Chapter 41

Chapter 41

As the thunder rumbled outside, Rong Tang felt relieved hearing Su Huaijing's candid admission.

He looked up, about to agree, but then glanced at the bedding on the bed. Hesitating for a moment, his gaze fell on a cabinet in the corner, “Then bring another blanket and pillow over. I might kick off the covers while sleeping.”

Actually, he wouldn’t, but he knew Su Huaijing had a strong sense of caution and alertness. Agreeing to share a bed was already a decision made out of fear, and sharing the same blanket...

Rong Tang worried that Su Huaijing might not be able to sleep peacefully all night.

Thinking he was being kind and considerate, Rong Tang cleverly provided Su Huaijing with a reason and an out. However, upon hearing this, Su Huaijing's eyes narrowed slightly, reluctantly and unwillingly glancing at the blanket covering Rong Tang.

Why couldn’t they sleep under the same blanket?

Weren’t they married?

What married couple hadn’t shared a bed even once in half a month?

It felt like he was being bullied.

Su Huaijing, with a trace of unnoticeable resentment, obediently opened the cabinet and took out a blanket and pillow, placing them on the bed, asking, “Can I go wash up then?”

— Meaning he would go to bed after washing up! Meaning he would share the bed with Rong Tang!

Rong Tang, listening to the thunderous rumbling outside the window, nodded, then, seeing Su Huaijing's retreating figure, couldn’t resist calling out to him, “Do you need me to accompany you?”

Su Huaijing's heart softened immensely.

He had been feeling anxious these days, torn between suspecting that Prince Ning Xuan's closeness had an ulterior motive, and feeling that meeting Rong Tang after returning to the capital was an incredible stroke of luck.

If enduring those hardships in Shu land was meant to lead him to someone like Rong Tang, cherishing him deeply, then Su Huaijing thought that even more suffering would have been bearable.

Having Tang Tang was enough.

Wherever he was, that was home.

Su Huaijing’s eyes curved, shaking his head, “No need, it’s stormy outside, be careful not to catch a cold. I’ll be back soon.”

Rong Tang still hesitated a bit, but the storm was indeed noisy in the courtyard, leaves hitting the eaves with rustling sounds. With his frail health, getting drenched in the night rain could easily make him seriously ill.

So, he frowned and said, “Then be quick, okay?”

He didn’t mean anything else by those words, simply worried that Su Huaijing might get scared if there was a sudden thunderclap while he was washing up alone outside.

But in the room, lit by the warm yellow glow of lanterns and candles, with a narrow step bed against the wall, curtains pulled to each side, Rong Tang leaning on the headboard, his lower body covered with a blanket, upper body draped in a thin quilt, holding a storybook, and looking up naively and lazily to say ‘be quick, okay’, was incredibly enticing.

He was like a newly emerged spirit from the mountains, every move captivating, yet utterly unaware of his own allure, exuding a contradiction of innocence and temptation, making one want to peel away that outer layer and see the true nature of the heart beating beneath his skin.

Su Huaijing's gaze darkened, his Adam's apple bobbing, fingers tapping his waist token, a slight smile on his lips, “Okay.”

After he left the room, Rong Tang sat on the bed waiting for him. Taking advantage of the moment alone, he rolled his own blanket inward, neatly tucking the edges to create a boundary for Su Huaijing.

The beds in the Great Yu dynasty were quite small. Even though the step beds in the Song Garden were designed for two people, they were only slightly larger than modern single beds. Though it wouldn’t be cramped for two, Rong Tang tried to minimize his presence to give Su Huaijing more space.

He waited for a long time, almost falling asleep, until Su Huaijing finally entered the room.

Upon entering, Su Huaijing saw that the bed was almost divided into thirds, with Rong Tang occupying just a third of it along with his blanket. He paused for a moment before suddenly breaking into laughter.

He took off his outer clothing and walked slowly to the bed. Instead of getting in, he bent over, one hand supporting himself on the bed, and lifted his arm towards Rong Tang, his voice hoarse yet slightly sticky: "Tang Tang."

Rong Tang: "Hmm?"

Su Huaijing said, "I smell nice."

Rong Tang blinked, momentarily not understanding.

It was only after marrying him that the main antagonist gained a bit of weight, yet his wrists remained slender, bones covered by skin, looking white and firm, resembling a White Rabbit milk candy.

Rong Tang shamefully swallowed.

Su Huaijing tilted his head, lowering his voice, and said in an extremely well-behaved manner, “I didn’t want to dirty your bed, so I made sure to take a bath.”

Only hot water for drinking was prepared in the yard. Wanting to join Rong Tang in bed sooner, he had bathed in cold water. The part of his wrist that was exposed, as white as frost and snow, was emanating a slight chill, carrying a scent of soapberry and flowers, indeed smelling nice.

Rong Tang frowned slightly, about to scold him for not taking care of his health by bathing in cold water on a rainy day, when he saw Su Huaijing blink and coquettishly say, “So, can you not stay so far from me, Tang Tang? It makes me feel like you’re avoiding me.”

He resembled a small street vendor eagerly promoting his goods, lifting his arm higher as if inviting Rong Tang to take a closer sniff, earnestly adding, “I really do smell nice.”

Rong Tang was momentarily dazed, belatedly glancing at the boundary he had just created on the bed, his ears inexplicably turning a bit red.

Rong Tang tugged at the blanket, then tugged again, and the two blankets slapped together with a sound. He lifted his head to look at Su Huaijing.

See! I’m not avoiding you!

Su Huaijing’s smile deepened. Before stepping back from the bed, he made one last attempt, somewhat regretfully, “Really won’t give it a sniff? I even put a few gardenia flowers in the bath. I smell really nice now.”

The more he insisted on his fragrance, the redder Rong Tang’s ears became, reviving the emotions he felt receiving letters addressed to [Tang Tang, my husband] before their marriage, imbuing him with a sense of guilt akin to luring a minor.

Rong Tang forced himself to turn his head away, “I won’t smell it!”

“Oh.” Su Huaijing lowered his head, sounding subdued and disappointed.

He undressed and got into bed, where Rong Tang had joined the two blankets. Fearing the cold might seep through and chill Rong Tang, he carefully adjusted the blanket’s corner and positioned his own separately, leaning against the headboard.

Rong Tang hadn’t felt anything amiss when asking the question, or even when he moved to the inner side of the bed, and while waiting for Su Huaijing.

But once another person joined him on the bed, Su Huaijing’s presence beside him, leaning against the headboard, was undeniable – even if he was merely looking down at an ancient book.

Rong Tang had always viewed him as the great antagonist of his adolescence and treated him like a beloved child. Su Huaijing often acted affectionately towards him, evoking a sense of fondness in Rong Tang. But lying so close on the bed, Rong Tang suddenly became aware of the unmistakable masculine aura emanating from the antagonist.

Mixed with the scent of gardenias and soapberry, not prominent but still there, reminding Rong Tang that, in this world, he was an adult man.

Capable of holding an official post, marrying, and fathering children, a man of the same gender as him.

Rong Tang instinctively felt a biological wariness – in nature, two males together usually fight for territory and mates.

But before he could fully process this feeling, a thunderclap sounded outside. Su Huaijing seemed startled and quickly reached under the blanket, grasping Rong Tang’s fingers.

“……”

Any sense of wariness dissipated in an instant. Rong Tang, momentarily stunned, then realized this was his scared-of-thunder, affectionate little one. He didn’t withdraw his hand, but gently patted the back of Su Huaijing's hand, his voice falling softly in the rainy night, carrying an indescribable tenderness, “It’s okay, I’m here.”

Su Huaijing was slightly taken aback, his eyelashes trembling, no longer able to focus on the "Mountain and River Chronicles." He lowered his gaze, looking at their overlapping hands covered by the blanket.

The sound of early summer thunderstorms often brings renewal. Su Huaijing listened to the rain outside for a while, Rong Tang wordlessly patting him slowly, patiently comforting.

Su Huaijing broke the silence with a chuckle.

“Thank you, Tang Tang,” he said, “I am really scared of thunder.”

But not now.

It’s hard to develop a fear for something specific or worry about others being scared if one has never been afraid themselves or witnessed fear in others.

The reason he came to Rong Tang's room on thunderous nights was out of concern that Tang Tang might be woken by the thunder, unable to sleep peacefully.

And he had this worry because he had once been afraid.

Very, very afraid.

Rainwater seeping through the roof, dripping onto the earthen floor, mice squeaking in the corner, as if moving house, bold enough to scurry past his bed, even stopping to make eye contact in the pitch darkness. In such nights, the sound of thunder seemed like a death knell, the clear yet dark gaze of non-human creatures sparking innumerable, unknown fears in one’s heart, threatening to engulf a person whole.

The young Seventh Prince had never witnessed such a scene.

He had never been afraid of thunder.

In the palace, during rainy days, a gentle maidservant would stay by his bed. The dim light in the room was just enough to see, and the thunder, lightning, and wind outside never penetrated the room. The candlelight remained steady, and the maidservant’s lullaby was especially gentle and lovely, as if lulling a drowsy child to sleep on a cloud. Even if the world outside was in chaos, it couldn’t disturb him in the slightest.

And when dawn broke the next day, the Imperial Garden would be brimming with life. His third brother and fourth sister would run to his palace, laughing and teasing him with a grasshopper, “Seventh Brother, Seventh Brother! Want to dig for bugs?”

The Seventh Prince once feared nothing.

Not bugs, not darkness, not thunderstorms, not even the lotus seed cakes he disliked, and certainly not tigers, which even the common folk feared. His confidence stemmed from the Fourth Princess, who often spoke about learning to fight tigers from their grandmother once she grew up.

Back then, he even thought how impressive this grandmother must be, deciding to learn from her once he grew bigger than his fourth sister.

Growing up in an ivory tower, cherished and protected by the entire palace, he never knew fear.

But when disaster struck suddenly one summer night, consuming his ivory tower in flames, his wet nurse died trying to get him out of the palace, collapsing in a pool of black blood on the palace road. Palace servants trampled over her body in their frantic escape. His parents, in the governance hall, strangled to the point their eyeballs protruded. A thunderclap in the stifling sky seemed to open Pandora's Box.

Fear began to take root, confusion spreading.

For a long time, he believed it was all a nightmare, that he would wake to find his third brother still taking him around the Imperial Garden, his fourth sister still feeding him sweet pastries, and his crown prince brother scolding them for spoiling their little brother, yet playing with him with a rattling drum when alone.

His crown prince brother adored his younger sibling born of the same mother more than anyone.

Su Huaijing thought, waking up would end it all.

But the summers in Shu were filled with thunderstorms. The thunder kept him awake all night, rainwater dripping onto his bed, soaking it. Landslides on the mountain roads and the cries of the people seemed to reach his ears, cutting through the sky.

He called out in his heart for his brothers, sister, parents... but no one came.

Xingfeng didn't find him immediately.

Alone in the Li residence in Shu, amidst thunder and night rain, Su Huaijing faced the water droplets and the moving mice, finally realizing a harsh truth:

He had no home anymore.

……

Many years later, he no longer feared thunder, mice, or knew what else there was to fear in the world.

Sometimes, Xingfeng, seeing Su Huaijing's seemingly indifferent demeanor, felt scared, but Su Huaijing truly feared nothing anymore.

As a child, any minor hurt would lead him to seek his mother's comfort, but now he can dislocate and reset his bones without a change in expression.

Once terrified of mice, he now laughs when they die frothing at the mouth after eating his poison.

Previously, thunder would have him wishing to deafen himself, but now his only concern is whether Rong Tang might be frightened or disturbed by such sudden, annoying noises.

Yet, Rong Tang would ask him in return: "Are you scared?"

He would carefully make room, offering half the bed, subtly suggesting: "If you're scared, you can stay with me."

His Rong Tang, truly the kindest, most compassionate little saint in this world.

Su Huaijing laughed softly, accompanying Rong Tang in reading for a while longer. When the thunder finally quieted and it was very late, he extinguished some candles and lay down beside Rong Tang to sleep.

Rong Tang, who easily succumbed to sleep, would drift off the moment he hit the bed. Yet, semi-conscious upon hearing thunder, he instinctively moved closer, reaching his hand into Su Huaijing's blanket, gently squeezing his hand, murmuring unclearly: "Don't be afraid, it's just normal weather, don't worry..."

The fragrance of Gardenias enveloped the bed. Su Huaijing lay still for a while, hearing the steady, prolonged breathing beside him. He sighed softly, unable to resist embracing his little saint, blanket and all.

"I really smell nice," Su Huaijing whispered, his husky voice weaving through the night like a melody on an ancient zither.

Rubbing his chin on Rong Tang's head a bit fiercely, it seemed both a command and a timid plea: "You said you like Gardenias, so you should like me too, okay?"

"If you don't respond, I'll take it as a yes," Su Huaijing, playing his little games, contentedly closed his eyes.

Author's note:

Ah, you little tease!