Time repeated itself, and Shen Guhan once again sat down beside Ye Jinyun. Ye Jinyun was still sleeping soundly, just as he had been yesterday.
“Ye Jinyun.” Shen Guhan called softly.
“What is it?” The boy slightly lifted his head. His tone was slow, and his eyes, though not fully open, still carried a trace of alertness, but very quickly they returned to a dazed state, as if he still had not woken up.
Shen Guhan studied the person before him. As he had expected, Ye Jinyun had not fallen into the illusion at all. In other words, Ye Jinyun had chosen to stay in this illusion of his own accord.
Why?
Clearly, there was nothing worth lingering for.
Ye Jinyun, who had fallen asleep again, would not answer him. Shen Guhan lightly tapped the desktop with his fingers. This time, he did not raise his hand again. He simply watched Ye Jinyun sleep in silence.
The class bell rang. Shen Guhan stood up and walked to Fatty, who was in front of Ye Jinyun. “Come with me.”
“What do you want with me?”
Fatty followed the transfer student out of the classroom. He had had a good temper since he was little, and whatever others told him to do, he would do it. Sometimes his mother would look at him with concern, worried that he would be bullied in the future, always saying how nice the Ye Jinyun next door was.
But there was nothing to be done about that. Fatty himself did not want it either, but both his parents were strong-willed. If he dared to let out even one extra breath, he would get a man-and-woman double beating, not to mention his mother’s fiery temper. Better not make him too miserable.
“What kind of person is Ye Jinyun?” Shen Guhan asked.
“Why are you suddenly asking about this?”
Fatty did not understand why the new transfer student had suddenly asked about his Yezi.
“Ye Jinyun told me he liked me. I’m not clear about his character, so I want to understand him.”
Shen Guhan lied without even catching his breath, not the least bit embarrassed to say it that way.
System 01 drew in a sharp breath beside them, and gained a deeper understanding of Shen Guhan’s face. It looked delicate and smooth, but in reality it was thick as a city wall.
“You, you said what?” Fatty stuttered a little. He felt this was a bit like magical realism. Yezi liked men, and it was the new transfer student?
“Ye Jinyun said he liked me. I want to understand him.”
Shen Guhan did not think he was giving Fatty any kind of worldview-shattering blow. He said it as calmly as ever. He was the Demon Lord, unmatched in the Changsheng Jie, and Ye Jinyun would fall in love with him sooner or later. What he said now merely brought that time forward.
“Well, th-this, you two, fine.” Fatty had a lot he wanted to say, but in the end what came out was still, “What do you want to know?”
There was nothing to be done. Who told him he did not have the ability to refuse others?
“Everything.” Since he had asked, then he should know everything.
“That’s way too much, though. Class ended only ten minutes ago.” Fatty shook his head, saying it was impossible.
System 01, who was watching the show from the side, could not help but worry a little for Fatty. This Fatty’s refusal was so direct, it was even more serious than System 01’s before. Shen Guhan was probably going to get angry.
But to System 01’s surprise, Shen Guhan did not show the slightest bit of anger, and not even a trace of pressure leaked out. On the contrary, he even stepped back.
“Then pick the most important things.”
“Yezi, that person, maybe because his parents don’t get along, he’s been somewhat lacking in a sense of security since he was little, and he values feelings a lot…”
Shen Guhan listened carefully, creating a sharp contrast with his cold, handsome face.
“If Yezi says he likes you, and you don’t like him, don’t reject him all at once. Be tactful. Just take it as me asking you.”
Although he was surprised that his childhood friend liked men, his childhood friend was still his childhood friend. He still hoped Yezi could be a little happier.
“I quite like that.” Shen Guhan said.
After speaking, regardless of how shocked Fatty was, he strode into the classroom and sat back down beside Ye Jinyun.
Lacking a sense of security, valuing feelings…
Shen Guhan looked at Ye Jinyun’s delicate side profile under the sunlight and reached out to gently stroke his face.
Ye Jinyun slept deeply, feeling something cold press against his face. In this hot summer, it was very pleasant, and his face could not help but rub upward.
Seeing Ye Jinyun take the initiative, Shen Guhan then covered him with his whole palm. Ye Jinyun’s face was very small, and his hand almost covered more than half of it. After a long time, Ye Jinyun could not breathe and was just about to wake up, and only then did he withdraw his hand.
Fatty, who had belatedly walked into the classroom, saw this tender scene at a glance, and instantly got goosebumps. Feeling guilty as if he were a thief, he stealthily slipped back to his seat.
Yet Shen Guhan, as the person involved, remained just as high-profile, blatantly telling everyone that he was not ordinary to Ye Jinyun.
…
Time once again came to night. Without his last flashy move, Shen Guhan this time only stood quietly on the big tree by Ye Jinyun’s room window, waiting for the matter to happen again.
The woman’s figure appeared again. She was still standing motionless, her back facing Shen Guhan, her gaze fixed on Ye Jinyun beneath the blanket.
This woman was Ye Jinyun’s biological mother. Although she wore a tired expression, her back was still held straight, maintaining her bearing, as if she were guarding her last dignity. Shen Guhan did not think a woman like that would be, as Ye Jinyun said, someone who hit him, scolded him, and withheld his pocket money. The mother in Ye Jinyun’s words was more like the mother Fatty had described during the day.
Not long after, the woman left again.
Shen Guhan walked to the spot where the woman had stood just now, looked at Ye Jinyun, who refused to know the truth, and said, “Was it worth it?”
Although his parents loved him, their love for Ye Jinyun was too little. Ye Jinyun was not that important in their hearts, yet Ye Jinyun was still willing to lose himself in the illusion for them.
Ye Jinyun kept his eyes open, looking at the black figure through the thin blanket. He knew it was not worth it.
“I just wanted to stay a little longer.”
The last time, after this he would really say goodbye to his former self, bid farewell to the Ye Jinyun of the modern world, and then become the Ye Jinyun of the Changsheng Jie.
The illusion began to sway, everything slowly disappearing. Ye Jinyun glanced outside the window, lifted the blanket, and walked to the window. He skillfully climbed over to the next room. Next door was Fatty’s room. The two of them had loved climbing around recklessly since they were little, and had long been used to it. They did not even need to go through the door.
“Fatty, wake up.” Ye Jinyun kicked Fatty, who was already sleeping like a dead pig.
He wanted to say goodbye to Fatty.
“Yezi, we agreed, just one round. If my mom finds out, this is not something to joke about?” Fatty painfully got up, as if he were used to it.
Ye Jinyun shook his head, stepped forward, and hugged Fatty tightly. “Fatty, after I’m gone, take good care of yourself.”
“I know, you have someone you like now. As your childhood friend, I won’t casually disturb you.” Fatty recalled Shen Guhan from the daytime and became much more awake, promising him.
“I have someone I like? Who?” Ye Jinyun let go of Fatty, feeling utterly baffled. Where did he have someone he liked?
“Isn’t it that transfer student from daytime?” Since they were not going to play games, Fatty flopped back down and went to sleep again. Not long after, snoring sounded.
“What nonsense are you talking about?” Ye Jinyun demanded of Shen Guhan.
The whole illusion was disappearing little by little. Shen Guhan stretched, walked out of the illusion, and left only a back view for Ye Jinyun. “Nothing much, he just misunderstood.”
At the end, in the bright light, he turned his head and said to Ye Jinyun, “Complete the trial. I’ll be waiting for you at the mountain peak.”