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Chapter 40
Ying He: “…”
No matter how stable his emotions usually were, hearing the person he liked say he wanted to become sworn brothers with him made it impossible to stay calm.
“Sworn brothers…”
Ying He repeated it once, still somewhat thinking he had misheard or misunderstood.
Lu Qiujin, who had been constantly monitoring them from the side, suddenly felt refreshed both physically and mentally.
“Shizhen, this is a very good idea.”
He smiled and vigorously encouraged, “You two hit it off so well, becoming brothers is just right. Ying He has always been an older brother, and now he gets to be a younger brother too.”
Luo Shizhen had initially been a bit apprehensive, but getting Lu Qiujin’s approval immediately made him happy.
He invited, “Lu Qiujin, how about you join us too?”
Lu Qiujin: “…”
Ying He was still reeling from the blow of his sweetheart wanting to become sworn brothers with him, and couldn’t spare the mental energy to laugh at him.
Luo Shizhen was full of enthusiasm. These past few days, the three of them had been inseparable, doing everything together, and discussing things with one another. It perfectly matched the state of friendship he yearned for.
He pointed to the peach tree next to them, feeling it was simply too coincidental.
“It just so happens there’s a peach tree right here. We can emulate Liu, Guan, and Zhang and swear brotherhood in the peach garden!”
[Translator’s Note: “Liu, Guan, and Zhang” refers to Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei from the classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, who famously swore an oath of eternal brotherhood in a peach garden.]
Lu Qiujin: “…”
Ying He: “…”
Even if Ying He had held onto a sliver of hope before, hearing Luo Shizhen actually bring up Liu, Guan, and Zhang extinguished it. No matter how much he hoped the other party had some feelings for him, he now knew those feelings were purely brotherly.
Unable to wait for their answer, Luo Shizhen felt a bit embarrassed:
“Why aren’t you guys saying anything? Should I not have mentioned becoming sworn brothers?”
“No, it has nothing to do with you, it’s a problem on my end.” Seeing his apprehension, Lu Qiujin immediately took the blame onto himself.
“I don’t have good affinity with brothers. I have a younger brother at home, and our relationship is just average, so it’s not really suitable for me to swear brotherhood. You and Ying He can do it. Anyone can tell he has a great relationship with his younger brother; people like him are suited to be brothers.”
Luo Shizhen actually believed it. He nodded and turned to look at Ying He.
Ying He’s expression didn’t change: “I’m superstitious. I had my fortune told before, and they said I’m not suited to form sworn kinship.”
Lu Qiujin sneered internally, thinking what a load of nonsense. Superstitious? There wasn’t a superstitious bone in Ying He’s body.
But Luo Shizhen really believed it.
“Is that so? What a pity.”
The three of them hit it off so well, how wonderful would it be if they swore brotherhood. When Big Brother came out, he would definitely be very happy too.
However, Luo Shizhen’s virtue was that he didn’t overthink things. Since they couldn’t become sworn brothers, he let the idea go.
But Lu Qiujin and Ying He seemed to be suffering a massive blow.
Lu Qiujin thought to himself, he only approached Luo Shizhen so that after Luo Shizhen developed feelings for him, he would help purify him.
If they really became sworn brothers, it should be a good thing for him no matter how you looked at it.
But at the moment he heard those words, it could practically be said that his entire body and soul had fiercely resisted.
Something wasn’t right.
A sense of foreboding rose in Lu Qiujin’s heart.
He had seen with his own eyes how Xiao Shan and Chu Xiao fought over Luo Shizhen out of jealousy. After realizing something was wrong, he could naturally associate it with the reason.
But he, how could he possibly fall in love with someone?
He was a cold-hearted, emotionless monster. Towards his own biological parents and his biological younger brother, he only had cold disgust and hatred.
He hated this world, and he hated everyone.
His parents had also once said they liked him, said he was their precious son, and wished they could hold him up to the heavens.
And the result? Upon finding out he wouldn’t live long, they immediately abandoned him and even tried to transfer his Wood-type ability to his younger brother.
His younger brother had also said he liked him, calling him “brother, brother” non-stop every day, acting spoiled towards him, wanting to give him every toy, and saying his favorite person in the world was his older brother.
And the result? The one who personally swung a knife at him was that exact same younger brother who had always said he liked his older brother.
“Like” is the most disgusting word in the world.
People can easily say they like something, but they can just as easily take it back.
And simply saying those words seems to naturally create a layer of moral entanglement; doing things that hurt people while claiming “I’m doing this because I like you.”
The evil deeds one couldn’t bring themselves to do to a stranger, they could easily do to the person they once said they liked.
Disgusting.
Too disgusting.
Lu Qiujin had always firmly believed this.
And now, he actually believed that he liked Luo Shizhen.
He took a step back, continuously brainwashing himself in his heart:
—It must be because I only want to use Luo Shizhen, which is why I don’t want any other entanglement with him.
Ying He, however, quickly calmed down.
He asked calmly, “Shizhen, speaking of which, does the Awakener’s instinct to repel the opposite sex have any effect on you?”
Although Luo Shizhen didn’t know why this was brought up so suddenly, he answered honestly, “It’s alright, I guess.”
“Actually, at first I was a bit unaccustomed to being surrounded by guys everywhere, but after staying for a while, it’s been okay.”
Hearing this, Ying He’s heart had already skipped a beat.
Sure enough, Luo Shizhen continued:
“Although this way I might not meet a girl I like, I heard being a Guardian is very dangerous, right? So it’s indeed not suitable to date right now, otherwise, if I die, wouldn’t I be harming her?”
Speaking of the topic of marriage and having children, Luo Shizhen was very open:
“The teacher said that seven years after joining the Guardians, you can decide for yourself whether to stay or leave. School takes three years, being a Guardian takes seven, so that’s ten years. Ten years later, I’ll be twenty-nine. If I meet the right person, I might apply to resign, and then see if it’s free love or getting married through matchmaking.”
He even cheered himself up: “Even though I’ll be a bit old at twenty-nine, there’s a guy in our town who didn’t get married until he was thirty!”
Ying He’s surface calmness could no longer be maintained. He wanted to show a smile, but in the end, he only managed to force a twitch at the corners of his mouth:
“I didn’t expect you to have such a complete plan.”
“Right! I thought about it for a long time!”
Luo Shizhen thought he was praising him and immediately felt pleased with himself. He even showed concern for Ying He:
“Ying He, do you have a girlfriend?”
Although Ying He was a year younger than him, there were quite a few seventeen or eighteen-year-old classmates secretly dating at No. 3 High School. Luo Shizhen thought, Ying He is so outstanding, his grades are good, and he is amiable; maybe he’s already dating.
Ying He: “…No.”
He finally understood now what that secret Ying Liu had mentioned was.
Luo Shizhen is a straight man.
He doesn’t like men.
No wonder. No wonder Ying Liu had been acting so strangely, being so fawning towards Shizhen yet incredibly restrained, as if terrified that saying one extra word would make him hated.
For the always-my-way Ying Liu to probe so apprehensively, he must have already confessed to Shizhen.
Perhaps Shizhen had even shown disgust or distanced himself in reaction; otherwise, Ying Liu wouldn’t have acted so subserviently.
Relying on his understanding of his twin brother, Ying He quickly guessed about eighty percent of what happened that day.
His heart felt heavy.
But it hadn’t sunk straight to the bottom.
Ten years. There was still ten years of time.
In these ten years, it wasn’t certain he wouldn’t have a chance.
Right now, the most important thing was to improve his own strength and strive to be able to join the team Luo Shizhen would be in later.
If he couldn’t get in and lost the only opportunity to spend day and night with the other party, that would truly mean having no chance left.
Ying He quickly adjusted his mindset, looking back at Luo Shizhen with a smile.
Although it was his first time pursuing someone, as a top student, Ying He also had his own set of standards.
In front of the person he liked, he wanted to show his best side, so that whenever the other party thought of him, he would always be flawless.
“The car is here. I’ll get going first. Remember to keep in touch.”
Luo Shizhen nodded. At this moment, some feelings of parting arose, but knowing in his heart that he could see Ying He again and that they could chat online, his parting sorrow quickly dissipated.
Watching the car taking Ying He away, he turned around: “Let’s go, Lu Qiujin.”
Lu Qiujin followed by his side. His expression looked no different from before, just carrying a slight tinge of gloom.
“Do you really plan to get married in the future?”
“Of course.” Luo Shizhen looked at him in confusion instead: “Do you not plan to get married?”
“What’s so good about marriage? They call it marrying for love, but in reality, it’s just arguing every day after marriage. My parents are exactly like that; they wish they could argue from morning till night.”
Luo Shizhen scratched his head: “Then your mom and dad must have pretty good stamina.”
Arguing is a strenuous job. When his grandmother used to be in good health, she was especially good at arguing. When Luo Shizhen was little and people called him an idiot, if Grandma Luo heard it, she could argue from one end of the town to the other.
The fact that ‘idiot’ wasn’t among his nicknames was entirely to Grandma Luo’s credit.
Lu Qiujin: “…Stamina isn’t the point. The point is, do you also want to argue with someone every day after you get married?”
“If I get married and my partner argues with me, it must be because I did something wrong. As long as I apologize properly, we shouldn’t argue, right?”
Lu Qiujin never expected Luo Shizhen to come up with such an answer.
“Then what if it isn’t your fault, but hers?”
Luo Shizhen said naively: “Everyone makes mistakes. Our teacher said, recognizing your mistakes and correcting them is the greatest good. If she made a mistake, we can just discuss it nicely. Why would we argue?”
Luo Shizhen had never been married, but Grandma Luo had told him many times about her married life with his grandfather. His impression was that his grandfather went too far, always doing things wrong and refusing to admit it, causing his grandmother to be angry.
So if he got married, he would actively admit his mistakes, correct them, work hard to make money, and take on all the household chores; then they probably wouldn’t argue.
He even persuaded Lu Qiujin: “You shouldn’t always focus on whose fault it is. My grandma said marriage is about mutual tolerance; holding grudges isn’t good.”
Of course, Luo Shizhen didn’t realize that when his grandmother recounted the various deeds his grandfather had done, she was, in fact, holding a grudge.
Lu Qiujin didn’t believe Luo Shizhen could be this temperless.
Having spent so much time together, he could naturally see that while Luo Shizhen’s personality seemed soft, if you really stepped on his bottom line, he wouldn’t back down.
Otherwise, having grown up together with him, Chu Xiao would have bent him long ago.
Why is it that when talking about a non-existent marriage partner, Luo Shizhen became so tolerant and willing to yield step by step?
Lu Qiujin inexplicably felt his defenses breaking.
“So you’re saying, if you get married, you’ll do the chores, you’ll support the family, and you’ll even apologize when there’s a conflict. What are you even after?”
“Marriage is about building a family, why do I have to be after something? And how can you talk about my future partner like that? My grandma said that women giving birth is very painful, especially, especially painful. I’m a guy, I can’t give birth, and I can’t help bear her pain, so what’s wrong with doing a bit more usually? Isn’t that just a given?”
The look Luo Shizhen gave Lu Qiujin was practically like looking at a scumbag.
All his imagination regarding marriage came from Grandma Luo. His grandma was such a good person, yet because his grandfather lacked a sense of responsibility, threw all the work to his grandma, and argued with her, it caused her to suffer from various ailments in her old age.
As a result, his grandfather lived a carefree life for half his years, only to catch a severe illness in his old age and pass away directly. Before he died, the family even sold their house to pay for his medical treatment.
Luo Shizhen was still young at the time, but upon hearing his grandmother say this, he swore in his heart that he would absolutely never learn from his grandfather in the future.
When young, he would be diligent and do more work, honestly admit mistakes, and not argue with his partner. When he grew old, if he fell ill before his wife, he would hurry up and die so that the money wouldn’t be spent in vain without saving him, leaving the rest of the family to live a harsh life.
Now, he felt Lu Qiujin had a strong tendency to become someone like his grandfather.
Luo Shizhen kindly patted Lu Qiujin’s shoulder:
“It’s not good for you to think this way. Try hard to change it, otherwise no girl will want you in the future.”
Just as Lu Qiujin couldn’t hold back his retort, Luo Shizhen added a sentence:
“Anyway, if I were a girl, I wouldn’t be willing to be with you either.”
Lu Qiujin: “…”
Seeing Lu Qiujin freeze, Luo Shizhen was afraid he had hurt Lu Qiujin’s feelings and quickly added:
“But I can’t represent other girls, of course. You’re good-looking and outstanding; maybe there’s a girl who wouldn’t mind your weird temper and would be willing to be with you.”
“I’m just saying, if it were me, I wouldn’t be willing.”
He scratched his head, feeling he was simply too clever—expressing his own opinion without hurting Lu Qiujin:
“Haha, you don’t need to mind me. I’m a guy anyway, so there’s no way I’d be with you.”
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