Liang Ye asked this question peculiarly. Wang Dian closed his eyes and sighed, “No.”
“Zhen—” Liang Ye was about to speak again when Yun Fu’s voice suddenly announced from outside the door.
“Your Majesty, Commander Jiao Yan requests an audience.”
Wang Dian didn’t want to go, but Liang Ye wouldn’t let him leave immediately. He could only accompany him to see Jiao Yan.
Jiao Yan was tall, with a high nose and deep-set eyebrows. He wore light, thin armor. His eyes were bright and spirited. Upon seeing Liang Ye, he knelt on one knee, clasped his fist in salute, and said with a smile, “This humble general Jiao Yan pays respects to Your Majesty!”
“Get up quickly!” Liang Ye laughed heartily, walked over and grabbed his arm to pull him up, saying, “Zhen has been too busy these past few days to catch up with you properly. You’ve been of great help to Zhen this time!”
“Your Majesty is too kind. This is merely this humble general’s duty!” Jiao Yan grasped his wrist. “Since we last parted, I have been very concerned. How is Your Majesty’s injury?”
“It has healed well.” Liang Ye affectionately punched his shoulder and said with a smile, “However, Zhen is not ready for combat yet. When Zhen is fully recovered, Zhen must have a good match with you.”
“Haha, this humble general will be glad to oblige!” Jiao Yan laughed heartily. He keenly turned his head and met Wang Dian’s cold gaze. “And this is…?”
“This is Wang Dian, whom Zhen has mentioned to you before.” Liang Ye smiled smugly. “Like you, he is one of Zhen’s right-hand men.”
Jiao Yan bowed politely and said with a smile, “So this is the renowned Wang Daren. I’ve long heard of your reputation!”
“Commander Jiao flatters me. The commander is truly a young talent, very much in the spirit of his father.” Wang Dian forced a smile, his gaze sweeping over Liang Ye’s wrist and arm that Jiao Yan had just touched. A faint gloom overshadowed his brows and eyes.
But when Liang Ye looked at him, he casually sipped his tea as if nothing was wrong.
“…Cui secretly maintained a Black Armored Guard of 30,000 men, plus the Cui family’s private army, totaling 70,000 men. However, they were all just a motley crew.” Jiao Yan said, “During this palace coup, Commander Wei and I captured 40,000 men in total. Your Majesty, how should we deal with these people?”
“Those who plot rebellion deserve no mercy. Exile their entire clans.” Liang Ye said lightly.
“Yes!” Jiao Yan agreed readily, not finding anything wrong with it.
Wang Dian, who had been lowering his head to drink tea, suddenly began coughing violently. Liang Ye’s attention was immediately drawn to him. Jiao Yan asked anxiously, “What’s wrong with Wang Daren?”
“Cough cough cough, it’s nothing, cough cough…” Wang Dian covered his sleeve, almost coughing his lungs out. “I’ve caught a cold these past few days, it’s nothing serious.”
“You’ve been taking this medicine for days without improvement. What is Li Bu even doing?” Liang Ye stood up dissatisfied and poured him a cup of warm water. “This tea is too hot. Yun Fu.”
Wang Dian took it and drank a couple of sips, then stopped him, “No need to change it.”
Jiao Yan looked at the two of them, feeling that something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He spoke frankly, “Indeed, hot tea shouldn’t be drunk too much. A few days ago, my wife also had a cold and insisted on drinking tea. She ended up coughing even more severely.”
Wang Dian asked with some surprise, “The commander is already married?”
Jiao Yan looked to be only in his early twenties, just two or three years older than Chong Heng. To his surprise, Jiao Yan laughed heartily, “My two sons are already running around!”
Wang Dian finally belatedly remembered that this was ancient times. People generally married early and often had multiple wives and concubines. Someone like Liang Ye, who at twenty-six or twenty-seven hadn’t taken any consorts, was truly rare.
Jiao Yan talked with Liang Ye for a long time about the follow-up matters of dealing with the Black Armored Guard. Before leaving, he also advised Wang Dian to take care of his health, then bid farewell.
As soon as he left, Liang Ye’s imperial edict of rewards closely followed to the Young Marshal’s mansion.
“Are all 40,000 people to be killed?” Wang Dian’s throat was sore from coughing, and it was burning painfully now.
“Since they chose to rebel in the first place, they must bear the consequences of failure.” Liang Ye said carelessly, lifting his eyelids to glance at him. “What, do you want to plead for them?”
“They might not have been willing…” Wang Dian’s mind was fuzzy from coughing, and his thoughts were a bit unclear, but he instinctively felt it was inappropriate. “Besides, exiling their entire clans seems too—”
He met Liang Ye’s suddenly gloomy gaze and closed his mouth.
“Wang Dian, they plotted rebellion and regicide.” Liang Ye said expressionlessly. “If they don’t die, Zhen will be the one to die. Are you pleading for them now?”
The image of Liang Ye on the verge of death slowly floated before his eyes. Wang Dian felt as if he had been torn into many people – some crying and screaming, begging Liang Ye not to die; some coldly watching Liang Ye scheming and manipulating people’s hearts step by step; some madly jealous, wanting to possess Liang Ye exclusively; some calmly analyzing how to get Liang Ye to spare those innocent people who were implicated…
His head was splitting with pain.
“I just feel that exiling nine clans is a bit excessive,” Wang Dian said calmly. “How many innocent elderly, children, and women are among them? What crime have they committed?”
Liang Ye smiled and said, “This is the consequence of treason. If Zhen shows mercy, how many more people will risk everything for wealth and glory in the future?”
Stop talking.
Wang Dian warned himself almost coldly in his heart. This was not about resisting Liang Ye, but attempting to resist the entire feudal system with one’s own strength. It was like throwing eggs against rocks.
Don’t do such a foolish thing.
You need to survive first, then worry about others.
Wang Dian closed his eyes briefly, took a deep breath, and said, “Your Majesty is right. I was confused.”
Liang Ye leaned down, his hands on the back of the chair, trapping Wang Dian entirely in his embrace. He looked down at him carefully, frowning, “What’s wrong with you today? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
Liang Ye’s scent enveloped him completely. Wang Dian grasped his wrist that Jiao Yan had touched earlier, lowered his eyes and slowly wiped it with a handkerchief. “You know Jiao Yan?”
Liang Ye looked at his actions in puzzlement. “Hmm, Zhen met him when Zhen went to see Marshal Jiao before. We share similar interests.”
“Similar interests, like me, both right-hand men…” Wang Dian rubbed the thin skin on his wrist until it turned red, saying with a half-smile, “Don’t you dislike people touching you? Back then, you were extremely disgusted when I merely touched you once. How come you didn’t notice when he touched you for so long?”
Liang Ye raised an eyebrow. “Zhen didn’t notice.”
Then a smug smile slowly appeared on his face. “Wang Dian, you’re jealous.”
Wang Dian looked up at him with a smile. “Yes, I’m jealous. What are you going to do about it?”
“Zhen said those things just for show. You’re naturally different from them to Zhen.” Liang Ye lowered his head smugly yet reservedly, nuzzling his nose. “Zhen learned it from you – knowing how to use people and treating the talented with courtesy. They all fall for this.”
“So what are you going to do?” Wang Dian caressed his wrist gently, as if asking him, and also asking himself.
Liang Ye narrowed his eyes, kissed the corner of his mouth, raised an eyebrow and smiled, “Zhen will coax you. Don’t push your luck.”
The smile in Wang Dian’s eyes deepened. He held Liang Ye’s elbow along his wrist and pulled him onto his lap.
Just beyond the door were guards, palace maids, and eunuchs. Someone could request an audience at any time. Liang Ye was somewhat surprised by his sudden openness, but was quickly drawn in by excitement and stimulation, recklessly kissing him.
Wang Dian messed up the dragon robe on Liang Ye’s body. The places where Jiao Yan had touched earlier were now covered with dense teeth marks, unabashedly expressing a twisted possessiveness. Liang Ye didn’t notice anything wrong and said softly, “Bite harder, Zhen can hardly feel the pain.”
Wang Dian laughed, his cold palm covering Liang Ye’s lower back without any barrier. The coldness made Liang Ye instinctively shrink back. Immediately after, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his wrist.
Liang Ye inhaled sharply, almost instinctively wanting to strike Wang Dian, but suddenly stopped his hand just as it was about to chop Wang Dian’s neck. He feared that with Wang Dian’s frail build, one chop might kill him. With a hint of annoyance, he said, “Let go.”
Wang Dian’s reason told him to stop, but he uncontrollably bit down even deeper. He lifted his eyelids provocatively yet coldly to look at Liang Ye, satisfied to see the shock in his eyes. Only then did he contentedly release his bite and ask indifferently, “Does it hurt?”
Liang Ye looked at his blood-soaked robe sleeve, licked his teeth hard, and narrowed his eyes. “It hurts.”
Wang Dian touched the wound on his chest and gently kissed it through the cloth. “Does it hurt here?”
Liang Ye instinctively felt saying it didn’t hurt wouldn’t work, so he hesitantly nodded. “It still hurts a bit.”
“What a pity.” Wang Dian sighed, slowly bandaging the wound on his wrist with a handkerchief. After a long silence, he finally spoke. “Liang Ye, let me leave the palace.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Liang Ye finally realized something was off with him, but felt helpless in this situation. The frustration in his eyes grew increasingly intense. “Did someone say something to you? Zhen will kill them.”
“Stop with all this killing. Enough people have died in the capital these days.” Wang Dian’s teeth were still aching a bit. He patiently straightened out the disheveled dragon robe on Liang Ye. “I’m just sick…I want to be alone.”
“Zhen will stay with you,” Liang Ye said.
“No need.” Wang Dian pushed him away and stood up. “I feel worse with you around.”
Liang Ye’s face darkened. “It’s just a cold. How is Zhen bothering you by being here? Or do you think Zhen is bloodthirsty and despise Zhen?”
“It’s not that.” Wang Dian pointed at his head. “My mental state isn’t good. I’m afraid I might hurt you.”
Liang Ye sneered, “As if you could hurt Zhen?”
Wang Dian pointed at his wrist and calmly said, “Everything I do excites you. It was the same when you first woke up. Ziyu, you simply can’t learn to refuse me.”
Liang Ye stared at him, seeming to understand yet not understand, but clearly unwilling to let go.
“Right now, it’s as if I’ve drunk the White Jade Soup,” Wang Dian patiently explained to him. “But after a while, I’ll get better on my own. Just let me have some peace.”
Liang Ye smiled grimly. “Zhen won’t believe your sweet talk.”
“I just want to return to my residence,” Wang Dian said, the string in his mind stretched taut.
“You just don’t want to see Zhen!” Liang Ye’s intuition was unusually sharp. He stared at him with a sinister gaze. “You think Zhen can’t tell? You’re not going anywhere. Even if Zhen die, you won’t be able to leave.”
Snap.
The string in Wang Dian’s mind instantly broke, and his mind went blank.
Liang Ye was still saying something with a gloomy expression, but Wang Dian could only see his mouth opening and closing, unable to understand the specific content.
Then he saw Liang Ye’s pale face, shouting at him in exasperation. “Wang Dian! What are you doing!?”
Wang Dian stiffly lowered his head. A sharp short arrow was just a hair’s breadth away from his heart, firmly grasped by Liang Ye’s hand. Glaring blood dripped onto the ground.
He sighed and smiled, “See? Watching you all day makes me want to try if you feel pain too.”
If Liang Ye hadn’t reacted quickly, Wang Dian would have forcefully plunged the short arrow into his own heart. The speed and force just now weren’t for show. If Liang Ye had been even a bit further away, Wang Dian would have been dead by now.
Liang Ye, rarely breaking out in a cold sweat on his back, said nervously, “Let go first.”
Wang Dian sighed with some regret, “Why do you have to be so good at martial arts?”
A vein on Liang Ye’s forehead throbbed violently. “Give the arrow to Zhen.”
“I want to return to my residence,” Wang Dian said.
Liang Ye nodded, “Alright, Zhen will send you out of the palace right away.”
“Don’t follow me,” Wang Dian said.
“Fine,” Liang Ye said through gritted teeth. “Zhen promises not to appear before you.”
“So obedient. How nice if you had listened earlier.” Wang Dian let go of his hand and patted Liang Ye’s face, showing no reluctance as he turned and left the great hall.
Liang Ye was left standing there with a gloomy expression, crushing the short arrow in his hand with a crack.
