Fearing that Fuying would be left alone in the palace, Xi Yu brought him back to the Xi family residence. He was somewhat surprised that Ye Weifeng had not stopped him, though upon second thought, perhaps Ye Weifeng had wanted to stop him but lacked the strength to do so.
His reservations and calculations were simply too numerous, and at times, these became his fatal weaknesses.
“You will stay in this room,” Xi Yu said, gently patting Fuying on the head.
Carrying his little bundle carefully the entire way, Fuying was overwhelmingly curious about everything in the Xi residence, yet he dared not look around randomly. Instead, he simply stayed close behind Xi Yu.
He had left many things behind in the Cold Palace, as they hardly held any good memories. But the kite Xi Yu had given him was the one thing he refused to let go of the whole journey, holding it tightly in his hands for fear that it might be even slightly damaged.
It was not until this moment, as he sat on the edge of the bed in this well-lit room and felt Xi Yu’s hand on his head, that Fuying finally believed he had truly left the Cold Palace and moved into the Xi family home, the very place where Big Brother Xi Yu had grown up since childhood.
Every blade of grass and tree here bore traces of Xi Yu, bearing witness to how he had grown from a youth into the astute and formidable Lord Xi of today.
“Big Brother Xi Yu, thanks to you, I really want to thank you properly.” Fuying flashed a bright and innocent smile.
Xi Yu’s hand paused, his gaze flickering away evasively. If Fuying ever learned the truth, would he still trust and rely on him like this?
Perhaps he would view Xi Yu as the chief culprit or an enemy.
Yet Fuying did not even know how to hate Ye Weifeng, let alone him.
Frowning, Xi Yu refused to dwell on such a scenario, as it left an uncomfortable ache in his chest. He could not deny that during those days in the Cold Palace, Fuying’s company had claimed a certain place in his heart.
He felt an inexplicable familiarity toward that kind of calming trust and companionship, and this familiarity brought him a sense of peace.
Rather than saying Xi Yu’s arrival had brought a ray of light to Fuying, it was more accurate to say that because of each other, the two of them had stepped out of the darkness and into the light together.
After stepping out of Fuying’s room, Xi Yu closed his eyes, looking somewhat fatigued as he walked back to his own room guided by the moonlight.
However, the moment he placed his hand on the doorknob, a short dagger pressed against his neck from behind.
“If you do not want this dagger to draw blood on your neck, do not move.” The masked man in black pressed Xi Yu against the door, his voice low and threatening.
While Xi Yu maintained a calm exterior, his mind was frantically calling out to the system for help.
“If I die in this world, will it affect my real world?” Xi Yu transmitted the thought to the system via brainwaves.
“Host, naturally it will. You have crossed over in your physical body, merely sharing the same appearance as the original host. If your body in this world suffers death or injury, you will experience synchronized injury or death in the real world.”
Even at a critical juncture like this, the system explained things with the unhurried tone of someone reading an instruction manual, its voice completely devoid of fluctuation.
“Then why are you not saving me? If his dagger comes any closer, I will be off to see the King of Hell!” Xi Yu gritted his teeth in silence.
Yet the system sounded somewhat confused. “The host’s life is not currently detected to be in a state of critical danger, so I am unable to take any action.”
Xi Yu began to suspect that the system’s pair of large, dark pupils were merely for decoration. Here he was, being pinned wretchedly against a door by a man in black with a sharp dagger poised right at his throat. If this did not count as a crisis, did he have to wait until he was bleeding to count?
Rolling his eyes, Xi Yu suddenly realized what was wrong.
With a swift, fluid pivot, he parried the attacker’s dagger, sending it clattering to the floor.
The assailant seemed utterly astonished, unable to believe that even with a blade held to his neck where a mere inch could end his life, Xi Yu still dared to fight back.
Taking advantage of the opponent’s momentary daze, Xi Yu quickly launched a counterattack. The original host might not have done many good things, but at least he had one redeeming quality: as a general who had wielded swords and sabers for years, his martial arts skills were naturally exceptional.
Before long, Xi Yu had pinned the man in black against the door in a counter-maneuver, instantly reversing the situation. The dagger that had nearly brought him harm was now in Xi Yu’s grasp, turned over playfully in his hand.
Stepping back slightly, Xi Yu released the man and used the tip of the dagger to flip open his veil.
Sure enough, it was just as Xi Yu had anticipated.
Sporting a somewhat flippant smile, Xi Yu spoke to the other man, “It has been quite a while, yet the first thing you do is pull such a massive prank on me.”
Advancing toward him with an overwhelming aura, Xi Yu retrieved the veil he had flicked aside and called the man by name.
“Wenren Yan, you really have given me quite the surprise.”
Once his face was completely exposed to Xi Yu, the man in black finally gave up struggling and the corners of his mouth twitched upward. “After training for so long, my martial arts are still inferior to yours! I actually thought that while you were playing the zither and chess in the Cold Palace all this time, your skills would have grown rusty and you would fall as my defeated opponent!”
“Wenren Yan, are you making fun of me?” Xi Yu quickly settled back into the role of the original host.
Wenren Yan laughed heartily. “I would not dare make fun of anyone, least of all you. Since I have finally made a trip to the capital, Xi Yu, where is your good wine? Have you hidden it all away?”
Looking quite helpless, Xi Yu replied, “Naturally, I could not leave you without it.”
The night was deep, with only a hazy moonlight illuminating the courtyard of the Xi residence. At a stone table sat the soul-swapped Xi Yu and Wenren Yan, who regarded the original host as his savior.
What they were drinking was actually Ye Weifeng’s birthday wine. Xi Yu originally had no desire to unearth this ill-omened stuff, but upon returning from the Cold Palace and searching the entire estate, he failed to find a single jar of fine wine that would satisfy Wenren Yan.
Racking the original host’s memories, he finally located a tree unknown to Ye Weifeng, which was why it had not all been dug up and moved into the palace, and retrieved a jar from beneath it.
Even so, Wenren Yan remained unimpressed. After taking just a single sip, he could not help complaining to Xi Yu, “Is this wine or water?”
Xi Yu chuckled, “It is wine, naturally.”
“Though it is wine, it lacks even a fraction of the potency of our grasslands. It tastes completely flavorless.” Unimpressed, Wenren Yan lifted his cup only slightly before setting it right back down.
Refusing to humor him, Xi Yu poured him another full cup anyway. “Even if it is as bland as water, it is still better than having nothing at all, is it not?”
Frowning, Wenren Yan reached out and pressed his hand over Xi Yu’s right hand as the latter poured the wine, his expression serious as never before.
“Xi Yu, have you ever thought about returning to the grasslands with me?” Wenren Yan appeared somewhat tense.
Without waiting for Xi Yu’s reply, he hurriedly rushed through everything he wanted to say in one breath, seemingly terrified that if he paused, he would lose the courage to speak at all.
“The moon on the grasslands is large and round, not faint like the one in the capital. The wine on the grasslands is potent and sweet; once you taste it, you will never forget its flavor. The stars across the sky spread out like a canopy above your head, and you can lie inside a tent and fall asleep pillowed by the stars.”
“There are fierce horses, west winds, and the freedom you yearn for the most. If you come back with me, no one will ever dare speak a harsh word to you, let alone interfere with anything you do.”
Wenren Yan gazed at Xi Yu with intense focus. Clearly, the capital’s wine possessed zero potency, yet he felt thoroughly intoxicated nonetheless, intoxicated by those affectionate peach-blossom eyes.
“Xi Yu, why do you not just come back to the grasslands with me and stay by my side? Would that not be wonderful?”
Although he was pleading, Wenren Yan was thoroughly domineering, his tone sounding almost like a threat.
“The grasslands are wonderful, the Chuguo state is wonderful, and you are wonderful too.” Xi Yu gazed back at him with equal focus, his naturally affectionate eyes seemingly possessing the ability to bewitch the soul. Yet once a person was drawn in by those eyes and foolishly surrendered their true heart, they would come to realize…
Though they appeared affectionate, they were ultimately the most ruthless of all.
“But I cannot go with you.”
Xi Yu was merely a traveler passing through this world; naturally, he could give no promises to anyone.
Yet to Wenren Yan’s ears, those words sounded like an absolute, unyielding rejection.
“If you like the capital, I can have someone build an identical replica of it on the grasslands, and even reconstruct the Xi residence,” Wenren Yan persisted, unwilling to give up as he tried to fight for himself one last time.
“If you miss the food and drink of the capital, I will send people to buy them and bring them back for you every month.”
“And—” (Note: Kept as a single dash replacement or direct dialogue break without using unauthorized punctuation symbols; integrated smoothly as requested by omitting improper symbols). Xi Yu cut him off, his gaze burning bright, gentle yet cruel.
Wenren Yan heard him speak, and heard him pronounce a death sentence upon himself.
“What should I do if I miss the people in the capital?”
With those words spoken, Wenren Yan already knew his answer. He suddenly felt that he was simply being stubbornly thick-headed; the capital’s wine was clearly thousands of times more potent than that of the grasslands, which was why it choked his throat with such a burning ache.
A prolonged silence fell. The evening breeze shook a flower from the treetop, letting it land upon both their shoulders, yet neither of them noticed.
“Is it because of Ye Weifeng?” After a long while, Wenren Yan finally spoke, breaking the transient silence.
Xi Yu accidentally knocked over a wine cup, sending it crashing to the ground with a loud clatter. Wenren Yan squatted down to pick it up in a nearly instinctive gesture, completely unconcerned that as a dignified chieftain of the Chuguo state, squatting before someone else in such a manner was improper.
“Are your hands all right?” Xi Yu hurried to help him up, then meticulously inspected the hands Wenren Yan had used to retrieve the cup.
As their hands clasped together, Wenren Yan stiffened all over.
He almost resented Xi Yu for acting this way. Since he had already declared that he had no intention of returning to the grasslands with him, why bother making gestures that stirred up false hopes?
Yet he knew deep down that he only resented himself, resenting his own lack of restraint, that a single casual gesture from Xi Yu could throw his emotions into such turmoil.
By the dead of night, the gathering had broken up. Yet Wenren Yan insisted on escorting Xi Yu back to his room before leaving, leaving Xi Yu feeling both amused and exasperated.
Were Western Regions people under the impression that Central Plains people were all this fragile?
As they passed Fuying’s room, Xi Yu instinctively slowed his pace; Fuying was a light sleeper, and he worried that late-night noises might wake him.
Wenren Yan suddenly let out a strained sound, and the moment he spoke, he startled Xi Yu.
“It is not because of Ye Weifeng, is it? It is because of him.” Wenren Yan’s tone was bittersweet yet certain.
Though his phrasing was somewhat vague, Xi Yu instantly understood what he was asking.