My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 78

When Yan Hongyin returned, the room was empty. From behind the screen in the inner chamber came the gentle splashing of water—Yu Luocha was luxuriating in a bath.

Yan Hongyin’s fingers traced the edge of the bathtub, then glided across the warm water surface, brushing over Yu Luocha’s exposed shoulder. Her fingertip hooked the moisture-laden collarbone, picking up a damp sensation.

“The Luocha Sect is in complete disarray, yet here you are, the Sect Leader, enjoying your peace and quiet.”

“For what you wanted, I had to rummage through the storehouse for half the day. Even my hair got dirty,” Yu Luocha snorted lightly, clearly implying he wouldn’t have bothered if it weren’t for Yan Hongyin’s request. “Instead of rewarding me, Wife finds ways to criticize me.”

What she wanted?

Yu Luocha turned in the bath, lazily draping himself over the edge. His strong, powerful arms created ripples in the water. Droplets slid down his skin, leaving dark traces on the tub before finally disappearing into the soft, exquisite long-haired carpet.

Yan Hongyin’s gaze shifted subtly as she looked in the direction Yu Luocha was pointing.

On the table outside lay a casually placed red wooden box, still covered with a layer of undisturbed dust and bearing the disdainful fingerprints of someone who had handled it reluctantly.

“The ‘Black Jade Bamboo’?” Yan Hongyin understood.

“Mmm-hmm.” Yu Luocha pouted. “At first, I searched for ages without thinking about this thing. A flowery name like ‘Black Jade Bamboo’ sounds exactly like something from the Central Plains.”

“After looking around twice and finding nothing, I finally remembered it was supposedly a gift from Zhamuhe. That’s when I figured out where it might be.”

Yu Luocha gathered his long hair that was floating on the water’s surface and gently rubbed it, nodding with satisfaction as the strands became clean and silky.

“Oh? You have connections with Zhamuhe, the Desert King?” Yan Hongyin didn’t leave but leaned against the rack next to the screen, arms crossed, admiring the scene of the beauty bathing before her.

“What you Central Plains people would call a life-and-death friendship.” Yu Luocha blinked. “So, do I really get no reward for my efforts?”

“Hmm… I suppose you do.” Yan Hongyin thought for a moment, then said to Yu Luocha, “Close your eyes and move back.”

Yan Hongyin actually possessed a very straightforward and candid personality. When dealing with Yu Luocha, she was mostly aggressive and forward, rarely engaging in the subtle, restrained flirtations typical of people from the Central Plains.

Hearing this, surprise flashed across Yu Luocha’s face, but his body honestly obeyed—eyes closed, he shrank back obediently into the bathtub to await Yan Hongyin’s reward.

A breeze swept through the room as Yu Luocha detected Yan Hongyin leaping out the window and quickly returning, her garment hems making a soft rustling sound as they brushed against the windowsill.

Catching the scent of a rich fragrance, Yu Luocha’s heart stirred as he immediately guessed what Yan Hongyin had brought back from outside.

With a smirk curling at his lips and a sudden mischievous thought, Yu Luocha ducked completely underwater, leaving only strands of dark brown hair floating alluringly on the surface.

Yan Hongyin raised an eyebrow, the camellia in her hand now without a recipient.

“Don’t want it?”

The person underwater released a bubble, seemingly protesting Yan Hongyin’s perfunctory and unromantic gesture.

“Fine.”

Standing by the bathtub, Yan Hongyin raised her hand and plucked the bright red camellia petals, casually scattering them into the water. Soon, the originally clear surface was covered with floating camellia petals, gradually obscuring Yu Luocha’s shadow.

“This way… you can consider yourself rewarded, right?” Yan Hongyin’s voice contained a hint of amusement.

Angry bubbles rose to the surface, pushing open the camellia petals in a small area.

Yu Luocha huddled in the bathtub with his arms wrapped around himself. Actually, someone his size being underwater wasn’t comfortable, but it was a matter of principle—he needed to make Ah Yin understand the importance of not being perfunctory with him!

But… Ah Yin’s voice seemed to have moved closer to the surface, as if she were leaning on the edge of the bathtub.

“Enjoy your bath that much? Should I add some more hot water then?”

Yu Luocha: “…”

He knew that women from the Central Plains were reserved and proper, but his own seemed beyond that—she was like an unbendable bamboo pole, even more unromantic than that Liu Xia Hui they spoke of!

Ah Yin was even more oblivious to romantic cues than Liu Xia Hui—she was Yan Xia Hui!

After sulking for quite a while, Yu Luocha secretly gave Yan Hongyin a nickname, which made him feel much better.

–Forget it, let’s talk about serious matters. That’s what Ah Yin is interested in.

Yu Luocha thought sourly to himself. Using strength from his waist, he emerged from the water like a leaping fish, but before he could open his eyes, he was stunned by the warm sensation pressed against his lips.

Yan Hongyin had propped both hands on the edge of the bathtub and leaned forward to kiss the dripping wet Yu Luocha.

Her black hair fell to one side, the ends sliding past the concealing camellia petals to lightly touch the water’s surface. The tips became moistened with warmth, with mist rising upward.

This was not a fleeting touch but a lingering exchange of lips and teeth.

After the initial shock, Yu Luocha’s hand rose from the water to grasp Yan Hongyin’s hands holding the sides of the tub. With his head tilted back, he turned his face to chase that light, warm breath, his lips and tongue supple as they entwined in deep intimacy.

After a long moment, the two parted lips, slightly breathless. Yan Hongyin rested her forehead against Yu Luocha’s and said softly, “This position is killing me.”

“Is that so? Then next time I’ll remember to drag Ah Yin into the bathtub with me,” Yu Luocha’s voice was deep and magnetic, with a hoarse laugh.

That word “drag” was very characteristic of Yu Luocha.

“Why so passionate suddenly?” Yu Luocha took a deep breath. “Nearly took my life.”

Yan Hongyin let out a light laugh. “You can’t handle even this much? You should see the things I encounter when investigating cases.”

Yan Hongyin pressed her forehead against Yu Luocha’s, pushing him underwater briefly, then straightened up.

Yu Luocha made up his mind that once this matter was settled, he would definitely return to the Central Plains to broaden his horizons.

It seemed that when it came to play, Central Plains people knew many more techniques.

Yan Hongyin adjusted her sleeves, which had become somewhat damp from their antics, and walked casually to the outer room to open the box, revealing the black withered branch lying on the velvet padding inside.

Taking it out with a handkerchief, Yan Hongyin held her breath as she examined it closely, yet couldn’t identify what kind of medicinal material it was.

But this thing gave her a bad feeling; her instinct told her it was malevolent.

“What is this?” she asked.

Yu Luocha emerged from the bathtub, dried himself off, and draped an outer robe loosely around himself, tied carelessly at the waist. He allowed his wet hair to dampen the back of his garment, clinging to his body.

“A rare poison that grows exclusively beyond the border. We call it Yesilin, meaning ‘wonderful thing.'”

Yu Luocha flipped over a teacup and poured himself some tea to suppress the restlessness in his heart.

“This thing is scarce even beyond the border. It’s a worm that grows inside a poisonous bamboo in oases. Ordinary people can’t detect the motionless worms inside the bamboo, let alone know that these creatures die when the bamboo flowers.”

“Only if you cut down the section of bamboo containing the worm the night before the bamboo flowers, bury it in soil, and let it rot for a year does the bamboo’s poison fully integrate into the worm. Then the worm transforms into this bark-like form.”

Yan Hongyin took out a flying dagger and gently scraped some powder from the Black Jade Bamboo. She rubbed it between her fingertips, brought it to her nose, paused for a good while, then lightly touched it with the tip of her tongue.

She concluded knowingly, “This poison causes one to lose one’s mind?”

Yu Luocha asked with interest, “This poison makes people see their most obsessive desires fulfilled. What did Ah Yin see?”

“You wearing a red dress, lying on the bed,” Yan Hongyin answered honestly.

Yu Luocha: “…”

He shouldn’t have asked that question.

“More or less,” Yu Luocha stiffly changed the subject. “People who die from this poison reportedly have satisfied smiles on their faces, dying happily. This is probably one of the few poisons that could affect my mind. It’s impressive that Zhamuhe went to such trouble to find it and send it to me.”

Too bad he wasn’t at the Luocha Sect.

Yan Hongyin sensed something was off and repeated Yu Luocha’s earlier words. “Life-and-death friend Zhamuhe?”

“I gouged out one of his eyes and cut off one of his hands, and he put a hole in my stomach. Isn’t that a life-and-death friendship?!” Yu Luocha asserted righteously.

“…I suppose it can be considered as such,” Yan Hongyin said with difficulty, then thought of a question. “In the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions, how many life-and-death friends do you have?”

Yu Luocha straightforwardly held up three fingers.

Yan Hongyin nodded.

–Three is acceptable. It shouldn’t be too difficult to reorganize and control the Western Region forces later.

“Having three decent relationships is fine. Know when to stop. For the others, as long as you don’t kill them, you can probably have a conversation at knifepoint.”

“…Alright.”

Yan Hongyin gained a completely new understanding of Yu Luocha’s talent for making enemies.

She was puzzled. “How exactly did you establish your Luocha Sect?”

“By fighting, of course.” Yu Luocha tilted his head. “If I defeated them, they submitted to me. Simple. So now a bunch of people are thinking about overthrowing me every day to usurp power, right?”

“People beyond the border are straightforward. They don’t have as many scheming minds as those in the Central Plains.”

Yan Hongyin’s knuckles curled as she tapped the table twice, saying languidly, “If I recall correctly, a certain person from beyond the border needs this Central Plains person’s scheming mind to help clean up his mess?”

“Well, there’s no real distinction between border people and Central Plains people.” The ever-adaptable Yu Luocha moved closer, enveloping Yan Hongyin’s hand with his own. His wet head nuzzled against her as he clung to her, saying in a sticky voice, “We’re family~”

Yan Hongyin had been keeping a straight face, trying to be serious, but after being nuzzled a couple of times, she broke into a smile. She then raised her hand to rub Yu Luocha’s still-dripping hair and said, “Sit properly. Let me fix your hair for you.”

“Okay.”

Yu Luocha hooked a chair with his toes and sat facing away from Yan Hongyin, feeling her warm fingers threading through his hair.

“That child from Baiyun City wants this for his father. Do you think he knows the poisonous nature of this thing? At least before this, no one has tried using it in medicine.”

Yesilin was extremely poisonous and rare. People beyond the border rarely experimented with making medicines, and Yu Luocha had never heard of it being used in any life-saving remedy.

Yan Hongyin had always liked Yu Luocha’s long, curly hair. Using her gentle internal energy to dry the moisture from his strands, she worked patiently and attentively.

“If what he said is true, that his father’s condition is terminal due to a congenital deficiency, then a potent deadly poison used correctly could indeed become a life-saving medicine.”

Yu Luocha was becoming drowsy from Yan Hongyin’s ministrations. With his arm resting on the chair back and his chin on the back of his hand, he asked, “Then why did you look so thoughtful and puzzled when you came in earlier?”

Yan Hongyin’s movements paused as she said, “The city lord of Baiyun City and my mother seem to be old acquaintances.”

“…Our mother certainly traveled far.” Yu Luocha was also surprised for a moment. “But Ah Yin seems very concerned about Baiyun City. Is there something special about that place?”

“The Ye family of Baiyun City is a remnant bloodline of the previous dynasty’s royal family. His Majesty has never ceased monitoring Baiyun City,” Yan Hongyin explained. “The Second Prince’s mother consort had an affair with a branch of the Ye family, resulting in the birth of the Second Prince.”

Hearing this, Yu Luocha was no longer drowsy. “So the Emperor knows about this?”

The Emperor keeping the Second Prince around was definitely waiting to settle accounts later.

Yan Hongyin replied, “He didn’t know from the beginning. It was discovered during an investigation by the Jinyiwei when the Second Prince came of age, uncovering the scandal.”

“Are all emperors so patient?” Yu Luocha’s tone was filled with admiration.

“During the previous emperor’s reign, the situation was turbulent, and court politics were chaotic. It took the current Emperor several decades to gradually consolidate power and rectify court discipline. The Second Prince’s maternal relatives are influential scholars. His Majesty wouldn’t disrupt the balance of court politics over a momentary anger.”

Yan Hongyin split Yu Luocha’s hair into two parts and began to braid it.

She wasn’t skilled at dressing hair. Since regaining her memories, Yu Luocha had always combed her hair, though occasionally she would get the urge to play with his long curls.

“Rather than giving in to momentary anger, using Baiyun City to charge the Second Prince’s maternal family with colluding with remnants of the previous dynasty and betraying the country—killing two birds with one stone and resolving the issue permanently—would be more in line with His Majesty’s principles.”

“Speaking of which, Baiyun City has never produced a clan leader with exceptional martial talent. This young city lord Ye has superior aptitude and temperament—the first of his kind.”

“That’s quite a pity, since if the Emperor takes action, at least the entire Ye clan in Baiyun City would be exterminated, right? What’s that called…to implicate nine generations of a family?” Yu Luocha said lazily. “Cut the grass but not the roots, and it will grow again in the spring breeze. That’s perfectly normal.”

“Wasn’t it the same with Loulan back then? If I were a member of the Ye family…” Yu Luocha half-closed his eyes and said casually, “I would divide the people—let some be disposed of by the court while preserving the young or talented juniors, preferably those with good physical aptitude like me. With the burning motivation of such a city-destroying grudge, the Ye family couldn’t possibly be extinguished.”

“If among these children, one emerged who could establish a sect like me, wouldn’t the Ye family make a comeback?”

Yan Hongyin’s movements came to an abrupt halt.

Yu Luocha turned his head slightly. “…Don’t tell me I guessed correctly?”

Yan Hongyin stood there pondering for a good while before raising her hand to straighten Yu Luocha’s head and resuming her work on his hair. “The Ye family has continued its lineage on Flying Immortal Island to this day. Each clan leader has suffered from a strange ailment and typically has a short life. If my intelligence is correct, the Ye clan’s direct line has likely been marginalized.”

“According to your method, placing them in mortal danger to regenerate would undoubtedly be the best way to cut the bone to cure the disease. However, the Ye family would probably not easily decide to abandon Baiyun City.”

“Another instance of Central Plains people’s attachment to their homeland?” Yu Luocha laughed. “Fine, then let me continue guessing.”

“If it were me…”

Yu Luocha felt Yan Hongyin braiding his hair into many small plaits behind him, allowing her to indulge in this rare interest.

“I would cooperate with the Second Prince to deal with the Grand Prince first. Then, once the Emperor passes away, only the Third Prince, still a child, would remain. This would give Baiyun City at least ten years to breathe, and during that time, many things could be accomplished…”

“If they could also reach some agreements with the young Emperor, the court might not necessarily pursue Baiyun City far away overseas.” Yu Luocha said, “Look at how the current Emperor doesn’t even want to deal with Loulan beyond the border?”

Yu Luocha became increasingly animated as he spoke.

“Actually, we wouldn’t even need to wait for the Third Prince to ascend the throne. First, let the two older princes destroy each other, then secretly kill one, and afterward sneak into the palace to poison the Emperor a bit… Ow——pain, pain, pain!”

Yan Hongyin released the hair she had been gripping and said coldly, “Still want to continue?”

“I was just talking,” Yu Luocha raised his hand to rub his scalp, his tone aggrieved.

“I see your thoughts are quite thorough and comprehensive,” Yan Hongyin didn’t expose him further.

Yu Luocha’s words seemed spontaneous and simple, yet they were highly feasible. With the Ximen couple’s deadly grudge still unresolved, if not for Yan Hongyin, Yu Luocha might have turned these words into action.

It was merely a difference between killing fewer or more people; for Yu Luocha, who once roamed unchained, this hardly mattered.

Yan Hongyin continued, “Baiyun City’s plan is pretty much along those lines—wanting to use the court’s blade to kill the ticks sucking Baiyun City’s blood.”

She took the several long braids in her hands and arranged them, bending and coiling them as she pleased.

“Now this young City Lord has truly and directly come into contact with the next emperor.” Yu Luocha drawled, “Is Commander Yan planning to break up a pair of mandarin ducks?”

Yan Hongyin responded with exasperation, “…That’s not how you use ‘mandarin ducks.’ You really should study with the younger ones.”

“If Ah Yin teaches me, I’ll study,” Yu Luocha’s hand reached back, hooking Yan Hongyin’s hem and twirling it. “Guaranteed to be obedient.”

Ignoring his cat-like paws, Yan Hongyin continued to exercise her creativity on Yu Luocha’s head. “I haven’t decided how to arrange these youngsters yet. Let’s wait and see. In the meantime, keep an eye on Gong Jiu for me these next few days.”

“You’ve noticed that kid too? He…”

Yu Luocha’s words suddenly stopped, and Yan Hongyin also looked up toward the door.

Footsteps approached, and someone gently knocked on the door, saying in a soft voice, “Has Madam retired? May Mei’er disturb the lady for a moment?”

Hanmei was a breakthrough they had been waiting for. If they missed this opportunity, next time Hanmei would certainly grow suspicious.

Yan Hongyin looked at Yu Luocha’s hair in her hands, her eyelid twitching with guilt. She quickly pulled Yu Luocha up and pushed him onto the daybed, grabbing a nearby blanket to wrap him up.

Then she straightened her clothes and went to open the door.

Hanmei entered with light steps, immediately noticing the crooked bundle on the daybed. Her expression froze. “This is…”

Yan Hongyin: “…”

A long-fingered hand emerged from beneath the blanket. The person on the daybed half-raised himself, his expression containing both indolence and a hint of shyness. Somehow, he had donned a half-face mask, his eyes looking toward Yan Hongyin before lowering shyly.

He portrayed a demeanor of affection mixed with timidity, as if wanting to speak but hesitating.

Yan Hongyin closed her eyes guiltily.

Hanmei looked at the princess’s male concubine she had seen earlier that day, remained silent for a long while, then finally forced a smile back onto her rigid face and struggled to compliment him. “…Is this a new hairstyle from the Central Plains? It’s quite… childishly adorable.”

Hairstyle? Adorable?

Yu Luocha suddenly felt something was wrong. He raised his hand to touch his head and felt two raised buns of hair.

“…?!”

Yan Hongyin avoided Yu Luocha’s accusatory gaze, stepping sideways to block him from view. Facing Hanmei, she cleared her throat lightly and said coolly, “It’s merely ordinary bedroom fun. Why is Elder Hanmei making such a fuss?”

Hanmei temporarily forgot her purpose for coming, her mind filled only with the image of the double buns on the male concubine’s head.

Ordinary… was it?

“Di’er, why are you standing there dazed? Quickly go to the inner chamber and warm the bedding for this Princess!”

The princess’s male concubine, wearing only a damp outer robe that clearly showed signs of dalliance, silently buried himself in the blanket, taking his double-bun hairstyle and slipping into the inner chamber in three quick steps to warm the princess’s bed.

Yan Hongyin cleared her throat, her face showing no trace of abnormality as she gestured. “Elder Hanmei, please sit.”

Hanmei sat down reflexively, all her previously prepared speech now blank in her mind.

…What was I going to say again?