Chapter 65: Yiyue: Read, Random Reply

The slightly astringent liquid slid down her throat into her stomach. It was icy cool, carrying a strange stimulating sensation. After taking a sip, Yue Yiyue wrinkled her brow as she looked at the glass.

The wine didn’t taste as good as she had imagined. Yue Yiyue lifted her glass of dark brown liquid and studied her slightly flushed reflection in the highball glass. “I shouldn’t be drunk, right?”

After saying that, she tilted her head back and downed the liquid in the highball glass in one go.

A faint laugh drifted from across the table.

Yue Yiyue set down her glass and looked at Gu Nanqiu with some confusion. “Did I drink too fast?”

When her gaze fell on the wine in Gu Nanqiu’s glass, she nodded thoughtfully and answered her own question. “Oh, yeah, it seems I really did.”

After saying that, she slammed the glass down on the table and stared at the wine bottle labeled with complex foreign script. “This is my first time drinking.”

“It’s also my first time traveling—not just changing places to study, but actual traveling.” Yue Yiyue emphasized the latter part of her sentence. “It looks like I’m kind of boring. Being around me must be pretty boring too.”

Yue Yiyue didn’t even know what she was saying. Anyway, she just muttered and poked at the glass in front of her.

“Alright, truth is, I haven’t seen much of the world.” Yue Yiyue leaned back on the comfortable sofa. She narrowed her eyes and rubbed against the blanket draped over her, spitting out the words in a somewhat self-deprecating manner.

Once she started, the rest of the words came pouring out.

“That hairdryer was a bit weird. When I picked it up, I puzzled over it for a moment.” Yue Yiyue looked up again at the ambient lights overhead. “I’ve never seen these things before. They’re so novel. If it weren’t for you, I probably never would have encountered them in my lifetime.”

“Flying on a plane was the same. I kept observing you from behind so I wouldn’t seem too dumb and embarrass you.”

After saying all that, Yue Yiyue looked at Gu Nanqiu sitting across from her with some curiosity.

She didn’t know what she was expecting.

But in the instant she looked over, even though Gu Nanqiu was still sitting there as before, casually sipping her wine without a care, Yue Yiyue felt that this Gu Nanqiu was somehow different.

“Hmm, I think I’m drunk now, but I shouldn’t be.” Yue Yiyue shifted her position to lie more comfortably. She spoke in a dazed murmur, her peripheral vision sweeping over the Quartz Clock nearby. It was now… eight ten…

Her mind felt like something was off, but the alcohol immediately washed it away.

In the end, Yue Yiyue just felt a bit floaty.

Gu Nanqiu, sitting across from her, picked up another glass from the table. She slowly poured the decanted wine into it and looked at Yue Yiyue lying on the sofa with a half-smile.

Yiyue hadn’t said enough yet…

Just a little more…

Her fingers twitched slightly, and the room seemed to grow even hotter.

Yue Yiyue tugged at her collar, her movements a bit forceful due to her restlessness. The collar came loose, exposing her vulnerable neck.

Her fingers slid over her neck, and as if remembering something, Yue Yiyue leaned forward with a smile toward Gu Nanqiu across from her. She pointed at the faint bite mark that was almost gone. “Look, what you left behind.”

That small mark on her fair neck caught Gu Nanqiu’s eye.

Her gaze followed that nearly vanished mark downward to Yue Yiyue’s developing body.

The desire in Gu Nanqiu’s eyes grew even more intense, her breathing tinged with heat.

She sat there quietly appreciating it for a moment before considerately pulling Yue Yiyue’s clothes back together. “Yiyue, is there anything else you want to tell me?”

“I’m right here. Tell it to me, okay?”

“Or can you tell me if you’re willing to stay here with me forever and ever?”

As soon as those words appeared, Yue Yiyue immediately felt several adorable little Gu Nanqius in her head staring at her expectantly, waiting for her to speak.

Hurry up and spill all her inner thoughts.

And agree to stay with Nanqiu here forever and ever.

Yue Yiyue automatically filtered out the second half. She now desperately wanted Nanqiu to know everything about her.

She felt that only then could they be completely intimate, with no barriers between them ever again.

It must have been because the alcohol was too strong. Yue Yiyue blamed it all on the wine on the table.

“The place where I used to live was a mess—total chaos, really chaotic.” Yue Yiyue looked up at the starry lights. “I never dared to think about tomorrow, let alone travel.”

“Because just surviving was exhausting.”

So exhausting.

“I never imagined that one day I’d be in a place this nice, drinking.” As Yue Yiyue spoke, her voice carried a hint of a sob. “And it feels like I’ve forgotten something…”

“Everyone comforted me, saying to forget whatever it was.”

Salty tears slid down the corners of her eyes, quickly forming a dark spot on the sofa’s fabric.

“But I feel like it was important—something I can’t forget.”

Gu Nanqiu rose gracefully. Her ink-green robe swayed like green leaves in a forest, appearing before Yue Yiyue with a cool breeze and the familiar osmanthus scent.

Soon, a somewhat cool hand pressed against Yue Yiyue’s flushed cheek. In her dazed state, Yue Yiyue instinctively rubbed against the comforting temperature.

Amid her jumbled thoughts, Yue Yiyue saw a pair of crimson eyes.

Those eyes held emotions she couldn’t read, but the person before her was still Gu Nanqiu.

She seemed to hear Gu Nanqiu asking that question again: whether she was willing to stay here with her forever.

Gu Nanqiu…

Yue Yiyue narrowed her eyes and hooked her long arm around, pulling the person into her embrace. “What I should have forgotten is you.”

“Even though I forgot you, don’t worry. I’ll find you.”

Yue Yiyue didn’t know what she was saying.

She only felt Gu Nanqiu slowly pressing closer. The woman’s voice seemed right by her ear, yet also distant. Yue Yiyue struggled to focus, trying to hear clearly.

She did catch fragmented words… love?

“Love… baby… even drunk you’re so cute… but so sly, always dodging my question… I wanted you to stay here with me forever, so no one could hurt you…”

“Will you find me?”

“Will you really find me?”

The voice grew fainter but stubbornly pleading.

“Yes.” Yue Yiyue mustered her last shred of clarity. She cupped the face before her and planted a smacking kiss on it. “For eternity, as long as I live…”

The fog outside the room thinned a bit. The Quartz Clock inside seemed released from something, ticking rhythmically.

Gu Nanqiu looked at the little deceiver who had fallen into a deep sleep and let out a soft sigh.

“I told you you couldn’t do it.” Mirror Gu Nanqiu suddenly spoke from beside her. She reached out and touched the thin mirror surface, looking at the two in the room.

“Turn the AC down a bit. It’s too hot. Later, cover her with that blanket… Yeah, looks like you haven’t forgotten these things. That’s good too.”

Gu Nanqiu outside the mirror snapped her fingers, and the room’s temperature dropped a few degrees. She gazed at the person sleeping on the sofa, her eyes softening. “You win. After it’s over, I’ll go back. But before that, I want to stay here… I want to spend more time with her…”

Mirror Gu Nanqiu smiled. “That kind of scene won’t happen again. But if this makes you feel better, then go ahead and experience it this time.”

————

When Yue Yiyue woke up, the first thing she saw was that beautiful face—those tea-colored eyes leaning close, staring at her.

The eyes held curiosity about the unknown and a hint of timidity.

Thinking this, Yue Yiyue felt like the alcohol had messed up her brain. She lay silently for a while, confirming she couldn’t recall anything she did after drinking.

This must be what blacking out felt like.

Judging by Gu Nanqiu’s expression, she probably hadn’t done anything embarrassing.

With that thought, Yue Yiyue got up from the bed, freshened up simply, yawned, and pulled open the curtains.

The rain outside had stopped. It was a nice sunny day.

This showed the advantage of the high floor.

“This room was worth booking. Nanqiu, where do you want to go play today?”

Before she finished speaking, she felt a warm body press against her, wrapping her in an embrace.

Warm breath sprinkled on Yue Yiyue’s neck, tickling her.

Gu Nanqiu nuzzled against Yue Yiyue stickily. “I want to stay here with you.”

“Best if we never go out. You don’t know how dangerous it is outside…

“Last night, more than twenty people died in the building next door.”

As she spoke, Gu Nanqiu released Yue Yiyue and turned to switch on the TV. The news was urgently reporting the incident.

Yue Yiyue turned back to stare at the anxious reporter on the TV, the medical staff rushing in the background, and the crying people.

It made Yue Yiyue a bit sad—so many people gone just like that…

After watching the full report, Yue Yiyue sat down beside Gu Nanqiu. With a serious expression, she asked, “Is it that so-called Rules acting up again?”

Though deep down, she already knew the answer.

At the same time, Yue Yiyue felt some regret.

She shouldn’t have gotten complacent just because her mental plot radar hadn’t pinged, skipping the chance to head elsewhere.

But she was confused—her memories of the book’s plot were growing thinner, now reduced to just fog.

Somehow, Yue Yiyue sensed the plot to judge her role was coming soon…

Gu Nanqiu watched Yue Yiyue furrow her brows and hit pause. “Maybe. After all, such a large-scale casualty—no one knew until this morning, when someone came to work and found many people smiling as they’d hanged themselves at their workstations with their badges.”

“This is off-the-record info from a friend in A City, but it sounds so scary that I couldn’t sleep after seeing it.” Gu Nanqiu shuddered to match her words.

“Indeed.” Following Gu Nanqiu’s lead, Yue Yiyue thought for a moment. She walked to the floor-to-ceiling glass and drew her finger across it, finally pointing at the opulent building opposite labeled Keyu Center. “Is that the one you’re talking about?”

Yue Yiyue had good eyesight. She could see the red and blue lights flashing on the white ambulance, the nurses rushing about.

But due to the distance, everything looked tiny.

The next moment, Yue Yiyue jerked back a step. In disbelief, she rubbed her eyes and urgently patted Gu Nanqiu beside her.

“Can you… see that over there…” Following Yue Yiyue’s pointing finger, Gu Nanqiu saw several windows wide open on a floor of the opposite building. People had been strung up and dangled from them one by one, forming a massive ‘i love you’.