Chapter 34

Yu Yan was worthy of being a Dayan prince. At the sound of that cold voice behind him, his expression only stiffened for an instant — then he turned unhurriedly and offered a bow to the newcomer. "Greetings, Your Majesty."

Jin Wang strolled in and asked: "What were you two discussing?"

Yu Yan's face didn't change. "I simply felt that the consort bore a striking resemblance to someone I once knew — I couldn't help but exchange a few words."

"Someone you once knew?"

Jin Wang's eyes narrowed slightly. He raised his gaze to Ye Shu in the palanquin with an inquiring look.

"I don't know him." Ye Shu said with absolute certainty. "He's mistaken me for someone else."

Yu Yan: "…"

Yu Yan let his gaze pass between the two of them, and sighed. "Very well… then let us say I was mistaken. I will take my leave."

As he turned to go, he gave Ye Shu a somewhat regretful look.

Ye Shu: "…"

Yu Yan walked away. Jin Wang returned his attention to Ye Shu.

Ye Shu managed a somewhat strained smile.

Were all these emperors part-dog? Was this really the impression to make on a first meeting?!

The imperial palanquin moved slowly toward the bedchamber. Ye Shu sat in Jin Wang's arms with his head lowered, feeling guilty.

His instincts had been right.

This Second Prince of Dayan really had brought nothing good with him.

In the novel, Yu Yan and the original host had no connection whatsoever. Yet today, Yu Yan had said the original host's alias to his face — proof that they had been in communication at some point.

Had the original host conspired with Yu Yan as well — also in service of the rebellion?

If so, what was this man's true purpose in coming to Changlu…

Ye Shu tried hard to recall, but couldn't summon a single detail about the original host's contact with Yu Yan.

His memory after transmigrating was fragmentary. What was he supposed to do about that???

His thoughts were in turmoil, and he didn't notice when Jin Wang's hand lifted and settled, with unsettling gentleness, on his earlobe.

"What are you thinking about?" Jin Wang asked.

Ye Shu came back to himself with a start, looked up and met Jin Wang's gaze — then quickly looked away. "N— nothing."

Jin Wang played with Ye Shu's earlobe, his fingertip brushing every so often over the small mole behind his ear. His voice was calm and untroubled. "Yu Yan said you reminded him of someone he once knew?"

"…" Ye Shu said: "He was mistaken."

Jin Wang made a non-committal hum. His voice remained steady. "If the beloved consort has never met him — then perhaps the one he is acquainted with… is Chancellor Ye?"

Ye Shu's heart lurched.

Jin Wang was frighteningly perceptive about this kind of thing.

Ye Shu kept his composure. "I… I don't know him, so Chancellor Ye naturally wouldn't know him either."

His face showed nothing. But inwardly he had already cursed that Second Prince of Dayan into oblivion.

That wretched Yu Yan. He had worked so hard to get Jin Wang to stop pursuing the matter of the assassination — and now this man had gone and stirred everything back up. This person was going to start losing his mind again.

Sure enough, this explanation clearly wasn't going to convince Jin Wang.

Yet he didn't press further either. He only went on kneading the back of Ye Shu's neck with idle, deliberate pressure.

Like a cat whose pressure point had been found, Ye Shu curled in Jin Wang's arms and didn't dare move a muscle.

He was very quickly reduced to an unbearable state and carefully pleaded: "Your Majesty…"

Jin Wang let out a sigh, tilted Ye Shu's chin up, and forced him to look directly at him. "A Shu, I don't like it when you lie to me."

Jin Wang had drunk a considerable amount at the banquet this evening. His eyes were far less sharp than usual, and close up one could catch the faint smell of wine on him.

Ye Shu felt rather wronged.

He genuinely didn't want to lie. But he also genuinely didn't know why the original host had been corresponding with Yu Yan.

He'd had memory gaps since transmigrating in. What was he supposed to do about that???

The two of them sat in silence looking at each other. The atmosphere inside the palanquin was stiff and uneasy.

They arrived at the bedchamber.

An attendant lifted the curtain to help them out.

Ye Shu had been thoroughly uncomfortable and stood to leave — but Jin Wang pulled him back. He picked Ye Shu up, jumped down from the palanquin, and strode into the bedchamber.

The attendants read the situation, and not one dared follow into the inner chamber.

Jin Wang set Ye Shu on the dragon bed, then leaned over and pressed down on him.

Yangxin Hall was brightly lit.

Jin Wang looked down at Ye Shu from above.

This person rarely wore black in Jin Wang's presence. The dark red lining at the collar set off his complexion to an extreme pallor. The black outer robe was fitted close at the waist, making his slight figure look even more slender.

"Last chance." Jin Wang said pleasantly.

Ye Shu turned his head aside and held his ground. "…I don't know him."

Jin Wang undid Ye Shu's sash.

Ye Shu closed his eyes and began to tremble faintly, but did not resist.

His Majesty the sovereign was naturally volatile and quick to anger. He had provoked this man — tonight was not going to go easy on him.

His own bad luck.

Damned Yu Yan.

The elaborate court robe was being removed piece by piece. Ye Shu had no idea how this man intended to torment him and was tense with anxiety, lips pressed tight.

But Jin Wang made no further move.

After a moment, Jin Wang straightened up.

The pressure bearing down on Ye Shu lifted. Ye Shu looked up, and saw Jin Wang casually hang the robe he'd removed on the nearby rack.

Then he bent down, pressed a light, fleeting kiss to Ye Shu's cheek. "Rest early. We are going to bathe."

"You——" Before Ye Shu could say another word, Jin Wang had already turned and left the inner chamber.

On the way out he didn't forget to extinguish the candles in the hall.

Ye Shu disliked light when sleeping.

In the bathing pool, warm water poured from the dragon-head fixture above. Jin Wang rested against the white jade wall of the pool with his eyes closed, resting quietly.

An attendant finished his report. Jin Wang opened his eyes. "That's all they said?"

"Yes." The attendant knelt beside the pool and answered quietly.

"…Leave Us."

The attendant withdrew from the pool room. Jin Wang gave a faint, cold smile.

From the way Yu Yan had looked at Ye Shu during the banquet, to the brief exchange outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony — his instincts told him there had to be some connection between those two.

Now he was certain.

Qi Xuan… that was also the name written in the several secret letters Ye Shu had sent to Xixia.

What was that man plotting? Was he trying to have him assassinated again?

In truth, getting to the bottom of it was not difficult for Jin Wang.

He knew Ye Shu too well. He knew exactly what to do to get under his skin, exactly how to press until the truth came out.

But when he had seen Ye Shu trembling with fear from his actions — he found he couldn't bring himself to go through with it.

It was always like this. That person wouldn't say a single word, and he was the one who softened first.

…He wanted to treat this person well.

By the time Jin Wang returned to the bedchamber, the hall was silent.

A wash of moonlight came through the window, casting the outline of the young man lying peacefully in bed across the floor.

Jin Wang lay down. On instinct, he reached to draw the person into his arms.

The next moment, something hard pressed against Jin Wang's chest.

Jin Wang's instincts flared with danger. He looked up — and found Ye Shu's eyes, clear and bright in the moonlight, without a trace of drowsiness.

"Don't move." Ye Shu raised his hand slightly, nudging what he was holding a little further forward.

In the play of light and shadow, Jin Wang could make out the shape — a dagger.

A dark shadow passed through Jin Wang's eyes.

He actually wants to kill me.

"Now you can't escape." Ye Shu had one hand on Jin Wang's shoulder, yet his tone was oddly relaxed.

"If you had struck the moment I lay down, We would likely not have been able to dodge it." Jin Wang's heart sank slowly. His smile was cold. "You shouldn't have given Us time to react."

Ye Shu seemed to realize something. "I see."

Ye Shu had no martial arts training. If he had struck the moment Jin Wang returned without any warning, Jin Wang having no guard up, perhaps he might actually have succeeded.

But that chance was gone now.

All Jin Wang had to do was choose to — and at any moment before the blade entered, he could snap this person's wrist.

Ye Shu had absolutely no way to resist.

The two of them held each other's gaze in silence. Then, after a moment, Ye Shu suddenly let go, and carelessly tossed what he was holding off the bed.

It happened to roll into the moonlight. Jin Wang saw it clearly now — it was only an empty scabbard.

What did that mean?

Jin Wang sensed he was beginning to understand. He turned his head to ask, but Ye Shu suddenly raised his hand and hooked it around Jin Wang's neck, pulling himself closer. "I wanted to tell you — if I truly wanted to kill you, I would have absolutely no need to seek the help of a foreign prince."

They were intimate — sleeping in each other's arms every night. If Ye Shu truly harbored murderous intent, he had countless ways to make Jin Wang die without anyone ever knowing.

There was no need for him to engineer, from thousands of li away, a foreign prince coming to the capital to secretly plot an assassination.

Jin Wang's expression still hadn't softened. "Even if you could kill Us, you have no outside help. You can't escape this palace."

"…"

That was a fair point.

Emperors just thought too much about everything.

Ye Shu let out a sigh and decided that going around in circles with this man wasn't getting him anywhere.

He tipped his head up and pressed a kiss to the corner of Jin Wang's lips. His voice softened. "I truly have not thought of betraying you. Will you believe me, just this once?"

"Then Yu Yan—"

Ye Shu said with exasperation: "Can you stop bringing him up? I am trying to coax you!"

I am trying to coax you.

Those words struck Jin Wang's chest without warning, and their echo lingered.

Jin Wang opened his mouth — and found he couldn't say a word.

Ye Shu looked into his eyes and said earnestly: "You once asked me what you would have to do for me to believe you. I want to ask the same thing — what would I have to do for you to believe me?"

"Jin Wang, I don't want to keep second-guessing each other. It's exhausting."

"You have secrets you're keeping from me, and I have things I can't tell you right now either — but I have never, not once, intended to harm you."

He knew what Jin Wang was afraid of.

Conspiring with foreign enemies — that was the thorn lodged in Jin Wang's heart.

The fact that Jin Wang hadn't pursued the earlier assassination didn't mean he was completely indifferent to the betrayal.

On the contrary — he cared very much.

And yet even so, he had not hurt him.

He had given Ye Shu all his gentleness, all his indulgence, all his yielding.

Ye Shu could see it clearly.

So tonight, he wanted to give something back.

Ye Shu leaned in and kissed him again, and his hand began to move slowly downward.

Jin Wang's breath caught. He grabbed his hand. "Don't—"

"I've known for a long time that talking to you at length is useless. Something more practical is better." Ye Shu knelt up and looked at him, smiling. His eyes were clear and bright. "This time — it's of my own free will."

Moonlight poured like water. Layer upon layer of gauze curtains muffled the sounds within.

…

A long while later, Ye Shu lay collapsed and exhausted against Jin Wang's chest. "Next time it goes on that long, you deal with it yourself."

Jin Wang: "…"

Was that his fault?

Jin Wang pulled him close and pressed a soft kiss to his hair.

Ye Shu asked quietly: "You're not angry anymore, right?"

Jin Wang didn't answer.

Ye Shu looked up and glared at him. "I went to all that trouble coaxing you — don't tell me you're still upset?"

"I'm not upset." Jin Wang held him close, his voice taking on the quality of a sigh. "I truly have absolutely no way to deal with you."

From the moment Ye Shu kissed him the first time, Jin Wang's anger had already been gone.

His Majesty the sovereign was nothing if not principled.

The person in his arms gradually stilled. Jin Wang suddenly asked: "You coaxed me — was it because you were worried I'd get angry and torment you?"

"Yes." Ye Shu leaned against him on the edge of sleep, his voice carrying the weight of exhaustion. "You're such a petty person. If you stayed angry, wouldn't I be the one who suffers?"

Jin Wang gave a soft laugh, just about to respond, when he heard Ye Shu add: "Though there was a small other reason as well."

"What reason?"

Ye Shu nuzzled against Jin Wang like a small animal seeking comfort, finding a comfortable position, and closed his eyes in contentment. "I didn't want to see you unhappy."

I didn't want to see you unhappy.

So I was willing to coax you.

It was as simple as that.