Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 42: Cheating Scandal

Warnings: description of torture

Chen Miao Ping has always been an atheist.
Even if he has died and transmigrated here to such a place, his heart still did not believe in ghosts or an afterlife.
He could curse himself over and over, swear to the heavens to turn him into a rolling ball of stabbed flesh, being burnt by lightning, and so forth without even a tiny instance of worry.

Now that he was suddenly straddled with such a thing that claims to be the most self reliant system, it did, however, kind of make the foundation of his beliefs crumble.

“So…… you mean that I cannot accept his kind generosity?”

Chen Miao Ping was lying on the bed, eyes wide open and staring at the darkness under the bed canopy, using his thoughts to talk to this so-called system.

Not only official positions of appointment but many many other things he could not accept.
The system is waiting patiently for him to find out in the future.

[ My dear host, you can only use your own hard working efforts and your own hands to find the real truth and reality of the results.
Any kind of try that is not from your own efforts, you will receive an electric shock as punishment.
Your second chance did not come so easily, so please choose wisely~ ]

Chen Miao Ping became silent upon hearing this and closed his eyes, thinking to himself quietly for a long time.
At long last he smiled slightly, as if the embodiment of a sneaky fox, 

“But I am already married to Xie Yu Zhi.
What’s his is mine, and what’s mine is his.
What’s the point of dividing the line so clearly between family?”

System: [ As the status and wealth of the two of you are very different in many aspects, it has been judged by the galaxy judges that this is considered being a kept man.
My dear host, please become self reliant and self sufficient as soon as possible, carving your own place out in this strange and unfamiliar time period.
]

Chen Miao Ping said, 

“How could this be considered as being kept? He’s gifting me with wealth and riches and I give him my sincerity.
All of which could be considered as an exchange of needs.”

System: [ Until the day you, my host, is actually sincere, we can discuss this in detail then.
]

Chen Miao Ping shook his head, 

“This is incomprehensible.
My heart grows within my own body, so of course only I know what is true and what is false.
How do you know that I am not sincere towards him?”

The system felt that this host had too many words to say.

Chen Miao Ping continued, 

“There is no such thing as absolute fairness in this world, otherwise how could humans be given different levels of social status the moment they are born? Not even gods could be……”

“ZZZZZZTT”

An electric current suddenly rang and the world was finally at peace.

The system was a little apologetic: [ Apologies for that.
A bug just appeared in my programming code.
]

“……”

Chen Miao Ping held his hand that had just been shocked and closed his eyes in silence, not moving for a very long time.
He slowly inhaled and then after that painful numb feeling passed over, he slowly said,

“……There is a lot of sense to your words.
As a man, a strong man, one should be self managed and self reliant.
Becoming a kept man is indeed such a shameful thing.
I have learned the error of my ways now.
What the Noble Consort of Brightness would arrange for me, I will make sure to reject her with good graces.”

This host’s self awareness seemed to be exceptionally higher than the system realized, but did this belief come from his heart and soul…..

Is this really a belief from……

His heart and soul?

The system didn’t really believe it, but it didn’t care about him anymore.

Chen Miao Ping silently closed his eyes in the dark.
There was no point in receiving the benefits from the consort anyway, as the original soul of this body was the third overall rank examinee.
According to the rules, the emperor would be appointing him to be at least a seventh rank official in Han Lin Academy. 

The position was low, but it was better than nothing.
Besides, he did not have the desire to become an official that badly, so whether he becomes one or not, it did not really matter.

The next morning, in the early misty dawn, the sky was just lighting up and a ray of sunshine shone along the flower decorated windows into the house.
Within these pillars of light, dust could be seen dancing in the air.

Chen Miao Ping was still sleeping in his dreams when he was being shaken.
When he couldn’t stand it anymore, he unconsciously furrowed his eyebrows and swatted away that annoyance.
He twisted and turned on the bed, covering his head with the blankets before continuing to sleep.

Xie Yu Zhi had already finished dressing in a plain straight robe, with a straightened posture and his aura as cold as ice.
Fu Ling, as per usual, was latching a little fragrant sachet by his waist and was just about to do the same with the jade amulet when she gasped in shock,

“Second Master, this jade……”

As if it was a normal occurrence, Xie Yu Zhi calmly said, 

“It’s broken.
Put something else on.”

Fu Ling’s heart immediately dropped upon hearing this as Chang Guo Gong had by coincidence found a rare pocket of jade of excellent grade, an absolutely beautiful jade that was out of this world.
It was also at this time that Second Master just came out of the womb, so he commissioned a craftsman to carve a jade amulet for him to wear.
For more than twenty years now, it has never left his side, how could it suddenly break in half!

Seeing her so dazed, Ren Dong, who was waiting patiently on the side, became afraid that she would anger their master in this bout of forgetfulness.
She quickly found a pendant with the carving of two fishes from the box of jewelry to put on Xie Yu Zhi. 

She lightly chuckled to change the topic, 

“Second Master, please look towards the bed.
The time to enter the imperial palace is almost here.
We most likely should wake up Gu-Ye now, especially given that sleeping too much can easily harm the body.”

Xie Yu Zhi looked at the bed in silence, and seeing that Chen Miao Ping was sleeping soundly while smothered in blankets without any intention to wake up, he went forward and bent his waist to poke his shoulders.

Chen Miao Ping unconsciously grabbed the foreign object and with his eyes closed, hazily said, 

“Shh…… Don’t bother me……”

Xie Yu Zhi’s voice rang out in interest above his head,

“We must head into the imperial palace today.
Are you not afraid of being executed for being late?”

Chen Miao Ping’s consciousness was still aware, but he wanted to stay in bed a little longer.
He opened his eyes when he heard Xie Yu Zhi and met his eyes.
He helplessly smiled and asked, 

“Is Second Master willing to let me die like that?”

And then without waiting for a response, brushed aside the blankets to start fixing and cleaning up his appearance.
Ren Dong and Fu Lin both discreetly sighed out in relief, thinking in their hearts, their master finally decided to get up.
They quickly serviced Chen Miao Ping with his hair and clothing, putting him in a brocade robe which he stood so elegantly in that it did no damage to his reputation of Flower Seeker.

The horse carriage was already prepared and the inside was very spacious, with a short table in the middle that had multiple decadent snack dishes and warm tea on top of it to fill up their stomachs.

Chen Miao Ping walked faster than Xie Yu Zhi by about half their body length.
Outside of the estate, there weren’t that many rules he needed to follow, so he noisily jumped up on the carriage.
Upon seeing this, Fu Ling was stunned on the inside and discreetly took a look at Xie Yu Zhi, but she only saw him as composed as ever, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary.
As if someone did not break the rules of courtesy.

“Come,”

Chen Miao Ping was on the carriage but had not gone in.
Instead, he ducked his body partially outside.
When Xie Yu Zhi was near the carriage, he reached out to grab his shoulder and with a little force dragged him up.

Fu Ling covered her smile and a blush was blossoming over her cheeks.
She realized then that Gu-Ye must have thought about the discomfort of Xie Yu Zhi’s legs, which certainly is proof of their love……

As an onlooker, she could think of his actions like that, which made those who were involved in the situation, unable to keep calm as well.
The moment the curtains were down, Xie Yu Zhi suddenly twisted the lock and pressed Chen Miao Ping against the wall of the carriage.

The horse carriage started moving, rocking side to side from the bumps on the road.
Xie Yu Zhi leaned closer to Chen Miao Ping and carefully looked at him with an expression that was difficult to tell if he was happy or mad.

Xie Yu Zhi judged him with a weird voice, 

“You must have been a player in the past.”

A statement and not a questioning one.

Chen Miao Ping did not agree, 

“Second Master, you are one huge treasure trove yourself.
A handsome young fellow, with your powerful family background and one with authority at that, you must be more attractive than me, much more of a player than me.”

Xie Yu Zhi locked his hand onto Chen Miao Ping’s throat upon hearing this and lightly chuckled, 

“Do you know what I like the most about you? I like that you have a lot of courage.”

In the capital, if one was to talk about the ranks in authority, right underneath the imperial family was the Chang Guo Gong family.
And as the first and only main son of the Xie family, even if he had a disability, he should still be considered a hot attraction, with numerous people willing to offer themselves up to him.
It shouldn’t fall to the point where it came down to Chen Miao Ping, a person with no background, no authority or power to be his marriage partner.

The most probable root of this issue then, came down to his reputation being too terrible, making people scared out of their minds.

According to the word on the street, when they lost their battle at Dong Xia, it was because of Xie Yu Zhi’s close associate who betrayed them to the enemy army.
Because of this betrayal, it resulted in more than 60 000 deaths.
It was a to-the-death situation and it was only because of Xie Yu Zhi pushing on despite his injured body and going crazy to barely win over Dong Xia.

And that betrayer, in the end, was caught alive.

In front of all the soldiers that were left, Xie Yu Zhi ordered someone to heat up an enormous pot of oil and drop it onto a burning pile of lumber.
When the pot boiled to the point of crackling pops, he threw the betrayer into that pot in front of everyone and that body was fried for the entirety of ten days, until the flesh was burnt to charcoal, until the bones scorched black, until it could not be considered a human shape anymore.

When word of this was passed back to the capital, there were people who admired the act of revenge, and there were people who were terrified to the point of being unable to sleep without nightmares.
But at the same time, it confirmed one thing: Xie Yu Zhi was a good military leader, an intelligent man with many skills, a person that you could call brother, but he could not be considered a good man.

Ruthless, vicious with no mercy, a taker of many lives; this is the appraisal of the public towards him.
To be with such a person for the rest of your life, even if you don’t die, the date of your death would not be far.

Xie Yu Zhi said that Chen Miao Ping was bolder than the average man, and Chen Miao Ping thought that this was true.
At least for the original host, as if he wasn’t courageous enough, how could he have dared to give you a green hat on the wedding night?

The two of them were very close to each other and Chen Miao Ping could reach out to hold on to his waist.
With a little push, he could make the other lie in his embrace.
He lowered his eyes and said very lowly, 

“Miao Ping is actually not only bold, but in some other place……”

He never finished the sentence, but the hidden implications could be tasted in the air.

Xie Yu Zhi slanted his eyes, coldly laughing,

“You spitting out flowery words to me, that’s fine, but if I find out that you do this to other people, I will cut your tongue off.”

And then narrowed his eyes and loosened the hand on his neck.

Chen Miao Ping smiled and said, 

“Second Master, please do not worry.
I will only treat you like this.”

And then lowered his head to kiss him on his lips, slowly and gently invading him, bringing a different kind of dominance that was not normally present in his aura.
Xie Yu Zhi was surprised. 

But he closed his eyes from his actions and wrapped his arms around Chen Miao Ping’s neck.
Taking the initiative to flip them around, he pressed Chen Miao Ping down to kiss harder.

The two were so focused on kissing each other that they somehow fell into the middle of the seating area.
Xie Yu Zhi could only feel that his entire body was dazed, as if he was as light as air, being like an air molecule being blown away in the wind. 

He tightened his fingers to grasp onto the person on top of him as Chen Miao Ping bit his earlobe and muttered, 

“Second Master must pay attention now, this robe is not better than my back.
It’s so thin and flimsy.
What if it leaves an imprint mark?”

The curtains were covering the windows of the carriage, making it so that Chen Miao Ping could not see the pedestrians hurriedly walking to do their daily tasks.
The peddlers on the streets were stopping to call out their trade wares and the commoners were clustered in small groups talking occasionally and chatting their ears off. 

A group of budding scholars were in the teahouse with their hands holding stacks of scrolls, participating in a heated discussion as if they met something unfair.
These literary scholars were starting to group up into multiple groups of three to five people in the midst of the heated arguments and head together towards the heart of the city.

The Noble Consort of Brightness lived in Zhi Feng Dian.
She entered the palace at seventeen years of age, and it has been at least five years since then.
She was born with a face of indescribable beauty, holding the majority of the attention and pampering indulgence from the emperor, especially since the empress had passed away from illness. 

The throne next to the emperor has been empty ever since the empress’ death.
People speculate that if anyone was to be appointed the next empress, it must be her at the front of the line.

“Yu Zhi just got married yesterday, and I, as the noble consort, was not able to give him my celebratory greetings.
I do not even know what kind of person the Flower Seeker is, whether he would be able to stand his personality.”

Xie Su Zhi lifted up her tea cup with her eyes slightly furrowed, in a posture that was so worried it made anyone who saw it fret for her.
Her words were also another obvious show of the worry she had towards her little brother’s marriage.

Her close personal maid received her already cold tea and smiled, comforting her with a gentle voice, 

“This maid has already asked around.
This Gu-Ye is a very handsome and competent person.
He could even reach the rank of Flower Seeker, so he must be an overly excellent scholar of the literary arts, a person of high standards and excellence.”

Xie Su Zhi immediately gave her a stern glance after hearing this, 

“There is no use to handsomeness.
After a hundred years, it all becomes a pile of bones.
There are numerous and uncountable wealthy young men out there with a face that could be considered pretty.
But look at each one of them closely and they can’t lift their brushes or fight to protect their families.
They should be considered as leeches and parasites of their father’s achievements, never achieving glory by themselves.”

 

And as if she could not vent enough, she pointed a finger at the table, 

“Just look at the main son of that Wu An Hou1, Liu Zhen Hu.
This consort in her youth has seen him in a social gathering for poetry, and his face was full of pervertedness.
One look at him and you could see that he is not a good human being.
When he was picking out one of the flower papers to create a rhyming poem, what do you think happened?”

The maid guessed, 

“Did he create a poem that did not rhyme or make any sense?”

Xie Su Zhi mockingly laughed and shook her head, 

“He couldn’t even recognize half the words on the flower paper, how could he even make up a poem?”

“Ah?!” 

The maid couldn’t help but gasp and cover her mouth in shock, 

“But that prince of Wu An Hou is the second ranking examinee!”

 

Notes:
*1 Wu An Hou: Wu An as one who leads an army to protect its citizens of the country, and winning battles and wars to keep its citizens safe, and Hou as considered to be like the title of Marquis

>>Fixed an error for the last sentence there: Liu Zhen Hu, the son of Wu An Hou, is the second ranking examinee, not the top (*´･Д･)