Chinese BL Translations: Spring Once More ch41

1/28 update: added cosplay pic at the end
Translator: ayszhang
Editor: Marcia
Beta reader: Dairytea

(Traditional Chinese cover scanned by Dairytea)

Chapter Forty-one

I dare say I’ve seen every hetero porno out there, and after careful examination and reflection on the various outfits the actresses wear, I’ve discovered that the utmost form of female seduction is the simple bed-sheet-over-the-breast, concealing the goodies but still silently enticing the onlooker.

The condition for common prosperity is communism. The condition for the utmost form of seduction is female.

Hand on my chest, Pei Qixuan pushes himself up a little, tickling my skin with his flowy hair. His other hand reaches for the sheets to cover himself. I cough and pick my nose (figuratively of course). What’s there to hide? He’s flat as a pancake!

His eyes seem to glimmer under the hazy moonlight as he greets me, “Are you up?”

No, duh, Einstein. Of course I’m awake. If not, I wouldn’t have moved, and if I hadn’t moved, you wouldn’t have woken up.

Since he spoke, I now have to give some sort of reaction. If this were a cliché, I would wake up and freak the fuck out, then scream in horror, then fall quiet in puzzlement, and finally I’d grab and shake him for an answer. This procedure is as natural as ABC, one after another.

Pei Qixuan probably assumes I would do all that and is leaning on the bed now.

“Your Highness, you were beaten and pushed down the well by Gao-bo, and the cold water got to your bones. I feared any long term repercussions and dared use such a method to avoid that. I ask for your pardon.”

He must have an incubus hiding in his throat because his voice is gentle but alluring. His words are all proper and true, but it just sounds downright suspicious and indecent, not to mention he’s merely inches away from my face. His breath sways some hair that tickles my ear and neck. I yawn towards the ceiling. I’ve literally been through hell and back. I ain’t scared of nothing! I’ve hugged and kissed Li’l Marquess, and this is just lying naked in bed. There’s nothing special to it. This body has slept with Pei Peixuan so many times before that it doesn’t really make a difference if it happened again.

I push myself up and, swiping my hands across the bed, find a lump of cloth. I shake it out to find it’s a robe of some kind. Assuming a facade of nonchalance, I throw the covers off and put the robe on regardless if it’s his or mine.

He probably sees through my retreat for he jumps at the opportunity to grab my shoulders and whisper in my ear, “It’s only the Hour of the Rat.[1] Won’t you come back to bed?”

“It’s summertime,” I answer. “I’m sweating here.”

Pei Qixuan chuckles lightly and sneakily straightens the collar of the robe as I turn. Does he really think his little tricks will get to me? All right, two can play at that game!

I circle an arm around him and hook a finger under his chin. Smirking, I expand my diaphragm and speak from the stomach. “Qixuan, I hope I didn’t tire you.”

As the word “tire” slides out of my mouth, I slide my face towards him. I have to say, he has really good skin, smooth and radiant.

If only my brain hadn’t short-circuited in the cold well water. I shouldn’t be treating Pei Qixuan like the naive marquess, using baby tricks on an adult.

Dry wood meets fire. Pancake batter meets pan. Before I can even finish my husky taunt, his lips push the syllables right back into my mouth.

Red flowers are goddamn blooming all over the mountain![2]

No wonder Pei Qixuan is highly-ranked among the concubines. Delicious to the taste and gentle to the touch. My hands forget in the heat of the moment that I’m holding a man, and my mind is blank for several seconds. I push myself to think logically and analyze this situation. Sure, he and the marquess are like the north and south poles, but each has his own merit. It’s a pleasure I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t tried. Now I wonder what it felt like when the little prince held Master Su so many years ago...

Shivers shoot through me. Fuck me. There’s no saving me now. Why the hell did I think about Master Su?

When Pei Qixuan’s tongue moves away from my lips towards my ear and then farther down, I suddenly realize something that I’ve ignored, and it’s so, so sad – although I don’t like men, the prince’s body does.

And his body has reacted with delight, entirely out of my control.

Before the point of no return, I slam on the brakes and shove him away. Throwing on some clothes, I crash through the door and slap myself on the face in the corridor.

The fishpond should be in the second garden.

I hit the gas and run straight into someone. It’s Xiao-Shun clutching his head in pain, and he seems to be filled with relief.

“Milord! You’ve finally awakened! I’ve waited from afternoon until midnight.”

Before I can even pass around him, the servant raises his voice.

“The prince has awakened! Quickly, Xiao-Quan! Hasten back to Master Su to report his awakening!”

I take a deep breath and sidestep around him, but before I can take five steps, he is screaming after me.

“Milord! Milord! Where are you going?”

“Your lord needs to use the outhouse!”

“But Milord!” he pants as he chases me with a lantern. “Wait for your servant, please! There’s- there’s one behind your quarters! Please slow down, Your Highness, and I’ll guide your way with light! It’s dark in the outhouse…”

I arrive at the second garden. I take position and cannonball into the fishpond. Sweet boddhisatva! The fire has been extinguished.

Xiao-Shun screeches like a banshee, “OH NO!!! THE PRINCE HAS JUMPED INTO THE POND!”

Then, under cover of the night, a pale silhouette flickers past the servant over the water. It plucks me up by the collar like a hawk hunting prey and flings me to the shore.

Fu Qingshu sure has good qinggong.[3]

I try to explain as I struggle to my feet. “The pond only goes up to my thigh. I wouldn’t even want to bathe in it.”

The young marquess just scoffs. I’ve realized that he likes to do this when he has nothing better to say, just like how I chuckle when I have nothing better to say.

So after he scoffs, I chuckle.

“I just wanted to catch a few fish to make soup for everyone’s hard work this afternoon and tonight.”

Two douses in one day, and I’ve finally lost the summer heat. The next morning I walk out of my room totally refreshed, looking to say hi to Gao-bo. But I can’t find him after taking a few turns around and instead run into Master Su.

Su Yanzhi says he’s been looking for me. I’m pretty sure I know the reason why.

As I expect, he takes a deep bow once the doors are closed.

“Master Ma, if anyone is to take responsibility for Gao-bo’s reckless deeds, it is I.”

I put a reassuring hand on his arm. “You mustn’t speak like this, Master Su. Gao-bo did what he did out of loyalty which is understandable. We are not outsiders who need to negotiate responsibility. Rather, I feel terrible for being so focused on this case that I asked you to help and completely forgot Huizhou is your ancestral home. And now…”

“Ma-xiong, now you’re making it difficult for me. It is sufficient to have returned at all. The ordeal was long ago, and what should be left behind has been left behind.”

His eyes suddenly twinkle with a smile. “We are not strangers, are we?”

[1] 11pm to 1am.

[2] A line from the eponymous song written in 1973 based on folk melodies of northern Shaanxi, narrating and praising the communist liberation of China under the leadership of Mao Zedong.

[3] A martial arts technique that is exaggerated in wuxia fiction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qinggong

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Dairytea: Wah~ We've already reached the latest chapter of the manhua. Sooo~ in place of the usual manhua pic, here's a pretty cosplay pic: