Luo Wei arrived at the Ministry of Revenue. As soon as he passed through the bureau’s gates, he felt that people were looking at him strangely. Luo Wei looked down at his body and touched his face, thinking that after another sleepless night, his appearance must be ugly and scary. "Is there anything wrong with me?" Luo Wei asked the officials at the Ministry of Revenue.

"No, no," the official who Luo Wei asked laughed.

Luo Wei didn't think too much about it. He delivered all the documents that had to be delivered to the Ministry of Revenue and was busy until noon. Luo Wei originally wanted to have some lunch before going back to the palace. Before he could tell everyone to break out for lunch, Wei Lan hurried in.

"Young master," in front of others, Wei Lan saluted Luo Wei.

"Why are you here?" Luo Wei was very happy to see Wei Lan. He got up and asked, "Did you come to see me?"

Wei Lan looked at the officials sitting in the room.

“Marquis," all the officials stood up and said to Luo Wei, "We will take our leave first." 

“Everyone go eat," Luo Wei said to them with a smile.

The officials all retreated, leaving Luo Wei and Wei Lan to talk alone.

"What's the matter?" Luo Wei waited for everyone to leave, and then looked at Wei Lan again, only to find that Wei Lan's complexion was very bad. He hurriedly asked, "Are you feeling unwell?" He reached out and touched Wei Lan's forehead.

Wei Lan took Luo Wei's hand and said, "Young Master, go back to the mansion. The Prime Minister is waiting for you."

“My father is looking for me? Will he be home at this hour?" Luo Wei asked.

Wei Lan looked at the lobby of the Ministry of Revenue where they were, and said, "Young master, let's go, let's talk on the way."

Luo Wei followed Wei Lan out of the office, and got into the carriage to the Luo family’s estate.

"What's the matter?" Sitting in the car, Luo Wei asked Wei Lan, "Did something happen to my second brother? Or did my elder brother get sick?" In Luo Wei's mind, to make Luo Zhiqiu be home at noon, something must have happened to their family. He himself was fine, so something must have happened to Luo Qi or Luo Ze.

Wei Lan shook his head and said, "The eldest son and the second son are fine."

"What's the matter?" Luo Wei asked. He thought that maybe Luo Ze wanted to take Wei Lan with him to the southeast to suppress the rebellion, or could it be his second brother? Did Luo Qi write asking Wei Lan to help him? On second thought, it was enough to just ask him, there was no need to involve their father, "Lan, what is it? Don't make me worry, okay?" 

Wei Lan said: "Young master, after listening, don't be angry."

"Don’t be angry?" Luo Wei said, "Is it my business? What about me?" 

“The rumors about the young master appeared early in the morning today," Wei Lan stopped talking at this point. Luo Wei watched his hesitation; he was obviously thinking about what to say next.

"Speak up if you have something to say," Luo Wei waited anxiously. He couldn't think of any rumors that could spread about him, and he hadn’t done anything that could cause him to be criticized recently.

"This morning, I don't know what's going on, everyone is talking about the young master."

"What are they saying about me?"

"They said..."

"If it's a rumor, it must be something negative," Luo Wei said: "Lan, just tell me, what am I being condemned for?"

"They said," Wei Lan took a deep breath, "They said that the young master seduced the emperor."

Lan's voice was very low, and Luo Wei couldn't hear him clearly. He put his ear to Wei Lan's mouth and asked, "What did you say?"

"That young master seduced the emperor," Wei Lan said again.

Luo Wei's eyes widened, and the blood on his face faded instantly. It's not that he had never endured this kind of slander before, but he hadn’t expected to live a new life, and people were still insulting him like that! 

"Young master," Wei Lan hurriedly took Luo Wei's hand, and said anxiously, "Don't be angry, your health is important."

“How can there be such rumors?" Luo Wei said, "Where did it come from?" Luo Wei immediately thought of Long Xuan, but dismissed his suspicion after thinking again. Long Xuan hated him, but he would not do such a thing.

"His Majesty has ordered people to investigate," Wei Lan said.

“His Majesty also knows?" Luo Wei frowned, "Isn't it just the matter of seduction? What else is there?" He asked Wei Lan.

"Everything else is pretty much the same," Wei Lan said.

"It's better to hear it from you than from strangers," Luo Wei said, "I'm not a person who can’t receive insults, but isn't His Majesty’s image getting smeared too?" If he, Luo Wei, had used sex to serve the emperor, then Emperor Xingwu was a fool who was bewitched by beauty. Luo Wei was not afraid of verbal abuse, but when he thought of Emperor Xingwu being cursed together with him, he felt a certain thrill of revenge. It is true that their Luo family was harmed by Long Xuan in the previous life, but it was Emperor Xingwu who issued the imperial decree to confiscate the family and exterminate the clan. Luo Wei had always been clear about this account. His own image was not important at all; it was ridiculous and funny that Emperor Xingwu's reputation was ruined.

"I don't know the details." Wei Lan looked at Luo Wei's face for a while. He not only didn’t seem annoyed, he looked quite happy. He touched Luo Wei's forehead, "Young master, are you okay?" Wei Lan was afraid that Luo Wei had gone mad with anger.

"I was wondering earlier today why those people in the Ministry of Revenue were looking at me like that," Luo Wei said, "So something like this happened. Lan, you can just say what you know." 

Wei Lan said, "It seems that they think the young master..."

"Slept with the emperor."

"That's why, step by step, young master was promoted in the court, and why you were named Marquis at such a young age," Wei Lan spoke up until here, and felt aggrieved for Luo Wei, "This is clearly unfounded slander, young master received the title of Marquis because of his military exploits in Wushuang City!"

"I'm not angry, why are you angry?" Luo Wei patted Wei Lan's hand, and in turn comforted Wei Lan, saying: "It seems that someone wants to see me gone."

"Who is this person?"

"My enemy says no more, no less," Luo Wei said, "Who did His Majesty order to investigate this matter?" [1] 

Wei Lan said, "Senior Chancellor will be able to answer. I can’t go to court, how can I know?" 

"Let's talk about it when we see my father," Luo Wei fell into Wei Lan's arms and said, "That's fine, Lan. Once such rumors come out, I won't be able to stay in the Changmin Palace any longer. I'll have more time to spend with you."

"Young master," Wei Lan couldn't understand what was going on in Luo Wei's mind. Luo Zhiqiu and Fu Hua in the prime minister's mansion were angry to death after being defamed and splashed with dirty water like this. How could this person be so happy? "The only thing to cross your mind is having more time to be with Wei Lan?"

"You don't want me to accompany you?" Luo Wei asked.

"I want to, but..."

"Shhh," Luo Wei covered Wei Lan's mouth, "People can say whatever they want, I don't care, as long as Lan trusts me."

Wei Lan took Luo Wei's hand away and held it in his. "Of course I believe in you, but I can't let people slander you like this!" 

"Don't worry," Luo Wei rolled over in Wei Lan's arms and laid on his lap, "His Majesty is more anxious than I am about this matter. In such a catastrophic year, using such obscene means, what is the difference between those who incite such rumors and a traitor?" 

"What does young master think? Will you ignore it?" Wei Lan asked.

"Ignore it," Luo Wei said, "I'm just curious about the purpose of the person spreading this rumor."

"Does young master have an idea?"

"Not yet," Luo Wei thought for a while, completely clueless.

"That's the Marquis of Jinyi's carriage," a woman's voice came from outside.

Wei Lan immediately covered Luo Wei's ears, he didn't want Luo Wei to hear those malicious comments. The carriage went a long way before Wei Lan lowered his hand. As soon as he let go, he heard Luo Wei's laughter. "You are laughing?" Wei Lan straightened Luo Wei's body, and said to Luo Wei, exasperated: "At a time like this, you can still laugh?”

Luo Wei smiled and said, "Lan, if I can't stay here anymore, we can go to Xuanzhou sooner."

Translator Notes:

[1] ”says no more, no less”: I believe this is a take on 过犹不及, which means “saying too much is as bad as not saying enough”. Luo Wei most likely means that whoever created this rumor did it perfectly, just enough to have the desired effect.

I really struggled to translate 以色事君, which is how they refer to Luo Wei’s involvement with the emperor throughout. I was really unsure about how promiscuous and explicit it really is – it can either be something like a metaphor, quite mild-sounding on the surface, like “used matters of color,” "used his looks", or something direct like “had sex with the king”. I ended up settling with “seduced” for the most part which I think is neutral and understandable enough.

This was such a cute chapter it healed my soul. Luo Wei and Wei Lan are so cute. (˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )

❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎