Chapter 82: A Nasty Smile
Translator: Storm in a Teacup
Although it was important to chase after his wife, the life on a horse was just unbearable.
After a night of riding, Long finally got on a carriage.
While the Shadow Guards were driving, Long decided to get some sleep during the daytime.
Even though it was still wobbly in a carriage, but better have one than not.
After seven days of carriage ride on end, Long finally reached Shuanghua City.
Inside the city, there was only the Tianyin post and its citizens.
There were also some government departments here, although it didn’t function like one.
That was because the public security inside the city was guaranteed by Tianyin post, and more than half of the shops in the city were owned by Tianyin post. If there were any disputes, Tianyin post could handle them on its own and there was no need for government interference at all.
So, inside Shuanghua City, Tianyin post actually enjoyed more prestige than the local government!
Long felt like his bones were shattering after the long journey.
Long chose to lie on his stomach bonelessly in s.h.i.+’s bed once he entered s.h.i.+’s room after they settled down in the hotel where s.h.i.+ and Xu lived.
s.h.i.+ wasn’t in his room when Long arrived, so Long went to sleep, thinking s.h.i.+ might have gone out to gather the information.
As s.h.i.+ went back to his room in the afternoon, this was what he saw…
s.h.i.+ smiled after seeing this.
Long was still asleep and had no idea he was being watched by s.h.i.+, though he might not feel awkward at all as he’s got a thick face.
s.h.i.+ sat down on the edge of the bed after looking at Long for a while. He pushed the man who he hadn’t seen for about ten days. Long, feeling s.h.i.+’s sense, gradually opened his eyes in a daze.
s.h.i.+ chuckled at this. “Are you tired, Your Majesty?”
Long yawned and stretched his arms, “Qingzhou? Long time no see, I wanna a hug.”
s.h.i.+ raised his eyebrows, “Really tired?”
“Yeah.” Long yawned and said. “It’s really tiring.”
s.h.i.+ couldn’t help laughing. “Why are you in such a hurry?”
Long pouted his lips. “I feel upset you don’t even miss me, Qingzhou.”
“That’s not true.” s.h.i.+’s eyes became wide open. “I miss you, Your Majesty.”
“You don’t mean it.” Long was not pleased.
s.h.i.+ sighed and said, “How come I don’t mean it? I meant everything I said.”
Long got up from the bed and pinched s.h.i.+’s face with his right hand. “I don’t see it that you meant what you said.”
s.h.i.+ removed Long’s hands gently. “We have sneaked into the Tianyin post twice without disturbing the people in it, and we have also found the place where Fang Shuiyang is detained.”
“Well?” Long raised his eyebrows. “You have found him?”
“Yes.” s.h.i.+ paused. “But unfortunately, one of his legs was… broken. We don’t know if there would be a problem if we wait for too long.”
Long took a deep breath, “Did Xu know about this?”
s.h.i.+ nodded. “He knew it and he was feeling a bit blue these days. While on the other hand, though Fang Shuoyang breaks one of his legs, he seems to be in a good mood. It’s a pity we only managed to say a few words and we retreated very soon because we thought we alarmed the guards.”
“Do you want to go there again or get him out at once?” Long asked.
“No, we can’t get him out, that would alert the enemy.”
Long pursed his lips. “So, you need to sneak in there again? But you can’t guarantee you won’t be noticed every time.”s.h.i.+ smiled softly. “Just need to be careful. We won’t have many people go in there at once. Plus, it would be easier since we know where Fang is detained.”
Long knew that it would never be as easy as s.h.i.+ put. He said, “Since I am here, the Shadow Guards can handle the night scouting; you don’t have to be involved, okay?”
s.h.i.+ smiled softly, “Didn’t you say I am invincible?”
Long was speechless. “I didn’t mean what I said; you don’t have to believe it!”
Then it was s.h.i.+ who became speechless. “So, I am not invincible because you didn’t mean it at all…”
“Well…” Long touched his nose and blinked his eyes innocently. “Maybe I didn’t say anything and you heard something else, Qingzhou.”
s.h.i.+ let out a cold groan and kept watching Long in a forced smile. “Really? Nothing at all?”
“Well, nothing at all!” Long nodded heavily.
s.h.i.+ didn’t bother to care about Long’s thick face and stood up straight.
“Hey, where are you going, Qingzhou?” Long rushed to get off bed.
s.h.i.+ wasn’t going anywhere, but sat at a table.
Long followed s.h.i.+ after getting off bed and served him a cup of tea with a flattery smile.
s.h.i.+ was not being courteous at all and drank the tea as he got it.
Long also prepared tea for himself and started to drink slowly.
Long felt more comfortable after the tea.
s.h.i.+ became soft-hearted after seeing that Long was so tired and asked, “How many days did you spend on the way?”
“Seven days.” Long said.
s.h.i.+ sighed and said. “Go back and take an early rest today.”
“Okay.” Long nodded. “I wanna hug you to sleep.”
s.h.i.+’ eyebrows lifted as he smiled. “Okay.”
Long had something before it went dark and lay himself on a big soft bed after that.
No wonder the hotel charged 1 liang (ancient Chinese currency) a day, its bed was really comfortable and the quilt was quite soft.
Even though meals were included, this was still too expansive.
Long had started his whining since dinner; s.h.i.+ couldn’t help laughing. “Is 1 liang a lot to Your Majesty?”
Long shook his head. “It is not a lot to me, but as far as I know, in some places, many people couldn’t earn 1 liang a month.”
s.h.i.+ paused and said, “Places like that are rare now. You don’t have to worry a lot for that.”
Long smiled and said. “I see.”
Long went to an early bed after meal as expected.
There was only a wooden bucket for taking a shower in the hotel, not even close to the facilities in the imperial palace, however, Long wasn’t being picky about this and could make do with it!
Long went straight to bed after shower.
While s.h.i.+, of course, stayed next to him.
Tonight was the best night as Long hugged s.h.i.+ to sleep!
Long got up the next morning when the sun was rising up high.
Long’s life without memorials or morning meeting just couldn’t get any better!
The only pity Long realized was that his empress had left him the moment he woke up.
He stretched himself with a pout and then got up.
But s.h.i.+ came at the right time.
He came in as soon as Long got off the bed.
“Well, you are up?” s.h.i.+ walked in.
Long blinked his eyes and kissed him hard after seeing the door being shut.
s.h.i.+ didn’t realize all this until he had already been undressed and pushed onto the bed by Long.
When the heat went up and Long’s hands began to wander around s.h.i.+’s body. s.h.i.+ grunted and said. “Don’t… there are people outside.”
“Never mind about them… Qingzhou, we haven’t got the chance to celebrate our reunion.”
s.h.i.+ should’ve rolled his eyes as he thought this was not like they had been apart for half of their lives and was not worth celebrating at all.
But s.h.i.+ failed to speak out his mind, it was not because he didn’t want to say but he couldn’t. As Long’s desire was really aroused, he himself found it hard to maintain his own consciousness!
Long kissed all over his empress after s.h.i.+ got undressed.
The heat was on for a long time.
“Qingzhou, take a nap, I will ask someone to bring the bathing bucket and we can take a shower.”
“No need for that.” s.h.i.+ waved at him. To let someone send a bathing bucket during daytime was like telling the world what they had just done in their room. He wouldn’t do so as his face was not as thick as Long’s!
Most importantly, it was rare for men to take a shower together. He couldn’t afford to reveal his ident.i.ty.
“How about asking someone to get some hot water to wash ourselves?” Long said.
s.h.i.+ nodded this time. “Okay.”
Long asked the Shadow Guards from the back window to bring some hot water.
After the water was delivered, Long rubbed the sweat on s.h.i.+ as gently as he could.
s.h.i.+ pursed his lips, his ears burning hot.
Long’s eyes darkened after looking at s.h.i.+; he didn’t say anything to flirt with s.h.i.+, after all, he was afraid that he would grab on him and have another round of s.e.x!
Long got s.h.i.+ dressed after finis.h.i.+ng everything else while s.h.i.+ remained still and served by Long.
Long also loved dressing s.h.i.+ and was thus enjoying himself.
“Qingzhou, you got any plan today?”
s.h.i.+ shook his head. “No, the Shadow Guards have finished all what needs to be done, but since you are here, let me take you somewhere.”
“Hum?” Long’s interest was aroused and said, “Sounds good. Where is it?”
s.h.i.+ smiled and said, “I can’t explain to you right now, you may see it when you get there.”
“Very complicated? Alright.” Long didn’t want to push him too hard. “Then let’s wait till I get there.”
Two of them left after breakfast while Xu didn’t even know that Long was here!
s.h.i.+ walked with Long across a few blocks and stopped when they were about to get outside of the city.
“From this way up there was the Fenghuang (Phoenix) Mountain. s.h.i.+ said.
Long was astonished, “Fenghuang Mountain? What place again?”
“The name of the mountain.” s.h.i.+ explained.
“A phoenix once appeared on the mountain?” Long was amazed.
“No, it was because there used to be a girl who lived on the mountain and the girl finally became the Empress (TN: In Chinese traditional culture, the phoenix represents the Empress while the dragon represents the Emperor). That’s how the mountain got its name.”
“What? How come I have no idea about that? Which empress?”
s.h.i.+ smiled and said. “It was the empress from the former dynasty.”
“Oh.” Long nodded, “No wonder I have no idea about that.”
“Haha.” s.h.i.+ chuckled at him.
Long groaned and said, “What’s so funny about this, isn’t it normal that I don’t know anything about this?”
Which emperor would bother to care about the empress of the former dynasty!
“Yeah, pretty normal.” s.h.i.+ said it as he lifted the corner of his mouth.
Long calmed himself and said, “As long as I know about my empress, I don’t have to care about other empresses!”
“Yeah.” s.h.i.+ burst into laughter and said.
Long had a gentle kiss on s.h.i.+’s face. “Why do you want to take me up on the Phoenix Mountain, Qingzhou?”
s.h.i.+ shook his head slowly. “There is something… up there.”
“Well? What is it?” Long was confused.
“I don’t know yet… I searched it twice but couldn’t find anything, but I feel there must be something up there, or else, Zhou Hengliang and Fang Qiuhua will never go there at night!”
“They went up on the mountain?” Long was alerted.
“Yes, twice, and they stayed there for more than an hour each time.”
“That long time…” Long squinted. “Looks like we need to have a look… but if there’s only two of us, maybe it’s not enough.”
s.h.i.+ paused and asked, “What?”
Long smiled and said, “That Phenix Mountain is not under an individual’s owners.h.i.+p, right?”
“No.”
“That’s great, I have an idea.” Long kind of sneered.
s.h.i.+ became speechless.
Could you not sneer like that? After all, you are the head of our country.
If the courtiers saw the way you sneered… wouldn’t it ruin your reputation?
Long didn’t care about the reputation c.r.a.p; he took s.h.i.+ by his backhand… and ran away!
In no time, s.h.i.+ knew what the “good idea” was… although it sounded not bad… it was a pretty nasty one.