“Then kneel until the snow stops.”
Editor: Miiya and Avalie
Wei Lian thought for a moment, looked downwards and replied, “Seasonable snow is an omen for a prosperous year, therefore, snow is an auspicious sign. Wei Lian felt joyful from the sight and came out to admire the snow.”
He still didn’t have a grasp on the King of Qin’s temperament. He had to be very careful in his wording, otherwise, his head would be rolling on the ground.
Auspicious topics are always a safe choice as no one dislikes hearing them.
But who would have thought the faint command from the man above was, “Remove his tongue.”
Wei Lian: “???”
Why didn’t this guy respond in a normal manner?
Wei Lian made a prompt decision and bowed down at once. His tone remained calm. “Was what Wei Lian said wrong?”
This finally piqued Ji Yue’s interest.
If the other party acted frightened and howled for mercy upon hearing his words, then that person was a weakling with just a pretty face. Those types didn’t deserve his attention, just have his guard cut the man’s tongue off. But Wei Lian’s expression didn’t change, and he even dared to pose a question, such a moderate behavior. This courage was most impressive.
It was only due to this interest that Ji Yue was willing to explain to the younger man. Otherwise, if everyone who would soon die under his hands begged for a reason, then there would be no end to the talking.
“Seasonable snow means a prosperous year for my country of Qin. As someone from the Chu, who’ve just lost the war and sent you as hostage, you’re just afraid your hatred towards the Qin will show. What joyful feeling? Aren’t you just deceiving a ruler? For deceiving a ruler, your only punishment is the removal of your tongue, that’s a small price to pay.”
Ji Yue continued with a slight smile, “If you were to say that you belong to the Qin now that you’re in the country of Qin, then it means you abandoned your family and country, and we don’t like this type of oily-mouthed and smooth talking.”
“Young Master Lian, how about you give us a reason to keep your tongue?”
In a few sentences, he blocked all paths of Wei Lian’s retreat and threw a difficult question back to him.
Wei Lian answered in a warm voice, “Wei Lian is guilty. Just now, there was a deception. The country of Chu is often cold, and it often snows all year round. Wei Lian often played with Mother in the snow when young. Now being alone in the country of Qin, seeing the snow yet not Mother, this brought a slight sadness.”
It wasn’t wise to argue before the King of Qin. Wei Lian quickly admitted his crime, but he must not allow himself to be stopped here.
Otherwise, his sentence of deceiving a ruler would be carried out.
He needed to arouse the hidden compassion inside of the King of Qin.
The King had a cold heart, but his mother was a weakness. If not, why would such a mighty person visit the cold palace on snowy nights so often. Presumably, when the King of Qin was a child, he also enjoyed a familial love with his mother, who now had passed away. Now the King viewed this old scenery to seek the person whom he missed.
Wei Lian couldn’t say that he missed his home country as the Chu were the enemies of the Qin. If he were to say that, it would only increase the King of Qin’s murderous intentions.
He could only say that he missed his mother.
Although he had never met his birth mother and the fun times with his adoptive mother were for their own benefits with no true feelings behind them. So what?
As long as he could deceive the King for the time being.
In fact, this whole convoluted plan happened within a breath of time. Wei Lian was still bowing on the ground, looking as if he were at the King’s disposal.
Once Wei Lian finished, the King of Qin was silent for a long time.
“Seeing snow yet not Mother…” Ji Yue seemed to be moved. “It is said that no material luxuries can replace a person.”
Wei Lian secretly relaxed. It sounded like he had passed this level.
Since this was the response, then he was keeping his tongue.
Ji Yue showed a faint smile once more. “Since Young Master Lian likes snow so much, then kneel here until the snow stops. Li Fuquan, proceed.”
When Li Fuquan heard the order, he immediately shouted, “Raise the sedan—”
The imperial sedan was lifted up again, and the mighty honor guards passed in front of Wei Lian and soon left him far behind.
Wei Lian lowered his eyes, playing a perfectly respectful and yielding figure.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
But inside of Wei Lian’s heart: Ji Yue, you’re fucking done for!!
_
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That voice was pretty nice though, even if the words it formed were void of sentiment.
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Being in contact with the King was indeed life-threatening.
The King of Qin was definitely colder, more tyrannical, and moodier than the rumors.
If it were anyone else, after their experience at death’s door, they would be sweating cold buckets from the terror.
But not Wei Lian, he remained extremely composed. He just had the urge to kill a man with the surname Ji and given name Yue.
There were eyes everywhere in the Qin palace. He didn’t know how many pairs of eyes were locked on him from the dark, so he didn’t dare to lower his guard.
In order not to arouse suspicion, he didn’t even use his internal strength to protect his body.
He must not expose his martial arts.
That was his trump card. The persona he picked to play was that of a delicate son of royalty who was wise and calm but unaccustomed to physical work, lacking the strength to truss even a chicken. With only wisdom, the King of Qin could treat him differently, but if his skills as both a martial arts practitioner and masterful strategist were exposed… only death awaited.
There was no way for the King of Qin to rear a tiger and court disaster.
_
This kneeling lasted deep into the night.
Without his internal energy’s protection, his body was no different from that of an ordinary person’s. At most, he was slightly more sturdy. After two periods of kneeling—or four hours—his complexion grew paler.
His knees were in extreme pain.
The coldness entered his body, and the overwhelmingly bitter cold nibbled away at his bones. He coughed softly a few times, and the corners of his eyes reddened from the temperature.
Endure it.
To achieve his goal, he must endure hardship and suffering.
He didn’t want to eat lychee anymore. He just wanted to exhume a certain person’s corpse for public flogging.
The faint moonlight sprinkled down and coated the snow with a layer of silvery frost.
Just when he thought that he was about to faint, the familiar black imperial sedan finally came back into sight.
Wei Lian lowered his eyes and straightened his back again.
_
Ji Yue sat in the cold palace as usual. Originally, he wanted to spend the night here, but he suddenly remembered a certain someone.
He actually didn’t get a good look at the young man’s face. At most, he only remembered the beautiful and slender neck, and also the slightly thin chin.
Wei Lian was it?
If he were to rest here, that young man would be kneeling in the snow all night.
Ji Yue shouldn’t have cared, but this thought kept returning for some reason.
How cold this snowy night was.
On the night of his mother’s death, there had been two sets of messy footprints left on the snow by the well.
His mother had been pushed down.
And the person who’d done it was the former Queen Dowager, who was dead the moment he presented her with the white silk.
The Queen Dowager had needed a son as a puppet ruler, and that child didn’t need his biological mother.
His mother died for such a reason.
Since then, snowy nights like this had become the coldest place in his heart.
To kneel for an entire night. Even if the person was lucky enough not to lose their legs, they could still be affected with long-term health consequences.
Why should he make it difficult for a child who only missed his mother?
In this rare moment when a small trace of human emotion was dredged up within him, he got up, draped his cloak over his shoulders, got on to his imperial sedan, and rode back to the palace.
_
Sure enough, Wei Lian was still kneeling there.
The young man was dressed lightly, with snow falling on his hair. His fox fur coat was spread in the snow, completely blending in with the white snow.
The body was on the verge of collapse, yet the back remained straight.
Like a lofty and unyielding plum blossom against the biting cold.
Unfortunately, even a real plum blossom would lose its petals from such wind and snow, scattering into the mud and being covered up with a snow blanket.
Ji Yue waved to stop the sedan and gave Wei Lian an order, “Raise your head.”
When Wei Lian heard the command, he obeyed and raised his head slightly.
The moonlight allowed both of them to see each other’s faces.
They were both stunned.
Wei Lian had imagined what the King of Qin would look like.
The King’s reputation among the people had never been good. He stirred up many wars, causing countless commoners to leave their homes, either for relocation or as the homeless. Among the people, he was the living King Yan, and his name was used to scare children. So it was not uncommon for the people to craft a ferocious image of the King amidst their widely spread complaints.
While among the royalty of the six countries, they described the King of Qin’s appearance as handsome, but with a gloomy temperament; he had a sharp look that made it hard for people to hold eye contact with him.
But the reality was… there was none of that fiend-like ferocious or gloomy horror.
He was just a very good-looking young man.
A dignified black robe couldn’t hide his youthfulness. His ink-colored hair was dense like clouds, onyx eyes like the stars, and all five facial features were carefully carved, like a gift from heaven.
There was a smile in those eyes, like all the stars in the sky assembled in those bright eyes, fading out in the dim light of night.
Who would have thought this was the King of Qin?
Wei Lian’s surprise was completely captured by Ji Yue’s gaze.
Ji Yue knew that the hostage prince sent by the country of Chu was a beauty, but he never expected him to be this shocking of one.
The youth’s complexion under the moonlight was as fair as snow, with black, piled up, thick hair, and skin like white jade. An appearance anyone would fall in love with.
The corners of his eyes were slightly red, and his frozen white lips were pursed, revealing a hint of mournful beauty.
The palace workers were stunned speechless, and only two words were in their minds.
Otherworldly beauty.
Were they still in the mortal world…? It was clearly an ethereal essence that came to life magically out of snow. Only then could someone have obtained such breathtaking beauty.
Who wouldn’t be captivated by such beauty?
_
“Come up,” Ji Yue said.
Wei Lian was startled as he slowly got up on his somewhat trembling legs.
When he stepped on the step bars, he lost his balance for a moment and his whole body fell forward.
A warm embrace caught him in time.
Ji Yue chuckled and kept his hands out. “How come you’re this cold?”
Inside Wei Lian’s head: You would also be this cold if you’d knelt in the snow for four hours, thank you very much.
On the surface, Wei Lian appeared at a loss as he uttered with a shivering tone from the cold, “King of Qin…”
Ji Yue untied Wei Lian’s fox fur coat that was covered with freezing snow, wrapped him back up in a thick fur blanket, and said warmly, “Lean against us.”
Wei Lian: Since you offered, don’t mind if I do.
His whole body was as cold as ice. When he was fitted snugly into Ji Yue’s arms, for the older man, it felt like he was hugging a big ice cube.
Ji Yue tightened his arms without changing his expression.
The imperial sedan was not designed to fit two people. Wei Lian weakly shrank into Ji Yue’s arms and greedily absorbed the other person’s body temperature.
The cold seemed to have frozen his brain into a paste as he put aside all the rules and etiquette and leaned against Ji Yue’s chest without any formality.
The King of Qin’s embrace was very warm.
Now that Wei Lian had a source of heat, he didn’t want to let go.
He didn’t consider whether he would chill the King of Qin. He was very eager to freeze that dog of an emperor into an ice sculpture and then break his frozen body into pieces to vent his hatred.
Ji Yue lowered his gaze so he could see the youth’s face that was pale from the cold and the long, delicate eyelashes covering his eyes.
He often did things according to his mood. He might be holding the person in his arms now, but that didn’t eliminate the possibility of him leaving the youth halfway down the road later.
Looking at the freezing youth’s lovable and helpless appearance, Ji Yue felt that he was in a pretty decent mood.
That mood should remain long enough for him to bring the youth back to the hall of mental cultivation.
_
Li Fuquan quietly glanced at the youth held in His Majesty’s arms and sighed over the latter’s unpredictable mood.
In one moment, he’d ordered the youth to kneel in the snow for four hours, then the next moment, he was taking the youth back to his private chambers.
But this Young Master Lian was indeed a stunning beauty. If he wasn’t a rootless person, he would already be excited.
He wondered if he should make some preparations. If His Majesty planned to be intimate with Young Master Lian tonight… Ah, no. Wei-shijun. He must first order his underlings to prepare fragrant baths, and things to ease the process as well.
As he was planning his tasks, they reached the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Wei Lian got out of the sedan in a daze, but as soon as he stood up, a sharp pain in his knees immediately sent him back into the seat.
He hissed softly and knitted his brows.
Ji Yue noticed these small signs before he suddenly carried the youth in his arms, strode off the sedan, and stepped into the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Wei Lian was caught by surprise and quickly put his arms around Ji Yue’s neck. He didn’t dare to blurt out something like ‘put me down’.
Otherwise, with the King of Qin’s temperament, the man might really drop him on the spot, the kind where both arms were released directly.
When Li Fuquan saw His Majesty carrying the youth himself, he repositioned the importance of Wei Lian internally.
It seemed that after tonight, there was finally luck for the Green Bamboo Pavilion.
The author has something to say:
Ji Yue: Young Master Lian, as the matter of fact, give us a reason for you to keep your tongue.
Wei Lian: [Calmly] So I could use it to kiss His Majesty.
Ji Yue: KO’ed.
Thank You for the chapter ｡✰✧(♡´❍`♡)✧✰｡