Gu Fuzhou stepped into the yard, took off his cloak and threw it to the servants. “Qingyu, I’m going to burst. I ate most of a leg of lamb by myself today.”
Lin Qingyu stood by the table and smiled. “Just right then. The kitchen hadn’t prepared much of anything for tonight; just a bowl of longevity noodles. I think you should still be able to fit that in.”
“Longevity noodles?” Gu Fuzhou stepped forward and saw two bowls of steaming noodles in soup on the table. It was topped with chopped green onions and a soft-boiled egg. “Oh…my birthday is coming up.”
Lin Qingyu said, “Your birthday will be spent on the road. That being the case, celebrating it two days earlier should be fine.”
Gu Fuzhou lowered his head and kissed Lin Qingyu’s forehead. “This is amazing. Thank you, Baobei. I’ll wash my hands first.”
Lin Qingyu watched Gu Fuzhou turn around. The smile on the corner of his lips faded. When Gu Fuzhou came back, he smiled again.
The two sat down at the table. Lin Qingyu instructed Gu Fuzhou, “You can’t bite off the noodles.”
Gu Fuzhou laughed. “When did you start believing this?”
Lin Qingyu was momentarily at a loss. That’s right, he had never believed these things before. “Probably, since Lu Wancheng’s death.”
Gu Fuzhou paused. He picked up the chopsticks and said with a smile, “Then I’ll finish it in one go.”
The two were eating noodles when Huan Tong came in to report, saying that the Young Master of the Wu Guogong’s Mansion was asking to see him. Lin Qingyu asked, “Is it Wu Youyuan?”
“It should be.” Gu Fuzhou wiped his mouth with a hand towel. “Ask him to wait in the front hall. I’ll be with him right away.”
Lin Qingyu said, “I’ll go with you.”
The handsome seventeen-year-old, dressed in the armor of the Imperial Guards, was full of vigor and seemingly boundless endless energy. As soon as he saw Gu Fuzhou, he even forgot to salute in his haste to say, “General, I have thought of a way to break Xixia’s Ground Fire Formation!”
Before he finished speaking, Wu Youyuan caught sight of the man behind the General and as though he had bitten down on his tongue, he stared blankly for a while.
Gu Fuzhou raised his eyebrows and asked, “Pretty?”
Lin Qingyu gave Gu Fuzhou a warning look.
Wu Youyuan nodded blankly. “Pretty.”
“You’re right, he’s pretty.” Everyone likes looking at great beauties and Gu Fuzhou wouldn’t be jealous over such a trivial matter. If he ate vinegar every time someone looked a little too long then he and Lin Qingyu don’t have time to do anything else; they wouldn’t be able to finish off all the vinegar. “You may call him ‘Madam’.”
Wu Youyuan calmed down and hurriedly cupped his hands in salute. “Wu Youyuan greets the General’s wife.”
Gu Fuzhou asked, “You came to me to discuss military strategy with me?”
Wu Youyuan then remembered the purpose of his visit and his excitement was reignited. “Exactly! General, the Ground Fire Formation seems insurmountable but there is a flaw that is extremely difficult to notice…”
Lin Qingyu said, “General, why don’t you take the little General to the study?”
“Alright.” Gu Fuzhou was helpless, “Come with me.”
Lin Qingyu sent the two off to the study. After ordering Hua Lu to serve them tea, he then went to the medicine room.
This was the last night before Gu Fuzhou was to set off. He originally intended to spend a good night with the great beauty; better if they were able to do a something-something. Unexpectedly, in the end, he had to listen to Wu Youyuan rant about military strategy for two whole hours. Seeing that the curfew was approaching, Wu Youyuan reluctantly took his leave.
When Gu Fuzhou returned to the room, Lin Qingyu had just finished bathing and was drying his wet hair with a towel. Gu Fuzhou walked to stand behind him. Movements all natural, he took the towel from Lin Qingyu’s hand and sighed, “‘The righteous ardor of youth and the epic of the young has just begun’.”
Lin Qingyu let Gu Fuzhou wipe his long hair for him. He asked, “Who are you talking about?”
“Wu Youyuan, naturally.”
“What about you?” Lin Qingyu said, “Do you not count yourself among the youth anymore?”
“I’m no longer young.” Gu Fuzhou was quite sad, “I only just realized I’m old when I saw the seventeen year old Wu Youyuan.”
Lin Qingyu reminded him, “In terms of actual age, you’re only twenty years old.”
Gu Fuzhou sighed, “Isn’t it because this body hasn’t a drop of youthfulness in it? And my mentality has grown old along with it.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Hm?”
“Even using the body of a thirty-three-year-old man, I can still feel the so-called ‘youthfulness’ in you.”
Gu Fuzhou made no reply. He just looked at Lin Qingyu, a slight smile on his face.
Lin Qingyu glanced at him. “What are you looking at me for?”
“You’re really good at sweet talking.” Gu Fuzhou locked eyes with Lin Qingyu through the bronze mirror, “This is the first time you’ve been in a relationship. Where did you learn how to do that?”
“I’m just telling the truth. How did that become sweet-talking in your ears?”
Gu Fuzhou exclaimed, “It’s too good. You’re just too good. Say something more. It’s so nice to hear them.”
Lin Qingyu: “…”
When Lin Qingyu’s hair was almost dry, Gu Fuzhou thought of something and asked, “By the way, where is my Qingyun Kyushu Spear?”
Lin Qingyu said, “It should still be gathering dust in the corner.”
The Qingyun Kyushu Spear that ordinary people wouldn’t be able carry even with both hands, Gu Fuzhou easily picked up with one hand. “Good, picking this up is still quite easy.” Gu Fuzhou said, “My two-hour-a-day weight lifting training has not been in vain.”
Lin Qingyu frowned, “Didn’t you say would only be strategizing in a tent?”
“From time to time, I’m still going to need to life the Qingyun Kyushu Spear and put on a show in front of the soldiers. If I look around all lost when I draw my weapon, wouldn’t I be shaming the General?”
Gu Fuzhou was cleaning his spear under the lamp and Lin Qingyu kept him company. Suddenly, he said, “I’ll go with you to the Northwest.”
As soon Lin Qingyu said it, he started to regret it. Given their current situation, if he and Gu Fuzhou were to both leave the capital, Xi Rong would see to it that there would be no place for them in the capital when they returned. While Gu Fuzhou fought in the Northwest, he had tos tay in the capital, so that he could maintain the delicate balance at present.
Fortunately, Gu Fuzhou didn’t take his words seriously at all. “You won’t go.”
“You know?”
Gu Fuzhou nodded. “I know, because our Doctor Lin isn’t the love-addled sort.”
Lin Qingyu said lightly, “I actually wish I were love-addled.”
Just like Jingchun and the King of the North — not caring about anything, not minding anything. They just want to stay together, never to part.
“I wouldn’t want that.” Gu Fuzhou looked at him with a smile filled with affection and admiration, “As eternal as heaven and earth, as brilliant as the sun and moon’; this is my Doctor Lin.”
Lin Qingyu chuckled and said, “You’ve memorized the “Nine Chapters” so well. How come you couldn’t the “Book of Songs”?”
Gu Fuzhou knew that Lin Qingyu was pertaining to the failed confession during the Latern Festival. He said with a smile, “It’s different. At that time, you made me nervous.”
Thinking back to that day, it seemed like it was just yesterday. The gorgeous lanterns all over the city, the crowds a surging tide, the laughter ringing all around… and Lin Qingyu’s “I like you too”.
Gu Fuzhou stared at the sharp point of the spear and muttered, “Qingyu, I’m actually…a little scared.”
Lin Qingyu stood up and ordered him. “Put down the Qingyun Kyushu Spear.”
Gu Fuzhou did as he was told. Lin Qingyu approached slowly, the flickering candlelight reflected on the beauty, making him appear as though shrouded in mist. He raised his hand and untied his belt. The robe slipped down to his ankles. His slender and alabaster body appeared uncovered in front of Gu Fuzhou’s very eyes.
Skin like cold jade, red spots are like cherry blossoms; his long hair hung down his beautiful back. He appeared as an immortal, with beauty beyond compare.
“Give me your hand.” Lin Qingyu said.
Gu Fuzhou’s eyes darkened, his breathing quickened but he said with a smile, “What are you doing, Baobei? Seducing me?”
“No.” Lin Qingyu opened Gu Fuzhou’s hand and put the ointment he had prepared in his palm, “I’m here—inviting you.”
Gu Fuzhou’s pupils widened. His whole figure seemed to be pinned to his chair, unable to move. He forced himself to lower his head but it was arrested by Lin Qingyu’s hand on his chin, forcing Gu Fuzhou to look at him. He had no other choice but to look at this great beauty without a single inch of thread on him.
“If you’re scared of getting tired, I’ll do it myself.”
Gu Fuzhou said with difficulty, “How about you invite me again once I come back?”
“Why do I have to wait until you’re back?” Without warning, Lin Qingyu’s eyes turned red. “Is it for the same reason you refused to tell me your name in that dream back then?”
Gu Fuzhou took the fox fur cloak hanging to one side and draped it over Lin Qingyu. “Of course not. Think about it. This journey will take half a year at least. At most, three or five. If you let me eat meat now, let me eat marrow and know the taste of it, then throw me to the Northwest to be a vegetarian; who could possibly bear that? Better I endure it for a while yet. Like you said, it’s harder to have it and lose it than not have it at all.”
If he hadn’t tacked on that last sentence, Gu Fuzhou’s words would have still been funny. Lin Qingyu curled his lips but there was a bit of sadness in his expression. Gu Fuzhou could see that Lin Qingyu didn’t believe what he said, only that he pretended to believe.
Neither of them said anything to expose it. Gu Fuzhou was afraid that Lin Qingyu would catch a cold so he carried him onto the bed and wrapped him tightly with the quilt. Lin Qingyu did not resist. He lowered his eyebrows, looking as though he was at the other’s complete mercy. Suddenly, as if thinking of something, he grabbed Gu Fuzhou by the front of his robe and said impatiently, “You wrote me a letter of guarantee.”
“Yes, I wrote you a letter of guarantee.” Gu Fuzhou got into the bed and took the fragile beauty into his arms, “If I go back on my word, you can go to the King Yama of Hell and tell on me.”
Lin Qingyu said softly, “I want to hide you, lock you up, so that you can’t go anywhere. I want you to only stay by my side, look only at me.”
Gu Fuzhou raised Lin Qingyu’s face and took a closer look at his expression. He saw the cruel and ruthless beauty looking at a loss, his eyes misty, as though trying his hardest to restrain something. Gu Fuzhou hugged him tighter and said with a smile, “That’s exactly what I want. You’d better find a chain to tie me up so that besides eating, drinking and sleeping, all that I could ever do is do things with you.”
Lin Qingyu smiled reluctantly, huddling in even closer to Gu Fuzhou. “Good idea.” After a while, he finally made up his mind. “Go, but you must come back—you must come back.”
Gu Fuzhou didn’t say much at this time. He stroked Lin Qingyu’s long hair lightly and only replied, “Okay.”
In the first year of Chuxi, during the time of Lesser Snow, Gu Fuzhou took command of the battle expedition. The Son of Heaven, together with the civil and military officials, saw them off at the gate of the city.
Gu Fuzhou looked up and saw Lin Qingyu standing behind Xiao Jie above the city gate, almost standing level with him. He was wearing reddish black court dress, a snow cape with an edging of white mink fur around his neck. His temperament was as cold as the moon, but the rising sun cast a warm red glow upon him, making his face appear as though tinted with a rosy red. Bright eyes were concealed by the dazzling light.
When their eyes met, Lin Qingyu opened her red lips slightly, mouthing six words.
Gu Fuzhou only heard the wind blowing but he could see that what Lin Qingyu had said: I will wait for your return.
After this, Lin Qingyu said two more words. Looking at shapes his mouth made, it didn’t look like “General Gu”, nor like “My husband”, let alone “Fuzhou”.
Gu Fuzhou thought for a while. The corners of his lips raised slightly. He then pulled on the reins and turned his horse’s head. He said to Wu Youyuan beside him, “Let’s go.”
When Gu Fuzhou turned around, a team of elite imperial guards followed behind him, leaving the capital in a mighty procession.
Afterward, he never took a look back. No matter whether he was forced or not, no matter what the odds were, once he left, he did so looking dashing and at ease. Entirely different from the young man who said “I’m actually a little scared” in front of Lin Qingyu last night. He left just like… like when he’d said goodbye to him in a dream.
He never looked back at him even once.
The call of a horn, the sombre tune from a lute; the hero astride an armored horse, the banner half unfurled. He fought for 3,000 miles and won fame to last for all ages.
At this moment, smile for the young hero; bear not bitterness for years of separation. In the future, separated by mountains and passes, towering heights and long roads, one’s only wish, while fighting a hundred battles over the Yellow Sands, forgot not your hometown in the capital, that during long nights someone gazes out into the horizon, waiting for his husband’s return.
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