Chapter 56: Self-Taught
At those words, Shen Yunqian froze slightly. His eyes widened as the arm around his waist tightened. The searing heat radiating from the back of the person behind him burned through his thoughts, turning everything into a blank slate amidst a sky of red light.
Inside the pot, the sweet soup rolled and boiled, its sugary aroma permeating the air.
Lu Xunye was entranced by the neck before him, fine and white as ice porcelain. His teeth itched, and like a vampire obsessed with blood, he bit down greedily.
It was like white jade—lustrous, cool, and smooth.
It dissolved the craving that had overridden his reason.
The slight stinging pain was no match for the pool of spring water in his chest, rippled by the wind; it didn’t anger the person being bitten.
Shen Yunqian’s fingers, hanging by his sides, curled loosely before clenching into tight fists, only to relax again. A warm drop slid from his sleeve and fell into his palm.
A flush of red traced the gaps between his fingers, converging into a sigh so light it was almost imperceptible. “You always do this.”
Relying on your ignorance, you tease my heart, yet you always want to… pull away.
The oblivious drunkard seemed to sense something. Satisfied, he loosened his bite and lifted his head, uncoiling one arm to take the hand of the person in his embrace.
Shen Yunqian’s fingers curled back, struggling for a moment, but Lu Xunye’s other arm tightened even more, like a child refusing to let go of a beloved toy.
Then, he stared at the red mark winding around the snowy skin before him. resting his head on his “toy’s” shoulder and neck. He tilted his head slightly, his eyes a mix of chaotic emotions, like an overturned palette where no single color held the upper hand.
He brought his face closer and sniffed gently. It wasn’t the mellowness of wine, but it was enough to intoxicate a person.
The damp, warm tip of a tongue licked over the spot, bringing an overwhelming itch that drowned out the discomfort in his wrist.
Startled, Shen Yunqian yanked his hand back. He crossed his hands, loosely clasping them over the fabric covering his heart, which was reacting even more violently. He panted, fragile and urgent.
Someone pressed down on his arms and turned him around. His lower back pressed against the counter. His eyes flickered, then closed as a kiss landed on the corner of his eye.
Lu Xunye kissed away the tear that was threatening to fall from the corner of his eye, emphasizing earnestly, “I don’t like it.”
Shen Yunqian’s heartbeat slowed. He kept his hands over his heart, not putting them down. Under the lights, his heterochromatic eyes shone brilliantly. His unblinking gaze slowly lowered as time passed.
Lu Xunye shook his head, trying to scatter his dizzying thoughts, before managing to piece together a disjointed sentence: “You crying… I don’t like it… Don’t cry.”
If the System were here, it would be shocked by his actions.
This was the first time Lu Xunye, possessing all his memories, had initiated intimacy that had nothing to do with a mission.
Perhaps the alcohol had paralyzed his mind, leaving him with no distracting thoughts to expose the heavy matters buried at the bottom of his heart.
They say drunk people speak the truth. Shen Yunqian remained silent for a long time before straightening Lu Xunye’s face to look him in the eye. “I haven’t asked you yet.”
He fell silent for two seconds, then continued, “Do you like them guai (well-behaved)… or fierce?”
A cool palm covered Lu Xunye’s cheek, which was burning hot from the alcohol. He nuzzled against it comfortably, then replied with half-understanding, “Well-behaved.”
Shen Yunqian’s eyelashes trembled slightly. His tone was weak, lacking confidence. “Then… am I guai?”
This time, Lu Xunye didn’t answer. His gaze fixed on the lips the person before him was lightly pursing in nervous anticipation.
The man who had just rejected a kiss, clamoring that he was thirsty and wanted compensation, now lowered his head on his own initiative. He offered a passionate kiss, leaving Shen Yunqian’s mind dazed and his defenses utterly collapsed.
Shen Yunqian’s hands braced against the cold tiles of the kitchen counter behind him.
The taut string in his mind seemed to float adrift on a boundless ocean along with his limp body, his senses focused entirely on the fiery form pressing against him.
He didn’t know how much time had passed before a bubbling blister in the white clay pot burst, splashing a drop of hot liquid onto the back of Shen Yunqian’s hand. The burning pain spread, jolting his reason awake.
He hurriedly pushed Lu Xunye’s kiss-seeking face away and reached back to turn off the stove.
Click.
The phantom-blue flame extinguished. Lu Xunye was already standing in front of the pot, holding a bowl.
He looked like a completely different person from the one who had looked so aggrieved after being pushed away.
Shen Yunqian: “…”
Once he got what he wanted, Lu Xunye held the bowl and carefully exited the kitchen, sitting at the dining table to blow away the white steam rising from it.
By the time Shen Yunqian came out, Lu Xunye had just finished blowing on a spoonful of sweet soup.
The softness of the snow pear chunks and white fungus, accented by the goji berries, looked like a painting inked with sweet pear juice in the pure white porcelain spoon.
The spoon pressed against Shen Yunqian’s lips. It was hot, but not scalding.
Lu Xunye’s eyes were bright; it was unclear if he had sobered up or not.
Maybe it was because he saw the other person come out empty-handed, or maybe he wanted the person who made the soup to taste it first. He extended his arm and said excitedly, “Drink.”
Threads of sweetness squeezed into his mouth from where the spoon touched his lips. Shen Yunqian turned his face away and said indifferently, “I won’t drink.”
Hidden by the table, the stack of tissues in his left hand was already pressed against the gauze on his right hand.
Seeing him frown, a flash of confusion crossed Lu Xunye’s unclear eyes. He didn’t think much of it and began to drink it himself.
Shen Yunqian watched him silently. He had never seen him like this and couldn’t help but look a while longer, the numbness on his lips from the forceful sucking still lingering.
“Tomorrow… accompany me to a place.”
Chewing on a piece of pear, Lu Xunye nodded obediently.
Shen Yunqian’s eyes held a tenderness that couldn’t be dissolved, as if pain was nothing. Every time he was hurt, Lu Xunye was always exceptionally indulgent towards him.
He guessed it would be the same this time, so he had given up struggling in the kitchen, letting the other person discover it.
When he came out of the bedroom after re-wrapping his wrist in clean white gauze, Lu Xunye had already fallen asleep slumped over the table.
“How long will you take to adapt?”
A soft murmur melted into the air.
After waking up, Lu Xunye couldn’t escape the common ailment of the hungover. With a splitting headache, he propped up his head and straightened up, leaning half-way against the headboard. He opened his bleary eyes to find he was actually in his own bedroom.
He first breathed a sigh of relief, then began to feel uneasy. His memory cut off at the System grabbing him by the collar and smashing him onto the floor.
The recollection came to an abrupt halt. He knocked on the System in his mind to ask what the situation was, but unfortunately, the System had gone offline early last night. It knew nothing when asked, only giving a vague account.
So… did Shen Yunqian throw him back here, or did he walk back himself?
Putting that matter aside, looking in the mirror, he made the bizarre discovery that the scrape near his wrist bone and the cut on his ear had mostly healed.
Since the pain shielding was removed, he had never paid much attention to these things. If he didn’t mind it, he didn’t feel the pain. Now, carefully sensing it, it wasn’t an illusion—it really didn’t hurt anymore.
Lu Xunye intuitively felt he had missed something. Thinking about it, the back of his neck began to burn again for no reason.
Ding.
【Love Points +50,000. Current Love Points: 800,000.】
He paused, feeling a bit baffled. His heart slowly felt different than usual—indescribable, a bit strange.
But soon, his attention was completely drawn by a sudden stinging pain. After getting up and washing his face, he flipped up his collar and checked the back of his neck in the mirror.
There was nothing there, naturally revealing no clues.
Every time he asked, the System said it couldn’t detect anything, always finding a reason to brush him off. He didn’t care; the System had never been reliable where he was concerned.
Full of doubts, he pressed the spot that felt like electric currents were rushing through it, causing a numbing, burning pain. In an instant, it returned to calm, as if everything had been a hallucination.
This hadn’t happened just once or twice. His brow furrowed tight; he should probably go to the hospital for a check-up.
The moment he stepped out of the bathroom, he suddenly remembered some novels he had frantically read to adapt to this body’s profession and understand the novel environment of this world when he first entered.
ABO…
Could it be that this world view deviated from the original one?
Thinking of this, a sudden chill made him shudder, and he dismissed this absurd guess, though a layer of goosebumps still rose on his arms.
Impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible!
The System, floating in its space with its legs crossed in boredom, had been free to roam since its upgrade. If it knew Lu Xunye’s thoughts, it would probably laugh until it fell over backward.
Ding-ling.
A WeChat message popped up on his phone: Ready?
Lu Xunye stared blankly at the message. Ready for what?
The place was immersed in a quiet solemnity. Everywhere was grayish-white, with only a few evergreen pine trees adding life to the scene.
After more than a month, the yellowing leaves on the surrounding trees had fallen completely, leaving the lawn withered and yellow. Lu Xunye lowered his eyes to look at the stone tablet before him.
It was a square stele of blue-white quartzite with two rows of yellow engraved characters. There were no photos. It was the tombstone of Shen Yunqian’s parents.
There were two bouquets of flowers, one large and one small, in the basket beside him.
Lu Xunye watched as Shen Yunqian placed a bouquet of tulips, sprayed with water from the flower shop, on the platform before the stele. He touched the stone and spoke a few words softly.
At that moment, something touched his heart. The clear breeze blew, scattering the young man’s soft hair, and he saw the undisguised brokenness in the depths of his eyes.
Remembrance, relief, hope, and inadvertently detected hatred.
Even though Lu Xunye wasn’t drunk now and his mind was clear, he still couldn’t read the other person. For a split second, he felt the other person needed him… needed him very much.
So, he followed the other person and knelt before the stone tablet, kneeling side by side. When his knees touched the cold stone bricks, he suddenly felt relaxed.
Shen Yunqian was so startled by his action that he couldn’t speak.
Under such a gaze, Lu Xunye bowed and kowtowed out of respect for the deceased.
He knew perfectly well that gods, buddhas, and ghosts were all fake.
Let alone in a book.
Everyone’s trajectory was manipulated to completion.
Even so, he still recited silently in his heart: Please, you two elders, bless Shen Yunqian so that everything will get better for him, and that he achieves what he desires.
The faint fragrance of tulips drifted past his nose with the wind. He straightened up. A gentle sentence entered his ears, which were buzzing from the sound of bullets piercing wooden boards, extinguishing everything.
“Today is New Year’s Eve.”
Lu Xunye turned his face to look at him. He had never had a concept of time; it was nothing more than one day ending and another returning. Speaking of which, it was quite boring.
But if it was New Year’s Eve…
“Happy New Year. / Thank you.”
Two voices sounded at the same time. Lu Xunye was surprised. “How did you know what I was going to say?”
“But there’s no need to thank me.” He cupped his hands and smiled. “Happy New Year, have a good year.”
Shen Yunqian didn’t speak, shifting his gaze back to the tombstone.
The two stayed for a while longer before preparing to leave. There was still a bouquet of lilies left in the flower basket.
It was something Lu Xunye had added on a whim when they were paying at the flower shop.
He had intended to ask Shen Yunqian to wait for him a moment, but seeing the other person following him closely, he gave up on speaking.
He didn’t stop until he reached a stone tablet two paths away. Shen Yunqian looked at the photo of the bright and beautiful woman on the stele. She looked to be only in her early twenties, smiling happily.
Jiang Qingran.
This name… Shen Yunqian thought deeply. It seemed to be the name of Si Jinyan’s father’s ex-wife. She had fallen off a cliff due to an accident twenty years ago, leaving no remains. She was only twenty-eight at the time.
The Si family… Burials should pay attention to Feng Shui and horoscopes. Why was a stele erected here all alone?
He turned his head and saw Lu Xunye place the bouquet of lilies down. His brow bore a resemblance to the woman in the photo. His mind moved, and he asked tentatively, “Your family?”
Lu Xunye shook his head. “I was asked by someone to pay respects last time. Since I didn’t have any urgent matters today, I thought I’d come and take a look.”
His fingertips swept over the top of the stele. It was quite clean.
Shen Yunqian was silent for a long time. “Can I ask about your mother?”
Mother…
If asking about the original owner’s mother, the original owner was just a passerby character. Perhaps his backstory was only fleshed out because he got close to Shen Yunqian.
But whether it was his mother or his mother in this world, it was the same.
“Dead.”
“…Sorry.”
Lu Xunye waved his hand, saying lightly, “I stopped taking it to heart long ago.”
…
Not long after they left, a person arrived in front of this stone tablet.
“Another year has passed. You really are cruel, never visiting my dreams even once.”
That’s right… today is your birthday.
The man smiled self-deprecatingly. “I’ve come to disgust you again.”
“When I’ve finished everything, I’ll go find you.”
As he spoke, he put down the lilies in his hand and placed a branch of magnolia, the woman’s favorite flower during her life, on the grave. Then he saw the other bouquet of lilies before the platform.
The man suddenly looked up, searching around for something. Finally, he slumped dejectedly against the stone tablet, stroking the name on it, fantasizing that the woman was right in front of him.
“Your bracelet is now with a young man. He’s a very good-looking boy. If you were still here, you would definitely like him too.”
“I know that old thing suspects I’m not dead and wants to use this bracelet and that child to force me to appear.”
“He deliberately put the bracelet up for auction, making that child and my people bid up the price. A show worth 20 million, and in the end, the auction house earns the commission.”
“Don’t you think he’s sick?”
With no one around, it was as if the woman had really come alive. He spoke sentence after sentence without getting annoyed.
…Ah Ran, do you want me to die too?
If Lu Xunye hadn’t left, he would have seen that this sorrowful man was the same middle-aged man who had chatted with him in front of the same stele at the cemetery last time.
Ding.
【Hidden Plot “Death of the White Moonlight” unlocked 15%. Mission Completion: 25%.】
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