After Being Abducted by the General

chapter 115

After Chu Hechao ruined the shorts, he secretly stuffed them to the bottom of a box.

For an entire half month, Yuan Li didn't notice anything unusual. By the end of August, another imperial edict arrived in Youzhou from Luoyang.

Early in the morning, Yuan Li received the news and called for Chu Hechao to get up. He grabbed his clothes and went to take a bath.

They bathed together, and Chu Hechao washed Yuan Li from head to toe, scrubbing his skin until it turned red and felt burning hot. As soon as he stopped, Yuan Li hurriedly jumped out of the bathtub and put on the nearby shorts.

Chu Hechao took a glance at Yuan Li and noticed the crooked stitching at the back of the shorts he had sewn.

"..." He instantly felt guilty.

Yuan Li looked back at him, puzzled, and urged him, "Hurry up, I want to have breakfast before the imperial edict arrives."

Chu Hechao mumbled an acknowledgment and stood up, walking behind Yuan Li with dampness, casually grabbing a towel to wipe off the water stains on his body, while sneakily stealing glances at the seams of Yuan Li's shorts.

Yuan Li was not fat, but he had flesh in certain places. When he moved, the centipede-like seams also moved along with him. Whether the shorts looked good or not was another matter; all Chu Hechao knew was that he felt an itch in his heart.

As Yuan Li dressed, he noticed that Chu Hechao's gaze was not entirely honest, and he chuckled, "Chu Ciye, what are you looking at?"

Fearing that Yuan Li would discover the seams on the shorts, Chu Hechao quickly averted his eyes and coughed, "Do you want to change into another pair of shorts?"

Yuan Li was confused, "Why should I change?"

Chu Hechao mumbled vaguely, "These shorts don't look good."

Yuan Li didn't hear clearly, "What?"

"...Nothing," Chu Hechao's expression didn't change, "Hurry up and get dressed; let's go eat."

After breakfast, the imperial edict arrived. They went to receive it, and this time the edict was delivered by a minor official from the court. He was trembling with fear and didn't dare to look at Yuan Li and Chu Hechao.

The content of the imperial edict consisted of two items. The first appointed Yuan Li as the governor of Bingzhou, concurrently holding the position of governor of Youzhou. The second item praised Chu Hechao and Yuan Li for their loyalty to Northern Zhou, expressing that they were loyal subjects of the kingdom. The emperor ordered them to travel to Luoyang immediately to accompany him.

The first item was obviously a scheme by Li Li to sow discord between Yuan Li and Chu Hechao. Li Li was clearly feeling uneasy about them taking Bingzhou. So he used the words they had spoken last year when they refused his compensation to paint them as loyal to North Zhou, cunningly arranging for them to go to Luoyang and meet the emperor.

Once they went to Luoyang, they might not return. But if they didn't go, their previously claimed loyalty to the emperor would become a joke.

Accompanying the imperial edict was a request from the emperor. Luoyang was running out of grain, and the emperor wanted Youzhou to send a batch of food to the palace for use by the officials.

This was clearly Li Li using the emperor's name to ask for grain from Youzhou, but it was difficult to refuse this request.

Yuan Li's expression remained unchanged as he first reassured the delegation that brought the edict before convening his trusted aides, including Chu Hechao, to discuss how to handle the situation.