During the lunch break, Xu Muchan went to the cafeteria with Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang.
Because they were going out for a late-night meal that evening, Young Master Wei was extremely restrained during lunch.
Even on the way back from the cafeteria, he was still enthusiastically describing to Xu Muchan how delicious the barbecue at the restaurant was and how difficult it was to get a table.
If he hadn’t become familiar with the owner, they wouldn’t have been able to reserve so many seats.
Young Master Wei became increasingly animated as he spoke.
Before he knew it, his arm had once again draped itself over Xu Muchan’s shoulder.
He was already taller than Xu Muchan, so stretching his arm over was incredibly easy.
Xu Muchan silently removed his arm and kindly reminded him,
“Watch where you’re walking. Don’t accidentally fall into the lake later.”
The three walked along the artificial lake at school.
Young Master Wei completely ignored the well-intentioned warning.
He stubbornly put his arm back around Xu Muchan’s shoulder and continued enthusiastically praising the barbecue, spraying saliva everywhere as he spoke.
Just as Xu Muchan was preparing to remove his arm for the second time, Wei Yao’s body suddenly tilted toward the artificial lake.
If Wen Dajiang hadn’t been quick enough to grab him, he really would have fallen in.
“Fuck! Is your cerebellum underdeveloped or something? How can you fall into a lake while simply walking?!”
Wei Yao’s expression became solemn as he looked around.
“Your cerebellum is underdeveloped! Someone pushed me. This place is haunted!”
Seeing him acting so superstitiously, Wen Dajiang began to get suspicious as well.
He tightly grabbed Wei Yao’s arm and looked at Xu Muchan for help.
“There really is a ghost?”
Xu Muchan looked at the two of them huddled together like a pair of quails.
Speechless, he nodded.
“This place isn’t safe. You two go back to the classroom first. I’ll deal with it.”
Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang looked at him hesitantly. Just leaving Xu Muchan here like this seemed a little too lacking in loyalty.
Xu Muchan simply gave them an ultimatum: “If you two don’t leave, I won’t be able to save both of you later.”
“We’re leaving right now! Be careful!”
Before he had even finished speaking, Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang had already run off as fast as they could.
Xu Muchan watched their backs and smiled faintly. Only then did he leisurely stroll along the edge of the artificial lake, speaking softly as he walked, “Big Brother, are you awake?”
However, no one answered him.
Xu Muchan frowned slightly and said again, “Don’t always mess with Wei Yao. He’s your junior too, isn’t he?”
Still, no one responded.
But a sudden plop sounded from the surface of the artificial lake. Ripples quickly spread across the calm water, as if someone had tossed a stone into it.
Xu Muchan secretly pouted.
He walked a few more steps along the shore, then suddenly closed his eyes.
The school’s artificial lake was built in a circular shape. Because the water wasn’t particularly deep, there were no railings around it. With his eyes closed, Xu Muchan staggered along the very edge of the lake. His slender body swayed in the early-summer breeze, as if he could step off the edge and fall into the water at any moment.
But he wasn’t afraid. With his eyes tightly closed, he continued walking forward.
The instant he stepped off the edge, the invisible thing that had been secretly following him appeared and wrapped its arms around him, letting out a sigh.
“Ah Chan, don’t be naughty.”
A familiar sensation came from around his waist. His entire body was enveloped by a cold, gloomy aura, and Xu Muchan finally smiled. He turned around and happily hugged him back.
“I knew Big Brother couldn’t bear to leave me behind.”
Then he asked, “Have you recovered?”
Before he could receive an answer, the aura surrounding him suddenly dispersed, as if it had never appeared at all.
Xu Muchan froze, and the smile on his face fell as well. He murmured somewhat disappointedly, “Looks like you haven’t completely recovered yet.”
Unlike him, after Wei Xilou was chosen by the Black River, he merged with it and became the incarnation of the Black River. Simply resisting the Black River’s will and keeping himself conscious was already extremely difficult. Later, when Xu Muchan risked himself to devour the Black River’s source, Wei Xilou had also helped suppress the Black River’s will, causing him to suffer extremely severe damage.
Although Xu Muchan had ultimately succeeded, Wei Xilou’s injuries would not be able to recover in a short time.
Xu Muchan had originally thought it would take much longer for him to regain consciousness.
But when he realized that Wei Xilou had awakened earlier than expected, Xu Muchan’s dejected mood quickly lifted again. He started walking toward the classroom, thinking that since Wei Xilou’s consciousness could already briefly recover, the day when he fully awakened probably wouldn’t be too far away.
More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
When the countdown beside the blackboard reached zero, the college entrance examination arrived together with the scorching summer.
Amid the shimmering summer heat, Xu Muchan carried his stationery pouch into the examination room.
Everyone else had their parents accompanying them to the exam. Xu Muchan was the only one who had come alone.
Actually, the day before the college entrance examination, Wei Yao had invited Xu Muchan to stay at the Wei family’s house for a few days. To make sure Wei Yao had no problems during the exam, Wei Jianguo and his wife had put aside all their work these past few days and were focusing entirely on accompanying him. If Xu Muchan stayed at the Wei family’s house, he wouldn’t have to worry about anything other than the examination itself.
However, considering the feelings of someone who had yet to wake up, Xu Muchan ultimately declined Wei Yao’s offer.
After entering the examination room and finding his seat, Xu Muchan felt a cold, gloomy aura enveloping him. Although the classroom had air conditioning, the doors and windows were wide open, so there wasn’t enough cool air. Some examinees were already nervously fanning themselves with their hands.
Only Xu Muchan sat upright, without feeling the slightest bit of the summer heat.
Every examination afterward was the same.
When the final subject was over and the bell signaling the collection of the papers rang, Xu Muchan handed in his paper, packed up his stationery, and walked out of the classroom.
He had only walked a few steps when he saw Wei Yao charging through the crowd like a cannonball, pushing people aside as he rushed over while making strange monkey-like noises.
Xu Muchan frowned and turned around without hesitation.
Unfortunately, Wei Yao’s eyes were far too sharp. He had already spotted Xu Muchan’s location, and immediately charged over while shouting like a noise-making machine.
Young Master Wei, who had finally been liberated, had already begun fantasizing about his wonderful summer vacation. He forcibly slung an arm around Xu Muchan’s shoulders, chattering incessantly beside his ear and enthusiastically inviting Xu Muchan to join him.
Xu Muchan really couldn’t take the torture of that infernal voice anymore. He put on a smile and asked, “Looks like you did pretty well?”
The endlessly babbling Young Master Wei immediately froze like a duck whose neck had been squeezed shut. After sputtering for a while, he said without much confidence, “It was okay. What about you?”
Because of the disaster that had happened before, their year of high school seniors was probably the most unlucky graduating class ever. They had lost nearly three precious months of review time.
The good news was that everyone had basically been affected, so they were still standing at the same starting line.
Young Master Wei smugly felt that he shouldn’t have done too terribly.
Xu Muchan said expressionlessly, “I did pretty well. Do you want to compare answers?”
Wei Yao: “……”
He stopped walking very abruptly, then just as abruptly began talking to himself. “Where’s Wen Dajiang? I suddenly remembered that I have something to discuss with him…”
As he spoke, he was already retreating step by step, preparing to escape.
At that moment, Wu Dong and He Jiaqi happened to pass by. After hearing Xu Muchan’s words, He Jiaqi spoke up.
“I’m not completely sure about the last major question. Let’s compare answers.”
Wei Yao, who hadn’t gotten far yet, immediately covered his ears and ran away as if his feet had been greased.
By the time the college entrance examination results came out, it was already late June.
Nanming checked the results at school together with everyone else. Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang’s scores weren’t far off from their estimated scores, and were enough to get them into the universities they wanted.
What was more unexpected were the scores of Xu Muchan, Wu Dong, and He Jiaqi.
All three of their scores had been blocked from public view.
If they were lucky, one of the three might even turn out to be the top scorer.
Homeroom teacher Wan Zheng looked at his three precious students with a grin so wide that his face nearly split in two. In an unprecedentedly gentle tone, he announced, “I’m paying for tonight’s dinner. Order whatever you want.”
The rest of the class immediately started cheering.
“Dare to say that, Old Wan? Your wallet better be fat enough!”
The entire class noisily headed to the restaurant they had reserved in advance.
The dinner had been arranged long ago. Before the scores were released, everyone had been worried about their futures, so they couldn’t fully enjoy themselves. Now that everything had finally been settled, everyone completely let go of their burdens and carried on from afternoon until night.
After leaving the restaurant, someone suggested going to a KTV for a second round, and Wei Yao dragged Xu Muchan along as well.
Everyone was a little crazy tonight. Xu Muchan had also drunk quite a bit. With everyone in the private room screaming and howling like demons let loose, he rubbed his throbbing temples and got up to go to the bathroom for some air.
While washing his face, he caught sight of what seemed to be a faint shadow appearing in the corner of the mirror. Its gaze was fixed intently on him.
Xu Muchan lifted his still-damp face and looked at the mirror, but there was nothing there.
He took out his phone and checked the time. It was already 11:54 p.m.
Xu Muchan curled his lips into a smile and said softly, “We’ll probably be leaving soon. I’ll try to get back as early as I can.”
The bathroom was completely quiet, as if nothing had ever appeared there.
When Xu Muchan came out of the bathroom, someone blocked him in the hallway.
It was a girl with a flushed face. Xu Muchan recognized her. She sat diagonally to his front left and occasionally came to ask him about a few problems.
“Is something wrong?” Xu Muchan asked politely.
The girl’s cheeks flushed even more. As if she had summoned up an enormous amount of courage, she stammered, “Xu, Xu Muchan, do, do you… have a girlfriend?”
Xu Muchan wasn’t oblivious. Seeing the girl’s flushed cheeks, he immediately understood.
He thought for a moment and said, “I don’t have a girlfriend.”
Before the girl could become happy, he continued, “But I already have a boyfriend.”
The girl stared at him with her eyes wide open, as if she didn’t know how to react for a moment.
Xu Muchan smiled and said, “I haven’t told anyone about this yet. Can you keep it a secret for me?”
The girl blinked and nodded blankly.
“Ah, oh, okay. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Then thank you.”
Xu Muchan nodded at her and returned to the private room.
Just as he had expected, after playing until this late, those who were drunk had passed out, while those who weren’t drunk were also completely exhausted. It was about time to call it a night.
As one of the few people who was still sober, Xu Muchan helped call cars and send the group of drunks off before finally taking a taxi home himself.
Oak Manor was as quiet as ever.
Xu Muchan entered through the familiar door and turned on the lights. The first thing he did was go to the bedroom to check on Wei Xilou.
But the person who should have been lying on the bed was nowhere to be seen.
Xu Muchan’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. He hurriedly turned around to look for him, but just as he was about to step out of the bedroom, an arm suddenly wrapped around his waist from behind.
A tall, heavy body suddenly appeared and pressed against him from behind.
Wei Xilou rested his chin against the warm hollow of Xu Muchan’s shoulder, narrowed his eyes, and asked unhappily, “When did Ah Chan get a boyfriend? How come I didn’t know?”
Once he realized who was behind him, Xu Muchan’s tense body immediately relaxed. He lowered his eyes and deliberately said, “I made it up. I needed a reason to reject her.”
This answer did not satisfy Wei Xilou. He furrowed his long brows and studied Xu Muchan’s expression.
But all he could see was the unconcealed slyness in the corners of the young man’s eyes and brows.
A faint stream of air escaped Wei Xilou’s nose, and he gave a very soft laugh. From somewhere, he pulled out a Mountain God tablet and put it back around the young man’s neck.
His high nose brushed ambiguously against the young man’s cheek and the line of his neck.
“When you were sent to the Mountain God’s cave at the age of nine, we were already married.”
The person tightly imprisoned in his arms did not respond, but his ears had turned red.
Wei Xilou continued, “You were too young back then, so we couldn’t complete many of the formalities. Now that Ah Chan has grown up, it’s time to make up for them…”
Xu Muchan said, “Oh,” his snow-white neck turning red as well, but he still deliberately asked despite already knowing the answer, “What other formalities are there?”
Wei Xilou turned him around and pressed his palm against Xu Muchan’s cheek. Before kissing him, he murmured in a low voice,
“I’ll tell you slowly.”
Here’s the English translation:
……
A treasured possession that had been cherished for so long naturally needed to be savored carefully, and Wei Xilou was a man with more than enough patience.
The third time Xu Muchan tried to escape, only to have his ankle caught and himself dragged back, he bit his lip and said indignantly, “I think you were pretty good when you were just lying there without moving before.”
Wei Xilou gently kissed his eyes. His warm lips and tongue lingered from the thin eyelids to the long neck tilted backward. He caught the hands that were trying to push him away and pressed them above Xu Muchan’s head before leaning down to place a soft kiss on his lips.
“Be good, Ah Chan.”
Xu Muchan trembled lightly and closed his eyes.
The night was long, and the summer vacation after senior year was long too.
They still had plenty of time to make up for all the time they had spent apart.
【End of Main Story】