CH 47

Seeing the familiar cover clearly, Ye Zi was stunned and asked with difficulty: “How…..how do you know that book?”

Gu Yan looked up at him, pretending to be surprised: “This book is ranked number one on the book pavilion’s JJ[1] list, how could I not know?”

There were many kinds of books in the Chang’an City book pavilion and there were different classifications for different kinds of novels, operas, and stories, and “JJ” was one of them. JJ specialized in romantic story books about men and women and most of the books Qiu Tang had read were from that category.

This book, “Diary of a Prince’s Manor,” had been very popular among the readers ever since the first volume and it was said that there was a rich gentleman who spent thousands to ask the author to finish the latter part of the book as soon as possible.

That was why the second volume was released so quickly.

Ye Zi was dumbfounded and asked in a trance: “Your Majesty, the gentleman who spent thousands isn’t you, is it?……”

Gu Yan tilted his head and smiled: “How did you know?”

There was a “clang” outside, as if Qiu Luo had dropped something.

Ye Zi hurriedly turned his head: “Qiu Luo, are you alright?”

Through the cloud screen, Qiu Luo’s voice came: “Your Highness, Your Highness, please forgive me, this servant will clean it up immediately.”

She hurriedly cleaned up the broken pieces of porcelain and left in a panic.

Ye Zi turned his head and asked: “Did you scold her today?”

Gu Yan responded: “No.”

Ye Zi wondered: “I don’t know what’s wrong with her recently. She doesn’t seem to be in good spirits lately and always looks listless. Is it because she isn’t getting enough rest at night?…..”

“No worries, I’ll give her an order later and have her take a few days off.” Gu Yan didn’t think too much of it and pulled the topic back to the book with a smile, “I noticed that you were surprised when you saw the book. Why? Have you also read this story book?”  

Ye Zi insisted: “O-Of course not!”

After reading that book, he immediately threw it out of the manor, leaving no traces behind. It was impossible for Gu Yan to know about it.

Ye Zi refused to admit and Gu Yan looked at his guilty expression calmly: “That’s fine, you can read it together with me.”

“I’m not reading that!” Ye Zi broke away from Gu Yan’s embrace, angrily walked to the side, and sat down.

Gu Yan turned his head to look at the man’s slightly red ears and leisurely opened the book: “If you don’t want to read it, then I’ll be reading it myself.” 

Ye Zi turned his back to Gu Yan and didn’t say a word.

The room was silent for a while and Ye Zi couldn’t bear it. Just as he was about to turn around, Gu Yan suddenly opened his mouth: “But it was said that the two of them came back from the palace together. The young gentleman’s heart was tied to his lover as they began to toss and turn at night…..” 

He even read it out loud!

Ye Zi turned his head incredulously: “What are you doing?!”

Gu Yan didn’t even raise his eyes: “I’m reading from the book.”

“You……” Ye Zi was embarrassed and questioned: “You can read it to yourself, do you need to read it out loud?”

Gu Yan said seriously: “But I like to read out loud so that I can remember it well.”

Ye Zi gritted his teeth: “……What are you remembering this for?”

Gu Yan righteously answered: “It’s well written, why can’t I remember it?”

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Ye Zi was about to have a fit, but Gu Yan let out a low sigh: “Is there a more pitiful patient in this world than this Prince? I’m lying in bed all day long with no one to talk to and after finally finding a pastime to enjoy, my Princess Consort complains that I can’t do this or that…..Even if I wasn’t sick, being in this suffocating room will definitely make me sick. I…..”

“Stop talking.” Ye Zi turned his eyes away, picked up a book from the table, and said casually, “If you want to read it out loud, then go ahead.”  

Ye Zi settled down, buried his head in the book, and tried to divert his attention.

What he picked up casually was a classic from the previous dynasty. The words were obscure and difficult to understand and Ye Zi’s headache grew with each traditional character he read, soon he began to lose his mind after reading just a few lines.

When he was lost in thought, Gu Yan’s voice in the background went straight to his ears.

Gu Yan’s voice was low and his tone was neither fast nor slow, carrying just the right cadence. Ye Zi couldn’t help but turn his head to look over, the man was leaning leisurely by the bed with a cold profile and a bit of laziness between his brows, which was pleasing to the eye.

——If only his content wasn’t so unsightly.

The second volume was much richer than the first volume and it wasn’t all about the sex. There was an increase in the sweet and touching plot between the two. Coupled with Gu Yan’s voice, Ye Zi couldn’t help but be fascinated by it for a moment.

But this was, after all, an adult story book. Sooner or later, that plot would come.

When the two of them started flirting, it was even worse than the first volume.

The more Ye Zi listened, the more embarrassed he became. Finally, when Gu Yan read, “The little gentleman was so impatient, he took the Prince’s hand and brought it straight to his lower half,” he strode to the bedside and reached out to snatch the book from his hand.

“You’re not allowed to read anymore!”

Gu Yan had been prepared. Ye Zi wasn’t able to snatch the book but was instead grabbed by the other party. Gu Yan grabbed Ye Zi’s wrist with one hand and protected the book with the other: “Why am I not allowed to read it again? How can you go back on your words?” 

Ye Zi was driven into a corner and said unreasonably: “If I say you can’t read it, then that means you can’t read it! Give it to me!” 

Gu Yan was lying on the bed so he couldn’t dodge even if he wanted to and Ye Zi ended up grabbing a corner of the story book. Gu Yan loosened his hand and took advantage of Ye Zi’s inattentiveness when he grabbed the book to drag him to the edge of the bed.

Gu Yan hugged the beauty and laughed: “If you wanted to see it, just tell me, why bother going through all this trouble? I still have more, do you want them?” 

Ye Zi was shocked: “You have more?”

Gu Yan said: “The second volume of this book was printed and sold a total of five hundred copies, and I bought all of them.”

Ye Zi was silent: “……Why did you buy all of them?”

Gu Yan wrapped his arm around Ye Zi’s waist and rested his head on his shoulder, murmuring in a low voice: “This book wrote about you in such a wild manner, how could I let others read it?”

Ye Zi’s heart warmed and his profile slightly reddened.

Gu Yan liked this appearance of his and leaned in to kiss him lightly on the neck, teasing maliciously: “If it was according to that book, you should be grabbing my hand right now and letting me touch you. But I refused and you would beg in every possible way in front of me, saying that you want me……”

His words came to an abrupt end.

As they were both men and were currently close together, Gu Yan immediately noticed the difference in the person in his arms.

Gu Yan paused and spoked in a low voice: “A Zi, are you? …..”

Ye Zi’s ears turned red. He tilted his head and said firmly: “No.”

“Really?” Gu Yan asked and wanted to probe downwards, but Ye Zi grabbed his wrist.

Gu Yan smiled secretly, backhanded Ye Zi’s wrist as his fingertips gently scratched his palm, and softly said: “When did it start? Was it when I was reading the book out loud or…..when I hugged you like this?”

Ye Zi was embarrassed and he didn’t even know where to look as he whimpered: “You’re bullying me…..” 

“I’m not bullying you.” Gu Yan drew close to his ear and whispered, “A Zi, be good and tell me honestly, when did it start?” 

“I-I don’t know.” Ye Zi curled up impatiently and just when he was about to change back to his original form, Gu Yan took the initiative and stuck his hand underneath his clothes. 

Gu Yan lowered his voice dangerously and threatened: “If you dare change back, you will be bullied more than this in the future.”

Ye Zi’s body was like jello as he leaned against Gu Yan’s chest. Still worried about his injury, he didn’t dare struggle too much and only said in a hasty manner: “Your Majesty, your injury……”  

“If you don’t move around, then it won’t be a problem.” As Gu Yan said this, his hand wandered downwards dishonestly. His other hand pulled on Ye Zi’s chin as he kissed him gently, “I forgot to reward you these few days, I’ll make up for it today.”

The rewards that were owed for almost half a month were gentle and meticulous. Ye Zi was short of breath and soon lost the strength to think.

A moment later, Gu Yan casually tossed the soiled silk handkerchief to the side as the corner of his mouth curled up: “That fast? Were you holding it in for too long?” 

Ye Zi whimpered and curled up in the quilt. His face was bright red, as if he was a ripened apple. 

“Okay, I won’t tease you anymore.” Gu Yan lowered his head and kissed him lightly on his brow, suddenly having some regrets.

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If he hadn’t had such a sickly body and if he hadn’t sustained that injury….. 

Gu Yan took a deep breath, settled his thoughts, and said warmly: “Tired? I’ll lie down with you for a while.”

“Mnn.” After being bullied by him, Ye Zi was so tired that he couldn’t even keep his eyes open. He gently answered before quickly drifting off to sleep.

Ye Zi slept very deeply, as if he had fallen into some deep and disoriented dream. In his dream, the snow-covered Chang’an City was brightly lit and he was standing on the top of a tall pavilion, watching the city celebrate.

“Why are you standing here?” Someone called him from behind, he turned his head and saw Gu Yan.

After not seeing him for a few years, his appearance had matured quite a bit, and a bit of the Imperial aura was already showing between his brows. The original noble and ostentatious temperament, tempered in the sea of ​​corpses and blood, became more and more restrained, revealing none of its original sharpness. 

Ye Zi was stunned for a moment and lowered his head: “Your Majesty.”

Gu Yan clinked their glasses together and said lazily: “Why aren’t you going inside?”

Ye Zi replied in a low voice: “It’s a bit boring….”  

Gu Yan let out a light laugh: “At the dinner hosted by Emperor Jinghe, everyone is drinking and having fun, enjoying the songs and dances, but you feel bored. If a bystander heard you, you’ll get into trouble.”

Ye Zi’s eyes dodged a bit in a hasty manner but Gu Yan added: “Don’t worry, with me here, no one dares to touch you.”

He leaned against the fence and looked out over the brightly lit Chang’an City, as if he was looking into a faraway place. A moment later, Gu Yan said softly: “Huaiyuan, I’ve encountered many things during this Northern Expedition.”

“Countless people are displaced and homeless, countless old people and children are starving to death on the streets, and no one is burying their bodies……There’s a famine and plague outside, but what are we doing? We’re drinking, singing and dancing, and celebrating our victory.”

Gu Yan’s eyes reflected the lights of thousands of families and his eyes were full of coldness: “This world is doomed.”

Ye Zi stared at the man’s back, opened his mouth, and was about to say something when he suddenly heard the sound of a sharp blade cutting through the air. Ye Zi subconsciously rushed forward as a feathered arrow stuck close to Gu Yan’s bank and pierced into this tall pavilion.

The tall pavilion immediately set off a shout of alarm.

Immediately afterward, a blazing fire ignited from somewhere in the Imperial City.

“Someone is trying to usurp the throne! Someone is trying to usurp the throne!” 

The screams of fighting erupted from nowhere, like a stone falling into the calm water, creating ripples. A group of well-trained elite soldiers filed in and fought with the Imperial guards.

The crowd scattered in all directions, Ye Zi subconsciously went to pull Gu Yan but was immediately pushed away by the crowd.

“Your Majesty!”

Ye Zi’s ears were filled with shouts and sounds of fighting. He desperately went against the crowd, constantly searching for that familiar figure.

But he couldn’t find him.

Every face he saw was either familiar or unfamiliar, but none of them were Gu Yan.

“No!” Ye Zi jolted awake and grabbed the wrist of the man beside him.

The raging sea of ​​flames and the screams of fighting were suddenly far away. Ye Zi was in a trance and he didn’t realize where he was for a while.

Until someone gently embraced him.

Gu Yan hugged Ye Zi from behind and asked in a warm voice: “What’s wrong, did you have nightmares again?”

Ye Zi turned his head to look at him and his eyes were still a bit dazed as he murmured: “Your Majesty……”

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[1] *cough* jjwxc *cough*