CH 50

Content warning: Very brief sexual activity

The Third Prince took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He looked at the two people with their arms around each other, then started speaking again. “Imperial brother, you’re no longer the Crown Prince, but you’re still dallying around with the Crown Prince Consort?” he said. 

“I’ve never formally divorced my Consort. Within this year, Zhuoyu is still considered my wife, and neither of us can get married again,” Xiao Chengjun said, fixing him with a cold stare. He held the fellow who was shaking with silent laughter tightly in one arm. “This is the law of the Yu Dynasty. Your behaviour today is tantamount to insulting and humiliating your older brother’s wife!”

The Third Prince didn’t know very much about the rules that a Crown Prince who had married a male wife had to follow, much less the laws and customary teachings handed down from their ancestors on this topic. The law indeed prohibited them from marrying again in the year, but whether Lou Jing was still considered Xiao Chengjun’s lawful wife and Consort during this time wasn’t specifically stated. Xiao Chengjun’s speech had been confident and steeped with enough logic to make it believable, and the stunned Third Prince fell for it hook, line and sinker.

“Um…” Xiao Chengduo was really panicking now. Flirting inappropriately with someone and being caught in the act by that person’s husband was a truly shameful matter, and if the Emperor and Empress got wind of this, he would never live it down. He forced out a smile. “Imperial elder brother, this was just a mistake made in a moment of passion. It doesn’t benefit any of us to blow up this matter – you and I both lose face, and Saosao’s good name will be tarnished as well. It will be difficult for him to get ahead in the Yulin Troops. Why don’t we…”

Lou Jing frowned slightly as he lay in Xiao Chengjun’s arms. This Third Prince wasn’t all that stupid either. 

Xiao Chengjun lightly patted the “shell-shocked” person in his arms, not saying a word. The atmosphere immediately became tense.

“Imperial elder brother, weren’t you interested in acquiring my horse-racing grounds? I’ll go to Father Emperor tomorrow and tell him that I’ll be making a gift of those grounds to you. That can be my compensation to you for this incident,” the Third Prince said, smiling ingratiatingly.

“Something for something. I’m not taking advantage of you,” Xiao Chengjun said, glaring at him coldly.

Xiao Chengduo breathed a sigh of relief on seeing that Xiao Chengjun was willing to settle. “Then, as to tonight’s matter…” he said.

“Get out of my sight,” Xiao Chengjun said darkly.

The Third Prince immediately complied, slinking back to the Yingchun Palace with his tail between his legs.

Min Wang Dianxia was ordinarily the very soul of politeness, and Lou Jing found it incredibly amusing to hear him speak so harshly. He laughed fit to kill himself in Xiao Chengjun’s arms, but when the Third Prince was out of sight, he suddenly was pushed aside by Xiao Chengjun. Lou Jing was caught off-guard and looked at him in surprise.

Xiao Chengjun glared at him, then turned to leave. 

He was really furious! Lou Jing stared blankly at his retreating back for a moment, then quickly leapt forward to catch up with him and gathered him into a tight back hug. “Chengjun, you’re mad at me?” he asked.

Xiao Chengjun closed his eyes. He himself didn’t think that he would be in such a rage. When he saw that hand move lecherously toward Lou Jing, he really saw red, and felt a really strong killing intent toward the owner of that hand. He took a deep breath. “You should return quickly to the guard rooms and let people have a good look at… mmph…”

Before Xiao Chengjun could finish speaking, he was pushed against one of the huge rocks in the garden with force, and his lips were sealed by Lou Jing’s.

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After a good while, the two of them were panting, and Lou Jing was smiling faintly. He gently bit Min Wang Dianxia’s earlobes. “I thought he was trying to get me into his faction, and wanted to try and get some information out of him. I didn’t expect that this was what he really wanted. It was my bad – I should have discussed this with you in advance,” Lou Jing said.

Actually, the whole day, they had both been more than ten feet away from each other, and there was no way to discuss anything even if they wanted to.

Lou Jing had already admitted his wrongs, and Xiao Chengjun didn’t have the heart to continue blaming him. He acknowledged this with an “nn”, but still trapped Lou Jing between himself and the rock, refusing to let him go.

Lou Jing raised his eyebrows, then reached out to stroke the buttoned part of Xiao Chengjun’s robes. “We’re all alone right now. Is Dianxia thinking of…” Lou Jing’s voice trailed off as one frisky hand burrowed into Xiao Chengjun’s pale blue winter robes. 

“Nn…” Xiao Chengjun hurriedly pulled that arm out of his clothes and sighed. This person really made it impossible for him to stay angry with him. “The Third Prince’s horse-racing grounds has a hot spring and dilong underfloor heating. I was thinking of acquiring it for Xiao Chengjin’s use,” he said. When he had broached the issue with the Third Prince previously, the latter had firmly declined, saying that that was part of Chen Guifei’s dowry.

Lou Jing understood. He knew of those horse-racing grounds – it was the one right next to the Lou family’s fields, the one that was a generational asset. It had been renovated very beautifully, and the Third Prince would probably feel the heartache of giving this up for quite some time. He nodded, grasped one of Xiao Chengjun’s hands, raised it to his lips to kiss it, then pulled out the jade pendant he’d stolen from the Third Prince and showed it to Xiao Chengjun.

“This is…” Xiao Chengjun took it from him and examined it. He frowned slightly. This jade pendant wasn’t the Kirin jade pendant that all the Imperial Princes had, but a personal jade pendant that the Third Prince always wore on his person. What had he taken this pendant for?

Lou Jing whispered a few things to Xiao Chengjun. 

Xiao Chengjun couldn’t help opening his eyes wide in astonishment, then started laughing. “You’re probably the only one who can think of something like this,” he said.

The two of them cuddled a bit by the lakeside for a bit before Xiao Chengjun rose to return to the Yingchun Palace. The rest of the banquet passed uneventfully, with everyone remaining in the banquet hall until one o’clock in the morning to shou sui before going back to their residences to rest thereafter.

The Imperial Court had a ten-day vacation from the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The Imperial family didn’t have to visit their relatives as commoners did, so Xiao Chengjun remained in his mansion, only stepping out occasionally to visit his younger brother.

Lou Jing’s family, on the other hand, had quite a few relatives coming to call over the New Year period. Lou Jianyu was still in his mourning period, so the celebrations were kept very simple, with many of the details being glossed over. All the time Lou Jing saved as a result was spent with Xiao Chengjun at the Min Wang residence. 

On the second day of the New Year, Lou Jing quickly visited his relatives, then ran off to the Min Wang residence to play chess with Xiao Chengjun. Lou Jing had not been fond of these scholarly pursuits since he was a child, and whilst he knew how to do them, he didn’t really have the patience for it, and he started playing carelessly after a bit. Xiao Chengjun defeated him very easily as a result.

“This isn’t fun. I’ll teach you how to play something else,” Lou Jing said, instructing Chang En to bring in a small coal stove, a plate and some spoons.

“What are these for?” Xiao Chengjun asked curiously.

Lou Jing grinned, dismissed the servants, then rolled up his sleeves. He put some white sugar on the metal spoon and held it over the coal stove. “When I was young, I always saw people on the street sell this, so I took a candle and started melting some sugar myself for fun,” he said. 

The white sugar quickly melted into a yellowish-brown liquid. Lou Jing turned the spoon over and quickly drew a picture on the cold white plate. It wasn’t drawn very well – the lines were scraggly and there was only one of what looked to be an ear. If Lou Jing didn’t say that it was a fat little rabbit, Xiao Chengjun wouldn’t have been able to tell that that was what it was.

Xiao Chengjun chuckled and accepted the small plate. “The candy’s on the plate now, how am I supposed to eat it?” he asked. The candy sculptures he’d seen being sold on the street always had a thin bamboo stick stuck into it before it had fully hardened, and were pulled off the plate so one could eat it like a lollipop. This one that Lou Jing had drawn was now stuck firmly to the plate – how were they to remove it?

Lou Jing had forgotten this step, but he refused to admit it. He took the little plate and licked it directly. “Eating it this way gives it more flavour,” he insisted.

Xiao Chengjun wasn’t going to lick a plate, so he just smiled without saying anything. Lou Jing managed to pull the bunny’s ear off the plate with his teeth, and he pushed one end of the ear to Xiao Chengjun’s mouth whilst still holding the other between his lips. 

Xiao Chengjun couldn’t resist opening his mouth to bite down on the candy when he saw Lou Jing do this. That sweet candy had a little bit of a burnt fragrance to it, and even though it wasn’t anything particularly exquisite, it was oddly delicious.

“Dianxia, would you like some dianxin now?” An Shun asked from outside the door. It was already sunset. The nights came early in winter, and they also slept much earlier during this season. Because it was cold and windy outside, they couldn’t take a walk after dinner to aid digestion, and wealthy families usually skipped having a full dinner, opting to eat some soup and dianxin instead to avoid indigestion.

“Bring it in,” Xiao Chengjun said, pushing Lou Jing aside. The latter had been licking bits of candy off Xiao Chengjun’s lips earlier.

Lou Jing wasn’t happy about this and was about to say something when he saw the dianxin in An Shun’s hands. His eyes lit up immediately. They were white, fluffy little rabbit-shaped steamed buns that smelt of sweet milk! 

The round little bodies had two long ears on top of them, and red bean paste had been used to make their eyes. They were only the size of a baby’s fist, and a tiny tail had even been snipped out at the back of the rabbit buns. They were really well-made, and looked very cute.

“Chengjun…” Lou Jing held a warm, fluffy bun in his hand, and found that he didn’t have any words to describe what he was feeling right now. Ever since his mother had passed away, no one had ever made these buns for him. He had only mentioned these buns in passing, and hadn’t expected Xiao Chengjun to remember this.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to eat this last year?” Xiao Chengjun said, picking up one as well. He washed down the sweetness of the candy he just ate with some tea, then took a big bite of the rabbit steamed bun.

The buns smelt of sweet milk because milk had been added into the flour when the buns were made. The steamed buns made by the Imperial chefs were soft and smooth, and as one chewed them, the sweet fragrance of milk filled your whole mouth. Xiao Chengjun’s eyes curved into smiling half-moons. These were really good to eat. It was no wonder that Lou Jing craved them so much. 

Lou Jing stretched out a hand and pulled Min Wang Dianxia’s hand toward himself, opening his mouth to eat the remainder of the bun that Xiao Chengjun had just bitten into.

“There’re so many right here,” Xiao Chengjun said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. He picked up another bun and offered it to Lou Jing.

Lou Jing didn’t accept it. The hand holding on to Xiao Chengjun’s froze for a brief moment, then he picked Xiao Chengjun up in his arms and walked off toward the bedroom.

“Oof… what are you doing?” 

“Eating a steamed bun…”

“Ah… I’m not a steamed… nn…”

The little steamed buns on the table slowly quickly became cold in the wintry air, but the atmosphere inside the bedroom became hotter and hotter.

Lou Jing kissed the fair-skinned body in his arms all over, and every single kiss was filled with deep love and caring. The instant Lou Jing received the steamed buns, he suddenly understood – all these years, this attachment to steamed rabbit buns was actually his attachment to the young Crown Prince. Xiao Chengjun had him wrapped around his fair-skinned little pinky the moment he held out that wosi candy to him, and he never wanted to let go. 

The incredible amount of stimulation was too much for Xiao Chengjun to bear. He didn’t really understand what had come over Lou Jing, but it didn’t stop him from feeling Lou Jing’s love in his tender and yet rough actions. He was also drunk in Lou Jing’s blind passion, and he reached out lovingly to gently caress Lou Jing’s back.

Lou Jing stopped for a bit, moving up to give Xiao Chengjun a long, passionate kiss. After that, he put the two long, slender legs on his shoulders and pushed himself deep into Xiao Chengjun’s body.

“Ah…” Xiao Chengjun cried out. He shook his head involuntarily, and beads of sweat flew from the wet strands of hair in front of his forehead, making graceful, glittering arcs in the air.

The night was long, but even a long winter night couldn’t contain their love. Their fiery passion came as if out of nowhere, and it burned long and deep into the night… 

And thus, the couple spent their New Year together in this leisurely, romantic manner.

Before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, urgent news came from the border. The Tartars had attacked the Northern side again, and the battle would be upon Jinzhou very soon.

The news came from eight hundred li away, and it was delivered during the morning court session. The whole Imperial Court erupted on hearing the news.

The Tartars usually started attacking the borders in autumn, when they didn’t have any grain or supplies to survive the winter. The purpose of their attacks was usually to snatch food and other supplies they needed. Right now, winter was nearly half over, and it was very unusual for them to suddenly launch an invasion at this time. The empire was completely caught off guard. 

“Your Majesty, Jinzhou has been defended by the Anguo Gong for generations. It would make sense to send the Anguo Gong forth to counter the attacks,” the Minister of Defence, Sun Liang, said, stepping forward.

Xiao Chengjun looked at Sun Liang, then lowered his eyes, remaining silent. He had spoken with Sun Liang before the New Year, and he was indeed willing to help their cause.

“The Anguo Gong is still observing his mourning period and is unable to go to battle,” the Minister of Personnel, Yang Youting said. He had the memory of an elephant when it came to these details about Court officials.

The Northern border was extremely important. The Tartars had not invaded for one or two years now. Previously, the old Anguo Gong had always been the one to defend those borders, but now that he had passed on, it was difficult to find someone to replace him.