UCTOOT CH60.1

Shi Shu’s eyes widened, his mouth suddenly empty.

Xie Wuchi’s breath grazed the tip of his nose as he shifted the steamed bun to his other hand. The very next second, he leaned in so close their lips practically brushed, but after that vivid graze, the distance widened once more.

Xie Wuchi bit right into the spot glistening with Shi Shu’s saliva, chewing deliberately, tantalizingly, before swallowing it down.

“……………”

Shi Shu wiped his mouth, thoroughly shocked to his core. His very first reaction was: Damn, Xie Wuchi is gorgeous. His second reaction was: Why would a man this good-looking be into men?

Shi Shu stared at the bite mark: “You… why? Why on earth are you gay?”

Amid the silence, Xie Wuchi tore off another bite from the half Shi Shu had licked, offering no answer. The more Shi Shu looked at him, the more he felt sexually harassed: “Xie Wuchi, mind your public decorum.”

Xie Wuchi: “What of it?”

“Is eating another guy’s spit really that fun to you?”

Xie Wuchi: “Eating other places would be even more fun.”

“Aaaaahhhhh! Aaargh!”

Shi Shu let out a helpless, frustrated screech. Handing him a cup of clean water, he retreated to the makeshift bed. Having wiped his hands clean, Xie Wuchi began slipping into his remaining robes. His physical build was profoundly masculine. Shi Shu had known gay people before, but they were all bottoms—completely different from this man.

Once Xie Wuchi was dressed and seated before him, Shi Shu uncapped the ointment vial to dab over his wounds: “Sigh, we need to be careful out there. That Feng Kuizhi is the very guy who hit on me back at Gaohua Tower. I’m afraid of running into trouble, so let’s lie low and avoid heading out for now.”

Xie Wuchi: “Mm. Transporting silver moves slowly; we won’t be marching alongside them for long.”

“The Taiyin Prefecture we’re heading to, is that under the jurisdiction of this Feng guy?”

“It is commanded by his father, Feng Zhongshan. Feng Kuizhi is merely the youngest son. Over a decade ago, his two elder gege perished in the campaign when the Min invaded Dajing. His father gained immense merit in defending the realm and was enfeoffed as Military Governor. They are the most renowned military household on the frontier.”

Shi Shu: “Fine then. I’m just terrified he might take a fancy to me. I’ve had it with these gay guys; staying as far away as possible is the only way.”

Xie Wuchi: “I—”

“You, shut up.”

Wrapping gauze layer by layer around his ankles, whenever Shi Shu looked up and met Xie Wuchi’s eyes, an uneasy prickle washed over his skin. During the day surrounded by a crowd, it was manageable, but sharing a private room together now only made this bizarre tension all the more intense.

What kind of vibe did a gay guy give off? It was the feeling that while you treated him purely as a friend—talking, interacting, hanging out—his every gesture might be laced with sexual undertones. It made Shi Shu thoroughly uncomfortable.

Strictly speaking from the perspective of romance, what was good about men anyway? Just look at his bunch of goofy dog friends before transmigrating; the mere thought of making out or hugging them was enough to make him hurl.

The next morning, the bailiffs set out early. Shi Shu slipped away from the post station swiftly, avoiding any encounter with Feng Kuizhi. A convoy hauling bullion moved at a much slower crawl; marching ahead meant they could bypass him for good.

The next few days passed in much the same manner. With cloth wrapped around the iron shackles, the chafing and raw blisters improved slightly.

On this day, Shi Shu suddenly realized that their party had departed the Eastern Capital region and arrived in Shukang Prefecture. Late autumn chill hung heavy in the air, withering all under heaven. Following the official post road through endless rolling mountain ranges into a deep, narrow gorge, Shi Shu abruptly found the surroundings eerily familiar.

“Xie Wuchi, is this the mass burial pit where they burned the corpses during the Shukang plague?”

Standing atop the cliff, Xie Wuchi looked down expressionlessly: “Mm. Those who died of the pestilence were all burned and buried in this trench.”

Scenes from the past surfaced in Shi Shu’s mind. Back then, the pestilence had ravaged Shukang Prefecture, bodies piled upon bodies, claiming tens of thousands of lives. Later, following Xie Wuchi’s containment measures, the corpses were incinerated and buried under massive mounds of earth, marked by a stone slab carved with: Mass Grave of the Pestilence; Excavation Strictly Forbidden on Pain of Death. The ground in this vicinity remained utterly desolate, barren of crops or tillage.

Recalling it brought back every visceral horror of those days.

And Xie Wuchi working day and night to quell the epidemic, even contracting the ghost poison himself, slashing his wrists to bleed the toxins, burning in a delirious fever for days on the brink of death.

Moved by emotion, Shi Shu turned back to look at him: “After returning to the Eastern Capital, Lin Yangchun penned a treatise on Pestilential Miasma. Not only did it compile the methods developed in Shukang to suppress the ghost poison, but a significant portion was based on your suggestions. If another outbreak flares up after a war in the future, it can be quelled quickly, sparing countless lives, right?”

Standing alongside him at the cliff’s edge, Xie Wuchi gazed down into the hollow beneath the mountains where corpses once lay.

Shi Shu grinned brightly: “Xie Wuchi, you really accomplished a great deed! Thanks to you, who knows how many lives were saved.”

Xie Wuchi’s expression remained indifferent. Casting a cool glance over the mass grave, he turned to walk away.

“Hey? Don’t you feel anything at all?” Shi Shu hurried to catch up, inadvertently stepping on a sprig of grass; the yellow earth covering the mass pit had long been overgrown with wild greenery.

“Xie Wuchi, you brought so much hope back then!”

Beneath the gate tower of Shukang Prefecture stood an engraved stele detailing the containment of the pestilence, prominently bearing the characters Xie Wuchi. Even now, people placed bouquets of flowers and pastries before it. Mothers with sick infants would kneel before the stone, pressing their foreheads to the cold rock, whispering prayers: “Bless my child with a swift recovery, bless my child…”

Shi Shu asked, “Acting this aloof—doesn’t being a savior bring you any joy?”

Xie Wuchi: “Being a savior brings me zero pleasure.”

Shi Shu: “Then what does bring you pleasure?”

Xie Wuchi paused in thought, then said evenly, “Trampling everyone underfoot, treating them like dogs.”

“…”

Shi Shu was stunned, staring at him: “Holy crap. You…”

There was no continuing this conversation. In the faint, metallic scent of the wind, Xie Wuchi closed his eyes, his hair fluttering in the breeze. Shaking his head, he murmured, “Rain is coming.”

Dark clouds rolled across the sky, turning the atmosphere suffocatingly grim.

Xu Erlang glanced up from time to time: “Is this damn rain going to fall or not?!”

Shi Shu spoke no more to Xie Wuchi, draping oilcloth over the luggage on the horse and pulling out an umbrella: “I know expecting fair weather the whole way is impossible, but catching rain on a march is truly rotten luck.”

Xu Erlang warned, “Keep an eye on your ge.”

Moments later, torrential rain descended in a sweeping deluge. Shi Shu immediately held the umbrella over Xie Wuchi’s head, supporting him as they trudged forward. Some bailiffs had umbrellas, while others had none, drenched through to the bone.

The umbrella was small; shielding Xie Wuchi meant rain poured straight onto Shi Shu’s own shoulders.

“Marching in the rain is terrible,” Xu Erlang said. “The year before last, we escorted a prisoner to Taiyin Prefecture. The rain on the road was so heavy that the man caught a severe chill from the soaking and died right at the post station.”

Shi Shu asked, “Do many die on the road to exile?”

“Exiled three thousand li, surviving is what’s rare. Winter is right around the corner, and Taiyin Prefecture is a bitterly cold borderland. You two xiongdi had best prepare yourselves. Getting chilblains from the winter storms is one thing; losing hands or feet to frostbite is the real trouble.”

Battered by the downpour, Shi Shu was already struggling to catch his breath, his heart sinking at those words.

With the rain too heavy and the road nearly impassable, their belongings soaked, they had no choice but to take shelter under a pavilion. Once the rain eased slightly, they pressed on. If they didn’t march now, they wouldn’t reach the post station before dark, forcing them to trudge through the storm amid grumbling and curses directed at the heavens.

Xie Wuchi was soaked through regardless. When they finally stumbled into the post station, total chaos broke out: “Ayo, our clothes are completely drenched, even the spares in the packs are soaked! Hurry up and light a brazier to dry them!”

“Don’t bother, it looks like rain tomorrow too, we won’t have to march.”

“Resting for a day, would that be allowed? Ask the palace lords.”

Skipping the idle chatter, Shi Shu bolted to the kitchen to fetch hot water with the speed of someone grabbing food, carrying a wooden tub back: “Xie Wuchi, quick, quick, wash up and dry off!”

Soaked to the skin, the wet wounds on Xie Wuchi’s body split open again, scabbed over only to be chafed raw once more. Yet his demeanor remained exceptionally tranquil and quiet. Hearing Shi Shu’s words, he peeled off his drenched robes.

Standing unclothed before him, Shi Shu didn’t bother maintaining distance, stripping off his own clothes a few paces away to wash swiftly and dry his hair: “Your body heat is dropping fast. Get into bed first; leave the rest to me.”

After a late-night bite, Xie Wuchi lay down to rest. Though he never complained of fatigue, he had fallen into the habit of turning in right after eating lately.

Shi Shu walked downstairs. A few attendants and eunuchs had oil lamps lit, drinking, gambling, and playing cards beneath the glow: “Xie Erlang, want to gamble too? We know you have silver.”

Shi Shu: “I don’t gamble. Play amongst yourselves.”

“Come on, just for fun.”

“Just~ for~ fun~? Still not playing.”

Loud and raucous downstairs, Shi Shu watched for a short while before worrying about Xie Wuchi and heading back upstairs. The room was deathly still, Xie Wuchi sound asleep in bed.

Shi Shu stepped up and tucked the quilt in for him.

Downstairs, confident that rain would halt their march tomorrow, they intended to gamble all night. When Shi Shu returned to the room around ten, Xie Wuchi had sat up. Shi Shu asked, “You’re awake?”

Propping one hand against the bed rail, Xie Wuchi walked to the table, drank a cup of water, let out a raspy, low grunt in acknowledgment, and climbed back into bed.

Clambering into bed himself, Shi Shu thought: Strange. Xie Wuchi hasn’t touched me at all these past few days; he’s been remarkably well-behaved.

With that thought, he tucked the corners of the quilt tight. Shi Shu slept on the inner side. In the dead of night, wind and rain lashed against the window. Fortunately, Shi Shu had ordered a thicker quilt in advance, making it comfortably warm for the two of them.

Until heavy, labored panting reached his ears.

Shi Shu snapped his eyes open and rolled over to find Xie Wuchi’s forehead soaked in cold sweat. Reaching out to touch him, his temperature had spiked scorching hot at some point, his jaw clenched tight.

Shi Shu said, “Xie Wuchi, do you have a fever? Are you alright?”

His hand touched his cheek. Xie Wuchi seemed trapped in a nightmare, tormented by feverish delirium, blue veins pulsing visibly along his temples and neck, faint breaths slipping from his parted lips.

Shi Shu muttered softly: “I knew you’d get sick eventually. You endured for so long, only breaking down today. You really are something.”

In sleep, Xie Wuchi lacked that punishing arrogance he carried with open eyes, even if the first word that came to mind seeing him was still “gay.” Dabbing the sweat from his brow with a cloth, Shi Shu moved to sit up: “Let me check on you.”

Unexpectedly, the moment Shi Shu leaned in, his wrist was seized, and the next second he was hauled into his arms like a giant plush bear. Disorientation hit him first; by the time he regained his bearings, his shoulder was pressed flush against Xie Wuchi’s chest.

“Holy shit, could you not do this out of nowhere?”

Treated like a toy or a ragdoll, Xie Wuchi circled his waist, slinging a leg right over him. Startled, the memory of Xie Wuchi falling ill back in Shukang Prefecture flashed through Shi Shu’s mind, and his stiffened muscles slowly relaxed.

“Alright, alright, it’s fine…” Straining with one arm, Shi Shu hesitated before resting a hand on Xie Wuchi’s back, patting him softly. “It’s fine. Sleep now, you’re fine.”

Patting him, he murmured: “You stayed quiet for so long. I know you’ve been hurting inside; wouldn’t it have been better to vent it earlier?”

Except the posture was far too intimate. Not only did Xie Wuchi rest his leg over Shi Shu, but it gradually shifted into pinning him down flat. Like an unconscious drowning man clutching a piece of driftwood in a raging sea, he invaded Shi Shu’s personal space with the desperate intensity of dragging him down to sink together.

Shi Shu shut his eyes, telling himself to endure it, temporarily serving as a comfort cat or a ragdoll.

When Xie Wuchi nuzzled his neck, his nose brushing past before beginning to lick at his skin, Shi Shu’s first reaction was actually: Finally, here it comes!

Outside, torrential rain poured down while gambling chatter echoed faintly from below. Shi Shu dared not move a muscle, waiting as Xie Wuchi licked his earlobe inch by inch, then shifted down to nip lightly at his jaw.

The moment Shi Shu parted his lips to breathe, a soft warmth pressed down upon him.

Naturally, inevitably, they began to kiss.

“……………”

A wet, lingering, scalding kiss. Tongues tangled and lapped, nibbling from his lips all the way to the root of his tongue, eliciting muffled, wet whimpers. A frenzied kiss amid a burning embrace. Like a long-awaited rain pouring over cracked, parched earth, this intimate fervor brought back the Xie Wuchi he knew.

“Mmh… ah…”

Shi Shu could barely process the situation. Viewing Xie Wuchi as an invalid made it somewhat easier to accept. His hands were pinned against the bed with fingers interlocked, knees firmly wedged between his thighs in an entanglement of limbs, yet the posture wasn’t purely terrifying; it allowed Xie Wuchi to hold him with maximum surface contact.

Shi Shu opened his eyes wide in the dark. With practiced ease, Xie Wuchi had already pried his teeth apart, hungrily lapping and suckling at his tongue with greedy gulps, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he colonized every inch of Shi Shu’s mouth.

Shi Shu squeezed his eyes shut, his tailbone aching from the friction. Gay? Liking men? Craving men, with some bizarre desire for penetration? What did that mean? Xie Wuchi wasn’t just into men, he was a top; then what did that make him? The more he thought about it, the more this kiss took on a dangerously provocative edge.

“…”

If he wanted to sleep with men, didn’t that mean he would be the one getting slept with?

Sensing something was wrong, Shi Shu shifted his hand: “Xie Wuchi…”

His wrist was pinned mercilessly back down. “Ah—” Shi Shu gasped at the pain. Xie Wuchi was right: physical contact was indeed the fastest way to understand him. He truly was a selfish breed who cared only for his own satisfaction without regard for anyone else.

Kissed until his mind swam, Shi Shu clung to his remaining shred of rational deduction: Just wait it out. Xie Wuchi’s episodes come in waves; once this passes, he’ll stop.

Letting him kiss him without fierce resistance, those hands stroked his jaw in repetitive caresses. Gradually, the hand vanished. Just as Shi Shu thought it was over, he saw Xie Wuchi’s hand rip open his own collar. Backlit against the faint glow, he stripped off his upper garments, exposing his powerful, sculpted torso.

“…………”

Swallowing dryly, Shi Shu felt his hair seized in Xie Wuchi’s large palm, steadying his face to resume the kiss with a wet glug… Shi Shu panicked inwardly: Wait, no, don’t strip! Don’t take off your clothes! He reached out, trying to tug Xie Wuchi’s robe back up.

Yet his hands were pinned once more as Xie Wuchi’s bare upper body pressed down, crushing against his chest through the coarse linen fabric, expelling every breath of air from his lungs.

With Xie Wuchi lapping at the roof of his mouth, Shi Shu couldn’t breathe. Xie Wuchi kissed him like nuzzling a kitten, pecking and suckling over and over. Dazed and bewildered, Shi Shu thought: Whatever, taking off a shirt is nothing.

Resting his hands on his chest to push for space, his palms brushed against Xie Wuchi’s torso, muscles rising and falling with heavy breaths, hard, defined, radiating an unmistakable feverish heat that made Shi Shu’s fingertips throb.

Then, Shi Shu caught a rustling sound. The quilt shifted, and the entangled legs suddenly lost their fabric barrier.

“Wait, why did you take off your pants too?! What are you doing?! Xie Wuchi, put your pants back on!” Shi Shu snapped in a hushed voice, reaching down to pull his trousers back up. Just as his hands reached his lower half, a pair of scalding hands slipped beneath his collar.

Fingertips calloused and scarred grazed his skin with a coarse, sandpaper friction like desert wind, tearing feverishly and roughly at his clothes. Within moments, the fabric was stripped down to his forearms.

Shi Shu drew a sharp breath, his ears burning crimson: “Ah! Why are you stripping my clothes? Xie… mnh—”

His tongue was licked with naked lust. In the dark, Xie Wuchi stared at him, his pupils swallowed by shadow. Shi Shu reached out to shove him away, but their bare skin immediately rubbed together: lean, chiseled shoulders, firm chest muscles, body heat soothing body heat. A jolt of electricity seemed to crackle through Shi Shu’s brain.

As the heat climbed, Xie Wuchi gathered both of Shi Shu’s wrists in one hand, pinning them firmly above his head. Gritting his teeth in the dark, his neck and ears kissed and licked, another hand roamed to his waist, slowly stripping away the rough linen fabric.

Shi Shu: “Fuck! Don’t take off my pants!”

Truly panicked now, Shi Shu kicked out with force, only for his knee to be pinned by another knee. Seizing the moment when his waist lifted, Xie Wuchi hooked the trousers and dragged them forcefully down to his thighs.

Shi Shu’s fingernails scraped against something. Beneath the quilt, an icy chill hit first, immediately followed by the brush of dense, warm male hair pressing flush against him.

Shi Shu’s thoughts derailed entirely: “Holy fuck—”

Xie Wuchi’s hand slipped into the gap, stroking the inner thigh in the same place where his own tattoo sat, confirming its presence. The entanglement beneath the covers grew utterly chaotic. Feeling the heat of that palm, Shi Shu jerked in shock, slamming his head against the bed rail!

Clang! The pain made his eyes water. Xie Wuchi released his grip instantly, hooking his legs to pull Shi Shu’s waist flush as he sat upright, cradling Shi Shu in his embrace and kissing his forehead.

Through the translucent bed curtains, Xie Wuchi held him with seamless intimacy, one hand cupping Shi Shu’s neck, his voice low and raspy: “Be good, it doesn’t hurt.”

Shi Shu had never been held like this before—like a child being held by a parent to pee, only facing him chest-to-chest. Shi Shu pinched Xie Wuchi’s shoulder hard: “Let go! I said enough!”

As he spoke, Shi Shu scrambled to grab his clothes: “Put them on!” But before he could locate the sleeves and collar, Xie Wuchi’s kisses trailed downward, pressing against his collarbone, then lower, his chin brushing against a spot Shi Shu had barely ever paid attention to.

Blood rushed straight to Shi Shu’s head. He grabbed a handful of Xie Wuchi’s hair, his blood running cold, panting as he stared down at him.

Xie Wuchi withdrew his tongue as if savoring a taste, meeting Shi Shu’s gaze with unfocused, dark eyes.

Shi Shu cursed a breathless “Fuck!” in his head as the outer robe he had barely pulled on was ripped open again. He tried to vault out of bed, but an arm locked around his waist. The next second, his direction flipped, his back slammed onto the mattress flush against Xie Wuchi’s chest, held tightly from behind.

Shi Shu struggled: “Let go, let go.”

His back rubbed against the man’s chest and abdomen. A powerful arm hooked across his, caging his chest, fingers locking his jaw as kisses rained upon his nape, cheek, and shoulder. The other hand reached around his waist, caressing across wide expanses of Shi Shu’s skin.

Shi Shu felt like a piece of fabric being pressed with a hot iron, skin rubbing against skin with forceful friction. The slightest resistance from his legs was immediately wedged apart by Xie Wuchi’s thighs.

Xie Wuchi was absurdly strong, his arm muscles bulging as he wrestled him. Shi Shu could feel him inhaling his scent, like someone with severe skin hunger who would perish if deprived of it.

Shi Shu flushed red, breaking out in cold sweat. He didn’t even know where to hit him; his hands clamped onto the back of Xie Wuchi’s hands to block him from touching restricted zones, yet ended up only traveling along with his movements, looking almost like playing hard to get.

Fair hands over wheaten hands, the contrast in skin tone was glaring. Fortunately, the hand didn’t cross into the forbidden territory. Tipping his neck back to endure the strange ripples stirred by those caresses, Shi Shu’s throat bobbed. The next second, his waist was hooked and flipped gently around, chest to chest, crushed together in a tight embrace.

An even fiercer hug, skin pressed seamless without a gap, legs entangled, Xie Wuchi’s face right before his eyes. His kiss descended once more.

“Ha… ah… Xie Wuchi, stop…”

Xie Wuchi was scalding hot, his arms locking tightly around Shi Shu’s fair back, caging him in his embrace. One hand even hooked Shi Shu’s leg over his waist. He seemed intoxicated by this seamless intimacy, the tremors in his chest calming as he pecked Shi Shu’s lips again and again.

Skin-to-skin touch stripped of all privacy, like entangling unto death.

Dizzy and breathless, Shi Shu bore Xie Wuchi’s body heat and his obsessive eccentricity.

Having wrestled until he was feverish and drained of strength, he simply slumped limp in his embrace, letting him hold him.

Xie Wuchi had won, securing what he desired, his palm lingering as it caressed Shi Shu’s back and skin.

“I give up… what on earth do you want…”

Shi Shu tilted his neck back, his youthful Adam’s apple bobbing, allowing Xie Wuchi to turn his head and lick sensually at the hollow beneath his throat and collarbone. Letting out a soft curse, Shi Shu closed his eyes.