Chapter 33: Li You Hugged a Ball of Fire Part 2

Li You pushed himself up, supported himself against the wall, and laboriously dragged his leaden legs.

His head hurt terribly, too much to think much. He puzzled over why he could not walk. He stumbled to the door, reached for the handle, but slipped and fell.

The noise outside quieted. Footsteps approached, then stopped abruptly before gradually receding again.

Li You raised his head and opened his mouth, but his parched throat still made no sound.

He heard his brother’s footsteps fading farther away, growing too faint to catch, and he still could not make a sound. He reached up, clutched his own throat, his eyes bloodshot, body trembling uncontrollably.

Enduring the discomfort and pain racking his body, he mustered all his strength to stand, opened the door, gazed at the figure vanishing into the depths of the passage, and squeezed a trembling sound from his throat.

“Bro…”

Deep in the passage, Li Ye’s footsteps halted instantly. He turned back and saw the disheveled boy collapsed bonelessly on the ground. His breathing tightened abruptly as he rushed forward and scooped the person into his arms.

Li You was enveloped in a warm, familiar aura. He closed his eyes, rested his head against Li Ye, his breathing disordered, unable to say another word.

Li Ye clung to his last shred of clarity as his vision gradually clouded with red mist. In the instant before he could no longer see Li You clearly, he drew the short knife from his body and slashed across his leg. The pain sharpened his awareness somewhat.

He scooped Li You up horizontally, returned to the room, but found the bed wet. So he quickly carried the person to another room, wrapped Li You in the bedding, and held him tightly in his arms.

Li You’s face was very cold, cooler than his own body temperature, but his breaths were frighteningly hot.

Ten years apart, the two who embraced after so long, at this moment in this unfamiliar place, both slowly sank into confusion.

Li Ye buried his face deeply in the side of Li You’s neck, his pupils contracting into slits countless times before he forced himself to calm again. He suppressed the “monster” roaring inside him, his eyes red as he softly called, “Youyou…”

“Bro, you’ve never called me Youyou before.”

The young Li You stood outside the bedroom with his hands behind his back. Li Ye, accompanying him in standing punishment, turned his face sideways for a glance before looking straight ahead again.

“Call me Youyou once.” Li You’s bright, sparkling eyes looked expectantly at Li Ye. “I’ll treat you to a little cake today.”

“No interest.” Li Ye checked the time and reminded him, “Stand properly. Father is watching this way.”

The fidgety Li You immediately stood ramrod straight, staring firmly ahead, but still puffed his cheeks and muttered, “Are you tricking me?”

“Yeah, tricking you.”

“You jerk! You really tricked me?!” Li You instantly bristled like a puffed-up hedgehog, glaring furiously at Li Ye and landing a punch on his shoulder. “And here I trusted you so much! Stinky Li Ye!”

Li Ye turned sideways, lightly raised a hand to catch Li You’s fist, enveloping it completely with one hand while tapping his forehead lightly twice with the other. “No manners. Call me brother.”

Li You withdrew his hand to cover his touched forehead, his heart itching. He muttered softly, “But you’ve never called me Youyou.”

Li Ye released his hand and checked the time again. “Punishment over. Let’s go back.”

“Aw.” Li You hurriedly trotted after him, circling around Li Ye’s side, blinking up at his face. “Brother.”

Li Ye looked at him. “Hm?”

“Do you think calling Youyou is awkward?” Li You asked.

Li Ye fell silent for a few seconds, averted his gaze, and no longer looked at those beautiful eyes. “No.”

“Then why won’t you call me by my little name?” Li You asked sincerely. “I’ve never heard you call me Youyou.”

Li Ye offered no explanation, only said, “It’s not that I won’t.”

It’s not that I won’t.

To him, Youyou was the most intimate form of address. He had long buried those emotions that should not have sprouted deep in his heart, afraid that one day they would slip out and make him lose control.

Li You blinked his eyes. He saw a pair of beautiful horns like red gems. His eyeballs moved sluggishly, and he pressed his face closer, his eyelashes fluttering lightly.

He heard it.

He heard Li Ye call him by his little name.

In his daze, Li You felt his neck grow a little wet. He swallowed repeatedly and finally recovered his voice, cupping Li Ye’s face in both hands, his fingertips rubbing the corners of the other’s eyes.

“Brother…”

“Don’t cry.”

Li Ye’s wooden gaze was bloodshot. Feeling the warmth of Li You’s fingertips, he belatedly realized his own eyes had long filled with tears.

Li You’s breathing was a mess. He had underestimated the abnormality in his body. It felt strange, like a seed taking root and sprouting inside, about to bloom and bear fruit, but the process dragged on unusually slowly, as if waiting for something.

Li You could not figure it out. His consciousness alternated between clear and muddled. In a haze, he seemed to return to many years ago, to a certain day in the back garden of the Imperial Palace, where he saw a butterfly perched on a flower.

Back then, the little Li You had asked the brother at his side.

“Brother, is the butterfly sleeping?”

The similarly young Li Ye shook his head. “The butterfly is sipping nectar, pollinating.”

“What’s sipping nectar?” Li You asked curiously. “What’s pollinating?”

“Flowers need butterflies to help spread pollen for fertilization,” Li Ye said. “Butterflies get food from the flowers.”

They complemented each other perfectly, and come next year, more flowers would bloom, giving the butterflies more places to rest.

Li You felt very hot. He gazed upward, eyes narrowed into slits against the somewhat blinding light.

He closed his eyes, as if dragged into an Illusion Realm again—or perhaps not.

Reality and the Illusion Realm had long blurred together, indistinguishable from truth or falsehood. The only clear thing was his brother’s scent and warmth.

He seemed to see the scene at dusk once more.

Nineteen-year-old Li Ye had already grown into an adult, tall and steady, still wearing that familiar combat uniform. With his back to the sunlight, his broad palm covered the back of Li You’s neck, gently caressing it.

That year, Li You was sixteen, crushed by pressure until he could barely breathe. The Empire suffered under the erosion of Abyss Pollutants, the situation growing ever more dire. His elder siblings and the other young nobles of the imperial family could all head to the battlefield, but he alone hid in the Imperial Palace, unable to do anything. His “inaction” enraged the entire Empire; curses rained down from all sides, his father was disappointed in him, and his mother could only sigh endlessly.

His plan had stalled at the step of finding high-grade A-rank ore. Confined by his father and unable to leave, with time running critically short, he had risked escaping, only to return empty-handed and be locked up again in the Imperial Palace. Yulian couldn’t help him, no one else was willing, and the only one who supported him, Li Ye, was someone he couldn’t confide the plan to.

Li You had never felt so exhausted. Half a month after being confined in the Imperial Palace, Li Ye returned from the battlefield and defied their father’s orders to visit him.

Li You, who hadn’t shed tears in many years, had his eyes instantly redden the moment he saw Li Ye.

He had been on the verge of breaking, but Li Ye’s arrival gave him the courage to keep going.

He hadn’t wanted to cry, but when Li Ye’s hand cradled the back of his neck and gave it two gentle squeezes without a word, Li You’s tears burst forth like a dam breaking, impossible to hold back any longer.

He clutched Li Ye’s clothes and buried his face in the other’s shoulder, not even daring to cry loudly, only suppressing his voice in quiet sobs.

From that moment, Li You remembered how broad his brother’s shoulders were, able to support him step by step.

Later, Li Ye cupped his face, wiped away his tears, took his hand, and led him out despite the guards’ obstruction. He bought him ice cream and cake, accompanied him on the rooftop to blow in the night breeze, watched the stars all night long, brushed the cake crumbs from the corner of his lips, pinched his nose, and called him a “crybaby”.

That was when Li You should have realized that his brother’s gaze had never once left him.

But even now, the oblivious Li You still struggled to notice.

Yet he depended on Li Ye, instinctively so. His body and subconscious told him as much.

Li Ye was the person closest to him.

The A-187X crystals fused into their bodies drew them ever closer. They looped endlessly between the Illusion Realm and reality, sinking repeatedly between clarity and daze, until they were utterly swept away by instinct.

Li You embraced a ball of flame. He stepped on softness, as if floating amid the clouds. After a brief pain came endless scorching heat and tenderness.