Chapter 61 Love him. Chase him.
2133 Words
It was late in the morning when Gu Yunxi turned over and then woke up.
Her mouth was dry, and her head was splitting. She got out of the bed, and when her feet touched the ground, it was like stepping on the cotton. A burst of dizziness made her numb body fell onto the ground.
"You are awake?"
The young man's gentle voice came from the inner room.
Gu Yunxi made a rule for him. If he had wanted to live a comfortable life in Master's Mansion, he must have stayed in the inner room during the day, and even a step out was f*******n.
"Yes..."
Rubbing her bottom, Gu Yunxi got up from the ground. She sobered up the moment she saw the jar on the table.
"Last night, I..."
She cast a nervous look to the inner room behind the bead curtains, blushed, and lowered her head in shame.
Last night she shut herself up in the room and sought solace in alcohol like some street thugs. However, this handsome young man witnessed her rudeness. She was quite featherbrained yesterday.
God knew what else she did after she got drunk.
"Last night you lay asleep on the bed after getting drunk."
The young man in the inner room said casually. He didn't tell her about her playing madly in his arms.
Then, the sound of whittling drew Gu Yunxi's attention. She walked to the bead curtains to have a look. The handsome young man got a stick from nowhere, and now, he was sitting cross-legged on the quilt, peeling the stick with a dagger.
"What are you doing?" Gu Yunxi was curious. She lifted the curtain and stuck her head in.
"As you can see."
The young man in white answered in a cold manner without lifting his eyes. He speeded up whittling and increased his strength.
Last night, Gu Yunxi's words after drunk frustrated him and spoiled his good mood for tasting wine.
He had fought with the Eunuch Superintendent of the Eastern Depot. Due to his observation, the Eunuch Superintendent was so old that he could be Gu Yunxi's uncle. How was it possible that she fell in love with this man?
The bitter north wind howled fiercer outside. The night was deep.
His mood turned gloomy in a twinkle, so he put down the empty cup and then held sleeping Gu Yunxi up with his arms.
The wound on his arm had almost healed in recent days, but he could still feel pain when using strength. The young man endured the pain and walked slowly and steadily for fear of disturbing the drunken beauty in his arms.
After he put her onto the bed and covered her with a quilt, he went back into the inner room, lying in his bed in silence.
Last night in the inner room, he heard clearly that Gu Yunxi, on the bed of the outer room, called "Master" in her dream all night long.
"What is Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot to you?" The sharp blade came to a halt as it whittled on ginger wood.
His voice, a little hoarse though, gave nothing away.
Since she awoke, he wanted to seek an answer.
Gu Yunxi hesitated before letting out a weak retort.
"It's none of your business..."
Then her eyes dropped with sadness, and her pretty face was covered with depression.
"Tell me or not?"
The young man went on whittling the stick. The only sound in this silent room was the muffled sound of whittling that came one after another like tides of anger. He was, at this moment, desperate for the answer but also afraid of it as well.
"He watched me grow up and was... very nice to me..."
Gu Yunxi had to give him an oblique answer.
"So?"
He stopped whittling again. With a pair of limpid purple eyes staring at her, a thin smile slipped from his scarlet lips.
"So, you fell in love with him?"
Love...
Gu Yunxi stunned. She looked ill at ease but didn't refute.
The young man snorted,
"Do you really understand what love is at such a young age? Eunuchs are castrated. If you want to be with him, it means you are going to spend your valuable youth on a sterile man..."
"Shut up!"
Gu Yunxi snipped his words, outraged.
He stopped in shock, gazing at her blankly. There was an emotion mixed with confusion and pity in his complicated look, which made it full and heavy to her.
Her agitated mood was comforted by this look. Then she sighed and told him mildly,
"I won't have you judge him that way..."
"You are willing to follow him out of gratitude, not love!"
The young man replied to her firmly, and then he lowered his head to avoid looking at Gu Yunxi's astonished face.
He went on whittling the stick and murmured,
"It's too late to meet you..."
...
After a few days, the wound on the young man's right arm had healed, so he didn't stay in the room as much as before.
He went out from the rear window of the inner room every day before dawn. No one knew where he went.
And till dinner's time he came back, slipping into Gu Yunxi's room from that rear window to have his meal.
Gu Yunxi was no longer afraid of him. At first she was on alert and couldn't sleep well, but during the following contact, she found he was very well-behaved. Although they were living under one roof and he liked to tease her, he never did anything improper.
Early in this morning, Gu Yunxi again found that the young man disappeared.
The maids in the courtyard came on time to add charcoal to the house stove. Qinger brought breakfast in and put it on the table.
"Fine. Close the door and back off."
To prevent the young man in her inner room from being found, Gu Yunxi still put on a cold face. Once the room was cleaned up, she drove the maids out.
Someone's figure flashed in the doorway. It was Xiao Xiaoshen hurrying into the room.
"You?" A shiver ran down Gu Yunxi's spine. She rose straight from the chair.
Xiao Xiaoshen frowned and fanned his hand.
"What's the funny smell in your room? Sister Yunxi, I have something to tell you!"
"Xiaoshen, let's talk outside!"
For fear that he might wander in the room, Gu Yunxi pulled him out by his elbow.
"Why? It's cold outside. I prefer to stay here."
Xiao Xiaoshen was confused, so he took two steps and stopped.
Qinger couldn't stand Xiao Xiaoshen anymore. She came up and pushed him,
"What are you doing? Don't scare my Lady! It's quite impolite to intrude a girl's room, don't you know?"
"Go away!"
Xiao Xiaoshen gave her an angry look. He was in a bad mood.
"Xiaoshen, what are you going to tell me?"
Gu Yunxi pretended to be interested in Xiao Xiaoshen's purpose in coming, but actually she was thinking about how to send them both out of her room.
Xiao Xiaoshen looked at her face and felt worried, but he also felt like to blame her.
For having been shutting herself in the room for a long time, Gu Yunxi became thinner, and her skin turned pale and dry. She looked sick as she used to be.
"Look at your state! Sister Yunxi, you can't always be like this! If you brood over things for long, you'll get sick."
Since the Master left the capital, Xiao Xiaoshen moved to the outer yard of Master's Mansion. During the day, he went to the Eastern Depot to do the task that his master Cheng Wanli left him.
Both he and Qinger knew that Gu Yunxi was in petulance. However, Xiao Xiaoshen couldn't help worrying about her because he hadn't seen her for several days.
So, today, he decided to stop waiting and pull Gu Yunxi out of her room by all means.
She had just recovered, but if she had overwhelmed herself with too many thoughts, she would have got ill again.
Qinger stood aside, looking at Gu Yunxi with care.
Recently her Lady seemed to have a good appetite that she always cleaned up the bow and plate brought into her room. But instead of getting some weights, she had become thinner. She didn't look good, either.
Qinger held Gu Yunxi with worry and asked in a mild tone,
"Lady, if you feel uncomfortable, I'll have Imperial Doctor Jiang over to feel your pulse."
"Don't worry. I'm fine."
Gu Yunxi gently lifted the corners of her mouth to give her a tired smile.
"Yunxi, what are you thinking of?"
Xiao Xiaoshen came up and asked her a question about something tacit.
Gu Yunxi paused,
"Think of what? Xiaoshen, what do you mean?"
"The relationship between you and the Master!"
He spoke bluntly, looking straight into her pinched face with a pair of bright eyes.
Gu Yunxi's eyes turned dim. She glanced sidelong helplessly.
"That's enough!"
Qinger worried about her Lady, so she came over to push Xiao Xiaoshen, implying him to stop pushing Gu Yunxi.
But Xiao Xiaoshen ignored her implication and went on,
"Yunxi, everyone could see that the Master has you in his heart. What about you? What do you think? Do you love him or not?"
Love?
Gu Yunxi and young maid Qinger blushed at the same time. Qinger was so young that she covered her face with her hands.
Gu Yunxi was blank in the face. She slowly moved her perplex eyes to elsewhere and paced back and forth in hesitation as if she was considering something.
Love...
A few days ago, that mysterious young man also mentioned "love".
"Xiaoshen, what is love?"
When she lifted her face, tears filled her eyes.
"If you love him, you're willing to be with him and will never turn back, no matter what his shortcomings are. You want to follow him at any time and will never turn your back on him. So, tell me, Yunxi. Do you love the Master?"
Xiao Xiaoshen held Gu Yunxi's shoulders, looking straight into her complexion to seek for an answer.
"I don't know I love him or not, but I'm sure that my heart is empty without seeing him. Only when he's here that can I set my mind at rest..."
Eyes blurred by tears, Gu Yunxi put a hand against her chest and spoke with a solemn expression,
"Xiaoshen, you said that to grow up is to have someone in my heart. Now, I believe I've grown up because I can feel him in my heart!"
"Then go after him!"
Xiaoshen kindled up. He held Gu Yunxi,
"Yunxi, if you love him, then go after him! Let's go now. I'll take you to Jiangan to find him!"
...
When Gu Yunxi was packing her luggage, the young man entered the room through the rear window.
"You are back! I'll be away for some time..."
Gu Yunxi was a bit embarrassed. She stopped packing luggage as she saw him lifting the curtain to come out.
"Sorry, I'm afraid that I can't take care of you anymore. The meal is on the table. Have your dinner while it's still hot."
"You are going to that eunuch's place, right? Yunxi?"
Gu Yunxi was surprised, "You know my name?"
"It's not the first day that the guard came to the hallway and chattered."
The young man smiled lonely. He asked Yunxi as if he was speaking to himself,
"Yunxi... It's a beautiful name. He named you?"
Gu Yunxi felt uneasy under his strange look. She lowered her blushed face, twisting the dropped hair with a finger, and whispered,
"I don't remember. I was too young then... Sit down and eat."
The young man's expression was complicated. He frowned at the sumptuous meal on the table in a trance, seemed to lose the good appetite before.
After packing two bags quickly, Gu Yunxi got rid of the depression covered her for days. Now she felt more at ease.
Thinking of going on a long journey, she wished she could grow wings to fly to the Master.
She noticed it was too silent in the inner room. She didn't hear the young man eating. So she turned around at him.
At that very moment, she saw ineffable melancholy in his lonely and slender silhouette.
"Can I have your name?" As they were about to separate, Gu Yunxi asked.
During the days they shared one room, he was gentle and frank. It was not impolite of her trying to know his name.
"My surname is Lu..."
The young man gave her a soulful smile. He answered in a soft voice, "Lu Qiange, my name is Lu Qiange."
- Writer
