Chapter 105 - The Wolf Is Patient

Xiao Zai was happy to give Chu Yun his space.

Perhaps happy was not the right word. Xiao Zai couldn't say he was happy to be kept at arms' length, but he understood that might be what Chu Yun needed to process everything.

So, he stayed in the sidelines, and waited patiently for Chu Yun to take the initiative and approach him. 

He took it as a good sign when Chu Yun returned to his shifty skulking around with that maidservant of his in tow. If he was up to his usual schemes, then that meant his condition was improving. And from the glances Xiao Zai caught of him whenever they crossed paths, Chu Yun's complexion looked much healthier.

Some subtle probing around the kitchens confirmed that he was taking the medicine, so Xiao Zai tried not to get too worried, and wait for things to resolve themselves.

But one morning he woke up to the sound of clashing steel outside his window, and had a very bad premonition. He dressed himself hastily and rushed outside, just in time to see Chu Yun with the upper half of his robes tucked into his waist sash as he brandished a sword against a hulking mountain of a man.

He recognised the man as one of the workers who still lingered on from the first batch they hired, and who stayed on to finish up the work on the estate, which was by now, almost entirely restored.

Chu Yun and the man were locked in fierce combat, neither of them pulling back any punches as their swords clashed. As with the first time this had happened, a crowd of excited servants stood in a circle watching them.

Xiao Zai's blood froze. He was walking up into the circle before he even fully registered that he was going to put a stop to this.

"What are you doing?" he asked, coming to a stop near Chu Yun, trying to find a breach in the swordfight to pull him back to safety.

Chu Yun threw him a smirk over the edge of his sword. "Exercising," he said, and dodged an incoming strike with a precisely timed vault over the blade of his opponent's sword which opened him up to land a spinning kick on his head, knocking him to the ground.

The man crumbled to the floor like a paper lantern crushed underfoot, his sword falling out of his limp grasp with a metallic clang.

Chu Yun sheathed his own sword in the scabbard at his waist and then extended his hand to the man grumbling loudly on the floor.

The man took his hand, rubbing painfully at the back of his head. "His Grace fights dirty," he said, as much praise as recrimination.

Chu Yun walked past him and patted his back. "It's the only way to fight, when it's your life on the line."

Chu Yun would have kept on walking right back to his quarters if Xiao Zai hadn't stopped him with a hand on his wrist. "What do you think you're doing?" he hissed.

"Somehow, I didn't think you'd want to spar with me," Chu Yun said, tone blithe as if that was Xiao Zai's only issue. "So I asked someone else."

"You know very well--"

Chu Yun interrupted him. "Are you sure you want to have this conversation here?" 

There was a number of servants watching them avidly, greatly anticipating the newest instalment on their ongoing domestic feud, filled with highs and lows, no different than the fantastic stories they could hear in the city's teahouses.

Xiao Zai didn't want anyone to listen in, but he wasn't going to let Chu Yun use that as an excuse to escape the conversation.

"There's something I must discuss with you in my quarters," he said, straightening his shoulders.

He could see the desire to reject him in Chu Yun's eyes, but he also knew Xiao Zai wouldn't give up until they talked, so he hung his head and let out a dejected, "Fine," leading the way out of the courtyard.

---

The door had scarcely closed behind him when Xiao Zai asked, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Chu Yun threw himself over on the sofas by the window with a dramatic sigh. "Like I said, I just wanted to exercise. I've been sick for some time, I just thought it would be good for my health."

Xiao Zai glared at him. "You haven't been sick, you've been pregnant."

Chu Yun rolled his eyes and crossed his arms behind his neck, laying down on the sofa, one of his legs balanced over his knee. "All the same, really."

"You know what the physicians said, it's already dangerous for you as it is. Why are you taking stupid risks on top of it?"

Chu Yun glared at him. "What am I supposed to do? Stay in bed for the next 8 to 9 months, being waited on?"

"I'm not saying that, but do you really need to swordfight in the morning?"

"Maybe I do," Chu Yun said. His eyes were closed but his eyebrows were drawn in annoyance. "I need to show this...stomach bug...who's the master of this body. It was mine first, and I'm going to do with it whatever I want."

Some part of Xiao Zai knew that wasn't the only reason Chu Yun was doing it, but he still couldn't stop himself from blurting out, "well, that's really juvenile of you."

He regretted it almost immediately when Chu Yun sat upright in the sofa, looking straight at Xiao Zai and glaring at him. "That's easy for you to say, isn't it? But where does it stop?"

"Stops what?"

Chu Yun got up from the sofa and walked up towards Xiao Zai, who couldn't help noticing he had tied his robes very loosely. His sharp collarbones were visible through the wide gape of his collar, drawing the eye with their sinuous shadows.

"'No swordfighting' seems like a reasonable request. But how long until that becomes, 'no horse riding', 'no running', 'no walking anywhere alone', 'no leaving my sight'?"