Chapter 15
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After the punishment, YueChen couldn't move his arms for a solid thirty minutes. Nevertheless, he still laughed and joked as if he had done nothing extraordinary. It made Yuan Ji wondering whether his fiance was a masochist or something along the lines. But then again, the deity also felt a great fear in both their hearts, fear that exist because the thought that they might couldn't make it alive. So, they just let themselves enjoy the night.
"You didn't tell me how you got your name." YueChen said as he blew the hot grilled chicken. "Everyone in your story goes 'Xiao Er this', 'Xiao Er that', 'Er Lang this'. Not A-Ji, or Yuan Ji."
YueChen held the skewered chicken to his side, letting Yuan Ji inhale the scent, or in other words, 'Offering the food'. Spiritual beings could consume the food offered to them by smelling the food, the scent was enough to fill their stomach.
"Get in my body." YueChen commanded, and the deity obeyed.
It's a habit that they formed in last year, Yuan Ji possessing and controlling his body meant that the former could also eat the food. Although he never took more than five small bites, stating that a taste is just enough for him.
No one noticed the God, or YueChen's weird behavior. They were all too busy devouring all meats they grilled before, and the ones responsible for grilling had to keep up with the speed. The both had made sure that no one could had the innate talent to see spirit, checking all the birthdates and calendars.
"Too salty." Yuan Ji commented after taking only three bites.
YueChen tasted the meat, and countered, "What? This literally have no taste whatsoever. Not salty at all!"
"...."
You and your taste buds... YueChen liked to spice things up with salt and soy sauce, making the food inedible for Yuan Ji who preferred sweet or mild-tasted food.
"Do they put any salt on it or not? My God, it tastes so plain..." YueChen started to complain.
"They did put the salt. Shut up, it's your tongue that has problems." Yuan Ji rubbed his forehead, feeling the urge to shut the boy's mouth.
"Don't defend them! They're mean!"
"I'm not defending your classmates, I'm defending the whole world's taste buds!"
If anyone could see them and what happened, they'll probably go like, "They quarrel everyday. Are you sure they aren't married couple?" Which was totally right.
Too bad, CaLin and YueChen would never happen. Pity the teacher that started matchmaking the two a year ago. And HuaLi and YueChen had the exact same fate with the former pair.
Even if those two were separated, they'd find each other and fell in love again, over and over again.
The group finally got to sleep after a long, tiring journey. With YueChen around, causing trouble, the vacation seemed to be more tiring. If the last outings involved sleepless night, horror and ghost stories, today's only series of snoring.
Some slept on the sofa, or the bamboo mat, some got the bed.
YueChen was lucky enough to get to sleep on the bed, taking minimal space as he slept in fetal position. Yuan Ji also slept with him, laying next to the teen. The god rarely sleep, he preferred watching over the boy in the night.
Yuan Ji was woken up by the soft tapping on his shoulder. He turned around to face the one who woke him up. The god cracked an eye open and saw his lover sitting up, looking a little flustered.
"What?"
"I got a scary dream! I dreamt that I ate the paints!" Was the response.
Yuan Ji, "...."
"I mean, I just went eating the watercolor paints out of blue! I—" Yuan Ji lightly patted his host's cheek and said, "Go back to sleep."
"But—" The teen whined.
"We have things to do tomorrow. Sleep now."
"Maybe it was because I'm reading about Van Gogh?" YueChen muttered, sounding all worried about his dream. He was reluctant to go back to sleep, but since Yuan Ji told him to do so, he only obeyed.
Four hours later, the pair woke up rather at the proper hour. YueChen looked hyped, restless, as if he got a nice sleep. Yuan Ji, on the other hand, had dark circles under his eyes and a severe bedhead. The god looked as white as the sheet, eyes somewhat full of anger and murder intent.
"You looked terrible!" YueChen said, all smiles. Seeing that his fiance smiled so brightly, the god had to stop himself from hitting him upside the head.
Right, YueChen looked fine, even if he only slept for four hours the best. The last time they went for group outings, YueChen only managed a two hours and he jumped around happily, as if someone just injected a shot of sugar and energy drink into his blood vessels.
"Whose fault is that, though?" Yuan Ji threw a pillow to him, smacking the boy right on his face.
"Everyone is still sound asleep, don't cause a trouble." A girl entered the room, rubbing her sleepy eyes and yawned. "Lao Shi will punish you if you ran away again. I'm here to tell you that."
"Wait! Wait, wait!" YueChen hurriedly scrambled off of the bed before the girl closed the door. "What's the plan for today?"
The girl gave a half-hearted glare to him. "No."
"Please tell me, MuYi. Please?"
"Just because you're the best student, the first-ranker of the class and school, doesn't mean that I have to tell you." Wen MuYi countered.
"I'm one of the top fives." YueChen painfully corrected her.
MuYi side-glanced him and said, "It's such a pity that you actually fell down to the fifth place. Study harder, don't be lazy."
Even though MuYi hid the true meaning, she let the boy knew what she meant. 'You're the best of our class. The ace and the star to Class Two of Social Studies. We all depend on you. Other than Huang YeShi, Su ZhuNa, Huang YiJu, Pu YaNa, you're the best. No, from all the five, you're the only person we could depend. The kindest of all, the only one willing to help us who are incapable in studies.'
It's not hard to understand MuYi's words, she always says that. She left after saw that the boy nodded, closing the wooden door.
Not long after that, someone opened the door and threw themself to YueChen, grasping his shoulders tightly. YueChen could only hide the wince.
"ChenChen! Help me!!"
That person was Pu E'Zha, a boy whose friends were the middle three of the fives. The Huangs and the Su were his dearest friends.
The boy and him didn't have a great relationship last year, they were used to be close friends, but then everything changed. Because of a Yang's arrogance and selfishness.
Now, after the first semester report card, E'Zha actually asked for his help. Asking the younger boy to tutor him. He even cried two days before the report card, saying that he was such a crybaby. Which was wrong, the crybaby of the class was no other than their own ace.
Anyway, YueChen had a soft heart and kind personality. He decided to take another in to tutor. After all, only one addition to his group didn't seem much. He still helped them, regardless of the fact no one truly befriend him, only using him. Yuan Ji often told him to reconsider everything, but he only smiled.
"What's the matter?" YueChen sighed. He rubbed his temples internally, trading looks with the god secretly.
"You promise you'll help me right? I got no other person to ask. Help me okay??"
What about your bunch? You four looked really close. Why not bother them?
"I promise. But I don't really think that I can help you on my own, though. Why not ask for YeShi or ZhuNa or YiJu's help also?" He said politely, carrying a hint of reluctance and refusal.
"That..." E'Zha bit his lips. "They just won't help me."
Speaking of which, the three might be a little racist. But then again, YueChen was the same. Those three, apparently avoided E'Zha a little for he wasn't full Chinese. Most of the students in his class were also not Chinese. YueChen became all picky with his friends, not being able to really trust anyone, was caused by the fact he was often harassed by the non-chinese. Some of his own race also bullied him, but the other race seemed to have more influence towards his personality.
"It's fine then. But let me fix things up first. I can't go around looking like a half-awake zombie and all messy right?" He laughed, but his eyes didn't carry the mirth.
"Alright." E'Zha finally let go of his shoulders. He got out the room but waited in front of the door, before settled on a sofa.
"You don't even look like what you said." Yuan Ji broke the short silence.
"I know, what I meant is my dearest need a lot of grooming now."
"What do you think I am? A cat??"
YueChen only gave Yuan Ji a small grin and took all he needed for now.
If MuYi wasn't to tell YueChen the plans of the day, he could just gather information from E'Zha.
"Today's uh... We're going around the lake."
YueChen raised an eyebrow, "Boat?"
E'Zha nodded, stayed as far as he could from his group. He, instead, stuck with the ghost like a glue.
'What did you do, A-Ji? You didn't force them right?'
"I just planted the idea, and urged them a little. No one is able to resist the temptation, no?"
'That's forcing....'
"Not when I was the one who did that."
The plan today, fitted perfectly for the weather and the situation. If they were lucky enough, the boat trip is going to be easy. Yuan Ji might only need to brew a storm or just a light rain, and everything will go along the plan.
After hurrying eating and changing clothes, not bringing anything precious, YueChen found himself sitting in the boat—a small ferry, big enough to carry fifty people.
YueChen sneaked out to the deck, to observe the water and the condition.
Yuan Ji laid his legs on YueChen's, resting his head to the railing behind him. The two occupied the right side of the seat that could hold ten people.
"Sit properly."
"You don't sit properly, either. Why should I listen?"
"Because I'm a God, shut up and sit properly."
Their quarrel was about to rise again before a group of boys approached them.
Seeing YueChen talked alone, in the deck, sprawled on the seat, was a normal sight to them.
"Is it your imaginary friend again?"
YueChen nodded, shifting to sit properly. But only if cross-legged on the seat was considered proper.
A larger boy inched closer to him and said, "You're an indigo. That's cool, but have you tried to—"
Before PeiDi could proceed further, YueChen cut him off. "He's here, sitting next to me."
Those words made the former paled a little.
Why they know? Simple. YueChen apparently couldn't be trusted to conceal a secret. And after confronting the truth, PeiDi went a step ahead, and said, "Try not to rely too much on your friend."
Of course, the moment the words slipped from the boy's mouth, A certain Yang's face immediately darkened and his behavior no longer friendly. "Let me tell you something; I'd rather die than let him disappear." Before storming away from them, taking the end of lesson's bell as his cue to escape the conversation.
Not long after they left, another group came to the deck. Girls and few boys mixed in. Seeing a certain person in the group made YueChen let out a loud, suffering sigh. Seeing another certain person made YueChen wanted to go back to the passenger room. Seeing three of them walking together, wanted YueChen to jump out of the boat and proceeded to the sword by swimming. Seeing four of them nearly burned all his patience and self-restraint, his hands twitched at the thought of throwing the four into the water.
Okay, let's talk about the four for a while. The first was GuangBi, a girl that was overly excited. She wouldn't left YueChen alone, annoying him and teased the latter almost every single day in the past year. On addition to that, the girl was actually pretty good-looking—but not YueChen's type—and thought males would chase after her. YueChen wouldn't do that, even if Yuan Ji never came into his life. That b**** poked at his old wounds!
The second was RiDe, a girl, friends with GuangBi. The problem? She was the problem itself! She mocked him, accused him for GuangBi's faults, snatched his notebooks away, and literally copied all his answers without YueChen's consent at all. One time he attacked her, out of rage, and made her back of ear bleed. She didn't cry, but put on a miserable victim act. Too bad for her that the history teacher favored YueChen highly and defended him.
The third, the fifth ranker of the class, YaNa. All the middle rankers hated her. She loved mocking people, swearing vulgar words, and nicknamed the whole class absurd names. Since YueChen moved into middle seat from his old seat at the back of the class, his life started to get worse. YaNa forced him to stay on his new seat, because her own was right behind his. She once climbed to the first rank, but it was because she stole YueChen's answers.
Fourth, was a boy named AnRong. He was full of himself and sided with the other three. His words were like swords, poisonous and stabbing. He could go on a debate, ranting about things and said he protected the truth. Liar and his lies. AnRong shamelessly tried to ruin the good names of YueChen and everyone on his friends' way.
"So, are you still going to throw them out the boat?" Yuan Ji inquired, his fiance hid his face behind his hand and let out an incoherent grumbling.
"Please just get them out of here, make them stay far, far away from me. Otherwise if I couldn't stop myself from the urge..." He groaned, hiding his face under his jacket hood.
"If you can't resist, just do it." Yuan Ji laughed, but he sent away the people. "We're getting close."
Hearing the last line from Yuan Ji, YueChen couldn't sit still and start pacing around the deck. He felt the cold breeze hit his face repeatedly, he unconsciously brought his hands up to his cheeks to cover his face. He glanced down the lake.
"A-Ji, can... can we just stall the retrieving?"
Yuan Ji turned to meet the hesitating eyes. "No..."
"The water is so cold. We can do it tomorrow or the day after that, we don't have to do it now."
"No. It has to be done this day, we can't postpone it anymore."
"But, A-Ji... I don't want to dive in. It looks really cold! I might freeze up before even got the sword!" YueChen whined.
"We're already this far. We aren't going back. Everything will be in vain if you shrink back. I'll dive in too. Don't worry about the cold, okay?"
".....we can't.... back away now?" The boy cringed.
"No."
The sword was about thirty feet away. And about fifty feet deep. Yuan Ji forced the boat to get closer to the sword and started to brew a light storm. YueChen tried to calm his irregular breathing and his hammering heart.
Twenty feet away....
"Yuan Ji." YueChen took off his jacket and tied it to the railing.
"Hmm..."
"Should I scream 'Ahhhh!' when I fall into the water?"
Yuan Ji wanted to ignore that one question, but his mouth betrayed him. "If you can scream, scream. If you can't, then don't."
"Okay... but I don't think that I can let out a scream at all..."
Ten feet away....
Waves crashed onto the boat, shaking the vessel and its passenger softly, as if rocking them into sleep. Clouds darkened at the deity's command.
Two feet away...
"Let's."
The soft rocking was replaced by a wave crashed hard to the boat, so hard that the vessel titled. YueChen whose body was leant on the side railing followed the tilt and jumped into the water. Yuan Ji followed after, falling near the boy. As expected, YueChen was too afraid to even let out a scream. A loud splashing sound acted on his stead, instead. People rushed out from the passenger cabin to the deck, to check what thing that fell into the water. YueChen took a deep breath and went underwater, noticed by only a single person.
The lake was dark, he couldn't see clearly in the water. All he could feel was waves of coldness washing his body, and something pulling his leg down. YueChen struggled to fight the thing pulling him, but no avail. In that moment of panic, he felt something brushed his cheeks and grasped his face in a soft, yet firm manner. The touch warmed his face, and calmed his mind. The next second, a soft lips were planted on his own. The kiss was so sudden that it startled the boy, but deep inside he knew that the one who kissed him was none other than the water deity. This one gesture, just like any other Yuan Ji had ever done, never brought any painful memories. Not wanting the other to let go, YueChen kissed back in a hopeful attempt to linger a little while longer.
A palm found its way to his lips, instead.
"Don't get too excited, can you?" A voice chuckled next to his ear. "We can continue the kiss later."
Yuan Ji grabbed YueChen's wrist and dove deeper once he was done giving the other enough air.
"You can breath, and talk, you know?" The deity spoke up, noticing that the boy held his breath, not daring to move around on his own. YueChen inhaled and sighed at his words.
They found the sword half a minute later, embedded deep in the sand. Zhen Ding Lang Jian gave off spiritual aura, chasing away every single being in thirty feet radius. Sighted his sword, the hand on YueChen's wrist tightened its grip.
"Zhen Ding Lang Jian...." The deity murmured, joyful yet at the same time anxious.
All they need to do is to pull the sword out, and Yuan Ji could regain his memories... perhaps, perhaps also ascending back to heavens.
Not waiting for the deity's words, YueChen said, "I know." And swam closer to the sword.
His hands gripped the hilt, pulling the sword with all his might, yet it wouldn't budge even a little bit. Not giving up yet, YueChen tried and tried over and over again. He started to become worried, could it be his uncertainty that caused the sword immovable?
That moment of desperation, a hand held the back of his hand, and the sword budged, for only an inch. A wave of dazzling light from the sword blinded the two... And the world seemed to tilt to an abnormal degree before they lost consciousness.
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After the punishment, YueChen couldn't move his arms for a solid thirty minutes. Nevertheless, he still laughed and joked as if he had done nothing extraordinary. It made Yuan Ji wondering whether his fiance was a masochist or something along the lines. But then again, the deity also felt a great fear in both their hearts, fear that exist because the thought that they might couldn't make it alive. So, they just let themselves enjoy the night.
"You didn't tell me how you got your name." YueChen said as he blew the hot grilled chicken. "Everyone in your story goes 'Xiao Er this', 'Xiao Er that', 'Er Lang this'. Not A-Ji, or Yuan Ji."
YueChen held the skewered chicken to his side, letting Yuan Ji inhale the scent, or in other words, 'Offering the food'. Spiritual beings could consume the food offered to them by smelling the food, the scent was enough to fill their stomach.
"Get in my body." YueChen commanded, and the deity obeyed.
It's a habit that they formed in last year, Yuan Ji possessing and controlling his body meant that the former could also eat the food. Although he never took more than five small bites, stating that a taste is just enough for him.
No one noticed the God, or YueChen's weird behavior. They were all too busy devouring all meats they grilled before, and the ones responsible for grilling had to keep up with the speed. The both had made sure that no one could had the innate talent to see spirit, checking all the birthdates and calendars.
"Too salty." Yuan Ji commented after taking only three bites.
YueChen tasted the meat, and countered, "What? This literally have no taste whatsoever. Not salty at all!"
"...."
You and your taste buds... YueChen liked to spice things up with salt and soy sauce, making the food inedible for Yuan Ji who preferred sweet or mild-tasted food.
"Do they put any salt on it or not? My God, it tastes so plain..." YueChen started to complain.
"They did put the salt. Shut up, it's your tongue that has problems." Yuan Ji rubbed his forehead, feeling the urge to shut the boy's mouth.
"Don't defend them! They're mean!"
"I'm not defending your classmates, I'm defending the whole world's taste buds!"
If anyone could see them and what happened, they'll probably go like, "They quarrel everyday. Are you sure they aren't married couple?" Which was totally right.
Too bad, CaLin and YueChen would never happen. Pity the teacher that started matchmaking the two a year ago. And HuaLi and YueChen had the exact same fate with the former pair.
Even if those two were separated, they'd find each other and fell in love again, over and over again.
The group finally got to sleep after a long, tiring journey. With YueChen around, causing trouble, the vacation seemed to be more tiring. If the last outings involved sleepless night, horror and ghost stories, today's only series of snoring.
Some slept on the sofa, or the bamboo mat, some got the bed.
YueChen was lucky enough to get to sleep on the bed, taking minimal space as he slept in fetal position. Yuan Ji also slept with him, laying next to the teen. The god rarely sleep, he preferred watching over the boy in the night.
Yuan Ji was woken up by the soft tapping on his shoulder. He turned around to face the one who woke him up. The god cracked an eye open and saw his lover sitting up, looking a little flustered.
"What?"
"I got a scary dream! I dreamt that I ate the paints!" Was the response.
Yuan Ji, "...."
"I mean, I just went eating the watercolor paints out of blue! I—" Yuan Ji lightly patted his host's cheek and said, "Go back to sleep."
"But—" The teen whined.
"We have things to do tomorrow. Sleep now."
"Maybe it was because I'm reading about Van Gogh?" YueChen muttered, sounding all worried about his dream. He was reluctant to go back to sleep, but since Yuan Ji told him to do so, he only obeyed.
Four hours later, the pair woke up rather at the proper hour. YueChen looked hyped, restless, as if he got a nice sleep. Yuan Ji, on the other hand, had dark circles under his eyes and a severe bedhead. The god looked as white as the sheet, eyes somewhat full of anger and murder intent.
"You looked terrible!" YueChen said, all smiles. Seeing that his fiance smiled so brightly, the god had to stop himself from hitting him upside the head.
Right, YueChen looked fine, even if he only slept for four hours the best. The last time they went for group outings, YueChen only managed a two hours and he jumped around happily, as if someone just injected a shot of sugar and energy drink into his blood vessels.
"Whose fault is that, though?" Yuan Ji threw a pillow to him, smacking the boy right on his face.
"Everyone is still sound asleep, don't cause a trouble." A girl entered the room, rubbing her sleepy eyes and yawned. "Lao Shi will punish you if you ran away again. I'm here to tell you that."
"Wait! Wait, wait!" YueChen hurriedly scrambled off of the bed before the girl closed the door. "What's the plan for today?"
The girl gave a half-hearted glare to him. "No."
"Please tell me, MuYi. Please?"
"Just because you're the best student, the first-ranker of the class and school, doesn't mean that I have to tell you." Wen MuYi countered.
"I'm one of the top fives." YueChen painfully corrected her.
MuYi side-glanced him and said, "It's such a pity that you actually fell down to the fifth place. Study harder, don't be lazy."
Even though MuYi hid the true meaning, she let the boy knew what she meant. 'You're the best of our class. The ace and the star to Class Two of Social Studies. We all depend on you. Other than Huang YeShi, Su ZhuNa, Huang YiJu, Pu YaNa, you're the best. No, from all the five, you're the only person we could depend. The kindest of all, the only one willing to help us who are incapable in studies.'
It's not hard to understand MuYi's words, she always says that. She left after saw that the boy nodded, closing the wooden door.
Not long after that, someone opened the door and threw themself to YueChen, grasping his shoulders tightly. YueChen could only hide the wince.
"ChenChen! Help me!!"
That person was Pu E'Zha, a boy whose friends were the middle three of the fives. The Huangs and the Su were his dearest friends.
The boy and him didn't have a great relationship last year, they were used to be close friends, but then everything changed. Because of a Yang's arrogance and selfishness.
Now, after the first semester report card, E'Zha actually asked for his help. Asking the younger boy to tutor him. He even cried two days before the report card, saying that he was such a crybaby. Which was wrong, the crybaby of the class was no other than their own ace.
Anyway, YueChen had a soft heart and kind personality. He decided to take another in to tutor. After all, only one addition to his group didn't seem much. He still helped them, regardless of the fact no one truly befriend him, only using him. Yuan Ji often told him to reconsider everything, but he only smiled.
"What's the matter?" YueChen sighed. He rubbed his temples internally, trading looks with the god secretly.
"You promise you'll help me right? I got no other person to ask. Help me okay??"
What about your bunch? You four looked really close. Why not bother them?
"I promise. But I don't really think that I can help you on my own, though. Why not ask for YeShi or ZhuNa or YiJu's help also?" He said politely, carrying a hint of reluctance and refusal.
"That..." E'Zha bit his lips. "They just won't help me."
Speaking of which, the three might be a little racist. But then again, YueChen was the same. Those three, apparently avoided E'Zha a little for he wasn't full Chinese. Most of the students in his class were also not Chinese. YueChen became all picky with his friends, not being able to really trust anyone, was caused by the fact he was often harassed by the non-chinese. Some of his own race also bullied him, but the other race seemed to have more influence towards his personality.
"It's fine then. But let me fix things up first. I can't go around looking like a half-awake zombie and all messy right?" He laughed, but his eyes didn't carry the mirth.
"Alright." E'Zha finally let go of his shoulders. He got out the room but waited in front of the door, before settled on a sofa.
"You don't even look like what you said." Yuan Ji broke the short silence.
"I know, what I meant is my dearest need a lot of grooming now."
"What do you think I am? A cat??"
YueChen only gave Yuan Ji a small grin and took all he needed for now.
If MuYi wasn't to tell YueChen the plans of the day, he could just gather information from E'Zha.
"Today's uh... We're going around the lake."
YueChen raised an eyebrow, "Boat?"
E'Zha nodded, stayed as far as he could from his group. He, instead, stuck with the ghost like a glue.
'What did you do, A-Ji? You didn't force them right?'
"I just planted the idea, and urged them a little. No one is able to resist the temptation, no?"
'That's forcing....'
"Not when I was the one who did that."
The plan today, fitted perfectly for the weather and the situation. If they were lucky enough, the boat trip is going to be easy. Yuan Ji might only need to brew a storm or just a light rain, and everything will go along the plan.
After hurrying eating and changing clothes, not bringing anything precious, YueChen found himself sitting in the boat—a small ferry, big enough to carry fifty people.
YueChen sneaked out to the deck, to observe the water and the condition.
Yuan Ji laid his legs on YueChen's, resting his head to the railing behind him. The two occupied the right side of the seat that could hold ten people.
"Sit properly."
"You don't sit properly, either. Why should I listen?"
"Because I'm a God, shut up and sit properly."
Their quarrel was about to rise again before a group of boys approached them.
Seeing YueChen talked alone, in the deck, sprawled on the seat, was a normal sight to them.
"Is it your imaginary friend again?"
YueChen nodded, shifting to sit properly. But only if cross-legged on the seat was considered proper.
A larger boy inched closer to him and said, "You're an indigo. That's cool, but have you tried to—"
Before PeiDi could proceed further, YueChen cut him off. "He's here, sitting next to me."
Those words made the former paled a little.
Why they know? Simple. YueChen apparently couldn't be trusted to conceal a secret. And after confronting the truth, PeiDi went a step ahead, and said, "Try not to rely too much on your friend."
Of course, the moment the words slipped from the boy's mouth, A certain Yang's face immediately darkened and his behavior no longer friendly. "Let me tell you something; I'd rather die than let him disappear." Before storming away from them, taking the end of lesson's bell as his cue to escape the conversation.
Not long after they left, another group came to the deck. Girls and few boys mixed in. Seeing a certain person in the group made YueChen let out a loud, suffering sigh. Seeing another certain person made YueChen wanted to go back to the passenger room. Seeing three of them walking together, wanted YueChen to jump out of the boat and proceeded to the sword by swimming. Seeing four of them nearly burned all his patience and self-restraint, his hands twitched at the thought of throwing the four into the water.
Okay, let's talk about the four for a while. The first was GuangBi, a girl that was overly excited. She wouldn't left YueChen alone, annoying him and teased the latter almost every single day in the past year. On addition to that, the girl was actually pretty good-looking—but not YueChen's type—and thought males would chase after her. YueChen wouldn't do that, even if Yuan Ji never came into his life. That b**** poked at his old wounds!
The second was RiDe, a girl, friends with GuangBi. The problem? She was the problem itself! She mocked him, accused him for GuangBi's faults, snatched his notebooks away, and literally copied all his answers without YueChen's consent at all. One time he attacked her, out of rage, and made her back of ear bleed. She didn't cry, but put on a miserable victim act. Too bad for her that the history teacher favored YueChen highly and defended him.
The third, the fifth ranker of the class, YaNa. All the middle rankers hated her. She loved mocking people, swearing vulgar words, and nicknamed the whole class absurd names. Since YueChen moved into middle seat from his old seat at the back of the class, his life started to get worse. YaNa forced him to stay on his new seat, because her own was right behind his. She once climbed to the first rank, but it was because she stole YueChen's answers.
Fourth, was a boy named AnRong. He was full of himself and sided with the other three. His words were like swords, poisonous and stabbing. He could go on a debate, ranting about things and said he protected the truth. Liar and his lies. AnRong shamelessly tried to ruin the good names of YueChen and everyone on his friends' way.
"So, are you still going to throw them out the boat?" Yuan Ji inquired, his fiance hid his face behind his hand and let out an incoherent grumbling.
"Please just get them out of here, make them stay far, far away from me. Otherwise if I couldn't stop myself from the urge..." He groaned, hiding his face under his jacket hood.
"If you can't resist, just do it." Yuan Ji laughed, but he sent away the people. "We're getting close."
Hearing the last line from Yuan Ji, YueChen couldn't sit still and start pacing around the deck. He felt the cold breeze hit his face repeatedly, he unconsciously brought his hands up to his cheeks to cover his face. He glanced down the lake.
"A-Ji, can... can we just stall the retrieving?"
Yuan Ji turned to meet the hesitating eyes. "No..."
"The water is so cold. We can do it tomorrow or the day after that, we don't have to do it now."
"No. It has to be done this day, we can't postpone it anymore."
"But, A-Ji... I don't want to dive in. It looks really cold! I might freeze up before even got the sword!" YueChen whined.
"We're already this far. We aren't going back. Everything will be in vain if you shrink back. I'll dive in too. Don't worry about the cold, okay?"
".....we can't.... back away now?" The boy cringed.
"No."
The sword was about thirty feet away. And about fifty feet deep. Yuan Ji forced the boat to get closer to the sword and started to brew a light storm. YueChen tried to calm his irregular breathing and his hammering heart.
Twenty feet away....
"Yuan Ji." YueChen took off his jacket and tied it to the railing.
"Hmm..."
"Should I scream 'Ahhhh!' when I fall into the water?"
Yuan Ji wanted to ignore that one question, but his mouth betrayed him. "If you can scream, scream. If you can't, then don't."
"Okay... but I don't think that I can let out a scream at all..."
Ten feet away....
Waves crashed onto the boat, shaking the vessel and its passenger softly, as if rocking them into sleep. Clouds darkened at the deity's command.
Two feet away...
"Let's."
The soft rocking was replaced by a wave crashed hard to the boat, so hard that the vessel titled. YueChen whose body was leant on the side railing followed the tilt and jumped into the water. Yuan Ji followed after, falling near the boy. As expected, YueChen was too afraid to even let out a scream. A loud splashing sound acted on his stead, instead. People rushed out from the passenger cabin to the deck, to check what thing that fell into the water. YueChen took a deep breath and went underwater, noticed by only a single person.
The lake was dark, he couldn't see clearly in the water. All he could feel was waves of coldness washing his body, and something pulling his leg down. YueChen struggled to fight the thing pulling him, but no avail. In that moment of panic, he felt something brushed his cheeks and grasped his face in a soft, yet firm manner. The touch warmed his face, and calmed his mind. The next second, a soft lips were planted on his own. The kiss was so sudden that it startled the boy, but deep inside he knew that the one who kissed him was none other than the water deity. This one gesture, just like any other Yuan Ji had ever done, never brought any painful memories. Not wanting the other to let go, YueChen kissed back in a hopeful attempt to linger a little while longer.
A palm found its way to his lips, instead.
"Don't get too excited, can you?" A voice chuckled next to his ear. "We can continue the kiss later."
Yuan Ji grabbed YueChen's wrist and dove deeper once he was done giving the other enough air.
"You can breath, and talk, you know?" The deity spoke up, noticing that the boy held his breath, not daring to move around on his own. YueChen inhaled and sighed at his words.
They found the sword half a minute later, embedded deep in the sand. Zhen Ding Lang Jian gave off spiritual aura, chasing away every single being in thirty feet radius. Sighted his sword, the hand on YueChen's wrist tightened its grip.
"Zhen Ding Lang Jian...." The deity murmured, joyful yet at the same time anxious.
All they need to do is to pull the sword out, and Yuan Ji could regain his memories... perhaps, perhaps also ascending back to heavens.
Not waiting for the deity's words, YueChen said, "I know." And swam closer to the sword.
His hands gripped the hilt, pulling the sword with all his might, yet it wouldn't budge even a little bit. Not giving up yet, YueChen tried and tried over and over again. He started to become worried, could it be his uncertainty that caused the sword immovable?
That moment of desperation, a hand held the back of his hand, and the sword budged, for only an inch. A wave of dazzling light from the sword blinded the two... And the world seemed to tilt to an abnormal degree before they lost consciousness.
After the punishment, YueChen couldn't move his arms for a solid thirty minutes. Nevertheless, he still laughed and joked as if he had done nothing extraordinary. It made Yuan Ji wondering whether his fiance was a masochist or something along the lines. But then again, the deity also felt a great fear in both their hearts, fear that exist because the thought that they might couldn't make it alive. So, they just let themselves enjoy the night. "You didn't tell me how you got your name." YueChen said as he blew the hot grilled chicken. "Everyone in your story goes 'Xiao Er this', 'Xiao Er that', 'Er Lang this'. Not A-Ji, or Yuan Ji." YueChen held the skewered chicken to his side, letting Yuan Ji inhale the scent, or in other words, 'Offering the food'. Spiritual beings could consume the food offered to them by smelling the food, the scent was enough to fill their stomach. "Get in my body." YueChen commanded, and the deity obeyed. It's a habit that they formed in last year, Yuan Ji possessing and controlling his body meant that the former could also eat the food. Although he never took more than five small bites, stating that a taste is just enough for him. No one noticed the God, or YueChen's weird behavior. They were all too busy devouring all meats they grilled before, and the ones responsible for grilling had to keep up with the speed. The both had made sure that no one could had the innate talent to see spirit, checking all the birthdates and calendars. "Too salty." Yuan Ji commented after taking only three bites. YueChen tasted the meat, and countered, "What? This literally have no taste whatsoever. Not salty at all!" "...." You and your taste buds... YueChen liked to spice things up with salt and soy sauce, making the food inedible for Yuan Ji who preferred sweet or mild-tasted food. "Do they put any salt on it or not? My God, it tastes so plain..." YueChen started to complain. "They did put the salt. Shut up, it's your tongue that has problems." Yuan Ji rubbed his forehead, feeling the urge to shut the boy's mouth. "Don't defend them! They're mean!" "I'm not defending your classmates, I'm defending the whole world's taste buds!" If anyone could see them and what happened, they'll probably go like, "They quarrel everyday. Are you sure they aren't married couple?" Which was totally right. Too bad, CaLin and YueChen would never happen. Pity the teacher that started matchmaking the two a year ago. And HuaLi and YueChen had the exact same fate with the former pair. Even if those two were separated, they'd find each other and fell in love again, over and over again. The group finally got to sleep after a long, tiring journey. With YueChen around, causing trouble, the vacation seemed to be more tiring. If the last outings involved sleepless night, horror and ghost stories, today's only series of snoring. Some slept on the sofa, or the bamboo mat, some got the bed. YueChen was lucky enough to get to sleep on the bed, taking minimal space as he slept in fetal position. Yuan Ji also slept with him, laying next to the teen. The god rarely sleep, he preferred watching over the boy in the night. Yuan Ji was woken up by the soft tapping on his shoulder. He turned around to face the one who woke him up. The god cracked an eye open and saw his lover sitting up, looking a little flustered. "What?" "I got a scary dream! I dreamt that I ate the paints!" Was the response. Yuan Ji, "...." "I mean, I just went eating the watercolor paints out of blue! I" Yuan Ji lightly patted his host's cheek and said, "Go back to sleep." "But" The teen whined. "We have things to do tomorrow. Sleep now." "Maybe it was because I'm reading about Van Gogh?" YueChen muttered, sounding all worried about his dream. He was reluctant to go back to sleep, but since Yuan Ji told him to do so, he only obeyed. Four hours later, the pair woke up rather at the proper hour. YueChen looked hyped, restless, as if he got a nice sleep. Yuan Ji, on the other hand, had dark circles under his eyes and a severe bedhead. The god looked as white as the sheet, eyes somewhat full of anger and murder intent. "You looked terrible!" YueChen said, all smiles. Seeing that his fiance smiled so brightly, the god had to stop himself from hitting him upside the head. Right, YueChen looked fine, even if he only slept for four hours the best. The last time they went for group outings, YueChen only managed a two hours and he jumped around happily, as if someone just injected a shot of sugar and energy drink into his blood vessels. "Whose fault is that, though?" Yuan Ji threw a pillow to him, smacking the boy right on his face. "Everyone is still sound asleep, don't cause a trouble." A girl entered the room, rubbing her sleepy eyes and yawned. "Lao Shi will punish you if you ran away again. I'm here to tell you that." "Wait! Wait, wait!" YueChen hurriedly scrambled off of the bed before the girl closed the door. "What's the plan for today?" The girl gave a half-hearted glare to him. "No." "Please tell me, MuYi. Please?" "Just because you're the best student, the first-ranker of the class and school, doesn't mean that I have to tell you." Wen MuYi countered. "I'm one of the top fives." YueChen painfully corrected her. MuYi side-glanced him and said, "It's such a pity that you actually fell down to the fifth place. Study harder, don't be lazy." Even though MuYi hid the true meaning, she let the boy knew what she meant. 'You're the best of our class. The ace and the star to Class Two of Social Studies. We all depend on you. Other than Huang YeShi, Su ZhuNa, Huang YiJu, Pu YaNa, you're the best. No, from all the five, you're the only person we could depend. The kindest of all, the only one willing to help us who are incapable in studies.' It's not hard to understand MuYi's words, she always says that. She left after saw that the boy nodded, closing the wooden door. Not long after that, someone opened the door and threw themself to YueChen, grasping his shoulders tightly. YueChen could only hide the wince. "ChenChen! Help me!!" That person was Pu E'Zha, a boy whose friends were the middle three of the fives. The Huangs and the Su were his dearest friends. The boy and him didn't have a great relationship last year, they were used to be close friends, but then everything changed. Because of a Yang's arrogance and selfishness. Now, after the first semester report card, E'Zha actually asked for his help. Asking the younger boy to tutor him. He even cried two days before the report card, saying that he was such a crybaby. Which was wrong, the crybaby of the class was no other than their own ace. Anyway, YueChen had a soft heart and kind personality. He decided to take another in to tutor. After all, only one addition to his group didn't seem much. He still helped them, regardless of the fact no one truly befriend him, only using him. Yuan Ji often told him to reconsider everything, but he only smiled. "What's the matter?" YueChen sighed. He rubbed his temples internally, trading looks with the god secretly. "You promise you'll help me right? I got no other person to ask. Help me okay??" What about your bunch? You four looked really close. Why not bother them? "I promise. But I don't really think that I can help you on my own, though. Why not ask for YeShi or ZhuNa or YiJu's help also?" He said politely, carrying a hint of reluctance and refusal. "That..." E'Zha bit his lips. "They just won't help me." Speaking of which, the three might be a little racist. But then again, YueChen was the same. Those three, apparently avoided E'Zha a little for he wasn't full Chinese. Most of the students in his class were also not Chinese. YueChen became all picky with his friends, not being able to really trust anyone, was caused by the fact he was often harassed by the non-chinese. Some of his own race also bullied him, but the other race seemed to have more influence towards his personality. "It's fine then. But let me fix things up first. I can't go around looking like a half-awake zombie and all messy right?" He laughed, but his eyes didn't carry the mirth. "Alright." E'Zha finally let go of his shoulders. He got out the room but waited in front of the door, before settled on a sofa. "You don't even look like what you said." Yuan Ji broke the short silence. "I know, what I meant is my dearest need a lot of grooming now." "What do you think I am? A cat??" YueChen only gave Yuan Ji a small grin and took all he needed for now. If MuYi wasn't to tell YueChen the plans of the day, he could just gather information from E'Zha. "Today's uh... We're going around the lake." YueChen raised an eyebrow, "Boat?" E'Zha nodded, stayed as far as he could from his group. He, instead, stuck with the ghost like a glue. 'What did you do, A-Ji? You didn't force them right?' "I just planted the idea, and urged them a little. No one is able to resist the temptation, no?" 'That's forcing....' "Not when I was the one who did that." The plan today, fitted perfectly for the weather and the situation. If they were lucky enough, the boat trip is going to be easy. Yuan Ji might only need to brew a storm or just a light rain, and everything will go along the plan. After hurrying eating and changing clothes, not bringing anything precious, YueChen found himself sitting in the boata small ferry, big enough to carry fifty people. YueChen sneaked out to the deck, to observe the water and the condition. Yuan Ji laid his legs on YueChen's, resting his head to the railing behind him. The two occupied the right side of the seat that could hold ten people. "Sit properly." "You don't sit properly, either. Why should I listen?" "Because I'm a God, shut up and sit properly." Their quarrel was about to rise again before a group of boys approached them. Seeing YueChen talked alone, in the deck, sprawled on the seat, was a normal sight to them. "Is it your imaginary friend again?" YueChen nodded, shifting to sit properly. But only if cross-legged on the seat was considered proper. A larger boy inched closer to him and said, "You're an indigo. That's cool, but have you tried to" Before PeiDi could proceed further, YueChen cut him off. "He's here, sitting next to me." Those words made the former paled a little. Why they know? Simple. YueChen apparently couldn't be trusted to conceal a secret. And after confronting the truth, PeiDi went a step ahead, and said, "Try not to rely too much on your friend." Of course, the moment the words slipped from the boy's mouth, A certain Yang's face immediately darkened and his behavior no longer friendly. "Let me tell you something; I'd rather die than let him disappear." Before storming away from them, taking the end of lesson's bell as his cue to escape the conversation. Not long after they left, another group came to the deck. Girls and few boys mixed in. Seeing a certain person in the group made YueChen let out a loud, suffering sigh. Seeing another certain person made YueChen wanted to go back to the passenger room. Seeing three of them walking together, wanted YueChen to jump out of the boat and proceeded to the sword by swimming. Seeing four of them nearly burned all his patience and self-restraint, his hands twitched at the thought of throwing the four into the water. Okay, let's talk about the four for a while. The first was GuangBi, a girl that was overly excited. She wouldn't left YueChen alone, annoying him and teased the latter almost every single day in the past year. On addition to that, the girl was actually pretty good-lookingbut not YueChen's typeand thought males would chase after her. YueChen wouldn't do that, even if Yuan Ji never came into his life. That b**** poked at his old wounds! The second was RiDe, a girl, friends with GuangBi. The problem? She was the problem itself! She mocked him, accused him for GuangBi's faults, snatched his notebooks away, and literally copied all his answers without YueChen's consent at all. One time he attacked her, out of rage, and made her back of ear bleed. She didn't cry, but put on a miserable victim act. Too bad for her that the history teacher favored YueChen highly and defended him. The third, the fifth ranker of the class, YaNa. All the middle rankers hated her. She loved mocking people, swearing vulgar words, and nicknamed the whole class absurd names. Since YueChen moved into middle seat from his old seat at the back of the class, his life started to get worse. YaNa forced him to stay on his new seat, because her own was right behind his. She once climbed to the first rank, but it was because she stole YueChen's answers. Fourth, was a boy named AnRong. He was full of himself and sided with the other three. His words were like swords, poisonous and stabbing. He could go on a debate, ranting about things and said he protected the truth. Liar and his lies. AnRong shamelessly tried to ruin the good names of YueChen and everyone on his friends' way. "So, are you still going to throw them out the boat?" Yuan Ji inquired, his fiance hid his face behind his hand and let out an incoherent grumbling. "Please just get them out of here, make them stay far, far away from me. Otherwise if I couldn't stop myself from the urge..." He groaned, hiding his face under his jacket hood. "If you can't resist, just do it." Yuan Ji laughed, but he sent away the people. "We're getting close." Hearing the last line from Yuan Ji, YueChen couldn't sit still and start pacing around the deck. He felt the cold breeze hit his face repeatedly, he unconsciously brought his hands up to his cheeks to cover his face. He glanced down the lake. "A-Ji, can... can we just stall the retrieving?" Yuan Ji turned to meet the hesitating eyes. "No..." "The water is so cold. We can do it tomorrow or the day after that, we don't have to do it now." "No. It has to be done this day, we can't postpone it anymore." "But, A-Ji... I don't want to dive in. It looks really cold! I might freeze up before even got the sword!" YueChen whined. "We're already this far. We aren't going back. Everything will be in vain if you shrink back. I'll dive in too. Don't worry about the cold, okay?" ".....we can't.... back away now?" The boy cringed. "No." The sword was about thirty feet away. And about fifty feet deep. Yuan Ji forced the boat to get closer to the sword and started to brew a light storm. YueChen tried to calm his irregular breathing and his hammering heart. Twenty feet away.... "Yuan Ji." YueChen took off his jacket and tied it to the railing. "Hmm..." "Should I scream 'Ahhhh!' when I fall into the water?" Yuan Ji wanted to ignore that one question, but his mouth betrayed him. "If you can scream, scream. If you can't, then don't." "Okay... but I don't think that I can let out a scream at all..." Ten feet away.... Waves crashed onto the boat, shaking the vessel and its passenger softly, as if rocking them into sleep. Clouds darkened at the deity's command. Two feet away... "Let's." The soft rocking was replaced by a wave crashed hard to the boat, so hard that the vessel titled. YueChen whose body was leant on the side railing followed the tilt and jumped into the water. Yuan Ji followed after, falling near the boy. As expected, YueChen was too afraid to even let out a scream. A loud splashing sound acted on his stead, instead. People rushed out from the passenger cabin to the deck, to check what thing that fell into the water. YueChen took a deep breath and went underwater, noticed by only a single person. The lake was dark, he couldn't see clearly in the water. All he could feel was waves of coldness washing his body, and something pulling his leg down. YueChen struggled to fight the thing pulling him, but no avail. In that moment of panic, he felt something brushed his cheeks and grasped his face in a soft, yet firm manner. The touch warmed his face, and calmed his mind. The next second, a soft lips were planted on his own. The kiss was so sudden that it startled the boy, but deep inside he knew that the one who kissed him was none other than the water deity. This one gesture, just like any other Yuan Ji had ever done, never brought any painful memories. Not wanting the other to let go, YueChen kissed back in a hopeful attempt to linger a little while longer. A palm found its way to his lips, instead. "Don't get too excited, can you?" A voice chuckled next to his ear. "We can continue the kiss later." Yuan Ji grabbed YueChen's wrist and dove deeper once he was done giving the other enough air. "You can breath, and talk, you know?" The deity spoke up, noticing that the boy held his breath, not daring to move around on his own. YueChen inhaled and sighed at his words. They found the sword half a minute later, embedded deep in the sand. Zhen Ding Lang Jian gave off spiritual aura, chasing away every single being in thirty feet radius. Sighted his sword, the hand on YueChen's wrist tightened its grip. "Zhen Ding Lang Jian...." The deity murmured, joyful yet at the same time anxious. All they need to do is to pull the sword out, and Yuan Ji could regain his memories... perhaps, perhaps also ascending back to heavens. Not waiting for the deity's words, YueChen said, "I know." And swam closer to the sword. His hands gripped the hilt, pulling the sword with all his might, yet it wouldn't budge even a little bit. Not giving up yet, YueChen tried and tried over and over again. He started to become worried, could it be his uncertainty that caused the sword immovable? That moment of desperation, a hand held the back of his hand, and the sword budged, for only an inch. A wave of dazzling light from the sword blinded the two... And the world seemed to tilt to an abnormal degree before they lost consciousness.
