Jiang Wangnan walked, picked them up, and ate them along the way. After stuffing about fifteen into his stomach, he stopped eating. Instead, he halted his steps, lifted the front of his robe, and tied it into a knot to form a pouch-like container, dropping the rest of the lychees inside until it felt heavy.
When he reached the corner and discovered there was nothing left to pick up, the dim candlelight of the ancestral hall made the surroundings even pitch blacker. A gust of wind blew past, causing the tree shadows to sway and sending a slight chill down his back.
Subconsciously feeling that this place was unsafe, Jiang Wangnan planned to turn around and leave.
“Where are you running?” A dragon-patterned black boot stepped out from the shadows. Xiao Quanchuan’s dark robes blended seamlessly with the darkness, save for the golden embroidered flood-dragon patterns reflecting the bright moonlight.
“Your Majesty?” Jiang Wangnan looked astonished. Catching sight of the half-basket of lychees still in the emperor’s hands, he was even more clueless. “You, this…”
“Want to eat? There are more,” Xiao Quanchuan said.
Jiang Wangnan’s cheeks turned slightly red. “No.”
“Really?”
He gritted his teeth. “No!”
“Fine. If you won’t eat, I will.” Xiao Quanchuan walked past him, carrying the basket straight to the ancestral hall, and sat cross-legged in front of it to start peeling.
This man was so annoying.
Jiang Wangnan could neither scold him nor hit him. Scratching his head, only one thought came to mind: The ancestral hall is a sacred place, eating is forbidden. Please exercise some restraint, Your Majesty.
“Oh.” Xiao Quanchuan peeled the shells leisurely and methodically. His finger joints were distinct, the veins on the back of his hands protruded, and his nails were neat and well-rounded.
Unconsciously, Jiang Wangnan thought of the previous night’s first time, and his skin burned inexplicably.
Two books were spread out on the ground: one was a scripture, and the other was the copy Jiang Wangnan had written.
“How long have you been copying?” he asked.
“Almost two hours.”
“You won’t finish copying even by dawn,” Xiao Quanchuan said unceremoniously.
“Oh.” All thanks to your boundless grace.
Feeling stifled with anger, he took his cushion and scriptures and moved far away, continuing to kneel and copy with his upper body hunched forward.
The aquamarine tunic was thin and light, clinging to the youth’s waist. The back of his neck was slender and long, and his shoulder blades bulged slightly like a butterfly’s wings. His spine curved into a long, graceful line down to his tailbone, and the two mounds of his buttocks were full, round, and soft.
Munching on a lychee, Xiao Quanchuan asked again, “Really not eating? There are almost none left.”
He replied, “I am busy.”
Perhaps the kneeling posture was uncomfortable, because that pair of buttocks shifted left and right every now and then, clearly adjusting posture both intentionally and unintentionally.
With a crisp crunch, Xiao Quanchuan seemed to have bitten straight through a lychee seed.
Jiang Wangnan instantly stiffened all over.
He almost forgot! This fellow loved bullying those who did not submit to him! Wasn’t he just walking right into the line of fire now? How annoying, always pulling this kind of stunt!
Even though this was a pure ancestral hall, the man would still recklessly mess around!
Shortly after, a tall figure gradually enveloped him like a cape-wearing demon closing in. Jiang Wangnan’s hand slipped, sending a brush stroke flying wildly off the paper.
“Are you drawing ghost runes here?” A voice came from beside him.
Even though Xiao Quanchuan was squatting, Jiang Wangnan still had to tilt his neck upward just to meet his gaze. The terror of being destroyed completely dominated his brain. “Yes! Whatever Your Majesty says goes!”
The man’s eyes looked as though they were covered in a thick layer of fog, making it impossible for anyone to guess what lurked behind them. Suddenly, the emperor leaned in close, exhaling a warm breath. “Are you afraid of me?”
“Haha, not really. His Majesty’s grace is like a mountain, this consort obeys and respects it.” Jiang Wangnan never dreamed he could utter such ingratiating words. Sure enough, the environment mattered.
“Then why are you shaking?”
“Am I? No? Probably because I knelt too long, I am tired.” He continued to brush it off with a laugh.
Xiao Quanchuan leaned in even closer, his large hand sliding to the small of Jiang Wangnan’s back, fitting perfectly into the slender curve.
“Ah!” Jiang Wangnan could not help letting out a sharp cry.
Xiao Quanchuan’s hand froze. The eternal, unshifting fog in the depths of his eyes was blown away by something, collapsing to reveal a trace of astonishment and excitement.
Oh no.
He was clearly following the man’s will, not scolding, not running, not fighting, being as obedient as could be. Why was the emperor getting turned on by this?!
It was like mastering the exam questions and answers, walking into the test relaxed, and despite the questions being identical, still failing the exam. For this situation, there were only two words: insoluble.
Xiao Quanchuan refusing to play by the rules completely baffled Jiang Wangnan.
The pinch the man gave seemed to have triggered some switch in his body, causing him to tremble uncontrollably.
Putting aside the mutual-kill plot of the original book, the original host Shou and the Gong really seemed to be doing it at all times and in all places.
He vaguely remembered a plot where the Shou escaped the palace, rendezvoused with the Yue State refugees, plotted against the Gong, dragged him into a dark room, and subjected him to brutal tortures for revenge.
Others basically came to torture the Gong during the day, but the Shou was different. He only chose to arrive in the dead of night.
On the surface, he would friendly tell his companions that he was responsible for the torture at night and would definitely not let the Gong have a moment of ease.
In reality, every time the room echoed with the pleas and screams that reverberated through the night, the one who wished he could live no longer and die no sooner was the Shou himself.
Yet no one hated the Gong more than the original host Shou. Every night he reached such a state, and it was all caused by the Gong.
It was the Gong who, in their original days, forcibly demanded his body day after day, heedlessly, no less than three times a day, with each session lasting no less than an hour.
The pleasure that temporarily made him forget everything was like a seed that kept growing wildly.
Day after day, year after year, it germinated, grew, blossomed, and fruited within his body, ruthlessly sucking the nutrients from his blood, deeply rooted, unshakeable, and fused with his heart, impossible to chop away, impossible to pull out.
He knew his sins were unforgivable, but he also knew that if it were forcibly removed, he certainly would not live long, perhaps he would die on the spot.
“Your Majesty… can you take your hand away first?” Jiang Wangnan pleaded.
“Hmm? What did you say?”
Whether Xiao Quanchuan genuinely did not hear or was just pretending, that large hand wrapped around him even tighter, sliding along his spine and slowly upward, his fingers absentmindedly tracing the slender butterfly bones.
Their bodies’ high compatibility was acting up. Jiang Wangnan’s breathing grew unstable and his cheeks burned, so he simply grabbed the man’s wrist. “Your Majesty… this consort’s scriptures are not finished yet.”
Xiao Quanchuan had a large frame, but his wrist was about as thick as a small tree branch. Jiang Wangnan’s fingers were long and slender, and he could barely wrap them around it. By comparison, it looked like a child holding onto an adult.
“Not finished yet?” the emperor said.
Isn’t this obvious, you jerk? There is still more than half a book left!
Xiao Quanchuan raised his voice slightly. “Sun Nianhai, call the nun here to inspect this.”
Shortly after, a middle-aged woman dressed as a nun hurried over. “Greetings, Your Majesty, greetings, Consort Jiang.”
Sun Nianhai handed over what Jiang Wangnan had copied. “Is it finished?”
The nun did not react at first, then solemnly calculated, “The scriptures have a total of one hundred and eight pages, and Consort Jiang has only completed thirty-three pages. Clearly, he has not finished the task assigned by Your Majesty.”
Sun Nianhai coughed twice. “Look closely again?”
The nun blinked, looked at Sun Nianhai, then at Jiang Wangnan, and let out an “ah.” “Forgiving Your Majesty’s transgression, this old body is advanced in age and my eyesight is poor.”
With that, she moved toward the candlelight as if performing a ritual and examined the papers earnestly.
Jiang Wangnan said guiltily, “Master, you do not need to look, I have not.”
“Ah, Consort Jiang’s efficiency is extremely high, and the work is completed exceptionally well. These characters flow like clouds and running water, comparable to heavenly script.”
Jiang Wangnan realized belatedly: “…”
This works too?!
“Step down.” Xiao Quanchuan waved his hand, and the nun took her leave.
“Your Majesty, what if she goes and tells Noble Consort Gao?” Jiang Wangnan had no desire to be manipulated by that woman again.
The emperor smiled charmingly and murmured, “Beloved consort, did you forget who is in charge of this palace?”
Jiang Wangnan lowered his head to look at his shoetips. “This consort has not forgotten, but didn’t Your Majesty fail to help this consort today either?”
“Silly, still blaming me?”
“No.”
Xiao Quanchuan lifted his chin. “Tell me the truth, hmm?”
“This consort is just heartbroken over that year’s stipend.”
Pray tell, what kind of concept was this? He was now a sixth-rank Noble Consort, receiving three hundred silver coins a month, which meant three thousand six hundred silver coins a year! It hurt as much as having his heart dug out.
The emperor asked, “You like silver?”
“Who doesn’t like money?” Oh, except for you. Someone born with a golden spoon like you wouldn’t understand.
“Alright.”
Jiang Wangnan’s chest grew slightly warm, with a vague guess forming in his mind, but he did not dare articulate it clearly for fear of overthinking like before, so he just stared at the emperor longingly.
Xiao Quanchuan stood up and patted the dust off his black robes. “Let us go back, it is getting late.”
Jiang Wangnan: “We are leaving just like this?”
“I still have memorials to read. Besides, you have finished copying the scriptures, do not tell me you want to spend the night here?”
Jiang Wangnan lowered his eyelashes. “Oh, respectfully seeing Your Majesty off.”
The candles in the Palace of Mental Cultivation burned down only to be replaced, burned down and replaced again. After who knew how many batches, the light reflecting on the surface of the memorials gradually shifted from warm yellow to cold white.
Sun Nianhai guarded the door all night, but he slept quite well because Xiao Quanchuan had been completely focused while working without a single disturbance, to the point where even pouring tea became a habit he tended to himself, bowing as he did.
At the break of dawn, Ren Qian strode in with a carefree and broad stride, his voice booming like thunder, “Eunuch Sun, is His Majesty in?”
Sun Nianhai made a shh gesture. “Replying to the Martial Chancellor, His Majesty worked through the night and only just lay down to catch some sleep.”
Ren Qian lowered his voice. “I will not disturb him. I am here to eat lychees, hehe.”
“The Martial Chancellor should wait a moment.” Sun Nianhai tiptoed into the room, emerging with a basket. “They are all right here.”
“Why so few?”
Every year when lychees came into season, the first basket of harvested fruit was prioritized for delivery into the palace, presented first to the emperor for tasting.
He knew that Xiao Quanchuan did not like sweets and historically almost always left them for him.
Ren Qian was stationed in the border regions year-round and rarely tasted fresh southern fruit. Having returned this time to rest, how could he not want to gorge himself and eat until his belly was round?
“If you despise them, do not eat them.” Xiao Quanchuan’s hoarse voice came from inside.
“Who did you give them all to? Why did you not even ask me?” Ren Qian’s accusing tone sounded precisely like a primary spouse throwing a tantrum.
The man on the couch rolled over and stated without the slightest evasion, “Jiang Wangnan.”
The lychee in Ren Qian’s mouth almost slipped out. “What? That fallen crown prince? Are you out of your mind?”
Xiao Quanchuan slowly opened his eyes, stared at the ceiling, and remained silent.
“Your Majesty, do not do anything foolish. There is a blood feud between you and him,” Ren Qian reminded him.
“I know,” he replied calmly.
Ren Qian scratched his head. “To be honest, sure, the man is good-looking and has a nice figure, but beauty is a blade! You should not have any other feelings for him!”
“Why should I not?”
“Sooner or later, he is going to kill you!”
“Really?” Xiao Quanchuan murmured. After a moment, he turned his head to look at him. “Will he?”
“How could he not?! Your Majesty, you have been wise for a lifetime, how did you become so muddle-headed when it comes to him?”
“But he is rather cute, is he not?”
Ren Qian felt the world go pitch black before his eyes.