Chapter 136: Confession
"You have always been luckier than me. I suspect my little luck is only a prelude and your turn is the main act." Said Yu Nianzhen with a rare smile on his lips.
His eyes softened, and he stretched out his hand to rub the other’s hair.
At first, Jiang Yue allowed himself to indulge in the moment, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
His mind worked in overdrive, and a few breaths later, his body froze.
"What’s wrong?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
Rather than answer, Jiang Yue grabbed his hand.
He brought the right wrist under his eyes and stared solemnly.
"As I thought, something is different." He muttered and continued to look.
When he heard that, Yu Nianzhen also looked.
He hadn’t noticed anything wrong with his purple star, but when he looked at it now, he saw a smoke-grey dot on one of the points.
The dot wasn’t big, but it was an imperfection that never used to be there.
"This..., what’s going on?"
Jiang Yue was a little panicked as he looked at the purple star.
He worried for the other, and his heart couldn’t take these strange things that kept happening.
"Don’t panic; calm down." Yu Nianzhen said, but he wasn’t as calm as he appeared.
The star that appeared on the right wrist after breaking through to the origin forging realm represented potential.
As far as he knew, the purple star was the highest star, and he didn’t know what a grey dot meant.
"We have to find that black-clothed person quickly." Jiang Yue said.
His eyes hardened, and his hands clenched.
’He better have an explanation for this when I find him.’ He thought to himself.
"XiaoYue, we seem to have forgotten something important."
Yu Nianzhen had a cheeky smile, and Jiang Yue was taken aback by the sudden change in topic.
However, he quickly adjusted his mind and understood that the other didn’t want to continue on the previous subject.
After all, they were in the dark.
They knew nothing about the young man who triggered everything, and talking about it now would not make a difference.
"What?" He inquired.
"What day is today?"
Jiang Yue was confused for a moment, but he soon understood.
When he did, his mouth fell open, and he looked at Yu Nianzhen with injured eyes.
"You..., how could you forget my birthday?" He was aggrieved, and the other worked hard not to change his expression.
’Don’t I share a birthday with you? Didn’t you also forget my birthday?’ Yu Nianzhen wondered but what came out of his mouth was vastly different.
"Your birthday has already passed for more than a month. What do you want as compensation for my forgetting?"
"Just compensation?"
Yu Nianzhen’s lips twitched, but he didn’t dare to laugh," what else is there?"
Jiang Yue glared, and the other couldn’t hold on.
He rubbed his hair and whispered," what do you want for a belated birthday present?"
When Jiang Yue heard this, his eyes sparkled.
He had a lot of things he wanted, and lists appeared in his mind. However, one desire overwhelmed everything else.
At this time, he looked at the other and tried to dampen the expectation in his eyes.
"Have you decided?"
Jiang Yue nodded, but he didn’t speak for a long time.
This surprised Yu Nianzhen because Jiang Yue had always been straightforward. He never wronged himself when it came to what he liked, and it surprised him that the other was hesitating.
"Just say it." He urged.
"You can’t fall into a coma when you break through to the qi transformation realm." Jiang Yue finally said.
His voice was lower than usual, and when he heard it, Yu Nianzhen felt like something was clenching his heart.
He wanted to say that he couldn’t control what would happen, but he couldn’t bring himself to reject the heartfelt wish.
’I will find a way.’ He thought, but he didn’t say it out aloud.
Instead, he dragged the other into his arms and hugged him.
They didn’t speak as they hugged, but they didn’t need to.
Jiang Yue knew Yu Nianzhen had no control of the breakthrough tribulation, but he couldn’t help himself. Above everything else, he wanted the other to be safe.
He didn’t want to watch helplessly as the other was hacked by lightning before falling into another coma.
"As for your birthday present, I will help you fulfil my wish." He said.
Yu Nianzhen laughed at that, and his arms tightened around the other.
"Let’s work hard together." He said.
When it came down to it, all his wishes and desires were related to Jiang Yue. It didn’t matter if he had nothing else, all he wanted was to have the other by his side.
"I will give you another present." Yu Nianzhen said, and Jiang Yue immediately looked up.
"What present?"
Yu Nianzhen smiled and removed something from his storage ring. The thing was a wooden box about fifteen centimetres by ten centimetres.
"What is it?"
"Won’t you know when you open it?"
Yu Nianzhen handed over the box, and the other took it eagerly.
Jiang Yue opened the wooden lid and saw a one-centimetre-thick wooden board, that was slightly smaller than the dimensions of the box.
A butterfly was drawn on the top left corner of the wooden slip, while a chrysanthemum was on the bottom right corner.
Other than the two beautifully drawn symbols of longevity, there was only one line of exquisite calligraphy in the middle of the wooden slip.
"Life, death, or apart, as we vowed; we will hold hand, grow old till the end." He read.
As he read, his heart filled with happiness.
He felt like a butterfly floating in the heavens, and his lips curled in a dazzling smile.
"We are growing old, and I hope to grow old together." Yu Nianzhen said and reached out to take Jiang Yue’s hand.
"Do you like it?"
"I love it."
Jiang Yue squeezed the other’s hand but couldn’t take his eyes off the text. The beautiful words filled his mind, and his soul stirred uncontrollably.
As he looked at the words, a vision appeared in his mind.
In the image, two birds flew together.
The bird on the left had one wing, one eye, and one leg, while the one on the right was its mirror reflection.
When the two birds came together, they made a whole and could fly together for eternity.
’Jian birds. Born together, live together, and die together.’ He thought, and his smile grew brighter. His mind lightened, and his heart let go of many troubles.
"Life, death, or apart, as we vowed; we will hold hand, grow old till the end." He repeated and laughed.
A moment later, he turned around and threw himself into the swordsman’s arms.
The wooden box and its content were placed in the storage ring, and his arms wound around the other’s neck.
"Nianzhen?"
"Mmmm?"
"I love you very much."
Yu Nianzhen stiffened, and his hands reflectively tightened around the other.
His usually calm heart skipped a beat and then began to beat three times faster than normal.
Before this moment, he knew Jiang Yue loved him.
It was in everything he did and said but hearing it gave him a different feeling.
He felt like he saw the light for the first time or heard the most beautiful music.
Without saying anything, he lowered his head and kissed the other.
This was obviously not their first kiss, but it felt like it was.
The kiss was devoid of passion, but it carried a lingering meaning that captured their souls and twined them together.
After a long time, the kiss ended, but the two did not separate.
Instead, they held on to each other tighter, and Yu Nianzhen leaned to whisper in the other’s ear.
"I love you very much too."
Silence reigned after that, and no one spoke for a long time.
When it seemed that no one would say anything, Jiang Yue opened his mouth, "Nianzhen?"
"Mmmh?"
"We forgot our birthdays this year, but let’s not do this again." He said.
"From now on, let’s promise to spend all our birthdays together.
It doesn’t matter how long we live, let’s never ignore the day we came into each other’s lives."
Yu Nianzhen felt like he was hit by lightning.
’What’s happening? Did my XiaoYue grow up eating honey?’ He wondered.
However, he was happy.
Although today was not their birthday, this belated birthday was the happiest in his life.
"I promise you." He answered.
"Since you gave me three gifts, what do you want for your third one?"
"Three gifts?" Yu Nianzhen counted two.
The first was the promise not to fall into a coma, and the second was the calligraphy he personally made.
"The confession is the third." Jiang Yue informed.
Yu Nianzhen chuckled and understood.
"For the third gift, I only want one thing." He said.
"What?"
"I want my XiaoYue to stay as he is. Happy and carefree."
