The next afternoon, Lin Zhiji finally woke up.
The moment he opened his eyes, the soreness in his body made him groan. Every inch of muscle and bone felt as if it had been crushed, to the point he couldn’t even lift a finger.
Xie Yi was not in the room; no one knew where he had gone.
Lin Zhiji rested for a moment, and his memories gradually returned.
At the thought of last night’s madness, his face turned red and white.
Last night’s Xie Yi was completely different from usual—violent and ruthless.
For a moment, Lin Zhiji almost thought he would die in bed.
Compared to that, the usual Xie Yi could almost be called gentle.
What exactly happened?
Why did Xie Yi suddenly become like that?
Lin Zhiji’s first thought was whether Xie Yi had seen 03, but he immediately shook his head.
With Xie Yi’s hatred toward 03, it would be an endless fight to the death.
If he had really seen him together with 03, his reaction would never have been like this.
He frowned, suddenly remembering something, and struggled to get up.
Only then did he notice.
There was a ring of red marks on his wrists, especially obvious against his fair skin.
His chest, waist, and thighs were covered in bruises and purple marks—shocking to the eye.
Fortunately, his body felt clean, and that embarrassing area had been treated with medicine.
Lin Zhiji cursed Xie Yi inwardly, trembling as he put on his clothes, walked around the screen, and slowly made his way to the desk by the window.
The layout of this room had been modified by Lin Zhiji.
Xie Yi’s study was an important restricted place, and he usually did not go there.
But building another study felt unnecessary, since he rarely used one anyway—most of the time he read while lying on a couch.
So he only placed a desk by the window for occasional use.
Recently, because he had been writing letters back to Liu Muzhi, he used this desk.
Lin Zhiji opened a box on the table; inside were letters Liu Muzhi had sent him.
Liu Muzhi had a straightforward and enthusiastic personality, and because Lin Zhiji felt guilty over his earlier scheming, their correspondence had become frequent.
Lin Zhiji didn’t care much about it; after receiving the letters, he would casually place them in the box.
The box was not locked, and Lin Zhiji did not know whether Xie Yi had seen the letters inside, which might explain why he acted out of jealousy last night.
While he was thinking, he suddenly heard Xie Yi’s voice from behind: “What are you doing here? Does it not hurt anymore?”
Lin Zhiji jumped in shock.
Before he could react, he was lifted at the waist by Xie Yi and carried toward the bed.
Lin Zhiji looked up at his face.
Xie Yi looked no different from usual; last night’s abnormality seemed like an illusion.
Xie Yi placed him on the bed, and Lin Zhiji couldn’t help but gasp softly in pain.
Xie Yi paused.
Unlike before, he did not reach out to massage his waist. Instead, he said flatly, “Someone will bring you food later. After you eat, rest well.”
After speaking, he turned to leave, but Lin Zhiji quickly called out to him.
When Xie Yi stopped and asked, “What is it?”, Lin Zhiji couldn’t think of anything to say. After struggling for a while, he finally asked, “You… didn’t you say before that you wanted to go to the fish market with me? When are we going?”
Xie Yi turned back, his expression unreadable.
Just as Lin Zhiji thought he would leave directly, he suddenly came back, bent down, grabbed his chin, and said lightly, “You can still go to the fish market—does that mean I wasn’t rough enough last night?”
Lin Zhiji’s eyes widened.
But the next moment, Xie Yi covered his eyes with his hand.
Everything went dark. Lin Zhiji’s eyelashes trembled nervously, brushing against Xie Yi’s palm.
Xie Yi looked at the obedient Lin Zhiji under his hand and lowered his head to kiss his lips.
His tongue brushed over the wound on Lin Zhiji’s lip, as if both soothing and teasing.
The pain made Lin Zhiji instinctively open his mouth, and Xie Yi immediately invaded without hesitation.
But this time, the invasion was unexpectedly gentle.
As if last night’s loss of control had been just an accident.
With his eyes covered, Lin Zhiji’s senses of touch and hearing became sharper.
The sound that made his face heat up rang out, pulling him back into last night’s vortex.
But just as he thought Xie Yi would continue further, Xie Yi stopped.
The hand covering his eyes was removed.
Lin Zhiji blinked, adjusting to the light.
But Xie Yi had already left the room.
—
In the following days, Lin Zhiji stayed in the residence to recover. His meals were delivered daily by servants.
He originally thought Xie Yi was sulking and simply refused to return.
Unexpectedly, Xie Yi would return every night while he was half-asleep, and leave again at dawn.
Although they lived together, they barely saw each other.
That wasn’t entirely accurate—when Lin Zhiji was half-awake, Xie Yi would still drag him into performing some routine tasks.
Lin Zhiji was so angry he almost laughed. Just as he was preparing to properly talk with Xie Yi, a servant informed him that the fish market had opened and asked if he wanted to go.
At a time like this, bringing up the fish market—besides Xie Yi, who else could it be?
Although Lin Zhiji was still angry and did not want to respond, he also did not want their relationship to remain so strained. If it could be eased, that would be best.
Moreover, Xie Yi had taken the initiative to offer a step down, meaning he also did not want things to continue like this.
So Lin Zhiji changed his clothes and went toward Xie Yi’s study.
He had been recovering recently, and apart from occasional walks in the courtyard, he had not been to this area for some time.
As soon as he arrived, he felt the atmosphere here was especially heavy.
Lin Zhiji’s heart sank—something must have happened.
Just as he hesitated, a surprised voice came from behind: “Young Master Lin!”
He turned around and saw Song Lü, who looked somewhat disheveled.
Before Lin Zhiji could ask anything, Song Lü said, “You’re here to find the Master, right? He’s not in the study right now—he’s at the training grounds. I’ll take you there!”
Before Lin Zhiji could respond, he was hurriedly led away.
At the training grounds, chaos was everywhere.
Xie Yi stood in the center with a calm expression, while people lay scattered all around him.
When Lin Zhiji arrived, they just happened to see him knock down the last one.
The only ones still standing besides Xie Yi were Luo Zhitang, who stood at the edge and clearly had little combat ability.
Xie Yi wore only a single thin layer, soaked through with sweat, outlining the lines of his muscles.
Lin Zhiji’s eyelashes trembled, and he subconsciously looked away.
Before he could think of what to say, Song Lü had already loudly announced, “Master, Young Master Lin has come to see you.”
Lin Zhiji: …
In truth, the moment they entered the training grounds, Xie Yi had already noticed them.
He walked to the edge of the field, casually picked up a cloth to wipe the sweat from his face, and asked, “What is it?”
But wasn’t it Xie Yi who had sent a servant to tell him the fish market had reopened? Why was he pretending not to know now?
Since Lin Zhiji had come intending to ease the tension between them, he didn’t think much of it and said directly,
“I heard from the servants that the fish market is open again. Do you want to go take a look?”
Xie Yi was silent for a moment.
The air suddenly fell quiet.
Lin Zhiji frowned, just about to speak, when Xie Yi finally said,
“Alright. I’ll go change clothes.”
With that, he turned and headed toward the side room beside the training grounds.
Lin Zhiji hesitated for a moment before following after him.
Only once both of them were gone did Songlü let out a long sigh of relief.
“That scared me to death…”
Luo Zhitang glanced at him.
“You did this?”
Songlü grinned sheepishly.
“I just had a servant tell Young Master Lin that the fish market reopened. I didn’t do anything else.”
Lately, their lord’s temper had suddenly grown much worse.
As subordinates, they had all been walking on eggshells.
Young Master Lin hadn’t come near the study either.
Songlü only vaguely knew that their lord seemed to have quarreled with Young Master Lin. But every night, Xie Yi still returned to Lin Zhiji’s courtyard, so it didn’t seem too serious.
That was why Songlü had wanted to seize this opportunity and see if the two of them could reconcile.
Optimistically, he said to Luo Zhitang,
“With Young Master Lin here, I bet our lord will be back to normal soon.”
Thinking of the sight of Xie Yi and Lin Zhiji leaving one after another, Luo Zhitang wasn’t nearly so optimistic.
After changing clothes, Xie Yi went with Lin Zhiji to the fish market.
Thanks to Xie Yi keeping order, Qingxi City remained unusually peaceful despite the wars raging elsewhere.
The fish market had grown much livelier than when it first reopened. The waterways were clogged with fishing boats of every kind, vendors selling all sorts of goods. Hawkers shouted over the sounds of splashing water and children laughing and screaming in play. The whole place brimmed with everyday life.
Lin Zhiji and Xie Yi walked along the shore.
Though they had come to browse the market, neither of them actually had their mind on shopping.
The riverside path was narrow, and the crowd thick.
Distracted, Lin Zhiji kept sneaking glances at Xie Yi.
He nearly got knocked into the river by the flow of people, but Xie Yi reacted instantly, wrapping an arm around his waist and pulling him back.
Startled, Lin Zhiji instinctively grabbed Xie Yi’s robes, nearly burying himself against his chest.
Ever since that night, they hadn’t been this close.
Lin Zhiji found himself unexpectedly attached to the feeling and didn’t pull away right away.
And Xie Yi didn’t let go either.
In fact, his hold tightened.
But instead of extinguishing the fire in Xie Yi’s chest, the embrace only fed it.
He almost wished Lin Zhiji would yell at him.
But after that night, Lin Zhiji had acted almost completely normal. Even when Xie Yi treated him coldly, he didn’t seem to care. He had even taken the initiative to invite him to the fish market.
And yet Xie Yi could tell—
Lin Zhiji wasn’t interested in the market at all.
He had been secretly watching him the entire time.
The way he acted now reminded Xie Yi painfully of when they had first bonded—careful, cautious, overly attentive.
Xie Yi didn’t even dare ask himself whether Lin Zhiji’s dependence right now was sincere…
Or merely an attempt to please him.
Was he suppressing himself…
Because of that mission he had been hiding?