Chapter 42
Chapter 42
With the misunderstanding cleared up, most of Shen Yuan’s anger faded as well. Seeing Xie Chengze still sprawled across him, he arched a brow. “Your Highness, aren’t you going to get up? Is my body really that comfortable to lie on?”
“Listen to you. You make me sound like some kind of lech – ” Xie Chengze was about to argue when the corner of his eye caught sight of Shen Yuan’s ears. He paused.
Hm?
A wicked gleam flashed through his eyes. Xie Chengze planted both hands in the hollows beside the man’s shoulders, his ten long, pale fingers pinning down Shen Yuan’s attempt to resist. Then he lowered his head and slowly leaned toward Shen Yuan’s face, staring straight into his eyes.
Shen Yuan’s body abruptly went rigid. Xie Chengze was slender and hardly heavy, yet at that moment he seemed to bear down like the crushing weight of Mount Tai, leaving Shen Yuan unable to breathe or move.
What was he trying to do?
Could it be that he wanted to…
Meeting those eyes of Xie Chengze’s, eyes that seemed capable of stealing a man’s soul, Shen Yuan felt the inexplicable heat beneath his ears spread nearly to his neck. His heart hammered like a drum. Only when the distance between them narrowed to a dangerous degree did his throat bob and his hoarse voice stop Xie Chengze from descending any farther. “Your Highness, what are you trying to do?”
“Lord Shen, right here…” Xie Chengze raised his right hand. The pad of his index finger just happened to brush Shen Yuan’s earlobe, crimson and burning hot. It was unexpectedly soft. “…It’s so red and hot. Could you be having improper thoughts about me?”
Clatter – !
The physician had barely stepped through the door with Shen Yuan’s medicine when he heard that explosive exchange. His foot slipped, and the tray nearly went flying. Fortunately, his reflexes were quick enough to save the bowl of medicine from an untimely death.
He silently lowered his head. From the corner of his eye, he saw the devastatingly beautiful Second Prince sitting atop the disheveled Lord Shen with a thoroughly seductive expression, apparently intent on committing some indecent act. Worse yet, His Highness was openly appraising some part of Lord Shen and practically salivating over it.
Lord Shen, meanwhile, was flushed scarlet and looked ready to die of shame and fury, like a respectable young wife being ravished against her will. Both hands were braced just as firmly against the Second Prince’s shoulders, and he was even shooting the physician a look that plainly begged for rescue.
Oh dear, oh dear. No saving him – absolutely no saving him!
The physician calmly set the medicinal broth aside and said with the ease of long experience, “Your Highness, Lord Shen, I have some Snow Jade Balm that lubricates and nourishes the body. Shall I bring it over?”
He had once served as an army physician. The camps had been full of men, and the soldiers fought bloody battles year-round without touching a woman. From time to time, they would help one another find relief and vent their desires. He had therefore long since grown accustomed to such matters and always kept Snow Jade Balm on hand for emergencies.
In his previous life, Shen Yuan had been close to the Eldest Prince and had heard a little about these things. Once he grasped the physician’s meaning, his expression darkened.
Xie Chengze, however, turned to ask in confusion, “Snow Jade Balm? Is it for the face? Lord Shen has been traveling all night, and his skin really has gotten much rougher. He should use it. Yes, he definitely should.”
Then he turned back and kindly urged Shen Yuan, “Lord Shen, there’s no need to be embarrassed. A grown man is allowed to care about his looks too. Be good and put some on~”
Shen Yuan: “…”
The physician covered his face with a smile and thought, Oh my, the Second Prince is even considerate enough to preserve Lord Shen’s dignity with a double meaning!
Veins throbbed in Shen Yuan’s forehead. In his previous life, Xie Chengze had loathed such practices in the army above all else. He had once declared with open disgust that the Eldest Prince’s camp was a den of filth. How could he possibly fail to understand the innuendo now?
Speaking suggestively in front of an outsider like this, he was deliberately humiliating Shen Yuan, not –
“I have no need of it. Your Highness should keep it for yourself!”
Flustered beyond endurance, Shen Yuan shoved Xie Chengze away and got out of bed. He drained the bitter medicine in one swallow, then strode from the room.
His retreating back looked decidedly furious.
Xie Chengze was baffled by the shove. “Why did he get so worked up?”
It was only a little face cream! Once his skin looked better, young ladies might actually take a liking to him!
Xie Chengze could not help wondering whether Shen Yuan remained unmarried all the way to the original novel’s finale because years of scheming at court, getting angry every day, and neglecting his skin had eventually left him old and ugly enough that no one wanted him.
After all, the author really had stopped describing Shen Yuan’s beauty in the later chapters. Of course, it was equally possible the author had simply gotten lazy.
Xie Chengze felt that Shen Yuan’s mood was still tied to his own survival. What if, after reaching middle age, Shen Yuan grew miserable because he could not find a wife, snapped one day, and decided to drag Xie Chengze into the afterlife with him? Who could Xie Chengze possibly complain to then?
It seemed he would have to persuade Shen Yuan to cherish the good looks he had now, lest he grow old and unwanted later…
And so Xie Chengze told the physician, “Go bring me the Snow Jade Balm.”
The physician stole a glance at Xie Chengze. Although he believed someone as noble as the Second Prince could never be the one underneath, medical rigor and responsibility compelled him to sound out the situation. “Will Your Highness be using it, or Lord Shen?”
“Is there a difference?” Xie Chengze asked, puzzled.
“Of course there’s a difference!” The physician hurried to explain in detail. “Your Highness, Snow Jade Balm comes in both ordinary and supreme grades. Ordinary Snow Jade Balm is coarse and heavily scented. It’s easier to make and inexpensive enough for common people to afford. Supreme Snow Jade Balm, however, is exceptionally fine and delicately fragrant. The process is complicated, the supply limited, and only nobles are entitled to use it.”
He had brought only one box of supreme Snow Jade Balm on this journey with the Second Prince. He had thought that if they ended up staying here until winter, he could take it out for His Highness and keep the bitter winter winds from damaging that exquisitely tender skin.
He simply had not expected another use for it to arise. If the Second Prince was the one using it, then his delicate, smooth skin could never withstand rough treatment. If it was his first time and he wanted to avoid injury, only the supreme Snow Jade Balm would do.
But if Lord Shen was the one using it… Lord Shen was highly skilled in martial arts and spent years on horseback. His tolerance for pain naturally surpassed that of ordinary men. Using the supreme grade on him would be something of a waste. Better to save it to protect the Second Prince’s skin in winter!
Such were the physician’s secret calculations.
Xie Chengze considered the matter. Shen Yuan had been exhausting himself over Yizhou for quite some time. As his superior, Xie Chengze could not afford to be stingy. “Bring the supreme Snow Jade Balm, then.”
The physician trembled.
So the Second Prince was the one underneath!
Good thing he had asked!
Having silently feasted on this juicy gossip, the physician bowed. “I will fetch it at once!”
…
Atop the city wall, Liang Wanda and Jing Ze stood behind Shen Yuan.
Nothing unusual remained on Shen Yuan’s face as he addressed Liang Wanda. “The merchant grain should reach Jiangdu County around eleven tomorrow night, while the final wave of refugees will arrive at noon. Once the grain carts from Lizhou and Yuzhou arrive, Prefect Liang will accompany me to negotiate prices with the merchants from every region.”
Liang Wanda hastily bent at the waist. “Yes, Lord Shen. I shall follow your instructions.”
At this, Shen Yuan could not help glancing at him.
In his previous life, when he had come to Yizhou with the Crown Prince, Liang Wanda and several local wealthy gentlemen had behaved with breathtaking arrogance. Even the Crown Prince had been deceived and misled by them, causing obstacle after obstacle.
But in this life…
As Shen Yuan looked at Liang Wanda’s bowed spine, he could not help wondering what methods Xie Chengze had used to subdue him so thoroughly.
Not even the Crown Prince back then had managed to crack this particular tough nut.
Shen Yuan waved Liang Wanda away, then turned to Jing Ze.
“Lord Shen.” Jing Ze bowed with neither servility nor arrogance.
Shen Yuan lifted a hand to excuse the formalities. “Do you know why Liang Wanda suddenly started doing honest work? How did the Second Prince buy him over?”
At that question, Jing Ze’s expression turned subtly strange.
“What is it?” Keenly sensing the change, Shen Yuan’s eyes darkened, and he immediately pressed, “Is it something you cannot say?”
There was nothing truly unspeakable about it, but… Jing Ze weighed his words. “Lord Shen, have you ever heard the expression… ‘painting a pie’?”
Shen Yuan: “?”
Fifteen minutes later, Jing Ze bowed and left, abandoning Shen Yuan alone atop the city wall to be buffeted by the wind – and his bewilderment.
For some reason, he felt the words “painting a pie” described the situation perfectly. The “pie” Xie Chengze had promised was simply too tempting. No wonder Liang Wanda was willing to work himself to the bone for it…
But…
Did Xie Chengze truly intend to let Liang Wanda enter the central court as an official?
Liang Wanda was indeed shrewd and efficient when he put his mind to a task, but he had committed corruption and dereliction of duty in the past… Shen Yuan’s thoughts halted, and his lips tightened as his brow furrowed.
Xie Chengze had past crimes as well.
Yet everything he was doing now benefited the people, just as all of Liang Wanda’s present actions were proper. Should Shen Yuan let him go for the moment and continue observing him, or keep pursuing his past crimes and punish him?
Shen Yuan could accept either choice. The one thing he could not accept – the thing he found terrifying – was that when it came to Xie Chengze and Liang Wanda, he had chosen two different answers.
He did not dare examine why.
His palm closed unconsciously around the blue sword at his waist, five fingers tightening over the hilt. Shen Yuan turned toward the world outside the city. Refugees were gathering in ever greater numbers, a dense black tide like an army bearing down on the walls, enough to make one’s scalp prickle.
He murmured, “Xie Chengze… what exactly are you plotting?”