Lan Ming Yue

Ear Piercing

Imperial Harem, Xingqing Palace.

“Grand Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager is here to pay respects.” Yang Man said in a low voice.

The woman still kept pruning the flower branches, “Let her in.”

“This servant pays respects to the Queen Mother.” Bian Yunxin came in and knelt on the ground obediently.

The grand empress dowager didn’t respond, but carefully constructed the flowers in the vase. After about half an hour, she said, “Yang Man, take it out and throw it away.”

“Yes.” Yang Man took down the vase with only pruned branches left.

“Empress Dowager.” The grand empress dowager sat down and looked up at her.

“The servant is here.” Bian Yunxin kowtowed in response.

“Okay, get up, it’s as if Aijia is deliberately bullying you.” The grand empress dowager raised her hand, and Bian Yunxin stood up carefully. 

(t/n: Aijia is a Chinese word, the pinyin is āi jiā, which is the self-proclaimed name of the queen mother or empress after the death of her husband.)

“Recently, Ziyu has finally started to care about government affairs. Aijia is very relieved.” The grand empress dowager sighed with emotion.

Bian Yunxin knelt down with a thud on the ground with a pale face, “Queen Mother, Ye’er became  delirious after being hit on the head—”

“Aijia just said it casually, why are you so agitated.” The grand empress dowager didn’t take it seriously,” He was just fooling before, that’s all, this time he left the palace for more than three months, and even the people of Aijia couldn’t find him. It can be seen that he has indeed grown up and his wings have hardened, it is reasonable for him to be concerned about the government. I heard that he even sent the youngest son of the Baili family to Hexi Prefecture, effectively managing the Yun river flood.”

Bian Yunxi wanted to speak with trembling lips, but was interrupted by her again.

“Today, you are dressed in plain clothes, reminding Aijia of the time when the late emperor passed away.” The grand empress dowager twisted the flowers on the table, “How old was Ziyu at that time?”

“Answering, answering the Queen Mother, Ye’er—Ziyu was eight years old at that time.” Bian Yunxin said.

“Ah, Aijia remembered.” The grand empress dowager recalled. “Only eight years old, scrawny and covered in mud, you beat him to the brink of death, he was pulling Aijia’s sleeves and begging Aijia to save him, really pitiful.”

Bian Yunxin knelt down on the ground and dared not speak.

“It seems that Aijia has not seen him for a long time, let’s bring him over tomorrow to say hello.” The grand empress dowager threw the crushed petals in front of her.

“Yes.” Bian Yunxi felt like she was thrown into an ice cellar.

****

The weather was hot, but Liang Ye’s whole body was like a block of ice. Half of Wang Dian’s body was almost frozen unconscious next to him. He felt that this would not work. At first, he restrained himself and gently patted Liang Ye’s face, saying, “Hey, wake up, ask for the imperial physician  to take a look if you’re feeling unwell, sleep won’t solve the problem.”

Liang Ye remained silent.

Wang Dian looked at his own hand and slapped.

Pa! 

Liang Ye’s side face turned red visibly, Wang Dian raised his eyebrows in a happy mood, pinched his cheek and pulled it aside vigorously, gloating, “I am doing this for your own good, concealing one’s illness and avoiding treatment is not good.”

Liang Ye remained motionless with his eyes closed. Just as Wang Dian was about to slap him again, he heard Liang Ye’s faint voice, “What are you happy about?”

Wang Dian turned his hand in a different direction and pulled a blue feather from his hair, “Oh, you woke up.”

“Even if it was a pig, it’ll eventually wake up.” Liang Ye opened his eyes and said coolly.

“Don’t say that about yourself.” Wang Dian said sincerely, pinching the feather in his hand, “I was really too worried about making such a despicable move.”

Liang Ye laughed instead of being angry, “Oh? You really aren’t afraid of Zhen at all.”

Seeing him laughing like this, Wang Dian felt a sudden pain in his head, “Your Majesty, I really have to go, it’s not good to keep the Imperial Perceptor Wen waiting for a long time.”

Liang Ye stretched out his hand and released him, Wang Dian immediately got up and walked out.

“It’s getting late. You told the people around you that you’ll go to the sleeping chamber.” Liang Ye sat up and leaned on the couch and said lazily, “Where are you going to meet Wen Zong?”

Wang Dian paused and turned a deaf ear, “By the way, you should pay attention to your whereabouts, the two of us can’t appear at the same time.”

“What’s there to worry about, if someone talks too much, just deal with it.” Liang Ye waved at him, “Come over.”

Wang Dian stood in front of the door and said in disapproval, “Even if you deal with it, you can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause, in case the empress dowager finds out——”

“That’s not Zhen’s death.” Liang Ye raised the corner of his mouth cruelly.

Wang Dian felt depressed for a while. He then saw Liang Ye touch the place where he was just slapped with his thumb, and stared at him with a sullen expression, “It’s been a long time since anyone dared to slap Zhen like that.”

“You’ve been slapped before?” Wang Dian asked.

Liang Ye choked on his own saliva for a moment because of him, which was rare, and stared at him with an increasingly hostile gaze. Wang Dian felt much better, “Farewell.”

Just as he was about to reach out to pull the door, the weird soreness before the Gu worm’s outbreak was felt on his arm. He immediately turned around and strode over to Liang Ye, sat down and clasped his wrist, and said sincerely, “Why don’t you slap me back.”

Liang Ye glanced at his grasped wrist, “You’ve grasped the Gu worm.”

The Gu worm in Liang Ye’s body moved in response to the sound, and the tactile sensation in Wang Dian’s palm was particularly strong through the thin layer of skin. He endured his disgust towards the worm and said, “It doesn’t matter.”

Liang Ye gave him a strange look, the Gu worm became quiet, and the pain in Wang Dian’s body instantly disappeared without a trace. He was relieved immediately, thinking that this person was not unreasonable, and tried to discuss it with him, “What the hell are you–”

Severe pain suddenly hit, and for a moment he completely lost consciousness.

Cold breath sprayed on his face, as Liang Ye’s voice brushed against his ears, “How could you be so naive.”

Wang Dian held on to his wrist tightly, but kept silent, his eyes almost burst into flames.

“Look at this little thing.” Liang Ye stretched out his hand, and the little blue bird fluttered its wings and landed in his palm obediently. Liang Ye gently stroked the bird’s wings with his thumb, “If Zhen finds it fun, keep it, if it suddenly feels not fun anymore, then crush it to death.”

The little bird’s wings snapped at the sound, and it struggled violently in Liang Ye’s palm. Immediately after Liang Ye’s finger pressed lightly, the little blue bird drooped its head and fell silent.

Liang Ye casually threw the dead bird aside, looked at Wang Dian who was curled up in pain, and said expressionlessly, “Do you understand?”

Wang Dian was curled up on the couch without making a sound, only his unsteady breathing and slight shaking could be heard, Liang Ye probably felt that it was extremely boring, and stopped controlling the Gu worm.

“The Liang Country, you can do whatever you want, but you have to remember who your master is.” Liang Ye casually patted his face, suddenly, his tiger mouth was bitten and blood oozed out instantly, while Wang Dian’s pale lips were stained into a scarlet color. 

(t/n tiger mouth-part of the hand between the thumb and the index finger.)

Liang Ye stared at him in shock, he was stunned for a moment before throwing him away.

Wang Dian leaned on the backrest with a pale face, but his voice was firm and his eyes were contemptuous, “You can torture my body, but my spirit will always despise you.”

Liang Ye: “What?”

“A scholar would rather die than be insulted.” Wang Dian wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, speaking concisely.

Liang Ye suddenly laughed out loud, and when he had had enough, he moved closer to him, lowered his eyes to see the blood at the corner of his mouth, “You are really interesting.”

“Fuck you.” Wang Dian was really angry. He had been calm for so many years, but since he met Liang Ye, he was on the verge of rage almost all the time, “If you have the guts, kill me.”

Liang Ye raised his head, and gently rubbed his cheek with the tip of his nose. The gesture was gentle, as if to fawn on, with a touch of coolness, “Don’t be angry, Zhen is just teasing you.”

Wang Dian simply felt creeped out.

He was really crazy to think that Liang Ye could occasionally talk human words, he unexpectedly had the delusion to discuss business with him.

When he thought of this, Liang Ye had already naturally rested his chin on his shoulder again and hugged him affectionately, his voice was so gentle as if dripping water, “You look exactly like Zhen, how could Zhen be willing to kill you?” Don’t be afraid.” (TL: very soft voice)

In the end, he successfully made Wang Dian’s resolute eyes gradually become frightened.

What fucking kind of mental disorder is this!

Wang Dian really wanted to get it together and leave the sleeping chamber quickly, but the overwhelming sense of exhaustion made him unable to resist, he lost consciousness within a few breaths, not knowing whether it was from pain or not.

Liang Ye noticed that the body of the person in his arms suddenly slackened, and put his hand under his nose to check. After confirming that he was still alive and only fell asleep, he happily picked up him horizontally and placed him on the bed, hugging him in his arms in satisfaction.

“Master, what are you doing?” Chong Heng asked him while hanging upside down on the beam of the sleeping chamber, holding his sword.

Liang Ye covered Wang Dian’s ears, “Keep it down, don’t wake him up.”

Chong Heng looked at him with an indescribable gaze and said, “Master, you like him?”

“Of course.” Liang Ye nodded affirmatively, “Zhen secretly looked at it last night, he even has the same birthmark on his buttocks as Zhen, and some subconscious little movements are exactly the same as well.” 

“Ah?” Chong Heng was a little confused.

“Not only that, Zhen was suffering from an extreme headache just now, but holding him relieved it a lot.” Liang Ye leaned into Wang Dian’s neck fascinatedly and took a breath, “He is a treasure Zhen found.”

Chong Heng understood a little bit, “You want to make him the empress?”

“Zhen is not a cut sleeve.” Liang Ye gave him a disgusted look, but at the same time he couldn’t let go of the person he was hugging, “But he’s really not very obedient, taming him is just fine.” (TL: cut sleeve-gay)

“Master, he is not a dog.” Chong Heng tried to persuade him, “Tossing him like this, he will only hate you.”

“You speak as if you understand it very well.” Liang Ye was tired of covering his ears, and instead kneaded Wang Dian’s earlobe in a not very honest way. Suddenly, he paused and asked curiously, “Why is there an ear piercing in his ear?”

“A woman disguised as a man?” Chong Heng became excited instantly, with an expression of watching a good show.

“Zhen has checked it, he’s a man.” Liang Ye looked at his other ear as well, “It’s on this one too.”

“Could it be that he used to be a jumping god?” Cheng Heng guessed. (TL: wild shaman)

“Get a needle, Zhen will also stab two.” Liang Ye let go of Wang Dian and sat up.

Chong Heng almost fell off the beam, “Ah?”

“Zhen is exactly the same as him everywhere, the ears must also be the same.” Liang Ye touched his earlobe.

Although Chong Heng thought it was outrageous, he honestly gave him a silver needle, “Master, why don’t you think about it again.”

Liang Ye turned a deaf ear and pierced his ears with great interest, “Zhen remembered bringing back a pair of earrings from Southern Xinjiang, where is it put?”

“In the storeroom.” Chong Heng thought of the pair of flamboyant and pretty earrings, and suddenly felt his eyes hurt.

“Go get it.”

Chong Heng was silent for a while, and instantly understood the feelings of those old ministers who risked their lives to advise, but seeing that the master was hugging the person and preparing to sleep, he could only retreat tactfully.

He didn’t understand it very well, but he always felt that something was not right.

TL notes

The Empress Dowager Cui was really addressed as “Empress Dowager” in the previous chapters. (I checked it twice just to be sure) but in this chapter, she was addressed as “Grand Empress Dowager”, and that other empress dowager, Bian Yunxi, she’s Liang Ye’s biological mother.