Chapter 134: You Don't Understand the World of Literary Youth

"Now you know how wronged I was when they called me a troublemaker. Sorting out Mike Chen this time really wasn't me pulling rank or using my connection with the Great Demon King to stir up trouble," Julia said with a remarkably gentle expression.

Come to think of it, little Ma had nodded and ordered Mike Chen to be captured, yet up to this moment, little Ma still had no idea who Mike Chen actually was. Presumably, he must have been some poor soul, hence lacking any noteworthy human rights.

"Rolls-Royce and Airbus originally had a promising future. If not for the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger back then, and if the F119 and similar systems hadn't been handed over to a bunch of drunkards to develop during those years, things wouldn't look like this today."

She paused here for a moment.

With a hint of awkwardness, Julia continued, "The interests of Airbus are, to a certain extent, the interests of Rolls-Royce. Although I am no longer the Secretary of State for Industry, I am still running around fighting for these interests. I am doing this for you; Rolls-Royce and Airbus belong to you, and they belong to us."

"..." He sweated.

Based on her narrative, combined with that bizarre earlier dream regarding the fighter jet project, little Ma managed to connect several dots.

At this point, at least one thing was certain: she truly belonged to the Great Demon King's inner circle. She might harbor her own little ulterior motives, but she was undeniably "one of us."

One could only imagine the immense pressure her family faced back then. They must have been treated as distant "poor relations" by the old drunkard, and after falling out of favor, tortured through every conceivable trial.

The enemy of my enemy is a friend. Considering the fact that the Great Demon King had been suppressed by his family since childhood and disfavored by the old drunkard, and looking at the eventual occurrence of the "Xuanwu Gate Incident," it was certain that Julia's family had provided support behind the scenes. She must have been a friend of the Great Demon King back when he was still very young.

It didn't really matter what Julia had actually done; in a forest big enough, you find all sorts of birds, and her own family was bound to have plenty of internal issues of their own.

Having finished his wild daydream, little Ma felt a slight headache. Right now, he wasn't quite sure what he should do—or rather, he wasn't certain how the Great Demon King would respond if he were the one facing this situation.

Associating this with the Great Demon King's exceptionally cold exterior masking a lingering trace of tenderness deep within, little Ma began to weigh the odds, figuring that a scenario like this should yield sweet rewards rather than murderous wrath.

Thus, little Ma turned his head and casually appraised her remarkably evocative chest.

At this very moment, when silence spoke louder than words, someone knocked on the outer door, and Julia's private bodyguard said in a low voice, "My Lady, those fellows from Scotland Yard have followed us here."

Julia wasn't particularly bothered by this and called out to the outside, "I know. Let them be. They have their protocols and duties to follow."

"Yes."

Silence descended once again.

Not knowing what else to do, little Ma stepped away from her side, walked out onto the balcony to strike a pose, presented his back to her in a manner reminiscent of a movie protagonist, and gazing up at the evening sky at a forty-five-degree angle in the night breeze, said, "My personal situation is rather complicated. It's hard to explain, and I wouldn't tell anyone anyway, but I just feel somewhat... sorry for you."

Upon hearing this, Julia adopted a reminiscing and ambiguous expression. After a brief hesitation, she put down her wine glass, walked over, and dragged little Ma back inside.

Before little Ma could even ask, "What are you trying to do?", they started doing it before they had even properly undressed.

A little while later, little Ma lay face-down on the bed with his tongue hanging out.

***

Julia tidied up her dress, stood up once more, and picked up her wine glass again. Without drinking, she sat on the bed and smiled at him: "You just now reminded me of six years ago, also by the beach. Back then, you loved putting on airs, loved showing off. You harbored psychological shadows; you were a mass of contradictions—outstanding, incredibly charming, yet somehow making one's heart ache."

"..." He sweated.

Julia took a sip of wine. "Back then, my family couldn't be said to be in decline, but the situation wasn't looking great. So to be frank, I did harbor certain motives and petty calculations that time. But not today. Seeing you simply stirred up old memories."

"..." Little Ma lay there, playing dead with a carefree mind.

"Did you hear that? Tonight, the ocean waves are singing, and the moonlight is pure. Doesn't it feel just like six years ago?" Julia seemed to be blushing slightly. "Even your reaction just now, being so intense, was just like six years ago. Not only have you returned, but you've also gone back to your youthful state."

Hearing this alluring creature utter such words gave little Ma goosebumps.

Since things had already reached this point, little Ma couldn't help himself. He tentatively took her wine glass, set it aside, lifted her long legs, and went at it again with loud slaps.

It was getting rather late. Julia glanced at her wristwatch, rolled over with her back to little Ma, and prepared to sleep. Right as her eyes were closing, she murmured, "I know you won't stay here for long. In fact, you've never stopped moving your entire life. Don't wake me when you leave, and leave the light on. Write a note for me—I like that Lu Xun-esque writing style of yours."

"You read Lu Xun?" little Ma asked, dumbfounded.

With her back still turned, Julia continued in a low voice, "Starting from the age of four, I spent half an hour every day learning etiquette, an hour on music, an hour on oil painting, an hour on dancing, and two hours reading—which naturally included Lu Xun. Do you think my childhood was very pitiful?"

Her voice grew softer and softer. Julia was indeed quite exhausted; now that her body and mind were completely relaxed, she slowly drifted off toward sleep.

Since things were already like this, after a brief hesitation, little Ma simply sidled up against her back and went for another round.

"You..."

After another little while, yet another round.

When it hit two o'clock, another round...

"Are you not going to let me sleep at all?"

Julia was genuinely exhausted. The first time had been for nostalgia, the second for sublimation. The third time still felt nice. But what the hell was the eighth time? It was becoming increasingly devoid of tact, feeling more like a chore she had to complete...

Eventually, little Ma couldn't keep going either; he couldn't keep disturbing this older sister's sleep.

So he got up, put on his clothes, and prepared to leave this place of right and wrong.

Before leaving, he wanted to say something to her, but then he remembered her saying, "Don't wake me."

He raised a hand to turn off the light, but then recalled her saying, "Don't turn off the light."

He took a step to leave, only to remember her asking for a note written in the style of Lu Xun!

He picked up the stationery and pen from the bedside table, but momentarily didn't know what to write.

At that exact moment, it seemed as though the primordial force field opened up once more. The Sword Demon descended again, and the Great Demon King genuinely grew literary, penning the following text:

***

"Around a decade ago, I was labeled a rebellious good-for-nothing, often unable to maintain my composure amid the slander and denigration of others."

"Yet nowadays, all I hear is praise. The praises of the present and the denigrations of my childhood surprisingly stem from the exact same mouths. It is truly quite gratifying."

"For a time, I began to ponder where the crux of this lay. Clearly, they were still the very same people, and I remained the exact same me—only time and circumstances had changed. This was an interpersonal equation I couldn't fathom in my early days."

"The original contempt was meant for the original me, while today's flattery is meant for a me different from my childhood. What is the difference between these two mes? Ah, yes. When I reached the pinnacle, one side was filled with people, and the other side was equally filled with people. People are perhaps not necessarily bad at all; it's simply that different viewpoints give rise to different value systems. Human joys, sorrows, and conflicts have always been like this."

"Later on, you asked me how I viewed those events of my youth. By that time, I had already defeated the world and reached the summit, so there was no longer any need to speak of them. I do not like to talk. But deep down, I felt those days were truly agonizingly bitter. My demands upon myself have always been rigorous; during that period, I closed my doors and ignored the overwhelming slander and skepticism, focusing solely on studying hard. I wrote this on the wall of my small laboratory: 'A fierce and indomitable life needs no explanation.'"

"Now you ask me once more for a note and my inner thoughts. As I reminisced, I realized: back then, I simply found them all far too noisy."

"A short while ago, I journeyed to the quantum realm, and I never want to come back..."

Having written this much, there was no signature, and the Sword Demon's state of possession vanished.

Little Ma stared at this piece of writing, completely baffled. The Great Demon King acting literary somehow carried a certain vibe, and though little Ma couldn't tell if this was the legendary Lu Xun style, he could nevertheless sense the profound complexity of the Great Demon King's inner world through it, as well as the special affection he held for Julia.

The Great Demon King found everyone noisy; the Great Demon King disliked talking; the Great Demon King claimed that a fierce life needed no explanation. Yet despite all that, he had just told Julia that he had gone to the quantum realm and never wanted to return.

This damn thing was practically "leaking state secrets," alright.

Yet bizarrely, he had simultaneously used a Lu Xun-style equation to explain to Julia that "the me of different periods is still the exact same me." Damn it, he spoke with such conviction that even little Ma had no idea what it meant. If there was one other person who could understand it, perhaps it truly was Julia.

Therefore, little Ma hesitated. Should he leave the Great Demon King's nearly "treasonous" lyrical prose for her?

He glanced back at the exhausted sleeping beauty, sighed, and decided to respect them just this once.

Little Ma didn't burn the letter; instead, he folded it and placed it beside her pillow.

Before leaving, little Ma neither woke her nor turned off the light, but gently pulled up the blanket to cover her abdomen.

After little Ma stepped out, the sleeping Julia kicked the blanket away with a single sweep, revealing her perfect figure.

After a moment of thought, she wearily blinked awake, picked up the stationery beside her pillow, and finished reading it.

This was his fantastical and ethereal writing style. Written out in his gorgeous handwriting and idiomatic English phrasing, it made Julia alternately cry and smile, allowing her to genuinely feel his pure emotions.

"He has finally returned. The current him and the past him, the him of his childhood—they are no different. He doesn't like to talk, and he finds other people too noisy."

Julia burned the stationery, lay back down, and fell into a deep sleep. Ah, after a thorough physical and mental readjustment, it was a rare and wonderful sleep...