"Do you know who I am?" Only God knew how much Zhou Yun Sheng wanted to fuck him already, just choking out this question already required all his will.
"I like you, what does it matter who you are?" Zhao Xuan's tone was haughty, groping the Emperor's vital part through his trousers, he hoarsely chuckled, "How lustful, you're even reacting."
"You try being kissed and groped." Zhou Yun Sheng said through gritted teeth.
"You mean, no matter who was groping you today, you would get aroused? You really are the Uninhibited Emperor." These words clearly must've poked one of Zhao Xuan's sore spots, he pulled open the Emperor's lapel, forcefully sucking on his shoulder, only letting go when his jade white skin glowed scarlet red, then he said in an malicious tone, "While you're moaning under my body, do you know what your beloved imperial concubine is doing?"
"You can't hurt her!" Only I can kill her! Zhou Yun Sheng snarled without heat. He really couldn't stand this, he obviously wanted to roll around between the bed sheets with his lover, yet he needed to put on a grave look.
Zhao Xuan snorted and mocked, "Even in these circumstances you can't help but care about her safety, you really are love-struck. Let me tell you, right now, Zhao Bi Xuan is just like you, writhing under someone else's body, don't you want to know who that person is?" He leaned in closer to lick around the Emperor's cute, jade white ear. This man's taste was countless times sweeter than he'd imagined, he'd only barely tasted, but he already didn't want to ever stop.
"Who?" Zhou Yun Sheng shook his mouth off. Immediately doing whatever your heart says to do and spouting such inconsequential nonsense, how many villains have failed because they couldn't stop blabbering? Just keep dragging it out until the guards come, you're stabbing yourself in the foot!
Zhao Xuan didn't care to immediately answer, he sucked on his earlobe for a few more minutes, until it turned red, before speaking again, "It's your br—shit!" he cut off and swore softly, then quickly fixed up the Emperor's robes, tightly covering up his perfect body before nipping his lips and hoarsely warning, "You're not allowed to sleep with someone else during this time, otherwise, I won't be this gentle at our next meeting."
How were you fucking gentle? You chewed me like a piece of meat! Soon, Zhou Yun Sheng also heard the guards' footsteps, although he felt resentful and depressed, there was a little regret. However, when he thought of how depressed this person would feel after he went back, he felt more relieved.
Seeing the tied up and blindfolded Emperor, Meng Kang and the others felt relieved. They were innumerably lucky that the Emperor was unharmed, although they might lose their small lives, at least their families were unlikely to be implicated. The group quickly cut the ropes and removed the black blindfold, just as they were about to beg forgiveness, Duke Yu Guo and his squadron of elite soldiers, having received Meng Kang's pigeon delivered message, also arrived and kneeled in fear and trepidation.
Zhou Yun Sheng rubbed his sore eyes open and saw the perpetrator kneeling at his feet, immediately, his unvented anger rose. He grabbed one of the guards' hoarse whips and stuck ruthlessly, baring his teeth, "Grand General Zhao, you've sure come out at a good time!"
The Deputy General inwardly felt wronged for his Grand General. The official hunting ground's security was the duty of the capital's guards and the pentapolis' military forces, how was it the Grand General's concern?
[Pentapolis- 五城- Wu Cheng- five cities/city walls. I couldn't get a definition in English, but I think the capital is divided into five districts, which have their own armies.]
However, Zhao Xuan himself didn't feel wronged. He firmly endured this person's whippings, taking the time to sneak peeks at his expression. Seeing his eyes indeed looking especially bright, twinkling because of his anger and humiliation, and the corners of his eyes were livelily flushed, he looked countless times more beautiful than he'd imagined. Forget about bearing a few lashes, if he could get this person, he was even willing to give up his life.
Secretly swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Zhao Xuan thought about the day he would be able to remove the blindfolds, pinch this person's jaw, and come face to face with him. Feeling his lower body reacting, Zhao Xuan immediately pushed out his internal force to suppress it, but unexpectedly made the Emperor's whip snap in half.
The high ranking officers saw the whip break and were even more convinced that the Emperor was hitting too heavily, their hearts feeling more and more wronged.
Zhou Yun Sheng knew that these whips were nothing more than tickles for his lover, the man not only wouldn't feel pain, he was pretty sure he'd enjoy it. Having no choice but to pull back, he ordered, "Search the mountains, you must capture that bandit alive!"
Zhao Xuan cupped his hands and promised, but before he could stand up, another row of soldiers hurriedly trotted over, reporting that the Gong Prince and Hui Yi Imperial Consort were attacked by an assassin.
"How is the Imperial Consort? Is she injured?" Zhou Yun Sheng anxiously asked, the perfect image of a man who loved his wife more than his own life.
Zhao Xuan quickly glanced at him, his raging lust replaced by hostility. It seemed that he refused to believe him. But that was reasonable, who would easily believe what a person of unknown origins told them? Next time, he needed to give him a profound lecture.
Zhou Yun Sheng rushed back to the camp, from a distance, he saw imperial guards surrounding Zhao Bi Xuan and Qi Jin Yu's tent, and there were several imperial physicians going in and out, their expressions very grave. He walked over and asked about the situation, learning that Zhao Bi Xuan was unharmed, but Qi Jin Yu was stabbed a few times, and his situation was very critical.
"You must treat him with the greatest extent of your abilities." Zhou Yun Sheng directed the imperial physicians, then sent a report to the Empress Dowager in the palace. The Empress Dowager immediately wanted to bring Qi Jin Yu back, but the physicians stopped it, saying that the injuries were too heavy for movement, they needed to wait at least ten days to a fortnight.
Zhou Yun Sheng accompanied Qi Jin Yu in the hunting grounds for a few days, putting on a caring older brother appearance. Afterwards, he led the crowd back to the capital, using the travel time to thoroughly enjoy Zhao Bi Xuan's agonizing and fearful expression. As for those assassins, they actually were not caught. They were all high-level martial artists, well trained, and they'd fled to a cliff side and leapt, destroying their trails. The pentapolis army and the capital guards' commanders sent thousands of troops to search under the cliff, stunned to not even find a piece of cloth, like the assassins had disappeared into thin air.
Not only was the Gong Prince attacked by an assassin, even the Emperor was almost harmed, the capital guards and the pentapolis army commanders responsible for the capital's defense were thoroughly purged by the furious Emperor, some high ranking officials were imprisoned, some were dismissed, and some were demoted, they would be in a pitiful state for a long time. A little while after the storm calmed, the important duties of these officials were all handed over to the Emperor's confidants. Meng Kang was promoted by leaps and bounds, becoming a pentapolis army commander. It was not a high official position, but the power was quite real.
The Empress Dowager, who'd had quite a lot of staff placed in these positions, could only watch helplessly. The perfect strategy they thought they'd worked out over the past few years unexpectedly failed overnight. Now, she had good reason to suspect that this assassination attempt was Qi Yi Ning's self-orchestrated drama.
The Empress Dowager's guess was correct, the assassins were indeed sent by Zhou Yun Sheng, but he had no delusions of being able to kill the cheating couple. Because the two were the children of fate, they always had an inexplicable protective force around them, commonly called plot armor. Unless they themselves courted death, it would be difficult for outsiders to successfully kill them. Like in the last world, Xue Jing Yi was clearly so sickly, but she withstood all of his serious provocations, and continuously recovered to a more stable health. From this, it's obvious that if they didn't want to die, no one could take the protagonists out.
Sure enough, those assassins only succeeded in seriously injuring Qi Jin Yu, failing to take his life, and because of his desperate protection, Zhao Bi Xuan was unscathed. But never mind, his aim was to gain control over the capital and the surrounding areas' defensives, he was not at all eager to take the two's insignificant lives. Dying like that would be too comfortable.
The Empress Dowager was informed that her son was seriously injured trying to protect Zhao Bi Xuan, and was angry enough to almost vomit blood. She immediately called her to the Ci Ning Palace to kneel in punishment. Zhao Bi Xuan thought that the Emperor would hurry over to help her out like in the past, but was ultimately disappointed. She knelt for a full day and night, but the man never appeared.
———-
Zhou Yun Sheng had no free time to care about Zhao Bi Xuan's discomfort, he'd appointed Zhao Xuan to investigate the assassination attempt on the same day, but it was now four days later, and he hadn't found even a slight trace, he naturally had to call the man over to thoroughly 'rebuke' him.
Zhao Xuan walked through the palace entrance and heard the Emperor conversing with Meng Kang from outside the palace hall.
"You turned eighteen this year, you can be considered an adult, have you thought about marriage matters?"
"Replying to the Emperor, three days ago, this small official's step mother arranged a marriage for this small official."
"Oh? Who is this young lady?"
"She's an official from the Ministry of Works, Master Lang Zhang's, second daughter, but she's also this small official's step mother's niece."
"Rejected." The Emperor unhesitatingly ordered.
"Ah?" Meng Kang's slack-jawed response.
"Rejected, only I can deicide your marriage."
Hearing this, Zhao Xuan's chest was already filled with anger. He originally thought that this person was exploiting Meng Kang, but after so many weeks, how could he not notice that he was sincerely protecting Meng Kang? From the start, he never planned to have Meng Kang usurp the Northwest, he'd always planned to keep him at his side and cultivate him. Even all the assignments he gave Meng Kang were in harmony with his temperament.
Being a pentapolis army commander didn't require much ability, just be ruthless enough, straightforward enough, and bold enough, not afraid to offend people. Meng Kang possessed all these qualities, and with the Emperor's trust, his future would inevitably be secure.
Why was he so concerned with Meng Kang? Next time, he'd be sure to ask clearly. Zhao Xuan pushed down the anger in his heart, raising his hand to let the newly appointed High Eunuch announce his presence. Trying to protect the Gong Prince from the assassins, Liu He died at the hunting grounds, and he died by beheading, unable to even leave an intact corpse behind. The Emperor ordered him to be properly buried, and appointed his apprentice, Lin Ann, to his position.
Because of this assassination attempt, those who should die died, what needed to be removed was removed, and what needed to make room made room. Zhao Xuan clearly saw through all this mysterious engineering, so he never intended to thoroughly investigate, restraining his abilities until the Emperor summoned him, running over to the Yang Xin Palace in an almost giddy mood.
"Reporting to the Emperor, Master Duke Yu Gou is seeking an interview."
"Let him in. Go on Meng Kang, you don't have to worry about your marriage, I will certainly help you find a good partner."
"Thank you for your grace Your Majesty, this small official will return home to tell mother." Meng Kang had also been unsatisfied with the marriage, but because of his parents' order, he'd had no choice but to comply. Now that the Emperor vetoed it, he was naturally very happy. He gave Grand General Zhao an almost mouth splitting grin as he passed by, but received the other's cold as ice glare in return, and couldn't help but shudder.
Zhao Xuan walked into the palace hall and saluted, but when he lifted his eyes for a quick glance over the throne, his jaw clenched for a moment. This person had just finished taking a bath, his long black, silk-like hair draped loosely over his shoulders, still damp. He was wearing a loose, pure black gown, which set off his, as if cut and polished from jade, brilliant eyes. There was even the faint scent of ambergris wafting from his skin, invigorating.
He met Meng Kang with such an unguarded appearance? Zhao Xian was resenting that he couldn't return to the hunting party day and stab this kid.
Zhou Yun Sheng was tossed from side to side by this person last time, this time he called him over, it's only natural that he wouldn't let him have it easy. He once again raged and rebuked, smashing a cup, displaying his full, awe-inspiring might.
Zhao Xuan gradually calmed down under his scolding, hearing his parched throat, he stood up and poured him a cup of hot tea, then continued kneeling, secretly thinking: I'll let you run free for now, next time I catch you, I must make your beautiful eyes sparkle with tears.