Because Jinshu Fu returned safely and soundly, Yinyin Wei ordered the restrictions on yesterday’s guests to be lifted after receiving the news, sent compensation to every household, and politely saw everyone off.
When Yunchan Wei woke up, Jinshu Fu was still sleeping soundly and comfortably in his arms. The weather had turned warm, and the fabric of the undergarment had become a bit lighter and thinner. Jinshu Fu wrapped his hands and feet around him, and the body heat transmitted through the clothes made Yunchan Wei feel inexplicably uncomfortable.
Perhaps it was because he had never been so intimate with anyone else before. Previously, his winter clothes were thick, so he did not feel this way, but now, lowering his head, he could see the soft, white flesh at Jinshu Fu’s collar, which felt rather awkward.
Yunchan Wei pulled away Jinshu Fu’s hands that were wrapped around him and sat up from the bed. Once he sat up, he no longer had the heart to ponder other matters, as he now felt immensely surprised.
His body felt lighter than ever before, like a long-ill withered tree that, upon meeting spring, had unexpectedly radiated a brand-new vitality.
Although he felt that his body still lacked strength and had a deficiency causing blockages, this already appeared somewhat insignificant to someone plagued by illness for years.
After his wild joy, Yunchan Wei calmed down. He looked at Jinshu Fu once again, a thought suddenly rising in his heart that sounded bizarre yet followed a certain trace.
At noon, Madam Wen had Fentao call Yunchan Wei and Jinshu Fu to the main hall for lunch.
Madam Wen had been worried sick about Yunchan Wei’s fainting spell this morning, but the doctor took his pulse and said there was no major issue, which allowed Madam Wen to finally put down her suspended heart. Looking at the two sleeping tightly embraced on the bed, Madam Wen furrowed her brows slightly, a contradictory emotion welling up within her.
Madam Wen knew her son’s temperament all too well. After the start of summer, Yunchan Wei would soon reach adulthood. Among ordinary young men, there were plenty who added concubine maids to their chambers at sixteen or seventeen.
Yet, Yunchan Wei had a peculiar disposition and loathed being touched by others, so the personal attendants serving him were all pages rather than maidservants. Coupled with the fact that Yunchan Wei’s health was already poor, Madam Wen worried that carnal pleasures would further drain his primordial Qi, so she had never thought of adding an intimate companion to his quarters.
However, seeing Yunchan Wei unconsciously hugging Jinshu Fu and allowing Jinshu Fu to cling tightly to him, Madam Wen felt both gratified and faintly uneasy.
She could not sort out this complicated mood either, only silently pondering that once Yunchan Wei’s health improved a bit further, she would have him look at two young ladies.
Aside from everything else, even if Yunchan Wei truly developed different thoughts toward Jinshu Fu, Jinshu Fu still looked like an ignorant young lad who did not know how to serve people, and Madam Wen herself was completely clueless about how men engaged in that matter. Thinking about it, her face burned with heat, so she simply tossed the thought to the back of her mind.
Today’s dishes were still sumptuous, but Jinshu Fu was still half-asleep while eating and accidentally got his lower lip pricked by a fish bone. Beads of blood emerged, and before he could react, his chin was suddenly grabbed by a hand, forcing him to turn his head over.
Madam Wen put down her chopsticks and said, “Oh dear, why are you bleeding?”
The maid responsible for de-boning the fish knelt down with a thud, panicked, and admitted her fault, “This slave was careless and negligent while picking out the bones! Please punish me, Madam!”
Madam Wen had always been amiable toward servants. Although Jinshu Fu was injured, it was just a minor issue, and Madam Wen originally intended to tell her to get up, reprimand her a couple of times, and let the matter pass. But Yunchan Wei coldly spoke up and took over the conversation, “Fortunately, the Young Madam was lucky today and only pricked his lip flesh. If he had been unlucky today, swallowed it down his throat, and it had pierced into the flesh, how many lives would you take to pay for the punishment?”
The maid knelt on the ground and kowtowed continuously, quickly bringing up blood. Hearing him deliberately phrase it so heavily, Madam Wen found it difficult to undermine him. Yet, feeling pity for the little maid beside her, she cast her gaze toward Jinshu Fu.
Jinshu Fu did not care about this kind of small wound at all. He grabbed Yunchan Wei’s hand that was wiping away the blood bead for him and blinked twice.
Yunchan Wei understood tacitly, withdrew his hand, ignored him further, and only said, “Get up.”
Madam Wen found it astonishing; this was the first time she had seen Yunchan Wei act so accommodating. If she did not see it wrong, Jinshu Fu had just blinked twice.
After finishing the meal, Yunchan Wei wanted to practice martial arts. His physical state had improved so much today that his heart itched with eagerness, and he only wanted to seize the time to practice.
Jinshu Fu intended to return to his room to make up for his sleep, so the two parted ways at a fork in the path.
Walking a bit further, he passed a rockery, when suddenly a dog bark chased away two parts of Jinshu Fu’s sleepiness.
Following the sound, it turned out to be the fourth young miss, Tingyu Wei, running over while chasing her puppy.
The puppy’s legs were nimble, and Tingyu Wei was wearing a silk skirt, so naturally, she could not catch up with the puppy. Not only could she not catch up, but she also accidentally fell to the ground.
Tingyu Wei was two years younger than the physical body of Jinshu Fu. The little girl must have sprained her ankle, sat on the ground unable to get up, and sobbed as tears fell while the puppy scampered happily into another path.
Jinshu Fu originally wanted to sit back and do nothing, but Tingyu Wei called out to him, “Elder Sister-in-law… help me chase Feifei, wuwu… don’t let him run into my second brother’s place, my second brother, wuwu, hates puppies the most.”
Feifei was the name of that puppy.
Jinshu Fu originally did not want to bother with her, but upon hearing the words “second brother,” he suddenly thought of Qiuli.
As for Haiyuan Wei, Jinshu Fu did not have a deep impression of this figure, only vaguely remembering seeing him during the first meal after entering the Wei residence.
Jinshu Fu could not remember what he looked like at all.
However, since he was idle now, he could go and meet him.
His mind recalled what Qiuli had said about a “body of purity,” pondering that when he saw Yunchan Wei tonight, he would ask the other person what on earth this thing was.
Haiyuan Wei was just preparing to head out to Rouge Tower, hearing that Rouge Tower had recently taken in a few beauties, among whom was even a young man who was charming and alluring with a beauty mole right between his eyebrows.
This brief description instantly moved Haiyuan Wei’s heart.
Heaven knew that ever since he saw Yunchan Wei’s newly wedded wedding-blessing male wife during dinner in the past two months, he had been haunted in his dreams and obsessed, thinking endlessly about that face. Even when coupling with the top courtesan of Rouge Tower, he felt it lacked a bit of fun.
Walking with hurried steps, Haiyuan Wei was determined today to buy that newly arrived male beauty and see if it could dispel the desire in his heart.
Being too immersed in his thoughts and failing to watch the road, he crashed straight into someone coming from the opposite direction.
Just as he was about to flare up and looked closely, the little beauty he had been yearning for day and night actually appeared right before his eyes.
“Elder Sister-in-law.” Haiyuan Wei tidied his clothes and called out quite properly, but that gaze was truly uninhibited and frivolous, lingering on Jinshu Fu’s face.
Jinshu Fu completely failed to understand this kind of meaningful yet non-murderous gaze, only instinctively feeling displeasure. He raised his head to look at Haiyuan Wei, pulled his hand over, and wrote on his palm: [Can you help me find the puppy?]
Every time his fingers brushed across Haiyuan Wei’s palm, Haiyuan Wei’s heart surged and he became unable to control himself, long ago throwing the newcomer from Rouge Tower clean out of his mind. Ordinarily, Jinshu Fu rarely came out of the main residence for activities, and he had very few opportunities even to meet him. Now that they could look for the puppy together, Haiyuan Wei naturally wished for nothing better.
Until he still came up empty-handed after wandering around for over an hour.
He wiped the sweat from the corner of his forehead and wanted to run over to find Jinshu Fu, but when he walked to the spot where Jinshu Fu had stood just moments ago, not even a shadow of a person was to be seen.
“Damn it,” Haiyuan Wei rubbed his palms, as if the sensation of Jinshu Fu holding his hand earlier still remained, licked his lips with lingering temptation, and muttered to himself, “Sooner or later I will devour him… Tsk, he’s really damn soft.”
Jinshu Fu picked up the puppy by the skin of its neck and tossed it to Tingyu Wei. The puppy shed its previous lively and playful demeanor, huddling in Tingyu Wei’s arms, shivering and whimpering.
It looked as though it had been frightened by something.
Jinshu Fu returned to his room, had a servant bring a basin of clear water, and washed his hands clean, for some reason, that Haiyuan Wei particularly annoyed him.
Especially the other person’s snake-like, sticky gaze, which gave Jinshu Fu the urge to gouge out his eyes. Now Jinshu Fu remembered this person’s appearance, which in short was: ugly, vulgar, and unpresentable.
In the evening, Yunchan Wei came back.
After bathing and changing clothes, as soon as he came out from behind the screen, he saw Jinshu Fu waving at him.
Yunchan Wei put on his outer robe while walking over and said, “Speak.”
Jinshu Fu lowered his head and wrote a sentence.
Yunchan Wei leaned over and glanced at it nonchalantly, then froze.
He tilted his head to look at Jinshu Fu, wanting to probe for a trace of “deliberateness” from his face, but the other person was open and aboveboard, and his gaze was thirsty for knowledge.
“Why ask this?” Yunchan Wei asked instead of answering.
Jinshu Fu propped his chin with one hand and wrote: [Curious].
Yunchan Wei pinched his delicate, upright nose and said word by word, “You’re still wet behind the ears, curiosity is not allowed.”
With that, he flicked his sleeves and left, leaving only Jinshu Fu staring blankly at the first line of words on the paper without moving.
Written on it was: [What is a body of purity]?