Draft
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Su Jingyang recalled later, after hearing the young man's name, it seemed like he had gone into a daze, as if there was a huge indistinguishable force in the dark, and he wasn't allowed to think and guard, ultimately agreeing to take the man with him into the restaurant he agreed upon with Rong Hua.
Then, Su Jingyang found out that this Young Master was the man who made a three-year appointment with Rong Hua, and that he helped him find Rong Hua when there were only a few days left in their agreement.
Rong Hua drank tea while waiting for them. When he turned around and saw the man who came with them, he spat out the tea in his mouth¹.
Su Jingyang also woke up immediately, he patted his forehead fiercely and was very upset, afraid that he had caused bad things with good intentions. Rong Hua was soon embraced by the man with eyes full of joy, but he didn't push away, and after a moment of helpless silence, Rong Hua raised a hand and touched his head.
Su Jing yang sighed slowly, it seemed that he didn't do anything wrong in the end.
Then... Rong Hua fulfilled the gambling agreement and left with the young man. Su Jingyang knew that if Rong Hua was really unwilling in his heart, those gambling agreements would equate to bullshit.
A wedding invitation was sent to Rongcheng more than half a year later. Rong Ci was in the yard urging three children to practice the horse stance², while Su Jingyang held his nine-month-old youngest, Rong Chu, as they sat by and watched. He wanted to join in with the fun at first, but after trying it for a while, he got cramps on his inner thighs, completely inferior compared to his four and five-year-old sons. Although nobody teased him about it, he was still deeply embarrassed and self-conscious. He ran to the side and decided to just sit down.
Su Jingyang held Rong Chu with one hand and received the wedding invitation sent by Rong Hua with the other. He didn't feel too surprised, Rong Hua had been communicating with them frequently these days, and there had been some vague signs. Su Jingyang was very happy for him and admired him for being able to walk away from past so bravely and decisively.
Staring at the names of the two on the wedding invitation, Su Jingyang couldn't help the corners of his mouth from twitching. This... was probably God's will.
In his arms, Rong Chu's black eyes suddenly flashed. His eyes moved with the red wedding invitation in his hand. His milky and soft little hands suddenly reached out to grab the wedding invitation and proceeded to stuff it into his mouth. Su Jingyang quickly stopped him, "Little fool! This can't be eaten."
The thing in Rong Chu's hand was snatched away, his red mouth drooped out and hung at the corners of his mouth. He put his fat milky face in front of Su Jingyang and stared at him, yelling incoherently. Su Jingyang gave him a kiss.
Counting the hours, he should've been hungry. Su Jingyang hiked up the child who had begun to chew his own fingers and gave it to the nurse for breastfeeding, he then got up and walked into the house.
The three children were immersed in their deep concentration. They were sweating profusely, their small bodies trembled, but they still persisted without saying a word. Seeing them honestly practicing, Rong Ci made to glance at Su Jingyang, but only saw his disappearing back. Rong Ci couldn't help but slightly raise his voice and call out his name, "What are you going to do?"
Su Jingyang replied without looking back: "Packing in two days. We'll be setting off and going to the shores of Yishui to pick up gold!"
They dragged their hindlegs, and traveled without any haste³. Soon, they were joined by Xu Mei, Mu Jin, and the others. It's a pity that it was too inconvenient for Ling Li to move, so he wasn't able to participate in the wedding.
After traveling for more than a month, Su Jingyang also collected another wave energy, turning his progress bar from the original 46% to 49%.
The progress bar was getting more and more filled, but Su Jingyang didn't show a particularly excited look. Instead, there was a slight depression between his brows.
Even a few of the children came to ask him if he was unhappy. Rong Ci naturally noticed his abnormality. After they went to bed that night, he spread his arms and hugged him tightly. He dropped a kiss on his forehead and asked: "There was someone who needed help today. It sounded simple, why didn't you help?"
Su Jingyang said, "It's nothing, I just felt tired and wanted to rest."
"Are there any problems?"
"No, nothing." Su Jingyang fell into thought and didn't say anything anymore, he propped up his body a little and kissed Rong Ci on his lips, "I'm going to sleep."
Su Jingyang closed his eyes after speaking, Rong Ci continued to hug him. He looked down at him for a while, his dark eyes surging with speculation.
The marriage of the eldest master of the Ning family in the shores of Yishui was a very interesting event. When Su Jingyang and the others entered the city, they heard people talking about it everywhere on the street, they also saw the subordinates of the Ning family distribute wedding cakes⁴ everywhere.
Su Jingyang's sharp eyes spotted Ming Jiasheng in the crowd with, but there were too many people, and he disappeared as soon as he blinked. Su Jingyang couldn't help become a little worried, for fear that he had come here to make trouble.
Su Jingyang kept worrying about it, so much so that before the auspicious hour even arrived, Su Jingyang still nervously kept asked Rong Ci to pay attention to whether there was anything unusual around him. Rong Ci raised his eyes and looked around, the crowded house was noisy and lively, but he couldn't find Ming Jiasheng. Su Jingyang's was only slightly relieved.
The custom of Yishui was to participate in merry making at ngiht. They sat around the table for a while until the sky gradually darkened, the spacious yard was filled with big red lanterns, the red fire mixed with the bright moonlight illuminated everyone's face like beams of joy.
Rong Fei probably got bored and was so tired of being coquettish in Su Jingyang's arms. He wanted him to tell a story one moment, and then tkcke him the next, he let Su Jingyang kiss his face a second ago, and then demanded to eat the food he wanted. Rong Xi and Mu Yun both sat in their chairs like their buttocks were glued there. Even Rong Chu, who was held in Xu Mei's arms, was incredibly well-behaved. Only Rong Fei was as restless as a flea.
Su Jingyang delivered another sip of pastry into his small mouth, very puzzled. Rong Fei had always been very clingy, but he had never been as bad as he was today.
Rong Fei swallowed the pastry. He hugged Su Jingyang's neck with both hands, pressing his face against his arms, and saying in a soft and childish voice: "Daddy, I dreamt that you suddenly left during my nap, you didn't want to come back. Ah-Fei is so sad, he doesn't want Daddy to leave." Rong Fei raised his small face again, looking at Su Jingyang with his big black and white eyes: "You won't leave, right?"
Su Jingyang was taken aback. Feeling Rong Ci's gaze on his face, he rubbed the pastry froth from Rong Fei's mouth with a finger, and said, "You know that it's a dream, why do you still ask?"
Rong Fei said, "But the dream master said, dreams might also come true. I'm scared.... daddy, you..."
Rong Fei didn't continue speaking, because the auspicious hour had arrived, and the couple were on their way.
Rong Fei slipped down from Su Jingyang and returned to his seat. Su Jingyang's eyes misted over before he slowly turned to look at Rong Ci, only to find that Rong Ci had already moved his gaze away and was looking at the couple's direction.
Su Jingyang also temporarily controlled his thoughts, he glanced at that direction. Rong Hua and Ning Que were both dressed in fine red wedding dresses, bright and dazzling, they both presented an image of extraordinary handsomeness. The eyes that looked at each other from time to time contained warm affection, it was a match made in heaven!
When the couple first worshipped heaven and earth, Su Jingyang was extremely excited, heheing like silly. When they worshipped their parents the second time, Su Jingyang glanced around casually. He stared at the side with a stunned smile, and still couldn't believe his eyes, Ming Jiasheng was sitting on the table next to them, damn! When did he arrive? !
Ming Jiasheng was the only one who standing among the guests present. His hands were clenched into fists as he stared at Rong Hua's direction. His expression of sadness made it seem like he was about to cry!
Su Jingyang couldn't sympathize with him, for fear that he would do something to destroy Rong Hua's happiness at the last moment. Seeing him slowly moving forward, Su Jingyang was about to violently rise- but was held down by Rong Ci's hand. Rong Ci lowered his voice and said: "Don't get excited, he would've done it earlier if he really wanted to."
"——Husband and wife worship each other!"
"——End of ceremony!"
"——Send into the bridal chamber!" The guests cheered and applauded. Ming Jiasheng's body that was leaning forward obviously stiffened in place. His face was pale as he looked at Rong Hua's face that was filled with an eye-catching smile for Ning Que. His body was so shaky that it seemed like he was about to fall the next moment.
When the banquet finally opened, Ming Jiasheng suddenly turned around and left, as if would be torture to stay for even a moment longer. His steps seemed a little inconvenient, but he walked hurriedly. His back illustrated his panic and sadness, and he soon disappeared through the door.
Seeing him leave, Su Jingyang turned his body back in relief. The table was soon filled with all kinds of delicacies, the fragrance from the food overflowed. He picked up his chopsticks and prepared to eat.
However, as soon as the chopsticks were picked up by his hand, something suddenly overwhelmed his mind like a hurricane or tsunami. He was caught completely off guard, and every nerve throbbed and ached!
Su Jingyang snorted, his trembling hands shook, and the chopsticks fell back to the table with a light sound. His face instantly turned terribly pale.
Rong Ci's face changed, he put his hand on his shoulders, and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong with you? Where are you uncomfortable?"
All three children hurriedly approached, calling daddy, daddy, Xu Mei and Mu Jin also looked over worriedly. "Jingyang, what's the matter with you?"
Su Jingyang raised his eyes to look at them, his sore throat finally made a sound, he shook his head, "I'm fine..." he said to the three children: "Go and sit back down."
Rong Xi touched his face and frowned, "Daddy, your face doesn't look so good."
Su Jingyang moved his mouth, but found that his throat seemed to be blocked by a cloud of air. He couldn't speak. Rong Ci winked at them, and even though the three children were still worried, they slowly moved back to their seats and sat back down.
Su Jingyang supported his head with his hands and closed his eyes, shocked to the point that couldn't find time to recover— because, at this moment, his progress bar is currently skyrocketing!
It wasn't like the few minimal increases before, but a crazy flux of tens of tens of points! Currently, the progress bar had risen to 80%! The speed was so fierce that his body couldn't bear it!
Su Jingyang waited silently for this wave of energy to pass, watching the progress bar go from eighty to one hundred, to one hundred and one, one hundred and two... until finally stopping at one hundred and thirty-nine.
An additional 90%.
Su Jingyang's forehead was coated in fine beads of sweat. His eyes darted towards Rong Hua and Ning Que, who gone out to toast guests, and he gasped lowly.
It turned out that these two were the protagonists he wanted to find... after searching for so long, the real protagonist had always been by his side.
Ning Que and Rong Hua specially toasted Su Jingyang separately. Su Jingyang made his body stand up slowly, holding the wine glass as his head still felt bursts of dizziness, Rong Ci's arm was wrapped around his waist as he lent him a bit of strength for support.
Su Jing yang reluctantly lifted the corners of his mouth, he smiled at them, "Congratulations to the two of you."
Ning Que smiled, "Thanks for your help, I'll never forget your kindness in this lifeness! Come, please have this cup."
Yes, he did help them at the beginning, that could also be considered as promoting the protagonist's plot. They're now married, and the energy had been collected.
Su Jingyang looked at Rong Hua with a small smile between his brows, he raised his head and drank the wine in the glass.
During dinner, Su Jingyang drank another glass of wine, but after returning to the room, he felt too drunk to even get up. He laid motionless on the bed. Rong Ci sat beside him, quietly staring at him.
It wasn't until he heard the sound of fireworks outside that Su Jingyang struggled to get up, pulling Rong Ci to the window and watching.
They rested early, but it was lively outside. The children were still playing wildly, even Rong Chu was too excited and refused to come back, he stayed because he liked places with many people.
In contrast to their noise, the room where the two of them stayed seemed abandoned. It was so as quiet, it felt isolated from the rest of the world. Su Jingyang tilted his head anx leaned against Rong Ci's shoulder. His beautiful black eyes stared blankly at the splendid fireworks blooming in the sky.
System no. 1 said at the time that if he really couldn't find the protagonist, it would be good to do the tasks and quickly collect 50% energy. If it could successfully suppress the system, even for just a moment, it would be able to find the chance to self destruct. After that, they'll all be able to go back.
Everyone else is working hard, so Su Jingyang naturally couldn't hold them back.
When he was just about to start doing good deeds to gather energy, he confessed everything to Rong Ci. He said that only by doing good deeds could he repel the "evil spirits" that had been pestering him, and he didn't hesitate to ask for his help in destroying jt. He also said that he'd be able to go home after the "evil spirit" was repelled. Rong Ci paused for a while, but he still answered firmly, promising that he would do his best to get him rid of that thing as soon as possible.
Later on, he really did. The 49% of the energy that Su Jingyang collected came mostly because of Rong Ci.
And now, he didn't only find the protagonist. He also overfilled the progress bar. This was definitely enough for him to go home.
Su Jingyang turned his head and found that Rong Ci had been watching him. The two of them looked at each other. Su Jingyang's lips moved, but his voice seemed to have trouble saying the words: "Rong Ci... it won't be long before I'll go home."
Rong Ci's breath hitched slightly, he stared at him intently. It took a long time before he made another sound, and he said, "Alright, I see."
Very calm, very plain tone.
Su Jingyang felt suffocated in his heart. A sense of discomfort overwhelmed him, he secretly gritted his teeth, "Oh, I get it... you're so chic that it can't affect you bastard⁵!"
Rong Ci looked out of the window, and asked, "About how long is it?"
Su Jingyang's eyes reddened. In fact, he still wanted to ask System no. 1 questions. But system no. 1 was busy gathering everyone and pooling enough energy to confront no. 2 and then blow himself up. He probably won't send him away first, he still had to look at the situation of the other worlds. It'll take one or two years to say the least, but he deliberately said, "One, maybe two months."
Rong Ci didn't look at him, he nodded, "That's just right, it can give the children time to adjust." Su Jingyang pursed his lips hard, his heart was so full of words that he didn't want to say.
Rong Ci seemed to have misunderstood what he meant, he said slowly: "Don't worry, I said that if you decided to leave, I wouldn't pester or condemn you, let alone force you. I'll do as I say. As long as you're willing to accompany us once we go back to Rongcheng. Don't leave too suddenly, and later... Once you're gone, I'll make sure to take good care of our children."
His calm and emotionless attitude made Su Jingyang unable to control the restlessness in his heart. He straightened his back without looking at him and laid back down in bed, turning over and pulling the quilt to cover himself. He closed his eyes, but corners still felt wet as he breathed heavily.
He had been with Rong Ci for so long, Su Jingyang had thought it over and over again: did it really make sense to keep on insisting on going home? His answer was, yes, of course it made sense, because that's where he should stay.
But... there would be no Rong Ci. Without his children, would he really be happy once he goes back?
When their existence has become so familiar and embedded so deep into his bone marrow, Su Jingyang was unable to imagine life without them more and more intensely. Regarding this choice that would decide his life, he had fought with heaven and man almost every night this past few years. He didn't remember when his original belief of going home started to get shaky. Perhaps he had already been shaken long ago, but only at a certain point did he suddenly realized... Still, he planned to kill that dog system until there was no future trouble left.
A few days ago, when the progress bar was 49% full, Su Jingyang didn't continue to satisfy his wishes. He knew that he wouldn't leave that soon after completing it, but he was still afraid of accidents. After all, he hadn't told no. 1 what his desicion was. He had always wanted to go home and pinned on it to the point of madness, but he suddenly became afraid of going back at that time.
In fact, Su Jingyang already had a decision in his heart. Rong Ci had taken an oath ensuring that he wouldn't force him, else the whole city would be destroyed. But as long as he simply said "stay for us", then Su Jingyang would definitely grit his teeth and stomp his feet, completely giving up his idea of going home. This desicion was his alone to make, reluctance or persecution won't break that oath, why was this person so annoying? ? ?
He also reacted so coldly and carelessly, so free and easy that he couldn't even insert a sentence!
Fuck, fuck! Su Jingyang was so angry he felt like he was about to ignite spontaneously. After a while, he felt Rong Ci approach and touch his quilt with a hand. Su Jingyang immediately exploded, "What?!"
Rong Ci softly asked from outside the quilt: "Jingyang, do you... do you not want to leave anymore?"
Su Jingyang was still annoyed and said, "I think I want to leave now! I want to go home!"
Rong Ci was silent afterwards. Then, he didn't speak any more.
More than a month after returning to Rongcheng, Su Jingyang still felt uncomfortable. Rong Ci went out every day, except for the times where he occasionally looked at him in a trance, there was no other special reaction. Su Jingyang took care of the children at home every day and didn't talk to him much.
Su Jingyang suddenly woke up in the middle of the night, he found that Rong Ci wasn't asleep. He was sitting in a daze with his legs crossed. Although there was no expression on his face, his eyes were red, and there seemed to be tears on his cheeks...
Su Jingyang was shocked, the pain made him unable to help but get up. Rong Ci found that he was awake, he turned his head to look at him, and then laid back casually to hug him.
Su Jingyang secretly blamed himself for getting up. Rong Ci was a person who took words seriously. He had always known that his mouth was free and easy. In fact, he must also be reluctant in his heart. So why was he still having a temper at Rong Ci? ! Why was he still afraid of losing face and not telling him directly?
If he decided to stay, then how could Rong Ci be unhappy?
"Rong Ci, I..."
"Go to sleep."
Su Jingyang was interrupted by Rong Ci as soon as he opened his mouth. Rong Ci kissed his lips, he then raised a hand to touch his head. Those wet black pupils looked at him quietly, and he sighed almost imperceptibly: "No matter what it is, it can wait until tomorrow."
Su Jingyang wanted to talk, but his mouth seemed too tired to move. There was a buzzing in his head, and he seemed to hear it again. The voice of system no. 1 was speaking, but he couldn't make anything out. He blinked his eyes twice and then quickly closed them, leaning against Rong Ci's arms and falling asleep.
This sleep was particularly restless, as if a hand was fiercely dragging him down, he felt like he was about to fall into an endless abyss, making him both flustered and frightened.
After a long sleep, Su Jingyang was woke to the voices rushing through his ears. Su Jingyang's heart fiercely pounded as he made out the words. The ground thumped, and he was startled. His eyelids hadn't completely lifted when he suddenly sat up, panting and looking around in a hurry. What happened? ? ? !
"Hey, Xiao Su is awake!"
"You're awake, are you okay, Xiao Su?"
"Why did he suddenly faint in the pantry?"
"Do you have low blood sugar and missed breakfast again? I have chocolate, do you want some?"
"Your face is so pale, why don't you go to the hospital."
Su Jingyang looked at the people around him, breathless, and widened his eyes in disbelief. These faces were both familiar and unfamiliar, they were all colleagues in the company!
He was now lying on the sofa in the company pantry.
Su Jingyang felt cold in his heart, his whole body felt like it had fallen into an ice cave, he.... he came back? ! !
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Notes:
1- Originally had a 'like a ghost' in the end
2- A kind of squat that helps you stay on the horse better, if I remember correctly
3- Not sure about this one, something about dragging homes
4- Sort of like this
5- Not a 100% but should be pretty close
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PastTimer: I can't believe that I'm going to be publishing the end of the series tomorrow. This project had been ongoing for so long, it had definitely been a journey!