Chapter 42
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Upon hearing Pei Yunshu’s message, Zhuyou looked down at him with an emotionless gaze.
His black eyes remained calm and steady. Pei Yunshu moved away from him, but the look in Zhuyou’s eyes made him feel like he had bullied Zhuyou in some way. Pei Yunshu couldn’t help but raise his hand and lightly touch Zhuyou’s forehead. “Be good.”
With a gentle touch, coldness spread and faded as Zhuyou’s gaze fixated on Pei Yunshu’s lips. After a moment of silence, he softly uttered, “Mmm.”
Standing together, they appeared to be a compatible pair. Over the past few days, even the usually quiet Fourth Senior Brother couldn’t help but smile.
On that day, when Yunjing had followed him out of the main hall, he hadn’t even touched Pei Yunshu’s shoulder before the Qingyue Sword left a mark on his palm.
Yunjing looked at Pei Yunshu and then at the new junior brother, lowering his gaze.
Junior brother had said he didn’t like others touching him, but right now, the hand of this new junior brother was hanging around his waist.
Did he dislike others touching him, or did he specifically dislike his touch?
***
After the disciple recruitment ceremony, Pei Yunshu followed his senior brothers down the mountain with Zhuyou.
Third Senior Brother went to Qinghe City and brought back several jars of wine from a willow tree by the lake. When he saw Pei Yunshu, he smiled and said, “Back then, I wanted to dig up some wine for you, but who would have thought…”
He stopped himself midway through the sentence, fell silent for a moment, and then turned to fetch some wine bowls.
They were in the backyard of a tavern, and they had given the innkeeper enough money to provide them with clean and prompt meals. Upon hearing that half-sentence, Pei Yunshu silently noted it in his heart without asking further questions. He picked up his chopsticks and served a piece of chicken to Zhuyou.
Zhuyou sat calmly, pretending to be aloof from worldly matters. Pei Yunshu had urged him to eat before he finally moved his chopsticks, though his movements were somewhat clumsy.
Third Senior Brother brought over the wine bowls, and Second Senior Brother poured the wine from the jug into the bowls, one by one.
The wine seemed to have been brewed by Third Senior Brother, clear and transparent. As soon as it was poured, a rich aroma filled the entire courtyard.
Pei Yunshu didn’t drink much usually, but when he took the wine bowl, he tasted a sip and found it quite good, so he took a big gulp.
Third Senior Brother couldn’t stop him in time and sighed, “Junior brother, the wine I brewed is quite potent. Don’t drink too much.”
Zhuyou put down his chopsticks and stopped eating meat. He watched Pei Yunshu with a faint gleam in his eyes, seemingly waiting for something.
Indeed, not long after, Pei Yunshu stared blankly at his wine bowl, and his eyes seemed to lose focus.
He lowered his head and seemed to be looking at something good inside the wine bowl. Even when others called him, it seemed like he didn’t hear them. The black hair on his face even dipped into the wine bowl.
Eldest Senior Brother was the first to notice something was wrong. He walked over, intending to support Pei Yunshu, but Pei Yunshu turned his head and looked at him.
His eyes were red, his face was flushed, and his gaze was vacant. When he saw the person in front of him, he instinctively moved backward and hid in Zhuyou’s arms.
Eldest senior brother looked at him in silence, watched him dodge, and then lowered his gaze to his own outstretched hands.
Zhuyou encircled Pei Yunshu and tidied his dark hair. He smelled the alcohol on his lips but hadn’t actually kissed him in front of his group of senior brothers.
“Junior Brother,” eldest senior brother said, “are you drunk?”
Pei Yunshu didn’t answer. He looked around, and when he saw Third Senior Brother, he froze. But when he spotted Second Senior Brother, he shuddered all over. He grabbed Zhuyou’s sleeve and tried to hide behind it, looking utterly terrified.
Second Senior Brother instinctively stood up. “Yunshu?”
Pei Yunshu stiffened, staring at him blankly. When he saw Yuncheng, Yuncheng sensed something off. He said, “Senior Brother, why did you break my leg?”
Yuncheng was stunned.
“When did I… When did I break your leg?”
Pei Yunshu, upon hearing those words, fell silent.
He couldn’t remember anything at all, yet this question seemed to come out instinctively, as if he had been wanting to ask it for decades. Even though he couldn’t recall a thing, this question didn’t require him to remember. It was as if he had been asking it a thousand times over, as if he had been wanting to ask it for decades.
And once it was spoken, tears began to fall, inexplicably.
His tears were silent. Zhuyou held him close, and his embrace seemed perfectly tailored to Pei Yunshu’s form. He used his sleeve to wipe away the tears on Pei Yunshu’s face. Pei Yunshu looked up at him, then turned around and buried his face in Zhuyou’s chest, wrapping his arms around Zhuyou’s neck.
“Jiao Jiao,” his tears flowed down his neck, carrying a profound sense of grievance and despair that poured out from the depths of his heart in his moment of breakdown. “Jiao Jiao.”
Zhuyou held him tightly, placing his hand on the back of his head. “Mm.”
Yuncheng watched this scene, feeling a mix of absurdity and panic. He clenched his fists and tried to dismiss Pei Yunshu’s words as drunken ramblings. He forced a usual smile and walked toward Zhuyou, attempting to take Pei Yunshu from his arms. “Junior Brother, come to Senior Brother. Don’t scare the new junior brother who just arrived today.”
Zhuyou moved away from his hand.
Pei Yunshu raised his head from the dragon’s shoulder, and as he looked at Yuncheng, a smile slowly formed on his face.
With a mixture of coquetry and fear, and a hint of alcohol in his words, he spoke with the softest tone, saying words that could both enchant and torture a person, “Senior Brother, a broken leg hurts a lot.”
“Yunshu is begging you, please don’t break my legs anymore, okay?”
Yuncheng’s breath caught in his throat.
***
The night wind blew, and the bright moon hung in the sky.
“Jiao Jiao,” Pei Yunshu poked at Zhuyou’s face, feeling inexplicably happy every time he looked at him. “Call me your husband.”
Zhuyou tilted his head and looked at him, playing along, “Husband.”
Pei Yunshu instantly smiled. He cupped Zhuyou’s face and planted a big kiss on his wife’s lips. “Good boy, Zhuyou.”
Zhuyou remained calm, but his demonic markings appeared instantly. He savored the taste of wine on his lips and said, “More.”
He had already left his senior brothers far behind. In the sky, there was only him and Pei Yunshu. Pei Yunshu was so much easier to talk to when he was drunk. Since his wife had said the words, he held Zhuyou’s head and kissed him all the way to the halfway point on the mountainside of Three Days Peak.
Zhuyou’s speed kept increasing, and he even went straight through the courtyard where two foxes were admiring the moon. With Pei Yunshu in his arms, they entered the bedroom.
Hua Yue, covered in fur, had his hair standing on end. After a while, he regained his senses and realized what had just happened – Zhuyou and Yunshu had just enjoyed a romantic rendezvous. He abandoned the half-eaten chicken leg and rushed to the bedroom door. He used his claws to scratch at the door and howled repeatedly.
No! Protect the yuan yang!
The scent of the flood dragon’s emotions was too overwhelming; it frightened the fox. How could Beauty Yunshu endure it?
Bai Lige, with grace, finished eating the chicken leg and then devoured the remaining ones. He elegantly wiped his mouth and walked over to the bedroom door.
“Zhuyou,” he advised kindly, “now that you’re Yunshu’s wife, just focus on being his wife. Don’t think about doing the husband’s job as well. If I find out you’re bullying Yunshu, I might just lead the other demons in a rebellion.”
The room was filled with the clattering of porcelain as one piece fell after another.
Bai Lige contemplated for a moment. “Do you remember what the old bull in the Demon-sealing Tower said?”
As soon as this question was raised, the room fell silent. Inside, Zhuyou moved away from the bed, untied the bed curtains, and covered Pei Yunshu, who was half-undressed.
Pei Yunshu asked, “Jiao Jiao?”
With a reddened complexion, Zhuyou sat down, answering heavily.
Pei Yunshu felt that his neck was sore from all the biting, but his eyelids were getting heavier. Finally, he gently closed his eyes and fell asleep with the blanket wrapped around him.
Zhuyou looked at himself, his dragon horns standing on end, his blood nearly boiling.
Outside the bedroom door, Hua Yue watched Bai Lige and kept howling.
Bai Lige sighed deeply. “This is indeed a heartrending situation.”
Hua Yue howled once more.
Bai Lige shook his head. “In the Demonic Sealing Tower, there’s an bull demon who had a lover. One day, in the heat of passion, he couldn’t control himself and transformed into his true form… His true form was extraordinarily gifted, and his lover lost his life during their lovemaking.”
Let alone the Snake, Flood Dragon, and Dragon clans; when it comes to innate talent, there is probably no one who can compare to them.
But if…
Bai Li Ge pondered, and he couldn’t help but shiver.
That day, after the old bull told this story, Zhuyou crouched in a corner by himself. Now, when this matter was mentioned, he indeed paused. It seemed that Zhuyou remembered it very clearly.
However, dragons by nature are unrestrained. They can endure for a while, but not for a lifetime. Without a way to resolve this issue, it’s unclear whether the suffering would fall upon Yunshu or Zhuyou.
Foxes are quite lucky, Bai Lige sighed. They are neither too big nor too small, just right.
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