Unyielding Spring Mountains - Chapter 34: Igniting the Fire

“Only one bed?” Wei Zhen looked up. “Then should we find another house?”

Qi Yan had already stepped inside. “No need. I searched around earlier and only found this abandoned hut. The night is deep, and if we keep searching, dawn will break soon.”

Wei Zhen let him pull her inside, and a cloud of dust greeted them, making her cough lightly.

“The house is full of dust. We need to clean it first,” Qi Yan said.

Wei Zhen heard him opening the windows but couldn’t offer much help. She could only use her hands to fumble around, trying to familiarize herself with the room’s layout.

The hut was much smaller than she had imagined. It had only a single bed and a cabinet. Farming tools were piled in the corner, leaving little space to move around.

Qi Yan said, “I’ll fetch some well water to wash the bedboard for you.”

Wei Zhen caught the implication in his words. “Where will you sleep?”

Qi Yan replied, “I’ll make a bed on the floor. A night of rest will do.”

Wei Zhen was taken aback and shook her head. “The floor is too dirty, covered in years of accumulated dust. It’s not suitable for sleeping. And the bedding in this house—can it even be used?”

Beside the bed was a cabinet for storing miscellaneous items. Wei Zhen didn’t even need to check to know that any bedding inside would be moldy and covered in dust. Sleeping in such conditions was no better than lying under the open sky.

That left only one option.

Qi Yan changed the subject at the right moment. “Your clothes are still wet. Dry them first—I found some fire starters in the cabinet.”

Qi Yan found a total of five fire starters, but only the last one managed to ignite. The small hut was finally illuminated.

He tossed the fire starter into the brazier. “There’s only a bit of firewood. If you want to dry your clothes, you’ll have to hurry.”

Both of them had just emerged from the water, their garments still damp.

Qi Yan’s dark clothing concealed it better, but Wei Zhen was wearing a light-colored outfit. The thin outer layer of her spring dress, soaked through, became almost transparent, revealing the undergarments beneath.

Wei Zhen hugged her knees, her cheeks tinged with a warm hue—though it was hard to tell whether it was from the flickering firelight or an embarrassed blush.

“You should dry your clothes first, General,” she said.

Qi Yan began removing his outer robes. As one layer after another of damp clothing was stripped away, his upper body was revealed under the moonlight.

His physique carried an innate strength. Every muscle was well-defined, his lines fluid—not excessively robust, but sculpted like a mountain range, stretching seamlessly into his trousers.

The flickering fire cast shadows, making his broad shoulders and narrow waist even more prominent.

Wei Zhen’s fingers clenched around her skirts.

As the fire burned lower and lower, Wei Zhen had no choice but to reach for her belt.

As she loosened her skirts, layers of silk slid down, revealing her smooth, jade-like shoulders.

Just as she was about to pull up her inner dress, Qi Yan happened to turn around, and their eyes met.

Her fingers flinched, failing to grasp her clothes. The inner dress slipped further, leaving only her undergarments exposed before him.

The room fell into utter silence. No one spoke, yet the temperature seemed to rise inexplicably.

She hurriedly picked up her outer skirt and moved toward the bed, draping it over the brazier’s drying rack.

“The fire is dying,” Qi Yan reminded her.

Her underclothes were not yet dry. Sleeping in wet garments was impossible. After a moment of internal struggle, Wei Zhen’s trembling fingers finally lifted, undoing the last of her robes.

She remained outwardly calm, but her heart pounded violently.

The man stood with his back to her. Wei Zhen knew he was not the type to act recklessly, which gave her the courage to proceed.

She first dried her inner dress and put it on, then moved on to her trousers and underclothes. By now, the charcoal in the brazier had burned to its final embers, the flames flickering weakly.

Her undergarments were nearly dry when—pa-ta!—the fire suddenly extinguished, plunging the room into complete darkness.

“Are you done?” Qi Yan asked.

“Just a moment.” Wei Zhen hurriedly threw on her underclothes, but as she tied the strings, her hands were weak, and she accidentally tangled the fabric with her hair. Sweat gathered on her forehead as she struggled to free herself.

In the darkness, only the faint rustling of her movements could be heard.

After a long moment, she finally exhaled in relief. “General, I’m ready.”

As Wei Zhen had said earlier, the floor was too dirty and cluttered. Given the circumstances, they had no choice but to share the bed.

Wei Zhen folded her half-dried outer skirt into a makeshift pillow and lay on the inner side of the bed, facing the wall.

Qi Yan’s footsteps approached, slow and steady, as if treading over her heartbeat.

Earlier, insisting that he shouldn’t sleep on the floor was one thing. But now that he was lying beside her, it was something else entirely.

The bed was meant for one person, yet now it accommodated two. Qi Yan’s tall frame only made the space feel even smaller.

The room was pitch black. The faint sound of his breathing reached her ears. Wei Zhen tried to sleep but found it impossible to calm her racing heart.

A man’s body was naturally much warmer than a woman’s, as if it radiated heat.

Especially on a summer night like this, when the air was already stifling. Any small movement of her fingers would bring them into contact with the man’s body.

Her skin grew damp with sweat.

She was used to sleeping alone, and when the nights grew too hot, she would often sleep in just her underclothes. But with him here now, she obviously couldn’t do that.

Lying stiffly in one position, she eventually turned over—only to find that Qi Yan had also turned at the same moment.

Their breaths mingled in the darkness.

The narrow bed suddenly felt unbearably warm.

Wei Zhen wanted to move back, but her back was already against the wall—there was nowhere to retreat. Her hand accidentally brushed against his arm.

She averted her gaze. “General, can we switch places?”

His breath fanned over her cheek.

“I’d like to sleep on the outer side. It’s too hot in here. By the window, I might feel a bit cooler,” she explained.

After a long silence, he gave a soft “Mm.”

Hearing his agreement, Wei Zhen got up, trying to climb over him. She carefully moved her leg over, feeling her way in the darkness—only to have the hem of her skirt catch on the bed frame.

The force of it pulled her downward, and she fell straight into Qi Yan’s embrace.

His body heat enveloped her instantly.

Wei Zhen pressed against him, trying to push herself up, but her hand landed somewhere—his shoulder, perhaps.

A jolt shot through her fingertips, sending a numbness up her arm.

Her long hair draped over his neck, her collar slightly loosened from the motion.

Qi Yan had kept his eyes closed, letting her fumble around for a while. But when she still hadn’t managed to move away, he opened his eyes slightly, his body tensing.

“Wei Zhen,” his voice was low, “stop moving for a moment.”

Wei Zhen reached out to grab her robe and covered her shoulders.

Qi Yan suddenly sat up, and Wei Zhen’s legs slipped, causing her body to lean forward. The rich fragrance from her robe brushed against Qi Yan’s cheek.

Her red lips were close to his forehead, exhaling warm, damp breath. One of her hands first clung to his shoulder and neck, then unconsciously slid downward.

At her fingertips, a soft and delicate sensation spread, surpassing even the finest mutton-fat jade, making Qi Yan’s abdomen tremble under her palm.

His robe had long since slipped down.

In the humid and stifling midsummer midnight, sweat flowed almost like a river.

As her fingertips traced his abdominal muscles, continuing downward, Qi Yan suddenly grabbed her hand, completely enveloping her ten slender, bamboo-like fingers in his palm.

She couldn’t see, so she tried to pull away, but her hand slipped between his fingers, caught tightly in his grasp.

Qi Yan felt the warmth of her breath brushing against him. His neck tilted back slightly, revealing a prominent Adam’s apple that moved up and down.

“Wei Zhen, don’t go any lower.”

The air stilled for a moment. The girl in his embrace flushed red at the ears. “Apologies, Young General…”

Qi Yan said, “It’s fine.”

He placed his hands around her waist and gently laid her to the side. She lay on her back on the bed, her chest rising and falling.

Just now, that deep voice, like gravel brushing against her ears, echoed in her mind once more.

She turned over, but as she did, a sharp tug pulled at her scalp, forcing her to turn back again in the cramped bed. She whispered, “Young General, you’re pressing on my hair.”

Wei Zhen reached to pull her own strands free. Qi Yan felt her delicate form pressing against him again and said softly, “Wei Zhen, hold on a moment.”

Her face was flushed red, but she couldn’t just leave her hair trapped.

She reached towards her shoulder, and Qi Yan glanced at her before averting his gaze. “Wei Zhen, your robe has come loose.”

She had no idea what she looked like at that moment—

Her cheeks were dyed with a deep blush, her skin as flawless as jade, glowing softly under the moonlight. Yet, her inner dress had slipped from her shoulders down to the crook of her arms, revealing a peach-pink undergarment. If she moved even slightly, from Qi Yan’s angle, something was bound to be exposed.

Wei Zhen’s body stiffened. Instinctively, she raised a hand to fasten her robe.

Qi Yan quickly turned his face away to avoid looking. The moonlight outside was bright, but it couldn’t compare to the glimpse of her fair skin he had just seen.

In his mind, the scene by the stream resurfaced once again.

The young lady had her dark hair in soft disarray, her waist slender as flowing water. Her twin pupils were filled with anxious unease as she looked at him, holding his hand, asking him to help find her undergarment.

That delicate, water-like voice—he heard it for the second time tonight.

After his careful warning about her loose robe, she had tried to adjust her underclothes. The rustling sounds went on for a while before she hesitated, then spoke again.

“Young General, my undergarment was tied loosely just now, so it’s a bit loose now. And now my hair is tangled in the tie… I really can’t pull it free. Could I trouble you to help untangle it?”

A long silence.

She added, “Young General, do you have a dagger? I can cut off the strands of hair that are stuck.”

Qi Yan let out a sigh and turned to face her. “Come closer.”

Just now, she had said she would fix it herself, and he had waited for a long time, but she still hadn’t managed to do so.

Taking a deep breath, he reached out and gently brushed aside the strands of hair at the nape of her neck. “Even if I give you a dagger, you wouldn’t be able to see. If you cut the tie directly, what will you do after that, hmm?”

His voice skimmed past her earlobe. Wei Zhen’s ears tingled, and she knew her request was unreasonable. But in the darkness, she was afraid of accidentally pulling at the wrong tie and exposing herself before him.

Qi Yan said, “Turn around.”

Wei Zhen turned her back to him, lifting her long hair over her shoulder. Immediately, she felt the young general’s presence behind her, his hand settling gently onto her back, transmitting a quiet warmth.

Her body tensed slightly, her neck tilting upward.

His fingers threaded through the ribbon of her undergarment, carefully pulling free the strands of hair caught in the tie, one by one. In the end, he even retied the knot properly for her.

“Thank you, Young General,” Wei Zhen said.

As Qi Yan lowered his hand, the faint fragrance from her hair still lingered on his fingertips.

He lifted his head, avoiding the scent in the air. “I’ll step outside for a bit. I can’t seem to sleep.”

Hearing this, she sat up and stepped off the bed, walking toward him barefoot. Her delicate figure stumbled into his arms, and Qi Yan caught her lightly to keep her from falling.

“What is it?” Qi Yan asked, his voice hoarse.

She lifted her head in his embrace, her clear eyes reflecting his face. After a long pause, she asked, “Young General, is it because of me that you can’t sleep tonight?”

Qi Yan clenched his teeth.

So, Wei Zhen, you knew all along.