CH 72

It was a silver-colored mask with a brightly lighted metal covering his entire face. Only when he turned around, one would be able to catch sight of an uncovered lower jaw.

A very beautiful curve.

Lin Suci’s eyes blinked slowly.

He somehow seemed dizzy.

His brain reacted sluggishly, not knowing what the place was.

“You are here.”

The man turned around and gazed at Lin Suci with a tender pair of eyes through the mask. A genuine gentle voice sounded under the mask.

Lin Suci was muddle-headed: “…here?”

What’s here?

Who’s here?

Who…

Who is he?

“Come.”

The masked man gently waved his hand to him under the slightly shaken, wide white sleeves. Petals fluttered gently down from the top shoulder of the sleeves.

Lin Suci’s attention was attracted by the petals floating around. He watched them take a turn before landing on the ground.

His steps seemed to be attracted by something invisible. He slowly approached step by step towards the person.

In the middle of the plum blossom forest under the moonlight, there was a small table in the white fog. On top of which there was a dish of dried fish and a bowl of curdled milk.

The masked man in white took Lin Suci’s hand and led him to sit down.

His hands were icy cold.

Lin Suci tried to widen his eyes but he was not able to see clearly.

What’s happening…

He sat opposite the masked man and when he came to his senses, the dried fish in his hand was already half eaten.

Lin Suci’s eyes remained awake.

In the midst of the white fog, the figure of the masked man seated opposite him seemed imaginary, yet real.

Lin Suci was quivering.

“Who are you?!”

Lin Suci promptly released the dried fish he was holding in his hand and hurriedly got up and backed away.

There was slightly moistened soil under his feet and his instep was covered with the muddy fallen plum blossoms.

He vigilantly looked around. His nose could clearly scent the fragrance of plum blossoms. When he stepped back, the tree trunks that he leaned against were also solid and rough. Even the dried fish that he had bitten half in his mouth was realistic.

Where actually… is this place?

Who is this person?

Lin Suci repeatedly retreated by moving backwards and was full of vigilantism. All of his actions were entirely witnessed by the masked man.

He sat there and did not move. He only smiled slightly.

“Ah Ci, don’t you remember me?”

Lin Suci became even more vigilant.

Why was that person calling him so intimately?!

Furthermore, whether he remembered or not, he absolutely had never come across that person before!

“What are you talking about? What’s with this deceiving tactic of bringing me here? Are you trying to frighten someone? Who are you!”

The masked man lowered his head and laughed, “An old friend, that’s all.”

“Old friend?” Lin Suci’s expression somehow looked eccentric. His memory vaguely remembered the beginning of everything. It was the bedding, the scented room, the warm sunshine and… the people who abandoned him.

Lin Suci cautiously moved a single step aside, and blocked his body with the aid of the tree trunk. He stretched his head out with an innocent look, “So far, I remembered everyone I know since I was born. Are you… probably an ancestor incarnation of a malicious spirit?”

“…Clever and eloquent. Who knows who you resembled.”

The masked man mumbled that sentence to himself.

Upon hearing that, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

That person… is perhaps his father, right?

A biological one?

Lin Suci looked upon the masked man from head to toe with bright piercing eyes. However, no matter how he observed, that man did not have traces of ears or tails for him to look at.

Lin Suci’s bright eyes fell in the eyes of the masked man, as if there was no cover. They absolutely did meet each other’s eyes.

“Have you remembered who I am?”

The voice of the masked man was quite soft and comfortable to listen to.

Lin Suci’s heart began to accelerate, “…Father?”

Masked man: “…”

Oh, looks like he’s not.

Then…

“…Mother?”

Lin Suci tentatively called Mother after the incident of genuinely getting confused with Jin Chi’s gender.

Masked man: “…”

It also did not appear to be that way.

He nevertheless took a deep breath and continued with the wild guesses.

“Younger uncle? Eldest uncle? Younger aunt? Grandfather? Grandmother? Elder brother? Sister-in-law? Younger brother? Nephew?”

Lin Suci strangled his brain and tried thinking of all the possible titles he could think of to address the masked man.

The masked man held his forehead with his hands and deeply sighed.

“…Then who are you? Can you tell me?”

Lin Suci pretended to be calm.

The masked man seemed to be extremely helpless and he was silent for a moment to sort out a proper mood.

“Come here.” He beckoned and pointed to a few small cushions opposite him.

Lin Suci was unable to do so with certainty. Presently, all he could define was that the person in front of him had no intention to harm him.

He moved forward with small steps and sat on the cushion with both hands propped on the small table. He said with bright eyes, “Speak. Who are you and what do you have to do with me?”

The masked man pushed the cheese on the small table.

Lin Suci thought, then pulled it over to him.

That bowl of cheese tasted good and Lin Suci was quite comfortable eating it.

Consuming his cheese, he also did not forget about his dried fish. He held the dried fish in each  hand and gnawed away.

The masked man was quietly watching as Lin Suci’s cheek got rounder and bulging on both sides.

Under the silver mask, his pupils were gentle and soft as water.

Lin Suci ate and drank enough, so he pushed the empty bowl aside, “Many thanks for your hospitality.”

“Ah Ci.”

The masked man called him again.

“It’s time to come back.”

Lin Suci was quite blank, “I don’t understand what you are talking about.”

The masked man stood up.

There seemed to be a gust of wind blowing across the forest. His sleeves were billowed and the wind whistled under the bottom edge of the robe.

“I had discovered the person who stole you back then. I have also entirely executed those who are unfavorable against you. Ah Ci, our home is already clean now.”

Lin Suci’s eyes were slightly gloomy.

He said he was stolen…

It matched with the deepest part of his memory, the memory of when he was a newcomer.

He had never mentioned that matter to anyone.

Neither his Master, nor Yan Boshen knew the secret suffering.

This person…

That person was genuinely his… his former family before being abandoned?

Lin Suci followed suit to stand up. He calmly looked at the man and relatively met the man’s pair of eyes under the mask, “Who in the world are you?”

The masked man reached out his hand and stroked his messed up hair bun. His voice was faithfully clear, “I’ve brought you on your birth.”

Lin Suci unknowingly could not move his body and stared blankly at the masked man’s hand, running along his hairline and resting on his cheek.

The warm fingertips gently slid from his forehead to his cheek and tapped.

Lin Suci thought about it, “…Then aren’t you my father?”

“Nope.”

The masked man withdrew his hand.

“Ah Ci, you were born because of me.”

Born because of him…

What did that mean?

Lin Suci reacted somehow slowly. Staring at the masked man, he frowned, “What do you mean by these words! Speak clearly!”

The masked man seemed to be laughing, “This impatient temperament, indeed…”

He took a step forward.

The distance between him and Lin Suci was not bigger than a fist.

Lin Suci’s gaze fell on the sudden enlarged mask.

There was a ray of light flowing on the silver mask. That was not dazzling but it flowed gently along the pattern on the mask.

“You…”

He was just speaking.

But, the masked man slightly leaned in.

Their foreheads were stuck to each other’s.

In other words, Lin Suci’s forehead was nestled closely to the mask of the man.

In the next instant, a stream of spiritual energy followed along the masked man’s forehead and penetrated into Lin Suci’s body.

“Ugh…”

That spiritual energy that was transferred to Lin Suci made his whole body tremble. His legs shivered and he was almost too weak to stand up straight.

A hand clung to his waist, giving him force to stand.

Lin Suci desperately tried to push and break free from the man’s confinement but he could not get out of his grasp

The tightly stuck foreheads were continuously transferring and receiving a stream of powerful energy, which turned into physical stimulation, leading to the overbearing feeling of being linked together by spirit.

“…Let go…”

Lin Suci’s eyes were almost closed.

His whole body was constantly trembling with stimulation and his voice already sounded as if his breath was unstable.

“Shh… Obedient child, let me give you some good things.”

Lin Suci was already unable to hear what he was talking about. The strength of desperately struggling was weak. While trying to maintain a clear consciousness, Lin Suci weakly called out: “…Boshen…”

“Ah Ci, next time we meet, just…”

The person with the covered mask was apparently saying something, but it lose the truth through the mask

Lin Suci eventually went completely dark and fainted.

“What’s the matter?”

A pair of warm palms embraced him tightly and it seemed like someone was calling him.

Lin Suci wrinkled his nose and slowly opened his eyes.

Under the dim candlelight, he sat cross-legged on the couch and Yan Boshen beside him was wearing a white shirt. Yan Boshen was holding him in his arms with a hand on Lin Suci’s forehead while looking at him with concern.

“Too sleepy?”

“Ah?”

Lin Suci drowsily stared at the ground. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. Finally, his gaze fell on Yan Boshen’s body.

“I think I…fell asleep.”

Really, how could he get distracted while talking.

Lin Suci knocked his head, “Ah, I supposed I’m too sleepy today!”

Yan Boshen twisted the corner of his mouth and poked his forehead lightly, “Then go back to sleep.”

Yan Boshen raised his hand to extinguish the candlelight in the room and the room within was caught up in pitch-black darkness.

Lin Suci’s head was dizzy. He crawled on his hands and feet to find the pillow. He laid down happily and patted his side.

Yan Boshen gently laid down.

Lin Suci was closing his eyes when someone grabbed his arm.

“Boshen?” Lin Suci slowly opened his eyes and looked helpless, “What’s the matter?”

Yan Boshen was inclined towards the side. He looked at him indistinctly, not saying a word.

Suddenly, he turned over and sat directly on Lin Suci.

“Boshen?!” Lin Suci’s drowsiness was immediately awoken from being scared as he stumbled, “What… What’s the matter?”

Yan Boshen leaned his body lower. His straight and high tipped nose pressed against Lin Suci’s cheek. His warm breath fell on his face. It was ticklish.

“Boshen?” Lin Suci’s voice was very gentle because of the fear that he could equally startle Yan Boshen.

He was somehow confused, “…What’s wrong with you?”

Yan Boshen grasped Lin Suci’s back with both hands, followed by his forehead and cheeks. He rubbed the tip of his nose against his lower jaw.

Lin Suci inclined his head to the side.

“Boshen?”

Yan Boshen moved slightly and straightened up.

In the dimmed room, the faint light brought by the moon was casted on Yan Boshen, showing a shadow.

In Yan Boshen’s eyes, there was a hint of coldness, “What did you dream of just a moment ago?”

Lin Suci was at a loss, “What did I dream of?”

Yan Boshen grabbed his wrist, pulled it to his nose and sniffed it gently.

“There’s a scent of plum blossoms on your body.”