Guanshan Muyu

chapter 10

The cave was fairly dry and Qi Yan inserted the branches that were used as torches in the rock crevices on the wall.

He searched for a higher ground, took off his robe and spread it there, saying to Xia Xun:

“Come and rest for a while, I’ll be guarding the entrance. If Qi Hui comes nearby, I will hear right away.”

Xia Xun couldn’t accept it:

“Lord Zhongshu, there is no need to do this. I’m a convict sentenced to exile and used to sleeping on the ground and living in thatched huts. On the contrary, with your life of luxury, you’re not accustomed to it.”

Qi Yan didn’t say anything and just looked at him quietly, with imperceptible distress in his eyes.

Xia Xun settled down as far away from him as possible and lay down on the ground, wrapping his clothes tightly around himself.

He turned his back to Qi Yan but could still feel his gaze.

Xia Xun was very tired.

He put his head on his arm and curled up and it wasn’t long before he began to get drowsy, his eyelids growing heavy and his consciousness slowly fading away.

After a while, he heard footsteps behind.

——Qi Yan.

He picked up his robe and wanted to put it on Xia Xun but was afraid of waking him up. He hesitated repeatedly while holding the robe and finally moved away without putting it down.

Hearing his footsteps drift away, Xia Xun could no longer resist and fell asleep.

He had that dream again, the nightmare he hadn’t had for a long time.

He dreamed that he was lying in a prison cart on his way to Lingnan.

On the way to Douzhou, he started getting sick, and when he arrived in Lingnan, he fell completely unconscious.

This gave his eldest brother a sufficient opportunity to fake Xia Xun’s death of illness and let him escape.

But Xia Xun was too sick at that time and spent his days in a coma.

Xia Wen was still a convict and had to work hard every day.

He hid Xia Xun in a dilapidated temple, and only when the day’s work was over could he sneak out to feed him a few sips of water.

Even that was a big risk.

If the guards knew that he had sneaked out, he would inevitably be whipped.

Xia Xun’s condition was getting worse and his fake death was about to become a real one.

At this critical moment, He Cong came.

He heard the news of Xia Xun’s death in the capital and rushed desperately to collect his body, only to discover the truth.

He spent all the money he had, bought a hut, hid Xia Xun, brought a doctor and got some medicine for him.

Thanks to He Cong’s efforts, Xia Xun managed to survive.

After he recovered from his illness, he was extremely weak and couldn’t even sit up. He lay on the bed for more than half a month before he was barely able to stand up and walk a little.

He Cong stayed with him from beginning to end and didn’t leave until Xia Wen also found an opportunity to get out.

Before leaving, he told Xia Xun that he would come back to him when the storm passed.

“I’ll take you away then! We can go anywhere, to the ends of the earth!”

Xia Xun closed his eyes and did not answer.