Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 80

A’Long Didn't Say He Didn't Want The Baby

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There was a momentary silence in the air.

Mo Zun sneered, "I don't know who was dying to badger this honourable man last night. You think this honourable one cares for you?"

Ning Zhiyu transformed into a human sculpture, losing his life, and his onion-white fingers clenched the bedding over his body: "It's all because of you... If you hadn't appeared, he wouldn't have gone to seek Xuan Long for me, and maybe in this life, if they hadn't met, A'Yuan would have loved only me."

"You are the broom star..."

"You get... out of my body."

A broom star?

Isn't that the one who sweeps the ground in the Nine Heavens?

This damned human, how dare he call this dignified demon a broom star. Thanks to him, he was worried sick about this man, worked all night to cure the effects of the medicine for him and gave up his precious first time, only to have this man not only deny it, but also look as if he had been ruined.

Was he that bad?

"This honourable one is too lazy to bother with you."

Mo Zun held his stifled breath and disappeared onto the bed, his soul turning into a wisp of black and red silk smoke that burrowed into Ning Zhiyu's body.

Ning Zhiyu grabbed the golden phoenix pillow behind him and threw it to the floor: "You get out..."

"You get the hell out..."

"Get out!!!"

The person inside his body did not pay attention to him, instead, the palace people outside the hall were attracted to the commotion. Qingmei asked him nervously through the hall door what was wrong, Ning Zhiyu gradually calmed down, his face ashen.

"Qingmei… Prepare hot water, I want to bathe..."

"Your Majesty, it will take some work to heat the hot water, why don't we have lunch first?" Qingmei wondered.

Ning Zhiyu closed his eyes, "Bathe first."

......

A rich, cold scent filled the empty hall, and on a bed with a hanging tent lay a bloodless man, dressed in profane clothes, his face seemingly heroic, but the hideous scar on the right side of his face ruined all his beauty. The blue brocade quilt covered his chest, unable to conceal the high belly.

Yan Yuan sat on the edge of the bed, occasionally reaching out with his index finger to probe for Xuan Long's breath under his nose, and if it were not for the faint breath that remained, Yan Yuan would almost have thought the man was dead.

Xuan Long's hands were so cold that they could not be warmed up, so Yan Yuan asked someone to bring more quilts to cover him up, but he did not look any better.

The sun was shining brightly outside, the noon hour had passed, and Yan Yuan's eyes were crawling with cobwebs of red blood.

"Someone!"

Chen Yan quickly came through the door, bowed and asked, "What are Your Majesty's orders?"

Yan Yuan: "Has the man who went to seek the flower spirit returned?"

Chen Yan sighed secretly and said, "In reply to Your Majesty's words, no... If they had returned, they would have come straight over here."

Yan Yuan's voice was a little hoarse: "Send out more men to look for them, send ten imperial troops, five to ambush near Weihua Lane and five to patrol the city, we must find the flower spirit today."

"This servant obeys the order."

Chen Yan received the order and turned around, taking a step, then hesitantly turned back to look at the two people on the bed.

Yan Yuan was so preoccupied with Xuan Long that he did not notice that he had not left.

Chen Yan called to him softly, "Your Majesty..."

Yan Yuan turned around, his face tense. The lack of sleep had caused a faint greenish tinge under his eyes, a strand of loose hair had fallen at the corner of his forehead from his crowned hair, and a prickly stubble had sprouted on his chin; he was handsome but could not hide his haggardness.

He had not drunk or eaten since last night and had not even attended the morning court today.

He must have been worried about Xuan Long, otherwise he would not have gotten himself into such a state.

Chen Yan's withered body was slightly hunched as he looked at him and spoke in a serious tone, "Your Majesty, what kind of existence is Master Han to you..."

"Is he only to be used?..."

Yan Yuan reflexively frowned, "Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

Chen Yan let out a long sigh and lowered his gaze: "This old slave is only an eunuch, and because he grew up watching the Emperor, he still has the guts to say a few words of knowledge. If there are any mistakes in what has been said, please do not blame Your Majesty."

"There are some things, some people, that must be grasped in the moment, if you miss them... it will never be the same again."

Yan Yuan's eyebrows knitted deeply: "What do you mean?"

Chen Yan lifted his cloudy, old eyes to meet Yan Yuan's gaze: "Although Master Han is not human, he is also a living being in this world. His heart is also made of flesh and blood, it will hurt, he will be sad, he will be upset... If you care for him at all, then be kind to him."

"If enough disappointment is saved up, there is no turning back..."

There was no one to give him a way back.

How can he go back? The dilemma of going back is a dead end.

The more Yan Yuan listened, the more panicked he became, as if he was trapped in a dark chamber. The more he struggled the less he could find a way out, clenching his fist and saying, "I want to treat him well, but he insists on making me angry. He is so stubborn and does not know how to give in to me, so I cannot help but be angry..."

"... If the Empress was angry with you, what would you do?" Chen Yan asked in a low voice.

Yan Yuan said offhandedly, "I would coax him properly."

Chen Yan was silent for a short while: "Your Majesty, if you share some of your great tolerance and patience for the Empress with Master Han, he will probably have a much better time... When he is in a better mood, he will not sulk at you, and you will be happy."

Yan Yuan thought about it and thought it made sense, but there was something in his heart: "He is no match for A’Yu. Besides, most of the time my joy is from A'Yu, not from him."

Then why are you angry?

Chen Yan did not dare to ask this, he just looked at the person on that bed and felt too bitter, too bitter. It was said that demons were the evil of evils, yet wasn't it that dragon on the bed who had saved their Emperor's life?

That day, he had heard Yan Yuan say that he would treat Xuan Long well, but he did not know what had blinded him now.

Chen Yan looked at him with anxiety, having held these words in his heart for a long time.

"The Empress is a noble person, above all others, and few can match him. Xuan Long treats you with sincerity and willingly entered the palace as a demon to accompany you, so he should not be let down too much. He is pregnant, I don't think he can withstand any more blows..."

Yan Yuan's face was cold: "Why do you speak for him like this?"

Chen Yan said, “This old slave is only afraid that one day, the Emperor will regret what he has done now..."

"That's enough." Yan Yuan interrupted him, "I know, I will restrain myself. You quickly go and send someone to bring the flower spirit here."

Chen Yan walked to the door, turned back and asked, "Has Your Majesty ever thought of letting him go?..."

Yan Yuan answered with a cold face, "No."

Chen Yan said nothing more and quietly retreated, gently closing the door of the hall.

Somehow, he always felt that this deep palace could not imprison Xuan Long.

No matter how high the palace walls were, no matter how many imperial guards there were, they could not stop a living being who wanted to leave.

That unsettling premonition became stronger and stronger as the man on the bed gradually faded...

The palace painter drew a portrait of the flower spirit as Yan Yuan had dictated. The woman in a pink dress leapt off the paper, exquisitely lifelike. After passing the portrait around, hundreds of imperial troops were sent out to search and patrol the city. They finally found the flower spirit carrying a basket of vegetables at the marketplace at dusk the next day and took her into the palace.

Xuan Long slept for five days, unable to eat, so Yan Yuan could only put warm water into his mouth every few hours.

Xiao Zhanzi was taken to the prison for not reporting the incident. Before he was dragged away, he cried out to Yan Yuan to save Xuan Long. He had always listened to Xuan Long and kept quiet, but he could not bear to see him die.

The consequences of tying a bandage without medicine to stop the bleeding were predictable - the flesh and blood would stick to the bandage. Xuan Long's back was a bloody mess, and Yan Yuan only had to undo a little of the bandage to make the wound, which had already scabbed over, bloody again. He didn't dare to continue touching it, so he changed him into clean clothes.

He thought that Hua Niang would have a better solution when she arrived, but she also had to use her hands to separate the bandages from the flesh and blood, which was the same as asking Xuan Long to suffer the pain of pulling out his scales all over again.

But he was so deep in a coma that he could not even feel the pain.

Those who watched from the sidelines were horrified. Crimson blood slid down the deep red flesh from Xuan Long's back, quickly soaking the bed, and Hua Niang shed tears in distress.

“A'Long…"

"How could this happen..."

Yan Yuan pursed his lips and frowned, unable to resist averting his gaze, "Such a large wound, will it leave a scar?"

Hua Niang spoke with a sobbing voice, "This is a whole piece of skin that was plucked out raw, how could it not leave a scar."

"Unless there is Immortal Muscle Powder, that kind of wound medicine is the finest wound medicine in the demon world, it can make bones white and give birth to new muscles. With this, I can at best only heal his wounds, leaving unsightly scars is a certainty."

Yan Yuan felt unspeakable regret as he remembered Xuan Long's formerly smooth skin, every inch of his muscle was beautiful in just the right way, in contrast to the way his skin was not even intact today.

In a muffled voice, he said, "Hmm."

"You've gone too far...” Hua Niang murmured as she carefully sprinkled the topical medicine that had stopped the bleeding on. "Do you know that he is now..."

The words died on the edge of her tongue.

She remembered that day when Hu Le had told her to never let Yan Yuan know that Xuan Long had lost all his Taoism, otherwise he would probably put Xuan Long in a more dangerous situation.

This human was already bad enough for him, if he knew that his inner elixir was gone, he would probably just capture him and cut out his heart...

"What did you just say?" Yan Yuan looked at her critically.

"Nothing." Hua Niang shook her head and after sprinkling the wound medicine, she used a weak spell to neatly wrap the bandages around Xuan Long's body.

His entire back was wounded, and the bandage would inevitably wrap around his stomach, which would require a test of skill: it couldn't be tied too loosely or too tightly, as it could strangle the baby.

After the bandage was tied, Hua Niang deliberately poked her little finger into the bandage to test the tightness, making sure that it would not squeeze the child. Only then did she feel relieved and straightened up, conjuring up several packets of herbs wrapped in vellum in her palm and handing them to Yan Yuan.

"The wound is bandaged. Take these medicines, twice a day, boil them for A'Long to drink on time after breakfast and dinner, they are for nourishing the blood and calming the foetus. It will be good for his recovery."

Her magical skills were low, and she was used to carrying medicine when she went out to the clinic or to heal patients, but the rest of the time she was not very good at it and was not much different from an ordinary weak woman, so the imperial guards easily captured her.

At this moment, she looked at Yan Yuan with some apprehension, "I have to go back... my daughter is still waiting for me."

Yan Yuan took the medicine in her hand and asked indifferently, "Is there a foetal abortion medicine?"

Hua Niang was surprised, "What?..."

Yan Yuan raised his eyes to look at her, “Abortion pills."

Hua Niang murmured softly, “A'Long didn't say he didn't want the baby..."

"I don't want it."

— — — —

The author has something to say:

It was to be expected that the last chapter would produce such a serious polarisation

To explain:

I think people may have some misunderstanding, it is not that Mo Zun and Ning Zhiyu will become a cp and will be harmonious and beautiful, no, Ning Zhiyu loves Yan Yuan. No matter how good Mo Zun is, he will not feel happy, after sleeping with someone he does not like, he will only have extreme disgust, and that will only be painful for him.

It is impossible to say what will happen afterwards. The two may change their minds and be together after many experiences, or they may be separated by their single-mindedness in the moment and come to their senses at the last moment and regret it.

The main story will focus on the main plot, so you can rest assured that the subplots will mostly serve to move the plot along. Even if I have to write at great length, it will be placed in extras, which you can choose to read or not.

Some readers say that I am Ning Zhiyu's mother, so I treat him so well and should arrange such a good cp for him... Well, this kind of view does not exist in my philosophy, I always write the text how I enjoy writing.

I think it's very fragrant

Ning Zhiyu, who is gentle in front of Yan Yuan, is cold-faced and ruthless to Mo Zun, and is still not touched by Mo Zun after many experiences, discovers his heart when Mo Zun is about to die, however it is too late... hahahahaha thinking about it I am so cool.

So I wrote it

Of course it's just a thought at the moment, the plot may change later. I'm taking it one day at a time and I don't know what new ideas will pop into my head tomorrow.

The reason why I created this character is because I was tired of writing evil white lotuses and I wanted to write something different this time. There is no absolute good or evil in human nature. Every character has a motive and a purpose for doing something, and such motives and purposes make the character more fleshed out.

Ning Zhiyu was born poor and unloved since childhood, and when he has someone to love, a former lover suddenly appears to steal his lover from him. In this case, he made such a choice, which was actually predictable and not abrupt.

I think I've succeeded - in the portrayal of this character. Otherwise it wouldn't have been so controversial, with some people being able to put themselves in his shoes and understand what he did, and others feeling so disgusted and unacceptable that they wanted him to die in a hurry.

Personally, I don't think he's at the point where he has to die. Despite his wrongdoings, he still has good intentions. People will do things that are beyond the ordinary in order to stay alive and keep something important, some are completely dehumanised, some are hesitant and struggle between their conscience and falling. Ning Zhiyu belongs to the latter. If he could, he would not want to hurt others, but the path he was given was obviously too narrow.

I don't expect everyone to understand him, I just want everyone to read rationally and look at the characters and the plot rationally. After all, there are good and bad characters in every book, and not every good person can have a perfect ending. Life never goes smoothly, and this is especially true of dog-blood novels, the more dog-blooded the better.

That's it, I'm done, good night everyone?

‿︵‿︵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: September 12, 2022