After The Soft And Cute Beauty Marries The Wolf King - Chapter 17

With this topic, the previously ambiguous and charming atmosphere came to an abrupt halt.

On this night, Xie Zhiqing talked a lot, pouring out to Lang Sa his worries and fears over the years—many of his thoughts, almost unknown even to Xie Zhifeng.

He nestled in Lang Sa’s arms, very obediently still, immersed in his own world, even forgetting himself for a moment.

But Lang Sa could endure it. He held the person in his arms, lightly patting his back through the thin sleeves, quietly listening to his bitter and troubled heart.

Xie Zhiqing mentioned his twin brother, Xie Zhifeng, again.

“The year we were born, Father Emperor had not yet ascended the throne, and he was just an ordinary prince. That year, An Yu experienced many hardships, and the people suffered greatly. When my brother and I were born, we became the hope of everyone at that time.”

Twins were rare, especially in royal families. However, whether these twin brothers truly met people’s expectations was hard to say.

Regarding the subsequent events, even if Xie Zhiqing didn’t say it, Lang Sa could guess roughly.

“When we were truly born, everything changed again,” Xie Zhiqing smiled bitterly, “My brother’s deformity was visible to everyone. And me…”

Lang Sa covered his mouth, not letting him say unpleasant things.

“…” Xie Zhiqing blinked, dodging his hand, and said, “Anyway, our birth did not satisfy everyone, and even… for a while, Father Emperor received a lot of criticism because of us.”

Turning over, Xie Zhiqing lay flat on his back, looking at the ceiling as if really recalling the events of that time, his expression melancholy.

“Especially my brother… he had a hard time too. According to An Yu’s customs, men could marry after fifteen, but my brother and I always…” Xie Zhiqing twisted his fingers, saying, “It’s because of this.”

Lang Sa made a joke, “Fortunately.”

Xie Zhiqing glanced at him, wrinkling his nose in a smile.

They talked a lot that night.

Xie Zhiqing spoke in detail about his panic, confusion, and helplessness.

“I don’t often feel troubled by this matter. Most of the time, I don’t even think about it,” Xie Zhiqing said, “So… although I’ve said so much today, if you think this matter makes me very unhappy, it’s actually not true. I just…”

He lifted his eyelids, quickly glanced at Lang Sa, and whispered, “Lang Sa, I don’t know if this counts as concealment or deception, but I didn’t mean to—”

“Did I express it too subtly before?” Lang Sa interrupted him, “I should have expressed before that I know about this. It’s just…”

Lang Sa rarely showed a hint of embarrassment, “It’s really hard for me to bring up this kind of thing proactively… I don’t know how to express these to you, so I can only wait for the right moment for you to bring it up voluntarily—but, Xiao Qing’er, honestly, you may find it difficult to talk about these, but for me, it’s just a small matter, definitely not deception or concealment.”

He patted Xie Zhiqing through the blanket, saying, “Just keep it in your heart.”

Xie Zhiqing was tightly wrapped in the blanket, only revealing his sharp chin. He blinked, thanking Lang Sa for the first time in a long while.

“Thank you, Lang Sa.”

Lang Sa raised an eyebrow, “Is gratitude necessary for this?”

“It is,” Xie Zhiqing answered seriously, “Those before… you could say those were what you should do as my husband. But… this matter isn’t, I don’t think it is.”

Lang Sa didn’t have many twists and turns in his mind. If he said this matter was unimportant and he didn’t care, then he really didn’t care. But seeing Xie Zhiqing’s solemn appearance, he still felt a fullness in his heart.

“Alright, I accept it,” Lang Sa tousled his hair, saying.

Xie Zhiqing squinted his eyes and smiled.

“Oh right, Lang Sa, about that…” Xie Zhiqing said again, looking somewhat embarrassed, “I mean, how did you know again…”

Lang Sa couldn’t bring himself to say the real reason—anyone would just think it was absurd. He thought for a moment, then half-truthfully said, “I’ve mentioned it before, we met a long time ago—more precisely, I unilaterally met you a long time ago and got to know you.”

Xie Zhiqing’s train of thought was indeed led astray by him, “When did you meet me?”

Lang Sa propped his head up, turned to look at him, and when answering this question, he carefully went through the scene of that day in his mind.

That day was a long, long time ago, so long… so long that he had lived a lifetime. Yet, even when recalling that scene, the memory remained vivid.

“There was a year when you and your imperial brother came out to stroll around the lantern festival, do you remember?”

*

It was Lang Sa’s first year as the Wolf King.

This new Wolf King was completely unprepared to manage a clan. In his first month in office, he found an excuse to wander around, claiming that he needed to “understand the living habits of various races.”

Lang Sa walked leisurely and stopped wherever he pleased. Soon he felt bored again. After visiting many places, he found that the living habits of these Central Plains countries were not much different from each other. After seeing enough, they all looked the same.

When he was ready to return to the grasslands, he passed by An Yu and decided to make this small country the last stop of his journey.

It happened to be the lantern festival that day, and the streets were crowded early in the morning. Lang Sa found a tavern and sat on the second floor all day, drinking and watching the crowd below.

The street vendors and crowds changed one after another, and people seemed completely tireless, walking around, eating, and drinking, with smiles of happiness on their faces.

Just like every other Central Plains country he had visited before, Lang Sa thought.

As the day grew darker, the people on the street put on strange masks again—among them were many wolf masks.

Watching from the second floor, Lang Sa silently complained in his heart that these Central Plains people made the wolf masks look too ugly.

He threw a few pieces of silver to the innkeeper, settled the bill for these days’ accommodation and meals, and then went downstairs.

He thought, these wolf clans, who liked to live alone, probably would never understand these noisy humans.

Walking among the bustling crowd, Lang Sa would be bumped into shoulders or waist by careless people after a few steps. He looked at these masked humans and sighed inwardly, thinking that these masks were really uniquely ugly.

However, among these ugly masks, one mask was quite intriguing.

It was a rabbit.

Lang Sa knew a little about the customs here and knew that wearing masks was to scare away ghosts—these ignorant Central Plains people actually used wolves to scare ghosts, a custom that troubled the newly appointed Wolf King.

Knowing this and looking at the rabbit mask again, the pattern seemed a bit ungrateful.

The person wearing the rabbit mask stood on tiptoe, looking at the candy-coated fruit stall not far away. The candy-coated fruit stall seemed to be exceptionally popular, surrounded by more people than other stalls.

The person wearing the rabbit mask stretched his neck to look, and even with the mask covering, his eager eyes were evident.

But he couldn’t leave; he couldn’t squeeze into the crowd to buy a candy-coated fruit because he was also pushing a wheelchair, with another person sitting on it.

The person in the wheelchair pulled the sleeve of the “rabbit” to make him bend down and listen to a few words.

Lang Sa had excellent hearing and vision. Even amidst the noisy crowd, he could hear what they were saying.

“Just push me to a less crowded place on the roadside, you go buy it, hurry up and come back, nothing will happen.”

“No, no, forget it. There’s nowhere less crowded around here. It’s not safe, I’m worried.”

“There won’t be any problem, listen to me, even the Crown Prince wants to eat—”

Before he could finish speaking.

The little rabbit took off his own mask and pressed it onto the other person’s face, saying, “Stop nagging!”

Underneath the mask was a clear and handsome face, with bright black eyes, long hair gently floating up as the mask was removed, softly wrapping around his wrist.

Like other spectators, the little rabbit was also dressed warmly. Lang Sa couldn’t tell what color it was, but he knew it looked deep in his eyes, with a layer of fur around the hood, wrapping around his delicate cheeks.

The person sitting in the wheelchair shook his head and said, “Xiao Qing’er, you…”

The two of them talked and walked away.

Lang Sa looked at their clothes. The fabric was soft and smooth, different from the others in the crowd. Not only their clothes, but their accessories, demeanor, and speech were also different from ordinary people.

Associating with the accidental mention of “imperial brother” earlier, it seemed that the two of them were princes of the An Yu royal family.

The two of them left like this, Lang Sa stretched lazily, also ready to return to the grasslands.

The direction out of the city was opposite to the direction the two of them left, and after walking a few steps, Lang Sa turned back to look.

After all, pushing a wheelchair with another person was very slow; they hadn’t walked far for a long time.

When Lang Sa looked back, the little rabbit was squatting on the ground, covering his brother with a blanket. The small blanket covered his legs carefully, without any gaps.

Lang Sa thought to himself that the princes of An Yu were really different from what he had imagined; they were actually very caring. He also thought of his own sister and thought that Lang Xiaoxiao would never be so considerate.

Thinking like this, Lang Sa stopped in his tracks and stared at the two brothers from a distance until they walked far, far away and their figures became so small that they couldn’t be seen.

*

“Later, I returned to the grasslands,” Lang Sa said slowly, “I was not young anymore, and I had reached the age for marriage. When Father asked if I had anyone in mind, I thought of you.”

Lang Sa caught a strand of Xie Zhiqing’s hair, slowly winding it around his hand, and continued, “Later, after dealing with you Central Plains people, I learned a phrase.”

He straightened up, looking down at Xie Zhiqing from above, and said, “‘A brief encounter.'”