After Faking My Death, I Became the Male Lead's White Moonlight - Chapter 6

“Senior Brother, how did you kn—” Song Lianzhou spoke up subconsciously, but abruptly cut himself off to look at Feiyi, “Junior Sister!!”

This girl must be drawing a monthly salary from the editor-in-chief of the sect tabloid; every single strand of her hair was practically inscribed with the four giant characters: Rumor-Mongering Pioneer!

“What do you mean by that, Senior Brother? Can’t I mention it to Second Senior Brother?” Feiyi shrank her neck back slightly. “Or did you intend to sneak him back here to live without telling a single soul?”

Song Lianzhou massaged his temples: It wasn’t that he wanted to keep it a secret, but the impression conveyed by your phrasing… clearly carried ambiguity!!

Hua Zuojiu was still smiling with deep meaning: “Since A-Zhou has someone he cares about in his heart, naturally he will slowly change over time.”

“It’s not like that, Senior Brother,” Song Lianzhou argued futilely. “I just thought he was pitiful, so… no, no, no, that’s not it either. I was worried someone might try to harm him again, which is why I let him temporarily stay at my place.”

He hurriedly recounted the earlier events, placing special emphasis on the fact that Ye Xisheng was only staying temporarily, and that he was merely keeping Ye Xisheng here out of fellowship between fellow disciples it wasn’t any scheme of “securing the best spot near the water to enjoy the moonlight first” as they were imagining…

“In other words, A-Sheng is already staying at Senior Brother’s place?” Mei Zaijue asked.

Song Lianzhou answered, “Yes.”

“I previously mentioned it to A-Sheng once before. Seeing that he was always being bullied in the outer sect, I wanted to invite him to come live with me for a period of time so he could focus on his cultivation, but A-Sheng refused. Thinking back on it now, it must have been because the relationship between him and me simply wasn’t close enough,” Mei Zaijue said with a smile. “However, Senior Brother, when did your relationship with A-Sheng become so close?”

Song Lianzhou found himself in a difficult spot: “This…”

Could he possibly say that he was the one who insisted on dragging the person over to live with him?

Fortunately, Mei Zaijue didn’t seem particularly invested in the answer. Seeing that it was inconvenient for Song Lianzhou to reply, he didn’t press any further.

[Thank goodness Mei Zaijue and Ye Xisheng aren’t very familiar with each other right now.] Clinging to Song Lianzhou’s shoulder, the system was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when it suddenly heard Mei Zaijue ask, “Eldest Senior Brother, A-Sheng and I haven’t seen each other in a long time. May I go with you to see him in a moment?”

System: [!!!]

System: [Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah, you can’t, Host! Hurry up and overturn the boat of their friendship into a giant wave!]

Inside Song Lianzhou’s Listening Wind Pavilion.

Ye Xisheng stood inside the room Song Lianzhou had personally chosen for him, lost in thought.

He had already used his spiritual sense to meticulously probe the surrounding area, discovering no abnormalities whatsoever, which only served to heighten his perplexity.

Could Song Lianzhou have been soul-snatched? Yet throughout the time he had spent interacting with Song Lianzhou, he hadn’t detected any anomalies. Furthermore, if the man had truly been replaced by a usurper, his master, Gu Qingci, would undoubtedly have noticed something amiss.

If Song Lianzhou had not been usurped, then there was no way to explain why his temperament had undergone such a drastic shift.

Most importantly, he remembered that in his past life, he and Song Lianzhou had virtually no intersection prior to the cultivation world grand tournament.

Yet in this lifetime, not only had Song Lianzhou saved him twice, but he had also trusted him enough to let him reside right inside his own quarters. To figure out what ultimate objective Song Lianzhou harbored, he had simply gone along with the flow and accepted Song Lianzhou’s favor.

Ye Xisheng narrowed his gaze slightly: It seemed that ever since his rebirth, many things had ended up changing.

In this lifetime, That Entity had promised him that he was no longer bound to being merely a character inside a book; perhaps his own rebirth had triggered a series of butterfly effects.

Even so, he had already resolved in this lifetime to live in seclusion among the mountains, detached from worldly affairs, and planned to leave the sect in a few days to find some uninhabited place to live entirely by himself.

Though he didn’t understand why Song Lianzhou was inexplicably treating him with such kindness, as long as Song Lianzhou harbored no malicious intentions, the two of them could peacefully coexist for a spell.

Should Song Lianzhou prove to have ulterior motives, however, he wouldn’t hold back either.

In his previous life, he was the foremost person in the Nine Provinces, the entity closest to a god in this mortal world. Right now, what he possessed was the entirety of his past life’s spiritual power; executing a harborer of ill intent like Song Lianzhou in order to protect himself would still be more than effortless.

Just as Ye Xisheng was trying to puzzle out what medicine Song Lianzhou was selling in his gourd, he suddenly caught the sound of footsteps gradually approaching outside the courtyard.

He immediately plastered a gentle, harmless smile across his face, and waited until the footsteps paused right outside his room door before pretending to have just noticed them. He stood up and stepped outside: “Senior Brother Song, you’ve returned”

“…” Ye Xisheng froze for a few seconds upon gazing at the newcomer before uttering, “Mei… Mei Senior Brother.”

Mei Zaijue looked somewhat displeased. “You’re still addressing me by my full name just like before; what’s with this formality now?”

Song Lianzhou chimed in, “Junior Brother heard that you were injured and insisted on coming to check on you. Oh, right, you and A-Jue are old acquaintances?”

Indeed, Song Lianzhou had attempted to prevent Mei Zaijue and Ye Xisheng from meeting again by claiming that Ye Xisheng was injured and needed absolute quiet to recuperate—failing to realize it would backfire completely, as Mei Zaijue insisted on coming to take a look no matter what, driving the system to burrow back into his brain and ignore him entirely.

“Yes,” the person who answered was Mei Zaijue. “Back when I was still an outer sect disciple, A-Sheng and I used to keep each other company.”

“So that was how it was.” Song Lianzhou silently made a mental note: Mei Zaijue had indeed spent a period of time serving as an outer sect disciple.

“However, after I had the good fortune to be chosen by the master and became a personal disciple, we haven’t seen each other very often.” Mei Zaijue sighed, turning his gaze back to ask with a hint of worry, “I heard you were injured. How are you holding up? Are you alright?”

Gazing at the living, breathing Mei Zaijue standing right before him, Ye Xisheng still felt somewhat dazed.

He considered himself someone who had experienced countless trials and grown indifferent to many things, someone whose emotions wouldn’t stir up even a single ripple even if the heavens and earth collapsed.

Yet seeing his former dearest friend return from the dead, standing right before him with that familiar smile, no one’s heart could possibly remain entirely devoid of ripples.

The reason he hadn’t wanted to see Mei Zaijue beforehand was precisely because he feared rekindling emotional bonds with his old friends. This sensation, akin to a traveler’s nervousness upon nearing home, caused turbulent waves to churn within his heart the moment he laid eyes on Mei Zaijue.

He remained silently rooted to the spot for a solid moment before answering with a smile, “It wasn’t any serious injury to begin with; it’s already close to healing completely.”

“Is that so? Then it seems I arrived a bit late.”

After the two of them exchanged a few polite pleasantries standing together, Mei Zaijue prepared to take his leave. Before departing, he pulled several mental cultivation manuals out of his storage ring: “A-Sheng, take these. They are all excellent cultivation manuals that will be useful for your practice.”

Though Ye Xisheng had no use for them, he didn’t wish to reject a friend’s kind intentions either, so he simply tossed them casually onto the nearby table after Mei Zaijue left.

[Those cultivation manuals are also good items; find a way to snatch them.]

Fuming as it barked out its instructions, the system huffed and ducked back into the sea of consciousness. Feeling rather helpless, Song Lianzhou followed Ye Xisheng into the inner chamber, cast a glance around the room, and asked, “Is there anything else you’re lacking? I’ll help you get it sorted out.”

“There’s no need, Senior Brother. Things are already very nice just like this.” Intent on keeping Song Lianzhou around to probe him further, Ye Xisheng said, “Does Senior Brother care for tea? You’ve helped me out multiple times, and I haven’t even had the chance to thank you properly yet.”

Song Lianzhou gave an affirmative hum, and found a chair inside the room to sit down.

He also wanted to use this opportunity to observe Ye Xisheng properly. Ye Xisheng was strikingly handsome, making even the act of brewing tea a pleasant sight to behold. Staring at his profile, Song Lianzhou found it blending more and more with a blurred shadow from his memories.

If he hadn’t died, had he grown to be Ye Xisheng’s age, he surely would have looked quite handsome as well.

Lost in these thoughts, Song Lianzhou drifted off slightly, calling out to the system in his mind: [System, why don’t we stop making things difficult for Ye Xisheng?]

Crouched inside Song Lianzhou’s sea of consciousness, the system stubbornly kept silent out of a fit of pique.

Knowing it was listening, Song Lianzhou continued: [To be honest, I still feel somewhat reluctant. He reminds me so much of someone I knew when I was little if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t even know if I could have made it through that winter.]

The system finally raised its head to shoot him a sidelong glance: [Then don’t you want to complete the mission and go back to see that person?]

[He has already passed away.]

The system abruptly cut itself short: […]

[Actually, whether I can go back or not doesn’t really matter; after all, I’m alone no matter where I am,] Song Lianzhou went on. [However, if you systems fail to complete your mission, you’ll face performance penalties for falling below the metrics, right? Don’t worry, I’m not some heartless host; I won’t slack off and lose to him.]

The system fell silent:

[What I look forward to, though, is a well-matched showdown, rather than achieving victory simply by suppressing Ye Xisheng. So I will definitely work even harder than the original host to ensure you don’t miss your performance targets you’ve got to have faith in me.]

With that said, and noticing that the system had been quiet for a long time, Song Lianzhou didn’t speak further. Right at that moment, Ye Xisheng finished brewing the tea and brought a cup over to him: “Senior Brother, have a taste.”

The tea was slightly hot; Song Lianzhou blew on it a few times before lifting the cup to take a small sip.

A delicate, fine tea fragrance bloomed across his palate. Knowing nothing of tea, Song Lianzhou had no inkling of its quality, and could only nod in agreement: “Delicious.”

The next second, the system’s piercing electronic shriek exploded inside Song Lianzhou’s brain.

[Waaah-ah-ah-ah-ah, Host!] The system wailed in agony: [I am truly so damned stupid!!]

Caught entirely off guard, Song Lianzhou was startled out of his wits. His hand jerked in a start, causing scalding hot tea to slop over the rim and splash directly against his skin, searing him into drawing a sharp breath. His hand instinctively loosened its grip, sending the teacup clattering heavily onto the table with a loud clang.

As luck would have it, that cup of tea which had barely been touched splashed entirely across the mental cultivation manuals Ye Xisheng had casually tossed onto the table, soaking through all several books in an instant.

“？!” Song Lianzhou sprang abruptly to his feet, tossing aside the burning pain on his hand as he rushed forward to rescue the soaked books: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… they’re completely soaked through…”

Watching from the side, the system was dumbfounded: [Host, are you suddenly this enthusiastic and proactive about completing your mission now??]

Suddenly, a pair of large hands gripped Song Lianzhou’s wrists, pulling him back. Lowering his gaze, Ye Xisheng stared at the red, inflamed patch on the white back of the other’s hand, his pupils shifting slightly: “Shouldn’t Senior Brother be worrying about himself first? Doesn’t it hurt?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” Though his hands were pulled away, Song Lianzhou’s eyes remained fixed on the table. “S—sorry…”

“Senior Brother doesn’t need to apologize to me,” Ye Xisheng said with a helpless smile. “These cultivation manuals conflict with the ones I’m currently practicing, so they were already useless to me anyway.”

If he were still the original eighteen-year-old Ye Xisheng, they might still have been of some use. But the current him could casually recite any number of far superior cultivation manuals from memory; these items were genuinely nothing more than a stack of waste paper to him.

Hearing this, Song Lianzhou experienced a sudden flash of enlightenment: Ah, right, I remember now! Because of his interference, Ye Xisheng hadn’t awakened his supreme-grade fire spiritual root yet. Perhaps that was precisely why he couldn’t use these manuals.

Thinking along those lines, a fresh wave of intense guilt welled up inside him once more.

“Even so, this was still a token of A-Jue’s kind intentions.” Song Lianzhou still felt rather reluctant to let them go.

“Since A-Jue came to see me, his token of goodwill has already been conveyed and is fully known to me.” Taking Song Lianzhou by the hand, Ye Xisheng led him aside to sit down, fished a bottle of healing ointment out of his storage ring, and seeing that Song Lianzhou was still somewhat absent-minded, tilted his head with a smile. “If Senior Brother still feels it’s inappropriate, how about you gift me a few cultivation manuals another day to make up for it?”

Bathed in the sunlight streaming through the window, the young man’s smile appeared exceptionally striking, his dark hair brushing against his cheeks to cast soft, gentle shadows.

Song Lianzhou couldn’t help being infected by the mood: “Mn, come pick some from my collection later pick whatever suits you best, take as many as you want.”

“It’s a deal.”

Ye Xisheng dug a dab of ointment out of the porcelain jar and began applying it to Song Lianzhou’s scalded skin.

A sudden wave of coolness spread across the back of his hand, pulling Song Lianzhou’s gradually wandering thoughts back to reality.

Lowering his head, he saw Ye Xisheng applying medicine for him, and only belatedly realized that the two of them both grown men sitting facing each other in such close proximity looked somewhat peculiar.

He hurriedly yanked his hand back with a shwoosh: “Ah, it’s just a tiny wound, it’ll heal in a couple of days.”

Ye Xisheng hadn’t expected him to pull his hand away so abruptly. His raised fingertips remained suspended in mid-air, and lifting his gaze, he rarely revealed a trace of bewilderment.

As their eyes met, the atmosphere seemed to gradually grow somewhat awkward.

Just as Song Lianzhou was weighing his phrasing to excuse himself and take his leave, a fiery-red figure barged in unceremoniously: “Hey Ye Xisheng, I have something to—oh, Senior Brother, why are you here? Are you hiding a beauty in a golden house?”

“Junior Sister, don’t just learn an idiom and use it blindly.” Song Lianzhou massaged his temples. “Also, why do you never knock when you come in?”

“The door wasn’t closed anyway,” Feiyi replied with a look of utter innocence.

“……Fine. Didn’t you have something to discuss with A-Sheng? You two chat, I’ll be leaving first.” Song Lianzhou hurriedly moved to depart, only to be teased by Feiyi with a series of expressive winks and nudges: “Calling him ‘A-Sheng’ already, are we?”

“I was merely! Little Junior Brother calls him that too…”

“Wow, Senior Brother, your face is so red.”

“It’s hot.”

“Yet you’re currently casting the Clearing Heart Mantra.”

“It’s especially hot.”