CH 65

At this time the live stream was pointing towards the area by Ah Qi and so, viewers couldn’t see the other surroundings of the filming location. Chen Yi tore open a lollipop as he heard Fu Xiu Nian say by his ear, 

“Right, why did you enter the entertainment industry?”

Chen Yi chomped a few times on his lollipop before he noticed that it was grape flavoured. He half-heartedly said, 

“Easy money.”

There was a gentle but elegant quality to Fu Xiu Nian, where being with him for a while seemed to let others unconsciously drop their guard. Chen Yi, however, was not used to having a heart to heart with another person and so he just quickly polished off the bowl of noodles before shoving it back towards Fu Xiu Nian. Even more impolite than Li Su Li, he said, 

“Go wash your dishes.”

Fu Xiu Nian silently looked at him,

“This is your bowl.”

Chen Yi emotionlessly turned his head, 

“Are you going to wash it?”

If not, he will himself.

Fu Xiu Nian: “……I will.”

He obediently took the bowl and headed back to the kitchen. Chen Yi stared at his back for a while, watching him through the faint yellow light by the door, and he could faintly see some bugs flying about in the light above him. Chen Yi retracted his gaze and then looked towards the darkness of the trees, clearing his mind.

To be honest, he didn’t know why he was here.

Chen Yi slowly pushed back his hair with a stroke of his hand, 

“Hey shitty system, do you know?”

[ Ding! Actually, the system’s first choice of soul to contract was not you, my dear host. It was only by coincidence that there happened to be a slight error, allowing for a mistake to be born. ]

“What kind of slight coincidence?”

The system rang in his head again, as like an invisible key, unlocking the sealed memories of his previous life. The system spelled out: 

[ Before my dear host you died, you expelled all the energy in you, and your cultivated energy was higher than normal, interrupting the system’s analysis ]

Martial arts families that had their art passed down for many a generation were all cultivating masters, or on the path of cultivation, especially in regards to their inner strength. Many of them have hidden themselves from the view of the world at large, but each and every one of them could kill without being noticed, using any materials on hand as a weapon, where even  flower petals and leaves could be used to slit someone’s throat. 

And amongst these masters, Chen Yi was the youngest of the generations, and a budding genius at that. But unfortunately his personality was too stubborn and bullheaded, brave, bold but fierce and ferocious. And so the elders within the clan did not look upon him very well, nor did they see him as one who could protect and cultivate the future of the clan at all. Even his blood related family members were more geared to favour his junior, who wasn’t even comparable to his strength.

And then later on, he had focused too hard on getting stronger, making him fall into a qi deviation, into disorder within his own mind and lost his life as a subsequent result. Perfectly falling into the mold his father made him out to be, even predicting it from the beginning, as he scolded him about what he would become. 

Something too straight and unbending will be all too easily broken……

The eyes of Chen Yi that were originally tainted with something dangerous suddenly dimmed for a moment when the system spoke those words. As if he recalled something unhappy, his expression subtly hinted at his displeasure, 

“Well if you have latched onto the wrong person, why don’t you hurry up and leave?”

As if the system was angered by his words, it suddenly firmed up.

[ I could leave. Only if you died. ]

He rustled in agitation, flipping over and sideways, left and right, changing the position in how he lay. In the end he discovered that Fu Xiu Nian also had not fallen asleep either and instead was borrowing the moonlight seeping in from the windows, playing with the shadows of his hands. Those hands were long and dainty, but full of energy. Sometimes turning into a dog, sometimes a moth, shining upon the wall, bringing life into its shade.

Chen Yi: “Are you a zombie1? Holding up your hands in the dark of night to absorb the energy of the earth?”

Fu Xiu Nian paused his movements at Chen Yi’s words and slowly turned his head around. But he was only greeted with the back of Chen Yi’s head as he had already turned his body away from him.

The shadow on the wall was being magnified by a million times, and the master of those hands seemed to be mad. It opened and then tightened, opened then tightened, until, in the end, it became a fist, taking its revenge by punching the other’s shadow a few times.

Chen Yi was too lazy to even lift up his eyelids and said calmly in the darkness, 

“If you want to fight me, just say it to my face.”

Fu Xiu Nian immediately shrunk his hands back under the covers and obediently went to sleep.

Chen Yi was used to waking up bright and early to practice his mastery of the martial arts, so before it was even 6am, his eyes were already open. The other two beside him were still sleeping as he quietly slipped out of the bed to brush his teeth. When he opened the door however, he bumped right into Li Su Li and Zhao Ke Yi walking out of their room.

The two girls were fixing their perfectly set hair, with their faces all done up, with detailed and elaborate makeup and outfits on, as if ready to head out the door. They had been, as evident by their state of attire, up way earlier than Chen Yi.

Zhao Ke Yi, with her braided hair, looked very sweet and cute. She smiled as she greeted Chen Yi, 

“Chen Yi, you woke up early today.”

Li Su Li darkly said, 

“What a rare sight. The sun must have risen from the west today. Wouldn’t be waking up early to make us a meal, would you?”

[ Yo, that guy in front of me, are you ill? I suggest you go to the hospital to check your eyes ]

[ I bet with a bag of spicy sticks2, that garbage Chen will not fail to cause trouble today ]

[ Of course. The program will be done with filming this afternoon. If he doesn’t take advantage of the last few hours, where would he even be able to cause any trouble ]

The audience was pretty accurate in their guesses. When the lot of them were carrying baskets on their backs and wearing gloves, heading into the mountain to scavenge for some food, Chen Yi was unburdened and empty handed. How light he looked was how light he weighed. Ah Qi was already done with caring about him and Li Su Li knew that she would not be able to get the upper hand with him, so she had really held it in and did not utter a peep.

Zhao Ke Yi however was not up to the intricacies of the situation and she tactlessly said on reflex, 

“Chen Yi, you forgot your basket.”

Chen Yi said, 

Notes:

*1 zombie: technically a zombie by the standard of a zombie, but a special type of zombie that might be translated as a hopping vampire apparently instead. This kind of evil spirit known in Chinese mythology is usually in an official’s outfit (like the officials of the time period of Xie Yu Zhi), can’t speak and only yells. They appear in only shadowy, dark places, sucking on the “hot/sunny/positive” energy (kind of like the yang of yin yang) that only live humans would have (hence the second half of Chen Yi’s sentence there), and are scared of the sun, fire, and glutinous rice. They can convert others by biting humans (hence the vampire portion) and they can only hop (hence hopping). I think it’s more mostly known that the way to stop them is to use special items like a special mirror or fulu (yellow papers that have special markings) to stick on their forehead to stop them.

*2 spicy sticks: Not really to my taste, but it’s a very common snack, like little spicy pretzel sticks as seen from the brand below.
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