Location: Residence of Duke Ming, Tong Palace
Time: After lunch
... Rong Tian sighed heavily, "They stopped bothering us at long last; if anyone comes around, this King will just have to kill him."
In his mind, Feng Ming harbored petty plots to reverse roles and seize the dominant position in bed; he took the chance to make a bold claim, "Today it"s my turn to be on top, by the way."
"Oh? Why is that?"
Rong Tianacted dumb, however,Feng Ming didn"t fall for this trick, "Humph! Today I was wronged and not just once. How about giving me a good compensation? Mom tweaked my ears till they hurt, plus, she refused to give away Wen Lan Flower."
Rong Tiancalmlynarrowed his eyes before saying with a smile, "It was entirely your mom"s doing. How did I come into it?"
"You bit me!" Feng Ming used a totally serious tone of voice to make this grave accusation. "You bit me, which is why you should apologize, moreover, to payit off, you should let me top you for 30 days in a row."
"All right, I did really bite you."
Since Rong Tian was speaking gently, Feng Ming squinted at him with satisfaction.
Rong Tian added, "As you were injured in this area, it would be only natural for you to safely recuperate and get plenty of rest. Youshould avoid vigorous activity for a year, so you will just obediently lie down for me and feel comfortable. I, for one, will reluctantly take up the most exhausting task."
Feng Ming immediately smelled something fishy, and he hasn"t even heard the rest of this. He glared at the smiling face of Rong Tian, widened his doe eyes, annoyed with that smile which... which all too open and sincere.
Unlike Feng Ming, King Rong wasn"t so easy to tweak.Seeing a dainty finger inches away from his face, he opened his mouth to catch and hold it inside, locked his teeth on the finger, not letting Feng Ming escape, then deftly teased it with the tip of his tongue.
Such a lewd move directly evoked the image of "that" thing being tightly held and sucked into the narrow pa.s.sage.
Feng Ming quivered at once, then a wave of slight numbness spread from his finger down to his lower back, he involuntary arched his waist upward.
Rong Tian patted the swollen thing hidden under his clothes, before casting a meaningful glance at Feng Ming, "Fine! This sword here... let"s put it in action, we haven"t polished it in quite some time."
"Nonsense! Already polished last night..." When Feng Ming uttered these words, he remained rooted to the spot for a while.
In the end Feng Ming realized, he was the one talking nonsense, too. He almost bit his tongue off and ruthlessly kicked Rong Tian.
Rong Tian grunted his displeasure then warned Feng Ming in an especially vicious tone: "So energetic, seems like the sword practice of last night wasn"t enough."
Hot lips imperiously covered Feng Ming"s mouth; Rong Tian acted like a warlord eager to attack cities and seize territories, to ultimately subdue the Land Under Heaven.
And then, with this kiss, Rong Tian sent fiery tides coursing through Feng Ming"s body, his breath was coming in pants as he muttered softly, "We just had a meal... it can... it can hurt my stomach... appendicitis."
Rong Tian was burning all over by now, the beast between his legs nearly turned savage, after thoroughly savoring Feng Ming"s mouth, he tsk tsk clicked his tongue, said discontentedly, "Who had a meal? I"m going to die of hunger. Be good and stick out your tongue a bit."
Red blush spread on both Feng Ming"s arms from the wrists up, Feng Ming arched his neck allowing Rong Tian to explore and fondle all he wanted.
The atmosphere quickly became chaotic; the two men were holding each other tightly, tangled together like raveled silk.
Andright about that time, a calm voicedrifted from behind the door, "This subordinate has something to report..."
His playful spirit being dampened for the third time, Rong Tian straightened up, roared furiously toward the entrance, "What more is there to report?"
But in the next moment he sensed something was wrong. Actually, it wasn"t just him who bellowed in rage a moment ago.
Pinned down under his body, Feng Ming was irked enough to gasp for air, a pained expression all over his face.
No wonder the roar was so loud.
However, people waiting outside were not intimidated by this double violent outburst.
Luo Yun sounded cool and impa.s.sive, "Young Master, we"ve just received an express letter from Yuezhong City".
Eh? Yuezhong City? Was Prince Yong Yi the one that sent a messenger out to deliver it? Feng Ming couldn"t help feeling amazed.
He rolled out of bed before grabbing the long robe and slipping it on.
"Did they find Lie Er?"
"This subordinate didn"t dare open the letter."
"Quickly bring it here!" Feng Ming gave the order and looked at Rong Tian with a regretful stare.
It couldn"t be helped.
What at first seemed like a carefree day was now looking more and more like a very busy day.
Probably, Heaven just intended to punish Rong Tian, this ever-h.o.r.n.y King.
Luo Yun came in holding the letter; while he could clearly see the two people were in a rush to get dressed because their clothes were in disarray, Luo Yun"s expression remained normal as if he didn"t see it.
"Young Master, this is a letter from Yuezhong City," he said coolly.
He brought the letter over, then opened it head-on in front of Feng Ming.
Once he confirmed that it wasn"t poisoned he handed it to the Young Master.
Rong Hu followed Luo Yun into the room, coming right behind him, and quietly watched as Feng Ming was reading the letter.
In the end, he couldn"t stand it any longerand asked, in a low voice, "Duke Ming, any news on Lie Er?"
"No," Feng Ming quickly finished browsing through the letter, his delicate eyebrows slightly knit. "They have been looking everywhere, however, they found no trace of Lie Er, it was as if he disappeared into thin air. On the day before leaving, Lie Er agreed the approximate route with Yong Yi, he also promised to leave a secret sign on the gates of every city, big or small, that comes his way, so as to share his whereabouts with Yong Yi."
Rong Tian said, "That"s true. Even though Lie Er is young, he"s an experienced spy. When traveling alone, he would be careful about what he does, and absolutely couldn"t let Yi Fang"s people lose track of him."
Feng Ming looked at Rong Hu and noticed how the s.p.a.ce between his brows contorted withsadness.
Knowing that he really feared for his little brother"s safety, Feng Ming gave him the letter and said, "Prince Yong Yi a.s.signed people to travel along the same route and investigate; they found out that Lie Er already left the secret sign in the port of Fen Cheng, however, all leads ended there. Chances are, Lie Er vanished precisely in Fen Cheng."
Rong Hu felt as if his heart was sinking.
He quickly read the message till the end, covering ten lines at a glance.
Last words in the letter made him lighten up a bit.
He said, "Prince Yong Yi already decided he"ll depart from Yue Zhong and go to Fen Cheng so that he can personally dig into this matter".
Feng Ming scrutinized him carefully, "It seems as if you have every confidence in Yong Yi. Don"t tell me he"s even shrewder than Mian Ya!"
Rong Tian caressed the soft black hair of Feng Ming and gave him a quiet smile, "Duke Ming takes Yong Yi too lightly, did you forgot how he lured us into an oil-soaked inn on the pretext of conversing? If we hadn"t answered to his satisfaction, he would have burned us alive without a qualm. Men like him would naturally take the lead at crucial moments. He just won"t engage in power struggles anymore; he"s patiently lying in wait, biding his time, moreover, he was concerned about Lie Er to the extent that he treated us amicably all along. Yong Yi is a shrewd man, if he wasn"t, why would I willingly give him Lie Er, a very capable subordinate? Luckily, he is greatly disappointed by the absurd behavior of the Yong Yin royals, loves Lie Er no matter what, and is willing to renounce the t.i.tle of Crown prince of Yong Yin so as to enjoy a leisure life with Lie Er. Because otherwise, he would become a worthy challenge to my Xi Lei Kingdom in the future." After being rebuked a little by Rong Tian, Feng Ming unexpectedly felt relieved, "If he is really as sharp as you said, he must find Lie Er as quickly as possible. In this era of turmoil, there are no records of missing persons. If you unite the Land Under Heaven, in the future, you will carefully maintain population registers and ensure public safety."
Feng Ming opened his eyes wide at Rong Tian and asked wonderingly, "Why staring at me with that lofty expression?"
Rong Tian smiled faintly, "You talent for state governance becomes more evident as you grow up."
Feng Ming hastily waved him off, "Never treat me as a potential prime minister or chancellor. These jobs are so d.a.m.n exhausting, and besides, one cannot go anywhere one wants to go and play."
Luo Yun slipped in a remark all at once, "Young Master, or course, has this talent; even so, he makes no effort to improve his skills. The Xiao clan owns vast amounts of property, meanwhile, Young Master can"t even control himself."
"Duke Ming, may this maid come in and serve you?" Qiu Yue"s clear voice came from the outside.
She opened the doors just a crack with her fingertips, took a sneak peek inside only to see Rong Hu and Luo Yun, the two bold men, safe and sound. Everyone was seriously discussing politics.
Knowing that now she couldn"t afford to repeat the fatal mistakes of Rong Hu, Qiu Yue gingerly entered the room and said, "Luo Deng is at the door, he asked if the Young Master could spare some time to have a talk with him."
"Did something happen toLuo Deng?" Feng Ming asked, alarmed.
"No, no." Qiu Yue laughed and said, "Does Duke Ming remember how Rong Hu and Qiu Lan got married aboard the s.h.i.+p? Duke Ming told us then, the Xiao clan should create a business model in the future, which is to arrange wedding ceremonies on s.h.i.+ps and let newly-weds sail along Aman River and enjoy visiting many different places. This would be such a great idea! All those influential officials and wealthy merchants would fall over each other to buy the tours. And if this works, the potential profit can be huge. Luo Deng has drawn up a plan over the last few days, he also jotted down some suggestions, now he needs Duke Ming"s opinion."
Feng Ming could breathe easy again now that was all cleared up, and said brightly, "He devised a plan to make profits, is that what you mean? Alright, I"ll go and see." He gave Rong Tian a heads up, changed his clothes and left.
Luo Yun went out to escort Feng Ming, while Rong Hu stayed put.
Rong Tian asked, "Is there anything else?"
"Yes, there"s one more thing I need to report to the Great King."
Rong Tian figured out something was up, so he kept his eyes fixed on Rong Hu, "You intentionally waited for Feng Ming to leave, and only then notified this King." Rong Tian went right to the crux of the matter, "Is it related to Feng Ming?"
"Yes."
"Speak."
"In addition to the letter, Prince Yong Yi also sent something else; they say it was found in Fen Cheng. Merchants fiercely vied with each other to sell or buy such items. They have been constantly changing hands until they spread everywhere and the price kept going up." Rong Hu made a weird face as he pulled the item from within his clothes. After presenting it respectfully to Rong Tian, he said in a cautious tone, "Your Majesty, when you have seen it, please do not flare up sorashly."
The smile came slowly, playing at the corners of Rong Tian"s mouth, touching them with arrogance, "In this Land Under Heaven, not manythings would set me off. Stop dawdling and give it to me."