THIS IS A TRANSLATION! The author is 顾耳 on jjwxc.
He Lang died by his own hands for the sake of his imperial younger brother's ambition, whom he loved. He was offered to be reborn in exchange for giving up his past romantic feelings. Reborn without...
He Lang looked as if he had no wants nor desires, with an icy and cold demeanour, but in actuality, he had an incomparable yearning for a common and happy life.
In his last lifetime, he died in the palace. In this lifetime he was an official in court, as a personal Imperial Tutor (1), he was unable to be separated from palace relationships. In the end, he still could not escape this shackle.
As such as long as there was a chance, he would think of ideas to leave for a breather.
As soon as he promised Zhen Pu Yang to travel together with him, they looked for an opportunity to slip away.
Although Zhen Pu Yang normally had an experienced and mature bearing, but when they went to the outside world, he was still unable to suppress his inner child.
He Lang had never coaxed a child before, but he knew broadly what they liked. But obviously, he forgot that the person next to him was already a youth and not a child.
Once on the streets, there was the sight of groups of roadside stores that were hawking along the street, the endless shouting went into the ears, making the busy commercial street full of life.
A hawker holding a pile of wood sticks used hay to tie them up tightly and stuck on rows and rows of bamboo, and those bamboo sticks were actually the greatly popular tanghulu (2).
He Lang's eyes brightened slightly, and lowered his head to ask Zhen Pu Yang: "Tanghulu, does Your Highness want?"
This tanghulu was made well, the hawthorn was big and round, and they were arranged neatly. The outer layer was brushed with a glistening golden syrup, under the sunlight it glistened and looked very nice, the taste should be delightfully sweet and sour.
Zhen Pu Yang pouted, expressing his disinterest in this kind of childish thing. However, he could not look away from the showy red tanghulu.
He Lang shook his head and laughed lightly, fished out a coin from his bosom, and bought one stick back.
Zhen Pu Yang nodded with satisfaction, his teacher could still be said to know how to coax a person... just as he wanted to walk over shyly, he saw He Lang eating a bite on his own.
"Teacher, you?!" Zhen Pu Yang looked over at him in surprise.
He Lang licked his lips, waving the tanghulu in his hands, pursed his lips in a smile, with a hint of teasing: "Didn't Your Highness say no? But this official likes eating it."
Zhen Pu Yang put on a straight face, stifled to the point of not being able to speak, when did Imperial Tutor become this bad-hearted? Unexpectedly teasing him.
"This Highness doesn't care!"
Looking at his teacher's complacent look of joy, he gave a loud yell, and threw himself onto He Lang's body, strongly grabbing the tanghulu he held, taking a mouthful of it.
Afterwards, Zhen Pu Yang discovered that his teacher also already bit it.
He Lang purposely asked him smilingly: "How's the taste?"
Originally thinking that Zhen Pu Yang would loathingly spit it out or speak maliciously, but he actually chewed and swallowed it with relish. His ear, unnoticeable by others, turned a pleasant pale pink. After some time he then entered He Lang's gaze, unhurriedly saying one word: "Delicious!"
He Lang blinked his eyes, also laughing out loud.
The ninth prince usually ate the Palace's delicacies but never even said the word "delicious", even if it were his favourite dish and ingredients he had only said that it was not bad. How could the commoner's snack garner such high praise from him?
The street had a dazzling array of goods, He Lang brought the Ninth Prince along the street to take a look and just happened to come across a stall selling handicrafts.
The stall owner was older and going white at the temples. He held palm-sized wooden figurines, his rough hands were dextrous, and with a few strokes, the figurine's facial features were carved in a lifelike manner.
Wanting His Highness to have a souvenir after he returned to the palace, He Lang requested the stall owner to carve one with Zhen Pu Yang's appearance. But Zhen Pu Yang shook his head, and said he wanted his teacher's figurine instead.
He Lang was slightly surprised, watching the stall owner put the figurine that resembled him into His Highness's arms, his heart ultimately had a kind of uncomfortableness.
Seeing that the sky was darkening and that there was ample time in the future, He Lang hurriedly brought Zhen Pu Yang back to the palace.
(1) I will be following the previous translator's usage of Imperial Tutor because I don't know how else to translate 太傅 haha...
(2) A kind of Chinese candy, hawthorn dipped in sugar syrup:
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T/N: This is my first time translating! Wow it was really hard but hope you like it! If there's any way to improve please let me know, I'm not sure how to do the footnotes... And my translation is very liberal and I'm not that great at conveying the Chinese proverbs and stuff... I just translate the metaphorical meaning, but if you want me to explain the proverb I can also try!
Also I will be splitting the chapters because they are so long TT... 1.6k English words per chapter...
