Extra (ii)
Edited: 01.14.2024
There was a small town on the southern coast called Linyun Town. Linyun Town was close to the sea but was not a port. The locals made a living by fishing and most of them were self-sufficient and lived a peaceful and carefree life.
Early in the morning, a bird rested on a reef on the seashore, its fluffy feathers were messed up by the sea breeze.
The little gray sparrow’s obsidian eyes were staring blankly at the blue sea in the distance.
It had been two days since he’d seen Gu Xuan.
The two came to Linyun Town three years ago and lived here anonymously, and their lives were relatively stable.
Linyun Town was a small place and few outsiders set foot there so when they arrived, they caused a lot of commotion.
However, this place wasn’t exclusive and it quickly accommodated the two foreigners as their permanent residence. But before they could settle down for long, the matchmaker came to their door.
Gu Xuan and the little gray sparrow: one handsome and calm and the other charming and cute, quickly captured the attention of many girls when they first arrived.
When the two of them first came here, the situation in the Central Plains was still unstable so Gu Xuan didn’t tell others about their true relationship. When the matchmaker came to his door, Gu Xuan only replied that he had no intention of getting married yet and politely sent the matchmaker away.
He thought this was just a minor incident, but he didn’t expect that in a few months, another family would come for his hand.
In just three years, the number of people coming for marriage had never stopped.
Not only that, but there were also a lot of people who had been trying to get close to Gu Xuan. Two days ago, the little gray sparrow had some trouble with Gu Xuan because of this.
At that time, Gu Xuan happened to be out on business and a woman suddenly visited their home, saying that she had promised Gu Xuan to send him some stir-fried dried shrimps. After settling here, Gu Xuan opened a private school to teach the children how to read and occasionally went fishing with the locals. That girl was the youngest daughter of a fisherman’s family who often took Gu Xuan out to sea, named Fu Ling.
The fishermen who lived along the coast didn’t have many rules and taboos. Fu Ling had been fishing with the fishermen since she was young. She was raised as a boy ever since she was a child and had an immediate connection with Gu Xuan and the little gray sparrow.
Over the years, Gu Xuan and the little gray sparrow lived together and the locals regarded them as brothers. The same was true for Fu Ling. Seeing that the little gray sparrow was bored at home, she pulled him to talk to him about interesting things when she went to sea, and she couldn’t help but praise Gu Xuan along the way.
But as the little gray sparrow listened, he felt a little sour.
Was Gu Xuan really this close to the woman when they were outside?
The little gray sparrow became more and more angry as he listened. He endured his anger and sent the person away before angrily transforming into his original form and flying out of the house.
If this were the usual, when Gu Xuan didn’t see the little gray sparrow after returning home, he would definitely come looking for him. But even when the little gray sparrow waited until dark, the person didn’t come looking for him. When he got home, he saw that Gu Xuan had left him a note, saying that he had gone fishing with the fishermen.
——Exasperated, the little gray sparrow flew out of the house again.
“Stupid Gu Xuan.” The little gray sparrow stared at the sea in the distance and said indignantly.
Suddenly, a voice sounded not far away.
Startled, the little gray sparrow fluttered its wings and jumped off the reef, hiding in the cracks of the rocks and poking its head outward. Two women came over holding several fishing nets, probably preparing to dry them.
One of the women skillfully spread the nets out on the beach and turned her head to ask: “A Lan, is your husband still the same and doesn’t do anything at home all day?”
A Lan sighed: “Yes, since we got married, that deadbeat only knows how to eat, drink and have fun all day long, and doesn’t do anything. I really envy your husband, he’s hardworking, capable, and considerate.”
The woman beside her laughed: “That’s not the same, my husband married into my family so he doesn’t dare slack off. If he doesn’t work, it’ll make my father angry and he will be kicked out of the house.”
The two of them spread out the fishing nets on the beach and sat down on their knees again, taking out the fishing line from their bosom to mend the broken nets.
A Lan skillfully did the work and then complained: “Even if he doesn’t work, he still gets angry with me all day long. He doesn’t like this or that, and he doesn’t understand my hard work outside at all. What kind of husband is like that?”
The other woman agreed: “That’s not good, you have to talk to him. If my husband were to do this, I would have divorced him long ago.”
The two finished their work quickly, leaving a pool of laid fishing nets behind, and left the beach.
The little gray sparrow flew out from behind the reef, staring thoughtfully at the nets that were on the ground.
He had heard what the two women had said just now.
The little gray sparrow buried his head in his chest and combed the matted feathers on his chest, adding some introspection to his originally depressed thoughts.
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During the time he had been with Gu Xuan, he had never done any bit of work.
In fact, the two of them were not short of money. They could live comfortably in Linyun Town even if they didn’t work like ordinary people. But after leaving Chang’an, life was completely different.
They could no longer be as carefree as before and no one could help them with cooking and washing, so they had to do everything by themselves.
But Gu Xuan never let him get involved in anything. Even after coming here, the little gray sparrow still ate and played every day, and rightfully enjoyed the care given to him by Gu Xuan.
It seemed……like he was even worse than the husband that the woman named A Lan was talking about.
Could it be that because of this, Gu Xuan didn’t want him anymore and went to find someone else?
The early morning sea breeze, with its salty moisture, ruffled the little gray sparrow’s feathers. He couldn’t even comb his hair smoothly, so he fell on his back, looking like he had given up on himself.
In the past, when Gu Xuan went out to sea, he would always tell him when he would leave and when he would return, and he never left in such a hurry as this time.
He would come back, right?
The more the little gray sparrow thought about it, the more uncertain he became. He suddenly jumped up from the rock, flapped his wings, and flew toward the blue sea.
The sky was getting dark, there was a big commotion on the sea, and it seemed as if heavy rain was coming. A fishing boat that was tied to the shore was rocking under the lapping water.
A bonfire was lit on the coast and Gu Xuan sat on the rocks, staring at the rough sea in the distance.
He was dressed in commoner’s clothes, but his demeanor was still different from the others, and he looked a bit out of place among the group of fishermen.
As the sky gradually darkened, Gu Xuan looked into the distance and let out a shallow sigh in his heart.
For some reason, from this morning to now, he had been feeling a little uneasy. However, the weather at sea today was bad and the fleet was unable to continue sailing and was forced to rest on an island some distance away from Linyun Town.
Since he hadn’t been back for some time, he didn’t know if that silly bird would be worried.
“Brother Lu, drink some water.” A female voice sounded behind him. Gu Xuan turned his head and Fu Ling handed him a pouch of water.
After coming here, in order to hide his identity, Gu Xuan assumed the name Lu Xuan.
Gu Xuan took the pouch: “Many thanks.”
Fu Ling was just past the age of maturity, but she didn’t have the usual constrained rules of a typical lady. She grinned and sat down beside Gu Xuan: “My father said that we can return in the morning, so Brother Lu doesn’t have to worry.”
“Okay.”
Fu Ling wanted to say something else, but saw a dark thing on the sea flying towards their direction.
The thing was swaying in the wind and rain, as if it had no strength. Before it could reach the two of them, it fell from the air. Before Fu Ling had time to react, Gu Xuan suddenly stood up and lunged forward. When the little thing was about to hit the rocks, he steadily caught it in his palm.
“Brother Lu!”
Because Gu Xuan pounced in a hurry, he wasn’t able to stand steadily and actually slipped down from the reef.
Fortunately, the reef wasn’t too high. Gu Xuan rolled twice and fell into the sand beside him. His plain white robe was stained with a lot of mud, but he didn’t care about it at all and carefully opened his palms.
A little gray sparrow lay with its belly upturned in his palm. Its chest rising and falling slightly, as if it was exhausted.
The little gray sparrow looked up and stared at Gu Xuan’s face. He had been flying over the sea for too long. After his light gray feathers were stained with water, its color became a little darker and stuck to his body, making his figure look unprecedentedly petite, as if he had rolled into the water and was fished out again.
But he was still in good spirits, his dark eyes blinked, and there was a bit of happiness in his voice: “A Xuan, I finally found you.”
Seeing him in this state, Gu Xuan was first worried, and then immediately got angry. He was about to snap when the fishermen on the beach heard the commotion and ran to his side.
Fu Ling also jumped down from the reef and exclaimed: “Brother Lu, your hand!”
Only then did Gu Xuan realize that the fabric on his arm had been cut open by the rough stones and a little blood seeped out, quickly staining his sleeves with small patches of blood.
“Ah, A Xuan——” When the little gray sparrow also discovered that Gu Xuan was injured and was about to speak, the other party suddenly reached out and patted him on the back. The little gray sparrow’s words quickly changed, turning into a chirping sparrow’s cry.
The fishermen were so concerned about Gu Xuan’s injuries that they didn’t notice the little gray sparrow’s strange behavior.
Gu Xuan followed the fishermen back to the campfire and soon someone went to get medicine from the boat. Among the people accompanying him, only Fu Ling was a woman, so she was naturally responsible for bandaging his wounds.
Fu Ling took some water to help Gu Xuan clean his wound and then carefully applied medicine.
The little gray sparrow squatted in Gu Xuan’s palm. When he saw the long and terrifying wound on the other person’s arm, the look in his eyes darkened a bit. The little gray sparrow chirped twice and gently rubbed its little head on Gu Xuan’s finger.
Fu Ling noticed the little gray sparrow in Gu Xuan’s hand and smiled: “This little bird is so cute, as if it knows that Brother Lu got injured from saving it.”
Gu Xuan’s free hand touched the little gray sparrow’s head and his eyes softened immediately, “He is cute, but just a bit silly.”
How was he silly?!
The little gray sparrow chirped and lowered its head to peck at Gu Xuan’s fingers in anger.
When Gu Xuan saw him like this, not only was he not angry, but he couldn’t help but smile a little. While Fu Ling was bandaging his wound, she looked up at Gu Xuan’s expression and tilted her head in confusion.
Wasn’t it just a bird? Why did he have this…….tender look?
Like he was looking at his own wife.
Fu Ling was startled by her own thoughts and suddenly felt that her presence was particularly obtrusive. She quickly helped Gu Xuan with his wound before finding an excuse to leave the campfire.
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It was already dark and the fishermen stayed at the campground. Soon, only Gu Xuan and the little gray sparrow were left by the campfire.
Gu Xuan made the fire a little brighter and brought the little gray sparrow, who was shivering from the sea breeze, to the fire so that he could dry his feathers.
Gu Xuan lowered his eyes, looked at the pitiful appearance of the little gray sparrow, and lectured: “Now you know it’s cold? Why did you fly this far to find me? Did you want to die?”
The little gray sparrow was so cold that it shivered all over and said intermittently: “I didn’t know it was this far away……”
He actually wasn’t clear about where Gu Xuan had gone out to sea, but he had stayed with Gu Xuan for a long time and could more or less feel the man’s aura. He followed that faint scent and kept flying forward, and when he was halfway there, he realized that the coastline was gradually moving away from him. And being surrounded by seawater, he just couldn’t go back even if he wanted to.
He could only keep going forward and flew for a whole day before he finally found Gu Xuan.
Fortunately, the little gray sparrow was a demon, if it was just an ordinary bird, perhaps it would have already been dead.
Gu Xuan sighed deeply, not wanting to argue with him about this: “So……why exactly did you come to find me?”
The little gray sparrow paused and tilted his head: “I just wanted to see you. You didn’t come back after a long time so I got worried.”
Gu Xuan softened up at his appearance and he rubbed the little gray sparrow’s head: “Didn’t I leave you a message before I left? Did you not see it?”
The little gray sparrow hesitated for a moment.
Thinking of the two fisherwomen he encountered this morning, the little gray sparrow suddenly didn’t want Gu Xuan to know that he was blindly jealous and one-sidedly upset.
He avoided Gu Xuan’s gaze and whispered: “I saw it.”
Gu Xuan frowned: “Then what exactly did you come to see me for?”
The little gray sparrow didn’t answer as he flew over to the fire and shook his still-wet feathers. Gu Xuan narrowed his eyes, keenly sensing that he was hiding something, but he didn’t ask any more questions.
The sea breeze grew stronger in the night and his soaked feathers clung to his body, chilling the little gray sparrow to the bone. He unconsciously moved closer to the fire, and the sparks nearly jumped on him. Gu Xuan hurriedly scooped him up from the fire.
Gu Xuan was still frightened and scolded: “Do you want to roast yourself?”
The little gray sparrow was also startled. He sat in Gu Xuan’s hand and drilled into his palm: “I don’t want to, but……it’s really cold.”
Gu Xuan was silent for a moment: “There is another method.”
The little gray sparrow’s movements stopped: “What is it?”
Gu Xuan said: “Change back to your human form and then dry your body. Then you won’t be cold.”
“Oh yeah.” The little gray sparrow blinked and looked around, “But there are people here, won’t I be seen by others?”
Gu Xuan stood up and led the little gray sparrow in the direction of the campground.
There were tents on fishing boats all year round. Gu Xuan didn’t like to be too close to people, so he intentionally pitched his tent farther away. Gu Xuan carried the little gray sparrow into the tent. Before he could speak, the little gray sparrow flew out of his hand and its chubby body rolled down onto the simple bed.
A light flashed in the tent and a naked young man knelt on the bed. He smiled at Gu Xuan and curved his eyes: “You’re right. It’s not so cold this way.”
Gu Xuan’s movements stalled.
He turned around calmly and blocked the tent entrance tightly. He then took a handkerchief, walked to the bed, sat down, and wiped the little gray sparrow’s body.
While he wiped his body, he used the methods of the Zongzheng Secretary and “interrogated” the little gray sparrow in detail about what he was hiding from him.
……
Under Gu Xuan’s coercion, the little gray sparrow quickly told the truth, but even so, Gu Xuan still refused to let him go.
The two of them stayed at the campground. The little gray sparrow was worried about being overheard and didn’t dare to speak out, which made Gu Xuan bully him even more. Gu Xuan bullied him for most of the night and it was already late at night when the little gray sparrow fell asleep.
After falling asleep, the little gray sparrow fell into a strange dream.
The little gray sparrow flapped its wings in the huge space surrounded by darkness. He shouted Gu Xuan’s name loudly but received no response. Suddenly, a little light shone not far ahead. The little gray bird sparrow flew towards the place where the light was.
After reaching the light, there was a familiar bedchamber.
He saw Gu Xuan, dressed in the wedding clothes for the Crown Prince, standing in the bedchamber and by the bed in front of him, there was a woman also dressed in wedding clothes.
Gu Xuan walked forward and slowly lifted the woman’s red veil, which showed an unfamiliar face.
It wasn’t the little gray sparrow.
The little gray sparrow stood behind the screen, watching Gu Xuan and the woman drink the nuptial wine. He watched as Gu Xuan slowly removed the wedding robe from his body before moving onto the woman’s clothes……
“A Xuan!” The little gray sparrow shouted unbearably. He walked forward and found that he had changed back to his human form at some point. The little gray sparrow couldn’t care less and grabbed Gu Xuan’s wrist, “A Xuan, how can you marry someone else?”
Gu Xuan turned his head and didn’t look at him, his voice sounded like he was suppressing something: “Little sparrow, you shouldn’t be here.”
“You……you are not A Xuan…….”
It was obviously the same face, but he felt that Gu Xuan’s appearance was particularly unfamiliar, so unfamiliar that it made him a little scared.
This realization made the little gray sparrow take a half step back, but Gu Xuan followed closely and clasped his wrist: “Little sparrow, where are you going?”
The voice suddenly became ethereal and the little gray sparrow felt as if he had fallen into a deeper and bottomless void than before.
When the feeling of falling completely disappeared, the little gray sparrow opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of a hut.
The interior of the house was simple, with no windows, and the candle flames on the walls danced with shadows. The little gray sparrow sat up, but it provoked a crisp clang of metal.
On his slender wrist, a small gold chain was tied, making his skin even paler.
One end of the gold chain was tied to a corner of the bed, just enough to accommodate him in this hut.
Only then did the little gray sparrow notice that the walls of this hut were all gilded with a thin layer of gold, just like the golden cage that Gu Xuan had used to lock him up in the palace in the past.
There was the sound of rustling chains outside the door. The door of the hut was opened and Gu Xuan walked in with a gloomy expression.
The little gray sparrow pursed his lips and tugged at the gold chain on his hand: “A Xuan, let me go, why are you locking me up here?”
Hearing his voice, Gu Xuan’s expression became a little more somber. He slowly walked up and tenderly clasped the little gray sparrow’s wrist, putting it to his lips and kissing it lightly: “You’re not allowed to leave.”
The little gray sparrow moved uncomfortably and whispered: “A Xuan, what are you talking about, let go of me, okay?”
“No way.” Gu Xuan’s eyes were bloodshot. He pushed the slender boy back on the bed forcefully with a hoarse voice: “If I let you go, who are you going to run off to? Are you going to betray me too?”
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The clothes on the little gray sparrow were torn and with the sound of the fabric tearing, Gu Xuan’s voice sounded softly: “You can’t go anywhere, you can only stay by my side, you can only be by my side……”
“No, no——” The little gray sparrow sat up violently, in front of him was the slightly simple tent.
There was no ornate palace or gilded hut as he took in the faint smell of seawater inside the tent.
Suddenly, someone embraced him from behind.
A familiar scent covered him and a lazy voice rang in his ears: “Did you have a nightmare?”
The little gray sparrow turned his head and Gu Xuan’s eyes were downcast as he looked at him, his expression carrying the usual gentleness.
“A Xuan……” The little gray sparrow sniffled as he buried himself into Gu Xuan’s arms, his voice carrying a few hints of crying.
Gu Xuan froze for a moment and stroked the little gray sparrow’s back: “It’s just a dream, why are you this scared? Tell me, what did you dream about?”
The little gray sparrow whispered: “……I dreamed of you.”
Gu Xuan chuckled: “Dreaming of me made you this scared?”
He believed that he had always been gentle with the little gray sparrow and he always took the other person’s feelings into consideration even in bed. Although he had used some tough methods to force the little gray sparrow to answer him last night, it should still be within the range that this person could bear.
How did it cause him to have nightmares?
The little gray sparrow calmed down a little, but the content of the dream still made him more and more aggrieved the more he thought about it. The little gray sparrow leaned into Gu Xuan’s arms, accusing: “I dreamt that you married someone else to be your Crown Princess.”
“That was such an old event.” Gu Xuan was silent, “Not to mention that I messed up my own wedding banquet. Even if I really married the Crown Princess, wouldn’t I be marrying you?”
“But it wasn’t me in the dream.” The little gray sparrow muttered: “……I don’t know where that little deviant came from.”
Gu Xuan smiled helplessly: “What else did you dream of?”
The little gray sparrow shrank his neck, as if he was still frightened: “I dreamed that you locked me up, tied my hands with a golden chain, and bullied me……it made me feel uncomfortable.”
Gu Xuan couldn’t listen anymore and raised his hand to flick the little gray sparrow on the forehead: “What kind of nonsense are you thinking about all day long? I……how could I do that kind of thing?”
The little gray sparrow covered his forehead in pain and whispered: “I also don’t know why I would have this kind of dream……maybe it’s because I’m worried that you don’t want me anymore.”
Gu Xuan frowned and asked: “A bunch of nonsense, why would I not want you anymore?”
The little gray sparrow said: “I don’t know how to work, I eat a lot, and I’m always angry with you. I heard the fisherwoman say that if her husband was like this, she would have divorced him long ago. So I worry……about it.”
“Silly bird.” Gu Xuan rubbed a handful of the little gray sparrow’s hair and said in a warm voice, “I’m not the same as them and I’m not the same as the person in your dream, I won’t abandon you.”
“Really?”
“Of course.” Gu Xuan wrapped his arms around him and laid them back on the bed: “If you’re still unsure, when we go back we’ll organize a wedding banquet and get married again according to the local customs.”
“Okay.” The little gray sparrow nodded before remembering: “Don’t worry, I’ll go back and learn to do housework, learn to fish, and make sure to take good care of you.”
Gu Xuan said: “You don’t have to……”
“What do you mean? I am your husband, of course I have to do this.”
“……Okay, you are the husband.”
It was still early and silence returned to the tent. The little gray sparrow listened to the sound of the sea lapping against the rocks outside the tent. He was still a little scared and asked in a low voice: “You really won’t lock me up with a gold chain, right?”
Gu Xuan was silent for a moment: “If you want to, it won’t be impossible.”
“Definitely not.” The little gray sparrow shook his head in a hurry: “You might not know, but you were super fierce in my dreams. I was about to cry from fear.”
Thinking of those dreams, the little gray sparrow flinched a bit and drilled into Gu Xuan’s arms: “You’re not allowed to treat me like that.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t.”
“That means forever.”
“Mnn, forever.”
☽ ⋆ℍalf 𝕄oon 𝕋ranslations⋆ ☾ 
Oh those silly boys~ Good to see they are doing quite well!
Thank You for the new chapter (∩˃o˂∩)♡
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Is it their past life ?
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This is the little sparrow x crown prince side story 🙂
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