Wang Yibo was slightly relieved to hear that he was in the mood to joke around, and led him out of the cave, but heard him say another sentence: "Ah, I haven't grabbed the tiger skin yet."
"At this time, what need is there for a tiger skin?" Wang Yibo quickly called some servants over.
"But it's for you." Xiao Zhan turned around and was about to go back to get it.
"You wait here, I'll get it." Wang Yibo ordered someone to take care of him and then turned back to get the tiger skin. He just happened to run into Wang Xuan, who was being helped outside, and asked, "Is His Majesty injured?"
"I'm all right, I......" Before Wang Xuan finished speaking, he watched him walk out with the tiger skin. "......"
Once they returned to the General's Mansion, several Imperial physicians and some gifts from the palace arrived soon after. After the Imperial physician treated Xiao Zhan's wounds, he gave some instructions before leaving.
Fortunately, they were only small flesh wounds, and he would be fine after a period of recuperation.
Wang Yibo still frowned. He changed his clothes and helped him to bed, then stared at his wounds for a long time.
"It's okay, it's only a little skin trauma." Xiao Zhan rubbed his head.
"Let's rest, you've had a tiring day," Wang Yibo said.
"Okay." Xiao Zhan closed his eyes, and after a long time, he felt someone touch his arm lightly as if to test if he was asleep.
He simply pretended to be asleep.
Immediately afterward, the person next to him touched his arm repeatedly, lingering around the wound but never daring to approach it.
After a while of this, Xiao Zhan couldn't take it anymore and hugged him into his arms with his other hand: "What are you doing so sneakily?"
"You're awake?" Wang Yibo asked in belated surprise. "Did I wake you?"
"No, I didn't fall asleep at all."
"What is the matter?" Wang Yibo touched his cheek in the dark, then pressed his fingers to the center of his brow. He found that it was smooth and was relieved. "Did today's events scare you? Is there something on your mind?"
"This incident was not enough to scare me, but it might have scared the Emperor," Xiao Zhan said gloatingly. "He almost lost his life. Let's see if he dares to fight a tiger next time."
"That's something to worry about." Seeing that he had fallen silent, Wang Yibo said, "You two stayed in the cave for so long, did you talk a lot?"
"En."
"Did you talk about me?" Wang Yibo asked tentatively.
"En."
"Did he bring up the past with you?"
"En."
Wang Yibo became anxious and propped up half his body, saying: "Did he tell you about my previous visit to the brothel?"
Huh? This?
Xiao Zhan took advantage of the hazy moonlight to clearly see the expression on his face, and didn't say a word. Wang Yibo mistakenly thought this was a silent affirmation, and took the initiative to explain: "I went to see Gu Niaoniao. I had bumped into her on the street, and only then did I know she had gone to Hongxiu House."
At the age of sixteen, Wang Yibo had gone out to run errands for Wang Xuan, but ran into Gu Niaoniao, who was being dragged by the madam to buy a dress. She was lecturing her to treat the guests well, and that if she dared to show her temper, she would be stripped naked and thrown in the moat.
That was their reunion after the few years since they had left the dungeons. At first, he only thought she looked familiar. After all, the girl's attire was very different from how she looked in the dungeon a few years ago. But upon closer inspection, those eyes were still full of hatred, the same as his, but different.
He had learned to hide the hatred in his heart, not in his eyes.
That night, he took some money and went to Hongxiu House to pick up a few girls. Among them was Gu Niaoniao. Wang Yibo stunned the others by asking her: "Do you want to stay or run away?"
"I want to stay," Gu Niaoniao said in a heavy voice, and rolled up her sleeves to show him some red rashes on her hands. "If I'm disobedient, the madam will poison me and make my life worse than death. There will be no scars, just some red rashes that disappear in a couple of days. I want to let her have a taste of this. Please help me."
Wang Yibo: "What can you do for me?"
Gu Niaoniao: "I can do anything. Money, looks, body......you can have whatever you want."
Wang Yibo heard a lord's voice from upstairs, talking about court secrets to the woman in his bed, and curled his lower lip silently: "Good. I don't need anything else, I just need you to be my ears."
That night, Gu Niaoniao handed him the knife: "I don't want to pick up any more customers, please do me another favor."
Wang Yibo was silent for a moment, then said: "Do it yourself. If you can't be cruel to yourself, what revenge can you take?"
"You're right." Gu Niaoniao laughed for a long time. Then, facing the mirror, she made a long, slanted slash from the top of her eyebrow. Blood flowed down, obscuring her face.
Afterwards, Wang Xuan heard that Wang Yibo had quarreled with a brothel girl and cut her face apart, so he hurried over to bring Wang Yibo back and paid a large amount of money to the brothel madam and Gu Niaoniao to settle the matter.
Xiao Zhan listened to his detailed explanation. After thinking it over, it was no wonder why Gu Niaoniao' scar was a bit strange. There would be differences in the details between injuries caused at other people's hands and those caused by your own. It was just that he hadn't examined the woman's face carefully, so he didn't notice these details. While hugging Wang Yibo tightly, he felt that just a few sentences about his past were enough to frighten people.
Noticing his silence, Wang Yibo began to ponder again: "Could it be he spoke of something else? Did he say that I defrauded him of money? Or that I wore a red shirt and was knocked unconscious by a cow?"
Huh??
"What cow?" Xiao Zhan became interested.
As soon as Wang Yibo heard this tone, he knew that the other didn't know, so he kept silent.
"How did it hit you? Tell me about it." Xiao Zhan couldn't hold back, and chuckled a bit.
Wang Yibo: "Stop talking, go to bed!"
Xiao Zhan failed to learn from him how he was knocked unconscious by a cow, but he was not in a hurry to know the answer for a while. Anyway, the future would be long, and sooner or later he would learn bit by bit from him.
The lingering gloom in his heart also dissipated.
Even if Wang Xuan grew up with him, what he had was Wang Yibo's present and future.
Because of his injuries, the Emperor specially spared him from going to early court, and asked Xiao Zhan to fully recover before returning.
This made Xiao Zhan very comfortable.
Every morning, he stayed in bed until Wang Yibo opened his eyes, and then got up with him. After breakfast, he sent him to the Imperial Academy in a sedan chair. At dusk, he went to pick him up in a sedan chair.
And because of his inconvenient legs and feet, Wang Yibo showed the greatest care to him. He wouldn't get angry easily, and would chant the Diamond Sutra silently, then go to the study to calm down.
Xiao Zhan lived a comfortable life, wandering around the courtyard with a walking stick all day long. Once Wang Yibo returned home, he circled him like a puppy, asking him if he was tired from work, if his hand was sore from writing, and if his clothes were warm enough......
Usually, Wang Yibo would answer all his questions, but if he had business to do, he would just be asked to sit farther away. If he was still disobedient, Wang Yibo would simply give him a firm kiss and he would behave himself, thinking shyly and timidly about when he would be able to get another kiss.
After more than ten days of comfortable living, Xiao Zhan felt dissatisfied again at night. He took Wang Yibo's hand and stretched it down: "Yibo......"
"Your leg is broken, why are you still thinking about that?" Wang Yibo said coolly.
"It's not broken, it's almost healed." Xiao Zhan arched his head flatteringly. "Yibo......"
"You can't hurt your legs again at a critical moment, you had best lie down and recuperate."
Xiao Zhan turned over and pressed him down, saying: "In fact, my legs have recovered early. If you don't believe me, do you want to try?"
"Of course I know your legs recovered early," Wang Yibo said unhappily. "Aren't you tired of putting fake gauze on every day?"
"Ah, you saw that?" Xiao Zhan smiled, and was stopped by Wang Yibo when he started tugging on his clothes.
"Go away." Wang Yibo kicked him to the end of the bed. "Did you forget what you said at dinner?"
Xiao Zhan's smile froze.
A group of military lieutenants, along with Zuo Ran and Yin Pinglu, were specially invited over for dinner today. Because today was He Cuizhang's birthday, drinks were continuously refilled during the banquet.
Xiao Zhan had stared at Wang Yibo intently, and Wang Yibo wondered: "What are you doing?"
"I want to eat a dumpling, you feed it to me."
"You don't have hands, ah?"
"It hurts, and I can't lift it up."
Wang Yibo looked at him silently. With a slight smile, he picked up a dumpling and stuffed it into his mouth with gritted teeth.
Xiao Zhan was so proud. He raised his eyebrows at his subordinates, making everyone's teeth sore.
"You can't even lift your hands, and it's even more impossible for you to lift your feet, so you should just stay there," Wang Yibo said.
As long as you committed evil, you would be punished, ah. Xiao Zhan could only crawl back and lie down obediently.
Winter started early this year, and in the blink of an eye, the cold wind picked up and blew into people's faces with bone-piercing pain.
When Wang Yibo walked out of the Imperial Academy, his hair was tossed up by the wind. He gathered the collar of his cloak, walked outside, and saw Xiao Zhan standing in front of the sedan chair some distance away.
The other party also noticed his figure and walked up to him in a few steps, reaching out his hands to hold his cold face.
Those palms were very warm. Wang Yibo exhaled: "Didn't I tell you not to come?"
He came to the Imperial Academy to pick him up and drop him off every day, and his colleagues in the courtyard laughed at him. It was fine once or twice, but if it happened too often, even if he pretended not to hear, it was inevitable that he would feel a little embarrassed.
"The weather has changed today, I was afraid you would catch a cold. I really won't come tomorrow."
"You said the same thing yesterday."
Xiao Zhan smiled, then glanced behind him at the approaching Ruan Xian.
"My lord left in a hurry and left something behind. I just came to give it to you." Ruan Xian smiled in embarrassment. He felt that he had found the reason why Xiao Zhan hated him. It must be because he spoiled their happy occasions!
When passing by them, Ruan Xian saw that Xiao Zhan was still holding Wang Yibo's face. He bowed his head and pretended not to see anything, handed the book in his hands to Wang Yibo, then turned around and ran away.
Mother, he hadn't done such a sweet thing in his life, but now that he had learned it, he would put it to use when he went home!
Wang Yibo sat in the sedan chair and rubbed his hands. It was much warmer inside.
Xiao Zhan placed the hot water bottle prepared in advance into his hands and asked with a smile: "Why were you in such a hurry that you left things behind?"
Wang Yibo put his hands on the hot water bottle to keep warm, but didn't answer him.
Smiling, Xiao Zhan asked: "Were you rushing out to see me?"
Wang Yibo still didn't say a word, just raised his eyes to glance at him lightly with a hint of hesitation. Xiao Zhan's heart swayed, and he turned his head and kissed the ends of his eyes.
The General's Mansion was already lit up. As soon as he went to the bedroom, Wang Yibo removed his cloak and looked at the tiger skin on the bed. It was truly unsightly.
"Can it be changed for another?" Wang Yibo asked.
"Another won't be as nice and warm."
"It's too ugly."
"It's warm."
"......."
Soon, Xiao Zhan also felt that the tiger skin had to be replaced. After the two of them sweated profusely at night, some tiger hairs were stuck to their bodies. He took a bath with the man in his arms and threw the tiger skin aside, then changed the bed to a simple blanket and fell asleep with that person in his arms.
In the blink of an eye, it was the twelfth lunar month of winter, and the vassal kings and envoys all over the country came to Beijing one after another. The capital was bustling again for a while.
Xiao Zhan was in charge of defense at this time. The commander of the Imperial Army had been dismissed due to his laziness and dereliction of duty in the hunting grounds last time.
On New Year's Day, the emperor held a grand banquet and invited guests from all over the nation to share a feast. Only officials of the fourth rank and above could participate.
Xiao Gao changed Wang Yibo's clothes, dressing him thickly and adding an apricot-colored cloak, saying: "The General said to have my lord go over early, and he will join you soon."
Xiao Zhan had gone out to court before dawn. He was busy all afternoon and hadn't returned.
"I understand." Wang Yibo was traveling toward the palace in a sedan chair, and when he heard the bustling voices outside, he raised the curtain to take a look. Some family's lady was sitting in a carriage, grandly pulling out a few boxes of things as people around stopped to watch
The carriage and sedan chair drew close, and it happened that the owner of that carriage lifted the curtain, revealing a haughty face.
It was the Eighth Princess of Southern Nanjiang.
Just as Wang Yibo was about to look away, he suddenly noticed a peddler on the side of the road. He ordered Xiao Gao to go shopping, and stopped the sedan chair to wait for the princess to leave first.
After entering the palace gate, many colleagues had already arrived. Kan Chuan approached him unobtrusively and murmured in a low voice: "I saw the Princess of Nanjiang just now, did she come to make peace through marriage?"
"It is possible, just wait and see."
"En." Kan Chuan turned around and greeted other colleagues naturally.
Seats had been arranged in the main hall, and everyone sat according to their positions. Wang Yibo stopped at the entrance and sought out Xiao Zhan's figure in the vast crowd. His back was turned to him as he talked with several people.
The other party seemed to sense it and looked back, smiling upon seeing him. He pointed him to a certain table and motioned for him to sit down first.
Logically speaking, as a fourth-rank official, Wang Yibo could not sit in the front row. But this table was obviously arranged by Xiao Zhan and could only seat two people, so he sat down with poise.
At the next table was the Prime Minister. Li Jinyu turned his head with a smile and spoke to him in a low voice: "I haven't had time to thank Wang-daren face-to-face. My son has finally become sensible these days."
Wang Yibo nodded: "You can rest assured and let him do it. Even if he suffers a loss, he will be fine."
"Yes, yes, yes, I protected him too well." Li Jinyu sighed.
While the two were talking, the princess and king of Southern Nanjiang passed by them and sat down at the table in front, followed by the Mongolian Kingdom, envoys from the Western Regions, and vassals from all over the world.
Everyone had arrived, and Wang Xuan led the Empress and Sun Muyun out.
Sun Muyun's belly had grown a lot, and now that she had been promoted to a new position, her status was different from in the past. She could even attend this kind of event with the Emperor and Empress.
She sat down and looked around with a smile, and after spotting Wang Yibo, she smiled sincerely with shining white teeth.
At this moment, Xiao Zhan also returned and sat down beside him, ignoring the Emperor, who was greeting others. He took out a bag of peanuts from his bosom and asked quietly: "Are you hungry?"
"I'm fine." Wang Yibo was worried that he would not have a chance to eat at such a time, so he came here after eating some snacks. But as soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Zhan handed over the shelled peanuts.
The two of them were sneaking peanuts here, and Wang Yibo turned to see that Li Jinyu was looking at them eagerly, so he kindly gave him a handful.
Not long after, Li Jinyu's table mate also looked over eagerly.
Wang Yibo: "......."
In total, Xiao Zhan had hidden three bags of peanuts. He divided up two bags among the people behind and left only one bag, saying that he would not give it to anyone else.
He cracked the peanuts with skill, controlling his strength and not making a sound, but the others couldn't. Seeing that he had already cracked his, they immediately cracked theirs.
The Emperor and the envoys of the vassal kings in front heard the sounds of peanuts being eaten, and the people who were talking stopped awkwardly.
Sitting at the top, Sun Muyun had already noticed Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo's small movements, and wished she could sit with them and eat peanuts. But then she felt that just looking at the two of them was very fascinating, especially watching them head to head, secretly talking and making small gestures. It was too sweet, even sweeter than the sweet soup she drank today!
Wang Xuan coughed, and everyone seemed to have been caught in the act. They immediately stopped and looked straight ahead, remaining silent as they continued to listen to their conversation.
After Xiao Zhan fed the last peanut to Wang Yibo, he sighed. He hadn't expected this group of people to be so useless!
Wang Yibo tugged his sleeve at this time, and when he looked to the side, he saw Wang Yibo staring straight ahead while he took out bright tanghulu from his sleeve and passed it to him under the table.
Xiao Zhan's eyes lit up. He took it and tore off the candy wrapper, lowering his head to bite into one. He put his right hand on the table, propped up his forehead, and covered half his face so as not to alert the Emperor. He secretly took a bite and asked Wang Yibo with his eyes.
Wang Yibo glanced at the golden throne and nodded, indicating that no one had noticed his movements.
Xiao Zhan took another bite. It was sweet and delicious.
After eating one, he tugged Wang Yibo's sleeve again, motioning for him to eat one too.
Seeing his expectant eyes, Wang Yibo lowered his head to take a bite. Xiao Zhan immediately took another one, and the two of them looked at each other and smiled. They didn't even hear Wang Xuan call, "Xiao-qing, Wang-qing."
Everyone looked at them one after another. Wang Yibo was taken aback for a moment, and then looked up belatedly.
Wang Xuan asked: "Just now, the King of Nanjiang proposed to marry the Princess to Xiao-qing in order to form a good relationship. What do you think?"
"Ah, this matter......" Wang Yibo looked over as if nothing had happened, and simply stopped pretending. First he blatantly bit the tanghulu in his mouth and then replied leisurely, "I don't agree."
Xiao Zhan was incredibly attracted by his handsomeness and perfectly imitated his actions, chewing the tanghulu dashingly: "I also don't agree."