Chapter 31#

Chapter Thirty-One#

After returning to the residence, Xue Jingci and Pei Huang took the coffin to find Xiao Xun.

Outside was extremely dangerous after nightfall, so Lin Heng had carried the slumbering Xiao Xun back from the Buddha hall early on.

Pei Huang took the Phoebe zhennan coffin out of his storage bag and had Lin Heng give him a hand to put Xiao Xun inside. To their surprise, just as he was halfway in, Xiao Xun woke up, making the atmosphere a bit eerie for a moment.

Xiao Xun’s expression changed, staring at the two with full alertness, only relaxing when he saw Xue Jingci behind them.

Xue Jingci leaned over, briefly explained his guess, and asked Xiao Xun how he felt.

Xiao Xun didn’t respond immediately. He stayed quietly in the coffin and sensed for a long time before saying with surprise, “It’s really useful; the injury doesn’t seem to be worsening anymore.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, especially Lin Heng, who was so excited he was just short of weeping bitter tears.

Seeing that the sky was about to turn completely dark, Xue Jingci took his leave with Pei Huang.

When Xue Jingci and Pei Huang approached the bedroom, the maidservant was already waiting at the door, eerily standing on her tiptoes and peering.

The room was pitch black, the only light coming from the large red lantern hanging from the beam.

Xue Jingci stopped, turned his head to look at Pei Huang, and seeing that he was walking slowly, stood in place to wait.

“What are you thinking about?”

Xue Jingci grew impatient from waiting, stepped forward a few paces, grabbed his wrist, and pulled the person to his side with force.

“Walk faster.”

The maidservant not far away was still watching like a tiger eyeing its prey. Xue Jingci’s voice was pressed very low, somewhat blurred in the sound of the wind, yet it made Pei Huang’s earlobes feel hot.

The two pressed close together, like a newlywed couple, and returned to the room openly under the maidservant’s gaze.

After entering the room, the first thing Xue Jingci did was light the lamp.

The pitch-black room suddenly brightened, and Pei Huang’s gaze was subconsciously attracted by the light.

Perhaps it wasn’t the light, but the person slightly leaning over.

Xue Jingci was born beautiful, yet in the past he was always cold and distant, like an immortal drifting outside the mortal world, making people not dare to look too much.

Pei Huang stared at Xue Jingci until the man cast a confused look; only then did he turn his gaze away, calmly picked up a book from the bed, and said, “We returned late today; fortunately the candlelight is fine.”

Xue Jingci glanced at him and unfastened his overly restrictive belt. “Your book is upside down.”

Pei Huang was already distracted; being called out, he approached with a grin and boldly rolled up the book, lightly tilting Xue Jingci’s chin with it, forcing him to look at him.

Xue Jingci didn’t move and asked strangely, “What’s wrong?”

Pei Huang hadn’t expected him to have no reaction; instead, he himself began to blush. He coughed lightly, withdrew his hand, and said, “I want to make a bet with you.”

Xue Jingci didn’t respond, only silently thinking if something was wrong with Pei Huang’s head.

The candlelight flickered. Pei Huang anxiously poked his hand with the book again. “Quickly say ‘okay’.”

This childish movement of his was rare, and Xue Jingci was also amused into a light laugh. He nodded and said, “Okay, what are we betting?”

Pei Huang smiled and said, “Steward Xu in the residence has been running to the clinic frequently lately. Presumably, from what he’s seen and heard, he also understands medicine. If you let him go to treat Xiao Xun, do you think he would treat him until he’s bedridden?”

Xue Jingci was stunned for a moment. “How did he offend you?”

Pei Huang, however, tapped the table with the book again and said impatiently, “Since you’ve agreed, let him go and have a look tomorrow.”

Xue Jingci ignored him. Pei Huang leaned over and asked, “How about it?”

Pei Huang’s words were unusual. Xue Jingci had long understood the meaning within his words, but seeing him wink at him, he felt like teasing. He turned his head away and only said he was tired and going to sleep.

Sure enough, Pei Huang followed him over somewhat anxiously and lifted his quilt, acting as if he were ready to smash the pot since it was already cracked.

“You’ve already agreed. If you go back on your word, neither of us will sleep tonight!”

Seeing Xue Jingci turned on his side and leaning on the soft pillow, looking at him while suppressing a laugh, Pei Huang only then realized and covered him with the quilt again.

Xue Jingci, however, still stared at him. Only after staring until Pei Huang felt uncomfortable did he speak up. “You’re actually not afraid of me now.”

Pei Huang immediately straightened his back. “When have I ever been afraid of you?”

Xue Jingci raised an eyebrow. “When you were little. At that time your eyes were darting around, and your head was full of…”

Pei Huang’s eyes rounded, and he lunged over to cover his mouth, saying righteously, “A hero doesn’t mention past glories!”

Xue Jingci thought to himself, So that counted as ‘past glories’?

He couldn’t speak, nor did he struggle. After a few breaths, Pei Huang only then noticed that he was almost entirely pressed on top of Xue Jingci.

This man usually spoke little and looked cold, customarily wearing white robes like an immortal from the moon palace.

However, only Pei Huang knew that this man’s body was very warm, and he felt soft when hugged. He didn’t know what fragrance he used on a daily basis; it hit his nose and lingered without dispersing, drawing a person in thread by thread.

The moonlight flowed in through the gaps in the window, falling into Xue Jingci’s eyes.

He lowered his eyes, signaling for Pei Huang to let go. His eyelashes brushed like small fans. Pei Huang was so entranced he actually didn’t realize he should get up.

Xue Jingci looked up in confusion and reached out to squeeze his ear.

Pei Huang felt a bit of pain; only then did he let go and hurriedly rolled to the side.

Looking from the back, Pei Huang’s ears were red. Xue Jingci sat up, leaned over him, and tilted his head to look.

“Your face is red.”

“No it’s not!”

Pei Huang hadn’t expected him to lean over and look again. Speechless, he pushed him back and buried his face in the quilt.

That night, no matter what else Xue Jingci said, Pei Huang didn’t answer him anymore. Early the next morning, the man ran out again. When Xue Jingci opened his eyes, the two hadn’t even met.

Was he really shy?

Xue Jingci hadn’t expected him to be so unable to take a joke, yet he couldn’t help but find it amusing. He even had a smile on his face on the way to find Jiang Chengyi.

This expression was normal on anyone else, but on Xue Jingci, it was a bit hair-raising.

Jiang Chengyi looked at him for a long time and suddenly asked, “What was the trial upon entering the sect?”

“The Path of Questioning the Heart.”

Xue Jingci didn’t understand the meaning of his question and answered casually.

Jiang Chengyi asked again, “Then how many steps are on the Path of Questioning the Heart?”

Xue Jingci looked at him for a while and raised his hand to check the temperature of his forehead.

“If you’ve contracted a serious illness, you can go to Steward Xu to have a look.”

Jiang Chengyi was stunned. “Steward Xu?”

Xue Jingci said calmly, “He’s been running to the clinic frequently lately; he should have learned it as well. You might as well go for a consultation.”

After saying that, he didn’t want to deal with Jiang Chengyi anymore, turned around, and left.

Jiang Chengyi muttered Steward Xu’s name, and soon realized something, then got up and walked toward the front yard.

Both were smart people; the words didn’t need to be blunt. Sure enough, after Jiang Chengyi investigated in secret, he found Steward Xu’s true identity.

“The poison must have been administered by him. What should we do next?”

Inside the Buddha hall, incense smoke curled. Xue Jingci sincerely bowed to the Buddha and lit incense, then conveniently took a sacrificial fruit to eat, saying vaguely, “Just be on guard. It won’t hinder anything.”

Jiang Chengyi was thinking; hearing this, he was suddenly enlightened. At this time, alerting the enemy was also redundant. Since he knew who it was, things would be easy to handle, and his heart felt somewhat settled.

Looking up and seeing that three or four fruits were already missing from the offering table, he stopped him. “Now you and I still rely on the support of the Buddhist sect; do not be disrespectful to the Buddha.”

Xue Jingci looked up at him and also tucked the last two fruits from the plate into his sleeve.

These fruits were very sweet; he would take them back for Pei Huang to taste.

The two then returned to the residence early.

As the City Lord, Xue Jingci had to handle a large amount of paperwork every day—military deployment, agricultural affairs, commercial affairs… each was extremely troublesome.

Jiang Chengyi was good at these, but as the General of the Right, he couldn’t interfere too much in other political affairs.

Fortunately, there was Pei Huang.

This man was not old but knew a lot, handling all the city’s affairs extremely smoothly, saving them a lot of time that could be used to gather clues for leaving the secret realm.

Xue Jingci finally understood what Pei Huang meant earlier about making a living everywhere all these years.

Seeing Pei Huang focusing on handling the city’s affairs, Xue Jingci also picked up the City Lord’s family letters, continuing to search for useful clues.

Last time, Lin Su’s proactive self-exposure as a spy to Jiang Chengyi wasn’t a moment of recklessness, but because he had learned extremely important information.

The identity of the person Lin Su possessed in the residence was a strategist, quite favored by the City Lord. Over the years, he had submitted many important opinions, all of which were adopted without exception.

His most recent suggestion was just a few days before the wedding.

The document read: “Request the City Lord to move the Young General Yan Xing, who has been guarding the Chasm Cliff, to the Front Sand Pass.”

This city was backed by mountains to the north, with sheer cliffs thousands of feet high and extremely treacherous.

From west to south was a large stretch of desert plains, with neither water nor vegetation, and very easy to get lost in. To the east, the river was surging, serving as a natural barrier.

Over the years, the main force had always been stationed on the Chasm Cliff, building defensive works, with only a small amount of troops stationed in the east and west positions.

The reason Lin Su gave was that the demon race was secretly training troops and had borrowed many sand spiders from foreign tribes, which could burrow into the sand and secretly infiltrate the city. Troops must be sent there in advance to set up defenses.

As for the Chasm Cliff, it was easy to defend and hard to attack, and had many defensive works; leaving a small amount of troops would be enough.

Until the day Lin Su exposed his identity, he woke up and someone found him, secretly giving him many demon cores and saying something like, “You’ve done well. Now that the Young General has truly moved troops to the Front Sand Pass, the demon race has been secretly training troops these days and will attack the city from the Chasm Cliff the day after tomorrow.”

Only then did he know he was a spy. Thinking that everyone would die if the city fell, he didn’t care about much else and directly stopped Jiang Chengyi to tell him everything.

Pei Huang finished handling the city’s affairs. Seeing that Xue Jingci wasn’t asleep yet, he leaned over and bumped his arm, signaling for him to reach out.

“Taste it?”

Pei Huang was holding a round white lychee. Sensing that he was feeding something to his lips and smelling a sweet fragrance, Xue Jingci didn’t even open his eyes and subconsciously opened his mouth.

He was lazy right now and didn’t even want to lift his head. His soft tongue curled the lychee into his mouth, licking Pei Huang’s fingertips neither lightly nor heavily.

Pei Huang instantly withdrew his hand, his heart beating violently in his chest, yet he still couldn’t help but ask, “Is it good?”

Pei Huang had specially asked someone to chill those lychees; the juice was full, and they were sweet and delicious. Xue Jingci nodded, biting the pit and opening his eyes to look at him.

Pei Huang hadn’t expected this man to be lazy to this extent—he hadn’t discovered it before—and couldn’t help but laugh out of irritation, then honestly reached out to take the pit away.

Xue Jingci still looked at him. “I want to eat more.”

Pei Huang was entranced by this look, working uncomplainingly as a servant, yet feeling delighted.

“Since you like eating them, after we get out, I’ll take you to Spirit Mountain. Although it’s still early and some are a bit sour, they’re also very delicious.”

Xue Jingci nodded. “I like sweet and sour.”

Seeing his reaction, Pei Huang asked tentatively, “You’ll still return the same way this time, right? If so, I can take you another way. I’ve also found many delicacies in recent years; let’s go and taste them together?”

Seeing that Xue Jingci didn’t speak, Pei Huang added anxiously, “Taking the other way will be faster than everyone else; it won’t delay your time.”

Xue Jingci thought for a while and agreed, saying, “Sure. I’m also tired of those unpalatable things in the upper realm.”

After saying that, he saw Pei Huang had peeled another lychee and was waiting to feed him. But Pei Huang had a mischievous idea; he held the lychee just a short distance from him but didn’t move.

Xue Jingci was confused. Pei Huang took the opportunity to ask, “You won’t leave without saying goodbye again?”

His affected manner was irritating. Xue Jingci glanced at him.

“Naturally I won’t.”

After saying that, he suddenly tilted his head up and bit the lychee away.

Pei Huang’s finger also suffered, leaving a slightly red tooth mark.