Perhaps it was the stimulation from that night at Lake Kobdo—and it was quite a significant stimulation but Gu Chengyan felt that ever since Sahechena returned, he had picked up some unspeakable bad habits:
At night, whenever he held Gu Chengyan, he loved doing unnecessary things, and if Gu Chengyan refused, he would mumble and whine. If Gu Chengyan said even half a harsh word, he would pout and put on an expression of extreme grievance: his eye corners would flush red, and he would look on the verge of tears. Gu Chengyan, staring at those watery blue eyes, was truly helpless and could only let him do as he pleased.
Consequently, every morning recently, Gu Chengyan was shocked by his strange behavior: the children on the prairie really shouldn’t be fed so well.
Calculating his age, Sahechena should be sixteen or seventeen this year; it was a vigorous, high-spirited age. In the Central Plains royal families, some diligent princes might already have had two children by this age. Gu Chengyan looked at Sahechena and truly felt sorry for him: he had lost his mother at a young age, drifted and lived in displacement during his childhood, and grew up with a wolf pack. It was no wonder he knew nothing of these human matters.
Wolves are not creatures driven by excessive desire; they generally only mate in the deep, snowy midwinter and give birth in the spring of the following year. At other times, they do not experience heat or attempt to mount. To ensure the strength of the pack, only the Alpha has the right to mate, while other members of the pack work together to care for and raise the cubs.
During the months he had been learning to speak, Sahechena had long ago told Gu Chengyan that he was seven or eight years old when he went out with his mother and encountered a white-out blizzard. The fierce wind and heavy snow had separated them; Sahechena, walking alone in the vast snow, was exhausted, hungry, cold, and sleepy, finally losing consciousness on the snowy mountain. When he woke up, he had already been carried back to a den by a massive female snow wolf, and his mother had vanished completely into the snow.
The female wolf was named Yiluo, the Alpha female of a large snow mountain pack. Her Alpha male was also a snow wolf, though Sahechena had never seen him. He only learned later that before finding him, Yiluo had been pregnant, but while being hunted by a triggered, frenzied brown bear, the Alpha male had been severely injured protecting his wife. After returning to their territory, Yiluo could not save her cubs, and the Alpha male died from his wounds. That was why the heartbroken Yiluo had picked him up in the snow to raise as her own.
“A few years later, when I had grown up, I found that brown bear and took revenge for Mother Yiluo, and I even used the method the old master taught me to peel off its entire skin.”
“The brown bear… skin?” Gu Chengyan subconsciously looked at the jacket he was wearing. It couldn’t be…
“Mm.” Sahechena nodded affirmatively.
That makes sense— Gu Chengyan understood now; Sahechena had grown up alongside a widowed Alpha female, so naturally, he had never seen that sort of activity. He wasn’t a true wolf, so unlike them, he didn’t have the primal animal instincts that would allow him to mount or enter heat even without having seen it or being taught.
But, sigh… Gu Chengyan couldn’t help but rub his forehead. Was he supposed to teach him this sort of thing?
Although his father had taught him when he was young, for one thing, he was very young then, only about ten; for another, his father was extremely serious, calling him into the bright and clean study of the sect master to teach him: surrounded by portraits of past Qing-shuang Mountain immortals and the three Daoist sages, with bookshelves on both sides filled with Daoist classics and the words of sages. Gu Chi had sat opposite him across the desk, with three books placed between them: Dong Xuan Zi, Benefits of the Bedchamber, and Yu Fang Jue.
Thinking of that scene gave Gu Chengyan a headache. Rather than teaching him something that made his heart race, it felt more like attending a lecture. Gu Chi was extremely strict when speaking about serious matters, and Gu Chengyan was only focused on memorizing the complex rhymes, having no romantic thoughts at all.
Could it be… that I have to repeat that to Sahechena now? But there were no such books here… Besides, when people in the common world got married, their dowries would often include secret erotic paintings or “fire-avoidance” pictures, so that couples who were shy and had no one to teach them could learn.
If he just spoke about it directly… Gu Chengyan slapped his forehead. Would it make him seem too lewd? Speaking of such “tiger and wolf” words so calmly? Besides, he had never done this himself, so he was quite nervous.
Sahechena, on the other hand, had been full of regret these past few days. He was too arrogant and self-conceited, failing to verify facts regarding courtship and mating, which had caused them to miss their chance. Sigh, it was all his fault. As for Gu Chengyan, Sahechena couldn’t bear to blame him; of course, Wuwu would be shy about such things. Besides, the Alpha should take the initiative; how could the Alpha female ask the Alpha for pleasure?
Sahechena sighed again, wrapping his arms tightly around Gu Chengyan. He had wasted the first year, failing to let Wuwu conceive a baby. But luckily, he was still young; it would be the same come this winter. Besides, Gu Chengyan’s waist was so slender not even as thick as his own forearm so he needed to be fed well. His chest was also thin; would it swell up once he had a cub? Sahechena didn’t know; perhaps he should return to the pack and ask a few old wolves.
If there were no cubs this year, then so be it. He and Wuwu still had a long, long time, it was just this was so difficult…
Sahechena nuzzled Gu Chengyan’s shoulder and let out a deep sigh: How did the old Alpha wolves in the past endure it? With a beautiful wife in their arms, how did they manage to do nothing at all? Could this also be a test for an Alpha?
In the past, Sahechena always felt he was very strong and would certainly be able to endure. But after witnessing the scene by Lake Kobdo, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He thought about it when he was distracted during the day, and he thought about it in his dreams at night; sometimes, he would even replace the two people in the woods with himself and Gu Chengyan. The more he thought about it, the more he burned with a fire that seemed to demand he pour his endless energy into Gu Chengyan he wanted to bite his neck, he wanted to lick his entire body. It was exactly like those cats that were in heat day and night. Sahechena sat up in a flash, feeling that this could not go on it must be that he wasn’t busy enough, which was why he was thinking such things. He should go out and catch another antelope!
No sooner said than done, Sahechena leaned down and nudged Gu Chengyan. “Wuwu, sleep well, I will be back soon.”
Gu Chengyan wanted to ask where he was going, but Sahechena bolted out the door as if his backside were on fire.
Gu Chengyan: “…?”
Over the next few days, seeing the increasing amount of prey in the yard and the firewood piled up like a small mountain, he finally realized where the little cub had been going. As Sahechena prepared to go cut grass for the horses and catch more fish, Gu Chengyan finally couldn’t help but stop him—
“Are you planning to stuff the granary until it bursts, and then…” he jokingly tapped the granary with his finger, “…bury us both under the alfalfa?”
Sahechena swallowed, looked around the small courtyard, and also felt that… it was perhaps a bit much. He scratched his head with a blushing face, carefully placed the grass baskets and fish creels in the corner, and then, chin in hand, looked thoughtfully at the snow mountain behind Gu Chengyan.
Then, the next day, Sahechena returned covered in injuries.
Gu Chengyan was startled, rushing over to help check his wounds and looking for medicine powder. “How did you get hurt like this?!”
There were many claw marks on Sahechena’s back, countless small scrapes on his calves and the outer sides of his arms, and a bruise on his cheek.
“What did you go do?!”
Sahechena grinned. “I fought a brown bear and killed two snow wolves. Oh yeah, tomorrow I’m going to go beat up some vultures!”
…Vultures?
“I’ve thought about it; I want to be a qualified Alpha,” Sahechena lowered his head to lick a wound on the back of his hand. “Expand the territory, become king of the mountains.”
Gu Chengyan: “…” Did this kid take the wrong medicine?
Sahechena only dared to steal a few glances at Gu Chengyan before quickly looking away—it wasn’t that he had done something wrong, but he was afraid that if he kept looking, he would stir up another fire, making his injuries for the day a complete waste.
Gu Chengyan didn’t know about his thoughts; he was just worried about his injuries. After applying the medicine, looking at the small medicine bottle that had nearly run dry not long after being restocked, he remembered their first meeting: Sahechena, who had fallen into the hot spring, had also used up most of his bandages.
So, Gu Chengyan reached out, his cool fingertips tapping against Sahechena’s solid, broad chest, and said half-jokingly:
“…You’re always wasting my medicine.”
Sahechena was stunned, then lowered his head and let out a soft “mm.” He also knew that Gu Chengyan’s brown and white powders were very precious. But—if he didn’t find something to do, he was going to explode. He couldn’t hunt, and he couldn’t fight; Sahechena hugged his head in frustration. What… what should he do?
Two or three days later.
On this day, Gu Chengyan was awakened by the cold in the morning. He felt behind him, only to find the little wolf cub, who usually loved to cling to him, had already gotten up. He rubbed his eyes, rubbing his stiff, cold feet under the covers to try and sit up, but as he reached out, he touched a pool of wet, cool liquid.
The heat was lit in the room, so if water were spilled on the bed, it would quickly dry, but that substance was clearly not water; the edges were dried and stiff, and the middle still felt… damp and sticky?
Some experiences from his adolescence resurfaced in Gu Chengyan’s memory. He pulled his hand back quickly, feeling slightly embarrassed as he rubbed it against the now-soiled mattress. It wasn’t quite dawn, and there was no light in the room. Gu Chengyan looked around and finally found Sahechena crouching at the door with his back to him. The youth’s back looked utterly dejected, his arms hugging his knees, his head buried in his arms, like a mushroom grown in a corner.
What man hasn’t experienced this in his youth? Gu Chengyan couldn’t help but smile, thinking about how pitiful he looked. He called out to Sahechena.
Sahechena’s body shuddered, but he remained crouched in place, looking like a puppy that knew it had caused trouble, its ears drooping and its tail tucked between its legs.
Gu Chengyan draped his clothes over his shoulders and walked over, his voice softening. “Little Wolf?”
“Little Wolf… is in the birch forest,” Sahechena mumbled, still stubbornly insisting, “I am not a Little Wolf.”
“Then—” Gu Chengyan smiled, thinking, “Cub?”
Sahechena wrinkled his nose and reluctantly accepted the nickname. He apologized softly, saying he hadn’t meant to wet the bed:
“I must have drunk too much mutton soup last night. It won’t happen again. I—I will go out and kill a tiger today, and I’ll peel the best, best tiger skin to compensate you!”
Gu Chengyan knew he had misunderstood, and seeing his reddened eyes, his heart softened even more, Never mind. He ruffled Sahechena’s hair and helped him up. The words he had previously felt were shameful just slipped out:
“This isn’t wetting the bed; don’t blame yourself. This is a normal reaction. It’s fine, I will teach you”
Gu Chengyan led Sahechena to the side of the bed. Seeing his gaze was so pure, it made his own cheeks burn, but he still gave the instruction:
“…Close your eyes.”
“Oh.” Sahechena obeyed.
Gu Chengyan pulled him down to sit. Watching his eyelashes flutter, he finally pulled out a blue cloth belt and tied it over his eyes.
Although it was common for such things to happen to young men, Sahechena was likely experiencing it for the first time and didn’t know how to handle it, which was why he had been in such a panic. He took a deep breath, softened his voice, and began to recite from the opening of Dong Xuan Zi to the little wolf, translating it word by word into the Rongdi language:
“Of all things in heaven and earth, man is the most precious. Above all things, there is nothing greater than the desire of the bedchamber… [Note 1]”
Sahechena couldn’t see; at first, he didn’t know what Gu Chengyan was going to do to him, and he didn’t quite understand the difficult sentences. But.
He felt Gu Chengyan’s cool fingertips, the calloused pads of his fingers, his thumb…
Sahechena jumped, nearly leaping off the bed, but Gu Chengyan held his hand, refusing to let him dodge:
“In the future, if you feel uncomfortable…” Gu Chengyan’s voice was, for some reason, slightly hoarse, “…do it like this—”
Sahechena swallowed. It was the first time he knew a person could be burned by their own body temperature. He had never had such an experience; he felt as if he were on a cloud, his breathing growing heavier, his chest rising and falling, unable to suppress the low whimpers in his throat.
He didn’t know how long it had been, but just as Gu Chengyan felt he was breaking into a sweat and his wrists were aching, Sahechena finally trembled.
“…It is done.” Gu Chengyan let out a sigh of relief, released him quickly, and reached for a towel. “It, it is fine now. If you feel uncomfortable again in the future—”
Before he could finish, he felt the world spin, and Sahechena, still blindfolded, suddenly pinned him down on the bed.
Gu Chengyan’s outer robe had fallen off, and he was lying right on top of that damp, half-dry stain, his waist instantly feeling wet and cool. He blinked rapidly as Sahechena pounced on top of him. He hadn’t taken off the blindfold, but his face was filled with excitement, and he seemed overjoyed:
“Wuwu is amazing! So Wuwu knows how to do magic!”
“More, more, do it again, do it again!”