When the Time Comes, I’ll Tell You Something
Su Jingyang froze when he heard that. “I...” He had never lied to Ling Li about this matter. Even if he lied to ease his mind for the moment, so what? When the day truly came for him to leave, it would only make Ling Li even more heartbroken.
Su Jingyang sighed and told Ling Li the truth about why he was marrying Rong Ci.
Ling Li kept staring at him without blinking as he listened, his throat blocked by a rush of heat that burned with pain.
When Su Jingyang finished and saw Ling Li still staring blankly at him, he raised a hand and touched his face, speaking gently. “Ah Li, don’t be sad. I haven’t finished my task yet, so I won’t leave.”
Ling Li pressed his lips together. At last, he smiled through tears, forcing his voice to sound light, though it was unbearably strained. “Okay. I understand. No matter what, you’re marrying here, so I’m here too. I’m not going anywhere. Anyway, anyway... if you want to leave, I’ll never stop you. I only want to stay with you until the very end. That’s enough for me, truly.”
“Ah Li.” Su Jingyang used his fingertip to wipe away the moisture at the corner of his eye. He felt a little sad, and a little guilty. “Am I... being too heartless?”
Ling Li shook his head hard. “How could you think that? I just can’t bear to part with you. Wanting to go home is perfectly normal. Your family must be worrying about you too.”
Family? Su Jingyang thought silently. He didn’t have family. Even if he returned to his original world, he would still be alone. He just wanted to go back, to leave this place that never belonged to him, to break free of the system’s control.
He knew he wasn’t wrong at all, but every time he was with Ling Li, it always felt as if he turned into some cold, cruel bad person.
Seeing Su Jingyang fall silent and drift off into his own thoughts, Ling Li slowly withdrew the hand he’d been holding. He clasped both hands together tightly, lowered his eyes, and hid the heavy thoughts within them.
That night, Su Jingyang said he wanted to sleep together with Ling Li and Ah Xuan. Ling Li held Ah Xuan in his arms and hesitated, glancing at Rong Ci sitting to the side. “Jingyang, I think maybe...”
Rong Ci cut him off. “Sleep together. You’re here, and it’s rare that his spirits are better.”
Su Jingyang secretly peeked at Rong Ci a couple of times. Rong Ci couldn’t help laughing and rubbed his hair. “What kind of look is that?”
Su Jingyang hissed and said with utmost seriousness, “I think you should occasionally despise me a bit. Otherwise, my whole body feels wrong.”
Rong Ci went speechless for a moment. In the end, he stared at him and said, “You really are...”
Su Jingyang gave a quiet snicker. He was obviously joking. He set down his teacup, pulled Ling Li up by the hand, and said to Rong Ci, “Alright. You didn’t sleep properly today either. Hurry up and rest early.”
Rong Ci saw him about to leave and grabbed his hand, standing up as well. “Wait.”
Su Jingyang stopped, puzzled. Rong Ci kissed his cheek and said, “Don’t run around, in case you feel unwell again. Stay here. I’ll go somewhere else.”
Ling Li watched Rong Ci leave, his expression a little uncomfortable about it. Su Jingyang didn’t think much of it at all. He happily washed up, then climbed into bed with Ling Li and Ah Xuan.
Just like at Ling Li’s home, the three of them squeezed onto one bed, warm in body and in heart.
“Ah Li, you really are my lucky star. The moment you came, I got so much better.”
Ling Li met his gaze, eyes soft. “You’re my lucky star.”
Ah Xuan lay between them and had been ignored. Unwilling to accept that, he let out an indignant howl, scrambled up, and cupped Su Jingyang’s face with both hands, shaking it as he loudly announced, “Uncle, Uncle! My father changed my name for me!!!”
“Oh? He did?” Su Jingyang asked in surprise, turning to Ling Li. “What did it get changed to? How come you never mentioned it?”
Ah Xuan rushed to answer first. “Jingxuan! My name is Ming Jingxuan!” He turned and pointed at Ling Li. “Daddy picked it!”
Su Jingyang didn’t understand at first. Ling Li explained softly, “He came up with a few names, and I chose from them.”
Su Jingyang smiled and pinched Ah Xuan’s dewy little cheek. “That’s pretty good. Jingxuan, Jingxuan. It sounds similar to mine, it really does. Just hearing it, you can tell we’re family.”
Ling Li couldn’t suppress the sudden turbulence in his breathing. He quickly covered it with a smile. He pulled Ah Xuan back from where he was clinging to Su Jingyang. Ah Xuan obediently lay back down and habitually reached for Ling Li’s hand to play with it. Ling Li, without showing it, withdrew his hand, curling it slightly into a fist. His expression turned a little stern as he told him, “Stop messing around. Go to sleep.”
Ah Xuan got scolded and was very unhappy, pouting as he wriggled over to sleep pressed against Su Jingyang instead.
Two days later, Su Jingyang attended the pre-wedding sacrificial ceremony with Rong Ci. It was also on that day that Su Jingyang finally met Rong Ci’s mother, Madam Ru, and his younger brother, Rong Xia. They stood beside the Wu Clan elders.
He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but Su Jingyang felt that the little brat Rong Xia looked at him with a trace of resentment, while Madam Ru kept staring thoughtfully at his belly, then looking at him again, her lips hooked as if in mockery. One big and one small, neither looked like they were good people.
Su Jingyang thought of what he’d heard from Rong Hua before, about Madam Ru placing a curse on Rong Ci. When he looked back, his gaze carried a chill as well. Still, it was already difficult enough for him to suppress the nausea and join Rong Ci in paying respects to the Rong ancestors on the altar platform. He had no time to deal with them further. Besides, he now knew that neither of these two had any blood relation to Rong Ci at all.
“Hang on a little longer.” Rong Ci glanced at him sideways, squeezing his palm and saying quietly.
Su Jingyang forced down a breath, pressed back the rolling in his stomach, and nodded. “Alright.”
As Su Jingyang slightly turned his gaze, he caught sight of the pixiu jade pendant at Rong Ci’s waist again. With Rong Ci dressed in such solemn, wide-sleeved ceremonial robes, wearing that pendant really did look ridiculously shabby. Su Jingyang had wanted him to take it off that morning, but Rong Ci insisted on keeping it on.
Thinking of the stubborn look on his face, Su Jingyang couldn’t help curling his lips, then quickly pressed them together in case he got caught.
“What are you secretly smiling about?”
Su Jingyang bowed again along with him, not looking at him as he spoke in a lowered voice. “As the clan leader, how can you be so distracted during ancestor worship? Aren’t you afraid the ancestors will blame you?”
Rong Ci let out a soft laugh. Su Jingyang couldn’t hold back and asked with a puzzled tone, “What are you laughing at now?”
Rong Ci said, “Nothing. My face just suddenly hurts a little.” He remembered the first time he met this person, when he had been muttering to himself disdainfully, and wondering which poor bastard would have to suffer eight lifetimes of bad luck to marry such a foolish thing.
Who would’ve thought, who would’ve thought, it would land on him, and he was even sweet as honey about it.
Rong Hua and the Grand Shaman, who stood closest to them, both kept their eyes lowered and their minds composed, pretending they didn’t see the two of them slacking off. Behind them, their clansmen were all kneeling and kowtowing in worship, so there was even less chance of anyone noticing.
When the final bow ended, Rong Ci suddenly laced his fingers through Su Jingyang’s and held tight. His clear, far-reaching gaze fell on the Wuqun Mountain shrouded in mist in the distance. “Jingyang, I want to make a wish before our ancestors.”
Su Jingyang asked, “What wish?”
“That you’ll fall in love with me sooner.” Rong Ci withdrew his gaze and looked at him, his eyes deep. After a pause, he added, “When the time comes, I’ll tell you something.”
...Su Jingyang hated him to death!!! Because of that one sentence, it was as if he’d developed an obsessive compulsion. For days and nights he couldn’t sleep, clawing at his heart and scratching at his lungs, as if every cell in his body was screaming. What thing, what thing, what exactly was he hiding from him!!!
Su Jingyang even woke up in the middle of the night to grab Rong Ci by the throat and viciously interrogate him, forcing him, and grilling him! Rong Ci still didn’t react at all. He just ruffled Su Jingyang’s hair and kept smiling as he held him and went back to sleep. Su Jingyang was nearly driven to death by him!!!
Countless guesses flashed through Su Jingyang’s mind until, in one instant, he finally understood. This was Rong Ci’s scheme, just a plot to force him to admit that he’d fallen in love with him!!!
However, by then, they were already married.
“Despicable!” Su Jingyang suddenly spat out. Holding his rice bowl, he moved farther away from Rong Ci and sat next to Ling Li instead.
Rong Ci’s hand, ladling soup, paused. He could probably guess what kind of madness had seized him again. He narrowed his eyes. “Look at how proud you’re acting. Get over here and drink your soup.”
“No! I’m not drinking it!”
Rong Ci said coldly, “If you don’t come over, then don’t blame me if I...”
Su Jingyang accused him, “Before marriage you indulged me in everything. After marriage, sure enough, it’s all gone back to the old days in one stroke. Men are vile!”
Rong Ci said, “Before was because I felt sorry for you and wanted to treat you well. Now you’re like if you’re not disciplined for a day, you’ll tear the roof off.”
Su Jingyang was already past three months now. His morning sickness had improved a lot. He could eat and drink, and he had decent energy again, so his butt couldn’t stick to a chair anymore. Not that he could truly bounce around, since he still had two in his belly, but whenever Rong Ci wasn’t around, he would run off to the streets to look for chances to collect energy. One time he was out until deep into the night, and Rong Ci personally went to haul him back.
Still, he really had been lucky that night. He helped two brothers who’d developed a rift from a misunderstanding untie their knot, and the progress bar jumped to 7.2%!!! That filled Su Jingyang with endless motivation!
Even though Rong Ci locked him up for two days, Su Jingyang still found ways to run outside, angering Rong Ci several times.
Hearing him say that, Su Jingyang felt indignant. “You can’t stay with me every moment, so why aren’t I allowed to go out and have fun! Why???!”
Su Jingyang regretted it as soon as he finished speaking. Why did that tone sound so much like a resentful wife locked in the inner chambers!
Rong Ci’s eyes fixed on him quietly for a long moment. His red lips moved. When he spoke again, his tone abruptly softened. “These next two days I have some important official matters to handle, and I have to go to Wuqun Mountain as well. After that, I’ll be free for a while. Wherever you want to go and have fun, I’ll take you.”
Su Jingyang ate his rice, humming sullenly.
Ling Li had been absent-mindedly poking at the rice in his bowl with his chopsticks. Hearing their argument, he finally snapped back and lifted his head.
Su Jingyang saw that Ling Li’s hand was still wrapped in gauze. He set down his chopsticks, frowned, and reached to grab his hand as he said, “Ah Li, your hand that got burned by oil still isn’t better? Is Physician Li’s medicine not working well?”
The moment Su Jingyang touched it, Ling Li’s hand flinched away slightly. Su Jingyang hurriedly said, “Sorry, sorry, Did I hurt you?”
Ling Li shook his head and said it was fine. His eyes turned toward Rong Ci. After hesitating for a long while, he finally set down his chopsticks and said, “Rong Ci, I... want to ask you for a favor.”
It wasn’t anything else. It was just that Ming Zhan’s eight personal guards followed him and Ah Xuan at every moment. Even when he cooked in the kitchen, those men would stand guard outside. Ling Li felt uncomfortable, so he wanted Rong Ci to find some reason to send a few away.
After all, this was Rongcheng. With so many highly skilled personal guards of the Crown Prince remaining inside the main hall, it really wasn’t appropriate.
Rong Ci agreed. In the end, only Song Hui remained at Ling Li’s side. Two days later, Ling Li asked Rong Ci for another favor. He wanted to pray for his adoptive father’s repose, so he set up a memorial tablet in the Grand Shaman’s side hall and went into seclusion for two days, copying scriptures.
The Grand Shaman’s area was not a place ordinary people could approach. Song Hui was a guest under another’s roof and had no choice but to lower his head. He could only stand outside and keep watch for two days and two nights.
In the end, Ling Li was carried out of the side hall by Rong Hua while ill. Li Yin only said it was a sudden acute illness and that he needed bed rest.
Su Jingyang stayed by the bed. Seeing Ling Li’s face pale as paper, his heart ached as he scolded him. “Ah Li, you could’ve prayed slowly. Why did you have to exhaust yourself like this? Look at you, you’re sick to this extent. Your father would be upset too.”
Ling Li shook his head. His light-colored pupils seemed to ripple with faint moisture, his voice still somewhat weak. “I’m fine. Don’t stay here with me either. Be careful you don’t catch my illness.”
“What illness or no illn...”
“You’re pregnant. If you tire yourself out here, it will only make me worry more. Go back quickly.” Ling Li pushed him away, unusually insistent.
“It’s not that easy to get tired... Alright, alright, I’ll do what you say.” Su Jingyang had no choice under that gaze and could only agree. “Then you rest. I’ll come see you tomorrow.”
Ling Li’s eyes slowly shifted, meeting Rong Ci’s sharp, direct stare, and Rong Hua’s silent, sorrowful face. His pale lips trembled once. As if avoiding it, he turned his gaze away.
Not long after Su Jingyang, Rong Ci, and Rong Hua left, Ah Xuan, who had been leaning over the bed and holding Ling Li’s hand, suddenly made a small sound of surprise. His memory was back now. He clearly remembered that papa’s palm mole had darkened a bit before, but now, it had returned to how it used to be. Ah Xuan blinked his big eyes and looked at him strangely. “Papa, your...”
Catching sight, out of the corner of his eye, of Song Hui entering with medicine, Ling Li panicked. He hurriedly lifted a hand to cover Ah Xuan’s little mouth.
Song Hui usually only handled guarding and protection. Ling Li had never thought he would suddenly do a servant’s task like delivering medicine. Ling Li’s chest rose and fell. His body lay stiff on the bed.
Song Hui approached with extremely slow steps. He then set the steaming medicine bowl down gently on the small table by the bedside, making a faint sound. As Ling Li followed the movement, he swallowed with difficulty, his breathing unusually hard.
Song Hui stared at Ling Li’s tightly clenched hand. After a long, dead silence, he finally lowered his gaze. He said nothing, turned, and strode out.
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