Chapter 69
GU FUZHOU REALLY WANTED to do it. This was absolutely unbelievable.
Well, it wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it during the past nineteen years of his life. Any healthy male thought about it somehow during puberty, and he’d been no exception. When he was thirteen or fourteen, his father had solemnly taught him a “biology” lesson, then insisted that he hold himself to the strictest degree of self-control and respect for others.
He still remembered how he’d felt after the first time he jerked off—That was it? My wrist hurts so much just for that? It felt good, of course, but it wasn’t even close to worth the effort. He was lazy, but he also cared a lot about personal hygiene. Even if he was doing it by himself, he had to shower before and after; the entire process took more than an hour. Frankly, he preferred to use that hour to get more sleep.
Later, when he was about sixteen or seventeen, he discovered that his classmates—especially the boys—seemed very interested in that kind of thing. His friend had once shown him a video that should’ve been off-limits to teens like them; his friend got so aroused that his entire face turned red, but he had just felt bad for the man in the video. He had worked for so long without stopping, sweating buckets. Didn’t his back hurt? It looked so exhausting that he felt tired just watching it.
When he told his friend his thoughts, his friend seemed gobsmacked, declaring that he must be disinterested in sex. He disagreed. He wasn’t disinterested—just too lazy to move. If his future wife would put in extra effort, he would be quite happy to do it.
In any case, he outwardly appeared to have no base desires simply because he was so lazy. Even if he liked someone, he never thought about them in that way specifically. Was sexual desire a requirement for liking someone? Must he want to fuck the person he liked? As long as they were happy together, everything else was okay with him.
He only realized from Lin Qingyu’s question that he did, in fact, want to have sex with his wife. Even if it was tiring, it…it would be worth it.
“Have sex” was actually the relatively polite way to put it, because he wanted to use more vulgar words. He wanted to dirty Lin Qingyu, wanted to leave all kinds of marks on his body, wanted to stain him with his scent. He even wanted to whisper obscene dirty talk into his ear.
Funnily enough, he wouldn’t have even realized that he had such a kink if Lin Qingyu hadn’t used the word “dirty.”
After recognizing his own desires, Gu Fuzhou suddenly felt so greasy, so perverted—why did he have such a depraved side? If he started lusting over Lin Qingyu’s body, what would make him different from someone like Xiao Cheng or the emperor? He felt like a soldier sitting up in his deathbed in shock, having realized that he had been the bad guy all along.
No, wait—the bottom line was that Lin Qingyu was his wife! What was wrong with lusting after his own wife? The others lusting after his wife were the bad guys.
That icy beauty could only be admired, not desecrated.
But he really wanted to.
Now that he had worldly desires, Gu Fuzhou couldn’t help but wonder… Would Lin Qingyu, as a man, also have such desires?
Naturally, Lin Qingyu didn’t know what was on Gu Fuzhou’s odd mind. He only felt like his husband’s gaze was deeper than before, and no longer so pure, as if he had suddenly matured.
They returned to bed. Gu Fuzhou—who had long forgotten about enemy tactics—rested his head on his hands as he stared into space. “Qingyu, you’re nearly twenty.”
“Yes.”
“That’s the age when people have the most energy. How come I’ve never seen you do…it…? You know what I mean, right?” Gu Fuzhou thought that he had asked the question extremely clearly. Given Lin Qingyu’s intelligence, he’d definitely get it.
But Lin Qingyu said, “No.”
“Come on. You definitely know what I’m talking about. Or maybe you’re not interested in that kind of thing either?” Gu Fuzhou teased.
“That’s true, I’m not. But why did you say ‘either’?”
Gu Fuzhou’s attention was completely captured by Lin Qingyu’s first sentence. “But…you’re not lazy. Why aren’t you interested in it?”
Lin Qingyu thought for a while. “I’ve probably seen too much and touched too many people.” He had seen countless male and female bodies. He wasn’t skilled in gynecology, but he had studied it. In fact, while studying with his teacher, he had even helped a woman give birth.
He couldn’t remember ever having a noteworthy reaction to touching someone’s body. Only touching Gu Fuzhou made him feel like his hand would break out in boils; even passing his hand over that area, he’d be nervous.
For a moment, Gu Fuzhou didn’t know what to say. Finally he muttered, “Physicians are scary.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Gu Fuzhou slept late, so the next morning was another disaster. Lin Qingyu dragged the general out of bed, telling Hualu to bring breakfast to their room so that Lin Qingyu could watch Gu Fuzhou eat congee miserably.
“Qingyu, when is the next break going to start?”
Besides their long break at the beginning of the year, officials of Great Yu only got the fifteenth day of each month off. Lin Qingyu calculated the date for him. “In ten days.”
Gu Fuzhou’s handsome face twisted. “Ten days? H-help me…”
After the general had dressed, Lin Qingyu was about to see him off when Yuan Yin hurried over. “General, Lady, the palace has delivered a message: His Majesty is suffering from an unbearable headache, and the crown prince’s wound has flared up, so today’s morning court meeting is canceled.”
This out-of-the-blue surprise made Gu Fuzhou so ecstatic that he was giddy. Apart from their second wedding night, Lin Qingyu had never seen him so excited. Yuan Yin hadn’t even finished speaking when Gu Fuzhou disappeared. Then, in the blink of an eye, a human body appeared on the bed, forming a lump underneath the covers.
Lin Qingyu laughed softly and ordered the servants to avoid the bedroom today so that the general could sleep his fill.
Soon after the cancellation message, a palace servant dropped by. The emperor’s condition was worsening by the day, and the Department of Imperial Physicians was out of ideas. The emperor could no longer bear the pain, which forced him to summon Lin Qingyu once again.
Lin Qingyu took the emperor’s pulse and modified his prescription. After the emperor drank the reformulated medicine for a few days, his symptoms lessened dramatically. Per protocol, he should have bestowed many rare and expensive gifts upon Lin Qingyu, but he was still angry. As soon as he thought about the fact that the gentle, obedient beauty in front of him was already someone else’s wife—that even he, the emperor, couldn’t make the man his—he became indignant and bitter.
Had Lin Qingyu been the wife of a mere official, the emperor would simply have forcibly taken him. But he wasn’t just anyone’s wife; he was Gu Fuzhou’s.
Not long afterward, Gu Fuzhou presented the emperor with a careful analysis detailing the conditions they should create on the northwest battlefield, from the deployment of soldiers and cavalry to the quantity of rations. As little as he wanted to, the emperor sent the memorial off.
However, the emperor refused to reinstate Lin Qingyu as an imperial physician, and Lin Qingyu never inquired about it. He only said that, since he was unsure about some medications’ side effects, he needed to enter the Imperial Academy of Medicine to consult the medical texts in the library. Thus, the emperor gave him back the right to enter the academy. Lin Qingyu also needed to enter the palace once every three days to take the emperor’s pulse. Nothing was different from before, except that he now held no official position and received no salary. However, Lin Qingyu didn’t care about either of those things these days.
Marrying Gu Fuzhou had only solved his immediate problems. If he wanted to live peacefully with the general for the rest of his life, they both still had a lot to do.