The clouds and rain have just stopped

Su Musong was stunned for a moment

"When...when was it?"

"Eight years ago."

"But……"

But Su Musong did not meet Xiao Luochen eight years ago.

"When I went to the Flower Castle to recuperate?"

"No, you were in Yongcheng at that time."

"Then why didn't you look for me?"

Xiao Luochen took another sip of wine

"That day, I went to the Duke of Anguo's mansion and happened to see you and Duanmin going out for a stroll in a carriage together."

Although many years have passed and he knows that there may not be any ambiguity between Su Musong and Duan Min, the sadness and grief he felt back then still makes Xiao Luochen's nose sore when he thinks back on it.

At this point, Xiao Luochen didn't need to say more; Su Musong had already guessed what was going on. Rumors about him and Duan Min had spread throughout Yongjing City. When Xiao Luochen sneaked back to Yongjing, he heard the news of his upcoming marriage to Princess Duan Min and saw him traveling with the princess. It was hard to believe there wasn't some kind of affair between them.

Xiao Luochen had indeed believed, as Su Musong had suspected, that Su Musong had let go of the past and was ready to spend the rest of his life with the princess. He felt both sad and relieved. Sad that Su Musong hadn't kept her promise to stay with him forever, but relieved that Su Musong was living a good life. Since that was the case, there was no need for him, a dead man, to appear again. There was nothing left for him to linger in Yongjing City, Xiangping, so there was no need for him to set foot in it again.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault..."

Although many years had passed, Su Musong could still imagine how heartbroken Xiao Luochen must have felt when he braved the danger of his identity being exposed and went through countless hardships to return to Yongcheng, only to receive the news that he had found a new love. If Xiao Luochen had been able to meet him, his father would probably have found a way to send him and Luochen out of Xiangping to live elsewhere, and Luochen would not have had to suffer so many years as a bandit.

Su Musong took Xiao Luochen into his arms and hugged him tightly.

"It's not your fault. It's just fate."

Even back then, Xiao Luochen never blamed Su Musong, let alone now.

Under the bright moonlight, a pair of lovers snuggled together, talking about their longing for each other over the years, whispering to each other, and couldn't help but feel emotional.

Sixteen-year-old Su Musong and Xiao Luochen were full of youthful innocence. Although twenty-six-year-old Su Musong and Xiao Luochen were still virgins, they had already learned to do what they wanted after experiencing the vicissitudes of life.

So, cuddling turned into lying neck to neck, sweet words turned into whispers, clothes turned into carpets, under the cover of night, human figures overlapped, in this deserted place, only the birds on the trees spread their wings and covered their little heads, afraid to see this embarrassing spring scene.

The morning light shone through the treetops onto their faces, waking them up from their sleep.

Xiao Luochen opened his eyes lazily. Although his mind was awake, his body was completely powerless. What was even worse was the pain all over his body. It was as if he had returned to the year when Zhangcheng was almost torn apart.

Su Musong supported his upper body with one hand, lying on his side and looking at Xiao Luochen. With the other hand, he picked up a strand of Xiao Luochen's hair that was scattered on his temples and brushed it across Xiao Luochen's slightly swollen lower lip, and then brushed across the red marks on his fair neck left by his own evil deeds. He felt indescribably happy.

Xiao Luochen raised his hand and knocked away Su Musong's disruptive hand, giving him a disgusted look.

"Get out of the way."

Su Musong also knew that he seemed to have gone too far last night. He had never expected that he, who had always been able to walk among flowers without getting a single leaf touched, would be so lacking in self-control. Now that he thought about it, it was not because he had good self-control in the past, but because he had not met the right person.

"Luo Chen~"

"Help me up!"

Su Musong helped Xiao Luochen to stand up in a servile manner.

"Hiss~"

Xiao Luochen stood up and pulled somewhere, gasping in pain. Then his expression froze instantly, as if he felt the wetness flowing there. His face turned red behind his ears in an instant, and he stubbornly shook off Su Musong's supporting hand, but he couldn't take a step at all.

Seeing this, Su Musong picked him up without caring whether Xiao Luochen was happy or not.

Xiao Luochen knew that he couldn't rely on himself at the moment, so he let Su Musong go and said sullenly:

"I don't want the people in the village to see me like this."

Even if Xiao Luochen didn't say it, Su Musong didn't want others to see Xiao Luochen like this.

They couldn't ride the horse, but fortunately Su Musong had practiced light skills well over the years. It was still early, and with Xiao Luochen's guidance, they chose a path without sentries, and the two returned to Xiao Luochen's residence safely.

Xiao Buyi, who had gotten up early to practice martial arts in the yard, looked at his father who was held in someone's arms and fell from the sky with a puzzled look on his face. He wondered if he was dreaming.

Su Musong obviously did not expect to run into Xiao Buyi. For a moment, his legs felt like they were filled with lead and he could not walk.

Xiao Luochen signaled Su Musong to put him down, without any explanation, and walked towards his bedroom in an extremely awkward posture.

"What happened to Daddy?"

Xiao Buyi asked with concern, but Su Musong couldn't answer truthfully, so he just gave a perfunctory answer.

"Your father sprained his waist and needs to rest."

"What did you do all night?"

"We drank on the mountain and slept on the mountain when we got drunk."

"Since he was drinking, how did my father sprain his waist?"

Su Musong felt that Xiao Buyi was indeed the biological son of Xiao Luoyao, who was once the Inspector of the Sikou Mansion. His nature of getting to the bottom of things was just like his father. If he continued to question him, the situation would be bad.

"He got drunk, fell, and sprained his ankle. It's windy in the mountains at night, and it looks like your father has caught a cold. Hurry up and boil some hot water so he can take a good bath and warm himself up."

Although Xiao Buyi felt that there were some mistakes in Su Musong's words, when he heard that his father was sick, he did not ask any more questions and hurried to boil water as Su Musong said.

Unfortunately, Su Musong's words came true; Xiao Luochen indeed caught a cold. The autumn nights were indeed chilly, and after the two of them had spent the night together, it would have been unusual for him not to get sick. Furthermore, the things Su Musong had left in his body needed to be cleaned out, or else he would be even sicker.

Xiao Luochen felt dizzy and obviously couldn't complete the task on his own, so he could only let Su Musong manipulate him like a puppet.

Su Musong was afraid of hurting Xiao Luochen, but he also had to suppress his morning desires, which was quite difficult. After working for a long time, he finally put Xiao Luochen to bed cleanly.

When he had some free time, Su Musong felt hungry. He went to the kitchen and saw Xiao Buyi seemed to be cooking something.

"Bu Yi, what are you doing?"

"I'll make some porridge for Dad."

"You can cook porridge at such a young age?"

"Aunt Jingjing taught me. She said that if I can't eat the food Daddy cooks, I can just make some porridge so I don't starve to death."

As a leader, he would not really fall to the point of starving his son to death. Su Musong just felt that the woman Xiao Buyi mentioned seemed quite interesting.

"Who is Aunt Jingjing?"

Xiao Buyi glanced at Su Musong and put the firewood in his hand into the stove.

"Aunt Jingjing is Daddy's friend. She always took me out to play when I was little and made new clothes for Daddy and me. Her cooking is delicious, much better than Daddy's."

After hearing this, Su Musong probably understood that this woman probably loved Luo Chen, which was why she was willing to take care of the father and son.

"Alas, it's a pity that she married someone else. It would have been so nice if she had married Daddy."

"Fortunately, she didn't marry. Your father has a lover, and she wouldn't be happy if she married your father."

"Well, Aunt Jingjing herself said so. She said she came too late and there was no place for her in Daddy's heart anymore."

Upon hearing this, Su Musong couldn't help but complain in his heart: "It's not that you are late, it's just that I showed up early enough."

"But my father's sweetheart hasn't appeared in all these years."

Xiao Buyi felt quite depressed. Other people's families were all bustling with activity, but in his own family, he and his father were orphans and widows, not to mention his grandparents. He had neither uncles nor aunts.

"Hasn't your father's sweetheart appeared? She's right before our eyes."

Su Musong pointed at himself

Xiao Buyi glanced at Su Musong, turned around and continued to make the fire.

"You don't believe it?"

"Whether you are or not is not up to you or me, it's up to Daddy to decide. So what if you are, can you stay here with Daddy?"

From the first moment he saw Su Musong, Xiao Buyi knew clearly that this person was different from the people in the mountain village. Therefore, in his opinion, it was impossible for Su Musong to stay in this mountain village, but he also knew that what the person in front of him said was mostly true.

Su Musong was speechless for a moment. He really had not thought about living in Qingzhu Village, nor did he want Xiao Luochen to stay there forever. One day, he would let Xiao Luochen return to Yongjing City openly and wash away the stigma of the Xiao family in front of the people of the world.

"Bu Yi, your father and you will not stay here forever. You will have to go back one day."

"Where are you going back to?"

"go home."

Su Musong regretted what he said. They no longer had any relatives in Yongcheng, so what was the point of talking about going home? Fortunately, it was Xiao Buyi who was unaware of the inside story. If he had said this in front of Xiao Luochen, it would undoubtedly be like stabbing him in the heart.

"Home? This is my home. Wherever Daddy is, that's my home."

At this moment, Xiao Buyi had a solemn expression, and the maturity in his eyes was totally not what a ten-year-old child should have. This made Su Musong wonder if Xiao Buyi knew something.