Chapter 26 Who told you I'm a homosexual?! ...
The black shoes in front of me remained motionless, even the folds of their garments stood firm as a mountain.
And that gaze remained fixed, staring straight in their direction.
Lin Yuan lowered her head, her face burning, feeling extremely uneasy.
She feared that Xiao Xun would reveal that she was a palace maid who had run away, and, like last night, order her to return to the palace immediately.
His aggressive demeanor suggested he intended to imprison her.
Even if Lin Yu were here, she couldn't save her.
—Maybe, it's possible.
She looked up and saw that Xiao Xun's gaze was not on her.
Instead, it stopped in front of it.
Lin Yu's face.
She pursed her lips and couldn't help but sigh softly.
When she was with Lin Yu, Lin Yu always attracted more attention than she did.
Even if others see Lin Yuan first, they will eventually focus their attention on Lin Yu.
Ever since she learned that Ah Jin and Ah Yin had changed the time for playing house from midday to sunrise because her brother would ride his horse to the mountain five miles away to find a teacher for lessons at sunrise, she stopped playing with them.
As for why it wasn't changed to dusk?
“Your elder brother is studying and often comes home late; you might not see him until dusk.”
Ajin blushed and grinned foolishly, revealing her gap-toothed teeth, as she looked in the direction Lin Yu had gone.
Lin Yuan even got into a fight with a boy from a neighboring village because of this.
When Sister Ajin got married, the boy accidentally stood next to Lin Yu. Several adults surrounded him and laughed at him. They were both raised in the mud, but one looked like she was carefully sculpted by Nuwa, while the other looked like Nuwa casually flicked the mud off her hands, with such blurry eyes and noses.
The boy was indistinct in appearance but sharp in mind, and he immediately understood why the other boys kept their distance from Lin Yu.
He became a laughing stock, racking his brains to come up with the most vicious words: Lin Yu's eyebrows, eyes, nose, and chin do not resemble his mother in any way, so he must not be Lin Yuan's biological brother!
—It was Lin Yuan's father's bastard child with another man!
He never met Lin Yuan's father, and therefore did not know that Lin Yuan's father was even more obscure than he was.
When Lin Yu heard the commotion, Lin Yuan was already injured.
A bruise appeared on his forehead, his lips were swollen, his palm was cut, and his brand-new clothes were torn in several places.
The boy's face was swollen, his neck was scratched, and Lin Yuan was still holding onto his collar tightly, refusing to let go.
Lin Yuan, like an angry little beast, bared her teeth and said fiercely, "My brother is my own brother! You're not allowed to say he isn't!"
The boy yelled and sniffled, "I insist it's not true, I just—no—"
Before he could utter the last word, he was punched in the face.
The teeth fell to the ground with a thud, and the already slurred nose and mouth were covered in blood, making them look even more smeared together.
Lin Yu picked up Lin Yuan horizontally and wiped the dust and blood off her face with his sleeve.
Lin Yuan wrapped her arms around his neck, and tears finally streamed down her face: "Brother, you are my own brother."
Her brother was so good at fighting that she was even more willing to believe that Lin Yu was her real brother.
Lin Yu wiped away her tears, helplessly comforting her: "Don't cry, don't cry. Of course I'm your older brother, always have been. Always will be."
When Lin Wu heard about this, he cursed for the entire night.
The next day, he cursed all the way from home to the blacksmith's shop.
The shouts were deafening, and several doors in the streets and alleys were closed, while the shadows in the sky parted a little.
He was really furious.
Their children only grow up with ugly eyes and noses, but other people's children can't grow up with their parents' good features?
Lin Yuan clicked her tongue, feeling that there was a hint of pride in those words.
Later, the neighbors painstakingly dissected Lin Yu's face, staring wide-eyed as they held up lamps to see what was going on:
Lin Yu's eyelashes look just like Lin Wu's, only curlier.
Lin Yu's ears clearly resembled Qin Shi's, except that her earlobes were slightly longer.
Lin Yu's fair complexion was probably exactly the same as Lin Wu's skin tone before he became a blacksmith.
Lin Yu's eyes were a combination of Qin Shi's almond-shaped eyes and Lin Wu's phoenix-shaped eyes. However, he was thinner than both of them, with more defined brow bones, which made his eyes appear larger and more piercing.
And those sword-like eyebrows were exactly the same as Lin Yuan's slender willow eyebrows—both were naturally black.
In the end, everyone agreed that the blacksmith forges iron, the baker molds dough, and together they create a person as beautiful as jade.
Xiao Xun's gaze also fell on Lin Yu's face.
They hit it off immediately. Xiao Xun inexplicably wanted to play football, horse racing, and pitch-pot with him.
His features resembled someone who had always been in a distant, hazy dream, surrounded by mist. When the mist dissipated and the dream ended, this was exactly how he should look.
He stared intently.
In the past, Lin Yuan would not have found it surprising.
But now, she felt something strange.
A slight sense of uncertainty arose again.
...
"Who told you I'm gay?"
This statement was earth-shattering.
The sky has fallen.
First, the dust collector shook violently.
Then, everything went dark and gloomy.
Hearing the sound of a cat enjoying the company of its grandchildren outside the window, it let out a whimper and scattered in all directions.
Immediately afterwards, an immense burden began to press down on him.
Ten months ago, in a side hall of the Jiaofang Palace.
Xiao Xun reeked of alcohol. Jade Mountain was about to collapse.
He rarely drinks alcohol.
Lin Yuan had never seen him drunk before.
So much so that when he entered, she jumped up, thinking she was back on the day she was injured in Shanglin Garden, feeling dizzy and disoriented.
Those looking out also leaned to one side, teetering on the verge of collapse.
She asked, "Why is Your Majesty drinking?"
"To relieve sorrow."
She hesitated for a moment, then asked, "What is it that troubles Your Majesty?"
Xiao Xun stared at her for a long time before replying with a single word: "Love".
Lin Yuan couldn't help but say, "But wine can't relieve sorrow."
Why do you say that?
Lin Yuan pursed her lips and asked in return, "Then, Your Majesty, have you found relief from your worries after drinking so much?"
Xiao Xun smiled wryly and shook his head: "Then tell me, what can relieve sorrow?"
Alcohol cannot relieve sorrow.
This is what her brother told her.
Seven-year-old Lin Yuan had never seen anyone with more worries than her brother.
He rarely smiles.
Even if his mother's pancakes were filled with meat, even if his father bought him books that were piled higher than the firewood in the kitchen.
She remembered her father's words: "A good drink can wash away all sorrows."
So she stole a pot of pepper wine that her father was reluctant to drink and said to Lin Yu, "Brother, I have brought you something good."
Lin Yu looked up from her book: "What is it?"
"Things that make people happy," she said mysteriously.
They each took one bite.
Lin Yuan also had her worries.
The pigs she was raising had increasingly swollen bellies, as if they were sick.
After taking a sip, Lin Yu's eyes welled up with tears from the spiciness, while Lin Yuan choked on the bitterness.
Lin Yu had tears on her face, but her eyes and lips curved into a smile as she said to her, "Alcohol can't relieve sorrow."
"But my brother clearly smiled," Lin Yuan clicked her tongue and asked, puzzled.
As the wine entered her sorrowful heart and her throat burned, she remembered the cool, refreshing pork skin jelly her mother used to make.
If a pig gets sick and is about to die, it doesn't seem like such a sad thing.
"What can relieve sorrow is not wine, but people." Lin Yu gently pinched the tip of her nose.
Lin Yuan imagined herself sticking out her tongue and hissing because of the spiciness of the alcohol, which would surely be quite amusing. Like a little dog.
“That’s true, it should be called a divine dog or a celestial dog,” Lin Yu said.
Lin Yuan didn't know what a celestial dog looked like, but Lin Yu, having read so many books, did.
He said it was cute.
Until the third year of Jinghe, in a side hall of Jiaofang Palace, Lin Yuan stared blankly at the silk painting of the Xishan Sutra, where a celestial dog with hair as white as a tumbleweed and red from face to neck was depicted.
If the painting could become real, it would surely bring joy.
If the person in the painting were here, he wouldn't need to drown his sorrows in alcohol.
Lin Yuan felt very sad seeing Xiao Xun drunk.
The rumors had been circulating for some time. Even though she rarely left the house because of her injuries, she had heard the rumors that the emperor and empress were not on good terms and that they never had any intimate relations.
She thought Xiao Xun wouldn't care.
If he takes it to heart, he's the emperor. He can just arrest a few people who spread rumors, imprison them, or execute them as a warning to others.
The father didn't want to hear the rumors that his brother was an illegitimate child, so he brandished his newly forged shovel and began to curse fiercely in the street until the people spreading the rumors shut their doors and the rumors naturally stopped.
However, the day before, she saw Xiao Xun flipping through Sima Qian's books. The article he was reading was the fourth chapter of the Annals of Zhou, on the tyranny of King Li, which contained the line, "Preventing the people from speaking is more difficult than preventing floods."
These words were like ice water poured over my head.
Lin Yuan suddenly realized her own shallowness and understood the difficulties of being an emperor.
Although she couldn't quite grasp the consequences of silencing the public from discussing royal private affairs, she was still aware of the potential for a major upheaval.
Thinking this, she slowly said, "Your Majesty, in fact, who one likes and what kind of person one likes is determined by fate and cannot be forced."
Xiao Xun curled the corners of his lips slightly: "What if this feeling, this affection, causes pain and heartache?"
Lin Yuan pondered and said, "The heart's true place is never up to us. If we force ourselves not to like something, or deceive ourselves into liking it, our hearts will ache and suffer, and the pain and suffering will be even deeper and greater."
Xiao Xun's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes reddened.
Lin Yuan lowered her eyes and said slowly, "Actually, this applies to both men and women."
Xiao Xun approached her and softly asked, "What if you can't bring yourself to acknowledge these feelings?"
As he drew closer, Lin Yuan's breathing became erratic, and her face flushed slightly.
The aroma of Cangwu wine wafted towards me, lingering and dense, swirling around my nose.
The matter of male homosexuality was completely foreign to her.
It's as unfamiliar as matters of the heart.
However, she could still glean some understanding of romantic love from poetry and books.
Male homosexuality and male attraction, however, remained confined to whispers and private discussions in the streets and alleys.
Moreover, after she started studying and learning etiquette, she never went to eavesdrop with Ah Jin and Ah Yin again.
No matter how late my elder brother came home, he would ask about my studies, so I naturally had no free time.
Lin Yuan lowered her head even further, avoiding the smell of alcohol, and pondered deeply: "Men come before women, which is the principle of strength and gentleness. Your Majesty is a man, the Son of Heaven, and should not be indecisive when it comes to matters of the heart."
Even the most humble and weakest person will look directly into his heart and say...
She lowered her eyes, twisting the phoenix-patterned handkerchief in her hands. After a long while, she finally spoke with difficulty:
"The mountain has trees, and the trees have branches, but my heart is pleased with you..."
Each word fell into Xiao Xun's slightly drunken ears, carrying a slight tremor, unexpectedly melodious and pleasant to hear.
Like the spring birds outside the window.
With her eyes lowered and her eyelashes seemingly filled with tears, she resembled a peach or apricot blossom glistening with dew.
"I know, I know."
Xiao Xun gently interrupted her, gazing intently at her, and sighed, "Men precede women, embodying the principles of strength and gentleness. I should be the one to say that."
"Mm." Lin Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and smiled shyly.
Xiao Xun stood upright, about to speak.
He had an excellent alcohol tolerance; although he reeked of alcohol, he wasn't actually drunk. It was precisely because he couldn't get drunk that he couldn't relieve his sorrow.
However, she is right.
Wine cannot relieve sorrow; it is people who can.
It's the person right in front of me.
Lin Yuan didn't think to give him a chance to speak.
She pursed her lips and continued speaking to herself, "The Yue man who rowed the boat, an insignificant and humble man, was affectionate towards E Jun Zixi and dared to express his love. Isn't such affection moving?"
She cautiously raised her eyes and glanced at Xiao Xun, only to find that his expression suddenly seemed a little strange.
He crossed his arms, squinted at her, as if lost in a state of confusion and bewilderment.
When it comes to matters of the heart, they're always shrouded in mystery.
How could she suddenly understand everything just because of a few words from her?
Xiao Xun hesitated, then asked blankly, "Are you only talking about the Yue people and Prince Zixi of E?"
Lin Yuan nodded, pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, and then added, "And Lord Longyang and King Anling of Wei, they..."
"Wait a minute," Xiao Xun called out.
Lin Yuan stared at him blankly.
His eyes were clear and bright; the wine and the fog in his eyes had dissipated.
Lin Yuan swallowed the story of Duke Ling of Wei and Mi Xiazi sharing a peach.
The flush from the alcohol, combined with his sullen anger, made Xiao Xun's face glow.
Therefore, Lin Yuan always felt that the day the sky seemed to collapse was at dusk.
The pot of chicken soup I received from Aunt Li felt incredibly heavy, pressing down on my hands.
Lin Yuan deliberately made the lid of the earthenware pot make a soft clinking sound.
Xiao Xun withdrew his gaze.
"You, you are... a teacher at the county and state academy?"
"I am Lin Yu." Lin Yu cupped his hands in greeting.
"I am He Ji," He Ji quickly said. After speaking, he noticed that the man did not look away from Lin Yu, so he added, "I am also a teacher at the academy."
Xiao Xun's gaze followed Lin Yu and then shifted to Lin Yuan.
Lin Yu walked to Lin Yuan's side and took the soup pot from her hands.
He Ji didn't get a response for a while, so he shook his sleeve at himself and pinched his arm to make sure he hadn't disappeared. Then he coughed lightly, gestured with his lip towards Lin Yu and his sister, and asked, "Young master, do you know each other?"
"Old friend."
Lin Yuan was just pulling her hand away from the handles of the earthenware pot when she heard Xiao Xun's words and accidentally touched the belly of the pot, burning herself.
It burned the fingers, but the earlobe caught fire.
She touched her earlobe.
Xiao Xun chuckled, “Oh, I just think that Master Lin is quite like an old friend.”
He said it casually.
He was traveling incognito, concealing his identity, so he naturally had to change his story about Lin Yuan, who was once his palace maid. Besides, ever since Lin Yuan saw him last night, she had acted as if she had seen a monstrous flood, avoiding him at all costs.
Xiao Cheng said that the "li" in "apology" implies a gradual approach, so he would proceed with a gradual approach.
So, taking advantage of this, they went down the slope.
Although seeing Lin Yuan's expression made him feel a chill in his heart.
Only Xiao Jin was covered in sweat.
"As Prime Minister Cui predicted, we hit it off immediately, truly hit it off immediately."
He chuckled, his legs trembling as if he had walked briskly in the cold wind and was now hot, so he wiped the sweat from his brow.
Following Xiao Xun's words in the Jade Flower Hall, Xiao Jin introduced the person to everyone as a distant relative from the Kingdom of Yuzhang, whose given name was "Zhang".
In terms of seniority, he is his uncle.
Upon hearing Xiao Jin utter the word "uncle," Lin Yu subtly glanced at Xiao Xun through the mist.
He smiled slightly and said, "During my years at Huaiyang Academy, I traveled to Guandong in my spare time. Three years ago, I visited Yuzhang Kingdom. I still remember there was a camphor tree outside the South Gate, which was 55 feet tall and 25 spans in circumference. I heard that in the past, because its branches and leaves were so lush and shady that it was not conducive to the security of the city gate, it was intended to be removed. I wonder what it is like now, whether it is still there?"
Xiao Xun was slightly taken aback: "It's still here."
He looked into Lin Yu's misty eyes, "However, that tree is not outside the South Gate, but outside the Songyang Gate."
"Yes," Lin Yu said with a smile, "I misremembered."
Xiao Jin was drenched in sweat, even though he was standing right in the wind.
"Oh, is this soup that A-Yuan just made? Don't stand here too long, it'll get cold." He walked over to Xiao Xun's side, chuckling, "It seems Master Lin and the others are preparing for breakfast. Uncle, we've really come at an inopportune time. Perhaps we should do it another day—"
"This soup smells delicious. I'm quite hungry too. I wonder if Master Lin would like—" Xiao Xun looked at Lin Yuan and smiled, "This young lady, could you please provide me with a pair of chopsticks?"
Xiao Jin was speechless.
Didn't they just have a meal together at Yuhua Hall before coming out?
Xiao Xun's expression, however, was sincere, as if he were truly hungry.
Lin Yuan curtsied and said without any politeness, "The food of a country bumpkin is not fit for the table of a king or nobleman. I'm afraid you won't be used to it, young master."
These words immediately drew the ire of Li Ao: "The soup and rice I make are suitable for kings, generals, and even immortals."
She breathed a long sigh of relief knowing that the distinguished guest was not the Feathered Gentleman. However, when she later heard the name "Yuzhang" from the Crown Prince, she mistook it for "Feathered Robe" and nearly fainted.
Fortunately, Master Lin quickly changed the subject from the feathered garments to the trees. She gave Lin Yu a grateful look.
After the topic of camphor trees was over, she mustered up the courage to examine him closely through the steam and thought that this distinguished young man was handsome, almost as good-looking as Master Lin.
In comparison, He Ji could only be described as having a decent appearance, but once he started talking, his eyebrows and eyes would dart around, and his mouth would become glib and slick, and even that little bit of decent appearance would disappear.
She always felt fond of good-looking people.
Besides, this handsome guest said that the soup she made smelled delicious.
The only slight mishap was that the handsome, distinguished guest seemed unaware that it was she—Aunt Li—who made the soup.
She couldn't help but speak up.
They were determined to get there before Wang Ao did.
Although Young Master Xiao raised an eyebrow after hearing what Aunt Li said, he was not more pleased that the soup was something even immortals could drink.
Even though the prince was sweating profusely, he claimed he was already full after hearing this.
It wasn't until everyone had entered the main room that Aunt Li slapped her thigh and realized what had happened.
Immortals drink the wind and dew, neither of which is bland or tasteless. How can they taste good?
She swallowed a mouthful of cold air in regret, which made her back ache even more, and her throat felt dry and parched. Her cries of pain were muffled by the presence of the visitors.
Wang Ao couldn't bear it in the end, so she took pity on her and put her arm on her shoulder.
Before Li Ao could be moved, she caught sight of the kitchen staff.
Wang Ao spread her hands and said that if she wanted to lie down on the bed, she would have to go through the hall, which would inevitably disturb the guests. If she went through the back door, she would have to go through the inner corridor, and she didn't have that much strength.
Li Ao could only stare blankly, enveloped in the stench of chicken and goose feathers, drinking the bland and tasteless chicken soup broth, while dreaming of sitting side by side with several refined and handsome young men, sharing a meal together.
The chopsticks gently touched, picking up the meat and placing it into the same bowl.
Looking up, I saw one smiling gently, and the other smiling brightly.
Her face flushed in the thin warmth.
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Author's Note: Li Ao, with a girlish heart
In the next chapter, witness the chaotic scene between the male leads!
Whether the Yue Ren Ge (Song of the Yue People) describes the feelings between men or between men and women is a matter of debate.
As for why the female lead has such thoughts, the reason will be explained in Chapter Thirty-One.
Subsequent chapters will be updated at 7 AM every day, so I don't have to stay up late. I'll be checking for bugs on the subway to work.
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