CH 115

January 1, 2023Merchie

The distance between them was suddenly reduced. Shen Shijiu breathed in the faint fragrance of sandalwood and a medicinal odor. His earlobes reddened.

“I… I remember that my Lord invited me and shifu to eat something tasty…”

“Mm. What else?”

Pei Zheng leaned a little closer.

When this small man was sober, he understood etiquette and demureness. Shen Huan had taught him well; he knew exactly what he should and shouldn’t do. The skin on his face was still as thin as it was in the past.

However, when he was drunk, he was quite clingy; he was utterly shameless and didn’t know what shyness was.

“There were… a lot of people, and then my Lord got injured…”

Shen Shijiu looked down, and he gazed at the gauze over Pei Zheng’s shoulder, his fingers clenching in distress.

“My Lord, I’m going to reapply the ointment, okay? I’ll be gentle, I won’t hurt you.”

Pei Zheng lifted his chin slightly to look at him, and responded with an “mm”.

Shen Shijiu unwound the gauze, his movements extremely gentle. A small amount of blood was still seeping from the wound. It had been showing signs of healing and had almost closed, but now, the wound had become a bit more serious.

He applied the ointment, before sprinkling on the medicinal powder. Then, he gently rewrapped the gauze.

Pei Zheng hissed and took a deep breath. Shen Shijiu immediately stopped rewrapping the bandage.

“What’s wrong, my Lord? Did I hurt you?” Shen Shijiu’s gaze was filled with worry, “I was being as gentle as I could…”

Pei Zheng nodded, “It hurts.”

Shen Shijiu immediately became even more nervous. He held the strip of gauze that he hadn’t finished rewrapping, and stopped in front of Pei Zheng’s chest, not knowing how to proceed.

“My Lord, endure it for a little longer, okay?” Shen Shijiu said, “I’m going to bandage your wound.”

“No.”

Pei Zheng interrupted him, his eyes pinned on the faint cut on the small man’s face.

Shen Shijiu didn’t think that Pei Zheng would be this uncooperative, “Then what should I do…”

The corners of his eyes drooped slightly; he looked quite aggrieved.

Pei Zheng placed his hand on Shen Shijiu’s back and gave him a light shove, and Shen Shijiu was pushed into the space between his legs.

Pei Zheng tapped a finger against his own lips, and he spoke as if he deserved his next request, “Kiss me.”

Shen Shijiu glanced up at Pei Zheng, and saw that he was looking right back at him. His fair cheeks flushed red.

“I-I… that’s… Shifu said… I can’t…”

Pei Zheng’s eyes narrowed, “If you keep mentioning your shifu, my wound will hurt even more.”

Shen Shijiu hurriedly shut his mouth.

Pei Zheng tilted his face toward Shen Shijiu, signaling that he could kiss him now.

But Shen Shijiu tugged at the end of the gauze, twisting it back and forth, his heart thumping incessantly.

Pei Zheng continued to wait in an extremely patient manner. He was really going to wait until the small man took the initiative to lean in.

He had never been an upright gentleman, and he had used his fair share of despicable methods. But Pei Zheng had never been this hopeful. Never had he cared so much about something.

Shen Shijiu didn’t know how he had mustered such great courage. He closed his eyes, and slowly leaned over.

Just a kiss, and His Lordship’s wound won’t hurt anymore.

A warm kiss fell upon a pair of cool lips. Just as Shen Shijiu was about to pull away, a hand clasped the back of his head, and their lips and tongues were tightly entangled.

Shen Shijiu’s eyes were watery when Pei Zheng let go of him, and he was panting slightly as well. But he didn’t forget to ask, “My Lord, does it still hurt?”

Pei Zheng smiled, and wiped the saliva off of Shen Shijiu’s lips.

“It doesn’t hurt. You’re very sweet.”

Shen Shijiu tied the end of the gauze. Only then did he feel at ease.

At this moment, Shen Huan, who had run out earlier, came back. Upon entering the room, she began to make a racket.

“Lord Pei, do all of your manor’s servants have their heads stuck in a door?” Shen Huan yelled, enraged.

“His feet went numb, how can you call that a broken leg? The way I see it, his brain is the only thing that’s broken!”

Earlier, when Shen Huan followed Li Yu to take a look at Cheng Feng, Cheng Feng was sitting in the courtyard, and seemed to be perfectly fine. He explained that when he had jumped off the roof, his feet went numb. The moment she heard this, Shen Huan wanted to leave, but Li Yu insisted on dragging her over to examine Cheng Feng, just in case his leg was actually broken.

Li Yu also had complaints that he couldn’t voice. His lord wanted to be alone with His Highness, so he was the one who had to create these opportunities. This Master Shen was really too oblivious; it was as though she had a candle that burned with light and warmth. His lord’s gaze was cold enough to freeze people to death, but it couldn’t freeze Master Shen.

But fortunately, His Highness himself had applied medicine for His Lordship.

Now that the ointment had been reapplied, Pei Zheng returned to his quarters to read reports1.

Although Pei Zheng hadn’t attended court lately, nor had he entered the palace, the Emperor seemed to have forgotten that the Prime Minister’s Manor existed; for many days now, he had regarded the manor with indifference.

But Pei Zheng still had eyes in every part of the Imperial Court, so he would always be the first to know about what had transpired each day.

Meanwhile, Shen Huan locked herself in the pharmaceutical room again, and resumed her research into formulas that could help people recover their memory.

Shen Shijiu returned to the little pavilion. His shifu wanted him to rest if he didn’t have anything else to do, and he wasn’t allowed to keep disturbing Lord Pei while he was working.

In truth, Shen Huan didn’t want Pei Zheng to keep disturbing her little disciple. She had already decided that once Pei Zheng’s wound had healed, she would take her little disciple and leave.

Shen Shijiu had no idea about Shen Huan’s plan. He sat on the steps in front of the little pavilion, resting his cheeks in his hands.

The weather became chillier with each passing day, and the floorboards were ice-cold. But the sun coated everything in its rays of warmth. Shen Shijiu sat there in a daze for a long while; who knew what was going on inside that little head of his.

“Miaowu!”

A fluffy black ball suddenly sprinted over, charging toward Shen Shijiu and pouncing on top of him.

When Shen Shijiu spotted the little cat, he smiled. His eyes curved as he opened his arms and replied.

“Miaowu, miaowu!”

The little cat pounced onto Shen Shijiu’s face and began to lick it. Shen Shijiu fell to the ground from the impact, and his face was sticky with the cat’s saliva.

“Xiao Miaowu… stop it… you made my face dirty…”

He didn’t expect the cat to actually jump off of his face. It ran to the side while waving its tail at him.

Shen Shijiu ran over and tried to lift it into his arms, but the cat scampered a few steps away. Shen Shijiu chased after it, and the cat ran a bit further. So, Shen Shijiu and the cat ran out of the back garden, darting through the Prime Minister’s Manor.

They ran and ran, and the little cat ran into the courtyard where Pei Zheng’s quarters were. It had been raised by Pei Zheng in this courtyard, so it was very familiar with this place. It wove through the grass and jumped into the room through a window.

Shen Shijiu stood in front of Pei Zheng’s room, and was about to knock on the door. But he held his hand up for a long while, and couldn’t bring himself to do so.

Shifu told him that His Lordship had serious business to take care of, and was very busy. He shouldn’t disturb him; he should obediently go back and play by himself.

But he also wanted to play with Xiao Miaowu.

“Come in.”

Pei Zheng’s voice suddenly sounded from inside the room.

Shen Shijiu was stunned. How did His Lordship know he was outside?

He gently pushed open the door and walked inside.

The moment he entered, he saw Xiao Miaowu curled up on the table by the door, looking contented; it even waved its tail at Shen Shijiu.

Pei Zheng was sitting at the desk at the side of the room. Rows of booklets filled the table, and he was still reading through them one by one.

When he saw the small man who was obediently standing there, motionless, the corners of Pei Zheng’s lips hooked upward.

“You missed me?”

Shen Shijiu paused. H-how did His Lordship know?

He stuttered as he explained, “I-I was looking for, looking for Xiao Miaowu…”

“Mm,” Pei Zheng responded, “So you didn’t miss me?”

Shen Shijiu almost instantly blurted out, “That’s not it…”

Pei Zheng smiled. It was really too easy to trick this small man into saying certain things.

“Sit. Accompany me for a bit.”

Shen Shijiu nodded obediently, before he sat down in a chair. The moment he tilted his head, he could see Pei Zheng, who was sitting a short distance away.

Pei Zheng continued to read through the reports. Shen Shijiu slowly slumped over the table, and stared into the little cat’s eyes.

The cat replied with a “miaowu”. Shen Shijiu hurriedly placed his hand by his lips and made a shushing noise, before he patted the cat’s head, and mouthed, “You’re not being good, you can’t make noise and disturb His Lordship, do you understand?”

The cat licked Shen Shijiu’s fingers. Only then did Shen Shijiu crack a smile.

“Good kitty.”

Shen Shijiu lifted the little cat into his arms, and gently stroked it. Then, he buried his little face into the cat’s fur and rubbed it back and forth.

“So soft…”

The cat was very comfortable being patted and stroked; it stretched out its paws and clutched Shen Shijiu’s hand. Shen Shijiu reciprocated the gesture, before he held the small cat’s soft, warm paw and kissed it, smiling until the corners of his eyes curved.

Pei Zheng lifted his head and saw the small man sitting at the table across from him, kissing the cat’s paw. And he was smiling so nicely at the cat too.

This cat had been raised by Pei Zheng, and because it was so spoiled, it had a bad attitude. Unexpectedly, when it was with this small man, it became an obedient little pet that could tolerate his patting and stroking.

Pei Zheng felt a bit uncomfortable as he watched. It was just a cat, yet it could steal all of the small man’s attention away; it had been quite a while, yet Shen Shijiu had only cast a few glances in his direction.

Pei Zheng angrily closed the booklets, stood up and walked over.

“Why are you so cute? Why are you so squishable?”

Shen Shijiu was still speaking in a soft whisper, hugging the small cat without letting go.

Suddenly, his hands were empty, and the cat was lifted by its scruff out of his arms.

Shen Shijiu looked up and saw Pei Zheng fling the cat right out of the window.

Although the cat could jump off a tree with ease, Shen Shijiu was still a bit worried that the cat would fall and hurt itself. He was about to run over to the window to take a look.

Pei Zheng stretched out an arm, and restrained the small man by the waist, holding him back. Then, he carried Shen Shijiu to the table and had him sit on top of it, staring at him with a face full of displeasure.

Shen Shijiu didn’t have a clue what was going on, “My Lord, are you done with your work?”

Pei Zheng didn’t answer.

“My Lord, why aren’t you saying anything…”

Pei Zheng didn’t answer.

“My Lord, c-can I come down?”

Pei Zheng didn’t answer, and instead squeezed Shen Shijiu’s waist.

“M-my Lord, what’s wrong…”

Pei Zheng stretched out his fingers, and brought them up to Shen Shijiu’s lips.

Shen Shijiu didn’t know what he meant by this. He blinked as he looked at Pei Zheng, his gaze clear and innocent.

“What did you kiss earlier?”

Shen Shijiu was confused, “I didn’t kiss anything…”

“Hm?” Pei Zheng raised his brows.

Shen Shijiu recalled, and smiled, “Oh, I kissed Xiao Miaowu’s little paw, it’s so cute!”

He looked at Pei Zheng’s fingers, his eyes bright, “My Lord, do you want me to kiss you too?”

Pei Zheng leaned a bit closer, but he didn’t say anything.

Shen Shijiu grabbed Pei Zheng’s hand. It was very pretty; fair and slender, with long, powerful fingers, distinct knuckles, and faint blue veins on the back of it.

He lowered his head and planted a kiss on the back of Pei Zheng’s hand, just like he did with the cat. Long lashes brushed his skin, and the warm softness left after a mere touch.

Notes

Wowiee, here we have a very petty Pei Zheng in his natural habitat o.O

Thanks for reading~ It’s still New Year’s Day here so Happy New Year again 

1.折子 (zhé zi): it’s a little booklet thing, it had a pretty brocade jacket, and it’s basically a fancy brochure. Mostly, it’s for accounting, but it’s also used in the Imperial Court for official reports.