CH 93.2

Translated by yuki

Edited by xiaowu  

Bai Yuehu’s face was blank.

Lu Qingjiu felt the doubts in his mind clear and asked in alarm, “Who are you? You aren’t Bai Yuehu!”

Bai Yuehu’s originally laughing face slowly disappeared as he heard Lu Qingjiu’s words. There was less humour in his facial expression as he started sizing up Lu Qingjiu. This judging gaze made Lu Qingjiu feel extremely uncomfortable, confirming his thoughts that the person in front of him was indeed not Bai Yuehu.

“You look really similar to your grandmother,” he said, “almost identical even.” 

Lu Qingjiu didn’t want to continue speaking to the person, who was emanating a dangerous aura. He reached out to pull the door shut, but failed as the person held onto the door.

“Lu Qingjiu.” Blue butterflies started flying from his body as the person rapidly shrunk. “You are the last one.” After saying this, he started laughing as if he couldn’t control himself, “I had thought your grandmother was the last one.”

Listening to the person bring up his grandmother, Lu Qingjiu’s facial expression froze. He was about to say something when the person seemingly left amongst the cluster of icy blue butterflies. From his silhouette, he seemed to be a young child whose hair and eyes were all a beautiful blue colour, as if he had been carved out of ice.

Lu Qingjiu watched him walk away, but as he lowered his gaze, a butterfly which had fallen right outside the door caught his eye. As if he had been entranced, he bent down to pick up that butterfly. The butterfly also seemed to be constructed from ice, as it touched his skin, it started rapidly melting, leaving Lu Qingjiu with a handful of water.

Lu Qingjiu finally closed the door, turning around to go back inside.

Yin Xun had been watching the two’s conversations in the doorway. Seeing his confused look, it was clear that Yin Xun didn’t know who the child was.

“Bai Yuehu hasn’t come home, let’s continue waiting.”

Yin Xun curled his lip, saying that the person really had no manners. Since they were here to find someone, what was the use of mimicking Bai Yuehu’s looks, apart from stealing a hug. 

Lu Qingjiu grumbled, “What on earth did he come for?”

“I don’t know.”

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Lu Qingjiu kept thinking about it, but wasn’t able to make heads or tails of anything. 

About half an hour after that person had left, the real Bai Yuehu finally returned.

Of course, this time Lu Qingjiu had a suspicious attitude when he opened the door, observing him from head to toe for a while and confirmed it was really Bai Yuehu before offering him a hug.

Bai Yuehu was slightly confused by Lu Qingjiu’s stares and voiced out, “Did something happen?”

“Nothing, nothing happened, I just wanted to see whether you had any injuries.” 

Bai Yuehu patted Lu Qingjiu’s hair, “I’m fine, everything’s over now.”

When Bai Yuehu returned, he was still wearing his black robes, only several parts of the robes had been clawed to pieces, Lu Qingjiu could even smell the bloody stench. It was clear that the battle had not been as simple as Bai Yuehu was making it out to be. After returning home, Bai Yuehu simply ate something before falling asleep, it could be seen he was really exhausted.

The snow came within a night, and also left within a night, once again returning to June’s sweltering weather.

When Yin Xun went back to the memorial hall, he said that the candles had been lit up again. Shuifu villagers appeared once again, looking no different from normal people. Xiao Hua had actually been determined to refuse tutoring Li Xiaoyu any more, but when faced with Li Xiaoyu’s puzzled and wronged face filled with tears, in the end he still decided to compromise. 

“Just in case the dead also need to take exams.” Xiao Hua could only console himself while tutoring Li Xiaoyu in Olympiad mathematics, “Also the old saying holds true – if one studies mathematics and the sciences, there is no need to be worried wherever in the world they go. The underworld is also part of the world, right?”

Lu Qingjiu helplessly looked at Xiao Hua.

“Fine, I understand. You are also supporting my education career. As bitter of a life we have, we can’t let our children continue this life; as poor as we are, we can’t neglect our children’s right to basic education!” Although said child was a dead child, said dead child was also an obedient child. 

Lu Qingjiu left Xiao Hua alone, he knew Xiao Hua would have to do some mental gymnastics before being able to continue teaching Li Xiaoyu.

Overnight, it had become summer again, rendering the charcoal brazier and other equipment useless. Bai Yuehu slept like the dead, if not for Lu Qingjiu feeling warmth when touching his face, he would have feared the worst had happened. It was the first time that food didn’t manage to wake Bai Yuehu up. Lu Qingjiu served the chicken soup he had made and then paced around for quite some time but Bai Yuehu never turned up, evident he was completely worn out.

Bai Yuehu slept for three full days before getting up. Upon waking, Bai Yuehu was green with hunger, Lu Qingjiu immediately hopped up to make him some food. Coincidentally Yin Xun had also made his way over. Bai Yuehu’s intense staring made him feel shivers all over his body, causing Yin Xun to rush into the kitchen. He begged Lu Qingjiu to quickly make some food, in fear that Bai Yuehu would not be able to control himself, changing back into his original form and gulping Yin Xun down in one bite.

For the sake of speed, Lu Qingjiu used yesterday’s leftover chicken soup to make a large bowl of noodles in chicken soup, garnishing it with some chopped green onions and 5 fried eggs before serving it to Bai Yuehu. 

Bai Yuehu immediately picked up his chopsticks and started eating. Where others slurped their noodles, he drank down those noodles. Lu Qingjiu could only watch as he drank the whole bowl of noodles and soup without chewing even once.

After he finished drinking, Bai Yuehu quietly remained in his seat for 2 minutes, then turned his head towards Lu Qingjiu, quietly saying, “Still not full.”

Lu Qingjiu who had been watching to one side, struck dumb with astonishment, almost choked on nothing. He coughed for quite a while before slowly recovering. Nodding his head, he asked Bai Yuehu to wait then disappeared back into the kitchen to make more food.

Yin Xun, who was a little slower getting up, received an intense glare from Bai Yuehu and immediately rushed into the kitchen, calling out, “I’ll go to the kitchen to help him.” 

Lu Qingjiu made a big wok of egg fried rice for Bai Yuehu, staring as he finished it all. Afterwards, Bai Yuehu’s expression finally returned to normal.

Although Bai Yuehu hadn’t said he was still hungry, Lu Qingjiu, who had a deep understanding of Bai Yuehu, understood that he was clearly still not full. He continued making more food throughout the day to feed Bai Yuehu.

Until night time, Bai Yuehu finally seemed to be satiated. As to how Lu Qingjiu realised that Bai Yuehu was full, he was struck with a realisation that when Bai Yuehu was hungry, he would unchangingly stare at Yin Xun. It was a look of interest, but more like guessing how Yin Xun would taste.

To say it in more relatable terms, it was as if a child saw some ice cream in a store, but was worried that his family was too poor to afford it, so they would only stare at it from the outside. When their parents would ask whether they wanted some ice cream, the child would obediently and sensibly shake their head, saying they didn’t want to eat ice cream. 

At this moment, Yin Xun was clearly aware of his position in the family. He was emergency food, if one day Bai Yuehu was out of mind with hunger, he would probably be eaten up.

Lu Qingjiu had long stopped asking whether Bai Yuehu was full. He finally understood that his family’s fake “fox spirit” would never be full, so he changed the way he asked, “Did you still want another bite?”

Bai Yuehu shook his head, “No, why don’t you rest a while and chat with me.”

Lu Qingjiu agreed, sitting down beside Bai Yuehu. 

The two chatted for a while. Bai Yuehu explained the source of the snow storm. The main gist was that a hole had formed between the two worlds, creatures from the other side had made its way over, and had to be beaten back for the danger to be removed. Although it was described in just a few words, the reality was probably extremely dangerous.

Listening to him, Lu Qingjiu asked, “Are you really not hurt?”

Bai Yuehu fell silent for a few seconds before lightly nodding, “Just a little.”

“Let me have a look.” 

There was a trace of hesitation on Bai Yuehu’s expression, but seeing as Lu Qingjiu was determined, he finally agreed. Although Yin Xun was also curious, he didn’t dare to ask to be brought along. Watching Bai Yuehu and Lu Qingjiu head towards the bedroom, he found an excuse for himself saying that he would go clean the yard.

Entering their bedroom, Lu Qingjiu supervised Bai Yuehu taking off the top half of his outfit, seeing the injuries on Bai Yuehu’s body. Though Bai Yuehu had said it was just minor injuries, Lu Qingjiu winced as he looked upon Bai Yuehu’s skin. There was almost no spot on his body that was left untouched – large and small wounds peppered his upper body. Lu Qingjiu was even able to see white bone revealed for one of Bai Yuehu’s most serious injuries, which went without saying would be extremely painful. Lu Qingjiu felt terrible deep down in his heart. He reached out with a finger, lightly touching the side of that injury, “Should we not deal with this… if you just leave it, who knows how long it will take to heal?”

Bai Yuehu reached out to hold Lu Qingjiu’s wrist, pressing his palm against that injury. His facial expression didn’t change as he warmly replied, “It’s not painful, as long as you touch it, there’s no pain at all.”

Afraid of hurting Bai Yuehu even more, Lu Qingjiu quickly took back his hand. Looking at his serious face, Lu Qingjiu helplessly added, “Even at this time, you can still say something like this…” 

Bai Yuehu lowered his voice, “And if you kiss it, there would be even less pain.”

Lu Qingjiu couldn’t help it. He actually didn’t mind. However with Bai Yuehu’s current state, he was really worried he would open up Bai Yuehu’s numerous injuries and couldn’t get started.

Who knew Bai Yuehu would be so excited, fluttering his eyelids with an expression full of desire. Lu Qingjiu couldn’t stand it anymore, though he wanted to refuse, those words didn’t leave his mouth. At last, he let out a sigh, helplessly saying, “Fine, but for this time you have to stay still, let me do everything.”

“Fine.” Bai Yuehu really didn’t mind whichever way it was. 

Lu Qingjiu gently pushed Bai Yuehu onto the bed, placing a kiss on his lower jaw. Lowering his gaze at the injuries on Bai Yuehu’s body, his heart let out a heavy sigh. Since Bai Yuehu was already hurt to this degree, Lu Qingjiu couldn’t let him be hurt any further. At any rate, being on the top had its own merits.

Lu Qingjiu laughed warmly, the corners of his eyes curving.

Lu Qingjiu’s laughter moved Bai Yuehu’s heart. Unable to resist, Bai Yuehu’s arms wrapped around Lu Qingjiu’s neck and the two entwined with each other.

Author’s note: 

Bai Yuehu: Even when I am hurt

Lu Qingjiu: Hmm?

Bai Yuehu: I also have to roll up my sleeves to do it.

Lu Qingjiu: ??? 

t/n: that ending