Translator: ayszhang
Proofreaders: Gwen, krabbykabbi, Luzo, Pau & Red
Cold Sands ch 36
Murong made the invitation...is Han Xin going to accept? :o
NSFW Warning
XXXVI Flames
Stepping out from the secret tunnel, a burst of cool air hits my face. The
inky black sky is plastered with twinkling stars. Fires are blazing brightly on
the far side of the horizon. The pleasant scent of grass wafts in the air mixed
with a hint of soil.
Greedily, I take a deep breath before
pulling my hood low over my face. Eidolons flank my sides closely. We have left
Yi Xin Temple behind us when we spot a group of several dozen armed cavalrymen
waiting ten zhang away.
With just one glance, I find the
captain familiar. He seems to be Murong Yu’s personal guard. As I draw near, he
nods and I jump on a horse, following him. Cavalrymen immediately join me and
ride beside me, putting some distance between me and the Eidolons.
The geography flattens as we advance.
In the dark of night, the endless stretch of flatland before me is solid black.
This team hasn’t lit any torches either so we traverse the lightless gloom without
a sound.
I feel like we are making a big
detour. The wind whooshes by my ear and the grass under the horse hooves
swishes. It’s been a long time since I last felt the cool night breeze like
this. I think I would feel even better if only I wasn’t surrounded by soldiers
and on the way to meet that person.
Light and the camp gradually come into
view and I hear people conversing. The captain urges his horse forth and enters
through a side entrance. I nudge my horse with my legs and catch up to him.
The captain explained to me on the
way, that this is behind the front, a bit more than ten li away from the battle formations, and is the campsite for
military logistics. The security is tight but nowhere as tight as the front
where the soldiers sleep with their weapons as their pillows. Dressed in travel
attire, I hide myself with the wind cloak and sneak my way in with the
marshal’s personal guards.
We dismount and the captain draws back
a tent flap. The soldiers and Eidolons spread out behind us, still eyeing each
other warily. Wordlessly, I try to enter but the captain bars my way with his
arm. “No weapons allowed inside.”
I chuckle, not showing surprise, and
pull out the small dagger from my waist before passing it to him.
I’m already in their camp, what is the
point of keeping it. I mean, if he
really wanted to take my life, a measly dagger wouldn’t be enough to stop him.
The tent turns out to be quite big,
one made of cowhide and held up by nine poles, but the interior is actually
very simple. There are only chairs, a desk and an army-style rug on the ground.
The captain comes in behind me. “Make yourself comfortable, please, while I
notify His Highness.”
I only smile, not wanting to speak,
and he backs out of the tent. After seeing the flap lowered, I take off my cloak,
take a seat and pour myself some tea. I hold it between my hands that have gone
numb from the night chill.
He and I exchanged letters several
times during the day and finally agreed on meeting in secret at night to
discuss the issues at hand. Being in the enemy’s territory comes with its
risks. I made Pei Yuan shut the palace gates and forbade anyone from entering or
exiting. Additionally, I entrusted a secret decree to Liu An, if I do not
return due to unforeseen circumstances, then the capital will be handed over to
Heng Ziyu, including the throne.
He has been after it for so long. So
as long he is willing to be responsible for all of the people of Great Rui and
give them a good life, I will give it to him. Born a commoner, he should be
able to empathise with the people more than I could.
I let out a soft sigh with my lips
against the rim of the blue-and-white china. I close my eyes as
the tea cools with every passing moment.
Since when does he take so long? If he wants to talk then just get it over with.
It’s unlike him to waste time like
this.
I hear the quick thuds of boots from
outside the tent and the next thing I know the shoes have stepped in. Startled,
I look up—and before my eyes are those midnight,
enigmatic eyes. Our eyes look right into each others, like two swords
clashing, like dancing lightning bolts.
I can barely feel my own heartbeat. No
emotions come to me.
Murong Yu is standing right in front
of me, wearing a dark battle robe. With the light shining from the wrong angle,
I can’t distinguish his expression right now. The wind pushes in and lifts his
clothes into the air, making him look all the more isolated.
In this moment, no language is necessary.
Betrayal, deceit, country and warfare all lie before us. I don’t want to
explain. Whether he believes me or blames me, I still have my dignity and
cannot let him look down upon me.
After quite a long period of silence,
I hear my own voice saying calmly, “Why don’t You take a seat, Your Highness.
You do not need me to act as the
host in Your own place, do You?”
His lips are tightly pressed in a
dangerously thin line but then dance upwards a tiny bit. “Of course not. Please
forgive this inadequate host, Your Majesty.”
As he says this he sits down. I drop
my gaze, away from that cold smile, and flash a smile of my own.
A simple utterance of ‘Your Highness’
and ‘Your Majesty’ has erected an invisible wall between us.
“I am delightfully surprised that Your
Majesty would come to such a place,” he remarks coolly. “How courageous of You
to come here in the middle of the night while our two countries are at war.”
I take a sip of tea. “I should set the example at a time of
peril for my country.”
His face is still dead and
undecipherable. “You certainly have become quite noble.”
“I
could say the same,” I comment after a moment’s hesitation.
The candles dance wildly in the wind
and our shadows stretch out onto the ground, engaging in a battle of their own.
I lower the cup. “I have come not for chitchat but for matters of importance.” I
shift to face him with raised brows. “I
believe You have heard of the changes in Yongjing.”
His shoulders jerk as he scoffs. “I am
very impressed that You have caught wind of something happening a thousand
miles away. However, I think You know much more than I do of its possible
consequences.”
I hum a reply. “What action are You
going to take?”
He turns his head away along with his
gaze. “I might be wrong but could it be that this is all thanks to You, Your
Majesty?”
I sigh, overlooking the sarcasm in his
words. “It is normal for You to think this way. However, I have my reasons, too.”
Unexpectedly, he shoots up from his
seat and takes several steps forward while letting out a few short laughs.
“Just tell me what it is that You have planned.”
My heart squeezes together as I stare
at him, twinging sorely.
At the end of the day, it was I who
betrayed him.
The warmth he gave me, the affection
he showed me, was more than anything that I had received before I met him.
Stubbornly, I left him without considering his feelings and when we met at the
frontlines, I just had to be his enemy and become allies with his arch nemesis,
forcing him into the spot he is in today.
I snap my head away to not think about
it.
I owe him something I can never finish
repaying in this lifetime.
A massive pang of guilt and regret
hits me. My throat itches and my eyes moisten. His tall figure is standing in
the shadows, clearly close enough to touch, but there seems to be an abyss
between us. For a second there, I’d rather he turn around and get mad at me,
argue with me, draw his sword out or even end my life. It would be better than
showing me this lonely, pitiful picture of his backside.
He coughs quietly, his back convulsing
each time, and each sound tugs my heart. “You have come all the way here, why
don’t You be straightforward.”
My vision turns blurry and my eyes
feel tender, but I grit my teeth and force back the tears. After my emotions
die down, I say, “Our armies have been battling for many days but continuing to
do so brings no benefits for either of us. Surely, Your Highness wishes to inherit
the dynasty. With the current agitation in Yongjing and His Majesty, the
Emperor of Yan, in dire conditions, if You were to insist on a trivial victory
over Great Rui, You may very well lose the opportunity. Once the mistake is
made, You may never make a comeback again.” I pause for a moment. “Also, it
will not be difficult if You decide to finish what You have started here after
ascension. Great Rui lacks in military prowess and will not have the ability to
resist Great Yan’s attacks even if we receive a temporary break. I need not say more for You to
comprehend the pros and cons of this matter.”
He whisks around with his eyes shining
brightly despite being shrouded by shadows.
I force myself to not look at his face
as I continue, “Your Highness is a talented man with a noble goal and will
definitely accomplish great deeds. As a display of my sincerity, I am willing to hand over the seven
hundred li of land north of Rope Hill
Creek on a silver platter on the day of Your ascension without You having to
sacrifice a single soldier. Secondly, I
am willing to make annual offerings of money, rice, tea, silk and more.
Thirdly,” I falter, “I am willing to
form familial bonds between our countries by marrying a royal princess
to Great Yan.”
My chest starts to sting for some reason
as I say this. It’s a pain beyond anything I have ever felt.
That’s right. These proposals are
typical for any request for peace. But, somehow, my emotions are going wild. Is
it misery, or is it self-pity, or…?
He pulls a thin smile that covers his
true expression, masking it all under that disguise of his, but his tone is
freezing cold. “You said all that just so I will retreat and you
can extend out Rui’s final minutes.”
Before he finishes, he shoots forth in
large strides and grabs my collar without waiting for my reaction. After I see
his furious face, the energy leaks out of me.
“You bastard! Fucking bastard! You
wanna bargain with me? Fine. But how dare you provoke me with something like
that?!”
Murong Yu is quivering slightly and I
can see the veins on his face pulsing. The candlelight falls into his eyes,
appearing scarlet and unstable. His face is mere inches away from mine and I
can almost feel his hot breaths, but the murderous intent of the battlefield
hits my face along with it, heightening my senses.
I drop my head to hide my face while
trying to hold in my painful emotion.
“I just knew it was you.” He glares at
me with a crooked smile. “You said you were going to run wild to the farthest
corners of this world yet you chose the highest spot in the palace.”
There is ridicule in his voice but
what I feel is hurt.
I want to scream at him, that this
wasn’t what I wanted, that this wasn’t my choice and that I had no way out at
the time!
But I swallow those words back down
before they roll off my tongue.
I want to retort but I cannot. I’m the
one with the crown on his head and the regalia on his shoulders. His
accusations are not without truth. I did indeed betray my initial wishes, his
love for me and his trust in me. I have the blood of the emperor in me; my
parents were once the peer of the realm. The result of all that: I cannot
abandon my country even in death.
In mere moments, my heart seems to
wilt and freeze over.
This is the first time since ascension
that I’ve felt such despair.
“The scouts I sent to the capital to
look for you who never returned; the description of the emperor that the
delegate gave me; Yuwen Yuan’s suspicions; I had already felt a little uneasy
but I didn’t want to believe it…until I went to the frontlines myself and heard
your voice from all the way over there. Do you know how I felt?”
His words stab through my ears and
into my chest, peeling away all my scabs, leaving me bleeding and scurrying to
find cover. I’ve been running for too long, hiding for too long, and now that
this moment has caught up to me and exposed my wounds to the relentless sun.
“In that moment, I just wanted to drag
you down from the walls and give you a good whipping! And see if you dare
forget your place again!”
My heart clenches again and it burns
as if I’m really getting whipped.
I have nothing to say to him and I
don’t know how to face him so I do the only thing I can and close my eyes.
“Open your eyes and look at me!” he
barks.
He pinches my chin hard but I shake my
head furiously. I don’t want to open them. I don’t care if it’s running
away.
Murong Yu, I don’t know how to face you.
He releases my collar then grabs my
wrist and slips an arm around my waist. The next moment I’m being yanked towards
him. I don’t want to be near him in my current mood so I thrash around trying
to push and dislodge him.
“Let go of me, you asshole!”
“Han Xin!” he roars my name, making me
come to a full stop. His grip tightens around my wrist so hard my bones seem to
be cracking.
“I told you to let go! You hear me?
Get away from me!”
I scream at him as I try to rip his
hands away. “My name is not Han Xin. And you can’t call me by my name!”
“Nothing good ever comes out from that
mouth of yours so why don’t we do something more productive with it?”
He leans in and catches me off guard.
Shadows block out my vision and immediately after I am sucked in by a
scorching, irresistible whirlpool. He pries open my lips and grinds his burning
lips into my mouth like an all-out invasion, forceful and direct without a hint
of hesitance.
I struggle with all my might to escape
his cage-like arms that are keeping me locked within its embrace. I twist my
head around with great difficulty trying to evade him but he keeps pushing
forward, forcing my mouth open. His tongue slips in and gets tangled with mine,
continuously stirring and licking. I’m not able to move and almost all my
oxygen is being sucked away by him, making it hard for me to stay standing.
Being held by him makes me shudder and my heart pound. It hurts so much, the
dull pain coming from deep within me.
This kiss nearly suffocates me.
He still doesn’t want to let go of me,
only parting momentarily for some air before diving back in to intertwine with
me. My anger builds up and I chomp down with my teeth. The salty, sweet flavour
of blood fills my mouth. He stops for a second and then catches me with his
lips again, constraining my efforts to hide from him.
Not able to take it anymore, I swing a
punch at him.
My fist lands on target, catching him
unawares and making a muffled thud. He bends over and wobbles but still does
not let go of me. I bite down again and more iron gush into my mouth. Finally,
he releases me. His eyes are stormy and distinct trails of blood hang from his
lips.
The next thing I know, his fist comes
flying at me.
The two of us tumble to the floor,
wrestling across the carpet, using fists, knees, whatever we can use without
any mercy or logic, as though the other person is the archenemy. I’m hit in the
abdomen and bend over in pain. Murong Yu takes the opportunity to leap forth
and lies on top of me while trying to hold down my hands. I angle my knee
towards his stomach. He grimaces and topples over, collapsing on me.
I stop. He stops, too. We are both
breathing roughly, body against body, faces extremely close to one another.
“I’m saying this one last time, Murong
Yu. Get your fucking hands off of me!”
His eyes sparkle slyly. “I’d be stupid
to let a free meal pass by!”
“That’s because you’re the one who
asked me to come!” I growl.
He sniggers. “So you just did what I
told you to? Come to think of it, you sent me the letter first!” Then he shouts
at me, “Still gonna deny that you’re offering yourself to me?”
Raging with fury, I swing my palm out.
Slap! He doesn’t hide and stares me down at me instead with
his burning gaze. I’m surprised because I didn’t think he would not dodge it.
Red fingerprints start showing on his
face and a smile plays about his lips.
Footsteps stop outside the tent. It’s
the captain’s voice. “Is everything all right, Your Highness?”
I freeze while he looks down at me
with an ambiguous smile. “Say, what should I tell him?”
I pant, not knowing what to say. He
adds steadily, “I’ll let him in. I won’t mind if you don’t mind.”
Fucking jerk. I glare at him. With me beneath
him, I’m going to be the one who is humiliated.
The captain asks again. Murong Yu
slowly nibbles on my ear, licking lightly while whispering, “He’s my personal
guard. He’s gonna barge in if I don’t answer.”
I shudder. “Then tell him to go away.”
Satisfied, he laughs and mutters in my
ear, “I’ll get him to go away…if you kiss me.”
The captain asks a third time. Murong looks
at the door then at me, perking his lips nonchalantly at me. I glance at the
door worriedly and with no other choice, I lean forward, hug his neck and plant
a delicate kiss on his face.
“I am fine. Return to your post.”
There is no more noise from the other
side of the door. I release his neck and let out a deep breath. “Okay. We’re
done fighting so let me up. Let’s get back to business.”
He doesn’t budge or remove himself
from me. I shoot him a dirty look and then push him. “Where were we? Mhm. Oh
right. Forming familial bonds between our countries by marrying a royal
princess to Great Yan.”
I have just sat up straight when he
shoves me back to the ground and pins me there. I’m not sure what he’s trying
to do and don’t want to make a commotion, so all I can do is glare at him with
all my efforts. I can kind of spot the seething anger on his face as he leans
in until he’s only mere inches away. He replies as he kisses the corners of my
lips, “A marriage alliance? Sure. Let me take the emperor’s hand in marriage.
Don’t forget the dowry. I’d be very happy.”
My cheeks immediately flush with fire.
I turn my head away, hissing, “You’re insane.” I add rudely, “Marrying the emperor?
You’re not worthy, Murong Yu.”
He falters but bursts out laughing.
“So what you mean is you’ll be willing to marry me when I’m
emperor?”
Marry you, my ass!
I keep glaring at him as I elbow his
arm away and sit up. “Come on, let’s talk business. I didn’t come to fight and
bicker with you.”
He frowns and very quickly fixes his
hand on my waist while yanking off the belt around it. The next moment, his
hand has sneaked past my collar and with a small pull, the clothing all fall
loose to my waist. Before I can react, he presses himself down on me again.
“You!”
He laughs and then proceeds to undo his
own battle robe. His arms reach out from the loose sleeves and nail my hands
above my head. Both of our clothes are already loose and saggy because of the
fight. His brows wrinkle and he yanks on my collar hard, tearing my clothes
off.
His lips slide down along the inside
of my arm to my shoulder, then my chest, and then out of nowhere he bites down
hard on it. An acute pain shoots up and I can’t help but arch back my head and
breathe in sharply. After the pain goes away, I notice that I’m completely
topless.
Murong Yu’s eyes are dark with muted
traces of lust. He snuggles into the dip between my neck and shoulder, lightly
gnawing and licking me with a gentle smile.
“Xin, did you miss me all this time
we’ve been apart?” he says in such a tender voice.
I shudder and pant harder. My vision
quickly fogs up.
I did. How could I not?
Countless times I awoke from the
nightmares, gasping for air and sweating all over. Only when I retreated into a
ball in the gloomy, empty palace, closed my eyes and did my best to recall that
warm, strong embrace from that night once upon a time could I fall back asleep.
He draws near and seals my lips with a
slow, gentle kiss while one of his hands reaches down and starts to unfasten my
pants. I yelp in alarm, “No!”
His hand doesn’t stop. I try
everything I can to break free. He stops his work to open my legs and I take
this chance to escape. However, he lunges for me like a hungry tiger, pressing
on my stomach to get me back on the ground. He takes this chance to manoeuvre
between my legs and wedge himself in there. My legs cannot close now.
“Murong Yu!”
We both have been aroused
unconsciously by the wrestling earlier, our naked parts rubbing and pressing
against one another, and our rough breaths. I pant for air as I feel his hands
undoing my pants and touching the inside of my thighs. I’ve been abstinent for
so long, there is no way I could resist this kind of temptation. To my own
dismay, I’m starting to get hotter and hotter.
“I said…let go…”
“You know, I’m not scared
of ripping your pants right? I’m being considerate here. How are you gonna go
back with ripped pants? I’m not going to lend you any.”
I stiffen in an instant
and stare in bewilderment. He smirks deviously, obviously delighted.
I’m sure someone like him
would do as he says.
He shifts to one side to
bite my earlobe, and then moves down my neck. “You don’t want that right? Then
tell me, how many consorts did you take in and how many women did you sleep
with since you became emperor?”
I answer with great
difficulty while he caresses me all over, “Sleep…your ass. I have enough…to do
in the day…I’d be lucky if…those old farts…let me have…some peace and quiet.”
He keeps a straight face
but I spot the undisguisable contentment in his eyes. “Really? Emperors should have
a whole harem and you’re telling me that you’re clean? I don’t buy that."
I just want to scream profanities at him but I’m afraid of someone
hearing us. He’s kissing my cheeks as his hands start to work faster down
there. My breathing hastens but the sensations become stronger.
Before I know it, he has
fully undressed me, leaving my thighs completely exposed to the slightly chilly
air. His hand quickly follows suit and the heat from his palm stimulates my
naked skin, a feeling of powerlessness snaking around my legs. He breathes
harder and harder and plasters his chest against mine. “You want it?” he asks
in my ears.
I feel like all of my blood
has gone to my face. I claw at the carpet beneath me, wishing I could just slap
him right across the face. I grit my teeth and spit, “You pervert!”
He stops but then starts
laughing. “I remember you slept with this pervert twice though. Why didn’t you call
me that back then?”
What can I say to that? A big
fat jerk! That’s what he is! How come I’ve never noticed before that he’s this
much of a jerk?
But before I can throw
these insults at him, he holds down my waist and the next thing I know a brute
force penetrates me, bringing along with it acute pain, threatening to tear me
apart from the bottom up. I yell out in pain, cling onto his shoulders and bite
down.
“Does it hurt?” He watches
my reaction. He only rocks his hips forward a little and I’m sweating from the
pain.
“No shit. I haven’t done
it for so long.” I just want to take another bite out of him.
I feel as though I’m being
forced open from the inside out. It’s painful and numbing; I can’t really differentiate.
He seals his lips on mine and touches me all over, slowly nibbling my neck and
shoulder while caressing my stomach.
I try to pull as much air
in as I can and force myself to relax. I roll my hips a bit and he gasps,
thrusting again, which racks me with pain again. I want to break free from his
control but I feel him becoming dangerously large inside of me.
His expression is one of
self-restraint, not much better off than me, but he still kisses me all over
with patience, stroking my member faster and faster.
Then, after who knows how
long, he starts to move tentatively. A burning sensation spreads from my
groins, to my abdomen, as if to light me on fire. The repeated impact makes me
straddle the line of consciousness and unconsciousness.
I arch upwards without
thinking, trying to get closer to him. I really want to moan but I can only
bite my own hand and hold it in with all I’ve got. Amidst the movement, I
notice him frowning. Then he rams into me, making me feel tingly and also hot.
My body arches up and the moans escape my lips.
“Ahhhh…uhn…mmm.”
Even in my current state,
I remember that there are people outside. I close my mouth and bite down on my
hand. He stops and dislodges my hand. “Why’re you doing that?”
“People…outside…”
Annoyance flashes in his eyes and his
movements become bigger. My body quivers at the violent impact of pleasure. I
let my head fall back from the overwhelming feeling and hang onto him with all
my life as if I’m a fallen leaf in a storm, only by clinging onto him will I
not lose myself.
“You fucker…can’t you…go slower?”
“You…think it’s easy…for me? I haven’t…for
so long.”
He kisses me with fierce passion and
continues his attack as though to merge me into him, or break me into little
pieces and stick me on him.
The sound of our nude bodies rubbing
against each other, our pants and our moans fill the air. I can’t tell which
are made by me and which are made by Murong Yu.
I just feel the scorching heat of our
bodies fitting together and I take every one of his powerful thrusts. Every part
of me feels fulfilled. We move faster and faster, and the place that connects
us is so sensitive that the pain of taking him has disappeared. What is left is
just the tingly, numbing pleasure rushing through my veins.
I’m on the verge of fainting as a wave
of dizzying pleasure swallows me.
___________________
Blue-and-white porcelain
青花瓷
These two below belong to the collection of BAW china in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The right shows a flat flask on a stand and the left shows a plate.
This below is a vase with shanshui painting on its body and calligraphy around its neck.
I do not know terribly a lot about the production process but I believe a certain chemical is used to paint on the porcelain before firing and afterwards the heat makes the chemicals appear blue, giving it its distinct blue-and-white colour.
_________________
ayszhang: >u< finally~~~ some good old man on man action with more to come next chapter OvOb
Chapter 35
Cold Sands - English Translation by ayszhang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
