【Host, perhaps it’s time to part ways.】
The sun gradually climbed to the highest point in the sky, becoming the most dazzling existence.
Splashing, spreading, occupying the high ground.
Such a thought crossed Shi Jinlan’s mind, and she felt she must be insane.
In the past twenty-plus years, she had never once had such a thought.
Desire was the thing most capable of manipulating a person’s heart, and Shi Jinlan had always kept it under excellent control.
She had few material desires; the only things she paid special attention to were the abstruse articles published in academic journals, but that was merely an interest, not something she could say she loved.
She was a machine cultivated by her Grandfather to operate the Shinian Group.
She was not permitted to have emotions, let alone desire.
So how could she possibly want to kiss Chi Qian?
The sunlight shone directly on Shi Jinlan’s lips. The warmth, blown by the sea breeze, carried a hint of coolness.
She felt like a monk with a wavering will; a single kiss had shaken her guard, and having eaten the marrow, she now knew its flavor.1
A foolish siren was still a siren, after all.
“You don’t like it?”
Shi Jinlan’s thoughts were unsettled as she gazed at Chi Qian. The hand she held loosely was tapped.
Seeing that Shi Jinlan hadn’t moved for a long time, Chi Qian thought she didn’t like it and carefully tried to take back the flower petals she had just shoved into her hand.
But just as Chi Qian’s hand reached in, it was grasped by Shi Jinlan.
She didn’t seem to want Chi Qian to take back the flowers she had placed in her hand. She raised her gaze to look at Chi Qian and asked with a particular meaning, “Didn’t Auntie Zhou tell you to do as she said? Are you giving up so easily?”
Oh, right.
She had actually forgotten about that.
Chi Qian blinked. She didn’t know if it was a case of a thief with a guilty heart2, but as she looked at Shi Jinlan saying this, she felt there was something strange about her words.
It was as if she knew that what Auntie Zhou had specifically instructed her on before getting in the car was not this.
But so what if Shi Jinlan had found out? She had already spouted so much nonsense just now. Even if she had to harden her scalp3, she had to see it through.
Chi Qian, oh Chi Qian, you really, at no time and no moment4, stop digging huge pits for yourself.
Thinking this, Chi Qian gave a bitter tug at the corner of her mouth and nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”
In the days she had spent with Shi Jinlan, Chi Qian couldn’t say she had made progress in anything else, but her ability to adapt had definitely improved.
As she spoke, she let go of the hand holding the petals in Shi Jinlan’s hand, closed Shi Jinlan’s loosely clenched fist for her, and smiled as she recommended, “Since you know, then just help me complete the mission. Give it a try, it’s very interesting.”
Her five fingers were pressed together by another. A layer of damp warmth pressed against the back of Shi Jinlan’s hand as it was held.
She let her gaze linger on her hand for a few seconds. She couldn’t see Chi Qian, but she could smell the floral scent clinging to her.
From dazed to a bitter smile, then changing to a fawning grin directed at herself—Shi Jinlan saw it all—one clear, two distinct.5
She disliked it when others tried to be clever and hide things in front of her, but when she looked up at Chi Qian’s smile, her mood didn’t sour.
She even smiled along with the other woman’s bright and deceptively vulnerable appearance.
It was a rare, obvious smile from Shi Jinlan, the corners of her mouth lifting on both sides.
And what was lifted along with them were the flower petals Chi Qian had placed in her hand for her to scatter.
The petals fluttered in the golden sunlight, scattering and swirling thickly6 to weave a curtain of rain.
And Chi Qian, as the sole recipient of this rain curtain, looked up in a daze. The soft white clouds seemed like melted oil paint spreading across a canvas of azure blue. The petals surged upwards, filling the canvas with brilliant, vibrant colors.
So this was the view from the perspective of the audience on both sides? How beautiful.
Chi Qian’s eyes were filled with shock and surprise; she had never imagined Shi Jinlan would toss the petals at her.
That’s right. Why did Shi Jinlan toss the petals at her!
Chi Qian quickly pulled herself out of her recent immersion and hurriedly corrected Shi Jinlan, “Wrong, wrong, these petals are all blessings! We’re supposed to scatter them at the crowd!”
But Shi Jinlan thought otherwise. “Can’t I give my blessings to you?”
The woman’s voice was as placid as ever, as if she didn’t care.
That blatant rebelliousness was right before Chi Qian’s eyes. As someone who followed the rules and trod the beaten path7, her heart pounded wildly as she listened to the “you” and “me” in Shi Jinlan’s words.
She had warned herself in her heart many times these past few days not to let her heart rate become erratic just because of a small action or word from Shi Jinlan.
But she couldn’t control herself.
It was as if this body wasn’t hers. She desperately told herself that with no love, one’s body is light8, yet her heartbeat betrayed her every time.
Shi Jinlan…
“Ah Qian.”
Just as she was thinking this, Shi Jinlan’s voice reached her ears.
Perhaps it was a guilty conscience, but Chi Qian’s heart skipped another beat. She asked as a conditioned reflex9, “Huh?”
“After the festival is over, I have something to tell you.”
Facing the sunlight, Shi Jinlan fixed a deep gaze on Chi Qian.
And on her lips.
“What is it…”
“Ah Qian!”
Chi Qian subconsciously pressed her lips together. Just as she was about to ask Shi Jinlan, she suddenly heard a familiar call amidst the clamor of the crowd.
Parting the bustling crowd, Chi Qian saw Yuan Ming near the front of the flower float parade route, along with her Dad and Mom, and Chi Qingyan.
Seeing familiar faces in a crowd full of strangers gave Chi Qian the feeling that she wasn’t just performing a role-playing mission.
This excited sense of joy made her grab a handful of petals and toss them toward Yuan Ming’s group. She gave some to Chi Qingyan, some to Yuan Ming and her parents—it had a bit of the flavor of using power to seek private gain.10
Chi Qingyan stood with his hands behind his back, looking at his Granddaughter, and shook his head with a smile, unable to do anything about it.
Just then, a lush and brilliant flower was thrown toward him. He reached out and caught it, twirling the rare, perfectly intact flower in his hand.
“Wow, the flower Ah Qian gave Teacher is so beautiful,” Yuan Ming remarked from the side, unable to hide her envy.
Chi Qingyan, however, gently turned the flower in his hand and said to Yuan Ming, “Do you want it?”
“Ah Qian gave this to Teacher,” Yuan Ming said with a smile.
“That’s why I want to give it to you,” Chi Qingyan said, holding the flower out to Yuan Ming.
If Yuan Ming couldn’t understand the vague question Chi Qingyan had asked earlier, there was no way she could misunderstand this sentence, which was full of implication.
A warm sea breeze swept by, and the plain-colored petals tilted.
Yuan Ming looked down, a hint of a smile in her eyes, and asked softly in return, “Has Teacher asked Ah Qian?”
Ask?
Chi Qingyan looked up at Chi Qian, who was happily tossing petals to the surrounding crowd. Inevitably, Shi Jinlan, who was sitting beside her, appeared in his line of sight.
Summer was about to connect with spring, and the sunlight had long since awakened all of creation.
Amidst the interweaving greenery and the full bloom of a hundred flowers, in a scene full of vigorous and flourishing life-force11, there lay a glacier.
The sun could not penetrate it.
Shi Jinlan’s deep pupils were still pitch-black. Though calm, they were more like an abyss.
“I would rather not see certain things happen,” Chi Qingyan said faintly.
“Actually, Teacher doesn’t need to worry so much. You should let her go out and make her own way,” Yuan Ming disagreed, raising the camera in her hands. “Ah Qian should have many choices. Perhaps this island of ours is too small for her.”
The flower float was moving forward slowly, and the camera Yuan Ming held was tracking its movement.
Through the lens, she watched Chi Qian, who was surrounded by the crowd. Her gaze was obscure, filled with both longing and clarity.
Chi Qingyan remained silent.
With his hands behind his back, he placed the flower Chi Qian had thrown him into his pocket. It was hard to say how much of what Yuan Ming had said he had taken to heart.
The sun moved from one end of the sky to the other, its light slanting westward.
The island’s annual Sanyue San12 Flower Float Parade continued until three or four in the afternoon before ending.
This year’s parade was even more lively than in previous years. The ground was covered in a dance of petals. When the wind blew, it created another flurry of flower rain, as if reflecting everyone’s reluctance to leave.
The dispersal was much like the beginning; in fact, because it was the end, the scene was chaotic for a time.
Chi Qian finally managed to get off the flower float, but when she turned around, she couldn’t see any sign of Shi Jinlan. Vaguely, she seemed to recall Shi Jinlan hastily telling her “I’m leaving first” as it ended, but it wasn’t clear.
She really left?
Doesn’t she need my help?
Shi Jinlan’s legs were inconvenient, and there were so many people around.
Chi Qian was bewildered and worried, anxiously scanning the surroundings for a good while.
But the area was teeming with people, bustling and crowded.
Chi Qian couldn’t find a trace of Shi Jinlan. Her stomach, however, let out a long grumble.
Although Auntie Zhou had instructed her to eat a full breakfast, she was still hungry after holding out for so long, so hungry her front chest was sticking to her back.13
【I want to eat roast duck pancakes, and sweet and sour pork ribs, and boiled beef slices14, and roasted lamb leg, and roasted corn, and roasted sweet potato…】 Chi Qian recited in a drawn-out voice in her mind. While slowly walking toward the rest area, she continued to search the sea of people for Shi Jinlan, unwilling to give up.
Figures bustled about, cutting across Chi Qian’s line of sight and blocking the sun.
For some reason, her gaze suddenly paused.
The sunlight created a halo in the air. Chi Qian couldn’t see clearly, but she noticed someone very strange in the crowd.
The person was wearing a very old, gray undershirt, with grayish-white hair, dressed like a fisherman who worked at the docks.
He was just walking in the crowd, seemingly looking for something. His gaze kept sweeping over Chi Qian, but his expression and eyes held none of the reverence that the villagers had for the Goddess.
Chi Qian’s vigilance immediately shot up. She called out to Thirteen in her mind: 【Thirteen, are you there.】
Who knew that Thirteen would open with: 【The Host has discovered it too, haven’t you.】
Hearing this, Chi Qian had a premonition: 【Don’t tell me…】
Thirteen: 【Shi Cheng has received definite news. He knows Shi Jinlan is at Chi Qingyan’s clinic.】
Shi Jinlan’s Uncle was truly a sly old fox.
How could he so easily let the missing Shi Jinlan go? So they had turned back to kill with a backward-thrusting spear.15
Chi Qian realized the gravity of the situation, feeling both angry and anxious: 【Wait, if you knew, why didn’t you say so earlier!】
Thirteen was also aggrieved: 【I didn’t know more than a few minutes before the Host did. My grasp of the plot is limited to events happening on this island. As for the Shi family’s side, someone has to appear to trigger it before I receive the corresponding plot prerequisite.】
Chi Qian found this incredible: 【Seriously? Your permissions are way too low.】
But what was done was done. There was no benefit in talking about this now. It was better to think: 【So what should we do this time?】
Just as she asked this, Chi Qian remembered the help the System had provided the last time they encountered this situation, and her head began to ache: 【Is your system going to activate the shielding function again this time? I need to prepare myself mentally.】
But as Chi Qian pressed urgently, Thirteen fell silent on the other end.
The dispersing villagers were talking and laughing. A few even came over enthusiastically to greet Chi Qian.
Chi Qian waved back at them one by one, accepting their compliments with a shy smile.
And it was amidst this strong sense of belonging that Chi Qian heard Thirteen say to her: 【Host, perhaps it’s time to part ways.】
The author has something to say:
Guess if there will be a second update today~
✨ Unlock Early Access to Chapters! ✨
Choose your perfect membership at bamboopandatl.net:
📚 Full Access ($4.99)
• Advanced chapters of ALL ongoing novels
• Access to complete finished novels
• Ad-free reading experience
📖 Single Novel Access ($1.49)
• Advanced chapters of ONE specific novel
• Ad-free reading for chosen novel
PayPal is the only current payment option!