Li Cheng really left with Xuhua. Xicheng hated him for it, as it was the first time they had been separated since they left Prince An's mansion. But he couldn't do a thing because Xuhua left when he was unconscious from getting beaten by Liu Cheng again, and Xuhua left him only a letter.
"I miss my brother a lot. But for a different reason than you think…" Liu Sheng plopped his ass opposite to Jingting and waited for him to serve the tea he had. But It wasn't so easy to do. Jingting had to go and grab a different pot, because in his tea… let's say there were some things Liu Cheng shouldn't even be near to.
"He wants you to train again?" Jingting laughed, and Liu Sheng nodded. He could finally move around for a longer time and started his slow training back to normal. But Xuhua, pissed at his brother, haunted him and wanted him to train him. Even though Liu Sheng told him his weapons were a sword and a bow, not a spear like his brother's, but that didn't change anything, so now, Liu Sheng had to spend most of his day on the training grounds, continuing his brother's legacy in training the peak's guards. And in the evening, he was able to spend only a few moments with Wen Jingting.
"Drink this," Jingting said once he was finished. The normal green tea he used was probably worse than what the general used to drink. But it was what he had. Nothing fancy, nothing high-society.
"I know I said I would help them to become better, but they are so bad. Not like bad at fighting, but bad at listening to someone. I went with them to check some of the traps and wanted to make them better. They said they were perfect and took me to the training grounds again! I almost died while climbing up!" Liu Sheng downed the entire teacup at once, not caring that it was still slightly hot.
"Well, even I get tired climbing the slope. That's the point. The enemies will come tired." Jingting calmly answered and went back to reading the new medical journal he bought in the town. Though, it was not good. It was talking about miasma and gods more than about how to heal people.
The cold northern wind suddenly blew through the slightly open window, and Jingting shivered. Liu Sheng immediately jumped up, grabbed the blanket from the nearest space he found and wrapped it tightly around Jingting.
"You are sick, aren't you? I noticed it!" Wen Jingting rolled his eyes, but he really couldn't say he wasn't. It was the exact reason Liu Sheng should never drink the same herbal tea.
"It's nothing serious," he said, but his body failed him, and he coughed. Lightly, but it was still coughing and that frightened Liu Sheng. He couldn't have his healer sick and dying. No. He had to suppress the urge to go back to him, scoop him up, and carry him to his bed. Because the image that vividly popped up in his mind ended with him being slapped left and right. He chuckled.
"You have to take care of yourself. Winter is near." Everyone could feel it. Here in the mountains, it was now as deadly as the middle of a battlefield. Thick ice was everywhere, and you could feel your breath solidify after it left your mouth. You could feel the cold deep in your bones. Thankfully, all the beds were brick beds. It was obvious that the Wen family had adapted to living here and thought of everything.
Yet, even the tree outside was bare. The dark branches were leafless, bloomless. There was nothing that would make this dark and cold season nice.
"You've forgotten to close your window during the night, right?" Liu Sheng asked and moved the brazier closer to Wen Jingting. It was the main source of heat, or so he thought. Then he got up and closed the window completely.
"I survived more than twenty winters here. I don't think you are qualified to nag me," Jingting said, but he was quite amused by the nagging. He missed it a bit. But then he remembered the last time Xicheng tried to do the same, and the missing part completely left him, and only annoyance was left. As usual.
Little did he know that later that night, a dark figure was seen walking quickly into Jingting's room, silently adding the firewood under his bed, not letting the fire die out.
This actually happened many times, during many nights. Liu Sheng covered himself with a cape and ran through the coldest night of his life. He felt that his eyes got frozen in their sockets. That deadly it felt. Before he froze, he managed to run to Jingting's room and found out it was still pleasantly warm.
Liu Sheng looked down at the flames, to see them still raging, eating the wood. Yet he was afraid it wouldn't be enough in this freezing winter, so he added a few more pieces.
"Outside, the bitter wind breaks the frozen branches. Beside the bed, a single spark guards your lingering dreams," he whispered, suddenly feeling a bit inspired by the absurdity of him performing the servants' work. In the dark, he saw a sleeping figure on the bed, so he wasn't afraid to be heard. And even after he whispered a few lines, Wen Jingting didn't move.
"The red charcoal burns through the snow of a thousand peaks. After half a life of lonely cold, this heart is finally warm." Liu Sheng fell on his bottom once he heard the loud and clear two sentences. He finished his couplet?! And it only took him a few seconds to do it.
"For a general, your meter is surprisingly steady. Steadier than your legs," Jingting's soft voice had once again cut through the otherwise silent night, if he didn't count the northern winds howling outside. Then the gentle laughter… It made Liu Sheng's ears burn red. He just quickly got up, and without a word, he ran away, back to his own room, in embarrassment.
But the excitement he felt when Jingting finished his couplet… no one ever did it before.
While Jingting sat up on his bed, amused by the heart of a newborn of his general. The step was taken, now it was only a matter of choice.
But not his… nor his general's… but that was something he was yet to discover.