Song Liang was about to explain that he had only been joking, but Xu Qingye had already approached with the aid of a wooden stick, asking with great concern whether he was injured. Then he gestured toward the blue-clad young man who had just fought Song Liang.
“This is Jing Lan, Young Master Jing. He saved me after I fell from the cliff. He attacked just now because he mistook you for our pursuers. Please don’t hold it against him.”
Naturally, Song Liang did not. He extended a hand toward the man. “Young Master Jing, is it? My name is Song Liang.”
The young man looked at his face without moving. “I heard Young Master Xu call you Your Majesty.”
“Oh, that was an alias.”
“…”
Before the man could speak, Song Liang continued, “Actually, I’m the emperor of Great Yao. I was just being pursued by a band of traitorous villains led by the Grand Empress Dowager and accidentally fell off a cliff. If you can provide some money and escort us to the capital, I’ll make you a prince outside the imperial clan once I return to the palace and reclaim my identity.”
The young man: “…”
Xie Yun: “…”
Xu Qingye wondered: Why does every word sound like a scam when it’s all true?
When the man remained silent, Song Liang added earnestly, “I’m telling the tru—”
Afraid His Majesty might frighten his rescuer away, Xu Qingye hastily interrupted. “Young master, did you come alone? The Prince Re—Young Master Xie, who fell with you. Where is he?”
Song Liang stepped aside, revealing Xie Yun, who had been hidden behind him the entire time. “Right here.”
Xu Qingye’s expression froze, turning as ugly as though he had swallowed a live toad. After several changes of expression, he managed a stiff smile.
“Xie… Young Master Xie.”
Xie Yun replied, “No thanks necessary.”
Xu Qingye: “…”
Had he become so agitated that he had accidentally voiced the curses in his heart?
“Young Master Xie?” the young man named Jing Lan suddenly asked. “You speak with a capital accent, and your surname is Xie. Might you belong to the Xie clan of Yingchuan?”
Xie Yun had always been cold toward others. With his sight gone and his body gravely injured, he had even less desire to converse with a stranger of unknown origins. He merely lowered his eyelids and remained silent.
His black clothes, however, concealed the blood soaking them. Apart from his pale face and lips, there was little to indicate the severity of his wounds, making him appear all the more arrogant.
Somewhat embarrassed, Xu Qingye tried to smooth things over. “Let’s go inside first.”
“Mm.”
Song Liang entered first, with Xie Yun following. Their steps matched, and barely a pace separated them. They seemed rather close, but Xu Qingye gave it little thought. After a glance, he looked away and busied himself clearing a reasonably clean place for them to sit.
Jing Lan, however, suddenly asked from beside them, “Is Young Master Xie injured?”
All three men paused. Xu Qingye instinctively looked at Xie Yun, who showed no reaction. His eyes remained lowered, his bearing aloof and cold. Song Liang asked instead, “Why?”
“I’ve had a keen sense of smell since childhood. I noticed blood on Young Master Xie, so I thought to ask.” Jing Lan took a small white porcelain bottle from inside his clothes and offered it to Xie Yun. “This is a wound medicine I always carry on my travels. It works very well on external injuries. Young Master Xie is welcome to use it.”
“Thank you, then.” Song Liang took the bottle and pulled up his trouser leg, revealing a crisscross of wounds. “But I’m the injured one.”
Jing Lan paused at the sight, then said, “Your wounds are numerous, Young Master Song, but they haven’t bled much. They don’t account for the strong scent I noticed. Besides, I can tell the smell is coming from Young Master Xie.”
“Of course these haven’t bled much. The wound that bled heavily is on my back.” Song Liang turned to reveal the blood-soaked fabric behind him. “As for the blood you smell on him, it must have rubbed off from me.”
At that, Xu Qingye could not help asking, “Why would your blood be on him?”
Song Liang answered as though it were obvious. “Because we took off our clothes and had intimate contact, of course.”
Jing Lan’s expression changed at once. “You two—”
Xu Qingye was equally horrified.
His Majesty and the Prince Regent??? Did that make any sense? Had he actually died beneath the cliff and never woken up? How else could he be hearing something so terrifying?!
Song Liang said, “I bandaged him, and he applied medicine for me. Is there a problem?”
Xu Qingye: “…”
What a fright. He had thought Great Yao was about to lose both its dynasty and its imperial line.
Jing Lan’s expression was unpleasant, and for a moment he said nothing.
Studying his face, Song Liang asked with a smile, “As the emperor of Great Yao, I find myself a little hungry. Would Young Master Jing be willing to find me something to eat and drink?”
Jing Lan had not expected such a lack of ceremony. After a brief silence, he replied, “I’ll look outside.”
Embarrassed, Xu Qingye said, “How can we trouble Young Master Jing? Perhaps I should—”
“You go too,” Song Liang said.
Xu Qingye: “…Yes.”
The two had barely left the hut when Xie Yun’s low, measured voice sounded inside.
“I thought you would keep Xu Qingye here to question him.”
“About what?”
“Jing Lan.”
“What makes you say that?” Song Liang raised an eyebrow at him. “You know what I’m thinking?”
“You sent Xu Qingye out to keep watch on him.” Xie Yun lifted his eyelids slightly, facing Song Liang, and continued, “Your manner toward him was also very arrogant.”
“I thought I was always arrogant.”
“…”
Xie Yun closed his eyes and said no more.
Song Liang’s lips curved as he opened the bottle of wound medicine. “Come on. Let’s see how good our Young Master Jing’s medicine is.”
When Xu Qingye and Jing Lan returned, Xie Yun was asleep on the plank bed. Song Liang sat leaning beside him with one knee raised, one hand resting between them and the other on his knee. The instant they entered, his eyes opened silently. Their sharpness and wariness made both men pause.
In the next moment, however, Song Liang returned to his languid manner, yawned, and greeted them.
“You’re back?”
“…Yes.”
Xu Qingye brought him the wild fruit and clean water, inwardly stunned by the sight before him. The Prince Regent, supposedly the emperor’s bitter enemy, was lying quietly beside His Majesty—and appeared to be sleeping quite soundly.
He began wondering again whether he had been dreaming ever since he fell off the cliff. Otherwise, how could these two have been crossing blades and fighting to the death up above, only to become this close down below?
Good heavens. Sharing a bed, with one asleep while the other kept watch. The last pair he had seen so devoted to each other were his own shamelessly affectionate parents.
But however strange it seemed, he dared not comment, lest he expose some imperial secret.
While he pretended to notice nothing, Jing Lan had stood rigid since entering, staring at the two men on the bed as though he had witnessed something utterly unacceptable.
Xu Qingye’s heart rose into his throat. He knew not everyone accepted intimacy between men. Although Young Master Jing practiced martial arts, he carried a scholarly air. Could he find such things abhorrent?
The man had saved his life, after all. Xu Qingye did not want him to offend Song Liang and be charged with insolence toward the throne. He hastily found an excuse to pull him outside again.
“…Please don’t take offense, Young Master Jing. My young master and Young Master Xie are as close as brothers. They’re very fond of each other, so they can seem a little intimate. Please don’t misunderstand.”
Jing Lan’s face had already been taut. At those words, he abruptly looked up into Xu Qingye’s eyes.
“You say your young master and Young Master Xie are as close as brothers?”
“Uh… They didn’t get along very well before. Their relationship suddenly improved recently.”
“When?”
“…”
Overnight, Xu Qingye thought.
Seeing how grim Jing Lan looked, he feared the man might fail to grasp the danger and say something unfortunate. He decided to speak plainly.
“If you truly dislike it, Young Master Jing, remember not to say so. My young master has an awful temper. Young Master Xie’s is even worse, and he’s always threatening to beat or kill people.”
“I understand.” Jing Lan drew a deep breath, his voice heavy and conflicted.
They turned and went back inside, only to see Song Liang lifting himself away from the sleeping Xie Yun. His lips were slightly red, and a trace of moisture lingered at the corner of his mouth.
Xu Qingye: “…”
Jing Lan’s pupils jolted in shock.
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