Chapter 4
TOO MANY THINGS had happened that day, and Lin Qingyu realized right before he went to bed that he’d forgotten something—to ask someone to put a bed for him in the study. He thought about sleeping at the desk in the study that night, but unexpectedly, Lu Wancheng sent Hualu to ask that he come back and sleep in their room.
Lin Qingyu entered the bedroom with an unhappy expression.
Lu Wancheng had taken his medicine and was about to go to bed. When he saw Lin Qingyu, he smiled. “You’re here.”
Lin Qingyu cut to the chase. “What’s the meaning of this?”
Lu Wancheng didn’t understand. “The meaning of what?”
“Didn’t you say that we needn’t take this marriage seriously?”
“I did.”
“Then why make me come back to sleep here?”
Lu Wancheng smiled, saying, “You’ve misunderstood. I didn’t ask you to come back to sleep with you.”
His direct wording made Lin Qingyu pause. “You’re the young master of a noble household,” he told Lu Wancheng, tone stiff. “Could you speak more decorously?”
In a decorous tone, Lu Wancheng responded, “I didn’t ask you to come back to sleep with you. After all, no matter how beautiful you are, I’m no cut-sleeve.”
Lin Qingyu took a deep breath, deciding not to drag the topic out any further. “Get to the point.”
“I want your good fortune to rub off on me,” Lu Wancheng said contemplatively. “When you’re here, my body feels less strained.”
Lin Qingyu paused. “Are you serious?”
Lu Wancheng nodded. “Entirely serious.”
The corner of Lin Qingyu’s mouth twitched. “Fool,” he said mockingly. “I didn’t think you’d believe such things as well.” He’d thought that Lu Wancheng was different from the others in the marquess of Nan’an’s manor, but he was wrong.
“In the past, I was even more skeptical than you, but I do believe in them a little now,” Lu Wancheng said slowly. “Physician Lin, do you believe in the three souls and seven spirits? And reincarnation?”
“No,” Lin Qingyu bluntly said.
“Why not?”
“Because I’ve never witnessed those.”
“But I have.”
“You must’ve been mistaken.”
“Ah,” Lu Wancheng murmured. “I knew nobody would believe me.”
Lin Qingyu frowned. “So you accept the imperial preceptor’s nonsense?”
If not for the bazi the imperial preceptor had sent, there wouldn’t have been a warding-off marriage. Obviously, the man was listed among those he held grudges against.
“The imperial preceptor…” Lu Wancheng repeated, deep in thought. “That reminds me. I need to visit Great Yu’s imperial preceptor, who knows everything about heaven, earth, and the gods.”
“First, you’ll need to learn how to get out of bed,” Lin Qingyu said brusquely.
The imperial preceptor never took part in politics, but he was respected; he was akin to a relative of the imperial family. The emperor often summoned the imperial preceptor to join him in the palace. If Lu Wancheng wanted to see the imperial preceptor, he would have to ask for an audience.
Lu Wancheng snapped back to his senses. “Let’s not talk about this now,” he said. “Physician Lin, please take a look at the soft divan Hualu prepared for you.”
“What divan…?”
Only then did Lin Qingyu notice that the divan he’d slept on the previous night was now covered with thick bedding and quilts—even a soft pillow—making it look like a small bed. The expression left Lin Qingyu’s face. He didn’t know whether he should praise Lu Wancheng or scold him.
Lu Wancheng told him graciously, “I don’t mind sleeping in the same bed as a man, but I was afraid you would. We can take turns using the divan.”
When Lin Qingyu left home for school, he had traveled far and wide with his teacher and occasionally slept in the same bed as fellow students. It was nothing for two heterosexual men to sleep in the same bed, but Lu Wancheng… Well, he was Lin Qingyu’s husband, so Lin Qingyu couldn’t treat him like a normal man.
A divan was at least more comfortable to sleep on than a desk, and this way, Lin Qingyu could avoid Lady Liang’s fuss if she found out that he and Lu Wancheng slept in separate rooms.
Lin Qingyu made up his mind. “We don’t need to take turns. I can use it.”
As the night went on, the lights in the manor slowly went out. The newlyweds—one on the bed, and the other on the divan—were separated by a screen embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in water.
Lu Wancheng had slept too much during the day, so he wasn’t quite sleepy yet. Putting his hands behind his head, he began chatting with Lin Qingyu. “Physician Lin, how old are you?”
“Eighteen,” Lin Qingyu said listlessly, his eyes closed.
“So, by normal standards, you’re probably a couple of months older than me. Why don’t I call you ‘Yu-ge’ going forward?”
“Do you have a headache…?”
Lu Wancheng paused. “No.”
“I assumed you felt so ill that you forgot your own age.”
“Oh. How old am I?”
Is he actually this stupid or merely pretending to be? Agitation before bed wasn’t good for you, so Lin Qingyu tried to remain calm as he said, “Nineteen.”
“Really? What great news,” Lu Wancheng laughed. “You should call me Wancheng-gege, then.”
Lin Qingyu turned over, showing Lu Wancheng only the back of his head. “Go to sleep, Young Marquess. Anything can happen in your dreams.”
Lu Wancheng chuckled, saying to himself, “A beauty with a terrible temper—but somehow, such an interesting character isn’t the protagonist…”
The night got later. Physically and mentally exhausted, Lin Qingyu let himself sink into his own dreams.