Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Eight

He Lian Chen’s use of strength around my waist isn’t light, slightly hurting my little waist as it straps me in. I raise my head, preparing to glare at him in dissatisfaction, yet all that meets my eyes is that smooth and perfectly curved chin. And so, I once again start to wander into my thoughts, should the hands of the eunuch that shaves him, trembles, and cuts into his face, then how captivating would it be when the blood flows out?

I imagine the scenario: that attractive fresh blood slowly flowing out from the firm skin, bright red substance elegantly slithering downward, dyeing that provocative clavicle of his red, how tasty, how delicious……

Eh, no, wait!

Amitabha, I’m a human ah, human, how could I have the thoughts of a vampire? I sorrowfully think this is the fantasising {{Twilight}} had brought to me, fortunately, there are no computer here, if not, the bizarre ideas that goes through my head throughout three-hundred-and-sixty-five days a year could be pointed out.

I unknowingly lick my own canines, raising my eyes to look at He Lian Chen again. I must say, this guy sure looks tasty, honey-bronze skin and sharp features, no matter how I look at it, he’s a man of imposing bearings. And all men of imposing bearings share the common characteristic of strong and domineering, no matter who they are facing. He Lian Chen’s Adam’s apple slides down a few times, voice neither cold or warm as he says: “Who allowed you to stare at zhen like that?”

I choke a bit, alright, I won’t look then.

But Great Master He once again speaks, “Who allowed you to not look at zhen?”

Fine, I’ll look then.

His voice sounds unpleased, “Still looking?”

I’ll endure it, I won’t look.

His tone sounds slightly angry, “Not looking?”

I endure it again, I look.

“Still looking?”

……I say, exactly do you want me to look or not look?

“Your majesty.” I take a deep breath, “What exactly do you want this servant to do?”

“Zhen doesn’t allow you look.” He calmly speaks: “Nor allow you to not look.”

I cannot help twitching the corners of my lips, all in all, you are finding faults? I helplessly say: “Your majesty, has this servant provoked you in any way?”

He Lian Chen finally spares me a look, eyes deep, tone turning cold, “No.”

I couldn’t hold back the shiver, he’s already like this when I haven’t provoked him, then what if I do provoke him?

The horse speed suddenly accelerates, with one moment of carelessness, I strongly crash into the chest behind, and He Lian Chen actually releases the arm that was wrapped around me in this moment, startling me into frantically grabbing the clothing at his chest, my body was also forced to stick to him.

“Hold on tightly, if you fall, zhen wouldn’t be waiting for you.”

I tightly close my mouth as I glare at his expressionless face, heck, this person is so evil. And so I don’t hold back in clenching more tightly, whilst half squinting my eyes to block the wind that is becoming more and more cutting. I seem to vaguely feel his chest slightly vibrate a bit, then the horse below us run more and more madly, as though it’s hooves hasn’t reached the ground for several hundreds of years. I grievingly think that my life is indeed bitter, much more bitter than the little cabbages, I am just that big cabbage ah, yellowing in the ground!

Unsure of how long that horse went crazy for before stopping, I suppress my stomach that is like roaring currents, sending a pale smile to He Lian Chen as I say: “He Lian Chen, you grand master.”

He Lian Chen’s nasty face that looked like someone owes him several thousand taels of gold, finally reveals a smile, then dashingly dismounts the horse and stands still, slender figure tall and straight, “Zhen believes these words of yours aren’t praises, but zhen is currently in a good mood, so shan’t bother with you, now……” He says with concern: “Xiao Lan Zi, are you able to get off the horse yourself?”

I weakly clutch my stomach as I glare at him, smile smile smile, what’s there to smile about?

“Looks like you don’t have the energy.” He answers his own question, kindly extending a hand to me: “Come, zhen will give you hand.”

I place my hand in his with a shallow smile, “Really have to thank your majesty then, this servant shall remember your great kindness for a lifetime, won’t forget you in the next lifetime, won’t even let you go as a ghost.”

“These words of thanking of yours sure are refreshing.” When He Lian Chen took my hand, it was still considered normal, but in the next second, he tightens his hold and makes an abrupt move, directly pulling me into his arms, then hooking an arm under my knees, he holds me up, walking with ease as he says: “Does that cousin of yours not feed you, as light as a cat.”

My head feels dizzy from hitting his chest, gritting my teeth as I think what has Yuwen Rui got to do with my weight, not like he’s my father, based on what right should he monitor my eating! I lean against his chest, steadying my breath, then deliberately hit his chin with my head, after hearing a clear sound of “dong”, I feel unusually happy. I pretentiously say: “Aiya really sorry, this servant accidentally knocked into your majesty just now.” Sorry my butt, better to knock your chin out of place.

He Lian Chen sounds “-si-“, reaching out to heavily knock onto my forehead, coldly saying: “Such an unfortunate coincidence, zhen’s hand slipped.”

I hold my forehead, grievingly thinking, indeed one inch taller in height, one inch higher in level of evilness, the powerful dragon cannot suppress the local snake, one must bow their head under the roof……

He Lian Chen walks with me in hold for several minutes before stopping at a lake, lowly saying: “We’re here.”

My attention had already been captured by the scenery before me, in the middle of summer, the intense sun radiantly shines, the delicate sunshine reflecting colours of the rainbow across the clear water surface, like beautifully magnificent crystals, suddenly enticing my eyes. Not to mention the lake is so clear, one can see the bottom, the leisurely wandering, or perhaps happily touring golden fishes, all of different sizes, circling around the stones, completely out in the open as they appear in sight.

“Beautiful?”

I cannot help but nod, beautiful, truly beautiful.

He Lian Chen lowly laughs, releasing his hold on me, “Indeed, all women love sceneries like this.”

I squat down by the lakeside, sweeping up a few handfuls of lake water, then lift my sleeves as I handpick some stones to play with, provocatively saying: “How about we have a skipping stone competition? Loser have to answer the other person’s question, not allowed to tell lies.”

He Lian Chen walks up to my side, slightly narrowing his golden eyes, saying: “When you lose, zhen will ask two questions.”

The corners of my lips twitches, “Alright.”

He Lian Chen picks up a stone and tosses it up a few times, suddenly smiling at me strangely, “Zhen forgot to tell you, zhen never get less than seven skips.”

Hearing this, I instantly wave my arms, faking a smile as I say: “In fact, there’s nothing so fun about skipping stones, let’s play something else.”

He Lian Chen’s handsome face smiles in a very friendly manner, yet his tone is dangerous and pressing, “You want to go back on your words?”

“How is that possible?” I force a smile, “Extremely happy to, extremely happy to, then……you first?”

He Lian Chen confidently smiles, “Alright.” He weighs the stone and bends his body, throwing it out, the stone bounces across the surface of the water, stirring up little waves, the fine droplets of water reflecting the sunrays appears even more crystal-like.

I stare at the stone without blinking, one, two, three……twelve rings, He Lian Chen – this guy – made twelve rings. I let grievances mask my eyes as I say: “Your majesty is very skilful.”

He Lian Chen looks at me and says: “Your turn next.”

“Yes.” I grievingly respond, after bending my body and throwing out the stone, I look at the water surface without much expectation. After a moment, I widen my eyes in surprise, using my hand to nudge at He Lian Chen, saying: “Thirteen, He Lian Chen, I didn’t see wrong, right? Thirteen!”

He Lian Chen’s face slightly stiffens: “Yes, you didn’t see wrong.”

I pat my own chest as I cry out in great fortune, “Lucky!” I turn to look at him, “I’ll ask the first question then.”

He Lian Chen holds both hands behind his back, “Go ahead.”

I don’t hold back in asking: “The women you spoke of just now, is referring to the Mi Er you spoke of when little, which is also the current Consort Mi?”

The look in He Lian Chen’s eyes falters, then he nods, “Yes.”

“Then……”

“You’re already done asking.” He Lian Chen cuts me off, picking up another stone and aims at the water surface, “Another round.”

I secretly laugh, “Alright.”

Several seconds later, I cover my mouth and cry out in surprise, “Heavens ah, this isn’t my imagination this time, right? You thirteen, I fourteen?”

He Lian Chen stares at the water surface, “Not your imagination.”

“I can ask another one then.” I use my hand to fan myself, “You……”

“Do another round, calculate it all later.” He furrows his thick brows.

“Alright.”

The several times after that, when he got eleven, I got twelve, when he got ten, I got eleven, when he got fifteen, I got sixteen……

He Lian Chen’s entire face starts to turn blue, as he asks: “An Ke Lan, what is going on?”

I spread out my hands, “Probably in luck today, usually, I can never surpass fifteen.”

He Lian Chen’s face turns from blue to black when he hears this, “You……”

“Must accept loss when willing to bet.” I comfortingly pat his shoulders, “I believe you’re not the type that cannot accept loss.”

The corners of He Lian Chen’s eyes twitches, “What do you want to ask?”

I lightly smile, half lowering my eyes as I quietly ask: “I want to ask you……since you are a ‘monarch’, why does your name also carry ‘subject (Chén / 臣)’?”

As expected, I see He Lian Chen’s eyes instantly turn ice cold, that type of frostiness cannot be melted at all within the scorching hot summer day, and instead becomes more intense. He coldly looks at me for a long while, whilst looking to see if I feel like I’m in winter and summer, he gives me a strange smile, “You certain you want to listen to this?”

I couldn’t hold back the shiver, “Then I’d rather……” not listen.

“You want to listen.” He leans down to my ear and assures: “You want to listen, so I shall tell you.”

I suddenly realise I have gotten myself into trouble, but He Lian Chen’s seeming smile in this moment is warning me, I must listen even if I don’t want to. Forget it, forget it, I know so many secrets, missing this one wouldn’t lessen them, but adding this one wouldn’t be adding more either. And so I sit my butt down on the grass, smiling as I say: “I’m all ears.”

He Lian Chen also follows me in sitting down, taking off my hat and undoing my hair whilst at it, leaving my long hair to fall loosely, he lifts my hair and casually plays with it, speaking in a mocking tone as though the matter has nothing to do with him: “In this entire world, guessing only you would dare to ask this question.” His hold on my hair slightly strengthens, “Throughout the times, the positions of ‘monarch’ and ‘subjects’ cannot be overstepped, my Father Emperor giving me this name, also means that he only wishes for me to be a ‘subject’, and not ‘monarch’.”

I notice him address himself as ‘my’ ‘me’ and not ‘zhen’, the him right now, is like the youngster I met back then, just innocently recounting his own anger and injustice.

Contempt surfaces in his eyes, “The skies showed a strange spectacle on the day I was born, Holy Sage hurried into the palace saying a battlestar has fallen, and I am the one that possesses the battlestar, and will definitely become the tyrannical ruler of the world. Just that my birth chart is strong, would definitely bring death to the relatives around me, and the day all my relatives die, will be the day my tyrannical reign starts. After my father emperor heard this, he immediately prepared to strangle me to death, it was all thanks to my mother empress for desperately saving me, that I was able to keep my life, just that Father Emperor gave me this name, and on that day, poisoned my eyes blind.”

He takes my hand to touch his eyes, smile filled with extreme satire, “Do you see it? Gold eyes of the battlestar, will definitely kill father, kill mother, kill siblings, until world domination.”

I slightly flutter my lashes, the princes and princesses of Yun Zhan had constantly encountered accidents or died young, the original heir to the throne – Second Prince – committed suicide in prison several days ago, now, only He Lian Chen and He Xing Yan remains……

The gold in his eyes shines brighter, so dazzling, it causes me to fall into a trance, “I didn’t understand when younger, only wondering why Father Emperor is so cold to me, but fortunately, there was Mother Empress and Mi Er who accompanied me all along, just that during the year of Mount Qi Yun, far too many things had happened, Mi Er was bestowed to Second Imperial Brother, Mother Empress abruptly passed away with sudden death. Grandfather confessed everything to me……turns out Father Emperor was that afraid, afraid that after Mother Empress’ death, he will be next, so time and time again, sent for people to kill me, had it not been for Grandfather protecting me all along, I would already have become a pile of yellow soil right now (grave).”

He tugs up one corner of his lips, eyes filled with hate, “So what if I’m a ‘Chen (subject)’, he wants me to become a subject, I insist on becoming monarch, he’s afraid of death, I thus let him down.” He holds both my shoulders, looking down on me, and firmly says: “This world, is destined to be mine.”

I suddenly laugh out loud, “He Lian Chen, according to what you said, you need only do one thing to be able to smoothly own the world.” I calmly look at him and say: “You need only kill He Xing Yan with your own hands, then everything shall go smoothly.”

He Lian Chen’s expression instantly stiffens, many complicated feels flitters past his eyes, finally turning into an intense smile, he lays a kiss on my forehead, then says to me with determination: “I will own this world, also protecting my only brother and the one I love. Men, can ultimately defy the heavens.”

“What if it cannot be defied?” I ask.

He reaches out to messily rub my head, “As long I get the treasure map, then nothing can’t be defied.”

My heart abruptly jumps, treasure map……I faintly hook up the corners of my lips, standing up and saying: “He Lian Chen, I just hope that when you get what you want, you wouldn’t forget your original intentions.”

People always have the tendency to make some mistakes, for example, only just silently finding there’s already nobody by one’s side to protect or accompany them after they had all gone, only just becoming aware that only never-ending greed and selfishness remains when one’s hands are empty.

Some things that are lost, can never be obtained again.

“Precious ah, Precious.” He Lian Chen hugs me from behind, that refreshing scent flushing up my nose, he lowly laughs as he asks: “Ah-Lan, I even told you my secret now, do you know the price of this?” He doesn’t wait for my answer, and bites my ear with romantic ambiguity, words filled with dominance, “I won’t let you go, you’ll be mine.”

I fall into a daze, there was also someone who said to me, I’m destined to be his. But where is the one who said this now? I abruptly give the person behind an elbow, laughingly saying: “Your majesty, let’s return now.”

He Lian Chen grunts, then doesn’t hold back in throwing me other his shoulder, “That’s right, let’s go.”

The blood gathers in my head to the extreme as I think he is indeed a very petty man, f*ck, he even has to get payback for that, He Lian Chen, you Petty Little He!

Once He Lian Chen and I once again appear before everyone, everyone’s eyes are filled with ambiguity and understanding, the eyes on me are even more so filled with countless contempt and disdain. I later make out two big reasons, one is because He Lian Chen is very intimately holding me in his arms as he rides the horse, two is because after unreasonably disappearing for an hour, I return with messy hair and a weak body, combined with He Lian Chen’s doting towards me since some time ago, everyone comes to a tacit understanding in thinking I’ve become his male pet.

And with a boom, the palace was bubbling over, turns out the reason why his majesty has not been going to the see the consorts is because he doesn’t love beautiful women, but loves handsome men!

In fact, nevermind having a misunderstanding like this sprouting up, what’s more despicable is He Lian Chen – this asshole – actually intensified physical intimacy with me in front of others. For example, caressing my face ah, touching my hand ah, occasionally holding my waist ah, since then, people’s eyes had become more colourful and varied, and even more so, there had been a consort coming my way and took the opportunity to give me a few slaps. But with unfortunate coincidence, that person just happened to get caught red-handed by He Lian Chen and was locked in the Cold Palace, what followed was great shock falling upon the imperial palace ––– turns out this Eunuch Lan is his majesty’s precious, no one is to touch a single hair on his body!

I speechlessly choke, who is to know of my difficulties, this guy doting on me like this is to pick on me in another way, to see how I deal with people secretly plotting revenge, see how I beat off those pestering consorts of his, am I that easy, I?!

On a certain day, an unexpected person finds me, also telling me some unexpecting words, and then, the story takes another turn.

That certain person – which is precisely Consort Mi — is stood, calmly smiling before me, voice tender but carries scorning, word by word spitting out: “You think he is wholehearted doting on you, loving you? Lian’s heart only has me, and not you, a neglected princess of the enemy kingdom, a person who is unable to bring him anything.”