Chapter 131 - My Costar Wants To Cook

The Xin Hulei that appears at Yao Shen's side looks down at the one laying down on the Crown Prince's legs.

A frown of confusion appears between his sharp eyebrows.

"When did this happen?"

Yao Shen doesn't have an answer for him -- he's only now learning about it. 

"How did you get here?" Yao Shen asks him, overwhelmed with relief.

He wants to throw his arms around Xin Hulei's neck and pull him into a kiss, but although no one can see them he still feels as if he's in public.

Xin Hulei's eyes are still glued to the scene in front of them, where the Crown Prince is trying to wake up the unconscious cultivator on his legs, with little success.

"The mirror in your room -- I called but got no answer. I found a talisman to reach Youdu among your things."

"How did you get rid of Si Wang?" Yao Shen asks.

"The two of you were lying unconscious in a room. I dragged him outside and bound him with a talisman. I don't know how long it will hold."

"Did you see Xie Bian or Fan Wujiu?"

Xin Hulei shakes his head, but it's clear all of his attention is still focused on the Crown Prince, and the younger version of himself.

Although there are no noticeable physical differences between the Xin Hulei standing beside him, and the one lying unconscious, Yao Shen thinks that he has never seem him look as unguarded and relaxed in sleep as he does in the Crown Prince's lap -- it sends a pang of something cold through his middle.

Yao Shen can't tell if it's regret that Xin Hulei can no longer let his guard down that deeply, even when unconscious, or that this other version of himself is seeing a side of Xin Hulei that he no longer can.

The Crown Prince finally stops trying to rouse Xin Hulei, realising the futility of his actions.

Now, he tries to find a comfortable way to carry him back to camp. He's adjusting Xin Hulei over his back when a talisman stuck to Xin Hulei's waist sash comes loose with a woosh. The sound startles the Crown Prince who lets Xin Hulei slip down his back back with a panicked, "shit!".

It's not a dignified scene, but any second-hand embarrassment Yao Shen might feel about seeing himself act like a fool disappears when his eyes fall on Xin Hulei's face again.

The demon seal between his eyebrows shines brightly, almost as eye-catching as the two obsidian horns sprouting from his forehead.

"A demon?" the Crown Prince says, at the same time that both Yao Shen and Xin Hulei suck on a breath.

The Crown Prince's hand hovers above Xin Hulei's face, not quite daring to touch him. He looks behind himself in the direction of the military camp he came from, and then down again into Xin Hulei's slack face.

"I can't bring you back there."

He looks out into the the woods that grow thicker and darker in the distance.

With a sigh, he hefts Xin Hulei up into his back once again.

"Let's hope there's a logging cabin somewhere." With a grunt, the Crown Prince walks deeper into the woods, Xin Hulei's unconscious body draped over his bent back.

Yao Shen watches the two of them disappear in the distance, and then looks up at Xin Hulei.

Xin Hulei's face is startling pale, and his dark eyes are wide in shocked realisation.

"It can't be."

When Yao Shen is about to ask him what can't be, the scene dissolves around them like soap on a stream.

---

The next memory they see shows that the Crown Prince has indeed found that logging cabin. 

Xin Hulei is laying on a narrow cot, stripped down to his inner robes, as an equally undressed Crown Prince applies warm bandages to his forehead and neck.

A fire is roaring in the hearth, and snow is now falling in thick sheets outside the paper pane windows. The Prince's discarded armour and dark outer robes are hanging up from one of the doors, along with Xin Hulei's.

Yao Shen is surprised at how unfazed the Crown Prince is with the fact that Xin Hulei is a demon. 

"You're lucky my little brother used to fall sick all the time and only let me take care of him," the Crown Prince says, talking to himself as he adjusts the fragrant bandages on Xin Hulei. "Otherwise I wouldn't have the faintest idea what to do with you."

From the cot, Xin Hulei lets out a thin groan, and a whispered, "Shizun."

At Yao Shen's side, another Xin Hulei goes completely still, his hands balled into fists at his side.

"What did you remember?" Yao Shen finally asks the question he didn't get to fully form earlier, guessing it's related to that whispered 'shizun'.

"I was out with Shizun and Xie Huan, looking for a hungry ghost that was causing trouble around here, when I fell into a trap set up by demonic cultivators."

The Crown Prince's soldiers were also complaining about ghost sightings. It was the whole reason the Prince stepped into the woods and stumbled into the unconscious Xin Hulei.

Xin Hulei frowns. "I always thought..."

He doesn't need to elaborate for Yao Shen to know what he always thought. His only question is how?

Moments later, the Xin Hulei laying in the cot clears that up for him:

"Shizun, I can't see anything."

The Crown Prince is immediately more alarmed than Xin Hulei, who blinks his eyes open and closed several times but doesn't move from the cot.

"Do you feel any pain?" he asks, looking intently into Xin Hulei's dark eyes, touching the skin around the eyeballs softly. 

Xin Hulei shakes his head, his empty gaze fixed on the ceiling. "I think my hearing has been affected too."

"But you can still hear me?"

He nods once again.

Yao Shen hears a chuckle next to him. "My hearing was fine, I was just confused as to why 'Shizun' sounded different, and assumed it must be related to the issue causing my blindness."

A jumble of emotions coiling inside him, Yao Shen looks out at the scene in front of him. He doesn't know how to wrap his mind around what he's seeing.

"Your eyes look fine, externally," the Crown Prince says, his tone even and measured. "Doesn't look like there's any damage, so maybe it's the lingering effect of something you came into contact with?"

On the cot, Xin Hulei's smooth brow wrinkles. "I think I might have fallen into a trap while chasing the hungry ghost."

The Crown Prince makes a noncommittal sound, although he looks faintly alarmed. "That's what you do, right, as a cultivator?"

Now it's Xin Hulei who looks slightly alarmed. "Is Shizun feeling alright? Where is shixiong? Can Shizun get in touch with any other Frozen Peak elders?"

"They'll be here soon," the Crown Prince says, looking around the small cabin in a panic. "You should focus on healing from your injuries."

He gets up from the bedside and starts pacing the area in front of Xin Hulei's cot, running his hands through his loose hair. 

Yao Shen can imagine all the things going through his head. On the one hand, he doesn't want Xin Hulei to know his real identity, for one, he's an unknown demon, for another, he probably shouldn't be taking care of him to begin with.

He probably also feels terrible about just letting Xin Hulei assume he's someone else.

Yao Shen looks into Xin Hulei's shuttered eyes and can't tell what he's thinking. The tense line of his jaw tells him whatever he's feeling, he's doing it intensely.

The Crown Prince's pacing comes to an end when he announces. "I'm going to make something for you to eat."

"Shizun doesn't need to strain himself, this disciple is feeling fine."

"You're blind!" The Crown Prince retorts, disgruntled.

"That's hardly an emergency, I can't get any blinder." Xin Hulei says, his eyes still gazing up at the ceiling.

Yao Shen can't help the fond chuckle at Xin Hulei's casual attitude to something that would send most other people into a panicked tailspin.

He can tell the Crown Prince thinks so too, by the warm curve of his lips and the softness in his eyes. They have the same soul, along with the same face, maybe Yao Shen shouldn't be surprised that they yearn for the same things.

He wonders if getting jealous of himself will ever feel less weird.

The Crown Prince sets about making some kind of hearty broth, by the looks of it -- a task that doesn't come naturally to him. He seems to think cooking involves tossing whatever gnarled and knotted vegetables he can find around the house into boiling water until they go soft.

Yao Shen watches him work in silent horror. At his side, Xin Hulei still hasn't said a word.

Finally, the soup is done, and the Crown Prince serves it up in a bowl that he brings to Xin Hulei. He sits down on the edge of the bed, and feeds Xin Hulei a spoonful of hot, foul-smelling broth.

Xin Hulei swallows it all down without complain.

But after the third spoonful, he can't take it any longer and blurts out, "Maybe Shizun should leave the cooking to me."