Hua Hua You Long - Volume SS - Chapter 10.2

The skies had been kind this week, and though the days were slightly chilly, it only rained at night, when everyone was indoors. Not very comforting for the extremely superstitious though, the height of the hungry ghost festival was approaching and violent nights meant angry spirits. 

But this particular afternoon found Emperor Jing Zong and the marquis sharing time over lunch in the inner palace. There was honestly too much food for the both of them, but Lu Cang suspected the servants purposely overcooked so they could have the left overs. Jing didn't care.

The space was a little crowded to be comfortable, servants stood at the four pillars at the corners of the patio and there were a couple of bodyguards, including Ding Peng. Jing ate elegantly from opulent red, perfectly varnished porcelain dishes while Lu Cang picked at his sad commoner bowl. They were scarcely done with the sixth course and he was ready for dessert. 

"Ah, I-"

The sudden noise from Jing distracted Lu Cang for half a second. A piece of meat slipped from his chopsticks to his lap before it bounced onto the floor and Jing had to cut himself off to enjoy Lu Cang's horrified expression.

The eunuchs serving the pair almost had their eyes leave their sockets -- what bad table manners! In front of His Majesty, no less. Dining with the emperor was an immense honour bestowed on only a few, and yet this -- this Lord Lu treated it like it was daily fare. 

A servant rushed forward to clean the mess and Jing laughed behind his fist at the way Lu Cang fussed over the her, trying to get her to stop kneeling at his chair. 

"I say, baobei, we should go out to the city tomorrow..."

At the casual suggestion made by the Emperor, the retreating servant girl almost tripped and Ding Peng's facial muscles immediately tensed, trying to keep a smile at bay. The horror that had receded from Lu Cang's face came back at full force. He snapped at Jing,

"Who are you talking about?"

"Talking about you ah, qin'ai de."

Ding Peng's face was still as impassive as ever, but his shoulders shook lightly, giving away the laughter than threatened to rumble from his lungs. It did not escape Lu Cang's keen eyes -- it'd be good if he could just run into a wall and die.

His brows twitched wildly and he stubbornly stabbed his chopsticks vertically into the rice bowl, but quickly removed them the same second he drove them in so that others would not catch it.

Vertical chopsticks were a huge disrespect to anyone, and to do it to the Emperor of all people could guarantee him a place at the beheading stage. He himself dare not display any stronger forms of insubordination with others around -- the eunuchs didn't have their stuff but they sure had their gossip, and despite tight rules in the palace, words spread like fire over the dry savannah.

 He could've sworn Jing called him those things just to agitate him in public. The name calling was nothing new to him, and while he addressed Jing by nothing more than his name or formal title,  Greatly embarrassed, he tried to excuse himself.

"Ah...err...Your Majesty, General Mu has requested my presence in the military wing..."

"Nonsense. General Mu has requested no such thing. Sit and eat, we have until evening."

"But I'm full..."

Lu Cang whined, kicking his legs about like a child.

"What are you doing, trying to loose weight? I can't make you pregnant so I may as well make you fat, right?"

Evidently, Jing was having a field day. Lu Cang's face was more colored than his royal bowl and he looked like he was about to vomit.

First, getting called those...things and then that bastard...really...

Lu Cang sighed and gave up. He was a prideful man, but he knew his place in the palace. If he said what he had wanted to in front of subordinates, he'd incur more hate towards himself. He'd save it for when they were alone.

......................
He was born to the highest family in the aristocracy.

Educated from birth, cultured from the time he could walk.

He trained and studied and honed his skills, he was still a human, sanded and polished until he had the power of a god.

A voice like the sky itself had spoken, the ability to crush without touching.

Strength, knowledge, wealth, everything.

At twenty, the old emperor passed away. He did not even need to change from his usual white robes to mourn. 

Long live the Emperor. 

Wine, women, men, soldiers, art, education, commerce. The kingdom flourished.

His duty had been performed flawlessly.

A fine summer afternoon in a back court pavilion, a stray thought drifted  into his mind. A whim.

General Mu, I want to go south.

His life, written on paper, blows to chaos in the wind.

............

"Xizhen, I need to tell you..."

The day she knew her father was back in the capital, she had set out to find Brother Jing the first thing this morning to ask after him, but instead, she literally banged into an uncontrollably crying Brother Lu who adamantly prevented her from finding Jing. 

Xizhen could not remember when she had first heard of Jing's mysterious lover. It started with the Emperor's strange disappearances throughout the day, and then the even stranger requests for packed food from the kitchens -- Jing never ate outside of the palace, let alone so regularly -- and then the rumors after the Tonghua tower incident. After much information had been gathered, she found the house by the bridge. Luxurious enough to belong to nobility, but strangely unoccupied --unlike many aristocratic manors which were full of maids and guards, this particular house was empty save one occupant, who locked himself indoors for days. The only sign of inhabitation was the yellow candle light towards evening time.

She questioned Jing up and down for days, only to receive ridiculously cryptic answers and dubious half-smiles. But that was enough. What she needed to know, she already knew. 

When the announcement for the Hero's Assembly was made, it was of no surprise to her when Brother Jing gave her a raised eyebrow and a straight forward," to trap that person in my harem, of course." 

It wasn't the first time he pulled someone to the back court, but an extravagant festival lasting weeks was a first. All he needed to do was point his finger and anything could be his, but Xizhen realised that wasn't the way anyone treated the person they liked. She'd laugh behind her flowing sleeves at Jing's childish courting attempts, much to his ire, and considered it a victory when Jing finally had that bandit in the great hall. 

Never would she have guessed.

That day, by a small courtyard in the back court, Brother Lu finally told her the truth.

"He will kill me if I try to escape. I can feel the poison in my blood."

The Emperor's affairs were out of her control, but she had to do everything in her power to preserve the pride of her father and the royal family. Someone had to take the fall. Someone had to suffer the Emperor's wrath.

.....

"You...belong to me!"

The beautiful prostitutes kneeling in the moonflower chamber immediately tensed at the bloodcurdling scream that followed. They dare not even look up, but they could hear the thrashing on the sheets and the pained chokes that followed. This cruel side of Young Master Jing had been totally unknown to them -- he had always been playful and flippant, but now, his tone was severe and no amount of tears could persuade his mind from the punishment. 

Lu Cang was defenseless on the bed -- his whole lower half was frozen in pain -- the thing that Jing had inserted in his front was cold and obtrusive and a creeping terror overcame his consciousness. His position was thoroughly humiliating, and Jing's hands we're rough and coercive, more so than the first night. This time, he'd break in half for sure. What his body had to offer could not satisfy Jing's cruelty.

"Take your time to enjoy. I'll show you the consequences of angering me."

Jing savagely gripped Lu Cang's hips and plunged into that worn out entrance. A scream burst from the bandit's lungs and dried up in his throat -- his whole body shook uncontrollably with every thrust and his eyes, wet and unfocused, gazed blankly at the expanse of the room. The high ceiling and the embroidered canopy, the beautiful peony screen and the Celestial Flowers, the soft sheets and the wide bed. But he was alone in this world. Jing did not want to tear curtains or burn buildings. What he wanted was already breaking apart underneath his hands.

He had set the 'three rules' in a gust of playful selfishness -- he wanted Lu Cang to belong to him only, so that he alone could touch his toy. He wanted a special esteem.

Thinking about it properly, he didn't really care if Lu Cang went to play with prostitutes. A month after their 'first time', when he held Lu Cang again at the Yue Long house, he could tell that the bandit had developed a certain sensitivity to his touch. That guy could go and play with women all day and night but Jing knew he was the only one who could truly wear him to the ground, even if Lu Cang himself didn't know yet. In that he held the highest place, and he bet all his confidence in it.

But when he saw Lu Cang with his arm slung around some prostitute, a dense wave of jealousy slammed into the back of his head. Without giving it much thought, he sent Cao Xin away and jumped into the foolish competition for Lu Cang's attention. There was no way he'd let some girl win when he was in the same room. He wanted Lu Cang to acknowledge his importance in front of others -- he wanted reciprocation. 

But not only did Lu Cang reject him, he did so violently and in plain view. The nick on his arm was of little consequence. He was angry and hurt, and if Lu Cang didn't accept him, he'd use his own methods to lay his claim.

The implications of Lu Cang's actions were plain as day. But of course, Jing could not admit his own rejected feelings. Instead, he used the excuse of rule breaking to mete his punishment. 

Completely ignoring the agony on Lu Cang's face, Jing penetrated him continuously, intent on violating every inch of his body. All the trembling skin and weeping eyes, it all belonged to Jing.

Everytime Jing withdrew his weapon only to shove it right back in, a fresh rivulet of blood would roll down Lu Cang's buttocks and drip onto the light satin. Even Jing's snow white robes were stained red by the injuries at that place.

Suddenly, Jing's thrusting angle changed, hitting the soft spot in Lu Cang's back passage -- his glazed eyes widened as a heavy sensation jolted his body right off the bed. His heart strained in his chest. Not only did Jing want to humiliate and violate him, Jing was forcing him to respond. 

"No..no...."

The pressure immediately built up in Lu Cang's abdomen, causing great pain at his penetrated front. He wailed uncontrollably and tried to clamp his legs shut and twist his waist to the side in an attempt to ease the pain -- even his heart was greatly disturbed in his chest, pounding haphazardly as if it were about to explode. Feeling Lu Cang's feeble attempt to huddle into himself, Jing wordlessly grabbed the back of Lu Cang's knees and shoved his legs far apart, straining the tendons of his inner thigh and forcing his back straight against the bed again. The air was thick and still, but the room spun around his eyes, tossing his consciousness about carelessly.

Jing grabbed the long dark hair that had spilled all over the trembling body and yanked it upwards, eliciting a short scream and forcing Lu Cang out of his trance. The prostitites, still kneeling by the side of the bed, immediately flinched.

"I won't be so lenient to allow you to escape this way."

Having said that, he leaned down and kissed those bleeding lips coaxingly, but his hands and hips continued with the horrific act.

"Mmgghh...mgghh.."

Lu Cang wept uncontrollably into Jing's mouth. He begged death to take him now, to just this once, answer his cries for help. Without warning, Jing swore lowly and climaxed deep inside that tanned body. Blood and semen immediately escaped his entrance as soon as Jing withdrew himself, worsening the bloody mess on the satin bedsheets.

His insides were badly torn and filled with thick sticky fluid that stung his wounds and seeped deeper into his flesh -- it was disgusting and suffocating, to the point where he dare not move his lower half in fear of feeling that substance flow about some more. 

Without saying a word, Jing retrieved a thick, rounded wooden rod and moved towards Lu Cang again. 

"No...I'm begging you...no more..."

Unable to contain his panic, Lu Cang, still petrified on the bed, began cry out helplessly. His arms, bound behind his back, were numb and useless and there was nowhere to escape to. 

Jing guided the object to Lu Cang's injured hole and circled it with the smooth tip, his eyes trained on that place he had just fucked and his other hand holding Lu Cang in place. In one swift movement, he slammed it in, burying it to the hilt -- A hoarse scream immediately burst through the room, completely drowning out the sobbing sounds of a few girls. 

The object was cold and painful, and it pushed all the liquid that had choked up Lu Cang's passage deeper into his body, plugging up his hole and causing great agony. Terrified of moving even a finger, he could only lay frozen as Jing's forceful hands moved up his body, pressing into painful skin and  cruelly twisting and yanking the protrusions on his chest. His breaths were broken and laden with sobs, but Jing was not moved -- he pressed Lu Cang's tear stained cheeks between his fingers, forcing the bandit's lips apart.

"Looks like it's time to use that beautiful mouth of yours..."

.........

Many hours later, before the sun rose, Jing, carrying an unconscious Lu Cang in his arms, discreetly left the Tonghua tower and flew towards the house by the bridge. Lu Cang had been falling in and out of unconsciousness since the torture ended, so Jing, finally deciding to put him out of his misery, hit a few of his pressure points to knock him out properly before bringing him back. 

Jing silently kicked the bedroom door open and gently deposited Lu Cang onto the bed. The cloth he was bundled in unraveled slightly, revealing heavily bruised skin covered in bite marks and finger prints -- although Jing had cleaned him before leaving the tower, his body still looked like it had been splashed by mud.

Resisting the urge to take advantage of the vulnerable Lu Cang, Jing lit a lantern and sat by the side of the bed, and let his thoughts drift into the brightening sky. 

 ..........
 
 ......

Jing had left the royal bedchamber even before Xiao Guizi showed up. Today, His Majesty had requested absence from all court duties. Which was reasonable, since he had completed most of the paperwork at least a week in advance, not like anyone could stop him he hadn't, though. 

Today, he had his own plans. His own very secret plans. 

The first rays of morning light found him positioned in a tree outside the window of Lu Cang's bedroom in the Marquis's manor. Lu Cang was still deep in sleep, in the exact same position he had left him after their... daily exercise the previous night. He was naked under the light spring quilt and Jing could see the contours of his hips and thighs underneath the shimmering silk -- pleasing as the sight was, it irked him to no end. What if someone else chose to sit in this tree at this time and look into this window and see this sight??

That Lu Cang was getting too careless! What did he think he was doing, sleeping with the window wide open, with those gentle lashes resting gracefully on those cheekbones and those plump, slightly parted lips, that long smooth hair and bare tanned chest and that blanket riding so... so low on his hips -- it was actually safely past his stomach but Jing was making some estimations. Gritting his teeth, he plucked a leaf from the tree and infused it with his Qi, and with all the grace of a frustrated child, he gave a well aimed swing, shooting the leaf to hit the open window and slam it shut. 

Lu Cang woke with a start in a pretty dark room. He usually left the window open for light and fresh air in the mornings, but this particular day seemed to be pretty windy. He wasn't particularly concerned about sleeping with an open window, because no one in their right mind would sit atop a tree all night, which was the only way to look into his bedchamber. He and Jing even did it with the window open sometimes anyway. Gathering the sheets around himself, he sat up on the bed and opened the window again before moving to pull on some clothes.

Jing watched in irritation as a slightly groggy Lu Cang threw the window open. His tanned lover then slid off the bed, the sheet of silk dragging behind him as he walked to the wardrobe finally fell to the floor just as the crucial bits got hidden from view, leaving only his thighs down visible from Jing's hiding spot. And then Lu Cang bent down to put some pants on.

Jing's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. He plucked another leaf from the tree.

A few moments later, Lu Cang, now somewhat decently clothed, threw the window open again. Strange, there was no wind. He squinted suspiciously. It was probably just some sporadic gale. That was it. Nodding to himself, Lu Cang sat by the edge of the bed to sort his hair out and prepare for his morning bath. 

.........

Currently, Jing was, with as much dignity as imperially possible, crouched behind a thick pillar in the private bath house watching a certain person undress and step into the steaming water. He slowly made his way deeper into the pool until the water reached his hips and Jing found his eyes glued to that nice rear end.

Lu Cang sighed as the warm water washed away the stiffness of sleep and the ache from that....that...

"Damned Xuanyuan Jing...."

The curse came under his breath and quickly dissipated into the foggy air, but Jing caught it nonetheless. Smiling to himself, he stepped out from behind the pillar.

"Who are you talking about?"

Lu Cang couldn't believe it.

"Ah-- ah...you...morning court...."

Ineloquence got the better of him, and he took a few retreating steps away from Jing, the bathwater sloshing messily at his hips. 

Without bothering to rid himself of clothing, Jing advanced into the pool. The heavy water did not slow him down one bit.

"Who wants to listen to those old geezers...I'd rather listen to you..."

With a few short strides, Jing was standing in front of a rather dumbfounded Lu Cang.

"What..? Listen to what..?"

Jing smirked widely and snaked a porcelain hand behind his lover.

"Listen to..this"

Just at that moment, he gave Lu Cang's firm buttocks a hard squeeze. Jing's cold hands against his warmed flesh made that entire area tingle right away, and he could not help the surprised half-gasp, half-scream that came out of his mouth.

"Such a sweet sound, isn't it? Want to hear more?"

"You de--mmgh--"

A pair of lips cut him off mid sentence. Try as he might to pry Jing from himself, a few loud splashes found him lying on his back by the edge of the pool with his legs still in the water. 

As much as complained about Jing, his random appearances throughout the day always made him smile. They met every night, but still, he couldn't help the warmth that filled his heart whenever Jing came to find him -- after the initial horror of the first six moons, under Jing's gentle coaxing over the years, he had grown to enjoy any physical contact with that beautiful emperor, sexual or not. It was embarrassing to admit, but it made him feel safe and reassured -- it reminded him of the fact that he did not suffer so much for nothing. Sometimes, he felt Jing loved him more than he could reciprocate -- and more than he was worth. It was a vexing thought, but he figured maybe it was alright, maybe that was the way thing were supposed to be.

"Ahh...Jing..."

The sound of Lu Cang's soft voice in the large room made Jing shudder. A strong arm slung around his shoulder and brought him up to share a heated kiss. He could feel the humming deep in his lover's throat, steady and sensual, but barely audible. As usual, Lu Cang was too shy to use his voice.

But his body responded beautifully to every touch, shuddering when Jing's fingers flitted across his sides, back arching and hips rolling when Jing's tongue swirled around that sensitive spot on his chest. 

Soft, wet sucking and smacking sounds filled the room as the two played their own game by the edge of the pool. Jing's hands continued touching Lu Cang's body and playing with his hair while Lu Cang just held Jing close to him, bending his knees and nestling Jing between his firm thighs.

Lu Cang finally threw his head to the side to break the kiss and Jing's ravenous mouth continued it's journey down to suck on that sweet exposed neck, gently working a bright red mark onto the tanned skin.

"Mmmh..."

Clumsy hands fumbled with Jing's clothing, carelessly ridding the white cloth covering his fair skin. Heat from the pit of his stomach coiled dangerously, pushing for release against the now stifling hot air of the bath house.

Jing slowly inserted a finger into that intimate place of his lover, curling it at just the right spot. A heady moan immediately broke past Lu Cang's lips. The slight movement sent jolt after jolt of pleasure straight to his head, igniting a white hot flame in his abdomen. Unconsciously, he widened his legs and pushed down against Jing's finger, eagerly seeking out the friction. His eyes were clouded with lust and Jing was pleasantly surprised at how accepting Lu Cang was to his completely uncalled for advances. It was usually a, "Go away, my presence is required in the military wing," or a timid, "Jing, not here... What if someone...."

But it was a private bath house for heaven's sake, of course Jing wouldn't do it if he ran the risk of someone else seeing his private property. This adorable but erotic view was meant for him only. Jing ran his dark eyes over Lu Cang's body and laughed lightly before leaning down to kiss him again.

"Jing...hurry..."

As much as he wanted to tease Lu Cang more, his control was nearing its limit too. He scooped Lu Cang's back into his arm and it with a short whispered warning, he smoothly entered that passage he knew would accept him perfectly. A shudder of pleasure immediately tore through both bodies -- Lu Cang's hands swept slowly over Jing's smooth back, while Jing's arm protected his lover from the hard floor.

Alternating between grinding and thrusting, the two moved in perfect tandem with each other. Occasional moans resounded through the space, cutting through the thick steam and making their actions clear to whoever heard the noises.

.......

A few hours later found them in the royal chambers, sprawled out on the vast bed in utter exhaustion. 

After catching his breath, Lu Cang suddenly thought about Jing's appearance in the bath house. Trust his bad luck to serve up that demon whenever he least expected it...or maybe it wasn't his bad luck...

He squinted at Jing, who was smiling softly from across the bed -- to others, it might look like a peaceful expression of contentment, but Lu Cang knew it was just Jing's way of grinning ludicrously, because clearly Jing's facial muscles were incapable of displaying any extreme expression.

"Jing...one day, it will shrivel up and drop off. You deserve it."

.........
End