Chapter 2 Part 1 That afternoon, Liu Bo brings the king to get to know his own residence. The king suddenly remembers one thing, “Liu Bo, how did I end up marrying Yao Yue back then?” Even though Yao Yue told him that it was a political marriage, there must have been a reason behind that. But even Liu Bo did not know that much. Turns out that two years ago, his third imperial brother, the current emperor found out about the previous emperor’s agreement with the then King of Bei Tang, Bei Tang Wei. Thinking of it as their predecessors’ wish and as a way to improve the relationship between two countries, he sent a letter to the current King of Bei Tang, Bei Tang Yao Ri, asking him to fulfill the two families’ agreement. Bei Tang Yao Ri quickly replied that he was not aware of that matter and that a long time had pa.s.sed since the agreement. The only princess in the clan, Bei Tang Yao Yue’s sister, Bei Tang Yao Chen had been married off five years before and was then the mother of two children. The King of Bei Tang’s manor was willing to make up for their breach of agreement with gold. When the emperor heard that, he was very unhappy. He said, “Do we, this big country lacks gold?” and sent a letter saying, both families are esteemed and powerful, how could they just back out of their predecessors promise? The King of Bei Tang replied, since the agreement was in the emperor’s hand, why did he not immediately send people to ask for their princess’ hand? Are they going to wait until the princess becomes an old maiden? By then, it will be too late. The emperor replied again, since there was already an agreement, how could they marry her off? No matter what, the King of Bei Tang’s residence was the one at fault and should be responsible for their misgiving. Bei Tang Yao Ri replied, what should he do? Ask his sister to leave her husband and remarry? The Great Wen’s emperor is going to marry a woman who had been married once? The emperor got upset. Why should he do something so demeaning to himself? And so he replied again. And just like that, the two people’s letters flew and swirled like a goose back and forth. The two people’s war of words continued for half a year. In the end, none of them could win over the other. It slowly started to affect the two countries’ diplomatic relation. Who would’ve thought that at that time, the Emperor saw light at the end of the tunnel and came up with a solution. Needless to say, the solution was the shocking marriage between Dong Fang Hao Ye and Bei Tang Yao Yue. These past 20 years, both Ming and Wen had peaceful and prosperous years. As the lives of the people becomes increasingly rich, extravagant and lewd things begins to develop, including male and male relationship. But even so, the marriage of a man to another man still shocked the society. After hearing Liu Bo’s explanation, the King is perplexed. Such an unconventional marriage, how could his imperial brother comes up with it? How did he manage to convince the Bei Tangs and the people, the officials and the empress dowager, the servants and……. him? Dong Fang Hao Ye secretly thinks that unless he was willing, even the emperor will not be able to persuade him to. Perhaps he already had a crush on Bei Tang Yao Yue then. Why else was he so easily manipulated by his imperial brother? He ponders to himself and carelessly follow Liu Bo out of the library. Who would’ve thought that just as he walk pa.s.s the threshold, Liu Bo suddenly turns around to say something. He trips on the threshold and could not get up for a long time. “Right, w.a.n.gye. Every fifth and tenth of the month, you and w.a.n.gfei will share a room. Today is the tenth, you must not forget to prepare.” The king falls to the ground. S-share room? How can two men share a room? Prepare? Prepare what? Who has to prepare for what, him or me? Dong Fang Ha Ye muddle-headedly suggests to himself, why not faint and wake up tomorrow. But, for someone who has been asleep for two days two nights, and slept again not two hours later only to wake up the next morning…. Fainting again will be problematic. “w.a.n.gye, are you okay? Broken anywhere? Does it hurt?” Liu Bo panics and hovers around him. It takes him a while to comes back from his sluggish state. “……I am fine….. Let’s go.” Dong Fang Hao Ye thinks his voice sounds weird. Aiya…. At this moment, he really wants to find someone to ask about this sharing room matter. After they reach the main hall, before his behind even gets to sit on the seat, a eunuch from the palace comes to tell him that the emperor heard he had been sick and had only recovers now. He invites him to the palace to see him. Edicts is not something one can defy. Dong Fang Hao Ye quickly goes back to his room to change and heads to the palace on a sedan chair. Upon entering a library, he can see someone wearing a yellow dragon robe, sitting behind a table. “Chendi greets…..” Dong Fang Hao Ye has just kneeled before his words were cut off. “Alright, alright, get up. Come here.” What? The king hesitantly look up and sees a man who resembles him, just a little more handsome and refined. The emperor beckons at him. The king hesitantly gets up, hesitantly walk over, hesitantly let himself be pulled down by him…. “Look, this is the good thing I specifically searched for you! You must be pleased!” The emperor shows him the treasure. “…….. What is this?” the king stares at the small bottle in confusion. “Don’t tell me you really lost your memories? When the imperial physician told me, I didn’t believe him. Tell me, Hao Hao, you don’t have to pretend in front of me. This thing is that!” What on earth is that? Dong Fang Hao Ye can’t understand him because he really lost his memories ah! Seeing him in silence, the emperor says, “Still acting? You really want me to say it out loud? Ai! This isthat! That!” Black lines appears on the king’s face, secretly saying, ‘No matter how many times you repeat that, I don’t know what ‘that’ means!’ The emperor sees his impatient expression and quietly whispers to him, “That thing you will be using while sharing your room with him tonight.” Dong Fang Yao Ye screeched, he almost jump away but luckily, the emperor grabs onto him. How did the emperor knows about him sharing a room with Yao Yue tonight? That question will be put at the back of his mind for now. Dong Fang Hao Ye lifts the bottle. “What did you say? This stuff will be used---“ he unconsciously follows the way the emperor whisper. “I’ve told you before. Idiot!” the emperor unhappily glance at him. “Didn’t you said you couldn’t manage Bei Tang Yao Yue and asked me for help. I am the emperor of this kingdom and yet I had to use this shady method to help you search for this aphrodisiac!” Aphrodisiac, aphrodisiac, aphrodisiac…… That word continues to circle on his head along with ‘couldn’t manage’. So they have been married for so long and he didn’t even get to ‘manage’ Bei Tang Yao Yue yet. The king sighs mournfully. If so, did Bei Tang Yao Yue get to ‘manage’ him then? The king’s eyes flickers at that as he hesitantly ponder. The emperor nudges him excitedly when he sees him clutching the bottle tightly, “How is it? I did well right! I heard this is the strongest one out of the lot. One or two drops is enough to put men like Bei Tang Yao Yue in check. Hao Hao, you must put this into test tonight, make sure you are successful!” Dong Fang Hao Ye glance at the emperor’s excited expression and secretly says, ‘I am trying to manage my wife, what are you so excited about? You only have to find an aphrodisiac, you are the emperor of the kingdom, must you be so secretive?’ “Imperial brother, can I stand up now?” he has been crouching under the table for such a long time, his feet aches. The emperor on the other hand looks relatively unbothered. “You put it away first,” the emperor carefully says. “Oh.” Dong Fang Hao Yue puts it on his chest. Just as he did that, the eunuch in front of the library made an announcement with a particularly loud voice, “Greeting the empress. Greeting the Jing w.a.n.gfei.” The emperor and the king are both shocked, both stand up and both forgot where they are. The sound ‘peng’ peng’ can be heard twice within the room as they both crash into the table. It hurts like h.e.l.l! The emperor’s table isn’t your typical table. Dong Fang Hao Ye clutches his head, he can see stars swimming around in his eyes. The empress and Bei Tang Yao Yue push open the door and enter the library. “Your Majesty, what happened just now?” the empress asks with a sweet voice. “What do you mean?” “It sounds like something heavy just fell,” the empress looks at the emperor flirtatiously, even her voice are sugary. “The empress must have heard wrong.” “I think I even heard someone yelping….” “The empress heard wrong!” Dong Fang Hao Ye hears them and can’t help but peek at the emperor. He indeed is the ruler, so different. It was such a heavy impact earlier on, but other than the slightly off-color on his face, he could still calmly answer the empress like it was n.o.body’s business. Respect-ah! Respect! His head must be made of iron! The empress suddenly blinks her pretty big eyes at him and gently smiles, “w.a.n.gye, Yao Yue told me you had been sick. Are you okay now?” Y-Yao Yue? This woman actually dares to call his w.a.n.gfei so intimately! The king unhappily glares at her. But he doesn’t know why, upon looking at her in the eyes, the anger within him feels as though it had been showered by a thousand years old hailstone. It instantly disappears and he stammers, “Thank you for the concern, sister in law. It was just a small illness, I am okay now.” The empress covers her mouth as she smiles, “I heard Yao Yue said you fell into a lotus pond and lost your memories. You don’t remember anything now.” The king admits in embarra.s.sment, “Yes, I don’t remember anything now.” The empress smile at the emperor, “Your Majesty, look. The King of Jing is already this big, but he is still so careless.” “The empress said it right. This child only likes to create trouble!” the emperor affectionately laughs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------