After Being Forced to Marry the Evil Star General

When Zhao Yelan went out, Xia Gao had subconsciously followed him. He said he was going to look for Gu Niaonaio, and after sending Xiao Gao away, he went alone. Instead of going to the Hongxiu Building openly, he walked into the small house used for communication, then walked through the tunnel and knocked on the door.

After a while, it opened to reveal Gu Niaonaio wearing a thin robe with her shoulders exposed, yawning as she stood there: “Is it good for you to run to me right after returning to Beijing?”

Zhao Yelan glanced at the scene inside the house.

“Come in, ba, there’s no one else.” After waiting for him to enter, Gu Niaoniao closed the secret door and told the surrounding maids and servants to retreat, then went back to the room to pour a cup of tea and light a stick of incense. “I haven’t seen you in a few months, but you still came back alive. You have good fortune, ah.”

Zhao Yelan took a sip of tea, then took out a bag of spices and a pearl hairpin, setting them on the table.

“You still know to bring me something? Then I won’t be polite.” Gu Niaoniao sat down with a smile and picked up the hairpin. She examined it for a while, then said, “It’s very unique, you even know women’s styles so well?”

“I found it in passing.”

Seeing Yin Pinglu stare at this hairpin for a long time, Zhao Yelan asked Yan Mingting to buy it for her, and bought a second one while they were there.

“You just don’t want to admit it, ba.” Gu Niaonaio smiled and inserted the hairpin into her hair, looking into the bronze mirror with great satisfaction. She picked up the spice packet and smelled it: “This is nice. We can put it in Qingyan’s room, the patrons will like it.”

Zhao Yelan twirled his fingers and remained silent.

After a long while, Gu Niaoniao put away these things with a sigh, and her expression gradually sank: “You don’t think this will placate me, do you?”

Zhao Yelan looked at her.

“You’ve been preparing to fake your death for so long, and I almost snuck in to collect the corpse. You just suddenly canceled your plans, and the next day, you slipped away to Jiangnan by yourself to be lovebirds with Yan Mingting. Such a happy thing,” Gu Niaoniao said angrily.

“Sorry, it happened suddenly.”

Gu Niaoniao looked at him for a while, then waved her hand: “Well, since it’s your own choice, what can I say? How are you two doing now?”

“Fairly well.” Zhao Yelan took another sip of tea.

“Your fairly well should mean extremely well.” Gu Niaoniao observed his expression. “Tell me, you came to the door in person as soon as you returned, so what do you need me for?”

“The tattoos on Qingyan’s body, did you do them?” Zhao Yelan asked.

Some of the girls in the building wore flirtatious tattoos to tease the guests, and others had scars on their bodies that could be covered with tattoos. Of course, there were some who simply enjoyed them.

“Yes, ah, I did the tattoos on all the girls. It’s a special skill that I learned.” As Gu Niaoniao spoke, she glanced at him in surprise and her expression turned strange. “Are you thinking about getting a tattoo as well?”

Zhao Yelan nodded calmly.

“You two…..are progressing very fast,” Gu Niaoniao teased. She paused again, shook her head, and said, “No, no. Does that mean that he hasn’t seen your back yet?”

“En.”

Gu Niaoniao was suddenly in awe of Yan Mingting, and sighed: “Wait a minute, I’ll go get some tools.”

About a quarter of an hour later, Gu Niaoniao came in with a big box: “Take off your shirt and lie down on the bed.”

Zhao Yelan watched as she unfolded a cloth bag with practiced movements. Inside were silver needles of varying thickness, and there were several boxes of paint next to her. She lit a candle, took out a needle, and heated it on the flame.

Gu Niaoniao noticed his gaze lingering on the needle, and said: “The process is quite painful, aren’t you most afraid of pain? How about I get you a sleeping draught? By the time you wake up, it will be over.”

Zhao Yelan thought for a moment before agreeing. Then he slowly removed his shirt, lay down on the bed, and asked: “How long will it take?”

“If you take the medicine, you won’t feel the pain, and I’ll be able to work faster. About half an hour,” Gu Niaoniao said.

“Try to be as quick as possible.” Zhao Yelan glanced at the sky outside. If he stayed too long, Yan Mingting would definitely look for him everywhere.

Gu Niaoniao put down the needle, ready to go prepare the sleeping draught. Unexpectedly, she was stunned as soon as she opened the door, and slowly retreated back into the room.

“What’s wrong?” Zhao Yelan asked.

Immediately afterwards, he saw Yan Mingting appear in the doorway, walking in step by step. He gave Gu Niaoniao a sharp look, then turned his head to look straight at him.

Zhao Yelan was startled, and suddenly realized that he had taken off his shirt. This scene seemed easy to misunderstand. He immediately sat up and donned his clothes, frantically tying his belt, but after a long time, he failed to do so and asked self-deprecatingly: “Why did you come?”

Yan Mingting passed by the table and glanced at the tools on it, then walked to the bed, his face darkening: “Come back with me.”

Zhao Yelan looked up at him. Those eyes that were always smiling were frosted over, frozen into ice. There was even an undercurrent of force in his tone, which was quite different from the usual Yan Mingting, and made him feel a little flustered.

He awkwardly explained: “This isn’t what it looks like, I just……I just have some business with her.”

“What business requires you to strip naked?” Yan Mingting asked.

“I didn’t strip naked…..” Zhao Yelan muttered. There was a sudden pain at his waist as Yan Mingting grabbed his belt and fastened it tightly.

He grunted at the suffocating pain. Yan Mingting looked up at him and relaxed his grip.

“Take your time talking, I’ll leave first.” Gu Niaoniao didn’t want to get involved in this, so as not to make the scene more complicated. After closing the door for them, she asked someone to conceal the news of Yan Mingting’s visit to the brothel.

Zhao Yelan glanced at this person who was still seething, and slowly held the other’s hand. He raised his head and said: “I really have nothing to do with her.”

“Then why were you undressed? You’ve never undressed so easily in front of me.” Yan Mingting looked down at him, sullen and jealous. “Is your heart on her instead of me?”

“How could this be?” Zhao Yelan stood up and kissed his lips. “How can she compare with you?”

Normally, whenever Zhao Yelan took the initiative, Yan Mingting would be as excited as a dog in heat. But at this moment, he was cold and unmoved.

Zhao Yelan kissed him several times in succession, then kissed his cheek and neck, but the other party didn’t respond. Frowning imperceptibly, he knew that this was not ordinary anger.

“What do I need to do for you to believe me?”

“Take off your clothes and show me.” Yan Mingting looked at him coolly.

Zhao Yelan gazed at the other silently for a long while, then pulled off his belt, taking off his outer  and middle layers. When he hooked up the belt of his inner layer, he couldn’t move his hands for a long time. His eyelashes trembled slightly, and there was a broken light in his eyes: “Can we stop here?”

“We can.”

Zhao Yelan was stunned, a little in disbelief. He couldn’t conceive that the other party had compromised so quickly, and was even more flustered. But after careful study, he realized that there was a feeling of disappointment.

Yan Mingting was disappointed in him.

“You can stop whenever you want. If you don’t want me to look, then I won’t look. You can always do whatever you want with me. I, who was tempted first, will admit defeat first.” Yan Mingting gave a self-deprecating smile, but it was a little wan and weak, and didn’t reach his eyes.

Zhao Yelan’s heart trembled. He pulled hard, and the last layer of clothing fell to the ground. His skin was white like jade porcelain, and his waist was as thin as an easily-broken willow branch. The only small imperfections were a finger-long scar on his right breast, as well as a shallow mark on the waist and abdomen that was very long and wrapped around to the back.

“Turn around,” Yan Mingting said.

Zhao Yelan’s face immediately turned pale. He took two steps back unconsciously, shaking his head over and over: “No, I can’t, how about in a few days?”

Yan Mingting took a step closer and stood in front of him, lowering his head. He stroked his cheek and spoke in a tone that brooked no argument: “Mengting, show me your back.”

Zhao Yelan hugged his neck helplessly, kissing and biting at his lips with abandon: “Next time? I’ll show you next time…..”

Just when Zhao Yelan thought he was trying in vain, Yan Mingting finally responded. He hugged his waist and kissed him hard, leaving marks on his lips aggressively and vindictively. Zhao Yelan tasted a bit of rust, but didn’t say anything. He even felt a sense of relief, and thought it would be nice if this could help him vent some of his anger.

At this moment, he suddenly noticed that the other party kept rubbing his thumbs on his back. Then he heard Yan Mingting ask in a hoarse voice: “Is it because of this? The word ‘slave?’”

Zhao Yelan seemed to be drenched in a basin of ice water. It was as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. He froze, and even the sound of his heartbeat seemed to have stopped. His eyes were vacant, staring in the direction of the void as the past suddenly appeared in front of him.

He faintly heard Yan Mingting’s voice: “I saw the word when I bathed you. I didn’t say anything, because I was waiting for you to take the initiative to tell me. I’ve been waiting, but you would rather undress in front of others than show it to me.”

Zhao Yelan looked at him blankly.

“I believe that you and her are innocent, but I just can’t figure it out. Why would you rather trust her than me? Am I not the person you trust most? Are all the things you said before false?” Yan Mingting asked in a rough voice.

After a while, Zhao Yelan’s eyes refocused and he slowly looked at him, only to find that the other’s eyes were a little red, as if he had been wronged to the breaking point.

It was the first time Zhao Yelan had seen him wear such an expression, and his heart seemed to have been tightly grasped. He was a little out of breath, and soreness filled his chest, gradually spreading to his eyes. He shook his head: “No, it’s not like that.”

“Then why?”

Zhao Yelan stroked his cheeks with trembling hands and said: “Because you are Yan Mingting, ah, you were born different from others.”

You have been blessed by the world since you were born. The most heroic person was your father, and the most virtuous and kind lady was your mother. Every step you take along the way is a solid step, an admirable step. You are free and easy, bright and radiant, with righteousness in your mind and the nation in your heart. You deserve to be praised by all people, and your name will go down in history.

How can I be compared with you?

Even my name is false, and my past cannot be mentioned. Even though I now have power and countless gold and silver, the brand on my back always reminds me that I crawled out of the darkest and filthiest place, and I am not even comparable to the common people. I am nothing more than a slave.

Under the surface of his lofty public appearance lay the deepest inferiority complex. He could usually deceive himself and everyone else, but once someone cared, a needle stuck into his heart, slowly torturing him.

The more they got along, the more he wanted to show a perfect version of himself. He didn’t want Yan Mingting to see the scars and brand marks on his body, and didn’t want him to know about his past.

However, Yan Mingting had already discovered it, and never said anything. 

Perhaps he had guessed his inner thoughts, but it seemed like he didn’t care about the brand, and that these results made him far less upset than the fact that he had asked Gu Niaoniao to tattoo him.

“Aren’t you curious about how Gu Niaoniao and I met?” Zhao Yelan said shakily, “We…..met in a prison cell.”

Yan Mingting froze, then pulled him into his arms and took a deep breath, the gloom in his heart disappearing instantly. As long as the other party gave him an explanation, he would believe him unconditionally.

He naturally knew how unspeakable this brand was for someone as proud as Zhao Yelan. No matter how deliberately arrogant and self-reliant he was, it was all to cover up the humbleness in his bones.

For this reason, he didn’t take the initiative to expose it. But when he found that Zhao Yelan would rather take his clothes off in front of an outsider and let them see, only then was every bit of him in a mess. Waves of jealousy spread from his heart, almost immersing him in a twisted desire for control, to take him back and imprison him in the mansion where no one else could see him. But this was only a fleeting thought, because he could never treat Zhao Yelan cruelly.

He loved him so dearly, how could he bear to hurt him?

“All right, I understand.” Yan Mingting looked up at the things on the table. “Are you getting a tattoo? I can also do this, let me tattoo you.”

Zhao Yelan was surprised: “You can?”

“En, I have tattooed many soldiers loyally serving the country.” Yan Mingting packed those things away. “Let’s go home first. It will be night soon, and guests will come here.”

Before Zhao Yelan had time to sort out his feelings, he was dragged to the door by him. He hurriedly called for him to stop, and led him out through the secret door.

The hidden passage was dark and damp, full of rot and mold. Zhao Yelan covered his nose with one hand, leading Yan Mingting with the other, and felt for the first time that walking this distance was not so difficult.

After returning to the General’s Mansion, the two headed straight to the bedroom. Zhao Yelan watched him carefully choose the needles, and then fully believed that he really knew how to give tattoos.

“Why didn’t you mention you can do this?”

“You didn’t tell me you had a brand, ah,” Yan Mingting said self-righteously.

Only now was Zhao Yelan free to settle an old score with him: “You peeked when I was in the bath.”

“You took advantage of me when you were drunk and ate my tofu.”

“……”

“All right, take off your clothes,” Yan Mingting said.

It wasn’t until he lay down on the bed that Zhao Yelan actually came to his senses. Unexpectedly, he had actually exposed the brand on his back in front of him. However, when the other party approached, he still inevitably flinched and buried his head, not wanting to face the other person.

But emotions were contagious. Yan Mingting didn’t seem to care, and only teased that he had a good-looking back and wanted to kiss it.

Zhao Yelan relaxed a little, and just ignored him.

A kiss fell on his back. Hot and humid breath hit his skin, and Zhao Yelan felt shivery, his skin trembling. He looked back, only to be kissed again, this time right on the brand mark.

“What pattern do you want?” Yan Mingting asked.

Zhao Yelan was taken aback by this question. He didn’t think about these details before he went, just thinking that Gu Niaoniao had a lot of experience and should be able to tattoo him straightaway.

“Don’t you have experience? What do you recommend?”

“Let me see, ah.” Yan Mingting repeatedly rubbed and examined the brand mark. The heat from his fingertips spread to Zhao Yelan’s skin, making him nervous as well as restless, as if deliberately provoking his desire. But when he looked back, Yan Mingting had an upright expression. It seemed that he was just thinking too much.

“I’m not very familiar with patterns such as flowers and plants. I’m better at tattooing words,” Yan Mingting said.

“Tattooing words?”

“En.” How about we add a character before and after this one?” Yan Mingting suggested. “Nian (念) in front and Jiao (娇) in the back?”

“…….Nian Nujiao?”[1]

“Yes, if you like, I can also tattoo the whole poem on your back. Wouldn’t it be fierce?”

“… … … …”

[1] Combining these two characters with the character for slave (奴) forms the name of the songstress in Yuan Zhen’s “Poem of Lianchang Palace.” ⮐