The Emperor Reads Storybooks Hidden in His Official Reports 67

Chapter 67: A Thousand Li of Mountains and Rivers

“Mmm…”

Li Jianyu felt that the surroundings were very warm, as if he were being held in someone’s arms.

“Little Carp is really cute…”

It was a familiar, low voice. Li Jianyu thought to himself that this voice sounded very roguish, and he couldn’t help but hug tighter, shrinking into that warm place.

It seemed someone was whispering sweet nothings in his ear. Li Jianyu was too tired, feeling as if a large part of his energy had been drained. He didn’t pay any attention and just held the person and slept. The person he was holding was firm, but he was wearing a fur cloak, and the fluffy cloak was very comfortable.

“Good night…”

When he woke up again, Li Jianyu found himself lying on a soft bed.

Li Jianyu tried to move his body, but he found that his limbs were stiff, and his muscles ached as soon as he moved, and even made a strange sound.

“Little Carp, take it slow. You’ve been sleeping for half a month. You have to get used to it.”

Half a month?

Li Jianyu raised his hand with difficulty and rubbed his eyes, shaking his head to clear his mind.

A pair of hands were gently stroking the top of his head. “In this half a month, we’ve already taken you back from Phoenix Ridge to Huanyue City. This is the master bedroom of the Jinyue Manor.”

…Wait!

Li Jianyu suddenly turned his head and saw a tall man in a cloak sitting by the head of the bed, looking at him with a gentle gaze.

Was it…

“Zhao… Linxu…” Li Jianyu’s voice was hoarse.

“Mm, I’m here.”

“Zhao Linxu…”

Zhao Linxu held the person in his arms.

“I’m here.”

“Zhao Linxu, you bastard!” Li Jianyu crashed into Zhao Linxu’s arms and shouted, “Bastard!”

He was back. Zhao Linxu was really back!

Li Jianyu’s voice was filled with a thick sob. Zhao Linxu held him and gently patted his back.

“Bas… bastard…”

Li Jianyu buried his head in Zhao Linxu’s shoulder and cried his heart out.

“Be good, be good…” Looking at the person who was sobbing, Zhao Linxu was also at a loss.

“I’m sorry…”

“You have the guts to not come back!”

“I have to come back, I have to…”

“Bastard…” Li Jianyu’s whole body trembled, and tears fell on Zhao Linxu’s shoulder.

Zhao Linxu kept kissing Li Jianyu’s ear and cheek, coaxing him in a low voice, “I’m back. I’ll be with you from now on…”

Li Jianyu buried his head in the crook of Zhao Linxu’s neck, crying until he was out of breath.

“I’m sorry, really. Little Carp, I was wrong.” Zhao Linxu wished that Li Jianyu would hit him. It would be better than him crying like this.

“It’s all in the past.”

Zhao Linxu held the person and gently lay down, pressing on Li Jianyu and planting scattered kisses, gently wiping the tears from his face.

“Like a little calico cat,” Zhao Linxu chuckled.

Li Jianyu sniffled and finally calmed down.

Looking at Zhao Linxu, who was holding him and kissing him, Li Jianyu grabbed a nearby pillow and slammed it hard at him.

Zhao Linxu’s eyes widened.

Li Jianyu struggled to get up and pounced at Zhao Linxu, using the pillow in his hand like a hammer, and kept hitting the nail that was Zhao Linxu with all his might.

“Little… Little Carp, I was wrong!”

Zhao Linxu was like a little wife, holding his head, looking very aggrieved.

Li Jianyu was hitting him with excitement. Zhao Linxu had no choice but to wrap his arms around his waist to prevent him from losing his balance and falling.

After Li Jianyu was tired of hitting him, he sniffled, his red face leaning against Zhao Linxu, panting.

After Li Jianyu had calmed down, the room also became quiet.

It seemed to have just rained outside. Raindrops dripped from the eaves, tapping on the green tiled bricks with a pitter-patter sound.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t come back.”

Li Jianyu buried his head in Zhao Linxu’s chest and said in a muffled voice.

“I’m sorry…” Zhao Linxu could only say this one sentence.

In fact, he had heard everything Li Jianyu had said in the cave at Phoenix Ridge. Li Jianyu had said he was afraid of being alone, had told him not to leave him, and had said he was willing to give up immortality to be with him for a lifetime. Zhao Linxu had heard it all.

“At that time, I thought you wouldn’t come back.”

“Mm.”

Zhao Linxu gently patted Li Jianyu’s back.

“It’s over. Feng Ju Qianli has regained control of the Great Xi. Everything is about to be settled. Will you come back to the capital with me?”

Li Jianyu looked up at Zhao Linxu.

“We can often come back to Luoye City to see. I can also take you to travel around.”

Li Jianyu smiled and nodded lightly.

“Mm.”

“Your Majesty.”

Just as the two were being intimate, a servant came to report, “The King of the Great Fan and his envoy have arrived in Huanyue City and are asking for an audience with Your Majesty outside the manor.”

“Have them wait in the main hall.” Zhao Linxu raised an eyebrow and smiled. They still hadn’t settled the score with the Great Fan for colluding with Feng Juheng.

“Little Carp, I’ll be out for a while and will be back soon. Do you want to sleep a little longer?”

Li Jianyu shook his head, hugged Zhao Linxu, and said, “I’ll go with you. I’ll also stretch my body.”

Li Jianyu was a little uneasy, afraid that all this was another illusion.

“Alright.”

Zhao Linxu lifted the person in a princess carry and went behind the screen to change.

XXXXXX

The King of the Great Fan was a mixed-blood of goblin and human, so his skin color and eye color were a little different from ordinary people. He was also shorter than an ordinary adult man, and his limbs were also very short.

The curly-haired King of the Great Fan was now sitting in the main hall, his feet dangling as he drank tea. After Zhao Linxu arrived with Li Jianyu, the King of the Great Fan immediately and with difficulty left his chair, landed on the ground, and paid his respects.

Now that the Great Fan had been defeated, the King of the Great Fan naturally did not dare to be arrogant.

As he bowed, the King of the Great Fan’s eyes kept darting towards Li Jianyu.

This was the famous beauty, the phoenix…

Truly beautiful, and a mythical beast, a phoenix. How was Zhao Linxu so lucky?

“King of the Great Fan, you have traveled a thousand li to Huanyue City. It must have been hard on you.” Zhao Linxu waved his hand and helped Li Jianyu to sit down at the main seat at the side.

The King of the Great Fan gave a dry laugh.

Could he not have come?

Zhao Linxu followed his style and, as always, got straight to the point, directly having someone bring up a contract and place it before the King of the Great Fan.

“Does the King of the Great Fan agree after reading it? If you agree, you can sign it.”

The King of the Great Fan had long heard of Zhao Linxu’s style of doing things. At this moment, he was not very surprised. He took the contract and read it.

“Your Majesty, the Great Fan mainly produces Fan wood and seafood, and the output is huge. Now, we have to give fifty percent to the Great Gong and the Great Xi. This…” The King of the Great Fan’s heart was bleeding.

Zhao Linxu smiled. “Since the quantity is huge, what’s wrong with giving half?”

The King of the Great Fan did not dare to reply.

Now that the Great Gong and the Great Xi had formed a strong alliance and were helping each other, and the Great Chai had also become a vassal state of the Great Gong, and the remaining small country was holed up in the deep mountains and did not care about the outside world, he, the Great Fan, had just been defeated and had not yet recovered his strength. How could he dare to fight against Zhao Linxu alone?

Seeing the deep and unconcealable gloom in the King of the Great Fan’s eyes, Zhao Linxu smiled. “How about this: no need for half, thirty percent is fine. The Great Xi will get twenty percent, and the Great Gong ten percent. But you have to promise Us one thing.”

The King of the Great Fan looked at Zhao Linxu, waiting for him to continue.

“We need a team of highly skilled goblin guards to protect the Empress, and the Great Fan must also acknowledge the Empress’s status as the king of all beasts. The goblins and the non-human races of the Great Fan must be loyal to and protect the Empress, and advance and retreat with her. How about it?”

Li Jianyu was stunned and turned to look at Zhao Linxu.

This…

The King of the Great Fan was also stunned.

After a moment, the King of the Great Fan said readily, “Done!”

Zhao Linxu was very smart.

This way, both the Great Gong and the Great Fan were satisfied.

Zhao Linxu just needed a statement from the Great Fan, to tell the world and those who coveted the phoenix that Li Jianyu also had the Great Fan behind him, giving him an extra layer of protection. And the King of the Great Fan only needed a statement to reduce the tribute by twenty percent. Why not?

After Zhao Linxu and the King of the Great Fan had signed, Zhao Linxu had someone send the King of the Great Fan away.

“Zhao Linxu, you…” Li Jianyu looked at Zhao Linxu. “You really don’t have to do this.”

Zhao Linxu rubbed the top of Li Jianyu’s head. “I think this is very good.”

After a pause, Li Jianyu slowly asked, “You just said… who is the Empress?”

Zhao Linxu smiled, leaned towards Li Jianyu, and said in a low voice, “Who else could it be?”

Li Jianyu turned his head away from Zhao Linxu’s smiling eyes.

“Little Carp, I’m really looking forward to returning to the capital with you.”

Li Jianyu’s lips curled slightly.

“Mm.”

XXXXXX

Seven days later, every household in the capital was hung with red silk and red lanterns, and the whole country was celebrating.

“The Emperor is going to marry the young master from that one night of spring! Our Emperor is finally getting married!”

“Oh my! It’s the Lord of Luoye City, right?”

“That City Lord is not only the number one beauty under heaven, but it is said that he is also a phoenix!”

In the largest teahouse in the capital, the common people gathered again to gossip.

One of the old men, hearing what everyone had said, said with suspicion, “Impossible, right? Aren’t phoenixes only in legends?”

The others were also very puzzled.

They knew that Li Jianyu was the number one beauty under heaven, but a phoenix was ultimately too distant for the common people.

“It’s true!”

A woman also shouted, “That’s right! My nephew is in the North-South army’s cooking class. Everyone in the Great Gong’s army saw it! It’s really a phoenix!”

The few of them were chattering. After waiting for a while, they finally saw a young man stumble in with a stack of small storybooks.

“It’s here, it’s here! Dragon Gate Leaping Carp’s storybook!”

The common people were very excited.

Since that storybook about the Toad Lord giving birth to fifty little toads, this Dragon Gate Leaping Carp had not had any works for a long time, which made the people feel very lonely.

“Quick! Quick, let’s have a look.” The common people stuffed the storybook into the hands of the storyteller in the teahouse and had him read it.

The old gentleman stroked the white beard on his chin. “It is said that after the Toad Lord gave birth, his health deteriorated day by day. The difficult birth and the large number of children made the Toad Lord fall ill and never recover. He could no longer manage the court, nor could he look for anyone.”

“And at this time, the young master from that night finally appeared. He took the Toad Lord to Toad Flip Ridge. The journey was arduous and full of hardships…”

The storyteller recounted the magical plot in the storybook with a rising and falling cadence, slowly telling the story of the Toad Lord’s and the young master’s adventure and journey. They defeated countless bad guys, passed through countless places, and in the end…

“In the end, the young master lowered his head and gave the Toad Lord a kiss. A white light flashed before their eyes, and the Toad Lord suddenly turned into a handsome youth!”

Everyone below clicked their tongues in amazement, their eyes shining.

“It turned out that the Toad Lord had been cursed, and only the kiss of true love could turn him back to his original form.”

“From then on, the beautiful young master and the handsome, tall lord lived happily ever after!”

A round of applause came from below.

“Bravo! Bravo!”

Just as they were making a fuss, they heard the sound of a bell from outside.

“Oh my! The Emperor is back!”

“Quick, quick! Make way! Let’s go see the Empress!”

At the city gate, Li Jianyu rode beside Zhao Linxu and asked curiously, “Why is the city all red?”

Zhao Linxu and Li Jianyu were leading the charge, one mighty and one handsome, looking majestic. And Zhao Zhanqi and Xue Ni were following behind them, both smiling but not speaking.

Li Jianyu felt that something was wrong.

“Are you all hiding something from me?”

Why were they all so strange!

“It’s nothing,” Zhao Linxu said, rubbing Li Jianyu’s head with a smile. “What could it be?”

Li Jianyu squinted at Zhao Linxu.

After passing through the city gate, a cheer suddenly erupted in his ear, shaking Li Jianyu to the core.

Zhao Linxu and Zhao Zhanqi, after all, had a very high reputation among the people. At this moment, when the people saw the North-South flag and the imperial flag fluttering in the wind, how could they not be excited?

“Long live the Emperor—Long live the General—”

“Long live the Empress—”

“Long live the Great Gong—”

Li Jianyu stared blankly at the cheering commoners on both sides of the road. Some were on tiptoe, as if they wanted to see more clearly, and some were leaning out of the shop windows to look.

Splash—

“Look! It’s a phoenix—”

Just then, three phoenixes suddenly spread their wings and flew out from behind the team, charging into the sky with a long cry.

Someone knelt down, and the scene was in an uproar.

The three huge phoenixes circled above where Li Jianyu was.

“Unfurl the flag.”

At Zhao Linxu’s command, someone behind Li Jianyu suddenly waved his hand, and a golden flag embroidered with a phoenix totem was unfurled. On the flag was a large character, like a dragon and phoenix dancing—”Feng” (Phoenix).

“He, Li Jianyu,” Zhao Linxu said, holding his hand with a smile, “is the one We love!”

“Today, We will bestow upon him the title of King, with the title ‘Feng’. In gratitude for him having written the Cultivation Records in the past, for accompanying Us on our eastern and western expeditions, for devising strategies, and for risking his life to save Us.”

Zhao Linxu looked at Li Jianyu and smiled. “King Feng, We ask you here today, are you willing to be Our Empress?”

“Empress! Empress!”

The people shouted.

A breeze blew past, lifting the stray hairs by Zhao Linxu’s ear and his cloak.

Li Jianyu stared blankly at him. At this moment, the tall man was on horseback, looking at him with a gentle gaze.

“You… you clearly know my answer, and you’re still… pulling this trick,” Li Jianyu said with a low head and a light smile.

“Naturally, I am willing.”

Hearing this, Zhao Linxu was still happy, his chest almost bursting with excitement.

He, Zhao Linxu, was going to have an Empress!

“Ah…!”

“Empress—Empress!” The tsunami of shouts continued.

The common people watched as their emperor pulled the Empress onto his own horse, held him in a princess carry, and spurred the horse under him to charge forward. He rushed all the way back to the palace, up to the highest point of the palace wall.

“Look! From here, you can see the entire imperial palace.” Zhao Linxu pulled Li Jianyu to stand by the city wall.

Li Jianyu looked down.

“Can you see it?”

“Mm. A thousand li of mountains and rivers.”

“It is our and Lang’er’s home.” Zhao Linxu grinned, held Li Jianyu’s hand, and said, “It is where you belong.”

Li Jianyu’s impression of the imperial palace was not good, but he liked this palace, because it was his and Zhao Linxu’s and Zhao Lang’s home. After going around in circles, they had finally come home.

“Wherever you are, that is my home.”

-END OF MAIN STORY-