They met, but no resolution was reached.
Jiang Huaiyi clearly also knew that one should never make decisions while emotionally unstable or irrational.
Xie Caiqing returned home in a distracted daze. Just before sleeping, he received a secret note, delivered quietly by someone sent from his imperial brother.
After calming down, Jiang Huaiyi had taken a step back—he agreed, for now, not to forcibly take Xie Caiqing away, nor to kill Xiao Yun, and promised not to take any actions that might raise suspicion from others. However, he would not leave the imperial palace. Instead, as the emperor of Nanruo, he would formally pay a visit to Emperor Xiao Yun of Great Ning.
As the note burned to ashes in the candle flame, Xie Caiqing’s face alternated between red and pale.
If his imperial brother stayed in the palace, then everything between him and Xiao Yun would be under his imperial brother’s nose.
With his royal brother present, there was no way he could stall for time with delaying tactics. When the time was up, he could only obediently return with him.
Xie Caiqing touched his belly and, for the first time, experienced the bitter taste of powerlessness. He couldn’t help but laugh and cry at once.
After giving so much, how could he be willing to just go back like this?
It wasn’t really about gain or loss—he didn’t feel he’d lost anything—it was just that things should have an ending, not fade away without resolution.
But if he didn’t stop now, right under Xiao Yun’s nose, on Great Ning’s territory, he couldn’t dare to forcibly keep his royal brother here. Not only would it hurt his brother emotionally, but if the commotion exposed them and caused Xiao Yun to misunderstand, they could both be caught in one sweep. That would be the worst outcome.
There was no other option.
His royal brother had only given him three days.
During these few days, no matter what, he had to cling to Xiao Yun and ask for what he needed.
This was his last chance.
Xie Caiqing’s face flushed red.
Just as he was deep in thought, the door opened, and he jumped in surprise.
A tall, vaguely handsome figure had already approached and naturally embraced him from behind, resting his chin on his thin shoulder. “Why didn’t you light the lamp? I thought you were asleep and was grumbling in my heart that you didn’t wait for me.”
The voice behind him was lazy and low.
As Xiao Yun spoke, his hand slid along Xie Caiqing’s waist. Their bodies pressed together, warm and entangled. Though he did nothing overly improper and said no lewd words, just the embrace alone was enough to make the air burn.
Xie Caiqing’s breath quickened slightly, but he said nothing.
“Tell me, what’s going on? Why is it that as soon as I touch you—without even doing anything—I feel so energetic? It’s been a month already, and still the same.” Xiao Yun sighed.
Of course, Xie Caiqing knew what he meant. Little Xiao Yun was, as always, eagerly expressing his desire, as if meeting Xie Caiqing for the first time—still fresh and impulsive.
Xiao Yun frowned, suddenly realizing something. “Do you like me more or like it more?”
Xie Caiqing: “…”
Logically, he should like Little Xiao Yun more.
After all, Xiao Yun couldn’t get him pregnant.
That thought made Xie Caiqing both embarrassed and amused.
As if Xiao Yun’s lower half wasn’t Xiao Yun himself.
Xiao Yun said angrily, “So you like it more?”
“…” Xie Caiqing’s anxiety was somewhat dispelled.
Xiao Yun continued, “No wonder you weren’t mad when I made you hold it the other day. You’re usually such a clean freak, and it even got on you…”
“…Stop talking!”
“Finally got you to speak. Mad that I came back late?” Xiao Yun rubbed his cheek against Xie Caiqing’s face, in sync with the movement below, as if afraid to lose, “It’s all Jiang Huaiyi’s fault.”
Xie Caiqing’s tailbone was already tingling slightly, and his whole body tensed at the mention.
Xiao Yun grumbled near his ear, “Years ago I disguised myself as a Great Ning envoy and swaggered through Nanruo, tricked him once. Now Jiang Huaiyi pulled the same trick—he actually came to Great Ning, and I just found out.”
“Tomorrow I have to host a grand banquet for him publicly, or else the whole world will say Great Ning slighted the visiting Nanruo monarch. Then tomorrow night there’s a private banquet, probably won’t get back earlier than today,” Xiao Yun was about to sigh but suddenly brightened, “Wife, come with me tomorrow night, won’t that be great?”
“Yes, yes,” Xiao Yun grew more excited, “What’s there to talk about with that stone-faced corpse? So dull, looks like he wants to lecture me. If you’re there, I can chat with you. I heard he bullied you today—I’ll give you the chance to shame him tomorrow, how about that?”
Xie Caiqing’s face changed slightly: “…Such a private banquet, it’s fine if Your Majesty attends. I am of humble status…”
“What humble?” Xiao Yun didn’t let him finish and kissed his ear. “You’re my wife—my empress.”
Xie Caiqing’s heart jolted and he looked at Xiao Yun in shock.
He thought Xiao Yun was just teasing.
“What’s that look? Surprised? You think I call just anyone ‘wife’? You’re the only one I’ve ever called that. I may be a bit frivolous, but I value face. I wouldn’t say something I wasn’t serious about,” Xiao Yun drawled lazily. “If you were a girl, I’d have married you already and made you bear me ten or so princes and princesses.”
He reached for Jiang Huaichu’s belly, grinning, and deliberately scared him in a storytelling tone: “By then this belly would be big and round, so big I couldn’t even wrap my arms around it. You wouldn’t be able to walk or even get out of bed—I’d have to carry you. And after you give birth to one after another, the whole palace will be filled with legitimate heirs. A dozen little ones lined up from tallest to shortest, all calling you ‘mother.’”
Through his robe, Xiao Yun deliberately rubbed his smooth, firm belly.
Jiang Huaichu was horrified, both ticklish and embarrassed, pushing his hand away in shame and fury, cursing him as lewd.
“I know you’re cursing me. But I’m only lewd to you,” Xiao Yun clicked his tongue. “I’ve always believed that a husband who isn’t lewd to his own wife isn’t a good husband.”
Xie Caiqing was flushed with embarrassment and anger.
“All men are lewd,” Xiao Yun said without a shred of shame. “If he’s not lewd, either he’s cold and useless like Jiang Huaiyi, or he’s being lewd with someone else outside. But I’m unparalleled, and my wife is also unparalleled, so of course I’m lewd to you.”
“…” Xie Caiqing didn’t want to hear his bold, shameless logic anymore. “…But I’m a man.”
Xiao Yun laughed. “Isn’t that because you don’t want to be anything else?”
Xie Caiqing froze.
He didn’t want to?
“If you wanted to, I wouldn’t care about marrying a male empress. It’d be troublesome, sure, I’d have to deal with those old fogeys and convince the world, but I’d do it.”
Xie Caiqing was stunned.
Xiao Yun laughed freely. “Don’t worry, I won’t make you wait eighteen years like a cold palace wife. At most, a few months.”
Xie Caiqing’s eyes widened slightly.
Such earth-shattering words, yet Xiao Yun said them as casually as discussing tomorrow’s meal—almost with teasing ease.
Xie Caiqing said, “Your Majesty, there has never been a male empress in recorded history.”
Xiao Yun dismissed it lightly: “There’s never been a deposed crown prince who ascended the throne in the history books either.”
Xie Caiqing’s heart trembled. He stared at Xiao Yun, dazed.
Perhaps growing up in such an environment—surrounded by countless restrictions and prohibitions—the one he unconsciously envied most was someone like Xiao Yun: unrestrained and bold.
Unfettered by convention, daring to be the first. Obstacles that would crush others seemed like mere challenges to him. Life, perhaps in his eyes, was just a game to be cleared, level by level.
“History is made by people, not meant to limit them with what’s possible and what’s not. Besides, those books? I paid for them to be written,” Xiao Yun said, hugging him tighter, teasing. “If I wanted, I could have all my old man’s women written as men. That way no one could object to me marrying a male empress.”
“…,” Xie Caiqing wanted to laugh at how absurd it sounded, but after thinking it over, he realized—there was a crooked kind of logic in it.
“But I can’t bear children. Your Majesty is the ruler of a nation. How can there be no heir? You seem to like children so—”
“Pfft,” Xiao Yun snorted. “If I really liked kids, would I still be single at this age?”
Xie Caiqing froze, then suddenly realized—that’s true. “Then Your Majesty…”
He recalled Xiao Yun’s earlier indecent remarks, and his face flushed red.
“That’s why you have to give birth,” Xiao Yun murmured, nibbling at his ear and grinding against it. He laughed softly. “If you give birth, I’ll raise it. I don’t love children. I don’t care if I have one or not. I haven’t even had enough fun myself yet. What I like is you.”
Xie Caiqing’s heart shook violently, stunned into silence.
He couldn’t believe an emperor could accept not having a descendant.
Even ordinary people bore immense pressure if they were childless—how much more so for the ruler of a nation? The weight of the people, the court, and the ancestors—these three great mountains could crush a man, leaving no room to breathe.
Throughout history, many emperors had vowed lifelong devotion to a single person in their youth. Yet aside from the founder of the southern kingdom Nanruo, not one kept that promise.
“There’ll always be a time when the fun is over,” Xie Caiqing said quietly.
Xiao Yun was unfazed. “Then I’ll just take in a child from the royal clan to raise.”
Xie Caiqing looked puzzled: “But that wouldn’t be of Your Majesty’s bloodline. Wouldn’t that—”
“My blood’s not so noble,” Xiao Yun said with a smile.
Xie Caiqing’s gaze trembled. In that instant, he suddenly understood Xiao Yun.
What was noble had never been blood.
It was a particular person.
The man holding him was strikingly handsome, his eyes deep and unwavering. Though smiling lazily, there was a commanding presence that looked down upon the world.
A heart that held armies—how could he be bound by mundane matters?
“I don’t crave the throne,” Xiao Yun said. “It’s just that, staying in this position, if I want something, I can have it. If I don’t want it, no one can force me.”
“If I were just a commander and forced you, you could report me to Qi Wang. If I were Qi Wang, you could go cry to the emperor. But if I am the emperor…” Xiao Yun grinned wickedly, “then there’s no one left to report to. You can only surrender, just like now—sitting on my lap, legs spread, serving me obediently.”
Xie Caiqing: “…”
This scoundrel. This b*stard.
He found it strange.
Xiao Yun had done such outrageous things.
But he didn’t hate it.
It was as if, where others would struggle with a hopeless tangle, Xiao Yun couldn’t be bothered to untie it—he’d simply raise his sword and cut the knot in half.
“I just happen to have fallen for Jiang Huaiyi’s deadpan face,” Xiao Yun said with a laugh. “Getting him to sit on my lap like this—that’s the real power of authority.”
“…” Hidden from Xiao Yun’s sight, Xie Caiqing’s face turned livid.
“Besides, no one else understands the joy I feel right now.” Xiao Yun buried his face in Xie Caiqing’s neck, kissing wildly. The kisses made Xie Caiqing throw his head back with a muffled moan, flushed and weak at the knees.
Xiao Yun even had time to sigh: “This is what they call pleasure so good it feels like dying.”
Xie Caiqing was mortified. Xiao Yun supported his waist, using all his willpower to resist stripping him and going further. He was about to carry Xie Caiqing to bed, intending to lie down and sleep with clothes on, when Xie Caiqing caught his large hand.
Xiao Yun paused, then smiled, “What’s this about?”
Xie Caiqing didn’t reply. He bit his lip, lowered his gaze like he’d made some great decision, and gently tugged his pinky.
Xiao Yun froze.
In the faint moonlight, Xie Caiqing’s face was tinged with blush, features delicate like a painting, hair like flowing ink. He resembled one of those enchanting ghosts in old tales—an ethereal beauty that lured the soul and devoured life essence.
Xiao Yun’s eyes dropped to Xie Caiqing’s soft fingers. A tremor passed through him, the ripple spreading and lingering. He teased, “What’s that supposed to mean? I don’t get it.”
Xie Caiqing: “Your Majesty…”
Xiao Yun, now looking like a proper gentleman, had already taken off his outer robe and was about to climb into bed.
Xie Caiqing’s heart swelled with frustration. He stood behind in silence for a long time before speaking in a low voice, “I… I’m willing.”
Xiao Yun was stunned for a moment, then felt more proud and ecstatic than when he ascended the throne. He couldn’t hide the smile on his face. He suddenly turned and pressed him: “Willing to do what?”
Xie Caiqing stood by the bed, slender and graceful, his robes untouched by dust. But Xiao Yun could see, in his mind’s eye, the body beneath—enough to drive a man mad.
Xie Caiqing turned his face away, voice barely audible: “…I’m willing.”
Xiao Yun pulled him into his lap again and held him close. “Willing to do what?”
Xie Caiqing said nothing.
Xiao Yun didn’t need words. He started kissing him again, with the precision of someone who knew every sensitive spot better than he knew the layout of his own cities.
Xie Caiqing quickly lost himself, skin flushed pink. Just when he was most overwhelmed, Xiao Yun abruptly pulled away.
Xie Caiqing’s lips were parted slightly, gleaming with a tempting red, eyes shadowed by a painful longing: “Your Majesty…”
“Are you willing now?” Xiao Yun asked, eyes full of mischief.
Xie Caiqing turned his face away on the pillow.
Xiao Yun gave a lazy chuckle. “Don’t want to? Then forget it…”
Xie Caiqing glared at him through clenched teeth. Those usually calm eyes were now brimming with accusation. Faced with Xiao Yun’s unyielding expression, he spoke slowly, shamefully: “…I want… mm.”
Xiao Yun seemed to have been holding back for too long. Before the last syllable of “want” had even fully left Xie Caiqing’s lips, he kissed him hard.
With every step he took, he would ask again:
“Do you want this?” “Can I touch you here? Does the top scholar want me to?”
“Do you want me to play with you like this? No? Then I’ll try something more exciting…”
By the time he was done asking, Xie Caiqing’s whole body was faintly flushed, his temples damp, his gaze hazy. He could barely make out what was being asked anymore. He could only respond vaguely through muffled moans, tossing out a distracted “Mm”—which only made his tormentor grow bolder.
In a fit of spasms, Xiao Yun clutched him close, panting, his voice low and muffled as it poured into Xie Caiqing’s flushed ears, making his heart buzz, his blood race, and his fingers tremble with a prickling numbness.
His vision went blind, his ears deaf.
In the haze, he heard a resonance from beneath the icy depths, echoes from some unfathomable place beyond the heavens. In that moment, he forgot he was Jiang Huaichu, forgot he was Xie Caiqing. He was no one—just a man lost beneath Xiao Yun.
Like a city repeatedly marked and occupied by the enemy, at a certain moment, even its sense of belonging began to blur.
Xiao Yun was still inside him, his hand tangled in his hair. He turned Xie Caiqing’s face toward him, a teasing smile on his lips, but a rare trace of seriousness in his voice. He asked softly, “Would the top scholar like to become my empress?”
