Xi Shu was still internally rejoicing Shen Yao rejecting Pei Shu's closeness when Pei Shu's arm found its way back around Shen Yao's shoulders. Xi Shu who was following behind them almost tripped completely stunned by this guy's shamelessness His young master had already pushed him away and he was back like a starving animal that finally got it dose of blood after a long period of starvation.
But Xi Shu wasn't the only shocked one Shen Yao stiffed once he felt that hand wrap around his shoulders again if Shen Yao didn't know he was in an ancient setting, then he surely would have believed that this guy wasn't normal after all he was from a modern society where he had seen more than his share of different people. He turned his head and glanced at the arm around him reached up with two fingers removed it with the decisiveness of removing something infectious out of his orbit, turned to Xi Shu who had just caught up to them — breathing slightly harder than usual, his expression looking pale from any angle if one saw it. it's like he had incurred some atrocity, but he couldn't be blamed for it in his previous life because being locked up in that small dark room chained and in a bloodied state, he had developed mild OCD when he came to this world and so he held his hand towards Xi Shu instinctively
Just like a trained assistant Xi Shu gave him a cloth which he used to wipe the hand he'd used to remove Pei Shu's arm from his shoulder. Thoroughly. With the focused attention of someone completing task that needed to be done.
Pei Shu watched this.
His eyes curved.
He said nothing he didnt need to the curvature on his lips spoke volumes. this shen yao he knew something was wrong from from the very beginning but for now he decided on watching and observing him.
Shen Yao walked.
Pei Shu followed.
Still smiling.
Xi Shu fell into step behind them both and directed his gaze at the back of Pei Shu's head with an intensity enough to want to leave a hole on the back of his head. He had opinions of course he did why wouldn't he, knowing this sly guy was up to something and from the looks nothing good.
This... he mumbled but the rest of his words were blurred by the wind.
They rode north.
The capital fell behind them in stages — the density of the streets thinning, the architecture changing from the compressed grandeur of a city that had been building on top of itself for generations to the open deliberate space of the roads that connected it to the world beyond its walls.
Shen Yao rode and thought.
Pei Shu, he turned the name over. The Pei family another aristocratic family that had been serving the royal family. each generation of the Pei family produces an exceptional military talent and just like the Shen family they are loyal only to the one who sits the throne. They control the southern borders of ming kingdom but unlike the Shen family who had been strictly following the traditional way of combat over the years the Pei family adapted more to new styles of warfare calling the Shen family antiques for staying in the past and so a brewing conflict rose between the two and this was also in royal court when there was turbulence at the border
The original's memories on this subject were present but blurry — impressions more than information, a somewhat frictioned relationship between two families were the heirs followed which was within the expectations of the emperor whose paranoia had made him to be very guarded against the two though their loyalty solemnly fell on him
He said inwardly it made sense another fact tv dramas had gotten right
So why is he here.
He didn't ask not because he wasn't curious but because he knew somethings are better not asked he shrugged his shoulders putting those thought away as they tried to get to the camp before sunset.
Pei Shu rode to his left the evening rays set on his face making his face look more heroic. He rode close to Shen Yao at the same speed keeping up with him watching Shen Yao in the way of someone who does care to want to be subtle about his own actions a while later when Shen Yao turned to glance at him, he flashed him a smile Shen Yao locked eyes with him for a few seconds before ignoring him and turning back glance at their surroundings.
Xi Shu rode behind them keeping up with his young master nonetheless feeling a mild build of irritation building inside him every time he glanced at Pei Shu of all people it had to be him. all across the kingdom everyone was clear about who Pei Shu was after all everyone knew about the rival between the two heirs challenge after challenge from horse riding to hunting to sword fights, they had done it all leading to the Shen Yao's continuous defeats or his downright rejections this man was basically the reason why he lost his reputation and became infamous challenge after challenge issued — not to defeat the original Shen Yao but to force him to fight back. To remind him of what he was supposed to be. The heir of the Shen family.
The original had refused every time he lacked the will to fight anymore.
And every refusal had cost him something. Another piece of the reputation gone Another rumor that traveled through the capital in whispers — every one of them a story of his cowardice — until the whispers became the accepted truth of what he was.
This man, watching Pei Shu's straight back ahead of him, spent years dragging my young master's name through the mud with that smile on his face. Xi Shu thought
He knew, technically, that the interpretation was more complicated than that. He knew, technically, that there were reasons and constraints and that the relationship between the two families was a knot.
He didn't care about the facts only what he heard and saw mattered to him
He cared about the look on his young master's face during the years that followed. The expression of someone who was tired so they stopped defending themselves not because they couldn't but because they had decided it wasn't worth it wasn't worth anything
Xi Shu suddenly felt a heavy feeling blocking his chest when he remembered those memories. his fingers clenched into a fist instinctively remembering how the young master was never clear minded and how he always he drunk himself till he passed out day after day dreading in a state of confusion .his depression immerse but he couldn't do anything about it he could only watch on Xi Shu thought, his nails dug into his palms especially when he thought about the second branch a cold light flickered in his eyes before it quickly disappeared. His gaze turning to his young master riding in front of him looking comfortable
" Never again" the thought flashed in his mind before disappearing
Pei Shu on this side didn't seem to have notice that he had turned into a threat in front of the people next him
The road narrowed as they drew closer to the camp.
Pei Shu's pace increased — not dramatically, just enough to establish his intentions His black mare moved forward and Shen Yao, watching from his peripheral vision, tracked the shift in his actions once he moved with at a glance and understood
A challenge, he thought. A race maybe
The corner of his mouth did something that wasn't quite a smile.
He matched the pace.
Faster. Then faster still, until the road was moving under them with the particular urgency of something that had become a race without either of them saying so. Pei Shu glanced sideways — that expression, the one that had been sitting on his face since the rose bushes, sharpening into something more focused a wager maybe melancholy
This is how it should be, Pei Shu thought.
He rode faster. Shen Yao was already ahead of him.
Behind them Xi Shu rode through a cloud of dust that had been kicked up by two people in a hurry to get to their destination there movements looking like they weren't planning on slowing down anytime sooner. He watched the distance between himself and his young master increase with the resignation of a man who had accepted the facts and chose not to join in the fun
These two are going to be the death of me. he worriedly glanced as his young master whose body was still supposed to be healing as he rode faster and faster trying to outcompete his opponent.
But Shen Yao and Pei Shu didn't know his worries and even if they did it wouldn't make a difference
The army camp was located on a plateaued open space away from any civilization the area was raised above to ensure their safety and prevent ambushes and next to it was a small dense forest with a water source to help with their basic life styles functional, dense, the organized permanence of a military installation that had been operating for years.
They dismounted.
Finally, Shen Yao thought, handing his reins off to Xi Shu and he moved forward not giving any chances to Pei Shu to say anything. Now I can shake him.
He had significantly underestimated Pei Shu because this guy didn't even bother moving around but just down right followed him the whole way acting like a little tail.
The general's tent was the largest structure in the camp — spacious by military standards for not only the general's resting convenience but also for holding meetings, furnished a dark green tent to allow the camp to fit right into the environment and to prevent ambushes they were east to make and dismantle which made movement at any time simpler. The desk at its center was worn at the edges with the accumulated weight of years of decisions made on it.
My parents sat here, Shen Yao thought, settling into the chair. he shook his head no the original's parents sat here
He opened the drawer trying to distract himself from the weight that had built in his chest he could clearly tell that this emotion belonged to the original and not him. Though he came to this world took over this world's Shen Yao 's body he still couldn't help feeling like an outsider. Pushing those thoughts down he checked around and found letters and reports administrative residue of a military command that had been running itself on momentum since the Shen couple died.
Shen Yao was at first feeling a bit sentimental but once he got into the groove of reading the letters and reports he found those emotions were automatically pushed to the back of his head.
because Xi Shu had fled, I mean he went to check on the armies' drills, tent settled into the particular quiet of a space with two people in it where one of them hadn't spoken yet and the other was waiting.
Shen Yao read.
Across the desk from him Pei Shu sat with the comfortable stillness of someone who had nowhere else to be and no particular opinion about it. He was watching Shen Yao with the expression — that expression, the one Shen Yao had been trying to figure out since the rose bushes incident and still hadn't fully figured out — the expression of someone who had found something they didn't intend to get on a shelf but still decided to buy it anyway
Where have I seen that look, Shen Yao thought, tracking it in his peripheral vision while appearing to read.
It arrived without warning.
Yanyan, he thought remembering the sort of look his sister used to have every time she dragged him into one of her shopping sprees where she bought a lot of cookies and cakes which she swore she wouldn't complain about, yet she still did when she gained weight after eating too much
The goosebumps arrived before he could stop them.
He put down the letter.
"Don't you have somewhere else to be."
"No," Pei Shu said.
The vein at Shen Yao's temple made its opinion known immediately
I have sat across from men who held the financial futures of three thousand employees in their hands, he thought with great dignity. I have outlasted every negotiator who tried to use silence against me. I have attended meetings that lasted until the cleaning staff arrived.
Pei Shu's smile didn't waver.
He wasn't doing anything, but he knew his mere presence was greatly affecting his opponent
I don't understand, Shen Yao thought, with genuine frustration, why a person I met four hours ago is this irritating.
He returned to the letters. Found nothing new same information as the one he found in the study at home he sighed and got up wanting to get some fresh air and maybe get Xi Shu to get him some more information from the commanders of the army but that would be for the next day after a long night they decided to rest for now.
The next day, Shen Yao walked out of the tent
The punch arrived faster than it had any right luckily Shen Yao moved fast and caught the fist before the impact landed. He felt the force of it in his wrist making his palm sting a bit. His hissed slightly though this body could now take a beating but against a professional it would take time to before he could reach the level of his former body.
He looked at what he'd caught then glanced up at the young man who had attacked him by surprise.
Scarred above the left eye — an old one, running through the brow in a line that spoke of the battles he had been through and survived. His black armor still carrying the warmth recent from him sweating during his training. Eyes carrying more than one emotion — fury, determination, something more personal underneath which made him raise his brow.
The young soldier didn't pull back. He held his ground with the fixed quality of someone who had made a decision done it and didn't regret it though he knew he would get punished though all of that he didn't back down his eyes still trained on Shen Yao's.
Interesting, Shen Yao with his brow raised tilted his head
"An interesting way to greet your general," he said. "Don't you think?"
He released his wrist then he got a piece of cloth from the side and cleaned his hand which had been dirtied by the dust on the young man's hand his movements weren't offensive in anyway but to the young man it was an insult to his pride his face twisted in anger
Behind him, from the direction of the tent, he was aware of Pei Shu settling into a more comfortable position because he could see his movements from the side of his eye
Of course, Shen Yao thought. Of course he's going to watch this he then turned his attention back to the young man