The Wife is First

Ch20 - Misunderstanding

“If you want to sleep, you still have to take your clothes off.” Mu Hanzhang helplessly pushed at the person next to him.

“Then I’ll help you take them off.” Jing Shao, who was originally lying bonelessly on his stomach, immediately became spirited. He sat up and began to untie the sash of the person underneath him. 

“I… I’ll do it myself.” Mu Hanzhang hurriedly pulled away the hand that was pulling at the sash at his waist.

Jing Shao smiled upon hearing this. He put down the curtain, sat down on the side, and fixed his eyes on the other, watching.

Mu Hanzhang’s face got even redder, and he quickly took off his outer clothing and shirt and squeezed into the quilt. Jing Shao found his reaction amusing, and he also took off his clothes, getting under the blankets. Then he gathered the person in his arms and kissed his forehead.

Xiao Yuan told him that in this kind of situation, he must be gentle in his treatment towards his male wife, and to respect him. Kissing was more effective than randomly touching, because in that way it would not make him feel any shame. Jing Shao’s kiss moved down from the forehead, to between the eyebrows, then to the cool tip of the nose, then finally to the soft lips. The person in his arms nervously closed his eyes, but did not resist. 

Jing Shao followed this method and found that it really was effective. He then gently pulled open the lapels of the snowy white inner garment. The light outside the bed had not been extinguished, and through the help of the light that traveled through the curtains, you could distinctly see Mu Hanzhang’s delicate throat and the elegant shape of his clavicle. Leaning down, Jing Shao kissed downwards, following his chin and licking at the snowy neck. That cute Adam’s apple slid up and down. Jing Shao lifted up the corners of his mouth and continued down.

His white chest was thin, but not as weak or as feeble as he had imagined. Instead, it had flowing lines of beautiful muscle, and two pink colored beans with their heads shyly withdrawn. So beautiful, he really wanted to touch! Jing Shao swallowed his saliva and moved closer to suck in one of the tender pink beads.  

“Wu…” Mu Hanzhang bit his lower lip. The tingling and itching feeling spread all over his body making him tremble. He wanted to push the person away, but from these gentle movements, he could feel Jing Shao’s tenderness towards him. He could only tightly grasp the bed sheets beneath him, telling himself to endure for a while, to let him satisfy himself a little more. He let that difficult to bear yet comfortable feeling, attacking his own body again and again as if it were the tide of the sea.

Feeling the person under him let him indulge, Jing Shao could not help but get even more excited, holding the little thing in his mouth and gently nipping. 

“Ah…wu…” Mu Hanzhang’s body began to slightly tremble, and the excessively intense feeling caused him to arch his back.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Jing Shao, getting this response, could not help but be beside himself with joy. He reached out with his hand to explore downwards. Separated by a layer of white satin, he felt two smooth and round globes of flesh. 

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Mu Hanzhang saw that he was angry and slowly tightened his grasp on the corner of the blanket, then slowly loosened it. He pulled it over to cover Jing Shao and silently lay down himself, lost in thought as he stared at the top of the canopy. Him being like this, was disappointing Jing Shao again, right…

Letting his imagination run wild all night, Mu Hanzhang only fell into a deep sleep at the glimmer of dawn. 

The next day, as expected, the petition to the Emperor about the barbarian invasion was brought to morning court by the Minister of War.

“Jing Shao, what do you think about the military capability of the southern barbarians?” This petition was seen by the Emperor Hong Zheng yesterday. The reason why he was asking Jing Shao’s opinion first was because the assistant military minister Song An proposed sending the victoriously returning Cheng Wang to lead troops over and deal with it. 

“Er Chen feels that although the southern barbarians are all mountain villagers, since they were able to defeat the Governor of Yunnan-Tibet, naturally they must be strong and should not be underestimated.” Jing Shao told it as it was, pointing out the fact that this matter was difficult. At the same time, he was hinting that this was an opportunity for meritorious achievement.

Emperor Hong Zheng slightly wrinkled his brow, and one could not tell if he was happy or angry: “What do the rest of the officials think?” 

The court stood silent for a moment, then one after another people stepped out of rank to give some suggestions.

Some people said that the Southern barbarians lived desolately. They were merely a few people living in shacks on top of a mountain, and were neither populous nor affluent. They might as well just let them be. Immediately there were people refuting this claim, asking, how would that preserve the national prestige? Wouldn’t it be undermining their Emperor’s power? They must send troops to suppress them.  

Then some people said that the terrain of the Yunnan-Tibet region was complex, and that the people in the area were stupid and ignorant. They must send a brave and conscientious high ranking military officer to go forward, not only to suppress the rebellion, but also to appease the people.

For a period of time, the court hall quarreled into a big mess, and the only people who kept quiet, except for Emperor Hong Zheng, were the three princes standing in front. Jing Shao shot a glance at his elder brother and the eldest prince next to him. Only then did he recall that the fourth prince was forbidden to leave his palace. If the fourth prince was smart enough, then he would take the initiative to lead the troops. If he was too clever… his gaze turned to the eldest prince who seemed to have something to say, but hesitated. Jing Shao lowered his eyes and a cold light flashed through them. It seemed that it would be up to who was a bit more unlucky between the two. 

In the end, Emperor Hong Zheng shouted at the quarreling people to stop and concluded: “The southern barbarians, although poor, are still attacking the soil of this great country! Zhen will not allow the rivers and mountains conquered by our great ancestors to be left behind! Not even one inch!”

“Your Majesty is the most enlightened!” The group of officials kneeled onto the ground one after another. 

“The Ministry of Military Affairs will come up with a plan for the list of candidates to lead the expedition and the number of soldiers to be mobilized, and tomorrow we will rediscuss in court! Dismissed!” After Emperor Hong Zheng said this, he waved his sleeves and turned around to leave.

Jing Shao and his brother looked at each other and gave each other a smile in tacit understanding. 

When he had gotten up this morning, he saw that his family’s Wang Fei was still sleeping soundly, so he quietly went over him to get dressed. As he woke up late, he didn’t have enough time to eat breakfast, and so just took two meat filled flat cakes to nibble on on the way to the palace. While he was eating in the carriage, his brother had suddenly climbed into his carriage and told him that yesterday, when submitting the petitions to the Emperor, Minister Sun discovered the proposal Song An had written to have Cheng Wang lead the expedition.

While cursing at Song An for acting on his own initiative, he sighed ruefully about the fact that his brother really had a vast network of people. Therefore, he discussed it with his brother. He would plainly act as if he was seeking instant accomplishments, and like he was colluding with his father-in-law to ask for this assignment, making the emperor have to respond to this issue, but unlikely to assign it to himself. 

The two brothers were dismissed from court, yet still did not exchange words. When they exited the hall, they parted ways.

“Heng Zhi, the way you taught me was really useful.” The Jing Shao who once again went to freeload breakfast from Hui Wei Restaurant saw Xiao Yuan, and happily gave him some forceful pats on the back. Last night was a step closer on the whole, although it was left unfinished. 

The poor little assistant minister, who has been a scholar his entire life, was patted on the back by the prince who trained year round until he almost vomited blood. On the surface, he smiled carefreely, saying, “Of course, the stuff I told you is definitely effective.” Then he pulled Jing Shao over to eat dumplings, while bragging about how he used gentle methods to make his tall and powerful wife lie under him.

Zhou Jin, wearing a baby pink outer garment, stood at the back door and sighed helplessly. He gestured at the waiter to go over and serve rice porridge to the two. Last night, he had bullied his husband very much, he had better not go over and provoke him again. Besides, the clothes he was wearing this time was too shameful. Today, it’d be better to see less people. 

Mu Hanzhang woke up in the morning and found that the space next to him was already cold and only then did he realize that he had overslept by a lot, and had not waited upon his husband when waking up. He couldn’t help but feel upset. Surely this time, that person was even more angry.

Jing Shao went out for the whole day and did not even come back for lunch. 

After dealing with a few urgent matters, Mu Hanzhang clasped the account books in his hands and fell into a daze. No matter what he tried to read, he couldn’t concentrate. He was like this until Yunzhu came to report, saying that the wet nurse’s family had moved over. Only then did he become clear headed again, rushing over there.

The servants lived in both the common quarters and several small courtyards in the East Court of the palace near the back doors. Duofu specially had people make space in a small three-bedroom courtyard for the Wang Fei’s wet nurse’s entire family to be able to live together. Grandma Zhou tidied up the little house with a face full of smiles, until Mu Hanzhang came, dressed in a magnificent robe, with a tall and straight figure. The rims of her eyes could not help but redden again. 

“The young master didn’t sleep well last night.” After catching up for a while, Grandma Zhou took Mu Hanzhang’s hand and looked at his complexion carefully.

“En.” Mu Hanzhang absentmindedly agreed. 

“Could it be that Wang Ye he…” Grandma Zhou looked worriedly at the young master who she had raised from a young age. Having lived for so long, she naturally understood more. The “joy” between men, the one who receives it will inevitably have it more difficult. Seeing his complexion was not very good, she presumed that last night he had suffered hardship, and it made her heart hurt so much that she was about to cry again.

“Do not blame him,” Mu Hanzhang saw his wet nurse was misunderstanding the situation, so he hurriedly explained. “Wang Ye is very good to me.” He didn’t know why, he just didn’t want the person closest to him to misunderstand Jing Shao. 

Seeing his wet nurse not believing, Mu Hanzhang could only sigh: “It’s me… who caused him to be angry.”

Jing Shao leaving home for the entire day really wasn’t intentional. Originally, he planned to escape from the Ministry of War after roll call to go home to have lunch and take a nap. When he had finished his breakfast, he was stopped by Imperial guards sent from his alternate residence, telling him that Ren Feng was looking for him for an urgent matter. 

Ren Feng was originally from the Jianghu. His reputation was not bad. It was just that his mother was old and living the Jianghu life was very unstable. He abandoned the life of an outlaw to follow Jing Shao, earning money to support his mother and then marry a wife. As for the Jianghu, it was a bloody and cruel place, with only a minority that can earn money. Therefore, when Ren Feng sent out the news of the Cheng Wang recruiting talented people, many people soon came to apply for it. Today, Ren Feng’s rush to find Jing Shao was because a well-known figure in the martial arts world appeared, applying for a position in the ranks.

When Jing Shao finally settled the matter in his alternate residence and returned home, it was already dinner, and his family’s Wang Fei was sitting in front of the dinner table in a daze. 

Today, his wet nurse told him that Cheng Wang is a normal man after all, and he was at the age of being young and vigorous. No matter how much he doted on him, he would not be able to endure his repeated rejections. Even if he didn’t like those concubines in the West Court, there were innumerable people waiting to climb into his bed in the capital, and there would always be some day where he will begin to favor another…

When he thought about Jing Shao smiling tenderly at others, Mu Hanzhang felt his heart ache to the extent that he had immersed himself into his own thoughts, not even sensing that Jing Shao had walked to his side.