Chapter 110: The Fawn Races
Xie Qianli’s face lit up, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly, and the light in his eyes grew even brighter.
This made Ying Xi feel strange.
He called him a dummy, and he was stunned.
He called him bad, and he laughed.
Ying Xi felt Ju-er had become a fool.
Of course, he couldn’t see that when he had just reproached Xie Qianli for being bad, his demeanor was so natural and innocent, no different from ten years ago.
The deer in Xie Qianli’s heart had already knocked over countless things.
If he could go back ten years, he would have definitely expressed his feelings to Ying Xi while he was trapped in the Fanlan Palace.
Instead, he had ignorantly dragged it out for ten years.
It didn’t seem too late; it felt like different paths leading to the same destination.
But the current Xie Qianli could still restrain himself and put down the arm that wanted to embrace Ying Xi.
He could wait. Wait for Ying Xi to understand, wait for Ying Xi to grow up, wait for their feelings to mend the rift of the intervening years, and wait for the other to accept his “ill intentions.”
He could also teach Ying Xi.
Even if Xie Qianli wasn’t very good at love himself.
“I have a way for you to eat osmanthus cakes, but I hope you can promise me one request,” Xie Qianli said.
“…”
Ying Xi’s soaring thoughts landed. In an instant, his heartstrings tightened.
An Emperor’s promise involved the mountains and rivers of the realm; it was too significant, and he couldn’t agree.
He realized a boundary had been crossed.
When Xie Qianli wanted to exchange fresh flower cakes for a condition, Ying Xi felt as if he had returned from the night market to the negotiating table.
His reason suddenly returned, and his relaxation vanished.
Ying Xi tightened the corners of his mouth and said guardedly, “No need.”
Xie Qianli shook his head slightly.
He still couldn’t act too hastily.
Because he knew all the hardships Ying Xi had experienced since childhood, he could understand that the other was full of sensitivity and suspicion.
Xie Qianli lined up to buy two cakes.
He held the two cakes with oil paper and broke each of them from the middle. The scent of osmanthus spread, and white crumbs fell.
The broken pastries were shared half-and-half.
Xie Qianli handed the cake to Ying Xi on the oil paper, not mentioning the condition again.
Ying Xi took the osmanthus cake. His nose was already filled with the fresh and rich fragrance of osmanthus, which felt like a kind of healing.
Xie Qianli said, “I’ll eat first. You eat later. That way you’ll know if there’s a problem with the cake.”
—He was tasting for poison for him.
Even though Ying Xi knew clearly that the possibility of the osmanthus cake being poisoned was miniscule.
Ying Xi’s heart suddenly trembled.
His defenses dropped by half.
Ying Xi held the warm pastry in his hand, his vision filled with his general who could eat quite a bit.
Ju-er was easy to raise; he just consumed a lot of rice.
Only then did Ying Xi purse his lips and take a bite of the osmanthus cake.
The sweet but not greasy taste spread along his lips and teeth, filling his mouth with fragrance.
The fragrance took Ying Xi back to Guangling. In the early autumn in the south, he was walking in the Prince of Yong’s Mansion, holding his father and mother’s hands, one in each of his. The wet nurse was behind them holding his younger brother.
“Xiao Xi, watch the path under your feet.”
“Your head is covered in osmanthus petals; Xiao Xi has turned into a golden doll.”
“…”
He didn’t have a home anymore.
Chang’an was not his hometown.
Even though he had climbed to the peak of humanity, he had very few close relatives left.
He chewed and swallowed the osmanthus cake; the aftertaste carried a hint of bitterness.
Ying Xi lowered his head and ate in small bites, concealing his difficult emotions at the bottom of his eyes. Eating the osmanthus cake made him feel it would have been better not to eat it.
“Is it not good?” Xie Qianli asked. “I can buy something else; we can still share it.”
Ying Xi replied numbly, “It’s okay, the fragrance is rich. Buy it next time.”
Xie Qianli’s invisible tail wagged. “Next time.”
Ying Xi finished the last bite of the pastry. He held up the oil paper and licked the crumbs clean with his tongue.
This caused crumbs to get on his face. He felt it and was stunned for a moment, but didn’t brush them off.
The lantern market was nearing its end, the curfew was approaching, and people were beginning to pack up their stalls.
Ying Xi should go back.
However, whether it was the lanterns, the novels, or the pastries tonight, they were enough to make Ying Xi linger.
He was playing freely and was reluctant to leave his precious playmate.
“The vacation should still last a while longer, right?”
“Xiao Xi is merciful for letting me rest so long.”
Ying Xi shifted his gaze, his words carrying a slight sting, “If you don’t want to come back, you can keep resting.”
“I want to come back.”
Ying Xi pressed his lips together to hide their upward curve. A flower quietly bloomed in his heart.
Xie Qianli said, “I didn’t ride a horse; I need to hire a carriage for you. Before the curfew, carriages are hard to find. If there are many people heading toward the palace, Xiao Xi can experience a shared ride.”
Then they wouldn’t be able to be alone.
Ying Xi felt a void in his heart and suddenly called out to Xie Qianli.
“Ju-er.”
Xie Qianli was searching for a carriage and turned back instantly, his tone incredibly gentle. “What is it?”
In Ying Xi’s chest, his heart beat uncontrollably.
Thump-thump.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
When had he ever been so persistent in wanting to keep someone?
And why did he want to let the other get closer to him?
Ying Xi was occupied by this emotion, his voice turning a bit hoarse.
He tilted his chin up toward Xie Qianli and asked knowingly, “Do I… have pastry crumbs on my face?”
Xie Qianli froze.
He walked over, closing the distance to Ying Xi by a few more inches.
He gazed at Ying Xi’s face by the fading light of the night market, capturing his beloved’s small face entirely in his eyes.
Ying Xi’s heartstrings trembled even more.
The eye contact made Ying Xi feel as if his throat were a bit dry. “Is there any?”
Xie Qianli said, “A little.”
“Where?” His finger pointed to himself.
Xie Qianli tilted his head and said, “On your cheek.”
Ying Xi wiped his cheek with the back of his finger. “Is it still there?”
The pastry crumb was on the left, but Ying Xi had wiped his right cheek.
The crumb and a tiny, fragmented osmanthus petal were still clinging to Ying Xi’s face.
Xie Qianli shook his head slightly. “Over there.”
He looked down and pointed it out to Ying Xi with the tip of his finger, his hand very, very close to him.
The warmth of the finger pulp and the callouses on the fingertip seemed to become clearly perceptible to Ying Xi.
Ying Xi secretly swallowed. A hole seemed to be dug in his heart, and his eyelashes fluttered. “Now?”
Ying Xi brushed his left cheek. The pastry crumb fell, but the osmanthus petal was still stuck to it, looking like a golden floral ornament on Ying Xi’s face.
Xie Qianli’s breathing turned heavy. “There’s still… a little bit.”
“Where?” Ying Xi looked at him with raised eyebrows.
Xie Qianli’s breathing turned chaotic, drawn by that osmanthus petal and the person before him. He was losing the struggle to restrain himself.
He was no gentleman, and certainly no saint.
He had been carefully gauging the distance between himself and Ying Xi, never expecting a sudden opportunity for contact.
Instead, he felt fearful and uneasy, dreading that exposing too much would lead to the other’s dislike.
He tremblingly rubbed with his finger pulp, wiping the petal away.
Touching Ying Xi’s soft cheek, the skin felt delicate. He was terrified that the callouses on his thumb would inadvertently hurt the other, yet he couldn’t control his primal thought of wanting to occupy him right then and there, making Xiao Xi belong only to himself.
The action was a mere taste.
Xie Qianli immediately withdrew his hand. His cold face was pulled tight. “It’s gone now.”
Ying Xi, because of the tracing of the warm finger pulp, almost lost his breath.
All his senses were concentrated on the place they had touched. He recalled the other’s clean scent and the rough but gentle, slightly itchy fingertip that had only touched him for a split second.
Ying Xi was in a slight daze, his gaze lingering on Xie Qianli’s hurriedly withdrawn right hand. His eyes darkened, and he frowned.
“I’ll go call a carriage.”
“…Mhm.”
“Don’t wander off.”
“I know.”
The Chief Manager, Yu Lianjing, had just been scared to death!
His soul had practically flown away on the spot. Yu Lianjing had circled back from another direction, hurriedly got onto the carriage, and urged, “Quick, quick, quick, hurry back to the palace. Get back before the Emperor…”
The driver was a guard from their Weiyang Palace; when had he ever seen Yu Lianjing like this?
“Manager Yu, are you possessed? Is a ghost haunting you?”
“Stop talking nonsense.” Yu Lianjing clutched his chest. His heart, which wasn’t strong to begin with, was pounding like a drum.
Where was the possession?
He had clearly stumbled upon a shocking secret.
How could Yu Lianjing have imagined that the British Duke was so favored, and that the Emperor and the British Duke had feelings for each other?
Moreover, the supreme Emperor was being tenderly cared for by the British Duke. Just that moment of looking down and touching the face—no matter how you looked at it, the Emperor was the passive side.
Like… the… the one… on the bottom…
Yu Lianjing was in complete chaos.
Thinking back, there had been signs for every single thing. Not to mention the rumors in the palace; the British Duke and the Emperor had been close since childhood.
He didn’t know whether to congratulate the Emperor on his heart finally blooming, or to worry that it had bloomed in the wrong direction.
He would, of course, accept any decision of the Emperor. But the internal affairs of the Weiyang Palace would be hard to handle in the future!
Would the Emperor marry a concubine?
Would the Emperor marry the British Duke??
Would the Emperor be married to the British Duke???
Where would the British Duke live????
The dragon bed had been used for almost two hundred years; it wasn’t huge, but sleeping with one more concubine wasn’t a problem.
But that was the British Duke! He was more than half a head taller than the Emperor. At night… would the dragon bed of the Weiyang Palace collapse!!!
How would he be addressed in the future…
The Empress’s phoenix robes would also have to be custom-made. If His Majesty were the Empress, would that count as a successful rebellion by the Xie family…
As they say, the Emperor isn’t worried, but the eunuch is. The group of eunuchs just tended to worry more.
Yu Lianjing returned to the palace with a heart full of unease, feeling lost. He changed his clothes, and before he could catch his breath, the Emperor returned to the study from outside the palace.
“Greetings to Your Majesty.”
“Why are you covered in sweat?”
“This servant… this servant felt hot in the autumn night. Thank you for your concern, Master.”
Ying Xi shook his head slightly. “I’m not stingy. The ‘autumn tiger’ heat is back; don’t be afraid to use ice.”
Yu Lianjing felt incredibly comforted.
He clearly heard the Emperor was in a good mood, yet he also read some wistfulness from him.
Yu Lianjing risked asking a question, “Your Majesty, the Barbarian King’s envoys couldn’t find you. This time they sent several girls who are good at singing and dancing, and some who are skilled at taming beasts.”
“If there are suitable female official positions, employ them then.”
“You won’t take them into the harem?”
“No need.”
Yu Lianjing didn’t dare ask more, feeling that in this matter, the Emperor was quite serious.
Then should we consider the next step?
“The West Side Hall has been vacant for a long time. This servant felt it could be tidied up when passing by tonight. What function does Your Majesty want it changed to?”
“Anything is fine.”
Maybe things hadn’t progressed to that step yet.
Yu Lianjing secretly pondered how to continue his work of serving the Emperor. His hands reached for the books Ying Xi had brought back. “Shall this servant put them away for you?”
“I’ll put them away myself. Prepare for bed.”
Yu Lianjing nodded fearfully, said “yes,” and slowly retreated to arrange for people to serve the Emperor’s washing.
The moment he closed the study door, Yu Lianjing couldn’t help but take one last peek inside.
The monarch hadn’t cleared the desk, nor was he working. He was just sitting there quietly.
His jade-white fingertips were covering the surface of the novel, stroking it delicately, as if he were absorbing the remaining warmth from the cover.
Ying Xi lowered his eyes and his lips curled slightly.
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