Chapter 126 Husband

Chapter 126: Husband

When Liu Qingci woke up, the surroundings were completely unfamiliar.

Carved roof beams, light filtering in through the window lattice, and the faint chirping of birds outside.

He was momentarily stunned.

Consciousness slowly returned, memories gradually surfacing.

The hot spring, the steam, Xiao Yan's eyes, and then...

Liu Qingci's face flushed bright red. He instinctively looked to the side.

Xiao Yan was not there.

Liu Qingci's heart suddenly felt empty.

He propped himself up to sit. The moment he moved, his whole body ached, his lower back especially sore, and an odd sensation in a certain unmentionable area.

His face turned even redder.

He looked down at himself.

He was wearing a clean inner garment, not the pale green robe that had been soaked through yesterday. The fabric was soft and carried the faint scent of soap.

Liu Qingci stared blankly at himself, a little dazed.

After all, he couldn't remember much of what happened next.

He didn't even know how long they had gone on...

"Awake? You hungry?"

Xiao Yan had returned at some point, standing by the bed, looking down at him.

Liu Qingci jerked his head up.

He saw Xiao Yan holding a tray with two bowls of congee, several small dishes, and a pot of tea.

Liu Qingci quickly lowered his head again, with a slight nod: "Mm-hmm, I'm awake. What time is it?"

Xiao Yan set the tray on the bedside table, then leaned down, one hand braced beside Liu Qingci, looking at him.

"Almost shen shi," he said in a low voice, lazy with the languor of just waking up.

Liu Qingci's eyelashes fluttered. He glanced at the afternoon sunlight outside the window.

It was already afternoon?

He remembered they had left the palace in the early morning.

When they reached the hot spring, it wasn't even chen shi yet.

Liu Qingci did the math in his head.

They... three whole shichen?

In broad daylight, they actually...

Liu Qingci hung his head, blushing from his cheeks all the way to his ears.

Xiao Yan seemed to sense his confusion and sweetly explained.

"Qingci, this is shen shi of the second day."

"What?" Liu Qingci looked up in shock, his eyes wide.

Seeing him like this, the amusement in Xiao Yan's eyes grew deeper.

He leaned down and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Last night, we continued from the hot spring to the bed... Don't you remember?"

Liu Qingci went stiff.

He grabbed the blanket and pulled it over his head.

Xiao Yan looked at the head hidden under the covers and finally burst out laughing.

He tugged at the blanket and said softly, "Come out, don't suffocate yourself."

A muffled "No" came from under the blanket.

Xiao Yan smiled and continued to pull the blanket: "Come out and eat something, okay? You didn't eat anything last night either."

After a moment of silence, an even more muffled voice came: "... I'm not hungry."

Xiao Yan leaned down, leaning in through the blanket, close to Qingci's ear:

"But you were worn out last night."

The figure under the blanket stiffened.

Xiao Yan went on: "Even if you're not hungry, you should eat a little something. I made it myself, so give it a try."

There was a long silence under the blanket.

Then the blanket slowly parted, revealing a crack.

A pair of red-rimmed eyes peered out from the gap, looking at Xiao Yan.

Those eyes held shyness, irritation, and a little... sadness.

Xiao Yan's heart melted at the sight.

He whispered, "Come on out, okay?"

Qingci slowly pulled the blanket down, revealing his whole face completely.

Seeing this, Xiao Yan sat down on the edge of the bed, gently pulled Qingci, blanket and all, into his arms.

"Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"

Qingci finally spoke, his voice a little muffled: "... Don't ask."

"Alright, I won't ask," Xiao Yan agreed readily, but held Qingci even tighter.

After a moment, Qingci's voice came from deep in his arms:

"...When did you wake up?"

Xiao Yan said, "A bit earlier than you. This place only gets cleaned once in a while, no servants around, so I went to the kitchen to make something to eat."

From the tray, he brought over a bowl of congee, scooped up a spoonful, gently blew on it, and then brought it to Liu Qingci's lips.

"I'm no cook—I tasted it, it's barely edible. Would you do me the honor of trying some?"

Actually, Xiao Yan had gotten up early. As a modern man, he'd struggled with lighting a wood fire and cooking, and after all that, he'd managed to scrape together only this much that was barely edible.

Liu Qingci looked at the spoonful of congee near his lips, his eyes shining with anticipation. He opened his mouth and took the spoonful in.

The congee wasn't hot—warm, just the right temperature for eating.

The rice scent, mixed with some sweet ingredient he couldn't identify, melted on his tongue.

Liu Qingci chewed and swallowed.

Xiao Yan watched him, a look of nerves in his eyes: "How does it taste?"

Liu Qingci saw how tense Xiao Yan looked and purposely kept quiet for a bit.

Xiao Yan's brow furrowed slightly: "That bad? Then don't eat—I'll go—"

Liu Qingci suddenly spoke: "Give me another bite."

He parted his lips a little, staring at Xiao Yan without blinking.

Waiting for him to feed him.

Xiao Yan: "..."

Even though he'd just been through an entire day and night, his mind started to drift again.

He took a deep breath, shoving down those dirty thoughts, and focused on feeding Liu Qingci.

One fed with concentration, the other ate with concentration.

Liu Qingci did him the honor of finishing most of the bowl.

He swallowed the last mouthful of congee and suddenly said:

"Husband."

Xiao Yan's hand froze.

The spoon still hung midair, a bit of congee clinging to its edge. His fingers went stiff, his whole body frozen as if pressed into a vital point.

He slowly raised his head to look at Liu Qingci, his eyes full of disbelief.

"...What did you call me?" His voice was a little shaky.

Liu Qingci, seeing this, blinked.

"Husband." He said it again, his tone completely natural.

Xiao Yan's Adam's apple bobbed violently.

He suddenly felt like he was going crazy.

Xiao Yan took a deep breath, put the spoon back into the bowl.

He set the bowl down on the nightstand, then turned to look seriously at Liu Qingci.

"Qingci," his voice was a little hoarse, "you..."

Seeing Xiao Yan's excited reaction, Liu Qingci quickly voiced his confusion: "What does 'husband' mean?"

Xiao Yan's brow twitched, and he calmed down a bit.

Right—how could Liu Qingci know what the word 'husband' meant?

Even if he called him that, he wouldn't understand its significance.

"You insisted I call you that last night..." Liu Qingci looked at Xiao Yan, his eyes full of curiosity, "What does it actually mean?"

Last night, he insisted on being called that.

Xiao Yan finally understood.

Liu Qingci still remembered.

Last night, in the hot spring, on the bed, he held this man and whispered all kinds of things in his ear.

One of them was "Call me husband."

Back then, Liu Qingci was already dizzy from being teased, eyes barely open, he'd called it out in a soft voice a few times.

But Xiao Yan hadn't expected...

That Liu Qingci would just call him that so naturally this morning?

Xiao Yan felt a little guilty all of a sudden.

But then he thought... this guy was just too cute.

He called him that without even knowing what it meant.