Chapter 59 When I'm drunk, I just love taming wolf cubs.
Behind Xiao Yinshi were two imperial censors and the guard Zhu Qi. The young male prostitutes were intimidated by Xiao Yinshi's imposing presence. He blocked most of the lanterns in the corridor. They quickly stood up and walked towards the door.
Zheng Qingru, supporting the unsteady Feng Tan, frowned and asked, "What does Your Excellency intend to do?"
Xiao Yinshi did not speak. The two vice censors behind him exchanged glances. The right vice censor, Diao Yixin, explained: "Just now, the Censorate received a large number of anonymous impeachment memorials, all of which impeach Lord Feng for privately giving away official land to bribe powerful people. Because they are anonymous and the officials involved are of the fifth rank and famous in the capital, the Censorate held back and did not publish them, but conducted its own investigation first."
Zheng Qingru understood. He glanced at Feng Tan, noticing the young man's flushed face, and bowed to the three Censorate officials, saying, "You three have come at an inopportune time tonight. Why not wait until Lord Feng has sobered up before questioning him? Lord Feng has already taken an antidote and should need about two hours."
After Zheng Qingru finished speaking, he bowed to them and left. Left Vice Censor-in-Chief Qin Zhang inquired, "Your Excellency, perhaps we should come to investigate tomorrow?"
“It’s too late for tomorrow.” Xiao Yinshi hesitated for a moment, then looked at Feng Tan, who was staring at the three of them with a dazed, drunken expression. His voice was slightly deep. “It’s late. You two should go to the private room next door to rest. I’ll wait here for him to sober up.”
The two vice censors had been working for Xiao Yinshi for many years, and this was the first time they had seen the Grand Censor so patient. However, they dared not let him personally keep an eye on people. Just as they were about to exchange pleasantries, Zhu Qi stretched out his arm to lead the way for them, saying, "My lords, this way please."
Feng Tan watched the door open and close, her eyes hazy with intoxication. She watched as "Mother" approached little by little, frozen in place, her whole body stiff, gripping the wine bottle tightly in her hand, not daring to blink. When her mother was close enough, she stammered, "Mother."
Xiao Yinshi lowered his gaze to meet Feng Tan's eyes, savoring the two words with amusement, "Mother?"
His gaze slowly descended, landing on the wine glass tightly clutched in Feng Tan's hand. He then glanced at the empty wine jars scattered haphazardly on the floor of the private room and understood. The Soul-Hooking Immortal Wine from Xingyue Tower, unlike other wines, did not cause drunkenness but instead made people feel lightheaded and ethereal, as if their deepest desires were being revived. Feng Tan was getting drunk.
So Feng Tan's desire is "Mother"?
Feng Tan's identity is a mystery. Xiao Yinshi doesn't know where he came from. This young man can lie without batting an eye, so even if you ask him, you won't get any answers.
The candlelight flickered, illuminating the deep calculation that Xiao Yinshi's eyes held, which he could not conceal. He suppressed the oppressive aura around him and tried to speak in a gentle tone, almost coaxing, "Your mother is asking you, who is Feng Tan?"
Feng Tan looked at Xiao Yin with a bewildered expression, "Mother, now everyone calls me A-Tan."
Unlike his usual wariness and sarcasm towards Xiao Yinshi, the boy's eyes were innocent and pure, like those of a newborn fawn. It seemed he truly regarded him as a beloved family member. Xiao Yinshi leaned slightly forward, and asked Feng Tan, "A-Tan, where have you been all these years?"
Feng Tan's mother split into two. Holding the wine bottle, she swayed and tried to merge the two mothers into one. With a slap, she struck Xiao Yinshi's waist with both hands, holding the man's waist still. Looking at the mother who had merged back into one, she smiled with satisfaction and said, "She is from Qingning County, born into a farming family. Her parents passed away when she was five years old, and she was then adopted by her uncle until now."
Xiao Yinshi's eyes twitched slightly, and he said with a smile, "It's your mother who's asking you. Your mother wants to know how you've been all these years. There's no need for you to hide anything, A-Tan."
Feng Tan didn't smell her mother's gentle floral fragrance at the tip of her nose. Instead, she smelled a cold, woody scent that she subconsciously disliked. So she slowly loosened her arms from Xiao Yinshi and said, "I am from Qingning County. I come from a farming family. My parents passed away when I was five years old, and I was then adopted by my uncle until now."
He's memorized this fake backstory to the core!
What a little wolf cub, you can't get anything out of him even when he's drunk.
Xiao Yinshi's cold voice rang out again, this time he asked in a different phrasing, "How old is A-Tan this year?"
Feng Tan felt a little wronged and said, "Mother doesn't even remember my birthday?"
"..." It seems he's still not drunk enough. Xiao Yinshi took the wine from Feng Tan's hand and poured him a large cup, but Feng Tan snatched it away. She originally wanted to put it on the table, but she lost her balance and smashed the wine jar on the ground.
Feng Tan looked at her mother with a serious expression and said, "Mother's arrow wound hasn't healed yet, so you can't drink alcohol."
Xiao Yinshi was unaware that in Feng Tan's illusion, she had grown up and was able to save Feng Sangrou, who was riddled with arrows, at the city gate. People are always fixated on the immense regrets of the past. She struggled on the path of humanity, seemingly magnanimous in her dealings with the world, but in reality, she possessed an unyielding stubbornness, willing to die a thousand times to bring back her departed loved ones.
Xiao Yinshi knew that this wolf cub was too guarded, so he followed up by asking, "How did Mother get the arrow wound?"
She was in the realm of captivating immortals, but when she thought of this matter, Feng Tan's expression turned sour, and tears welled up in her eyes that she refused to let fall. She rarely showed weakness in front of others, not even in front of her mother. But she didn't know that this kind of tearful yet restrained appearance was the most alluring.
Xiao Yinshi's Adam's apple bobbed, and a wicked glint appeared in his dark eyes, which he skillfully concealed. The boy's fingers traced his chest, and Xiao Yinshi's gaze followed them impassively.
"To save them," Feng Tan gently touched Xiao Yinshi's collar with her fingers and whispered, "Mother, it must hurt a lot with the arrow stuck in your body."
"Mother isn't in pain," the man coaxed in a low, slightly hoarse voice, "Tell me, who does Mother want to save?"
This touches on a sensitive issue. Feng Tan lifted her head from his embrace and saw her mother gradually transforming into Xiao Yinshi's appearance. In her eyes, this was no different from watching a terrifying magic trick.
Feng Tan opened her eyes wide in disbelief and suddenly pushed Xiao Yinshi away with her fingers, but the weight difference between them was too great, and she fell backward.
The man's large hand moved swiftly, gripping the boy's waist tightly. Time turned, and for the second time, his arm embraced the slender waist, filling him with soft fragrance, as if he had returned to the night at Yongle Temple when he first felt desire for the boy.
With the windows wide open, the ginkgo trees high behind her were lush and green, and the man in front of her had lust in his eyes. Feng Tan was in a state of unease. As her drunkenness subsided, she grabbed Xiao Yinshi's clothes with both hands and used them to stand back in the private room.
As the effects of the alcohol subsided, she realized she had been tricked into revealing countless secrets during her dreamlike state. The flush on her cheeks slowly faded, and she took out another hangover pill from her brocade pouch and swallowed it.
Xiao Yinshi scrutinized him with his eyes and calmly analyzed, "Your guard is too high, and you change your expression when you mention it. Your background is not simple."
The innocent gaze that followed would henceforth be like a dream of Xiao Yinshi. The look he met was still the sarcastic yet warning gaze that Feng Tan was good at using. "Lord Xiao, compared to your background, who can be more unfortunate than you? You don't come here without a reason. What brings you here, Lord Xiao?"
Xiao Yinshi's voice was low and hoarse as he gestured for Feng Tan to look at the stack of case files on the mahjong table, saying, "You killed Gao Yu, how could his master let you get away with this? These case files are only a part of the list, take a look for yourself."
Feng Tan placed the candle on the wooden table, quickly finished browsing through it, and said with a hint of coldness in his tone, "Scheming for profit, abusing power to amass wealth... I've done quite a lot of things."
Xiao Yinshi said, "Power is blinding. Who cares about the truth and falsehood in officialdom? But the King of Chu is clearly trying to expel you from the court. Are you afraid?"
Xiao Yinshi seemed to really enjoy asking her if she was afraid. Feng Tan shook her head and said, "No."
Xiao Yinshi asked, "Why?"
“The King of Chu’s counterattack shows that he is wary of me. For His Majesty, I am a tool to keep him in check, because if I can defeat one of his sons, I can defeat the second,” Feng Tan said with certainty, looking into his deep, dark eyes. “According to the regulations of the Censorate, I should be taken to the Censorate for trial with great fanfare, but Lord Xiao came in person, which means that His Majesty has given the order.”
Looking at the intelligent and spirited Feng Tan, Xiao Yinshi chuckled softly and said, "Early wisdom is easily broken. It would be better for Master Feng to be a little foolish."
Feng Tan looked at his undisguised aggressive gaze and said calmly, "You flatter me, but Lord Xiao, could you please tone down your overly blatant gaze when you look at me? It's giving me the creeps."
With eyes full of conquering desire and a man's inherent playful masculinity, coupled with Xiao Yinshi's extremely handsome face, he was incredibly attractive to ordinary girls. However, after spending more time with him, Feng Tan knew that he was driven by lust but not by love, and that he acted entirely out of self-interest, devoid of any sense of morality or ethics. He was a born, top-tier bad seed.
An undercurrent flowed between the two during their conversation. Xiao Yinshi lowered his eyes, pondered for a moment, and sighed, "Then what should we do? I just love taming wolf cubs."
Feng Tan sneered and said sarcastically, "Then you really dare to risk your life."
"Life is boring. How can I play with you if I don't risk my life?" Xiao Yinshi leaned forward slowly, a storm raging in his eyes. "Besides, if I can play with you without risking my life, it's not exciting enough."
A moth flew into the candle flame, its body consumed by the fire. Feng Tan looked at it and said with a double meaning, "My lord, you see, that's a moth flying into a flame."
Xiao Yinshi followed her gaze, raised an eyebrow slightly, and said, "Moths and flames intertwining?"
"..." Feng Tan looked at him and spat out two words through gritted teeth, "filthy."
Before coming to the capital, Feng Tan had heard of the name of this Left Censor-in-Chief many times. Whether it was the famous limerick that made him famous in the capital or the comments about him in the streets, they all said that he was not interested in women.
At the beginning of Feng Tan's dealings with him, he was indeed as ruthless as rumored. However, for some reason, after a small amount of physical contact, he developed feelings for her. Later, after confirming that she was indeed a "man", he restrained himself for a while. But after returning from the trip to the Linzhang sea area, Feng Tan keenly sensed his predatory desire for her, regardless of gender, and that desire became more and more intense.
Is this the result of twenty-five years of stagnation and aversion to passion, a deep-seated repression? Or is it that beneath this god-like exterior, Xiao Yinshi is suppressing a thick, perverse, and insane lust, and because she is pleasing to his eye, she just happens to be the one who attracts his desires?
Feng Tan felt a chill at her own thoughts, and she tentatively asked, "Has Your Excellency ever tasted the pleasures of a woman?"
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