WJ Chapter 66.2

Mid-Autumn Festival Special Extra (part 2)

Shoulders rubbed all around, ears filled with joyous clamor, leaving Yun Changliu almost bewildered to the point of being unable to walk.

In his entire life he had barely seen this kind of mortal world spectacle a few times. Since losing his memory in his youth, for nearly ten years he hadn’t stepped outside the gates of Xifeng City more than a handful of times.

When the warm light of the human world suddenly fell into eyes accustomed to solitude, it dyed them with a hazy color never before seen.

Yun Changliu turned to look beside him, only to see the Protector’s red robes even more vivid and captivating under the glow of the flower lanterns. His heart immediately skipped another beat.

He looked at Guan Wujue’s sharply defined profile in the interplay of light and shadow, unable to restrain his wandering mind. In his distraction and intoxication, his entire person became even more dazed, and could only be pulled forward by the wrist by Guan Wujue.

Guan Wujue led the Sect Leader forward several steps. Seeing Yun Changliu’s attention clearly becoming more and more scattered, he turned back worriedly and earnestly instructed:

“Young Master, there are so many people here. You must follow closely. If you get lost, don’t panic or run around—just stand right where you are, and Wujue will come back to find you…”

…Yun Changliu listened and felt something was off. After walking just a few more steps, he heard a mother using the exact same words to instruct her five or six-year-old son, and his face immediately darkened.

The Protector, however, remained in high spirits throughout. Seeing cute little trinkets, he would buy them; seeing the Sect Leader glance a few more times at something novel, he would buy that too.

And the things he bought, he conveniently stuffed into Yun Changliu’s hands. Walking along like this, before long the supremely noble Zhuyin Sect Leader’s hands were full of items.

When the Protector brought over yet another exquisite and adorable glowing jade rabbit lantern, Yun Changliu finally couldn’t help but complain, “If you’re going to randomly buy things, fine, but why make me carry them all!”

“How about Wujue carries them, and next time you go pay the bill?” Guan Wujue lifted the flower lantern in his hands, examining the pink jade-carved little rabbit before his eyes with great interest, saying with a smile, “Ah, remember to haggle with the shopkeeper—”

“……Give it to me.”

Yun Changliu silently snatched the flower lantern over.

Guan Wujue couldn’t help but laugh. His Sect Leader still so disliked talking to strangers…

Forget it, forget it. The days ahead are long—take it slowly.

The Protector suddenly felt his heart warm at this thought. He repeated the phrase “days ahead are long” in his mind several times, liking it more with each repetition.

He couldn’t help thinking to himself: Days ahead are long… how wonderful that truly is. Just think, half a year ago during that period, every day his mind was full of thoughts about how to hide from the Sect Leader and die in a way that could be concealed a bit longer—how could he dare hope for any future?

Guan Wujue suddenly turned his head. Beside him, the light of the jade rabbit lantern was soft and warm. Yun Changliu’s refined and handsome face was illuminated even more exquisitely. Noticing Guan Wujue’s gaze, he looked over. “What now?”

He extended one hand to interlock all ten fingers with the Protector’s, frowning and saying in a low voice, “Restrain yourself a bit. Can’t you just quietly look at the lanterns? Making such a fuss like this, you’ll be tired in a moment.”

Guan Wujue tightened his fingers and grasped back, making them draw even closer. “How could that be? Wujue has completely recovered. Young Master needn’t worry.”

So they continued strolling through this small town. Guan Wujue asked around about a shop with a good reputation in town and bought two packages of mooncakes.

The clever young lady in that shop smiled and said “a hundred years of harmonious union” to them, prompting Guan Wujue to ask for an additional pot of osmanthus wine.

The two stood by the roadside and each ate a piece of mooncake, putting away the rest. The mooncakes were very sweet, and the osmanthus wine was richly fragrant, but Yun Changliu wouldn’t let the Protector drink much wine, so the latter could only taste a few sips before giving up.

After that, they just wandered randomly looking around, going wherever they ended up.

Anyway, it was a fine festival—everywhere was good scenery.

Along their journey, there were quite a few young lovers in mutual admiration solving lantern riddles, the bright lanterns surrounded by laughter and playful scolding;

After a while, they encountered five people admiring the moon and composing poetry, ink flowing freely, with groups of people around them applauding and cheering;

The wealthy families in the south of town generously held moon-viewing banquets. The two also joined in the excitement and watched the songs, dances, and music of ordinary folk.

Playing like this until late into the night, some of the common people gradually returned home, while quite a few continued to enjoy themselves.

The Sect Leader and Protector had seen about eighty or ninety percent of the interesting places in the small town. Now they moved away from the crowded areas and walked toward the outskirts at the town entrance.

The clamor gradually fell behind them as they walked onto an arched bridge. Beneath the wooden bridge, a stream babbled. Beside the stream grew green grass. The bright moon reflected on the water’s surface, its perfect roundness rippled into folds.

The two leaned on the bridge looking up at the moon for a while, then walked down and sat on the grassy area by the river.

As soon as he sat down, Guan Wujue listlessly leaned into the Sect Leader’s embrace.

Yun Changliu reached out with an air of indifference and pulled the person into his arms. He knew it would be like this. “How is it? Told you not to make such a fuss. Now you know your body can’t handle it?”

“……” Guan Wujue was left speechless by this retort.

It wasn’t that he was truly uncomfortable, it was just—

So… sleepy… ah…

—That’s right, the Four Directions Protector had still overestimated his current physical strength. Moreover, during this period, his schedule had been watched over strictly by the Sect Leader. It had been a long time since he’d stayed up this late…

“It’s good to rest here for a bit.” Yun Changliu adjusted his posture, turning sideways to shield Guan Wujue from the cold night wind. He looked at the flower lantern he’d been carrying and said, “When we were little, we released lanterns in the river.”

“Yes,” Guan Wujue nodded. “That was the Lantern Festival.”

Yun Changliu said flatly, “You’ve been deceiving me since then.”

Guan Wujue: “……”

The Protector couldn’t help but smile bitterly, thinking: It’s over, it’s over—this is truly going to be remembered for a lifetime. His Sect Leader was cuter when he had forgotten the past…

Then they chatted casually again, and afterward neither remembered what they had said. They only remembered that as they talked, Yun Changliu again held his Protector and gently kissed his cheek, while the moonlight was always accompanied by insect chirps and the sound of water.

This way, they spent even more time.

Until the Protector also felt that if they rested any longer they wouldn’t make it back to the sect before dawn, he finally brought himself to rise from Yun Changliu’s embrace: “Sect Leader, we should go.”

The Sect Leader hesitated for a long moment. “Can you still walk?”

Guan Wujue was just about to say “of course,” when he saw Yun Changliu stuff the jade rabbit lantern into his hands. Immediately after, he gently lifted his robes and actually knelt down low before him, sighing:

“Get on. I’ll carry you for a stretch.”

This truly shocked Guan Wujue considerably. No matter how much he usually fooled around, he had never dared imagine making the Sect Leader lower himself before him. He hastily extended both hands to help Yun Changliu up. “Sect Leader! How can this be permitted? You’re… You’re killing Wujue with this!”

Yun Changliu remained unmoved and refused to straighten up. Instead, he forcefully grabbed the Protector’s sleeve. “Stop with the useless talk. Hurry up.”

“It truly cannot be permitted.” Guan Wujue said urgently. “Please get up quickly!”

“How long does the Protector intend to make this lord kneel here?”

“I… Ai, Sect Leader!”

“Just now, who was it that said they would be obedient from now on?”

“……”

In the end, Guan Wujue couldn’t overcome Yun Changliu’s insistence. He simply gave up completely, closed his eyes, and let the Sect Leader carry him on his back.

Yun Changliu slowed his pace and began walking slowly along the riverbank.

With a person on his back—and the person he held in his heart at that—he naturally walked carefully and steadily.

The full autumn moon hung overhead.

An expanse of refreshing tranquility.

Walking and walking, the fragrance of osmanthus flowers began drifting from somewhere unknown, even more intoxicating than the osmanthus wine.

Suddenly came a soft thud.

Guan Wujue’s fingers loosened, and the flower lantern dropped onto the grass by the riverbank. The cute jade rabbit rolled twice and lay still, motionless.

Yun Changliu paused slightly and turned his head to look.

He saw Guan Wujue resting with closed eyes on his shoulder, thick long lashes hanging peacefully downward, shallow breaths falling on a patch of skin at the back of his neck—somewhat ticklish.

The Sect Leader’s eyebrows curved upward, revealing a trace of gentle, shallow smile.

This person… just now he was being stubborn, but in just the few steps he’d been carried, he had already fallen asleep without knowing when.

The little jade rabbit still glowed in the grass, flashing on and off.

Yun Changliu stood still gazing for a long moment, hesitating for an instant.

This flower lantern…

If he were to pick it up, he would inevitably wake Wujue.

“Forget it…” The Sect Leader’s brow relaxed. He shook his head and spoke softly and gently to the already-sleeping Four Directions Protector in a whisper, “Won’t pick it up. When you wake, you’re not allowed to be angry with this lord.”

He took another step, carrying Guan Wujue beneath the moonlight, walking along the stream back the way they came, their long shadows trailing behind them.

“At worst…”

“Next year, we’ll come again to buy you a new one.”

……

Autumn moon. The moon in autumn is especially bright and clear.

Especially bright and clear—who knows how much of waxing and waning, shadow and light, fullness and absence.

Waxing and waning, shadow and light—speak no more of these.

Just rejoice in this fine season of the human world.

Fine season—may we year after year

Always see this autumn moon.