“So pretty that I want to bite him to death.”
Translation Checker: jellypeaches
Editor: jellypeaches, Special_K
The teahouse guests were dismissed, and the government guards were like an impenetrable seal inside and outside, while the main gate was blocked by commoners watching the hustle and bustle. A majestic line of guards came riding in on horses, with swords and shields to separate the crowd, leaving a wide passageway in the middle for people to walk through.
A man with jade-like posture and as tall as a bamboo got off the carriage. Dressed in a crimson outfit embroidered with coiling dragons, the man was hastily guided through the crowd, supported by a hand.
There was a doorstep at the teahouse entrance, and Lin Bozhou’s black boot kicked against it, making him lose his footing. His shoulders, which had always been firm and upright, suddenly tilted to the left and he nearly fell to the ground.
“Your Royal Highness!” Zhang Hu, the commander of the royal guard, cried out in alarm.
He tried to take Lin Bozhou by the arm. “This subordinate will support Your Royal Highness!”
However, beneath the sleeve of the robe, his hand was pushed away by a hand lacking warmth. Lin Bozhou walked over the doorstep and stopped in his tracks in the already empty backyard, as if searching for something. His eyes, covered in white gauze, scanned around his surroundings, his chin tilted up.
His figure was bleak, with the distinct lines of his neck half lifted, as if the man had been standing in the rain for a long time.
“Has the whole teahouse been searched?” The voice was also gloomily damp.
“Replying to Your Royal Highness, we have searched the whole place and found no traces of him. There are fresh signs of the wall being scaled. This subordinate’s team has made inquiries among the civilians and issued a search warrant in the city. We know the urgency of this search.”
Lin Bozhou closed his eyes. “Is it certain that he was kidnapped?”
Zhang Hu pondered and said, “Eunuch You and the two bodyguards were knocked unconscious by the drug. Although there was no sign of struggle, it is likely that the master was also knocked out, thus there is a high possibility that he was kidnapped.”
Kidnapped…
Then just who would kidnap him?
If it was as simple as kidnapping for ransom, the kidnappers would be rough, and there would be some physical pain and suffering for Meng Huan. If it was because of his beauty, the situation would obviously be even more dangerous.
…However, the worst possibility was someone with the intention to kidnap Meng Huan despite knowing that he was Lin Bozhou’s Royal Consort. Besides money, if they simply sought revenge and retaliation, it might not be something that can be paid with a layer of skin, and Meng Huan could even be in life-threatening danger…
Lin Bozhou’s thin wrist extended out from his sleeve as he lowered his head. “Why was the Royal Consort in the teahouse?”
“According to Eunuch You, the master was in the teahouse to wait for Your Royal Highness to get off court, to return to the compound together. But who would have expected—”
His voice suddenly came to a screeching halt.
To say anything more would be another blow to His Royal Highness.
Lin Bozhou’s body seemed to be immersed in ice water, as his Adam’s apple trembled slightly.
He was always calm and sensible, so this was the first time that the commander saw such a pale color on his face.
…So, he was waiting for me.
A sharp pain emerged in Lin Bozhou’s chest, and he clenched his teeth until the scent of blood emerged. “For the next few days, accept all mail that comes to the compound, and any letters that have to do with the kidnapping will be handed to this Regent as soon as possible. In addition, search the city and strengthen the patrols at the city gate; any transfer of goods must be closely inspected.”
He paused and issued a death order.
“Failure is not an option.”
Zhang Hu cupped his fists and shouted, “Understood!”
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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Echul and several buff men stood in the room watching.
Echul pinched his nose and said with a nasty smile on his face, “A widower used to live here, but he drank poison and died a few days ago, leaving this space free. You will stay here for now.”
Meng Huan closed his eyes.
He held back the urge to punch that smug face to death.
Meng Huan had a handsome and youthful face. When he was staying quiet and not talking, he looked very gentle and compliant, not at all provoking their inner anger.
Echul studied him repeatedly before suddenly dragging his wrist onto the table. “You can draw?”
Meng Huan replied in a small voice, “Yes.”
When encountering a ferocious bandit who could not be defeated by brute force, it was best to comply with the bandit to save one’s neck. Although Meng Huan was very scared, he could guess he held some value for the other man, so he was being as cooperative as possible.
Echul clapped his hands, and one of his clan members immediately presented a brush and paper. He sat at the table with a knife in his hand, tossing it around. One slip could slice a piece of flesh from his hand. “Alright, you draw a portrait of me, now.”
“…”
It was not clear what his intentions were.
Meng Huan complied, took the brush and paper, trimmed off a portion of the hair on the brush and sketched with delicate strokes while facing Echul. He lowered his head and painted quietly. A layer of fine, pale hair covered the skin beside his ears, looking very delicate, like a piece of very fragile porcelain.
Echul watched his brushwork, while one of the men watching from behind him was staring at Meng Huan’s face, unable to resist licking his lips.
Strangely enough, this group of vicious thugs was very patient and didn’t rush Meng Huan. They waited quietly for him to finish.
This painting took almost two hours.
Meng Huan handed over the paper. “It is done.”
On the page was a realistic painting with meticulous strokes, each one beautifully made with fine brushmanship. The man in the painting had a strong resemblance to his real-life counterpart, as if carved from the same mold.
Echul applauded with satisfaction. “Not bad.”
Despite being at a loss, Meng Huan continued to sit upright and refrained from talking.
But his heart was already analyzing. There was no way that Echul dragged him here just to draw, right?
Echul pinched the painting between two fingers and walked out with a smile. “Very good. Congratulations, you get to have dinner for your effort.”
Meng Huan still could not understand: “?”
But Echul was already out the door.
A burly man took a few steamed buns and a pot of water out from behind him and threw them in front of Meng Huan. With a bang, they slammed the door shut, taking away the light coming into the firewood shed.
The sound of footsteps moved further and further away.
So, his dinner tonight was these steamed buns.
“Phew…” However, Meng Huan heard himself sigh with relief.
The men had finally left.
His back was numb, he had been emotionally tense the entire time, and now he was feeling sore in his shoulders. He took a deep breath. His stomach had been rumbling for a while, protesting from hunger.
Recalling his experience from being knocked out by the drug to his current position, it all felt as unbelievable as a hallucination to him. He picked up the hard steamed buns and took a bite—
—Rock hard.
He could not even bite down QAQ.
There were also crushed stones mixed in. It felt like eating a mouthful of sand.
In the darkness, he couldn’t stop himself from frowning, and the corners of his eyes turned red.
If Lin Bozhou was there, he would never allow him to be kidnapped, or eat like a beggar.
Meng Huan tried to take another bite of the steamed bun, which had a rough texture but was not inedible. Using the water in the pot to soften the buns up, he managed to swallow them, just to fill his stomach.
In fact, in the past, during his time living in the orphanage, he was also fed poorly, so he did not care very much about the fineness of his diet as long as he could be full.
But now, as he chewed the steamed bun and thought of Lin Bozhou once more, there was a burst of uncontainable bitterness in his heart.
Maybe, after having someone who treated him very well, he could no longer endure any grievances.
…If Lin Bozhou was able to find him, he must act very piteously in front of the man, so he could be tenderly fussed over.
If that time came, Lin Bozhou would be hugging him and calling him his little darling for a long time.
Just the thought of this made him feel a lot better, and at the same time, filled him with determination.
He took another bite of the steamed bun mixed with gravel.
If nothing else, he always had a strong desire to live at the cost of anything except for his physical health; that was the only thing he must not neglect. He must eat more to have the strength to persevere until Lin Bozhou could come rescue him.
Meng Huan swallowed the last mouthful using the cold water and walked to the window. The window was too small for a normal-sized person to climb out, and the door was tightly shut and locked with chains.
Trying to escape was obviously unlikely.
He stood by the window and looked out of it by raising his head and stepping on his tiptoes. This seemed to be the abandoned backyard of a temple, with the sound of a bell striking in the distance, but far away from the temple’s bustling front yard.
The Jurchen men sat in a field not far from the firewood shed. Now that the sky was getting dark, they started a fire to roast some pheasants, singing songs that he could not understand.
—Calling for help was useless, as it would only alert them.
Meng Huan spat because of this disgusting group, and went back to sit on the bed.
The bed was filthy.
It was stained with the sticky scent of sweat. It seemed this shed was really the living quarters for the widower who helped gather firewood. However, according to Echul, the widower made light of his life in this bed after consuming poison.
“…”
Meng Huan stood up and wandered around the dark room.
After a while, he saw a pile of withered straw in the corner, so he spread the straw on the ground, barely providing some separation from the dusty ground, and sat down.
This would be how he was sleeping tonight.
Between his tense nerves from being on high alert the whole afternoon, and the drunken racket outside the door, it took him a long time to relax and fall asleep.
The room was extremely quiet.
Although he was asleep, his nerves were very much alive, ready to alert him of any movement.
Drunken voices came from outside the door.
“The Han man in the firewood shed is very pretty. I saw him this afternoon, very soft and with pale skin. So pretty that I want to bite him to death.”
“Should we go have a look?”
Another voice warned, “You’re crazy. Echul said not to touch him. If there is one cut on him, we will all be dead!”
“Echul only mentioned wanting his hands, nothing about wanting his body.” There was a sound of pushing. “If you are afraid of touching him, then get lost and stop bothering me.”
Bang—
The door was kicked open by a heavy leather boot.
Meng Huan was shocked awake as he looked at the fierce figures looming from the entrance.
Across the long distance, the smell of alcohol wafted over. The man scratched his chin and walked over, his hands already beginning to untie his belt. “If you sleep with me tonight, I will give you meat and rice tomorrow, instead of those steamed buns with sand.”
Meng Huan’s heart made a violent thump as he stood up, saying so loudly that even he himself was caught off guard, “What do you think you are doing!”
The man had thick wrists and a curved sword hanging from his waist. He reached out and seized Meng Huan’s wrist, emitting the musty smell of cattle and sheep.
At that moment, Meng Huan finally understood the man’s intentions and began to subconsciously fight back. He reached out and pulled out the curved sword by the man’s side, holding it in his hand. “Scram!”
The other person’s expression was completely unruffled. “This kind of sword is not something you should be playing with, little man.”
At this moment, in the face of violence, there was only rage in Meng Huan’s heart, without a trace of cowardice.
He shouted in a voice dozens of times louder than before, “Do you think I’m using this to kill you? Well, you’re wrong!” He placed the sword, with a sharp edge that could easily slice through flesh, against his wrist. “If you dare touch me, I will cut off this hand!”
When he said this, he was shaking with anger. He managed to analyze from the men’s prior conversation that Echul had a request of him and needed his artist’s hands.
This was the only chip that he could threaten the other party with.
Otherwise, if he fell into the hands of these animals, he would be treated like livestock and trampled like prey!
The man stopped and looked unconcerned. “Hilarious. I can easily get that sword from you before you can hurt yourself with it.”
Meng Huan threatened through his clenched teeth, “So what!? There are many ways for me to die! There are even more ways to break these hands. If you truly want to be beheaded by Echul, just take another step forward and see!”
In the empty firewood shed, Meng Huan glared angrily at the invading outlander, thinking of the innocent people who had their heads sliced off by him for no reason. He clenched his teeth, the fury in his eyes at odds with his delicate appearance. It made people fearful that he would really go through with his words and cripple his hands.
The men paused, and the one with his sword in his hand stepped back.
“So, we got a feisty one.” Someone commented.
Another one chimed in, “Enough playing around. If Echul learns of this, we really are going to lose our heads.”
“Let’s leave then?”
The man stared at Meng Huan, reached out and grabbed the sword from his hand, laughing drunkenly. They turned around and staggered out the door.
In their wake, Meng Huan’s back was drenched with sweat, and his Adam’s apple trembled, making his voice somewhat hoarse.
The voice that spoke out was one of hate, not fear.
“Bastards.”
The author has something to say:
Petting Huan-bao with his raised hackles (stroking his head, pinching his paws, and rubbing his belly)
After Lin Bozhou is done with them for daring to offend his HuanHuan, not even their souls will be found.
It was actually quite disheartening, how Lin Bozhou was upset enough to lose control over his perfect image, even though he values it greatly 😕 he must be quite desperate
Yes, I actually felt more hurt for him than Meng Huan in that moment 😕
+1 ಥ_ಥ really felt anxious for him
Our poor babbbyyy uwahhhhh
both husband and wife is suffering QAQ Praying that His Royal Highness will find Huan Huan asap! 😔
HuanHuan you are a fighter!
Thank you!
I’m so glad they didn’t have their way with huanhuan!! Our huanhuan is a feisty one, he will bite YOU to death before you even think abt doing things to him 😤 my heart goes out to lin bozhou as well 😭 mans so worried he even stumbled his steps which is so uncommon for him
+1
Our babyboy is a strong personality babyboy!!!!
Thank you for your translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
I honestly feel so bad for MH and LBZ like can they actually catch a break!?😭
Poor baby! (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ
Thank You for the new chapter (｢`･ω･)｢❤️
Oooh I hope that pig headed one dies! (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
When they try to push the fear button but accidentally trigger the rage settings
Thanks for the chapter