The four characters at the end were simply too explicit to behold; it was a wonder how it even made it onto the trending list without being censored.
Since these two entries were new additions, they weren’t ranked at the very top, but Yun Qi could guess with his hair follicles that the production team, facing such excellent traffic, would never dream of refusing.
He pressed his lips together and exited Weibo, pretending nothing had happened.
Right at this moment, Duan Xingge handed over the grilled fish.
Yun Qi had just been completely immersed in the chaos of Weibo and hadn’t realized that Duan Xingge had spent a long time picking out the bones after grilling the first fish. Although sea fish have few bones, it still required considerable effort. Seeing this, the people around them looked increasingly shocked.
Yet Yun Qi hadn’t yet recovered from the previous intensity; he endured it repeatedly, but ultimately couldn’t resist glaring at Duan Xingge.
Duan Xingge was glared at for no reason. After pondering for three seconds, he wore an expression of sudden realization: “Does President Yun want me to feed you? Just say so earlier, come—”
Yun Qi: “…”
Yun Qi grabbed the fish and took a bite, juices overflowing.
He didn’t seem surprised why there were no bones in the fish, and Duan Xingge, who had been picking out bones for ages, showed no intention of taking credit. It seemed as though this had long ago become an unspoken habit between them one that had been interrupted by certain events, but had never disappeared.
Those habits still existed, just like that string of numbers forever saved in both their phones, waiting for some opportunity to be used again.
Thanks to “Bai Yun Ai Ai,” Yun Qi briefly pulled himself away from the encroaching deadline, but after finishing lunch and returning to his fishing spot, watching the vast, boundless yet familiar ocean, and reflecting on how tomorrow was drawing ever nearer, that indescribable emotion accumulated in his chest once more, as solid as reality.
Actually, Yun Qi already had a rough idea of who the murderer was; it was nothing more than one of a few selected candidates.
That person was too impatient. Without that plate of buns mixed with crab roe, Yun Qi might not have been able to get a clue so early.
Everything was in place. Logically, all he had to do was refuse all food tomorrow, and after the Truth or Dare game concluded, “remind” Ming Jiao to stay away from the side of the ship and be careful. After that, whether Ming Jiao fell into the sea again or not, Yun Qi would have a way to confirm the final culprit.
Afterward, he would only need to intentionally reveal a flaw, allowing the murderer to reveal their true colors before the cameras, and everything would be resolved.
But… would it really be that easy?
Yun Qi looked at the calm sea outside the ship, but his mind was constantly restless, to the extent that he was distracted during the afternoon competition and ended up with a bottom-tier ranking.
Fortunately, the fish caught at noon were sufficient, preventing him from ending up hungry.
This emotion lasted until bedtime. After showering, Yun Qi looked at his reflection in the mirror and finally calmed down.
These current days were essentially stolen by luck. Even if everything was already destined, he had already broken even.
But even if they were stolen, Yun Qi would never give up what he had in his hands. As for the days remaining after tomorrow, that would depend on his own struggle.
Yun Qi was never one who liked to sit and wait for death; it was the same when facing Wen Fenglin, and it was the same now.
Rather than sitting and waiting for death, it was better to give it his all.
After showering, Yun Qi sent a message to his secretary, telling her to be on standby tomorrow and to call the police immediately upon receiving his message.
The secretary didn’t ask what was happening; after receiving the message, she immediately replied: “Understood.”
Yun Qi backed out to the communication interface, pondered for a long time, and while standing in the bathroom, dialed a number: “Hello, Cousin, this is Yun Qi. It’s inconvenient for me to call the police right now, but tomorrow…”
He said a lot. The woman on the other end waited quietly until he finished everything before replying: “Without concrete evidence and a police report record, even if I am the chief, I cannot deploy police force for you in advance; it violates regulations. However, I will continue to monitor tomorrow’s events and organize arrangements the moment something happens.”
She paused, then reminded him: “If what you say is true, then don’t touch even the things you make yourself, just in case.”
“Okay, I understand.” Yun Qi lowered his eyes: “Thank you, Cousin… Please give my regards to Uncle and my other cousins.”
After hanging up, Yun Qi looked at his phone, but ultimately didn’t click on Weibo. He knew very clearly that with Yun Ai involved, the internet must have been in a state of chaos long ago.
But the storm on the internet wasn’t worth mentioning before the coming deadline; he would leave the gossip for tomorrow night… if he could survive.
If he couldn’t… at least in this life, he would let another person walk through this life steadily, no longer implicated by him.
The starry sky outside the window was hidden by dark clouds; the pitch-black night was identical to the one in his memories.
Duan Xingge was uncharacteristically silent. After showering, he leaned against the head of the bed early, looking down and scrolling through his screen without saying a word.
When Yun Qi went over after his shower, he glanced and discovered it seemed to be the memo interface. The other party had recorded something and was looking through it at this time to remind himself not to forget.
He didn’t have time to look closely before Duan Xingge abruptly turned off the screen.
Yun Qi paused but didn’t ask any further.
According to Duan Xingge’s habits, even if he didn’t let Yun Qi see, he should have explained something to prevent Yun Qi from misunderstanding.
But he said nothing, only gripping Yun Qi’s hand without a word as Yun Qi turned off the lights and got into the quilt, just like he did every night before a major event during their childhood.
Yun Qi clearly remembered that on the night before Duan Yun’s funeral, Duan Xingge’s hands had been just as cold.
In the more than two months since his rebirth, Yun Qi had been touched by Duan Xingge more times than the sum of his previous life, to the point where he felt he had returned to the state he was in many years ago—only, he had become desensitized to Duan Xingge.
He just closed his eyes, letting Duan Xingge grip him, listening to the sound of the waves outside the window. As he was about to fall asleep, he heard an unexpected inquiry from the person on his pillow.
“Do you regret it?”
Duan Xingge’s voice was very soft, and his words were disjointed, but Yun Qi understood.
—Do you regret letting me enter the Yun family, regret giving me my name, regret raising me this big?
Further… do you regret agreeing to my request, only to end up missing after going on the dating show?
Silence permeated the dark night.
Duan Xingge, who had waited for a long time without receiving an answer, lowered his eyes slightly. He seemed to have expected the answer long ago; he wasn’t sad, just somewhat regretful.
But even without receiving an answer, he still wasn’t willing to let go of Yun Qi’s hand.
However, just as he intended to fall asleep like this, he heard the man say: “Never.”
Duan Xingge’s heart tightened; he opened his eyes abruptly in the darkness and looked unblinkingly at Yun Qi, looking for a long time, so long that it was as if he wanted to carve him deeply into the bottom of his pupils.
The next morning, the sky was clear and vast.
The viewers, completely ignorant of the upcoming events, rushed into the livestream room early. The bullet comments were exceptionally lively:
“Truth or Dare!! I’m ready, I’m ready!!”
“Ahhhhhhh, I hope the production team puts in the effort; I want to know if Teacher Bai Yun Ai Ai was telling the truth!!”
“A ‘younger top/pseudo-incest’ reunion paired with Truth or Dare… Oh my!!”
“Naked apron, double-standard germaphobia… What other surprises do you two have that we don’t know about?! Confess everything to me!”
“Can the ‘Dare’ directly let Xing-Yun do it for me to see? I’m in the late stages of cancer, if I don’t see Xing-Yun ‘do’, I’ll die with my eyes open; kissing is fine too.”
Compared to the incredibly excited audience, Yun Qi, who had already experienced this once, sat at the familiar round table, looking at everything familiar, and felt an unusually calm mood.
However, when everyone sat down in the order from his previous life’s memories, Duan Xingge was late. Yun Qi frowned, and the host explained: “Everyone, please wait a moment for President Duan and our props. He happened to learn yesterday while grilling fish that the kitchen was short-handed, so he got up early to help in the kitchen to prepare the drinks for the penalty.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yun Qi’s heart, which had already been calm, felt as if it had been opened up. For a moment, all sorts of feelings flooded in; acidity mixed with an unspeakable impulse surged from the ground up, keeping him from staying calm for a long time.
As of today, he finally confirmed one hundred percent the conjecture he had held deep in his heart.
When Duan Xingge walked out with those few drinks he had prepared himself, Yun Qi suddenly closed his eyes, using all his strength to keep others from seeing any anomalies.
The host took the drinks, placed them on the table, and after introducing the rules of Truth or Dare, smiled: “Thanks to President Duan for helping the kitchen prepare the drinks. However, gratitude is gratitude; later, if President Duan can’t answer, he’ll have to drink just the same.”
Everyone smiled kindly upon hearing this. Duan Xingge had already pulled out a chair and sat down, laughing: “I guarantee to tell everything I know; if there’s anything I can’t answer, I’ll drink two glasses directly.”
“However, although we can’t open a backdoor on the game results, procedurally, to thank President Duan for the hard work of preparing so many drinks,” the host’s tone changed, “Then let President Duan sit at the head of the table and ask the first question.”
Yun Qi was immersed in the unspeakable turbulent waves; he was startled upon hearing this, never expecting that today’s development would be different from his previous life right from the start.
In this life, the person who pressed the turntable first was no longer Ming Jiao, but Duan Xingge.
But some things seemed completely unchanged. For instance, after Duan Xingge pressed the button with great delight, Yun Qi had just recovered from his thoughts when the needle pointed directly at him.
He looked up and crashed straight into Duan Xingge’s gaze, and then heard that familiar: “What a coincidence, President Yun. Would you like to choose Truth or Dare?”
Yun Qi took a deep breath. Just like in his previous life, he replied: “Truth.”
He thought Duan Xingge would follow the previous life’s approach and ask Ming Jiao what he wanted to ask, so he prepared himself to answer truthfully no matter what was asked.
His cousin Yun Ying was right—even if all the drinks this time were prepared with Duan Xingge’s help, one shouldn’t take chances.
As long as he avoided drinking the beverages at the source, everything would collapse on its own.
Therefore… Yun Qi had prepared himself to choose to answer no matter what Duan Xingge asked.
What he didn’t expect was that Duan Xingge didn’t open his mouth for a long time after hearing his choice, as if contemplating exactly what to ask him.
Ming Jiao, seeing Duan Xingge hadn’t spoken for a long time, said: “Brother Xing, if you don’t know what to ask, I have one I want to ask A-Yun—”
“No need.” Yet Duan Xingge bypassed him directly at this moment. He raised his eyes and stared unblinkingly at Yun Qi: “I’ve decided what to ask.”
That familiar, ominous, and heart-trembling feeling surged up again.
Yun Qi raised his eyes abruptly, meeting Duan Xingge’s obscure gaze. His brow twitched; before he could say anything, in the next second, Duan Xingge’s voice sounded like a thunderclap on the field:
“I remember when I was eight years old, my brother promised to marry me. Now… does it still stand?”
Follow-up question: Would you like to proceed to the next chapter, or is there a specific interaction or plot detail you would like to analyze?