While the two were speaking, a Moshan disciple approached them.
“Young master, our Elder Zhao would like to invite you over for a brief chat.”
“Alright, sounds good.” Yan Jue was so lightheaded from the wine that his body acted before his brain could process the request. He prepared to stand up.
Qi Yelan pulled him firmly into his arms. He cast a warning glare toward Elder Zhao, who was seated at the head of the banquet, and spoke to the disciple with cold finality. “He is not going.”
Without waiting for Yan Jue to object, he led him out of the hall.
“Stop making a fuss. Go back and sleep,” Qi Yelan commanded.
Yan Jue struggled against his grip. “A-Ye, I am not drunk, and I am not tired. Let me go.”
Qi Yelan had not expected a drunk person to be so difficult to manage. Once they were out of the main hall, he simply hoisted the man onto his shoulder and forcibly carried him back to the room. Finding himself without room to resist, Yan Jue grew quiet for a moment. However, when Qi Yelan placed him on the edge of the bed, the moonlight revealed wet tracks on the boy’s face.
Qi Yelan had been feeling frustrated, but seeing this made him lose his edge. After a long silence, he used the back of his hand to roughly wipe away the tears. “Why are you crying? I did not bully you.”
Yan Jue seized his hand. His eyes, red from crying, stared intensely at the eyes behind the mask. He made a bold request. “Let me see your face, alright?”
Qi Yelan looked at his dazed expression and knew his rationality was nearly gone. In his memory, the person he once knew could never have possessed such a vulnerable face. Often, he still found it impossible to equate this man with that person. They were too different, like heaven and earth.
Seeing his persistence, Qi Yelan’s tone grew colder. “You would not want to see it.”
“Why?” Yan Jue asked dizzily.
Qi Yelan gave a dismissive answer. “Because it is ugly. It would scare you.” The second half was true; it would certainly be a shock.
“Is that so? Ugly? How ugly?” Taking advantage of his state, Yan Jue gave full play to his habit of getting to the bottom of things.
Qi Yelan remained silent for a moment before confirming again. “Do you truly want to see?”
Yan Jue nodded repeatedly like a child begging for candy. “I do.”
The night outside was thick and the moonlight was obscured, leaving the room in total darkness. In such an environment, they could only see the outlines of each other. Qi Yelan slowly removed the mask, and his body began to shift in that moment.
Yan Jue squinted, unable to see the person clearly. He could only vaguely judge that the features were regular and somewhat familiar. In his drunken state, he did not think too much and mumbled, “Not ugly. Not ugly at all.”
Qi Yelan gave a soft snort. “Can you even recognize who I am?”
The moment he finished speaking, the person before him stood up. Yan Jue was half a head shorter than Qi Yelan. He stood on his tiptoes, and his nose touched Qi Yelan’s before their lips could meet. They breathed in each other’s heated breath, neither certain who had moved first.
By the time Qi Yelan realized what was happening, they were pressed together. When they finally separated, Yan Jue answered him in a breathless voice. “A-Ye. You are A-Ye.”
Qi Yelan steadied his breathing, a flame igniting in his normally cold, deep eyes. “Do you know what you are doing?”
Yan Jue turned his head away, a blush spreading across his face. “This is my way of paying you back.”
A low gasp escaped Qi Yelan’s throat. “Is that so? Paying me back? What exactly are you paying me back for?”
By the time Yan Jue regained a shred of awareness, he had been pressed onto the bed. A hand circled his waist, and the sudden rush of heat made him shudder. He sobered up slightly. Sensing the unfamiliar weight and build of the person above him, he realized what he had just done. He could not see the man’s face, but he felt a warm breath lingering against his neck, accompanied by light, dense kisses. Soon, he felt a chill on his chest.
His robes were pulled open, and a cold touch slid down from his collar. Yan Jue was startled and grabbed the hand, feeling the unfamiliar, firm texture. “Are you A-Ye?” he asked tremulously.
“What, do you regret it now?” It was still that indifferent voice, but this time it was tinged with a searing heat.
Yan Jue confirmed once more. “A-Ye can. Others cannot.”
Qi Yelan’s hand paused. “Why?” For a moment, he had wanted to take advantage of the situation. Since the other was willing, a bit of absurdity seemed fine.
However, Yan Jue followed with, “From now on, we are even. You are you, and I am me.” Having said this, he let out a breath of relief and loosened his grip, acting as though he were ready for whatever happened next.
Qi Yelan fell silent for a long time. He found he did not have the courage to continue. He sat up and looked down at the person beneath him with a complex gaze. Even? What did that mean? Was he saying that to Qi Yelan, or to A-Ye?
As Qi Yelan, they could never be even. As A-Ye, why was there a sudden need to be even? To use this kind of self-sacrifice as payment; was this guy a fool? He could not tell who was deceiving whom anymore.
Qi Yelan grit his teeth and turned Yan Jue’s face toward him. “We can never be even,” he said word by word. “Do not even dream of it.” He then rolled off the bed and rushed out the door.
If it were merely about desire, either A-Ye or Qi Yelan could have satisfied it. But when it came to being even, neither was willing to accept it. Why should this person decide when they were even? Their days together were still long, but before that, he needed to confirm one more thing.
Cold wind howled outside. Yan Jue lay half-naked on the bed. Once the warmth of the other person left, the cold seeped in and cleared his drunken mind. He had offered himself and been rejected. He slowly curled his body inward, the shame of his impulse making him want to disappear. Eventually, he fell into a daze and slept.
In the latter half of the night, Yan Jue was startled awake by a whistling wind. He opened his eyes to see a silhouette moving in front of his door. He pulled his clothes together and asked warily, “Who is it?”
“It is me,” Lu Wu’s voice came from outside.
The unusual atmosphere made Yan Jue realize something was wrong. He dressed quickly and opened the door. Lu Wu stood with his back to him, staring up at the sky. The deep night sky looked like a shattered mirror, pieces flickering with a faint light.
“What is that?” Yan Jue asked.
Lu Wu’s expression was grave. “A celestial omen of disaster. Tomorrow will be a day of great evil.”
“Are the demons going to move?”
“I fear it is more than that,” Lu Wu replied, looking directly beneath the omen. “That place is… Move!”
Yan Jue noticed the omen was positioned directly above his ancestral hall. He followed Lu Wu quickly. Inside the hall, everything that had been knocked over the night before had been restored to its original place. Lu Wu’s gaze fell on the statue above, and an ill-timed smile crossed his face. “This likeness of yours is not bad.”
They waited in the empty hall for a moment. The events of the previous night still made Yan Jue’s skin crawl. “If there is nothing else, I am going back,” he said, turning to leave.
“Wait!” Lu Wu shouted suddenly, and Yan Jue froze. A moment later, Yan Jue also felt that something was wrong. They were the only ones visible, yet the space felt occupied by more than just the two of them.
Lu Wu was the first to react as a dark shadow flickered past them. “Who is it? No, that is not a human!”
By the time Yan Jue turned around, Lu Wu had already vanished, chasing the shadow into the depths of the ancestral hall.