“Where’s Shen Jue?”
When Qiao Jiangyuan saw Yu Qing, the other man couldn’t wait to ask. Yu Qing seemed to have changed a bit more than he had a year or so ago. His figure had become more upright, his face was beautiful with a touch of perseverance, and there was a lingering fury in his eyes.
This was something only someone who had fought on the battlefield for years would possess.
Qiao Jiangyuan silently took the wine bottle in front of him, poured himself a glass of wine, and only after a while did he open his mouth.
“I thought he was with you.”
Yu Qing frowned slightly, “With me? Where did he go?”
Qiao Jiangyuan looked at the urgency in Yu Qing’s eyes and smiled slyly, he slowly sipped the red wine in his glass, “How should I know, go find him yourself.”
Yu Qing sniffed and directly grabbed Qiao Jiangyuan, lifting him up, the servants of the Qiao family were shocked when they saw him, and immediately rushed up to stop Yu Qing. But Qiao Jiangyuan held out a hand to stop them.
“I really don’t know, he didn’t tell me where he was going.” The corner of Qiao Jiangyuan’s lips held a hint of sarcasm, “I thought he was going to meet up with you, I didn’t realize that you’d been abandoned ah. Then the person he said he liked doesn’t seem to be you either.”
He laughed when he finished speaking, as if he found it very amusing.
Yu Qing only felt that the Qiao Jiangyuan in front of him seemed to have become insane, and his eyes held a touch of disgust, “I know that he gave you almost all of his possessions, how can you not know where he is?”
“How should I know?” Qiao Jiangyuan flinched, his eyes turned cold, “It’s not like he told me, if you want to find him, don’t look for him here with me.”
Yu Qing’s grip on Qiao Jiangyuan’s hand tightened, half a second later, he let go of the person in front of him.
There was nothing he could ask from Qiao Jiangyuan. He still decided to rely on himself, he didn’t escape this time, but was on a serious vacation for three months.
A few months ago, Shen Jue mentioned in his letter that he would be changing to a new place soon, so he couldn’t write, and said that he would take the initiative to write and tell Yu Qing the new address, but he hadn’t been able to wait for a letter from Shen Jue.
When he got a vacation, he couldn’t wait to rush back to the imperial capital, then he learnt that Shen Jue had left the imperial capital. Yu Qing even went to contact the nobles he had met at the banquet, but no one knew where Jue Shen had gone, but they all knew that he had gifted all of his possessions to Qiao Jiangyuan.
For the next two months, he pretty much tried to find Shen Jue, whether it was in the newspaper or by running to various cities that might have him, and finally he got a little bit of useful information.
There was a nobleman who had met Shen Jue by chance at a train station a few months ago, and at the time he casually asked him where he was going, and the answer the other man gave him was truly astonishing.
Shen Jue said he was going to a small town on the border between the Bloods and the humans.
That was where the majority of the Bloods lived, and it was also Yu Qing’s hometown.
Yu Qing froze for a moment when he learned that Shen Jue had gone there, but he quickly bought a ticket and made his way south. It was five days before he finally arrived in that small border town.
As soon as he stepped off the bus, Yu Qing sensed the difference between this place and the imperial capital. While most of the pedestrians in the imperial capital were well-dressed, the train station here was already surrounded by a group of beggars, who swarmed up when they saw someone getting off the train, and kept chanting for money and food.
He has been here before and knows that he couldn’t give alms, because once he did, the rest of the people who were still watching would also rush up, and then it was a question of whether or not he could leave the train station.
Compared to the others, Yu Qing squeezed out of the crowd with ease. Although those people wanted to surround Yu Qing, upon closer inspection of his overall temperament, they were somewhat hesitant to move.
Yu Qing left the train station, first found the city’s largest dental firm, the dental firm was in charge of housing rentals, Yu Qing spent a little money to get a few words from one of the staff of the dental firm.
A few months ago, a person who obviously looked like a nobleman came here to rent a house, he was living in the east part of the city. The man didn’t tell Yu Qing exactly which number he lived in, and only told Yu Qing to find it himself.
Although he was winded from his journey, he didn’t care to take a bath first, he wanted to see Shen Jue as soon as possible, so he went to the east side of the city again.
This time he bought some blood candy and distributed it to a few kids playing on the streets, asking them to inquire about anyone who had just moved to the area recently, and he made a point of talking about the man.
The children played on the streets all day long, sometimes they were better informed than the adults, in less than an hour, the children all came back one after another, and Yu Qing finally learned where Shen Jue lived.
The children spoke of an extremely kind adult who lived in the second-to-last house in the old town on the east side of the city.
When Yu Qing walked up to the door of that house, the door was closed, with a large lock on it, so it seemed like the person shouldn’t be home. He had to stand by the door and wait quietly, waiting until the sky turned an eerie blue color, he heard the sound of someone walking.
The sound of footsteps was very obvious on the empty street.
Yu Qing stood up straight and raised his head, catching a glimpse of the person not far away. That person had his head lowered, feeling something in his pocket while walking this way, and after a while, the person felt a key out of his pocket. He had just raised his head when he saw Yu Qing in the doorway.
The knots in Yu Qing’s throat rolled up and down, and his gaze was even more mesmerized as he looked at the person in front of him.
He had lost weight, his complexion was still sickly pale, and his suit looked a little wide even over his body.
Yu Qing took a silent breath, went forward and hugged the other person, he didn’t dare to exert himself, afraid that if he exerted himself, the other person would break.
That person seened to be a little surprised, he tilted his head back, “Why are you here?”
“That should be the question I ask you.” Yu Qing whispered, “Why are you here?”
Shen Jue didn’t say anything, and Yu Qing thought about it, deciding that there was no rush this instant, he took the key from the other man’s hand and stepped forward to unlock the door.
The house was small and cramped, and the air smelled wet, as if the floor had been seeping water for a long time. Yu Qing grabbed Shen Jue’s hand and walked inside, his brows furrowed, and when he saw the unexplained marks on the walls, the wooden stairs that creaked when he stepped on them, his expression became even more serious, “Come with me to a hotel.”
Shen Jue pulled his hand out of Yu Qing’s, “I don’t want to go, it’s fine here, if you want to go, go by yourself.”
Seeing this, Yu Qing took Shen Jue’s hand again, not letting the other break away, “Okay, I won’t go to a hotel, is your room upstairs?”
Shen Jue’s room was probably the only one in the house that could still be seen, but it wasn’t nearly as nice as Yu Qing’s original servant’s room in the manor.
The pipes in the corner hummed and made odd noises. The ceiling was even blackened by a large chunk, and it was unknown what had been smoked out.
Yu Qing looked at the environment and was a little disbelieving as to how Shen Jue had been living there for the past few days, but Shen Jue looked calm and collected, and when he removed his coat in front of Yu Qing, he said, “I’d like to take a bath first, is that okay?”
“Go on.” Yu Qing watched Shen Jue go to the bathroom and walked over to his bed, he reached down and touched the bed, it was hard as if it was a bedpan underneath.
He took this bath for a long time, and when he came out, a faint blush was smudging his pale face because he couldn’t regulate the temperature of the water.
He walked over to the bed and sat down, gently taking a towel to his hair, he then reached for the money from the pocket of his coat.
Yu Qing frowned when he saw the handful of scattered money, “What’s this?”
Shen Jue looked back at Yu Qing, seemingly a little surprised at his words, “This month’s living expenses, I’m figuring out how much I can spend each day to last me until I’m paid next month.”
But it had only been a year or so, and Yu Qing suddenly realized that Shen Jue seemed to have turned into a completely different person. The original Shen Jue had never cared about this kind of small amount of money, but now he had to count these bits and pieces several times over.
Feeling a little out of breath, Yu Qing couldn’t help but stand up and pace back and forth before asking in a low voice, ”Where are the others? The housekeeper? Where are Ye Ye and the others?”
“I dismissed them.” Shen Jue said calmly, “After all, I don’t have the money to hire them now.”
“Then why did you …… give all your possessions to Qiao Jiangyuan?”
Yu Qing wanted to ask, but for some reason he didn’t dare. He looked at Shin Jue with some annoyance, and finally could only say, “I’m going to take a shower first.”
Shen Jue’s water here was either the same as ice water, or the water was so hot that it could almost scald off a layer of skin, Yu Qing ended up taking an icy shower, luckily he was in good health now, otherwise he would have gotten sick.
After a bath, he was also more and more dissatisfied with this place, he couldn’t wait to take Shen Jue out immediately, he simply couldn’t imagine how the other party stayed here for a few months.
He didn’t see Shen Jue in his room when he came out.
Yu Qing had brought a small suitcase with him on this visit, he got some clothes out of it and put them on, and at that moment, Shen Jue pushed the door open and came in, “Do you want to eat something before you go to bed?”
Yu Qing looked back at him and realized that Shin Jue’s hand was actually holding a dinner plate, his expression couldn’t help but be stunned, “You ……” he took a breath and quickly walked over to Shen Jue’s face, taking the dinner plate over, “These are the things I was taught. It’ll be fine.”
His eyes flickered and he saw an extra tiny scratch on Shin Jue’s hand, a scratch that hadn’t been there just moments before.
Yu Qing’s heart was really complicated at this point, he put the dinner plate aside and held Shen Jue’s hand for a closer look before looking at the other, “Duke, come back with me.”
Shen Jue lowered his eyes and gently shook his head.
“Why?” Yu Qing furrowed his brows, “There isn’t a single good place here.”
“But I just like staying here, if you don’t like it, you can just leave yourself.” Shen Jue yanked his hand back.
……
Shen Jue refused to leave, so naturally Yu Qing couldn’t leave alone, he had to stay here temporarily, the other rooms weren’t cleaned and were completely uninhabitable, so Yu Qing made space on the floor that day.
The reason he didn’t sleep on the bed was because it was too small, and if he slept on it, Shen Jue wouldn’t have anywhere to sleep.
He laid on the floor, staring over at the bed without looking at it. Shen Jue was asleep with his back to him, as if he was already asleep. He sighed silently, really somewhat unable to fathom Shen Jue’s mind.
He now only hoped that the other party came here on a whim and wanted to come and experience the life of a commoner.
But for the next ten days or so, Yu Qing accompanied Shen Jue every day, no matter how much he tried to persuade him, Shen Jue was just determined to stay here, and if Yu Qing said he wanted to leave, he would ask him to go alone.
His return date to go back was getting closer and closer to the day, in fact, he took a vacation to find Shen Jue for another reason, he was going to be promoted, promoted to the vice general of the White Dragon Army, Wang Shengfeng, who was arrogant and domineering at the beginning, had his hand discarded on the battlefield, but the Wang family no longer dared to touch him.
Because someone above the army highly valued him, this three-month vacation was also granted on purpose.
He wanted to take Shen Jue to his promotion ceremony, but he was reluctant to leave, and even showed his intention to stay here for a long time.
Yu Qing went to the place where he worked now, a very small bank with an even more meager paycheck, and every day after the bank closed, he had to stay inside and work overtime to categorize and count all that money.
So he often came back at dawn.
The security here was also very poor, Yu Qing had only been here a few days, and the glass in the house Shen Jue had rented had been smashed twice. There was even someone who snuck in at night and climbed in to steal something, but luckily Yu Qing caught him.
He beat that thief up badly.
In this place, the judge was almost a virtual void.
He’d only been here for ten days, and he’d already seen too much dissatisfaction, and he simply couldn’t leave Shen Jue alone.
“Duke, come with me.” He put Shen Jue’s hand to his lips and said pleadingly, “This is not a good place.”
Shen Jue looked faint, “I said I’m not leaving, if you want to go, go by yourself.”
He pursed his lips, not knowing what to say, while it was true that it wasn’t long before he was due to leave, tomorrow he would have to leave, otherwise the army would take it as if he had refused the promotion. Then his efforts of these more than four years would be in vain, seeing that what he wanted was right in front of his eyes, as long as he put in more effort and made a few more great achievements, he might even be able to get the chance to be knighted.
But ……
But what about Shen Jue?
With him gone, what should Shen Jue do?
He stayed here and realized that Shen Jue couldn’t take care of himself at all, he was confused not to mention that he often hurt himself. How does a pampered nobleman learn to take care of himself in just a few months?
Yu Qing realized that there was now an invisible choice in front of him, either he stayed here with Shen Jue and he took care of him, or he went back and took the glory and riches that were within his reach.
When he was a child, his dream was to become a man of honor, and now that his dream was coming true, he couldn’t make a choice right away.
If he went back and She. Jue lived here alone, he hardly dared to imagine how long be would live here, and the long distance would not be conducive to a better relationship. His original thought was that he had made a great achievement and was knighted, so he could return to the imperial capital in style, but now ……
What to choose?
On one side was glory and wealth, and on the other side was the person he loved.
On the day when Yu Qing was about to leave, he couldn’t fall asleep, but Shen Jue got up early and brewed a cup of blood tea for him. He also told Yu Qing that this was his first time brewing and asked if it was good to drink.
Yu Qing drank the cup of blood tea cleanly, the bottom of the cup so clean that it almost reflected his face.
“Good?” Shen Jue smiled a little.
Yu Qing put the cup down and raised his eyes to look at the man in front of him. Shen Jue had changed, become more cheerful, despite the poverty of life here, he was always smiling, and would take the initiative to greet his neighbors, which before was simply impossible.
The arrogant Duke Shen Jue would only ever look at people with his nose.
Yu Qing suddenly realized that he had gone through all the trouble to climb up there in order to be worthy of the other party, but the other party had walked down from the magnificent ivory tower and walked into his eyes.
The corners of his lips couldn’t help but curve in a smile, “It’s delicious, I want to drink it every day in the future, is that okay?” As the words fell, he reached over to hold the other party’s hand on the table.
He thought clearly, compared to glory and wealth, he wanted to be with the other party, as long as they were together, whether it was poverty, or wealth, he could accept it.
When the bright moon he loved was high up in the clouds, he climbed the mountains and waded through the water, holding a ladder, trying to get close to the other person, when the bright moon he loved was cast on the water, he took away the ladder and went back to the same place to embrace the water.
As long as he was with the other person, he was fine.
Yu Qing wrote the letter and sent it to the army. The day he sent the letter, he was calm, but it was Shen Jue who asked him several times.
“Are you really not going back?”
“Uh-huh.” Yu Qing nodded, “I want to stay with you.”
Shen Jue watched Yu Qing drop the envelope into the red mailbox and his eyes changed for a split second, but unfortunately Yu Qing didn’t notice.
He happily led Shen Jue home after he mailed the letter, and discussed with him what he was going to eat today.
……
The days in the small border town were ordinary but happy, Yu Qing changed the bed in his room into a queen-sized bed, and every night he woke up to see the serene sleeping face of the person next to him, which made his whole heart soften, and he dealt with the letters sent by the army more relentlessly.
He got a hard job as a porter here, and every day was tiring, but he made a decent living. He took the paycheck and replaced the furniture in the house little by little, and also repainted the walls and plugged up the leaks.
Yu Qing also kept a row of flowers on the windowsill of the house, and he happily watered the ones he kept every day, and gave those flowers and plants names.
“Xiao Jue, good morning, need some water.”
“Xiao Shen, you look prettier, awesome.”
……
When Shen Jue heard these words, he silently took the slippers from the bottom of his bed and threw them at Yu Qing. Yu Qing, who had her back to Shen Jue, however, reacted sharply and dodged it, his pretty eyes having a smile that he couldn’t stop.
……
Yu Qing thought that he wouldn’t get tired of living like this for hundreds of years, but it seemed like there was always a time to wake up.
He accidentally found an iron box on top of the closet.
It was on a whim, he wanted to wipe the dust on the top of the closet, but he saw an iron box sitting in the corner above the closet.
The iron box was beautifully patterned, at a glance it wasn’t ordinary, and there was a lock on it.
In fact, he shouldn’t have opened it, but this box was like Pandora’s box, he suspected that something bad may happen, but he couldn’t help himself.
He pried open the lock and there were only two things inside the metal box, a diamond brooch and a diary.
Yu Qing’s face lost its blood color when he saw the broken diamond brooch.
TN:
Pure angst 😭