After dinner, Lin Yue took Gu Yun out for a stroll through the streets.
At first, Gu Yun thought that was all it was. After observing for a while, however, he realised something was off. The places Lin Yue visited all shared clear characteristics, all related to romance and pleasure.
Gu Yun could not help thinking of the woman who had kidnapped and trafficked him. He remained silent, but his gaze scanned the surroundings like a radar. Lin Yue stopped, grasped his wrist, and said, “Wait for me here.”
Gu Yun followed his line of sight and saw a woman with a child of about five or six years old.
The woman was delicate in appearance and well-proportioned in figure. She dressed modestly, wearing a plain willow-green garment, with a dark patterned satin cloak reaching the knees over it. Her hair was coiled into a round bun, pinned with a simple silver hairpin. Her ears were pierced, with small silver earrings so subtle they were easy to overlook.
She wore a sorrowful expression, her eyes swollen, as she pulled the child along and walked quickly forward.
Gu Yun’s instinct told him this woman was Zhao Shuilai’s wife, and the child was theirs.
Why had Lin Yue told him to wait here? What did he intend to do?
Gu Yun turned his hand over and grasped Lin Yue’s instead, just in case. His fingers slid along the base of the other man’s palm, travelling down to the root of his fingers, pressing into the narrow gaps and prising them apart slightly before firmly interlocking their hands. “I want to go with you.”
Lin Yue’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He lifted his hand, but Gu Yun’s grip remained firm.
Their hands differed in size, temperature, skin tone, and texture, yet both bore calluses, though formed in different places and of different thicknesses.
Most of Gu Yun’s calluses came from writing, with a smaller portion formed after his transmigration through the daily necessities of survival, such as making fire.
When Gu Yun first arrived, he did not even know how to start a fire. Using the knowledge in his mind, he had struggled greatly to get one going, and in the process had developed several blisters on his hands.
Where those blisters had healed, thicker calluses had formed. The calluses from writing, however, had become faint after a long period without writing, now barely noticeable.
These imperfections did not make his hands unattractive. On the contrary, they were naturally beautiful and soft, like a pearl lightly dusted with ash, their brilliance undiminished.
As for Lin Yue, the calluses on his hands came from martial training. They had originally been quite fine, but after two days of hard labour they had become rougher and more pronounced, slightly abrasive to the touch.
His hands were large and dry, with prominent veins on the backs. His fingers were long and strong, and when curled, could entirely enclose another person’s hand.
Lin Yue made no immediate move, but through the point of contact, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Warm jade.
A piece of warm jade with a crack in it, yet with a pleasing texture, the kind of object suited for turning over in one’s hand.
Why did he think of such a thing? Had he once owned one? Was his family wealthier than he had assumed?
From what he currently understood, a high-quality piece of warm jade with a crack would have its value and desirability greatly reduced. It would no longer be something an ordinary upper-middle household could afford. Only those with ample wealth, who collected purely for enjoyment, would purchase such a thing.
“Let’s go, husband,” Gu Yun said, shaking his hand.
Lin Yue attempted to withdraw his hand.
Gu Yun tilted his head to look at him. A few strands of hair fell across his pale face, casting shadows deeper than his eyelashes.
Lin Yue did not know when he had bent down. His warm, damp breath brushed against that patch of shadow.
Gu Yun leaned back to avoid him and laughed. “That tickles.”
A faint chill of dusk seeped into the lungs.
Lin Yue’s eyelids twitched. He straightened up and loosely held Gu Yun’s hand as they walked on.
Gu Yun followed his steps, but his mind remained fixed on the woman. She approached with the child, and for a moment his heart nearly leapt into his throat.
In the end, the woman merely brushed past them and turned into a main street to the left ahead.
Gu Yun quietly exhaled in relief.
Lin Yue had already moved several paces ahead of his target. In truth, he had originally told Gu Yun to wait in order to conduct a transaction with that person.
Earlier, Gu Yun had insisted on coming along. He had decided to tolerate it for a while. He could not allow him to act recklessly, otherwise it would be detrimental to the deal. Who would be so sentimental and clingy when conducting business?
Lin Yue paused, lowered his gaze to Gu Yun, and was just about to speak a coaxing sentence for him to wait there.
At that moment, the other man happily let go of his hand.
Lin Yue’s throat bobbed. He swallowed his words.
