Chapter 172: I’ll Be Gentler Next Time

July 10, 2023Merchie

Suddenly, the sound of someone knocking on the door came from outside. It was a very quiet sound.

Pei Zheng seemed unaffected and did not intend on answering the door. He stared at the pair of brilliant red lips in front of him and leaned forward again.

However, Qi Changyi shrank backward and turned his head away. His face was bright red, and he was panting a bit as he said, “Pei-gege, someone’s knocking on the door.”

“I heard it.”

Pei Zheng turned his little head to face him again. Just as he was about to kiss him, his lips were pushed back by the other’s hand.

“Then you should hurry and let them in. What if it’s something important?”

Qi Changyi pouted, his fingers pressed against Pei Zheng’s thin lips.

Pei Zheng pulled his hand away and kissed the back of it. Then, he pinned Qi Changyi’s palms behind his back, preventing those hands from pushing him away.

“Whatever it is, it’s not as important as you.”

Leaving no room for argument, his thin lips smashed down upon the other’s, while at this moment, a soft knock sounded once more.

Qi Changyi’s body tensed a little more. He accidentally bit the soft tongue that was stretching into his mouth, before his own tongue was bitten as punishment.

Qi Changyi let out a muffled groan of pain, and his eyes immediately became watery.

Pei Zheng saw how pitiful he looked and knew that he probably had not controlled his strength properly and had bitten too hard, hurting his soft, delicate little sweetheart.

As if in a hurry to comfort him, he licked the area that had been bitten a few times before letting go of the breathless little prince.

“Stick out your tongue.”

But Qi Changyi kept his mouth clamped shut, glaring at Pei Zheng with a pair of misty almond eyes. It seemed that he was very unhappy about Pei Zheng’s payback bite from earlier.

“Pei-gege, why did you bite me?”

Pei Zheng was afraid that he had actually hurt the small man. He held his chin and forced him to open his mouth before leaning down to examine his little tongue. Fortunately, it was neither bleeding nor swollen.

“Did I hurt you? I’ll be gentler next time, okay?”

At first, Qi Changyi nodded, before he felt that something was not right, “Nono, you’re not allowed to bite me in the future. You can’t even if you’re gentler, it’ll still hurt.”

“Okay, I won’t bite.” Pei Zheng said.

Except when we’re in bed. Pei Zheng thought.

The knocking sounded again, louder than the last two times.

“Enter.”

Pei Zheng’s figure could completely obscure the little prince’s body. From the door, one could not even see Qi Changyi.

He stretched out a finger and wiped the saliva from the corner of the small man’s mouth. Earlier, when they had kissed, it had accidentally dribbled out. The little prince had no idea what was going on. He looked at Pei Zheng with pure, misty eyes, his expression full of innocence.

Li Yu came in and stood submissively at the door with his head bowed, not daring to take a step further inside.

He had been standing at the door for quite a while. He was too afraid to knock, but he could not just stand there without knocking either. If he knocked, he feared that His Lordship would find him a nuisance and throw him right out of the Prime Minister’s Manor.

But the moment he thought of his little Highness, he felt like there was someone who had his back, and Li Yu finally dared to come inside.

“My Lord, Your Highness.”

“Speak.”

Pei Zheng was sitting with his back to the door, doing who knows what. But in truth, his finger had been tracing the corner of the little man’s lips this whole time, and had almost slipped into his mouth several times.

If it were not for Qi Changyi gripping Pei Zheng’s arm and keeping his lips locked together, that slender finger would have stretched inside a long time ago.

Li Yu fearfully gave a report, “My Lord, th-the fourth prince is here, he’s been waiting at the hall in the front garden for a while now.”

The fourth prince Qi Changfeng? It had already been so long since he had heard this name. Why had he suddenly come?

Pei Zheng asked, “Why is he here?”

Li Yu said, “The fourth prince refused to reveal his intentions. He said he would explain only after he saw His Highness.”

Pei Zheng laughed coldly, “He thinks that he can see him just because he wants to? If the fourth prince doesn’t want to explain, you can send him on his way. His Highness has other important matters do deal with.”

Qi Changyi was in front of Pei Zheng. He looked at him and whispered, “Pei-gege, I don’t have other important things-“

Seeing how adorable he looked, Pei Zheng felt a surge of affection. He pinched his soft little cheek, “If I say you do, you do.”

He leaned down into the small man’s ear, “In a little bit, I’ll tell what those important things are.”

Seeing that Li Yu had not left yet, Pei Zheng had already become a bit irritated.

“Why aren’t you leaving?”

Li Yu said, “My Lord, this lowly one may have some idea of the purpose of the fourth prince’s visit.”

“Say it.”

Li Yu said, “During the time my Lord and Your Highness have been absent, many things have happened in the palace. His Majesty has fallen ill and has been bedridden for quite some time now. The imperial physicians haven’t found a cure for him, so the former Imperial Physician Jiang has been temporarily brought to the palace to treat His Majesty’s illness. And everyone in the palace knows that His Majesty has been constantly worrying about our little Highness during these past few days. He is always longing for the little Highness to return so that he can see him again.”

No wonder the Emperor had not summoned Pei Zheng this entire time. It was because he was unable to.

“Is this why Qi Changfeng came?” Pei Zheng asked.

Li Yu nodded, “This isn’t the first time the fourth prince has come here, but the last two times, my Lord and Your Highness had not returned yet. I’m afraid that this time, the fourth prince has come to take Your Highness back to the palace.”

Pei Zheng snorted coldly, “He doesn’t even ask for my permission before he comes to the Prime Minister’s Manor to take someone away.”

“My Lord, do you still want to send the fourth prince back?”

At this moment, Qi Changyi piped up: “Pei-gege, are you saying that Fourth Brother is here to take me back to the palace, and take me to see Father?”

Pei Zheng stroked his hair, “It’s all right if you don’t want to go. With me around, no one would dare to force you.”

Qi Changyi grabbed Pei Zheng’s hand, his voice soft, “Pei-gege, is Father sick? Is it serious? Is… is he going to die?”

The image in Qi Changyi’s heart was not that of the Father who had sent him away for the marriage alliance, nor was it that of the Father who had refused to see him even after he fainted in the rain, nor was it that of the Father who never cherished him, who always punished him and distanced himself from him. It was the Father who had carried him on his shoulders as a child and treated him like a treasure.

Li Yu replied, “Your Highness, this servant does not want to lie to you. According to Imperial Physician Jiang, His Majesty’s illness is quite serious, and his life is in danger.”

When Qi Changyi heard these words, the corners of his eyes immediately reddened.

“Pei-gege, I want to go back, I want to see Father, I want to see how Father’s doing…”

Qi Changyi slowly leaned against Pei Zheng, “Pei-gege, I don’t want anything bad to happen to Father. Even if Father never loves me or cares about me ever again, I don’t want anything bad to happen to him. I want Father to be okay, to not be sick. Father can love my other brothers and sisters, I won’t be sad…”

As Pei Zheng listened to his voice becoming softer and softer, he could hear traces of sobs. His heart ached as he hugged his trembling little body and gently lifted his head up.

As expected, those once bright eyes were now filled with tears. As he blinked his long lashes, tearsdrops dripped down like little beads.

Pei Zheng wiped his tears away, “If you’re not sad, what are you crying for?”

Qi Changyi pouted, aggrieved to the extreme, “I, I-I’m sad, I’m actually really sad, but I was always able to hold it in, but today, I can’t…”

The little prince cried with such grief, racked with sobs.

Pei Zheng gently patted his back, stabilizing his qi. His voice was so tender that it was dripping with dew, “All right, no more crying. If you want to go back to see him, we’ll go back, it’s all up to you, okay?’

“Okay.”

Qi Changyi allowed Pei Zheng to wipe away his tears and straighten his robes before Pei Zheng clasped his hand tightly and led him all the way to the hall in the front garden of the Prime Minister’s Manor.

Qi Changfeng was still sitting inside. When he spotted the two of them, he was a bit shocked.

“Lord Pei, when did you return? I didn’t receive any news of your arrival.”

Qi Changfengs’s current status in the imperial court had stabilized. Although it was not nearly as grand as it had been in the past, he could finally participate in government affairs again.

“Chang… Changyi…” Qi Changyi spotted Qi Changyi, who was behind Pei Zheng, and was stunned for a moment.

This was his blood-related little brother who had been gone for so many years. Their blood relationship ran deep, and when Qi Changfeng thought that Qi Changyi had died, he blamed himself for a period of time. Now that he was seeing his little brother standing in front of him, to say that he was not happy was a lie.

But his little brother, who always smiled to welcome him, who was sweet and obedient no matter what happened, was now looking at him with such a cold expression.

“Fourth Brother.” Qi Changyi called in a somewhat cool voice that was unexpectedly flat. The corners of his eyes were red; he had clearly just been crying.

Just now in the little pavilion, Pei Zheng had told Qi Changyi that he was not allowed to be too nice to Qi Changfeng, nor was he allowed to try and curry favor with him.

“Changyi, are, are you,” A myriad of feelings welled up in Qi Changfeng’s heart, but he was at a loss for words.

“Have you been well?”

“He’s been very well. He doesn’t need you to worry about him, Fourth Prince.

The corners of Pei Zheng’s lips hooked, but there was not a trace of a smile in his eyes, “What purpose does the fourth prince have in coming to my manor?”

Qi Changfeng paused, “I-I, Changyi, I’ve come to take you back to the palace.”

Pei Zheng squeezed Qi Changyi’s hand. He lifted his eyes to glance up at Pei Zheng, before he looked at Qi Changfeng and said, “Okay. Fourth Brother, I’ll go back with you.”

Two carriages left from the gate of the Prime Minister’s Manor and headed toward the palace. After they entered the palace gates, they stopped in front of an arched door.

They got off the carriages and climbed into sedan chairs, before they traveled toward the residence the Emperor was staying in.

Pei Zheng got off the sedan chair before he carried Qi Changyi off as well.

“Can you go in by yourself?”

Qi Changyi sniffled and nodded.

Qi Changfeng had already walked up to the door of the residence and was waiting for Qi Changyi, but Pei Zheng was still worried about him leaving his field of sight. However, this was the imperial palace; nothing bad would happen here.

“Pei-gege, don’t leave, you have to stay here and wait for me.”

Qi Changyi grabbed Pei Zheng’s sleeve, “In a little bit, I’ll come out to find you. You can’t go anywhere.”

Pei Zheng could not help but laugh. He affectionately squeezed the small man’s little chin, without a care in the world about the gazes of the people around them.

Those who dared to look should look closely. If they were so bold as to comment on the matter, they had better make sure that Pei Zheng did not find out about it. Otherwise, anyone who dared to say a word would lose his tongue.

Notes

Wow. This chapter made me realize how many tremendous gaping assholes Changyi has been surrounded by. Listing all the things the Emperor did, like leaving him in the rain like that, is not going to make me feel bad at all. And throwing Qi Changfeng in only makes things worse. This novel has a very bad habit of just making Changyi forgive and forget everything.

Thanks for reading~