HE With the Cold Male Protagonist C45

Chapter 45: The True Culprit Behind the Scenes, A Birthday Gift

At this moment, facing the eager questioning of the crowd, Xuanzi still had traces of terror lingering in his eyes. Trembling, he said, “I—I don’t know. I didn’t see them…”

He was terrified that if he admitted seeing them, they would force him to lead them back in to search. That dreadful place—he would never go back again! He shuddered, recalling the roars of wild beasts and strange noises, then quickly squeezed his eyes shut and pretended to have fainted.

“He fainted! Quickly, someone look at him!” cried the village head Wang, then hurriedly turned to the girl cradled in Madam Feng’s arms. “Lan’er, what happened to you in there? Is everything alright?”

Feng Lan’er shook her head and only sobbed endlessly, as if truly frightened out of her wits.

“Don’t be afraid, Lan’er. Tell your uncle what happened inside. How did you end up in there? Did someone kidnap you—”

Feng Lan’er whimpered in her aunt’s arms, trembling. In truth, she had once thought of entering Mount Da Heng deliberately so that Jiang Baiye would come to rescue her. After all, he had humiliated her with the absurd excuse of “liking men”—she couldn’t stomach the insult!

But she feared death even more. That reckless impulse dissipated at the very entrance, replaced by dread.

Yet somehow, though she had wanted to leave, she lost consciousness, and when she woke again, she was already inside Mount Da Heng, with Lu Lizhi carrying her on his back—used as his cushion. Thinking of it now, she still ground her teeth. If not for him, she wouldn’t be injured, and might even be left with scars in the future!

“Oww… it hurts…” she sobbed.

“They…” Wang the village head wanted to press further, but Madam Feng suddenly shouted, “Lan’er is terrified, and you still won’t stop questioning her?”

“For shame! You call yourself her uncle, yet can’t see she’s injured head to toe? She’s never suffered like this since childhood. Ever since we came here, it’s been nothing but hardship! Isn’t it all that calamity-bringer Jiang Baiye’s fault? Better he die in there and never return!”

Fuming, she demanded not only the best doctor but insisted all the other physicians come too. “Hurry, come treat my daughter’s wounds!”

The doctors, long fed up with her arrogance, refused to respond. Only one mild-mannered physician followed to escort them home.

Before leaving, Feng Lan’er debated whether to mention the bandits she had glimpsed. But thinking that the two inside might not survive anyway, and fearing being sent back to search, she held her tongue. Almost tacitly, she and Xuanzi both chose silence, inwardly deeming Jiang Baiye and Lu Lizhi unlikely to return alive.

Meanwhile, Jiang Dazhu, parched with anxiety, was nearly desperate enough to rush into the mountain himself. Just then, a sneaky figure crept up beside him. “Uncle Jiang, what now? Seems Baiye won’t make it out alive…”

“No, he has experience. He won’t fall so easily!” Jiang Dazhu muttered, palms sweating. The village head Wang had warned him that more dangers likely awaited Changshou inside, but he firmly believed his son could overcome them.

Wasn’t Lu Lizhi with him as well? Surely they would be fine!

Wang Zhi, seeing his forced calm, sneered inwardly but said aloud, “If Baiye doesn’t return, who will manage your workshop? All that effort and silver you poured into it—wasted if it’s abandoned. I’ve managed businesses before, I could help you—so long as the pay is right—”

“Get lost!” Before Jiang Dazhu could erupt, Ding Yue shoved him aside. “Toad lusting after swan’s meat! Stop daydreaming. The workshop won’t fail, and the master won’t come to harm!”

Jiang Dazhu stared in surprise at his vehemence, but had no mind to dwell on Ding Yue’s sudden change.

At that moment, nearly twenty people waited bitterly outside. Even as night fell, they refused to leave. Beyond the workshop’s apothecary workers, some villagers who had ties to the Jiang family also lingered.

To them now, Jiang Baiye was no longer the village bully they once feared, but their very future. All their hopes rested upon him.

“Nothing must happen to him…” they whispered.

In the shadows, Jiang Dashan hobbled on his crippled leg to see for himself. Relieved by the sight, he returned home and happily poured himself tea.

“Well? Are you certain he won’t make it out?” pressed Madam Li anxiously. She dared not rejoice prematurely, fearing Jiang Baiye might somehow turn his luck again.

“Of course. With even the powerful Shanyi Hall making a move, there’s no question. Jiang Baiye is doomed!”

“And Lu… Lizhi, too!” Jiang Yueming laughed darkly. Still, he felt uneasy, haunted by Lu Lizhi’s defiant display before entering. Yet with the hired killers and his flawless arrangements, where could they possibly escape?

“Come now, let’s eat.” The old patriarch, Jiang Laotou, beamed, carrying out dish after dish: roast chicken, stewed pork, braised pig’s trotters, red-braised crucian carp, sauced duck, marinated beef, even a great platter of steamed crabs. Things they would never have dared eat when times were good, let alone in their recent hardship.

But thanks to Jiang Baiye’s constant troublemaking and enemies, Shanyi Hall had approached them, offering revenge and a hefty reward. When Jiang Yueming had been summoned urgently, he stumbled upon Feng Lan’er as the perfect pawn and seized the chance to scheme.

Yet their joy soured at the taste of the food.

“Disgusting!” Jiang Dashan slammed his chopsticks down. “Li, what’s wrong with you? You’ve ruined fine dishes!”

The old patriarch was angrier still. At Second Brother’s banquet, he hadn’t gone—not out of fear, but because he had secretly whisked away a few plates. For the first time, they had tasted those extraordinary dishes. If not for the many eyes around, they’d have stolen the whole lot. Even so, the leftovers fed them for two days.

Compared to that, these plain dishes now tasted like wax.

“In a few days, call Madam He back to cook. That brat is gone now—his family will have to obey me from here on!”

Jiang Dashan narrowed his eyes. “And that workshop—there’s no way Second Brother can manage it. Better we sell it off or hand it to Shanyi Hall. That’ll be another tidy sum.”

Meanwhile, others with sharper minds plotted in silence.

Some thought to ensnare Jiang Dazhu with a beauty trap, whispering in his ear until the workshop came into their hands. Others even schemed to kill Madam He, forcing Jiang Dazhu to remarry, so that her entire family could meddle in the workshop’s affairs. With such an enterprise, they could do as they pleased.

They all agreed that Jiang Dazhu’s weak, pliant nature made him easy for anyone to control.

By the next day, with no sign of Jiang Baiye or Lu Lizhi, even the most hopeful began to harbor dark suspicions.

“Let me take another group inside to search!” said Uncle Luo.

But this time, the men who had gone with him before—after seeing Xuanzi and Lan’er’s miserable return, and knowing even Jiang Baiye, who knew the mountain best, hadn’t emerged—no longer dared.

Before Uncle Luo could persuade them, his wife clutched him tightly. “Do you have a death wish? If you want to die, at least think of us first!”

While chaos reigned outside, deep in the mountain, Jiang Baiye woke at dawn, refreshed. He kissed the man slumbering sweetly in his arms, almost unable to resist lingering, before rushing out to the stream to wash.

Lu Lizhi stirred awake, hair tousled, no trace of his usual refined composure. Dazed, he wondered why he was here—until flashes of last night’s heat and passion returned.

Only then did his ears flush red.

He had only just confirmed his feelings. How had he become so… unrestrained, so fervent? Unlike himself at all. Yet it felt liberating, to finally express without restraint.

Never had he felt so carefree.

Morning sunlight filtered through the trees at the cave entrance, gentle and bright. Birds chirped in chorus.

What had been a dreaded forbidden land was now a paradise of life and beauty, verdant and lively. By the stream not far away, a man splashed his face with clear water.

So close—he had thought last night it lay beyond mountains and rivers.

Jiang Baiye, seeing him approach blankly, smiled and stepped forward. Before Lu Lizhi could react, he kissed him soundly.

Lu Lizhi blinked, confused, and instinctively wiped his lips. To Jiang Baiye, it seemed like rejection.

So he deepened the kiss, detailed and consuming.

Lu Lizhi stared, bewildered—why was he so strange, so ardent even at dawn? He even forgot to close his eyes, gazing dazedly back at him.

“Lizhi, you’re too adorable!” Jiang Baiye felt he could kiss him to death. How could someone be so irresistible? Was this the same cold, austere man he had thought him to be?

Thinking of last night, he pressed harder, murmuring, “I never want to leave. I just want to stay here with you forever, the two of us alone.”

Sensing his unease, Lu Lizhi finally returned the kiss with care. He discovered Jiang Baiye’s mouth carried the freshness of crushed mint leaves and sweet herbs, flavoring even him.

As their kisses tangled closer, Lu Lizhi felt faint unease. If he clung this much, what would happen once they returned to the world outside?

So reckless, so excessive.

Jiang Baiye had used mint leaves and powdered charcoal to brush his teeth, then taught Lu Lizhi to do the same. Watching him quickly master it, Jiang Baiye, too, felt a pang of worry.

After the examinations, they would be worlds apart. Lu Lizhi’s future would not be simple pastoral life, nor would Jiang Baiye let him compromise himself.

But as more outstanding men surrounded him, as his horizons broadened, if Jiang Baiye remained stagnant, not even he would respect himself.

So he must work harder—hard enough to catch up, to be his steadfast support.

“Come, let’s pick some fruit for the road,” Jiang Baiye said, reaching to help him up.

In the sunlight, washed clean, Lu Lizhi’s face glowed, his damp clothes clinging to reveal a long white neck. Lifting his gaze, he was unknowingly enchanting.

Jiang Baiye thought he’d need stronger medicine again.

But Lu Lizhi picked up a charcoal stick and wrote on the rock: Not going back yet.

Before Jiang Baiye could ask, he wrote more: Today is your birthday.

His eighteenth birthday.

In ancient times, the age of coming-of-age rites; in modern terms, the age of adulthood.

Jiang Baiye had nearly forgotten—his birthday, the same across both lives, the twenty-second of the sixth month.

“How did you know?” His eyes sparkled, as if to pierce him through. “Were you watching me all along? Did you ask someone on purpose?”

Lu Lizhi turned away, not wanting to feed his pride. But silence was as good as an answer. Jiang Baiye remembered something and finally confirmed it.

“Qi Jiu’s birthday… wasn’t it this same day?”

Lu Lizhi gave no reply, only wrote again: Not going back yet.

Too many tangled matters awaited outside. Today was his birthday—it shouldn’t be spoiled. Besides, time would expose the hidden villains soon enough.

Why not wait a while longer?

Jiang Baiye brightened instantly. “Then let’s celebrate with a kiss first!”

Lu Lizhi nearly brushed his lips before fleeing back to the cave.

He mustn’t yield so easily, or Jiang Baiye would only demand more. After all…

Lu Lizhi clenched his fists. Once outside, he must also make him restrain his displays in front of others.

After all, he was older by a year, yet had dragged him into this mess. Remembering Madam He’s shocked face when Jiang Baiye kissed him so boldly yesterday, his chest tightened.

But for now, they would celebrate.

Lu Lizhi asked Jiang Baiye to show him where he gathered herbs, so he could learn his paths. That way, if he ever failed to return, he wouldn’t be left waiting in vain.

Jiang Baiye, unaware of his true intent, proudly showed off his “treasures.”

“Look here—this grove of lingzhi mushrooms is excellent. I spread the spores and dug pits. Next year, more will grow.”

Lu Lizhi saw no lingzhi, only mushrooms everywhere.

“Come, let’s gather them.”

It was as though they had stumbled into a mushroom paradise. Under morning dew, red, green, yellow, even purple mushrooms shone.

Lu Lizhi tugged him anxiously, fearing he might pick poison.

“No problem. These large red ones are edible. These with white patches on the caps are death caps, poisonous. Those bright sticky red ones are poisonous too. But these big reds—they’re delicious.”

Lu Lizhi stared at the nearly identical mushrooms, scalp prickling.

Yet Jiang Baiye plucked happily like a girl at market, and his joy was contagious. Before long, Lu Lizhi joined in—and found himself unable to stop.

If the villagers outside knew the two of them were happily gathering mushrooms while everyone fretted, they’d hardly know whether to laugh or cry.

By the end, Jiang Baiye had filled his clothes with mushrooms.

As they headed back, Lu Lizhi thought: no wonder he loves the mountains. To harvest so much without planting—it was its own kind of bliss.

Wild oyster mushrooms, porcini, termite mushrooms, all kinds… even Jiang Baiye hadn’t expected such variety.

Since they had gathered so much, they decided to share some upon returning—surely many were worrying.

Back at the stream, they prepared a mushroom feast: stir-fried, in soup, with fish, with wild eggs, even deep-fried to taste like barbecue.

As Lu Lizhi washed mushrooms and watched Jiang Baiye skillfully turn them into dish after dish, fragrant and enticing, even animals came near. His lips curved in a smile that wouldn’t fade.

Here was Jiang Baiye’s world—wild, free, unrestrained, like the wind itself.

Reason told him he should let the wind go.

But he would not. He would capture the wind, hold it in his grasp, keep it. For that, he would give up everything else.

After their meal, he resolved mushrooms should feature more in future dishes—each flavor fresh and unique, delighting the tongue.

That afternoon, they toured Jiang Baiye’s “herbal base.”

“These patches yield herbs worth much silver. That forest has precious timber. That area bears fruit—come, let’s pick some to take home.”

He had mapped the herb-rich regions for safety. As for dangerous areas, he had already transplanted valuable species to their twenty acres. With a family now, he couldn’t risk recklessness.

Lu Lizhi looked upon the thriving herbs, filled with satisfaction. Though Jiang Baiye’s private property, they felt as if they belonged to him too.

They harvested until dusk, returning light-hearted, chatting of the villagers’ likely reactions. They had nearly deduced the mastermind, and would soon have proof to strike back.

That night, just as Lu Lizhi thought they would rest, Jiang Baiye shook him awake. “You still haven’t given me my birthday gift.”

Lu Lizhi thought of the one he had prepared back home, intending to fetch it later.

But Jiang Baiye lifted him onto his lap. “It’s always me kissing you. You act reluctant. This time—you kiss me. That’s the gift I want.”

Lu Lizhi stiffened. Was he addicted to kissing? Hadn’t they kissed enough today?

“Here, kiss me until this log burns out.” Jiang Baiye tossed a thick branch into the fire, laughing low, with subtle temptation. “Until it’s ash.”

Lu Lizhi flushed under his gaze. Not wanting to seem weak, nor disappoint him, he grew solemn, studying that mischievous yet strikingly handsome face. The more he looked, the more its hidden charm drew him in.

He knew Jiang Baiye was handsome—but hadn’t realized this handsome.

Restless, he kissed his forehead.

Jiang Baiye nearly exploded with desire, cursing himself for asking.

When at last the kiss deepened, Jiang Baiye’s throat worked furiously. This—this was what he had longed for.

To have Lu Lizhi take the initiative—it felt more rewarding than buying land or building a workshop.

But just when he reached for more, Lu Lizhi began to rise. Jiang Baiye grabbed for his waist, but Lu Lizhi anticipated him. Instead of fleeing, he leaned in—

And Jiang Baiye was satisfied beyond measure.

He had never been kissed so fully. Whether the log burned out, he didn’t know. Lu Lizhi fell asleep against him, lips flushed, glistening.

Jiang Baiye gently wiped his mouth and patted his back. Another night passed thus.

Yet even before leaving, he resisted. He wanted to stay, to keep him longer. If not for fear the villagers might come searching, he’d have contrived more excuses to remain.

Still, he feigned sleep to delay.

After preparing mushroom soup, Lu Lizhi roused him. When he finally stirred, it was only to pounce, roughhousing before they left.

Near the mountain’s edge, Jiang Baiye suddenly gripped him tightly. “Once outside, you’re not allowed to distance yourself from me on purpose. I’ll explain to my parents. As for others, don’t concern yourself. You know me—don’t act on your own!”

He guessed… Lu Lizhi hadn’t expected him so perceptive.

“But I’ll also restrain myself, not trouble you with open displays,” Jiang Baiye added. He could demand of him, but not indulge his own nature without regard. He sensed his closeness made him tense, even troubled.

He didn’t know why, but he would wait, until Lu Lizhi fully accepted him.

Their hands, which had been clasped all along, loosened together just before reaching the

village.

Lu Lizhi thought of his unutterable secret, the truth of his body, and his chest ached. He, too, didn’t want to leave.

If only they could stay here forever…

But then Da Huang bounded joyfully from the grass, wagging its head and tail. All worry melted away.

They shared a glance. The true drama was about to begin.

And outside, chaos reigned—faces already showing their true colors, unable to hide any longer.