Chapter 134: The Regent Confesses
Around the Su family’s martial arts training grounds, the lamps blazed brightly. The massive, dancing flames emitted an intense light, illuminating every corner of the area thoroughly.
Wei Wanlan had nowhere to hide.
His feet clawed desperately at the ground inside his boots; nervousness made his throat dry and tight.
He watched as the corpse of the Soul-Mourning Sword was dragged out of the training grounds before his eyes, two thin legs leaving two trails of dark red blood.
Silence reigned all around.
In truth, there were already people in the Prince’s residence who suspected Wei Wanlan harbored ill intentions toward Su Jingzhi. Now, the Soul-Mourning Sword had ripped that suspicion wide open.
Some of the Su family generals dared not voice any opinions openly. They put away their bows, cleaned the battlefield… appearing to mind their own business.
But they had subtle expressions, glances that leaked from the corners of their eyes and brows, revealing their attitudes toward the whole affair.
—Some people are suspecting me.
Even if they still appeared to revere the Son of Heaven, still trembling before imperial power.
Of course.
If Wei Wanlan stood in their shoes and viewed himself from an outsider’s perspective, how accurate those guesses would seem!
He had indeed managed to reclaim military and imperial power with unusual speed. It was no wonder they were suspicious.
“…”
Wei Wanlan felt very sad. The feeling of being misunderstood made him want to cry, want to explain.
But constrained by his identity, he couldn’t speak in such a setting. Worried that explaining would only make things darker, he felt even more at a loss.
At this moment, Uncle Ah Zhong limped over to report:
“Your Highness, the ancestral hall is unharmed. The thief shook the copper lock violently, making a loud noise, but neither the lock nor the door panels of the ancestral hall were damaged.”
The Regent nodded slightly.
Uncle Ah Zhong added: “Prince, take care. We shall withdraw.”
With that, the dozens of archers who had surrounded the training grounds to protect them filed out in an orderly fashion in an instant.
The only sound left in the training grounds was the powerful crackling of the flames burning in the braziers as the summer night breeze tugged at the fire.
The phrase “take care” was very subtle.
Wei Wanlan’s throat was still choked up, his lips quivered, and the tip of his small nose was wet. The urge to cry became more obvious, yet he didn’t dare to cry now.
He forcibly held back his tears, a deep sense of guilt rising within him:
He had never hated Su Jingzhi.
But his motives had indeed been impure once. He had thought about killing him, thought about harming him… even if none of those things happened in the end, Wei Wanlan couldn’t deny it.
So he was afraid that if he cried now and the Regent didn’t comfort him—if the cruel reality he least wanted to accept was placed before him—what would he do then?
When that time came, and there was no longer that incredibly good Regent, what would he do?
A strong sense of fear of loss washed over Wei Wanlan.
Even just imagining it, imagining Su Jingzhi becoming a stranger to him from now on, caused a heartache that made it impossible to breathe.
The distress kept him rooted to the spot, his voice trembling uncontrollably:
“I… Zhen.”
As he spoke, his throat gradually constricted until he could no longer speak, unable to make a sound.
His vision was gradually blurred by tears. He opened his eyes wide, trying hard to hold the tears in without letting them fall.
He wanted to approach this person. But he was afraid—afraid of being rejected, afraid of watching him walk away with his own eyes.
“Xiao Wan.”
“…Hm?”
Hearing the Regent call him, Wei Wanlan was slightly agitated, but his guilt was even greater. Clumsily, he dared not speak, only face him.
“Are you hurt, or just scared? Why are you crying again?”
The eyes brimming with tears opened even wider.
Wei Wanlan’s eyes were flushed red from the stinging tears. The teardrops sparkled under the reflection of the firelight, his pointed face looking like a little fox.
He wasn’t quite sure of the Regent’s attitude. For a moment, he couldn’t figure it out—is he angry? So he stood there without moving an inch.
In the end, it was the Regent who acted first.
Su Jingzhi took a few steps forward, took Wei Wanlan’s hand, and pulled him to his side. He used the rough pad of his thumb to wipe away Wei Wanlan’s tears. While wiping the tears, his arm encircled Wei Wanlan’s waist, pulling him into an embrace that was neither too light nor too heavy, comforting him:
“This is just a small scene. If you cry at seeing an assassin killed, what will you do in the future if we have to fight a decisive battle against Ashina Shali? On the battlefield, swords have no eyes, and corpses litter the ground. Will you cry until you can’t catch your breath?”
The Regent’s voice was very gentle.
When his thumb rubbed over the eye sockets, it brought a distinct warmth. The woodsy scent mixed with the smell of leather from the heavy bow created a lingering, bittersweet aroma.
Wei Wanlan gradually let go of his unease in that familiar, warm embrace.
But the tears from his deer-like eyes fell even harder.
It was as if, discovering that the Regent had no intention of breaking with him, he cautiously released that lingering fear, using act of spoiling to confirm the other party’s care. Tears fell one by one, pitter-patter.
Every tear he dropped was patiently wiped away by the Regent, leaving cool wet trails on his face.
The intense sense of security and indulgence allowed Wei Wanlan to gradually settle down.
So he acted spoiled even more, his head finding Su Jingzhi’s chest and burying itself deep. Because of the height difference, he hid himself completely inside.
“Woo… woo woo woo Regent, woo woo, Regent… Zhen was so scared just now, Zhen was terrified… Regent, Zhen almost died just now, and thought you were almost going to leave. Why are you so good, and how did you know Zhen was here…”
He cried incoherently.
He always loved to file complaints while crying messily, one sentence after another. Then he felt the pair of arms around him tightening.
The Regent patted his back, laughing with a hint of pride:
“This Prince has marched and fought wars for nearly twenty years. I know well that there is no deceit too great for war. How could I easily fall for his petty trick of luring the tiger from the mountain?”
Actually, when the disturbance occurred in the ancestral hall, Su Jingzhi already had a premonition that it was somewhat related to the assassin following Wei Wanlan.
So he had left behind two groups of men. The first was in the open, responsible for guarding the door and protecting Wei Wanlan. The second was in the dark, responsible for keeping the entire bedroom’s movements in view.
He knew, of course, that Wei Wanlan had come to the training grounds; he had made arrangements long ago.
He just hadn’t expected that this assassin was related to Splitting Air Sword, or that he would throw out a dragon-patterned jade pendant and bring up some old, rotten history to scare Xiao Wan.
Truly detestable!
When Su Jingzhi saw Wei Wanlan standing there dumbly, unable to even speak, his whole being screaming “Come save me, come hug Zhen,” Su Jingzhi’s heart ached terribly, yet filled with increasing joy:
Xiao Wan is afraid I’ll leave. Xiao Wan likes me.
The Regent’s hand moved slowly from the waist to Wei Wanlan’s head, pressing the back of his head and rubbing it a few times, the intent to comfort couldn’t be more obvious.
He said to Wei Wanlan: “I said just now, this Prince does not fall for the ‘lure the tiger from the mountain’ stratagem, nor will I fall for the ‘sow discord’ stratagem.”
He held Wei Wanlan even tighter, so tight Wei Wanlan could barely breathe. But it gave Wei Wanlan a deeper sense of security.
“You… don’t believe Soul-Mourning Sword’s words?”
The upturned eyelashes were heavy with tears.
The Regent responded: “Mn.”
“And you don’t need Zhen to explain?”
Su Jingzhi said warmly: “If Xiao Wan wants to explain, that is fine too. However, this Prince doesn’t really want to hear it. Because I truly did not treat Xiao Wan well in the past. It is only right that Xiao Wan hated me. That was a mistake I made before, and this Prince will correct it in the future.”
No, that wasn’t Zhen…
The words were on the tip of Wei Wanlan’s tongue, but he opened his mouth and helplessly swallowed them back.
He could only express his meaning softly, his fuzzy head rubbing wildly against Su Jingzhi: “Zhen never hated you. Never.”
“I know.”
The warmth became more palpable.
Wei Wanlan heard Su Jingzhi say:
“If you hated me, you should have had many opportunities to kill me, but you didn’t do so. Instead, you saved me, letting me know how good you are.”
“Is Zhen good?”
“The best.”
Su Jingzhi leaned down, and Wei Wanlan raised his small face. Taking the opportunity, Su Jingzhi kissed down, deeply capturing Wei Wanlan’s lips, the two exchanging sounds and breath.
Su Jingzhi gently conveyed his affection to Wei Wanlan, and Wei Wanlan urgently needed confirmation that he was loved, so the kiss was wet and lingering.
Like sweet dew, like fine rain.
When they parted, silver threads connected lip to lip.
Su Jingzhi’s eyes were filled with Wei Wanlan:
“I trust Xiao Wan. I love Xiao Wan. I want to never be parted from Xiao Wan.”
“Does Xiao Wan love me too? Are you willing to have a future with this Prince?”
How many times had he planned and hoped, how many times had he been unable to speak, how many times had he concealed and tested…
He had patiently guided him to understand, accompanied him to taste human love for the first time. He hoped to possess this person completely.
His Xiao Wan, Wei Wanlan.
“Is Xiao Wan willing?”
Willing…?
From now on, having a Regent boyfriend, dating the male lead of the original work?
Wei Wanlan stood there, dazed and goofy, stunned by Su Jingzhi’s sudden confession.
Th-th-th-this… actually, he had absolutely no experience either.
After all, in the modern world, he was just a college freshman who had just finished the college entrance exams. He hadn’t even experienced much of adult society before transmigrating into a book he had never read and inexplicably becoming an Emperor.
Unexpected things always happened one after another.
So, what should he do in this situation?
Before Wei Wanlan’s eyes was Su Jingzhi’s expectant gaze.
The other party was watching him, unblinking.
Wei Wanlan’s heart brewed with even more nervousness and excitement, but also sensitivity and unease.
It seems… it seems that even in the modern world, it’s not easy for him and Su Jingzhi, two men, to be together. Let alone in ancient times?
He had transmigrated into the book with no family to turn to, so he could be reckless, but would Su Jingzhi be treated as an anomaly?
Wei Wanlan did not want anyone whispering about the Regent in secret.
Su Jingzhi couldn’t see these small thoughts of consideration on Wei Wanlan’s side. As time dragged on, visible unease appeared, and the light in his eyes gradually dimmed.
“Xiao Wan,” Su Jingzhi let go, trying to smooth things over, “Actually, if you are not willing, this Prince will not for—Mmph…”
No! I am willing!
A wild Wei Wanlan suddenly realized the mood was wrong and scrambled to pounce!
Two small paws desperately hugged the Regent’s narrow waist tight, his face burying even tighter into the chest:
“Zhen is willing! Willing, willing! Zhen loves the Regent so much too, Zhen wants to give the Regent the best things in the world. Thank you, Regent, thank you for being willing to like Zhen, thank you for being willing to believe Zhen, I like you, Zhen is so happy…”
The force was so great that, for the first time, he almost knocked Su Jingzhi back a step.
He wasn’t willing to let Su Jingzhi leave him.
He wasn’t willing to see Su Jingzhi disappointed or sad.
He finally saw his own heart clearly: knowing the Regent was different from everyone else meant he had love for him.
This love would allow them to withstand rumors and the storms of the future.
So happy to have such a person, to accompany me in a strange world, and we will never be separated.
Then, Zhen announces, starting now, I am no longer single~
Hehehehehehe!
Just as he was thinking this, his body felt light, and he was picked up by the Regent.
“Let’s go. I’ll take you somewhere.”
The other party seemed to like these intimate physical actions very much. Wei Wanlan was always being held by him, as if he could never hold him enough.
Wei Wanlan nodded. He naturally wrapped his arms around the Regent’s neck. Since he didn’t have to walk, he felt it saved time and energy, and being held felt fun too. He let out a lazy yawn.
It was so late, and there had just been such a big commotion at the residence. He thought the Regent was carrying him back to the room since they both had to handle court affairs tomorrow and needed to sleep early.
But unexpectedly, his vision passed through long courtyard corridors, and the places they went became quieter and quieter, and also more remote.
He arrived at a place he hadn’t stepped foot in even when he had lived in the Prince’s residence for a time.
There were no heavy troops guarding this place. Pine and cypress trees were planted outside the door, and the couplets with black backgrounds and silver characters appeared solemn and quiet. A dark, heavy plaque bore four large characters:
Su Ancestral Hall.
The plaque reflected in Wei Wanlan’s eyes, and his heart tightened. He was only put down by Su Jingzhi when they reached the doorway.
As soon as the tips of his boots touched the ground, Wei Wanlan tilted his head. His wrist was caught by Su Jingzhi, and he felt Su Jingzhi’s fingertips trembling: “…Why bring Zhen here?”
Su Jingzhi opened the main doors of the ancestral hall.
The interior furnishings slowly revealed their true appearance.
The inner room of the ancestral hall wasn’t large. An offering table, about eight feet long, stood in the center. On the table, two ever-burning lamps were lit.
The warm glow of the lamps illuminated the spirit tablets of the Su family martyrs, arranged in seven or eight orderly rows.
The tablet on the highest level belonged to the first-generation Great General, Su Wuyang… The names on the lowest level were the fifth-generation famous general Su Zhenwei, who had died years ago due to the “100-Worry Relief” poison, and his talented wife, Madam Rong.
“So many of this Prince’s family members died because of the ‘100-Worry Relief.’ Xiao Wan, it was you who returned the truth to them, allowing them to rest in peace in the netherworld. I brought you to meet them.”
Then, Su Jingzhi knelt on the qilin prayer cushion in front of the ancestral hall.
Lighting incense before the ever-burning lamps on the offering table, he bowed deeply and said:
“Su family’s sixth-generation head, Su Jingzhi, has his heart set on the Great Wei’s Son of Heaven, Wei Wanlan—”
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