Inside the illusory stone formation, before the window of the thatched cottage.
Even though Shen Tanqi knew it was all fake, nothing real, the slow rising heat in his body still uncontrollably took over his mind.
Shen Tanqi struggled to break free from Yu Ce’s grip, barely holding onto the windowsill, panting heavily. “That’s enough. This is an illusion, Yu Ce. How long are you planning to stay in here?”
He didn’t believe that Yu Ce didn’t know this was an illusion. He was definitely doing this on purpose.
Yu Ce looked at him calmly, his gaze relaxed as if he had expected this reaction. He smiled and said, “That’s a good excuse, more interesting than the ones you made up before.”
Shen Tanqi’s eyes widened in shock, and then Yu Ce pinned him against the window. His hands, like swaying wheat stalks, trembled weakly as Yu Ce pressed down firmly.
“I didn’t make it up…” His mouth was ruthlessly covered, and his clothes were quickly undone.
Yu Ce’s breath was full of aggression, tangling with Shen Tanqi’s. He slowly clasped Shen Tanqi’s waist, speaking softly, with a hint of complaint, “I told you to keep it down.”
Finally, the kids weren’t clinging to them. Yu Ce had even made a kite for them to play with, just to get some alone time.
Outside the wooden lattice window, Taro Ball and Goldfish were running around the yard with the kite. The yard wasn’t big, so their voices were quite clear.
Hearing Shen Tanqi’s muffled cry, Goldfish curiously tilted his head, still holding the kite string, and asked, “Daddy, what did you just say?”
From the child’s perspective, Yu Ce was gently leaning in front of Shen Tanqi, only the top of Shen Tanqi’s black hair visible, as if they were just whispering and laughing.
Hearing the innocent question, Shen Tanqi instantly tensed up, his pale shoulders trembling. He clutched Yu Ce’s collar tightly, trying to push him away.
But then Yu Ce’s low, rumbling laughter came to his ears. He softly replied to the child outside, “It’s nothing. Daddy said he’ll make fish for lunch.”
Shen Tanqi stared dubiously, wondering how this person in front of him could say such things without flinching or skipping a beat.
He angrily pinched Yu Ce’s arm, feeling satisfied as he heard Yu Ce’s faint intake of breath.
Yu Ce slowly lowered his gaze, seeing a hint of triumph in Shen Tanqi’s eyes, his expression pausing for a moment, somewhat surprised.
He’s still able to laugh…
He reached out and brushed his hand over Shen Tanqi’s cunningly beautiful eyes, feeling the tickle of his eyelashes against his palm, softly calling his name, “Ah Qi.”
As the words fell, Shen Tanqi’s whole body shivered with goosebumps, instinctively wanting to pinch him again.
‘Ah Qi’ how cheesy. His brother had never called him that!
In the illusion, he didn’t even call him ‘Senior Brother’, Yu Ce must be asking for trouble.
But before his hand could rise, it was quickly caught, lightly pinched, leaving several conspicuous red marks on Shen Tanqi’s wrist.
Yu Ce’s smile remained light, not giving Shen Tanqi a chance to speak, “Ah Qi, you’re too soft, I barely used any force.”
Shen Tanqi’s face turned red with anger. If he hadn’t been muffled, he would have immediately spat out a curse.
Soft? Your whole family is soft!
But soon, Shen Tanqi didn’t even have the thought to curse anymore. He keenly sensed the delayed dependency that suddenly flared up at this moment.
In the yard behind the wall, the children’s laughter seemed to penetrate through the window.
“Brother, run faster with the kite, I’ll cast a wind spell!”
“Okay, is this fast enough?”
“Great, keep it up!”
“Is it too fast?”
“Faster, faster.”
Inside the thatched hut, Shen Tanqi bit his lip tightly, not letting out a single sound, his eyes moist and red, filled with the cheerful voices of the children behind him. He felt like crying.
Even if it’s an illusion, it’s still Goldfish and Taro Ball.
Yu Ce gently stroked his head, and his tone finally carried some comforting meaning, “It’s okay, what are you afraid of.”
In fact, he had already set up a soundproofing spell before starting, but he didn’t tell Shen Tanqi about it, just intending to tease him a bit.
Shen Tanqi turned his face away, his fair knuckles gradually turning crimson, uncomfortably covering his eyes, lowering his voice to urge, “Stop talking nonsense, just end it quickly.”
Yu Ce pursed his lips, his gaze darkening, “Okay.”
Ah Qi always liked to treat him as a tool, so he had to fulfill his duty as a good tool.
After being tossed around like a folded quilt for a while, Shen Tanqi lay lifelessly against the window sill, trying hard not to let his face be seen by the kids outside. Even in the illusion, he didn’t want to live if they saw him.
But at this moment, there came a burst of exclamations from outside the window, as if the kite had flown high.
“It’s flying so high!” Taro Ball exclaimed happily, looking up at the sky, excitedly running with Goldfish.
Goldfish was sweating profusely, but his eyes were shining brightly. He didn’t forget to shout towards the house, “Daddy, Daddy—”
Hearing the child call out, Shen Tanqi’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and the hand covering his voice slowly loosened. He felt extreme shame as he covered his face with the blanket.
Yu Ce watched his embarrassed expression with interest and whispered, “They’re calling you.”
With a pinch of his fingers inside his sleeve, he dispelled the soundproofing spell on the thatched cottage.
Shen Tanqi’s mind was in chaos now. He regretted not listening to the elder’s advice. If he had known, he would have just let Yu Ce endure the illusion on his own and let him suffer!
Goldfish’s arm was getting tired, but still, there was no response from Shen Tanqi. As the kite seemed to be descending, he anxiously called out, “Daddy, look! My kite is flying so high, come see!”
Unable to resist, Yu Ce pulled the blanket off Shen Tanqi and, with a smile, pinned him down again, calling out to the children, “He said he saw it. Be careful with your feet, don’t trip.”
Shen Tanqi widened his eyes, gritting his teeth as he whispered, “Yu… Ce.”
Yu Ce looked innocent, “What’s wrong, Ah Qi?”
“You… you…” Damn it.
Before he could finish his sentence, the laughter of the children outside interrupted him.
Goldfish, upon hearing Yu Ce’s words, felt a surge of joy and excitement, “Okay, I got it!”
Not far away, Taro Ball, who was chanting the wind spell, felt a bit confused.
Why didn’t Daddy speak for himself, but had Father speak for him?
“Brother, the wind is dying down. Hurry, cast the spell again!”
Distracted by Goldfish’s voice, Taro Ball quickly resumed chanting the spell to make the kite fly higher, soon forgetting his earlier confusion.
Inside the thatched hut, Shen Tanqi couldn’t shake off the inexplicable shame that lingered in his heart. Although he and Yu Ce had done this many times before, and this time was just another episode of dependency, having the little ones nearby made it feel even more heart-pounding than usual.
“Alright, let’s continue,” Yu Ce leaned down, parting his snow-white knees.
Shen Tanqi: ??
Where’s his dignity? Has even his humanity been erased in this illusion?
“The dependency period isn’t over yet, your body will still feel uncomfortable,” Yu Ce explained earnestly, “Ah Qi, I’m looking out for you.”
Shen Tanqi helplessly looked up at him, too lazy to even dwell on what Yu Ce called him, sighed, and lay there like a dead fish, “Whatever, just hurry up, I’m tired.”
With his permission granted, Yu Ce’s eyes softened slightly as he lightly bit into his neck and chuckled deeply, “Yes, sir.”
Until the moment the dependency period ended, a thick fog suddenly enveloped everything, obscuring Shen Tanqi’s vision entirely.
This fog wasn’t created by Yu Ce, it wasn’t cold enough. Shen Tanqi, for a moment, saw a glimmer of hope and reached out excitedly, only to be swallowed whole by the dense mist the next second.
When the mist spat him out, Shen Tanqi knelt on the ground, surrounded by emptiness. Only he, the elder in front of him, and the damn Yu Ce behind him remained.
Trembling, he pushed himself up from the ground, hearing the elder’s relieved sigh, “I thought something went wrong since you took so long.”
Pausing, the elder noticed that Shen Tanqi didn’t look quite well. She asked, slightly puzzled, “What happened, exactly?”
Shen Tanqi hung his head low, shaking it silently, refusing to speak.
The elder didn’t delve into the specifics of others’ illusions. She simply nodded in understanding and comforted him, “Go back and have a few cups of calming tea. Don’t dwell on it too much.”
She glanced up and saw Yu Ce standing nonchalantly behind Shen Tanqi, still lost in admiration of the peach blossom tree above.
What’s going on?
In Yu Ce’s illusion, everything was fine, yet Shen Tanqi seemed tormented after entering.
It was quite strange, probably some minor troubles encountered in the illusion.
The elder chuckled and shook her head. As Shen Tanqi and Yu Ce were the disciples undergoing the final round of illusion trials, she tidied up and left, her sleeves covering her departure.
After the elder left, Shen Tanqi, still standing with his head down, took a deep breath, turned around, and abruptly grabbed Yu Ce’s collar, gritting his teeth, “Yu Ce, are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Yu Ce took a puzzled step back, his fingertips lightly resting on Shen Tanqi’s hand, furrowing his brow as he asked, “Senior brother, what’s wrong?”
Still pretending, still pretending.
And pretending so convincingly!
Enraged, Shen Tanqi tore open his own collar, angrily retorting, “Take a look at what you’ve done!”
After a moment of tense silence, Yu Ce seemed deeply conflicted as he observed for a while, questioning uncertainly, “What… have I done?”
Seeing him still not admitting to it, Shen Tanqi reached out to point out the evidence. But as he lowered his head, he realized there wasn’t a trace left from where he had been bitten.
He was stunned for a moment, then remembered that whatever happened in the illusion was gone once back in reality.
But he was indeed bitten by Yu Ce in the illusion…
The person in front of him seemed just as respectful as when they first met in the morning. He reached out and carefully fastened Shen Tanqi’s collar button, smoothing out the slight wrinkles caused by the tug, and whispered, “It’s cold outside, Senior brother, put on your clothes properly.”
Shen Tanqi choked back his words, pointing at him, “You… alright, fine.”
You got some nerve, man.
If he didn’t return this grudge, he wouldn’t be Shen Tanqi!
Turning around to leave, Shen Tanqi walked away without waiting for Yu Ce. Behind him, Yu Ce’s soft laughter followed, ignorantly asking, “Oh, by the way, senior brother, where’s my peach blossom branch?”
Shen Tanqi paused for a moment, then immediately, without hesitation, pulled a peach blossom from his robe and threw it back at him without looking, “Here’s your damn branch!”
Yu Ce casually reached out and caught it, his gaze falling on the peach blossom branch. He was suddenly taken aback.
It was a complete branch with a perfectly blooming peach blossom, but it wasn’t the one he had given Shen Tanqi earlier—
The one Shen Tanqi received had been accidentally broken, so he replaced it with a freshly picked one.
After a while, Yu Ce carefully placed the peach blossom close to his heart, treasuring it immensely.
This was the first flower Shen Tanqi had ever given him,
The first flower.
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
