Chapter 3.4

In a flash, half a year had passed. Summer had passed and winter had come. The prince’s manor had changed to the Imperial Plaque of Duan qinwang not too long ago, and the large, gold plated words shone under the sun.

Pei Qi was the first to be titled as a qinwang, a position higher than that of the other princes and second only to Crown Prince Pei Yu. His power increased very quickly, especially since he received the strong support of the generals. In court, he stood more and more firm, and he naturally became a thorn in the Crown Prince’s side. The Crown Prince hated that he couldn’t get rid of Pei Qi quickly.

However, the male lead was the male lead after all—the protagonist’s halo was simply Heaven-defying. What assassination, what incrimination with planted evidence, what seduction, all of them were useless. The tricks played by the Crown Prince were all washed down the drain. He had paid a huge price in addition to his failed schemes, and could only hug the Emperor’s golden thigh while flaunting his strength.

Seeing the plot proceed smoothly in front of his eyes, Fan Yuan still didn’t dare to relax. This was the painful lesson the previous world had given him. On one hand, he monitored the movements of the Crown Prince’s faction and helped come up with strategies for the male lead. On the other hand, he acted out “Sun Tzu delivers false messages” in front of his father.

Even though his daily life was already extremely busy, he still tried his best to take some time and monitor Pei Qi’s movements. Fan Yuan was not afraid that the prince would do anything bad to him, but he was afraid that the male lead would become bent while he wasn’t paying attention. That would truly be a great tragedy.

The good thing was that the current male lead daren was pretty normal. The only thing that gave him a headache was that Pei Qi would become a drunken madman from time to time.The frequency of this was so high that it caused Fan Yuan to become extremely worried that the male lead would get alcohol poisoning.

Who would have thought that the Third Prince whom outsiders feared as a Rakshasa demon, was actually a pitiful little thing that was inwardly fragile?! Without any warning, he would want to drink wine and vent his frustrations. Without any warning, he would get drunk. Without any warning, he would act like a drunken madman……It was okay if he acted like a drunken madman, but why did he have to treat him as his mother every time?!

In the beginning, Fan Yuan still felt sorry for him, feeling that this child’s life wasn’t easy ah—his father didn’t dote on him and his mother wasn’t there to love him. His siblings all hated him to the point where they wanted him dead, with all kinds of poisoning and framing emerging in an endless stream.

It would be weird if he hasn’t a little skewed after growing up in such an environment, and Fan Yuan could now understand why the male lead couldn’t forget the female lead for over ten years because of her gift of a meal. Although he was quite the slag to the original host, but which few people did not become slags after becoming Emperor? So he still felt bad for Pei Qi.

However, no matter how tragic the story, what emotions would there be after you listened to the same story a dozen times? Although Pei Qi, this bastard, was pitiful, don’t tell him that original host wasn’t pitiful? This absolutely couldn’t be the reason why that bastard always dragged him along when he drank wine, and proceeded to act like a spoiled child as if he were his mother after getting drunk! Don’t you know that your own strength is very big?!

One must know, every time the male lead got drunk, Fan Yuan’s neck and waist would be destroyed by his hug. To be a pillow for such a bulky person for an entire night, after that, even standing straight required a lot of effort!

Now the entire Duan qinwang manor thought Pei Qi, that bastard, was a lucky charm. As for Fan Yuan, other than being his advisor, he was also moonlighting as an! Escort! Even the thought of it caused his heart to hurt to the point where he couldn’t breathe!

#If I said I was actually a straight man, would you guys believe me QAQ#

#You dared to replace the male lead daren with a drunken madman?!#

#It’s really hard to be an advisor this time_(:3」∠)_#

While Fan Yuan sat back in the carriage, he secretly sized up the male lead daren who was currently shutting his eyes to rest. He was wearing a body of luxurious xuanyi which made his momentum extremely stern, and his whole body gave off the aura that nobody could get close to him. It was a completely different person from when he was drunk.

Fan Yuan suddenly said, “Xiao Wu, say if I protest against Pei Qi, telling him not to come and find me to act like a drunken madman, do you think it will be effective?”

“Ding, according to the few times the male lead has appeared, it is very evident that he will forget the events that occurred while he was drunk after sobering up. If Master informs him of the truth, based on the male lead’s personality, there is a high chance that he will kill Master to silence you.”

“………Then forget it, I will bear with it a bit more….It doesn’t affect the plot anyways /ToT/~~”

“Ding, next up is the Eastern Palace plot. Master will come into conflict with the female lead, please prepare beforehand.”

Fan Yuan replied, “It will be fine, it’s just an unreasonable little girl. Apart from the lines in the script, I will simply not retaliate. The plot will definitely be unable to deviate.”

“Ding………” Though I feel that what he said makes a lot of sense, I still feel something is a bit off.

In the original story, the Crown Prince’s birthday feast was an extremely important event. Because the male lead, Pei Qi, would finally meet that pure moonlight in his heart; the Zhusha Zhi of his heart— the female lead Xiao Mo Li. At the same time, the prince would also find out that the girl he had been thinking about and yearning for all these years was actually the fiancée of his arch nemesis. In a fit of rage, he would swear to take her back.

Meanwhile, for the cannon fodder supporting gay male, his role in this part of the plot was much simpler in comparison. As said in the beginning, the female lead Xiao Mo Li was a little silly, white lotus, and holy mother. However, she had a specialty, which was that she was very obstinate.

This was no wonder, from young the Crown Prince had taken a liking to the female lead because of her lovely looks that were as fine as jade and snow. The Crown Prince requested for the Emperor to bestow the marriage upon him. The An Le Marquis Family was originally on the road of decline, but because of this unexpected surprise they could suddenly rise from the ashes. Who in the entire manor didn’t dote on her dearly, afraid she would knock and bump into things at other places. They really spoiled her to the extreme, causing her personality to become naive and impulsive, as well as slightly arrogant and willful.

Actually, she knew that the Crown Prince and Duan qinwang were always at odds. Practically everyone in the entire Great Xia Dynasty knew about this matter. But she didn’t know that Xiao Yuan was personally sent over by her father, so when she saw the extremely intimate relationship between him and Duan qinwang at the Crown Prince’s birthday feast, her heart became anxious and doubtful. She inwardly thought that it was possible because of Duan qinwang’s recent successes overshadowing the Crown Prince, Xiao Yuan decided to sail with the wind and depend on Duan qinwang.

Her own shuelder brother was on the side of her fiancé’s enemy, how was that acceptable! This was absolutely not allowed! This was a blatant betrayal ah, how was she going to lift her head in front of the Crown Prince from now on! She needed to persuade him to turn back and make amends. If he wasn’t willing to listen, she would let father discipline him. She would like to see if he still dared to act so spinelessly!

The original story’s Xiao Yuan actually quite liked this di little sister of his. After all, she was kind, unlike the other di siblings that would always bully him. He could understand if she occasionally had the temper of a spoiled miss, as he felt that it did not affect her as a whole.

However, he had never expected that he would be interrogated by her in public. The female lead’s continuous words of criticism had been like swords stabbing into his body. Things such as “You have disregarded your conscience as you have failed to distinguish right from wrong”, “You ungrateful, utter disgrace to our ancestors”, “You have the ambition of a wolf, it has made you disloyal”.

Every sentence was sufficient to ruin his reputation, yet from start to finish, her wide eyes always showed an innocent look, as if she was completely unaware of the potency of her words.

The original host was resolutely angry. He unyieldingly quipped, “Capable men choose the right leader to serve, why can’t I serve an enlightened ruler?”

The female lead didn’t think that he would retort. She was used to others giving way to her, hence she was so angry that she directly flung the fruit plates and pastries that were on the trestle table on his body, and one of the plates had broken on Xiao Yuan’s forehead. Most of the people present were the Crown Prince’s people, so naturally no one would laugh at Xiao Mo Li for being insensible, instead mocking Xiao Yuan’s humiliating situation.

In short, in the end the original host invited himself out, just to not let the male lead look bad. All one could see was his straight but thin back.

This kind of tragic show really tested one’s acting skills. Fan Yuan allowed himself to enter the correct state, lest he couldn’t express his emotions well when the time came. If he was OOC it would not be good, yet at this moment he suddenly met with the male lead’s deep black eyes.

Pei Qi gazed at him for a moment, and opened his mouth after a long pause, “You are very distressed?”

Fan Yuan immediately wanted to sob and run away, why was it the he would always bump into him at the most embarrassing moments. Wasn’t this too much of a coincidence?!

He composedly let out a sigh, eyes full of melancholy. He gradually said, “Actually, my mother’s death anniversary is coming up soon. When I think about how I was still ignorant at the time she passed, and that currently I can’t even clearly remember her appearance, it is inevitable to feel a bit upset.”

Pei Qi nodded his head, saying with an unchanging voice, “This indeed makes one upset.”

Fan Yuan secretly let out a sigh of relief, and didn’t speak anymore.

After a quarter of an hour, the horse carriage stopped at the Eastern Palace. As Fan Yuan and Pei Qi got off the carriage, an attendant quickly came to lead them into the front hall.

Although the entire Great Xia Dynasty knew that the two brothers did not get along, on the surface, he still had to visit. If they fought too hard, things would be hard to handle on the Emperor’s side, and it would not reassure the hearts of the people. The relationship between brothers of the imperial family, was shallow to the point that it made people sigh.

Due to the fact that the court was currently using all its power to punish corrupt officials that had accepted bribes, even though it was the Crown Prince’s birthday, they did not dare overdo it too much. A banquet, though not too frugal, was not too extravagant nor wasteful.

Fan Yuan did not dare to drink wine, and only ate his meal calmly. Occasionally, he would inadvertently sweep his gaze across where the female lead was, taking note of the situation. Beside him, Pei Qi was sullenly drinking wine alone.

All the guests seated here were the Crown Prince’s people, and only he alone was uninvited. It was normal for him to feel unhappy.

However, wasn’t he drinking a bit too fast? If he got drunk and started acting like a madman in this kind of setting……..f*ck, the image was so beautiful that he didn’t want to think about it!

Seeing the male lead become more cheerful the more he drank, even asking the servants to bring up a few jars, Fan Yuan could care less about the rules anymore. He quickly stretched his hand to stop him as he said, “Wangye, you drank too fast. If you do this, it is very easy to get drunk.”

However, Pei Qi curved his lips, unconcernedly saying, “Don’t worry, if I get drunk, there will naturally be secret soldiers to send me back to the manor. I won’t let you piggyback this prince back, your body is too frail, this prince………can’t bear for it to happen.”

F*ck did he have to say it so ambiguously, don’t tell him that he was already drunk ba!

Fan Yuan scanned over the table which already had a few white and blue glazed jars that had been emptied out. He felt a bit crushed, the man didn’t listen to people’s advice, what to do?

He thought about it and could only ask, “How about this subordinate accompany you to drink together. Compared to drinking your worries away alone, this would be more interesting, no?”

Pei Qi raised his eyebrow, his eyes flashing with a glimmer of delight. He asked, “Are you sure?”

Fan Yuan seriously nodded his head. The alcohol content in ancient wines were extremely low, drinking a jar or two was no problem. He took Pei Qi’s wine cup and poured him half of a small cup, and then proceeded to fill up his own entire cup.

He said as he picked his cup, “These days this subordinate has received wangye’s care and hospitality. This cup is this subordinate’s toast to wangye.”

Fan Yuan drank the entire cup in one gulp. As he finished drinking he felt a bit of regret in his heart, this wine was stronger than he had imagined. If he drank the entire jar, it was possible that he would get drunk.

As he started feeling hesitant, he saw that on the male lead’s side, he had already finished the half of the small cup and was about to fill the cup up. Fan Yuan hurriedly snatched the wine jar away from his hands, commending Pei Qi, “Let this subordinate pour the wine for wangyeba.”

After that, he helped Pei Qi pour half a small cup, filled his own cup, and said as if he was calmly accepting death, “This subordinate will drink first as a toast.”

They continued this “you drink half a cup while I drink an entire one” till they had finished an entire jar. Fan Yuan felt himself getting a bit tipsy, but he could still force himself to remain conscious. He was just thinking about getting Xiao Wu to exchange a sobering medicine for him, when he saw the female lead walking over in a threatening manner.

He narrowed his eyes and earnestly watched the female lead glare at him with her big eyes while scolding sentence after sentence, as if she was shooting a gun at him. He felt the buzzing in his ears become muffled, and the specific details of what she was saying couldn’t be heard clearly. He was very satisfied with this, when a lady talked too much it was quite noisy.

When she paused, he felt it was time to say his own lines. He said, “Capable men choose the right leader to serve, why can’t I serve an enlightened ruler?”

As expected, the female lead was so angry that she lifted the wine jar and plates and bowls, flinging them in his direction. Fan Yuan stood still without even batting an eyelid. However, someone suddenly gave him a tug, protecting him in their embrace, using their back to block all those items.

“Pi li pa la”, the sounds of porcelain smashing onto the ground resounded through the air, and the entire atmosphere became heavy.

#This situation seems to be a bit familiar (⊙o⊙)#

#Damn, male lead, you didn’t play your cards according to common sense again!#

#I hope to continue sleeping and never wake up!#

The Author has Something to Say:

Little Theatre

Fan Yuan (restless): “Wangye, please let go of this subordinate.”

Pei Qi (whispers softly): “Mother, don’t abandon me……”

Fan Yuan (inwardly collapses): “Who is your mother ah!”

Pei Qi (hugs even tighter): “Mother, your child is sleepy, sing a song to coax me to sleep……”

Fan Yuan (………………): “ҰҰ%&”

Lol, it felt like this chapter had many footnotes. Hope it wasn’t too much for you guys. Also thank you guys for your kind comments in the previous chapters! I really appreciate every one of them