Spring Trees and Sunset Clouds

There was something warm and fluffy, with a somewhat peculiar roughness. After nuzzling it for a bit, Nan Ge Er opened his eyes abruptly. What kind of freakish sensation is that?! The moment his eyes opened, they immediately met with Mo Shu’s.

Mo Shu was still drinking wine. His eyes were as shiny as stars at that moment, looking bright, yet swift and stern; like a sharp sword that had just been unsheathed. His lips glistened with wine; dewy, soft and rosy. It was as if he was a completely different person. Nan Ge Er stared blankly at Mo Shu’s face—where has the celestial-like Mo Shu gone to, who is this fiend in front of me?

His forehead was lightly knocked on, “Eat some porridge if you are awake; it’s near the stove, just bring it over.”

Nan Ge Er instinctively stood up. A subconscious glance out the window revealed that the sky was starting to get brighter. Though the dishes on the table had not been touched, the jar that was previously full of wine had already been emptied.

I remember it wasn’t even dawn when I lost consciousness! Drinking, drinking, drinking… he drank the entire night away! Who are you kidding, even if your tolerance for alcohol is shockingly high, don’t you still have to go to the toilet?!

Nan Ge Er’s freaked-out expression induced a light chuckle from Mo Shu, “What?”

Ugh… Nan Ge Er shook his head, “Nothing.” He lowered his head, attempting to conceal his red hot face.

As expected, this guy really had exceptionally outstanding looks. His usual disposition was too otherworldly, so his perfect appearance was neglected as a result. Conversely, he currently looked startlingly charming. A slight smile from him could easily get others gawking at him.

“Go and have your breakfast. Your stomach is empty, so you at least need to eat something.” Mo Shu seemed uninterested in pressing on, casually pointing to the small earthen pot near the stove.

“Mn.” Nan Ge Er took a deep breath before getting porridge from the pot. Why in the world was he being hugged the whole night by Mo Shu, and when in the world had Mo Shu made the porridge… He lost any courage to ask him.

Sudden cracking noises of firecrackers could be heard outside the door, accompanied by little children’s laughter, “Nan Ge Er, Mo Shu-xiansheng, messengers of Cai Shen¹ have arrived!”

Nan Ge Er hesitated for a while, ready to put down the pot in his hands. He did know that there was such custom here, but he hadn’t experienced it himself before. Hence, it made him a little flustered.

”I’ll go.” Mo Shu put down the bowl in his hand, standing up and opening the door.

”Ugh…” Nan Ge Er hesitated even more.

To tell the truth, he wasn’t sure if Mo Shu was drunk; though that fellow’s movements seemed normal, and he talked comprehensibly, he just felt that this wasn’t the usual Mo Shu.

That fellow won’t do something absurd, right? Worried, Nan Ge Er instantly stood up, following him out, “Mo Shu-xian…” Oh!

”Ugh…” It was the sound of him sucking in the cold air.

”Nn Nn Nn Nn Nn …” That was the sound of him stuttering, who knew if he was saying “south south” or “nan nan.”²

”Mo Shu-xiansheng!” An unbelievable wail emerged.

There was a bunch of people crowding outside the door, currently staring with surprised expressions at him and… Mo Shu.

What’s wrong? Nan Ge Er looked at everyone in mild confusion. He then glanced at Mo Shu, who seemed normal, except for being a little alluring, before finally shifting his eyes back to himself. Immediately, he inhaled sharply.

I forgot I’m wearing Mo Shu’s clothes now—plus my unkempt, just-woke-up appearance—I’m so dead—who knows what everyone is thinking—who knows if anyone would listen if I explained—how shitty can my fainting be to make me run into such a predicament—if Mo Shu were a female I could at least be a bit calmer—bastard—the problem is, although Mo Shu looks elegant, in reality, he is much more handsome than me—oh sorry I have forgotten that I could only be considered ugly now—fuck—what the heck is going on—why did it turn out this way—how can I face anyone now….

Anyway, after realizing that he was wearing Mo Shu’s clothes, Nan Ge Er’s brain was in utter havoc.

Looking at Nan Ge Er sinking into a blank, confused expression, Mo Shu smiled faintly, saying, “I only drank a bit of wine.”

After hearing those words, the child in front, who was wearing a fake beard, red robes and a traditional Chinese gauze hat, pretending to be Cai Shen, widened his mouth even larger, not even realizing that the fake beard on his chin had fallen to the ground. The others spontaneously gasped even louder.

“After that, Nan Ge Er’s clothes got dirty, so he wore mine.” Mo Shu continued explaining.

“Wu…”

“Gu…”

“Goodness…”

“Oh…”

All sorts of exclamations were accompanied by the clashing sound of items dropping to the floor from their hands, making for a boisterous scene.

Startled by the noise, Nan Ge Er finally calmed down, taking yet another deep breath, he decided he still needed to explain, “Erm-”

“Sorry! We were wrong!” The brat who had dropped his beard cut off the explanation Nan Ge Er tried to utter out. He bent down, bowing deeply.

”Ah?” Nan Ge Er looked at the bunch of people, confused.

“We will be leaving Mo Shu-xiansheng to you, Furen!³” Everyone began bowing down in unison as they announced loudly.

Nan Ge Er’s legs twitched, nearly making him fall. Oi. Who. Are. You. Referring. To. As. Furen?!

“We won’t be disturbing you then, Mo Shu-xiansheng!” The others didn’t explain at all, nor did they want to listen to any explanation. The moment after they blindly caused an uproar, they turned around uniformly and swiftly disappeared from those two’s field of vision.

Nan Ge Er made a face. Although he seriously had no idea what in the world Mo Shu had said, he knew that merely his appearance would never be able to cause such an uproar.

He turned to face Mo Shu—What the heck did you tell them?!

”I only briefly stated the truth.” Mo Shu smiled innocently, elegantly and charmingly.

I don’t believe that at all! Nan Ge Er flashed a ferocious glare at him. He had thoroughly realized, Mo Shu definitely wasn’t a good person. Hidden beneath his elegant appearance was an evil, two-faced heart!

“Anyway,” Mo Shu laughed indifferently, “let’s continue our breakfast.”

What the heck, did you mean to continue drinking when you said ‘continue’?!

”I’ll get some wine first,” Mo Shu said naturally as though it were to be expected, as he walked towards the backyard.

… This guy is a drunkard through and through! Nan Ge Er instinctively tugged on Mo Shu’s sleeves.

Mo Shu turned his head around, raising his eyebrows at Nan Ge Er.

”Daren, although I don’t know when you had your breakfast, in my humble opinion, you need to have some porridge now before taking a rest.” Nan Ge Er was expressionless when he spoke. That fellow had already drunk the whole night, wasn’t that enough for him?!

He actually wasn’t such a presumptuous and impulsive person. At the very moment, he didn’t know why, but weirdly enough, he thought that he should curb Mo Shu’s self-harming behavior; he felt that he probably got a bit closer to Mo Shu. However, once the words left his mouth, he slightly frowned again—he still felt that he was too meddlesome.

On the contrary, Mo Shu began to smile faintly. “Sure,” he replied straightforwardly, “I will sleep if you do too.”

”Ah.” Nan Ge Er stared at Mo Shu blankly, utterly clueless as to why Mo Shu would state such an absurd condition. Also, I have been sleeping together with Mo Shu the past few days, alright?

“And we have to sleep together,” Mo Shu smiled as he continued, “It isn’t good to sleep alone.”

”Why not?” Nan Ge Er blankly, unconsciously asked.

”Because I don’t get to hug you,” Mo Shu’s reply was clean-cut. Even though there wasn’t much on Nan Ge Er’s skinny body, plus he was a male, his size was just right to be hugged, and also, yup, his head was really round, perfect for stroking. He felt that covering Nan Ge Er in a hug was the best sleeping position. Thus, he gave such an instinctive, egoistical answer.

“…” Nan Ge Er felt that he shouldn’t have asked such an unconscious question… What am I? A bolster? Mo Shu-Daye⁴! Are you a little child who hasn’t even reached the age of five? You still need a bolster to sleep?

Nan Ge Er felt black stripes and cross veins popping up on his forehead, a complicated emotion stirring up in him. I really want to spank him.

However, since the infuriating fellow in front of him was his direct superior, he had no choice but to stop himself from giving in to his violent urges. He gnashed his teeth as he spoke, ”Whatever then.” I must have gotten my head kicked by a donkey to worry about this fellow. He turned around, going around him, walking to the canteen to eat.

Looking at the back of Nan Ge Er’s head, which practically had steam coming out of it, Mo Shu remained silent for a while. All of a sudden, he started smiling lightly. “Children should always be full of vitality.”

… Ugh, Mo Shu-xiansheng, you only managed to anger Nan Ge Er… You totally don’t understand what the phrase ‘full of vitality’ really means, alright?!

T/N:

¹Cai Shen, Chinese god of Wealth (one of my fav god) more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caishen and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year#Second_day

²The words Nan Ge Er stuttered was “Nan”, which is also the pronunciation for ‘south’ and ‘man’

³Furen: a term used for someone’s wife, aka Madam

⁴Daye: usually used as a term of respect for an older man, it could also be used to sarcastically express dissatisfaction towards someone.