I Became the Older Brother of the Heroine in an Abusive Novel

n was exquisite and unique, it was clearly used by women.
He raised his hand and wanted to give the hand stove back, but Fuyi refused and said, “Young Master, take this! It’s so cold outside, what will I do if you get sick!”

Jun Huailang had no choice.
Holding the lantern in one hand and hand stove in the other, bracing himself against the cold wind, Jun Huailang walked towards the west side hall.

Consort Shu had already fallen asleep in the main hall.
The lights in the hall were all extinguished and the courtyard was pitch black.
The west side hall was also dark, not even a single light could be seen.

Was Xue Yan already asleep?

Jun Huailang thought to himself, if Xue Yan was already asleep, it would save him some awkwardness.
Tomorrow he could ask the head eunuch what was lacking and provide it.
With that, Jun Huailang and Xue Yan could consider themselves to be one household living in harmony. 

It was only when Jun Huailang got closer did he see the situation.

Xue Yan resided in the room in the furthest corner of the west side hall.
The door looked thin and the windows did not close properly.
This should have been a small storehouse in the past, but because the door did not close tightly, things were always lost.
Diancui arranged for all the items to be taken away, leaving behind an empty room.

From a distance, this building looked the same as any other house, with green flying eaves.
But up close, the window paper was torn and flapping in the wind.

Jinbao still looked like a zongi,[4] wrapped in several layers of clothing.
He kept vigil at the door and dozed off leaning against the corridor.
He was dizzy from the cold and, half-asleep, did not notice Jun Huailang had come.

Jun Huailang did not wake him either.
He stood on the porch for a while, and planned to take a look through the window.
If nothing happened, he would just leave quietly.

Presumably Xue Yan’s life was tenacious, nothing major would happen to him.

While thinking this, Jun Huailang walked to the window and glanced in through a fist-sized hole.

He froze.

The room was pitch-black.
With light from the lamp in his hand, Jun Huailang saw Xue Yan with his back to the window and door.
He slept on a hardwood bed with no canopy and did not even have any bedding.
He was dressed thinly and seemed to be motionless, but when Jun Huailang looked closely, the arms hugging his shoulders shivered imperceptibly as if enduring something.

That appearance was extremely pitiful, like an abandoned dog in a corner.

Jun Huailang clenched his teeth involuntarily.
Then, lifting the lamp, he pushed open the door and entered.

The room was tiny, there was only one bed and one table.
Even the maids had better quarters.
When Jun Huailang walked in, he realized that this house faced away from the sun.
It was not only cold but also damp, making the cold even worse than outside.

Jun Huailang reached the bed in two steps.

Xue Yan had developed some habits from his years on the battlefield.
Even while sleeping, he was exceptionally alert and would wake up at the slightest movement.
The moment the door opened, he opened his eyes.
He reflexively took the dagger under his pillow in one hand and prepared to strike the intruder’s throat with the other hand.

The shadow approached and brought with it a warm orange glow.

The next moment, Xue Yan’s hand froze on the dagger.

Because a white brocade cloak carrying the warmth of another body enveloped him.
Soft and fluffy fox fur settled against his cheeks, warm as a dream.

Xue Yan was rarely this dumbfounded. 

Then he came back to his senses.
He raised a hand to touch the cold sweat on his forehead and recalled what happened just then. 

He lived in this empty house.
He was not afraid of the cold – the sensation that others described as piercing and intolerable, he did not even consider painful.

But what he didn’t want to admit was that he was afraid of the dark.

In the twelfth lunar month before the new year, he led a team of Yan cavalry in a desperate attempt to defend the city gates.
After a month, he was able to keep the elite force of the Yan cavalry intact and moved them to a secure location. 

Later in the final battle, it took place in the middle of a night so dark he couldn’t see his fingers in front of him.[skip]

He was buried in a pile of dead bodies.
The only thing within reach were corpses mangled beyond recognition, and all of them had once been people he had known.
They covered and surrounded him so tightly even air couldn’t get through.

They had sacrificed their lives to save Xue Yan.

Prince Yan’s last personal guard had been by Xue Yan’s side.
Half his face had been badly mangled.
With his last breath, the man repeatedly told him to survive and go back, to climb the pinnacle of power in order to recover Yan Prefecture and avenge Prince Yan.

He was buried in the pile of corpses all night, surrounded by darkness and unable to see anything.

At dawn, that guard exhausted his last bit of strength to push Xue Yan out of the pile of corpses and out of the darkness.
At that time, the Tujue main force had just withdrawn.
Xue Yan stood there alone, surrounded by dying beacon fires.

>>Finally there was light.

Xue Yan didn’t know how many people he killed, cutting a bloody path out of the battlefield.

Since then, he had been afraid of the dark.
He could endure anything, as long as there was the tiniest bit of light.
But that night, dark clouds covered the moon and there was no light at all.
He asked Jinbao to fetch a candle, but no one acknowledged Jinbao.

Xue Yan had silently forced himself to fall asleep in the darkness.
Sure enough, in the night’s suffocating darkness, he dreamed of a tide rushing forward, almost drowning him to death.

Until a person came.

Xue Yan raised his hand unconsciously and caressed the soft fur at his neck.
The warm cloak carried a faint fragrance of trees, like the white birch trees that grew in the outskirts of Yan Prefecture.
Although slender and frail-looking, those birches could block the bitter wind in winter.

He saw a cold and elegant young man put his lantern on the table and turn around.

The bloody and suffocating darkness that filled his dreams dissipated in the warm yellow light. 

Notes:

[1] 地龙 underground heating system in the imperial city but due to the amount of resources needed to build and use, only implemented in important places such as the emperor and empress’s palaces. [2] 姐姐 older sister, also used to address older girls not related by blood [3] 手炉 small pots made of metal or porcelain that held coals and was meant to keep hands warm https://imgur.com/gallery/F4QOAYw [4] 粽子 glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zongzi