Chapter 312 Side Story—the Pain of Duanmu Gongyu of the Country of Mu Xia
Duanmu Gongyu was caught unguarded and slapped on the face. He furrowed his handsome eyebrows and grabbed the hand that beat him, and said in an icy tone, “If you can never make it back, you must go nowhere else but stay with me…” What he did not speak out was that even if she were to marry someone, it had to be him.

Yun Muxi disregarded Duanmu Gongyu’s anger and got rid of his grip and went out of the door in a fit of pique.

She neither knew where to go at this dark night nor dared to go about in this unfamiliar mansion. Less much dared she go out the mansion, so, she just sat down on the footstep, sulky.

“Damn Duanmu Gongyu. How could he be so rude to kiss me without my permission? He is such an arrogant, domineering, abominable bastard. He knew nothing but bullying me…” Having received good family education since a child, Yun Muxi always behaved as a lady. At the moment, though in extreme anger, she did not know how to curse but scolded Duanmu Gongyu in a low voice.

Opening the door of his room, Duanmu Gongyu saw Yun Muxi sitting on the footsteps. Arms around her knees and lowering her head, the girl seemed to murmur against him.

Though Yun Muxi’s voice was rather low, Duanmu Gongyu, a man with sharp ears who had practiced martial arts since a child, caught the words.

He realized she was angry at him, but he was not a man that knew how to comfort girls. He took off his outerwear and put it on her and said in a gentle voice, “Go back into room. It’s getting cold outside. However angry you are, let’s talk inside the room.”

The air was indeed chilling outside. Yun Muxi thought she would rather stay in the word she came from, where it was in summer and warm. In this word, in early spring, it was cold in the morning and night.

At the moment, Yun Muxi felt cold inside out because she had been outside for a while.

Though she was still in anger, she did not want to catch a cold, so, she followed Duanmu Gongyu into the room awkwardly. She did not want to talk to Duanmu Gongyu and chose to sit alone by the table.

Duanmu Gongyu, however, did not mind her cold attitude. He talked to her deliberately. “It’s getting late, let’s go to sleep.”

Yun Muxi did not answer him or move her body. After sitting alone for a long while, she suddenly stood up and came up to an cabinet in the room. From inside, she found a set of reserved bedding and laid it on a couch. After that, she lay inside the quilt without taking off her clothes.

The couch was, in fact, very large that Yun Muxi, a girl of 165 cm, felt not cramped lying on it at all.

Duanmu Gongyu was amused by Yun Muxi’s childlike behaviors. He found the old saying quite true that it was hard to please a woman or child. He was surprised that Yun Muxi, a gentle woman, would have such a stubborn side. After taking off his robes, he walked to the couch in underclothes and crawled into under Yun Muxi’s quilt.

Yun Muxi was startled by his action and shouted at him. “What are you doing? Get out! Can’t you sleep on your own bed?”

Duanmu Gongyu replied in a boyish tone, “Where you sleep, I’ll follow.”

Yun Muxi tried to push Duanmu Gongyu away, but he was too heavy for her to move.

The couch, which was spacious for Yun Muxi, however, was cramped for Duanmu Gongyu, who had a height about 185 cm and thus had to curl up on it. Besides, with Yun Muxi lying on it, the space for Duanmu Gongyu was really little, and it did make him feel overcrowded and uncomfortable.

Finding that she could not push Duanmu Gongyu away, Yun Muxi got up and stepped over Duanmu Gongyu to the floor. She then walked to the bed, set the quilt, and lay down under it.

Unexpectedly, Duanmu Gongyu got out of the couch and crawled into Yun Muxi’s quilt again.

Yun Muxi got out of the bed and lay on the couch once more. However, Duanmu Gongyu followed suit.

Like two children who were angry at each other, they battled another several rounds.

At last, Yun Muxi could not bear it anymore. She sat up from the bed and shouted at Duanmu Gongyu in a huff. “How could you be so rascal, Duanmu Gongyu? Are you a rogue?”

Duanmu Gongyu replied in a tone of grievance. “I just want to sleep together with you.”

He was such a good “actor” that the pathetic expression of being wronged on his face made Yun Muxi not bear to vent her anger on him.

Nevertheless, she still pulled a long face. “I thought I’ve made it clear that it’s not proper for the two of us to share a bed. How could you, a grown-up man, not understand it?”

Duanmu Gongyu did not take Yun Muxi’s anger seriously, and instead, there was inconspicuous dark gleam in his phoenix eyes. “I led a happy life when I was a child. My father, mother, big brother, second elder brother and I had a happy life loving each other.

“However, when I was five, my father married another two concubines, and since then, he no longer favored my mother and treated my brothers and me not as well as before. Seeing that my mother was disfavored, Concubine Han and Concubine Rong that were newly accepted into our family bullied my mother in secret and sowed dissension between her and my father. However, my father turned a blind eye to all of this. “Thus, the two concubines went even further to bully my mother.

“My mother’s heart turned frigid at my father’s change of his heart and the harassment from the two concubines. She cried a lot and was depressed. Later, she got seriously ill and her situation turned increasingly worse. She eventually died of illness when I was ten.

“After my mother passed away, my father became even testier. He was so strict with us that he would punish us once we displeased him. We did have a hard time without mother’s protection.

“Later, my father married another concubines, bringing the whole family into even fiercer overt contention and covert struggle. Concubine Han and Concubine Rong thereafter turned into dead enemies. They had no son to rely on but daughters, so, they targeted us three brothers.

“At first, they tried to buy me over so as to make me their adopted son because I was the most talented one among us three brothers and got the favor of my father. But I disdained to go along with these two ugly women and refused their offer. After that, Concubine Han then turned to cooperate with my big brother while Concubine Rong cooperated with my second elder brother.

“To steady their power, these two concubines sowed discord among us three brothers and made our life hard without peace.

“My mother’s death almost broke my heart, and I dared not sleep at night because every time I closed my eyes, I would think of my mother’s crying face. I kept my eyes open every night, if I was not in a shallow sleep or in nightmares.

“Sleepless nights and schemes and intrigues in the palace did give me a hard time.

“I lived in deep distress until 16, at which age, the princes except for the crown prince could move out the palace into their own mansions, according to the rules set by our ancestor.

“At my 16th birthday, I made it clear to my father that I had no intention to assume the throne. However, I was so talented and outstanding that my father would not give up training me as his successor. So I started to live in self-abandonment and stir up troubles. It enraged him and disappointed him. He then gave me up and made my big brother the crown prince. After all this, I finally moved out from the palace as I had wanted.

“Though life was no longer that hard after I moved out, I became an abandoned prince anyway. My father cared about me no more, and the seniors that doted on me, and the officials that admired me, all kept a distance from me since then, and I finally could live my life in peace.

“But my sufferings from sleeplessness did not ease with it. I still could not sleep at night, until yesterday you came to me. You slept so sound beside me, and somehow, I, thus, had a good sleep for the first time during the last ten years. If you hadn’t woken me up at the daybreak, I would have slept to afternoon. So, I really want to sleep beside you again…”

Duanmu Gongyu looked his front with deep eyes, and his expression was indifferent and aloof while he slowly spoke out his miserable past, as if he were telling the story of someone else. He did not turn to look at Yun Muxi until he spoke of his sound sleep last night.

The chuckle after the words seemed to be self-mockery.

Yun Muxi was so moved by the story that tears wetted her eyes. She felt sorry for his miserable past, and an invisible hand seemed to get tight hold of her heart that she found it hard and painful to breath. She was overwhelmed by suffocating depression and gloom. Neither did she know what to say nor could she make a sound; she just watched Duanmu Gongyu’s calm face with pity in her eyes.

She was in extreme sadness for she did not know what kind of pain could make a ten-year-old child with a promising future gave himself up and make him sleepless during each night of the last ten years.

Neither could she imagine how desperate the child was when he, with great talent, was given up by everyone and how lonely he was when he was left on himself. When he moved into his mansion alone, he had to be like an injured lion, licking his wounds in loneliness and sadness.

The heartache and pity Yun Muxi felt for Duanmu Gongyu took the anger out of her heart. She could not bear to get angry at and disregard such a miserable man.

Duanmu Gongyu fondled Yun Muxi’s small face with one of his hands and said in a soft voice, “For me, you are an angel from heaven that came to save me. I felt so familiar with you, so close to you, and it put my heart at ease. So, I do want to keep you with me all the time.”

Yun Muxi lowered her head in embarrassment and said in a soft voice, “Alright, but it’s just to share a bed, and you can’t do anything that I don’t allow nor can you touch me…” Her voice was as light as the buzz of mosquitoes, but Duanmu Gongyu had sharp ears that he heard every single word she said.

“I agree!” Duanmu Gongyu replied in a loud tone, and his eyes were smiling.

Actually, Yun Muxi did not find that Duanmu Gongyu treated her differently. He remained cold and aloof towards all others but was gentle and kind to her. He always referred to himself as a prince to others while as a friend to her.

Yun Muxi turned over quickly under the quilt, back to him, and covered her face with the quilt. Her behaviors out of shyness amused Duanmu Gongyu, and he found this troublesome girl turn out to be so lovely.

Duanmu Gongyu shook his head smiling and lay down under the quilt.

It might because Yun Muxi was really tired after a day of wandering outside or her heart could finally be put at ease that she fell asleep quickly.

Duanmu Gongyu felt at peace as he heard her steady breathing and smelled her light fragrance. He moved closer to Yun Muxi and stretched his arms around her soft body, whispering, “Xiao Xi, I do appreciate that you came to me.”