[Bonus Chapter 1]
The night was dark. No more did the light of thousands of lanterns bleed through the open window. Instead, it left the surgeon with nothing but a fitful rest.
He tried to drift into the realm of slumber, more tis than he bothered to account for. Each ti his eyes slid shut as sleep caught up to him, unforgiving mories clawed it away.
Li Xinyuan could not sleep. Not tonight. Not most nights. It beca a luxury so rarely unmarred by mories that refused to go away. Tonight was no different, for rest evaded him as usual.
Ideally, he should be happy and at peace, for at long last both of his fox spirit companions had sorted out their differences and made peace with one another.
(Hopefully.)
But even now, his mind refused to relax. One mont his thoughts drifted towards the original story’s lumbering progression, and the next they went towards Hu Lijing, Bai Huiqi, the Heavenly Demon, and his daughter.
Without him in the picture, the original storyline should be on a smooth sailing boat for Liu Mingyun, be it the succession battle or sothing else entirely. Furthermore, his first eting with Namgung Jihye still had so ti.
All of this gave him a throbbing headache Li Xinyuan couldn’t quite nurse away. He had had a light supper in the fair before returning to the Cult, but now he couldn’t help but feel a subtle onset of nausea knock in his belly.
Maybe his blood sugar was low again.
Li Xinyuan slowly shuffled out of the bed, fully intending to scuttle in the dark and grab sothing saccharine to consu when soone knocked on his door.
For a brief mont, the surgeon tensed, a thousand bad possibilities flashing through his mind before it settled. He sensed Hu Lijing’s warm Qi.
"Co in, Lijing." The door opened slightly to reveal the nine-tailed fox spirit standing there. He was holding sothing in his hands.
Sotis, Li Xinyuan found it hard to believe he was often with a nine-tailed fox spirit. Naturally, he knew the fantastical world he resided within.
But sotis the surrealness of everything caught up to him.
He remained sitting against the headboard, eyes following the fox spirit as he approached. "What brings you here so late at night?"
"Why? Am I disallowed visits without reason?"
"Are you really?" He raised an eyebrow skeptically. The fox spirit walked over to sit on his bed, tossing him whatever he had in his hands.
"... I couldn’t lay to rest."
Li Xinyuan stared down at the few pieces of osmanthus cake and candied hawthorn on his lap.
"Why?"
Hu Lijing simply leveled him with a judgental glance. "Why are you wide awake so deep into the night?"
"I could not sleep either."
"Whyever might that be?" The fox replied with a dry cadence.
Li Xinyuan fell silent. It did not escape him that neither of them had a concrete answer. (Or in his case, he couldn’t give Hu Lijing a concrete answer without being labelled a lunatic.)
"Of course." Instead, he opted to stuff a few pieces of cake in his mouth, grateful for the tily supplied sugar. "Is there sothing you wish to converse about?"
"It is rather distasteful of you to speak with your mouth full."
"You are not my mother."
"I fail to see why that matters whatsoever."
"..." For once, Li Xinyuan thought himself above the useless bickering. However, if Hu Lijing was able to understand him, the surgeon would have flipped him the bird as well.
Alas, his upbringing was far above that behaviour in this life.
"Regardless, I am aware that you want to talk about sothing. Just say it."
It took a few painfully long monts, but the nine-tailed fox spirit finally revealed his worry.
Hu Lijing heaved a sigh as he toyed with his sleeves. "Say, Xinyuan, do you think Bai Huiqi will co with us once we leave the Cult?"
Li Xinyuan raised an eyebrow, the anxiety hidden behind those words was not lost to him. Leaning forward slightly, the surgeon placed his hand over the nine-tailed fox and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"You needn’t fret so much, Lijing. I believe Huiqi won’t be blinded by the Heavenly Demon’s charms." He turned to look out of the window. "And you should too. He will make a sound decision."
A soft huff left Hu Lijing’s lips as he stood up to look out of the window. "But what if he decides to be foolish? He should know better than to trust soone sly as Cheo— Xinyuan!" Before he could finish speaking, his breath caught as he called out in a whisper.
The surgeon jumped at the sudden change in the fox spirit’s tone, startled by the urgency replacing the contemplation.
"Wha, what happened?"
The nine-tailed fox spirit turned to look over his shoulder, frowning thunderously as he beckoned the man towards himself.
"Co here, look at them!" Li Xinyuan’s eyes narrowed at those words. Almost as if Hu Lijing feared soone might hear him.
"What’s wron— oh." His words fell flat as he looked down and out of the window. He had expected sothing strange or horrible in the darkness of the night.
But this was arguably worse. Certainly.
Right in front of his eyes, Bai Huiqi and Cheon WuHui were having a rendezvous. Despite what he had told Hu Lijing only a few monts prior—that too in full confidence—the surgeon felt his eye twitch in exasperation.
This was... Unpleasant. It wasn’t a complete surprise, yes, but sohow worse.
Neither of the two were children. Or lovers in need of hiding and eting in such a clandestine manner.
Under the crescent moon and burning warmth of fire lamps at that. So what in the na of high heaven was he seeing??
Against their better judgent, the surgeon and the nine-tailed fox spirit leaned out of the window—like a couple of neighbourhood won who just couldn’t mind their business.
As if doing so would allow them to eavesdrop on whatever conversation of importance Bai Huiqi and Cheon WuHui seed to be having.
By the look on Hu Lijing’s face—the utterly constipated glory of it—Li Xinyuan feared he would cough up blood. The doctor himself felt as if he was about to burst a vein.
It was not anger.
Neither of them had any right to be indignant. It was more of an annoyance neither could justify nor ignore.
The Heavenly Demon’s a sly bastard.
Nearly unbidden, the thought ca before Li Xinyuan could feel any real dread. Involuntarily, his hands gripped tightly on the window sill as he leaned forward even more.
He could not hear a thing.
Hu Lijing straightened himself before pulling the surgeon back by his collar.
"Let us not act like Bai Huiqi" —he dragged Li Xinyuan away from the window— "is a child. He knows what he wants."
"Yes, certainly," Li Xinyuan nodded tersely, taking in a deep breath. "I’m not his parent. He can decide for himself."
"You certainly act as if you are."
Li Xinyuan snapped his head to look up at Hu Lijing behind himself. He opened his mouth, ready to give a scathing retort when Xueyue ca flying through the window, chirping happily.
"Yueyue has brought the Crown Prince’s letter, Master!"
Well, sothing else called for his attention right now. And that was a relief he needed.
Quietly, Hu Lijing glanced between the ssenger bird and the surgeon before announcing.
"Well, I shall leave you to it."
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