Sheng Rufei watched the youth flailing about on his bed. He could more or less guess what the boy was thinking. After a moment’s pause, he said, “It was a tracking talisman. I’ve already taken it out.”
There was the unspoken ‘You’ll be fine’.
“A tracking talisman?”
The name itself was easy enough to grasp; it surely wasn’t one of those curses that killed the moment it was planted.
Lin Shijin struggled upright. His robes were still half askew. Sheng Rufei, standing before him, said, “Straighten your clothes.”
He obediently finished dressing, tugging everything into place, then asked, unsure, “A tracking talisman lets someone know where I am?”
“It can do more than that,” Sheng Rufei replied. “For high-grade talismans, if the caster recites the incantation, they can summon you whenever they please.”
“Jun Yewu often leaves spells on people, especially the beauties he takes a fancy to,” Sheng Rufei added, his gaze lingering a moment on Lin Shijin’s face. “Even if he doesn’t strike straightaway, he still leaves a mark on those he fancies.”
Ordinarily, he preferred beauties with glamour and bite; this time he seemed to have changed his taste.
Lin Shijin touched his own face, then looked again at Sheng Rufei. This really was following Sheng Rufei’s plot line… and he certainly didn’t want Jun Yewu’s attention.
“Shixiong, now the talisman’s gone, is it really alright? He won’t come looking for me again, will he?”
“He’s most likely injured. He won’t come for you any time soon.”
“For the rest of the days we’re in the city,” Sheng Rufei added, “I’ll be here. I’ll keep watch over you.”
Lin Shijin thought Sheng Rufei was being rather overconfident. When the two of them were together, it was absolutely a buy-one-get-one-free arrangement. Jun Yewu’s real interest was Sheng Rufei; he was merely making up the numbers.
“Shixiong, what if the two of us get captured?” he asked.
Sheng Rufei’s expression was cold. “That day will never come.”
“Just in case, you’ll sleep in my room tonight.”
Hugging his blanket, Lin Shijin asked, “We’re sharing a bed?”
“I’ll be meditating to one side.”
Only disciples with low cultivation still needed sleep. As one advanced, sleep grew shorter and could be replaced entirely with meditation.
“Alright,” Lin Shijin agreed. He didn’t want to sleep alone either. He very much didn’t want to give Jun Yewu an opening. The thought alone made his skin prickle. Being with Sheng Rufei felt far safer.
After a while, he couldn’t help but ask, “Shixiong, what if I fall asleep and get kidnapped?”
“With the soul-bond, I can sense where you are.”
“There’s also a barrier around the inn. If anyone forces their way in, it’ll be noticed immediately.”
Lin Shijin felt much more at ease. He cast a cleansing spell on himself. He usually slept in just his under-robes, and sometimes, in his sleep, the front would slip open.
It was his first time sharing a room with Sheng Rufei, and sleep refused to come. So much had happened during the day, and the candlelight didn’t help.
With only Sheng Rufei in the room, if he wanted to fuss, he could only fuss at Sheng Rufei.
“Sixteenth shixiong, what are you doing?”
He turned his gaze to Sheng Rufei, who had placed his sword on the table, its tip pointing towards the outer edge of the city, faint spiritual energy coiling about it.
“Hunting for demons.”
Lin Shijin climbed out of bed again and went over, watching the sword turn this way and that. He didn’t really understand it, so he propped his chin up and watched for a while.
“Shixiong, aren’t you sleeping tonight?”
Sheng Rufei gave a quiet hum. When the Yinbing Sword stilled, he withdrew its spiritual aura and said, “If you’re tired, go to sleep. We’ve a task tomorrow. The city lord’s manor is under lockdown; we need to head over.”
“I can’t sleep.” Lin Shijin noticed the pastries he’d bought for Sheng Rufei were no longer on the table. Remembering them suddenly, he asked, “Shixiong, did you try the pastries I bought you?”
“No,” Sheng Rufei said, looking at him. “Are you hungry?”
Lin Shijin shook his head at once. He’d bought them for Sheng Rufei. It wasn’t that he wanted to ask for them back. He just wanted to know whether Sheng Rufei thought they were good.
He’d sacrificed the silver meant for buying little picture-books to get them. They were expensive.
“Don’t forget to try them,” Lin Shijin said, blinking sleepily. “I’m going to bed.”
He climbed back onto the bed, pushing aside Sheng Rufei’s outer robe. Soon, his eyes drifted shut.
But not for long. Hugging his blanket, he opened them again and looked over at Sheng Rufei. “Shixiong, I can’t sleep with the candle lit.”
Sheng Rufei had been keeping an eye on him the whole time. Hearing that, he blew out the flame. He sat to meditate, the room darkening, a little moonlight spilling through the window onto the youth on the bed.
The youth slept quite neatly, hugging his blanket, lips slightly parted, shoes and socks kicked off, a pale stretch of calf showing.
Sheng Rufei glanced over. His gaze lingered a moment on the exposed calf with its smooth line like snow-white brocade against the bedding, toes curled like mutton-fat jade.
He looked away quickly. He’d been meditating, yet now his mind kept drifting back to the youth on the bed.
The youth was the most fidgety creature he had ever met… always flapping about, never still. Now that he was quiet, Sheng Rufei found it oddly unsettling.
Lin Shijin wasn’t asleep at all. He still didn’t dare sleep. The room was too quiet, and Sheng Rufei, when meditating, was like a living fossil, as silent as a stone, not a sound to him.
He was thinking this, eyes closed, when he heard a faint movement. Sheng Rufei had risen; his steps were light, coming towards him.
Lin Shijin felt him standing by the bed. Just as he was about to open his eyes, a warm hand grasped his ankle, tucking his foot back under the blanket.
Being fully covered was a bit warm, and he felt a flicker of annoyance. Sheng Rufei had barely tucked him in before he quietly kicked the blanket open again.
The other seemed still to be standing there. Lin Shijin felt a gaze rest on his face for a moment. Then Sheng Rufei caught his ankle once more and tucked him in properly.
Lin Shijin: “…”
Expression impassive, Sheng Rufei looked at the youth bundled neatly in the blanket. Lin Shijin was terribly delicate; if he caught a chill, he’d fall ill. Now, wrapped up with only his head peeking out, he looked surprisingly plump… and rather endearing.
He waited, and seeing the boy didn’t kick the blanket off again, he was satisfied and turned to leave.
He hadn’t taken even one step when his sleeve was tugged. The youth had opened his eyes, kicked the blanket aside again, and caught hold of his sleeve with a small, soft tug.
“Shixiong… could you meditate here?”
Sheng Rufei paused. “Frightened?”
Lin Shijin murmured a vague reply. He couldn’t sleep; he felt much safer with Sheng Rufei next to him.
“Please?” He tugged twice more on Sheng Rufei’s sleeve, voice sticky and soft. Sheng Rufei answered with a low hum, then gently prised his fingers free.
Sheng Rufei sat down at the edge of the bed. Only then did Lin Shijin finally relax. After a moment, Sheng Rufei, out of nowhere, said:
“No acting spoilt.”
He really wanted to manage everything. Lin Shijin found him a little tiresome, but with Sheng Rufei beside him, he felt safe. And he was sleepy, so he agreed obediently.
“Alright…”
So uncharacteristically compliant that Sheng Rufei’s lips tightened faintly. He closed his eyes, refusing to look at the youth beside him, and silently recited his heart-method.
Lin Shijin was already drifting. With Sheng Rufei beside him, he fell asleep swiftly. Half dreaming, he thought he felt someone poke his cheek.
He fell asleep thinking that with Sheng Rufei here, nothing would happen to him.
So when he opened his eyes in an unfamiliar place, he was completely unprepared.
The first thing he felt was cold. He remembered being wrapped in a blanket, yet the chill forced his eyes open. What met them were stone walls, piled crudely. Beneath them, jagged, scattered bones.
On the ground lay old, mottled bloodstains. His vision sharpened slowly. His wrists and ankles were bound; pain throbbed faintly from his wrists.
“Awake?” He seemed to be in a cave; the air was icy. At the sound of that familiar, gentle voice, a figure appeared before him.
The man wore a long robe of snow-white waves and silver patterns. His features were strikingly handsome; his eyes, soft as though brimming with affection, held a small mole at the corner. Now, gazing down at him, his expression was unreadable.
“Quite the heavy sleeper. You didn’t wake the whole way.”
Lin Shijin recognised him. His eyes widened; then he looked past him at the heap of white bones. Instinctively, he struggled.
His mouth was gagged. He made two muffled noises. If he was here… then where was Sheng Rufei?
As if reading his thoughts, the man leaned down slowly and pinched his chin between long fingers. With a gentle smile, he said lightly,
“Someone I’ve set my sights on, I don’t give up so easily.”
“As for your shixiong, he abandoned you. Walked off on his own.”
Lin Shijin didn’t believe it. He’d only been asleep a moment ago. Pain shot along his jaw. He still couldn’t understand why Jun Yewu would take a liking to him. He shook his head, trying to avoid the man’s hand.
Seeing him resist, Jun Yewu exerted a touch more force. “You’d best behave. Otherwise, I shan’t mind turning you into a beauty bone right this moment.”
A cold sweat broke out along Lin Shijin’s back. At the words beauty bone, his face drained. He rubbed desperately at the ropes, wrists stinging, but nothing budged.
Frightened so easily. Jun Yewu’s lips lifted. With a flick of his finger, the gag dropped to the ground.
“Do you know why I chose you?”
Lin Shijin didn’t want to know. Being so close to Jun Yewu made fear rise instinctively. He edged away as far as the ropes allowed, glancing down at the red thread still on his wrist. Sheng Rufei should be able to find him soon.
“N-no idea…” He didn’t finish. Jun Yewu’s fingers closed on his chin again, harder this time. His voice remained gentle, but his grip had no mercy; pain shot through Lin Shijin’s cheek, and inside his mind some tiny person was screaming incoherently.
“I didn’t ask you to answer. Who permitted you to speak?”
“I’ll overlook it this once.”
Jun Yewu’s voice was soft, and his face was soft, yet the words he spoke were those of a devil. His fingertips brushed the boy’s cheek as he enunciated, one word at a time:
“Those I choose. Wither I take them, or they become bones. Which do you want?”
*
Author’s Note:
Sheng Rufei (coming out of meditation belatedly): Where’s my wife?
