His lips were thin. People said men with thin lips were cold-hearted.
Gu Yun had no idea whether Lin Yue was cold-hearted or not. At this moment, all he knew was that his lips were soft and warm.
“Hus… husband…” Gu Yun stammered.
The kiss had been feather-light. Lin Yue merely brushed their lips together once before pulling away. His eyelids drooped low, only a sliver of those black eyes visible as he quietly watched Gu Yun.
“Weren’t we intimate like this before? You seem surprised,” Lin Yue said. Half holding Gu Yun’s chin, he rubbed his thumb slowly across Gu Yun’s lips.
“We were.” Suppressing his astonishment, Gu Yun opened his mouth and bit lightly at Lin Yue’s fingertip. Tilting his face upwards, he flashed him a bright smile.
“You kissed me so suddenly. I didn’t react in time.”
Inside his mouth was damp warmth. Lin Yue felt as though his fingertip had plunged into the suffocating heat before summer rain. Every muscle in his body tightened abruptly.
Only after a while did he slowly relax again.
Lifting his eyes slightly, he stared into Gu Yun’s clear, bright gaze and said in a low voice, “Let go.”
Gu Yun looked at him in confusion.
Lin Yue frowned faintly.
Gu Yun obediently released him. Lin Yue withdrew his hand. Under the orange glow of the firelight, his fingertip looked as though it had been coated in glistening honey. He picked up the discarded medicinal leaf wrapper and carefully wiped his fingers clean.
“You… you dislike me?” Gu Yun asked in disbelief.
Lin Yue wiped his hand clean, rose to his feet, and walked over to the drying clothes. He took down the hemp cross-collared robe, turned the other garments over, and shifted them slightly further from the fire.
The flames burned fiercely. The heat was almost as strong as midday sun. By now the robe was already dry, and the rest of the clothing was close to dry as well.
He draped the robe over Gu Yun’s shoulders and said gently, “Sleep. It’s late. I need your help with something tomorrow morning.”
Gu Yun hooked a finger into his sleeve. “You’ve changed.”
“I lost my memory,” Lin Yue replied. “Once I remember everything, things will go back to how they were.”
Gu Yun’s medium-short hair had originally been smoothed neatly with water while washing up, but after more than an hour of wind and fire, it had become messy again.
Several strands stuck stubbornly upwards like weeds escaping a crowd, fluttering in the warm air.
Lin Yue lifted a hand and smoothed them down. “Sleep.”
Gu Yun released his sleeve, wrapped the warm robe tightly around himself, returned to his straw mat, turned his back to the fire, and closed his eyes.
Not long afterwards, Lin Yue lay down as well.
Listening to the sounds of him settling down to sleep, Gu Yun finally understood that he had truly escaped danger. A faint smile curved at the corners of his mouth, and this time he genuinely fell asleep.
Before sleeping, however, he secretly lifted his sleeve and wiped his mouth.
Being kissed by a man still made him instinctively resistant.
That night he slept dreamlessly. Early the next morning, Gu Yun woke.
Remembering the injury on his chest, he pulled open his collar and sneaked a look. Just as expected, the bruises had darkened blue-black, but nothing serious. Only flesh wounds.
Relieved, Gu Yun let the clothes fall shut again.
The firewood had burned out, though the fire itself had not fully died. A few embers still glowed red among the ashes.
Using a branch, Gu Yun nudged several embers out and held his hands above them for warmth.
Last night had been colder than any previous night. He did not even know when his hands had slipped out from inside the robe while he slept. When he woke, both hands were numb with cold. Touching his face with them felt like pressing ice blocks against his skin.
He stretched and curled his fingers repeatedly above the embers. Warmth slowly returned, though sensation came back even faster than heat.
Flexing his fingers, Gu Yun felt deeply content.
Looking at the embers, he suddenly thought of a cheap, filling food.
Sweet potatoes.
Since ancient times, sweet potatoes had always yielded more heavily than staple grains. Naturally, that ought to mean they were cheaper too.
Gu Yun could not help smiling. Then his smile froze.
He had never once seen sweet potatoes here. Thinking carefully, he realised he had never seen potatoes either. Which meant this place simply did not have either crop.
Expanded further, the entire Xuan Dynasty probably lacked both of these cheap and practical foods.
The smile vanished completely from Gu Yun’s face. His life truly was bitter. Bitterer than bitter melon.
Lin Yue woke and, seeing the strange mixture of delight and misery on his face, reached over to touch his forehead.
Gu Yun looked at him blankly. “What are you doing?”
“Have you caught a chill?” Lin Yue asked.
Gu Yun: “…”
“No.”
He brushed Lin Yue’s hand away, sprang to his feet full of energy, and said, “Husband, what do you need me to do?”
Lin Yue said, “It’s nothing major. Wash up first.” Only after they had both washed did he explain that he wanted to get a bamboo tube for carrying water. Physical labour made one thirsty, and the little bit of broth they drank with meals was nowhere near enough to keep up with the loss of water. Before long, his throat would be dry again.
At once, Gu Yun frowned. “Where are you going to get a bamboo tube? Don’t tell me you’re buying one again?”
“Mhm. Buying one,” Lin Yue replied.
So the favour he wanted help with was asking him for money to buy things?
Gu Yun looked at him as though he were some prodigal wastrel. Still, having no water to drink while working really was a bit excessive.
“How much?”
The fact that Lin Yue had only brought it up now clearly meant he had feared Gu Yun would fret if he heard too early, perhaps even refuse to hand over the money later.
Lin Yue really was a sly fellow.
“Two wen for one. There’s an old man nearby who sells bamboo goods. I asked about the price and gave him a big bundle of firewood as well. He agreed to sell me a water bamboo tube for two wen.” Lin Yue paused. “I already have one wen. I only need one more from you.”
The heart hanging in Gu Yun’s throat finally settled.
Two wen. Two wen was still acceptable.
Very carefully, Gu Yun pulled out the string of copper coins, now noticeably lighter than before. He untied the grass cord, removed one coin, and solemnly placed it into Lin Yue’s palm.
Lin Yue smiled. “Many thanks, wife.”
Gu Yun put away the remaining coins and nodded.
Lin Yue went to buy the bamboo tube from the old man, and Gu Yun followed him there.
The old man lived not far from the bridge culvert. He was advanced in years and lived together with his son and daughter-in-law. When Lin Yue arrived to buy the bamboo tube, the old man accepted the money, then even instructed his wife to fill the tube to the brim with well water.
Buy a bamboo tube, get water included. Gu Yun happily accepted it and hugged it to his chest.
Seeing how pleased he looked, Lin Yue suddenly said, “Taste the water.”
Gu Yun found that odd. “What’s there to taste?”
“The old man’s well is known as a sweet-water well. They say the water drawn from it tastes sweet.”
The old man chuckled. “Sharp memory on you, lad. I only mentioned it in passing last night and you remembered. Young wife, have a taste. I’m not boasting, the water really is sweet. Half the neighbours come here just to draw water.”
Gu Yun uncapped the bamboo tube and tipped a little water over his fingers. Lowering his head, he took a small sip.
It truly was sweet.
Not sugary sweet, but a clean, crisp sweetness, icy-cold and refreshing. It resembled the stream water they had drunk before, only even cooler and sweeter.
“Tastes good,” Gu Yun declared with conviction, handing the tube to Lin Yue. “Try some.”
Lin Yue accepted it. His gaze unintentionally brushed over Gu Yun’s lips and caught the faint moist redness there. His eyelids lowered. His Adam’s apple bobbed once before he drank a mouthful.
It really was good water.
The old man grinned so widely his mouth nearly split apart. “If you want more in future, just come draw some. Water’s not worth money.”
Gu Yun nodded obediently and sweet-talked him, saying he had the face of a blessed man and was sure to live to a hundred.
Ever since staying beside Lin Yue, Gu Yun had secretly been imitating the way he spoke. After several days, his speech had improved considerably. He could now manage long sentences clearly enough that locals no longer had to focus hard to understand him.
Still, Lin Yue himself was not local, and his speech differed from the natives’. By copying him, Gu Yun had inadvertently picked up traces of an outsider’s accent as well.
It was getting late. Lin Yue still had to visit Jailer Feng’s house. He capped the bamboo tube, took Gu Yun along, and prepared to leave.
At that moment, heartbroken sobbing drifted from a shabby little courtyard enclosed by bamboo fencing not far away.
Gu Yun looked over.
The old man also stepped out with his hands clasped behind his back. His cloudy eyes glanced in that direction before withdrawing.
“That family’s son-in-law has gone missing. The daughter came back home with her child, begging her family to help search for him.
“If you ask me, nothing’s happened to him. I’ve seen that son-in-law before. Proper worthless fellow. He only works as a shop assistant, but the moment he started earning money, he began swaggering about like some grand master, constantly hosting banquets and keeping several sweethearts in the pleasure quarter.
“If you ask me, he’s probably holed up in one of those women’s rooms right now, living it up.” The old man spat. “They sold their daughter off for ten taels of bride price and let her suffer like this. No conscience at all.”
The old man’s son hurried out and told him to stop talking. Afterwards, he saw Lin Yue and Gu Yun off.
Along the road, Gu Yun remained distracted. He had thought of Zhao Shuilai.
Could that missing son-in-law actually be Zhao Shuilai? Could there really be such a coincidence?
But after thinking carefully, perhaps it was not much of a coincidence at all. Zhao Shuilai had still been inside the county town before curfew, meaning he was most likely a local. If he married, naturally he would choose someone nearby like everyone else.
The old man had said his character was poor. Naturally, respectable county girls would refuse to marry him. Failing that, he would have to settle for daughters from families living outside the county.
After all, life inside and outside the county differed considerably. Zhao Shuilai himself might be trash, but if the Zhao family offered a generous bride price, there would certainly be families willing to marry off their daughters.
Grinding his molars together, Gu Yun thought: dead men tell no tales. As long as he kept silent, who would know Zhao Shuilai was dead?
Then suddenly another thought struck him. The woman working with Zhao Shuilai. The suspected trafficker. She had participated in everything.
Once Zhao Shuilai disappeared, she would almost certainly suspect Gu Yun’s involvement. She might even deduce that he had killed him.
But so what?
That woman had colluded with Zhao Shuilai in kidnapping and trafficking people. Would she really dare expose the matter and drag all their crimes into the open?
When the time came, it was hard to say who would suffer more. After all, there were witnesses to the kidnapping and trafficking. But there were no witnesses to the murder.
Unless she was willing to spend a fortune bribing the county magistrate, preserving herself while pinning the killing entirely on him.
But judging by the way she had spoken with Zhao Shuilai, the two were hardly close. At most they were acquaintances who had met a handful of times. Most likely, she would never spend such a large amount of money for Zhao Shuilai’s sake.
Only then did Gu Yun truly relax.
Together, he and Lin Yue arrived at the Feng residence.
They had set out early. Even after the delay at the old man’s place, they still arrived ahead of time.
At this hour Jailer Feng had not even risen from bed yet, much less gone to work.
The Feng household servants were all yawning while doing chores. Upon seeing Gu Yun and Lin Yue, and remembering Feng’s instructions from the previous night, they hurriedly invited them inside.
They had only sat briefly in the main hall before Jailer Feng finally rose. He summoned Lin Yue, and the two went into the study to discuss matters. Calling it a study was generous; it was merely a room with a few books placed inside.
Gu Yun remained seated in the main hall, waiting for Lin Yue.
Presently, a woman emerged accompanied by an elderly serving woman.
She was neither strikingly beautiful nor ugly, yet somehow unforgettable after a single glance.
