Chapter 40
After finishing his speech, Ji Mingting said with some guilt, "If I had taken the second half of the book to Congshan, you wouldn't have recovered your memory so recently."
"No." Liu Huaizhao choked up and covered his face with his hands. "You can't predict the future, brother, I, I..."
He spoke incoherently. If he hadn't given the book to his senior brother, his senior brother wouldn't have...
Qin Zunyue hugged him gently and patted his back.
"A Zhao." The brother's gentle voice sounded, "This is not your fault. You have your own things to do."
Qin Zunyue kissed his ear lightly and said, "Huai Zhao, we all know who the culprit is."
After hearing this, Liu Huaizhao clenched his fists and muttered in Qin Zunyue's arms: "I must make him pay the price!"
"We will accompany you." Qin Zunyue said softly: "No one has forgotten why they came here."
Liu Huaizhao's emotions gradually calmed down. He took a deep breath and straightened up.
Ji Mingting and Tong Le were looking at him worriedly. He wiped his tears with the back of his hand and said, "I'm fine."
Qin Zunyue rubbed his head with his broad palm and said to Zheng Shu, "Do you guys need help packing up Professor Li and the others? They're leaving this afternoon."
Zheng Shu nodded and took the others away.
The remaining three people stood where they were. Ji Mingting and Liu Huaizhao looked at Qin Zunyue, wondering what he was going to do by suddenly sending the others away.
Qin Zunyue held Liu Huaizhao's hand and said, "Brother, I know you can't accept me, but my feelings for Liu Huaizhao are serious. I've lived for almost thirty years and have never loved anyone so much. Liu Huaizhao is the first and only one. I know this may not be credible, but I am very sure that Liu Huaizhao is the person I want to spend my life with."
Liu Huaizhao was startled by his sudden confession. His sadness disappeared in an instant, replaced by a feeling of helplessness and shyness. He glanced at his senior brother, tugged at Qin Zunyue's sleeve, and whispered, "What are you doing?"
Qin Zunyue patted his hand soothingly, still looking into Ji Mingting's eyes, "If nothing unexpected happens, this will be our last free time, so I hope to make my attitude clear to my senior brother now."
Ji Mingting smiled. Although Qin Zunyue's action was sudden, the serious expression on his face did not seem fake. Instead, one could see some sincerity. However, promises made with words were not counted after all, so he still did not give in. "Anyone can talk big."
"I understand that only time can reveal a person's true character." Qin Zunyue's tone remained firm.
Ji Mingting didn't respond and flashed back into the ancient book.
"What are you doing?" Liu Huaizhao dragged him out the door and even reached out to touch his forehead. "What's going on? Why are you suddenly saying this?"
"I know Changhuai Mountain is very dangerous, and I also know that you lied to me when you said it wasn't dangerous and it didn't matter." Qin Zunyue looked at Liu Huaizhao and told him what had been bothering him for some time.
"You...what are you talking about?" Liu Huaizhao avoided looking.
Qin Zunyue pinched his face and said, "Do you know that you really can't lie?"
When he asked Liu Huaizhao if he was safe, although Liu Huaizhao pretended to be calm, his eyes were a little erratic. The more Qin Zunyue thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Today he thought of a way to trick him, but who knew that he would really succeed.
"Tell me." Qin Zunyue's face remained expressionless. "How dangerous is it?"
"It's nothing, actually..." Liu Huaizhao stammered, "It's just that you can't use magic while climbing the mountain... There might be foul monsters or something on the way..."
Qin Zunyue remained silent, so Liu Huaizhao had no choice but to confess everything. "Actually, I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, which was bound to cause me injury, to see if I could achieve that dream while nearing death..."
Qin Zunyue still didn't speak.
"It's really gone!" Liu Huaizhao couldn't hold on any longer and grabbed Qin Zunyue's sleeve and shook it.
It was the first time Qin Zunyue saw him acting like a spoiled child, and he almost lost his composure. After two seconds of daze, he still maintained an expressionless look, "Then you also asked me to go to the mountain with you."
Liu Huaizhao laughed twice, "I originally wanted to tie you up at the foot of the mountain..."
Now Qin Zunyue was really angry.
But he was afraid that his angry look would scare Liu Huaizhao, so he could only stand there and say nothing.
After a while, he looked at Liu Huaizhao who was observing him carefully, and felt a little distressed.
Finally, he lost his temper and pinched Liu Huaizhao's face. "This won't happen again. From now on, no matter what happens, I will be by your side. Do you understand?"
"Oh." Liu Huaizhao breathed a sigh of relief after hearing him speak. He grabbed his hand and asked, "Then what on earth are you talking to me about today?"
"Nothing. I just felt that no matter whether Senior Brother could accept me or not, I had to show my attitude. I know he is very important to you, and I don't want you to be caught in the middle."
"Senior Brother won't embarrass me." Liu Huaizhao said with a smile: "But I'm so happy that you suddenly said this today."
"Um?"
"You never say these things. Even when you confess your feelings, you..."
Thinking of everything that happened when he confessed his feelings, Qin Zunyue covered his mouth with his hands, his ears reddened, and gritted his teeth and said, "Stop talking."
-
It was very lively downstairs. Professor Li sat outside the corridor basking in the sun, watching the people walking around, feeling somewhat unhappy.
She stood up and touched the trees around her that she had covered with talismans to keep monsters away, and whispered to them as if she was saying goodbye to an old friend.
Lianlian stood next to Qin Zunyue and Liu Huaizhao, her eyes reddened. "I never thought that there would be a day when I would leave here."
She grew up here since she was a child, and the outside world has become blurred in her memory, so how could she not feel uneasy when leaving this time?
But they really couldn't stay in this place anymore. Over the years, countless people had left forever because of hunting and illness. She thought of the safe city that Qin Zunyue mentioned and took a deep breath. Anyway, there were so many of them and they knew talismans. No matter where they went, keeping their lives would not be a problem. As for other things, it couldn't be worse than it is now.
Just like that, in the midst of anxiety and excitement, the pick-up vehicle from the safe city arrived ahead of schedule.
A young soldier got out of the first military off-road vehicle. He saluted neatly and said, "I'm the person in charge of this operation. My name is Lin Yun. Which of you is Qin Zunyue?"
"It's me." Qin Zunyue stepped forward and shook hands with him.
Lin Yun took out his ID. After carefully examining it, Qin Zunyue breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Thank you for your hard work, Commander Lin."
"As you should, comrades, please get on the bus first."
Behind the military vehicle was a bus that was just big enough to accommodate everyone in the building.
Xiaoze and Lianlian supported Professor Li as they walked at the back. Professor Li looked at the young people standing there and said, "Thank you very much. And also to the young man who couldn't show his face, please thank him for me. That book really saved our lives."
The ancient book in his arms felt slightly warm. Liu Huaizhao cupped his hands, accepting the thanks on behalf of his senior brother, and then said, "Professor Li, take care."
Professor Li patted him on the shoulder, turned around and got into the car.
After watching several military vehicles and buses leave, Tong Le stretched and asked, "When are we leaving?"
"Now." Qin Zunyue checked the things in the car and found a place to put the vegetables that Lianlian had stuffed into them.
"Eat the food tonight. It won't be good if you keep it for a few more days." Zheng Shu said, opened the driver's door and got in the car.
"I hope we can get to Changhuai Mountain smoothly this time." Tong Le jumped into the car and stuck his head into the gap between the driver and the co-pilot. Qin Zunyue pressed his head and pushed it back. "Sit tight. Are you fastening your seatbelt?"
"It's tied, it's tied, let's go." Tong Le shouted.
Qin Zunyue stepped on the accelerator and the off-road vehicle continued to move towards Changhuai Mountain.
-
Have a safe trip.
Apart from resting and refueling, they did not stop again, and finally arrived at the foot of Changhuai Mountain in the evening two days later.
This mysterious snow mountain was exactly the same as in Liu Huaizhao's memory, as if the long time was just a moment to it, and the joys and sorrows of people over the past thousands of years were just an inconspicuous snowflake on its back.
Several people stood in front of the snow-capped mountain, speechless and shocked by its enormity and their own insignificance. After a long while, Tong Le murmured, "None of the books I've read about Changhuai Mountain describe its grandeur."
Qiao Lang opened his mouth wide enough to fit an egg. He didn't close it until the cold wind rushed into his throat. He swallowed and said, "It's so high up there, I'm going to freeze to death."
The closer they got to the snow-capped mountains, the lower the temperature became. Although they had prepared thick clothes long ago, they still couldn't help feeling scared.
"You guys aren't going up." Qin Zunyue started moving things under the car. "Only Liu Huaizhao and I will go up."
"Ah—" Qiao Lang shouted in frustration while helping, "Why? We're already here, and you won't let us go up."
"Why are so many people going up there? You just wait down there quietly. There are no monsters here, so just take a rest." Qin Zunyue's tone left no room for doubt.
It was already late the next day after they set up the tent. After discussing with Qin Zunyue, Liu Huaizhao decided to climb the mountain early the next morning.
So that night, they had a hot dinner to save their energy for climbing the mountain the next day.
Liu Huaizhao also ate a lot for the first time. Tong Le asked, "Why did you eat so much today?"
"All spiritual powers and spells on the sacred mountain are unusable. I am no different from ordinary people now, so I naturally need to eat."
"So magical." Tong Le tried to cast a simple spell and found that there was really no way to use spiritual power.
"With your small body, can you really climb up?" Qiao Lang looked at Liu Huaizhao doubtfully, holding the bowl.
"He is someone who can wield the Lieyang Sword, so don't worry about it." Qin Zunyue cut off a large piece of wild boar meat and put it in Liu Huaizhao's bowl.
They had hunted this wild boar on the road during the day. After roasting it over a big fire and sprinkling it with seasonings, it tasted very tempting. Liu Huaizhao just focused on eating and ignored Qiao Lang.
After putting down the bowl and cleaning up the surroundings, Liu Huaizhao moved a relatively flat stone and called Qiao Lang over to arm wrestle.
"Do you really want to break up with me?" Qiao Lang came over and sat down with a smile, while getting ready.
Liu Huaizhao rolled up his long sleeves, revealing his fair and slender arms, and clenched his palm.
"Oh huh!" Tong Le cheered from the side, and the others also watched the fun with a smile. Even A Jin and Ji Mingting floated out from their respective spiritual objects and stood aside watching them.
Qiao Lang looked at his arms, which were almost as thick as Liu Huaizhao's, and said confidently, "If I hurt you, you must tell me."
"Stop talking nonsense and get started."
Qin Zunyue acted as the referee. He placed his palms on the two men's hands and said, "Three, two, one, start!"
After the game started, Qiao Lang immediately felt something was wrong. He found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't bend Liu Huaizhao's wrist down. He even tried so hard that his teeth were bared, but Liu Huaizhao on the opposite side remained calm.
He felt a little discouraged unconsciously, and this discouragement immediately brought him down by Liu Huaizhao.
The game ended much faster than everyone imagined.
"Holy crap!" Qiao Lang looked at Liu Huaizhao with eyes full of admiration. "How did you do that? How can you be so strong with such thin arms?"
As he said this, he reached out and wanted to pinch his arm.
Pop.
After being hit on the hand, Qin Zunyue pulled Liu Huaizhao behind him and said, "What's the matter? You're still talking so much even after losing."
"I'm just curious. Brother Qin, why don't you two have a competition too?"
"Let's have a competition! Let's have a competition!" Tong Le shouted while watching the fun, and also pulled Yan Liao next to him and waved his hand.
"Come." Qin Zunyue rubbed Liu Huaizhao's head and sat on the ground face to face with him.
"Don't let me win," said Liu Huaizhao.
"I should tell you this." Qin Zunyue smiled, then whispered in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Why don't you give me some water, Brother Huaizhao."
When Liu Huaizhao heard what he said, he laughed so hard that his hands were crooked.
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?" Referee Qiao Lang very fairly grabbed the two people's clasped hands and placed them back on the table.
"Why are you letting the game go before the game even starts?"
Hearing this, Liu Huaizhao laughed even harder, and Qin Zunyue couldn't help laughing as well, feeling that he was becoming more shameless as he got older.
But the competition still has to go on. Love may affect the progress of the competition, but it cannot affect the intensity of the competition.
Liu Huaizhao didn't expect Qin Zunyue to be so strong. Although his muscles didn't look as big as Qiao Lang's, he was much stronger than Qiao Lang. He actually felt a little tired.
Qin Zunyue had also been trying hard in secret, but in the end he was defeated by Liu Huaizhao.
There was a thin layer of sweat on the foreheads of both of them. Qin Zunyue was afraid that Liu Huaizhao would catch a cold, so he reached out and wiped the sweat off his face. After all, Liu Huaizhao was no different from an ordinary person now, and it would be bad if he got sick.
"I'm fine." Liu Huaizhao also raised his hand to wipe his sweat, "Don't worry, I don't get sick that easily."
"Tsk tsk tsk." Zheng Shu interrupted them: "If you have nothing to do, you two can go in and sleep. We will be on guard outside tonight."
"Thank you for the trouble." Liu Huaizhao did not refuse. He really needed to sleep now. After all, he had no time to rest after starting to climb the mountain.
So after handing the ancient book and the white jade to Zheng Shu, he went into the tent.
"You guys be careful tonight. Gongsun Xuan hasn't made any movement yet, and I'm a little worried." Qin Zunyue warned.
Zheng Shu nodded, indicating that he understood and asked him to rest assured.
As it turned out, Qin Zunyue's worries were right, and Gongsun Xuan did not give up easily.
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