Chapter 518: Chapter 518 : (Extra) Jiang Muchen’s Love Story (3)
Jiang Muchen’s facial expression darkened in an instant.
"Why?" he smacked Winter Frost’s blade aside and gave Xie Jianyu a look full of indignation. "You knew about my feelings for you."
"Exactly because I knew that I cannot just stand idly by and watch you spend the rest of your life chasing after my shadow," Xie Jianyu pointed out, moving the tip of his blade back to Jiang Muchen’s chin.
"Even if you beat me up today, Little Uncle, if I don’t want to go then I won’t go. You cannot force me," Jiang Muchen insisted.
Xie Jianyu sighed and lowered his sword. He looked rather aggrieved to the point of spilling tears.
"Will you not listen to me anymore now that you are all grown-up?"
"..."
Jiang Muchen was rendered speechless. He was two years older than Xie Jianyu in the first place, so why was Xie Jianyu acting like he was the one who raised Jiang Muchen from infancy?
"Little Uncle..."
Xie Jianyu raised his reddened eyes and stared at Jiang Muchen. The tremor in his thin lips sent a pang of terrible ache through Jiang Muchen’s heart. If this were the past, Jiang Muchen would have dropped to his knees minutes ago, asking Xie Jianyu for forgiveness, and coaxing him until he smiled again. But this time he could not.
He refused to extinguish the embers of his love for Xie Jianyu. They were all he had left, a flickering flame in the darkness. The rest of Xie Jianyu now belonged to Zhang Fengxi.
"...don’t you understand?" he slowly asked. "I have been in love with you for more than twenty years. Before we even differentiated into alpha and omega. I know that it isn’t your fault, but I am also not at fault. I don’t know what to do with these feelings I have."
"Let them go."
Xie Jianyu sheathed his sword and cupped Jiang Muchen’s face in his hands.
"You have to let them go."
Letting go was the only path to mend. Clinging to this love was akin to clutching a thorny rose, its beauty a cruel mirage and each prick a venomous reminder etched into his heart. It would become a constant ache, a monument to the love he couldn’t grasp, the bloom that withered before its time. Like a lone bud, choked by the shadow of a giant oak, dying before it could blossom.
"... Can I hug you?"
Jiang Muchen did not wait for an answer. He reached out and pulled Xie Jianyu into an embrace, burying his face into Xie Jianyu’s stomach. At this point, he did not care about the consequences anymore. Xie Jianyu was welcome to beat him, Zhang Fengxi was also welcome to beat him.
All he craved in that moment was this stolen embrace, a fleeting solace in the storm of his emotions. The hug, unexpected and stolen, stretched on far longer than Jiang Muchen dared to hope. Hesitantly, Xie Jianyu wrapped his arms around the back of Jiang Muchen’s neck, a silent acknowledgment of the alpha lion’s unspoken pain.
"... Little Uncle?" came Jiang Muchen’s muffled voice.
"Yes?"
"I have a question for you."
"You may ask."
"If..."
Jiang Muchen swallowed hard.
"If you were not my Little Uncle and I was just... another alpha vying for your hand, would you... would you have given me a chance?"
"Hmm."
Xie Jianyu’s fingers, like gentle brushstrokes, carded through Jiang Muchen’s hair, like a silent, soothing melody.
"I would," he answered finally.
Jiang Muchen slowly loosened his embrace and pinned Xie Jianyu with a stare.
"You would?"
"I would," Xie Jianyu confirmed. "But if our relationship failed to take flight, we would be reduced to passing strangers, memories of our short-lived entanglement forever lost in the wind."
Jiang Muchen’s eyes widened in shock.
"...Why?"
Xie Jianyu gave him a cryptic smile.
"What else could we be, Muchen?"
Jiang Muchen swallowed hard.
A thousand alphas might pursue one omega, but once the omega gave their hand to an alpha in marriage, the omega forever belonged to that one alpha. There was no reason to maintain cordial relationships with the other alphas at all.
"I..."
Like wilted vines losing their grip, Jiang Muchen’s hands slipped away from Xie Jianyu’s waist.
Xie Jianyu took his hands into his and squeezed them, prompting the alpha to look at him.
"It might seem cruel to you, Muchen, but I am glad that we are blood-related. That way, we still have reasons to be in each other’s lives."
Jiang Muchen squeezed his eyes shut, tears tracing a familiar path down his cheeks. He’d grieved losing Xie Jianyu countless times. Now, a fresh wave of despair washed over him, the sting of loss as raw and brutal as the first time.
"Will I never be able to win against that bastard Zhang Fengxi?" he asked, his voice hoarse from suppressing the sharp pain in his chest.
"He didn’t win and you didn’t lose," Xie Jianyu pointed out. "I fell in love with him first."
A growl escaped Jiang Muchen’s lips.
"Zhang Fengxi, that lucky bastard," he murmured, his voice thick with envy. He made a mental note to challenge Zhang Fengxi to a duel the next time they met.
Xie Jianyu chuckled.
"I consider myself lucky too," he said, a hint of a smile gracing his lips. "Having both of you in my life has been a gift more than I can ever ask for. But now," his voice softened, "it’s time to stop being so selfish. You deserve to find happiness of your own, Muchen."
Jiang Muchen groaned and rose to his feet, towering over Xie Jianyu.
"What if I find no one whom I like, Little Uncle?" he asked, arching a brow at the omega. "Are you going to tie me up, forcefully dress me in a groom attire, and lock me up in a bridal chamber with some unknown omega?"
Xie Jianyu let out a burst of chilling laughter.
"Don’t be ridiculous, Muchen. My elder brother will do that in my stead."
"...."
Jiang Muchen was rendered speechless again. All of a sudden, partaking in the annual hunt at Mount Yulin sounded more and more reasonable.
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Author’s note :
Mini Theater!
Upon returning to Fuxi Palace, Zhang Fengxi burst into the bedroom and shrieked, "Wife, I am back... EHHHH???"
Xie Jianyu, "...What’s wrong?
Zhang Fengxi was close to tears. "JIANBAO, YOU SMELL LIKE JIANG MUCHEN!"
Xie Jianyu stared at him. "We hugged."
Zhang Fengxi immediately launched into jealous husband mode, "NO!!! I CAN’T ACCEPT IT! I MUST GO AND KILL JIANG MUCHEN NOW!!!"
Xie Jianyu let out a soft sigh, the sound trailing off like an unspoken invitation. He leaned back on the bed, his movements languid and deliberate. The silk of his inner robe whispered against the sheets as it shifted, revealing a hint of bare shoulder, smooth and pale as jade. A glimpse of a long, slender leg peeked out from beneath, the subtle movement hinting at something unseen.
"Are you sure? How unfortunate. I sent the children off to Longjing Palace today because I wanted to spend a night with you. But if you would rather go into a brawl with Jiang Muchen..."
The scene before him struck his senses like a surge of electricity.
What was Jiang Muchen, again? The other alpha vanished from Zhang Fengxi’s immediate focus in an instant, swept away by the tide of raw desire that clawed for dominance.
Quick as a tiger pouncing at its prey, Zhang Fengxi jumped into the bed. The muslin curtain fell silent a moment later, shrouding the tangled figures in a veil of intimacy.