Chapter 21 Part 1

Gu Xiaodeng didn’t leave Su Mingya’s courtyard until noon. Brimming with the warmth he’d absorbed, he drifted back to his own quarters in a daze. On the way, Feng’en said something to him, but not much of it registered. Instead, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell me about the Heir and Fourth Young Master Jinyu?”

Feng’en smiled faintly. “Those matters didn’t seem to have any bearing on you.”

“Honestly.”

Gu Xiaodeng muttered a few more words and started counting his steps as he walked. By the time he reached two hundred, a soft sigh welled up in his chest.

Not only was he housed far from Su Mingya, but his knowledge and learning were equally distant. Still, he wanted to get a little closer to this elegant, delicate beauty.

Unlike the capricious Gu Jinyu, whose temperament ran hot and cold, Su Mingya was a steady warmth.

Gu Xiaodeng clenched his fist, determined to thicken his skin and seek out Su Mingya again the very next day.

But when the next day came, all of Vast Marsh Academy was abustle. A swarm of young noblemen, ranging in age from twelve to sixteen, began filing into the Student Courtyard. Gu Xiaodeng, like a lonely puppy long starved of company and suddenly afflicted with a craving for people, gleefully set out to befriend every one of them.

This, he mused, was what you called setting aside a single leaf and plunging into an entire forest.

In just one morning, he’d gotten to know all his new peers. At first meeting, every young nobleman was amiable and polite—all except Guan Yunji.

Guan Yunji had arrived the previous evening. This young master could chat and laugh before a select few, but toward those whose family standing fell beneath his own, he remained cold, haughty, and scornful.

Having circled through his new companions, Gu Xiaodeng eventually arrived outside Guan Yunji’s door. Gu Jinyu hovered on his mind, so he stepped forward and asked the young page stationed there, “Hello, I’m Gu Shanqing of the Gu family. Is Young Master Guan in?”

Before he’d introduced himself, the page’s gaze had held a measure of respect and admiration. Once he gave his name, the page’s expression went still as well water. “You must be Young Master Gu the Cousin? Forgive me, but my young master instructed me upon entering the academy not to associate with you. He claimed your birth signs clash with his… So he’s not here right now. I must ask your pardon.”

Far from taking offense, Gu Xiaodeng was thoroughly amused. Now certain Guan Yunji was inside, he purposely raised his voice near the doorway. “Is that so? What a shame! I originally planned to chat with Young Master Guan about how to raise a Gyrfalcon! Since he’s not in, I’ll be on my way.”

With that, he turned and walked off, a sly grin on his face. He hadn’t gotten far before he heard the page scrambling after him, flustered and stammering apologies, pleading with him to come back and talk.

Gu Xiaodeng feigned solemn indifference and nodded. When he finally stepped into Guan Yunji’s room and saw the dark, sour look on the young man’s face, he couldn’t help but burst out laughing. He bowed. “Young Master Guan, there you are.”

“Forget it. Get lost.”

“Ah, but I can’t do that.” Gu Xiaodeng was laughing inwardly like mad. He immediately lifted his robe, trotted over, and sat down across the table. “It was Young Master Guan who invited his little brother here to sit. How can you go back on your word now? That’s hardly proper gentlemanly conduct.”

Guan Yunji couldn’t bear to lose face and glared at him. “What’s this ‘little brother’ nonsense? What standing do you have?”

Seeing him swallow his pride only made Gu Xiaodeng more amused. “We’re all classmates now, aren’t we? You’re a year older than me, so you’re a worthy elder brother, and I’m your foolish younger brother. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”

Guan Yunji looked like he’d just bitten his tongue. Gu Xiaodeng thought how easy it was to rile him up, and before he could explode with embarrassment and anger, quickly threw him a lifeline. “Doesn’t Young Master Guan want to know how to get on the good side of Blossom Ashes?”

“…”

Gu Xiaodeng knew he must truly love Blossom Ashes. The way Guan had coveted the bird during their last encounter had been obvious. So Gu Xiaodeng leaned in and started spinning a yarn, describing how Blossom Ashes usually got close and affectionate with him. Guan Yunji’s expression shifted several times before he finally cleared his throat and asked, “How did you manage it?”

Gu Xiaodeng replied with utter gravity, “With sincerity.”

Guan Yunji was unsatisfied and grew stubborn. “I like it too. I’ve been visiting Jinyu since we were small, and I’ve seen Blossom Ashes far more times than you have. It lets you hold it; why can’t it even bear my touch?”

Gu Xiaodeng thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s because you’re too overbearing? You want to conquer it. I just treat it like a chicken with big claws. It’s got a lot of spirit. It already knows it’s been tamed by Fourth Young Master, that it has a master. Why would it need to find another master for itself?”

Guan Yunji was briefly stunned, finding so many absurd points in that statement he didn’t know where to begin. Gu Xiaodeng treated the Gyrfalcon as both a pet and practically half a person. But no matter what, it was still just livestock—only one that was both rare and useful.

Gu Xiaodeng’s real reason for chatting about Blossom Ashes was to ask after Gu Jinyu. “Young Master Guan, since you’re so close with Fourth Young Master Jinyu, I heard he went to the Outer State. Do you know when he’ll be home?”

Guan Yunji immediately frowned. “Why are you asking?”

Gu Xiaodeng spread his hands. “I miss him. He was my very first friend in the Gu family. When I heard he’d gone far away, I missed him. He told me himself that you two have a deep friendship, and he asked me to get along with you. So here I am.”

Guan Yunji inwardly cursed, Gu the Fourth, I’m truly grateful. You sure have a knack for tormenting me. Aloud, he said irritably, “Forget it. Just stay away from me. Our birth signs clash.”

Gu Xiaodeng beamed. “Then just tell me how Fourth Young Master is doing. Once I hear, my mind will be at ease, and I won’t pester you any more.”

Guan Yunji glanced at him. He admitted Gu Xiaodeng’s smile was genuinely pleasant to look at, but that only made him dislike the boy more. “In any case, he’ll be back at the latest for his birthday in mid-May. He’ll return to Changluo by then naturally. All right, get lost.”

Mid-May was indeed Gu Jinyu’s birthday—because it was Gu Xiaodeng’s as well.

The good mood Gu Xiaodeng had been riding for two days deflated at this news. He heaved a sigh. “That’s still three months away…”

Guan Yunji didn’t even look at him. “Still not leaving? Must I have someone throw you out?”

“Fine, fine, I’m going, I’m going. Thank you for telling me.” Gu Xiaodeng grinned. “But Young Master Guan, don’t you go around saying our birth signs aren’t compatible again. Because my birth signs are very, very close to Jinyu’s. If you use that excuse, it doesn’t quite add up. Makes no sense that you see eye-to-eye with him, but with me you’re cross-eyed, right?”

He demonstrated to Guan Yunji exactly what a cross-eyed face looked like. The moment he finished, he bolted, leaving Guan Yunji in complete disarray.

Young Master Guan rubbed his eyes as if they’d been injured, then called for a page. “Come here.”

“Young Master?”

Guan Yunji frowned. “Can you go cross-eyed?”

The page stammered an affirmation and, placing an index finger before his brow, quickly demonstrated the trick.

Guan Yunji’s frown deepened and he said it was an eyesore, shooing the man away with a wave. The page withdrew with a tight, rueful smile, utterly speechless.

Guan Yunji had been reading, but once the servant was gone, he picked up his noble book again. Yet he could no longer concentrate. The characters on the page twisted and writhed, assembling into the image of Gu Xiaodeng’s small, rosy-white face. Those brilliant eyes, the fleeting moment he’d played cross-eyed, inexplicably overflowed with springtime allure.

Guan Yunji endured and endured, then finally slammed the book down on the desk, beside himself with rage.

His father was notorious all across Changluo as an old lecher. The mansion saw one batch of beautiful concubines after another carried in. Beauty ran rampant in his home, and the various seductive wiles of the lowly were grotesquely diverse. From the time he could remember, watching his mother’s tears, Guan Yunji had resolved never to become the sort of scoundrel blinded by common tawdriness.

What was happening to him now?

The only explanation was that Gu Xiaodeng was no good thing.

By noon, just as he was about to have lunch, Ge Dongchen showed up alone to mooch a meal.

“Young Master Guan, spare me a bowl and chopsticks, won’t you?” Ge Dongchen plopped down casually right in the spot Gu Xiaodeng had occupied, and rapped his knuckles on the table edge, his roguishly handsome smile asking for a punch. “This beggar has come to cadge autumn provisions.”

Unfazed, Guan Yunji ordered a servant to add a setting. Ge Dongchen’s family problems were likewise indescribably tangled; the whole business with his mother from the Southern Border was enough to make him a misfit inside and out. The two of them could be counted as fellow wretches at the ends of the earth. Yet, watching Ge Dongchen sit there now, Guan Yunji couldn’t help thinking how lanky and imposing he looked, so unlike the small figure Gu Xiaodeng had cut across the table.

“I’ve begged meals from plenty of families, but the Gu family’s cooking is still the best.” Ge Dongchen picked up his bowl and wolfed down a meal, sweeping the nearest dishes clean like a bandit. Arrive late, eat fast, get full quick.

After finishing, the two moved over to the desk. Gazing out at the February springtime, they sighed in unison. “The Gu family really does have it comfortable.”

Guan Yunji once again cursed not being born at the right time. “Why couldn’t I have been born into the Gu family?”

“Exactly. If my surname were Gu, I’d be the best good son without a word. Dad tells me to fight up at the Northern Border, I grab my sword and go without a word.” Ge Dongchen laughed. “I just can’t figure what the Gu Heir is thinking. Having a good father so devoted to the country, and a good mother so devoted to the family—why insist on opposing them?”

“Right, Jinyu knows his blessings and cherishes them.” Guan Yunji chimed in and somehow circled back to that little nuisance. “The Gu family is leagues more upright than other families, but why they had to lose their sense and keep a Gu Xiaodeng, I’ve no idea. Just seeing him makes my blood boil.”

“He’s Gu Shanqing now.” Ge Dongchen chuckled. “His skin’s gotten fairer, his name more pleasant to the ear. Only that silly, blissful energy hasn’t been scoured clean. You’re too lofty to go out; he’s cheap enough to visit everyone. In one morning, he’s ingratiated himself with everyone worth ingratiating. On my way here, I heard sons of a few military officers, third or fourth rank, discussing him. You’d think they were appraising the top star in a brothel.”

“Your tongue is vicious.” Guan Yunji always marveled at Ge Dongchen’s verbal skill, but he didn’t refute him. “He is good at ingratiating himself. He even ran over here this morning. When I shut the door in his face, he tried every trick and still got in.”

Ge Dongchen laughed even harder. “Everyone got kowtowed to—except Su Mingya and me. That’s favoritism plain as day. Why? At first, he was really warm toward me. Now he’d rather come here and get your cold shoulder than come to me for a hot meal. I truly can’t figure it.”

Guan Yunji gloated, his mood abruptly improving.

“You ought to know, your Guan family holds a grudge against the An family. He’s had time to be schooled by the Princess Consort—how does he not know about that…”

“Dongchen!”

Guan Yunji’s face darkened alarmingly. Ge Dongchen, likewise catching himself, smiled and lightly slapped his own cheek. “Sorry, my mouth ran loose. Don’t worry, I’m only off-guard in front of you. In front of outsiders, I keep my lips sealed tight. Which gossip to tell, which forbidden secrets to avoid, I know where the lines are.”

Guan Yunji’s anger didn’t subside. He was furious that Ge Dongchen had casually brought up his family’s private matters, and also ashamed of his family’s old stains. He warned, “You’d better know the lines! The Guan family is now on good terms with the Gu family and peacefully allied with the An family. That’s the current Emperor’s decree!”