28

When these words registered in his mind, Jing Xuan first felt a chill, then a surge of rage. What kind of terrible riddle was this? Even the riddles Jing Yi came up with during the New Year were better than this.

He immediately jumped up. "Gu Fang, with such behavior, do you still have the bearing of a teacher to the Emperor?!"

Gu Fang responded cheerfully, "I am but a mere merchant now, naturally far removed from the lofty airs of noble scholars. I only speak in the vernacular."

"You..."

Jing Xuan still wanted to say something, but someone inside the inn had already poked their head out from the window, as if to watch the commotion.

Priorities first, Jing Xuan could only wrap his arm around Gu Fang’s shoulder, using a fur cloak to half-cover their figures and hide his face, snuggling against Gu Fang as they entered the inn's last remaining room.

Since this was the only remaining room, the furnishings were naturally poor.

At the end of the corridor, the windows on both sides were wide open, the twilight dark and heavy. The wind rustled dry leaves, and the thick clouds were rolling in. The withered trees stood lifeless, and it seemed like it would rain soon.

Inside, the charcoal stove was so weak it seemed as if it might extinguish at any moment. The bed was small, and every movement made it creak. The bedding was stiff, as hard as a board. The room also smelled of wood, long eroded by dampness.

As soon as Jing Xuan entered, he furrowed his brow.

He was accustomed to luxury, never having stayed in such a place.

But if he wanted to travel smoothly and not draw attention, staying in an official inn was the only choice.

Gu Fang, accustomed to this, slowly and methodically closed the windows to block out the cold wind. Then, with practiced skill, he adjusted the charcoal burner, effortlessly reviving the flickering flame.

Finally, he pulled out a blanket from the wardrobe and laid it on the floor, seemingly planning to sleep there.

Jing Xuan looked at the cold, damp floor, raised an eyebrow, and Gu Fang lifted his head. "Your Majesty, are you perhaps planning to sleep with me on the same bed?"

Jing Xuan, who had been poked at the core, quickly denied the dangerous thought that had crossed his mind.

Sleeping on the floor was no problem. Gu Fang was in his prime and could handle such discomfort. He was a subject, so what did it matter if he slept on the floor?

He certainly wouldn’t let Gu Fang actually share his narrow bed!

Thinking of that scene, Jing Xuan felt an inexplicable panic. He hastily moved to the bed, removed his shoes and socks, wrapped himself in the blanket, and rolled to the corner of the bed like a giant silkworm cocoon, not daring to look at Gu Fang again.

It was as though one more glance would bring disaster.

But while his eyes could be closed, his ears couldn’t.

He heard the rain softly pattering outside the window. He heard the wind moaning as it whipped through the trees.

He heard Gu Fang tossing and turning, trying to hold back but still making soft, painful sounds.

He heard Gu Fang cough a few times, clearly trying to stifle it.

He heard...

He couldn’t listen anymore!

"Gu Fang! Get over here and sleep in the bed!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Jing Xuan sat up in bed.

Gu Fang's hair had already fallen all the way down, and he slowly sat up. With the faint light from the candle, he spoke softly, "Your Majesty, I'm fine, cough cough..."

"Fine my ass!"

An old fool who doesn't take care of his body!

Jing Xuan looked at Gu Fang’s face, which was as pale as a ghost, and his anger flared. He jumped out of bed, grabbed the blanket, and threw it onto the bed. "If you don’t get in, you’ll freeze to death. Then at least I won’t have to deal with you in battle anymore!"

Afterward, he quickly turned his back to Gu Fang and wrapped himself up like a silkworm cocoon, though now he was a much smaller silkworm, so much so that the narrow bed now had enough room for another adult to lie down.

Gu Fang chuckled softly and then smoothly lay down beside him.

As he settled, the old bed creaked loudly.

Jing Xuan stiffened for a moment, then quickly said, "Don’t think just because I’m being generous, you can take advantage. The blanket is the dividing line. Anyone who crosses it is a dog!"

"Alright."

Gu Fang had confidence in his own sleeping posture as well as in Jing Xuan’s.

He lay flat beside Jing Xuan, his breathing shallow and even, not moving at all.

It should have been a perfectly unremarkable situation, but Jing Xuan felt uneasy all over.

Perhaps it was because he hadn’t shared a bed with anyone in so long?

The time during the poison incident didn’t count.

But the discomfort seemed to be more than just that.

Maybe it was because of the aphrodisiac, but he became overly sensitive to every movement and sound from Gu Fang.

Gu Fang didn’t like incense, but he always had a faint, scholarly fragrance about him, along with a cold scent from the plum blossom incense he often used. Normally, it was barely noticeable, but now, surrounded by it, it seemed overwhelming.

Then there was Gu Fang’s body temperature. He was usually so cold, but his body felt like it was burning. Jing Xuan had felt it before, hot as fire.

Now, even though the warmth was separated by two layers of cotton blankets, it only made him long for the warmth of Gu Fang’s body in this cold, damp room.

And that longing made his ears flush and his heart race.

What a strange feeling.

Jing Xuan was almost annoyed.

When he got irritated, he couldn’t help but turn over. And when he did, he found himself facing Gu Fang’s eyes, which were looking at him through the faint light.

Jing Xuan: "..."

"Hmm?"

"Why aren’t you sleeping yet? Do you want me to tell you a bedtime story like before?" Gu Fang asked seriously.

Jing Xuan, seething with frustration, retorted, "Who wants to hear your bedtime stories? I’m not an eight-year-old child!"

"Then why is it, Your Majesty, that you cannot sleep peacefully so late at night?"

"Because... because I’m frozen and can’t sleep!" Jing Xuan found the most reasonable explanation.

Then Gu Fang’s hand naturally slipped into his blanket, gripping his foot, and raised an eyebrow slightly. "Why is it still so cold?"

When Jing Xuan was younger, his hands and feet were always cold because of his weak body. He had worked hard for many years to improve his health, but every autumn and winter, he still felt like a little ice block.

What were those people in the palace, with their high salaries, doing all day?

A hint of real displeasure appeared between Gu Fang's brows.

But Jing Xuan didn’t care to notice, because how dare Gu Fang hold his foot!

His ankle wasn’t a particularly sensitive spot.

However, ever since the last time when the poison acted up, whenever he tried to escape, Gu Fang would grab his ankle and pull him back. Because of that, he had developed an extra sensitivity to any touch there, almost as if he had a lingering fear.

So when that familiar hand with its familiar warmth grasped his ankle, Jing Xuan instinctively tried to pull away in panic.

But Gu Fang, who was already displeased, tightened his grip instead. "Is it that you’re indulging in the cold every summer, eating icy melons without restraint?"

Jing Xuan continued to struggle. "Mind your own business!"

Gu Fang didn’t let go. "I’ve told you many times, your constitution is weak. You cannot go barefoot. Last time, when you went to Zichen Hall, I saw you running around without shoes or socks. Why are you so disobedient?"

His tone, lofty and imposing as though he were a senior speaking to a junior, made everything feel even more like that night.

Jing Xuan panicked and, unable to break free, was both angry and frustrated. Unable to hold it in, he finally spoke in a voice tinged with grievance.

"Stop pretending to care. If you really cared, then why, when we were out hunting in the winter, when I was freezing and wanted to put my feet in your arms to warm them, did you not push me away? Back then, you ignored me for two or three years, and now you’re pretending to care. What kind of good person are you?!"

Jing Xuan’s anger was genuine, his frustration was real, and his grievance was true.

Gu Fang didn’t know how to respond at first.

He had never neglected Jing Xuan, but in the past two years, with turmoil surging through the entire court and the borders, he had been extremely busy. It was also at this time that he began to realize his feelings, and so, he had avoided being too close to Jing Xuan, avoiding personal matters.

But now, this had angered Jing Xuan to this extent.

Gu Fang seemed helpless, but his tone softened, and he said gently, "I’ve never pushed you away."

Jing Xuan snapped, "Bullshit!"

Gu Fang continued, "The reason I avoided you back then was because you were no longer a child, but a seventeen or eighteen-year-old young man, at the age when you could marry in common society. By then, I had already realized that the one I liked was not a woman, but a man."

Jing Xuan instinctively rebutted, "What?!"

Wait, what did that mean?

Jing Xuan froze for a moment.

Gu Fang liked to see that stunned, clueless look on his face and couldn’t help but chuckle lightly. "Have you ever thought, Your Majesty, if I didn’t like men, then how could I be so at ease and naturally engage in such intimate acts with another man, especially after being poisoned by the aphrodisiac?"

That seemed to make sense.

After all, since ancient times, love poisons were often created to unite yin and yang.

If someone truly didn’t like men, how could they so calmly accept such things?

So...

Jing Xuan’s eyes widened in shock. "Could it be... that I also like men?!"

As expected of a royal blockhead, who had already shared a bed with a man and still hadn’t figured out his own preferences.

Gu Fang couldn’t help but tease him a little. He lightly circled the red mole on Jing Xuan’s ankle with his callused finger and then said in all seriousness, "Your Majesty, I can’t make assumptions about your heart, but perhaps you should consider whether, before the aphrodisiac, you ever felt any affection for a woman, or maybe even had any youthful dreams of love?"

Jing Xuan had never been moved.

Not to mention being moved, he had hardly paid attention to any of his peers growing up. His thoughts had never even strayed in that direction, so how could he talk about affection?

As for the young men he had interacted with, they were all good-looking, charming, and lively, but in his eyes, they were just a bunch of fools, having nothing to do with "affection."

If he had ever dreamed any youthful dreams, the only time was that one time with Gu Fang...

Damn

"Impossible!"

Jing Xuan suddenly woke up, as if trying to prove something, exerting all his strength to break free from the grip on his ankle, kicking at Gu Fang.

Then, with a "crack" sound.

"Boom"

The already unstable bed leg broke with a loud noise, and the bed collapsed with a crash. Jing Xuan fell squarely into Gu Fang's arms, unable to stop himself from letting out a muffled grunt of pain.

Immediately, a middle-aged man’s angry shout came from the next room: "Hey! I know you young couple have a hot temper, but can you at least keep it down a little? Making such a big noise, do you want everyone to know how strong your man is?"

"No—"

Before Jing Xuan could retort, the violent shaking of the next bed and the soft, seductive voice of the young servant began to rise, seemingly competing with them.

No matter how much Jing Xuan tried to act nonchalant, he had always dealt with privileged and dignified people. He had never witnessed such vulgar and crude scenes or heard such lewd words.

He froze, completely stunned, panic taking over him as his face turned bright red from his ears to his toes. His eyes were wide open, seemingly too shocked to even blink.

With such a pure heart, he actually dared to investigate among the common people in disguise. If it weren’t for Gu Fang accompanying him, who knew how easily he might have been taken advantage of.

Gu Fang had once thought that as long as he kept Jing Xuan well cared for, high up in the Hall, away from such dirty and vulgar things, that would be enough.

Now, however, he felt it was time for Jing Xuan to truly see the nature of the human heart, to understand what real cruelty and evil looked like. Otherwise, he would continue to be easily deceived.

As Gu Fang thought this, he considered himself to be an extremely thoughtful, considerate, and noble teacher and elder.

His hand subtly tightened around Jing Xuan's waist, and he said, "Your Majesty, do you need me to prove to you that your man is indeed quite impressive?"