Tantai Yi was beside himself with rage. He carried Song Pu out of the residence and flung him into the carriage.
Cao Xi hurried out after them and cautiously asked, “Your Majesty, are we returning to the palace, or…?”
Tantai Yi was still dealing with Song Pu. How could he not realise by now that Song Pu was drunk? The man had even dared to climb all over him and smack him about. Under normal circumstances, where would Song Pu find such courage? Just as he was about to speak, Song Pu swung a claw and slapped him square across the face. The sharp crack made Cao Xi shudder and drop to his knees on instinct.
Tantai Yi seized his hand. Hearing him yelp in pain, he ground out, “Since when did you have the right to strike my face?”
Song Pu’s small face scrunched up as he choked out, “It hurts, it hurts! Let go! Hurry and let go!”
His voice was still full of strength. Tantai Yi shot Cao Xi a vicious look and barked, “Back to the palace!”
With that, he used both hands to shove Song Pu back into the carriage before climbing in after him.
Cao Xi wiped the cold sweat from his brow and hastily ordered the coachman to turn back towards the palace.
Holding Song Pu, Tantai Yi raised his voice. “Do you even recognise me? You dare strike my face? Aren’t you afraid I’ll punish you when you sober up?”
Though drunk, Song Pu seemed able to understand him. Hearing those words, he quietened somewhat and stared at Tantai Yi with hazy, unfocused eyes.
Tantai Yi met that drunken gaze. The anger in his chest eased a little, though his tone remained sharp. “Outrageous. When you were sober, you pretended not to know that woman, yet once drunk, everything spills out? Lord Song, speak plainly. What exactly is your relationship with that Xue-meiniang?”
Song Pu’s eyes reddened. “Damn you, you hit my backside. It hurts!”
Tantai Yi: “…”
He had indeed smacked him several times just now to quiet him, and none of those blows had been light.
Pretending not to hear, he asked again, somewhat impatiently, “Lord Song, answer me. What is your relationship with that Xue-meiniang… no, Lin Xuemei? If you dare deceive me, I—I—”
For a moment he could not think of a suitable threat. After a pause, his golden eyes brightened and he continued with sudden enthusiasm, “If you dare deceive me, I’ll have you right here in this carriage!”
Fearing Song Pu had not understood, he lowered his voice by his ear. “I mean I’ll strip off your trousers and take you, make you mine. Do you understand?”
That truly frightened Song Pu. “No, no, we can’t. I can’t do that with you!”
Tantai Yi had intended it as a threat, yet the moment he saw Song Pu tremble, clearly afraid, something in him soured. He himself had looked forward to such a thing, but Song Pu clearly did not feel the same. “If you do not want it, then answer me honestly. What exactly is your relationship with Lin Xuemei?”
Song Pu muttered, “You’ve got the cheek to accuse me. I should be asking what your relationship with her is. She looks about fifteen or sixteen now. In a few years she’ll be even prettier. A beauty like that as your consort, don’t tell me you’ve never been tempted. If not, why give her the Phoenix Seal and let her run the harem? You great pig of a man. Scoundrel. Womaniser.”
Tantai Yi frowned, thoroughly confused. “What nonsense are you spouting? Consorts, Phoenix Seal, what are you babbling about? Do you even know what you’re saying?”
The sudden rise in his voice made Song Pu’s ears sting. He covered them and snapped, “You’re the one talking nonsense. If you don’t understand, forget it. I’m not speaking to you!”
Tantai Yi laughed in exasperation. “Outrageous. The moment you’re drunk, you start spouting rubbish and cannot even tell rank from propriety?”
Song Pu covered his ears, refusing to listen.
Tantai Yi reached out and pulled his hands away. “Do you know who I am? Do you know who you are? If you do not explain yourself properly, I will take off your trousers right now.”
At once, Song Pu’s indignation collapsed into pitiful submission. “…I know. You’re His Majesty, I’m Lord Song. Don’t take off my trousers. I haven’t even used that jade insert. If you do it with me, I’ll be dead and reborn today.”
That single sentence reignited Tantai Yi’s fury. “What do you mean you haven’t used the jade insert?”
Startled by his raised voice, Song Pu’s muddled mind cleared for a fleeting instant. He vaguely sensed he had said something he should not, yet heat surged through his body, burning him from within, and his thoughts slipped back into a haze. Tantai Yi’s figure blurred before his eyes. He pointed at himself, scarcely aware of what he was saying. “I mean I didn’t use it. I can’t get it in. I don’t want to. I’m afraid it’ll hurt.”
Tantai Yi’s chest rose and fell sharply. He loathed being deceived, and Song Pu’s words made one thing perfectly clear: he had lied more than once. All that talk of already using the smallest piece had been false. He had asked again and again, and Song Pu had answered him without a flicker of guilt.
For a moment his mind blanked with anger. After several deep breaths, he forced himself to calm slightly. “…Lord Song, do you actually want to be with me? Do you want to be my consort?”
He would not even use the jade insert. How could such a Song Pu be sincere?
It felt as though a fire burned within his chest, swelling into a grievance so great it was almost unbearable. When had he, Tantai Yi, ever been brought to this point?
Had Song Pu been deceiving him all along with sweet words?
The mere thought shattered his composure. His golden eyes fixed tightly on Song Pu. If he dared utter a single word Tantai Yi did not wish to hear, he would—
Song Pu, however, had no notion he was treading back and forth across Tantai Yi’s bottom line. Clutching at his own clothes, he paused before whispering, “I don’t know.”
Suppressing his anger, Tantai Yi raised his voice. “‘Don’t know’? What does that mean? I asked whether you want it or not, and you answer ‘don’t know’?”
He made as if to pull down his trousers. Song Pu immediately shifted his grip to his waist to stop him. “I do! I do want it! Your Majesty is so handsome. Even being your brother would be my good fortune. To be your partner would be like a heavenly immortal descending to lift me from poverty. I’m ashamed beyond words.”
Though the sentence was muddled, Tantai Yi strangely understood. It felt as if a spring breeze had brushed across him, and the raging fire in his chest subsided by more than half. “…And yet you still dare deceive me? You refuse even the jade insert, yet claim you wish to be with me? If you do not give me a proper explanation, I will not believe you again.”
Tantai Yi’s large hand pressed against Song Pu’s lower body, the pain making his eyes mist over. There was a sheen of tears that made him inexplicably pitiful. “How could I dare deceive Your Majesty? I’m afraid of pain, very afraid. I don’t want it. It’s uncomfortable. And I’m a man. How could I like having something put inside me? If it were Your Majesty, could you bear it?”
Tantai Yi replied arrogantly, “How could my situation be compared to yours?”
Song Pu, drunk and muddle-headed, was already doing well to speak in coherent sentences, let alone flatter him as usual. Hearing this, he fell blank for a moment, unsure how to respond.
Seeing him fall silent and simply cry, Tantai Yi’s heart softened somewhat. He knew Song Pu feared pain, yet deception was unforgivable. Narrowing his eyes, he pinched Song Pu’s chin and lowered his head, staring at him coldly. “I see it now. You are full of lies. I cannot tell which of your words are true and which are false. You said you wished to be with me. I asked you to comply, yet you refused and even deceived me. Do you know how much I have done for you? I am not one to boast, but your actions show no regard for me at all. If this continues, will you even keep me in your heart? How am I to trust you?”
By the time he finished, Song Pu’s mind was completely blank. He simply stared at Tantai Yi with wide, confused, innocent eyes.
Tantai Yi laughed in exasperation. “And now you pretend not to understand again?”
Yet even as he fumed, another kind of heat rose within him. Unable to restrain himself, he pecked at Song Pu’s lips several times, muttering angrily, “Outrageous. Simply outrageous.”
Song Pu lay in his arms, enduring the increasingly deep kisses, his mind turning to mush. Even so, he felt a sudden chill below, as though something had been taken from him.
Perhaps this had long been a shadow in his heart. Even in his drunken state, a tremor rose from the depths of his soul. A powerful instinct for survival drove him to struggle, gripping Tantai Yi’s hand while pushing his face away with the other. “No!”
Seeing this, Tantai Yi only grew more obstinate. “What do you mean no? If I say yes, then yes. You are full of lies. I no longer believe you. I will have you here and now. I will make you mine right here.”
Song Pu grasped the meaning at once. Like a chick with its neck seized, he flailed wildly in Tantai Yi’s grasp. “You dog of an emperor, that’s rape. You’ll end up in prison!”
