I will not betray the Buddha, nor will I betray you (The End)
The surrounding scenery was rapidly disappearing, and even Zhou Qinghe, who was glaring resentfully at Zhou Gushan, vanished. But that hatred seeped into Zhou Ziqiu's heart, as if Zhou Qinghe was himself.
The surrounding scenery seemed to be running, so fast that it was impossible to see clearly, making one wonder where they were. Only the Grand Preceptor in front of them was real.
"As you can see, this is an illusion I created for the Crown Prince," said the Imperial Preceptor.
"Why?" Zhou Ziqiu asked. According to the rules of the underworld, shouldn't Zhou Gushan be in the eighteenth level of hell? Cui Yu had told him the same thing.
"Why?" The Grand Preceptor chuckled coldly. "Because he is weak."
As he spoke, the Imperial Advisor showed Zhou Ziqiu a scene in which he was arguing with Zhou Gushan. A thunderous roar made Zhou Ziqiu understand what they were arguing about—"Are you insane! That's my own brother!"
And how did the Grand Preceptor in the scene answer: "What if you are my younger brother? If the Zhou Kingdom falls, you will not be able to protect anything."
Zhou Gushan looked at the Imperial Preceptor in disbelief, as if he could hardly believe that these cold words came from the Imperial Preceptor, the one who taught him benevolence and morality: "What are you talking about? What do you mean by 'so what if he's my younger brother'?"
In the scene, the Imperial Advisor directly grabbed Zhou Gushan by the neck: "I only ask you, do you want the Zhou Kingdom to fall and Zhou Qinghe to be captured and made a lowly person, or do you want to protect the Zhou Kingdom and win a good name for Zhou Qinghe after death?"
Zhou Gushan stared blankly at the Imperial Advisor, tears streaming down his face unnoticed: "Why does it have to be him...? Can't it be me...?"
"You think you can escape? Naïve." The Imperial Advisor shook off Zhou Gushan to bring him to his senses. "None of us can escape. The Emperor, the Empress, me, and you—none of us can escape."
"What are you hesitating about? The Emperor and Empress have already made their decision, so what are you hesitating about? You were the one who asked me for help in the first place."
"But you didn't say you wanted to use this method!"
Zhou Gushan roared with all his might.
The Imperial Advisor chuckled sarcastically, as if he had heard something amusing: "Crown Prince, do you think the art of reversing Yin and Yang is something easy to use?"
“Be firm, Your Highness. A ruler should not be so soft-hearted as to be a woman.”
"It's because of the benevolence and righteousness I taught him that he's so weak." Off-screen, the Imperial Preceptor coldly looked at Zhou Ziqiu, "Making him so weak that he stays in the illusion and refuses to come out."
"Where is he? Let him come out and talk to me," Zhou Ziqiu said coldly.
"Him?" The Imperial Advisor chuckled coldly. "He's already been annihilated in the eighteenth level of hell."
"The person in this illusion is nothing but his obsession. I kept his obsession and created this illusion of fatherly love and filial piety for him." Even his obsession was nothing more than a ridiculous desire to make Zhou Qinghe hate him.
"And what about you?" Zhou Ziqiu asked again.
"Me?" The Grand Preceptor shrugged indifferently. "I was long ago destroyed. The me here is just a remnant magical illusion."
The receding speed of the surrounding scenery began to slow down, and the Grand Preceptor's figure also began to become ethereal. He smiled again.
"Wipe away your tears, Second Prince."
Even the Imperial Preceptor's voice began to fade into nothingness, but it struck Zhou Ziqiu's heart like a thunderbolt.
"Don't waste the twelve years of life that the Crown Prince and I have bought for you. Live on, live well. This is the last wish of the Crown Prince, the Emperor, the Empress and I."
The comb in her hand fell to the ground, and the flickering candlelight became eerie. When Wen Niang turned around again, Wen Su was nowhere to be seen.
Tears finally streamed down her face, and the woman broke down in tears.
Whose wishes are being fulfilled in this illusion? Whose dreams are being realized? Perhaps both are true.
"We meet again."
Wen Su had no intention of criticizing Cui Yu's words; he asked urgently, "Where's Zhou Ziqiu? Has Zhou Ziqiu come out yet?"
Cui Yu smiled but remained silent, the answer obvious.
Wen Su breathed a sigh of relief and murmured, "That's good."
"Don't relax so quickly, young general," Cui Yu said with a smile.
Wen Su's nerves tightened again: "What do you mean?"
This time, Cui Yu stopped talking and simply pointed in the opposite direction from the Bridge of Helplessness to Wen Su, saying, "Go back, Zhou Ziqiu is already waiting for you."
A suction force pulled Wen Su in, and Wen Su shouted anxiously, "What exactly do you mean!"
Cui Yu smiled as she watched Wen Su gradually disappear into the distance: "It's nothing, I just wanted you to cherish the time you have left. Zhou Ziqiu only has twelve years left to live."
The underworld never does business at a loss. Zhou Gushan's remaining sixty years of life were discounted, with Zhou Ziqiu receiving twelve years instead. That's right, he didn't miscalculate.
------"drop----"
"drop----"
"drop----"
"!"
The excruciating pain throughout his body made Wen Su open his eyes. The sound of an electrocardiogram machine filled his ears. He tried to open his eyes to see what was happening, but everything in front of him was dark.
He could only move his neck, and then he heard a scream beside him: "Boss!"
He's fat.
Wen Su opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything; his throat was extremely dry and hoarse.
The fat man quickly picked up a water glass and poured water, but someone next to him took the glass and gently supported Wen Su's head to feed him water.
"Ahem... Thank you."
Wen Su thanked him with difficulty, but suddenly there was no sound beside him. He could only call out again, his voice barely audible: "Fatty...?"
The fat man woke up with a start and hurriedly responded, afraid that his boss would faint again: "Hey! Hey!"
"I...I cough, what's wrong with me?"
Wen Su's body is too weak right now. He has to gasp for breath after saying just one word, and it took him a while to recover from his cough.
The fat man glanced at the person next to him and said somewhat timidly, "The doctor said that your eyes will be blind for a while, and you are covered in injuries, including a broken leg. You will need to rest for a long time."
He was too embarrassed to say that when they pulled him out of the grave, he was covered in blood and was taken directly to the hospital by ambulance for emergency treatment, where he spent a long time in the ICU.
"Oh...okay..." Wen Su lay back down on the hospital bed, but then he remembered something more important and asked anxiously, "Zhou!...cough, where is Zhou Ziqiu?"
"Master Zhou, he...he..." The fat man glanced sideways at the person beside him, feeling depressed at the thought that his boss's injuries were because of him.
"He's coughing, what's wrong with him?"
The person beside him suddenly sighed, grabbed Wen Su's outstretched hand, and felt the rough texture of the bandage, conveying a tangible sense of relief to Wen Su: "I'm fine."
"Zhou Ziqiu...Zhou Ziqiu..."
Wen Su grabbed Zhou Ziqiu's hand as if it were a lifeline. The movement tore open the wounds on his hand and shoulder, but he seemed not to feel the pain. He reached out with his other hand to grab Zhou Ziqiu, but Zhou Ziqiu held it down and scolded him: "Needle! It's back to life!"
Wen Su, oblivious to what was happening, only said, "Zhou Ziqiu...don't go..."
Knowing that Wen Su was acting this way entirely because of him, Zhou Ziqiu sighed again, feeling a pang of pain in his heart: "If I don't leave, where can I go?"
"Don't kill yourself, I'll save you... I'll save you..."
Seeing that something was wrong, the fat man quickly slipped out of the ward to find Glasses, who was handling the paperwork, leaving the space to Wen Su, who had something to say.
"I survived, I don't have to commit suicide."
Zhou Ziqiu laughed, looking at Wen Su wrapped up like a mummy on the hospital bed. He wondered if Wen Su's appearance had tickled his funny bone, making him unable to help but laugh.
Hearing Zhou Ziqiu laugh, Wen Su's restless heart finally calmed down. He murmured, "Yes, you survived. That's good..."
"Wen Su." After laughing, Zhou Ziqiu suddenly called out Wen Su again. He knew now was not a good time to ask, but he really wanted to know why. "Why do you like me? I'm a man."
Wen Su's index finger twitched, tickling Zhou Ziqiu's hand. A blush appeared on his bruised face under the bandage, just like a little boy who had confessed his feelings being gazed at by the girl he liked.
"I know you're a guy, I didn't think of you as a girl...no." Realizing he was talking nonsense, Wen Su stopped himself in time. "It's just...I like you, I want to see you, seeing you smile makes me feel good."
Why?
This is what Zhou Ziqiu couldn't understand. What was so special about him that made Wen Su like him? He was a bit old-fashioned, didn't like to smile, and even his face was quite ordinary.
Wen Su didn't know how to express his feelings; his usually quick-witted mouth seemed to have fallen silent: "...I've seen you before, at the Wen family home, I've seen you."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziqiu recalled what had happened that night. If there was anything special about that night, it was that snow-white shadow that appeared out of nowhere: "You mean—"
"That night, a soul was trapped inside a ghost. I saw you there, and later I was the one who helped you drive away the Red and White Demons."
Unexpectedly, Wen Su saw his ghost form at that time. Zhou Ziqiu smiled helplessly, but felt it was somewhat impossible. "You're not trying to say that you like me because of this, are you?"
"Of course not! Cough cough cough—" In his haste to deny it, Wen Su choked on his own saliva and coughed for a long time before he recovered. "I have to apologize to you in advance. I think what I'm about to say might not be to your liking."
"Just tell me," Zhou Ziqiu said. Wen Su now knew everything about him.
"I knew you had secrets. I didn't want to dig them out, but the feeling of gradually uncovering your hidden secrets is really—" It's good. I like the mystery surrounding you, and even after knowing all your secrets, I haven't felt annoyed at all; on the contrary—
Wen Su turned his head to the other side, even though he was blindfolded, he still tried to look shy and dared not look at Zhou Ziqiu.
Zhou Ziqiu was stunned for a long time, many questions flashing through his mind like a revolving lantern, but he didn't say a word, as if he had lost his voice.
"...Zhou Ziqiu?" Wen Su called out, afraid that Zhou Ziqiu would quietly leave. "Are you there? Don't be angry, I didn't mean to. Whatever you want to know about me, I'll tell you. I'm 1.857 meters tall, and my chest measurement is—"
"I am here."
Zhou Ziqiu quickly interrupted Wen Su, then rubbed his forehead with a headache. After asking what happened, he was even more confused. Why was Wen Su's thought process different from that of ordinary people? Shouldn't a normal person want to stay away from him after knowing these things? Just like when Cui Yongle found out about these things, he took three whole days to recover.
"How could you... never mind." With a terrible headache, Zhou Ziqiu gave up thinking about it, but Wen Su sensed something was wrong when he heard Zhou Ziqiu's tone and quickly grabbed Zhou Ziqiu's hand.
"I'm serious."
Do you know what I think of when I see your ghostly form?
“I knew you were a ghost all along, and I wondered what your ghost form would look like, but when I actually saw it, I thought, it was worth it to have lived this life just to see this person.”
"I couldn't help but think, what else is there that I haven't guessed, and what kind of surprises those things I have guessed will bring me."
"But my biggest thought at the time was, 'You're so beautiful, can I hug you?'"
"Zhou Ziqiu, may I hug you?"
What appeared to be a ferocious ghost to others was, in his eyes, an unparalleled beauty, and this beauty was even more striking because it was Zhou Ziqiu.
Zhou Ziqiu remained silent for a long time, and Wen Su's heart sank deeper and deeper as he received no reply. But just as he was about to hit rock bottom, a single sentence from Zhou Ziqiu pulled him back from the brink of despair. Though not a rejection, it was the greatest path to heaven that Zhou Ziqiu could offer—
"Get your injury healed first before you talk about carrying me."
18:59:02
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