Chapter 32 Part 1

Gu Xiaodeng only returned to Vast Marsh Academy on the thirtieth day of the first month. He and Su Mingya hid away in the Bright Candle Room for an entire night and day, sleeping until the world spun around them before they finally got up. During the day, he simply curled up in Su Mingya’s arms, watching him write and read books, drowsy throughout. He held onto Su Mingya’s free left hand, silently diagnosing his pulse.

Su Mingya let him cling as he pleased. He skimmed through last year’s sub-ledgers from the Ministry of Revenue, occasionally freeing his right hand to give Gu Xiaodeng a squeeze. When Gu Xiaodeng yawned, he used the opportunity to reach out and feel his forearm, frowning slightly. “Why do you still have the look of a scar here?”

Gu Xiaodeng was like a piece of jade, with only one scar on his left arm—a scar left two years ago because of Yue Xunzhi. It was then that Su Mingya realized he had a constitution that did not heal easily. He had sourced the best wound medicine and applied it repeatedly, but could only watch helplessly as the bandages on that left arm slowly bloomed red with blood, time and again.

“Maybe it just doesn’t heal well.” Gu Xiaodeng withdrew his hand without explaining, sneezing instead. He lowered his head, silently glancing at the hand that had wormed its way into his clothes, then looked up at him innocently. “Young Master Su, you’re doing it again. It’s cold. Stop touching.”

As if scalded, Su Mingya immediately pulled back the hand that had unconsciously slipped into his clothes. He silently straightened his lapels, tucked him in properly, and held him securely, letting out a soft laugh. “Pampered little lamp.”

Gu Xiaodeng curled up in his arms, yawning continuously as he hummed, “That’s not true. Right now, if you asked me to carry buckets of night soil, I could haul them down a whole street just to show you.”

Su Mingya was speechless.

Gu Xiaodeng tapped on his left hand as if playing a zither, chatting drowsily. “Young Master Su’s embrace is much warmer now. Before, it was either icy cold or burning hot. It’s so good that you’re healthy now.”

Su Mingya gave a soft hum. “Is it nicer to hold?”

Gu Xiaodeng answered yes, and was promptly pinched and kissed all over. He was gradually angered to the point of breathlessness. No matter how many times they kissed, he would still pat Su Mingya to signal surrender. Su Mingya liked to kiss deeper and deeper, so Gu Xiaodeng had to proactively cooperate, loosening his jaw and letting him press down however he liked, yielding to his overbearing nature at times like this.

But now, as he felt Su Mingya’s pulse, a difficult-to-voice sentence turned over and over in his mind, yet wasn’t kissed back down into his stomach.

When Su Mingya released him, Gu Xiaodeng also let go of his left hand. He just lowered his head and hugged him tightly, his heart aching as he prepared to settle accounts. “Young Master Su, you are safe and healthy now…”

“Maybe we should just end things here”—those words stuck in his throat.

“Before, I always felt sick, like there was no tomorrow. Now, although I’m better, I also miss the quiet of being ill.” Su Mingya didn’t sense the surging emotions within Gu Xiaodeng. He simply held him in turn, stroking him gently from head to toe. “This year, I’ll be running around everywhere. I’m afraid I won’t be able to stay at the academy often. Xiaodeng, if anything about me isn’t good, don’t be angry with me. Don’t give me the cold shoulder. Come often to the Bamboo Courtyard and here to wait for me, alright?”

Gu Xiaodeng was stunned for a moment, momentarily casting his own concerns to the back of his mind. He asked worriedly, “Do you need to travel outside? Like Jinyu, who runs around everywhere, going in circles between Outer States and foreign cities, rising earlier than chickens and sleeping later than dogs, always sleeping rough and eating in the wind.”

The flowing gentleness around Su Mingya froze at this moment. To this day, his subtle hostility towards Gu Jinyu had not diminished; it was almost escalating into open disgust.

The Su family behind him had stood firmly with the Eastern Palace for generations. Even with Noble Consort Su and the Fourth Princess in this generation, the Su family still staunchly supported the Crown Princess, not hesitating to sever ties with the Second Prince early on. Gu Jinyu of this generation had almost eclipsed the usefulness of the Su family’s reach. Fortunately, the Prince Zhenbei, Gu Yan, remained unwaveringly neutral. Otherwise, the Su family would truly be surpassed by the Gu family.

The Su family also maintained a harmonious, cooperative relationship with the Yue family on the maternal side of the Crown Princess. Even though the Yue family had many incompetents, they did their best to support them.

Because of this, Su Mingya could even control Guan Yunji, but it was inconvenient to have an open feud with that bastard surnamed Yue.

Two years ago, that scoundrel Yue Xunzhi had brazenly bullied Gu Xiaodeng—half out of lust for his looks, half as a deliberate provocation. Su Mingya could only swallow his bitter anger.

Because the Ge family was close to the Second Prince’s faction, Ge Dongchen openly flaunted his discord with the Crown Princess’s faction. Only then could he justifiably beat Yue Xunzhi in the military camp. Yet even so, he could only teach him a lesson of flesh and pain through mutual injury.

That broken left arm of Yue Xunzhi was actually snapped by Gu Jinyu. Gu Jinyu had the confidence not to care about the Yue family. The fewer concerns he had at the Eastern Palace, the higher his favor stood.

What Su Mingya found even more detestable in this matter was that Gu Jinyu had privately and blatantly revealed his intentions to him: he was still eyeing Gu Xiaodeng like a tiger watching its prey.

This natural, formidable rival was infuriating.

However, this disgust was diluted by the prize in Su Mingya’s arms.

Gu Xiaodeng could hardly perceive the complex, subtle male rivalry between them. He simply compared memories in his mind, meticulously recounting the growth milestones that these people themselves didn’t care about. “And Brother Dongchen, too. Last year, he ran off to the south for over two months. When he came back, he was darker and taller, suddenly becoming a big lump. He also nearly broke his leg back then, coming back looking completely miserable.”

At the mention of Ge Dongchen, Su Mingya really couldn’t hold back. There might be nothing similar between him and Gu Jinyu, but they certainly had one thing in common: both hated this Ge bastard, only unable to act out of respect for his father’s face.

He had possessed Gu Xiaodeng for four years now. Even Gu Jinyu weighed his limits and didn’t excessively provoke him, at most just darkly watching from the shadows. But Ge Dongchen seemed to have no bottom line whatsoever, seizing any opportunity to silently toy with Gu Xiaodeng, as if he had Cao Cao’s peculiar fetish.

And this dull, foolish little Gu Xiaodeng still called him a rare friend with every breath. At first, Su Mingya only found his obliviousness amusing and interesting. But as his possessiveness over him grew higher over these two years, the discomfort became heavier.

He couldn’t tell Gu Xiaodeng face-to-face about those times Ge Dongchen toyed with him. He couldn’t let Gu Xiaodeng realize that half of his past “protection” was actually “cover.” So he could only repeatedly and implicitly warn him to stay away from the one surnamed Ge.

“Young Master Su, you won’t need to travel and run around to the far corners of the world like them, will you?”

Su Mingya lowered his head to meet his worried, anxious eyes. His pent-up frustration faded again and again. “It’s nothing. You don’t need to worry about me like this. My work is mostly within Changluo.”

Gu Xiaodeng sighed. “Changluo is plenty big too! It’s full of cunning people. You’ll surely have to scheme and calculate along with everyone else. Let me go back and research a prescription to clear your heart and give you good dreams.”

“Does Xiaodeng really want to become a physician?” Su Mingya chuckled softly. “Fine then, do as you please. It’s good to be my personal physician alone.”

Gu Xiaodeng looked at him very seriously. “No matter what happens later, at least for now, you are my first patient. Before, you were a Sick Beauty; now, you’re a Safe and Sound Beauty.”

Su Mingya felt a stir in his heart. He cupped his face and said in a low voice, “I only have one event this year that requires traveling outside the city—the Winter Hunt in December. Xiaodeng, at that time, will you still be by my side like you are now? I’ll take you riding on a horse, watching the stars all over the mountains and plains.”

Gu Xiaodeng’s little heart trembled. He only caught one thing. “Outside the city… we’re going outside the city?!”

“Yes, to Baiyong Mountain outside the city for the Winter Hunt. Do you want to go outside and play? Just follow me. Wherever you want to go, I’ll take you.”

Gu Xiaodeng could hardly withstand such a huge temptation. Even though it was only the beginning of spring, he was already full of anticipation. “Wow, I haven’t set foot outside Changluo City in five years. Not just outside the city—even the number of times I’ve left the Prince’s mansion is few… Can Young Master Su really take me out to play?”

Gu Xiaodeng blossomed brilliant at the slightest ray of sunshine, was overjoyed and ready to bite at the sight of any pie. He suddenly didn’t want to part from his powerful and influential Young Master Su.

He couldn’t help but hug Su Mingya tightly, chin poking against his chest as he tilted his face up, looking at him with shining eyes, afraid he might go back on his word. He nervously rambled. “You said it first, so you have to take me out. I only saw Baiyong Mountain from afar five years ago when I entered the city. I heard from Jinyu that it’s the imperial hunting park, managed by your Su family for the royal clan. Jinyu, when he was very young, carried a bow and arrow into the mountains to participate in the Winter Hunt. But I’m different from him. I have no scholarly honor or proper status, disliked everywhere. The Gu family has always been unwilling to let me go out. These past few years, there were spring hunts and autumn hunts, and I wasn’t qualified to go to any of them. Jinyu said he could take me later, but he has too much on his plate. I don’t dare to trouble him. You…”

As if ice water had melted in his heart, Su Mingya could not resist. He picked him up and promised again and again, “I will definitely take you out. Don’t worry about the Prince Zhenbei and the Princess Consort. I will persuade them for you.”

In an instant, Gu Xiaodeng was as radiant as if bathed in vast sunlight. When Su Mingya wanted to lower his head and kiss him, Gu Xiaodeng just hugged him like a little calf, with such force that he knocked him to the ground. He lay sprawled on top of him, laughing out loud with sheer joy.

Su Mingya was speechless.

Still his adorable, lovely little friend.

Gu Xiaodeng returned to Vast Marsh Academy at dusk. He excitedly sprinted to the front of the little doghouse, picking up the black-and-white puppy wagging its tail with yelps, raising it high. He was so happy the corners of his mouth nearly flew to his temples.

Seeing him so elated, Feng’en and Feng Huan exchanged glances, both sighing in relief.

When he was happy, the other young masters were also at peace. Otherwise, they were terrifying, one by one.

Feng’en turned to prepare his things for resuming classes the next day, while Feng Huan followed him with his eyes, watching him spin around holding the puppy. Soon, he wanted to hand-feed the little dog, anxious to push his “chick” even before he himself had dinner.

“Xiao Pei, go, go! Eat more, grow up fast. Uncle will take you outside the city in winter.” Gu Xiaodeng kept adding food to the puppy’s bowl, murmuring as he shared his joy. “When the time comes, I’ll ride my short pony, Little Run. You and Little Run can gallop freely in the snowy plains, and come back when you’re cold…”