No Mood to Go
The atmosphere beneath the gauze curtains tightened slightly.
After a long while, Lu Ronghuai let out a breath. He hooked an arm around Chu Yuan and pulled him into his embrace, then said as though staking everything on a single throw, “Ah-Yuan, if I said that what I know about you came to me in a dream, would you think I was deceiving you?”
Chu Yuan’s lashes flickered up and down. He calmly said, “Your Highness has changed to a new excuse to deceive this subject?”
“It truly is not deception. On New Year’s Eve, we were ambushed. While I was unconscious, I saw the life the two of us lived afterward.”
Chu Yuan did not believe it at all, but he did not refute him either.
Lu Ronghuai continued, “In that dream, I learned your preferences. Truly. Otherwise, how would I have known those things?”
Chu Yuan stared into his eyes. “So it was also the dream version of this subject who liked eating chestnut cakes?”
“Mm.”
Chu Yuan said flatly, “Dreams and reality are opposites.”
“Yet you really do like wearing lotus-green and jade-colored garments, and you also like reading and writing.” As Lu Ronghuai spoke, a spark flashed through his mind.
“There is one thing that can prove this Prince was not lying.”
Chu Yuan asked, “What?”
Lu Ronghuai looked at him with eyes bright as starlight, his expression excited. “Ah-Yuan not only writes a fine hand, you also have a skill that no one else knows.”
He lowered his voice by Chu Yuan’s ear. “Ah-Yuan can imitate another person’s handwriting, to the point of passing false for true.”
Chu Yuan’s pupils contracted sharply.
Lu Ronghuai sensed the person in his arms breathing faster. He smiled at him, pleased with himself. “How is it? I was not wrong, was I?”
Chu Yuan looked at him, his gaze complicated and full of disbelief.
“You told me this yourself. Back when you lived in the ruined temple and life was straitened, you secretly imitated famous men’s handwriting, then sold the copied copybooks and painting albums.”
Chu Yuan could not speak.
This was a skill he had been forced to develop in childhood out of sheer necessity. He also knew that if others learned of it, it would be disadvantageous to him, so he had concealed it tightly.
Even Le Shu believed those calligraphy and paintings were all made by Chu Yuan himself, because he only recognized a few characters and did not understand true works by famous masters in the slightest.
Neither of them spoke again.
Lu Ronghuai knew that bringing this up at this moment was not the best timing.
Yet he was even less willing to let Chu Yuan keep suspecting him, unwilling to trust him.
“Ah-Yuan, do not be afraid. This matter is known only to you and to me. There will never be a third person who knows. Do not let anyone discover you possess this ability.”
“I said it only to prove that I truly did dream of you, and I was not deceiving you.”
“Has Ah-Yuan noticed something? Ever since I woke from that ambush, the headaches and palpitations have never flared again.” Beneath the quilt, Lu Ronghuai’s hand slowly moved downward, searching until it found Chu Yuan’s hand and clasped it.
Chu Yuan knew about his headaches, but he knew far less about the palpitations. He recalled carefully. These days, he and Lu Ronghuai had almost been eating and sleeping together, and he truly had not seen him fall ill again.
The medicinal sachets he had once seen were also all thrown away by Lu Ronghuai some days ago.
Chu Yuan quickly grasped the key point. “Your Highness means the dream eliminated Your Highness’s ailment?”
“It sounds somewhat mystical, but the truth is indeed so.” A trace of a smile appeared in Lu Ronghuai’s eyes.
Later on, he more or less understood why he had headaches and palpitations in this life. They were residue carried over from the previous one and had disappeared the moment his memories returned.
Chu Yuan’s delicate brows knit. “This subject does not understand what connection there is between them.”
“Then why does Ah-Yuan think I would dream of you?” Lu Ronghuai asked.
“Your Highness was injured because of this subject. Perhaps that is part of the reason.”
Lu Ronghuai’s smile flew up, bright and unrestrained. “This Prince does not think so. On the contrary, perhaps it is because Ah-Yuan and I were already devoted partners in our previous life.”
Chu Yuan: “...”
He held it back, but he could not hold it back. He raised his eyes slightly. “Does Your Highness think that is possible?”
He had never imagined he would marry a man, much less imagined what it would be like to spend a lifetime with a man.
How could Lu Ronghuai fail to hear what lay beneath his words?
He laughed even more happily. “Of course it is possible. In the dream, I saw that we would be exceedingly affectionate in the future. Ah-Yuan would even feed me with your own hands, and you would press my shoulders and knead my legs. You were so virtuous.”
“So after I woke, I missed that feeling terribly. That is why I wanted to treat you even better, so we could sooner live those happy, loving days just like in the dream.”
Chu Yuan kept his face carefully composed, making it evident he believed not one word of this.
Lu Ronghuai said, “We can speak of those things later. Right now, I ask only this: will you still refuse to trust me?”
Chu Yuan hesitated. His teeth gently bit the soft flesh inside his lower lip. After thinking for a long time, he finally said, “This subject is willing to trust Your Highness once.”
“Truly?” Lu Ronghuai’s voice rose, unable to hide his excitement.
“Mm. This subject has thought it through. Your Highness is a man of dragon-and-phoenix bearing. Why would Your Highness need to go to such lengths to deceive this subject? There is nothing on this subject that can be exploited for profit.”
“No. I do have something I seek.”
Chu Yuan: “?”
Lu Ronghuai said, “I seek you.”
Chu Yuan was always choked speechless by his bluntness. He could not help the cold sarcasm. “What does Your Highness seek from this subject? This subject cannot provide Your Highness any support, and even dragged Your Highness down and cost Your Highness the qualification to contend for the heirship.”
“I seek you as a person. Because it is you, everything else becomes irrelevant.”
“Also, whatever this Prince wants, this Prince will go and seize with my own hands. Ah-Yuan only needs to stay well by my side.”
“In the future, do not keep things stifled in your heart. Tell me directly.”
He said several sentences in a row, repeatedly emphasizing and warning, dispersing that last small uncertainty still lodged at the bottom of Chu Yuan’s heart.
“All right.”
That night, Lu Ronghuai fell asleep with Chu Yuan in his arms, entirely content.
The next day when Chu Yuan woke, Lu Ronghuai had already gone to morning court. Le Shu came in to attend Chu Yuan as he rose.
He took out the garments Chu Yuan usually wore from the wardrobe. Chu Yuan glanced at them and said, “Change to that sky-blue one.”
Le Shu immediately smiled. “Young Master has finally thought it through. These garments His Highness bought for you have newer styles and finer fabric. It would be such a pity to leave them in the wardrobe and never wear them.”
After Chu Yuan changed into the new clothes, Le Shu’s eyes lit up. “Young Master looks so good in it. This servant feels the whole room has become much brighter.”
Chu Yuan felt a faint heat stir in his heart at the praise.
Last night he had already agreed to that man, and he would keep his word. From now on, he would try to trust him more, and he would also try to accept his intentions.
A person had to look forward. He could not remain bound to the past. He ought to step boldly ahead, whether the road turned out to be smooth or tangled with thorns, he should face it with courage.
Moreover, he had already tested him last night. Coupled with their many small moments of getting along before, he discovered Lu Ronghuai was very tolerant toward him. If he said his heart had not been stirred even a little, that would be false.
“Young Master, what did you say to His Highness last night?” Le Shu tied his belt for him and looked at him with a grin. “His Highness left at dawn today with a smile on his face.”
Chu Yuan pretended to glare at him. “I said nothing. He simply likes to grin foolishly.”
Le Shu: “...”
You are deceiving me. I do not believe it.
His Highness never smiles in front of them at all.
“Young Master is also smiling today.” Le Shu tilted his head to look at him, his expression teasing.
Chu Yuan’s heart jolted. He quickly raised a hand to touch his face and discovered that the corners of his mouth had indeed turned up of their own accord. An odd sense of shame rose up.
“Hurry and bring water. I want to wash my face.” Chu Yuan felt guilty under his gaze, his eyes seeming to be covered in a clear layer of bashful embarrassment, all the more alluring without realizing it.
Le Shu chuckled. He knew his Young Master had a thin face and could not be teased further, so he happily ran outside to pour hot water.
Chu Yuan drew in a breath and slowly let it out. Once his emotions finally calmed a little, he habitually reached beneath his pillow, wanting to touch his jade rabbit pendant.
He touched empty air.
Chu Yuan lifted the pillow and discovered that the jade rabbit pendant he always kept there was gone.
“Le Shu! Where is my jade pendant?” he called loudly toward the outside.
Le Shu carried the basin in briskly. “Oh, His Highness took it. This servant forgot to tell you just now.”
Once Chu Yuan learned it had not been lost, the tension in his heart eased. Right after that, he felt puzzled. “Why would he take my jade pendant?”
Le Shu set the basin down and put a clean cloth into it to soak. “His Highness took it this morning and told this servant to tell Young Master once you woke. He said he is exchanging tokens of affection with Young Master.”
“Tokens of… affection?” Chu Yuan nearly bit his tongue.
Le Shu’s expression was perfectly natural. “Yes. His Highness said it himself. He gave Young Master his most important Snow Wolf private seal. Young Master’s most treasured jade pendant should also be given to him.”
Chu Yuan: “...”
Every time, he was stunned into silence again by Prince Li’s sheer brazenness.
In Qianzheng Hall, Lu Ronghuai suddenly sneezed.
Who was speaking ill of him in their heart?
He slid his gaze sideways toward Prince Qi and assigned the blame there without a moment’s hesitation.
“Report! Your Majesty, the Crown Prince has entered the palace bearing an urgent report. He is currently waiting outside the hall for an audience,” the eunuch at the doors ran in and said quickly.
Emperor Hongjia frowned. “He can already get out of bed?” After that, he recalled the eunuch’s words, urgent report, and at once said, “Summon the Crown Prince into the hall.”
The Crown Prince sat on a round-backed armchair and was carried into the hall by four sturdy imperial guards.
Once the chair was set down, the Crown Prince immediately cupped his hands and apologized. “This son begs Father Emperor’s pardon for losing decorum before the hall. If not for the urgency of this matter, this son would never have used this crude appearance to disturb Father Emperor.”
Emperor Hongjia did not care at all. He only asked, “What matter is so urgent?”
Grief appeared on the Crown Prince’s face. He handed the urgent report from his robes to Eunuch Yuan Sheng, his voice mournful and heavy with sorrow. “This son’s household advisor met a courier on the street this morning. The courier’s horse collapsed from exhaustion. He had no choice but to entrust this urgent report to the advisor and have it delivered to this son. I ask Father Emperor to review it.”
The court officials saw the Crown Prince’s tone so heavy, and guessed something major had happened. They could not help turning their gazes to that urgent report.
Emperor Hongjia unfolded it. After he finished reading what was written, the expression on his face eased slightly.
“Zhen thought it was some great matter. It is only bandits causing trouble in Ping Cheng. Have the local government send troops to resolve it.” Emperor Hongjia did not take it seriously at all.
“Father Emperor, for Ping Cheng to suffer such a great bandit uprising, something must be wrong there. Moreover, the courier is not an official under Ping Cheng. He is a minor clerk from a relay station outside Ping Cheng.”
The Crown Prince’s words finally made Emperor Hongjia alert. “The Crown Prince suspects the officials there have a problem?”
The Crown Prince looked upright and proper. “Before there is conclusive evidence, this son dares not speak recklessly. This son only worries for the people of Ping Cheng and dares not take it lightly.”
Emperor Hongjia nodded. “The Crown Prince has such foresight. Zhen is gratified. In that case, does any of you beloved ministers wish to go?”
The Crown Prince added, “Father Emperor, troops must also be brought for this trip.”
“Why? The local government also maintains some troops. They are more than enough to deal with mere mountain bandits.”
The Crown Prince said, “The urgent report states that Ping Cheng has not suffered turmoil only once. Why has Father Emperor never once received a memorial submitted from Ping Cheng?”
Emperor Hongjia pondered for a long time. In the end, his gaze landed on Lu Ronghuai. “Third, you lead troops there this time. How about it?”
Lu Ronghuai looked bored. “This son does not wish to go.”
Emperor Hongjia did not expect him to refuse. “You do not wish to go?”
Lu Ronghuai said, “This son has already relinquished military authority. Father Emperor should seek another for this matter.”
Emperor Hongjia was displeased. Looking across the entire court, only sending Lu Ronghuai would set his mind at ease.
“Military authority is handed to Zhen. That does not mean you cannot lead troops. Zhen will grant you a golden plaque and an edict. You can still command the soldiers all the same.”
This son has been preoccupied of late with the matter of producing an heir and is in no mood to go.
Emperor Hongjia’s vision darkened. “What son are you speaking of? Mind your words before Zhen!”
Who in the entire court did not know he had married a male spouse? Bear a child? He could not even lay an egg!
Emperor Hongjia nearly died of anger. He dared spout nonsense in the grand hall itself. Did he still know his own identity?
Lu Ronghuai lifted his chin, unruly and unrestrained. “That day, Eldest Brother gained a child. This Prince went to offer congratulations in good faith. He insisted on provoking this son for being unable to produce a son. This son feels wronged. This son has been suffering.”
Emperor Hongjia: “...”
Your expression shows not the slightest trace of feeling wronged.
✧ A Word from the Author ✧
Lu the Dog: Someone actually sent me more than two hundred bottles of nutrient solution. Sis, you are my one and only sis!
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