Chapter 3.10
Ever since he had exposed a certain someone’s true identity, Fan Yuan deeply felt that he was living in an abyss of misery. Although the male lead did not twist the plot without a word ever again—which would have caused his emotions to be stimulated as if he were on a rollercoaster—but.........
Every day he lived like a small romantic female lead ah, did he or did he not?! Two grown men touring at what lakes, looking at what flower lanterns, strolling at what temple festivals?! Did he know how to write the word ‘shy’?!
In the early morning, Fan Yuan was called over to the plum grove to liven up the atmosphere with a guzheng performance. Fan Yuan laughed, he wanted to see what other lousy ideas that man could come up with.
That person was clad in black robes, his handsome face casting a solemn expression as he sat elegantly beside him. On one hand, he boiled wine while enjoying Fan Yuan’s performance, and on the other hand, he helped Fan Yuan pour hot tea. Amidst the spring snow, a plum fragrance permeated through the air, two people were sitting together, extremely intimate. The air was filled with a sickening smell of love.
Fan Yuan had a wooden face as he glanced at the two maidservants by the side who had flushed cheeks upon seeing such a beautiful scene. He silently swallowed a mouth of old blood and his finger paused.
He spontaneously improvised an elegant and soothing “Fisherman’s Song at Eventide” to gradually become a tune that carried a hidden bitterness. It was an extremely sentimental tune that expressed complaints and sadness. It made all listeners extremely sad, as if they would weep. He had forcefully distorted this romantic scene that had a rose-tinted filter all over it.
Yan Rui was initially enjoying the music, but he saw that the atmosphere had suddenly changed. His own maidservants’ eyes started turning red one after another, and even Cui Hong, this failure of a guard commander, had started to sink into the realm of grief.
Who knew what Yan Rui had thought of, but he looked back and glanced at Fan Yuan who was currently playing the guzheng in an unperturbed manner. The corners of his lips were pulled up slightly, as he dismissed all who were attending to them with a black face.
Once everyone had completely left, Yan Rui stretched his hand and held down those pair of annoyingly pale hands. He held all ten fingers in his palms and waited for them to regain a slight warmth, before lifting a cup of hot tea and shoving it in Fan Yuan’s hand. “The weather is cold, drink a cup of tea to warm your body.”
Fan Yuan’s struggle was fruitless, but finally his hands were released by Pei Qi. His face was unchanging as he respectfully received the cup of hot tea. He indifferently said, “Many thanks, wangye.”
However, at the same time, Fan Yuan was using his system to exchange words with Yan Rui, “You weirdo, haven’t you caused enough trouble! Do you know that the entire prince’s manor is spreading gossip about us now? Do you know how many maidservants have been reduced to rotten women, and how many servants have come out of the closet because of this? Do you actually know or not?!”
Yan Rui minded his own business as he sipped on a cup of wine. He calmly replied, “I have already cooperated with you to follow the plot, you should at least give me a bit of benefits ba.”
F*cking hell, don’t tell me that following the plot isn’t your duty? What right did he have to ask him for benefits! Could you have a bit of common sense?
Fan Yuan suppressed his anger, trying his best to be calm as he asked, “For the entire day, you’ve been frolicking around, finding random things to do because you’re bored. Are you really following the plot properly? What’s the situation over on the other side, is Pei Yu still alive ma?”
Yan Rui put down his wine cup, looking back to glance at him for a moment. Finally, he gave a smile, “I guess you could say he’s alive.”
Fan Yuan felt that his life was devoid of love, “.........He’s the key character in the plot to come. Without him, won’t my part of the plot where I go to battlefield fly away just like that.”
When Yan Rui heard him say the word ‘battlefield’, a hidden darkness quickly flashed across his eyes. He gazed down and laughed, “I do have a way to save him. However, the price of doing so is quite big, what do you have to offer in exchange?”
When Fan Yuan heard that he had a way, his heart was relieved. Yet he heard him mention something about a condition, and couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows. He silently fiddled with a few guzheng strings, expressionlessly saying, “Then I dare ask this male lead daren, what do you wish for me to offer in exchange?”
Yan Rui said, “I don’t know, perhaps staying together for a lifetime in this world?”
Fan Yuan’s fingers paused, and in that instant a string was broken. The guzheng under his hands let out a mute cry of sorrow. Fan Yuan furrowed his brow, his expression carrying a hint of regret.
But the fact was that he had already acted out in anger.
Staying together for a lifetime? If he didn’t mention it, it would still be okay. Once he mentioned this, Fan Yuan was reminded of how he was fooled around by this fellow in the previous world. Based on that man’s ability, how could there be a car accident? It was merely an act, yet he had foolishly believed it, and was even moved to the point where he was a complete mess. In the end, he had even abandoned the mission. Really just thinking about it made him feel that he was a damn fool.
All this while, he had been played here and there like a monkey. This bastard Gao Yu’s gentleness, Gu Qi’s pampering, and Fang Xu’s protection; in every world, he had indeed made him feel touched. But that couldn’t negate the fact that till now, he had always hid from him, lied to him, and took chances to fool him around.
Since he liked to play, then Fan Yuan would play with him this once. Those who could lie, were not just him.
Fan Yuan pretended to be shocked as he lifted his head to give Yan Rui a look. Silently, his eyelashes drooped, and he hesitantly said to him through the system, “That wouldn’t fit with the plot.........”
Yan Rui saw that his attitude had somewhat loosened up, as he did not harshly reject. It seemed like not all hope was lost. He decided to follow up this little victory with a hot pursuit, “The plot actually has loopholes that we can take advantage of. Although your role is key, it isn’t absolutely important. Playing dead isn’t completely impossible—I’ll help you get a substitute to escape the penalty for breaking the rules, so you can be at ease and stay in this world.”
When Fan Yuan heard his words, he was surprised for a moment. He wasn’t a completely clueless newbie that could be convinced by Yan Rui’s words.
However, Yan Rui definitely wouldn’t trick him. Since he dared to say it, he definitely was able to do it. Then the problem came—where did he get that kind of confidence to say those words?
Although the actor had the plot in their hands, and countless props to assist them, but at the same time, they were also bound by shackles. For the sake of limiting the actor’s actions, the degree to which an actor could increase their abilities had an upper limit. They couldn’t threaten the male lead or the B-grade characters—this was meant for preventing vicious events, like when some actors became skewed, snatching away the world’s luck and resources.
Of course, this was all based on the premise of protecting the plot. If the original body that the actor was playing was a peerless master, then naturally it wouldn’t be regarded as the same matter.
Under such circumstances, the system’s monitoring functions would come into play. Once they detected an anomaly, they would immediately dispatch relevant authorities to take care of the matter. Though Fan Yuan had never experienced that before, he had long heard that the punishment was extremely harsh.
Yan Rui could say such words so confidently, it really was worth considering ah.
“Xiao Wu, from the end of the previous world till now, I haven’t received any warning or punishment notifications?”
“Ding, it is precisely so.”
Fan Yuan concealed the deep thoughts in his eyes. It looked like he had underestimated this man.
Though the system, he calmly said to Yan Rui, “It seems that you frequently take advantage of the plot’s loopholes?”
Yan Rui suddenly gave a laugh after hearing what he said. He turned to face him, the deep feelings in his eyes completely unconcealed, “Baby, you can just ask me whatever you want to know. You don’t need to beat around the bush. As long as I know it, I will definitely give you the answer if you ask.”
Fan Yuan almost couldn’t maintain his calm expression. He was practically gnashing his teeth as he said, “One kiss for one question?”
“That’s already the lowest price, you really aren’t going to consider it ma?”
Fan Yuan really wanted to give him a slap, f*cking hell, other than being shameless, his only other quality was shamelessness!
He got up and knelt down in front of the platform, respectfully saying, “This subordinate’s body is feeling out of sorts, I will first take my leave. May wangye excuse me.”
Yan Rui looked at him with a deep gaze, slowly saying, “You are excused.”
At the moment when Fan Yuan got up, he gazed at him profoundly and used the system to say, “For the condition before, I agree. Don’t let Pei Yu die.”
Yan Rui was quite surprised. When one gazed at Yan Rui’s eyes, they would see his pupils twinkling with radiance, only to see Fan Yuan turn away and leave without taking another look.
Yan Rui lightly let out a sigh, faintly saying, “Things like love are really frustrating. No matter what I do, it’s wrong. The more I want to grab him tightly, the more I push him away.”
He slowly poured the cup of cooled wine within his hand into the brazier by his side, and only the sound of sizzling could be heard. The wine evaporated in an instant, and his eyes were so dark that no emotions could be seen.
Gui La’s mechanical voice trembled slightly, as it carefully replied, “That is because Master has never loved someone before, hence you don’t have any experience. Master has gotten used to being in the most powerful position, thus you slightly lack patience.”
“Aren’t I patient enough? If it wasn’t for him, why would I come to play these types of ‘playing house’ games.”
Gui La hesitated, “Regarding that.........”
Yan Rui coldly said, “Say what you want to say ba.”
“Fan Yuan should already know that Master is staying in a lower plane because of him. He is definitely touched, but once Master recovered your memories, you had acted too recklessly, disrupting the progression of his mission. It has caused his impression of Master to deteriorate greatly.”
“According to the system’s scans, Fan Yuan’s affection meter towards Master has reached the peak value three times. Once was when Master was Gao Yu. The second time was when Master was Fang Xu, during the moment when you risked your life to save Tang Yuan. The third time was precisely because Master has devoted all your attention to caring for Fan Yuan’s daily life during these past two years, before you deliberately exposed yourself. It seems that when your actions are too radical, they have a terrible outcome instead.”
Yan Rui curved the corners of his lips. Indeed, he had deliberately revealed some flaws. Whether he was pretending to be drunk or not, how could he not tell, but it was a waste to not eat the tofu that had served itself up on a platter.
Although flirting with Fan Yuan while hiding his identity was really interesting, he couldn’t keep going on like that. However, he didn’t think that Fan Yuan would come up with an idea to force him to reveal his true identity. This time he truly lost to him.
“Your meaning is to soften him up slowly.”
“This is merely Gui La’s small suggestion.”
Yan Rui deeply considered it for a moment, and finally shook his head.
Of course he knew that doing that would allow Fan Yuan to get closer to him. At least he wouldn’t avoid him like he did right now, as if he were a viper or a scorpion. It was a pity that indulging him so, would only cause him to deceive himself further and never realise his true feelings.
When he was Gao Yu, gently accompanying him for dozens of years, Fan Yuan had merely treated him as a brother. When he was Fang Xu, he unsparingly racked his brains, and ended up inflicting an injury upon himself to win Fan Yuan over. But the 18 years they spent together were regarded as repayment. As Pei Qi, he pretended to be drunk and acted pitiful, even stooping so low as to spike their wine. Once the effects of the drug wore off, Fan Yuan had left without any hesitation.
If one were to say that Fan Yuan had not even a shred of feelings for him, he absolutely wouldn’t believe it. Since Fan Yuan was stubbornly unwilling to take a step forward, he had no choice but to be the one taking the initiative.
However, boiling the frog in warm water wasn’t too bad of an idea.
He hooked his lips up and lightly swept his fingers over the strings, squinting his eyes as he listened to the sound of guzheng. He lightly laughed, “Gui La, not bad.”
Gui La: “.........Many thanks for Master’s praise.”
*******************
Ever since the day they had reached an agreement, Fan Yuan realised that Yan Rui this fellow was as if he had become a different person.
He was extremely honest and upright. He had become a proper gentleman, completely unlike his personality before, and Fan Yuan couldn’t feel the vibe of an obscene pervert anymore. It was if he had been reborn again. Fan Yuan suspected quite a few times that the original host had transmigrated back.
However, it was quite evident that this wasn’t the case, because a scorching hot gaze would occasionally be aimed at his body. Without a doubt, it was Yan Rui. However, no matter how hot his gaze was, as long as he didn’t show his presence in front of him, Fan Yuan felt that he could completely overlook that!
He returned to his study and picked up a jade weasel-hair brush that Yan Rui had gifted to him. He carefully stared at it for a moment, before casually flinging it aside. No matter how good it was, when it was not proper, it was not proper.
He spread out a piece of xuan paper, picking up the brush that he had gotten used to using, dipping it in ink. He unconcernedly asked, “Xiao Wu, how far has the plot progressed now?”
“Ding, the main plot has progressed to 50%. Master’s plot has already progressed to 85%. According to Master and Yan Rui’s agreement, Master still has approximately 50 years left to live based on Master’s current body condition, if no accidents happen.”
“Xiao Wu, are you secretly reminding me?”
“Ding, Xiao Wu only hopes that Master will not forget your own identity. One day, you will inevitably be discovered taking advantage of the plot’s loopholes. At that time, Master will have to receive a huge punishment. Yan Rui is an actor in an extremely advanced plane, or maybe even of a much higher status. The power and freedom he possesses is not something Master can compare to. May Master take note of your limits.”
Fan Yuan didn’t say a word, and concentrated on writing till he finished. He kept his brush and picked up the paper with his completed words, slowly giving it a blow. He nodded his head in satisfaction. Only then did he casually say a sentence, “Don’t worry, I’m deceiving him.”
Xiao Wu: “............” His family’s Master, seems to have learnt bad things?
Suddenly, a servant from outside knocked on the door, his tone urgent, “Gongzi, something bad has happened, his Majesty has passed away!”
Fan Yuan replied with a sound, as he turned to head towards the inner room to change his robes. A day of national mourning called for a body of plain white.
The ink on the piece of xuan paper that had just finished writing on behind him, had yet to dry. Five smart and elegant words looked as if they were about to leap out from the paper.
—All is fair in war.
The Author has Something to Say:
Little Theatre
Xiao Wu: “My family’s Master seems to have learnt bad things.”
Gui La: “Hehe, after being together with my family’s Master for a long time, don’t even mention learning bad things, do you believe that he can become as black as ink!”
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