Chapter 33: Husband

Chapter 33: Husband

Grow old together, never apart, huh...

Shen Yichen stared up blankly at the man before him, the words he'd just spoken echoing in his head.

Though spoken so gently, they felt branded into his very soul—every word hitting with so much weight.

He'd never dared to hope for a good future, let alone pictured himself growing old with someone, side by side till the very end.

But the man in front of him? Stunningly handsome, backed by serious power, with a future that had no limits...

He was someone countless people would kill to have, and now he was his husband, promising to stay with him till their hair went white.

How could his heart not race?

Cheng Yi watched the guy in front of him just staring blankly, not reacting for a long beat.

He reached out and poked his forehead.

Shen Yichen instinctively slapped a hand to his forehead and shot him a glare.

"Why'd you poke me?"

"You were spacing out so hard, I thought you were gonna pass out standing up."

This guy... teasing him again!

He clearly got a kick out of teasing him.

Shen Yichen rubbed his forehead, dropping his gaze to hide how flustered he was.

"I told you, it was an accident earlier."

He mumbled under his breath, his cheeks burning red.

Cheng Yi thought it was adorable. He reached out, grabbed his wrist, and leaned in:

"Here, let me rub it for you."

"No need~"

Shen Yichen was mortified—why make such a big deal over something so small? His face was about to catch fire.

Cheng Yi knew he was embarrassed, but he didn't let go. Instead, he tugged him over to sit on the edge of the bed.

Shen Yichen let himself be pulled along, but his heart was pounding like crazy. The closer they got to the bed, the harder his heart thumped, like it might just burst out of his chest.

Cheng Yi noticed how stiff he was—even the hand pulling off his wedding robes had knuckles gone white from nerves.

He sighed quietly to himself, unable to keep teasing him.

"You've gotta be exhausted today—go to sleep."

He pressed him down onto the bed, tucked him in, then lay down beside him.

Shen Yichen blinked, stunned.

"Aren't you...?"

Gonna do that thing?

He could barely even say it—just thinking about it made his face turn scarlet.

Damn it, why did he even ask?

"Do what?"

Honestly, you couldn't blame Cheng Yi for always teasing him—his little husband clutching the blanket with only two big, innocent eyes peeking out was just too cute.

"Ugh, you know... that thing!"

Isn't that what newlyweds are supposed to do on their wedding night?

According to Chuliu, most young men or women got private lessons from their fathers or mothers before marriage—and Wang Shuci definitely wasn't gonna teach him anything.

So Chuliu, who was unmarried himself, had worried himself sick over it. Brazening through his own embarrassment, he'd shamelessly gone and asked a few older, kind-hearted servants for advice.

He'd gotten the info with a red face, then come back and explained it to Shen Yichen with an even redder one.

Both the one explaining and the one listening had ended up beet red from ear to ear.

Shen Yichen still curled his toes just thinking about it.

The infuriating thing was that Cheng Yi was actually playing dumb.

"Which thing?"

Shen Yichen rolled over, turning his back to the man, and yanked the whole blanket with him.

Jerk!

He refused to believe Cheng Yi didn't know exactly what he was talking about.

Cheng Yi let out a low chuckle.

But Shen Yichen didn't know that behind that smile was a hint of guilt and weight.

No one knew Cheng Yi was carrying a boulder on his chest—the tragedy of his past life replaying on loop in his head, suffocating him, leaving him no room to breathe, not even for a second.

Until he changed the fates of the Cheng family members, he didn't dare let his guard down. He had too much to do, and it was way too... treasonous.

So until then, he didn't want to get distracted by anything else.

At the same time, he wanted to give his little husband more time to warm up to him—they'd spent way too little time together.

And as for what he was planning to do, Cheng Yi didn't intend to tell him until he was absolutely sure, so he wouldn't get dragged into it.

Shen Yichen, clueless about what was going on in Cheng Yi's head, let out a sigh of relief—but also felt a weird pang of disappointment.

But this was hardly something he, as the husband, could bring up himself—wouldn't that just give the man another excuse to tease him about being impatient?

"Fine, forget it then!"

Hmph!

Cheng Yi curled his lips into another smile. He tilted his head to look at the person with his back to him, wrapped up like a silkworm chrysalis, only the top of his head peeking out.

Cheng Yi reached out and gently stroked his hair, his voice softening.

"Don't overthink it. Go to sleep."

Shen Yichen muttered something from under the covers, but Cheng Yi couldn't quite catch it, and then he went quiet.

He just watched him quietly, his emotions a tangled mess. In his past life, all he'd ever wanted was something like this, yet it had been so hard, so bitter.

But in this life, the simple happiness he'd been chasing was right there, within arm's reach.

The weight in his chest finally lifted a little because of the man in front of him.

Cheng Yi couldn't help but wonder—if he hadn't defied the imperial decree in his last life, would everything have turned out differently?

Would he have grown old with this man, surrounded by kids and grandkids?

Cheng Yi's mind wandered, as usual, unable to sleep, but his young husband's breathing slowly evened out, a sign he'd drifted off.

Worried he might be smothering, Cheng Yi carefully pulled the blanket down so he could breathe, then, afraid of a draft, tucked the edges back in around him.

His movements were gentle, but Shen Yichen's eyes flew open.

He hadn't been asleep. Feeling the careful attention of the man behind him, he finally made a decision.

So Cheng Yi watched his young husband suddenly sit up out of nowhere, his eyes gleaming in the candlelight as he stared right at him.

"Did I wake you up?"

Shen Yichen shook his head, then said out of the blue:

"From now on, you're my husband. You said we're one, that we'll walk through life together, that we'll be the closest people to each other—right?"

Cheng Yi blinked, confused.

"Yes."

"Husband!"

Shen Yichen suddenly spoke with such gravity that it startled Cheng Yi, but the word also stirred something indescribable in his chest.

It was wonderful. Joyful.

"Hmm?"

"There's something I need to tell you."

Cheng Yi sat up too, leaning back against the headboard with one knee up, looking at him seriously.

"Okay, I'm listening."

"You know how it is for me in the Minister's house. I lost my dad when I was little, and when I was five, my older brother died in an accident. All these years, I've been treated worse than a servant there..."

"What I'm trying to say is, this marriage was an accident at first, or maybe a power play between the big shots, but for me... it was actually a gift."

Cheng Yi didn't get where this "gift" was coming from, but then he heard him go on:

"Being able to marry you, I'm really happy."

Really, truly, insanely happy.

He'd even thought he was dreaming.

Cheng Yi was stunned, but he saw his young husband's face turn bright red even in the candlelight.

"But my situation means I can't even bring a proper dowry, and my maternal grandfather was a traitor who tried to overthrow the throne."

"Chen'er..."

"I know you don't care," Shen Yichen cut him off quickly, "but I do. I want to give something that matches the Marquis's betrothal gifts."

In his heart, he thought: That way, I'll feel like I'm at least a little worthy of you.

Cheng Yi didn't know what to say, but then he saw his young husband suddenly pull something from his chest and shove it into his hand without a second thought.

"For you," Shen Yichen said seriously. "Cheng Yi, this is the most precious thing I own. I know it's useful to you, so I'm giving it to you as my dowry."

Cheng Yi was about to refuse when he heard him say it was his most precious thing, but the second the object in his palm caught his eye, he froze.

A tiger tally!

It was actually a tiger tally—one that could command the three thousand elite soldiers of the Annanzhou Army!

In his past life, the deposed Great Prince had been able to make a comeback and eventually go head-to-head with the other princes, all because of this tiger tally.

After the Duke of An died, the Annanzhou Army was quickly carved up, but a crack force of over three thousand men had vanished into thin air.

Those men weren't just the heart of the Annanzhou Army—they were fiercely loyal to the Duke of An.

Yet after his death, they'd vanished without a trace, scattered all over the land. Countless people, including the Emperor, had spent years racking their brains to find them, but no one ever did.

Until they showed up at the Great Prince's side.

The Great Prince was the son of the late Empress. He'd once been the Crown Prince and was also the Duke of An's grandson.

So it made sense they'd support him, probably hoping to avenge the Duke of An through him.

So Cheng Yi had figured it was only natural for the Duke of An to leave that elite force to the Great Prince.

So it made perfect sense for the tiger tally to end up in the Great Prince's hands.

But it turned out the tiger tally had been in Shen Yichen's hands all along, and it was something he treasured deeply.

Even though Shen Yichen and the Great Prince were cousins, they had zero contact. When Shen Yichen was three, the Duke of An had already fallen, and the Crown Prince was deposed soon after.

In the ten-plus years since, the Great Prince had been lying low, showing no care or contact to his cousin Shen Yichen.

So it was clear there was no bond between them, yet Shen Yichen had given him the tiger tally in the end.

Why? There was only one reason—he was desperate and needed his help.

What could have driven the proud Shen Yichen to ask for help from a cousin he'd never even talked to?

The answer was obvious.

It was about the deaths of his older brother and his father. He wanted to accuse Shen Yunhe, to make the powerful Minister of Personnel pay with his life.

So he'd gone to the Great Prince, using the tiger tally as his bargaining chip.

But in the end, he'd faced everything alone, not only failing to bring down Shen Yunhe but also getting branded a traitor and condemned by everyone.

In his past life, no one had helped him at all.

In other words, the Grand Prince had deceived him.

At this thought, murderous aura rolled off Cheng Yi in waves, his eyes blazing with murderous intent, his rage barely contained.

Shen Yichen was startled by his reaction.

Cheng Yi had merely sat there without moving, yet he suddenly felt as if he'd been plunged into an ice cavern, his whole body stiffening as a wave of cold air washed over him. For a moment, he stood there frozen, completely at a loss.

"I... you—do you not like it?"

He'd thought Cheng Yi would need it.

Had he misunderstood something? Was Cheng Yi angry with him?

The realization left Shen Yichen flustered and at a loss.

But Cheng Yi suddenly snapped back to his senses, and in one motion, he pulled the flustered man into his arms.

"Sorry, I was just a little surprised."

And a little heartbroken, too.

The Grand Prince deserved to die, and so did every last member of the Xie family.

Ha, hadn't they called him a treacherous courtier in his past life?

In this life, he'd become a genuine treacherous courtier.

Not a single member of the Xie family would escape.

The sudden closeness stunned Shen Yichen for a moment, but Cheng Yi's embrace was truly so warm.

His gaze had been so terrifying just moments ago, yet his voice when he spoke was so gentle, and his embrace made Shen Yichen want to drown in it and never come up for air.

Only once his emotions had calmed did Cheng Yi ask the man in his arms.

"Chen'er, do you know what this is?"

Of course he did.

"It's Grandfather's military tally."

"Then do you know how many people have been trying to find it by any means necessary, including the one sitting on the dragon throne?"

"To get their hands on it, some have spent over a decade. The moment it surfaces, it's bound to stir up a bloody storm of contention."

And yet his young husband had given him this precious thing so easily.

Shen Yichen pulled back from Cheng Yi's embrace and looked at him seriously. "I know."

"It's precisely because I know that I gave it to you."

He had no memory of his grandfather, the Duke of An. After the Duke of An's entire household was executed, the entire capital avoided even mentioning him, and Shen Yichen had no way to learn anything about him.

Moreover, trapped as he was in the inner courtyard, getting to the bottom of it was even harder.

As for this military tally, it had originally been his elder brother's.

According to his brother, their father had given him the tally before he died, telling him to hide it well—as long as he lived, the tally must survive—and telling him the tally held great power, capable of stirring up storms with ease.

The two brothers had thought they'd grow up relying on each other, but within just two years, his elder brother was gone too.

"This military tally was given to me by my brother before he died."

Shen Yichen sank into his memories. At the time, he'd only been five years old, and there was much he could not clearly remember.

He only remembered that his brother had looked very strange, saying he was giving him his most treasured possession as a birthday gift—even though his birthday was clearly still over two months away.

His brother had also told him to hide it well and not tell anyone.

It was only as he got older that he realized his brother had clearly sensed his own death was coming and thus entrusted the tally to him. Sadly, he'd been too young then to notice anything was wrong with his brother, instead simply rejoicing at receiving his brother's most precious thing.

Once he grew up, he carefully investigated bit by bit, only then realizing just how formidable the object his brother had entrusted to him truly was.

As for the Duke of An's affairs, there was no way he could uncover the truth no matter how hard he tried.

Cheng Yi sighed inwardly, then heard Shen Yichen say seriously:

"Husband, in giving you the tally, I actually have a request."

"What is it?"

"Can you help me look into the deaths of my brother and father? I want to know how they really died."

"My brother's death was so suspicious. He was only seven and couldn't swim—how could he have drowned in a pond?"

"And also, he seemed to know he was going to die beforehand. I suspect he was killed."

Shen Yichen's eyes were already red as he spoke.

"They must have been the ones who killed my brother. But my brother was so good—he was only seven. Why couldn't they just leave him alone..."

"I have no way of finding out. No matter how hard I try, I can't find anything out. I hate how helpless I am."

He was pained and full of self-reproach, the grievances he'd carried for years finally bursting forth in that moment. For the first time, he laid his helplessness and fragility bare before another person without reservation.

All because this person was Cheng Yi—his husband.

Tears fell like beads off a broken string, streaming down uncontrollably, impossible to stop.