Wen Chaoxi bent slightly at the waist, leaning close to Xiao Yao, his eyelashes concealing the light in his eyes, his voice low and hoarse as he coaxed him. “Xiao Yao, be good, go back to your room and sleep.”
Xiao Yao groggily raised his eyes, let out a soft hum, then turned over and buried his head into the folded blanket.
The implication being that he didn’t want to go back to his room, unless someone dragged him away by the leg.
Wen Chaoxi gazed at Xiao Yao’s white bathrobe for a long while, a blue vein bulging on his forehead, his temples throbbing rhythmically. He pressed his lips together and withdrew his gaze, his lowered eyes falling upon the jade pendant at his waist, and the breath that had gathered in his chest surged outward within him.
Xiao Yao was the junior brother he had watched grow up since childhood.
His lips parted slightly, and his eyes returned to calm.
Wen Chaoxi stood up, his tall figure blocking a large swath of candlelight, his heavy robes stirring the air within the room.
He pulled back the blanket, and Xiao Yao took the opportunity to lie face-down on the pillow, settling in. He tucked the corner of the blanket around Xiao Yao.
Xu Chaoqi, rare for him, hadn’t stayed up too late tonight. With his Senior Brother present, he fell asleep faster than usual. Before long he had buried his head in the blanket, leaving only his silk-like ink-black hair exposed.
Outside the window the night wind howled, a light rain had fallen, the ground in the courtyard had grown damp, and the air was colder than usual.
Wen Chaoxi leaned over his desk reviewing official documents; tonight he was unusually quiet. He turned the pages with a spell, every movement exceedingly careful, not making the slightest sound, afraid of disturbing the person sleeping soundly in the room.
Xu Chaoqi was buried in the blanket, the once-new blanket now thoroughly saturated with the scent of his body. He turned over, and the candlelight from outside slipped through the gap in the blanket, spilling onto his eyes.
He crawled out from the blanket, rubbed his hazy, sleepy eyes, and mumbled drowsily toward his Senior Brother by the window. “It’s so late already, Senior Brother, aren’t you going to sleep yet?”
Wen Chaoxi’s brush paused for a moment, and he continued writing as he gazed at the immortal paper. “Xiao Yao sleep first.”
Xiao Yao wasn’t so easily brushed off—he hadn’t forgotten that during the day he’d suspected his Senior Brother didn’t sleep at all, so his attitude was resolute. “Senior Brother, get in bed quickly!”
As he spoke, he propped himself up with his arm and shifted further into the bed, his eyes gazing at his Senior Brother with a mix of suspicion and drowsiness, as if suspecting that his Senior Brother had gone without sleep for many years behind his back.
Wen Chaoxi turned his head to look out the window, and a faint sigh fell into the air.
“Tonight Senior Brother has no drowsiness at all. Once Xiao Yao goes back tomorrow, Senior Brother will sleep then.”
Xu Chaoqi narrowed his phoenix eyes, slightly suspicious, and after a moment said quietly, “I’ve been much more well-behaved these past days, I won’t roll around messily anymore.”
As a child, Xu Chaoqi always liked to roll around while sleeping, and when he slept together with his Senior Brother, several times he had nearly squeezed his Senior Brother right off the bed.
Wen Chaoxi shook his head, showing no intention of getting into bed.
Seeing this, Xu Chaoqi lifted the blanket, apparently preparing to get out of bed. His sash had been tied loosely to begin with, and with this commotion, the gap at the chest of his sleeping robe widened somewhat.
“Xiao Yao…” His Senior Brother’s voice was somewhat clearer than before. Xu Chaoqi stopped, and the sound of a brush being set down on its rest rang out in the air.
His Senior Brother slowly stood up, turning his face aside so that Xu Chaoqi couldn’t see his eyes. His Senior Brother walked to the bed and said helplessly, in a low voice, “Sleep.”
Xu Chaoqi was satisfied. He curled further into the bed, trying his best to leave enough room for his Senior Brother. It was just that the bed was so narrow, he couldn’t help saying, “Once we go back up to the heavens, how about Senior Brother sets us up with a bed two zhang wide?”
Wen Chaoxi gave a soft “Mm.”
Xu Chaoqi leaned against the wall corner, smiling brightly, and didn’t forget to add, “The bed should be a bit softer, otherwise it hurts the back!”
Wen Chaoxi frowned slightly. “Firmer is better.”
Xu Chaoqi was displeased, and just as he was about to argue, he saw his Senior Brother untie his jade-colored sash. His eyes widened slightly, his lips parting.
The next moment, his Senior Brother knelt halfway onto the bed and covered his eyes with his hand.
Xu Chaoqi: …
The sound of fabric rustling rang out in the air. A weight settled beside Xu Chaoqi, and immediately afterward a thick scent of sandalwood enveloped him, and the space suddenly felt cramped.
Xu Chaoqi felt that the air, once cold, had grown somewhat hot, warm all over. He turned over, wanting to move closer to his Senior Brother, but a strong hand pressed down on his shoulder.
“Xiao Yao isn’t so young anymore, you really should lie down and sleep on your own.”
Xu Chaoqi mumbled a few sounds of mild displeasure, but it wasn’t as though he absolutely had to hold onto someone to fall asleep.
His Senior Brother’s tall figure lay at the outer edge of the bed, trapping the inner space tightly, and he was wrapped within that enclosed circle. And though that circle was cramped, it was filled entirely with a familiar, warm sense of security.
He nestled into the blanket, and before long, he fell asleep.
…
In the middle of the night, Wen Chaoxi held his breath and looked down at Xiao Yao buried in his embrace. Xiao Yao was holding onto him, and nudged him again with his head.
His breath seeped through a single layer of undergarment, the air scorching hot, as if it were the boundless desert sands of the far north.
Sweat soaked Wen Chaoxi’s eyelashes and fell into his eyes, yet he did not blink. He turned his head aside, as though it took all his strength to push the person in his embrace away.
Xiao Yao had slept for half a shichen, and once again caught the familiar scent, so subconsciously he moved closer to the source of warmth. This time he not only held the source of warmth tightly, but also rested his head on its chest.
Wen Chaoxi turned over, wanting to push Xiao Yao back. “Xiao Yao.”
Xiao Yao was fast asleep and murmured unconsciously, “Senior Brother…”
He always drew close to a person without realizing it, but from beginning to end he always knew that person was his Senior Brother.
Wen Chaoxi paused, and when Xiao Yao once again pressed close and embraced him, he hesitated for a long while before finally wrapping his arm around Xiao Yao’s back.
Xiao Yao had guessed correctly—he truly hadn’t slept in many years. The last time he had fallen asleep was over two thousand years ago, and in the dream, no matter how he searched after waking, he couldn’t find Xiao Yao anywhere, until he saw Xiao Yao’s life pearl shattered, a mountain of tattered clothes left behind, and what little remained of his soul power dispersing into the air.
From that point on, he had never dared to sleep again, and had never been able to fall asleep since.
If Xu Chaoqi fell asleep quickly breathing in his Senior Brother’s scent, how could it be any different for Wen Chaoxi?
The warm bundle in his embrace pressed close against him, and the scent belonging only to Xiao Yao drifted into his nose. Accompanied by Xiao Yao’s steady breathing, without knowing exactly when, he too fell asleep.
When Wen Chaoxi fell asleep, there remained two and a half shichen until dawn. And it was in those two shichen that he had a dream.
In the dream, Xiao Yao had come back to life. Xiao Yao was just as he had been back then, sometimes languid, sometimes brimming with vitality. Xiao Yao woke up late every day, always liked to secretly read storybooks in the middle of the night, and no matter what, couldn’t be roused during the day.
Every day he either rested his head on his Senior Brother’s lap basking in the sunlight, or went to tease the little fish he kept as a pet. He also often liked to play around with his friends, but every night he would return punctually.
And as for Wen Chaoxi, his days were no longer just practicing swordsmanship, reading books, and drinking tea. He now had one more thing to occupy him—thinking about what to feed Xiao Yao today.
Sunlight shone in through the window, and Xu Chaoqi woke up, a firm sense of confinement surrounding him, his face pressed close against a solid chest.
The two of their hair was pressed together, and with each breath Xu Chaoqi took, he was surrounded entirely by his Senior Brother’s scent.
Senior Brother still hadn’t woken up?
Light flashed in Xu Chaoqi’s eyes—this was a rare occurrence indeed.
He lay still, his body unmoving, his head shrinking back slightly, quietly studying his Senior Brother.
On ordinary days his Senior Brother wore a Daoist robe, appearing ethereal and otherworldly, transcendent beyond the mundane world. But he never expected that, with his Senior Brother having shed his white-based, ink-hem Daoist robe, wearing only a white undergarment—even though the undergarment was loose-fitting, it still couldn’t conceal his Senior Brother’s firm, toned muscles.
He raised his head again, and inadvertently kissed his Senior Brother’s chin.
In that moment, he froze, a sudden jolt going off in his mind. Somehow, he thought once again of how men could now marry men.
His face flushed slightly, his heart racing, but fortunately his Senior Brother hadn’t woken, and no one knew what he had done.
He pressed his head against his Senior Brother’s chest again, and after a moment, his eyes took on a somewhat strange look, his ears also secretly alert to any sounds around him.
Outside the window there was only the sound of falling leaves. He buried himself in the embrace for a while, then quietly raised his head again, and without anyone the wiser, secretly kissed his Senior Brother’s chin once more.