My Best Friend Said He Loves Me - Chapter 4
Chapter 4
The next day.
The dawn sunlight pierced through the clouds, and the orange and pale pink morning glow interwoven at the cloud tops, revealing a magnificent sight.
Zhou Qingyu pushed open the main gate of the courtyard and immediately saw Shen Yun-jian standing by the cliff edge, looking up at the rising sun.
His robes, along with his tied-up ponytail, fluttered in the wind. Just standing there, he seemed more like the morning sun than the sun itself.
A burden seemed to lift from Zhou Qingyu’s brow; he felt the distress accumulated from the night before melt away like fresh snow.
With a smile in his eyes, he walked up and stood half a step behind Shen Yun-jian, asking, “Why did you come so early today?”
Shen Yun-jian was bathed in golden light. Hearing the question, he naturally turned to look at him: “Of course, it’s to prevent a certain person from suddenly finding some excuse not to come again.”
“Do I have such an untrustworthy image in your eyes?”
Shen Yun-jian raised an eyebrow, his face clearly displaying the words “You tell me.”
Zhou Qingyu, recalling the unreturned spiritual message, was momentarily silent, unable to find any words to defend himself.
Seeing that he understood his implication, Shen Yun-jian lightly “hmphed”: “There is another reason.”
“What?”
“To prevent a certain person’s soul from being crushed by excessive worry, causing them to oversleep and not wake up.”
Shen Yun-jian’s gaze gently fell on the side of Zhou Qingyu’s handsome brows, observing his stunned expression upon hearing the words. He sighed: “Are the Zhou family’s affairs that tricky? So tricky that every time I come back to see you, I can see unconcealed anxiety on your face.”
“If you need my help, just say the word. I never stand on ceremony with you, and you don’t need to have any reservations with me.”
“We are…”
“Close friends (Zhi Jiao – 摯交).” Zhou Qingyu interrupted, as if anticipating what he wanted to say: “I know. I don’t have reservations. I just…”
Zhou Qingyu took a deep breath, collecting his fluctuating emotions: “I just realized once again that I am burdened with—”
“Destiny.”
“The Zhou family’s destiny, my destiny.”
The more he wished to escape, the more entangled he became.
His gaze was unfocused, landing vaguely somewhere. The chill in the morning wind brushed across his cheek, making him feel a bit like trembling.
“I don’t hope…”
“Stop, stop, stop!” Shen Yun-jian felt the conversation was becoming increasingly strange. He forcibly cut off the dialogue, pulling Zhou Qingyu out of his inexplicably sinking mood.
“Why are we talking about destiny again! It’s common sense that cultivators should respect ‘fate’ but not fear ‘fate’!”
“Don’t tell me that after three months, you’ve been so disturbed by the Zhou family’s affairs that your state of mind has regressed!”
“Besides, all I wanted to say was that you’ve just become the head of the Zhou family. Don’t keep all the pressure to yourself. Even if I’m not here, your fellow disciples from the Outer Peak can help you.”
“Why did this get so complicated.” He grumbled to himself, not very satisfied with the effect of his persuasion: “I thought you’d be touched by how much I care about you and then weep with gratitude.”
“The current development is completely different from what I expected.”
“I…” Zhou Qingyu paused. He was indeed touched, but that little emotion couldn’t compete with the approaching whirlpool. He tried to open his mouth, intending to praise Shen Yun-jian as he suggested, but failed.
“Forget it, forget it!”
Seeing his slightly guilty expression, Shen Yun-jian knew what he was about to say. He didn’t want to hear what he didn’t like to hear, so he reached out and directly pulled the person onto the flying sword formed by condensed cloud energy.
The cloud sword floated three feet off the ground. Shen Yun-jian didn’t rush to fly away. He asked, “Is your fear of heights all better?”
Zhou Qingyu’s lowered gaze slowly fell on the wrist firmly grasped by the other, and he replied softly, “Much better.”
“That means it’s not cured.” Shen Yun-jian’s gaze was sharp, immediately cutting through his evasiveness and discerning his true meaning: “Will you close your eyes, or do you want me to cover your eyes like before?”
Zhou Qingyu looked at him strangely: “You should know that our current height difference is only half a head. Covering my eyes would be very strange…”
“Is it?” Shen Yun-jian touched his chin, “How would we know without trying.”
“Wait…” Zhou Qingyu knew he was a man of action, and hurriedly took a step back, wanting to dodge in advance. However, he forgot that the flying sword had limited length. Stepping into the void, he lost his balance and was about to fall backward.
His pupils constricted, and his mind went blank. Zhou Qingyu thought he would fall, but a powerful force came from the left wrist that was held, abruptly stopping his backward momentum and pulling him back, landing steadily on the flying sword.
“Be careful,” Shen Yun-jian said.
After regaining his footing, a hint of shock still lingered in Zhou Qingyu’s beautiful eyes.
It was then that Shen Yun-jian looked into those eyes for a moment, and suddenly raised his free hand—
Zhou Qingyu knew what he was going to do but did not dodge again.
But after the light in front of him dimmed, his heart also skipped a beat. His surrounding senses were greatly amplified, and his slender eyelashes gently fluttered.
Shen Yun-jian didn’t know what he felt in his heart, only that his palm felt ticklish. He covered his eyes for a while, looked around, then dropped his hand, regretting: “It really isn’t suitable. Then I’ll just hold onto you. Close your eyes if you feel scared.”
Zhou Qingyu was just blinking. He didn’t expect him to let go so suddenly. When he opened his eyes, the bright light, along with the handsome face, suddenly and unexpectedly crashed into his view.
He stared blankly.
Although he didn’t know why Zhou Qingyu was spaced out again and hadn’t answered immediately, Shen Yun-jian didn’t intend to leave him any room for refusal.
He turned around, his right hand gripping the other’s wrist didn’t loosen, and the flying sword under his feet instantly rushed towards the sky according to his will. The fierce wind that struck in a flash was blocked by the protective shield.
High up in the vast sky, Shen Yun-jian could clearly perceive the temperature of Zhou Qingyu’s wrist and the frequency of his heart’s beat. The sound of his heart, conveyed through his pulse, told him the owner’s state of mind.
It was rapid at first, then gradually slowed down after flying for a while, and now it was steady.
Looks like he wasn’t lying, Shen Yun-jian thought.
When he used to take Zhou Qingyu on a flying sword, he could “hear” the heartbeat coming from Zhou Qingyu like a drumbeat, one rushing after the other, and it wouldn’t calm down for a long time even after landing.
“It is indeed much better now.”
Zhou Qingyu kept his gaze fixed on him, not daring to look away for a moment. They were traveling above the clouds and mist at an extremely high speed. His peripheral vision occasionally caught glimpses of the undulating mountain lines, but he couldn’t see how high they were.
However, as long as he had “Shen Yun-jian” as an anchor point in front of him, his mind would not constantly sink into the fear of “will I fall.”
Gradually adapting, he heard Shen Yun-jian’s exclamation, but didn’t react for a moment, only giving a confused “Hmm?”
Shen Yun-jian had a smile on his lips and was about to explain when his gaze happened to catch a familiar figure.
The other person clearly saw them too, waving their hand and shouting loudly, “Yun-jian! Qingyu! Over here!”
Shen Yun-jian raised a smile and waved back in response, then said softly to Zhou Qingyu, “We’re here. I’ll tell you later.”
He changed his left hand’s sword gesture, and the flying sword under his feet headed towards the Outer Peak, slowing down considerably. As they were about to arrive, because Zhou Qingyu was present, he didn’t dissipate the cloud energy mid-air like he usually did.
Zhou Qingyu, however, didn’t know this. His memory of Shen Yun-jian taking him on a flying sword was still stuck in the distant past, the experience of almost crashing straight to the ground leaving a deep impression.
He thought this time would be the same, so his entire body stiffened, he clutched Shen Yun-jian’s sleeve, and his eyes were about to close.
But before that, the familiar voice dispelled his fear.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Zhou Qingyu found that the simple three words immediately made him let out a sigh of relief.
He didn’t know what to think about being so reliant on Shen Yun-jian.
Freed from the blindness of fear, he noticed that the downward speed of the flying sword was similar to an elevator he’d taken in a mall in his previous life, and he finally completely relaxed.
“Scatter!”
When they were less than half a foot above the ground, Shen Yun-jian let out a low shout. The cloud energy then slowly dissipated, and the two landed on the ground one after the other.
“Senior Sister Liu!”
As soon as he landed, Shen Yun-jian greeted with a smile, “Come and see who this is. I kept my promise to Senior Sister and dragged Zhou Qingyu out of his broken house!”
“As expected of Junior Brother Shen! When we invited him before, his excuses were endless, and not a single one was repeated!” Liu Cong first praised him, then immediately pulled him aside and quietly asked, “Did you tell Qingyu about the wedding banquet? How is it? Is he going?”
Shen Yun-jian raised an eyebrow, a self-satisfied expression on his face: “With me taking the lead, could there be any other result? He’s naturally coming with me.”
Liu Cong’s eyes widened, and she genuinely praised, “You are indeed our Junior Brother Shen, Immortal Lord Shen of the Su-Xian Sect!”
“I originally thought that Qingyu, having grown up in such an old-fashioned place like the Zhou family, would shun the matter of men forming a bond. Although I asked you to invite him yesterday on Jin Yun Peak, I was prepared for both of you not to come.”
“I didn’t expect it to go so smoothly!”
Shen Yun-jian didn’t refute her comment about the possibility of “neither of them coming,” but instead recalled something, a hint of thoughtfulness surfacing in his eyes: “He was indeed avoiding it at first, but then he changed his mind for some unknown reason.”
“Is that so…”
The two looked at each other, and it was Liu Cong who finally concluded: “Let’s not dwell on it. We only look at the result, not the process. It’s enough that Qingyu is willing to go.”
“How is it on your side, Senior Sister?”
Liu Cong sighed, her expression melancholic: “Don’t even mention it. I asked around the Outer Peak, and everyone said they had something to do. I didn’t believe it and even checked at Lan Yu Hall. They weren’t lying to me; they were actually all assigned to do legitimate tasks!”
“What a coincidence!” She said indignantly: “These people have such bad luck when it comes to joining the fun!”
“Then who is this person you brought?” Shen Yun-jian glanced at the unfamiliar disciple who was conversing happily with Zhou Qingyu. He had fair skin, delicate features, a pure expression, and looked young: “I haven’t seen him at the Outer Peak before.”
“Oh! Thanks for reminding me!”
Liu Cong then remembered that she had forgotten to introduce the person, and quickly pulled over the young boy dressed in a pale moon-white robe, introducing him to the two: “This is the new disciple Master picked up. His surname is Luo, and his given name is Zhuoyu. Don’t let his small appearance fool you; he’s probably two years older than Yun-jian.”
“Zhuoyu, this is your Senior Brother Shen Yun-jian, you can also call him Immortal Lord Shen.”
Luo Zhuoyu’s lively eyes darted around, curiously sizing up the noble-looking figure in front of him. He said a little timidly, “Immortal Lord Shen.”
Shen Yun-jian didn’t respond: “Don’t follow Senior Sister Liu’s casual way of calling me. Just call me Senior Brother.”
Luo Zhuoyu obediently changed his address: “Senior Brother Shen.”
Liu Cong sighed with regret: “The title Immortal Lord is so majestic! You just don’t know when you are well off.”
Shen Yun-jian immediately called her: “Immortal Lord Liu.”
“Oh my!” Liu Cong was ecstatic, her smile widening, finding the title very pleasing. She said sweetly, “The title Immortal Lord indeed sounds great, but wait until the day I can take first place in the Immortal Exam to call me that!”
Her emotions came and went quickly, and she continued to introduce Zhou Qingyu.
“This is your Senior Brother Zhou Qingyu. You can also call him Senior Brother Qingyu.”
Luo Zhuoyu’s eyes lit up, he smiled, revealing two dimples, looking utterly adorable: “I know! It’s ‘Little Yu’ Senior Brother!”
Little Yu Senior Brother?
Liu Cong and Shen Yun-jian were both stunned simultaneously upon hearing this.
Liu Cong was the first to ask, “Qingyu, did you know Zhuoyu before?”
Zhou Qingyu seemed to be thinking about how to explain, but after making up his mind, he turned his head, his gaze unexpectedly colliding with a pair of stunning, light-golden double pupils mid-way, and he momentarily forgot to speak.
However, a moment later, he regretted not speaking first. Shen Yun-jian was staring at him unblinkingly. Zhou Qingyu heard him slowly open his mouth: “I am also very curious.”
“How did you meet Junior Brother Zhuoyu?”
“Why have I never heard you mention it, hmm? Little Yu Senior Brother?”
Although his tone was normal, Zhou Qingyu read a hint of gritted teeth in it.
Oh no!