Chapter 123
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Xue Yuan could handle this!
After his shift, Xue Yuan took some people to complete the task. Before the curfew, he and his subordinates had returned to the residence.
After having dinner, Xue Yuan went back to his room. The door creaked as he pushed it open, and it was only then that he noticed there was someone else sitting in the darkness inside the room.
The person said, “Xue Jiuyuan, did you succeed?”
It was the emperor’s voice.
Xue Yuan acted as if he hadn’t heard, calmly closed the door, and the few traces of moonlight that had slipped through the crack gradually diminished until they were completely shut out.
The emperor said, “I am asking you a question.”
Xue Yuan muttered to himself, “Did I actually hear the Emperor’s voice? Have I also inhaled that poisoned incense?”
Gu Yuanbai chuckled, no longer in a hurry. He leaned back in his chair, playing with the green jade finger ring in his hand, observing what Xue Yuan was trying to do.
Approaching cautiously in the darkness, Xue Yuan’s foot bumped into the table, and he caught a whiff of the Emperor’s fragrance. The Emperor must have come straight from bathing to the Xue Mansion, his body still moist, surrounded by mist.
It certainly wasn’t an illusion, but Xue Yuan pretended not to notice. With a pounding heart, he reached out eagerly, grabbing the Emperor’s head, and bent down to find his lips.
In an instant, Gu Yuanbai’s lips were sucked painfully by the thirsty Xue Yuan. It was as if he had been parched for a long time, his tongue eagerly delving into Gu Yuanbai’s mouth, greedily and passionately enveloping his lips, even trying to drain his breath.
Gu Yuanbai bit down hard, and Xue Yuan gasped in pain, covering his mouth, and muttered, “Your Majesty.”
Gu Yuanbai also covered his lips with his hand, feeling as if a piece of flesh had been torn off. “Xue Jiuyao, are you trying to bite off a piece of my flesh?”
Xue Yuan heard the Emperor’s small intake of breath and quickly pulled the person out of the room. In the moonlit courtyard, the ground seemed to have turned into a pool of white light. Xue Yuan guided the Emperor to sit on a stone bench and checked if Gu Yuanbai’s lips were injured.
Fortunately, they weren’t. It was just that his pale lips seemed redder, as if they had been crushed like flower petals by Xue Yuan’s sucking. Getting closer, the scent was indeed as sweet as flower nectar.
Xue Yuan hadn’t kissed him for a long time. Because of the emperor’s busyness and because, after the emperor had called him a beast three times, he had slightly hardened in front of the emperor. It had now been one month and seven days.
Xue Yuan couldn’t resist and lowered his head to take another sip. “I’ll be gentler next time.”
Gu Yuanbai pushed him away, thinking, even if you’re gentler, your tongue is still too big and annoyingly intrusive.
“I’ll ask you one last time, is the job done?” Gu Yuanbai frowned.
“It’s done,” Xue Yuan nodded, answering properly, “As you instructed, his right leg was broken without leaving a trace.”
Gu Yuanbai felt relieved, “Very good.”
The two of them walked out together, following the path towards the entrance of Xue’s residence. The moonlight was bright, and the sounds of insects and birds could be faintly heard. Gu Yuanbai felt a rare sense of tranquility. As they strolled to the lakeside, Xue Yuan suddenly took Gu Yuanbai’s hand.
Perhaps it was the beautiful scenery, or perhaps it was the good mood, Gu Yuanbai pretended not to notice and asked, “Did he beg you for mercy?”
“No,” Xue Yuan pondered for a moment, “He was quite resilient. First, he tried to bribe us, but when that didn’t work, he remained silent and let us proceed.”
“This man is very cunning,” Gu Yuanbai frowned, “The source of Xixia’s incense is definitely not as simple as he says.”
Li Angyi gave Gu Yuanbai a very bad feeling.
No one had ever made Gu Yuanbai feel this way before. Li Angyi seemed like a sharp knife hidden in cotton, ready to pierce through the harmless surface and deliver a lethal blow at any moment.
If he couldn’t figure out Li Angyi’s motives, Gu Yuanbai would rather kill him by mistake than let him return to Xixia.
Xue Yuan said, “Your Majesty, come back to your senses.”
Gu Yuanbai snapped out of it and glanced at him, “What is it?”
“Thinking about state affairs during the day is one thing,” Xue Yuan gently coaxed, squeezing his soft palm, “But now that it’s night, thinking about these troublesome matters will exhaust your mind.”
Gu Yuanbai silently curved his lips, “I rested for five hours today.”
Xue Yuan’s eyelid twitched, “Is that so?”
Gu Yuanbai chuckled, “You watched over me even when I took an afternoon nap, how could you not know?”
“…” Xue Yuan finally sighed, “Since Your Majesty has rested and dealt with state affairs during the day, may I be blunt? Now that you’re with me, could you only look at me and think of me?”
Gu Yuanbai said, “My lips still hurt.”
He said this to remind Xue Yuan that if he truly only focused on him, his lips wouldn’t just be slightly sore without breaking the skin.
Xue Yuan took it seriously, frowning as he carefully examined Gu Yuanbai’s lips.
He lowered his head, his handsome brows right in front of him, the sharp corners of his eyes showing a bit of urgency, his whole being focused on Gu Yuanbai. Gu Yuanbai, his face held gently and his lips being fussed over, let his gaze drift over Xue Yuan’s Adam’s apple, “It’s nothing.”
But Xue Yuan still didn’t let go. He leaned down and sniffed lightly, murmuring, “Your Majesty smells so sweet.”
Gu Yuanbai’s throat felt a bit itchy, but he said nothing.
“Did Your Majesty bathe especially for this meeting with me?” Xue Yuan’s low laugh was tickling to the ears, his breath hot, “Even your hair smells nice.”
“Go away,” Gu Yuanbai said slowly, “Xue Jiuyuan, you really know how to flatter.”
Afraid of angering him, Xue Yuan quickly changed the subject, “Does Your Majesty remember those dried flowers you sent me?”
Gu Yuanbai: “I remember.”
Xue Yuan released his hold on the little emperor and carefully pulled out a sachet from his waist. As soon as he opened it, the fragrance of flowers wafted out. Xue Yuan picked out a crimson petal, “Your Majesty, these flowers taste really good. Shall I feed you some?”
Gu Yuanbai glanced into the sachet and saw that half of the flowers had been eaten. No wonder Xue Yuan’s breath had a floral, herbal scent when they kissed, it was because of this.
He reached out to take the petal, but Xue Yuan quickly placed it in his own mouth, then lowered his head, using his tongue to push the petal into Gu Yuanbai’s lips, breaking it into pieces mixed with flower juice. After a while, he pulled back, lips still touching, and asked hoarsely, “Is it good?”
Gu Yuanbai’s voice also turned hoarse, “Again.”
Xue Yuan then took out another petal and eagerly kissed him again.
***
After eating half a sachet of dried flowers at Xue’s residence, the emperor got on the carriage back to the palace.
On the way back, Gu Yuanbai covered half his face with his sleeve. The palace servants thought he was sleepy. When they reached the sleeping quarters, everything was ready, waiting for him to go to bed.
Gu Yuanbai waved the servants away, “Bring me a small mirror.”
The servant brought a mirror and quietly left. Once the door was closed, Gu Yuanbai lowered his sleeve and picked up the mirror to look. Sure enough, his lips were swollen.
He had been careless.
He had ultimately been seduced by Xue Yuan’s good looks.
The person in the mirror had slightly furrowed brows, swollen lips, slightly messy hair, but his eyes were satisfied and lazy. Gu Yuanbai thought to himself, no wonder Xue Jiuyuan looked at him like a piece of meat all the time. Who could resist such an expression?
He licked his lips, the swollen lip hurt, even the brush of his tongue was unbearable.
How exactly did he finish eating the petals from that sachet with Xue Yuan?
Gu Yuanbai pondered for a moment but couldn’t recall. He only remembered the scene of entangled lips and tongues with Xue Yuan, the more he thought about it, the clearer it became, and even the sensation of fullness between his lips and teeth returned.
When Xue Yuan kissed him, he got closer and closer, his arm around his waist as if trying to engulf him. Relying on his strength, he forcefully inserted his leg between Gu Yuanbai’s, making it impossible for Gu Yuanbai to move. Where did he find such domineering behavior?
Gu Yuanbai let out a sigh, reminding himself.
He couldn’t bed him.
He could end up dead in Xue Yuan’s bed.
But his young body was so restless, the heat from others making Gu Yuanbai’s nerves tingle with excitement. Gu Yuanbai sat still for a while, then suddenly got up and walked to the table, sitting down to handle the memorials to calm himself down.
***
The next day, when Xue Yuan was on duty, every glance he cast towards the Emperor seemed to carry a hidden fire that could ignite Gu Yuanbai’s entire being.
During lunch with the chief guard, he said, “The Emperor’s lips are swollen, said to be from mosquito bites. There are mosquitoes in the palace, the attendants are too careless. Early this morning, Steward Tian scolded the attendants who served the Emperor.”
Xue Yuan looked up from his bowl, and the chief uard glanced at his mouth, his eyelids twitching. “Your mouth is swollen too?”
Xue Yuan took a bite of rice, calmly picked up a piece of meat, and swallowed it without changing his expression. “What a coincidence, I was also bitten by mosquitoes.”
The chief guard suddenly stood up, the chair making a loud noise as he moved too quickly, drawing the attention of everyone around.
His face red with embarrassment, the chief guard whispered, “Lord Xue, don’t try to fool me.”
Xue Yuan put down his chopsticks. “Does Lord Zhang not believe me? I couldn’t sleep last night, so I took a walk around my house to clear my mind. I stood by the lake for a while, there were many mosquitoes, not only my lips were bitten, but I also have several bites on my body. Would Lord Zhang like to take a look too?”
The chief, seeing that Xue Yuan was serious, sat back down and said, “No need.”
After a pause, he apologized shamefully to Xue Yuan.
For the next five or six days, Xue Yuan’s gaze would pass over the Emperor’s lips as if by accident, looking at them a thousand or eight hundred times a day. When the swelling gradually subsided, he had prepared six bags of dried flowers, two hanging from his waist and four in his arms, just in case.
At the same time, Gu Yuanbai “learned” about the incident involving the second prince of Xixia being attacked by a thug.
He visited Li Angyi personally. Li Angyi sat on the bed, smiling bitterly when he saw Gu Yuanbai, deeply moved. “If I hadn’t gone out for food that day, I might not have encountered this disaster.”
Gu Yuanbai comforted him, “The imperial physician said it’s not incurable. Just rest and recover from your injuries.”
Li Angyi sighed and looked at Gu Yuanbai. “Do you think this is heaven’s way of reminding me not to leave Great Heng?”
Gu Yuanbai smiled lightly, “Who knows.”
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