The windows of the dilapidated temple were all pasted with rough tung oil paper. It was just a single layer, but tough enough to block wind, rain, and snow.
Even earlier this evening, when heavy snow had weighed down and broken the branches, it still withstood the northern wind without tearing.
The moonlight was hazy, and the candlelight dim. Outside the window, there were faint, muffled sounds, as if someone had stepped on the broken branches in the courtyard.
Xin Hexue glanced over warily. The night was silent, but filled with quiet tension.
He didn’t let down his guard. He lifted his hand to prop up the window lattice. What he saw was moonlight gathering on snow, the remnants of snow swept up by Hen Zhen earlier and piled beneath a tree.
There was indeed no one there.
Xin Hexue stepped out of the room. The wooden door of the temple was bolted with a thick latch. He asked Bu Jincheng outside, “Did you come alone?”
Bu Jincheng didn’t understand what he meant. “It’s just me. Xin gongzi, what do you mean by that? Is it inconvenient to meet right now?”
He also felt that dropping by uninvited in the middle of the night was a bit much, especially now, when it was already nearing the second watch of the night. At this hour, ordinary people had long since gone to bed.
“I only came to make sure you’re alright. Knowing you’re safe puts my heart at ease,” Bu Jincheng said, doing his best not to appear like some shameless scoundrel disturbing someone in the middle of the night. He explained, “I reported the case to Taichu Temple after arriving in the capital. I remembered that you told me not to mention you, so I truly didn’t say a single word about you. I stayed at a relative’s place in the capital yesterday, and when I came to look for you in the evening, no one answered.”
Bu Jincheng continued, “I was worried something might have happened to you. When I heard today that the monks of Taichu Temple had returned from subduing the bandits on Mount Buzhou, I thought of coming to find you again.”
“But now that I’ve heard your voice and know you’re back safely, that’s all that matters. Forgive me for the disturbance. If you’ve already gone to rest, I’ll be on my way.”
“Stay.” Xin Hexue lowered his eyes, calculating the time. When Bu Jincheng first came to check, he had just found Zhou Shanheng in the water dungeon of the mountain stronghold. “Come in and have a cup of tea.”
Bu Jincheng’s eyes lit up at those words.
Half of Xin Hexue’s white hair reverted to its illusory ink-black color. He pulled open the wooden bolt behind the door, saying, “Come in.”
Bu Jincheng brushed the snowflakes from his clothes nervously. He had rushed here, and was covered in dust and snow. Even his dark boots were stained with slush and dry grass stalks.
He felt he was no longer the same as before. Once, he had been so carefree and unrestrained, never bound by rituals. His old-fashioned father could be angered to death by him twice a day, scolding him as a rootless wanderer who roamed the wilds all day, wasting his studies like feeding sage texts to dogs.
His mother would scold him too, saying he never cleaned himself up, and no proper girl would ever be interested in someone like him.
But objectively speaking, Bu Jincheng had inherited the best features of both his parents; sword-like eyebrows, clear eyes, and a handsome face. He had always felt he didn’t need to dress up like the pampered sons of noble families in the capital, with their polished appearances and painted faces.
But now, in front of this young man, Bu Jincheng hesitated and second-guessed himself, afraid of doing something that might offend him.
“Sorry for the disturbance.”
Bu Jincheng stepped over the threshold, only to come face-to-face with a man coming out from the inner chamber.
Bu Jincheng froze. He remembered that when he had been injured and took shelter in this temple, the monk’s quarters to the right had been…
Xin Hexue’s bedroom.
Then, who is this person?
The man with slightly brown hair walked past him and naturally came to Xin Hexue’s side, putting an arm around Xin Hexue’s shoulder. “My dear, is this the… friend you said you met a few days ago?”
‘My dear?’
Bu Jincheng’s heart sounded an alarm.
‘Calling him that intimately…who was this man?’
Xin Hexue cast a cold glance at the hand on his shoulder. He was just about to brush it off, but it seemed Hen Zhen saw through his intention and the large hand resting on his shoulder suddenly applied force. Xin Hexue was caught off guard and had to lean sideways, which brought him even closer to Hen Zhen, their sides almost pressed together without a gap.
The young man was a full head shorter than the man. One was refined, the other unrestrained; their attitude toward each other was familiar and intimate.
They looked just like a perfectly matched couple.
This scene stabbed into Bu Jincheng’s eyes.
His heart missed a beat and felt like it had dropped into emptiness. He shifted his gaze, and so he didn’t see Xin Hexue secretly stomp hard on Hen Zhen’s foot.
Bu Jincheng only felt as if a piece of his chest had been hollowed out. Even his voice became slow and stiff as he asked, “Xin gongzi, this is…?”
At this point, Xin Hexue simply followed Hen Zhen’s words earlier, “He is my… husband.”
[Hen Zhen love value +1]
The adulterer received Xin Hexue’s official stamp of approval and raised his sharp eyebrows, sweeping his gaze over Bu Jincheng from top to bottom like a victor scrutinizing a defeated dog.
Bu Jincheng’s throat tightened. He couldn’t help stepping forward and asked, “But didn’t you tell me before… that your husband had already passed away?”
It was as if he still wanted to fight for something, unwilling to give up.
Hen Zhen replied faintly, “Ghost husband.”
Hen Zhen’s smile widened. “A qualified husband is one who follows his wife even after death, to prevent any filthy stray dogs from coming to the door.”
There was clear meaning behind his words.
No matter how casual Bu Jincheng usually was, he was still a traditional scholar who read the sages’ books. The romantic feelings just budding in his heart were stabbed through by the young man’s legitimate husband. His face burned with embarrassment, and he forced a reply, “This brother must be joking.”
He didn’t believe a word of Hen Zhen’s ghost husband nonsense, only a two-year-old child would buy that kind of thing.
As Xin Hexue walked past, he stepped on Hen Zhen’s foot again.
With his eyelashes slightly drooping, he explained to Bu Jincheng, “I thought he died in a snowstorm while traveling for the imperial exam two years ago. But it turns out he was kidnapped by mountain bandits. The monks from Taichu Temple recently eradicated the snake-demon bandits from the mountain, and he escaped, which allowed us to reunite.”
Bu Jincheng didn’t actually care what the truth was. What mattered was that Xin Hexue’s attitude clearly affirmed the man’s identity.
It made his blood feel like it was flowing in slow motion. He felt absent-minded, hollow in the chest, and was barely able to force a cheerful smile that matched his usual demeanor. “Really? So that’s how it is. What good fortune, what a good fate.”
Bu Jincheng: “Then I… I won’t disturb you any longer. It’s already late…”
Xin Hexue asked him to stay.
Bu Jincheng shook his head repeatedly, not even able to string his words together properly.
Xin Hexue shoved Hen Zhen into the inner room, not letting this mad dog cause more trouble. Then he turned back to Bu Jincheng and said, “I heard you say just now that you snuck out of your relative’s house by climbing over the wall. Now that it’s the second watch of the night, if you go back now, you’ll definitely wake them. If they ask later, it’ll be quite troublesome. Besides, waking the family in the middle of the night for no reason will just make them worry.”
“You should stay in the monk’s quarters for now, get a good night’s sleep, and explain it to your family tomorrow if they ask.”
Xin Hexue seemed to remember something. “Oh right, when my husband escaped from the bandit stronghold, he also picked up a bag. Take a look and see if it’s yours. There’s some silver and the documents for registering as a xiang gong in it.”
Xin Hexue rummaged in the wooden cabinet in the front hall and pulled out the bag. In fact, he had chosen a position with his back to Bu Jincheng’s line of sight and retrieved it from the pouch in his danxin.
Bu Jincheng opened it, and sure enough, inside were his exam essay, family records, and guarantee documents. He said happily, “It’s mine!”
His joy at retrieving what he had lost was mixed with the sorrow of a first love slipping through his fingers.
In fact, Bu Jincheng didn’t care much for fame or rank. He loved the mountains and rivers. It was only his parents who had placed their hopes on him passing the exam. Thinking about it, the joy of finding these troublesome documents paled in comparison to the sorrow of his first love falling apart.
Bu Jincheng was dazed and disoriented, and couldn’t even remember what Xin Hexue said to him. By the time he came to his senses, he was already lying in the monk’s quarters.
Forget it, they were fated but not destined.
………
Bu Jincheng only fell asleep in a daze during the second half of the night, and his consciousness was like a small boat adrift on the Tianchi waters, bobbing and swaying slowly.
Like a stone dropping into water, there was a faint sound of disturbance, and ripples spread outward in circles from the center.
Bu Jincheng suddenly opened his eyes.
Before him was a misty sea of clouds and mountains, an endless lake, with bare rocks near the shore.
His gaze swept around. He had no recollection of ever coming to this place.
Then he saw a figure with their back to him sitting on the rocks. He subconsciously took two steps forward, and the lake water rose over his knees.
Beneath his feet was fine sand. As he waded through the water, he called out, “Xin Hexue? Xin gongzi?”
The young man sitting on the rocks finally turned his head, as if he had been waiting for a long time. He gently patted the spot beside him on the rock.
But Bu Jincheng suddenly halted. “This is…”
A snow white fishtail shimmered under the sunlight, sparkling with light.
Seeing him stare unblinkingly at the inhuman feature, Xin Hexue chuckled softly, autumn waves lazily swirling in his eyes. He said to Bu Jincheng, “You can touch it.”
‘Was this a dream?’
Bu Jincheng’s head felt dizzy and heavy.
The young man looked like a seductive spirit from strange tales, luring passing scholars. Once the scholar trusted the spirit and came closer, the spirit would drag him underwater and drown him without hesitation.
He moved forward step by step, his throat felt dry, and he asked with difficulty, “Is it… really okay?”
Xin Hexue simply took his hand and gently placed it on the white scales.
Cool and smooth like jade.
Bu Jincheng was dumbfounded. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a low, suppressed gasp.
Startled, he looked up. The young man’s jade-like face was tinged with red at the corners of his eyes. In his eyes, there was a hidden annoyance, and his lips were pursed into a thin, taut line.
Who was secretly licking him?
Xin Hexue felt the disturbance from his real body, forcing him to interrupt the process of his spiritual consciousness entering the dream.
He suddenly opened his eyes, breathing as if breaking through water.
“…Hen Zhen!”
Xin Hexue’s tone sounded dangerous.
Hen Zhen licked the liquid from the corner of his lips.
His actions were completely shameless but not only did he feel no embarrassment, he even brazenly leaned in, wrapping his arms around Xin Hexue. “My dear, what kind of dream were you having? You even let your little fishtail show.”
They were like a “married couple”, sleeping in the same bed but dreaming different dreams, and the wife finally revealed her fox tail in the dead of night, only to be ravaged by her perverted, sinister husband.
Xin Hexue pushed his face away, his voice cold and sharp: “Can’t you behave for once?”
The smile at the corner of Hen Zhen’s lips stiffened, and his eyes darkened. “What do you want me to do? Watch you lying in the same bed with me, yet spiritually connecting with a poor scholar in your dreams?”
When he said the last two words, his tone was heavy, like he wished he could devour the rival’s flesh and blood alive, every word dripping with blood.
“Ah Xue, you can’t treat me like this.” His tone couldn’t be clearly defined as pleading, but Hen Zhen’s arms tightened even more around Xin Hexue, as if he wanted to embed the young man completely into his bones and blood. “I’m about to go mad from jealousy.”
[Hen Zhen’s heartbreak value+3]
Xin Hexue hadn’t expected this guy to be this crazy. He had thought Hen Zhen didn’t care at all, but his heartbreak value came quite quickly.
He stayed silent for a moment. This attitude, akin to tacit consent, only made Hen Zhen’s emotions fluctuate even more violently.
“Fine.” Hen Zhen gritted his teeth, sword-like eyebrows pressed low, his face cold. “Then go spiritually connect with that poor scholar. Whatever eye he uses to look at you, I’ll gouge it out. Whatever hand he uses to touch you, I’ll chop it off…”
“And then, I’ll **** you hard.”
Hen Zhen’s voice was full of venom. If his sinister gaze had substance, it would have visually ravaged Xin Hexue countless times already, like flipping a cat-pancake, turning him over and over again until he was thoroughly cooked.
He said a lot of words, which were blocked by K and turned into a series of ****.
The censorship beeps were rather shrill. In Xin Hexue’s ears, it sounded like a continuous beeping sound, which made his ears hurt.
Without any expression, Xin Hexue kissed Hen Zhen’s lips. Though to call it a kiss wasn’t quite right, it was simply a press of lips, a brief touch before parting.
Hen Zhen froze and his expression went completely blank.
Xin Hexue raised his index finger and pressed it against Hen Zhen’s lips. “Enough. Shut up.”
The other party finally quieted down, and Xin Hexue withdrew his hand just before Hen Zhen could lick his fingers.
He adjusted his posture and nestled against Hen Zhen’s arm in a comfortable position, his slender body curling slightly. The sleeponey in his eyes softened his features. “I’m going to sleep.”
Hen Zhen: “…Oh.”
Just before completely drifting into sleep, Xin Hexue remembered something and he whispered to Hen Zhen, “Tomorrow I’ll be cleansing my memory. Be good and tell me everything that’s happened recently and all you know.”
Hen Zhen’s thin lips curled into a smile, and his snake-like pupils narrowed with excitement. He answered eagerly, “Of course I will. It’s my duty as a husband.”
Xin Hexue lifted his eyelids slightly, casting him a cold glance. “I’ll know if you’re lying. Don’t try anything.”
He patted Hen Zhen’s cheek lightly, but because he was sleepy, he used a very light force.
Facing the excited vertical snake pupils, Xin Hexue said, “Only honest little dogs get rewards.”
Hen Zhen’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down under Xin Hexue’s gaze, and he asked in a hoarse voice, “What kind of reward?”
Xin Hexue turned over lazily and muttered, “It’s up to you.”
