Chapter 37: Falling into the Water Part 3

Ge Dongchen reluctantly nuzzled the side of Gu Xiaodeng’s neck with his nose, his voice hoarse. “Fine… Then you let go of his hands first. You let go, and I’ll let go too.”

In the end, neither of them let go.

Gu Xiaodeng’s mind was a muddled mess. Fragments of past subtle encounters played back in his head frame by frame. Stiff and cold like a puppet, he didn’t dare breathe loudly, didn’t dare move his body, until a set of somewhat heavy footsteps sounded in the distance. Only then did the two reluctantly release him, laying him flat on the soft bed like a doll.

He heard them salute the approaching footsteps. They called him Second Prince.

“Rise. Thank you for your hard work, my two pillars of the state. To actually have to help me steal a person tonight.” The newcomer’s voice was very pleasant, but its tone and the amusement within it sent chills down Gu Xiaodeng’s spine.

Neither Ge Dongchen nor Guan Yunji spoke. The person strolled right up to him, an overwhelming sense of pressure bearing down intensely. Gu Xiaodeng’s ten fingers began to tremble.

“Mm… This little fellow is awake, I see.”

Guan Yunji had just opened his mouth to say “Impossible,” when Gu Xiaodeng was hauled up and his blindfold removed.

Bright candlelight pierced his eyes. The moment he opened them, Gu Xiaodeng couldn’t help the tears from falling. The earlobe adorned with paired ear beads was kneaded heavily by a large hand. Terrified, he lifted his head, instinctively avoiding looking at the black-clad young man before him. Instead, his gaze first swept over the pale faces of Guan Yunji and Ge Dongchen nearby.

He didn’t understand how he ended up in this strange, large camp tent. He wanted to open his mouth to cry for help, but the moment he saw Ge Dongchen, he remembered being kissed by him just moments before. A wave of nausea he couldn’t suppress rose in his chest. He turned his head and retched towards the side of the bed.

“What’s going on? What kind of reaction is this? I haven’t even done anything to you yet. What, are you having morning sickness, carrying someone else’s seed?” The low, laughing voice belonged to the young man who dragged him and pressed him back onto the bed. Only then did Gu Xiaodeng face the person before him squarely.

Predictably handsome. Predictably sinister.

Gu Xiaodeng’s tears flowed freely, fear and hatred mingling. “Second Prince Gao Mingqian…”

“It seems you’re quite familiar with me.” Gao Mingqian laughed. He pinched the face, washed clean of its disguise, and scrutinized it. When he looked down, there was a chilling coldness in his eyes. “But it’s my first time seeing you, this little rarity. Truly beautiful. The shape of your eyes is quite similar to Ruhui’s, but the look in them is not.”

Laughing as he spoke, Gao Mingqian knelt and pressed his knee onto Xiaodeng’s abdomen. With a little force, Gu Xiaodeng felt as if his stomach was about to be crushed and let out a miserable cry.

He thrashed his limbs, trying to struggle free, but the disparity in size and strength between him and Gao Mingqian was too vast. His wildly kicking legs were caught instead, held and pressed against his side.

Gu Xiaodeng was even more terrified. His eyes turned into springs, tears gushing uncontrollably. “Don’t touch me!”

“I’ll touch.” Gao Mingqian wiped the tears on Xiaodeng’s face with a somewhat disdainful laugh. “So fragile, not like a youth at all. Crying like this when nothing’s even been done. And your belly isn’t even carrying anything—did pressing down on it really hurt that much? So delicate.”

Gu Xiaodeng cried in helpless terror, his lower abdomen and legs trembling under the pressure, almost cramping. Driven by a strange instinct, he frantically rummaged in his bosom, finally pulling out the piece of Blood Jade Gu Ruhui had given him. “Jade… Jade!”

Gao Mingqian’s expression went blank for an instant. Carefully, he took the Blood Jade, his fingers caressing it seven or eight times before he came back to his senses. “Ruhui, oh Ruhui… Truly, there’s no dealing with you.”

He pressed the Blood Jade to his lips for a kiss, then carefully tucked it into his own bosom. Grabbing the collar of Gu Xiaodeng’s clothes, he lifted him up, holding him in his arms and patting him intermittently. “Alright, alright, stop crying. I won’t do anything to you tonight. We’ll see how things go before I grace you, alright?”

Gu Xiaodeng was still terrified and uncertain, his vision blurred from crying. The patting from Gao Mingqian only made him want to vomit more.

Gao Mingqian lowered his head, pinching Xiaodeng’s face and giving it a shake. “How about this: For your Second Elder Sister’s sake, I’ll give you a chance. Tonight, you can go seek out anyone. If that person is willing to take you in, I, the Prince, will let you go, and you won’t have to be my Servant Concubine.”

Gu Xiaodeng’s tears slowly subsided, but he was still sobbing too hard to catch his breath properly. Gao Mingqian held him and turned him around, letting him see the two “friends” who had not yet left. “For example, you can go to my cousin Yunji, or my promising subordinate Dongchen. They both like you very much. If you just ask them, I’m sure they’d be more than happy to take this little morsel off my hands.”

Gu Xiaodeng didn’t even want to look at those two. He closed his eyes, turned his head, and slumped to the foot of the bed, bent over and retching uncontrollably.

Gao Mingqian seemed amused by him. “I almost forgot. Word on the street says it’s Su Mingya you’ve been tumbling in bed with. Do you want to find him? You can. I’d be perfectly happy to accompany you.”

Gu Xiaodeng retched for a good while, so suffocated that he clawed at his collar as he crawled back. Gao Mingqian had put a pair of indecent-looking Ankle Shackles on him earlier, but he was too distraught to even notice. All he knew was to grab Gao Mingqian with his red-rimmed eyes and press him for answers.

“Let me ask you… Let me ask you… Five years ago, on the fourth day of August, it was Second Elder Sister’s and Third Brother’s Birthday. You came to the Gu Family. You attended their Birthday banquet. That night, the fourth… Gu Jinyu told me… You ran into my brother on the road, and you hit my brother. What state was my brother in after you hit him? Tell me…”

Gao Mingqian blinked, then looked down at him with an innocent, smiling face. “For no good reason, don’t wrongly accuse me. Every year at your Second Elder Sister’s birthday, I’m perfectly behaved. I’m careful to avoid even stepping on an ant. Why would I hit your brother for no reason?”

As he spoke, he poked Gu Xiaodeng’s head seriously yet frivolously. “What a stupid brain you have. You believe whatever Gu Jinyu tells you? Still can’t see it? He lied to you, ages ago. Me? I wouldn’t bother lying to a fool like you.”

Gu Xiaodeng was poked until tears fell again. Summoning a burst of strength from somewhere unknown, he shoved him away and rolled off the bed, scrambling on all fours.

Ge Dongchen, quick-eyed and fast-handed, caught him in an embrace, trembling as he called, “Gu Xiaodeng!”

Gu Xiaodeng pushed his hands away as if burned. “Get lost!”

“Kids will be kids, always making a fuss.” Gao Mingqian straightened his collar and climbed off the bed, walking over to haul Gu Xiaodeng up. “Want to find your Young Master Su? Sure, no problem at all. I’ll go with you. Let’s go.”

Gu Xiaodeng ran outside, barefoot, shackled, stumbling. Gao Mingqian hauled him straight towards the Su Family’s camp, signaling all the night watch guards to remain silent along the way.

Gu Xiaodeng didn’t feel the cold, didn’t feel humiliation. He only felt an unprecedented chaos, as if everyone around him was deceiving him, toying with him.

He had only a single spider silk thread left. This spider silk had held him so gently these past days, kissed him. Right now, he should be at that person’s side, not in Gao Mingqian’s hands.

Was it the Gu Family, or the Su Family, who delivered him into Gao Mingqian’s hands?

In a trance, pondering this, Gao Mingqian had already dragged him outside Su Mingya’s tent, telling him to listen to the cheerful chatter of the noble young masters inside.

Gu Xiaodeng pricked up his ears. The world was still, only his heartbeat and the conversation just a curtain away were clearly discernible.

Yue Xunzhi was speaking in a lewd, dissolute manner: “Mingya, you’ve been so close with that Gu Shanqing. Have you tasted him? Is he better than the male prostitutes at the Spring Breeze Pavilion?”

“He doesn’t compare. He falls short in every way. Not perceptive enough, his voice isn’t pleasing enough, his waist isn’t soft enough.”

“Really, now? How about this: When Mingya gets tired of playing with him, pass him to me to have some fun with, alright?”

Gu Xiaodeng heard Su Mingya’s reply: “Whatever you like.”

The spider silk thread that had held his heartstrings snapped. His mind went silent. Uncontrollably, his body knocked away Gao Mingqian’s hand. Turning around, barefoot, he fled in a panic.

Could this be just a dream? If he ran fast enough, could he run out of this dream?

Gao Mingqian signaled for those nearby to be quiet, just letting him run out like that.

Only after the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn did he summon Guan Yunji and Ge Dongchen to bring their horses.

“The best time to hunt prey is when it’s cornered with no escape. Let’s go. Now we can start our night hunt.”

Guards brought Ge Dongchen’s thousand-li horse, South Gaze, and Guan Yunji’s Ferghana horse. The two men were so panicked they couldn’t get their feet steady in the stirrups, and when they saw Gao Mingqian approaching with a bow and wooden arrows, all color drained from their faces.

“Second Prince…”

“Cousin!”

Gao Mingqian signaled for silence. “Shh. Let’s go. Quietly now.”

The night was deep. This line of riders slowly trotted out of the camp. Soon, Ge Dongchen and Guan Yunji both saw a tiny figure on the vast plain.

Gao Mingqian swiftly took down his bow and shot an arrow with no warning.

Ge Dongchen’s and Guan Yunji’s hearts stopped for an instant.

That arrow missed. Guan Yunji couldn’t take it anymore. His voice breaking into sobs, he pleaded with Gao Mingqian, from “Cousin” to “Second Prince.” Laughing, Gao Mingqian patted his bow. “A young kid, sturdy, can take some rough play. What’s wrong with me playing a little?”

Ge Dongchen shouted “Prince!” wanting to snatch his bow away, but couldn’t make it in time. He could only watch helplessly as Gao Mingqian’s second arrow flew out, grazing past Gu Xiaodeng’s hair bun.

There was still quite a distance between them, but a fierce wind whipped up Gu Xiaodeng’s long hair. A few severed strands flew whistling towards them, landing precisely in front of Ge Dongchen.

He had just reached out to take the Severed Hair that had blown into his face, obscuring his vision, when he heard Gao Mingqian’s laughter beside him.

“He fell into that little pond.”

Ge Dongchen’s mind went completely blank.

“Go fish him out. It’s freezing cold. Poor thing.”

At this moment, the long night was thick with frost. Gu Jinyu, half his body covered in frost, raised his bow within the dense forest. The arrow was aimed at a Mechanism he had set long ago. He had used this same bow here before. Back then, after drawing the bow, he had gained the Gu Family’s regard surpassing that of Gu Pinghan. Drawing the bow now, he might gain an even greater reward, or he might suffer a complete defeat.

The instant after he released the bowstring, it was as if an invisible arrow had flown from afar and pierced his heart. The agonizing pain brought him to his knees in the snow.

Gu Jinyu endured it until cold sweat beaded on his back, thinking it was an old wound acting up. He grabbed a handful of snow and pressed it to his face. As he struggled to his feet, he looked down the mountain and saw a place where an unusually brilliant candlelight had flared up.

When he fell into the water, Gu Xiaodeng felt a long-lost, strange sense of security. Although the water was a bit cold, he still felt like he was back in some vague, blurry childhood time, soaking in a water vat, with water weeds swaying, the world small and narrow, yet containing everything.

Gu Xiaodeng instinctively held his breath and tried to swim upwards, wanting to break the surface. But somehow, when the water’s surface was within arm’s reach, he struggled to keep holding his breath, and fear and sorrow sank back into silence with the darkness.

He thought: “Forget it… I’ll just soak a while longer.”

He truly wished he would wake up and find this life was just a patchwork, fleeting dream. Perhaps he was still soaking in a water vat, waiting with his old man and big brother to board a wagon, wheels rolling, as they passed through streets and alleys, over a thousand mountains, across ten thousand rivers.