“Han She” was a place located far away from the urban center of S City.
It was hard to imagine that within the bustling, traffic filled S City, there could still exist such an estate nestled amid shimmering waters and gentle scenery.
Ornate beams and painted rafters, pavilions and towers amid mountains and streams, everywhere revealed the host’s extraordinary wealth and refined taste.
Even someone as cool and composed as Zhang Mingge couldn’t help but feel momentarily stunned after stepping out of the car.
Walking in front of him was the current head of the Zhang family’s generation, Zhang Youya, frail and frequently ill. Zhang Mingge, as a member of a collateral branch of the Zhang family, had been favored by the family head due to his exceptional talent and was thus fortunate enough to accompany him here.
He pushed his glasses up with his finger, carefully observing his surroundings, as though determined to engrave every detail deep into his memory.
In the end, his gaze lingered briefly on Zhang Youya, who was wrapped in a cloak ahead of him.
One day… I too will stand before everyone, he thought coldly.
“Let’s go inside.” Zhang Youya said, patting his hand and coughing a few times.
Just as the members of the Zhang family were about to enter the estate, the sound of an extremely fast moving car came from outside the gates. Zhang Mingge couldn’t help turning his head.
A black sports car screeched to a stop at the entrance like a streak of lightning. At the instant it came to a halt, the door beside the driver’s seat swung open.
But it wasn’t the driver who stepped out, it was a tall, young woman in her prime.
She wore black long boots, chewed bubble gum and had a pair of star shaped earrings hanging from her ears. She looked sharp, fashionable and full of momentum, utterly out of place beside the Zhang family members dressed in Daoist robes.
“Drive the car to the parking lot,” she said, leaning against the door and speaking to the driver in the passenger seat. She casually tossed the car keys she’d just pulled out into his hands. Then she gathered her long hair, didn’t even spare Zhang Mingge and the others a glance and walked straight into the estate.
…She clearly had a driver yet insisted on driving herself. Zhang Mingge silently complained in his heart, though he treated it as nothing more than a trivial interlude.
However, when the girl in boots brushed past him, he caught sight of her striking profile and froze on the spot.
…This person looks incredibly familiar!
A powerful surge of emotion churned within him. Alongside the sense of familiarity came feelings of gnashing hatred, an urge to punch someone and an indescribable mix of laughter and tears, emotions impossible to dispel.
Zhang Mingge, who had been labeled calm and restrained since childhood, had never imagined that such intense feelings could arise within him!
…But where exactly have we met before… He repeatedly sifted through his memories of the real world yet all his efforts were futile and he couldn’t help frowning.
“A very beautiful young lady, isn’t she?”
Zhang Youya had clearly misunderstood the reason for Zhang Mingge’s gaze. He looked teasingly at his junior and said, “That should be the next head of the Chu family, the eldest young lady of the main branch. Her name is something like… Chu Tian, something.”
Zhang Mingge hurriedly lowered his head. “Her attire… is quite improper.”
“The Chu family has always been like that. They’ve always been the most unconventional among the major families.” Zhang Youya lifted his head slightly, as though recalling something from his younger days.
After the Chu family’s eldest young lady, the rest of the Chu family members, who had been stuck on the elevated highway, arrived one after another.
When Mrs. Chu, nearly fifty years old yet still elegant and gentle in temperament, entered the venue and took a seat beside her daughter, a disciple next to Zhang Mingge asked curiously, “Is that Madam Chu, the mother of that Miss Chu?”
“She really is Madam Chu but she isn’t Miss Chu’s biological mother.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I heard she was the original Madam Chu’s cousin. After her elder cousin passed away, she married into the Chu family as the second wife but the two Chu children get along very well with her, the three of them are as close as if they were true mother and children.”
“Passed away?”
“Yes. They say the original Madam Chu was killed by a vicious ghost. She died horribly, there wasn’t even a body left. Her five year old son was right beside her when it happened but the Chu family’s public explanation was that Madam Chu had merely gone missing…”
Zhang Mingge paid no attention at all to the gossip buzzing around him. His gaze was fixed on the face of the young girl sitting opposite him, as he strained to dig through his memories.
Where had he seen her before? Where exactly had he seen her?
That subtle, hateful, lingering sensation…
Chu Tian… Chu Tian, what?
At that moment, a burning pain flared suddenly in his chest and at the same time, his phone vibrated inside his pocket.
He lowered his head and took out the phone, only to see a black invitation card glaring conspicuously in his inbox.
“Half a month later…” he murmured as he read its contents, then closed the eyes behind his glasses.
A week long Taoist Exorcist Academic Exchange Conference kicked off in full swing and after that night, Lin Huai and Chu Tianshu, who had opened their hearts to one another and formally become friends, began what could be described as a very active friendship.
After failing once again to persuade her younger brother to inherit the family business, Chu Tianyu ran off to attend the academic exchange conference and vanished without a trace, leaving behind nothing but a single WeChat message.
As for Lin Huai, having been officially certified as “one of our own” by the straightforward young lady, he was granted the privilege of “viewing the other party’s Moments.” On the third day, he saw a post, clearly restricted to a specific group, whose content read:
“That bespectacled guy from the Zhang family across the way keeps staring at me. What’s he looking at? Is he trying to pick a fight with me???”
Meanwhile, Chu Tianshu, who lived right across from Lin Huai’s university, began dropping by campus every few days under the pretexts of “visiting a friend” and “reminiscing about his youth.”
With astonishing familiarity, he proceeded to audit all of Lin Huai’s elective courses, never the major courses. In his own words, “Even the deepest friendship can’t sustain me through three straight hours of theoretical mechanics and material mechanics.”
Gradually, all of Lin Huai’s classmates and dormmates also became aware of Chu Tianshu’s existence.
This really couldn’t be blamed on the two of them being too high profile. It was simply that two handsome guys appearing together day in and day out, while technically well matched to University S’s infamous 7:1 male to female ratio, was still a bit too much for the city’s aesthetic sensibilities.
After witnessing for the Nth time Lin Huai and Chu Tianshu eating ramen together at a noodle shop and for the Nth time seeing Chu Tianshu casually pick the broccoli out of Lin Huai’s bowl, Tan Xiruo felt that, as the dorm leader of Room 314, he had a serious responsibility to convene a dormitory meeting.
With the enthusiastic encouragement of Tan Xiruo and Shao Wei’s prospective girlfriend, Lin Dangdang, Room 301’s first ever Expanded Conference on the Friendship Between Lin Huai and Chu Tianshu was successfully held at a restaurant.
As the primary speaker of the meeting, Tan Xiruo was the first to open the discussion. “Lin Huai, the main purpose of this dinner is to talk about you and that Chu… ”
“Chu Tianshu,” Lin Huai supplied helpfully from the side.
“Right, Chu Tianshu and your… relationship.”
No sooner had Tan Xiruo finished speaking than Shao Wei enthusiastically chimed in. “Xiao Lin, that buddy of yours is really something! He helped us save the day at the friendly match a few days ago, absolutely outstanding! When you get the chance, ask him if he’d be interested in joining our team?”
“Shao Wei, shut up.” Tan Xiruo squeezed his eyes shut in restraint, a vein popping visibly on his forehead.
“All right…” Shao Wei pouted. Then he noticed Lin Dangdang staring gloomily at a few slices of cucumber in her bowl and immediately said, “Dangdang, I’ll help you eat those!”
“Aren’t you being a bit too cheesy…”
“….” Tan Xiruo glanced at the couple flagrantly feeding everyone dog food, then turned back to Lin Huai. “These past few days, I’ve often seen the two of you eating ramen together. He even picks the broccoli out of your bowl…”
“Oh, it’s fine, you’ve misunderstood,” Lin Huai waved his hand. “I don’t like broccoli. He really isn’t bullying me.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Tan Xiruo pushed up his glasses. “Don’t you think… this behavior is a little suspicious?”
“Huh?” Lu Jin, who had been focused on his food, looked up. “My dad often picks things I don’t like out of my bowl and eats them himself. That’s pretty normal, isn’t it?”
Shao Wei also nodded. “Yeah, that’s just normal father–son affection.”
Tan Xiruo: …
“Lin Huai,” he continued earnestly, “in a university like this, where there are far more men than women, things like this are actually quite common. So don’t think I’m discriminating against you. It’s precisely because you’re my roommate that I’m taking this seriously.”
“You mean him treating me like a son?” Lin Huai asked.
Tan Xiruo: …Sugar Daddy? You people have some seriously extreme tastes.
As the only genuinely serious person present, Tan Xiruo frowned deeply. “What I mean is, you’re still a college student, very pure and innocent. People who’ve already entered society, all slick and streetwise, with lots of life experience, if you associate with them, it’s easy to end up being emotionally deceived. Don’t be fooled by how he puts on the appearance of a successful professional…”
Lin Huai thought about it for a moment. “You’re right. Compared to him, I really am far too pure and innocent.”
Tan Xiruo nodded in satisfaction.
Zhu Xiao, the roommate who also happened to be the president of Lin Dangdang’s street dance club, spoke up. “Tan Xiruo, don’t be so prejudiced. I think Brother Chu is pretty decent, aside from not being very approachable. He’s really not as bad as you’re making him out to be.”
“Exactly,” Ye Fei, another of Lin Dangdang’s roommates, added in his defense. “And he’s handsome, too.”
“Yeah and his basketball skills are top notch!” Shao Wei concluded.
Lin Huai: …What? Not very good at dealing with people?
He thought about it for a long time and still couldn’t conjure up an image of a Chu Tianshu who “didn’t like interacting with others.” In his memory, this person was always brimming with energy, bouncing around everywhere, as if he had an inexhaustible supply of vitality.
Meanwhile on the other side, Tan Xiruo was still talking: “…Anyway, I think it’s better to be a little cautious about certain things…”
By the time they came out of the restaurant, the streets were already brightly lit. Lin Huai was walking toward the back when Lin Dangdang suddenly poked him on the shoulder. “Your Brother Chu is here to pick you up.”
Lin Huai lifted his head and saw the tall, slender Chu Tianshu standing under a roadside tree, yawning lazily. When he spotted Lin Huai, he walked straight over, slung an arm around Lin Huai’s shoulders and said to everyone, “I’m borrowing Xiao Linzi for a bit.”
“Got it!” Shao Wei had an arm around Lin Dangdang’s shoulders and waved at them. “You guys have fun tonight!”
Chu Tianshu rested his chin on Lin Huai’s shoulder, his eyes reflecting the colorful glow of the streetlights. He gave the group a casual smile, then dragged Lin Huai along as he turned and left. Tan Xiruo watched the two of them walk away, a deep sense of unease welling up inside him.
It felt as though he were watching a pure, innocent youth sinking deeper and deeper into the dazzling, chaotic world, unable to pull himself back out.
The rest of the group returned to the dormitory. Shao Wei and Lin Dangdang went out for a walk together and for a while, Room 301 was left with only Tan Xiruo and Lu Jin.
Tan Xiruo worked on his assignment for a while but he found it impossible to calm his mind. After a long moment, he threw down his pen and turned to Lu Jin, who was typing away noisily on his keyboard. “Can you stop typing already?”
Lu Jin blinked and immediately apologized. “Oh, oh, okay.”
After snapping at Lu Jin, Tan Xiruo felt his mood improve considerably. Just as he was starting to think he had finally let it go, he heard Lu Jin speak again. “Um, Lao Tan… are we leaving the door open for Lin Huai tonight or not?”
Tan Xiruo: …
By the time Tan Xiruo was completely suffocating, Lin Huai had already followed Chu Tianshu back to his place, just as Tan Xiruo had imagined.
The moment he stepped through the door, Lin Huai shed the polite, well behaved facade he wore outside and collapsed onto the sofa, slumped there playing on his phone, his laziness and wickedness fully revealed. Chu Tianshu sat beside him and Lin Huai unceremoniously leaned against him.
This was how Lin Huai explained his behavior in real life: “In real life, I want to be a law abiding, upstanding citizen, so I have to behave myself a bit. As for games, considering that police stations and courts there are basically decorative institutions… I might as well go all in on the thrill.”
Taking advantage of these real life scruples of his, Chu Tianshu often danced right along Lin Huai’s bottom line and every time Lin Huai finally reached his limit, he would crawl out of the mirror in Chu Tianshu’s house in the middle of the night and give him a grand surprise.
But today… he hadn’t come to Chu Tianshu’s place to beat him up. It was because the next day would be the fifth time he entered an instance. He needed an absolutely safe place in order to do so.
However, it was obvious that he hadn’t prepared properly for it at all and was instead sprawled on the sofa reading novels. Chu Tianshu sat beside him, scrolling on his own phone, yawning as he read.
After this peaceful, tranquil stretch of time had gone on for quite a while, Lin Huai suddenly sighed. “Sigh, I really am a pure and innocent person.”
Chu Tianshu turned his head. “…What now? Are you reading The Grave Robbers’ Chronicles?”
“No.” Lin Huai also turned his head to look at Chu Tianshu. “I think ”
“Stop.” Chu Tianshu said. “Turn your neck too. The way you’re looking at me like that is creepy.”
Lin Huai: “Oh.”
He obediently turned his neck along with his head, then continued to look at Chu Tianshu seriously. “Since I’ve had amnesia before, strictly speaking, I only have one year of real memories. Which means…”
“I’m only one year old,” Lin Huai said solemnly. “Sigh, I really am a pure and innocent baby.”
Chu Tianshu: …
Lin Huai: “Don’t you have anything to say? …Why are you grabbing my phone?”
Chu Tianshu shook the phone screen at him. “Qidian Chinese Web. Suitable for audiences aged seventeen and above. You’re still a baby, you can’t read explicit content.”
Lin Huai: …
The baby and the field mouse chased each other and brawled for two full hours, ultimately ending with Chu Tianshu pinned down on the sofa.
Lin Huai held him there without hitting him, simply snatched back his phone and maintained that position while continuing to read his novel. After flipping past the second chapter, Chu Tianshu suddenly said, “Hey, I’ll go into the instance with you tomorrow.”
“Huh? Why?” Lin Huai asked. “Tsk, tsk, do you think I’m very weak?”
Chu Tianshu replied, “To avoid being chased for manuscript. The deadline is the day after tomorrow. I want to go into the instance and lie low for a month to build up some inspiration.”
Lin Huai: “Oh, alright then.”
After thinking about it, he added, “Be careful in the instance. Tsk… why am I even saying this? You’re a high tier player, your trump cards might even outnumber mine. Wait a second, aren’t you browsing something?”
He pointed at Chu Tianshu’s phone screen. The latter took off his earphones. “Hm?”
“XX housing listings… you’re looking for a place? Don’t you already have a house in S City?”
“Oh, that one?” Chu Tianshu replied. “Mm… it’s too far from the city center. Not very convenient.”
Lin Huai narrowed his eyes. “Tsk. Who was it that told me writers need to live in seclusion to get inspiration?”
“That was then, this is now. Looking around doesn’t hurt, just in case.” Chu Tianshu shrugged. “I don’t know why but recently I’ve had this feeling that I’ll need it sometime soon…”
Lin Huai: “…I really don’t get you.”
With that, he climbed off Chu Tianshu, trotted into the only bedroom and poked his head out from the doorway. “Good night.”
Then he lowered his head, pulled it back in and swiftly shut the door.
“…Good night.” Chu Tianshu, still sprawled on the sofa, froze for a moment before replying.
Only after quite some time did he finally climb up from the sofa and start pounding on the door. “You snuck in ahead of me again and stole my bed!!”
…The two of them tossed and turned all night and in the end, once again, it concluded with them sharing the same bed.
Early the next morning, Lin Huai stood in the living room, closed his eyes and quietly waited for the time of transmission to arrive.
Beside him, Chu Tianshu held his hand. His other hand was tucked casually into his pants pocket as he hummed a tune and looked around.
“…Hey, Lin Huai,” he said. “Don’t you think the way we’re holding hands looks kind of like- ”
“Like what?” Lin Huai turned his head.
At that very instant, a violent burning sensation slammed into his heart. In the next moment, a flash of white light filled his vision.
The transmission had begun.
Yet just before he was pulled in, he still heard Chu Tianshu’s words.
“…Don’t you think the way we look right now is kind of like when *MetalGarurumon and **WarGreymon first fused to evolve, when ***Taichi and ****Yamato were holding hands?”
Lin Huai: …
After the familiar sensation of the world spinning upside down, Chu Tianshu opened his eyes in a stretch of barren land.
He stood up and looked around. Several people were lying on the ground nearby. He flipped them over one by one but did not find any trace of Lin Huai.
“…,” Chu Tianshu frowned.
He walked a few steps in another direction and realized that he was standing at the edge of a forest. Just as he was about to part the undergrowth, he heard a somewhat familiar male voice from behind him.
“You…”
He turned around and saw a young man wearing glasses, with fairly delicate features.
“You are?”
Chu Tianshu did not recognize him right away. After all, he had met or tricked, far too many people. However, the moment the other man saw him, his face first turned pale, then flushed green with anger.
“It’s you. It really is you…” The bespectacled man ground his teeth and fiercely grabbed Chu Tianshu’s arm.
Chu Tianshu said, “Brother? What are you doing?”
He pulled his right hand free from the other’s grip. With his left hand, he grasped a wrench he had taken out of his inventory, ready to use physical persuasion if the man made another move. Unexpectedly, upon seeing Chu Tianshu’s baffled expression, the man clenched his teeth instead, looking as though he had suffered some enormous humiliation.
“Chu Tianshu…” Chu Tianshu heard his name spill from the man’s lips.
…Do I know this person? Chu Tianshu grew more serious, searching through his vast memory for any trace of him.
But before that figure fully surfaced, he heard the man’s next words.
“Chu Tianshu,” the man said in a cold voice brimming with fury, “you despicable woman!”
Chu Tianshu: ?!!?!!
_________________
Meeting again in the instance:
Zhang Mingge: Chu Tianshu! I misjudged you! You, you, you, so you were actually a woman!
Chu Tianshu: What?
Zhang Mingge: Stop pretending, I already know it all! Aren’t you from the Chu family?!
Chu Tianshu: ?? What did I do this time?
Zhang Mingge: Then that means you’re a woman!
Chu Tianshu: …
_______________
MetalGarurumon, WarGreymon, Yamato and Taichi are reference to character in digimon.
WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon are iconic Mega-level Digimon, partners to Tai Kamiya Taichi and Matt Ishida (Yamato) in Digimon Adventure, representing power and speed respectively, often depicted as rivals but capable of fusing into the ultimate warrior Omnimon
✦ ✧ ✦
Cresvynia
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
The button is right there. You know what to do. ☕
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 111 · Although the author really didn’t want to writeChapter 112 · An explanation of the main storylineChapter 113 · Lin Huai’s QuestionChapter 114 · Hello classmateChapter 115 · Let me introduce the protagonist’s family backgroundChapter 116 · The innocent and naive Lin XiaohuaiChapter 117 · The Trisolarans ArriveChapter 118 · He Isn’t Fighting AloneChapter 119 · Why Here?Chapter 120 · A World Where Everyone Is Sculpted in ClayChapter 121 · How Could It Be YouChapter 122 · I want to sell my carChapter 123 · The Mysterious Transfer StudentsChapter 124 · Gu BeichenChapter 125 · The Male Lead of This StoryChapter 126 · A Voice Never Heard BeforeChapter 127 · You’re Tomie, aren’t you?Chapter 128 · I’ll give youChapter 129 · I just want to be with youChapter 130 · The Principal’s OfficeChapter 131 · Chu: I Disbanded Your Hate GroupsChapter 132 · Speak ProperlyChapter 133 · A Trisolaran Enters the Grand View GardenChapter 134 · Ji FengjianChapter 135 · About Me and YouChapter 136 · Kayako Likes ItChapter 137 · YouChapter 138 · I’ll Beat MyselfChapter 139 · I Want to See MyselfChapter 140 · The Trisolarans’ First Experience of Love and SexChapter 141 · The Trisolarans Try Romance Once MoreChapter 142 · The Trisolarans Try Romance for the Third TimeChapter 143 · It’s All This Buff’s FaultChapter 144 · The Way You Straight Men TalkChapter 145 · Why are you taking it so seriously?Chapter 146 · Chu Tianshu Shows Off His MusclesChapter 147 · Enter the DreamChapter 148 · Leave a little secretChapter 149 · Shadow StreamerChapter 150 · Don’t Look at MeChapter 151 · The Trisolarans betrayed StalinChapter 152 · Then I WillChapter 153 · The Trisolarans rewrite the Book of Life and DeathChapter 154 · What Career Could Be More Important Than Your Wife?Chapter 155 · Aren’t We Already Together?Chapter 156 · MVP of the Entire FieldChapter 157 · Meeting the FamilyChapter 158 · A Phone Call Across Time and SpaceChapter 159 · Lu Jin, You’re So MiserableChapter 160 · The Lands Of DaughtersChapter 161 · The So Called Pregnancy StreamChapter 162 · The Street Where Only the Two of Us ExistChapter 163 · No bare faceChapter 164 · Question 1: Do you have hair loss?Chapter 165 · LaxativesChapter 166 · Where Exactly Do You Exist?Chapter 167 · Seven ZeroChapter 168 · The issue of 0 and 1Chapter 169 · Wind ChimeChapter 170 · Visa and Wind ChimesChapter 171 · Continue to persecute Lu JinChapter 172 · Examiner: I’ve fallen in love with himChapter 173 · Lin Huai intimidates scalpersChapter 174 · Night of EvilChapter 175 · Congratulations to the Male Guests on Successfully Finding Their PartnersChapter 176 · Before ThisChapter 177 · The gong says he is terrifiedChapter 178 · The Tasker CampChapter 179 · I’m So ScaredChapter 180 · The Final Transitional ChapterChapter 181 · Four Beauties Among the FlowersChapter 182 · Plum FragranceChapter 183 · Dry Weather and Flammable ThingsChapter 184 · The Heartless Sword ManualChapter 185 · Only MeChapter 186 · The North PoleChapter 187 · Let Brother Lin Learn to Meow Like a CatChapter 188 · Good Night