Business at Huicheng Tower was as good as ever, and the lobby was full of people and guests.

The private room on the second floor was very quiet.

When they were walking just now, Zhao Yelan came to the restaurant quietly without saying a word, sitting down to eat in silence. However, this silent attitude made people suspect that they had guessed correctly!

Everyone looked at Yan Mingting cautiously, then looked up at the top of his head, feeling that the General was missing a colorful hat.^[1]

Yan Mingting was crestfallen, picking at the food on his plate once in a while without picking it up.

“Can you still eat well?” Zhao Yelan asked coldly.

Yan Mingting took a deep breath, picked up his chopsticks, and then just sighed listlessly.

Zhao Yelan kicked him on the calf and said impatiently: “Fine, there’s no end to this, he’s only my favorite……”

“Favorite?!”

“Pawn.”

“Oh……” Yan Mingting worriedly ate a mouthful of food. “What do you like about him?”

 Zhao Yelan glanced at him a few times: “It seems that he has a big appetite and eats quickly.”

“You joke, who can have a better appetite and eat faster than me?” Yan Mingting picked up the bowl and chopsticks and started to shovel down food.

All of the subordinates were dumbfounded, not expecting the General to be so easy to coax. Several people buried their heads and ate. As long as they pretended not to see, the General was still the most upstanding man in their hearts!

At the end of the meal, only Zhao Yelan was still eating slowly, so Yan Mingting asked the others to go back first and stayed to wait quietly.

Zhao Yelan put down his chopsticks, wiped the corners of his mouth, and got up to leave, walking in a certain direction.

After Yan Mingting paid the bill, he seemed to know where he was going and caught up with him within a few steps.

In a short while, the two returned to Bao Lun’s house again. He had brought his subordinates just now to facilitate the search for clues, but it was inconvenient for them to participate in the details. Even though Yan Mingting trusted them, the fewer people who knew about it, the better.

It was very strange. Even though he had been unwilling to reveal more to his subordinates for many years, he chose to trust Zhao Yelan unconditionally, which was simply unimaginable.

He looked at Zhao Yelan, who was standing by the window with his head lowered in thought, and asked in a low voice: “Did you see something?”

Zhao Yelan bowed his head, sniffed the window sill for a moment, and said: “This smell……is a bit terrible.”

“How can it not smell? The wood is rotten,” Yan Mingting said.

“It’s not the smell of rot, but……the smell of herbs,” Zhao Yelan said.

“Herbal medicine? Maybe he drank medicine all year round, then poured the dregs out the window?”

Zhao Yelan nodded: “That’s right, if you drink medicine all year round, you’re either in poor health, sick, or poisoned. Check the nearby doctors to see if any of them have treated him.”

“Okay, I’ll send someone to do it.”

The two searched around again, but couldn’t find anything else for the time being, so they left the place.

As soon as Zhao Yelan got into the sedan chair, he heard Yan Mingting ask: “What about your body?”

Zhao Yelan was taken aback: “What?”

“Is it really just because of your poor foundation that you have been taking medicine for a long time? Or……” Yan Mingting looked at him hesitantly, and even began to go through who might poison him one by one in his mind.

He put them all in a line and was startled by how long it was. It seemed as if everyone would like to poison him.

The corner of Zhao Yelan’s mouth twitched: “Who knows.”

“Unacceptable. Don’t eat outside in the future, and don’t give anyone a chance.” Yan Mingting said sternly: “There is no need to recruit servants for the mansion, who knows if there are people with evil intentions.”

Zhao Yenal gave him a cryptic look.

Yan Mingting paused slightly, raised his chin, and turned his head to look elsewhere: “It’s better to be careful. I’m……still waiting for you to help me find out the truth.”

Zhao Yelan gave a laugh: “All right, then Zhao Yelan’s life will be in the hands of General Yan.”

General Yan didn’t answer, but just tightened his hand on his scabbard, as if in silent promise.

“The exercising must continue.” Yan Mingting suggested again, “Let’s do it step by step, and do lower-intensity exercises first.”

“Stop the sedan chair.”

“Hey, why are you stopping the chair?” Yan Mingting thought he was tired of listening to him, and only after chasing him out did he realize that he was going to a tailor shop.

As soon as the shopkeeper saw them coming, he showed them the custom-made clothes: “Zhao-daren, please look and see if this meets your requirements. The inside is specially made silk trousers, and the outside is the favorite style of pleated skirt for ladies and young misses.”

These were women’s clothes after all, and Zhao Yelan didn’t have the time to examine them carefully, so he nodded after taking a look: “En.”

The shopkeeper breathed a sigh of relief: “My lord, it’s like this. Because this small shop has never received such a request, I didn’t dare to finish up using all the materials, and only made this one for you to have a look at first. If you are satisfied and can give me a few days grace, I will hurry and do the remaining two.”

Zhao Yelan nodded in agreement.

“Only, the price……you know, the silk of these trousers is not cheap……” The shopkeeper said cautiously.

Zhao Yelan took out a purse and threw it to him: “Take a look for yourself.”

The shopkeeper was delighted beyond measure, but didn’t dare to take too much. He wrapped up the dress with a smile and sent the people and their belongings out the door together.

Zhao Yelan stared at the clothes in his hands, frowned, and handed them to Yan Mingting like a hot potato: “You take them to her.”

Yan Mingting laughed: “You’re not going? We should go together and let her know how much money you spent on her.”

“I’m not here for her.”

“Then you are……” Yan Mingting recalled, “Because of her mother?”

Zhao Yelan frowned slightly, stopped answering, and went straight into the sedan chair.

After Yan Mingting sent him back to the mansion, he went to the Zhong residence with the things. Before he left, Zhao Yelan called to him: “Don’t say what you shouldn’t say.”

“Rest assured, ba.”

When he returned, Yan Mingting brought back a big piece of pork, shouting when he entered the mansion: “Zhao Yelan, come and see the big gift Yuehong’s mother gave  you.”

Zhao Yelan could hear his spirited voice from the study. He took a scroll and went to the front courtyard to have a look, seeing him hand the pork to the cook and walk towards him with a smile.

Zhao Yelan hurriedly took a few steps back: “Have you washed your hands yet?”

“Oh, right.” Yan Mingting turned to fetch water, and said while washing the oil from his hands, “Yuehong’s mother never told Yuehong in order to surprise her. When I handed over the dress to her just now, tears almost fell from her eyes. I couldn’t handle that kind of situation, so I ran away quickly.”

Zhao Yelan smiled silently. Glancing at him inadvertently, he saw him take out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his hands. It was embroidered with spring peach blossoms. This was the same piece that he had wiped his sweat with before and asked Yan Mingting to throw away, yet the other party still carried it with him.

“I don’t know if Yuehong will like it, what if she doesn’t like it and hurts her mother’s heart? Do you think I should talk to Yuehong in advance?” Yan Mingting asked, pouring the water out and turning around.

“Do as you wish.” Zhao Yelan picked up the scroll, then turned and walked to the study.

Yan Mingting chased after him and rolled his sleeves back down: “It shouldn’t be necessary, I think she’ll like it.”

“Why?” Zhao Yelan looked sideways at him.

Yan Mingting stopped and looked him up and down appreciatively: “Although the prices at that shop are outrageously expensive, the clothes made are all very good-looking. I have seen a lot of them, after all, and no one would dislike them.”

Zhao Yelan stared at him for a moment, then turned his head away.

“You smiled again.”

“I did not.”

“The corner of your mouth was curved a little.”

“You’re talking nonsense.”

Zhao Yelan strode forward and Yan Mingting insisted on following him. Housekeeper Qin saw the two chattering in the corridor, turning around to say to the servant next to him: “See that? They are now more affectionate than the old general and the old lady.”

“I never saw how the old general and his wife loved each other. Can you tell me about it?” The servant said.

“Just……in any case, they were not as loving as these two are now. Oh, I have to go burn incense to the old general and tell him that everything is fine in the mansion.” Housekeeper Qin happily went to the ancestral hall, completely forgetting how many times he cried here when Zhao Yelan first entered the mansion.

Now more than a month had passed, and the people in the mansion had gotten used to this picky and difficult master. Not to mention his generosity, his relationship with the General was getting better and better!

“Have you sent someone to look into the doctors?” Zhao Yelan asked as he walked into the study.

“En, I found a few reliable people to check. Ai, I knew I should have brought those two guys back together, but it’s a pity that they didn’t want to come to the capital,” Yan Mingting said with emotion.

“Which two guys?”

“You don’t know them, the little think tank and the troublemaker in the military camp.” Yan Mingting sighed. “The old military advisor also passed away at the end of last year, ai.”

“Little think tank? I think I would like to meet him if I have the chance.” Zhao Yelan sat down leisurely and continued to read.

“There will be a chance, if you’re willing to go to the military camp,” Yan Mingting said with a smile.

“Why is it so difficult to see them?” Zhao Yelan scoffed. “Not seeing them is also fine.”

Yan Mingting laughed loudly.

After a while, one of them was lying on the couch flipping through a book, and the other was sitting on the threshold polishing his sword. Neither spoke, and they were so quiet that only the sound of pages turning and the sharp sound of a weapon being wiped could be heard.

Zhao Yelan didn’t think it was noisy, and when he occasionally heard the sound of walking over there, he knew that he was going to get another sword to clean.

He turned his head to look out the window. Everything was calm, and the flowers in the yard were in bloom, but there were too few varieties and some elegance was missing from the view.

He called Xiao Gao out the window, and he appeared quickly: “My lord, what are your orders?”

“Make preparations to go view flowers tomorrow.”

“Okay, should we still prepare as before?”

“En.” He remembered something and turned to look at the person at the door. Who knew that Yan Mingting had turned to look at him at some point with eyes full of anticipation, like a big dog hoping to be taken away by its master. He asked, “Are you going……”

“I’m going, I’m going,” Yan Mingting quickly interrupted him, raising his sword and walking in. “What do you need to prepare? Do you need my help?”

“Keep your sword away from me.” Zhao Yelan pointed to the sharp, dangling sword.

Yan Mingting immediately inserted it into the scabbard.

Zhao Yelan turned his head and told Gao Tan: “Just prepare more food, this pig has a big appetite.”

Yan Mingting: “ ? ”

“Okay.” Gao Tan covered his mouth and ran away with a smile.

The spring day was beautiful, the breeze fragrant with flowers and plants.

In order to enjoy the flowers every spring season, Zhao Yelan would make a special trip out on the mountain outside the city to drink spring tea, look at the clouds in the sky, and view the flowers on the mountain, stealing half a day of leisure.

As they set off, Yan Mingting thought it was just a simple viewing of flowers, but unexpectedly, the sedan chair was almost full. He wondered: “Why are you bringing these things?”

Zhao Yelan replied, “Naturally, in order to use them.”

The sedan chair stopped at the foot of the mountain, and the servants carried things to climb up. Zhao Yelan ascended the stairs, and after walking a few steps, began to wipe his sweat.

Gao Tan habitually went to help him continue walking, but he was lightly pushed aside, his place taken by another.

“Xiao Gao, go ahead and lead the way, they don’t know where they’re climbing to,” Yan Mingting said.

“Oh……” Seeing that he was supporting Zhao Yelan, Gao Tan smiled sincerely. “Okay, I’ll go find them.”

Zhao Yelan looked sideways at Yan Mingting: “You can help people?”

“Sure I can, ah.”

“Then why are you grabbing me? My arm hurts!” Zhao Yelan said sharply.

“Oh, oh, excuse me” Yan Mingting quickly rubbed him and helped him climb up with care, taking advantage of this opportunity to exercise. However, after climbing for a while, they saw a pavilion where Gao Tan had already ordered people to put down all the things.

“That’s it?” Yan Mingting asked.

“Otherwise, did you think we would climb to heaven?” Zhao Yelan shot him a sidelong glance, walked slowly to the pavilion, and sat down on the padded stone bench.

In an instant, the table was covered with pastries and candied fruit, and tea was brewed.

Yan Mingting: “……” What extreme enjoyment, ah.

“All right, you go and amuse yourself.” Zhao Yelan didn’t like being disturbed, so after dismissing the servants, only Gao Tan and Yan Mingting were left by his side.

He could see the joy in Gao Tan’s eyes. This kid had been protecting his safety for so many years. Now that Yan Mingting was by his side, he could go play with peace of mind.

Gao Tan was as happy as a monkey, scurrying back and forth between the trees.

Yan Mingting sat down beside him and picked up a piece of fruit. Stuffing it into his mouth, he said out of boredom: “I thought you scholars would do something special when appreciating flowers. Are you really just going to look at them, ah? What’s so good about these flowers?”

“Boor.” Zhao Yelan gave him a blank look. “No matter how good the scenery is, it will be spoiled when it enters your eyes. Why did you have to come here?”

“I wanted to see how you enjoy flowers.” Yan Mingting raised his chin with a smile, staring intently at his side profile.

After watching for a long time, the center of his vision gradually only accommodated one person. The colorful spring flowers outside the pavilion became embellishments, red, yellow, blue, and purple, all of which were not as good-looking as the white skin, red lips, and black hair of the person in front of him.

Noticing the other’s progressively serious gaze, Zhao Yelan’s hand holding the tea paused slightly. He didn’t look back, not wanting to delve into it, but lowered his head to drink the tea.

It was unclear if he was too lazy to answer, or attempting to evade.

After sitting for a while, Zhao Yelan was at last willing to stand up. He looked around and took in the beautiful scenery around him.

There was a peach grove not far away. Yan Mingting noticed that Gao Tan was playing with the fallen petals. Thinking that it looked interesting, he raised his sword and leaped over, exchanging pointers with Gao Tan in the grove.

Gao Tan was baffled and returned a few moves. Feeling that he could not win, and afraid of hurting the master, he simply slipped away with qinggong.

Yan Mingting had just warmed up. Looking at the flowers and vegetation around him, he finally felt the pleasure of understanding the people who appreciated flowers. It seemed as if he was the only one left in the world, one with nature, and this naturally lifted his mood.

He raised his sword and brandished it between the trees, treating every falling petal as an enemy, and the grove was filled with a rustling sound. His figure was agile and vigorous, like a phantom in the wind, forming an excellent picture along with the spring scenery.

With a slash of the sharp sword, he happened to catch a flower. He stopped, took the flower casually, and walked out of the grove to find that Zhao Yelan was painting in the pavilion, his movements smooth and flowing.

Just at this moment, Zhao Yelan raised his head and gazed at him.

For some reason, Yan Mingting looked at the nearby person as if he was in a painting. His heart moved at will, and he subconsciously threw the petals through the air. They directly landed in Zhao Yelan’s hair, forming an interesting contrast.

“……” Zhao Yelan raised his hand to brush them off, but two drops of ink splashed from his brush onto his sleeve, and he hurried to wipe it away.

“What are you drawing?” Yan Mingting walked into the pavilion with a smile, looked at the rice paper on the table, and saw that the other party had nearly finished drawing the mountain scenery.

Suddenly, he raised an eyebrow, pointed to the peach grove in the painting with a smile and said: “You drew me in, why didn’t you tell me in advance?”

There was only one figure in the entire painting, and those few strokes outlined the brisk, easy movements of the person as he danced with his sword.

Zhao Yelan picked up the brush and dipped it anew in the paint, turning his head to look at him: “Who let you barge into my painting?”

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[1] This is referring to “wearing a green hat,” which means being cuckolded. ⮐

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Chapter Twenty-Four <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Twenty-Six

After returning home, Zhao Yelan did not spare a glance for Yan Mingting.

Yan Mingting was self-aware of his guilt. While the other was taking a bath, he conscientiously stood outside the door and apologized: “Sorry, I was wrong, I will never pretend to be drunk again. I was just playing around for a while, disregard this villain, my lord. Forgive me this time?”

“General, what are you doing?” Housekeeper Qin passed by with a broom.

“Cough.” Yan Mingting immediately stood up straight, put his hands on his hips, and looked up and around. “Nothing, I just came out to look at the stars.”

Housekeeper Qin raised his head: “It’s so dark, how can there be stars?”

Yan Mingting: “Then I’m looking at the moon.”

“Then you continue to appreciate it, ba. I’ll deliver some food for the Furen. Before going out today, he said that he wanted to eat jujube cake.”

“What are you waiting for, go get it quickly,” Yan Mingting urged, and when Housekeeper Qin returned, he directly took the snack from his hands. “Just leave it to me, Uncle Qin, you can go rest.”

He stood at the door with the snack for a while before the door opened.

Zhao Yelan refused to look at him, standing at the door and calling Xiao Gao, who brought someone to take the basin away.

Only then did Yan Mingting enter the room cautiously and wave the snacks in front of his eyes for a special purpose: “You’re tired, ba. Have something to eat.”

“Won’t eat.” Zhao Yelan gave him a sidelong glance, lay down on the bed, and prepared to go to sleep.

“Are you sure you don’t want to eat it?” Yan Mingting picked up a piece, put it in his mouth, and said with gusto: “Mmm~ It’s delicious~”

“……”

Yan Mingting ate several in a row, and there was a faint sweet smell in the air.

Zhao Yelan couldn’t endure anymore and sat up, glaring at him.

Yan Mingting offered the plate forward: “No matter how angry you are, you need to eat, ah. Who’s to blame if you get hungry?”

Zhao Yelan’s stomach rumbled, and he really wanted to block his damn mouth.

Yan Mingting was truly capable. Every time his mood improved slightly, he could anger him again in the next moment.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He furiously picked up a piece of jujube cake and stuffed it into his mouth, but accidentally choked on it and coughed uncontrollably.

“Eat slowly, no one is going to take it from you. These are all yours.” Yan Mingting patted him on the back.

After finally slowing down, Zhao Yelan began to eat quietly, and then said: “Stay away from me, you smell like alcohol. It stinks to death.”

Yan Mingting obediently put the plate beside the bed and stood a little farther away, then spoke about proper business: “I’ve already found the men that you wanted. When will you start to help me find out the truth?”

“What is the hurry? Can an old case be solved in such a short time?” Zhao Yelan calmly picked up a second jujube cake. “What does that boy named Bao Lun have to do with the matter?”

Yan Mingting couldn’t help leaning forward again, and was glared at by Zhao Yelan. He explained: “Careful, the walls have ears. It’s safer to speak closer. This Bao Lun was a servant who used to take care of my father, and he had always been loyal. After my father was injured, he was the one who oversaw his medicine. He put poison in the medicine, which eventually caused my father to fall on the battlefield and be killed by the enemy. Afterwards, this boy returned to Beijing with the team that transported my father’s body, and then disappeared. After being caught some time ago, he admitted that an overwhelmingly powerful person had instructed him to do it, but because the lives of his family were in the hands of that person, he refused to reveal anything and committed suicide.”

“Overwhelmingly powerful……so you suspected me?” Zhao Yelan asked.

Yan Mingting smiled and offered him a cup of hot water: “Come, eating too many pastries will make your mouth dry. Did you think you would not be suspected in this matter?”

Zhao Yelan took a sip of water and said, “Perhaps he was talking about someone who was powerful when your father died.”

Yan Mingting was taken aback for a moment, then gave him more water: “You’re so clever! So is there anyone you suspect?”

“Hm……take it away.” Zhao Yelan, who was forcibly poured more water, said in disdain, “That’s too much. The late emperor was cruel by nature, and many officials tried their best to gain his favor by cruel means, but there were also people who offended him, and there were often big changes in personnel.”

“So what can be done?”

“We’ll go to Bao Lun’s house first to check the situation,” Zhao Yelan said. “Perhaps there is another person who can be of help to us.”

“Who?”

“The Prime Minister.”

“Li Jinyu? Isn’t he only good at reciting poems and doesn’t care about the affairs of the court at all?” Yan Mingting said. “Even though you were demoted, he didn’t take the opportunity to take over your operations, and still recited poems and wrote essays. The Emperor has not appointed a Deputy Prime Minister after a long time, and almost everything is taken care of by the Emperor himself.”

“The position of Deputy Prime Minister will temporarily not exist,” Zhao Yelan said.

In the year since Zhao Xuan ascended the throne, he had been stabilizing his court and had gradually won the trust of the courtiers. Now that he had finally transferred the power to himself, he would not delegate power easily.

Yan Mingting gave him a meaningful look: “You suspected this early on. That’s why you agreed so quickly when you were dismissed, so as to hide your strength and bide your time?”

Zhao Yelan smiled faintly.

He knew Zhao Xuan too well. Once the throne was firmly established, Zhao Xuan would start to carry out drastic reforms, starting with the courtiers, and establish his own center of power. This was necessary in order to both restrain and strengthen each other.

This art of checks and balances was exactly what he had taught Zhao Xuan in the past.

Yan Mingting only felt that the water inside was very deep. Although he knew that Zhao Yelan didn’t care about his dismissal, when he saw that he knew everything like the back of his hand, he admired him from the bottom of his heart. He was sitting here plainly weak and lacking in strength, but had clear insight into the court.

“Then according to what you’ve said, Li Jinyu’s power exists in name only, so how can he help us? Shall he compose a poem for us?”

“Stupid.” Zhao Yelan knocked on his forehead. “He has been an official for three generations, don’t you think he could know more?”

“That’s true.” Yan Mingting nodded.

“And don’t think that he is only capable of writing a few poems. In terms of great wisdom, there are truly few people in the entire court who can match him. He is the one who knows best how to hold the middle ground. He has been an official for three generations, promoted step by step, and has also protected the prosperity of his Li family.”

Yan Mingting suddenly realized that when he was in court, he usually only saw Li Jinyu’s various excuses and felt that this person was pedantic and incompetent. But if he was really incompetent, how could he have gotten all the way to the position of Prime Minister?

Even Zhao Yelan, who had been working for Zhao Xuan since he was a child, was demoted one year after Zhao Xuan ascended the throne.

It was truly admirable that Li Jinyu could survive three generations and was able to be promoted safely when the previous five princes competed for the throne so fiercely.

“But how can he help us? We just beat up his son,” Yan Mingting said.

“Why be anxious, it was his son’s fault that we beat him. Just wait, he will take the initiative to come to our door.” Zhao Yelan ate and drank enough, and then lay down again.

“Could it be that you planned to beat Li Yucheng just now?”

“That’s right, but I have wanted to beat him for a while. Sooner or later, he would have to suffer.” Zhao Yelan yawned.

Yan Mingting looked at his back for a while, then suddenly said: “Zhao Yelan, it’s really good to have been able to marry you.”

Zhao Yelan stiffened slightly, then turned his head to look at him doubtfully.

“If this marriage didn’t work out, I don’t know if I would be plotted against by you to die someday.” Yan Mingting laughed.

“……” Zhao Yelan smiled slightly. “If you dare to disturb my sleep again, I will kill you tonight.”

Yan Mingting immediately lay down on the ground: “Sleeping. See you tomorrow.”

The next day, Gao Tan went to buy fruit and came back, happily telling Zhao Yelan about the excitement outside: “Last night, Li Yucheng’s servant went back to the mansion to inform the Prime Minister, and he quickly led people to rescue Li Yucheng back. The common people were laughing at Li Yucheng, saying that his face was swollen like a pig’s head.”

“That was a light punishment.”

If Yan Mingting hadn’t shown mercy, he would have been killed with one punch.

A few days later, it was the day of the Imperial examinations. There were officers and soldiers guarding the examination hall, and common people were waiting outside.

Zhao Yelan didn’t take Gao Tan with him when he went out, and followed Yan Mingting and his group to the house where Bao Lun lived. It was said to be a house, but it was actually a wing room rented from a family. It was a bit dilapidated and the building was full of firewood, with little room to live.

These days, Yan Mingting had sent people to patrol the area covertly, but no suspicious person had been seen.

Zhao Yelan picked up a wooden stick and looked around carefully, saying: “These should be his tools to guard against thieves. There are many traces of friction on them, indicating that they were used often.”

“But public security in this area is very strict, so why use it so often?” Zhong Yuehong asked.

“That means he had a guilty conscience. He was afraid of enemies knocking on the door in the middle of the night, so he made many preparations,” Zhao Yelan said. “Since his family members aren’t here, there must be some correspondence or traces left behind. Search carefully.”

The seven or eight people searched all over the room, and when Yan Mingting passed by a window, he abruptly paused: “Does this count?”

Zhao Yelan walked over and saw a small groove on the window sill, like a wire had been embedded in it. He walked out the door, observed the wall for a while, and said: “His family is likely already gone.”

Everyone was stunned.

“Why do you say that?” Yan Mingting asked.

“This groove should be the evidence they left behind when they sent messages. But looking around here, it is worn and decayed, which shows that it has been a long time since anyone has passed a message.”

Another trail was blocked, and everyone was inevitably discouraged. Yan Mingting sighed, then cheered up and said: “Let’s go to eat first, and we will have the strength to continue searching after we’re full.”

The group of people walked in the direction of Huichun Tower just as the Imperial examination ended. A large group of people poured out, and the streets instantly became crowded.

As Zhao Yelan walked, he was inadvertently separated by the crowd. Yan Mingting was surrounded by his subordinates, talking about the matter just now, and didn’t notice that he had fallen behind.

Zhao Yelan was hit at the waist by a child who wasn’t paying attention to the road. He took a few steps back, pressed his stomach, and heard someone behind him ask: “Are you all right?”

Zhao Yelan turned his head and saw that it was Wang Guisheng, whom he had only met a few days ago. He shook his head and said, “It’s nothing.”

“Let’s go to the side first, there are many people here.” Wang Guisheng squeezed a path for him and brought him under the big tree by the side of the road. Only then did he have a chance to breathe.

“Many thanks.”

Wang Guisheng was still surprised, seeing that his form was thin and weak as he took out a handkerchief to cover his mouth and cough into. He didn’t seem to be as scary as the rumors said.

“How was the written test?” Zhao Yelan met his eyes and smiled lightly, like a spring breeze blowing over a green branch, glowing with vitality.

Wang Guisheng was stunned for a moment, then replied: “It was fine, but I don’t know if the examiner will approve it.”

“Why? Were you really so bold as to remonstrate and criticize again?” Zhao Yelan smiled.

Compared with the last time, Wang Guisheng was more courageous now and nodded calmly: “Yes.”

“No matter, the head examiner is not better than you. Don’t worry.”

Having been encouraged by him, Wang Guisheng had mixed feelings, and seeing that he was coughing badly, he couldn’t help but step forward. He didn’t know what to do, and while he was lost in thought, a figure suddenly appeared beside him and rushed towards Zhao Yelan, patting him on the back: “Why are you over here? I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

Wang Guisheng took a closer look and saw that the man had a tall figure and an extraordinary and dignified appearance. His hair was half-tied, and the tail of his hair blew in the wind, brushing Zhao Yelan’s fair cheeks. Zhao Yelan’s expression suddenly became more lively as he glanced at him and said meanly: “Do you still have me in your eyes?”

“How could I not, didn’t I come around to look for you as soon as I found out you were gone? I didn’t expect you to be with this……” Yan Mingting was immersed in his own emotions just now. When he had realized that there were many people around, he subconsciously went to look at Zhao Yelan, but found that he had disappeared. Quickly looking around, he saw him standing under a tree with a strange man, talking and smiling.

The smile was so gentle. He had never been smiled at for that long!

Yan Mingting looked at Wang Guisheng with a fake smile on his face and continued: “……this plain-looking young man.”

Wang Guisheng: “……”

Zhao Yelan gave him a strange look, and said in his heart: This plain-looking young man will impeach you in court in the future.

“General, my lord, I finally found you.” Zhong Yuehong and several others rushed over one after another.

Zhao Yelan nodded: “Okay, let’s go eat. I won’t pay for the meal today.”

Yan Mingting: “I’ll pay, I’ll pay, you can get whatever you want.”

Zhao Yelan: “I want to buy Huichun Tower.”

Yan Mingting: “Ah? What did you just say? The wind here is so strong, the road is so wide……”

Zhao Yelan: “Get lost.”

Wang Guisheng watched the group of them leaving noisily, only then realizing that the other person was the famous General Yan Mingting.

But he felt that General Yan was a little bit more unpleasant than Zhao Yelan.

On the other side, Yan Mingting approached Zhao Yelan and asked in a low voice: “Who was that person just now?”

“Wang Guisheng.”

“Oh, him……I don’t know him.” Yan Mingting turned his head and asked his subordinates, “Do you know him?”

Everyone shook their heads together: “Never heard of him, never seen him.”

“You may know each other later.” Zhao Yelan didn’t say any more.

Yan Mingting’s lips twitched: “Why are you pretending to be mysterious, it isn’t rare for me not to know him……how did you meet?”

“Oh, I remember! I’ve seen that kid!” He Cuizhang suddenly said, “A few days ago when we were drinking in Huichun Tower, I saw that kid enter my lord’s private room, and the two of them stayed there for a long time!”

As soon as these words fell, everyone looked at Zhao Yelan one after another. They wore varied expressions, but were all undoubtedly looking at him with strange eyes, as if they were saying –

“You have someone else in your heart?! You’ve found a lover?! You’re standing with each foot in a different boat?!”^[1] Yan Mingting said in horror.

Zhao Yelan: “……”

---

[1] Standing with each foot in a different boat means having two lovers at the same time. ⮐

---

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Chapter Twenty-Three <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Twenty-Five

The restaurant’s business was booming that night. Some soldiers had to rush back to accompany their families, and left after drinking to make room for other guests.

After Yu Dali went out, Zhao Yelan opened the window and watched the guests coming and going below. It wasn’t until a group of scholars approached that he ordered Gao Tan: “Go, tell the shopkeeper to have these people go to the number two room.”

Not long after, there was a burst of laughter from the corridor. Gao Tan was about to speak, but Zhao Yelan made a gesture for silence and listened carefully to the movement next door.

This group of people was made up of the candidates who were to compete in the Imperial examinations, and they were already somewhat famous. After taking a seat in the room, they soon began to drink and compose poems. Occasionally, some people boasted, attracting the applause and praise of others.

Among the high-spirited voices, only one person’s voice was a little weak: “I won’t drink, I don’t have enough silver on me.”

“How can you leave without having a drink? How about this, you read a fu essay and if we are all satisfied, we will let you go without paying any money. Okay?”

The man was quiet for a while, and read a fu essay in front of everyone, referring to the theme of tonight’s banquet and satirizing inebriated people who made a pretense at being cultured. The blow hit, causing everyone’s expressions to change slightly. Knowing that he was making oblique accusations, they simultaneously challenged him.

The corners of Zhao Yelan’s mouth curled up, and he whispered something to Gao Tan in a low voice.

Gao Tan nodded, and knocked on the next door: “My lord, will you take a step out to speak?”

“Who are you?” Someone asked.

Gao Tan didn’t answer. The man just wanted to escape this place, so he immediately followed him to the next room. As soon as he entered, he saw a handsome gongzi sitting upright and was a little surprised: “You are?”

“May I have your name?”

“Wang Guisheng.”

“It is really you. Please sit down.”

Recently, Zhao Yelan knew a little about some well-known candidates, but only a few people caught his eye, and one of them was Wang Guisheng. Born in a poor family, not good at poetry, but with unique insights in his fu essays, their text full of critical words and phrases, with extraordinary courage.

“I have read a few of your articles, and I really admire them,” Zhao Yelan said.

Wang Guisheng was a little surprised. Anyone who heard that their talent had been recognized would be delighted, not to mention Wang Guisheng, who had always been ridiculed because of his family background. He flattened the corners of his lips and tried to appear calm: “Thank you, brother. May I ask which one is your favorite?”

“I like the one where you scold Zhao Yelan the most.”

“Really?” Wang Guisheng looked at him incredulously. Just because this article was discovered and publicized, many people laughed at him and condemned him for being overconfident, and even scolded him for not being afraid of death.

“Few people liked this article.” Wang Guisheng felt that he had met a confidant, and looked at him excitedly. Seeing his extraordinary clothes and appearance, he asked again, “May I ask who this gongzi is? Perhaps we can be friends?”

“Zhao Yelan.”

“En?”

“This one is Zhao Yelan.”

Thump –

Wang Guisheng directly fell off the chair. His face was pale, and he felt that his days were really over.

It was one thing to make insinuations against someone in an article, but another to meet them face to face. He said tremblingly: “So……are you here to kill me?”

“No.” Zhao Yelan took a slow sip of tea and smiled slightly. “I truly admire your talent. Do you dare to write articles like this during the exam?”

Wang Guisheng clenched and loosened his fists, and said, “Yes, I will still write like this!”

“You may try, but they might not necessarily let you write the characters.” 

“Then I’ll write about injustice.”

“Not bad, a little backbone. I hope you will remember that sentence when you take the exam.” Zhao Yelan waved his sleeves. “Come, let’s eat.”

Wang Guisheng looked at him in surprise: “Aren’t you going to kill me?”

“What’s the use of killing you? Since we met here by chance, why not make friends.” Zhao Yelan smiled and ordered someone to add bowls and chopsticks, along with a few more dishes. “Come, hurry and eat.”

Wang Guisheng ate the most thrilling meal of his life. In the end, he left safely, and the other party gave him a treasured fu essay.

While walking out the gate, he looked back at the shadow in the window of the second floor, a little confused – what kind of person was Zhao Yelan? Was it consistent with the rumors?

“My lord, he bad-mouthed you, why did you invite him to dinner?” After the other left, Gao Tan had some complaints.

“Because he has a bright future,” Zhao Yelan said.

This person’s words and deeds proved that he was the kind of person Zhao Yelan needed the most now. He was talented, courageous, and upright. The last person like this was Kan Chuan, who had already risen to the top.

Two days ago, Liu-daren of the Ministry of Rites was temporarily removed from the position of Chief Examiner due to his conduct. An exception was made for Kan Chuan, and it could be seen that Zhao Xuan favored this type of person.

He had read several articles written by Wang Guisheng, and the possibility of him entering the top grades of the Imperial exam was very high. Once Zhao Xuan discovered Wang Giuisheng’s innate disposition, he would definitely have use for him.

Then why not give Wang Guisheng favors in advance?

It was getting late. Zhao Yelan walked downstairs and saw the drunken soldiers in the lobby. Frowning subconsciously, he walked outside.

A short while later, he went back again. He grabbed the ear of Yan Mingting, who was lying on the table, and said with gritted teeth: “Stand up, we’re going back!”

“Aiayaya.” Yan Mingting stood up in a daze, his body slanted to the side as he touched his hand. “Not so hard.”

“General, you’re henpecked, ah.” He Cuizhang’s face was flushed from drinking, and when he spoke loudly, everyone at the tables laughed, pointing at Yan Mingting and jeering.

“Non-nonsense.” Yan Mingting’s face went red. He could barely keep his eyes open as he put his hands on his hips in protest. “I’m standing because I want to!”

“Speak less nonsense and go back quickly, you’re making a fool of yourself.” Zhao Yelan pulled his ear hard and Yan Mingting begged for mercy.

Amidst the laughter of the crowd, Yan Mingting followed him out at a crooked angle. He fell directly into the sedan chair and collapsed on the seat.

Shortly after Zhao Yelan sat down, the man closed his eyes and tipped over to lean against his shoulder. He seemed to feel uncomfortable and held onto his arm firmly. “Not drinking?”

“You’re drunk, get off of me.” Zhao Yelan ruthlessly pulled his arm away, but the other directly embraced him instead.

“Not allowed, not allowed to leave without finishing this cup!”

The more Zhao Yelan struggled, the tighter the other party hugged. He sighed powerlessly toward the sky. Why did he bother taking this drunkard home?”

Fortunately, after he stopped struggling, Yan Mingting stopped moving, and the two maintained this posture as everything finally became quiet.

He regulated his breathing and looked sideways at the fellow hugging him. A straight nose, moist lips, red face, and rather long eyelashes. In fact, he was considered one of the most outstanding romantic figures, but the two of them couldn’t get along from the beginning, so when looking at Yan Mingting, he always found his appearance distasteful.

But the conversation last night made Zhao Yelan slightly change his view of him.

Even if they couldn’t get along in harmony, it didn’t hinder his appreciation of the other party.

Today, seeing him compete with so many masters with his own eyes, he knew that his position of General was not in vain.

If there was no marriage, the two may have become friends, or Yan Mingting might have shunned him like everyone else.

Right and wrong, cause and effect, these were truly not things that could be figured out through random assumptions.

“My lord, over there……oh, sorry!” At this time, Gao Tan lifted the window curtain, saw Yan Mingting and Zhao Yelan tightly embracing each other, and immediately covered his face in embarrassment. “I didn’t see anything.”

“……” Zhao Yelan didn’t bother to explain, and feigned being calm. “What is the matter?”

“There are two sneaky fellows over there, and one of them looks familiar, like Li Yucheng,” Gao Tan whispered.

“Go catch them and return.”

Li Yucheng had just walked into an alley to meet the young servant boy. The last time he found someone to beat Zhao Yelan secretly, but who would have thought that a group of men in black clothes would suddenly appear. He was used as a scapegoat, and he could not give a clear explanation when he opened his mouth. He might be beaten to death by his father if he went back, so he simply ran away to hide for a while to see if the government could find the real culprit.

In the past few days, he was relieved to hear that the government had closed the case, but he didn’t dare to go home for a while for fear of being scolded, so he had continued to hide outside for a couple of days. The money he had on him was no longer sufficient, so he had to ask the servant boy to secretly get some money from home.

The two of them were covertly exchanging the money when someone grabbed their collars from behind.

“Hey, hey, who are you? Do you know who this gongzi is?!” While shouting, Li Yucheng looked back and discovered that it was a familiar-looking young man, but couldn’t remember who he was at the moment. “Let go of me, you hear!”

Although this man looked thin and weak, his strength was not small. He and the boy flailed for a time, but couldn’t escape from the other’s grasp.

Gao Tan walked up to the sedan chair with one in each hand, and said, “My lord, I brought them.”

“Who the hell are you! Let go of me, believe it or not, I will send someone to arrest you!” Li Yucheng stared at the culprit in the sedan chair and shouted, “Come out if you have the ability, what are you doing hiding in the shadows!”

The sedan chair suddenly shifted, and he heard a cold voice: “You behave for me, don’t go out and make a fool of yourself!”

Upon hearing this, Li Yucheng faltered: “Zhao Yelan……?”

The curtain was lifted, and Li Yucheng saw Zhao Yelan coming out, followed by a drunk fellow.

Zhao Yelan first glanced at Li Yucheng, and then glared at Yan Mingting: “Go back, do you hear me?”

Yan Mingting lowered his head, leaned on his right shoulder, and didn’t move.

Zhao Yelan: “……”

Li Yucheng looked at the two standing together and his expression sank. He completely stopped making a fuss and stared at them silently, his eyes filled with resentment and anger.

“The people you sent have been arrested by the government and also pleaded guilty. Your father made several trips for you to spare you from being sentenced,” Zhao Yelan said.

Li Yucheng’s mouth curled, and tears rolled down unconvincingly. He turned his head and sniffed hard, saying, “In the end, it’s in your hands. If you want to kill me or cut my flesh, you can do as you please, just don’t touch my father.”

“You’ve said this yourself.”

Zhao Yelan walked over, and Yan Mingting was supported by the bearer next to him before he could fall to the ground.

Li Yucheng was slapped crisply with a pa, followed by another slap on the other side, leaving hot and painful slap marks on both cheeks.

“Zhao Yelan, you really dare to hit me!” Li Yucheng held his face in his hands and glared at Zhao Yelan furiously. He wanted to resist, but was held tightly by Gao Tan, unable to fight back as occasional passers-by glanced at him. He had never lost so much face!

“Hitting you is a light punishment, what did you intend for those people to do to me?” Zhao Yelan asked condescendingly.

Li Yucheng was at a loss for words. Naturally, he was going to have him punched and kicked inside of a sack.

Zhao Yelan didn’t wait for him to quibble about it, and directly ordered: “Hang him up.”

“Yes.”

“I’m the son of the Prime Minister, how dare you hang me? You are demoted now, believe it or not, I will have my father kill you!” Li Yucheng cursed.

“Go ahead,” Zhao Yelan said, “You don’t even dare to return home, but you remember your father after having a mishap?”

Li Yucheng felt dejected at these few words, and in the blink of an eye, he was tied up by Gao Tan. By the time he realized it, he had already been hung upside down on the willow tree next to him.

“Let me go, you let me go!” Li Yucheng was strung up by his feet with his head down, and he was so uncomfortable that it was difficult to curse others. “Heh, Zhao Yelan, you don’t have many good days left, sooner or later you will be killed by that evil star, Yan Mingting!”

When Yan Mingting heard his name, he stood up straight in a daze. Looking up at him, he walked up to Zhao Yelan, tugged at his sleeve, and said dizzily, “Wife, he scolded me. Beat him up.”

Zhao Yelan: “……”

“He is an evil star, he’ll kill everyone! My sister was killed without even entering the door. Zhao Yelan, your days are numbered, haha!”

A gust of cold wind blew by. Zhao Yelan coughed a few times and suddenly noticed a figure passing by swiftly to let down the person in the tree.

“Yan Mingting, what are you doing? Are you opposing me?” He was about to become angry, when he saw Yan Mingting stuff a piece of cloth into Li Yucheng’s mouth, slap him twice, and kick him before hanging him up again.

“The mouth is for eating, not for farting,” Yan Mingting said in a profound voice.

Li Yucheng: “Wu wu wu wu wu……”

Yan Mingting clapped his hands, turned around, and walked toward Zhao Yelan: “Let’s leave, let’s go home.”

Zhao Yelan looked him up and down with a half-smile: “General Yan is quite sober.”

Yan Mingting: “ ! ”

“Aiya, I’m so dizzy.” Yan Mingting rubbed his temples and leaned against him weakly.

Zhao Yelan kicked him on the calf and turned around to get into the sedan chair. When he bent down, he felt a sudden weight on his shoulders.

He turned his head to see that Yan Mingting had taken off his cloak and placed it on him.

“It’s cool at night, don’t catch a cold.” Yan Mingting smiled.

---

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

The atmosphere was a little ambiguous.

The two looked at each other for a long time before Yan Mingting broke the silence first, saying with a little surprise: “Unexpectedly, a dignified fellow like you also secretly keeps these kinds of books.”

Zhao Yelan was indignant: “What nonsense are you speaking, why would I hide this away? The way I see it, you clearly have evil intentions and prepared this dirty picture book! Get your things and get out!”

Wronged, Yan Mingting said: “If you didn’t hide it away, nor did I prepare it, then where did this thing come from?”

Zhao Yelan looked at him suspiciously, then had second thoughts and said, “Call Housekeeper Qin over here.”

After a while, Housekeeper Qin walked into the room with a puzzled expression: “My lord, are you looking for me?”

“Where did this thing come from?!” Zhao Yelan threw the picture book in front of him.

Housekeeper Qin picked it up and replied: “I prepared it.”

The two looked at each other, and Yan Mingting saw that Zhao Yelan was about to blow up, so he hurried to Housekeeper Qin, pretending to be angry, “Uncle Qin, I didn’t tell you to do this. We don’t need this thing, hurry up and throw it away, go, go!”

Housekeeper Qin was pushed out the door. He considered that the General was prideful and arrogant, obviously not getting the point, and was still unwilling to learn with an open mind. Thinking about it, he still didn’t throw away the picture book. Anyway, the General would regret it sooner or later and come to him to take it back.

Although this matter was not related to Yan Mingting, while he was lying on the ground, he was unable to sleep. The two people in the painting had left an indelible impression on him.

Ai.

“Zhao Yelan, are you asleep?”

“Shut up! Don’t disturb me when I’m sleeping!” Zhao Yelan said angrily.

Yan Mingting laughed. “How about we talk? Since you already know what I’m looking for, can you help me? This matter is of great importance, and it is old business, so it’s a bit difficult to investigate. I have been on the frontier these years and have no influence in Beijing, no trusted colleagues. I need someone to help me.”

This was Yan Mingting’s plan: To test whether Zhao Yelan was the murderer first, and if not, to win him over.

No one was more suitable to be a “Military Advisor” than Zhao Yelan.

The two had become a couple in name, bound together for good or ill. Because of the stakes involved, Zhao Yelan would never let him take risks. Furthermore, Zhao Yelan had a clever mind and had been immersed in officialdom for many years. He was proficient at scheming and knew every official well, so he couldn’t be more suitable.

However, Zhao Yelan ignored him.

Thinking about it, judging by Zhao Yelan’s nature, it was really not that easy to get him to agree. He asked: “What do you want? As long as I can afford it, I will give it to you.”

“I want two elite teams,” Zhao Yelan responded immediately.

“For what?”

“To protect me.”

Zhao Yelan had completely separated the Gold Collar Guard from his camp, but with so many enemies, it was impossible to rely on Gao Tan alone when traveling, so he needed to recruit a new group of people.

But the people he recruited now may not be able to beat the Gold Collar Guard. Before Yan Mingting had returned to the capital, he had wanted to recruit some people from the commander of the Imperial army. But the Imperial army had long since been crippled, a little three-legged cat showing off its power by virtue of its status. He didn’t need these kinds of people.

What he wanted was people who were capable, well-trained, and unshakably obedient to military orders. Yan Mingting had returned to the court with an army of hundreds of thousands, and he had secretly observed them while he was at the training grounds. It was easy to pick dozens of such people from among them.

“And these people can only obey my orders in the future, not yours.”

Yang Mingting thought about it: “Hey, have you wanted someone for a long time before you told me you were innocent?”

Zhao Yelan didn’t answer, and after a while, he said: “You decide for yourself. But I have to remind you that although the Tiger Talisman^[1] is still in your hands, the current situation is stable, and the Emperor will split up your team into various places.”

“Of course I’m aware. The Emperor has told me several times that the Imperial army is short of manpower. But the battle is over. It is useless for me to keep so many people in my hands. If the soldiers can get stable jobs in Beijing, then I will not protest. I hope that the day will never come when I order them to go into battle against the enemy.”

Hearing this, Zhao Yelan’s mind moved slightly and he turned over: “You are a good general.”

“There is no choice, their lives are all at risk. To live and eat the Emperor’s food is already a great happiness.” Yan Mingting looked at him and smiled helplessly. “Okay, I’ll pick someone for you tomorrow, but you can’t treat them harshly.”

“Naturally, I will go tomorrow as well.”

“Afterward, you must help me find out the truth. Whatever you want, I can give it to you,” Yan Mingting repeated. He got up suddenly and lay down beside him on the bed, stretching out a hand. “Come shake hands as a seal of agreement, and to wish us a smooth cooperation.”

“Childish.”

“Hurry up, I won’t leave if you don’t shake it.”

Zhao Yelan frowned, looked at his shameless face, and stretched out his hand impatiently. The next moment, it was held by a big hand, full of strength. Even though he had witnessed countless life-or-death battles and knew that his father had been murdered by a traitor, he still held hands with him with the heart of a child.

The next afternoon, Zhao Yelan’s legs and feet were nimble. When he came to the training grounds with him again, his mood was completely different from the previous time. At least he wouldn’t be forced to do horse stance in front of the soldiers.

Yan Mingting led him onto the stage. There were crowds of people in the audience, and he ordered the groups to fight, then began to pick people.

There were a total of forty-eight people lined up in two rows, all looking at Yan Mingting energetically. Having been specially selected, there must be some kind of reward or task!

“What do you think?” Yan Mingting asked in a low voice.

Zhao Yelan nodded, and suddenly said to the forty-eight people: “You all, go and fight him.”

Everyone stood speechless in astonishment, because he was referring to Yan Mingting. One of the soldiers was puzzled and asked, “Why do you want us to fight the General?”

Zhao Yelan took out a gold ingot and displayed it in his palm, immediately attracting everyone’s attention: “Fight.”

Even the soldiers with no desire for gold or silver still had family members, so who wouldn’t want to add some good things to their homes? These people were very eager to move. It was simply a dream to be able to get rewards and compete against the General, ah.

They looked at Yan Mingting one after another, and he nodded: “Let’s go.”

Immediately, someone rushed up: “General, I have offended you!”

A fight broke out instantly on the stage. Zhao Yelan took two steps back and was escorted by Zhong Yuehong outside of the stage to watch.

These forty-eight people were all good fighters, with strong bodies and nimble legs and feet, and they were not willing to give up easily. Even if they were knocked down, they would jump up again in an instant and continue the next round of fighting.

Yan Mingting was in the center. With one person against a crowd, he was better than each one. As soon as the rabbit got up, the falcon pounced down,^[2] and the group of people were knocked down one after another. He even had time to guide the defeated one by one: “Your weakness is too obvious, your arm is not strong enough, your foot isn’t stable……”

Zhao Yelan was dazzled at the sight. He had known that Yan Mingting was very skilled, but in the previous battles against the Gold Collar Guard, he either didn’t see it or had been passed out, unable to witness Yan Mingting’s strength with his own eyes.

The current contest was truly eye-opening. Even Zhao Yelan, who had always only preferred cultured things, also noticed his blood flow accelerating at this moment.

The surrounding soldiers were even more enthusiastic, and the cheers and shouts pierced the sky.

Zhong Yuehong was not her usual calm self, yelling unrestrainedly beside him, and Zhao Yelan had to move away from her.

About fifteen minutes later, after a high-intensity battle, forty-eight people were defeated one after another, but were extremely exhilarated.

Yan Mingting held his scabbard calmly, having never drawn his sword: “Not bad, you’re making progress fast.”

Zhao Yelan received Yan Mingting’s glance and nodded in affirmation.

This group of people had been able to fight against Yan Mingting for so long without using weapons. Their strength could at least compete with the Gold Collar Guard.

Zhong Yuehong stepped forward and said, “General, can we fight you?”

He Cuizhang: “That’s right, let’s try it too!”

Yan Mingting beckoned, and several lieutenants all jumped onto the stage.

This time the number of people was not as large as before, but they were a little more ruthless. They all used their weapons, and Yan Mingting’s sword was also unsheathed as they went heartily back and forth.

The soldiers were ashamed to see it, and bluntly said that they must practice more attentively in the future and not slack off.

It took a little longer this time, and at the end, the group of subordinates submitted cheerfully. They hadn’t fought like this for a long time, and it was very enjoyable. They gathered together to recount the process of the battle just now.

Yan Mingting did not join them, but came to Zhao Yelan’s side and asked: “How was it?”

Zhao Yelan looked at his sweaty face and said: “Wipe your sweat first.”

“It doesn’t matter, I’m used to it” As soon as Yan Mingting refused, he saw that the other’s face was a bit serious, and remembered that this person disliked bad smells. Just as he raised his hand to wipe it, Zhao Yelan stopped him, then took out a clean handkerchief from his pocket and stuffed it into his hand.

“Use this to wipe.”

Yan Mingting examined the handkerchief repeatedly, returning it awkwardly: “I’m not used to this.”

“I told you to wipe, so wipe.” Zhao Yelan took the handkerchief and wiped hard across his forehead.

The soft, soothing handkerchief rubbed against his skin, and with a different feeling, Yan Mingting eagerly lowered his head and pointed to the side of his face: “Here too.”

Zhao Yelan wiped the sweat off his face impatiently with a stern expression.

Unexpectedly, there was the sound of jeering nearby, and when he looked to the side, he found that the soldiers were all looking at them and laughing.

“……”

Zhao Yelan threw the handkerchief at Yan Mingting: “It stinks to death, take it and throw it away.”

Yan Mingting caught the handkerchief on his chest and turned around to gesture to everyone, signaling them not to jeer again, but the noise became louder.

Yan Mingting called the forty-eight people into a corner to instruct them. Zhao Yelan stood watching from a distance, noticing that those people wore doubt on their faces and seemed reluctant to take the job. He didn’t know what Yan Mingting told them, but the group of people suddenly looked serious, nodding in agreement.

After a short while, Yan Mingting came back and said: “Okay, these people will be yours from now on. Treat them well.”

“What did you tell them?” 

Zhao Yelan knew that it would not be easy for these people to follow him wholeheartedly, especially for his orders to override Yan Mingting’s.

“It’s a secret.” Yan Mingting raised his head proudly. “This is an agreement between us men.”

“……” Zhao Yelan stopped asking, and turned to ask Gao Tan to give those forty-eight people a large sum of money.

Others were envious, and everyone was dumbfounded.

Seeing this, Zhao Yelan murmured a few words to Yan Mingting. Yan Mingting gave him a surprised look, and the corners of his mouth curled up: “Brothers, let us go to Huichun Tower for a drink tonight, Zhao-daren will be the host!”

“Zhao-daren is mighty! ! !” All the soldiers shouted in unison.

The corners of Zhao Yelan’s mouth raised slightly. He returned to his indifferent look in an instant, but Yan Mingting caught that moment without pointing it out, just looking at him with a smile.

As the sun set, everyone finished their practice and rushed to the restaurant.

Zhao Yelan was riding in the sedan chair, a step behind them. When he arrived, the restaurant was full and they were already drinking.

“Zhao-daren, this cup of wine is a toast to you,” a soldier in the hall said. The others also raised their wine cups and drank.

Zhao Yelan nodded, and walked slowly to the number one room. After a while, Yan Mingting also came in and said: “They want to come and drink with you, okay?”

“No, our lord cannot drink alcohol,” Gao Tan immediately refused. His family’s lord had a very poor capacity for alcohol, and would exhibit strange behavior after drinking, so he never indulged in front of outsiders.

“Oh, of course.” Yan Mingting thought it was because of his weak body. Looking at the food on his table again, he salivated and simply sat down to eat with him.

Zhao Yelan pointed to a certain place, and Yan Mingting saw that there was a water basin there. Understanding immediately, he walked over obediently to wash his hands. Thinking of something, he took out the handkerchief in his pocket to wash it, and set it aside to dry.

Zhao Yelan chewed and ate slowly, and glanced at Yan Mingting halfway: “Go drink with them after eating.”

“I should really go?”

“Get out, you’re an eyesore sitting here.”

After Zhao Yelan finished his meal, he opened the door and took a look downstairs. Among the forty-eight people, he picked a fellow who seemed to have a decent brain and called him into the room for questioning.

“What are you called?”

“Yu Dali!”

“Yan Mingting ordered that you will follow me from now on.”

“Yes!”

Zhao Yelan rubbed his temples: “In the future, you don’t need to speak so loud while talking to me, I’m not deaf.”

“Yes!”

Zhao Yelan looked up, his eyes cold.

Yu Dali immediately cowered: “Yes……”

“What did he tell you?”

“This……the General won’t let me tell you.”

Zhao Yelan knocked on the table: “Who do you take orders from now?”

“You……”

“Then tell me, what did he say to you?” Zhao Yelan asked.

Yu Dali glanced at him cautiously, and a subtle blush appeared on his dark face: “The General said that a man must protect his family. Zhao-daren is his wife, and the General adores him very much, so we must protect you and put you first in everything. If you are gone, my lord, he will not be able to live. So don’t worry, my lord, for the sake of the General being able to live well, we will definitely protect and listen to you.”

Zhao Yelan’s temples twitched: “……He adores me?”

Yu Dali: “En, don’t you love the General, my lord?”

“……” This really stumped Zhao Yelan.

Speaking of adoration, his conscience really gave him trouble. If he said he didn’t love him, would the group of soldiers he just recruited throw him into the moat to feed the fish?

The good thing was that Yu Dali’s brain didn’t seem to be working very well, so he directly changed the subject: “What else did he say?”

Yu Dali rubbed his hands shyly, showing an honest smile: “The General also said, my lord, that you are……very rich.”

Zhao Yelan: “……”

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[1] The Tiger Talisman (虎符) was used in ancient China as proof of military authority. ⮐

[2] A metaphor for quick movements. ⮐

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

Since the military training at the beginning of school, Ye Ci was no longer an invisible person at school. The communication skills of those little Omega boys were comparable to a battalion of machine guns. A dozen people together were noisier than a dozen chicken farms, and getting to know them was equivalent to getting to know the whole school.

After being chattered around by those little Omegas,  Ye Ci’s soft temper and athletic talent for beating Alphas was undoubtedly exposed in one day – – there was an Omega in the next class who secretly brought a mobile phone during training. During Ye Ci’s 400-meter obstacle course, he recorded a section and spread it widely, and accompanied it with passionate and dynamic background music. At the end, he typed, “Glory of Omegas” in a strawberry marshmallow font, which made Ye Ci cover his face with embarrassment.

The handsome boy who put on a face like a coffin board every day was actually shy and timid. In fact, after teasing him for a few times, he was softer than glutinous rice cakes in front of his friendly classmates, but was so good at sports that it was scary……

It was not just the dozen or so little Omega boys, the girls also found him so cute that their motherly love was almost overflowing. Among other things, Ye Ci didn’t need Huo Tinglan to explain when he was stuck on a topic. Their average age was one year younger than Ye Ci, but still stubbornly called themselves his “older sister fans” and “auntie fans.” The girls worked together to raise this single-minded primary school slag who was dedicated to learning.

Of course, it wasn’t just Omega and Beta girls who were attracted by Ye Ci after his surge in popularity, but quite a few Alphas. They had previously been afraid to make a move, for fear of hitting a wall, but now that they found out he was a paper tiger,^[1] they were all ready to try.

But facing the flirtatious Alphas, Ye Ci still maintained his cold face from before.

Wearing a wedding ring or announcing his marriage status was still too high-profile for the current Ye Ci. If he couldn’t come clean, he had to be mentally prepared.

But he knew it himself.

He was a married man……

He needed to keep a lookout.

An Alpha’s possessiveness was unreasonable. Huo Tinglan even drank vinegar over Omegas, let alone Alphas who were the same age as Ye Ci. Therefore, Ye Ci concealed the fact that a large number of Alpha suitors had suddenly appeared after the military training. In addition, he took the initiative to share with Huo Tinglan all the big and small things that happened at school: In physical education class, he taught the little Omegas how to do a three-step layup, and one after another, the ones who learned shouted, “Ye Ci is so cool, wu wu!” During the lunch break, they taught him how to play games in turn and even teamed up with him to have a match……

Although they teamed up for a game about dressing up the Omega protagonist.

It touched all the blind spots in his knowledge……

Ye Ci’s year-round aesthetic of hoodies, sneakers, and jeans made record lows for the team one after another, and he was finally kicked off the team by the tearful little Omegas. Ye Ci was dumbfounded: “I dressed her up, doesn’t it look good? Why is it F-level?”

The little Omegas collectively mourned Ye Ci’s aesthetics.

Ye Ci licked his lips anxiously: “I’ll give her pink, pink lipstick, doesn’t she look like a kind of doll?”

Everyone continued to mourn.

Ye Ci was dying, and asked in a low voice, “Isn’t it pretty, ah……?”

“That’s called death to Barbie fans! ! !” All the little Omegas spoke in unison and burst into tears.

The campus life of youthful vigor, laughter, quarrels, and friends came a bit late, but it came after all.

Ye Ci’s high school life left no regrets.

After autumn that year, the temperature dropped rapidly, getting colder with each autumn rain. The rubber track on the sports field seemed to be covered with gold and red fallen leaves overnight. And then, on a night of self-study, it was quietly covered with a layer of frosty snow.

Although there was no scientific research to prove it, based on Ye Ci’s own experience, he felt that the time in his third year of high school had passed much faster than before.

The crisp sound of firecrackers and the cool smell of gunpowder smoke seemed like it was just yesterday, but the snow at the edges of the road had already melted in the warm spring.

Half a month, then a month, all flew by in the blink of an eye, as they had never passed before.

Perhaps it was also because life was so regimented.

Huo Tinglan didn’t dare to delay Ye Ci’s studies even if he didn’t behave like a human being. He was ridiculous while taking advantage of the summer vacation before, but after Ye Ci entered the third year of high school, he resumed his behavioral pattern of restraint as the mainstay and hooliganism as the supplement. After the permanent marking, Ye Ci had two to three days of fever every month, which was very regular. He would only be presumptuous in these two or three days, and the rest of the time was spent teasing at most, and letting his desires remain unsatisfied.

In this way, Ye Ci lived a life of endless repetition back and forth between two places, submerged in a sea of books and learning, hand in hand with his classmates. Aside from the important study topics and exercises, every day was like a copy of the previous one. Although enriching, it was inevitable to feel that time passed quickly.

However, during these months of copy-and-paste routine, a few unusual things happened, stirring up waves.

The old man of the Chu family fell ill a year ago and was admitted to the hospital. He was saved, but his body collapsed completely. For the past year, he had been hanging on by a thread. For some unknown reason, this old man Chu, who may pass on at any time, had been stubbornly refusing to make a will. The inheritance battle between the branches of the Chu family and the heirs of each house had been fought intermittently for a year. Compared with the second son who used test tube technology to “create a human” in order to get more property, and got twins with his wife three months ago, the eldest son of the third house, Chu Wenlin, recognized his illegitimate son who had been adrift for many years and forced him to marry in order to cling to the Huo family.

This big family searched and searched but couldn’t pick out a few normal people.

After all, the old man’s property was a fixed amount. Whoever got more, the others would get less, and a group of misfit half-brothers and sisters looked at each other covetously. They all wished they could tear each other’s flesh and chew it raw, but the battle line was stretched too long, and the situation gradually reached a stalemate, entering a state of balance, and no one could deal with each other.

At this moment, Huo Tinglan threw a few pebbles into the backwater of the Chu family, breaking the balance.

He first repaid Ye Ci’s huge medical expenses that Chu Wenlin had paid for Ye Hongjun. The debt was cleared, and the father and son had nothing to do with each other except for the blood relationship on a biological level.

Chu Wenlin was a slick person. After recognizing Ye Ci, he didn’t speak ill of him to his face. Without saying a word, the coercion was half-hidden and half-exposed. There were a few rounds of confession drama in the beginning, such as: Dad is willing to make it up to you and your mother, Alphas inevitably make mistakes when they are young. Seeing that Ye Ci didn’t buy it, he stopped all the drama.

In short, during those few months of getting along with Ye Ci, he didn’t have much trouble with Ye Ci and was a repulsive person with a knife in his smile. If Huo Tinglan only used Ye Ci as a medicine jar, he naturally wouldn’t have to be afraid. Huo Tinglan really liked Ye Ci, so no matter what mistakes he made when he was young, he was their matchmaker and Ye Ci’s biological father. He would make up for his mistakes so that Huo Tinglan wouldn’t bear a grudge against him.

– – The abacus clacked.

However, Huo Tinglan already knew that this person was rotten to the bone. There had been no serious consequences yet, but that was just because Ye Ci entered the Huo family’s door early this time, and there was no time for them to occur.

In the previous life, Huo Tinglan also attacked Chu Wenlin in order to vent his anger for Ye Ci. At that time, he started with Chu Wenlin’s wife, Ruan Jiayi – – this couple had lived in harmony for many years, and Ruan Jiayi, as the daughter of a renowned family, had always been arrogant. She always had to compare herself to others and be better than them in every way. However, her husband’s private life was corrupt. Not only did he have an illegitimate child, but he also treated her more and more indifferently and rudely, and even caused her to catch a sexually trasmitted disease. She had no one to confide in. Although glamorous on the surface, she was miserable in reality. Coupled with the fact that the Ruan family business had been declining over the years, she had no natal family to rely on, so she had to swallow her anger.

Huo Tinglan saw this and promised to give her some benefits, then tried to comfort and provoke her in a seemingly gentle manner. Ruan Jiayi really couldn’t bear it anymore, and shook out all the dirty things that Chu Wenlin had done over the years at him……

Chu Wenlin was greedy, but Mr. Chu had been clinging to power all this time. The father and son were the same in this respect. 

Chu Wenlin was ruthlessly suppressed. A bottomless pit of greed and desire, his hands and feet had always been dirty in terms of economic issues, and he was severely punished by Ruan Jiaji and Huo Tinglan in his last life.

But in this life, since returning to the age of thirty, Huo Tinglan’s maneuvers never stopped. With the information given by Ruan Jiayi in the previous life, he had done many things with half the effort this time. As if opening his third eye, he didn’t need to check in order to know which direction to exert his strength.

So at the beginning of this year, just after the Spring Festival, a detailed, comprehensive, and well-documented report was submitted to the inspection department. 

Chu Wenlin was inexplicably shaken out of the sky. Bribery, tax evasion……after this case was settled, he would have to squat in jail for a few years. Not to mention the years of squatting, his messy affairs also involved several government cooperation projects signed by Mr. Chu himself and implemented by him, and the entire Chu family was taken over and inspected. Mr. Chu, who was originally in stable condition, was so stimulated that he was sent to the ICU, where he almost died.

Chu Wenlin didn’t care about the life and death of Mr. Chu, and he would not die if he was imprisoned for a few years, but in the future inheritance, it was hard to say how many leftovers could be picked up from those shark-like brothers and sisters.

For a villain like him who was greedy for money and profit, this was more painful than dying after ten years in prison.

Naturally, Huo Tinglan confirmed Ye Ci’s opinion before submitting the materials.

Ye Ci was kind-hearted and honest, but he also made a clear distinction between love and hate. Chu Wenlin had harmed his mother and also regarded him as a tool for forced marriage. As far as Huo Tinglan’s methods were concerned, he didn’t think they were too much, and could even be regarded as light.

Moreover, those materials were really not false or slanderous. It was nothing more than uncovering what Chu Wenlin had done with his own hands. Chu Wenlin got what he deserved, and couldn’t blame anyone but himself.

This incident turned the Chu family upside down, but Ye Ci only glanced at the materials Huo Tinglan handed him while working on questions.

……This could be regarded as taking revenge on that scumbag on behalf of his mother, right?

In fact, Ye Ci’s heart was not very troubled. Even thinking about it for a minute more would be a waste of his life. The college entrance examination was coming up, and all he could think about was brushing up on questions.

There was one other thing that stirred his heart – –

Ye Hongjun came back from San Francisco with the medical team sent by Huo Tinglan before the Spring Festival.

With a healthy body, free from sickness.

The phase III clinical trial of that biotech company had achieved relatively gratifying success. Not all volunteers participating in the trial achieved such a good therapeutic effect, which was probably related to the specific type of gland structure, but all the members of Ye Hongjun’s group had improved to varying degrees. Before returning to China, she had undergone repeated tests. All indicators were normal, and she had fully recovered to her previous state before she fell ill. She still needed regular checkups and reports on her physical condition in the follow-up, but the project team was quite optimistic about her prognosis and believed that her probability of recurrence was theoretically very low.

The old house had been sold, and she temporarily lived in the Huo Residence after returning to China.

In the past six months, Huo Tinglan had traveled between the two countries several times due to business reasons, and no matter how busy he was, he would make a special trip to San Francisco to visit her. She also often made video calls with Ye Ci, and with more contact, the relationship between the two naturally and gradually got through to her. She already had a good impression of Huo Tinglan, and when she heard the good news, she was of course happy for her child.

Seeing that Ye Ci not only did not fall behind in his studies, but also improved by leaps and bounds under Huo Tinglan’s encouragement and guidance, she felt even more at ease in her heart – – it was completely different from Chu Wenlin, who persuaded her to give up her studies and elope to have a baby. Huo Tinglan cherished Ye Ci’s wings in every possible way.

He really loved him, and would help him soar into the sky wholeheartedly.

After Ye Hongjun returned to China, Huo Tinglan bought her a small two-storey western-style house only a few minutes’ drive from the Huo residence.

The inside of the western-style building was not too big. It was suitable for Ye Hongjun to live in by herself, and could be properly taken care of by hiring a housekeeper and a gardener. There was a garden on the first floor, with scattered flowers and trees, and vines hanging on the walls that faced the sun. After spring, the branches and leaves were full of vitality, and when the wind blew, the leaves fluttered green and silver alternately. Light yellow flowers were dotted in the gaps, lining the white bricks and stones, as beautiful as a fairytale.

It would take some time to renovate the house after purchasing it, and the mother and son had not seen each other for half a year. Therefore, Ye Hongjun lived in the Huo residence first, and it happened that she could personally accompany Ye Ci through the difficult second semester of senior high school.

Her culinary skills were not as good as those chefs hired by the Huo family, but she was the only one who could cook Laohuo^[2] soup. It was learned from her mother many years ago, and was a unique secret recipe. No matter how good a chef was, they couldn’t recreate that unique taste. Before she got sick, she would cook the health-improving food for Ye Ci once a week. After her body collapsed, she didn’t go into the kitchen for two years and Ye Ci never drank such delicious soup again.

At nine o’clock that night, Ye Ci was in the study as usual, immersed in writing questions.

Huo Tinglan had finished his work for the day and stayed in the study simply to accompany him. In his hand was a book with a black leather cover and bronze inscriptions, its title difficult to read.

The study door was ajar, and Ye Hongjun stood at the door, calling out in a warm voice: “Tinglan, Xiao Ci, I brought you some supper.”

Huo Tinglan got up quickly to meet her. Taking the tray in Ye Hongjun’s hands, he smiled gratefully and said: “It’s so late, and you still worked so hard to cook……”

“It’s okay, Xiao Ci likes to drink this.” Ye Hongjun smiled gently. Her body had healed and she had recovered a bit in the past six months, but her body was still overall thin. However, her cheeks were much rounder and her complexion was also pink, with a healthy appearance.

Ye Ci’s calculations on a problem had reached a critical point, and he was reluctant to stop writing, but he still took time out of his busy schedule to complain in a distressed tone: “You told me yesterday that you would have a good rest today, shouldn’t promises be kept?”

“Aiya,” Ye Hongjun retorted, caught out by her son. “It’s not tiring to make soup. I just sat there and watched the fire, and the chicken was prepared by others……”

Huo Tinglan smiled and, like a tall and handsome waiter, bent over to put the two soup cups on the tray onto the table, persuading: “Take a break first and drink while it’s hot.”

Ye Ci swallowed, scribbled out a few lines of calculations and hurriedly filled in the answer, then put down the pen.

It was already the end of the third year of high school, and there was still a small gap between him and the top 50 in his class that he had promised Lin Yao he would reach, so he didn’t dare relax.

“Mmm……it smells so good.” He had eaten a lot of dinner, but perhaps he had used his brains too much, because after three hours of writing and calculations, he was hungry again. Ye Ci rubbed his slightly concave belly and lifted the lid of the soup pot.

Steam mixed with a fresh fragrance rose up, making his red lips and white teeth half hidden behind the mist extra vivid.

The light brown soup was very clear, and all impurities were filtered out, but it didn’t look bland. When scooped with a spoon, the soup was thick and had a jelly-like texture.

It was simply at a professional level.

Ye Ci drank vigorously, and Ye Hongjun dragged the swivel chair over to sit down, looking at the child drinking soup with a smile on her face – – Since Ye Hongjun moved in, the chairs in this study had never been “missing.” It seemed that even Huo Tinglan still had to save some face in front of his elders.

“By the way, Xiao Ci……” Ye Hongjun wiped her hands on her apron. Looking at Huo Tinglan, she was a little embarrassed, but she still asked, “It will be your birthday in a few days. Is there any gift you want? Mom will buy it for you.”

After she returned to China, Huo Tinglan opened an account for her and transferred money into it every month, which was essentially alimony – – It was a matter of course to support the mother of one’s spouse. But he was afraid that she would lose face and refuse to accept it, so when he saw her cook soup for Ye Ci from time to time, he said it was “vegetable money.”

In fact, Ye Hongjun didn’t need to buy vegetables. The ingredients used in the Huo residence were all delivered by special personnel every day. What’s more, such a large amount of money was more than enough to buy a few fresh supermarkets, let alone vegetables.

However, Ye Hongjun knew that Huo Tinglan only wanted to treat Ye Ci’s family well, and it would be petty to just blindly evade it, so she thanked him and accepted it.

She took it but didn’t waste the money in it. She was used to hard times, and her spending habits wouldn’t change for a while, so she wanted to save it for her child, just in case.

“It seems……there is nothing I want.” Ye Ci hesitated before telling the truth.

“You can just say a few things casually.” Ye Hongjun stroked the hair at his temple and said with emotion, “I haven’t given you a real birthday in the past two years since I was sick. Can’t Mom try to make it up to you……”

“Uh……”

Ye Ci was in a bind.

Huo Tinglan had taken care of him well this year and he really didn’t need anything. What else could he want besides getting into the top 50 in his class?

At this time, Huo Tinglan gave a small smile, turning to Ye Hongjun to say: “You don’t have to worry about Xiao Ci’s birthday celebration. I’ve pretty much prepared everything.”

Ye Hongjun’s eyes lit up, and she said curiously on behalf of Ye Ci: “It’s all been done? How did you prepare? Can I be of use?”

Huo Tinglan lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment: “It really has……I will discuss this in private with you later. Ye Ci shouldn’t know, so that it’s a surprise when the time comes.”

If you wanted to surprise people, how could you say that in front of them?

Didn’t it hurt people if you don’t tell the whole story? !

“What?” Ye Ci stopped, tugging on Huo Tinglan’s cuff. “Don’t just say something halfway……”

“What kind of surprise would that be?” Huo Tinglan immediate Ye Ci’s tone leisurely with a half smile, and gently scratched the tip of his nose with his fingers. “I won’t tell you.”

Ye Hongjun couldn’t hold down the corners of her lips, so she hurriedly left the study and closed the door, so as not to disturb the young couple.

The door shut softly, and there were only the two of them left in the study.

“Be coquettish,” Huo Tinglan said softly.

Ye Ci hesitated for a moment, leaned forward, and hugged Huo Tinglan. He buried his face in his chest, rubbing left and right, soft and slightly jerky: “Say a little bit, ba, just a little bit. You’re the best, I, I like you the most.”

“Baby is so cute.” Huo Tinglan kissed that glowing red face, then sat back as if nothing had happened, picking up the half-read book and continuing to flip through it.

“ ? ”

Ye Ci stood in amazement.

“You’re not……”

“No.” Huo Tinglan expressed a smile.

“You know what I’m asking……”

“I know.” 

This was just blatantly bullying a child.

– – He only said to “act coquettish,” but didn’t say “I will tell you if you act coquettish.”

Falling in love with an old scoundrel was so hard.

Ye Ci had no choice but to nurse a grievance and continue to solve problems.

In this way, Ye Ci was in a dilemma for a few days. It was almost all he thought about during the study break, and his expectations were high.

Finally, it was March 17th, just in time for Saturday, when the school was on a half-day holiday, and he returned from school with two big bags of birthday presents from his classmates. The car drove to the courtyard of the Huo residence, where Uncle He was already waiting. Ye Ci got out of the car, and Uncle He asked someone to take the two bags of presents. Instead of letting him into the main house, he led him to the banquet hall next to the auxiliary building.

Huo Tinglan did not have Lin Yao’s sociable and lively character. This banquet hall was only used a few times a year, and Ye Ci had never been inside at all. Uncle He opened the door for him, and the afternoon sun poured warm light into the hall. The glacier-white marble floor was polished to a bright sheen and there were no lights on in the hall. The scarlet curtains hanging to the floor had an excellent shading effect, and distant objects were hidden in darkness. Ye Ci stepped in, and only had time to glimpse some vague outlines before Uncle He hastily closed the door behind him with speed like a black shop owner trying to abduct someone.

As soon as the door closed, the huge banquet hall was so dark that you couldn’t see your fingers.

“Huo-shushu?” Ye Ci called out, his voice fluttering with nervousness.

His heart beat wildly.

Suddenly, there was a light “click” in the darkness, as if a switch had been flipped.

Then, something not far away was illuminated.

It was a small exhibition stand, square, slender, and tall. A bit like the ones used to display cultural relics in museums, it had an ebony countertop and soft, shiny silk, just without the glass cover. The beam of light was very narrow, like the stage light in a play. It only illuminated this one area, and the things in the distance were still unclear.

……What was on it should be Huo Tinglan’s birthday present to him, right?

The corners of Ye Ci’s lips raised, and he walked over quickly and excitedly.

There was a letter on the silk surface along with a silver longevity lock.^[3] The letter paper was folded, and the words “Zero Years Old” was written on the back of it.

Ye Ci was impatient about the gift, so he picked up the longevity lock and rubbed it. The lock was silver-gray, with an engraving of a child riding a horse, and the silver chain was decorated with four small bells. The engraving was ancient and quaint, the gilt was light, and there was a sense of wear and tear, as if it were an antique that had been passed down for more than a hundred years.

Ye Ci unfolded the letter.

On the paper was Huo Tinglan’s sharp, eloquent handwriting.

“……19 years ago today, you were born. I was 12 years old. If I had been in your life then, I couldn’t be ‘Huo-shushu,’ but ‘the neighbor’s big brother.’……

“……I heard from your mother that you seldom cried at night, and you were already so well-behaved after only being a few months old. She also said that among the rubber toys for exercising your fingers, your favorite pony had been lost……

“……I happen to have a zero-years-old birthday gift for you, a longevity lock with a boy riding a horse. This lock was worn by my great-grandfather when he was a child, and he was a hundred and twelve years old when he died. No disease and no pain, a happy death. So I think this lock must be very effective……

“…..A longevity lock, a lock for a hundred years, a lock for a prosperous life. May my baby live a long life and be free from disaster and diseases. This is a gift from Huo Tinglan, who was 12 years old at the time.”

Ye Ci clutched the silver lock. It was metal, but it wasn’t cold and hard, and his palm was filled with a soft warmth.

His eyes suddenly turned red, and he read the letter several times, as if he wanted to engrave the words and sentences into his heart. Then he folded the paper carefully and put it back in its original place for the time being – –

The second beam had come on.

With the help of the two lights, he could just barely see into the distance.

There were about a dozen similar gifts and letters in the shadows, but he couldn’t pick up another until he put the previous one back.

On the next letter, it said “One Year Old.”

The next letter said, “Two Years Old.”

Another and another……

Huo Tinglan made up every birthday gift to him from birth to eighteen years old, and they were not given indiscriminately. Like the longevity lock, they were each related to the corresponding age and had profound meanings. The effort this must have taken was unimaginable.

“……15 years ago today, you were still in kindergarten, listen to what your mother said……”

“……This is a gift from Big Brother Huo Tinglan, who was sixteen at the time……”

“It’s a pity that I didn’t appear in your life earlier, I can only make up for it in this way.”

“……….”

Not only were there gifts, but he also assumed what would have happened to the two of them if he had appeared in Ye Ci’s life at that time.

“……3 years ago today, you were sixteen years old and completed your transformation from a child into a teenager. I think that at 28, I would have given you a real, beautiful horse when you were an Alpha and liked speed and excitement. I would have liked to respect your hobbies under the premise of ensuring your safety. I heard from your mother that you secretly learned to ride a motorcycle with others. This is no good. A horse would be more suitable. I would teach you how to ride, and until you learned, I would have to choose to ride with you……”

“……A young Friesian horse, intelligent, easy to control, and gentle, suitable for beginners in horsemanship. Here is a pedigree certificate, it is already in the backyard, and you can play with it later……”

“……This is a gift from Mr. Huo, who was 28 years old at the time.”

Ye Ci wiped away tears as he walked.

Afraid that his tears would wet the precious letters, he wiped his face with his sleeve, and the cuff was full of dark wet marks.

He cried so hard that when he saw Huo Tinglan, who was waiting at the end of the row of display stands, he couldn’t even speak.

“Baby.” Huo Tinglan opened his arms to him, smiled softly and handsomely, and said with understanding, “Don’t talk, give me a hug.”

Ye Ci rushed forward and desperately hugged him as if trying to strangle someone to death, his throat choked up.

How fortunate he was to have met him.

Huo Tinglan’s warm palm rested on the back of his head, hugging him in a very possessive posture. After he calmed down a while later, he dropped the last “blockbuster.”

“You haven’t been given your nineteenth birthday present yet……from this year, I won’t ever miss another one again. Will you accept it?”

Ye Ci straightened up, and in a strong, nasally voice, he said: “Okay.”

Huo Tinglan handed him a thick stack of documents. There was also a key made of unknown material in the file, and he said with a smile: “Happy nineteenth birthday.”

Ye Ci wiped his eyes and opened the documents.

……He couldn’t understand half a word.

“What is this?” He flipped through them in a daze, and it was all in the same unknown language.

Huo Tinglan smirked and said unhurriedly: “You can read it after you learn it……you just need to remember that this is very important and take good care of it.” He reminded him, “It can be put together with the jadeite bracelet.”

The documents came from a city in Central Europe, where more than 120 banks worldwide were headquartered, known as the “Billionaire Capital.” What Ye Ci had in his hands was documentation provided by one of the established financial service providers. Their official common language was German, so of course Ye Ci couldn’t even understand half a word. With this certificate, the key, and Ye Ci’s own fingerprints, Ye Ci would be able to open a private vault that Huo Tinglan had purchased for a 100-year service period, within which were piles of gold that ordinary people would not be able to squander within dozens of lifetimes. This was an astronomical level of wealth. Huo Tinglan didn’t intend to tell him directly at the moment, but Ye Ci would know sooner or later.

“Huo-shushu, I think I’ve probably guessed……what this is.” Ye Ci pondered for a moment before making a vague guess.

He didn’t entirely understand, but it looked like some kind of document related to assets. If it could be given away as a gift, it must be expensive.

“Guess, just guess, I won’t take it back.” Huo Tinglan finally used his scoundrel tendencies in the right place. “It’s nothing to me…….it is my lifetime guarantee to you.”

In the first eighteen years of Ye Ci’s life, he suffered so much due to poverty. He only hoped that he would never be in such a predicament for the rest of his life, no matter what.

Not for one second.

He just wanted him to fly high.

May he soar through the sky, free and light.

May his wings be free from the dust of the world.

“I understand.” Ye Ci gripped the documents and didn’t evade the issue. He just raised his head, kissed Huo Tinglan lightly on the lips, and whispered, “Thank you, this is the best birthday I’ve ever had.”

He had already become calm, accepting love and kindness without resistance.

He was loved and in love.

There was nothing better.

Looking back, the nineteen beams of light behind him formed a bright road full of love and warmth.

And as the lights in the banquet hall gradually turned on, the road ahead became clear.

It was a smooth road.

Radiant and splendid.

In this way, full of love and warmth, he would go forward down that road, running all the way.

【The End】

T/N: There are several extras after this, and I’ll have those posted soon!

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[1] A paper tiger, 纸老虎, is someone who looks tough and intimidating but is actually the opposite. ⮐

[2] Laohuo soup (老火汤) directly translates to ‘old fire soup.’ It is made by boiling various ingredients for several hours in a pot or pressure cooker. ⮐

[3] A longevity lock is an ancient Chinese tradition. These ornaments are given to children as sort of a ward against disaster and evil spirits. ⮐

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Chapter Forty-Four << Table of Contents >> Extra One: Sports Competition

The two people in the room were stunned by Housekeeper Qin’s cry.

Zhao Yelan lowered his head, looked at the ointment on Yan Mingting’s hand, and pushed it away: “I just said not to give me medicine casually, are you a doctor?”

Yan Mingting knew that he was in the wrong, so he turned around and asked Housekeeper Qin: “Where should this medicine be used? Does rubbing it into the wound help?”

Housekeeper Qin also didn’t know the whys and where-fores. He wasn’t sure if it would be useful, but it should be harmless.

“Go and call the doctor,” Zhao Yelan said regretfully.

“I’ll go right away!” Housekeeper Qin felt relieved. Knocking on the doctor’s door in the middle of the night, he dragged him to the General’s Mansion.

After such tossing and fuss, it was already past bedtime. Zhao Yelan, who was unable to take a bath due to his injury, was a little displeased, and lay on the bed sullenly for a while before going to sleep.

The next day was the anniversary of the death of Old General Yan. Yan Mingting took a leave of absence from the Imperial court, and Zhao Yelan was just an idler in the Imperial Academy. With so much staff, he was not needed at all, but the Emperor had arranged such a position to appease him, and he was happy to be at leisure.

Housekeeper Qin and the staff prepared all the things needed for worship. After being urged several times to go out the door, Zhao Yelan slowly……was helped out by Yan Mingting.

“Why don’t you not go, it’s rather far away. You can rest your legs at home,” Yan Mingting fretted.

Zhao Yelan insisted: “It’s fine, Old General Yan still deserves to be paid homage.” Yan Mingting glanced at him in surprise and agreed.

The General’s tomb was on a mountain outside the north of the city, facing the capital from a distance.

The sedan chair stopped at the bottom of the mountain about an hour later, and several other military officials had already arrived.

“General, Zhao-daren,” Several people clasped their hands and shouted.

Yan Mingting nodded: “All right, let’s go, ba.”

The group of people climbed up the steps but didn’t see the General’s figure among them. When they looked back, they saw Yan Mingting crouching in front of Zhao Yelan and were shocked.

Zhao Yelan was also slightly surprised: “What are you doing?”

“Climb on, with your leg it will definitely be hard to go up. I can’t take responsibility for you being hurt again,” Yan Mingting said.

Zhao Yelan looked down at his knees. He was not someone who would wrong himself, so he got on.

Yan Mingting stood up with him on his back, walked to the front of his subordinates with ease, and led the way: “What are you doing standing there in a daze, hurry up, the old man is still waiting for you to toast to him.”

A group of military officials walked briskly and left the servants behind in a short while. Housekeeper Qin rubbed his legs and called out to Gao Tan: “Xiao Gao, you know martial arts, don’t you? Help deliver these things to the military officials, so that they won’t be anxious later.”

Gao Tan was walking beside Zhao Yelan, bored, and suddenly said: “My lord, let me carry you instead.”

The others were taken aback, but Zhao Yelan had no objections. Just as he was about to change over, He Cuizhang said, “That’s right, the General has carried him for so long, how about me instead?”

“I’m also willing.” 

“Me too.”

Everyone expressed their willingness to carry the wounded, and finally even Zhong Yuehong said: “Let me do it.”

Zhao Yelan: “……”

He originally would have rather enjoyed it if the matter hadn’t become so awkward.

Yan Mingting turned his head to look at his subordinates, suddenly aware that Zhao Yelan had a stranglehold on his neck, as if secretly unwilling to let go. He said with a smile: “What are you thinking, is it your turn to carry my wife?”

The subordinates laughed simply and honestly. Gao Tan no longer insisted, was soon distracted by the wild flowers and fruits on the road, and turned his head and disappeared.

Zhao Yelan wasn’t worried about his safety. He only felt that his body was slightly hot. It was still March, but with his chest against the other’s back, their body temperatures would inevitably rise. This broad back inexplicably made him feel at ease, and he almost fell asleep.

When they reached the top of the mountain, the sun was almost at its zenith. Zhao Yelan stood feebly on the ground, and Yan Mingting helped him to rest under the shade of a nearby tree, then prepared to worship with his subordinates.

Zhao Yelan looked at the mausoleum. It was very large, and besides the main tomb, there were two other tombs beside it.

After a while, incense smoke rose from the censer in front of the tombstone.

Zhao Yelan walked over with a limp. Yan Mingting brought him three sticks of incense and then stood beside him.

“Father, mother, younger brother, this is the new master of the General’s Mansion. He came with me to see you.”

Zhao Yelan had no words to say, and only stared at the characters on the tombstone, solemnly bowing three times with him.

After burning the incense, Yang Mingting fell silent. Rather, it was the subordinates who went to the grave to chatter, talking about the unforgettable battles they had experienced.

Zhao Yelan listened for a while, and found that Yan Mingting had gone to the shade of the tree at some point, watching quietly like a wooden sculpture.

He walked over slowly and stood beside him. Only then did Yan Mingting react, pointing to the two side tombs and saying playfully: “There is my mother, and my brother. When I die, I will be buried here too.”

Zhao Yelan said coldly: “Saying this, are you not afraid that your parents will rise from their coffins in anger?”

Yan Mingting smiled, saying abruptly: “My mother took me out to ride horses and died of a sudden illness within a few days of returning. My younger brother was very weak, completely different from me. He died of a serious illness when he was only a few years old. Tell me, am I really an evil star? Will I kill everyone close to me?”

Zhao Yelan looked at him in surprise: “I thought you wouldn’t believe such nonsense.”

“There will always be times when people are afraid, when their hearts are fragile,” Yan Mingting said softly.

“Then you must not let others become your weakness. It would only be a burden and a hindrance,” Zhao Yelan said decisively.

“Is that why you keep yourself closed away?” 

“Is that not good?” Zhao Yelan smiled faintly. “In this way, nothing can harm me again, and my life is in my own hands.”

Yan Mingting was noncommittal, but he felt intuitively that this sentence contained many things. Zhao Yelan must have had extremely painful experiences. Just now, he said, “nothing can harm me again,” words that caused him to be completely afraid of showing his weakness.

“Have you ever thought that the successive deaths of so many people around you was caused by a person?” Zhao Yelan prompted.

As expected, Yan Mingting regained his spirit: “What do you mean?”

“The tallest trees in the forest are the first to be blown down by strong wind. Although your Yan family has been at the border all year round, the most dreadful existence is the presence of a large army. Perhaps your father’s death was not that simple,” Zhao Yelan said.

“Are you guessing wildly, or do you have evidence?”

“Guessing.” Zhao Yelan observed his expression, and could see that the other party was very cautious about this matter. He continued seamlessly, “I am suspicious by nature, which is why I asked this question. If it is intrusive, I won’t ask any more.”

Yan Mingting shook his head and asked: “Then who do you think would want my father to die?”

“I don’t know, but anyway, it wouldn’t be me.”

Yan Mingting was taken aback.

Zhao Yelan said: “I have no grievances or enmities with your father, and would not harm him. Do you believe me?”

“I believe you.”

“……” Zhao Yelan, who had been mentally compiling a lot of arguments, was suddenly blocked with a single sentence.

“You truly believe me?”

“En.”

“Why?”

“Because you are Zhao Yelan.”

Zhao Yelan looked at him doubtfully.

“Did you guess what I have been looking for?” Yan Mingting said, “After Xiao Gao was rescued, he would definitely tell you what questions he was asked, and with your intelligence, it should have been easy to guess that I ordered people to kidnap him. If you had a guilty conscience, you would have definitely struck first. At this time, it would have been impossible for me and my subordinates to come to worship at the General’s tomb unscathed.”

“So you deliberately asked Xiao Gao those leading questions? To see if I would tip my hand?” Zhao Yelan glanced at him appreciatively. Unfortunately, the other party still didn’t guess that even Gao Tan’s kidnapping was arranged by him.

Yan Mingting did not deny it: “I just wanted to confirm.”

Zhao Yelan narrowed his eyes slightly: “Then asking about what my attitude is towards you was also intentional?”

“That was on a whim,” Yan Mingting blurted out, then paused and looked at him with some embarrassment. “Is what he said true?”

Zhao Yelan pondered for a moment, thinking about whether to tell him the truth of the abduction or not. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gao Tan coming back, and immediately diverted his attention: “Xiao Gao, what are you holding?”

Yan Mingting did not wait for an answer, having received it from his tangled expression. He didn’t deny it! According to Zhao Yelan’s temperament, if he didn’t like someone, he just didn’t like them, so how could he be so tangled!

Not denying it was tantamount to acquiescing.

Yan Mingting’s peripheral vision kept falling on Zhao Yelan, and he saw Zhao Yelan taking a bouquet of wild flowers from Gao Tan.

“I picked them just now, do you like them, my lord?” Gao Tan asked.

Zhao Yelan lowered his head and fiddled with the colorful mountain flowers: “Where did you pick them all?”

“On the way.”

For some reason, when Yan Mingting looked at this scene, he was inexplicably depressed. Snatching the flowers from his hand, he said righteously: “These flowers are nice, my mother likes them the most, can you give them to her?”

Zhao Yelan said generously: “Take them.”

Yan Mingting gave Gao Tan a haughty look and took the flowers, placing them in front of the tomb. Turning around, he saw Gao Tan take some wild fruits out of his pocket and offer them to Zhao Yelan.

He stepped forward quickly and snatched the fruit away, saying, “This fruit is good, my brother likes it very much, can you give it to my brother?”

“……Take them.” Zhao Yelan said, “Unexpectedly, your family is quite easy to provide for.”

Gao Tan saw that the flowers and fruits given to his lord were gone, and felt aggrieved and frustrated. He said, “My lord, those were all for you……”

“It’s fine.” Zhao Yelan patted his head. “I’m sure there are still a lot of flowers on the side of the road. You can pick some more.”

“Okay!” Gao Tan hurriedly ran down to pick flowers.

After the worship was over, the group went down the mountain. Zhao Yelan was still lying on Yan Mingting’s back, and had the leisure to slowly appreciate the spring flowers and mountain scenery on both sides.

“My lord, I’m back!” Halfway up the mountain, Gao Tan chased after him, his arms full of wildflowers. When he was about to catch up with Zhao Yelan, Yan Mingting suddenly accelerated to a pace that was like flying.

Gao Tan: “ ? ”

“Yan Mingting, slow down!” Zhao Yelan let out a cry of surprise, caught off guard, and hugged his neck tightly. The surrounding scenery sped by before him, and he buried his head in terror.

Yan Mingting hesitated for a moment, then ran even faster.

“General, wait a moment, let me hand over the flowers to my lord!” Gao Tan continued to chase after him.

The other military officials didn’t understand, but they used qinggong to catch up. The poor group of servants looked at their backs, which disappeared in the blink of an eye, and continued down the mountain bitterly.

After finally arriving at the city, Housekeeper Qin remembered another matter, tremblingly came to the balm shop, and asked the shopkeeper, “Do you have any picture books or the like?”

When the shopkeeper saw it was him, he immediately understood, mysteriously taking a book out of a hidden compartment: “This is a treasure, a good thing that is hard to buy outside. It also depends on if you are old in age but young in mind, so I will show you.”

“What do you mean, old of age but young of mind?” Housekeeper Qin felt wronged but was unable to appeal, so he simply didn’t explain. He opened the picture book and glanced at it. There was both text and pictures, and he paid the money before leaving in satisfaction.

Since the General had actually used the ointment to rub Zhao-daren’s knees, he was sure that the two of them didn’t know how to have sex properly.

Fortunately, before the big wedding, the General was not in the mansion when the nanny from the palace came to teach some instructions, so he had to write down some pointers. At first he thought he would never need it in his life, but he didn’t expect the General to be so fast……

After running around for much of the day, Zhao Yelan went to the study to lie down and read after finishing his meal. Gao Tan crouched at the door, still mourning the wildflowers that were blown away in the wind while running.

Yan Mingting had gone to discuss matters with his subordinates, and returned around midnight. Zhao Yelan had already briefly washed up and lay down to sleep.

Perhaps due to going to the tomb that day, not long after Zhao Yelan closed his eyes, the figures of his parents appeared in his mind. Waking up in a cold sweat, he heard Yan Mingting whispering instructions to Gao Tan at the door. “Your lord is asleep, why don’t you go back and rest? By the way, tomorrow morning, you can go to Ming Ji Restaurant to buy some of his favorite stuffed steamed buns and come back.”

There was the sound of the door closing. If Yan Mingting stepped lightly, no one would be able to detect his footsteps.

Zhao Yelan turned over curiously. Seeing Yan Mingting standing beside the bed, he was startled: “Must you be so creepy?”

“I’m just seeing if you’re asleep.” Yan Mingting smiled shamefacedly and turned to lay on the floor.

Zhao Yelan supported his head with one hand, looked at him for a while, and said, “I can’t sleep.”

“Why?”

“I just can’t sleep, does there need to be a reason?”

“Then I’ll tell you a bedtime story?”

“……” Zhao Yelan said, “A different story, I don’t want to hear the one about Wang-gongzi.”

“Then how about I tell you how He Cuizhang caught a sword with his bare hands?”

“Not interested.”

Yan Mingting guessed that he was only interested in literary anecdotes. Thinking that Zhao Yelan also kept a lot of books in this room, he planned to find one and read it to him.

Walking to the drawer beside the bed, he opened it and saw a book sitting on top. Taking it out in a dignified way, he sat down by the bed, opened it to the first page, and said very articulately: “A god came down to earth, dressed in women’s clothes. Because of his beauty, he was favored by the prince and brought back to the palace for a night of romance. Only then did he know that this person was the rabbit god who had descended to the world……”

Yan Mingting was taken aback for a moment. “Ah, this……the rabbit god?”

Zhao Yelan gave a slight frown and sat up suspiciously to look at the book. He saw the painting on the other side was of two men entangled together, with a line of small characters attached below: Backyard flowers are very delicate, and need to be picked carefully.

Only now did Yan Mingting notice the painting, and looked at him in surprise.

The two looked at each other with strange and complicated expressions – because they each thought that the picture book had been prepared by the other party.

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

The room was full of fragrance, rich and potent.

Zhao Yelan lit a dozen or so incense sticks in one go, and Yan Mingting was smoked so thoroughly that physical tears began to form in his eyes, so he had to beg for mercy: “I’m sorry, I was wrong, Zhao-daren, achoo……Zhao-daren, you let me go, ba!”

Zhao Yelan leaned in front of him, staring at his wet, red eyes, and felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction: “The great General was actually made to cry because of a little incense?”

Yan Mingting: “Achoo! Yes, yes, let me go, wuwuwuwuwuwu, I beg you!”

“……” So spineless.

Seeing that he never broke free of the rope and was willing to be tossed to such an extent, Zhao Yelan undid the rope and let him go.

Yan Mingting, who had regained his freedom, ran to the courtyard and opened his mouth, taking a big gulp of fresh air.

“Someone come and get some hot water ready,” Zhao Yelan stood at the door and shouted.

As soon as these words fell, Housekeeper Qin brought some servants to deliver the water.

Zhao Yelan looked at the old housekeeper suspiciously: “You’ve been quite vigilant lately.”

“I ought to, I ought to. After all, I have experience,” Housekeeper Qin said with a smile.

After delivering the water, Housekeeper Qin approached Yan Mingting and saw him wiping tears from the corners of his red eyes. He said worriedly: “General, what is wrong with you?”

“I was bullied by Zhao Yelan,” Yan Mingting complained.

“Then he……bullied pretty hard, ah.” Housekeeper Qin was very surprised, and patted him on the back reassuringly, “However, this may be my lord showing favor to you.”

Yan Mingting was stunned: “Ah? This is a show of favor?”

“Yes, ah. Otherwise, has he done this to any other people?” 

“I don’t know……” Yan Mingting wasn’t sure if Zhao Yelan would burn incense for others if they made a mistake.

It happened that Gao Tan was passing by, so he grabbed him and asked: “If someone speaks taboo words, how will your family’s lord deal with it?”

“Kill them,” Gao Tan said innocently.

Housekeeper Qin was inwardly taken aback, but he saw Yan Mingting’s expression relax slightly: “You’re right, he really treats me differently.”

After breathing the fresh air in the courtyard for a long time, Yan Mingting felt that his nose and throat were much more comfortable. Pushing open the door lightly, a faint fragrance could still be smelled in the room. He heard a rustling sound and turned his head to see Zhao Yelan stretching out a wet hand from behind the screen. He tried to grab the clothes hanging on the side, but it seemed that he couldn’t reach them. The man stood up with the sound of splashing water, and his slender fingers touched the air a few times.

“Do you need help?” Yan Mingting asked loudly, walking up to the screen.

Perhaps because he didn’t expect him to enter the room without permission, Zhao Yelan exclaimed in surprise.

Yan Mingting heard his voice and went over, and was stupefied. He had just wanted to come help, but that white upper body was presented in front of his eyes, and his heart beat noticeably faster.

Something wasn’t right.

Not only was his heartbeat wrong, but the scars on Zhao Yelan’s body were also wrong. There were two short scars beneath the beautiful collarbones, and one on his waist and abdomen that sloped around to his back.

These were not things that should be present on a pampered body. Yan Mingting finally understood why Zhao Yelan was so angry when he asked about the past.

“Who told you to come in!” Zhao Yelan immediately sat back in the basin. Water splashed onto his hair, and there was animosity in his eyes.

“Sorry, I just thought you needed someone to lend a hand.” Yan Mingting immediately turned his back, thought for a moment, and then picked up the clothes behind him, passing them over without looking back.

“Put on your clothes first, the water is cold and you might catch an illness.”

After a long time, Zhao Yelan grabbed the clothes.

Yan Mingting heard the sound of lapping water and the sound of a towel being rubbed. Holding his breath, he didn’t dare to look back at all, until he heard the sound of a sharp sword piercing the air. A long sword pressed against his back.

“What did you see?” Zhao Yelan asked coldly.

“I saw……a beauty who fell into the water?” Yan Mingting said cautiously.

The sword poked in again.

Yan Mingting raised his hands and surrendered: “I admit it, I saw the scars.”

Zhao Yelan’s eyes went cold, and he was about to poke in again, but Yan Mingting dodged and turned to look at him.

The two confronted each other for a short while, and Yan Mingting suddenly and outrageously pulled open the lapel of his clothes, saying righteously, “Isn’t it just a few scars? Come, let me show you mine.”

Zhao Yelan paused. His eyes fell to the scars on his chest, which were much more serious than his own.

“This is only the chest. Do you want to see? There’s more on the back, ba.” Yan Mingting turned around and was about to take off his clothes.

“Enough.” Zhao Yelan threw the sword on the floor indifferently, took a deep breath, and walked to the side to dry his hair with a towel.

Yan Mingting sighed, straightened his clothes, and called someone to carry the basin out. Then he looked at the person sitting on the bed and said: “Don’t be flustered, scars are the symbol of  a man!”

“From your point of view, it is indeed symbolic.” Zhao Yelan sneered. “For others, it is only shameful.”

“I don’t think so. Perhaps it is because of these scars that you are who you are today?”

“Who I am today?” Zhao Yelan raised his head with a false smile on his face. His voice was cold. “A courtier whom everyone detests, a colleague hated by the court, a pawn feared by the Emperor, a man who married into the back house, which identity can be worthy of my rejoicing and gratitude?”

Yan Mingting watched him in silence, then sat down beside him and said, “Have you ever thought about changing your path and becoming a good official praised by everyone?”

Zhao Yelan scoffed and said: “I only know that there are two roads in the world, toward life and toward death. There is no middle road for me to take.”

“There is,” Yan Mingting said softly. “It’s just that you dare not.”

Zhao Yelan threw the wet towel at him, then turned over on the bed to go to sleep.

“Your hair isn’t completely dry yet, if you fall asleep, you might get a headache,” Yan Mingting reminded him.

However, the other party turned his back to him, remained motionless, and didn’t intend to speak to him.

Yan Mingting took a dry towel and continued to wipe his wet hair for him, saying: “Forget it, let’s not talk about this. Let’s talk about something interesting……en, do you still want to hear bedtime stories?”

“Get lost,” Zhao Yelan said without looking back.

“Then I could tell you how the soldiers’ drills went?” Yan Mingting remembered another thing. “By the way, I have been going to morning court these days and haven’t had time to supervise your horse stance. How about we set a new time and practice hard?”

“Get lost.”

“Don’t you want to live a long life? Having a good foundation is better than taking too many medicines and eating delicacies. You know He Cuizhang, when he first joined the army, he was as thin as a monkey, and like you, he could have been blown away by the wind. Look at his appearance now, isn’t he very……”

“Ugly.”

“……” Yan Mingting coughed. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell him that.”

In this way, Yan Mingting continued talking to him in a low voice and Zhao Yelan occasionally responded, relaxing his vigilance.

Dazed, he was a little at a loss, aware that his anger seemed to inexplicably disappear at some point.

Maybe it was because his scalp felt slightly relaxed when his hair was wiped, or maybe because Yan Mingting had never expressed strong hostility toward him, making him forgive the other’s lack of propriety again and again.

But too many things had happened today, and he couldn’t be bothered to waste his thoughts anymore. He closed his eyes, even forgetting to cover himself with a blanket.

Waking up the next day, Zhao Yelan found that he was tightly wrapped in a blanket. He sat up slowly and looked at the bedding and pillows on the floor, which were neatly folded.

The corners of his mouth curved slightly, and after breakfast, he went to the Imperial Academy. The gazes of his colleagues were extremely strange. Because the news of him snatching the beauty at the brothel had been publicized last night, everyone had remarkable expressions on their faces when they saw him.

Zhao Yelan even wanted to make a painting of each of them in order to study the changes of human expressions.

Ruan Xian didn’t show any extra sentiments, and after greeting him familiarly, he went to attend to his own business.

In the afternoon, the Emperor came to the Imperial Academy to play chess again and got straight to the point: “It was very lively outside. Did you really go to a brothel last night?”

Zhao Yelan nodded: “Yes, I had a conflict with Yan Mingting on the street and rushed in impulsively.”

Zhao Xuan didn’t expect such an answer, and laughed out loud: “So that is the case. I didn’t expect you to display such a temper and catch Liu-daren from the Ministry of Rites in the courtesan’s room.”

“This official didn’t know that Liu-daren was there.” Zhao Yelan looked slightly embarrassed. “If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have said anything.”

“It doesn’t matter. If you hadn’t inadvertently barged in, I wouldn’t have known that Liu-daren, who has always kept himself clean, would go to the red-light district in private.” Zhao Xuan said coldly, “It seems that we need to change out the Chief Examiner.”

The Imperial exams were just around the corner, and in the Xuan Dynasty, people from the Ministry of Rights were in charge of this matter every year. If there was a problem with the examiner’s conduct, he would likely be criticized, making people doubt whether he could take up the position. What’s more, Zhao Xuan had only been on the throne for one year, and was thirsty for talents. He urgently needed a large number of talents to fill his decaying Imperial court.

“Do you have any recommendations for the position of Chief Examiner?”

Zhao Yelan looked up from playing chess: “This official has no intentions of going to court, and can only hope that this person will be fair and upright, without unhealthy tendencies, and be an example for students.”

“En, I think so too,” Zhao Xuan said with satisfaction.

Seeing that he looked confident, Zhao Yelan knew that he had someone he favored, so he didn’t ask any further questions and just smiled lightly for show.

After returning to the mansion, he saw servants rushing in and out, and went to the inner courtyard. Seeing that Yan Mingting was discussing with Housekeeper Qin, he casually asked in passing: “What are you talking about?”

“Answering Furen, tomorrow is the anniversary of the death of the old general. We are discussing what preparations need to be done. Furen, will you go together?” Housekeeper Qin asked.

In previous years, Housekeeper Qin took all his servants to the grave to pay homage on the anniversary of his death. The General was back this year and married a new wife, so he still needed to confirm it.

Yan Mingting originally thought that Zhao Yelan would refuse, but who knew that Zhao Yelan would consider it for a moment, his thoughts obscure, and then readily agree.

Housekeeper Qin beamed with joy, and then immediately retreated to start making purchases. When he passed a balm shop, he suddenly stopped, thinking that the General and his wife were often noisy at night. Furen was already in poor health, and if he was a little careless, he could easily encounter trouble.

He asked the others to bring some things home first, then walked into the shop and whispered to the shopkeeper: “Is there any ointment for the boudoir?”

The shopkeeper was about to fetch it, but was stopped by Housekeeper Qin again: “Ei, that is……the kind for men.”

The shopkeeper looked at Housekeeper Qin’s old appearance in surprise, smirked suggestively, then went to a dark case on the other side to rummage through it.

Knowing that he was misunderstood, Housekeeper Qin waved his hands again and again: “No, it’s not for me.”

“I understand, you have a friend?” The shopkeeper gave him a meaningful glance.

“Aiya, you don’t care who it is, just get me some boxes!”

After dinner in the evening, Yan Mingting saw Zhao Yelan go to the study to lie down and read a book again, and stopped him: “Don’t read, come and exercise with me.”

“Won’t go. Leave.”

“How about a walk to aid digestion? Take a walk after dinner and live to ninety-nine.”

Zhao Yelan refused again, but was forced to take a walk in the back courtyard. Yan Mingting persuaded him persistently: “It’s such an auspicious time, a dark and windy night^[1]……”

Zhao Yelan gave him a sidelong glance.

Yan Mingting coughed twice and reorganized his language: “It is an auspicious time, the moon is bright and the wind is quiet, which makes you look elegant and refined. If you could make a few horse stances under this bright moonlight, Chang’e^[2] will be put to shame when she sees you.”

“Get lost.”

To prevent Yan Mingting from dragging him forcefully again, Zhao Yelan decided to run away first.

He turned around and started to run, but couldn’t see clearly in the dark. Accidentally stepping on an uneven stone, he fell hard on the cobblestone path.

“……”

Zhao Yelan lay on the ground, made a fist in slight annoyance, and thumped the ground.

What extraordinary shame and humiliation!

In the next moment, he was carried into Yan Mingting’s arms. “See, when you don’t exercise when you are told to exercise, you fall after running only a few steps. Will your left foot trip over your right foot when you are walking another day?” Yan Mingting laughed happily and wantonly.

Zhao Yelan continuously beat his chest in anger: “It’s none of your business, let me down!”

“You are the one who said it, ba.” Yan Mingting put him down. “Come on, take two steps.”

Zhao Yelan took two unwilling steps and looked back at him angrily.

“Not bad. Let’s not go for a walk tonight, and make an appointment for another day.” Yan Mingting walked to his side, and then kept going. As soon as he took another step, his sleeve was grabbed by someone.

He looked back to see Zhao Yelan staring at the ground, gritting his teeth as he said: “……Bring me back.”

“You’ll stop showing off?”

Zhao Yelan was quiet for a moment, and then nodded, enduring the humiliation.

The corners of Yan Mingting’s mouth curved up silently, and then he lifted him horizontally into his arms.

When Housekeeper Qin was cleaning the corridor, he saw General Yan carrying Zhao-daren back to the room and couldn’t help but blush, quickly lowering his head and pretending not to see. He only inwardly hoped that the General would quietly figure out what he had done.

When Yan Mingting brought him back to the room and lifted his trouser leg to check the wound, Zhao Yelan frowned tightly.

He moved as gingerly as possible and rolled it up above his knee. It was visibly scraped and bruised, with a little blood oozing out.

It was so late, too late to find a doctor. Yan Mingting rummaged through the boxes and cabinets, looking for medicine, but found several bottles of new ointment in the cabinet next to the bed. As soon as he opened one, he smelled a faint fragrance, which Zhao Yelan should like.

While cleaning all the way to the side room, Housekeeper Qin saw that the door to the masters’ bedroom was open. Suspiciously looking inside, he saw Yan Mingting taking the ointment he had specially prepared and rubbing it on Zhao Yelan’s knee.

Housekeeper Qin said in horror: “General Yan, that stuff is not used there!”

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[1] A dark and windy night (月黑风高) is a metaphor for a dangerous environment. ⮐

[2] Cháng’e: The lady in the moon in Chinese mythology. ⮐

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Chapter Nineteen <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Twenty-One

In the end, Uncle He sent someone to deliver the food.

It was still the exquisite little dining cart delivered to the door, and Huo Tinglan pushed it in himself.

The bedroom was filled with Ye Ci’s pheromones, which were extremely rich.

The sweet smell had changed after the permanent marking. It still smelled of vanilla, but just like delicate and tender flower buds were swollen, red, and fully bloomed under the irrigation of fertilizers, Ye Ci’s glands also exuded a sweet and fragrant smell after the marking, very infectious. Huo Tinglan, who was at the peak of possessiveness, was so grudging that he even refused to open the window, let alone allow outsiders to smell the ambiguous atmosphere.

During the last few days of the holiday, in order to satisfy his unreasonable possessiveness, Huo Tinglan simply installed a bed table and coaxed Ye Ci to do his homework like this.

Sometimes even while holding Ye Ci……at the same time, he let him sit at the desk to do problems, calling it “convenient tutoring.”

Ye Ci knew that Huo-shushu was no longer the good Huo-shushu he had known in the past, but never thought that he would do such a ridiculous thing.

It was simply……unreasonable!

The twenty-day holiday ended quickly.

According to Tiancheng’s tradition, in order to temper the perseverance of the college entrance exam candidates, the school would arrange a week-long military training every year at the beginning of the first semester of the third year of senior high school. This tradition had been followed for many years, evolving to this day. It was more a formality than anything, and they wouldn’t really try their best to make these high school seniors suffer. Some training programs were even quite interesting, but the process of isolation was the real deal.

Not being able to see each other for seven days, but also enduring the jealousy that fermented as his Omega ate and slept with classmates and trained together……

For Huo Tinglan, not wanting Ye Ci to go to the military training was just a matter of telling his assistant to take care of it, but he didn’t want to disturb Ye Ci’s normal high school life because of his selfish desires. Besides, Ye Ci’s temperament was so introverted. He hadn’t made any friends in Tiangcheng for nearly half a year, and probably didn’t have much chance to socialize with others. These several days of communal living was an opportunity for Ye Ci to build good relationships with his classmates and integrate into the class, so he shouldn’t deprive him of it.

Young eaglets could not be raised into canaries.

Reason eventually triumphed over irrationality.

Before delivering Ye Ci to the training base, Huo Tinglan packed his suitcase with his own hands, going through all the items, big and small, to make them all smell of his own pheromones. There were two full packs of scent-blocking patches, and the words “Strong Lemon Mint Fragrance” were printed on them. After they were applied, an Alpha with a keen sense of smell could only smell a soulless chemical scent.

“……How many changes of clothes do you want to bring?” Huo Tinglan opened a drawer in the cloakroom.

Ye Ci’s frequently used items were moved to the master bedroom despite the fact that they had separate rooms.

There were rows of neatly folded “small square parcels” in the long, flat drawer. They were mainly pure white cotton, with the occasional black and fine silk ones, brand new as if just purchased, probably because Ye Ci was too embarrassed to wear them.

Out of an illogical desire for monopoly, Huo Tinglan folded these underwear by himself.

He entrusted the housekeeper and the staff to be responsible for all the trivial matters of his own life. When it was Ye Ci’s turn, especially after the permanent mark, he was itching to do these things without the help of others.

“Those……I’ll pack those myself.” Ye Ci hurried over and grabbed three of them.

It was definitely enough to bring three for seven days. He washed them every day, and the climate in early autumn was dry, so it was more than adequate to rotate them.

Huo Tinglan held him back and fiddled with the clothes in his hands unhurriedly, saying with disapproval: “Just three pairs? You’re going for seven days.”

“I wash them every day,” Ye Ci explained, “While training and sweating, these personal things can’t be hoarded……otherwise bacteria will grow.”

“Where will you hang them after washing?” Huo Tinglan chuckled, pestering him quite unreasonably and making no secret of his jealousy, otherwise he would have a hard time these days. “Hanging them out in the dormitory……won’t all your classmates see them?”

“It’s nothing.” Ye Ci stared. “Those who live together……must all be Omegas, so it doesn’t matter.”

He had a point.

Normal people would think so.

“……Sorry, baby.” Huo Tinglan was silent for a moment, laughed at himself, and said with sincere apology, “Am I being unreasonable?”

Huo-shushu was here again! It was that expression again!

Ye Ci looked at him from the corner of his eyes. That face was honest, but was in fact secretly improper. He muttered in a low voice: “As long as you know, remember not to do it next time.”

After saying so, he just slipped away.

“What?” Huo Tinglan laughed in surprise.

The little gentleman had learned to be wicked.

Which bastard did he learn it from?

His little mouth still stuttered, but would he stop stuttering in the future? Would he still obediently let him bully?

If the soft method didn’t work, he could only use harder means. He reacted quickly, and Ye Ci had only taken two steps before Huo Tinglan grabbed him like a cat by the neck.

“You’ve revealed your true face again!” Ye Ci quickly accused.

Huo Tinglan laughed out loud and stopped pretending. He picked Ye Ci up and put him on the sofa, pressing him firmly down and even poking his ribs to profit at his expense. This made Ye Ci laugh and beg for mercy, and then reluctantly agree to bring seven pairs.

……He was bringing so many, like some kind of underwear maniac. Ye Ci was so tortured that his eyes filled with physical tears, and he had no choice but to pray that the desire for exclusiveness brought by the permanent mark would subside as soon as possible.

On the first day of the third year of high school, more than a dozen buses drove the group of seniors to the training base.

Male Omegas were rare in the population. Including him, there were only three in Ye Ci’s class. For the entire grade, they could barely even fill three six-person dormitories.

Although the dozen or so people were scattered in different classes, many of them knew each other, and they chatted enthusiastically in twos and threes from gathering to sleeping. The two cute little Omegas who were in the same class as Ye Ci put their heads together to watch a dance video of a certain Alpha internet idol, shrieking and clutching each other from time to time. Ye Ci didn’t understand, and maintained his usual silence. The other strange Omega who shared the dormitory with him saw that he was 1.8 meters tall and had a cold appearance, and was a little fearful of him. Ye Ci glanced at them inadvertently, and the chirping chatter of those several people dropped down, like a nest of chickens with a hawk hovering above their heads.

The training intensity of the first day was approximately equal to zero. After dividing the dormitories and tidying up, the students who had changed into camouflage uniforms went downstairs to gather for a half-hour meeting. They listened to the school leaders’ speeches, had a face-to-face meeting with the instructors, and then got to know the common area and training ground, and this half day was over. When everyone went back to the dormitories, a delivery car was parked at the entrance of the building. The use of high-power electrical appliances was prohibited in the dormitory building, and there was no place to boil water. Therefore, the school was responsible for distributing drinking water to the students. Each dormitory was allocated a lot of boxes of mineral water, and everyone was busily transporting them into the building.

Those male Omegas were petite and tender, with slender arms and legs, and they were all young masters who had grown up spoiled. A box of water weighed more than 20 kilograms, and they had to climb to the fourth floor, so they couldn’t move them at all. But this dormitory was full of Omega and Beta girls, and they didn’t know where to start to catch a strong man. While they were discussing amongst each other, Ye Ci had already picked up a box and stacked it on top of another. With a weight of nearly fifty catties, he picked it up lightly and deftly, and slipped upstairs in a hurry.

He ran fast, and when he went downstairs to move more, he bumped into his temporary roommates who were working together to carry the water up the stairs. The little faces of the Omegas were flushed with exhaustion, and they sighed in despair while climbing the stairs.

“……Give it to me, ba.” Ye Ci slowed on the steps and coughed uncomfortably, glancing at the few people and looking away shyly.

He had rarely taken the initiative to communicate with people like this before.

On the one hand, he was too introverted, and on the other, he felt inferior because of his speech impediment, fearful of being ridiculed.

A stutter was often the object of teasing by those badly behaved students in class.

After seeing experts several times during the summer vacation and actively cooperating with the training, he could pretty much speak coherently in short sentences of four to five characters. At home, he often took the initiative to talk to Huo Tinglan, and could sometimes joke around naturally. The changes were subtle, and only when he came back to his senses did he realize that the matter of “speaking up” had unconsciously become less difficult.

“Then……thank you for your hard work, la.” The little Omega who was in the same class as Ye Ci raised his face and smiled kindly at him.

“Forget it.” Ye Ci turned his head away, his face suddenly flushed, and rushed upstairs with two boxes of water.

“……pff.”

“Why do I think that he’s so cute……”

“He blushed when he said that.”

“I remember he was in your class, right?”

They were all the same age and lived in the same dorm. With such a good starting opportunity, and knowing that Ye Ci was soft-tempered and not as cold as he looked, communication became natural.

Although the little Omegas couldn’t chat with Ye Ci, this didn’t prevent them from taking Ye Ci to the cafeteria for a meal after training.

The table was full of classmates, and there was also a place for him. There was a lot of noise in his ears. From time to time, someone would be afraid of neglecting him and would simply say a word to him in the middle of the lively chat.

Ye Ci often put his chopsticks down and responded earnestly.

It was really nice to not feel so alone anymore.

These days, Ye Ci had not been able to find a chance to be alone. There was a curfew in the dormitory building, and you couldn’t come and go at night. He and Huo Tinglan mainly communicated with each other by sending messages.

At eight o’clock in the evening, Huo Tinglan sent a series of messages. Ye Ci climbed to the upper bunk and sat against the wall so that no one could see his phone screen.

[Huo Tinglan]: [picture]

[Huo Tinglan]: [picture]

… …

The chat box was brushed with the honey-gold color of flesh.

None of them showed a face.

But Ye Ci could recognize them based on the outline of the pectoral muscles.

Ye Ci’s blood vessels almost exploded upon seeing it, and he hurriedly locked the screen. No one in the dormitory noticed him, but he was more nervous than a thief.

“……….”

How did Huo-shushu look like an erotic male model ! ! !

After calming down for a while, Ye Ci unlocked the screen.

[Huo Tinglan]: Do you like it, baby?

[Ye Ci]: Be careful of being banned.

[Ye Ci]: I’m still a student, so you can’t have an intimate chat with me.

After condemning him, he saved the pictures one by one with a blushing face.

Who could he possibly have learned that sanctimonious energy from.

Huo Tinglan could guess what Ye Ci was doing there, and to match him, he smiled and pretended to be serious, typing with his eyes down.

[Huo Tinglan]: Okay, no intimate talk.

[Huo Tinglan]: How are you getting along with your classmates? Are you tired from training?

The corners of Ye Ci’s lips curled up in a soft arc, and he typed a lot of words quickly.

[Ye Ci]: Very good, I went to the cafeteria with them these two days. I didn’t stutter much, and they didn’t seem to notice.

[Ye Ci]: In fact, I feel that the students in our school are quite nice.

[Ye Ci]: The training was very easy. In the 400-meter obstacle race this afternoon, I was faster than many Alphas, and brought back a lot of points for our group.

He was implicitly proud and shared his joy with Huo Tinglan.

The dozen or so little Omega boys were fascinated by him, and they almost regarded him as the glory of Omegas.

Ladders, high board walls, single-plank bridges, deep jumping pits……every time Ye Ci overcame an obstacle, they were screaming on the sidelines, more excited than when supporting their idols. They rushed up to hug Ye Ci, who was out of breath, and jumped up and down together.

Ye Ci had no choice but to politely dance with them a bit in embarrassment.

……This couldn’t be told to Huo-shushu.

Otherwise, he would definitely go crazy with jealousy.

As they chatted and chatted, it would soon be time to turn off the lights.

Huo Tinglan was afraid that he would damage his eyes if he looked at his phone in the dark, so he urged him to put the phone down, take a shower, and rest.

Ye Ci hesitated for a while, then poked his head out and looked around. The five roommates who had been chatting and gossiping so much that they forgot lights-out time were all panicking and preparing to go to the bathroom with their washbasins and toothbrushes, and no one noticed him.

He had received so many generous pictures from Huo-shushu, so out of consideration for reciprocity……

Ye Ci blushed, took a photo of himself, and quickly sent it.

He knew that Huo Tinglan would definitely like to see him, but hadn’t mentioned anything because he feared that it would be inconvenient for him in the dormitory.

[Ye Ci]: [picture]

[Ye Ci]: I’m going to sleep. Good night, Huo-shushu.

From his head to his toes, he wondered what Huo Tinglan’s next reaction would be.

He didn’t dare to look anymore, put his phone on silent, stuffed it under the pillow, then propped himself up on the bed rail and jumped down to wash.

……Reserving countless off-color remarks for the innocent pillow.

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Chapter Forty-Three << Table of Contents >> Chapter Forty-Five

Zhao Yelan clenched his fists and then loosened them. Picking up the teacup on the table, and seeing that there was no more tea to pour, he set it back down heavily and abruptly raised his voice: “You sober up!”

“Look, you’re embarrassed to the point of anger.”

“……”

Yan Mingting reached out and patted his back: “Okay, don’t worry, I understand, you’re right. Let’s pretend we don’t know about this, you don’t like me at all.”

Zhao Yelan couldn’t bear it anymore and kicked him: “Get the hell out!”

Yan Mingting went to the door, then turned around with a smile: “It’s time for breakfast, no matter how shy you are, you can’t starve yourself.”

“Scram!”

Breakfast was eaten separately. Yan Mingting waited in the hall for a while, until Gao Tan came to serve the dishes and said that his lord would eat in the room.

Yan Mingting assented, but asked another question: “Were you seriously injured yesterday?”

“Not seriously,” Gao Tan said. “Thank you, General, for coming to rescue me.”

With a guilty conscience, Yan Mingting turned back to his food.

Zhao Yelan finished his meal in the room. Looking at the time, it was time to go to the Imperial Academy.

The new official uniform was a green robe, and there was no need to wear an identification talisman. Although it was all a single piece, it was difficult to hide his elegance.

Gao Tan watched in amazement: “My lord, you look the best in whatever clothes you wear.”

“Now your tongue is nimble again?” Zhao Yelan glanced at him coldly, picked up the sachet in his hand, and smacked him on the head with it. “Do you know how much trouble you have caused me?”

Gao Tan covered his head and asked blankly: “Am I in trouble again?”

“En, big trouble.” Zhao Yelan put the sachet on and handed him a piece of silver: “Go see the doctor yourself, ba.”

“Thank you, my lord!” Gao Tan took the silver and sent him to the door, then turned around and took the silver to buy snacks.

The Imperial Academy did not need to go to morning court, and used a shift system for when the Emperor called. Today was a day that Zhao Yelan was on duty. He stood at the courtyard gate and looked up at the plaque, his thoughts inscrutable.

After stepping through the gate, he saw that his colleagues had arrived and were compiling classics. There were many people, but it was a little quiet. Those who became scholars were addicted to it, and didn’t care about worldly affairs.

“Isn’t this Zhao Yelan, Zhao-daren?” A Bachelor^[1] took the lead to identify him, greeted him with a forced smile, and then went about his business.

Others looked over one after another with varied expressions, but it was obvious that nobody welcomed him. 

Most likely it was scholarly contempt, or their dislike of Zhao Yelan’s intrigue in court, which made them look down on him.

Although the Imperial Academy was the place many students aspired to, it was a big joke that Zhao Yelan was transferred from a first-rank minister to the Imperial Academy.

Everyone nodded their heads in embarrassment, not knowing what trouble Zhao Yelan would cause the Imperial Academy in the future.

“Zhao-daren, excuse me for not going out to meet you. I hope you will forgive this Ruan Xian.” A young man in his prime came to greet him generously. “I am also an editor, so how about I give you a tour first?”

“Ruan Xian?” Zhao Yelan smiled slightly. “I have admired you for a long time.”

“My lord knows me?”

“The talented and elegant previous third place scholar in the Imperial examinations, who doesn’t know your name?”

Never thinking that Zhao Yelan would remember him when he was a mere third place, Ruan Xian smiled shyly and led him inside, saying, “It was just a little bit of luck. If I were to take the Imperial examinations with Zharo-daren, in which round would I be able to make third? What’s more, the first and second place scholars are more talented than me, I can only do some small errands and try my best to solve problems for the Emperor and the people.”

Zhao Yelan smiled but said nothing.

When the people around saw the two talking and smiling together, their faces became a bit strange, especially the previous first and second place scholars, whose brows never loosened.

The top three in each Imperial examination would enter the Imperial Academy, starting as editors. Seeing that this year’s spring was coming soon, and a new batch of talents was about to enter the Imperial Academy, it would be difficult if they wanted to stand out.

They usually couldn’t go to court, and the Emperor didn’t like people who flattered and curried favor, so they could only follow orders diligently and steadfastly. But how many gray-haired people in the Imperial Academy had yet to achieve success?

This Ruan Xian immediately got involved with Zhao Yelan. Even if Zhao Yelan would never return to court in this life, if he could find out the Emperor’s preferences through him, the road to promotion would be much smoother.

After they circled around, Zhao Yelan was brought to Jingshi Pavilion, where he would compile and write historical records in the future. 

Others saw him pick up the annals of the late Emperor and read it quietly. He didn’t make trouble, so they each breathed a sigh of relief and got busy.

Not long after, someone outside shouted that the Emperor was coming, and everyone put down their work one after another, getting up to go and pay respects.

Zhao Yelan fell in at the back of the line.

There was a group of court ladies and eunuchs standing in front, with Zhao Xuan at the head. He asked, “Where are the chess players?”

The Imperial Academies also recruited some chess players and musicians for entertainment when the Emperor had leisure time. 

As soon as the chess players stood up, Zhao Xuan heard a familiar coughing sound and looked at the person in the back. Kneeling on the ground with everyone, he coughed until his face turned pale, but refused to raise his head.

“You got down first.” After giving orders to the chess players, he walked to Zhao Yelan’s side and said, “Come and play with me.”

“Yes.” When Zhao Yelan stood up, he was dizzy for a moment after kneeling for so long. His blood supply was insufficient, and he almost lost his footing.

Zhao Xuan subconsciously tried to reach out, but the other party had already taken two steps back while pressing his head, then cupped his hands respectfully: “Your Majesty, this way, please.”

Everyone looked at these familiar yet slightly estranged people and were a little uncertain about the Emperor’s attitude toward Zhao Yelan.

The chess room was not large. Usually if the Emperor wanted to play chess, he could just call someone into the palace, and he rarely came to the Imperial Academy in person.

Zhao Yelan coughed hard a few more times before feeling better, pressed his throat, and walked to the chessboard to sit down.

“You’ve lost weight.” Zhao Xuan examined his figure. “How are you these days?”

“Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I am very well,” Zhao Yelan said.

The two looked at each other silently, and after a moment, Zhao Xuan abruptly said: “Three teams of Gold Collar Guards all died at the hands of Yan Mingting.”

Zhao Yelan sighed deeply: “It was only when I checked the corpses that I found out that they were our Gold Collar Guard. Yan Mingting was very vigilant, and as soon as he found that someone was following us, he took action. Without His Majesty’s order, I dared not inform him of the existence of our Gold Collar Guard.”

“En.” Zhao Xuan nodded, inexplicably pleased with the phrase “our Gold Collar Guard,” and was even more convinced that this was not arranged by him. He said with a smile, “If that is the case, then I will take back the Gold Collar Guard and you will be more careful in the future. If you are in danger……”

“This official will be careful.”

“En……” Zhao Xuan placed a black chess piece and asked, “How is the Imperial Academy?”

“Fair,” Zhao Yelan said vaguely.

“Is there anyone who is impressive?”

“Ruan Xian.” Zhao Yelan set a white chess piece down leisurely. “He treats others comprehensively. It is difficult to guarantee that he possesses tact and sophistication, but further observation can be made.”

“En, continue to help me look. Let us see if we can find another Zhao Yelan from here,” Zhao Xuan joked.

Zhao Yelan played with his chess piece, the corners of his mouth curling slightly: “Your Majesty, it is your turn.”

While Zhao Xuan played chess, he thought about the sophisticated and tactful person and asked: “In the Imperial examination last year, Ruan Xian’s literature was indeed not as good as the first place scholar, but he found new ways to answer the questions and won in wit.”

“Exactly.”

“Then I’ll listen to you, and observe for a while longer. There are many vacancies in the court now……” Zhao Xuan felt as if he had returned to the past, chatting with him about the affairs of the court and almost forgetting that the most sought-after vacancy in the court today was the position of Deputy Prime Minister. He stiffly brought a halt to the topic and continued to ask, “Does Ruan Xian have other strengths?”

“He is very good-looking.”

Zhao Xuan was slightly taken aback: “Good-looking?”

“En.” 

“……” Zhao Xuan looked at him meaningfully. “When did you learn to judge others by their appearance?”

Zhao Yelan smiled back: “I have only known Ruan Xian for half an hour, so how could I know his nature well? Of course I can only judge him by his appearance.”

Only then did Zhao Xuan nod, wondering: “Is he really so good-looking that you are full of praise?”

“Hasn’t His Majesty seen him?”

“Of course I’ve seen him, he’s obviously not half as good as you……” Zhao Xuan stopped abruptly and looked up at the other party.

“Your Majesty jokes, how can this sick and weak official compare to him?” Zhao Yelan set down a chess piece calmly. “There are many men in the world, each with their own advantages. Ruan Xian and this official are not of the same kind.”

“What about Yan Mingting? Is he the same kind as you?”

“Why did His Majesty bring him up?” Zhao Yelan made no secret of his distaste. “He is wretched.”

Zhao Xuan laughed loudly, lost two games in a row, and said with a smile: “It is still the most comfortable to play against you. You will never let me win. The chess players will only try to let me get ahead.”

After playing chess in the Imperial Academy for half a day, Zhao Yelan rested for a while after returning to the General’s Mansion. When he woke up, the sun was already positioned in the west.

Not long after, Yan Mingting also returned. When he returned to his room, he saw that Xiao Gao was massaging Zhao Yelan’s legs. He walked over to pat Xiao Gao: “You’re still injured, why are you still attending to him? Go back and rest properly.”

“But my lord’s legs are uncomfortable,” Gao Tan muttered, unwilling to go.

“I’ll do it, you go back first.” Yan Mingting pushed him to the door, then sat next to Zhao Yelan. As soon as he touched his calf, his hand was slapped away. “You don’t need to do it, you’re clumsy. Get me a different person,” Zhao Yelan said indifferently.

“I haven’t massaged it yet, how do you know I’m clumsy?” Yan Mingting was unconvinced. “This kneading bones and pressing tendons, I’m good at it.”

Zhao Yelan put on a stern face and was about to push him away, when his calf suddenly hurt. He let out a muffled grunt. Immediately afterward, the painful place was relieved. The feeling of soreness and swelling faded, and his expression eased. He even enjoyed it a little.

“How about that, my technique isn’t bad, right?” Yan Mingting was like a dog showing affection to its master, smiling and wagging his tail straight at him.

“So obedient.” Zhao Yelan took a piece of sugarcane from the table and ate it, then smiled and patted Yan Mingting’s face. “Wāng^[2] twice if you’re listening?” (T/N: please read the footnote or this is not going to make any sense.)

“Wāng what?”

“Wāng Wāng.”

“Hey, I heard that, very cute.” Yan Mingting patted his head triumphantly

Zhao Yelan reacted belatedly. With a surge of energy and blood, he picked up a sugarcane and smacked him with it: “Yan Mingting! Don’t go too far!”

“I’m a fool and you curse me, ai, it’s so hard for me,” Yan Mingting complained to himself.

Zhao Yelan scoffed coldly, watching him patiently massage his legs in silence. The strength was even and the tension was moderate, causing him to let down his guard and speak with a rare good temper: “Today I read the annals of the late Emperor when he was alive. Only then did I find out that your first marriage was granted by the late Emperor himself.”

Yan Mingting wore an “as expected” expression. This fellow had already started to inquire about his early marriage, and he said he wasn’t drinking vinegar?

But he didn’t say this, so as not to annoy the other again, just pretending to be calm as he said: “Yes, ah, these royal children have a habit of giving marriages to others.”

Zhao Yelan nodded in agreement, feeling the same way.

However, for that first marriage, the late Emperor was only the matchmaker, and that woman was the eldest daughter of the current Prime Minister. At that time, the Prime Minister was a second-rank official whose daughter was well-read in poetry and books, both knowledgeable and reasonable.

The late Emperor decided to discuss with the two elders, and both parties had no objection, so the matter was settled.

Yan Mingting didn’t know anything about love affairs, and just felt that it was better to go into battle to kill the enemy. When he had returned to Beijing to recuperate, he didn’t have the face to see anyone, so the two of them had never met.

Unexpectedly, within two months of returning to the frontier, the capital sent a letter saying that his fiance had died of illness, and the matter was left alone.

“As far as I can remember, her name was Li Yanran,” Yan Mingting said.

“Did she really just die of illness?”

Yan Mingting was taken aback: “What do you mean?”

Zhao Yelan observed his expression and narrowed his eyes slightly: “You didn’t have any doubts about her death?”

“We had never met each other, not to mention that I had been at the border. If the letter from Beijing said she died of illness, then she died of illness. What else could I do? Perform a ritual to bring her back to life?” Yan Mingting said.

Zhao Yelan understood. Since he wasn’t investigating the cause of his fiance’s death, then it could only be another, more important person.

It was only that the whole nation knew that the old general died on the battlefield for the country. Could there be more to it?

Even the always-scheming Zhao Yelan couldn’t help but feel alarm in his heart. 

With years of war at the border, and the Yan family army living and dying to avert disaster, who acutally murdered old General Yan regardless of the safety of the common people?

It was fine if Yan Mingting succeeded in taking over the army. If it was a good-for-nothing waste who shouldered this responsibility, the entire Xuan Dynasty would experience disaster.

Zhao Yelan was immersed in his own thoughts when he suddenly felt a warm fingertip pressing on his brow, gently kneading twice. The eyebrows that had been squeezed together gradually loosened.

He raised his eyes to look at the other party, and Yan Mingting smiled: “Why were you frowning so hard?”

Zhao Yelan looked at him gravely.

Yan Mingting asked: “Is there really something strange about Li Yanran’s death?”

“I’m just skeptical. According to the annals, three days before she died of illness, she attended the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet. If she was seriously ill, how could she attend? However, it is also possible that she suffered from a sudden illness, and only the Li family knew the details.” After Zhao Yelan finished speaking, he stared at his hand again.

Yan Mingting continued to rub his brow for him.

“After rubbing my legs with your hands, you touch my face?” Zhao Yelan asked coldly.

Yan Mingting immediately retracted it and smiled mischievously: “You are disgusted by your own legs?”

Zhao Yelan turned his head, put one arm on the table, and rested his chin in his hand, falling deep into thought. Even Yan Mingting couldn’t read his eyes.

Yan Mingting stared at his profile, just admiring it quietly. It was worthy of being a famous painting. It would be great if this painting could not make any noise, but when it opened its mouth, it was full of sarcasm and cynicism.

Ai.

After a long silence, Yan Mingting dropped his legs and asked: “How about I tell you about my second marriage?”

“Get lost.”

See, ba, just don’t open your mouth, you ruin everything when you open your mouth.

After dinner, Zhao Yelan was a little bored. He suddenly didn’t have to go to court or think about the opinions of officials for the Emperor, let alone exhaust his thoughts and ingenuity to calculate benefits. He was still not used to this kind of life.

It happened that Yan Mingting was about to leave the mansion at this time, so he asked casually, “Where are you going?”

“I’m going out for a while, why, do you want to go together?” 

“Since you have sincerely invited me, then I will go.”

Yan Mingting was confused. Seeing him neatly get into the sedan chair, he lifted his heels and followed him in, saying: “I’m going to Zhong Yuehong’s house for a drink.”

“You’re a real man, going to drink at the house of an unmarried girl in the middle of the night. What are you thinking?” Zhao Yelan cast a mocking glance at him. “If you want to take her as a concubine, just welcome her openly, why bother to be sneaky?”

“Don’t talk nonsense, if Zhong Yuehong hears you, I will be beaten,” Yan Mingting said with a smile. “Today is her mother’s birthday, and she just invited us to have a drink at home, why do you have such a strong smell of vinegar?”

“……” Zhao Yelan finally knew what it meant to play an instrument for a cow.^[3]

Moreover, this cow was just obstinate, and it seemed that nothing could make him bend.

Zhong Yuehong’s house was a little far away, and the sedan chair stopped after half an hour. Yan Mingting stepped out first and waited for a moment.

“I don’t know if you’ve been here before, but the road is not easy to walk on, so be careful.” As Yan Mingting spoke, he led the way with familiarity.

It was not bustling here, and there were only sporadic candles peeking out from the windows of each house, occasionally accompanied by spouses talking about trivial matters at home.

Zhao Yelan concentrated on looking at the surrounding environment. When he coughed, his voice echoed. He didn’t notice the hole that he stepped in, his whole body swayed, and he instinctively grabbed the person next to him to stabilize himself.

Yan Mingting laughed.

Zhao Yelan withdrew his hand in embarrassment, and the next moment, Yan Mingting took the initiative to grab his wrist.

“This section of the road is dark and narrow, and the sedan chair can’t get in, so just follow me,” Yan Mingting said.

A wise man knew better than to fight when the odds were against him. In order to avoid a shameful stumble, Zhao Yelan followed him carefully all the way inside without shaking off his hand.

After passing through the dark alley, he heard a commotion, which was caused by the group of lieutenant generals.

When the two appeared at the door, the laughter stopped abruptly. The people who were drinking and playing a finger-guessing game stiffened and paused, looking dumbfoundedly at the two. They couldn’t help looking at hands being held together by the two of them, and someone lost their grip on a bowl, dropping it to shatter on the ground.

Zhao Yelan looked down in bewilderment and quickly freed his wrist. Pretending to be composed, he put his hands behind his back and leisurely met the eyes of the group of people.

On the contrary, this group of people didn’t dare to look him in the eyes anymore.

“General, you’re here.” Zhong Yuehong was the first to break the silence, greeting, “Zhao-daren, come and sit down. We didn’t know you were coming, so we started drinking first.”

“Right, right, we didn’t know,” He Cuizhang immediately said. “General, you’re late, you will be fined a drink!”

Yan Mingting walked over and proudly drank a cup. At this time, an old woman came out with food and drink. Yan Mingting stepped forward to say hello and let her open the gift box.

Zhao Yelan looked over curiously, and saw a kitchen knife inside.

“……” Was this a reasonable birthday gift?

“Oh, General, thank you for the great gift, I like it so much.” The old woman took it cheerfully. “Your gift is the one I like the most!”

“……” Zhao Yelan was speechless. He found an empty seat to sit down, and He Cuizhang happened to be on his left.

As if guessing that he was confused, He Cuizhang took the initiative to explain: “My lord doesn’t know that Zhong Yuehong’s mother is a butcher who kills pigs for a living, so the General gave her a butcher’s knife.”

Zhao Yelan paused: “Butcher? Where is her father?”

He Cuizhang hurriedly motioned for him to keep his voice down, but Zhang Yuehong, who had very good hearing, heard him. She took a few bottles of unopened wine, put them on the table, and sat down on the other side: “He ran away with a woman of unknown origin. In order to support me, my mother had no choice but to take over the job at the stall.”

Zhao Yelan glanced at Mother Zhong again. She was slightly fat and her hands were covered in thick calluses, but she had a cheerful face and kept adding food and wine for everyone, busy at work.

Mother Zhong pushed Yan Mingting to sit down to drink and eat food. Seeing Zhao Yelan next to him, she said happily: “This is Zhao Yelan, Zhao-daren, right?”

Zhao Yelan nodded.

“You girl, isn’t this just a small birthday party? Why did you bring the General and Zhao-daren?” Mother Zhong said a few words to Zhong Yuehong as if to cast blame, but she couldn’t hide the smile on her face. So many great people came to celebrate a small butcher’s birthday, it was an honor.

“Yuehong is popular, and everyone was willing to come, but I am afraid Auntie will think we eat too much,” Yan Mingting said with a smile.

“That’s right, that’s right, Yuehong is very powerful in our military camp, and everyone likes her, so why would we not come to eat and drink on your birthday?” He Cuizhang said.

The others echoed this as well, drinking again after saying a few words.

The table was full of people, and Zhao Yelan sat for a long time, watching this group of rustic fellows exchanging toasts and making a lot of noise. Getting up impatiently, he went to the courtyard alone and couldn’t figure out how he had ended up here. 

The moonlight was strong, and it would be a long walk to find the sedan chair from here. The road was not easy to walk, and it would be easy to encounter enemies. After much deliberation, he could only wait for Yan Mingting and go back together.

“Zhao-daren, I feel embarrassed, there is nothing good to eat and drink in my home, I’ve neglected you,” Mother Zhong said, suddenly appearing behind him.

He turned and said lightly, “It’s nothing.”

“You are so handsome and well-dressed, no wonder Yuehong always says that you are prettier than the people in paintings.” Mother Zhong smiled simply and honestly.

Zhao Yelan smiled slightly: “She doesn’t know me well.”

Mother Zhong nodded and sighed: “This girl was not well-liked by the neighbors when she was a child. She jumped up and down all day, dominating the streets and alleys, never regarding herself as a daughter of the family. These years’ salaries are either sent home or just used to buy swords and spears. I thought she had already raised herself as a man, but I saw her washing her hands with soap recently, and she always says that Zhao-daren in the General’s Mansion dresses like a fairy in the sky and looks exceedingly beautiful in whatever clothes he wears……”

Zhao Yelan looked at her in silence.

Mother Zhong took out an old purse from her bosom, poured out the fine silver inside, and held it in front of him with both hands: “Zhao-daren, I don’t know much about the world, and I don’t know where you buy your clothes. Can you help me use this silver to buy a beautiful dress for Yuehong?”

Zhao Yelan lowered his eyes to look at the pile of broken silver which had passed through the hands of many people, stained with oil and stench from the pork stall.

“Is it not enough?” Mother Zhong was a little embarrassed. “I’ll get some more……”

“It’s enough.” Zhao Yelan reached out to take the silver, weighed it, and said without batting an eye, “With this much, it is enough to buy several pieces.”

Mother Zhong was dubious, but seeing that he had only a mild expression on his face, he shouldn’t be lying. So, feeling relieved, she said with a smile: “That is good. Thank you for your help, my lord, you are such a good person.”

“I am not a good person.” Zhao Yelan pocketed the silver and heard a slight laugh. When he looked up, Yan Mingting had come to stand at the door at some point, folding his arms and looking at him with a slight smile.

He looked away.

“Auntie, we still have something to do, so we’ll take our leave.” Yan Mingting came over and bid farewell to Mother Zhong.

“Eh, alright, come back next time to play at home, I’ll cook for you.” Mother Zhong knew that these bigshots had a lot to do, so she didn’t keep them and sent them to the gate.

When Zhao Yelan turned his head, he could still see a figure waving their hands in the distance. He turned his head expressionlessly, not knowing what he was thinking, and didn’t even notice that Yan Mingting had grabbed his wrist.

Sitting back in the sedan chair again, his wrist was bare, the slight heat vanishing suddenly. Yan Mingting had already withdrawn his hand when he looked down. He didn’t pursue it further, and asked, “Going back so early? Why don’t you have a few more drinks with them?”

“I’m going to court tomorrow,” Yan Mingting replied. “Besides, it’s getting so late. Don’t you go to bed early?”

Zhao Yelan: “When do I go to bed early?”

“Last night.” Yan Mingting looked at him. “I thought you would be worried about Gao Tan’s safety and not be able to fall asleep, but I didn’t expect that you would already be asleep when I came back.”

Zhao Yelan had pretended to be asleep in order to avoid confronting Yan Mingting face-to-face, and he had to wait for Gao Tan’s report before he could figure out how to face the other party. He said calmly: “It is because I trust in your martial arts, and I knew you would definitely be able to bring Gao Tan back.”

Yan Mingting immediately beamed with joy: “I knew it!”

“……”

Zhao Yelan deeply suspected that this person’s brain pathways were developing in a strange direction again. Maybe he had already started to imagine that he loved him so much that he couldn’t extricate himself, and even started to practice martial arts for him.

“I give up, ba. I won’t practice martial arts,” Zhao Yelan said abruptly.

Yan Mingting was startled, and his smile froze: “How do you know what I’m thinking?!”

Zhao Yelan: “…………” You really thought so?!

The two of them looked at each other for a moment and then glanced away, each with their own thoughts. Zhao Yelan couldn’t be bothered to talk to the fool. He opened a corner of the curtain and ordered the bearers to stop when they were almost at the tailor shop.

He put the money in his pocket on the countertop. Looking at these dirty pieces of broken silver with some surprise, in disbelief that they had been taken out of Zhao Yelan’s purse, the shopkeeper cautiously said: “Zhao-daren, do you want to buy a few handkerchiefs?”

“Take out your newest clothes and let’s have a look.” Zhao Yelan paused, coughed slightly, and subconsciously lowered his voice. “It is for a young lady.”

“My lord, you want to buy clothes for a girl? Are you not afraid that General Yan will find out?” After the shopkeeper finished speaking, he saw General Yan appear from behind him with a grin.

The shopkeeper immediately covered his mouth, nodding again and again, and led them to the side, introducing: “These are the dresses for girls. As far as patterns and styles are concerned, our household is the best in the entire capital. I don’t know which one you two want, ah?”

Yan Mingting didn’t know anything about this business. After looking at the clothes hanging all over the walls, he only felt that his eyes were a little dazzled, and then looked at Zhao Yelan.

Zhao Yelan browsed casually and didn’t select anything ready-to-wear, but touched the fabric on the tables and finally selected three silks and satins, ordering: “Customize this and replace the inner shin coat with trousers.”

“What?” The shopkeeper suspected that he hadn’t heard clearly. “My lord, this is a dress. I have never heard of any lady who wears trousers under a dress. It’s not meant to be worn by men, aren’t you embarrassing me?”

“Then I’ll just embarrass you. I’ll come to pick it up in a few days. If you can’t even fulfill these requirements, then you won’t be able to do business with my household in the future.” Zhao Yelan took out a few more silver ingots, put them on the table, and turned to leave.

Yan Mingting followed and said with a smile: “Our Zhao-daren is rather considerate. Knowing that Yuehong is used to being armed, even the clothes have to be custom-made for her.”

Zhao Yelan gave him a sideways glance: “Will you die if you don’t talk?”

“Why are you so anxious? I’m complimenting you.” Yan Mingting smiled even more happily. “I would like to thank you on behalf of Yuehong and Auntie.”

“Since you want to give thanks, just don’t talk.” 

“What do you want?”

“Money, manpower, one of the two, you choose it yourself.”

“Zhao-daren really does not trade at a loss.” Yan Mingting looked around, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he dragged him to the other side of the street. “I know what to give you.”

A moment later, Zhao Yelan was standing by a small river, looking at the blurry reflection in the water and stiffly holding tanghulu. Turning to look at the person eating tanghulu beside him, his face was gloomy: “This is your thank-you gift?”

“Yes, how delicious this is!” Yan Mingting bit down on another hawthorn berry as if he was eating some kind of delicacy. With a smile on his face, he ate a bunch in a few bites and looked helplessly at the one in Zhao Yelan’s hand. “Do you not like to eat them? How about I help you out?”

“…….”

If the other party didn’t take the initiative to ask, he might have thrown it at him in disgust, but when Yan Mingting asked this, he immediately bit into one. “You can’t have it.”

Yan Mingting saw that he had sucked it down in a hurry, his cheeks bulging. There was some childishness hidden under that indifferent skin, and he couldn’t help laughing: “You are a strange and interesting person.”

Zhao Yelan didn’t think that was high praise, so he turned his back and didn’t look at him anymore. It was a shame that after eating three, he got a little tired of them, which was discovered by Yan Mingting.

“Come on, leave the rest to me.” Yan Mingting rubbed his hands eagerly.

“I won’t give it to you even if I have to throw it away.” Zhao Yelan walked past him, but Yan Mingting took the things in his hands first and quickly bit off two sugar-coated hawthorns.

“Have you not eaten for hundreds of years?” Zhao Yelan frowned.

“Ai, I’ve been craving this stuff since I was a child, and haven’t eaten it but a few times,” Yan Mingting said carelessly. “Those few times, they were all eaten in the capital. People like you who have lived in the capital since childhood and grew up carefree and without worries wouldn’t understand.”

Zhao Yelan scoffed coldly: “Carefree and without worries?”

Yan Mingting paused and looked at him uncertainly.

“Do you think everyone in the capital grew up carefree and without worries?”

“It was a slip of the tongue. Naturally, there are some unfortunate children, such as He Cuizhang and Zhong Yuehong……” Yan Mingting looked at him unhurriedly. “How about you? Were you carefree and without worries?”

“What concern is it of yours?” Zhao Yelan finished speaking with a half smile, then turned and left the small river.

“I’m just asking……by the way, there is something I’m curious about. How did you meet the Emperor? He was powerless at the time, how could you work for him?” Yan Mingting followed him all the way and didn’t stop talking at all.

There were many people coming and going on the streets. Among them were many successful Imperial examination candidates with foreign accents, who had come to the capital with great ambition to participate in the exams.

When passing Hongxiu House, girls with tulle shawls could be seen at the gates, luring guests inside. Some clever girls would specially select from the examination candidates passing by in order to make a fortune from them.

Looking at the scenes of women recruiting all around, and the thin-skinned young men at the doors, Yan Mingting asked with emotion: “Why don’t you take the Imperial examination directly? With your talent, winning top marks would be easy, right?”

“Yan Mingting, you are trying to cause trouble!” Zhao Yelan had endured all the way, and finally couldn’t help but yell, “When is it your responsibility to take care of my business? !”

Yan Mingting went quiet. Clearly he was angry, and not just a little. He quickly apologized: “Forgive me, I was talking too much.”

“Yo, did you two young masters come together?” An attractive beauty walked over with her slender and supple waist swaying. “Would you like to come in and have some wine? Our girls will keep you satisfied ~”

“No need, we’re just passing by……eh, Zhao Yelan, where are you going! Is that a place you can go into!” Yan Mingting called to Zhao Yelan in a panic, but Zhao Yelan turned his head and ran toward the brothel so decisively that he had no choice but to grit his teeth and follow.

As soon as Zhao Yelan entered, he attracted the attention of many of the girls. As soon as the girls saw his clothing, they knew that he simply must be rich. Looking at that face again, a lot of them immediately jumped on the opportunity.

“Call the most beautiful girls you have here for me.”

After speaking, Zhao Yelan tossed out a purse so skillfully that Yan Mingting suspected that he was a regular customer. He secretly asked the girl next to him: “Do you know him?”

“I know him, ah.”

“Who is he?”

“My future husband~” The girl held her face and smiled shyly, and in the next moment rushed forward as well.

Yan Mingting: “……”

With such a big commotion, everyone upstairs and downstairs glanced over. Yan Mingting still saved face and lowered his head, but the smell of cosmetics in this building made his nose start to itch again.

“Yo, who is this young man?” The Madam brought a few girls down from the second floor, dismissed all the girls around Zhao Yelan, and looked at him with a smile. These here are all pretty girls. The best one already has a customer, I truly apologize, but you can pick a few here, young master, and take them with you, ah.”

Yan Mingting was stunned for a moment. This Madam was quite different from what he had imagined. Dressed in red clothing, with gold beads and silver hairpins, her features were very beautiful and her bearing was elegant. She was not like commonplace women, even better than these girls in front of him.

But as it happened, nothing could be perfect. There was a scar stretching from the brow to the cheek on that beautiful face, and it was like adding a bit of bitter water to fine wine.

Just when Yan Mingting was feeling sorry, he heard Zhao Yelan say: “I just want the most beautiful girl, bring her down quickly.”

“I truly dare not, Qingyan is accompanying Liu-daren from the Ministry of Rituals.” The Madam fluttered her round fan. “I don’t know if the young master dares to offend Liu-daren?”

“That’s Zhao Yelan!” Someone from upstairs said.

Everyone was shocked, and the girls also looked at him in surprise.

Now Yan Mingting was sure it was Zhao Yelan’s first time coming to the brothel, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Is it really Zhao-daren?” The Madam immediately changed her expression and told the people next to her, “Go, bring Qingyan down from the room.”

Seeing the situation getting worse and worse, Yan Mingting finally stood forward: “Zhao Yelan, follow me back.”

“Is this General Yan?” The Madam’s eyes lit up. “So handsome, do you want to stay and play together?”

Yan Mingting’s face darkened. Seeing Zhao Yelan standing still and staring at the room upstairs, he simply lifted him up.

“What are you doing? !” Zhao Yelan exclaimed, and was taken away amongst the jeering and laughter of the crowd.

He could only imagine what kinds of rumors there would be in Beijing tomorrow.

– – Shocking! Zhao Yelan lived up to his infamy and snatched a brothel’s famous beauty; Yan Mingting was furious and carried him back in public!

Yan Mingting brought Zhao Yelan back to the mansion without stopping, and put him on a chair. Seeing that he was about to resist, he pressed his arms firmly: “If you move again, I will draw my sword.”

Zhao Yelan looked at him sullenly, but took no other action, so Yan Mingting tried to persuade him: “I know it was me who spoke out of proportion just now, and you were angry. Don’t go to that kind of place to play, it’s not good for your health.”

Zhao Yelan: “……”

“Your fountain is originally poor, what kind of tricks can you play? You don’t want to be clever all your life just to end up dying under the peonies, do you?”

In the end, Zhao Yelan couldn’t hold back and kicked him hard.

Yan Mingting laughed: “Yes, that’s it, just let it out on me if you’re angry. What were you doing running off to the red-light district?”

Zhao Yelan: “If I vent my anger on you, you will threaten me with a sword.”

“It’s just to scare you, come on, just kick me.” Yan Mingting stood up straight with a heroic look on his face.

“Then you sit down and don’t resist.”

“No problem.” Yan Mingting immediately changed seats with him and sat obediently in the chair.

“What should I do if you resist?”

“I swear, if I resist, I will be your grandson!” 

After Yan Mingting spoke these firm words, he saw that Zhao Yelan didn’t do anything, but went to the room to fetch the rope, saying in surprise, “You, you, what are you going to do?”

When Housekeeper Qin heard that the two masters had returned to the mansion, he brought Xiao Gao and a group of servants to the courtyard. He had originally wanted to discuss the anniversary of the death of the old general, but as soon as he arrived at the door, he saw the General tied to a chair with his chin being pinched by Zhao Yelan: “Stay obediently and don’t move around.”

Just as Gao Tan was about to speak, Housekeeper Qin covered his mouth and made a gesture to everyone, slipping away bent at the waist.

Xiao Gao: “Wuwuwu, why are you stopping me?”

“You almost spoiled the General and his wife’s happy occasion!” Housekeeper Qin said bitterly. Seeing that he was so stupefied, he only waved his hand and said, “You all go and boil some hot water.”

Xiao Gao thought that the General’s Mansion was no good at all! There was nowhere to display his skills, and he was always dragged off to boil hot water!

The two people in the room naturally heard the footsteps of the servants. Zhao Yelan turned around and closed the doors and windows without leaving a single gap.

“What do you intend to do?” Yan Mingting looked down at the ropes on his body, his face flushed and his heart beating hard. “You shouldn’t be making advances and forcing me to submit, ba?”

Zhao Yelan circled the table. Hearing this, he looked back at him with his lips curled up: “You’re always saying I like you, but when you mentioned it, you smiled so happily. Is it me who likes you, or you who likes me?”

Yan Mingting smiled once, as if stunned by this question. His brain stopped working for a moment, and his body even felt slightly numb. When Zhao Yelan walked towards him slowly, he heard the sound of his heart beating again, much faster than his opponent’s footsteps.

Zhao Yelan’s facial features gradually and clearly appeared before his eyes. Yan Mingting’s Adam’s apple moved slightly and he subconsciously swallowed. His expression was at a loss and mixed with indescribable expectations. When he was about to speak, he saw what the other was holding in his hand and was shocked: “What are you doing with the incense! Put that thing down! Don’t use it, don’t use it, ah!”

Yan Mingting struggled on the chair. Zhao Yelan smiled slightly, lit several incense sticks, and placed them in a circle around him: “Dare to resist and you are my grandson.”

“Achoo! Zhao Ye……achoo! Let me tell you……achoo! I’m going to pull out…..achoo, my sword!”

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[1] A Bachelor here is an accomplished scholar with a degree. ⮐

[2] Wāng (汪) can mean several things, and can also be used as an onomatopoeia for a dog barking. So wāng wāng = bark bark. I couldn’t come up with an English equivalent for this wordplay. ⮐

[3] To play an instrument for a cow is to play to the wrong audience/reason with stubborn people. ⮐

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Chapter Eighteen <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Twenty

Ye Ci struggled through the cycle of falling into a coma-like sleep – waking up – being physically exhausted, and then comatose again for an unknown amount of time.

This time when he opened his eyes, it was noon on an unspecified day. The Omega glands at the nape of his neck throbbed from depletion and over-extraction.

His whole body was warm and dry, smelling of light citrus shampoo, and his scalp was slightly hot, as if had been blown with a hair dryer just a moment ago.

Ye Ci finally understood where the rumbling noise in his dreams came from.

“Are you awake, baby?”

A finger brushed the tip of his nose affectionately. Ye Ci’s eyes, which were sluggish due to exhaustion, suddenly came to life, and he followed that finger to look at Huo Tinglan.

The nightgown on his body had been changed a few times. The silk was fragile, and some of them had been scratched by Ye Ci. After being scratched, there were some red and white spots like blood and sweat, and Huo Tinglan threw them directly into the trash.

The light silk fit snugly like waves on water. The opening at the neckline was suspicious, revealing full, thick chest muscles.

He exercised properly, and his form was excellent. The shape of each muscle was just right, and there was a shallow and narrow line down the middle.

Ye Ci’s fair skin was already painted with green and red, and Huo Tinglan was not much better, with scabbed-over scratches, somewhat comical teeth marks, reddish fingerprints……

Especially the chest.

Followed by the easily scratchable back.

Like some sort of crazy little cat had wrecked him.

No wonder some people said that the permanent mark between an Alpha and an Omega was like a battle that lasted for several days.

Feeling guilty, Ye Ci hurriedly lowered his eyes. After a little while, he asked with a hoarse voice: “What, what date is it today?”

Huo Tinglan smiled and said a date.

“Ah……” Ye Ci counted the days in a daze. It had been four days, and the first thought that crossed his mind was that his summer study schedule was now completely invalid, and school was about to start soon. What followed was four rounds of memory playback from these days and nights. Aside from drinking water, replenishing his energy with energy bars and sleeping in a semi-conscious state, the rest of the time……

Insanity.

Was that really him?

Hot blood suddenly filled his head and face, and his eardrums buzzed with embarrassment.

Huo Tinglan was extremely wicked, trying to figure out Ye Ci’s thoughts through his micro-expressions. Knowing what he was recalling, he lost no time in taking the shot and said in a satisfied tone: “I thought you would be shy, you cried so aggrievedly at first……” Then with a low smile, “I didn’t expect you to be so enthusiastic later.”

Very different from the previous life.

“ ! ”

“Huo-shushu ! ! ! ”

The innocent male high school student’s pupils trembled violently, his face flushed, and he wanted to kill someone on the spot!

It wasn’t his fault, after all.

It was Huo Tinglan who saw through his proclivities. Deliberately using his big chest was not right. It should be said that those pectoral muscles……seduced him.

He had already been forcibly stimulated into a fever period, and his will was strangely unstable. Every time Huo Tinglan said, “Just until the mark is finished,” Huo Tinglan would just, just……

Huo-shushu was shameless!

Ye Ci was as anxious as a little ant on an iron plate. After going round and round for a while, he suddenly approached, red-faced, and grabbed the collar of Huo Tinglan’s nightgown to pull it tightly closed, saying with slight annoyance, “Don’t, don’t show it anymore……”

He really couldn’t go again. His whole body was about to be wrecked by Huo Tinglan.

Beauty was misleading.

Ye Ci gritted his teeth, imitating Huo Tinglan by putting the blame on others.

– – He had a distinctly soft temper, and at the moment he actually showed a bit of a princely appearance.

Huo Tinglan embraced him with a suppressed smile, pressed his lips against his citrus-scented hair, and said softly, “Alright, baby, I’ll stop teasing you.”

Warmth flowed silently in the small world between them. Ye Ci remained silent and rested his chin on Huo Tinglan’s collarbone like a kitten. A permanent mark would make the spiritual connection between an Alpha and an Omega closer, and Ye Ci felt as if a fruit had grown out of thin air in his chest, full and swollen. The sweet and sour juice was pounded by his heartbeat, splashing in the atrium again and again, throbbing happily. He turned his head unconsciously and rubbed his cheek against Huo Tinglan’s neck, as if he was so happy that he didn’t know what to do.

“Are you hungry?” After snuggling for a while, Huo Tinglan broke the silence and rubbed Ye Ci’s slightly concave abdomen.

For the past four days, they hadn’t eaten anything substantial, relying on energy drinks and energy bars to maintain their strength.

That little stomach was already empty, except for……

Huo Tinglan smirked, reluctantly dismissing those colorful thoughts: “Let’s go downstairs and get something to eat.”

“En.” Ye Ci nodded obediently, stepped into some slippers, and got up. As a result, his buttocks were only five centimeters away from the mattress when Huo Tinglan fiercely grabbed him around the waist and he staggered back to sit on his lap. The strength of that embrace was downright ungentlemanly.

Immediately afterwards, Huo Tinglan’s heavy, fiery breath blew on the back of his neck – – he pressed the tip of his nose against Ye Ci’s glands and took a few eager, intoxicated breaths without warning, looking like a carnivorous animal that had suddenly gone berserk at the sight of blood.

Ye Ci shrank his neck in shock.

“……Sorry.” Huo Tinglan still hugged him without letting go, his eyes dark as his desire surged, dense and fiery. “I only just finished the mark, and I can’t quite contain myself.”

After the initial establishment of the permanent mark, an Omega would develop a heightened attachment to the Alpha for a period of time. Even an Omega who was usually cold and introverted tended to become soft and sticky. The unusually strong warmth and sweetness that Ye Ci felt before was because of this change. Correspondingly, an Alpha’s possessiveness and desire for the Omega would reach its peak during this period. Even the most calm and stable Alpha would inevitably do all kinds of illogical things, and Ye Ci’s act of “getting up and leaving” just now had stimulated Huo Tinglan, who was currently extremely sensitive, tearing away his presence of “normality” a moment ago.

The duration of this period varied from person to person, and it was positively correlated with the depth of the relationship between Alpha and Omega. The deeper the bond, the longer it lasted, which could be weeks to months as the intensity continued to decrease.

Ye Ci’s physiological knowledge class was not in vain during this time, so he immediately remembered this phase.

“I’m just, just hungry. I’ll go to the first floor and eat, I won’t, won’t go outside.” He tried to appease Huo Tinglan with the “talking skills” from the book.

“I know.” Huo Tinglan closed his eyes and said helplessly, “What can I do, baby……I don’t want you to leave my bed.”

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