Chapter 084: Blue Moonlight (Thirteen)

The rain didn't stop until the second half of the night. The clouds dispersed, and the stars twinkled in the sky, but the rain disappeared without a trace.

The academy's final examination ended last month, and Chen Wenjian took first place as usual. He is now considered a leader among all the disciples. He is full of knowledge and talent, and is no less talented than the ordinary teachers in the academy.

On the day the results were released, Chen Yunli accompanied him to the fourth to sixth floors of the library. Unfortunately, there were no books or items related to "Chen Yunli" himself, but they did find Luo Qifang's poetry collections and paintings.

There are three volumes of poetry collections, which are collected from his youth to before his death, with a wide range of styles. Several of the poems mention "Dust and Cloud Separation". They were all written after they separated, full of longing and affection.

After reading the poem, Chen Yunli felt a pang of pain in his teeth, but Chen Wenjian remained silent for a long time. He then spent several days compiling the history they had found about "Chen Yunli" into a book, but specifically removed the section on love affairs, as if he wanted to highlight something.

But later, when the disciples of the academy competed in calligraphy, he used a poem written by Luo Qifang for "Chen Yunli". Although both his calligraphy and poetry received unanimous praise, he became even more unhappy.

Chen Yunli had no idea what he was trying to do, and could only secretly complain in his heart: A man's heart is as unpredictable as a needle in the sea.

"I'm out of paper and ink. I'm going to town to buy some more after tomorrow's morning class. Besides the new storybook, what else do you need me to bring?"

Chen Wenjian tidied up the bookshelf as usual, turned around and saw Chen Yunli squatting on the embossed flowers on the bedside railing in a daze, so he spoke to interrupt his thoughts.

"Take some locust flower honey, the kind you bought last time. It tastes great when used to make candied lotus root." Chen Yunli answered reflexively. This answer seemed to have been brewing for a long time, lingering in his mind day after day, so much so that his mouth had already finished speaking before his brain could react.

But as soon as he finished speaking, Chen Yunli couldn't help but feel dazed again.

Does he like Sophora japonica honey so much? When was the last time Chen Wenjian brought back Sophora japonica honey?

"good."

Chen Wenjian's voice sounded nearby, and the lights in the room went out at the same time. Chen Yunli suddenly woke up and was caught off guard when a warm hand pulled him into the quilt.

Chen Wenjian lay on his side, with a thin blanket draped over his shoulders and hanging down, forming a wide angle between the wall and his body. His sleeves and long hair were folded on top, which was Chen Yunli's "throne".

"What's wrong? You seem listless?" Chen Wenjian noticed something was wrong with the butterfly in his arms and leaned in closer to ask in a low voice, his long, dense eyelashes half-drooped, half-hiding the light in his eyes. "Are you feeling unwell?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Yunli yawned without warning, and sleepiness came over him, making his already unclear mind into a chaos.

Chen Wenjian chuckled: "It seems that you are too sleepy. Then go to sleep. You don't have to accompany me to the academy tomorrow. Just rest well at home."

"I won't accompany you to the academy..." Chen Yunli murmured.

As far as he could remember, Chen Wenjian had never been asked to go to school alone since he met him, but there were indeed such moments in his memory, which made him very confused.

Could it be that he was really too sleepy and that was why he had this strange illusion?

Chen Yunli's eyelids drooped uncontrollably, and when he was half asleep and half awake, he suddenly shuddered. The whole butterfly felt like it was poured from head to toe by water with icicles floating on it in the cold winter, and woke up suddenly.

He closed his eyes and slowly flapped his wings twice: "Chen Wenjian, I want to go to Muyu Town with you tomorrow - you promised to take me there before, but you haven't kept your promise in three years."

Chen Wenjian thought for a moment and said, "This town is very small, and there's nothing worth seeing. If you're interested in life in the human world, after the exams are over next year and I become a teacher at the academy, I can take you on a trip around the country under the guise of studying abroad. Is that okay?"

Chen Yunli did not answer. He fluttered his wings and activated the Huangliang dream-making technique. He entered Chen Wenjian's dream for the third time.

Compared with the last time, Chen Wenjian's dream was more vivid and contained many more things.

The sky is water-gray, the lake is light ink-colored, and in the distance are steep mountains with brushstrokes. Lotus flowers are blooming on the water, and black carps are swimming leisurely. Flocks of wild geese fly past the orange-red setting sun, and white cranes are calling softly in the sandbank, and the dust rises and falls with the ripples.

Chen Wenjian rowed the black-sailed boat in front of Chen Yunli, paddling with one hand and reaching out to him with the other.

He ignored it, picked up the hem of his clothes with one hand and jumped lightly onto the bow of the boat. When he landed, the boat shook violently and waves rippled out from under the boat in circles.

Chen Wenjian was helpless: "Do you really have to go to this Muyu Town?"

Chen Yunli sat on the raised corner of the boat, her intricate and exquisite dress covering the entire boat. Strings of chain tassels on her waist and sleeves jingled and hung in the air, reflecting the afterglow and complementing the ripples on the water.

He raised his head slightly, and the ornaments on his temples and ears collided with each other, making crisp sounds. Two star-like rays of light overlapped from his eyelids all the way to the corners of his eyes, flying out ostentatiously, making his eyes bright like the moon surrounded by stars.

Chen Wenjian felt a huge pressure when he was stared at by these eyes, and he couldn't help but squat down in front of him.

"You've already promised me, how can you go back on your word?" Chen Yunli reached out and pinched his ear.

Chen Wenjian was pulled back and forth by his ears, his head moving along with him, his eyes becoming more and more helpless.

"When did I promise you?"

Chen Yunli raised two fingers: "You agreed two years ago."

"Really? But I didn't..."

Before he could even utter the word "impression", Chen Yunli glared back at him.

Chen Wenjian shook his head and smiled, then took his hand and held it in his palm: "Okay, if you really want to go to Muyu Town, I'll take you down the mountain tomorrow."

"Really?" Chen Yunli glanced at him suspiciously.

"I always keep my word to you. Even if a rainstorm collapses the mountain and blocks the road tomorrow, I will still crawl you out." Chen Wenjian said with a smile, "So, can you extend the duration of the spell a little longer and stay with me in my dream for a while?"

"All right."

Chen Yunli curled his lips, pulled back his hand and motioned him to sit over, but found that there was no room for a second person at the bow of the boat.

He muttered, "This is all a dream. Can't you conjure up a bigger boat? Or at least a bamboo raft so we can sit together."

"Of course."

Chen Wenjian raised the oar and gently knocked on the board. Immediately, a patch of ink-black water spread out before Chen Yunli's eyes. In an instant, the scenery changed. The boat turned into a long and wide bamboo raft, and the setting sun in the sky turned into a huge full moon, illuminating the world with its clear light.

In addition to the bamboo raft, they also provided a low table, a water boiler, and a set of tea sets.

Under the cover of night, on the lake, they sailed towards the moon on a bamboo raft.

…

"You're daydreaming again."

Following the words came Chen Wenjian's fingers. Chen Yunli was flicked on the wings by his fingertips and flew up as if he had been electrocuted. He circled twice in the spot before coming back to his senses like a soul returning to a body.

He blinked and looked around blankly, only to see them standing at the door of the library, surrounded by a group of academy disciples, who were congratulating Chen Wenjian on winning the first place in the academic examination.

Chen Wenjian took care of his situation and took the time to respond to everyone's blessings. He was polite and calm.

Chen Yunli looked at Chen Wenjian again. He had changed out of his usual plain cloth clothes and put on the uniform distributed by the academy. The well-cut elegant blue shirt outlined his tall and straight figure, as handsome as a bamboo or a pine tree, and he was extraordinary.

After finally responding to the countless blessings, Chen Wenjian registered and took Chen Yunli up the stairs before asking, "Why were you in a trance for so long just now?"

Chen Yunli was stunned, his chaotic thoughts suddenly becoming untangled due to his question: "...Nothing, I was just thinking about how time flies. In the blink of an eye, we have known each other for five years."

"It's only five years. There's still a long way to go. Are you tired of me?" Chen Wenjian joked.

"That's not the case." Chen Yunli muttered, but suddenly an idea came to his mind and he deliberately asked, "Hey, guess what we can find on the upper floors? The love poems your master and Bai Yueguang wrote to each other? Gifts they gave each other? Tokens of love? Love..."

"Okay, shut up." Chen Wenjian held him in his palm coldly, "I don't like what you said."

Chen Yunli chuckled, "Although their ending was not good, they were a match made in heaven from the beginning. You, a junior, don't know why you're jealous. You can't be thinking that your master is not worthy of Mr. Yunli, right?"

"Master's talent is astonishing, and he shouldn't be confined by personal feelings. Mr. Yunli is open and calm, and he shouldn't be trapped by emotions either." Chen Wenjian said righteously, "They should just get what they deserve. Why bother entangled?"

Chen Yunli laughed: "Are you a sour orange spirit?"

Chen Wenjian held him up to his face and emphasized seriously, "Every word I say comes from the bottom of my heart. There is not a single falsehood in it."

Chen Yunli: "Hahahahahahahahaha——"

Even funnier.

While one butterfly and one man were chatting and laughing, they had already walked through the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh floors. Chen Yunli didn't feel anything, and Chen Wenjian didn't stop either.

Soon, they reached the top floor and were greeted by a circular hall. The bookshelves and display cabinets were designed to be semi-hidden, some embedded in the wall, some sunk under the floor, and some suspended in the air. The order was inverted and chaotic, and not aligned at all. At first glance, one would feel a sense of spatial disorder.

"Your master..." Chen Yunli stared at the layout of this floor in amazement and muttered, "He's quite knowledgeable about art."

Chen Wenjian was also a little surprised: "Master is indeed quite ingenious."

After that, they were no longer in a hurry to find anything. They strolled around leisurely, carefully admiring the ingenious and exquisite design of the twelfth floor, and gradually became impressed by Luo Qifang's wild and imaginative yet not abrupt or weird ideas.

Before they knew it, Chen Wenjian brought Chen Yunli to the middle of the top floor, walked into the middle of the tall semi-circular connected bookshelf, and saw the secret compartment under the floor.

The secret compartment is long and narrow, two meters long and one meter wide, with white jade on the edges and a lid made of colored glaze. It is extremely gorgeous and does not fit in with the overall style of the twelfth floor, but it does not feel abrupt either.

Chen Wenjian walked to the secret compartment and, for some reason, froze for a moment before stopping. The vibrant colors of the glazed lid caught his eye, flickering and fading with the light. His eyes seemed to conjure two kaleidoscopic tunnels, dazzling him.

The moment he saw the secret compartment, Chen Yunli's heart suddenly tightened, and countless fragments of memory suddenly exploded in his mind, just like an out-of-control player in a movie theater, cutting and mixing images from different stages and scenes, and flashing before his eyes.

That was... the memory of his previous life.

Chen Yunliqing couldn't help but fly away from Chen Wenjian's shoulder, hovered in the air for a while, and then landed in the rich colors in his eyes. Its wings folded, and its antennae drooped, as if it had turned into a relief on the glass cover, frozen there.

"Do you know... what's inside?" Chen Wenjian's voice was barely audible.

Chen Yunli's mind was in a mess, and the surging sea of memories was howling, prompting him to scoop up the nearest wave and hand it to Chen Wenjian as an answer.

"I guess... my 'corpse' is inside."

Before he finished speaking, Chen Yunli's vision darkened, just like the few seconds when the lights are turned off before a movie starts, where you can't see your hand in front of you.

The next moment, twenty-four stars lit up one after another in the darkness, forming a huge circle in the night sky, enveloping him.

"Zhu Ji... Yun Li... Chen Qing..."

The echoing voice spread out slowly, like a gurgling stream, and sank into Chen Yunli's ears.

Then the system prompt sounded:

"The first phase of the mission: Finding and compiling Chen Yunli's history into a book has been completed. Due to the special settings of this world, the second phase will begin immediately without any buffer."

"Second phase mission: Find (create) memories related to history."

Before Chen Yunli could react to the meaning, his vision suddenly went dark and he lost consciousness.