Chapter 43.2

The symptoms of Xun Feng’s stomachache had been severe; he had to hug the toilet, puking until his vision had gone blurry and dark.

Gu Liang handed him a towel so he could wipe his mouth, and then poured a cup of hot water to hydrate his throat.

Following, Gu Liang cleaned his toilet without showing any grievances, and he even helped him find a set of clean clothes to change into before he washed his soiled clothes.

Lastly, Gu Liang had cooked a bowl of noodles for Xun Feng. He had cooked the noodles to a soft texture, without any oil or salt.

“Eating some soft noodles is good for your stomach according to my experience.” Gu Liang offered.

“Thanks.” Xun Feng received the noodles before he smiled bitterly. “I suddenly understood something.”

“Hm?” Gu Liang was confused.

Xun Feng sighed. “The appearance I had just now… was quite wretched, right? In front of you, I actually… puked so much… and then there’s my dirty clothes and toilet…”

“It’s fine. Who hasn’t been sick before? It’s very normal.” Gu Liang said.

“But it allowed me to understand you even more all of a sudden,” Xun Feng said quickly.

“What do you mean?” Gu Liang asked.

Xun Feng gazed at Gu Liang: “It probably goes along the lines of, now that you’ve seen my ugly and wretched appearance, how could I possibly ask you like to me? And unexpectedly, you even helped me clean up those… Truthfully speaking, I feel a little overwhelmed by the favour, but a little lost and dazed as well. It feels wrong, like something has gone awry.”

Gu Liang said placidly: “Like I was saying, you’re mistaken about what you feel towards me.”

Xun Feng understood the underlying meaning of his words. A chuckle slipped out from his lips, but it was tinged with self-mockery.

In the end, Xun Feng released a long sigh. “Sorry—”

Gu Liang only said: “No need.”

Some people believed that they had fallen in love with a celestial being, and that celestial being could only be admired from afar, never stained with obscenities at a close distance. However, when there comes a day where you find him helping you clean the toilet, going as far as treating you well, his behaviour no different from a normal person, your fantasy would be abruptly shattered.

“This was actually very normal. You were merely mistaken about your feelings of infatuation. There’s nothing you need to apologise for.”

Before he left, Gu Liang eyed Xun Feng and asked: “I only have one question I’d like to ask you.”

Xun Feng: “Go ahead.”

Gu Liang: “I’ve known you for five to six years, roughly. And you’ve only known Yang Ye for a few days. How did you become so familiar with each other?”

Xun Feng returned a question: “Why?”

“It never entered my mind that you would cooperate with him to deceive me then.”

There was a stagnant pause. Gu Liang smiled again and muttered to himself: “But… perhaps that’s an innate skill a person like him possesses.”

Lying on the bed, Xun Feng thought back about the scene that occurred that day before a smile spread across his face.

Afterwards, he said: “No matter what, it’s quite fortunate that you managed to meet him. Truly.”

Xun Feng said those words with utmost sincerity.

Honestly speaking, Gu Liang was an extremely tenacious person, but he had encountered too many difficulties in reality.

If there was a day where he could no longer endure and collapsed again, perhaps the only person who could save him was Yang Ye.

* * *

At this present moment, the night was deep and heavy.

Noticing that Gu Liang did not answer for a long time, Yang Ye asked in a soft voice: “Did you fall asleep?”

Gu Liang: “Mn.”

“……” Yang Ye laughed, feeling a little helpless, but there was an inexplicable warmth in his heart.

The next morning.

When Gu Liang opened his eyes, he came to a strange and unexpected realisation that he was sleeping on the bed.

Gu Liang sat up to take a look. The bedding was still on the ground beside the bed.

Furthermore, the self-made bed still harboured some body temperature when he touched it; evidently, the person who had been resting on it had gotten up not long ago.

He was also clueless as to when he had been carried onto the bed, and allowed the patient to rest on the bedding below.

After getting out of bed, Gu Liang washed up, went downstairs, and saw that breakfast had already been made, alongside the memo that Yang Ye had left behind.

“All of us are planning to get together before this scenario ends (Liu Ran not included). and we’re eating hotpot at my place in the afternoon. I’m going to prepare the ingredients before going to the secondary school field for a run. You can sleep for a while more once you’re done eating breakfast.”

* * *

Once Yang Ye was done preparing the majority of the ingredients, he went to the field for a run.

His jog lasted for two hours. As he was walking back, he pa.s.sed by the teaching building and happened to see Li Xiao Yu holding up a reference book and working on some questions in a cla.s.sroom on the first floor.

Yang Ye went up to knock on the window, which made Li Xiao Yu lift her head and wave at him in greeting. “Big Brother Yang Ye?”

“Let’s go back and eat hotpot together?” Yang Ye asked.

“Awesome, I actually get to eat hotpot!”

Filled with excitement, Li Xiao Yu quickly packed up her books and ran out of the cla.s.sroom, following Yang Ye back to the w.a.n.g Shroud Shop.

The matters in a young girl’s heart had always been hard to grasp – in one moment, Li Xiao Yu was ecstatic at the prospect of being able to eat hotpot, but as they walked further down the road, her face started scrunching together in a bitter expression.

When they were about to reach the backyard, Yang Ye gave Li Xiao Yu a flitting look, only to realise that her emotions were slightly off all of a sudden. Hence, he asked her: “What’s wrong?”

Li Xiao Yu hugged her books tightly and said: “It’s nothing much, honestly. It’s just, I suddenly miss home, and I don’t know when I’ll get to go back. Additionally, we saw that small alley again as we were walking back, which made me think about the matter between Beggar Ding and School Senior Feng. School Senior Feng was the G.o.ddess in this script, but… I’m the complete opposite of her in reality.”

“Why do you say that?” Yang Ye queried.

Li Xiao Yu halted in her steps and asked Yang Ye: “There’s a saying that goes, a girl chasing a boy is like a layer of gauze. Is it really true?”

Yang Ye: “I wouldn’t know, I’m gay.”

Li Xiao Yu: “……”

Seeing Li Xiao Yu’s discouraged expression, Yang Ye s.h.i.+fted into the demeanour of an experienced person and opened his mouth to say: “But it’s fine, I think I still have some experience where feelings are concerned. If you want to ask something, don’t hold back. I’ll help you a.n.a.lyse it.”

Yang Ye pushed open the backyard door and stepped into the house with Li Xiao Yu at the same time. Then, he stopped walking and listened to the little lady speak without any distractions.

“Before I entered this game, I was constantly chasing this school senior who was the school gra.s.s of our faculty. Honestly speaking, I could sense that he didn’t really like me, but I kept feeling that… if I were to put in the effort, maybe it would eventually succeed.

“Then there was a day where I confessed to him again and received his reply. He said that he was willing to try it with me, and gave me seven days to test the waters. If I performed well in the seven-day probation period, I could become his real girlfriend…

“But just as the probation period began, I arrived at this game… Say, has the possibility of ‘us’ completely fallen through?”

Li Xiao Yu looked at Yang Ye anxiously, “Do all men think this way? Is it possible that… he could like someone else and get together with them?”

Yang Ye’s eyebrows knitted together. “Probation period? Seven days? And it’s even based on performance? Young lady, you’re trying to date, not going for an interview to find a job. What kind of outrageous sc.u.mbag are you liking? Also, aren’t you studying in university? You actually fell for his deception?”

Li Xiao Yu: “……”

Lowering her head, Li Xiao Yu wallowed for a long time before she finally said: “As the person who was personally involved, I was befuddled then, and I didn’t notice the problem. Actually, now that I’m looking back on it, I’m of the similar opinion that his actions were very… very quirky. But is there really no chance of him liking me? If that’s the case, he should just reject me, why did he have to make the entire ‘probation period’?”

Yang Ye said: “If we were to speak generally, boys tend to mature later; they’re fickle-minded when they’re young; even if they didn’t like someone, and encountered someone who voluntarily approached them, they might not make the necessary considerations before deciding to try it out with the other person. And if no feelings arose in their time together, they would break it off in a few days. Those types are technically okay and you can only say that they’re not mature enough. Whereas the likes of your school gra.s.s are even worse; he doesn’t even want to give you the ident.i.ty of a real girlfriend, which obviously goes to show that he doesn’t want to take responsibility and he’s openly leading you on.”

Li Xiao Yu mulled over it and said: “I get it. But why do I get the feeling that you’re talking like… Like you’re genuinely and deeply affected by this?”

Yang Ye said: “I can’t say that I’m deeply affected. It’s just that I don’t deny being fickle when I was younger, and when I thought back it later, I really shouldn’t have—”

Li Xiao Yu asked curiously, “So you’re saying that, there have been a lot of people who were let down by you in their pursuit of you? How many boyfriends did you have? Have you taken the initiative to chase anyone?”

Since he wanted to help her puzzle out the question of feelings, he could not make it seem like he was completely inexperienced. Hence, Yang Ye’s mouth started running off like a fire train. “All of it has occurred. During my schooling days, I didn’t take all these things seriously. I don’t really remember much about my past boyfriends. Maybe I can’t even count…”

After unleas.h.i.+ng a whole chunk of nonsense, Yang Ye’s need to talk pa.s.sed.

However, when he caught a subconscious glimpse of something, he stopped his mouth immediately.

— Clad in his usual white T-s.h.i.+rt, Gu Liang was standing near the fencing of the neighbouring backyard. His body was tall and long, his hands were tucked inside his jean pockets, giving the impression that he was quite leisurely and comfortable.

The sunny and cloudless sky and verdant and lush greenery was in line with his disposition that was akin to light clouds and a gentle breeze.

It was just that he did not know when he started standing there, and how much he had heard.

Yang Ye remained frozen for three seconds before he managed to ask Gu Liang: “Why are you…”

Gu Liang raised his hand to show the memo that Yang Ye left behind. Then, he said faintly, “Didn’t you ask me to come over for hotpot?”

“Oh…” Yang Ye went up to pat on his shoulder cautiously. “Let’s go? Help me prepare the vegetables?”

Gu Liang strode towards w.a.n.g’s shroud shop directly. “Mn, let’s go.”

However, Yang Ye’s hand ended up empty which forced him to stop his action in mid-air, and he could only watch as Gu Liang manoeuvred around him and followed Li Xiao Yu deeper into the interiors of the shroud shop.

Halfway through, Li Xiao Yu did not forget to turn her head back to wink at Yang Ye. She mouthed: “Not my fault!”

Thirty minutes later.

Gu Liang was peeling garlic at the balcony in order to prepare the garlic paste that was acting as condiment for the hotpot.

After hustling around the kitchen for a period of time, Yang Ye came out to take a breather and he found himself walking to the balcony, unwittingly or not, to stare at Gu Liang quietly.

Gu Liang was sitting on a small wooden stool peeling the garlic with an extremely serene countenance.

His fingers were long and slender which made his act of peeling garlic look incredibly elegant, like he was creating some work of art instead of peeling garlic.

And as if he was a little quizzical as to why Yang Ye had chosen to keep his silence, Gu Liang raised his eyelids to give him a look before he lowered his head again to continue his mundane task. “Do you need something from me?”

“No. I merely choked on the soot a little so I came out to take a breather. The soup base has been boiled.” Yang Ye said.

Gu Liang nodded: “En. You’ve worked hard.”

Yang Ye: “…..”

A moment later, Yang Ye stepped into the balcony, pretended to give a lazy stretch, then sat on the small wooden stool beside Gu Liang.

He peered outside like he was trying to admire the scenery of the small town from the small balcony on w.a.n.g Shroud Shop’s second floor.

He allowed the silence to stretch on for a good while before he initiated a conversation in an absentminded manner: “Quite a lot of capital was poured into this script… Although that school is small in size, it’s a fairly decent imitation, and it reminds me of my high school days. Gu Liang, in this previous script, didn’t you say… you were in a relations.h.i.+p back in your senior high school days?”

Mn, this topic conversation is neither sudden nor abrupt, and it’s not implausible at all.

Gu Liang peeled the spherical garlic to reveal its jade-like sleekness before he gently placed it into the basket. “Strictly speaking, we weren’t dating; I didn’t even hold the girl’s hand.”

“That girl is your…”

“Desk mate. It happened in Year One of Senior High. Later, she transferred school and we no longer kept contact.”

“Who confessed?”

“Neither. It was mostly our cla.s.smates’ blind cajoling, where going and leaving school together was considered as dating. There was nothing between us in actuality. Why are you asking this?”

“Oh, nothing really—” Yang Ye pushed up his gla.s.ses. “Just casually asking. This scenario made me recall my schooling days. I was young and stupid back then, but I’m different now. Really. It’s just like your situation with that girl. Looking back on hindsight, it wasn’t love at all.”

Having realised something from his words, Gu Liang shot him a curious glance. “What are you trying to say exactly? Are you borrowing the topic you had with Li Xiao Yu to reminisce about your distinguished and accomplished years?”

“What distinguished and accomplished, don’t talk drivel.” Yang Ye corrected him strictly before he lowered his voice and asked: “You heard everything I said to her just now?”

“More or less.” Gu Liang picked up another garlic, thumb covering the top of the garlic before he started peeling it at a leisurely pace. “Are you trying to explain something to me? It couldn’t be that you’re afraid that I’ll perceive you as unsteady, right?”

Yang Ye: “…..”

Gu Liang continued: “It doesn’t matter to be honest. Your peach blossoms were flouris.h.i.+ng.”

Having said that, Gu Liang raised his gaze to scrutinise Yang Ye’s eyes, going as far as looking past his spectacle lens to stare at his eyes fixedly for a few seconds.

Yang Ye’s heart pounded madly under his stare, and yet the originator of the evil Gu Liang managed to retract his gaze breezily. He gave his comment: “Mn, the shape of your eyes are deep, your countenance is sharp; your upper eyelids are curved, the inner corners of your eyes are pointed and sunken, your eyes and brows are balanced in shape and drooping down slightly. Those are eyes that attract peach blossoms.”

“You know how to read faces?”

“Just learnt it. The coffin shop has a lot of feng shui and face reading books, and I was reading through them since I had nothing to do. I’m merely applying what I learnt as I go.”

“……”

“Hey, hold on, I wasn’t concerned about the aesthetics of a face.”

Yang Ye said seriously: “It’s just…. Don’t hold my past against me for real. Like I’ve said, when I was serving in the military, I did my dues properly, and I was focused on polis.h.i.+ng my cooking skills alone when I was overseas, I didn’t mess around.”

Gu Liang asked: “Oh, then if we were to count the ones that you were serious about, how many boyfriends did you have?”

“Uh… how serious does it have to be to count?”

— Does a pa.s.serby who was added on WeChat with a few days’ worth of conversations or a pa.s.serby of whom he had met a few times face-to-face count?

Gu Liang: “Just make an arbitrary count, I’m just casually asking.”

“Actually… No, those things happened during my schooling days, I’ve never been in a relations.h.i.+p after working—”

Yang Ye was in a very difficult situation; since he had already put up a pretence, he could not retract those words easily, and he did not want to give the impression that he was lacking in experience in reality.

Gu Liang nodded: “I understand.”

Yang Ye: “No, what did you understand?”

Gu Liang placed the freshly peeled garlic with the rest before he lifted the basket up with both hands and shook it. “It’s probably like this basket of garlic, nearly uncountable.”

Yang Ye: “Hey? Don’t make random comparisons!”

Gu Liang rose to his feet and made his way towards the kitchen from the balcony. “I’m going to mince the garlic.”

Huh… Huh??!!

Yang Ye stared at Gu Liang’s back figure, suddenly stupefied.

“Right, get a few stalks of scallion, it can be matched with the garlic paste and eaten together.” Gu Liang’s voice carried over.

Yang Ye laughed. “Sure. Give me a moment.”

* * *

The fifteen days of rest pa.s.sed by very quickly.

The moment Gu Liang sat up, he saw the floor bedding beside his bed at a glance.

For the past few days, Yang Ye used various of colourful excuses like “the smell of the hotpot in my house was too strong and it’s affecting my sleep”, “hey, don’t you find it strange, rain actually leaked into my house”, and “the shower nozzle in my house is broken, I’m going to take a shower in your house, hey it’s getting too late I might as well not go back” to stay over at Gu Liang’s house.

Forget it, I’m already used to it.

Gu Liang trudged down to the first floor, and he was not surprised to find that Yang Ye had already prepared a breakfast that was not too heavy.

After the pair finished up their breakfast, Gu Liang started was.h.i.+ng the dishes in the kitchen like he usually would.

At this moment, the town-wide broadcast, which hadn’t sounded for a long time, rang out once more.

“Everyone, please gather at the entrance of the centralised discussion in five hours. Please draw your next scenario and your corresponding character card, and proceed to the next scenario.”

After listening to the broadcast, Gu Liang washed up the rest of the dishes quietly. Just as he stepped out of the kitchen, he saw Yang Ye leaning against the door, eyes focused on him with gravity.

“What’s wrong?” Gu Liang questioned him.

Yang Ye said: “I would like you to make a promise.”

Gu Liang asked, “What kind of promise?”

Solemnly, Yang Ye said: “I don’t know if we’ll meet in the next scenario. I hope that you will live on properly. Don’t do that again…”

Gu Liang chuckled in response. “I understand. I won’t. Truth to be told, I wasn’t genuinely waiting for death that day either. I looked for the man in black.”

When he recalled the proceedings in the interrogation room that day, Gu Liang admitted that he had some lingering fears.

Hence, Gu Liang told Yang Ye about the entire conversation he had with the man in black without omitting a single word.

“At the end, I asked him if he could give a card or an item that could allow me to change my ident.i.ty, and guess how he replied to me?”

Gu Liang said: “His reply to me was— I don’t need to use a card.”

Yang Ye thought about it for a moment before he commented: “That sentence is loaded with insinuations.”

Gu Liang: “Precisely. We still haven’t figured out what purpose this game holds. But it’s absolutely certain that it’s not just a punishment system. For the players who have never committed serious crimes, it’s possible that after they received the so-called ‘death penalty’, they will turn into NPCs and continue serving the game. However, how long the service lasts for is unknown, and the same can be said for whether we can become players again to continue pursuing the chance of leaving this game. But the point of all this is—

“Rest a.s.sured, Yang Ye. I don’t have any psychological burdens. If they’re a genuinely good person, they will not die a true death even if they’re framed and incarcerated. Therefore, I’ll play the game properly. If you’re the detective again in the next round, and I’m the murderer…”

Gu Liang gazed at Yang Ye, the corners of his lips rising, “I won’t show you any mercy.”

Yang Ye smirked as he crossed his leg and propped it against the door. He held Gu Liang’s gaze calmly. “Sure. I would be honoured to accompany you to the end.”