The Richest Man’s Boyfriend Lives in a History Textbook - Chapter 6

That night, Aisley drifted in and out of sleep.

In his dream, the scene of Xingyuan entering the tent kept replaying on a loop.

What Aisley remembered most vividly was the boy’s smile.

He was still sitting in the chair, writing something carefully, and when the boy walked past him, he had looked right through him as though he hadn’t seen him at all. He appeared deeply absorbed in what he was doing.

Then a pair of slender arms wrapped around his waist from behind, a warm body pressed against his back, and a small head rested against his shoulder and leaned against his cheek, letting out a soft “Hmm?”

A pair of deep blue eyes gazed down at the paper, and the boy asked with a smile, “Why do you keep writing my name?”

Aisley felt a tingling, numbing sensation flood from his entire body up into his mind. He opened his mouth, reached for the topmost sheet of paper, and tried to cover the name — but the boy’s eyes were still curved in that smile.

“I already saw it, so — why were you writing my name?”

Aisley’s mind went completely blank. Everything he had kept hidden had been unearthed.

White light spread before his eyes, and when Aisley opened them, all he saw was the pitch-black ceiling of the tent.

He sat there dazed for a moment, then after a while let out a quiet, low laugh and raised a hand to cover half his face.

In the darkness, he quietly got up, moved to the table, and pulled out the paper that had been weighed down underneath something. Then he walked out.

The moment he lifted the tent flap, he crumpled the paper into a ball and squeezed it in his palm, trying not to let anyone notice.

The night was cold and desolate. Aisley walked alone along the riverbank.

He tore the paper again and again, until it was reduced to tiny fragments.

He looked around, and once he was sure no one was watching, he pinched a tiny scrap from the pile and buried it in the earth.

After walking a few dozen meters, he pinched out another tiny scrap and buried it in the earth again…

The surface of the river shimmered with reflected light. The last fragment was tossed into the river and carried away by the current.

Watching the scraps of paper drift further and further away, Aisley’s gaze flickered. He lowered his head and gave a self-mocking smile, then turned and left.

Aisley waved off the guard’s salute, kept his footsteps light, and went inside.

Across the table, he could see the boy rolling about in his sleep.

Aisley found it odd — the night was fairly cold and the ground was damp, yet the boy had somehow worked himself into a sweat all over his head.

Even as that thought crossed his mind, there was something else hidden in those deep, quiet eyes of his.

He seemed to notice something, and walked quickly over to crouch down.

A small insect was just about to crawl up onto the bedsheet — when a large hand caught it and pinched it away.

The man simply stayed crouched right there, watching everything around him in the dark.

The insect was perhaps just a coincidence. Aisley crouched there until the horn sounded outside, and in all that time he had only spotted that one.

He was about to stand when he bent back down again, reaching out in an attempt to adjust the boy’s blanket.

It was difficult. He couldn’t feel anything at all. He could only use the gentlest force he could manage to push the edge of the blanket inward, until the boy’s body pressed down on the corner and held it in place.

Aisley felt relieved — yet his fingertips burned as though they had been singed by fire, a heat that lingered and would not fade.

When his own turn came, Aisley moved freely and without restraint. He dressed quickly, fastened his belt, and took his small knife along with him.

Before leaving, he quietly opened the cabinet and took out some Kaen coins.

By the time dawn broke, Xingyuan stretched lazily and opened his sleepy eyes.

He was so tired. Xingyuan whimpered for a moment, not wanting to get up.

The ground had been unbearably hard, and when he sat up he couldn’t help rubbing his neck.

His mind was still somewhat foggy. He swayed back and forth in a daze, then bent at the waist and swayed himself right onto the bed nearby.

It was far softer than the ground. The dry fabric felt wonderfully comfortable to Xingyuan.

Xingyuan’s eyes narrowed. He sniffed — and caught a clean, cool scent.

Xingyuan’s eyelids twitched. He finally sensed that something was wrong.

His deer-like eyes slowly opened wide, a flash of alarm crossing those deep blue irises.

He glanced at the bedsheet, then swallowed.

Xingyuan scrambled to his feet, his hair in complete disarray, his eyes a little panicked.

How could he have done that?

It was already presumptuous enough to be staying here as a guest — and now he had gone and sprawled out on the man’s bed!

Fortunately, nothing he had done would leave any trace.

He used scented shampoo and body wash — if he had accidentally left a smell on the bed, how on earth was the gentleman supposed to sleep?

Xingyuan bowed apologetically to the bed, then began tidying up his own bedding.

He folded his blankets and mat into as small and compact a bundle as he could and stuffed them into a hidden corner.

Once he had sorted everything out, Xingyuan gave a satisfied nod.

Xingyuan straightened his collar as he walked briskly outside.

He had no idea whether the recruits had already begun training — he could only hope he wasn’t too late.

By the time he reached the training ground, the group had long since broken up, and the new recruits had already formed their own little clusters.

Everyone had gathered into circles holding the black bread distributed by the army. One lean, dark-skinned man was gnawing on his bread, eyes darting left and right as he whispered with the others around him.

He first gave a grinning laugh, revealing teeth that weren’t particularly white, then lowered his voice and addressed everyone.

“Do you all know what you need to watch out for in this legion?”

“No idea,” said most of them. The majority were poor laborers who had led plain, honest lives — how would they know about things like this?

Seeing this, Xingyuan squeezed over as well, crouching down just like the others, as though he were simply another member of the group.

The lean dark man smiled mysteriously. He tore off a bite of bread and spoke as he chewed. “I got this information last night by giving one of the veterans a back rub. Since we’re getting a head start on knowing this, it’ll go twice as easy for us than for everyone else — don’t you all think you should be grateful to me?”

“Grateful, grateful!” the others hurried to agree, and even Xingyuan nodded along vigorously like a pestle pounding garlic.

The man looked enormously pleased with himself. “Listen carefully now! Around here, the one person we absolutely cannot provoke is Commander Aisley — do you know why?”

“Why?”

“Because that’s our direct superior — the Legion Commander himself.”

Everyone broke into murmurs of realization, and Xingyuan’s eyes went wide as well.

Someone asked, “I wonder what the Commander’s temper is like — is he easy to talk to?”

The lean dark man let out a “Hmph.” “I’ll tell you quietly — this Commander looks easy-going on the surface, but his nature is even more ruthless than a thug’s, and his methods are absolutely vicious. They say that with just a light crack of his knuckles, he can snap a big burly man’s neck clean off!”

Xingyuan’s eyes grew wide.

The others let out a chorus of astonished gasps.

“So…” the lean dark man dropped his voice lower still, “everyone just stay out of his way when nothing’s going on. Once you get on this one’s bad side, never mind anything else — just one kick from him will leave you unable to get back up for days.”

Xingyuan heard this and nodded hurriedly.

Right, keep well away. Keep well, well away.