The Aloof Noble Son Feeds His Body to a Wandering Soul - Chapter 1

Outside the curtains, the rain pattered softly while the lingering spring faded away.

The third month of spring had arrived. Fine rain misted the willow trees in shades of hazy smoke; the air felt humid, damp, overcast, and chilly.

Shu Fuyan leaned against the railing, his head tilted back slightly. The moment he closed his eyes, he felt the wisps of coolness brushing in from outside. A red thread was tied around his left wrist, brilliant and bright. As the cold wind blew, it sent a tingling itch across the inside of his wrist, and a slight shift of his body tugged at the dozen or so pages of parchment spread open across his lap.

“Lord Shu, you’ve kept me waiting.”

The silk gauze curtain was lifted slightly, and a man wearing a bamboo rain hat ducked his head to step into the private pavilion.

Shu Fuyan lazily lifted his eyelids, closed the book, and then raised his head to look at him. “Xidezhe, you broke your promise.”

Xidezhe removed his bamboo hat, pinched the brim, and gave it a shake, scattering the rainwater that clung too tightly to be shaken off the surface.

“The clear skies turned into overcast rain today, and on my way here I had to stop and buy a bamboo hat to shield myself from the rain. That’s why I’m late; Lord Shu, please be magnanimous and forgive me.” Xidezhe laughed cheerfully, looking completely unfazed.

He unfastened the coir raincoat draped over his shoulders, walked over to the clothing rack, and hung the dripping wet raincoat and its hat up to dry.

Shu Fuyan pressed his lips together, propped himself up, and poured himself a cup of hot tea. “Spring days are biting, and the piercing wind brings a chill. Drink a cup of tea to dispel the dampness.”

Xidezhe stood beside the table without making a sound, lowered his gaze to glare at Shu Fuyan, and let out an annoyed huff. “You’re the one talking. If your health isn’t good, stop opening the window. If you keep courting death like this, before our great enterprise is even accomplished, I’m afraid you’ll precede the rest of us.”

Shu Fuyan’s hand holding the tea cup paused slightly. He offered no defense against Xidezhe’s words. He lowered his gaze, his long eyelashes casting a trace of frosty coldness. “Until our great enterprise is accomplished, I will not die.”

Xidezhe shook his head, clearly unconvinced.

Mindful that Shu Fuyan’s frail constitution could not bear the cold, Xidezhe said nothing more. He walked straight to the window, placed both hands over the wooden panels, and pulled them shut until the window was completely airtight.

Xidezhe sat down beside Shu Fuyan, drew a dark iron token from the pouch at his waist, and smiled as he said, “Lord Shu, your calculations were spot-on. The Marquis of Dinyuan’s subordinate deputy general truly panicked and fled overnight on horseback from Yuanzhou. With this military token, the Prince can use it as leverage to force the Marquis of Dinyuan into our game.”

Thinking of this, Xidezhe raised his eyebrows high, as if he could already foresee the clearing of the political board.

With the assistance of the Marquis of Dinyuan, Yuanzhou would fall entirely under their control. Yuanzhou surrounded Shangjing and served as the vital stronghold where the Central Plains bordered the northern nomads.

Once Yuanzhou was occupied, half of the obstacles on the path to the throne would be swept away. At that time, by allying with the princes of the southern regions to launch a military rebellion, the Crown Prince would stand absolutely no chance of seizing the throne.

Shu Fuyan reined in his gaze, lowered his head in deep thought, and inadvertently flipped open the unfinished ancient book. The most prominent characters on the page caught his eye: Extreme joy engenders sorrow.

Xidezhe’s gaze swept across the page, and the joy on his face instantly vanished. “Lord Shu, the matter is already done; stop borrowing trouble and worrying over nothing. Wasn’t capturing the token part of your plan? Why are you being so overly cautious and timid?”

Shu Fuyan raised his hand holding the cup and took a light sip of the faint, fragrant tea. The red thread on his wrist shifted with his movement, wrapping more tightly and pulling against his skin in secret. “A cautious voyage sails for ten thousand years; being careful is never a mistake.”

Xidezhe did not have so many winding thoughts and said carelessly, “If worst comes to worst, we can just kidnap the man back to Shangjing.”

Hearing his impatient tone, Shu Fuyan raised his eyes and stared at him for a few seconds. “You and whose army?”

Xidezhe let out a defiant huff. “What’s wrong with me? My brains might not be as sharp as yours, but my martial arts are first-rate.”

Faced with Xidezhe’s half-true, half-false boasting, Shu Fuyan smiled. “The Marquis of Dinyuan has always kept aloof from worldly disputes and refused to take a side. If we really kidnapped him back to Shangjing, I’m afraid it would do the Prince no good.”

Xidezhe felt discouraged, slumped over the table, and sighed. “Then what do you propose we do?”

Shu Fuyan gazed abstractedly at his teacup, his tone slightly cool. “If the Prince truly wants to bring him down, I’m afraid he will have to make a personal trip to Yuanzhou—three visits to a thatched cottage style.”

Xidezhe shook his head in disagreement. Asking the Prince to go to Yuanzhou would be far too dangerous. Besides, once the Prince left, wouldn’t the Crown Prince dominate the capital?

“Lord Shu, you surely have a way, don’t you?” Xidezhe stared fixedly at Shu Fuyan.

Shu Fuyan put on a deeply profound look. “Wait.”

Xidezhe irritably scratched his head. Wait for what? Could it be waiting for a noble benefactor to lend a hand?

If anyone were truly willing to lend King Ji a helping hand, he wouldn’t have needed to lurke in Yuanzhou for years, Xidezhe thought with lingering frustration.

Outside, the rain seemed to have grown lighter, and the sound of raindrops striking the window could barely be heard.

Feeling depressed, Xidezhe propped himself up to look past the curtain, sighed, and said, “There is so much rain in spring; who knows when the clear skies will return.”

Shu Fuyan wore a calm expression, enjoying the lingering spring rain.

Xidezhe withdrew his gaze, settling into a relaxed posture. The clothing that had not been drenched hung loosely over his body, though he did not mind the discomfort.

Propping his head with one hand, he looked at Shu Fuyan and smiled warmly. “Lord Shu, put in a good word for me with the Prince, will you? Although Yuanzhou isn’t far from Shangjing, having no old friends by my side and staring at the Marquis of Dinyuan every single day is so uninteresting. That old man either practices swordsmanship at dawn or seeks someone to play Go with him at night; it’s dreadfully boring and terribly annoying.”

As Xidezhe spoke, his dense eyebrows knitted into a small green hill, naturally giving rise to a sense of irritation.

As if he had anticipated that Xidezhe couldn’t sit still, Shu Fuyan let out an open laugh, unclasped the jade pendant from his waist, and handed it over. “The task of monitoring the Marquis of Dinyuan has already been assigned by the Prince to someone else. As for you, whether you stay in Shangjing or return to Yuanzhou, please do as you please, my lord.”

Xidezhe’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief as his jaw dropped. He probed tentatively, “Did the Prince really say that? Lord Shu, you aren’t tricking me, are you?”

The corners of Shu Fuyan’s mouth twitched as he looked calmly at Xidezhe, pronouncing each word distinctly: “100% true.”

Xidezhe slapped the table fiercely and jumped to his feet, leaving several muddy boot prints on the floorboards. “I knew the Prince couldn’t bear to punish me! If I hadn’t been framed by villains back then, why would I have had to stay far away from Shangjing? Now that I’ve returned to the capital, I am bound to turn Shangjing upside down and stir up a massive mess.”

Shu Fuyan had heard a little about Xidezhe being framed for treason back then, but those were all bygone events.

King Ji had not executed him on the spot, but instead punished him by banishing him far from Shangjing to monitor the every move of the Marquis of Dinyuan a move where the surface formalities were performed to perfection.

Far from being disappointed in Xidezhe, King Ji trusted him deeply.

Shu Fuyan was silent for a moment. When he raised his eyes to look at Xidezhe once more, he found that Xidezhe’s brows and eyes bore a faint resemblance to King Ji.

Just as Shu Fuyan intended to test Xidezhe, a sudden clamor erupted outside the window.

The originally cold and quiet street was packed with people, everyone scrambling and shoving to push forward.

Possessing a heavy curiosity, Xidezhe walked over to the window and pushed it open. Fearing that Shu Fuyan would catch a cold from the draft, Xidezhe turned back to urge him: “I’ll just take a look for you; pull your fur cloak tight and take good care of your health.”

Shu Fuyan twitched the corner of his mouth, thinking to himself that Xidezhe truly was a completely naive fellow. Among King Ji’s estate, talents were numerous; while they maintained harmony on the surface, they fought tooth and nail behind the scenes. Yet Xidezhe was utterly heartless and guarded against no one no wonder he had been schemed against and demoted to Yuanzhou.

Xidezhe leaned out to look outside the window. The area outside the Drunken Immortal Tower was overwhelmingly crowded. The citizens lining both sides muttered among themselves as a wide path was cleared in the middle, where a large army was marching into the capital in the distance.

The rain was not heavy, mingling with willow catkins drifting through the air. The misty rain created a haze, casting a gloomy and dim pall over the sky.

In the distance, the sound of hooves approached. Red-dyed banners emblazoned with the surname “Yu” fluttered and whipped in the cold wind, while a massive sea of heavily armored soldiers majestically rode tall horses onto the soil of the capital.

The leading general rode at the front on a warhorse, clad in blindingly bright silver armor, his robust and well-proportioned waist hung with a intricately patterned black-gold dark iron sword.

His back was straight, and the hand covered by bracers gripped the reins. He gazed calmly straight ahead, his thick brows lowered, his expression stern and cold, exuding a chilling, unapproachable majesty.

Xidezhe’s heart skipped a beat that man had returned.

Shu Fuyan waited for a long time without hearing Xidezhe speak.

“What happened?”

Hearing this, Xidezhe nervously shut the window, biting his lip and hesitating over whether to speak. Remembering that the man wielded immense power and held a high position that they could not afford to offend, giving Shu Fuyan a word of warning was definitely the right thing to do.

Thus, Xidezhe revealed the truth: “Xiao Yi is back.”

Shu Fuyan was momentarily stunned as an unfamiliar name flooded his mind.

Xiao Yi, the Great General, Marquis of Zhenbei.

Shu Fuyan stood up, bypassed the screen, and walked out to the pavilion’s terrace.

Down below on the third floor, the army was about to pass the Drunken Immortal Tower on its way to the imperial palace.

As chilling rain happened to fall and the citizens of the capital crowded the streets, Xiao Yi was not galloping wildly through the city; instead, he rode slowly so the people could catch a glimpse of the frontier soldiers’ imposing demeanor.

“He is Xiao Yi,” Shu Fuyan murmured.

Shu Fuyan was not a native of the capital and knew very little about Xiao Yi.

Rumors on the streets claimed that Xiao Yi had died defending the frontier, leaving the borderlands undefended and the nomadic barbarian cavalry on the verge of breaking through the defense lines into the Central Plains. Who could have known that Xiao Yi would suddenly find a living miracle doctor, survive through danger, and come back to life? After three years of campaigns, he had completely exterminated the barbarians.

Everyone in Shangjing said that Xiao Yi’s life was not meant to end, but as for the true story, probably only Xiao Yi himself knew.

Shu Fuyan’s understanding of Xiao Yi stopped right there. Years had passed, and hearing Xiao Yi’s name once more coincided with his triumphant return to the court.

Xidezhe stepped onto the terrace, shedding his carefree attitude. “Lord Shu, let’s go inside quickly. Xiao Yi is not someone we can afford to provoke.”

Not only did Shu Fuyan fail to take it to heart, but he grew even more intrigued.

Unwilling to invite disaster upon himself, Xidezhe pulled Shu Fuyan back behind the curtain. “Lord Shu, Xiao Yi is not walking the same path as us; don’t harbor any crooked thoughts of scheming against him. Otherwise, you won’t even know how you died.”

Shu Fuyan’s gaze remained fixed in the distance. In this vast world, they even dared to scheme against the one sitting on the dragon throne; who was there that they could not touch?

If they were not walking the same path, then he would simply make him walk it.

Seeing that Shu Fuyan had not taken his words to heart, Xidezhe grabbed his sleeve in extreme annoyance, refusing to let him go.

Shu Fuyan felt as though his heart was being tickled by a soft reed, while his mind screamed frantically for him to see that man.

Shu Fuyan brushed Xidezhe’s hand away, his tone growing somewhat urgent. “It’s fine; Lord Shu will just take a single look.”

Frowning, Xidezhe watched Shu Fuyan’s retreating back with deep apprehension.

It was just a single look, after all; surely he wouldn’t catch Xiao Yi’s eye, Xidezhe reassured himself.

Though he said it would only be a single look, Shu Fuyan’s gaze tightly pursued the figure in silver armor.

Suddenly, a chilly wind swept through, lifting the damp rainwater into the air. In the slanted wind and fine drizzle, a few raindrops fell onto Shu Fuyan’s face. A few strands of light, dark hair fell down, sticking against his warm neck with a moist, slick feel, giving Shu Fuyan an inexplicable shudder.

Shu Fuyan’s gaze was far too intense; the battle-hardened, cold-faced general quickly locked onto the source.

Abruptly, Xiao Yi raised his head, his gaze locking onto the terrace of the Drunken Immortal Tower.

For an instant, their eyes met. The man’s deep gaze crashed into Shu Fuyan’s heart, making it feel as though something had nailed his heart fast, pressing down so hard he could hardly breathe. It inadvertently pried open a crack in his chest for the wind to pour in it was freezing cold, yet strangely made one crave this sense of drowning.

At that moment, time froze. For the first time, Shu Fuyan laid eyes on the legendary, brave, and formidable General Xiao.

Xiao Yi’s face was ice-cold. Perhaps drenched by the cold rain and buffeted by the wind, his complexion looked somewhat pale. Yet clad in armor, his majestic and awe-inspiring posture on horseback lost none of its overpowering momentum.

Shu Fuyan could not bear to look away, his gaze tracking Xiao Yi as he moved past.

He noticed bits of grass clippings clinging to Xiao Yi’s silver armor; they were short, yet vibrant green in color, while a few begonia flowers rested upon the shoulder pauldrons, their petals slightly unfurled and dotted with clear raindrops, looking exceptionally charming.

Xiao Yi seemed completely unaware of this.

Realizing he had crossed the line, Shu Fuyan wore a apologetic expression and nodded slightly toward the man on horseback.

Xiao Yi quickly withdrew his gaze, tightened his reins, and rode away, as if their momentary eye contact had merely been an unintentional gesture on his part.

Xiao Yi paid it no mind, but Shu Fuyan lost his composure. Having promised to only take a single look, his peripheral vision instead chased after the mounted man until he was far away, failing to notice even when Xidezhe waved a hand right in front of him.

“So, begonia flowers really do bloom in the spring season.”

Xidezhe stepped forward to block Shu Fuyan’s line of sight, completely baffled as he asked, “What is Lord Shu talking about?”

“Nothing.”

Shu Fuyan lowered his gaze, his right thumb rubbing against his pinky finger. The jade ring worn on his pinky was pushed upward to a joint, revealing an ugly scar in its true form. Rubbing his thumb across it, he could distinctly feel the rough, abrasive texture of the scar.

“Lord Shu, you really are a strange person. You leave your sentences half-finished.”

Xidezhe had a big heart and lacked the habit of digging for answers; if it were anyone else, they would definitely have demanded to hear the rest of what Shu Fuyan had meant.

“It’s getting late, I should be going.” Xidezhe walked over to the clothing rack, put on his bamboo hat, and donned his coir raincoat.

Recalling Shu Fuyan’s unusual reaction to Xiao Yi, Xidezhe felt it necessary to offer a reminder: “Lord Shu, listen to my advice. Xiao Yi holds heavy military power and has deep ties with Prince Yu. In this standoff between two opposing factions, don’t act foolishly and provoke him.”

Having said all he could, Xidezhe strode toward the door.

Even when his hand grasped the doorknob, Xidezhe still could not quite set his mind at ease regarding Shu Fuyan.

Turning back, he offered one last question: “The rain hasn’t stopped; do you need me to escort you back to your manor?”

Absorbed in his own thoughts, Shu Fuyan curtly replied that it wasn’t necessary. Finding himself rebuffed, Xidezhe muttered a couple of complaints about him being a weirdo before pushing open the door and heading downstairs.

After Xidezhe left, Shu Fuyan stroked his left chest. Deep within his flesh, his heart was beating frantically. This brief moment of palpitation disrupted his long-standing calm, kicking up ripples that gradually swelled into giant waves, swallowing the flat ground in an unstoppable torrent.

“Xiao Yi, what kind of person are you?”

Shu Fuyan returned to his seat, his mind continuously searching for information concerning Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi had been away from the capital for many years, and Shu Fuyan was not a native of Shangjing either; after thinking for a long time, he could only dredge up scattered fragments.

Regarding Xiao Yi, Shu Fuyan felt a sense of helplessness and bewilderment.

Meeting without knowing each other, Shu Fuyan had always detested this kind of frustration.

Fortunately, however, Xiao Yi would not be leaving the capital anytime soon; wanting to see him again probably wouldn’t be difficult.

Shu Fuyan tilted his head slightly, a shallow smile curving the corners of his lips.

Two people whose paths should never have crossed had suddenly encountered each other; thinking about it, it felt like an unexpected pleasant surprise.

Sandalwood incense drifted through the pavilion, and the improperly latched window let in a draft of cold wind, chilling the warmth of the room and scattering the xuan paper Shu Fuyan had been writing on.

The sheets of paper fluttered through the air, scattering everywhere. The ink was dark black, and the paper clearly reflected the two characters: Xiao Yi.