Rebuild the Silk Road, both roads are difficult and dangerous.
In contrast, the sea route is more dangerous than the land route. People living on land have longed for and been curious about the sea and the sky since ancient times, and the people of Daheng want to open up new paths, want to see the scenery of various countries, want Daheng to prosper and spread Daheng's glory as far as the eye can see.
This was the goal of some aspiring young officials, and the goal of everyone gathered around Gu Yuanbai.
They don't just long for peace and prosperity anymore, they want to yearn for something more. The mountains and rivers are in the table, and the king is in peace and prosperity, so that the hearts and minds of the great men are set on a wave of passion.
What Gu Yuanbai sees in his eyes has also long passed through millions of miles away. Coastal, grassland, yellow sand, the vastness of the earth so that his heart is also incomparably broad, presented to put not enough to the outside world also ambition.
He was not a person who delayed love, and he did not feel that companionship was so important on weekdays. But now when he thought of Xue Yuan leaving the capital to retrace his steps along the Silk Road, he tasted a few points of bitterness in his mouth.
Gu Yuanbai has long been accustomed to the days of Xue Yuan around, cold someone's heart, hot someone anxious, woke up in the middle of the night, someone handed a cup of warm water, was coaxed to sleep again. The days are long, abruptly look back, only to realize that now has Jingping fourteen years.
Four years had passed since the wood carving that Xue Yuan had given him in the tenth year of Jingping.
If he were to leave this time, he would be gone for three to five years. If Gu Yuanbai's body wasn't yet well, where would he have three to five years to wait for him? But now that she was better and had time, Gu Yuanbai was unwilling to let Xue Yuan go.
He wanted Xue Yuan to stay under his nose, visible at all times. But what Gu Yuanbai appreciated was precisely the vigorous breath of freedom in Xue Yuan, like wild grass and wild animals, vigorous and untamed. He should run free, not be raised as a house flower under the shelter of Gu Yuanbai's wings.
Men's ambition, Gu Yuanbai understands. But it was not a short time, it was years on years, it was the time when the grass in the night was yellow and withered, and the frost and snow came several times.
At night, Gu Yuanbai faced the wall, mindlessly pondering what he really wanted Xue Yuan to do.
But the thought does not come out, Xue Yuan went he did not want to, Xue Yuan does not go he did not want to, decisive and sharp at this moment all have disappeared.
Someone behind him crossed over a hand and groped for his hand in the bedding. Gu Yuanbai didn't move, and Xue Yuan pressed close.
His nostrils hit his neck, and Xue Yuan didn't say a word, only gripping Gu Yuanbai's hand hard. Thick calluses rubbing together, every place on this hand Gu Yuanbai was familiar with in his heart, his thumb soothing on the back of his hand as if he was saying to reassure Gu Yuanbai.
After a few moments, Xue Yuan asked in a low voice, "Can't sleep?"
Gu Yuanbai subconsciously let his breath stretch out, feigning sleep. Xue Yuan laughed lowly a few times, "We'll go out for a walk if we can't sleep."
"How did you see that I didn't sleep?" Gu Yuanbai finally spoke out.
"The heart is in the right place," Xue Yuan lifted the bedding and got out of bed to find Gu Yuanbai's clothes, holding him by the side of the bed, "Is it okay to wear this indigo color?"
Gu Yuanbai nodded wordlessly, and Xue Yuan knelt down on one knee, lifting his foot on his own knee, and straightening his white socks with a concentrated expression.
He was so serious, even a little serious. Gu Yuanbai looked at him from top to bottom and only saw his handsome eyebrows that were as thick as ink spots. From the time Xue Yuan came to Gu Yuanbai's side, he did everything himself, serving Gu Yuanbai willingly, from rusty to skillful, a proud son of the heavens just rounded up Gu Yuanbai's eating, drinking, rising and sleeping.
"I shall give you an extra salary," Gu Yuanbai shot up, "and ask Tian Fusheng to let you have half of it."
Xue Yuan laughed, "Chief Tian thought it was necessary to hate me."
He helped Gu Yuanbai up and dressed him one by one, the robe smoothing out the wrinkles, the silver silk piping tumbling, the green cloud dragon patterned belt slowly tying up at the waist, after Gu Yuanbai was fully dressed, Xue Yuan dressed himself in two or three times and both of them quietly walked out from the middle of the dimly lit palace.
There was no more scenery to see in the Imperial Garden at this point, and Gu Yuanbai raised his head and saw the bright starlight that filled the sky overhead.
Xue Yuan pulled him into a stroll, "Do you want me to go?"
"Look at you," Gu Yuanbai continued to tilt his head, "if you want to go or don't want to go, can't other people talk you out of it?"
Xue Yuan tightened his grip, "How do you know you can't talk me out of it if you don't try?"
Gu Yuanbai stopped talking, and disappointment flashed in Xue Yuan's eyes, "I sometimes really want to burrow into your stomach to see what you're really thinking."
Gu Yuanbai said, "Then you should drill it into your brain."
Now there should be two or three o'clock in the middle of the night, two people in the middle of the night to see the dark imperial garden, Gu Yuanbai snapped out of it and cursed himself, "Silly."
Xue Yuan quit, he said unhappily, "What's the point of cursing yourself?"
"...... "Gu Yuanbai, "Can't I even curse myself?"
He suddenly had some indefinable aggression, and Xue Yuan was taken aback, coaxing, "Don't scold yourself, you scold me."
Gu Yuanbai hung his eyes, his mouth pursed straight. Obviously a stubborn and obstinate look, but Xue Yuan looked at his heart soft, he embraced up, full of love changed into an invisible and untouchable silk thread, heartfelt sigh: "If I could put you on the body that would be so good."
Gu Yuanbai sulked in his arms, "It's impossible to mount it on your body, but if you-"
Xue Yuan didn't move and looked down at him, "If what?"
Gu Yuanbai couldn't help but say, "If I stayed by my side, it would be like fitting on my body."
He literally blurted the words out, but sobered up as soon as he finished.
No way.
This was not Gu Yuanbai's style of doing things.
If you want to go, go. If you want to come back, come back. What's the point of being sticky? Using feelings to bind each other to give up the idea of building a career, if someone else dared to do this to Gu Yuanbai, Gu Yuanbai would be able to back away from this person.
There's more than just falling in love under the sky, and Xue Yuan shouldn't have been detained next to Gu Yuanbai; how much effort did he make before, and which of it wasn't for the sake of meritorious service?
Now so much credit in front of him, Gu Yuanbai but let him not go, thousands of people burdened on the body, a country's prosperity as a thrust, Gu Yuanbai should not use children's personal feelings to confine a with the country's use of talent.
Gu Yuanbai took a deep breath, gradually firming up, "I said poorly, you should go."
Xue Yuan froze, "The saint sheds me?"
"It's natural to be reluctant to give up," Gu Yuanbai smiled stiffly, "but this is a great opportunity to get credit, would you miss it?"
Xue Yuan's behavior over the past two years has attracted a lot of attention, and he seems to have been born with a keen sense of danger, which is not unusual when used in politics. At his age, it's rare for him to have this position, but if he wants to move up, he'll either have to be transferred out to make his mark or stay on the job for a long time.
When whisked to the position of Privy Councillor, it would take at least a decade or so.
Re-traveling the overland Silk Road, this is a good opportunity to make a great achievement, Xue Yuan is indeed very excited, the purpose of his achievement is in order to be able to openly accompany Gu Yuanbai's side, in order to become Gu Yuanbai's pillar, slowly boiling seniority is not a good method for him. This opportunity is very good, but the only drawback is that the journey is long and time-consuming, as long as the thought of it, even before the distance has begun to reject.
Leaving Gu Yuanbai for several years, only this, Xue Yuan could not accept it.
"Daheng is so big and has so much merit, there's no need to rush this time," Xue Yuan smiled, holding Gu Yuanbai's hand and covering the side of his face, "What you say is what you say, as long as you say it, I'll listen, and it's no big deal to miss it."
Cue: "Your Holiness, I speak the truth."
"Then go," Gu Yuanbai touched the corners of his eyes, "You're not young anymore."
"...... The minister is still young."
Gu Yuanbai smiled and bent his eyes, stroking from the corners of his eyes to the high bridge of his nose, "It's good to go once, you are my eyes, if you go to take a look at those countries, you are taking a look on my behalf."
Xue Yuan looked down at him and did not speak for a long time. The color of his eyes dissolved with the darkness of the night, as if he had the pain of impending separation and the annoyance of wanting to retreat.
Gu Yuanbai finally said, "Go."
The stars became a Milky Way, the spring breeze also gently lightened its footsteps in the night, Xue Yuan's throat rolled, and after a long time, he said with difficulty, "Good."
*
There are many preparations to be made before traveling on the Silk Road, and it will take at least six or seven months of tossing and turning. From this night onwards, Xue Yuan has been sticking to Gu Yuanbai's side day and night, and Gu Yuanbai has been indulging him a lot, leaving traces of their companionship everywhere in the palace.
Like the lingering of death before the parting of life and death, as the preparations became more and more adequate, Xue Yuan became more and more vicious with clenched teeth, sometimes at night, he pressed against Gu Yuanbai's spine, as if a pair of dying mandarin ducks with their necks pressed against each other, "Your Holiness, after I'm gone, will someone else climb into this bed?"
When Gu Yuanbai said he wouldn't, he would ask again, "What if you like someone else?"
He almost had to ask Gu Yuanbai a dozen times a day if she liked him.
The time of separation was getting closer and closer, and he was visibly panicking. The unobtrusiveness that he had cultivated over the course of two years shattered to pieces, and the fear and dread almost consumed him; he would often look at Gu Yuanbai and see his fingers trembling, and the grumpiness and repression caused Xue Yuan to begin to lose weight frighteningly before the parting.
Gu Yuanbai knew he couldn't bear to leave, but he didn't know it would be this serious.
Xue Yuanlian would occasionally fall into the pain of separation during the day, and he was so nightmarishly overcome by such emotions that only Gu Yuanbai's soft calls could wake him up. Day after day, the red blood in his eyes grew deeper and deeper, and Gu Yuanbai woke up in the middle of the night once, only to realize that he didn't even sleep, only staring at him.
Those eyes in the night were like looking at the last straw that saved their lives.
Sleeping became a waste of time for Xue Yuan, he didn't want to go to sleep, he would rather take that time to see Gu Yuanbai one more time.
Gu Yuanbai put down all his political affairs and pressed Xue Yuan onto the bed in the daylight, saying, "You need to rest."
Xue Yuan looked at him with reddened eyes that were tired to the point of heaviness, Gu Yuanbai didn't know how Xue Yuan was still able to open his eyes again, he didn't know how much willpower he was using to fight against his exhausted body, but just by thinking about it, one could appreciate the hardship.
The mattress was soft, and the smoky aroma smelled like the sun after it had been exposed to the sun. Xue Yuan was lying on such a bed, but he stared straight at Gu Yuanbai without moving.
Gu Yuanbai covered his eyes, "Jiu Yao, close your eyes and sleep, okay?"
Xue Yuan didn't want to disappoint Gu Yuanbai, but as soon as his eyes were covered by darkness, the panic of not being able to see Gu Yuanbai hit him, leaving him powerless to resist. He resisted the idea of pulling Gu Yuanbai's hand away, thinking about sleeping and not letting him worry.
But the teeth were clenched and the biting muscles quivered in an extreme struggle.
When Gu Yuanbai looked at him like this, a heat suddenly rushed up in his eyes, like a bottle filled with water steeply collapsing to the ground, he completely collapsed, his mouth was dead shut and he didn't make a sound, but the tears in his eyes were like beads rolling down one drop after another.
Hot, sad tears fell on Xue Yuan's face.
Xue Yuan was startled, his clenched teeth could not help but loosen, the panic in his heart turned into helplessness, raising his hand, but was covered his eyes not knowing what to do, "Don't cry don't cry, I'll sleep, this will be a good time to sleep, I'll be able to sleep right away."
With darkness in front of him, and the little emperor's cold fingers blocking his vision firmly, Xue Yuan could not see what Gu Yuanbai looked like right now, but he could feel the trembling of his fingertips and the extremely suppressed choking sobs.
The teardrops smashed down more and more, and in a trance it looked like they were flowing down from the corner of Xue Yuan's eyes.
Gu Yuanbai cried so hard that he couldn't get up straight, he was in pain and shedding tears silently, his face woefully red and his eyes blurred by the onslaught of this ferocious and violent emotion.
It was too torturous, too sudden to hide the sadness, and no amount of willpower could stop the present breakdown.
It's sad. How can it be so sad to be in love.
Xue Yuan this look makes Gu Yuanbai too hard to bear, drowning in the deep sea, breathing intermittently, only the eyes to let loose the emotions of the heart.
His heart ached for Xue Yuan.
So heartbreaking.