To ensure Bing Xu recovered as quickly as possible, Gui Mao did not skimp on food or charcoal. Bing Xu tirelessly pushed the meat dishes toward Gui Mao; after declining twice and losing the battle of wills, Gui Mao gave in and began to feast without further ceremony.
With enough tea and food, and new clothes and bedding to boot, Gui Mao felt a dazed sense that he had truly celebrated the New Year.
"I really don't know who's taking care of whom anymore," Gui Mao said, rubbing his belly and picking his teeth.
Bing Xu had a sturdy constitution. After a few days of idle, comfortable recuperation, he had mostly recovered. Gui Mao’s long-standing habit of waking at the fifth watch was soon utterly ruined. Sometimes he would accidentally sleep until the first crow of the rooster, giving him a sudden, world-weary sense that comfort was eroding his will and the flesh was returning to his thighs.
When the brief holiday ended, normal training had to resume. Seeing that Bing Xu’s complexion had returned to normal, Gui Mao said, "Your injuries are mostly healed, so I won't be adding any more charcoal. I need to go back to my room to take stock of my hidden weapons and daggers. I won't be coming over tonight."
After their interactions over the past few days, Bing Xu could understand much more now. He nodded as if he understood the meaning.
Gui Mao tentatively stepped out of the room. Looking back, he saw that Bing Xu did not try to cling to him by any means necessary as he had at the beginning, but remained seated, quietly watching him.
It seemed the "rearing" had been successful. Gui Mao gave a gratified smile. "Go to sleep."
Bing Xu nodded and lay down obediently.
Now that the Great Trial had passed, the quota for this term was more or less stabilized. The vacancies in Night Walk were not filled by newcomers; at most, peers from other locations were merged in. Since the transfer orders had not yet been arranged, only these dozen or so people participated in the training during this period.
Gui Mao returned to his own room to sleep alone. As usual, he woke up and finished washing before the whistle blew. He spun his dagger to test the feel, relieved that it didn't feel foreign, and then sauntered toward the trial grounds.
Different trial grounds targeted different skills: speed, concealment, endurance, assassination, poison resistance—the variety was immense. Today’s lesson took place in a secret chamber filled with traps, where they had to dodge random stray arrows while striking all the black rats scurrying across the floor. Gui Mao was naturally casual and had a low sensitivity to crisis; dodging hidden arrows was his primary weakness. Fortunately, his eyesight was excellent, and his accuracy with flying daggers was the most stable of his term. Although he inevitably sustained some injuries, he was the first to complete the task and exit the chamber.
With arrows stuck in his buttocks and knees, Gui Mao stepped out of the trial grounds and took a deep breath: *I survived today too!*
Then he wondered: *Can that idiot survive?*
Gui Mao knew nothing about him—his strengths or his weaknesses—so he couldn't judge whether today’s lesson would be easy for him. Gui Mao looked back at the closed stone doors for a moment, then thought, *Forget it, let him be. Worrying is useless.*
Gui Mao limped back to the living quarters with the arrows still embedded in him. From a distance, he heard the clashing of metal. Since no one should have returned yet, why would anyone be fighting here? Stepping over the threshold of the main courtyard, Gui Mao saw two parties in a standoff. On one side were three seniors wearing the high-level disciple uniforms of Night Walk, with Crescent Moon waist plates hanging from their belts. On the other side was Bing Xu, bare-handed. He had shed the dull, foolish look he wore around Gui Mao; his eyes were bloodshot, and he seemed possessed by killing intent.
Both sides were radiating hostility, in the midst of a lethal struggle. Gui Mao walked into the center of the field as if nothing were wrong and asked, bewildered, "What are you all playing at?"
The moment Bing Xu heard his voice, his whole body jolted. He rushed over, grabbed Gui Mao, and shoved him behind his back, standing firmly in front to shield him.
Gui Mao looked at the three seniors. They didn't look like they were there to pick a fight, which made it even more confusing. He patted Bing Xu’s shoulder and said, "Don't be impulsive. Let me ask."
One senior looked at Gui Mao’s clothing and asked, "Are you a disciple of this term?"
Gui Mao nodded. "Has my colleague here offended you seniors?"
The senior’s expression was blank as he said indifferently, "Bing Xu did not attend training today. According to the rules, he must be punished, yet he dares to resist." He paused, his gaze toward Bing Xu as if looking at a lifeless corpse, and added, "Night Walk does not keep those who do not obey orders."
Gui Mao was stunned. He pulled at Bing Xu and frowned. "You didn't go to the trial grounds this morning?"
Bing Xu tilted his head and thought for a while, then asked in confusion, "Trial grounds?"
Gui Mao thought to himself: *It's over. He doesn't remember the trials at all.* He had no choice but to negotiate with the senior. "There might be a misunderstanding. Is it still in time to accept the punishment now?"
The senior looked at the shadows of the trees on the ground. "Indeed, the hour has not yet passed."
Gui Mao knew it would be a flogging. When he first arrived years ago, he couldn't wake up that early and had been whipped many times. Taking the chance to make amends, he quickly dragged a long bench into the courtyard and said to Bing Xu, "Get on and lie down."
Hearing this, Bing Xu obediently lay face down on the bench.
The seniors looked at each other. The person who had just refused to be punished at any cost, fighting tooth and nail when they tried to drag him out of his room, had suddenly become obedient. It was quite strange.
Though they were suspicious, the rules could not be discarded. The senior administering the punishment took a long whip soaked in brine. Just as the first lash fell, Bing Xu suddenly reached back and caught the whip. He flipped off the bench and yanked it, ready to fight again.
Gui Mao hurried to stop him. "Bing Xu! Don't fight!"
Bing Xu froze.
"It seems he is unwilling to be punished." The senior sneered, let go of the whip, and drew a poisoned blade from his sleeve.
Gui Mao quickly snatched the whip from Bing Xu’s hand and offered a sycophantic smile. "How could that be? I just didn't want to tire you out, Senior. I'll do it myself. You gentlemen please rest." With his heart in his throat, he pressed Bing Xu down onto the bench and hissed through gritted teeth, "Don't move! Lie there obediently for me!"
Gui Mao didn't wait for the senior to react before landing a lash. He suddenly had a good idea: he could have struck Bing Xu’s pressure points before the punishment so the idiot wouldn't act up again. But after that first lash, Bing Xu didn't resist as he had before; he truly lay there, motionless and obedient.
Gui Mao was dazed for a moment, but calculating the time, he knew Bing Xu’s life would be forfeit if the punishment wasn't finished. He had to harden his heart and continue the whipping.
The thirty lashes were finished quickly. Even though his skin was torn and his flesh was mangled, Bing Xu never moved again from start to finish. Gui Mao stuffed the whip back into the senior’s hand with another round of apologies and quickly saw them out of the courtyard.
He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. *At least his life was saved.*
Looking back, Bing Xu was still lying on the bench in the same position.
Gui Mao asked nervously, "Bing Xu?" *He didn't die, did he?*
Bing Xu gave a weak response: "Mm." He still didn't move.
"Alright, alright, it's over. You can move now," Gui Mao said hurriedly.
As if granted a great amnesty, Bing Xu no longer had the strength to hold himself up. His grip loosened, and he tumbled from the bench to the ground.
Seeing him fall onto his wounds, Gui Mao’s heart skipped a beat. He carefully helped him up, and seeing that the wounds which had just healed were now torn open and gruesome, he hurriedly carried him back to the room and placed him on the bed. While applying medicine, Gui Mao thought about the scene just now. Bing Xu had been able to hold his own against three seniors bare-handed; his strength was truly staggering. Yet when the seniors wanted to punish him, he refused, but when Gui Mao hit him, he took it obediently...
As he was lost in thought, he heard Bing Xu’s weak voice: "Gui Mao... you're hurt..."
Gui Mao belatedly remembered that he still had several inconsequential arrows stuck in him. He pulled them out and tossed them aside, but his heart stirred. "At a time like this, you're still worried about me?"
Seeing blood flowing from the wound on Gui Mao’s knee, Bing Xu didn't even think before scraping some herbal paste from his own wounds and smearing it onto Gui Mao’s.
Gui Mao was amused. "We're not short on medicine. I can do it myself. Don't make a mess."
Bing Xu: "Oh."
While bandaging, Gui Mao considered how to ask what he was wondering. Should he ask "Do you know why you were hit," or "I hit you, don't you hate me," or "Why didn't you fight back when I hit you"...
Because his mind was occupied, he wasn't as talkative as usual. Although Bing Xu almost never spoke, he also sensed the atmosphere was different from usual and asked cautiously, "Gui Mao, are you angry?"
Gui Mao was stunned. *I wasn't the one who got beaten; how is it my turn to be angry?*
Bing Xu asked again, "Did I... do something wrong?" He buried his face in the pillow, his voice muffled as he apologized timidly, "I'm sorry..."
Gui Mao’s heart felt complicated. "I was the one who hit you. Why are you apologizing to me?"
Bing Xu said, "I did something wrong. It's only right that you hit me."
Gui Mao sighed in his heart, thinking: *You don't even know if you were wrong, so why are you so certain?*
He stroked Bing Xu’s head. Looking at his fragile and helpless appearance, he felt a pang of pity and asked, "Bing Xu, why do you trust me so much?"
*You and I are clearly not close at all.*
*I didn't even know you didn't live in the same room as me, I've barely said a few words to you, and I didn't even remember your name.*
*And you.*
*Why do you always sit alone outside my door all night? Why do you treasure the cane sugar I casually stuffed into your hand? Why are you afraid of me being angry? Why don't you question me? Why do you resist everyone else, yet treat my orders as precious treasures?*
*You've forgotten everything. Why do you only remember me?*
Hearing this, Bing Xu asked blankly, "Otherwise?"
His trust was so natural, like an instinct seeping from his bones.
Gui Mao, usually glib and silver-tongued, found himself unable to refute.
Gui Mao felt a sense of panic in his heart, not daring to look too deeply into the reasons behind those words, this person, or this trust. He was a heartless person; how could he possibly understand someone so diametrically opposed to himself?
He could only say helplessly, "Forget it. From now on, I'll sleep in this room. I'll call you to go to the trials together in the morning. That way, you shouldn't miss them again."
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
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夜行 | Night Walk | The name of the secret organization/sect.
癸卯 | Gui Mao | The protagonist's name (based on the sexagenary cycle).
丙戌 | Bing Xu | The male lead's name (based on the sexagenary cycle).
残月腰牌 | Crescent Moon Waist Plate | A token indicating rank within Night Walk.
试炼场 | Trial Grounds | The training and testing area for the disciples.
鞭刑 | Flogging | A common physical punishment in the organization.
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