Chapter 119: “My Wife, You’ve Worked Hard.”
The wedding photo shoot took place in more than one location.
After the peak of the snow-capped mountains came glacial streams, deep autumn forests, colorful lakes…
Shen Zhuo had never felt so relaxed.
With friends by his side and his lover next to him.
It seemed that even if his life were to stop here forever, he would have no regrets.
While camping by the lake, the group organized a picnic and fishing session.
The temperature in the mountains of the West District was quite low; even with the sun shining on them, there was a chill in the air. This time, the chefs rotated, falling to Ai Li and Ji Weishen.
Their barbecue skills were superb, and the aroma could be smelled from far away.
Du Xun sat by the small river, a fishing rod propped up in front of him.
Shen Zhuo leaned against him, resting on his shoulder, staring at the water surface that hadn’t shown any movement for a long time.
Shen Zhuo was draped in Du Xun’s thick coat, huddled next to the Alpha so that only his head was exposed.
His black and white eyes were half-closed.
The wind blew his hair into a messy flutter.
Sunlight danced and swayed in sparkling points on the water.
Behind them, a vast expanse of pine trees was covered in snow, and the ground was littered with the remains of withered branches and fallen leaves.
The sound of the wind and the scent of snow were cold and dry, mixed with the smell of barbecue and the bickering of the two chefs behind them.
Shen Zhuo pulled his collar tighter.
Du Xun raised his hand and pulled the person into his arms.
Flocks of birds circled noisily in the sky.
He had always been a man of few words, and at a time like this, he didn’t know what was appropriate to say.
Perhaps nothing needed to be said.
In the long, interminable years—those countless cycles—he had lived in a sunless, suffocating shadow.
He lived within his own paranoia and his obsession with the young man.
Every day, all he could do was constantly use his ability to deduce, to try various paths, and then face failure again.
For a very long time, he was weary of himself, hateful of himself.
He frequently took on high-risk missions, hoping, even expecting, that his useless self could die a justifiable death.
But every time, he survived.
It seemed that the so-called “system” forced him to live.
If there was anything in those cycles of reincarnation that gave him a particular sense of hope, it was probably the first time he returned to see the young man at eight years old in every loop.
Du Xun rarely recalled the parts of the past that concerned himself.
In his memory, apart from Shen Zhuo, everyone else was blurred.
So much so that now, he seemed to have almost forgotten what he looked like every time he appeared in front of the boy.
Would he scare his treasure…?
But fortunately, the greatest hidden danger had been removed.
In the days to come, it seemed he wouldn’t need to be so on edge.
“What are you thinking about?”
The sudden sound of the young man’s voice interrupted Du Xun’s thoughts.
A warm body burrowed into his embrace, eyelashes brushing against his neck, causing a slight itch.
He lowered his head and kissed Shen Zhuo’s brow.
“Thinking about some things between us in the past.”
Shen Zhuo straightened up. After learning about the things Du Xun had been hiding, what he wanted to know most was what exactly happened between them in the first life.
But right now, Shen Zhuo had to act as if he knew nothing about it at all.
Curious, yet having to pretend.
The expression on his face must look very strange.
“My wife?”
Hearing Du Xun’s inquiry, Shen Zhuo could only cough twice.
“Ahem, why haven’t we caught a fish yet?”
After waiting for half an hour, his originally relaxed mood was about to be disrupted by hunger.
Du Xun went to lift the fishing rod. As he reeled in the line, Fu Qishang happened to pass behind them.
“Yo, you two are… waiting for the willing to take the bait?”
Fu Qishang looked at the fishing rod, which was missing even its hook, and laughed out loud without saving them any face.
Shen Zhuo: “…”
Another item added to the list of things he wasn’t good at.
Fu Qishang and Liang Yeta were in charge of picking mushrooms. They took baskets into the woods, walked around for half a loop, and came back with two huge baskets full.
When Ai Li originally assigned the mushroom-picking task to these two, he didn’t actually expect them to pick anything.
The intention was to send them to a quiet place so they could pour out their hearts to each other with no one around.
It was a misunderstanding; just clearing it up would be fine.
Who knew they would actually pick two huge baskets of mushrooms!
And didn’t say half a word!
Fine, fine, everyone’s a mute, apparently.
Ai Li was simply about to die of anger at Liang Yeta.
He wished he could crack open the man’s head to see if it was plastered shut with cement.
The bystanders saw it clearer than clear: Liang Yeta already had feelings for Fu Qishang.
But the man himself insisted on suppressing and hiding it, for heaven knows what reason.
Ai Li ground his teeth so hard they creaked, making Ji Weishen think he was asleep and grinding his teeth.
Looking up, he intended to wake Ai Li, only to see the Omega gritting his teeth with a fierce glint in his eyes.
Immediately, he didn’t dare to act rashly.
He barely dared to even make a joke.
After trembling for a long time, he handed over a meat skewer: “Want some?”
Ai Li took it and took a vicious bite.
Ji Weishen felt his own arm ache, as if Ai Li had bitten his hand.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Shen Zhuo returned to get a fishing hook. Halfway there, he saw Ai Li’s face scrunched up, laughed in amusement, and walked over.
“Is hitting people… illegal?”
Ai Li’s eyes were still fixed on Liang Yeta, who was sorting mushrooms, and he squeezed every word out through his back molars.
Shen Zhuo followed Ai Li’s line of sight and took a look.
Oh.
So that was it.
Ai Li was the one who worried most about everyone’s love lives.
It was normal to want to beat up a blockhead like Liang Yeta.
Shen Zhuo patted Ai Li on the shoulder.
“I can cover Du Xun’s eyes and give you ten minutes.”
Ai Li immediately cracked his knuckles loudly. Beside him, Ji Weishen pursed his lips, looking like a henpecked husband who didn’t dare speak.
Ai Li grabbed a skewer of grilled chili peppers and walked toward Liang Yeta, poking the tip of the skewer directly into Liang Yeta’s face.
His tone was grim: “Eat. This.”
Liang Yeta raised his hand, intending to refuse and say he couldn’t eat spicy food.
The next second, a piece of roasted green pepper was shoved directly into his mouth, spicy enough to make his neck turn red.
Shen Zhuo widened his eyes from the side and clapped his hands in admiration.
Behind him, Fu Qishang looked confused, not knowing what had happened. He came back just in time to see… a scene of domestic violence.
“Did those two have a conflict?” Fu Qishang asked.
Shen Zhuo watched as Liang Yeta pushed his wheelchair around looking for water, his eyes red from the spice, and Ai Li returned smugly to continue grilling.
For the first time, he felt that his friends were all, more or less, a little unhinged.
“In this life, one’s mental state doesn’t need to be too normal.”
Leaving this sentence behind, Shen Zhuo found a fishing hook and went back to fish with Du Xun.
Half an hour later.
Shen Zhuo and Du Xun had harvested zero fish.
Only four of the mushrooms Liang Yeta and Fu Qishang picked were edible.
And because one chef was too emotionally agitated and the other had to comfort him, the barbecue ended up burnt on the outside and raw on the inside, completely inedible.
Paimi sat in the helicopter, silently taking out the lunch his wife had made for seven people—very simple sandwiches.
But they were the only edible things right now.
In the end, the group sat on the picnic blanket, finishing lunch with a bottle of milk and a sandwich each.
The wedding photo trip wasn’t exactly perfect.
But perhaps imperfection during a journey was a kind of perfection in itself.
Shen Zhuo gave Paimi a sum of money to open a martial arts school in the West District. It was said that on the first day of opening, quite a few people signed up.
Because the name Paimi chose was “Imperial Martial Arts School,” implying that the Emperor and Empress had once been there.
Everyone returned to the palace, and everything was about to get back on track.
Du Xun needed to handle the Empire’s government affairs, while Shen Zhuo continued to attend classes at Ares.
Now, when Shen Zhuo, Ai Li, and Fu Qishang walked side-by-side on campus, everyone was incredibly respectful.
The situations of being provoked or blocked from the past never happened again.
Tomorrow was the coronation ceremony.
Shen Zhuo was a little nervous at night, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
A body pressed against his back, arms embracing him, and the scent of rosemary gently soothed him.
Shen Zhuo turned over and leaned into Du Xun’s arms.
The faint rosemary enveloped him.
A little Omega with things on his mind was always more sensitive than usual.
Du Xun slowly stroked the boy’s hair, his warm fingertips passing through the strands.
“Du Xun.”
The boy’s voice was muffled.
“I’m here.”
Shen Zhuo closed his eyes, but his nose stung with emotion.
It had been too long, too long since he had heard those words.
“Du Xun…”
“I’m here, my wife.”
Shen Zhuo, however, acted like an insecure child, whispering the name over and over again.
Du Xun understood; his little Omega was afraid.
His Omega was only eighteen years old.
Still just a kid.
Yet he had experienced so much and was forced to shoulder so many responsibilities.
“My wife, you’ve worked hard.”
Du Xun cupped Shen Zhuo’s face with one hand and pecked his lips gently.
Shen Zhuo opened his eyes slightly, meeting Du Xun’s gray-blue pupils.
Those eyes shone even brighter than the stars outside the window.
Shen Zhuo hooked the corner of his lips slightly.
Fortunately.
Fortunately, he had stopped Du Xun back then.
Fortunately, he chose to marry Du Xun.
Fortunately, it was all over.
Fortunately…
“Du Xun…”
The boy wrapped his arms around the man’s neck, pressing his whole body against him, nuzzling the Alpha’s neck like a clingy cat.
“Hold me tighter.”
The man tightened his arms until there was no space left between them, chuckling softly. “How about this?”
Shen Zhuo closed his eyes in satisfaction.
“Let’s sleep like this.”
This distance gave Shen Zhuo enough security, like a soft, sweet marshmallow expanding to fill his chest.
The one embracing him was his Alpha…
His Alpha alone.
Shen Zhuo didn’t remember when he fell asleep.
But it seemed he hadn’t slept for long before the door was pounded on.
Shen Zhuo and Du Xun had been living in the palace recently; An said it would take another month or two for Hundred Dreams to be repaired.
Shen Zhuo had gone to sleep late yesterday, and there were dark circles under his eyes.
Hearing the knocking, he hid directly in Du Xun’s arms.
“An… don’t knock… ten more minutes…”
But the door was kicked open.
Outside in the corridor, there wasn’t even a hint of daylight yet, only the bright lights of the hallway.
Du Xun glanced at his phone; it was 4:30 AM.
The man reached out to shield Shen Zhuo’s eyes from the light, looking up with a deep frown.
“What are you doing, Feng Muya?”
Feng Muya was wearing casual clothes, but her makeup and hair were almost done; she only needed to change into her formal dress to attend the ceremony.
She stepped forward, threw off the quilt, and before Du Xun could block her, grabbed Shen Zhuo’s arm and hauled him up.
“The ceremony is at seven; how late do you want to sleep?!”
Then she pointed at Du Xun’s nose. “You get up too, right now, immediately!”
Seeing Shen Zhuo about to lie down again, Feng Muya eerily uttered two words that could make the boy instantly sober:
“Your… Majesty.”
Shen Zhuo opened his eyes instantly.
But his dazed look didn’t suggest he was actually awake.
Du Xun shouted towards the door, “Mijia.”
A tall knight immediately appeared at the door, kneeling on one knee. The armor on their body reflected a cold light under the lamp, and a strand of white hair fell from the front of the helmet.
“Your Majesty,” Mijia responded with head bowed.
Du Xun waved his hand.
Mijia stepped forward and half-pushed, half-dragged Feng Muya away.
Shen Zhuo finally woke up a bit at this point.
“Mijia?” He looked at Du Xun. “I’ve never seen this person before.”
Du Xun looked at Feng Muya shouting “Wake up!” outside the door and curved the corners of his mouth.
“She’s a shadow knight I chose for her since childhood. She has been protecting her in secret all along, and now she is her personal knight.”
“And maybe not just a knight.”
Shen Zhuo followed Du Xun’s gaze out the door.
Suddenly, his eyes widened.
If he hadn’t seen it wrong just now…
This Mijia seemed to be a—
Female Alpha.
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