Chapter 46 - Honey Tangerine Flavored Shadow Guard Gong (4)
Translator: KunLin
Editors: Rubhyl, Vez
* Slight NSFW content in the beginning.
The seduction plan that had been left by Daming Lake was finally picked up by a certain person.
In order to not hinder the exhibition of his ability, Gou Liang specially had the system block 80% of the pain. With experience under his belt, he easily made an expression suggesting he rather be dead than alive, due to the pain.
【System: …Acting demon. ○|￣|_ 】
【Gou Liang: You praise me too much.】
Zhong Quan, who had been chased away by Gou Liang didn’t go far, he stayed hidden, secretly guarding him.
He watched as his little master stuffed a ball of cloth into his mouth, his eyes full of humiliation as he relieved himself. Heavy breathing could be heard outside the room, Zhong Quan might be inexperienced but his eyesight was very good. He could see Gou Liang’s hand vigorously and crudely moving up and down below his stomach.
Perhaps, because it was too hot, but Gou Liang’s forehead was soon drenched in sweat. In the end, he couldn’t stand it and tossed aside the blanket.
As cold air made contact with his burning body, Gou Liang let out a m.u.f.fled cry as he blocked his own mouth. His body jerked as he curled up tightly.
The front of his robe was wide open, leaving a full-view of his chest. His pale skin, due to the rough movements from just now, had become red. What was even more eye-catching were the two red fruits on his chest. They were different from the shade of light pink Zhong Quan had seen when helping him wipe his body. Right now that area was perked up and the color had also deepened. They stood out starkly on the other’s white skin.
His inner pants were still on him, his hand that he had stuffed between his legs wasn’t holding onto a certain object as Zhong Quan had thought. Rather, it pa.s.sed by it and fiercely dug into a certain place.
Faint moans could be heard along with the harsh breaths.
A sound of urgency came from him. His free hand dug into his thigh, slightly prying apart his right leg that still couldn’t move. His knuckles were white and on the spots where his hand had pinched, red and purple marks formed. But soon after, as if he couldn’t endure it any more, he released the hand on his thigh and moved it towards his chest. As if abusing the two points on his chest, he viciously…pinched them.
Tears spilled incessantly from the corner of his eyes.
Even if no one was aware of his current shameful appearance, he still tightly closed his eyes, his head lifted in perseverance. His legs which were immobilized were unable to exert any strength at all. His upper body trembled, the movements of his fingers grew increasingly rough causing the veins on the back of his hands to bulge.
But still…this was far from enough.
The strength in his body had been completely squandered. Gou Liang whimpered helplessly, his entire person seemed to be shrouded in despair. He suddenly ceased all actions in resignation, withdrawing his hands.
His drenched fingers repulsed him. As if he had been stained by something dirty, he fiercely wiped his hand on the sheets. However, the numbing itchiness a.s.saulting his body didn’t spare him simply because of his loss of heart.
His waist lurched as he tried to endure it. Gou Liang, as if he had suddenly come to a decision, strenuously pulled down his inner pants. To Zhong Quan’s horror, the other actually took out a blade from underneath his pillow and was about to strike it between his legs——
“Master!”
Zhong Quan was horrified. He immediately knocked away the blade that the other had, without his knowledge, obtained and hid beneath the pillow.
Gou Liang’s eyes were alarmed, he immediately grabbed the blanket to cover his disgraceful state. He wanted to scold the other but forgot that there was still something stuffed in his mouth. For the time being, he could only make “wuwu” sounds. He used his eyes to glare indignantly at Zhong Quan, wanting the other to leave, but Zhong Quan dared not leave him alone.
“Master, please don’t act rashly.”
He wiped Gou Liang’s face that was drenched in tears and sweat. Furrowing his brows, he said: “Today, this subordinate will help provide relief to Master. In the future, this subordinate will go capture some suitable males. After ridding them of their eyes and tongues, they will be offered to Master to help with Master’s poison.”
Gou Liang shook his head, then shook it again.
Zhong Quan lifted him into his arms. Slightly raising the other’s waist, his rough fingers penetrated the area that was already damp.
……
Gou Liang’s body trembled violently, it was unsure if the noise stuck in his throat was due to resistance or pleasure. He weakly lifted his hand and threw away the cloth ball in his mouth: “S-stop!”
Zhong Quan pretended not to hear.
Gou Liang scolded while weeping. “Zhong Quan! Who gave you the courage?! A-actually daring to disobey me! I’m telling you to stop, you hear?! Scram!”
Zhong Quan’s fingers stopped for a moment. He then spoke in a heavy tone: “Master, this subordinate is willing to accept any punishment.”
Saying this, he began to move again.
Gou Liang let out a startled cry, his brows tightly furrowed. His face was full of humiliation but hidden deeper beneath, was the more urgent and fervent feeling of l.u.s.t. Wavering, he said: “I-I’m fine by myselfk2026; there’s no needk2026; for you to touch me!”
Zhong Quan: “Master, forgive this subordinate for being unable to follow your orders.”
Gou Liang’s act of self-harm just now caused him to lose all trust from the head of the shadow guards. Zhong Quan had already been informed by the old man. If the poison did not get resolved, then each outburst would only be worse than the last. Gou Liang being able to last until now already took tremendous willpower.
He won’t allow anyone to hurt Gou Liang, even Master himself is not allowed.
Gou Liang cried. Although he didn’t make any noises, his despair had already reached its peak. “I-I can endure it…don’t do anything extra.”
The hands. .h.i.tting and gripping Zhong Quan withdrew. He seemed to have accepted something as he spoke aloud his bottom line. Zhong Quan heavily made a sound in response before conscientiously helping him relieve the poison…
The moon dipped, once again disappearing into the horizon.
When the first ray of light shone, like a deflated balloon, Gou Liang laid limply on top of Zhong Quan, having lost all consciousness.
Zhong Quan was pale with worry.
The old man appeared at this moment: “No need to be alarmed, he’s just too tired.”
Saying this, he walked forward and checked on Gou Liang before letting out a heavy sigh: “This child is too stubborn, I’m afraid next month…since he doesn’t want you, it’s best to start making preparations. If push comes to shove, just go to the capital and capture that wild man. After disabling his limbs and blinding his eyes, give him to the brat to play with.”
Zhong Quan didn’t respond.
Gou Liang, who was sleeping, shed a tear of despair.
【Gou Liang: Wuwuwu, he’s not a man!!!】
【System: Master, what’s wrong?】
【Gou Liang: He actually didn’t… get hard ┭┮﹏┭┮ 】
【System: …How embarra.s.sing, hehe.】
That’s right, last night, no matter how hard Gou Liang tried or how lewdly he cried out, that stupidly proper shadow guard head, don’t mention getting hard, even his breathing remained unchanged.
This was really—— utter humiliation!
The system who had to listen to them the entire night, tried it’s best right now to shed a distressed tear for its Master.
But before it could offer any words of comfort, Gou Liang had already resurrected with full blood.
【Gou Liang: Very well, you have successfully attracted my attention! (￣⊿￣) 】
【The sea of consciousness bubbled with affection and was suddenly illuminated with bright sunlight：M-master, are you alright??】
【Gou Liang: I’m doing great…seeing he really doesn’t have ‘that’ sort of intention towards the original host, I can rest a.s.sured. (*￣︶￣) 】
【System: …】
【Ding, the target’s current favorability value：+80. Current completion rate：0%!!】
【Gou Liang: Tch.】
Gou Liang went to sleep with a peace of mind. However, the target-dada who made him feel a.s.sured, Gou Liang was wholly unaware of the uproarious matter that he had done afterward. It made the heavens tremble and demons cry.
In the short period of a month, simultaneously, the capital, the Northern Desert and the borders of the West Country were met with cases of flower thieves.
And what the flower thieves picked were not virgin maidens or mature, married women. Rather, they only took big, strong men! Tens of people were stripped naked in the middle of the night but those people were still considered lucky as they hadn’t been taken away. Five to six people had already consecutively been caught, even the capital’s General Ling who guarded the frontier, didn’t manage to escape. But like the mult.i.tude of people that met with the same fate, his brief disappearance wasn’t noticed by anyone. None of them dared to raise a fuss either.
——Being sent back because their thing was too small, even if you killed them, they wouldn’t say it out loud.
Gou Liang’s head ached as he looked at the naked muscular youths in front of him that were knocked unconscious and placed into an orderly row on the floor—— ah, amongst them, there was even a person with a slender and thin figure just like Li Yan. His object was also quite impressive. To find this guy, the loyal shadow guard head had stripped nearly all the men in the nearby towns. Such deep devotion, how moving—— as if!!
It felt like his temple was housing a little person and currently that little person was punching and kicking inside his head. Gou Liang fought to maintain his composure.
The old man was in high spirits as he squatted by the men and examined them——one, to see if they had any hidden illness, and two, to inspect the appearance and capability of their thing.
Gou Liang couldn’t help but smile coldly: “Since it’s so impressive, why don’t I give him to grandfather as a show of filial piety?”
“Tsk, tsk, this b.a.s.t.a.r.d, from the look of the color, how many family’s daughters did he ruin——hngh, what did you say?!” The old man finally reacted and leaped onto his feet in anger. Seeing Gou Liang’s unrepentant expression, he immediately rolled up his sleeves, ready to give him a beating.
Zhong Quan blocked him and said earnestly: “If Master isn’t satisfied with these people, then even if this subordinate has to search the entire world, this subordinate will find a one that is to your liking.” Seeing Gou Liang’s livid expression, Zhong Quan said in the end: “If Master is still thinking of that person, then this subordinate is willing——”
“Shut up!!”
Gou Liang angrily threw the water bowl and kettle by his side at Zhong Quan’s feet. This startled the old man, he was about to open his mouth to scold Gou Liang when he suddenly saw the water falling from Gou Liang’s eyes. Tears the size of peas dripped down uncontrollably.
He seemed to have also realized he had lost his temper. Wiping away the excess liquid, he smiled faintly and said: “I apologize, I lost control.”
When the old man saw him like this, he felt a bit distressed. Letting out a sigh, he patted Zhong Quan’s shoulder and had him take away the men for now.
The old man then spoke sincerely: “Back then I told you of the consequences. Since you chose to treat your leg, then you should be prepared for the circ.u.mstance today. A real man knows when to bend and stretch. Could it be that you still want to keep your body for a single person?”
Gou Liang shook his head.
“I’m not doing this for anyone, it’s just that…when the time comes for me to cross the yellow river, I will have no face left to face my ancestors and parents…”
Saying this, the tears that he was holding back gushed out again.
The old man made a spitting sound and said: “A dead person is like an extinguished light, they don’t even know what’s happening in front or back of them. You’re thinking too far ahead…if you really want to argue, that year when they refused to disobey the Emperor’s order, they knew this road was a dead end but they still went ahead and walked it, in the end, making a stupid child like you pay the price in their stead! They still have the face to say you dishonored the family name? If one day this old man goes one step ahead of you, I’ll definitely scold their b.l.o.o.d.y dog heads!”
Gou Liang raised the corner of his lips, seeming to have received a thread of comfort. However, the light in his eyes dimmed again soon after.
He said: “Currently, I can still endure, but if it comes to that point…it will be enough to just get through it.”
Although the old man saw that he was avoiding the subject, he also couldn’t force him.
Thus, with the changing moon, time pa.s.sed like this.
Far away in the capital, Li Yan, after mulling over Zhong Yue’s words, decided to use an underhanded method to protect his own reputation—— he secretly sent people to kill a couple of not so useful people in his own political faction in order to muddy the waters even more.
Like Zhong Yue had said, the previous three murders couldn’t have been done by the original owner——and to some extent, his divination wasn’t incorrect.
Since it was like this, the suspicion of King An and the Emperor were the greatest.
Moreover, the people who died, although they were King An’s people who had had a disagreement with Li Yan, they were all unimportant people who had little to no achievements in court.
This meant their death had little impact on King An’s faction. On the contrary, it made Li Yan’s reputation swoop to the floor.
It could only be said that Gou Liang had chosen the perfect time to act.
When the Gao Clan faction was eradicated, because Emperor Wu had forcibly pulled out the roots of an old tree, it had caused considerable damage to the court which was currently in an upheaval.
Li Yan’s position as the crown prince was also not stable——the emperor had been hurt deeply by his fake son, after recovering from his illness and knowing that he could still live for a few years longer, his thoughts had already changed compared to before.
It was apparent, although Emperor Wu hated the previous crown prince, towards his son Li Yan, who had exposed the light of this matter and was also young, healthy, and popular, he didn’t favor him either—— Li Yan also realized that Emperor Wu had the intentions to live a few years longer before kicking him aside and making his youngest son—— who had just started to mingle in court, and was still rather naive and cute—— his successor. Because of this, after he was warned by Zhong Yue, he did something like breaking his own wings to protect himself.
Moreover, as the imperial examination was currently being held, Li Yan was busy trying to ingratiate and win over the scholars that showed high potentials in order to lay out foundations for his own faction in the future.
But now, it was being said outside that he was a very narrow-minded person who would kill people simply because of a disagreement. Even if this was just a rumor, it made the scholars who had yet to truly enter the court afraid.
As soon as the scale started to tip, so long as King An then conveniently perform some charitable deeds, the hearts of the scholars would naturally tilt towards King An’s side.
It could be said, Gou Liang only cleverly picked a few thorns but he made King An appear righteous while swiftly s.n.a.t.c.hing a portion of power from Li Yan’s hands. Not to mention, King An had the support of the Emperor. Because of Li Yan’s “tyrannical and cruel behavior”, many court officials who treasured their lives unanimously joined King An’s faction in an impromptu unison under the Emperor’s hints.
Right now, it could be said that although it hadn’t been long since King An entered the court, the number of supporters under his wings weren’t any less than Li Yan who had been struggling at court for nearly a decade.
With such disparity between them, so long as Li Yan wasn’t blind, he would harbor hate towards the other.
From the benefits King An had received, he and the Emperor were indeed too suspicious. Li Yan already had no doubt that this was the “truth”.
However, Li Yan was also resolved. Two of his subordinates died successively, and it was publicly known that both were people whom he had praised and intended to promote.
With their deaths, no matter what conjectures other people might have had in their hearts, on the surface, Li Yan’s suspicion had been washed clean.
He even put on a righteous act, writing an atonement letter, asking the Emperor to punish him as it was remiss of him as the crown prince to allow such a matter to happen. He brought forth “evidence” to the Emperor, pushing all the blames onto the henchmen of the fallen Gao Clan.
Although the Emperor had his doubts, the Gao Clan was currently his sore spot, his temper flared up the moment they were mentioned. Even if he was mistaken, he could not let go of the possibility that the remaining dregs of the Gao Clan were causing mischief. On the spot, the Emperor commanded Li Yan and King An to investigate the truth of this matter, ordering that they must not let go of anyone suspicious.
“Imperial brother is indeed shrewd, it’s just those two officials, I wonder what they would have thought if they knew your highness’ favor towards them would instead become a verdict for their death?”
King An was a young man at the prime of his youth, when they walked out of the imperial study, he couldn’t help say this with a sneer.
Li Yan gave a small smile, “How can I compare to you, imperial brother? In order to frame your elder, there are no methods that can’t be used…Hah, let this prince warn you, if you truly want to beat this prince, there’s no fun in just killing a few guard dogs. For example, the Li-Daren and Chen-Daren amongst your aides… What would you do if they died?”
He named the high ranking Minister of Justice and Minister of Appointment under King An’s faction. He cast a light look at King An, and without waiting for the other to retort, he flicked his sleeves and walked away.
King An was angered: “You unscrupulous person!”
Saying this, he didn’t hurry to leave the imperial palace. Rather, seething with anger, he headed to the back palace to visit his imperial concubine mother.
Gou Liang: The moment there’s a displeasure, he runs to tell his parent? How sweet this child is.
However, after Gou Liang witnessed the smarts of King An’s birth mother, he no longer thought this was a mere childish tendency.
King An’s mother was one of the four imperial concubines, Consort Shu. She said: “Have you ever thought that perhaps this wasn’t the doing of the crown prince?”
King An and his aides clearly hadn’t thought from this perspective before: “If it isn’t him, then who is it?”
Consort Shu: “On this surface, this matter seemed to be against you, but in truth, the person that the orchestrator is aiming at is precisely the crown prince. Perhaps as he had said, this is done by the surviving members of the Gao Clan, or perhaps…”
She didn’t finish her sentence.
King An adjured her to continue. Finally, she pulled King An’s hand and wrote the word “Emperor” on his palm.
King An exhaled sharply: “This, this…”
“Hush.” Consort Shu shushed with her finger. She said calmly: “Since His Majesty has arranged for both you and the crown prince to investigate this matter together, then no matter who is the true culprit behind this, you should keep in mind what is the result that the Emperor wants. What your mother consort is telling you, do you understand?”
King An composed himself and nodded his head.
Gou Liang watched up to here before he was interrupted by the old man.
He was here to take off Gou Liang’s bandages.
This wasn’t the first time that Gou Liang had mummy-like bandages taken off from his face. In the last world, he had once filmed a movie with the main theme of plastic surgery. However, as he sat here waiting with the medicinal bandages falling down loop after loop, he felt much more expectant than he did while filming the movie.
At last, the face that had been hidden from sight for two months would be finally revealed.
“Mirror.”
Seeing how both the old man and Zhong Quan weren’t saying anything, Gou Liang took in a deep breath and said this.
——The target was standing too close, he couldn’t even see exactly just how ugly his face was！
The old man stopped Zhong Quan who was about to move, “What mirror? In this place, other than sand, what else is there to find? A big man like you, no matter how pretty you are, what use is it other than tricking men?!”
Gou Liang touched his face with his hand and felt an obviously uneven surface on his skin. His expression sunk but he resolutely finished touching the entirety of the scar.
Zhong Yue did not show mercy at all, this face was slashed from the left side of his forehead to the right side of his cheek. The diagonal scar spanned across his entire face…
He breathed in deeply and looked at Zhong Quan: “It’s very ugly, isn’t it?”
Zhong Quan: “This subordinate has vowed to serve Master till death, your appearance does not matter.”
Gou Liang: …Hmph, in two days when the moon is full, he’ll know if it matters or not! (﹁ ﹁)
A new editor has joined us. Welcome Vez Also new co-tl at long last, welcome Bluemoon