Chapter 177 - System vs. System (XXVII)
The heart was hidden in the chest of the man in front of him, but Chi Xiaochi felt so close that it felt like he was holding it in his palm, his palm vaguely tingling from the powerful beating of his heart.
Chi Xiaochi said cautiously, “May I ask?”
”I am your master, your teacher. To preach, to teach ……” Wen Yujing , 061 , or Lou Ying , took his hand, saying, “…… and to solve puzzles, are my responsibilities.”
Chi Xiaochi looked at their interlocked fingers, “Master is wounded and needs to rest, so I will only ask five questions.”
Lou Ying pursed her lips and smiled softly, “Good.”
He has said many times that he likes Chi Xiaochi’s strong tone of voice, which is very cute.
Chi Xiaochi asked, “Is that demon really the one who killed the book and killed his parents?”
Lou Ying was not surprised by this question.
Chi Xiaochi’s first concern is always the task itself.
”Yes, but not really.” Lou leaned back and sat up a little straighter, “I was looking into the matter earlier and found traces of demon hunting activities on the East Mountain Island near the East Sea. After escaping, I thought I couldn’t leave empty-handed, so I broke into the island. We need the head of a demon to testify.”
Lou Ying speaks plainly, making no mention of her own harrowing visit to the island.
Before he went, Ji Zuoshan, who had escorted him all the way from the Valley of the Lost Butterflies to the East Sea, asked him, “Teacher Six, is it true that you don’t need me to accompany you?”
He knelt down on one knee, reached out to stroke the surging tide, and said, “Go to Xiaochi.”
Ji Zuoshan was still unsure: “But you’re too badly hurt.”
He said, “I’m fine. I’m okay with myself, but I’m not okay with him.”
…… even if they knew what he was capable of, they could never be reassured.
Ji Zuoshan said, “Then I’ll go and tell him about you ……”
”Don’t tell him, he’ll be uneasy too if he knows I’ve come to break into the island.” 061 said, “Besides, I don’t know if my boss will be watching him, and you can’t say that you will be watched by my boss if you communicate with him. I can only trouble you to stay with him for a while and look after his safety for me. …… Many thanks.”
At this, he slowly drew a water sword out from between the snow-white foamy tides: “What needs to be said, I will go back and say to him myself.”
A sword of water condensed by the evening tide of the Eastern Sea, carried in the hands of a man covered in wounds, accompanied him along a bloody path that seemed to have no end in sight.
He also did a bit of demon hunting, walking over alone, carrying another head and retreating in one piece.
Lou Ying could read the memories of Duan Shujue, who had seen the faces of the butchers through Duan Shujue’s terrified eyes.
He forced his way onto the island, found a face in the sea of demons that had appeared in Duan Shujue’s memory, cut his skull with a sword, wrapped his long, blood-stained hair around his wrist and crossed the ocean to find his Xiaochi.
He did not kill all those demons because he was injured and his strength was not yet sufficient.
With Xiaochi as a weakness, he won’t be able to show off easily.
Moreover, it is Duan Shujue who should take revenge on his blood relatives.
Chi Xiaochi asked a second question, “Did Master already know about the rumours?”
”It’s about you and me, of course I know.”
The rumours were rife and he was aware of them. He was just keeping the canker sore and was in no hurry to get rid of it.
Even if I had fetched the painter and the fraudulent rascal up to the mountain and clarified the matter to Chi Yunzi, the rumours had already spread and I could not drag the two men to their doorsteps to clarify them one by one, nor could I hold a clarification meeting to do so, which would be counterproductive. It would be better to leave the cards in the air and let them fester, and then wait for a major occasion like a public trial to break the story and clear up all the rumours in one fell swoop.
Chi Xiaochi nodded and asked a third question, “What was the injury about?”
Lou Ying doesn’t want to talk about it: “I was just careless, I’ll be fine soon, don’t worry.”
Chi Xiaochi : “…… hmmm.”
What immediately followed was a long silence.
Chi Xiaochi’s palm remains gently pressed against his heart and his eyes fall to his fingertips as if he is thinking about his mind.
At this point, Lou Ying also senses that Chi Xiaochi seems to be deliberately avoiding the question he really wants to ask.
He was a little nervous, fearing that Chi Xiaochi would back out of the battle again, and unconsciously clenched his hand, but immediately wondered if he was pushing too hard, and hastily relaxed his grip.
Chi Xiaochi, however, took a backhanded grip on the shirt on his chest.
He asked a fourth question, “Master, why have you been gone so long?”
Lou’s throat choked, and the tip of her heart crinkled at his words.
Chi Xiaochi’s voice wavered little, the tip of his thumb groping back and forth, sensing the subtle heartbeat in his chest: “…… Three days felt like a dozen years had passed.”
Lou Ying sat up straight and bent slightly: “It’s my fault for not greeting you in advance.”
Chi Xiaochi just raised her eyes to his, “I don’t blame you, I don’t blame you. It’s just that it’s really been a bit long.”
Lou Ying’s heart was aching, and she wrapped her arms around his waist so that he was pressed against her chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat.
”…… I’m sorry.”
Lou Ying dropped his head, his free hand slowly holding the back of his head, slowly stroking Chi Xiaochi’s slightly longer hair, and pressed it against Chi Xiaochi’s ear, slowly, with a single apology, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
He should have tried harder, he should have gone back sooner.
”It’s okay.” Chi Xiaochi buried herself in his arms, her tone not very sad, even a little incredibly happy, “You’ve saved me decades of waiting.”
Chi Xiaochi says, “I used to think that if I got too old to act and couldn’t read the script anymore, I would stop acting. At that time, I would be in a silo, cooking and watching TV every day, waiting for you to come and pick me up one day. …… Now, I’ve only waited a dozen years to come and find you, and find you, how nice.”
How nice it was that the fated chandelier fell just above his head, unobtrusively.
Lou Ying stroked the back of his head, his heart slightly aching.
He doesn’t want to be grateful for the chandelier, even though the one that accidentally fell off sent Chi Xiaochi to him so that he wouldn’t turn a little into a monotonous and uninteresting piece of machinery.
His heart only aches for his Xiaochi.
He asked, “Is it hard for you when I hold you like this.”
”No.” Chi Xiaochi buried her head a little lower, “It’s just been a long time since I’ve been like this and I’m not really used to it.”
Lou Ying felt the warmth radiating from his chest and his heart softened a little more, whispering to him, “I didn’t see anything. Just do what you want to do.”
After a longer period of silence and embracing, Chi Xiaochi raised his head.
He kept himself under control, with not much blood in his eyes and no redness around them to show much sign of crying.
” 061 .” Chi Xiaochi settled down and solemnly asked the final question, “Are you Brother Lou?”
Before Lou Ying was ready, the wrong answer rushed out before his consciousness: “I am not.”
061 Slight change of countenance.
Even if it does not enter Chi Xiaochi’s body and is not actively connected to the Lord GOD system, the secrecy system is still functioning.
Lord GOD is really watching them!
Chi Xiaochi looked at his slightly crestfallen expression and folded her arms behind Lou Ying’s neck, “Dong Feihong, isn’t that you?”
”…… is not.”
He cocked his head and his eyes narrowed slightly, ” Bu Lu isn’t that you.”
”No.”
”Hmm? Gan Yu neither?”
Lou Ying looked back and couldn’t help himself, “I don’t think so.”
”Ah.” Chi Xiaochi nodded, “Then the boss must not be either.”
”I don’t think so.”
Chi Xiaochi smiled and gently rested his forehead against Lou Ying’s: “Yes, I know. Master, you take this medicine three times a day, I have to go and get the next bowl quickly. I will leave you now.”
After saying this, he held the jade bowl and wooden tray and made a salute before exiting.
But Lou Ying still saw his red earlobes.
Lou Ying smiles.
How can you tease someone and get yourself away so fast.
Chi Xiaochi did run very fast, walking through the corridors so fast that he forgot to put on his shoes.
He thought of a long-ago winter afternoon.
At that time, Chi Xiaochi was still a high school student.
After calling in sick to his class teacher, he left school, backpack in hand, and waited to rush to a large mall on the West Side.
He had a show in the evening and was paid $600
His bike chain fell off and he had to take the bus.
While waiting for the bus, he took his maths exercise book out of his bag to do his homework for the day.
A bus stopped in front of him, but it was not the one he was waiting for.
He looked up at the logo on the car, which happened to be the brand of clothing he was walking in this evening, so he stared at it for a moment longer.
It was not yet rush hour and there were not too many people on the bus, so the car started quickly.
The window moves forward like the scale of a ruler, and a familiar figure flashes past Chi Xiaochi in the back seat of the car by the window.
The exercise book in Chi Xiaochi’s hand fell to the floor with a snap.
He froze in place for two or three seconds and drew up his feet to give chase.
He threw away his school bag that was banging around on his shoulders, threw off his bulky jacket and, wearing only a grey pullover jumper, chased madly after the bus that was speeding down the road before rush hour.
Chi Xiaochi didn’t shout, he couldn’t even scream, just chased in silence and silence.
He was afraid that the car would stop and he was afraid that it would not.
A passenger in the car noticed the woebegone high school student and called out to the driver, who also saw him in his rear view mirror and was in a quandary about whether to make the illegal stop.
There was a red light at the crossroads a few hundred metres away and the car slowed down slowly, and after it had come to a complete stop, Chi Xiaochi caught up with it, his shoulder hitting the outer carriage with a loud, muffled thud as he became dizzy from the chase.
He was knocked sideways onto the ground by himself, living like a bruiser.
A woman who was shopping for vegetables pulled open the window and said in her accented Mandarin, “Bean, there’s another one behind you, what’s the hurry? What’s the hurry? It’s almost time for the next stop.”
Chi Xiaochi looked up and realised that the whole bus was looking at him.
The young man he had just seen was also looking at him.
The man was wearing the uniform of the school next door and had a trifle of Lou Ying in his eyebrows, but it wasn’t him.
Just then, the car door opened.
Chi Xiaochi sat on the floor and shook his head.
He heard the driver laughing and scolding, student boy, silly, looking at the wrong car.
The light turns green and the traffic starts to move forward.
Chi Xiaochi stands up on weak legs and walks back one step at a time.
The cold wind blew him through, and he picked up his jacket, his school bag and eventually returned to the lonely station with his frozen hands, picked up the maths exercise book that had been fluttering in the wind and the biros that had rolled down in a tree pit to one side, shook off the mud and continued to work on his problems with his head down.
……
Chi Xiaochi left the nave and ran fast down the corridor, almost to the kitchenette, but then turned around and sprinted back.
He pulled the door of the temple open with one hand and braced his hands on either side of it, gasping for breath.
And Lou Ying kept looking at the door as he had just left, his expression, his movements, not changing a bit, just adding more surprise: “What’s the matter, forgot something?”
Chi Xiaochi shook his head until he had caught his breath and looked up, “You’re not going anywhere.”
Lou Ying said, “I’m right here.”
Chi Xiaochi : “Don’t go anywhere.”
Lou Ying said, “Okay, not going anywhere.”
Chi Xiaochi, now relieved, closed the door behind him and headed back the way he came.
How many foolish things he had done over the years, how many foolish dreams he had vowed that he would never be fooled again.
But he now wants to be silly again.
This time, Chi Xiaochi stayed in the kitchen, cleaning the pots and decocting the herbs, and carefully tending to the fire, refusing to leave the room.
Duan Shujue, envious in his heart, dipped his hand in water and wrote on the side, “Sir, congratulations.”
Chi Xiaochi smiled brightly, “Thank you.”
Duan Shujue also wrote: “May the two gentlemen be blessed for a hundred years.”
Chi Xiaochi tsked, “Kids, don’t know any better, what are you talking about.”
Duan Shujue : “Mr. ……?”
Chi Xiaochi held a small fan and fanned the fire a little: “He was nice to me before, so nice that I thought he was interested in me. But I’m relieved to know he’s Lou. No wonder, Lou used to take care of me so much.”
Duan Shujue : “…… I don’t think so.”
”You’ve got to.” Chi Xiaochi said confidently, “Have you ever been in love?”
Duan Shujue took a moment to understand what Chi Xiaochi meant, and then was careful to behave, saying not yet.
Chi Xiaochi said, “Coincidentally, I haven’t talked about it either.”
Duan Shujue waiting to be taught a life lesson : “……”
Chi Xiaochi : “But I’m well read and won’t ass you.”
Duan Shujue : “……” is that right.
Although the words are easy to say, Chi Xiaochi is still a little embarrassed.
When I didn’t know who 061 was, I don’t know how many times I had said to his face that I liked Brother Lou to bits.
But Lou has always treated himself like an unintelligent brother, even with his alter-ego, and mostly looked after him, occasionally rubbing his nose in it and not going further than that.
In the past, Lou used to spoil himself, pamper himself and do whatever he wanted.
…… is never really like yourself, is it?
Chi Xiaochi is trying to be silly, but not too whimsical.
In his best dreams, Chi Xiaochi wouldn’t dare dream of something so good.
Chi Xiaochi tapped the edge of the jar with a small fan and thought, “When this mission is over, he will have to find a chance to tell Lou about it.
Tossing a jar of medicine down to a bowl’s worth of portions, Chi Xiaochi returned to the temple with the bowl in hand.
Lou Ying was waiting for him and did not leave.
Chi Xiaochi, who suspected that it was all a dream, settled down and gave him his medicine, then went to get hot water for his body and bath.
Lou Ying, worried by the shocking injuries on his body, sent Chi Xiaochi, who was about to undress him, to the inner room and asked him to add some toning medicine to the water.
The heat from the fountain had a calming effect and Chi Xiaochi’s spirits had been strained for three days, so the steam from the medicinal scent made him so tired that he fell asleep against the inner screen while waiting for Lou Ying to enter.
When Lou Ying enters the inner room in a loose, light lining, she smoothly picks up Chi Xiaochi x1, who is sound asleep.
Seeing this, he froze and let out a laugh, picked her up and gently placed her on the bed, removed her socks and outer robe, covered up the covers, and then sat down on the edge of the bed, slightly panting as he covered the pain in his shoulder.
Duan Shujue took the opportunity to tell Lou Ying what Chi Xiaochi had said and done in the kitchen.
Lou Ying read Duan Shujue’s words with a mixture of good humour and amusement.
Where is the guy who used to say, “Mr. Six, do you like me?” and “You must be trying to pick me up”?
However, Lou Ying doesn’t find Chi Xiaochi’s idea so difficult to understand.
He is still running away.
And this avoidance mentality is not something that can be corrected overnight.
Lou Ying still had a bitter taste of the medicine in his mouth, and when he thought of it, he lowered his head and kissed the hair of his sleeping insider through this body, a sweetness flooded up from the root of his tongue.
He smoothed the hair from Chi Xiaochi’s ears, his heart softening.
It’s okay, there’s no rush.
”…… You run slowly and I’ll try to chase as fast as I can.”
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