The Ugly Empress by Yun Guo Shi Fei / 丑娘娘 by 云过是非

Chapter 41 - Not a Word Was Incorrect

[T/N : Heey.. sorry again for the late update. Know what, I'll just save my breath. LOL. Here you go!]

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Teng Yun felt that every day, he was more and more unable to read Xue Junliang, as his actions always contradicted Teng Yun's first impression of him. The more Teng Yun thought he had Xue Junliang figured out, the more he would be surprised.

What did Xue Junliang's intention in allowing Xue Houyang take Teng Shang along with him? Teng Yun always thought Xue Junliang didn't want his brother to have a feeling towards a man, let alone a man who came from their enemy country. He shouldn't want anyone seeing his younger brother as a joke.

Marquis Wannian, as a very influential nobleman, people might think it was not so surprising if he indulged in having a male lover, but surely it would affect their opinion of Xue Wang. But Xue Junliang, not only he never blamed Xue Houyang, he even allowed Xue Houyang take Teng Shang with him.

When Chen Yi finally left the flower garden, Xue Junliang noted the Empress was still frowning. He seemed to know what the Empress was thinking about because he smiled and said, "What is it that makes my Empress frown like this?"

As he said that, Xue Junliang reached his hand out and rubbed the space between Teng Yun's eyebrows to smooth it.

Teng Yun dodged a little, but then was a bit shocked by his own reaction towards Xue Junliang's touch. Instead of feeling panicked like he usually did, now he was already used to Xue Junliang's various small touches. At first, he always felt disgusted, but nowadays he almost forgot to dodge. Since he started living in this Xue Country's Imperial Palace, he'd changed so much.

Xue Junliang said, "Is it because of Teng Shang? You were thinking why I allow him to go with Xue Houyang?"

Teng Yun didn't deny Xue Junliang's guess, but it was confirmation enough.

Xue Junliang smiled and said, "I thought so. A usually calm and collected person like you frowning like that, it must be because of something related to Teng Shang."

Teng Yun was a bit startled, "Your Majesty..."

Xue Junliang waved a hand as if it was no big deal and said, "If Teng Shang wasn't Marquis Wannian's wife; seeing how deep your concerns towards him, I would have already forced him to commit suicide a long time ago... But now, not only you harboring feelings for him, even Houyang does too. As Houyang's brother, I don't want Houyang loving another man, but I also know Houyang's temperament; he is quite stubborn. I was hoping he would find a young lady he likes and then he would forget about his infatuation towards Teng Shang, but now I don't think that would ever happen."

Hearing this, Teng Yun could feel how Xue Junliang truly cared about Xue Houyang's feelings.

Having a male lover was actually not so uncommon in this society, but was still considered as unseemly. When a king took in a male lover, people would judge the king as an incapable ruler; they would never dare saying bad things in public, instead they would ridicule the king in private and in the safety of their own homes. When a nobleman took in a male lover, people would judge the nobleman as treacherous; even if the nobleman never did any crime in his life, he would be punished as if he was a traitor.

In other words, in this day and age, having a male lover was still something that the society would advise against.

Xue Junliang, as a king, could just prohibit something like this to happen, especially because it could damage his own reputation. But instead of considering what people might think, he was considering it from Xue Houyang's perspective.

Teng Yun sighed. For the first time, he was thinking what would have happened if he was not from Teng Country. Maybe this king, who was so adamant in searching and recruiting talented people to his side, would seek out and give Teng Yun a position in the court where Teng Yun could help him manage the civil affairs. Or maybe, like Xue Houyang, Teng Yun would be stationed at the frontier and tasked to defend and protect the country.