Binding the Dragon for the Empress Chapter 116

The Road to Collecting the Soul, Jing Yu Lou

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The words that Xuan Long loved to hear most in his life should be the words 'going home'.

Because he has no home.

If someone was willing to take him home, he would be very happy.

In the past, Yan Yuan had said he would take him home, but he had left him in this uninhabitable prison to be humiliated. Fortunately, he still had Hu Le to trust.

It was good that he was still willing to believe in Hu Le, and Yan Yuan was able to coax this wisp of ashes of his dead soul into the soul gathering box as Hu Le.

After leaving the palace, Yan Yuan held the soul gathering box and slowly passed through the streets and alleys of Chang'an City. There was almost no memory of him and Xuan Long existing among this market, but there was no guarantee that Xuan Long's scattered soul consciousness would not pass through here.

The rain had stopped and the night was dark.

Because it had been raining all day, the market was quite miserable and cold tonight, with no vendors out and no pedestrians on the street, and it was dark everywhere. 

On the contrary, the two brothels and restaurants up ahead were decorated with red lanterns, bringing some lustre to the market.

From a distance, he could hear the sound of the zither flowing from the brothel, and the song 'Spring River and Moonlit Night' was gracefully intoned and flowing.

In contrast, the quiet restaurant opposite the brothel was like a gentleman standing in the darkness of the night, courteous and silent. 

There were people who were looking for fun, people who were drunk and dreaming of death, and people who, with their spirit-gathering artefacts, were wandering the world day and night in search of their longed-for dead wives.

When he passed by the restaurant, Yan Yuan inadvertently raised his eyes and saw the three big words 'Jing Yu Lou' on the door plaque, and his body was instantly nailed in place, unable to move his arms and legs...

He and Xuan Long, in this place, are not completely without memories...

In the past, he dove into the thousand-year-old pond by mistake... Xuan Long took good care of him day after day, and had to run to the marketplace three times a day to buy his favourite food.

He has a picky mouth, does not like raw and cold food, does not like simple food, and the noodle porridge he bought from the stalls and vendors was too bland for him to eat. Since then, Xuan Long decided on Jing Yu Lou, the largest restaurant in the capital, and the chef's skills were as good as those of the imperial chefs in the palace. When Yan Yuan found the taste refreshing, he ate quite a lot. Seeing that he liked it, Xuan Long bought different kinds of food from here every time he went back.

His injuries healed so quickly, not only because Xuan Long pulled out his scales to save him, but also because of Xuan Long's careful care. The dragon seemed insensitive on the surface, but in fact his heart was finer than a needle's eye, and before long he remembered exactly what he liked. He knew that he hated onions, so there would never be any onions on the table.

For two lifetimes, he had loved him like this... but he had lost Xuan Long.

Yan Yuan closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, every wisp of sweet memory turned into a sharp knife that stabbed into his soft, hot heart, causing so much pain that he couldn't stop his breath from shaking, and clear liquid rolled down his cheeks.

If there was a future, how wonderful it would be... He would spend the rest of his life, which was close to an eternity, making amends and returning the kindness that Xuan Long had shown him, a thousand times over.

Unfortunately, there was no such thing.

His start with Xuan Long was a mistake.

It was his stubbornness and arrogance that had cost him two lifetimes.

If not for his own proximity, Xuan Long might have been alone, but he could have lived a good life, could have been the God of War, seen by millions, living forever on the clouds.

It was his self-righteous love that bound Xuan Long, ripped his soul apart and made him fall into hell...

The cold water droplets hit his face without warning. Yan Yuan opened his blurry eyes, and more and more water droplets fell; it was raining again.

After casting a boundary to block the rain, Yan Yuan raised his sleeve to gently rub the water droplets off the soul gathering box. He was about to leave when he suddenly saw the jewel on the centre of the box emitting a blue glow.

Xuan Long was here...

To the left was a brothel and to the right was a restaurant.

Xuan Long could not have gone to a brothel, that is....

Yan Yuan raised his hand and executed a technique, allowing his soul to detach from his body and enter the realm of Xuan Long's soul consciousness.

The dark rainy night was transformed into daylight in a flash. The blazing sun was high in the sky and the market was flowing with people, vendors selling fruits, vegetables, buns and knife-cut noodles lined up on the roadside, enthusiastically shouting, and there was an endless stream of people buying hot buns and eating beef noodles.

Even the cold Jing Yu Lou in front of him became a lively and prosperous scene.

Jing Yu Lou not only serves drinks and dinner, but in the morning they also sell the owner's secret steamed buns and lotus leaf congee, which are expensive but delicious. Even though they are limited to 1,000 portions a day, there are still queues to get them. Many of the servants from the rich and famous families come to the queue before dawn, afraid that they might not be able to buy them if they come late.

At the end of the queue, two young men dressed as servants were whispering.

"Hey, my master loves the buns here, I came before dawn today, but who knew that the people in front of me were faster than me. This queue is already outside, I don't know if I can buy them..."

"Hai, I heard that the reputation of the buns of this Jing Yu Lou has spread outside the city, many ladies from the neighbouring cities come to Chang'an to visit, just to have a bite of the buns."

"They have come a long way to get a bun, they may have asked their servants to squat at the door in the middle of the night, how can we compete with them..."

"If we can't buy them, we'll be scolded by the master again..."

Yan Yuan also likes to eat the lotus leaf congee and buns here. He tasted them once and couldn't forget them, he wanted to eat them every day after that, so Xuan Long bought them for him every day.

It turns out that the food here is so difficult to buy...

Whenever he woke up in the morning, he would see that Xuan Long had already returned, and the buns and lotus leaf congee were placed on the stone table in a food box, so he could eat them after getting up and washing up.

The curling steam wafted out of the tavern, clouding Yan Yuan's vision. He passed a crowd of people queuing outside the door and walked inside, each step taken was solemn and slow.

There was someone inside speaking, 1 bun for 1 tael of silver, 3 buns for 2 taels of silver, plus a lotus leaf congee for exactly 5 taels.

Yan Yuan saw Xuan Long at the head of the queue. The man stood among the curling steam, his head bowed as he watched the boy fetch the buns from the steamer, the steam tinting his cold silhouette with warmth, making him look quite gentle.

The fact that Xuan Long was first in line to buy the first freshly baked breakfast was proof that he was earlier than everyone else present.

During the time he had lived with this dragon in the thousand-year-old pond, Yan Yuan hadn't even noticed that the man beside him got up that early every day just to buy him a beloved breakfast meal.

“A'Po..."

Yan Yuan wanted to cry when he saw the way he treated him so seriously, but he held back his tears; he should smile because the time he had to spend with Xuan Long would become less and less.

His call made Xuan Long turn his head sluggishly, and when he saw Yan Yuan, a little confusion came out of his turquoise eyes.

"Why are you here?"

At this time, Yan Yuan should be sleeping in the thousand-year-old pond...

Yan Yuan also did not expect Xuan Long to hear his voice, he just couldn't help but shout out. There were clearly many illusory people in the nightmare around him, so Xuan Long should not be able to see him... Perhaps it was because those people were not important, so this time he could easily invade Xuan Long's soul consciousness and talk to him.

"I came to find you."

Yan Yuan's eyes were red at the ends, and there was a smile on his face.

Xuan Long's personality was incomplete at this time, and his brain was rather slow to think, so he didn't find anything wrong with him being able to come out of the thousand-year-old pond as a human.

“Why are you looking for me... are you hungry?" He would go back later.

Yan Yuan shook his head and said hoarsely, "Not really."

"It's just that I miss you."

Xuan Long frowned slightly and pursed his lips. This was a sign that he was at a loss for words. He had never had anyone miss him, and when someone suddenly said they missed him, he was uncomfortable.

By this time, they had already been intimate, and Xuan Long's ears were particularly prone to blushing as he had just experienced sexual relations, but he didn't want to appear young and awkward in front of Yan Yuan, so he didn't like to talk much.

The waiter urged Xuan Long to get his breakfast, so Xuan Long paid for it, took the food box and left Jing Yu Lou with Yan Yuan.

The two of them walked slowly through the market, with Yan Yuan holding the food box in one hand and Xuan Long's hand in the other. When Xuan Long saw that the street was crowded, he lowered his head to break away, but Yan Yuan held his hand tightly and refused to let go, pouting at him. Xuan Long had no choice but to take him.

He said, “A'Po... do you think it's shameful to be seen holding hands with me?"

Xuan Long immediately argued, "I have no such intention..."

Yan Yuan naturally knew that Xuan Long would not think that way; Xuan Long would only have low self-esteem and feel that he was not a match for him, and would not want to hold hands most likely because he was afraid that he would be talked about.

Unconsciously, his eyes blurred. Yan Yuan opened his eyes wide to look at the heroic profile of the man beside him and whispered, "Then hold it, hold it forever, and don't let go."

"Okay?..." The moment the words left his mouth, tears flowed down his cheeks.

Xuan Long did not understand why Yan Yuan was suddenly crying. He did not know how to coax, so he nodded, "Okay." At the same time, he stopped, went around to Yan Yuan and raised his hand to wipe away his tears: "... You must not cry."

The thoughts that had built up excessively were like hot lava erupting from a volcano, devouring Yan Yuan to the point where his bones were gone, and he violently took the man in front of him and swept him into his arms, melting him away so that he could become one with himself, and nothing could ever separate them.

“A'Po..."

“A'Po..."

“Hug me."

He hugged him so tightly, but it wasn't enough, he had to cry and beg Xuan Long to hug him. Xuan Long listened to his pain and pleading, raising his hand over Yan Yuan's back in disbelief and patting it gently, feeling sad in his heart as well.

He had never asked Yan Yuan about his affairs. If he wanted to tell him, Yan Yuan would certainly take the initiative to tell him, but if he didn't want to, it was useless to ask.

But to make Yan Yuan sad like this, apart from one reason, Xuan Long could not think of anything else.

"If you want to go home... I can send you back now." He spoke in a low voice.

Yan Yuan's face was buried in his shoulder, and he did not say anything for a long time. There was a steady stream of pedestrians all around, none of whom stopped at the sight of their embrace.

When Xuan Long thought he would not answer, Yan Yuan spoke mutely:

"Where you are, that's my home."

"Let's go to the market, I want to buy some things."

Previously, Yan Yuan had never had the opportunity to spend time with Xuan Long like this... To be precise, it wasn't that he didn't have it, but he didn't value it. He didn't want to even spend too much time with Xuan Long, thinking it would be a waste.

But now he wanted to.

He wanted to be with Xuan Long as an ordinary couple would be, to spend time with each other, to watch the sun go down together, to hold the hand of his son, to grow old with his son.

It was hard to be pregnant, but they already had A'Zhi, so that was enough. A family of three living in peace and tranquillity was a blessing. 

However, he does not even have that kind of blessing...

"This hairpin is for you."

"It's an early gift for you for the Qixi Festival."

The two of them stopped at a stall while holding hands. Yan Yuan picked up a silver hairpin with a cloud pattern and handed it to Xuan Long, smiling at him.

‿︵‿︵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: November 19, 2022