Chapter 131
In the evening, the two had a hot pot meal. Lin Qingyu had also eaten hot pot in the Dayu and didn’t think there was anything new about it. The only thing that he found strange was that before the meal, Jiang Xing soaked their bowls and chopsticks in hot tea, as if performing some kind of mysterious ceremony.
The waiter thoughtfully brought them aprons and oil-proof bags for their phones. There was even a hair tie for Lin Qingyu so that he could tie his hair up.
“Wait a minute.” Jiang Xing took out a bear hair tie, “I bought it for you, use mine.”
Lin Qingyu was not satisfied. “Why is it a bear?”
Jiang Xing said, “Because I couldn’t find a little snake. You can use the little bear first and I’ll buy a little snake hair tie online for you later.”
Lin Qingyu took the hair tie. “That’s not necessary. I’ll just make do with this.”
Lin Qingyu tied his long hair with the bear hair tie and then sat waiting for Jiang Xing to feed him. Jiang Xing mixed a dipping sauce for him, swearing that it was the Jiang Family’s secret ancestral recipe and that if Lin Qingyu hadn’t been his wife, he wouldn’t have passed it on to an outsider.
Lin Qingyu, still worrying about the dangers of puppy love, hesitantly said, “You’re underage. It seems that you cannot have a wife.”
Jiang Xing was forced to compromise. “Alright, not a wife but what about a boyfriend?”
It was the first time Lin Qingyu has heard this form of address and asked in confusion, “Boyfriend?”
Jiang Xing explained the meaning of boyfriend to Lin Qingyu. Lin Qingyu said, “Very well. From now on in your hometown, you will be my boyfriend.”
Jiang Xing heaved a sigh, “The more you live, the more you regress.”
The two of them were halfway through eating when guests came to occupy the next table. It was a family of three. The dad was pushing the baby carriage and a little boy about a year old was sitting inside, looking at them curiously with big round eyes.
Jiang Xing stared at the baby carriage, his hand, holding his chopsticks with vegetables, hanging in the air. His eyes slackened. Why did he feel like he’d been in a stroller that needed to be pushed… a wheelchair?
Suddenly, Jiang Xing said in a low voice, “Damn, Qingyu.”
Lin Qingyu’s hand shook and the beef ball he had picked up with great difficulty fell back into the pot. “What is it? You scared me.”
“I remembered.” Jiang Xing was a little excited, “I remembered that I went to the Dayu.”
Lin Qingyu was momentarily stunned and forgot all about the beef ball. “Really?”
Jiang Xing nodded excitedly. “So I really didn’t die, and was reborn as General Gu?”
Lin Qingyu felt that something was a bit wrong. “What do you mean by that?”
“Uh, I did remember but I didn’t remember completely.” Jiang Xing spread his hands, “I just remembered what happened when I was Lu Wancheng. I still haven’t remembered those things you told me happened when I was Gu Fuzhou.”
Lin Qingyu: “…”
Could it be that the recovery of his memories will come by the lifetime? First Lu Wancheng, then Gu Fuzhou, and finally Xiao Li?
Jiang Xing was immersed in his memories. “So, after I became Gu Fuzhou, I chased after you? Did I confess to you?” Jiang Xing couldn’t help sighing, “They weren’t wrong when they said I showed such promise. A display worthy of me.”
Lin Qingyu looked at Jiang Xing silently. No matter how much memory has been restored, Jiang Xing was still Jiang Xing. His nature has not changed at all. In just a few days, he recovered his memory of his previous life. It won’t take long for him to fully recover.
Lin Qingyu wasn’t too worried. He still even got it in him to joke with Jiang Xing, “You think that it’d been up to you? Learn the “Book of Songs” by heart first.”
Jiang Xing’s smile gradually disappeared: “…No, don’t tell me that you were the one who chased me? You were the one who confessed to me? I was that much of a loser in love? No, I don’t believe it.”
Lin Qingyu continued to enjoy his beef balls and said lightly. “I don’t know. Maybe you should remember it for yourself.”
Jiang Xing’s memory only returned up to the night when Lu Wancheng died of illness. He was full of curiosity and thirst for knowledge about what happened later. He asked while cooking Lin Qingyu’s tripe. “Didn’t you still like girls? Why would you marry my second reincarnation?”
“Why do you think?”
“I didn’t embarrass General Gu, did I?”
“No.”
“What happened to the rest of the Nan’an Hou Mansion?”
“They’re basically alive.”
“What about Shen Huaishi?”
“He’s doing fine.”
Jiang Xing paused for a minute, as if wanting to confirm, then asked, “Qingyu, do you really like me?”
“En.”
Jiang Xing rested his chin on his hand and looked at the ponytail-ed great beauty opposite him. “What do you like about me?”
Lin Qingyu raised his eyes and glanced at him. “I like that you look good, you will always be eighteen years old.”
Jiang Xing didn’t know whether he believed it or not. He said with a smile, “I love this reason—then when did you fall in love with me?”
Lin Qingyu didn’t give an answer immediately. When did he fall in love with Jiang Xing? Was it during the Lantern Festival of that year? Or when he married Gu Fuzhou? Or was it even earlier?
Perhaps as early as when they were in the Nan’an Hou’s Mansion, his love for Lu Wancheng had already sprouted, but at that time he hadn’t known what it was. He only knew that Lu Wancheng was bound to die, even if he sensed his feelings, he didn’t dare go through with it.
Jiang Xing, who now only had his memories of that life, in a mysterious was making up for the regrets while he’d been Lu Wancheng.
“Qingyu?”
Lin Qingyu came back to his senses, and was about to answer but discovered something important, “You’re overcooking the tripe.”
In order to gain more value from the hair tie Jiang Xing had bought him Lin Qingyu kept his long hair for a few more days. Jiang Xing took out his dusty camera and took picture after picture of Lin Qingyu’s face; whether it was a picture worthy moment or not, it didn’t matter.
Lin Qingyu was wearing the cat ears headband and he had just finished washing his face when he heard a voice, “Qingyu, turn around.”
Lin Qingyu’s face suddenly appeared in the viewfinder. Under the dim and warm light in the bathroom, his face seemed to emit a soft glow.
Jiang Xing stared in a daze and forgot to press the shutter button. He said like a sigh, “…fuck.”
Lin Qingyu took off the cat-ears headband and let his long hair fall down. “High school students shouldn’t swear so much. If you’ve taken enough pictures, I’ll cut my hair short today. Long hair here is inconvenient after all.” He didn’t want his gender to be mistaken every time he went out.
Jiang Xing had no objections to this. Lin Qingyu with long hair was amazing, but he was also looking forward to Lin Qingyu’s short hair. “Okay, I’ll help you find a reliable Mr. Tony.”
His Mr. Tony had opened a studio and attained the legendary title of chief stylist. In his hands, Jiang Xing’s hair has never come out wrong. But Lin Qingyu didn’t think this meant much. After all, even when Jiang Xing cut his hair haphazardly, he still came out looking really good.
After heaping tons of praise onto Lin Qingyu’s face and hair, Tony asked, “What kind of hairstyle would Shuai Ge like?”
Jiang Xing said, “Do you have any suggestions?”
“Shuai Ge has such fair skin. We can try dyeing it a light color to match his facial features. We’ll go with the aloof and noble son style, which also matches his temperament.” Tony said, exaggerating, “To be honest, the moment I saw him, it made me want to kneel down and pay him my respects.”
Jiang Xing asked Lin Qingyu, “Do you want to dye your hair?”
Lin Qingyu said, “That’s not necessary. I don’t want to attract too much attention.”
Tony smiled and said, “That’ll probably be a bit difficult.”
Jiang Xing said, “He doesn’t want the cold and noble son look. If you can, just try to make him look simple and open. Oh, by the way, can you cut a lock of his hair as a souvenir for me?”
Lin Qingyu’s long hair, which he’d been growing for twenty years, was cut short for the first time. Without the cover of his long hair, the contours of his face became more distinct, which somewhat magnified his delicate facial features. Tony cut him some bangs and they covered his brows a little. If he bows his head slightly, it can somewhat slow down the swift and fierce attack of his good looks.
Lin Qingyu looked at himself in the mirror. It looked both familiar and unfamiliar. The face was the same face but his hair has gone from long to short and it gave off a different feel; a little less luxurious and a little more refreshing.
A hand was gently placed on Lin Qingyu’s hair. Lin Qingyu looked up at Jiang Xing, waiting for his evaluation. Mr. Tony on the side was full of praise. He kept calling him good-looking, dignified, handsome, and beautiful. All oft repeated things.
Jiang Xing locked eyes with him through the mirror and he held his gaze for a couple of seconds. He then looked away first and said with a smile, “You look bewitching, Baobei. Now, I won’t be able to pin down your hair in the future.”
When Jiang Xing was signing to pay the bill, from the corner of his eye, he saw Tony and Lin Qingyu chatting for a while. The two left the studio and before Jiang Xing could ask, Lin Qingyu gave Jiang Xing the business card that Tony had given him. It was a business card of a scout from an entertainment company. It wasn’t surprising that Tony would know someone in that circle.
With the business card between his fingers, Jiang Xing flung it like a playing card straight into the trash can by the sidewalk. “Qingyu, when I go back to school, I won’t be with you 24 hours a day anymore. You…”
Lin Qingyu knew what he was going to say, and said: “It’s okay, I have a mobile phone, an air conditioner and milk tea. You can go to school with peace of mind.”
Jiang Xing had no choice but to accept it. “Seems you’ve stumbled onto the true meaning of a modern man’s life.”
On the last day of the holiday, they didn’t go back to Zhujiang New Town but went to Jiang Xing’s apartment near the school. In order to sleep an extra half an hour each morning, Jiang Xing usually stayed here save for the holidays. The houses near the school were all of a certain age and its outside appearance couldn’t compare to the large apartments beside the Pearl River. The area was also on the small side. But the interior design wasn’t the least bit sloppy. The apartment was only a five-minute walk from Jiang Xing’s high school. Even the ten minute breaks between classes would be enough for Jiang Xing to climb over the wall, get back home and take a look at his wife.
Jiang Xing bought and downloaded all the literary classics of Chinese medicine that he could find onto the e-book reader. He then signed up to all the video streaming sites and finally he personally taught Lin Qingyu how to play games. “If you still feel bored, just send me a WeChat message and I will ask for leave to come back to accompany you.”
Lin Qingyu was playing the game and said absent-mindedly, “Alright.”
Jiang Xing thought about it from every angle. In the end, he still couldn’t bear to let his beautiful wife stay at home alone. Half-truthfully, he said, “Qingyu, how about I drop out of school? I want to stay with you. In any case, when we return to the Dayu, it seems like this diploma won’t be of any use.”
Lin Qingyu was fighting in a team battle and didn’t even raise his head. “Not necessarily, nothing learned is ever wasted. If you successfully complete your studies, at least, the Dayu’s monarch will be a high school graduate instead of a dropout.”
Jiang Xing sighed. “Okay, then you continue playing. I have to get some things done.”
Lin Qingyu asked casually, “What do you need to do?”
Jiang Xing was full of resentment. “I need to cram. I’ve got to finish my homework.”
Lin Qingyu: “…”
