Gu Yun understood perfectly well that he was not clever enough to invent a flawless explanation on the spot. If he improvised carelessly, there would inevitably be holes somewhere in the story. He needed a very, very long time to think about how to answer the other man.
As for right now—
Gu Yun bent down, grabbed hold of the man’s arm with one hand and wrapped the other around his shoulder. Drawing in a breath and bracing himself, he tensed his muscles and hauled upwards with all his strength.
The young man asked, “What are you doing?”
Gu Yun had no time to answer. His strength suddenly gave out beneath him, and with a stumble, he crashed solidly onto the young man’s body.
The young man let out a muffled groan of pain, his chest heaving violently.
Gu Yun hurriedly scrambled back up, so flustered he did not know where to put his hands or feet. Not daring to look directly at him, he replied softly, “I wanted to help you up and move somewhere else. It’s cold and damp here, and our clothes are…”
He did not know how to say “soaking wet” in this world’s language, so he twisted the fabric of his clothes with his hands to indicate the meaning before continuing, “…easy to lose body heat in. You could die.”
The young man took a moment to recover before answering quietly, “All right.”
After a pause, he added, “Next time, tell me beforehand what you intend to do.”
Gu Yun nodded lightly.
Although his body remained cold and numb, his chest aching so badly that even bending his fingers felt difficult, Lin Yue could already sense strength slowly returning beneath his skin.
Bracing a hand against the ground, he pushed himself upright into a sitting position and then attempted to stand.
Gu Yun reacted at once and reached out to support him.
Lin Yue flicked him a glance from the corner of his eye. Without a word, he clasped Gu Yun’s hand and used it to lever himself up.
The man looked tall and lean like a stalk of bamboo, yet unexpectedly solid and heavy. Earlier, when dragging him from the river, most of the weight had been borne by the ground, so Gu Yun had not truly noticed it. Only now did he properly feel it.
Pressed down by the force of Lin Yue leaning against him, Gu Yun nearly stumbled all over again.
Barely steadying himself, he supported his body that already felt close to falling apart and helped Lin Yue forwards.
Ahead lay a wide patch of open ground carpeted with green grass and drenched in sunlight. He could bring his freshly acquired bargain-bin husband there to bask in the sun and recover some warmth.
At the same time, they could strip off their outer robes, light a fire, and dry them quickly in both the sunlight and heat.
Originally, Gu Yun had planned to remove all of his bargain husband’s clothes together and deal with them at once. Even though the inner robes were thin, wearing them wet for too long would still lead to chills.
But this place was not truly in the middle of nowhere, and right now he carried the identity of a woman. If someone happened to see them, who knew what kind of rumours might spread? Worse still, some busybody might gather a crowd to stand around and watch the spectacle. How could that possibly do? If things escalated further, the county magistrate might even slap them with some charge of corrupting public morals.
So in the end, removing the outer robes would be enough. As for the inner garments, they could simply sit by the fire or under the sun and slowly dry out.
As for his own wet clothes—
Gu Yun currently had no intention whatsoever of removing them. He planned to wait until the other man had properly rested before dealing with them.
Although his appearance leaned somewhat feminine, with an indistinct Adam’s apple, pale skin, and no facial hair, he still possessed the features all men possessed. Wrapped in thick clothing as he was now, nothing could be seen, but the moment he stripped down to only thin inner garments, anyone who was not blind would notice immediately.
Since Gu Yun had already lied, naturally he did not want to be exposed straight away.
But in his heart, he understood one thing very clearly.
His own parents had already lost their son. He could not allow this man’s parents to lose theirs as well.
He thought that once he had found a means to make a living in this era, he would definitely tell the truth. Letting the other man leave went without saying. He would even help him search for his parents.
Finally, they could draw up an agreement in which Gu Yun would hand over all the wages he earned over the next ten years as compensation.
In truth, earlier, when he learned the man had lost his memory and mistaken him for a woman, the thought of simply being honest had flashed through his mind.
But no sooner had the thought arisen than he became afraid.
Afraid he would never find the man’s family and all his efforts would amount to nothing.
Afraid he would find them, only for them to refuse any reward, leaving him with an empty basket lowered into a well.
The man looked handsome and dignified, but his palms were rough and thick with calluses, and his clothes were even poorer than those worn by small shopkeepers.
Barring surprises, his family was not wealthy, merely one ordinary household among countless others.
Families like that often had no wish to reward benefactors. After all, every copper coin was hard-earned, and besides, they had never asked anyone to save him in the first place.
Gu Yun had personally experienced the realities of Great Xuan society. He truly did not want to encounter either of those situations.
Within only a few breaths, he strangled the thought entirely.
Right now, Gu Yun did not even know whether he counted as a good person.
Probably not.
But… a good person? What value did goodness even hold in this era?
A good person would simply be ground down to death.
Gu Yun thought that not resorting to eating people alive already made him fairly decent.
…
Gu Yun gathered some dry grass and picked up several handfuls of branches. Taking out the flint he had found near the riverbank, he struck sparks and slowly coaxed a fire into being.
Under the slightly dry sunlight, the fire crackled noisily. The leaves still clinging to the branches glowed a vivid green in the flames, strangely pleasing to the eye.
Facing the fire, Gu Yun drove the thickest branch into the ground and hung the outer robe stripped from his bargain husband over it to dry.
After finishing all this, he raised his hands and could not help tugging at his own clothes, which remained unpleasantly damp and faintly clammy against his skin.
Lin Yue sat beside the fire recovering his strength. Hearing the movement, his gaze shifted towards Gu Yun.
Gu Yun stopped moving and said, “Rest a little. Once you’ve recovered, we’ll go home. The place I’m temporarily staying at is nearby.”
Lin Yue caught the general meaning and gave a slight nod before saying, “You should dry your outer robe as well. Don’t catch a chill.”
Gu Yun was just about to refuse when, after speaking, Lin Yue turned sideways and closed his eyes.
Gu Yun’s eyes instantly brightened.
Now he no longer needed to wait until the other man had fallen asleep before dealing with his clothes. The man was truly tactful.
That was even more precious than intelligence.
Gu Yun immediately removed his own outer robe and hung it up as well.
Under the combined heat of the sun and flames, both robes hissed as clouds of white steam rose from them.
Worried that the other man might suddenly turn around, Gu Yun deliberately sat on the opposite side of the fire with his back facing him, just in case.
Lin Yue kept his eyes lowered the entire time. Even after the robes had completely dried, he made no attempt to peek at him.
Gu Yun was starving to the point of barely enduring it. The moment the outer robe dried, he hurriedly put it back on. By now, even his inner robe had dried through. He placed Lin Yue’s robe in front of him and began searching the surroundings for something edible.
Lin Yue slowly opened his eyes. Catching the faint rustling sounds with his ears, he looked towards Gu Yun’s retreating back. Pulling on his outer robe, he dragged along his not-yet-recovered body and slowly rose to his feet.
It was currently autumn, yet in times like these, ordinary families rarely lived comfortably. Any wild fruit that did not grow deep within remote mountain forests had long since been picked clean by nearby farming women and children.
If it could be sold for money, they would sell it. If not, it still made for a decent snack.
Gu Yun wandered around nearby for quite some time before finally finding a patch of small wild fruit, sour and astringent.
He had no better option. Picking a few first, he shoved them into his mouth. The sharp sourness numbed his tongue so badly he could barely move it afterwards.
At least it somewhat eased the emptiness in his stomach.
Hugging an armful of the fruit against himself, he happily hurried back. Yet after only taking two steps, he ran straight into Lin Yue.
At some point, the man had followed after him without him noticing.
Gu Yun offered over the fruit with a smile. “Eat.”
Lin Yue looked at him, then at the fruit. Picking one up, he carefully wiped it clean before placing it into his mouth.
His expression changed instantly. Meeting Gu Yun’s gaze, he forcibly swallowed it down.
“You’ve gone to a lot of trouble,” he said.
Gu Yun shoved the fruit into his arms. “I’ll go pick some more. Hold onto these first.”
Lin Yue asked, “…Is the county town far from here?”
He still remembered some fragments of common knowledge, such as the current dynasty and the administrative divisions of this land.
Gu Yun answered, “Not far. It’s less than an hour’s walk to the county town.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Gu Yun suddenly understood the implication behind the question.
Embarrassed, he fiddled with the edge of his sleeve and fell silent for a moment before speaking softly.
“We eloped and travelled light. Now… I’ve run out of money.”
“When I was drying your outer robe earlier, I checked the hidden pocket sewn into the sleeve. I also checked your cloth shoes after you took them off. There was nothing inside. You don’t have any money either.”
“You couldn’t possibly have hidden money somewhere else.”
Lin Yue thought: If he had hidden any, he would already have searched it out by now.
