Wang Dian slept heavily for several days, as if making up for all the sleep he had lost from working overtime before.
When Liang Ye tried to give him medicine, he frowned and pushed it away, his voice carrying laziness, “I don’t want to sleep anymore.”
“Are you feeling better?” Liang Ye held his wrist to check his pulse, then put the bowl aside.
“Mm.” Wang Dian closed his eyes briefly, “Not feeling as bad anymore.”
Much of that sharp, crushing rage and irritability had subsided, and he even felt somewhat hungry.
Hearing that he wanted to eat, Liang Ye was very happy and quickly ordered someone to prepare food.
The last time Wang Dian returned home with depression, he sometimes only ate two bites a day or didn’t eat at all. Back then, Liang Ye had only thought it was fine as long as he didn’t starve to death, and hadn’t been particularly worried.
During these past few days on the road, whenever Wang Dian woke up, he didn’t want to eat and was forced to drink half or one bowl of porridge. When pushed too far, he would get angry and could curse vehemently even while drowsy. Although Liang Ye felt angry at being cursed at, he could only endure it and kindly persuade him to eat a bit more, being extremely patient and worried that hunger might cause other problems.
“No medicine, just water.” Liang Ye drank most of the bowl before offering it to his lips, “Drink this to soothe your throat.”
Wang Dian frowned at him, reluctantly drank half a bowl of water, and yawned while leaning against Liang Ye, having no strength after sleeping so much.
Liang Ye rubbed his hands, “You can’t sleep anymore. After eating, let’s go for a walk.”
Wang Dian made a sound of agreement, “Who did you send to Eastern Chen?”
“Huh?” Liang Ye looked at him in confusion.
“You let me sleep for so many days, either someone has already reached the capital of Eastern Chen,” Wang Dian said slowly, “or Shen Yao is dead. Otherwise, you wouldn’t feel at ease letting me wake up?”
Liang Ye grinned and vigorously rubbed his neck, “Just woke up and thinking about so many things. I think your depression came from having too clever a mind.”
Wang Dian chuckled and cursed, “Bastard, you’re allowed to scheme but I’m not allowed to think?”
“You clearly smelled it, you could have refused to drink,” Liang Ye said smugly.
“I was too tired,” Wang Dian said with half-closed eyes, “I wanted to sleep well for a few days.”
After his depression episode, his whole person had been in an extremely excited and tense state, making any decision prone to extremes. Liang Ye was someone who loved excitement – if nothing was wrong, he could have fought back and forth, gambling on that probability in Eastern Chen.
But even if Shen Yao hadn’t died, using this to bite back at Northern Liang to achieve his own goals would be a kind of betrayal to Liang Ye. He would do it if necessary, but unless absolutely essential, he didn’t want to break the trust they had finally built between them.
Besides, he didn’t want to constantly struggle against Liang Ye.
They weren’t enemies after all.
“Let’s go running later,” Liang Ye touched his face, “When you lived in Yingsu Square before, I saw you running every day. After a hot bath, you’d easily fall asleep.”
“For someone with a bad memory, you remember quite clearly,” Wang Dian felt comfortable leaning against Liang Ye, who was like a big warm stove.
“If anyone else said Zhen had a bad memory, I would dig out their brain to let them see it,” Liang Ye pinched his face, “You’re spoiled.”
Wang Dian pushed his hand away and lifted the curtain to look outside, “Where is this place?”
He had been sleeping most of the time, only remembering the bumping of the carriage and the sound of wind outside.
“Chuansong County,” Liang Ye made him drink some more water, “Two hundred li southeast is Huadong County. Jiao Yan is stationed in Ningming County, and I want to take back Huadong County while we’re at it.”
“What about Yu Polu?” Wang Dian sat up straight and pulled out a map from Liang Ye’s sleeve, spreading it out to look carefully.
Liang Ye pointed to Anhan County on the map, “Ningming County is right next to Loufan, far from the south. Jiao Wenbo lacks the strength to come to aid, so Yu Polu wanted to wear me down in Ningming County before. Additionally, with the Liang army lacking supplies, he wanted to take Ningming first then attack Anhan, cross the He River and directly assault the capital. But since you escorted so many supplies this time, I dare to wear him down. Once he figured this out, he settled for second best, wanting to attack Anhan from Chuansong. If I split my forces to stay in Ningming, it would be easier for him to attack.”
“How many men did you leave with Jiao Yan?” Wang Dian asked.
“One hundred and twenty thousand,” Liang Ye said, “With Jiao Yan’s ability, tying down Loufan’s hundred and fifty thousand troops shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Twenty-three thousand men is too few for you to bring,” Wang Dian said, “Chuansong is mountainous with complex terrain, and Yu Polu built his career on mountain warfare. It’s too risky.”
“Chuansong still has sixty thousand garrison troops,” Liang Ye pointed at Chuansong on the map. “Even if these sixty thousand aren’t effective, Jiao Wenbo can still come to aid from Chengyuan County.”
Wang Dian stared at the map for a moment, “You want him to take the water route?”
“Yu Polu isn’t good at naval warfare,” Liang Ye said, “I’ll have Lu Shu lead troops to block his front, and Bian Feng to cut off his rear. If we can force him to Huadong County before news reaches Eastern Chen, we’ll have a chance to take back Huadong County.”
“Don’t be too greedy,” Wang Dian still felt his method was too aggressive. “Just pressure him symbolically to negotiate terms. If we fight too hard it’ll look bad when negotiating peace. Huadong County has so many gold mines, Eastern Chen won’t easily give in. What if it backfires?”
“We need to fight until it looks bad to negotiate better terms,” Liang Ye said sinisterly, “Huadong County was originally Zhen’s territory.”
Hearing his tone, Wang Dian raised his eyebrows slightly, “Shen Yao is dead?”
Liang Ye said cheerfully, “He had too many sons, who knows which one struck first? Having so many children – they showed their filial piety by killing him.”
Wang Dian sighed, “Liang Ziyu, mind your karma.”
“This shows one should have fewer children,” Liang Ye said seriously, “You just need to give Zhen one.”
“If I could bear children, I’d definitely kill the father and keep the child,” Wang Dian patted his belly, “Having Ah Huan is enough, stop having these unrealistic ideas.”
“Tch, that little white rabbit,” Liang Ye still showed disdain when mentioning his adopted son.
All day he just cried and ate, couldn’t even speak properly – it wouldn’t be surprising if Northern Liang fell in his hands one day.
“Ah Huan? Are you that close to him?” Liang Ye said darkly, “You don’t even call me that.”
“…You’re not a four or five-year-old child.” Wang Dian heard the announcement from outside, automatically fell silent, and sat further from Liang Ye.
Liang Ye looked at him unhappily.
The food in the military camp was limited, naturally not as refined as in the palace, but what was served to Liang Ye wasn’t too bad. He must have given careful instructions, as there were light appetizers and finely cooked porridge.
“Even if you’re hungry, you can’t eat too much,” Liang Ye put away the map, “We’ll discuss business after eating.”
Wang Dian scooped up some porridge and drank it, his empty stomach immediately feeling warm, “I don’t understand warfare, better not meddle.”
“If I know it, you naturally know it too,” Liang Ye slurped down most of his bowl of porridge and took big bites of the dishes.
Wang Dian’s temple throbbed hearing this, “Eat slower.”
Liang Ye stuffed a piece of flatbread in his mouth, curved his eyes and smiled at him, “Before, we could be fighting at any time, so I got used to it.”
Wang Dian felt both sympathetic and helpless, “We’re not fighting now, slow down.”
“Alright,” Liang Ye ate more elegantly but still not slowly, finishing two large flatbreads while Wang Dian had only drunk half a bowl of porridge.
Seeing Wang Dian put down his chopsticks, he immediately frowned, “Weren’t you hungry?”
Even a bird would eat more than him.
“I’m full,” Wang Dian said, “I ate quite a few dishes.”
Liang Ye glanced at him, took his remaining porridge and finished it in two or three gulps, “You got depression because you eat too little.”
“…” Wang Dian couldn’t help but laugh at his nagging tone, “Will you ever stop?”
“No,” Liang Ye said somewhat angrily, “Zhen doesn’t even have depression. You were loved by your father and mother and were as rich as a nation, how did you end up with this condition?”
“Far from being as rich as a nation,” Wang Dian knew he had been badly frightened and comforted him, “Just don’t provoke me and it’ll be fine.” Liang Ye glared at him, speechless, while carefully observing his expression.
Wang Dian squeezed his palm, “It’s fine to talk about it. That phase has passed, don’t worry.”
The place where Liang Ye had temporarily set up camp was a flat mountain ridge. Yu Polu’s army wasn’t particularly close, and Liang Ye didn’t intend to engage with him, only to command from here.
The winter mountain scenery wasn’t particularly beautiful, but the wind was much lighter than on the desert steppes. Wang Dian walked alongside Liang Ye with his sleeves gathered, exercising their horses. Chong Heng followed at a moderate distance, occasionally jumping into trees to look around playfully.
“Xu Xiude is quite eloquent,” Wang Dian said after hearing him out. “Though I thought you would send someone more trustworthy.”
“Those people in court, hah,” Liang Ye gave a cold laugh. “They’re just waiting for Zhen to die on the battlefield. Trusting them would be seeking death.”
Having leverage over Xu Xiude actually made him more reliable.
“What a pity,” Wang Dian sighed.
“A pity?” Liang Ye held the reins and turned to look at him, smiling mischievously, “So melancholic about not getting to go to Eastern Chen?”
“Having come all this way, I did want to look around,” Wang Dian smiled gracefully, “But alas, the beauty’s pass is hard to cross, preventing me from proceeding.”
Liang Ye felt his heart tickle at his smile and raised his eyebrows, “You should call me husband.”
Wang Dian said in surprise, “I saw in your storybooks they all write ‘husband.'”
(TL: former 夫君 (fu jun)=husband; latter 相公 (xiao gong)=husband
Diff:
former=Directly means “husband” and conveys a sense of respect and affection.
latter= “Husband,” but with a more casual and playful tone in a romantic context. Can also refer to scholars, gentlemen, or even eunuchs in historical contexts.)
Liang Ye paused for a moment, his eyes suddenly lighting up as if finally catching Wang Dian’s slip, “Zhen knew you read them secretly, you must have flipped through those illustrated books plenty too.”
Wang Dian said righteously, “I was merely trying to understand ancient folk literature.”
“Acting proper,” Liang Ye said with certainty, “You must have read much more, otherwise where did you learn all those tricks?”
“That’s nothing yet,” Wang Dian curved his lips, “Call me ‘husband,’ and I’ll teach you more interesting things.”
(TL: “老公” (lǎo gōng) is the modern, casual Chinese term for “husband.” It’s widely used in everyday conversation between married couples or romantic partners; old man)
Liang Ye stared at him suspiciously, “Isn’t ‘husband’ what eunuchs are called?”
This preference… was truly peculiar.
“Where I’m from it means lover,” Wang Dian said with a straight face, “Are you shy?”
Liang Ye smiled contemptuously, “What does Zhen have to be shy about?”
Wang Dian leaned close to his ear and whispered an example, satisfactorily watching Liang Ye’s ears instantly turn red. He chuckled and stroked them with his fingertips, suddenly realizing, “Can’t say it unless in bed?”
Liang Ye clicked his tongue and was about to speak when suddenly the sound of hoofbeats came from afar.
“Your Majesty!” Someone rode over from the distance, voice very excited.
Wang Dian’s mood was disturbed and he straightened up, looking at the youth who had dismounted.
“Greetings to Your Majesty! Greetings to Your Highness!” Bian Feng knelt on one knee and saluted, though his passionate and admiring gaze remained fixed on Liang Ye as he handed over an envelope and announced loudly, “Your Majesty, good news from Southern Chuan!”
Liang Ye reached out to take the envelope. Bian Feng stared at him intently, tightly gripping the fingertips that had just been accidentally touched, when he suddenly sensed a chill.
He turned his head and met Wang Dian’s cold gaze.
