I stayed alone in my tent. I returned to the bed and put away the products I had used to treat Meng Yao's face.

I was shocked by what I had just learned. I had always wanted to protect him since our first meeting in YunShen Buzhi, but I had failed! I was as guilty as MingJue! I had also pushed him into the role of a spy! I thought he was smart and cunning, resourceful... I knew that his mother was a prostitute and that he had grown up in a house of pleasure. How was it possible that I didn't see anything during all these years!

Those men ... with the marks on his body, they must not have been kind to him! He said he was ashamed, but he did it anyway! Did the end really justify the means? What reassured me was that now that his cover had been blown, he wouldn't have to trade his body for information!

I realized that I was also a little jealous. I had to admit that I had tender feelings for him. I had become aware of it recently. One month ago to be precise, when he had told me that he felt in danger and that he had refused to go back with me! I had always considered him a friend. I appreciated everything about him, his intelligence, his humor, his sweetness!

We called each other brother! And since Wangji's death, he had really become one. I relied on him. He had helped me to regain my footing and to continue living. How many times had he hugged me while I mourned my beloved brother!

These feelings that I had for him were born gradually and now they were imposed on me. But I didn't have the courage to live them and admit them to him.

As I had told Wei Wuxian, our world did not tolerate this kind of relationship. Just the thought of what might happen to him if it became known how he got his information made me shiver with fear. I had to protect him! But first, I had to clear up the misunderstanding with him on which we had parted.

I came out of my tent, everyone seemed to be in an uproar! What was going on? Had MingJue given the order to break camp? We had talked about it before our night mission! I wondered if our guests were awake. I walked toward the tent they were occupying.

The guards had been relieved according to my orders. I knocked on the doorpost. I got no answer. I decided to enter. The candles had almost all been extinguished. Only the ones on my work table continued to diffuse their light, illuminating in a diffuse way the bed on which 2 bodies were embraced.

Wei Wuxian was holding Wangji's hand close to his heart. His face was nestled in my brother's neck and we could see the traces of two tear drops on his cheeks. I could imagine how he must have felt when he thought he lost... his husband! This notion that I had difficulty accepting seemed obvious to me when I looked at them together. Wangji's face looked so serene!

Again, I was assailed by doubt. Did my brother and Wei Wuxian also have such feelings, but could never express them? Everything led me to believe so. Their agreement, the fact that Wangji was only interested in him but not in his wife! This obstinacy that he had had in the first years to want to believe that Wei Wuxian was manipulated by Wen Ruohan in one way or another! And this way they had died ... together by the weapon of the other!

In the last weeks before his death, Wangji was desperate, no one noticed it but me! His jade face had always concealed his deepest feelings. His emotions could only be deciphered by the imperceptible movements of his eyes. It took me a lifetime to learn to read him!

Wei Wuxian moved and opened his eyes. He kissed the hand he was holding and the lips of the sleeping beauty beside him. He only noticed my presence at that moment.

"Xichen-xiong, I didn't hear you come in.

"I just noticed that," I smiled at him.

I approached the bed and leaned over the injured man. His forehead was cool.

"His fever is gone. Perhaps we should re-dress him, what do you say, Wuxian?

He turned to the door and frowned.

"What's going on outside?"

"I think MingJue gave the order to break camp and go to the Impure Domain. We'll be safer there!"

"What about Lan Zhan and me?"

"Come with us, I'll get a car ready to stretch out for the trip."

"How long will it take to get to Qinghe?"

"We have about two days' drive. Do you think he will be able to bear it?".

"I already told Song Chang yesterday, he is stronger than he looks. That's what always amazed me about him. From his appearance, you would think he is fragile, especially when you see how thin his arms are. But he is endowed with extraordinary strength and I know what I am talking about, I share his bed!"

His last remark made me blush! I noticed a mischievous gleam in his eyes! He had done it on purpose, I was sure! Happy with his last remark, he got up and went to wash his face with a smile on his face!

I went to the table where Song Chang had left his medicine. Wei Wuxian returned with a bowl of clean water and a clean cloth.

"If you don't mind, I'll give him a quick wash before we attend to his injuries.

"Go ahead, do you want me to help you?

"Maybe with the back, but we'll do both at the same time. I'll wash him and we'll redo his dressing. It's best not to move him too frequently.

We then set about washing and dressing Wangji's wounds. Wei Wuxian was very gentle. I wondered about their life.

"How long have you been married?"

"3 years, and before you ask, we have a son!"

I suddenly froze and looked at him without understanding. He started to laugh.

"Xichen-xiong, you are really funny, forgive me, I can't help it.

"We have a son, SiZhui. He is a child I adopted a long time ago. After I supposedly died, Lan Zhan raised him. Since Xichen does not wish to marry and Lan Zhan and I are 2 men, SiZhui was appointed as the heir and future leader of the Lan clan."

"I understand. How did you know that you liked him?" My interlocutor smirked.

"Lan Zhan and I have always been friends. He knew right away that I was his soul mate. For me it took longer. And then we were separated for 16 years! When I came back, I realized that I couldn't live without him, so I decided to take my courage in both hands and tell him how I felt. At that time I didn't know anything about his feelings for me. But I was willing to lose everything to find out if he felt the same way I did. In the end, he was the brave one and he took the first step!"

"Is it hard?"

"What? To admit your feelings? Of course it is! Especially when you don't know how the person in front of you feels!"

"That's not quite what .... I was thinking," my hand hesitated for a moment as I said the words.

Wei Wuxian stopped rubbing the ointment on Wangji's wounds.

"Xichen-xiong, if you have a question, ask it frankly, I will answer it.

"Is it difficult to have a relationship with another man? Here, I had thrown myself into the water! A radiant smile lit up Wei Wuxian's face.

"Xichen-xiong, this type of relationship is not more complicated than with a woman. The rules are the same! The first is to love your partner, the second is to respect him and the third is to be faithful to him!" He paused for a moment and then sighed!

"It sounds like Uncle QiRen when he told us about the duties of the spouses just before the wedding !!!! Pfff!!!" He shook his head from right to left with a sigh.

"Xichen-xiong, you like Meng Yao don't you?"

How could he have guessed? Was I that transparent? Or .... Was the Xichen of his world also in love with Meng Yao? I looked at him and nodded.

"Xichen-xiong, I assume you're referring to... sex?"

"Mnnn!"

"Well, the only difference is ... how to put it ... in the fact that one of the partners must be prepared to receive the other ... in him!"

"In him? ... but how is that possible?"

"Uh, Xichen-xiong, do you really need me to draw you a picture? There are not many orifices in your lower body that can be penetrated by your partner!

"Ohhh!" I understood what he was referring to. I felt the blood rush to my face again.

I was about to ask him another question when there was a knock at the entrance to the tent. I told our visitor to enter. MingJue and Meng Yao appeared. I turned away quickly because I must have been scarlet!

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)