Wuyi Alley is an old alley in Hezhou City, where the Xu family lives.
Four years ago, the Xu family was not the Xu family but was called Jinjia Tang, the residence of Xu Hang’s uncle Jin Hongchang. After his uncle’s family passed away, Jinjia Tang changed hands and is now called “Jinyan Tang”.
After returning to his residence, Xu Hang asked the maid to prepare hot water with lemongrass and dried magnolia flowers. Just after he finished taking a shower and sat down on the bed, the door was kicked open, and the sound of someone walking in was sonorous and powerful.
As soon as Duan Yelin entered the room, he took off his military cap, removed his cloak and placed it on the chair, then unbuttoned his clothes one by one and looked in the direction of Xu Hang.
Xu Hang was only wearing white silk pajamas, with the chest slightly open, revealing his collarbone. He was holding a book of Yuan Dynasty lyrics in his hand and looking down at it. His hair was still slightly wet, and a little water dripped onto his shoulders, making his clothes wet and transparent. He raised his head slightly and looked at Duan Yelin with emotionless eyes, and Duan Yelin felt an itch in his throat.
He went up and took Xu Hang’s book away, threw it on the ground, turned over, and climbed onto the bed, trying to press Xu Hang on the bed, but Xu Hang struggled and pushed him away.
Xu Hang picked up the book and coldly said, “Don’t ruin my book.”
Duan Yelin stood up and reached out to touch his slightly wet hair: “When I told you to go back, I meant to ask you to go back to Xiaotong Guan and wait for me. You are deliberately acting not to understand, right?”
Xu Hang ignored him, took the book, put a bookmark in it, and then put it in the bedside drawer. Duan Yelin looked at him for a while and understood something: “Why are you throwing a tantrum again? Are you angry about what happened in the medical hall today?”
“I told you not to bring your soldiers to my medical hall, it’s noisy.”
Duan Yelin wanted to laugh after hearing this. This master had a weird temper. Ever since he met him, he never had a good expression when he saw those in military uniforms. When Duan Yelin led his troops to the medical hall for the first time, Xu Hang’s face was stern for several days.
“If you hate soldiers so much, then you’ll have to endure it…” Duan Yelin approached Xu Hang and felt Xu Hang’s body stiffen for a moment, so he grabbed him and pressed him against the pillow. He put his hand in through the collar and wantonly rubbed on his chest back and forth, sighing in a low voice, “I am the biggest soldier here. In the future, don’t show me this useless anger. The one who will suffer the most will also be you.”
After that, he put down the silver bed hook and did what he had always wanted to do since he was in the medical hall.
The bed began to shake, with reluctant creaking sounds, muffled groans, and chaotic rhythms, interweaving with the rise and fall of the gauze curtains.
He probably just wanted to bully people. When the night watchman’s voice could no longer be heard, Xu Hang’s hands, which had been tightly grasping the edge of the bed until his joints turned white, suddenly lost their strength and relaxed.
Duan Yelin got up when the wall clock rang. It was early spring, and the Qingming Festival would soon arrive. It was still very cool in the morning.
When Qiao Song arrived at Xiaotong Guan, he did not receive any response from the commander, so he went straight to Jinyan Tang. When he saw Duan Yelin, he saluted and said, “Commander, the son of the Military Control Commissioner should report to us about the deployment order today. Do you want to meet him?”
Duan Yelin took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and blew out a smoke ring: “Laozi hates these princelings the most. They are weak and look like beasts in human clothing, all of them are cowards. They are also very troublesome when something goes wrong. Let him work as a special assistant in the secretarial office and don’t hang around in front of me for no reason.”
“Yes.”
Looking out the car window, he saw some small stalls on the road selling Qingming Guo[mfn]It’s a type of dessert that was eaten during Qingming festival.[/mfn] made from newly grown mugwort, which looked very green.
Qiao Song stopped the car at this time, bought some Qingming Guo, and handed them to Duan Yelin: “Commander, come and try some.”
Duan Yelin took a bite and found it very fragrant and sweet. He suddenly thought of something: “Qiao Song, Qingming Festival is only a few days away.”
“Yes, in eight days.”
“It’s really fast ah.” Duan Yelin suddenly recalled the first time he met Xu Hang. “It’s been four years. At that time, he was only as tall as my chest, but now he’s already taller than my shoulders.”
Qiao Song knew he was talking about Xu Hang and didn’t dare to interrupt for a moment. After thinking for a while, he said, “How about I also buy some more, and you bring it to Young Master Xu to try?”
“He won’t eat it. I’ve sent it to him before, but even the snacks’ basket was thrown out. I don’t know what’s wrong with him!” Duan Yelin remembered this incident very clearly. Even though Duan Yelin tortured him to the extreme on the bed, he just clenched his lips tightly, deliberately not letting Duan Yelin know the reason and making him unhappy.
As they were talking, the car had already arrived at the concession area. Duan Yelin put on his hat and regained his former vigor: “Let’s go and explain the rules of Hezhou City to those foreigners!”
In Jinyan Tang, Xu Hang actually woke up earlier than Duan Yelin, but he didn’t want to get up.
This has been the case for all these years. He didn’t want to wake up and face Duan Yelin after a night. This kind of shame is actually a kind of worthless stubbornness, but Xu Hang relied on this little stubbornness, like a small kerosene lamp, to resist the darkness of the whole night.
Duan Yelin might not be unaware of his thoughts; however, he saw through them but didn’t say anything, as if he was giving him a little face.
He got up and washed up. The maid had just brought the mugwort and ginkgo porridge to the table when the servant outside came running in anxiously, “Head of the Household, the medical hall is in chaos! Go and take a look quickly!”
Xu Hang put down the spoon he had just picked up, narrowed his eyes slightly, and then got up and went out.
