The Heartthrob Protagonist's Early-Deceased 'White Moonlight' Has Come Back to Life - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Rebirth

“Young Master, Young Master? Wake up…”

“Young Master, Young Master? Wake up quickly, wake up quickly!”

Noises filled his ears, accompanied by a burst of urgent shoving. Jiang Xuning, who had been deeply mired in a dream, jolted awake. Looking at the person before him, the expression on his face was still somewhat dazed.

“A… Liang?”

Wrapped in white fox fur, the youth’s forehead was half-damp, strands of hair clinging to it. His face was of an indescribable pallor.

“Did the Young Master have a nightmare?”

Setting down the medicine bowl in his hand, A-Liang hurriedly stepped forward to help the man up from the couch. Upon closer inspection, he felt that the youth looked significantly more haggard.

“Nightmare?”

Hearing this, Jiang Xuning suddenly snapped back to his senses. That’s right—everything just now was merely a nightmare. However, he truly had died once, and now, he had simply come back to life.

After death, Jiang Xuning thought he would turn into nothingness, but he hadn’t expected to be pulled into a strange place by a sudden force.

There, his life flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern. By the time he reacted, a book glowing with golden light had appeared in his hand. As if guided by something, he subconsciously began to flip through it.

At first, he was merely curious, but the further he read, the more alarmed he became.

The book was titled Greedy for Beauty’s Joy. It told a story of love, hatred, and resentment among disciples of an immortal sect. In the original text, the second disciple under Immortal Venerable Zhongyi of the Tianyan Sect was exceptionally gifted. His cultivation talent was a rarity seen only once in a century. He achieved Foundation Establishment within a year of entering the sect, reached Golden Core in three, and was nearly forming a Nascent Soul by the fifth year. He was deeply envied and admired by his peers. Coupled with his peerless, exquisite beauty, anyone who saw him would fall in love at first sight, unable to hide their affection.

Later, at a sword-testing assembly, he shone brilliantly and stood out. As his fame spread far and wide, the story truly unfolded.

Because of this, he attracted the gaze of many men whether it was the Demon Sovereign, the Young Master of the Demon Tribe, or a mortal prince, all were deeply in love with him. To possess him, they resorted to forced abduction and used any means necessary.

However, the feelings were never clear. Thus, thousands of chapters followed, filled entirely with the romantic entanglements of these several people.

This level of absurdity was somewhat difficult for the traditionally upright and disciplined Jiang Xuning to accept. For no other reason than the fact that for a period of time in Yuecheng, there had been a trend of popular novels. Many people flocked to them, and out of curiosity, he had flipped through a few pages, only then discovering they described the “broken sleeve” (homosexuality) between men. This had caused a significant shock to the traditional thoughts he had been raised with since childhood. This book called Greedy for the Beauty’s Joy was no different from those, and even more extreme, making him truly not want to read any further.

He couldn’t help but press his hand to his forehead, intending to close the book, but in the next moment, the content of the book changed.

For some unknown reason, previously when he read the book, whenever it came to the specific names of the characters, they would appear as a blur, as if intentionally preventing people from seeing clearly. Now, that blur was gradually receding, slowly revealing the original content.

“Yu Heng?”

Looking at those two words, Jiang Xuning still hadn’t quite reacted. He was certain he hadn’t misread them, but he was in disbelief, not understanding why Yu Heng’s name would appear in this book, and moreover, be the same name as the second disciple in the story.

Just as he was lost in bewilderment, the golden book suddenly flipped forward, and new content appeared on the previously blank pages.

He naturally recognized Yu Heng. He was eight years old the first time he saw him, when he watched his father bring the boy back.

Looking at the content, which differed little from his memories, combined with what he had read earlier, he felt as if something had connected. The sect Yu Heng had joined back then also seemed to be called the Tianyan Sect…

An eerie thought emerged in his mind. Although even Jiang Xuning himself felt it was somewhat ridiculous… could it be that the world he had lived in all along was nothing more than the contents of a storybook?

He found it hard to imagine. More than that, as the book flipped again, the previously empty half-page revealed new content. This time, it was his own death…

“Young Master, Young Master?”

A-Liang was still calling from the side. Jiang Xuning lightly touched his forehead before speaking again, “I’m fine.”

“How can you be fine? Your face is completely white, Young Master!”

A-Liang was extremely dissatisfied with the nonchalant attitude of the person before him. His naturally short, thick eyebrows vanished completely as he frowned, making him look like an old man.

“I told you to recuperate well lately and not go out. You, on the other hand, not only didn’t listen but insisted on coming to this pavilion by the lake. Have you forgotten how you got sick? Or do you not remember how you fell into the water last time? It practically cost you half your life!”

“If Madam finds out, I don’t know how she’ll punish me…”

A-Liang continued to chatter, picking up the medicine bowl he had just set down and handing it over, gesturing for him to drink it quickly.

Driven to distraction, Jiang Xuning had no choice but to reach out and take it. Just by bringing it close, the pungent bitterness flooded his nostrils. Looking at the medicine—both familiar and strange he couldn’t help but frown.

Nevertheless, he raised his hand and brought it to his mouth, while his thoughts drifted far away again, back to the day he first woke up.

When he opened his eyes again, the familiar faces he saw almost made him fail to react. It wasn’t until someone rushed over and embraced him while crying that he became clear-headed: he had actually been reborn.

As for why he was so certain, it was because his memory of this period was particularly deep just as A-Liang said: the falling into the water.

When Jiang Xuning was seventeen, he had accidentally fallen into the water while chasing an injured black rabbit. Even though he was rescued in time, he developed a high fever that very night. He remembered it so clearly because that fever nearly took half his life. If not for a thousand-year-old ginseng to preserve his life, he would have died that night.

Even though he kept his life, he was left with a permanent ailment because of it, causing his health to deteriorate until his final death.

But now, he has returned to three years ago.

Despite this, he couldn’t help but think of his ending in the book. Unlike the protagonist, he was merely a “cannon fodder” who died as soon as he appeared. The book’s description of him was very brief, with his death taking up half of it. His existence was merely a tool to advance the plot; therefore, no one cared about his life or death. According to the plot, he would eventually head toward death anyway.

However, for the reborn Jiang Xuning, he did not want to die just like that. This time, he wanted to live.

Logically, Jiang Xuning had been weak since childhood, and doctors had already predicted he would not live past the age of majority. Thus, even without that fall into the water, he wouldn’t have lived much longer. Coupled with his body being tortured by pain day and night, he had long been exhausted. So when death arrived, he hadn’t felt afraid; rather, he felt a sense of liberation.

Until he saw that book. After his death, his mother fell into a “madness illness” due to her grief, and his father became despondent after losing his son and seeing his beloved wife go mad. Before long, the Jiang family fell into ruin. Those few brief sentences were heart-wrenching for Jiang Xuning to read. Only then did he realize how selfish his thoughts had been.

Now that he was reborn, he naturally couldn’t let this happen again, even if he was a cannon fodder destined to die.

“Young Master!”

Looking at the shattered porcelain all over the ground, A-Liang’s heart skipped a beat. He immediately grabbed the hand of the person before him, fearing another mishap.

“Are you alright?”

Startled by A-Liang’s shout, Jiang Xuning became completely alert. He subconsciously pulled away, looking at the mess on the ground without much expression.

“I’m fine.”

Jiang Xuning brushed off the medicine stains that had splashed onto him. The stains were particularly obvious on the snow-white fur. Before A-Liang could speak again, he stood up first by bracing himself against the armrest of the couch. However, perhaps because he rose too quickly, before he could stand steady, he felt a sudden dizzying spin in the next moment. His legs went weak, and he slumped back down heavily.

“Master Yu?”

The expected pain did not arrive, which surprised Jiang Xuning, until A-Liang suddenly cried out in surprise.

He subconsciously looked up, and the first thing he saw was a face he knew all too well.