“Sniff…Your Royal Highness, you will have an early death if you continue like this.”
Translation Checker: jellypeaches
Editor: jellypeaches & Avalie
If he were to say he liked it, and the theatrical troupe stayed, would the original host’s friends be mingled among the group, and would they seize the chance to take him away?
Then what would happen if he said otherwise?
After a while, Meng Huan murmured, “It’s fine, I guess.”
After the incident with Xu Ruolin, Meng Huan developed distrust towards the natures of the original host’s friends. What would happen if he were dragged off and sold to work at an illegal business once he was out of the compound? It was even possible to be sold to a low-grade brothel, which was a big problem.
Lin Bozhou didn’t expect to get such a lukewarm answer. After a brief pause, he nodded. “Alright, then we will go see them once Huan Huan is interested.”
Meng Huan gave a firm affirmative response, hurriedly picked up the bowl, and continued to help Lin Bozhou eat.
A bit of congee got on Lin Bozhou’s lip, so Meng Huan reached out and wiped it away very naturally.
Lin Bozhou lifted his gaze to look at the youth and chuckled in a meaningful way.
After dinner, Lin Bozhou held Meng Huan’s hand while talking. His chief secretary, Chen An, entered with a stack of letters and handed them over for Lin Bozhou to deal with.
“Huan Huan, go eat. You don’t need to busy yourself here any longer,” Lin Bozhou said.
“Alright.”
After Meng Huan responded, he went to the table to deal with his thirty main courses.
Lin Bozhou, supported by You Jin, sat at the desk outside the folding screen with an outer coat draped over his shoulders and listened to Chen An read the letters.
Chen An read aloud, “Between the next year’s capital evaluation, and the faction conflict that was brought to light by the impeachment of a Qingliu Faction member, there will be more problems in the court this year and next.”
Lin Bozhou made a soft noise in response. This news was enough for Chen An to furrow his brows tightly, yet Lin Bozhou showed no emotion on his face.
“The court is already in strained circumstances. To add back and forth fighting, it’s making things into a tremendous mess—” Chen An let out a deep sigh.
As soon as Lin Bozhou began to deal with political affairs, he would regain the attitude that everyone in the court was familiar with. “This can be considered as them running wild before their deaths, which is fine. Let them fight. The one that jumps the highest will die the soonest. It will save this Regent the effort of finding an excuse to remove them.”
“…”
Meng Huan stuffed a piece of braised pork with preserved vegetables into his mouth.
Lin Bozhou was exactly how he had imagined.
Gentle on the outside and aggressive on the inside. Whereas others would sigh in frustration when encountering difficulties, his enthusiasm for solving problems only made him more excited.
As Meng Huan listened to their discussion, he was reminded of the most serious mental shadow that Lin Bozhou had left on him.
—Killing thirty thousand people.
Presumably that was what they were referring to by the words “capital evaluation” and “fighting amidst the factions”?
According to the original book:
Factions were formed after recruiting people to create an alliance. In the political scene, officials forged alliances because of their origins, ambitions, ideals, and other reasons. They promoted each other and shared benefits to form a force that was much stronger than if they were fighting on their own, while at the same time excluding others from their own political groups.
In those circumstances, the struggle between different groups was called factional fighting, as in the current situation with the Qingliu Faction and the Zhuoliu Faction.
Formerly known as the Lin Faction and Eunuch Faction.
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.
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This was the business of carnivore officials, why meddle with it?
–
The glow from the sky passing through the window frame dimmed, signaling that evening was near.
A gust of wind blew through the large hall, bringing the cool feeling of dampness after the rain.
Meng Huan spent the whole afternoon in Lin Bozhou’s bedchamber. Lin Bozhou read and wrote letters, while he doodled.
A little later in the day, You Jin approached, bowed, and presented another bowl of the medicine on his tray. “Your Royal Highness, it’s time to drink your medicine.”
In the morning, Lin Bozhou was willing to listen to him, so Meng Huan became more proactive. He put down his brush, ran to the eunuch, and accepted the bowl before coming to Lin Bozhou’s side and sitting down. “Drink your medicine, time to drink your medicine~”
“Huan Huan, wait a moment—”
Before Lin Bozhou could finish, Meng Huan had already swept away the paper in front of him.
“…” You Jin was also shocked.
Lin Bozhou generally didn’t allow anyone to disturb him when working on official documents as it could easily interrupt his thought process. But right now, he was smiling. Without saying anything, he put down his brush.
“Yes, time for medicine.”
Meng Huan took the spoon and fed him one mouthful at a time.
In front of him, Lin Bozhou had his eyes lowered, and the sharp curve of his eyes was somewhat cool, like the cold water of a lake in early spring, unfathomably deep.
But right now, he simply yielded to Meng Huan’s actions, taking one sip at a time and restraining all of his sharpness and dangerousness as he obediently drank the spoonfuls of decoction that were brought to him.
This, somehow, made Meng Huan feel that…the man was so well-behaved.
When the bowl was half finished, Meng Huan finally realized that Lin Bozhou had been sitting properly in his chair when working with the official documents. He was not as weak as he’d been in the morning. It seemed to be a bit unnecessary to hand-feed him the medicine.
He asked, “Your Royal Highness, you can actually drink the medicine by yourself, right?”
“Yes.” Lin Bozhou didn’t think this was an inconvenient task for him. “But since Huan Huan is already feeding this husband, there is no harm in continuing.”
“…”
Meng Huan looked into the other man’s eyes with his crystal-clear eyes. “Is it not bitter?”
Lin Bozhou admitted, “It is bitter.”
“…”
So it really was bitter.
Had the man been bearing the bitterness this whole time just so that Meng Huan would feed him? Meng Huan blinked and lowered his head to stir the medicinal soup.
After stirring the medicine with the spoon, he gave some thought and suggested, “Your Royal Highness, why don’t you finish the rest in one go, then I will pour a bowl of hot water and feed you that by the spoonful?”
“…”
The air turned quieter.
Lin Bozhou looked at him with his dark eyes, as if surprised by this suggestion.
Being stared at, Meng Huan also realized that his proposal was very odd. Having no idea what he was saying anymore, he tapped the porcelain bowl with his pale finger and explained, “It’s bitter.”
He looked to Lin Bozhou again, continuing, “That is, it is not pleasant to drink bitter medicine, so I do not want you to drink…this bitter thing.”
The atmosphere turned even quieter than before.
After all, Lin Bozhou said that he would listen to him just earlier today. So, changing his mindset, Meng Huan also wanted to be considerate of him.
Who would want to drink bitter things?
There were ripples in Lin Bozhou’s originally calm mood. He took the bowl and sighed. “It was this husband making trouble without reason.”
Tipping his head back, his Adam’s apple bobbed as he finished the rest of the decoction.
When Meng Huan saw that the bowl was empty, he thought they had reached an agreement, so he took the bowl and said, “I will go make some sweetened water.”
Lin Bozhou murmured, “Mmm?”
His tone clearly carried a hint of censure that made Meng Huan slightly confused. “Didn’t we agree…after you finish your medicine, I will feed you something else to drink?”
“……”
Lin Bozhou pressed the tip of his eyebrows down. In retrospect, he realized that there really was a barrier that prevented Meng Huan and him from being on the same page. He pressed his tongue against the back of his top teeth, seeming to feel a little helpless.
For a moment, he couldn’t hold back his smile as he let out a soft breath. “Alright, Huan Huan, come here.”
Meng Huan carried the bowl over, still confused. “You don’t want anything to drink?”
“Come here.”
It seemed like there was something else hidden in the gentleness of Lin Bozhou’s words.
Meng Huan didn’t quite understand, so he put down the bowl and approached. When he was guided on top of Lin Bozhou’s legs by the wrist, he remembered the other’s knee injury. As he was about to look down, his jaw was caught and pulled towards Lin Bozhou’s face.
Then came a kiss with a tinge of bitterness leftover from the medicine. When those lips rubbed against his bottom lips, it was slightly hot. A moment later, the tip of Lin Bozhou’s tongue crashed in.
“…”
To solve this disagreement with a kiss.
Meng Huan’s fall onto him was a bit reluctant, mainly because the kiss was so sudden that he wasn’t mentally prepared.
But soon, his waist went limp, allowing himself to be held in the other person’s arms with his jaw pinched, and to be kissed wantonly and restlessly.
He tasted the bitterness of the medicine which made him furrow his brows as he gently grasped Lin Bozhou’s clothes, but he was unable to move at all with his back against the table, so he had to let Lin Bozhou capture his lips and tongue.
“No need to drink water.”
There was a touch of amusement in Lin Bozhou’s voice as answered in between kisses.
Meng Huan immediately understood his meaning. As he blushed deep red, he heard the next part, “Drinking Huan Huan will yield the same result.”
–
The Xuanhe Emperor felt distressed over Lin Bozhou’s leg injuries and ordered him to rest at home for a day. It was doomed to be a sleepless night.
After dinner, Lin Bozhou listened to a guest scholar read a book for two hours as usual, before dismissing his attendants.
Hearing him dismiss everyone, Meng Huan’s back turned cold.
Lin Bozhou began to undress as a shadow tainted his eyes. He asked in a very enticing manner, “Huan Huan, is it not time for sleep?”
This sleep might be a different definition of sleep.
“…”
Meng Huan huddled in the quilt at the corner of the bed and watched Lin Bozhou draw closer. His mind was in a chaotic state; he felt that he really couldn’t ward off the man who just started eating meat.
He didn’t know how his relationship with Lin Bozhou had evolved into this. No one could save him now even if he started chanting Amitabha.
At the moment, Lin Bozhou seemed to be in rut, just like how the book had described. He had fallen from being a noble and benevolent man into an evil demon seeking desire every night.
Buried deep in the quilt, Meng Huan heard the sound of clappers outside as he said through his clenched teeth, “Your Royal Highness… Hng, don’t you still have to attend court tomorrow morning…?”
The fog in front of him was so damp and heavy that it felt impossible to dissipate. Lin Bozhou’s voice was mixed with heat. “Yes.”
Between his whimpering, he had to say, “…Your Royal Highness, you need to sleep. If you continue like this, you will die early.”
Lin Bozhou pressed his forehead against Meng Huan’s and seemed to be chuckling.
“…This husband is willing to die early if it means being with Huan Huan.”
The only response was a few short breaths and gasping sounds.
The thick fog was still wrapped around Meng Huan, rolling over each inch of his skin until it penetrated deep into his bones, making his limbs reverberate with ripples.
Little by little, the strong wind and heavy rain finally calmed into a soft drizzle, and then to a wet and muddy morning…
…
At two o’clock deep in the night, there was a slight noise in the hall.
Lin Bozhou propped himself up as his thick eyelids drooped slightly. You Jin approached on tiptoes, assisting the man with his clothes and shoes.
“Your Royal Highness—”
Lin Bozhou placed a finger to his lips, signaling for You Jin to be quiet.
He looked sideways at Meng Huan, who was sleeping soundly under the quilt, curled up into a small lump. This put a smile on his face as he hastily slipped on his shoes and walked out from behind the folding screen.
You Jin asked in a very small voice, “Your Royal Highness, are your legs better?”
“Not an issue, this Regent sits in the cabinet for most of the time, so there will not be much standing.” Lin Bozhou inserted his hands through the sleeves of his crimson official robes and gently freed his hair from the back.
You Jin whispered, “Your Royal Highness should really take care of your health.”
Lin Bozhou gave an affirmative response. After making himself presentable, he went to the main hall and sat on the palanquin.
In the darkness of the night, a line of people and horses hurried to the entrance of the compound with lanterns. Now neatly dressed with his hair in a jade crown, Lin Bozhou looked undeniably handsome, but his lips were closed, giving the careless indifference of someone in a position of power.
He should have been thinking about today’s court matters.
…But before he knew it, his thoughts turned back to the small shadow on the bed.
After a moment, Lin Bozhou opened his eyes and asked, “Why does the Royal Consort not like theatrical troupes?”
You Jin replied, “Maybe the Royal Consort thought that if Your Royal Highness found the theatrical troupe for him, Your Royal Highness would immerse yourself in political affairs every day and ignore him!”
Unconsciously, the corners of Lin Bozhou’s lips perked up. “Is that so?”
“Definitely,” You Jin insisted with a smile. “The Royal Consort is definitely afraid of Your Royal Highness being cold to him, which is why he purposely said that he did not like the troupe, so that Your Royal Highness will spend more time with him.”
Lin Bozhou smiled as his cold expression softened slightly.
He knew that You Jin was saying nice things to make him happy, but he really was beginning to enjoy this fantasy.
He lowered his eyes and murmured, “May it be so.”
The author has something to say:
The Prince Regent: (self-targeting) Wifey really loves this Regent so much.
Huan Huan: ?
Reading this at 1:30 am, while Lin Bozhou wakes up at 2:00 to go to court…. I could never. Petition to give him at least 8 hours of sleep at night 😭
+1
Huan Huan loves sleep, food, and his life. And Regent not yet. XD XD XD
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR BEING AWESOME!!!
His Royal Highness in his delulu era (for now though) 😂
Thank you for the update!!
SO TRUE!!
May it be a two-way street soon 🤭
We watch as Lin Bozhou deludes himself in his fantasy 😔
Thank you for the update ❤️
Yes Bozhou! Being delulu is the solulu!!!!
Lin Bozhou’s mind is slowly being clouded with thoughts of his precious Huan Huan~
Thanks for the chapter!
Deep, political thoughts about factions and Lin Bozhou’s character in the novel…then, “Ohh braised pork!” Yes, food good, kisses good, politics boring 😆.
Why everything is so sweet?
Thank you for your translation 💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟
Lin Bozhou is great at self comfort hahaha
Reading this on the way home and suddenly attacked by food picture… Ahh I’m suffering 😂
Thank You for the new chapter (。’▽’。)♡
Thanks Teo for your hard work with this and others projects
Look at them both… learning to car for and be considerate about another person for the first time!
Thanks for the chapter! 😘