Count to 1,000 and I’ll be Back (xiv)
Edited: 04.17.2024
At night, Wang Qian brought his people to the mountain pass, to guard against the black snake’s raid. Ruan Qing found some hay and spread it on the ground. He was very tired from the day and needed a good rest.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he lay down comfortably, Xiao Ziheng ran over happily. Squeezing in with the clothes Ruan Qing gave him, he said sweetly: “It’s cold tonight, I’m afraid you’ll be cold.”
Ruan Qing: “……”
However, he did suffer an attack for him and his character turned immature because of it. Ruan Qing felt guilty so he endured it, turned aside reluctantly, and made room for him.
Xiao Ziheng lay down happily. Ruan Qing couldn’t help but feel hot when he thought of the ridiculous things he had done to him, so he simply closed his eyes and pretended to sleep to ignore him.
Suddenly, Ruan Qing felt a warmth on his body and a pair of wandering hands wrapped around his waist. He turned his head angrily and shouted: “Your Majesty!”
Xiao Ziheng didn’t care. This little guy was warm and fragrant. He looked extremely slender and felt so good in his arms that he didn’t want to let go.
Seeing that he had no intention of retracting his hands, Ruan Qing couldn’t help but struggle. He ended up striking him with his elbow, hoping to make Xiao Ziheng let go in pain. However, rather than that, he was instead pressed tightly to him and the back of his head hit Xiao Ziheng’s broad chest, allowing him to hear his steady and powerful heartbeat.
Xiao Ziheng lit incense all year round so there was always a faint aroma on his body, which was refreshing but not overbearing. Mixed with the warmth on his body, it was particularly reassuring. Ruan Qing was mesmerized for a moment and was stunned in place, forgetting to resist.
“Go to sleep, I’ll protect you.” Xiao Ziheng held him tighter and rested his chin on top of his head, like a coquettish big dog.
Ruan Qing’s ears gradually turned pink. Although he muttered “No,” his body honestly moved closer to the big heater.
It was a cool night in the mountains, but Ruan Qing slept particularly well. It was not until midnight when the moon was in the sky that he was awakened by a burst of noise.
“Ruan Qing, wake up!”
In a daze, he seemed to hear Xiao Ziheng calling him, Ruan Qing rubbed his eyes and asked: “What’s wrong?”
Xiao Ziheng didn’t have time to explain to him. He simply picked him up and ran away. Ruan Qing instantly woke up. Just as he was about to open his mouth to shout, he froze in place at the sight in front of him.
At the entrance of the mountain, black snakes swarmed like an overwhelming force, and a numbing “hissing” sound resounded throughout the valley. Wang Qian was leading his guards in a bloody battle, but he seemed to be in a stalemate. He turned around and shouted to Xiao Ziheng: “Your Majesty, leave quickly! I’ll take the rear!”
Xiao Ziheng pondered for a moment and looked at Ruan Qing, who was shivering in his arms. It was clear that a disaster was imminent, but he smiled and said indifferently: “Take the people from Liangzhou City out of the mountain first and I will come to you soon, okay?”
Ruan Qing looked at his swollen arm and his Adam’s apple bobbed a few times. However, he wasn’t able to say a single word and couldn’t stop shaking his head.
The corner of Xiao Ziheng’s lips curled, revealing two canines, and he seemed to show off a different childishness than usual: “Good boy, don’t be angry, I promise you, I will come to find you when you count to 1,000.”
Ruan Qing grabbed his sleeve tightly and shook violently, but finally nodded with difficulty.
“Good boy, Ruan Qing.” Xiao Ziheng put him down and gave him a peck on the face. Looking at Ruan Qing’s astonished expression, he smiled: “This is a bet between me and you. If I do succeed, you have to return one to me.”
Before Ruan Qing could react, Xiao Ziheng had drawn his sword and joined the battle, resisting the black snakes’ attack with Wang Qian. When Wang Qian saw Xiao Ziheng, he couldn’t help but spout anxiously: “Your Majesty! It’s too dangerous, please leave quickly!”
As he spoke, Xiao Ziheng had killed dozens of black snakes that had rushed towards him, splattering blood all over the ground. He looked back at Wang Qian and said in a deep voice: “I will work with you to cover Ruan Qing and the people as they leave the mountain.”
Wang Qian was about to say something more, but Xiao Ziheng interrupted him with a wave of his hand: “I have made up my mind. How can the Imperial Prince of Dayan ignore the safety of the people just because he lives a noble life?”
Hearing this, Wang Qian couldn’t help but smile knowingly. Seeing Xiao Ziheng become more and more courageous as he fought, he was not willing to be outdone. He immediately ordered his guards to light torches and drive away the snakes. For a while, these ferocious beasts didn’t dare to move forward any further.
They tried their best to stall for time. Ruan Qing was the first to take the injured civilians down the mountain from the trail. These civilians had been tortured by Xiao Ziheng for a long time and were frightened. One of the little girls couldn’t bear it anymore and actually fainted on the way.
“Cui’er, Cui’er, what’s wrong with you?!” The little girl’s mother couldn’t help but cry out when her daughter suddenly collapsed on the road.
Seeing this, Ruan Qing hurriedly went up and probed the little girl’s nose. Luckily, she only fainted, probably due to low blood sugar. He made a move to pick her up and said to the woman: “Let’s head down the mountain first. When we get to the city, I’ll give her medical treatment.”
The woman thanked him profusely and followed him. Ruan Qing ran ahead with the little girl in his arms, not noticing a cold and teasing gaze behind him.
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Perhaps because they were escorting Xiao Ziming, the Green Uniform Guards didn’t seal off the entire Guanyin Mountain. Ruan Qing paid special attention when he came to collect medicine. In addition to the main road going up the mountain, there were several trails next to the mountain spring that could also lead them down the mountain. He deliberately chose the most remote route and never thought it would go so smoothly.
At this time, the city gate had been locked. When Ruan Qing and a group of civilians came to the gate, he realized that they didn’t bring Xiao Ziheng’s token with them. Frustrated and exasperated, he could only shout loudly: “Mr. Guard! Please open the gate! We are from the governor’s residence!”
The guards on the city wall squinted their eyes. They clearly noticed a group of people yet still simply refused: “No one is allowed to enter or exit the city gate without His Second Imperial Majesty’s token.”
Ruan Qing was filled with anxiety and blamed himself for being careless. When he was at a loss for what to do, he suddenly heard a crisp voice coming from above: “Brother Ruan! Is that you?”
“Yu Shu! It’s me!” Ruan Qing couldn’t help but be overjoyed when he heard Yu Shu’s voice and immediately responded.
Once Yu Shu was sure it was him, he happily pulled out the official token from the governor’s residence and displayed it to the guards: “Mr. Guard, that’s my brother down there, please let them in.”
The guard picked up the token and inspected it several times. After confirming that it was correct, he then said to his companions: “Open the city gates!”
Squeak——the bulky wooden gate was lowered and the civilians who hadn’t been home for a long time were ecstatic. They knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Ruan Qing to express their gratitude and couldn’t wait to enter the city. Ruan Qing returned the little girl to the woman and explained: “Go to the city and look for the governor’s residence. Tell them that Mr. Ruan sent you and they will take you to see the doctor. If you don’t have enough money, just put it on my tab.”
The woman thanked him repeatedly and left quickly with her daughter in her arms. Seeing Ruan Qing still standing still, the guard urged impatiently: “Hurry up, I’m about to close the city gates.”
Ruan Qing’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly and he said nervously: “J-Just a moment longer.”
The guard was a little annoyed. He had already broken the rules by letting people into the city late at night. If the higher-ups blamed him, he wouldn’t be able to escape punishment. And now that there was another person who wanted him to suffer, he couldn’t help but shout: “I don’t have the time to wait for you! I’ll count to three, if you don’t come in then forget it.”
“One, two, three!” The guard quickly counted to three, but Ruan Qing still stood still. Even Yu Shu got anxious and shouted at him, “Brother Ruan! Come in quickly, what are you doing?”
Ruan Qing looked back at the two of them and smiled reluctantly: “Nothing, I already gave you so much trouble, you can close the gates, I’ll stand outside and wait.”
The guard was slightly stunned. He cursed a few times before shouting at his companions to pull the city gates up. Yu Shu was anxious and made a fuss as he yelled from the top. He even wanted to rush out of the city, but was pulled back by the guards. In an angry fit, he stood there and cried.
Ruan Qing turned a deaf ear to all this and just kept staring blankly in the direction of Guanyin Mountain. The originally quiet mountain pass was now filled with flames and thick smoke rising into the sky and the night wind seemed to echo with the shouts of fighting and killing.
How was Xiao Ziheng? Had he and General Wang Qian safely evacuated?
Ruan Qing stood in the wind and thought wildly. The temperature difference between day and night in Liangzhou City was huge. He was dressed thinly and soon began to shiver from the cold. He huddled himself into a small ball and squatted down quietly: “837, 838, 839……”
He counted for a long time. In fact, he had been counting silently in his mind when he had just escaped from the mountain. But every time he reached nine hundred and ninety-nine, he would tacitly jump back to the beginning and start over again no matter how many times. Every time he reached the number, the person he wanted to see didn’t appear, so he would never count the last number. It was as if he was angry with himself as he continued to count again clumsily and seriously.
“997, 998, 999…..”
Ruan Qing didn’t know how many times he had counted and only knew that his body was cold. After the stimulation, his mind seemed to be set aflame, and a sense of drowsiness swept over him, quickly making him delirious.
“If you still don’t show up, I won’t wait for you anymore…..” Ruan Qing sniffled. His whole face was turning pale as he subconsciously threatened towards the darkness again and again.
The evening wind came sharply and the Winter rain lingered. Ruan Qing’s hair and eyelashes were covered with a fine layer of mist. He leaned against the city gate, hoping to resist the wind and cold, but in the end, his efforts were in vain, and he fainted completely in less than one stick of incense.
In his daze, he seemed to hear someone calling him again.
The man shouted anxiously and his hands weren’t gentle, shaking him indiscriminately. Ruan Qing held back the discomfort in his heart and reluctantly opened his eyes, only to see an extremely heartless person.
“So you knew to come back……”
Xiao Ziheng was stunned. He originally thought that Ruan Qing would be happy when he returned from the battle with the snakes, but who knew that this little one would question him in anger first?
However, it was oddly cute.
“I told you I would come back after you count to 1,000. See, as promised.” Xiao Ziheng held him in his arms to keep him warm and said with his chin pressed against his forehead.
Ruan Qing couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He reached out and wiped the blood stains on his face, whispering: “1,000, right on the dot.”
The corner of Xiao Ziheng’s lip curled up and he moved close to his earlobe, rubbing it softly, “Then as agreed, you owe me a kiss.”
Ruan Qing didn’t know if Xiao Ziheng had a change of heart because he had been poisoned by the snake or if he was just a scoundrel, but he just wanted Xiao Ziheng to pamper him and couldn’t help but lift his face and kiss him gently.
☽ ⋆ℍalf 𝕄oon 𝕋ranslations⋆ ☾ 
Do they have be so flirty in dangerous times?
Thank You for the new chapter ♡(˃͈ દ ˂͈ ༶ )
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