171 Heart to Heart

"And from then on, the liege never attended morning court again." 

Liu Yao smiled and stretched languidly before rolling over onto his side to tuck Yan Zheyun more firmly against his side. 

"Ah Yun's accusations wound me. This sovereign is on leave today." 

Despite the satiated ache ingrained deep in his muscles today—or, to put it more crassly, the feeling of having been well and thoroughly fucked the night before—Yan Zheyun had to chuckle at that. 'On leave' was a phrase that Yan Zheyun had unintentionally taught him, a little modern-day workplace colloquialism that Liu Yao had grown very fond of for some reason. Yan Zheyun had used it that one time without thinking when he'd first heard that court officials only took a break from morning court once every ten days. He'd asked whether the emperor's 'employees' were allowed to take leave and go on holiday.