Chapter 31

As soon as Lian Ai returned to the capital, men from the Prince Regent’s residence came knocking.

They were forceful and showed no courtesy, shoving him into the carriage and sneaking him in through the back gate of the estate.

He had an injury on his hand. When they dragged him and threw him in front of Zuo Lingxue, the wound tore open again, and blood seeped through the fabric of his sleeve.

Zuo Lingxue sat at the table, staring at him coldly. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Gan Yan had returned from who knows where. He hadn’t even changed out of his official robes and was still dressed in that dark python-patterned gown, standing by the window feeding a thrush.

He stood there as if unaware of Lian Ai’s arrival, keeping his distance like it had nothing to do with him, leaving everything for Zuo Lingxue to handle.

Cold sweat formed on Lian Ai’s forehead, and his lips turned pale pink.

“Greetings to Your Highness and Princess Consort…” he swallowed hard, moistening his dry throat. “I can explain what happened at Mount Queling.”

Zuo Lingxue’s face was like frost. “Oh? Then explain.”

Lian Ai knelt on the cold floor and tried to steady his voice. “Bu Nian is extremely cautious, and the people around him are highly skilled. Even if I found a way to make him take the Numbroot powder, it would still be nearly impossible for the Princess Consort to capture him alive. It would be better to take this opportunity to gain more of his trust. That way, I can stay by his side and gather more useful information for Your Highness and the Princess Consort.”

Zuo Lingxue said nothing for a long while. Gan Yan, having finished feeding the bird, walked over and sat down across from her. His face was refined and gentle, his bearing elegant. But the words that came from his mouth were enough to chill someone to the bone. They were truly vicious.

“This time, I really had no certainty of capturing Bu Nian alive. It was just a test. You meant well, I suppose, and put a lot of thought into helping me. But making decisions on your own like this… is honestly quite irritating. Fine then. Considering your family’s loyal service to me, I’ll spare your life, but you won’t escape punishment.” His well-maintained, slender fingers propped up his chin, and he smiled warmly as he spoke.

Half of Lian Ai’s sleeve was soaked red. He blinked, and the sweat on his lashes slipped into his eyes, stinging sharply.

He lowered his body and said, “My loyalty to Your Highness is clear as day. This was my own failure to think things through. I accept whatever punishment Your Highness sees fit.”

Gan Yan kept his smile and looked to Zuo Lingxue. “Princess Consort?”

Zuo Lingxue understood immediately. She pulled out a hairpin, pricked her fingertip, then opened the incense burner and let a her drop of blood fall in.

She stopped after two drops. The incense burner still released its heavy, fragrant scent, unchanged by the blood that had just been added.

But Lian Ai’s body tensed instinctively. He braced himself as if preparing for war.

Mianmian. Once the male and female gu awaken, the host is subjected to unbearable torment. They stir in three situations. First, when the host is initially infected. Second, on full moon nights. Third, when they smell their master’s fresh blood and gather at the back of the neck.

It didn’t take long before the pain and itching set in. The itch went straight into his bones. The pain tore through his chest.

He rolled on the ground begging, unable to stop the pained moans coming from his mouth.

“I know he was wrong… please, Your Highness, spare me… ah…”

Lian Ai crawled to Zuo Lingxue’s feet, begging over and over, but she didn’t move. Her eyes showed no emotion at all, as if he were nothing more than an ant she could crush without a second thought.

He knew begging her was useless. In desperation, he dragged himself to Gan Yan’s feet, clutching the hem of his robes, face covered in tears as he sobbed, “Your Highness, I was wrong… please forgive me… I beg you… I won’t ever do it again… ah… I won’t ever act on my own again…”

He was crying so hard that snot and tears ran down his face. It was disgraceful. If it were anyone else, Gan Yan would’ve kicked him away. But watching him moan like that, trembling helplessly, his white clothes stained with fresh blood, Gan Yan felt an overwhelming sense of pleasure. The thing between his legs began to stir on its own.

Since he was young, he had carried a secret he never dared to speak aloud. In bed, he only felt satisfied when he tormented the one beneath him, driving them to scream and writhe in pain. If he didn’t break them, then no matter how much he came, it always felt incomplete. After a while, the frustration would gnaw at him.

In the past, he’d always been cautious, afraid someone would use it against him. After marrying Zuo Lingxue, their relationship was more like lord and strategist than husband and wife. She wasn’t someone he could ravage at will. He hadn’t truly unleashed the violence inside him in a long time.

Everyone thought he was refined and polite, a model of royal grace. No one knew what kind of beast lived behind that face.

“Do you know what you did wrong?” Gan Yan’s breath began to quicken. A flicker of animal hunger flashed in his eyes, and excitement surged in his chest.

Lian Ai’s mind was already slipping. His memories blurred. It was like he had gone back in time, when Bu Nian first infected him with the gu.

“This slave knows he was wrong… ah… this slave truly knows he was wrong…”

The moment Lian Ai switched his self-reference, Gan Yan’s pupils shrank slightly. His desire flared hotter. He couldn’t wait to hear more screams, to see more tears spill from that face.

He grabbed Lian Ai’s wrist and slammed it down hard against the open wound.

Lian Ai’s eyes flew open. His pupils dilated and unfocused. The pain was so intense that his whole body seized up, his mouth falling open in shock. All he could manage was a ragged, choking sound in his throat. He didn’t even have the strength left to scream.

He passed out, collapsing at Gan Yan’s feet.

“He fainted?” Gan Yan frowned and pulled back his bloodied hand.

Zuo Lingxue seemed slightly displeased with what he had done, as if it was a bit excessive. But when her gaze landed on Lian Ai’s face, she turned cold again, her expression hard as ice.

“Take him away.” She waved her hand, and the servants dragged Lian Ai back to the inn like a sack of trash.

When Lian Ai woke up, his entire body was damp with cold sweat, sticky and uncomfortable. He was lying on the bed, the room dead quiet. All he could hear was the faint sound of his own breathing.

He stared blankly for a while before realizing he had been sent back to the inn.

His bones and muscles felt like they had melted. Everything was sore and weak. When he tried to push himself up, he nearly collapsed again from the effort.

His strength was gone. Every time he moved, the wound on his arm started bleeding again.

His mouth was dry, but he didn’t have the strength to move. He couldn’t even lift a finger.

Lian Ai lay back down on the bed, eyes half-lidded in exhaustion. In a haze, he drifted off again.

The light filtering through the lattice window gradually dimmed. No lamp had been lit, and the room slowly faded into darkness.

Lian Ai felt cold. Not just the chill of nightfall, but the kind of cold that came from blood loss. He curled into himself without realizing, but it still couldn’t drive away the cold that seeped from within.

Suddenly, a warm hand, so hot it almost burned, touched his cheek. He leaned into it, brushing against it as if trying to hold onto that rare warmth. It made him feel inexplicably safe.

He opened his eyes and let them adjust to the dark. When he saw that the figure standing before him was indeed the one he had imagined, he gave Bu Nian a faint smile, one that held not a trace of pain.

“General…”

Bu Nian had always found that smile painfully bright. No matter how much torment he went through, his heart still remained clean, free of the slightest impurity. Lian Ai was nothing like himself.

And now, seeing that same smile again, Bu Nian still found it piercing. But it didn’t just sting his vision. There was a faint ache in his chest as well. He didn’t like that feeling. He never liked anything that slipped out of his control.

“Why can you still smile like that?” he murmured under his breath. His voice was too soft for Lian Ai, who was barely conscious, to hear.

He started to pull his hand back, but Lian Ai’s expression tightened, a flicker of panic crossing his face.

Bu Nian gave in. He grasped Lian Ai’s hand and gave it a light squeeze. “I’m not leaving. Just lighting a lamp.”

Only then did Lian Ai reluctantly let go.

The room quickly lit up with the warm glow of lamplight, allowing Lian Ai to see Bu Nian more clearly.

He wore a narrow-sleeved, round-collared robe in dark ink. The white collar of his inner garment stood crisply at his neck, and a fierce white tiger, poised mid-pounce, dominated the center of his chest with powerful presence. At his waist, he wore a white jade belt.

The robe was remarkably similar to the python-patterned official garb worn by Gan Yan.

Bu Nian walked back to the bed and helped Lian Ai sit up, letting him lean against the headboard. Glancing beside the bed, Lian Ai noticed a basin of clear water. He had no idea when or where Bu Nian had fetched it.

With Bu Nian’s help, Lian Ai removed his upper garment, revealing the blood-soaked bandage beneath.

“The wound reopened. I’ll change the dressing.”

Bu Nian looked at the injury and spoke in neither gentle nor cold tone. Then he reached out to undo the bandage.

The pulling hurt. Lian Ai tried to stay silent, but as he looked at the cold, downcast expression on Bu Nian’s face, his lips trembled. In the end, he couldn’t hold it back and cried out.

“General, it hurts…”

Bu Nian’s hand paused. He didn’t lift his head, but his movements became noticeably gentler.

“If it hurts, go back to Zhongzhou.” His voice was flat.

Lian Ai kept staring at him, warching at his crow-feather lashes, the straight bridge of his nose, the sharp lines of his face. He stared boldly, unrestrained, not bothering to look away.

“I was just saying.” His gaze stayed fixed on him, and somehow the pain didn’t feel quite as bad. “Father’s leg injury is a hundred times worse than mine. It must hurt far more than this.”

Old Master Helian was already old. With a leg injury that severe, even though the physician hadn’t said it directly, his legs probably wouldn’t be as nimble as they used to be. He might even end up with a limp.

Lian Ai spoke quietly, “If you don’t enter the tiger’s den, how can you catch its cub?”

Bu Nian wrung out the square cloth and cleaned Lian Ai’s wound. The corner of his lips lifted, pulling into something between a smirk and a smile.

“I can tell. In the past year, you’ve improved in riding and archery, and it seems you’ve read quite a few books too.”

Lian Ai held out his arm as Bu Nian treated the wound. The brutal torment he’d suffered not long ago at the hands of Zuo Lingxue and Gan Yan seemed to have been completely forgotten, cast far behind him.

“I write pretty well now too. One day, I’ll show you.”

Bu Nian lifted his eyes and shot him a glance. “Focus on getting better first.”

He could tell Lian Ai had been punished harshly. But he didn’t ask. Asking would do nothing but bring more trouble.

Lian Ai hadn’t been wrong. Zuo Lingxue, in some ways, really was like him. Both were suspicious. Both were ruthless. Both remembered every slight and paid it back without mercy. They were cruel to others, and even crueler to themselves.

Once the wound was clean, Bu Nian took out a special salve made in the General’s residence. He scooped out a generous amount and applied it to the injury. The pain faded almost immediately. After the medicine dried a little, he wrapped the bandage back around Lian Ai’s arm.

Bu Nian had come up through the military. He’d endured more wounds like this than he could count. The army medics couldn’t care for every soldier individually. He’d long learned to treat and bandage his own injuries. His hands were steady, no less skilled than a professional physician’s.

“This medicine is for you. I’ll come check on you in a few days.”
Bu Nian placed the small porcelain jar on the bedside table. After speaking, he started to rise.

“General!” Lian Ai called out to stop him.

Bu Nian turned slightly and looked at him, waiting for what he had to say next.

“Do you still remember? You once promised to take me boating in Jiangnan.”

Bu Nian froze, saying nothing for a long time.

Seeing his silence, Lian Ai assumed he had forgotten. The light in his eyes dimmed, his smile crumbling under disappointment.

It had only ever been a polite remark, something said in passing with no real weight. Yet he had clung to it like a promise. It was ridiculous that he had actually believed it.

“It’s alright. If you forgot… then you forgot.”

“I didn’t forget,” Bu Nian said. “I’ll take you there.” Then he added, “Jiangnan. The desert. Snowy mountains. Grasslands. I’ll take you to all of them.”