I, The Substitute, Am With The Main Character Chapter 66

He Xulan’s hand, which was gently patting Xueya’s back, paused for a moment. He reached out and turned Xueya’s face toward him. Xueya still appeared listless, lacking energy, his eyelids tinged with pink, and his cheeks flushed.

“No, unless you do something wrong.”

Hearing this, Xueya’s eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that He Xulan was still thinking about taking away his gold at a time like this.

He Xulan didn’t dwell on the topic and brought up something else.

“You’ve been playing with Zhu Qiu all this time, and it must feel lonely. Besides, when Zhu Qiu is busy, he can’t play with you. How about I find a few more people to play with you? The more people, the more games you can play, like pitch-pot and cuju.”

Seeing that Xueya’s expression seemed to soften a bit, He Xulan added unhurriedly, “Both pitch-pot and cuju have rewards, especially pitch-pot. Jade ornaments like jade ruyi are often given as prizes. I’ll provide the rewards for you, and the winner can take them.”

Xueya was completely distracted by this, grabbing He Xulan’s sleeve and asking eagerly, “What prizes will you offer?”

“Well… I’ll have Huang Gonggong go to the storeroom and choose something. Whatever he picks will be the prize,” He Xulan replied thoughtfully.

Hearing that Huang Gonggong would be selecting the prizes, Xueya’s thoughts began to churn. He had played pitch-pot at Red Moon House before and wasn’t bad at it. The people he’d be competing against were likely palace attendants, who probably hadn’t played much. The odds of him winning seemed pretty high.

Perhaps, his little box would soon be filled to the brim.

He Xulan, who had been watching Xueya closely, noticed his eyes starting to dart around with excitement. Realizing that Xueya was mostly recovered, He Xulan thought for a moment before lifting him onto the bed. Xueya, lost in thoughts of glittering prizes, was caught off guard when he was suddenly placed on the bed. When he saw He Xulan starting to undress, he immediately tried to escape.

But He Xulan grabbed Xueya with one hand and swiftly removed his outer robe with the other, tossing it casually outside the bed curtains before lying down with Xueya in his arms. Feeling Xueya struggling, he held him tightly and coaxed in a low voice, “I won’t do anything, just sleep with me.”

Unable to free himself from He Xulan’s embrace, Xueya had no choice but to let him hold him as they slept. He Xulan seemed exhausted, and shortly after closing his eyes, his breathing became steady. Seeing He Xulan had fallen asleep, Xueya, still feeling a bit annoyed, reached out to pinch his face.

He wasn’t gentle, leaving a big red mark on He Xulan’s face. But when he saw He Xulan’s eyebrows furrow, Xueya quickly withdrew his hand, shut his eyes, and pretended to be asleep.

Before long, Xueya felt a light kiss on his forehead.

“Don’t be naughty,” He Xulan murmured, his voice thick with weariness.

When Xueya noticed He Xulan wasn’t moving anymore, he peeked open his eyes, only to find He Xulan staring right back at him. Startled, he immediately closed his eyes again. After a few rounds of this, he finally grew tired and snuggled into He Xulan’s arms, falling fast asleep. He Xulan, relieved that the little troublemaker in his arms had finally quieted down, rubbed his temples in fatigue before closing his eyes as well.

***

Huang Gonggong was a bit surprised at how quickly He Xulan had managed to soothe Xueya. When he heard that Xueya wanted to compete in pitch-pot, he quickly grasped He Xulan’s intention. Without delay, he found four or five talkative young eunuchs to accompany Xueya in his games.

These eunuchs were much better conversationalists than Zhu Qiu and knew how to flatter Xueya, earning his favor quickly. Soon, Xueya no longer clung to Zhu Qiu, nor did he wake up in the mornings asking where Zhu Qiu was.

Now that he had more playmates, it hardly mattered if Zhu Qiu was there or not.

Besides, Zhu Qiu was becoming increasingly annoying, always reciting pretentious poetry whenever he saw something.

So annoying! Xueya thought.

Xueya played until the height of summer arrived, at which point he refused to go outside anymore.

His face had become sunburned and started peeling. Since only the place where He Xulan stayed had ice to cool off, Xueya began spending long hours by He Xulan’s side.

***

“Brother, do you have a small mirror?”

Xueya had always been vain, and never in his life had he experienced his skin peeling. One afternoon, after washing his face, he suddenly noticed bits of skin coming off in his hands and thought he was disfigured, wailing loudly. When He Xulan rushed in and saw him, he couldn’t help but laugh, which only made Xueya cry even harder.

Although he had applied medicine, Xueya was still worried about his face and kept running back to the sleeping quarters to check. But the sun outside was scorching, and he didn’t want to walk all the way there, so he asked He Xulan if he had a small mirror in the study.

He wasn’t expecting much, but to his surprise, there was indeed a mirror in the study.

When He Xulan took the mirror out of a locked drawer, Xueya was briefly stunned. Once the mirror was in his hands, he couldn’t help but examine it carefully.

There weren’t any jewels or pearls embedded in it, so why was it locked up?

But Xueya quickly dismissed the thought and focused on scrutinizing his face in the mirror.

Though he had applied medicine, his skin hadn’t fully healed yet. He sighed repeatedly while looking in the mirror, and after a stick of incense had burned, he grew tired of looking at his face. With nothing else to do, he began to wander around the study, idly touching various things.

He eventually came across a few books that looked different from the rest.

Xueya picked one up and flipped through it, discovering that it wasn’t one of He Xulan’s usual boring books. It not only had words but pictures too. Upon closer inspection, he realized it seemed to be telling a story.

It looked like a storybook.

Xueya knew about storybooks, but he hadn’t recognized many characters before and couldn’t read them. However, after being forced to study with He Xulan, he had learned many common words. Now, with the help of the illustrations, he could understand most of the story.

Before he knew it, he had sat down on the floor, engrossed in reading. When he came across unfamiliar words, he used the illustrations to guess their meanings and managed to understand most of the story.

After that, whenever Xueya stayed in He Xulan’s study, he would automatically reach for the storybooks. The first two storybooks were relatively simple, with plenty of pictures. But as he progressed, the books became more difficult, with more obscure words Xueya hadn’t seen before.

For example, in one section, the male protagonist was speaking to someone else in a long-winded manner, and Xueya barely recognized any of the characters.

Intrigued by the story but unable to understand it, Xueya ran to He Xulan and asked, “Brother, what does this sentence mean?”

He Xulan glanced at the book and translated the passage into simple terms.

Xueya grumbled, “So that’s what it means. Why did he have to say it in such a complicated way?”

“Sometimes, saying something too plainly isn’t as effective,” He Xulan explained, pointing to another passage. “For example, in this part, ‘A beautiful face is still just flesh and bones, and beauty fades like a leaky garment,’ the author is just saying that no matter how beautiful someone is, they are made of flesh and bones, with their insides full of impurities. But if he said it that way, how would you feel?”

Xueya paused, frowning unconsciously.

He Xulan continued, “The same goes for poetry. Most poems express a few key ideas: longing for someone or expressing inner sorrow. Saying, ‘I miss you and want to be with you forever’ is the same as saying, ‘May I be like a star, and you the moon, shining together night after night.’ But people prefer the latter because, while the language is subtle, it conveys a deeper emotion.”

Xueya nodded, somewhat understanding. He took the book back to his seat. After sitting for a while, his bottom grew uncomfortable, so he shifted to lying on his stomach to read. As he was reading, the door to the hall suddenly swung open.

Startled by the noise, Xueya looked up and saw that the person standing in the doorway was none other than Cui Lingjing.

Cui Lingjing hadn’t noticed Xueya and strode directly toward He Xulan’s desk. Ignoring He Xulan’s clear displeasure, he urgently said, “Godfather, it hasn’t rained in the capital for nearly two months. The Imperial Astronomer says we must pray for rain!”

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