[Edited: 1/14/23]
Translator: LishaChan
Editor: Dom
TL/N: Just a heads up that Qiao Yingze thought that his bride is a woman, hence throughout the whole chapter he refers to him as “Her” and “She” 🙂
When Gong Zhuoliang heard the other party called him by that ‘title’, he went stiff for a moment before instantly feeling awkward. On the other hand, Qiao Yingze ―who called him that in the first place― immediately became embarrassed and instantly looked away from him. Fortunately, Gong Zhuoliang wasn’t looking at him so he didn’t see the other’s unnaturalness.
“Cough….. Ah….H-Husband…”
Internally struggling, Gong Zhuoliang gave Qiao Yingze a hesitant reply before bashfully turning away, hiding the dark gloom on his face as he internally scolds himself.
“…T-Then….. shall we…..”
When Qiao Yingze saw his little bride turning ‘her’ back from him, he thought that maybe ‘she’ was also just as shy as he was. However, when it immediately dawned on him that he was the husband, he thought that it was his responsibility to take the initiative. And so he stood up, approached Gong Zhuoliang, took him by the shoulders and started fondling him….
“W-What’s up with you?!”
Gong Zhuoliang turned red right as soon as he was touched by Qiao Yingze and looked at him with wary eyes. He then turned his back from him again― Why is this kid so impatient already?
All members of the Gong Family were brazen enough to fool the Qiao Family into marrying a man to them as the ‘Bride’ just because the groom will be the terminally ill eldest son, who was assumed to bring bad luck.
From what Gong Zhuoliang could remember, Madam Gong had once repeatedly warned this child that if ever Qiao Yingze actually turned out to be that deathly ill, he’ll have to come up with a persuasion to avoid having sexual intercourse with the other during the wedding night consummation, and in that way, he could preserve his health.
If the other party buys it, then at least they could finally bring up the excuse of still being underage and so he couldn’t do any sexual activities at the moment, not until two years later. After that, he’ll have Ruo Lan and Ruo Zi enter the bridal chamber to take charge for now(have sex).
When Madam Gong was having a conversation with Ruo Zi, the original owner of this body was eavesdropping. And it has to be during that part when Madam Gong was giving the drug to Ruo Zi, which could only be used to send the child in his one-way death, in case the truth couldn’t be concealed anymore…. After that, that’s when this child committed suicide.
Gong Zhuoliang surely wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen and have this child be killed. He had been planning ways to drive Ruo Zi away and then teach the entire Gong Family their well-earned lesson before he left this place. But he had just found a problem. That is, the information the Gong Family received…
Not only was the eldest son not terminally ill, but he also seemed to be quite…'vigorous'…. How is he going to get through this??
“I… Let us change our clothes and have a drink”
Qiao Yingze was taken aback by Gong Zhuoliang’s defensive reaction, causing the blood in his face to pale even more.
‘She really is unwilling to marry someone like me, a miserable being‘
Qiao Yingze’s outstretched hand paused and slightly trembled, before he placed it down again and clenched it under his sleeves.
“Ah? I’m sorry! I was just too nervous!”
Seeing Qiao Yingze’s gloomy smile, Gong Zhuoliang instantly realized that his reaction just now had hurted him. He rushed to take the other’s hand and apologize while complaining in his heart that this man is way too sensitive.
“Don’t worry! It’s just me being silly!”
Qiao Yingze hesitantly let out a smile, indicating to Gong Zhuoliang that there should be no need for her to be anxious. But in truth, the coldness in his heart did not fade even in the slightest.
Qiao Yingze was a premature baby, and his mother had a hard time giving birth to him. He is born with deficiencies, and this is why he was always disliked by his own mother, while his father never cared about his children and so in the end, he had not received any care ever since he was born. He was only discovered by his grandmother later on and was brought up by her, but his foundation was already weak to begin with, and a recultivation would not be healthy for him anymore.
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.
However, Qiao Yingze was a strong person at heart. He thought that he shouldn’t be pessimistic, and after that he started spending his time studying and reading books in hopes of bringing honor to his family one day, and more importantly, to gain the love and attention he had always yearned for from his parents.
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For a long time, Qiao Yingze couldn’t accept his situation, until he finally lost his will to live. This was the reason why his health started deteriorating, until one day, his grandmother forced him to an another good-luck marriage.
In order to not cause any misfortune to her, he tried his best to endure the constant flaring of his illness. Yet, right now, the other is giving him a cold-shoulder….
“I-It’s not that I…. Husband? Husband! Are you alright?”
Noticing Qiao Yingze’s wobbling figure, out of reflex, Gong Zhuoliang immediately embraced his body before the other could abruptly collapse in front of him. He then sat beside him and started calling out the other’s name repeatedly while whispering some reassurances so that the other party could refrain from thinking whatever nonsense he had in his head.
“I’m fine, my wife…..”
Qiao Yingze could feel warmth from the embrace of Gong Zhuoliang. As soon as he finally stabilized his disordered mind, he shyly looked up to Gong Zuoliang’s face, and his concerned look did not seem fake. Qiao Yingze’s mood lightened a bit…
He wondered to himself― Was I just overthinking a moment ago?
Since he was a child, Qiao Yingze had been living behind the gate of the most secluded pavilion of the Qiao Family.
His parents were not close to him, but his grandmother doted on him a lot, so the sickly Qiao Yingze barely made any contact with the outside world. Instead, he was surrounded by maids and servants.
No one had ever been genuine to him nor said truthful words to him. So Qiao Yingze had a lot of expectations for his wife ― his lifetime companion ― who will always stand beside him for the rest of his life.
She doesn’t need to be beautiful or talented. Qiao Yingze only hoped to have a wife who genuinely liked and cared for him. Then he will try his best to be good to her, and will properly take good care of their family for the rest of his life…
“Uhh… Husband, allow me to start serving you.”
This time, he dared not be vague in his response anymore. Gong Zhuoliang made a polite smile, his eyes turning into crescents, and he took the initiative to take off the wedding headpiece for Qiao Yingze. Then he removed the other’s robes until what’s left was only a single robe, and he paused.
He recalled that this should be the first activity for the local wedding custom.
First, the newlywed couple should help each other change clothes; Secondly, they should drink a glass of wine; Lastly, they have to tie each other’s hair piece into a knot. Then after that, they’re officially wedded, and they can finally enter the bridal chamber…
“My wife…”
Qiao Yingze kindly encouraged Gong Zhuoliang to proceed changing his clothes, his eyes filled with tenderness towards the child, then finally, the other finished tying the pajamas’ belt on his waist.
He really liked the sound of this special title*. It shows that he now has complete possession of the person in front of him, and she will be the only person closest to him.
(*TL/N: He liked calling the MC his “wife”)
“….”
Gong Zhuoliang is wondering why Qiao Yingze became happy all of sudden, but he could only follow along and smile back while helping the other remove his wedding headpiece and change his robes.
At the moment, he wasn’t yet worried about being exposed in front of Qiao Yingze. Since he’s only a twelve-year-old child, the body he’s possessing right now hasn’t started developing yet. It’s normal for any child at this age to have a flat chest…
“My lady… After we drink this glass of wine, you and I will officially become husband and wife. I, Qiao Yingze, can’t guarantee that you will be prosperous in the future, but I dare to vow that if you have me in your heart, I will never let you down in this life…”
As Qiao Yingze pulled Gong Zhuoliang’s hand to the table, he held one glass in his hand, then raised the second glass on his other hand, stretching it out to the person in front of him, before he softly but firmly spoke those words.
“….”
Gong Zhuoliang was tongue-tied towards Qiao Yingze’s solemn and gallant pledge.
Although he didn’t think that he himself was a kind person, he still found it hard to deceive a young man’s pure and lovely sincerity. So the hand holding the glass of wine hesitated reaching out and couldn’t hook with the arm in front of him.
It was not until he saw the unease and wariness from the other’s eyes did Gong Zhuoliang link his arm around his partner with a forced smile and drank the glass of wine together with him.
“It has been a long day for you so you must be starving right now. These foods could also fill you up, so please eat even if it’s only a little. After that, let’s take a rest.”
After drinking the three glasses of wine, Qiao Yingze was slightly blushing while he pointed to the plate in front of them. Right after a short moment, the fruits and cakes were all eaten by Gong Zhuoliang.
Qiao Yingze stared at Gong Zhuoliang’s face as if he hadn’t seen enough of him, and then seemed to think of something. He then looked over towards the bed, then his face turned even redder.
“…yeah….”
Gong Zhuoliang became a little irritable as soon as he landed his sight on the bed, and his mouth seemed also dry, so he reached for a bottle of wine from the table and immediately drank all the contents. He was so quick that Qiao Yingze didn’t have time to stop him, while the rest of the half bottle of wine instantly entered Gong Zhuoliang’s mouth.
“Wife! Are you alright?”
Qiao Yingze was taken aback and instantly snatched the empty bottle away from the other, throwing it on the other side. He then hastily got up from the bed and walked to Gong Zhuoliang to hold her shoulders, checking on her condition, only to see a pretty little face turning pink. Qiao Yingze suddenly had the urge to kiss the little child in front of him.
“No! I-I’m fine!”
Gong Zhuoliang closed his eyes then subconsciously buried his face on Qiao Yingze, without bothering about the arms that were hooked on his own waist.
He never thought that he― who used to drink baijiu as if it’s water in the past― had such a poor alcohol intake in this life.
Just as soon as he drank one more time, he instantly felt like his body was floating. His mind then started spiraling through different directions. The two memories that kept resurfacing in his mind, one after another, instantly caused headache to Gong Zhuoliang.
….He really wanted to scream out loud to vent his complaints.
Laozi never wished to come here! How could Laozi be so unlucky to have gotten caught with this kind of mess?! Why would he have to risk his own life so he could cover other’s mistakes?!
He didn’t want to deceive this beautiful young man! He didn’t want to take the place of this girly kid! He didn’t want to be vigilant towards every human being around him!
“Are you sleepy? We’ll take a rest after we tie our hair…. ”
Qiao Yingze could detect Gong Zhuoliang’s unease and thought that ‘she’ was worrying about her future, so he gently embraced her and comforted her with some few words. He dragged ‘her’ towards the side of the bed so they could sit together, then thought in his mind― As I expected, she’s still too young for this, so we should just go to bed and sleep. It’s still inappropriate for her to do things between a husband and wife….. At least the future is still long…
“Hair knotting…”
The wine made Gong Zhuoliang’s emotions surge for a while. He saw Qiao Yingze happily cutting their hair, tying them with a red rope, then he placed it inside a box and put it away.
Seeing what the other was doing, Gong Zhuoliang’s heart started beating fast. He couldn’t bear to look at Qiao Yingze’s expression!
His hopes and expectations had long been crushed! His marriage is already ruined because his bride is a guy!
“My wife? What’s wrong?”
Qiao Yingze, who had already placed the box down, noticed something wrong with Gong Zhuoliang. The rims of the other’s eyes were red and she seemed very sad.
He then hurriedly sat down beside Gong Zhuoliang and was about to touch Gong Zhuoliang’s face, but was shoved onto the bed at the next moment.
“Do not call me ‘Wife’ again… I’m not your Wife….! This young master is a guy just like you! Why can’t you see it clearly?!”
Gong Zhuoliang’s emotions finally flared out due to constantly hearing the word ‘Wife, wife‘. He leaned over to press on Qiao Yingze’s body, grabbed the other’s hand and led it in between his thighs to prove that he’s indeed a guy, and also to tell himself that he’s a man to the core.
“…… you……”
Qiao Yingze was completely stunned as soon as he felt the mass of meat through the layers of fabric. He stared straight at Gong Zhuoliang’s small face, then his mind turned blank, completely confused towards the situation…..
Qiao Yingze’s reaction had immediately brought Gong Zhuoliang’s reasoning back. So he hurriedly let go of Qiao Yingze’s hand, not knowing whether to get up or keep pressing him with his body while he demandingly explained everything, talking about the key points of the situation,
“I-I was forced to marry to replace my older sister. My older sister was actually the one who’s supposed to marry you, but…. she eloped with someone. The Gong family was afraid that your family would blame them, so they insisted on using me as the substitute for the bride… But I couldn’t stand this…. I’m a boy! This is too ridiculous! Just how are you….”
But before he could finish talking, he was pushed away by Qiao Yingze. This caused him to hit his leg on the bedpost, making him shiver with pain.
“Outrageous!!!”
Qiao Yingze furiously pushed Gong Zhuoliang away then abruptly stood up, staggering a bit.
When he thought of his heartfelt affections that had only ended up becoming a joke tonight, he felt so ashamed and enraged that he just wanted to leave this place and run faraway.
“Hey! Watch out!”
Seeing that Qiao Yingze was about to stumble on the ground, Gong Zhuoliang couldn’t care about his leg pain anymore, and instantly got up from the bed to catch Qiao Yingze. But then they ended up falling together on the ground due to the other’s heavy weight on his small body.
“A-Aren’t you dizzy, ah?”
Gong Zhuoliang struggled to assist Qiao Yingze to the bed again before managing to lay him down. The other’s pale face and tightly closed eyes made him feel even more anxious that he instantly thought of calling out for help, but after thinking it through, he thought that things would only become chaotic even more. The only thing he could do was pat the other’s chest to calm him down and pinched his philtrum.
He(QYZ) shouldn’t be vexed at this moment. He knows that he is not in good health. Why did this guy still act impulsively?
Fortunately, the two of them didn’t really cause that much of a ruckus, so they didn’t startle the maidservants outside. Only, who knows how long they will stay…. But he certainly doesn’t intend to make his escape in the dark tonight!
Translator’s Notes
Luckily the footnotes for this chapter weren’t that many this time.
At the beginning, it had been fun for me to place tons of pop-out translations, but right now, I only wished that the chapters would have fewer vague Chinese words in the future… Because guess what, it’s 2 am right now as I posted this, that’s why I’m rushing to post this 🤣🤣
Well, honestly this isn’t what I wanted to talk about right now.
I wanted to clarify some things with you guys, and that is about the bed position of Gong Zhuoliang. (You guys can ignore this if you want XD)
First of all, about Gong Zhuoliang’s surname, the Gong in Chinese was “宫”- as in “palace”
So in case you guys thought that it is 攻 which meant “to attack” (Gong in chinese)… well, it is not XD
Secondly, Gong Zhuoliang might not be the Gong, however I had assumed before that Gong Zhuoliang was the ‘Gong’. The other day, one commenter confirmed themselves that Gong Zhuoliang was the ‘Shou’ instead, and they found this info from JJWXC site (where the raws in this novel was located)
And to tell you the truth, I had not really finished reading all the raws, but these two had never done the deeds yet aside from intimate touching and such so far, so it’s hard to discern who’s 0 and 1.
I’m sorry if this TL/N kinda took a long time, I swear that next time there won’t be an another long note (unless necessary) (• ▽ •;)
Thank you for the update!❤🌸
thanks for the chapter.
Thank you for the translation.
Oh, this secret was opened earlier then I thought
Thank you for your translation 💙💙💙
What secret? You mean when I kinda spoiled their future smut scenes? 😂
And you’re welcome! 💖💖
Oh no, I meant the secret of the bride’s gender
So the Gong is not a ‘Gong’ .. huh ..
🙂
But Author might be something to us~
você provavelmente já sabe, mas o gongo you probably already know, but gong is really gong, I just read the work
I like reading the long notes! Thank you for the update
Thank you! I tend to get very talkative that I could’ve already start talking about some topics that are unrelated to the story 😂😂
But I’ll only really put long notes if it’s necessary~
And your welcome! ~💖
Now he knows and faint! ヽ((◎д◎))ゝWhat to do?!
Thank You for the new chapter ( ˘ ³˘)♥
This is getting exciting, aiya. Thank you for your patience! (◍•ᴗ•◍)
No problemo! ♡(ӦｖӦ｡)
WHAT 12 AND 17☠️☠️☠️☠️
5 year age difference