Futile Devices Scans

“He… he actually…!”

Wei Fu looked as though someone had struck every major acupoint in his body. He froze solid.

“So he was the one who stole it?!”

Overwhelming shock collided with the earth-shattering embarrassment of having the secret feelings of his youth exposed years later. Wei Fu snatched up Yugong Zhaoye’s hand and clasped it between both of his, like an aggrieved commoner finally encountering an incorruptible magistrate. “Xie Youlan told me to change clothes and bring only what was absolutely necessary. Everything else had to be abandoned because we needed to travel light and get back to Fengdu quickly. I never imagined he was secretly plotting something so underhanded!”

He deliberately cursed Xie Youlan to conceal feelings delicate enough to rival those of a sixteen-year-old maiden. Conveniently, Yugong Zhaoye had no desire to explain his own emotional journey either, so he readily went along. “The human heart is treacherous.”

Wei Fu said indignantly, “He’s absolutely outrageous! How can someone’s personality be that twisted?”

Yugong Zhaoye was almost pulled off the bed by him. Helplessly, he patted Wei Fu in consolation, though a subtle thought stirred within him.

Learning that Xie Youlan had deceived him for all these years genuinely made him angry. Wei Fu, by contrast, criticized Xie Youlan endlessly, but his emotion did not resemble hatred. It sounded much closer to complaint, unconsciously carrying the familiarity of someone who felt perfectly comfortable badmouthing him.

“You told Xie Youlan about what happened in the past. He must have guessed my identity and deliberately kept something back to prevent me from returning for revenge. I can hardly complain about losing to him in that game.” Yugong Zhaoye spoke as though casually. “But as you said, Xie Youlan comes from a demonic sect, has an eccentric temperament, and acts with a rather sinister edge. What exactly did your mother do for him that made him willing to help you so thoroughly?”

“Uh…” Wei Fu stalled. “It’s difficult to explain. Anyway, it was an enormous favor. He never liked me much. After that, whatever debt of gratitude he owed should already have been repaid.”

Yugong Zhaoye raised one eyebrow slightly. “Really.”

Wei Fu nodded like someone pounding garlic. “Really, really.” Desperate to change the subject himself, he urged eagerly, “What happened after that? What did you do?”

This time Yugong Zhaoye was the one who choked. He replied carelessly, “…We went our separate ways and cried over our respective graves. What else could we do?”

Wei Fu plainly did not believe him. “Your Highness cried? You even made me a grave? A cenotaph?”

Yugong Zhaoye coldly turned his face away. “No.”

Wei Fu drew out a long, disappointed “Oh…” His dejection sounded deep enough to cover the top of his head. Even his hair seemed to lose its shine like a wilted flower. “Alright.”

He forced a faint, self-mocking smile. “I suppose that makes sense. Once someone is gone, the tea grows cold. No wonder Your Highness never recognized me before. In Your Highness’s heart, I was already part of a chapter that had ended long ago…”

Yugong Zhaoye thought, So today I finally get to witness ‘casting flirtatious glances at a blind man’ in real life. Who exactly are you performing for?

Their conversational roles had completely reversed from six years ago. Wei Fu was now the one whose mouth worked perfectly well, while Yugong Zhaoye was the one giving answers of two or three words.

“I fought him.”

His voice was so quiet that a mosquito passing by could have drowned it out. Wei Fu’s ears immediately pricked up, his eyes flashing like a thief who had spotted a clue. “What? You burst into tears?”

Yugong Zhaoye: “…”

Perhaps he should simply faint.

“I fought him,” he repeated with maximum brevity. “We both came away injured.”

“Oh… what?!”

Wei Fu’s eyes widened a beat too late. “Do you mean what I think you mean?”

He looked as though he wanted to haul Yugong Zhaoye out of bed and shake him until a few more honest feelings fell out of that tightly closed clam shell. “Your Highness, Your Highness? Back then… did you try to kill him to avenge me?”

His exceptionally skilled-at-avoidance Highness answered calmly, “Unfortunately, I failed.”

Wei Fu murmured, “Xie Youlan’s martial arts are extremely powerful. He’s not easy to deal with. I was only a stranger you happened to meet… We’d already parted ways…”

“Did you really need to go that far?”

He thought only his voice was trembling. In reality, he already sounded on the verge of tears.

It was like finally receiving a reply to a letter sent many years ago. Affection fermented by time had become so deep and mellow that it easily pierced the armor he had spent years painstakingly constructing—the armor called “maturity and composure.”

“Do I need to carry scales around everywhere?” Yugong Zhaoye said. “Before every decision, should I weigh someone to see whether they’re worth the trouble?”

Wei Fu was already beginning to annoy him with all the noise. Yugong Zhaoye wanted to turn over, but his limbs were still weak, so he could only lie flat and half close his eyes, pretending he was about to sleep. “Besides, I failed to kill him that time, and I never chased him again afterward.”

“I didn’t think very much about it. I simply felt I owed you an explanation. Otherwise… it would have been too perfunctory.”

They had survived natural disasters and human violence, crossed death again and again. That little mute who always thought first of abandoning himself had promised Yugong Zhaoye that he would live well. Yugong Zhaoye had not even had the chance to see Xiao Guan’s true face. Then the next news he heard was Xie Youlan carelessly saying, He’s dead.

Yugong Zhaoye disliked remembering how that had felt. It was one of very few things in his life that had left him unable to let go. Whenever he remembered it, a faint sour ache would suddenly rise in his chest—not enough to tear his heart apart, simply a long, quiet regret, like a small cloud that rained forever and never cleared.

Plop. A warm raindrop struck the back of his hand.

“If you insist on digging all the way to the bottom, then once I actually tell you, you can’t bear hearing it…” Yugong Zhaoye felt that familiar helplessness again. “In the end, I’m still the one who made you cry. Young Master Wei… Xiao Guan? If your eyes swell from crying, how are you going to face anyone tomorrow? Pull yourself together.”

Wei Fu blinked hard, forcing the moisture back and sternly telling himself not to be so pathetic. Still slightly nasal, he demanded, “Hug me.”

“How old are you?” Yugong Zhaoye rejected him without mercy. “Do you still think you’re a child lost in the mountains?”

Wei Fu: “Wuu…”

Yugong Zhaoye: “Fine, fine. Come here…”

Wei Fu bent down and embraced him over the quilt. Before he could settle properly, Yugong Zhaoye urgently stopped him. “Wait. Help me sit up first. If you cry while hugging me like this, it feels rather inauspicious.”

Wei Fu: “…That actually makes sense.”

He carefully supported Yugong Zhaoye’s back and helped him sit upright, then wrapped him completely in his arms.

There was no earth-shattering upheaval, no celestial maidens scattering flowers. This moment was more ordinary than every reunion Wei Fu had imagined over the years, not dramatic in the slightest. He did not want anything else.

Years of waiting finally fitted themselves perfectly together in this deep embrace, forming something whole.

“Your Highness,” he asked softly, “may I call you A’Ying?”

“Yes,” Yugong Zhaoye said. “But don’t overdo it.”

Wei Fu laughed. His chest vibrated, and his chin rubbed affectionately against Yugong Zhaoye’s temple. “A’Ying.”

“Mm.”

“Was A’Ying Your Highness’s childhood name?”

“More or less. My mother wanted to use the character Ying, but the late king said everyone of my generation needed a two-character name, so it became Zhaoye.”

“And when you needed a false name outside, you used Xie Ying?”

“Mm. My mother’s surname was Xie. Same idea as your Jiang Guan.”

“Then we match rather well.”

“…”

“A’Ying, I missed you very much.”

“Mm.”

“Say it. ‘Xiao Guan, I missed you too.’”

“…Xiao Guan, get lost.”

The former crybaby had grown into a beautiful wall of a man, with a well-proportioned, solid build. He was no longer all sharp bones like he had been when younger. Leaning against him was actually rather comfortable. The only strange thing was—perhaps because of the difference in height or perhaps because of the posture—the way Wei Fu was holding him somehow did not feel entirely like brotherly affection.

His Highness had not yet seen enough of the world to distinguish such fine differences. He merely felt that Wei Fu’s smiling breath against his ear was making it strangely hot. So he lightly pinched the back of Wei Fu’s neck and lifted. Unlike years ago, however, he could no longer casually pick him up with one hand. With the other, he patted Wei Fu’s back. “That’s enough. As far as I can tell, you’re all thunder and no rain. Once you’ve had enough of clinging to me, let go.”

The instant Wei Fu opened his mouth, he sounded ready to burst into tears again. “When you were A’Ying, you still knew how to coax me. Now that you’ve become the noble Your Highness, I’m not even allowed to hug you a little longer?”

The noble Prince Yugong Zhaoye, terrified of being washed away by another flood, could only swallow his irritation. “Fine. Hug me…”

Though Wei Fu complained endlessly, he still worried about Yugong Zhaoye’s condition. He loosened his arms, carefully helped him lie back down, and tucked the blanket around him. “It gets cold at night. I’ll have someone prepare another bed warmer.”

Dealing with an entire crowd of Ten Aspects Sect followers had not exhausted Yugong Zhaoye nearly as much as half an hour of heartfelt conversation with Wei Fu. Nestled into the soft pillows and blankets, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At last, he could rest.

Then the chatterbox returned from giving his instructions, sat eagerly beside the bed, and asked, “My side of the story is completely explained. What about Your Highness’s?”

So apparently all that sighing, crying, and hugging earlier had only been the warm-up.

“What?” Yugong Zhaoye answered lazily. “Now you’re interrogating me? I have nothing to explain.”

Wei Fu, incapable of keeping idle hands still, caught a strand of Yugong Zhaoye’s hair and began winding it around his fingers. “That’s cheating. Your Highness investigated every bit of trouble I caused when I was young, but I still don’t know how A’Ying became Your Highness.”

Yugong Zhaoye played dumb. “Neither do I. Why don’t you explain it to me?”

Young Master Wei’s nonsense apparently flowed as endlessly as his tears. It would surely make an excellent sleep aid. If Yugong Zhaoye simply gave him a lock of hair to play with, perhaps he could sleep peacefully through the entire night.

Wei Fu asked softly, “Is Your Highness tired? Should I put out the lamps so you can rest?”

For one fleeting moment, he seemed to become the familiar figure from the past again—the silent, considerate Xiao Guan. Yugong Zhaoye was deeply comforted. “Alright,” he answered warmly. “You should rest too.”

“Your Highness can’t move easily. How could I possibly leave you here alone?” Wei Fu said with complete sincerity. “Go to sleep. I’ll keep watch.”

Yugong Zhaoye wondered whether he had misheard. “You’re planning to sit here staring at me all night?”

“There’s only one elderly servant in the house. If Your Highness wants tea or water in the middle of the night, or develops a headache or fever, someone needs to be close enough to answer. Since I brought Your Highness here, naturally I have to take responsibility to the end.”

“Who asked you to take responsibility?” Yugong Zhaoye’s head began to hurt. “We slept in caves back then. There’s no reason for me to become delicate now. Go sleep properly and stop fussing over me.”

Wei Fu said, “I don’t care. There aren’t any spare beds. If Your Highness keeps driving me away, then I’ll have no choice but to sleep in the woodshed.”

Yugong Zhaoye thought, The nerve of this brat. Who could possibly be frightened by a threat like ‘If you won’t play with me, I’ll hang myself with a noodle’?

He opened his eyes and glared furiously at Wei Fu. All his drowsiness vanished. “Fine. We’ll talk. Talk. Where were we?”