Rebirth As a Fatuous and Self-indulgent Ruler
chapter-49

Translator: Peggyan

Time flew! Finally, here came Shi Qingzhou’s birthday.

When Long Xiaoyuan opened his eyes, he kissed his empress and thereby was in a good mood.

As Shi Qingzhou opened his eyes, Long Xiaoyuan leaned against him and said, “My Grace, happy birthday!”

Shi Qingzhou blinked and said, “Birthday…”

“Yeah, it means the birthdate,” said Long Xiaoyuan.

Shi Qingzhou said gently, “Thank you.”

“You already said thanks to me?” Long Xiaoyuan laughed. “What will you say later?”

Shi Qingzhou winked with confusion, “What do you mean?”

Long Xiaoyuan said, “We’ve made a promise we spend your birthday together. But, we won’t be here.”

Shi Qingzhou said with his eyes brightened, “Your Majesty, you mean we’ll go out of the palace?”

“Yes. Qingzhou, let’s be an ordinary couple today and have a good time outside!”

“Okay.” Shi Qingzhou’s eyes turned very soft as if he was attracted to the vision described by Long Xiaoyuan.

Long Xiaoyuan canceled the morning session and directly got out of the palace together with Shi Qingzhou after breakfast.

Shi Qingzhou followed Long Xiaoyuan.

Firstly, the latter took the former to the Marriage Temple, the most famous one in the imperial city.

They worshiped Bodhisattva there and drew a divination stick.

Based on the interpretation from the monk, they learned that as long as they worked together, they would tackle all difficulties in the future and felt glad.

Out of the temple, Long Xiaoyuan looked up at the sky and said, “It’s almost lunchtime. We don’t go to a restaurant. How about getting something to eat in the mountains?”

“In the mountains?” Shi Qingzhou blinked.

A few moments later…

“Alas, it escapes.” Long Xiaoyuan patted his head with regrets.

Shi Qingzhou laughed while seeing such an ashen face of Long Xiaoyuan who chased after a hare.

“Alas, you’ve done too far! I become this because I want to make lunch for you! It’s okay you don’t help me with this, but you laughed at me,” said Long Xiaoyuan “furiously” and then threw a stone at Shi Qingzhou.

The tiny stone wouldn’t hit Shi Qingzhou, of course. After a dodge, Shi Qingzhou easily avoided it.

Seeing this, Long Xiaoyuan said directly, “You laughed at me, so why don’t you do it by yourself?”

“By myself? I originally wanted to do do, but you said I enjoyed the highest privilege today and asked me to stay out of this and just waited for the food. Did I hear them wrong?”

Not until now did Long Xiaoyuan realize that he hurt himself by his own doing.

He never expected those animals to be hunted down so difficultly as if they were as smart as spirits. Although he could do martial arts, “doing” was essentially different from “flexibly doing”, especially in the hunting.

“If you want to be hungry, you can still wait and see my jokes.” Since those on barefoot weren’t afraid of those wearing shoes, Long Xiaoyuan decided to be a man eating his own words.

“Haha.” Shi Qingzhou laughed again but decided to involve in.

After a flash, Shi Qingzhou already stood before Long Xiaoyuan with an elegant demeanor, which Long Xiaoyuan felt jealous of.

Afterward, Shi Qingzhou drew the bow in a handsome and unrestrained manner and pierced through a hare on its neck, leaving an intact body.

Long Xiaoyuan, “…” He finally understood why there was an old saying, “comparisons are odious.”

Damn it! Did he, a modern man, get bullied?

Yes, a modern man indeed got bullied, but it was the fact that Shi Qingzhou got a hare.

Therefore, lunch could be prepared.

Under the assistance of Shi Qingzhou, Long Xiaoyuan started to do the barbecue work…

Although Long Xiaoyuan was bad at hunting, he was good at the barbecue. Given that he had prepared for this earlier, there were some other special ingredients. A hare, a pheasant, and a deerlet were roasted…

They, of course, couldn’t eat them all, but weren’t there Shadow Guardians?

In addition to the barbecue, Long Xiaoyuan had asked Shadow Guardians to bring fruit and snacks, so the meal was delicious…

However, Long Xiaoyuan felt depressed that he was bullied as a modern man, which was the sole flaw.

Long Xiaoyuan felt a little depressed, and that was all.

After lunch, Long Xiaoyuan took a walk in the mountains with Shi Qingyuan for a while to digest the food and then came to the streets.

Having browsed two jewelry stores, they bought a pair of bracelets whose quality was good since Long Xiaoyuan took fancy on them.

It was a pair of bracelets, so each of them could wear one bracelet by considering them as Lovers Bracelets.

Made up of white jade, the bracelets looked comfortable with a good effect of refreshment. If they were worn, the wearers could feel cool and refreshing.

That was also why Long Xiaoyuan spent a lot of money buying them.

Long Xiaoyuan and Shi Qingyuan each wore a bracelet as keepsakes.

Casually stroking the white jade on his wrist, Shi Qingzhou smiled.

Long Xiaoyuan felt delighted, too.

Subsequently, Long Xiaoyuan took Shi Qingzhou to eat a bowl of jellied beancurd at the side of the street that looked bad but tasted good.

Then, they strolled along Fish Lake, a famous place in the imperial city, where water was clean, willows stood at the banks, and the breeze blew on their faces. What a picturesque place!

Long Xiaoyun even held a handful of water in his hands and drank it.

Shi Qingzhou asked with a smile, “Well, how does it taste?”

“Not bad.” Long Xiaoayuan nodded with force and asked, “Qingzhou, do you wanna try?”

Shi Qingzhou said shaking his head, “No.”

Long Xiaoyuan spoke nothing and held Shi’s hand while strolling.

As night befell, the lake turned peopleless.

Shi Qingzhou couldn’t help but ask, “We still don’t go back?”

Long Xiaoyuan slightly shook his head and said with his finger pressing against his mouth, “Shh.”

Shi Qingzhou got puzzled.

River lanterns came over from the opposite side right on the time.

Shi Qingzhou was in a trance.

There were more than 20 rows of river lanterns. The lotus lanterns were afloat on the water, directly coming from the opposite side. Shi Qingzhou couldn’t help feeling shocked while seeing so many ones.

Long Xiaoyuan watched that the rows of river lanterns illuminated the lake, turning the water into dazzling gold. What a gorgeous picture!

“Isn’t it beautiful? Happy birthday, My Grace,” said Long Xiaoyuan softly while putting his arm around Shi’s shoulders.

Shi Qingzhou smiled and said with tears welling up in his eyes, “Your Majesty, you’re an excellent designer!”

“Really?” Long Xiaoyuan proudly patted his chest.

“You bet. Qingzhou, as long as you like it,” said Long Xiaoyuan fondly with his eyes full of softness…

Shi Qingzhou’s eyes twinkled. After a long time, he released a smile as gorgeous as fireworks.

Long Xiaoyuan kissed Shi Qingzhou gently, deeply, and fondly.

After a long time, they stopped the kiss.

The lotus lanterns were rightly afloat in front of them.

Long Xiaoyuan said in a hoarse voice, “Qingzhou, pick them up and have a look. There are some words on each of them.”

After a pause, Shi Qingzhou picked one up.

“To my love: happy birthday.”

The second one: “To my love, happy every day.”

The third one: “To my love, happy all your life.”

The fourth one: “To my love, long live your appearance.”

The fifth one…

The sixth one…

He watched several lanterns in a row, each of which had blessing words and started with “To my love”.

Shi Qingzhou’s eyes turned more softened, and Long Xiaoyuan stood aside and watch this scene with a smile. What a beautiful picture…

After they had dinner after back in the imperial palace, Long Xiaoyuan asked the leftovers to be removed.

“Your Majesty…Do you really not work?” asked Shi Qingzhou with a smile.

Long Xiaoyuan said shaking his head, “I’ve said I’ll be with you the whole day, so I won’t do anything.”

Shi Qingzhou smiled with his mild eyes.

The wet nurse took the little prince over. With his eyes opened, he was spirited and put his small hand into his mouth. Though it was fun playing with kids, Long Xiaoyuan just played with him for several minutes.

Shi Qingzhou couldn’t help smiling while seeing that Long Xiaoyuan reluctantly watched the little prince leave.

Hearing the laughter, Long Xiayun involuntarily glared at Shi Qingzhou and said, “Why are you smiling? I did all these for you!”

“Hahaha, right.” Shi Qingzhou smiled. “You did that for me.”

“Yeah, you’d better know this.” Long Xiaoyuan walked over to hold ShiQingzhou’s hand and said, “Let’s take a walk in the Imperial Garden.”

“The Imperial Garden…” Shi Qingzhou had no interest and asked with his brow cocked, “Your Majesty, aren’t you afraid of being disturbed by someone again?”

“Ahh…” Long Xiaoyuan smiled meaningfully. “Qingzhou, you may not know I’ve made an order this morning. At night, no one in the Imperial Harem is allowed to enter there except for the imperial guards. Whoever against the order will be punished.”

Shi Qingzhou felt surprised.

Holding Shi Qingzhou’s hand, Long Xiaoyuan walked toward the Imperial Garden. As expected, they didn’t meet any other people. Shi Qingzhou couldn’t help but smile upon seeing this.

Long Xiaoyuan pulled Shi Qingzhou and sat in the pavilion. “Qingzhou, I arrange a firework show for you.”

There were fireworks in this world, but they were not so beautiful as those in the modern world. Thus, Long Xiaoyuan added something into them and made them prettier.

Sure enough, Shi Qingzhou asked in surprise when they rose into the sky, “Why do they look different?”

“Hahaha, because I added something.”

When the dazzling fireworks set off in the air, Long Xiaoyuan kissed Shi Qingzhou’s mouth.

“My Grace, have you heard of one word?”

“What?” Shi Qingzhou fixedly looked at Long Xiaoyuan with his slanted eyes full of softness.

“Monogamy,” said Long Xiaoyuan.

Shi Qingzhou was stunned. “…Monogamy…”

“Right.” Long Xiaoyuan slightly nodded. “Although I have an Imperial Harem and probably can’t disband it on short notice, have you seen I touch anyone else after I’m with you? Qingzhou, it’s a promise. I want only you in my whole life.”

At the time, Shi Qingzhou heard the fierce heartbeats of his own.

Against backdrop of the fireworks, Long Xiaoyuan admired his empress’s attractive appearance. After a long time, he held Shi Qingzhou into his arms.

“Qingzhou, trust me, will you?”

Maybe the scene was too beautiful or Shi Qingzhou had probably long fallen into Long Xiaoyuan’s spell.

In a word, under the gorgeous fireworks, Shi Qingzhou found his heart full of softness and slowly nodded. “Okay…I believe you…Long Xiaoyuan, I trust you.”

“Long Xiaoyuan, I trust you.”

This was the most beautiful love words Long Xiaoyuan had ever heard!

It was the first time that Shi Qingzhou hadn’t been forced to call Long Xiaoyuan “Yuan”. Besides, Shi Qingzhou called Long Xiaoyuan’s full name instead of “Your Majesty”!

Shi Qingzhou finally placed Long Xiaoyuan in the same position as himself!

After such a long time, Long Xiaoyuan’s efforts got paid off!

He indeed wanted to cry into the air to express his joy…