Mo Xi himself was not very good at cooking, so he troubled the imperial chefs to prepare some food to satisfy hunger.
The place where they had stationed their camp was near water, and fresh carp were plentiful there. The chefs did not dare be careless. They carefully prepared a bowl of fish slice porridge for Xihe Jun and steamed a basket of crab roe soup dumplings.
When they were about to add more dishes, Mo Xi said:
“No need. I cannot eat that much.”
When he returned to the main tent, he was carrying a wooden tray.
He lowered the thick curtain of the tent and used fire tongs to make the charcoal brazier burn more warmly.
Then he walked over and woke Gu Mang.
Gu Mang slowly opened his eyes.
In his hazy state, he saw Mo Xi’s cold and handsome face.
He struggled to say something, but Mo Xi stopped him.
“Enough. Don’t say anything about being dirty again.”
After that, without waiting for Gu Mang’s response, he pulled the wooden tray over from beside the bed.
“Eat.”
His tone could not be considered gentle.
But compared to the furious man in the hot spring yesterday, it was much better.
Gu Mang did not want to make things difficult for himself either.
When he smelled the food, he slowly sat up, picked up the bowl, and silently began eating.
The porridge was soft, smooth, and light.
The crystal-clear fish slices melted in his mouth.
Gu Mang finished the entire bowl in one breath.
After regaining some strength, he reached out to grab the soup dumplings.
Mo Xi stopped him.
“Chopsticks.”
“…”
Gu Mang did not like using chopsticks.
He was not very good at it.
But since the “Lord” had already said so, he had no choice.
He awkwardly picked up the chopsticks and struggled to grab one.
With that poke, the paper-thin skin of the soup dumpling immediately tore.
All the broth leaked out.
He fumbled around for a long time, making the steamer a complete mess.
Yet he still could not pick up the dumpling.
He only managed to grab a small piece of skin, while the filling rolled off to the side.
Mo Xi could not stand watching anymore.
With a dark expression, he took the jade chopsticks from Gu Mang’s hand, picked up the miserable-looking dumpling himself, and ate it.
Then he picked up a perfectly intact one and brought it to Gu Mang’s lips.
Perhaps because he thought this person was strange—
One moment he was treating him so harshly.
The next moment he was feeding him.
Gu Mang’s mind could not process it.
He stared at him blankly.
Mo Xi said impatiently:
“Open your mouth.”
Gu Mang really was hungry.
After hesitating for a moment, he slowly opened his lips and bit down on the dumpling Mo Xi had brought him.
Puff.
The hot oil and soup inside splashed out.
Mo Xi could not dodge in time and was hit directly on the cheek by the broth.
As for Gu Mang, he was not much better.
His lips were burned.
The half-bitten dumpling was immediately spit out, and he sucked in cold breaths from the pain.
Sure enough, Mo Xi hated him.
He wanted to make him suffer…
Before Gu Mang could finish thinking, his chin was grabbed and his face lifted.
For a moment, he thought Mo Xi was angry again.
That he was going to slap him again.
His blue eyes moved uneasily from side to side.
But the expected pain never came.
He lowered his gaze slightly, his trembling eyelashes observing Mo Xi’s expression.
Only then did he realize—
Mo Xi was staring at his lips.
Mo Xi’s gaze was difficult to read.
After a long silence, Gu Mang heard him grit his teeth and mutter:
“You…”
“How are you always…”
Always what?
He did not finish the sentence.
But suddenly, Gu Mang’s head hurt.
A few blurred images flashed through his mind quickly.
It felt as if something similar had happened before.
He had eaten too quickly and burned his tongue.
And then?
Then it seemed like someone had also held his chin like this.
Someone had lifted his face carefully.
Someone had examined him while scolding him for being careless.
“Can you bite a small hole first before eating? No one is fighting you for it.”
“Let me see if you burned yourself.”
And afterward…
For some reason, that person suddenly leaned forward without warning and kissed his lips.
Cool lips wrapped around his hot, sensitive mouth.
The image caused a strange confusion and a faint tremor in Gu Mang’s heart.
He unconsciously licked his lips.
That small movement was like placing a spark into Mo Xi’s heart.
The flame burned brightly in his chest.
Yet his eyes darkened.
Mo Xi was silent for a moment.
Then he slowly released his grip.
He turned his pale, handsome face away.
After eating, Mo Xi watched Gu Mang drink his medicine.
Gu Mang knew he could not escape, so he quickly finished the entire bowl of medicine.
He thought that would be the end.
But unexpectedly, Mo Xi handed him another medicine pouch.
Gu Mang’s eyes widened.
“Fever medicine.”
Mo Xi’s voice was indifferent.
“I had the accompanying physicians prepare it just now.”
“Drink it.”
Gu Mang helplessly drank that entire pouch as well.
His expression was already terrible.
Mo Xi cleaned up the dishes.
“Sleep.”
Gu Mang slowly said:
“This is your bed.”
“Yesterday you said I…”
“I do not want to mention what happened yesterday again.”
Mo Xi interrupted him.
“I am not taking care of you because I feel guilty.”
“You are sick.”
“You will become troublesome.”
“I do not want trouble.”
Gu Mang fell silent.
“Did you understand?”
Gu Mang nodded.
“Then sleep.”
Mo Xi returned the dishes to the imperial kitchen.
When he came back, Gu Mang really was obediently asleep.
However, perhaps because he had been frightened by Mo Xi in the hot spring yesterday, Gu Mang did not dare take too much space.
He curled himself into a tiny corner at the edge of the bed.
“…”
Mo Xi stared expressionlessly at him for a while.
Then he picked up the blanket and spread it over him.
Because he was sleeping on Mo Xi’s bed, all Gu Mang smelled between dreams and waking was Mo Xi’s scent.
Frowning, Gu Mang slept restlessly.
Images constantly flashed through his mind.
At first, those images were blurry and disconnected.
But eventually, like a restless river breaking through its banks, a clear memory returned to his feverish mind.
A memory.
A memory related to Mo Xi’s coming-of-age ceremony.
This memory was incomplete.
It began with him wandering around the marketplace alone.
Then the scene gradually became clearer.
Gu Mang slowly remembered—
That day, he had saved up a pouch of clinking shell coins.
He went to a nearby market and bought a jar of Pear Blossom White wine and three simple dishes.
At night, with the cold wind blowing, he carried the wine jar and food box into Mo Xi’s tent.
“Shidi! Shidi!”
In the memory, young Mo Xi was dressed in white and reading beside a candle.
When he looked up and saw Gu Mang, he was clearly stunned.
“It’s so late. Why are you here?”
Gu Mang smiled, put down the things, stretched his sore arms and legs, and said:
“I came to accompany you.”
“In a few hours, you’ll be twenty.”
A trace of surprise flashed across Mo Xi’s face.
“I forgot…”
“Hahahaha! I knew it!”
“You only care about spells and techniques. You can even forget something like this.”
Gu Mang dragged over a small table inside the tent and happily arranged the food.
“But it’s fine.”
“You forgot.”
“Your senior brother remembered it for you.”
Mo Xi closed his book and stood.
Quietly, he said:
“Thank you.”
“Why thank me?”
“You only turn twenty once in your life.”
“You’re all alone out here. How pitiful.”
“Come, come. Let your senior brother accompany you.”
He grinned.
“Accompany you as you go from a little brat into an adult.”
Then he squeezed his eyes and cleared his throat.
Pretending to be serious, he said:
“Accompany you through your reckless youth.”
“Accompany you as you complete your coming-of-age ceremony.”
“…………”
Inside the food box were only ordinary dishes.
Gu Mang placed them one by one onto the table.
He warmed a pot of wine over the brazier.
The two brothers ate and talked.
Before they realized it, it was already late at night.
Gu Mang remembered that at the time, he only viewed Mo Xi as a beloved little junior brother.
He had no defenses toward him at all.
After drinking too much, the strong wine went to his head.
He began teasing Mo Xi with all kinds of jokes.
Mo Xi, however, remained fairly clear-headed and restrained.
Although he drank two cups, he was nowhere near drunk.
Facing his increasingly ridiculous senior brother, Mo Xi seemed to feel things could not continue like this.
He said he would send Gu Mang back to his own tent.
Gu Mang was having too much fun.
He refused to leave.
He smiled, wrapped an arm around Mo Xi’s shoulder, and leaned close.
“No, no.”
“Why should your brother leave so early?”
Mo Xi said:
“You drank too much.”
He removed Gu Mang’s arm and tried to help him stand.
Gu Mang cooperated and stood.
But he had no intention of leaving.
He walked around the table twice.
Then suddenly smiled and threw himself into Mo Xi’s arms.
He began patting Mo Xi’s back enthusiastically.
“Shidi!”
“We brothers are close!”
“Close brothers!”
“Hahaha!”
As he laughed, his burning cheek rubbed against Mo Xi’s neck.
“The first time I saw you at the academy, you weren’t even taller than me.”
“You always had that little serious face.”
Gu Mang laughed foolishly.
He did not notice the faint red spreading across Mo Xi’s neck.
“In the blink of an eye…”
“You’ve become a man taller and stronger than your senior brother.”
He struggled upright again.
Then he held Mo Xi’s face.
Smiling:
“Hmm.”
“Your features haven’t changed though.”
“When you aren’t being fierce, you’re actually very delicate and pretty.”
It was fortunate that Gu Mang was deeply drunk.
He did not notice how complicated Mo Xi’s expression had become.
It was as if the strongest desire, deepest longing, and most intense tenderness had all surfaced.
Yet they were forcefully suppressed by his cold self-control.
Mo Xi turned away, refusing to look at the face so close to his.
His voice was low.
“Senior brother should sleep.”
“I’ll take you back.”
“Oh, oh, sleep, sleep…”
Gu Mang smiled.
He tried very hard to stand straight.
But before Mo Xi could take him away, his waist suddenly softened.
Like a crab drunk through the entire winter, he tilted sideways and collapsed back onto Mo Xi.
The sudden movement caught Mo Xi completely off guard.
Gu Mang fell without holding anything back.
Both stumbled.
Mo Xi was pushed down onto the military bed.
Gu Mang landed heavily on his chest.
Mumbling:
“I’m too lazy to walk…”
“My camp is too far from here…”
“…”
“I’m sleeping here.”
Normally, Gu Mang was carefree and casual with Lu Zhanxing and the others.
But his little junior brother Mo Xi was different.
Mo Xi was elegant, noble-born, and always carried himself like snow and ice.
So whenever Gu Mang interacted with him, he always held back three parts and protected him seven parts.
He was afraid of offending this noble young man three years younger than himself.
If he had been sober, he would never have behaved this way.
Even if he truly wanted to stay over, he would have smiled and asked:
“Can senior brother sleep here tonight?”
But that night, the wine burned through his head.
All those considerations disappeared.
Like a bandit chief demanding tribute, he confidently declared:
“I’m sleeping here.”
Then he yawned loudly.
Leaving Mo Xi with a complicated expression.
And he simply closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Mo Xi’s face turned dark.
He stared at the head resting on his chest.
Through clenched teeth, he said:
“Get up…”
Gu Mang actually lifted his head from his arms.
Suddenly looking somewhat awake.
“No, no!”
“I remembered!”
“I can’t sleep yet!”
As he spoke, he rolled off Mo Xi.
Then he searched inside his robe.
Muttering:
“I almost forgot…”
“I bought you a coming-of-age gift…”
“Where did I put it?”
He searched for a long time while lying on Mo Xi’s bed.
Finally, he pulled out a wrinkled book from his robe.
He looked at it with satisfaction.
Then he pulled Mo Xi closer.
With the classic expression of an older brother leading a younger brother astray, he said:
“Hehehe.”
“Coming of age means becoming an adult.”
“Your Gu Mang-ge knows you like reading.”
“Other things are too expensive. I can’t afford them.”
“This one was something I found at an old painting stall.”
“The price was cheap…”
“But the contents are absolutely breathtaking…”
After boasting like an old salesman, he enthusiastically shoved the book into Mo Xi’s hands.
“Look, look!”
Mo Xi did not understand the hidden meaning behind his words.
Nor did he notice Gu Mang’s mischievous expression.
He truly thought Gu Mang had found some interesting book.
So he accepted it.
And opened it.
The first glance—
He did not understand.
The second glance—
He felt there were many profound and mysterious drawings.
But he still did not understand.
Gu Mang lay beside him on the bed.
His warm body moved closer.
Smiling:
“How is it?”
“Not bad, right?”
After waiting for a while without hearing Mo Xi respond, Gu Mang looked over.
He saw the confusion covering the young man’s handsome face.
Gu Mang was surprised.
“No way.”
“You don’t like something this exciting?”
“I picked it out for a long time.”
He followed Mo Xi’s gaze.
“…”
“Shidi.”
“Hmm?”
Gu Mang sighed.
One hand wrapped around Mo Xi’s shoulder.
The other raised up.
“You’re holding it upside down.”
After saying that, he took the book from Mo Xi’s long-fingered hand.
Turned it around.
Cleared his throat.
Then lowered his magnetic voice dramatically.
“Come.”
“Be good.”
“Your brother will teach you how to read it.”
With exaggerated enthusiasm, he said:
“Wow—look—”
Just one glance.
Mo Xi’s pale, handsome face instantly turned bright red.
Because—
This damn book was actually a collection of erotic illustrations!!