The Emperor’s Runaway Lover

TW: mild sexual content, second hand embarrassment.

Bai Mo was stunned. “What… mongrel?”1

“Haha, it’s not surprising that you don’t know that word.” Fu Yucheng smiled. “After the Lock-in Day, many old literary works from all over the world were lost. What I said was, ‘when you become a mogul, don’t forget your friends’, a ‘mogul’ is a powerful person. The word comes from the fantastic riches of the Mughal emperors, who claimed to be the descendants of Genghis Khan. The phrase means that, if you become powerful like them, you shouldn’t forget about your friends.”2

The boy looked at him, and, after a long time, he carefully enunciated: “Never.”

Fu Yucheng was amused by his uptight look. “I’m just joking around, don’t take it so seriously. You are only, like, fifteen or sixteen years old now. Just take care of yourself. You’re still a child, don’t worry about other things.”

Bai Mo suddenly felt depressed and couldn’t resist interrupting the man straight away: “I’m not fifteen or sixteen… I’m almost seventeen.”

“Uh, didn’t you just have your sixteenth birthday?”

“You picked me up from the desert on September 15th over two years ago, and we made that day into my birthday. However, at the start of the year, the laboratory had placed me in the 14-year-old group of experiment subjects… so, although I don’t know my exact birth date, my real age should be closer to seventeen.”

Fu Yucheng couldn’t follow this thought process. “Sixteen years old, seventeen years old… is there really a big difference?”

Bai Mo opened his mouth, but couldn’t retort anything. He only felt a little discomfited by the man’s attitude.

‘Just a child…’ ‘don’t worry…’

However, Fu Yucheng had been treating him like this for the past two years or so, and he hadn’t felt unhappy before… So why did he feel aggrieved now?

“You… stop treating me like a kid,” he grumbled.

Then, the boy stood up and walked into the kitchen, carrying his empty bowl.

Fu Yucheng saw him leave with a sullen look on his face, and then he heard the sound of running water coming from the kitchen. He was a bit amused, but also slightly emotional. “Tsk, kids, they’re all so anxious to grow up… I think I was like that too, back then.”

Bai Mo washed the dishes, irritated and unable to understand what was going on with him.

Ever since the man had picked him up over two years ago, the two of them had been relying on each other like real brothers… What was wrong with him lately? Why did he keep having such weird thoughts?

After that impulsive, secret kiss, every time Bai Mo noticed the other’s warm lips drinking water, he couldn’t help but feel very strange.

Of course, when Fu Yucheng was injured, Bai Mo would help him change the bandages and even wipe his back, and he hadn’t felt weird doing that. However, just a moment earlier, in the bathroom, when the man was lying naked on the edge of the bathtub, looking up at Bai Mo as if asking for help, his wet eyes slightly red…

The boy felt that he shouldn’t keep thinking about it anymore.

Absently, Bai Mo put the dishes away, and Fu Yucheng went into his own bedroom.

Bai Mo stood in the empty living room for a while, his heart still anxious. He turned around and went all the way to the martial arts training grounds downstairs, to beat up the innocent sandbag hanging in the corner in order to vent.

After a long time, having almost destroyed the sandbag in question, the boy stopped and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He checked the clock and saw that it was late, so he walked over to the lounge next door, planning to grab a glass of water.

Before he could get to the room, he heard a strange, soft noise.

Who could be around at this hour?

Wondering, Bai Mo walked in.

As soon as he opened the door, he stopped awkwardly, not sure whether to advance or retreat. Song Lan was pressing a person against the coffee countertop, lowering her head to kiss them.

“Ahem, sorry.” Bai Mo coughed lightly, turning to leave.

But before he could walk out, the tall and beautiful mixed-race instructor had already straightened back up with aplomb. “Bai Mo? It’s so late, you’re still here to train? So diligent!”

Bai Mo was able to take a clear look at the person next to Song Lan, and he was shocked – the person that Song Lan was making out with turned out to be a girl. He also recognized her: she was Song Lan’s personal assistant, a very sweet girl.

Seeing him stunned, Song Lan flipped her long, curly hair with a stylish flair. “What, you’ve never seen a kiss before? You’re such an innocent boy.”

Bai Mo stammered, “But, you… you are both women.”

Song Lan let out a small snort. “That guy, Fu Yucheng, he’s only raising you and not teaching you! You are so old already, have you never seen a same-sex couple before?”

“Same sex… couple?” Bai Mo repeated blankly.

Song Lan patted him on the shoulder. “Isn’t there a TV in your bedroom? You’re in for a surprise if you tune in to Channel 520.”3

The little assistant who was standing by the side couldn’t help but protest. “Lan-jie, that’s an adult channel with all types of sexual orientations…! If you teach children bad things like that, aren’t you afraid of Instructor Fu getting mad at you?”

Song Lan sneered. “That guy, Fu Yucheng, is so negligent. Bai Mo is almost sixteen or seventeen, right? That man hasn’t even worried about the boy’s sex education. Would he still have the balls to lecture me?”

Seeing that Bai Mo was still confused, she squinted at him. “By the way, 520 is a paid channel. You won’t be able to get an account unless you’re an adult. You can borrow my account, it has an annual subscription. The ID is my full name, and the password is 123456.”

The little assistant wasn’t sure whether she should laugh or cry. “Lan-jie, why are you always such a rascal?!”

In the middle of the night, Bai Mo was laying on the bed, tossing around, unable to sleep.

In his mind, he saw that secret kiss, that soft and dry, alluring touch; then, some formless shapes in the misty bathroom; then, it was the man frowning and saying ‘Just a child…’; then, those two men on the paid channel…

As it turned out… two men could also…

Entangled in ecstasy, possessing deeply.

The boy’s heart was beating like a drum. In the end, he didn’t even dare think about what he expected, and what he desired.

What did he desire?

What could he desire?

“Little Mo, I can’t stand up, can you give me a hand?” The man lay against the edge of the bathtub, frowning slightly while calling him over.

The boy hurried over, reaching out to support the other’s warm, naked shoulders. Just as it happened earlier, during the day, he jerked his hand away as if he’d been scalded by a red hot coal.

However, this time, the other didn’t let him go, and instead teased him. “Are you shy?”

Then, the man grabbed his wrist and yanked him into the bathtub, the water splashing.

“Little Mo, Little Mo…”

Bai Mo was floating and sinking in his beautiful dreamland. The illusory voice made his spine tingle, and his whole body shook suddenly.

He slowly opened his eyes, his breathing still a little irregular, and his face showing his confusion.

Fu Yucheng opened the door impatiently and walked in.

He sat down onto the edge of the bed and gave Bai Mo a strong push. “Little Mo, get up, hurry, you’re going to be late!”

The young man wrapped himself up in the wrinkled quilt. The only thing visible was his messy hair and pair of dark eyes staring at the other in a daze. The edges of his eyes were still teary.

For a moment, Fu Yucheng was taken aback, and then he noticed a slight, fishy smell in the air.

He blinked and suddenly realized what it was. He coughed, somewhat embarrassed. “Ah… Little Mo has grown up. I’m sorry, I won’t walk into your room so carelessly from now on.”

Bai Mo reluctantly sat up and stared at the other person’s beautiful lips opening and closing. He wasn’t quite awake yet, and his consciousness was still stuck in the extremely pleasant, forbidden dream he had had just a moment before.

He opened his mouth slightly. “You are the one who pulled me down. You can’t blame me… You, you are also responsible. I don’t understand why, I just can’t control myself… I can’t help it. Don’t cry, I will be more careful in the future…”

Fu Yucheng looked at him blankly, not understanding any of the boy’s jumbled muttering.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t be so eager…” The boy’s voice grew quieter as the other continued to watch him, and his white face slowly became flushed.

He gently placed his chin on the other’s shoulder, rubbing against it shyly and affectionately like a kitten, and accidentally brushed his lips against the other’s earlobe, spotting a small, red beauty mark.

The beauty mark, usually hidden under his hair, was a stunning deep rose color.

Bai Mo stared at the small rosy mark, fascinated. He wanted to lick it. But, unfortunately, before he could attempt to do so, suddenly the other stood up.

Fu Yucheng’s ears were a little itchy, and he felt a very strange premonition of incoming danger. He had goosebumps on his back, and he felt that he had to stand up. “Are you still sleepy? What are you muttering about?”

The young man was startled. “What?”

Seeing him look so unaware, Fu Yucheng guessed that the boy was still immersed in the shock of his first adulthood, and that he wasn’t clear-headed.

So the brat, although he was usually cold and distant, wasn’t actually a fool… Fu Yucheng couldn’t suppress a slight smirk. “I’m heading out first, so hurry up and get yourself ready.”

Bai Mo stared as the other turned around to leave, even carefully closing the door behind him.

Why did he leave? Just a moment ago he had been obviously still pestering him…

At last, after a long time, the teenager’s chaotic, feverish mind woke up gradually. When he understood what had happened, he suddenly jolted upwards.

Instantly, he practically wanted to jump down the thirty second floor they were situated on.

He’d rather die.

He actually had a dream like that… and he had said to Fu Yucheng… something like ‘Don’t cry’, something like ‘I can’t help it’…

Oh my God.

Angrily, he covered his face and fell on the bed, abandoning himself to despair.

The boy lay down for a while, and then recalled the scene in his dream as if he were possessed.

The man shook lightly, tossing around but refusing to make a sound. His dark eyelashes were wet with tears, clustering together. But Bai Mo didn’t pity him, and instead, he couldn’t resist going and… to him…

Bai Mo, not sure what he was even thinking about, suddenly went red, and he pressed the pillow against his face. After a long moment, almost wanting to cry but having no tears, he threw it away and began to kick his quilt and his mattress.

He was done. Completely done.

How could he…

Fu Yucheng stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, drinking coffee while listening to the rustling in the bedroom. He’d been listening to it for a while, slightly confused. “This kid, what is he throwing around?”

However, at that moment, Fu Yucheng didn’t have any more thoughts to spare for these delicate and youthful feelings… because, soon, Fort Hurricane would celebrate the annual Sky Lantern Festival.

At that time, no one thought that the evening of this grand festival would change practically everything.

 

 

I was so embarrassed when translating this, poor Bai Mo… Things are going to get excited starting next chapter, don’t miss it!

Also, the additional ko-fi chapter will be published tomorrow! Check out my ko-fi for more extra chapter goals!

And if you like the story, review it on NU and add it to your reading list here!

Footnotes

So here’s a complicated one. The last sentence in the previous chapter is 苟富贵，无相忘啊。(actually a typo of 苟富贵，勿相忘) which basically means “when you become rich and noble, let’s not forget about each other”; a more literal translation is difficult, as it often happens with Chinese sayings. Bai Mo’s confusion comes from 苟 (gou3= sounding the same as 狗 (dog, also read gou3). Of course a literal translation makes no sense, and fellow translator Kora offered the “mogul, mongrel” which actually makes more sense to mishear. The next paragraph discusses the source of the exact saying “苟富贵，勿相忘”, so I went on with the explanation of the term, and will add a more literal translation in the footnote.And now for the literal translation: “When you become rich and noble, let’s not forget each other”. 苟Gou3 means rich and noble. This saying comes from ‘The Noble Family of Chen She’, one of the 30 families in the ‘Records of the Grand Historian’, and it more or less means that, if you become rich in the future, you should not forget your friends from the past.” (sounds of translator sobbing). I know the translation really changes the concepts but I don’t want to make the text unintelligible unless you read footnotes nor do I want to leave grammar explanations in text. I hope my choices are understood.Numbers are sometimes used to represent similar sounding characters in Chinese. 520 (wu3er4ling2) is used for 我爱你 (wo3ai4ni3) “I love you” in Chinese, and used as a symbol for love in general.