Chapter 35

Chapter 35

The main thing was, there was chili pepper—the finished kind the system provided, one of the default supplies.

Since coming to this world, he hadn't eaten chili peppers in a long time.

Today, the moment he smelled the chili's aroma, he perked right up.

He handed Murong Jie the dipping sauce he'd mixed up, then looked up at the moon in the sky and said, "Is this the first time we've actually sat down for a quiet meal together?"

Murong Jie raised his wine cup, giving him a cold look, thinking, why don't you figure that out yourself?

Lu Yunqi poured him a cup of wine and clinked his cup against Murong Jie's: "Come on, don't be shy. Here's to us working well together from now on."

Murong Jie finally couldn't hold back anymore. He asked, "Lu Yunqi, why has your attitude suddenly changed so drastically? The old you would never have sat down with me to talk cooperation. Don't give me that crap about my looks again—there are plenty of good-looking guys in this world. I don't buy that you've only got eyes for me."

Lu Yunqi stared at him, eyes wide, and said, "How can you not believe me? My feelings for you are as true as the sky above!"

Murong Jie snorted: "Then what about the ten years before this, when you nearly beat me to death? Don't tell me you beat me because you loved me. I can't handle that kind of love!"

Lu Yunqi cleared his throat, thinking to himself, I just said that without thinking, don't take it to heart. But I have to say it, because if I trick you into bed and then play with your heart, wouldn't I end up dying an even worse death later?

Lu Yunqi took a deep breath and said, "Murong Jie, have you noticed you're not like the other princes?"

Murong Jie narrowed his eyes and replied, "Of course I'm different. I've got foreign blood, no right to the throne, and my father can't stand me. Because I'm a reminder of his shame, he wishes I'd never been born!"

Lu Yunqi shook his head: "You were never given any real roles growing up, yet at the age of ten, you took first place in the assessment. After that, the Empress never let you take part in assessments again. Do you remember this?"

Murong Jie snorted lightly: "So what?"

Lu Yunqi said, "You know that our Lu Family Army has had designs on the throne for a long time—we haven't just started plotting to take the throne. Okay, okay, don't give me that look. I know you don't like hearing this. But it's a fact, plain and simple, right?"

Then he raised an eyebrow at Murong Jie and continued, "What's the most important thing when you want to bring down a dynasty? You wreck its future. And to destroy its future, the most important thing... is the emperor's offspring."

Murong Jie narrowed his eyes, seemingly confused: "I'm not the legitimate heir, and I'm not favored either. What would you gain from destroying me?"

Lu Yunqi smiled and said, "You're right that you're not the legitimate heir, not favored, and you even have foreign blood. But you're the most brilliant of all the Murong princes!"

As he said this, Lu Yunqi pounded the table twice.

Murong Jie thought he'd been keeping a low profile, yet he couldn't figure out how Lu Yunqi had seen through him. This only confirmed his suspicions.

Lu Yunqi wasn't really a good-for-nothing playboy. He'd been biding his time, faking it all along!

Lu Yunqi leaned close to Murong Jie and whispered, "So now you understand? I wanted to destroy you. I got all the princes to gang up on you, all to destroy the Murong family's only hope. Without you, what are your brothers worth? The Lu Family Army could crush them like ants with a snap of their fingers!"

Murong Jie seemed to half get it, half not. He asked again, "So why don't you want to destroy me anymore?"

Lu Yunqi grabbed Murong Jie's hand and pressed it to his chest, saying, "Do you even have to ask? Isn't it obvious? I can't lie to myself—I've fallen for you! Someone like you, who I couldn't destroy no matter what I tried, yet you bloomed like a flower out of the mud. You have no idea how magnetic you are!"

As he spoke, Lu Yunqi actually made himself cry, as if he'd bought his own act.

Eyes red, he said, "I've fallen madly in love with you. My heart already belongs to you. Even if I can't have this world, so what? As long as I can have you, as long as I can be with you! I... I'd gladly accept it!"

After all, Murong Jie was only nineteen. When had he ever experienced such a confession?

He sat there, momentarily unsure how to respond, but he remained clear-headed and said in a deep voice, "Do you think that just because you say this, everything you did to me in the past can be wiped clean?"

Lu Yunqi shook his head and said, "I know you certainly won't forgive me, and you certainly won't willingly be with me. So... so... so I'm willing to submit beneath you. I'm willing to be the submissive one, willing... willing to serve you as my husband. With this world as my dowry, I'll offer it into your hands. Now, can you feel my sincerity?"

With words spoken to this extent, even if Murong Jie had a heart of stone, he should feel at least a little moved, right?

Even if he wasn't moved, he should at least soften a bit and stop being so fixated on killing him.

Finally, Murong Jie moved. He raised his cup and drained it in one gulp, saying, "Let's set this matter aside for tonight. As for what you've said, I will consider it."

Lu Yunqi finally let out a huge sigh of relief, thinking to himself, nine lifetimes, nine lifetimes now—he finally said he would consider it.

This was a small step for Murong Jie, but a giant leap for himself!

Lu Yunqi was overjoyed, his smile stretching from ear to ear. Murong Jie looked at his smile in the moonlight and felt something strike his heart—it was almost too captivating.

But he knew in his heart that dealing with Lu Yunqi was like sleeping with a tiger.

He had endured for so many years, disguising himself as a wastrel, all to seize the Murong family's throne. Now that he said he was deeply in love with him, who could guarantee that one day he wouldn't grow tired of him and seek new pleasures elsewhere?

Murong Jie understood better than anyone that men's affections were the most unreliable. Like his mother—clearly his father had forcibly taken her into the harem, yet now she had long turned into a pile of bones.

Perhaps because he was happy today, Lu Yunqi drank cup after cup, plying Murong Jie with much wine. Murong Jie, perhaps troubled by his thoughts, also drank quite a bit.

They drank until the moon hung high in the sky, and both were somewhat drunk. Lu Yunqi insisted on dragging Murong Jie out to boat on the lake.

He was truly drunk, while Murong Jie was testing him under the guise of intoxication. He hadn't expected that Lu Yunqi would truly bring only him, without any attendants, as they boarded the boat!

This was a perfect opportunity to kill Lu Yunqi. If he killed him, all the grudges and resentments of the past ten years would be avenged.

He let Lu Yunqi pull him onto the boat and sat at the bow, looking up at the moon.

Lu Yunqi was heavily drunk, crying as he said, "I miss home so much! The system has wronged me! When will it let me go home? Wuwuwu, I might never be able to return home in this lifetime."

Murong Jie took it as drunken rambling, thinking to himself that although this was the Lu family's villa, it was still truly his home.

He didn't take his drunken words to heart but instead sat at the bow as well, looking up at the moon.

He used to look at the moon often as a child. Since his mother passed away, he had never had anyone by his side.

Xiao Hei was someone he had picked up on the road after establishing his own household—lying by the roadside, nearly starved to death. He brought him back to the Sixth Prince's residence and nursed him back to health with soup and water.

After that, Xiao Hei became his trusted confidant, a loyal retainer willing to go through fire and water for him.

He looked up at the moon, not knowing whether he was asking Lu Yunqi or himself: "The moon is still the same moon from back then, but I am no longer the same person I was."

Lu Yunqi, whether he understood or not, came forward and put his arm around his shoulder, saying, "Yes, no longer the same... person I was. Back then, I had just... just gotten into university, full of ambition..."

As he spoke, Lu Yunqi began to cry: "Now I'm trapped here, trapped here..."

Between sobs he shouted, "Wuwuwu, Mom, Dad, why did you both die so early!"

Murong Jie looked at Lu Yunqi beside him, a short blade already pressed in his palm. Just as the blade touched Lu Yunqi's neck, the other man raised both arms and wrapped them around him, pressing his thin lips against Murong Jie's.

The familiar breath flooded into his lungs. Murong Jie was stunned on the spot, and the short blade clattered onto the edge of the boat, bounced once, and fell into the water.

In the moonlight, Lu Yunqi's eyes sparkled. After kissing Murong Jie, he said in a muffled voice, "Murong Jie, can you not kill me?"

Murong Jie frowned. He was certain that Lu Yunqi hadn't seen his blade just now, and denied it: "You... don't talk nonsense."

But Lu Yunqi said, "I truly know I was wrong. I won't harm you anymore. Can you... can you forgive me? After all, I... I'm not the person who wanted to harm you!"

With that, his lips came close again, and this time he even tentatively extended his tongue.

Murong Jie was also a normal man, nineteen years old, and had never had any bedmates or chambermaids before. His first sexual experience was with Lu Yunqi.

Murong Jie closed his eyes tightly, lowered his voice, and said in a deep tone, "Lu Yunqi, you asked for this!"

But Lu Yunqi remained silent, clearly having completely passed out from drunkenness, going completely limp, like a wet noodle, collapsing into Murong Jie's arms.

Murong Jie pinched his cheek and said, "Quit playing dead and get off me."

Seeing that Lu Yunqi wasn't responding, Murong Jie instinctively looked at his face. That face was exceptionally fair, and under the moonlight, his lashes looked long and delicate, his eyes innocent and clear.

His breathing was a bit rapid but soft, and his breath carried a faint hint of wine, with the sweet fragrance of grapes, enough to make anyone feel a little tipsy.

Murong Jie grabbed his chin and said, "Lu Yunqi, I don't know if what you call love is real or fake, but I want to tell you this: if you ever cross me again, I'll make your life a living hell!"

With that, he kissed him hard, his tongue probing, stirring their lips and tongues together, as he tore at his clothes.

He reached up, pulled the jade hairpin from his hair, and let it tumble down, spilling across the whole cabin floor.

Lu Yunqi's hair was jet black, like a waterfall, like silk, like ink spilled across the swaying water.

The water reflected the countless stars, like lanterns or tiny beads of light, like fireflies flitting over the hills.

Murong Jie roughly pulled open his sash and leaned in, continuing, "You insisted on this yourself. I never forced you!"