Reborn As The Short-Lived White Moonlight of the Tragic, Powerful Male Lead - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I Suggest Changing Worlds to Live In

Chen Zhushu, who had become book-buddies and meal-mates with Xie Lanting at a tea stall, had rushed as fast as he could. He managed to catch Xie Lanting’s grand wedding ceremony and had arrived outside the Gu residence early to wait for the newlyweds.

“I am definitely seeing the Immortal Lord’s face today!” Chen Zhushu rubbed his hands together excitedly. “I’ve waited so long… Holy crap, Senior Brother!! A handsome man!! That’s Gu Yunqi, right? What a fine gentleman!!!”

Ge Wen had listened to his chattering all the way until his ears were calloused and he was utterly numb. Chen Zhushu excitedly grabbed his arm and pulled him to look. Ge Wen followed his gaze and saw a man dressed in wedding robes; it was indeed Gu Yunqi.

Tall and straight like a jade tree, he was truly peerlessly handsome. However, Ge Wen’s appreciation for faces wasn’t as fanatical as Chen Zhushu’s, so his reaction was mild.

He glanced at the sky; it was only dawn. Most of those busily moving in and out were servants. Even if there were guests who arrived a day early, everyone was still occupied with their own business. Only someone like Chen Zhushu, whose brain worked differently from normal people, would drag him to crouch by the door so early. Gu Yunqi came out alone against the crowd and stood still before the mountain gate.

The surrounding servants brushed past him as if they didn’t even see the groom. They were busy with their tasks; the front of the Gu house was bustling, yet Gu Yunqi stood there alone, desolate and cold.

It was clearly his wedding, yet the liveliness of those people had nothing to do with him.

Chen Zhushu was incredibly hyped: “He works! I’m back in the game! I read a storybook about Gu Yunqi and the Immortal Lord before—it was long and tedious. I was wondering what kind of person the Gu family’s young master was, but looking at him now, he’s not an eyesore at all!”

Ge Wen reminded him: “His cultivation is poor.”

“What’s wrong with poor cultivation? Cultivation isn’t the only measure of a person!” Chen Zhushu retorted. “You have to look at their character. If the Immortal Lord and him love each other, cultivation isn’t a problem!”

Gu Yunqi stood before the gate, gazing into the distance as if lost in thought. Ge Wen was puzzled: “What is he doing?”

Chen Zhushu didn’t understand either: “No idea. Should we go up and say hello? Ah, wait!” His little head, soaked in years of various storybooks, had a sudden brain blast. “Could he be waiting for the Immortal Lord!?”

Chen Zhushu’s eyes lit up. Ge Wen remained realistic: “But there are still several hours before the Sword Sect party arrives. Is he just going to stand there doing nothing else?”

Chen Zhushu: “It’s possible! Senior Brother, you have to believe in love!”

Ge Wen didn’t care for it. Hearing Chen Zhushu drone on about love stories every day made him feel that stories were just stories. If Chen Zhushu didn’t like them, he wouldn’t have bothered coming. So, since Chen Zhushu wanted to verify his theory, Ge Wen accompanied him as usual.

It wasn’t until the sun was high and guests crowded the front yards and back gardens that the Sword Sect’s wedding procession arrived on the wind. Only then did Gu Yunqi move his feet, walking toward the crane-drawn carriage.

Ge Wen crossed his arms, his eyes widening slightly: Gu Yunqi really was just waiting for someone.

Chen Zhushu was thrilled to have his guess confirmed: “See? I told you so!”

Ge Wen had to concede: “Mhm.”

The Gu family of Nanlin was a prominent immortal family, and the Sword Sect was a prestigious sect. Such families and sects did not lack connections. Additionally, the news of the “Number One Beauty of the Cultivation World” getting married spread faster than the wind. The crowd gathered at the Gu residence today was a literal sea of people.

Among them were people who hadn’t even been invited and wouldn’t be able to enter the banquet later, but that didn’t stop the enthusiasm of the onlookers. After all, this was a rare opportunity to witness the legendary beauty of the first-ranked beauty with their own eyes!

When Tong’er lifted the curtain, everyone—whether impatient or trying to remain dignified—craned their necks and widened their eyes like a flock of white geese waiting to be fed, refusing to miss a single detail.

However, after waiting for a long time, no one saw anyone come out of the carriage.

The crowd: ? What’s going on?

“Why isn’t the Immortal Lord coming down? The Gu boy already reached out his hand!”

“Exactly! I’ve been waiting forever, let me see!”

Why wasn’t the Immortal Lord coming down? Because the Immortal Lord felt like he had been struck by lightning. He was frozen.

Gu Yunqi. Wenren Yun is Gu Yunqi. He is actually Gu Yunqi!

Xie Lanting looked at that face—the one that danced perfectly on his aesthetic preferences—and his mind raced through his memories of their days in Dongyang…

He had protected this big boss like he was a fragile “Little White Flower” at the Foundation Building stage, telling him not to be afraid. He had spilled the beans about his own flight from the wedding right in front of the fiancé himself, and even bragged that “no one understood Gu Yunqi better than him,” and so on and so forth… He had performed his heart out in front of the original novel’s greatest Oscar-winner.

Xie Lanting: “…”

What kind of massive social suicide is this!!

The dignified Immortal Lord Lanyue currently just wanted to cover his face. If there were a crack in the ground, he would roll into it instantly!

Seeing no movement from Xie Lanting for a long while, Tong’er glanced back. The people from the Sword Sect also approached the carriage. Mu Ci walked hurriedly with a tense expression, fearing something had happened to Xie Lanting again. Yet Gu Yunqi, with his hand extended, was exceptionally patient. Even while being left hanging in public, he didn’t rush him; he just waited calmly.

Xie Lanting took a deep breath and, pretending to be composed, placed his hand on Gu Yunqi’s, allowing him to lead him out of the carriage.

After much anticipation, the crowd finally caught a glimpse of his grace. Xie Lanting had no time to worry about the gazes—some amazed, some bold. He frantically told himself: Calm down, calm down! I was wearing a mask back then, Gu Yunqi definitely didn’t recognize me!

After helping Xie Lanting down, Gu Yunqi stood in front of him, intentionally or unintentionally blocking part of the crowd’s view. Looking at the Immortal Lord, whose shoulders were tense despite his feigned indifference, Gu Yunqi felt the warmth in his palm. Finally, he leaned into Xie Lanting’s ear and whispered a sentence.

“The ‘Floating Cloud’ jade hairpin the Immortal Lord wore in Dongyang… was prepared by my mother. I hid the truth the whole way. I’m sorry.”

Xie Lanting: “…”

In other words, I was recognized from the very beginning… My disguise didn’t even exist in Gu Yunqi’s eyes. The clown was me all along! Xie Lanting went numb. I finally managed to hold onto a tiny sliver of hope, only for you to make me lose this completely.

Ah, please just let me transmigrate back right now. I want to live in a different world.

Gu Yunqi was leaning very close. Since they were the focus of everyone’s attention, using secret sound transmission would have seemed inappropriate. Whispering into his ear meant that even if some powerful cultivators heard them, it wouldn’t matter—they wouldn’t understand the context anyway.

To the onlookers, what was this? This was “intimate whispering”! It made the two look inseparable.

Chen Zhushu went “Wow”: “So they really knew each other? They love each other! The storybooks weren’t just making it up!”

Mu Ci, Shudao, and Liu Qifeng, representing the Sword Sect, stood near Xie Lanting. Mu Ci watched Gu Yunqi’s movements and hesitated to speak, while Shudao was repeatedly pinching his own palm inside his sleeve, his expression shifting darkly.

Shudao hadn’t expected that Gu Yunqi’s face couldn’t just be called “decent”—it was incredibly handsome! Standing with Xie Lanting, the two looked unexpectedly well-matched.

When Xie Lanting snapped back to reality, Gu Yunqi stepped back and withdrew his hand, standing beside Xie Lanting at a respectful distance.

Chen Zhushu: “Hold hands! Hold hands! Hey! They’re just walking side-by-side? No hand-holding?!”

Xie Lanting walked beside Gu Yunqi, a storm raging in his heart while his face remained unresponsive. Perhaps because he was too shocked, he couldn’t form any expression at all. His usually eloquent tongue couldn’t utter a single word; he was led forward like a puppet.

And finally, combining the scene before him, he managed to dig out a specific fragment from the original novel. It said that after Gu Yunqi’s Dao companion passed away, besides occasionally drinking wine under the moon or staring at the snow to express his grief, he would sometimes take out their “token of love” to remember his lost one.

The novel said their token of love was a jade hairpin carved with floating clouds.

The original novel didn’t have illustrations.

So how could Xie Lanting have known that the hairpin he had conveniently used for so many days was THE. TOKEN. OF. LOVE!