Chapter 333: Qixi Festival

After hearing the eunuch's report, Xiang Zheng said nothing and dismissed him, but quietly began to tally up his calculations.

He did not care who Wen Ren Ming Ke had his heart set on.

Whether Wen Ren Ming Ke was happy or not was never part of his considerations.

In Xiang Zheng's view, arranging a marriage was never just about the wedding itself—it was about winning loyalty, and about keeping watch.

There were countless eligible young women from imperial clans and official families in the capital; finding one close to Wen Ren Ming Ke's age wasn't hard at all.

But at present, he had just entrusted him with a deadly mission. Whoever he picked now would look like the emperor was deliberately sending some girl off to be a widow before her time.

Moreover, this man's knack for winning people over was genuinely unnerving.

In this regard, he couldn't be more different from Le Youque.

You Que never built alliances.

Xiang Zheng liked to call himself the lonely sovereign, but the truth was, Le Youque was the truly solitary one.

Wen Ren Ming Ke, on the other hand, was way too good at playing all sides and currying favor. Not only had he earned rave reviews as an official in Tongzhou and Nanting, but even Zhang Yuanye—a man who valued only practical matters—and Yuan Weiyan—one who never took sides—were willing to brave the storm to put in a good word for him.

If he chose a family with real power, there was no telling he wouldn't sweet-talk them into doing whatever he wanted.

So what about picking a family with a clean reputation but no real power?

That wouldn't work either.

A family like that couldn't control him at all. Forget keeping an eye on him—the whole household would probably end up depending on him. Wouldn't that just be handing him a wife on a silver platter?

...Xiang Zheng suddenly realized that this man was so thorny that even arranging a marriage for him was a thorny problem.

Someone like Qi Hongzhuang—a common-born commandery princess with no backing whatsoever, completely dependent on the imperial family and obedient to his every command—was truly one in a million.

Xiang Zheng even briefly considered dragging Qi Hongzhuang back from Tonglu and marrying her off again—a second use.

After all, the two of them already knew each other.

Xiang Zheng even suspected that the "lady in his heart" Wen Ren Ming Ke mentioned was her.

After all, in all his travels, he'd only ever shown any courtesy to one woman—Qi Hongzhuang. He'd handled her maritime shipping permits and cleared the way for her escort. If he claimed to have no feelings for her, Xiang Zheng wouldn't buy it.

But that was as far as the thought went.

If Wen Ren Ming Ke really wanted her, Xiang Zheng was even less inclined to hand her over.

First, he'd personally made Qi a widow. Now he was supposed to remarry that widow to a man who looked like her dead husband?

What kind of circus would that be? What would the court and the public say?

Wen Ren Ming Ke might not mind marrying a widow, but Xiang Zheng still had his own reputation to think about.

Second, if he really did have feelings for Qi Hongzhuang, wouldn't this play right into his hands?

And Qi Hongzhuang, after being ignored by him for years and throwing herself into business, probably wasn't as useful as she used to be.

It looked like Wen Ren Ming Ke's marriage would have to be put on hold for now.

...

On the eve of Qixi, Le Wuya successfully chased off his own star of romance and, just as he'd hoped, secured Xiang Zhijie's company.

But after days of nonstop work, running around in all directions, and even squeezing in time to kill a few people, Le Wuya was utterly exhausted. He'd barely sat next to Xiang Zhijie on the rooftop watching the stars for a moment before he curled up in the other man's arms, half-asleep.

Before nodding off, his words slurred with exhaustion, he still clung to him and made promises: "Can't do it tonight... too tired... In a few days it's the Ghost Festival, I'll make it up to you then..."

Xiang Zhijie gently pinched his lips shut.

Le Wuya swatted his hand away: "What are you doing? ...Not just the Ghost Festival—I want to celebrate Qingming too!"

A guy who came back from the underworld celebrating an extra holiday or two was totally normal, right?

Xiang Zhijie laughed: "Alright, alright, alright. We'll celebrate them all."

Le Wuya curled up in his arms like a cat, yawned, and looked ready to doze off.

Xiang Zhijie instinctively shifted to make him more comfortable, but when he happened to glance down, he found Le Wuya looking up at him with one eye open—a purple grape of an eye—tired but earnest.

"It's not really about the festivals," Le Wuya said. "It's that I just want to see you."

Xiang Zhijie was stunned for a moment, at a loss for words.

Seeing him frozen, Le Wuya grabbed his collar and rubbed his forehead against his, tapping once and asking: "You get it? Huh? You get it?"

Xiang Zhijie's voice came out a little hoarse: "Teacher..."

Seeing him like this, Le Wuya knew—this kid had never been given much good in his life.

The love others gave him was scarce to begin with, and for all sorts of reasons, it was always restrained, suppressed, thin, and vague.

So he didn't need a gentle, steady trickle. He needed a raging storm, towering mountains and great rivers, a lone bright moon shining down.

And luckily, all of that, Le Wuya could give.

Le Wuya wrapped his arms around him and said: "That was my bad just now. I was too subtle."

"What I'm trying to say is, I like you."

"If you don't get it, I'll tell you."

"If you feel it's not enough, just ask me straight up."

"Whatever you want, there's plenty to go around."

The river of stars stretched across the sky, the Silver River arching overhead.

Xiang Zhijie's ears turned red at the roots. He held him tighter and kissed him again and again. With each kiss, a trembling sweetness rippled through his chest and stomach, as if just being this close was enough to fill every longing he had for peace and beauty.

Unfortunately, his breath was way too long.

Le Wuya fell asleep in the middle of that tender, lingering kiss.

Xiang Zhijie held him tight and looked up at the sky.

The stars over his teacher's place were brighter and more beautiful than anywhere else.

His slender fingers tapped against the roof tiles, mimicking flute fingering, beating out a smooth, flowing rhythm.

Jiang He and Qin Xingyue, dutifully keeping watch below, strained their ears so hard they might as well have stretched them two miles out.

If they weren't scared of getting a beating from the adults, they'd have crouched right beside their heads to listen.

The way they were acting made Zhong Piaoping, who was ten years younger, look way more mature and steady.

With nothing to do, Zhong Piaoping's mind started to wander.

He wondered what Yuan Xiao'er was up to right about now.

...

Yuan Xiao'er hardly ever stepped out, training in martial arts day and night and hitting the books hard. Even for Qixi Festival, he actually went out for once.

But this time, it wasn't to enjoy the sights—he was specifically bringing his essays to Le Hang for feedback.

He used to study off and on, so getting back into it now was no walk in the park.

If it weren't for Le Hang's patience and his own real drive to learn, getting through to him would've been like trying to make a rock nod.

Today it was Le Hang's shift at the Imperial Academy, and the office was boring as hell. Luckily, the chatterbox Yuan Zijin showed up to liven things up.

Yuan Zijin brought two large bags of magpie-shaped qiaoguo (Qixi pastries): "Master, have you heard? Wang Su is done for!"

Le Hang nodded. "Same quality as your essay, huh?"

Since Le Hang kept a straight face and a mild tone, Yuan Zijin totally missed the jab: "Haha, Master, you're hilarious!"

Le Hang looked up from his essay and gave him a pitying glance: "Don't go saying stuff like that. What if it backfires?"

"What backfire? With my master on the case, nothing can go wrong!"

Yuan Zijin never skimped on his own stomach, shoving a mouthful of qiaoguo in, then eagerly pushing another batch toward Le Hang: "Master, these are fried in crispy oil, not sweet—really good!"

"I don't like sweets." Le Hang's eyes drifted to the pastries, lingering a moment, a flicker of nostalgia in them.

Actually, it had been ages since he'd last seen his wife.

Yuan Zijin stopped mid-chew.

He really did have a knack for matters of the heart: "Master, you're missing the missus, huh?"

Before Le Hang could answer, he thumped his chest like a big shot: "I'll take some to the missus later, and I'll say it's from you!"

Le Hang's gaze softened. "...Thanks."

"Aw, don't mention it, you're my master." Yuan Zijin declared magnanimously. "If my master weren't so unpopular with girls and only ever hung out with guys, with my help he'd probably have a bunch of kids by now. How else would he still be all by himself, with nobody to spend Qixi with!"

Le Hang: "..."

He wanted to say, "You don't have anyone to spend Qixi with either."

But when Yuan Zijin said "only ever hung out with guys," Le Hang couldn't help but think of his own brother, whose final words had been a total bombshell.

Was even this the same?

He mulled it over for a second, then said, "Don't spout nonsense."

Yuan Zijin, of course, wasn't having any of that: "I'm not spouting nonsense, he obviously..."

The words were right there on his tongue, but he choked them back down.

A few days back, right after Yuan Weiyan saw Le Qianzhang off, he'd given him a serious scolding, telling him to stop blabbing about Ming Ke, since he was in the hot seat and didn't need more trouble.

Yuan Zijin felt pretty wronged: he hadn't lied to Le Qianzhang either; everything he'd said was the honest truth.

Besides, he knew who was an outsider and who was solid. If he couldn't shoot straight with the people he trusted, wouldn't he just choke on it?

When Yuan Zijin actually shut his mouth, Le Hang felt a twinge of regret.

He'd been hoping to ask more.

If Lord Wenren could live free and happy as a gay man, then maybe Ali, who was so much like him, could be doing just fine in another world too, right?