As Ah Huai helped Su Ce dress, he inadvertently caught sight of the lone twin-fish jade pendant on the tabletop. His movements slowed by half a beat.
However, before his thoughts could drift, Su Ce urged him on. Ah Huai silently retracted his gaze. As he fastened the top button of Su Ce’s collar, he looked up to see the joy plastered across Su Ce’s face and walked directly to the side, standing respectfully. “Young Master Su, you are ready.”
Hearing this, Su Ce walked out quickly, never once sparing Ah Huai a glance from start to finish.
Standing by the window of the private room, Ah Huai watched Su Ce’s hurried figure, stroking the warm, smooth pendant in his hand as a peculiar smile played upon his lips.
The person Su Ce was so anxious to return home to see was Fu Huaizhi, son of the Minister of Revenue.
In the capital, those who held office had all heard, to varying degrees, of the tangled and complex relationship between the two young masters of the Su and Fu families. The name Su Ce of the Su family was particularly thunderous in people’s ears.
Su Ce had lost his mother at a young age and had been raised in the Jiangnan region. It was not until one day—perhaps as Su Wenyu grew older and felt a sudden pang of conscience, or a resurgence of longing for his late wife—that he brought seven- or eight-year-old Su Ce to the capital to live.
Perhaps it was the sight of Su Ce, sallow-faced and thin, weak and sickly, that stirred memories of his late wife, but Su Wenyu had been infinitely indulgent toward Su Ce from then on.
His stepmother, who only had a daughter of her own, looked at Su Wenyu’s actions and kept turning black into white regarding anything Su Ce did.
Consequently, Su Ce’s personality became perverse and violent. He became a source of terror for everyone, with people taking detours to avoid him, though they were forced to play along due to the Su family’s power.
But the year Su Ce entered the academy and the Fu family achieved high honors, people discovered that Su Ce was only obedient and subservient to Fu Huaizhi, acting like an entirely different person compared to his usual arrogant and domineering self.
As years passed, one night, Su Ce woke up from a dream in a start. He reached into his bedding, trembling, and discovered it was soaked through.
He could not help but feel astonished. That night, fifteen-year-old Su Ce clearly understood his own heart.
From that day on, people noticed that Su Ce gradually became less wayward and domineering, and his conduct even began to mirror that of Fu Huaizhi.
But a month ago, when Su Ce intended to confess his feelings to Fu Huaizhi on his own birthday, a sudden nightmare arrived: Fu Huaizhi was unexpectedly betrothed to another.
The day Su Ce found out, he tossed and turned in bed. Jealousy and resentment took root and sprouted in his heart. He scaled the wall to Fu Huaizhi’s room, staring at him with eyes red from crying, and demanded in a hoarse, tear-choked voice, “Huaizhi, are you truly going to marry that woman?”
Fu Huaizhi pressed his lips tightly together, giving Su Ce no answer.
Su Ce, his expression agitated, grabbed Fu Huaizhi’s lapels. “If you do not want to marry that woman, I can abandon everything and run away with you to the ends of the earth! I have suffered; I am not afraid of hardship. I only want to be with you.”
Having said this, he reached out humbly to grasp Fu Huaizhi’s hand.
It was a hand so cold that it terrified Su Ce. He looked up in panic; indeed, there were eyes colder than the depth of winter the eyes of the man he had loved for two years.
Fu Huaizhi looked at Su Ce with an all-encompassing gaze, pulling his hand away. “A-Ce, I have long known your heart. But this is a marriage ordained by the command of parents and the words of a matchmaker. You can abandon everything, but I cannot. Furthermore, men cannot marry men. While it is common practice in the capital to keep male concubines, a male concubine is merely a male concubine.”
Su Ce did not know what expression he wore at that moment; he only felt as if his heart had been torn apart by horses, the pain so sharp he could not breathe.
A trace of pity flashed in Fu Huaizhi’s eyes. He reached out and patted his head, consoling him: “A-Ce, you should be grown up now!”
Su Ce did not know how he had crawled out of Fu Huaizhi’s room in such a wretched state that day, but he could never forget that look.
He hated! Oh, how he hated! Yet, in his hatred, he found himself utterly ridiculous. Could he not spend his life with the person he loved simply because he was a man? Was that his error?
Why! Why should that woman so easily possess Fu Huaizhi! Unwillingness welled up, and that night, Su Ce tore away the mask of his former self, taking advantage of the darkness to have someone carry a bucket of excrement and douse it on the front gates of the woman’s family estate.
When dawn broke the following day, everyone discovered that the Su Ce of old the one who made unreasonable demands—had returned to the public eye.
By this time, the carriage had stopped before the Su estate gates.
Su Ce sat inside, his brows slightly furrowed, scratching his arm.
Seeing that he wouldn’t get off the carriage, the attendant tentatively called out: “Young Master?”
Su Ce finally snapped back to reality. Amidst a swirl of mixed emotions, he stepped out of the carriage and walked into the estate.
He saw Fu Huaizhi standing in the courtyard under the peach tree they had once planted together, wearing white fox fur. A breeze caught his robes, making him appear like a cool, aloof immortal descended to the world. But now, in winter, the peach tree stood bare, its branches desolate and laughable much like Su Ce himself, who remained the only one standing in place, refusing to move forward.
Unwilling to let Fu Huaizhi see his fragility, he assumed an icy, frosty mask and walked up to him. “What are you here for?”
Fu Huaizhi retracted his gaze, looking Su Ce up and down, noting that his nose was already flushed red from the cold. “A-Ce, it is cold outside. Let us go in and talk.”
Just as he was about to reach out to hold Su Ce’s hand, Su Ce shifted aside, sniffled, and stubbornly replied, “If Young Master Fu has something to say, say it right here.”
Fu Huaizhi wanted to say more, but in the end, he remained silent. He turned to the side, picked up a food box, and asked, “Where did you stay last night?”
“Whether I slept on the streets or under a bridge, that has nothing to do with you, does it? What right do you have to manage me?” Su Ce looked up at him.
Perhaps it was the first time Fu Huaizhi had seen Su Ce in such an aggressive stance, as he was momentarily stunned. He changed his tone. “I bought these specifically for you from the pastry shop east of the city this morning. They are the date-paste cakes you love most.”
Su Ce looked at the food box, a sourness rising in his heart. He turned his head to the side, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “Young Master Fu, it would be better to save these favors for your future wife. If others saw this, they would think Young Master Fu was having a resurgence of old feelings for me.”
Fu Huaizhi’s hand tightened slightly. He looked at Su Ce and said, “A-Ce, you know we are not suitable. Can we not go back to how we once were? You are still my little brother…”
“Leave. My surname is Su, not Fu. I do not have a brother like you.” Su Ce paused and walked past Fu Huaizhi. In a spot Fu Huaizhi could not see, a tear fell, which he quickly wiped away with his hand. He smoothed his breath and said, “Take your pastries with you. I am no longer a child. I have long since grown tired of eating these cloying, sweet things.”
Just then, a servant walked into the courtyard and, sensing the strange atmosphere, toughed it out and said, “Young Master, an attendant from the Zuisheng Pavilion named Ah Huai says you left something behind and has come to return it.”
Su Ce’s eyes shifted. Remembering those familiar eyes, he stopped and turned around. “Let him in.” He then turned toward Fu Huaizhi: “Did you not ask where I was last night? I went to find a male concubine. How is that for an answer?”
Fu Huaizhi’s complexion changed upon hearing this.
Ah Huai walked in behind the servant, walked straight to Su Ce, and knelt, holding the pendant out to him with both hands. He whispered, “Young Master Su, you forgot your pendant. Ah Huai has brought it to return it to its owner.”
Su Ce glanced at Fu Huaizhi standing to the side and smiled, helping Ah Huai rise from the floor. “Ah Huai, you served me well last night. This little pendant is my reward to you; I was in too much of a hurry this morning to tell you.”
Fu Huaizhi naturally saw the appearance of that pendant it was the one Su Ce had given him when he was fifteen, stating that they each had a twin-fish ring, wishing to remain by each other’s side for a lifetime.
Now, Su Ce was using it to reward a servant. Fu Huaizhi’s expression remained indifferent. “A-Ce has truly grown up.”
Su Ce placed a hand on Ah Huai’s waist, pulling him into his embrace as the three pairs of eyes met.
Ah Huai looked toward Fu Huaizhi as if afraid, struggling slightly. “Young Master Su, this is not according to etiquette. My status is as different from yours as heaven is from earth. Please do not debase yourself by doing this to Ah Huai.”
Su Ce laughed, his eyebrows dancing with a mocking mirth. “Why speak of status? I find you to be well-mannered and discreet, which suits my fancy. And most importantly, you will not affect my marrying a wife.”
He held Ah Huai and walked toward the food box Fu Huaizhi had yet to take. He lifted the lid, took out a plump date-paste cake, and held it to Ah Huai’s lips. “Come, open your mouth.”
Ah Huai looked at Su Ce’s fingers, which were fair but now red from the long exposure to the cold wind. He glanced cautiously at Fu Huaizhi and opened his mouth slightly to take a bite.
“Is it sweet?”
“Sweet.”
“Sweet is correct; these are pastries Young Master Fu bought especially for me. Eating them is not a waste. I shall immediately have someone go to the Zuisheng Pavilion to redeem your freedom. From today on, you are the male concubine I keep by my side. As long as you do not betray me, I promise you a lifetime of boundless wealth and honor.”
With that, Su Ce embraced Ah Huai and walked into the house without looking back, leaving Fu Huaizhi standing alone in the courtyard.
He stared at the door that had been opened and closed, his thoughts unknown.
And inside the house, the moment the door was shut, Su Ce released the hand around Ah Huai’s waist, used a handkerchief to wipe his hands as if in disgust, threw it on the floor, and walked into the inner room.
Ah Huai stood dumbly by the door, extending his tongue to lick his lips, which still carried the faint sweetness of the date-paste cake.
For some reason, Su Ce turned back and shoved him against the door.
Fu Huaizhi had been about to step forward and open the door to say something, but the supervisor walked up to his side and said, “Young Master Fu, this old servant will see you out.”
Before Fu Huaizhi could agree, he heard a sound of heavy, labored breathing from within the house.
His complexion grew even worse as he followed the supervisor, walking away quickly.
And inside the house, Ah Huai knelt on the floor, the leather whip dropped by Su Ce lying right by his feet.