Chapter 122

Chapter 122

When Sui Lanwei came to, the first thing he saw was the carved wooden boards and the red bed curtains, and then he saw Tang Liu sitting beside him.

The footstool by the bed had been moved a little further away. Tang Liu sat upright on it in wrinkled underclothes. The footstool was very low, so Tang Liu sat with his legs pressed tightly together and drawn up close, his hands resting on his bent knees. With his hands crossed and tucked into his sleeves, he looked like a little old man, his head nodding slightly—it was hard to tell if he was sound asleep.

Sui Lanwei sat up, and the quilt slipped down. He caught at it and realized the bedding had been replaced with the wedding quilt from their marriage ceremony. A pair of mandarin ducks were nestled together amidst the folds of the quilt cover, appearing deeply affectionate.

Sui Lanwei looked at his own hands—nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He got out of bed, slipped past Tang Liu, walked to the dressing table, and studied his reflection in the bronze mirror for a moment before leaving the room.

The courtyard was bathed in splendid sunlight. It was nearly dusk. The slanting rays cast a golden hue over the monotonous small courtyard, and even the lifeless trees in the flower beds seemed to regain a long-lost vitality under this glow.

Since Tang Liu's arrival, many things had been added to the courtyard: strips of cloth hanging from the tree trunks, a crude bench built from piled stones beside the flower beds, and hemp ropes strung between several trees. Now, a few more such ropes had been added, draped with the everyday sleeping mats, quilts, and the clothes Tang Liu had been wearing earlier.

Sui Lanwei stared at the two garments fluttering in the wind, then shifted his gaze to the lushly growing foxtail grass by the tree roots. In the gentle breeze, the fluffy seed heads swayed as if to some rhythm, repeatedly drooping down and springing back up, reminiscent of Tang Liu's nodding head.

Sui Lanwei smiled to himself. He walked back inside, where Tang Liu was still in the same position, apparently fast asleep. Sui Lanwei bent down, slipped one arm under Tang Liu's back and the other behind his knees, lifting him and placing him on the bed.

It took no further effort. The moment he was on the bed, Tang Liu instinctively rolled over, hugged the quilt, found a comfortable position, and his breathing immediately deepened.

In the top drawer of the vanity case lay two dried, yellowing grass braids. Sui Lanwei pulled open the drawer, gazed down at these two shapeless forms for a moment, then took them out and slipped them onto the index and middle fingers of his right hand. He returned to the bedside, sat on the footstool, propped his chin on his hand to observe Tang Liu, while his other hand idly played with the two foxtail seed heads.

Tang Liu slept restlessly. Every so often, he would toss and turn, rolling deep into the bed, out of Sui Lanwei's sight, then almost rolling off the edge. Before long, he had turned the neatly made bed into something resembling a dog's nest.

Sui Lanwei watched for a good while. When Tang Liu rolled to the edge of the bed once more, Sui Lanwei was struck by a whim and brushed the grass heads against Tang Liu's face a few times. Tang Liu scratched his face with a curled finger, so Sui Lanwei lifted his hand, waiting until Tang Liu lowered his before bringing the grass tips close again, lightly brushing his nose.

Tang Liu wrinkled his nose, mumbled something unintelligible, and turned his face to the other side.

Sui Lanwei chuckled softly and, undeterred, pursued him to tickle behind his ear.

Tang Liu waved his hand irritably, rolled inward several times, and ended up sleeping where Sui Lanwei couldn't reach him. Sui Lanwei pulled his hand back, regretful but with no intention of moving from the footstool to the bed. Instead, as if having found amusement in this, whenever Tang Liu rolled to the edge of the bed, he would harass him with the grass heads until the man rolled back inside.

Another two hours passed, and Tang Liu woke up. He sat dazedly on the bed for a while, then threw off the quilt and prepared to get up.

"Husband Liu, where are you going?" Sui Lanwei asked softly.

Tang Liu was dazed for a moment before replying, "I need to go outside and bring in the quilts."

His voice sounded somewhat muffled. Sui Lanwei looked up at him and noticed he was hanging his head, not facing him as he usually did when speaking.

Sui Lanwei tightened his fingertips, the seed heads deforming under the pressure, sharply scraping his finger pads. He snapped back to attention, stared at his own fingers, and continued softly, "Did you wipe my body for me?"

The room fell into silence. Sui Lanwei's heart gradually sank, his eyes turning cold.

"...I didn't touch anything I shouldn't have." After a long pause, Tang Liu finally broke the quiet.

Sui Lanwei was stunned for a moment, even looking up at Tang Liu with some astonishment.

In the dim light, Tang Liu's face was as red as a monkey's bottom.

Sui Lanwei stared fixedly at him, as if meeting this person for the first time. Suddenly, an impulse surged from the depths of his heart. He abruptly sat on the edge of the bed, hooked a long arm around Tang Liu, pulled him close, and lowered his head to kiss him.

Tang Liu's entire body stiffened, his mouth slightly agape in shock. Sui Lanwei half-lifted his eyelids to look at him, his tongue deftly slipping inside, tentatively licking a few times against Tang Liu's palate.

Tang Liu shuddered all over, then tensed up even more, becoming rigid from head to toe like a stone. Sui Lanwei held Tang Liu's neck with one hand, placed the other on his waist, and his tongue shifted to entangle with Tang Liu's. All the while, he kept his eyes fixed on Tang Liu, taking in every reaction.

This was their first kiss, devoid of any ulterior motive, filled only with intimacy and tenderness. Tang Liu's vital essence was hidden deep within his body. At this moment, this abundant vitality was within close reach, entirely at Sui Lanwei's mercy. Yet, Sui Lanwei had not the slightest thought of seizing it; he was simply enjoying the closeness of sharing breath with another person.

It was a rather tender kiss, devoid of any fierce movements or intense emotions. Sui Lanwei kissed unhurriedly, his entire aura as calm as water. Silver moonlight poured in. He actively ended the kiss and raised his thumb to wipe the moisture from the corner of Tang Liu's mouth.

The latter's body was no longer tense, but his expression remained blank.

Sui Lanwei chuckled softly a few times, straightened Tang Liu's loose collar, and said in a lingering tone, "You are my husband. What can't we do?"

After tidying Tang Liu's collar, he stood up to create some distance. Suddenly, a pair of scorching hands gripped his shoulders and turned him back.

Tang Liu's face was bathed in the cold moonlight, appearing so serene it was completely unlike him.

"You said it," he murmured.

Sui Lanwei was momentarily dazed, watching helplessly as Tang Liu's face, wearing an unfamiliar expression, drew near, enlarged, and pressed against his own. His lips were captured by another pair of burning lips. Tang Liu's breath was hurried as he almost roughly pried open Sui Lanwei's teeth, invading his mouth recklessly.

Sui Lanwei's eyes widened. The next moment, he was pulled forward, falling onto Tang Liu. His lips were bitten and gnawed by Tang Liu, his mouth forcefully plundered, his tongue savagely sucked.

Tang Liu's hands kneaded his back. Sui Lanwei, bewildered by this series of actions, had just raised his hands to rest on Tang Liu's shoulders, preparing to respond, when his entire body was lifted slightly by the waist.

Then, scorching kisses fell haphazardly and urgently on his jaw and neck.

A fire ignited within him—a gentle, churning fire that made his whole body restless. He could feel a similarly frantic, restless fire within Tang Liu's body. But Tang Liu soon moved his lips away from Sui Lanwei's neck and simply held him, making no further moves.

"Husband Liu..." Sui Lanwei's eyes lost focus, murmuring words whose meaning even he didn't know.

Tang Liu stroked the smooth hair on Sui Lanwei's back, his breathing gradually calming.

"The Dragon Boat Festival has already passed. We didn't prepare anything." Tang Liu's voice was very gentle. Sui Lanwei wanted to say it didn't matter, since he didn't like the festival anyway. "I saved some zongzi for you, keeping them warm in the pot. I didn't know what flavor you liked, so I saved two of each kind for you."

Sui Lanwei parted his lips slightly, a faint thread of sadness welling up.

"Don't want to eat now?"

"No, I want to sleep," Sui Lanwei said.

"Then sleep. I'll bring in the quilts tomorrow." Tang Liu patted his back. "Don't have nightmares this time, okay?"

...

The next day was another clear, sunny day. The bedding in the courtyard had been dampened by the night dew, its surface becoming moist and muddy. Tang Liu took a stick and vigorously beat them before hanging them back up to continue drying.

Only after hanging the quilts did he go to wash his face and eat. The medicine on his eyes hadn't been changed for too long and had dried into mud, peeling off with a finger's touch. He scooped water to wash his face, but after several attempts, he still felt stickiness around his eye sockets. Touching with his fingers, he realized some medicinal residue remained.

He scrubbed vigorously a few more times before his chin was lifted and turned by someone. A damp cloth gently wiped his eyes.

"It's all red," Sui Lanwei observed him.

Tang Liu touched the tip of his nose and said nothing.

Sui Lanwei wrung out the cloth, cleaned the medicinal residue from around Tang Liu's eyes, applied new medicine, and only when wrapping the gauze did he notice Tang Liu's somewhat evasive expression. He paused, thought for a moment, then understood. Uncharacteristically, he didn't tease aloud, merely leaned down to touch the corner of Tang Liu's mouth. "Go eat, Husband Liu."

After the meal, Tang Liu set out to continue his farming endeavors. The bamboo staff had been left in the backyard. Along the way, Tang Liu was led by Sui Lanwei.

Tang Liu had initially been free of distracting thoughts until, after walking a stretch, the hand holding his suddenly adjusted. Fingertips pressed against his palm, slipping between his fingers, then interlocking tightly in a perfect ten-finger clasp.

Tang Liu's heart immediately began clamoring wildly.

He recalled last night's intense intimacy, and his Adam's apple rolled uncontrollably.

Last night wasn't the first time he and Wei Wei had kissed, but it was the first time he clearly felt that Wei Wei's lips were cool, soft, and delectable—nothing like the sensation of upper lip touching lower lip...

Stop, stop.

Better not think about that anymore.

Tang Liu shook his head, shaking off all those improper thoughts.

Take it slow, he thought.

When they reached outside the small courtyard, the hand holding his let go. Tang Liu rubbed his fingers, for some reason his palm felt empty. The familiar scent of soil reached him, and the fleeting sense of loss vanished instantly. Tang Liu's mind immediately jumped to the soil inside. After a thought, he added a reminder, "If you feel uncomfortable, tell me. Don't endure it on your own."

A feather-light kiss landed on his face, and Wei Wei's voice was soft and gentle, "I know. Thank you, Husband Liu."

Tang Liu scratched his cheek and stepped into the courtyard, his ears tinged with red.

This time, he figured out what that thing was that he had expended so much effort to pull out—it was a thick nail, as long as his arm, with its thickest part twice as thick as his wrist, and it had strange patterns on it.

Tang Liu couldn't figure it out, so he simply tossed it aside.

There were many more nails like this, buried deep in various corners of the courtyard. Tang Liu almost dug out a similar nail every time he hoed a patch of land, each one difficult to pull out, greatly slowing down his work.

Another half-month passed, and Tang Liu had dug up a total of sixty or seventy nails. After some thought, he realized there wasn't much land left to till, which filled him with joy. He was even cheerful when going to bed at night.

Sui Lanwei was massaging his arms. Tang Liu had been overexerting his arms for days, and they would swell every night, especially the upper arms near the shoulders, sometimes swelling up like steamed buns. Tang Liu didn't think much of it; instead, he felt his physique had become sturdier and was happy about it every day.

It wasn't until one night when Sui Lanwei asked him to hold her while sleeping that she noticed his arm movements were a bit stiff and realized something was wrong. Since then, she had been massaging Tang Liu's arms every night before bed, continuing until the swelling subsided.

Massaging his arms required him to take off his shirt. At first, Tang Liu was embarrassed, hesitantly clutching his collar and saying it was fine, but Sui Lanwei gave his upper arm a sharp poke, making him yelp and let go. Later, his face grew thicker day by day. Without needing Sui Lanwei to urge him, he would take off his clothes as soon as he got into bed, whining and rolling around like a spoiled child, saying his arms hurt and asking his wife to massage them.

Sui Lanwei was both exasperated and soft-hearted. She would scold him playfully with a few words but still massage him. Seeing Tang Liu lost in thought with a happy expression, she asked, "What's got you so happy?"

Tang Liu turned over, took her hand, and rubbed her fingers and knuckles. "Nothing, just happy."

He was like this every day, always cheerful, so Sui Lanwei was used to it. She had only asked casually and didn't press further upon hearing his response.

The night passed without dreams.

Tang Liu had thought life could continue peacefully like this, but the next day, before he set out to till the land, Wang Deqi took him straight to the Treasure Pavilion in a carriage.

It was the same familiar private room and the same familiar spot, but Master Wang's attitude was completely different.

"Tang Liu, you black-hearted scoundrel," Master Wang said coldly. "You actually used a fake birthday to trick us."