Chapter 44.1
Editor: yummers
When Shi Qing woke up, he was surrounded by a familiar scent. It was a light fragrance that wasn’t too rich and was pleasing to the nose.
He closed his eyes and touched the soft blanket underneath his body.
When he opened his eyes to take a look, he saw that the bed was covered with a blanket made from the fur of a red fox. There was a light quilt on top of him.
The fur of red foxes had always been treasured, and even aristocratic families would rarely have such a large blanket within their collection. The royal family, however, actually raised quite a few red foxes.
[Wow.]
Shi Qing hopped off the bed, barefooted. He didn’t mind in the slightest. After all, the ground was layered with a soft carpet.
It was summer now, but the entire palace was pleasantly cool. He went over and saw that there were hollow cauldrons placed all around with blocks of ice inside.
[He’s finally at the point of kidnapping people, huh?]
Shi Qing shook his head and yawned. [Why don’t I remember anything?]
The System carefully reminded him, [He rushed in while the Host was drunk.]
Shi Qing wasn’t surprised.
He wandered around and found that the palace hall had been completely rearranged according to his preferences. He inferred that Yu Chennian had been thinking about kidnapping him for quite some time.
The System was still a little worried. This was the first time that it had witnessed such a blatant retrieval of a person.
[Host, will this be okay?]
[What problems could there be? In fact, isn’t this good for us?]
Shi Qing savoured the pleasant feeling as he returned to the red fox blanket. He even rolled around on it.
[I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. Tongtong, go watch your TV shows. Didn’t you want to watch “The Temptation to Return to the Village” last time? There’s no time like the present.]
The System was hesitant, but it went to watch TV in the end.
Shi Qing got up and started to bang on the door.
The servants outside heard the commotion and immediately reported it to Yu Chennian.
Yu Chennian didn’t expect Shi Qing to sleep until now either. He was currently preoccupied with the prime minister with no way to extract himself from the conversation. When he heard that Shi Qing woke up, he immediately stood up.
“The prime minister needn’t worry. I have a deep friendship with Shi Qing. I was just escorting him to live in the palace temporarily for now. I have another matter to attend to, so let us continue this another day.”
With that, the new emperor left the palace hall in a hurry.
Prime Minister Shi, “……Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
What “deep friendship”? His sources told him that his brat of a son had used the new emperor as a servant before!
It was fine if Yu Chennian beat him, scolded him, or even humiliated Shi Qing in public.
But what’s up with bringing the person directly into the palace?!!
At that time, the prime minister immediately thought of how his son’s appearance began to resemble a fox spirit more and more with each pa.s.sing day.
Shi Qing had been hard at work playing around these past four years. If he weren’t the only son of the prime minister, he would’ve already been hidden away in the home of one of his “admirers”.
This was also the reason he hadn’t been betrothed at his age yet.
Everyone knew that Shi Qing was a playboy that lingered in brothels. His beautiful features were also a turn-off to the older generation who had more traditional views of what a son-in-law should look like.
They wanted someone who was either elegant and well-learned, or tall and strongly built.
But Shi Qing had a fairer appearance than most women. A single glance was enough to reveal his troublesome nature. No one would voluntarily accept such a son-in-law.
The families that were not deterred by this were beneath the prime minister’s notice.
He only had this one child. Of course he had to choose an educated and aristocrat daughter-in-law with a good family background.
Therefore, things dragged on until now.
Oh, how the prime minister regretted his indecision!!
If he had known that this kind of thing would happen, he would’ve quickly decided on a marriage partner for Shi Qing.
But now it was too late. What in the world was going on between his son and the new emperor?!!
Yu Chennian didn’t have the time to think about how Prime Minister Shi was feeling. His long legs and martial arts background played to his advantage as he strode over to where Shi Qing was staying. His mind was completely preoccupied by that person. The eunuch behind him couldn’t catch up even if he jogged.
It was not until he arrived at his bedchambers that the new emperor stopped.
He clenched his fists nervously as he stood outside the door, listening to that familiar voice inside curse and swear spiritedly.
Now that he was home, his nostalgia seemed to have been suffused with apprehension.
During the countless life and death struggles he experienced throughout the past four years, Yu Chennian held on by thinking about Shi Qing.
He had been spoiled his whole life, so he became a heartless person.
Maybe Shi Qing would grieve over Yu Chennian’s death, maybe not. But one thing was certain, Shi Qing was someone that always put himself first. In a few years, Yu Chennian would become just a distant memory.
He couldn’t die. If he did, Shi Qing would forget him.
This mantra was what pushed Yu Chennian through countless nights of slaughter and bloodshed.
It was finally time for him to pick the fruits of his harvest.
At last, the delicate and radiant blossom known as Shi Qing was brought back to his own territory.
The little master inside was still throwing a fit.
“Which blind person kidnapped me? Are you not afraid to die?! Don’t you know?! My dad is the prime minister! I’m also friends with the current emperor!”
“Show yourself if you’re a man! I’ll make you kneel down and call me grandpa!”
The palace servant outside had never seen such an arrogant person in the palace before. What’s more, this was the emperor’s personal chambers. She listened to Shi Qing’s words as sweat dripped down her face.
Yu Chennian’s arrival was like a ray of salvation. She hurriedly saluted, “Your Majesty…”
Yu Chennian waved and didn’t let her continue.
The cool headed man who had waged a decisive war for four years swallowed nervously. He stretched out his long hand and opened the door lightly.
The swearing stopped abruptly.
The palace servant stood at the side as she saw the expression of the aloof and stoic emperor—who had always been expressionless since he entered the palace—soften.
His tone was gentle and careful, as if he was afraid to frighten the little master inside. He called out softly, “Shi Qing.”
The palace servant was utterly shocked, but she immediately lowered her head according to the rules and closed the door slowly behind her as she walked out.
In the room, the little master was stupefied when he saw that the man who came in was Yu Chennian.
Yu Chennian didn’t look at his frightened expression. He seemed as if he couldn’t wait anymore as he walked up to the young master and took his tender hands. He led him all the way to the innermost part of the bedchambers.
As if he was scared stiff, Shi Qing followed behind him barefoot on the carpet.
Yu Chennian headed directly towards a secret door.
This room was arranged by the previous emperor, so that he could escape if there was an emergency. Yu Chennian had repurposed it after he ascended the throne.
This room was one of the most closely guarded secrets of the imperial family. Only the emperor of the dynasty knew of its existence. The people who built this room long ago had all been killed afterwards.
But Yu Chennian didn’t care about that at all. He was like a kid who couldn’t wait to share with his friends about the test he had aced. He didn’t shy away from Shi Qing at all as he opened the door.
As soon as the secret door was opened, a stream of cold air blew from inside.
The youth stood at the door and stared at the scene inside. His round eyes widened even further.
In the large s.p.a.ce, all four walls were covered with ice to ensure that the temperature of the room could always be kept low.
The purpose of that was to preserve the various flower ice sculptures inside.
These ice sculptures were almost lifelike; if they weren’t clear and colorless, they would be indistinguishable from the real thing.
Yu Chennian stood amidst these flowers with bright and shining eyes.
“Do you like it?”
Shi Qing, “……”
Shi Qing, “Achoo!”
He began to sneeze because of the cold wind.
Yu Chennian hurriedly ran out and closed the secret door. He picked up the youth as he walked over to the bed, placing him on the soft red fox skin.
“Are you okay? Did you catch a cold?”
The emperor was very anxious about the treasure he had worked so hard to obtain. He tested the temperature of the youth’s forehead again and again.
He was somewhat frustrated with himself.
How could he have forgotten?
This delicate little master grew up in the palm of luxury.
He was sensitive to both cold and heat.
The emperor stared at Shi Qing, who was obediently lying on the red fox skin. He was dazed for a while.
The youth became even more of a calamitous beauty in the last four years.
He used to complain about his height, but now he was decently tall.
Four proportionate limbs were languidly on display in a sea of red. Even though it was summer now, Shi Qing still wore a long sleeved robe. Only his clavicle, along with his slender and beautiful neck could be seen.
His uncalloused and white fingertips that had never done manual labour before fell into the plush of the blanket.
His manicured nails were slightly digging into his palm. Shi Qing seemed to be nervous.
It seems that the youth had finally realized that the young man that he used to humiliate at his leisure had grown up to become an emperor.
When the two last saw each other, Yu Chennian had revealed those unusual thoughts of him.
Now, he was in the highest position of all.
He had kidnapped him.
Fear gradually seeped into Shi Qing’s beautiful eyes.
He carefully stretched out his hand and gently tugged on Yu Chennian’s sleeve. There was a flattering and soft smile on his face. “I’m fine. I just caught a cold recently.”
He was like a kitten taken away from his mother. He dared not to resist, so he could only speak and mewl softly to please others.
Yu Chennian had antic.i.p.ated his reaction.
Shi Qing had always been flexible. He was absolutely obedient to those who were more powerful than him.
But his eyes betrayed the fact that the little master was overly afraid of Yu Chennian. He was currently carefully scooting back on the bed.
It’s a shame that all the emperor’s attention was focused on him. No matter how slowly he moved, he couldn’t escape Yu Chennian’s eyes.
Yu Chennian stared at the little boy who was backing away in a sitting position. His delicate face that was more beautiful than flowers was full of caution and guilt.
He was still as cute as before.
The emperor slowly approached his kitten.
He just wanted to embrace him.
To hold his soft body in his arms and have a good sleep.
The past four years weighed heavily on his shoulders.
By the way, he was referring to the literal meaning of sleep.
Yu Chennian would never do anything to Shi Qing without his consent.
However, Shi Qing clearly misunderstood his meaning.