Pushing these vexing matters to the back of his mind, Shi Yue turned his peach-blossom eyes toward the bow hanging on the wall of his room, flashed a bright smile, and called out, “Shitou! Teach me how to shoot arrows!”
Shitou: “Huh?”
“Huh what?” Shi Yue replied as he began changing his robes. “I tried practicing a bit last time and it didn’t seem all that difficult. I want to practice more so I can pick up a useful skill.”
And so, looking thoroughly bewildered, Shitou was dragged out to the parade grounds by Shi Yue.
Observing this scene from afar, Pei Xuan let out a cold scoff.
This silly little blockhead Shi Yue wanted Shitou to teach him archery? Leaving someone qualified like him unused, and opting for Shitou instead.
He wanted to see just what kind of results Shitou could possibly produce.
Changing into a sharp, unencumbered martial outfit and gripping the bow in his hand, Shi Yue struck a rather dashing and heroic pose.
Whoosh.
An arrow flew from his hand and, under the hopeful gazes of both Shi Yue and Shitou, landed squarely in a hay pile far, far away from the target.
Shi Yue: “…”
How utterly humiliating.
“Pfft.”
A muffled, suppressed chuckle reached Shi Yue’s ears with crystal clarity.
Shooting an embarrassed, stiff glare toward the source of the sound, Shi Yue locked eyes with Pei Xuan.
Leaning against a tree nearby, Pei Xuan watched the arrow Shi Yue had loosed with such absolute confidence. Bathed in the sunlight, he laughed with unrestrained delight.
“What are you laughing at? What’s so funny about it? So what if it missed!” Shi Yue snapped fiercely.
With a mocking, arched brow, Pei Xuan called out, “Shitou, are you teaching him how to shoot arrows, or are you teaching him how to hunt sparrows?”
Standing awkwardly in place, Shitou stammered, “Second Young Master, I.”
Patting his shoulder in reassurance, Shi Yue said, “Don’t listen to his nonsense. It’s completely normal for a beginner to miss; I’ll get better with more practice.”
Ignoring Pei Xuan entirely after that, Shi Yue steadied himself and drew the bowstring once more.
Straightening up, Pei Xuan strolled over in his characteristically unhurried, lounging gait, walking straight up to Shi Yue and placing his hands directly over his shoulders and elbows.
As Pei Xuan’s cool fingertips brushed against him, Shi Yue stiffened all over.
Pei Xuan’s low, resonant voice sounded right beside his ear: “Your posture and exertion points are completely wrong. Are you planning to spend the rest of your life shooting hay piles?”
Refusing to yield an inch of pride, Shi Yue shrugged off his hands and shot him a sidelong glare. “What’s wrong with hay piles? I want to shoot hay piles.”
Pei Xuan stared at him, and Shi Yue glared stubbornly right back without a hint of backing down.
After a long stalemate, Shi Yue broke eye contact first, turning to Shitou and saying, “Let’s go practice somewhere else.”
“Yes, Second Young Master.” Glancing nervously between Pei Xuan and Shi Yue, Shitou acknowledged the order and followed Shi Yue away.
Watching the two figures retreat, Pei Xuan felt an inexplicable ball of fire ignite in his chest, burning him with an irritable, restless heat.
He knew very well that he shouldn’t have shot that arrow close to Shi Yue yesterday, but he was entirely confident he would never actually hurt him, yet every single time he saw Shi Yue speaking gently and warmly to others while freezing him out with icy indifference.
And it wasn’t even as though he intended to say those biting remarks; it was just that whenever the words reached the tip of his tongue, they invariably twisted into barbed barbs.
Standing entirely alone in the center of the parade grounds, the outer corners of Pei Xuan’s eyes lost their usual spirited lift, and the corners of his mouth drooped downward, radiating a poignant aura of desolation and pity, much like an abandoned little puppy.
That night, lying in bed tossing and turning, Pei Xuan found himself utterly unable to fall asleep. A pervasive sense of irritation clung to him, his mind replaying the image of Shi Yue walking away with someone else and leaving him behind.
Finally, Pei Xuan jerked upright in bed.
Apologizing is no big deal, anyone can do it.
Once I’m done apologizing, let’s see how I settle accounts with him later.
Gritting his back teeth, Pei Xuan manufactured a practical excuse to justify his impending act of contrition.
Shi Yue had just stripped down to his inner tunic, preparing to turn in for the night, when he heard a knock at his door.
Glancing at the silhouette of a high ponytail cast against the doorframe, the corners of his mouth twitched upward as a hint of amusement bloomed in his peach-blossom eyes.
He knew that little madman wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.
Straightening his expression and suppressing the triumphant smile threatening to break through, Shi Yue assumed a stern, composed air and opened the door.
“What are you here for?”
Without waiting for a reply or chasing him away, Shi Yue turned his back and walked back inside.
Following him into the room, Pei Xuan found him seated on the soft couch clad in nothing but his inner tunic, exposing his slender neck and giving glimpses of his collarbones through the light fabric.
Looking somewhat uncomfortable, Pei Xuan shifted his gaze.
“Why aren’t you wearing your outer robe? Greeting a guest in your inner wear, what kind of propriety is that?”
Rolling his eyes inwardly, Shi Yue thought to himself, Guard Pei, it is the middle of the night and time for bed. What else am I supposed to wear to sleep if not my inner tunic?
Remaining silent, Pei Xuan stood stock-still in front of Shi Yue.
Seeming to grow impatient with the interruption, Shi Yue furrowed his brows. “If you came here in the middle of the night and have nothing to say, then leave. Don’t disturb my sleep.”
With that, Shi Yue stood up and made his way toward the bed.
“Wait.” Pei Xuan blurted out hastily.
“I, I came here to.”
A wave of amusement washed over Shi Yue as he looked at him. “It’s been a few days, Guard Pei. How did you manage to catch a stutter?”
Swallowing hard and holding out against his pride, Pei Xuan finally forced the words past his teeth: “I came to say… that night was my fault.”
Hearing this, Shi Yue kept his silence.
A deep sense of disorder gripped Pei Xuan’s heart at his lack of response.
What is he playing at? I came all this way to apologize! Why isn’t he accepting it?! Why is he still ignoring me?!
With the tips of his ears turning a bright, fiery red, Pei Xuan pressed on with a touch of panicked urgency: “I promise I won’t scare you like that ever again! I honestly didn’t think you’d be that terrified. It was my fault.”
After a long pause, Pei Xuan added in a lower tone, “Stop being angry.”
This marked the very first time Shi Yue had ever witnessed Pei Xuan display such an expression, flustered and utterly at a loss, instantly evoking memories of A-Yao wearing that exact same look of anxious concern whenever he got hurt.
Suppressing a smile that threatened to break across his face, Shi Yue kept his expression deliberately stern. “Just that?”
Stunned, Pei Xuan hadn’t anticipated this kind of reaction, and a wave of defensive embarrassment flashed across his face. “I’ve already apologized! What else do you want?”
The corners of Shi Yue’s mouth twitched upward, softening his peach-blossom eyes with newfound warmth. “Well, fine then. I forgive you. After all, since I’m the one who picked you up, I suppose I shouldn’t hold it against you.”
Seeing his expression finally thaw, Pei Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.
Instantly, he reverted to his usual self, operating with that familiar sharpness capable of killing with a single breath.
“The Young Marquis is truly magnanimous. Satisfied now that you’ve heard me apologize?”
“Mm…” Shi Yue pondered this seriously for a moment before replying, “It would’ve been better if your tone had been a bit nicer.”
With a sinister, gloomy chuckle, Pei Xuan drawled, “I only use a nice tone when speaking to the dying.”
Shi Yue: “Then you’d better keep talking to me just like this.”
Noticing that Pei Xuan was keeping his left hand concealed behind his back as though holding something, Shi Yue asked, “What do you have behind your back?”
The smirk on Pei Xuan’s face froze for a fraction of a second. Fumbling awkwardly for a moment, he finally thrust the object forward with an expression of supreme reluctance.
Staring at the exquisitely crafted sleeve-arrow in his hands, Shi Yue asked in disbelief, “For me?!”
Nodding stiffly, Pei Xuan gave a light snort. “It’s just a sleeve-arrow. Why look so excited?”
The corners of Shi Yue’s eyes curved into crescents. This was the first time anyone had ever gifted him a weapon.
Both Shi Wenjing and Shi Yuan had always strictly forbidden him from touching such items out of concern for his frail constitution, fearing that sharp objects might accidentally cause him harm.
Yet Pei Xuan had managed to procure this sleeve-arrow from somewhere, it was remarkably compact and delicate, designed to be concealed easily inside a sleeve as a self-defense mechanism in times of danger.
“Where did you get this?”
Naturally, Pei Xuan wasn’t about to admit that while wandering around the markets days ago, he had spotted it, thought it suited Shi Yue, and impulsively bought it.
Especially since at that exact moment, the two of them had still been giving each other the silent treatment; acknowledging that he had been shopping for gifts while actively feuding would deal a fatal blow to his dignity.
Vaguely, Pei Xuan brushed it off. “Someone gave it to me. I had no use for it, so I figured I’d toss it your way, since you’re an absolute zero when it comes to martial arts anyway.”
Unable to wait a second longer, Shi Yue fastened the sleeve-arrow securely around his arm, tested the trigger mechanism, and stepped outside into the courtyard.
Standing out in the open yard, Shi Yue raised his arm, aimed the sleeve-arrow toward a distant tree branch, and triggered the release.
With a crisp, sharp shing, the sleeve-arrow embedded itself firmly into the bark right beside a hanging lantern, startling several nocturnal moths into fluttering away in panic.
Flashing a smug, triumphant grin, Shi Yue looked back at Pei Xuan. “Not a bad aim, right?”
The sleeve-arrow was small, lethal, and blindingly fast, making it the ideal tool for someone like Shi Yue, who lacked physical strength but urgently needed a reliable hidden weapon close at hand.
With a disdainful hum, Pei Xuan scoffed, “Nowhere near as good as mine.”
Shi Yue retorted, “How many years have you been practicing, and how many days have I?”
The more Shi Yue inspected the sleeve-arrow, the more enamored he became. The little madman had finally done something genuinely wonderful for once.
A few days later, Shi Yue was summoned by Shi Wenjing.
With a solemn, weighty expression, Shi Wenjing said, “A-Yue, your father has a task that requires you to make a trip.”
“Alright, I’ve been sitting around with nothing to do lately anyway,” Shi Yue agreed readily without hesitation.
Picking up a crimson wedding invitation from the desk, Shi Wenjing handed it to him. “A distant grandmother on your mother’s side is celebrating her grandson’s wedding. Originally I should have gone myself, but given that the celebration is in Qingzhou, it is inappropriate for me to travel there.”
Accepting the crimson invitation, Shi Yue nodded in sudden understanding.
Qingzhou was located at a vital northwestern strategic pass. If the Marquis of Stability were to leave the capital without cause and head to the frontier, malicious actors might exploit the movement to accuse him of harboring ulterior motives.
“Understood, Father. When do I depart?”
“Although there is still a month before the wedding banquet, Qingzhou has been rather unsettled lately. Pack your things and set off in a few days. Travel slowly and prioritize your safety; I will dispatch a squad of personal guards to protect you.”
“Yes.”
A few days later, on a bright, clear morning, Shi Yue finished packing his luggage and prepared to set off.
Shi Wenjing, Shi Yuan, and Shitou all came out to see him off.
Looking thoroughly reluctant to part, Shitou asked, “Second Young Master, do you really not need me to accompany you? I heard the road to Qingzhou is very unsafe.”
Patting his shoulder, Shi Yue reassured him, “Father has already assigned plenty of personal guards to escort me, so don’t worry! Just take this opportunity to rest well at home for a while.”
To guarantee Shi Yue’s safety along the journey, Shi Wenjing had dispatched thirty personal guards to protect him.
With a melancholic expression, Shitou could only nod in resignation.
Gazing at him with fatherly warmth, Shi Wenjing instructed, “Travel safely and be cautious in all things.”
Shi Yuan tossed a heavy money pouch through the air toward Shi Yue.
Fumbling clumsily, Shi Yue managed to catch it.
“Take plenty of silver with you; it never hurts.”
Weighing the pouch in his hand, Shi Yue flashed an appreciative grin. “Hidden depths, Elder Brother, saving up such a hefty stash of private funds.”
“Alright, alright, it’s not like I’m never coming back. I’m off then!” Seeing the heavy, worried frowns etched across their faces, Shi Yue joked to lighten the mood.
Waving his hand dismissively, Shi Wenjing said, “Go on then!”