Married Thrice to Salted Fish

After half an hour, the water ripples gradually stopped. The dragon robe embroidered with circling dragons covered Lin Qingyu’s body. Then, he was carried out of the bath by Jiang Xing.

Lin Qingyu thought that Jiang Xing was going to take him back to Xingqing Palace. Although he wasn’t a stickler for trivial matters, he didn’t want to be carried back by Jiang Xing while wrapped in the dragon robe. If anyone saw them, it would cause absolute scandal. “Put me down, I can walk by myself.”

Jiang Xing gave no answer. Lin Qingyu met his eyes and couldn’t help being taken aback.

Gone was the sparkle of youth from Jiang Xing’s eyes. They could no longer be called gentle rather there was now something in them that was of a mature man.

——That’s right. After all, he had entered adulthood once again. The combination of a twenty-two-year-old heart and an eighteen-year-old body was inexplicably arousing.

He also liked Jiang Xing like this a lot. Lin Qingyu took the initiative to lean over and lightly bit the mole where Jiang Xing’s Adam’s apple lay.

Jiang Xing’s Adam’s apple bobbed and his breathing turned heavier. The next moment, Lin Qingyu’s back hit the screen with a bang. But he didn’t feel any pain — Jiang Xing had put his hand behind his back to protect him.

Lin Qingyu’s half-wet long hair hung down. The dragon robe slipped off his shoulders, coming loose and undone, creating a boundless spring scenery.

Jiang Xing couldn’t help but say, “Qingyu, you look so beautiful, so beautiful even in this dragon robe.”

Lin Qingyu raised his eyes and smiled, “Is there anything that doesn’t look good on me?”

Jiang Xing’s breathing suddenly went tight and he stopped talking. He said, short and straight to the point, “Hold on tight to me.”

They carried on until well past midnight. When Lin Qingyu returned to the dragon bed, he insisted his hair be dried before going to bed, “It’s all too easy to catch a cold if you go to bed with wet hair. If you make it a habit, you might suffer from headaches.”

Jiang Xing yawned as he towel dried Lin Qingyu’s hair. His hair was short and had quickly dried; while Lin Qingyu’s long hair had to be brushed for a long time. In order to stop himself from falling asleep, Jiang Xing discussed a serious matter with Lin Qingyu. “Qingyu, you must have seen how the empress dowager was acting at the banquet today. She must be starting to object to how I cling to you all day long. It probably won’t be long before she takes action. I think it’s time for us to nip that thought in the bud.”

Lin Qingyu asked: “How do you propose to do that?”

“I’ve got a rough plan.”

Jiang Xing told Lin Qingyu his thoughts and Lin Qingyu listened carefully. From time to time, he supplemented details and offered suggestions for improvement.

At the end, Lin Qingyu said, “The empress dowager is very kind to you and you want to lie to her?”

Jiang Xing said in surprise, “You really have changed. Having misgivings about lying to someone, this isn’t your style.”

Lin Qingyu said, “I didn’t have a choice before, but now I want to be a good person.”

“You’re already a ‘good person’.” Jiang Xing remembered something, “I heard that Xiao Jie’s madness has been cured. He suddenly lost his memory and forgot the past. Is this your handiwork?”

Lin Qingyu said lightly, “I was merely testing out on him a Gu technique the genius doctor from the Southern border passed on to me. It wasn’t a good deed. He was just lucky. If his luck had been bad, he would have gone to join Xi Rong already.”

Jiang Xing smiled, but didn’t expose the beautiful villain’s rare display of soft-heartedness. How could he not know that it was for him that Lin Qingyu was willing to show some sympathy for these insignificant people?

Jiang Xing turned the topic back to the empress dowager. “Anyway, this is the easiest and most convenient method I can think of. Besides, I’m really not deceiving her.”

“How do you say that?”

Jiang Xing said seriously, “If she forces me to separate from you, I really will go crazy.”

Lin Qingyu thought for a while and said, “Alright. We’ll let her panic a bit and I’ll forget about how she used an imperial decree to force me to marry Lu Wancheng before.”

Jiang Xing wasn’t at all surprised and he said with a smile, “You really know how hold grudges. That was five years ago and you’re still thinking about that.”

Thinking of how it’s been five years, Lin Qingyu smiled, “It’s been five years…we’re doing bad things together again.”

Before, it was in the Nan’an Hou’s Mansion, then it was in the General’s Mansion and now it was in the Imperial Palace.

Jiang Xing objected, “I just want to marry my wife and bring him home, what’s bad about that?” Jiang Xing judged his hair to be almost dry. He took off the towel and caressed Lin Qingyu’s hair. “Why is it still a little wet?”

Lin Qingyu said, “Drying long hair is difficult.”

Jiang Xing smiled and said, “In any case, since we can’t sleep yet why don’t we pick up where we left off?”

Lin Qingyu: “…” Just how could this person claim to be exhausted?

If someone were standing in the hall at this moment, they would see two figures behind the curtain of the dragon bed. The long-haired man sat within the arms of the short-haired man. The shadows’ movements weren’t too fast but it made the long-haired man’s back stretch into a seductive arc, after which he fell limp against the short-haired man’s chest.

When they were done, Lin Qingyu’s long hair was finally dry. The two were lying under the same quilt, facing each other, staring into each other’s eyes.

Jiang Xing’s eyes stared fixedly on Lin Qingyu’s face for a moment. He then asked, “Qingyu, don’t you want to sleep yet?”

Lin Qingyu said, “Not yet, I’m still fine.”

“Then, are you tired?”

Lin Qingyu said, on guard, “Don’t tell me you want to go again?”

“In every novel I’ve read, the receiver would always faint or go dizzy after they’ve done their lovemaking.” Jiang Xing was a little frustrated, “How come you’re still able to carry on a proper conversation with me?”

Lin Qingyu was baffled. “Stories are stories and reality is reality. How can someone pass out so easily? If it reaches the point that someone loses consciousness then we’ve got a really big problem.”

But although he wasn’t dizzy, he was really tired. His whole body seemed to be falling apart and his voice was hoarse. In contrast, a certain someone kept saying that he was tired but was much more spirited than he was.

Jiang Xing raised his eyebrows, “So, it’s not my fault? Have these novels misled me?”

“En.” Lin Qingyu raised his hand with difficulty, stroked Jiang Xing’s short hair and said lazily, “His Majesty is already amazing. I enjoyed it very much.”

Jiang Xing laughed. “I can go another round. Baobei, next time, you should praise me more.”

Lin Qingyu smiled lightly and said, “Alright.”

With the coming of winter, the capital quickly got their first snow fall of the season. Jiang Xing paid close attention to Lin Qingyu’s mood. It was business as usual for Lin Qingyu or at least it seemed to be so. But as Gu Fuzhou’s death anniversary approached, Lin Qingyu suddenly fell ill.

Lin Qingyu’s illness was severe. The person who came to report to the palace said that he had reached the point of being confined to his bed, unable to get up to attend morning court, much less preside over it. The emperor noticed the prime minister’s absence from Xingqing Palace, so he ran to Ci’an Palace to look for him, “Mother, where is Prime Minister Gege?”

The empress dowager patiently explained to the emperor, “Prime Minister Lin is ill and is recuperating in the General’s Mansion.”

“Then can I go to the General’s Mansion to see him?”

“The emperor is the son of heaven and must stay in the palace.” The queen mother comforted, “His Majesty shouldn’t worry. When Prime Minister Lin recovers, he will come back.”

She had no wish for Lin Qingyu to get sick. But Lin Qingyu’s illness provided a good opportunity to separate him from the emperor for a period of time which was in line with her wishes.

The emperor was momentarily dazed and then his eyes dimmed, as if they had lost their brilliance. Seeing him like this, the empress dowager’s heart suddenly sank – the emperor’s eyes looked somewhat similar to when he was suffering from his soul-loss disease. But taking a closer look, it seemed she had seen wrong.

The empress dowager thought she was thinking too much but who would have thought that, unable to see the Prime Minister, His Imperial Majesty became depressed and stayed gloomy the rest of the day. He talked less and less until he uttered not even a single word. Imperial Physician Xuan came to examine him but could find no reason for his condition.

A terrifying thought rose in her heart — could it be that the emperor’s mental illness had relapsed?

The empress dowager hurriedly asked someone to invite the national teacher to come. Who would have thought that Xu Junyuan had already left the capital a year ago and would not be able to return until a few days later. The empress dowager watched as the emperor become less and less animated day after day. Her heart was burning with anxiety but she had no other choice but to wait.

As soon as Xu Junyuan returned to the capital, he was hurriedly invited into the palace by Lai Fu. There, Xu Junyuan, immediately caught sight of Young Master Jiang squatting on the ground playing with mud.

Xu Junyuan lifted open Young Master Jiang’s eyelids and took a look. Before he had even finished, the Empress Dowager already couldn’t help asking, “What has happened to the emperor?”

Xu Junyuan thought it over and said, “The emperor’s current symptoms are indeed somewhat similar to his previous soul-less disease.”

The empress dowager said anxiously, “But wasn’t His Majesty’s diseases already cured?”

“Dare I ask Her Highness, is Prime Minister Lin not in the palace these days?”

The empress dowager was puzzled, “It is true that Prime Minister Lin has been sick and absent from the palace. But what does this have to do with the emperor’s mental illness?”

“Prime Minister Lin is the first person who was able to get a reaction out of His Majesty. He is very important for the emperor’s soul-loss. Because of this, I suggest that you have Prime Minister Lin stay by the emperor’s side. A person’s three immortal souls and six spirits is a mystery within a mystery. Even I cannot glimps it in its entirety. Perhaps Prime Minister Lin is the emperor’s sole unique antidote; this we cannot be sure of.”

The empress dowager couldn’t accept it, “Lin Qingyu used to be Lu Wancheng’s wife. He was also Gu Fuzhou’s wife and now he is the prime minister of the court. How can he always be with the emperor in the palace?”

Xu Junyuan sighed, and said: “Your Highness Empress Dowager, forgive me for speaking bluntly. When the emperor was missing his soul, you once said that if the emperor could call you ‘mother’, you would ask for nothing else. That the emperor’s mind was able to gradually return to normal is an unexpected miracle. The emperor likes being0 with Prime Minister Lin. Why would you stop him? Could it be that you would rather see the emperor return to how he was before than to have him like Prime Minister Lin?”

How he was before?

No-no… Her Li’er has finally reached this state. He definitely cannot return to being dull and dazed, as though he were off living in another world.

The empress dowager slumped to the ground. After a long while, she came back to her senses, “Quick, go bring Prime Minister Lin here!”

Lai Fu reminded her, “Empress Dowager, Prime Minister Lin is still ill.”

“Then we’ll take His Majesty to the General’s Mansion.” The empress dowager urged, “Hurry!”

The author has something to say: Ah, I tried my best. _(:3 」∠)_