Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The moment Lu Yunqi's words fell, whispers spread throughout the hall, the murmurs of discussion unceasing, with frequent gasps of shock.

"I've long heard rumors of an affair between His Highness the Sixth Prince and Lu Yunqi, but I never imagined they were actually true."

"My heavens, is he out of his mind? Even if he messes around in private, he can't just bring this kind of thing out into the open, can he?"

"I think this Lu Yunqi has a death wish. No matter how little favor the Sixth Prince enjoys, he is still an imperial prince. Isn't he basically slapping the royal family in the face?"

"Not just slapping the royal family—Lu Yunqi is practically slapping the Emperor right in the face!"

Murong Hua finally couldn't take it anymore. She stepped forward, pointing at Lu Yunqi and scolding, "Lu Yunqi, do you even hear yourself? The Sixth Prince is an imperial prince. If you can't marry a princess, are you trying to marry a prince instead?"

Lu Yunqi raised a hand and picked at his ear, with a look of utter disdain. "So what? Is a prince... not allowed to marry?"

The moment those words left his mouth, the entire hall burst into an uproar, and even the old emperor was stunned speechless.

A moment later, a wild laugh echoed through the hall. Everyone turned toward the source of the laughter—it was Lu Tong.

Lu Tong slapped his thigh and rose to his feet, letting out a sigh. "Ah! Your Majesty, us old-timers just can't keep up with how young people think these days. But... Your Majesty, I've only got this one son. Whoever he likes, whoever he wants to marry, I've never once objected. Your Majesty, what do you think?"

When he finished speaking, the hall went dead silent, everyone waiting for the Emperor to speak.

To everyone's surprise, the Emperor also let out a laugh, saying, "Well said. Little Yunqi is someone I've watched grow up right before my eyes. I have twelve sons, and since he's set his heart on the Sixth Prince, what more can I say? Jie'er, I hereby decree your marriage to Young Lord Lu. What say you?"

Lu Yunqi turned to look at Murong Jie, who remained silent, kneeling there like a beautiful statue.

The old emperor seemed to have just asked casually, with no intention of seeking his opinion, and directly issued the imperial decree: "It's settled then. Today I shall exercise my authority and decree your marriage to Young Lord Lu."

Lu Yunqi had anticipated the Emperor would agree, but he hadn't expected him to agree so hastily. Although Murong Jie had foreign blood, he was still the old emperor's biological son. To marry him off to a man without even asking a single question—it was absurd.

Heh, no wonder Murong Jie killed the old emperor once he came to power. This father really wasn't worth keeping around.

Lu Yunqi quickly knelt to express his gratitude: "Yunqi thanks Your Majesty, Imperial Uncle, for your blessing! However, Imperial Uncle, since your nephew is to marry the Sixth Prince, wouldn't it be inappropriate for him to remain just a prince? Even the Seventh Prince, who's a year younger, has been enfeoffed as Prince Anding. Would your nephew dare to request a title for my future princess consort?"

The old emperor gave an "mm" and nodded. "Qi'er makes a good point. Sixth Prince, since Yunqi has made this request on your behalf, I shall today enfeoff you as Prince Cang and grant you the Prince Cang's mansion. I hope you and Yunqi will grow old together and live out your lives side by side."

With that, the old emperor waved his hand, looking weary. "Alright, I am tired. Let's call it a day on this matter!"

The old emperor then rose and, supported by the chief eunuch Fu Hai, left Qianyuan Hall.

Only after the Emperor left did someone finally dare to speak up: "The Fifth and Seventh Princes only got two-character commandery prince titles. The Sixth Prince's mother was a dead foreign low-ranking consort—how did he get directly enfeoffed as a full prince?"

"Does the Eighth Brother have a problem with that? If you had the skills to seduce Young Lord Lu, maybe Father would make you a prince too."

"Fourth Brother, you were also initially enfeoffed as a commandery prince and only promoted to full prince after three years. Apart from the three imperial brothers born of the Empress, which prince born of a low-ranking consort was ever enfeoffed as a full prince from the start?"

This was the ancestral tradition of the Great Xia dynasty—all princes initially received the title of commandery prince, and if they committed no major offenses, they'd be promoted to full prince after three years.

Only princes born of the Empress were enfeoffed as full princes from the very start.

Enfeoffing Murong Jie as a full prince was the old emperor's way of giving face to the Lu family—even if he was marrying off one of his sons, he had to give the Lu family enough face, so Lu Tong wouldn't have grounds to complain.

Lu Yunqi, however, let out a silent "pfft" in his head, thinking, if they're making him the Sea King, then what does that make me?

In ancient times, "Canglan" was a fancy term for the sea, and Murong Jie being enfeoffed as Prince Cang—wasn't that just the Sea King?

Fine, Sea King it is!

At least it's a full prince.

In the previous nine lifetimes, Murong Jie never got enfeoffed as a prince before his usurpation—didn't even get a commandery prince title. This lifetime, it counted as a small consolation.

Though Murong Jie probably didn't care, whether he cares or not, whatever I give him, he has to accept!

When they came out of the palace, Lu Tong deliberately shared a carriage with him and chewed him out the entire way: "You need to know when to stop with your nonsense! If it weren't for me today, how were you planning to handle this? Would it have been said that the young lord of the Lu family sought to marry a prince, was rejected, and was humiliated by the Emperor? If word of this gets out, where am I, Lord Nine Thousand Years, supposed to put my face?"

Lu Yunqi thought his father was a strange one—shouldn't his focus be on when his son had become gay?

But Lu Tong didn't seem to care much: "But since you like him, I'll get him for you no matter what. Don't worry, son—as long as it's something you like, even if it's the moon in the sky, your father will find a way to pluck it down for you!"

Fine, fine, just keep spoiling him like this!

Sooner or later, this will lead to trouble!

Lu Tong continued rambling: "And don't worry about the matter of offspring. I'll find you a few beautiful concubines later. If that Prince Cang dares to object... well, then he's not keeping to his wifely duties! He's produced no children, and if he's also jealous, that's grounds for divorce under the Seven Outs! You can just divorce him! Then, whichever prince you fancy next, just tell your father, and I'll get him for you!"

Lu Yunqi: ...

Enough, Father, can you please be any more ridiculous!

If I want offspring, I can produce them myself—please don't go ruining other families' daughters.

Upon returning to the Lord Nine Thousand Years' mansion, Lu Yunqi headed straight back to his own courtyard without looking back. After being lectured by his father the entire way, his head was buzzing.

No doubt, news of his request to marry Murong Jie would spread throughout the capital within a single night.

Another glorious entry would be added to Lu Yunqi's list of scandals, and Murong Jie's disgust for him would reach new heights.

But so what? What could he do about it?

In this lifetime, he was deliberately here to disgust Murong Jie!

It was already getting late, and Lu Yunqi had no intention of checking on his vegetable garden. He simply turned and instructed Liu Bao: "Tell Murong Jie to come attend to this young lord's bedtime!"

Liu Bao replied, "Yes, Young Lord. This servant will arrange it at once."

A moment later, Murong Jie appeared in a new set of attire—a golden gauze robe paired with a black ruby-studded headband, a gold-and-red auspicious cloud belt hanging at his waist, barefoot on the Persian tribute flower-patterned carpet. That pretty appearance was enough to make anyone's heart flutter.

Lu Yunqi crooked his finger at Murong Jie and whistled at him. "Come here, let this young lord have a look at you."

Shackles had been placed back on Murong Jie's feet. He glanced down at them and let out a cold snort.

Lu Yunqi said, "Now, you and I have been officially sanctioned by your father. Whether you like it or not, you belong to this young lord now. If you behave obediently, starting tomorrow I'll have those shackles removed from your feet. If you don't behave..."

Lu Yunqi rose, shoved the man onto the bed, and rolled on top of him, pressing him down. "I don't mind playing a little rough. You haven't forgotten that beating last time, have you?"

Though it was the original owner who had done the beating—it had nothing to do with him.

Murong Jie's gloomy, damp ghost of an expression finally shifted slightly. His jaw muscle twitched as he looked up at Lu Yunqi and asked, "Why?"

"Why?" Lu Yunqi frowned. "Why what?"

Murong Jie asked, "Why did you request a title for me?"

Lu Yunqi chuckled softly, his hands gently wrapping around Murong Jie's neck as he looked down at that handsome, sinister face from above: "What do you think? A man of mine can't just be a prince without a title. But don't think about anything else—you have foreign blood in you, so you'll never have the qualifications to inherit the throne. However, if you're willing, I wouldn't mind seizing the position of Crown Prince and giving it to you. After all..."

He yanked hard, tearing off the auspicious cloud jade belt at Murong Jie's waist: "My father commands six hundred thousand elite troops. With a single word from me, every one of them will serve you." With that, his breathing grew slightly unsteady. He sat down on Murong Jie's waist, his hands gliding over his abdominal muscles, and let out a soft, dazed hum: "Murong Jie, call me 'hubby' and let me hear it..."

"Not calling? Then... let this young master call out a couple for you..."

"Hubby... hubby... come kiss me!"

Lu Yunqi felt like he was losing his mind, because he realized that his body seemed to be no longer under his own control.

The System Sprite also came out to remind him at this moment: "Host, your body has gone into heat like an omega's. During the heat cycle, being intimate makes it easier to conceive. Right now, your body isn't under your mental control. You'd better get Murong Jie to bed you as soon as possible, or there will be unexpected dangers."

Lu Yunqi swore under his breath, thinking, no wonder—but Murong Jie clearly had no interest in him right now, because he could feel his intense resistance.

Last time, it had taken a Herculean effort to succeed, and now with his body in heat, there was no way he could guarantee Murong Jie would give in.

Just as Lu Yunqi was at a loss for what to do, he suddenly remembered that last time, Liu Bao had given him a bottle of that infamous bedchamber incense.

To put it nicely, it was called bedchamber incense; to put it bluntly, it was... bedchamber incense.

At the time, Liu Bao had said: "Even the most virtuous maiden would throw herself at you once she gets a whiff of it."

Great, today was the perfect time to use it.

He staggered up, tossed the incense into the burner, and as the fragrant smoke curled up and the scent drifted softly, Lu Yunqi returned to the bed, wrapped his arms around Murong Jie's neck, and whispered hoarsely in his ear: "Aren't you asking why I requested a title for you? Your mother, Noble Lady Rui, her greatest wish in life was to see you receive a title and enter your fiefdom, never to be involved in court disputes for the rest of your life. She never lived to see it, but after her death, I fulfilled it for her."

With that, he kissed Murong Jie, inhaling the intoxicating bedchamber incense, and completely surrendered to the sea of desire and passion brought on by his heat cycle.

==========Author's Note:==========

How is this anything but a tale of love and hate?

Update! Please send flowers~~~!