Liang Ye remained silent for a while. “No, go to Qingcang County.”
Wang Dian looked at him, struggling to find words. “Are you that eager to play?”
“Weisui City is too close to some jianghu sects of Southern Zhao. We caused quite a commotion in the marketplace during the day. If something really happens, Zhen won’t be able to protect you without my internal strength.” Liang Ye irritably squeezed his wrist. “We’ll leave now.”
“What about your secret guards?” Wang Dian keenly noticed his anxiety. Although he had given Liang Ye that gu candy out of anger, it was just for fun. He hadn’t expected Liang Ye to react so strongly.
“Zhen doesn’t trust them.” Liang Ye looked at him expressionlessly. “Zhen won’t put our lives in someone else’s hands.”
“I’ll go ask Quan Ning for the antidote.” Seeing him like this, Wang Dian suddenly felt uneasy, but Liang Ye stopped him.
Obviously, he didn’t trust Quan Ning.
After pondering for a while, Wang Dian also felt it was risky to approach Quan Ning. “Forget it. I didn’t think this through. We’ll leave tonight.”
On a dark and windy night, a fast horse galloped out of Weisui City, melting into the darkness.
“Do we have to ride on one horse?” Wang Dian didn’t quite understand. It wasn’t very comfortable for two grown men to squeeze onto one horse.
Liang Ye held the reins with one hand, while firmly holding him in his arms with the other. He sneered, “With your horsemanship, if we encounter an enemy attack, you’d be rushing to your death. Zhen followed you all the way from Shiyuan City, and you never once looked back.”
“………” Wang Dian leaned comfortably against his chest. “Who’s always running for their life?”
“When Zhen was ten, Zhen was hunted down and escaped in the mountains for over half a month. Zhen practiced horseback archery.” Liang Ye boasted proudly to him, “If Zhen aimed for the left eyeball, Zhen would never miss and hit the white of the eye.”
“That’s impressive.” Wang Dian said in a muffled voice, “What happened after that?”
“Naturally, Zhen survived.” Liang Ye said casually, “That dagger Zhen showed you was a trophy from that time.”
Wang Dian thought about himself at ten years old. At that time, he was passionate about Taekwondo, believing himself to be a great hero who would save the world.
Well, the difference was quite large.
The wind was strong. Liang Ye put the cloak’s hood on him and took the opportunity to touch his face. “Did you bring the couplets?”
“I did.” Wang Dian felt his sleeve.
Weisui City wasn’t close to Qingcang County. Even rushing, it would take a day and a night. When dawn was about to break, Liang Ye finally reined in the horse and found a sheltered cave to start a fire.
Liang Ye did this very skillfully. He even took out a package of snacks from his sleeve and handed it to him casually, “Make do with these.”
They were a bit crumbled, but Wang Dian didn’t mind. He ate two pieces and then stuffed one into Liang Ye’s mouth. Liang Ye was visibly wary, and Wang Dian said with a straight face, “I didn’t put anything in it.”
“Zhen doesn’t believe you.” Liang Ye said this, but still bit off the snack from his hand, gritting his teeth, “You’re full of tricks.”
Although traveling in the middle of the night was painful, Wang Dian hadn’t forgotten his original purpose. “How do you feel now? I’m not very good at using it, if you—”
“Zhen feels fine.” Liang Ye said gruffly, “Come here and let Zhen hold you.”
Wang Dian soon understood why Liang Ye had found such a secluded cave. The flickering fire cast beautiful and sensual shadows on Liang Ye’s face. The white breath exhaled in the cold cave dispersed quickly and tremblingly. The crackling of the firewood covered the low, suppressed gasps. Outside the cave, the faint dawn light slowly but steadily shone in.
The main effect of this love gu wasn’t really necessary. Wang Dian felt that he and Liang Ye were already in love to the point of “life and death” in another form. However, Liang Ye had become much more proactive, turning into another kind of excitement.
To be honest, Wang Dian found it hard to refuse.
Just as Liang Ye had been unable to refuse Wang Dian’s resistance before, Wang Dian also found it difficult to refuse Liang Ye’s initiative.
When daylight broke, Liang Ye frowned as he lay on top of him, dissatisfied, and bit a neat row of round teeth marks on his arm. “Always using dirty tricks.”
Wang Dian closed his eyes and smiled. “The day after tomorrow is the New Year. I heard that the lion dance in Qingcang County on New Year’s Eve is very lively. Let’s go watch it together then.”
Liang Ye was lowering his head, counting the teeth marks on his arm. “You only like to bite the left shoulder when you bite Zhen, and you cover your eyes when you cry. Zhen never cries, you’re delicate.”
Wang Dian opened his eyes and looked at him, saying with an ambiguous tone, “There are times when you cry.”
Liang Ye let out a light snort and pulled him up from the cloak. “Let’s go.”
“Let’s sleep for a while.” Wang Dian didn’t want to move and rubbed his waist. “Are you not sore?”
“Zhen sweats more when practicing sword techniques.” Liang Ye insisted on pulling him up, coaxing and tricking him onto the horse. The two men and the horse galloped away.
Two hours later, a group of horsemen passed by that cave. The leader dismounted, grabbed a handful of cold wood ash, stood up, and immediately slapped the person behind him. “What are you all good for! He’s carrying a scholar who can’t even tie a chicken, yet they’ve run so far!”
“Boss, Liang Ye must have discovered something fishy with the secret guards early on and deliberately used Wang Dian to distract us,” the slapped man said angrily. “He’s too cunning.”
“Still making excuses!” The leader slapped him again and said coldly, “We’ve finally waited for Liang Ye to leave the palace. We can’t let him return alive no matter what. Continue the pursuit!”
****
Upon arriving at the mansion in Qingcang County, the first thing Wang Dian did was drag Liang Ye to bathe.
Liang Ye yawned lazily, lying on the edge of the bath and letting him wash. Wang Dian washed him half-heartedly, his palm sliding down from his shoulder blades, quite mischievous.
Although he called Liang Ye a beast, he didn’t seem much better. Liang Ye knew he couldn’t resist with the love gu in effect, and quickly changed from initial resistance to active enjoyment. He even eagerly made requests, wanting to experience his secret room.
“…Be more reserved.” Wang Dian felt somewhat embarrassed and gritted his teeth. “Didn’t you say you were unwilling to submit to others?”
Liang Ye smiled and said, “Are you just anyone?”
This sentence successfully ignited Wang Dian’s passion, and he gave him a good taste of his “treasure vault”.
Liang Ye admired his “ingenious ideas” and even humbly “pondered” and earnestly “sought guidance”. By the time Wang Dian was satisfied, it was already the morning of the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month.
The love gu had worn off last night, but Liang Ye still let him have his way. After playing with all the interesting things in the entire secret room, this fellow contentedly said, “Zhen has learned. You just wait.”
Wang Dian instantly felt that this feast he had enjoyed might cost him dearly – Liang Ye never held back when it came to tormenting him, although he hadn’t gone easy on Liang Ye either.
But it had to be said that he and Liang Ye had some surprisingly consistent “preferences” in bed, and their sensitive spots were nearly identical. This strange and bizarre sense of taboo greatly stimulated every nerve, making them insatiable for each other.
Liang Ye seriously counted, “Now you owe Zhen twice.”
“So petty.” Wang Dian turned the tables on him.
Liang Ye hugged him and laughed, commenting, “Your love gu wasn’t of much use.”
“It was fine, at least it made you lie down obediently and take—” Wang Dian had been speaking crudely these past few days. Even though Liang Ye had thick skin, he truly found it hard to handle.
“Extremely vulgar. Zhen feels his ears have been dirtied these past few days.” Liang Ye covered his mouth, wearing an expression of being defiled. Wang Dian smiled at him with crinkled eyes, in an extremely good mood.
Liang Ye felt his heart itch at his smile and pulled him up. “Let’s make dumplings.”
Wang Dian was puzzled. “Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve.”
“Zhen wants to eat them today.” Liang Ye pushed him towards the kitchen.
Wang Dian couldn’t refuse him and instructed people to clean up the kitchen. He casually asked, “It seems a carrier pigeon flew in this morning?”
“Chong Heng was clamoring for Zhen to return, don’t mind it.” Liang Ye hung on him. “Zhen has never tasted your cooking before.”
“I…actually don’t know how to cook very well,” Wang Dian said somewhat embarrassedly. “I can only fry an egg and make dumplings.”
“Zhen can do much more than you.” Liang Ye said proudly, “Zhen can roast chicken, duck, and fish, make noodle soup, braised pork hock, sweet and sour fish…”
He rattled off many dish names in one breath. Wang Dian asked in surprise, “Are you a chef or an emperor?”
Liang Ye watched him knead the dough with great interest. “When Zhen was young and had nothing to do, Zhen would wander around everywhere. Zhen learned secretly from the chefs in the imperial kitchen. Later, when Zhen found Chong Heng, the little thing was very picky and would only eat what Zhen made, so Zhen learned more.”
Wang Dian gave him a piece of dough. “Chong Heng said you found him when he was just born.”
“Hmm.” Liang Ye watched his hand movements, slowly pinching the folds on the dumplings. “He was thrown in a grave pit in a mass burial ground. Zhen was sleeping and was woken up by him. Zhen wanted to bury him but ended up getting peed on.”
Wang Dian smiled. “How old were you then?”
“Seven or eight, Zhen can’t remember clearly.” Liang Ye clicked his tongue. “Children are so annoying, they only know how to cry. Zhen tied him to a tree branch to swing.”
Below was a pile of dead bodies, but the child didn’t seem to know fear. Later, Liang Ye learned that Chong Heng was nearly dying from illness at that time.
When he carried the nearly dying baby into Tan Yishuang’s chambers, he almost scared her to tears. But after recognizing him, she didn’t mind their dirtiness. She bathed them, changed their clothes, and secretly called for the imperial physician, barely saving Chong Heng’s little life.
“Then he was raised,” Liang Ye was not good at storytelling, usually summarizing in one sentence, regardless of the listener’s feelings.
This story was rather dull, but as long as it was Liang Ye telling it, Wang Dian found it interesting and listened intently. Seeing this, Liang Ye racked his brains to say a bit more.
When the dumplings were ready, Wang Dian picked one up, blew on it, and held it to his mouth. “Try it.”
Liang Ye tentatively took a bite. Although it couldn’t compare to the imperial kitchen, since Wang Dian made it himself, it must be the best. “Delicious.”
Wang Dian instantly felt a sense of achievement, tasting a five-star chef’s level in the dumplings he usually didn’t even like to eat himself.
The two stood like fools in the smoke-filled kitchen, happily eating three large plates of dumplings, taking turns.
Liang Ye clung to him stickily, smelling of firewood. Wang Dian hugged him while complaining, childishly smearing some ash on the tip of his nose.
Liang Ye pretended not to notice, admiring the undisguised smile at the corners of his eyes. He suddenly asked, “Do you want to stay up on New Year’s Eve?”
“Of course.” Wang Dian pulled him towards the door. “By the way, we can put up the couplets this afternoon. You’ve been going on about it so much these past few days, my ears are almost calloused.”
“You go get them, Zhen will make the paste.” Liang Ye rolled up his sleeves excitedly.
Wang Dian glanced at the ash on the tip of his nose, holding back his laughter as he went out.
A moment later, he returned with the couplets in hand, only to see an empty kitchen and the gradually dying flames in the stove.
“Liang Ye?” Wang Dian frowned, suddenly feeling uneasy. A cold wind blew in from outside, causing the paper under the plate to flutter.
He walked over and picked it up. On it was Liang Ye’s hurried, sloppy handwriting.
[New Year’s Eve is crowded. Don’t wander around. Return to Liang. Don’t worry.]
