After Being Forced to Marry the Evil Star General

Li Yucheng came back to his senses. Seeing that Zhao Yelan was on the verge of falling, he hurried forward with Xiao Gao to support him. 

“Where is he?” Zhao Yelan struggled to stand up. Turning to look at the road ahead, among the figures coming and going, there was no Yan Mingting.

He ran to the road and interrogated them one by one, asking hoarsely: “Have you seen Yan Mingting?”

Those people were inexplicably caught to be interrogated, and seeing his red eyes, they were terrified. Afraid of getting into trouble, they waved their hands one after another and broke away, fleeing quickly.

Zhao Yelan walked onward, watching the sun sinking bit by bit. He tripped and fell to the road.

“Oh, heavens, don’t run around. Let’s go back first, maybe he just got off the horse to take a piss and the disobedient horse ran back by itself,” Li Yucheng comforted, helping him up.

Zhao Yelan’s dazed eyes gradually focused: “You’re right. Perhaps that is the case.”

“Ah? It is?” Li Yucheng was confused. What did he just say?

Zhao Yelan forgot his body’s pain and the dust on his clothing. He ran back quickly, and the sweat-blood horse also ran over.

“He just got off halfway, right? Take me to find him.” After saying so, Zhao Yelan rode on.

Yan Mingting was right, the sweat-blood horse was still a bit difficult for him to control. The speed was too fast, and he lost his balance several times before he managed to stabilize his figure. Trying not to let himself fall, he called Yan Mingting’s name along the way.

“Is he crazy?” Li Yucheng hurriedly asked Xiao Gao to follow, and returned to the city, where he hired a carriage to catch up.

“Yan Mingting! Yan Mingting, where are you!”

Zhao Yelan shouted all the way. Li Yucheng and Xiao Gao followed behind and called out as well. It was completely dark now, and the three of them searched for a long time on the dark road. Xiao Gao held a torch and led Zhao Yelan on the path ahead.

Zhao Yelan’s voice was so hoarse that he couldn’t shout anymore. He gazed into the endless night and at the road ahead, and suddenly didn’t know what he was doing.

He should have returned to the city and called someone to start a blanket search, or he shouldn’t have asked Yan Mingting to come back earlier, and just had him stay in Nanjiang for a while and return with the army. Then Yan Mingting would certainly not have disappeared on the way home.

Or, he shouldn’t have let Yan Mingting go to Nanjiang in the first place.

There were so many people who knew how to fight, but there was only one Yan Mingting.

Xiao Gao walked in front, and his ears moved slightly when he heard a faint sob. He turned his head and saw Zhao Yelan raise a hand and press his palm to his eyes. A teardrop rolled down the tip of his eye to his cheek.

Xiao Gao was too shocked to speak, and pointed at him tremblingly. Just as he was about to speak, Li Yucheng gave him a meaningful look, and he belatedly closed his mouth. Looking ahead, he pretended that he hadn’t seen anything.

The horse continued to walk forward, and the three of them remained quiet on the road.

Xiao Gao never heard him cry again, as if what he heard just now was his imagination. Or perhaps his lord just restrained and suppressed it, not daring to let them hear anything more.

He didn’t dare look back, but silently hoped in his heart that Yan Mingting would come home soon.

There was no telling how long they walked, but many thoughts came to Zhao Yelan’s mind, one here, one there, without any rhyme or reason. It was like walking on the summit of despair, hopeless and unrestrained, ready for whatever came.

Suddenly, as if he had found his answer, the corners of his mouth twitched.

No matter what, it would be fine. In any case, Yan Mingting wouldn’t run away from him, and dying was impossible.

At this time, the horse suddenly accelerated, and he simply trusted the horse and let it run wildly.

“My lord!” Xiao Gao hurried to catch up.

“Aiyo, you really want to torment me to death!” Li Yucheng quickly chased after him with the carriage.

Soon, Zhao Yelan discovered that the horse was not running wildly, but seemed to be running in a certain direction. However, it suddenly calmed down again, lingering on the road.

“Are you looking for him?” Zhao Yelan leaned over and asked. There was joy in his eyes, but fearing that his hopes would be in vain, he restrained his voice and asked, “Is he around here?”

The horse certainly couldn’t answer him. It circled around like a headless chicken, neighing.

Just then, a whistle sounded from afar.

The horse moved upon hearing the sound, and promptly ran over through the darkness.

Zhao Yelan controlled his heartbeat and stared ahead until he saw a vague figure. The suppressed emotions surged up at once, and he cursed: “Yan Mingting! What are you doing hiding here!”

Behind him, Xiao Gao and Li Yucheng heard this and rushed to the front immediately.

Xiao Gao raised the torch a little higher, and only then did he see Yan Mingting leaning against a tree in a state of embarrassment. He didn’t forget to fold his arms in front of his chest in a  handsome way, raise his eyebrows at them, and then stretch out his hands with a smile: “Mengting, you’re here, let me give you a hug.”

Zhao Yelan dismounted, staggered two steps, and then went forward and shoved him: “What are you doing hiding here!”

Yan Mingting smiled, hugged him into his arms, and took a deep breath: “It’s good to see you.”

Li Yucheng took Xiao Gao to the side to wait.

Zhao Yelan shoved him a few more times, but did not push him away. Then he hugged him back and buried himself in the crook of his neck.

After a moment, Yan Mingting noticed that a patch of his neck was wet with tears. He stroked the other’s cheeks with both hands and lowered his head to kiss him longer than ever before, salty tears mixed in.

The dark clouds dissipated and the moon was completely exposed, bright moonlight shining down on the two of them until Zhao Yelan could hardly breathe. Only then did he gently push this person away. He found that tears were also hanging on Yan Mingting’s cheeks, and his heart was touched. He raised a hand to wipe them and asked: “Why are you crying?”

“Because I missed you?” Yan Mingting heard that his voice was hoarse and pressed his forehead against him, asking in a low voice, “How about you?”

“I thought you were dead,” Zhao Yelan said.

Yan Mingting smiled silently.

“So why are you here?” Zhao Yelan asked again.

Yan Mingting led him to the carriage and said: “When I was on my way, I was in a hurry to piss, so I dismounted first and when I came back, I found that the horse was gone.”

Hearing this, Li Yucheng was shocked and said: “My god, I was right?!”

Zhao Yelan didn’t believe it, but did not ask more questions at this moment, quietly following him into the carriage. Then he started to pick off the other’s clothes without making a sound. Yan Mingting didn’t resist, and let him check carefully, saying with a smile: “I’m not hurt, it really was an urge to pee.”

Zhao Yelan beat him a few more times angrily: “Then you can’t tie up a horse well! Do you know when I saw only the horse come back, how much…..”

He couldn’t continue, and simply turned his head to look elsewhere.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t tie the horse properly, it’s all my carelessness.” Yan Mingting coaxed him for a long time, but seeing that he was still indifferent, he moved his eyes and suddenly let out a painful “hiss.”

Zhao Yelan frowned and turned around: “What is wrong with you?”

“It hurts a little.”

“Where?” Zhao Yelan hurriedly touched him.

“In here.” Yan Mingting pressed his hand to the left side of his chest, aggrieved. “When you ignore me, it hurts here.”

Zhao Yelan gave him a blank look. He looked down and leaned his head against him, closing his eyes. “Forget it. It’s good you came back. No matter what, it’s good that you came back safely.”

Yan Mingting placed his arms around his shoulders, lowered his head, and sniffed the smell of him. He smiled silently, but the depths of his eyes were as desolate as the night.

When he returned to the General’s Mansion, the servants had already gone to sleep, so Xiao Gao obediently went to the kitchen to prepare hot water.

While bathing, Yan Mingting talked to Zhao Yelan about the war, blowing himself up into a majestic god of war like nothing in heaven or earth.

The corners of Zhao Yelan’s mouth hooked up. If it were before, he would have already been irritated to no end, but presently, he wasn’t irritated at all. He couldn’t wait for him to talk more, as if he was also on the battlefield with him.

“By the way, did the Princess of Nanjiang tell you why she poisoned your father?” he asked.

“En.” Yan Mingting nodded, and said in a low voice, “She finally confessed before she died and said that Zhao Xu asked her for the poison. Although the Yan family did not join any faction at that time, he found the Imperial doctor who treated me. He was worried that the Yan family might be biased toward your party, and in addition, he had begun to worry that my father would make great achievements after he ascended the throne, so he was ruthless.”

Zhao Yelan’s eyes went slightly cold: “Where is Zhao Xu, you haven’t found him yet?”

“These days, I have also sent people to search covertly, to see if the person is alive and to find the corpse if he is dead.”

Yan Mingting turned to look at his angry expression, laughed, and raised his hand to pinch his cheek: “Okay, okay. It’s fine for me to be angry alone, you have to be responsible for being happy.”

“Come out quickly after washing, the water is cold,” Zhao Yelan said.

Yan Mingting got up to dry himself, put on his clothes, and took his hand to walk to the bed.

Zhao Yelan suddenly felt his hand being squeezed hard. He looked sideways and saw Yan Mingting shake his head with a slight frown. Then he sat down on the side of the bed as if nothing had happened and patted his thigh: “Come, I haven’t hugged you for a long time.”

Zhao Yelan sat and asked: “Other than you, is everyone else staying at the southern border?”

“No, only a small number of people were left. He Cuizhang and the others will lead the army back tomorrow, I’m just one step ahead of them.”

“I would rather you had returned with them and saved me some worry.”

Yan Mingting smiled, placed him on the bed, and then practiced what it meant for absence to make the heart grow fonder.

The next day, Zhao Yelan reported a leave of absence to the Imperial Academy, and when he got up, Yan Mingting was still lying in bed.

When Housekeeper Qin heard that the General was back, he was so happy that he turned around and asked the kitchen to prepare a lot of food.

Zhao Yelan kicked Yan Mingting while listening to the bustling commotion outside: “Don’t you have to go to court today?”

“En, in any case, He Cuizhang and the others haven’t returned yet, so I’ll wait for the army to come back before going to court.” Yan Mingting had been exhausted for almost two months, and at this moment, he wanted to be lazy. He hugged Zhao Yelan and moaned, “I don’t want to go out, I just want to play with you.”

“Then let’s go back to sleep, ba.” Zhao Yelan patted him on the shoulder lightly and slept with him again, not getting up until noon.

After eating, the two lingered in the room for another two hours, and Zhao Yelan kicked him exhaustedly: “Are you going to let me live?”

“Isn’t this the time for you to be passionate?” Yan Mingting teased.

Zhao Yelan supported his head with his hands and sent him a slanted glance. Yan Mingting leaned forward to kiss him a few more times and said contentedly: “I’ve been holding back for two months.”

In the evening, after Zhao Yelan bathed, he found that Yan Mingting was not in the mansion. After asking Housekeeper Qin, he discovered that he was out running errands.

As for what he was doing, Housekeeper Qin didn’t know either.

Zhao Yelan closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then turned and went back to the room. When Yan Mingting returned, he asked: “What did you go to do?”

“Oh, I went out and did a little shopping.” Yan Mingting took out a safety talisman from his bosom and gave it to him. “I heard that this is very useful, and it is made of pure gold. I guessed you would like it.”

“…….” Zhao Yelan looked at such a big golden safety talisman and said speechlessly, “I like gold, but I don’t want to wear it when I go out.”

“Then keep it as a treasure at home. It’s gold,” Yan Mingting said with a smile.

Zhao Yelan watched him go and earnestly store it. Walking a few steps closer, he hugged him and then secretly sniffed him, smelling the faint scent of medicinal herbs.

Others may not have noticed it, but he had been ill for a long time, so he was very familiar with the scent of medicinal herbs.

“Why so clingy?” Yan Mingting said with a smile.

Zhao Yelan said: “Go to bed early.”

“I’m going!”

Like an energetic dog, Yan Mingting was about to squeeze him dry again. The next day, he went to the Imperial Academy slowly. In fact, it was possible to ask for leave, but he still had something to investigate.

At noon, his colleagues ate, but he went to the Imperial Hospital. He found the busy Yao Muze in an empty corner and asked straight to the point: “Did Yan Mingting look for you last night?”

Yao Muze looked at him in surprise.

“What did he come see you for?” Zhao Yelan asked forcefully.

Yao Muze’s eyes wandered, as if he wanted to avoid this question.

“Think about it clearly, the price of hiding it from me is very high.” Zhao Yelan’s eyes were sharp. “Moreover, even he wants to hide things from me. Can you bear the consequences?”

Yao Muze’s eyes flickered a few times. He truly didn’t want to hide this news, so he could only temporarily let down the general’s trust. Gritting his teeth, he replied: “The General came to ask me last night if there is any antidote to the old general’s poison, and how many days he could live at most…..”

Zhao Yelan felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, and his face went pale.