The summer rites ended and thus began the return journey. Qu Fongning and Yujien separation and reunion further intensified their passion than before. Love sessions from dusks to dawns were even insatiable. When they arrived by the City of Ghosts, the soles of his feet remained weak in walks, and his speech also lacked the verve. Yujien teased him for being “young and already feeble,” went around and bid him to be sent a large glass bottle filled with dark yellow liquor, with all sorts of herbs mixed murkily inside. Qu Fongning peeled his eyes to it and saw a few curled-up matters, like centipede’s stings or little snakes entangled at the heads. Tremendously curious, he hooked one out and an acrid odor instantly assaulted his nostrils, and he hastily threw it back in.

Uncle Hwei happened to enter the yurt, sniffed the herbal wine on his hand, gave him a questioning glance, and communicated in hand signs, “Nien Hanr came two days ago, said got some business for you.”

Qu Fongning promptly leaped off the bed. “I’ll be right over.” He haphazardly put on his boots and hurried away. As he left the yurt, his heart gave a pause: “What’s up with me? Afraid that Uncle Hwei will find out?”

~

The curtains by the Nien House rolled-up halfway, Nien Hanr was sitting alone by the Lion Bone Bar, two snow-white, unblemished feet propped-up, filing his toenails. He saw him come in, didn’t bother to raise his eyes, and lifted his chin a tad towards the wine cellar, very much like the manner of the matron seeing the loathing patron.

Qu Fongning was the least bit offended, took his feet and went in. He found a linen-clad old man half kneeling on the ground, attentively cleaning the liquor jars. The man saw him walking down one step after another from the stairs, hastily got up in deference, not meeting his eyes, and his expression extremely subservient. From inquiry, the reply was from one of Shiran royal clan’s old servants, who was displaced here at the end of spring and taken in by the Nien House. The old man opened his cracked lips with a thick accent, and he listened with a taxing effort. With guesses and inferences, he roughly made out the brief, and thought, “Little Nien Sis does some sloppy jobs, all finding me more annoyances.”

After the small talk, he took out the stack of stolen letters from the wheelhouse, and ordered him to translate them all. The old man shakily took out a roll of parchment. He only read a line and his expression immediately turned ecstatic, and stammered, “This is… Princess Consort Ulys’s handwriting.” Seeing his perplexion, he explained, “Princess Consort Ulys was General Yujien’s second wife.”

Qu Fongning gave an understanding “Oh,” while his heart brooded: “Then it’s the Princess Consort Na. These barbarians’ all got such long names!” And he said, “what does it say?”

The old man conducted his apologies, and began reading thoroughly. Shortly after, he replied, “These are all the Princess Consort’s songs and poems, on the trifles and matters between her and the General.”

As soon as he heard they weren’t military secrets, he immediately lost interest. As he listened to the end, he regained some interest, pulled over a folding chair and sat down. “Let’s have a hear.”

“This scroll detailed the Princess Consort’s youth,” the old man pointed and said. “The Princess Consort was of unparalleled beauty, of looks more splendid than brilliant twilight. The famous shaman of Guifang once held a rite for her, a dance ritual to the blue heavens. Her father also used to boast, ‘If beauty could be used as a weapon, my daughter can conquer the four seas!’ Her fair name was sung across the steppes and suiters came without cessation. There was a place in Shinran called Whiteheads Gathering; the place they said where suiters stayed. Some people waited for three-years straight, refusing to leave until they turned pale of hair…”

“I heard the Princess Consort was initially promised to Za’yii, why was she sent to Chienye in the end? King Baihan got two engagements with one daughter and caused the enmity between two nations, what did he mean?” Qu Fongning interrupted him.

“This old man knows nothing about such,” the old man replied with trepidation. “But Za’yii and Bi’ro as thick as kins, they’ve always been unfriendly to the alliance of Chienye, Khilan and other countries on their west.”

Qu Fongning gnawed on his finger, and developed a pretty good picture in his head: “The northern six tribes: Fanshwar and Shiran are narrow of land and weak in power, the other four tribes are equal in strength. Chienye wooed one over, and knotted two biggest troubles together. King Bailan’s cancellation of the engagement was an act of picking sides, declaring his allegiance towards Chienye, and would never stand with Za’yii and Bi’ro.” And he said with a smile, “Your great king’s got a good eye in picking his son-in-law.”

“General Yujien has a name shaking the world, the first champion of the steppes. Golden saddle and handsome horse, the hero and the fair maid, it’s the match made in heaven,” said the old man. He turned over a parge and continued, “On the day General Yujien came to marry her, she arrived in a radiant dress, craned her neck under the blazing sun and waited until dusk fell. In the twilight, she saw a wheelhouse twinkling with starry magnificence speeding in from the horizon, every pearl on the coach glimmering with light. In all eyes, the Princess Consort boarded the carriage and rode towards her lover thousands of li away…”

“Uncle, you must have been great with songs when you were young,” said Qu Fongning with a laugh.

“You flatter me.” The old man blushed. “The Princess Consort wrote in the letter: she sat in the wheelhouse, watching the long streak of jewel light behind the carriage, and was reminded of Queen Sa’Bowing of primordial times, and her heart pounded in waves, almost leaping out her chest. When the car door opened, she saw a majestically framed, austerely mannered general coming before the carriage. He held her hand and said quietly, ‘Put you through a rough journey.’ As soon as she heard this voice, she knew she was done for! From now on she would no longer be the little girl before King Bailan’s knees, and not the most famous beauty of the Ulys Clan. From now on, she would only carry one name and one identity; the entire purpose of her existence would be to serve her husband with all of her heart.”

Qu Fongning’s brows creased. He waved and said, “Skip this part. What then?”

“Yes,” replied the old man. “The Princess Consort and the General were harmonious after the wedding. The General never raised his voice to her and respected all her wishes. Shinran advocated monogamy while other nations deemed wives as their husband’s property, and the more the merrier. With the General’s position and stature, it wouldn’t be unusual if he married a few more concubines. Yet the General never mentioned remarrying, and never let her suffer any aggrievance. The Princess Consort held faith in Buddhism, the General thus gathered various statues of Guanyi, jade buddhas, scriptures, and golden tortoises for her. She liked clothes decorated with pearls, and before every ritual, ceremony, festival, and banquet, the general would order a new pearl studded gown for her. Honestly, she needn’t any grooming, as long as her arms were linked with the General’s on the golden carpets, the jealous gazes from the other women were worth tens of thousands of dresses…”

“Didn’t I tell you skip this?” snapped Qu Fongning. As the words left his mouth, he also felt he had lost some compose, adjusted the badge on his collar in coverup, and said, “Then how did she get ill?”

The old man was also momentarily taken back, and hastened to take out the folded letter from the bottom of the stack. “The Princess Consort had been married to the General for two years, but hadn’t produced a son nor a daughter. Although the General never reproached her, she herself felt very regretful for it. For this, she became a vegetarian and prayed to the Buddha, and searched many child-bearing divine artifacts and consecrated them in the City of Ghosts. In the final year of Yongle, the northern six tribes allied against the South and conquered countless cities and land. And for the attribution of the rewards, they also fought with blood….”

Qu Fongning sneered. An unutterable bitterness swelled in his heart: “They fought for the uneven distribution of spoils, what they were dividing… was my homeland.”

“After the war, Shinran sent over the clan chief to discuss matters of the Concord Market. This clan chief was the matrimonial envoy of the wedding day. He deemed himself on good terms with the General, and took negligence in some impudence with his speech. The general was rather genial to him, but his answers remained the same: Not yielding any measure of land! The clan chief had thought he had been jesting, and went up to shove at his chest. The Princess Consort heard her mother tribe came to some discord with her husband, and hurried forth from her residence. As she got to the door, she only saw the General holding up an arm, lifting the clan chief high, and using a chill tone which she never heard, convey one word after another, ‘I despise people with insatiable greed. Allies or kinsmen, you have the right to take only the things which I grant you. Now, scram.’”

Chaotic handwriting on the letter; obviously when the Princess Consort wrote this sentence, her heart was consumed with shock and terror.

“The Princess Consort wrote,” the old man continued sorrowfully. “She had been living in an empty delusion, and from that day on, her dream collapsed. The general treated her with the same loving care, but she could no longer feel any happiness in her heart. Despite sleeping on the same bed and sharing the same pillow, he no longer warmed her cooling heart. She often asked herself in the mirror, ‘Are the embraces and kisses from this man really true? What am I in his heart? If one day, my homeland and a conflict with him, would he also tell me to get the hell out without any pity?’”

Qu Fongning listened to his horridly accented yet superb performance, acting out the Princess Consort’s melancholy, found it extremely funny, and couldn’t help feeling a little pleased.

“Henceforth, the Princess Consort started to stay in, no longer groomed or dressed, and no longer abstained from meat nor read scriptures. She often stroked the bright pearls on the carriage for an extended time, overcome with depression. She felt she was just like the wheelhouse, looking brilliant and glamorous on the outside, but a pall of darkness on the inside, unable to see the light of day.

“And she died from illness?” Qu Fongning interjected insensitively.

The old man looked a little displeased, paused and continued, “The Princess Consort had a frail body, and couldn’t endure this agony. She fell ill and never recovered, her flesh eroded and medicine was no use. This is… her handwriting from the last few months before her passing. It says, ‘As things have come to this point, I have no love nor hate in my heart, only emptiness. The acquaintance with the general was no matter of fortune, however, I do not feel sorry about it.’”

Qu Fongning held his cheeks for some time, spirited away, and nodded politely. “Thank you.” He took over the stack of letters, dipped it in liquor, and set it ablaze. It burned clean in an instant.

~

When he came out, Nien Hanr was still in the same place, admiring his smooth, round nails against the light. “Take away the body yourself. I ain’t wiping ass for you,” he hissed.

Qu Fongning wiped clean the sword body, returned it into the black sheath. At these words, the corner of his lips crocked. “Good sister, you invited the buddha, you’d send them to the west.”

Nien Hanr threw him a sore look, his white-jadelike palm stretched out. “A thousand for finding the man, five hundred for burying the body, pay up.”

Qu Fongning giggled. “Sorry, big brother had been so used to whoring for free, forgot about this.” He took out a scarlet file from his waist side and threw it before his face.

Nien Hanr frowned and caught it. His gaze fell on the confidential document and at once jumped. “Dali’s military report! Where did you get this?”

“One’s got their own methods,” Qu Fongning said with a humph. He waved his hand and drawled, “Your honored country’s got some traitors. How unfortunate. Better you go tattle to that sweet, good prince of yours!”

Nien Hanr clasped the paper, his gaze rapidly zooming up and down, his breaths short, obviously in severe anxiety. Seeing him raising his feet to leave, he pressed urgently, “Who is the informer?”

Qu Fongning turned his head, surprised. “Your family business, how should I know? But there aren’t that many high courtiers in your honored country; If I’m to say, it’s either a Dong or a Yi.”

In his desperation, Nien Hanr couldn’t care less about their past quibbles. “House Dong of Kylong and the Yi Clan of Xinye are all honored families of Dali; with no evidence, how can I be credible?”

“Little Nanr, I really ain’t that capable.” Qu Fongning paused with a laugh. “They’ve got influence and power, no cracks or weakness, then one can only… use some deception.”

Nien Hanr’s eyes brightened. “That would require some colossal scheme,” he muttered.

“One needs to first deceive oneself, before deceiving others,” signed Qu Fongning. He clipped Watering Chill back by his waist, lifted the drapes and left.

~

Yujien returned late in the night and listened to the report, “Captain Qu is in the rear cliff storehouse.” He went in for a look, messes everywhere, golden buddhas strewn all around; An ancient scroll of heart sutra pulled downed from the wheelhouse, rumpled into a ball, and the heavenly deity on page tail stomped with many footprints. Qu Fongning’s naked foot extended beyond the car door, a loop of crimson coral bead between his toes, casting it a swing and a swing.

He watched with amusement and went to grab the mischievous foot. Qu Fongning was lying face up towards the sky, playing with a jade muyu¹, caught off-guard, and screamed.

Yujien sided to sit on the board step. “Told you to sleep alone for a few days. Why coming here again? Drank the wine I gave you?” he said.

Qu Fongning wriggled in bit by bit like a caterpillar, pillowed on his thighs, and watched him, innocuously. “I’m not sure why. My feet came here by themselves.”

Yujien let out a laugh at once, and gently tapped his forehead. Qu Fongning was also rolling on him, laughing. “Those little, curled-up things. What are they?” he asked again.

“Seahorses. For your… supplement,” Yujien said vaguely.

“Supplement what,” persisted Qu Fongning.

Yujien regarded him with a faint smile. “Say you supplement what?”

Qu Fongning hung two arms around his neck, almost going to start a swing. “It’s because I don’t know, so I ask you.”

Recently, these two had been so intimate to be oblivious to daylight. They cuddled, and before many words, were already lips on lips. As the kiss deepened, Qu Fongning, lips crimson, purring, yanked him in towards the coach.

Yujien followed his arm and felt the half-hard matter between his legs. His breath thickened as well. “What chu you doing, little guy?”

With his little stir, Qu Fongning had pitched high the fabrics of his shorts. He bit his lips, pulling on his hand, wanting him to come in.

Yujien opened his legs, enclosed his hand around his tight pair of balls for messages. “Not hurting down there anymore?” he husked.

Qu Fongning muttered a dim “Mn,” spread open his thighs. His voice dropped as well: “Da-ge come in.”

Yujien kissed the heel of his foot, collecting him back towards himself, ready to wrap him up. Qu Fongning fought for persistence. “Right in here,” he said.

“No,” Yujien refused, and assertively wrapped him over, coaxing, “It’s dirty inside.”

“Right in here,” said Qu Fongning, obstinately.

Now Yujien couldn’t understand him. This car was narrow and stuffy, the carpet hadn’t been changed for however many years. Qu Fongning was the foremost of dreading hotness. Had something possessed Qu Fongning today, really persisting in doing it here?

But him looking like this, like he wouldn’t contend if he took him somewhere else. He considered momentarily and followed his wish.

This coach was truly too small for him. When he finally cuddled him snug, Qu Fongning stressed out his toe and shut the car door with a bang.

In the darkness, he could only hear him breathing dimly. “Can you see me?”

Yujien had a superb vision and could see in the dark. Finding him cute, he chuckled. “Mn.”

Qu Fongnin drew over a five-colored prayer flag and groped his way to wrap it around his eyes. “And now?” he asked quietly.

Yujien also mimicked his tone, dropping his voice, “Can’t see no more.”

Qu Fongning enunciated a satisfied “Mn,” and climbed down one pace after another from his chest, taking it through his white silk trousers, took his long hard erection into his lips, and sucked it slowly.

Yujien was adept at seeing in the dark, and in their usual love sessions, Qu Fongning’s every movement was completely under his control. At that moment, his eyes were covered and unable to predict his subsequent action; this was an unprecedented experience, truly an otherworldly stimulus. And his lower member swelled even more.

He could only hear Qu Fongning exhaling lightly by his crotch, and stretched his hand to lift his lower jaw. His finger probed into his warm mouth, motioning him to use his tongue.

And felt a stab of pain on the tip of his finger. Qu Fongning had bitten it. Then the tip of his tongue curled up the belly of his finger, licking all the way to the root, and proceeded to take the entire joint into his lips, pushing slowly, thickening the aquatic sounds.

In this tiny darkroom, every minute sound seemed to augment by tenfold. The slicky, watery sounds touched like the tip of a feather, stirring thread by thread in the depth of the ear canal. The finger that fell into his lips had become an intense heat ignition, exploding his mind.

He gasped, pulling out his finger, held the long erect shape between his legs with one hand, and guided Qu Fongning’s wet lips towards his crotch. Before, on the bed, Qu Fongning had always been under his control. And today, with the aid of darkness, he was uncontrollable and ignored his wishes, and went ahead to swallow his enormous pair of balls through the clothes, licking each and one.

This matter was the holder of a man’s essence. Being meticulously enticed like this, how could anyone take it? Yujien’s breathing thickened all the more. His virile member stood high up, nearing splitting through the silks. Finding him still unhurriedly sucking his testes, he yanked up his raven hair with one hand, and rasped, “Lift your head, open your mouth.”

Qu Fongning finally released a sly laugh, relieved his silk trousers with his teeth, and indulgently took his swollen, boiling monstrosity into his lips. Yujien’s throat made a satisfied low growl. His waist exerted forward and sent straight into the deepness of his throat.

In a moment, the essence came. Qu Fongning sided his cheeks, rubbing the tips of his erupting manhood, and climbed up, chuckling out of breath, “Da-ge, you are so fast today.”

Yujien was still ejeculating gradually. At his words, he laughed and kissed him in the dark. “Mn, Da-ge needs to take supplements with you.”

Qu Fongning’s lips were still full of his semen, any minor movement would swallow some in, but he didn’t mind at all, and said by his ears, “Da-ge, let us not take any supplements, okay? When we’ve shot it all out, and have got nothing left, let’s still be together like this, every day.”

A tearing throb waved across Yujien’s heart. “Speaking childish words again,” he replied in an undertone, and pressed down the lips filled with white secretion, drawing it to a kiss with his own.

~

In the end, none slept that night. They entangled through the darkness, and spoke countless soft loves and sweet words. On the second day, Qu Fongning waist sored and feet mellowed, his lower navel swelled with stabs of pains, and couldn’t pee at all. Yujien watched with immense pity, and bid people to send over great supplements. “As long as Da-ge is with you every day, this illness of yours is probably never going to heal,” he teased him. He gave a word to the national congress and started towards Za’yii.

Since he was going away, Qu Fongning naturally wouldn’t sit still. His tentacle extended from the Defense Council to the National Congress, causing mischief wherever he went. And he happened upon Princess Tuzai’s Flower-pinning ceremony. Little Ting’yu was invited to attend and sit in the first seat of the audience row. He stole the opportunity and grabbed a seat, smiling at Little Ting’yu. “So? Would there be a cup of wedding wine to drink by before this winter?”

Little Ting’yu sat in the wheelchair, his hands placed primly on the armrests. Upon his words, he knocked the back of his hand without sliding his glance. “Don’t be ridiculous. They are a crown princess, how could they be interested in me?”

Qu Fongning knocked back, meaningfully. “I’m afraid a friend of mine is uninterested in them.”

Little Ting’yu smile fleeted by, his gaze still fixed on Princess Tuzai, his brows creased faintly. “Her Majesty had mentioned it with my mother. The princess does seems… to have such meaning. I… to have her favors me with such great kindness, I really should repay with all of my flesh and blood. But I only have gratitude for her, not for love. Moreover, she is a gentle spirit; if she were to go into frosts of blades and out through storms of arrows, with her heart hanging in the air every day, there might not be much happiness.”

Qu Fongning followed to let out a sign. “Yeah, being high in position, one really doesn’t have the freedom to choose what kind of wife they get; it has nothing to do with being happy or not. Left and right, one can’t escape from it. It’s better to let go of their true kindness, so one doesn’t need to be burdened with so much guilt in the end,” he said quietly.

Little Ting’yu didn’t know he meant someone else, but only sensed a sagacity discrepant of his age, and chuckled. “Where have you gotten all this babble from?” And proceeded to tease him, “Don’t just talk about me; what about you? Grandpa Jorrji hasn’t got too much hair left, if you are still to play dumb for a couple more years, he’ll be bald for sure.”

Qu Fongning propped on the iron frame of his wheel. At his words, he only flicked the corner of his lips. “I’ve always seen her as a sister, don’t you know?”

“This sister has liked you for many years,” Little Ting’yu chuckled as his voice dropped. Seeing Princess Tuzai stopping by to look at this side, he waved to present his compliments. The young princess instantly flushed full red and held onto her maid’s arm, not moving another step.

Qu Fongning also bowed in ceremony. He threw his gaze yonder, a faint smile lifting by his lips. “What’s the use of liking?”

Little Ting’yu followed along his gaze, and saw Guo Wuliang standing on the side of the crowd, his face gaunt, his countenance haggard. The white fox was instead smooth of skin, and was sitting on his shoulder, its bright black eyes stopping not a moment, curiously surveying the surroundings.

For a second, he seemed to feel it, and said wistfully, “It can also… make one stand as a skeleton, wishing better dead than alive.”

Qu Fongning held and patted the back of his hand. In the field, flowers bloomed like the ocean. A summer wind wuthered past, and the snow-white suze flower on Princess Tuzai’s hair silently drifted up and disappeared into the mighty waves of Mei waters.

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