Gu Huaiyu didn’t even ask a question, remaining as calm as if the matter had nothing to do with him. His composure made Pei Jingyi’s heart itch, wanting to pull back the curtain right then and there to get a good look at him.
But the heavens were not in a cooperative mood. The assassins could no longer wait. In the woods, a bowstring suddenly thrummed!
Whoosh—!
The moment the bolt tore through the air, Pei Jingyi unsheathed his blade with a decisive sweep, his body already shielding the front of the sedan!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The arrows were swatted away by his blade, snapping into jagged remnants. Seeing the sneak attack fail, the assassins simply charged out, black shadows surging through the snow like a tide!
Between the flashes of blades and the shadows of swords, blood sprayed across the white snow, a piercing sight. Pei Jingyi stood with his saber leveled. The attackers were ruthless and skilled, every move aimed directly at Gu Huaiyu with lethal precision.
However, they didn’t look like Eastern Liao men. They seemed more like dead soldiers raised by that “superior.”
The Iron Eagle Guard were elite fighters. In a prolonged battle, the assassins would surely be no match for them. But the crossbow fire from the woods never ceased. Stray bolts occasionally bypassed the battle lines, thudding into the frame of the sedan and causing the silk curtains to tremble.
If even a single arrow went unblocked and struck Gu Huaiyu, none of them could afford the consequences.
Pei Jingyi had a safer way.
He whistled again, a longer note this time. The Iron Eagle Guard understood instantly. Several of them exerted a burst of force to entangle their opponents, while the others quickly tightened the formation, guarding the sedan as they broke through toward a narrow path.
Pei Jingyi took the opportunity to throw open the sedan curtain. He reached out and scooped Gu Huaiyu up by the waist. “My Lord, follow me down the mountain.”
Before Gu Huaiyu could react, he was held firmly in the man’s arms. Amidst the clashing of steel and the dancing shadows on the snow, he looked up slightly. “…Down the mountain?”
How?
The next instant, Pei Jingyi leaped with him in his arms, jumping directly off the steep slope.
The world spun and inverted in a flash. First came the sickening weightlessness of the fall, then his back slammed hard into the snow. They were like two tangled leaves, rolling over and over and over.
Gu Huaiyu’s vision blacked out repeatedly. He was held tightly against Pei Jingyi’s chest, his ears filled with the rushing sound of churning snow.
When they finally rolled to a stop at the bottom of the slope, Gu Huaiyu was covered in snow, lying dizzily atop Pei Jingyi’s chest. His eyelashes fluttered as white flakes fell from them. His lungs had sucked in too much cold air; his frail constitution couldn’t handle such a shock.
“Cough… cough cough!”
He began to cough violently. A metallic sweetness rose in his throat, and warm flecks of blood splattered onto Pei Jingyi’s face—a few even flying into his slightly parted lips.
Pei Jingyi’s eyes darkened instantly. He pressed his palm firmly against Gu Huaiyu’s thin back, rubbing in a steady, even rhythm to soothe his breathing. “Breathe slowly, My Lord.”
Gu Huaiyu was long accustomed to this. He recovered his breath within moments, pressing a hand to his throat as he shallowly inhaled. Only then did he see the blood on the other man’s face.
His gaze flickered with a trace of humiliation. This sickly blood, mixed with the saliva from his coughing fit, was filthy. Usually, he kept it hidden in a handkerchief, not wanting to look at it himself, let alone let others see it.
Sensing his gaze, Pei Jingyi reached up and wiped the blood from his lips with his thumb.
“So sweet.”
He then did it right in front of him—he put the blood-stained thumb into his mouth, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he licked it clean.
As if unsatisfied, Pei Jingyi smacked his lips and said quite naturally, “Thank you for the reward, My Lord.”
Gu Huaiyu’s face turned cold and expressionless.
To suck up to me, he’s even willing to swallow something so foul?
Base.
Suddenly, he reached out and gripped Pei Jingyi’s chin, his fingers precisely pinching the flesh of those handsome cheeks.
Pei Jingyi’s pupils constricted imperceptibly. He watched as Gu Huaiyu leaned down and whispered two words: “I’ll give you one more bite.”
As the words fell, Gu Huaiyu’s cold, soft lips pressed close to his mouth. Before Pei Jingyi could react, he abruptly spat the remaining mouthful of blood into the man’s mouth.
Pei Jingyi instinctively took it in. His Adam’s apple moved slowly, as if he wanted to crush every drop of the metallic taste and savor it. A thin trail of dark red blood escaped the corner of his mouth. He wiped it with the back of his hand, unwilling to waste even a bit, and sucked it into his mouth, licking it entirely clean.
He swallowed the last of it and looked up at Gu Huaiyu. His gaze was direct, bordering on fervent.
He said nothing, as if waiting for something.
Confused by the stare, Gu Huaiyu gave a cold laugh. “What? Do you finally have some shame now?”
He had completely failed to grasp the underlying hint in “one more bite.”
