My Best Friend Said He Loves Me - Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Zhou Qingyu’s gaze was slightly evasive, but he forced himself to remain calm and said, “I replied.”
Shen Yunjian scoffed. With a hand seal, the spiritual messages accumulated over three months “swooshed” into existence right in front of Zhou Qingyu.
Yun: What are you doing today? Yu: Reading a book. Yun: What book? Not that ‘Group Favorite Little Immortal Lord’ you keep muttering about again, is it? Yun: You don’t seem like the type to be obsessed with those weird storybooks? Yun: It’s actually quite… tenacious that those storybooks haven’t been banned by the Immortal Sects yet. Yun: Zhou Qingyu? Where are you! Yun: You’ve been getting weirder and weirder lately! Why do you run off after replying with just two words every time! Yun: Zhou Qingyu!! A month has passed, where are you? You didn’t really die somewhere, did you? I’m heading back to the Immortal Sect early to find you. Yu: No need, still alive. Yun: You appear the moment I say I’m coming back! Yun: Heh. Yu: Reading a book, eating, practicing cultivation. Yun: . …
“Explain.”
Zhou Qingyu was silent for a long while. Under Shen Yunjian’s increasingly hostile gaze, he sighed and explained, “I was preparing your eighteenth birthday gift. The place I went to couldn’t receive spiritual messages, and many messages were lost along the way. I tried my best to reply.”
“Is that so?”
The tone of Shen Yunjian’s voice was difficult to discern as to whether he was happy or angry.
He was against the light, his incomparably handsome face shrouded in shadow, tinged with a hint of unwarranted malice. His pale golden pupils stared intently at him like a beast’s eyes—
Beautiful, yet extremely dangerous, making one’s heart pound and suspect that one’s own words and actions had revealed a flaw.
Zhou Qingyu forced himself to suppress the urge to look away.
“Fine.”
Shen Yunjian stared at him for a long time, seemingly having reluctantly accepted the explanation. He straightened up and gazed at him with a focused look, saying, “You are my best friend…”
Best friend…
Zhou Qingyu silently repeated those two words in his heart, momentarily lost in thought.
“Replying to my spiritual messages intermittently for three months, I genuinely thought something had happened to you. If you go to a place where spiritual messages can’t be received in the future, remember to leave a note beforehand. I… worried about you for many nights.”
“If you don’t want to reply to me, you should say so in advance.”
“The four cardinal directions of the world only have monotonous black and white, and there’s no other fun besides slaying demons and eradicating evil. I can only send spiritual messages to you. If you find it annoying, I’ll find someone else to send them to next time…” He said every sentence earnestly, truly sounding as if he were thoughtfully considering Zhou Qingyu.
“No…”
“No?”
“No need to trouble others.” Zhou Qingyu interrupted him. He lowered his eyes, covering his shimmering gaze, not allowing the complex emotions locked within to leak out: “I don’t find it annoying. This time was an exception.”
“Heh.”
A light laugh.
Zhou Qingyu inexplicably felt a sense of unease. In his hesitation, he met Shen Yunjian’s confident expression.
“No need to trouble others.”
“I don’t find it annoying. This time was an exception…”
The familiar voice, the familiar content. Zhou Qingyu looked up in astonishment: “You…!”
“Me what.” Shen Yunjian had a spiritual message hovering in his hand with the recording completed. He had long since dropped his feigned earnestness, a successful smile curving his lips.
“I have solid proof now. Next time you fail to reply to my messages without reason, I will publicly play what’s stored in this spiritual message throughout the Immortal Dwelling Sect.”
“Let all our fellow disciples see how the ‘newly prominent’ Zhou Family Head is dishonest and goes back on his word!”
He truly returned to his usual demeanor this time, the corners of his mouth turned up, his brows carrying a hint of triumph and swagger.
Zhou Qingyu recovered from his astonishment, but he wasn’t threatened in the slightest. He merely felt a sense of relief as Shen Yunjian relaxed.
He shook his head, finding it rather amusing: “You could also let all the fellow disciples see how childish the Dao Son of the Immortal Sect, Immortal Lord Yunjian, is!”
The extremely childish Immortal Lord Yunjian let out a “Hmph” without feeling ashamed but rather proud.
Just as the atmosphere lightened, Zhou Qingyu’s smiling gaze unconsciously swept over the scroll tucked in the corner. That momentary ease was instantly overlaid, and the suppressed fear and worry surged back. His heart sank, but he didn’t let this distress show on his face.
He controlled his emotions too well. Shen Yunjian didn’t notice anything amiss. He walked into the room, pulled up the stool opposite Zhou Qingyu, and sat down directly, saying lazily, “Did you hear? About the ‘newly prominent’ Zhou Family Head lately.”
“How many times are you going to mention that title?”
Zhou Qingyu sighed helplessly. He knew that if he didn’t explain, he would hear Shen Yunjian refer to him with that sarcastic title every time in the future, so he said, “It’s not a good reputation. Last month, people from the Zhou family came looking for trouble. I administered a powder that would cause their spiritual energy to completely dissipate within seven days.”
“Their enemies happened to hear the news and found and killed those people. The result is that everyone outside is now spreading rumors that I specifically administered the drug and then hired someone to murder them to silence them.”
“I see~” Shen Yunjian’s brows showed an exaggerated look of sudden realization. He drew out his response, letting go of the “newly prominent” Zhou Family Head title, and brought up the topic Zhou Qingyu had previously avoided: “So, did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
Zhou Qingyu moved the neatly arranged tea set to the center of the table and took out two azure double-fish silver-sand cups.
Shen Yunjian rested his left hand on the armrest, propping up his face, watching his fluid movements while saying, “The wedding banquet at the Dream-Plucking Tower in three days.”
“I received…”
“Dong—”
A crisp sound of porcelain colliding. The tea, overflowing with spiritual energy, spilled onto the floor.
Shen Yunjian instantly stopped speaking. He raised his hand and cast a spell.
The fallen cup hovered in mid-air, and the spilled tea was evaporated into mist by the flame he summoned.
The tabletop was as good as new. Shen Yunjian curled his fingers, and the cup was neatly placed back according to his will. After doing all this, he looked up at Zhou Qingyu, who had silently overturned the cup by mistake, and asked:
“What’s wrong?”
“I…” Zhou Qingyu was speechless for a moment under his worried gaze. After taking a breath, he slowly opened his mouth: “I didn’t know…”
“You didn’t know?”
A hint of dissatisfaction flashed across Shen Yunjian’s eyes. He felt that Zhou Qingyu was fobbing him off. Just as he was about to press him further about the words “didn’t know,” he saw the man’s handsome features cloud over, his fine eyebrows furrowing: “I just felt a sudden palpitation when I heard about the Dream-Plucking Tower…”
Zhou Qingyu seemed to have difficulty saying it: “…male contract.”
“The story of the Dream-Plucking Tower master and disciple is indeed incredible, but haven’t same-s3x contracts existed since ancient times? It’s not fresh news. What’s there to feel a palpitation over?”
Shen Yunjian’s long eyebrows were slightly furrowed as he pondered carefully.
Although he didn’t think it was a major issue, a cultivator’s premonition was never unfounded.
“Then forget it!”
Shen Yunjian couldn’t find a reason and was unwilling to see Zhou Qingyu suffer any mishaps because of this. He chose to abandon the idea of watching the excitement. In any case, Elder Sister Liu will tell us the details, he thought.
“Since the matter of the Dream-Plucking Tower makes you uncomfortable, I’ll send a spiritual message to Elder Sister Liu and tell her we won’t be joining the wedding excitement.”
Crimson-gold spiritual energy condensed at his fingertips. Just as Shen Yunjian was about to send the message, his wrist was suddenly grabbed.
“We… are going to join the wedding excitement?” Zhou Qingyu uttered a few words with difficulty, his expression somehow strange.
Shen Yunjian raised an eyebrow at him and replied, “That’s right! Right after I returned, I received a spiritual message specially sent to me by the protagonists of the wedding. A spiritual message manifesting an illusion, which only a Heavenly Tribulation realm cultivator can manage—quite a spectacle! I only learned the full story after Elder Sister Liu’s explanation.”
“Elder Sister Liu said you stay cooped up inside every day and told me to take you to gather some vitality.” He briefly omitted the part where he wanted to see the excitement and immediately agreed with Liu Cong.
“I thought…”
“Thought what?”
Zhou Qingyu swallowed a bitter smile. He thought you brought up the Dream-Plucking Tower specifically to say that same-s3x marriage goes against common practice, and that you wanted to discuss the outside world’s scorn and hatred towards them with me.
He simply curved his lips and said, “Nothing.”
Shen Yunjian was dissatisfied with his hesitation and accused, “I think Elder Sister Liu was right. Staying indoors for too long has almost pickled you into wood. You always talk halfway, piqueing interest, and then dropping the subject. The Zhou Family Head really has a nasty character!” This time, he remembered to omit the words “newly prominent.”
After speaking, he raised his arm, his gaze fixed directly on Zhou Qingyu: “And you’re still holding my hand. How long do you plan to touch me?”
Zhou Qingyu’s hand let go as if electrocuted. He only then realized he had been holding Shen Yunjian’s wrist. He pulled his hand back and clasped it behind his back, a little stiffly, “I…”
“Enough, don’t start with all the ‘I, I, I’ again!”
Shen Yunjian impatiently cut him off: “Give me a definite answer. Are you going to the Dream-Plucking Tower wedding banquet in three days or not?”
“What if I go? What if I don’t?” Zhou Qingyu threw the question back, lowering his gaze, wondering what kind of answer he wanted to hear.
“If you go, I’ll go with you. If you don’t…” The voice hesitated: “I’ll stay with you on Cangfeng Peak.”
Zhou Qingyu laughed, a light but genuine smile: “That’s really very kind of you!”
“Although the excitement at the Dream-Plucking Tower is a once-in-a-century event, you are naturally more important than that.”
It’s always like this. He casually says things that tug at one’s heartstrings, yet the speaker is completely unaware.
Zhou Qingyu’s emotions stirred, his eyes trembled slightly, and he softly answered, “Go.”
Although Shen Yunjian got the answer he wanted, he didn’t immediately show a triumphant smile. He said, “Did your heart feel any discomfort when you said ‘go’?”
“A cultivator’s palpitation is not something to be casually ignored.”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Qingyu’s breath hitched. A soft, cotton-like emotion filled his heart. He smiled faintly, alleviating Shen Yunjian’s concerns: “None at all. Don’t worry, Yunjian, I wouldn’t treat my own body lightly.”
“Alright…” The man with the golden gaze watched him for a while, finally showing a cheerful smile again.
“I won’t disturb your rest today. The wedding banquet is in three days. Come with me to the Outer Peak to have a look tomorrow and the day after.”
Zhou Qingyu agreed.
“See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.”
Shen Yunjian departed as he arrived, riding the cloud energy. His robes fluttered, and he quickly became a star in the distant sky.
After the residence fell back into silence, Zhou Qingyu pulled the scroll out from under the table.
The pages turned on their own, rustling.
He opened his lips, his features steeped in shadow: “Query Shen Yunjian’s Favorability.”
A mechanical voice came from the pages.
“Beep—”
“Shen Yunjian’s current Favorability is sixty.”
Although he had already anticipated it, Zhou Qingyu couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness in his heart.
“Query Shen Yunjian’s Favorability towards Liu Cong.”
“Shen Yunjian’s Favorability towards Liu Cong is fifty.”
“Query Shen Yunjian’s Favorability towards Meng Xiuzhu and Lin Yashan.”
“Shen Yunjian’s Favorability towards Meng Xiuzhu is fifty.”
“Shen Yunjian’s Favorability towards Lin Yashan is fifty.”
…
After consecutively querying dozens of people whose Favorability was all fifty, Zhou Qingyu closed his eyes and muttered to himself, “Must it really come to that?”