Gui Yin’s eyes widened in delight. “I’m right?”
He released Langxia and slapped his fan into his palm. He sheepishly smiled, “It was a guess! I vaguely remembered the boy…then I saw your handwriting…it was a bit of a stretch, but I can’t believe I’m actually right. Why didn’t you say anything?”
Langxia watched him steadily. “Because you wouldn’t have known what I was talking about even if I mentioned it.”
Gui Yin’s smile slowly fell. His gaze lowered as he recalled the muddy memory of that young man, who insisted there had been no child.
“…Back then, how did we lose each other?”
Langxia opened his mouth and slowly closed it again. “There was a struggle. You were trying your best to protect me. I fainted after. I didn’t see what happened next. I woke up and you were gone.”
“And you just left?” Gui Yin softly asked.
Langxia’s eyes showed little of his emotion, but somehow Gui Yin could imagine how the little boy felt at the time. A pang of guilt hit him in the heart. He wasn’t sure how to comfort the child who most likely no longer existed in Langxia. The little boy had been through so much after they had separated. He had most likely been completely erased after Langxia’s emotional root had been dug out.
“It was fate. It was nothing I could fight against,” Langxia calmly said. “It was meant to happen that way.”
Gui Yin’s brows furrowed slightly.
Langxia had previously said that a person’s life had a million routes, but whenever he spoke about himself, he always made it seem like he only had one path to walk. It made Gui Yin uncomfortable. He claimed that everyone had such freedom, yet he limited himself. Was it because he knew it was too late to change the path he was on? Or was there something else stopping him from changing the course of his own fate?
“Forget it,” Langxia said. “If you hadn’t asked, I would have never brought it up anyway. It’s nothing important.”
“There was a third person when we separated, right?”
Langxia stopped again. He thought about it for a moment before nodding. “I can’t say.”
“Because you didn’t see it yourself?”
Langxia met Gui Yin’s gaze and slowly smiled.
“Heaven’s secrets must not be exposed—right?” Gui Yin said.
Langxia chuckled. “Mn.”
“Alright,” Gui Yin sighed. “You already answered a lot of my questions. I’ll let you off this time. But your Heaven’s secrets vary so often. Are they really Heaven’s secrets?”
“There’s a difference between a prophecy or a vision I see, versus what I’ve personally dug out myself,” Langxia said.
Gui Yin could somewhat understand, but as a bystander, he knew that this wasn’t something he would ever be able to truly comprehend. He looked at Langxia unsurely as the two men began walking again.
“What else?”
“Xiao A-Xia, so all the things you’ve been doing was to repay me for saving your life?” Gui Yin asked. There was a teasing smile on his face as he looked at Langxia up and down.
Langxia slowly turned away. He awkwardly cleared his throat. “This is another reason why I didn’t tell you.”
“Because you didn’t want to be teased?”
“Because I didn’t want you to treat me like a child,” Langxia said.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Gui Yin’s smile stiffened. For some reason, his ears reddened. He had to quickly turn away before he became even more flustered. He was almost waiting for the cliché line “I want you to see me as a man”, but just what sort of ridiculous pipe dream was that? It was something out of a drama. No one in their right minds would say that in real life.
Lf gfjiis tjv ibnf bc atf ygjlc. Lf kjr vfolclafis kfjglcu gbrf alcafv uijrrfr! Vtjwf bc tlw!
Ojcuzlj mbeiv offi Xel Tlc’r lccfg aegwbli, yea tf mbeivc’a wjxf tfjv ab ajli bo la jujlc. Qlat Xel Tlc’r fwbalbcr jcv Ojcuzlj’r bkc, tf yfujc ab offi j ilaaif iluta tfjvfv. Dfobgf atfs fnfc wjvf la ab atf obgylvvfc rfmalbc, tf tjv ab qjerf afwqbgjglis. Lf ifjcfv jujlcra atf kjii jr mjrejiis jr tf mbeiv, yea joafg rabqqlcu rb jygeqais, la kbeiv yf j wlgjmif lo Xel Tlc tjvc’a cbalmfv.
“Er’lang? Are you okay?” Gui Yin asked.
“I need a second.”
Gui Yin frowned. He took a step back to give Langxia some air. “Do you need me to get you water or something?”
“No, no, I really just need a moment,” Langxia said. He held his head as his vision slowly refocused in front of him. He took a deep breath to calm his still frantic heart.
He was excited. It had been a long time since he had felt this kind of excitement. But after his excitement, there was a faint worry that chased after him. It was a worry he couldn’t quite place and there was no explanation for it. Perhaps if his emotional root had really healed, he would be able to identify this emotion. But since he couldn’t figure out what it was, then he knew it had something to do with the more affectionate spectrum of his emotions.
Gui Yin looked at Langxia worriedly. It had been a full minute, yet Langxia’s eyes still remained close. He took a step closer again.
“If you feel unwell, we can look through the library another time. Xiao Kui and Su Wen have already retired for the night. There’s no need to rush.”
Langxia glanced at Gui Yin. After a moment, he softly nodded. “Alright.”
Gui Yin breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know what was wrong with Langxia, but being in such a narrow space while nursing a headache was never a good thing. He took a hold of Langxia’s arm and quickly walked him out of there.
“Is it because you revealed the past to me?” Gui Yin awkwardly asked.
“It’s not that,” Langxia said.
Gui Yin frowned. “Were you already sick earlier? You should have said something.”
“It’s not that either.”
Gui Yin’s brows furrowed. “Then, what? Are you afraid of tight spaces?”
“No, I was too excited.”
“…Excited?”
“Mn. I haven’t felt excitement like this in a long time, so it made me feel faint,” Langxia said. “I feel a little better now.”
“What…why were you excited?” Gui Yin asked, his heart jumping a little.
“Because you recognized me,” Langxia said straightforwardly. “It was something I never thought would be possible.”
Gui Yin slowly closed his eyes as the small person in his mind jumped about. This was too cute, right? This kind of naïve, straightforward answer reminded Gui Yin of how Langxia acted in the twenty-first century. It was a complete 180 to his usual personality in this reality. The difference made the impact even stronger.
“That happy?”
“Mn.”
Gui Yin softly scoffed. “You’re quite silly.”
Langxia smiled. “I am, aren’t I?”
Gui Yin felt that he really couldn’t handle it.
They finally left the narrow hallway and started their way out of the library. The entire time, Gui Yin held onto Langxia to keep him from fully fainting. He wondered if the other’s excitement really lasted that long. It took them about twenty minutes to walk back to Langxia’s room. For the full twenty minutes, Langxia hadn’t pulled away once.
Gui Yin walked Langxia to his bed and helped him sit down. He habitually rubbed Langxia’s head. “You stay here. I’ll go get you tea.”
Langxia hummed. He watched Gui Yin walk away and lightly touched the top of his head. His gaze lowered. His heart, which had settled a long time ago, suddenly jumped around again.
Perhaps Xun Yunding was correct that his emotional root was beginning to heal. He would have to check it tonight.
Gui Yin handed the warm tea to Langxia and watched as he drank it all. “Do you feel a little better?”
“Still a bit faint,” Langxia said. Though, the fact that this faintness had just started up again was not told to Gui Yin.
“Still?” Gui Yin frowned. “Should I call Lord Xun?”
“No, no,” Langxia shook his head. “I just need to lie down for a bit.”
“Then, lie down,” Gui Yin quickly said.
He tugged the blankets away and helped Langxia lay down. He frowned and rearranged the pillows and blankets a bit.
Gui Yin clicked his tongue. “What’s wrong with you? I thought I was the one who was unwell.”
Langxia smiled. “I also don’t know. This is the first time it’s happened.”
“Then, you really should see Lord Xun tomorrow,” Gui Yin said. “What if Beihua Town affected you too and you just didn’t realize?”
“I’m really fine,” Langxia said. “I just need a bit of rest.”
Gui Yin glared at him. It was clear he didn’t believe him. “If it doesn’t stop tomorrow, you have to go see him. Don’t be like those people who refuse to see the doctor until they’re on the verge of death. It’s not a good habit to have.”
“I know.”
“Mn. Then, you sleep.”
“Where are you going?”
Gui Yin froze in the middle of standing. He straightened and then looked at Langxia. “To the guest room. You’re unwell. I shouldn’t bother you tonight.”
“I’m unwell, but it isn’t contagious,” Langxia said. He scooted to the side. “Here.”
The invite caused Gui Yin’s mind to reel again.
After the revelations today, he felt that he had to take a step back to properly absorb and understand everything. But Langxia’s pitiful expression made Gui Yin hesitate. He glanced at the empty spot on the bed and then back at Langxia’s expectant gaze.
It wasn’t the kind of expectation that meant he wanted something. It was the kind of expectation for what was natural and normal.
Gui Yin hesitated for a moment before he sat down and kicked his shoes off. Langxia shuffled back further and made more room for Gui Yin as he laid down. The blankets were tugged up and Gui Yin was tucked in. Langxia shifted away and closed his eyes.
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” Gui Yin echoed.
Langxia fell asleep immediately after.
In a place Gui Yin couldn’t enter, a man slowly waded through shallow water until he reached a lonely island. The island was the last of a field of green that used to spread for miles and miles, but now even this small patch of green had turned ashen. Dry grass crunched below his feet as he walked. The expectation in his heart wilted. He slowly stopped in the middle of the island, in front of where a large tree once stood.
The ground in front of him still carried the mark of being freshly dug. He crouched down and pressed his hand to the ground. He gently brushed the dirt aside for a while.
There seemed to be a faint sense of disappointment. The man’s gaze lowered and he slowly stood.
He was about to walk away, but something urged him to look back again.
Starting from the center of the island, the ashen grass slowly regained its vitality. It spread out and just touched his heel. The small pound of dirt shifted and the tiniest sprout protruded from inside.
Langxia’s eyes widened.
This was a mental depiction of his emotional root. Everyone had a place like this. It was part of their mental sea and could easily be found when one looked for it. In this place that had long been flooded, it took longer for Langxia to find it but in the end, this place was still preserved.
Langxia’s heart hammered against his chest. The green spread further and touched the edge of the water. Miraculously, the water receded bit by bit, exposing just a little more grass than before.
Langxia took in a shaky breath and woke up.
He sat up abruptly and stared into the dimly lit room. A soft grunt sounded beside him. He looked down as Gui Yin slowly opened his eyes.
“…What’s wrong? Nightmare?” Gui Yin asked, his voice hoarse.
“Hardly,” Langxia breathed out.
Gui Yin slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Hm? Then, did I hit you? Sorry, I was dreaming about fighting off a boar.”
Langxia chuckled. He leaned a little closer. “Qinle.”
“Mm…?”
“You really are my savior.”
Gui Yin’s brows furrowed. “What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything.”
Langxia watched as Gui Yin’s eyelids drooped. The smile on his face widened. He shifted as Gui Yin fell back asleep and placed a light kiss on Gui Yin’s forehead.
Gui Yin hummed drowsily and fell against Langxia’s shoulder.
Langxia heard his heartbeat loudly in his ears as he looked down at Gui Yin. It wasn’t fixed nor was it healed. But it was as Xun Yunding said. Because he was now linked to Gui Yin, Gui Yin’s special constitution was affecting him. Perhaps his emotional root would never be fixed, but it was at least allowed to grow again.
Langxia’s grip on Gui Yin tightened slightly. He carefully lowered him and pulled the blanket back up. He watched Gui Yin in silence for what felt like a split second, but was actually a very long time. He finally shifted and settled back down. His gaze remained unmoving until Gui Yin grunted and rolled towards him.
Langxia easily brought him into his arms. He closed his eyes and breathed out a soft sigh.
Relief washed over him.
It seems that the lucky feather worked.
“I seem to like you a bit,” Langxia murmured.
[high pitch squeeling noise that summons my cat] HIS EMOTIONAL ROOT IS GROWIN BACK AAAAAAAAAAAA
also dreaming about fighting a boar akxhsjxj wonderful
Ain’t that such a beautiful depiction of Er’lang feelings? Like, when everything was withered, a small sprout began to grow. God. I love how he wants to reciprocate Gui Yin’s feelings, and idk he seems happier the more he does. I love this novel 😭
kyaaaaaaaa~ 🤧🥹🫶🏼
I SEEM TO LIKE YOU A BIT!!
I’m screaming crying laughing shaking squeeling omggg