The General Was Pregnant with the Emperor's Child - Chapter 4

Eunuch Gao was nearly losing his mind. His Majesty had been kidnapped by a madman, and he had used Xiao Yunan’s imperial token to mobilize the General’s personal guards to seal the city gates. They had been searching the city in secret for two days.

With the new Emperor just beginning his reign, various factions were watching like hawks. The Emperor’s disappearance could not be made public, but by nightfall, it would be the third day.

Gao Su hadn’t dared to close his eyes for two nights. Exhausted and dazed, he hurried through the backstreets and alleys.

I can’t wait any longer!

He would return to the palace now and, at the risk of losing his head, order the Imperial Guard to conduct a full-scale lockdown and search!

He has to be found alive, and if dead—no, no, no!!!

Your Majesty! Where are you! May all the gods and Buddhas manifest and show this old servant the way!

Anxious to the point of stomping his feet, Gao Su leaned against a wall and wept into his hands. “Your Majesty! If anything happens to you, this old servant won’t want to live anymore!!”

Xiao Yunan, who had just flipped down from the brothel window, hadn’t even found his footing when he heard his personal eunuch’s funeral-like wailing. He steadied his staggering frame with a dark expression and called out hoarsely, “Gao Su, I’m not dead yet.”

“The gods have manifested, Your Majesty!!” Hearing the imperial voice at last, Gao Su burst into tears and threw himself down before Xiao Yunan. Seeing the Emperor’s equally haggard and pale complexion, his heart broke. Forgetting for a moment to bow or beg for forgiveness, he simply wiped his tears with his dusty sleeves. “How did your voice end up like this?!”

Xiao Yunan remained expressionless, his face a mask of cold stone.

“I am guilty! Please punish me for failing to protect the King!” Gao Su realized he had spoken out of turn and prostrated himself on the ground, not daring to look up.

“Enough. During the days I was missing, how many people knew?” Xiao Yunan’s expression darkened as he looked at Gao Su’s theatrics. He really didn’t want to recall how many days he had spent being “sampled” by a Kun-origin (Omega) flower-thief.

Gao Su continued to wipe his tears with genuine emotion, bowing low as he took all the blame. “Your Majesty was missing for two and a half days. It is my fault for not daring to make it public and only calling the General’s guards. I was late to the rescue!”

Xiao Yunan’s face softened slightly. Seeing that Gao Su was about to kowtow until the ground turned into a bloody mess, he said coldly, “Stop hitting your head. Return to the palace. First, help me catch a thief.”

“Yes, Sire!” Gao Su, having saved his life, laughed through his tears.

In the white jade imperial bath, steam swirled. Water droplets slid down Xiao Yunan’s chest muscles as Gao Su served him by the side, not daring to open his eyes.

Oh dear, Young General Ye just left, and His Majesty has been ravaged!

“Gao Su, tell me how did that thief dare to be so bold at the feet of the Son of Heaven?”

Gao Su peeked through a sliver of an eye and handed the Emperor a towel. “I find it strange too. A common flower-thief how could it be such a coincidence that they kidnapped Your Majesty?”

“Heh, I fear someone was setting the stage behind the scenes.” Xiao Yunan gave a cold snort as he took the towel. “Whatever method you use, make sure the senior officials my father promoted know that I have been accosted.”

Gao Su plucked up the courage to ask: “And General Ye?”

“No need for Ye Mian.” Xiao Yunan irritably tossed the towel into the water. “There are no eyes on the battlefield; don’t let him be distracted.”

Gao Su nodded in understanding. He then began to wander the streets with a heavy heart and a specific plan.

The old eunuch squatted in front of the Commander of the Imperial Guard, fidgeting with his horsetail whisk. “Commander Ji, I fear I won’t be able to serve His Majesty anymore!”

Commander Ji stepped back warily, but he couldn’t stop his excellent hearing. By the time his brain caught up, it was too late to cover his ears.

“I followed His Majesty on an incognito tour, and he was snatched away by a flower-thief. Wuwu, what will happen to my head!”

Once he had cried until the Commander looked sufficiently troubled, Gao Su moved to a new spot. He intercepted the Minister of Rites coming from court, squatted at the entrance of the Prime Minister’s estate.

Gao Su specifically targeted the biggest “blabbermouths” he could find. After a day of “randomly refreshing” himself across the capital, the embarrassing news of the Emperor’s encounter with a flower-thief spread like wildfire.

Then, hearing that the news had leaked, Xiao Yunan skipped court in a “rage” and ordered a city-wide manhunt for the thief. Now, when people tried to pry for more information, Gao Su would become evasive.

“How would I dare speak out of turn? His Majesty is furious about being accosted! Whoever the Emperor says it is, that’s who it is. Don’t go near him and court disaster!”

The “leaky faucet” Gao Su looked like an ant on a hot pan. Word was that the Emperor had even smashed the Imperial Seal! If the thief wasn’t found, Gao Su’s head would be the first to roll!

Everyone in the palace saw Gao Su’s desperation. Since he was desperate to redeem himself, he looked at everyone as if they were the thief. Yet, the Emperor refused to reveal any details not the thief’s appearance, gender, nor whether they were a Kun-origin or Ze-dui (Beta). Seeing the Emperor so enraged, people even wondered if the thief had been an Alpha.

For a time, the capital was in a state of chaos, and everyone lived in fear.

The “flower-thief” himself had already fled the capital overnight and was currently on a carriage heading back to the northern frontier. Yang Nin was driving outside, while the exhausted Ye Wuyou lay inside, dozing with his eyes closed.

Delayed for several days by his Heat, they now had to travel day and night. Ye Wuyou looked like a wilted eggplant, radiating the dissatisfaction of an Omega who had just left his Alpha.

A newly marked Omega naturally feels an unspeakable attachment to their Alpha. It had taken a massive amount of willpower for Ye Wuyou to force himself to crawl away from Xiao Yunan.

Xiao Yunan hadn’t “knotted,” so it was only a temporary mark, but its influence was still not to be underestimated.

Last night, Ye Wuyou had (fumbled) his way to the carriage, limping and holding his stomach. The teeth marks on his nape were clearly visible. Yang Nin had been startled by his friend’s disheveled state, but once he lit a lamp and saw the General’s healthy, ruddy complexion, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Only you?” The scent on Ye Wuyou had faded back to its normal level. Yang Nin couldn’t smell it, but he poked his head in to check. He didn’t see Ye Wuyou’s Alpha following.

Ye Wuyou nodded, grimacing as he straddled his legs to climb into the carriage with great effort.

“You really were a paper tiger. Were you scared by the Alpha?” Seeing him so battered, the Alpha the General found for himself must have been quite capable.

“Yang Nin, shut up. We’re going back to fight a war. Why would I kidnap a weak scholar? To serve him as a side dish to the barbarians?”

Tsk. Protecting him already. It seemed that Alpha hit every one of Ye Wuyou’s preferences, so much so that he couldn’t bear to kidnap him.

“You look more like the side dish right now.” Yang Nin dropped the curtain and went back to driving.

Ye Wuyou couldn’t sit down at all. Inside the carriage, Yang Nin had carefully laid out soft cushions. Ye Wuyou lay on them for several hours before finally finding his “poor backside” again.

He sat up with difficulty, closing his eyes to savor Xiao Yunan’s scent. The Emperor was just different. Even without seeing those fox-like eyes only having that black silk cloth Ye Wuyou touched his own eyes. His fingers traced down his nose. Though the Emperor had been blindfolded, his high, straight nose had been clear to see, as had his bright red lips. Ye Wuyou’s finger stopped between his own lips.

“Mm. Your Majesty.” The words slipped out. Ye Wuyou’s expression changed, and he crossed his legs, lifting the curtain to let in some cool air.

Kidnapping the Emperor from the street into a brothel was a grave act of disrespect. Once the North was completely settled, he would submit a petition for imperial judgment.

Anyway, this head of his Xiao Yunan could cut it off for fun if he wanted to.

“Yang Nin, where are we?” Night had fallen again. As the carriage passed through a sparsely populated forest, a head suddenly poked out from behind the curtain. Yang Nin nearly rolled under the wheels in shock.

“We haven’t even left Yuzhou yet,” Yang Nin said, regaining his composure.

“We’ll take rations, ditch the carriage, and ride horses. We’ll camp along the way; that should be faster.” Ye Wuyou calculated the distance. At their current speed, it would take at least fifteen days.

That was too slow. He was afraid the situation at the border camp might change.

“My dear General, I’m fine with it, but can you even get on a horse right now?” Yang Nin handed him a steamed bun. “You’re limping just walking.”

Ye Wuyou looked down at his “tent” guiltily, his face turning red.

“We’ve traveled all day. Go inside and rest; we’ll switch to horses once we leave Yuzhou.” Ye Wuyou desperately needed the cold wind to blow away the lingering thoughts of the bedroom. He grabbed the reins from Yang Nin’s hands.

Startled by the General, Yang Nin couldn’t sleep either. He didn’t go into the cabin but sat next to him, casting several stealthy glances at the teeth marks on Ye Wuyou’s neck.

“…Is there something on my neck?” Ye Wuyou asked, feeling creeped out.

“So you really just got slept like that ” Yang Nin’s interest wasn’t in the neck; he was just genuinely amazed.

“It’s nothing, Hey Yang Nin, did I tell you? The little beauty I kidnapped, he smelled like steamed buns. Just like the two buns I ate when I was a kid.” Ye Wuyou held the reins with one hand and bit hard into his bun with the other.

Yang Nin looked pained, regretting that their rations were buns instead of flatbread. “You say everyone you like smells like buns. Why don’t you just marry a bun?”

“You’re wrong. How can a bun be the same as a beauty? Let me tell you, that year ” Ye Wuyou got excited as he chewed. Yang Nin immediately cut him off.

“Enough, enough! How many times have you told the story of being saved by a nobleman and sent to the army? That ‘steamed bun’ beauty is truly pitiful, being ravaged by you like that.”

The dry bun made Ye Wuyou choke. He reached for the water canteen at Yang Nin’s waist. Yang Nin swat away his “salty pig trotter” with disgust before uncapping it and handing it over.

“I’m a man who takes responsibility. I’m not some scoundrel who runs away after eating. I even left him several tokens of my identity.” The “scoundrel” had a new hair tie; his original one had been pulled too tight by Xiao Yunan, so before leaving, he had torn a piece of the Emperor’s inner robe to use as a ribbon. He had also tied his personal jade pendant inside Xiao Yunan’s sleeve.

Ye Wuyou said passionately, “Once I’ve beaten those barbarian grandsons into submission, I’ll go to his door and propose! I’ll marry that beauty into the General’s Manor with full honors!”

“You’re not mentioning your ‘noble savior’ now? You’ve been talking about him since you joined at fourteen. Even Old Man Zhang the cook knows you’ve been pining for seven years. Everyone in the army says the Young General isn’t just young, he’s a romantic.” Yang Nin was surprised. He hadn’t expected Ye Wuyou to not only find a “bun” substitute but also want to make that substitute his official wife.

“I’ve looked for him for seven years and still haven’t found him. My savior probably isn’t in the capital anymore; he’s likely off enjoying himself elsewhere.” Ye Wuyou made a gesture of letting go, gallantly snapping his whip. “Besides, I’m just feeling grateful. It’s you lot with the dirty minds, always thinking about what’s in someone’s pants.”

Yang Nin laughed. He had nothing left to say, so he went inside to rest. Ye Wuyou poked his head in again.

“Do you think, the ‘steamed bun’ beauty could actually be my savior?”

“Give it a rest, General!” I was wrong! This General of theirs was famous for wanting his cake and eating it too. Yang Nin clenched his fist, resisting the urge to punch his superior. “Don’t let your romanticism trap you in the end, only to have the ‘steamed bun’ beauty run away too.”

Seeing the danger, Ye Wuyou quickly pulled his head back. A sharp whistle sounded outside as the carriage accelerated. Ye Wuyou laughed brightly. “You’re too traditional, Yang Nin. My wishes won’t go unfulfilled.”

The road grew quiet again. Ye Wuyou’s lonely eyes drifted into the night forest, buried by the noise of wheels and hooves.

Your Majesty, you are a golden branch with jade leaves, and yet you’ve been made a bargain for this madman.

The scent of winter plum blended with green bamboo reminded Ye Wuyou of when he was twelve.

In a corner of the capital, a young boy dressed in gold and glitter had extended a hand to a little beggar fighting a wild dog for half a pancake. Ye Wuyou hadn’t won against the dog; instead, he had lunged forward and bitten the young master’s hand.

“You can’t eat hands. I have steamed buns here; do you want one?” Fifteen-year-old Xiao Yunan had taken a large white bun from a servant and waved it in front of Ye Wuyou.

Ye Wuyou’s eyes had lit up.