Liang Ye slowly squinted his eyes and tilted his head, burying his face in his stomach.
Wang Dian leisurely rubbed his ears. “Stop pretending. I’ve finished reading. You can read yours tomorrow.”
Hearing this, Liang Ye raised his arm and hugged his waist. Wang Dian laughed, “I’m not leaving.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a sudden feeling of weightlessness came over him. Before he could react, Liang Ye had hoisted him up. He irritatedly patted Liang Ye’s lower back. “Put me down.”
Liang Ye deliberately jostled him mischievously. “That chair was uncomfortable. Zhen couldn’t even fall into a deep sleep.”
Wang Dian patted his buttocks. With blood rushing to his head, he heard his own voice sounding somewhat distorted. “If you don’t put me down soon, I’m going to throw up.”
Hearing this, Liang Ye gripped his waist and effortlessly pulled him up, hooking his legs and changing to a standard princess carry. He raised an eyebrow and said, “You’ve lost some weight.”
“Take it easy,” Wang Dian said. Although Liang Ye’s recovery ability was astonishing, he still felt that this fellow’s wounds hadn’t fully healed. Moreover, they were both tall and not light in weight. Wang Dian believed he would find it difficult to lift him so easily, and instinctively thought his wound must be hurting. “Put me down.”
Liang Ye refused to let go and took advantage of this position to kiss him. “Secretly watching Zhen and taking liberties with Zhen. Wang Dian, you’re not just vulgar, but also shameless.”
Wang Dian felt ticklish from Liang Ye’s hanging hair. He hooked his neck and gave him a hard kiss, suddenly having an idea. “Let me see if I can lift you.”
Liang Ye, still holding him, was stunned for a moment, then sneered, “You? Be careful not to break your arms.”
Wang Dian clicked his tongue. “What if I do manage to lift you?”
“Then Zhen will let you kiss him again,” Liang Ye said smugly.
“Shameless,” Wang Dian laughed as he struggled out of his embrace. He stood up and measured Liang Ye’s height, then patted his buttocks and squeezed his arms. After scrutinizing for a while, he nodded. “Hmm.”
Liang Ye lazily allowed him to do so, seeming certain that he couldn’t lift him. Wang Dian, however, was not convinced. Their weight and height were similar, and he thought he could lift a person—huh?
Wang Dian hooked one hand under Liang Ye’s knees, but Liang Ye didn’t budge at all. Wang Dian, not believing it, applied more strength, but even Liang Ye’s clothes didn’t move. He belatedly realized, “You’re an emperor, how dare you cheat so blatantly?”
Liang Ye feigned innocence, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. “You’re not up to it.”
Wang Dian suddenly grabbed a certain part, startling Liang Ye. He instinctively released his inner force, and the next second, he was swiftly lifted horizontally by Wang Dian. He had probably never been carried in this way before. His arms hung stiffly in the air, but his fingers instinctively gripped Wang Dian’s vital points on the neck, looking as if he might strangle him at any moment.
“… Is that necessary?” Wang Dian uncomfortably tilted his neck.
Liang Ye slowly retracted his claws and rested his arms on Wang Dian’s shoulders. Experiencing this new perspective, he said with satisfaction, “Not bad. Carry Zhen to the bath.”
Wang Dian carried him forward a few steps, then threw him onto the bed. Liang Ye hooked his neck and wrapped his legs around his arms, not letting go. Wang Dian was forced to bend over, glaring at him. “Don’t you know how heavy you are? If I carried you all the way there, my arms would really break.”
“Zhen told you that you couldn’t do it,” Liang Ye sighed theatrically, pulling him onto the bed. Wang Dian, still wearing his shoes, cursed angrily, “Liang Ye, are you sick in the head?”
Liang Ye smiled brilliantly, attempting to undo his belt. Wang Dian warily grabbed his hand. “Don’t overindulge.”
Liang Ye said proudly and smugly, “Zhen’s energy is very good. What’s excessive for you is just an appetizer for Zhen. After all, you’re weak—mmph.”
Wang Dian pressed a hand over his mouth, looking down at him. “Rumors are started by people like you.”
Liang Ye lay on his back, smiling joyfully from his eyebrows to the corners of his eyes, without any lewdness, clean and pure. Wang Dian stared at him intently and obsessively for a while, then reached out to pull up the blanket and wrap him in it. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and forcibly blocked out all the violent and unspeakable thoughts in his mind.
Wang Dian thought to himself, “Why be a beast when you can be human?”
Perhaps because he had agreed to become the empress, Liang Ye was particularly happy tonight. In the middle of the night, he insisted on dragging him to see his private collection.
Although Wang Dian’s mind was wandering, he wasn’t keen on going out in the cold late at night. However, once this fellow got an idea, he had to have his way. He wrapped a cloak around him and pulled him out the window onto the roof.
Unable to voice his curses, Wang Dian could only grope Liang Ye’s waist a couple of times to quench his thirst. His cold hands made Liang Ye shiver, nearly causing them both to fall off the wall.
“Can you manage?” Wang Dian clicked his tongue.
As soon as he spoke, a gust of cold wind hit his face, nearly numbing his entire body. After they landed, Liang Ye cockily raised his eyebrows at him.
Wang Dian wiped his numb face and aimed a kick at him. Liang Ye dodged nimbly, laughing loudly, looking extremely punchable. Wang Dian angrily grabbed a tree branch to whip him, not paying attention to the gloomy surroundings—after all, Liang Ye’s arrogant laughter would scare away even ghosts.
After they messed around for a while, Liang Ye deliberately let himself be hit a couple of times, finally appeasing Wang Dian. He wiped the sweat from Wang Dian’s forehead and pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, leaving only half of his beautiful chin and lips visible beneath the soft white fur trim. Liang Ye patted his head. “Be careful not to catch a cold from sweating.”
Wang Dian felt a bit dizzy from the head pat. “Are you driving in a wooden stake?”
Liang Ye mischievously slipped his hand inside Wang Dian’s clothes. Wang Dian jumped away from the cold. “Liang Ye!”
Liang Ye laughed heartily but obediently stood still to receive a couple of punches. He covered his arm and hissed, “You’re really hitting me?”
“You deserve it,” Wang Dian said, pretending to punch him again. Liang Ye, feeling guilty, half-heartedly tried to block it. Instead, Wang Dian grabbed his arm and rubbed it a couple of times. Liang Ye’s eyes lit up, and he tilted his head to rest weakly on Wang Dian’s shoulder. “Hiss… it hurts here, and here, and here too.”
Wang Dian halfheartedly massaged him one by one, and said softly, “Your Majesty, if we keep playing, it will soon be dawn.”
Liang Ye said happily. “Then let’s not sleep.”
“…” Wang Dian pulled him forward, “You may not sleep, but I still need to. Hurry up and look.”
The dust-covered thick door was pushed open, and the old, drafty door panels made creaking sounds as if unable to bear the weight. Then the torches propped against the wall were lit, illuminating this small, dark room.
This small room was square, with only a window next to the door, and walls on the other three sides. A few swords and *** hung sparsely on them, and cobwebs filled the upper corners. In the room was a simple, crudely built kang bed, beside it a table and a long bench. Apart from these, there was only a small, broken cabinet next to the bed. It looked so shabby that it hardly seemed like a place that should appear in the imperial palace.
(TL: kang bed=earthen bed)
Wang Dian walked a few steps and stopped in front of what appeared to be the “widest” wall. He turned to look at Liang Ye, only to find that Liang Ye had stopped by the “kang”, giving him a puzzled look.
“Hm?” Liang Ye was also confused, “Why are you standing there?”
Wang Dian glanced at the candlestick on the wall that looked very much like a mechanism, and said uncertainly, “Aren’t we here to see your private treasury?”
Liang Ye nodded, tapped left and right, and pulled up a partition. Then he took out a square box from inside, “Come and see.”
“…” Wang Dian was silent for a while, finally convincing himself that this wall, which looked very much like a secret door, was indeed just a wall. He walked to the edge of the kang to watch Liang Ye start rummaging through the box.
“This is the longevity lock I wore as a child.” Liang Ye took out a small ruyi lock, which looked old due to its age, and was also pitted and dented, looking as if it had suffered some great ordeal.
Wang Dian took it, finding it a bit difficult to imagine such a small thing being worn on Liang Ye, but when he held it in his hand, he felt a sense of familiarity. But before he could delve into the reason, he heard Liang Ye say, “When you bear children for Zhen in the future, we’ll have them wear it.”
A vein on Wang Dian’s forehead throbbed violently.
Liang Ye then took out a small wooden sword, “This is the first sword my master gave to Zhen. It’s a bit troublesome to kill people with.”
Wang Dian fell silent as he looked at the dark brown marks on the wooden sword, completely unable to understand how a wooden sword – and such a small one at that – could kill people.
He caught sight of an inkstone in excellent condition inside, along with a stack of yellowed paper and a brush. He couldn’t help but ask: “What about this?”
“Hmm.” Liang Ye was silent for a moment, “It’s what Liang Hua casually gave Zhen when he first met Zhen.”
He looked very disdainful, only casually fiddling with it for a moment before going back to searching for other things, unusually patient in introducing them to Wang Dian. However, His Majesty probably wasn’t good at storytelling, nor did he have the interest, so he would only tell Wang Dian what these things were in a simple and brusque manner.
A stone dug up from the road outside the Imperial Medical Courtyard, a tree branch broken in some forgotten winter, a book for beginning studies given by who knows who, a bamboo stick stolen from Imperial Preceptor Wen for palm strikes, a sleeve half-sealed with needle and thread… Clearly, there were many things that Liang Ye himself couldn’t remember. He would hold an item, pause for a while, then put it down in confusion. In the end, he only introduced the things he still remembered to Wang Dian.
Wang Dian didn’t find it boring. He was interested in rummaging through the items with him, listening to him talk about the little things and objects he still remembered. The two sat cross-legged facing each other on the bed. Although it sounded like they were talking nonsense, both the speaker and the listener were engrossed.
“When I was young, I also had a cabinet specifically for storing these things,” Wang Dian said, taking out half of a broken archer’s thumb ring from the bottom of the box. Its faint purple color was very translucent in the candlelight. “It was always kept in the basement. When I was in a bad mood, I would take everything out, count it all, and then put it back. Occasionally, I would do it when I was in a good mood too. My father often made fun of me, but whenever I couldn’t finish tidying up, he would always help.”
“Your father was not bad.” Liang Ye affirmed his “father-in-law”. From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a rusted dagger. His gaze paused slightly, and he casually pushed the dagger underneath.
Wang Dian pretended not to see and didn’t ask further, after all, everyone has small secrets they don’t want to remember or share.
However, as he was thinking this, Liang Ye took out that dagger again. He raised his eyelids to look at Wang Dian, and said with no expression on his face. “Zhen once used it to flay two people alive, cutting until only their skeletons remained.”
He seemed to recall the scene at that time, and a strange yet exhilarated smile appeared on his face. Wang Dian looked at the dagger in his hand, wanting to reach out and take it, but was avoided.
“Don’t touch it, it’s dirty,” Liang Ye withdrew his smile and threw it aside, jokingly saying, “Who knows how many times you’d have to wash your hands if you touched it.”
“I’ve killed people too,” Wang Dian said.
Liang Ye laughed out loud, casually throwing the dagger aside and nodding perfunctorily, “Yes, yes, you’ve killed people too.”
At most, it was like shooting targets.
Wang Dian couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. He lowered his head and continued to rummage through the odds and ends. Suddenly, he felt a chill on his neck. The dagger that Liang Ye had just deemed too dirty to let him touch was now pressed against the side of his neck.
The cold and sharp blade glided along his skin, frivolously yet forcefully tilting up his chin, compelling him to raise his head.
The smile on Liang Ye’s face was somewhat gloomy. “Aren’t you afraid?”
“It’s not me who was flayed,” Wang Dian said with a wooden expression.
Liang Ye looked at him with a playful and mischievous gaze. “Why aren’t you afraid of Zhen? Others are terrified, wishing they could stay ten zhang away from Zhen.”
“Because you would actually kill them, idiot.” Wang Dian lowered his eyes and glanced disdainfully at the dagger.
“Zhen would kill you too,” Liang Ye’s voice grew slightly cold. After a pause, he added: “If you don’t listen to Zhen.”
“Understood,” Wang Dian caught sight of an exquisitely crafted sandalwood box. “What’s that?”
Liang Ye put down the dagger and casually handed the wooden box to him. “Something for you to play with.”
Wang Dian vigorously wiped his neck with his sleeve before opening the box. Inside was a piece of jade carved into the shape of a peace knot, with an old-looking green cord. It was a necklace.
“It’s quite beautiful,” Wang Dian had seen countless styles of jewelry, and politely complimented it.
“Wear it,” Liang Ye reached out to hook the green cord, not caring whether Wang Dian agreed or not, and imperiously tied it around his neck.
He leaned in close, and Wang Dian was hit with his cold yet pleasant scent. Unusually, he felt somewhat nervous, uncomfortably gripping the edge of the box in his hand, his heart beating annoyingly fast.
“Thank you,” Wang Dian said, his voice a bit hoarse.
Liang Ye glanced at him, straightening up and saying with a straight face. “No need to be polite.”
