("Jealousy" here is simply a substitute for envy; the author did not intend the original meaning of malicious jealousy. Pei Yubai harbored no malice. As for why the substitution was made, the author will not explain. It reads a little more comfortably.)
Qiguan Yuan fell asleep as soon as he finished speaking.
He slept deeply, his breathing light, his body rising and falling slightly with each breath.
Pei Yubai's hand still rested on his waist. The patch of skin beneath his fingertips was cool, just like the rest of him; his body temperature ran low.
Pei Yubai's hand stayed there, motionless for a long while.
Yun Yin.
So it was a person. It did not just refer to Cloud-Hidden Town.
He lowered his eyes and looked at the back of Qiguan Yuan's head.
Qiguan Yuan's silver hair lay scattered across the pillow, exposing a stretch of his nape. His skin was very fair.
Qiguan Yuan looked quiet in sleep, completely different from his languid manner when awake.
Pei Yubai was silent for a long time before his hand moved again, continuing to massage his lower back.
His movements were careful, the pressure neither too light nor too heavy.
That name kept running through his mind.
Yun Yin.
Yuanyuan had said that name in that tone just as he was falling asleep.
That tone had been a little indistinct, a little intimate.
Intimate. Then their relationship was probably very close.
Pei Yubai's hand never stopped moving, but his gaze remained fixed on Qiguan Yuan's waist.
His waist was slender; one hand could almost cover most of it. Even through the fabric of his clothes, his skin still felt a little cool. Qiguan Yuan's body temperature ran low.
Did Yun Yin know Yuanyuan's lower back hurt?
Had he massaged Yuanyuan's lower back like this too?
When Pei Yubai realized what he was thinking, he froze for a moment.
Then a clear realization about himself arose within him, almost mocking.
He was actually jealous.
Huateng Group's crown prince, Pei Zhongkang's only son, best actor Pei Yubai.
He had grown up surrounded by his parents' love. His twenty-six years of life had gone so smoothly that he had barely experienced any real setbacks.
The greatest hardship he had suffered was probably joining Meng Xu's shoestring-budget show.
He had never known what envy or jealousy felt like, because those were always emotions other people felt toward him.
Now he knew.
He was jealous of someone whose name he had only just heard.
Someone he had never even met.
Simply because that person might once have stood beside Qiguan Yuan, might have occupied a place in Qiguan Yuan's life that he knew absolutely nothing about.
Then Pei Yubai found it ridiculous.
Since when had he, Pei Yubai, needed to compare himself to anyone? Since when had he needed to be jealous of others?
He took a deep breath and suppressed the emotion.
He considered it from another angle.
If Yun Yin really had once stood beside Qiguan Yuan, then Qiguan Yuan would not be alone now.
At that thought, the sour feeling welled up in Pei Yubai's heart again, mixed with an ache for him.
He did not like seeing Qiguan Yuan alone.
What he should be concerned about was not who Yun Yin was, but why Qiguan Yuan's lower back hurt.
Back at the Yue Lao Temple, when he had barged in while Qiguan Yuan was bathing, Qiguan Yuan had already mentioned that his lower back hurt.
As he massaged him, Pei Yubai mentally went through the hospitals his family had invested in, wondering whether there were any reliable doctors in this field.
Orthopedics, rehabilitation, pain management-he considered each department and compared names one by one.
Yun Yin?
It didn't matter.
He would win Yuanyuan over.
He would make that name disappear from Yuanyuan's lips.
Qiguan Yuan stirred slightly in his sleep, rolled over, and caught Pei Yubai's hand while half asleep. His voice was still drowsy and soft. "Stop massaging. Go to sleep."
He opened his eyes. In the dim light, Pei Yubai sat on the bed, looking at him.
Even in the darkness, those eyes looked focused, unblinking. There was no telling how long he had been watching.
Holding Pei Yubai's hand, Qiguan Yuan felt a distinct sensation in his little finger.
Pei Yubai lowered his eyes, held his little finger, and gently stroked it. "Yuanyuan, why does your lower back hurt?"
Qiguan Yuan became a little more awake.
His lower back pain actually stemmed from the time the Tree of Fate had gone out of control.
That day, he and Yun Yin had been beneath the Tree of Fate. He had tossed the Marriage Register to Yun Yin to handle for him while he slacked off and slept nearby.
Unexpectedly, the Tree of Fate had suddenly gone out of control, and the power of marriage had burst outward.
As a Nine-Tailed Fox, he was naturally sensitive to fluctuations in spiritual power and reacted quickly, grabbing Yun Yin and retreating.
But he had still been too late. A surge of spiritual power had struck his lower back.
To Qiguan Yuan, that injury itself was nothing much, given a Nine-Tailed Fox's powerful regenerative ability.
But an injury caused by the power of marriage was different. It could not heal completely.
Ordinarily, he carried on as usual, but his lower back would ache without any regular pattern.
Qiguan Yuan did not explain much. He only said, "I accidentally injured it a long time ago. It hurts occasionally."
He looked at Pei Yubai's less-than-bright expression and smiled.
There was a hint of teasing with an unclear meaning in that smile, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Do you feel bad for me, Pei Yubai?"
He thought Pei Yubai would remain silent with reddened ears, as he had before, or turn his eyes away.
But Pei Yubai did not.
He nodded. "Yuanyuan, let me find you a doctor, all right?"
His voice was utterly earnest.
Qiguan Yuan neither agreed nor refused. He propped himself up slightly, reached out to grab Pei Yubai's collar, and pushed him down toward the pillow.
"I'm very sleepy, Pei Yubai." His voice still carried weariness. "Get some proper sleep. Be good."
Pei Yubai lay down, following the pressure of his hand.
He replied, "All right."
Satisfied, Qiguan Yuan released him and casually tugged the covers over himself.
He closed his eyes.
In the darkness, his voice drifted softly over. "Sweet dreams, Pei Yubai."
Pei Yubai turned his head to look at his sleeping face, his voice very quiet. "All right."
Qiguan Yuan's scent enveloped him.
Surrounded by the scent that belonged to Qiguan Yuan alone, Pei Yubai closed his eyes.
His consciousness gradually sank...
Pei Yubai was awakened by a tickling sensation.
Something brushed his chin again and again, fluffy and soft.
Still groggy, he instinctively frowned, but the tickling did not stop.
Bit by bit, the tickling pulled him back to consciousness.
The moment his awareness returned, Pei Yubai looked down toward the source of the tickling.
Then he froze completely.
He blinked.
He looked up and around the room.
Then he looked back at Qiguan Yuan.
Qiguan Yuan lay with his head on his chest, fast asleep. His face was turned sideways, half of it pressed against Pei Yubai's chest, his lips lightly closed and his breathing even.
And on Qiguan Yuan's head was a pair of ears.
Fluffy, white, pointed ears, with a hint of pale pink at their bases.
With Qiguan Yuan's breathing, those ears twitched.
Their tips drooped a little limply, moving occasionally as he slept soundly.
It was those ears that brushed Pei Yubai's chin again and again as they twitched.
It tickled.
Pei Yubai did not move.
He stared at those ears, his mind completely blank for several seconds. Then all sorts of thoughts flooded in.
What was this?
Ears?
On top of his head?
Real ones.
The tickling on his chin continued. That fluffy sensation was so real that he could not convince himself this was a dream.
He carefully raised his hand, bringing his fingers close to one ear.
He did not touch it, stopping very close instead. He could feel the fine fur trembling slightly beneath his fingertips.
It was warm.