Chapter 98 [VIP]

“Changyou.” Xue Yi said with a hint of helplessness.

Lu Xuejin neatly arranged the food into small plates and bowls, their colors a mix of pink and green, blooming like flower buds, wafting out hot steam. The chicken broth was simmered until it turned whitish, with small mushrooms scattered like buds on the surface, releasing an enticing aroma.

"Hmm?" He couldn't help but look up.

Taking good care of a patient begins with their diet. A good appetite prevents weakness, allowing the body to fight off illness once food is digested. Conversely, a poor appetite, where one neither eats nor drinks, makes them no different from a skeleton.

Xue Yi said to him, "How could I possibly eat all of this? You don't need to share so much."

He ignored them and said, "This is only half the amount an adult man would eat. Brother, you ate too little before, and besides, we've come all this way today. Who knows when we'll be able to come back again?"

"Brother, try the wontons first, they'll get cold later." Seeing that Xue Yi didn't want to eat, he picked up the soup bowl, gently lifted the wontons with a spoon, and put the steaming hot wontons to Xue Yi's mouth.

The morning market was bustling with activity. The two of them were strikingly good-looking. A passing oil vendor stared at them for a while, assuming Xue Yi was some sickly young master, and even offered a few words of advice as he passed by.

"Young master, this is our family's specialty. Our morning tea is famous far and wide. Since you're not feeling well, you should eat more. Don't worry. We've cleaned the meat several times before bringing it back to ensure it's clean... You'll feel refreshed after eating it."

Lu Xuejin couldn't help but smile after hearing this. As soon as he smiled, Xue Yi stared at him, and he took advantage of Xue Yi's inattention to stuff food into Xue Yi's mouth.

"This chicken soup looks delicious." He blew on the soup to cool it down, then fed Xue Yi a spoonful, and Xue Yi ate a spoonful.

Next up are plum blossom cake, crab roe sausage, and tea eggs. The tea eggs here are marinated with Biluochun tea, and they have a strong tea flavor that permeates them, like green leaf eggs that grow on trees.

“Brother, can you taste the difference? When you’re sick, you should pay more attention to food. Which one tastes good, which one doesn’t, which one is prepared more meticulously—brother, just focus on these things. Once you’re satisfied with the food, you’ll be in the mood to do other things.” He analyzed earnestly.

Xue Yi remained silent, letting him feed him. He had initially refused to eat, but now he had eaten most of it. After a long silence, he said to him, "Changyou is right... I have never cared about food."

"Of course. I hadn't paid any attention to it before. But once, when I went to a restaurant, I overheard a diner next to me talking at length about food from all over the country. This person's interest was to eat his way around the world, willing to travel thousands of miles for a single dish... If what you said earlier is true, what future can a person have if he only thinks about eating and drinking all day? But I saw that diner talking incessantly, his eyes shining as he talked about food, his face full of ecstasy, no different from a scholar who was engrossed in writing poetry. Isn't it a very fortunate thing for a person to be able to find pure joy in simple things? No matter how much one pursues literature, fame, or eternal glory, in the end, there are only countless bones. When I saw that diner, I was quite surprised. Someone could defy the gaze of others under the weight of authority... At that time, it wasn't just me listening; there were many others, many of whom didn't care and criticized the diner vehemently."

"Some people voiced my doubts. Spending one's entire life pursuing food is truly a waste of time. So the diner laughed and countered, 'Then what truly constitutes a great achievement?' The man replied, 'Serving the people is a great achievement. Reaching the rank of a minister is a great achievement. Reaching the third rank in officialdom is a great achievement.' The diner then followed this advice, asking the man if he had ever done anything for the people. The man replied that he was too engrossed in his studies to do so. The man criticized the diner for lacking ambition, indulging in eating, drinking, and merrymaking without purpose, saying this was unacceptable. The diner, without anger, frankly stated that he had used his culinary skills to entertain many impoverished scholars—wasn't that serving the people? He had spent money traveling through several cities, paying for every carriage and merchant he encountered, including this tavern, ensuring the people earned money—wasn't that serving the people? Even today, entertaining the group of scholars traveling to the capital for the imperial examinations—wasn't that serving the people? Seeing the man's silence and unwillingness to answer, the diner then..." "Question: Following this logic, if a poor scholar is unwilling to spend money, causing restaurants to go hungry, coachmen to have no money to support their families, and butchers to be unable to do business, wouldn't that be considered failing to serve the people?" The man retorted, claiming he would become an official in the future and couldn't be compared to this. The diner slowly explained, "For the common people, who becomes an official is merely a change of direction for the carriages and horses; the beneficiaries aren't necessarily the people, let alone whether they achieve fame and fortune. Tell me, if you do achieve fame and fortune, what will you do for the people? If the monarch opposes you, will you truly stand on the side of the people?" The man replied, "If the monarch opposes you, the people's will naturally follow the monarch's heart." The whole room burst into laughter. Someone nearby countered, "Does saying I want to serve the people mean I can order others to make way for me? Does simply raising a moral high ground allow me to suppress others? Does having lofty ambitions automatically earn me the respect of mediocre people?"

Xue Yi: "It was truly a wonderful debate."

Lu Xuejin: "I was greatly inspired after listening to this. It's good no matter what aspirations a person has, as long as they don't harm others and just do their best in their own world. The purer it is, the more beautiful it is. The further away from utilitarianism one is, the more sacred one is, no different from gods and Buddhas who are devoted to the people. It's just that some people are gods and Buddhas for the people, some are gods and Buddhas for animals, and some are gods and Buddhas for food. These cherished emotions are all invaluable."

"So whatever ambitions an elder brother may have are good, but when a person falls ill, everything comes to a standstill. One should not rush forward, but rather, like an infant, carefully examine oneself: does one need to realize one's wishes immediately, or does one need to first have a healthy body? For a patient, it is clearly the latter."

“We don’t want anything else, we just want to take care of our health. If we take good care of our food, medicine, and mental well-being, our health will naturally improve… Of course, these are just my guesses and wishes. I hope my brother has a healthy body, that is my wish.”

He carefully organized his words, trying his best to express his emotions. After listening, Xue Yi looked at him. The bustling city around him seemed to disappear. The surging emotions inside him enveloped him, so intense that they seemed to turn into a fiery liquid that would devour him.

He glanced at the emotions resembling lust within them and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. The clear soup reflected a patch of blue sky; Xue Yi hadn't heard a word spoken earlier. A certain emotion stirred within him, and suddenly, remembering His Highness, he fell into deep thought.

I often thought my elder brother was stubborn, perhaps he was no different from Xue Yi. They were just standing on different paths now, going further and further astray, towards extremes, empty and deserted, a narrow path that they thought was full of stars.

"Brother... let's go back."

Sometimes, because everyone has different ways of life, they often find it difficult to understand each other. He hadn't spoken so much with Xue Yi for many years. Perhaps it was a spur-of-the-moment thing today, or perhaps he was trying to persuade Xue Yi to understand his thoughts. After he finished speaking, he fell silent.

He noticed a small figure appear at the corner of the table. The boy in red, holding their leftover food, rolled his dark brown eyes, swallowed a steamed bun, and sat down comfortably beside him, saying, "Why do you have so many worries these days? Not everyone is as sentimental as you. I've never seen the young prince have any ambitions either; you're very biased!"

He couldn't help but say to his younger self, "I think you're too biased. Why do you always favor your elder brother?"

The boy in red said, "My elder brother is sickly and has had a difficult life. If I don't favor him... who else would be willing to stand by his side?"

"I am you. You are me. If you could let go of your brother, I wouldn't have appeared." After saying this, the boy in red disappeared.

The carriage swayed back and forth on the way back. Lu Xuejin sat by the window, Xue Yi leaning on his shoulder, fast asleep. Lately, his sleep wasn't a deep drowsiness; any noise would wake him. The carriage wheels turned, and Xue Yi awoke.

Xue Yi: "Are we almost in the capital?"

Lu Xuejin glanced out the window; the distant city of Shengjing was faintly visible, and Mount Buwen was shrouded in a hazy mist. He replied, "We'll be there soon."

Xue Yi: "I feel... this journey back with Changyou was like a beautiful dream. It doesn't feel real. Changyou and I were in the same carriage, returning to the capital together, and even going to the morning market together."

“I’m not dreaming, brother, please rest assured,” Lu Xuejin said.

As soon as he finished speaking, his hand was grasped. He touched something cool, and the slender hand covered with needle marks touched between his fingers. He couldn't help but look over, and Xue Yi was quietly gazing at him, a faint smile in his dark eyes.

"Are you really not lying to me?"

"..." Lu Xuejin said, "Of course, I have never lied to my brother."

In his gaze, he watched as a swarm of withered butterflies passed through Xue Yi's face, carrying away his flesh and blood, transforming the heavy aura of illness on his skin into a sinister aura. From the white bones grew the skin of a grotesque ghost, crimson blood seeping from the needle's eye. Thick, fresh blood drenched and bound him.

Xue Yi hooked his fingers around his, the sticky sweat from Xue Yi's palm seeping into his skin. His long, dark eyes gazed into his depths, and he leaned closer, pressing his nose against Xue Yi's neck. Goosebumps instantly rose on his skin. Xue Yi's breath brushed against his temple, as if boneless, growing out of his body.

The disease invaded his brother's body, turning him into a strange entity. No longer his family, but a blurred, indistinct humanoid form shrouded in extreme desires and obsessions. His brother could see nothing but a morbid possessiveness towards him.

The palace of the Hu people.

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

That heavy snowfall was like a dream; once the page was turned, the sun shone brightly again. Only some cold air remained in the air, along with the unmelted snow in the dark corners, testifying that the snow had once graced this place.

A candle was lit in the dimly lit palace. The candle flickered and died down, and the boy on the bed slowly opened his eyes. He had repeated this action many times before… He had been awake for a long time, but his head throbbed with pain. Some emotion still lingered in his body, compelling him to rise and go somewhere else.

His reason, after a long period of clarity and dormancy, gradually returned. He was now in his uncle's palace... He had been rescued by his sister Wei Ning and his uncle after returning from Caoqi Mountain.

"..." The figure in his dream kept reappearing, and a sudden pain shot through his heart. The two scars there overlapped repeatedly, and now they looked like marks left by a whip, burning in his blood vessels and causing throbbing pain.

He couldn't help but look out the window.

Outside the window lay the territory of the Hu people. The buildings on the distant mountains were both strange and familiar. Caoqi Mountain was far away, and only a small peak could be seen. There was no trace of the capital city here, let alone the capital city that was hundreds of thousands of miles away.

"Your Highness is awake?" Hongying pushed open the door after hearing the noise.

The image of the maid appeared in his eyes. Hongying had just entered the room, but she stopped in her tracks. He saw his own reflection in Hongying's eyes.

Ten days had passed without him eating much, surviving only on liquids. His face had become much thinner, his long hair was disheveled at his sides, and his pale complexion was devoid of any color. His fan-shaped eyes were wide open in fear, as if countless ink dots were intertwined within them, and his throat was throbbing, as if he wanted to utter a sound.

"ah--"

He tried to make a sound, but an invisible force blocked his throat. That force tore open his skin, and he saw only a withered and skeletal skeleton. The skeleton's eyes were empty, and it emitted a mournful sound from deep within its body.

His entire body was wrapped in bandages, isolating him and making his wounds feel incredibly heavy. The moment he uttered a sound, they immediately released signals of resistance.

"Your Highness... quickly go and summon the King."

Murong Yue tried to tear off the gauze covering his body, but Hongying immediately stopped him.

"No. My injuries have just healed, Your Highness..."

A sudden, dull pain shot through his wrist, and he struggled to breathe, his lungs fluttering weakly like the wings of a frail insect. His eyes widened, revealing a distorted reflection of extreme terror. It was as if he had belatedly grasped some ineffable answer.

The truth, so close yet so unbearable, caused him to erupt in a fit of rage upon learning it. The anger and hatred in his chest coalesced into an unnamed flame that consumed him completely, rendering him immobile. It burned away his skin, his internal organs, his limbs… and even his heart.

The love lock hanging around his neck clung to his skin. As he tore at the gauze, his body couldn't withstand the strain, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud. His knees slammed onto the floor, and his entire body slumped down like a lump of mud.

"Your Highness—"

He landed face down, his nose hitting the ground, and he immediately felt dizzy, hot blood gushing out. He heard a "crack" sound, a faint, almost imperceptible noise.

When he turned his palm over, the locked tiger was smashed in two, its eyes rolling away.

A note from the author: