Sect Master Wen's Junior Martial Brother Who Shared His Hardships Has Returned - Chapter 12

The competition had ended.

In the courtyard, the wind rolled fallen leaves, stirring up a shallow layer of dust. Shoe soles stepped down, producing light yet rhythmic footsteps.

Wen Chaoxi crossed the pitch-black courtyard and entered the room.

The room had just lit up with light when hurried footsteps sounded in the courtyard again.

Xu Chaoqi ran back panting for breath. He gazed at the light by the window, his eyes flickering, took a deep breath, and ran in while supporting his waist.

The white-robed figure gradually walked to the desk under the candlelight. Xu Chaoqi ran in, his hand grasping the doorframe, sweat sliding from his forehead across his cheek and dripping off his chin.

He looked at the person before him, his Adam’s apple rolling, his voice low and hoarse. “Senior Brother……”

After saying this, his nose felt slightly sore, and his eyes also felt somewhat astringent.

Wen Chaoxi heard the voice and turned around, and the familiar bundle threw itself into his embrace.

Behind them was the bed. Wen Chaoxi held the other and sat down, and Xu Chaoqi took the opportunity to wrap his arms around his waist, holding him tightly, his head resting against his chin, his forehead close to his throat.

Xu Chaoqi pressed further into his embrace, even pressing his face against his neck.

Wen Chaoxi lowered his eyes, and finally took Xu Chaoqi into his arms. His arms locked tight, and no matter how Xu Chaoqi shifted his posture, he remained steady and did not waver in the slightest. Like this, they drew closer and closer, until there was no gap left between them.

Xu Chaoqi, from his initial closeness, began to knit his brows slightly — he was being held so tightly it felt uncomfortable, and he could not help but let out a few whimpers.

Even so, he still wanted to be close to Senior Brother. He propped both hands against Senior Brother’s shoulders, forced himself free, tilted his neck upward, until his lips touched Senior Brother’s face.

****

When he was little, he had struggled to chase after him on his short little legs, cradling a small bowl in his hands.

He loved eating fish and shrimp, but every time he got to the dining hall, the fish and shrimp were already gone, leaving only broth.

The small, delicate little dumpling stared at the emptied basin, stunned for a long while, and finally, with misty eyes, wiped his tears and, biting his lip in grievance, scooped himself some other slices of meat instead.

The next day, he held his bowl and ran earlier than before, even faster! This time he was full of excitement, but when he arrived at the dining hall, the basin that held the shrimp was empty again.

He stood there, biting his lip, tears hanging on his eyeballs but refusing to fall.

He lowered his head, letting the tears drip onto the ground, before finally raising his head to scoop himself some meat slices.

Just then, five or six shrimp were poured into his bowl. The small soft dumpling raised his head — it was a very tall youth!

He had seen him before; some senior brothers and sisters had said that this youth disliked him the most out of the entire sect.

The little dumpling held his bowl, weakly at a loss for what to do. The youth glanced at him once, then walked away.

For the following three or four days, the youth came early every time and would help scoop five or six shrimp for the little soft dumpling, waiting to pour them in for him.

Until the fifth day, when the little soft dumpling arrived even earlier than the youth.

The little soft dumpling held a large adult-sized bowl, waiting for him. When he saw him arrive, his eyes curved into a pair of crescent moons.

The youth had just picked up a bowl when the dumpling leaned onto the counter and poured all the shrimp from his own bowl into the youth’s.

The youth looked at his own now-full bowl, then at the empty bowl in the dumpling’s hands, his voice cold and clear. “What about you? What will you eat?”

The little soft dumpling was dazed and bewildered. “You like them, you scoop them every time. I’m giving you all of mine, I won’t eat them.”

The youth fell silent. He didn’t know how to hold children, so he could only, somewhat awkwardly, lift the little soft dumpling by the collar and carry him over to the table.

The little soft dumpling looked around, then obediently sat down.

The youth placed the bowl between them. He peeled one shrimp and fed one to the other. The little soft dumpling cooperated very well — the moment the shrimp meat reached his mouth, he opened it and bit down.

Until the little soft dumpling was stuffed, uncomfortably half-slumped over the chair.

The youth pressed his lips together lightly, his eyelids drooping halfway. He looked at the little soft dumpling for a moment, then lifted him up with one hand and set him on his lap.

The little soft dumpling could finally properly digest.

The little soft dumpling, his eyes rimmed red, whimpered softly, looking pitiful and aggrieved.

The youth pressed his dry lips together, somewhat unnaturally. He glanced around, and once he confirmed there was no one familiar nearby, he extended his fair, slender fingers and gently rubbed the little soft dumpling’s belly.

As he rubbed, the little soft dumpling’s eyes grew misty with tears. After a long while, the little soft dumpling finally felt better, and the two of them each paused for a moment.

The little soft dumpling tried to stand up on the youth’s lap, gripping hard at the youth’s robes for support. Once he had finally steadied himself, he tilted his head up and gently kissed the youth’s face.

“Senior Brother……” the little soft dumpling said in his baby voice, his eyes filled with light, carrying longing and closeness.

At that time, the little soft dumpling was three years old, and the youth was eight.

****

Under the dim light, Xu Chaoqi gently kissed Senior Brother’s cheek — this was something he only did in their most intimate moments.

He had kissed Senior Brother twice before: once when they first met as children, and once after they had grown up, when they crossed mountains and seas together and he was gravely wounded, his life hanging by a thread. Senior Brother had given everything, tending to him without rest or sleep, and in his half-conscious daze, he had kissed Senior Brother once.

They were both men — a kiss meant nothing much.

This was the third time he had kissed Senior Brother.

But just as their lips were about to touch that cold moment, the embrace suddenly loosened — Senior Brother let go of him. The warmth that had so painstakingly built up dispersed, dissolving into nothing.

Xu Chaoqi’s eyes went from hazy to blank. He rasped, wanting to say something, but saw Senior Brother stand up, the hem of his white robe swaying lightly, a faint sandalwood scent drifting out, as a large hand reached up to touch his forehead.

“Xiao Yao is quite impressive — you drew the talisman in just one shichen.”

Xu Chaoqi’s eyelashes fluttered, and in the end he cast everything else out of his mind, curving his eyes into a smile at Senior Brother.

That night, Xu Chaoqi returned to bed. He looked at the storybook, its pages gradually running out, and sighed.

Tomorrow he’d have to go ask Fu Xuandao, and see if he had gotten any new storybooks in.

****

Under the moonlight, a tall, imposing figure stood before the flowing water.

He quietly watched the reflection in the water. The youth who once fed him shrimp had long since departed; though that youth of the past bore some resemblance to him in brow and eye, he was ultimately different.

He gazed at the reflection, as if seeing himself from ten thousand years ago, wielding a long sword.

That figure had been spirited and full of vigor, his eyes carrying both mettle and fearlessness toward the world.

A falling stone dropped, disturbing the reflection, and letting him see the reflection’s true appearance clearly.

His once extremely simple black robes of the past had become today’s thick, elaborate white-based Daoist robe. That figure’s bearing was no longer free and unrestrained, but had become dignified and still, unmoving for long stretches of time.

Once, that face had shown youthful innocence; now, though he still retained the appearance of those years, he no longer carried that same spirited vigor.

He turned and waved his hand, and an enormous crimson-gold seal appeared in the air — representing the highest authority of the Twenty-Seven Regions.

Yet how could the one who held this seal possibly not understand something as simple as love and affection?

The mountain wind howled. He stood there for a long while.

****

The next day, Xu Chaoqi woke up, and it happened that Fu Xuandao arrived just then.

He brought Xu Chaoqi new storybooks, saying with a smile, “I just got three whole sets in — and when I looked, it turned out to be the sequel to the storybook I gave you before.”

Xu Chaoqi took them with a beaming smile, and continued reading whenever he had free time.

In the afternoon, the little fish shook its fishbowl, using its fin to point at its own tail, looking pitiful.

Xu Chaoqi looked at the little fish — its tail had long since healed. He stared for a long while and finally spotted a wound as thin as a strand of hair.

He rubbed his head and tentatively said, “Should I wrap it up for you?”

The little fish lowered its head and nodded. While Xu Chaoqi went to fetch tools, the little fish excitedly flicked its tail back and forth in the water, blowing out a whole string of bubbles.

By the time Xu Chaoqi came back, it was lying weakly on the rim of the fishbowl again, watching Xu Chaoqi clumsily wrap its tail, its fin trembling nervously.

When it was young, in its clan, whenever a young clan member got hurt, family members would help bandage them.

It, however, had curled up in the shadows, holding its own increasingly festering wound, watching those children in the light get their wounds bandaged by their kin.

Xu Chaoqi finished wrapping it up. After thinking for a moment, he also took out from his storage pouch the candy that Song Shuiqing had given him, and offered it to the little fish.

“You’re hurt — how about eating some candy? It won’t hurt as much then……”

The little fish blinked its fish eyes. It used its fin to push the candy under its white belly, pressing it down. It lowered its head, its fish eyes glistening with moisture.

At nightfall, in the courtyard.

The little fish secretly flew out of the fishbowl. It used its fin to forcefully push the fishbowl one inch in Xu Chaoqi’s direction, then excitedly returned to the water to swim back and forth.

As long as it pushed one inch every day, sooner or later, it would push its way right up to its master’s side!

****

Xu Chaoqi looked at the new storybook — it was the sequel to the one he’d read before.

He read four volumes in one sitting, but by the time he got to the fifth, his brows furrowed.

Xu Chaoqi first leaned in close to confirm the characters on the page, and after reading through them one by one, he froze. He read it over several more times, and the more he read, the wider his eyes went, until finally his eyes were filled with disbelief.

He took out the spirit stone at his waist and called out. “Shuiqing, Shuiqing! There’s something off about this storybook of mine!”

These days, Song Shuiqing, in order to secure a spot in the Centennial Grand Competition, had been staying up late night after night, and rising early again the next day.

Over time, his eyes were ringed with dark circles.

Just then, he had just finished drawing a new talisman when he heard Xu Chaoqi calling him.

He hurriedly picked up the spirit stone and said, “Brother Qi, I’m here! What is it?”

He only heard, from the other end, Xu Chaoqi say, twisted and conflicted, “In this storybook of mine, a side character appears, and he… he’s actually openly together with another man.”

Song Shuiqing froze for a moment, then recovered and said, “This… is this not right?”

Xu Chaoqi, thinking he had described it wrong, added. “The side character is a man, and a man being paired with a man?”

Song Shuiqing froze again. “This… is that not right?”

Xu Chaoqi: ……

He rubbed his head, a bitter look on his face, and said with difficulty, “But these two are both men — how could a man possibly be with a man?”

“But… there are already countless pairs of men together in this world! In my Western Region alone there are quite a few pairs of men who’ve married. Yes, and women too.”

Xu Chaoqi was stunned. “This custom already existed? And openly, no less?”

“Yes! Brother Qi, don’t tell me you’ve never even seen it?”

Xu Chaoqi: ……

It wasn’t that he’d never heard of it between men — it was just that all of that had been secret affairs among the mighty experts, not something to be brought into the open. Who would have guessed that nowadays, same-sex marriage was actually this common?

He seemed to realize something, suddenly stiffened, and his face actually turned red.

He gripped the storybook tightly, his voice rough and difficult. “Then… should we men also avoid casually kissing other men?”

The bedsheet was clenched tightly in his hand, crumpled into a ball.

When Song Shuiqing heard this, he was utterly startled!

He said in a flustered rush. “This, how could this be allowed?! Wouldn’t this be a violation of propriety! Brother Qi, are you asking this because you kissed a man?! Watch out, or they’ll send you off to see the steward, and then we’ll both be done for!”

Xu Chaoqi protested. “He wouldn’t blame me!”

A moment later, as if he’d realized something, his eyelids blinked rapidly, and he said stiffly, “I… I haven’t kissed anyone either.”