SMMW | Chapter 6

Wen Qing was grabbed by the arm and pinned against the wall. His forehead slammed into the wall’s surface. The wound mixed with dirty dust, and the pain came in thread after thread, continuous and unbroken. He had already prepared himself to be beaten.

Before any fist could land, he heard Zou Hui’s angry shout, and then Yuan Hao’s righteous voice.

“No time like the present. Yuan has delivered himself right to your door, and I absolutely will not sit by and watch such despicable conduct from the likes of you!”

Wen Qing struggled with all his strength and wanted to tell Yuan Hao to get away, but the two men Zou Hui had brought were simply too strong. He could not move them even the slightest bit.

Very soon, the sounds of fists and feet striking a human body came together with cries of pain. Yuan Hao was yelling so miserably that it sounded as if half his life had already been beaten out of him.

Unable to bear the sounds coming from nearby any longer, Wen Qing struggled even harder. Only this time, he broke free of the restraint with ease. Instinctively, he turned back toward the source of that voice, only to realize that it was Yuan Hao who had spoken, and what he had said was,

“Stop! Wen Qing is my lover!”

Zou Hui, his two lackeys, and Wen Qing, newly promoted into Longyang, all froze on the spot.

Wen Qing suspected he had heard wrong. Clearly, Zou Hui thought the same. His expression looked like he had just eaten rotten salted fish as he asked, “You… what did you just say?”

“Wen Qing and I, the two of us, are lovers, Longyang, rabbit boys…”

“Stop, stop, stop!” Zou Hui now looked as if he had eaten rotten dog shit. “Are you disgusting or not? You’d even say something like that just to avoid a beating!”

“I’m telling the truth. I’m a scholar too, and I care about my reputation as well. Would I make up something like this just to avoid getting beaten?”

“When it comes to this kind of thing, other people can’t hide fast enough. Even when they’re found out, they still try to deny it. Have you ever seen anyone rush to admit it themselves?”

“I truly can’t bear it. Seeing Wen Qing suffer hurts me too much, so that’s why I admitted it. Why do you still not believe me?”

Yuan Hao wore a look of having suffered a great wrong, and Zou Hui was starting to believe him a little. He turned back to look at Wen Qing.

Wen Qing: …

Zou Hui finally found salvation. “Look! Look at him like this. He only just found out too, didn’t he!”

Yuan Hao put on a heartbreakingly pained expression, the sort that made one’s teeth ache. “That’s because my Ah Qing got scared. He’s always been timid.”

Ignoring Zou Hui completely, Yuan Hao quickly walked to Wen Qing’s side and checked his injuries. “Ah Qing, how are you? Does anything hurt?”

Wen Qing: …

Zou Hui: …

Paying no attention to the eyes on them, Yuan Hao half-embraced Wen Qing, gently patted his shoulder, and even leaned their heads together, as if whispering some lover’s private words.

“We’re already halfway through the act, for fuck’s sake, brother, say something. Do I really look like I want to be gay?”

Wen Qing: ……………… Yes.

Zou Hui: ?

Wen Qing: “We… are close. We would not harbor any improper thoughts toward Miss Kong.”

“Ah Qing,” Yuan Hao said tenderly, “I will not fail you.”

Zou Hui: ………………

Zou Hui was furious beyond measure now. He was irritable, humiliated, prickling all over, the kind of grievance that came from stepping in dog shit and then not even being able to turn around and fight the dog shit back. He vented his anger on a small tree nearby. With one kick, the tree snapped clean through the middle. Only then did his anger ease a little, and he called for his men to leave.

Yuan Hao and Wen Qing still maintained that half-embrace, half-holding posture. Yuan Hao muttered in a low voice, “What brute strength. Good thing I didn’t charge in head-on, or I’d definitely have had to start over.”

“What?” Wen Qing had not heard very clearly.

Yuan Hao did not answer. He let go of Wen Qing and let out a long breath.

Wen Qing stood stiffly at the side and said quietly, “Thank you.”

Yuan Hao walked back two steps, crouched by the small stream that ran through the academy, took a clean handkerchief from his sleeve, dipped it in the stream, then turned and beckoned to Wen Qing. “Come here. Since I’m helping, I may as well help properly and clean your wound too.”

Wen Qing became a little flustered, then hesitated before crouching down beside Yuan Hao.

Yuan Hao paid no attention to his oddness and directly used the wet handkerchief to clean the blood and grime from Wen Qing’s forehead.

“Hiss!”

“It hurts?”

“…Mm.”

“If it hurts, then bear with it. You’re really stubborn enough, actually wanting to take a beating head-on.” Yuan Hao mocked him mercilessly.

“Thank you.” Wen Qing drooped as he thanked him again.

“Got it.” Yuan Hao took out a pouch from his chest, loosened the mouth of it, reached inside, and rummaged around until he found a medicinal herb.

He washed the handkerchief again in the stream, then washed the herb clean as well. Next, he wrapped the herb in the wet handkerchief and rubbed hard until green juice was squeezed out.

Yuan Hao pressed the herbal packet to Wen Qing’s forehead and explained, “This is tongcao. It can stop bleeding. Let’s apply it first and see whether it works.”

As he held the packet there, the distance between the two of them was only an arm’s length. It was simply too close. Wen Qing turned his gaze away awkwardly. After letting his eyes drift around for a while, he worked up the courage to turn them back and softly asked, “Do you really… have a liking for Longyang?”

Yuan Hao was stunned at first, then suddenly sprang straight up on the spot. He staggered backward several steps before managing to steady himself again. “Who!? Me??? That was to help you. What Longyang? I’m not, not!”

Wen Qing was startled by this sudden turn of events. He had not squatted steadily in the first place, so he dropped straight down onto the grass with a thump, one hand on the ground to keep his balance, while the other had to take over holding the medicine packet to his forehead. Even in all this confusion, he still did not forget to answer, “Alright, alright, you’re not.”

And after he said that, Yuan Hao exploded even more. “I really am not!”

“It’s alright. I don’t mind such things. I’ll keep your secret for you.”

“There’s no need for you to keep any secret. I don’t have any secret. I’m not Longyang, not!”

“Alright, alright, not.”

Yuan Hao kept pressing aggressively and demanded, “Not what?”

Wen Qing immediately replied, “Not Longyang.”

“Hmph. That’s more like it.” Yuan Hao sulkily crouched off to one side, turning his head to look at the stones instead of at Wen Qing.

The atmosphere was awkward. Wen Qing held the medicine packet with one hand and tore at the grass with the other. Suddenly, he remembered that he had not yet asked after the other man. “Were you hurt just now?” When he had been pinned down, he had not been able to turn around, but he had heard Yuan Hao’s miserable cries.

“No.” A dry reply of only one word.

“These… these herbs, did you gather them yourself?” Wen Qing started trying to make conversation for lack of anything else to say.

“Yes.” A dry reply of only one word.

“Then… may I take a look?”

“Go ahead.” Still just a dry two-word reply.

Wen Qing felt embarrassed by how coldly he was being left hanging. Freeing one hand, he went to look at the cloth bag holding the herbs and struggled laboriously to open it. Yuan Hao sulked for a while, but in the end could not bear to watch anymore. He came over on his own initiative and took out each herb one by one for him to see.

“The wound on your forehead needs another two or three days of poultice. These are all tongcao, so take a few stalks back with you. This one isn’t. This one is called…”

“Baiweizi!” Wen Qing hurriedly leaned in to look, so fast that he forgot to support the medicine packet. It was Yuan Hao who reacted quickly and held it in place for him.

“How do you have baiweizi!?” Wen Qing stared fixedly at that herb without blinking.

“Of course I found it on the mountain.”

“You gathered it yourself? You know how to gather herbs… On which mountain? Is it easy to find? Can you take me there? Can you sell this stalk to me? I’ll pay 50 qian!”

Grabbing Yuan Hao’s arm, Wen Qing looked at him with urgency and desperate longing, terrified that he might say no.

“…What do you want baiweizi for?”

“My mother has an old illness and needs to take medicine long-term. Baiweizi is an indispensable herb in it. But the apothecaries around here do not often have it, and if we buy it from farther away, it is all dried and transported here, so the medicinal strength is not enough.” As Wen Qing spoke, his tone gradually fell.

“I gather herbs in the mountains because my mother is ill too. What she needs is Golden Vine Flower, and that is even harder to find. There isn’t even any dried stock of it. Our situations are the same. I understand. This stalk of baiweizi is yours.”

Wen Qing accepted the herb with gratitude filling his heart. He ought to have insisted on giving some money, or gone on thanking him, but the rare opportunity, and his worry for his mother, overwhelmed his manners and pushed him to shamelessly take another step further. “…In the future… will you keep gathering herbs?”

“I will.”

“Can you take me with you?”

Yuan Hao smiled. “You’ve got no experience. You’d only waste your strength.”

“Then…” Wen Qing’s heart twisted with conflict. He harshly reproached himself, asking how he could possibly say such a thing. The other person was gathering herbs for his mother’s illness, yet he himself still wanted Yuan Hao to split his attention.

That self-reproach made his eyes flush red, yet with a trembling voice he still continued, “If, just by chance, you happen to find baiweizi, could you… give it to me?”

“I can pay a lot of money for it,” he quickly added in a low voice.

“No money. If I find it, I’ll give it to you.”

Only at that moment did Wen Qing dare look at Yuan Hao’s face. Because Yuan Hao was still helping him hold the medicine packet in place, the two of them were extremely close. Wen Qing looked into those dark eyes and felt as if he could see Yuan Hao’s utterly sincere soul. Yuan Hao looked back at him without the slightest trace of impatience, as though no matter what request he made, it would be granted.

“How long do you think it would take you to gather one stalk?” Wen Qing heard himself ask.

“Oh? Taking a mile after an inch?”

Wen Qing immediately shut his mouth.

“It depends on the situation. If I find one, I’ll bring it to you right away.” After teasing him, Yuan Hao still answered.

Wen Qing nodded, then suddenly thought of something and hurriedly asked, “Will it delay your studies?”

He did not give Yuan Hao any time to answer. He immediately came up with a solution. “You can come study at my house. My family has a private book loft. It cannot compare to the academy’s Myriad Books Pavilion, but it still has a rich collection.”

“You’d really let me come?” Yuan Hao leaned in a little closer, leaving less than half a chi between them.

“Mm!” Wen Qing nodded firmly.

Yuan Hao smiled. “Will there be pastries?”

“Yes!”

“Deal~”

At his nose was the slightly bitter scent of herbs and greenery from the medicine packet. Before his eyes were Yuan Hao’s smiling brows and eyes, filled with his own reflection. For one brief instant, Wen Qing’s heartbeat stopped, and then it began to pound violently again.

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump.

A strange and unfamiliar emotion of unknown name quietly began to sprout in the bottom of his heart.