Married Thrice to Salted Fish

Chapter 136

The elder in the housekeeper auntie’s family had suffered a fall and needed to be hospitalized. The housekeeper asked for a week off to look after her family. Lin Qingyu and Jiang Xing had to resolve the matter of their meals by themselves. Jiang Xing could eat in the school cafeteria; he was actually more worried about Lin Qingyu. Lin Qingyu said, “Don’t worry, I won’t treat myself badly.”

Having been living in modern times for some time, Lin Qingyu now has a clear understanding of Jiang Xing’s family background. Jiang Xing wasn’t a boyfriend who needed him to save money. Since they might return to the Dayu, what Jiang Xing needed was a boyfriend who would help him spend money. So, every day while Jiang Xing was queuing up in the school cafeteria, he would receive photos from Lin Qingyu.

In the morning, Lin Qingyu went to a time-honored Cantonese-style breakfast restaurant. A pot of Pu-erh tea, which the merchant claimed was good but was only mediocre for the Dayu empress, was served with satay steamed tripe, golden shrimp dumpling, and congee with six different types of fixings. In the afternoon, Lin Qingyu went to the top floor of a five-star hotel for afternoon tea, sitting by the window overlooking the entire central business district. In the evening, he tried a highly-recommended hot pot restaurant near their home. In the short video he took for Jiang Xing, the red oil hot pot was bubbling, a piece of fresh wagyu beef was blanched for eight seconds and then dipped in the Jiang Family’s secret dipping sauce.

The chicken drumstick rice in front of Jiang Xing was suddenly not quite as delicious. He too took a photo of his dinner and sent it to Lin Qingyu. Lin Qingyu replied to him with the words “how miserable”.

Jiang Xing: [I also want to eat hot pot.]

Lin Qingyu: [I can pack it up for you and take it home.]

Jiang Xing: [How do you take home hot pot?]

Lin Qingyu: [I’ll go and buy a pot.]

For a moment, Jiang Xing couldn’t tell whether Lin Qingyu was joking or not. He imagined the scene of the big beauty carrying the red oil hot pot in a basin and couldn’t help laughing out loud.

Automatically, the other boys who were seated with him turned to look towards him, showing knowing looks.

“Falling in love’s so scary,” one of the boys said. “It’s turned our school’s male god into a handsome himbo who laughs at his phone.”

“Don’t, you’re gonna kill me from laughter. He and you took the same test. What did you score and what did Jiang Xing score? How do you have the face to call him a himbo?” The PE Rep stared at the chicken drumsticks on Jiang Xing’s plate. “Xing Ge, see how I protected your dignity? Don’t you think that deserves a chicken leg?”

Jiang Xing was so busy sending messages to his boyfriend that he didn’t even hear what they were saying: [Isn’t it boring eating out alone?]

Lin Qingyu: [No, eating alone is peaceful.]

Jiang Xing looked at a teddy bear on the background of the photo, pondering. His terrible friends were still trying to wrestle information about his milk tea girlfriend from out of him. Jiang Xing said, “Tell the teacher I’ll be absent the rest of the day, will you?” He put the chicken leg into the PE rep’s bowl, “Here’s your reward. No need to thank me.”

What Lin Qingyu said had been half-truth and half-lie. For Lin Qingyu, going out alone might not necessary be peaceful as he’s often stopped by passers-by asking for his WeChat. Also, since not many people eat hotpot alone, the waitresses probably felt he was lonely and so put a big teddy bear to sit opposite. They would come round from time to time to ask if he needed anything and to constantly refill his tea and water. While Lin Qingyu simply wanted to eat his hotpot in peace.

The hot pot restaurant was full with most tables taken by small groups. With a teddy bear as a dinner partner, Lin Qingyu seemed a little out of place. Besides, delicious food like hot pot should be shared with relatives and friends.

Lin Qingyu thought of his parents and his younger brother. As for friends… the first thing he thought of was Shen Huaishi.

In the Dayu, others either respected him or feared him and many admirers simply coveted his face. It seemed that only Shen Huaishi treated him with sincerity.

He didn’t know whether these people he care about in the Dayu were doing fine.

Lin Qingyu was absent-mindedly eating the hot pot when the waitress came by again and asked, “Would the pretty boy like some more water?”

Lin Qingyu was instantly going to refuse when he suddenly realized something and surprised, raised his head.

The big bear opposite had been pushed aside and a high school student in his school uniform, pulled off his schoolbag and sat down, greeting him with a smile, “Hi.”

At this hour, Jiang Xing should still be in evening self-study. Lin Qingyu was momentarily stunned, “Are you — skipping class?”

“I don’t want to either but I’m really greedy for —,” Jiang Xing looked at him, “Hot pot.”

As soon as Jiang Xing showed up, Lin Qingyu’s little bit of homesickness disappeared. A slight smile danced at the corner of his lips but what he said made the high schooler heartbroken. “Have you finished your homework?”

Jiang Xing lowered his head and ticked a few more dishes on the order sheet. He said, “I’ll find time to finish it later.”

Lin Qingyu said casually, “Chen Zihao must have finished his homework long ago. I bet when he gets home, he does a few more sets of exercises sheets.”

Jiang Xing raised his head and raised his eyebrows. “The Lord Prime Minister’s words are simply inspiring. I propose they be included in “Encouraging Learning“. ”

Lin Qingyu knew better than anyone whether Jiang Xing’s excuse of being greedy for hotpot was real. “You promised me that puppy love wouldn’t affect your studies.”

Jiang Xing tapped twice on his phone and handed it to Lin Qingyu. “Please take a look, Lord Prime Minister.”

Lin Qingyu saw a page with a table. “This is…”

“My report card of the first mock exam. What do you say, can I eat hot pot now?”

Lin Qingyu sighed softly, impressed once again by this salted fish. “Did you secretly work hard again?”

Jiang Xing admitted with a smile, “Of course. No one succeeds without effort. Even I have to work hard to achieve results. Only that once you reach a certain level, say top five for my age group, it might be more of a matter of talent and luck. I’m very efficient at school. When I’m not thinking of you, all I think about is studying, so I can afford a night off from self-study and have a hot pot meal with you.”

Lin Qingyu picked up a piece of shrimp for Jiang Xing. “There are no absolutes. For some people, success comes more easily.”

“Baobei, you really think too highly of me.”

“I was talking about me.”

“I see.”

After eating the hot pot, Jiang Xing wanted to go to the movies. It was already late by the time the movie ended and the two of them walked home. When they passed by the school, they suddenly heard someone call Jiang Xing’s name.

Lin Qingyu stopped and saw a few boys wearing the same school uniform as Jiang Xing walking towards them, their steps were quite aggressive. Lin Qingyu looked as though he wanted to stick needles into all of them. He asked Jiang Xing, “Are they your classmates?”

Jiang Xing shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“It’s really Jiang Xing.” The leading boy’s eyes wandered between Jiang Xing and Lin Qingyu and when he realized that he wasn’t taller or more handsome than either of them, his face became even uglier. “Is it you who rejected Fang Shiwei? You broke her heart?”

Jiang Xing asked, “Who’s Fang Shiwei?”

“And you even made her cry?”

Jiang Xing: “?”

“Heh.” The boy sneered, “You listen up. She’s my girlfriend now. Stay away from her, don’t let her see you. Laozi’s woman can only have laozi in her eyes.”

Jiang Xing silently took off his school uniform, trying to separate himself from being identified as schoolmates with these idiots.

Lin Qingyu thought for a while, then turned towards Jiang Xing’s cheek. Jiang Xing lowered his head and put his ear to Lin Qingyu’s mouth. Lin Qingyu asked, “Is this what they mean by “Chuunibyou”?”

Jiang Xing smiled, “You’re so smart.”

Lin Qingyu glanced at the boy and spit out what Jiang Xing held back. “You idiot.”

The boy was suddenly angered and he approached Lin Qingyu menacingly. “Who the hell are you to insult me!”

A hand blocked the boy’s way. Jiang Xing exerted a little force and the boy was pushed back a couple of steps. “Buddy, you’ve said what you wanted to say,” Jiang Xing was still smiling, but his eyes weren’t as bright as usual. “Let’s end things here.”

The boy looked down at Jiang Xing’s hand and knew it was a threat. He looked down and looked up, pressed his tongue against his cheek and said with a sneer, “End it here? I’m willing to fight for my woman, are you afraid?”

Jiang Xing said “Oh”, thinking that this chuuni boy was going to make all modern high school students lose face.

“Don’t any of you move.” The boy stared at Jiang Xing, “I want to fight him one-on-one.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a black figure quietly appeared behind the boy. The boy felt a chill on his neck and his collar was suddenly yanked. Before he even realized what had happened, a crashing sound filled his ears and a burning pain burst on his back — It was him. He’d been flung and he hit the trash can on the side of the road.

The boy yelled, “You trash, launching a sneak attack! You’re shameless!”

Lin Qingyu said in disgust, “Shut up. We didn’t do anything.” He looked at the shadow behind the boy and murmured, “…it’s him.”

A man came out from the shadows, wearing the uniform of a shadow guard of the Dayu, a sword strapped around his waist. He looked at Jiang Xing and Lin Qingyu with surprise in his eyes.

The moment Jiang Xing saw the man, the blurry picture in Jiang Xing’s mind gradually cleared. — the surrounded city in the frontier, the soldiers, the cavalry, the flames of war and all the arrows. He couldn’t help blurting out, “Huaishi?”

Lu Wancheng had never met Shen Huaishi and Jiang Xing only saw Shen Huaishi for the first time when he was Gu Fuzhou. Lin Qingyu was a little surprised, “You remember?”

When he’d recovered his memory as Lu Wancheng, Jiang Xing was still a little excited. Now he couldn’t get excited, instead, he smiled sadly, “Yeah, I remembered it all.”

Shen Huaishi, who came from afar, said solemnly: “Your Majesties, Emperor, Empress, you escort is late!”

Jiang Xing: “…”

Lin Qingyu: “…”

After a weird silence, the boy lying beside the trash can broke out into a burst of earth-shattering laughter. “Pfft hahahahaha—the emperor and empress! Hahahaha——”

At this moment, Jiang Xing could feel the premature end of his high school career. He couldn’t stay in this world any longer. Please take him back to the Dayu immediately.

Lin Qingyu though still remained calm, “Was it Xu Junyuan who sent you here?”

“Yes, the National Teacher said…”

“This is not the place to talk.” Lin Qingyu looked around, “Put your sword away first or you’ll be arrested by the police.”

The two brought Shen Huaishi home. Shen Huaishi had just arrived and without any foundational knowledge like Lin Qingyu, for him everything here absolutely amazed him. Keeping in mind the purpose of his trip, he reported to the now law-abiding empress, “The National Teacher said that he’s still trying out various method to return you both to the Dayu, please be patient and remain calm.”

“Try?” Lin Qingyu said coolly, “It’s already been a month, how long will he have to try? The country can’t remain without an emperor. If this drags on, the civil and military officials may have to establish a new emperor.”

Shen Huaishi said, “Your Majesty, please do not worry. A month in another world is only a short while in the Dayu. As soon as you left, the National Teacher sent me to pass on the message.”

“The other world must be relative.” Jiang Xing said, “I stayed in the Dayu for seven years and it was only as long as my nap when I come back here.”

Lin Qingyu pondered, “Could it be that we have to stay here for seven years before we can go back?”

Jiang Xing said, “Seven years is a long time.”

Lin Qingyu said, “Actually, it’s not so bad. That’ll be enough time for you to finish a combined undergraduate and master’s degree.”

Jiang Xing thought he must have heard wrong. “What about a combined undergraduate and master’s degree? No, Qingyu, I’m so tired of studying. I almost lost my life in my third year of high school. You want me to go to graduate school?”

Lin Qing smiled slightly, “The Dayu’s ruler turned from a high school dropout to a master’s degree holder. This is a good thing that will benefits the country and the people. For the sake of the common people, I ask that the Emperor be wronged for another seven years.”

Jiang Xing also smiled, “These are words spoken from anger. I don’t believe you.”

Shen Huaishi said, “The National Teacher also said that if a person leaves this world, the time in this world will be static. In other words, when we go back, the time in the Dayu will not have changed.”

Jiang Xing found a blind point, “You mean, seven years later, my body will be 24 years old and my mental age will be 31 years old. When I return to the Dayu, according to the theory of relatively static time, I’ll be returning to that body that just turned eighteen?”

Shen Huaishi was made a little dizzy by Jiang Xing’s question. After sorting it out in his mind, he said solemnly. “The Emperor is wise.”

Jiang Xing: “This…”

Lin Qingyu: “…Heh.”

Lin Qingyu asked Shen Huaishi about the details, while Jiang Xing went to the balcony to call his grandfather’s assistant. “It’s me. Nothing’s the matter but I have a black householder friend who needs to apply for an ID card — Yes, another one. “