When Xiao Yun came back, Xie Caiqing had already changed his clothes and was walking out with his things in his arms. He walked slowly and frowned from time to time.
Xiao Yun leaned against the door: “Where are you going?”
The top scholar seemed startled. He lowered his eyes, walked out dejectedly without saying a word.
When he reached the door, he paused and took a deep breath: “Your Majesty, may you be well.”
He performed the greetings according to the rules, and without waiting for Xiao Yun to call him up, he went out through the other side of the door.
“Stop.”
Xie Caiqing paused, but walked quickly the next second, his brows furrowed even more tightly.
Xiao Yun frowned at him and took two steps forward.
Xie Caiqing screamed “Ah”, and the next second, he was picked up by Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun was afraid that he would feel pain, so he didn’t hold him from the bottom. Instead, he put one hand behind his knees and the other hand around his back, holding him sideways.
Xie Caiqing opened his eyes wide, turned his body outward, and struggled to jump down. Xiao Yun turned him inward without saying a word, and Xie Caiqing’s face met his gaze.
Xiao Yun: “Are you planning to never talk to me again in this life?”
Xie Caiqing turned his face away, as if he didn’t want to see him.
Xiao Yun smiled: “If you don’t say anything, I will kiss you. I will count to three.”
“One……”
“Two……”
He counted very slowly on purpose.
“Three–“
Xiao Yun pretended to bow his head, and Xie Caiqing said anxiously, “Your Majesty!”
Xiao Yun smiled, hugged the man tightly and walked towards the table, saying as he walked: “I was wrong last night.”
Xie Caiqing said coldly: “…Your Majesty, there is no need to apologize.”
Xiao Yun said: “It’s not an apology, I just want you, I have wanted you for a long time, I wanted you the first time I saw you.”
Xie Caiqing had always been taught to be reserved and prudent. It was the first time he heard someone speak like this, and his face turned red and white: “…Your Majesty, please don’t say any more.”
“Really? If you don’t believe me, ask the commander,” Xiao Yun said cynically. “I know that’s wrong according to the secular world, but I want you anyway. I tell you, whether you are willing or not, I want you. It doesn’t matter whether you want to die, feel depressed, get sick, or quit your job and run away. If you dare to run away, I will tie you to the couch to serve me day and night. Even if you are sick, I will still bully you. What’s the saying? Serving my country with all my heart, and never stop until I die, right? Run away. The whole world belongs to me. I can find you wherever you go. I have a heart of stone. Don’t expect me to be merciful. So I advise you to be happy and healthy, otherwise you will suffer.”
Xiao Yun sighed secretly. If you don’t scare people, they will easily become depressed.
Xie Caiqing stared at him in disbelief, thinking about the feasibility of being tied to the couch by Xiao Yun in order to commit suicide.
“I only know that life is so short. Rather than regretting it myself, I’d rather let others regret it. You may not know that everything I have in this life was forced.”
“You are too young. When I was your age, I was already a veteran,” Xiao Yun said with a sigh.
“You are lucky. The first bad guy you met when you were a rookie was me. You only lost your body, and didn’t suffer any other major losses.”
“…” Xie Caiqing cursed him in his heart again, calling him a filthy scoundrel.
It turns out he knows who he is.
“When I was your age, all the bad guys I met wanted to kill me. I am teaching you a lesson. Don’t just look at someone’s appearance and think he is a good person. Do you think all bad guys are as handsome, rich and powerful as me, who only care about people and not their lives?”
“…”
“So don’t think too much about me being a bad guy. It’s not worth it.”
Xiao Yun turned Xie Caiqing’s little head over and said with a smile: “Did you hear that?”
Xie Caiqing had a blank expression on his face.
He did not struggle, obviously knowing that there was no point in wasting his energy in front of the martial arts master Xiao Yun, and he was already out of strength.
“If I hadn’t done this, I wouldn’t have been destined to be with you in this life, so I forced you to come.”
Xiao Yun didn’t expect him to respond. He muttered to himself, sat down on the table, and held the person on his lap.
“Have you applied the medicine?”
“No answer? I’ll assume it’s your way of playing hard to get. You want me—”
Xie Caiqing flushed with anger and embarrassment and quickly nodded.
“Really?”
“…Mm.” Xie Caiqing replied softly.
“I’m not at ease—let me check.”
Xie Caiqing’s eyes widened, his breathing turned rapid, and he began struggling fiercely.
“Alright, alright, I won’t look, don’t move around and hurt yourself,” Xiao Yun tightened his embrace like holding a child and chuckled, “Where didn’t I look last night?”
“I personally applied it for you last night, and this morning you rubbed it off. I was thinking about it the whole time during court.”
Xie Caiqing, internally burning with shame and frustration, cursed silently: Shameless scoundrel.
Xiao Yun’s body was warm, and curling up against him was surprisingly comfortable.
Xiao Yun pulled him back so that his slender back was pressed tightly against his chest, and moved the dark hair away from his ear.
Then, his hand at the front began untying Xie Caiqing’s waistband.
Startled, memories of the previous night came flooding back—Xie Caiqing turned pale. “Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty, I beg you…”
“I won’t touch you.”
Without asking for consent, Xiao Yun pulled open his robe, revealing his shoulder.
Seeing the pale jade-like skin covered with marks, he felt a wave of satisfaction.
Xie Caiqing trembled slightly.
The heat in Xiao Yun’s body threatened to rise again. He forced it down and pulled out a small embroidered box from his robe.
“Your Majesty…”
Xie Caiqing, unable to see behind him, trembled as he asked, “What are you doing, Your Majesty…”
“Don’t move. Move again and I won’t promise not to touch you.”
Xiao Yun took a deep breath. Since I’ve had a taste, I really can’t get enough, he thought. Xie Caiqing didn’t know a thing and was completely inexperienced—yet he was an absolute enchantment.
He opened the box and took out the item inside. Lifting Xie Caiqing’s chin with a finger, he brought it around from the front.
Xie Caiqing lowered his gaze and saw it clearly—it was a piece of warm white jade, a sheep-fat jade he had once worn for a while.
His face darkened.
Xiao Yun truly never gave up.
Xiao Yun gently pressed down Xie Caiqing’s head and patiently tied the red string through the jade around the back of his neck, fastening it tightly with a firm, permanent knot—afraid it might come loose.
The original string Xie Caiqing had cut off was no thicker than a thread. This new red cord was as thick as a noodle. Cutting through it with scissors might not even work—let alone it breaking on its own.
Once tied, Xiao Yun let go and admired his handiwork, brimming with joy and a sense of accomplishment.
“Wear it. Don’t take it off without my permission. Understand?”
Xie Caiqing said nothing and turned his face away.
Xiao Yun rubbed the jade at his neck, flipping it over. “Look.”
Xie Caiqing glanced down—his face darkened further. Thankfully, Xiao Yun couldn’t see his expression from behind.
The jade looked almost the same as before—except the smooth back now bore a large, bold character: “Yun”, etched in sweeping strokes.
It was so big it nearly spilled off the edge of the jade, as if trying to fly beyond the boundary.
He was now Xiao Yun’s possession.
That was what most thrilled Xiao Yun.
Just like the hundreds of cities he had conquered—the act of possession mattered more than whether they were good or bad.
But Xie Caiqing wasn’t his.
Xiao Yun: “Do you like it?”
He flipped the jade again and again, admiring the character “Yun” more and more. It was perfect, especially on Xie Caiqing’s neck.
“I carved it myself. If I’m not around and someone tries to bully you, just do what you did to scare Qi Wang—take it out and show them. I was worried people wouldn’t recognize it, so I carved a name.”
Xie Caiqing thought, What a waste of good jade—now that big character’s ruined its value. If I told people this was the emperor’s jade, they’d think the emperor must be crazy—who needs to carve their name to prove ownership?
“Oh, right, my personal name is ‘Sui,’ but almost no one knows that. ‘Yun,’ though—no one else in the empire has the same character, and everyone recognizes it. So I used that.”
Xie Caiqing gave a soft “Mm.”
“No taking it off,” Xiao Yun warned. “I’ll be checking randomly. If you don’t like this method…”
He grinned wickedly and leaned in to whisper: “I’ll kiss every inch of you to inspect it. Once every few days. You pick one.”
Xie Caiqing trembled slightly and whispered, “This minister obeys. Thank you, Your Majesty, for the gift.”
Xiao Yun looked at Xie Caiqing—someone the world now knew belonged completely to him—and was filled with unprecedented satisfaction. His smile could barely be restrained.
Seizing a person was like taking a city. The battlefield changed quickly. First, you conquered by force—stopping others from interfering. No matter how messy, you could fix it later.
….
Xie Caiqing was sensible enough. The emperor didn’t restrict his freedom—he didn’t like breaking a gentleman so refined and pure.
So when Xie Caiqing requested leave in the afternoon, Xiao Yun generously allowed him to return home, only instructing him to come back in the evening.
The soft sedan stopped in front of the top scholar’s residence. Xie Caiqing lifted the curtain and gracefully stepped down. With a smile, he dismissed the palace attendants.
Then Taifei came rushing over, grabbing his hand.
“Master, I have something important to tell you.” She pulled him along in a hurry.
“…Slow down.”
“This is really important—we can’t delay.”
“Slow…” Xie Caiqing frowned.
“Hurry! Forget dignity for now,” she urged, dragging him into the study and slamming the door shut. “I thought it over last night. Given your royal brother’s nature, I doubt he taught you anything you actually needed to know, so—”
She coughed, face flushing with embarrassment: “Maybe I’m overstepping, but I feel I must say something. According to what you told me, it’s happening any day now.”
Xie Caiqing was just settling slowly into a chair and hadn’t quite caught her words. “…What?”
She didn’t notice he’d sat down: “Stop sitting all the time! All day long you sit—how can you stay healthy like that?”
Xie Caiqing looked uncomfortable: “…Um.”
“Listen to me. Between men, injuries can happen easily. You must tell him to use ointment—especially the first time…”
Xie Caiqing: “Um…”
“The first time, it’s best to just go from the back,” Taifei said, blushing fiercely while talking about such things in front of the little prince who was still like a blank slate. But she was truly afraid he’d suffer. “You must remember to relax, really relax. If you tense up, you’re just asking for pain. Even women can’t take it sometimes, let alone men. That place isn’t… well, anyway, you get the idea.”
“It’ll definitely hurt the first time, so be mentally prepared,” she added, full of heartache. “It gets better afterward.”
Xie Caiqing replied slowly, “Um…”
“And also, based on that palace maid’s gossip, Xiao Yun probably isn’t that capable. If he’s… small and fast, make sure not to show any dislike at all. Just pretend you don’t know anything. Otherwise, it’ll severely hurt his pride and he’ll resent you. No man can tolerate that kind of thing.”
Xie Caiqing was slow to speak and soft-spoken by nature. He couldn’t get a word in edgewise, while Taifei fired off her advice like a machine gun.
Finally, once Taifei had finished what she believed was a full briefing, she looked at the little prince who hadn’t moved a muscle. “So, what were you trying to say?”
Xie Caiqing: “…We already slept together last night.”
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