All Right, I Admit I Was Smitten by Your Looks

"Beep, beep-beep-beep." Cars on the road honked, urging pedestrians along.

When Yu Zhi and Zhang Qiling got out of the car, they saw a bustling street, with streams of cars and people and rows of high-rises. They found an agent and spent ten thousand yuan to buy a run-down courtyard house outright. Though it was a little shabby, it was spacious, and when Beijing's courtyard houses were eventually demolished for redevelopment, they would strike it rich.

The two went to the market and bought some furniture and household supplies. They bought four beds outright, along with an extra set of furniture and other things. The extras were for the space; they couldn't very well keep sleeping on the ground whenever they went inside.

Watching Yu Zhi throw away the battered bed from the laboratory and put two new ones into the space, he radiated an air of delight.

And so the two began a peaceful life. Every day, Zhang Qiling did nothing but sit in a daze in the courtyard, while Yu Zhi continued cultivating.

Neither of them ate much, but eventually Zhang Qiling couldn't take it anymore. He discovered that Yu Zhi forgot to eat and sleep when he cultivated, sometimes going two or three days without a meal. But Zhang Qiling got hungry.

He took the money Yu Zhi had given him and went out in search of food, then brought back a pile of instant meals.

In the end, Yu Zhi really couldn't stomach any more. "Come on, big brother! Take some money and order some dishes from a restaurant. Have them delivered once every noon from now on. I really don't want to eat noodles anymore. I'm turning into a noodle."

Zhang Qiling obediently did as he was told. The two lived peacefully like this for half a year, until spring arrived, and Yu Zhi stabilized his cultivation at the Qi Refining Second Layer. Beijing truly deserved its reputation as an ancient imperial capital. There had to be a dragon vein here; its spiritual qi was even richer than in the deep mountains.

During this time, Yu Zhi treated Zhang Qiling every now and then, and his health improved considerably. His hidden ailments were almost gone. The Wood Spiritual Root really was the best healer.

But over the past six months and more, he had grown increasingly quiet and withdrawn. Although he hadn't spoken much before, Yu Zhi could generally sense that he was relaxed. Lately, he had become increasingly weighed down and somber. Yu Zhi knew he must have remembered: the betrayal, being used, and his own responsibilities.

Yu Zhi sighed. It was time to talk to him. He hadn't brought it up before.

For one thing, he still hadn't been sure whether he wanted to get involved. For another, Zhang Qiling had lost his memories, so there would have been no point in telling him. After spending more than half a year together, they were like family. Yu Zhi's heart was made of flesh, too, especially when this family member made his heart flutter.

"Let's talk." Yu Zhi sat down opposite Zhang Qiling and looked into his eyes. Those eyes were still indifferent and untouched by worldly concerns, unsullied by dust, still upright after enduring so much hardship and betrayal.

"Mm, go ahead." Zhang Qiling looked at Yu Zhi as requested. There were too many emotions in those eyes, too many for him to make out.

"I know about you, but we've never met before. I don't know you, and you don't know me. Um, how should I put this? I know your whole life." When Yu Zhi finished, he looked up at the sky. I wonder if there's a heavenly dao here, and whether I'll get struck by lightning for revealing heavenly secrets.

"What did you say?" For a moment, he couldn't grasp what Yu Zhi meant.

"Forget it. Let's talk in the space. I'm afraid I'll get struck by lightning." As he spoke, Yu Zhi brought them both into the space, stools and all.

As Yu Zhi brought him in, Zhang Qiling even knew to lift his feet, cooperating in perfect sync.

"What I'm about to tell you might turn everything you know upside down, but you've seen some of my secrets. I'm not lying to you," Yu Zhi said.

"Mm, go ahead." Zhang Qiling looked calmly at Yu Zhi, his eyes full of trust.

"Then let me ask you something. If you knew your future was going to be miserable, would you want to change it or not?"

Yu Zhi was uneasy as he asked. He didn't want to hear Zhang Qiling say he wouldn't change it, because that would mean he wouldn't allow Yu Zhi to interfere in his future, and Yu Zhi would have no reason to stay by Zhang Qiling's side.

"I don't know. I don't even know what my life was like before, but judging by my memory loss and the betrayal I remember, I think it must have been miserable too. Even if I wanted to change the future, after I lost my memory, I'd still be unable to act as I wished. And I have responsibilities to shoulder."

Zhang Qiling didn't give a definite answer. He had just spoken the longest passage he ever had.

"Then do you want to know about the future now? Or about your past? Although I don't remember much, I can still tell you a little. I'm just afraid you won't be able to bear it."

"Mm, I want to know. I don't know where I came from, and I have nowhere to go. Can you tell me?" Zhang Qiling asked cautiously.

Looking at Zhang Qiling like this, Yu Zhi's heart ached for him uncontrollably again, throbbing with pain.

"All right, take a look at this. We'll talk after you've read it."

Yu Zhi took out a notebook. He had written it long ago based on the little he remembered. There wasn't much about Zhang Qiling, but the important points were all there.

Zhang Qiling took the notebook with trembling hands, drew a deep breath, and solemnly opened it, reading in silence.

He read slowly. Its contents were only a brief summary. He saw his mother, saw himself as the "Holy Infant," saw the Zhang Family fall apart and his childhood experiences, saw the Nine Gates' betrayal, saw Zhang Qishan's objective, saw the schemes of the Nine Gates' second generation in the future, and saw how he had been sold out and still counted the money for the people who sold him.

He spent a long time reading those few short pages. At last, a hoarse, anguished laugh rose from his throat, and he closed his eyes to take it all in.

Yu Zhi said nothing. He knew this was a bit of a shock for him, but there were still some more secret things he hadn't written down. He might as well tell him everything at once.

When he had read the novel before, it had always been from Wu Xie's first-person perspective. All the characters had served Wu Xie, and even the sweetness of the Ping-Xie pairing had been seen from Wu Xie's point of view. When Yu Zhi looked back on it from Zhang Qiling's perspective, he saw no sugar, only schemes.

"Is there more?" Zhang Qiling had returned to his indifferent manner.

"Big brother, you're taking this pretty well. In that case, I'll go on."

Hearing his nonsense, Zhang Qiling forced a bitter smile and said, "Mm."

"Actually, your world was written as a book in my world. I liked reading it too.

"The whole book was written from Wu Xie's perspective, so I don't know much about you either."

As Yu Zhi spoke, he watched Zhang Qiling's expression. "At the very beginning of the story, you were already being schemed into the game. On the surface, the game was meant to draw Wu Xie in, but its main purpose was actually to draw you in and make you willingly protect Wu Xie, and finally willingly enter the Bronze Door to guard it for Wu Xie for ten years. There's also the deeper matter of longevity. It wasn't just you; Hei Xiazi was caught in this game too. Both of you were terribly manipulated."

"Our world? A book?" Zhang Qiling was quick to seize on the key points.

"That's right. I'm not from this world. The reason I came here is complicated, so I won't go into it. I'm telling you this in all seriousness: I originally didn't want to tell you any of this. I'm telling you because, after the time we've spent together, I already think of you as a friend. I can't stand by and watch you being manipulated so badly."

"Then what about you? What do you want?" Zhang Qiling spoke extremely slowly and softly, his voice flat. It sounded less like he was asking Yu Zhi than asking himself.

The question left Yu Zhi speechless, and his embarrassment turned to anger. "Me? What could I possibly want from you? Zhang Qiling, I've even told you a secret this big, and now you suspect me?"

Zhang Qiling simply gazed into Yu Zhi's eyes, looking at him intently as he waited for an answer.

Looking into those eyes, Yu Zhi realized in that moment that Zhang Qiling was definitely not the way the novel had described him. He had lost his memory, not his mind. This guy had black sesame filling inside too. But now he had put the question on the table, asking it as frankly as Yu Zhi had spoken.

"All right, all right, I give up, big brother! I admit, at first I was smitten by your looks on impulse, but who told you to look like that? I couldn't resist. My hand moved faster than my brain, and I brought you out. Besides, I really liked Zhang Qiling as a character when I read the book. I mean you no harm."

Giving up all pretense, Yu Zhi confessed everything and lowered his head, not daring to look into the other man's eyes.

With his head lowered, Yu Zhi missed Zhang Qiling's smile, a smile like snow melting on a mountain. Even his voice carried a hint of laughter. "Mm, I believe you!"