After Being Mistakenly Taken for a Fellow Traveler by Emperor Long Aotian - Chapter 96

Zhou Xun: …

…Either there’s something wrong with his head or his eyes.

Zhou Xun silently recited a few passages from the Analects, then looked at the sky and the ground. After confirming that the sky was blue and the grass was green…

He finally confirmed that the problem wasn’t with him.

It was the Emperor who was the issue.

“We’ll go out for a ride together. I’ll ride the horse and take you with me. At noon, we’ll have lunch at Tianxiang Pavilion. Then in the afternoon, we’ll shop at the most bustling areas of the city, buy clothes, jewelry… things like that. In the evening, we’ll have dinner on the rooftop of Juyuan Building, watch the fireworks, and then go to the theater to see a show…”

The Emperor rattled off the plans for the day like a machine gun, as if he had rehearsed it countless times in his mind. Zhou Xun looked at him and, after a moment of silence, resolutely said, “I have things to do today.”

Emperor: ??

“You… you have things to do? Then forget it,” the Emperor scratched his head. “I’ll come again tomorrow?”

Zhou Xun: “…Okay.”

Emperor: “Alright, then make sure you stay home and work, don’t skip meals, don’t sleep poorly, don’t…”

Zhou Xun’s gaze made him swallow the last “miss me too much” words.

Zhou Xun silently watched him, using all his courtesy to avoid saying “farewell, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” The Emperor looked obviously disappointed, but he graciously tolerated Zhou Xun’s polite refusal.

…Zhou Xun truly felt that the embarrassment, shyness, and excitement from last night were completely overshadowed by the Emperor’s outfit today.

Just as he was about to close the door, he heard the Emperor’s voice from outside: “Actually, about what happened yesterday…”

Zhou Xun: ?

He peered through the crack in the door. The Emperor outside said, “I am very, very grateful to you.”

“Thank you for liking me so much. I never knew… that there would be someone, who was once a stranger to me, who would like me so much. But I’m actually very ashamed because, as I said last night, well, I don’t remember if I said it or not, but… I haven’t really given anything to you.”

Zhou Xun tightened his grip on the door. He heard the Emperor continue, “You are willing to give me everything, I know. The Fifth Prince, that Rong… Rong something? He once wanted to force himself on you, and you struggled desperately, yet…”

“You, despite having such a shadow, want to give yourself to me. I think—”

“You must be either very, very brave or very, very in love with me. Or… you are both.”

Zhou Xun hadn’t thought so deeply at that time. But he didn’t expect the Emperor to perceive the deepest thoughts and feelings within him that even he hadn’t realized.

“But you know? In my world, I’ve seen many people in love. Sometimes they talk about why they’re with their girlfriends or why they’re dating. It’s usually because they find the other person good-looking, they like their personality, or sometimes, they just envy others for having a girlfriend, thinking life is boring and wanting a distraction. They date, eat together, argue, break up, and make up. But I think, what we have shouldn’t be like that.” The Emperor said seriously, “I admit that your appearance attracts me, and your personality is great, but I think I can’t treat you with that fast-food approach to love that’s popular in our world. You didn’t like me for superficial reasons.”

“…Actually, I noticed that hairpin yesterday. You hid it under the pillow, didn’t you?” The Emperor touched his nose and said, “Actually, I liked you a little even before that, but I always thought of you as a guy, so I considered it a brotherly bond. But at that moment, I suddenly felt like… I also like you, and I also want to be with you. So I started to consider whether to pursue a romantic relationship with you.”

But what happened last night made him feel that their relationship couldn’t just be a simple mutual affection leading to a relationship.

Because… they already had a deeper bond than that.

Zhou Xun remained silent for a moment and said, “You’ve already given me a lot.”

“But that’s different. I’m an Emperor, so I have a lot of money and resources, but these, one, aren’t given to you because I love you or want to pursue you. Two, they might be precious to you, but to me, they’re just a drop in the bucket. Three, …they are given to you by the Emperor, not by Rong Haoyu.” The Emperor argued, “They’re not given by me—the soul not belonging to this era.”

Zhou Xun: …

“So I’ve been thinking, from today onwards—” The Emperor smiled.

When he smiled, he was truly radiant, and his teeth were as white as snow:

“It’s my turn to pursue you as a time traveler who likes you and wants to be with you. What do you think…”

“Is that okay?”

Zhou Xun: …

“I… of course it is.” His cheeks had never been so hot, “So you…”

Emperor: “That’s great! I’ll go back to work now, you keep busy!”

Zhou Xun: …I was just about to let you in!!

He watched as the Emperor mounted his horse and rode off.

Zhou Xun: …

Unfortunately, the Emperor’s riding skills seemed lacking. He managed to turn a fine sweat-blooded horse into a clumsy trotting beast. Zhou Xun watched his retreating figure and seriously doubted that their next date would involve the Emperor riding to take him out; instead, it might be Zhou Xun riding to take the Emperor out.

As he was about to turn back into the courtyard, his foot brushed against something.

Zhou Xun looked down and saw it was the bouquet of roses the Emperor had brought. The pink flowers had scattered across the marble steps. He bent down and picked up the flowers.

Zhou Xun had someone find a vase to put the roses in, and he carefully arranged each stem. When he reached the last one, Zhou Xun was puzzled.

“A fake flower?”

This rose was hidden at the bottom of all the roses, where the stem should be, but it was actually a blackwood hairpin. The hairpin was adorned with a circle of silk shaped like petals. Zhou Xun slowly unfolded the silk.

The silk was inscribed with characters he couldn’t understand, which seemed to be some sort of symbol.

r=a(1-cos)

Zhou Xun: ?? What is this??

He stared at the incomprehensible characters for a while and then, with a helpless smile, tucked it under his pillow.

After that day, the Emperor frequently visited the Zhou household.

He came often but never asked Zhou Xun out. Zhou Xun knew the Emperor was very busy—he had been busy even when he was in the Yangxin Palace, to the point where they were like two unrelated roommates. Now that the Emperor managed to visit daily, it was already a significant break from his schedule.

However, Zhou Xun might not always be home when the Emperor came—he could be working at the Mòyuàn. Therefore, the Emperor had a sort of “mailbox” installed at the Zhou household’s door.

Every time Zhou Xun came home, he would check the mailbox. Inside, there were sometimes books, sometimes flower notes, sometimes a box of hairbands… mostly more refined items. The most frustrating thing was when he opened the mailbox to find…

A bag of greasy…

Oily…

Barbecued meat.

Yes, that’s right.

Fatty, barbecued meat.

The entire bag of barbecue almost ruined the mailbox and Zhou Xun’s impression of Yan Jia. Yan Jia, who had come to know Zhou Xun’s residence by chance, frequently visited. So when he volunteered to take out the things from the mailbox and his hand touched the oily, sticky substance…

He was almost in despair.

The entire bag of dubious material not only ruined Yan Jia’s sleeve but nearly destroyed his budding romance as well—one can imagine that the Emperor did not know that his spur-of-the-moment meat delivery could sabotage a rival’s romance from afar. When Yan Jia dragged his oily sleeve back to the Yan residence, he was nearly brokenhearted.

Yan Jia successfully conveyed this despair to his father, Minister Yan. The Minister, detecting a strong smell of the mundane world from his son, could not help but frown and say, “Where have you been today, to come home smelling so bad?”

Yan Jia, who was most afraid of his father, hesitated to answer. Minister Yan was not focused on him, so he impatiently said, “Go wash up by yourself! The family is busy right now, and if you were sensible, you wouldn’t add to our troubles at this critical moment!”

Yan Jia responded meekly. Seeing his usually stern father now with a worried expression, he couldn’t help but ask, “Father, what are you worried about?”

Thinking of the recent big events in the capital, Yan Jia realized what might be troubling his father and said, “In a few days, Zhou Hong’s trial will begin, right? Is Father worried about the matter with my brother-in-law’s family?”

Seeing his father’s silence, Yan Jia speculated, “But don’t worry, since that merchant surnamed Lu is still alive, it should be manageable. As long as someone smooths things over…”

“Merchants are indeed very money-oriented. As long as you give them money, they can do anything, even turn black into white,” Minister Yan said disdainfully. As a scholar, he looked down on these mercantile dealings. “But I’ve heard that the Lu family is impervious to both soft and hard tactics and insists on having Zhou Hong pay for their loss.”

He thought for a moment, then shook his head. As the father-in-law, he naturally wanted to help the Zhou family. Moreover, Zhou Cai had not come to visit him even once after the incident. This made him feel a bit more favorably towards Zhou Cai.

However, to lighten Zhou Hong’s punishment, the most crucial factor was the Lu family’s understanding. According to officials from the Ministry of Justice, the Lu family was notoriously unyielding—they even moved to a remote place to avoid being found by the Zhou family or related parties. Since this route was unfeasible, he had no choice but to give up.

But there was one thing that did make him happy. Just as he was about to return to his room to rest, a voice full of excitement came from outside.

“Sir, sir!” The steward ran in excitedly, “The painting you asked me to find has been recovered!”

“What painting?”

Minister Yan was momentarily confused. Seeing this, the steward hurriedly explained, “It’s the painting that you’ve been looking for over the past ten years—the one passed down from our ancestors!”

Minister Yan immediately forgot about his image. He hurried to the steward and carefully lifted the cloth from the tray. Upon seeing the yellowed painting, he took a sharp breath and carefully unfolded it.

Mountains and rivers, layers of clouds… Minister Yan’s fingers were trembling.

This was indeed the painting he had pawned years ago!

“Good, good,” Minister Yan repeatedly said, his lips and voice trembling, “We finally got it back!”

Yan Jia had never seen his usually stern and aloof father so excited. He looked towards the steward for help, and the steward, seeing Minister Yan’s fondness for the painting, whispered to Yan Jia, “This is the ancient painting Sir had to pawn to raise money for traveling to the capital for the exams.”

“An ancient painting?”

“It was created by the famous Lin Tan in the previous dynasty and was later collected by Lin Tan’s relatives, passed down to this day.”

The person who said this was actually Minister Yan himself. Looking at the painting, his eyes were full of nostalgia: “When I was in Qingzhou, poor but diligent in studying, a family from a prominent household happened to pass by. They were the Lin family, coming from Jiangzhou to visit relatives in Qingzhou, and stayed at my home due to the storm delaying their journey.”

“They saw my dedication to studying and gave me this painting, along with some money. Without this, I wouldn’t have been able to attend the academy. Unfortunately, I only knew they were from the Lin family and had a daughter from Jiangzhou. I didn’t know anything else and had no chance to repay them,” Minister Yan sighed, “Later, when I came to the capital, I had to pawn the painting to raise travel expenses. It’s fortunate that we finally got it back…”