HRHWAD 1

“Your highness, we are about to enter the border of the Yue Kingdom. Do you need a piece of home to keep with you?”

Yan Ke[1], hearing the sound, gradually opened his eyes. He looked out at the dimming sky, it was filled with exhausted and discontented voices saying, “It isn’t necessary, you tell Su Yu[2]. If you don’t want me to get killed on the road, then let the troops rest a bit.”

The slave girl outside was troubled: “Crown Prince, the General Su left instructions that we cannot stop moving. Due to the prince being held up a few days on the road, the Yue Kingdom’s wedding procession coming to fetch you has already been waiting impatiently. There is still another day on the road, so the Crown Prince will just have to bear it for now.”

“Don’t even think about offending the Yue Kingdom’s procession.”

“…”

Yan Ke looked at his bound hands and feet, he sighed. Girl, of course you won’t find this day’s journey difficult when you’re sitting on the carriage, but…think of me! I’ve been tied up for three days and three nights, can’t you let me take a break?!

Originally, he was mistaken and believed transmigrating after death would be a good thing. What’s more, he was the crown prince of a country! How wonderful!

As a result, after transmigrating, he was packed up and sent off to some backward place that was said in the Chu Kingdom to be so cold and desolate that birds don’t even shit there. It was there in the Yue Kingdom that he was to be married off.

Exactly!

What’s so peculiar is that he, the prince of a country, was to marry another man. As a straight man, Yan Ke could not accept the idea that from that day on, he and another man would attach at the hip, expected to share an affectionate and intimate bond.

But, there was no way to die!

So…he ran away.

In the end, without exception, he was captured each time and returned. After he escaped three times, he was finally tied up by Su Yu and thrown into the carriage.

Su Yu is the younger brother of the Concubine Su of the Chu Kingdom. According to the memory of the original owner of this body he transmigrated into, the original owner seems to have somewhat different feelings for this Su Yu.

Therefore, when Concubine Su whispered into the emperor’s ear, he found out that he would be escorted by Su Yu to the Yue Kingdom when the time came for his marriage. That night, the original Yan Ke went to the Su household to find Su Yu.

What he said was also very childish.

“If you dare to send me to the Yue Kingdom, I will end my life in front of you!”

Yan Ke originally planned on expressing his deepest affection, but Su Yu, who for a time had clearly understood Yan Ke’s feelings and pretended to be blind to them, and in a mockery of his love, attacked him for how he felt.

His glass heart was shattered instantly, the intensity was just intense enough. Actually, he rammed his head into the gate of the Su residence and died right there.

He was actually dead.

Well, he was actually alive, but…the transmigrated Yan Ke was the one who came back to life.

Arriving from the 21^st century, Yan Ke had the same given name, surname, and appearance as this glass-hearted prince.

Yan Ke sighed. When he woke up in the original Yan Ke’s Eastern Palace[3], the wedding date had been decided. The next day, as he was forced into the carriage, he carried the evidence of his tragic love on his forehead.

On this road, he traveled for more than a month. He had never been in a carriage before, and he couldn’t bear the long journey and vomited all the way.

In addition to the three escape attempts, it seemed that he angered Su Yu. General Su, who would have put his health first instead spent several days without sleep or rest under the pretext of being urged by the Yue Kingdom wedding procession.

Several carriages were hired along the way, and they worked in two shifts, with one during the day and the other at night.

Although there was nothing wrong with them, Yan Ke was suffering so much that he was nearly vomiting up bile in the carriage.

As it neared dawn[4], Yan Ke had the uncomfortable feeling that Su Yu was trying to torture him to death on the way to the wedding, then, the procession suddenly stopped.

“Let’s stop and rest for a moment,” said Su Yu.

Yan Ke was startled awake and struggled to get up from the carriage’s bed. Right as he was about to lift the curtain to see where he had been transported, he heard Su Yu’s voice coming from outside.

By the time Su Yu had instructed the team to rest, he had already arrived at Yan Ke’s carriage.

The slave girl outside the carriage saw him approaching and she, with quick diligence, made room for Su Yu to enter.

Su Yu opened the car curtain and looked at the prince who was sitting inside, who one could describe as looking like he was taking his last breath. Su Yu suddenly laughed out loud, “Prince, I have told you before that you need to learn some martial arts to strengthen your body and protect yourself, but you still don’t believe it.”

Yan Ke opened his eyes and roared within his heart: Yes! Yan Ke! Prince! You have suffered from the disadvantage of not knowing martial arts all your life! If you didn’t leave me such a weak[5] body, I could have avenged you!”

Are you happy now? To take revenge or not is another matter when surviving is all too hard.

“Let me rest for a while before leaving,” Yan Ke requested. His eyes were calm and unruffled, which actually made Su Yu look at him differently, now with a bit more respect.

Su Yu was trying to fathom what happened to Yan Ke after he hit the wall of his residence. He woke up as a completely different person.

In the past, the dignified prince would follow him and in a soft voice call him Brother[6] Su Yu softly. Now, when he was happy, he would only call him General Su. When he was unhappy, he would not call him by his name and instead only use the word “you” in place of a name.

Was he playing hard to get?

Su Yu glanced at Yan Ke. This prince had been good-looking since he was young. He was famously a handsome man in the State of Chu. However, due to his life-long health issues, his body had become so frail.

Now, after half a month of running around on the road, his face was so ashen it could frighten people, and he looked completely sick.

Su Yu looked at the weak appearance of the sick beauty and stretched out his hand to tidy up Yan Ke’s hair hanging on both sides while he laid down.

“It will be good for you to leave the Chu Kingdom and stay away from the disputes. Stop making trouble.”

Seeing that Yan Ke didn’t respond, Su Yu spoke again: “I was the one who spoke harshly that day, but you need to stop being stubborn. If you’re going to talk, just talk—why are you going to such extremes as to talk about seeking death?”

Yan Ke opened his eyes. Was he being coaxed by the thinking of the original Yan Ke? Since Su Yu had come to sell off this good boy, he would take advantage of the existing momentum. First, he needed to trick him into undoing the rope on his hands.

Yan Ke asked Su Yu, “You have me tied up like this, isn’t it like you are trying to torture me to death along the way?”

Su Yu frowned: “What are you talking about? If you would have listened, would I have had tied you up? You have been in poor health since birth, I haven’t restricted you from seeing a doctor, but what about you? You don’t want to take medicine, you don’t eat, you want to leave. Why are you being so coquettish with me?”

Being…so coquettish? Dude, are you taking yourself too seriously? I can’t eat it all, okay?

Su Yu continued, “It’s okay to make a fuss about some things. I understand how you feel. Keep your heart in check and don’t let others know about it and use it to harm you.”

Yan Ke listened to Su Yu’s hypocritical words, it was without the fluctuations of any emotions.

But his heart wouldn’t stop beating, and upon his ghastly face, a trace of ambiguous red appeared.

Why am I blushing? Thought Yan Ke, Also, why is my heart beating faster?

Suddenly, Yan Ke felt a stabbing pain in his chest. He bent over the side of the bed and vomited a mouthful of blood. The pain in his chest region was severe.

Su Yu was anxious, “Yan Ke!”

In a daze, Yan Ke’s lips moved uncontrollably. In the moments of his consciousness still lingering, he heard the words “Brother Su Yu”.

_______________________________________________________________________________

“Meng You!”[7]

A young man stood in the rain. A few strands of black hair in front of his temples were soaked by the rain and stuck to the sides. His sword eyebrows went straight to his temples, and he had a face sculpted like it was carved with a knife and axe, exuding heroic spirit. The depths of his pupils were full of unyielding stubbornness and cold indifference.

Just standing there, he exuded a dangerous aura with him in a clearing and no stranger within ten meters.

“I won’t marry him!” Meng You was almost shouting.

“There is no room to consider whether you want to or not, you need to marry!” From inside the palace came a deep voice of a man that had experienced the vicissitudes of life.

Meng You felt a fire ignite in his stomach. Ever since he knew that he was going to marry a man, he had been making trouble at the entrance of his father’s palace for half a month.

The outcome was always: “No, you must marry!”

“If a man marries another man and is not ashamed, I would be embarrassed on his behalf!” When the Emperor of the Yue Kingdom heard this, he sneered and opened the palace door.

“What do you know? Now the Yue Kingdom and Chu Kingdom are no longer opponents. It is a god thing that the prince of another country can come to our kingdom for marriage! Besides, a prince has committed himself to you, have you been wronged?”

Meng You turned his head, with reluctance written in his brows: “Father, have you ever thought that this prince coming to form an alliance by marriage is a conspiracy?”

“To say the least, even if there is no conspiracy, what do you expect to use the prince for?”

The emperor pondered for a moment after Meng You’s words. Things were as they are and it was not possible to fix this. The Emperor of Chu had requested him by name to have his son come and take in this crown prince, there was no way to resolve this issue.

“Shu Li, I know I have wronged you, but this matter cannot be changed.”

Meng You stayed silent.

Seeing that he could not be persuaded, Meng You turned around and braved the rain as he exited the palace.

As soon as he changed into clean clothes and prepared to run away, the prince’s palace was completely surrounded, not even a drop of water could get through the perimeter. A court eunuch that delivered imperial edicts pushed aside layers of imperial guards and walked in from the outside. With a sweaty face, the eunuch looked at Meng You who was carrying a bad and preparing to run away.

Meng You looked at him speechless.

“Your Highness, the Emperor said that you have to wait at the prince’s palace for the next few days to wait for the prince that will be your wife to arrive.”

Meng You continued to say nothing and stared at the eunuch who announced the decree.

The eunuch endured the chilling aura emanating from Meng You’s body and continued: “Of course, you can wait until your crown prince arrives and then take him with you.”

As the eunuch continued, Meng You said nothing and held his cold stare, “The emperor also asked his servant to tell His Highness that the prince he will marry is delicate. They said he has been ill for more than half a month because of the long journey. His Highness needs to properly attend to him.” In the end, Meng You could only grimly squeezed out one word from the corner of the mouth, “Leave.”

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[1] His name 晏柯 is comprised of 晏 yan4, which is a surname that means comfort, and 柯 ke1, which means branch or stem

[2] His name 苏御 is comprised of 苏 su1, which means perilla, and 御 yu4, which means control. He is also called General Su

[3] Eastern Palace 东宫 was commonly the living quarters of the crown prince

[4] 凌晨 refers to the time between midnight and three in the morning

[5] He literally say 这么弱鸡 which means “such a weak chicken” lmao

[6] 哥哥 older brother

[7] His name 孟佑 is comprised of the parts 孟 meng4, a surname, and 佑 you4, which means protect or help