Chapter 37#
Even dogs have a fixed mating season, are you in heat all goddamn year round?! Aren’t you afraid of dying from exhaustion?#
Time turned back to that evening.
At the Third Prince’s residence.
In the study, several advisors dressed in scholar’s robes sat upright, while the Third Prince occupied the seat of honor, holding a letter and examining it closely.
The more he read, the worse his expression turned. By the time he finished, the Third Prince’s face was livid, his eyes blazing with fury. With a bang, he slammed the letter onto the table, then angrily swept it to the floor.
“Ambushed! Such a large fleet, how could it be ambushed just like that?!”
Hearing this, one advisor hurriedly picked up the letter to read. When all of them had finished, their eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.
Everyone began talking at once.
“Who’s this bold? Even official salt boats dare to be robbed?”
“Could it be river pirates?”
“No. We’ve run this route for so long, no river pirate has ever dared to attack an official boat.”
“All sixty-four crew members killed, not a single survivor. That’s anything but merciful.”
“If it’s not river pirates, then someone has their eyes on us.”
“If it’s only about money, that’s fine. But I’m afraid they know something else and came specifically prepared.”
With each word from his advisors, the Third Prince’s face sank further, until it was black as the bottom of a pot.
“It’s been three days since it happened. If we still haven’t found any leads, those bandits have probably already vanished without a trace.”
“Why not report this to the Yangzhou prefectural office and send troops to investigate? We’re flying the flag of official ships anyway, so we’d have proper justification.”
As soon as those words left his mouth, the Third Prince’s murderous gaze whipped over. “What did you say?”
That man flinched and stammered, “This subordinate said—report, report it to the authorities…”
The anger he’d been building exploded in that moment. The Third Prince shot to his feet and slammed his fist on the desk, gnashing his teeth. “You want to report to the authorities? How many docks are there in Yangzhou? How many official boats and merchant boats are dispatched from each dock every day? How many dan of cargo does each boat carry, how many sail by day, how many by night—all three bureaus have ironclad rules about every single thing! We were only able to ship goods out quietly because we exploited a loophole, and now you want me to report it?!”
“Eight salt boats seized by bandits—if something this big is exposed to the public, do you think the imperial court won’t take notice? Do you think my dear second brother won’t stick his nose into it? Do you think the account books of Yangzhou’s Transport Bureau can withstand an audit? Once this matter unravels, the entire Yangzhou officialdom will be turned upside down! Have you no brain, or have I no brain?! Or do you have too many heads and worry they won’t be chopped off?!”
The Third Prince trembled with rage, veins bulging on his neck. He reached out and swept the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone off the desk, sending everything crashing to the floor.
The men below fell silent as cicadas in winter. The advisor who’d suggested reporting it dropped to his knees with a thud, pressing his forehead to the ground. “Your Highness is meticulous as a hair’s breadth. This subordinate is stupid—I know I’ve done wrong.”
The Third Prince was ablaze with fury. “Useless! A bunch of goddamn useless trash! You can’t come up with a single useful suggestion—what the hell do I keep you all for?!”
After venting, he sat back down in his chair, panting heavily, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he forced himself to calm down.
After a long moment, he said in a low voice, “The most urgent matter is to find out where those bandits are. But search in secret—do not make a sound. At the same time, have people carefully investigate whether any suspicious figures have appeared in Yangzhou these past days. Most importantly, the Qinghe Salt Field—make absolutely sure it’s watched closely. Don’t even let a single fly in or out!”
“Yes!”
The men below answered in unison.
The advisors left trembling with fear. The Third Prince gave a meaningful glance to the trusted confidant at his side, who nodded in understanding and slipped out the door.
Those useless fools—no point keeping them around.
When everyone had completely left, the Third Prince let out all his strength, slumping dejectedly into his chair, rubbing his temples in agitation.
Eight salt boats—a total of eight thousand dan of salt seized. The loss was devastating. Over in Shanxi, money was burning every single day. For something like this to happen at such a critical juncture was enough to leave him stretched thin.
But what worried him most wasn’t the money. He was afraid those bandits’ real target was the Qinghe Salt Field.
Whether it was illegally exploiting the salt field, selling smuggled salt, or abducting commoners—any one of those crimes was enough to strip a layer of skin from him. And above all, there was the true purpose of this money.
That was the crime that could tear him apart, bone and sinew, even cost him his life.
No matter how successfully he’d played his part before his father, his so-called good second brother—the sanctimonious Crown Prince—had a keen instinct and eyes as sharp as an eagle’s. He absolutely, absolutely could not let even a hint of this slip out.
Now, this bitter pill could only be swallowed whole, teeth and blood and all.
And Rong Yu… He thought of his crippled brother-in-law again. He’d always thought the man stupid and vicious, a piece of trash that couldn’t be brought out in public. But now it seemed he had underestimated him.
If not for the commotion Rong Yu had stirred up, costing him much of the business from his shops and taverns, he wouldn’t be so hard-pressed right now. Truly infuriating.
The Third Prince sat alone in his study until dawn. By the time he’d thought through everything and pushed open the study door, exhausted, he saw a servant waiting anxiously outside.
“Your Highness, are you done?” the servant asked cautiously.
“What is it?”
“The Second Young Master Rong woke up in the early hours. The side consort has already gone to the Rong residence.”
As the servant explained, the Third Prince’s eyes lit up with delight. This was one rare piece of good news amidst a pile of misfortunes.
“Saddle a horse. I’ll go to the Rong residence once I’ve washed up.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
—
At the same time, the Crown Prince’s residence and the General’s residence also received word that Rong Yue had woken up.
The former wasn’t as eager as the Third Prince—they would simply send someone to pay their respects after dawn. The latter, meanwhile, wanted to but couldn’t.
Gu Yueze, who had been beaten with twenty military canes, could only lie on his stomach, the pain keeping him awake. When he heard the news of Rong Yue waking, he was both happy and anxious. But from the waist down, even the slightest movement sent pain stabbing deep into his bones. He had no strength to go visit.
He irritably rubbed his head. Even though he’d put on a wig, everyone in the capital knew Gu Yueze had already been shaved bald. This kind of covering his ears while stealing a bell was just asking to be mocked.
How could he have the face to walk outside?!
Gu Yueze had wondered if Rong Yu was taking revenge on him, but Rong Yu was a cripple—there was no way he could have done it. Unless it was that martial-arts-expert attendant by his side.
But Gu Yueze also refused to believe that Chu Tan could sneak into the General’s residence, shave off his hair in complete silence, and escape unscathed without anyone noticing.
If Chu Tan was capable of that, then all his mansion’s layers of checkpoints and heavily armed guards would be a joke. If he could shave his hair, he could cut off his head…
At that thought, a shiver ran down Gu Yueze’s spine.
He felt both the fury of being toyed with and the dread of being threatened.
Even more unwillingly, he couldn’t believe that Chu Tan, who seemed to be the same age as him, could pull off something like this. That ruthlessness and cunning—it made him jealous.
Then who could have shaved his head?
Gu Yueze trembled with rage, but all he could do was futilely throw the ornaments at his bedside. The servants waiting outside simply stayed put until he finished venting, then came in with lowered eyes and bowed heads to clean up the mess.
It had been like this for days. They were already used to it.
—
Biyingshe.
The sky was just turning pale with dawn. The main room had called for hot water for the third time.
Rong Yu lay in bed, drenched in sweat, his red lips slightly parted as he panted heavily. His whole body was as wet as if he’d been dragged out of water.
Chu Tan bent down and kissed him on the mouth. In response, he received a slap.
“Pull out.” Rong Yu said weakly.
Chu Tan licked the corner of his lips, a wicked smile curling across his face. Then he drove his waist forward, thrusting the cock buried inside Rong Yu’s hole several more times.
“I told you to pull out!” Rong Yu’s palm pressed against Chu Tan’s solid chest, glaring at him viciously. But his peach-blossom eyes glistened with moisture, the corners of his eyes flushed red—not fierce at all, in fact utterly adorable.
It was enough to make Chu Tan’s just-spent cock stand right back up, hardening like iron.
“No.” After saying that, Chu Tan sealed Rong Yu’s mouth with a kiss, and the thick, long, burning-hot cock began pumping inside his flesh hole again.
The full glans pushed through layer after layer of cunt flesh, finding the most sensitive sweet spot with practiced ease, slamming into it with force again and again. Rong Yu’s furious curses twisted into soft, broken moans of ah and en, then were swallowed by Chu Tan’s tongue, fragmented into incoherence.
Rong Yu was cursing Chu Tan out in his heart, but his body couldn’t resist the numb, trembling pleasure. He instinctively raised his arms and clung to the young man’s shoulders—the broad back already covered in faint red scratch marks.
No one knew how much longer passed before Chu Tan came with a rough gasp, flooding his tender cunt with thick, scalding semen. Rong Yu shivered from the stimulation, his cunt clenching tight around the cock, and trembled as he squirted out water as well.
The two of them collapsed together, drenched in sweat, scorching skin pressed against scorching skin, fiery breaths tangled together. Chu Tan couldn’t resist kissing Rong Yu again and again. Only when he saw the pale slender neck and delicate collarbones covered in the love bites he’d left did he finally pull away, satisfied.
His half-erect cock dragged out sticky, wanton fluid, reluctant to leave that warm, soft little hole.
With one arm, Chu Tan scooped up the limp Rong Yu and placed him into the large bathtub behind the folding screen, already filled with hot water. Then he climbed in too.
Once Rong Yu came back to his senses, sure enough, he rewarded him with another slap to the face, gnashing his teeth. “Five times! You did it five times! Are you a goddamn dog?! Even dogs have a fixed mating season, but you’re in heat all year fucking round, aren’t you?! Aren’t you afraid of dying from exhaustion?!”
Last night, when they returned from Zhaohui Hall and he’d finished washing up, the moment they got into bed, Chu Tan started groping him. He’d thought, well, sex with Chu Tan really was quite enjoyable, so he’d let him be.
Who could have known this filthy pervert was basically a perpetual motion machine—once, twice, over and over, tirelessly. Every time he thought it was finally over, that cock would, as if plugged into an electric socket, shamelessly perk right back up.
He could only hate that his own legs didn’t work. He wanted to escape but couldn’t. He could only be held down and fucked.
By the end, he’d developed an illusion that he wasn’t paralyzed from the waist down—he was paralyzed from the neck down!
Unfortunately, Chu Tan wasn’t the least bit ashamed. In fact, he was proud.
He teased, “Seeing how spirited you are, young master, I know I still need to work harder.”
“You fucking—” Rong Yu started to curse, but a finger slid into his hole, stirring and making him grunt.
“Rest a while before you curse, young master. That little mouth of yours down below is already swollen.”
As he spoke, Chu Tan laughed while his finger dug and scooped inside the hole. The warm water washed over the red, swollen flesh slit, leaving it numb and tingly. Thick white semen flowed out from the opening, instantly diluted by the water and vanishing without a trace.
Rong Yu endured the tingling ache spreading from his crotch, furiously closing his eyes and grinding his molars, refusing to look at that shameless bastard whose face was thicker than city walls.
The sleeping kitten heard the noise, gave an ear-the tip folded over, and crawled up from its soft cushion. It tottered toward the source of the sound. Seeing both people in the water, it panicked and raised a tiny paw to scratch at the wooden tub.
Chu Tan pinched the scruff of its neck and tossed it lightly forward. The kitten tumbled on the floor, tilted its head, and studied them. Seeming to decide there was no danger, it confidently trotted back to its little cushion and began lapping at the goat’s milk in its bowl with satisfied slurp slurp sounds.
After Chu Tan served him through a thorough washing and laid him on the dry bed, Rong Yu finally felt a little better.
He let out a long breath and squinted, “Get the hell off. You’re not allowed in my bed.”
If he let Chu Tan stay in bed, who knows what other filthy things he’d do.
Chu Tan wrapped an arm around Rong Yu’s slim waist, his palm rubbing lovingly over the soft, delicate skin, and said lazily, “It’s still early. Let me hold you and sleep a little longer, young master.”
“Annoying!” Rong Yu slapped Chu Tan’s hand away hard, turned over, and faced his back to him—out of sight, out of mind.
But Chu Tan had no intention of taking the hint. He shamelessly wrapped his arms around him again, nuzzling his lips against the hollow of Rong Yu’s shoulder, looking thoroughly sated and blissful.
Perhaps because they’d been at it so long, Rong Yu slept very soundly. His lower body, sore and numb from being fucked, was still warm—quite comfortable.
Warm?
Rong Yu groggily woke. He lifted his eyelids and looked down. Between his legs was a black head, eagerly burying itself in a lick.
With a grim face, Rong Yu said word by word, “Chu, Tan!”
Chu Tan looked up, his thin lips glistening with translucent fluid, and smiled, full of springtime desire. “You’re awake, young master. Did you sleep well?”
Rong Yu closed his eyes. Ten thousand forms of torture flashed through his mind.
[Author’s note:]
Rong Yu: There’s no choice but to sew this mouth shut.