IRBSC 93

Chapter 93

You have a lifetime to spend with me, but We don’t have that much time.

Gu Yuanbai breathed rapidly, a bit urgent and muffled in his gasps. Water vapor scattered, condensing into a round droplet on the tip of his nose.

Xue Yuan spoke so much, wanting to see Gu Yuanbai’s expression, but Gu Yuanbai covered half of his face, making it impossible to see any expression.

Xue Yuan thought, it’s fine this way. If he can’t see Gu Yuanbai’s expression, he can deceive himself into thinking that Gu Yuanbai likes him. If he sees a disgusted expression, that would be unbearable.

Eyes covered tightly, darkness surrounded, Gu Yuanbai opened his lifeless eyes, and feathers left an itchy trail on Xue Yuan’s palm.

Xue Yuan kissed Gu Yuanbai’s forehead, temples, and the water droplets on his nose, leaving kisses on his face.

Comforting the distracted Gu Yuanbai.

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Teeth clenched in the dark, his fingers exerting force until they turned pale.

After dressing Gu Yuanbai, Xue Yuan, still damp, lifted him up and walked past the two wolves, heading out calmly. He said, “You are too calm now, I’m at a disadvantage. When you can be emotional, we’ll talk.”

He patted Gu Yuanbai, “Sleep for a while.”

Gu Yuanbai closed his eyes, chuckled, “After the first time, there will indeed be a second time. In front of you, I’m not an emperor, nor your master.”

“You are my master,” Xue Yuan kissed his hair, “Master, stop being stubborn, get some sleep.”

His voice deep, Gu Yuanbai really felt tired, and as his consciousness drifted away, he thought, why does he always say he’ll sleep in front of Xue Yuan?

*

Xue Yuan carried Gu Yuanbai back to the room, carefully placing him on the bed.

Standing by the bed, he looked at Gu Yuanbai for a while before changing into dry clothes. When he returned, sitting on the edge of the bed, he continued to admire the sleeping emperor.

Dim light fell on him, dark circles under his eyes, stubble on his face. After fifteen days of relentless traveling day and night, even Xue Yuan, the proud son of heaven, looked disheveled now.

Xue Yuan originally didn’t care much about appearances because of his own handsome looks. But when he was about to see Gu Yuanbai, he couldn’t help but notice the skin.

After watching for a while, he didn’t know how long had passed. The person on the bed frowned, seeming uncomfortable.

Xue Yuan touched his face and then the cold hand held in his own. He sighed, climbed into bed, lifted the blanket, and lay down with Gu Yuanbai in his arms.

What should be done? It’s already warm at the hot spring villa, but if it’s in the severe winter, won’t it be uncomfortably cold?

Xue Yuan’s body was at its limit. Tomorrow, he would need to ride back, but for now, he could only gaze at Gu Yuanbai with eyes unwilling to close.

Just like sleeping is a waste of time, he couldn’t bear to sleep.

Gu Yuanbai felt the warmth. The furrowed brow relaxed as Xue Yuan placed his hands and feet in his embrace, warming them. In a hushed tone, he asked, “Is it comfortable?”

Gu Yuanbai breathed lightly, and Xue Yuan chuckled, implying, “If you have a palace concubine, who else could warm your hands and feet like this? At that time, you’ll be the one warming theirs, not good.”

Xue Yuan couldn’t stop talking. In the middle of the night, Gu Yuanbai woke up once and found him still talking. His already hoarse voice sounded even more unpleasant, but Gu Yuanbai, momentarily awake, mumbled, “Northern Frontier…”

“Northern Frontier is fine,” Xue Yuan said. “Rilian, beaten with bruises, went to find Xiwandan. But that cunning traitor , after this winter, Rilian’s subordinates will change their leader.”

“Xiwandan has a son,” Gu Yuanbai pointed out in a daze. “His son bears a grudge against Xiwandan’s top general, Wu Nan. Wu Nan has tried to secretly kill Xiwandan’s son several times.”

Xue Yuan: “I’ve noted it.”

Just as Gu Yuanbai was about to close his eyes to sleep again, he seemed to catch a whiff of a faint scent of blood. His brow twitched, “Did you run several horses to death?”

“Five horses,” Xue Yuan replied.

To reach the capital from the Northern Frontier at the fastest speed, it would still take a month. Gu Yuanbai remembered what Xue Yuan had said earlier—fifteen days. He rushed here in fifteen days. How did he manage it?

Everyone has a limit. Did he not sleep at all in those fifteen days?

The room fell silent for a while. Suddenly, Gu Yuanbai opened his eyes, got up, and for some reason, Xue Yuan also got up, but in the next moment, he was pressed against the bedhead by the emperor.

Gu Yuanbai pressed him, lightly patting his face with his hand. Casual words escaped his lips, “Xue Jiuyao, has the emperor entered your embrace?”

The candlelight in the room vanished, and in the darkness, Xue Yuan’s expression couldn’t be seen, but he chuckled, “Your Majesty, what are you planning to do to your subject?”

His face was patted repeatedly, somewhat humiliating but exciting.

Gu Yuanbai said casually, “Tell me again now, how did the emperor fall into your arms?”

Xue Yuan was extremely obedient. He smiled and said, “I am in your arms.”

Gu Yuanbai, indifferent, said, “We haven’t settled the matter of you secretly returning from the Northern Frontier.”

“I’ll leave tomorrow,” Xue Yuan said. “When I come back, Your Majesty can settle the score with me.”

“There are too many scores for His Majesty to settle with me,” Xue Yuan accurately found Gu Yuanbai’s hand in the darkness, playing with his fingers. “After the New Year, there will be a fierce battle. If I can come back from the battlefield, then Your Majesty can settle every fraction of a debt with me.”

Lies.

Gu Yuanbai thought, How can that be considered a fierce battle for you? You’re obviously pretending to be pitiful, using the tactic of feigning injury.

But Xue Yuan casually said this and then covered Gu Yuanbai’s eyes with his hand, saying, “Sleep, Your Majesty.”

He always accurately found Gu Yuanbai in the darkness, as if Gu Yuanbai emitted a light. Gu Yuanbai, however, couldn’t see him, only surrounded by darkness.

Gu Yuanbai patted the empty space beside him, unusually calm, and said, “Lie down and sleep.”

Xue Yuan lay down, instinctively holding Gu Yuanbai’s hands and feet. Gu Yuanbai sighed and suddenly laughed, “In the entire world, only you dare to hold me like this.”

Xue Yuan laughed, “Even the heavens dare not strike me, what else do I need to be cautious about?”

“What if the heavens do strike you?” Gu Yuanbai suddenly asked. But he regretted it right after asking, as he realized how dull and uninteresting the hypothetical question was.

Xue Yuan, leisurely, exerted force while holding Gu Yuanbai’s hands and feet, “If the heavens strike, they strike. I’ll be myself.”

“Is Your Majesty not angry anymore?” Xue Yuan asked.

“I get angry for what?” Gu Yuanbai said lazily, “If you dare to come back, it must be that the Northern Frontier  is already settled, and you have confidence. I enjoyed that matter before, all the benefits were taken by me. If I get angry again, what’s the point?”

Xue Yuan chuckled a few times, “You were quite angry before.”

“That was because of you. The rules can’t control you,” Gu Yuanbai said, “I’ve punished you many times, but you dare to do it again.”

In the dark night, bodies pressed together. Unable to see each other clearly, Gu Yuanbai suddenly felt confused, as if he had traveled through time back to the modern era. And as he lay on the bed, beside him was an equal soul.

The tone was light but relaxed.

“I don’t dare to do many things now,” Xue Yuan lifted Gu Yuanbai’s fingers and pecked them, “I don’t dare to hurt you, I don’t dare to scare you. Even when I want to touch you, rub your hand or foot, I’m afraid I might hurt you.”

Quite daring thoughts. Gu Yuanbai thought casually. He wasn’t afraid of anything, willing to do anything. Even though the chain was in Gu Yuanbai’s hands, was there still something Xue Yuan was afraid of?

He asked directly, “What are you afraid of?”

Xue Yuan fell silent, not saying a word for a long time. While waiting for this answer, Gu Yuanbai had already fallen asleep.

After who knows how long, the night outside the window gradually faded, and Xue Yuan took a short nap.

Not long after he woke up from his dream, sweating profusely, despite it being early winter morning, he looked as if he had been through a fierce battle, his face contorted.

Xue Yuan quickly turned to look at Gu Yuanbai, repeatedly checking his pulse and trying to feel his breath, doing this dozens of times before stabilizing his trembling hands from the chilling cold.

The hands that had killed countless people were now excited because of someone’s breath.

Xue Yuan was dumbfounded for a while, then got out of bed to put on shoes, preparing to leave. Before leaving, he couldn’t help but try to sense Gu Yuanbai’s breath again, placing his forehead against his, feeling his shallow breath. Only then did he feel that the heart in his throat had returned to his chest.

After kissing him, he whispered, “I’ll take you kite flying when I come back.”

Pausing for a moment, he added with a bitter smile, “Don’t get concubines while I’m away.”

*

The sunlight covered the ground.

Gu Yuanbai had a good night’s sleep, waking up from his dream to find Xue Yuan already gone.

The emperor was stunned for a moment, called a servant in and asked Tian Fusheng, “Where is Xue Yuan?”

Tian Fusheng was even more bewildered than the emperor, “When did Master Xue come back?”

Gu Yuanbai frowned, about to get out of bed, suddenly remembered something, raised his hand and lifted the blanket. On the bed, right where Gu Yuanbai lay, there were a few patches of bloodstains.

It wasn’t a dream.

He rushed back on the fifteenth day and several pieces of his flesh had already rotted away.