(three)
Today, Zhou Qinghe was wearing a golden royal robe, with a soaring crane embroidered in black thread on the sleeve. The crane flapped its wings as the robe fluttered. All the courtiers respectfully praised the Second Prince's demeanor. Only Wen Su knelt on the spot, stunned, his mind blank.
This pattern is exactly the same as the one on Zhou Qinghe's mourning clothes when he was buried!
Wen Su tried to stand up, but his body seemed out of control; he couldn't even make the simplest fist—this feeling of powerlessness was exactly the same as it had that day.
Why? !
On stage, Zhou Qinghe saw Wen Su, who stood out from the crowd, and a strange look of pain appeared on his face. But the pain disappeared quickly, and he quickly switched back to a smile, though the smile was somewhat forced.
Wen Su's incongruity also caught the attention of King Zhou on the stage. King Zhou turned his gaze to Wen Su, who was still kneeling on the ground after everyone had stood up, and asked with a smile, "Young man of the Wen family, why are you still kneeling on the ground?"
Cold sweat dripped from his forehead. Wen Su tried to move, but could not speak, as if he had lost his voice. Wen Niang, who was standing nearby, noticed something was wrong and quickly knelt down to kowtow and apologize to the King of Zhou, explaining that Wen Su was unwell that day.
Wen Su seemed dumbfounded, unable to do anything but stare intently at Zhou Qinghe on the stage. Zhou Qinghe on the stage also stared back blankly, not understanding why this person kept staring at him—or at his clothes.
Zhou Qinghe's expression was also somewhat unpleasant. He had been hesitating about what pattern to choose for his clothes today, but after waking up from a nap, he found that someone had decided on the current pattern for him. As for the person who decided on the pattern, it was probably the ghost that had been bothering him recently.
"Let me do it, let me do it."
A familiar voice suddenly rang in his ears, the same tone as his own, but claiming to be him from thousands of years in the future. Zhou Qinghe gritted his teeth, unwilling to relinquish control of his body.
“Let me handle this. Wen Su isn’t a bad person. I’ll take care of it.”
With an anxious tone, Zhou Qinghe closed his eyes briefly before surrendering his body to the suspicious person. Although this ghost had been haunting him recently, it hadn't done anything harmful. It had only told him a story from another world, a story that sounded ridiculous. His elder brother had killed him? He didn't believe it.
Zhou Qinghe's expression changed slightly on the stage. He quickly stepped down and knelt beside Wen Su, bowing respectfully to the King of Zhou and saying, "Father, on this joyous occasion, your son has prepared a gift for you. I hope you will like it."
King Zhou's attention was immediately diverted, and he laughed loudly, "Good, my good son, let me see him quickly."
Zhou Ziqiu kowtowed again, stood up and forcefully pulled Wen Su up, while quickly writing a character on his palm with his finger – “Qiu”.
Wen Su froze for a moment, then stared at Zhou Ziqiu's face in disbelief. His lips moved but he couldn't speak, though his strength returned. He retreated to the back with Wen Niang and Zhou Ziqiu. Zhou Qinghe had indeed prepared a gift for the King of Zhou in advance. Zhou Ziqiu turned his head and asked a maid to fetch it. After arranging it, he looked at Wen Su and said quickly, "We'll contact you by letter later."
He cannot stay in this body for long; it rejects him. Only when Zhou Qinghe lowers his guard and truly believes what he says can he take over the body. At that time, the impasse will be broken.
Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Ziqiu's expression changed. Although it was the same face, it was clear that he was a completely different person from the one he had just spoken to.
Zhou Qinghe, watching Zhou Ziqiu steal his credit, was somewhat resentful and insisted on getting his body back. Zhou Ziqiu could only say a few words before handing his body over to Zhou Qinghe.
Wen Su watched Zhou Qinghe's departing figure, then looked down at the spot on his palm where Zhou Ziqiu had just written the character "Qiu," and his heart trembled violently.
Zhou Ziqiu... is still...
Zhou Ziqiu, you are here.
Seeing that Wen Su seemed to have come to his senses, Wen Niang, standing to the side, punched him in exasperation. Heaven knows how her fearless son suddenly went limp.
Wen Su silently accepted it, but his heart was filled with turbulent emotions.
It turned out that it was Zhou Ziqiu who was talking to him then; it was him, he had been there the whole time.
Back in his seat, Xie Xingzhou continued to tease him, but Wen Su remained silent. Occasionally, he would glance at Zhou Qinghe on the stage out of the corner of his eye. Wen Su's absent-minded appearance made Wen Niang frown. Something seemed wrong with her good son.
After the banquet ended, Zhou Qinghe returned to his palace, dismissed his servants, and asked the air, "Who exactly are you?"
He had asked this question countless times, but he never believed the person's answer. Sure enough, he heard the same answer again: "I am you from a thousand years in the future."
"Are you going to tell me again that I was killed by my royal brother?"
This time, instead of the same answer, it was a brief denial: "No."
In the void, Zhou Ziqiu, unable to materialize, looked at his former self with a sorrowful expression.
"Then what do you want to say?" Zhou Qinghe questioned.
Zhou Ziqiu lowered his eyes, feeling heartbroken as he recalled Wen Su's reaction at the banquet hall during the day. He had intended to use the pattern to let Wen Su know that he was there, but he hadn't expected that Wen Su would be traumatized by the pattern. He sighed silently.
“Let’s talk about Wen Su,” Zhou Ziqiu said.
Zhou Qinghe gave a mocking laugh, his tone sharp and hurtful: "You know him, don't you? If you were me a thousand years from now, you wouldn't associate with someone as unruly as him. Look at his stupid state today, would you even consider someone like that?"
"Shut up." Zhou Ziqiu, who was usually good-tempered, rarely lost his temper, and his voice was somewhat cold. "You can talk about me, but don't talk about others. Don't speak of other people's pain if you haven't experienced it yourself."
"...I'm sorry." Zhou Qinghe was not Wen Su. Realizing how hurtful his words had been, he felt a pang of guilt and offered a sincere apology.
At this moment, Zhou Qinghe was like a child who hadn't grown up, someone who had truly been pampered and spoiled. Zhou Ziqiu didn't know why he had become like this in this illusion. He sighed silently. One by one, they were giving him a terrible headache. The most troublesome one was Wen Su. Why did Wen Su, who was perfectly fine, also come down here?
"After I die, I will change my name to Zhou Ziqiu and live alone in the world," Zhou Ziqiu said. He had told these things to Zhou Qinghe before, but he was saying them again now, not to gain Zhou Qinghe's trust, but simply to narrate the story. "Later, with the help of others, I was able to possess an unclaimed body and live in the world as a human."
“I joined an organization to help people fulfill their wishes. Some wanted to see their deceased relatives, and some were tormented by evil spirits. So later I opened a shop called Wish Pavilion.”
Zhou Qinghe remained silent, listening quietly as Zhou Ziqiu spoke of things he didn't know.
“A thousand years have passed in this way. During this time, there have been enthusiastic people and wicked people. I have always treated them with the mindset of being just a passerby. Even when I met Wen Su, I treated him the same way.” Zhou Ziqiu smiled. “Yes, he was unruly. I initially thought the same way, thinking that I would only work with him once and then have no further contact with him.”
But you still became acquainted, Zhou Qinghe thought.
"But because of an accident involving a prominent family, I met him again and found that he was just unruly and had never intended to harm anyone. Moreover, his behavior was less unruly and more carefree. He didn't care what others thought; he was happy as long as he was happy."
Zhou Ziqiu once admired such a mindset, but he could never achieve it because he had too many concerns: whether his actions would cause trouble for others, or whether they would affect others. Wen Su, on the other hand, was different. His thought was: I am who I am; if I accept it, I will come; if I don't, I will leave.
But Wen Su was indeed a good friend worth getting to know... if that incident hadn't happened later.
Thinking about that incident only amplified Zhou Ziqiu's headache. What exactly did Wen Su like about him? He just couldn't figure it out.
Seeing that Zhou Ziqiu remained silent for a long time, Zhou Qinghe asked in confusion, "...Zhou Ziqiu?"
"Hmm?" Zhou Ziqiu realized that he had been lost in thought, and quickly said "Ah," continuing what he hadn't finished saying: "He is a very good person. He carries no less responsibility than I do, yet he manages to live a life that I could never live."
At this moment, Zhou Qinghe suddenly realized something: "So, according to you, the Wen Su in front of us is the Wen Su from your place?"
Zhou Ziqiu responded.
"Then what about Wen Su here?"
Zhou Ziqiu fell silent for a long time before he finally managed to organize his thoughts: "...I don't know. All I know is that when I was alive, there was no military family called the Wen family in the Zhou Dynasty. There was only a reclusive family of metaphysical scholars called the Wen family. Wen Su was a descendant of this family a thousand years later."
Zhou Qinghe lowered his gaze, and his heart began to tremble.
Zhou Ziqiu sighed: "What I'm saying today is just to tell you not to be hostile towards Wen Su. He came here because of me."
"Because of you?" Zhou Qinghe asked.
“Yes.” Zhou Ziqiu nodded. “Because I have existed for too long, I was about to become a vengeful ghost. Wen Su wanted to save me, but an accident happened, and I committed suicide in front of him... and that’s how he came here.”
“Even his strange behavior today is because of the pattern I chose for you, the same pattern that was on my mourning clothes back then.” Zhou Ziqiu paused. “He’s acting this way because of me, so don’t talk about him.”
Zhou Qinghe looked away and nodded after a long while. He didn't know how to take back the angry words he had just said in a fit of pique. He simply asked Zhou Ziqiu, "Then, are you going to write him a letter?"
"good."
Zhou Ziqiu nodded, and after taking over Zhou Qinghe's body, he took out paper and pen and wrote down his guesses about how to break through the illusion after arriving in this realm.
"..." Wen Su took the letter that the palace had sent overnight, read it, and then burned it over a candle flame.
The letter stated something simple: if he could find one thing and return the memories belonging to Zhou Qinghe hidden inside to Zhou Qinghe, this situation would collapse on its own.
As for that thing, it left Wen Su somewhat puzzled—what was that bright red pearl with the crane in its mouth?
18:58:53
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