Keztranslations

Chapter 5.8

Soon, Qin Ce had no time to think about other things.

Because the capital had imposed martial law, he hadn’t been able to sneak into the city last time. This time, he led a group of refugees to storm the city gates, leading to relaxed defenses and a great deal of chaos, it was a good opportunity to infiltrate the capital.

He made up an excuse to leave the Zhang family, and disguised himself as an imperial guard to easily sneak into the palace.

The emperor had a lot of loyal ministers in the court, if he died and the young crown prince quickly followed, the ministers would inevitably get suspicious and cause a lot of trouble. Therefore, the Empress Dowager didn’t dare arrogantly touch the crown prince, planning to wait for her son to succeed the throne, then slowly poison the crown prince, so he could follow in his father’s footsteps.

Qin Ce smoothly contacted the young crown prince, but when leaving the palace, he was accidentally spotted by some patrolling guards, leading to a city-wide manhunt.

At the same time, a young servant boy of the Zhu family also delivered some news. General Ding Yuan, heir to the Shen Wei Marquisate’s deputy general, and the man the master was searching for had very consistent characteristics. He was 6ft tall, looked majestic, well-built, and smoked tobacco every day, which earned him the nickname Chimney in the army.

Zhou Yun Sheng was overjoyed at the news, he immediately spent a lot of money to bribe the capital’s gate guards and snuck into the city, staying at the inn across from General Ding Yuan’s residence, ready to guard a tree-stump, waiting for rabbits.

　After waiting for a whole day and never seeing the man’s visage, he felt quite disheartened, and returned to his room to rest after a late dinner with Tweety and Lu-shi.

“Gongzi, your bath is ready, please get in.” The inn servant filled the large wooden barrel behind the screen with hot water and flatteringly handed over a basket of flower petals.

“What’s this?” Zhou Yun Sheng pointed to the basket of flowers, the corner of his mouth twitching.

“This was prepared by your maidservant, who said it would leave a sweet fragrance after the bath. I’ll help Gongzi sprinkle some into the barrel.”

Tweety and Lu-shi thought that their young master had come to the city to meet his lover, so naturally they envisioned everything. It was too late for Zhou Yun Sheng to block it, so he had no choice but to throw a piece of silver to the overly attentive inn worker, then stare at the floating petals, stunned.

Forget it, he could even give birth now, why should he care about this kind of thing? He smiled self-deprecatingly, took off his clothes and slowly sank into the water. Half-way through the bath, the window behind him was suddenly forcefully pushed in. A hooded man in black halted by the barrel and stared at him, astonished.

More precisely, he was staring at the sindoor between his eyebrows.

“You’re a Ger?” The man in black blurted out.

“Little Black?” Zhou Yun Sheng quirked his eyebrows. Hearing messy footsteps downstairs, he dragged the stunned man into the barrel and pressed him under the water, then he quickly closed the window. Fortunately, the water was filled with petals, concealing everything.

The door burst open and a row of soldiers carrying swords rushed in from behind the screen. All were left dumbfounded at the sight of a young man clutching his chest, looking terrified.

“Who are you guys? How dare you trespass into my room? I’ll let you know, I’m the Left Army Commander’s, Lord Fei’s, fiancé. If you offend me, you’ll have hell to pay!”

Zhou Yun Sheng didn’t say this without reason. The Empress Dowager’s maiden family had control over the five great troops of the Right Army, and was trying to win over the Left Army to help her fight against Qin Ce’s Middle Army. She naturally didn’t dare offend the Left Army commander. Plus, Lord Fei’s wife had indeed died, and he was planning to marry a second wife.

The man in the bath tub was already extraordinarily beautiful, but his anger made him even more beautiful, the sindoor between his brows was red like it could drip blood. Such a stunning beauty could only be enjoyed by the rich and noble. The soldiers hurriedly glanced at each other, then promptly retreated behind the screen. After randomly searching under the bed, wardrobe and any other places where a person could hide, they pleaded for forgiveness before heading out.

Tweety and Lu-shi quickly locked the door.

Qin Ce burst out of the water and asked through gritted teeth, “You’re engaged to Fei Wen Hai?”

“It was a ploy.” Zhou Yun Sheng waved his hand indifferently. He draped on a robe after stepping out of the bath tub. He’d never thought of himself as anything but a man, so he wasn’t the slightest bit shy in front of Qin Ce.

Qin Ce stared at his perky buttocks and slender, straight legs. His nose heated up, and two lines of blood unexpectedly started trailing out, his crotch was also painfully tight, like it was about to explode.

Zhou Yun Sheng tied his belt and walked barefoot to the table to pour some tea, then he asked, “Why did you suddenly turn up here? You’re even being chased by officers?”

“It’s hard to explain.” Qin Ce immediately washed away the nosebleed, but he didn’t dare stand-up from the tub, afraid that the huge sea-creature would be discovered by the young man.

Zhou Yun Sheng already knew everything, he naturally wasn’t interested in questioning further. Even if he didn’t know, he also knew the principle of less said, less slipups. He walked up to the tub and smiled, “How about we make a deal?”

“What deal?” Qin Ce took a deep breath, refusing to look at the youth’s perfect body, clearly outlined under his damp clothes.

“I’ll help you escape the hunt, and you’ll forget about me being a Ger.”

“Why don’t you let people know you’re a Ger?” Qin Ce glanced at him and quickly looked away, he pushed down his inner glee as he added, “Since I’ve seen your body, I should take responsibility.”

“If you take responsibility for me, what about Zhang Shu Lin? Don’t you guys already have a fixed engagement? Don’t tell me you want one of us to be the wife, and the other to be a concubine? Where did you get such a big ego?” Zhou Yun Sheng sneered, then added, “I don’t need you to take responsibility, I already have a sweetheart. Frankly, I came to the capital just to meet him.”

Qin Ce originally wanted to explain his relationship with Zhang Shu Lin, but his mind blanked after hearing the last sentence. He only felt as if his chest had been cleaved by someone, pulling out his beating heart, squeezing and stabbing, the pain was unbearable. He hated himself for rashly agreeing to Zhang Shu Lin’s request, but even more, he hated the person Zhu Zi Yu had fallen in love with. He’d do anything to find that person and tear them to pieces.

“Who’s your sweetheart? I wonder if I can have the pleasure of meeting them.” His heart was already filled with a murderous rage, but his face was expressionless.

“Wait for me to find him, then ask this again.” Zhou Yun Sheng waved his hand, feeling dejected.

You haven’t found him yet? Good, then he will disappear forever. Qin Ce lowered his eyelids, blocking the killing intent in his eyes. After soaking in the cold water for a long time, he climbed out of the tub and changed into the clean clothes the young man handed him.

The two people had vastly different builds, so the fabric was stretched taut on Qin Ce, sketching out his muscular frame, built over years of leading troops. Zhou Yun Sheng glanced at him then quickly looked away, feeling a little uncomfortable. Just like his lover, this man was also a walking hormone dispenser.

“I’ll sleep on the bed; you take the floor.” He took out an extra set of bedding from the cupboard and threw it at Qin Ce’s feet.

“Naturally.” Qin Ce quickly spread out the bedding, then said in a deep voice, “There’s one more thing I have to correct for Gongzi. My name’s not Little Black, it’s Qin Ce.” Little Black, such a disgraceful nickname! Did Zhang Shu Lin take him, a majestic military commander, for a dog?

Zhou Yun Sheng chuckled in Schadenfreude, “Got it, Little Black.”

Qin Ce’s eyes flashed, but he unexpectedly didn’t refute. It was the same name, but when Zhu Zi Yu called it, he actually felt the sense of satisfaction of being willing to go through water and tread on fire for him, disregarding everything. It seemed that he’d really fallen head first.

After laying down the bedding, the two men put out the light and laid down to sleep.

With his beloved person in close proximity, Qin Ce was somewhat antsy. He recalled his daydreams over and over again, his breathing gradually roughening. He immediately turned over, staring at the silhouette behind the canopy with a hot gaze.

His lower body was hard, nearly bursting, but when he’d finally reached his endurance limit and was planning to knock-out the youth and put all his ideas into practice, the youth spoke up first, “You keep tossing and turning, can’t sleep?”

“Yes, I rarely sleep in the same room as others, I’m a little uncomfortable.” Qin Ce froze, slowly adjusting his breathing to a relaxed state.

“Me too. Just put up with it for now, we’ll leave the city early tomorrow morning.”

“How will we get out of the city?”

“In disguise of course.”

“Disguised as what?”

“…”

Qin Ce led the youth into a chat while his hand was comforting his lower body. In his mind’s eye, the youth’s flushed red cheeks and misty, teary eyes appeared. He had strong self-control, even if his body and soul were trembling and frantic for the young man, his breathing was stable.

Zhou Yun Sheng laid out tomorrow’s plan, then unconsciously fell into a deep sleep.

Qin Ce finally released, his wolf-like gaze locked onto the youth for a long time, unwilling to leave.

The next day, Zhou Yun Sheng ordered Tweety to buy some cosmetics. With his superb make-up skills, he disguised Qin Ce as a sixty-year-old man. His handsome face was now full of wrinkles, and even his neck and the back of his hand had sagging skin. His hair, eyebrows and beard were all grey, and his stooped body staggered with every step, looking like he had one foot in the grave. Even if Qin Ce’s father and mother were standing in front of him, they definitely wouldn’t be able to recognize him.

The two took the carriage out of the city. This time, Zhou Yun Sheng didn’t cover up the sindoor between his brows. With a large sum of money supplemented by charm, how could the city gate guards resist him? They only slightly questioned the two before letting them go.

When they were nearing Zhangjia village, after determining that no one was tailing them, Qin Ce removed the disguise and pulled Zhou Yun Sheng’s arm, urging, “Cover up your sindoor.”

He didn’t want anyone to discover this secret before the imperial court was stabilized. Zhu Zi Yu could only be his.

“I don’t need you to remind me.” Zhou Yun Sheng snorted coldly.

“Cover it now.” Qin Ce refused to relax one bit.

Helpless, Zhou Yun Sheng had no choice but to take out the flesh colored powder to cover up the mark. Qin Ce was finally satisfied, he hopped out of the carriage and headed straight for the barracks stationed ten li away.

After discussing the rescue plans with his deputy general, he returned to the Zhang family during the night.

Zhang Shu Lin was very happy to see him, but didn’t jump on him like usual, standing still and exposing a tangled expression instead.

Zhang Jia Rui bluntly asked, “Brother Little Black, have you recovered your memories? What is your identity? Someone just secretly sent us a few hundred catties of rice and a roll of banknotes, they said it was to return our kindness.” This kindness could only count as them saving Little Black.

“It’s fine for you guys to accept the rice and banknotes. My identity is inconvenient to announce, but you will naturally find out in the future. Also, don’t spread this matter to others, you might provoke a family line ending disaster.” Qin Ce’s gaze was malicious, it was as if the honest and open Little Black of before never existed.

Zhang Shu Lin paled in fright, he immediately nodded to express his willingness to keep his lips zipped.

But Zhang Jia Rui guessed a few things, then asked, his eyes slightly bright, “Then, does your marriage to my big brother still count?” If this person really was the inexplicably missing heir to the Shen Wei Marquisate, then the Zhang family would flourish, and he’d also rise through his career like a rocket.

“It naturally doesn’t count.” Qin Ce didn’t hesitate to deny.

Zhang Jia Rui’s wholehearted expectations instantly crashed, he angrily opened, “Who would have thought that the dignified army commander was the type of despicable man who goes back on his word.”

“You’re very clever, and you like to show off your cleverness, strange how people like you always die the fastest.” Qin Ce expressionlessly replied, “I, Qin Ce, really did promise, but I will not throw away a lifetime of happiness for a promise. There are many ways to repay kindness, it’s not worthwhile to use my own body as compensation. I lost my memories, not my sanity. If you guys are sensible, you’ll obediently accept my gratitude and this loan will be settled. If you’re not sensible, I have plenty of ways to make you sensible.”

For the first time, Zhang Shu Lin realized that the person in front of him was the untouchable heir to the Shen Wei Marquisate, the frighteningly powerful army commander, not the honest and simple Little Black. He nodded helplessly, his eyes red.

No matter how resentful Zhang Jia Rui felt, he also knew that an egg couldn’t hit a stone. He had no choice but to let go of the wealth and honor that was within his grasp.

Qin Ce bid the Zhang family farewell, then disappeared into the night without taking anything with him.

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T/N:

Chimney- My creative spin on lǎo yān qiāng, literally means “old opium pipe”, referring to someone who is a heavy smoker

guard a tree-stump, waiting for rabbits- wait idly for opportunities

banknotes- yín piào, banknote with a value in silver