Chapter 49
Zhang Shulin had only been looking at Zhu Ziyu’s surface. Because his handsome face always gave off a fierce expression, he’d thought that the other man was tyrannical, that he’d have no compassion and be difficult to get along with. But after extended contact, he finally knew the real person, and he was completely contrary to his imagination.
As long as you didn’t provoke him, he would be too lazy to mess around with you. His bright red lips always had a slight smile, making anyone near him feel very comfortable. He was very proud, but not oppressive, and he was charismatic.
If there was no misunderstanding, Zhang Shulin was willing to try and become friends. But now, his shame was too much, he completely couldn’t lift his head around the other man. All of the Zhang family members felt the same, they’d silently moved to the farthest corner of the fire, their faces red with embarrassment.
Only Qin Ce firmly sat opposite Zhu Ziyu, from time to time he poked the fire with a stick, as if nothing had happened.
As it was getting late, Zhou Yun Sheng felt sleepy, he clutched his mouth and yawned. His eyes squeezed out two drops of shiny tears and they hung on his eyelashes. This scene remined Qin of a cat hiding inside for the winter, stretching and resting near a fire. So lazy and cute, if his hand hadn’t covered his mouth when he yawned, would he have had two pointed tiger teeth?
He quickly glanced at the young man again, then went back to staring at the fire like he was in a trance.
After his yawn, Zhou Yun Sheng also stared at the fire, he was thinking about his unknown lover. He could be the protagonist, a supporting role, but also cannon fodder. His identity could change at any time, he could be anyone. And he’d only been with him in four worlds, what if his basic data was biased? What if he became a completely different person from before?
For example… the protagonist?
Thinking of this, his body suddenly froze, he started peeking at Zhang Shulin. His gaze touched the other’s face, glowing red Zhi, eyes, etc. His heart was really struggling to see a resemblance.
Zhang Shulin’s scalp numbed under his obvious observing, Zhang Jiarui sensed it too and politely reminded, “My brother is brother Little Black’s fiancé.”
Qin Ce’s brow fiercely wrinkled at this, a strong sudden desire to deny it rose in his heart. But Zhang Shulin was his savior, he really had promised to become the other’s husband to repay this kindness. A man’s promise was a heavy mountain, he couldn’t just dismiss it. His mind struggled between denying and agreeing for several moments, in the end, he decided to not say anything, but his expression looked twisted.
He didn’t understand why he had such a strong desire to deny it in front of Zhu Ziyu. Was something wrong with him?
Zhou Yun Sheng gave them a contemptuous smile, then quickly put his thoughts behind him.
Everyone quieted down again, but Qin Ce’s mood was no longer as leisurely as before. Like the fire, his body crackled and burned, he felt anxious and unbearable. He glanced at the young man several times and quickly looked away before he could notice. Finally, he picked up a piece of wood and dug at it with a dagger, then he threw it into the fire and watched it burn to ashes.
As if his heart’s troubles could burn up with it.
Time quickly passed. When it was the middle of the night, Qin Ce finally returned to normal, he softly said, “I, Jiarui, and these guards will keep vigil, you guys sleep.” He pointed to Zhu Ziyu, the women, children and elderly.
Zhu Fushun was tied into a dumpling, still in a coma.
“What do you mean? You don’t take me for a man?” Zhou Yun Sheng pulled out the dagger from his boots and sneered.
Young master ah, you aren’t a man, so don’t be impulsive, okay? Hurry and sleep. Lushi piled up some bedding on some branches, and spoke to her young master through her eyes.
Tweety also hesitated.
Qin Ce was expressionless, he looked up and down at the youth, then raised an eyebrow. You couldn’t blame his lack of confidence in Zhou Yun Sheng. Zhu Ziyu’s small body obviously had no force, his arms and legs were thin like bamboo poles. The Ger in this world were comparable to women, their natural bodies leaned toward soft and slim, they grew differently than men. Muscular and sturdily built Ger were extremely uncommon.
Zhou Yun Sheng’s heart lit on fire, he threw the dagger into the air and performed a few beautiful tricks, he threatened, “Look, with my martial arts, I can easily cut you down.”
Although he’d lost his memory, Qin instinctively wanted to laugh at the words. He felt that the other was like a kitten raising its claws, extremely cute. His heart was beating wildly, but he had a serious expression, he just nodded neatly, “Okay, you and I will keep the first hour, the other people will form pairs and each keep an hour. Those who want to sleep should seize the time now.”
Zhou Yun Sheng grunted in agreement, the several guards and Zhang Jiarui huddled together to discuss their order, then laid down to sleep.
Zhou Yun Sheng took the initiative to sit near Qin Ce, he grabbed the branch from Qin Ce’s hand and dug at the fire. He took a few sweet potatoes out from his parcel and threw them into the fire.
Qin Ce sat close, frozen, not daring to move, he almost resembled the wooden branch. Zhou Yun Sheng touched his arm, after seeing him have no reaction he touched him again. That finally pulled his soul back.
“Do you want some?”
Qin Ce stared at the beef jerky hanging from the young man’s hand. He audibly swallowed. The spicy and rich meat smelled very flavorful, so he really did want some, but his desire for meat couldn’t compare to his desire to touch the man’s slender neck, his red lips, and pink fingers.
What would he taste like? As he speculated, he expressionlessly reached for the beef jerky, muffled out a thanks and continued staring into the fire, the fire light hid his slightly pink cheeks.
Zhou Yun Sheng also took a piece of beef jerky and gnawed at it. He then took out a pot of wine and poured it into his mouth. The young man’s rosy lips dampened from the wine, they appeared brightly blood red. His neck had a beautiful curvature, his small adam’s apple moved up and down as he swallowed, he looked extremely cute.
Qin Ce stared at him, his dark eyes were fierce, like a wolf sensing prey, he really wanted to pounce in and bite his throat, to swallow him whole.
Zhou Yun Sheng’s neck slightly cooled, the wine had spilled. He wiped it away and looked up to see Qin Ce repeatedly poking at the sweet potatoes, he frequently swallowed, his hunger very obvious.
He really is a food addict. Zhou Yun Sheng smiled and passed over his jar, “Would you like a drink?”
Qin threw away the stick and nodded, he grabbed the nearly empty jar and looked back to see the boy poking at a sweet potato. He was no longer paying attention to himself, so he quickly put the bottle to his mouth and took a big gulp.
Delicious wine! His heart praised, he handed back the jar and whispered, “Zhu Gongzi, that recipe from before, can you give it to me?”
“You’re very patient, I knew you’d ask for it eventually.” Zhou Yun Sheng chuckled, he looked at Tweety, who was soundly asleep, took the handkerchief out from her sleeves and handed it over.
The handkerchief was stained with Tweety’s perfume, Qin Ce disliked the smell. He waved it over the fire, so it’d gather a smoky scent, then carefully folded it into a square and placed it in his pocket.
Sure enough, he loved food, he treated a marinade recipe like a treasure. Zhou Yun Sheng glanced at him and smiled amusingly.
Afterwards, several more people took turns at night watch, whenever they heard movement they would quickly extinguished the fire. In this way, a few nights safely passed.
One night, a sudden banging sound echoed throughout the mountain, all the cave dwellers jumped up in fright.
“I’ll go down to see.” Qin took the dagger from his waist and decisively said, “You guys stay here, don’t move, I’ll come back soon.”
“Don’t go! You’re alone, what if you run into the bandits?” Zhang Shulin rushed over to hold his arm.
Qin Ce froze, he inexplicably wanted to throw off his hold. He quickly glanced at the jade-like young man, he was also giving him an anxious look.
“I’ll be fine, believe me.” He said this sentence then exited into the forest.
Zhang Shulin’s worried eyes were red, his parents, brother and sisters gently comforted him. Zhou Yun Sheng went to the hole and looked out at the mountains, flashes of torch light appeared occasionally.
In this forest, the loyal dog would meet his subordinates, and then recovery his memory. He learned that he was the son of Shen Wei Fu. He was appointed by the emperor to be the Commander of several armies. In Beijing, the troops he’d left behind were Zhong Wei, Shen Ce Wei, Guang Yang Wei, Ying Tian Wei, and Yang Wei, thousands of soldiers and thousands of horses. Outside the capital, he’d left behind Yangzhou Wei, Zhou Wei, Gao You Wei, Huai’an Wei, Zhen Hai Wei, Chu Zhou Wei, Tai Cang Wei and other armies. He was heavily armed in power and on top of the world, his father, Shen Wei Hou, was only a decoration when compared to him.
The cause of his accident was because of the sudden death of Chu Yunguo’s emperor.
This dead emperor was not the child of the current Queen Mother, she’d always hated him. The Queen Mother had a son, but he was very frivolous and knew no filial piety, so the old emperor had hated him. When he became an adult, he was sent away and not allowed to return to Beijing. After the old emperor died, the Empresses saw that the new emperor had firmly secured the throne, had no weaknesses and hardly left the palace. She’d waited until he relaxed his vigilance, then bribed the imperial chef to poison his food.
When the toxins were too concentrated for the emperor to survive, she sent a letter to Qin Ce, asking him to come back to Beijing to help the youngest Prince ascend the throne.
The letter had just been handed to Qin Ce when the emperor died. The Queen Mother hid his death, only reporting that he was seriously ill in Qin Ce’s letter, so Qin Ce had immediately departed for Beijing. She’d wanted her son to come back to the capital, then announce the emperor’s death and read a fake imperial order that handed the throne to him.
So, with such heavy-handed manipulating, the Queen Mother obviously knew that Qin Ce would become a nail in her plans if he decided to investigate, so she was trying to have him killed. Qin Ce came across many ambushes on the way to the capital, but when he was close to the capital he was betrayed by a subordinate, and, after a series of events, he somehow ended up in Zhang Shulin’s path, who then picked him up.
Currently, he was meeting a loyal subordinate who was his childhood friend, they had always trusted each other. After explaining his identity, the subordinate took him to seek medical treatment, and the doctors helped him disperse the congestion in his brain, and he recovered his memories.
After Qin Ce restored his memory, in order to confuse the Queen Mother, he kept his identity a secret and continued hiding in Qing Min County, secretly planning. He will send an army to kill or capture the Queen Mother’s son, while he personally sneaked into the palace to rescue the youngest prince.
While Zhang Shulin was still worried about him in the mountains, Qin Ce was already on his way to the capital.
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T/N:
Gongzi – honorific meaning son of nobility
Fu – father