Extra 2 part 1
Past Life Marriage (Part 2)
Hearing this, Lin Zheng turned around in disbelief.
Discuss what?
Everyone else was startled.
Helpless, Lin Zheng watched as everyone left, leaving him alone in the room.
The spacious main hall was strangely quiet for a moment.
After a long while, Lin Zheng heard a steady voice ask, “Why haven’t you come over lately?”
Lin Zheng was stunned at first, taking a moment to process the meaning of the question. Then, he lowered his eyes and bowed his head. “Ah, I sent you so many things before, but you didn’t like them. Seeing that you didn’t like them, I stopped sending them. Even though we’re not far apart, it’s still a hassle, and I didn’t want to disturb you too much.”
“…Don’t you like me?”
Lin Zheng had never actually said the word “like” out loud, nor did he expect his own feelings to be spoken by the man. The young master, who had never revealed his heart to anyone, was thrown into a panic. He touched his head awkwardly. “Ha, ha, no, I just wanted to be friends with you. Ha, ha. Besides, how could I like a man? And how could the General like a man? Ha, ha.”
Gu Lin suddenly stepped closer, grabbed his wrist, and whispered, “Whether I like men or not isn’t for you to judge.”
Looking at the face so close to his own, Lin Zheng’s heart drummed in his chest. The pleasant scent on the man’s clothes drilled into his nose, faintly drawing out the affection in his heart.
After a long time, the hand holding his arm slid down to his wrist, signaling him to open his palm.
Something resembling a jade pendant was placed in his hand. Its icy touch formed a sharp contrast with his warm palm.
The hand at his wrist moved down to support the back of his hand. Long, slender fingers guided his own fingers to close, curling them around the jade pendant. That hand didn’t leave; it simply wrapped around his fist. “I’m leaving here tomorrow. If you think you like me, bring this jade pendant and come find me early tomorrow morning.”
That night, Young Master Lin tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He, who had always been a good judge of character, couldn’t read the intentions in his beloved’s eyes at that moment.
Does he like me? Is it true or false? Is he willing to give up all those beauties around him? More importantly, does that man like men too? Will he… like me the way ordinary people like women?
If so, he would certainly be overjoyed.
But if not, he would lose everything.
The next day, the carriage was already waiting outside the gate.
“General, how much longer do we have to wait?” the lieutenant beside him asked.
Gu Lin gazed at the road that remained empty even after a long time. After a good while, he withdrew his gaze and bent down to step onto the carriage. Suddenly, a burst of scolding came from the distance. “Oh, Xiao Xingzi, eat, eat, eat! All you think about is eating! It’s all your fault!”
“What? Wasn’t it you who kept eating, Young Master? You even said we travel better on a full stomach.”
Hearing the voice, Gu Lin didn’t turn around, but a smile touched the corners of his mouth.
Gu Lin stepped onto the carriage. After a short moment, he reached his hand out toward the person standing outside.
Lin Zheng tightened his grip on his bundle before smiling, placing his hand in Gu Lin’s, and climbing onto the carriage. Then he turned back to Xiao Xingzi and said, “Xiao Xingzi, you sit outside.”
The journey was long and far. How could he not bring his amusing sidekick, Xiao Xingzi, along?
Legend has it that the Great General of the North went on a private inspection tour and returned with a young master named Lin Zheng, the youngest son of the prefect of Yizhou. And just like that, he kept him by his side for five years.
One night, Gu Lin returned from the palace. As he unfastened his clothes, he looked at the person propping his head up and leaning sideways on his bed. His smile held a hint of the cool summer night air. “Why aren’t you asleep yet? Why did you run over to my room?”
Young Master Lin narrowed his eyes, sizing him up. “I heard you went to the palace today, and the Emperor introduced you to the Prime Minister’s daughter?”
Gu Lin’s robes were open. He walked closer and said, “So what?”
Lin Zheng shrank back, but his waist was caught by a large hand, and gentle scratches landed on his neck. He coughed behind his fist, blushing as he said, “I didn’t come here to do that with you.”
“Waiting on my bed in the middle of the night… if not for that, then for what?”
In the end, Young Master Lin couldn’t hold his ground and succumbed to beauty once again.
afterward, Gu Lin held the person lying on top of him. The person now was quite different from the youth with the fresh face five years ago, but that straightforward personality hadn’t changed a bit.
His large hand brushed through the soft hair of the person in his arms, gentle as if handling a treasure. “I didn’t agree.”
It took Lin Zheng a while to process what Gu Lin meant. Instantly, sweetness flowed through his heart like honey, but his mouth remained unforgiving. “But you can’t stay unmarried forever. This time he introduced the Prime Minister’s daughter; next time, he might introduce a Prince’s daughter. The common folk all say you’re a man of talent and looks; it would be a regret if you didn’t leave any offspring. You have to get married eventually, right?”
“What do the words of others have to do with me?”
Lin Zheng snickered quietly in his lover’s arms. “It has nothing to do with you, but the world’s judgment is always prickly.”
“And what does that have to do with me?”
Lin Zheng could only say, “Yes, yes, yes, nothing has anything to do with you.”
“Wrong. Not everything in this world is unrelated to me.”
Lin Zheng looked up at the handsome face before him.
“The safety of the world concerns me. And you… concern me even more.”
From the very beginning, Lin Zheng felt this man was incredibly opportunistic. At first, he thought Gu Lin had a cold personality. Later, he learned that his tenderness and tolerance were simply hidden, not easily given to others. But once given, it made people wonder if his mouth was naturally sweet.
No matter how much he looked back, the choice he made five years ago was incomparably correct.
The candle burned down to its last bit. Thinking about the future, Lin Zheng sat up, his face no longer holding any ambiguity. “Gu Lin, if you stay with me, you will inevitably be criticized by the world in the future. Moreover, I’m afraid the Gu family line will end with you. Your… father, and the others…”
If their relationship became known, he didn’t care about himself, but Gu Lin, as a high-ranking general, would likely be entangled in endless troubles.
Gu Lin gazed at the face filled with worry.
His large palm covered Lin Zheng’s face, cupping it, his thumb stroking his cheek.
When did he lose his heart to this person?
Their first meeting on the street didn’t leave a good impression. Stealing hearts, playing petty tricks—none of these were virtues in his eyes. To be honest, he didn’t like that kind of encounter.
Having seen too much deception, he preferred those with pure hearts. So, in the beginning, he was somewhat resistant.
But seeing that person come to find him day and night, bringing his favorite osmanthus cakes, and even falling asleep leaning against his door just to wait for him… he suddenly felt that this person might not be as fond of playing tricks as he appeared on the surface.
Because his sister had experienced war firsthand, she had always been introverted and taciturn. Yet one day, she suddenly praised that person eloquently in front of him. He knew the words were taught by that person, but at that moment, he felt no disgust at all. He just found it amusing and even thought… this person seemed pretty decent.
Perhaps feelings began to sprout from the soil then. Every bit of their interaction acted as nutrients, gradually allowing this affection to take root, grow, and finally become uncontrollable as it was now.
He knew deeply that he loved the person before him.
Gu Lin’s thumb rubbed the cheek of the person in front of him. He knew his worries were nothing more than the fear that Gu Lin would be condemned by thousands. He said, “If the world abandons me, I will abandon the world.”
Lin Zheng’s eyes widened slightly.
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