Binding the Dragon for the Empress

Hot and Cold

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When you focus on doing something, you have little time to think about anything else.

It took Xuan Long five days to carve a small wooden figure.
During which, apart from eating and sleeping, he carved the wood, leaving many tiny cuts on his fingertips.
He was very serious about it, but the small wooden figure was not detailed and not even one tenth as beautiful as Yan Yuan.

Naturally, such an object could not be given away.

Xuan Long silently put the little wooden figure into an empty box in the hall and prepared to carve a new one.
He had to make a satisfactory one before sending it to Yan Yuan, but that would certainly take many days.

He did not know why Yan Yuan had been angry for so long, but five days had passed and it should have subsided.
If it were him, he would not have been able to be angry for a day.

At noon, the palace servants brought food into the hall and placed it neatly on the round table.
When they were about to leave, Xuan Long called out for Xiao Dezi.

Xiao Dezi waved his hand to tell the low-rank eunuchs to go out, then turned to look at the man behind the mica screen and bent down slightly, “What is your order, Master Han?”

Xuan Long: “A’Yuan, did he… ever say anything to you?”

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Xiao Dezi's heart was like a mirror, but his mouth feigned, “Master Han has flattered this servant, how could His Majesty have spoken to this servant? This slave guesses that the emperor is busy again, so he had no time to come here.
If Master Han misses His Majesty, why doesn’t this servant go over and tell him?”

“No need, I'm just asking casually.” Xuan Long more or less knew that the emperor of the human race manages a lot of things on a day-to-day basis and could not possibly be with him all day and night.

Perhaps he was too entangled, but only five days had passed, so why was he unable to sit still.

“If there is nothing else, this servant will retire first, you can eat while it is still hot.” Xiao Dezi said softly.

“En.”

After Xiao Dezi left, Xuan Long went to the table and sat down.
Instead of eating, he took a jade pendant out of his pocket and carefully caressed it in his hand.

The jade pendant was kept in a hidden pocket on his chest.
He would take it out many times a day to look at it, but he did not want to hang it on his body for fear of accidentally hitting it or losing it.

The simple and delicate pattern of the iris is the token of love given to him by Yan Yuan.

As the saying goes, a day without seeing him is like three autumns, and after five days had passed, it seemed like a long time.
When his thoughts were too intense, he would look at the jade pendant and remember Yan Yuan's affectionate smile that day, and the loneliness and anxiety in his heart would be replaced by a hint of sweetness.

Suddenly, Xuan Long recalled the name Yan Yuan had inadvertently called out in his dream early that morning, and after lunch, when the palace staff came in to clean up, he asked, “Do you know who A'Yu is?”

Xiao Dezi, who was removing the plate, was stunned for a moment, his brain turning rapidly… Isn’t A'Yu the Empress's nickname, only the Emperor would call him that.

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This is probably where it all went wrong!

Xiao Dezi thought for a moment and said to Xuan Long in the tent, “In reply to Master Han's words, this servant does not know.”

“However… a year ago, the Emperor kept a jade-white snow fox named A'Yu, but it somehow got lost.
The Emperor ordered people to search the entire palace but they couldn't find it, so he was sad for a long time.”

There was indeed a snow fox in the palace a year ago, and it was indeed lost, but it was a snow fox that Yan Yuan had ordered someone to get from the West to make Ning Zhiyu happy.
The snow fox was so quiet and beautiful that Yan Yuan thought it resembled Ning Zhiyu, so he used the name A'Yu.

The person who was sad is Ning Zhiyu, and when he sees Ning Zhiyu sad, Yan Yuan is also sad, so technically speaking, Xiao Dezi is not lying, at most he is glossing it over.
Even though he is now serving Han Po, he has not forgotten who his true master is.
In this way, even if Yan Yuan's boat capsizes in the gutter later, he will not be blamed.

Xuan Long was deep in thought, “So that's how it is.”

Tomorrow, he will go to the snowy mountains to find a new one and send it to Yan Yuan.

……

At dusk, in Luanfeng Hall.

Zong Hua came over every day to check Ning Zhiyu's pulse, and today was no exception.

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It had been ten days since he started taking the dragon scales.
Only the last of the thirty scales remained, and they would be gone after tonight.
However, Ning Zhiyu showed no signs of waking up.
Yan Yuan paced anxiously in the hall, looking at the back of the imperial doctor, and he asked, “Didn’t you say that A’Yu’s pulse is getting more and more stable? Why is he still not awake?”

Zong Hua did not answer, and after a moment, slowly withdrew his hand from Ning Zhiyu's wrist, “In reply to Your Majesty's words, it's almost time.
Continue to give the medicine according to the prescription, the dragon scales must be continued.”

Yan Yuan had planned to stop seeing Xuan Long, but when he said that, his heart burst with anger, “Where can I get so many dragon scales? You quack, can't you find any other medicine that can cure A'Yu apart from dragon scales?”

Zong Hua turned to face Yan Yuan and bowed his head, “I am sorry for my incompetence, please forgive me, Your Majesty.”

If there really was another way, Yan Yuan would not have gone to such lengths to trick Xuan Long back to the palace in the first place.
He had just lost his temper, when he calmed down, he still had to give him the dragon scales.

These days, he was in a very anxious mood, hoping that Ning Zhiyu would wake up sooner, but at the same time, he uncontrollably thought of Xuan Long, who he had left behind in Qiankun Palace.

He hadn't meant to be cold to Xuan Long that day, he was just disgusted with himself; he was obviously playing a game, so how could he have almost indulged in a tender moment? If not for that dream, he would have fallen deeper and deeper.

All he wanted now was for A'Yu to regain his health sooner, so that he could cut himself off from Xuan Long.

“Forget it, you can leave.” Yan Yuan finally deflated and spoke feebly.

When the door to the hall was pushed open, Xuan Long was sitting on the beautiful couch by the window, carving a new wooden figure.
He looked up and saw that the person who came in was Yan Yuan.
With a flick of his palm, he subconsciously hid his things away.

Yan Yuan was dressed in a silver and white bamboo patterned brocade robe, and his face looked uneasy as he walked towards him.
Xuan Long didn’t know how to react, and he didn’t move.

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“How have you been lately?” Yan Yuan stopped in front of Xuan Long and raised his hand to touch the unmasked left side of his face.

The knot in Xuan Long's throat twitched slightly, “Still fine.”

“You didn't even ask me if I was okay?” Yan Yuan asked, aggrieved.

Xuan Long looked at his stunning face and was silent for a moment, “Are you doing well.”

Yan Yuan hugged Xuan Long for a moment before releasing him, as if he wasn't the one with the cold face that day.
Grabbing Xuan Long's wide sleeves, he opened them to look at him from left and right, his eyes running over his waist and finally stopping at his face.

“You seem to have lost some weight.”

During dinner, Yan Yuan kept offering dishes to Xuan Long, and the smell of oil and fishy food ran into his nose.
Xuan Long's face turned pale and his stomach churned, causing his eyebrows to knit slightly.
Seeing how eager Yan Yuan was, he silently picked up the food in the bowl and put it into his mouth, asking, “Have you lost your anger already?”

Yan Yuan was stunned for a moment and looked at the man beside him, “You know I'm used to getting angry, I wasn't aiming it at you.”

“En.” Xuan Long nodded, not making another sound.

 

Yan Yuan put down his chopsticks, took Xuan Long's hand and said in a soft voice, “I'm sorry, next time, if I mess up again, you'll… you won't let me in the room, okay?”