Chapter 75 - The Wolf Asks The Fox An Important Question

When Chu Yun got home he found Xiao Zai waiting for him in his quarters. There was a spread of fresh food from the kitchens on the low table in front of the bed, as well as two clay pots of wine. 

Xiao Zai smiled warmly as soon as he saw Chu Yun, and got up from his seat to help him get his cloak off. 

"I don't know if I'm in the mood to talk," Chu Yun said honestly. He was still shaken from his talk with Chu Hean and didn't think he had the stomach for any more heavy discussions.

Especially not about feelings.

"Good thing I'm only inviting you to a meal," Xiao Zai said, folding Chu Yun's cloak over the foot of the bed.

Chu Yun put down the waxpaper parcel in one of the few empty on the circular table that wasn't covered in food. Xiao Zai sat across from him and eyed the brown wrapping curiously. "What is it?"

"Gifts, from Chu Hean."

Xiao Zai hummed noncommittally and started pulling at the twine holding the parcel together. The waxpaper fell away, revealing a few clay jars with waxpaper labels identifying them as honeyed fruit preserves, two smaller and slender clay pots of Lanzhou's famous peach blossom wine, and some sundried meat that wouldn't spoil on the journey, or for a long time.

"It seems your brother and my dam had the same idea," Xiao Zai said, turning around the wine jars already on the table. "These are gifts from him."

Chu Yun unwound the twine securing the waxpaper seal around the wine Chu Hean had brought him and poured a cup for himself and Xiao Zai.

"I could use a drink, or twelve."

Xiao Zai smirked and raised his cup in a toast to him. "I think we have enough wine for that."

---

This time, Xiao Zai paced himself. He ate plenty between each cup of wine. He didn't want a repeat of the brothel incident. 

It vexed him that he still didn't know what happened that night. He was fairly certain it couldn't have been anything serious, but Chu Yun's smugness the next morning made him worry he had done or said something humiliating.

Right now, Chu Yun was oddly subdued, deep in thought and silent contemplation. Whatever his brother told him, it clearly hadn't gone well.

"Is everything alright with Chu Hean?"

Chu Yun nodded, gesturing vaguely with his wine cup. "He's fine, we just had a disagreement," he downed the contents of his cup and filled it up once again. "Like I said, I don't want to talk about it."

They had finished one of the peach blossom wine jars and were now moving on to the rice wine jar Gu Wei sent.

Xiao Zai filled Chu Yun's cup for him. "Why have you been going to visit Ministers behind my back?"

Chu Yun gave him an inscrutable look above the rim of his cup and downed the contents in a single swig. "Why do you think?"

According to his dam it was jealousy...but how much it would take to get Chu Yun to admit that? 

"I don't know, that's why I asked."

One corner of Chu Yun's lips ticked up. "That's a lie."

"How do you know?"

"You have a tell," Chu Yun said, grinning widely.

That was the first thing Xiao Zai was hearing of it. "What is it?"

Chu Yun's grin widened, some of the glum hanging around him like a dark cloud when he entered the room was gone. "Why would I tell you? What would be the fun in that?"

Xiao Zai sighed and filled up his cup. Nothing was ever easy with Chu Yun, but of course, that was half the fun. 

"Fine, I think you were jealous," Xiao Zai admitted.

He expected Chu Yun to sputter in indignation, perhaps vehemently deny it, but instead he leaned across the table, balancing his chin on his open palm, and asked, "Why is that?"

The wide sleeve of Chu Yun's light periwinkle robe slid down his arm, revealing the milky skin of his forearm. Xiao Zai's eyes were instantly drawn to the bare expanse of skin. His throat went dry all of a sudden. 

"Why would I tell you? What would be the fun in that?" he said, returning Chu Yun's words, affecting a calmness he wasn't feeling.

Chu Yun quirked his eyebrow up at him and drunk another cup. "You said you wouldn't betray me, why would I be jealous?"

Xiao Zai sucked in a sharp breath, he thought Chu Yun would never bring up that oddly intimate moment again.

He licked his lips, his eyes never leaving Chu Yun's half-lidded gaze. The alcohol was having its way with him, making him loose and languid, all of his movements slow, his words honeyed instead of sharp. Xiao Zai could scarcely bear it.

"What did I tell you? That day on the brothel in Lanzhou?" Xiao Zai asked, his heart thumping furiously inside his chest.

Part of him was scared of hearing the answer, afraid it would change something irrevocably.

Chu Yun shot him a look from below his curling lashes, and slid towards him across the floor, bumping his shoulder into Xiao Zai's with a sly smirk.

"Do you really want to know?"

No. "Yes."

Chu Yun cupped his hand in front of his lips as if telling a secret and leaned towards Xiao Zai's face. 

"You said you wanted to shut me up with your cock, you said you wanted to fuck me until I could only call out 'alpha, alpha', begging you to take pity on me," Chu Yun's sultry words went straight to Xiao Zai's cock. 

He knew he was telling the truth.

"Do you want to know a secret?" Chu Yun asked, his voice warm and teasing. He was so drunk, Xiao Zai should make him stop talking.

"What?" His voice came out gravelly and rough.

"I'd like to see you try," Chu Yun said, delivering a devastating blow to Xiao Zai's self-control.