Title: Did We Agree To Be Arch-Rivals?
Original Title: 说好成为彼此的宿敌呢[穿书]
Author: 轻风白杨 (Qingfeng Baiyang)
Translated by: ~PurpleLy~
The next morning, Su Yang and Gu Feidi were able to have a rare sleep-in until the sun was three poles high*. It wasn’t until there was a knock on the gate from outside the courtyard, that Gu Feidi abruptly opened his eyes.
(*TN: The sun is already high in the sky, it’s already late morning.)
Su Yang was also awoken by the noise and mumbled in a daze, “Who aaa…”
Gu Feidi glanced at the sky. “…I woke up late today. Maybe the medicine has been decocted, and they’re here to deliver it.”
As he spoke, he turned over and got out of bed. He hastily donned his clothes, casually tidied his hair, and went to open the courtyard gate.
Luo Yu stepped into the courtyard bearing the medicine pot and threw a glance at Gu Feidi, asking, “Why so late today?”
Gu Feidi hadn’t expected Luo Yu to come in person, so he was caught off-guard by the question and didn’t know how to answer.
Luo Yu didn’t wait for him. Instead, he headed directly into the warm room and placed the medicine pot on the table.
Seeing that it was Luo Yu who’d entered, Su Yang was also taken aback. He promptly sat up on the bed, straightened out his sleep-messed clothing, and called out, “Elder.”
Luo Yu didn’t reply. His gaze fell on Su Yang’s face for a moment, turned his head to scan around, and finally stopped at the folding screen at the corner of the room. In the wooden basin by the screen, there was a jumble of bedsheets and dirty clothes.
Luo Yu raised his eyebrows and looked at Gu Feidi.
The setting was too embarrassing. A thin layer of red emerged on the edge of Gu Feidi’s ears, and he instinctively evaded Luo Yu’s scrutiny.
“I woke up late today. Apologies,” he said in a low voice. “I’ve troubled Elder to come here in person.”
Luo Yu said nothing.
He strained the decoction from the pot into the bowl, brought it over to the bed, and conveyed it to Su Yang, who was already sitting up against the headboard.
Su Yang accepted the bowl of medicine, stole a glimpse at Gu Feidi, then cautiously glanced at Luo Yu.
Luo Yu ‘hmph’-ed softly, and it wasn’t clear whether it was in sarcasm or something else.
He asked Su Yang, “Can your body withstand it?”
Su Yang summoned up his courage and replied with a ‘mmm’, immersing himself in the bowl of medicine and taking small, slow sips in an attempt to mask his awkwardness.
“Became ‘Miss Fragile’ after sleeping?” Luo Yu spurred, “Hurry up and finish drinking. I’ll check your pulse.”
Su Yang: …
Su Yang obediently drained the medicine in one gulp and handed the bowl over. He didn’t dare to ask Gu Feidi for a kiss in front of Luo Yu, and silently held out his wrist.
After taking Su Yang’s pulse, Luo Yu’s brows knitted, and he turned to ask Gu Feidi, “When you performed yesterday, you manoeuvred your internal strength?”
Seeing him question in seriousness, Gu Feidi couldn’t evade, so he nodded, and replied: “Yes. I was afraid he might be affected by the cold, so… I used internal strength to help warm his body.”
Luo Yu slowly inhaled deeply, closed his eyes, and released a sigh.
“Do you know what it’s called when you use internal strength to assist during sexual intercourse?” he asked Gu Feidi.
Gu Feidi stared at Luo Yu blankly and wasn’t able to answer.
Luo Yu’s brows were still scrunched up, and his expression was also a little intense.
“In terms of the internal strength and methodology, this practice is known as combined dual cultivation.” He said: “Although you two have not learned the dual cultivation methodology together, but… when the relationship is in perfect harmony and internal strength is involved, it can be considered as having engaged in dual cultivation.”
Seeing that Luo Yu’s expression was grave, Gu Feidi immediately tensed and asked worriedly, “Would it be harmful to him?”
“No.” Luo Yu contemplated for a moment; his eyes fell on Su Yang, “Dual cultivation…… won’t be harmful to him.”
Su Yang wasn’t surprised by this answer.
As a matter of fact, he felt much more energetic when he awoke this morning compared to the previous few days. He seemed to have regained some strength, and he wasn’t as chilly as he was before. Initially, he thought it was because he’d sweated a little yesterday and it counted as a round of physical exercise. Today, he felt that his body had been revitalised… But he never imagined that this could be related to the internal strength Gu Feidi had used to warm him up yesterday.
‘Dual cultivation’. It had a negative ring to it, but perhaps… it might be a good thing for him? If this was true, he wouldn’t mind… mmm, dual cultivating a couple more times……
However, Luo Yu’s next words made Su Yang abandon the idea there and then.
“Having said that, dual cultivating with him will cause harm to you.” Luo Yu looked at Gu Feidi with a serious expression and said, “You’ll be impacted by the extremely cold internal force in his body. Once or twice may be harmless, but if the frequency increases, it will affect your lifespan.”
Gu Feidi observed Luo Yu, but was not intimidated by his words.
“The Way of Heaven, there’s more harm and insufficient benefit.*” He murmured under his breath, “If this hurts me, could it be…… beneficial to him?”
(*TN: This is a quote from Dao De Ching by Lao Tzu on Taoism. It warns people not to be excessive and bears the meaning of restraining excessive desires.)
There was a ray of hope in his eyes at the end of the sentence.
Luo Yu was speechless for a moment. “Forget it, it’s just a drop in the ocean…… The Ice Spirit in his body is an extremely cold matter, and Half Withered Red is also an extreme Yin methodology. It can’t be inhibited by your internal force. Even if you stake your life, it won’t benefit him much. On the contrary, it will hurt yourself.”
The radiance in Gu Feidi’s eyes dimmed somewhat, but it wasn’t completely diminished since he was able to see a silver lining in the end.
“Even if it’s a drop in the ocean, it can resolve a desperate situation.” He said stubbornly.
Luo Yu slapped a palm on the table, frowning: “You punk!”
Gu Feidi’s mind was now turning rapidly, and he immediately pounced on the key emphasis of Luo Yu’s words: “The Ice Spirit is extremely cold, and the methodology is extremely Yin. My internal strength is incapable of inhibiting them… Then what if I also practice an extreme Yang methodology, would it be of any help?”
Luo Yu gritted his teeth, released a snort, and closed his eyes, “You’re indulging in fantasies!”
Gu Feidi didn’t continue to debate with Luo Yu, but remained standing there, looking down. From the look on his face, it was apparent that he hadn’t given up on his earlier idea.
Luo Yu didn’t confront Gu Feidi head-on. He turned to Su Yang and said, “Both of you are still young and hot-blooded. It’s hard to control some things, although they can be done appropriately. But… remember at all costs, you mustn’t use internal strength anymore to help, otherwise Gu Feidi may get into trouble.”
Su Yang nodded immediately: “I know; I won’t let him act foolishly.”
Luo Yu emphatically counselled a few more words, then took the medicine pot and left.
When he’d disappeared outside the courtyard gate, Gu Feidi took the clothes from the rack and handed them to Su Yang. He kissed his lips on the way and smiled: “You look livelier today; are you hungry? I’ll go get breakfast.”
Su Yang nodded as he put on the clothes.
When Gu Feidi returned with breakfast, Su Yang was wrapped in fox fur, and standing at the door of the room waiting for him.
“Aren’t you cold?” He quickly came forward and tugged him into the room. “It’s winter, and the mountain is getting even colder. You shouldn’t be standing where there’s a draught…”
Su Yang let himself be pulled over and sat down at the table. He smiled and said, “I don’t feel cold today.”
Gu Feidi took out the dishes from the food box and arranged them in front of Su Yang.
“So—dual cultivation is really beneficial to you, right?” His eyes were radiating with vigour, as if stars were raining into them, “…I’ll always be able to find a way to cure you. You won’t leave. I won’t let you leave.”
Su Yang smiled and picked up the chopsticks: “Let’s eat first.”
After having breakfast together, Gu Feidi packed up the dishes, then brought out last night’s dirty bedsheets and clothing to the courtyard to wash and hang dry. When he returned to the room, he found that Su Yang hadn’t fallen asleep. Instead, he was wrapped in fox fur, sitting at the table, and humming a song to the revised lyrics.
Seeing this scene, the corners of Gu Feidi’s mouth raised uncontrollably. His eyes were filled with joy, and an extremely dazzling smile appeared.
“Is there anything you want to do today?” He sat down next to Su Yang and hugged his waist. “Seeing that you’re quite energetic today, maybe you want to loosen up your bones and muscles and dance together?”
Su Yang put down the page of revised lyrics he was holding and pondered for a while. “Shall we build a snowman together?”
“You’re not allowed to.” Gu Feidi’s voice was gentle, but his tone was unquestionable. “You’ve just improved a little, but you still can’t catch a cold. It’s better if we pass the time indoors. If you don’t want to dance…… we can do something else?”
Su Yang flattened his mouth and tried to act spoiled: “But I just want to build a snowman…”
Gu Feidi looked at his expression and couldn’t help smiling. He moved closer to face him, “Shixiong…… is really a xiao xiao; you’re becoming more and more like a child.”
Su Yang rolled his eyes at him.
In recent days, Su Yang had been bored out of his wits being cooped up in the room and not going out. Before, he’d be asleep for most of the day. His waking time was scattered and his vigour was lacking, so it didn’t feel unbearable to stay indoors. But he was full of energy that day, and seeing the white snow and green trees outside in the cloudless sunshine, he couldn’t control himself and had the mood to go out for a stroll.
However, he also knew that his body hadn’t totally pulled through danger yet. If he wanted to be with Gu Feidi for longer, he couldn’t be as wilful as he was before and not take his life seriously.
“Then let’s plan the moves for your new sword technique.” Su Yang smiled and said, “I won’t use internal strength; I’ll just demonstrate the sword technique for you to see. Will you be able to reference it?”
Gu Feidi gave a weak smile: “Okay.”
The two studied swordsmanship indoors for a whole morning. When it was noon, Su Yang said he was hungry, and Gu Feidi went out to the kitchen to fetch lunch.
When he returned, in addition to the lunch box, he also held a small white round ball-like thing in his hand and walked back along the path by the hot spring pool to the warm room.
“What’s that?”
Su Yang curiously asked when he saw the round, white ball thingy in Gu Feidi’s hand as he stood at the side of the door.
Gu Feidi didn’t walk inside right away. Instead, he went to the window and put the little white ball thingy in his hand on top of the window sill.
Su Yang turned to look, only to discover that the white ball thingy which was the size of two fists, turned out to be a small snowman. It had two red beans for eyes, a peanut as a nose, and two holly twigs as arms.
Gu Feidi came in the door carrying the food box and asked with a smile, “Do you like it?”
Su Yang… was speechless.
Was this the kind of tender, warm, fuzzy love feeling that only appeared in love idol dramas?!
He glanced at the small, cute, tightly-packed snowman on the windowsill and bit his lower lip. “…This courtyard is too warm; it’ll melt soon.”
Gu Feidi said, “If you like it, I’ll bring a new one tomorrow.”
Su Yang couldn’t help laughing: “I don’t like snowmen that much, and I’m not actually a kid…… let’s eat—eat.”
……Until the evening that day, Su Yang’s vigour was rather good, and he only took an hour nap in the afternoon.
As night fell, the both of them washed up, then lay down and embraced each other. Gu Feidi reached out and pulled Su Yang into his arms, nestling his chin on his shoulder.
“Xiao Xiao……”
He called out softly, “……Shixiong.”
Su Yang heard the hoarseness in Gu Feidi’s voice, noticed his slightly hurried breathing, and immediately understood what Gu Feidi wanted to do. Both the young men had their first taste of the forbidden fruit and were sleeping in the same bed in the dim, calm night. His heart felt a little itchy.
But he recalled Luo Yu’s words that morning and willed himself to calm down. He refused: “I’m tired and want to sleep early.”
Gu Feidi removed his arm from around Su Yang, and Su Yang didn’t respond to him at all. After a long time, Gu Feidi acquiesced, shifting away a little and didn’t press anymore.
As a result, Su Yang couldn’t fall asleep.
He closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. He didn’t dare turn over or move, for fear that Gu Feidi would discover that he was not asleep and pester him to do something.
After an unknown period of time, a low, soft, cautious voice sounded in Su Yang’s ear. The voice wasn’t deep, but it carried a firm and unquestionable tone, as if the speaker was making a vow:
“Shixiong, I’ll definitely make you better. Definitely.”