WMSG Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Fire

Ye Yueshen sat on a straw stack by the wall of the thatched hut, resigned to his fate. Every so often, he would put a small piece of sweet potato in his mouth and chew it slowly.

Gong Xunwu was adding firewood to the fire, picking out some fine-leafed grass from the woodpile and tearing it up to place on a handkerchief. Three skinned rabbits were roasting on a wooden frame secured with vines.

He had actually hunted four rabbits. When he was criticized for being rude for the first time in his life, he paused for a moment, dismounted, took down the remaining three rabbits, and handed them to Ye Yueshen with both hands.

However, Ye Yueshen only frowned and avoided his gaze. He didn’t like the sight of bloodstains blooming on the pure white fur.

Gong Xunwu probably thought that his posture wasn’t low enough to atone for his rudeness.

So he said with a cold face, “I’ll roast rabbits to apologize to you. I’m sorry.”

Only then did Ye Yueshen realize what nonsense he had said in his confusion. Before he could be afraid of being sentenced to death, he was already surprised.

He nodded, but his neck was stiff with tension, the movement so slight that it was almost imperceptible, so he had to say, “Okay.”

Ye Lingshen’s ghost-like gaze disappeared quickly. He picked up the rabbits from the ground, interrupting the subtle atmosphere between them: “How should we divide four rabbits? Or should I go hunt two more?”

In Gong Xunwu’s arms, the smallest rabbit with the shallowest wound stirred. Half of its body slipped from its support, relying entirely on its front paws to clutch Gong Xunwu’s sleeve, its hind legs kicking wildly in the air.

Ye Yueshen stepped forward, grabbed the rabbit about to fall with one hand, and then bent down to throw it on the grass. The little rabbit quickly disappeared without a trace. He quickly took a step back.

Gong Xunwu’s gaze followed him, his eyes lingering on the bright red blood beads that emerged on the back of his fair hand.

The aroma of cooked meat wafted out, and Ye Yueshen followed the scent. Gong Xunwu’s movements of adding firewood were elegant and natural, exuding a noble and composed air.

Ye Lingshen, on the other hand, was poking at the ground with a wooden stick, reminiscing about when he went down the mountain earlier, and his younger brother had quietly thanked him.

At the time, he had asked somewhat puzzledly what he was thanking him for. His younger brother had said that he had made a mistake in court etiquette in the palace and was reminded by the matron.

There was no need to say it more clearly. Ye Yueshen was thanking him for not bowing to Qi Wang when he was pinned to the tree.

In a place where even an incorrect bowing gesture had to be corrected, this was already a clear bias.

That “thank you” was incredibly sweet. Ye Lingshen thought to himself that he was indeed an older brother, simply remarkable. He should ride back to the capital and have the Emperor issue a public document praising their Ye family’s fraternal harmony.

“Ye Er.” Gong Xunwu snapped him out of his self-intoxication, ordering him: “Go bandage your third brother’s hand wound.”

Ye Lingshen reacted for a moment before getting up and taking the handkerchief smeared with herbal residue from Gong Xunwu’s hand.

His younger brother obediently placed his hand in his palm, docile like a puppy.

He could feel his younger brother’s noticeably softened attitude. When they were fishing, he was like a fighting cock, but now he was like a little chick burrowing under his belly.

Ye Yueshen suspiciously watched the unknown herbal residue being wrapped on his wound with the handkerchief, somewhat doubtful but not daring to say anything. Fortunately, the wound had already scabbed over, so at least it wouldn’t get infected.

“Ye Er.” Gong Xunwu reminded him without emotion: “Remove the blood scab before applying it.”

Ye Yueshen: “…”

Just as Ye Lingshen was about to untie the knot in the handkerchief, Ye Yueshen swiftly withdrew his hand and hid it behind his back: “No.”

“Be good.” Ye Lingshen now stood on Gong Xunwu’s side, persuading him: “Many of the grass thorns in the forest are poisonous, so you have to detoxify it first.”

Ye Yueshen felt that the handkerchief given by Gong Xunwu was poisonous, arguing: “I was only pricked a few times by the thorns on the vine, it’s not poisonous.”

Gong Xunwu, who was beside them, added one last bundle of firewood to the fire, and walked towards Ye Yueshen under his wary gaze. Without explanation, he pinched Ye Yueshen under the armpits, picked him up, and pressed him on his lap. Just as Ye Yueshen was about to cry out, a large hand forcefully covered his mouth.

Ye Lingshen cooperated well, picking off the new scab on the back of Ye Yueshen’s hand, squeezing out a little blood. Ye Yueshen’s struggles were no match for Gong Xunwu’s strength. The back of his hand was pressed against the cool, damp herbs, and the handkerchief was tied in a knot on his palm that he couldn’t untie with one hand.

Ye Yueshen was released by Gong Xunwu, who straightened him up and sat him back on the straw pile like manipulating a puppet. Ye Yueshen’s eyes were lowered, not looking at anyone. The thought that his wound might be infected made him tremble with anger.

Gong Xunwu reached out and ruffled his messy hair. His hair had been messed up when he was shot with the arrow earlier, but without servants to help, he couldn’t comb it into that style of bun on his own, so he had been keeping it messy, like a bullied young master.

Gong Xunwu stood up, took off his hair crown, smoothed his hair with his fingers, and simply tied it into a bun for him.

According to the customs of Dayu, all men who had undergone the coming-of-age ceremony tied all their hair neatly into a bun with a hair crown, while those who had not yet reached adulthood tied up only half of their hair, leaving the other half loose.

Gong Xunwu had reached adulthood seven years ago, so he subconsciously tied up all of Ye Yueshen’s hair neatly.

After tying it, looking at Ye Yueshen’s slender, fair neck and the beautiful shape of his ears from a side-rear angle, he also realized that something was wrong. The hair at the bottom had been loose just now.

Ye Yueshen felt his neck being touched. He thought it was inevitable when combing his hair, but the person behind him took a step back.

He turned his head in confusion and happened to see the unfathomable look in Gong Xunwu’s eyes that he hadn’t had time to retract.

Ye Yueshen was frightened by his gaze, instinctively stood up, and looked at Gong Xunwu warily, unable to help but retreat. It wasn’t until Ye Lingshen put his arm around him from behind and asked him, “What’s wrong?”

Ye Yueshen didn’t know either, but he felt that Gong Xunwu was a little scary.

“It’s nothing.” After thinking about it, he told a lie: “I just saw a snake over there.”

Gong Xunwu withdrew his gaze and used the fire poker leaning against the wall to knock around in the grass a few times, following Ye Yueshen’s line of sight.

He turned his head and said, “It’s okay now.”

The three of them sat down around the fire. Ye Yueshen moved his small wooden stool closer to Ye Lingshen. Gong Xunwu glanced at the boy who was distancing himself from him, but said nothing.

Earlier, Ye Yueshen had unknowingly walked very far in the mountains. If they returned the way they came, it would take more than half an hour, but if they took the path Gong Xunwu had come from, it would take less than half an hour.

So the three of them went down the mountain nearby, far from the Zhuangzi they had come from.

Gong Xunwu was very familiar with this place. When they arrived, he easily took out firewood from the shed and even took out a lump of melted and sticky malt sugar from the house for Ye Yueshen. But Ye Yueshen didn’t dare to eat it.

Ye Yueshen ate the roasted rabbit, remembering that Gong Xunwu was originally hunting in the mountains. If this was where he rested, then he really liked hunting.

After the meal, Ye Lingshen planned to return the way they came, but Ye Yueshen couldn’t walk anymore, hugging his knees and sitting on the straw pile, pretending to be deaf.

Gong Xunwu gave him the horse, but riding a horse would make it impossible to cross the mountains. The path back happened to have one mountain after another near the Zhuangzi. If it were flat ground, they would have to go a long way around. Ye Yueshen didn’t have the stamina to go around, nor did he have a good butt to withstand the bumps on horseback.

So they could only stay overnight and wait for Ye Yueshen to regain his strength. Gong Xunwu told them which box contained bedding, then rode his horse and disappeared into the forest to hunt wild boars that were active at night.

Living in a small room with only a kang, far away from the huge Marquis’s residence, with only a fist’s distance between his and Ye Lingshen’s shoulders, he felt safe like never before.

The Marquis’s residence was too big, with one spacious courtyard after another. Ye Yueshen suspected that even the head of the family, Marquis Ye, and the Junzhu hadn’t been to all the places.

And in those unnoticed corners, there might be assassins hiding, ready to sneak into his bedroom and murder him in his sleep.

Ye Yueshen turned to face his brother and fell asleep just as the sky was darkening.

His breathing was very light. All afternoon, Ye Lingshen kept hearing the sound of him saying thank you in his head, and couldn’t help but poke him on the cheek.

Ye Yueshen’s lips twitched, but quickly returned to calmness and slept soundly.

The room was small, and their body heat quickly made the narrow space warm and comfortable. Ye Lingshen, who wasn’t sleepy at first, also fell into a deep sleep.

Gong Xunwu rode back on his horse, breathing somewhat heavily. He had just hunted a wild boar.

After being shot with the arrow, the wild boar didn’t give up on escaping. In the end, he used his dagger to silence the wild boar, so he was a little tired.

The chestnut-haired horse’s muscles were strong and beautiful. It walked unhurriedly on the somewhat sloping road, dragging a wild boar behind it, which was bleeding all the way and no longer showed any signs of life.

On the bright moonlit night, the horse raised its neck and neighed, and somewhere down the mountain, thick smoke billowed.

Gong Xunwu spurred his horse down the mountain. A stick of incense, burned to only the end, was stuck in the crack of the door of the small house, and the ones next to it were already crackling.

Gong Xunwu kicked open the door. The flowing air rushed into the room, and the place where there was no open flame just now burst into flames.

The two people in the inner bedroom were motionless. The thick smoke was already making it difficult for Gong Xunwu to see.

He held his breath, scooped up Ye Yueshen, who was curled up in a ball, into his arms, and then went to push Ye Lingshen, who was sound asleep on his back. He pushed him several times without any reaction.

He splashed the clear water from the bamboo cup on Ye Lingshen’s face. Seeing Ye Lingshen open his eyes with a jolt and burst into a violent cough, he didn’t hesitate to hug Ye Yueshen and quickly left the small house.

Ye Lingshen quickly ran out, stepped forward to look at his younger brother who was still being held in his arms, and after discovering that his chest was rising and falling, he turned around, put his hands on his hips, and looked blankly at the small house that was burning and collapsing.

When Ye Yueshen woke up, he was lying on a straw pile, held in his brother’s arms. He curled up: “It’s cold… no, that’s not right.”

He sat up, propping himself up on the straw pile, and looked at the ruins in front of him, a little dazed, unable to remember where he was for a moment.

At this time, the sky was already beginning to brighten. In the night, it was difficult to tell whether it was smoke that hadn’t dissipated or morning mist. Ye Yueshen felt that the fabric on his body was a little damp. He looked around, his gaze finally falling on Gong Xunwu, who was watching the horse eating grass.

He stood next to the horse, the morning mist flowing under the moonlight with his breath, looking cold and stern.

Ye Yueshen blinked and turned to ask Ye Lingshen, “Was there a fire?”

“Someone lit incense, His Highness saved us.” Ye Lingshen held his face and pressed his temples, hurting him so much that he gasped for air, and finally pushed him away with difficulty.

Ye Yueshen looked towards Gong Xunwu. The dark sky was transitioning to azure blue. Gong Xunwu was silent in the melancholy halo. Ye Yueshen felt that he was like a humanoid monster that had broken out of an ice-sealed deep pool.

Ye Yueshen let his imagination run wild and re-imagined him. He had frost-covered, branch-shaped horns on his head, and a crown made of ice crystals was stuck between the horns. His forehead and cheeks were covered with light blue scales, and his eyes were two shrunken pools of water, deep and cold, numb and lonely.

“Are you thinking about which brothers, nephews, or nieces want to murder you?” Ye Yueshen couldn’t help but comfort him: “That’s not the case.”

Gong Xunwu reacted for a while before realizing that he was talking to him, and raised his head to look at him.

Ye Lingshen couldn’t help but pinch his younger brother’s waist quietly, reminding him in a low voice: “Don’t talk nonsense.”

“They came to kill me.” Ye Yueshen’s eyes were as calm as water: “Don’t be sad.”

…

Gong Xunwu’s eyes paused, seemingly finding it unbelievable: he thinks I’m sad, he’s actually pitying me.