My Beloved Enemy

17. I Love You

The following three days passed in a blink of an eye. Luckily, Ren Jing and Wu Bo managed to find a detailed map of Yang and sent it to Du YuShi with Hei Ya. There was also a note from Wu Bo stating one of the soldiers' brother was in the group who brought that general to the capital and he still remembered his brother's words about Yang general being obsessed with wheat fields. Apparently he talked about wheat fields non-stop until the capital.

Seeing the note, Du YuShi believed that if Yang general really chose to be a farmer, he would prefer somewhere with wheat fields. He marked three villages which cultivated wheat and decided to check them first. As Yang was a small kingdom after it lost the war against Du and Jing, Du YuShi's hope was replenished.

Well for a while at least...

When they finally arrived at the first village, luck wasn't on their side. Nobody in the village heard about the Yang general and all the farmers dealing with the wheat field were women.

Dejected, Du YuShi decided not to waste any time as now Yu Qiao Bai's condition worsened, he was unconscious for almost all day, all colour left his face. Whenever some people saw them, they were exclaiming in horror, thinking Du YuShi was carrying a corpse around.

As time was indeed limited, Du YuShi had to make use of short rests before they set off again. The longest break was at night when Yu Qiao Bai gained his consciousness for a short while. Those times were the happiest as they were eating together and even having short conversations before the prince was struck with the poison's effect. Every night, Du YuShi was repeating his actions, holding the suffering prince in his arms until morning, and therefore; he had no time to sleep, he was just taking short naps during the day. As a result of constant fear and tiredness, his face also became sickly.

On the fourth day, the tired general received a message from Chun Hua and Dong Feng. He opened the message with shaky hands, but unfortunately it was bad news, they checked around six towns, but couldn't find the Yang general. Du YuShi tore the message with disappointment and with a heavy heart, they reached the second village. News was also bad in the second village as Du YuShi talked with all the farmers, but none was the general.

That afternoon, Du YuShi gave Yu Qiao Bai the antidote for Leng Du, so the prince was back to his normal self by evening when they were camping in the forest, on the road to the third village.

"You look tired," was his first sentence.

"You look worse than I do," Du YuShi teased him, but he was extremely happy to get him back.

Yu Qiao Bai laughed silently as he took a sitting position and leaned his back against a tree. "Which day is that?" he asked with fear as he could guess that it was fourth or fifth because he got the antidote for the second poison.

"Fourth," Du YuShi almost whispered, "but we almost arrived at the third village," he tried to encourage him.

Yu Qiao Bai nodded with a far-off look on his eyes, "what if the general is not there?"

"He is there, I am sure of that," Du YuShi said firmly and handed Yu Qiao Bai a steamed bun he got from a village, "just eat it alongside your pessimism."

The tired prince let out a chuckle and ate the bun obediently. When he was done, he asked the general to come closer.

"What's wrong?" Du YuShi asked with concern as he sat in front of him.

"Nothing," Yu Qiao Bai said as he grabbed Du YuShi's hand with his cold hand, "I just want to thank you and tell you how I feel about you before it is too late."

"Tell me later when you are recovered," Du YuShi wanted to retract his hand, but the cold hand didn't let him.

"You can tell me about your feelings when I am recovered, but let me tell you now," Yu Qiao Bai pleaded, staring at Du YuShi intently.

How could the general deny him the opportunity when he felt sucked into his bottomless black eyes, and heard the urgency in his voice? Reluctantly, he gestured to the prince to continue and the latter rewarded him with a genuine smile.

"When I listened to your mother talking about you, I liked the idea of you. In her stories, you were always so cute yet unruly. She used to tell me that you had harsh words but your heart was soft. When I met you, I saw your mother was right, even when you said you hated me, you were always the first one to help me. As I had already liked the idea of you, it was easy to fall in love with the real you."

Hearing the last part, Du YuShi flinched, making the prince roll his eyes, "you can find it absurd, but I am not afraid to admit my feelings. I really love you and want to thank you for this amazing journey and taking care of me... well, let's ignore the last few days as I was more like a dead person."

It was hard to believe, but the great general of Du was on the verge of crying. The tears welled into his amber eyes, hearing the genuine confession of the man whom he loved dearly. He was too regretful for noticing his feelings that late as well as for the harsh words he directed for Yu Qiao Bai who didn't deserve any of them. Still, as he couldn't change the past, he was determined to save his love's life so that he could work on his apology.

"I didn't sleep with that girl," Du YuShi confessed suddenly, fighting his tears. It was the closest statement to 'I love you' he could think of. As he didn't deserve to say those three words yet, he took his jade hairpin out of his hair and replaced Yu Qiao Bai's silver one with it as a token of his love.

"I know," Yu Qiao Bai ran his fingers on the jade hairpin lovingly as he knew the meaning behind the gesture.

"Really?" Du YuShi placed the silver hairpin on his own bun.

"I saw you sending the girl away and sitting out alone," the prince confessed. All he wanted was Du YuShi to confess it with his own mouth.

"You are so weird," the general uttered with wide open eyes, he couldn't follow the foxes in the prince's head.

"Still you fell for me," Yu Qiao Bai declared with daring eyes, but couldn't wait to see Du YuShi's response as Hei Si Du was active again, and the pain was more severe than ever. He curled into a ball, his hand clenched on his heart, his vision blurry with tears.

Seeing his extreme reaction, Du YuShi loosened his robe to check the black lines and saw that now they were only a finger size away from his heart. Suddenly, Yu Qiao Bai spat a mouthful of blood and Du YuShi's heart dropped at the sight. He immediately gathered the suffering man in his arms tighter than ever, gave him the last bottle of medicine and started to fan him with full force as the other poison was gone.

It wasn't supposed to be like that! There should have been more time!

As soon as Yu Qiao Bai was motionless, Du YuShi put him onto the horse and they hit the road with maximum speed. When the village entered his sight, Du YuShi felt Yu Qiao Bai fidgeting in his arms. He stopped the horse as he noticed the half-conscious man was trying to tell him something.

"Xiao Bai?" he asked with fear in his heart.

"I know I said... you can tell me later... but please... tell me now..." Yu Qiao Bai pleaded in between his painful breathing.

A stray tear trickled down Du YuShi's cheek, "I love you, Xiao Bai, I love you more than anything," he said with a hoarse voice and the prince smiled contentedly. "So you have to hang on for me," the general continued before pressing an acupoint to send him into sleep. When Yu Qiao Bai's head drooped on his chest again, Du YuShi spurred the horse while praying to Heaven to spare his lover's life.