Chapter 201: Chapter 201: Sharing a Quilt and Pillow

The moonlight stretched their shadows long.

"Is there anything you want to ask me?"

Liang Wan stood still and tilted her face up, her eyes glistening and bright.

Lu Xiu sighed to himself and pulled her into his arms. Tilting up her chin, he captured her soft, cherry-red lips in a kiss that was fierce, deep, and utterly possessive.

’She’d traveled so far, braving so many hardships just to find him. What was there left to ask?’

’Besides, he’d never cared about any of that.’

’Rationality, restraint—to hell with it all! All he knew was that he thirsted for her, and the thirst was agonizing.’

He was a desert, long parched, suddenly met with a deluge of sweet rain. He could think of no other way to save the scorched land but to absorb its freshness with all his might.

And yet, the harder and deeper he kissed her, the more his reawakened desire became an insatiable abyss.

Onlookers could only see them clinging to each other on the pitch-black, empty street. They could not see the spark hidden deep inside—a seed of fire planted at some unknown time, just waiting for the right moment. On this silent, lonely night, it was ready to erupt into an inferno that would scorch the very heavens and earth.

He gave her no chance to breathe, winding himself around her relentlessly. He wished he could devour the culprit who had stirred this wanton desire within him, swallow her whole and be done with it.

His fire finally ignited her, and Liang Wan’s body went limp, trembling as she began to slide down his frame.

All she could do was throw her arms around his neck and cling to him for support.

He tightened his arms, holding her up.

A vine to entwine, a reed to lean on.

’Lu Xiu must want to eat me whole,’ she thought. Even in their most passionate entanglements before, he had always been restrained and in control. But now, with just a single kiss, she glimpsed the molten lava churning beneath his long-maintained composure, desperate to erupt. She feared it would burn her away completely, flesh and bone.

Liang Wan was breathless, her mind spinning dizzily.

’So be it if he devours me,’ she thought. ’I want to devour him, too.’

A figure approached in a hurry, drawing closer from a distance.

When the person saw the scene before them, they froze on the spot, their face instantly flushing a burning hot red. It would be improper to interrupt, but impossible to pretend they hadn’t seen anything. For a moment, they were caught in a dilemma.

But—

’I really have urgent business!’

The sound of footsteps startled the inseparable pair.

Liang Wan was the first to push him away. She turned her back, face and ears burning, her breathing ragged and her stance unsteady.

Lu Xiu glanced at the glistening tears in her eyes, then steadied her with a hand on her waist, positioning himself to partly shield her from view.

The man stood as stiff as a piece of dry timber, not knowing where to look. His voice was just as wooden. "G-Great General."

Lu Xiu’s demeanor had already turned cold, his expression back to normal. "What is it?"

The man simply lowered his head and said in a rush, "The generals have military matters to discuss. They request your presence in the command tent."

"Alright," Lu Xiu answered. "Let’s go back."

Lu Xiu wasn’t staying in a comfortable courtyard within the city. Instead, like his soldiers, he lived in a simple tent, ready for orders at a moment’s notice.

The command tent was not far from his living quarters.

The soldier escorted her to the quarters, then left.

Outside the tent, in addition to the guards, a brazier burned brightly.

Liang Wan entered alone.

A small table, a screen, a daybed—all of them were old. There were no other furnishings. One glance took in everything.

She knew he ate and lived alongside his men, but she had never imagined his accommodations would be so simple as to be called spartan.

It was hard to imagine how that man of silken sashes and light furs, of fine brocades and embroidered robes, could sleep in a place like this. It seemed only a little better than the stone slab in that cave.

The Great General’s suit of armor was no longer bright and dazzling. It bore obvious marks of mending, from which she could guess where he had been wounded. And perhaps, there were places it hadn’t been able to protect at all.

Liang Wan’s fingers gently traced over the mended areas, as if she were caressing every scar on his body—not cold and lifeless, but living flesh and blood.

The firewood in the brazier crackled, and the water in a copper kettle was boiling.

Using a cloth to protect her hands, Liang Wan moved it aside, then sat down at the small table. The book he read before bed lay beside her. She picked it up and flipped through a few pages, feeling as if the traces of his touch still lingered on them.

Sitting on the same cushion he sat on, reading the same book he read, it was as if she were living a moment of his nightly routine.

Liang Wan looked down at the Pouch at her waist and sighed softly. All they had was these three days.

’Theirs was a truly ill-fated love.’

Her gaze lowered, and she drifted off in thought.

"My Lady."

Someone entered the tent, holding a Jade Plate. It was Gu Yu.

It was only after arriving in Pingzhou City that Liang Wan had learned that Guan Song and Gu Yu had been secretly following and protecting her the whole way.

"The General saw that you barely touched your dinner. He assumed you weren’t accustomed to the food and had me prepare some soup for you."

Gu Yu explained, setting down a small tureen.

She lifted the lid. White steam billowed out, revealing a thick matsutake chicken soup.

Such an ordinary tureen of soup was a true rarity in Pingzhou City right now.

For dinner, she had eaten wild vegetable soup with everyone else.

She had eaten her share of wild vegetables in her past life. It wasn’t that she was unaccustomed to them; she simply had no appetite.

With so many soldiers in the city, the grain they had brought would not last long.

Liang Wan put down the book and replaced the lid on the tureen. "Leave it for the General."

Gu Yu knew her mistress’s temperament, so she did not insist, saying only, "The General will be back late. He wants you to rest first, My Lady."

Liang Wan nodded. She truly hadn’t slept well for many days; it was time to get some proper rest.

After Gu Yu helped her wash up, she climbed onto the daybed, barefoot and clad only in her inner robes.

She didn’t need to press it with her hand to feel that it was nowhere near as soft as the mattress in her bedchamber at the South Garden. It was hard and stiff. The feeling wasn’t unfamiliar; she had slept on straw mats before.

Liang Wan lay down, pulling the thin cloth quilt over her body. Images flashed through her mind—from her past life, and from this one. Many faces appeared, but in the end, they all gradually faded, leaving only one.

The surroundings were so quiet that the only sound was the burning firewood. Liang Wan’s eyelids grew heavy, and she could no longer keep them open.

Liang Wan didn’t know when Lu Xiu returned. She only knew that she rolled over and pressed up against a human wall. The fire still burned in the tent, chasing away the darkness. She could see his face if she opened her eyes, but she didn’t need to. His scent had accompanied her through countless pitch-black nights; she knew it was him without looking.

He had only to lift his arm for her to instinctively burrow into his embrace. A solid chest, a powerful heartbeat, the scent of cool pine... all of it, together, was Lu Xiu.

With her eyes closed, Liang Wan reached a hand around his waist to feel for the edge of the bed. She tugged him inward slightly and mumbled, "The bed is narrow. Don’t fall off."

Lu Xiu propped his head up, a smile playing on his lips as he gazed down at the woman curled in his arms. He couldn’t help but reach out and stroke her face; it was still so fair and smooth.

At his touch, her eyelashes trembled like the wings of a butterfly, sending a strange tremor through his own heart.

In the beginning, she would often whimper in her sleep, murmuring sad, desperate, nonsensical things that kept him from sleeping well. That had gradually improved. But when he entered moments ago, he never would have imagined that she could sleep so soundly and peacefully in such a spartan tent.

Now, all he wanted was to look at her, just like this.

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