After Being Forced to Marry the Evil Star General

Zhao Yelan was slightly relieved to hear that he was in the mood to joke around, and led him out of the cave, but heard him say another sentence: “Ah, I haven’t grabbed the tiger skin yet.”

“At this time, what need is there for a tiger skin?” Zhao Yelan quickly called some servants over.

“But it’s for you.” Yan Mingting turned around and was about to go back to get it.

“You wait here, I’ll get it.” Zhao Yelan ordered someone to take care of him and then turned back to get the tiger skin. He just happened to run into Zhao Xuan, who was being helped outside, and asked, “Is His Majesty injured?”

“I’m all right, I……” Before Zhao Xuan finished speaking, he watched him walk out with the tiger skin. “……”

Once they returned to the General’s Mansion, several Imperial physicians and some gifts from the palace arrived soon after. After the Imperial physician treated Yan Mingting’s wounds, he gave some instructions before leaving.

Fortunately, they were only small flesh wounds, and he would be fine after a period of recuperation.

Zhao Yelan still frowned. He changed his clothes and helped him to bed, then stared at his wounds for a long time.

“It’s okay, it’s only a little skin trauma.” Yan Mingting rubbed his head.

“Let’s rest, you’ve had a tiring day,” Zhao Yelan said.

“Okay.” Yan Mingting closed his eyes, and after a long time, he felt someone touch his arm lightly as if to test if he was asleep.

He simply pretended to be asleep.

Immediately afterward, the person next to him touched his arm repeatedly, lingering around the wound but never daring to approach it.

After a while of this, Yan Mingting couldn’t take it anymore and hugged him into his arms with his other hand: “What are you doing so sneakily?”

“You’re awake?” Zhao Yelan asked in belated surprise. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I didn’t fall asleep at all.”

“What is the matter?” Zhao Yelan touched his cheek in the dark, then pressed his fingers to the center of his brow. He found that it was smooth and was relieved. “Did today’s events scare you? Is there something on your mind?”

“This incident was not enough to scare me, but it might have scared the Emperor,” Yan Mingting said gloatingly. “He almost lost his life. Let’s see if he dares to fight a tiger next time.”

“That’s something to worry about.” Seeing that he had fallen silent, Zhao Yelan said, “You two stayed in the cave for so long, did you talk a lot?”

“En.”

“Did you talk about me?” Zhao Yelan asked tentatively.

“En.”

“Did he bring up the past with you?”

“En.”

Zhao Yelan became anxious and propped up half his body, saying: “Did he tell you about my previous visit to the brothel?”

Huh? This?

Yan Mingting took advantage of the hazy moonlight to clearly see the expression on his face, and didn’t say a word. Zhao Yelan mistakenly thought this was a silent affirmation, and took the initiative to explain: “I went to see Gu Niaoniao. I had bumped into her on the street, and only then did I know she had gone to Hongxiu House.”

At the age of sixteen, Zhao Yelan had gone out to run errands for Zhao Xuan, but ran into Gu Niaoniao, who was being dragged by the madam to buy a dress. She was lecturing her to treat the guests well, and that if she dared to show her temper, she would be stripped naked and thrown in the moat.

That was their reunion after the few years since they had left the dungeons. At first, he only thought she looked familiar. After all, the girl’s attire was very different from how she looked in the dungeon a few years ago. But upon closer inspection, those eyes were still full of hatred, the same as his, but different.

He had learned to hide the hatred in his heart, not in his eyes.

That night, he took some money and went to Hongxiu House to pick up a few girls. Among them was Gu Niaoniao. Zhao Yelan stunned the others by asking her: “Do you want to stay or run away?”

“I want to stay,” Gu Niaoniao said in a heavy voice, and rolled up her sleeves to show him some red rashes on her hands. “If I’m disobedient, the madam will poison me and make my life worse than death. There will be no scars, just some red rashes that disappear in a couple of days. I want to let her have a taste of this. Please help me.”

Zhao Yelan: “What can you do for me?”

Gu Niaoniao: “I can do anything. Money, looks, body……you can have whatever you want.”

Zhao Yelan heard a lord’s voice from upstairs, talking about court secrets to the woman in his bed, and curled his lower lip silently: “Good. I don’t need anything else, I just need you to be my ears.”

That night, Gu Niaoniao handed him the knife: “I don’t want to pick up any more customers, please do me another favor.”

Zhao Yelan was silent for a moment, then said: “Do it yourself, ba. If you can’t be cruel to yourself, what revenge can you take?”

“You’re right.” Gu Niaoniao laughed for a long time. Then, facing the mirror, she made a long, slanted slash from the top of her eyebrow. Blood flowed down, obscuring her face.

Afterwards, Zhao Xuan heard that Zhao Yelan had quarreled with a brothel girl and cut her face apart, so he hurried over to bring Zhao Yelan back and paid a large amount of money to the brothel madam and Gu Niaoniao to settle the matter.

Yan Mingting listened to his detailed explanation. After thinking it over, it was no wonder why Gu Niaoniao’ scar was a bit strange. There would be differences in the details between injuries caused at other people’s hands and those caused by your own. It was just that he hadn’t examined the woman’s face carefully, so he didn’t notice these details. While hugging Zhao Yelan tightly, he felt that just a few sentences about his past were enough to frighten people.

Noticing his silence, Zhao Yelan began to ponder again: “Could it be he spoke of something else? Did he say that I defrauded him of money? Or that I wore a red shirt and was knocked unconscious by a cow?”

Huh??

“What cow?” Yan Mingting became interested.

As soon as Zhao Yelan heard this tone, he knew that the other didn’t know, so he kept silent.

“How did it hit you? Tell me about it.” Yan Mingting couldn’t hold back, and chuckled a bit.

Zhao Yelan: “Stop talking, go to bed!”

Yan Mingting failed to learn from him how he was knocked unconscious by a cow, but he was not in a hurry to know the answer for a while. Anyway, the future would be long, and sooner or later he would learn bit by bit from him.

The lingering gloom in his heart also dissipated.

Even if Zhao Xuan grew up with him, what he had was Zhao Yelan’s present and future.

Because of his injuries, the Emperor specially spared him from going to early court, and asked Yan Mingting to fully recover before returning.

This made Yan Mingting very comfortable.

Every morning, he stayed in bed until Zhao Yelan opened his eyes, and then got up with him. After breakfast, he sent him to the Imperial Academy in a sedan chair. At dusk, he went to pick him up in a sedan chair.

And because of his inconvenient legs and feet, Zhao Yelan showed the greatest care to him. He wouldn’t get angry easily, and would chant the Diamond Sutra silently, then go to the study to calm down.

Yan Mingting lived a comfortable life, wandering around the courtyard with a walking stick all day long. Once Zhao Yelan returned home, he circled him like a puppy, asking him if he was tired from work, if his hand was sore from writing, and if his clothes were warm enough……

Usually, Zhao Yelan would answer all his questions, but if he had business to do, he would just be asked to sit farther away. If he was still disobedient, Zhao Yelan would simply give him a firm kiss and he would behave himself, thinking shyly and timidly about when he would be able to get another kiss.

After more than ten days of comfortable living, Yan Mingting felt dissatisfied again at night. He took Zhao Yelan’s hand and stretched it down: “Mengting……”

“Your leg is broken, why are you still thinking about that?” Zhao Yelan said coolly.

“It’s not broken, it’s almost healed.” Yan Mingtin arched his head flatteringly. “Mengting……”

“You can’t hurt your legs again at a critical moment, you had best lie down and recuperate.”

Yan Mingting turned over and pressed him down, saying: “In fact, my legs have recovered early. If you don’t believe me, do you want to try?”

“Of course I know your legs recovered early,” Zhao Yelan said unhappily. “Aren’t you tired of putting fake gauze on every day?”

“Ah, you saw that?” Yan Mingting smiled, and was stopped by Zhao Yelan when he started tugging on his clothes.

“Go away.” Zhao Yelan kicked him to the end of the bed. “Did you forget what you said at dinner?”

Yan Mingting’s smile froze.

A group of military lieutenants, along with Zuo Ran and Yin Pinglu, were specially invited over for dinner today. Because today was He Cuizhang’s birthday, drinks were continuously refilled during the banquet.

Yan Mingting had stared at Zhao Yelan intently, and Zhao Yelan wondered: “What are you doing?”

“I want to eat a dumpling, you feed it to me.”

“You don’t have hands, ah?”

“It hurts, and I can’t lift it up.”

Zhao Yelan looked at him silently. With a slight smile, he picked up a dumpling and stuffed it into his mouth with gritted teeth.

Yan Mingting was so proud. He raised his eyebrows at his subordinates, making everyone’s teeth sore.

“You can’t even lift your hands, and it’s even more impossible for you to lift your feet, so you should just stay there,” Zhao Yelan said.

As long as you committed evil, you would be punished, ah. Yan Mingting could only crawl back and lie down obediently.

Winter started early this year, and in the blink of an eye, the cold wind picked up and blew into people’s faces with bone-piercing pain.

When Zhao Yelan walked out of the Imperial Academy, his hair was tossed up by the wind. He gathered the collar of his cloak, walked outside, and saw Yan Mingting standing in front of the sedan chair some distance away.

The other party also noticed his figure and walked up to him in a few steps, reaching out his hands to hold his cold face.

Those palms were very warm. Zhao Yelan exhaled: “Didn’t I tell you not to come?”

He came to the Imperial Academy to pick him up and drop him off every day, and his colleagues in the courtyard laughed at him. It was fine once or twice, but if it happened too often, even if he pretended not to hear, it was inevitable that he would feel a little embarrassed.

“The weather has changed today, I was afraid you would catch a cold. I really won’t come tomorrow.”

“You said the same thing yesterday.”

Yan Mingting smiled, then glanced behind him at the approaching Ruan Xian.

“My lord left in a hurry and left something behind. I just came to give it to you.” Ruan Xian smiled in embarrassment. He felt that he had found the reason why Yan Mingting hated him. It must be because he spoiled their happy occasions!

When passing by them, Ruan Xian saw that Yan Mingting was still holding Zhao Yelan’s face. He bowed his head and pretended not to see anything, handed the book in his hands to Zhao Yelan, then turned around and ran away.

Mother, he hadn’t done such a sweet thing in his life, but now that he had learned it, he would put it to use when he went home!

Zhao Yelan sat in the sedan chair and rubbed his hands. It was much warmer inside.

Yan Mingting placed the hot water bottle prepared in advance into his hands and asked with a smile: “Why were you in such a hurry that you left things behind?”

Zhao Yelan put his hands on the hot water bottle to keep warm, but didn’t answer him.

Smiling, Yan Mingting asked: “Were you rushing out to see me?”

Zhao Yelan still didn’t say a word, just raised his eyes to glance at him lightly with a hint of hesitation. Yan Mingting’s heart swayed, and he turned his head and kissed the ends of his eyes.

The General’s Mansion was already lit up. As soon as he went to the bedroom, Zhao Yelan removed his cloak and looked at the tiger skin on the bed. It was truly unsightly.

“Can it be changed for another?” Zhao Yelan asked.

“Another won’t be as nice and warm.”

“It’s too ugly.”

“It’s warm.”

“…….”

Soon, Yan Mingting also felt that the tiger skin had to be replaced. After the two of them sweated profusely at night, some tiger hairs were stuck to their bodies. He took a bath with the man in his arms and threw the tiger skin aside, then changed the bed to a simple blanket and fell asleep with that person in his arms.

In the blink of an eye, it was the twelfth lunar month of winter, and the vassal kings and envoys all over the country came to Beijing one after another. The capital was bustling again for a while.

Yan Mingting was in charge of defense at this time. The commander of the Imperial Army had been dismissed due to his laziness and dereliction of duty in the hunting grounds last time.

On New Year’s Day, the emperor held a grand banquet and invited guests from all over the nation to share a feast. Only officials of the fourth rank and above could participate.

Xiao Gao changed Zhao Yelan’s clothes, dressing him thickly and adding an apricot-colored cloak, saying: “The General said to have my lord go over early, and he will join you soon.”

Yan Mingting had gone out to court before dawn. He was busy all afternoon and hadn’t returned.

“I understand.” Zhao Yelan was traveling toward the palace in a sedan chair, and when he heard the bustling voices outside, he raised the curtain to take a look. Some family’s lady was sitting in a carriage, grandly pulling out a few boxes of things as people around stopped to watch.

The carriage and sedan chair drew close, and it happened that the owner of that carriage lifted the curtain, revealing a haughty face.

It was the Eighth Princess of Southern Nanjiang.

Just as Zhao Yelan was about to look away, he suddenly noticed a peddler on the side of the road. He ordered Xiao Gao to go shopping, and stopped the sedan chair to wait for the princess to leave first.

After entering the palace gate, many colleagues had already arrived. Kan Chuan approached him unobtrusively and murmured in a low voice: “I saw the Princess of Nanjiang just now, did she come to make peace through marriage?”

“It is possible, just wait and see.”

“En.” Kan Chuan turned around and greeted other colleagues naturally.

Seats had been arranged in the main hall, and everyone sat according to their positions. Zhao Yelan stopped at the entrance and sought out Yan Mingting’s figure in the vast crowd. His back was turned to him as he talked with several people.

The other party seemed to sense it and looked back, smiling upon seeing him. He pointed him to a certain table and motioned for him to sit down first.

Logically speaking, as a fourth-rank official, Zhao Yelan could not sit in the front row. But this table was obviously arranged by Yan Mingting and could only seat two people, so he sat down with poise.

At the next table was the Prime Minister. Li Jinyu turned his head with a smile and spoke to him in a low voice: “I haven’t had time to thank Zhao-daren face-to-face. My son has finally become sensible these days.”

Zhao Yelan nodded: “You can rest assured and let him do it, ba. Even if he suffers a loss, he will be fine.”

“Yes, yes, yes, I protected him too well.” Li Jinyu sighed.

While the two were talking, the princess and king of Southern Nanjiang passed by them and sat down at the table in front, followed by the Mongolian Kingdom, envoys from the Western Regions, and vassals from all over the world.

Everyone had arrived, and Zhao Xuan led the Empress and Sun Muyun out.

Sun Muyun’s belly had grown a lot, and now that she had been promoted to a new position, her status was different from in the past. She could even attend this kind of event with the Emperor and Empress.

She sat down and looked around with a smile, and after spotting Zhao Yelan, she smiled sincerely with shining white teeth.

At this moment, Yan Mingting also returned and sat down beside him, ignoring the Emperor, who was greeting others. He took out a bag of peanuts from his bosom and asked quietly: “Are you hungry?”

“I’m fine.” Zhao Yelan was worried that he would not have a chance to eat at such a time, so he came here after eating some snacks. But as soon as he finished speaking, Yan Mingting handed over the shelled peanuts.

The two of them were sneaking peanuts here, and Zhao Yelan turned to see that Li Jinyu was looking at them eagerly, so he kindly gave him a handful.

Not long after, Li Jinyu’s table mate also looked over eagerly.

Zhao Yelan: “…….”

In total, Yan Mingting had hidden three bags of peanuts. He divided up two bags among the people behind and left only one bag, saying that he would not give it to anyone else.

He cracked the peanuts with skill, controlling his strength and not making a sound, but the others couldn’t. Seeing that he had already cracked his, they immediately cracked theirs.

The Emperor and the envoys of the vassal kings in front heard the sounds of peanuts being eaten, and the people who were talking stopped awkwardly.

Sitting at the top, Sun Muyun had already noticed Yan Mingting and Zhao Yelan’s small movements, and wished she could sit with them and eat peanuts. But then she felt that just looking at the two of them was very fascinating, especially watching them head to head, secretly talking and making small gestures. It was too sweet, even sweeter than the sweet soup she drank today!

Zhao Xuan coughed, and everyone seemed to have been caught in the act. They immediately stopped and looked straight ahead, remaining silent as they continued to listen to their conversation.

After Yan Mingting fed the last peanut to Zhao Yelan, he sighed. He hadn’t expected this group of people to be so useless!

Zhao Yelan tugged his sleeve at this time, and when he looked to the side, he saw Zhao Yelan staring straight ahead while he took out bright tanghulu from his sleeve and passed it to him under the table.

Yan Mingting’s eyes lit up. He took it and tore off the candy wrapper, lowering his head to bite into one. He put his right hand on the table, propped up his forehead, and covered half his face so as not to alert the Emperor. He secretly took a bite and asked Zhao Yelan with his eyes.

Zhao Yelan glanced at the golden throne and nodded, indicating that no one had noticed his movements.

Yan Mingting took another bite. It was sweet and delicious.

After eating one, he tugged Zhao Yelan’s sleeve again, motioning for him to eat one too.

Seeing his expectant eyes, Zhao Yelan lowered his head to take a bite. Yan Mingting immediately took another one, and the two of them looked at each other and smiled. They didn’t even hear Zhao Xuan call, “Yan-qing, Zhao-qing.”

Everyone looked at them one after another. Zhao Yelan was taken aback for a moment, and then looked up belatedly.

Zhao Xuan asked: “Just now, the King of Nanjiang proposed to marry the Princess to Yan-qing in order to form a good relationship. What do you think?”

“Ah, this matter……” Zhao Yelan looked over as if nothing had happened, and simply stopped pretending. First he blatantly bit the tanghulu in his mouth and then replied leisurely, “I don’t agree.”

Yan Mingting was incredibly attracted by his handsomeness and perfectly imitated his actions, chewing the tanghulu dashingly: “I also don’t agree.”