou, and the Huaihe River passes by, so it’s not as obvious as in other places. But it has not rained for two months, and a few days ago I got worried, so I went around the neighborhood and found that several small counties south of us have been dry.”

“We just returned from there,” Zhao Yelan said. “I fear that more than just these places have been affected. Later, you must take people around to sum up the number.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll go too. I’m very familiar with the area around here,” Yin Pinglu said.

“Can you?” Zhao Yelan looked at her. “This summer drought is no joke. It will be very tiring.”

“It’s fine, my lord, don’t worry about me. I am also someone who ran across the desert border,” Yin Pinglu said calmly.

“All right.” Zhao Yelan smiled and handed her his Imperial Envoy token, then asked Yan Mingting to send a small group of people to follow her. “Then you go and find out if the officials in the nearby drought-affected lands have received reports from people and ignored them. If this is the case, frighten them into dealing with the relevant matters quickly. After the disaster situation is resolved, we will deal with their negligence.”

Yin Pinglu suddenly felt that the token was a bit hot: “My lord, you’re asking me to investigate other officials? Wouldn’t this be inappropriate?”

“What is the problem? You’re just running errands for me. I’m not familiar with the places here and don’t trust many people. Besides, you have a good head on your shoulders.” Zhao Yelan said, “Go ahead and do it. I will take care of it if something goes wrong.”

“Go, ba,” Yan Mingting also agreed.

Yin Pinglu looked at everyone and solemnly put away the token: “Okay, the mission must be completed.”

Zhao Yelan: “You must pay attention to your own safety. You can only do more things for me if you’re alive.”

“Yes!”

Yin Pinglu and Kuang Sheng immediately went out to start their work, full of pride. Li Yucheng was the only one left, and looked at the two of them eagerly: “Now what……is there work for me to do as well?”

“What do you want to do?” Zhao Yelan asked.

Li Yucheng thought about it. He was the suave, handsome son of the Prime Minister, so he couldn’t lose to an old man and a weak woman, right? He grit his teeth: “Just do it, tell me, where do you want to send me?”

“You just need to stay in Huaizhou.”

“So simple?” Li Yucheng was speechless.

Yan Mingting pursed his lips and smiled: “This is not simple at all, you must think it through.”

“What’s so difficult about it? Just leave it to me.” Li Yucheng patted his chest, then paused and asked, “What is the main reason for me staying in Huaizhou?”

“The main reason is for you to convince your uncle and other big merchants to be mentally prepared to help the victims,” Zhao Yelan said.

Li Yucheng directly fell off the stool: “They are businessmen, and the most important thing to them is profit. Isn’t this just bleeding them dry? How can I justify it?”

“The fields in Jiangnan are the granary of the realm. If the fields cannot grow rice, it will be difficult for them to survive.” Zhao Yelan rubbed his brow. “This is just the beginning, and we won’t touch them until necessary. I’ll leave this matter to you. If you can make this group of people willing to open their storehouses or sell rice at a low price, you won’t have to pay back the remaining nine thousand taels of gold you owe me.”

“I’ll try my best, ba.” Li Yucheng sighed, lying on the table like a dead fish. “I have to think about what I’ll say……”

Yan Mingting and Zhao Yelan had already gotten up to leave the dinner table, and Li Yucheng tried to persuade them to stay: “Hey, where are you going? Can’t you help me figure out how to convince them?”

Zhao Yelan went to write a sealed letter to the Imperial court, and ordered someone to send it out quickly. Then he went to the government office to check on the money in the treasury. The only bit of luck was that the disaster funds had arrived, and could temporarily relieve the pressure.

When the head official heard that he planned to distribute the disaster funds, he advised: “My lord, can we wait another two days? When the new magistrate arrives, it would be good to have him decide these matters, otherwise you……”

Zhao Yelan knew what he was thinking. Now that no one had reported a disaster, and without the approval of the court, he would be distributing the money without authorization. When the time came, he could pat his ass and leave. He was not a master who was easy to deal with, and was not suitable for taking over this mess.

“Even when the new magistrate arrives, he still has to spend some time to understand the situation and become accustomed to the affairs of the government office. Isn’t this time wasted in vain? Don’t worry, I will not leave until the matter is resolved. If something happens, I will take responsibility and won’t implicate you,” Zhao Yelan said.

“That’s not what I meant……” The official smiled awkwardly, and then expressed his sincerity and willingness to cooperate in all ways.

Zhao Yelan walked out of the storeroom and turned to look at Yan Mingting: “Have someone deliver a letter to Magistrate Sun, asking him to quickly inspect the situation around Zhizhou. His government also received half of the disaster money.”

“Don’t worry, someone was just sent.” Yan Mingting waited for a moment, and seeing that he didn’t intend to speak, he smiled and said proactively, “Tell me, Zhao-daren, what kind of mission are you going to assign to me?”

Zhao Yelan looked at him and hesitated to speak.

“Even Li Yucheng was assigned a mission, so it is impossible for me not to receive one.” Yan Mingting said arrogantly, “What’s more, I’m more useful than all of them, right?”

Zhao Yelan sighed. Sometimes he thought he was slow-witted, and held it against him, but other times there was a sort of tacit understanding, which he cherished very much.

“I worry that the Imperial court will doubt the truth of the disaster and quarrel amongst themselves, and it may take a lot of time to discuss the amount of supplies to be sent. I also fear that officials from various places along the way will make plans for the supplies and disaster funds, so a trusted person is needed to supervise.”

“It is enough to hear this. Of course only I can go,” Yan Mingting said with a smile.

“Only you can do it.” After all, he was a general, and anyone would have to be obedient before him and not dare to mess around at such a critical time.

“En.”

“You go north to the capital, and every time you pass by a place, show them my letter just in case. Have them prepare countermeasures and disaster relief supplies early. If you encounter the Imperial court’s disaster relief team on the way, follow them back and be sure to strictly guard the supplies so that they do not pass through the hands of other officials. If the team is taking the water route, you should check the water level of the canal on the way. If the worst case occurs and the Imperial team has not yet set off, you hand over this letter to the Emperor and have the supplies shipped in two batches. Travel fast, and bring a group of skilled soldiers to send the first batch over as soon as possible.”

Zhao Yelan handed him the letter, which described the current situation in detail and included a dry rice plant as proof, so that the situation was clear at a glance.

“Don’t worry.” Yan Mingting took the letter and solemnly put it in his sleeve.

Zhao Yelan couldn’t help being anxious: “It’s just that the journey is long and hard, and you may encounter all kinds of difficult officials……”

“You underestimate me?” Yan Mingting dismissed his worries in one sentence.

“Then go quickly,” Zhao Yelan said expressionlessly.

Yan Mingting laughed loudly and went to order a lieutenant to prepare the rations and troops, but when he turned around, he found that Zhao Yelan was still standing nearby, sulking.

He stepped forward and touched the other person’s head, taking advantage of the situation to embrace him, and saying: “Don’t worry about me. Actually, if you stay here alone, you should be careful about your safety. When I return, if one hair on your head is damaged, I will beat you.”

“You dare.”

“I dare not.” Yan Mingting smiled helplessly, and then asked him with a sigh, “By the way, do you know the name of that little girl yesterday?”

Zhao Yelan shook his head. He didn’t have time to ask the little girl’s name as he went around to ask about the rice fields.

“Her name is Mengting.”

Zhao Yelan raised his head in surprise.

“There are tens of thousands of Mengtings waiting for our Mengting to rescue them.” Yan Mingting lowered his head and kissed his forehead. “Today’s Mengting is unlike any other. I am very honored to have Zhao Mengting.”

Zhao Yelan looked moved, and sent him to the gate. He watched him jump onto a horse and lead his team. With the sound of the horse’s hooves, he gradually drifted away from him.

“Wait……wait!” Zhao Yelan suddenly chased after him.

The people on the street looked over curiously. Yan Mingting heard his voice and immediately pulled on the reins, turning around to ride forward a few steps.

Zhao Yelan panted as he looked up at the man on the horse, and said, “I have one more thing to say.”

“What is it?”

Zhao Yelan beckoned.

Yan Mingting bent down, and was about to put his ear close to him, when Zhao Yelan suddenly stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the lips.

There were sudden exclamations all around, and even the soldiers with dignified faces couldn’t help but look over one after another. 

Yan Mingting’s face turned faintly red, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the other.

Zhao Yelan bit his lip lightly: “Come back early.”

T/N: Thanks so much to Cocole for the Kofi!

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Chapter Sixty <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Sixty-Two

The scene fell into dead silence for a very long time. Xia Xingchi raised his head and stared blankly at the camera hanging silently in mid air.

The two stared at each other for ages. He clearly still couldn’t believe what had happened, and turned his head mechanically to look at Li Chengyuan.

Seemingly unperturbed, Li Chengyuan continued to sit on the bench with a blank expression and lowered his head to take a bite of custard. He asked calmly: “Do you want to try it again?”

Xia Xingchi: “……..”

[Help, ah, it’s killing me! Sitting on his lap and grabbing Mr. Li’s chin, 

baby is actually so passionate! Yum, yum! (horny.jpg)]

[Hurry up and fry him! Hurry, Mr. Li, the car door has been welded shut by us!]

[Hahahaha baby is at a loss, he really didn’t know we were watching]

[Oops ~ We seem to have been discovered! Us peeping perverts overturned the car hahaha]

[No no no, wait, what did I miss……why do I see such an exciting scene just after turning on the live broadcast? Is this really Xia Xingchi?]

[Ignorant +1 Weren’t they not too familiar yesterday? Is today actually the 14th? I slept for half a month?]

[So these two must be a real couple, right? Anyway, good brothers don’t treat each other like that, so don’t insist on brotherhood, ba]

Sitting down and grasping the chin in such a way was earth-shattering. Not only were passers-by all stunned, but even Xia Yu’s fans, who had been dancing all morning, were speechless in shock and turned off their microphones collectively.

After a long silence, someone finally re-started the ridicule with insufficient confidence:

[This bi*ch Xia Xingchi, the boss asks him to sit and he really sits? He doesn’t know this is someone else’s fiance?]

[Ah, this? Let’s just say, could it be his own fiance?]

[Seriously, upstairs? This low-tier flop sold vegetables in the valley, he doesn’t even have the qualifications to know Li Chengyuan]

[In the 21st Century, some people still judge others by their background. I think you need to receive junior high school ideological and moral re-education]

[Mr. Li is Xiao Yu’s! It’s just sitting on the lap, and it’s all Xia Xingchi’s initiative. This is the mistress seducing him and inciting everyone’s emotions]

[Has Xia Xingchi’s water army come, ba? Li Xiu and Han Yuanhe held hands outside and no one kowtowed. If a certain guy sits down, the fiance will become his?]

[What holding hands? They were arm wrestling, ah! Is your brain sick ba?]

[You guys go ahead and fight. Anyway, whoever knocks Yuanchi cp will be happy. I will knock first in respect]

. . . . . .

Xia Xingchi looked at the egg custard that Li Chengyuan handed over, then thought of how he was fed by him just now in front of the camera and immediately became furious, wanting to directly smash the whole bowl into his face.

Then he would run away, find a crack in the ground to hide in, and desperately grab the ground with his toes for 24 hours.

Taking a very long, deep breath, he silently reminded himself that this was his boss who had just doubled his salary. It was only then that Xia Xingchi was able to resist the urge to grab his collar and beat him, and he continued to cook with great force.

The force was so great that he nearly broke the wooden spatula. Those who didn’t know would think he was mining.

No wonder Li Chengyuan had been abnormal since he entered the kitchen.

At first he thought he had been struck dumb by the truth of the White Moonlight incident, but it appeared that this person was acting deliberately from the beginning.

The showdown last night had not changed Li Chengyuan’s original plans at all. He still dug pits in a freestyle manner to let the whole world know they were a couple.

The problem was that many people had seen the recording of the rollover crash just now. If he continued to be polite and call him “Mr. Li” as if nothing had happened, would he be able to get away with it?

But if he didn’t call him Mr. Li, he couldn’t call him “Li Chengyuan” and scare the audience who hadn’t gotten up early to watch the live broadcast, right?

Xia Xingchi struggled with this while cooking, and finally came up with a reliable answer – he should go to the old man at the entrance of the village and buy some pesticides to put in the vegetables and poison this big evil idiot to death.

Since the atmosphere between the two was awkward as hell, when the meal was served, the whole dining table began to feel uncomfortable.

Among the crowd, only Li Xiu knew what had happened to overturn the car, but he didn’t dare voice it, so he could only concentrate on eating as if nothing had happened.

Han Yuanhe vaguely felt that the mood was not right, so he tried to correct it by saying: “Xingchi’s cooking skills are really good! Jing, ah, should we also learn from the teacher?”

An Jing smiled: “Then you learn how to make it for me to eat.”

After thinking about it, he asked Xia Xingchi again: “Xingchi, I noticed you like food with a rather heavy taste, why did you make it so light this morning?”

This happened to be a delicate subject for Xia Xingchi. He shot a glance at Li Chengyuan and resisted the urge to gnash his teeth as he continued to smile:

“I didn’t perform well today, I’ll make a table of spicy dishes tomorrow.”

Just let a certain person die of stomach pain, then the goal of poisoning would be fulfilled.

At this time, the director patted the microphone and said: “Good morning, everyone! Our task this morning is to catch and harvest fish, and exchange them to purchase enough meat for a barbecue this evening.”

The intensity and difficulty of the tasks for this season had been significantly reduced. After all, Li Chengyuan was among the guests, and the program team dared not torment him. Messing with their patron would definitely not result in anything good.

What’s more, he didn’t seem to be in good health, and it was best to not let this priceless person become too tired.

In any case, this season had a bigger selling point.

Li Chengyuan’s official announcement and the battlefield between Xia Yu and Xia Xingchi alone were enough to attract higher popularity ratings, and everyone could bask in the reflection of glory and be less troubled.

– – –

Xia Xingchi stood before the wardrobe that had been provided by the program group and tilted his head to stare at the hanging clothes. In the end, he unhesitatingly chose the ugliest piece, which looked like a dusty sack with holes.

Then he picked up a pair of ugly trousers with extremely short legs that looked like a lantern inflated by the wind.

“I’ve chosen. Mr. Li, please come and change quickly.”

Xia Xingchi had a strange, enigmatic air as he grabbed a down-to-earth straw hat, trying to make the outfit as ugly as possible.

Unless the program wanted to be taken off the shelves for pornography, there was really no camera in the room, and there were indeed only the two of them here.

Xia Xingchi had wanted to beat Li Chengyuan violently as soon as he entered the door, but feared that his fragile glass heart would be damaged, and he would clasp his chest and cough again.

In order to prevent his act of pretending to be more injured than he actually was, Xia Xingchi had no choice but to compromise and choose such a method of retaliation that he thought was “not very harmful, but extremely insulting.”

Among the “ugly” and “uglier,” he chose the latter, and happily made Li Chenyuan wear it.

Li Chengyuan was helpless, and could only sit aside and let Xia Xingchi toss about.

He was not an artist, and didn’t carry the burden of being an idol. On the contrary, a hedgehog with thorns all over his body must have some way of venting, so it was better to make him happy by dressing ugly.

As he was unbuttoning and taking off his casual clothes, Xia Xingchi abruptly said: “Ai! Wait — What are you doing undressing in front of me?”

Although a little money-grubber loved money, it wasn’t that he didn’t like beauties at all. Given someone’s multiple-layered routine, Xia Xingchi had to suspect that he was trying to seduce him.

“Haven’t you already seen and touched it?” Li Chengyuan didn’t think much of it at all, and didn’t know whether to laugh or get angry.

Xia Xingchi was shocked: “Nonsense! Why would I touch you, ah, you must be dreaming!”

After saying this, he remembered at once that he had indeed fished up an unconscious Li Chengyuan from the bathtub that night.

Not only did he see it, but he dragged him to the bed with great effort and wiped him up and down with a bath towel for “friendly service.”

“I was afraid you would drown! Wait, how did you know?” Xia Xingchi couldn’t help being suspicious.

At that time, Li Chengyuan had not only remained motionless with his eyes closed, but also didn’t even struggle when his mouth and nose were submerged under the water. He must have been legitimately passed out rather than acting.

But if he was really aware at that time, wouldn’t he have witnessed the process of him appearing out of nowhere……

Li Chengyuan narrowed his eyes slightly: “Xia Xingchi, you’re nervous.”

When he said this, he was wearing a smile that was not a smile, with only a look of stern scrutiny in his eyes, which made Xia Xingchi’s hair stand on end. He said loudly:

“What am I nervous about! Shut up and get dressed, you!”

Li Chengyuan didn’t pursue the matter, and continued to unbutton his shirt.

He was totally indifferent and calculating, as if everything was under control and there was no reason to ask, making people confused about how much he knew. The more he was like this, the more panicked Xia Xingchi became.

— Did he really see something, and that’s why he thinks I have the ability to disappear out of thin air?

As he thought about this, he couldn’t help but glance at Li Chengyuan’s half-naked upper body out of the corner of his eye. His waistline was sleek and powerful, the lines of his muscles rather beautiful.

Evidently a certain person was not so delicate when not playing sick. On the contrary, he maintained his figure very well. No wonder he had such an earth-shattering force value.

It looked pretty good……

Xia Xingchi’s gaze slowly moved back again, and he looked away an instant later with a guilty conscience, only to slowly peek again.

Up until he decided to take one last look, and suddenly found that the person was gone.

Immediately after turning his head, he found Li Chengyuan standing in front of him, looking down as he asked mildly: “Does it look good?”

Startled, Xia Xingchi blushed a little upon being caught. Fortunately, Li Chengyuan was already dressed when he came over instead of standing naked in front of him, otherwise the scene would be even more terrifying.

“Who’s looking at you!” Xia Xingchi said, embarrassed into anger. “I’ve seen and touched a lot of handsome guys, you……you’re just the same!”

This was not an accurate statement. Although he had observed countless people, this was the first time he had seen someone so good-looking.

Li Chengyuan frowned slightly when he heard these words: “Seen and touched a lot?”

Xia Xingchi gave a hum. He was, after all, a masseuse. If a certain person behaved well, he could show off his professional skills in the future.

Li Chengyuan wanted to ask more, but the director had to urge at this time: “President Li, Xingchi? Have you changed yet?”

As soon as the door was opened, the barrage that was so bored that they were about to fall asleep while waiting suddenly burst into laughter.

[OMG! Is Mr. Li wearing a sack? Why is he dressed in such a unique style?]

[Ahhh so handsome! Facts have proven that the saying ‘clothes make the man’ is false. The male god still looks good in a sack]

[Hahaha the trousers are too short and the ankles are exposed. Nice, those ankles are so sensual and good-looking ba]

Xia Xingchi followed him out, and when the cold wind blew, he found that the clothes he gave Li Chengyuan to wear seemed too light.

His goal was only to make him look ugly, not to freeze him to death.

After all, this person may get a high fever as soon as he caught a cold, and if he became sick again, it would be too troublesome out in this backcountry.

Xia Xingchi had no choice but to turn back and retrieve a very rustic army green padded jacket. He also chose a bright red scarf, still thinking wickedly.

Li Chengyuan took the clothes and put them on good-naturedly.

[Hahahaha thanks to Xia Xingchi for letting us see such a down-to-earth male god]

[Knock CP, knock CP, he can wear whatever his wife chooses]

[Wait, why is he being called the wife? Does that mean it isn’t Xia Yu?]

[I also fucking want to know, the CP fans from Xia Xingchi’s family can really dance, isn’t this just roommates helping each other with clothing?]

[Why didn’t Xia Yu choose them? Why didn’t Li Chengyuan wear the clothes he gave him?]

[It just so happened that Xia Yu didn’t sleep in the room, what is your family fussing about? What’s so amazing about being a roommate?]

[That’s right, it’s great to think about them sleeping in the same bed. Maybe they can cuddle close together when they fall asleep ~ ]

[Don’t be so proud of yourself! Wait for Xiao Yu to slap you in the face!]

[All right, I’ll just sit here today and wait (Li-style Get Lost.gif)]

Although Li Chengyuan’s clothes were the ugliest of the ugly, everyone was actually pretty much alike, to the extent that they laughed at each other upon meeting.

This was especially the case with Li Chengyuan’s red and green. Although his appearance was not compromised in the slightest, the more beautiful he was, the more inconsistent it looked.

Everyone wanted to laugh, but didn’t have the nerve to laugh at him, and holding it in almost caused internal injuries.

Xia Xingchi tilted his head to look at the green radish sprouts on the ground, and then at the cabbages and the greenhouse in the distance.

It was said to be a strawberry shed. If they could complete the mission objective of sowing a field, they could go to pick strawberries.

The thought occurred to him that it was time to feed a certain someone fruit. A person who usually received a fixed amount of fruits and vegetable juice had simply been eating bran and swallowing vegetables these two days.

No one was experiencing life as thoroughly as Li Chengyuan. Perhaps Second Young Master Li, who was born with a golden spoon in his mouth, had never experienced such a bleak life.

Pulling radishes was a new job. Xia Xingchi tilted his head to look at the radish sprouts a few times, then confirmed again doubtfully: “There is really a radish under there?”

An Jing nodded: “Really, I saw them being pulled out when I was filming before.”

“But……isn’t the volume of this radish too enviable? I don’t think the radishes bought in the market have this many leaves, ah.”

Any skill that didn’t make money as a part-time job, even the jack-of-all-trades Xia Xingchi wouldn’t do it.

He groped amongst the dense leaves for a long time before he found the part he suspected belonged to the same radish. Then he pulled vigorously, but the radish didn’t move at all and didn’t give him any face.

Xia Xingchi then took off his coat, and seeing that Li Chengyuan had stood aside to stare at him like a big quiet cat again, he casually tossed the clothes to the temporary hanger.

After tossing it, he remembered the act he was performing, which had already mostly collapsed: “Mr. Li, please help me by holding this.”

[Hey hey hey, he’s starting with ‘Mr. Li’ again! Hahahaha stop playing, baby, kick him!]

[What what what? Pricking up gossip ears, newcomers who just arrived don’t understand]

[Hehehe It can only be understood, but cannot be expressed in words]

[The early bird gets the worm, those who get up early get sugar to eat, and whoever kowtows to Yuanchi CP wins]

Clearly full of energy, Xia Xingchi rolled up his sleeves and strode forward. With his feet firmly planted on the ground, he grabbed the thick “hair” of this radish eagerly and adjusted his posture, thinking that he could use it to make soup today.

Li Chengyuan narrowed his eyes slightly as he observed him, and after a moment, silently signaled An Jing to step aside. Then he walked to a position behind Xia Xingchi and stood there calmly.

Xia Xingchi smiled at the camera and said: “The first demonstration of pulling radishes is dedicated to the camera.”

Having spoken, he took a deep breath and then yanked it out extremely hard!

But it seemed that he miscalculated the ability of this radish to grip the ground, or maybe the previous pull had loosened it.

The radish that was motionless just now left the ground without much force, but Xia Xingchi’s center of gravity was thrown off and he immediately hurtled toward the ground.

He didn’t fall into the dirt, however. Instead, the person and radish fell into a solid embrace.

Xia Xingchi was taken aback, then turned to see Li Chengyuan catching him indifferently.

[Hahahaha this is the power of using all of his strength, ba. Too cute, baby]

[Dude, this radish almost turned baby bald]

[He fell into his arms ahhh! It killed me when that pair of eyes looked back! As long as they are in the same frame, there are rainbow bubbles!]

[Right right! Yuanchi is real!]

[Ah, this. Your family has good green tea. Isn’t deliberately falling into the arms of the boss an old trope from ages ago? Is this the Renaissance, you guys?]

[Bullshit! I saw with my own eyes that it was Li Chengyuan who deliberately walked over and waited for Xingchi to fall into his arms!]

[I’m also an eyewitness! He did it on purpose! Mr. Li is so scheming, hehe, he will do anything to distribute sugar]

Xia Xingchi hurriedly got up from Li Chengyuan’s body. It wasn’t good to touch in a public place.

As soon as he got close to him, he couldn’t help but think of the scene where a certain person had no clothes on just now. Immediately afterward, this image seemed to appear before his eyes, and it was easy to imagine the rest of what was not seen.

The two looked at each other, and Xia Xingchi seemed to have vaguely sensed the atmosphere of “Rainbow Bubbles” that everyone was talking about, as if……there was a little bit of ambiguity.

At that moment, he suddenly heard a very unwelcome voice asking with false concern: “Xingchi-ge, are you alright? Be careful not to fall.”

Xia Yu stepped forward, holding in his hands the little tomatoes he had just picked.

It was rare for this green tea to change from being a passive annoyance to an active annoyance. He had unexpectedly stopped for a while when their paths diverged, but now he began to show his presence again.

Xia Xingchi took a look at him, feeling a little displeased with the Rainbow Bubbles being popped by the smell of green tea. As always, he ignored him and turned to leave.

Although every time he gave him the cold-shoulder, there would be a bloody storm in the barrage, Xia Xingchi still insisted on not changing his behavior. The fans casually scolded him:

[How rude! If there wasn’t a screen, I would have rushed up to give Xia Xingchi a slap in the face]

[This Xia Xingchi is so disgusting, he fell into someone else’s fiance’s arms, and our family’s idol came to ask “Are you alright.” I think he deserves to eat plums the most]

[You don’t have enough food to eat, keep it for yourself ba! It’s obvious that Xingchi and Mr. Li are lovers, and someone interrupted without understanding this. You’re still making bogus accusations?]

Xia Xingchi chose a radish farther away, and while pulling it out, he thought that half of his disguise had accidentally fallen away. Why did Xia Yu dare to exploit the opportunity?

If it wasn’t for being mad with jealousy and being driven to desperate action, as a prosperous white lotus, Xia Yu had always cherished his reputation.

Xia Xingchi came to a realization as he finally pulled out a big radish perfectly and smoothly.

The car overturned during the live broadcast today, but the guests couldn’t use their mobile phones at the moment, nor could they watch other people’s live broadcast footage.

So what the hell did yesterday’s funeral trio become today?

Aside from the fact that he, the lowest paid laborer, was really serious about participating in a reality show, what were the other two doing?

One was trying to force him to make an official announcement using various traps, while another was trying to create a fake persona just like his and impersonate him.

As a result, the two routines collided together —

Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but glance back. Xia Yu was completely unaware of Li Chengyuan’s scheming official announcement routine this morning, and was still following his own plan with confidence.

Xia Yu smiled sweetly and said: “Mr. Li, look! The little tomatoes I just picked are so sweet, would you like to try one?”

The organic tomatoes were indeed pretty nice, red and plump, covered in crystal water droplets after being washed.

Li Chengyuan had just calculated the accurate trajectory to catch Xia Xingchi. Clearly in a good mood, he held a rare conversation with Xia Yu: 

“Dirty.”

“They’re not dirty, I just washed them.”

Li Chengyuan replied indifferently, not hiding his disgust at all: “Your hands are dirty.”

[Hahahaha the whole family is bursting with laughter, new GIF material is available! (Li Cold-Shoulder.GIF)]

[The other party refused to taste the poisoned green tea and threw out a “gross” emoji]

[What are you saying, upstairs? Why is Xiao Yu green tea? He only kindly gave a tomato, unlike your awesome idol deliberately throwing himself into someone’s arms]

[That’s right, he’s awesome. Even if it’s all green tea, at least Xingchi is not disliked, not to mention that the small tricks between couples add to the fun]

[Hahahaha what a dirty hand. Mr. Li’s eyes were disgusted as if he were looking at a virus. Can your family still knock CP hard?]

[This is called avoiding suspicion! The more real a couple is, the more they must avoid suspicion. Wait for the reversal and be slapped in the face!]

[Plum Wholesaler: Thank you Xia Yu fans for helping me improve my sales performance. I ask you every day, are you okay?]

Picking vegetables was not a particularly difficult task, nor was it very tiring. It could be said to be a very friendly novice village task.

The rustic sunshade straw hat that Xia Xingchi chose for Li Chengyuan didn’t help much, as the weather had turned gloomy as soon as they went out, and it seemed that it was about to rain.

Xia Xingchi looked at the field waiting to be sown and the area where strawberries could be picked afterward, and thought helplessly that he would not be able to let his big golden cat eat fruit today. Speak of the devil, and the mountain rain would really come.

Fortunately, little tomatoes were assigned to the column of “vegetables” by the program team, so they could quickly pick some to act as fruit.

Li Xiu was also crouching on the ground to pick tomatoes. Seeing Xia Xingchi approaching, he chatted: “I predict it’s —”

Before he could finish speaking, a drop of rain suddenly fell on the tip of his nose.

“……I predict it’s going to rain.”

Xia Xingchi hastened to pick more before the rain became any heavier, and at the same time laughed: “Then Great Immortal Li’s predictions are quite accurate?”

This rain was not at all a good thing. Li Chengyuan couldn’t be fed strawberries, and the barbecue night was ruined.

As a little glutton who loved to eat barbecue, Xia Xingchi had already planned countless simple and delicious ways to handle the barbecue, but hadn’t expected the heavens to be so unfavorable.

Finally, after rescuing enough vegetables for these two days, the rain became heavier and the group had to retreat indoors quickly.

The division of labor for lunch preparation was still Xia Xingchi cooking and Li Chengyuan helping to light the fire.

As soon as Xia Xingchi entered the door, he stared at the hidden camera hanging in the air a few times, then turned his head to look at Li Chengyuan and considered the possibility of throttling him to death.

“Mr. Li, do you think these peppers look good?” Xia Xingchi plucked a bunch of bright red peppers from the window.

And put them all in the pot.

Li Chengyuan said lightly: “Yes.”

Xia Xingchi hummed softly when he heard this, because he felt for no reason that the subtext was saying, “I’ll eat whatever you want, as long as you don’t feel bad.”

However, considering that the big villain would never say such things, he could only chalk it up to him overthinking. He hung up the chili peppers and started cooking.

In <<Experience Life in Progressive Time>> most of the program was arranged outdoors. After all, there was not much rain here in late autumn. Clearly, the program team did not expect such rain that was not in the weather forecast.

Just in time for the afternoon free period, Xia Xingchi decided to stage a workers’ strike. He could no longer do everything according to someone else’s wishes and be completely sandwiched into a layer cake by his routine.

When he suddenly looked at Li Chengyuan casually, Li Chengyuan guessed that he was going to do something good.

Sure enough, Xia Xingchi promptly said: “Director, are there no more rooms, ah? Mr. Li and I shared a room……and I didn’t sleep very well.”

Temporarily borrowing the tea art of a green tea spirit, Xia Xingchi deliberately made his tone convey that “didn’t sleep well” was just an excuse, as if he was troubled by rumors on the internet and wanted to actively avoid suspicion.

The Director immediately got his meaning. The signal connection was successful.

But the CP fans completely went in the direction of misunderstanding, and instantly became excited:

[Oh oh oh! Didn’t ♂ sleep well. Pass it on, Mr. Li is so capable that Xingchi has to sleep in a separate room!]

[Of course life in the countryside requires hard work hehehe. No wonder Xia Xingchi’s eyes were red in the morning, he must have been crying]

[Whose pants flew over my head! Where are my pants?]

[Hehehe look at Mr. Li’s expression, his face turned black after hearing this]

As soon as the Director heard this request, he immediately planned to say that there was no problem.

After all, during the two days of cohabitation, they saw that Li Chengyuan was very obedient to Xia Xingchi, who obviously had the final say. Subsequently, they at once thought that this request fully represented the wishes of the boss.

At this time, Xia Yu suddenly said: “Xingchi-ge, why don’t we switch? I have a single room, and the environment is pretty good.”

There was no dirty meaning behind these words. It was like Li Xiu and Han Yuanhe sleeping together in the same bed, full of the innocence of “what’s wrong with men sharing a room.”

Xia Xingchi was taken aback, and his first reaction was, ‘Big teapot, you should really watch this morning’s broadcast, times have changed due to a certain person’s tricks.’

And only a fool would be so generous as to allow you to stroke my big cat in the middle of the night.

Li Chengyuan, who had always been silent like background scenery, spoke up calmly: “I can’t sleep with someone next to me.”

Everyone: ?

Then why did you proactively get a room with Xia Xingchi yesterday? And now you want to sleep alone?

Because the program team was quicker than their brains to agree to Xia Xingchi’s proposal as soon as they heard it, it was too late once they figured out that the always obedient big brother had a disagreement with his little fiance on this matter.

Under Li Chengyuan’s gloomy gaze, Xia Xingchi ended up with an exclusive private room across the hall from him.

The only problem was that the two rooms were too close, and he was very worried that someone would perform the horrible act of sitting by his bed and watching him in the middle of the night again.

Xia Xingchi didn’t say much in front of the camera, and when it was time to go back to his room, he told Li Chengyuan in a joking manner: 

“Mr. Li, sleep well. Good night.”

Even with these arrangements, he didn’t feel at ease and couldn’t fully believe the villain’s morality in this regard. What’s more, Li Chengyuan was cold and silent the whole time and didn’t agree at all.

[Is Mr. Li angry? What happened?]

[How can you tell? He doesn’t seem to have any expression]

[He didn’t talk at all, and he isn’t smiling anymore. Sisters, if you look carefully, he can actually smile……but he has been staring at Xia Xingchi coldly.]

[Did that jerk offend him? Great, when will he be kicked out, ah!]

[Laughing to death, didn’t you watch the live broadcast before brainlessly praising your idol? I have to let you down, in fact, Mr. Li is angry because he didn’t sleep with his wife]

[Hahahaha I think so too, Mr. Li can’t stick to his wife, so depressing]

. . . . . .

In order to prevent a certain person from recreating a horror movie in the middle of the night, Xia Xingchi quickly locked the door behind him as soon as he entered the room.

It was still raining outside the window at this time, and the downpour was getting heavier and heavier. Such deep mountains and cold forests were quite suitable for a number of horrors, such as the silent appearance of the villain in the middle of the night.

At last, there was no camera in the bedroom. Xia Xingchi heaved a sigh of relief and was finally able to take out his phone to check out what was happening on Weibo.

Sure enough, the pool of suspects for “Mrs. Li” had shrunk until it was basically only Xia Yu and himself left.

Xia Xingchi was leaning more and more toward murdering his fiance. If it wasn’t for this bastard’s various routines and blatant actions, he would not have appeared in the suspect pool at all. Who would have thought that the idol himself would personally show fans which way the wind was blowing.

As for the sources of the wind direction on Xia Yu’s side, one was the brainwashing articles of the water armies and various marketing accounts, and the second was the “real evidence.”

No wonder Xia Yu’s fans were able to stand firm against Li Chengyuan’s obviously bad attitude. Xia Xingchi flipped through the so-called “evidence” and found that even more photos had leaked.

They were obviously not taken on the same day, and the clothes were also different. Xia Xingchi zoomed in to take a closer look at the man in the blurry candid shots, only to find that he was really quite similar to Li Chengyuan.

Although the fans couldn’t tell the difference, he thought it was too suspicious.

Sherlock Holmeses from all walks of life had also identified that there was no trace of photoshopping in the photos……how did Xia Yu find such a person?

Xia Xingchi turned over. At the moment, the rain outside was getting heavier and knocking against the window.

This made him doubt whether the dilapidated house could keep out the huge raindrops.

In the end, Li Chengyuan was quite handsome, almost at the pinnacle of good looks. It was difficult to find someone who looked that good, not to mention someone with such high similarity to him.

Incredibly bright lightning flashed across the sky just then. It was dazzling and terrifying, as if it could pierce into this flimsy house.

At the same time, a thought flashed in Xia Xingchi’s mind – that person was Li Shengrui!

Xia Yu actually met the gong protagonist of the book earlier than in the original plot? Would Li Chengyuan……

Suddenly, there was an earth-shattering “Boom!”

It was completely different from the usual rolling thunder, deafening, as if it would pass through the window or even split the whole house in the next second……like the day he died.

Xia Xingchi immediately went stiff all over, and all the thoughts in his mind disappeared.

He trembled uncontrollably for a moment, as if the lightning had struck him again. With that loud noise, many details that had been repressed out of self-defense resurfaced:

The instant he was struck, it seemed that his internal organs were being burned at a high temperature, and even in a trance, there was a smell of roasted meat as he twitched uncontrollably in sheer agony.

Of course Xia Xingchi didn’t want to recall the moment of his death, but as the raindrops fell, the thunder seemed to split through the subconsciously buried memories in his head.

Another bolt of lightning flashed across, as if directly penetrating through the window and smashing into the rustic cabin.

Xia Xingchi curled up in bed at once and trembled as he covered his ears.

This obviously couldn’t muffle the thunderous boom, followed by another earth shattering bang!

The pain of his death forcibly replayed itself over and over again. Xia Xingchi trembled unceasingly all over, blindly fearing that he would be hit hard and his head would be split……

He hid stiffly under the blanket for a long time without hearing another thunderclap. It was only then that he finally regained his sanity and tried to assure himself that objectively speaking, he wouldn’t really be struck by lightning.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened his eyes and peered out cautiously from the bedding, God seemed to be deliberately against him. The moment he stuck out his head, the dark room suddenly became bright!

There was an unprecedentedly huge flash of lightning!

Following behind must be earth-shattering thunder!

Xia Xingchi never thought that biological instinct truly had such explosive power —

He actually used the short time difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound to jump up from the bed like a spring!

Almost faster than lightning, he yanked the lock and opened the door, and then rushed all the way into the opposite room!

When he came back to his senses, he had already buried himself in another bed, instinctively burrowing into a warm embrace.

---

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Chapter Twenty-Eight << Table of Contents >> Chapter Thirty

The Sun residence prepared a high-quality wing room with all facilities included. Upon opening the door, one could smell the faint scent of flowers, and there were several pots of orchids in the room.

As soon as Zhao Yelan entered the room, he was embraced from behind, and Yan Mingting nuzzled his neck and kissed it delicately. There were people from the Sun residence outside. Zhao Yelan pushed him, but didn’t propel him away. He simply turned around, raised his head, and claimed the other’s lips.

After a while, Yan Mingting picked him up, walked to the table by the window, and set him down.

Zhao Yelan put his hands on the table, gasping for breath, and asked: “Magistrate Sun prepared one room?”

“Otherwise?” Yan Mingting gripped the edge of the table and kissed his cheek, then his neck. “We are husband and wife, of course we’ll share the same room. Magistrate Sun is a man who knows how to do things.”

Zhao Yelan chuckled, feeling a bit ticklish. He raised his chin unconsciously, and his Adam’s apple was gently caressed. He groaned, and the other party held him in his arms again, rubbing his hands over his back.

A thought occurred to him, and he quivered. Opening his eyes suddenly, he accidentally knocked over the flower pot next to him in a fluster.

With a bang, porcelain fragments and soil shattered to the ground, the orchids all mixed in.

“General Yan, Zhao-daren, are you all right?” The worried voices of the Sun mansion’s residence sounded outside the door.

“It’s fine.” After speaking, Yan Mingting suppressed the agitation in his heart and grabbed his hand to check it. “It’s not hurt?”

“No.” Zhao Yelan shook his head and stood up to open the door, ordering, “I accidentally knocked over a flower pot, please come and clean it up.”

Two servants rushed to clear it away, and asked if they needed some refreshments. Zhao Yelan said: “We do.”

“These ones will go to the kitchen and bring them here. Do my lords want to enjoy them here or in the pavilion?”

“The pavilion.”

The servant asked someone to bring them to the pavilion to wait, then turned and went to the kitchen.

Yan Mingting eagerly followed him to the pavilion. He guessed that the other had been frightened by his actions just now, and blamed himself for being too impatient. This sort of thing didn’t happen overnight. The other party might not be ready for it yet, and it was already very good to be able to kiss.

He became happy again at this thought, and said: “The Sun mansion’s landscaping is very nice.”

“Yes, ah, I didn’t take a good look around during the day, but it looks really good now.”

The two sat down in the pavilion in the middle of the lake. The small lake below was surrounded by rockery and other pavilions and decks, and the style of the garden was more graceful and refined than in the capital.

Sitting there at night, enjoying the cool breeze while eating cakes and drinking good wine, was truly a great blessing.

“This is much better than those strong wines. It tastes sweet and it’s not easy to get drunk.” Yan Mingting poured two cups.

“Yes, this wine is the most popular lotus brew in the area, and it is best to drink it in this season. I heard that Miss……oh, Concubine Xian, said in her letter that she wanted to drink this lotus wine. There are also many foreigners who come to our Zhizhou to buy it.” The servant spared no effort in espousing the merits of this brew.

“Is it really that good?” Zhao Yelan was moved when he heard this, and dismissed all the servants. Then he picked up the wine cup and was about to taste it, when Yan Mingting stopped him. 

“Isn’t your body incapable of tolerating alcohol?”

“Who said such a thing?”

“You, ah.”

Zhao Yelan turned a deaf ear and only said: “I just won’t get drunk, didn’t you say it was difficult to get drunk off this wine? I’ll only take a sip.”

Yan Mingting didn’t say anything more. It was okay if he just had a sip……right?

“This is your third cup,” Yan Mingting said.

“It tastes really good, and it seems that it’s really not intoxicating.” Zhao Yelan smiled, toyed with the wine cup, and put it down. “All right, I won’t drink any more.”

No more than three cups of wine was his rule. Otherwise……it would be embarrassing.

Yan Mingting drank the wine on his own, but kept feeling like the taste was lacking, so he took a closer look and saw that Zhao Yelan’s face was flushed. He said with a smile: “It turns out your face is like this when you drink, ah. Don’t you feel hot?”

“Of course it’s hot.” Zhao Yelan accelerated the speed of his fan.

“Would you like to have a couple more? Maybe it can drive out the cold in you? Then you won’t be afraid of catching a chill when winter comes,” Yan Mingting said.

Zhao Yelan ignored this, waiting to see what else he would come up with.

Yan Mingting raised his head and drank a few gulps, then picked up the jug and his sword and jumped onto the rockery opposite, dancing with his sword under the moonlight.

This attracted a lot of people to stop and watch from a distance. Zhao Yelan heard the praises of others and raised his chin with honor, proudly picking up another jug of wine. He poured himself a cup, then stared at the figure that was as light as a swallow but as strong as bamboo, and unknowingly drank most of the pot of wine.

Yan Mingting raised his head and happily drained the last drops of wine. He put away his sword and returned to the pavilion to find that the other party had drunk a lot.

Zhao Yelan cast him a sideways glance, picked up a handkerchief to wipe away the wine left on his neck, and said, “Let’s go back.”

“All right.” Yan Mingting took his hand and led him back to the room.

After taking a bath, Zhao Yelan fell onto the bed, a little dizzy. He propped himself up with his arms to sit, feeling weak: “Give me water.”

Yan Mingting poured him a cup of water and looked at his blushing face, like peach blossoms in full bloom. He wanted to say something beautiful, but when he saw his frown, he couldn’t help worrying: “Are you drunk? Or are you feeling cold? Do I need to call a doctor?”

“No, I’m only a little drunk.” Zhao Yelan hurriedly grabbed his wrist. “Don’t call the doctor.”

“Okay.” Yan Mingting poured him another cup of water before lying down. Seeing him retreating vigilantly to the wall, he quickly explained in a low voice: “Magistrate Sun didn’t put spare bedding in the room. I didn’t climb up intentionally.”

Zhao Yelan glanced at him, his vision a little blurred, then reached out and touched his face, flushing as he warned him: “When I’m drunk……I will be a little strange. You had best go and find an inn.”

“It’s so late, and the inns close early. If I left you alone like this, how could I rest assured?” Yan Mingting said, “Besides, what kind of strange things could you come up with?”

Zhao Yelan shook his head and closed his eyes to ease the dizziness. He didn’t know if he would exhibit any strange behavior. After all, he hadn’t been drunk for many years, let alone showed his drunk face in front of outsiders.

He had been self-restrained since he was a child, and even when facing his parents, he never acted too intimately. But at the end of a certain year, he drank a large bowl of wine by mistake and actually crawled into the arms of his parents in the middle of the night to act like a baby, hugging them without letting go. He asked his parents why they were always so strict with him, and even whined in an aggrieved manner.

The torment caused his parents to be unable to sleep all night, and they teased him for a while afterwards. Later, they coaxed him with wine from time to time, wanting to make him clingy.

How could he fall for this again?

But that was many years ago, and he wasn’t sure what would happen now…..

Yan Mingting saw that his eyes were closed and that he hadn’t responded for a long time. He must have fallen asleep. It was a little funny, and he observed his face patiently and meticulously by candlelight.

This was his first time seeing him blush, and although it was because of drunkenness, it was a scene of its own. He raised his hand, and his fingertips slowly moved down the bridge of his nose to land on his lips. He smiled, then spread his five fingers, measuring the length and width, thinking to himself that this face was actually smaller than his hand.

At this time, Zhao Yelan groaned softly.

He subconsciously withdrew his hand and leaned closer to listen, but the other party remained silent once more. Lowering his eyes, he stared at the mole under the other’s eye for a moment and reached out a hand to touch it, then quickly withdrew his hand as if afraid of being discovered, smiling to himself.

Yan Mingting lay down again and his eyes fell on that fair neck. He became distracted again and approached him quietly, sniffing the fragrance of his body. The scent of lotus wine still lingered, which was a bit addictive.

In fact, this wine still had a bit of stamina. When he first tasted it, he only felt that it was sweet and delicious, but after that, the alcohol began to pick up. He only seemed to be okay because of his bulk.

Just as he was contemplating, there was pressure around his waist as Zhao Yelan turned sideways and hugged him.

Yan Mingting froze all over and looked at the other party in surprise. He saw that his eyes were closed and guessed that he was still not sober.

Not long after the other party hugged him, he seemed to feel hot and began to tug at his clothes. Yan Mingting watched helplessly as he exposed his fair shoulders and chest, and then fell dead asleep again.

“……” Yan Mingting raised his eyes to stare at the mosquito net, forcibly diverting his attention to avoid getting agitated.

A short while later, Zhao Yelan changed his hugging position again, grabbing his arm and throwing a leg over his own. At this time, he opened his eyes.

Eye to eye, Zhao Yelan looked at him motionlessly. After a long time, Yan Mingting spoke weakly: “Do you still know who I am?”

“Yan Mingting.”

“Yes.” Yan Mingting heaved a sigh of relief.

“Why are you so fierce to me?” Zhao Yelan asked.

“You say such a thing with no conscience, when have I ever been fierce to you?” Yan Mingting cried out for injustice.

“Then why did you bully me?”

“At what time?”

“You took a chicken, and mocked me as a sick chicken.”

Yan Mingting had to think for a long time before he remembered the scene when they had first met. Also, when he had just returned to Beijing, he sent a chicken to the Zhao residence, not knowing that his moment of kindness back then had been misunderstood by the other party as mockery. No wonder he was in a foul temper when he first walked in the door.

“I wasn’t mocking you, I just wanted to let you replenish your body, you’re too thin,” Yan Mingting patiently explained.

“You still say I’m ugly,” Zhao Yelan said expressionlessly.

“When did I say you were ugly?!”

“Last time, and now. When you say fatness is the only way to look good, isn’t it just beating around the bush and calling me ugly?”

“Save me, you really know how to talk nonsense with your eyes wide open! You go out and see, is there anyone in the world who is better looking than you?”

Zhao Yelan’s expression turned dark for a moment, then sunny, and then he stared at him blankly and didn’t say anything else.

Yan Mingting waved his hand in front of him. Seeing that his expression and reaction were a bit sluggish, he knew that he was truly drunk. Could this be revealing something hidden in his heart? He thought about it, and asked while the iron was hot: “Then do you like Yan Mingting?”

“Yan Mingting?”

“En, Yan Mingting.”

Zhao Yelan blinked slowly. Suddenly there was a trace of sadness in his eyes, and he reached out to hug him, nuzzling against his neck: “Yan Mingting.”

Yan Mingting put his arms around the other’s back and said with a smile: “Alright, alright, I know the answer.”

“Hug me.”

Yan Mingting was exceedingly satisfied and hugged him tightly, thinking that after this guy was drunk, he became so forward and clingy, revealing his heart without any scheming. He couldn’t let anyone else see him like this.

Of course, it would be great if he could see it hundreds or thousands of times.

Just as he was planning their next time drinking, the other party kicked him away and fanned himself with his hands.

Yan Mingting went to get a fan for him, but as soon as Zhao Yelan was cool, he wanted to hug him to sleep, so he acted as a blanket again and was held in Zhao Yelan’s arms. Just when he hugged back, the other party trembled and said: “Don’t touch my back.”

When Yan Mingting took back his hand, Zhao Yelan said again: “Hug me.”

“……” So difficult to serve. Yan Mingting interlocked his fingers at last and coaxed, “Okay, look how good it is to hold you like this.”

In this way, Yan Mingting was tormented repeatedly between hugging him and being kicked away, which drove up the fire in him until he couldn’t bring it down. After midnight, it was finally not so hot, and Zhao Yelan peacefully fell asleep while holding him. But Yan Mingting couldn’t sleep, the fire growing stronger and stronger.

Early the next morning, Zhao Yelan heard the voices of servants outside. Opening his eyes sleepily, he sat up and rubbed his temples. It took him a long while to regain his senses, and when he got out of bed and looked around, Yan Mingting was no longer in the room.

He opened the door, and Xiao Gao came in to change his clothes and tie up his hair. He was quiet for a long time before asking, “Where is Yan Mingting?”

“The General got up early in the morning and took a cold bath. Now he has been practicing with his sword for an hour.” Xiao Gao said worshipfully, “As expected of the General, he doesn’t forget his morning exercises even at this time!”

“……” Zhao Yelan rubbed his temples again.

After his hair was finished, some of Sun mansion’s servant girls came to the door to ask for instructions: “Zhao-daren, breakfast is ready. General Yan has already gone in advance, will you be all right?”

“Lead the way.” Zhao Yelan silently followed them all the way to the front hall for breakfast.

As soon as he walked to the door, he met Yan Mingting, who was sitting at the table. The other party was conversing with Magistrate Sun, but his eyes kept landing on him, looking at him leisurely.

He walked over without a change in expression, exchanged a few words with Magistrate Sun, and sat down to eat.

Yan Mingting secretly observed for a long while, and found that his expression was normal, as if he didn’t remember what happened last night at all.

After the meal, Magistrate Sun wanted to invite them to stroll around the neighborhood, but Zhao Yelan proposed to take their leave.

Zhizhou still had Magistrate Sun in command, but Huaizhou had no leader. Their affairs here had been taken care of, so there was no reason to delay.

Magistrate Sun saw that there was no hope of persuading them to stay, so he went to arrange a carriage.

Yan Mingting approached Zhao Yelan from behind and whispered: “Are you sober?”

“I drank too much last night and got a little dizzy, so I fell asleep. I didn’t do anything strange, did I?” Zhao Yelan asked.

Yan Mingting looked at his innocent face, raised his eyebrows, and said with a smile: “No.”

The two got in the carriage, and Magistrate Sun and his wife came to see them off in person. Madam Sun took out a bundle and asked eagerly: “I don’t know if the two lords can help bring something back for Muyun. They are all local specialties, and we prepared some for the two of you as well. If you don’t mind, please accept it.”

The two agreed after seeing their sincere parental love.

“Wait, there are still a few jars of lotus wine here.” Magistrate Sun quickly moved another seven jars of wine to the carriage and said with a smile, “I heard that the two of you had a lot of fun drinking lotus wine last night, so the other five jars were prepared specially for you.”

Zhao Yelan’s expression froze. He was about to refuse, but Yan Mingting took the initiative to accept it with a smile.

After waving them goodbye, Yan Mingting put down the curtain, turned to look at the silent Zhao Yelan, and nudged his shoulder with a smile, saying: “Come on, stop pretending, you actually remember it all, right?”

“Remember what?” Zhao Yelan insisted.

“Remember what happened when you got drunk last night.” Yan Mingting kneaded his neck and shoulders with purpose. “So sore, you really tormented me all night.”

“……” Zhao Yelan turned his face away stiffly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Fine, you heartless man, turn your face and be callous.” Yan Mingting pretended to be wronged and began to complain, “When you called out for hugs last night, you weren’t so heartless.”

“You shut up!” Zhao Yelan turned his head to glare at him.

However, Yan Mingting intended to continue talking, and when it came to his appearance last night, he couldn’t stop.

Zhao Yelan couldn’t bear to recall it anymore, so he gave him a profound look: “Why did you take a cold bath so early in the morning? Come on, tell me why?”

Yan Mingting choked suddenly: “……Because of the wine.”

---

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Chapter Fifty-Nine <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Sixty-One

Xia Xingchi’s eyes widened upon hearing these words, and he looked at Li Chengyuan doubtfully.

They had a showdown last night, and he also gave ironclad evidence that the other had recognized the wrong person. Yet this person didn’t fire him, but wanted to give him a raise?

It couldn’t be that he performed well the day before by giving him a good scolding. Was such a prickly firecracker of an employee worthy of praise?

The more he thought about it, the more suspicious he became. Xia Xingchi didn’t say a word, staring at that person vigilantly with his big, wet, red eyes as he tried to find some suspicious clues.

Li Chengyuan also gazed down at him in silence, patiently letting him look.

The atmosphere was silent for a time, and then footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door.

The director stood at the door and said loudly: “President Li! Xingchi! Are you awake? We’re coming in!”

This was a classic segment. Regardless of whether the guests were still asleep or hadn’t put on makeup, as long as they weren’t changing their clothes, they would be subject to surprise shots.

It was only that this was Li Chengyuan’s place, so some warning needed to be given. The gold master was different, after all, and what if the couple were playing around early in the morning……

Now that they were at the heart of the struggle with Xia Yu, the audience would probably erupt if they saw them sleeping together.

A few seconds after the voice sounded, the dilapidated wooden door was pushed open softly —

Xia Xingchi was startled, not having expected that they would suddenly broadcast live. Presently, the tears in his rabbit-like eyes and on his face were very obvious.

But Li Chengyuan reacted with great speed, quickly stuffing his head back under the blanket and wrapping him up tightly.

“Go out first.” Li Chengyuan stood after rolling up his small rice ball. “He hasn’t woken up yet.”

The camera captured Xia Xingchi after he was rolled up. The director hesitated for half a second, then imagined something even more unsuitable for children, and hurriedly exited the room.

[Wow! Wow! He’s worthy of being the boss, no matter what he says, his manner is imposing]

[How doting! To actually drive away the director because Xingchi was sleeping, rich people privilege hahahahaha]

[No matter what people say, I really think these two are a good couple. Mr. Li treats him completely differently from others!]

[Wu wu wu President Li always looks so handsome while protecting Xingchi, I ship it to death]

[Pei! This only shows that Li Chengyuan is a gentleman! Was the slap in the face not hard enough? Why are you still fooling around?]

[Declaring once again that Xia Xingchi is a male mistress. Do we need to shove the photo in your face again?]

[Who can prove that the photo is real, ah? Maybe there’s only a resemblance. After all, it’s so blurry, it might be photoshopped]

[It must be real! How can there be people who happen to be so similar to Mr. Li and Xiao Yu? You just wait for a slap in the face ba]

[It doesn’t matter who gets slapped in the face (Li-Style Get Lost.gif)]

. . . . . .

Everyone was waiting to have a feast. Once they left, Xia Xingchi poked his head out of the bedding again.

Li Chengyuan stroked his red and swollen eye sockets with his cold fingers, looking down and saying: “Your eyes are swollen from crying, so I asked for an ice pack.”

A certain little liar always had a knack for thinking wildly. It was fine to violently beat people, but unexpectedly, he cried first. Not only did this make Li Chengyuan feel distressed, but he also really seemed to feel sympathy for him.

Xia Xingchi hummed in embarrassment, and after realizing something, he emphasized again: “An eyelash got in my eye! I wasn’t crying!”

He got into the covers again after that, and when the ice pack arrived, he reached out a hand and pulled it in, like a little hedgehog hiding himself under the blanket.

There was silence all around. Xia Xingchi pricked up his ears and couldn’t hear anything, but he knew Li Chengyuan was still sitting at his side.

From the time he met this big villain, he knew that this person had a terrible hobby. He liked to stare at him quietly for long periods of time with strange eyes, and sat at his bedside to watch him that first night.

But now that all the misunderstandings had been resolved and the truth had come out, why didn’t Li Chengyuan leave?

His attitude toward him hadn’t changed, and was even a little better than before.

The two remained in a stalemate for a long moment, separated by a layer of blanket. Xia Xingchi decided to break the silence first and hesitantly asked in a low voice:

“You……are you really going to double my salary?”

Li Chengyuan was a little taken aback when he heard these words. He obviously didn’t expect that Xia Xingchi wouldn’t ask him why he didn’t leave, nor ask about the stand-in anymore. After holding back for so long, the most irrelevant question was asked instead.

So he replied indifferently with a blank face: “Yes. And maybe more, if you make me happy.”

– For example, placing all the property under his name.

However, based on the little liar’s bad behavior, Li Chengyuan didn’t intend to tell him that. He wouldn’t make the same mistakes and give everything to him too early before he got him locked up.

Xia Xingchi then quickly got out of bed with the ice pack on, trying hard to hide his excitement but to no avail: 

“Really? This is what you said, you wanted to raise the salary! Don’t go back on your word!”

It couldn’t be helped, the boss gave so much money. Xia Xingchi firmly believed that he was not this joyful due to hearing that Li Chengyuan was not going to leave his side.

Li Chengyuan immediately took out his phone, tapped the screen a few times with his slender fingers, and then held it up to show him —

Xia Xingchi took a closer look and was shocked. This guy actually turned around and paid him for ten months on the spot?!

“You can’t resign after receiving the money, understand?” As he spoke, Li Chengyuan reached out and fixed the crooked ice pack so that it covered his eyes again.

The huge windfall naturally caused the little money-grubber to nod excitedly, and the ice pack was thrown askew again. Li Chengyuan had no choice but to straighten it once more.

But after a while, Xia Xingchi realized that something was wrong……because Li Chengyuan’ life was not that long.

Thinking of this, Xia Xingchi couldn’t help but bite his lip hard, his eyes a little hot.

Just thinking that he left had made him so sad, and the original concept of “giving him the best hospice care and inheriting his legacy” no longer seemed so simple and easy.

– – –

After applying the ice pack for a while, the redness and swelling from the tears finally subsided. Xia Xingchi finally “woke up” and appeared in front of the camera after washing up and getting ready.

One didn’t need to look in order to know what a huge storm his appearance would stir up in the live broadcast, especially after being in the same frame with Xia Yu again.

Fortunately, he had ignored Xia Yu’s friendliness yesterday, and there was no shame in continuing on today as if he couldn’t see that green tea spirit.

Xia Yu was like a strong white lotus who could “kindly forgive the mistress even while wearing a green hat,” greeting him as if nothing had happened. This also guaranteed that after the rumors were dismantled, he could pretend to be ignorant of the matter.

Everyone could only pretend that they didn’t know anything about this business, and that it had nothing to do with them. After all, everyone knew who the genuine article was.

[Why are Xia Xingchi’s eye sockets a little red, ah? Could he have been crying?]

[Hug hug baby. He must be sad to be framed and insulted with such ugly words. Ai, don’t cry, don’t cry, we all believe in you]

[Hehe If you become a mistress, you should expect to be scolded. Don’t be a **** and expect to keep a good name]

[Never mind the idiot upstairs, Xingchi is definitely Mrs. Li!]

[Hehehe……thinking of happy places. Maybe he was crying when he did things that can’t be described with Mr. Li last night, and he got up late in the morning too hehehe……]

[I’m the first to object to the sister upstairs withdrawing from the literary world hehe]

[It’s really true. No wonder Mr. Li wrapped up Xingchi so nobody could see him. Could it be that there were traces of love on his body? (Dog head)]

[What happened? Whose pants did I just trip over? Oh, they’re mine]

Xia Xingchi did not expect things to go in the direction of sexual association, and only thought that there must be all kinds of ugly insults.

But in any case, now that Li Chenyuan was by his side, those words didn’t seem to be as lethal. They weren’t as important as rolling up his sleeves and making breakfast. After all, someone with a glass stomach always had low blood sugar, and precious ones could not go hungry.

As expected, Li Chengyuan still occupied the position of assisting the cook. He walked into the kitchen naturally and began to add wood to the stove to make a fire.

Xia Xingchi had already given up and didn’t bother trying to make him leave. Anyway, the act that was hanging by a thread could drop at any time. The poverty-stricken had nothing to lose and didn’t fear power.

He searched for the leftover ingredients from yesterday and decided in the end to use the remaining two goose eggs to make goose egg noodles for everyone. As he did so, he also cooked some cornmeal porridge and a few more light dishes.

While cooking the porridge, he glanced at the place where the camera had been yesterday. No wonder Li Chengyuan didn’t attack it again today. The spot was empty, and there was no camera in the kitchen.

Maybe the program team wanted to help him hide the relationship, or maybe it was on Li Chengyuan’s orders. Xia Xingchi heaved a sigh of relief. Even if he wasn’t afraid, he didn’t want to be filmed and recorded at all hours of the day.

Especially after seeing those malicious out-of-context clips that morning.

Li Chengyuan was not very efficient at working the bellows yesterday, but today he had fully mastered the skill and quickly raised the fire.

The smoke drifted up the chimney and there was no strong smell in the kitchen, only the faint scent of food and burning firewood.

Xia Xingchi put the noodles into the pot and began to study how to make goose egg custard.

Because that damn Xia Yu had disrupted the situation yesterday, Xia Xingchi didn’t pick up too many eggs. In addition to cooking the remaining eggs, he decided to also secretly cook a goose egg custard for his big cat alone.

“You’re in the way.” While stirring the egg mixture, Xia Xingchi kicked Li Chenyuan’s legs that couldn’t be stretched out due to sitting on the wooden bench. “Sir, I suggest you go sit in the water tank, don’t take up space here.”

This crude kitchen was small in the first place, and a certain person had no intention of leaving after starting the fire.

He still sat to the side with a blank expression on his face and watched Xia Xingchi, carrying on his hobby of staring silently like a feline.

Li Chengyuan moved slightly to the side upon hearing this, but Xia Xingchi was still so crowded that almost fell into his arms, so he had no choice but to kick him again.

The two of them moved and kicked in such a quiet and childish manner, repeating this many times in a row, and only stopped temporarily when Li Xiu poked his head in curiously to see what they were cooking.

“It really smells delicious, ah!” Li Xiu said with admiration. He thought for a moment and said sincerely, “In fact, we lazy bastards don’t really eat breakfast. Xingchi, don’t wear yourself out tomorrow, just sleep in.”

He had thought that the “cooking” Xia Xingchi mentioned might mean finding some pickled vegetable steamed buns, and didn’t expect something so rich.

Xia Xingchi blinked, and was all smiles as he said: “No way, ah, if you’re raising a big golden cat, it has to have warm food every day.”

After saying so, he raised his leg and kicked Li Chengyuan lightly.

He had seen the changes in everyone’s expressions yesterday. Xia Xingchi was likely too angry to control his voice during their quarrel and was overheard.

The pot was already cracked, so he simply smashed it to pieces. There was no need to hide their relationship in front of these few people.

Li Xiu was stunned for a few seconds. Seeing him kick Li Chengyuan, he was subconsciously terrified at first, and then instantly realized which big cat was being talked about.

But……hadn’t they avoided making an official announcement in front of the camera so far? Why did he directly say it?

Li Xiu turned his head suspiciously and glanced at the new camera. This time it was not unplugged and was still working normally, dedicated to live broadcasting the kitchen scene to tens of millions of viewers.

Looking at the empty original camera position again, Li Xiu realized in shock that Xia Xingchi seemed to have mistakenly thought that the camera was removed?!

Yesterday, the boss had unplugged it as soon as he entered the door. The program team didn’t dare to offend him or refuse, but they couldn’t lie to the audience that “the device was out of battery” again and again.

So they had to hang the camera in a very high position, where even Li Chengyuan couldn’t reach.

After this adjustment, the program team also specially sent out a notice to the group, but at that time, Xia Xingchi’s attention was all on the hot searches and all kinds of bloody storms.

After that, he secretly shed tears and applied ice with his eyes closed, so he had no time to pay attention to group notifications.

“Xingchi……uh, look……”

Li Xiu wondered if they were doing anything in the kitchen just now, and could only raise his eyebrows as a friendly reminder.

Li Chengyuan suddenly turned his head and looked over with cold eyes.

The fierce aura immediately startled Li Xiu, as if he had been caught in person by the principal when cheating for an exam, and he quickly closed the door and ran away.

Xia Xingchi was puzzled, and seemed to not have understood his abstract expression, so he turned around and asked Li Chengyuan: “What did he mean? Did Li Xiu have something to say, ah?”

After a long period of silence in the comment area, it completely recovered and exploded at this moment:

[Save me, weren’t the two of them acting like polite strangers yesterday and calling Mr. Li? How are they on a first name basis today? Did I miss something?]

[Hahahaha I’m dying. Kicking and moving, this tyrant is so cute in private!]

[I suspect they know each other privately and just pretended not to know each other for the show]

[I dare say this is not suspected private acquaintances, but suspected love]

[From the beginning, I guessed that breakfast was made for Li Chengyuan’s sake. It is said that he’s not in good health and may have a stomach problem, so he must eat breakfast]

[Is the “big golden cat” Mr. Li? He said he was raising him?! And the person involved just sat beside him with a blank expression, without any intention of refuting?]

[I don’t believe it! The same can be done between friends, ah. Without intimate actions, the phrase “big cat” certainly doesn’t mean that!]

[Isn’t this male mistress being provocative? He’s already rushed to the top of the hot search list, and he’s escalating as if nothing happened? Sluts aren’t allowed, go away!]

[Reporting the person upstairs! By the way, looking at Li Xiu’s expression, Xingchi doesn’t seem to know there’s a camera ~ ]

[Judging by Mr. Li’s appearance, he should know. Could it be that Xingchi didn’t want to make an official announcement, so he did it on purpose?]

[Bullshit, what kind of official announcement nonsense, can’t you see the hot search? Xia Yu is the official partner, thank you]

Xia Xingchi was obviously unaware of the horrific crash, and was still cooking seriously.

The goose egg custard was steamed very quickly. At first glance, it didn’t seem much different from eggs, and he wasn’t sure how it would taste.

He handed it to Li Chengyuan behind him: “There’s only enough left to make one custard. Eat it quickly, don’t let the Sherlock Holmeses on the internet see me cooking for you.”

A group of netizens: ?

Li Chengyuan pursed his lips and remained silent. If Xia Xingchi turned his head at this time, he would definitely see the expression of someone trying to hold in a laugh.

It was a pity that he was concentrating on cooking. After a while, he tilted his head and asked: “How is it, ah, is it tasty? Does it just taste like eggs?”

Li Chengyuan: “You try it.”

Xia Xingchi had never eaten goose egg custard at his age, so he was indeed very curious. When he turned around, Li Chengyuan had already filled a spoonful and handed it over.

When Li Chengyuan drank his hot cocoa at the fashion soiree last time, he found that he had a double standard for this person’s cleanliness, and wasn’t particular about sharing a spoon with him now.

Xia Xingchi was trying his best to control this huge iron pot so as not to burn the dishes, so he took a quick bite without thinking about it.

[Mama! Why did they share a spoon? Isn’t this an indirect kiss?!]

[He wanted to make a small fuss over President Li and didn’t want us to know! No way! (caught red-handed.jpg)]

[Oh my god, after waking up to watch the live broadcast, the world has gone crazy? It’s really Xia Xingchi? It’s really that low-tier stupid trash?]

[Knock it, knock it! It’s definitely not the first time they’ve done this, they have to be a couple! Xingchi actually turned out to be a rich little boyfriend at large?]

[It’s just a spoon, look how excited you are. I also shared a cup of milk tea with my best friend. Isn’t that normal?]

[Mr. Li is a clean freak! Did you notice that everyone used serving chopsticks to pick up the dishes last night? It’s clearly because he was there]

[That’s not an intimate move either. Don’t try to save his dignity or mess with our Xia Yu’s fiance, OK? Anyway, no matter how envious you are, your idol is not worthy]

Xia Xingchi savored it carefully for a while, and finally had an answer: “It’s not too bad?”

After thinking about it, he howled: “So eat it fast, ah! Please go out quickly after eating, I’m almost sitting on your lap while I cook! I’m crowded to death!”

Li Chengyuan looked at him calmly and expressionlessly and said: “Sit.”

His stubborn appearance was quite annoying. Holding the spatula in one hand, Xia Xingchi tilted his head and said earnestly: 

“Sir, do you think I dare not? I specialize in dealing with all kinds of stubbornness, and I’ll make you pay a price for your words!”

With that said, he really took a step forward and sat directly on Li Chengyuan’s lap.

Not only did he sit on it, but he even got away with tilting his head and grasping the other’s chin: “How about it……hm? Wait.”

Before he finished speaking, Xia Xingchi suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Although it seemed to others that Li Chengyuan wasn’t wearing much of an expression at the moment, Xia Xingchi was already familiar with him and knew that he was holding back a smile.

The question was, what could the big villain be smiling at?

Xia Xingchi hurriedly got off of him and tried to put as much distance between them as possible, both vigilant and puzzled: “What are you going to do?”

Combined with Li Chengyuan’s extraordinarily ambiguous actions just now, it was as if a bolt of inspiration flashed through his mind.

Xia Xingchi suddenly had an outrageous intuition, and hastily raised his head to look around —

On the corner of the wall above, a camera with a flashing red light faced the two of them. It could be called a rather silent and resentful working machine, showing everyone all the actions just now in real time.

Xia Xingchi was instantly dumbfounded.

---

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Chapter Twenty-Seven << Table of Contents >> Chapter Twenty-Nine

The Imperial court had been very busy these days. First, the governor of Jiangnan was escorted back to Beijing. After a few days, even the magistrate of Huaizhou and several other important officials were also detained.

The Emperor was furious, and ordered the three judicial divisions to interrogate them. It was necessary to uncover those officials in Jiangnan who were in collusion with each other. This was also to set an example for others. After he ascended the throne, he wanted to root out those people left behind by the late emperor, but his focus had always been on Beijing. The Jiangnan area had always been docile and peaceful. Unexpectedly, relying on the distance between them, even the governor dared to ignore the laws and discipline of the Imperial court. There was no telling what sort of decay lay below.

If it wasn’t for Kuang Sheng’s report that caught his attention, he would have been deceived by these people for a long time. However, although Kuang Sheng was successful in this endeavor, he could not escape the crime of falsely reporting the disaster situation, which had caused the Imperial court to allocate 100,000 taels in vain. It was difficult to transport it back in a short amount of time, resulting in a shortage in the national treasury. After discussions among all parties, the final decision was to remove Kuang Sheng from his position as water reporter, and he would not be allowed to hold an official position for life.

Kuang Sheng was already very satisfied with the results. He knew that Zhao-daren had rewritten his grievances for him in the report, so he was able to safely avoid the calamity of going to prison.

The same went for Yin Pinglu. Because she exposed the Yin family and helped Zhao Yelan greatly in his investigation, this separated her from the Yin family without implicating innocent people. Yin Pinglu sent her younger siblings to her grandmother’s house.

However, there were suddenly many vacancies in Jiangnan, and there were endless disputes in court over who should fill them.

Zhao Xuan had been busy for several days, and from time to time, he summoned officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Officials to discuss the matter. After finally settling things, he breathed a sigh of relief at last. Realizing that he had forgotten to eat lunch, he went to Sun Muyun’s residence.

Since the events in Jiangnan, he hadn’t seen Sun Muyun again. He was both busy and worried that the Sun family was also one of those rotten seeds.

But these days, Sun Muyun didn’t take the initiative to find him. He occasionally ran into her in the Imperial garden, where the other party would play carelessly with the court ladies and eunuchs, not appearing to be worried about her father. Then he received a letter from Zhao Yelan. According to the investigation, the prefectural magistrate was not involved in the affair. On the contrary, there was a county magistrate and the Wu magistrate who had been friends for many years and colluded with each other.

“What are you doing?” As soon as Zhao Xuan entered, he saw Sun Muyun spinning in circles.

“Answering the Emperor, I am trying on new clothes.” Sun Muyun smiled and said, “Jinxuan’s clothes are really good, but they are not as good as Jiangnan’s.”

“Jinxuan? Such a familiar name.”

“Of course it sounds familiar. Zhao-daren basically buys all his fabrics and ready-made clothes there. Wearing them out is a living advertisement, but it’s a pity that the common people cannot afford them at all.”

Earlier, Sun Muyun had specifically inquired about which clothes were the best in the capital.

Zhao Xuan smiled. Counting the days, Zhao Yelan had been away for more than a month. He said in a daze: “I wonder how he is doing in Jiangnan now.”

“Don’t worry, your Majesty, Zhao-daren will be very happy, and might not even want to leave. Who let us have so much stunning scenery, delicious food, and beauties in Jiangnan……oh, didn’t the General go too? Those beauties are not worth mentioning in front of the General. After all, the General is quite handsome!”

Zhao Xuan paused: “Today, instead of praising me, you are praising others?”

“His Majesty is already praised enough, the most beautiful thing in this palace is His Majesty,” Sun Muyun said.

“What about outside the palace?”

“This concubine says that His Majesty is not allowed to be angry.”

“I won’t be angry.”

“It’s Zhao-daren and General Yan! They look so good together! Your Majesty is so discerning to bestow marriage upon them! They are so well-matched, ah! Seeing two beautiful men standing together at the same time is so comfortable!”

Zhao Xuan scoffed coldly and left in a fit of pique.

“It was agreed that you wouldn’t be angry, cheapskate.” Sun Muyun sighed and shook her head, then looked out the window. “I wonder if Dad has read my letter.”

At that time, Zhao Yelan and Yan Mingting were guests in the Sun residence.

Yan Mingting had originally wanted to have someone deliver Sun Muyun’s token, but Zhao Yelan wanted to go to Zhizhou to deal with the matter of the colluding county magistrate, so Yan Mingting followed along.

Magistrate Sun had just dealt with those people according to the law. When he heard that the Imperial Envoy had come to Zhizhou in person, he explained everything that had happened in detail.

After listening, Zhao Yelan nodded without any objections: “Bothering Sun-daren to bring up the new county magistrate as soon as possible.”

“Yes.”

Yan Mingting handed Sun Muyun’s token to him, and only then did Magistrate Sun know that his daughter had a close relationship with these two big figures. While he was pleased with her, he couldn’t help being a little worried that his daughter would be bullied if she didn’t have any family or backers in Beijing. Thus, he was even more polite to them, and entertained them with good wine and good food.

After dinner, Magistrate Sun prepared a room for them, but Zhao Yelan proposed that they go out for a walk.

Although Zhizhou and Huaizhou were adjacent counties, the atmosphere here seemed to be more unconstrained. More than a hundred years ago, there once appeared a beautiful woman here who vigorously pursued a man and became a laughingstock. But shockingly, within a few years of getting married, that man conquered a whole country and named it Xuan. It was precisely because of the founding Empress Mingzhu that most of the women here were enthusiastic and unconstrained. When they spied a man they liked, they would take the initiative to express their hearts.

The two of them had only walked tens of meters when they were accosted by many young women one after another, and even Xiao Gao behind them couldn’t escape.

“My lord, this sachet smells so good, you take it,” Xiao Gao said.

“This was given to you by others. If you accept it, you have to marry them,” Zhao Yelan teased.

“Ah! I don’t want a wife! I’m going to pay her back now!” Xiao Gao turned and ran back to find the woman.

Not long after, the street ahead became full of people, and the road was completely blocked. Everyone was very excited, eagerly looking at the people upstairs and shouting non-stop.

Zhao Yelan looked up to see a graceful beauty standing in the restaurant, about to throw a ball of hydrangeas to choose a husband.

“I haven’t seen a hydrangea thrower yet,” Yan Mingting laughed.

They simply stopped to watch the excitement.

The girl standing upstairs looked down below and suddenly smiled. She was attracted by a man in brocade clothes standing in the southeast direction, and could tell the difference from the people around him at a glance.

Zhao Yelan never thought that being so far away from the restaurant and only looking from a distance, the hydrangea ball would be accurately thrown into his hands.

“……”

Zhao Yelan instinctively tossed the ball to Yan Mingting: “Throw it back.”

Yan Mingting immediately threw it back as if it was burning his hand.

There was laughter and jeering all around.

The girl didn’t expect the hydrangeas to be returned to her hands. Seeing that the person who knew martial arts was also very handsome, she threw it to that person this time.

Yan Mingting quickly hugged Zhao Yelan’s waist and turned his body to the side to avoid the hydrangea ball. It hit Xiao Gao’s chest, and he caught the ball without thinking. Looking at everyone suspiciously, he handed the ball to Zhao Yelan: “My lord, this ball looks good, you can have it.”

Zhao Yelan’s complexion changed, and he swiftly handed it over to Yan Mingting: “Quick!”

Yan Mingting slapped the hydrangeas back into the girl’s hands.

Everyone: “……” Are you just playing around?!

The girl suddenly became playful and felt that she must hit them. She did her best to throw it over, but saw that they were nowhere to be found.

Yan Mingting embraced Zhao Yelan and jumped up onto a nearby roof, Xiao Gao following close behind. Finally, they stopped on a tall building and sat on the roof to watch the moon.

Zhao Yelan waved his fan, then lowered his head to straighten out the corners of his clothes. When he looked up again, he found that Yan Mingting was staring at the sachet dangling at his waist.

“There is something that I’ve always been curious about, and I wonder if I can get an answer from you.” Yan Mingting pinched his sachet.

“What is it?”

“You know I sneeze every time I smell that sweetgrass sachet. Then do you know what other things are in it?” Yan Mingting asked tentatively.

He had left the capital with haste and hadn’t received an answer from Yao Muze yet, but looking at the person before him now, he was really curious about what was going on.

“Did someone try to harm you by secretly adding something to your sachet without you knowing?” Yan Mingting asked.

Zhao Yelan remained silent.

“When we return, we will know what was added to it, and we can follow the clues to find out who is trying to murder you,” Yan Mingting said coldly.

“No need to find out.” Zhao Yelan raised his chin slightly, his face as white as tonight’s waning moon, lonely and desolate. He looked sideways at the other party. “I added it myself.”

Yan Mingting was taken aback.

Zhao Yelan said slowly: “It’s a powder from the Western Regions. It smells similar to sweetgrass. If worn for a long time, it will cause……”

“Coughing, headaches, weakness in the limbs?”

“You’re no fool.” The corners of Zhao Yelan’s mouth twitched. “Only you have such a dog’s nose. No one else has ever suspected this.”

Yan Mingting didn’t know what expression to make, and said in distress: “You did it to yourself? Why did you want to do such a thing?”

“To survive in this world,” Zhao Yelan said calmly, pointing to the right side of his chest. “I once blocked an arrow for Zhao Xuan. In the ice and snow, the cold entered my body, and it took a long time to salvage my life. I feel uncomfortable when the weather is cold, but I can, in fact, survive it. In the next few years, I will gradually get better. But I don’t want him to think I’m really healed. I want to make him feel guilty, so that when he sees my incurable body, he will think of my life-saving grace to him……Isn’t it ridiculous?”

Yan Mingting moved his lips without sound, took a deep breath, and then hugged him tightly: “You shouldn’t torture your body either, ah.”

“What else could I do? At that time, I had neither a prominent family background nor a lot of money. I was alone, and my only bet was his conscience.”

“I should have known, I should have taken you away when we first met,” Yan Mingting said in a muffled voice.

Zhao Yelan smiled silently: “But in that case, I couldn’t avenge my parents. You wanted to fight for the people, but I only had my own private hatred in my heart, so I definitely would have run away.”

Yan Mingting: “Then is your parents’ revenge finished?”

“The man you saw last time in the brothel was the last enemy,” Zhao Yelan said. “Therefore, now is the best time for us to meet. You have finished the war and I have finished my revenge. There is no other burden.”

Yan Mingting nodded, then spoke again after a moment: “But I am still a little unhappy.”

“Why?”

“Why are you hurting for him? You grew up with him, do you like him, ah……”

Zhao Yelan pushed him away, looking into his eyes with a smile as he said: “He was the prince, I had to rely on him in order to complete my revenge plan. When one falls in disgrace, the whole family is doomed. If he was gone, I would naturally not be spared by those people. Rather than being captured alive and tortured, I would rather go out straightforwardly. Moreover, the Gold Collar Guard had already appeared at that time, and I was certain that I would be saved, so I went to block that arrow for him.”

“You are not allowed to do this in the future!” Yan Mingting still felt a little angry after thinking about it. “You now have a prominent family background, a lot of wealth, and even more power……Ah, husband, no one will dare to bully you, not even Zhao Xuan. You are not allowed to get hurt for him in the future.”

Zhao Yelan raised his eyebrows. There was a smile at the tips of his eyes. “Are you drinking vinegar?”

“Yes, I’m drinking vinegar,” Yan Mingting said bluntly.

Zhao Yelan was stunned for a moment, then gave a light laugh and poked him on the head: “Did you grow up drinking vinegar?”

Yan Mingting scoffed, turned his head, and said: “Xiao Gao, go buy some wine.”

Xiao Gao immediately flipped off the roof, and Zhao Yelan cast him a sideways glance: “Could it be that you are a wine maniac? Or do you want to drink away your worries?”

“Of course not, I just wanted to drive Xiao Gao away.”

“For what?”

“For us to whisper sweet nothings to each other, how embarrassing would it be for him to see?”

“When will we be whispering……” Before Zhao Yelan could finish speaking, the other party leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

“What about a kiss?” Yan Mingting blushed first.

Zhao Yelan blinked. Their eyes met and they gazed at each other. Just when he was about to reach out to the other party, he heard Xiao Gao call: “I’m back, I brought lotus wine!”

The two were startled, and simultaneously turned to look.

“I’ve troubled you.” Yan Mingting took it in an awkward manner. “Why don’t you go and buy a bag of peanuts to go with the wine.”

“Okay.” Xiao Gao disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Yan Mingting cleared his throat, tugged at his sleeve, and said: “Shall we continue……?”

Zhao Yelan turned back as if nothing had happened. The two looked at each other’s lips and moved forward slowly —

“General, I’m back from buying peanuts!” Xiao Gao suddenly appeared. Crouching between them, he looked left and right. “You are so close, what are you playing?”

Yan Mingting was annoyed, ah!

“Why did you come back so soon?” Yan Mingting asked, grinding his teeth.

“There’s an inn downstairs, so the purchase was quick,” Xiao Gao said.

“……” He’d made a mistake. He should have told him to buy tanghulu in the capital.

Yan Mingting was thinking of a method to keep him far away when suddenly, someone grasped his jaw. He turned his head, and a pair of warm lips covered his own. It was as if a fire had been ignited, and his whole body burned. His cheeks were even hotter.

Xiao Gao’s eyes widened. He fell backwards and rolled off the roof with the alcohol. The wine was spilled, and the aroma of lotus flower mixed with alcohol wafted out.

“Good, this time he won’t come up.” Zhao Yelan grabbed Yan Mingting’s collar, and his upper body leaned toward him unconsciously. Yan Mingting braced against the ridge of the roof with one hand and tightly encircled Zhao Yelan’s waist with the other arm. He entwined the tip of his tongue, traced the contours of his lips, the scent of the other in every breath.

No matter how good the scenery and food of Jiangnan was, it was far inferior to the taste of this moment, which surpassed everything else in the world.

The moon shone brightly over a vast sea of people. They had met again at the best time, and in this life, they would be inseparable.

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Chapter Fifty-Eight <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Sixty