As he spoke, Feng Xuanyi wore a carefree, almost roguish expression, yet somehow still carried an air of nobility. His gaze deliberately swept once more over the long cylindrical shape wrapped beneath the blanket.
Ning Xuan’s face instantly reddened. He glared at Feng Xuanyi with obvious resentment, but it achieved absolutely nothing. When there was such a vast disparity in strength between them, all he could do was glare helplessly before inevitably ending up the one who suffered. Enduring the soreness that made his entire body feel as though it had been taken apart and reassembled incorrectly, he performed a carp leap and sprang upright—blanket and all.
Faced with Ning Xuan suddenly shooting upright in such a bizarre pose, Feng Xuanyi merely raised an eyebrow and remained noncommittal. Ning Xuan hesitated for a long moment, staring at him intently. After confirming that Feng Xuanyi possessed absolutely no sense of propriety or awareness of avoiding embarrassment, he originally wanted to lecture him on the concepts of decency and shame. Then he remembered that he was a grown man, that everything worth seeing had already been seen and everything worth touching had already been touched. What was there left to be modest about? Besides, knowing Feng Xuanyi’s personality and remembering everything that had happened, Ning Xuan strongly suspected that the man was waiting for him to open his mouth so he could bombard him with a cartload of outrageous nonsense. The indignant thoughts flashed through his mind only briefly before he dismissed them. Trying to reason civilly with Feng Xuanyi would be no different from negotiating with a tiger over its prey. He would definitely be the one left suffering.
Feng Xuanyi, who had been observing coldly from the side, originally intended to tease him a little. Yet seeing Ning Xuan calmly changing clothes as though no one else existed in the room made it seem rather pointless. It was certainly pleasing to the eye, but he had to admit that Ning Xuan possessed both intelligence and a certain crafty cleverness.
A flash of depth passed through Feng Xuanyi’s dark eyes, so fleeting that it was almost impossible to catch or decipher.
The aches throughout his body made dressing in these complicated layers of robes even more awkward than usual for Ning Xuan. Every movement was stiff and clumsy to the point of absurdity. The overused area behind him felt as though something were still lodged there, remaining swollen and sore. If he stayed still, the burning sensation gradually faded into numb familiarity. But the moment he moved, every nerve seemed connected to that spot, making it throb painfully. Ning Xuan ground his teeth in frustration. Fortunately, Feng Xuanyi had retained enough humanity to clean everything up afterward. Otherwise, even if it meant mutual destruction, Ning Xuan would have thrown himself at the man and bitten through his throat.
Looking at Feng Xuanyi sitting leisurely by the bedside, utterly composed and at ease, then comparing that to himself—who had only just managed to stand upright on the bed with trembling legs that felt as though they were made of cotton—Ning Xuan could not help feeling puzzled.
“Your Highness—”
“Yihua,” Feng Xuanyi interrupted immediately.
Ning Xuan blinked in confusion. Recalling the previous night, he finally remembered that Feng Xuanyi wanted him to address him by his courtesy name. To Ning Xuan, names were largely meaningless—just labels and forms of address. That was all names really were. But this was ancient times. To ignore distinctions of status and directly use someone’s name, especially that of royalty or nobility, was considered taboo. Yet the man himself was insisting on it. A faint warmth stirred in Ning Xuan’s heart. Outwardly, however, he kept his face carefully neutral, refusing to reveal even the slightest hint of happiness. After tying the final sash around his waist and giving his robes a perfunctory tug, he walked over.
“I wanted to ask you something.” Ning Xuan wore the expression of an eager student seeking knowledge. His upturned phoenix eyes fixed firmly on Feng Xuanyi, leaving him no opportunity to evade the question.
“Go ahead,” Feng Xuanyi replied casually. The familiar curve remained on his lips, but for some reason the same smile no longer seemed quite as arrogant and untamed as before. Instead, it carried traces of warmth and indulgence, making it dangerously easy to become immersed in.
Whether it was the observer’s heart that had changed, or the heart of the one smiling, neither of them could say at the time. He would never ask, and Feng Xuanyi would never think to question himself. He was a prince. Confidence and inscrutability were second nature to him. Keeping everything firmly within his grasp was instinct. Ning Xuan, though registered as a servant, lacked any trace of servility. In his view, the thoughts, methods, and values of these ancient people were things he already understood thoroughly. He remained confident and never considered himself inferior. What he did not know was that one day, not everything would proceed according to expectation. Perhaps that divergence itself would prove to be Heaven’s mercy.
“Doesn’t it hurt for you?” After pondering for a long time, Ning Xuan finally blurted it out, deciding he could not worry about appearances anymore. What he truly wanted to ask was: If it hurts this much, how could you still torment me half to death afterward? But that question was simply too embarrassing to voice aloud.
Ning Xuan felt profoundly wronged. Why was it that they had both been on the receiving end, yet he felt as though he had been broken apart while Feng Xuanyi seemed completely unaffected? If his stomach were not demanding food, Ning Xuan would have preferred spending the entire day lying in bed like a corpse. Meanwhile, Feng Xuanyi had risen bright and early the next morning, calmly enjoying the service of his attendants. By evening, he was practically bursting with energy. Just thinking about his own miserable condition reminded Ning Xuan exactly how “lively” Feng Xuanyi had been the previous night. If the roles were reversed, Ning Xuan felt exhausted just imagining it, let alone actually doing it.
At the question, Feng Xuanyi froze briefly, looking somewhat surprised. Then, as though something occurred to him, a distinctly suggestive smile spread across his face.
The smile sent cold sweat down Ning Xuan’s back.
“You get used to it. Practice makes perfect. If you train more in the future, it won’t hurt anymore.”
Having delivered that answer, he stood and left without lingering.
Watching Feng Xuanyi’s retreating figure, Ning Xuan felt certain something was wrong with that explanation, though he could not pinpoint exactly what. Looking down at the bruised marks covering his chest, he lightly touched one and winced at the lingering sting. Feng Xuanyi’s marks, meanwhile, had been nothing more than faint pink traces.
Don’t tell me I not only lose to him in status, background, and height, but even in strength and stamina? This concerns a man’s absolute dignity! How can I lose this thoroughly?!
As it turned out, Feng Xuanyi seemed to understand Ning Xuan’s thoughts perfectly. Under the pretense of helping him build stamina and improve his physical condition, he found plenty of excuses to drag him back to bed. No matter how much Ning Xuan struggled, complained, or protested about his soreness, Feng Xuanyi would calmly insist that it was “fighting poison with poison”—that if strenuous exercise had caused the soreness, then equally strenuous exercise would cure it. Before Ning Xuan could even begin dismantling such ridiculous logic, he would once again lose the initiative and be left completely at Feng Xuanyi’s mercy.
When they finally went to the main hall for lunch, Yi Shu, Yi Xuan, Yi Ji, Yi Quan, Yi Heng, Yi Yang, and Yi Guang were already waiting at their posts. Seeing Ning Xuan emerge from the inner chambers together with Feng Xuanyi, not one of them reacted in the slightest. Forget surprise—they did not even twitch an eyebrow. Expressionless as ever, they lowered their eyes and continued serving as silent guardians.
Ning Xuan had originally assumed his situation would be unbearably awkward and had been preparing an excuse to smooth things over. Instead, he was greeted by complete indifference. The unexpected reaction left him bewildered. If anything, it made him feel more guilty. Throughout the meal, he kept sneaking glances at Yi Xuan’s expression. The others wore perpetual stone faces, making them impossible to read, but somehow even Yi Xuan appeared to have been infected with the same condition.
Later, still unwilling to let the matter go, Ning Xuan found an opportunity to ask Yi Xuan directly.
“Why? Aren’t you curious at all? Aren’t you surprised?”
Yi Xuan’s answer made Ning Xuan wish he could dig a hole in the ground and bury himself on the spot.
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