Chapter 21: World One【21】 Part 1

Jing Ke couldn’t analyze a reliable result. It wasn’t until Shang Siyu emerged from the bathroom in her pajamas that she barely managed to compose herself.

Seeing Shang Siyu drying her hair with a towel, Jing Ke instinctively picked up the nearby hairdryer.

“Do you want me to blow-dry your hair?” Jing Ke walked over and asked.

Shang Siyu’s movements slowed for a beat. She then gave a sound of agreement and sat down properly in the chair. “Okay, sorry to trouble you.”

“It’s no trouble. You were the one who taught me how to blow-dry hair in the first place,” Jing Ke said.

First, she lifted the still-damp hair and placed the dry towel underneath, then plugged in the hairdryer. Just as Shang Siyu had once taught her, she began drying her hair.

Start from the roots, finish at the tips.

Remember to control the heat and airflow along the way; sectioning the hair makes it more efficient.

Listening to the humming of the hairdryer, Shang Siyu couldn’t help but recall the first day she met Jing Ke.

Put another way, that was also seemingly Jing Ke’s first day as a human being.

It had only been a little over a month, hadn’t it? The Jing Ke who needed to be taught how to blow-dry hair could now do it for her in return.

A sudden feeling of ‘my child has grown up’ washed over Shang Siyu. Remembering certain thoughts she’d once had, the emotions in her heart grew even more complicated.

During the blow-drying, neither Jing Ke nor Shang Siyu spoke. The hair, already half-dried by the towel, was completely dry in under ten minutes.

“It’s dry. Is this okay?” Jing Ke asked. As her fingers combed through Shang Siyu’s hair and watched the long black strands glide over her fingertips, she couldn’t resist pressing her thumb down to gently twist them.

As if doing so would allow her to grasp onto something.

“Yes, thank you.” Shang Siyu pulled her scattered thoughts back and looked up at Jing Ke. “Are you going to shower? I can blow-dry your hair for you after.”

Jing Ke let go of the hair, instead brushing the stray strands beside Shang Siyu’s ear and tucking them neatly. “Okay. But before that, I want to ask you a question.”

Shang Siyu’s eyelid twitched. Inevitably, she recalled the question He Minmin had asked earlier.

“Alright, what do you want to ask me?” Shang Siyu steadied her emotions and replied.

Don’t panic. What He Minmin asked, Jing Ke definitely wouldn’t ask. There’s no need to be nervous!

Jing Ke’s amber eyes focused intently on Shang Siyu. To make her attitude seem more sincere, Jing Ke deliberately stood opposite her, then half-squatted down.

“Shang Siyu, do you like me?” Jing Ke asked with utter seriousness, tilting her head slightly up to look at Shang Siyu. “Do you have feelings for me that go beyond friend and partner? Are you willing to be with me?”

Cough, cough—

Hearing Jing Ke’s question, Shang Siyu wasn’t drinking any water, but she was still caught so off-guard that she choked on her own saliva.

“Yo-You… what are you asking me?” Shang Siyu’s eyes widened. A certain saying suddenly made perfect sense.

Avoidance might be shameful, but it really is useful often!

If there were a crack in the ground right now for Shang Siyu to slip into and hide, she would jump in without the slightest hesitation!

“Shang Siyu, do you like me or not? Do you have special feelings for me? Are you willing to be with me?” Jing Ke honestly repeated the questions.

At this distance, not hearing clearly the first time was already absurd. If she didn’t hear the second time, that meant Shang Siyu was deliberately pretending to be deaf and mute.

“I…” Shang Siyu opened her mouth. Reason told her she should give a negative answer.

After all, strictly speaking, Jing Ke wasn’t a normal human. She couldn’t even be considered her own kind. She shouldn’t be developing feelings for Jing Ke.

But emotionally speaking, Jing Ke had been so intimately involved in her life, had given her so much help, had pulled her out of predicaments time and time again, giving her a completely different life and future.

Shang Siyu had to admit it—she was dependent on Jing Ke. The kind of deep dependence that came from the heart. If Jing Ke suddenly left, she would definitely be in a panic for a very long time before she could calm her heart and accept a future without her.

“I… I don’t know.” Shang Siyu couldn’t bring herself to directly deny it under Jing Ke’s gaze. Yet openly admitting it also seemed something she couldn’t do. It felt like there was a hurdle she just hadn’t crossed yet.

Jing Ke frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed. “Feelings are complicated. I asked you suddenly; it’s normal you can’t give an answer right away.”

“Yes, your question was too sudden. I can’t answer in the short term.” Hearing such understanding words, Shang Siyu breathed a small sigh of relief, thinking Jing Ke would drop the matter, at least not pressing further in the near future.

But Jing Ke, who had only superficially studied social graces, didn’t understand what ‘testing the waters’ meant. Whatever question she asked, once it left her mouth, Jing Ke was seeking an answer.

“Alright, I understand. I’ll go shower first. It’ll take about half an hour.” Jing Ke stated seriously. “Blow-drying my hair will take roughly ten minutes. Altogether, that’s forty minutes.”

Jing Ke did simple addition, stating with complete certainty, “Forty minutes should be enough time for you to think, right?”

After speaking, Jing Ke stood up, picked up the comb from the table, and handed it to Shang Siyu. “I’ll go shower now. I’ll wait for your answer.”

Huh? Shang Siyu’s heart, which had only just relaxed a little, tightened again because of Jing Ke’s words.

Forty minutes? Isn’t that just one class period?

How is that enough time for me to figure out the answer to a difficult problem?

How did Jing Ke reach that conclusion? Does deciding on feelings take that little time?

I haven’t even sorted out the situation yet! What on earth is Jing Ke doing!

Hearing the sound of water through the door crack, the one covering her face became Shang Siyu.

Forty minutes. Strictly speaking, it should be only thirty minutes. While I’m blow-drying Jing Ke’s hair, how could I possibly have the mind to think!

Do I like Jing Ke? Do I want to be with Jing Ke forever?

She wasn’t quite sure about the answer to the former, but she could probably guess the answer to the latter.

Being with someone who was nearly unconditionally willing to help her and would never betray her—she was definitely willing and glad to see that happen.

So did that mean she liked Jing Ke?

But… but was Jing Ke considered her own kind? Could she truly stay with her forever?

As reason slowly returned, Shang Siyu remembered the very first deal between her and Jing Ke.

Jing Ke would help her change her current situation, make her better, so she could possess more of the Fortune she needed.

So after Jing Ke obtained the Fortune she wanted, would she leave her without a shred of reluctance?

When would Jing Ke take her Fortune? When she’d achieved something, or when she grew old and her career began to decline?

Shang Siyu considered many, many possibilities. But she didn’t seem to realize one very important thing.

All those worries she had were based on the premise of the two of them being together.

What Shang Siyu was worrying about wasn’t whether she liked Jing Ke, but rather what their future would look like if they were together.

Unfortunately, the onlooker sees the clearest; Shang Siyu didn’t realize her subconscious had already given the answer. She continued to fret about their future and her worries.

Thirty minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Dressed in her pajamas, Jing Ke pushed open the bathroom door, her hair half-dry.

Of all the buttons on her pajama top, Jing Ke had still only fastened the middle three, revealing her distinct collarbones and swan-like neck.

Her amber eyes met Shang Siyu’s gaze. Jing Ke smiled at her, then very obediently sat down in the chair, waiting for Shang Siyu to come blow-dry her hair.

Shang Siyu exhaled softly. Noticing her traitorous heartbeat beginning to accelerate, she chose to pick up the hairdryer and start drying Jing Ke’s hair.

The faint whir of the hairdryer filled both their ears. With the meticulous attitude of conducting a lab experiment, Shang Siyu carefully lifted strands of Jing Ke’s hair still flecked with water droplets, gently sweeping warm air over the ends.

With her back to Shang Siyu, Jing Ke’s expression betrayed nothing, but her hands resting on her knees clenched tightly.

One could also tell from her eyes that Jing Ke’s true inner emotions were far from the calm she projected outwardly. Perhaps her nervousness was no less than Shang Siyu’s.

Like. Be together.

Jing Ke understood a little of the meaning behind these words. It was a commitment that required decades to be staked, a promise to be fulfilled over a human’s entire lifetime.

Shang Siyu, who had never truly been in love, worried about their future. Jing Ke, experiencing being human for the first time, naturally had her own concerns.

Human emotions, in Jing Ke’s view, were extremely complex, especially elusive things like affection and love.

Could feelings produced under the stimulus of hormones and dopamine truly last that long?

But overall, Jing Ke’s reservations were far fewer than Shang Siyu’s. So once her chestnut hair was completely dry, Jing Ke proactively stood up and faced Shang Siyu.

“Shang Siyu, can you tell me your considered answer now?” Jing Ke asked directly.

Shang Siyu set the hairdryer aside. “I can’t quite define what ‘like’ means, but you are an incredibly special presence in my heart.”

“As for the question of whether I’m willing to be with you… before I give an answer, I need to ask you a question.” Shang Siyu spoke. She knew avoidance was useless for her.

Because she and Jing Ke were already inextricably linked. Even if she dodged the question today, she would encounter it again tomorrow, or the day after.

“What do you want to ask me?” A rare hint of nervousness appeared in Jing Ke’s amber eyes.

“If I did like you, would you be willing to be with me?” Shang Siyu followed Jing Ke’s example, posing her inner confusion directly to the person concerned.

Shang Siyu: “Will you always be human? After you’ve obtained my Fortune, will you go back to being a Consciousness Form, leave me, and find your next partner?”

“No. I won’t always be human. I will become a Consciousness Form again.” Jing Ke gave an honest answer. “But I won’t burn bridges. I promised that at the very beginning.”

“I will have a next partner, because I need Fortune to grow stronger and maintain my Self-Awareness.” Jing Ke’s amber eyes were crystal clear. The emotions hidden within were shown to Shang Siyu without reservation.

“If you like me, I’m willing to be with you.” Jing Ke slowed her speech, ensuring every word from her mouth was clear and forceful, so Shang Siyu could hear and understand.

“I won’t be with you forever. But until your life ends, I will remain by your side.” Jing Ke stated, “Unless you don’t need my company and choose to end our deal early. Only then would I have the possibility of leaving you beforehand.”

After speaking, Jing Ke stood quietly in place, waiting for Shang Siyu to give her final answer.

Shang Siyu frowned first. The frown lasted less than three seconds before a conflicted expression reappeared on her face.