Your Highness, Please Love Me Tender

160. Eternity

Translator: Flying Lines

In the first year of Yongsheng, namely the first year of the reign of the Emperor Su Jie, Su Jie, Emperor of State YanLing married Xiao Shengnian in a grand ceremony.

The red celebratory blanket covered the whole capital and brilliant fireworks bloomed in the air. Two men in big red robes completed the holiest ceremony with countless people as the witnesses.

Hundreds of palace women with bent eyebrows sprinkled flower petals along the road. Men in clean robes collectively recited the most sincere words to the gods. Under the witness of the tall statue of the gods, Su Jie and Xiao Shengnian completed their wedding ceremony after kowtowing to the Heaven and the Earth.

The beautiful red robes looked gorgeous, just like the burning clouds in the sky. And the two people in the red robes were a perfect match.

The group of ministers worshipped them and the people kowtowed to them.

Xiao Shengnian was the choice of the descendants of the gods, so the people chose to support him unconditionally.

Although the courtiers didn’t want the Emperor to marry a man as the empress, they couldn’t influence the Emperor’s decision.

They could give advice to the Emperor in terms of political affairs, but they couldn’t interfere excessively in the Emperor’s personal emotional life, because the descendants of the gods had the right to choose their lifelong spouse.

However… what if the descendant of the gods wouldn’t have any offspring?

The courtiers were very worried.

However, Prime Minister Zhou Zaiyue brought good news.

The princess who had gone missing with His Highness had been found, and the princess already had two sons and one daughter.

In other words, there was a successor for the Su Dynasty.

After the princess brought her three children to the palace, the faces of the three children were also specially painted with the golden flowers.

The eldest son of the princess was named Bai Shaozhu. He was adopted by Su Jie and his name was changed into Su Yao.

Su Jie conferred the title of crown prince on Su Yao, who was six years old, and bestowed the East Palace on him.

At the same time, Su Jie, as the spiritual leader of the whole country and the highest authority, announced that Xiao Shengnian could enter the court.

The moment the decision was made, the group of ministers objected.

Xiao Shengnian was originally a royal member of State YanHui. Everyone could accept him as the only harem of the Emperor, but they could not accept him interfering in the state affairs.

“It is absolutely unacceptable. Please think twice.”

“I’ve thought about it more than three times,” Su Jie squinted while sitting on the throne. Although he wanted to work hard to be a wise emperor, reading petitions every single day was just excruciating to him.

In comparison, Su Jie preferred freedom.

Su Jie had decided to get Xiao Shengnian involved and start cultivating Crown Prince Su Yao. After a few years, he would pass the throne to the crown prince. Then… he would travel around with Xiao Shengnian to enjoy a happy and carefree life.

“Your Majesty, it’s not a trivial matter. You’re the descendant of the gods. Only you are worthy of…”

“Dismissed,” answered the Emperor in a straightforward way without the slightest hesitation.

It turned out that the Emperor, who had conqured State YanLing, was sometimes domineering and stubborn. He didn’t give ministers any room for discussion.

When it came to government affairs, Su Jie would listen to the opinions of the ministers, but whenever it concerned Xiao Shengnian, Su Jie would make dictatorial decisions.

Thus, on the court the next day, Xiao Shengnian appeared on the throne.

If one could kill with their mind, Xiao Shengnian would have been killed thousands of times by the ministers of State YanLing.

However, Xiao Shengnian’s demeanor was very natural, as if not affected at all.

Although Xiao Shengnian was in State YanLing, he knew everything that was happening in State YanHui.

He knew that his father was seriously ill.

And the Guqin Master was the one behind it.

Xiao Shengxian’s father had been suffering from torment ever since he was poisoned with the Gu worms. In addition, the Guqin Master had become insatiable, the Emperor of State YanHui was provoked to be ruthless and he felt that he needed to punish the Guqin Master even if it meant that he would die with the Guqin Master.

However, Prince Qin led the army and rebelled. The Guqin Master stepped on the Emperor of State YanHui in front of the palace guards, counting the crimes of the Emperor of State YanHui.

“You didn’t see this coming when you abandoned my sister and sent her to the Cold Palace. I had sworn that I will make you die in horrible pain,” the Guqin Master stepped on the chest of the Emperor of State YanHui forcibly.

The news about the Guqin Master’s crazy actions spread throughout the imperial palace, also throughout the high streets and back lanes of State YanHui, and also into Xiao Shengnian’s ears.

However, on the day of Prince Qin’s rebellion, Zhui Xing led Han Yong’s soldiers and surrounded Prince Qin’s troops.

At that time, the Emperor had been killed. Because of Prince Qin’s rebellion, the imperial palace was in a complete mess. Zhui Xing and the soldiers who he brought with him became the saviors.

Prince Rui became the most popular candidate for the throne among the ministers.

However, everyone knew that Prince Rui had gone far away to State YanLing.

However, they couldn’t let other princes inherit the throne because the soldiers in the palace were all Prince Rui’s subordinates.

The First Prince, who had been the most popular, was also killed by the Guqin Master. The rest of the princes were useless. Other than Prince Rui, the ministers couldn’t figure out who was capable of becoming the emperor.

“Prince Xian!” Prime Minister Yue, who had always remained neutral, opened his mouth.

Therefore, the group of ministers all agreed that Prince Xian should manage the country for now.

However, the problem was that Prince Xian did not return to State YanHui. At this time, Xiao ShengXian was accompanying his wife, waiting for the baby to come to this world.

There was no other way. Every day, the state affairs of State YanHui were handled by a counselor of Prince Rui named Wu Xin, who then reported how he handled these matters and the results to Prince Rui, who was in State YanLing.

The Guqin Master, on the other hand, had his limbs broken and the powder that caused the bones to soften was fed to him every day. And then he was sent to State YanLing.

The people sent by Su Jie to State YanHui to catch the Guqin Master had been hiding for a long time. Now that they had finally completed the task that the Emperor had given them, all they needed to do now was to send the Guqin Master safely to State YanLing.

*

Su Jie were finally free.

Gongsun Yi caught Lan BuHui, and… He attacked too fiercely and directly killed Lan BuHui. However, when Su Jie got married, Gongsun Yi still said that he was sick in bed. In addition to rewarding him, Su Jie also personally went to see the condition of Gongsun Yi.

Gongsun Yi was much thinner than before. The wild arrogance in his bones did not decrease, but his aura was a little lonely.

He knew that he could no longer share the Emperor’s bed and pillow, and the only thing he could do was to be a good subject.

Gongsun Yi had already fulfilled his dream. He dreamed of making contributions to his country and earning a place in history. Now, he both had an official title and wealth and his name was recorded in the history of State YanLing, but he couldn’t have the young man he loved.

Su Jie also met Qi Jingmei, but Su Jie did not expand the authority of Pavilion of Jinxiu. He only promised Qi Jingmei that Pavilion of Jinxiu was allowed to open branches in State YanLing.

Later, Wu Liumou even came visit Su Jie.

However, Wu Liumou was driven away by Xiao Shengnian. Xiao Shengnian gave the outsiders the impressions that he was a modest and self-disciplined gentleman who was as warm as jade, but when facing Wu Liumou, he showed that he was quite capable of rejecting people and he didn’t leave Wu Liumou any room for fantasy.

Wu Liumou is the fifth young master of Pavilion of Jinxiu and his position is on par with Qi Jingmei’s.

In order to get close to Xiao Shengnian, Wu Liumou refused to leave and insisted on staying in the branch of Pavilion of Jinxiu in State YanLing . He meant to sneak into the palace to see Brother Xiao once in a while.

Even if Xiao Shengnian rejected him, he had no intention of giving up.

And Su Jie’s reaction to this was direct and violent.

Su Jie ordered people to demolish all the branches of Pavilion of Jinxiu in the capital.

But he didn’t ban Pavilion of Jinxiu from State YanLing because he was still waiting for Tuoba Qingheng to open his stores all over State YanLing.

Xiao Shengnian would occasionally return to State YanHui for a dozens of days to deal with the state affairs in State YanHui.

Xiao ShengXian’s wife, Shuang Lishan, gave birth to a fat boy, which brought great joy to Xiao ShengXian, as he was a father now!

However, Xiao ShengXian was still concerned about Shuang Lishan’s identity. He always felt that his wife was not as simple as she appeared to be.

After Shuang Lishan gave birth to the baby, she also confessed that she was the second young master of Pavilion of Jinxiu. However, she left in a rage a few years ago and stayed as a top courtesan in a brothel, but she was still in contact with Pavilion of Jinxiu.

After Xiao ShengXian became a father and when Shuang Lishan recovered from her childbirth in the City of Divine Traces, both of them returned to State YanHui and Yue Wanzhi followed them back.

Yue Wanzhi hadn’t seen his father aka Prime Minister Yue for a long time, so he had this complicated feeling when he returned.

He grew taller and became more powerful, but he didn’t become a learned scholar as his father expected.

Now that Prime Minister Yue saw that his son had returned, he cried with joy. He thought that his son had been missing, and he even sent people out to look for him for a long time. Now that his son was back, he was not so demanding on Yue Wanzhi.

Whenever Su Jie got some free time from his busy life, he would run to the back garden to bask in the sun, and Da Hua was also there.

Every emperor of State YanLing would keep a tiger in his backyard garden. It was said that gods could control beasts. Su Jie was not sure whether this rumor was true or not, but Da Hua was indeed a tiger that was particularly close to him.

However, Xiao Shengnian still disliked Da Hua and hated this tiger very much.

When Su Jie was fighting, Zhou Zaiyue had Da Hua taken to State YanLing. When Su Jie ascended the throne, Zhou Zaiyue made the arrangements for Da Hua to stay in the imperial garden.

The Guqin Master, who was taken to State YanLing, was dying when he saw Su Jie. He glared at Su Jie and his trembling lips wanted to say something threatening to Su Jie.

But he couldn’t let out even half a syllable.

Then Su Jie ended his life personally.

The Guqin Master sent the Sharp Sword to kill many people and this day he was killed by the Sharp Sword.

*

Time passed by like the flowing water.

Six years later, something big happened in the imperial palace of State YanLing.

His Majesty disappeared!

The Emperor left a decree. The decree said that he passed the throne to the 12-year-old crown prince, Su Yao. And… when the prince ascended the throne and the Emperor would abdicate.

The key point was that despite the abdication, the former emperor was still missing!

Su Yao stopped the news that the former emperor had disappeared from spreading and sat on the throne with a cold face. The aura around him was terrifying.

He was only 12 years old, and the former emperor got away irresponsibly and he left behind a mess in the palace. Fortunately, Su Yao had been taught by Zhou Zaiyue since he was a child and he learnt the orthodox royal etiquette. It was impossible for him to do something like this as Su Jie did.

“Long live Your Majesty,” the ministers kowtowed and knelt down to their new emperor.

Despite the fact that the new emperor was only 12 years old.

As for State YanHui, Xiao ShengXian was also sitting on the throne right now.

From then on, State YanLing was ruled by Su Yao, and in the places of interest in State YanLing, a happy couple could often be seen.

A man wore a navy-blue robe. He looked beautiful and smiled gracefully. The other man wore a bright red outfit but he didn’t look vulgar. And a casual smile of his could brighten people’s mood.

“Shengnian, shall we go travelling in State YanHui next?”

“Okay.”

“Shengnian, how about we adopt a child?”

“Okay.”

“Shengnian…” Before he could finish, his lips were gently touched by the other’s fingers, which quietened Su Jie.

“I want to kiss you.”

“Okay…” The next second, a gentle kiss swept over.

Su Jie closed his eyes and hugged Xiao Shengnian.

The two figures hugging each other overlapped together, as if they would never separate.

If an instant could become eternal, then this moment would be that instant.