Bazar Batu sat staring out the window, a prisoner in his own home. His father's ultimatum was clear and unyielding: if he wasn't married by his eighteenth birthday, his house arrest would be extended for another year. Frustrated, he had tried every trick he knew to escape, but every single attempt was a miserable failure.
Thinking back to the day he thought his father was dying but found out that his brother and his two sister-in-laws had made up this story, so he agreed to go home. Bazar Batu sat in the yard watching the servants clean the yard. He saw his mother walking towards him with a servant, holding a pile of paintings. As soon as Bazar Batu saw painting, he knew immediately what his mother's intention is.
Madam Bazar entered with a knowing smile. "You can stop with your little hunger strike, Batu," she said, her voice filled with thinly veiled amusement. "The maid told me you've been secretly having them make you meals while we were out."
She placed a neat stack of ten portraits on the table, each a young woman around his age. "Come, come have a look," she commanded gently but firmly. "I've hand-picked these myself—they're the best-looking ones."
Seeing Bazar Batu still lying on his bed with his back to her, Madam Bazar gave a silent gesture to the two guards standing beside her. The guards strode to the bed, lifted Bazar Batu's unwilling body, and seated him at the table.
With an annoyed scowl, Bazar Batu looked at the portraits. "Mother, I don't need to see these. Did da ge tell you? I've already promised to marry someone else."
"I've heard of it," Madam Bazar said, her voice a quiet, final dismissal. "But it cannot be done."
Bazar Batu asked with defiance, "Why not?"
Madam Bazar's smile was thin and dismissive. "Because the person you want to marry is a man, not a woman. You need a woman to give you a baby." She gestured to the portraits. "And these beautiful ladies can do just that. Come, take a look."
Bazar Batu's voice trembled with a desperate plea. "I will not marry anyone I don't like, and I already like this person very much. Besides, da ge has given you so many grandchildren already. Mother, forcing me to marry will not only hurt me, but also hurt the woman."
"Batu, please listen to me," Madam Bazar said, her voice now a quiet, ominous warning. "When you realize a man cannot give you the happiness a woman can, you will regret marrying him greatly."
Bazar Batu said with conviction, "No woman in this world can give me the joy that Lok ge ge brought me. He is the source of the greatest happiness I have ever known."
Madam Bazar's patience snapped. She became visibly annoyed. "What could he possibly do to make you like him so much? How could a man bring you happiness in life and in private time?"
Bazar Batu hesitated, searching for the words. "Um…" he began.
Madam Bazar delivered a mocking challenge. "See? You can't even name one thing that man does better than a woman."
"He did a lot for me!" Bazar Batu retorted, his voice rising in frustration. "I just don't know where to begin."
"Liar," she said dismissively.
"Fine," Bazar Batu warned, his tone suddenly serious. "Once I start, don't tell me to stop."
Madam Bazar looked him in the eye, her stare cold and daring. "Go on," she said.
With a wicked smirk, Bazar Batu looked his mother directly in the eye. "Well," he began, a deliberate cadence to his voice, "we held hands. He carried me on his back."
Madam Bazar's eyes widened slightly. Bazar Batu continued, his words a slow, breathless list. "We slept in the same bed many times. We kissed in front of other people."
Madam Bazar's breath caught in her throat.
"He saw me naked while saving my life," Bazar Batu went on, watching her reaction with grim satisfaction. "He protects me. There's more, but I won't go into details. We also do that thing you mentioned... the one in private. He was the one on top, and I was the one submitting to him. We like to hold each other's..."
Madam Bazar almost passed out. She stopped Bazar Batu, "Stop...Stop..."
Bazar Batu blinked innocently at his mother, his gaze unwavering. "So, Mother," he said, his voice quiet but sharp, "now that you know your son is already like this, why would you be so heartless as to torture another person's daughter?"
Still clinging to a last, desperate hope, Madam Bazar looked at her son. "Fine," she said, her voice strained. "Within the year, if you stay at home and don't leave town to go looking for that so-called lover of yours, I will reconsider him. But if you dare to fail to return home by sundown, the deal is off. I will never agree to you being with him."
She exhaled in weary defeat. "Do we have a deal?"
Although a year seemed long, Bazar Batu knew he could endure it. "As long as you lift my house arrest and da ge acts as a witness, I will remain here for one year," he stated.
"Fine," Madam Bazar replied, her last shred of resistance crumbling.
A few months after Bazar Batu left, Kuo Lok returned to his post up north, patrolling the city gate with his brother. He had to come back to help the villagers, as his sister-in-law was about to give birth and his brother would need to focus all of his attention on her.
From the city wall, Kuo Lok looked down at the street below. His heart leaped in his chest as he believed he saw Bazar Batu walking past. Without a second thought, he grabbed a rope, leaped from the wall, and landed in the chaotic street below. He ran, pushing through the crowd, and grabbed the young man's arm. The young man turned around, but it was not Bazar Batu.
Kuo Lok immediately let go of the young man's arm. "I'm sorry," he muttered, "I thought you were someone I knew."
A wave of disappointment washed over him as he stood there. Suddenly, a mandarin orange hit him squarely in the back. He flinched, assuming someone was throwing it at him for his shameless public display. A second and then a third orange followed. With a weary sigh, he began to walk away.
"Lok ge ge!" a familiar voice called out.
He stopped, his heart leaping in his chest, and turned around. There, stood Bazar Batu, a wide, mischievous smile on his face. Kuo Lok's own face broke into a joyful grin.
Bazar Batu threw another mandarin orange, and it bounced harmlessly off Kuo Lok's chest. He approached with a playful frown. "You should have caught that," he teased, looking up at Kuo Lok with a bright smile. "Are you here to visit me?"
Kuo Lok was so stunned by the sudden turn of events that he could only stare blankly. "Huh?" he replied.
Assuming Kuo Lok couldn't understand him, Bazar Batu slowed his speech. "Are you here to visit me?" he repeated. "How did you know where I live? I don't remember telling you my village's location."
Kuo Lok's eyes widened. He was completely taken aback. "You... you live here?" he asked in stunned disbelief.
Bazar Batu gave a sarcastic sweep of his arm. "Yes. The beautiful town where everyone is treated the same. No one here cares if you're Chinese or Mongol; you're simply a good person or a bad person."
"I know," Kuo Lok said quietly.
Bazar Batu's smile faltered. "How could you know? You just got here."
"My brother and I stayed here for three years," Kuo Lok revealed, "before I returned to Central Plains and met you in that teahouse."
"Really?" Bazar Batu gasped in shock.
Kuo Lok gave a slow, stunned nod. "Yes."
The answer sparked a dawning realization in Bazar Batu's eyes. He looked at Kuo Lok, a gasp of surprise in his voice. "Are you… are you that stupid volunteer soldier with a heart of gold?"
"I guess so," Kuo Lok replied with a soft smile.
Bazar Batu grabbed Kuo Lok's arm and hugged it tightly against his body. "Lok ge ge," he pleaded, his voice full of joy, "tell me where you usually patrol."
Kuo Lok simply took Bazar Batu's hand and led him up to the top of the city wall.
Bazar Batu smiled, a knowing glint in his eyes. "Lok ge ge," he said, "I've lived here my whole life, so close to you, and we didn't know each other. I ran hundreds of miles away from home to find you. Fate certainly loves to play games with people, doesn't it?"
Kuo Lok simply nodded, a quiet affirmation. "Mm."
Bazar Batu then made a promise. "Next time my father tries to force me into a marriage, I'll run here to you."
"How is your father?" Kuo Lok asked, his voice filled with concern.
A frustrated frown crossed Bazar Batu's face. He sighed angrily. "They lied to me. He was doing just fine. My brother wanted me to come home, so they invented a story that he was sick." He let out a furious breath. "I wanted to come back to you, but I promised my mother I would stay here for a year. If I hadn't forgotten you by then, she said she'd reconsider our relationship. I thought I would have to endure a whole year without seeing you, but here you are."
He smiled, stretched out his arm, and gently held Kuo Lok's waist.
Kuo Lok put his left arm around Bazar Batu, and the two men stood together, watching the sun begin to set.
After a moment of quiet contemplation, Kuo Lok turned to him. "Batu…?" he asked, his voice hesitant.
Bazar Batu looked up, a soft smile on his face. He knew the question Kuo Lok was unable to ask. "Yes," he said. "You can kiss me."
As the sun sank slowly into the red and orange horizon, Kuo Lok lowered his head and gently kissed Bazar Batu's lips.
In the heart of the green bamboo forest, the wind swept through the tall stalks, causing them to sway and crack with occasional sharp sounds. Deep within this remote, rustling grove stood a small, secluded manor.
Inside a clean, quiet bedroom, Cao Wenyan sat beside the bed where Mu Dishi slept, a look of quiet satisfaction on his face. He reached out and gently took the man's hand. Leaning closer, he kissed Mu Dishi's cheek. His fingers traced the delicate curve of Mu Dishi's jaw before he kissed the cheek once more. His lips moved toward Mu Dishi's mouth, pausing only to admire the beautiful, long sweep of the sleeping man's dark eyelashes.
Finally, Cao Wenyan pressed his mouth to Mu Dishi's lips, deepening the kiss as his tongue gently licked Mu Dishi's lips.
Cao Wenyan whispered softly, "Mu Dishi, I really like you. I promise that besides kissing you, I won't do anything else."
In a stark, sudden motion, Mu Dishi bolted upright and clamped a crushing grip around Cao Wenyan's throat. He looked at him with an expression of icy, contained fury. "Good," he bit out. "Otherwise, your dead body would be on the ground right now."