CH 39

Chen Ziqi hadn’t seen Dan Yi in two years, and he didn’t know how Dan Yi felt about him any more. They were incredibly close as children, but in the past two years, all the letters he’d secretly sent Dan Yi through Lan Shanyu had gone unanswered.

Dan Yi heard Chen Ziqi call him ‘Fengyuan gege’, and amusement crept into his eyes as he looked at Chen Ziqi sitting obediently on the bed. He lifted his robes lightly, then sat down on the bed. “What is this, you’re acting close to me again? Earlier, I thought you didn’t recognise me any more when you spoke up for the Emperor,” he said. His voice was as lovely and mesmerizing as before. 

Chen Ziqi felt his heart beat faster in his chest, and was so captivated that he didn’t think to respond until a few moments later. He couldn’t help but sigh with relief on hearing Dan Yi’s words; Dan Yi was clearly just fooling around. He sagged with relief and flopped back down on the soft bed, then rolled toward Dan Yi’s side. He then looked up at Dan Yi and rolled his eyes. “You’re the one who held a grudge. You gave me the cold shoulder for two years, then made fun of me the moment we met. I got such a fright,” he complained.

“Made fun of you?” Dan Yi asked, bending his head to look at Chen Ziqi.

“What, you’re not admitting to it?” Chen Ziqi said, pursing his lips. He squirmed like a worm to the centre of the bed, and as he did so, he imitated Dan Yi during their first meeting in the Cloud Palace. “I want him! Send him to my bedroom tonight! Hohoho!”

A dark shadow suddenly appeared above Chen Ziqi, and he found that Dan Yi was looming over him. Then next thing he knew, Dan Yi had hugged him from behind, locking him tightly in an embrace. “I wasn’t joking around,” he said slowly. 

Chen Ziqi froze. He turned to look at Dan Yi’s face, which was so close that their noses nearly touched. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up one by one, and he tried to push Dan Yi’s shoulders away. “Surely not. You can’t be serious! Dan Yi, the saying goes that you cannot bully your friends…”

“No, the saying’s that you cannot bully your friend’s wife,” Dan Yi said.

“If the friend’s wife can’t be bullied, then it stands to reason that the friend also cannot be bullied!” Chen Ziqi protested loudly, struggling to free himself.

Dan Yi caught hold of his wrists, his expression icy. He pushed Chen Ziqi’s wrists above his head and locked them in place with one hand, then used a finger to poke at his chest. “That good brother of yours has already given you to me. Since your allegiance is with him, you have to serve me to the best of your capability,” he said.

“Fengyuan gege, I was wrong, don’t… oh, nngh…” As Chen Ziqi was making his half-serious pleas to Dan Yi, the blackworm in his chest suddenly started moving. Chen Ziqi’s face turned pale in an instant, and after groaning once in pain, couldn’t speak any more.

“Qiqi?” Dan Yi was having fun teasing Chen Ziqi, but the moment he saw that Chen Ziqi was in real pain, he quickly released him. “Are you alright?”

“Nngh… it hurts…” Chen Ziqi gripped Dan Yi’s clothes and forced these words out through gritted teeth. He threw back his head in agony after that – the pain was nearly too much for him to bear.

Dan Yi quickly gathered Chen Ziqi into his arms, cradling his trembling body. “Lingguan! Linghe!” he called. 

“Palace Master!” The two sisters immediately pushed the door open and came in.

Chen Ziqi recovered from that bout of pain, panting as he regained his senses. “That motherf*cker…” he swore.

“What happened to you?” Dan Yi asked, frowning deeply as reached up to caress Chen Ziqi’s sweaty forehead.

“That bastard Tiande put a blackworm in me,” Chen Ziqi said, slowly getting his breath back. He leaned against Dan Yi. “I don’t know why it suddenly acted up out of the blue.” 

A blackworm? Dan Yi pressed his lips together and accepted the handkerchief Linghe offered to him, gently wiping the sweat off Chen Ziqi’s body. “Let me have a look,” he said.

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When Chen Ziqi didn’t move, Dan Yi just went ahead to peel apart his clothes. The soft robes fell to the sides of his body, revealing a fair-skinned chest. The fourteen-year-old youth already had some muscles thanks to his regular martial arts practice, and his body was very pleasing to look at.

On the surface, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. Dan Yi stretched out a hand to touch Chen Ziqi’s chest, but suddenly halted about one inch away, as if he wasn’t sure if he should continue for fear of hurting Chen Ziqi. 

Chen Ziqi scrunched up his nose on seeing how cautiously Dan Yi behaved. He felt a sudden rush of grief in his heart. Actually, he had an idea as to how to get rid of the blackworm in his body. He’d been thinking about this day and night since he knew the Emperor had put the creature in him, and thought he would be able to solve this on his own.

However, after all these years, Dan Yi was the only person he dared to rely on other than his little fairy. He couldn’t help but want to let Dan Yi help him settle his problems even when he thought he could resolve them on his own. He was also genuinely frightened by the thought of the blackworm, and wanted to make Dan Yi show some care and concern for him, especially as he felt that Dan Yi had played a mean trick on him on their first meeting after two whole years apart.

No matter how intelligent Chen Ziqi was, he still was a fourteen-year-old boy at the end of the day.

“It’s here,” Chen Ziqi said, grasping Dan Yi’s hand and pulling it toward the part of his chest where the pain always radiated from, a point about an inch to the left of his central meridian. 

The moment Dan Yi’s fingertip touched his warm skin, Chen Ziqi clearly felt something move vehemently in his chest.

“Ahh!” Chen Ziqi groaned in pain immediately. His body curled up and started trembling uncontrollably in Dan Yi’s arms. “It really hurts… Dan Yi… Nngh…”

“Qiqi!” Dan Yi pulled his hand away from Chen Ziqi’s chest as if he had been burned, then used two fingers to quickly seal a few major meridians. He let go of Chen Ziqi immediately after doing so.

The blackworm wriggling in Chen Ziqi’s chest suddenly stopped moving. Chen Ziqi lay amongst the messy blankets, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His unfocused eyes slowly went back to normal, and he turned to look at Dan Yi, who was now standing next to the bed, afraid of coming too close to him. He drew in a breath weakly, finally feeling a little better. 

On Dan Yi’s instructions, Linghe turned to retrieve a green porcelain jar from the cupboard. She tipped out some medicinal powder into a white porcelain bowl, poured in some hot water, then stirred it with a small spoon before handing the mixture to Dan Yi. “Shall I go and call Elder Mu here?” she suggested.

Dan Yi shook his head, taking the small bowl from her.

Linghe looked at Chen Ziqi, whose face was drained of all colour, then looked back at her Palace Master. She wanted to say something, but in the end chose to hold her tongue and turned to leave. After a bit, she brought in a small bamboo canister filled with strong liquor. The alcohol content was so high that one could smell it even from far away.

She placed the bamboo canister on the low table next to the bed, then lowered her head and left, closing the door behind her. 

Dan Yi gripped the small bowl and hesitated a bit before speaking. “I can purge the blackworm in your body, but I need to…” His voice trailed off, and that bewitchingly handsome face slowly turned a bright crimson.

Chen Ziqi didn’t notice this at all. All he heard was “I can purge the blackworm”. “Then purge it, quick, I really don’t want to suffer any more,” he said immediately.

Dan Yi pressed his lips together and sat back down on the bed. He pulled Chen Ziqi gently into his arms, then held out the mixture in the bowl for him to drink. “Drink this first. It’s a tea that can increase your qi and stop the pain,” he said.

Chen Ziqi obediently took the bowl and downed the liquid inside. Dan Yi didn’t show any signs of proceeding further even after he waited for a few moments, and Chen Ziqi looked at him, confused. “Weren’t you going to purge the blackworm? What happens next?” he asked. 

A pair of slender lips suddenly pressed onto his, sealing off his half-opened mouth.

“Mmphhh…” Chen Ziqi’s eyes widened. He was initially too shocked to do anything but let Dan Yi kiss him. When he got back his senses and wanted to start struggling, he suddenly felt a breath of Dan Yi’s vital essence enter his body, and at the same time, a large, warm hand covered his chest just above his heart. That hand started to massage the area where the blackworm was.

Chen Ziqi could feel something moving in his body, creeping upwards toward his mouth. Chen Ziqi suddenly gagged and pushed Dan Yi aside. When he raised his head to look at Dan Yi again, the latter held a black creature between his teeth. The thing was about the size of a finger, and was still wriggling furiously in Dan Yi’s mouth.

Chen Ziqi was rather freaked out as he watched Dan Yi casually toss the creature into the liquor-filled bamboo canister. After a bit, he got up and mustered up his courage to look at the creature closely. 

That small blackworm was struggling violently inside the liquor, sending small droplets of liquid flying out. Its body was as dark as night, and had cruel little spikes growing all over its body. Its mouth was full of tiny, ferocious-looking teeth, and Chen Ziqi got a good look at them when the worm opened its mouth to growl soundlessly at him.

“You’re fine now,” Dan Yi said, walking over. He sealed the canister, then passed him a cup of water to rinse his mouth.

Chen Ziqi gargled and spat out the water repeatedly. He couldn’t help stealing a look at Dan Yi’s slender, attractive lips. They were originally a pale shade of peach, but they were now a deep pomegranate red. He’d just drunk some tea, and those red lips were moist. They looked extremely appealing.

Chen Ziqi suddenly felt his mouth go strangely dry. He gave a dry cough, then quickly drained his cup of tea. 

Dan Yi called Linghe in to take the bamboo canister away.

Chen Ziqi let himself fall back onto the bed and covered his face with a blanket. He didn’t say anything for a while. He didn’t know that purging the blackworm was done this way. If the two of them just acted the same way they had when they were kids, kissing each other actually was nothing; they’d done far worse as kids, often pulling each other’s little chickens for fun. It was just that, before this particular kiss, Dan Yi had spoken about having him “attend to him” in bed. Although it was very likely that he’d said it in jest, those words made this kiss take on a dubious, ambiguous quality.

Chen Ziqi felt the thick mattress below him sink a little under applied pressure, and knew someone had climbed on the bed. The bedclothes rustled gently, and before long, a warm, slender body squeezed itself next to him beneath the blankets. At the same time, a pair of hands grabbed hold of his armpits and pulled him out.

Chen Ziqi’s face was now above the blankets, and his head was resting on a soft pillow. Chen Ziqi looked up at Dan Yi, and at this moment, Dan Yi also happened to lower his head to look at him. 

“Does it still hurt?” Dan Yi asked, extending a hand to brush his forehead, which still had sweat beading on it.

Chen Ziqi shook his head, then rubbed his chest. It didn’t hurt any more, even when he pressed down hard. He was overjoyed. “How is it that you know how to do everything? You even know how to purge blackworms!” he exclaimed.

Dan Yi couldn’t help raising his chin a little in pride when he saw Chen Ziqi’s reverent look. He smiled quietly, then reached up to unfasten the guan on his head. His long hair immediately spilled down his shoulders like a dark waterfall.

Ordinarily, boys could only wear a guan when they had reached twenty years of age, but Dan Yi was now the Cloud Palace Master, and was considered to have come of age as a result. It was similar to how the Crown Prince had been appointed to the position before he reached the age of twenty, and could therefore wear the guan earlier. 

It was only now that Chen Ziqi noticed that the person in front of him had already taken off all his clothes, save the very last layer of his underclothes.

“You’re really going to sleep here?” Chen Ziqi asked, feeling a little awkward.

“These are my sleeping quarters. Where would I sleep if not here?” Dan Yi asked, amused. He leaned back against the headboard. Before long, Linghe and Lingguan came in together.

Lingguan brought a warm, damp cloth over to wipe Chen Ziqi’s face. Linghe held a small porcelain plate with green crackled glaze, and on it was a piece of something that was black on the outside and yellow on the inside. It looked like it had been fried to a crisp. 

Dan Yi picked up that thing on the plate and tossed it into his mouth. It crackled noisily in his mouth as he chewed.

“What are you eating?” Chen Ziqi asked curiously.

“A fried fish,” Dan Yi replied. He rinsed his mouth after eating, then accepted a towel to wipe his hands.

“I want some too,” Chen Ziqi said. Dan Yi looked like he’d really enjoyed it earlier, and he wanted to try some. 

“There isn’t any more,” Dan Yi said, snuggling into the blankets and looking at Chen Ziqi.

Chen Ziqi pursed his lips, then yawned. After exerting himself for such a long time, he was physically exhausted, but he was still mentally awake. “If you sleep with me tonight, I’ll really be known as your boy toy tomorrow,” he said.

“Who said you’re my boy toy?” Dan Yi asked, frowning.

“Aren’t I? Those two servant girls wanted me bathed and perfumed and all. I’m surprised they didn’t scrub my ass while they were at it, in preparation to receive your ‘favour’,” he said, unable to hold back another yawn. He yawned so deeply that tears came out of his eyes. 

Dan Yi narrowed his eyes slightly, then wiped a tear from Chen Ziqi’s eye with his hand. “Don’t worry. Just go to sleep. I guarantee no one will dare to say a word about you tomorrow,” he said.

Satisfied with this answer, Chen Ziqi closed his eyes and buried his face in the soft pillow, smiling secretly to himself. As the saying went, good men didn’t fight with women, so he’d just make a little complaint. He wouldn’t do anything else.

The author has something to say: Mini-theater

Qiqi: I really am a gentleman, the kind you’d be hard pressed to find even if you waited a hundred years

Birdie Gong: What’s this about being a gentleman?

Qiqi: I only made a little complaint, and didn’t do anything else to those girls

Birdie Gong: Absolutely, you’re the ultimate gentleman

Qing He and Qing Ping: Excuse me*?