Chapter 1; Part 2
Translator's Note: Their names have the following meaning:
1. Dong Fang Hao Ye 东方昊晔
dong (东) : east
fang (方) : direction
hao (昊) : sky/vast
ye (晔) : bright/radiant
2. Bei Tang Yao Yue 北堂曜月
bei (北) : north
tang (堂) : hall
yao (曜) : bright/illuminate
yue (月) : moon
Chinese characters usually has a lot of meanings, most of them depends on the context!
That image I used is the cover image for it's webtoon btw! It looks so pretty!
Dong Fang Hao Ye hesitates for a while before he asks, “That- Yao Yue, why did I marry you?”
Yao Yue stares at him, “You really don’t remember anything?”
Dong Fang Hao Ye can sense a strange expression on his face and carefully eyes him. Even though he already lost his memory, his natural instinct is still there. Don’t tell him….
“Political marriage!”
“What?”
Dong Fang Hao Ye can’t help himself and accidentally blurts out, “Isn't it because I coveted your beauty?”
“You, coveted, for, my, beauty?” Bei Tang Yao Yue stressed on each word as he stares at him intently.
Wah….. I am such an idiot. Two countries having political marriage is a normal occurrence. How could I speak my thoughts out loud like that? The king is in a shock, his entire face turns red. He glances around in panic before suddenly cries, “Argh, my head hurts! My head hurts so much-ya!” He grasp his head as he howls.
Naturally, it is an exaggerated act, but there are actually hints of truth underneath it. The king’s head really did ache upon realizing his w.a.n.gfei is a man.
“Did it really hurt or are you just faking it?” Bei Tang Yao Yue looks at him whose eyes is evasively glancing around with a frown.
Dong Fang Hao Ye buries his head inside the quilt as he cries, “It really hurts. Wuu Wuu.” (TN: The sound of crying.)
Bei Tang Yao Yue suddenly realizes that he has only woken up from an injury. He asks in hesitance, “What’s wrong? Does it really hurts?”
Dong Fang Hao Ye stuff his head out of the blanket and stares at him with tearful eyes. Seeing such a beautiful face close up makes his heart sour. He chokes up and stares at him accusingly, “You don’t care about me! Wuu Wuu.”
“N-no, how could I not?” Bei Tang Yao Yue feels a little guilty at his accusation.
Dong Fang Hao Ye can’t remember how they both got to know each other, but he somehow knows that the current situation is a chance that rarely comes. He must take full advantage of this!
“Yao Yue, my head hurts so much!” He pitifully says. He doesn’t know why but the moment he says the name ‘Yao Yue’, a feeling of excitement stirred in his heart.
“What should I do?” Bei Tang Yao Yue’s elegant eyebrow is pressed, “Let me ask some people to brew you some medicine.”
Wah! No! The king pulls on his hand to stop him. “No need, no need! It will be okay if you just ma.s.sage it for me.”
“What?” Bei Tang Yao Yue stares at him with his eyes wide open.
“Wuu…. I was right. You don’t care for me. Since it was just a political marriage, you did not willingly marry me. I bet you don’t even like me! Wu, I fell into a lotus pond and lost my memory, you don’t even care. Did I treat you badly back then? Is that why you hate me? Is that why you don’t care for me? You’re not even willing to ma.s.sage it for me, my life is so sad… Wuu.”Dong Fang Hao Ye blink as tears flow down his eyes. He cries while he speaks, secretly peeking at Bei Tang Yao Yue’s reaction from the corner of his eyes.
“Alright, stop crying. I will help you.” There is a slight change in Bei Tang Yao Yue’s countenance as he soften his tone and pull Dong Fang Hao Yue towards him and starts ma.s.saging his forehead.
Dong Fang Hao Ye immediately and shamelessly place his head on top of Bei Tang Yao Yue’s laps and hugs his waist. Smelling that elegant scent that lingers on Bei Tang Yao Yue calms him and fill his heart with something he cannot describe.
He suddenly feels… this one feeling.
He must’ve liked Bei Tang Yao Yue a lot back them, liked him very very much. What else can this feeling be? Yao Yue did not use too much force, nor did he use too little when he gives him that forehead ma.s.sage.
The king gets lost in thoughts, he thinks and thinks and in the end falls asleep.
I can sleep really well-ah. That’s the first thing the king thinks of when he wakes up. Is he a pig? He was already asleep for two days two nights and not 4 hours after he woke up, he fell asleep again. His head must’ve been made of wood.
“w.a.n.gye, you are awake,” Xiao Dong’s voice reaches him.
“What time is it?”
“It is almost 11 in the morning. You have been asleep since last evening. Had you not wake up, Housekeeper Liu would’ve called the physician.”
Call what physician? These people are so fussy.
Dong Fang Hao Ye yawns and stretches lazily. He lets Xiao Dong serves him as he asks, “Where is thew.a.n.gfei?”
“w.a.n.gfei has already returned to Fu Feng Pavillion. He came to visit you once in the morning. When you didn’t wake up, he left.
“Fu Feng Pavillion?” So they both sleep in different rooms…… He has no idea why, but he feels a little disappointed.
“Oh right, how old is the w.a.n.gfei this year?” He was too distracted by his beauty last night, so he forgot to ask a lot of things. Might as well make things clear this time with Xiao Dong’s help.
“The w.a.n.gfei is 24 years old this year. He is the third child of King Bei Tang’s residence. He married into our household on the fifth month last year and the two of you has been married for over a year now.” Xiao Dong fluently answers.
24? So he is older than him.
Dong Fang Hao Ye heads over to the curtain next to a window and carelessly pull them aside. On the other side, stood a large mirror, half the size of a grown man. The mirror is sleek and s.h.i.+ny, unlike any bronze mirror in the Central Plain.
“Eh? w.a.n.gye, how did you know there is a Persian mirror over here?” Xiao Dong asks weirdly. “Didn’t you lost your memory?”
The king himself has no idea how he knows that, he just has the natural tendency to go there.
“Such a clear mirror!” He gasps in admiration, checking his own reflection out.
Hey, look, he is pretty handsome too! Dong Fang Hao Ye stares at his own reflection in the mirror. Long and thick eyebrows, large and round eyes, and a long and straight nose, other than the green color on his face, he looks like an esteemed young master.
Dong Fang Hao Ye grab his cheeks and squeeze them. He suddenly remembers his beautiful w.a.n.gfei. How it would look like if they stand together.
The more he think the more he felt that Bei Tang Yao Yue is more like the king, and he himself thew.a.n.gfei? Even though it was only a political marriage, Dong Fang Hao Ye still finds it weird. There are so many other princes in the Great Wen, many even better than him, why did the third child of Bei Tang clan marry him?
Ah pooh! Why did he belittle himself? The way he think is not correct. What he should’ve said was, Ming has so many princesses he could marry, why did he marry a man? An older man at that?
Yes, thinking like that is the right way of thinking! While the king is busy thinking nonsense over there, Xiao Dong informs him, “w.a.n.gye, please hurry up. We need to go to Zheng Hao Hall to eat.”
“Okay. Xiao Dong Zi, lead the way.”
As Xiao Dong lead him out of the bedroom, he can’t help but turn around and says, “w.a.n.gye, this servant’s name is Xiao Dong. Not Xiao Dong Zi.”
“What does it matter? That name suits you more anyway.” Dong Fang Hao Ye dismisses, head turning around to take in the view of the king’s manor.
But if he puts it like that, his name will sound like a eunuch’s, Xiao Dong secretly laments but doesn’t have the guts to say it out loud.
As they walk in the garden, he can suddenly see a calm and clear lotus pond. Above the pond, there is an elegant pavilion for people to lounge at.
Dong Fang Hao Ye points at the place, “Xiao Dong Zi, is that the pond that I fell into?”
“Yes.” Xiao Dong glance at him and suddenly grabs him by the sleeve.
“What are you doing?” the king glares at him, bewildered.
“w.a.n.gye, the Housekeeper ordered us to keep you at least fifty zhang away from the pond. If we fail to obey his instruction, we will be punished.” (TN: 1 zhang = 3.3 m)
F-fifty zhang? Then must he fly over the garden? That old Liu Bo! “Don’t take it seriously. Liu Bo was just kidding. If not, he might as well just fill the pond up with soil.”
“But he wasn’t joking though. I heard he went to see the w.a.n.gfei earlier today saying that the pond is the culprit that harms w.a.n.gye. We must get rid of it and fill it up.”
“What?” He really is going to do that? Dong Fang Hao Ye is left speechless. The pond is so gorgeous, the lotus flowers so beautiful. They are currently in the middle of summer, the heat is intolerable. He can go there in the evening to blow time drinking wine, writing poetry, doing lewd things.
Pooh! What was he thinking? He blushes from his own dirty thoughts. No matter what, he is still a king, how can he have such dirty thoughts.
But still, thinking back to his wonderful fantasy just now….. No! Such a beautiful pond must not go! The king made up his mind and follows Xiao Dong to Zheng Hao Hall.
On the way there, the roads in the manor did not feel foreign to him. Too many times had he almost b.u.mp into Xiao Dong in his haste.
Bei Tang Yao Yue is already sitting in front of his table waiting when they get there. He is wearing a long white, brocade robe. His long dark hair is tied up by a silk, he looks elegant and dignified.
He is s.h.i.+ning under the bright sunlight.
Seeing the king, he says, “You have arrived.” Bei Tang Yao Yue approach him and asks, “What’s wrong? Why is your face so red?”
“Huh? Uh.. probably because I was walking too fast.” The king reply while patting his chest.
“You don’t have to be in such a hurry. I will wait for you.” Bei Tang Yao Yue smiles at him and lead him to a seat next to the table. On the table are a couple of dishes that makes the king hungry.
“Since you has just recovered, I don’t think you should eat oily food. I specifically instructed the kitchen to prepare these light dishes for you, all of them are your favorites.” Bei Tang Yao Yue smiles as he pa.s.s him a piece of veggie.
Dong Fang Hao Ye is touched and immediately gobbles it up.
“Eat slowly. No one is competing with you,” Bei Tang Yao Yue advises, but Dong Fang Hao Ye has no intention to listen to him.
He pa.s.sed out for two days and two nights, and upon waking up, only got to eat one bowl of porridgebefore falling into a deep sleep again after Bei Tang Yao Yue came back.
“Drink some soup. Careful, it’s hot,” Bei Tang Yao Yue hands him a bowl.
My w.a.n.gfei is so virtuous. He even serves me soup! Dong Fang Hao Ye praises him in his mind. Naturally, Bei Tang Yao Yue did not make the soup himself. He instructed some servants to. But still, he is already touched.
He sneakily glances at Bei Tang Yao Yue. He starts to like him more and more, he didn’t even know he has the orientation to like men. The king was too immersed watching him and in the end choke.
“I told you not to eat too fast,” Bei Tang Yao Yue frowns and help him pat his back.
The king suddenly feels as though his entire body is hot, he is too nervously he has the difficulty to even hold the bowl properly.
Finally satisfied, the king reclines on his seat, rubbing his bulging stomach while burping.
Bei Tang Yao Yue suddenly speaks, “I will enter the palace to meet the emperor in the evening. You stay at home properly, if anything happens, just go to Liu Bo.”
“Enter the palace to meet the emperor?” Dong Fang Hao Ye asks, suddenly spirited. “I want to go too!”
“What are you going there for?”
“Aren’t I the sixth prince? What’s so weird about meeting my own imperial brother?”
Bei Tang Yao Yue sigh, “You meeting the emperor is not weird, but you meeting but not recognizing the emperor is!”
“How can I not recognize him!” the king argues. Does he take me for a fool? The emperor wears dragonly robe, how can I not recognize him?
“You can recognize him? Then tell me, which imperial brother of yours is the emperor?”
Dong Fang Hao Ye froze for a moment before he hesitantly reply, “….. should be my eldest imperial brother.”
Bei Tang Yao Yue laughs lightly, in the end, he didn’t bring him along.
Dong Fang Hao Ye is depressed. After Bei Tang Yao Yue left, he grabs Xiao Dong and asks, “Xiao Dong Zi, let me ask you, was things amiable between me and w.a.n.gfei back then?”
“It was okay.”
Dong Fang Hao Ye asks again, “Then between us, who was normally the master?”
Xiao Dong stares at him with wide eyes, feeling as though the question was not appropriate to be answered by him. He hesitates for a long while before answering vaguely, “You are both the masters.”
“We are both the masters?” What does that mean? The king cannot understand, “Give me an example.”
“Err. For example, the affairs of the household are managed by the w.a.n.gfei and Uncle Liu. He is in charge of most of them. w.a.n.gye you…. You……. You are in charge of the big matters of the country. Aiya, Xiao Dong does not know the little things, w.a.n.gye might as well asks Uncle Liu.”
Black lines appear on the king’s face. Hearing him, the manor is clearly, entirely within Bei Tang Yao Yue’s palm.
No wonder he won’t even bring me with him to the palace, the king thought indignantly. This won’t do, he must wrestle back the authority of the manor. He must not let Bei Tang Yao Yue sits on top of his head!