Bai Yu stood outside the prison all night. Separated by the thick wall, he could not hear the blood-curdling screeches inside. Even so, he could imagine how painful it was. Bu Bai was someone who feared pain and a little injury could make him burst into tears. He definitely wouldn"t be able to bear this sort of pain and should have given in long ago.
That was good too, if it was like that, he wouldn"t suffer too much.
Bai Yu thought so, but couldn"t move his feet at all and maintained his position outside the door all night.
Grabbing the first jailer who came out, he asked, "Has he admitted it?"
When the jailer saw Bai Yu, he was very surprised. After saluting, he said, "No, he didn"t admit it even until he pa.s.sed out."
Bai Yu"s heart ached severely. He knew the consequences of not admitting. He pushed the jailer away and quickly ran into the dungeon.
In the dark prison cell, a man covered in scars was unconscious. His eyelashes that were as thin as a cicada"s wing drooped slightly, seeming like no movement could make them tremble.
When Bai Yu rushed over, it was such a Bu Bai that he saw. Judging from the number of wounds, he had received no small amount of punishment. Even so, he still didn"t yield. He was more tenacious than he had imagined. Clearly, he was such a small and weak existence and yet, he was willing to endure countless torture and harm.
Bai Yu wanted to hold him in his arms as he did before and comfort him carefully but the suffering that covered this entire body made him not know where to start. The man"s inky hair flowed motionlessly, his face as pale as paper. His originally soft lips were slit open with thin b.l.o.o.d.y strands. Everything told him that they couldn"t go back. Whether it was his body or his emotions, they couldn"t go back.
Bai Yu used his finger to feel his weak breath. The intermittent hot exhales gave him a split second of peace. Like this, he stayed in the gloomy and cold prison cell for a day and took care of Bu Bai.
Before leaving, he commanded that Bu Bai was not allowed to be punished again and that his wounds were to be healed properly.
He realized that he wasn"t sure as to how he should handle Bu Bai. He couldn"t bear to murder him but didn"t want to let him go. He wasn"t able to treat him as he did before either. In the end, Bu Bai was an indeterminate concealed danger to him.
Not a few days later, Bai Xuiran was unable to hold himself back from coming to visit Bai Yu. The situation had developed as he had thought it would, Bai Yu didn"t believe Bu Bai. The only thing that went against his expectation was that Bai Yu was truly willing to treat Bu Bai so ruthlessly. This made him doubt his judgment, did Bai Yu really care about that person?
"What did you come for?"
As soon as he saw him, Bai Yu was shining with the intention of "driving the customer away".
"I came to pick up my family"s Bu Bai and bring him back. Don"t you already know that he is my person?"
Bai Yu suddenly looked at the man before him, seemingly surprised that he would admit it in such a confident way.
"You think that I would let him go back alive after doing such a thing?"
Bai Xiuran supported his chin with his folding fan, looking like a languid fox as he said, "I"ve heard that he"s still alive."
"There are still men of yours by my side?" Bai Yu"s words could be considered as tactic agreement.
"So, for such a worthless and abandoned piece, I have no idea if you would return it to me in return, I could tell you where some of my pieces are."
This was already the highest price that Bai Xiuran could offer and he was confident that Bu Bai was worth less than this.
"I won"t give you Bu Bai."
Bai Xiuran couldn"t help but glance at Bai Yu. However, he still couldn"t see anything from his eyes.
"Why are you so persistent about him?"
"This isn"t something that you should worry about."
After saying this, he had people throw Bai Xiuran out of the mansion and smashed everything on his desk. When Bai Yu thought about the marks on Bu Bai"s body when he came back that day his eyes became frighteningly red.
He called one of his subordinates and said, "Take Bu Bai to the water cell, but don"t kill him."
In this way, the wounded Bu Bai who had just regained consciousness was sent to the water cell. To prevent him from sinking and drowning, his hands were specifically tied with ropes and he was hung in the water cell.
The ice-cold water would submerge him time and time again but every time he thought that he would suffocate to death, the water level would fall, giving him the chance to breathe a bit. Bu Bai felt very miserable. He was waiting, waiting for this thin and weak body to exhaust its last bit of life. He knew that it wasn"t too far off.
Within the imperial palace at this moment, the young emperor summoned in a small official. That person was called Yun Qing.
When Yun Qing received the news, he was also very puzzled. However, an imperial order couldn"t be violated, so he packed himself up and went to the palace.
The young man sat upon the high seat and reclined against the armrest. He looked at him fully and said, "Do you recognize the person named Bu Bai?"
Perceiving the instant stiffness of the man below, Bai Xiuran went on to say, "He is dying, do you know this?"
"What happened to him?" Yun Qing cried out in surprise and looked directly at the man on the high seat. For the first time, he forgot the etiquette between a ruler and his ministers.
"He was thrown into the prison for betraying the regent. You ought to know what the consequences of going in there are. I had you come here to help me save him. You don"t need to know what my purpose is. You just need to know that no one could protect him but me."
"If something happens to me, would Your Majesty help me protect my household?" Yun Qing asked, his expression full of firmness.
"Yes." Bai Xiuran agreed.
The next day, Bai Xiuran came to find Bai Yu again. This time he didn"t say anything to infuriate him and just pestered Bai Yu to accompany him to drink tea and chat, saying that it was to maintain the feelings between a ruler and his ministers. Bai Yu didn"t know about his purpose, so he accompanied him quietly. After all, he was still the legitimate emperor and if he didn"t touch his bottom line, then he didn"t want to do anything improper.
Taking advantage of the time that Bai Xiuran was stalling Bai Yu, Yun Qing slipped into the place where Bu Bai was. Bai Xiuran was very supportive of his actions and provided him with a lot of manpower and information. Along the way, he encountered very few obstacles.
His own martial arts could be considered as top-notch. Slipping into the water cell wasn"t counted as difficult for him. What"s more, the guard over Bu Bai wasn"t very strict either.
The man dressed in white hung in the water cell peacefully. Every inch of his exposed flesh was covered with deep b.l.o.o.d.y scars. Yun Qing cautiously and solemnly lowered the person and brought him into his arms. Within this period of time, he touched the wounds on Bu Bai"s body many times but the man in his arms only knit his brows slightly and wasn"t able to wake up.
Yun Qing was even more anxious. He didn"t care about using his own life to pay for Bu Bai"s. He only cared about whether he could actually save this man. If he dies here, then everything he had tried to do would be meaningless.
"Bu Bai." He called.
Bu Bai only dimly heard a voice that he was familiar with. That voice sounded very worried and was different from what he had heard before. Intuitively, he felt that this voice should have been gentle with a bit of softness, not sorrowful like this.
Opening his eyes was for that face. From the original gentleness to the craziness that followed, to the present worried sorrow in the end. All this was because of him.
"Yun Qing, put me down."
The bright sunshine was very warm. Bu Bai didn"t need to look to know that he had been rescued. Only, he also understood that Yun Qing couldn"t afford to take on this responsibility. The future of this man who was as beautiful as bamboo shouldn"t be ruined by him.
"Bu Bai, don"t say anything. I did all of this voluntarily, do you understand?"
Bu Bai understood, so he couldn"t accept it all the more.
"Put me down, I beg you."
Yun Qing did not speak anymore. Being so close to him, Bu Bai could very easily see the injury on Yun Qing"s shoulder that he got from saving him. Fresh blood dripped on his face, the slight heat made him somewhat unable to bear it.
The sound of pursuing soldiers came from not far behind them and Yun Qing"s speed began to become slower and slower. Judging from the man"s face covered in cold sweat, Bu Bai knew that he couldn"t support him anymore. If he were alone, he should be able to run away.
"Yun Qing, I stayed here voluntarily. These punishments are what I am willing to bear. I can"t leave. I don"t want to go anywhere but his side."
A tinge of pain flashed across Yun Qing"s face.
"Even if he treats you like this?"
"Yes."
Yun Qing finally stopped. Not far ahead were the people Bai Xiuran had sent to provide them support. Escaping wasn"t very difficult but he suddenly didn"t want to escape anymore. He had been so persistent in rescuing him but was it because he actually had expectations?
If it wasn"t, then what reasons did he have to do all of this? Yun Qing put Bu Bai down and rested him against a tree beside him. He took off his own clothes and wrapped them around him before he left alone.
He respected his decision no matter if it was right or wrong. He understood that feeling of liking a person. He would rather die to stay by that person"s side. Moreover, Bu Bai"s place to return to was Bai Yu, not him, nor Bai Xiuran, so he was willing to put him down.
"Yun Qing, you have to be well in the hereafter." Bu Bai shouted at his back. He exhausted all his strength to shout but it only came out as a light whisper.
However, he knew that Yun Qing heard it. That gentle man turned around and gave him a smile, nodding his head in response.
Bu Bai watched Yun Qing"s silhouette go far away and after he was certain that he wouldn"t return, he finally relaxed his mind. His arms slid down from midair, he had already held himself up long enough.
His ice-cold wounds ached dully and he felt his life disengage from his body thread by thread and slowly take away the remaining sliver of temperature in him.
"Boss, I"ve been working hard to live on. Now I"m a little tired, am I allowed to sleep for a bit?"
Light rain began to fall from the blue sky. Occasionally, a few drops would pa.s.s through the narrow slits between the leaves and fall upon Bu Bai"s face. However, they did not startle awake the sleeping person.
Under the tree, the man closed his ash-colored eyes, sinking into an extremely frightening deathly stillness. This silence profoundly stimulated the Bai Yu who had rushed over desperately. He had seen such a him before, he was him, not Bai Yu. He was called Qi Ranmo or Xing Yan. The last memory that emerged in his mind was always Bu Bai laying in his arms with his life lost, like now.
For a moment, he wasn"t sure if he was fortunate or unfortunate. Fortunate that even if he changed his face and his ident.i.ty, he would still fall in love with this person in the first moments that they met. Unfortunate that no matter how hard he struggled, this man would eventually die because of him.
Bai Yu hurt. This pain pierced his heart and reached his soul. He didn"t dare step forward and just stood in the rain staring fixedly at this man, motionless, like a rigid fossil that had gone through many years.
Misogi: it"s not love at first sight, it"s love at first knife…….this ML….struggle?!?!? You struggled?!?! How about you just don"t torture him?!?! you better grovel and kneel and suffer *rage* also that "am I allowed to sleep" angst hurts so much, such sweet sweet pain *maso*
StormFrost: Hehe, the ML remembers! I am looking forward to his suffering ・: (〃∇〃人)*:・
Translated by StormFrost
Edited by Misogi