Chapter 305 A Greenhorn

Chapter 305: A Greenhorn

Cui Ji felt his mouth go dry, his body stiff as stone.

Gone was the icy, iron-fisted commander who led thousands into battle—now he was just a flustered, blushing groom.

Inside the tent, the candle flame occasionally let out a faint crackle, interweaving with the howling wind outside, making the stillness inside feel almost suffocating.

After what felt like an eternity—long enough that Cheng Ge's breathing had evened out into deep, steady rhythms—Cui Ji finally stirred.

He carefully rolled over, turning to face Cheng Ge.

In the dim candlelight, he greedily devoured the sleeping face so close to his own.

His heart hammered against his ribs, threatening to burst clean out of his chest.

He slowly lifted his arm and draped it gently over Cheng Ge's back.

Through the thin fabric, he could feel the distinct ridge of his spine. He drew the man toward him with infinite slowness, erasing the last sliver of space between them.

Cui Ji ran naturally hot, his blood running strong and warm—in the bitter northern night, he was a walking furnace.

In his sleep, Cheng Ge felt himself wrapped in an endless, soothing warmth.

He let out a soft, contented hum in his sleep and instinctively burrowed closer to the source of heat, chasing an even tighter embrace.

His cheek nuzzled against Cui Ji's neck, and his soft lips accidentally skimmed the warm skin there—a fleeting brush that was somehow enough to set the world ablaze.

That careless touch was a spark dropped into dry tinder. Cui Ji's hand on Cheng Ge's back tightened, just barely.

He gazed down at the man cradled in his arms, tracing every achingly familiar inch of him over and over...

Cui Ji reached out, his fingertips trailing slowly over Cheng Ge's brow, then tracing the delicate line of his closed eyelid.

The silken texture beneath his fingertips, paired with Cheng Ge's even breathing, was a silent, potent seduction.

Cui Ji's throat bobbed. In the end, he couldn't hold back any longer and slowly leaned in.

A feather-light kiss, pressed with painstaking care to Cheng Ge's forehead.

The touch was cool against his lips, carrying the clean, soapy scent of Cheng Ge's bath and a faint whisper of medicinal herbs.

It lasted only a heartbeat, yet it sent a tidal wave crashing through his chest.

But that fleeting taste did nothing to quench the ache inside him.

Instead, it was like a single drop of water on a dying man's tongue—it only made the thirst burn hotter.

He paused, his breath coming in shallow, uneven pulls, and in the end, he couldn't help himself.

He dipped his head again, this time with deeper longing and a possessiveness that couldn't be mistaken, and pressed another kiss to the very same spot.

This kiss was a shade heavier than the first, lingering just a heartbeat longer.

As if, through that intimate press of lips, he could pour every ounce of his worry and yearning into the other man.

When he finally pulled back, he lifted his head just enough to gaze at Cheng Ge's serene, sleeping face in the dim light.

He forced the storm of emotions down, then hauled the man even closer, as if he could fuse them into a single being.

Only then did he close his eyes, content, his chin resting on Cheng Ge's crown, the two of them sinking together into a dream that held them both.

Cheng Ge slept like the dead that night—so deeply that the sun was already high overhead before Lü Rou finally dared to wake him.

"Young master? Young master, it's time to get up and eat."

Cheng Ge mumbled something groggy in reply, his long lashes fluttering a few times before he cracked his eyes open with great reluctance.

His brain was still a foggy mess. He sat up in a daze, hugging the blanket to his chest.

His hair was a total disaster from sleep, with a few stubborn strands sticking up every which way—he looked adorably out of it.

A chill crept through the tent flaps in thin wisps, and he instinctively pulled the soft, warm quilt tighter around himself.

He cocooned himself until only his messy head poked out.

He squinted in sleepy satisfaction. Man, he'd slept well last night...

Cheng Ge took his sweet time finishing his meal, then grimaced as he choked down that bowl of bitter medicine.

Luckily, there were candied fruits today, for whatever reason, which made it a little more tolerable.

With the sun shining just right, Cheng Ge decided to take a stroll around camp—call it an early recon of his "work environment."

He smoothed down his robes and was about to step out when Lü Rou hurried over with the plain veiled hat from yesterday.

She murmured, "Young master, there are too many prying eyes out there. Better to wear this."

Cheng Ge only then remembered he was technically a "kidnapped" person and probably shouldn't be drawing attention. He accepted the hat and put it on without complaint.

The second he stepped out of the tent, Cheng Ge felt that something was off.

He could feel countless eyes on him—and those stares... were weirdly intense.

Cheng Ge stopped dead in his tracks. Behind the thin veil, a faint blush crept up his face.

Could it be... that these people could see right through his half-hidden appearance and catch a glimpse of his stunning, one-of-a-kind, radiating-from-within handsome essence?

Man, these people had some seriously sharp eyes!

At that thought, Cheng Ge instantly dropped his earlier lazy, slouchy vibe.

He immediately straightened his spine, lifted his chin a notch, and slowed his stride, determined to make every step drip with elegance and gravitas.

The sudden shift in his energy had an instant effect on the soldiers sneaking glances at him.

A few junior officers who'd been itching to go talk to him immediately shrank back, huddling together to gossip.

"This General's Wife... is kind of cold, huh."

"That aura... standing next to our general, they really are a match. Neither of them is your average person."

"Tsk tsk tsk... A proper lady from a noble family really is something else. That poise isn't something just anyone can pull off!"

Cheng Ge, completely oblivious, carried himself under a barrage of awed stares, keeping up his icy-cool facade as he began his "inspection" of the camp.

Little did he know, in everyone's eyes, he'd already transformed into an untouchable, ice-cold General's Wife.

Cheng Ge strutted through camp, chest puffed out, "inspecting" the place for a good long while.

He looked every bit the big-shot official out on a field inspection, and wherever he went (or so he thought), the soldiers couldn't help but stand in awe of him.

Once he'd finished his little stroll, he turned and headed toward the training grounds.

He figured he'd go check on what his good buddy and future boss, Cui Ji, was up to.

He'd no sooner arrived at the training grounds than he walked right into the daily soldier sparring session.

Sure, formations on the battlefield mattered, but you couldn't sleep on a soldier's individual combat skills either.

After all, on the battlefield it's kill or be killed—the tougher you are, the better your odds of walking away.

On the open ground before him, soldiers from every banner were going at it one-on-one, locked in fierce bouts.

Some sparred with weapons, others fought bare-handed, and the air rang with shouts and the thud of bodies slamming into each other.

He'd heard that the Cui Family Army had an unwritten rule: after each day's sparring, the loser had to wash the winner's smelly socks and underwear—a humiliation that cut straight to the soul.

So to avoid that kind of shame, every soldier on the field was going all out, fighting with everything they had.

Fists slammed into flesh, kicks whistled through the air, and there wasn't a shred of mercy in their eyes—just a burning hunger to win.

Cui Ji stood on a low earthen platform at the front of the grounds, calmly sweeping his gaze over the whole field.

Cheng Ge ducked down, slipped through the crowd, and sidled up next to Cui Ji, then gave him a little elbow to the small of the back.

Cui Ji had already sensed him coming, but hadn't expected that little jab, and his body stiffened just barely noticeably.

He turned his head and asked quietly, "What brings you here? You eaten yet?"

Cheng Ge nodded to say he had, then fished two big jujubes out of his sleeve.

He held them out to Cui Ji and asked, all casual, "Here, want one?"

Cui Ji looked at the two red dates, then at Cheng Ge's face, and shook his head. "You have 'em."

Cheng Ge had only been offering to be polite anyway, so at that, he immediately went "om nom" and stuffed both dates into his mouth at once.

As he chewed, he gestured vaguely at the two soldiers going at it hardest in the middle of the field and asked, "Those two... who's gonna take it?"

He looked like he was here to watch a show, just short of a handful of melon seeds to snack on.