By the time the guest was led to the bedroom, the sky had turned completely dark. A-Mu did not want to disturb his rest, so he withdrew early.
The room fell silent in an instant. Under the glow of the candlelight, the table to the side was spread with mortal food A-Mu had thoughtfully prepared. It smelled fragrant and looked exquisite, even radiating heat, but for the current Jiang Xuning, there was no appetite to be found.
It was strange; normally, given his broken and sickly body, he should have been exhausted by now, especially after walking so much today. Yet now, not only did he feel no sleepiness, he even felt a bit of spirit, perhaps because he had slept for so long on the flying vessel during the day.
Staring at the candlelight for a while, he suddenly felt the room was stiflingly oppressive. Without a second thought, he stood up and walked to the window, wanting to get some fresh air.
He slid back the wooden bolt and pushed it open. The cool mountain breeze brushed against his face, followed immediately by a splash of bright moonlight.
The house Jiang Xuning occupied was situated halfway up a mountain peak. It wasn’t built directly on the surface but was skillfully embedded within the rock both perilous and absolute but because of this, the field of vision was extremely open, making the scenery exceptionally beautiful.
He looked at that moonlight which seemed within reach. Perhaps by chance, it was a full moon tonight, round like a jade plate, making him unconsciously recall the Mid-Autumn Festivals from years ago.
Before Yu Heng entered the Tianyan Sect, every fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month was spent with him. That day was usually his happiest time, because it was one of the few occasions his parents allowed him to go out. He remembered the scent of fireworks on the streets and saw the sky full of Kongming lanterns. It was beautiful, so beautiful he never forgot it.
But much later, he could no longer muster interest in these things. Even if the scenery and the objects were just as beautiful as in previous years, he could never find his former self again, nor could he find the person from back then. It was like paper ignited by fire; he was that clump of ash that would scatter as soon as the wind blew…
“Brother.”
Suddenly, a crisp voice rang out by his ear, interrupting Jiang Xuning’s deep thoughts. He instinctively turned his head, his eyes still carrying the daze of his memories.
“Brother, why are you standing there?”
Yu Heng didn’t notice the anomaly in the person before him. He merely knitted his brows slightly, stepped forward two paces, and closed the window to shut out the chill. When he looked down again, his brow was tightly furrowed.
“It’s this late. You know your health is poor, yet you still run to the window to blow in the cold wind.”
Though his words were full of reproach, his face was full of worry. He reached out to hold Jiang Xuning’s shoulders, and the two walked toward the bed together.
In a flurry of motion, Yu Heng fumbled a heavy cloak out of his storage ring to cover him, only then letting the matter drop.
“A-Heng.”
The illusions before him turned into reality. Feeling the warmth surrounding him, Jiang Xuning finally came back to his senses.
Yu Heng truly was exceptionally beautiful. Looking at the person before him, Jiang Xuning thought so; even in the dim candlelight, the youth was still breathtakingly handsome.
Especially that inconspicuous tiny mole at the corner of his eye. No one knew that whenever A-Heng had a high fever or cried, that tiny mole would slowly turn red, the color bleeding out and rippling with shades of pink. It was very pitiful yet also adorable, and he was the only one who knew this.
For no reason, a sense of satisfaction arose, but it dissipated quickly, just like the moonlight that had been shut out no longer noticed by anyone.
“Is the business handled?”
Withdrawing his gaze and pretending it was nothing, Jiang Xuning spoke flatly, his fingers playing with the ties of the cloak, unsure of what he was thinking.
“It’s done.”
Seeing the other move his gaze away, Yu Heng couldn’t help but feel a bit dejected. Even the momentum from a moment ago vanished, making him look like a wilted little flower, his eyelashes fluttering with great grievance.
Speaking of which, he was indeed annoyed. If it hadn’t been for the Disciplinary Elder being so talkative and refusing to let him leave for so long, how could he have been delayed until now? Only now did he have time to come find him.
“Then why don’t you go rest?”
Seeing this, Jiang Xuning didn’t think anything was amiss, assuming he was just tired. He had traveled for a long time during the day, and immediately upon entering the Tianyan Sect, he was called away by the Disciplinary Elder, only stopping at nightfall. It was only natural he’d be tired. He just didn’t quite understand why A-Heng came to find him at this hour.
It would have been better if he hadn’t said that. Mentioning it made Yu Heng annoyed again. He had originally planned to settle Jiang Xuning in his own residence, but due to the strict sect regulations, an outsider of unknown identity like “Brother” was not permitted to stay in the Inner Peaks for long without a special order. Thus, he had to settle for the next best thing. Despite being unwilling in a hundred ways, he could only temporarily settle him in the guest house of the Outer Peak. As soon as the business with the Disciplinary Elder was finished, he immediately ran over.
“I am here to rest.”
Yu Heng pouted, pretending not to hear the dismissal in the other’s voice. He reached out and fumbled to pull back a corner of the brocade quilt.
“You know what I mean.”
As a personal disciple under the Sovereign Chongyi, Jiang Xuning did not believe Yu Heng would lack his own residence. Even if things were bad, he wouldn’t come to stay in the guest house of the Outer Peak.
“I don’t care, I want to.”
Seeing that playing dumb didn’t work, Yu Heng decisively abandoned his last shred of dignity. He simply took off his shoes, wrapped himself directly in the quilt on the bed, and began to roll around, throwing a “tantrum.”
“I insist on resting here. Brother, you don’t love me anymore. You weren’t like this before.”
The youth protested loudly, almost on the verge of tears.
Jiang Xuning’s head throbbed a bit from the noise, but seeing him in such a state, he couldn’t help but want to laugh. He massaged his forehead and finally said somewhat helplessly, “There is only one bed here. If you sleep here, what about me?”
He was telling the truth; there was only one bed in the room. If there were another, he would have let him stay.
“What does that matter? One bed is one bed. It’s not like Brother hasn’t slept in the same bed with me before.”
Yu Heng stopped rolling but remained wrapped in the quilt like a caterpillar. His voice was muffled, making it impossible to see the expression on his face.
Hearing this, Jiang Xuning couldn’t help but daze again. The fingertips resting on the cloak-ties trembled slightly, and the scene before him became blurred once more.
True, he had once shared a bed with A-Heng, but that was a long time ago.
When Yu Heng was first brought back to the manor by Father Jiang, his defensiveness was extremely high. He stayed in his room all day and allowed no one to approach. If anyone crossed the line, he would bared his teeth like a wolf cub, as if he would pounce in the next moment.
He wouldn’t even touch the food specifically prepared for him, preferring to occasionally sneak into the kitchen to steal a steamed bun or two to stave off hunger.
The servants all said this person couldn’t be kept, and even Father Jiang wavered. Only Jiang Xuning refused to give up. Fearing that eating only steamed buns was bad for him, he quietly swapped them for meat buns.
At first, the child noticed the anomaly and didn’t come back the next day. This made Jiang Xuning quite anxious. Just when he was at a loss, fortunately, after a day’s interval, the child came again.
Because of this, Jiang Xuning was very happy, knowing the child’s resolve had softened somewhere, so he worked even harder after that.
However, this was only on the surface. What truly made the child trust him was a stormy night with torrential rain.
Thunder crashed. He was startled awake by the loud noise that pierced the sky. As soon as he opened his eyes, he felt an inexplicable panic. He instinctively looked outside and then remembered that the child didn’t seem to have stepped out today, nor had he gone to the kitchen for food. For no reason, he felt worried, so he got up, lifted a lantern, and walked to the child’s residence.
He stood at the door and knocked repeatedly, but there was never a response. Just as he was thinking of charging in, a faint sound of sobbing interrupted his reason. As the door was kicked open, he saw the child curled into a ball on the bed.
The doctor arrived very quickly. By the time the child’s fever broke, it was already midnight. Jiang Xuning looked at the child’s gradually normalizing complexion and let out a sigh of relief. Had he been one step later, the child might have been gone. But fortunately, he was fine, he thought.
After a night of tossing and turning, he was already tired. Just as he was thinking of going back to sleep, his sleeve was gripped tightly by the person on the bed at some unknown moment.
He instinctively wanted to pull it away, but as he was about to move, he heard the child begin to mutter continuously.
Combined with the child’s painful expression, he was possessed by some ghost or god and stopped his movement. Leaning down, he heard him saying:
“Mother, don’t leave me…”
From then on, they slept in the same bed every night. It wasn’t until many years later that Jiang Xuning broke the pattern first, and they never slept in the same bed again.
“What, is Brother disgusted by me now?”
Yu Heng poked his head out of the quilt. His ink-colored eyes were misty with moisture, flickering a sight especially clear in the dimness. It diminished his sharpness and added an unconscious sense of innocence.
“We haven’t slept together for so long. Is Brother unwilling to fulfill even such a tiny wish?”
Coming back to his senses, Jiang Xuning felt somewhat helpless. He had always been unable to withstand Yu Heng being like this, especially those eyes, which always made him think of how they looked when they first met. Consequently, his heart softened uncontrollably.
Fine, he thought, letting out a sigh as a sign of compromise.
“I knew it, Brother treats me the best.”
Having obtained consent, Yu Heng couldn’t help but beam with joy, the sorrow from a moment ago vanishing instantly. Even the mist in his eyes cleared away completely. He reached out, and the two of them tumbled into the soft bedding together.
…
It was strange; Jiang Xuning hadn’t been sleepy, but after Yu Heng’s fussing, feeling the warmth beside him, he actually became drowsy.
He was just about to fall asleep when, in the next moment, he felt the warmth beside him suddenly draw closer.
“What is it?”
In a daze, Jiang Xuning asked in confusion, but the response was a long silence.
It was so long that he thought it was just his imagination. Just as he was about to fall asleep again, Yu Heng slowly spoke once more.
“Brother, I will definitely cure you.”
“Even if he cannot save you, I have other ways.”
“No matter the cost, believe me.”
The youth’s words echoed in his ear one after another. Jiang Xuning couldn’t describe what he felt; he only sighed, tucked the quilt around him, and said, “Go to sleep…”
The endless night returned to silence once more.