After Being Mistakenly Taken for a Fellow Traveler by Emperor Long Aotian - Chapter 138

Chapter 138  Yes, I’ve never been in a romantic relationship

The journey of the jianghu (martial world) is long, and the mountains and rivers are vast.”

On the summer night, along both sides of the street, there were many banana leaves. Bai Yuxing, like a swift white bird, climbed up and sat on the roof.

He held a wine flask in his hand, gazing at the distant moonlight, drinking deeply.

Bai Yuxing liked high places. From a high vantage point, he could see many things. His eyesight was very good; he could see the bustling city of the capital, the vast moat, and the towering clock tower… and from among the many houses, he could see where Zhang Lingsu lived.

The little moonlight in the prison of Jiangzhou is getting married, she will marry someone else. Last month, he had bought a moonstone pendant in Qingzhou, but this month, she had already told him that she would marry someone else. That person was a pale-skinned, cat-eyed young man, who spoke Chinese clumsily but was quick-witted. He worked for the government now. Every day after work, he would bring a bag of oranges to the Tai Hospital and leave with a blush after some laughter.

It turned out that Little Moonlight didn’t like the moon; she liked oranges. But he clearly saw that she didn’t eat the oranges. She only lined them up one by one on the windowsill, like a row of round, bright yellow little lanterns.

Maybe Zhang Lingsu didn’t like oranges either. Maybe she just liked that awkward young man who brought her oranges every day, tried to learn Chinese for her, and learned from Lu Bin how to do business, working tirelessly to give her a future.

Bai Yuxing suddenly felt deeply sad.

A noise came from beside him, and another person dressed in deep red had climbed onto the roof. Bai Yuxing threw the wine flask to him. “Drink!”

Lu Xiandao caught the flask — his hand was quick — but he didn’t drink. The two sat on the roof, enjoying the cool breeze. Bai Yuxing took out another flask and began drinking again. While he thought about his own troubles, he also pondered about Lu Xiandao. He wondered whether Lu Xiandao, who had climbed up quietly and said nothing, was silently mocking him for drowning his sorrows in alcohol.

Usually, Bai Yuxing would have argued with him, but at this moment, he felt weak and had no desire to speak.

“Sorry.”

Finally, he heard a soft voice.

Bai Yuxing almost choked on his drink. After a long time, he stammered, “Wh-what are you sorry for?”

He thought his ears were malfunctioning. Apologizing — was this really Lu Xiandao, who had always been so arrogant?

“Sorry — for what happened in Qingzhou. I hurt you. If you had come back to the capital earlier…”

Lu Xiandao fell silent; he was never good with words. Bai Yuxing understood what he meant, waved his hand, and said, “Actually, coming back earlier wouldn’t have helped. If someone likes you, they like you. If they don’t, they don’t. No matter how early you come, no matter how many oranges you bring, it won’t matter.”

“Do you really like her? Miss Zhang,” Lu Xiandao suddenly asked.

Bai Yuxing was stunned for a moment. After a while, he scratched his head and said, “Well, I guess I like her, but not really that much… You know, I met her in Jiangzhou’s prison, right?”

“Mm,” Lu Xiandao said softly.

“When I saw her, she looked so majestic, so heroic, and she was a doctor. I remembered what my father said before he died, that people like me in the jianghu (martial world) always need someone who can save them. At that time, the moon was very bright, and it shone in her eyes. She was like the moon. I thought, maybe I need a doctor too, being in the jianghu.” Bai Yuxing grinned. After a while, he scratched his head again and said, “But now it doesn’t matter, anyway…”

“If you really like her, I can help you take her back,” Lu Xiandao suddenly said, his expression serious, although his fingers were strangely stiff. “I think in Miss Zhang’s heart, you should… also be a good person.”

“But she doesn’t like me. For someone who doesn’t like you, no matter what you do for her, she will only think of you as a good person. And that’s all there is to it. But for someone who likes you, even if they give you just one orange, you’ll cherish it and hide it carefully.” Bai Yuxing said, “My mother was like that. She liked my father, so even though she was a rich young lady, she followed him into the jianghu. She was only sixteen when her family forced her into marriage, but she saw my father riding past with his sword on his back, and she fell in love with him at first sight. She jumped off the tree she was sitting in and followed him, wearing embroidered shoes. No matter how far my father rode, she followed, until he carried her across the blue seas and deserts, lost a hand for her, and then I was born. People are foolish for those they love… But you look like someone from a noble family, someone who doesn’t hear much about the jianghu.”

Lu Xiandao was silent for a while, then said, “Mm. My father and mother had a bad relationship, but now they respect each other.”

“I heard Princess Fukan is very dignified and graceful, and her son follows her, so you must be someone quiet, and I am the more carefree one!” Bai Yuxing cheered up. He might have been a little drunk and was easily amused.

“No.” Lu Xiandao shook his head. “My mother also had someone she liked. She’s very stubborn. When someone likes someone, they will hold on stubbornly, not intending to let go, unless they think that person will be happier with someone else.”

“You don’t understand. You’ve never been in love…”

“Looks like you two are on the roof!”

A clear voice rang from beneath the eaves. The two looked down and saw Zhang Lingsu, dressed in Tai Hospital uniform, smiling at them.

She was holding two bright red wedding invitations. It turned out she had personally come to deliver the invitations to the Jingwei Guards, and had been let in by the servants.

“Perfect, one for each of you, from your two great benefactors. I also gave one to Young Master Zhou and the Emperor.” She placed the invitations in their hands. “I’m getting married on the second day of next month, and you two must come! No excuses.”

When she spoke about the wedding, she smiled so joyfully. It was a smile that only came when speaking of someone truly dear. She looked at Bai Yuxing, “Especially you, Bai Yuxing! Don’t stand me up again!”

After exchanging a few simple pleasantries, she waved and said, “I’m leaving!”

“Alright,” Bai Yuxing took the invitation, waved awkwardly at her, and said something that didn’t make sense, “From now on, the jianghu is far, the mountains and rivers are vast…”

“Mountains and rivers, my foot!” Zhang Lingsu laughed out loud. “The house the Emperor gave you is not far from mine. What jianghu are you talking about?”

With that, she waved and left Bai’s residence. Outside Bai’s house, someone was waiting for her in a carriage.

Bai Yuxing stared at the bright red invitation, his fingers absently tracing it. After a while, he smiled. “Things are different now.”

He stood there for a while, unaware that Lu Xiandao was silently watching him as he looked at the invitation. After a moment, Bai Yuxing stopped feeling sad. He put the invitation back in his room. “Come on! Let’s keep drinking! We’re out of liquor at home… let’s go to a tavern! The one next to Yanyunfang!”

That night, Bai Yuxing drank quite a bit at the tavern, partly because he wanted to, and partly as a way to act out. But Lu Xiandao stayed by his side, drinking with him the entire time. Bai Yuxing found it strange and pushed his shoulder, asking, “Aren’t you… not drinking?”

“Tomorrow’s a break,” Lu Xiandao simply replied.

Bai Yuxing certainly didn’t remember whether Lu Xiandao had a break tomorrow, but since Lu Xiandao said so, he accepted it. After all, it wouldn’t benefit Lu Xiandao to lie to him. Eventually, he was dragged out of the tavern by Lu Xiandao. He felt, for some reason, that Lu Xiandao seemed a bit angry, sometimes not angry, as if caught between the two. But now, as he was being dragged out, it seemed like Lu Xiandao’s mood had improved a bit.

“Hey, Lao Lu, are you jealous of me? Just tell me, are you jealous?” Bai Yuxing was half-conscious but clung to Lu Xiandao like an octopus, refusing to let go. People passing by looked nervously, as if they had stumbled upon some secret. When Lu Xiandao gave them a cold look, they hurriedly left.

Lu Xiandao pried Bai Yuxing’s hand off his arm and supported him in a different position, half-carrying him. “I haven’t seen her in a wedding dress, but I’ve seen someone in one.”

Bai Yuxing snorted, about to say something like “You haven’t even gotten married, what do you know?”, but then he suddenly remembered something, and the alcohol quickly sobered him up.

Wait a minute… could he be talking about… him? Could he be talking about when he wore a wedding dress pretending to be Miss Zhang, marrying that crippled old man?

Okay, thinking about it, he himself had sat in the sedan in the wedding dress, and Lu Xiandao, dressed in deep red, had lifted the sedan curtain. That scene did kind of look like…

Bai Yuxing’s mind cleared up immediately. He didn’t know whether to let go or keep clinging, so he stiffly let Lu Xiandao carry him back to the inn. Lying on the bed, he listened to the sounds outside, still wondering if Lu Xiandao was mocking him or acting in a mischievous way.

Soon, Lu Xiandao came in. He brought a bowl of something that looked like medicine, sat coldly beside Bai Yuxing, and said, “Drink.”

His voice sounded like he was about to poison Bai Yuxing for a crime of publicly harassing a government official. Bai Yuxing, who had bravely endured a night of drinking, lay in bed pretending to be dead. After a while, he heard a tone of helplessness in Lu Xiandao’s voice. “It’s just strong tea, no poison.”

“There’s actually strong tea in a tavern by Yanyunfang? It doesn’t have anything added, does it?”

Bai Yuxing nervously spoke nonsense, and after he said it, he regretted it even more. He sat up, buried his face in the bowl, and drank the tea.

After drinking the tea, his face scrunched up. “It’s really bitter.”

“Is it that bad?” Lu Xiandao said beside him.

“Unrequited love, brother, this is unrequited love,” Bai Yuxing pinched his nose to get rid of the bitterness and grumbled, “Can’t you show some sympathy? Damn, there’s ginger in this tea!”

Bai Yuxing buried himself in the blanket. Lu Xiandao took back the tea bowl and leisurely said, “You never pursued her, so how do you know what unrequited love feels like?”

“I didn’t pursue her, I don’t have…”

Well. Bai Yuxing stopped himself. That lucky guy, Xiao Wu, still brought her oranges every day.

Bai Yuxing shrank into the blanket, angry and embarrassed. He had been immersed in the role of the “heartbroken young man who lost his first love,” but now he suddenly felt exposed. He popped his head out and argued, “You’ve never pursued anyone, so you think this isn’t unrequited love?”

After asking that, he had a brief victory. Lu Xiandao didn’t speak.

After a long while, Bai Yuxing heard Lu Xiandao speak again, “Yes, I’ve never been in love. The world is vast, and the road is long.”

After a moment, Lu Xiandao said, “I’m leaving. I still have patrols to do. I’ve paid the room fee.”

“Hey—hey—you—!!” Bai Yuxing only realized what happened when he heard the door close. “Didn’t you say you had a break an hour ago?!”

But no one responded. Bai Yuxing suddenly felt empty inside and a little regretful.

Lu Xiandao had left. Bai Yuxing lay in bed thinking about his words. The last sentence sounded like it had been thrown out with gritted teeth, as if to say, “We’ll see about that.”

He climbed out of bed and saw that one of his wine jars was still on the table. He looked at the wine jar and remembered he had another one—the one he had thrown to Lu Xiandao earlier on the eaves.

Where had that wine jar gone? Did Lu Xiandao take it?

He sat on the bed for a while, thinking more and more that something was wrong with him. He slapped his head and decided to leave the room.

The inn where he was temporarily staying was called “Luhuan Nong.” Bai Yuxing went outside and into the yard. He hadn’t walked far when he heard a baby crying in the distance. Just as he was about to look in the direction of the sound, he saw a familiar face.

“Young Master Zhou?”

He looked closer and saw Zhou Xun walking toward him, but he noticed that Zhou Xun was followed by someone.

The person was pale with amber-colored eyes, between the ages of a youth and a young man, and didn’t look like someone from Central Plains.