The two of them began their journey back by the light of the flickering stars.
A-Huai felt Su Ce’s body gradually relax, and his own heart, previously frantic, suddenly calmed. His lips curled upward uncontrollably a reaction even he hadn’t anticipated.
Listening to Su Ce’s increasingly steady breathing, he softened and slowed his pace.
Just as Su Ce was drifting into unconsciousness, he suddenly opened his drowsy eyes. His sudden movement nearly caused him to slide off A-Huai’s back. A-Huai’s reflexes were quick; he caught him and hoisted him back up, but in his desperate attempt to avoid a humiliating fall, Su Ce wrapped his arms tightly around A-Huai’s neck, momentarily cutting off A-Huai’s breath.
“Song Yue, has Song Yue returned?”
At the sound of Su Ce’s voice, A-Huai’s expression darkened instantly. “Young Master Song returned to his residence unscathed long ago. Young Master, you should worry about yourself first.”
Su Ce murmured, “That is good.”
A-Huai did not reply. He looked at the crescent moon that had long since vanished and at the darkening night sky; it was clear that a heavy rain was about to fall.
The air was thick with the scent of damp earth, a combination that felt stifling and oppressive.
In the distance, a faint light expanded into a glow, and the clamor of a crowd reached their ears.
Su Ce said softly from A-Huai’s back, “Put me down.”
A-Huai did not follow the instruction; instead, he stubbornly tightened his grip on Su Ce’s thighs and walked a few more steps.
Seeing that he was getting closer to the crowd, Su Ce did not want to appear so disheveled in front of others, yet he lacked the strength to struggle against A-Huai.
A fleeting thought flashed through his mind. He leaned close to A-Huai and left a brief, passing kiss on his cheek.
A strong wind swept by, shaking new leaves from the branches, while a few fireflies circled around them. A-Huai stopped in his tracks. The annoying, noisy chirping of the crickets seemed to cease, leaving only the sound of his own heart beating violently against his ribs. He reached up to touch the spot that had just been kissed; an itch deep within him made the hair on his body stand on end.
Before A-Huai could recover, Su Ce climbed down from his back.
When A-Huai turned around, the dim, yellow candlelight illuminated them. Su Ce saw the confusion and bewilderment in A-Huai’s bright eyes, but the corners of his mouth—which he had been trying to suppress curved into a rather strange arc.
Su Ce felt a momentary lapse in his senses.
He had merely used this tactic to test A-Huai’s feelings for him, and also to break free from his restraints.
He had not expected the result to be exactly as he had predicted.
At some point, Song Yue arrived with his team and found the two of them standing there motionless. His eyes darted between them for a moment before he shouted, “A-Ce, you worried me so much! I’m just glad you’re back safe.”
Recalling the words of the men in black, Su Ce pondered for a moment before saying, “I took a wrong turn, and who knew the path would lead so far astray.”
Song Yue stepped in front of Su Ce and looked him up and down.
Su Ce felt a bit guilty under his gaze and raised a hand to cover his injury. However, Song Yue had sharp eyes and asked, “Are you hurt?”
A-Huai noticed Su Ce’s expression and stepped forward to block the injured area, smiling at Song Yue. “It was my fault; my footing was unsteady while carrying the Young Master, which caused him to be injured.”
Song Yue glanced at A-Huai, then observed Su Ce’s face carefully. He looked exhausted, with an abnormal flush on his cheeks.
Ultimately, seeing that neither Su Ce nor A-Huai intended to say anything more, Song Yue could only sigh. “Let’s go back first.”
Just as Song Yue finished speaking, a strong wind blew, and heavy raindrops, which had been accumulating in the sky for a long time, began to fall onto everyone’s faces.
Seeing this, A-Huai lunged forward and scooped Su Ce up into his arms, intending to hurry back to their room before the rain intensified. But the storm came on so fiercely that it drenched their hair and clothes, sticking them to their bodies.
Seeing himself held in A-Huai’s arms, Su Ce wanted to throw a temper tantrum. But as he looked up at A-Huai’s sharp, angular jawline, that spark of anger seemed to be instantly extinguished by the pouring rain.
Once they returned to the room, A-Huai efficiently fetched him clean clothes and then turned to leave without a backward glance.
The moment Su Ce finished changing, the door was pushed open again. A-Huai walked in carrying two bowls of medicinal soup, still wearing his soaked clothes.
Su Ce frowned slightly. “A-Huai, what are you doing? Starting another ‘pity play’?”
A-Huai, long accustomed to Su Ce’s cold sarcasm, simply placed one of the bowls in front of him. “Young Master, this is ginger soup. Please, warm yourself up.”
Su Ce looked at A-Huai, hesitated for a moment, and took half a bowl of the ginger soup. Then, he looked up at A-Huai, who was standing there with rainwater dripping from his clothes onto the floor.
He looked a bit like a puppy that had been scolded by its master yet remained stubbornly loyal. Su Ce suddenly felt a bit better and said to him, “I can’t finish it, and it would be a waste to pour it out. Drink the rest.”
A flash of surprise crossed A-Huai’s eyes. As he took the bowl with trembling hands, he spilled a few drops on Su Ce’s feet, drawing a sharp, annoyed “Tsk!” from Su Ce. “Are you broken or something?!”
A-Huai kept his eyes lowered, silent, and downed the bowl of ginger soup in one gulp. The soup was spicy, but A-Huai felt a heat radiating from within him.
Seeing him lick his lips, Su Ce scoffed, “Look at that poor, desperate look on your face. Anyone who didn’t know better would think I gave you some precious treasure.”
That night, the two ate their first meal at the table in an atmosphere that was both strange and cozy.
A-Huai’s gaze kept drifting cautiously to Su Ce’s face, observing his every move. Before Su Ce even picked up his chopsticks, A-Huai was already placing food into his bowl.
Su Ce used to think this behavior was just a sign of A-Huai being attentive, but after that day, these actions appeared to him as a transparent, manipulative scheme to grab his attention and climb into his bed.
He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: his tactics were truly high-level.
But since someone was eager to serve him, Su Ce didn’t particularly want to refuse—after all, he had already said what needed to be said.
He pushed his bowl toward A-Huai. “Soup.”
A-Huai didn’t even lift his eyes as he served him another bowl.
After they finished dinner, Su Ce felt his eyelids growing heavy with exhaustion and ordered A-Huai to make the bed.
A-Huai obeyed obediently. Su Ce, in a relatively good mood, sat to the side watching A-Huai’s figure when he suddenly remembered something and asked, “Where did you go last night?”
“Lord Fu asked me to go over there.”
Su Ce’s pleasant mood plummeted instantly upon hearing A-Huai’s words. He frowned and walked over to A-Huai, opening his clothes without a word to check his body while demanding, “You went over there just for a visit, and you stayed the whole night?”
“That’s not it! Lord Fu said I was a fellow townsman of his and asked me to cook a home-cooked dish for him. Besides, Young Master, you didn’t let me into the room last night…” A-Huai tried very hard to explain.
However, Su Ce was too angry to listen to any explanations. He fumed, “I didn’t let you in the room, so you went to someone else’s place, is that it? You know that Fu Huaizhi and I are like fire and water—why would you go to him? Do you think Fu Huaizhi is better than me?”
“No… A-Huai didn’t…” A-Huai reached out eagerly, wanting to grab Su Ce’s hand.
But Su Ce took a step back, dodging his touch. “What? So eager to deny it? Could it be that you went to Fu Huaizhi to learn how to toy with a fool like me?”
A-Huai looked at Su Ce, who was clearly overwhelmed by his emotions, and said directly, “Young Master, it is A-Huai who was wrong. A-Huai will certainly draw a line with the Fu family from now on. I will not make the Young Master angry again.”
To be honest, A-Huai did indeed wish he could cut ties with the Fu family. But forced by the circumstances, no matter how disgusted he was by Fu Huaizhi, he had to continue dealing with him. Once the overall situation was settled, he would be the first to eliminate Fu Huaizhi. A person who harbored such covetous and manipulative intentions had no right to exist in this world!
And those around Su Ce who harbored ulterior motives would also have to be removed, one by one. How could those ants ever treat Su Ce with genuine sincerity?
Perhaps Su Ce had thrown enough of a fit and was tired, as his emotions gradually stabilized.
A-Huai then tentatively asked, “Young Master, may A-Huai sleep in the room tonight?”
Su Ce ignored him. A-Huai was already accustomed to his temperament; silence was as good as consent.
A-Huai pursed his lips and took his things out of the closet. He rustled as he prepared to lay them out on the floor.
Su Ce found the noise maddening. He rolled over immediately and scolded, “Can’t you finish that quietly? Are you trying to make me angry so you have an excuse to go run to Fu Huaizhi to complain?”
“I am sorry, Young Master.”
“Can you be faster?” Su Ce urged, his back to A-Huai.
A-Huai carefully made the bed, crawled into it, and lay flat. The quilt was soft, and the room retained the lingering warmth of the burned charcoal.
He looked up at Su Ce’s back on the bed and closed his eyes. Images of that night flashed through his mind the soft skin, the feeling of being enveloped by a warmth unlike this one. It made him open his eyes instantly, warning himself not to be impatient, and then he let out a silent sigh.
In the middle of the night, A-Huai was awakened by Su Ce’s whimpering. He instinctively sat up from the floor and saw Su Ce’s face flushed red, lying limply on the bed with his brows knitted tightly, wrapped in a bundle of quilts.
“So cold…”
A-Huai silently took the bowl of cold medicinal soup from the table and went to Su Ce’s side. He softly woke him. “Young Master, you have a fever. Wake up and take your medicine.”
Although Su Ce didn’t open his eyes, he seemed to understand A-Huai, turning his head away in refusal.
A-Huai felt a flicker of irritation, but he coaxed him gently, “Young Master, take a sip. Bitter medicine is good for the illness.”
Su Ce, perhaps exhausted by A-Huai’s pestering, half-opened his eyelids. Without even seeing A-Huai’s face, he rolled his eyes and closed them again.
“Young Master, if you are not willing to drink the medicine yourself, then A-Huai will have to feed you in the way you hate the most. I hope the Young Master will not blame me!”
As soon as A-Huai finished speaking, Su Ce heard the sound of a spoon clinking against the bottom of the bowl.
He didn’t dare to imagine what method of feeding A-Huai meant. He opened his eyes, glared at A-Huai, and snatched the bowl to drink it in one gulp.
Sure enough, A-Huai had already learned to take advantage of him and learned to threaten him!