Yun Zhensong had just finished carefully wiping his sword and was about to slide into the quilt to get some tight sleep when the system appeared.
【Congratulations to the host for completing today’s mission. Reward issued: 5,000 gold coins, one medical book “Curing All Diseases,” and one “Encyclopedia of Hundred Crafts.” Please check.】
Yun Zhensong happily clicked into his backpack; he was quite interested in that medical book. He flipped it open and scanned a line, and the system released tomorrow’s mission.
【Tomorrow’s Mission: First, improve sword technique. Second, gain favor from those around you.】
【Continuing Mission: Cure Qi Yan’s leg.】
【Host, please keep up the good work!】
Yun Zhensong lay comfortably on the bed—the Han estate’s bed was much softer than the one in his own mansion. Yun Zhensong squinted his eyes like a little cat, let out a sigh of satisfaction, pulled the quilt up to his chin, and wriggled twice. He completely forgot that he had left Qi Jianshuang in the room, sleeping on a small couch not far from the main bed it was quite a grievance for Qi Jianshuang’s long legs, which had nowhere to stretch.
“What? Something on your mind?” Qi Jianshuang was always keeping an eye on Yun Zhensong’s small movements; he turned over and sat up to ask, “Or are you feeling unwell?”
“Huh?” Yun Zhensong’s consciousness returned; he stared at Qi Jianshuang, startled, thinking to himself that he’d been so occupied talking to the system he’d nearly forgotten him. Yun Zhensong regained his composure after a moment. “Oh, I plan to give Master Qi a needle tomorrow. If the effect is good, we can start long-term treatment.”
Qi Jianshuang had known before that he could use silver needles, but he was still somewhat surprised that he could make someone with a crippled leg stand again. Why had he spent all those days searching everywhere before? He had even hesitated whether to disregard his suspicions about Han Yan and write to him for help.
“You…” Qi Jianshuang said, “Take it easy; don’t overexert yourself.”
The couch Qi Jianshuang was sleeping on was very small for him; he couldn’t straighten his legs, and if he turned over, he would fall off. But Yun Zhensong just wanted to “small-punish” him a little. My choice to be magnanimous and not hold grudges cannot conceal your deception and concealment.
Yun Zhensong yawned and asked lazily, “Hongke, were you particularly majestic in the past? Since you can’t sleep anyway, tell me a bit about it.”
Qi Jianshuang glanced at him, thought for a moment, and spoke slowly as if telling a bedtime story: “My parents were away on expeditions guarding the frontier all year round. I lived alone in the Qi mansion until I was seven, when the late Emperor established the Imperial College and gathered all the noble children of appropriate age from across the dynasty to study together.”
That was where he met Han Yan.
“Then who was taking care of you before you were seven?” Yun Zhensong was secretly startled. Before his own parents passed away, he had at least enjoyed a period of happy, united life, but Hong… Qi Jianshuang had been alone since childhood.
Qi Jianshuang said, “No one. A few uncles who harbored ill intentions. After I retaliated a few times, they didn’t dare to come and discipline me again.”
Yun Zhensong frowned; the deeper meaning behind “discipline” was self-evident. He wasn’t curious enough to tear open the other’s wounds to take a look, but he was more concerned about whether Qi Jianshuang had led a good life afterward.
“And then?”
“Study, practice martial arts, children’s brawls. Before fifteen, I was dashing and unrestrained. Every day, besides practicing the sword until I was half-dead, I spent time trading insults with others.” Qi Jianshuang didn’t hold back at all when teasing his younger self, his tone as calm as if he were speaking about an inconsequential character. “Once, I went too far; I cut off the late Emperor’s beard while he was sleeping, and was then kicked off to the Northern Frontier. That was the first time I saw my parents.”
“And the last.”
Yun Zhensong had originally expected a heartwarming or comedic tone; this sudden turn made his sleepiness vanish completely. He wanted to ask, but couldn’t bear to.
Qi Jianshuang didn’t let him struggle, continuing to narrate coldly: “At that time, there was only one large tribe in the Northern Frontier, and they were very united. Fighting them was even harder. My parents were deadlocked with them for many years, finally ending with the tribal leader and my parents dying in battle, and the Northern Xiongnu splitting into nineteen tribes.”
A tragedy all too heroic was brushed over by him in a single stroke.
Like the day the great battle ended.
Yellow sands obscured the sun, and the cries of battle filled the heavens. That day was Qi Jianshuang’s sixteenth birthday; it should have been a time of family joy, but due to a surprise attack by the Northern Xiongnu, his parents drew their blades to the front line. Sixteen-year-old Qi Jianshuang knelt on the ground, his hands covered in blood and filth; he watched with his own eyes as the Northern Xiongnu King used an axe to sever his father’s right arm. A black cloak swirled amidst the bloody wind; his father’s eyes were bursting with rage, and he used his last ounce of strength to pierce the other party’s abdomen.
“Kill!!!”
His parents roared in unison. His mother’s curved blade was like a silver snake spitting out a letter; his father’s spear was like a thunderbolt. The bloody pain provoked the bloodthirsty violence of the Northern Xiongnu King. Having lost his reason, his fangs bared, he completely disregarded his own intestines spilling onto the ground, and the bone blade in his hand plunged straight into his father’s heart. His mother’s curved blade drew an arc in the air, barely parrying the fatal blow, but due to exhaustion, she revealed a flaw. The Northern Xiongnu King grinned hideously, backhanded his strike, and a flash of cold light passed, piercing through the chests of both of them simultaneously.
A roar like a trapped beast erupted from Qi Jianshuang’s throat; he grabbed the sword from the ground the sixteenth birthday gift his father had given him. His parents’ subordinates had red eyes as they stopped him, dragging him away, covering his eyes tightly.
“Young General!!! Calm down!”
“Drag the young general back, damn it! Fuck! Knock him out!”
Qi Jianshuang’s final view was of his parents’ figures as they knelt in the setting sun, their bodies covered in scarlet—Qi Jianshuang could not distinguish if it was the afterglow of the sunset or the blood his parents had shed to the last drop. Before he fainted, he heard a woman roar: “Kill all those bastards!”
For many years after, that tragic day became a nightmare Qi Jianshuang could not avoid. Every time he went to sleep, the laughter of his parents and the roar of breaking through destiny would echo in his ears simultaneously.
He hadn’t slept a single good night.
Until that night, with Yun Zhensong’s long-drawn-out, sticky tone, “Cold, hold me to sleep.”
That night, the waist of the person in his arms was so slender that one arm couldn’t even finish holding it. His embrace was no longer empty; his hand, which in his dreams had wanted to reach forward and grab his parents’, finally found a place to rest.
Yun Zhensong’s soft hair cushioned Qi Jianshuang.
Qi Jianshuang felt Yun Zhensong’s body temperature, suddenly waking from his light sleep. He sat up, ground his back teeth, and lay back down again.
Yun Zhensong relied on Qi Jianshuang’s reliability; how could Qi Jianshuang not rely on Yun Zhensong’s gentleness and laziness? Qi Jianshuang’s eyes were no longer clear; there was an unspeakable desire in his eyes when he looked at Yun Zhensong, yet his tone remained flat, lacking the professional cadence one should have when telling stories: “The late Emperor perhaps took pity on me; he brought me back to the Central Province, telling me that as long as I didn’t cut his beard, I could mess around as much as I wanted, even if I burned down the Imperial Palace—only I couldn’t leave the Central Province.”
“From then on, I reined in my temper and buried myself in practicing martial arts. Less than a year later, I took the initiative to request to succeed my parents’ position. I knelt in the heavy snow for three days and nights before the late Emperor nodded. Then, there was the feud with the Northern Frontier that lasted for decades.”
Yun Zhensong felt so heartbroken that he bit his lip. He really wanted to go back a few minutes and slap himself hard. Why on earth did I have to ask?! Wasn’t this just tearing open Hongke’s wounds?!
“Hong… Qi Jianshuang, I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”
Yun Zhensong couldn’t continue.
Qi Jianshuang gave a light chuckle: “Hongke my mother gave it to me. It should have been given to me at my capping ceremony at twenty, but perhaps she had a premonition; on my sixteenth birthday, she wrote these two characters on paper and placed them by my pillow.”
“Call me Hongke; I still like this name it sounds much lighter than Jianshuang.”
“Alright.” Yun Zhensong wanted to hug him not the way Hongke had hugged him before, but for him to hug Hongke, wrapping him tightly in his arms.
“Hongke, come here, let me hug you.”
Qi Jianshuang didn’t move; he raised an eyebrow: “What? Pitying me?”
“Not pity,” Yun Zhensong nimbly jumped off the bed, trotted to Qi Jianshuang’s side, bent down, and hugged his neck, stroking his back up and down with both hands, “it’s heartache.”
They hugged for a long time; Yun Zhensong had no intention of letting go, and because he was hugging Qi Jianshuang with a hunched back and bent waist, this posture was very tiring for his waist.
Qi Jianshuang smiled helplessly, his hands, which were hanging casually at his sides, supported Yun Zhensong’s waist and pressed him to sit on his lap. He chuckled softly: “Hugging like this—isn’t it easier?”
Yun Zhensong suddenly felt the man’s organ, and his back stiffened. Qi Jianshuang supported his buttocks, and the moment he was lifted into the air, Yun Zhensong couldn’t help but cry out.
Qi Jianshuang’s throat rolled; he coughed lightly: “Don’t make strange noises.”
“…Oh.”
Yun Zhensong was so ashamed that his face could have dripped blood.
Qi Jianshuang placed him on the main bed, his hands supporting him on both sides of his head, leaning over to look directly at him, feigning ignorance: “Master, may I sleep in your bed?”
Yun Zhensong closed his eyes tightly and said nothing, just shifted his position over.
“Thank you, Master.”
Qi Jianshuang smiled in triumph.
The next morning, if Qi Jianshuang hadn’t called Yun Zhensong to get up, Yun Zhensong would have thought it was still dark.
“It’s the hour of Si (9:00–11:00 AM).” Qi Jianshuang pulled Yun Zhensong’s arm with one hand and supported his back with the other, easily pulling him up into a sitting position. “Don’t you still have to give Qi Yan needles today?”
“Mmm… huh?” Yun Zhensong rubbed his sleepy eyes, scanned the outside, and muttered, “It’s so dark, how can it be the hour of Si?”
“It’s just an overcast day.”
Qi Jianshuang tried every way to help the sleepy Yun Zhensong put on his clothes. He took the face towel from Yusheng, wiped his face meticulously, and his expression was earnest—anyone who didn’t know would have thought he was holding something priceless.
Yusheng’s mouth twitched slightly. Last night, Deng Hua had explained to him in detail the “gold content” of the three words “Qi Jianshuang” he could cut the late Emperor’s beard, he could beat up royal relatives, and in the Central Province, no one dared to offend him; he could basically walk sideways!
But… he clearly looks more like a servant than I do!
Look at this technique! Look at this strength!
I couldn’t do this level, alright!
Just awake, Yun Zhensong had no appetite; after drinking a few spoonfuls of plain porridge, he didn’t want to use his chopsticks anymore. So Qi Jianshuang peeled a hard-boiled egg, broke it into a dozen pieces, wrapped it in some vinegar cabbage, and fed it to Yun Zhensong one bite at a time.
Yun Zhensong felt comfortable being waited on and gave a casual compliment. This immediately sparked Yusheng’s competitive desire, and he secretly began to feed Yun Zhensong as well.
Before the previous bite had been swallowed, the next one was already at his lips. Yun Zhensong, who already had a small appetite, was baffled by the two of them and hurriedly reached out a hand: “Stop, stop.”
Yun Zhensong wiped the corner of his mouth and asked strangely: “What kind of illness do the two of you have? Alright, I’m going to find Qi Yan. You two can feed each other.”