Rebirth As a Fatuous and Self-indulgent Ruler

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

Long coughed. “I’m telling the truth… Well, in fact… at that moment, I felt that I didn’t know you at all.”

Shi was stunned. Then, he recalled his behavior earlier. “You…”

Long blinked, looking very innocent.

Shi said softly, “There are many kinds of people in the martial arts world. I can’t just choose to make friends with those whom I like. You… Do you mind?”

Long shook his head. “I don’t mind it. Qingzhou, I just felt that you seemed very happy just now. I’m wondering if you are constraint by me.”

Shi was moved by the man in front of him. “How could you think like that?”

“It’s normal, isn’t it? Just now you had a very happy conversation with that man and you laughed a lot. But in front of me, you always behave like a cautious gentleman… In the imperial palace, you should pay attention to everything you do. You can’t do anything that doesn’t accord with your identity. It’s really depressing…”

“No.” Shi suddenly interrupted Long.

Long was shocked when he was interrupted by Shi. “What?”

Shi shook his head. “No.”

Long looked at Shi in confusion.

Shi stared at Long, and then explained gently, “I’m not suppressing my nature. I’m not a talkative person. I make friends with some people in the martial arts world with some purposes, and that doesn’t mean I like to live that kind of life. I was born in Shi family and received education there. You should know that I’m just like that by nature… In your words, I’m a gentleman.”

Hearing the words, Long immediately held Shi in his arms.

Shi smiled. Although there were still some people walking on this road, Shi didn’t want to push away the man who was holding him at this moment.

Long had a sense of propriety, so he wouldn’t hold Shi forever.

After a while, Long let go of Shi and finally felt relieved.

“So, the man I see at ordinary times is the real you. Just now… you had to behave in that way, right?”

“Yes.” Shi looked at Long tenderly.

Long happily held Shi’s hand. “Qingzhou… I’m afraid that your life is constraint by me.”

“No, I’m happy to be with you. I’m happy every day,” Shi said gently.

“This… Are you sweet talking me, Qingzhou?” Long looked at Shi with eyes open wide.

Seeing that Shi’s ears turned a little pink, Long felt a surge of desire for him… However, Long knew that it wasn’t appropriate for him to do anything on the road, so he controlled himself.

Then, they went back hand in hand…

However, that was the end of peace!

Shi was always vigilant. When he felt someone was trying to assassinating them, he immediately held Long’s waist and jumped up. The concealed weapons sparked under their feet, which was caused by friction.

Then, more than ten Shadow Guardians appeared around Long and Shi to protect them.

Another twenty Shadow Guardians went to fight against the assassins.

There were more than ten assassins and they looked very powerful.

Shi looked very cold. He was holding Long’s hand and staring at the assassins.

Long turned his head. Seeing Shi’s expression, Long couldn’t help holding Shi’s hand more tightly.

Shi also turned his head. He saw the comfort and concern in Long’s eyes, so he smiled. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.”

Long shook his head. “I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about you.”

“Me?” Shi raised his eyebrows.

“Well, I hope you don’t take it to heart,” Long said earnestly.

Shi suddenly felt so warm. It seemed that Long always had a way to warm Shi’s heart and Long had gradually made him… change into another person.

In fact, Shi never looked forward to love. For more than five years before, he just endured it, but he didn’t feel sad.

But, Long’s sudden change…

Shi doubted Long at the beginning, but later Shi fell in love with him and finally had a taste of love…

That was really a complicated process and Shi suffered great changes of mood…

However, no matter how complicated it was, the happiness deep inside was real.

If it weren’t for love, how could Shi feel so happy?

When Long and Shi was looking at each other affectionately, the fighting on the other side was about to end.

The ten assassins were naturally no match for the twenty Shadow Guardians.

Those assassins had been defeated before they bothered Long and Shi.

When all the assassins were dying, Zou Qingyuan arrived with some men.

The assassination almost happened at the gate of their building. Given the special identities of Shi and Long, it would be serious if he didn’t bring his men there!

“Qingzhou!” Zou exclaimed.

Shi looked over and smiled, “Qingyuan, don’t worry. They’re just some useless gangsters. It’s okay.”

Zou didn’t think that the assassins with great martial arts were just some useless gangsters, but since Shi said that, he didn’t refute.

Zou had known Long’s identity, but he pretended not to know because Shi didn’t say anything about that.

After a brief conversation with Zou, Shi asked him to leave.

Not all the assassins were killed by the Shadow Guardians. Some of them were just arrested but still died. It could be seen that those people were all from the well-trained suicide squad.

“Alas, it’s a pity that the people of Eastern Darkness look just like us. Only the Northern Barbarians look a little different. Otherwise, at least we can know whether these assassins came from Eastern Darkness.” Long sighed.

Shi paused for a second, and then said, “I have a way to figure out whether these people came from Eastern Darkness.”

“Hmm?” Long looked at Shi. “What’s that?”

“If we can’t get the information in the traditional way, we can seek help from the martial arts world,” Shi said slowly.

Long just came out of Tianji Sect, so he naturally understood what Shi meant, but he frowned.

“Tianji Sect?”

Shi found that Long didn’t like Tianji Sect for some unknown reason, so he said, “Not necessarily. There are many other organizations.”

Long pursed his lips and said suddenly, “Will Tianji Sect find it out?”

“Maybe they have a way.” Shi said cautiously.

Long pursed his lips, “Qingzhou…”

Shi looked at Long.

But Long scratched his head and stopped talking.

The Shadow Guardians dealt with the dead bodies on the spot, in a quite cruel way.

Two big trees were cut off and then the dead bodies were piled up together. A special kind of oil was poured on those things. With that oil, even water could burn, let alone two trees.

Soon, all the bodies disappeared.

It cost them about half an hour, but no one appeared on this road during this period of time.

It seemed that other Shadow Guardians were guarding ahead…

Long stared at the burning fire. After a while, he sighed.

“Battles are always accompanied by the cost of human lives.”

Hearing Long’s words, Shi fell silent for a moment. Later, Shi said softly, “A successful general comes at the cost of thousands of lives. I didn’t understand the meaning of this sentence when I was a child. After I went to the battlefield, I finally understood it.”

“Qingzhou…” Long held Shi’s hand. “Let’s go.”

Shi nodded. “Right.”

Long was not so relaxed as he was earlier, but he still held Shi’s hand and didn’t speed up the pace.

They went back to the imperial palace slowly.

Back to Qiankun Palace, Shi and Long went to change clothes.

It was already afternoon after they changed their clothes and they hadn’t eaten lunch. Neither of them had a good appetite, so they just had a light meal.

After that, Long went to the imperial study, while Shi stayed in Qiankun Palace to deal with other affairs…