Though Shu Changyu had woken up, he did not return to the front lines.
Battle reports came from the front every day, all of them victories. In merely two or three days, Jing Mu had beaten Zhuo Renyue back to his base north of the Yellow River, while the remaining rebel troops who had failed to escape were captured intact.
The Prefect of Huzhou had come to ask Shu Changyu once how these prisoners should be dealt with. Privately, Shu Changyu did not want to spare their lives. But if they slaughtered all the prisoners, he feared that the four of them would have their reputations for brutality recorded in bold strokes in the history books.
Shu Changyu paused, then said to the Prefect of Huzhou, “Since they were prisoners captured by the Prince, leave their disposition to the Prince.”
After saying this, he closed his eyes and rested.
He truly had overworked himself in the preceding days. On top of that, he had suffered such a serious injury. His nerves had been stretched taut, and his mental state was not very good either. He really ought to rest for a while.
Ever since that day, Jing Mu came to his room every night. He neither ate here nor touched Shu Changyu. He simply handled official business at the desk in Shu Changyu’s room. Once night had fallen and Shu Changyu had gone to sleep, he would leave on his own.
Shu Changyu understood him less and less.
That night, Shu Changyu had finished dinner, and not long afterward, he saw Jing Mu return.
He had already changed out of his black armor and into ordinary clothes, but there was still a thick, almost ineradicable scent of blood clinging to him. He should have just come from the battlefield. Shu Changyu was sitting at the head of the bed reading. When he entered, Shu Changyu looked up at him.
But Jing Mu did not even spare him a glance. He turned and went straight to the desk on the side.
Shu Changyu said nothing. He lowered his eyes and continued reading.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
After a long silence, Shu Changyu said, “I wonder how the Prince dealt with those prisoners of war?”
Jing Mu sat with his back to him at the desk. At his words, he did not move at all, as though he had not heard him.
Shu Changyu looked at him and felt that his back seemed desolate and cold, as though he were rejecting everyone from a thousand miles away. Shu Changyu’s eyes grew somewhat sore from looking at him. He did not speak again and lowered his eyes to continue reading.
After a long while, he heard Jing Mu’s low voice, tinged with coldness.
“Shu Changyu, other than matters concerning the military, do you have nothing else to say?”
Shu Changyu paused and said, “Quite a few of the people in the city have also lost family members. The list should have been verified by now. The families of the fallen soldiers…”
The next moment, he saw Jing Mu abruptly rise from his chair and walk toward him with a dark expression. Shu Changyu’s words stopped on his lips, and he looked up at him.
Jing Mu came over, braced one knee against the bed, and slammed one hand against the wall beside Shu Changyu’s head. He stared intently at Shu Changyu and said, “Try saying one more word.”
Shu Changyu closed his mouth and looked up at him.
Whether three years ago or now, whenever Jing Mu became an asshole, he was impossible for Shu Changyu to handle. Compared with the willing acceptance he had shown three years ago, when he looked at Jing Mu now, Shu Changyu only felt a painful tightness in his heart, yet had no idea what to do.
A cold, ruthless light flickered in Jing Mu’s eyes. Holding Shu Changyu down, he curled his lips and said, “Those prisoners were all killed by me.”
Shu Changyu’s pupils contracted sharply, and his eyes widened.
He said in a low voice, “Jing Mu, have you gone insane?”
Hearing this, Jing Mu began to smile leisurely. With one hand braced against the wall, he trapped Shu Changyu between himself and the bed. With the other, he grasped Shu Changyu’s chin, his thumb rubbing heavily over his lips.
“Shu Changyu, is this the only time you’re willing to call me by my name?”
Shu Changyu had no time to care about what Jing Mu had said. He frowned and turned his face away, trying to evade Jing Mu’s hand, but Jing Mu would not let him. Shu Changyu simply stopped trying to dodge and said coldly, “Jing Mu, most of these prisoners are disaster victims from Shandong who were incited into rebellion. Even barbarian prisoners cannot all be executed, much less—mm!”
Unexpectedly, Jing Mu looked at him without taking his words to heart at all. Following the movement of Shu Changyu’s mouth as he spoke, he actually pressed his thumb directly into Shu Changyu’s mouth, teasing his tongue.
Shu Changyu froze and struggled to pull away. But Jing Mu had him trapped within this tiny space, while his other hand restrained Shu Changyu’s chin, leaving him no way to escape.
As Jing Mu toyed with his soft tongue beneath his fingertip, he leaned closer, gritting his teeth tightly as he said coldly, “What right do you have to interfere with me? Those people—I kill whoever I want.”
Shu Changyu stared at Jing Mu in stunned disbelief.
“You have enough energy to worry about them, so I suppose your injury has recovered quite well.” Jing Mu curled his lips, his fingertip pressing against Shu Changyu’s tongue. “Since that’s the case, why not do something else? Properly please your superior and ‘save’ a few captured rebels, hmm?”
Jing Mu stared at him. His face was smiling, but his teeth were clenched tightly together.
He continued, “After all, in Lord Shu’s heart, there is nothing but the common people. I’m different. My heart is filled entirely with you, Lord Shu. If you want to persuade me not to kill, you’ll have to use another method.”
Jing Mu’s words struck directly into his heart, catching him completely off guard. Shu Changyu wanted to speak, but Jing Mu was teasing his tongue in such a humiliating manner, making it impossible for him to say anything.
For no reason he could explain, a wave of bitterness rose in his nose. His tear ducts completely betrayed him, and tears immediately blurred his vision.
He felt wronged.
So wronged that his heart seemed to twist itself into a knot.
He had stopped Jing Mu from killing the prisoners entirely for Jing Mu’s own good. Throughout history, among generals both ancient and modern, those who were brutal and bloodthirsty had never met a good end. Since those prisoners had surrendered, the priority naturally should be to accept and recruit them. They were, after all, citizens of Da Qi. If Jing Mu killed them all, Jing Mu himself would become the target of everyone’s hostility.
When Jing Mu saw tears suddenly well up in Shu Changyu’s eyes, his brows immediately furrowed. He unconsciously stopped what he was doing and stared fixedly at Shu Changyu.
Every day, he came here to see him. Seeing him brought Jing Mu peace of mind, yet alongside that peace was an indescribable agony. Especially when he saw Shu Changyu’s calm, unruffled expression and heard his tranquil, steady voice, Jing Mu felt that from beginning to end, he alone was the one suffering.
He could not control the violent impulse within him. He wanted to torment Shu Changyu fiercely. Yet he was afraid of hurting him and could not bring himself to do it.
Jing Mu pressed his lips together and looked at Shu Changyu’s tear-filled eyes glaring fiercely at him.
Jing Mu gritted his teeth inwardly and thought, Forget it. Hasn’t this person always acted like this? Even now, when he was bullied to the point of nearly crying, he still wore that same expression as though nothing had happened.
He withdrew his hand, lowered his head, and kissed Shu Changyu’s eyes, tasting the salty tears on his lips.
He said softly, “Why are you crying? I was lying to you. I didn’t kill a single one.”
As he spoke, he turned around, took off his boots, pushed Shu Changyu farther inside, and squeezed into his bed.
Shu Changyu sat propped up there. Jing Mu turned his head and rested it on Shu Changyu’s lap.
“They’ve all been assigned to the various units under my command, with people keeping an eye on them. We’ll be heading north to attack Zhuo soon. They’re still useful.”
Shu Changyu said nothing. His eyes were somewhat red, and he forcibly held back the remaining tears. He gripped the book in his hand so tightly that the pages became wrinkled.
Jing Mu raised a hand and wrapped it around him.
“Starting today, I’ll stay here. I still have the roster of those prisoners, Shu Changyu. Their lives or deaths are entirely up to you.”
Shu Changyu still said nothing. He gritted his teeth. His fingertips were icy cold, trembling as he turned another page of the book.
Jing Mu sighed, taking his reaction entirely as silent consent.
He reached out and snatched the book from Shu Changyu’s hands, tossed it aside, then pulled him back beneath the covers with a few movements. He held him securely without putting pressure on his wound, gathering his entire body into his arms.
He rested his chin against the crown of Shu Changyu’s head, let out a long breath, and closed his eyes.
Just then, he heard Shu Changyu speak muffledly from within his arms.
“Jing Mu, you’ve become even more of an asshole.”
There was still a trace of a sob in Shu Changyu’s voice.
Hearing this, Jing Mu chuckled softly.
“Think whatever you want.”
“Shu Changyu.” Jing Mu lowered his voice. “I hated you for three years. But now that I’ve seen you, I can’t bring myself to hate you anymore. These days, I don’t care how you see me. In any case, even if your heart only contains power and influence and has no place for me, I’m too lazy to care. Everything you want, I can give you now. You only need to stay by my side.”
Shu Changyu’s heart ached with bitterness. He said, “Jing Mu, you don’t have to do this. Actually… What are you doing?!”
Unexpectedly, the moment he said this, Jing Mu had already seized his hand and guided it downward, pressing it against his own hard, hot body.
Shu Changyu: …
Jing Mu looked at him.
“Hmm?”
Shu Changyu said, “…Nothing.”
He thought that, since everything had already settled, there was no need to rush things for the sake of this brief moment. They could wait until tomorrow morning, after they woke up, to discuss this matter.
——
The next morning, Shu Xunzhi woke particularly early.
Spring in Huzhou was filled with the most beautiful scenery. When Shu Xunzhi got up early, she looked through the window and saw that the sunflowers she had planted beneath the windowsill had bloomed.
She let out a cheer and skipped over, carefully picking more than a dozen flowers.
She could not even be bothered to eat breakfast before grabbing Kong Qing and insisting on going to give the flowers to Shu Changyu.
Ever since Shu Xunzhi had arrived, Kong Qing had basically devoted himself entirely to taking care of her. He handled everything in her daily life. Thus, at this moment, he was in Shu Xunzhi’s room arranging her breakfast.
Afraid that the flowers would wilt, Shu Xunzhi could not be bothered to eat. Holding the flowers in one hand and grabbing a piece of flatbread with the other, she insisted that Kong Qing accompany her to find Shu Changyu.
Kong Qing had no choice but to agree and went with her.
When they arrived at the entrance to Shu Changyu’s courtyard, however, Shu Xunzhi refused to let him enter.
“Daddy definitely hasn’t woken up yet!” Shu Xunzhi stuffed the last two bites of flatbread into her mouth and mumbled, “Brother Kong Qing, wait here. I’ll secretly put the flowers in the vase beside Daddy’s bed.”
Kong Qing agreed.
He watched as the little girl, like a mischievous sprite, carefully pushed open the door and tiptoed inside with the flowers in her hand.
Standing in the courtyard, Kong Qing watched the little girl’s retreating figure and thought that, at long last, Young Master had finally endured all his hardships and come through.
Just then, the little girl unexpectedly returned.
She was still clutching the flowers in her hand, skipping toward him. She threw herself into Kong Qing’s arms and covered her mouth with her chubby little hands as she giggled.
“What happened?” Seeing how delighted she looked, Kong Qing smiled along with her. He stroked Shu Xunzhi’s head. “Why didn’t you give the flowers to your daddy?”
Shu Xunzhi giggled and leaned close to Kong Qing’s ear, whispering mysteriously, “Brother Kong Qing, when I went in just now, I saw Daddy and Big Brother General sleeping while hugging each other!”
It was like a bolt from the blue.
The smile on Kong Qing’s face instantly froze. The color drained from his face, and even his lips began to tremble.