Chapter 33 - 1#

Heart-to-Heart; Yan and Yu Open Up, Mad Dog Sets a Trap#

The donkey cart slowly rolled through the street.

Chu Yu drove the cart, and Yan Zhi sat with his head lowered, hands clutching his chest, lost in thought.

The two sat on opposite sides of the donkey cart, neither saying a word.

It wasn’t until fifteen minutes later that the donkey cart stopped in Sweetwater Alley.

Chu Yu got off the cart. Seeing Yan Zhi still sitting there in a daze, he didn’t call him but picked up two steamers, pushed open his yard gate with his shoulder, and walked in.

Hearing the movement, Yan Zhi came to his senses and hurriedly jumped off the cart, picked up the remaining steamers, and followed him inside.

Chu Yu turned around and bumped right into him.

Their eyes met, but they still said nothing. They quietly unloaded everything from the donkey cart, then drove the donkey back into Yan Zhi’s yard to let it eat some fodder.

Finally, the two sat in the yard, patting the brown sugar cakes that had fallen to the ground and gotten dusty, peeling off the outer layer of skin.

The cake skins were broken into small pieces and soaked in water; they could be given to neighbors to feed their chickens and ducks, as those animals didn’t mind the dirt.

The inner part of the cake wasn’t dirty; they could eat it themselves or give it away.

Yan Zhi rolled up his sleeves and sat on a small stool, obediently peeling the brown sugar cakes.

His hands didn’t stop, but his heart couldn’t stop trembling.

The edict he had haphazardly stuffed into his bosom felt like a huge stone, weighing heavily on his chest, and also like a ball of fire, burning fiercely, almost scalding him.

Yan Zhi could never understand why the Emperor wanted to appoint him as Empress.

It’s fake, right?

He must be dreaming.

Yan Zhi put down a brown sugar cake and pinched his cheek hard.

“Ah…”

It hurt; it seemed to be real.

During the month he had been away, besides learning to drive a cart, he had learned to make pastries. His academic learning and martial arts hadn’t improved at all—how could the Emperor appoint him as Empress?

Either the Emperor had lost his mind, or…

The Emperor wanted to use the edict to lure him out and catch him!

Thinking of this, Yan Zhi stood up from the stool with a “whoosh.”

The small stool wobbled and fell to the ground.

Chu Yu looked up and watched him with a complex expression: “What are you doing? One moment pinching yourself, the next standing up.”

“I…” Yan Zhi came to his senses and also looked at Chu Yu, nervously tugging at his sleeves.

He had forgotten that Chu Yu was still here.

Now the most important thing was to think about how to explain to Chu Yu.

He wasn’t very good at lying. To get out of the palace, he had lied to the Emperor, and later to hide his identity, he had lied about his name.

But he had never been exposed to his face.

Now…

“Um…” Yan Zhi cleared his throat and said timidly, “A-Yu, did you see it just now? The Empress the Emperor appointed…”

Chu Yu looked up and stared at him solemnly.

Yan Zhi tried to bluff: “The Empress’s name is actually the same as mine!”

Chu Yu’s expression was knowing as he gave him two words: “Bullshit.”

“It’s true.” Yan Zhi still tried to struggle a bit. “But the Empress’s surname is ‘Yan’, with a light tone. My surname is ‘Yu’, and my name is ‘Yan Zhi’, with a heavy tone.”

“Keep bullshitting.”

“Say, since I have the same name as the Empress, should I… change my name? Or should I be more upright and just have you call me by my full name from now on? What do you think?”

“Finished bullshitting?”

Chu Yu didn’t believe him at all.

Yan Zhi’s face turned red, his head lowered further, and his voice became smaller: “I’m not bullshitting; it’s just a coincidence of names.”

“Do you take me for blind, deaf, or stupid?”

Chu Yu slammed the brown sugar cake in his hand into the steamer, appearing quite displeased.

“The moment those two officials came, you cried.”

“The moment you saw your name on the edict, you became dazed.”

“Just now on our way back, you were in a daze the whole time.”

“Is this just a coincidence of names? This is a coincidence of persons!”

“Yan Zhi, I treat you as a close friend. I introduced you to the neighbors, took you to sell sugar cakes, and even taught you my family’s secret recipes. And you, you’re actually hiding a huge secret from me…”

Chu Yu was full of grievances and wanted to complain loudly, but fearing the neighbors in the alley would hear, he lowered his voice.

“Do you think this is appropriate? Huh? Are we still close friends?”

“I’m sorry.” Yan Zhi quickly squatted in front of him, grabbed his sleeve, and looked at him earnestly. “Of course I treat you as a close friend, but this matter is too… too dangerous. I don’t want to involve you.”

Chu Yu asked: “How dangerous?”

“Extremely, extremely dangerous.” Yan Zhi said with total sincerity. “It will get you killed.”

“I’m not afraid of death.” Chu Yu said seriously. “I won’t die.”

Yan Zhi didn’t understand. He wrinkled his small face and looked at him in confusion.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be in any trouble anyway.” Chu Yu said. “Tell me your story.”

“I can’t…”

“Tell me!”

Chu Yu’s attitude was determined; otherwise, he would break off the friendship with Yan Zhi.

Yan Zhi was equally stubborn and nodded: “Then… then let’s just break off the friendship.”

“You!” Chu Yu was shocked. “You actually really want to break off the friendship with me?!”

“Anyway, I can’t tell you.” Yan Zhi said. “The notices have been posted here; they’ll find this place soon. We should pretend we don’t know each other so it won’t involve you.”

He had already involved Xie Yi; he couldn’t involve Chu Yu anymore.

Yan Zhi sniffed and gave a serious reminder: “If anyone asks you in the future, you must say you don’t know me and have no relationship with me, understood?”

“Come back, come back!” Chu Yu pulled him. “Even if you don’t say it, I know. You’re following the ‘crematory chase’ (regretful lover) script, right?”

“What?” Yan Zhi blinked, even more confused. “What chase? What crematory?”

“You don’t understand?” Chu Yu thought for a moment and added, “What I mean is—”

“You were a palace servant before, and you had a thing with the Emperor—kissing and hugging, right?”

“But the Emperor was bad to you, kept bullying you, and never gave you a status, right?”

“So you ran away from the palace. Now the Emperor is sending people everywhere to look for you, and you don’t want to be found.”

“When he really couldn’t find you, the Emperor regretted it. So he proclaimed to the world that you are the Empress to make you go back, right?”

With every “right” Chu Yu said, Yan Zhi’s eyes widened a bit more.

“How… how did you know?”

“I know everything.” Chu Yu said confidently.

Well, since he had guessed everything, there was no need for Yan Zhi to guard the secret so hard.

“But there’s one thing you got wrong.” Yan Zhi lowered his eyes. “The Emperor didn’t regret it; he won’t regret it. The Emperor probably just feels a bit uncomfortable because the little puppy that used to revolve around him suddenly ran away.”

Chu Yu then said: “And there’s one more thing I got wrong.”

Yan Zhi looked up: “What?”

“Aren’t you a little eunuch from the palace? But I saw you going to the latrine, and you were standing up.”

As Chu Yu spoke, he deliberately reached out to lift Yan Zhi’s hem, appearing very curious.

“Ah!” Yan Zhi hurriedly slapped his hand away and backed up. “Chu Yu, stop! You can’t!”

Chu Yu chased Yan Zhi, and the two ran around the yard like two puppies, chasing each other.

After running for a while, Yan Zhi lost his strength. He supported himself against the wooden cart in the yard and sat down.

Chu Yu caught up and sat down beside him.

The two swung their feet, looking at the dark clouds in the sky.

After an unknown amount of time, they turned their heads, looked cautiously at each other, and spoke at the same time—

“Then can you believe me now?”

“Then are you still angry now?”

Chu Yu answered first: “I’m not angry. Actually, I also have things I’m hiding from you. Do you want to know?”

“No.” Yan Zhi shook his head vigorously. “I don’t.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s your secret.” Yan Zhi said reasonably. “When you want to tell me, tell me then.”

“Little Yan, you’re so silly. You should have used your secret to exchange with me.”

“No. It’s because you’re capable that you guessed my secret. It’s because I’m not capable that I can’t guess yours. This is not an exchange.”

“Hahaha!” Chu Yu couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, I’ll tell you when there’s a chance in the future.”

“Mhm.”

After catching his breath, Chu Yu added: “Luckily those two officials didn’t dare to call the Empress’s name directly, and most people in town are illiterate, otherwise you would have been exposed long ago.”

“I’ve already torn down the notice; it should be fine.”

“Do you plan to go somewhere else?”

Yan Zhi thought for a moment and finally shook his head: “No.”

“Shiyan Town is already hidden enough. Outside will definitely be even stricter. If I stay here, it will take them some days to search this far. Even if they do, the town has a river and the mountain is behind it—I can still run. If I run out now, I’ll surely be walking into a trap.”

“Besides, I’ve already bought a house here and made a friend like you. I won’t leave.”

“Makes sense.” Chu Yu added, “From today on, you just insist your surname is ‘Yu’. No matter who asks, don’t back down.”

“Okay.”

“And your face—” Chu Yu frowned and looked at him seriously.

Yan Zhi touched his cheek: “What’s wrong?”

Chu Yu jumped off the cart: " I’ll get some soot from the stove and smear it on you!"

“No, it’s so dirty…”

“What do you know? This is called disguise!”

That afternoon, neither of them went out.

Chu Yu continued researching new pastries.

Yan Zhi, with a dirty little face, looking like a little calico cat that had just crawled through a stove hole, squatted by the stove to help him start the fire and add wood, and also helped him with chores.

Chu Yu cracked two eggs, took the yolks away, and left only the whites in a bowl. He gave three chopsticks to Yan Zhi and told him to stir vigorously, stir with all his might.

Yan Zhi held the large porcelain bowl, stirring seriously and continuously.

While stirring, he asked.

“A-Yu, is it done? My hand is so sore.”

Chu Yu leaned over to take a look and added half a spoon of sugar: “Keep stirring.”

“Waaa…” Yan Zhi asked pitifully, “How much longer do I have to stir?”

“Until big bubbles form.”

“How can egg whites form bubbles?”

“Let me do it.”

Seeing that he was truly tired, Chu Yu took it over and continued stirring himself.

During the process, sugar was added twice more. With their combined efforts, they stirred for nearly half an hour.

Finally, the egg whites in the bowl expanded and became a large lump of white stuff.

“Cream!” Yan Zhi’s eyes lit up. “It’s cream!”

Chu Yu corrected him: “No, it’s just meringue.”

“Wow, A-Yu, you’re so amazing. You actually know how to make this.”

“Of course.”

Yan Zhi squatted beside him, his eyes sparkling as he looked at the meringue, almost drooling.

He held up one finger: “Can I eat it now? Can I have a bite? Just one bite?”

“No.” Chu Yu took it away. “It’s raw; you’ll get diarrhea if you eat it.”

“Oh.”