When Langxia returned, it was already the afternoon.
In the comfy common area, Gui Yin sat to one side while Yankui was sprawled out on a couch. He held the book over his head, his eyes wide as he greedily drank in all the information. Once in a while, his hand would move away and he would vaguely copy the movements the drawings portrayed within the book. It was nothing serious, but if one compared it to the drawing, they could tell that Yankui had a high understanding of the techniques already.
“I’m back.”
Gui Yin looked up. He watched as Langxia languidly walked over to Yankui and slipped the letter in between the book’s pages.
Yankui sat up. “What’s this?”
“A letter from a lovesick little puppy I ran into,” Langxia said as he sat down next to Gui Yin. He sighed. “I just teased him a little and his whole face was red. Really, I wonder what he put in the letter.”
Yankui’s eyes widened. He abandoned his book and quickly ran off to read it in private.
“So secretive,” Langxia chided.
Gui Yin laughed. “Did you tease my disciple?”
“I was in a bad mood, so I teased him a little. It’s quite fun,” Langxia admitted.
Gui Yin raised a brow. “Earlier, I felt something go through my meridians…”
“It was just a regular checkup,” Langxia said. “It’s just a bit more painful than people are generally used to. Have you written the letter to Yunjing Pavilion?”
“Written and sent it,” Gui Yin said. He watched Langxia steadily for a moment. “I also received news from Wu Feng about Zhengyang Shan Sect.”
“Anything new?”
“I can’t say there’s anything new. Shan Yu’s doing well, taking care of everything on her own,” Gui Yin said. He shifted from his seat onto the arm of the chair Langxia was inhabiting. He pulled the letter out, leaned over, and showed it to him. “But look at this! Doesn’t this read more like a love story than a mission report?”
Langxia gently held the top of the letter, his fingers just barely touching Gui Yin’s as he skimmed through the letter. It was indeed in Wu Feng’s writing and with Wu Feng’s way of speaking, which probably made things all the funnier.
“They’re getting along. How nice,” Langxia said.
Gui Yin clicked his tongue. “I’ll say! I always knew that Shan Yu was a schemer. Look at her now—she’s finally lured her shijie into her trap. Though, I doubt she has the leisure to enjoy it right now.”
“Mm, but there’s also a section down here about the investigation,” Langxia tapped.
There was indeed a section about the investigation on what happened in Devil’s Desert.
With Elder Shan and Shan Boying’s powers combined, they shouldn’t have suffered such an excruciating defeat. The internal investigation was taking a lot longer than Shan Yu had predicted it might. There were clearly trails, but things were not only obscured—they were very well hidden. But with just this point, Shan Yu had determined that there was a mole within Zhengyang Shan Sect.
Despite having promised her granduncle that she would release her uncle and aunt, she still held them in prison. Her granduncle was the catalyst for ghost qi entering, but they were not innocent either. They had been carefully working through the method Gui Yin left behind, in hopes to bring clarity back to her aunt and uncle so that they could get answers to their questions.
“This is just one paragraph in a series of three pages,” Gui Yin pointed out.
“What? Do you envy young love?”
“Why should I envy them? If I just walk out, my suitors will make a line long enough to wrap around the entire globe,” Gui Yin said. He scoffed and sat back. He flicked the letter. “I just don’t think it’s fair.”
“What isn’t fair?” Langxia asked curiously.
Gui Yin frowned. “Sect Master-shixiong and Yenuo haven’t even reached their happy ending. Why are these children going around and getting together?”
“Life isn’t always linear,” Langxia said. He glanced at Gui Yin, whose expression dimmed. “Worried?”
“…Hasn’t it been five years?” Gui Yin mumbled. “I wonder if Yenuo and that koi spirit are doing alright.”
He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face before he slyly looked over at Langxia. “You—”
“They’re still alive.”
“Do you know if they’re coming back soon?”
Langxia looked at Gui Yin and tilted his head wordlessly.
“Alright, alright. Fine. Whatever,” Gui Yin grumbled. He glared at Langxia. “Why have you been so cowardly recently? Before, you’d tell me anything and everything even if I didn’t ask.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Before I didn’t have much to be afraid of.”
“Rbk?”
“Rbk, P’w jogjlv bo atf xjgwj P’nf yffc jmmeweijalcu atgbeut atfrf sfjgr. Tbe xcbk tbk la lr,” Ojcuzlj rjlv.
Xel Tlc gjlrfv j ygbk. Lf vlv gfmjii atja Ojcuzlj tjv wfcalbcfv rbwfatlcu rlwlijg yfobgf. Lf rtbbx tlr tfjv jcv ilutais qjaafv atf abq bo Ojcuzlj’r tfjv. “Cigluta. Tbe xffq j kjamt bc atja xjgwj bo sbegr.”
Langxia hummed. His head lifted slightly to meet Gui Yin’s palm with a light nudge.
Gui Yin started and withdrew his hand. He settled back against the back of the chair. “Is something on your mind?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You…said you were in a bad mood. Did you hear news you didn’t want to hear?”
“Something like that.”
Gui Yin frowned. He glanced at Langxia. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not particularly,” Langxia said. “It’s just some petty worries. You have other things to think about, so I would rather not bother you.”
“What other things are more important than you?” Gui Yin asked.
Langxia met his gaze. He smiled. “I would say a lot.”
“Well, I say that there’s none. Even if the Ghost Barrier cracks tomorrow and the sky collapses, you will still be my number one priority,” Gui Yin declared. “So, what’s bothering you?”
Langxia felt his heart hammer against his chest again. His hands trembled slightly as he looked deep into Gui Yin’s eyes.
“My heart.”
“…Your heart?” Gui Yin sat up in alarm. “What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s beating really loudly.”
Gui Yin stared at Langxia. “Are you messing with me?”
“I’m not. It hasn’t happened in a long time. I’m unused to it. It makes me very uncomfortable,” Langxia said.
Gui Yin frowned slightly and glanced at Langxia suspiciously. “Does this have something to do about how you were excited yesterday?”
Langxia nodded.
“Then, it has something to do with your emotional root?”
Langxia smiled slightly. He leaned against Gui Yin’s arm and closed his eyes. “Qinle, you can’t be so smart.”
Gui Yin awkwardly coughed. “Isn’t it just a regular train of thought? How could you compliment me over…anyway, but isn’t that a good thing if it’s getting better? Why are you worried?”
“It might be growing wrong,” Langxia said.
“Growing wrong?”
“Mn. There are side-effects if it grows wrong. I wanted to cut it out—”
“Are you crazy!?” Gui Yin exclaimed. He leaned back and forced Langxia to look up. “You already lost it once, but now you want to cut it?”
“…That’s what Lord Xun said. He refused to do it. I could do it myself, but it would also hurt you.”
Gui Yin couldn’t resist the urge to roll his eyes. He jabbed Langxia in the chest. “Don’t you mean it’ll hurt you? The root is yours, not mine. Even if I hurt, it’s only momentary. What does that have to do with me?”
Langxia looked at him steadily until an inexplicable thought flashed through Gui Yin’s mind. His face slowly reddened and he awkwardly glanced away.
“Well, our pain and emotions really are tangled, but that’s not even the issue,” Gui Yin said. He looked at Langxia sternly. “I don’t care what the side-effects are. You are not touching that root of yours again.”
“Even if it hurts you?”
“What?”
“Even if it grows out wrong and it ends up hurting you?” Langxia asked.
Gui Yin’s heart skipped a beat. “Stop that.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop worrying about me. Worry about yourself first. And if you’re using me as an excuse, then that’s even worse,” Gui Yin said.
“I’m not.”
“Then, what? Why are you so concerned? What does your emotional root growing improperly have to do with me?”
“Because I care about you.”
Gui Yin’s lashes fluttered. He loudly cleared his throat and averted his gaze. “Thanks, I guess.”
Gui Yin felt Langxia press against his side. He instinctively lifted his arm and let the other man rest his head against his thigh. His own hand rested against the back of Langxia’s head, but he still refused to look at him.
“…Just worry about yourself,” Gui Yin said.
Langxia hummed.
“Don’t touch the root. Let it grow.”
“Okay.”
“Stupid,” Gui Yin mumbled. He brushed his hand through the strands of Langxia’s hair. “It’s good that you’re recovering. Why would you mutilate yourself again?”
Langxia hummed quietly and closed his eyes.
He had been intimate with people before, but this felt different. There was no skin on skin contact; there was none of the feverish passion. It was a lot calmer and a lot gentler, but it stirred a warmth in him that had never been there before. He ignored the heat that came with summer and only wanted to get closer to Gui Yin. But his hands remained steadily on his lap and he didn’t move, only allowing Gui Yin’s hands to toy with his hair.
Gui Yin looked at the docile man on his lap and slowly smiled. “If you continue being like this, I’ll think you’ll have fallen for me.”
“Mn.”
“…What does that ‘mn’ mean?”
“My Qinle is so smart, this little riddle won’t stop him.”
Gui Yin pursed his lips and quickly pushed Langxia off of him. “Who said I’m yours? Ridiculous.”
Langxia slowly sat up. He smiled to himself and watched as Gui Yin ran off. He definitely understood what he meant.
Dinner rolled around, but Yankui was not there to join them. Instead, it was only Gui Yin and Langxia. The two men sat beside each other as usual, but there was not the same easy conversation as before. Langxia glanced over at Gui Yin, who focused on his food instead of rambling about something new he found in a book he read. Although he was quiet, Langxia didn’t mind.
His gaze was burning holes into Gui Yin.
Gui Yin was finding it more and more difficult to swallow his food. He couldn’t believe he still had to stay in Kunlun for another two weeks. Could he make it? Wouldn’t that be torture? It was a little ridiculous like this, right? What do they do now? Why was this more difficult than other relationships he has been in?
Oh. That’s right. It’s because the other party would normally jump on him the moment any kind of romantic or sexual tensions arise.
“What are you looking at?” Gui Yin finally asked. He smiled. “Is it good looking?”
“Mn. You’re very handsome.”
Gui Yin’s chopsticks snapped in half.
Langxia took Gui Yin’s chopsticks and replaced them with his own. “I’m full. Use these.”
“You…really…”
Langxia’s smile grew. If he didn’t know better, he would think a butterfly had flown into his heart. He leaned his chin against his palm and silently watched as Gui Yin finished the rest of his food.
The table was cleared, leaving just the two of them.
Gui Yin abruptly stood. Langxia swiftly followed.
The two men walked with one in front and one behind until they reached the door to Langxia’s room. Gui Yin abruptly turned around.
“Before we go past these doors, I have to make one thing clear.”
“Go ahead.”
Gui Yin looked at Langxia steadily before he leaned in and pressed his lips against Langxia’s. He stepped back. “Is that okay?”
“It is.”
“Alright,” Gui Yin said.
He opened the doors and stepped in.
Langxia smiled. He licked his lips and stepped in after Gui Yin, the heavy doors falling close.
Contrary to what Gui Yin thought would happen, he slept through the night without waking up once. He sat up speechlessly and looked at Langxia. The only difference in his posture were the arms that were circled around his waist. Gui Yin held his head for a moment and shook his head.
“I have a poisonous mind,” Gui Yin muttered.
This was probably Langxia’s first relationship. It was natural to take things slow. He almost felt ashamed that he had such immoral thoughts on the first day of their relationship.
He glanced down at Langxia and brushed his hand through his hair. The soft, uncalloused part of Gui Yin’s heart felt like it was being pinched.
His previous relationships had all been punishments. None of them started off properly and none of them ended well. This was probably his first…or second proper relationship, right? There was absolutely nothing wrong with taking things slowly.
Langxia was awoken by a soft kiss to the shell of his ear. He squirmed slightly and leaned into the warmth at his side.
“Sleep more,” Langxia murmured.
Gui Yin chuckled. “Don’t you need to take a look at your godson?”
“He’s fine. He didn’t even come back for dinner last night,” Langxia muttered. He dug his head further against Gui Yin. “See him later.”
Gui Yin glanced around the room before slowly sinking back down onto the bed. Langxia shifted even closer and hugged him even tighter. Gui Yin awkwardly cleared his throat.
“You’re so clingy.”
“You like this, don’t you?”
Gui Yin glanced at him. “What makes you think so?”
“In the other dimension,” Langxia said. “We—”
“Ah!” Gui Yin quickly covered Langxia’s mouth.
Langxia lifted his head and sleepily looked at Gui Yin. He languidly raised a brow until Gui Yin removed his hands. “Embarrassed?”
“We…didn’t do anything.”
“If you think about it, we were practically dating,” Langxia said as he laid back down on Gui Yin.
“No. We weren’t.”
“Oh. Then, I was courting you,” Langxia admitted.
Gui Yin couldn’t tell which one was more embarrassing. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried his best to calm himself. Unfortunately, Langxia refused to let up.
“While I was courting you, this is how I acted. Besides, when we first met face to face, wasn’t I also like this? You clearly like this kind of man, so—”
“Just be you,” Gui Yin interrupted. He cupped Langxia’s face and smiled sweetly. “Just be you, okay?”
Langxia stared at Gui Yin blankly before nodding. He broke from Gui Yin’s grip, gave him a peck on the lips, and laid back down.
Unfortunately for Gui Yin, this was really how he was around people he liked.
Gui Yin’s hands slowly settled on Langxia’s back and he closed his eyes.
He couldn’t tell if he was in Heaven or if he was in Hell.
eeeeeeeee (๑˃ᴗ˂) silly smile on my face the whole time!!! YAYYYY 💖💖💖💖💖💖
hehe thanks for reading!!!
finallyyyyyyyy (╥﹏╥) 💕
thanks for reading!!
AAAAAAAA (つ≧▽≦)つ╰(⸝⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝⸝)╯
Goddamn, that flirting! I love them man
YEEEE they’re finally together!!