The whole world rejoices that he finally confessed his feelings.
Tang Qi was stunned and stared at Cheng Junshi for a long time without saying a word.
Cheng Junshi took two more steps forward and continued, "Anyway, you're not like that now. You have many choices now."
"I've got a result on what I asked General Wu for. I'll go there after things are settled here." Cheng Junshi stopped and turned to look at Tang Qi: "Would you like to come with me?"
"Sure," Tang Qi replied without refusing.
"Do you want to come with me?" Cheng Junshi asked him again.
"Didn't I say it was okay?" Tang Qi laughed, finding Cheng Junshi's question strange. Unexpectedly, Cheng Wang shook his head again and said, "It's not a question of whether it's okay or not, it's a question of whether you want to or not."
Tang Qi paused for a few moments, then looked at him blankly and asked, "What...is there a difference?"
Cheng Junshi looked at him patiently, enunciating each word clearly: "As a friend, you can stay with me, but what if—we're not just friends?"
More than friends?
Tang Qi's mind went blank for a moment, and under Cheng Junshi's gaze, she hesitated before speaking: "Then, besides friends, could they also be... enemies?"
Cheng Junshi: ...
"Are you completely unaware of my feelings for you?"
Tang Qi was even more stunned.
"You really... can't understand any of it at all?"
Knock knock knock.
I wonder whose heart was beating faster.
"I...you..." Tang Qi stammered for a long time, as if he had been poisoned and could not speak.
Something's wrong with Cheng Junshi.
He almost instinctively wanted to run away, but Cheng Junshi held his hand tightly, forcing him to stare into his eyes.
"I don't want to never see you again, I don't want anyone else standing next to you, I don't want you... to hate me." Cheng Junshi leaned down to look at him: "What do you think it's because of, friends?"
He suddenly sneered, moved closer to Tang Qi, and continued, "In your eyes, do I really lack friends that much?"
“It’s you who never considered the other possibility, it’s you who never thought I liked you,” Cheng Junshi stared at him without moving, his voice even carrying a hint of grievance: “It’s you who never felt that I was serious.”
Looking into his somewhat forlorn eyes, Tang Qi helplessly muttered a few curses in her mind: What are you complaining about? Aren't I the one being forced right now?!
"It's not Cheng Wang, calm down. I'm a man, I'm a man!" Tang Qi shouted these words almost as if he were trying to save his life.
"What, you're a woman and you're willing to agree to my request?" Cheng Junshi chuckled again. Now that he had spoken, he was determined to get a clear answer from Tang Qi.
Tang Qi was speechless again after being asked that question.
It wasn't because he had nothing to say, but because he never expected that he would actually start to seriously think about this issue.
If he were a girl... if he were a girl—
Tang Qi swallowed hard.
He actually didn't object...?
Good heavens, something's not right here.
“I don’t like men, nor do I like women,” Cheng Junshi’s voice was both earnest and pure: “I only like you.”
“Furthermore,” Cheng Junshi said, his gaze aggressive, as he moved closer and closer, forcing Tang Qi to back away. Finally, he even managed a smile, as mischievous yet genuine as he always was: “Tang Qi, I don’t think you have no feelings for me at all.”
"Do you dare admit it?"
Tang Qi finally realized what Cheng Jun was talking about. His mind went blank, as if he had been punched in the face, and he was stunned and his whole body started to go numb.
“If you don’t want to hear all this from me, why don’t you break free?” Cheng Junshi held up the hand he had been holding in front of Tang Qi: “I can’t beat you at all. You can easily break free if you want.”
Tang Qi was still speechless, because he gradually realized a terrifying fact—Cheng Junshi was right.
If he truly hated him, Cheng Junshi wouldn't have had the chance to say so much. He could have broken free, cursed loudly, or even punched Cheng Junshi hard in the face to retaliate for the bastard words he had spoken.
But he did nothing; he just stood there, frozen, listening to Cheng Junshi speak.
"If you can't figure it out, I can wait—a year, two years, or ten or twenty years. No matter how long it takes, I can wait. I have plenty of time; I can be with you for a long time. Just don't be afraid."
"Tang Qi, don't be afraid." Cheng Junshi released Tang Qi's hand, looked at him again and said softly, "There are too many uncertain obstacles to taking this step. It's difficult, I know. It's because I like you. As long as you don't hate me, you can stay where you are, and I will take the first step and walk towards you."
"I...I...I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Cheng Wang, I'm sorry, you, my heart, I..." Tang Qi was a little incoherent. Almost all his emotions surged up in an instant, and he was so stunned that he almost became an idiot. In the end, he pushed Cheng Junshi away in a panic and fled in a disheveled state.
He didn't know why he was running away; he only knew that if he didn't leave, his heart would explode.
When they rushed back, Ye Qian and the others had already started a banquet. The Jinan matter had been resolved, and the wine that Yun An had brought from Jingzhou came in handy.
Instead of sitting with everyone, he leaped onto the roof alone and lay there like a corpse in the moonlight.
He kept his eyes open, neither sleeping nor speaking.
"Lying down like a corpse?"
Not long after, Tang Qi heard familiar footsteps. Ye Qian sat down next to him with practiced ease, and as before, took two jugs of wine, glancing at him with a teasing look, "You're already drunk before you've even tasted the wine? Why is your face so red?"
Tang Qi opened his eyes, his face full of alarm, and said, "I'd rather I was really drunk."
Ye Qian chuckled twice, took a sip of his drink, and asked him, "What's wrong? Is there anything in this world that can bring our mighty General Tang to such a state?"
"Ye Qian, what does 'like' mean?"
"puff--"
Ye Qian nearly choked on his drink. He looked at Tang Qi, who was looking at him with a serious expression, and said incredulously, "I thought you would never be associated with those two words in your life."
Tang Qi rolled over and asked Ye Qian more earnestly, "What does it feel like to like someone?"
Ye Qian remained silent for a while, then took another sip of wine before replying, "I don't know."
"Don't give me that. Haven't you liked Xiaoqing since you were little?" Tang Qi sat up with a jolt, grabbed the wine beside her, and drank it down in one gulp before saying, "We've been together for so many years, and you're still hiding this? Ye Quchi, you've gone too far."
Faced with his accusation, Ye Qian just chuckled lightly and looked over slowly: "What kind of fixed feeling can liking someone have? It's just a little flutter of the heart and a bit of joy."
Tang Qi was silent for a while, then took another sip of wine before replying to him in a muffled voice: "No wonder Xiao Qing doesn't want to talk to you. At a time like this, why are you still trying to be so literary?"
Ye Qian chuckled and kicked him, then, under Tang Qi's longing gaze, said again, "Only you know best what you like. Just ask your heart, right? Does it beat faster for anyone? Does it make you anxious for anyone? Does it... fill you with joy when you see someone?"
Tang Qi was still pondering with his head down when Ye Qian picked up a wine jar and clinked it against him: "The one who is unique in your heart is the one you're looking for."
Ye Qian watched as he nodded as if he understood, then picked up the wine jar almost blankly, took a sip, and said with a melancholy expression, "Ye Qian, I think I really have someone I like."
Ye Qian had never seen Tang Qi look so worried. He tried hard to suppress his laughter, glanced over and teased, "Which girl is so unlucky?"
Unexpectedly, the person opposite him turned around, looked at him very seriously, and asked, "What if it's not a girl?"
Ye Qian's smile froze, and he stared blankly at him. Tang Qi's eyes were full of seriousness, without a trace of joking.
Ye Qian opened his mouth, and after a long while, he chuckled softly, turned his head, took a sip of his wine, and said leisurely, "Then I know who it is."
"Don't you find it strange?" Tang Qi continued to ask.
"What's strange?"
"He and I...we're both clearly men, yet..."
Tang Qi stopped mid-sentence, but Ye Qian laughed again: "In this world, who dictates what liking someone should be like? Even if there were—why do you care?"
“If you neither do evil nor harm others, just live openly and happily. There are so many worldly rules and regulations, why follow them all? Walk your own path, guard your own heart, and everything else is just fleeting clouds, easily blown away,” Ye Qian looked at Tang Qi and continued, “Don’t worry about anything, and don’t be afraid, just…”
Ye Qian was about to say something when he suddenly coughed. Tang Qi immediately patted his back and asked, "What's wrong?"
Ye Qian waved his hand and pushed Tang Qi away, saying, "I drank too much, and the cool breeze dissipated the effects. It's nothing serious."
"Zhong Le, life is short, don't let yourself have regrets." He smiled slightly and spoke gently to Tang Qi.
As if she had made up her mind, Tang Qi suddenly jumped up and said to the moon, "You're right. Life is only a few decades long. I don't even have time to be happy, so why should I care about those people? Thanks, I'm late."
He turned his head and smiled at Ye Qian, his eyes bright.
"I must, I must not let myself have any regrets."
Tang Qi slipped away quickly, and Ye Qian could only mutter to his back. He shook his head and chuckled helplessly. He had just raised the wine in his hand and brought it to his lips when he coughed again before he could even drink. After finally recovering, he had spilled most of the wine in his hand. Ye Qian stared blankly at the nearly empty wine jar for a long time.
until--
"Late?"
Until someone called his name.
Ye Qian looked down and happened to see Shen Zhiqing looking up at him. The two looked at each other in the moonlight. Shen Zhiqing smiled and asked, "What are you doing there? I've been looking for you for so long."
"Let's admire the moon,"
Just as the moon waxes and wanes, so too do people experience joy and sorrow, separation and reunion. Regret is inevitable.
Ye Qian reached out his hand to her, smiling as well: "Don't you think the moon is exceptionally beautiful tonight?"
It's simply about cherishing every moment of happiness.
Under the same moonlight, Tang Qi and Cheng Junshi stood face to face.
—He went around in circles and blocked Cheng Junshi's only way.
Cheng Junshi remained calm and waited silently for the other person to speak.
New life or death. He needs an answer.
However, contrary to expectations, Cheng Junshi received only a hug and a whisper in his ear.
"I've come to you to confirm something."
Thump, thump, thump.
Tang Qi grasped Cheng Junshi's bewildered hand, and the two gazed at each other silently.
"The heartbeat is mine." Tang Qi suddenly laughed.
Cheng Junshi was puzzled for a moment, staring blankly as Tang Qi pulled him close and then pressed him against her...
On his heart.
—Thump, thump, thump-thump-thump.
"I don't deny that my heart beats faster when I see you than when I see anyone else."
Tang Qi, holding Cheng Junshi's hand, took another step toward him.
I want to see you.
—Thump thump.
Taking it one step further.
I think about it every single day.
—Thump thump thump.
They were so close, their eyes locked, and in the blink of an eye, all that remained was the indistinguishable beating of their hearts and the burgeoning emotions in their eyes.
"If this is what liking someone is, then I think—"
Tang Qi stared into his eyes and smiled.
"Cheng Wang, I think... I've liked you for a long time now."
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