359, Lantern

359, Lantern

When the guards outside saw their prince coming up, they pushed open the door of the box.

Lu Mingfei, who was inside, heard footsteps stop at the door, and he knew it was Zhao Lang coming up. Then the door of the box was pushed open from the outside, and he saw the person standing outside the door step over the threshold and walk into the box.

The door of the box was closed from the outside, and there were only the two of them in the room.

Lu Mingfei smiled and took two steps forward. He reached out and hugged the person standing in front of him, and asked him, "Why are you here? Have you had dinner?"

"My father received a secret order from the emperor, asking us from the Zhenbei Army to send people to support the court. My father asked me to lead the troops into the capital." Zhao Lang raised his hand, placed it on the young man's back and stroked it back and forth twice.

Lu Mingfei raised his head, feeling a little surprised, but not too surprised. "The imperial court is collapsing so quickly?"

"Looking at the situation, yes."

Smelling the familiar scent of the young man, Zhao Lang lowered his head and kissed him on the forehead. Then, he moved his lips downwards and rubbed them against his own. He said, "The princes are making trouble, and the hungry people are also making trouble. I've received some news that there's chaos among the imperial guards as well."

Lu Mingfei knew about the turmoil between the princes and the common people, but he was unaware of the chaos within the Imperial Guards. "If the Imperial Guards were in chaos..."

Soft lips fell on his lips, and Lu Mingfei raised his head and gave the person a light kiss.

When Zhao Lang wanted to go deeper, he held down the man's arm, not allowing him to go any further. "Then I'm afraid that Kyoto Prefecture really can't hold on for much longer."

"Please sit down and have a drink of water first. I'll have someone bring up some hot dishes so you can fill your stomach first." He pulled Zhao Lang to sit on the stool, opened the door, and asked the guards outside to call the waiter to bring up some hot dishes.

The guard outside responded, "Yes."

After their adults closed the door, they waved to the waiter and asked him to bring some hot dishes.

"Yes, yes." The waiter responded. Knowing that the person in the box was their county magistrate, he did not dare to slack off for a moment and went downstairs to call someone to cook.

Not long after, the waiter came up with the freshly cooked dishes.

***

After the door of the box was opened and closed, and there were only the two of them in the box, Lu Mingfei stood up and personally served soup to their prince, and placed the soup in front of the prince.

"Drink some soup to warm your stomach first, and then eat the vegetables." Seeing that the man had not gained any weight compared to the last time he saw him, he knew that this man probably had not eaten well during this period of time away from home.

"Okay, sit down and eat with me." Zhao Lang grabbed the young man's hand and asked him to sit on the stool next to him.

It had been so long since they'd seen each other, it would be a lie to say they didn't miss each other. Now that they were right in front of each other, their eyes barely left each other's.

"I just ate half a block of snacks on the street. You eat, I'm not hungry yet, so I'll just sit here with you." Lu Mingfei was still full. He picked up the wine pot and poured a glass of wine for each of them, then picked up the glass in front of him and drank slowly.

Seeing Zhao Lang's chopsticks constantly moving towards the dishes on the table, he knew that this man must be hungry.

He couldn't help but think of the years they spent in Kyoto Prefecture. Zhao Lang would always come to him hungry for food. When he brought the food to him, he was not picky at all and would just pick up the chopsticks and eat it.

From this point of view, this noble prince is quite easy to feed. At least he is not picky about food. He eats whatever is given to him and enjoys it very much.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do you want a bite?" Zhao Lang used his chopsticks to pick up a piece of meat and put it to Lord Lu's mouth.

Lu Mingfei lowered his eyes to take a look, then opened his mouth and bit it. When his lips touched the chopsticks, he deliberately opened his mouth and bit the tip of the chopsticks.

He looked up at Zhao Lang, and when he met Zhao Lang's eyes, he smiled.

"...Don't provoke me." Zhao Lang stared at Lord Lu's open lips, his Adam's apple rolled up and down, and then he looked away, continuing to pick up food with the chopsticks in his hand and put it into his mouth.

"Didn't you provoke me? You are turning the tables." Lu Mingfei smiled happily while holding his wine glass.

“Bang!”

Zhao Lang put the chopsticks in his hand on the bowl, turned his head, and his eyes were fixed on Lord Lu who was smiling happily beside him.

"......!!!" Lu Mingfei quickly grabbed the man's hand and raised his hands in surrender, saying: "I was wrong, I won't challenge you anymore, hurry up and eat." As he said that, he quickly moved the stool a little further away, fearing that this man would not eat and come to eat him.

Zhao Lang glanced at Lu Mingfei, took a deep breath, and picked up his chopsticks to eat again.

However, it didn't take him much time to finish the meal.

He cleared away all the plates on the table.

After putting down the dishes and chopsticks, he picked up the wine glass on the table.

However, before he could bring the glass to his lips, a hand reached out and held his hand down.

"Hey, wait a minute, is your shoulder injury completely healed?" Lu Mingfei held down Zhao Lang's hand holding the wine glass and looked at him with suspicion.

"Is it fully healed? Lord Lu, why don't you check it yourself?" Zhao Lang changed his hand to hold the wine glass, tilted his head back and drank the wine in the glass, then picked up the wine pot to pour himself another glass.

But before he could fill his glass, a hand reached out and snatched the wine jug from his hand.

"You're right. I should check it carefully to avoid fooling me." Lu Mingfei put the wine jug back on the table and took the wine glass from Zhao Lang's hand.

Then he pulled Zhao Lang up and pressed him on the soft couch in the room. He reached out to pull at Zhao Lang's collar, wanting to personally check whether the wound on his shoulder had healed.

"Lord Lu, your belt hasn't been untied yet. Shouldn't you untie my belt first?" Zhao Lang grabbed Lord Lu's hand and put it on his waist.

"It's just a wound, there's no need. Have you removed all the poison from your body?" Lu Mingfei wanted to pull his hand out, but he found that the strength between the two people was too different and he couldn't break free at all.

Before he could exert any strength, Zhao Lang was faster than him and grabbed his body and turned it around.

The next second, he sat in Prince Zhao's arms.

The person who reached out directly hugged his waist with both hands. Now he couldn't remember it. "...I found that you are quite strong."

"You are a civil official, and I am a military general. I am stronger than you, isn't that normal? Hmm? Lord Lu." Zhao Lang lowered his head and kissed Lord Lu on the ear.

He couldn't help but laugh as he saw the tips of the young man's ears suddenly turn red.

As expected, fighting outside is not as joyful as hugging their Lord Lu.

"Itchy..." Lu Mingfei's shoulders shrank, but he couldn't avoid the lips of the person behind him who was still chasing him. "I'm not a weak scholar, don't underestimate me!" His archery skills are also good!

"Shh, you'd better keep your voice down, otherwise the people next door might hear you." Without even raising his head, Zhao Lang reminded Lord Lu to be careful of ears on the other side of the wall.

"..." Lu Mingfei, he almost forgot about this matter!

The walls of this kind of place are separated by wooden boards, there's no way they can have any sound insulation effect!

"Zhao Lang, no! Shut up!" He covered Prince Zhao's lips with his backhand to stop the man from kissing him any further.

If this continues, the two of them will really start a fight and it will be difficult to resolve.

Fortunately, Zhao Lang was just satisfying his desire to talk and had no intention of doing anything wrong in the private room of this restaurant.

The two of them stayed in the box for a long time that night, talking for a while. They didn't come out until the crowd on the street had dispersed.

***

It was already late at night when they came out of the restaurant.

By this time, most of the street vendors had packed up and there were no more pedestrians. After the bustle died down, the street returned to its nightly tranquility.

Two people walked on the empty street, with lanterns of various shapes hanging above their heads, lighting up the entire street.

The moon in the sky tonight is especially round and bright.

Everything is just right, and the people around me are just right.

Lu Mingfei looked up at the lantern above his head and asked Zhao Lang, "Is it beautiful? This is the lantern I asked a craftsman to make."

"I made a few lanterns myself and hung them on this street. Can you find which one I made?"

"If I find it, is there any reward?" Zhao Lang looked down at the young man walking beside him.

"Yes." Lu Mingfei nodded affirmatively. Isn't it just a prize? It's not like he can't afford it.

Zhao Lang smiled slightly and asked, "Can you ask for anything?"

"...Okay...Okay!" His tone was not so firm anymore.

Lu Mingfei looked at the person with a smirk on his face, and it was easy for him to guess what kind of prize this person wanted.

Hearing this, Zhao Lang raised his head to look at the lanterns hanging on the street. His eyes swept over the lanterns one by one, and finally he stood in front of a lantern with a picture of a little wolf and a little fox, and reached out to take the lantern down.

"This is the one, right?"

"..." Lu Mingfei looked at the lantern handed to him and wanted to say no. But when he met Zhao Lang's gaze, he tried to hold back his laughter, but finally couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Yes."

"So, the little wolf is me, and the little fox is you, right?" Zhao Lang bent down and asked in Lord Lu's ear.

Lu Mingfei glanced at the man, took the lantern from Zhao Lang's hand, turned around and left.

Zhao Lang raised his eyebrows and followed behind their thin-skinned Lord Lu.

The guards and secret guards behind them followed the two masters, watching their backs as they walked side by side, and seeing their prince's doting smile towards Lord Lu, they realized that their prince could actually smile like that.