Gu Mang was somewhat frightened by the sudden change in Mo Xi’s expression. After hesitating for a while, he finally said:
“Princess…”
It was as if all the blood in Mo Xi’s body had rushed straight to his head.
Those two words alone were like a massive stone falling into the ocean, sending shockwaves through his ears until he could not even form a complete sentence.
“You… you how… How did you…”
“How what?”
Mo Xi’s fingertips turned cold.
He had to raise his hand and grab the teacup on the table, barely hiding his trembling.
His voice was hoarse.
“Why did you call me that?”
“Oh, Li Wei taught me.”
Gu Mang smiled.
“He said a princess is someone very noble, someone who stands high above others and needs to be carefully protected.”
“I think you’re quite similar.”
“…………”
“What’s wrong with you?”
It was like falling from a cliff straight into a valley.
The trembling remained.
But the excitement had already turned completely cold.
Mo Xi gritted his teeth, turned his face away, and said:
“…Nothing.”
After a long while, he glanced at Gu Mang’s confused expression.
Mo Xi closed his eyes.
Only then did he endure the pain in his heart and force himself to change the subject.
His voice was low and hoarse.
“Drink your cabbage soup. Don’t worry about me.”
Gu Mang lowered his head and looked at the bowl of boiled cabbage soup.
“But there’s no soup left.”
“……”
His gaze searched across the table.
Then it landed on the bowl of spicy pepper meatball soup in front of Mo Xi.
“You want to try mine?”
Gu Mang nodded.
Mo Xi was already in a bad mood, but his emotions were too complicated for him to truly lose his temper.
He simply pushed the soup bowl toward Gu Mang.
“There are whole Sichuan peppercorns inside. The flavor is very strong. Be careful.”
After taking the bowl, Gu Mang broke apart the last piece of guokui in his hand and dipped the pieces into the spicy soup.
He blew on the soup, used the spoon to skim the surface, and carefully avoided the curled-up peppercorns floating inside.
But no matter how careful he was, accidents still happened.
A stray peppercorn slipped into his mouth.
At first, he showed no reaction.
He even bit through the hard shell with a crunch.
The result was obvious.
A moment later, Gu Mang began spitting out pepper shells.
His eyes became watery.
His tongue was numb, red, and uncomfortable.
He immediately pushed the soup bowl away.
“There is poison.”
Mo Xi froze.
Wasn’t Gu Mang able to eat spicy food?
But then he remembered.
Gu Mang’s ability to tolerate spice had been developed later.
Originally, he could not even tolerate a little bit of red chili.
When Liao had destroyed his spiritual consciousness, perhaps they had also destroyed the tolerance he had painstakingly built afterward.
This realization made Mo Xi even more anxious.
Even now, he still held onto a tiny hope.
He hoped that Gu Mang’s confusion was only an act.
But after spending so much time together, every action and every reaction from Gu Mang told him—
No.
It was not fake.
The ferocious beast that once stood on the altar of glory was truly dead.
All Mo Xi could possess, all he could hate, all he could take revenge against—
Was only the handful of ashes left before him.
Mo Xi looked at him speechlessly.
“There is no poison.”
Gu Mang opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue, looking extremely wronged.
“I’ve been poisoned.”
“……”
Explaining things to him was meaningless.
So Mo Xi poured him a cup of jasmine cold tea and handed it over.
“Drink it slowly. The poison will disappear.”
Gu Mang held the cup suspiciously.
He frowned and drank little by little.
“Better?”
“Mm.”
Gu Mang nodded.
But he hesitated while looking at the entire table of dishes.
“Not eating anymore.”
Mo Xi said:
“Just don’t eat the ‘poisonous’ things.”
Suddenly, Gu Mang pursed his lips unhappily.
“This place is bad. I won’t come again next time.”
Mo Xi looked at his lips, which had turned bright red from the numbness.
A strange, indescribable feeling surged through his heart.
He suddenly said:
“…Gu Mang.”
“Mm?”
“The first time I invited someone to eat, this was where I brought them.”
“Do you know who that person was?”
Gu Mang thought for a while.
“Was it me?”
For a brief moment, Mo Xi’s eyes brightened.
But soon, he saw the confusion in Gu Mang’s eyes.
He heard the questioning tone rising at the end of the sentence.
Gu Mang asked:
“Did I guess correctly?”
Mo Xi said nothing.
He silently closed his eyes and let out a quiet sigh.
Then he never answered.
After dinner, the two former friends who had become enemies walked along Rouge Lake at night.
The corridor bridges hung with red cloth lanterns, casting dreamlike, gentle reflections over the water.
A passing boat cut through the night river.
With one stroke of the wooden oar, the dream shattered into shimmering waves of light.
Gu Mang walked beside Mo Xi, biting into the three-diced steamed bun Mo Xi had reluctantly bought for him by the roadside.
His cheeks were puffed out as he ate.
Mo Xi stopped walking.
He looked at the river.
After a long silence, he suddenly spoke, as if holding onto the last thread of hope—
or perhaps merely muttering to himself:
“…If Lu Zhanxing had not died back then, would you not have walked that path?”
“Which path?”
“……”
Mo Xi looked at the glittering water.
“Nothing. You don’t remember anyway. It doesn’t matter. As long as you are alive, there is always a chance for things to change.”
“Mm.”
“Why are you saying mm?”
“The old nanny at Luomei Villa said that when I say ‘mm,’ it means I agree with someone. When I agree, other people will be happy.”
“……”
Mo Xi said:
“Then why do you want to make me happy?”
Gu Mang took another bite of his bun.
“Because you are a good person.”
Mo Xi froze.
Then he said coldly:
“You truly don’t know how to read expressions, and you don’t know how to judge people.”
Gu Mang swallowed the bun.
His clear, pure eyes looked at Mo Xi beneath the lights and shadows of the river.
“Mm.”
“…Can you not even agree with that?”
“Mm.”
“…Forget it.”
After a while, he turned back unwillingly.
“Where exactly am I good?”
“Wait.”
Gu Mang said this, then leaned closer.
Like a little dog, he sniffed around Mo Xi’s face, the side of his neck, and behind his ear.
If those women who admired Mo Xi had seen this scene, they would have been completely stunned.
The cold and merciless Canghe Jun actually allowed someone to come so close and make such a strange yet intimate gesture.
Wasn’t he usually the type to throw someone over his shoulder and break their ribs?
But they only knew one side of the story.
Mo Xi truly disliked strangers touching him.
But Gu Mang was definitely an exception.
Not only because the current Gu Mang was too simple.
Everything he did had no hidden purpose.
He only followed his childish instincts.
If he was curious about something, he would put it into his mouth to taste.
If he wanted to understand something, he would lean closer and smell it.
Rather—
It was because from a very long time ago, Mo Xi and Gu Mang had already been the closest people to each other.
He had grown accustomed to him long ago.
“You have a certain smell.”
Gu Mang finally said.
“Different from everyone else.”
Mo Xi glanced at him.
“What kind of smell?”
Gu Mang shook his head.
“I don’t know. But…”
He paused.
It seemed he was trying to search his poor, empty mind for proper words to describe it.
But obviously, he failed.
He said:
“It’s very sweet. You smell like a spoonful of honey.”
“……”
Mo Xi clearly did not want to continue this strange conversation.
He asked:
“Anything else?”
Gu Mang held the half-eaten bun in both hands.
“This is something only you would buy for me.”
Then he looked at Mo Xi with confusion.
“Why do you care so much?”
Mo Xi was slightly startled.
So the concern on his face was actually that obvious?
Under the lantern light and the reflection of the water, Gu Mang’s large eyes looked at him.
So calm.
So peaceful.
Mo Xi shook his head.
He did not answer.
He only said:
“You are the second person in the world who has said I am a good person.”
“Who was the first?”
Mo Xi silently looked at him for a while.
Then he said:
“You too.”
Gu Mang was surprised.
“There are two of me?”
“…That’s not what I meant. Forget it. Explaining it to you is useless.”
After being surprised, Gu Mang said:
“Then you should ask more people. Many people will say you are good.”
There was no one else.
A long time ago, he had already stopped speaking to anyone else like this.
No one could ever reach his heart the way this person had.
His coldness and distance, his frost-like cruelty, had long since pushed away everyone who tried to approach him.
Mo Xi thought of his younger self.
He thought of Gu Mang washing dishes in that small restaurant.
He thought of the former emperor.
He thought of Mengze.
Finally, he thought of that year when the battle at Dongting Lake raged endlessly, when he had knelt in the smoke like a beggar, begging Gu Mang to turn back.
The old scars in his chest began to ache.
Those who had betrayed him, and those whom he had betrayed—
All were washed away within the autumn waters of Rouge Lake.
He closed his eyes.
His heart felt unbearably bitter.
When he spoke again, even he was startled by the hoarseness in his own voice.
“Gu Mang, do you know? Actually, there are many secrets between us. Things we have never told anyone else. I…”
He suddenly stopped speaking.
It had been nearly ten years since he last did something like this.
So much time had passed that the words became stuck in his throat and could not come out.
Slowly, the impulse disappeared.
Like an evil ghost who had committed countless sins and had his tongue torn away, all his bitterness could only be swallowed.
And he had become accustomed to swallowing it.
At that moment, Gu Mang suddenly said:
“Don’t tell me. I won’t listen.”
Mo Xi looked up.
“Why?”
In the night wind, Gu Mang casually brushed aside the broken strands of hair before his eyes.
He leaned against the wooden pillar of the bridge and looked sideways at Mo Xi.
“Because you don’t really want to tell me.”
“……”
“And if I truly knew you before, then maybe one day I will remember by myself.”
“So there is no need.”
He covered his ears.
“I won’t listen.”
“……”
Mo Xi looked at him covering his ears.
After a moment of silence, he suddenly laughed.
This was the first time in a very long while that he had truly laughed.
Not a cold laugh.
Not a mocking laugh.
Not a polite laugh.
Not a smile that did not reach his eyes.
Mo Xi leaned against the wooden pillar and laughed for a long time.
Gu Mang watched him.
Slowly, hesitantly, he lowered his hands.
But then he raised one hand again.
This time, however, he was not covering his ears.
He was touching Mo Xi’s face.
His skin felt slightly cool.
Logically speaking, Mo Xi should have scolded him and pulled away.
But beneath the lantern shadows and the sound of oars,
through the pain that had tormented him all day—
perhaps not only all day, but ever since Gu Mang’s betrayal—
he only trembled slightly.
He could not say anything harsh.
He even felt that the corners of his eyes had become slightly wet.
“Princess.”
Finally, Gu Mang suddenly said softly, without any warning:
“Can the back of the tag have your name?”
“Because I seem to be a good person?”
Unexpectedly, Gu Mang shook his head.
“No.”
He said:
“Because I think… I really do know you.”
Mo Xi felt as if an enormous sharp claw had grabbed his entire heart.
Even breathing became painful.
Gu Mang said:
“I don’t know what a master is.”
“But…”
“It sounds pretty good.”
“I want you to be my master.”
Mo Xi looked at him for a long time.
He could not even describe what he was feeling.
His heart was more complicated than a thousand overturned bottles of mixed flavors.
In the end, he must have used more restraint than he had ever possessed to slowly say:
“You are far from qualified.”
“What does qualified mean?”
Mo Xi simply changed his wording.
“I mean, you cannot.”
Gu Mang thought about it.
“Then what do I have to do to become qualified?”
Mo Xi could not answer.
He stared at him for a while, then only asked:
“Can’t you tell that I hate you?”
Gu Mang looked blank.
“What is hate?”
“You look into my eyes.”
“I hate you so much that I wish I could drink your blood, sleep on your skin, and personally torture you until you wished for death.”
Mo Xi stared at him coldly.
Every word was clear.
“This is hate.”
Gu Mang truly looked into his eyes.
So close.
Eyes staring into eyes.
Breath mingling with breath.
Mo Xi vaguely sensed something was wrong.
Just as he was about to push him away, he heard Gu Mang say:
“But…”
“You look like you’re suffering…”
“Like it hurts.”
“If you hate me…”
“Does hating me make you hurt?”