Wang Dian sat on the stone slab enjoying the breeze, when suddenly a large dark shadow loomed over him. He abruptly looked up and met Liang Ye’s cold gaze.
“That scared me to death.” Wang Dian breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the tomb owner had jumped out to find him.
“If you’re scared, why are you still sitting?” Liang Ye reached out and pulled him up.
Wang Dian felt dizzy and wrapped his arms around Liang Ye’s waist. Liang Ye was stunned for a moment, then happily embraced him, “Acting cute won’t work. Didn’t Zhen tell you not to drink?”
Wang Dian had drunk many times before and never took his prohibition seriously. He just hugged him tightly and said seriously, “You’re the true dragon emperor, your yang energy is strong.”
“…” Liang Ye’s mouth twitched. “What a terrible place you found.”
“He said so,” Wang Dian turned his head toward the tomb mound, “not me.”
Liang Ye could tell he was drunk. “Let’s go.”
Wang Dian patted his arm hard, “Have someone fix this brother’s tombstone properly… don’t come find me tonight.”
“…Alright.” Liang Ye said curiously, “Aren’t you usually quite brave?”
“In a feudal society, we must follow feudal rules… to show respect.” Wang Dian sighed, friendly hooking his arm around Liang Ye’s neck. Too lazy to walk himself, he simply pressed most of his weight onto him and said drunkenly, “Liang Ye… let me tell you something heartfelt.”
Liang Ye held his waist and dragged him back, “Mm.”
“I, Wang Dian… truly consider you a brother!” Wang Dian patted his shoulder hard and laughed, “We two brothers—”
“Wait.” Liang Ye interrupted him, held the back of his neck making him look at himself, and said sinisterly, “What did you say Zhen is to you?”
“Brother!” Wang Dian punched his chest boldly, looking at him sideways, “Aren’t we brothers who’d die for each other?”
Liang Ye smiled eerily, “We’re the kind of brothers who sleep together.”
Wang Dian hooked his neck and giggled, grabbed his chin and leaned in to kiss him once, “Baby, let me tell you a secret.”
Liang Ye was hit by the strong smell of alcohol on him and wanted to turn away in disgust, but Wang Dian hooked his neck back, “You better fucking listen!”
Liang Ye said expressionlessly, “Fine.”
“Actually, I’m…the same age as you.” Wang Dian sighed, “Where I’m from we count age differently. After this new year, we’re both twenty-seven.”
Liang Ye raised his eyebrows, “Oh?”
“If you dare make me call you ‘brother’ in bed again, I’ll fuck you until you’re useless.” Wang Dian frowned and slapped his lower back, sneering, “Not feeling so smug now, are you, idiot?”
Though his words were jumbled, Liang Ye understood his meaning. He leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Then Zhen will call you brother, and still feel good.”
Wang Dian raised his hand to rub his itchy ear hard, turned to glare at him, and said earnestly, “Brother, let me tell you—”
Liang Ye stared at him meaningfully, smiling very pleasantly, and whispered, “Say one more word and Zhen will fuck you to death, brother.”
“……” Wang Dian slowly wiped his face, his head tilted and he instantly passed out.
Liang Ye laughed arrogantly.
The alcohol from Quan Ning was too strong. Even after returning to the tent, Wang Dian still hadn’t completely sobered up. He held back for the whole way to protect his dignity, but finally couldn’t resist. He kicked Liang Ye’s boot, “Liang Ziyu, let me ask you something.”
Liang Ye made a sound of acknowledgment, his writing brush not stopping.
“That Bian Feng.” Wang Dian lay half-drunk on the couch frowning, “Of course I don’t mean anything by it, I just want to ask purely out of curiosity, though maybe some personal feelings are mixed in, and maybe you didn’t notice, but I still feel I need to ask.”
“…” Liang Ye put down his brush, remembering Wang Dian’s drunk behavior last time, and hesitated whether to knock him unconscious.
Wang Dian kicked his shin twice in displeasure, straightened up and said angrily, “That little brat was secretly taking advantage of you and you couldn’t tell even if you were made of wood!?”
Liang Ye looked at him with slight confusion, “What advantage?”
“He touched you! Your arm! Here!” Wang Dian slapped his forearm twice, “So it’s just targeted at me, huh! When I touch you once, you let the gu worm hurt me half to death!”
Liang Ye understood his meaning, and the confusion in his eyes instantly turned to excitement, “Are you jealous?”
“Jealous my ass!” Wang Dian expertly retrieved a willow leaf knife from his sleeve, rolled up Liang Ye’s sleeve and said fiercely, “Laozi will carve you up first!”
Liang Ye extended his arm without dodging, saying contentedly, “Don’t carve too much, we still need to negotiate peace tomorrow.”
The willow leaf knife in Wang Dian’s hand made a “swoosh” sound as it deeply pierced the table right next to Liang Ye’s forearm. Liang Ye was stunned for a moment, and Wang Dian also belatedly froze.
“Nice aim.” Liang Ye used some force to pull it out, blew off the wood shavings, and put it back in his hand, saying excitedly, “Come on, stab again.”
“Fuck.” Wang Dian sobered up quite a bit from the shock, putting the blade back on him, “Are you fucking stupid? Why didn’t you dodge?”
Liang Ye folded the letter and put it in an envelope, saying with relish, “What’s the point of dodging? You’re the one who’ll feel bad anyway.”
Wang Dian slapped the back of his head, “Are you sick!”
Liang Ye covered his head and looked up sinisterly, “Wang Dian, don’t think Zhen can’t handle you just because you’re drunk!”
“You just know a bit more martial arts than me. Without martial arts, I could beat two of you!” Wang Dian said unhappily, “You wouldn’t even be able to get out of bed.”
“Where does your confidence come from?” Liang Ye was even more unhappy, “If Zhen wasn’t going easy on you, do you think you could sleep with Zhen?”
“What going easy! The first time was clearly you bringing it upon yourself!” Wang Dian said arrogantly, “Think it’s right to scheme against others, do you?”
“Wang Dian.” Liang Ye narrowed his eyes, “Don’t think Zhen wouldn’t dare to beat you.”
“Come on then, you think I’m afraid?” Wang Dian sneered, “If you’ve got the ability, don’t use martial arts.”
“I can still kill you with one finger without using martial arts.” Liang Ye said coldly.
Chong Heng was drowsily squatting outside the tent. Hearing movement inside, he removed the cotton from his ears, and heard cursing and fighting sounds. He listened carefully for a moment, and just as he was about to speak up after confirming it was a fight, the cursing and panting sounds changed their tone, gradually becoming rough and intimate.
The two voices sounded too similar, he couldn’t tell who was who. Listening made his scalp tingle, so he simply stuffed the thick cotton back into his ears, and everything around him instantly became pure and clean again.
The bright moon hung high in the sky, the main tent was especially far from other tents, darkness all around. He yawned boredly and scratched his ear.
What kind of fight was this anyway.
The next morning.
Wang Dian had just opened his eyes when he hissed in pain. Liang Ye, sprawled on top of him, moved slightly and bit his neck with his eyes closed.
He hesitated for two seconds between kicking him off and pulling him up for a kiss, but just as he raised his foot, his ankle was caught.
The teeth marks and handprints on Liang Ye’s arms were still very clear. He opened his eyes groggily, “If you kick me again, I’ll really beat you.”
Wang Dian sneered, pointing at the bruises and wounds on his own arms, “You didn’t beat me enough, huh? Lost the fight and still have the nerve to cheat.”
“Zhen was letting you win.” Liang Ye said stubbornly.
Although their fight had deviated from the main topic halfway through last night, it didn’t affect both men’s determination to settle the score, after all, with Liang Ye not using martial arts, they were evenly matched—neither would submit to the other.
They bickered all morning, and almost got carried away again, but when they came out of the tent, both looked more proper than the other.
Chong Heng yawned, rubbed the tears from his eyes, and followed behind Wang Dian, “Master, today—”
“Hm?” Wang Dian looked at him strangely.
Chong Heng instantly sobered up when he saw the mask on his face, turned to find Liang Ye, and quickly ran behind him, “Master.”
Liang Ye patted the back of his head, “Today’s peace talks, we don’t need you, go back and sleep.”
“Oh.” Chong Heng yawned, stretched, turned and brushed past him, crawling into his own tent to catch up on sleep.
Liang Ye strode to catch up with Wang Dian, reprimanding in a low voice, “The Prince of Danyang dares to walk in front of Zhen, what are your intentions?”
“To usurp power.” Wang Dian yawned, the wound at the corner of his mouth pulled and hurt, he said fiercely, “One day I’ll lock you up.”
Liang Ye said happily, “Don’t forget to use dark iron for the chains, and there must be some on the feet too, otherwise Zhen can break your neck.”
“I fucking—” Wang Dian was choked by his shamelessness, and just as he was about to speak again, Bian Feng came up with a smiling face.
“Your Majesty! Your Highness! We should depart!” He very consciously walked to Liang Ye’s side to follow.
Wang Dian gathered his sleeves and continued walking forward with a cold expression. Liang Ye also contained his smile.
Following behind them, Bian Feng stared intently at Liang Ye’s back, raised his hand to touch his own lips with an obsessed expression, grinned, but his expression suddenly darkened when he glimpsed Wang Dian.
Really…an eyesore.
****
Chong Heng had just fallen asleep when he suddenly heard a faint noise. He leaped up from the bed, the sword under his pillow already unsheathed and piercing through the curtain, “Who’s there!?”
“Me me me!” The voice outside trembled, “Yang Wujiu!”
Chong Heng was a bit dazed, withdrew his sword, and lifted the tent curtain with an displeased expression, “What are you doing here?”
Yang Wujiu was startled, his face looked unwell, but he just tugged at his collar, cleared his throat and said, “Now that we’ve ceased fighting and are making peace, there’s no more war to fight. I… I want to ask for your help.”
Chong Heng yawned, tilted his chin up, and said arrogantly, “Ask for my help?”
This manner was exactly like Liang Ye’s, quite irritating, but Yang Wujiu needed his help after all, so he could only suppress his temper and said, “Yes, Wang Dian—His Highness is busy, I shouldn’t bother him with such a small matter, so I can only come to you.”
As he spoke, he untied the bundle he was carrying and put it on the table, “This is the silver I’ve saved since joining the army. Although it’s not much, it’s all my earnings. I’d like to trouble you to… give it to my adoptive father.”
Chong Heng glanced at the contents of the bundle, it really wasn’t much, and said, “Although Yang Man committed many evil deeds, he ultimately contributed by killing Cui Yuxian. Master won’t mistreat him, you should keep this money yourself.”
Yang Wujiu’s face reddened at his words, the young master’s temper flared up and he raised his head to glare at him angrily, “I—”
Whoosh!
A short arrow broke through the curtain and shot straight into the pillar.
Chong Heng’s eyes sharpened as he lifted the tent flap and chased out, but the surroundings were empty, without a trace of anyone.
Yang Wujiu came out from the tent, holding the arrow he had pulled out, and pulled something rolled up from it, saying to him, “There seems to be a note tied to this arrow.”
Chong Heng snatched the note and unfolded it. After reading the words on it, his expression suddenly changed.
“What does it say?” Yang Wujiu asked curiously.
Chong Heng gripped his sword tightly, then looked toward Southern Chuan City where Liang Ye and Wang Dian had already left for peace talks, gritted his teeth, untied the reins of a fast horse nearby, mounted it and shouted, “Hyah!”
“Hey! Chong Heng! Are you going to help or not!?” Yang Wujiu called out anxiously, simply untied the reins and rode his horse to chase after him, “Chong Heng!”
The two fast horses galloped away in the opposite direction of Southern Chuan.
