Bai Qingyu X Lu Rongshen (3)
The next morning.
Lu Rongshen was carried back from Prince Li’s residence by Bai Qingyu. When he returned to the bridal chamber, tears still clung to his lashes. He had cried so fiercely the night before that now both his eyes were swollen red like walnuts.
Bai Qingyu set him down on a stool cushioned with thick soft padding. Lu Rongshen sulked and refused to pay him any heed, turning his face to one side and saying nothing in a huff.
For a time, the room fell silent. Bai Qingyu turned and walked out.
At once, Lu Rongshen whipped his head back around. He stared at the doorway in disbelief, watching Bai Qingyu walk away without a single glance back, and the tears he had only just managed to hold in rushed out again.
Liar! Great liar!
In aggrieved anger, he suddenly bounced up, only to pull at that hidden soreness. With a yelp, he dropped back down onto the stool.
When Bai Qingyu returned carrying a bowl of chicken-and-lotus-seed congee he had personally simmered, the first thing that met him was a fierce glare.
Lu Rongshen glowered at him furiously, tears still hanging upon his face. There was not the least real ferocity in that appearance. On the contrary, it only made him look all the more pitiful.
Walking over, Bai Qingyu bent one knee and crouched before him. “Your Highness, first have a little...”
“Why did you deceive me!?” Lu Rongshen loudly cut off his words.
That accusation contained too much grievance and sorrow. Lu Rongshen’s eyes were blood-red as he looked at this person before him, at once familiar and strange, and for the first time felt within his heart a kind of pain difficult to name.
Bai Qingyu first fell silent. Then he set the bowl upon the table. Remaining crouched before Lu Rongshen, he tilted up his face to look at him. “It is my fault for not explaining clearly enough... It was I who misunderstood Your Highness’s meaning. Your Highness may rest assured, I shall go into the palace at once and seek an audience with His Majesty.”
Seeing the gravity in his expression, and knowing that the words he spoke would never be in jest, Lu Rongshen saw him rise. Without a moment’s thought, he seized Bai Qingyu’s wrist. “What are you going to do?”
In a low voice, Bai Qingyu explained, “I will go plead guilty before His Majesty and restore justice to Your Highness.”
If this matter reached Emperor Hongjia, then the Bai family would be guilty of deceiving the sovereign. Bai Yi and Bai Qingyu would then...
“No!” Lu Rongshen’s face turned white as he gripped him and refused to let go.
Bai Qingyu gave a bitter smile. “Your Highness...”
The joy of last night still lingered before his eyes, while today Lu Rongshen’s tears cut so deeply. Bai Qingyu’s heart felt as though it were being cooked over blazing flames and rolled through ice and snow. There was not a moment of ease in it.
Lu Rongshen lowered his head, still holding fast to his wrist. After a while, he spoke awkwardly. “Sit down. Wait until I finish eating, and then we will talk.”
At once, light rose in Bai Qingyu’s eyes. Carefully, he sat back down and brought the bowl of rich, fragrant congee before him. “Eat. The heat is just right. After you finish, there is more in the kitchen.”
Lu Rongshen said nothing. Taking the bowl, he lowered his head and began eating. Mouthful by mouthful he ate, not tasting any of it, because all the while his mind was full of thoughts. Bai Qingyu sat opposite him, quietly watching him eat. He knew that once Lu Rongshen finished eating, his final judgment would fall upon him as well.
Yet at this very moment, simply watching him eat already felt like happiness enough.
After one bowl of congee, Lu Rongshen had fully calmed down. Setting down the porcelain spoon, he hesitated over how to begin.
In truth, after he impulsively ran to Prince Li’s residence that morning and listened to Chu Yuan’s words, things had already become clear in his heart. Only, understanding in one’s heart was one thing, and facing it was another.
A perfectly good wife had, after a single night, turned into... turned into a man. No one could bear that at once. At the very least, he ought to be given time to compose himself.
“Well...” Lu Rongshen avoided looking at him and said awkwardly, “My tone just now was poor, and I apologize to you. In truth, it cannot all be blamed on you. You did indeed explain it to me before. It was I who understood it wrongly.”
Not only had he understood it wrongly, he had even mistaken Bai Qingyu for having a fondness for cross-dressing, turning the whole thing into one great farce.
Bai Qingyu said, “It is not Your Highness’s fault. I concealed the truth first. Your Highness did nothing wrong at all.”
Listening to his low and hoarse voice, much the same as usual, Lu Rongshen nevertheless heard in it a sorrow that could not be hidden anywhere.
Unable to resist, he lifted his head to look at Bai Qingyu. Their gazes met. Bai Qingyu smiled at him, and in those blue eyes that always looked upon him with gentleness, for the first time he saw a melancholy sheen like water.
“Will you tell me why you disguised yourself as a woman?” Looking seriously into those eyes, he asked the doubt that lay at the bottom of his heart.
From what he knew of the Bai family and of Bai Qingyu, they were loyal to the sovereign and patriotic to the realm. They would never take so great a risk to conceal Bai Qingyu’s true sex without cause.
Bai Qingyu lowered his head and laid out the full truth of his origins. He knew that doing so was dangerous, yet the person before him made him willing to gamble once.
When he finished listening, Lu Rongshen’s eyes slowly widened.
In shock, he rose to his feet. “You are saying that you are descended from the royal house of Xiqiang?”
“Mm. Half the blood flowing within me is that of the royal house of Xiqiang.” Bai Qingyu lifted his head and pointed at his own eyes. “This is the best proof.”
Lu Rongshen stared at those blue eyes, unable to speak for a long while.
He still remembered how astonished he had been at first sight. Such a pure and dreamlike color, beautiful enough to seem unreal.
Yet he had never imagined that behind those beautiful eyes lay so heavy an identity.
No wonder Bai Yi would rather have him live as a woman for an entire lifetime than let him show his true face.
Once the Kingdom of Lu learned that he bore the bloodline of Xiqiang royalty, then he... would have only death awaiting him.
Once he understood this, Lu Rongshen strode forward in a single step. Seizing Bai Qingyu by the arm, he spoke in a grave tone. “No. Father Emperor and the ministers must not be allowed to know your true identity. Bai Qingyu, if they know, you will die.”
Bai Qingyu seemed not to care in the least about his own life or death. He only looked at Lu Rongshen with steady concentration, as though he wanted to carve that face into his heart.
“Your Highness does not wish me to die?”
“Of course not. You are mine. Other than me, no one else is permitted to take your life.” Lu Rongshen tightened his grip on him.
Once the words left his mouth, both of them froze on the spot.
Lu Rongshen’s face reddened somewhat, yet he still stubbornly lifted his neck and went on, “Did you hear what I said? Do not keep talking about going to plead guilty at every turn. This matter still has to be concealed. The fewer who know, the better.”
Looking at the serious expression with which he considered everything, still worrying for his safety at such a moment, Bai Qingyu’s eyes grew faintly wet. A rush of heat surged up from the depths of his heart, seeming as though it would melt the whole of it away.
“Your Highness does not hate me?”
Lu Rongshen found the question strange. “Why should I hate you? Whether you are man or woman, you are still you. Besides, now that you have already married me, our lives are tied together. We shall live and die together. Naturally, I must help conceal it for you.”
Hearing his adorable muttering, Bai Qingyu’s heart softened into a single sheet. Abruptly, he stepped forward and gathered him into a tight embrace, swearing with force, “Since Your Highness does not cast me aside, Qingyu will, for this lifetime, never fail Your Highness.”
Such words of promise, which sounded very much like a confession of love, made Lu Rongshen’s face redden all the more. Feeling that embrace, warm and full of strength, he recognized once again in his heart that the one now holding him was a man.
Bai Qingyu was tall, a full head higher than he was. Before, when he had believed Bai Qingyu to be a woman, walking together had never seemed out of place. Now that he had accepted the truth that Bai Qingyu was a man, it did not seem so difficult after all.
His temper came quickly and left just as quickly. After a quiet embrace for a while, Lu Rongshen spoke in a low voice. “This morning, I cried not because I was angry.”
“Mm?”
Lu Rongshen buried his face in the hollow of Bai Qingyu’s neck, the back of his own neck turning red as well. “It is your own fault for being so... for being so rough last night.”
Bai Qingyu: “...”
“I was wrong, Your Highness.” Bending, Bai Qingyu lifted him up in his arms across the body and strode toward the bed. “Last night medicine was applied. I do not know how it is healing, so I should examine Your Highness’s injury.”
Lu Rongshen went pale with shock. The moment he touched the bed, he rolled at once to the inner side, clutching the quilt tight around himself. “No need, no need. I am doing very well.”
Bai Qingyu was helpless. Looking at Lu Rongshen’s walnut-swollen eyes, the gentleness in his brows seemed ready to spill like water. “Your Highness need not be shy. The wound will heal faster if medicine is applied two more times.”
Lu Rongshen blushed so hard it seemed blood might drip from his face. Like a cat with its fur bristling all over, he said, “I will do it myself. Go out.”
Last night, when the medicine had been applied, he had already fainted, so where could shame have mattered then? But now he was awake, and his face was not quite so thick.
“Very well. I will go warm a cloth to lay over Your Highness’s eyes.” Bai Qingyu took out the cool ointment and placed it in Lu Rongshen’s palm. With a smile, he turned and left the room.
Elsewhere, from the moment Bai Qingyu left the marquis residence wearing his wedding robes, Bai Yi had been in a constant state of anxiety and dread. It was not until noon the next day, when Bai Qingyu sent someone back to tell him that all was well, that Bai Yi’s heart finally settled completely.
When he had first agreed to cooperate with Prince Li and accept this bestowed marriage, he had not thought well of it in the least. He had even believed that Prince Li, that scoundrel, was deliberately setting a trap for them, sending the Bai family onto a road of no return and onto his pirate ship. Yet now, from the way things looked, Eighth Highness truly liked his Qingyu. Whether man or woman, he was willing to accept him. For Bai Yi, that was already the best possible outcome.
Bai Qingyu did not know his father’s thoughts at this moment. He accompanied Lu Rongshen back into the palace to pay respects to His Majesty.
As usual, Emperor Hongjia bestowed many rewards upon the two of them. After speaking a while longer, he dismissed them and sent them to Consort Ye.
The two of them were glad for the ease of it and, together, came to Consort Ye’s palace.
Consort Ye had long been waiting at the gate. Seeing the two of them arrive, she broke into delighted smiles and joyfully ordered the palace maids to set out tea and add more hot water.
The two kept Consort Ye company for half the day and then shared the midday meal as well. Just as they were leaving, Consort Ye took hold of Bai Qingyu’s hand and said with kindly gentleness, “Seeing the two of you so loving toward one another, this consort may now set her mind at ease. Xiao Ba now has his own residence. Once you bear a child in the future, the household will become truly lively.”
“Cough, cough, cough!” Lu Rongshen began coughing violently. Pulling Bai Qingyu behind him and shielding him there, he smiled and coaxed her, “Mother Consort, why are you in such haste? Your son has only just married. For at least three or five years, I do not plan to have children, so you need not trouble yourself overmuch.”
With that, he dragged Bai Qingyu off and slipped away.
Standing at the palace gate, Consort Ye laughed and scolded, “You little brat, even after marrying you are still like a child, utterly without sense.”
Only after leaving the palace gates and climbing into the carriage did Lu Rongshen finally burst into loud laughter. “Mother Consort actually told you to bear a child. Ha ha ha! Once she learns in the future that you are a man, her expression will surely be marvelous.”
At the thought of the eager expression on Consort Ye’s face just now, Bai Qingyu’s brows darkened into silence.
“Mm? What is the matter with you?” Lu Rongshen had laughed for a long while, but as soon as he turned his head and saw Bai Qingyu looking dispirited, he hurriedly leaned over and asked.
“If Your Highness wants children, in future you may take two equal-ranking wives and have them open branches and spread leaves for Your Highness.” Bai Qingyu thought that Lu Rongshen had already sacrificed so much for him. He ought to be more broad-minded and satisfy both Lu Rongshen’s and Consort Ye’s hopes.
Who would have thought that the moment Lu Rongshen heard this, his cheerful little face would collapse, and he would look at him in displeasure. “Who said I want children?”
Bai Qingyu sighed. In a voice full of earnest counsel, he said, “Mother Consort has only you as her child. Naturally, she hopes you may have descendants of your own. That is only human nature.”
Lu Rongshen would not hear such words. He retorted, “My mother consort only said it in passing. She dotes on my Third Brother as well. Since Third Brother married Third Sister-in-law, Mother Consort has liked Third Sister-in-law so much she can scarcely stop. She has lived all these years within the palace, cautious at every step, and she sees things far more clearly than you. What she truly wants is only for me and Third Brother to live in happiness. The rest does not matter.”
Bai Qingyu was not one who liked to drill himself into the tip of an ox horn. On the contrary, having grown up in the western borderlands since childhood, he was more decisive, steadfast, and able to see things clearly than most. It was only because he felt he owed Lu Rongshen too much that he had yielded again and again, saying those words against his heart.
Like Consort Ye, what he wished for was that Lu Rongshen might live happily forever.
“Very well. When the chance comes in the future, I will take Your Highness to the western borderlands. Though they are not as prosperous as Ye Jing, they have a freedom and delight all their own.”
At once, Lu Rongshen’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Good, good, good! At that time you can teach me to catch fish and hunt. I was raised in the palace since childhood and have never had the chance to play freely and to my heart’s content even once.”
Boundless tenderness filled Bai Qingyu’s gaze. “Very well. Whatever Your Highness wishes to do, I will accompany Your Highness.”
At that time, they were still imagining the life that would come later. Neither had expected that the opportunity would arrive so quickly.
Emperor Hongjia issued an edict ordering Bai Yi to bring Bai Qingyu and Lu Rongshen, together with the whole household, to the western borderlands.
Throughout the journey, Lu Rongshen chattered excitedly, full of curiosity toward every place they passed. That excitement remained with him all the way until they arrived at their residence in Sang Cheng in the western borderlands.
Here, Lu Rongshen became like a wild horse loosed from its halter, joyous and carefree.
Bai Qingyu doted on him exceedingly, to the point that everyone knew of it. Here, Lu Rongshen experienced a different kind of vastness beneath Heaven and felt once more a long-lost freedom and ease.
Sang Cheng was the Bai family’s stronghold. Although Bai Yi had already had his military tally taken away, the people here still respected Bai Yi and Bai Qingyu. Even more astonishing to Lu Rongshen, once they arrived here, Bai Qingyu wholly changed back into men’s dress, and the people here showed not the slightest strange reaction to it.
The people of the borderlands cared not who sat upon the dragon throne. They only knew that it was the Bai family who guarded the western borderlands and protected the common folk here. Thus they too would protect the Bai family and guard the Bai family’s secret.
This was a tacit understanding among them all.
No wonder Bai Qingyu had said he lived very freely in the western borderlands.
Even Lu Rongshen had begun to feel envy.
Very soon, the peace of life in the western borderlands was shattered, and the balance between the Kingdom of Lu and the Six Kingdoms grew precarious, with war on the verge of breaking out.
Standing at the city gate, Lu Rongshen watched Bai Qingyu seated upon a tall horse, clad in armor, his hair bound up and his edge impossible to withstand. For the first time, he looked up at the figure upon the horse as though in admiration, and brilliant light burst forth in his eyes.
That was his pride, his Qingyu, his great general.
For the first time, Bai Qingyu stood openly and with dignity before tens of thousands as a man.
Smiling as he waved, tears glimmered in Lu Rongshen’s eyes, and he shouted toward him in a loud voice.
“Great General Bai, I will wait for your return!”
✧ A Word from the Author ✧
Thank you very much for everyone’s support. I will continue to work hard!
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