HATEFUL RIVAL'S REBIRTH - 仇恨对手的重生

CHAPTER 6 - A DREAM ULIKE ANY OTHER PT2

  When TianXia fell asleep, he indeed woke later on within his dream. Surrounded by what seemed to be a dense bamboo forest covered in a thin layer of mist.

  He also immediately noticed the change in his body image. He had his previous body back. Darker skin, taller build and ah, those muscles he worked so hard for. TianXia admired himself a little before setting off... afterall, it's take him a good decade before he'd be able to see himself like this again.

  As TianXia wondered around the landscape, he noticed a repetition of bamboo groves and the odd still pond. He rubbed his temples in frustration, it's not going to be easy to find the dream stalker. If he remembered correctly, in his last life the dream stalker had taken the form of a koi fish, but so far all the ponds have been empty.

  He continued walking for a while, hands shoved in his sleeves when he stumbled upon a familiar back figure. He paused and widened his eyes as he watched that familiar, sturdy back.

  TianXia regained his composure as he straightened his back and set his face into a sneer. He mustn't show the fact that his heart was beating faster than it should. He shouldn't show the fact that he's almost happy, seeing a figure from his past life... he shouldn't.

  "Didn't expect to see you here." He said once he calmed himself. He still couldn't prepare himself when JingHe turned suddenly. That face... the one that grieved for him, cried for him... He really couldn't stand it. He swallowed discreetly was his heart produced a painful clenching feeling. He was even less prepared for the following words.

  "TianXia... You're still alive!?"

  TianXia frowned... what kind of question was that? It was almost as if...

  The older version of JingHe took just a few strides and reached TianXia, though only a head taler than TianXia, at the moment he seemed to be towering over him with n intense stare. 

  TianXia was slightly frightened and attempted to push away but JingHe's grip only became harder as his eyes carried a crazed kind of gaze. "Is it really you TianXia? Please say something... I'm not dreaming...am I?"

  TianXia looked up at the man with a completely dumbstruck face as the first words tumbled out of his mouth. "...JingHe?"

  This JingHe sighed as his eyes drooped down in relief. It really was TianXia... that voice, the scent, the gaze... it's him.

  TianXia stood still in absolute confusion when one impossible thought came to him. The one stood in front of him couldn't be the JingHe from the past... could it? A JingHe from the time after he died... How absurd!

  TianXia struggled once more and pushed out of JingHe's grip. He eyed this JingHe suspiciously before asking, "What year is it?"

  JingHe hesitated before answering, "fifty fourth year of the rabbit... you've been gone for... four years..."

  TianXia sighed and massaged his temples, what a mess the dream stalker had created! Right now was the fifty third year of the mouse! Meaning this really was an image, perhaps illusion of JingHe from his past life.

  JingHe saw the stressed looking TianXia and felt an ache in his heart, there are those rabbits that he'd been yearning to see all these years, that slender wheat coloured hand that picks at its nails when stressed, the small, discreet pout when in deep thought. JingHe missed it all.

  He strode forwards once more and pulled TianXia into his embrace.

  TianXia froze as JingHe spoke.

  "I don't know what you are... a ghost, hallucination or dream... but please stay a little longer..."

  The pleading tone JingHe took reminded TianXia what JingHe's latter days were like in his past life. He relied a little in resignation... how could this older version of JingHe be so different from his younger version This version was almost too soft and gentle.