Xiao Xunrui’s one sentence sent Wuma Huan into a bout of silence.
With this newly found happiness, Xiao Xunrui finished prepping the rabbit and started on another fire to cook it. Wuma Huan watched him silently. He rested his chin against the palm of his hand with a light smile on his face.
“What are you staring at?”
“I’m admiring a beauty,” Wuma Huan said.
Xiao Xunrui frowned. He glared at Wuma Huan. “Is it foreign? Is everyone from where you’re from ugly?”
“According to you, they should be.”
Xiao Xunrui’s eyes widened. He looked back down to the rabbits. “Then, I feel bad for you.”
Wuma Huan’s smile widened. “Not at all. That makes meeting you all the more worth it.”
“You must have a fun time where you’re from, to know so many honeyed words,” Xiao Xunrui scoffed loudly. He turned the rabbits a little faster. “Since you’re so used to flirting, why don’t you go back to the village and see if you can flirt one of the young women to give us a few eggs.”
“I don’t want to flirt with the young women.”
“Then flirt with the men.”
“Gege must have misunderstood me,” Wuma Huan sighed. “I don’t flirt with just anyone, I only flirt with beauties, and since everyone I’ve ever met is ugly, you’re the only person I’ve flirted with.”
Xiao Xunrui ignored the warmth filling his cheeks. “Then, you must have had practice by sucking up to people.”
A whole minute passed by without a noise. Xiao Xunrui frowned and glanced up, only to find that Wuma Huan was still staring at him. He felt a slight lump in his throat.
“…Was I right?”
Wuma Huan’s passive expression broke into a grin. “Gege is quite perceptive.”
“…Sorry,” Xiao Xurui apologized. “I didn’t mean to dig at old wounds.”
The young man across from the fire looked surprised. A moment later, a light laugh left his lips. He covered his eyes and shook his head as his body shook with laughter.
Xiao Xunrui looked away again. His ears warmed, as the sound of Wuma Huan’s laughter wrapped around him, making him unable to ignore him.
“Gege.”
“What?”
“I really like you.”
Xiao Xunrui rolled his eyes. “Mm. I like you too.”
Wuma Huan’s smile grew. His fingers twitched at his side but he clenched his hand tightly and laid back down. “I’m serious though.”
“You’ve only been conscious for a few hours, and now you’re confessing your love to me? You move fast,” Xiao Xunrui said sarcastically.
“Where I’m from, if you like something, you have to move fast,” Wuma Huan said. “Otherwise, someone might steal it, or worse.”
Xiao Xunrui pulled the rabbits from the fire. “What’s worse?”
“You could be dead.”
Xiao Xunrui froze. He scoffed and stood. He crouched down in front of Wuma Huan and thrust the cooked rabbit into his hands. “I sure hope saving you doesn’t get me involved in that nasty place you’re from.”
Wuma Huan’s gaze darkened immediately. “It won’t. I’ll make sure it doesn’t.”
Xiao Xunrui glanced at him. “Then, that’s good.”
Instead of returning to his side of the cave, Xiao Xunrui sat down beside Wuma Huan. He began to nibble at the rabbit silently.
Because of the ghostly miasma in Wuma Huan’s body, he was quite cold. Even just sitting next to him made Xiao Xunrui shiver. He glanced at the young man.
“It…doesn’t hurt?”
“The rabbit isn’t that hot,” Wuma Huan said confusedly.
“I meant the parasite in your body,” Xiao Xunrui said. “Or is it cold? I have some extra blankets.”
Wuma Huan smiled. “It doesn’t hurt. It’s not cold. In fact, I’m quite warm.”
“You’re warm?” Xiao Xunrui raised a brow.
Wuma Huan nodded. “This is the warmest I’ve ever been.”
“…Is your body temperature in reverse?” Xiao Xunrui frowned. He got onto his knees and wobbled a little closer. With his clean hand he pressed it against Wuma Huan’s forehead. He drew back and looked the young man up and down. “You’re not warm. Even when I’m touching you, you’re cold.”
He handed his rabbit over to Wuma Huan and used a talisman to wash his hands.
“Wait a second. Let me get the extra blankets out.”
Wuma Huan’s gaze warmed as he watched Xiao Xunrui.
“Even if you feel warm, you have to have some blankets on you,” Xiao Xunrui lectured. He glanced to Wuma Huan. “Um, I’ll go into the village tomorrow and get you some new clothes. Yours are all…torn up.”
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.
“Thank you, gege.”
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The two ate in silence for a long time. When Xiao Xunrui finished his portion, he turned to Wuma Huan’s medication.
The young man watched his doctor, diligently at work. “Gege.”
“What?”
“So, you know about the parasite in my body.”
“I do,” Xiao Xunrui wrinkled his nose. “That thing was fighting tooth and nail to keep your injuries from healing. How annoying.”
“Is there a way to remove it?” Wuma Huan asked.
Xiao Xunrui paused. “There should be.”
“I see,” Wuma Huan nodded. “Then, if I don’t remove it, how long do I have to live?”
Xiao Xunrui brushed the dirt from his knees and walked over with Wuma Huan’s medicine. “What sort of nonsense are you asking? Why wouldn’t you remove it?”
“I’m just saying ‘what if’,” Wuma Huan accepted the bowl.
“Don’t drink it yet, let it cool first,” Xiao Xunrui said as he sat back down. He glanced at Wuma Huan. “If you didn’t remove it, then you would only have five years until that thing completely tears away your golden core and renders you crippled.”
“I see,” Wuma Huan hummed.
Xiao Xunrui frowned. “I’ll help you remove it.”
“Mn. I believe you.”
“I really can do it. I mean, I know I seem unreliable since I’m young, but I can do it,” Xiao Xunrui said. “I’ll just have to consult my shizun. After your injuries get a bit better, I’ll bring you back to my place of residence, and we can figure out a way there.”
Wuma Huan watched him silently. “You’re willing to bring a stranger back to your home?”
“Well, it’s not really my home. It’s just where I’m staying for a while,” Xiao Xunrui shrugged.
“I see. Then, that’s good,” Wuma Huan smiled again.
Xiao Xunrui glanced at him. “You’re really weird. You keep acting like you want to get close to me, but when I say I’m taking you back to my house, you become on guard.”
“I’m not concerned for myself. I’m concerned for you. If you let someone like me go to your place of residence, who else would you let go to your place?” Wuma Huan asked.
Xiao Xunrui scoffed. “I’m not stupid. I can tell between people with good intentions and bad intentions.”
“And you think I have good intentions?”
“I think you’re weird. But you’re not that bad.”
Wuma Huan laughed. He glanced at Xiao Xunrui. “If anything, you’re the weird one.”
“Me? How am I weird?”
“You’re the first one to have ever described me as ‘not that bad’,” Wuma Huan said.
“Then, are you saying I have poor judgement?”
Wuma Huan’s smile faded slightly. He looked at Xiao Xunrui overly silently before slowly shaking his head. “I just think you’re interesting. You see someone dying, with a parasite like mine and a head of white hair, but you still say I’m ‘not that bad’.”
“Everyone has their own circumstances,” Xiao Xunrui said. “And we’re not that close anyway, so I have no right to judge you.”
Wuma Huan rested his head back against the wall of the cave. After a long time, he spoke again.
“Are you really going to try and save me?”
Xiao Xunrui glanced over at Wuma Huan. “I am. Why? You weren’t thinking of dying, were you?”
“And if I was?”
Xiao Xunrui stared at the other man. “No patient I’ve touched has died.”
“Yet. I can be your first,” Wuma Huan said with an oddly sly smile.
Xiao Xunrui scoffed. He was not amused in the slightest. “It’s enough that you’re the first patient to take advantage of me—please don’t be the first patient to die too.”
“Would you be sad?”
“I would be upset if you left a stain on my records,” Xiao Xunrui corrected.
Wuma Huan’s smile grew. “But you’d remember me, wouldn’t you?”
Xiao Xunrui’s brows furrowed. “I would remember you even if you remained alive.”
“You would?”
“Of course, I would,” Xiao Xunrui said. “I’ve never met anyone else with a head of white hair and purple eyes. And I highly doubt I’ll meet anyone like you again.”
“Again with the white hair,” Wuma Huan chuckled. He carded his fingers through his hair. “Is it that memorable?”
Xiao Xunrui’s gaze remained on Wuma Huan.
Of course, it was.
His entire life, he’s been surrounded by people with similar faces. He knew that people with white hair were the elderly and people with black hair were the youth. He knew that various hairstyles were worn by men and women. Everyone had the same colored eyes—even himself. No one was special. But, now, Xiao Xunrui ran into someone who had a head of white hair that had that singular streak of white and eyes that shone purple in certain lightings.
This person had such a special appearance, how could Xiao Xunrui possibly forget?
“Should I not make my hair black again then?”
“You can make it black again?” Xiao Xunrui raised a brow.
“I could do it through illusory magic.”
Xiao Xunrui thought about it. It seemed that he remembered that Wu Lingtian could also do something similar. He found himself shaking his head.
“Keep it like this. You look better this way.”
“I thought you said I looked ugly.”
“You do. And you’d look uglier with plain black hair,” Xiao Xunrui said. He shifted and began to sort out his makeshift bed. He let out a suppressed yawn. “I’m not going to talk to you anymore. I’ve stayed up for two weeks already.”
“Why did you stay up for so long?” Wuma Huan asked.
Xiao Xunrui blinked sleepily as he crawled under his blanket. In his daze, he felt that Wuma Huan’s voice sounded like he was indulging someone. The thought made Xiao Xunrui chuckle.
“There was a ghost induced plague in the village nearby, so I was working to dispel the plague,” Xiao Xunrui murmured, his eyes getting heavier. “Then someone found you so…I…stayed up longer…”
“I’m sorry.”
“Mm…I’m a doctor,” Xiao Xunrui closed his eyes. “Supposed to…take care…”
Wuma Huan watched as the young doctor drifted off to sleep mid-sentence. A smile curved onto his lips. He ignored the pain in his abdomen and slowly stood. With the blanket still around him, he moved to Xiao Xunrui’s side of the cave and sat down. His silvery hair brushed against Xiao Xunrui’s cheek and he watched the other in silence for a moment.
His hand stretched out towards the young doctor’s face, but stilled mid-air.
The hand in front of him was filled with scratches. His nails had blackened and his fingers were still gnarled from misalignment. In the flickering firelight, its shadow looked hideous on the cave walls. Hovering above the celestial-like entity beside him, this hand looked as if it belonged to a monster.
No. It wasn’t “as if”. He really was a monster.
But this person was still willing to help a monster like him.
Since he was young, the only reason anyone would help him would be because of his looks. It ranged from innocent appreciation to more sinister reasons. Of course, those who wanted to act against him would all die by his blade, but that didn’t mean it didn’t leave any scars on his psyche.
He had long become disgusted by human touch and felt that the world was a dirty place, worse than Hell.
Yet, when this person approached him, Wuma Qiongling didn’t feel disgust. When he was awoken by this person, he felt a flutter in his chest.
This young man wore peach robes that complimented his pale skin. His eyes widened like a frightened rabbit’s, and his lips parted in surprise. The moment Wuma Qiongling’s eyes fell on him, he felt that all the dirtiness in the world had melted away. He thought, for sure, he had died. But if he died, he wouldn’t go to Heaven. The only place for someone like him was Hell. But other than Heaven, where would there be someone this beautiful—this pure?
It turns out he was wrong and there was.
On earth, in the mortal realm, there was actually a person like him. Not only that, but someone so pure could still have such a poisonous tongue and speak so amusingly. Perhaps it was because of his lack of sleep, that he acted so freely, but Wuma Qiongling was suddenly glad he met this young man under these specific circumstances.
He was quite cute like this.
The gnarled fingers curved back into his palm. He felt a faint aching still, but he ignored it as he clenched his fist tighter. His hand fell to his lap.
“Xiao-gege,” Wuma Qiongling whispered the name, as reverently as one might say a prayer.
Other than his brief memory of his mother, no one had ever been so kind to him.
But Wuma Qiongling wasn’t yet so delusional, that he thought this young man was acting out of love for him. It was most likely not even kindness. It was responsibility. It was his duty, as a doctor, to save a dying person. But for Wuma Qiongling, this responsibility and this duty that Xiao Xunrui was bound to, was driftwood offered to a drowning man.
And, because of this, for now at least, Wuma Qiongling didn’t want to think about Fengya Province. He didn’t want to think about the man who took him in and hoped to use him or even wed him. For now, until he recovered enough to go back for his revenge, he wanted to be Wuma Huan—the little boy who only knew how to cling to his mother. The child who, if given the opportunity, would have grown up naïve and fun-loving. Who might have met a kind cultivator, and been allowed to become their disciple. Someone who, even at eighteen, would not know the darkness of human hearts.
That’s who Wuma Qiongling wanted to pretend to be for this moment. For this brief second in his life.
When Xiao Xunrui woke up, Wuma Huan was sleeping on the opposite side of the cave, sitting up. A sword was hugged to his chest.
Seeing him like this reminded Xiao Xunrui of Wu Lingtian. He froze at the thought and then frowned slightly.
From what he knew, Wu Lingtian had also been from Fengya. He wondered if this young man was like him. But, unlike Wu Lingtian, this young man hadn’t met that kindly cultivator who took him in. He was one of the many unlucky ones. Perhaps even one of the unluckiest.
Thinking of this, Xiao Xunrui felt a rare moment of empathy. He shook his head, stood, and returned to the village to ask for some clothes and ingredients for food.
Because he had to talk and entertain people he didn’t recognize, he dawdled in the village until it was noon. He returned with groceries in his arms and a few fresh sets of unworn robes. He hummed lightly to himself as his fingers rubbed the fabric. It was a bit coarse, but it was better than wearing ripped clothing.
Besides, the colors were lighter—not at all like the dark robes Wuma Huan was wearing, nor the dark colors farmers generally wore. They were a paler, sky blue. If Wuma Huan wore these robes, he would definitely look like a fresh-faced youngster.
Just imagining it made Xiao Xunrui’s mood lighten.
But, when he arrived at the cave, the smile on his face fell.
His steps quickened and he nearly slid to a stop beside Wuma Huan.
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you so pale?”
Wuma Huan suppressed the mouthful of blood that was threatening to come up.
Noticing this, Xiao Xunrui quickly set his things aside. He pressed his hand on Wuma Huan’s back and brushed it up and down.
“Don’t swallow it again! Spit it out immediately,” Xiao Xunrui scolded.
Under Xiao Xunrui’s gaze, Wuma Huan spat out a mouthful of blood. The blood was black and unnatural, but upon closer inspection, there were flecks of gold. Xiao Xunrui’s eyes widened.
He turned Wuma Huan away from him, so that his back faced him, and pressed his hands to the young man’s back. Without any regard to Wuma Huan’s opinion, Xiao Xunrui poured in his spiritual energy. He felt Wuma Huan struggle, but Xiao Xunrui pressed him down.
“Do you want to die!?”
Hearing this, Wuma Huan stopped, but his reluctance was pungent in the air.
Half an hour later, Xiao Xunrui finally released Wuma Huan. He wiped away the sweat beading at his brow and glared at the young man in front of him.
“What were you even doing to make the parasite act up?” Xiao Xunrui snapped. “You didn’t try to use your spiritual energy, did you?”
Wuma Huan was silent.
“What? Cat got your tongue? Are you guilty? Why aren’t you saying anything?” Xiao Xunrui asked.
“I would have been fine after a few minutes.”
Xiao Xunrui felt a surge of anger. “Fine!? Look at your blood! It’s black! It’s so black that it looks like ink. Not only that—do you not see the little flecks? That’s bits of your golden core! If I hadn’t done anything, your golden core would be gone in a few months, not a few years!”
Wuma Huan’s head lowered. He pursed his lips.
Xiao Xunrui huffed and turned away. He took several deep breaths to calm himself down. After a while, he noticed Wuma Huan’s labored breathing. He slowly glanced back over at him.
“…Does it really hurt?”
Wuma Huan shook his head.
Xiao Xunrui frowned. He shifted a little closer and placed his hand on his back again and sent a light stream of spiritual energy. “If it hurts, you can tell me. Sometimes holding it in will make it worse.”
“…Hurts.”
Xiao Xunrui felt his chest clench. “Then, I’ll give you a bit more spiritual energy?”
Wuma Huan shook his head again.
“Don’t be so stubborn. You—”
“It’s cold.”
Xiao Xunrui felt a chill run down his spine. “Is it very cold?”
“Mn. Very cold.”
Xiao Xunrui hurriedly stood and gathered up the blankets scattered around the cave. He stopped by the fire to relight it again before piling the blankets onto Wuma Huan. He pulled the blankets tightly around the young man.
“Is it still cold?”
Wuma Huan looked up.
Xiao Xunrui froze at the redness in Wuma Huan’s eyes. “You…”
“It’s still cold.”
Xiao Xunrui pursed his lips together. He didn’t know what came over him, but he reached out and pulled the other against his chest. He wrapped the blankets tightly around them and hugged Wuma Huan closer to himself.
“How’s this? How about now?”
To his surprise, Wuma Huan didn’t reach out to hug him back. Instead, he rested limply against Xiao Xunrui’s shoulder.
“Hey…you—”
“It’s warm again.”
“Huh?”
“It’s warm again,” Wuma Huan whispered. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
His heart was warm again. The aching he felt when he realized he was alone in the cave was gone. But, for some reason, he felt so helpless. He hadn’t felt this way when he found his mother’s corpse, and he hadn’t felt this way when he realized what his shizun wanted to do with him. He hadn’t even felt this way when he was on the verge of death.
Everything life had thrown at him, Wuma Qiongling had taken in without a fluctuation of emotion. All the suffering was as it should be.
But this was different.
This wasn’t suffering. He felt warm. He felt safe. It was odd, but he liked it. And that’s what scared him the most.
What was he supposed to do with something so nice and warm and lovely? How was he supposed to walk away from this when it was all over?
I love their story! Thank you for giving us more insight into the start of their relationship
Says not to call him Gege, still answers to Gege every time 😄. I hope something bad has happened to that shizun.
our situations were not very similar, but i feel ya Wuma Qiongling ;-;