Chapter 36: Bonus Chapter for Five Thousand Reviews

Within the warm pavilion, the only sound remaining was the splashing of koi fighting over fish feed in the pond below.

"First of all," Wen Biesang said, cutting him off, "I have absolutely no need for your forgiveness."

Cheng Yun stood motionless, the facade he had been desperately maintaining crumbling at that very moment.

"Secondly, regarding your bullying of me in the past, my acceptance of it does not mean I have forgiven you. It merely means that since the events have already occurred, I have no choice but to accept all the injustices imposed upon me. This is forced, a last resort, because engaging in a conflict with you over those matters would bring me no benefit whatsoever."

Cheng Yun’s eyelashes flickered, yet he lacked the courage to look at him.

"Lastly, the dreams were your own. You were the one who did the licking; you were the one who played the beast of burden and the little puppy. I chose to believe everything you said, but that does not mean I am obligated to bear responsibility for anything I did not participate in."

Wen Biesang had not originally intended to dwell on these things with him. In his eyes, Gong Chengyun was simply a spoiled man whose grievances in dreams were hardly worth weeping over. But the other man's demands had been so preposterous that he felt compelled to make him see reason.

"You say I am to blame, so I am to blame; you say I am a dream demon, so I am a dream demon. Everything is decided by you." His tone remained calm and slow, yet his words were exceptionally clear. "Do you truly have no idea why you have such dreams?"

"My dreams... it is not as if I choose to have them..."

"Then why are they all about me?" Wen Biesang asked. "Before you started having these dreams, you had truly never seen me, not even a portrait of me..."

"Do you think I am merely lustful?"

Cheng Yun looked at him abruptly. Wen Biesang did not answer, but his expression clearly conveyed that this was exactly what he thought.

Cheng Yun pressed his lips together and said, "Let me ask you: do you have a red birthmark between your legs? It is crescent-shaped and located on the inner thigh."

Wen Biesang paused. "You spied on me while I was bathing."

"How could I have spied on you..." Cheng Yun replied. "That thing is in such a hidden place; even if I had spied on you bathing, I wouldn't have known about it. Did you spread your legs for me to see?"

"Not usually, but perhaps I did when I was relieving myself that time."

"..."

Wen Biesang examined him with clear, untainted eyes.

Cheng Yun cast his gaze toward the fish pond, staring intently for a few seconds before turning back to gaze at Wen Biesang. "That day, you were constantly clenching your legs around my hands; you never opened them."

Wen Biesang was not entirely certain. "But I feel like I did."

"…Fine, let's say you did." Cheng Yun said irritably. "But was there a lamp lit in the tent that day?"

At this, Wen Biesang could find no retort. Both fell silent—or more accurately, Wen Biesang remained silent, and Cheng Yun remained composed.

Then, Wen Biesang suddenly scrutinized him again. "So, in your dreams, I did open my legs for you to see."

"..." Cheng Yun reached up to rub his brow. "Even if you did open your legs for me in a dream, tell me this: if it were truly just me having a wet dream, why would you, in reality, have this same birthmark?"

Wen Biesang could not fathom it.

"Because my dreams..." Cheng Yun looked at him sharply. "You are not allowed to go out and speak of this, do you understand?"

Wen Biesang realized this was a secret and nodded.

"Because my dreams are different from others... They involve real people and things that will truly happen in reality. Do you understand now? Because those are our future..."

Wen Biesang pondered this for a long time. In the silence, a sudden "bang" sounded overhead as fireworks soared into the sky, illuminating the lakeside. It was Qi Song and the others setting off fireworks.

Wen Biesang immediately turned his head to look, saying with a hint of pride, "I made those!"

Cheng Yun’s mind was not on the fireworks, but he still offered a compliment: "They are truly beautiful."

Having finished his moment of pride, Wen Biesang returned to the previous question. After a while, he said, "So, when you dreamed that Pang Qi and Lou Zhao fell into the river, it was because they were so afraid, since you can predict the future."

"Yes..."

Wen Biesang looked at him. "Then, if you treat me so well in your dreams, why must you treat me so badly in reality?"

His gaze carried a note of condemnation, as if that kindness was what should have been his, and the cruelty was merely Cheng Yun deliberately twisting fate. Cheng Yun had stolen the smooth path his life was supposed to take and burdened him with hateful disasters.

Cheng Yun suddenly felt restless again. He could only look at the fireworks blooming in the night sky, gripping his sleeves tightly.

"I am sorry... Wen Biesang..."

"At that time, I did not know you... I simply found it impossible to accept that in the future, I would be with a man... I resented you for entering my dreams to humiliate me. In truth, it was because I could not accept that I would fall in love with a man in the future... and love him in such a way, without any self-respect."

His eyes flickered, and he appeared at a loss. He glanced secretly at Wen Biesang, who remained watching him quietly.

"At that time, I made you the target I had to overthrow. I swore that I would never love you, that I would never become what I was in the dreams. I swore that I would defeat you as if you were a demon... I strove to deny that you were actually a living, breathing person who could weep and feel pain... and that way, I could vent all my dissatisfaction upon you..."

Remorse caused the corners of his eyes to moisten. He lowered his lashes and said, "I know you were once called Zhou Zi, and I know you were stripped of your name... Later, when you said your name was Wen Biesang, I knew that 'Sang' and 'Zi' evoke thoughts of one's hometown and parents. Your parents named you A-Zi, wanting you to remain by their sides... yet you named yourself 'Apart from Sang'... At that time, I vaguely understood that you had a past and a future; you were not the demon I wanted to fight."

"But I ignored it. I thought that no matter what your name was, no matter what kind of past you had, it could not hide the essence that you would humiliate me..."

"You would weep at the slightest touch, as if you were made of water. I willfully painted a negative image of you, thinking you must be good-for-nothing and that your tears were worthless... Later, Zhou Xuan told me you had destroyed six walls of the Prime Minister’s mansion, trying to kill them. He told me to lock you up, saying you were dangerous..."

"So... those scars, they also have a past..."

Wen Biesang lowered his eyes, gazing at his own wrists.

"But I didn't care at all. I thought I didn't care." He looked toward Wen Biesang. "A-Sang, I truly thought I didn't care at all..."

"Until that day, when I mentioned your mother and you struck me while weeping..." His voice trembled. "I thought I didn't care, but after that, I never dared to hurt you again..."

"I struggled against myself, constantly telling myself that I could not fall in love with you, that you would turn me into something neither human nor ghost, that I would lose everything because of you, including my dignity as the Crown Prince..."

"You did intend to kill me that day."

"Do you think I would truly have killed you?"

"Yes." Wen Biesang looked at the traces of moisture in his eyes, unable to comprehend what Cheng Yun was grieving over. "If Chang Xingzhu hadn't arrived in time, I would have been nothing more than bones because of that sword of yours."

Cheng Yun turned his head and let out a soft, dry laugh.

"If I had truly been able to kill you, I would have done it regardless of who arrived. Do you really think a mere Chang Xingzhu could have stopped me?"

Wen Biesang watched his profile. He could see the curve of his lips, but he felt no joy in them.

"You even locked me in a prison."

"If I hadn't locked you up, was I supposed to let Chang Xingzhu, who kept claiming he loved you, take you away?!"

Wen Biesang opened his mouth, once again unable to react for a long moment. Cheng Yun composed himself and said in a low voice, "I am not shouting at you... you know, I am not like this with anyone else."

"Mm," Wen Biesang said. "You are exceptionally kind to the beggars, to Uncle Liao, to Old Sun, to Earl Zhongqin—to everyone except me."

Cheng Yun was stunned. "A-Sang..."

"Human hearts are always biased," Wen Biesang said. "Some injustices are simply meant to be accepted."

Cheng Yun could not help but step forward. "I swear that from now on, no injustice will ever befall you again."

Wen Biesang asked, puzzled, "Why?"

"…I will protect you."

"I will also protect myself."

"I... I mean, I will use my life to protect you."

"I will also use my life to protect myself," Wen Biesang said. "I suggest you do not use your life to protect others. It is better to dedicate one's life to oneself. If you die, so be it, but if you do not die and fail to achieve what you wanted, you will only be filled with resentment."

He spoke with such earnestness that Cheng Yun’s eyes gradually filled with bitterness.

"Wen Biesang, I am telling you that I love you."

Wen Biesang did not look surprised in the slightest. He asked, "Do you want me to go put on a dress now?"

"..." That was not funny at all, but Cheng Yun smiled nonetheless. He lowered his eyes, took Wen Biesang’s hand, and said, "I am saying that I love you, A-Sang. In the end, just as the dreams foretold, I have fallen hopelessly in love with you. Do you understand?"

"I know," Wen Biesang said. "Should I put on a dress?"

"This has nothing to do with a dress," Cheng Yun said with infinite patience. "I liked Sang Zi because 'she' was, at the core, Wen Biesang. Whether you wear a dress or not, you are the person I love. Wen Biesang, what I did in the great hall today... I was sincere. I was not using you as a shield. I love you, and I hope we can be together as the visions foretold. I want to marry you—"

Wen Biesang shoved his hand away forcefully. He took two sharp steps back, his eyes filled with disbelief. "You truly want him to arrange our marriage?"

"…Yes."

"But I do not like you."

"I know, you are just afraid of my Imperial Father..."

"I am indeed afraid of your Imperial Father."

"With the Empress Mother there, he will not dare to hurt you..."

"But I cannot accept marrying you even more."

*Whoosh—Bang!!*

The fireworks in the sky continued to bloom. Cheng Yun gazed at him, his eyes veiled in mist. He lowered his eyes slightly, rubbed his fingers against his clothes, and turned his face toward the fish pond.

"Do not like me," Wen Biesang said. "I do not like you."

"To be precise," Wen Biesang corrected, "I despise you. I despise your face, your voice, and everything about you."

Cheng Yun’s breathing hitched. He stepped forward, leaning his hands against the railing.

"You say there were reasons for your bullying, that it was logical and easier to explain than mere dreams."

"But all that does is highlight your arrogance, your self-importance, and your tyranny. Every disaster that befell me only made me realize clearly that there are people in this world as lucky as you—lucky enough to act without restraint."