Golden Stage Chapter 13

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me: i'll update this one wednesdays and sat.u.r.days
also me, setting my own schedule on fire: consistency is for the weak]

“Leopard Scabbard…” Fu Shen mumbled.

“What's wrong?” Yan Xiaohan asked.

“It's nothing,” he said. “Brother Yan, I…”

He didn't get to finish what he was saying, as a servant's report abruptly came in from outside. “My Lord, General Xiao Xun of the Northern Yan has paid a visit and is waiting just outside the entrance.”

“He's looking for you.” Yan Xiaohan said, taking the brush out of Fu Shen's hand, then calling over his shoulder to the person outside, “Invite him in. The Marquis will be coming over.”

Fu Shen turned his wheelchair around with the thought to leave, but was stopped in place by Yan Xiaohan. “Hold on. Why so hasty?”

He turned around and took a cloak from within the room, bundled Fu Shen securely up in it, and then pushed the wheelchair out from behind – how properly meticulous it all was doesn't need to be mentioned. Having someone be able to keep going after b.u.mping over the doorsill saves a lot of trouble.

Fu Shen had complex feelings from being looked after by him; a bit embarra.s.sed, yet a bit warm inside.

His relations.h.i.+p with Yan Xiaohan is very tenuous, barely being able to count as a friends.h.i.+p when they were engaged in profound conversations, but now they were forced to squeeze together into a relations.h.i.+p that couldn't be any more intimate. It lead to them each having their own reservations, contrariwise becoming even more psychologically estranged.

Regardless of what's said, at least his self-respect is still reasonably intact. Fu Shen is ashamed of his inferiority in this aspect of adapting to the world; were they to swap places, he has to question himself on whether it'd be possible for him to be so helpful to Yan Xiaohan.

Delving a bit deeper into it, he had never thought that he would receive treatment like this after being injured, with someone keeping watch by his side in the middle of the night and remembering to grab a cloak for him before going out. It was as if he were a poor child who was suddenly jammed a large silver ingot, caught off guard and at a full loss for what to do as they held it, having never seen so much money before in their life.

In just a short day and a half, he was rapidly becoming unable to recognize the term ‘false friends.h.i.+p'.

Within the main hall, Xiao Xun saw Fu Shen getting pushed in by Yan Xiaohan and his face froze on the spot.

Yesterday, he had taken others to make a beeline for Poplar Cove in search of ‘w.a.n.g Gou'er', but all they found were a few deserted, dilapidated thatch cottages. This coincided with the heavy rainfall falling from the heavens, trapping them in the village. A big dog that was being kept behind the w.a.n.g family home was barking like mad non-stop, and Xiao Xun felt something amiss, thus allowing the dog to tug at their clothes and lead them to Splendid Longevity Mountain [1] back along the village. The three searched about in the middle of the night, ultimately finding the corpses of w.a.n.g Gou'er's family deep within the hills.

After they carried the carca.s.ses back to the village and reported it to the local authorities, the others found a place to stay over there temporarily. Xiao Xun meanwhile quickly spurred his horse back to the city to look for Fu Shen and inform him, but he hadn't even gotten past the Marquis Estate's main gate when he was dumbstruck by the string of news of the Emperor's marriage sanction, Fu Shen's kneeling before the palace without rest, and Yan Xiaohan taking him back to his own Estate.

Before Yan Xiaohan had gone off to Court today, he had feared that someone would rashly rush in and disturb Fu Shen's recuperation, so he specifically dictated that guests were not to be received. Xiao Xun had found the Yan Estate's doors barred several times, and in this moment of finally seeing Fu Shen after all these endless trials and tribulations, he's mentally and physically exhausted. He can't wait to throw himself in front of the man and cry.

“General!” Xiao Xun flew up out of his chair.

Fu Shen gave a slight nod, his manner calm, giving the impression of still waters. It seemed like the marriage sanction had no effect on him. He even seemed a little… pleased about it?

Xiao Xun stared blankly as Yan Xiaohan pushed the wheelchair to the opposite side of him, bowing low to whisper a few things into Fu Shen's ear, the posture intimate and with quite a bit of an overtone of a close relations.h.i.+p.

“…the main hall area is big, it won't get as warm indoors even with a fire… keep it on, don't be reckless…”

Xiao Xun closed his eyes and ruthlessly pinched himself on the thigh.

G.o.dd.a.m.n, that hurt.

Yan Xiaohan withdrew of his own volition, setting this s.p.a.ce aside for the other two. Before departing, he poured a cup of tea to for Fu Shen to warm his hands on, giving the haggard-looking General Xiao a pa.s.sing side-glance with a not-quite-smile.

The autumnal river is brilliant, the night sky clear as if washed clean in it. Yan Xiaohan stood beneath the osmanthus tree in the garden, a few fragments of broken flowers at his fingertips, eyes half-lidded as he pondered things.

The Yuantai Emperor wanted to use him to s.h.i.+ft power over the Northern Yan out of Fu Shen's hands, and that sort of s.h.i.+ft isn't simply to get rid of the latter. The Northern Yan Iron Cavalry being pa.s.sed down from generation to generation in the Fu family has long been a default rule, and supposing that Fu Shen tragically died, that military power would once again fall back to the Duke of Ying's Estate. The current Duke of Ying, Fu Tingyi, is not an expert in military affairs, and the future heir Fu Ya is an idiot dandy – it would be a good thing for the Emperor regardless of who got the position.

Thinking of it that way, the opportunity for the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt at Blue Sand Pa.s.s was really too coincidental.

However, Fu Shen had firmly clung to life, so the Emperor had no choice but to settle for the next best thing. The Marquis of Jing Ning absolutely could not be able to have descendants, because who knew if the son would be as outstanding as his father in the future? The sole breakthrough he had was taking control over Fu Shen's marriage – so long as Yan Xiaohan was married to Fu Shen, he would just count as half of a Fu.

This could be considered a peaceful means of transition, the only distinction lying with whether Yan Xiaohan could get Fu Shen to integrate him as an extension of himself.

Observing Fu Shen's att.i.tude these past two days, the other seemed to be intent on splitting the alliance between him and the Yuantai Emperor, but didn't display any further schemes to rope him in. Fu Shen appeared to have some other calculations, though he presently looks to be completely incapable of acting upon them and unable to stir up the situation or turn things on their head.

What's more is that he has the iron shackles known as ‘righteousness' on his wrists and ankles.

The Ministry of Rites has gotten to work today on divining the wedding day, and the step after will be to send people to check their Four Pillars of Destiny, both in preparation for the . Perhaps their sounding out of each other should come to an end. He needs to have a frank and open talk with Fu Shen.

In this game between the Yuantai Emperor and the General, he couldn't just be a qi piece being pushed to and fro by others.

p.a.w.ns have dignity, too.

The crisp fall night enveloped him as he stood in the evening light, seeming like there was a barrier separating him from the human world. His cut silhouette gave off a sort of lonesomeness that was difficult to describe.

A long time later, the door to the main hall was opened from the inside. Xiao Xun was clearly startled upon seeing him standing there in the yard, a look of suspicion immediately appearing on his face. Fu Shen was obviously further back, but he was unable to still his eyes and glanced towards Yan Xiaohan. Their gazes lightly b.u.mped into each other in midair, each thereupon slipping away like two swimming fish.

Yan Xiaohan brushed away non-existent dust from his sleeves, unhurriedly walking past Xiao Xun and into the room. “As your talk's finished, would you like to see the guest out?” he asked, acting naturally.

Cold air hit Fu Shen in the face while the other was in the midst of coming over, making him internally a bit upset. “How long have you been standing outside?”

“Two skilled masters of the Northern Yan Army are here. How could this Yan fellow dare to offend them?” Yan Xiaohan lightly smiled, having evidently misunderstood his meaning.

“I can see you're a freezing moron,” Fu Shen scoffed, pus.h.i.+ng the hot tea on the table over to his side.

Yan Xiaohan seized the cup that was in front of Fu Shen. “Many thanks for your consideration, Marquis,” he said cheerfully.

Fu Shen frowned. “…That's my cup.”

“I'm only warming my hands on it, not drinking.” His face was full of sincere innocence. “What were you thinking of, Marquis?”

Fu Shen: “……”

Xiao Xun watched them bicker flirtatiously– no, be equally harsh to each other as if there was no one else around with a complicated mood. Were it not for his understanding of Fu Shen having many years of evidence backing it and knowing that he didn't swing that way, he'd almost believe that their façade became reality.

“General,” he spoke as he stepped towards Fu Shen, “as matters here were temporary, please return to rest in your Estate. The carriage is awaiting you outside the gate.”

“That won't do.”

Two pairs of eyes cast themselves towards the speaker in unison, Fu Shen raising his eyebrows.

“The Marquis is suffering from windchill and his leg injuries aren't yet fully healed,” Yan Xiaohan said. “His Estate is lacking in doctors and medicine, and it'll likely prolong his recovery time. It would be better for him to stay and relax here with me first, wait for Shen Yi'ce to nurse him back to health, and then plan for the next step.”

“Plan what?” Fu Shen asked with a smile that didn't reach his eyes at all. “Plan to get married off to you?”

“Do you still think that you have another path you can go down otherwise, Marquis?”

That smile completely shed from Fu Shen's face. “You want to put me on house arrest?”

Yan Xiaohan shook his head, voiced that he would “talk about a step to take”, took Fu Shen a bit further away, and leaned over to quietly whisper a few things into his ear again.

After not speaking for a very long time to finish listening to him and staring dead at him, he suddenly turned his head around and spoke to Xiao Xun following a moment of silence. “Did you notice?”

Xiao Xun nodded, puzzled.

“Then this is what we'll do.”

“Wh-what?” Xiao Xun was stunned. “General…”

“You've seen it too,” Fu Shen elucidated with not a whole lot of patience, “Royal Inspector Envoy Yan had drooled over this Marquis's good looks, so he s.n.a.t.c.hed the man and now detains him in his Estate, disallowing him from going out. That's why, if someone comes looking for me during this time, you should just say that I'm staying at the Yan Estate to recover.”

Xiao Xun: “……”

He looked at Yan Xiaohan with trembling trepidation.

Mister Yan saw stars from that big black pot that suddenly fell out of the sky and smashed onto his head, nearly losing his footing. Even so, he still managed to force out a smile that was all bared teeth. “Just go along with what the Marquis said.”

Xiao Xun suddenly had a bit of an understanding as to why Yan Xiaohan's reputation in the Court was so bad — it was said that every time he quarrels with Fu Shen, no matter whether he wins or loses, word on the wind in the capital the next day would always be “the Dynasty's bloodhound attacked the loyal servant again”.

[1] 寿华, shouhua – Likely not a real mountain, though the term relates to a place of legend. I was going to leave it in pinyin, but felt the name was morbidly ironic…