QT: LAC Chapter 144: Ninth World (9)

Chapter 144: Ninth World (9)
Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Edited by Sulo

With Cao YuYing’s help, Bai Duan managed to stand up. Bai Duan felt that his momentum had just been blown away. He could not help but fling off his hand angrily and look around to find new clothes in the wardrobe.

Cao YuYing also got out of bed with him. He felt uneasy as he looked at his angry lover, and also felt guilt. For the first time, he realized that he had been really spoiled by his lover in the past several worlds he spent with him. After being spoiled for so long, he had gotten lax.

In those worlds, no matter what he looked like, no matter how the two met, Bai Duan would quickly leave his shyness behind and never give up on him.

Such a gentle lover had calmed Cao YuYing’s confusion and panic about the future. All that remained now was determination and trust. Because of his nature, Cao Yu Ying, who liked fun, got too spoiled, and gradually became a guy who would stir up trouble.

In this life, when he met Bai Duan for the second time, he could have confessed his true gender and the ‘dangerous’ situation he was in, and ask Bai Duan for help. He believed that his lover would never sit back and let him struggle under the Enchantress. At most, he would hesitate for a while and then agree to marry him, so that he could get out of the palace while covering his identity as a ‘princess’.

Then, he and Bai Duan would live in the same house and get along day and night. Cao YuYing believed that he could earn his lover’s heart quickly, and then they would change from being fake ‘husband and wife’ to real ‘husband and wife’, playing zither and singing harmoniously.

However, Cao YuYing did not choose this kind of gentle and gradual love route. Instead, he concealed his gender because he wanted to see his lover shocked and helpless, so he chose making Bai Duan mistakenly think that he was getting married to a beautiful lady. And then exposed it all on the night of the wedding.

Cao YuYing confidently believed that even if he made such a big joke, his lover would not hate him or reject him — and in fact, even though Bai Duan was angry at his actions, his first reaction was still to protect him and cover this up for him. Even if he didn’t say a word, that didn’t mean he did not hurt Bai Duan’s heart.

Watching his young lover rummage through the clothes in a gloomy mood, Cao YuYing wanted to go back to the beginning when he messed up — let’s not even mention his original imagination of locking his lover into a small dark room, he would much rather Bai Duan be able to quarrel with him, then lock him up and punish him afterwards.

However, Bai Duan never lost his temper at him. Even if he was sad or wronged again, he would only hide in the silence and sulk. It was because his lover was so gentle and clever that Cao YuYing’s arrogance had been more and more encouraged.

——Fortunately, he realized this now. Maybe… it isn’t too late?

Cautiously walking to his lover’s side, Cao YuYing held Bai Duan’s hand which was holding the clothes. He looked into his lover’s indifferent eyes and tried to please him, “I’ll help you get dressed, OK?”

“Don’t bother yourself, Your Royal Highness,” Bai Duan frowned slightly, obviously not satisfied with how demeaning Cao YuYing made himself sound.

“You are the husband I wanted from the bottom of my heart. I should help you get dressed,” Cao YuYing has been receiving the ‘bride education’ from the maids in the palace these days. At this moment, he was nervous and subconsciously blurted it out.

As soon as he said it, he realized it was wrong. As expected, Bai Duan frowned again, obviously thinking that he was teasing himself again.

“I’m not kidding, really!” He internally scolded himself for messing up whenever it really mattered. Cao YuYing quickly added, with a serious tone and even more anxious eyes.

Bai Duan’s heart was softened by his anxious eyes. For a while, he couldn’t say anything to refuse. He let go of the clothes silently and turned his head sideways.

——At the end of the day, what could he do? He couldn’t really get mad with the person he liked.

Seeing Bai Duan acquiesce to his actions, Cao YuYing was very happy and started dressing his lover.

He didn’t dare make any moves. He behaved perfectly in every way. He dressed Bai Duan up neatly. Then got him to sit in front of the dressing mirror and combed his long dark hair.

Under the warmth of this kind of intimacy between husband and wife, the cold alienation between Bai Duan and Cao YuYing gradually disappeared, which made Cao
YuYing feel a little relieved.

He let things brew for a moment and whispered, “Actually, I didn’t…”

“I don’t want to talk about this now.” Bai Duan interrupted in a cold voice, then he noticed that his tone might have been a little too hurtful. He couldn’t help but add another explanation, “We got up late, and… wasted a lot of time already. My father must be getting impatient.”

After that, he also secretly regretted how his attitude towards Cao YuYing was too gentle, which was really contradictory and inexplicable.

Cao YuYing was eager to get rid of the ‘misunderstanding’ between himself and his lover, so that they could return to being on good terms, but he dare not violate Bai Duan’s meaning, so he could only swallow the explanation in silence.

After taking care of Bai Duan with his own two hands, Cao YuYing began to deal with his own appearance. He was very upset about the look of himself in women’s clothing, so of course, he didn’t have any enthusiasm like when he did Bai Duan’s makeup — but he couldn’t let anyone see any flaws, so he had to put on the female robes under Bai Duan’s gaze in front of the dressing mirror… then applied the powder.

Bai Duan looked at Cao YuYing’s frozen dead face. His eyes showed dislike as he used cosmetics to soften his male features as much as possible, and then put two pads in front of his chest to mimic a woman’s chest. Bai Duan could not help himself from feeling a trace of sympathy for him and… He found it a bit funny. The depression in his heart was slightly improved. After that, Cao YuYing twisted his hair into a woman’s hairstyle, and casually inserted a jade hairpin, then looked at Bai Duan carefully.

Bai Duan tried to turn his softened expression to a serious one again, then looked up and down at Cao YuYing, and nodded, “Let’s go.”

Cao YuYing responded and followed behind Bai Duan obediently like a wife. They had just arrived at the door when Bai Duan thought of one important thing, “By the way, since you are not a woman. What will you do about the handkerchief¹…”

“Don’t worry,” Cao YuYing looked at Bai Duan’s red earlobes, then endured the impulse of teasing him, and explained in a straight way, “I have entrusted an experienced maid to prepare it. She will deal with it, and ensure that it will look perfectly real, so that no one can see any problems.”

Bai Duan felt ashamed of the topic, but nodded curtly, and couldn’t help worrying, “Is that maid trustworthy?”

“Very,” Cao YuYing’s smile was deeper. “I managed to live in the deep palace dressed as a woman for so long. You don’t have to worry about my ability to choose people.”

“I’m not worried,” Since knowing the real gender of Cao YuYing, Bai Duan’s gentleness and tender consideration to women in the past suddenly turned to naught, and his voice was cold and eloquent, “Now you and I are on the same boat, and we shoulder prosper and damage together, but I just don’t want me and my father to become the eyesore of the Enchantress.”

“Hmn, I know.” Cao YuYing nodded in response, “I will never mix you and my father-in-law in with this mess.”

“Who are you calling your father-in-law?” Bai Duan mumbled, but didn’t say anything more. He raised his hand and pushed the door open, and stepped out of the bedroom.

Since Bai Duan and Cao YuYing were not in the habit of having maids dress and wash them, so all the maids were outside, waiting at the door. When they came out, the maids bowed to them.

There were not many servants in the Bai household. Most of them were maids brought by Cao YuYing. Bai Duan’s eyes swept over these strange faces, then turned to Cao YuYing, who looked down at the floor, acting like ‘a wife who sees her husband as the world’ to the fullest. Bai Duan had to cough and ask, “Where is my father now?”

“Honorable Bai woke up around dawn. Hearing that the princess and his son were still in the bedroom, he went back to the study.” Cao YuYing’s maid replied respectfully, “Honorable Bai said that when the princess’s husband woke up, I should go tell him. Just then, when this maid heard the sounds in the room, I had already informed Honorable Bai. Your Highness and husband just need to go to the living room to find Honorable Bai.”

Bai Duan nodded a little and brought Cao YuYing, who was walking beside him to the living room. As soon as he stepped through the door, he found himself looking straight into Imperial Counsellor Bai’s smiling eyes.

Imperial Counsellor Bai was also once married. Of course, he knew how the first night after marriage with his wife was like. He remembered it being a spring night, hating that the night was all but too short and the sun rose too early.

As the father-in-law, he didn’t need to establish his prestige over his daughter-in-law urgently, like how a mother-in-law would need to. Moreover, his daughter-in-law was a Royal Princess, so he naturally couldn’t show any dissatisfaction. So, although he had to wait for his son’s wife for most of the day, and didn’t get to see the newly married couple until noon, Imperial
Counsellor Bai was still in a good mood. He even gave his son a teasing and an appreciative look for the first time.

——If he got up so late, he must have had a harmonious and happy night. If that’s the case, he might be able to look forward to his fat grandsons soon!

Bai Duan received the expectant look from Imperial Counsellor Bai, then even noticed his eyes sweeping across Cao YuYing’s abdomen. Bai Duan and Cao YuYing couldn’t help but twitch the corners of their mouths, but they dare not show anything objection.

Cao YuYing lowered his head and pretended to be shy, while Bai Duan’s weirded out face was understood by Imperial Counsellor Bai as Bai Duan having too thin of a face.

He laughingly drank the tea his daughter-in-law brewed², and then he stuffed a big red packet in Cao YuYing’s hands. Imperial Counsellor Bai beckoned a maid holding a red velvet tray to his side. On the plate was a pair of jade bracelets, he said to Cao YuYing, “This pair of jade bracelets is the Heirloom handed down through our family. Although the jade is not as beautiful as those in the palace, what’s important is the significance contained in these bracelets.” After a pause, he said with emotion, “Originally, it should have been put onto your wrist by your mother-in-law, but… she was gone too soon, so I will have to hand it over to you in her place. You and Duan are married now. You must enjoy a good life. No matter what kind of difficulties you encounter, you must work together and never give up.”

Bai Duan couldn’t help but glance at Cao YuYing, and seeing the tenderness in his eyes, Bai Duan blushed and turned his head away in a hurry.

——It’s strange that he was so shy and touched! He was not standing next to a ‘new wife’, but a rough man dressed as a woman!

Imperial Counsellor Bai smiled and witnessed the interaction between the two, becoming more and more satisfied with their deep love. They had only looked at each other and nothing more, but it made him who was watching, have his heart skip a few beats.

With a light cough, Imperial Counsellor Bai tried to draw the attention of the couple back to himself, “We don’t pay much attention to traditional rules in our household. You don’t have to get up early to greet me. Just live happily together.”

In fact, this was not what Imperial Counsellor Bai wanted to say, but as her father-in-law, it was not good to intrude too much on the couple’s life. However, he always glanced at his daughter-in-law’s belly, showing his anticipation and hopes clearly to the two.

Bai Duan, who faintly predicted that he would not be having any kids in this life of his, “……”

Cao YuYing, who never had the function to give birth since birth, “……”