“Beiji, the gate of the north, a trust placed in you. It represents my hope for you, that you can shoulder Great Xia’s heavy military duty.”
After saying this, Shang Yinyu asked, close to Nineteen’s right ear: “Does Nineteen like this name?”
“What Your Majesty bestows… this subordinate likes it.” Nineteen answered in a low voice, the hand twined in the big black horse’s mane slowly tightening, then loosening.
Qiao… Beiji, who is that?
Master had taken the throne at nine, and Nineteen had become Master’s shadow guard then, and had never noticed anyone like that at Master’s side.
He still remembered the first time he heard this name from Master’s mouth, in the Begonia Bath at Huaqing Hall.
Master had discovered what made him different from ordinary people and cried out that name, then hurriedly stepped back, so surprised and flustered that he slipped and fell into the water.
Afterward, on the dragon couch in Ganlu Palace, Master, groggy in sleep, had not minded his difference at all, his fingertips lingering, about to take him.
Master was close with him, laughing lightly and calling “Beiji,” in a low, gentle voice that carried fondness and intimacy.
Who was the “Beiji” that Master had in mind? Was it someone Master had known before taking the throne? Was he, like Nineteen, also an oddity?
No, it wasn’t the same. Master loved that person and wanted that person, yet told Nineteen he would never favor him.
Now Master was bestowing a name on him, bestowing the name Qiao Beiji.
Nineteen smoothed the glossy mane in a daze. He could smooth the mane of Black Cloud Treading Snow but could not smooth the thoughts churning in his heart.
What did Master mean…
Why give him this name? Once he was given this name, would Master favor him?
“Nineteen—ah, now it is Beiji.”
A call brought the shadow guard back to himself, and before him was the emperor’s smiling face.
“After martial class today, would Beiji like to go with me to Huaqing Hall?” Shang Yinyu, class finished, asked the shadow guard beside him.
Although it was a question, the expectation in the emperor’s eyes was so obvious.
Nineteen lowered his eyes.
Going to Huaqing Hall surely meant soaking in the hot spring. Whether to attend Master’s bath, or to continue the service left unfinished last time, he was willing to do whatever Master wanted.
“This subordinate is willing to accompany Your Majesty.”
The emperor’s procession set out from Shangwu Hall for Huaqing Hall.
Shang Yinyu was in very good spirits. He had given Nineteen a name, in front of the court historians.
Once Qiao Beiji became a general in the future, this scene would surely be described in heavy ink in the histories and handed down through the ages.
Perhaps thousands of years later, when students recited “The Biography of Great General Qiao,” today’s conversation would be in it.
In the future, even if rifts arose between him and Qiao Beiji, and Qiao Beiji wanted to rebel against him, he would have to think about whether he would be cursed by later generations.
His mood improved, and Shang Yinyu wanted to take Nineteen to soak in the hot spring and completely remove the shadow he had left on Nineteen in the Begonia Bath that day, so that from then on ruler and minister would be in harmony and the country strong.
Entering Huaqing Hall, Shang Yinyu said to Qiao Beiji in his martial robe: “Nine—Beiji, the begonias are in full bloom right now. Today let’s continue soaking in the Begonia Bath.”
“This subordinate will do as Your Majesty says.”
The attendants stopped outside the courtyard of the Begonia Bath, and only An Dezhong followed in.
Served by Qiao Beiji in undressing and entering the pool, Shang Yinyu sat in the pool and looked up at Qiao Beiji, and saw Qiao Beiji struggling with his own sash at a turtle’s pace.
Shang Yinyu knew that as long as anyone else was present, Nineteen would not get his clothes off all day, so he did not hurry him, and just asked: “Beiji, is there anything you’d like to eat?”
Getting a shake of the head, Shang Yinyu said to An Dezhong: “Bring me a pot of wine.”
Soaking in the hot spring while sipping fine wine was the greatest enjoyment.
“Yes.” An Dezhong saluted and withdrew.
Shang Yinyu watched An Dezhong leave his sight, and the next moment the sound of entering water came beside his ear, and the water waves rippled with it.
Shang Yinyu held back from teasing the thin-skinned Nineteen. When An Dezhong brought up the wine, he nodded to An Dezhong, signaling the other to get far away, quickly.
The wine was carried on a wooden tray that could be placed floating on the hot spring pool.
Shang Yinyu felt Qiao Beiji’s gaze fall on the wine and poured a cup, asking: “Do you want to drink?”
Qiao Beiji shook his head. “This subordinate does not drink.”
“I know. You get drunk at the first touch of wine, and when drunk…” Bold and seductive.
Doing whatever he was told, without a bit of restraint, so seductive.
I won’t feed you wine. I’m afraid all my previous efforts would be wasted and I couldn’t be a wise ruler.
Shang Yinyu tipped his head back and sent the poured wine into his own mouth.
Pah, what is this? It has no flavor at all.
Shang Yinyu held it before him and looked: pale pink liquid held in a white jade cup. If it hadn’t had a faint trace of wine fragrance, he would have suspected An Dezhong had brought him some palace female official’s flower tea.
Is this… Peach Blossom Smile?
He could not figure out why An Dezhong had been clever on his own and brought him health wine. Shang Yinyu lost the mood to drink, put down the cup, pushed the wooden tray farther out on the water, and himself moved toward where Qiao Beiji was.
“Beiji, I haven’t touched you for a day. Have you been thinking of it?”
Shang Yinyu wanted to test how severe Qiao Beiji’s skin hunger was.
He pulled in Qiao Beiji, whose body had instantly gone rigid, and felt the other holding back his own tension, trying hard to relax.
So Shang Yinyu scooped up some water and, using washing Qiao Beiji as a pretext, gave him touch and comfort, helping him relax his spirit.
“Y-yes, I have…” Qiao Beiji struggled to control his breathing, but his chest still rose and fell heavily.
“How much?” Shang Yinyu guided him bit by bit.
“Even in my sleep I think of it.” Qiao Beiji lowered his eyes, not daring to look at Master touching him, but his gaze followed those hands without being able to hold back.
“Oh? What kind of dream?” Shang Yinyu scooped up a handful of water and tipped it back over Qiao Beiji’s shoulder, watching the water flow down along the contours of Qiao Beiji’s muscles.
Shang Yinyu couldn’t interpret dreams anyway; asking this was only to guide Nineteen into telling him more of what was in his heart.
In the previous life he and Nineteen had communicated too little. When he wanted Nineteen, Nineteen silently bore it. When it was over, Nineteen got up, dressed, and prostrated on the floor to salute and take his leave.
Later, when he wanted to talk with Qiao Beiji, it was mostly him talking while Qiao Beiji listened quietly, nodding now and then, which was his response.
He probably also knew well that Beiji’s following him had an element of coercion, so he never asked Qiao Beiji whether he liked it or whether it felt good, deliberately avoiding the topic.
At most he asked what else Qiao Beiji wanted: elite troops, silver, firearms, armor… he gave it all.
“In the dream, it was also in the Begonia Bath…” Qiao Beiji’s cheeks were flushed hot from the steam of the hot spring pool.
“Mm.” Shang Yinyu nodded, brushed aside the black hair that had fallen in front of Qiao Beiji, scooped water to wash that spot of pink, and signaled him to go on.
“Master… held this subordinate,” Qiao Beiji said, staring at the jade-white fingers before him, catching his breath, “lifted this subordinate out of the water, and put him on the hot spring stones around.”
“Oh? And after putting you on them?” Shang Yinyu didn’t need to look to know how many stones washed smooth and lustrous by the water there were all around.
A picture rose naturally in Shang Yinyu’s mind. It was the picture of the many times in the past he had taken Nineteen in the Begonia Bath.
Sometimes Nineteen was lying down, his hair scattered into the water, bringing rhythmic ripples to the pool.
Sometimes Nineteen was lying on his stomach, broad shoulders, narrow waist, black hair over his shoulders, breathtakingly beautiful.
Nineteen’s dream definitely wasn’t the filtered scene in his own eyes.
If it was a good dream, it should be the two of them sitting on the stones chatting happily; if it was a nightmare, then it was that he had humiliated Nineteen.
Shang Yinyu looked at Nineteen, waiting for the answer.
“Master ordered this subordinate to open up and not cover, and when Master saw this subordinate’s difference, he ordered this subordinate to serve with his body.”
Obviously a nightmare. The kind that could give a person a psychological shadow and be hard to break free from.
Fortunately it was only a dream.
“Beiji, that was only a dream. Don’t think too much about it, and you also can’t count what happened in the dream against me.” Shang Yinyu leaned over and put his arms around Qiao Beiji, their bodies pressed together.
“This subordinate would not dare.” Qiao Beiji lowered his eyes uneasily.
Shang Yinyu held Qiao Beiji in his arms, giving him comforting touch while saying:
“That is not called a ‘difference.’ Being both is just another gender besides male and female. You are no different from ordinary people. I will not force you to submit because of it.”
“This subordinate understands.” Master accepted his difference from ordinary people because of that person, but would not take him because of it.
Seeing that Nineteen still trusted him, Shang Yinyu nodded in satisfaction and said:
“And look, you need embraces and touch, and I give them to you, and I won’t bully you either. I’m not like that fellow in your dream who disregarded your wishes.”
“This subordinate understands…” Master would never be that close to him; he should have understood that long ago.
Qiao Beiji of course knew it was only a dream he had imagined, but the Majesty in the dream had been too real, as if even that closeness had been real.
Now, waking from the great dream, he leaned dazed on Master’s shoulder, hot and cold intertwined, not knowing what to do.
Qiao Beiji lowered his eyes. Every touch of Master pulled at the inside of his muscles, making him happy and pained, making him want to draw near and also want to escape.
Shang Yinyu felt that in the Begonia Bath that had left a shadow on Nineteen, making Nineteen relax and trust him would completely remove the shadow he had left.
He watched Nineteen let him touch him at ease; even when he brushed a spot Nineteen cared about greatly, Nineteen only stiffened for a moment and then buried his head lower in his shoulder.
Shang Yinyu was in a good mood.
“Beiji, when you go back, have your people get an identity tag made for ‘Qiao Beiji,’ using your information from before you followed me.”
“Yes.”
Qiao Beiji understood Master’s meaning. Master wanted to separate the identities of “Qiao Beiji” and “Shadow Nineteen.”
If so, in Master’s eyes, would he be one person or two?
Shang Yinyu didn’t imagine that Qiao Beiji had already begun to ponder the philosophical question “Who am I?” and said directly:
“The martial examination will be held in the sixth month of next year. Beiji will use this identity to sign up. With your martial skill, you will certainly win the top place in the martial examination.”
Qiao Beiji blinked blankly. Why was he to take part in the martial examination?
Did His Majesty want to do something that required his cooperation?
Acting on Master’s orders was the most basic rule of a shadow guard, and Qiao Beiji did not dare to speculate further on the sage’s intent. He nodded and replied: “This subordinate follows all of Master’s instructions.”
“Good boy.” Shang Yinyu had already planned that, whatever result Beiji got, after the martial examination he would send Beiji to the army and transfer some people from the Firearms Battalion to join him.
Having Beiji familiar with military affairs a year earlier meant Great Xia would be one step better prepared when Jin launched a war.
The martial examination was in the sixth month of next year; counting fully, Nineteen could stay at his side for only eight more months.
He hoped that in these eight months he could improve Nineteen’s skin hunger.
“Beiji.” Shang Yinyu called again.
“Please give your instructions, Master.”
“I will be troubling you for a while from now on. For these few months, you will be on night duty at Ganlu Palace, and I will share the dragon couch with you.”