The Ger's Contract Marriage [BL]
Chapter 457: Can We Leave Yet?

Chapter 457: Can We Leave Yet?

The night was... well it was a night. It was uncomfortable for everyone except maybe the two eggs. But then again, one didn’t know if the two eggs were comfortable or not.

Well, they should be... probably. Without a doubt, they were more than ready to break from their shells.

For Bai Mo, it was the worst night in the last eight days. He’d been able to make do in the inns because of the strange sleeping arrangements. He would be uncomfortable and self-conscious in one minute, then fast asleep the next.

It always happened so fast, and he woke up with more energy than he had in several months. The dark circles that were becoming an ever-present feature on his face, had disappeared.

Had.

There was no mirror, but the dark circles were back with a vengeance.

Bai Mo likely wanted to believe he was just particularly comfortable sleeping in foreign places, but that wasn’t true.

It wasn’t true when he was in Jinghua with the Bai family or the Deng family. It wasn’t necessarily true in these strange inns either—it was the company and warmth that sent him to sleep so quickly and deeply.

Although Bai had the most sleeping space— he had an entire bench in the carriage all to himself— there was no warmth. The blanket wasn’t the same.

Xu Zeng was settled in across from Bai Mo, sitting upright with his eyes closed, but the rhythmic breathing wasn’t there.

He wasn’t even sprawled across the bench like Bai Mo was. Instead, Xu Zeng sat comfortably or maybe uncomfortably (?) while the backpack with the eggs took up the rest of the space on his side of the carriage.

The backpack was left open at night, and even this night, the same ritual was followed.

It was cute the way Xu Zeng fussed over the two eggs. Even after reassuring both Xu Hu Zhe and Bai Mo that Da Long and Xiao Long were okay. Normal eggs shouldn’t be dormant, that wasn’t healthy, but immortal beasts, were, well, they were a different beast.

In the end, it was Xu Zeng who fussed the most over his nephews. And, no one would take that away from him. At the very least, they would help him where they could.

The night before was the big stakeout. Bai Mo was the only one who intended to sleep— yet still woke up with panda puffs. Xu Hu Zhe hadn’t even slept inside the carriage with them.

With a dark blanket and his cloak, Xu Hu Zhe stayed watch all night. If he slept, it was lightly, ready for any and everything that could happen.

Xu Zeng initially offered to trade places after some time, he was used to "this kind of thing" apparently, but he didn’t mention where he had gained this experience.

If it weren’t for the striking silver hair, Xu Hu Zhe might have given in. Bai Mo was against either man or ger putting themselves as a target for bandits, but he was vetoed.

No matter what feeling Xu Zeng had about Sun Village, his goal wasn’t to put them in harm’s way. Leading a group of bandits to a village without a way to protect themselves would be cruel.

But their efforts and well wishes led nowhere. There are no bandits the night before. It was a smooth night, but that was also not very smooth. No one slept well, and Xu Zeng couldn’t put off going to Sun Village anymore.

As the carriage slowly moved toward Sulin Town— the town closest to Sun Village, Su Village, and Ann Village, Xu Zeng became more and more agitated.

To be accurate, his agitation had started the night before when he was refused a good night kiss from Xu Hu Zhe.

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[Flashback]

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"You said kisses should be done with a mate! You and Momo," Bai Mo’s face flushed as the other ger called him a nickname without even changing his tone. Xu Zeng never really seemed flustered when one should be flustered. "Are my mates, so I can kiss you once a day!"

Xu Hu Zhe’s face was deceptively calm, but the two gers in the carriage could see the signs, this man was barely keeping it together. Xu Zeng had spent a lot of time with the man before the trip, and Bai Mo had learned a lot on said trip.

Xu Hu Zhe always seemed controlled, but he blushed almost as much as Momo did, his skin wasn’t nearly as thick as Xu Zeng’s. Still, he put his foot down, and Bai Mo would support him in this.

"I agreed to...to uh.." The ’controlled man’ seemed to falter under the weight of the words, "We’re not even married yet!" There, that was a good argument. It wasn’t labeling them mates, but it still prohibited them from kissing indiscriminately.

"I agree!" Bai Mo added quickly, staring at the man at the door of the carriage as opposed to the angry ger sitting across from him. "We can’t continue acting so unreserved. One needs to be married to kiss, and sleep in the same bed, and—"

"That’s how humans do things, we don’t need to follow the—" Xu Zeng began spouting his demon beast or according to Xu Hu Zhe and Bai Mo ’immortal’ beast logic. He could start, but he couldn’t finish. A certain fox wouldn’t let him derail them again. Seven days was too much indecency, comfortable and sweet indecency was still indecency.

"That may be the case for immortal beasts, but Xu Hu Zhe and I are natives of Dongzhou, and we would like to do things in the proper order. Marriage first." In the last part, Bai Mo’s voice faltered slightly, but the masked man supported him.

Xu Hu Zhe’s nod was enough to give Bai Mo the confidence to barely continue on. They both wanted a marriage, something concrete, something to keep their relationship from being just lust, just desire, just...

It was hard to put it into words, but marriage might not be the path for immortal beasts. It might not even be a path Xu Hu Zhe had thought would lead to love. But for the two Dongzhou natives, it was something they both wanted.

It wasn’t something to be forced either.

Bai Mo knew he would marry all his life, there was no option for a ger or a woman. For Xu Hu Zhe, it was less of a concrete goal, but something he had in the back of his mind— he wanted to have a home and build a family, one day.

They all agreed to whatever messy relationship they had been carrying on over the last week, with the idea of a marriage like Xu Feng’s in the back of their mind.

Most marriages didn’t start out so indiscriminately, one wouldn’t even know what their partner would be like with the progression of time. Since all three seemed to get along well enough... wasn’t it best to stop while they were ahead, and do things properly?

"So then what?" Xu Zeng asked. It was clear he was "won over," and he wanted kisses. He would probably still have agreed, but he just didn’t want to stop the kisses now. But if they needed to be married first, so be it!

"We need the adults..." Bai Mo looked at Xu Hu Zhe, before turning his head to look at Xu Zeng, then finally his eyes settled on his hands. They had a lantern lit in the confines of the carriage. He could clearly make out their faces and the lines of his own hands, yet his words failed him.

Xu Zeng had a "father" in Sun Village, but he was under the Xu family hokku of Nanshan. This ger wasn’t part of the Xu family of Sun Village. Not only that, but his brother, the head of the household, had passed away. There was no one to handle his happy event.

As for Xu Hu Zhe, he was also under Xu Feng’s hokku, with no other relatives.

Bai Mo also had no parents or close relatives... how would a group of orphans handle their happy event?

Little sleep, no warmth, no kisses, just a group of tired and anxious orphans. It wasn’t the most ideal situation.

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[Flashback End]

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Xu Zeng’s Perspective:

His chest was so tight, he wasn’t even sure he was still breathing. The breaths were even harder to take when his nephews were even an inch away from his chest.

Was he ill? Was it this body? Maybe his ger body was too frail for...for what?

The three hadn’t talked much since the night before.

He agreed it was wrong of him to kiss without marriage. He considered them his mates, he already agreed to protect and cherish them both, and they seemed to agree, but he was raised in Donghua the same as Bai Mo and Xu Hu Zhe.

Even if his bloodline awoke and his inheritance enlightened him, he knew the importance of marriage. Xu Zeng just wanted kisses, the kisses made his chest hurt less...

Especially now as they sat on the bullock cart moving toward Sun Village. Xu Zeng really wanted a kiss from Xu Hu Zhe or Bai Mo. His head was spinning slightly. Then, a warm hand engulfed his.

The constricting chest still hurt, but not as much.