The night had already grown late, and Xiao Yi had yet to return.
It was impossible to know what news the Prince of Yu had brought to the Prince of Northern Suppression’s estate, but Xiao Yi was nowhere to be seen.
From their conversation in the study to his departure from the estate, certain events must have transpired without Shu Fuyan’s knowledge.
“Master Shu, have you finished eating?” The steward stood guard nearby, watching as Shu Fuyan finished his evening meal and preparing to signal the servants to clear the table.
Without answering, Shu Fuyan looked once again toward the outer courtyard.
“Will he come back?”
The steward froze for a moment; concerning matters involving Xiao Yi, it was not his place to speak casually.
Cupping his hands respectfully, the steward replied, “I do not know.”
With a sense of desolation, Shu Fuyan stood up and made his way unassisted toward Xiao Yi’s courtyard.
Knowing full well that their relationship was out of the ordinary, the steward did not raise a voice to stop him.
At the third watch of the night, the bright moon hung high in the sky.
At this hour on any other night, Shu Fuyan would have long since fallen asleep.
Yet at this moment, he lit a red candle inside the room, quietly waiting for the one who had yet to return.
The night air carried a slight chill, holding the sorrowful lingering cold of spring. Even with the windows tightly sealed, the draft still chilled one’s hands and feet.
Creak. With a soft sound, someone pushed open the door and stepped inside.
“What are you doing here?!” Xiao Yi demanded in shock, his fingers hooked tightly inward against the door latch.
Shu Fuyan’s eyes curved into crescent moons with a bright smile, his tone laced with ambiguity: “As I said, no matter how long it takes, I will wait for you.”
Remaining silent, Xiao Yi acted as though he had taken every word of Shu Fuyan’s to heart.
The night dew was heavy, and fearing that Xiao Yi might catch a chill from the cold wind, Shu Fuyan stepped barefoot across the floor, intending to pull Xiao Yi into the warmth of the room.
Before his feet could fully touch the ground, however, Shu Fuyan was swiftly scooped up by a pair of strong, powerful arms.
“If you don’t want to drink medicine, then behave yourself.”
Though annoyance laced Xiao Yi’s words, genuine care was unmistakably evident in the depths of his eyes.
At a single glance, Shu Fuyan realized that Xiao Yi was simply a man whose words belied his true feelings.
He was soft-hearted and swayed by tenderness, resisting hardness while yielding to gentleness.
As Xiao Yi moved to set him down, Shu Fuyan clutched at the sleeve of his robe, tugging him closer against his own chest.
Unprepared for the move, Xiao Yi stumbled and fell directly against Shu Fuyan’s torso. His rigid, rock-hard physique impacted with enough force to cause Shu Fuyan to wrinkle his delicate brows in discomfort.
Noticing his discomfort, Xiao Yi raised an eyebrow in mock derision. “Got a taste of your own medicine.”
Wrinkling his nose slightly, Shu Fuyan let his tone soften with deep affection as he continued gripping Xiao Yi’s garments. “I won’t let go.”
“If I were to loosen my grip, General Xiao would vanish.” Lifting his head, Shu Fuyan’s amorous peach-blossom eyes shimmered with peerless grace. Gazing deeply at Xiao Yi, he raised his chin and gently pressed a kiss onto Xiao Yi’s jawline, delicately and delicately licking the skin.
“I like General Xiao.”
“I want to marry General Xiao.”
“Xiao Yi, let me be yours.”
Struck by this rapid triple-strike attack, Xiao Yi was left utterly defenseless against Shu Fuyan’s aggressive offensive.
With reddened eyes, Xiao Yi grabbed the front of Shu Fuyan’s robes as if hoisting him up, his voice dripping with ferocious intensity: “Shu Fuyan, that’s enough.”
“Leave right now, and I will pretend you never uttered a single word of this.” Consumed by burning anger, Xiao Yi felt his temples throb incessantly while the veins on his slender neck bulged outward. At that moment, he resembled a crazed beast ready to bare its fangs and sever a prey’s carotid artery at any second.
Looking frail with a rather pale complexion, Shu Fuyan lacked the strength to resist; naturally, a single hand from Xiao Yi was all it took to subdue him.
“Why should I leave?” Shu Fuyan countered. “I adore you, I yearn to remain by your side, and I want to wake up and see you the moment I open my eyes.” His gaze unwavering, Shu Fuyan cupped Xiao Yi’s face and pressed a cherished kiss to it. “Xiao Yi, tell me—what fault is there in my greed?”
What fault is there…
It wasn’t Shu Fuyan who was at fault; the one in the wrong was clearly himself.
With a bitter smile, Xiao Yi placed a hand over the back of Shu Fuyan’s hand, looking straight into his eyes as he spoke gently, “Fuyan, I don’t want to hurt you. This matter should end right here.”
Refusing to believe that Xiao Yi felt nothing for him, Shu Fuyan’s chest rose and fell heavily as he asked in a heavy voice, “Are you, too, disgusted by my humble origins just like everyone else?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Xiao Yi remained silent, seemingly at a genuine loss for how to articulate his response.
“You are afraid. You fear the condemnation of the world. You dread having your reputation dragged through the mud and seeing decades of military achievements ruined in an instant. Whenever people utter the name of General Xiao, they will no longer remember your illustrious contributions, but instead whisper tales of a scandalous passion for men.” Pursuing the matter relentlessly, Shu Fuyan pressed, “Xiao Yi, are you afraid of this?”
Xiao Yi’s pupils violently contracted. He had never once considered the things Shu Fuyan spoke of; for him, worldly fame and posthumous reputation had long ceased to matter. He was a lingering spirit from the dead how could a corpse entangle itself with the living?
How was Xiao Yi supposed to voice these thoughts? Was he to say that the living and the dead belonged to different realms?
Or was he to suggest that Shu Fuyan had far better choices available?
Whichever option he chose, Xiao Yi found himself utterly unable to speak the words aloud.
Yet today, Shu Fuyan was determined to back him into a corner and force a response.
“Fuyan, you are still young, and your life experiences are far fewer than mine. You shouldn’t become obsessed with fleeting romance; you must look toward the long term,” Xiao Yi said, uttering the answer he believed was most appropriate in response to Shu Fuyan, even though it went against his own heart.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m young—as long as you are older, that’s enough.” Without warning, Shu Fuyan slipped his hand beneath their garments, groping and kneading against the blazing heat that contrasted sharply with his own body temperature.
A flush of crimson spread across Xiao Yi’s face as he issued a stern warning: “Shu Fuyan!”
Lifting his head, Shu Fuyan offered a shy look. “I’m right here.”
Seeing the peach-blossom blush on his cheeks and the seductive, alluring glimmer in his eyes that hooked the soul, Xiao Yi found himself completely incapable of uttering harsh words.
Deftly wrapping his arms around Xiao Yi’s waist, Shu Fuyan leaned backward, bringing Xiao Yi down with him onto the bed.
“General Xiao, I am being entirely serious.”
“Aside from you, I want no one else.”
“I have lived twenty years, and before I met you, I endured immense suffering. Ever since I met you, I have wanted to make every single day… just a little bit sweeter.”
Pressing his waist forward to close the distance against Xiao Yi, Shu Fuyan lowered his head to latch onto Xiao Yi’s Adam’s apple, sucking and nibbling in circular motions as if branding Xiao Yi with his own exclusive mark of ownership.
A pleasurable groan spilled past Xiao Yi’s parted lips. Shu Fuyan’s movements were neither too light nor too heavy, offering precisely the right touch of a sensation Xiao Yi had never experienced before—without biting him, yet driving him to the brink of absolute ecstasy through the gentle clacking of teeth and lips.
Internally, Xiao Yi screamed at himself to stay calm, repeating over and over that he must maintain his reason.
He had endured with such agonizing difficulty, yet the instigator was rubbing against him with such devastating effect.
Feeling a stifling tightness in his chest, Xiao Yi wondered why he alone had to bear this torment.
Pausing for a brief moment to catch his breath, Xiao Yi cupped the back of Shu Fuyan’s head, brushing aside the stray locks of hair across his forehead to redirect his attention elsewhere. “Shu Fuyan, I will only give you one chance.”
“Once you enter my Northern Suppression estate, you belong to me, Xiao Yi. If you ever dare to betray me, you and I shall never cross paths again for the rest of our lives.”
Allowing himself to sink completely into surrender, Xiao Yi lowered his head to kiss Shu Fuyan’s soft hair, disrupting the unique pine-and-bamboo fragrance that enveloped the scholar in green.
Shu Fuyan’s body trembled violently upon receiving this affirmation, unsure whether it was out of overwhelming joy or lingering fear of Xiao Yi’s harsh ultimatum.
“Then… I am General Xiao’s person now?” Exposing only his eyes, Shu Fuyan looked up at Xiao Yi, completely infatuated and submissive to his affection.
A low growl rumbled in Xiao Yi’s throat as he hummed a single word of assent.
Still feeling somewhat uncertain, Shu Fuyan slipped his hand into the opening of Xiao Yi’s garments, parting the layers to stir up trouble inside.
As hot puffs of air brushed against his skin, Xiao Yi found his nerves strung taut and his breathing turning agonizingly rapid.
“Whose person am I to General Xiao, hmm?” Shu Fuyan asked, his voice carrying a cool, light cadence with an upward-curling tail-end that unintentionally drew out the syllables in a lingering hum.
“A musician,” Xiao Yi muttered in a daze, deep in the throes of passion as he uttered the two words.
A blow to his morale, Shu Fuyan’s spirits plummeted. He had gone this far, and he was still just a musician?!
“I don’t want to be a musician.”
“Then what do you want to be?”
“I want to be General Xiao’s pillow-companion.”
Snapping out of the haze of passion in an instant, Xiao Yi stared down at Shu Fuyan with an expression of immense complexity.
“Since you enjoy men so much, why on earth did you go to the pleasure quarters?”
Though Xiao Yi believed he could manage to overlook it, the moment the words left his mouth, he realized how difficult it truly was; he couldn’t lie to his own heart.
He cared deeply that Shu Fuyan had stepped foot into that house of pleasure.
Flipping over, Shu Fuyan crawled up from beneath Xiao Yi. Pressing a hand onto Xiao Yi’s shoulder, he looked genuinely perplexed. “What pleasure quarters?”
Assuming Shu Fuyan was merely playing dumb, Xiao Yi brushed his hand away without a second thought.
“Master Shu is truly forgetful. Could it be that the courtesans of the pleasure house were so stunning they made Master Shu lose his memory?”
Listening to Xiao Yi’s jealous, lemon-sour remarks, Shu Fuyan suddenly understood what was happening.
He lowered his head and chuckled softly.
Lacking any composure on his face, Xiao Yi glared fiercely at Shu Fuyan.
“What’s so funny? Stop laughing.”
Defying the command, Shu Fuyan laughed even more brightly.
“Xiao Yi, just admit it—you’re clearly in love with me.”
Shuffling closer to close the distance, Shu Fuyan wrapped his slender, powerful arms around Xiao Yi’s lean waist.
“I went to the pleasure quarters because of the Crown Prince.”
“I don’t care for the pleasure house; I only care for Xiao Yi.”
“And the General must do the same you are not allowed to look at anyone else, only me.”
With Shu Fuyan reeling off one sweet declaration after another, Xiao Yi found himself caught between laughter and tears.
Knowing that visiting the pleasure quarters had never been Shu Fuyan’s genuine intention completely swept away the gloom that had weighed on Xiao Yi’s mind for days.
Pulling Shu Fuyan back into his embrace, Xiao Yi nuzzled against his neck and whispered, “I am constantly grateful that heaven brought you to my side.”
Two youthful bodies pressed together, friction mounting between them in mutual enticement.
A spark met tinder, ready to ignite at the slightest touch.
Twisting his waist, Shu Fuyan tried to loop his arms around Xiao Yi’s neck, utterly infatuated with the man before him. He wanted to offer himself entirely to his deity, yet feared his own body might fail to win the deity’s favor.
Shifting out of his outer garments to bare his smooth shoulders, Shu Fuyan cast a sideways, alluring glance at Xiao Yi, his eyes brimming with seduction. “I will do everything in my power…”
“…to please General Xiao.”
Transforming into a veritable fox-spirit, Shu Fuyan exerted himself to provoke and tease Xiao Yi’s body.
You make a move, I capture you; back and forth they went until both were drenched in a sheen of sweat.
Shu Fuyan was utterly exhausted. Naturally frail by constitution, he could hardly withstand such intense torment, and the effort of trying to please Xiao Yi left his limbs completely limp and powerless.
Yet ironically, he had only tasted the appetizer without getting to partake in the real feast.
Had he not felt the blazing heat pressing firmly against him down below, he would have suspected Xiao Yi had zero romantic interest in him.
“General Xiao, give it to me.”
Reaching out a smooth arm to wrap around Xiao Yi’s neck, Shu Fuyan grievance-ladenly bit down on Xiao Yi’s jaw.
With eyes burning completely red, Xiao Yi was being driven to a state worse than death by the torment of desire.
Though they had finally opened their hearts and cleared away each other’s doubts—and tonight should have rightly been their passionate wedding night—Xiao Yi knew all too well that his physical dimensions were far beyond what an ordinary person could endure. The first time breaking through would cause his beloved agonizing pain, and without adequate preparation, Xiao Yi couldn’t bear to let Shu Fuyan suffer.
Caressing Shu Fuyan’s spine, Xiao Yi’s gentle movements bore no resemblance whatsoever to those of a ruthless god of war who killed without blinking.
Ignoring reason entirely, Shu Fuyan arched his back and rubbed against the thick, muscular root of the other man’s thighs.
A helpless flash crossed Xiao Yi’s eyes. “Whose teachings corrupted my Fuyan, making him develop such a voracious appetite?”
Caught completely off-guard by Xiao Yi’s words in the middle of this pure sanctuary, Shu Fuyan’s heart and mind were filled entirely with this single man.
“It’s all because General Xiao is too delectable that I couldn’t help myself.”
Licking the corner of his lips, Shu Fuyan nestled obediently into Xiao Yi’s embrace.
The night had grown far too deep; it was indeed time to rest.
Closing his eyes, Xiao Yi drank in the surging waves of love resounding from the depths of his heart.
Somehow, amidst the vast sea of fate, they had become inextricably bound to one another.
Xiao Yi couldn’t help marveling that it must be the will of heaven, sent to mend the emptiness of his past life by bringing Shu Fuyan to his side.
From this day onward, throughout the long mortal years, he would no longer walk alone.
Shu Fuyan would always be there.