Raising Wolves CHAPTER 34

 

 Raising wolves  

 Chapter 34

Translated by : DANMEI HEAVEN

  Under Lu Qingze’s curious and amused gaze, Ning Juan could only rigidly turn his head away, trying to defend himself: "Personal items like handkerchiefs shouldn’t be left outside, what if someone with ulterior motives gets hold of it?"

Changshun: "..."

Your Majesty!

Even I don’t believe that excuse, let alone fool Master Lu!

Lu Qingze leaned back against the chair, massaging his sore shoulders, with a teasing smile: "Is that so? What kind of person with ulterior motives?"

Ning Juan certainly couldn’t come up with any elaborate explanations.

He could only use this opportunity to swiftly move behind Lu Qingze’s chair, lowering his brows humbly to massage Lu Qingze's shoulders, whispering discontentedly: "Teacher has never given me a handkerchief, and yet gives it to others first..."

So this is what he was upset about?

Though Lu Qingze had been here for several years and had to follow the rules of this world, his soul was still modern. He didn’t understand the concept of a “handkerchief” being a personal item. Hearing Ning Juan’s muttering and seeing what seemed like a pitiful child,

who was massaging him quite comfortably,

Lu Qingze said lazily: "Isn’t it just a handkerchief? If you want one, I’ll give you one."

Saying that, he took out a new handkerchief from his bosom and handed it to Ning Juan: "Here."

Ning Juan froze.

Even the hand massaging Lu Qingze’s shoulder involuntarily paused.

Lu Qingze found it strange: "Don’t want it? Then don’t bring this matter up again later..."

Before his words finished, the handkerchief was snatched away.

Ning Juan tightly clenched the handkerchief still warm from Lu Qingze’s body, feeling the warmth imbued with plum fragrance seep into his fingertips and speed up his heartbeat.

"Still mad?" Lu Qingze leaned on the armrest with his elbow, supporting his chin with his palm, turning his head to look at Ning Juan with a smile.

Ning Juan licked his slightly dry lips, silently gripping the handkerchief, softly saying: "Not mad anymore."

Changshun: "..."

For some reason, he suddenly felt like he shouldn’t be here.

Zheng Yao moved quickly, dragging Pan Jingmin to Hongdu Prefecture that very day. Kicking open the sealed Pan residence gate, he threw the half-dead Pan Jingmin into the pigsty: "Lord Pan, please oblige."

Pan Jingmin’s leg couldn’t support him, and he collapsed with a splash.

Laughter erupted around them.

The stench overwhelmed Pan Jingmin, leaving no time to care about the mocking gazes. He vomited uncontrollably, drooling and tears streaming down his face. It was self-inflicted punishment, and he could only lie humiliated on the ground, cursing Zheng Yao in his heart while tremblingly reaching out to retrieve the account book.

As he stared at the ledger, a vicious glint flashed in his narrow eyes squeezed by the fat folds of his face. Suddenly, he forcefully tried to tear the account book apart!

Zheng Yao, covering his face with a cloth, was chatting casually with his subordinates, but his peripheral vision remained fixed on Pan Jingmin’s movements. Seeing the dangerous gesture, he instinctively threw a flying dagger without hesitation.

Pan Jingmin’s palm was instantly pierced through!

The account book fell to the ground with a slap, followed by Pan Jingmin’s uncontrollable scream mingled with sharp curses: "You bastard Zheng Yao, how dare you treat this official like this! Wait until I’m out, I’ll chop your head off and use it as a piss pot!"

"Oh, Lord Pan, still think you're the mighty Jiangyou governor?"

Zheng Yao crossed his arms, his cold smile suddenly darkened, revealing a few hints of viciousness: "Pan Jingmin, I advise you not to torment yourself further. Otherwise, before you die, you'll regret being alive."

Pan Jingmin instinctively shuddered, collapsing completely into the foul-smelling filth.

Watching Zheng Yao use a long stick to pick up the account book, at that moment, he suddenly felt immense regret.

Not regret for exploiting and oppressing the common people, nor for neglecting the flood and inhumanely handling patients, but for underestimating the young emperor.

If he had known this would happen, why did he ever trust Wei Herong?

That evening, the account book was delivered to Ning Juan’s hands. Fortunately, it was wrapped up, so there wasn’t any unpleasant smell.

The weather in Jiangyou was oppressively hot, making it hard to breathe. Even a short trip outside during the day made the body sticky, and the night wasn’t much better—it was still suffocating. Unlike in the capital city where ice could be transported for cooling, opening the window for ventilation invited mosquitoes, which were annoying.

However, compared to the disasters faced by the people of Jiangyou, these issues were negligible.

The guest room was too small to accommodate a bath tub. After taking a bath in the bathing room, Lu Qingze returned to his room. His hair was partially dry, and after loosening it to towel-dry, he heard a knock on the door.

They were so familiar with each other that hearing the rhythm of the knock told them who it was.

Lu Qingze casually adjusted his collar and walked leisurely to open the door directly, teasing: "What, come to ask for a handkerchief again?"

Ning Juan came with Pan Jingmin’s private account book, armed with a legitimate reason. Upon hearing those words, memories of the embarrassing situations earlier that day made his ears burn.

When the door opened, Lu Qingze was backlit, as if illuminated by candlelight with a warm golden edge. Even the edges of his loose black hair were outlined, making his face glow like jade, and he looked dazzling, making it hard to look away.

Ning Juan was stunned for a long moment until Lu Qingze, puzzled, raised his voice with a questioning "hmm," prompting him to tear his gaze away. He quickly glanced at Lu Qingze’s unbuttoned collar, exposing a slender clavicle, and felt displeased: "Why does the teacher open the door so casually without asking? What if it wasn’t me but Chen Xiaodao?"

What if Chen Xiaodao saw it?

Lu Qingze was slightly puzzled: "So what?"

What do you mean, so what!

Doesn’t he have any sense of caution?

Ning Juan gritted his teeth, deciding to educate Lu Qingze properly after finishing the business at hand. With a stern face, he said: "All correspondence between Pan Jingmin and Wei Herong was burned, but we got the account book. Does the teacher want to take a look at it together?"

Lu Qingze readily stepped aside: "Come in."

Ning Juan had been busy these days and could only stay in the study, which was neither comfortable nor conducive to rest. He was always tense. Entering Lu Qingze’s room, he finally felt his spirits relax a bit. Sitting on the couch, he patted the spot next to him, his eyes sparkling: "Teacher, sit here."

Still so clingy.

Lu Qingze gave him a sidelong glance but sat beside him as instructed.

After the bath, a faint fragrance permeated with moisture, the plum scent softened by water-like mist, brushed past his nose, pulling Ning Juan irresistibly to steal glances at Lu Qingze.

That face became even more strikingly beautiful after being washed, the teardrop mole at the corner of the eye adding the most charm. His hair was casually loose, and his clothes were loosely draped, yet he remained breathtakingly gorgeous.

Ning Juan didn’t dare move his hands or feet, his breathing lightened, afraid of disturbing this astonishing beauty.

Although Emperor Chong’an practiced Taoist cultivation, he never abstained from carnal desires. The palace was filled with many beauties. When Ning Juan was a child, hiding from the people sent by the empress, he relied on his thin frame and small stature to climb walls and crawl through dog holes, often escaping to various palaces and courtyards, where he saw beauties sent from all over.

Though he was always driven away like a wild dog.

Those beauties were plump or slender, each charming in their own way.

But in his eyes, none of them could compare to a single finger of Lu Qingze.

His teacher was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

His teacher was truly... beautiful.

Ning Juan’s eyelashes trembled slightly as he carefully suppressed this thought that might offend Lu Qingze, but he couldn’t help but rest his head on Lu Qingze’s shoulder, squinting as he inhaled his scent.

Lu Qingze flipped through the account book, feeling like he was being nuzzled by a puppy. The fluffy hair tickled his neck, making it unbearably itchy. He couldn’t help but pat Ning Juan’s back and scold with a laugh, “What kind of posture is this? Sit up straight.”

Ning Juan, of course, was unwilling. His chin remained on Lu Qingze’s shoulder as he tried to divert his attention: “This account book records Pan Jingmin and Wei Herong’s interactions over the past few years, but it’s missing their correspondence. We’ll have to secretly escort Pan Jingmin back to the capital later for a trial by the Three Judicial Offices.”

Lu Qingze skimmed through the book but found nothing amiss. He nodded and said, “Then let him live a few more days.”

With the account book in hand, the matter of Pan Jingmin was essentially resolved.

Ning Juan’s mood improved significantly. Half-squinting, he couldn’t help but start planning the next steps: “Once the situation in Jiangxi becomes clearer, we’ll leave the remaining mess to Fan Xingyan and Yu Shurong to handle. Then we’ll go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to pay respects to my mother, and afterward, visit your home.”

Lu Qingze listened to the first half with a smile, not finding anything amiss. Hearing the word “mother,” he even felt particularly sympathetic toward Ning Juan.

It wasn’t until the last sentence that he realized something was wrong.

Home? What home?

The young emperor, usually sparing with words in public, kept chattering nonstop in Lu Qingze’s ear: “Teacher, you can take me to see the places where you grew up. Once we return to the capital, it won’t be so easy to come back to Lin’an in the future.”

Lu Qingze hesitated, at a loss for words: “...”

Was the little emperor planning to take him on a “glorious return home”?

That was a big problem.

The original novel only briefly mentioned the cannon fodder character “Lu Qingze” in a few sentences, with no details about his life or background. Over the years, while using Ning Juan’s people to investigate others, he didn’t dare use them to look into “Lu Qingze’s” past.

Investigating himself would look suspicious to anyone.

Lu Qingze could only rely on indirect inquiries to glean some details about the original "Lu Qingze" from others. But the original Lu Qingze had been a fleeting presence after passing the imperial exams, dying too early and leaving few acquaintances in the capital, making it hard to uncover much.

The only somewhat useful information came from Cheng Wen'ang.

Though they were fellow townsmen, Lin'an Prefecture was vast, and Cheng Wen'ang had no interaction with the original Lu Qingze before they went to the capital for the exams, so his knowledge wasn’t deep enough.

Thus, how could Lu Qingze know where the original Lu Qingze grew up, the places he frequented, his home, or the people he knew?

As he pondered, Lu Qingze felt a headache coming on. He gently interrupted Ning Juan: "It's getting late, and I'm a bit tired. Guoguo, do you want to sleep with me tonight?"

Ning Juan's ears perked up, his eyes brightening: "Yes!"

Seeing the young emperor's attention diverted as he happily went to tidy the bed, Lu Qingze let out a long sigh of relief.

He had managed to dodge the issue for now.

If Ning Juan really took him back to Lin'an and asked him to introduce the places he "grew up," how could he pretend to have amnesia?

His limited knowledge of Lin'an Prefecture was probably less than that of Ning Juan, who had a photographic memory. While he could muddle through with others, any slip-up in front of Ning Juan would be irreversible.

The little brat was sharp.

Although Lu Qingze had subtly infused some modern ideas into Ning Juan’s education, he had met Ning Juan when the latter’s worldview was already forming. No matter how gentle and gradual his influence, he couldn’t turn an ancient person into a trailblazer of the times, especially since Ning Juan had a somewhat obsessive personality.

If he found out that Lu Qingze was actually a wandering soul possessing a body...

Even modern people would struggle to accept such a thing, let alone an ancient.

No matter how strong their bond, he’d probably be taken for an exorcism.

Not wanting to be dragged off for an exorcism, Lu Qingze shook his head imperceptibly, put away the account book, and touched his hair. The weather was so hot that it had already dried after being loose for a while.

Looking up, he saw Ning Juan already lying down, waiting for him.

Like he was afraid of being kicked out and had hurried into bed.

...He was becoming more and more like a pitiful little wife.

Lu Qingze pinched the bridge of his nose, took the oil lamp, and walked over. By the lamplight, he replaced the mosquito-repelling sachets by the bed with new ones before blowing out the lamp, lowering the bed curtain, and lying down in the moonlight. “There are a lot of mosquitoes here. It seems even Physician Chen’s sachets can’t keep them all away. Have you been bitten?”

Ning Juan shook his head: “No. What about you, Teacher?”

Lu Qingze: “The mosquitoes flee at the sight of you. They don’t have time to bite me.”

Ning Juan couldn’t help but laugh.

The guest rooms in the official compound were simple and crude, with narrow canopy beds—nothing like the palace.

Though Lu Qingze was slender, he wasn’t short, and Ning Juan was at the age where he was growing rapidly, no longer the scrawny little monkey he once was. The two of them squeezed into the bed, leaving little extra space, making it hard to avoid physical contact.

Yet Ning Juan still pretended to stealthily inch closer.

The canopy bed, bearing the weight of two people, creaked with every slight movement Ning Juan made. It was an old bed, its frame already somewhat shaky. Each time Ning Juan shifted closer, the bed let out a loud, piercing creak in the quiet, dark night.

Lu Qingze: “...”

Did the little brat think he was deaf?

Between being bitten by mosquitoes and stifling heat, Lu Qingze chose the latter. The doors and windows were shut tight—after all, with the plague raging, who knew if any mosquitoes slipping in might carry the virus.

The room was already stuffy and hot, and now he felt like he was lying next to a small stove, about to sizzle and roast.

The little stove itself seemed oblivious, intent on getting closer to roast him.

Lu Qingze, who had initially closed his eyes, was forced to open them again from the heat.

With a resigned sigh, he turned onto his side, facing Ning Juan to create some distance. He pressed a slender finger against Ning Juan’s forehead, pushing him away slightly. “My dear, aren’t you hot?”

Though Lu Qingze was sensitive to heat, his body temperature wasn’t actually high, and he rarely sweated. His fingers were cool and soothing against Ning Juan’s forehead.

Ning Juan couldn’t help but nuzzle into the touch, his breath scorching hot, stubbornly insisting, “I’m not hot.”

Lu Qingze’s constitution was weak—he feared cold in winter and heat in summer. His body forced him to be delicate, whether he liked it or not.

The bed was so small that if he moved any further outward, he’d fall off. But he couldn’t very well kick the exalted emperor off the bed—who would handle tomorrow’s workload then?

He could only endure it, drawing a line: “If you come any closer, I’m sleeping on the daybed. You can roll around on this bed to your heart’s content.”

Ning Juan pouted, aggrieved, and had no choice but to stay still. “Why hasn’t anyone brought ice? How dare they neglect you?”

He was annoyed. Because he hadn’t been sharing a bed with Lu Qingze recently, he’d been too busy to notice this oversight.

He couldn’t help but blame himself.

Lu Qingze took the opportunity to flick his forehead. “This isn’t the palace. Everyone’s busy, and no one has time to indulge such spoiled habits. It’s a trivial matter, not worth mentioning.”

Ning Juan knew there was some truth to Lu Qingze’s words.

Zheng Yao was practically splitting himself into eight to handle everything, and even he wished he had more hands to manage affairs. None of the people they’d brought from the capital were idle.

For a moment, he didn’t know how to respond.

There was another rustling sound as Ning Juan turned onto his side to face Lu Qingze.

The room was dark, with only faint moonlight streaming through the window, casting a hazy glow by the bed, making the young emperor’s eyes appear deep and shadowed.

Lu Qingze ruffled his hair. “Alright, you’ve been so tired lately. Now that you have a chance to sleep early, why aren’t you sleeping?”

Ning Juan shook his head. “I want to talk to you, Teacher.”

“Hmm?” Lu Qingze smiled. “Go ahead, I’m listening.”

Ning Juan’s expression turned stern. “Next time someone knocks, don’t open the door without confirming who it is. And make sure you’re properly dressed. If someone with ill intentions had seen you like today, what then?”

Lu Qingze hadn’t expected this “talk” to be a lecture. His eyes, which had been closed, slowly opened again, unimpressed. “The courtyard is full of your people. Where would anyone with ill intentions come from?”

Hearing his dismissive tone, Ning Juan grew even more irritated and opened his mouth to retort.

How could there not be?

Wasn’t Ning Cong that kind of person?

But the words caught in his throat.

Ning Cong wasn’t here.

Then... where would anyone with ill intentions come from?

Ning Juan suddenly felt his lips and tongue go dry. His gaze traced the elegant contours of the face so close to his in the darkness, and he fell silent.

Lu Qingze assumed he’d run out of arguments and chuckled, turning onto his back.

You little brat, daring to lecture your teacher.

After a long silence, Ning Juan spoke again. “Anyway, Teacher, you’re always so careless. How can I rest easy? You need to be looked after properly for the rest of your life.”

Lu Qingze raised an eyebrow. “You want to be tied to me for life?”

Ning Juan’s lips pressed into a displeased line. “Teacher, you promised me you’d stay with me always.”

Lu Qingze thought he hadn’t signed any lifetime servitude agreement. He opened his eyes a third time and turned to look at Ning Juan, teasing him. “You want to be with me for life? What about finding a wife?”

Ning Juan didn’t hesitate. “I won’t marry.”

“...” Lu Qingze was both amused and exasperated. “Talking like this now, be careful your words come back to bite you later.”

Ning Juan felt even more wronged. “Are you going to pressure me to choose an empress now too?”

“That’s not what I meant. Don’t twist my words.” Lu Qingze, drowsy, patted his back absently to soothe him, his voice growing faint. “You’re still so young. It’s too early to talk about these things. If you meet a girl you like in the future, you can’t be so awkward anymore.”

Ning Juan fell silent again.

Countless vague thoughts flashed through his mind.

A girl he liked?

Would she be as beautiful as his teacher? Could she treat him with the same sincerity, accompanying him from being scorned and mocked to where he was now? Could she have the same snow-like beauty, radiant as the moon?

Lu Qingze, not hearing a response, assumed he’d convinced the stubborn brate. His breathing gradually evened out as he let himself drift off to sleep.

But the heat made it hard to rest peacefully, and he slept fitfully.

Ning Juan snapped out of his tangled thoughts and noticed the slight furrow between Lu Qingze's brows, knowing he was particularly sensitive to the heat. Silently, he slipped out from the other side of the canopy bed, barefoot, and tiptoed to the door. Carefully cracking it open, he whispered a few instructions to the night guards outside.

It didn’t take long for the guards to report back.

Unlike the north, the south was not only hotter but also rarely saw ice in winter, making ice storage extremely difficult. In summer, ice was a rare luxury.

With the chaotic situation in Jiangxi, who besides the unaffected local elites had the leisure to indulge in ice for relief?

Ning Juan frowned, his mind made up. He took the large palm fan handed to him by the guard and returned to bed.

Lying on his side, he gently fanned Lu Qingze with the fan.

The soothing breeze made Lu Qingze much more comfortable, his furrowed brow gradually relaxing as his breathing steadied.

Only then did Ning Juan’s mood brighten.

Even if the surroundings weren’t ideal, he wanted Lu Qingze to be comfortable.

Even if he himself was uncomfortable, he wanted Lu Qingze to be at ease.

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