Chapter 2: Aren't We Friends Too?
Pei Yan was a young Daoist priest at Zhenxiang Temple. Young as he was, his skills were no small matter.
If you asked what his one and only hobby was?
It was busting his ass exorcising ghosts and catching demons for people, earning more money, then saving even more of it.
He had no choice in the matter. If he wanted to take a wife, buying a house cost money. Betrothal gifts cost money. Buying jewelry for his wife, getting her good food and nice clothes—all of that cost money too.
Thinking about it like that, taking a wife really was a hassle.
But Pei Yan had to marry her, because he liked this girl right in front of him who was going to become his wife.
Not long ago, he’d taken a demon-hunting job and spent three whole days in the neighboring county. The moment he got back, he didn’t run straight to Zhenxiang Temple. Instead, he snuck into the strictly regulated Qingzhu Academy.
He’d sent a letter ahead to the girl he liked, telling her he’d be back soon.
So he’d been looking forward to seeing just how happy she’d be when she saw him again. But the girl he saw now wore a blank expression, her eyes holding a dazed, somewhat unfamiliar look.
Pei Yan leaped down from the wall top, the bells hanging at his waist jingling.
The single small bell hanging at He Xi’s waist chimed along with it.
Without a shred of politeness, he reached out with one hand, pinched her chin, and tilted it up. He leaned down close to her face, so close they could feel each other’s breath.
“A Xi, did you fall for someone else?”
He Xi shook her head, mumbling indistinctly, “No.”
“Then why, when you saw me today, didn’t you happily call me A Yan? Why didn’t you rush over and hug me? Why didn’t you tell me how much you missed me these past few days? Do you know how much I missed you?”
The boy’s aura was aggressively oppressive.
He Xi had noticed it long ago. Contrary to his bright, sunny exterior, he would always inadvertently let slip a domineering streak.
Like when he said he liked her—then she had to like him back.
When he said he wanted to marry her—then she could only marry him.
And when he said he was thinking of her, naturally, she had to be thinking of him too.
He Xi’s friend had once said, struggling to accept it, “Don’t you think Pei Yan is way too overbearing? What if later on, like in those storybooks, he locks you up in a dark room?”
He Xi lowered her head. “Lock me in a dark room…”
Her friend hurriedly said, “Don’t be scared! I’ll go find Uncle He right now and have him break off the engag—”
He Xi lifted her face, eyes sparkling. “Sounds kind of thrilling.”
Friend: “…Huh?”
Beneath the pear blossom tree, sunlight pierced through layers of branches, scattering mottled light across the ground.
He Xi looked up, crashing straight into the boy’s clear brows and eyes.
He wore a plain, elegant blue cloth Daoist robe. The fabric was thin and clean, setting off his tall, slender frame. There wasn’t a trace of old, stuffy Daoist air about him—he was brimming with fresh, pure youthful energy.
Yet those long, warm fingertips were pinching her cheek, forcefully making sure that while he was by her side, she couldn’t spare even a sliver of her gaze for anything else.
He Xi had experience. Usually at times like this, you had to stroke the fur the right way.
So, just like always, her eyes curved into crescents as she flashed a brilliant smile.
“A Yan, I missed you so much too.”
Following his wishes, she reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying herself in his chest, then looked up at him with glistening, watery eyes.
In an instant, the tense coldness on Pei Yan’s face melted away completely.
That obsessive possessiveness quietly faded. The boy’s brows relaxed all at once, the hostility dissipating, and he turned back into his usual clean, bright self.
His lips unconsciously curved upward slightly. He stroked the hair on top of her head and slipped a butterfly pearl hairpin set with a red gemstone into her hair.
“On the way back, I saw that all the girls in the city liked this style of hairpin. If other families’ girls have it, you have to have it too.”
He Xi always felt things were fine as long as you had enough. She usually wouldn’t buy new stuff just because the trends changed. But over the past year, her jewelry box was already nearly overflowing.
“This must’ve been expensive. You’re wasting money again.”
“It looks good on you, so it doesn’t count as wasting money.”
He sat down beside her with practiced ease. Seeing that the snacks laid out on the table were all his favorites made him even happier.
Pei Yan picked up a sugar-pickled green plum and held it to her lips first.
He Xi quickly shook her head. She never liked sour things to begin with.
So Pei Yan popped it into his own mouth, then noticed the girl he liked still seemed a bit off.
She was staring at his face, gradually spacing out.
Pei Yan grabbed her hand and asked, voice slightly muffled, “Are you hiding something from me?”
He Xi said, “No, I’m not.”
Pei Yan stared at her. “A Xi, just blink your eyes, and I’ll know whether you want to hug me or kiss me today.”
He Xi: “…”
“Speak.”
“I just had a dream.”
“Was I in it?”
He Xi nodded.
Pei Yan’s eyes curved. “What did you dream about me?”
“I dreamed that before you lost your memories, you had someone you liked.”
Pei Yan spat out the pit and said crisply, “Impossible.”
“How do you know it’s impossible? What if!”
Pei Yan gave her a lingering look, then picked up another sugar-pickled green plum and held it to her lips. Her brows furrowed, and she refused again.
He shook the small golden bell at his waist.
The small golden bell at He Xi’s waist swayed in response.
The two sounds echoed each other, crisp and pleasant, making even the wind sound nicer.
“The Heartbound Bells told me there’s no ‘what if’ about this.”
The Heartbound Bells were connected to his soul. Even if he lost his memories, if he truly had someone else he liked, the bell on He Xi wouldn’t be jingling away like this.
He Xi touched the small bell and stayed silent, sulking.
That dream was weird, but it had felt far too real.
Maybe a lot of things in the dream were unfamiliar, but even now, she still remembered the shock she felt when she saw that young man’s face in the dream.
He Xi had a bad feeling about it. She secretly glanced up at the boy who was eating his third sugar-pickled green plum.
But she wanted to say it yet didn’t dare, so she lowered her head.
Soon after, her face was once again pinched and tilted up by those long, pretty fingers.
Pei Yan’s face was inches away. “What do you want to say? Hurry up.”
He Xi pressed her lips together and tested the waters, “A Yan, maybe we shouldn’t rush the marriage… wait until you recover your memories before we…”
She couldn’t finish.
Because the boy’s expression had darkened severely.
“I was just joking! It was only a joke, I don’t actually mean to postpone the wedding!”
Pei Yan said, “Really?”
“Mm, really!”
“Kiss me once, and I’ll believe you.”
He Xi hurriedly covered her mouth. “Can’t kiss!”
Pei Yan frowned. “Why?”
A sentence suddenly popped into her head: “If you kiss me, you won’t be pure anymore, and you won’t have Dual Virginity with the female lead. She won’t want you!”
After saying it, she froze too.
What was she even talking about?
Pei Yan knocked on her head. “Did reading those storybooks make you stupid?”
He Xi kept her hands clamped over her mouth.
Pei Yan suddenly looked behind her. “Dean He, A Xi and I weren’t doing anything.”
He Xi quickly dropped her hands and looked over, but there was nothing there.
At the same time, a hand turned her face back.
Before she could react, Pei Yan had already leaned down, wrapping her slender figure completely inside his embrace.
A moment later.
Pei Yan pulled back slightly, his thumb gently wiping the moisture from the corner of her lips, his pitch-black eyes glittering.
“There. Now neither of us is pure. If you dream about that whatever female lead again, tell her to get the hell away. Got it?”
Feeling the sourness of the green plum in her mouth—which wasn’t actually that unpleasant—He Xi pressed her lips together slightly. “Got it.”