The Emperor’s Favorite Imperial Concubine From the Northeast - Chapter 2

One thing I failed to mention last chapter was the use of 你瞅啥? nǐ chǒu shá in its title. It’s actually a very Northeastern way of saying ‘what are you looking at?’ and yes, Ye Yang meant to say it in a rude manner!

Whenever Yu Yang was fidgety, his mouth always worked faster than his brain. He gazed at Feng Luan’s icy-cold and hostile eyes and, with a half-frozen heart, he subconsciously wanted to justify his own behavior. He grinned sheepishly and asked, “isn’t that a rolling pin?……”

Feng Luan stared at him as well, “if you say one more word, you’ll take this rolling pin with you and go home tomorrow.”

He listened to Feng Luan’s biting words, and knowing he had always been true to his word, Ye Yang decisively sealed his lips shut, not daring to say half a word more to Feng Luan.

Ye Yang was feeling somewhat reluctant to kneel down, yet he still carefully squatted on the floor to grab the jade stick on the ground. However, he gaped helplessly at Feng Luan’s favorability score dropping rapidly to 40. His heart trembled and he hurriedly stretched his hand to reach the jade stick at Feng Luan’s feet; but, it was still being stepped on by Feng Luan and he, evidently, had no intention of shifting his feet away from the object. Ye Yang wavered repeatedly, though even so, he raised his head and flashed a flattering smile at Feng Luan, saying, “Elder Brother, lift your heel, it’s underneath your foot.”

「Feng Luan’s favorability score has been decreased by 5, current favorability score is 35」

Ye Yang, “……”

He was attempting to lower Feng Luan’s favorability score, yes, but it was dropping too fast!

Feng Luan inquired, “what did you call me?”

“Your Majesty,” Ye Yang conceded obediently.

After he replied, he waited for a while until he noticed that Feng Luan was lifting his foot ever so slightly as if to move away. As Ye Yang was still crouched down, he outstretched his arm towards Feng Luan’s feet in a haste. He nearly pulled out the jade stick, however Feng Luan stepped on it yet again. Nonplussed, he glanced up nervously, but was met with the sight of Feng Luan extending his hand to him.

The warm fingertips caressed the beauty’s lips, stroking the side of his fair and unblemished face, until the index finger made it to the jaw and gently held his chin, causing the beauty to raise his eyes and gaze at him.

Yet, his eyes and brows hung low, his face devoid of any emotion—Ye Yang plainly expressed that he was forced by him to do something he wished not to do, and that was, to raise his head. Using some of his strength as he pinched his chin between two of his fingers, he left a faint, red mark on the beauty’s milky and velvety skin. His lips parted unsurely as if he wanted to speak but could not give voice to his thoughts.

Ye Yang’s back stiffened. Feng Luan’s cold incense aromatic fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose as he half bent over and one of his hands touched the jade stick at Feng Luan’s feet. The scene was so unbelievably ambiguous, that he could so much as guess what would happen next with his eyes shut. Hence, he was apprehensive and had no idea as to what should be done. As he reached this stalemate, he kept mum for a while; then, he grinned reluctantly at Feng Luan and uttered, “Your Majesty, my legs are numb.”

Feng Luan, “……”

「Feng Luan’s favorability score has been decreased by 5, current favorability score is 30」

Ye Yang, “……”

Just half an hour ago, the favorability score was at 71, and an hour later, it was at 30?!

No way.

He had to think of a way to solve this.

Ye Yang hoped for Feng Luan to leave him as soon as possible, so that he could have time to de-stress. But, Feng Luan did not budge. He raised his chin and stared at Ye Yang in a numbingly cold manner. Only after a long time did he let his eyelashes droop, and spoke in hushed tones, “come to the Qixi Festival banquet at the palace tomorrow.”

Ye Yang’s entire form was rigid, “Qixi……what the hell?”

Without giving any further details, Feng Luan withdrew his hand, slowly took a seat at the table and poured himself a cup of tea.

Cr Tf Tjcu ibbxfv ja tlw, tf jygeqais gfmjiifv j wjpbg fnfca atja abbx qijmf lc atf bglulcji ybbx.

During Feng Luan’s early years of ruling, he was too immersed in administering the government, never sparing the time to visit his imperial harem. That was, until the day before the Qixi Festival, when he spent the night with Chu Lian at her own palace. She became pregnant and was the sole favorite out of the six palaces, which led to the subsequent development between the two in the novel.

Ktf wbwfca Tec Tjcu kjr vgbkcfv, Mfcu Oejc gjc boo ab rqfcv tlr alwf vglcxlcu jcv lcveiulcu lc rfcreji qifjregf.

Ktlr vjwcfv fwqfgbg!

Tf Tjcu kjr lcvlucjca lckjgvis, yea tf tjv tlr vbeyar.

Wait a minute, then why is this dog emperor still here?!

Nevertheless, Feng Luan had already planted himself at the table and was sipping tea, not talking at all. When Kang Ning, who had taken Chu Lian back, returned to the chamber, he still remained in the exact same position.

Ye Yang was incredibly uneasy. He tried his best to drop a hint, summoning up his courage to ask, “Elder Brother…… Your Majesty, is something the matter?”

Feng Luan drank his tea leisurely without even bothering to respond.

Ye Yang, “if you have anything to say to me, then you can happily say it. If there’s nothing, just… just…”

He simply closed his eyes and leaned against the bed, insisting, “I fell into water not too long ago, and my head’s still freezing and hurts a lot. Can I have some silence and get a bit of shut-eye?”

Feng Luan slowly placed his cup on the table.

“Yun shijun is in bad health and needs to have a good rest,” said Feng Luan. “Kang Ning, zhen hasn’t finished reading the booklet today. Bring it here.”

Ye Yang remained quiet for a long time before trembling with fear and opening his mouth to ask, “Your Majesty, whe……where are you going to sleep tonight?”

Feng Luan answered the question with a question, “is Yun shijun’s accent back?”

Ye Yang, “……”

If he dared say any more now that Feng Luan’s favorability score was at 30, the number would naturally continue to drop. In such a risky situation, he refused to be so bold as to do something so foolishly.

Feng Luan lowered his eyes yet again, “you’re not feeling well. Zhen will have to make do with the soft couch in here and stay here for one night.”

Ye Yang just about showed how visibly moved he was by his words, until Feng Luan unhurriedly followed with, “so as to avoid catching your disease.”

Ye Yang barely managed to tug the corners of his mouth into a convincing smile, holding in some words. “Your Majesty, there’s no need for you to make do with it if you’ll go back!”

Feng Luan, “zhen will have to make do with it.”

Ye Yang, “……”

Once Feng Luan was done declaring that, Ye Yang eyed the scarlet +1 floating above his head and pondered internally.

What is it that you like about this situation? Where on earth did this tyrant’s delight come from?

This monarch’s heart was difficult to puzzle out. He couldn’t understand him.

……

Yun Yang had been a weak, sickly person for years. After lying in bed for a short while, Ye Yang actually fell asleep.

It was in the wee hours of the morning when he awoke again.

The flames of the candles in the palace had all gone out, and due to his easily shivery and feeble physique, each and every door and window of the palace were tightly shut. Only a smidgen of light was filtered through the window paper. Ye Yang felt thirsty; not being accustomed to calling for and ordering the palace servants, he thought of getting out of his bed to pour himself a cup of water, when unexpectedly, he heard a peculiar sound, which frightened him.

The noise came from someone who seemed to be struggling to swallow his cries of alarm, as if that individual was in a hurry and flustered. Ye Yang glanced around in horror whilst gripping onto the teapot. It took him a moment to confirm the source of the sound.

To his surprise, it turned out to be the tyrant.

The cozy sofa was situated at the outer side of the hall, and as Feng Luan lay flat on it, his hands were folded on his belly—his sleeping position was neat and solemn, a precise representation of his personality. Yet, he was perspiring profusely, breathing fast and appearing afraid, as if he was having a nightmare.

He was mumbling in his sleep. Ye Yang had no idea whether to rouse him or not, and this dog emperor was uttering words in his sleep and dreamt of something possibly involving secrets of the imperial government. It was better to turn a deaf ear to him.

He stepped back lightly and was about to leave, when, out of the blue, he perceived the distinct sound of Feng Luan whispering something in a trembling voice.

“Zhen has no other way……” Feng Luan clutched the quilt until his knuckles turned white, and had ghastly pallor. “Ah Yue, don’t hate me……”

Ye Yang could not restrain himself from turning back and studying Feng Luan again.

He was good at everything, and was capable enough to pry and poke his nose into other people’s business and gossip a little.

Looking at Feng Luan’s reaction, he guessed immediately that his dream involved anything but joyful childhood memories. He was also unsure of Ah Yue’s identity, but could very much be Feng Luan’s white moonlight lover and the harem’s three thousand concubines were all the embodiment of one single person.

Although Feng Luan’s harem consisted of only three people, it was a bit worrying. The novel not even once had mentioned that Feng Luan had any white moonlight, but that didn’t prevent the double dog blood plot from unfolding inside his mind. He pricked his ears and was just about to listen more attentively to his words, when Feng Luan opened his eyes.

Their eyes met and Ye Yang was mortified.

“Yun shijun,” Feng Luan asked, “what are you doing?”

He had just woken up from the nightmare and was still slightly panting. His voice was hoarse and his forehead was covered in a layer of sweat; he was doing his utmost to calm down. However, the glacial expression had unmistakably returned and appeared more dangerous than usually. Within the depths of his two eyes emanated a chill frosty enough to freeze you, causing Ye Yang to swallow his saliva, give a hollow laugh and say, “I was…… was going to the toilet……”

Feng Luan stayed silent. After a short while, the red numbers flew around him, signifying a drop in the favorability score.

「Feng Luan’s favorability score has been decreased by 10, current favorability score is 21」

Ye Yang panicked.

He forced a strained chuckle to escape from between his lips and continued dully, “th……thirsty…… was thirsty after sleeping and wanted to drink some water.”

After enunciating his wish, he raised the teapot and, without warning, poured tea into his mouth and drank it in big gulps.

As one would expect, he swilled the liquid too quickly. The tea dripped from the corner of his lips, and down his chin and neck, ultimately gliding to and dampening his clothing-covered chest. It could be seen that he had white complexion and prominent collarbones. This made him cough more than ever, nearly tearing up from this action, and the corners of his misty eyes turned flushed.

In the past, he had also drunk water in the same manner—he’d raise his head and then gulp gulp gulp. Naturally, he didn’t realize how inappropriate his actions were now. Being in the body of a beauty, his every move was somewhat tempting.

Feng Luan furrowed his brows slightly and fixed his gaze elsewhere. Wearing an icy expression on his face, he said, “now that you’ve drunk until the last drop, you can go back to sleep ba.”

Ding.

「Feng Luan’s favorability score has been increased by 1, current favorability score is 22」

Ye Yang, “……”

Ye Yang followed Feng Luan’s line of sight toward his own body.

This lewd, debauched monarch!

“I’ll go to sleep first, good night!” Ye Yang managed to remain as cool as a cucumber and turned to walk mechanically to the bed. Still, he called to mind the dog emperor’s precarious favorability score and advised, “your…… your clothes are soaked. Change your clothes, and then sleep ba.”

Feng Luan was dumbfounded to some degree, and seemed a bit startled and baffled. Taking in his expression, Ye Yang felt that he might have spoken the wrong thing. He corrected himself in a hurry, “change your clothes and then go back to sleep ba.”

In spite of that, Feng Luan knitted his brows at him.

Ye Yang fumbled to change his words again, “Your Majesty…… you should rest early……”

At last, Feng Luan lowered his eyelashes slightly, his expression morphing back to his usual one. Ye Yang didn’t catch any differences to Feng Luan’s favorability score, but it having not decreased at all was considered a victory by him. Ye Yang thought it’d end up in a disaster if he lingered around any more, and just as he was about to sneak back under the covers of his bed, Feng Luan stopped him.

“Wait,” Feng Luan told him.

Ye Yang halted his steps and turned his head rigidly.

Don’t want to ba, don’t do it again ba.

Feng Luan focused on him, speaking in a flat voice, as if he was chatting about something incredibly ordinary, “zhen wants to take a bath and put on clean clothes.”

The nightmare he was trapped in moments ago was the cause of him pouring with sweat now. His drenched traditional clothing stuck to his body, something which was exceedingly insupportable. He estimated that it should be the time for him to prepare to attend the imperial court session in the early morning. He was not drowsy, so he figured he might as well get up early and tidy up properly.

After he said those words, Ye Yang spotted a +1 floating above Feng Luan’s low favorability score of only 22. He nodded at once like a dog leg. He strode out and called for the servants waiting outside the chamber, telling them to make ready the hot water.

Catching sight of the servants scurrying about purposefully, Ye Yang decided to take this opportunity to sneak away. If he stayed in the same place as the dog emperor, he’d be bound to lower the favorability score one way or another. However, just after taking one step, he suddenly heard Feng Luan enounce:

“Yun shijun, surely Mama has taught you?” Feng Luan gazed at his back and articulated each word slowly, “when the husband takes a bath, you ought to stay here and undress him.”

Ye Yang, “……”

艹! Dog emperor!