“Shh, Behave and Keep Your Voice Down.”
Going through the wasteland on their way to Phantom City, Su Huaizhu and Gu Ruohai travelled with their sons and Chi Tong, who was also going in the same direction, moving southward towards the Central Plains.
After arriving at the border between the Central Plains and the wasteland, Chi Tong went their separate way to the Central Plains Imperial Court, while Su Yang and Gu Feidi replenished their supplies and purchased another horse, riding side by side.
Because the turmoil in the Wulin hadn’t died down yet, Su Yang and Gu Feidi covered their faces with a headscarf and used a long cloth to wrap their sword sheaths to hide their identities.
On the way, from the Jianghu rumours, Gu Feidi learned that Pu Lingyun and Fan Xi had returned to the Tengyun Pavilion and Xu Yunzhan was back at his Village of Mt. Qianfeng safely. It seemed that the Wujiang Sect hadn’t recovered from the sudden toppling of the E’Luo Gui Faction’s royal power, judging by the temporary lack of major movements from them.
“Should we go straight back to the House of Jade?” Su Yang asked.
“I need to return to Lanyang City first.” Gu Feidi replied. “I need to help manage the Pavilion while my father is away...I can’t keep the promise of accompanying you back to the House of Jade once E’Luo Gui Faction’s thing is over. I’m sorry for breaking this promise to you; I ate my own words.”
Su Yang wasn’t angry about this. He knew of the other’s identity, and also his corresponding responsibilities.
This man was willing to exchange love vows with him regardless of the social stigma and discontinue his family line, and promised to stay with him in the House of Jade in the future...Which was an extremely rare sight in this ancient era.
So he only teased, “Eating your own words will lead to increase in weight. Better be more careful, or else you won’t be able to use your light movement skills.”
Hearing this, Gu Feidi knew how the other man didn’t mind this delay and asked with a smile, “Having such a lover, what more could I ask for?”
Su Yang exaggeratedly shrunk his neck and bared his teeth to gasp, “So sourIn Chinese, sour (酸) is associate with jealousy and greed. In this case, it could be from the feeling of being mocked or teased.…”
Once they were back in Lanyang City, Gu Feidi didn’t go straight back to Tengyun Pavilion, instead, he checked in at an inn owned by the Pavilion. After making himself presentable in a simple manner, he ordered someone to contact the manager in the Pavilion.
The rumour of his expulsion from Tengyun Pavilion was still active in the Jianghu. Considering his Pavilion’s position, he couldn’t return with great fanfare for the time being.
Soon, Pu Lingyun and Fan Xi came to find them in disguise, along with them was Xu Yunzhan, who should have been in his Village.
After asking, the duo found out that Pu Lingyun had recently been dealing with the miscellaneous tasks in Tengyun Pavilion. As a novice in this, she was utterly exhausted from overwork and had no choice but to find Xu Yunzhan as an external aid to help her handle affairs that didn’t involve the core of Tengyun Pavilion.
The innkeeper quickly served tea and refreshments, which they enjoyed while sharing each of their experiences during this period.
“So, Shifu will be away until the Evil Sect’s reconstruction is complete?”
Pu Lingyun put pressure on her temple to calm her raging headache. “Da-ShixiongElder martial brother (大師兄). This reminds me of my first project, TSMB (っ °Д °;)っ. is a martial arts maniac武癡, someone who only care about martial arts and nothing else. I grab this translation from a project that I was part of, EVSS o(*°▽°*)o Perks of saving notes from prior projects. and cares not for the Pavilion’s various chores. Er-ShixiongSecond elder martial brother (二師兄). is an art of war addict, so much so that he concealed his identity to take the Imperial Provincial Examination武舉, the proper translation is ‘successful military candidate in the imperial provincial examination’. An exam to select military talents based on their martial arts skills to become the imperial generals. The exam could include mastery over a variety of weapons. This examination is less valuable than the liberal arts examinations. for military candidates. He is set on being a high-ranking military officer. The other few shixiongs in charge of the other prefectures and counties are stuck there handling their own matters...Now, you can’t show your face and Shifu is not coming back, does that mean I’m stuck with being in charge of the Pavilion’s affairs?”
Gu Feidi put down his tea cup and stated, “The Pavilion elders must have high confidence in you if they handed you these affairs on behalf of the Pavilion Lord temporarily.”
Pu Lingyun rolled her eyes and huffed discontentedly, “You’ve helped Shifu in dealing with many of these affairs before. You should know how trivial and complicatedly messy they are. I’m about to lose my patience dealing with these...Oh, that’s right. There’s some small, secretive movements in the Wujiang Sect recently. I reckon they are finding a way out after witnessing the fall of E’Luo Gui Faction.”
Gu Feidi pondered for a moment. “About the Wujiang Sect, order a constant watch on them. If you find any spies within our city, don’t alert them for the time being. Just focus on intercepting their messages. The rest...can be delayed until my father returns.”
Pu Lingyun nodded. “I guess that’s the most we can do for now.”
After chatting about Tengyun Pavilion, Gu Feidi turned to Xu Yunzhan and said with a smile, “I’m grateful for my Kindred Spirit Brother’s hard work.”
Xu Yunzhan returned with a strained smile. “It’s nothing. That day when you stopped my continuous participation in the battle of the Phantom City, at first I wanted to settle for the next best thing, joining Pu Lingyun and Fan Xi in the ice field. But I received an unexpected letter from my family stating that Lady Ying wasn’t doing well, so I quickly rushed back...You two went through fire and water, while I stayed at home with my wife. Now I talk about it, it sounds very shameful.”
“Is sister-in-law safe now?” Gu Feidi asked a follow-up question.
“Smooth and steady.” Xu Yunzhan sighed. “Lady Ying is skilled in martial arts, but the heavy stress from her pregnancy and the concern for my safety made her ill. She was fine the moment I arrived home.”
“If that’s the case, you should have spent more time with her.” Gu Feidi replied with a smile. “I’m still waiting for my toast for my nephew’s one-month banquetAlso known as a full-moon party or one-month celebration. 滿月酒 is the banquet held for an infant reaching their first month of age. In ancient times, it means the child survived the most difficult time. This tradition continued as now it's a way to introduce the newest member into the family..”
Xu Yunzhan couldn’t contain his smile. It was a bright smile of joy as a soon-to-be father.
“The child will be born in the middle of next summer. I’ll send everyone an invitation.” As he spoke, he suddenly remembered something. “Su Yang’s coming of age should be before the one-month banquet by a few days.”
He turned to Su Yang and asked, “Where do you plan to hold your coming of age at twenty, the House of Jade or back at the wasteland?”
The smile on Gu Feidi’s face immediately froze, before it slowly vanished.
Su Yang lowered his gaze to the teacup in his hand. After a moment, he looked back up at Xu Yunzhan, smiled and replied, “At the House of Jade.”
Within their people, they are well acquainted with, the duo didn’t really constrain their expression. Xu Yunzhan and Pu Lingyun immediately picked up their abnormality, Fan Xi also frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Yunzhan asked. “Is there a problem with your coming of age…?”
Su Yang blinked slowly and answered with a smile, “How is there any problem with my coming of age? There’s no problem at all! But none of you three have to specially visit the House of Jade for this. Just...sending me a blessing will be enough, really.”
Gu Feidi made no comment. His eyes were locked on Su Yang’s face, eyes that overflowed with uncontrollable concern.
Su Yang reached out and clasped Gu Feidi’s fingers. He swayed them back and forth, and gave him a soothing smile.
Seeing Pu Lingyun and Fan Xi also stare at them suspiciously, Su Yang smiled and sighed. He spoke as if he didn’t want to, “It’s just that, a fortune teller told me that I wouldn’t live past twenty years old. I don’t know whether it will come true or not...Didn’t my body start to fail before? Feidi is just blindly worrying about me, that’s all...Er, not that big of a deal.”
Anyone could tell this statement was very questionable. It was the same as not going into the details.
But since he already said it, he obviously didn’t want people to know the real reason. So the three stopped asking.
Gu Feidi’s mood finally improved. “If everyone likes, you are welcome to attend his coming of age ceremony.”
The others politely agreed, but it was clear they had doubts about this whole thing.
After chatting about the recent Wulin’s state of affairs, Pu Lingyun received a report from the Pavilion’s manager and had to return to the Tengyun Pavilion to deal with urgent matters. Fan Xi left with her.
Xu Yunzhan also got up and said his farewells. After Gu Feidi sent him off at the door, his friend looked back and whispered, “No matter what difficulties you face, let me know if you need any help and I’ll do my utmost to help you.”
Gu Feidi smiled softly and didn’t add anything but giving his thanks.
Once everyone was sent off, he turned and leaned against the door frame, watching Su Yang who was tidying up the tea set.
Observing Su Yang pour out the remaining tea in the cups and put them on the tea tray one by one, sometimes knocking the cups against each other and creating sound. He silently walked forward and embraced Su Yang from behind.
The older man’s body temperature was still lower than average. Gu Feidi’s cheek was close to the other’s eyes. He closed his eyes slightly, sighed and tightened his hold just a bit.
“What’s wrong?” Su Yang asked with a smile. “Didn’t we solve all our problems? We obtained the White Flame Gu. We got information about the dual cultivation technique. Aren’t our lives being developed in the right direction?”
Gu Feidi didn’t answer.
Su Yang tilted his head, searched for Gu Feidi’s lips and pecked them lightly.
“Don’t worry, everything will be fine.” He comforted. “It’s impossible for Shizun to send you to die. The White Flame Gu would disturb your system without being suppressed by my blood. Since Shizun said it was an opportunity for you, it proved that I’ll not die and I’ll always be with you, don’t you agree?”
After a long time, Gu Feidi murmured in Su Yang’s ear, “I know, but it doesn’t cease my worry. Until you celebrate your coming of age at twenty without mishap, there will always be fear in my heart…”
Su Yang turned around to smile at Gu Feidi while cupping the other’s cheeks in his hands before giving him a kiss.
“Instead of worrying about this and that and wasting time, why don’t we…” He licked his lips, deepened his voice and deliberately talked with a layer of huskiness. “...Do some happier things?”
Gu Feidi’s eyes immediately darkened by a few degrees at once.
Su Yang circled his arms around the younger man’s neck. “It’s been...so long since our last time. We’re safe here, no worry of any assassination, no snowstorm or no boreal owl to disturb us...Afterward, we can also request for a tub of hot water and take a nice, long bath together. Clean each other’s back, and then lie on the soft bed…”
Before he could finish, he was suddenly stopped by a force and his waist knocked against the tea table. His lips were captured by Gu Feidi.
Su Yang laughed twice, muffled by their locked lips. He stretched out his hand to support himself with the table, and tried to balance himself, but unfortunately, he hit the tea tray he just cleaned up.
The tea tray fell to the ground with a bang, and the cups and pot on the plate broke into pieces.
Within the time to take a few breaths, an inn manager knocked at their door immediately, “Honourable guests, are you hurt? I’ll clean it up for you.”
Su Yang: “...”
Gu Feidi: “...”
Gu Feidi straightened out his clothes and as he was about to let the person in, his mouth was covered by Su Yang.
Su Yang put his weight on the other, shouted out toward the door with a smile, “No, there’s no need. We’re just playing around—just send a tub of hot water in half a time periodOne hour.!”
There was no answer outside the door for a long time.
Gu Feidi clicked his tongue with a frown and huffed, “What are you shouting about? Requesting water in the middle of the day…”
Su Yang hid his face against Gu Feidi’s shoulder. He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t stop laughing.
Gu Feidi was influenced by the sound of the other man’s laughter and couldn’t resist his own, “I don’t know what I should do about you…”
As he spoke, his eyes narrowed slightly as he lowered his voice, leaning close to Su Yang’s ear and asking, “Are you sure...half a time period is enough?”
Su Yang immediately sensed danger. “Ho-how is that not enough!”
Gu Feidi hummed, picked up the man and threw the older man on the bed. He locked the struggling arms with his elbow and grinned. “...If we are doing it more than once, of course it won’t be enough.”
Then, he added, “There are many other guests here. You better hold your voice for a while so as to not disturb them.”
Su Yang: “...”
“Gu...You sly fellow! You have changed. You are no longer the innocent young boy you used to be!”
“You evildoer, return the original cutie back to me—”
“Argh, hick...You…”
“...Shh, keep your voice down and be good.”
Gu Feidi is the real villain ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)