Editor: Marcia
Beta reader: Dairytea
Spring Once More chapter 44
(Traditional Chinese cover scanned by Dairytea)
Chapter Forty-four
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Spring Once More by ayszhang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Master Su smiles at me in the walkway before the main hall of the Su manor.
“Did you sleep
well last night at the residence, Your Highness?”
My face
twitches, and I flash a row of teeth.
“Well.”
The breath
starts from my diaphragm, but on its way it gets jammed at the chest and
tripped up at the throat. By the time it makes its way out of the mouth, it
sounds a little weak.
God damn all
those blabbermouth servants!
I came back to
Su manor with Fu Qingshu after telling the chancellor there were matters to
deal with. Just as I entered the front gates, Xiao-Quan leapt up from his cot and bowed.
“Did you sleep
well at the temporary residence, Milord?”
I replied “well”
and continued on my way, but I heard the servant mutter under his breath. “Looks
like Xiao-Shun was telling the truth.”
Normally, I’d
have ignored the useless comments they make behind my back, but this time I
turned around and demanded an explanation.
“What did he
say?”
He fell to his
knees, but his eyes gleamed with some other intention.
“Xiao-Shun went back to the residence to
serve Your Lordship after delivering your message to us, but he returned before
two hours had passed, saying that he wasn’t needed since the employee that
Chancellor Liu arranged for Your Highness was better at the job.”
Fu Qingshu
knocked his fan on his palm twice and let out an airy laugh. It wasn’t
difficult to imagine what the servant told the whole manor last night going
from corner to corner: “His Highness is having the time of his life with that
boy in his arms.”
In the front
yard, we ran into Zhong-shu who
glanced nervously at my face while bowing slightly. “Did you sleep well last
night at the residence, Milord?”
“Well, quite
well.”
Then we ran into
Master Su in front of the main hall. I can let the others’ questions slide, but
when Master Su asks, I can’t help but feel like hiding my face.
Fu Qingshu lets
out another airy laugh.
I clear my
throat. “Master Su, good seeing you here. I need your help.”
In fact, the
reason I look for him is almost always for help, but today it feels hard to
ask.
The young
marquess turns into the walkway towards his room.
“It would be
wiser to speak in a more private place,” I said.
Master Su brings
me to the library and shuts the door.
“It’s nothing
too serious,” I begin. “This morning, the chancellor had over a yuanwai[1] by the name of Jiang who requested that I pen something for his restaurant.”[2]
And now you see
the reason I had to get Su Yanzhi to
come with me: he can forge the prince’s writing. He can do it so well that even
the prince’s own mother can’t tell the difference. Basically, I’m fucked without
him.
Master Su’s
brows furrow. “And you agreed to it?”
“Not really.” I
scratch my nose. “I said I’d see if I have time. If I felt like it, I’d write
something. I mean, is there some significance behind this inscription?”
“Right you are,
Master Ma,” he answers. “Sir Jiang and Lu Ting of Yangzhou are the largest
merchants in the Liangjiang region. The annual tribute tea has been supplied by
Jiang’s plantation on Mount Huang since my brother passed away. Dozens of acres
of the Su tea fields were bought up by the Jiangs. I doubt anyone else has a
chance to head the chamber.”
I laugh
nervously. “If I’d written it, would that have meant I gave him my support for
the position?”
“Precisely.”
Fuck! What a
sneaky bastard! So what if I ate a feast made by the chefs of his restaurant? What
balls to come and ask me for the head position! In his goddamn dreams!
“Fortunately,
you deflected the request well,” he continues. “Just pretend he had never
asked.” Then he eyes me as if he wanted to say something else but swallows his
words.
“Master Su, if
you’re not straightforward with me, then there’d be nobody for me to speak
freely with.”
“Has the
chancellor gifted any other persons or things?”
“No. Just the
two meals. And this boy he stuck in my room. I tried to get him to leave, but
he told me he’d get in trouble with the chancellor. I thought he was pitiful
and let him sleep on the floor for the night. I think it was a good deed. He
slept on the floor, and I slept in the bed. Nothing happened, really.”
I stress the
last sentence and stick out my chest confidently.
At last, Master
Su shows his usual smile. It’s like the sun has come out from behind the
clouds. “Brother Ma, I know it’s inconvenient for you. Just remember not to
accept anything else from them.”
Brother Ma, I know it’s inconvenient for you. I can’t
describe how warm that makes me feel. I grab him by the shoulder.
“As long as you
believe me, Master Su, I don’t care if nobody else does!”
Now that I’m
close, I can really see the fineness of his features. I can almost feel it in
the tips of my hair from my head to my arms. I can almost feel it in my veins.
I can’t deny
that the cut sleeve prince cuts it pretty well!
I wonder what it felt like when the
little prince held Master Su so many years ago...
That tiny shred of evil desire from two nights ago
pops up again. My stomach tightens as my eyes lock onto his. A buzz of
electricity runs through me.
Oh Uncle Marx, I think I’ve become a perv!
I let go of Master Su shoulders and suppress the
feelings threatening to boil over, all while putting on a friendly face.
“M-Master Su, I have to give Xiao-Shun some orders. See you later.”
Oh Sister Guanyin! Hallelujah!
When you don’t need Xiao-Shun, he’s everywhere you look. When you need him, he’s
nowhere to be found.
I’ve been thinking. See, Chancellor Liu is a sly fox,
but I’m just a new fish in the pond. He’d trap me before I could find any dirt
on him. I decided to stay at Su manor instead of the villa just to err on the
side of caution. I want to get the servant boy to deliver the message, but
after making a few laps around and finding no sign of Xiao-Shun or Xiao-Quan, I
run into Pei Qixuan in the small double-ended parlour.
His eyes curve in a smile, and I expect him to ask me
if I slept well last night. But he surprises me with his utterance.
“Xiao-Shun
and Xiao-Quan have left to buy lunch.”
The “well” I prepared gets swallowed back into my gut.
He continues, fanning himself, “Yesterday Xiao-Quan bought ‘three treasures’ duck
from Tianwaitian, and it was quite good. I asked them to buy it again, so you
may try it.”
This ‘three treasures’ duck turns out to have a really
unique taste, and I’m impressed.
“Master Pei, you’ve got great taste.” Of course, I
give the two servants some praise too, and everyone is happy.
After the meal, a bunch of dark clouds float overhead,
and a chilly wind starts blowing. The two servants have gone to their quarters
for a nap, while I just can’t seem to fall asleep. A thunder crack, a lightning
strike, and then a man pops into my room. I’m in a good mood because of the
delicious duck at lunchtime, so I smile at the intruder behind the candlelight.
“You haven’t fallen asleep either?”
If I took a second to reflect, I would know I just did
something extremely idiotic.
Pei Qixuan latches the door and folds his arms,
smiling back. “Did you sleep well last night, Your Highness?”
Wind, rain, lightning and thunder.
And the bird and the bees.
He lunges at me and latches onto me with his lips. Of
course, I don’t want to engage his oral offence. As we scuffle, the light goes
out, and our clothes start coming undone. After some more scuffling, I realize
I’m actually retaliating with my own munches. As the attacks continue, the fervour
builds and builds.
Pei Qixuan is actually quite skilled, touching and licking
in just the right way. The prince’s body isn’t very loyal to the revolution and
very soon starts operating beyond my control. My own control slips in no time,
too. Once that’s gone, we find ourselves in bed then…then our clothes are gone,
too.
Then, well, then I have got to admit that it feels
good when he moans and pants while clinging to my back. I know it’s an old saw,
but it feels so good I can’t stop myself.
But you know, the saddest thing is that when he sinks
his teeth into my shoulder, I think to myself: this isn’t bad at all.
[2]
Tizi is a common way of commemorating
or establishing status by having a famous person pen (in this case, more
accurately, brush) a message, usually
four-character expressions or a poem. This is most often on a placard hung at a
doorway or on a wall._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
ayszhang: Aaaaaand he's out of the closet :)
Spring Once More by ayszhang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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