Wang Dian knew very little about Liang Ye’s past. The most he knew was that before the age of eight, Liang Ye was not particularly favored. He lived with Bian Yunxin in the harem, and no one paid much attention to this mother and son.
When the late Emperor Liang Hua passed away, and most of the older princes and princesses had died, Cui Yuxian discovered this eight-year-old child. She pushed him onto the throne while she listened to politics behind the curtain. She fed him a bowl of white jade soup every month without fail, and finally raised him into a capricious madman, famous in all four countries.
Perhaps his mad image was too deeply ingrained in people’s hearts. Wang Dian was on guard even before he met him, although he still fell for his trick and was fed a gu worm.
Sometimes, Wang Dian found Liang Ye’s madness infuriating. Sometimes, he thought the other party was clear-headed, cold, and meticulous. Sometimes, he thought this guy was naive and pitiful.
But the final result was compromise, retreating again and again. His rationality seemed to have run away for eight hundred miles from home…Wang Dian held the silent person in his arms. That little bit of heartache that had just sprouted suddenly disappeared without a trace.
“Liang Ye, what are you doing?” Wang Dian asked with a dark face.
Liang Ye looked up at him innocently, “I’m not doing anything.”
“Take out your hand.” Wang Dian said coldly.
Liang Ye raised one hand to show him.
“The other one.” Wang Dian’s last sentence was said through gritted teeth, not knowing whether his ears were burning from anger or heat.
Reluctantly, Liang Ye took out his hand and asked sincerely, “Don’t you really want to try? Zhen can use my hand first—uhm.”
Wang Dian covered his mouth with a slap, “Liang Ye, you are an emperor after all, have some shame.”
Liang Ye, holding his hand, laughed happily, sticking to him persistently, “Hug again.”
“No more hugging, it’s too hot in the summer.” Wang Dian pushed him away, glanced at the table beneath them with disgust, “You really don’t pick places.”
“Zhen watched them wipe.” The person who had been watching Wang Dian all along said righteously, “They wiped very well.”
“That’s not a place to sit either.” Wang Dian said, supporting himself on the table. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Liang Ye extend a finger to touch the table. After pinching his fingertips and confirming that the table was clean, he finally let out a traceless sigh of relief.
Suppressing a laugh, Wang Dian turned his head to look at the quickly darkening sky outside the window, “Are we returning to the palace tonight?”
“No.” Liang Ye followed his gaze outside, “Zhen will take you to stay at an inn.”
Wang Dian laughed, “I thought you were going to take me to Hualou.” (TL: brothel)
“Those places are dirty and messy, not fun.” Liang Ye lowered his head and rubbed his nose against Wang Dian’s neck, “Zhen also doesn’t like others touching you.”
Wang Dian cleared his throat, and after a while, he couldn’t help but say, “Don’t always say things that can easily be misunderstood.”
“Zhen is telling the truth.” Wherever he went, Liang Ye would follow, as if he couldn’t wait to stick to him. It seemed that he had finally found a new way to get close, and he didn’t hide his desire for Wang Dian at all. He just wanted Wang Dian to hug him again.
Wang Dian was both helpless and amused. He deliberately teased him for a while, and when he saw that this madman was about to lose his patience and reveal his true nature, he stretched out his arm and hugged him into his arms again.
He had clearly hugged him before, but he didn’t know which comfort zone he had touched this time. Liang Ye seemed to enjoy it very much and refused to let go of him.
Wang Dian originally just wanted to play with him, but as he held him, his heartbeat uncontrollably sped up. Fortunately, the knocking on the door outside saved him in time, and Liang Ye had to let him go.
When the boss came to serve the dishes with someone, Wang Dian still felt a bit uncomfortable. It was clearly just a simple hug, but he always felt as if he had just done something with Liang Ye that shouldn’t be seen by others.
Liang Ye was excited, his eyes shining like little hooks that had been set alight. The two of them sat close together, eating their meal. His feet were not entirely still, brushing against Wang Dian’s legs, occasionally hooking around his ankles. He would also pick up some food and offer it to Wang Dian, taking the opportunity to touch his waist or back. As a result, Wang Dian found himself somewhat distracted throughout the meal.
“You behave.” Wang Dian put down his bowl and said with a wooden face, “I’ve never been able to finish a meal peacefully with you.”
Upon hearing this, Liang Ye silently moved his claw from his thigh, glanced at him coldly, and ate the last two meatballs that Wang Dian liked the most, one by one, all by himself, and provocatively glanced at him.
“Childish.” Wang Dian snorted coldly and took away the freshest and tenderest piece of fish from his bowl.
After all, he had finished a meal with Liang Ye in a noisy manner. Wang Dian was still wide awake, feeling more tired than reviewing memorials all night. So much so that when he passed by the night market, he didn’t have the mood to look around. He just wanted to go to the inn and rest immediately.
But Liang Ye was full of energy and insisted on taking him to see the monkey show. Wang Dian was dragged by him into the crowd, watching with lack of interest as the poor monkey was forced to follow the instructions of the monkey trainer. Occasionally, when it did something right, it would get something to eat. If it did something wrong, it would be severely whipped. The fur on its neck was almost worn out by the tight collar.
After watching for a while, Liang Ye suddenly turned his head to look at Wang Dian, and dragged him out of the crowd. Behind them, there were still occasional sounds of whips and cheers from the crowd.
“What’s wrong?” Wang Dian felt that he was a bit unhappy.
“Not good to look at.” Liang Ye separated his fingers and interlocked them with his ten fingers, tightly grasping his.
“If it’s not good to look at, then don’t look.” Wang Dian pinched his palm, glanced around, and said, “It seems that there are people releasing river lanterns on the bridge.”
“Do you want to release one?” Liang Ye tilted his head and asked him.
“Can’t?” Wang Dian asked.
“It’s all little girls releasing them.” Liang Ye dragged him onto the bridge.
The little girls on the shore were laughing and putting their lanterns into the river. Occasionally, a few young masters would come with their wives or sisters to release them. The river reflected the stars and the firelight of the flowers. The boats and barges accompanied by the music of the orchestra quietly passed by. The sound of music was lively and the voices of people were boiling. It was indeed a lively scene in the world.
The evening breeze by the river was quite cool. Wang Dian leaned on the railing of the bridge and stretched, “It’s really nice.”
Liang Ye tilted his head to look at him, “Is it?”
“After a busy day at work, it’s so relaxing to take a walk by the river in the evening,” Wang Dian pointed to the bustling crowd and shouting vendors on the other side of the river, “Look, this is what it means to live and work in peace and contentment.”
Liang Ye was silent for a while, then suddenly said, “Only the capital is like this.”
Wang Dian looked at him somewhat surprised.
“My master always used to say that I didn’t understand the hardships of the world.” Liang Ye avoided his gaze, looking at the countless floating lanterns in the river, “At that time, I felt that I was already living unhappily enough, just like that monkey just now, what does the world’s suffering have to do with me?”
Wang Dian withdrew his gaze, but did not interrupt him.
“Then I took Chong Heng, from the capital all the way south, crossing the east and west of the river, walking through most of Liang country, and then went to Southern Zhao and Eastern Chen.” Liang Ye spoke somewhat with difficulty, he seemed to be very unaccustomed to talking about these things with others, appearing unfamiliar and clumsy, but he held Wang Dian’s hand very tightly, as if afraid that he would walk away.
He finished saying these things, furrowed his brows, and fell silent again.
“And then?” Wang Dian waited for a while, seeing that he had no intention of continuing, he couldn’t help but ask him.
Liang Ye grinned at him and laughed, “Then I found out that it really has nothing to do with me.”
“…….” Wang Dian stared at him for two seconds, and couldn’t help but laugh with him, cursing, “You’re crazy.”
Liang Ye led him down the bridge, the two of them secretly competing, comparing who could step on more steps, Wang Dian’s competitive spirit was aroused, he directly cheated and jumped five steps, turned his head to look at Liang Ye but found that he was not angry, nor did he follow him down.
They stood like this, one on the steps, the other at the bottom of the steps, looking at each other from afar amidst the bustling noise and the stars in the sky.
Liang Ye had a lazy smile at the corner of his mouth, his casual voice fell into Wang Dian’s ears through the night.
“Then I thought, if every place in Liang country could be like the capital, as you said, live and work in peace and contentment, then I should be able to leave more happily.”
