QT: LAC Chapter 156: Ninth World (21)

Chapter 156: Ninth World (21)

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Edited by Sulo

 

For the Emperor, even though he was still in his prime, his time had passed, and he could only remember his original ambition in fantasy. For Cao YuYing, who succeeded in inheriting the throne and became the new leader of the world, the troubles in his life were just beginning.

Sitting on the throne, Cao YuYing was tired and helpless with the pleas from the courtiers.

He flipped the documents at will and tried to think about what kind of excuses he should use to reject them. Then his eyes lit up and he stared at the lover who was lying on the couch, eating fruits and reading at the same time.

——Since becoming the Emperor, the only advantage was that he could get his lover into the palace at any time and place, even if he kept him here all day, everyday, no one dared to protest.

Oh, of course, he still needed to worry about his father-in-law’s will, so Cao YuYing dared not do too much, so as to avoid any gossip coming out of the court, which might make the upright Imperial Counsellor Bai angry and dissatisfied.

Feeling Cao YuYing’s eyes on him, Bai Duan turned to look at him and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Well, come and look at these,” Cao YuYing waved him over, then when he was near, he dragged Bai Duan to his side and sat him on his lap.

Bai Duan was initially disturbed by this alternative ‘sitting on the throne’, but now he was used to it. He relaxed and leaned against Cao YuYing, reached out and picked up the documents, glanced at it, and frowned.

“In a twinkling of an eye, it’s been five years. I had the coronation ceremony a few days ago. I’m a formal adult now. Those old men in the court can’t sit still naturally,” Cao YuYing shrugged his shoulders. “For many days now, I open the documents and only see more and more of these things. It’s really annoying.”

 

Bai Duan pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes, “You… Are you going to get a wife?”

“Well, I think it’s time. After all, I am the Emperor, it’s fine not having concubines, but not even having a queen, that will be weird,” Cao YuYing resisted the banter and teased him seriously. “The queen is nothing like the concubines. It’s a very important role for a country.”

 

Bai Duan’s eyes were dazed, his brain was dizzy, and his lips and cheeks were totally bloodless. Just don’t wait for him to react and say something, Cao YuYing was scared by his appearance, and dare not to tease him any more! He quickly took him into his arms and soothed him. Then he got straight to the point, “So, marry me, please?”

Bai Duan was stunned, and his response was still slow, “What did you say?”

“I mean —” Cao YuYing hooked Bai Duan’s chin and kissed his lips. He was relieved to see that the color was restored on his lips. His forehead pressed against Bai Duan’s, Cao YuYing’s voice gently coaxed, “Would you like to marry me as the queen?”

 

Bai Duan opened his mouth, his face suddenly turned red, and his tone was flustered, “What are you talking about? I’m a man.”

 

“I’m also a man, didn’t I get married to you?” Cao YuYing replied naturally.

Bai Duan… Bai Duan was speechless.

“You see, if I don’t get a queen, these old-fashioned ministers will never stop. Even if I tell them that I like men, they won’t give up trying to stuff women around me. The biggest compromise they will make is probably to open one eye and close the other on the subject of my sexuality,” Cao YuYing sighed, “so, only marriage is a once and for all solution.”

Bai Duan was silent for a moment and felt that Cao YuYing’s words were true. He had seen the sons of the officials liking men, but even so, most of them would also get married with women and have children. Most of them would keep the men they like outside the family, and act as a ‘mistress’.

To tell the truth, Bai Duan was not too against marrying him in women’s clothing, since they fiddled together for so long while Cao YuYing was dressed as a female — since Cao YuYing could do it, he could do it too. Moreover, this meant that they could stay together naturally now.

After pondering over and over again, Bai Duan nodded softly, “But my identity… What about my identity? Would the ministers let a ‘woman’ with no background and unknown origin become the queen?”

“I’ll make them allow it.” Cao YuYing smiled confidently, “As for your identity, let’s set you as Imperial Counsellor Bai’s distant niece, whose parents both died and came to live with me?” He blinked his eyes, Cao YuYing thought for a moment, “Coincidentally, I’m the wandering prince. It’s better to say that you and I have known you as early as when we were living in the city where we lived opposite to each other, and have grown up in love since childhood. Later, I was found and taken away by the people sent by the Emperor, and I was forced to separate myself from you. Now that I’m the Emperor, and you lost your parents, you came to your uncle, and we meet again in the capital — the former lovers meet again, and everything is the same as before, the old love revives, and we are not marrying anyone else…”

 

Bai Duan listened to the two’s settings carefully at first. Later, seeing Cao YuYing say more and more exaggerated things, he immediately looked at him with shame and anger, “But… the ministers urge you to get married. It is important to hope that you will have children as soon as possible, and I…”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I have plenty of heirs.” Cao YuYing raised his eyebrows and chuckled.

 

Bai Duan was surprised and puzzled.

 

Cao YuYing raised his chin and gestured towards the palace harem where the Emperor and his concubines lived, “My father is trying to make one right now, isn’t he? Now, two have been made already! When my younger brothers grow up a little bit and become more sensible, we will choose a good one to be taught by us, and we will not waste my father’s ‘hard work’.”

Bai Duan, “…………”

——If your “father” heard this sentence, he would like to shoot you dead directly on the throne!

It was settled with the little lover. Cao YuYing left the palace, couldn’t wait to change out of the Dragon Robe, and quietly went with Bai Duan to Imperial Counsellor Bai’s house.

Imperial Counsellor Bai was basically familiar with the new Emperor’s furtive running to his home, but he still abided by the etiquette and dare not put on any face as the ‘father-in-law’. But on this day, before he could salute, Cao Yu Ying had taken the lead and knelt in front of him.

Imperial Counsellor Bai was almost scared by the action of the new Emperor, but Bai Duan held the stunned Imperial Counsellor Bai in time, before he could fall to the ground.

“What are you doing, Your Majesty?” Imperial Counsellor Bai’s brain was blank, and he forgot to use the official language of literature.

 

Meanwhile, Bai Duan also gave Cao YuYing a look of discontent, warning him not to frighten his old father.

Realizing that his action of kneeling was too straight-forward, Cao YuYing smiled, but soon he straightened his face and looked at Imperial Counsellor Bai seriously and sincerely, “This time, I am here to ask for your blessing in marriage as a man.”

Imperial Counsellor Bai drew the corner of his mouth, he looked at the new Emperor inexplicably, and then glanced at his beloved son, “You… What are you two up to?”

Cao YuYing coughed softly and explained in detail what he had previously discussed with Bai Duan. As Imperial Counsellor Bai listened to him, the corner of his mouth was twitching, but he had to admit that the idea seemed workable.

Since he learned that Cao YuYing was a man, and that his son really fell in love with him, Imperial Counsellor Bai didn’t try to tear it down. On the one hand, Cao YuYing had a special identity, he dared not use too strong means. On the other hand, he had no way to deal with his idiotic son who wasn’t content until he hit a wall. Imperial Counsellor Bai exhausted all kinds of means but achieved little. Eventually, he had to leave them be and decided that it was best not to bother himself with this.

 

Over the past five years, he has witnessed the ups and downs of his son and Cao YuYing, but their feelings for each other were just as before, and even grew as time progressed. Even he had gradually accepted the fact that they were together. When others asked about his son and the Second Princess, he would have a thick face to cover for them.

However, since Cao YuYing was crowned, the officials had been making a lot of noise for the future heir. Listening to this, Imperial Counsellor Bai was so anxious that he was about to get angry, but he didn’t have a reason to refuse. He was really afraid that the Emperor would not be able to resist the pressure of the court, or that he would become unfaithful, and let his nameless but faithful son who followed him down.

Today, Cao YuYing proposed to welcome his beloved son into the palace as the queen. Although it was weird and not traditional, it was also a way to solve the problem. What’s the problem with dressing up as a man or a woman? After all, the new Emperor got married to his son in women’s clothing as well. Could his own son be more honorable and proud than the Emperor?

Once the new emperor got married, as long as the Emperor and Empress were loving and harmonious, no one could say anything about the Emperor not having concubines and a harem. There were also such examples in history. As long as they operated properly, they could even become a beautiful tale.

Taking a deep breath, Imperial Counsellor Bai stroked his beard, “If my son enters the palace as the queen, where will ‘Bai Duan’ go?”

“Father-in-law, you don’t have to worry.” Cao YuYing smiled and said, “Just like how the ‘Second Princess’ lives in the Bai household and doesn’t go out often. Without any doubt, the ‘Queen’ also lives in the deep palace and won’t be seen at leisure, and I’ve already fixed the palace, so no news will get out. Most of the time, Xiao Duan will still act as ‘Bai Duan’. I will never aggrieve him or detain him in the palace, even if he wants to become an official in the court, it is OK.”

Imperial Counsellor Bai’s heart was moved, but he still managed to resist the urge to go take back doors for his son, “There is no need for him to be an official, ‘Bai Duan’ has already married the princess, and it’s unreasonable for him to enter the dynasty as an official. As long as he can go out of the palace often to visit this lowly official, it’s enough.”

 

“Thank you father-in-law!” Having understood the meaning of Imperial Counsellor Bai, Cao YuYing was very happy and looked at Bai Duan with happy eyes. Bai Duan, who had been used to Cao YuYing’s display of affection, still blushed and turned his head to one side, looking like he was embarrassed from being newly-wedded.

After getting the consent of his father-in-law, Cao YuYing moved quickly, and soon performed a touching story about the reunion of the Emperor and the Bai house’s young niece, whom he was deeply in love with. In the court hall, he also reversed his previous attitude of refusing to cooperate after the establishment, and was excited to prepare his own grand wedding ceremony.

Bai Duan was dressed in a red wedding dress and stared at the red veil in his hand, which was sewn by Cao YuYing before he got married. After he married, it was carefully collected in the box, but he never thought this would see the light of day again, and come in handy right now. 

In fact, this was not the first time Bai Duan had worn women’s clothes. Previously, he was forced to wear Cao YuYing’s women’s clothes several times because he laughed at him. They had also… done some embarrassing things, also what you would call night activities while he wore them. 

However, Bai Duan never thought that he would get married in a woman’s wedding dress — if it was true that what goes around comes around, he would not have laughed at Cao YuYing before.

Imperial Counsellor Bai looked at his son wearing a wedding dress and face painted with light makeup, who appeared even more ‘beautiful and gentle’ than the Fourth Prince when he was dressed as a woman at the beginning. He sighed deeply, and then put the veil on his son’s head with a complex expression.

You married him first, and then he marries you. The young couple held two weddings with two different identities, one bigger than the other, attracting worldwide attention. They truly… knew how to have fun.

However, as long as they can love each other and be well in the future, not make any trouble, even if it was difficult for him, all was worth it!

Imperial Counsellor Bai had a son, but he still felt the emotions of sending his ‘daughter’ off to be married. Imperial Counsellor Bai prayed so much, and God finally replied to his wish and didn’t let him experience any more ‘accidents’ beyond his tolerance.

As Cao YuYing had promised, the Emperor and Empress had a harmonious marriage. Even though the empress was only a commoner orphan girl, she had always been loved by the Emperor so very much that His Majesty had not gotten even one concubine in his entire life. Even if the Emperor and Empress had no children for many years after their marriage, and the Emperor had to choose one of his younger brothers to be their son, his love for the Empress never subsided, and they really achieved the goal of “one pair for life”.

Because of the Queen’s extreme favor from the Emperor, the Bai family also rose with the tide. The Emperor and Bai Duan, the young head of the Bai family also had a very good relationship. These two men were both brother-in-laws of each other. They often went in and out together and even slept together. Even though Bai Duan has always been a commoner, no one dared to look down on him. Even when the nobles and other senior officials saw him, they would respectfully call him “Mr. Bai”. Although they were so close to each other, there was no ‘gossip’ about them. The world only considered them as simple close friends. 

Well, this was because everyone knows that the Emperor favored the Empress alone, and Bai Duan was also deeply in love with the Second Princess? ^_^