AEOGA CH47

Knowing that the man in blue had a carriage coming for him, Xie Chongjin accepted his thanks and put away the umbrella, hurrying back to the imperial villa with Lu Xuechao.

If they stayed outside any longer, Lu Xuechao was going to freeze to death.

Watching the two of them leave side by side, the man in blue waited in place for a short while before a carriage came into view.

The curtain lifted, revealing a handsome young man in fine clothes. “Yun Luo, hurry and get in.”

The man in blue smiled faintly and stepped onto the carriage.

“I knew it would rain when I saw the swallows flying low, so I made a point of telling you to bring an umbrella before heading out,” the young man in fine clothes babbled on. “I just didn’t expect the rain to pour like this. I couldn’t rest easy, so I came to fetch you. You didn’t get soaked, did you?”

Yun Luo said, “Since Ah Xu told me to take an umbrella, how could I get wet?”

Jiang Jinxu asked in confusion, “Huh? Where is the umbrella, then?”

Yun Luo said in a gentle voice, “I happened upon a couple of passersby who didn’t have an umbrella just now. Knowing that you’d be coming, I gave the umbrella to them.”

“How could you know I’d come?” Jiang Jinxu said worryingly, “You are so soft-hearted. What if I hadn’t come? Wouldn’t you have ended up a drowned rat?”

Yun Luo smiled softly: “Hasn’t Ah Xu come after all?”

A trace of shrewdness flashed in his warm, gentle eyes. “I noticed that although those two looked disheveled, their demeanors were extraordinary—clearly distinguished and refined, if not noble then wealthy. If we can forge a good connection over a single umbrella, perhaps it might prove useful in the future.”

Jiang Jinxu cupped his forehead: “Who in Jiangnan could be richer than our family? Father asked you to help manage the Jiang family’s business, but there’s no need to be this devoted, pulling in every passerby you meet on the road as a potential customer…”

Yun Luo said gently, “I came with no dowry. Only by exerting myself more for you can I live up to the betrothal gifts.”

Jiang Jinxu’s face flushed slightly.

It was common knowledge that Yun Luo—the most beautiful, delicate, and elegant shouma in Yunzhou—had been bought at an auction last year for the astronomical price of two thousand pieces of gold by Jiang Yue, the richest merchant in Jiangnan, who was over fifty years old.

At the time, it had caused quite a sensation.

Jiang Yue and his wife were childhood sweethearts who shared a profound affection. He took no concubines even though his wife had remained childless for years, only siring a son when he reached thirty-five, an ordeal from which his wife died due to a difficult labor. Grief-stricken, Jiang Yue never remarried and cherished his only son like a precious jewel. He had never participated in the shouma auctions favored by Jiangnan’s wealthy merchants.

Having been a devoted husband for half his life, he suddenly squandered a fortune on a shouma past the age of fifty. While it couldn’t be said to completely ruin his reputation, people could only sigh that all men were cut from the same cloth.

The fifteen-year-old young master could not accept a shouma barely a year older than himself becoming his stepfather—or even a concubine, which felt equally bizarre. He had stomped off in a huff to see what kind of seductive fox could bewitch his father, only to come face-to-face with a gentle, crystal-clear, and jade-like youth.

The youth was conversing with his father inside the room.

Eavesdropping outside the door, the young master discovered that this ethereal youth spoke of nothing but money—not how to siphon the Jiang family’s wealth, but how to help the Jiang family earn more.

It turned out that Jiang Yue had doted on Jiang Jinxu to a fault, raising him to be innocent and naive. The business world was dark, filled with fierce competition and endless underhanded tactics that Jiang Jinxu could never handle. Getting up in years, Jiang Yue worried that after he passed away, his son wouldn’t be able to protect the family estate and would be swallowed alive by the pack of wolves and tigers surrounding him. By chance, he recognized Yun Luo’s business talent and felt a keen appreciation for his gifts. He purchased him for a fortune solely to cultivate him and have him manage the Jiang family’s business on his behalf, without the slightest intention of taking him as a wife or concubine.

Realizing his misunderstanding, Jiang Jinxu felt deeply ashamed, and his impression of Yun Luo vastly improved.

Having spent his life in commerce, Jiang Yue possessed a keen eye for talent and saw that Yun Luo was not a treacherous person who would usurp the family fortune, so he placed immense trust in him. Later on, as Jiang Jinxu and Yun Luo spent more time together, they developed mutual feelings for each other. Unbothered by Yun Luo’s shouma background, Jiang Jinxu held a lavish wedding with heavy gifts, making Yun Luo the young master’s spouse of the Jiang family.

As for the fact that Yun Luo was a xunhuan while the young master of the Jiang family was a chenghuan, that was hardly something to speak of to outsiders.

Imperial Villa.

Xie Chongjin ordered someone to brew a bowl of ginger tea, carrying Lu Xuechao straight to the Yunqing Pool.

Yunqing Palace was the place within the imperial villa specifically reserved for the emperor’s baths. The bath pool was fed by living hot spring waters, paved with suet white jade, and sprinkled with jasmine petals. It was vast, comfortable, and extraordinarily luxurious.

Compared to the bathtub on the road after enduring exposure to the elements, this place was paradise.

Xie Chongjin unfastened Lu Xuechao’s wet clothes and carried him down into the water. Even though he had used his internal energy to dry him earlier, it still wasn’t the same as never being caught in the rain at all; wearing damp clothes felt sticky and uncomfortable.

Lu Xuechao’s face was flushed a rouge pink, though whether from the rain or the steam was hard to tell. Xie Chongjin reached out to test Lu Xuechao’s forehead—fortunately, there was no fever.

Just as he was about to help Lu Xuechao bathe, Lu Xuechao suddenly grabbed his collar and asked softly, “Why are you only undressing me and not yourself?”

Xie Chongjin blamed himself: “I will wash after you are finished. Letting you get caught in the rain today was my fault.”

Lu Xuechao pulled open his lapels: “Let’s wash together. You were exposed to more rain; you shouldn’t act recklessly just because you have a strong constitution.”

Xie Chongjin paused. Lu Xuechao had already adeptly unfastened his upper garment, but as his hands reached his trousers, he suddenly paused, his face flushing a deeper shade of red.

Xie Chongjin let out a helpless, soft laugh: “Do you still want to bathe together?”

With their skin pressed together beneath the water and a warm, delicate beauty in his arms—Lu Xuechao’s body infused with the fresh fragrance of jasmine petals—he was no Liuxia Hui. At the very least, he was certainly no Liuxia Hui when it came to Lu Xuechao.

It was impossible to remain indifferent.

Lu Xuechao pressed his lips together and lowered his head, his flirtatious, shy demeanor infinitely endearing. Xie Chongjin assumed he would back off, but unexpectedly, Lu Xuechao only hesitated for a brief moment before resolutely continuing to undress him.

“It’s not as if I haven’t seen it before.”

Xie Chongjin let out a low gasp, his voice carrying an intoxicating quality: “…Qingshu.”

He was testing his endurance.

“Why are you acting like a gentleman with me now?” Lu Xuechao raised his eyes. “Do you dare say that if it hadn’t rained, you wouldn’t have had those thoughts on the boat?”

He had felt Xie Chongjin’s desire stirred back on the boat.

He too had been somewhat enchanted, resting at the bow of the boat while his Adam’s apple was lightly bitten, without offering any resistance.

Without that rain, perhaps he truly would have gone with the flow, casting caution to the wind and indulging in wild abandon with Xie Chongjin out in the open.

…How utterly absurd. He had never imagined he could be so brazen.

Perhaps it was so absurd that even Heaven couldn’t stand to watch, sending a downpour to put a stop to it.

Xie Chongjin smiled and said, “I wouldn’t dare.”

He wouldn’t dare say he didn’t have those thoughts.

Without that rain, he certainly wouldn’t have been able to resist putting them into action.

Lu Xuechao had said, The south knows my heart, blowing my dreams to Xizhou.

He knew, which was why he couldn’t help wanting to share a truly free, completely unmanipulated, self-indulgent entanglement with Lu Xuechao in Xizhou.

Lu Xuechao was so alluring, effortlessly provoking all his passionate fantasies—the deity who commanded his love and desire.

He could not resist, nor did he want to.

Yet when the rain fell, Xie Chongjin had instantly reined in all his desires. Where he should have undressed Lu Xuechao, he had ultimately draped his own robes over him instead.

Lu Xuechao hooked his arms around his neck, his sparkling, liquid-bright eyes gazing straight at him: “We can do it now.”

Thinking carefully, they hadn’t seen each other for three years in this life, and after awakening, they had been buried in state affairs, rarely sharing physical intimacy. Over the past fortnight of exhausting travel, Xie Chongjin had doted on him and pitied his fatigue, refraining from pushing him even further.

Pure-hearted and ascetic, like a monk.

It was rare for him to have the mind for it today, with the right place and the right moment, only for Heaven to disappoint them by sending that mood-killing rain.

…Thinking about it, it was quite pitiful.

Lu Xuechao knew that Xie Chongjin was not devoid of desire; he had simply suppressed it all for his sake.

Just like all those past lives, where Xie Chongjin endured the agony of burning desire day and night without ever betraying him.

Before, there had been no choice. Now that the two of them were together, there was no reason for Xie Chongjin to keep enduring it.

Besides…

Lu Xuechao was not ashamed to admit that he had his own needs as well.

On the outside, Lu Xuechao appeared as an unapproachable flower on a high peak—and internally, he was the insurmountable high peak itself. It was difficult for anyone to imagine such an ethereal figure ever indulging in physical desire. Yet after surviving so many worlds, he had long been pulled down from the altar by Xie Chongjin, savoring the fragrance of blossoms and accustomed to seeing the high peak bow.

He remained cold, sacred, and aloof toward others, with Xie Chongjin as his sole exception.

Xie Chongjin looked at him for a moment before placing Lu Xuechao’s hands back down: “We cannot.”

Lu Xuechao: “…?”

Xie Chongjin said in all seriousness, “You were already caught in the rain. You aren’t sick now, but what if you fall ill after all this exertion? Rest well tonight; I won’t touch you.”

He could master his desires out of love.

Lu Xuechao: “…”

Seeing the gravity in Xie Chongjin’s tone and the precious care in his eyes, he did not feel sweet because of it.

Lu Xuechao felt that in Xie Chongjin’s eyes, he truly seemed like a fragile porcelain doll. Walking a few steps would leave him gasping for air, and getting caught in a few drops of rain would render him bedridden.

Although that had indeed been the case in the past—likely because the impression of his frail childhood was too deeply ingrained—after years of careful nourishment and endless priceless medicines poured into him, his body was at most incapable of leaping across rooftops; otherwise, he was as healthy as any ordinary person and would not fall sick at the slightest turn. Those illusions that he was delicate and unable to withstand the wind were, to some extent, baseless anxiety and making a fuss over nothing.

Xie Chongjin was overly worried, likely due to a protective instinct that infinitely amplified Lu Xuechao’s vulnerability, taking care of him down to the smallest detail.

Lu Xuechao knew Xie Chongjin loved him. This love was originally the purest and most ardent heart of a young man, but due to various reasons in their past lives, it had become laced with a morbid overprotectiveness. Rather than saying he was afraid of Lu Xuechao falling ill, it was more accurate to say that Xie Chongjin was the one who was sick.

The overly cautious treasure after losing and regaining him, the overly restrained and careful love—it was actually a burden on Xie Chongjin’s spirit. Should any mishap occur to Lu Xuechao, Xie Chongjin would instantly collapse.

Xie Chongjin could protect him, but he couldn’t protect him while walking on thin ice and standing at the edge of an abyss like this.

Lu Xuechao did not want Xie Chongjin’s love for him to end up hurting Xie Chongjin himself.

He loved Xie Chongjin, too. He did not like this, nor did he find enjoyment in it.

Lu Xuechao said, “I won’t fall ill. I’m not that… delicate.”

Xie Chongjin remained firm: “Qingshu, be good.”

Lu Xuechao: “What if I don’t want to listen?”

Xie Chongjin wanted to refuse further, but Lu Xuechao leaned gently against his chest, wrapping his arms around his waist as if genuinely upset: “I’m not doing this for your sake.”

“It’s because I want it.”

“You started something you didn’t finish and made me uncomfortable, yet you tell me to rest well—isn’t that a bit too much?”

Lu Xuechao’s tone carried an innocent accusation, as though blaming him for lighting the fire today without taking responsibility for putting it out, leaving him to suffer like this.

Xie Chongjin: “…”

He hadn’t wanted to.

But Qingshu was taking the initiative, even saying he felt uncomfortable.

How could he ever bear to refuse him?