UCTOOT CH115

For the next few days, Shi Shu had been waiting for news. During this time, he was almost exclusively dating Xie Wuchi.

Xie Wuchi went to the city from time to time, and Shi Shu would wait at a pavilion halfway to pick him up and go home. When they were free, they hugged and kissed every day.

This afternoon, Shi Shu got up from the bed as the sky was getting dark. Shi Shu rested for a while, exhausted. When he got up, he saw Xie Wuchi sitting at the head of the bed without a shirt, writing a diary.

Shi Shu hugged him from behind: “What are you writing?”

A scroll was placed in front of Xie Wuchi: “Writing records of this time in the mountains.”

Shi Shu: “Hmph, you have good energy. Every time after we’re done, you rest for a moment and are ready again, even finding things to do. Like writing a diary. What are you writing? Why is it still in a foreign language?”

Xie Wuchi rested his hand, letting Shi Shu place his chin on his shoulder: “It’s been a habit for a long time. Since I was about a teenager. Too many miscellaneous things can easily make the mind drift with the current. I need to write a diary every day to control events and emotions.”

An image appeared before Shi Shu’s eyes: a teenager sitting at a long table, handwriting strong and forceful, clear lines at the end of the page. Shi Shu suddenly guessed something: “Did it start when you developed sex addiction?”

“Mm.”

Ripples rose in Shi Shu’s heart, kissing him: “You have a good background, wealthy family. It must be easy to find a partner. Enduring hardship back then, but wouldn’t a crowd come with just a hook of your finger?”

“Degeneration seems faster.”

Xie Wuchi put his hand on the table, looking down: “Compared to indulgence, I prefer persistence.”

Shi Shu knelt on the bedding, looking at his diary.

Looked straight in the eyes by Xie Wuchi: “So, what I give you is my all, my everything, my first experience. Like it?”

Shi Shu’s face turned red, flustered: “Good. What did you write? Writing a diary, am I in it?”

Xie Wuchi: “Yes. Since the day I met you, your name has been in the diary.”

Shi Shu leaned close to the paper, leaning against Xie Wuchi, carefully identifying the characters he couldn’t understand. Tapped his finger on the diary: “What is this?”

Xie Wuchi: “Ятебялюблю.” (I love you.)

“What does it mean?”

“Guess.”

Shi Shu scratched his head, pointing to the next sentence: “What is this sentence again? Can you translate?”

Xie Wuchi: “I used a new way to make love with my boyfriend today.”

Shi Shu: “…You.”

Shi Shu laughed angrily: “Handsome guy, you are so special.”

Shi Shu looked carefully at his diary, densely packed words: “You didn’t write details too, did you?”

“When I have time, I plan to try.”

“…”

Shi Shu lowered his head and bit his shoulder, then let go: “Fortunately this is ancient times, and this is just writing a diary. If this were modern times, who knows how exaggerated it would be?”

“It’s okay. But your photo album would probably be full of my personal nude photos and sex videos.”

“…………”

Shi Shu froze for two seconds: “First time so glad to live in the present.”

Bored, Shi Shu rubbed his nose against the hollow of his neck, pretending to be serious: “Would you really send them?”

Xie Wuchi: “Of course. Every morning when I wake up, I’ll send you a photo wearing only underwear. Before going out, I’ll send you a photo in formal work attire to report my schedule. Before sleep, there will be pajama photos too.”

Shi Shu was shy but half-refused half-accepted, thinking about it: “Mm, okay.”

Seeing his photos every day, eating well, also gives a sense of security.

Amidst sweetness, Shi Shu recalled his past self.

Homophobic, resisting Xie Wuchi, rejecting intimacy.

No, bro used to be quite pretentious.

What little schoolbag could pretend so much?

Shi Shu thought intently: “It would be great if I could go home to date you.” Thinking of this, those cicada-filled summer days, popsicles and soda, laughter at home, running on the field—going home seemed destined to be a regret. However, “Dating you here is also very good. I like you.”

Xie Wuchi: “Addicted to being fucked by me?”

“…” Shi Shu said righteously, “No, I need to discuss this with you. In the future, you can’t use dirty language casually, understand? I am a traditional and reserved person.”

Xie Wuchi: “Understood.”

Shi Shu’s eyes rolled: “But, in bed… it’s allowed…”

Xie Wuchi put the pen on the paper, turning around: “Go up. I want to say it now.”

“…”

Shi Shu lay on the bed with him. According to Xie Wuchi’s word-by-word teaching these past few days, he kissed his part while providing verbal praise. Finally, it reached the time when the sky gradually darkened.

A few horses, a blazing sun.

“Flat forest vast, smoke woven like fabric; sky like a dome, covering the four fields.” Shi Shu trotted a few steps ahead. The grassland pricked his feet slightly; it was withered yellow grass stubble that had been chewed repeatedly and grown back.

Someone led the horses. Shi Shu and Xie Wuchi walked one after another, clothes brushing the grass. Shi Shu said: “So many horses and sheep.”

Shi Shu ran excitedly to high ground to look. He saw settlements of sedentary herders. People used colorful flags to enclose walled villages, signifying habitation, and built houses with wood. Women coming and going had flushed faces, working diligently. Little sheep, chickens, and dogs ran everywhere.

Shi Shu said: “The scenery is so beautiful. Publicly funded travel.”

He and Xie Wuchi walked forward. Passing a household, a dog rushed out barking! Shi Shu screamed and hid behind Xie Wuchi: “Ahhhhh Xie Wuchi save me!”

“Autumn high, horses fat; exactly the time for northern barbarians to be arrogant.”

Xie Wuchi protected him, saying, “Summer and autumn are the most abundant seasons of their year.”

“Understood. When Northern Min retreats, it will also be close to autumn.” Shi Shu ran around curiously, touching here and there. “Our field trip today was the right choice.”

Shi Shu walked past the sedentary herders’ village, seeing dried meat hanging in front of houses, jars containing pickled vegetables and dried mushrooms. Cattle heads and sheepskins hung on doors. At this time, cooking smoke came from the houses, seeming to be cooking food, a faint plain scent.

Shi Shu: “What are they cooking?”

Xie Wuchi: “Millet, white porridge. In the past, Min people only ate meat and milk. Until Han habits passed over, they also started eating porridge and vegetables.”

Xie Wuchi pointed to those jars: “The pickled vegetables and meat they make, salt and spices are also sold from Han people.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Xie Wuchi said: “Also the style of clothes, wooden stools and other utensils at home. After a hundred years of interaction, many living habits are tending towards being the same.”

Shi Shu looked at him: “It seems the commoners of Jing and Min have invisibly learned a lot from each other.”

“Correct. The commoners in the Min area have a sense of identity with Great Jing. If merged into one country, there wouldn’t be fierce resistance.”

Shi Shu walked on the grassland for a long time, but saw that the faces of these Min area commoners didn’t look very good; some even looked worried.

Shi Shu asked: “Are they waiting for their sons and fathers to come home?”

“Can’t come back.” Xie Wuchi said, “For either Jing people or Min people, integration is a good choice.”

Xie Wuchi was judging the current situation and what attitude to take towards the Min commoners in the future. Shi Shu walked with him for a long time, reaching an extremely open and distant mountain range. Seeing green grass cascading down from afar, cattle and sheep hiding in the grass, herders singing loudly. An endless green lawn, full of fresh natural green and yellow. The sky was so blue without a wisp of cloud, covering the low green grass and mountains below.

Clear azure, gem-like lakes lay among the grasslands and mountains. The lakes had gradations—edges slightly blue, center deep green. Water waves gently pushed the reeds on the shore.

Seeing the lake, Shi Shu exclaimed: “Holy crap! Holy crap!” Running wildly through the dense grass, running to the lakeside to scoop up water, clear to the bottom. “How can there be such a beautiful lake! I can’t bear to touch it!”

Xie Wuchi walked slowly, sitting by the lake, saying: “We have arrived at the holy land of the Min people.”

“Holy land?”

“In the Min epic, this lake is called ‘Lake Wuge’. Men and women in love who drink the water from this lake will never be separated life after life. And wolves often appear here. When a man wins a woman’s heart, to test if he is a brave man, he must come to take water from this lake and give it to his most beloved woman to drink.”

“Really?” Shi Shu filled the water flask with water, handing it naturally to Xie Wuchi. “You drink.”

Xie Wuchi was upright and noble, lowering his eyes. After handing him the water, Shi Shu lay down, rolling in the grass like a little lamb: “So comfortable, so comfortable… This grass is warmed by the sun, I like it!”

Xie Wuchi lowered his eyes, drank the water himself, and capped it.

Not far away, Xin Bin and others guarded on the mountain range. Shi Shu reached out, pulling Xie Wuchi’s sash: “You lie down too.”

Xie Wuchi: “Not lying.”

“Why.”

“Sunlight is good; sunbathe yourself for a while.”

Shi Shu suddenly understood: “Just now when I asked you to drink water, should I have said a few more words?”

Xie Wuchi: “You easily forget the relationship between you and me?”

Shi Shu couldn’t help laughing, hugging his waist: “Brother Xie, Brother Xie, sorry. Always forget for a moment; seeing a guy, I can’t think too much.”

Xie Wuchi didn’t speak, brushing away the green grass from his hair. Shi Shu was dazzled by the sun: “Didn’t expect we walked so far together, from the Eastern Capital to here, thousands of kilometers away. Is this the end of the world?”

“No. Cross this mountain, there is still further north.”

Shi Shu spoke lazily, heart warm: “I’m very happy we came to see these beautiful sceneries together—”

Xie Wuchi raised his brow slightly, leaning down, shadow falling instantly.

Shi Shu was startled, raising a hand to resist him: “What are you doing? They are behind, can see.”

“The grass above is high; can’t see.” Xie Wuchi, “I want to feel you.”

Shi Shu looked up; the grass was dense and long, obscuring the view. Xie Wuchi leaned down, kissing the corner of his lips lightly like a dragonfly skimming water, but the movement was extremely fast, gently licking his lips.

In an instant, everything returned to calm.

Shi Shu blinked, heart still palpitating: “Bro, we are real brothers now. If this deformed relationship is really discovered, what to do?”

“Then like heretics, be thrown into the fire and burned to death.”

“…”

Shi Shu stood up with a whoosh, thinking can’t stay here long. Staying longer, Xie Wuchi might drag him into outdoor activities. Hurriedly stood up: “Let’s go back?”

Xie Wuchi: “You’re in a hurry?”

Shi Shu: “…………”

Shi Shu made a gesture: “Xie Wuchi, as long as you’re happy, it’s OK.”

Then, Shi Shu ran in the green grass: “Going home, going home!”

“Also good,” Xie Wuchi said softly, “We still have a lot not tried.”

Support me on Ko-fi