Three days and three nights, the snow stopped and then cleared again. Because the National Monk had returned to reside in the manor, the servants were very attentive to the task of sweeping these past few days. The manor’s sweeping boys swept the snow over and over again, but they never saw the figure of the National Monk walking on the Sandy Path. It was as if the manor’s master had vanished into thin air. Since the National Monk’s return, no one had seen his face again, nor had they heard any news of him summoning servants. However, this kind of thing happened from time to time, and the servants were not surprised by it. The National Monk went into seclusion for ten days to half a month almost every year, sometimes even for several months at a time.
They assumed this time was also for seclusion. Therefore, the steward specifically instructed them not to approach the area around the meditation hut to disturb the National Monk.
Even without specific instructions, the servants understood this.
Originally, this was an imperial manor. Noble guests were hard to please, and whenever they arrived, the servants would have to bustle about tirelessly and worry about their own heads. Later, when it was bestowed upon the National Monk by the new emperor, their days became much more leisurely, comfortable, and easier. The National Monk never made things difficult for them.
Every time the National Monk came out of seclusion, he would also reward them.
Therefore, the servants were sensible and did not disturb Du Zhi’s seclusion. Around the meditation hut, only the sounds of birds were heard, not human voices.
But as time passed, snow inevitably accumulated on the path.
Not knowing when the National Monk would emerge from seclusion, and unwilling to disturb him, the sweeping boy first cleared the snow blocking the Sandy Path for half its length. He was still dozens of steps away from the meditation hut by the shore. He was hesitating whether to sweep all the way to the door when the snow, which had been sparkling and clear under the sunlight, suddenly darkened. The boy looked up in confusion and saw the sky change. The previously clear and cloudless sky instantly became treacherous and unpredictable, with dark clouds pressing down.
The lake surface, which was usually calm as a mirror, also inexplicably sprouted the strange phenomenon of a “dragon drinking water.” A whirlwind rolled up the lake water, howling towards them.
The boy took one look and saw, within the rolling wind and waves, a blazing red light, as if there really was a dragon within!
It was heading straight for the meditation hut by the lake.
This scene was too astonishing. He stared, even forgetting to breathe for a moment. The thing tumbling in the pitch-black clouds and water suddenly split open a slit of an eye. The boy immediately had a seizure from fear and fainted from the shock.
“Du Zhi, you shameless bald donkey, why don’t you come out quickly and accept your death? That way, in a hundred years, I might still put in a good word or two for you in front of Ah Xue!” This time, Hen Zhen truly hated him to the core. He had listened outside for as long as they had been intimate inside, without closing his eyes. Jealousy and hatred constantly gnawed at his heart, eating it away until it was like a window paper with a hole in it, letting the wind in on one side and chilling him to the bone on the other.
Hen Zhen’s heart was also numb with pain, and his tears had dried up. Only that hatred grew endlessly, boiling over like a roaring furnace.
The red dragon cleaved the wind and broke through the water as it dove down. If not for the golden Buddhist light (protective barrier) that spread open, this force would have shattered the hut to pieces with a crash.
The dragon’s roar shook heaven and earth, and his enemy slowly walked out from the meditation hut. His originally plain features now radiated brilliance, unlike Hen Zhen, whose face was haggard and eyes were bloodshot. Seeing Hen Zhen’s arrival, Du Zhi was even composed and at ease. An unmistakable sweetness hid in the curve of his lips as he reproached Hen Zhen, “He is still asleep. If you have any grievances with me, take them up with me directly. Don’t disturb his peaceful dreams.”
Hen Zhen’s eyes nearly split with rage. These words made it sound as if Du Zhi was the virtuous husband, and he was the mistress coming to pick a fight?!
How ridiculous!
Truly ridiculous!
“Accept your death!”
A bloody wind and rain arose by the lake of the Manor. For ten miles around, the sky was bright and radiant, but here alone, it was shrouded in ghostly dark clouds. Something churned within, impossible to see clearly. The scene was like thunder and lightning, vast in scale and extremely frightening. Though clearly far away, the wind mixed with rain that swept over still stung one’s face painfully.
The steward did not allow the other people in the manor to approach that mountain area. But the unconscious sweeping boy was carried back and cared for. When he woke up, he was ordered not to divulge a single word.
The steward watched from afar. The ice on the lake cracked with a crackling sound, and the mulberry trees on the mountain were uprooted, everything was devastated. Only the meditation hut by the lake remained intact, surrounded by a golden protective cover, untouched by the chaos.
The steward waited from daylight to nightfall, and then through another round until dawn. He was truly at his wit’s end. If they kept fighting like this, would they be able to plant the mountain or farm the fields this coming spring?
He had no choice but to muster his courage and go knock on the door of that hut.
………
Xin Hexue slept soundly. When he woke up, his first thought was to curse Du Zhi. That smelly monk was like an old turtle raised in a turtle pond. Having not tasted meat for centuries, his antics on the bed had caused Xin Hexue to shed a good amount of fox fur. But thinking of his own fluffy big tail, Xin Hexue wasn’t that angry anymore. Unexpectedly, what greeted him when he opened the door was an earth-shattering change.
Wind mixed with rain, lifting the hem of his clothes. He only needed one sniff to detect that thick demonic aura. He stopped the steward in the room and slowly walked out. “Hen Zhen, what kind of spectacle are you trying to create?”
His voice was clear and cold, not loud, but clear enough. Only then did the great storm of battle come to a halt.
Hen Zhen lowered his gaze and saw Xin Hexue’s cold brows and cold eyes.
A myriad of feelings surged in his heart. The red dragon swooped down, and amidst the rising smoke, they suddenly appeared in a bamboo grove by the waves.
Xin Hexue was gently set down by the dragon’s tail. As soon as he landed, the bamboo grove behind him was flattened by a tail-swipe, his manner ferocious.
“I am your husband! why are you calling that fake guy that?!”
He had heard it clearly last night. Thinking of this, Hen Zhen’s eyes narrowed. His human form closed in on Xin Hexue, his crimson pupils staring intently.
In this battle, neither side had fared well. Hen Zhen had more wounds, the flesh beneath was split open and bleeding. Du Zhi’s injuries were also not a good sight.
Xin Hexue took out a square orchid-patterned handkerchief and dabbed away the blood on Hen Zhen’s cheekbone. His smile was very gentle, but his words were cold. “How can words spoken in bed be taken seriously? This wound of yours is really ugly.”
Hen Zhen: “My face was always ugly!”
He was not happy because of Xin Hexue’s attitude towards Du Zhi. “If words spoken in bed can’t be taken seriously, then what you said to me before, does that also not count?”
Xin Hexue smiled but said nothing.
Seeing the blood color in Hen Zhen’s eyes growing thicker and thicker, he finally sighed slowly. “Matters of love are between two people, you and I had a happy time together. If it’s over, it’s over. Why must it be like this?”
Hen Zhen reached out and grabbed him. “Over? What is over? I haven’t agreed, and you want to call it quits just like that?”
He swallowed mouthfuls of hatred, his saliva turning bitter, his teeth grinding. “Yes, now that you’ve found such an ideal husband, you naturally don’t care about the old one anymore. You say it’s over, so it’s over? Not unless you kill me!”
It seemed he was truly broken-hearted by Xin Hexue’s words, and cursed Xin Hexue for being heartless. Even the hand gripping him used force; without looking, one could tell it had been grabbed until red.
Seeing Xin Hexue’s pained expression, Hen Zhen’s heart ached bitterly. A film of tears had already risen in his eyes. “Do you even know pain? I thought you were made of iron and stone, that even my utmost sincere feelings and devotion couldn’t melt your heart.”
Even though he said this, the hand gripping Xin Hexue loosened its force.
“Hateful! How hateful! I was the first to find you. I gave you both my heart and body, yet it still couldn’t shake your heart. After all the time we spent together, you never once remembered me. But as soon as you saw this bald donkey, you spoke his name.” The more Hen Zhen thought, the more he wanted to eliminate Du Zhi. He stared intently at Xin Hexue’s face, unwilling to miss the slightest change in his expression.
He said resolutely, “I can’t bear to watch you be with him using my own eyes! Either you kill me, or I kill him. I’ll skin him alive, strip his flesh from his bones, and even dance on his coffin lid! So that he knows in the underworld, it was worth dying under the peony flowers!”
“Stop.” Xin Hexue shook out his handkerchief and pressed it against Hen Zhen’s lips. “Why are you talking more and more absurdly?”
Hen Zhen wanted to flare up, but was again captivated by the fragrance emanating from the orchid handkerchief. This familiar scent, he hadn’t been near it for days.
His heart ached, his eyes filled with hate and indignation. “I just said all those things, why didn’t you refute them? Could it be that you really like this bald donkey?! How can you…how can you do this? Xin Hexue, I hate you! I hate you!”
He spoke of hate repeatedly, and with a sudden burst of ferocity, he seized Xin Hexue’s hands, rendering him unable to struggle, then lowered his head and kissed him forcefully.
Lips and tongues intertwined, unlike the tenderness of before. Hen Zhen’s heart held resentment, so naturally it carried a fierce strength, like a beast’s tearing and biting. The kiss was frightening. After a while, the pink lips were swollen from being held in his mouth, and Xin Hexue’s slightly open mouth as he panted for breath still had his tongue.
“Pah, you’re like a dog.”
Xin Hexue covered his lips.
Hen Zhen, who had been cursed by him, did not get angry but instead laughed. “Whether I’m a dog or not, don’t you know?”
Seeing Xin Hexue still indifferent, his heart sank to the bottom. He realized his insignificance in Xin Hexue’s heart. “This heart of mine is also made of flesh and blood. I won’t let you drive me around anymore, summoning me when you want me and dismissing me when you don’t. I might as well be a donkey in a pen!”
He spoke in a firm tone, as if he wanted to break cleanly, willing to endure the short-term pain.
Xin Hexue glanced at him. “Why are you as stupid as a dog? If you were smarter, you would have known long ago whether you were in my heart or not.”
Undeniably, Xin Hexue was simply too beautiful. Even with his current indifferent expression, every brow and every glance still made Hen Zhen’s heart race.
He hesitated for a moment before asking. “What do you mean?”
But the beauty moved gracefully, carrying a riddle laced with faint fragrance. “That day, to have a private conversation with the red fox, I sent you away on the pretext that you were a snake. Didn’t you have the slightest doubt? You never told me your true form, so how did I know you were a snake? Besides, you’re not originally a snake.”
“But I have two…” Hen Zhen started to speak.
Xin Hexue looked back with reproachful eyes, a thin layer of red rising on his jade-like face. “Ignorant! Apart from snakes, could there be no others?”
This was true.
Below are merfolk, above are dragons, among others.
Besides, Hen Zhen’s true form had already transformed into a dragon. The snake form was from their previous lifetime.
So…
So…
Xin Hexue had already recalled his memories long ago?
That old tree hadn’t deceived him. From the moment Xin Hexue called him Hen Zhen, he had already awakened his memories!
It meant that the one Xin Hexue truly loved was him, Hen Zhen!
Hen Zhen suddenly didn’t hate anymore. He looked at this blue sky and green water; what a beautiful world it was.
Xin Hexue loved him!
Xin Hexue loved him!
Like a storm, Hen Zhen followed him, his voice gentle and soft. “Then why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
Xin Hexue was a very magnanimous person, never holding grudges. He said lightly, “Since you hate me, what is the use in telling you?”
Hen Zhen lowered his voice humbly. “What I just said was all angry words. My dear, don’t be angry. How could I hate you? I just wanted to preserve three-tenths of my dignity in front of you. But now, that’s not important anymore.”
Xin Hexue loved him!
He was willing to be ridden by Xin Hexue, to be treated like an ox or a horse!
He was a man loved by Xin Hexue!
Hen Zhen’s shadow straightened up; he became “Hen Zhi” (Straight Hen).
He didn’t want much, and his nature wasn’t that sinister. As long as he got a little of Xin Hexue’s love, all the grudges and hatred in the world towards him could be wiped away, vanishing like smoke.
“So you don’t hate me.” Xin Hexue raised a delicate eyebrow. “You want to love me? Then we’ll have to see if you have the magnanimity to tolerate others. Du Zhi is willing to be the concubine. I think, given he’s the National Monk, it’s quite unfair to him already.”
Hen Zhen understood Xin Hexue’s implication. His expression stiffened for a moment, then immediately changed, pulling at the corners of his mouth with a fake smile. “He was born to be the concubine. My dear, since that’s the case, I’ll be your principal husband, and he can be your secondary husband. On the first and fifteenth, you’re with me. The rest of the days, one day for me, one day for him, how about that? Am I worthy of being the principal husband?”
Anyway, he had to secure the title first. If he was late, even the name of principal husband would be gone.
There would be plenty of time later. Was he afraid of not having the chance to kill that bald donkey?
When the time came, after eliminating the mistress, he could live a carefree life with his beloved, loving each other and flying together as a pair!
Xin Hexue gave a light snort, his hand pushing away Hen Zhen’s face as it leaned in.
Du Zhi was waiting for them at the end of this bamboo grove, his long figure casting a slanting shadow on the Sandy Path. The sunlight shifted slightly, also draping a layer of gold over Xin Hexue’s body, making him appear radiant.
Behind him, nine tails swayed ostentatiously like bundled-up clouds. Xin Hexue walked over with a smile, the tips of his tails lightly tickling the chins of his two husbands. “Having you two is just right; it saves me from having to groom so many tails every day.”
Hen Zhen followed closely. “He doesn’t have a single blade of grass on his head, not even a strand of hair. How would he know how to groom your fur? Let me, your principal husband, do it instead.”
Du Zhi lowered his eyes and head, but he did not yield. “I have scented oils in my storehouse that can make hair soft and smooth…”
They followed behind Xin Hexue, exchanging a few lethal blows under the guise of talking and laughing.
As soon as Xin Hexue looked back, they each put on smiles again.
Xin Hexue, as if unaware of their actions, simply stated, “I’ve already sent a letter home. I won’t be taking the imperial examinations anymore.”
Hearing this, Hen Zhen seemed to guess something and stared at him.
Xin Hexue’s profile was peaceful and serene, his long eyelashes casting a shallow shadow. “Thinking back over the years that passed so quickly, I’ve never truly looked with my whole heart at every blade of grass, every tree, the bright moon and clear breeze. I’ve also never known the coldest days of winter.”
And this demon and monk were not any different.
Love and hate were so heavy, sorrow leaning against the balcony railing, who cared if the wind was light and the clouds pale?
As they gradually walked away from the manor, Du Zhi asked, “Then where are we going now?”
A crow flew past the roof corner. The golden sun slanted downwards, bathing Xin Hexue’s skin in this intoxicating twilight. He turned back with a charming smile. “Naturally, to roam the rivers and lakes!”
End of the Ancient Side Story Arc, next is the Sentinel and Guide Arc!
