Chapter 28: Lovesickness
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He had come with hostile intentions—though what he did not know was that he, too, was an intruder.
The Li Estate had been home to generations of the Li family, quietly witnessing the endless comings and goings within its walls.
In this world, only the occupants of a residence changed from one generation to the next. No one could ever truly possess the house itself.
Li Xunhuan looked at Long Xiaoyun, who was furious yet dared not speak, and remembered how Long Xiaoyun had once saved his life. He could not help sighing inwardly.
At that moment, he too was acting against his own will. Almost involuntarily, he said, “Brother, if you have something to say, you may as well say it plainly.”
Long Xiaoyun wanted to speak, but he did not know what to say.
Li Xunhuan stepped past him and entered the Li Estate. Crossing the courtyard, he made his way to the main hall.
Along the way, he pointed at the flowers and plants throughout the estate and complained, “Brother, it is one thing for you to live here, but why did you alter the whole garden beyond recognition?”
Li Xunhuan behaved as though the estate belonged to him, which thoroughly infuriated Long Xiaoyun.
What angered him even more was that the courtyard had indeed once belonged to Li Xunhuan.
His expression darkened. “Xunhuan, this is my home.”
“Brother, do you know? I have contracted a strange illness!” Li Xunhuan said as he sat in the seat of honor in the main hall.
As he spoke, the people he had brought began carrying in flowers, plants, and trees, preparing to restore the Li Estate to the way Li Xunhuan remembered it.
“What illness?” Long Xiaoyun asked, staring at the unfamiliar Li Xunhuan. He almost hoped that Li Xunhuan had an incurable disease.
Though he kept calling Long Xiaoyun his elder brother, every word he spoke was vicious.
It was not that his younger brother had become heartless. He was simply furious!
Li Xunhuan sighed. “A lovesickness.”
Long Xiaoyun’s expression changed. “Lovesickness?”
“Yes. Lovesickness. Longing is painful enough, but what hurts even more is that I have never dared speak of it.”
Long Xiaoyun’s face turned black as the bottom of a cooking pot.
Was Li Xunhuan planning to reclaim the estate—and Lin Shiyin as well?
Li Xunhuan, Li Xunhuan… Who would have thought you were this kind of man?
As Long Xiaoyun pondered this in horror, Li Xunhuan continued, “But now, I can no longer suppress this longing. I have no choice but to confess.”
“The person I yearn for is no ordinary person. He is a man!”
“...What?”
Long Xiaoyun was bewildered.
He had never heard that Li Xunhuan preferred men!
“Who is this person?” Long Xiaoyun asked.
Li Xunhuan looked at him. “He is far away, yet close at hand.”
Long Xiaoyun glanced left and right, but saw no one else.
Li Xunhuan said bluntly, “That person is you, Brother!”
“...!”
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Long Xiaoyun felt as though he had been struck by lightning.
“Because you loved Shiyin, I gave Shiyin to you!” Li Xunhuan said, his heart filled with indescribable absurdity as he continued speaking nonsense against his own will. “Because you loved this grand residence, I gave the Li Estate to Shiyin as her dowry.”
Li Xunhuan raised his voice. “I am a man myself. I know that without a beautiful woman at his side, a man cannot hold his head up in public.”
“I also know that without a house or a home of his own, a man wandering the martial world is no better than a stray dog!”
“I gave you a woman and your ancestral mansion. Do you still not understand my feelings?”
A clap of thunder seemed to split the heavens.
Long Xiaoyun felt as though the sky itself had collapsed.
He staggered unsteadily, and the entire world began to feel unreal.
The person Li Xunhuan yearned for was not Lin Shiyin, but Long Xiaoyun himself!
How absurd!
How bizarre!
“No! That is impossible...” Long Xiaoyun waved his hands and stumbled back two steps in panic. “Xunhuan, you are joking, aren’t you?”
“I am a man, and you are a man!”
“How could two men possibly...”
“We are sworn brothers!”
He was utterly flustered. It was hardly surprising. Any man who found himself the object of another man’s desire would panic.
Li Xunhuan felt deeply helpless. His lifelong reputation for purity!
The Li family had maintained an untarnished reputation for generations!
With a wicked smile and a hint of madness, Li Xunhuan said, “Brother, what is the point of a man taking a woman? A man ought to take a man!”
“You—you—you...” Long Xiaoyun pointed at Li Xunhuan, his finger trembling with terror.
“You have gone mad!” he said.
“Brother, I truly have gone mad. Lovesickness has driven me insane. I can no longer restrain my heart. I am going to marry you!”
“You...” Long Xiaoyun’s face went pale.
He imagined himself dressed as a bride, his head covered by a red veil, waiting for Li Xunhuan to lift it.
It was horrifying!
Nothing could be more terrifying!
“No! No...” He turned, intending to flee in panic.
He felt as though the world had been turned upside down, black had become white, and he desperately wanted to escape this illusory nightmare.
Li Xunhuan merely watched him with a wicked smile. “Brother, where do you think you can run? This place is filled with my men!”
Tie Chuanjia appeared in the doorway, blocking Long Xiaoyun’s frantic escape.
Long Xiaoyun was known throughout the martial world as Lord Long the Fourth, and his skills were considerable. But how could he possibly be a match for Tie Chuanjia, the Unbreakable Demon God?
With a single exchange, Tie Chuanjia seized him.
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“Young Master, what should we do with the bride?” Tie Chuanjia asked with a sinister grin after capturing Long Xiaoyun.
At the word “bride,” Long Xiaoyun’s vision went dark.
His backside clenched in terror.
Could it be that, having reached middle age, he was still destined to suffer such a calamity?
“Take him away. Find two capable attendants to serve him well!” Li Xunhuan waved a hand. “I am going to renovate the Li Estate and then hold a magnificent feast for the wedding!”
A wedding involving the master of the Gold-and-Money Gang was bound to shake the entire martial world.
“Yes, Young Master!”
Tie Chuanjia led Long Xiaoyun away.
He had served the Li family for many years and was intimately familiar with the Li Estate.
Returning once more to this place, both familiar and strange, stirred a few emotions within him.
But he still said nothing.
Li Xunhuan always felt that Tie Chuanjia had changed, but in truth, he had not.
He had seen many things and learned many truths, yet he never spoke of them. He simply kept them buried in his heart.
Most men were like that.
Li Xunhuan gazed at the empty main hall and at the people bustling about outside. Suddenly, he discovered that he could move again.
He sighed. “Are you satisfied now?”
Apart from Li Xunhuan, there was one other person in the main hall: Shi Fei, who had remained nearby all along.
Shi Fei had become increasingly easy to overlook. Only Li Xunhuan knew how terrifying he truly was.
“Not bad,” Shi Fei said.
Watching the spectacle was certainly entertaining. What made it even more amusing was that he had played a part in it.
It was like an absurd drama directed by him for his own amusement.
“She has arrived,” Shi Fei said.
Li Xunhuan knew exactly whom he meant by “she.”
The woman he had yearned for day and night, the woman whose likeness he had carefully carved whenever he found a moment of leisure.
The woman he loved most in this life.
He rose and went to the rear courtyard. There, amid the flowers, he saw a woman in a long blue-and-white dress walking toward him, as though she had stepped out of a painting.
Ten years had passed since they last met. Lin Shiyin had matured, but she had also become more sorrowful.
She was the one he had longed for.
Li Xunhuan stared at her, completely transfixed.
Lin Shiyin suddenly saw him as well. Panic flashed through her eyes, mingled with joy and sorrow, but she quickly composed herself.
“Xunhuan,” she said. “You have come.”