CH 64

The sun had not yet risen in the early morning, but the temperature already showed an upward trend.

The carriage jolted again and Zhao Yelan yawned. Before opening his eyes, he heard Yan Mingting say in his ear: “Go back to sleep, ba.”

Hearing this, Zhao Yelan changed to a more comfortable position. Wrapping his arms around his neck, he placed his head on his shoulder. He was about to fall asleep when he suddenly froze for a moment, opening his eyes to stare at Yan Mingting. Then he lowered his head to take a look.

Yan Mingting’s face abruptly turned red, and he smiled in embarrassment: “Not sleeping anymore?”

“How can I sleep?” Zhao Yelan got off his lap and sat aside. After a moment, he turned his head to the side again, looking down at the bulge in his clothes.

“…….” Yan Mingting silently tried to cover it with his clothes, but it was useless, and instead of shrinking back, he became more energetic.

He couldn’t be blamed for this, ah.

He was at a young age, the weather was so hot, and there was a beautiful person on top of him all night. It was not easy for him to obey the rules, not to mention that Zhao Yelan was staring at him now. To shrink back, he would have to be a ghost.

“Looking, looking, you’re still looking.” Yan Mingting cast him a reproachful look. “It’s your fault for starting the fire. You’ll torture others when you’re drunk and then act as if nothing happened to you.”

Zhao Yelan raised his eyebrows upon hearing these words: “You’re blaming me?”

Yan Mingting gave a light snort and turned his head to stop looking at him and calm himself down. Otherwise, how could he go out to meet people like this?

Suddenly, a shadow fell in front of him, and Zhao Yelan sat on his lap again, reaching out a hand: “It seems that I have to teach you a lesson.”

His hand was a little cold, and when he held it, the scalding temperature finally received a little comfort. Yan Mingting’s breath stopped, and he looked at him incredulously. He noticed that the other party was also momentarily stunned, and asked: “What is it?”

As expected, the General was really well-endowed.

Zhao Yelan only had this thought in his mind, and soon after taught him a lesson with somewhat rusty skills.

In fact, Zhao Yelan seldom did this by himself, especially in recent years. The initial novelty had passed, his mind as calm as still water, and he was unable to arouse any interest. However, watching Yan Mingting’s expression at this time, his face was full of emotion, but he had to restrain his desire and his voice so as not to be heard. This sense of control made him very happy.

Yan Mingting raised his head with his eyes half shut and glimpsed his triumphant smile, then pressed his head down to kiss him.

After a long time, Zhao Yelan pushed him away and rubbed his wrist with some dissatisfaction: “It’s sore, do it yourself.”

How could that work?

“Soon, soon, I’ll do it for you.” With a hoarse voice, Yan Mingting took his hand and covered it again.

At last, Zhao Yelan took several handkerchiefs to wipe his hands.

Yan Mingting tidied up and put on his outer garments. He got off the carriage energetically, but his legs were shaking a bit.

The soldiers looked at him with complicated expressions.

Yan Mingting was embarrassed for a moment, and thought to himself that he had been hugged all night, how could his legs not be soft? He rode straight on his horse and gave the order to speed up so as to reach Zhizhou before noon.

The sharp-eyed Zuo Ran chased after Yan Mingting on horseback and said: “General, your neck is red.”

Yan Mingting touched his neck subconsciously and said: “Mosquito bites.”

“I know you have mosquito bites, but aren’t they on the left?” Zuo Ran said, “There are clearly teeth marks on the right side, and they look quite deep.”

“…….” Yan Mingting suddenly remembered the scene where Zhao Yelan went wild in the middle of the night and bit his neck several times.

“Ranran, you saw wrong, it’s only mosquito bites.” 

After Yin Pinglu finished talking with Zhao Yelan, she took a box of ointment from her pocket and tossed it to him: “Here, General.”

After speeding up, the team finally reached the Sun mansion by lunch. Once the subordinates were settled in, they followed Magistrate Sun to the mansion for a meal.

Yin Pinglu had met Magistrate Sun when she was young, and had also met Sun Muyun a few times. They were little sisters who had a good relationship, but rarely saw each other due to the distance.

When Magistrate Yin saw her, he sighed with regret for the impermanence of the world. Yin Pinglu, however, didn’t care much, and asked about Sun Muyun’s situation.

While the two reminisced about the past, Zhao Yelan looked at Yan Mingting’s red and white neck and asked: “What’s wrong with your neck?”

Yan Mingting asked in a low voice: “Isn’t this your good work?”

Zhao Yelan frowned and reached out to wipe his neck. There was a layer of grease on his fingertips, and when he looked again, it immediately became clear. 

Most likely Yan Mingting had used grease to cover the teeth marks, but the weather was too hot and the grease had begun to mottle.

Zhao Yelan knew he was in the wrong, so he silently lowered his head to eat.

At this time, Magistrate Sun moved a few more pots of lotus wine to the table: “Come, it has been a long journey. My lord and the General should drink some wine to quench their thirst.”

Yan Mingting immediately laughed out loud to the puzzlement of the others, who looked at him doubtfully.

“I won’t drink anymore.” Zhao Yelan now had a psychological shadow regarding the lotus wine. “I still have to do business in the afternoon, so drinking would cause a delay in work.”

“He doesn’t drink well, let me do it. I won’t cause a delay in work.” Yan Mingting took the wine with a smile and drank with the others.

After the meal, everyone gathered in the study and Magistrate Sun brought up the current situation: “Thanks to Zhao-daren’s letter a few days ago, I made preparations early and discovered that a total of eight counties were affected by the disaster in the Zhizhou area. The refugees were all housed in one place. Now in the next county over, there is a lake that is barely surviving and will soon be drained. If it doesn’t rain again, I fear that it will not be able to last more than a few days, and our disaster money has already been exhausted.”

“I’ve brought you the silver,” Zhao Yelan said.

“That truly solves our urgent need.” Magistrate Sun let out a long sigh of relief.

“We hardly met anyone on our way, and the fields were dry, so we should not evacuate anyone in this direction. We can evacuate in three directions, east, north, and south,” Zhao Yelan said, pointing on the map.

“All right, but the manpower……” Magistrate Sun wondered.

“I’ve brought that for you too,” Zhao Yelan pointed to Yan Mingting.

Yan Mingting nodded and went out to form six teams, three to move refugees and three to transport food.

Zhao Yelan had tried to connect several disaster relief sites in Huaizhou together, so that a lot of labor could be saved.

“What water sources are there in the city?” Zhao Yelan asked.

After Magistrate Sun finished his detailed explanation, Yin Pinglu suddenly frowned and pointed to a mountain at the boundary line, saying: “There is also a fresh spring here.”

“It’s a bit far from here, how do you know?” Magistrate Sun asked.

“When I came to Zhizhou as a guest in my youth, Muyun secretly took me there to play. But the location was somewhat difficult to find, and it is unknown if there is still water,’ Yin Pinglu said.

“Can you still remember the exact location?” Zhao Yelan asked.

Yin Pinglu recalled for a moment: “Yes.”

“Then you take some people to check.”

“All right.”

“I’ll go,” Zuo Ran volunteered.

After the two left, Zhao Yelan proposed to take a look around the city again, and went to the streets alone with Yan Mingting.

Compared to when he came here before, there were no people on the streets. The shops were all closed, and the sun was scorching.

Yan Mingting held an umbrella over the two of their heads. Zhao Yelan glanced around, and stood atop the city gate in the end, overlooking the dry scenery. He said: “I’ve never looked forward to a rainy day so much.”

“Why do you hate rainy days?” Yan Mingting asked.

“Because when it rains……people can die.” Zhao Yelan gazed up at the cloudless sunny sky. “But if it doesn’t rain, people will still die.”

“It will rain,” Yan Mingting said.

The corners of Zhao Yelan’s mouth twitched: “Tell me, are those rain rituals useful?”

“They’re probably for peace of mind. If there is no other way, people will want to pray to the heavens.” Yan Mingting turned to look at him. “Do you want to pray to the heavens?”

What Zhao Yelan hated most was talk about the principles of heaven and the like. He looked away and turned to descend the tower: “Fuck the heavens, I only have faith in man-made things.”

Yan Mingting smiled.

“There are many lakes in Huaizhou and Zhizhou, but they are too small to maintain during a drought. I was thinking, would it be possible to dig ditches in the future and find a way to circulate water from the Huaihe River?” Zhao Yelan asked.

Yan Mingting agreed with his proposal, but said: “The scope of this project is too large. It will look like a waste of time and money, and the results may not be satisfactory. Most likely, the Imperial court will not agree with your suggestion.”

“But if protective measures aren’t taken, waiting for the next time, and the next, isn’t such a situation still just waiting to die?”

“Then have you thought about what to say to the court?”

Zhao Yelan’s eyes sharpened: “After the disaster has subsided and the losses have been recovered, I will be this villain.”

“Okay, I’ll support you,” Yan Mingting said.

Zhao Yelan gave him a sideways glance: “I may be accused by thousands of people.”

“I’ll help you scold them back.”

Zhao Yelan laughed out loud.

When approaching the Sun Mansion, Zhao Yelan suddenly became dizzy. He wanted to speak but had no strength to do so, just grabbing Yan Mingting’s sleeve as he fell uncontrollably to the ground.

Yan Mingting caught him and called him a few times, but seeing that he didn’t respond, he quickly carried him back to Sun Mansion and hurried to find a doctor. After diagnosis and treatment, it was confirmed to be heat stroke.

Running around outside for several days, coupled with exposure to the sun, had eventually caused him to fall ill.

Yan Mingting was a little vexed. He had only thought about his fear of the cold, but ignored the current situation and followed him outside for a long time.

Zhao Yelan was given some medicine, and woke up several times in a daze with a wet handkerchief on his forehead and someone continuously fanning him at his side.

Later, when he was half asleep and half awake, he heard many people coming to visit, but they were all dismissed by Yan Mingting and only Magistrate Sun was left behind.

Magistrate Sun had come to inquire about the deployment plan. Zhao Yelan really wanted to get up and explain it to him face-to-face, but he had no strength at all and couldn’t even open his eyes. Then he heard Yan Mingting explain the plan to him in detail, and without any mistakes, so he fell asleep with peace of mind.

At night, he heard Zuo Ran and Yin Pinglu rushing in again: “My lord, my lord, I’ve found the source of water! Although it isn’t much, it’s enough for us to drink for the time being!”

“Shhh.” Yan Mingting motioned for them to keep their voices down. He had them take turns resting while the other led his men to carry water.

Listening to their conversation, Zhao Yelan gradually settled down. Before falling asleep, a sentence popped up in his mind – why be afraid, if the sky falls, there is a tall man there to hold it up.

It was already noon when he awoke again, and he opened his eyes weakly, rolling them around.

“You’re awake?” Yan Mingting looked at him, overjoyed.

“En……” Zhao Yelan noticed his bloodshot eyes and the fan in his hand, and guessed that he hadn’t slept all night.

“Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something first?” Without waiting for him to nod, Yan Mingting hurried to the kitchen and brought back a bowl of porridge. Then he helped him sit up and fed him the porridge himself. “Porridge is a rarity now, so you can’t be disgusted.”

Zhao Yelan took a few weak sips and heard footsteps outside. It was Magistrate Sun, who had come to report the progress of the refugee evacuation.

“Zhao-daren, it’s wonderful that you’re awake,” Magistrate Sun said happily.

“All right, just tell me what’s happened in the past few days.” While feeding the porridge, Yan Mingting discussed important matters with Magistrate Sun before having him leave, and then found that Zhao Yelan had been staring at him.

“What? Is there something wrong with my delegation?” Yan Mingting asked.

Zhao Yelan shook his head, and a smile gradually appeared on his pale face.

After he finished the bowl of porridge, Yan Mingting helped him lay down again so that he could continue to rest.

“You come and lie down too.” Zhao Yelan patted the space next to him.

Yan Mingting was afraid that he would be hot, so he just lay on his side, trying to prevent physical contact.

Zhao Yelan gazed at him quietly. Even though he felt ill, his heart was extraordinarily peaceful. Was this the feeling of being able to rely on someone? He didn’t need to worry about anything, nor rack his brains to consider the dangers to be faced. He just needed to lie down peacefully to recuperate, open his mouth to be fed, and hold out his hands to be dressed. Such a day could actually happen to him?

When a person became accustomed to living alone, he would get used to doing everything by himself, and it was even harder to believe that anyone would love him.

However, Yan Mingting was the exception.

Yan Mingting was intelligent and sensitive when it came to important matters. He would be foolish when facing himself, but was actually someone who could be relied upon with confidence. More importantly, he could feel the depth of Yan Mingting’s love that he had never expressed in words.

The more difficult it was to say, the heavier it became.

On this point, they had a tacit understanding.

“I had a dream last night,” Zhao Yelan said softly.

“What dream?” Yan Mingting unconsciously lowered his voice, and helped brush away the dark hair that fell on his cheeks.

“I dreamt about our wedding night in the bridal chamber.”

In the dream, he had completely dispelled his hostility toward Yan Mingting. The two of them drank the wine in a friendly manner, chatting about their respective experiences in the frontier and the capital over the years. Even before dawn, he obediently followed Yan Mingting to do horse stance.

He hated horse stance because he thought it was unsightly and troublesome, and more importantly, he didn’t want to maintain his health at the time. It was just superfluous.

But in the dream last night, he subconsciously wanted to live a good life, because he was not alone in his current world.

He wanted to live a little bit longer, so that he could grow old with Yan Mingting.

“Wedding night in the bridal chamber?” Yan Mingting echoed, the corners of his mouth rising.

“En.” Zhao Yelan was about to tell him that when they returned to the capital, he would exercise his body well, do horse stance with him, and learn how to ride a horse and shoot a bow.

But in the next moment, he heard Yan Mingting ask with an uncontrollably joyful expression on his face: “On the wedding night in your dream, did I succeed?”

The corner of Zhao Yelan’s mouth twitched: “……”

T/N: Psst, it’s my birthday. Have a chapter.