Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 55

He's Easy to Fool Anyway

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The person who came was the palace maid at Ning Zhiyu's side. When Yan Yuan heard that something had happened to Ning Zhiyu, he left without looking back, so Xuan Long had to swallow back the words that were on his lips.

In the silence of the hall, Xuan Long took a pill from the hidden compartment on the side of his bed. The sharp pain in his abdomen gradually faded away, but the pain like ants gnawing at his bones only increased.

That was what it was like to have the power of the soul eaten away, starting from the moment he lost his inner elixir. There were always hours in the day when the pain was severe, just as a human being needs a lot of nourishment when he is hungry, a foetus also needs a lot of nutrients when it is hungry.

Xuan Long's body curled up like a pangolin that had been hit hard, and he shivered visibly, his arms wrapped around himself to ease the pain, but the effect was clearly weak.

A cold sweat broke out on his back and he was barely able to maintain his composure in front of Yan Yuan, but now he could no longer do so. His mind too confused to think about anything else, he fell into a deep sleep amidst the dense pain.

When Yan Yuan arrived at Luanfeng Hall, Ning Zhiyu was waking up on the bed. The palace attendant had boiled medicine and brought it to the bedside, persuading him bitterly: "Your Majesty, you should drink the medicine, if His Majesty knew that you were not caring for your body, how worried he would be..."

Ning Zhiyu was as thin as a paper figure with thin bones, lying thinly under the thick brocade blanket, his scarlet eyes staring lifelessly upwards, looking ready to die at any moment.

When he heard the palace attendant's words, he only blinked woodenly, without any reaction.

Seeing that persuasion was useless, the elder eunuch winked to the two younger eunuchs beside him, who immediately went to the bedside and combined their efforts to hold Ning Zhiyu's shoulders and back to lift him up. The elder eunuch came forward with a jade medicine bowl and scooped up a spoonful of the pitch-black soup to Ning Zhiyu's lips.

"Your Majesty, just take a sip..."

Ning Zhiyu turned his face away and raised his hand to block it, he had not eaten for several days and could not control his strength, the turquoise jade bowl was accidentally brushed to the ground with a crashing sound and shattered into pieces, spilling the soup and medicine with dragon scales all over the ground.

The eunuch sighed and slapped his thighs, "This medicine is very precious, the medicine inside was brought back by the Emperor after a lot of hard work, if it is spilled, it will be gone..."

The corners of Ning Zhiyu's mouth curved up and his gaze was dead silent as he softly said, "If it's gone, it's gone."

"We agreed... to hold the hand of our son and grow old with him..."

"He is dead, what reason do I have to live... I am going to be with him."

"On Huangquan Road... I'll hold his hand, and in my next life, we'll be husband and wife again..."

Ning Zhiyu's nature is unhurried, gentle, and quiet, and he treats the palace staff extremely well. The hall was desolate, and when the palace staff saw that he was determined to die, they raised their sleeves and wiped their tears, not even noticing when someone came in from outside the hall.

“A'Yu..."

Ning Zhiyu froze and looked stiffly at the source of the voice. Yan Yuan, in a dragon robe, lifted the beaded curtain and walked quickly towards him. Ning Zhiyu moved his mouth, but failed to make a sound.

When Yan Yuan entered, the palace staff backed away to make way for him. Yan Yuan sat down on the edge of the bed, grabbed Ning Zhiyu's cold hands, and spoke anxiously, "I heard that you haven't taken your medicine for a few days, do you want to be scolded by me?"

Ning Zhiyu stared blankly at the stunning face in front of him, tears falling from his dark eyes to his cheeks: “A'Yuan... is that you?"

Yan Yuan tightened his hand: "It's me."

Ning Zhiyu smiled, his fingertips trembled as he caressed Yan Yuan's face, feeling the vivid touch and temperature, and cried lowly: "They said you were dead..."

Yan Yuan took the person into his arms, patted Ning Zhiyu's back, and said softly: "I've come back, haven't I?”

"Don't cry, don't cry."

Although Ning Zhiyu was a few years older than Yan Yuan, when they were together, Yan Yuan's stability was always the same as his. Perhaps because he felt that Ning Zhiyu was alone and lonely and that he was the only one he could rely on, he did not want to let him suffer.

Yan Yuan did not tell Ning Zhiyu about his departure from the palace that day and did not meet with him for several days on the pretext that he was busy with court affairs. Ning Zhiyu thought that he was really busy and did not come, so he asked the palace maid to make a delicious snack and send it to Qiankun Palace to remind him to take care of his health, but the palace maid inadvertently learned from the conversation between Chen Yan and the guards that the whereabouts of Yan Yuan's body was unknown after his death.

Ning Zhiyu ordered someone to bribe the head guard and found out that Yan Yuan had been fatally shot while trying to find his medicine, and he was so disheartened that he wanted to die.

Yan Yuan comforted Ning Zhiyu and learned from him what had happened, and he was terrified. If he hadn't come back to life, or if he had woken up a few days later, would Ning Zhiyu really have died with him?

"Silly A'Yu." When Yan Yuan scolded Ning Zhiyu, his tone was soft and gentle, unlike when he was angry with Xuan Long and his words were extremely unpleasant, "No matter what time it is, you must not belittle your own life. I have gone to such great lengths to find your medicine, and this is how you repay me?"

Ning Zhiyu stopped crying and leaned reassuringly into Yan Yuan's arms, listening to his steady, strong heartbeat: "Everyone in this world belittles my life, only you care for me and feel sorry for me."

"If you die, I will follow you. Even if I go to hell, as long as you are by my side, I will not be afraid of bulls, ghosts, snakes, or gods.”

"Because I know... you will protect me."

When Yan Yuan heard this, his throat tightened up and the strong feeling of guilt inside him came back up.

Ning Zhiyu trusted him so much, how could he break his heart, this was the love of his life in his previous life... What about Xuan Long, what should happen to Xuan Long?

The desperation of his dream made Yan Yuan unwilling to hurt Ning Zhiyu, while his inexplicable obsession with Xuan Long made him unable to be ruthless. In a dilemma, Yan Yuan was hesitant.

He put the matter of appointing a concubine out of his mind for the time being and asked the palace staff to bring in a light meal. Seeing that Yan Yuan was safe, Ning Zhiyu was finally willing to eat. Taking one bite after another, he obediently ate the green vegetables and meat porridge that Yan Yuan spooned over to him. He chewed slowly, which made him look particularly elegant.

After half a bowl had gone down, Ning Zhiyu waved his hand to reject the spoon offered by Yan Yuan, covering his lips and stiffly coughing twice, he shook his head and said, “No more."

Yan Yuan knew that he had a small appetite, so he didn't force him, handing the bowl to the palace staff and letting them all exit, leaving the two of them alone in the hall.

"Are you sleepy?"

"I'm not sleepy when I look at you."

Although Ning Zhiyu said so, his body was too weak and he could not hold on for long after taking the medicine, so Yan Yuan helped him lie down and ran his fingers over Ning Zhiyu's beautiful eyebrows.

Seeing his distracted look, Ning Zhiyu asked, holding back his exhaustion, “A'Yuan, do you have something on your mind?"

Yan Yuan was silent for a moment, met Ning Zhiyu's gaze, and gathered the courage to speak, “A'Yu... I have something that I want to ask you. If you are not happy to hear it... then forget it."

Ning Zhiyu's intuition was that it was something not very good, but he still smiled: "What is it? Just say it, I won't be unhappy."

Yan Yuan had rarely been this apprehensive: "Haven't you always wanted to know why the medicine you are taking is so precious and hard to find?"

"In fact, it's not something that can be found from a cliff face at all, it's something that can only be found by entering a ten-thousand-foot-deep pond."

"I was afraid of scaring you before and didn't tell you the truth."

"Your remedy, it’s not herbs... but dragon scales."

"Dragon scales?..." Ning Zhiyu said in surprise.

Yan Yuan decided to tell the whole story: “En."

"On the night of our wedding, you suddenly fell ill and your life was in danger, and the imperial doctors were at their wits’ end. At this time, Zong Hua told me that there was a dragon in the thousand-year-old pond under Jinghua Mountain, and that the heart of the dragon could be used as medicine... to cure all diseases."

"Apart from this solution, I didn't know what else to do to wake you up, so I could only treat a dead horse as a living one, and took cultivators to the ancient pond the next day to capture the dragon alive. I didn't know that I would run into an assassination attempt halfway through the journey, and I fell to the bottom of the pond by mistake."

"It is strange that… it was clearly under water, but people can breathe freely, so I thought the dragon had cast some kind of spell." Yan Yuan said this, and as if recalling something beautiful, his face unconsciously showed a little smile, which quickly disappeared because of the next words and he became a little frustrated.

"I originally thought he was as cruel as the rumours circulating in the rivers and lakes, but who knew that he was cold on the outside while treating me gently. I took this opportunity to pretend to like him and tricked him into returning to the palace so that he could pluck dragon scales for you to use as medicine."

"I wanted to cut his heart out while he was asleep, but I couldn't bear it. He had no grudge against me. Just because his flesh and blood could save lives, did he have to die? I couldn't do it."

"So, I could only keep coaxing him in the name of love... to get dragon scales from him and use them to suppress your illness."

"Later, he found out that I didn't love him at all, that it was all a lie, and left."

"This time, when I left the palace, I went to seek him for dragon scales, but I ended up encountering an assassination attempt again and lost my life halfway... It was he who saved me."

"So what?..." Ning Zhiyu knew that what Yan Yuan was going to say next was the main point.

"If it wasn't for him... I would be dead." Yan Yuan’s confidence bottomed out.

"I don't think I should let him give so much for nothing... Since he likes me and is willing to stay by my side, I'm thinking of giving him a name and making him a concubine."

Ning Zhiyu thought Yan Yuan might be crazy. That's a demon, and regardless of whether it's true or not, what he said is unbelievable enough: "You want to appoint a demon as a concubine?..."

Yan Yuan hurriedly explained, "Although he is a demon, he has a gentle nature and is no different from the human race."

"Don't worry, even if I appoint him as my concubine, the person I love the most is still you."

Ning Zhiyu frowned slowly, "For thousands of years, the rumours in society are that all demons are evil and demonic and like to eat human flesh and blood, could he be staying by your side for some purpose..."

"No! What purpose could he have, he just loves me, that's why he's willing to extract scales to save you." Yan Yuan didn't quite like the way Ning Zhiyu spoke about Xuan Long.

Ning Zhiyu looked at Yan Yuan as if he didn't know him, “A’Yuan, are you in love with him?"

"I am not! The person I love has always been you." Yan Yuan blurted out, "If it were not for the cure of your illness, I would not have gone to such lengths to keep him. The act of registering a concubine is primarily to stabilise him, and secondly, I feel guilty about the way I treat him... at most, I only like him a little."

"Is that so?" Ning Zhiyu withdrew his gaze.

“En."

“Then… do you agree?" Yan Yuan finally turned towards Ning Zhiyu, and was more considerate of his feelings, "If you don't agree, I'll find an excuse to put it off, he's easy to fool anyway and won't do anything."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: July 11, 2022