This proposal was extremely outrageous.
Liang Ye looked at him with reproachful eyes, then ate all the buns, not leaving even a piece of the skin for him.
Wang Dian ate the one he had snatched at a leisurely pace, drank half a bowl of porridge, then put down his chopsticks.
Liang Ye frowned, “You eat too little.”
When Wang Dian had a good appetite, his portions were only slightly smaller than Liang Ye’s, but after each depression episode, his food intake became pitifully small, always making Liang Ye feel he would starve to death.
“I’d like to eat more, but you didn’t leave anything for me,” Wang Dian pointed at the empty plate.
Liang Ye glanced at him, picked up his remaining half bowl of porridge and finished it in a few gulps, “Stay hungry then.”
Wang Dian just smiled, keeping his sleeves tucked.
After they got into the carriage, as soon as he sat down, a warm, soft pastry was stuffed into his mouth. He raised an eyebrow at Liang Ye, chewed a few times, tasting the slightly sweet filling inside.
“Starve you for two days and you’ll eat anything,” Liang Ye saw him swallow and stuffed another one in his mouth, “So difficult to feed.”
Though Wang Dian wasn’t hungry, he still ate several pieces in good spirits, “Any news from the people arranged to return to the Capital?”
Liang Ye shook his head, wrapping up the remaining pastries, “Cui Qi’s previous letter didn’t provide details, probably just sensed something was wrong, but with such a big commotion at Sipan Mountain, Bian Cang must have already made his move.”
“Your Northern Liang court is truly rotten to the core,” Wang Dian sighed, leaning back against the soft cushion.
“It’s our Northern Liang,” Liang Ye corrected him, “You are Northern Liang’s Prince of Danyang.”
Wang Dian pointedly said, “My reputation as prince is notorious. Compared to him, those noble families in the Capital probably hope even less for my return. Even if I do return, I likely won’t last long.”
“Those noble families have impure motives. Isn’t Zhen returning precisely to uphold justice for you?” Liang Ye leisurely lifted his injured leg onto his own knee, rolled up the pants to apply medicine, “If it weren’t for the Prince of Danyang leaving such a beautiful trap, we wouldn’t need to rush back so urgently now.”
Wang Dian knew Tang Yishuang and Qi Ming had backing but held back, partly to maintain temporary stability, and partly to leave the final mess for Liang Ye himself, making it impossible for him to deal with himself even after returning to the Capital – an obvious calculation. But he had indeed personally escorted supplies to the frontline, saving Northern Liang’s army from urgent crisis. Even without their private relationship, as emperor, Liang Ye couldn’t find fault with him.
But it was very frustrating.
“The noble families refuse to die out, not completely eliminated. Your Majesty is so confident putting me on the fire to roast, making me the target – I have to plan for myself,” Wang Dian said very directly. “Isn’t that right?”
Liang Ye finished changing his wound dressing but didn’t put his leg down, fiddling with the small black bone piece on his ankle rope, his expression gloomy as he said, “Since Zhen has given you power, it means Zhen trusts you, and naturally can protect you.”
Wang Dian snorted with laughter. “That’s now, but before Sipan Mountain, were you thinking of protecting me?”
“……” Liang Ye was stumped by his question. Before Sipan Mountain, he had planned to use Wang Dian to eliminate the noble families, then use the court officials to strip Wang Dian of his Prince of Danyang title – no matter how much he liked Wang Dian, he couldn’t possibly truly hand over his power to him.
But he only paused briefly before saying frankly, “Of course, since you returned to the Capital from Southern Zhao, Zhen has completely trusted you.”
“You don’t even blush when lying.” Wang Dian stepped on his chest with his foot, smiling mockingly, “Since Your Majesty says so, let’s leave it at that.”
Liang Ye grabbed his ankle, letting out a light snort, “Taking liberties.”
Wang Dian tried to pull his foot back but couldn’t, looking at the black bone piece on the ankle rope, “What exactly is this thing?”
Although it was given by Liang Ye, he felt it was somewhat sinister no matter how he looked at it.
“It’s the child gu taken from your body before,” Liang Ye immediately became interested, “I used some methods to refine it, mixed in some of my blood – isn’t it nice?”
“…What did you make this thing for?” Wang Dian thought he was crazy – just thinking about wearing this thing on his foot reminded him of the pain when the gu acted up.
“It’s interesting,” Liang Ye touched the small bone piece, smiling eerily. “Zhen wants it to watch you at all times. If you don’t behave, Zhen will—hiss.”
Wang Dian grabbed his neck and pulled him close, narrowing his eyes to ask. “Will what?”
Liang Ye licked his lips, grinning: “Will let it eat you.”
“Insane.” Wang Dian sometimes really couldn’t understand what was going on in his head, “You’ve already refined it, what eating?”
Liang Ye leaned in stickily sweet wanting to kiss him, but Wang Dian pushed his chin away, “Stop teasing me.”
Every time they discussed serious matters, they would inexplicably spark something. Wang Dian had no doubt that even if the sky was falling, Liang Ye would eagerly drag him to fool around first before dying.
Very much having the potential to be a decadent ruler.
The sad thing was he had no self-control with Liang Ye either.
Liang Ye just looked at him with a mixture of grievance and unwillingness, but the hand gripping Liang Ye’s neck changed its intent. The two were extremely close, their breathing clearly audible to each other. Wang Dian’s half-lowered eyes slid over his nose bridge, falling on his lips, which he had kissed many times – warm, soft, yet burning and passionate when pressed against his skin.
Liang Ye’s hand touched his jaw, peeling off that false mask, watching Wang Dian’s true features emerge. Due to his heavy touch, the skin on his face turned slightly red.
The two stared at each other equally frank and undisguised, their noses occasionally brushing then separating with the carriage’s movement. Wang Dian’s Adam’s apple moved slightly as he tilted his head to kiss Liang Ye, his canine teeth grazing his lip corner neither lightly nor heavily, then pulled away slightly, satisfied to feel Liang Ye’s suddenly heavier breathing.
“Who’s teasing who?” Liang Ye straddled his legs following his lead, lowering his eyes as his palm roughly stroked his waist.
“You’re teasing me…” Wang Dian laughed softly, kissing the corner of his mouth on and off, his voice clean and clear but his words quite crude, “I’m going to die in bed with you one of these days.”
Liang Ye couldn’t stand his teasing yet delicate way of kissing, fingers forcefully threading through his hair, pulling him in for a fierce kiss as if wanting to devour him whole. His outer robe was pulled open by Wang Dian, who traced the wounds on his back one by one, the slightly cool touch making him instinctively tense his muscles.
“Want me to kiss them better?” Wang Dian asked, seemingly very seriously while catching his breath, fingertips teasingly pressing on his wounds, “I’ll kiss them better for you.”
Liang Ye’s Adam’s apple rolled heavily as he kissed him even more fiercely.
Right at the height of passion, the carriage suddenly stopped.
He protected Wang Dian’s head with his hand, but his lips couldn’t escape harm – the metallic sweetness of blood immediately spread to his tongue.
Liang Ye looked down at him, unhurriedly licking away the blood in his mouth before pulling up his disheveled outer robe from his waist and asking in a deep voice, “What’s wrong?”
The secret guard driving the carriage spoke with resignation. “Master, we seem to have encountered bandits.”
Damn bandits! They just had to! Rob them! At this moment!
Liang Ye was displeased, Wang Dian even more so as he lifted the curtain to look out coldly.
“Master!” The secret guard saw his gloomy face and thought it was Liang Ye, hurriedly kneeling to beg forgiveness.
Only then did Wang Dian remember he wasn’t wearing his mask, quickly dropping the curtain to turn back and look for it, only to find that Liang Ye had already gleefully put on his mask.
“The glue on this still hurts, your face is all red. I’ll wear it for you for a few days.” Liang Ye took the opportunity to switch their outer robes, leaving the wrinkled robe on Wang Dian.
“…” Wang Dian’s mouth twitched, “How is this any different from covering one’s ears while stealing a bell?”
(TL: “掩耳盗铃” (yǎn ěr dào líng), which describes self-deception or futile actions that fool only oneself. It originates from a story where a thief tries to steal a bell but covers their ears, thinking that others won’t hear it if they can’t. It’s often used to criticize someone’s illogical or naive behavior.)
“Let me try being the favored minister for a bit.” Liang Ye intimately kissed his ear, “Your Majesty.”
Although Wang Dian vaguely guessed his intentions, he couldn’t deny how much he enjoyed it. Before, Liang Ye could let him substitute identities because the gu could control him at any time, but now without the gu, he still handed over control to him, simply wanting to demonstrate his attitude and reassure him.
What more trust do you want from Zhen?
Using retreat as a way of advancing – the move was executed perfectly.
Wang Dian smiled, “Have some shame.”
Liang Ye justified himself righteously. “There’s no one in the world who has more shame than me.”
As they spoke, the secret guard who went to negotiate had already drawn his sword.
Bandits were such trivial matters that, apart from ruining the mood, neither Liang Ye nor Wang Dian took them seriously – if their subordinates couldn’t handle such things, they would have been raised in vain.
But soon Li Mu hurriedly reported, “Master, those bandits… they all appear to be desperate commoners.”
“The eastern part of Anhan Prefecture is far less prosperous than the west, adjacent to Chuansong Prefecture, but with much better mountainous environment than Chuansong, and unaffected by natural disasters and war – how could there be so many citizens turning to banditry?” Wang Dian frowned, getting out of the carriage with Liang Ye.
When he was temporarily managing the Ministry of Revenue before, a large portion of taxes came from relatively wealthy prefectures like Anhan and Danyang, with relatively fewer refugees. For people to turn to banditry… it meant the citizens were desperate and had completely lost faith in the dynasty – the next step wouldn’t be far from armed rebellion.
“Anhan Prefecture changed its magistrate before the new year,” Liang Ye said, “I remember it was Feng Lan.”
“Feng Qing’s cousin?” Wang Dian quickly went through the list in his mind and clicked his tongue.
As they spoke, they arrived in front of the group of “bandits” who had been subdued, finally understanding why Li Mu was so certain they were common citizens.
Among the forty or fifty people, most were elderly, weak, sick, or disabled, while the young were also skin and bones. These people saw the fine clothes Wang Dian and Liang Ye wore, their eyes almost glowing green, yet they dared not move due to the swords at their necks.
There was even a sallow-faced woman holding an infant, crying behind her hands. Seeing this, Wang Dian waved his hand, signaling the nearby secret guards to remove their swords. But as soon as the swords were withdrawn, the woman suddenly threw the swaddled infant and lunged at Wang Dian. Wang Dian quickly stepped back, and the nearby secret guard efficiently restrained her, about to strike with his sword when Wang Dian stopped him.
The tattered swaddling cloth that rolled to his feet came undone, revealing an emaciated infant corpse – its arms and thighs had been half eaten by someone, its wide-open eyes staring blankly at Wang Dian and Liang Ye.
The woman stared blankly at the remains on the ground, finally breaking into loud sobs.
Spring was in full bloom, grass growing and orioles flying, it was the perfect season for all things to grow.
