AEOGA CH65

At Feiquan Palace, Helian Xi sat at the head of his bed embroidering peach blossoms. The garment originally intended for Hua Yan had been claimed first by Qin Yulong and torn into tattered threads, making it completely unwearable and forcing him to make a new one.

That night when Qin Yulong stayed over at Feiquan Palace, his own clothes—soiled when Helian Xi threw up on him—had been washed clean by the laundry attendants, allowing him to leave the next day wearing his original attire. Afterward, Helian Xi gathered up the disheveled garments scattered on the floor and had A-Luo throw them out alongside the bedsheets to destroy all evidence.

A-Luo was deeply loyal to him; no matter how shocked he was in his heart, he would keep his lips tightly sealed.

When he asked A-Luo what had happened that night, A-Luo explained that after he got drunk and vomited on Qin Yulong, they had made Qin Yulong change his clothes, which was how he ended up wearing that pink garment. Seeing how that discarded pink garment was wrinkled and even torn at the seams, Helian Xi mused that Qin Yulong couldn’t possibly have stripped himself down like that; it looked far more as though a drunken Helian Xi had forcibly pulled off his clothes…

He couldn’t even tell if Qin Yulong had forced himself on him, or if he had forced himself on Qin Yulong… Yet Helian Xi felt that with Qin Yulong’s rigid, unyielding disposition, he wouldn’t do something like forcing a bed partner. It was far more likely that he had teased him in his drunkenness, and Qin Yulong had simply given in halfway…

However, he was drunk while Qin Yulong was sober—so Qin Yulong bore full responsibility without question.

But why did Qin Yulong “give in”? It couldn’t possibly be out of lust.

Was it because he knew he was the “female general” he had faced on the battlefield? Qin Yulong seemed to care deeply about that “female general”; when they first met under his identity as a prince, he had asked about her whereabouts.

Helian Xi liked that high-spirited young general. Even after grudges and rivalries formed between them later, he had kept those feelings tucked deep in his heart. Learning it was not just one-sided unrequited love brought him a secret, quiet joy.

Yet what was the point of dwelling on this? It was impossible for him and Qin Yulong to ever end up together.

The more Helian Xi thought, the more restless he grew. As his mind wavered, the needle pricked his finger.

A-Luo panicked: “Your Highness, A-Luo will fetch the medicine.”

“What are you shouting about? I’ve suffered blade and spear wounds a hundred times worse than this.” Helian Xi wiped away the drop of blood. “Why would a pricked finger need medicine? Have you stayed in Changli Palace so long that you truly treat me as some delicate, frail imperial consort?”

Recalling how his master had once fought on the battlefield disguised as a woman, A-Luo fell silent.

Helian Xi continued stitching the pattern, asking as if casually: “Is that surname Qin still outside?”

These past few days, Qin Yulong had been kneeling outside Feiquan Palace every day for a full two hours.

Although Helian Xi said he didn’t need him to take responsibility, Qin Yulong couldn’t take someone’s body and act as if nothing had happened—that would be far too scum-like. If his father found out his son had committed such a family-disgracing act, he would enforce the clan discipline.

Since Helian Xi didn’t like him, he couldn’t request a decree for marriage to ruin Helian Xi’s life. Nor could he castrate himself according to the law, which would expose his crime to everyone and damage Helian Xi’s dignity.

After much deliberation, his only option was to kneel with birches on his back and ask for punishment. When Helian Xi refused to see him, he simply punished himself by kneeling.

Helian Xi was startled at first. A general of Changli kneeling at his palace gates—what kind of sight was that? He sent someone to tell Qin Yulong to return, but Qin Yulong refused, insisting that if he was in the wrong, he had to accept his punishment and would kneel until Helian Xi’s anger cooled.

Yet Helian Xi didn’t know how to face him. He was considering far more than Qin Yulong was, so he simply ignored him. Once Qin Yulong grew tired of kneeling, he would eventually give up.

A-Luo said, “He left just now.”

“How strange. Usually he kneels for a full two hours and won’t leave no matter how we chase him, yet today he left after just one hour,” A-Luo muttered.

Helian Xi’s hand paused before he continued embroidering as if nothing had happened: “What’s there to be surprised about? As a grand general of Changli, lowering himself for so many days is already giving enough face. Could he possibly spend his entire life atoning for his sin?”

He stabbed the needle in viciously: “I don’t even want to be entangled with him for a lifetime!”

His furious posture made it look as though he were treating the embroidery in his hands as Qin Yulong, stabbing him with needles.

A-Luo said worryingly, “Your Highness…“

As a personal servant who had grown up with his master, he understood Helian Xi completely. His Highness’s current state was clearly pretending not to care, while actually caring to death in his heart.

A-Luo hesitated, then decided to speak up: “Though I did not accompany Your Highness onto the battlefield and do not know its dangers, I know that on the day Your Highness returned to the palace, you were covered in wounds—the scar on your shoulder remains to this day. Even so, you dragged your injured body to kneel before Her Majesty the Empress to beg for forgiveness, asking Her Majesty not to vent her anger over your military defeat on Noble Consort Xian and the Seventh Princess… and even agreed to the condition of entering a marriage alliance.”

“A-Luo has grown up beside Your Highness and knows you are bright as fire, love freedom, and treat us servants as friends. You aren’t like the other princes and princesses, who are as rigid and dull as wooden puppets and treat servants as subhumans.” Serving Helian Xi, A-Luo was fiercely loyal, yet lacked a slavish nature, daring to criticize the Xifeng imperial family like this: “You fought so hard to escape the fate of political marriages, yet in the end, you were dragged into the political whirlpool and forced into a marriage alliance. Since then, all the vibrant spirit in you vanished. You used to chat and laugh with us, but afterward, you never smiled again and barely spoke.”

“It was… only after meeting Imperial Concubine Qin. Although he bickered with you every day, you spoke more, and you became lively again. You complained to us about Imperial Concubine Qin, but whenever you mentioned him, you smiled.” A-Luo summoned his courage: “When other princes fought with you in Xifeng, your retaliation was far harsher than toward Imperial Concubine Qin. A-Luo feels… it’s not that you dislike Imperial Concubine Qin. You often say people should boldly pursue love without being bound by worldly conventions. Since… since the rice is already cooked, why not give it a try?”

“Though His Majesty of Changli is good, his heart belongs only to the Empress, making him no suitable match for you.” A-Luo whispered, “Rather than wasting your life in the inner palace, it would be better to…“

Helian Xi raised his eyes, his usual playful arrogance gone, replaced by deep, unreadable coldness: “A-Luo, you have too much to say today. I treat you well, but not so you can lose your sense of propriety.”

A-Luo fell to his knees: “It is precisely because Your Highness treats A-Luo well that A-Luo must speak. Your Highness’s happiness and joy are more important than anything else.”

Helian Xi looked at his childhood companion and confidant for a long while before letting out a soft sigh: “Get up.”

“Do you think I don’t believe my own happiness matters most?” Helian Xi lowered his gaze. “But A-Luo, I carry the peace of two nations, along with the favor and lives of my father and sister on my shoulders. Every action I take must be taken with extreme caution; how could I commit treasonous acts? If I live happily, many people will suffer. I envy His Majesty of Changli and His Highness the Empress for living in total harmony, united in heart, rising above worldly conventions to earn the envy of all. Yet not everyone has the power to defy worldly conventions; I can only remain one of those envious masses.”

“My own wishes have never mattered.”

–

At Chongxue Palace.

“Subject Qin Yulong pays respects to Your Majesty and Your Highness the Empress,” Qin Yulong offered a formal greeting as soon as he entered.

He was only halfway through his daily kneeling session today when he was summoned by the Emperor’s attendants. Since the Emperor had summoned him, he could not disobey.

“Yulong, no need for formalities. Sit,” Xie Chongjin said. “Today we speak not as sovereign and subject, but merely chatting as brothers and friends. It has been a long time since the three of us sat down together to talk properly.”

Among all the Plot Consorts, Qin Yulong was closest to Xie Chongjin and Lu Xuechao. Their fathers were close friends, and when Xie Chongjin and Lu Xuechao played together in their youth, Qin Yulong was always the little follower tagging along.

As childhood friends, Qin Yulong was the youngest and treated like a younger brother by both of them, making their bond naturally closer than with others.

Seeing not a single servant in Chongxue Palace, Qin Yulong relaxed slightly, though he still politely added: “Formalities cannot be discarded.”

Imperial power was absolute; noble families adept at self-preservation would teach their children that no matter how distinguished the family or how close their relationship with imperial heirs, they must never truly address each other as brothers or abandon etiquette. Otherwise, if the imperial family grew suspicious one day, those breaches of decorum could be used as leverage.

Lu Xuechao’s family upbringing was exceptional, and his etiquette impeccably polite. It was Xie Chongjin who repeatedly emphasized it in person during their youth, feigning anger whenever Lu Xuechao performed formal greetings, and using utmost intimacy and indulgence to dissolve Lu Xuechao’s caution with genuine devotion before Lu Xuechao finally stopped standing on ceremony.

Qin Yulong had not received such treatment. Coupled with two years in the military without seeing each other, they were no longer as carefree as in their childhood.

“Yulong looks quite haggard these past few days,” Lu Xuechao remarked. “Is training troops in the army too exhausting?”

Qin Yulong replied, “I love being in the army most; how could it be exhausting?”

“Oh?” Lu Xuechao said with a faint smile. “I thought you loved staying at Feiquan Palace most, or why else would you guard outside Feiquan Palace every day?”

Qin Yulong’s face flushed red as he realized the two had brought him here today precisely to ask about this.

“How is that ‘guarding’? He is kneeling,” Xie Chongjin and Lu Xuechao played off each other smoothly. “A general of our nation kneeling before the palace gates of a foreign prince—what decorum is there in that?”

Qin Yulong quickly dropped to one knee, clasping his hands: “Subject has sinned; please bestow punishment, Your Majesty. However, I committed a mistake and ought to ask for punishment. It is not a Changli general wronging a Xifeng prince; it is Qin Yulong wronging Helian Xi. Apologizing is purely a personal matter, unrelated to national identity.”

“Be that as it may, you are still a general of Changli. No matter how great a mistake you made, is there any error that cannot be forgiven after kneeling for days? Denying you face on Changli’s own soil is slapping Changli in the face,” Xie Chongjin said casually. “On an official level, you are the general who quelled the rebellion for me; on a personal level, you are a younger brother to Qingshu and me. Naturally, I will not punish you—I will only punish him.”

In a panic, Qin Yulong shifted from one knee to both knees, kowtowing deeply in a formal salute. His tone grew far more grave and anxious: “It has nothing to do with Prince Helian; it is entirely my fault for wronging him.”

Xie Chongjin and Lu Xuechao looked at each other and smiled.

Qingshu was indeed clever. Knowing Qin Yulong’s stubborn nature, since no one else could extract anything from him, they wouldn’t be able to either. If they punished him, he would obediently accept it without a word; but if they threatened to punish the person he cared about, he would panic and reveal his flaw.

Xie Chongjin continued playing the villain: “How did you wrong him? If your reason isn’t sufficient, I will not spare him easily.”

Qin Yulong remained on his knees in silence. He dared not deceive his sovereign, yet he refused to break his promise to Helian Xi by revealing the matter. He could only maintain his silence, his face flushing deeper and deeper red.

Lu Xuechao finally spoke: “Did you wipe his cinnabar mark?”

“Wiping the cinnabar mark” in Xifeng Kingdom signified a man losing his virginity.

Lu Xuechao remained silent until taking the shot, his words striking like a thunderclap. Qin Yulong looked up in utter shock, blurting out: “How did Your Highness know?”

The moment the words left his mouth, he closed his eyes in deep regret.

How could he have slipped up like that… wasn’t this a self-confession?

Lu Xuechao let out a soft laugh. A straightforward person was a straightforward person after all, unable to hold his composure; he had bluffed it right out of him with a single prompt.

It wasn’t hard to guess, really. Very few things could drive Qin Yulong to kneel with birches to ask for punishment; it certainly wouldn’t be a mere verbal quarrel, or he would have already knelt to death outside Feiquan Palace given their usual bickering. Nor could it be battlefield matters, for as a general of Changli, Qin Yulong’s stance was rock-solid.

Thus, it could only be physical intimacy.

Besides, what else could make this pure-hearted young general blush red all the way down his neck the moment it was brought up?

“You both drank alcohol that night; it wasn’t hard to infer.” Lu Xuechao appeared somewhat puzzled. “However, Yulong, you possess a constitution that never gets drunk.”

In Changli, all citizens were equal, and there was no notion of who was disadvantaged between the active and passive partners, save for the fact that the passive partner bore the burden of childbirth.

However, if one party was conscious while the other was not, the unconscious party was undoubtedly the one taken advantage of. It was no wonder Qin Yulong felt so deeply remorseful.

Qin Yulong lowered his voice: “I… like Prince Helian. I lost control of my feelings for a moment and committed a grave mistake.”

“You call that liking him?” Xie Chongjin raised an eyebrow. “Liking him means bullying him?”

“…” Qin Yulong lowered his head even further. “I am naturally far behind Your Majesty’s thoughtfulness toward His Highness the Empress; it was my childishness.”

“Since you like him, I will issue an imperial decree bestowing marriage upon you two. There are already precedents in the inner palace anyway; once the Yelang crisis settles, I shall allow your grand wedding.” Having seen these two in love over so many lifetimes and granted their union time and again, Xie Chongjin offered the decree without hesitation.

Qin Yulong quickly shook his head: “That must not be done.”

“Why? Do you not like him?” Xie Chongjin asked.

“I do like him… but he does not like me,” Qin Yulong said dejectedly. “He even dislikes me greatly.”

“His own wishes are very important.”