Chapter 190
Chapter 190
The sky was dark and overcast, black clouds massing overhead as faint, mournful wails drifted through the air.
A muddy path stretched ahead, uneven and overgrown with weeds.
In this world, Xiao Huai and Lu Yuanshi were the only living people.
A black thread was attached to Xiao Huai’s right wrist.
Its far end might be connected to the person they sought.
Xiao Huai followed the thread. Suddenly, someone gripped his left hand tightly.
He turned toward Lu Yuanshi. “What is it?”
“I’m scared.”
Xiao Huai looked at him coolly. He knew Lu Yuanshi was lying.
But he did not expose the lie. Facing forward with a solemn expression, he said softly,
“Then hold on tight.”
Lu Yuanshi’s gaze settled on Xiao Huai’s profile.
“Mm.”
In the frigid world of the dead, the only warmth Xiao Huai could feel came from the hand wrapped around his wrist.
Lu Yuanshi had held his wrist at first. But as they walked, somehow, that grasp gradually became hand in hand.
Their fingers interlaced.
Voices began sounding ceaselessly around them.
“Young Master, a letter has arrived from the Yang family. Will you be attending the opera today?”
“Will Nanqing be there?”
“Yes.”
“Good! I’ll change and leave at once.”
The voices grew noisy, as though the speakers were in a teahouse. Some seemed to be saying,
“My, the Yang and Huo families are certainly close. Their relationship has only improved since the Huo family’s young master returned from studying abroad.”
“I’d say Huo Dieyi and Yang Nanqing make a fine match. I wonder when we’ll be drinking at their wedding banquet.”
Xiao Huai paid little attention to most of the voices.
But the statement that Huo Dieyi and Yang Nanqing made a fine match caught his notice.
Xiao Huai murmured, “Lu Yuanshi, do you think anyone would ever say the two of us made a fine match?”
Lu Yuanshi arched a brow. “Us?”
“Of course,” Lu Yuanshi answered.
Of course they made a fine match.
Love took many forms in this world. Some were accepted; others were not.
But Xiao Huai shook his head. “No. A hundred years ago, if the two of us had truly been together…”
He looked at Lu Yuanshi, an indescribable chill seemingly lingering between his brows.
Xiao Huai said, “People might have treated us like vermin in the streets.”
In that era, only a talented man with a beautiful woman–one man and one woman–could be considered true love.
They were expected to produce heirs and make the family prosper.
Was that not all the mortal world could accept?
The Young Lady of the Yang Residence had never been a young lady.
That figure was the family’s son. Its young master.
In Peking opera, the performer playing a female role was not necessarily a woman. A dan role could be performed by a woman or by a male dan performer.
How had Xiao Huai failed to realize it?
Not *she*, but *he*.
The “her” Huo Dieyi had fallen in love with was a man–him.
Him.
That was why the world considered Huo Dieyi and Yang Nanqing a suitable match.
[Ding! Congratulations to Player Xiao Huai for uncovering World Truth III.]
[World Truth III Note: The Yang family’s only son, yet he was always called a young lady. Why?]
“Then purge such a world,” Lu Yuanshi said suddenly. He tightened his grip on Xiao Huai’s hand. “I want you beside me. Whoever tries to stop me will die.”
As he spoke, the eyes within his genteel smile seemed to carry enough power to destroy everything and plunge all creation into eternal night.
Lu Yuanshi’s grip hurt. The instant Xiao Huai frowned, Lu Yuanshi released him.
Xiao Huai drew back his hand and rubbed it. “When you put it that way, it sounds like you’ve programmed yourself to self-destruct.”
Anyone who made an enemy of the entire world would ultimately be shattered beyond recovery.
Lu Yuanshi smiled faintly and offered two airy words. “Perhaps so.”
“I was only joking. You don’t need to take it so seriously.” Xiao Huai continued forward. “Besides, the past, present, and future have never been immutable.”
He raised his eyes. A man stood ahead of them.
It was him.
The Huo family’s young master.
Even from behind, the man’s exceptional height and bearing let Xiao Huai immediately identify him as the man in the photograph.
Xiao Huai’s heart began to race, Lu Qian’s warning echoing through his mind.
He turned to Lu Yuanshi and extended his hand. “Now I’m a little scared. Would you be will–”
Before he could finish, Lu Yuanshi had already taken it.
The smile in Lu Yuanshi’s eyes deepened. “I would.”
The warmth of another palm took root within flesh and bone. Once someone grew accustomed to it, letting go became the most difficult thing in the world.
Together, they approached the man from behind.
Only three feet remained between them.
The Huo family’s young master turned.
Though not a trace of color remained in his face, his eyes were still as clear as rain. A single glance seemed to cross the distance of time itself.
He lowered his head with a tender smile, making the mole at the corner of his eye resemble a willow branch swaying in winter.
The smile in his eyes illuminated the world, glittering so brightly that withered branches seemed to sprout anew.
He did not speak. He merely watched Xiao Huai and Lu Yuanshi in silence.
Xiao Huai asked quietly, “Are you the Huo family’s young master?”
The man nodded.
“Do you remember your name?”
He suddenly reached for Xiao Huai’s hand.
Lu Yuanshi instinctively pulled Xiao Huai’s hand behind him.
Unable to get around Lu Yuanshi in the end, Xiao Huai had to offer the Huo family’s young master his right hand.
The man laughed, then carefully traced his name across Xiao Huai’s palm, stroke by stroke.
*Huo Lanxu.*
Xiao Huai silently repeated the name.
He raised his head and looked at Huo Lanxu. “I have less than half an hour. If there’s a story you want to tell me, tell me now.”
Huo Lanxu clasped Xiao Huai’s right hand and gazed deeply at him.
At that instant, a powerful force seemed to erupt from the earth. Xiao Huai’s body emptied, and his vision blurred.
Before his sight faded completely, he saw Huo Lanxu appear to say something.
But the sound that reached him was low and frightening, a wordless rasp forced from a ruined throat.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but Huo Lanxu’s mouth… contained no tongue.
* * *
“Awake?”
A beam of light stabbed his eyes. Abruptly exposed to the glare, Xiao Huai narrowed them and frowned.
A familiar voice sounded beside him. Lu Yuanshi was sitting at his side.
Xiao Huai looked around. They sat inside the Jinlemen Club. None of the people around them had faces, yet their applause and cheering made it clear that they were smiling.
“How did you end up here too?” Xiao Huai knitted his brows.
He had thought that Huo Lanxu would pull only him into this world.
Lu Yuanshi answered casually, “I was holding your hand. When you were dragged inside, I came with you.”
Xiao Huai stared at him. “You make it sound as though you’re an innocent victim.”
“Not at all. I only put it that way so you’d feel a little guiltier and protect me properly later.”
Xiao Huai fell silent. “…”
Who admitted his motives that openly?
A countdown on Xiao Huai’s system interface showed only a little over twenty minutes remaining. He rose and looked toward the stage.
The spotlights converged. As music began, a figure slowly emerged from behind the curtain.