Touch
After Duan Xu’s statement of “fully cooperating and no longer speaking,” he indeed closed his mouth and refrained from further comments. He didn’t show any signs of impatience, instead, he listened attentively to the words of the other generals, appearing as a courteous and attentive guest, as if he were listening to a storyteller.
He Simu thought to herself that this young general must be hiding something mischievous again.
“I heard that there are two extraordinary individuals in the Tabai Army who can observe celestial phenomena and predict the weather with unparalleled accuracy. I am very curious. General Duan, could you introduce them to me?” Suddenly, General Yin of the Chengjie Army brought up the topic of “He Xiaoxiao,” the diviner, during the discussion of the strategy to attack Youzhou.
He Simu turned her gaze to Duan Xu, propping her chin with her hand, and smiled lightly, “Oh?”
Duan Xu met her gaze, took a sip of tea, and calmly replied, “General Yin, you may not know, but this extraordinary individual, Miss He, is young and fragile in nature. She was deeply frightened by the massacre in Liangzhou. The recent fierce battles in Shuozhou left her frightened for a long time, and she still often lies in bed unconscious. General, with your imposing demeanour, I fear that any further shock may harm her.”
General Yin’s attempt to undermine Duan Xu’s position hit a snag from the start. He joked, “In times of crisis, General Duan should not keep such talented individuals hidden away. Youzhou’s weather is changeable, and my Chengjie Army, as the vanguard, greatly needs two diviners like them. I wonder if General Duan is willing to part with this expert and lend them to me.”
It seemed like General Qin wanted to say something, but Duan Xu interjected before him, straightforwardly and decisively saying, “No.”
General Yin’s smile froze on his face, neither able to continue nor retreat.
Putting down his teacup, Duan Xu maintained his smile and said, “In life, most things are bound to disappoint. When I was besieged in Shuozhou, I also greatly needed reinforcements. Yet, where was anyone to be found? He Xiaoxiao is my diviner, and wherever I am, she will be there too.”
His words hinted at something, causing General Qin to squint slightly. Qin did not continue the topic. He diverted the conversation with a few words and the matter of General Yin’s attempt to undermine was left unresolved.
He Simu twirled the ghost king lamp jade pendant around her waist, glanced at General Yin, and then looked back at Duan Xu, smiling, “What’s wrong? Afraid I’ll eat up this General Yin?”
Duan Xu shook his head and whispered inaudibly, “He’s not good-looking, I’m afraid he’ll spoil your eyes.”
He Simu chuckled twice, smiling without saying anything.
The two discussions about strategy concluded at noon, and the generals went to have lunch. Duan Xu, who had not contributed much, graciously allowed the other generals to leave the tent first before politely saluting General Qin and exiting the camp with his young brother.
General Qin gazed at Duan Xu’s calm and upright figure, his slightly aged eyes containing two threads of complex emotions. His deputy said, “At that time, we were struggling to hold our ground in Yuzhou, yet he secretly blamed you. You even disregarded past grievances and praised his merits in the battle report. You’ve been too kind to him.”
Qin shook his head lightly and said, “The Duan family has connections that reach to the heavens; even if we wanted to suppress him, we couldn’t.”
He had placed Duan Xu in Shuozhou originally as bait, but the bait unexpectedly devoured the fish. This enigmatic youth, with his inscrutable smile, perhaps truly was a prodigy.
Despite being a prodigy, unfortunately, they belonged to different factions, and there were too many entanglements and grudges among their respective backers. In the end, they couldn’t be used.
Qin sighed twice and rose from his seat.
This was Chenying’s second time accompanying Duan Xu out, and he was thrilled. He ran into He Simu, who was just coming out with a yawn. Chenying looked up and shouted, “Miss, did you just wake up again!”
He Simu rubbed his head and asked, “What’s going on?”
“I met many other generals and even the marshal today.”
“Well, that’s broadening your horizons.”
Chenying sounded a little worried, “They don’t seem to like the Brother general’s appearance very much.”
“Oh, you’re becoming discerning.”
“Other generals wanted to take you away, but the brother general wouldn’t allow it. I think he likes you too. Miss, it’s a mutual affection!” Chenying exclaimed excitedly.
He Simu looked at Chenying with concern this time. She couldn’t help but feel that with this child’s interests, he might become a matchmaker in the future.
Shaking her head, she said, “Just because you think so, Duan Shunxi is very good at pretending.”
Pausing for a moment, she chuckled lightly twice.
But it’s also possible that there’s no one more genuine in this world than him. He said he was Duan Xu, and his wish was to reclaim the seventeen provinces on the northern shore.
And unbelievably, it was all true.
Yet he had exhausted all his efforts to survive, escape back to Liang, pass the imperial examinations, enter the Ministry of Personnel, become a border general, defeat the enemy, and now he had only reclaimed Shuozhou.
There were still sixteen provinces waiting for him to reclaim, two by two.
“There’s still a long way to go, but I’m already… so tired.”
He Simu remembered that after the death of fifteen, Duan Xu finally stopped his frenzied laughter and whispered this sentence with his head lowered.
She always felt that the lifespan of mortals was fleeting, just a snap of the fingers. Yet for some reason, at this moment, she felt that this young man’s life was so long, with no end in sight.
In the evening, He Simu went to change the bandages for the young general who was under her curse, checking how well his wounds had healed. For a fleeting moment or two, she felt like a butcher raising pigs, checking to see if the pig had fattened up yet, calculating when it could be slaughtered for eating.
Tonight, however, the little piglet smiled at her and said, “I think it’s time for you to slaughter me.”
In fact, what Duan Xu said was, “It hurts too much. If you take away my sense of touch now, you’ll be happy and I’ll be relieved.”
He had been wearing armour all morning today, and although the armour was light, his wounds had reopened, staining his white undershirt with blood.
This man, who had been like a senseless demon when he was killing indiscriminately in the enemy camp and confronting the fifteenth, was now whining in pain like a delicate flower.
He Simu glanced at him and said calmly, “Pain is the body’s mechanism for self-protection. Without the sensation of pain, it’s even more dangerous.”
Duan Xu lay on the bed and let her change the wound on his back, laughter coming from under the pillow. He turned his head and said, “Considering your age, when you died, you should have been very young. You’re also nearly four hundred years older than me, so you’ve been a ghost for over three hundred years. Why are you still so familiar with the feelings of the living? And your method of applying medicine is also very skilled, although your hands are too heavy.”
He Simu’s hand paused for a moment, then she tightened the bandage abruptly, causing Duan Xu to yelp in pain twice.
“Since you have the energy to test me, it seems that your recovery is not bad. Tonight, I’ll lend you my sense of touch.” He Simu said lightly.
Duan Xu turned his head to look at her, his bright eyes gazing deeply into hers. He smiled, “I’m not testing you.”
“Oh?”
“It’s understanding. I want to understand He Simu.”
Understanding?
A cicada cannot understand the coldness of ice, how could a mortal understand her, and why would he want to understand her?
He Simu looked into his clear eyes and said, “Don’t think that just because I agreed to let you call me Simu, it means we’ve become closer. Little General, you don’t need to bother to understand me. Just live well, and our transaction will suffice.”
Duan Xu met her gaze for a moment, then smiled slightly, not arguing. His expression was completely different from when he said “there’s no point in saying more” in the military camp.
To borrow the five senses, He Simu needed to use her own body. She left the body of “He Xiaoxiao” in the room and entered Duan Xu’s bedroom again. Duan Xu was already sitting cross-legged on the bed, wearing a white undershirt and waiting for her.
There were several letters on his knees, and when He Simu arrived, he burned those letters in the fire, only vaguely seeing the words “mission accomplished.”
He Simu glanced at the letters, then shifted her gaze to Duan Xu. In the flickering candlelight, his deep black eyes were smiling as he reached out his hand, with long slender fingers that resembled those of a scholar.
“Come,” he said.
He seemed even more impatient than she was.
He Simu looked at him, and a pearl drifted out from her embrace, slowly landing in Duan Xu’s palm.
The pearl was cold, carrying the aura of death from her.
Duan Xu tightened his fingers around the pearl, and He Simu’s cold hand covered it. She closed her eyes, and the ghost king lantern at her waist emitted a faint blue light.
A powerful wind surged from an unknown place, enveloping the two of them. He Simu’s long hair and silver steps danced in the wind. The pearl began to emit light, revealing layers of red runes within it. These runes spun rapidly like gears until two of them rose into the air and merged into the foreheads of Duan Xu and He Simu respectively.
Two tiny red moles appeared on He Simu’s forehead, like two drops of blood on a pale snowy ground. Duan Xu had the same.
As the light from the pearl dimmed and the wind disappeared, the world fell into silence once again. He Simu slowly opened her eyes, meeting Duan Xu’s gaze, his eyes as deep as the starry sky.
There was a moment of silence between them. Suddenly, He Simu pushed Duan Xu down onto the bed, and the pearl rolled into the bedding, partially obscured.
Duan Xu stared at her as she didn’t speak, watching as her hand caressed his face, gliding over his smooth skin. Her pale fingers seemed to gain a hint of warmth.
Her hair fell onto him, her gaze too intense, burning into his eyes, causing him to momentarily forget the jokes he wanted to make.
“Skin,” He Simu murmured, her lips slightly parted.
Her hand traced along his jawline, then moved to his lips. Duan Xu’s lips were thin and pale, naturally upturned at the corners, with a hint of a smile. They were soft and warm.
“Lips,” she whispered.
He Simu’s fingertips lingered on his lips for a moment before gently moving to the side of his nose.
Her eyes gleamed brightly as she said, “Breath.”
Then her fingers slowly descended, tracing down the side of his face to his slender neck. Duan Xu stared at He Simu, his entire body relaxed without resistance, and her hand did not tighten.
“Pulse.”
She spoke like two children experiencing the world for the first time, articulating everything she sensed.
As her words fell, He Simu suddenly leaned down and rested on Duan Xu’s chest, her cheek pressing against his thin shirt. Duan Xu tensed up instantly.
She silently lay on his chest, as if time stood still. After a moment, she chuckled softly and looked up at him, her mesmerizingly beautiful face filled with joy.
“Heartbeat.”
Duan Xu’s eyes flickered slightly, and just then, He Simu leaned closer to him, uttering astonishing words.
“Bite me.”
Duan Xu was stunned. He stared at He Simu’s expression and repeated in a low voice, “Bite you?”
“Yes, bite my neck.” He Simu turned her head, revealing her pale and slender neck, and casually gave the command.
A breeze blew in through the window, causing the candlelight to flicker. The dim light fell on her neck.
Duan Xu was silent for a moment, then lifted his head, his upper body hovering. He cupped her head with both hands, supporting her cheeks, and without hesitation, slowly bit her neck twice.
There was no blood, but red marks were left behind.
He Simu did not flinch, simply calmly said, “It hurts.”
Her “it hurts” didn’t carry much of a soft tone. Compared to her pitiful act as He Xiaoxiao, it lacked much of the pretence, but it felt like two tiny ice chips, lightly pricking Duan Xu’s ears.
And heart.
Duan Xu’s eyelashes trembled.
She turned her head to look at him, completely unaware, and in the proximity of their breaths mingling, she chuckled slightly, “So, that’s how those people I devoured felt before they died.”
The world unexpectedly had such a miraculous aspect.
Skin, lips, breath.
Smooth, soft, warm.
The pulse like a small clock, the heartbeat like a small drum. Trembling and warm, delicate and lively, scorching as if boiling blood.
Pain was subtle, a mixture of discomfort and unease, sharp and distinct like a blade.
And when he held her hair, when his cheek brushed against her neck, what was that faint and entirely different feeling from pain?
Was all of this what it meant to be alive?
Duan Xu looked deeply at her, smiling brightly, his eyes and brows curved, “Ghost King, Simu, welcome to the world of the living.”
Leave a Reply