Chapter 091 – The Tragic Prefect’s Son – “I don’t want angst, I want sweet romance.” (06/10)
Xie Chenyang waited for a while, a look of confusion on his face: [And the second?]
You Huang: “With this point established, what else needs to be said?”
Xie Chenyang licked the juice clinging to his fingertip, lost in thought: [Mu Xin doesn’t want the Miying Kingdom and Prince Zhen’an to cooperate…]
Mu Xin sheathed his blade and walked step by step toward Xie Chenyang.
[He wants Prince Zhen’an to confront the Emperor, sparking internal strife in the Central Plains. Meanwhile, the Miying Kingdom won’t intervene—they’ll lurk in the shadows, biding their time to reap the benefits!]
You Huang: “Exactly. In the original plot not shown, Prince Zhen’an received confirmation of cooperation from the King of Miying. In reality, those attacking Hu troops were actually prisoners Miying had captured from other tribes.”
Sending troops to attack required genuine combat to instill a sense of crisis in the Central Plains emperor, compelling him to mobilize his forces.
But the King of Miying didn’t want to lose his own men before the real war began. So he gathered the disobedient and rebellious prisoners from defeated small nations or tribes who still longed for the past, and forcibly sent them to attack the Central Plains border forts.
Refusal meant death; going offered a chance to “earn merit.” They had no choice but to go, and they fought desperately.
Even if all of them perished, King Miying felt no remorse.
He intended to wait for Prince Zhen’an and the emperor to exhaust each other in internal strife, then strike while the two were weakened.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t anticipated the emperor abdicating without the slightest resistance.
The Central Plains remained stable. His grand scheme had come to naught.
“Enjoying the fruit?”
Hearing Mu Xin’s voice, Xie Chenyang tilted his head slightly and glanced at the now-empty fruit platters. He smiled and nodded while staring at the other’s lips. “Sweet and tangy. Quite tasty.”
“I’ll have more sent over.” Mu Xin gave a shake of his head. “I’m covered in sweat.”
“Even if you are, your sweat smells sweet.”
Mu Xin knew the man before him was likely joking.
He should have pretended not to hear, or simply let it pass. Yet for some reason, watching Xie Chenyang’s lips glisten with fruit juice, his actions outpaced his thoughts. By the time he realized what he was doing, he had already wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with his index finger and brought it to Xie Chenyang’s lips. “Since it’s fragrant, would you like to taste it?”
Xie Chenyang’s expression froze.
You Huang crowed with schadenfreude. “Eat up? Why wouldn’t you? This is your wife’s fragrant sweat.”
Rarely getting to see his little brat falter, he made no effort to hide the glee in his voice.
Xie Chenyang watched the droplet glistening on Mu Xin’s fingertip in the sunlight and swallowed hard.
Eat it? Impossible.
Xie Chenyang lifted his head, met Mu Xin’s gaze, and licked his lips. Just as he resolved to swallow his pride and open his mouth in one decisive motion, he found himself left with nothing but a hollow mouth.
Seeing Xie Chenyang genuinely about to taste, Mu Xin quickly withdrew his hand and walked away without looking back. “I’m going to bathe.”
There was no way he’d actually let him lick his sweat.
Xie Chenyang exhaled in relief: [He really knows how to tease me now.]
You Huang: “Sigh.” Still so soft-hearted. If you’re going to do it, just go all out! What’s the harm in letting him lick it off?
[He’s getting more and more mischievous.]
You Huang snorted softly: “I refuse to believe you never tasted his sweat when you were together.”
[Dad, you’ve changed. You’re not pure anymore.]
The moment the words left his mouth, his body froze.
[This isn’t fair, Dad! Just a little father-son banter—this is way too much! Seriously, way too much!]
“Reflect on your actions. I’m leaving.”
[Dad, forgive me! Just once!]
[Dad, when did you learn pressure-point techniques?]
“…” He’d only used an immobilization spell and a silencing spell.
No matter how loudly Xie Chengyang screamed inside his head, You Huang remained as unyielding as iron, retreating to the system space for some peace and quiet.
As he stood by the sea, an expression of amusement rather than anger softened his eyes. “A brat this troublesome… If you were still here, you’d probably have sent him off to train somewhere out of sight long ago, wouldn’t you?”
He flicked his wrist, and a bamboo flute appeared in his hand.
Soon, the space filled with the distant, lingering notes of the flute. The melody seemed lighthearted, yet it carried deep longing.
Xie Chenyang remained frozen in his seated position, unable to move or speak, with tears nearly spilling from his eyes.
Dad’s temper was getting worse and worse. Maybe he was going through menopause… As his son, shouldn’t he be understanding?
[Waaah! Dad, I’m sorry!]
Mu Xin returned, his clothes damp with moisture. “Want to go for a walk?”
Thinking Xie Chenyang was still upset about almost being pressured to lick sweat off his hand, Mu Xin suggested, “Yangzhou has many foreign merchants. Lots of rare trinkets. Want me to take you to see them?”
Xie Chenyang: “…” Sure, but you have to find Dad first and set me free!
Mu Xin crouched, took his hand, and kissed it lightly. “You…” Suddenly realizing, he gasped. “You’ve been acupoint-sealed?!”
Xie Chenyang couldn’t speak, only blinking his eyes.
Mu Xin reached out to release the sealed acupoints, only to unexpectedly fail. He carried him back to their room with a frown. “This sealing technique is highly sophisticated. I can’t undo it. Bear with it until the pressure releases naturally.“
Xie Chenyang: ”…“ I don’t think it’ll release naturally unless Father removes it.
Mu Xin kissed the corner of his lips, stepped outside, summoned the guards surrounding the courtyard, and coldly demanded, “How are you guarding? You didn’t even notice the Madam was immobilized!?”
Mu Xin refused to imagine the consequences if the intruder had intended murder instead of just immobilizing.
In the Miye Kingdom, Central Plains culture was prevalent. So the Madam meant…
The subordinates gasped. This wasn’t a pampered favorite—he was clearly the lady of the house!
They all knelt in unison.
“Sir, I didn’t see anyone breach the courtyard.”
“Neither did I…”
They had every corner of the courtyard covered. If someone had entered, they would have been alerted.
Mu Xin: “Enough! If no one entered, then did I seal his acupoints? Your failure to notice proves your incompetence! Find out who did this immediately!”
Worried about Xie Chenyang, Mu Xin returned to keep vigil by his bedside.
“Who could have slipped past our guards to seal your acupoints? What were their intentions?”
[It was my dad, waaah!]
Half an hour later, a voice called from outside, “Master, no loss of property was found within the estate, nor any traces of forced entry.”
Mu Xin: “Continue searching.”
Finding nothing was inevitable. Xie Chenyang remained immobilized, unable to eat normally. Both lunch and dinner consisted of simple liquid meals, fed to him by Mu Xin using special methods.
Even as night fell, he still couldn’t move or speak.
“What kind of meridian blockage lasts this long? I’ve never heard of such a thing!”
Mu Xin then suspected he wasn’t immobilized by pressure points at all, but poisoned by some special toxin. He summoned doctor after doctor, yet none could discern any abnormalities.
Xie Chenyang had been calling out “Dad” all day, but it was useless. His heart felt as cold as ashes.
[Only Dad is good in this world… Children without fathers…]
You Huang: “Have you lost your mind?”
[Dad! You finally acknowledged me!]
You Huang fell silent for a moment: “Has it already gotten dark?”
[Dad, you weren’t just watching me beg desperately and ignoring me, were you? You were busy with something else, not standing by watching me struggle, right?]
[Oh, Dad, I need to pee…]
A vein throbbed on You Xiang’s forehead as he lifted the immobilization and speech-blocking spells.
Xie Chenyang sprang up from the bed and dashed toward the door. Mu Xin grabbed him.
Xie Chenyang turned back, eyes red. “Let go! I need to pee!”
Mu Xin: “…” Released his grip.
While relieving himself, Xie Chenyang grumbled resentfully: [Dad, you’re being extreme! Immobilizing me is bad enough, but silencing me too? Nature calls, and I can’t speak—even moving my eyes won’t get through to Ah Xin. This is too much!]
You Huang: “His fault. He has no intuition.“
[He’s not the one at fault! Who could possibly tell?]
After taking care of his business, Xie Chenyang was overcome with sorrow: [You don’t love me anymore. Even if I said something wrong, you shouldn’t torment me like this. From morning till late at night… waaah!]
You Huang, feeling guilty, asked: “So, do you admit you were in the wrong?”
Shedding bitter tears, Xie Chenyang wept silently in his mind.
You Huang: “Alright, alright. I didn’t pay attention to the time. Stop bawling. I’ll make it up to you. What do you want?”
[Anything?]
You Huang: “Within my capabilities.”
[I want to see you.]
[You’re seriously reconsidering? I don’t even know what my own father looks like. Who’d believe that?]
He started wailing again.
[Then show yourself~]
“Not now. I promise I’ll let you see my true face, but not yet.”
[You… ]
“Mu Xin has been waiting outside for a long time.”
Xie Chenyang stepped out of the outhouse, tears welling in his eyes as he looked at Mu Xin.
Mu Xin embraced him tenderly. “There won’t be a next time.”
From now on, he would stay by his side at all times, never letting this happen again.
Xie Chenyang choked out, “I didn’t wash my hands.”
“I’ll take you to wash them.”
“I want to eat meat.”
“Alright, I’ll have someone prepare it.”
In the days that followed, Mu Xin indeed took Xie Chenyang everywhere he went.
The household now understood that Xie Chenyang wasn’t merely a favored young master—he was destined to become the future lady of the house.
Mu Xin waited. The moment the response from Miying Kingdom arrived, he would take Xie Chenyang away from Central Plains.
Xie Chenyang waited too—for the Emperor’s response.
That night, Mu Xin was exhausted into a deep sleep.
You Huang: “The Emperor received the letter. Want to watch the live stream?”
[Yes, yes, yes!]
—The Imperial Capital. The Emperor’s Bedchamber.—-
The emperor, clad in his dragon robe, sat upright at his desk, reading a travelogue.
A man in dark robes stretched out his hands from beside him, holding an unsealed letter and placing it before the emperor. “This is an urgent secret dispatch from Yangzhou.”
From a distance, the dark-robed man appeared tall and imposing, his presence enveloping the emperor as if embracing him.
The emperor’s gaze remained serene. “You may answer as you see fit.”
“Will Your Majesty not even take a glance? A man who, even after his entire family was slaughtered, remained devoted to the state—so devoted he offered himself as a servant, shaved bald, branded with a name of humiliation on his forehead, clad in sacred monk’s robes, treated as a plaything for the enemy’s pleasure…”
The dark-clad man’s voice was deep and low.
“Even so, he still found ways to send word, just to reach the emperor’s ears. And you won’t even look?”
The emperor’s long lashes fluttered, his grip on the travelogue tightening. “Very well. I’ll write a response, pretend never to have seen it, and let him sink into ruin. After all, he’s just the son of a minor prefectural governor.”
Xie Chenyang: [Is this what you call a tortured love affair? Who’s that man in black? The plot never mentioned him.]
Regarding the emperor, the plot only states he refused to stir internal strife, declined to recall reinforcements for the border defenses, and abdicated peacefully.
You Huang: “The prince who slaughtered the imperial palace, sparing only one heir, then propped him up to ascend the throne. The foreign prince who seized state affairs slept in the dragon bed, and oppressed the emperor.”
Xie Chenyang disliked tortured romance plots and stopped watching: [Not watching anymore. I’ll ask Dad about the outcome tomorrow. Good night.]
With that, he pulled Mu Xin into his arms and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Rather than watching tortured romance, it’s better to hold your beloved and drift into sweet dreams.
Edit: Krone
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