CH 6

Self-cultivation 

“Feng Dian?” Liang Ye seemed to be particularly interested in his hand, holding it in his hand and looking at it casually. (TL: LY meant “Dian” in Wang Dian as “Dian” in Feng Dian which means mad or insane)

Wang Dian was suppressing his fire, “Dian in Yunnan.” (TL: apparently the pinyin for Yunnan or Yunnan Province is Dian, or the abbreviation of it rather)

Liang Ye was stunned for a moment, “Where is Yunnan?”

Wang Dian suddenly realized that there was no such place as Yunnan in this dynasty, he paused for a moment then said, “In a remote town, three dots of water on the left, true on the right…” (TL: WD is talking about the standard stroke order of the word “Dian” in Chinese.)

Liang Ye raised his eyebrows and joked, “You’re not real.”

Wang Dian twitched the corners of his mouth. He felt pain all over his body at the moment, and he was too lazy to dance with the nonsense along with the crazy person who was thinking about such topics.

Liang Ye didn’t care about his attitude at all, he played with his uninjured hand with relish for a while, and then gestured their two hands together like a child, “It’s the same size.”

This man’s condition is only getting more and more serious. Wang Dian simply closed his eyes, but suddenly, his nose was pinched, and he was forced to open his mouth and opened his eyes, while thinking that this man was really sick.

Before he could vent his anger, he met Liang Ye’s bright eyes, “Even the lines are exactly the same, how did you do it?”

Wang Dian frowned, and saw him stretch out his right palm to his face, then took his palm and spread it out, “Look.”

Wang Dian was amazed in his heart. Of course he was familiar with his own hands. He had seen his own palm for more than 20 years. However, even the direction of the subtle lines on the two palms was exactly the same. Even in twins, one could not find such similarities.

He originally thought that his resemblance to Liang Ye was just a coincidence, but he didn’t want it to be such an outrageous coincidence, it was like copy and paste…..This idea caused a momentary confusion in his organized thoughts.

Yet Liang Ye didn’t seem to think so. He had probably seen many strange things. Judging from his curious tone, he might have thought that Wang Dian used some kind of secret method.

Wang Dian suppressed the doubts in his heart, pulled his hand out of Liang Ye’s hand, thought for a while, then stuffed it under the quilt and pressed it under his body. 

This psychopath seems to have great interest in him, who looked exactly like himself. It is unknown when he’ll fall ill again, take a knife and then cut him open.

“I don’t know.” Wang Dian said truthfully.

Thus Liang Ye groped his face again with a slow laughter, still with the expression of persistently trying to uncover his mask. This annoying momentum reminded Wang Dian of his cousin’s little grandson.

Wang Dian closed his eyes, forcibly dispelled the feeling of being unable to deal with Liang Ye, and said in a calm tone, “Your Majesty, believe it or not, I really do not pose any threat to you, and I have no malice towards you. As for looking exactly like you, it’s just a coincidence.”

“Liar.” Liang Ye grinned, and slowly whispered into his ear, “You wanted to kill me the moment you saw me.” (TL: LY didn’t refer to himself as Zhen here)

Wang Dian was not used to others being so close to him, thus he wanted to hide subconsciously, but Liang Ye held his face in his palms preventing him from moving, and breathed warmly into his neck, giving him a strange and domineering aura. It took Liang Ye a long time to raise his head, and stared at him with furrowed brows, his expression somber, “Did you play a trick on Zhen?”

Wang Dian almost laughed out in anger because of him.

Who is it that placed a Gu on whom? Simply blaming others while yourself is to be blamed!

Liang Ye uttered this without beginning or end, then gave him an ambiguous glance, turned around and left.

Wang Dian immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and then wiped his hands and neck vigorously. As a clean freak, Liang Ye pinching and touching him made him feel like cockroaches were crawling all over him.

Dead pervert.

He got up from the bed with a cold face, the soreness in his limbs seemed to be everywhere, he could even feel the Gu worm slowly swimming away under his skin…..It wasn’t until he was completely soaked in the cold water of the bathing pool that he managed to calm down.

Even if he and Liang Ye have exactly the same fingerprints, and the “what if he’s another him in another world”, it would be still absolutely impossible for him to live in harmony with this kind of crazy person. He must find out Liang Ye’s purpose, get rid of this Gu worm, and tomorrow, go to court…..Wang Dian angrily cursed a dirty word.

If it wasn’t for this damn time travel, the land in the east of the city could have already started construction at this time! He should obviously be sitting inside the office, signing documents, watching stocks, holding meetings and working overtime instead of thinking about how to survive in this backward era where nobody gives a sh*t about!

****

The moon and stars were sparse, Liang Ye squatted in the field and pulled weeds from the green bean field. Chong Heng sat on a tree and ate pig’s trotters that had just been stewed in the imperial kitchen at night.

“Isn’t it the Master that put a Gu on him?” Chong Heng thought he was wrong.

Liang Ye patted the soil on his hands, with a rare unsmiling expression. When he wasn’t smiling, he was exactly the same as Wang Dian, with a sense of alienation that allowed no stranger to enter, “Zhen…..I think he smells good.”

“Master, you won’t plant love Gu on him, will you?” Chong Heng straightened up abruptly, feeling that something was wrong.

“Haven’t learned love Gu yet.” Liang Ye sat on the ground carelessly, pulling out the weeds under his hands, “一Once getting close to him, there comes a feeling of hunger.”

Chong Heng didn’t understand again, but it seemed that his master didn’t understand it either, “Master, you plucked the sweet potato seedlings.”

Liang Ye rubbed the mud off his fingers, then dug a hole and planted the seedlings back.

“Master, do you see him in the same way I see a pig’s trotter?” Chong Heng tried to help him solve the problem.

Liang Ye licked his slightly dry lips but didn’t respond.

Chong Heng realized the seriousness of the problem, “Why don’t we just kill him.”

Liang Ye stood up from the ground, “Zhen doesn’t like to eat pig’s trotters.”

Chong Heng was silent for a moment, lowered his head and gnawed his pig’s trotters again, Liang Ye took out a small hoe from the haystack, pointed to the field by the wall, and said beamingly, “Zhen decided to plant an orange tree there. “

****

Wang Dian started to go to the morning court two days after he woke up. Sitting still, he could neither kill Liang Ye with his thoughts nor take away the Gu worm in his body, thus it was better to find something to do.

The Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Works had been arguing a lot recently over the matter of disaster relief money, and because Baili Cheng’an was from the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Rites was also involved, causing chaos in the entire meeting hall.

In fact, it was not a difficult task to do either. However, in the final analysis, the Ministry of Household could not provide so much silver. In fact, the treasury was divided into two parts and the larger share was held by the inner court. Even if the Ministry of Household wanted to give out silver, they just couldn’t. Xu Xiude, the Shangshu of the Ministry of Household, knelt on the ground and cried poorly, “Your Majesty, we’re really unable to give any more, Hexi Prefecture is a bottomless pit!”

“Xu Daren’s words are very interesting. Hexi Prefecture is a land under our Liang Country, and the people who provide disaster relief are the people of our Liang Country. What bottomless pit?”

“You think I’m not eager to help! If you don’t believe me, go with me to see how much silver is left in the treasury!” Xu Xiude trembled in anger.

Wang Dian leaned on the dragon chair and listened quietly. The back of the chair was a bit hard, and it was not very comfortable to lean on. He had never seen the Empress Dowager herself, and he hadn’t figured out the situation of the inner court until now. Liang Ye was a ticking time bomb, and he didn’t really want to move the inner court for the time being.

But Baili Cheng’an risked his life to take the lead, Hexi Prefecture had finally settled down, with hundreds of thousands of people waiting for money and food to save their lives.

After a flood, it was easy to have epidemics, and in the years of famine, if there was no food, there would be refugees. If there were too many refugees, they would rebel, and the rebellion would call for dispatching of troops. The group of people in the Ministry of War and the dozen or so generals in the court were still waiting for money and food. He had already been procrastinating for a month, he’s afraid it wouldn’t work if he procrastinated any longer.

Wang Dian never thought that one day he would be troubled by money.

Speak with the Empress Dowager? Wang Dian lowered his eyes, thinking of the congee that was sent to the imperial study, and thought about the concept of hundreds of thousands of people.

The most important thing was, if he let go, would the Empress Dowager take care of it?

Wang Dian knocked on the back of the chair, and there was a sudden silence in the noisy main hall.

“Sanchao.” Wang Dian stood up, leaving them with a cold back. (TL: end of court meeting)

“Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty, this subject-.”

“Wait, Your Majesty!”

Wang Dian ignored the calls from behind, and strode into the sleeping chamber at the back, while Yun Fu followed him step by step, “Your Majesty, are you going to the imperial study?”

“No.” Wang Dian paused, “You send someone and find where Chong Heng is.” 

“Yes.” Yun Fu instructed people to look for him.

Wang Dian looked at the reports and statistical charts on the desk. 

Now that Liang Ye has returned, he is now acting as the general manager at best. The chairman, the old lady, is sitting in the harem calmly watching the changes, while the general manager, the emperor, is insane. He can find the old lady too, but this old lady is probably even more difficult to deal with than Liang Ye.

If you don’t want to go beyond your level, then you still have to find Liang Ye.

He didn’t believe that he couldn’t deal with this lunatic.

Chong Heng led him to multiple bends before arriving at a secluded garden. The name Broken Snow Garden sounded auspicious, but as soon as he entered, it was an overwhelming red color, a fervent display, and the aroma of peony almost enveloped his whole body.

Going to this fucking Broken Snow Garden.

Wang Dian felt that the garden was as crazy as its owner, and when Chong Heng sent him to the door, he disappeared. Wang Dian walked for a long time into the flowers under the sun, and then suddenly, something poked him on his lower back.

He turned around abruptly, and saw Liang Ye lying in the flowers with his head propped up and smiling lazily at him. His handsome face was particularly eye-catching in the rich crimson color. He was holding a dead branch he didn’t know where he picked up, and poked Wang Dian’s lower back provocatively, “Take two more steps and you will step on Zhen.”

Seeing his lazy and laid-back appearance, Wang Dian felt depressed for no reason. While he would get up before dawn to hold the court meeting, and got his head dizzy because of the noise and the old men quarreling until late in the morning, the master, who was supposed to go to court, was here admiring flowers and basking in the sun instead.

“Chong Heng said you were looking for Zhen?” The branch in Liang Ye’s hand nimbly lifted up the hem of his robe, leisurely traced Wang Dian’s calf, smoothly shifted it, and slid it up to the base of his thigh like a hooligan.

Wang Dian felt that he might just be stunned in anger before he could realize that this lunatic was playing like a hooligan. He reached out and grabbed the dead branch, however Liang Ye didn’t even try to put in any effort. He easily snatched it and threw it into a nearby peony bush, “Do you know what’s going on in the inner court?”

When Liang Ye heard that it was a serious matter, the interest in his eyes dissipated in an instant. He collapsed and turned over backwards, crushing a large area of flowers. He closed his eyes, yawned and continued to bask in the sun, “Don’t know, not interested, don’t care.”

If it wasn’t for his little life being in this guy’s hands, Wang Dian would have kicked him up by now, “The Yan river embankment in Hexi Prefecture burst, tens of thousands of people are waiting for money and food to save their lives, the Ministry of Household can’t even afford to give money at all now, and most of the silver is in the hands of the inner court, moreover, the frontier garrison has been asking for money and always got delayed for almost half a year now, don’t you care at all?”

Liang Ye covered his ears with his hands, “Zhen can’t hear you.”

“Liang Ye!” Wang Dian was a little annoyed. As the emperor, does he want the whole country to die with him?

Liang Ye was lying in the pile of flowers and smiled brightly at him, “If you let Zhen smell it, Zhen will take you to see the inner court.”

Wang Dian didn’t react, “Smell what?”

Liang Ye leaned on one arm, squinted his eyes due to the sun, raised the other arm and pointed at his neck, “Zhen thought it was a bit like peony fragrance before, but after smelling it here, Zhen thinks peony fragrance is too gaudy, what petals do you use for your bath?”

The expression on Wang Dian’s face went from bewildered at the beginning to doubt and then to blank, and upon reflection, his face turned iron black.

Afterwards, it took a lifetime of self-cultivation to not step on the rippling face amongst the flowers.

(TL: self cultivation-cultivation of one’s moral character)