Mu Kuangda is immediately at a loss for words; there’s a bit of anger in his gaze as he stares at Duan Ling.
“Why must you be so stubborn?” Mu Kuangda says.
Feeling as though on pins and needles, Duan Ling does not speak again.
“One day, you’re going to destroy yourself on your impulses.”
Duan Ling still isn’t saying anything.
Wu Du has also maintained his silence. Mu Kuangda is suddenly finding this comical to the extreme — what on earth is this? The one apprentice whom he believes would go the farthest in life is in love with a man, so far gone that he would throw away his own future; this is even making Mu Kuangda look like he’s the one trying to break up a couple or something. It’s such a ridiculous reason, and yet combined with how Duan Ling had reacted in their meeting before this, it leaves Mu Kuangda with little choice but to believe him.
“So you two are off to elope then?” Mu Kuangda adds, “Are you even coming back, Sir Tertius Scholar?”
Duan Ling keeps nodding, “I’ll come back.”
Mu Kuangda suddenly flies into a rage and yells, “Wang Shan! What on earth even goes into that head of yours?!”
Mu Kuangda has finally blown up on him, so angry that he’s whipping all the letters off the table, throwing them against Duan Ling’s head. Duan Ling immediately gets down on one knee, not daring to make excuses for himself.
Wu Du is about to say something, but then Duan Ling is turning back to look at him. He winks.
“Wu Du, outside,” Mu Kuangda says coldly.
Duan Ling picks up all the letters and stacks them back neatly on the table.
Mu Kuangda takes a sip of tea and breaks the silence. “Wang Shan, you’d better listen up.”
“Certainly,” Duan Ling replies.
“You’re all grown up so you have the guts to work against me now, do you? I wanted Wu Du to join the Eastern Palace, so you went and pulled your little trick so you can run away with him?”
“That’s not my intention at all. I just … wanted to spend more time with him. Master, this is my heart’s desire, the only one I’ve ever had in my entire life.”
Staring at Duan Ling, Mu Kuangda realises that he really can’t comprehend him. Voice trembling, Duan Ling says, “Master, please just let me have this. Whatever you want me to do for you in the future, through water through fire, even if it’s climbing a mountain of swords I’d … I’d do anything.”
What with all that Duan Ling has made him go through tonight, Mu Kuangda doesn’t even know what to do anymore.
“To live in the world,” Mu Kuangda tells him in grave earnestness, “one must learn to live with not getting everything one wants. The moon waxes and wanes, oft hide behind clouds; people have joys and sorrows, partings and reunions, rarely are things perfect, don’t you get that?” 2
Duan Ling kneels motionless behind the desk.
“What sort of sick obsession is it with the two of you?” Mu Kuangda lowers his voice. “Is it something about Wu Du you can’t live without? Is he good in bed? Lust blinds one’s judgement, don’t you get that? Never mind whether leaving the capital for Ye is a reasonable thing to do, but this is the reason you’re openly pitting yourself against me? Or is Wu Du the one forcing you to do it?”
“He didn’t. It was an idea I came up with on my own. The other officials must believe that my volunteering for a post outside the capital was your suggestion … And if I can win the city of Ye … It would surely be of great advantage to Great Chen … and there’d be no disadvantages at all.”
“Oh never mind.” Mu Kuangda just feels both physically and mentally exhausted — after all this talk it turns out that his apprentice is going to elope with an assassin. He sighs. “When I was little, I also had this idea in my head to marry my one and only. Give it a few years and you won’t have the inclination to stay with one person forever any longer. By next year, you’ll look back at yourself today and realise how utterly laughable you are.”
Duan Ling feels startled, but he also knows he’s succeeded. Mu Kuangda has accepted this seemingly preposterous, yet perfectly logical explanation.
“Once you get to Ye,” Mu Kuangda says, “be doubly careful about everything. Every letter you write here and back will take almost a month to travel, and distant solutions are no remedy for problems near at hand — I won’t be able to help you.”
Duan Ling breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank you, master.”
“I’ll try to find some way to get you transferred back here as soon as possible. Have some pity on your teacher, alright? Aside from Huang Jian, I don’t have anyone I can use at court at present. Once you leave, you’ll be gone for at least a year. All this hard work to teach you both, and somehow you end up working away from the capital — it’s downright a waste of good court talent.”
Duan Ling nods.
Mu Kuangda adds, “Go on. Don’t say too much to Wu Du now.”
Honestly, Duan Ling finds Mu Kuangda harder to deal with than everyone he’s had to see today added up together. However, he knows he’s finally managed to muddle by. Once he gets back though, he’ll have to be extremely careful. After all, he can’t keep on simply acting without asking for permission.
After saying goodbye to Mu Kuangda, he finds Wu Du waiting outside the door. Duan Ling gives him a smile to signal that he’s succeeded.
“I’m going to go see Mu Qing. We’ll have to leave tomorrow.”
And so Wu Du nods and walks over there with him. Mu Qing is already asleep; Duan Ling sends the servants away and heads inside on his own, and lies down at the edge of the bed.
Outside, the roosters are already calling. The sky gradually brightens.
“Mu Qing,” Duan Ling says.
Mu Qing turns over in a daze. "Ah, it’s you.”
“I have to head out today,” Duan Ling replies.
Mu Qing hums in reply, turns over onto his chest, and continues to sleep.
“Take care of yourself.”
Mu Qing is beginning to snore again, clearly taking none of what Duan Ling is saying to heart. But Duan Ling smiles and gets up to go.
By now, the sky has completely brightened, and Duan Ling stands in the courtyard; a night spent entirely awake has him feeling a bit restless. Sun Ting has already gotten up, and he’s tidying up the courtyard for them. Wu Du goes inside to pack their things. He says to Duan Ling, “Go on, get some sleep. They already have everything arranged, and will be waiting for us at the city gates at high noon.”
Duan Ling really can’t keep himself awake any longer, and collapsing on the bed, he’s asleep before he realises it. The last thing he hears is Sun Ting saying to Wu Du, “What’s the matter with the young master?”
Wu Du doesn’t say anything at all. He must have gestured for quiet though, for all the noises outside seem to fade away.
Duan Ling falls into a deep, dark sleep, and he has no idea how long he’s been sleeping when he feels a hand touching him. He’s surrounded by darkness, and Wu Du’s lips are warm and soft as they carry water to his mouth; after long hours of sleep Duan Ling happens to be thirsty, so he drinks some. Wu Du brings him some more with his mouth, and he drinks that too.
After feeding him the water, Wu Du’s tongue is still cool to the touch, and as if meaning to tease, it slips once more into Duan Ling’s mouth, catching the tip of his tongue. Just waking up and kissing this way, Duan Ling feels himself getting hard between his legs and his breathing grows urgent. Half asleep, he reaches out to touch Wu Du.
Duan Ling has lost his outer layer of robes at some point, and he’s only dressed in his underclothes. He opens his eyes blearily to find the bed shaking something awful, and he’s surrounded by a dim, yellow light shining into the space through a cloth curtain, painting everything in the small room a warm orange.
Wu Du, meanwhile, is dressed all in white, his arms wrapped around Duan Ling, his weight holding him down as he kisses him.
“Where are we?” Duan Ling feels himself rocking back and forth.
“Shh.” There’s the slightest upward curl in the corner of Wu Du’s mouth. “We’re in a carriage.”
Duan Ling is surprised awake in an instant. They’re on the road already? He keeps getting this feeling as though he’s left so many things unfinished, but they’ve already left?!
“You were really sleepy so I didn’t wake you. I carried you onto the carriage.”
Duan Ling murmurs, “Really?”
Inside the carriage, there’s a medium-sized daybed barely big enough for one person to sleep upon, but it really feels like quite the squeeze with two of them crowding onto it, holding each other. Duan Ling gets on his knees and opens the carriage curtains so he can look outside; the setting sun is so bright it makes him squint. From what he can see, they’ve already reached the highway.
Wu Du pulls Duan Ling back to him with an arm wrapped around his waist, and holding him down on the bed, continues to kiss him.
“There’s no one else here,” Wu Du whispers, “and no one is going to come in here.”
Duan Ling grows hot under his kisses, feeling extremely shy. But Wu Du is showing him no quarter with one hand roaming all over his body, while the bridge of his nose is rubbing up against his as he sucks on Duan LIng’s lower lip.
A sense of novelty and excitement rushes through Duan Ling like a spring; this moment has come both too quickly and too suddenly.
The setting sun spills its light like gold onto the highway; it’s an early summer afternoon, filled with radiant sunshine, and their caravan of carriages drive along the highway as they leave Jiangzhou behind on their way to the north.
Inside the carriage, they’re both breathing hard, and Wu Du has already mercilessly stripped Duan Ling of all of his remaining clothing. It’s the first time Duan Ling is entirely naked in front of Wu Du since they pledged their love to each other, and he feels unbearably embarrassed. Wu Du sits up with his arms around Duan Ling, his mouth trailing down to Duan Ling’s nipples, teasing him softly with his tongue.
Duan Ling’s cheeks are flushed crimson as he kneels with his legs apart, his knees to either side of Wu Du’s waist. He pushes his palm against Wu Du’s chin, making him look up. They share a brief kiss before Wu Du kisses a line down Duan Ling’s chest.
Years of archery practice has given Duan Ling beautiful muscles over his shoulders and his back; slim pectorals cover his chest, and the silhouette of abdominal muscles on his lower abdomen is even more pronounced. He has a strong and gracefully shaped waist, where Wu Du’s kisses follow the dips and arches as they make their way down to his groin.
“Don—don’t!” Duan almost starts yelling, so nervous he can barely stand it. Wu Du gives that thing a single lick, and Duan Ling feels himself stiffening all over.
Wu Du laughs; Duan Ling’s cheeks are suffused with a bright blush. He’s stark naked, while Wu Du is still dressed in his underclothes, which only makes him feel even more mortified. He whispers, “Are you going to take off your clothes?”
Wu Du looks him up and down with a perfectly impassive face. Duan Ling is already mortified to the extreme, and finding this entirely unfair, he starts pulling at the short rope holding Wu Du’s shirt closed. Wu Du, for his part, is rather generous about the whole thing, and after stripping down to nothing he sits with his legs apart to show Duan Ling the erect, thick cock jutting from his crotch. “We’re like an old married couple already. What’s there to be embarrassed about?”
Duan Ling finds himself holding his breath; they’re each taking the measure of the other’s naked body. Wu Du has well-defined muscles, glowing with vigour and strength, its male beauty immediately arousing Duan Ling’s desires.
“Like what you see?” Wu Du says next to Duan Ling’s ear, "Stare as much as you want, you little pervert. Groping me all day long the way you do, I just knew you liked men.”
Wu Du’s cock is long and thick, its tip reaching all the way up to his belly button. Duan Ling touches it, but after just a light rub with the palm of his hand, Wu Du is letting out a shaky breath and wrapping his arms around him again, turning to his side and making Duan Ling lie down.
“Turn over,” Wu Du whispers.
Duan Ling does as he’s told. He makes Wu Du hold onto him from behind, with that thing pressing against his buttocks, rubbing up and down. This feeling of holding each other naked, skin to skin and rubbing against each other, fills Duan Ling with a sense of gratification.
“Do you like it?” Wu Du says by Duan Ling’s ear.
“Yeah … I do.” Duan Ling turns his head to kiss Wu Du, reaching behind him to slide his hand over Wu Du’s waist and buttocks.
Wu Du holds onto him and rubs up against him for a little while longer before he whispers, “I’m coming in.”
“Come on then.” Duan Ling’s heart keeps pounding. “How are you going to come in?”
Wu Du turns to his side, digging out a small box from beneath the daybed, and opens it to reveal a pan of sweet-smelling balm. Duan Ling gives it one sniff before Wu Du applies some of the balm to that thing of his, and some over Duan Ling’s entrance. Then, without saying anything more, he presses his cock up against Duan Ling’s ass and slowly pushes his way in.
At that moment, they’re both more nervous than they’ve ever been; when Duan Ling feels that thing pushing inside of him, the first thought that comes into his head is ahhhhh, that really hurts! It hurts it hurts it hurts—!
The sensation of being forcefully pushed open hurts so much that he nearly cries out, shaking like a leaf.
“Does it hurt?” Wu Du asks.
All Duan Ling does is breathe in and out, gasping without words, trying to endure it. This is too different from how he’d imagined it to feel — why would anyone want to be treated this way? But for Wu Du’s sake, he can endure it. However, no part of this feels pleasurable at all.
Wu Du holds still, his chest pressed skin to skin over Duan Ling’s back, his heart beating so hard that even Duan Ling can feel it.
“If it hurts then forget it,” Wu Du says.
Duan Ling turns his head to say to him, “It doesn’t … doesn’t hurt.”
“There are tears coming out of your eyes,” Wu Du says remorsefully, “Forget it.”
“Don’t,” Duan Ling says. He has a feeling they must be missing something, and maybe if they wait for a little while he’ll be fine. And so he reaches behind him to hold onto Wu Du’s hip, keeping him from pulling out. He turns again also to give him a brief kiss.
“I love you.” Duan Ling smiles. “I want to do this with you … I want to be entered … by you, Wu Du.”
Wu Du’s breath rate accelerates at once, but he doesn’t dare move lest he hurt Duan Ling, so he just remains inside, holding still. Duan Ling takes a deep breath, feeling a lot better already. That sudden, sharp pain he felt before has turned into wave after wave of dull pain from distension, which is something he can tolerate.
“Come on …” Duan Ling whispers, “Come in a little bit more.”
Wu Du swallows and pushes just slightly to keep entering him, and only then is his thick cock finally, completely inside. At that moment Duan Ling gets this utterly odd feeling that he can really feel them slotting together, seamlessly joined as one.
“Does it still hurt?” Wu Du asks quietly.
“It … won’t hurt anymore.” With his eyes closed, Duan Ling tries to feel the big, pulsing thing inside of him. It only hurt when it first started pushing in, but once it’s deep inside of him, all he feels is a satisfying fullness.
Wu Du begins to thrust in and out slowly, then, and Duan Ling immediately cries out, “Ah!”
It sounds half like a moan, as though involuntary, sending a jolt through Wu Du at once; he breathes heavily, his hands wandering over Duan Ling’s chest, pinching his nipples and caressing his abs as he slowly thrusts into him. His hand reaches lower, and as he pushes his way inside again he wraps his fingers around Duan Ling’s cock.
“Ah …” Duan Ling begins to moan in earnest, and the sound he’s making is entirely instinctive but also seems to be entirely under Wu Du’s control. Wu Du thrusts lightly several times, and Duan Ling feels a wave of pleasure spreading through his body, and as Wu Du thrusts deeper into him, it seems like he’s feeling so good that his own cock is starting to swell to an erection.
“You’re hard,” Wu Du says, astonished, and a smile spreads across his face. "Does it feel that good?”
“It’s …” Duan Ling really can’t put that feeling into words, and swallowing with some difficulty, he says, “It feels pretty … good … it’s a bit … nice.”
“Really? You feel good?” He grasps Duan Ling’s cock in between his fingers, stroking over the glans, and with Wu Du’s cock thrusting into him from behind, precum begins to flow out of Duan Ling’s cock uncontrollably.
“Ah ah …” Even the tone of his cries have changed into a kind of gasping; he can feel Wu Du’s thrusting getting faster and faster, and when he’s buried all the way to the hilt it sends a tremor through Duan LIng’s entire body as pleasure gathers inside him, building layer by layer, bringing him to greater heights.
He’s moaning reflexively, turning his head so he can see Wu Du. Wu Du sits up by pushing against the daybed with one hand, and he wraps Duan Ling’s legs behind his waist so he can sit up between Duan Ling’s legs, spread wide open, where he can look down at Duan Ling’s naked body as he keeps thrusting in and out of him.
Duan Ling’s face is flushed red; they’re both completely naked, and being stared at by Wu Du this way makes him feel so embarrassed he can die, but his body is caught up in the pleasure. Every time Wu Du is buried to the hilt inside of him, he can’t help trembling all over.
There’s a glow in Wu Du’s cheeks as if quite enjoying the look on Duan Ling’s face. He leans over, folds himself over him, and presses his lips to Duan Ling’s.
“Do you like it?”
“I like it,” Duan Ling says, gasping, “Wu Du, kiss me.”
Wu Du gives him a kiss that’s both lingering and deep; as their lips pull apart, Duan Ling stares at Wu Du’s body, watching Wu Du thrust into him again and again, and Duan Ling finds his emotions so overflowing that he can’t seem to hold them anymore, so much so that his heart is spilling over, so moved that he cannot help but cry.
Wu Du looks startled and wraps his arms around him. “What are you crying about?”
Duan Ling wants to hold it in, but he can’t help himself. Leaning in over him, Wu Du keeps kissing him as his cock continues to plough into Duan Ling’s body, moving in and out of his entrance. Tears seep from Duan Ling’s eyes as he moans; he can no longer speak. Provoked by his reaction, Wu Du loses control, as though a beast has been let loose inside of him, he kisses Duan Ling as he continues to assail his body without restraint, thrusting into him in a frenzy.
As Wu Du frantically bumps and brushes against him on the inside, the pleasure finally erupts within Duan Ling’s body. He has this feeling of incontinence as though he’s lost control of himself, a tingling sensation rising into his cock that’s both sore and swollen. Somehow, stream after stream of semen is spurting out of his cock. Even after a long time has passed and the pleasure has faded away, his ass is still contracting.
Wu Du breathes out shakily, “I … went off.”
Duan Ling looks down at the mess in front of him and Wu Du with reddened cheeks. They’re both covered in a captivating smell.
“Put on your clothes.” Wu Du is starting to get embarrassed now, and he helps Duan Ling into his clothes.
Duan Ling keeps looking at the floor, so embarrassed he can die, and after he has his underclothes on Wu Du starts putting clothes on himself. Neither of them says anything. Wu Du gives his crotch area a wipe with a cloth before he pulls Duan Ling to him with one arm and wipes down his belly. “Does it still hurt?”
“It doesn’t … doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Wu Du pauses, thinking. “I’ll … I’ll go draw some water and clean you up.”
“Never mind. Let’s worry about that when we get there.”
“We’re almost at the posthouse anyway,” Wu Du says. “I’ll go have a look around.”
Wu Du seems to be quite embarrassed, and as he’s about to go, something occurs to him and he turns around to give Duan Ling another brief kiss on the lips. Then he picks up a blanket and covers him with it.
Duan Ling tries hard not to laugh. He opens the carriage’s curtains so he can look outside. He sees Wu Du getting off the carriage, and they stop for a time; before long, they’re on their way again. There are several houses in the distance, and farther still, there’s a village. They’ve arrived at a posthouse.
This caravan includes Sun Ting, Yan Di, Wang Zheng, as well as Lin Yunqi and his entire family along with his servants. Some men who used to work closely with Wang Zheng back then in the army are also with them, more than twenty of them in all, and they’re people Mu Kuangda went out of his way to arrange to come on this mission. Altogether their caravan has close to forty people in it, with six more carriages and a number of horses following them closely behind.
The posthouse immediately turns into a bastion of commotion as soon as their party heads inside. After indulging in their passions in the carriage earlier, Duan Ling’s neck is still glowing red and he looks rather breathless. Whenever anyone passes him by, they bow and call him my lord.
Duan Ling feels awkward and bewildered, returning these gestures right away as he continues heading into the posthouse. When he notices that they’re carrying around tea things, he tells them, "Let me help.”
With so many people, the waiters in the posthouse really can’t deal with everything all at once, so Duan Ling grabs a stack of bowls and starts handing them out. When he starts pouring water, his underlings are startled half to death. They hurriedly tell him, “Sit down, my lord! I can do this! Let us do this!”
Duan Ling settles down behind the screen, but when he still hears some kids making a ruckus he peeks out from behind the screen to have a look at them. They’re the Lin family’s kids, a boy and a girl, cute as anything. The place just feels more lively when there are children around. He cannot help but think that if Wu Du was able to marry, he’d likely be a father by now.
He glances up at Wu Du, and as if they can read each other’s minds, Wu Du casually looks up to meet his eyes for a heartbeat before he looks away, handing down an order to Wang Zheng’s people to go on patrol.
Aside from being an Assistant Prefect, Wang Zheng had also gone into battle alongside the army. Even though he’s no expert compared to those masters of the martial arts, he’s competent enough for war and battle. Wu Du arranges missions for them to set up a watch in the vicinity before he’s off to check whether the food in the kitchen is clean, to see if there may be any problems.
For a while, there’s quite the hubbub in the posthouse until the waiters bring them each a bowl of noodles, then everyone quiets down and nobody speaks, for they’re all too busy eating noodles. Yan Di is even having a drink, and everyone joins in on the conversation from time to time, but since they don’t know what Duan Ling is really like, they’re all walking on eggshells around him.
Wu Du sits down next to Duan Ling. “It’s not as good as the noodles from Best Noodles In the Realm, so you’ll have to make do. I asked Zheng Yan for a book of recipes before we left. Once we get to Ye, we’ll get that sorted somehow.”
Duan Ling feels utterly moved by this. Wu Du hurries him, telling him to eat already. “Come on, eat eat eat.”
“You should eat some more.” Duan Ling picks some of his own noodles out of his bowl and puts it in Wu Du’s. “Are you tired?”
Something seems to occur to Wu Du and he nearly sprays his food all over the table, working so hard to hold it in that his face flushes red. But he can’t help but want to laugh.
“Want me to fill up so I can work harder, huh?” Wu Du stares at Duan Ling, lips quirking into a roguish smile.
Duan Ling is immediately embarrassed and tries to hide it by having a sip of tea. As they’re sitting in front of a low table cross-legged, Wu Du stretches one leg over and casually leaves it on top of Duan Ling’s knees. Duan Ling tries to push it away, but Wu Du simply puts it back again. After several more fruitless attempts to dislodge him, Duan Ling can but leave it be.
Once they’ve had dinner, Duan Ling is staring into space when Lin Yunqi comes over to see him. “Lord Governor, would you like to have a look at the bookkeeping?”
Duan Ling recalls that the imperial court probably allocated funds for him to take office, as there’s no way they’d send him off without a copper. They don’t have an accounting department yet, so the list of names as well as the books are being handled by Lin Yunqi for now, including their funds. As soon as he’d gotten off the carriage, there were people carrying cases inside; since Ye doesn’t have a bank where they could exchange banknotes for cash, what’s inside the case must have been silver.
“Give me a total sum of our funds,” Duan Ling replies. “And let me take a look at the personnel list.”
Their retinue numbers thirty-seven people altogether, and nearly half of this total is taken up by Lin Yunqi, his family, and their servants. Wang Zheng’s old friends from the army both take care of the odd jobs as well as act as bailiffs under an assistant prefect, and they take up more than half the total, which leaves Yan Di, Sun Ting, himself, as well as Wu Du as the remaining four. Duan Ling has an inkling that Lin Yunqi has probably been told by Mu Kuangda that once he’s made this trip to Ye, he won’t be coming back, and that’s why he’s chosen to relocate his entire family.
Wang Zheng, on the other hand, has followed Duan Ling to Ye in order to build his career. Perhaps he can keep Wang Zheng with him in the future.
He’ll have to approach different people differently. Once Shi Qi arrives, he’ll have a bookkeeper, and that’ll make thirty-eight followers altogether. To his surprise, Mu Kuangda didn’t seem to have given too much thought to whom he’s putting in charge of the money. Perhaps it’s because most officials sent out of the capital are going to misappropriate some funds one way or another, so he feels no need to keep too close of an eye on the money.
Duan Ling suddenly feels this sense of responsibility by taking such a huge retinue to a wholly unfamiliar place — he can’t allow them to live in poverty, he can’t let them get sick, and most of all he can’t let them die … Previously he’d always gone on and on about his homeland and such big ideas, but no matter how he puts it, once there are lots of people it’s inevitable for them to become a statistic, while the thirty-seven people right there in front of him is a literal, heavy responsibility that he cannot shirk.
Once he finishes reading the list, he gets ready for bed, hoping that everything will go smoothly on their journey.
“Is anything happening outside?” Duan Ling notices that Wu Du has once again gone out to check the surrounding area.
“Go to sleep,” Wu Du replies. “All’s quiet out there.”
They lie down behind the screen. The posthouse puts out their lanterns, and moonlight spills into the room. These are extraordinary times, so the conditions of their lodgings along the way are rather crude. And the truth is, the farther north they go, their lodgings are only going to get worse; some places won’t even have individual rooms and everyone will have to sleep in the main hall, both eating and sleeping together.
Duan Ling pillows his head on Wu Du’s arm and leans into his chest, with a single thin blanket covering the both of them. All is quiet in the night; Wu Du takes Duan LIng’s hand, and knowing he’s still awake, gives him a brief kiss on the lips.
He leans in close to Duan Ling’s ear, and Duan Ling looks up thinking he’s going to whisper something sweet. But he never would have guessed that Wu Du is whispering in the quietest voice possible next to his ear, “Tomorrow, your lord is going to do you in.”
Duan Ling is stunned into silence.
Wu Du laughs, and turning to his side, he wraps his arms tightly around Duan Ling. Duan Ling can feel their cocks pressing up against each other through a layer of thin pants, and they kiss each other for a little while, but if they stay up any longer they won’t have any energy tomorrow, so they can only go to sleep.
Five miles away, about a dozen or so bodies in black clothes are lying haphazardly on the side of the road.
A man in black bends down and wipes his sword clean on one of the bodies, and plucks the tokens from each of the dead — the personal copper tokens of the Shadow Guard. He then gathers up all their weapons and tosses them into the river before dragging the bodies into a farm field by the road, arranging them in a pile, and adding firewood. After he does this, he steps away from them, and ignoring their presence, starts munching down some dry rations.
Once he finishes eating, the assassin pats his clothes down to remove any crumbs, and whistles at the birds flying in under the moonlight looking for food. He lies down right where he’s been standing and goes to sleep. As the sky begins to brighten, that’s when he lights the pile of bodies on fire, burning them.
It is the time of year for the summer harvest, followed closely by the summer planting, and there are plenty of farmsteads along both sides of the road burning straw piles; passersby are not going to take note of the thick smoke. The assassin finishes burning the bodies, and with a bundle strapped across his back, he continues his journey northwards.
I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎
He quoted a line of prose by Su Shi (Su Dongpo), but seems to have swapped the moon and people lines. ↩︎
Mu Kuangda is immediately at a loss for words; there’s a bit of anger in his gaze as he stares at Duan Ling.
“Why must you be so stubborn?” Mu Kuangda says.
Feeling as though on pins and needles, Duan Ling does not speak again.
“One day, you’re going to destroy yourself on your impulses.”
Duan Ling still isn’t saying anything.
Wu Du has also maintained his silence. Mu Kuangda is suddenly finding this comical to the extreme — what on earth is this? The one apprentice whom he believes would go the farthest in life is in love with a man, so far gone that he would throw away his own future; this is even making Mu Kuangda look like he’s the one trying to break up a couple or something. It’s such a ridiculous reason, and yet combined with how Duan Ling had reacted in their meeting before this, it leaves Mu Kuangda with little choice but to believe him.
“So you two are off to elope then?” Mu Kuangda adds, “Are you even coming back, Sir Tertius Scholar?”
Duan Ling keeps nodding, “I’ll come back.”
Mu Kuangda suddenly flies into a rage and yells, “Wang Shan! What on earth even goes into that head of yours?!”
Mu Kuangda has finally blown up on him, so angry that he’s whipping all the letters off the table, throwing them against Duan Ling’s head. Duan Ling immediately gets down on one knee, not daring to make excuses for himself.
Wu Du is about to say something, but then Duan Ling is turning back to look at him. He winks.
“Wu Du, outside,” Mu Kuangda says coldly.
Duan Ling picks up all the letters and stacks them back neatly on the table.
Mu Kuangda takes a sip of tea and breaks the silence. “Wang Shan, you’d better listen up.”
“Certainly,” Duan Ling replies.
“You’re all grown up so you have the guts to work against me now, do you? I wanted Wu Du to join the Eastern Palace, so you went and pulled your little trick so you can run away with him?”
“That’s not my intention at all. I just … wanted to spend more time with him. Master, this is my heart’s desire, the only one I’ve ever had in my entire life.”
Staring at Duan Ling, Mu Kuangda realises that he really can’t comprehend him. Voice trembling, Duan Ling says, “Master, please just let me have this. Whatever you want me to do for you in the future, through water through fire, even if it’s climbing a mountain of swords I’d … I’d do anything.”
What with all that Duan Ling has made him go through tonight, Mu Kuangda doesn’t even know what to do anymore.
“To live in the world,” Mu Kuangda tells him in grave earnestness, “one must learn to live with not getting everything one wants. The moon waxes and wanes, oft hide behind clouds; people have joys and sorrows, partings and reunions, rarely are things perfect, don’t you get that?” 2
Duan Ling kneels motionless behind the desk.
“What sort of sick obsession is it with the two of you?” Mu Kuangda lowers his voice. “Is it something about Wu Du you can’t live without? Is he good in bed? Lust blinds one’s judgement, don’t you get that? Never mind whether leaving the capital for Ye is a reasonable thing to do, but this is the reason you’re openly pitting yourself against me? Or is Wu Du the one forcing you to do it?”
“He didn’t. It was an idea I came up with on my own. The other officials must believe that my volunteering for a post outside the capital was your suggestion … And if I can win the city of Ye … It would surely be of great advantage to Great Chen … and there’d be no disadvantages at all.”
“Oh never mind.” Mu Kuangda just feels both physically and mentally exhausted — after all this talk it turns out that his apprentice is going to elope with an assassin. He sighs. “When I was little, I also had this idea in my head to marry my one and only. Give it a few years and you won’t have the inclination to stay with one person forever any longer. By next year, you’ll look back at yourself today and realise how utterly laughable you are.”
Duan Ling feels startled, but he also knows he’s succeeded. Mu Kuangda has accepted this seemingly preposterous, yet perfectly logical explanation.
“Once you get to Ye,” Mu Kuangda says, “be doubly careful about everything. Every letter you write here and back will take almost a month to travel, and distant solutions are no remedy for problems near at hand — I won’t be able to help you.”
Duan Ling breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank you, master.”
“I’ll try to find some way to get you transferred back here as soon as possible. Have some pity on your teacher, alright? Aside from Huang Jian, I don’t have anyone I can use at court at present. Once you leave, you’ll be gone for at least a year. All this hard work to teach you both, and somehow you end up working away from the capital — it’s downright a waste of good court talent.”
Duan Ling nods.
Mu Kuangda adds, “Go on. Don’t say too much to Wu Du now.”
Honestly, Duan Ling finds Mu Kuangda harder to deal with than everyone he’s had to see today added up together. However, he knows he’s finally managed to muddle by. Once he gets back though, he’ll have to be extremely careful. After all, he can’t keep on simply acting without asking for permission.
After saying goodbye to Mu Kuangda, he finds Wu Du waiting outside the door. Duan Ling gives him a smile to signal that he’s succeeded.
“I’m going to go see Mu Qing. We’ll have to leave tomorrow.”
And so Wu Du nods and walks over there with him. Mu Qing is already asleep; Duan Ling sends the servants away and heads inside on his own, and lies down at the edge of the bed.
Outside, the roosters are already calling. The sky gradually brightens.
“Mu Qing,” Duan Ling says.
Mu Qing turns over in a daze. "Ah, it’s you.”
“I have to head out today,” Duan Ling replies.
Mu Qing hums in reply, turns over onto his chest, and continues to sleep.
“Take care of yourself.”
Mu Qing is beginning to snore again, clearly taking none of what Duan Ling is saying to heart. But Duan Ling smiles and gets up to go.
By now, the sky has completely brightened, and Duan Ling stands in the courtyard; a night spent entirely awake has him feeling a bit restless. Sun Ting has already gotten up, and he’s tidying up the courtyard for them. Wu Du goes inside to pack their things. He says to Duan Ling, “Go on, get some sleep. They already have everything arranged, and will be waiting for us at the city gates at high noon.”
Duan Ling really can’t keep himself awake any longer, and collapsing on the bed, he’s asleep before he realises it. The last thing he hears is Sun Ting saying to Wu Du, “What’s the matter with the young master?”
Wu Du doesn’t say anything at all. He must have gestured for quiet though, for all the noises outside seem to fade away.
Duan Ling falls into a deep, dark sleep, and he has no idea how long he’s been sleeping when he feels a hand touching him. He’s surrounded by darkness, and Wu Du’s lips are warm and soft as they carry water to his mouth; after long hours of sleep Duan Ling happens to be thirsty, so he drinks some. Wu Du brings him some more with his mouth, and he drinks that too.
After feeding him the water, Wu Du’s tongue is still cool to the touch, and as if meaning to tease, it slips once more into Duan Ling’s mouth, catching the tip of his tongue. Just waking up and kissing this way, Duan Ling feels himself getting hard between his legs and his breathing grows urgent. Half asleep, he reaches out to touch Wu Du.
Duan Ling has lost his outer layer of robes at some point, and he’s only dressed in his underclothes. He opens his eyes blearily to find the bed shaking something awful, and he’s surrounded by a dim, yellow light shining into the space through a cloth curtain, painting everything in the small room a warm orange.
Wu Du, meanwhile, is dressed all in white, his arms wrapped around Duan Ling, his weight holding him down as he kisses him.
“Where are we?” Duan Ling feels himself rocking back and forth.
“Shh.” There’s the slightest upward curl in the corner of Wu Du’s mouth. “We’re in a carriage.”
Duan Ling is surprised awake in an instant. They’re on the road already? He keeps getting this feeling as though he’s left so many things unfinished, but they’ve already left?!
“You were really sleepy so I didn’t wake you. I carried you onto the carriage.”
Duan Ling murmurs, “Really?”
Inside the carriage, there’s a medium-sized daybed barely big enough for one person to sleep upon, but it really feels like quite the squeeze with two of them crowding onto it, holding each other. Duan Ling gets on his knees and opens the carriage curtains so he can look outside; the setting sun is so bright it makes him squint. From what he can see, they’ve already reached the highway.
Wu Du pulls Duan Ling back to him with an arm wrapped around his waist, and holding him down on the bed, continues to kiss him.
“There’s no one else here,” Wu Du whispers, “and no one is going to come in here.”
Duan Ling grows hot under his kisses, feeling extremely shy. But Wu Du is showing him no quarter with one hand roaming all over his body, while the bridge of his nose is rubbing up against his as he sucks on Duan LIng’s lower lip.
A sense of novelty and excitement rushes through Duan Ling like a spring; this moment has come both too quickly and too suddenly.
The setting sun spills its light like gold onto the highway; it’s an early summer afternoon, filled with radiant sunshine, and their caravan of carriages drive along the highway as they leave Jiangzhou behind on their way to the north.
Inside the carriage, they’re both breathing hard, and Wu Du has already mercilessly stripped Duan Ling of all of his remaining clothing. It’s the first time Duan Ling is entirely naked in front of Wu Du since they pledged their love to each other, and he feels unbearably embarrassed. Wu Du sits up with his arms around Duan Ling, his mouth trailing down to Duan Ling’s nipples, teasing him softly with his tongue.
Duan Ling’s cheeks are flushed crimson as he kneels with his legs apart, his knees to either side of Wu Du’s waist. He pushes his palm against Wu Du’s chin, making him look up. They share a brief kiss before Wu Du kisses a line down Duan Ling’s chest.
Years of archery practice has given Duan Ling beautiful muscles over his shoulders and his back; slim pectorals cover his chest, and the silhouette of abdominal muscles on his lower abdomen is even more pronounced. He has a strong and gracefully shaped waist, where Wu Du’s kisses follow the dips and arches as they make their way down to his groin.
“Don—don’t!” Duan almost starts yelling, so nervous he can barely stand it. Wu Du gives that thing a single lick, and Duan Ling feels himself stiffening all over.
Wu Du laughs; Duan Ling’s cheeks are suffused with a bright blush. He’s stark naked, while Wu Du is still dressed in his underclothes, which only makes him feel even more mortified. He whispers, “Are you going to take off your clothes?”
Wu Du looks him up and down with a perfectly impassive face. Duan Ling is already mortified to the extreme, and finding this entirely unfair, he starts pulling at the short rope holding Wu Du’s shirt closed. Wu Du, for his part, is rather generous about the whole thing, and after stripping down to nothing he sits with his legs apart to show Duan Ling the erect, thick cock jutting from his crotch. “We’re like an old married couple already. What’s there to be embarrassed about?”
Duan Ling finds himself holding his breath; they’re each taking the measure of the other’s naked body. Wu Du has well-defined muscles, glowing with vigour and strength, its male beauty immediately arousing Duan Ling’s desires.
“Like what you see?” Wu Du says next to Duan Ling’s ear, "Stare as much as you want, you little pervert. Groping me all day long the way you do, I just knew you liked men.”
Wu Du’s cock is long and thick, its tip reaching all the way up to his belly button. Duan Ling touches it, but after just a light rub with the palm of his hand, Wu Du is letting out a shaky breath and wrapping his arms around him again, turning to his side and making Duan Ling lie down.
“Turn over,” Wu Du whispers.
Duan Ling does as he’s told. He makes Wu Du hold onto him from behind, with that thing pressing against his buttocks, rubbing up and down. This feeling of holding each other naked, skin to skin and rubbing against each other, fills Duan Ling with a sense of gratification.
“Do you like it?” Wu Du says by Duan Ling’s ear.
“Yeah … I do.” Duan Ling turns his head to kiss Wu Du, reaching behind him to slide his hand over Wu Du’s waist and buttocks.
Wu Du holds onto him and rubs up against him for a little while longer before he whispers, “I’m coming in.”
“Come on then.” Duan Ling’s heart keeps pounding. “How are you going to come in?”
Wu Du turns to his side, digging out a small box from beneath the daybed, and opens it to reveal a pan of sweet-smelling balm. Duan Ling gives it one sniff before Wu Du applies some of the balm to that thing of his, and some over Duan Ling’s entrance. Then, without saying anything more, he presses his cock up against Duan Ling’s ass and slowly pushes his way in.
At that moment, they’re both more nervous than they’ve ever been; when Duan Ling feels that thing pushing inside of him, the first thought that comes into his head is ahhhhh, that really hurts! It hurts it hurts it hurts—!
The sensation of being forcefully pushed open hurts so much that he nearly cries out, shaking like a leaf.
“Does it hurt?” Wu Du asks.
All Duan Ling does is breathe in and out, gasping without words, trying to endure it. This is too different from how he’d imagined it to feel — why would anyone want to be treated this way? But for Wu Du’s sake, he can endure it. However, no part of this feels pleasurable at all.
Wu Du holds still, his chest pressed skin to skin over Duan Ling’s back, his heart beating so hard that even Duan Ling can feel it.
“If it hurts then forget it,” Wu Du says.
Duan Ling turns his head to say to him, “It doesn’t … doesn’t hurt.”
“There are tears coming out of your eyes,” Wu Du says remorsefully, “Forget it.”
“Don’t,” Duan Ling says. He has a feeling they must be missing something, and maybe if they wait for a little while he’ll be fine. And so he reaches behind him to hold onto Wu Du’s hip, keeping him from pulling out. He turns again also to give him a brief kiss.
“I love you.” Duan Ling smiles. “I want to do this with you … I want to be entered … by you, Wu Du.”
Wu Du’s breath rate accelerates at once, but he doesn’t dare move lest he hurt Duan Ling, so he just remains inside, holding still. Duan Ling takes a deep breath, feeling a lot better already. That sudden, sharp pain he felt before has turned into wave after wave of dull pain from distension, which is something he can tolerate.
“Come on …” Duan Ling whispers, “Come in a little bit more.”
Wu Du swallows and pushes just slightly to keep entering him, and only then is his thick cock finally, completely inside. At that moment Duan Ling gets this utterly odd feeling that he can really feel them slotting together, seamlessly joined as one.
“Does it still hurt?” Wu Du asks quietly.
“It … won’t hurt anymore.” With his eyes closed, Duan Ling tries to feel the big, pulsing thing inside of him. It only hurt when it first started pushing in, but once it’s deep inside of him, all he feels is a satisfying fullness.
Wu Du begins to thrust in and out slowly, then, and Duan Ling immediately cries out, “Ah!”
It sounds half like a moan, as though involuntary, sending a jolt through Wu Du at once; he breathes heavily, his hands wandering over Duan Ling’s chest, pinching his nipples and caressing his abs as he slowly thrusts into him. His hand reaches lower, and as he pushes his way inside again he wraps his fingers around Duan Ling’s cock.
“Ah …” Duan Ling begins to moan in earnest, and the sound he’s making is entirely instinctive but also seems to be entirely under Wu Du’s control. Wu Du thrusts lightly several times, and Duan Ling feels a wave of pleasure spreading through his body, and as Wu Du thrusts deeper into him, it seems like he’s feeling so good that his own cock is starting to swell to an erection.
“You’re hard,” Wu Du says, astonished, and a smile spreads across his face. "Does it feel that good?”
“It’s …” Duan Ling really can’t put that feeling into words, and swallowing with some difficulty, he says, “It feels pretty … good … it’s a bit … nice.”
“Really? You feel good?” He grasps Duan Ling’s cock in between his fingers, stroking over the glans, and with Wu Du’s cock thrusting into him from behind, precum begins to flow out of Duan Ling’s cock uncontrollably.
“Ah ah …” Even the tone of his cries have changed into a kind of gasping; he can feel Wu Du’s thrusting getting faster and faster, and when he’s buried all the way to the hilt it sends a tremor through Duan LIng’s entire body as pleasure gathers inside him, building layer by layer, bringing him to greater heights.
He’s moaning reflexively, turning his head so he can see Wu Du. Wu Du sits up by pushing against the daybed with one hand, and he wraps Duan Ling’s legs behind his waist so he can sit up between Duan Ling’s legs, spread wide open, where he can look down at Duan Ling’s naked body as he keeps thrusting in and out of him.
Duan Ling’s face is flushed red; they’re both completely naked, and being stared at by Wu Du this way makes him feel so embarrassed he can die, but his body is caught up in the pleasure. Every time Wu Du is buried to the hilt inside of him, he can’t help trembling all over.
There’s a glow in Wu Du’s cheeks as if quite enjoying the look on Duan Ling’s face. He leans over, folds himself over him, and presses his lips to Duan Ling’s.
“Do you like it?”
“I like it,” Duan Ling says, gasping, “Wu Du, kiss me.”
Wu Du gives him a kiss that’s both lingering and deep; as their lips pull apart, Duan Ling stares at Wu Du’s body, watching Wu Du thrust into him again and again, and Duan Ling finds his emotions so overflowing that he can’t seem to hold them anymore, so much so that his heart is spilling over, so moved that he cannot help but cry.
Wu Du looks startled and wraps his arms around him. “What are you crying about?”
Duan Ling wants to hold it in, but he can’t help himself. Leaning in over him, Wu Du keeps kissing him as his cock continues to plough into Duan Ling’s body, moving in and out of his entrance. Tears seep from Duan Ling’s eyes as he moans; he can no longer speak. Provoked by his reaction, Wu Du loses control, as though a beast has been let loose inside of him, he kisses Duan Ling as he continues to assail his body without restraint, thrusting into him in a frenzy.
As Wu Du frantically bumps and brushes against him on the inside, the pleasure finally erupts within Duan Ling’s body. He has this feeling of incontinence as though he’s lost control of himself, a tingling sensation rising into his cock that’s both sore and swollen. Somehow, stream after stream of semen is spurting out of his cock. Even after a long time has passed and the pleasure has faded away, his ass is still contracting.
Wu Du breathes out shakily, “I … went off.”
Duan Ling looks down at the mess in front of him and Wu Du with reddened cheeks. They’re both covered in a captivating smell.
“Put on your clothes.” Wu Du is starting to get embarrassed now, and he helps Duan Ling into his clothes.
Duan Ling keeps looking at the floor, so embarrassed he can die, and after he has his underclothes on Wu Du starts putting clothes on himself. Neither of them says anything. Wu Du gives his crotch area a wipe with a cloth before he pulls Duan Ling to him with one arm and wipes down his belly. “Does it still hurt?”
“It doesn’t … doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Wu Du pauses, thinking. “I’ll … I’ll go draw some water and clean you up.”
“Never mind. Let’s worry about that when we get there.”
“We’re almost at the posthouse anyway,” Wu Du says. “I’ll go have a look around.”
Wu Du seems to be quite embarrassed, and as he’s about to go, something occurs to him and he turns around to give Duan Ling another brief kiss on the lips. Then he picks up a blanket and covers him with it.
Duan Ling tries hard not to laugh. He opens the carriage’s curtains so he can look outside. He sees Wu Du getting off the carriage, and they stop for a time; before long, they’re on their way again. There are several houses in the distance, and farther still, there’s a village. They’ve arrived at a posthouse.
This caravan includes Sun Ting, Yan Di, Wang Zheng, as well as Lin Yunqi and his entire family along with his servants. Some men who used to work closely with Wang Zheng back then in the army are also with them, more than twenty of them in all, and they’re people Mu Kuangda went out of his way to arrange to come on this mission. Altogether their caravan has close to forty people in it, with six more carriages and a number of horses following them closely behind.
The posthouse immediately turns into a bastion of commotion as soon as their party heads inside. After indulging in their passions in the carriage earlier, Duan Ling’s neck is still glowing red and he looks rather breathless. Whenever anyone passes him by, they bow and call him my lord.
Duan Ling feels awkward and bewildered, returning these gestures right away as he continues heading into the posthouse. When he notices that they’re carrying around tea things, he tells them, "Let me help.”
With so many people, the waiters in the posthouse really can’t deal with everything all at once, so Duan Ling grabs a stack of bowls and starts handing them out. When he starts pouring water, his underlings are startled half to death. They hurriedly tell him, “Sit down, my lord! I can do this! Let us do this!”
Duan Ling settles down behind the screen, but when he still hears some kids making a ruckus he peeks out from behind the screen to have a look at them. They’re the Lin family’s kids, a boy and a girl, cute as anything. The place just feels more lively when there are children around. He cannot help but think that if Wu Du was able to marry, he’d likely be a father by now.
He glances up at Wu Du, and as if they can read each other’s minds, Wu Du casually looks up to meet his eyes for a heartbeat before he looks away, handing down an order to Wang Zheng’s people to go on patrol.
Aside from being an Assistant Prefect, Wang Zheng had also gone into battle alongside the army. Even though he’s no expert compared to those masters of the martial arts, he’s competent enough for war and battle. Wu Du arranges missions for them to set up a watch in the vicinity before he’s off to check whether the food in the kitchen is clean, to see if there may be any problems.
For a while, there’s quite the hubbub in the posthouse until the waiters bring them each a bowl of noodles, then everyone quiets down and nobody speaks, for they’re all too busy eating noodles. Yan Di is even having a drink, and everyone joins in on the conversation from time to time, but since they don’t know what Duan Ling is really like, they’re all walking on eggshells around him.
Wu Du sits down next to Duan Ling. “It’s not as good as the noodles from Best Noodles In the Realm, so you’ll have to make do. I asked Zheng Yan for a book of recipes before we left. Once we get to Ye, we’ll get that sorted somehow.”
Duan Ling feels utterly moved by this. Wu Du hurries him, telling him to eat already. “Come on, eat eat eat.”
“You should eat some more.” Duan Ling picks some of his own noodles out of his bowl and puts it in Wu Du’s. “Are you tired?”
Something seems to occur to Wu Du and he nearly sprays his food all over the table, working so hard to hold it in that his face flushes red. But he can’t help but want to laugh.
“Want me to fill up so I can work harder, huh?” Wu Du stares at Duan Ling, lips quirking into a roguish smile.
Duan Ling is immediately embarrassed and tries to hide it by having a sip of tea. As they’re sitting in front of a low table cross-legged, Wu Du stretches one leg over and casually leaves it on top of Duan Ling’s knees. Duan Ling tries to push it away, but Wu Du simply puts it back again. After several more fruitless attempts to dislodge him, Duan Ling can but leave it be.
Once they’ve had dinner, Duan Ling is staring into space when Lin Yunqi comes over to see him. “Lord Governor, would you like to have a look at the bookkeeping?”
Duan Ling recalls that the imperial court probably allocated funds for him to take office, as there’s no way they’d send him off without a copper. They don’t have an accounting department yet, so the list of names as well as the books are being handled by Lin Yunqi for now, including their funds. As soon as he’d gotten off the carriage, there were people carrying cases inside; since Ye doesn’t have a bank where they could exchange banknotes for cash, what’s inside the case must have been silver.
“Give me a total sum of our funds,” Duan Ling replies. “And let me take a look at the personnel list.”
Their retinue numbers thirty-seven people altogether, and nearly half of this total is taken up by Lin Yunqi, his family, and their servants. Wang Zheng’s old friends from the army both take care of the odd jobs as well as act as bailiffs under an assistant prefect, and they take up more than half the total, which leaves Yan Di, Sun Ting, himself, as well as Wu Du as the remaining four. Duan Ling has an inkling that Lin Yunqi has probably been told by Mu Kuangda that once he’s made this trip to Ye, he won’t be coming back, and that’s why he’s chosen to relocate his entire family.
Wang Zheng, on the other hand, has followed Duan Ling to Ye in order to build his career. Perhaps he can keep Wang Zheng with him in the future.
He’ll have to approach different people differently. Once Shi Qi arrives, he’ll have a bookkeeper, and that’ll make thirty-eight followers altogether. To his surprise, Mu Kuangda didn’t seem to have given too much thought to whom he’s putting in charge of the money. Perhaps it’s because most officials sent out of the capital are going to misappropriate some funds one way or another, so he feels no need to keep too close of an eye on the money.
Duan Ling suddenly feels this sense of responsibility by taking such a huge retinue to a wholly unfamiliar place — he can’t allow them to live in poverty, he can’t let them get sick, and most of all he can’t let them die … Previously he’d always gone on and on about his homeland and such big ideas, but no matter how he puts it, once there are lots of people it’s inevitable for them to become a statistic, while the thirty-seven people right there in front of him is a literal, heavy responsibility that he cannot shirk.
Once he finishes reading the list, he gets ready for bed, hoping that everything will go smoothly on their journey.
“Is anything happening outside?” Duan Ling notices that Wu Du has once again gone out to check the surrounding area.
“Go to sleep,” Wu Du replies. “All’s quiet out there.”
They lie down behind the screen. The posthouse puts out their lanterns, and moonlight spills into the room. These are extraordinary times, so the conditions of their lodgings along the way are rather crude. And the truth is, the farther north they go, their lodgings are only going to get worse; some places won’t even have individual rooms and everyone will have to sleep in the main hall, both eating and sleeping together.
Duan Ling pillows his head on Wu Du’s arm and leans into his chest, with a single thin blanket covering the both of them. All is quiet in the night; Wu Du takes Duan LIng’s hand, and knowing he’s still awake, gives him a brief kiss on the lips.
He leans in close to Duan Ling’s ear, and Duan Ling looks up thinking he’s going to whisper something sweet. But he never would have guessed that Wu Du is whispering in the quietest voice possible next to his ear, “Tomorrow, your lord is going to do you in.”
Duan Ling is stunned into silence.
Wu Du laughs, and turning to his side, he wraps his arms tightly around Duan Ling. Duan Ling can feel their cocks pressing up against each other through a layer of thin pants, and they kiss each other for a little while, but if they stay up any longer they won’t have any energy tomorrow, so they can only go to sleep.
Five miles away, about a dozen or so bodies in black clothes are lying haphazardly on the side of the road.
A man in black bends down and wipes his sword clean on one of the bodies, and plucks the tokens from each of the dead — the personal copper tokens of the Shadow Guard. He then gathers up all their weapons and tosses them into the river before dragging the bodies into a farm field by the road, arranging them in a pile, and adding firewood. After he does this, he steps away from them, and ignoring their presence, starts munching down some dry rations.
Once he finishes eating, the assassin pats his clothes down to remove any crumbs, and whistles at the birds flying in under the moonlight looking for food. He lies down right where he’s been standing and goes to sleep. As the sky begins to brighten, that’s when he lights the pile of bodies on fire, burning them.
It is the time of year for the summer harvest, followed closely by the summer planting, and there are plenty of farmsteads along both sides of the road burning straw piles; passersby are not going to take note of the thick smoke. The assassin finishes burning the bodies, and with a bundle strapped across his back, he continues his journey northwards.
I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎
He quoted a line of prose by Su Shi (Su Dongpo), but seems to have swapped the moon and people lines. ↩︎
