Su Yi got a shock. Stunned, he raised his head and said: “Wanyan, what has gotten into you?” Before his voice had even faded, Wanyan Xu had grabbed him into his embrace and was continually planting kisses all over his face. His eyes were lit up from within and were flashing with excitement. In a loud voice he cried out: “Su Su did you hear that? The rabbit’s broken leg has lengthened, the broken leg lengthened.”
“Yes, I did hear that.” Su Yi was feeling puzzled; his lover had always been fond of hunting and had never been partial to small animals, it was exceeding strange that he would get this excited over a poor little rabbit. With a start, Su Yi suddenly came to a realisation and he looked straight at Wanyan Xu and said: “You... you are saying... the rabbit’s broken leg...” Even he, the one who was never expressive when receiving honour or disgrace, could not help a tidal wave from surging up in his heart at this news. If he wasn’t for the fact that he was already in Wanyan Xu’s embrace, he could not say if he would still be able to stand up.
“That’s right, Su Su” Wanyan Xu looked back at him joyously, by the light of the sun, Su Yi could see that his eyes had become overlaid by a layer of watery mist. At this news, this dictatorial man whose status was second to none was actually choking up with emotion at this moment and he said: “Su Su, your leg... your leg... at last... k eke, at such a happy moment, why do I [1]... why instead... aii, let’s not speak of that, let’s go to Xia Er’s place to take a look instead.” Although he said but a few simple lines, Su Yi well understood that encompassed within them were profound hopes and deep feelings.
In the past ten or so days, Wanyan Xu had put his heart and soul into taking care of him. Even when it came to mundane tasks like pouring out his tea, delivering water for his washing up, wiping his body or feeding him medicine he refused to have other people attend to Su Yi. At night, he would lie down by Su Yi's side, watching over him as he fell asleep. Su Yi had lost count of how many times he had awoken from his dreams to see that a pair of deep eyes --- full of sorrow and remorse --- was looking fixedly upon his broken leg in a gently and loving manner. Every time this happened, he would quickly close his own eyes and feign sleep, because he knew that Wanyan Xu would not wish for Si Yi to see him looking so helpless. Su Yi understood that this broken leg had become a painful burden that his lover will have to carry for the rest of their lives. As long as Su Yi still appeared in front of him, that guilt will never vanish and that bleeding wound in his heart would never be able to heal. He did not wish for Wanyan Xu to be like this but at the same time he also fully understood that he could do nothing about it. When faced with that leg, the power of words would pale in comparison and all of his attempts to persuade Wanyan Xu that he should not blame himself would fail.
But now, to think that they actually heard such an unexpected piece of news, perhaps there was a chance that the last dark cloud that between him and Wanyan Xu could finally be fully dissipated, so that there will be no traces of it left in their lives. How could this not make Su Yi almost delirious with joy? Their eyes met, and they both shared a laugh. Without the need for any more words, both of them were confident that the other knew what they were thinking. Wanyan Xu lovingly planted a smooch on his lips, before saying softly: “Let’s go to Xia Er’s place right now.”
“Hey... wait... wait for me.” Wanyan Shuo lagged behind them, panting hard and out of breath. That atrocious Imperial Father, he had actually employed his Qinggong [2] for maximum speed. Humph humph, he treated Mother Empress so well but he did not even have a word of thanks for himself, who had come all the way to disclose this information to them. As he was complaining, he was stepping out of the plum tree grove. By this time, the two people had gone so far that they appeared to be a mere black speck on the horizon. He pursed his lips in disgruntlement, and decided that he might as well give up on chasing after them. As he rested to even out his breathing, out of the corner of his eye he saw a figure flash past, when he took a closer look, he found that it was none other than Zi Yan.
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