The shower gel couldn’t conceal the faint begonia fragrance on Liang Ye’s neck. Liang Ye liked to pull Wang Dian into his arms, and Wang Dian would curl himself up and nestle into his embrace. His sleep quality had always been poor, but beside Liang Ye, he could always sleep soundly.
This time, he rarely felt unsettled.
It began as a chaotic and absurd dream, filled with cold, desolate mist and omnipresent red gauze, spreading everywhere and pressing down suffocatingly with nowhere to escape. Countless parasitic worms densely gnawed at his skin, death seemingly following like a shadow.
The dream gradually transformed from horror to intimacy and sensuality. In the white mist, red gauze and black hair intertwined, Liang Ye’s familiar voice seemed to be amplified next to his ear, but his eyelids felt unbearably heavy, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t open them, only following his instincts and drifting in the chaotic dream.
He heard Liang Ye’s teasing light laughter, as if calling him.
“Wang Dian… Wang Dian…”
“Wang Dian, Wang Dian, Wang Dian.”
The cold seawater rose past his mouth and nose, the helplessness and inescapable fear brought overwhelming suffocation and terror, yet he uncontrollably began to surrender, pain and fear intertwined into a suffocating net, attempting to drag him into a deeper abyss.
“——Liang Ye!” He suddenly gasped for air, opening his crimson eyes, his emotions not yet settled, instinctively gripping Liang Ye’s arm.
Liang Ye was being wanton, and seeing that he’d finally awakened, revealed a smug and provocative smile, “You were sleeping so deeply.”
Wang Dian’s briefly clear consciousness began to grow muddled again, he breathed heavily, taking a long time to escape from fear, irritably voicing, “Liang Ye… are you sick in the head!?”
Liang Ye’s eyes brightened, “Zhen still prefers you awake.”
Wang Dian just wanted to slap him to death.
But soon his attention was forcibly diverted elsewhere, as intermittent curses and gasps echoed in the dim room.
****
Sunlight streamed through the gap in the curtains, the phone on the bedside table was gripped by a reddened hand, the kiss marks on the back of his hand looking strange yet intimate. Wang Dian squinted at the time on the screen and couldn’t help cursing.
Liang Ye took the phone from his hand, contentedly hugging him and yawning, “It’s still early, only eight in the morning.”
“What the hell were you thinking in the middle of the night?” Wang Dian’s anger at being forcibly awakened hadn’t fully dissipated.
Liang Ye patted his lower back with satisfaction, “Zhen woke up early, and you wouldn’t wake up no matter how I called you, so I changed tactics.”
Wang Dian suddenly sat up, grabbed a pillow and covered Liang Ye’s head with it, “I was finally sleeping peacefully, I’ll kill you!”
“Mmph——mmph——” Liang Ye struggled with the pillow.
The two of them wrestled on the bed using hands and feet like some horrible murder scene. After a while, Wang Dian sat on his stomach, panting heavily, with his pajamas still wrapped around Liang Ye’s neck, threateningly said, “Next time you dare wake me up like this, I’ll strangle you.”
“Zhen was wrong.” Liang Ye’s smile was grotesque, “Let, let go.”
Wang Dian narrowed his eyes and released him. The next second, Liang Ye sprang up from the bed, running arrogantly toward the bathroom, “Zhen will dare do it again next time!”
“You f*ck——” Wang Dian threw the pillow at him, but was half a step too late, only hitting the glass door of the bathroom.
He stared at Liang Ye who was taking a shower inside the glass for a while, still angry. He had only told Liang Ye that one couldn’t see through from the outside, but hadn’t told him that the prerequisite was that the power switch needed to be on, and had secretly enjoyed the view many times without Liang Ye knowing. Now as he continued watching, his morning anger began to change flavor. He pressed his brow forcefully, tore his gaze away from the figure behind the glass, and went to the downstairs bathroom to wash.
Wang Dian was soaking in the bath when he suddenly heard Liang Ye’s excited voice. “Wang Dian! Wang Dian!!”
“What’s wrong!?” He got up, grabbed his bathrobe and put it on as he walked out.
Wang Dian thought something had happened to him and quickly left the bathroom, only to see Liang Ye standing barefoot and naked in the living room, pointing excitedly at the small red birthmark on his chest, “Zhen’s little red birthmark has grown back.”
With wet hair hanging before his eyes, dripping onto the carpet, Wang Dian suddenly sighed in relief, brushing his hair back behind his head, both angry and amused looking at him, “…I thought it was something serious.”
Liang Ye stared at him for a while, then looked down and touched the small red birthmark on his chest, then walked over to him and pulled open his bathrobe, touching his birthmark too, narrowing his eyes, “Zhen never knew such strange things existed in the world.”
Wang Dian’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he slapped away his groping paws, “Even the mighty emperor can run around naked in the early morning, what’s so strange about this?”
“Why does Zhen feel you’re not surprised at all?” Liang Ye pressed on his chest.
Wang Dian expressionlessly said, “If time travel can happen, growing a small red birthmark is nothing. The wounds on my body disappeared when I came back too.”
Liang Ye made no comment, looking at him matter-of-factly, “Why don’t you bathe with Zhen?”
“…Why don’t you know your own damn problem?” Wang Dian glanced at the uncurtained floor-to-ceiling window, pushing him toward the stairs with a grimace, “Hurry up and go back to continue washing.”
“Zhen wants to be with you.” Liang Ye didn’t budge, smiling as he hooked his neck, “Darling.”
Wang Dian choked severely on his own breath, “Stop learning this nonsense from the internet.”
Liang Ye nodded obediently, then not-so-obediently pulled him into the bathroom.
By the time they’d finally finished bathing with difficulty, it was almost noon. Wang Dian dried his hair and seriously said to Liang Ye, who was studying the projector, “Such indulgence is bad for your health.”
“You were worse during Zhen’s first few days here, but didn’t say it was bad for health.” Liang Ye picked up the game controller and looked at it, turning to ask him, “What is this thing?”
“This is a ga——something harmful to mental health, you can’t play it.” Wang Dian remembered how he had clung to his phone and wouldn’t let go, lying shamelessly without changing his expression, “Put it down.”
“It’s for playing.” Liang Ye precisely grasped his key word.
Wang Dian was silent for a moment, “Liang Ye, don’t you want to go out and see the world?”
Liang Ye’s only outing was to meet Yu Zetian to inquire about the bone news. After returning, following Wang Dian’s outburst, he had been obediently cooped up in the villa with Wang Dian. If Wang Dian didn’t mention going out, he hadn’t even set foot in the yard.
“It’s too noisy outside.” Liang Ye absently rubbed his ear, then began enthusiastically studying the controller again.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll trap you here for life?” Wang Dian’s voice deepened slightly.
Liang Ye surprisingly turned to look at him, his face full of “how could there be such a good thing,” then after a pause, frowned, “If you want Zhen to live here forever, it should be a palace, two or three times larger than that whatever palace, with fewer palace staff than in Northern Liang, every palace connected to the internet, and the imperial garden should be larger for Zhen to drive sports cars.”
“…You look like a sports car.” The coldness and grimness in Wang Dian’s eyes instantly froze.
Liang Ye looked at him disappointedly, “Wang Dian, if you don’t work properly, how will you support Zhen?”
Wang Dian reached out and pinched his face, “Your Majesty, you don’t have to be so righteous about living off someone else.”
Liang Ye’s face was contorted from the pinching as he pounced on him, pressing him onto the sofa. The two messed around for a while before settling down. Liang Ye couldn’t resist touching the small red birthmark on his chest again, saying in a deep voice. “You can lock Zhen up for life if you want, but you can’t keep secrets from Zhen.”
Wang Dian grabbed his hand, “Let’s go for a walk, you’ve been cooped up too long these days.”
At the words, Liang Ye bit his nose.
With the New Year approaching, the streets were festive with red decorations everywhere. Liang Ye sat lazily in the passenger seat, resting his head on his hand, watching the scenery and pedestrians quickly passing by outside the window, “Where are you taking Zhen?”
“Finding a quieter place to relax.” Wang Dian, afraid he wouldn’t adapt, deliberately slowed down.
“Drive faster.” Liang Ye complained. “Are you riding a snail?”
“There’s a speed limit in the city!” Wang Dian slightly increased his speed. He usually didn’t like driving this car, but all his favorite ones at home had been dismantled by Liang Ye, with engines completely taken apart. He couldn’t help feeling annoyed. “If you dismantle another car, I’ll send you to learn auto repair.”
“Not interesting.” Liang Ye waved dismissively without enthusiasm, “Zhen prefers submarines and tanks lately.”
Wang Dian smiled slightly, “You’re really trying to get me locked up.”
They reached their destination close to evening. The mountain in the suburbs wasn’t very high, with a manor built on its waist. When Wang Dian transmigrated, he had come to this winery to get wine.
Liang Ye first excitedly followed him on a tour, then the two rode horses leisurely to the mountaintop.
The winter mountain breeze was somewhat chilly, but compared to Northern Liang, it was much warmer. Wang Dian, wearing only a coat, didn’t feel very cold. He tied the horses to the railing and watched Liang Ye feed them treats.
The street lamps on the mountaintop were somewhat dim, or perhaps because the surrounding darkness was too dense, making the few points of light seem insignificant.
Liang Ye patted his hands and turned to look at the brightly lit city in the distance below the mountain. The misty lights made his profile seem difficult to discern, “Your world is very nice.”
Wang Dian turned to look at him.
“Much better than Northern Liang.” Liang Ye smiled at him, resting his arms on the wooden railing, “No wonder you always wanted to return.”
Wang Dian leaned against the railing, lowering his eyes to stare at the pool of light cast by the street lamp, “Why didn’t you ask me?”
“Ask what?” Liang Ye looked with interest at the brilliantly lit city and the hazy full moon hanging in the sky.
“You actually noticed early on that I’m different from before.” Wang Dian exhaled and tilted his head to look at him, “Suddenly remembering so many things, I needed time to process.”
“What does that have to do with Zhen?” Liang Ye said without turning his head: “As long as you’re Wang Dian, it’s fine.”
Wang Dian raised his hand, casually hooked his fingers, gripped his wrist, and pulled him closer, whispering in his ear. “Your Majesty, since coming here, why have you become more cautious? Not daring to ask anything, were you scared because I died too horribly?”
Liang Ye snorted coldly, but instinctively tensed his back.
Wang Dian’s hand moved up his arm, gripping the back of his neck, forcing him to turn and look at himself, speaking heavily in the darkness. “If I couldn’t guarantee returning, I wouldn’t have risked my life on the snowy mountain. Although that bone was ancient and its proper power lost, it doesn’t mean it had no other uses.”
Liang Ye suddenly raised his eyes to stare at him.
“How do you think I knew my posthumous title?” Wang Dian laughed lightly in the shadows. “And how do you think I dealt with Cui Qi and Wen Heshen when I was already dead? Back then, Master only broke a begonia flower for me, I came here entirely on my own, but you personally begged Master and Senior Martial Uncle, and they worked together to send you here….Guess how many years I wandered before finding a suitable identity to reincarnate as Wang Dian, hmm?”
A creeping chill instantly climbed up Liang Ye’s spine as he met Wang Dian’s eerily smiling eyes and frowned.
“I like to leave myself a way out.” Wang Dian leaned in and leisurely kissed his ear, whispering, “Even if you survived the death calamity, I wouldn’t disappear and let you have your way… Why should I? Wouldn’t all those years of torment be in vain? Don’t you agree?”
Liang Ye only felt that Wang Dian was frighteningly cold now. Frowning, he pulled him into his arms to warm him, “Zhen agrees.”
Wang Dian was stunned for a moment, then laughed. “Liang Ziyu, you really don’t know fear, do you?”
His memories had been gradually recovering, and even now many were slowly resurging, but this didn’t affect his ability to make decisions.
He raised his hand, placing his palm over Liang Ye’s heart, and said softly, “This small red birthmark is our mark. I never intended to let you go from the beginning. From the moment I decided to reincarnate, I was ready to… replace you, to become Liang Ye again, to take back what should have been mine. Although there were some small mishaps, and your mark disappeared for a while, it didn’t really matter originally.”
Liang Ye blinked slowly, holding him and asking, “Are you going to kill me now?”
Wang Dian looked up and laughed eerily. “But you, you fool, thought yourself clever, dug up the bone to find me, causing my bone to disappear too. Even if I kill you now, it won’t help.”
The expression on Liang Ye’s face instantly became smug, “It seems Zhen was foresighted after all.”
Wang Dian, with one hand gripping the back of his neck and the other pressed against his chest, smiled slightly. “But you’ve already agreed to give yourself to me.”
“Hmm?” Liang Ye made a questioning sound.
“In the basement…” Wang Dian’s smile gradually widened, “So this red birthmark has appeared again, guess what will happen?”
Liang Ye narrowed his eyes, his expression displeased.
“Master doesn’t know everything. What I did before was enough for him to clean house…” Wang Dian enjoyed watching his displeased expression, half his face hidden in darkness, as if sizing up his trapped prey, laughing softly:
“Your Majesty, what are Gu worms compared to this? Once in my hands, you’ll never escape.”
And not just for decades in the human world.
He observed Liang Ye’s expression with a half-smile, but the anger, shock, or disgust he expected did not appear.
Liang Ye happily knelt on the ground.
“…What are you doing?” Wang Dian’s smile slightly diminished.
Liang Ye somewhat nervously held up a plain gold ring, pretending to be calm. “Nothing, just suddenly felt like proposing to you.”
Wang Dian stared at him with inscrutable emotions, not having succeeded in intimidating him, which annoyed him a bit. He raised an eyebrow. “Propose?”
Liang Ye grabbed one of his hands, enthusiastically asking, “Wang Dian, will you marry Zhen?”
Wang Dian leaned down slightly, meeting his excitedly bright eyes, and said with a gloomy expression. “What the hell are you so excited about?”
“Not saying no means yes.” Liang Ye narrowed his eyes, promptly putting the ring on his ring finger, smiling brilliantly, “Zhen just finds you more and more interesting.”
“…F*ck.” Wang Dian cursed irritably.
Liang Ye lowered his head, solemnly kissing his ring finger, then stood up and handed him the other ring. “Your turn.”
Wang Dian took the ring, preparing to put it on him.
“Kneel down and propose to Zhen.” Liang Ye cheerfully commanded.
Wang Dian took a deep breath, glaring at him gloomily for a while, but eventually knelt on one knee, meeting his eyes, and strangely began to feel nervous. He cleared his throat. “Liang Ye, will you marry me?”
The evening breeze in the mountains was refreshingly cool. The winter’s bare branches stretched menacingly in the night sky. The cold darkness finally swallowed the last ray of light, constructing an airless cage, completely engulfing and binding the two silhouettes, never to be released for all eternity.
Below the mountain, countless lights gathered into a brilliant sea of light, splendid and passionate, the everyday human life destined to be beyond reach.
The bright moon above was encircled in the ring as Liang Ye stood with hands behind his back, giving Wang Dian a teasing smile.
“Zhen approves.”
A hundred thousand fathoms of mortal tribulations, crossing over an unenlightened obsession.
~Fin~
