Chapter 12: My Husband, You Can Still Handle It

Chapter 12: My Husband, I Can Still Take It

But Yan Huaixuan hadn't expected Shen Lian to actually dress appropriately the next day—he just hadn't specified whether that meant the front or the back.

When he first walked in, everything looked fine. He wore a simple long robe, his hair pinned up with a wooden hairpin, the rest spilling down his back.

Yan Huaixuan saw him come in all proper and his expression eased up quite a bit. But then Shen Lian turned to go get some water.

Ling Yun immediately squeezed his eyes shut.

"This guy, I swear..." he muttered helplessly.

The back of Shen Lian's robe was cut out right in the middle. When Shen Lian bent over, the fabric split open on both sides, showing off the snow-white skin underneath.

Yan Huaixuan's face darkened, just barely. "Are you kidding me? Did you forget everything I said yesterday?"

Shen Lian had already set the water down in front of him. At that, he pouted. "But it's so hot out."

He fanned himself with his hand, then sat down and leaned in close to Yan Huaixuan. "If you don't believe me, Your Highness, look—isn't my forehead all sweaty?"

He suddenly leaned in close to Yan Huaixuan, batting those pretty, clear eyes.

And yeah, the weather was brutal. Shen Lian had only walked over from the side hall, but his dark hair was already sticking to his cheeks, and a light sheen of sweat had broken out on his pale forehead, mixing with a faint floral scent that drifted through the air with the heat.

Yan Huaixuan could instantly tell what flower it was—jasmine from the courtyard.

Sure enough, following Shen Lian's wrist as he fanned himself, he spotted a string of jasmine flowers.

Even without seeing it himself, Yan Huaixuan could picture Shen Lian walking through the flower bushes, his pale fingers picking jasmine blossoms one by one and stringing them together.

Just as he was thinking that, the hand suddenly stopped.

Shen Lian's water-red lips parted just a little as he leaned toward Yan Huaixuan. "Your Highness, you spacing out?"

Too close—so close that Yan Huaixuan could see how long and thick Shen Lian's lashes were. His cool gaze immediately darted away. "Since I'm teaching you to read, that makes me your teacher, basically."

"Now straighten up. Don't cross any lines."

But Shen Lian suddenly let out a stifled laugh.

Yan Huaixuan frowned. "What's so funny?"

Shen Lian's gaze wandered. "I've heard that once a teacher, always a father. So now Your Highness is my husband, my teacher, and my dad too."

Yan Huaixuan's fingers froze, his frost-colored eyes lifting.

Shen Lian looked like he was up to something. "So what am I supposed to call Your Highness now?"

"Teacher? Or..."

Shen Lian's expression deliberately shifted to one of innocence. "Father."

The second he said it, Yan Huaixuan grabbed his wrist and yanked it up.

Shen Lian raised an eyebrow, staring at Yan Huaixuan's godlike face. He was about to say something when, the next second, a ruler appeared in Yan Huaixuan's hand and smacked his fair, soft palm.

Shen Lian winced. "Ow, that hurts."

He'd always been super sensitive since he was a kid, especially to pain. Even the tiniest bit of pain got blown way out of proportion on his body.

Plus, he had a body that just couldn't hold back tears. Almost instantly, tears flooded Shen Lian's eyes.

Yan Huaixuan paused at that whimper, his hand freezing for a second.

He'd used less than a fraction of his strength, yet this guy's tears came that easily.

Yan Huaixuan put the ruler away. "The classroom is a serious place. No messing around."

Shen Lian looked up. "But you can't just hit me like that. I'm not really your student—I'm your wife."

Hearing such nonsense, especially with Shen Lian glaring at him all teary-eyed with puffed-out cheeks—

Yan Huaixuan, for some reason, felt a flicker of amusement in his eyes. "Last night you were crying and begging me to give you a chance, saying you'd fix your attitude. Now you can't even handle one little smack?"

Yan Huaixuan paused. "You're that fragile, huh."

Shen Lian pursed his lips, then gave them a little bite. "Fragility depends on the situation."

Yan Huaixuan looked at him with interest. "What situation?"

Shen Lian glanced at him. "A ruler's smack I can't take, but... what my husband does, A Lian can still take."

At first, Yan Huaixuan didn't react. But when he caught sight of Shen Lian's sparkling eyes and flushed ears—

How could Yan Huaixuan not understand now?

Ling Yun was equally at a loss for words, covering his ears. "Master, I really can't stand this guy!"

Yan Huaixuan was equally frozen in place. It took him a long moment before he spoke. "Shen Lian, it seems that *Book of Rites* has done you no good at all."

Shen Lian said with complete confidence, "I can't read anyway. Besides, you're my husband—isn't it only natural that I admire you?"

He continued, sounding aggrieved, "If it were anyone else, they'd be thrilled to have a beautiful wife warming their bed. If they didn't, people would suspect something was wrong with them."

His gaze drifted toward Yan Huaixuan's legs, then quickly retreated before Yan Huaixuan's expression could change.

Then his demeanor shifted to pitiful again. "Husband, I'm sorry. Don't scold me."

He even hid both hands behind his back, as if to prevent Yan Huaixuan from striking him again.

Yan Huaixuan looked at Shen Lian. In the span of half an incense stick's burning, his heart—which had remained undisturbed for over a thousand years—had stumbled more times than it ever had before.

Yan Huaixuan couldn't help but think.

Did this man have anything else on his mind besides such matters?

In his previous life, Yan Huaixuan had certainly encountered admiring gazes before.

But everyone had respected him as an Immortal Venerable, only daring to express their affection subtly. Never had anyone been as direct as Shen Lian, saying it outright!

Yet seeing Shen Lian turn timid after speaking, looking at him with those pitiful eyes—

Yan Huaixuan couldn't help but let the corners of his mouth curl up slightly, only to quickly suppress it when he noticed.

He simply placed the ruler on the table. "Don't let it happen again."

"Don't ever say such things to This Prince again."

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Shen Lian agreed verbally, but in his head, he was already planning to do it again next time.

After all, how entertaining had Yan Huaixuan’s expression been just now?

Surely the immortal perched high on his dais—even Dragon Proud Heaven, whose noble bearing remained intact even after becoming the Deposed Crown Prince—had never heard such words.

He didn’t know how to curse, didn’t know how to talk back, and could only keep harping on about etiquette and doctrine over and over.

So much fun.

A hint of mischief flickered in Shen Lian’s eyes, but to his surprise, the next moment, his wrist was caught again.

A cool medicinal ointment was applied to his palm.

Startled, Shen Lian saw Yan Huaixuan, eyes lowered, take a bit of the cooling balm and spread it over his palm.

Yan Huaixuan said flatly, “Rub it in.”

With that, he released Shen Lian’s hand, never lingering on his skin longer than necessary.

Shen Lian looked at the ointment on his palm, then gently spread it out.

Yan Huaixuan spoke in a detached voice, “You’ve only taken one lash, and you’re already crying out in pain. When I was studying at the Eastern Palace as a prince, if the Grand Tutor conducted a spot check and I recited a single character wrong, I would be punished with ten strikes.”

Shen Lian couldn’t help but look up, curious: “Did Your Highness ever make mistakes reciting?”

Of course, Yan Huaixuan never had—it was always other students who faced punishment.

But meeting Shen Lian’s still-reddened eyes, he found himself, almost against his will, humming in agreement.

Shen Lian was genuinely intrigued. In his eyes, Dragon Proud Heaven should have been flawless, yet for some reason, he found himself imagining a small, stern-faced Yan Huaixuan getting his palm slapped.