105 You Win

A night wind lifted the pale gold bed curtains, faintly revealing the figure lying still upon the bed. His dark green eyes were closed, his handsome face showing not the slightest trace of emotion. A strange fragrance filled the room. When North Palace Qiyi stepped into the Singing Pavilion, he drew in the scent and slowly curved his lips into a smile.

He took off his outer robe and handed it to a maid beside him, then said softly, "All of you, leave."

The door closed gently. North Palace Qiyi did not immediately approach the inner chamber. Instead, he extinguished the lamps one by one, and only then did he walk in with light steps.

The fragrance inside was even stronger. He shut the window, went to the bedside, and slowly drew back the curtains. North Palace Juechen lay there in silence, breathing evenly, as though sunk into deep sleep. And indeed, he was asleep.

Taking off his shoes, Qiyi climbed onto the bed and gently gathered the man into his arms. "Big Brother, when you wake up, you'll remember everything..." He stroked the man's cheek tenderly, smiling as he whispered, "This time, it will count as me helping you remember, Big Brother..."

Snow had begun to fall outside without anyone noticing. Qiyi lowered his gaze, looking lovingly at the man asleep in his arms. Of all the lamps in the room, only the two by the bed still burned; the rest had been extinguished by his hand. In the warm candlelight, the man's blade-carved profile shone with a faint luster. Qiyi could not help leaning down to brush a soft kiss against his forehead. "Big Brother, we share one heart and one life. So what if we are not bound by blood? We will never be separated. Never..."

A faint crease slowly formed on North Palace Juechen's smooth forehead. In his dream, everything that had once happened in reality played out one by one. He was both the protagonist and the observer. In his ears, a single sentence kept echoing: Big Brother, you cannot leave me...

"Big Brother, you cannot leave me..."

North Palace Juechen suddenly opened his eyes. The room was dim, the light not at all harsh. A hand was wrapped around his waist; without even looking, he knew whose it was. He closed his eyes briefly. All the memories that had been deliberately hidden from him had now returned, but...

To him, those things no longer mattered. He did not care what North Palace Qiyi had once been like, because... He turned his head slightly and looked at the youth asleep against his shoulder. Step by step, with painstaking calculation, he had wanted nothing more than to drag him into this as well. Juechen's gaze dropped to the other hand the youth rested over his abdomen. He remembered it: in that pale, slender palm, there had once been the scar of a broken hand. North Palace Juechen turned back with a low laugh. "Congratulations. You succeeded."

"Big Brother..." The black eyes that opened were still hazy with sleep. North Palace Qiyi looked at North Palace Juechen and smiled. "Big Brother really has woken up." Under the faint candlelight, the youth's smile was pure and clear, as though it were something North Palace Juechen had not seen in many years.

"North Palace Qiyi, you win." North Palace Juechen said in a low voice. "You timed it so that I would fall for you, then made me recover my memories. What you did, though it seemed like hurting me, was really just a way to let me see how twisted your possessiveness was. Because you love me too much, right?"

Perhaps he had not yet reacted to North Palace Juechen's unusually gentle tone. Qiyi blinked dazedly, and after a moment, the meaning of his words finally sank in. One smile after another rushed to his face. Qiyi buried his face in the man's shoulder, laughing so hard his whole body shook.

North Palace Juechen watched him in silence. After a few seconds, Qiyi lifted his head and said joyfully, "I'm not a god. How could I possibly plan everything so perfectly? I only knew I couldn't keep hiding it much longer. Sooner or later, they would find a way to make you remember. I couldn't bear to be the one to force you to recall it, so I left behind clues. I only wanted you not to hate me too much. I never thought..."

He clambered over North Palace Juechen, his black eyes shining with a brilliance that seemed brighter than the cold stars in the sky. "Did Big Brother just say you like me? You said you like me, didn't you?"

The youth's smile was too radiant, almost childlike. Only then did North Palace Juechen remember that he was still not even seventeen. He wanted to reach out and pat Qiyi's back, but his whole body felt weak and limp. A faint curve formed at the corner of his mouth. North Palace Juechen said with a soft smile, "I did say it."

"If I'd known it would be like this, I should have made Big Brother remember sooner!" Qiyi said with a wide grin. He curled himself entirely into North Palace Juechen's arms. Juechen closed his eyes and smiled faintly. "How are the injuries from a few days ago?"

Lying in North Palace Juechen's arms, Qiyi smiled with perfect satisfaction. "They're long healed. Has Big Brother seen Jiang Yanxi?" North Palace Juechen gave a mild "mm" and said indifferently, "Your skill has improved quite a bit. Where have you been these past few days?"

"I have to thank Big Brother for raising me so carefully, which is why I've improved this quickly," Qiyi said, toying with a strand of the man's hair with a soft laugh. Then his lips puckered in a trace of grievance. "You ignored me for several days, so I didn't want to keep getting in Big Brother's way... so I ran away from home."

Ran away from home... North Palace Juechen snorted softly and did not ask further. Too many things had returned to his mind all at once, and coupled with the weakness throughout his body, he had only just awakened, yet sleepiness was already returning. "It's late. Sleep."

Qiyi obediently nodded. "Mm. Big Brother, your body will be better in a few days. Good night."

He casually answered with a quiet "mm," and North Palace Juechen, eyes closed, soon fell back into sleep. But Qiyi had no desire to sleep at all. His heart was brimming with exhilaration. He had waited so many years, and yet he had never imagined that at the moment he least expected it, North Palace Juechen would tell him he liked him.

He had done so much, all for those two words, and now they felt almost unreal. His arms around the man's waist tightened unconsciously. Qiyi lowered his head and carefully kissed North Palace Juechen's lips, smiling like a cat that had stolen a fish. "Big Brother, I love you," he whispered.

Outside, the snow fell harder and harder. Qiyi turned to look at the candle burning by the bed. Suddenly, his black eyes flickered. He gently loosened the hand around the man, then slipped out of bed and quietly fetched a pair of scissors from the desk. He lifted the lampshade and snipped a piece off the wick.

In a previous life, Qiyi had once watched a television drama in which a concubine said that the red candle in a bridal chamber should burn until dawn, symbolizing a lifetime together, so she cut a little from the wick to make it burn more brightly. Back then he had sneered at such sentimentality, dismissing it entirely. Yet now he, too, hoped that he and Big Brother could grow old without parting.

"When shall we ever again sit together and trim the candle by the western window, speaking of the night rains in Bashan? Though there is no rain tonight, there is snow; it is not altogether unfitting." After saying this, Qiyi also felt that he was being far too girlish and could not help laughing softly. "I've truly gone mad..."

The night passed without dreams.

When North Palace Qiyi opened his eyes the next day, the sky was already bright. He tilted his head to look at North Palace Juechen beside him. The man's eyes were still closed. Seeming to feel Qiyi's gaze, Juechen slowly opened his eyes. "Awake."

Qiyi rubbed against him in the man's arms and gave a slightly muddled reply. "Big Brother woke up so early."

"You woke too late," North Palace Juechen said lightly. "Help me up."

Mumbling an assent, Qiyi curled back into the bedding again. He had been far too excited the night before and had watched the red candle burn down until dawn before finally falling asleep.

Seeing his half-dreaming state, North Palace Juechen could not help frowning. He had lain in bed for nearly a full day and truly did not want to keep lying there. "Come here," he called.

Unexpectedly, in the next instant, North Palace Qiyi sprang up from the bed. His sleepiness had not yet fully dispersed, but he still spoke first. "No need. All of you, leave."

The footsteps approaching from the doorway paused, then gradually receded. Qiyi rubbed his face and said vaguely, "Why is Big Brother in such a hurry?"

North Palace Juechen could not be bothered to answer. He merely gave him a cold, regal sidelong glance. "Help me sit up."

Qiyi lifted the bed curtains and glanced out the window. His eyes lit up. "Big Brother, it snowed all night last night. Why don't we go out and look at the scenery?"

"Whatever you like." Looking at the snow scenery did not seem like a bad idea, North Palace Juechen thought.

The snow in the courtyard had been cleared, but in the distance everything was still blanketed in white. Qiyi spread a thick quilt over the rocking chair, helped the man onto it, then pulled up a small stool and sat beside him. "What a pity you have no strength right now, Big Brother. Otherwise we could have had a snowball fight..."

Seeing the regret on his face, North Palace Juechen could not help a snort of laughter. "Even if I were full of strength now, I still wouldn't play a snowball fight with you."

Qiyi pouted, then suddenly sprang up into a nearby tree and formed a snowball before hurling it at North Palace Juechen.

Juechen could not avoid it and was hit squarely. Qiyi sat back down on the small stool beside him, blinking his black eyes with an expression of pure innocence at North Palace Juechen. Those dark green eyes narrowed slightly, and Juechen simply ignored him, turning his head to look at the snowy scene in the distance.

"Big Brother, this is this year's first snow. Next time it snows, let's make a snowman together," Qiyi said with a smile.

North Palace Juechen did not look at him, only gazed ahead with a calm expression. Though he did not answer, Qiyi did not look disappointed at all. "If Big Brother..."

"All right."

Just as Qiyi was thinking of what new suggestion to make, North Palace Juechen interrupted him.

"Huh?" Qiyi froze, then understood what the man meant. He broke into a grin, his eyes crinkling. "Big Brother agreed, so it's settled. Next time it snows, we'll make a snowman together. Pinky promise."

A long, slender little finger swayed before his eyes. North Palace Juechen's face broke into a helpless smile. Laughing happily, the youth slipped his hand beneath the blanket covering the man and precisely found his little finger to hook it.

Author's note: Ahhh, things are getting sweet now~~~