Chapter 0: 85. Exchanging Past
Qin Gou knew that Duoyu truly wanted to kiss the sleeping A’yuan. The problem was, A’yuan was sleeping soundly, while he was wide awake!
The next second, a warm and soft touch landed.
While Qin Gou marveled at the realism, he also breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, she had kissed A’yuan’s cheek. He wondered if Xie Yu, who was also witnessing this scene, was terrified.
“Sweet dreams, little one.”
As Duoyu’s pleasant voice rang out, Qin Gou’s vision went black again, and he instantly found himself in the next morning.
“You’re awake? Are you hungry?”
With Qin Gou ‘accompanying’ her, A’yuan lazily sat up, rubbed her sleepy eyes, and looked at the strange stele, shaking her head.
“I almost forgot, you have cultivation too,” the Falling Prison Stele said with a smile. “By the way, I mentioned before that because your sudden appearance attracted a bolt of purple lightning to help me be born early, I promised to grant you one wish. You’ve had so many days, have you thought about it?”
“I, I want to see Daddy and Mommy.”
A’yuan’s voice was as familiar as ever to Qin Gou, yet it was now filled with a shy and soft, sweet charm, a rare sight in the usual A’yuan.
“I know, and I genuinely want to help you, but for some reason, even my divination skills can’t pinpoint the exact whereabouts of your parents. It’s as if they are shrouded in an impenetrable mist,” Duoyu said with difficulty.
In Qin Gou’s opinion, there were only two reasons for this situation: either Duoyu was looking for the Black Robe, whose level of existence was beyond her divination skills, or it was because he himself had not yet met Gu Feiyan at that time.
‘How about you choose another wish?’
Hearing this, A’yuan furrowed her cute dark eyebrows. After deep thought, her eyes suddenly lit up. “I love milk!”
“Pfft.”
At this moment, Qin Gou and Duoyu, from countless years ago, resonated. Both felt an urge to spit out a mouthful of blood on the spot.
“But I, I don’t have any!” Duoyu cried out, her ancient form trembling slightly with shame and anger.
“Aunt Yi does.”
“What?” Qin Gou and Duoyu exclaimed in unison.
“Aunt Yi gave me a lot of Milk of the Fiery Profound Ox, and candy pills…” As she spoke, A’yuan inexplicably looked confused. “Who is Aunt Yi?”
‘I don’t know! But you’ve been mentioning a lot of strange names these past few days. Aunt Yi, Dry Mother, and that ‘Lord Yuan Zhen’? Your father truly is… quite a character!’
“What do you mean?” A’yuan’s little face was filled with indignation, and she immediately pressed for answers. Even without memories, she couldn’t stand anyone speaking ill of Old Qin.
Seeing this, the Falling Prison Stele changed the subject. As if in praise, it said, “Nothing, I just think he’s really capable… And since you want beast milk, this should be easy to handle!”
Meanwhile, Qin Gou was a bit confused. Aunt Yi should be Yi Chengying, and Lord Yuan Zhen was Li Yuanzhen. But who was this ‘Dry Mother’?
The fragmented memories of the Black Robe that he and Gu Feiyan had witnessed were very scarce, so he didn’t know. But it was definitely a debt of love owed by the Black Robe. His path and the Black Robe’s had long since diverged. That so-called ‘Dry Mother’ must be vastly different in his own world!
He didn’t even know if he knew her, let alone whether she was friend or foe. However, if it was fated, they would meet.
Thinking this, the scene before Qin Gou’s eyes rapidly changed.
He saw storms raging, with the Falling Prison Stele sheltering A’yuan. He saw the white-clothed fairy looking up at the starry sky at night, her deep loneliness gradually melting away. They leaned on each other, becoming more and more inseparable.
Those numerous intimate embraces and tender kisses on the cheek did not cause Old Qin to tremble. Due to the rapid flow of memories, they were too frequent. He inexplicably and helplessly became deeply familiar with Duoyu’s lip movements… and fell into a state of numbness.
However, as time passed, A’yuan’s emotional fluctuations became more intense. She often woke up abruptly at night, crying out for her parents not to leave her, weeping uncontrollably.
“Mother is here,” Duoyu suddenly said tenderly.
“What?” A’yuan looked at the Falling Prison Stele with teary eyes.
“Little one, I didn’t give birth to you, but I am raising you now. Don’t you indeed have a Dry Mother? One more doesn’t hurt, and this Seat will never abandon you!”
“But… Dry Mother seems to have truly married Daddy.”
“Then how do you know I won’t do the same as your Dry Mother in the future? Besides, this Seat has a special identity; I am an artifact spirit, and moreover… one more doesn’t hurt!” Duoyu’s tone was full of comfort.
As soon as the words fell.
A’yuan at that time was stunned, and Qin Gou was also bewildered.
But in Duoyu’s eyes at that moment, even she couldn’t divine the whereabouts of A’yuan’s biological father, who was likely long soul scattered and spirit vanished, completely dead. Therefore, she said these words without any psychological burden.
With a “boom” in his mind, Qin Gou’s eyes suddenly snapped open, breaking free from the illusion. He clearly couldn’t continue witnessing so much of Duoyu and A’yuan’s complete memories.
But at this moment, he suddenly found himself resting on a pair of soft, fair knees, held in Xie Yu’s embrace.
“Qin Gou, you’re awake?” Xie Yu smiled.
“How… you woke up a moment before me?” Qin Gou asked, confused.
“No, from the beginning, only Qin Gou suddenly fainted. But I could see you weren’t injured. It should be because of the contract Duoyu mentioned earlier. You just fell asleep, so I stayed by your side,” Xie Yu said truthfully. “Qin Gou slept for about the duration of one incense stick.”
Qin Gou’s mouth twitched. “Don’t tell Duoyu later that it was me who entered her memories!” With that, he stood up as if nothing had happened.
Hearing this, Xie Yu was about to ask when a silver light detached from her body, transforming into Duoyu.
“Duoyu, are you alright?” Qin Gou noticed that Duoyu’s complexion seemed a bit strange.
“No, I just saw some… I thought I might find traces of our past together in the depths of Xie Yu’s memories, but… I was so foolish, really.” Duoyu glanced at Qin Gou, then quickly looked away, her breathing slightly rapid.
“What exactly did you see?” Qin Gou asked, suspecting that Duoyu might have actually witnessed a part of his own memory.
“Do you really want to know?” Duoyu’s pretty face was extremely peculiar. “Where is Xie Yu?”
“Xie Yu and I are both very curious.” As he spoke, Xie Yu decisively nodded in agreement with Qin Gou.
“Alright then.”
Duoyu took a deep breath, wanting to cry but having no tears. “From beginning to end, all I saw was… you!”
“Who?”
“Qin Gou, and Qin Gou, and Qin Gou. And the treasure likes Qin Gou… Damn it! I’m sorry, my language is usually not this vulgar!”
For a moment, Duoyu instinctively took a few steps back, squatted down, clasped her head with her hands, her delicate body trembling uncontrollably, seeming on the verge of a breakdown. “But in this short span of time, this Seat truly feels like I’m being completely brainwashed!”
