Chapter 9.4

Hearing the man’s light sigh, a warmth rose in Fan Yuan’s heart. Despite the circumstances of the system inserting him into a vessel not of choice, he still managed to find him.

——This man had never let him down.

Before his eyes was a completely unfamiliar face, a cold visage, but with eyes that were so incredibly gentle and full of heartache and self-blame. Fan Yuan wanted to smile at him to stop him from feeling sadness, but instead, his eyes reddened without knowing.

This time, they were genuinely almost separated forever.

Yan Rui reached out his hand to touch the corner of his eye, yet he did not dare to move even after an extended time. Having gone through a long period of yearning and suffering, he had become cautious. He was afraid that he could not control his strength and end up hurting him, or even leave a wound, which were the last things he wanted to do.

Fan Yuan was unaware of the man’s hesitation, and simply burrowed straight into the man’s embrace. Yan Rui quickly caught him and lifted him onto his lap. The one in his arms was but fourteen years old, fragile and delicate. It would not be too much of a stretch to call him a fragile porcelain doll. Even if he exerted a little strength, the child would take his last breath.

In fact, even if he did nothing, this fragile body would still break……

Fan Yuan coughed harshly due to his fluctuation in moods. Yan Rui quickly helped him steady his breaths while pouring out a Peiyuan pill and moving it to Fan Yuan’s lips. Fan Yuan tilted away his head in reluctance to eat it, so Yan Rui coaxed in an unhurried tone, “Be good, you will feel better after taking the pill.”

This tone was similar to that of one coaxing a child who didn’t want to eat. Fan Yuan was amused to a chuckle by this manner of his, but still shook his head, “This pill is for strengthening the foundation. If the original host was suffering from a disease that weakened the body, he could easily be cured. Right now, all five internal organs have been damaged, no amount of energy-replenishing pills can be consumed to amend this. Do not waste such medicine.”

This was the effect of his own prescription. Although it could not compare with that of Peiyuan pill, it was enough to deal with the common person’s diseases. However, no matter how much energy he replenished, it would just make his complexion look a bit more flushed with vitality. There was little way to deal with the damage inside.

Yan Rui pondered for a moment, “I will send you back to Ning Siyuan’s body.”

Fan Yuan expected that his first sentence would be to change his body. He quickly shook his head and said, “Since I have already entered Ning Siqi’s body, there is no reason to change.”

Yan Rui gazed into his eyes, “That body was originally prepared for you. You entered Ning Siqi’s body due to an error in the system’s wayfinding. If you want to, I can send you back at any time, or is it that you actually do not want to go back?”

Fan Yuan felt a little guilty and dared not look at him. Yan Rui grasped his chin and questioned closely, “You would rather have this sickly body than willingly go back to Ning Siyuan’s body? Is it because you can’t bear to leave Xu-shi?”

Fan Yuan immediately shook his head and sighed inwardly at Yan Rui’s perceptiveness. This scoundrel’s jealousy was regardless of gender or age, and neither was it confined to humans, animals, or the inanimate. He even wanted to occupy all of his emotions—joy, anger, sorrow and happiness. So how could he accommodate the well and living Xu-shi.

He spoke haltingly, “Ning Siqi was innocent to begin with, yet he died with no clear reason whatsoever. At that, I coincidentally happened to occupy his body, so I can’t just pretend I know nothing. I will absolutely not let Ning Xirong and Ning Zhe go. I must make them receive the punishment they deserve.”

Seeing that Yan Rui still looked unhappy, Fan Yuan’s brows furrowed, “If I hadn’t entered this body, my soul might have already dissipated. How were you going to find me then?”

Yan Rui’s heart trembled slightly as he subconsciously tightened his arm. There was an accident at system 10018, leaving no way to ascertain the position of the original host during the transmigration. If there was a suitable vessel for him to enter, Fan Yuan’s spiritual body would disappear after a few days. This pushed Yan Rui to the extent that he didn’t even dare to use his powers to search for traces of Fan Yuan.

This was because he was afraid that he would search all corners of this world, but be unable to find his boy.

He couldn’t remember what was going through his head at that time. Slaughter and destruction occupied almost all of his thoughts. Losing Fan Yuan forever — even just the thought about it caused vicious, violent rage to rise in his chest in an unrestrained manner. Only one thing was certain, if his precious baby disappeared, did this world still have the need to exist? Was it necessary for him to exist? The answer was, no.

Just when his luck could be considered not too bad and his patience was about to run out, his treasure had returned into his arms.

He had been saved, and this world had also been saved. But those ants who had calculated against him no longer had the need to exist.

Fan Yuan perceived that Yan Rui’s eyes had flashed with murderous intention, to which he lay on Yan Rui’s shoulder and whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m not blaming you, nor do I want to let you suffer, but I have been Ning Siqi for over three months. I must take responsibility for his life, and as for his mother, I have the duty to support her till she’s old. Yan Rui, I want to live a little longer. I know you have a way. Help me.”

Yan Rui gently stroked his hair and said in a gentle voice, “You clearly know that I will never refuse your requests.”

Fan Yuan said bitterly, “You’re blaming me.”

Yan Rui said, “Do you know the reason why.”

“Because you aren’t willing to listen to my words, because you want to continue being in this severely-ill body, because your heart will ache……”

Yan Rui pressed his forehead against Fan Yuan’s and sighed. “You know everything, yet you still want to act on your own.”

Fan Yuan left a kiss by the corner of his lips and pleaded, “I’m sorry, just this once. I’ll listen to you for everything after.”

The corners of Yan Rui’s mouth curved. This was exactly his boy, cunning yet obedient. It really caused one to be reluctant to let go. Even if was completely eaten up by this boy, he would still be willing.

*******************

To Yan Rui, it was naturally not a difficult matter to enable this broken body to have the capability to endure for a hundred years. It was the skill of forging the body that would in turn, refine the soul, causing the soul of the receiver to suffer immensely as the magical medicine would reshape the body’s inner organs. He couldn’t bear to have Fan Yuan suffer, so he adopted a milder method, doing things one step at a time.

As night arrived, Fan Yuan drank his medicinal soup under Xu-shi’s supervision. After she left, the leader of the garrison army, Yuan Ting, appeared in his room.

Fan Yuan deliberately revealed a look of fear and questioned in a low voice, “Who are you? What is your intention for appearing in my room in the middle of the night?”

Yan Rui went along with it and walked over to Fan Yuan’s bedside, pulling apart his blanket as he smirked, “Naturally, to harass a beauty.”

Fan Yuan pulled the blanket and shrunk back to the tail of the bed in horror. He threatened with a strong front that belied a faint heart, “Leave now, or I will call for people.”

Yan Rui pulled away the blanket just the same as before and touched Fan Yuan’s ankles, gently pulling the child till he was right before him. He leaned down to kiss his neck and laughed suggestively, “Call as much as you want. Even if you shout at the top of your lungs, no one will come to save you.”

Finally, Fan Yuan couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing heartily in Yan Rui’s arms, “Hahahaha, Yan Rui, you’re really like a skirt-chaser!”

Yan Rui saw that he was happy and also upturned his lips in a smile. He patted Fan Yuan’s wriggling little buttocks and picked up the fox-furred shawl beside him, wrapping it around Fan Yuan before taking the boy along with him as they disappeared from the room.

In the blink of an eye, the two appeared in a lava cave residing within Tianshan Mountain. Spring water that reflected a miraculous light appeared impressively before their eyes with some medicinal herbs floating atop the pool. The peculiar fragrance of medicinal herbs permeated the cave.

If a physician was lucky enough to come here, they would be scared out of their wits. The herbs in this pool were all the treasures of this world, everything being absolutely priceless. If they were used properly, may it be prolonging life or even maintaining eternal youth, none were difficult matters! However, such rare objects were being used for them to take a soak in a bath. It was really outrageous!

Only Yan Rui had this kind of capability to travel around a few worlds in a short period of time and amass these medicinal herbs.

After soaking a few times, the effectiveness towards Fan Yuan’s healing did not increase for the time being, but his skin became more smooth, exquisite and youthful by the day, and his body would constantly emanate a light fragrance. Fan Yuan was not fond of the fact that his skin had become so delicate to the point that blowing a bullet could penetrate it, just like a maiden, and of course, he did not like that his body naturally carried an exotic fragrance. But Yan Rui simply had to like it, occasionally embracing him and refusing to let go. He earnestly wished that Fan Yuan would soak for longer.

Fan Yuan stood at the edge of the pool with his arms outstretched. Yan Rui habitually helped him remove his clothes before lowering him into the water. He then sat by the pool and chatted with him to keep him company. After a full hour of soaking, Fan Yuan whined that he wanted to come up, to which Yan Rui helped his little ancestor dry his body and hair, carrying him up and sending him back through the way they came from.

These kinds of days lasted for months. By the time of the qualification examination, Fan Yuan’s body had already improved greatly. Although he could not be considered to be like the average person right away, he would no longer cough up blood from time to time.

From Xu-shi’s perspective, she secretly took the Heavens to be the Gautama Buddha, the Guanyin of the South Sea, the Jade Emperor of the Nine heavens and the Queen Mother of the Heavens in her heart. Whatever could be called upon, she would pray to them all.

In contrast, Ning Xirong was so angry that she had broken her gritted silver teeth. Her little brother was still lying in bed, unknown of whether he was alive or dead. Not only was the culprit at large, but he was also gradually recovering from his perennial illness. How could she not be furious! How could she not be hateful!

Was she not reborn to protect her mother and little brother? If she couldn’t protect her loved ones, what was the meaning of her rebirth! She had to make Ning Siqi pay the price!

The very moment Fan Yuan got on the horse carriage, he noticed that there was a malicious stare coming from behind him. He didn’t look back. Who else could it be except for Ning Xirong? Yet, she remained still, not making a move. It was all but the fact that she felt that she could not amount to anything, it was not her time to make a move. She could only make herself feel better by stirring up some rumors.

It was a pity that he was going to let her be disappointed.

In this world, there wasn’t a big difference between the rules of the imperial examination and how it worked in actual fact. First, the qualification examination would give him the eligibility to proceed in the exam, and next would be the commission examination. Only successful examinees could be called xiucai . After which, there would be provincial examination and the metropolitan examination, and the following palace examination would be the real imperial exam.

Though it was just the first round, there were already many people waiting for him to make a fool out of himself. Fan Yuan inwardly asked to himself what level would be appropriate to show in the exam. If he showed that it was too easy, he would alert the enemy too quickly, but neither should he be too mediocre, lest any rapid progress in the future cause the people to gossip. Being just above average was the best choice. As he made up his mind, he began to write.

Leaving the examination hall, Fan Yuan’s gaze fell on a certain someone who was standing amongst the crowd, staring at him. No matter where he was or when it was, that person’s aura was always so strong, leaving an empty circle around him as no one dared to approach.

Just as he was about to get closer, a fluffy little dog from god knows where bit his cloth boots.

Fan Yuan: “……” Hey, it could not be what he was thinking about right. →_→

He heard a voice come from behind him, “Ah Qi.” It was Tong Zhengxuan’s voice.

Then, the handsome face of a certain someone in the crowd instantly sunk.