Chapter 17: Demanding Satisfaction

The very next day, Lu Yan came knocking on their door with a blade.

As if it were a joke. Whoever offended the North-Guarding Princess Consort—no matter what sky-reaching powers stood behind them—would kneel before Lu Yan all the same.

Before setting out this time, Lu Yan had made a point of dragging his Wife up at dawn and putting him through a thorough round. Jiang Sheng was still half asleep, whimpering, convinced he was dreaming—until he was jolted fully awake, blinking blearily at Lu Yan.

“Husband… is… is it still nighttime?”

He’d been done stupid, thought it was still last night, assumed he’d been done unconscious and woken again.

Lu Yan said nothing. He finished his business, and only when he was certain Jiang Sheng was once more too tired to lift a finger did he leave with peace of mind.

Good. No strength to run this time, surely.

The gambling hall’s great chamber stood empty and silent. Lu Yan lounged in a chair, one hand propping his chin, and spoke with leisurely menace. “Yesterday. Which of you laid hands on the Princess Consort?”

Not a soul below dared make a sound.

Lu Yan’s lips curved in a thin smile. “If no one speaks, I’ll execute the lot of you.”

“Your Highness, Your Highness—” the leader stammered in panic, “we truly didn’t know it was the Princess Consort! Otherwise, with a hundred guts we wouldn’t have dared! Spare us, we…”

He swallowed hard and forced a fawning smile onto his face. “Your tribute has already been prepared—it will be delivered to the manor shortly. Commandery Prince Ying comes here to play often too, we’re all—”

Before he could finish, Cheng Jing’s boot connected. “Filthy scum! You wounded the Princess Consort and think a few stinking coins will settle it?”

Lu Yan sighed. “I was just married. I didn’t want a bloodbath. But since you’re so determined to die—then… not one of you lives.”

The final word had barely fallen when Cheng Jing drew his blade. He was just moving to strike when footsteps sounded from behind.

Lu Yan looked up, frowning. The newcomer was Chen Du, face cold, a whole retinue marching at his back.

Their Alliance was mostly assassins—they rarely had occasion to walk in through the front door in broad daylight, in full view.

Chen Du wasted not a word. The moment he saw the man at the front, his sword punched straight through him. Blood sprayed. The entire hall went dead silent.

Lu Yan’s brow arched.

Chen Du’s face was blank as he said coldly, “Yesterday. Who laid hands on our Alliance Master.”

The exact same question.

So Chen Du was here for the same reason as Lu Yan—demanding satisfaction for the one waiting at home.

With a corpse laid out right there, the remaining men were scared out of their wits, pointing in frantic panic.

Chen Du and Cheng Jing cut them down like melons, one stroke apiece.

Lu Yan remained seated in his chair throughout, expression placid—as though such a bloody scene couldn’t stir him in the slightest.

Once everything was handled, Lu Yan rose, brushed off his sleeves, and remarked offhandedly, “Vice Alliance Master, do keep a tighter leash on your people from now on.”

Chen Du’s voice was ice. “Perhaps Your Highness should mind his own household first. Your notoriety precedes you—one day the Princess Consort may regret his choice. When you can’t find him, don’t go raving through the streets.”

Lu Yan’s face dropped. “Watch your mouth!”

Chen Du gave a cold laugh and left with his men.

Neither lingered. The ones waiting at home, after all, were not to be trusted unsupervised.

Fortunately, when Lu Yan returned, Jiang Sheng was still asleep.

He pushed the door open. The room was still dim—he’d given orders in advance that no servant with a death wish was to disturb them.

The little pig was still snoring away on the bed.

Lu Yan leaned close, gazing down at Jiang Sheng. Babies were always best behaved asleep—cheeks soft and warm, smelling delicious. He stole a kiss. Indescribably satisfying.

Lu Yan pecked kiss after kiss, his breath falling warm and ticklish. Jiang Sheng stirred unhappily, mumbling, “Stop it.”

Lu Yan, mindful of the blood on him, had removed his outer robe before holding Jiang Sheng. Now he gathered the man into his arms with the utmost care, like cradling a soft little rice cake.

Only like this—holding Jiang Sheng—did Lu Yan feel the hollow at his heart finally patched over.

It was Jiang Sheng who had made him grow flesh and blood again.

This round had left Jiang Sheng truly exhausted. When he finally blearily opened his eyes, he found himself in Lu Yan’s arms, the man holding him with one hand and reading something with the other.

The moment Jiang Sheng stirred, Lu Yan noticed. He looked down—straight into Jiang Sheng’s upturned face, eyes black and bright, and below them, soft lips.

How was this any different from a kitten’s little pout?

Lu Yan dipped his head and kissed him directly. “Awake?”

Jiang Sheng nodded drowsily and nuzzled into his chest. “Husband, what are you reading?”

Jiang Sheng peeked up. Many of the characters were the old complex script; he could only vaguely make out a few—it seemed to be about the Azure Jade Incense.

He was leaning in for a closer look when Lu Yan gathered up the papers and set them aside. “Hungry?”

Jiang Sheng pouted, displeased. “Why can’t I look? Lu Yan, you’re keeping secrets from your Wife now!”

He swung a leg over and straddled Lu Yan, perched atop the man, imperious as an emperor, tugging his collar. “Speak! Are you hiding your phone from your Wife?! Where is your husbandly virtue?!”

Lu Yan: “?”

Exasperated and amused, he wrapped one arm around Jiang Sheng’s waist to keep his Wife from toppling headfirst to the floor. “That dirty business—I don’t want you seeing it. I’ll clean it all up myself.”

Jiang Sheng’s lips pursed. “But I want to be there with you.”

Lu Yan smiled, leaning in until his nose touched Jiang Sheng’s. “Baby. You being at my side is being there with me.”

Jiang Sheng was about to say more when Lu Yan cut him off. “Enough—up you get, eat something. Western Fan enters court today, and there’s a palace banquet tonight. Shall I take you to watch the spectacle?”

At the word spectacle, Jiang Sheng cheered, scrambled up, and went thundering off to change clothes.

He didn’t even want to eat—he just wanted to go see the palace puppies and kittens. Lu Yan had to press him down into a chair and make him finish a meal first.

Jiang Sheng grumbled between bites, “Gege said he’d buy me a bear, and then when we went shopping, I was the one paying.”

Little miser. And he holds grudges, too.

Lu Yan ladled him a bowl of soup and coaxed him to drink. “Later, I’ll take you to his door to collect.”

Truly, a family, those two.

Only then was Jiang Sheng satisfied, swinging his feet as Lu Yan fed him the soup spoonful by spoonful.

By evening, the North-Guarding Prince and Princess Consort entered the palace.

Western Fan’s tribute day had the whole palace bustling. The foreigners’ dress was worlds apart from the Capital’s, and Jiang Sheng walked the whole way declaring he wanted clothes like that too.

“Done. I’ll have some made for you when we return.”

For his Wife’s requests, Lu Yan had no rejections. As long as his Wife stayed put and didn’t wander, Lu Yan would pluck the stars from the sky for him.

A stretch further on, just as they were about to enter the great hall, Jiang Sheng suddenly remembered something and yanked hard on Lu Yan’s arm. “Oh right—last time, at the palace banquet… why did I see my gege inside the palace?”

Jiang Feng was an assassin; surely no one had invited him. But with the wedding colliding with their reunion, there had been too much going on, and the matter had slipped his mind.

Lu Yan’s brow creased. He knew roughly. “Perhaps someone paid him. To kill.”

Seeing Jiang Sheng still frowning, Lu Yan didn’t want him troubled by such things, and comforted him, “When we get back, we’ll go ask your gege.”

Entering the great hall, Jiang Sheng spotted the Western Fan delegation at a glance—tall figures in exotic dress. The one paying tribute this time was their Seventh Prince, standing at the very front. He looked rather different from his retainers—slighter of build, with something of Great Gan in his features.

He cupped his hands and bowed to Lu Yan, speaking in flawless Great Gan court speech. “This one greets the North-Guarding Prince and Princess Consort.”

He paused, then smiled at Jiang Sheng. “The Princess Consort has such lovely coloring.”

At those words, Jiang Sheng hadn’t even reacted—but Lu Yan’s face changed. He stepped grimly in front of Jiang Sheng and said coldly, “Since the Seventh Prince has come to Great Gan, he would do well to learn Great Gan’s rules.”

The Seventh Prince smiled faintly and said nothing more.

Lu Yan’s expression remained dark. Taking Jiang Sheng’s hand, he walked past the man and seated himself at the head position without ceremony.

Jiang Sheng tilted his head, studying the Seventh Prince—only to find the prince studying him right back, even giving him a wink. The next second, Jiang Sheng’s palm was squeezed hard. He whipped his head forward; Lu Yan was glaring at him, none too pleased.

Jiang Sheng pouted. “Don’t be so fierce.”

Lu Yan huffed. “You are remarkably easy to lead astray.”

Jiang Sheng protested, “Am not!”

The two of them murmured back and forth, and everyone nearby had long since stopped being surprised. After all, who in the Capital didn’t know by now that the North-Guarding Prince was besotted, body and soul, with his Princess Consort?

Jiang Sheng had no interest in sitting primly through a banquet, and was just asking Lu Yan where the Western Fan kittens and puppies were—when the Seventh Prince beside them rose to his feet, smiling. “On this tribute mission, I have brought certain specialties of my homeland. Humble gifts—I beg Your Majesty’s gracious acceptance.”

The Little Emperor sat on the Dragon Throne, glancing instinctively at the Empress Dowager. Only after she nodded did he lift his hand.

The Seventh Prince clapped once, smiling.

Soon, servants carried in chest after chest—gold, silver, jewels as far as the eye could see. Jiang Sheng scanned them all carefully; no sign of Azure Jade Incense. But that figured—something like that would never be displayed openly.

Then came a low roar.

Jiang Sheng, caught off guard, jolted upright in his seat. He looked up—servants were pushing in a great cage, and inside it was confined a Black Bear.

Jiang Sheng: “?”

Gege really should see this. There really ARE bears here.

The Black Bear growled low, slapping the cage bars with its paws, the boom boom echoing. Many in the hall were frightened—even the Little Emperor had gone pale.

Lu Yan kept an arm around Jiang Sheng, patting his back soothingly.

The Seventh Prince smiled. “Your Majesty need not fear. This Black Bear was obtained by chance—but it is no ordinary Black Bear.”

What’s not ordinary about it, Jiang Sheng muttered inwardly. Can it steal a cassock?

“This Black Bear has been trained by a Beast Tamer to mimic human movement. Save for speech, its behavior is nearly indistinguishable from a person’s.”

The Seventh Prince gestured, and a Beast Tamer stepped forward, whistled, and made a sign—and the Black Bear actually rose onto its hind legs and spun in a circle, mimicking the trainer.

The trainer raised an arm; it raised an arm. The trainer lifted a leg; it lifted a leg.

The surrounding guests clucked in amazement.

But watching it, Jiang Sheng felt an inexplicable chill crawl up his spine, and he instinctively pressed closer into Lu Yan’s arms.

A bear that moved like a man. Just hearing it was terrifying.

Imagine walking down the road someday, someone taps your shoulder, you turn around—and a Black Bear is staring at you. You’d be scared to death!!

Husbands share one mind. Before Jiang Sheng said a word, Lu Yan seemed to have guessed his thoughts exactly—he squeezed Jiang Sheng’s palm and drew him closer still.

But apart from him, apparently everyone adored the Black Bear. The Little Emperor even scrambled down from the throne to get a closer look, then gleefully ordered the cage placed in the imperial garden so he could see it whenever he liked.

He said, in his clear child’s voice, “Zhen likes this gift very much. Reward him!”

The Seventh Prince bowed. “My thanks to Your Majesty.”

As he rose, the corner of his mouth curved, just slightly.

“Woof woof woof…”

As the servants pushed the cage away, a little dog came darting out of nowhere, careening wildly around the hall. It seemed to have lost its head, unable to find its bearings, and finally, dizzy and disoriented, crashed straight into Jiang Sheng.

A dog from heaven!

Jiang Sheng bent down and scooped up the puppy. This was… a Beagle?!!!

He was so startled he nearly put the dog right back down.

But the Seventh Prince had already spoken. “This too is a dog of Western Fan. It seems he and the Princess Consort are fated. If the Princess Consort does not mind him, please accept him.”

Jiang Sheng blinked, hugging the dog, and turned to look at Lu Yan.

Lu Yan found himself stared at by two pairs of black, shining eyes.

Jiang Sheng’s eyes curved into a smile.

Beside him, the dog began to bark.

“Wer wer wer…”