Chapter 138
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“This is impossible,” Lu Xiao nervously questioned, “Even if you have to sell yourself to enter the palace, you still need to register and wait for a notice. How could one be summoned to the palace on the same day? The tasks haven’t even been arranged yet!”
Gu Qingyuan sighed and continued to deceive the little trickster, “My family is impoverished. Actually, I entered the palace by selling myself long ago, so I have been registered in the records. It’s just that in the past year, I’ve been doing hard labor to save a meager sum. So, I didn’t take on the tasks arranged by the palace. I thought life would gradually improve, but unexpectedly, I met you.”
The soaring sense of guilt left Lu Xiao without the ability to think.
Gu Qingyuan looked up, watching the little trickster trembled with shame. Quickly suppressing a laugh, he cleared his throat and said mournfully, “You don’t have to feel sorry for me. This is fate. If I accept it, it won’t be so agonizing.”
Saying this, he pretended to be weary, propped up his sword, and stood up. Looking at the little trickster with a desolate gaze, he said, “I should go on night duty. Can you please not tell the chief eunuch about the sword practice I just did in secret? Spare me a chance to survive.”
Lu Xiao covered his mouth with a “smack”! To prevent himself from crying out in guilt!
“Hahahaha!” Gu Qingyuan couldn’t hold back anymore. The reaction of this little trickster was too damn amusing! It made him laugh out loud, but he still swiftly switched his laughter to a bitter smile, leaving only the words. “It’s fate!”
Leaving a sorrowful figure for Lu Xiao, Hero Gu disappeared desolately into the night.
On the way running back to the sleeping quarters, Lu Xiao’s mind was filled with images of the first encounter with the man in green.
This man was originally such a free-spirited, martially skilled old rascal!
Selling oneself into slavery, losing freedom from that moment on!
Lost in thoughts, Lu Xiao once again “smacked” his hand over his mouth!
The little eunuch guarding the entrance of the sleeping quarters, carrying a lantern, approached when he saw the prince covering his mouth. He hurriedly asked, “Your Highness, upset stomach?”
Why did it seem so nauseating?
Lu Xiao quickly took a deep breath, forcibly calming his emotions. He released his hand, spoke with a cold expression to the little eunuch, “No…”
Before he could finish speaking, the realization that the man in green had now become a pitiful figure like a little eunuch surged again. Lu Xiao “smacked” his hand over his mouth!
Little eunuch: “…Your Highness, what’s this?”
Lu Xiao waved his hand, tears in his eyes, rushed into the room, and locked himself in the sleeping quarters.
Another sleepless night, occasionally drifting into a daze, his dreams filled with the forlorn expression of the man in green.
Early the next day, the “smoky makeup” around Lu Xiao’s eyes had already completed a layer of darkened surface, presenting an outward image of a formidable figure.
Guilt left him in a daze the entire morning. He didn’t even pay much attention to his seventh brother and A’Yao.
During the afternoon martial arts practice, he even experienced hallucinations, seeing Fourth Zhang, who used to guide him and his seventh brother in training, transform into that man in green!
Lu Xiao closed his eyes, vigorously shaking his head. When he opened them again—
“Put more power into your arm! When lifting, the sword should rise upward. Stop always hooking your wrist. I’m tired of it!” Gu Qingyuan corrected Lu Qian’s sword technique without holding back. “Being clever with your wrist separates the body from the sword. How can you achieve unity of man and sword with such a bad habit?”
Lu Qian looked defiant. “It’s not a bad habit. This way, the change in moves is faster.”
“What use is speed alone?” Gu Qingyuan, annoyed that his junior brother dared to argue, immediately raised his eyebrows and scolded, “Without a solid foundation, you can only handle second-rate experts. Twisting your sword like this, you can’t exert full internal force. Encounter a top-notch expert, and they’ll send you flying. It’s all show and no substance, like an embroidered pillow.”
“Embroidered pillow?” Lu Qian lowered his sword, approached aggressively, and used his gaze to force his senior brother to take back his words.
Just as Xue Yao was about to step forward to mediate, like an arrow released from a bow, the warm baby swiftly passed by him and stood in front of Gu Qingyuan!
Nervously, Lu Xiao said to Lu Qian, “Seventh Brother, don’t compete with him. He just entered the palace and doesn’t understand anything.”
“Ah, so you’re Prince Ning’s older brother?” Gu Qingyuan, behind Lu Xiao, feigned realization with a smirk.
Lu Xiao turned and scolded him, “Why are you meddling here? Go back to work!”
Gu Qingyuan grinned. “I’m honored that Your Highness thinks highly of me. I’ve been ordered to accompany the practice here.”
“Do you know each other?” Lu Qian looked puzzled at his sixth brother.
Lu Xiao grabbed his seventh brother’s wrist and pulled him into a corner for a whispered conversation.
“Seventh Brother, this Gu fellow is rough. It’s his first time in the palace, so cut him some slack. Don’t just casually strike him.” Lu Xiao earnestly pleaded with a serious expression, “Alright?”
“……” Lu Qian turned to look at his swaggering senior brother in the distance and didn’t feel confident that he could defeat him.
Turning back to see Sixth Brother’s hopeful gaze, Lu Qian still tried to act tough, straightening his back. “Why can’t I fight him?”
“He’s at least a martial artist with decent skills.” Lu Xiao looked at Seventh Brother with a regretful expression. “He used to be a man standing tall and firm. Now, cleansed, he can’t even be considered a man. Consider it as a hero respecting another hero…”
Lu Qian’s face displayed a horrified expression beyond words!
Senior Brother, actually…
The present Lu Qian, plagued by morning erections, completely understood what “cleansed” meant for a man.
“Cleansed? Why would he…”
“Don’t ask why!” The warm baby dared not recall the grave mistake he had made, pursed his lips in pain, and ran away!
A moment later, Gu Qingyuan saw his junior brother walking back to his side with a drooping head and heavy steps.
Gu Qingyuan lowered his head and raised his eyes to observe his junior brother’s expression.
Lu Qian immediately turned away, refusing to make eye contact with his “eunuch senior brother.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Gu Qingyuan looked bewildered.
“Nothing.” Lu Qian, unwilling to meet his senior brother’s gaze directly, quickly cast a sidelong glance at his eldest senior brother, probing with a serious expression, “It’s said that there’s a strange skill in the martial arts world called the Sunflower Manual [self-castrating cultivation method]. Senior Brother, do you know about it?”
Gu Qingyuan sneered disdainfully. “In this world, there’s no skill that I, Gu, don’t know about.”
Lu Qian looked at his senior brother with eyes that confirmed his suspicions but couldn’t bear to look directly at him.
It was a look as if seeing the Sword Saint’s expression after accidentally dunking a big tub of tofu.
“What, interested in learning the Sunflower Manual?” Hero Gu asked his junior brother with an air of arrogance, interpreting the avoiding gaze as shyly seeking guidance.
“Not interested,” His Highness asserted decisively.
“Why not?”
Lu Qian nodded towards the diligent little reader-in-waiting arranging the milk in the cool shade in the distance. “Your grandpa still needs him. Can’t cut him loose.”
Hero Gu looked puzzled, but accustomed to his junior brother’s peculiar personality and way of speaking, he didn’t bother asking further. He continued guiding the sword practice.
After completing the first set of moves, Xue Yao, holding a pot of milk, fed the cub.
Today, the cub seemed preoccupied. Only drinking half a pot of milk, he gazed solemnly at the little reader-in-waiting and said in a low voice, “Your grandpa saves some for you.”
Xue Yao was momentarily stunned. He looked down at the pot of milk, thinking His Highness had saved half for him. Touched, he said, “Your Highness is considerate.”
Lu Qian knowingly smiled, while Xue Yao nodded approvingly. The two gazed at each other affectionately, a silent understanding passing between them.
On this day, the warm baby stayed in the shade, huddling like a little ostrich.
Taking advantage of Lu Qian continuing his sword practice, Xue Yao sat beside the warm baby and asked softly, “Is Your Highness still troubled by what was said yesterday?”
“Call me A’Xiao!”
“A’Xiao.”
Only then did Lu Xiao turn to Xue Yao. “Do you want me, or do you want Seventh Brother? Seventh Brother doesn’t really understand you.”
“You don’t understand yourself either.” Xue Yao looked at him. “To put it in lofty terms, from childhood till now, I’ve always considered you my confidant.”
Lu Xiao’s eyes lit up, the burning hope drowning out his sense of guilt. “If you say that, then my feelings weren’t in vain.”
“Neither of us wasted our feelings,” Xue Yao smiled, scooting closer to the warm baby. He placed a hand on his shoulder, then whispered near his ear, “Does Your Highness want it?”
Lu Xiao recoiled, feeling a shiver run down half his body! Instinctively, he took two steps back, astonishment in his eyes as he looked at Xue Yao. “Y-you… what are you doing?”
“Hahaha…” Xue Yao couldn’t hold back a laugh, clapped his hands, and pointed at the warm baby. “Look at you, figured it out in just one try.”
“Figure out what?” Lu Xiao, realizing he overreacted, quickly cleared his throat, straightened his clothes, and sat back beside Xue Yao.
Xue Yao raised an eyebrow. “If you had that kind of feeling for me, it wouldn’t have felt so awkward just now.”
“What awkward? Who’s awkward?” Lu Xiao, realizing he fell for it, looked at Xue Yao with an impatient expression. “You just caught me off guard!”
“If it were that kind of feeling,” Xue Yao stared at Lu Xiao firmly, “You wouldn’t have instinctively recoiled.”
“I didn’t recoil.” Lu Xiao urgently tried to explain, but the half of his body that Xue Yao had breathed on still had goosebumps. He sighed in frustration, lowered his head, and honestly explained, “Not all men are obsessed with that kind of thing, A’Yao. My feelings for you go beyond desire, but if you like, I…”
“Beyond desire?” Xue Yao interrupted the warm baby’s confession, earnestly offering guidance, “A’Xiao, do you know what we call a kindred spirit beyond desire?”
“What do you call it?”
“Good Brother.”
Lu Xiao frowned. “That’s different. Do you think I can’t distinguish between feelings for a brother and feelings for you? You’re completely different from Fifth Brother and Seventh Brother.”
“Of course, it’s different,” Xue Yao said, “Only I understand you. I know how to ease your anxiety, how to make you open up, how to make you feel safe. Your feelings for me are the same because fundamentally, we’re very similar.”
Both were people rejected by their parents, the ones most prone to self-doubt and self-loathing. Both were accustomed to sacrificing themselves to please others, both lived with all their might.
“It’s exhausting to already be more easily hurt than others and still pretend not to care, isn’t it?”
Xue Yao’s eyes became sad as he gazed at Lu Xiao, as if looking at himself in a mirror, desperately concealing the pain all over his body. “Do you really like being with me? Just because I can understand your thoughts and comprehend your needs? Yet, in front of me, you remain cautious. Because we understand each other, you still have to handle my more sensitive thoughts more carefully than your brothers. Both of us being cautious, isn’t that tiring too? I can understand you, but I can’t make you let your guard down, to be carefree and truly be yourself. Do you like this side of me?”
“I do!” Lu Xiao looked at Xue Yao firmly, earnestly pledging, “I’m not as fragile as you imagine, A’Yao. I don’t need you to be so cautious in taking care of me. If I’m upset, I’ll throw a tantrum. Relax a bit when facing me. You’re overthinking it.”
Xue Yao’s eyes went vacant for a moment.
Throw a tantrum when upset.
Overthinking?
It seemed that Xue Yao only dared to completely let go and not care about anything when facing Lu Qian. He entrusted his entire self to Lu Qian, threw small tantrums when unhappy, and even dared to be unreasonable with him.
Because Lu Qian was like a little sun, Xue Yao’s minor temper was extinguished before it even approached, incinerated by the warmth radiating from Lu Qian.
He knew his sensitivity couldn’t hurt Lu Qian, so he dared to be unrestrained.
Also, due to the significant differences in their personalities, Xue Yao’s worries and frustrations had enough mystery in front of Lu Qian. This mystery even stirred Lu Qian’s conquering desire, prompting him to eagerly soothe and explore Xue Yao.
Xue Yao’s sensibility was a miracle that Lu Qian, in his rational world, couldn’t fully understand or grasp. There was a natural allure that excited Lu Qian, compelling him to envelop Xue Yao and continuously explore and touch him.
Because of the mysterious feeling of the untouchable, Xue Yao extending his little claws to scratch only made Lu Qian more curious.
But the warm baby was different. Before Xue Yao’s claws even come out, Lu Xiao might already be hurt.
“If I act unrestrained in front of you, I have to watch you sacrifice and compromise to warm me. A’Xiao, there are too few people in this world who truly understand you. That’s why you feel lonely, resorting to desperate measures when in dire straits. I can promise you, I won’t leave you. We will always be good brothers, but I can’t heal your wounds.”
Lu Xiao’s eyes darkened. “Are you thinking of choosing Seventh Brother?”
Xue Yao shook his head. “I won’t choose him either.”
A/N:
Hero Gu: What is this Sunflower Manual? How come I’ve never heard of it? But I can’t lose face in front of my Junior Brother, so I’ll pretend to be knowledgeable. Hehe.
The sympathetic eyes of Seventh Cub【Staring——
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