Imperial Weight Chapter 28
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 28
After returning from the Miao village, they resumed their previous life. Xingyi had previously led troops to guard Jiangling, this military stronghold, and after half a year, these duties had been completely taken over by the head of the Xie family.
Xingyi supervised everything every ten days or half a month, and after confirming that everything in Jiangling was operating normally, he could finally completely let go. The official seal and tiger tally had actually always been in the hands of Young City Lord Xie Yuan, and Xingyi only had an imperial decree and the Imperial Sword by his side, so there really wasn't much to hand over.
A few days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Young City Lord Xie Yuan and his young military strategist invited him to dinner. That day also happened to be the third month of Xingyi and Little Phoenix's wedding. Little Phoenix hadn't received an invitation to join them, which meant they wanted to discuss serious matters. So Xingyi promised to bring Little Phoenix delicious pastries from Mingyue Tower and would go early and return early.
Those two young men already conducted themselves with the style and bearing of high-ranking officials, worldly-wise but not jaded. Xingyi enjoyed dealing with them—it was effortless, and they were all honest with each other.
Sure enough, just as the three of them sat down at the banquet, Young City Lord Xie Yuan across from them got straight to the point. "Your Highness, we wanted to ask about your future plans."
Xingyi took a sip of tea and pushed out a land deed from his sleeve.
The young military strategist leaned forward, glanced at it, and said in a low voice, "The prince's residence deed? Are you transferring it to us?"
Xingyi said, "Not transferring—this place was yours to begin with. My prince's residence was already close to your City Lord's old mansion. Last time I heard you say that having so many relatives all living together in the City Lord's mansion was inconvenient, and you two young people would be better off establishing a separate residence. The older generation becomes more muddled with age; moving out would help you focus better. If you don't want to move, you could also renovate after connecting them—it's just a few steps away, very convenient."
Xie Yuan said, "So you don't plan to stay in Jiangling?"
Xingyi said, "No. Fenghuang wants to go north, and I'll take him back to the capital to settle down. We probably won't return to the south in the future."
The young military strategist interjected, "When would this be? Actually, I think Jiangling is quite a good place. Won't you reconsider?"
Xie Yuan also said, "You've already achieved great merit. To speak frankly, since you're in Jiangling, you surely know that His Majesty is wary of you. Neither Xiao Sang nor I advise you to return to the capital so early."
Xingyi said, "I know. This matter requires careful consideration. Before returning to the capital, I'll take Fenghuang to live elsewhere for a few years. We'll also stay in Jiangling for a while longer. You needn't worry—I have my own plans."
Having said this, he smiled.
These two young men were both more than ten years younger than him. What they could see, he naturally could see as well. That they brought it up so solemnly meant they truly considered him a friend.
Having reached this point in the conversation, both sides understood each other's intentions. The decision had been made, and those who would advise no longer pressed.
The banquet ended early, and the young military strategist ordered a portion of every pastry in the building, packing four food boxes to be sent to the prince's residence.
The young City Lord and military strategist stood by the door to see him off. Xingyi looked back at the two figures in the lamplight and suddenly recalled what Little Phoenix had said last time—"They're so good together, they look like they'll be together for a lifetime."
They were truly good together. He had never doubted it, nor envied it, because what he should have, he now had as well. At home, someone was sitting beneath the moon, eagerly waiting for him to return.
"Best wishes," Xie Yuan said. "The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon. We'll invite you for mooncakes another day. Xiao Sang's mooncakes are quite good."
The young military strategist was a bit reserved. "They're just okay, rather ordinary, not very delicious."
Xingyi nodded slightly, mounted his horse, and rode through the empty streets under the moon. Looking up, there was the pitch-black sky and a cascade of twinkling stars, like a chessboard, intricate and complex, eternally turning, like the way Little Phoenix looked at him.
—-
In the hot spring, steam rose and mist filled the air, making even one's eyes moist.
Xingyi opened his eyes. Both of them were now completely bare, without any covering, exposed so clearly and openly to each other's view. Little Phoenix was practically climbing onto him, moving bit by bit along the pool wall closer.
Then he pressed against Xingyi's side.
His hand also reached into the spring water, accurately finding Xingyi's hand amid the surging heat, then clasping it.
During all this, Little Phoenix hadn't looked at Xingyi, just stared at the water surface with some shyness. Xingyi highly suspected this little troublemaker was a bit too practiced at this—why did he happen to touch his hand and not something else?
This thought only briefly crossed his mind, and he didn't dwell on it, as if seeing that this little bird was more innocent than he'd imagined left him slightly disappointed.
After Little Phoenix called out "husband" once, he made no other sound, just pressed against him like that. Skin against skin, smooth and soft as water. After a moment of contemplation, Xingyi answered in a low voice, "...Mm."
Little Phoenix's eyes brightened slightly.
The next moment, Xingyi scooped him up entirely, just like last night, placing him directly in his embrace and pressing him down, pressing his waist, making him sit in front of him, tightly pressed together. The water splashed with a loud sound, and the entire spring pool surged with waves from this movement before settling down again.
Little Phoenix trembled all over from this, even his breathing became unsteady. "Wei, Weijian..."
He lowered his head and caught sight of Xingyi's eyes, as indifferent as water. For some reason, he felt a bit sad, and that delicate, temperamental mood came over him again.
He clearly likes me, Little Phoenix thought somewhat resentfully. This person even reads those strange books with the two of them as the main characters.
He said softly again, "Weijian."
Xingyi looked at him sideways. After a moment, he no longer looked at his eyes, his gaze moving downward as he captured a certain spot and began kissing it carefully. Little Phoenix trembled all over from his kisses, his body's reaction making him instinctively push away, but he controlled himself to hold tightly to Xingyi's back.
Xingyi's breath sprayed by his ear, somewhat hot. "Is this how you seduce me, hmm? You yourself... don't seem to have such skill, my little phoenix."
A few days ago, when the rumors about Little Phoenix and him were spreading most fiercely, he hadn't seen anyone, including Yue Lao and Phoenix Mingzun—anyone could figure out that a bunch of people were waiting to see him make a fool of himself, and he absolutely wouldn't go out.
But while he didn't see people, he had ways of letting other things reach him. Yue Lao had someone slip him a book. On the title page was drawn a pig-head-shaped laughing face. Opening it, he saw it was a story book passionately written by Yue Lao himself, and an extremely obscene one at that.
The protagonists of this story book were him and Little Phoenix. Besides his own original work, Yue Lao had also collected all sorts of hearsay, vividly described romantic tales. The book's title page read: "Why Does a Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Iron Tree Bloom? See How a Devoted Little Bird Moves Heaven and Earth to Stir the Star Lord."
After flipping through a few pages, Xingyi scoffed at Yue Lao's trivial skills. "I've lived for tens of thousands of years—what haven't I seen? Once there was a nest of lustful serpents that I wiped out in one sweep. Snakes are lustful by nature, and at that time their entire clan was holding a festival. All sorts of strange people from the six realms attended—now that was a grand scene."
The crane messenger helping Yue Lao deliver the message: "......"
Xingyi patiently instructed. "Look here, this illustration. Such terrible artistry must also be from Yue Lao himself, right? The brushwork here is different—I'm afraid that big phoenix also had a hand in it. Go back and tell them to redraw it. The forms aren't even accurate—what's the point of erotic art like this?"
The crane: "......"
Later, naturally the crane didn't dare bring this book back as is, much less tell the eagerly waiting Yue Lao what Xingyi had said. Xingyi casually tossed it by the bed, flipping through it when he had nothing to do, using it as draft paper to sketch diagrams of divine weapons and such. That day when Little Phoenix was looking at it with him, he was composing a draft in his mind, planning to forge another pair of magical artifacts for catching little birds that started chirping before dawn all over the world.
After piecing this together, Xingyi understood. This silly little bird had probably misunderstood, thinking that he'd had no outlet for tens of thousands of years, so was rushing forward to seduce him.
Xingyi's eyes showed neither wave nor ripple. Before long, he had kissed Little Phoenix's lips, neck, and ears, when he suddenly released Little Phoenix, rising slightly and pressing Little Phoenix down a bit.
......
Little Phoenix tilted his head back, exposing his neck, panting silently. His face was flushed red, his pale and delicate throat right before Xingyi's eyes, as if it could be snapped in an instant. A trace of dangerous ferocity flashed through Xingyi's eyes, which he then suppressed, somewhat surprised at himself—his ferocity that hadn't appeared in ten thousand years... actually emerged at a time like this.
As if clamoring for him to crush the person before him and merge him into his bones and blood, to devour his flesh and fuse as one, never to be separated again.
After a long while, Little Phoenix went completely soft and collapsed into Xingyi's embrace.
Xingyi raised his hand to look at it, then casually brushed it across Little Phoenix's lips. "Comfortable?"
Little Phoenix glared at him.
Looking quite meek, but still putting on a fierce show. Hot air rose from his body, as if what was rising wasn't heat but silliness.
Xingyi couldn't help but laugh. "Little Yuanyuan, do you want to dual cultivate with me?"
Little Phoenix continued glaring at him.
Xingyi reached out to touch his face. "What, not happy? My essence is self-transformed, my five qi harmonized. Nourishing essence and solidifying qi has always been my cultivation method. If you want to dual cultivate with me, you need to at least cultivate to the Tribulation-Crossing Golden Core realm, otherwise..."
Otherwise, while cultivating, your cultivation would greatly increase, your qi would become chaotic again, and with a pop you'd turn back into a round little fluffy ball.
Little Phoenix still glared at him, looking a bit angry and also a bit disdainful.
Xingyi: "?"
Little Phoenix thought for a while, and the expression on his face changed from disdain to understanding, then sympathy and a trace of melancholy. "You don't need to explain, husband. I understand everything."
Xingyi looked up at him: "?"
Little Phoenix was a bit sorrowful. "You can't do it anymore, can you... I understand. It's been so long, and you said you're old too. Although I don't think you're old, I must admit that the age gap between us objectively exists. It's okay, it doesn't matter. If you can't, I still can!"
As he spoke, Little Phoenix pressed both hands on Xingyi's shoulders and with determined eyes, pressed him toward the shore.
Xingyi, being pressed down by him, met his eyes, and his lips moved.
Little Phoenix didn't hear clearly. "Husband, what did you say?"
Before Xingyi could speak, Little Phoenix flatteringly patted Xingyi's face and quickly changed his address. "Wife, what did you say?"
Xingyi said, "I'm thinking my magical artifact needs to be forged faster."
Little Phoenix was full of curiosity. "Ah, what are you saying? What artifact? What's it for?"
Xingyi grabbed him with one hand, stood up, and tossed this clingy spirit into the spring water, then picked up his clothes and got out.
Xingyi said, "For catching little birds, to benefit heaven and earth. Now it seems there's no time to lose."
