Peach Blossom Land On Longyin Island Chapter 14

The wedding night

A new bed, new blankets, and new bed curtains. The air still held the scent of mugwort that had been used to fumigate the room over the past few days. Tonight was the first time the two of them were sleeping in the new room. Usually, before bed, An Le would drag An Xiaoyu into rambling conversations to pass the time until drowsiness overcame him, and he would yawn and fall into a deep sleep.

But tonight was different. The two lay silently in bed. An Xiaoyu was always a man of few words, usually just listening to An Le talk. Therefore, when An Le also remained silent, the room became exceptionally quiet.

An Le lay perfectly straight, his hands resting on his lower abdomen, staring at the blackness above, blinking mechanically from time to time.

Something was wrong, very wrong. He was suffering from insomnia!

An Le’s eyes widened, unable to believe that he couldn’t fall asleep!

Having not experienced insomnia for a long time, An Le felt slightly agitated. He wanted to turn over but was afraid of disturbing An Xiaoyu, so he forced himself to stop after a slight movement.

Count sheep, he thought. Count sheep, and he would eventually fall asleep. An Le forced his eyes shut and silently began counting sheep in his mind.

One sheep, two sheep, three sheep… Did he touch An Xiaoyu’s mouth when he ate the jujube earlier?!

The realization hit him belatedly, and An Le abruptly opened his eyes. When eating the jujube, he had deliberately bitten it quickly before anyone could react. But! At that distance! Only a single red jujube separated his mouth and An Xiaoyu’s. Did he… No, wait, his tongue seemed to have felt a faint, cool sensation at the tip!

He had touched An Xiaoyu’s mouth! That was why An Xiaoyu had looked so embarrassed at the time!!!

An Le jolted, sitting up sharply in bed, staring blankly into the darkness ahead. The moment he understood, his face flushed crimson with shame and awkwardness. He wished he could immediately hide!

An Le actually did just that. His mind was filled with the thought that he had kissed An Xiaoyu. In his embarrassment, he forgot that he and An Xiaoyu were sharing the same blanket. He yanked the blanket over his head and began rolling around on the bed, clutching the bedding.

“What… what’s wrong?” An Xiaoyu, who was also awake and now had half his body exposed after the blanket was snatched away, asked hesitantly.

“Ah!” An Le snapped back to reality, instantly stopping his movements. He returned to normal, pulling the blanket back over An Xiaoyu, and chuckled awkwardly, “Nothing, nothing. I forgot you were still here.”

An Xiaoyu: “…”

“Can’t sleep?” An Xiaoyu asked after a moment.

“Yeah.” Seeing that An Xiaoyu was also awake, An Le didn’t worry about disturbing him. He kicked off the blanket, trying to cool his body down.

An Xiaoyu, however, pulled the blanket back over An Le, saying gently, “Cover up. You’ll catch a cold.”

“No, I’m hot.” An Le kicked the blanket off again, exposing half his body. Perhaps because of the intense embarrassment he had just felt, he felt even hotter now, hot from the inside out. “It’s really hot.”

“Hmm? Did you drink too much wine? Even if you’re hot, you should cover up. It gets cold at night, and drinking wine then catching a draft makes it easy to get sick,” An Xiaoyu said, attempting to cover him again, but An Le stopped him. “It’s fine. I’ll just uncover for a bit to cool down, then cover up later.”

An Le sighed involuntarily after speaking.

An Xiaoyu draped a corner of the blanket over An Le’s stomach and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Phew—nothing,” An Le exhaled deeply and turned over. “Go to sleep.”

After a brief silence, An Xiaoyu responded softly, rising slightly to pull the blanket over An Le before lying back down. An Le didn’t kick it off again. Although he still felt very hot, hot from the inside out, he knew that if he kicked it off, An Xiaoyu would definitely cover him again.

If he kicked and An Xiaoyu covered, they would spend the whole night tossing and turning, and sleep would be impossible.

In some ways, An Xiaoyu was unreasonably stubborn.

An Xiaoyu was a strange person, though An Le couldn’t quite articulate how. An Xiaoyu woke up early every day and immediately started working: chopping wood, fetching water, washing clothes, cooking, helping Su Su braid her hair, playing with Su Su, helping Father An dry herbs, accompanying Mother An during consultations… Aside from searching for the map, it seemed An Xiaoyu’s main focus in Longyin Village was repaying the kindness of An Le’s family, which included him, the fake An Le.

An Xiaoyu seemed more adapted to life in Longyin Village than he was. The strangeness lay here: no matter how An Le looked at him, he felt An Xiaoyu should be someone who had been pampered since childhood. Although An Xiaoyu hid it well, in certain moments, An Le could still sense the “overbearing” aura that An Xiaoyu inadvertently revealed.

He was very curious about what kind of person An Xiaoyu truly was. His mind was full of speculations about An Xiaoyu. Unknowingly, his eyelids grew heavy, his thoughts became sluggish, and he vaguely seemed to drift into sleep.

“An Le, An Le.” Half-asleep, An Le heard someone patting and calling him, while simultaneously feeling an extremely uncomfortable heat surging through his body.

“Ugh, so hot,” An Le mumbled, kicking off the blanket.

“Don’t move. You’re very hot, like you’re sick. I’ll go call Aunt Li. Cover up.” Saying this, An Xiaoyu pulled the blanket back over An Le, tucking the edges beneath him.

“No need, it’s too late. Don’t wake her up.” An Le was slightly more awake, but his consciousness was still hazy, as if his soul was floating in a light, ethereal void.

“No, you’re sick,” An Xiaoyu insisted, sitting up and preparing to get out of bed.

An Le felt the slight breeze as the other person moved to stand up. He reached out and grabbed An Xiaoyu’s wrist. “I’m not sick, I just feel hot.”

An Xiaoyu’s wrist was warm and cool, very comfortable, and An Le instinctively held onto it.

An Xiaoyu hesitated slightly, then placed his other hand on An Le’s forehead, saying, “But your forehead is also very hot. It’s still early before dawn. We should still have Aunt Li come over.”

With that, An Xiaoyu tried to pull his hand away, but An Le pinned it down with his other hand.

An Le held An Xiaoyu’s hand, gently rubbing it against his cheek, murmuring, “Comfortable. Let me use it.”

An Xiaoyu froze slightly, then pulled his body back, startled. “An Le…”

“Mm, don’t move,” An Le said, simultaneously arching into An Xiaoyu’s embrace, speaking in a near-delirium, “An Xiaoyu, you’re cool and comfortable. Let me borrow you to cool down.”

An Xiaoyu’s body stiffened, remaining motionless. After a long moment, he whispered, “An Le, the Joyful Union Wine, did you drink all of it?”

“Mm…” An Le had been in a state of trance. An Xiaoyu’s voice reached his ears as if filtered through a layer of ocean waves, hazy and unclear. But upon hearing the words, An Le instantly understood the meaning behind An Xiaoyu’s question.

An Linmian’s strange smile when he left, and the physical reaction An Le belatedly noticed in his own body. An Le was fully awake. He pushed An Xiaoyu away abruptly, his eyes wide.

He was having a reaction! Towards An Xiaoyu!

An Le gripped the blanket, speechless with shock. What had he just done… to An Xiaoyu? An Xiaoyu… must have noticed… his physical reaction.

He had experienced this kind of thing since entering puberty, but in his previous life, there had never been anyone else in the bed when it happened!

Now, it wasn’t just the internal heat; he felt like he was about to be cooked alive! Fortunately, the lamp wasn’t lit. In the darkness, no one could see his thoroughly flushed face.

“An Le, you…”

“Cold water,” An Le took a deep breath, suppressing the restlessness in his body, and interrupted, “An Xiaoyu, help me prepare cold water. I need to take a bath.”

An Xiaoyu didn’t move. He said, “You’ll get sick.”

Getting sick was better than being humiliated here! Joyful Union Wine! The name itself sounded suspicious! In novels, this kind of wine always contained aphrodisiac ingredients! Why hadn’t he thought of that!! And he drank so much!! An Le cursed himself for being stupid.

“An Xiaoyu, hurry up,” An Le urged when An Xiaoyu remained still.

An Xiaoyu moved, but only to shift closer to An Le, saying gently, “An Le, a cold bath will make you sick.”

“Holding it in will also make me sick!” An Le retreated slightly, blurting out the words. His body was getting hotter and his heart more irritable. He was starting to find it unbearable.

“An Le,” An Xiaoyu moved closer again, speaking softly, “This is normal for men. You don’t need to feel ashamed.”

“You, stay away.” An Le couldn’t listen. Sensing An Xiaoyu approaching again, he instinctively reached out to push An Xiaoyu’s chest, trying to stop him from getting closer. However, the moment his hand touched the other person’s body, he immediately recoiled as if burned.

Why was this person exposing his chest! An Le was horrified, and an even more unbearable guess formed in his mind: Could it be that he was the one who did it just now?!

He had been half-asleep and disoriented at the time, not really remembering what he had done, only that the other person felt cool and comfortable, so he had pressed against him.

Could it be… that he had stripped An Xiaoyu’s clothes off to cool down?!

Hiss—he’d rather be cooked to death right now!!

“An Le,” An Xiaoyu stopped moving and called his name again, his voice soft and gentle, like soothing an infant. “An Le, I’ll help you.”

“No!” An Le rejected the offer without thinking, but the next second, his body suddenly trembled. An Xiaoyu ignored his refusal and touched his body.

“Mmm…” His body, already brimming with desire fueled by the Joyful Union Wine, was instantly ignited by the touch. His consciousness wavered precariously.

“An… hiss… Xiaoyu…” An Le still struggled to maintain his sanity and control his body to move away from the other person. He pressed down on An Xiaoyu’s wrist, his breath shaky. “I… I’ll do it myself. You… go out for a bit…”

After a moment of silence, An Xiaoyu pulled back slightly and whispered, “Alright.”

An Le felt that he had exhausted all the shame he could possibly feel in this lifetime in front of An Xiaoyu.

When calling An Xiaoyu back to sleep, An Le didn’t dare go near the door, afraid that the moonlight filtering through would expose his embarrassment. Fortunately, An Xiaoyu was very considerate. He didn’t ask a single question, walked straight to the bed, and went to sleep.

An Le naturally couldn’t sleep. He lay in bed for a while, and when he heard An Xiaoyu’s breathing become steady, as if he were asleep, he quietly got up, left the room, and went out into the courtyard.

In the 200th year of Longyin, on the night of the 23rd of the eighth lunar month, the moon was a waning crescent, the starlight dim. The half-moon hung lonely in the night sky. The hooting of owls drifted from the mountains, low and mysterious.

The swing in the courtyard faced the wedding room. The door, adorned with large red double-happiness characters, was particularly conspicuous in the cold moonlight. A pair of red lanterns hung from the eaves, their candles still burning, flickering incessantly.

An Le sat motionless on the swing, his long hair swaying lightly, bathed in moonlight. After a long time, the door with the red happiness characters opened from within, and An Xiaoyu’s tall, slender figure came into An Le’s view.

He was handsome and stood tall and graceful.

“Put this on.” An Xiaoyu walked over, handing An Le the outer garment he held. Seeing An Le stare at him without moving, he added, “Don’t catch a cold. Aunt Li will worry.”

An Le didn’t respond, still looking at An Xiaoyu. He slowly spoke, “Dragon God Temple.”

An Xiaoyu paused. “What?”

“The map,” An Le turned his head, leaning back on the swing, and looked calmly at the night sky. “Perhaps it’s in the Dragon God Temple.”

“Mm,” Surprisingly, An Xiaoyu’s reaction was very calm. He simply responded softly and offered the clothes forward again. “Put on your outer garment first.”

An Le leaped off the swing and walked away, saying, “No need. Let’s go back to sleep. We’ll go look in the Dragon God Temple tomorrow.”