My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 69

Yu Luocha sulkily walked over to Yan Hongyin’s side, secretly giving Agha a side-eye before reaching out to hold Yan Hongyin’s hand.

Yan Hongyin quite naturally smoothed down the big cat’s bristled fur. “Let’s go, together.”

Yu Luocha blinked and nodded obediently. “Why don’t we go to the west street? There’s a shop there that makes excellent milk tea.”

Agha’s raised eyebrows gradually lowered as his gaze circled between Yan Hongyin and Yu Luocha. Then he also put on an obedient smile like Yu Luocha and said softly, “I’m fine with anything.”

Yu Luocha glared at the copycat.

Agha returned with a smug, fake smile.

Yan Hongyin narrowed her eyes slightly, pretending not to notice the strange atmosphere between the two.

The three of them walking on the street attracted many glances. The Loulan people were mostly enthusiastic and generous, and several of them invited them to sit in their homes.

Yu Luocha was accustomed to this and merely smiled slightly, maintaining a not-too-distant yet not-too-close warmth. Yan Hongyin’s expression and reaction were similar. Only Agha, who was a step behind the two, seemed to be in his element, chatting with everyone for a few sentences, his smile appearing genuinely kind and gentle.

Yan Hongyin observed Agha’s behavior carefully, and combined with her previous conversations with him, she had a fairly good idea of his character.

……

This meal was anything but peaceful for Yan Hongyin.

After all, she really couldn’t ignore the bickering above the table and the kicking under it—several times Yu Luocha tried to kick the other man but was cleverly redirected toward her, causing the hot milk tea in her bowl to spill over her hand.

Yan Hongyin closed her eyes briefly and gently tapped the edge of her bowl with her chopsticks.

Yu Luocha immediately withdrew his leg and sat up straight, picking up his chopsticks to eat properly. Agha didn’t have such well-trained reflexes, and his foot went straight through, kicking Yu Luocha solidly.

Yu Luocha let out a loud hiss, giving Yan Hongyin a look both aggrieved and accusatory.

Agha quickly forced a smile and tried to change the subject. “Does Your Highness need more dishes?”

Yan Hongyin held her chopsticks and replied neutrally, “No need. For one person eating, these dishes are quite enough.”

Yu Luocha: “……”

Agha: “……”

For the remainder of the meal, the two childish men bowed their heads and ate properly, not causing any more trouble.

……

Yan Hongyin and Yu Luocha slowly returned to their room. Yan Hongyin sat by the table and poured a cup of hot tea prepared by the servants. “Tell me, what’s your relationship?”

Yu Luocha, who had just stepped into the room and hadn’t even had time to close the door: “……”

Yu Luocha raised his hand to rub the tip of his nose and said, “I suppose we’re childhood playmates who grew up together.”

“Hmm.” Yan Hongyin responded, then said directly, “Did you know he’s been embezzling the silver from the difference in medicinal materials in the city?”

Yu Luocha walked over, hooked a chair with his foot, and sat down in front of Yan Hongyin. Their knees touched as he gently rocked back and forth. “I haven’t really inquired about exactly what he’s done. Loulan City’s affairs have always been managed by the three Grand Priests, but it’s probably for this reason that he’s only responsible for medicinal materials.”

“But I have to say, his reputation in Loulan City is probably the best next to mine.”

“Even Abbo and Appo face some complaints due to managing the city’s internal affairs, but I doubt anyone in the city would say a bad word about him. He’s disgustingly fake.”

Yu Luocha sneered.

His own good reputation came from his rebuilding and protection of Loulan, but Agha’s good reputation was purely from this person pretending day after day, accumulating bit by bit.

This contradicted what Agha had said earlier.

Yan Hongyin put down her teacup. “He said he only succeeded as Grand Priest half a year ago.”

Yu Luocha laughed mockingly. “Indeed, he only succeeded half a year ago when his father died, but when Loulan was being rebuilt, he was the only doctor in the city who knew medicine.”

“Unwilling to appear in power, on good terms with the city’s commoners, familiar with all merchant caravan schedules and goods entering and leaving the city, and even knowing some Central Plains regions’ prices and commercial taxes… Such a person is well-suited to be Loulan City’s manager.”

Yan Hongyin’s fingers tapped lightly on the table.

“Embezzling money, as long as it’s within limits and doesn’t endanger people’s lives, isn’t a big issue.”

Border cities like Loulan never had completely clean officials; having leverage ensured both sides could feel secure.

Yu Luocha hurriedly took the opportunity to badmouth Agha. “If he was willing to do it, he would have done it from the beginning. Why is he still loitering around, flirting with lovers all day?”

Yan Hongyin glanced sideways at Yu Luocha who was obviously inserting his personal grievances, her eyes flashing with amusement. “Why are you so jealous of him?”

Yu Luocha spread his hands, his expression candid. “I understand the reasoning, but Ah Yin, how can a man’s jealousy be reasonable? There’s no reason to it.”

Yan Hongyin felt playful and asked with a half-smile, “Then what does Ah Yu think would attract me to him? Is it his deep-set facial features, his desert-deep skin color, or his gentle and kind…”

Yu Luocha solemnly raised his hand to cover Yan Hongyin’s lips, saying very seriously, “Ah Yin, if you say more, I’ll have to kiss you hard.”

“The especially forceful, very angry kind.”

At the end, feeling the threat might not be enough, Yu Luocha added:

“If I’m really unhappy, I might lose control and might bite your lip until it bleeds, and also…”

Yan Hongyin’s eyes crinkled with laughter, finding the man before her so adorable that her heart softened. She took Yu Luocha’s finger between her teeth and bit it gently. When Yu Luocha’s finger trembled but didn’t withdraw, she proceeded to hold that small bit of skin between her teeth and nibbled it deliberately.

Yu Luocha’s words abruptly stopped, and his eyes darkened as he looked up at her.

The hand that had been covering Yan Hongyin’s lips suddenly retracted, shifting to the back of her head, while his other arm reached around her waist and pulled her to sit on his lap.

Yan Hongyin lazily raised an eyebrow.

Not at all concerned about the awkwardness of sitting sideways on Yu Luocha’s lap, she instead instructed him calmly, “At times like this for flirting, you should spread your legs to sit properly. It feels better that way. Remember next time.”

Yu Luocha chuckled softly and leaned close to Yan Hongyin’s ear, biting the tip of her ear, mimicking her previous action by holding a small piece of skin between his teeth and grinding it while whispering, “Ah Yin, I am a man.”

Yan Hongyin’s waist softened a bit from the heat of Yu Luocha’s breath, but she still tried to stand tall and not back down. “I know you are. Your equipment is robust and healthy, not dysfunctional. A man in his thirties shouldn’t hold back. If you hold back and get sick, you’ll still come to me.”

Yu Luocha released the ear tip he had warmed between his teeth and turned to bite Yan Hongyin’s earlobe with a mixture of anger and love. His arms tightened as he brushed his nose along Yan Hongyin’s neck and said hoarsely, “Just a few more days of holding back. After our wedding, Ah Yin must remain as stubborn as you are now.”

Yan Hongyin knew Yu Luocha had been secretly preparing something recently, and now she realized it must be their wedding and her queen’s coronation ceremony. Interested, she ran her finger along Yu Luocha’s chest and gave it a light poke. “So that means before the wedding… Ah Yu will let me play however I want?”

Yan Hongyin actually had a very subtle fragrance about her. It wasn’t like the scented powders in the sachet bags of Central Plains women or men, but rather a faint scent that could only be detected when one’s nose was pressed close against her skin.

A clean and soft warm fragrance with a hint of icy coldness, yet mixed with the sweetness of pear blossoms.

Yu Luocha loved this scent that even Yan Hongyin herself wasn’t aware of, but he never dared to smell it too much. Each time he only brushed against it lightly, and his entire being, down to the marrow of his bones, would melt a little.

Yu Luocha’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he suddenly felt he might not be able to handle the “play however I want” from the person in his arms. He immediately admitted defeat and picked her up properly, placing her back on the chair opposite him, and even warmed the tea with his palm before putting it in Yan Hongyin’s hand.

—The gesture of appeasement was quite dense with the flavor of begging for mercy.

Yu Luocha looked at her pitifully and asked in a tone of humble inquiry, “Good Ah Yin, what did you see in Agha today?”

Yan Hongyin very generously let Yu Luocha off the hook, then raised her teacup to moisten her throat and also suppressed the restlessness in her body. After a while, she slowly said, “He has ambitions for power. Just now he was merely testing my thoughts.”

Yu Luocha thought for a moment. He wasn’t stupid, and after a few thoughts tumbling through his mind, he understood. He laughed. “He refused to help manage Loulan’s internal affairs before because he didn’t trust me?”

“That’s between you two. I suggest putting a knife to his throat and asking.” Yan Hongyin said calmly.

Yu Luocha stroked his chin, accepting the suggestion. “Good idea… I’ve broken his arms and legs before, but I’ve never touched his neck.”

“The plain-colored Xiangyun silk he’s wearing is valuable and quite rare even in Lin’an Prefecture. Silk shops don’t usually sell it openly; they send some to wealthy officials and merchants who order it, with little surplus. This shows he must have his own connections in the Central Plains.”

Yan Hongyin remembered the white clothes Agha wore so casually and smiled with a hint of disdain. “Since he wore it out, he’s testing my eye for quality.”

“…Does a princess need to learn such things?” Yu Luocha looked puzzled.

If the previous Yan Hongyin knew these things, Yu Luocha wouldn’t have been surprised.

Yan Hongyin could answer almost all of Yu Luocha’s questions about the Central Plains, whether about the imperial court or the martial world.

But the Yan Hongyin sitting in front of him now was a princess by birth who had traveled as a wandering doctor for a few years. Did she also need to understand what kind of fabric was sold in silk shops?

Seeing that Yu Luocha was genuinely curious, Yan Hongyin rubbed her fingertips and explained, “In the current dynasty, men mostly handle external affairs while women handle internal affairs. External affairs refer to taking the imperial examinations to become officials, fighting on battlefields, or running businesses and escort services. Even in farming families, women control the household’s silver and plan finances.

The mistresses of large households come from prestigious families, begin their education at three years old, and receive careful instruction for over ten years, learning household management.”

Yan Hongyin glanced at Yu Luocha’s expression and asked with a smile, “Does Ah Yu think managing a household only means dozens of people in the family?”

“When women manage internal affairs, they oversee all the fields and shops belonging to the man’s family and the woman’s dowry, outer estates and inner courtyards. If it’s a princess’s mansion or a wealthy family with many accumulations, there could be tens of thousands of servants and slaves.

There’s also maintaining relationships with friendly families, handling connections and information exchanges after family members receive promotions, and so on. What the lady of the house needs to do is far from simple. This is also why in the current dynasty, concubines rarely, if ever, become the official wife.”

The borderlands didn’t have such rules. In fact, outside the border, not just in Loulan but in many small countries or tribes, men and women stayed together if they got along and separated if they didn’t. Many young men and women didn’t even choose to hold ceremonies at the shrine to become husband and wife. If they had children, they raised them together, but they weren’t necessarily a family.

Yu Luocha only knew that the Central Plains rules were complex but had never bothered to understand these things. Hearing Yan Hongyin’s words, he pondered, “Then the so-called concubines in the Central Plains… aren’t they women that men marry because they like them?”

“Whether a man likes her or not may be important, but not that important.” Yan Hongyin said calmly. As a princess, her status determined that what she learned was naturally far above what noble ladies learned. “Those who serve with their appearance, even if given household authority, lack the ability to shoulder the responsibilities of a family.”

Yu Luocha felt something was off the more he listened. He repeated Yan Hongyin’s words, enunciating each syllable with a grave expression, “No ability to manage a household, doesn’t know how to manage family affairs, married because someone liked them, serving with their appearance.”

Yan Hongyin was confused but still nodded.

Yu Luocha was silent for a good while, then raised his hand to point at himself with a trembling finger, “…Me?”

Yan Hongyin: “!!”

Nearly spilling her teacup, Yan Hongyin pushed it to the inner side of the table under Yu Luocha’s incredulous gaze and sighed in relief before glancing sideways at Yu Luocha, who was questioning his entire life.

She knew Yu Luocha had a talent for grasping the wrong point, but she hadn’t expected it to be this way.

But when put like this…

Well… every point did match…

Yan Hongyin opened and closed her mouth, showing rare hesitation.

After a long time, she cleared her throat and comforted her husband, “It’s fine, husband still has countless assets, at least… um, a generous dowry.”

Yu Luocha became clever now, “So a husband who marries into the wife’s family doesn’t need to manage family affairs?”

Yan Hongyin fell silent again. After a while, she sighed and decided to let Yu Luocha face reality. “To be honest, what you’re doing isn’t called marrying into the wife’s family. More accurately, it should be called… being a kept man.”

Just like a wealthy family left with a useless wastrel son who, unable to protect the family assets, marries into another shrewd woman’s family with all his unsustainable wealth, thus ensuring a peaceful, happy, and worry-free life henceforth.

Yu Luocha’s expression immediately became dazed.

Yan Hongyin lovingly reached out to stroke Yu Luocha’s smooth, sleek hair.

They chatted about various topics, but eventually circled back.

“Ah Yu, we can’t stay in Loulan for too long. You mentioned wanting to reorganize the Luocha Sect, but after reorganizing, you and I can’t stay permanently outside the border. The two Grand Priests are elderly, and both Loulan and the Luocha Sect need someone who can guard the borderlands.”

Agha was the most suitable candidate Yan Hongyin had seen so far, and Agha himself definitely knew Yan Hongyin’s thoughts, actively appearing before her.

He had also demonstrated his relationship with Yu Luocha in front of Yan Hongyin—although since Yu Luocha’s appearance, Agha’s mentality seemed to have regressed by more than a decade, and the way the two showed their brotherly connection was extremely childish and noisy.

Yu Luocha: “……”

Agha had not practiced martial arts in his youth. Although his physique looked robust, it was actually just for show, a showy facade. He initially built that body to look good in clothes and make it easier to flirt with people. But Yu Luocha had always known that when it came to clever thinking and methods of doing business and making money, Agha was several times better than him.

“When we were little, the tribe had no fixed abode. Abbo and Appo didn’t have much wealth, but Agha always managed to get enough gold, silver, and food for us. When we grew older…”

Yu Luocha paused, a hint of nostalgia crossing his eyes.

“No matter how I returned, whether covered in blood or half-dead, he could hide me away without changing his expression, along with hiding my knife.”

“Ah Yin, I understand what you mean.” Yu Luocha said softly, “I’ll talk to him.”

****

In the middle of the night, even though Agha knew Yu Luocha would come to find him, he was still scared half to death by the silent black figure that appeared by his bedside.

“…In the dead of night, would it cost the Sect Leader much effort to make a sound?” Agha clutched his violently beating chest and asked through gritted teeth at Yu Luocha, who stood at his bedhead like a vengeful ghost.

“What if you had someone hidden in your blanket? I was afraid it would hurt my eyes to see.” Yu Luocha sat cross-legged on the ground, raised his hand to prop up his cheek, and looked at the dark-skinned fox trapped on the bed.

“Knowing you were coming, how could I possibly arrange to meet someone?”

Agha adjusted his clothes and sneered, “Corrupting our Loulan’s pure-hearted high priest, I can’t bear such responsibility.”

“So you want to chat with me?” Yu Luocha asked.

Agha didn’t maintain the gentle and mild demeanor he showed to others when facing Yu Luocha. He leaned against the edge of the bed, raised his hand to point at his cheek, and looked at Yu Luocha teasingly, “Sure, let’s chat about why you were so concerned during the day. I suspect there might be something fishy going on.”

“Let me guess, I’ve never met this princess before, let alone talk about any friendship. The only connection we could have is through you… Hmm, there’s an interesting story from the Central Plains recently about a princess who disguised herself and practiced medicine among the common people. She saved a delicate, weak, and gentle-natured Loulan high priest who fell in love at first sight, followed her thereafter, and even offered the entire city of Loulan as a betrothal gift to marry her.”

Agha emphasized the words “delicate, weak” and “gentle-natured,” with a corner of his mouth curled in a dissolute smile.

“Don’t tell me, don’t tell me someone used the gentle facade that he usually despises in me to pursue his wife?”

Yu Luocha flicked his wrist, and the golden curved knife hidden behind his back flashed a sharp, cold light in the darkness, stabbing straight into the footstool beside the bed.

It stood between the two men.

“Shall we chat?”

Yu Luocha might not have been skilled at managing internal affairs and organizing personnel, but his courage and capability were unmatched by few in the borderlands or even the Central Plains.

Such a hero naturally had his charm.

Agha stared at him for a long time, their eyes locked.

After a while, Agha straightened up, putting away his casual manner. He sat cross-legged on the bed, making room for Yu Luocha on half the bed, and jerked his chin. “It’s so cold in winter, and you don’t even feel the chill on the ground. Sit here and talk.”

As soon as Yu Luocha sat down facing Agha, he heard the man opposite say quietly, “Although I don’t know what this princess sees in you, your taste is indeed good.”

“You married well.”

Yu Luocha contemplated this, feeling something was off.

Agha yawned and casually added another blow, “I mean you married well.”

“I can see that while this princess appears calm and cold, she actually has a very strong desire for control. And your behavior in front of the princess… tsk.”

“I’ve imagined many possibilities before, even considered a man, but never imagined it would be such a strong-willed woman, even more domineering than you.” Agha laughed, “Truly, everything has its match.”

“By the way, has she seen your wolf tail? Don’t reveal your true nature later. I’m still worried that marital discord between you two would put me, an innocent manager, in a difficult position.”

Yu Luocha: “…She could take down ten of you with one palm.”

Seeing Agha’s silence, Yu Luocha inexplicably added, “She could take me down too.”

Even if Ah Yin couldn’t subdue him immediately, she had a father behind her who was unreasonable and doted only on his daughter.

…His family status had never been that high anyway.

Yu Luocha couldn’t help feeling depressed.

Agha exhaled. “Very good, now I can rest assured.”

“Don’t feel wronged. Mainly because in the past, whether it was Loulan or the Luocha Sect, you treated them as playthings. I didn’t want to get too involved with you. After all, when you go berserk, no one can restrain you. I’ve lived until now to enjoy a good, carefree life, not to have my head separated from my body one day, and by your blade at that.”

Yu Luocha was at a loss for words.

“Today I had quite a pleasant conversation with that princess. She should understand my meaning—don’t give me that protective expression, I have no other thoughts about your princess who can take down ten of me with one palm.”

Agha was speechless.

“After your wedding and the queen’s coronation, just give me a title. Loulan City’s affairs aren’t difficult; the main issue is with the Luocha Sect. How long has it been since you last cleaned it up?”

Yu Luocha spread his hands. “I had an outburst last time. Later I went to the Central Plains, and although I occasionally asked a question or two, I didn’t pay much attention. What’s wrong? Are those old ghosts itching for trouble again?”

For Yu Luocha, the people of the Luocha Sect were useful as long as they could be used. As for how chaotic things got when he wasn’t around, he’d clean it up when it got too messy.

“Oh, then you’d better go back and check. It’s said you’re already deathly ill, and the elders of the Luocha Sect are preparing for your funeral and installing a young leader in your place.”