Holding On to My Man
Chapter 33 (2)

Edited by Callis

When he left the pavilion, Fu Junli took Gu Bai to the carriage and back to the house. There was a cold pressure that he emitted throughout the entire journey. Gu Bai had never seen him like this, so he was curious.

Fu Junli’s change of mood was important for his strategy. Gu Bai arranged his thoughts, raised his head, looked at him, and asked in a low voice.

“What’s wrong, Junli-gege? Your expression doesn’t look very good… ”

Facing the eyes similar to Lianzhi, Fu Junli had always been tolerant and kind. Seeing the deep concern in those blue eyes, he only internally felt like there was an unspeakable beauty in front of him.

“I’m fine. Which young master was troubling you just now?” He asked gently.

Gu Bai shook his head and said, “No, Yunxi knows the etiquette and didn't offend the young master. We were very happy to talk…”

“If there isn't anything, then it's good. Remember, when you see that young master, stay away from him. Be respectful, but don’t force his hand…” Fu Junli said with a sigh of relief.

“Why?”

“There is no reason. In short, don’t go to him later…”

Fu Junli didn’t explain, but his face was very ugly, and even his eyes were cold the entire time.

Naturally, Gu Bai knew why he made this expression. Not only was it because of the man's position as a prince, but also because of the rumors in the market that the dynasty's prince acted recklessly and with ruthless means.

Once, a minister accidentally angered him. He cut down and killed that person in the middle of the court, right in front of the Emperor. Even the Emperor didn’t pay much attention to it.

He used to be the son of a palace maid, but now he could take the position of Prince, not because of the Emperor’s love, but because of his arrogant and ruthless style of action, and the fact that he now held the command seal of the 100 thousand military might of the great Chu.

It wasn't terrible to have the command seal; The Emperor could always replace an excuse to take back the seal after all. But what was really terrible was that even if he didn't have the command seal, the 100,000 strong warriors only listened to Ji Zhangyin’s orders. What kind of ability was that?

He was worthy of being his man. He was always so powerful… Gu Bai praised him in his heart, then he tucked away his feelings and nodded obediently to Fu Junli to show that he understood.

However, Fu Junli had scared himself. Was he moved, or would he continue to regard him as Lianzhi?

So thinking, Gu Bai decided to test how far his strategy had gone.

He suddenly pointed to Fu Junli’s folding fan and said, “Junli-gege, your fan looks special. Can you lend it to Yunxi to have a look?”

There was nothing special about the folding fan; what was special was its history. It was carried around by Fu Junli everyday. It had to be something that Rong Lianzhi had left behind.

Lianzhi was Fu Junli's bottom line. If you wanted to test things, you had to step on this bottom line and face the blade.

Indeed, once the bottom line Lianzhi was involved, Fu Junli’s expression changed. He would never allow anyone to touch the private things left behind by Lianzhi.

However, for the eyes that seemed so similar to Lianzhi's, the image in front of him blurred for a moment, and he handed the fan to him.

Gu Bai didn’t expect that he would agree. He adjusted his views of the man and opened the folding fan and studied it.

His eyes fell on the fan, and he looked up again after a few glances at the sentimental poem of, "His clothes grow looser and looser by the day, yet he cares not. For him, he would waste away in sorrow and pain.”

“Who is Junli-gege missing? I don’t know what kind of peerless man…… ”

Fu Junli did not answer, his eyes fixed on the fan, and his eyes fell into an unfathomable shadow, clearly already caught up in a sentimental memory.

Seeing this, Gu Bai continued, “His name was Lianzhi?”

“…” Fu Junli immediately looked up at him.

“Junli-gege said it when he first saw Yunxi… He has the same blue eyes as Yunxi? Junli-gege always likes to look at Yunxi’s eyes… Would Junli Gege be willing to talk to Yunxi about it? ”

Gu Bai took the cup of tea from the cart, poured two cups of tea and smiled, “Yunxi is willing to listen to you……”

With Gu Bai’s seemingly natural and unhindered tea pouring, Fu Junli felt at ease, and the young man’s light smile could even soothe the pain in his heart.

Gu Bai’s words seemed to be a fuse for his long-held injury, burning into his heart and causing an explosion of confusion to vent it all out.

He took a sip of tea and sighed slowly.

“His name was Rong Lianzhi. Although he was born to a prostitute, he was an elegant and peerless young master. I met him on Yangzhou Lake eight years ago. It was the happiest day of my life. I never knew that there were people who could be friends with me. We said that we should drink wine and be harmonious together. As the saying goes, with his son, the elder is harmonious; one plays the guqin and the other the guse, harmoniously and happily together, a happy marital bond…”

Rong Lianzhi was born to a prostitute? Gu Bai’s spirit was startled, and his ears perked up to listen attentively.

This was not mentioned in the original plot. In the original plot, Fu Junli never told the original owner about Lianzhi's matter. The original owner didn’t know that he was the substitute in Fu Junli’s heart until this noble white lotus appeared.

Since Rong Lianzhi was born to a prostitute, why did he still say that Du Yunxi was a filthy thing?

Gu Bai’s chest filled with anger again with the original owner’s inexplicable emotion.

Fu Junli fell back into his memories.

“… At that time, I wanted to redeem him and take him home, but the brothel's madam greedily asked me to give him thousands of liangs of gold to let Lianzhi leave with me. At that time, I had not yet taken over the property, and my mother was not favored by my father. Thousands of liangs of gold was a difficult thing for me, so I couldn't pay. The madam even asked someone to beat me out of the attic!”

Speaking of this, Fu Junli’s face was cold. Before he took over the Fu family, he was a legitimate son who was not favored and had been despised by many.

During his trip to Yangzhou, he didn’t let people know he was the legitimate son of the rich house of Fu. The brothel madam only regarded him as an ordinary scholar. When he ran out of money, she had turned around and refused to recognize him.

“But Lianzhi was deeply in love with me. He met me in the middle of the night and brought a doctor and some silver. He told me not to tire myself out for him while rushing to Beijing for the exam. He would wait for me to come back, but who knew that…”

The expression on Fu Junli’s face grew pained.

“Who knew that when I went back to the manor to get enough money to go back, Lianzhi had been beaten half to death by the madam’s pimp and been forcefully sold off, leaving only a small note to my letter: If you entered my deep longing, you would understand why I yearn and suffer. Long yearning recalls distant memories, a short yearning is boundless. Yun Xi, do you understand? …..”

Fu Junli finished talking, and his throat was dry, and there was a kind of sadness of not crying but still having tears. This was why he hadn't wanted to take the exam all his life. Lianzhi had made him focus on his future, but the core of his heart was occupied by a beauty.

“I… understand. ”

Gu Bai breathed a long sigh of relief and showed a moved face.

Lianzhi was your youth’s first love. Did you think that this first love was a white lotus that came out of mud unstained? Did you think that this white lotus understood that you couldn't extricate yourself? Did you think that he didn't know your identity and still loved you, and how rare that was? Did you think it was more valuable for him to send charcoal in the snow when you had fallen down? Did you think it was so sad that he couldn't help being sold off, only leaving you a letter that would last forever in your heart, making you think such beautiful love couldn't be forgotten.

But brother, don’t you think such a beautiful love story is a little strange?

Since he could come out of the brothel to replace you in the middle of the night, why didn't he elope with you with that bundle of silver, and actually muddle-headedly ran back to continue eating and drinking?

You said he was worth thousands of liangs of gold. The madam beat him half to death to sell off at such a low price?

And lastly, he left a letter for you. Why didn't he tell you where he had been sold and instead made you wait eight years to replace out?

Elder brother, wake up. This person is playing you, poor scholar……

Even though he was vomiting in his heart, Gu Bai was very sensible and didn’t show it. If these words actually came out, he was sure to replace trouble. He thought that Fu Junli was sure to choke him.

Therefore, Gu Bai slightly raised his eyes and tried to make them red.

“If two people love each other for a long time, what are the mornings and evenings? Junli-gege was deeply in love, but don’t take Yunxi as Lianzhi anymore. The carriage has arrived. Junli-gege should rest early…”

After that, Gu Bai got out of the carriage and left Fu Junli alone in the carriage to mumble a bit.

Now that he knew why Fu Junli loved Lianzhi, he could now determine the direction of his strategy.

VS a sincere white lotus, this kind of magical creature he couldn't win against very often. But VS a green tea bitch pretending to be white lotus, Gu Bai would declare that the thing he is most not afraid of is competing to see who can act better and who can act more forced and pitiful….

In the next few days, as soon as he changed his strategy and stopped imitating Lianzhi, he began to talk to Fu Junli from time to time about the wind, flowers, snow and moon, wrote a few poems and songs, and played some music. Without a trace, Du Yunxi’s shadow occupied all of Fu Junli’s mind.

Gradually, Fu Junli could not even connect him with Lianzhi any more. Even if he stared at those same blue eyes, he could not comfort himself with seeing Gu Bai as Lianzhi.

Although Lianzhi had talent, it was different from the youth in front of him. The talent of this youth was incomparable. He was like a pearl that has been covered with dust for a long time. The more it was wiped, the brighter it shined, and the more brilliant it was, the more people it attracted.

But this did not prevent him from keeping a soft attitude towards Gu Bai.

When he had first fallen in love with Lianzhi, that had been because he was the first one to be able to write poems and paintings and discuss them with him. He appreciated talented people. Even though Lianzhi was born in a brothel he couldn't help himself with his noble and unsullied air.

In fact, Fu Junli secretly felt that he was peerless, but lonely youth. He liked the feeling of being intimate friends with Gu Bai, which made him rediscover the feelings of being intimate friends with Lianzhi back then.

Just as Gu Bai happily played Fu Junli, a man who had received the news of Fu’s mansion in the imperial city was in a gloomy mood.

So this day, the Fu family received a decree from the palace.

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juurensha: Hello! Helping edit this novel, it’s been a fun group project! (And I’m glad I got this one since it’s mostly backstory)