…
Why would Gu Mang use Mo Xi’s silk ribbon to tie up his hair?
Thoughts churned in Jiang Yexue’s eyes. Not to mention that Mo Xi was a person with mysophobia—he would not use other people’s things, and other people had better not touch his things either. Even setting aside his cleanliness obsession, this matter was strange enough. Under what circumstances would two people accidentally take each other’s hair ribbons? They would have to have both undone and redone their hair buns…
The more he thought about it, the more solemn his expression became. Jiang Yexue lightly tapped his fingers, and the wheelchair silently moved forward, stopping beside Gu Mang.
This time, he could see it even more clearly. Apart from the ring of gold trim along the edge, the silk ribbon was also embroidered with a dark-patterned soaring serpent. It was unquestionably Mo Xi’s possession.
Could it be…
Jiang Yexue’s heartbeat suddenly quickened. He held his breath and focused, his gaze moving downward from the hair ribbon to Gu Mang’s neck, carefully examining it. But aside from a tiny mole on the side of Gu Mang’s neck, there was not the slightest trace.
Just then, Gu Mang instinctively sensed a prickling sensation at his back and abruptly opened his eyes!
Jiang Yexue: “…”
Gu Mang: “…”
Their gazes met. When Gu Mang saw who it was, both the sleepiness and wariness in his eyes disappeared.
“Ah, Brother Jiang.” Gu Mang sat up, rubbed his hair, and yawned. “Are we almost there? Is it time to get up?”
Jiang Yexue coughed lightly and quickly moved his gaze away from Gu Mang.
“No. I just came in and was preparing to rest. Seeing you sleeping so soundly, I was afraid I would wake you. I didn’t expect that I would still make too much noise.”
Although he had phrased his explanation perfectly, the side of his face had reddened slightly. Embarrassed, he lowered his head again.
“…” Gu Mang took his reaction all in, remained silent for a moment, then revealed a lazy smile.
“…I’m just an easy sleeper. It’s not your fault.”
Jiang Yexue lowered his eyes.
“Then sleep a little longer. I’ll go wash up first.”
“Okay.”
After Jiang Yexue’s figure disappeared behind the nanmu bamboo screen in the inner cabin, the smile on Gu Mang’s face immediately vanished. He quickly got up, went to the bronze mirror, and began carefully examining his own face.
He remembered that he and Mo Xi had never kissed, but they had been so emotionally overwhelmed at the time that whether he remembered correctly was another matter. Jiang Yexue’s reaction just now had also been rather strange, which inevitably made Gu Mang take another look at himself.
After examining himself for a long while and indeed finding no traces, Gu Mang finally breathed a sigh of relief and lay back down on the bed.
He was probably just overthinking it…
Back when he and Mo Xi had been together, he had often worried that other people would notice something between them. Every time they were finished, he would pull Mo Xi over and repeatedly check whether there were any kiss marks on the skin Mo Xi had left exposed. He would also have Mo Xi help him check whether there were any suspicious marks on himself.
It was not that he was bored and being needlessly fussy. The relationship between the two of them had truly been too absurd, and Gu Mang genuinely feared that others would discover it.
Mo Xi was a nobleman, and not merely an ordinary nobleman—he belonged to the highest and most untouchable branch of the aristocracy. Four generations of his family had produced heroic martyrs; he was a son of a military household. Even the daughters of second-tier aristocratic clans would not dare dream of marrying him.
If their secret were exposed, what would Mo Xi have to face?
Gu Mang had nothing and owned nothing. He did not care about other people’s criticism. But Mo Xi was different. His family background was noble, his reputation was pure and refined, his heart was kind and righteous. He was still so young, so untainted—and having a relationship with Gu Mang was the only stain on this young man.
Gu Mang did not want this stain to ruin Mo Xi’s entire life.
So he and Mo Xi were different.
Mo Xi would set the two of them’s most beautiful future as their goal and head relentlessly in that direction, regardless of everything else. Gu Mang, on the other hand, would set their most terrifying possible ending as an alarm bell, constantly reminding himself not to become lost in it.
It had been that way then, and even more so now.
Now Mo Xi was the supreme commander of Chonghua, while he had become a traitorous rebel who had betrayed his country. After his consciousness returned, when he thought back on everything Mo Xi had done since their reunion—from their reunion at Luomei Villa, to protecting him at Wangshu Manor, from demanding his release in the Golden Palace, to blocking the attack at the New Year’s Eve banquet—
All he could feel was cold sweat, along with a sense of utter disbelief.
Was this man crazy? Why was he still protecting him?
Could everything he had done in the past still not be enough for Mo Xi to hate him to the marrow? Not to mention the absurdity of last night—what Gu removal, what being helpless because of an aphrodisiac poison.
What a joke.
The one who had been afflicted by the poison was Gu Mang, not Mo Xi.
Would a cold beauty like Marshal Mo really humiliate himself and personally help a traitor because that traitor was burning with unbearable desire and would rather die than endure it?
Killing him with a single stroke would already count as mercy.
Gu Mang was not stupid. He knew that Mo Xi still had feelings for him.
That realization made him both flattered and utterly desperate. He could calculate every black and white piece on the chessboard, one move after another, yet he alone could not calculate his general, his lover, his princess—the one person on the board he valued most and wanted most to protect.
Mo Xi was beyond his control.
And so this man who was beyond his control had ultimately made the same mistake with him again, and they had gone to bed together again.
But Gu Mang knew that this was the limit.
Just like when they were young, when their desires had been impossible to satisfy and they had secretly been together, their love and desire could only reach this point. It could not withstand even the slightest ray of sunlight, and it would never be able to walk the proper path.
“…” Thinking of this, Gu Mang could not help looking back toward the place where Jiang Yexue had disappeared. Then, feeling guilty like a thief, he lowered his head and smelled himself twice.
But all he could smell was the faint fragrance of soapberry. There was nothing else.
Jiang Yexue was not Featherfolk; it was impossible for him to detect subtler scents.
He was probably really just overthinking it…
Gu Mang sighed and buried his face back into the bedding.
He silently picked at the bedding with his fingers.
Mo Xi, my princess, my little fool.
…What am I supposed to do with you…?
He slept all the way until sunset.
By evening, their nuclear boats finally arrived outside Chonghua’s royal city.
By then, the tea stalls on the outskirts of the city had already closed. There were few people on the ancient road. Not long after they landed, Murong Chuyi arrived as well. He got off his painted pleasure boat on his own and immediately turned to leave.
Yue Chenqing hesitantly called, “F-Fourth Uncle…”
But Murong Chuyi acted as though he had not heard him. Dressed in white that surpassed snow, he left without looking back.
Yue Chenqing drooped his head.
Jiang Yexue comforted him, “It’s fine. He’ll get over his anger.”
“Mm…”
Seeing the reaction of this pair of uncle and nephew, Mo Xi secretly sighed. Looking at Murong Chuyi’s retreating back, he thought that among the three of them, although Murong Chuyi was several years older than Jiang Yexue, no matter how he looked at it, Jiang Yexue seemed more like the steady elder.
But this was someone else’s family matter, and it was not his place to say much. Just as he was about to withdraw his gaze, he caught sight of the stone pillar beside Chonghua Bridge.
Mo Xi’s gaze darkened for an instant.
The old beggar from the Mirror of Time was gone. In the second year after Gu Mang betrayed his country, the old man had passed away. Now, that familiar tune of the lotus blossom song could never be heard here again.
Gu Mang walked over to him, bumped him with his elbow, and smiled with his arms folded.
“Hey, Lord Xihe, what are you looking at? Mr. Murong?”
Mo Xi immediately turned his head.
“Nonsense.”
“I guessed right, didn’t I? You’re embarrassed and angry now, hahaha—”
After laughing a few times, Gu Mang realized that not only Mo Xi, but even Jiang Yexue and Yue Chenqing were looking at him rather seriously.
Gu Mang wisely pursed his lips and gave two dry laughs.
“Uh, sorry, guys. I was just joking.”
Mo Xi did not argue with him over it.
“I’m leaving too. I’m going into the palace to report to His Majesty.”
Gu Mang asked, “I don’t have to go into the palace with you?”
“No. Go back to Xihe Manor first.”
Gu Mang smiled.
“Then can I walk around for a while? I’ll disguise myself. I guarantee no one will recognize me.”
“Where are you going?”
“Anywhere. The baked-cake stall in the East Market, the shadow-puppet theater in the West Market, Xinghua Tower south of the city, Rouge Alley north of the city…”
Mo Xi said coldly, “You’re not allowed to go.”
“I’ll just look around. I won’t visit brothels.”
Mo Xi clenched his back teeth. He did not lose his temper, but it looked as though all the patience and self-restraint he had accumulated over a lifetime had been used to suppress his anger.
He looked down at Gu Mang and forced a sentence through his clenched teeth.
“Go back to the manor and stay there.”
Jiang Yexue silently watched the two of them argue from the side and sighed.
“Brother Gu, the moment you go to a brothel, your recovery of your sanity will be completely exposed. Beauty is nice, but your life is more important, right?”
“…That’s true. Brother Jiang, what you said makes sense.” Gu Mang sighed. “But Xihe Manor is really too quiet. How about I go sit at your residence for a while?”
Jiang Yexue apologized, “I still have to accompany Chenqing to the Apothecary Residence.”
Gu Mang sighed.
“All right, all right. Then you two go. I’ll obediently go back and lie down. Mo Xi, when you come back, can you bring me a set of leaf cards? Your residence is really too boring. I might as well go back to Luomei Villa…”
Before he could finish speaking, Mo Xi had already left.
The royal city had already sounded its curfew watch. The imposing corner towers looked especially solemn in the afterglow of the setting sun.
Mo Xi was an important minister of the Military Affairs Office as well as a descendant of a prestigious family. He possessed a token personally bestowed by the late sovereign, allowing him to enter the royal city’s inner district without first making a report.
However, Mo Xi had always understood proper etiquette. He knew that imperial favor was imperial favor and the emperor’s heart was the emperor’s heart. Thus, despite possessing such authority, he had never used it.
“Lord Xihe!”
“Greetings, Lord Xihe!”
Passing along the main walkway and through the covered corridor, he arrived at the palace hall district.
Just as in the Mirror of Time, Mo Xi passed through the Imperial Guards. The soldiers lowered their heads one after another in greeting. Their armor was bright and immaculate, and the red pheasant feathers on their helmets rustled in the lingering rays of the setting sun.
Mo Xi had never paid much attention to this before, but now that he looked, he discovered that almost all of the Imperial Guards from eight years ago had been replaced.
Among these inner guards of the royal city, he could not see a single familiar face from the past.
“Oh, Lord Xihe, you’re back!” Eunuch Li, the emperor’s close attendant, immediately bowed deeply upon seeing Mo Xi. “This old servant wishes Lord Xihe well.”
Mo Xi stopped.
“Please trouble yourself to announce me. Mo Xi requests an audience with His Majesty.”
Eunuch Li said, “His Majesty is unwell and retired to rest long ago.”
“…” Mo Xi said nothing. He looked toward the main entrance of the brightly lit palace hall.
Eunuch Li hurriedly explained, “Lord Xihe, please don’t misunderstand. His Majesty is not inside this hall.”
Mo Xi slightly furrowed his brows.
“Then who is?”
Eunuch Li had originally been about to answer immediately, but he seemed to remember something. His eyes rolled, and he put on the warm, ambiguous smile most familiar to the ladies of the imperial harem.
Unfortunately, Mo Xi was not one of the people in the harem. He had no idea what the smile meant and merely asked in confusion,
“Why are you smiling?”
Bending at the waist, Eunuch Li accompanied him toward the golden palace of the study, smiling.
“Nothing, nothing. I just feel that coming early is not as good as coming at the right time. This old servant thinks that the noble person inside the main hall must also very much want to meet Lord Xihe.”
“…Who?”
“Lord Xihe, just go inside. You’ll know once you do.”
Since Eunuch Li would not answer, and Mo Xi disliked beating around the bush, he gave the eunuch’s overly gossipy smile a suspicious look.
After a pause, he directly stepped onto the hall and pushed open the door.
The sandalwood doors creaked open. The evening wind blew into the hall, causing several phoenix-and-branch lamps inside to sway gently.
The palace maid Yue Niang was startled and hurriedly knelt down, bowing her head.
“Greetings, Lord Xihe!”
The person sitting upright behind the desk also raised their head upon hearing the sound.
Mengze met Mo Xi’s gaze.
Mo Xi: “…”
Princess Mengze’s beautiful eyes widened slightly in surprise, and her smile blossomed like a lotus blooming from clear water.
“Ah, is that Big Brother Mo?”