Chapter 16 (1/2)

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It didn't take long for ain the freshly-ht it over to Fu Shen, saying only one, unquestionable order “Drink”

Fu Shen stared dejectedly at thehis luck

Yan Xiaohan didn't kno to react to that look “If you weren't lame, Marquis, would you currently be in this roo hilowered at hiet out of here, are you an old mother hen? Just put it down and I'll take it on ht that it'd be so challenging to get him to take his medicine Fu Shen had always been a man of considerable self-discipline in his eyes, after all, and he was al so

“There isn't much in this bowl” He slowed down his voice in an attempt to cajole him “Shut your eyes, steel your heart, and you'll see the bottoulps, I swear”

Fu Shen painfully inclined his head away

“Do you not like the bitterness? Is it too hard to drink?” Yan Xiaohan held the bowl and had a taste of it, frowning He thought it was a bit bitter, but not to the point that it was unbearable Why was Fu Shen so resistant to it?

“That shouldn't be it” He saw Fu Shen's pallid lips and face and scrunched brows Presu him, he set the bowl to the side, pulled out both of the other's hands, and gently kneaded the neiguan acupoints [1] on his wrists “Ordinary people wouldn't have such a big reaction, let alone you Do you have some sort of hidden issue that you find hard to talk about? Can you tell ripped hi its ts He didn't avoid the issue,a little forlorn, as he wasn't too fond of bringing up the past “It's nothing, I… was in poor health when I was a kid, and had to take medicine frequently My mother died early on and my wet nurse didn't careto drink it, she'd pinch h it out every tiradually turned into a condition where I spit up any ht in Yan Xiaohan's eyes went cold upon hearing so “Did… no one in your hohtly “My father was at the border then and wouldn't be home for years, and no one else cared Later on,and sent someone to secretly keep a close eye on that wet nurse, and only then was I rescued fro it,” he confessed, letting out a puff of air “It's that it bothers me, and I don't want to”

Warm sensations permeate his wrists Yan Xiaohan has practiced ers aren't any kind of soft, but the e with could implicitly provide comfort With this war hi over to reach for the bowl

To his surprise, Yan Xiaohan went against the grain and pushed hiive him a suspicious look Yan Xiaohan, who had been for the bed, was now grabbing theon the edge of the bed so that he was still facing Fu Shen, and then reclining on its railing “Today will be the last bowl,” he said “Tomorrow I'll have Shen Yi'ce switch you over to pills”

Fu Shen said back, in his head: pills are just pills What are you sitting so close toa not very palpable embarrassment “You probably don't remember… but when you were delirious a few days before, you could drink this down fine”

“Oh?”

“I fed it to you myself”

“!!!”

Was that really delirium? Why did it see?” Fu Shen was on the alert “Forcing me? Do you not want to keep this roo “Relax, I'-arm you Come, co and half-doubtful “Turn around, put your back to me,” Yan Xiaohan said

Fu Shen coht on the bed Yan Xiaohan reached out and placed his hand on his shoulder, then gave it a good shove backwards, having Fu Shen fall into his embrace with his face turned towards the sky

As he'd been preparing to go to bed, he'd since removed the outer layer of his robes and wore only a very thin, white silk inner one, his hair was loose, and he was entirely off-guard Through that layer of fabric, he could iainst his back He heard the other's breathing clear as day, and the nose-stinging sh the scattered fragrance of agarwood lingering on his neckline

Fu Shen struggled like his tail had been stepped on “Yan Xiaohan! Are you sick of being alive?!” he growled

“Behave Don't ainst the headboard, his left shoulder and chest propping hi position With his left hand on the bowl and right on the spoon, he had Fu Shen securely encircled within his arms with very little effort He bowed his his head, chinthe other's temple “You see, now? This was how I fed you then I'e of who is hard to say, actually”

Fu Shen reh, unwavering fever, there was indeed so thehiled then, but that person had been extraordinarily gentle and patient, not a bit like the cruel-handed wet nurse from his memory They would coax hiainst his lips just as softly, and after the htly honeyed water

At that time, three bowls of medicine a day didn't seeotten better with practice, so he adjusts into a ain may or may not work, but it'll be for just this once Here, open up”

Fu Shen, for the first tio hide in, but he was trapped in the square cun of space between the crooks of the other's are of his ht and unhurried yet irrefutably waiting for him to part his lips All of a sudden, it see, as, without waiting for reason to kick in, his body responded and followed in accordance with its old memories

When the first sip of the concoction flowed down his throat, he heard Yan Xiaohan chuckling over his head, as if he were quite helpless to do anything other than indulge him “You say this and that, yet you still need so Master”

Fu Shen elbowed hiitated, but there was very little force to it not unlike souity

What's going on with this Young Master?

He's not yet fallen into your hands

He illing to cooperate, and the botto an absolute prince [2], asking for a drink in a low voice without lifting his eyelids Yan Xiaohan held hi the tea cup in the other and raising it to his lips Fu Shen took a sip out of his hand, then curled his lip “It's not sweet”

“You're so picky” Yan Xiaohan took his hand back and put the cup back where it was, gruelse you drink should clearly taste sweet”

Fu Shen see, but because he was stuffed into his ar like a huff

Yan Xiaohan was about to put Fu Shen back onto the bed when thear on the hollow of his shoulder In this unexpected position of huddling up into his arms, his eyes were closed in sleep

Yan Xiaohan went quiet for an instant

The red candlelight flickered, illu the pair of jades that they were

What thisthey're both well aware of, and need not explain

—He's been tee was parked outside the corner gate of the Yan Estate Fu Shen had no desire to attract attention on this trip, so he didn't even go through the ar him Xiao Xun placed Fu Shen on his back and then into the carriage, putting the wheelchair away, and asked with feigned casualness, “General, is Sir Yan not co to see you off?”

The load on Fu Shen's lint in his eyes, but he si response “No need for him to Are we packed up? Let's set off”

Xiao Xun was athat his state of being had gone askew – that wasn't to say it was bad, just a little odd It suddenly seemed like he had drifted apart from that Sir Yan, yet he hadn't seen the two act very distant with each other

However, these ords he only dared think in his et to the botto Fu Shen about it Xiao Xun mounted his horse, took the lead to kick their journey off, and the carriage slowly started to o until they were too far to be seen, then went back inside and closed up the corner gate once otten far when there was the sudden swift echo of horseshoes co up as quick as lighting Xiao Xun reined his horse to a halt, recognizing the official's robes of the Flying Dragon Guard from very far away He felt his head inflate with annoyance, unable to keep fro Didn't he say it was fine for him not to send him off?

Fu Shen's eyes were shut in rest aboard the carriage, and he was about to fall asleep when he sensed it gradually co his eyes

Ie lifted open, and a figure sprung into it along with a thread of daylight Fu Shen had ahis eyes “Why are you here?”

“I still have to come see you before you leave,” Yan Xiaohan said warenuinely did have a bit of aardness between theht Both of their s over This type of distance can cause discomfiture, but it's not at all a type of torment