UCTOOT CH107

Inside the walled city, there was a clean, bright courtyard.

Xie Wuchi sat in a chair drinking tea, head lowered as he looked at the dark-colored tea. Yuan Guan was taking out a box of tea leaves and closing the lid.

“My Lord, please enjoy the tea.”

The tea leaves were long and slightly curved, crimson like blood, giving off a faint fragrance.

Yuan Guan stepped back and said respectfully, “It is truly a great honor for a humble household like mine to receive you two after your long journey.”

Dusting the travel dust from his clothes, Xie Wuchi lifted his gaze. “Dongping tea, also called ‘blood tea’—Official Yuan, do you know the origin?”

Yuan Guan replied, “Of course this lowly one knows. Besides its bright red color and blood-like infusion, the tea’s flavor is rich and sweet, greatly praised, its price extremely high. Yet the Jing people are forbidden to pick tea in Dongping Ridge. So Jing tea merchants repeatedly took up this trade, secretly climbing the tea mountains. Some were wounded by beasts, some fell off the cliffs, hence the saying: ‘An ounce of flesh for an ounce of tea; a bowl of blood for a bowl of brew.'”

Xie Wuchi drank a sip. “Who knows how many fights tea merchants have started over this business.”

Yuan Guan had to admire him. “My Lord, the mountain king on Little An Mountain beneath Dongping Ridge is precisely a tea bandit.”

Xie Wuchi: “My brother and I came from afar for the matter you mentioned.”

That day, Shi Shu and Xie Wuchi finally arrived at Yuan County, and Yuan Guan went out of the city to welcome them to his residence.

Yuan Guan picked up a register from the table. “My Lord, please look… Here are the Gazetteer of Yong’an Prefecture, the Gazetteer of the various prefectures, and a roster. Please examine them.”

Xie Wuchi flipped through the roster, thinking, and questioned Yuan Guan about those who might be turned. Shi Shu waited, bored, his fatigue from travel easing. He saw Xiao Shu peeking and smiled: “What are you looking at?”

Xiao Shu’s eyes were brimming with tears, hiding behind a pillar.

“Such a crybaby,” Shi Shu asked, “What’s wrong with her?”

Yuan Guan gave a helpless smile and spoke for a while. Shi Shu didn’t quite understand. “Stop crying. Laifu isn’t here; there’s no way to have it count numbers for you.”

Xiao Shu: “That’s not it.”

“Then what’s wrong?” As Shi Shu spoke, Xin Bin suddenly entered from outside. “Your son-in-law is here.”

“The Ninth Prince?”

Everyone stiffened. Wiping his sweat, Yuan Guan said, “Please, do not worry.”

He pulled down the summer sunshade curtain, partitioning off a small room to form a wooden alcove. “Please wait a moment. He’s here for my daughter; he won’t ask about anything else.”

What was going on? Shi Shu and Xie Wuchi had just arrived here, and they were already about to come face-to-face with a prince. Shi Shu leaned quietly against the back of the door and looked outside.

Two men walked in at the door. One wore a jade belt at his waist, clad in fine silk, radiating wealth. The other wore tight leather armor, a neat martial outfit, showing a trace of long-distance fatigue.

Yuan Guan went up to greet them. “My worthy son-in-law, Prince Yinkun.”

Yinkun! Shi Shu’s scalp tingled—the culprit behind throwing corpses and reselling grain. Ninth Prince Zhulian said arrogantly, “Father-in-law,” and then looked around until he saw Xiao Shu.

At the sight of him, Xiao Shu stepped back, hiding by the well.

Yuan Guan went to meet Yinkun. Zhulian went forward and grabbed Xiao Shu, and before he said a word, rage appeared on his face. Yinkun smiled as he stopped him. “Ninth Brother, don’t be rash.”

But before he finished, Zhulian seized her hair and slapped her—smack!

The slap shocked not only Yuan Guan, but even Shi Shu; the atmosphere changed at once. After hitting her, Zhulian raised his eyebrows and asked, “Aya says that while I was fighting on the city walls, you disappeared for a few days. Where did you go?”

Tears welled in Xiao Shu’s eyes. “I… I…”

Zhulian: “Did you go off to some man? Say it!”

Yuan Guan’s face went pale. He took a step forward, but Yinkun blocked him. “Father-in-law, this is between youngsters. Let’s not interfere.”

Yuan Guan struggled free of him, and Xiao Shu was slapped again. Yinkun’s formerly playful eyes suddenly fixed on Yuan Guan, wolf-like. “These days, I’ve been wondering—how did the grain routes at Mule Beach Wharf and the reclamation village get discovered so quickly?”

Silence.

Shi Shu felt a chill on his back, recalling that bright moonlit night when he was thrown into the ditch, a blade gliding against his skin.

Yuan Guan’s face showed confusion. “What does Your Highness mean…”

Yinkun burst into wild laughter, suddenly grabbing his shoulders. “I’ve been thinking—could that unfortunate kid have been let go by your brother? How is it they got discovered and then the coachman died, and then Jia Wu died, hahahaha! Of course I’m just guessing. Don’t take it seriously!—You’re not a spy, are you? Huh? Tell me!”

His sudden outburst startled everyone. Shi Shu thought: This lunatic.

Yuan Guan’s face remained perplexed. “Your Highness, my brother personally killed that traveler, with other witnesses. How can Your Highness tarnish a man’s innocence out of thin air?”

Yinkun sneered. “Oh? But I also heard someone wanted to cut off his head and was persuaded otherwise. Official Yuan, a Jing man’s head turned out to be this precious?”

Yuan Guan seemed eager to go to his daughter and stopped arguing. “This lowly one truly doesn’t know. If My Lord truly has evidence, why not go before the Wangye and confront this lowly one face-to-face?”

“Hahahaha! You’re serious again.” Yinkun’s expression shifted. He laughed. “I’m just joking!”

“……”

Neurotic.

On the other side, Xiao Shu covered her face and sobbed. After slapping her once to vent his anger, Zhulian turned and left. “Not returning to your husband’s home? Got backbone. For every day you don’t come back, I’ll come and slap you once. Bitch!”

With that, he and Yinkun swaggered off down the corridor.

“Lost a battle, got put in his place by Commander Xie, so he came elsewhere to vent,” Xin Bin, now married, raised an eyebrow. “No one understands men better than men.”

Yuan Guan went to look at Xiao Shu’s face. She pushed him away. “I hate you!” she cried, then ran toward the back courtyard.

Yuan Guan’s hand froze in midair. He sighed, lifted the sun curtain, and said dejectedly:

“Sorry to have made you two laugh.”

Shi Shu came back to his senses and walked into the courtyard. “How can this be? Why hit her?”

“When there is war, going in and out of the camp is strict. Xiao Shu’s long absence was hard to hide.” Yuan Guan gave a bitter smile. “That son-in-law of mine is particularly jealous. He doubts nothing else, only that one thing.”

Shi Shu: “Have her divorce him.”

Yuan Guan remained silent. Behind him, Xie Wuchi rose and asked, “Why is Yinkun in Yong’an Prefecture?”

Yuan Guan replied, “My Lord, after the defeat at Yunzhou and the retreat, in the current Min forces, only the eastern line faces your Konghe Army. The border pressure there is greatest. He volunteered to bring reinforcements to prevent My Lord from encroaching.”

Xie Wuchi responded, “He wants to be my opponent?”

He didn’t finish the latter half, but Shi Shu understood first.

He deserves it?

Yuan Guan sighed helplessly. “Household matters are truly shameful. My Lords, please—this lowly one has prepared a banquet at an inn to welcome you and wash away the dust of travel—”

Xie Wuchi raised a hand. “No need.”

Yuan Guan hunched even lower.

Xie Wuchi: “Since Yinkun suspects you, it’s unsafe to contact you within this city. Is there anywhere outside the city we can stay?”

Yuan Guan thought for a moment. “There is.”

“Then let’s go out of the city and find a place to live.”

One turning step, onto rolling moss.

An ancient, desolate forest. The terrain was remote; on the hillside, large swathes of flowering trees swayed in the wind.

People with bamboo baskets on their backs, filled with rice, flour, grain, and oil, walked one by one across the slopes to the scattered villages and dwellings.

Birds chirped in the treetops. Shi Shu stepped unevenly on weeds and yellow mud, turning his head to look at the towering Dongping Ridge. This village lay at the foot of the mountain; smoke rose from the thatched cottages, all leaning against the great peak.

“Ah!” Shi Shu slipped by accident and nearly fell.

“Careful, Second Young Master, there’s a hidden pit there,” Yuan Guan reminded him.

Shi Shu: “You’re familiar with the place?”

Yuan Guan slowed his steps. “Yes. When this lowly one first escaped from Northern Min, I lived with my family at the foot of this mountain. We cleared out this wild courtyard. Dongping Ridge is generous: mountain delicacies and wild mushrooms abound. Living off the mountain, one can survive without working every single day.”

It looked like they would be staying at the foot of the mountain from now on. Shi Shu’s eyes brightened as he thought: Qin Village!

Qin Village relied on the generous ocean to become a hidden paradise. Dongping Ridge was a rich mountain nourishing its people.

Shi Shu stepped on dry straw. “Is it safe here?”

“Of course. Dongping Ridge is the work of ghosts and gods; humans are powerless here. Once war breaks out, the commoners hide in the mountains. So fortresses and stockades were built inside long ago. Some hoist flags and act as mountain kings.”

Shi Shu looked at Xie Wuchi’s face. He walked neither fast nor slow along the narrow mountain path. “Of the mountain bandits, rebel forces, tribes, and King Zhouchi listed on that roster, how many can you contact?”

Yuan Guan said, “This lowly one can contact some important figures. With you as guarantor, they will certainly rally the rebel forces, twisting into a single mighty rope, aligning with your army outside in a staggered grip.”

Bamboo leaves brushed his brows. Xie Wuchi raised a hand to pluck them away. “We’ll wait for your news. Official Yuan, whether this grand plan can succeed depends on your efforts.”

Yuan Guan and Yuan He were the lines connecting key figures. Xie Wuchi had resources; they only had information. The one truly making decisions and holding real power was Xie Wuchi. Therefore, they had to sell themselves to him, run errands, and earn benefits.

Yuan Guan bowed deeply. “This lowly one will die a thousand deaths and never refuse!”

“So many spiders.” Shi Shu’s face was covered by webs. He walked up the mountain path to a village at the foot of the slope.

Xin Bin whistled to the sides, and branches and leaves in the forest shook. Other disguised guards, already made up as wandering monks, doctors, commoners, peddlers, and coolies, blocked off an area a thousand meters around this courtyard.

Yuan Guan pushed the courtyard gate open. A cloud of dust flew up, making him cough. “Cough! Cough… My Lords, please sit. I’ll have my brother clean up.”

He brought out a small bamboo stool, thick with dust. “…Wait a bit longer.”

Yuan He, silent as a cow, carried the stool to the water pool at the stone steps to wash. Xin Bin also took a cloth and quickly wiped away the dust.

Yuan Guan reassured them. “The courtyard is close to the village and the city. It’s also close to Zhang Shusheng, the mountain bandit king who holds high the Jing flag. He shelters Jing commoners; Min soldiers generally don’t dare enter here.”

“But it’ll be inconvenient for food. Grain, rice, flour, and oil will all have to be carried in. I’ll have to trouble the guards to lend their strength.”

“Is that so? Thanks,” Shi Shu said.

Xin Bin cleaned the courtyard, removed weeds, swept up accumulated dust, repaired the stove, and brushed aside branches. Shi Shu pulled out weeds by the well and changed the water several times until clear water reflected his face.

As evening approached, guards with bamboo baskets on their backs carried in grain, rice, flour, and oil, setting them in the courtyard before leaving at once.

So, he was going to live here with Xie Wuchi next? Shi Shu looked around the courtyard and felt somewhat uncertain.

Once the courtyard was barely clean, Yuan Guan said, “It’s late. This lowly one will take his leave.”

“Take care.”

Xin Bin also left, staying at a ruined temple a few hundred meters away to keep watch over the road and warn them if danger arose.

The courtyard fell quiet, the residual heat of summer still in the air.

Clap, clap, clap! Shi Shu clapped his hands, the handsome face fresh as he walked a circle in the courtyard, an old familiar feeling rising. “Xie Wuchi, isn’t this just like the night we went to Liushui Nunnery?”

Xie Wuchi had just taken out a candle and lit it, the flame wavering between his brows. “How so?”

Shi Shu: “Over here is the chicken coop, pigsty, latrine, and sheep pen. Over there the kitchen, woodshed, a big open courtyard, a bed, a wardrobe, bookshelf, fence, courtyard wall… Heh. If this isn’t home, what is?”

When Xie Wuchi lifted his gaze, he saw Shi Shu smiling at him—the fresh, clean young man—and then taking off running.

Shi Shu ran a lap around the chicken coop. “No eggs.”

Then the pigsty. “No pigs either.”

“No rice.”

After touring the entire house, Shi Shu said, “We’re really staying here next? Works for me!”

Shi Shu had recalled many times their solitary lives at Xiangnan Temple, Liushui Nunnery, and Senzhou. Xie Wuchi went out to work every day, and nights were always fun when he came back. Warmth welled up in Shi Shu’s heart.

“I like it here.”

Grinning, Shi Shu went to stand by Xie Wuchi. “Xie Wuchi, let me test you.”

Xie Wuchi set water boiling to sterilize. “How?”

“When we first met, what did I say to you? The two of us, both modern people, find a place to retire—”

Shi Shu waited for him to finish, thinking, He can’t be that good, can he? Remembering something I just said casually?

Xie Wuchi put the bowls and chopsticks into the boiling water. “—and isolate the entire ancient society.”

Shi Shu: “Damn! Your memory is that good? What’s your brain made of?”

Xie Wuchi: “Exercise more, read more, think more.”

Shi Shu: “Hmph, still so pretentious.”

At the foot of this mountain, it really did feel like they were isolating themselves from ancient society.

Washing the pots and bowls, Xie Wuchi examined the grain and vegetables carried by the guards, picked a handful of noodles, and rolled up his simple sleeves.

The scene was abrupt and unfamiliar enough. Xie Wuchi had always been born into gold and jade. In the modern world, he was a wealthy young master. After becoming the highest commander of the military district, he had people to serve him in everything from combing his hair to daily living. Seeing him so grounded, preparing to cook, perhaps apart from these days in Min organizing forces behind enemy lines, such a scene would never be seen again.

Shi Shu blinked and sat on a small stool.

“Bro, why won’t you let me cook?”

Xie Wuchi said simply, “What you make tastes terrible.”

“…”

Shi Shu stared at the pot. “But these noodles are too plain. Let me see if there’s any vegetables.”

He checked the basket and found none. Then he circled the courtyard and discovered some gourd vines by the fence, picking two gourds and bringing them in.

Shi Shu handed the gourds to Xie Wuchi and sat nearby. He saw Xie Wuchi take out a knife to peel them. His brows and eyes didn’t look like someone who cooked. Even the way he cut vegetables looked like he was performing, his knife moving as if it was working on human flesh, making one nervous just watching.

Shi Shu stared at the hand holding the gourd—wrist bones broad and lean, a hand full of sexual tension. For some reason, it made Shi Shu’s heart skip.

He wiped his sweat and shook off distracting thoughts, watching as Xie Wuchi put the gourds into the pot. His posture was still upright, not a strand of hair out of place. Shi Shu watched him for a while. In the warm candlelight, some images floated into his mind.

—A bright, spacious kitchen. A man washed and rinsed vegetables while a woman stir-fried meat in the pot. Sizzle, the oil crackled.

A slender, handsome teenage boy in slippers walked lazily into the kitchen, reached out to grab meat from the plate, and yelped when he burned himself.

The woman scolded him, then couldn’t help laughing, leaning in to check if his finger was red.

The teenager complained as he rinsed his hand in the sink. The man checked his finger again.

“Nothing at all. Next time stick your hand right in the oil. Fresh-fried meat tastes best.”

“He’s already burned, and you still say that.”

…

Thinking of this, a warm current slipped through Shi Shu’s heart. A smile touched his lips. “Xie Wuchi, it’s been a long time since you cooked for me.”

“What’s wrong?”

On his tiptoes behind him, Shi Shu half-unconsciously wanted to hug him. “Your cooking tastes good, hard to describe. Very clean.”

Who would have thought he’d one day want to hug a man this much?

For a moment, Shi Shu’s mind drifted, possessed by a ghost. He grabbed hold of Xie Wuchi’s sleeve and then forgot again.

White steam curled upward. The Xie Wuchi cooking before his eyes overlapped with the man who had once looked at people like dogs when they first met. His features hadn’t changed, but now Shi Shu wanted to cling to him one hundred percent.

“Like eating my cooking?”

Shi Shu: “Yeah. What’s good about it is I can order freely. This plate, seventy percent spicy. That plate, no spice. This one, with garlic. That one, no scallions. Say it once and you remember.”

Xie Wuchi thought of something. “Not tonight. It’s dark and hard to see. Tomorrow I’ll make you more dishes.”

Shi Shu: “Bro, you’re so responsive it’s better to worship you than Buddha.”

Having remembered his parents, Shi Shu followed the thread. “My mom said I’d never find a partner, that no one would want me. I’d been spoiled; I couldn’t cook or do housework at all.”

Xie Wuchi: “Then?”

Shi Shu: “But see, I found one, didn’t I? I can’t do it, but you can.”

Xie Wuchi pulled out a small jar of lard. The guards had tested these for poison before sending them. He took a small chop of lard into the bowl.

Shi Shu swung his legs. “She said I was too stupid, lacking a nerve. That if I found a partner, I’d have to find someone formidable.”

He scratched his head and summoned the system.

Civil and military achievements, merits that would influence hundreds of millions on this land, life and death, royal power and wealth, heavenly talent. Shi Shu’s voice lowered. “…So I found the most formidable one.”

—Sorry, not accepting disciples.

In the pot, Xie Wuchi finished cooking the noodles and lifted them into a bowl for Shi Shu. There were dark circles under his eyes; his tone was flat. “Missing your parents?”

Shi Shu: “Not really. I’ve transmigrated; it’s like my parents are dead. Just think of them occasionally.”

Xie Wuchi: “You’re quite filial.”

“…”

Shi Shu: “So so. If they have the ability to transmigrate, they can come beat me.”

After the two finished eating, they washed up. By the time Shi Shu walked under the eaves, the sky was completely dark. The village at the foot of Dongping Ridge was still, with only a faint light flickering far away—that was the ruined temple where Xin Bin stayed, said to have once housed a fox spirit.

In this desolate mountain wilderness, they would live for a while, contacting people from all directions.

Shi Shu felt a growing familiarity with this wolf-like man, overcoming the shame of having him witness his kissing with Xie Wuchi. “Not letting him live with us?”

Xie Wuchi: “No. Guessing two brothers are incestuous is very different from seeing it with his own eyes.”

Shi Shu: “…” Still not that familiar, then.

“His position is at the road. If there’s a search operation, he can warn us in advance.”

“Got it.” Shi Shu turned his face. “Xie Wuchi, in other people’s eyes now, we’re really real brothers?”

Xie Wuchi: “Full blood. Only child.”

“…”

Shi Shu blushed. “I mean, you’ll have to have people looking after you later. If someone sees us doing weird things, what will they think?”

After saying it, he realized there was no point—because Xie Wuchi simply didn’t care.

Xie Wuchi: “Don’t know about others, but I feel great.”

“…”

The moonlight was pale. It was the first day Shi Shu stayed in this courtyard; he’d be here for more than ten days. While waiting for Xie Wuchi to bathe, he checked the security of the fence and gate, and whether there were any places like the pigsty that might shelter wild beasts.

When he returned to the main room, it was dark and dim. The oil lamp on the table flickered. Xie Wuchi sat on the bed, wearing a white inner robe, checking the wound on his leg.

Shi Shu had thought the wound was almost healed, but when he got closer, he was surprised to see it still red and swollen.

“Still not healed.”

Xie Wuchi: “Been traveling wounded.”

Shi Shu took out ointment to apply it and asked, “Did you see Xiao Shu getting hit today? When we’ve taken this place back and unified everything, let her divorce Ninth Prince and find her eight handsome guys who all treat her well.”

Xie Wuchi snorted. “What about pure love?”

Shi Shu: “Different situation. Nothing wrong with that. To repay her for bringing us the warning.”

Grinning widely, Shi Shu made his eyes curve. Xie Wuchi reached out and gently pinched his jaw. “Taste good?”

Shi Shu thought he meant the noodles. “Not bad.”

The fabric over his knee was lightly tugged into a wrinkled fold. Shi Shu lifted his head. His ears were filled with cicadas and frogs. Beneath the vast Dongping Ridge, stretching for thousands of li, it felt as if only this little courtyard existed.

Their gazes locked. Xie Wuchi lowered his eyes to look at him, dim light reflected on his sharp nose bridge, making his face seem almost cold up close. Veins rose on his thin, taut hand. His skin trembled slightly; for him, union of body and soul had almost always been a craving.

Shi Shu only froze for a second.

“Mm…”

The oil lamp dimmed, the flame bending sideways. One of Shi Shu’s hands gripped the bed edge tightly; the other clutched the corner of Xie Wuchi’s clothes, his slender fingers gripping tighter and tighter.

Xie Wuchi grabbed Shi Shu’s soft hair, moonlight falling on his broad back. Shadows slanted onto the wooden bed frame, his calloused fingertips repeatedly rubbing the earlobe until it turned dark red.

Held down by that hand, Shi Shu’s nose was full of scent, hotness pushing into his mouth and cheeks. The corners of his eyes reddened as he swallowed with effort.

He saw Xie Wuchi bend down, black haze sweeping down in an instant. A hand lifted the young man’s chin, voice hoarse: “Do you like the taste?”

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