Chapter 97: May You Live a Long Life, Never Free from Me

It was the break between scenes.

Zhou Yili crouched carelessly in the snow, idly tracing circles with a little twig. “...”

He was waiting for Shen Jixing to come and coax him.

Zhou Yili’s mood had indeed shifted today, and it was because of a text message from Bo Yu.

He had paused for two seconds before replying.

[ZZZZZZZ]: Stop bothering your father. Get lost.

He had only put on a show that day, and yet this man had taken advantage and pushed his luck.

What Shen Jixing had said that day had soothed Zhou Yili perfectly.

“If he says something, then that’s how it is.”

Then Zhou Yili would not take Bo Yu seriously at all.

[BY]: ?

A fossil like Bo Yu obviously had no idea what sort of circuit Zhou Yili’s mind ran on.

Last time he had respectfully called him father-in-law.

This time he wanted to be his dad.

“...”

[ZZZZZZZ]: If I wanted to know, I’d ask. Why do you need to stick your nose in?

[BY]: You can try

Zhou Yili actually would not ask.

Every word he said was true: he did want to know, and he would ask Shen Jixing. But if Shen Jixing did not take the initiative to tell him, then he would not ask.

He had long since forgiven Shen Jixing.

At the very least, Shen Jixing had not messed around with anyone else. Even Wang Baochuan would have had to kneel and bow to him after hearing that.

“What a hopeless love-brained idiot.” Zhou Yili put away his phone and cursed himself.

His sidelong glance fell on the large bed in the master bedroom, full of drifting light.

Scenes of their tenderness flashed through his mind, along with the bitter, sleepless days and nights he had once endured in pain.

So he really did like Shen Jixing. What else could it be?

Every inch of that man seemed designed to grow right into his taste. At seventeen, one look from him had Zhou Yili already imagining the style of their wedding rings.

When Shen Jixing took the initiative to kiss him once,

fireworks would begin going off automatically in Zhou Yili’s head.

[BY]: Because of me

[BY]: Because I don’t like you being together. A Xing didn’t want me to be angry

[BY]: Now I still do

Zhou Yili narrowed his eyes at the screen. “What the hell are you?”

If it really was because of Bo Yu, Zhou Yili would never let him off.

But he did not know what Shen Jixing was thinking.

Shen Jixing did not seem to dislike that man. He respected him, admired him, revered him... him.

Thinking back on every word Bo Yu had said that day, Zhou Yili truly began to feel the helplessness of facing a father-in-law.

[ZZZZZZZ]: Oh, then call the police

[ZZZZZZZ]: He slept with me last night. Pretty shameless of him. I can barely stand up today.

Zhou Yili had originally intended to spread a rumor in return, but he felt it would be disrespectful to his noble, beautiful little white bird.

So he decided to slander himself instead.

Silence was this morning’s bridge of remorse.

Bo Yu did not send any more messages.

...

Zhou Yili was not the sort of person who could conceal his feelings. He was still upset about Bo Yu’s words. That lame cripple counted for nothing; why on earth had Shen Jixing hit him because of him?

That, along with the cold remarks during filming,

left Zhou Yili crouched furiously in the snow, drawing circles.

Until the second scene began, Shen Jixing still had not come to coax him even once.

Zhou Yili sneered. “Fine, just you wait—”

Then he saw Shen Jixing suddenly spit up a mouthful of blood, and he panicked, rushing over to catch the wavering figure. “Wh—”

Shen Jixing should have fallen into the snow, only to be caught unexpectedly in warm arms.

He slowly opened his eyes. “Little fool, I’m shooting a solo scene.”

In this segment, he had been wounded by the Human Alliance while fighting alone.

When his captain learned of it, fury swept through him like a storm. He immediately revealed his true form and wiped out the entire team.

“Go on and try hurting him again.”

The ice lion of the northern plains had fur silver all over, and he spoke in Zhou Yili’s voice, cold as ice carved and quenched.

But in this scene Zhou Yili only provided the voice.

He turned and lifted Shen Jixing out of the snow, said nothing, slit his own wrist, and fed him the phoenix blood that flowed from him. “Does it hurt?”

“Not so much...” Shen Jixing’s tone was faint. Afraid of wasting any blood, he lowered his beautiful lashes and slowly licked it clean.

“Why did you act on your own?”

“To look for energy.”

“Looking for energy every day—can energy compare to my blood?”

Shen Jixing held his wrist, lashes lowered and frost-white, and said quietly, “You’ll be in pain, and there’s no need to keep feeding me. Anyway, in the end I’ll... find it.”

“You know I’d hurt, do you?”

Zhou Yili healed his wounds in silence and gave a cold laugh. “I thought you knew nothing.”

Shen Jixing was quiet for a while before speaking.

“I know everything.”

Zhou Yili asked, “That includes knowing I like you?”

The injured, silent person in his arms suddenly looked up and stared at him blankly.

After a long moment, he answered in a quiet, dry voice, “...I know.”

The boy who was stubborn with his words but soft at heart was actually easier to read than anyone.

There were some things he seemed to have known the answer to from the moment he took him in.

Zhou Yili pinched his chin and looked down at him from above, a cold smile on his face. “So you knew all along that I loved you?”

“Mm.”

“You watched me flirting with other people like I was a clown, didn’t you?”

Snowflakes fell quietly onto his shoulders, onto Shen Jixing’s cool, aloof face.

Those eyes made everyone look like a clown. He would not be swayed lightly by anyone’s emotions, and no one could warm the heart that had been frozen since birth.

“...No. I’d be unhappy too.”

He gently took Zhou Yili’s scarred hand and pressed it against the place over his own heart. “When you get very close to him, this place feels sour and sore.”

Zhou Yili closed his eyes. Snowflakes melted instantly on his lashes.

He tightened his hold on the slender body in his arms and lowered his head to kiss those cold lips.

Something warm fell onto his cheek.

Shen Jixing could not tell whether it was melting snow or tears.

When Zhou Yili lifted his eyes, he met those clear, pure ones, and even a domineering captain would have moments of discomfort.

“When I’m kissing you, you dare keep staring at me like that?”

His spellcaster seemed not to understand emotion at all.

Cold and innocent, he asked, “Can’t I look?”

The exquisitely beautiful but weak spellcaster raised a hand and gently touched his Adam’s apple.

“When you kiss me, this moves.”

“It’s very sexy...”

Before he could finish, the true lion pounced him to the ground—

“Cut!”

Sikong Xiu’s voice rang out. “Congratulations to our two leads on reaching their happy ending. Tomorrow we shoot the final scene.”

Sikong Xiu’s eyes flickered as he thought to himself that Zhou Yili still did not know what the ending was.

Shen Jixing met his gaze and saw Sikong Xiu looking at him with obvious dependence. “?”

The entire scene for tomorrow’s shoot would depend on Shen Jixing alone.

A little puzzled, Shen Jixing signaled him with his eyes.

What ending does he think it is?

Sikong Xiu made a prayer gesture.

Of course it’s happily ever after.

Otherwise, would Zhou Yili have come looking for Shen Jixing to play the role?

Shen Jixing: “...”

“What are you two sneaking looks at each other for?” Zhou Yili said, scooping up a handful of snow and flinging it onto his face.

Before long, Shen Jixing was nearly buried by him.

“Stop messing around. Pull me up.”

Zhou Yili fished him out of the snow and blew the flakes off his face. “Fine, then ignore me all you want.”

He had been throwing a fit all day, as if he did not exist at all. Shen Jixing had simply ignored him completely.

“...”

At last, Shen Jixing had to ask, “What were you doing drawing all those circles?”

The ice plain was cold, and Shen Jixing’s own body was cool, so Zhou Yili casually warmed his hands.

“Cursing you.”

Shen Jixing blinked. “Cursing me?”

“Mm. Cursing you,” Zhou Yili said after a pause, still laying it all out in the open.

“To live a long life, and never be able to leave me.”

To make someone like Shen Jixing unable to leave him.

Just look at that. What a vicious curse.

Shen Jixing did not know why he was sulking, but at that moment he seemed finally willing to coax him.

He gave a careless little laugh.

“No need to curse. It’s already true.”