The Emperor’s Runaway Lover

The boy’s face was drenched in tea. Even his eyelashes got soaked. He was completely stunned.

“Hey, A-Cheng, what’s the matter with you? Drink slower, why are you in a hurry?” Fatty Wu said loudly. He also picked up a small towel, trying to help Fu Yucheng wipe the tea off his chest.

“Cough, cough,” Fu Yucheng’s face went red from all the coughing. He pushed Fatty Wu’s chubby hand away. “No, it’s okay, cough cough.”

Bai Mo blinked, and finally realized what was going on.

He felt the reaction was strange. No, it was definitely strange for Fu Yucheng, who was the kind of person that didn’t get fazed by anything.1

Why was his reaction to the fat guy bringing up that fallen green ghost so dramatic?

Did he know the green ghost?

“I’m fine.” Fu Yucheng took a deep breath, barely containing his cough. “But just now, Fatty Wu, what were you talking about? What green ghost, or was it red ghost? What a load of rubbish, I’ve never heard anything like it.”

“Little Mo, wipe yourself.” He casually threw the towel Fatty Wu had given to Bai Mo.

Bai Mo took the towel and carefully looked at Fu Yucheng.

He could feel that Fu Yucheng was lying.

So, who was this green ghost?

Fatty Wu sneered contemptuously. “A-Cheng, you are always busy going to the desert and picking up trash, but you should also care about other things. How can you not even know about someone as famous as the green ghost?”

Fu Yucheng’s face was devoid of any expression, resembling an old monk meditating. “I have no idea.”

“I heard that he’s the only S-level psionic manipulator in the world who can go toe to toe against Crown Prince Rongyuan.” Fatty Wu lowered his voice. “That great rebellion, the so-called White Rose Palace Incident, was caused by him. The dynasty came close to changing its name from Rong to Green.”

“‘Green, you’re so great’, are you two related or something?” Fu Yucheng ranted in a perfunctory manner. “Anyway, you have yet to explain how that has anything to do with Mo Ziwei, so get on with it.”

“After the failure of the Great Rebellion, the leader of the rebel army, the green ghost, was imprisoned by the royal family. It’s not known whether he lived or died. Everyone thought he was dead, but recently I’ve heard rumors say that the green ghost was actually alive. Instead, he was secretly exiled to Earth by the royal family,” Fatty Wu said mysteriously.

“A-Cheng, just think about it. Mo Ziwei left the Mo Family’s castle eight years ago, and it took him three years to come back. During those three years, no one knows what he was up to.”

Fu Yucheng was a little speechless. “So, you just assumed that Mo Ziwei became the green ghost during the three years that he was gone, and that he went to the Dyson cloud to lead a rebellion?”

“What else?” Fatty Wu shrugged. “It is a big coincidence. Moreover, the Mo family and the Rong family, now that’s a feud.”

“Then how would you explain him getting to the Dyson cloud?”

“So many gold diggers can sneak onto Earth. Wouldn’t it just take a small spacecraft for someone of the Mo family to get to the Dyson cloud?” Fatty Wu curled his lips.

“What’s more, when the Dyson cloud Empress was ill and the Crown Prince had been in seclusion for a long time, how could Mo Ziwei, an S-level psionic manipulator, accept staying in a ruined place like this forever, and not take the risk?”

He sighed again. “Who would have thought that the Crown Prince would also be an S-class? Tsk, no one can contradict the will of the heavens, this was fate.”

“Enough, Fatty Wu, stop saying so much fucking nonsense.”

Fu Yucheng really didn’t feel like listening to him talk anymore, so he threw ten coins onto the table. “Are you still selling stuff, by the way? Bring me two bottles of baijiu2 and a can of coffee powder.”

“Eh, say, you-” Fatty Wu was invested in the gossip, so he looked at Fu Yucheng unhappily. Slowly, he took out two bottles of wine and a can of coffee powder and placed them on the counter with a bang. “Anything else?”

“No-” Fu Yucheng was about to say no, when he noticed a small object out of the corner of his eye. “Those things over there, give me two.”

Bai Mo stared in suspicion at the colorful thing that got placed in front of his face, and did not reach out to grab it. “What is this?”

“Lollipops. Kids like you, don’t you all like this type of candy?” Fu Yucheng pushed them into his hands. “Unwrap it yourself, don’t eat it with the paper.”

Bai Mo silently looked down, examining the strange things in his hand doubtfully.

On a slender white plastic stick, there was a ball slightly larger than his thumb, covered with a tacky, bright-colored plastic wrapper of poor quality.

Hesitating, he gently tore open the bright wrapper, revealing a milky white candy.

Seeing the boy’s hesitation, Fu Yucheng couldn’t resist teasing him. “Don’t worry, it’s not poisonous.”

Bai Mo stayed doubting for a while before reluctantly putting the lollipop into his mouth. It was sweet, and had a light milky fragrance.

Seeing the brat’s eyes widen slightly, Fu Yucheng felt amused. The brat looked just like a child. “Is it delicious?”

The boy, while holding a lollipop that made his cheeks bulge, nodded lightly.

“It’s just a little expensive.” Fu Yucheng glared at Fatty Wu. “Fatty Wu, the lollipop costs three coins, and the price of that horrible instant coffee went up. Honestly, are you trying to kill me, profiteer?”

“Hey, why are you swearing?” Fatty Wu suddenly became aggrieved. “Don’t you know? Sweets and coffee are non-essential items, in other words, they’re luxury goods. There’s only 12 underground factories in Fort Hurricane. Only two small workshops had them up for sale, and it wasn’t for cheap.”

Fu Yucheng knew that the man was telling the truth, so he didn’t give him a hard time. “Alright, forget it, it’ll do for now. I still have to rush to fill the car’s water tank and charge it. Next time I have something good, I will find you again.”

“Okay, I’ll give you a good price then.” Fatty Wu smiled so wide that his eyes turned into slits. “Drive safe.”

He looked at the two of them as they walked away. Suddenly, he remembered something, and he called out loud: “A-Cheng, you said just now that you were planning to go to the tower and get water, right? I heard that He Lei was patrolling the area with a bunch of his thugs today. He’s been in a bad mood lately. You should be careful and try not to run into him.”

Fu Yucheng waved his hand without looking back. “Don’t worry about it.”

Fatty Wu murmured angrily, “Bah, such ungrateful people don’t know how to appreciate my kindness!3 He might have some good skills, but he has no psionic capacity, and he has offended that gangster He Lei again all because of the proprietress. Tsk. Why do women even like him so much? In terms of looks, I’m white and plump, I’m not any worse than him.”

He took out a small mirror, and stroked4 his chubby cheek with self-pity. “Why can’t people appreciate quality?”

Fu Yucheng and Bai Mo made their way back to the vehicle, and he threw the bag with the coins into the glove compartment. “This time I made more than two hundred transaction coins. It’s enough for water and electricity for a few months.”

“Where are we going?” Bai Mo asked vaguely, holding the lollipop.

Fu Yucheng glanced at him. He thought that this cold little kid looked so cute that he couldn’t resist patting Bai Mo’s head again. “We’re going to a windmill’s supply point to get electricity and water for the car, and to take you to see the windmill, by the way. Keep your eyes peeled.”

Leaving the narrow road of the parking lot, the vehicle drove out of the river valley, and the endless brown of the rocky desert appeared in front of it.

The moment Fu Yucheng stepped on the gas pedal, the off-road vehicle roared and jumped forward like a brutal monster.

As the off-road vehicle advanced, the row of windmills on the horizon grew closer and closer. They gradually grew taller and bigger, looking like immense white statues that stood majestic and silent.

“That row of machines are the wind turbines of Fort Hurricane.” Fu Yucheng explained pompously. “The twenty-three parking lots and twelve factories under Fort Hurricane’s jurisdiction get their supply from over a thousand windmills like these.”

The off-road vehicle lifted up billowing sand and dust, and soon reached the base of a huge windmill tower.

The white tower was nearly two hundred meters high, and, on the top, three huge fan blades slowly rotated, producing a constant noise. The sound was long and deep, as if it were whispering of some ancient, long-forgotten legend.

Fu Yucheng slowly parked the vehicle at the foot of the tower.

He put the two bottles of wine he had just bought into a coarse cloth bag, then jumped out of the car while holding it. Together with Bai Mo, he walked to a narrow iron door at the base of the tower, and knocked.

“Cough, who is it?” After a moment, a hoarse, aging voice came through the door.

Fu Yucheng spoke loudly. “Old Sun, it’s me, Fu Yucheng. I’m going to put water in the car and charge it while I’m at it.”

After a long while, with a creak, the iron door slowly opened.

A thin, feeble old man slowly walked out. His waist was hunched over and his back was so slouched his head was almost down to his chest. He held a cane with a trembling hand, resembling an old, immortal ghost.

“Hey, Fu Yucheng, so you still remember this mean old man.” Old Sun squinted his cloudy eyes. “Everyone else thinks I move too slowly and go to other towers to get water, but you always come here. There’s over a thousand towers in the windmill belt, why do you always come bother me?”

It would have been better if he hadn’t opened his mouth. When he did, an unpleasant scent of alcohol wafted towards their faces.

Bai Mo loved cleanliness and was particularly sensitive to strange smells, so he was unable to avoid raising his eyebrows slightly.

Fu Yucheng’s face didn’t change. He took out a bottle of baijiu from the bag and raised his voice. “Not at all. I brought you a drink, Mr. Sun.”

Old Sun squinted his eyes and smiled. “You kid, so you can be thoughtful.”

He didn’t hesitate and happily accepted the wine. Taking two rubber tubes through the iron door, he connected one to the vehicle’s battery at the front and another to the water tank at the back.

Fu Yucheng counted out thirty trading coins from his pocket. “Is it enough?”

“It’s enough, it’s enough.” Old Sun casually opened the bottle and took a big gulp.

He smacked his lips and tsked at the aftertaste. “This is Fort Hurricane’s baijiu, huh? Not bad, not bad.

“Such a good drink, I’ll have to save it for dinner.” Old Sun reluctantly put down the glass bottle. It seemed like his cloudy eyes had only just now spotted Bai Mo. “Hey, who is this little guy? How can your son be this big and still be using a pacifier?”

Bai Mo, with a cold and reserved expression on his face and a lollipop in his mouth: “…”

Pacifier, what pacifier?

Fu Yucheng looked away, his shoulders shaking from trying to contain his laughter.

After a while, he turned around and coughed softly. “Old Sun, how could I have such an old son?”

Bai Mo also said coldly, “This is a lollipop, not a pacifier.”

The old man was blind, there was no need to pay him any mind.

“Isn’t it all the same? Stuff to coax a child with. Ah, forget it, whatever, it doesn’t matter.” Old Sun waved his hand carelessly. “A-Cheng, you’re going up today?”

Fu Yucheng nodded. “Yeah, but I’m not gonna take the stairs today. Does the elevator work?”

“It should be usable.” Old Sun let out a burp full of the scent of alcohol and shakily walked back through the gate, unlocking a set of keys that hung from his waist. “Come with me.”

Bai Mo, not understanding, looked at Fu Yucheng. “Yu-ge, are we going in?”

Fu Yucheng raised his head to look at the huge windmill tower. “Hey, didn’t I tell you that you’d have to keep your eyes peeled?”

Old Sun led the two into the tower and, with a ‘pah’, he turned on an ancient, incandescent yellow lamp.

“This is-” Bai Mo opened his eyes wide.

“How about, ‘spectacular’?” Fu Yucheng raised his eyebrows.

The windmill was made of a traditional tower structure. The tower was like a huge, hollow chimney that supported the three fan blades above. The dim yellow lamp was only able to illuminate a short distance around. Looking up at the black void, there was nothing in the tower but emptiness and silence, only broken by the regular, low hum of the turbines.

On the red bricks of the inner wall of the tower, a rusty iron ladder led straight to the top. Next to the iron ladder was a rudimentary semi-enclosed industrial elevator. In truth, this so-called lift was barely a metal base with a railing surrounding it.

The lift was small and could only accommodate two people. The fuselage and cables were covered in old, dusty cobwebs.

Old Sun opened the lift’s rail door. “Go in.”

“Is this thing reliable?” Fu Yucheng touched the rusty cable with hesitation.

“Cough, who knows?” Old Sun said impatiently. “You used to climb the ladder all the way up. I’m an old man and my hands and feet don’t work so well, so I rarely go up the tower. This lift hasn’t seen any use for several years. If you want to take it, then get in already. Otherwise, you can climb up the ladder.”

“Forget it, let’s go.” Fu Yucheng touched the newly healed wound on his abdomen and walked into the elevator silently.

Bai Mo also followed, touching the railing and some nearby knobs with curiosity.

Old Sun coughed a few times, then raised a hand. “Catch.”

Fu Yucheng raised his hand and grabbed a bag that flew towards him. He looked down at it and saw that it was a small packet of fried peanuts. It wasn’t something commonly found these days.

“You kid, aren’t you carrying another bottle?” Old Sun lifted his chin towards the bag in Fu Yucheng’s hand. “How are you going to drink on an empty stomach? As the saying goes, with fried peanuts you can get to the bottom of a bottle.”5

Fu Yucheng couldn’t help but smile. “Come on, I’m not as good at holding my liquor as you, Mr. Sun.”

“But I’m old, so I haven’t drunk in a while.” Old Sun walked to the lift and pulled hard on a red wrench, coughing heavily.

With the grinding sound of gears turning, the elevator slowly moved upwards.

As usual, thanks for reading and thank you Wintery for editing!

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Footnotes

天塌下来当被盖 literally meaning “the sort of person who stays covered when the sky falls.”Exact term 粮食酒 which means grain based alcohols in general, includes rice based ones (unlikely in a desert I’d say) like sake, but also others like barley and millet. Baijiu is a strong liquor that can be made with either and comes up the most often with the term in the raws, so it’s likely it’s that sort.狗咬吕洞宾，不识好人心 literally ‘The dog bites Lu Dongbin, and doesn’t recognize good people’. It’s a proverb that comes from a legend about Lu Dongbin, a famous poet.顾影自怜 literally Gu Ying stroked, it’s an idiom that describes loneliness and frustration. It’s a reference to a poem by Lu Ji炒花生米，战斗到底 something like ‘fried peanuts, fight until the end’, being able to get to the end (of your drink) while eating them, sort of. Idk it was a tough one.