Life-Saving Days by the Husky’s Side

Zhou Li‘s mouth opened and closed. He didn’t know how to answer.

Professor Xia was unaware of his mental state at the moment. Hearing no sounds on the other end of the call, he continued talking.

He was ecstatic. Despite the inescapable exhaustion following several straight days of work, his voice was full of excitement that could not be hidden even if he tried. He said, “They even incorporated the concept of reincarnation into this belief. Considering that there are thousands of ‘you’, there are thousands of reincarnations with ‘your’ soul, so every ‘you’ is your own person. In one world, you can be the emperor, in another you could be a beggar. You could be a good person or a bad person, a genius or a fool, an elderly or a child, or maybe you weren’t even born a human. A blade of grass or a tree, a flying bird or swimming fish. Just listen, how romantic ah.”

Zhou Li’s face went as stiff as a wooden block. He had absolutely no idea how this could be considered romantic at all.

He noticed Zhou Luwen was about to look over, so he retracted his wooden expression, waving for the other to return to the main building before walking towards the towering tree next to him, settling himself underneath the shade.

Professor Xia narrated during his short journey, “As for the jade petal, its role is to send you into the body of ‘you’ in another world, allowing you to live the life of a different ‘you’.”

Zhou Li inhaled a deep breath and steadily asked, “If I’m sent there, where will the ‘me’ in that world go? Can it be that, he will die?”

“See, this part is even more interesting.” Professor Xia laughed. “This jade is called Zhonglian*, with the meaning of ‘regaining a new life’. They believe that in the split moment between switching, every reality will experience a horizontal jump. That ‘you’ was chosen because he was about to open death’s door, so that ‘you’ had a heavier ‘weight’ and was given another body, while this ‘you’ is the ‘lotus’——the lotus flower born from the dirt. It means that although ‘your’ life before rebirth was not with the best circumstances, you still still bloom and bear fruit at the end of all adversity.” 

[T/N: 重莲/repeating lotus. 重/zhong also means ‘weight’, meaning ‘more importance’]

Zhou Li reacted silently. “Basically, that ‘me’ will be sent elsewhere?”

“Supposedly. If we think about it, among the thousands of ‘you’ in all the different realities, there must be a ‘you’ who just died or is about to be born.” Professor Xia said with a somewhat regretful tone, “But, this is just my guess. Because this book only recorded the tribe’s belief up until this point, I don’t know if there is an even more detailed explanation in the other copy.”

Zhou Li suddenly felt the fresh air expand and obstruct the airways in his chest, the pressure almost choking him to death.

He forced himself to slow down for a few seconds before asking, “Then, if I hold the jade and pass into another world, will the jade pass with me?”

Professor Xia said, “Of course not. The jade will stay on the corpse and can be collected once the body fully dies.” 

So where did the jade above his grave come from? On top of that, he didn’t physically hold onto the jade after he died ah.

What’s more, could this be one of the ‘realities’? But the characters in the written plot are all accurate. Furthermore, when he fell into a coma for three days and ended up dreaming of the jade, how the heck did that happen? He did not believe these two pieces of jade weren’t connected, not even a little.

Zhou Li remained puzzled despite much examination, and after a bit more thinking, asked, “Did they have any formations that could send the jade away?”

Professor Xia replied, “I haven’t read anything about it for the time being, maybe it’s in the other book ba.”

He paused for a second before adding, “These are just some of the views and conjectures of the Tiansang tribe regarding people and their lives after death. You must not take them seriously and do something like running off to your friend to ask for that piece of jade to play some kind of Russian roulette.”

Zhou Li took the opportunity to ask, “If I really pass through into another reality, and the new world happens to have this kind of jade, can I use that one to return to my original world?”

Professor Xia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He felt that this teenager’s brain was on the verge of exploding from all the ideas he comes up with and patiently sorted out the logical details for him. “Don’t even think about it. You can only pass into the other world ‘after death’ and if the new world has another one of these jades, according to its role, even if you die again it’ll just send you into another new reality.  How can you return to your original world?”

Zhou Li’s brain went blank, briefly losing the ability to form a single thought, and he subconsciously replied with one word: “…oh.”

Professor Xia: “Understand ba? Don’t mess around. Haven’t you heard of the saying? Feudal superstitions are all cancerous tumours, you can’t believe any of it.”

The person accused as a ‘cancerous tumour’ held his phone, remaining mute.

Professor Xia: “Wei? Did you hear that?”

Zhou Li honestly answered, “I heard it.”

Professor Xia hummed “en“. After both parties suffered in silence for two seconds, he said with a slightly solemn tone, “There is something I want to discuss with you and your friend. If you two don’t mind, can I scan this book and take it back for research? “

Zhou Li: “Sure, go ahead and scan ba.”

Professor Xia was surprised. “You don’t need to ask your friend or his family’s opinion first?”

Zhou Li: “I asked already, it’s fine.”

Before, when they were on the way to the meeting location, he asked Ji Shaoyan what to do if the other party secretly made a copy of the contents, to which Ji Shaoyan directly told him it was okay because the book was only bought by his grandfather out of a petty grudge. Keeping it in storage was its only use and no one at home cared about it.

Professor Xia was instantly filled with energy.

The relevant materials of the Tiansang tribe have always been too scarce. This was the first ancient book with such detailed records. He truly felt his visit Qinglian City wasn’t in vain this time. He hurriedly pushed all the ‘thank you’s out of his system, and after another reminder to Zhou Li on how not to take these feudal beliefs seriously, he hung up.

Zhou Li stood under the big tree, at a loss.

This emotion was almost the same as when he first found out about his illness.

Last time, he thought he had all the time in the world and made a well-planned outline of his life, full of hope for the future. But then he was suddenly informed that he actually only had a handful of time left in his life, and that all his previous work was a waste of his efforts. This time, he thought he wouldn’t stay alive for that much longer and didn’t dare plan anything for his future, ready to roll back into his grave and plan a ghostly disco at any time, when he was suddenly notified that the diagnosis was wrong; that he can live a fulfilling life.

There were still ten minutes before afternoon classes began.

Ji Shaoyan came out of the cafeteria and was in no rush returning to the main teaching building when he raised his head and was met with this scene. His heart skipped a beat, he immediately abandoned Liang Jingxiu and Yan Yunhui to run to Zhou Li’s side.

Throughout their entire acquaintanceship, this was the first time he’s seen Zhou Li so unsettled. He asked, “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Li looked at him blankly without saying a word.

Ji Shaoyan’s eyes suddenly narrowed and tentatively called out, “Zhou Li?”

Zhou Li murmured “en” and gradually came to his senses. Leaning against the tree behind him, he waved his hand slightly. “I’m okay. Just, let me be alone for a while.”

Ji Shaoyan monitored his state and realised he hadn’t changed personalities. His heart that had been perilously balancing on the edge was pulled back to safety, just by a little. He didn’t dare move too far away. Separated from the other by one lone tree, he quietly waited.

Zhou Li immersed himself in his silence for about five minutes. He saw Ji Shaoyan, waiting for him not too far away, and went forward to help push the other’s wheelchair. The wind belonging to an early autumn blew on his face, mixed with a very light floral fragrance.

It seemed to be the first time he’s ever smelled this scent in his lives. Following the direction of the wind, he saw a few trees standing in the near distance, blooming beautifully and splendidly. These were flowers unique to this world only.

Immediately afterwards, he caught even more of the natural fragrance of the earth. Branches of surrounding trees swayed, the sunlight sneakily catching his body through the gaps in the shade, and the joyous racket and laughter in the main building were also swept up and delivered to him by the wind. The call of the mountains and the roar of the sea* rushed towards him and the mountains rushed to him like a tsunami, fresh and warm, full of vitality.

[T/N: 山呼海啸般: not sure how to translate it, so i just left it as literal translation. Basically, he is enveloped with the natural beauty of life] 

He couldn’t help stopping in his path.

Ji Shaoyan was paying attention to his condition the entire time. He looked back at the other and saw that Zhou Li was still dazed, though his eyes were a little red. His heart jumped again. He pushed himself up and kicked the wheelchair away, standing in front of the other on his one good leg. “Zhou Li, what’s wrong?”

Zhou Li whispered, “Nothing’s wrong.”

Just, he was a little overwhelmed all of a sudden.

He can no longer see the relatives and friends he thought he could still watch over in his soul state. In the past, he desperately wanted to live on and now, all of a sudden, the ‘life’ he desired dropped onto his body like a lottery, hitting him so hard he became dizzy. For a short period of time, he didn’t know what to do. 

Ji Shaoyan saw him stuck in his speechless state and felt a pain in his heart. He grabbed the boy’s arm, feeling out his reaction, and noticed that the other had no intention of hiding, so he pulled the boy into his arms and embraced him comfortingly.

The group of brain-dead fans in the main building, watching their divine school grass: “……”

The fuck?

Everyone became mute for a second. Then, hell exploded.

Three years in junior high, one year in high school, four years altogether; let alone his two childhood friends Jing-shao and Yan-shao, he’s never even hugged a dog in his (school) life. And now, the official ‘first hug’ at Mingying was actually bestowed upon a new transfer student, who was even said to be a school tyrant!

At this time, the class bell rang madly across the campus, but the crowd was not willing to budge even a step, continuing to stare intensely at the scene downstairs.

Zhou Li returned to reality at the sound of the insistent ringing. Looking at their current position, he coughed, signaling for Ji Shaoyan to let him go. He proceeded to drag the wheelchair back over, letting the young master sit down and getting ready to push them into their classroom.

Ji Shaoyan observed his state, the nagging feeling of unease still edging on his mind, and asked, “Want to skip?”

Zhou Li was startled. “Where to?”

Ji Shaoyan gently offered, “I’ll listen to you. Where do you want to go? I’ll come with you, have you relax a bit.”

Zhou Li’s mind was still somewhat messy right now and he really couldn’t muster the motivation to attend classes at the moment, so he didn’t reject the other’s proposal.

After mulling over a few ideas, he couldn’t think of anywhere interesting and answered, “I don’t know.”

Ji Shaoyan: “How about KTV?”

Zhou Li’s eyes lit up, unable to refuse this temptation, and happily chirped, “Sure.”

Ji Shaoyan: “……”

As a model student, it was very easy for Ji Shaoyan to ask for leave.

As a con-man, it was even easier for him to find a pleasing-to-the-ear reason to allow Zhou Li to leave with him. The two quickly received their absence slips and hailed a taxi to send them to a high-end club.

Mingying’s students only heard about this update after classes have started. They broke open the doors to hell once again, using their detective skills to find out exactly what the situation was with these two people .

Liang Jingxiu also watched A-Yan hugging a certain someone earlier. Although he didn’t think A-Yan was an impatient person, his mind couldn’t help but travel down the darker road of morals, and he sent a message over WeChat: That was fast, are you guys already opening a room?

Ji Shaoyan looked down at the text, then looked up at the silly fool standing at the front of the room, fervently strumming an electric guitar and howling “Love until death parts us, a love without passion is a life of dissatisfaction”. He retracted his gaze and typed a single word: Secret.

[T/N: 死了都要爱/Love Beyond Death by Shin Band/信乐团]

He tapped send, then clicked on Zhou Luwen’s profile, asking about what happened earlier today.

Zhou Luwen also thought that they had gone to open a room.

He was slightly opposed to this decision and wanted to try reasoning with Ji-shao, tactfully reminding him that it’s okay to fall in love, but they shouldn’t delay studies and “besides, you have one year before reaching adulthood, don’t be too rash”.

Ji Shaoyan assured him that nothing risque was happening, plainly explaining that Zhou Li was in an upset mood.

Zhou Luwen was a little surprised and quickly recalled what occurred earlier in the day, replying: Everything was fine this morning, he didn’t encounter anything that could make him unhappy, but when he got out of the car he answered a call. He avoided me back then, so I don’t know who called him. 

Ji Shaoyan: You didn’t hear anything at all?

Zhou Luwen: I did, he mentioned a jade or something like that. 

Ji Shaoyan understood the second the text came through. He was almost certain that Professor Xia made the call.

He replied with a simple “Got it” and turned off his phone, patiently listening to Zhou Li’s performance. Only after the silly fool’s mood returned to normal did he allow himself to take the other outside. He found them a coffee shop to relax in until all of Mingying’s classes had ended, then personally sent the silly fool back home. 

He then proceeded to climb back into the car, ordering the driver to take him directly to the hotel where Professor Xia was residing in.

When he arrived, Professor Xia had just made up for all the sleep he lost in the past free days, opening his door with sleepy eyes. Thinking that he was here to retrieve the book, he immediately awakened with a shiver, saying, “Wait a minute, I will finish the scans right away.”

With these words, Ji Shaoyan was fully convinced the professor had called Zhou Li. He said, “There’s no hurry for that. I’m here to ask you something.”

Professor Xia: “What is it?”

Ji Shaoyan looked at him. “I want to know the contents of this book. What did my friend talk with you about?” 

The author has something to say:

Ji Shaoyan: Finally hugged =W=