Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The summer heat was sweltering, yet my heart felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar.
Ever since I transmigrated here, I had been careful and cautious, doing my best to be an honest, law-abiding man.
An honest man like me didn’t cause trouble. More than that, I was afraid of trouble.
If someone crossed my bottom line, I would immediately lower that bottom line.
After all, in this era, human lives were worth less than weeds. If you died unjustly, there was nowhere to plead your case.
But of all the mistakes I could have made, I should never, ever have set my eyes on the prince’s male lover.
Everyone in the capital knew the prince had a taste for men.
He kept several men in the Lotus Garden, each of them devastatingly beautiful, like banished immortals descended to earth.
This month, I was on rotation for the night patrol at the Lotus Garden.
That night, the moon was full. From a distance, I saw a man standing beside the lotus pond.
He held a bow and arrows, shooting at the lotus flowers until petals fell all across the pond.
The koi in the water were so frightened they scattered in every direction.
When I took this post, I had been warned again and again never to provoke the men of the Lotus Garden.
But this lotus pond had always been tended by the gardener, Liu Qiaomei.
If the steward discovered the pond in such a state tomorrow, he might not be able to punish that man, but he would certainly have ways to punish Liu Qiaomei.
Liu Qiaomei was my neighbor, and she helped me out a great deal in daily life.
I couldn’t just stand by and watch her lose this job.
After that man had vented enough, I silently jumped into the lotus pond, picked up every arrow, and pulled away the fallen flowers.
After tidying for a long time, the lotus pond finally looked a little less ruined.
When I climbed back onto the bank, drenched from head to toe, that man was staring at me.
Then, all of a sudden, he smiled at me.
“Are you going to carry those ruined flowers to the steward and report me?”
Good heavens, he was truly beautiful.
He was like a begonia flower come to life, yet far more bewitching than any begonia.
Like some kind of spirit or enchantress, one smile from him was enough to steal a person’s soul.
My face flushed at once, and I stammered, “N-no… I’m not going. The night wind is cold. Young Master, you should go back early.”
He stared at me, and the smile suddenly vanished.
His face darkened with malice as he said, “What are you supposed to be? You think you’re worthy of caring about me?”
I thought he made a very good point, so I silently turned and left.
The next day, I went straight to the captain of the guards and requested not to be assigned to the Lotus Garden anymore.
If I couldn’t afford to offend someone, surely I could at least avoid them.
But to my surprise, half a month later, while on night patrol, I ran into that man again.
I was wandering around with a fellow night patrol guard, lanterns in hand. In the dead of night, with everything quiet and dull, we inevitably started gossiping.
Wang Hu lowered his voice and said, “I heard the prince suffered some humiliation in the palace. These past few days, everyone in the inner courtyard has been on edge. Good thing low-ranking guards like us never get to see the prince. We may have fewer chances to get ahead, but we also face less danger.”
His younger sister was a rough-work maid in the inner courtyard, so she knew plenty of private matters.
Wang Hu could never keep anything to himself and often chattered to me about this and that.
As usual, I let it go in one ear and out the other.
Seeing that I didn’t respond, Wang Hu leaned in mysteriously and said, “With the prince in a bad mood, those men in the Lotus Garden are bound to suffer. My sister said that last night, one of the men was beaten bloody by the prince. He’s probably not going to make it.”
I thought of the Begonia Demon from that night, and for some reason, my heart skipped a beat.
Wang Hu and I eventually patrolled around to the outer wall of the Lotus Garden.
He had eaten something bad that night and rushed off to the latrine.
I stared at the gate of the Lotus Garden, and as if possessed, I simply walked in.
A dim lamp glowed in the pavilion. A faint smell of wine drifted over with the wind, along with a trace of blood.
I walked over and looked.
The Begonia Demon was curled up on the ground, blood seeping through the clothes on his back.
Wine jars lay scattered across the floor. Who knew how much he had drunk?
If he lay there all night like that, he would likely fall ill by the next morning.
I stared at him for a while, then turned to leave.
His voice came from behind me. “You’re not going to help me?”
The moment I heard that, I turned and ran!
I ran as fast as I could, straight out of the Lotus Garden.
My heart was pounding wildly in my chest.
When Wang Hu came back and saw me, he froze. “Did you run into a ghost?”
I shook my head without a word. After returning to the duty room, I washed my face.
When I looked up and saw myself in the mirror, I finally understood why Wang Hu had asked that.
My face was covered in unconcealable panic.
Alas. I had lusted after the prince’s man. How could I not panic?
After all, I was both afraid of death and afraid of trouble.
I lay down on the bed and took some time to calm myself.
A while later, I took a bottle of wound medicine from my box and quietly went out.
There was no moon tonight. Dark clouds filled the sky, as if rain was coming.
I avoided the patrolling guards and slipped all the way into the Lotus Garden.
The Lotus Garden was deathly quiet, and my heart nearly leaped out of my chest.
I walked to the lotus pavilion. Inside, there were only fallen wine bottles. No one was there.
For some reason, I let out a breath of relief.
My palms were slick with sweat.
But just as I turned to leave, I heard the sound of water behind me.
The Begonia Demon emerged from the water.
He leaned on the bank and looked at me, a faint, teasing smile seeming to flicker in his eyes.
“Little guard, you broke into the inner courtyard of the Prince’s Mansion at night. If you’re caught, that’s a capital crime.”
He was like a ghost, wrapping himself around me.
“Do you like me that much? Enough to risk death just to come back and see me?”