Chapter 575

The sea breeze brushed lightly against the night, beneath a sky full of stars.

On the deck, Fang Qi sat in a wooden chair, one leg crossed over the other as he gazed out at the sea.

The night on the ocean was as peaceful as ever. The waves were quiet, and the wind was gentle.

He turned his head again…

And looked at Lin Xiaoyou, who was sitting bolt upright in front of him. He raised an eyebrow slightly.

The genius girl was sitting on a tiny wooden stool that looked painfully small.

Her legs were pressed tightly together, her back straight as a rod, and her hands resting on her knees…

She looked exactly like an elementary school student who’d been made to sit still as punishment!

She seemed restless, blinking at Fang Qi every now and then, her almond-shaped eyes darting around…

Her gaze kept drifting uncontrollably toward the wooden cabin.

Fang Qi looked toward it as well.

The cabin door was half-closed, and firelight spilled through the gap. Inside, Liguang was boiling water in a small iron pot.

“Hm-hm-hm~ Hm-hm-hm~”

The silver-haired girl hummed an off-key little tune.

Fang Qi’s brow relaxed.

Yep, she was in a good mood!

Just moments ago, after Lin Xiaoyou had delivered that unbearably chuunibyou line—“Let’s create a perfect world together”—

Liguang hadn’t even spared her a proper glance.

She had simply risen languidly from his arms, tugged down the hem of her swimsuit, flashed him a sweet smile, and said—

“Master, keep our guest company for a while. Liguang will go make some tea.”

Then she had turned and walked into the cabin, leaving Fang Qi and Lin Xiaoyou sitting awkwardly outside.

And that was how they had ended up in this situation.

Fang Qi, however, was fairly relaxed. After all…

He had already decided to let everything go and do nothing.

Besides, he had long since figured out the Crazy Girl’s temperament!

The fact that she had called Lin Xiaoyou a “guest” meant that… at the very least, she had judged that Lin Xiaoyou hadn’t come to harm them today.

The girl had not brought any ill intentions with her!

Otherwise, why would Liguang be making tea? The fact that she hadn’t thrown the genius girl into the sea to feed the sharks already counted as Goddess Liguang showing great mercy!

So, he probably didn’t have to worry about his wife suddenly flying into a rage today…

“Senior, Senior!”

Lin Xiaoyou suddenly leaned a little closer and blinked at him.

“Senior, you…”

She lowered her voice and asked curiously,

“You haven’t recovered your memories yet, have you?”

Fang Qi: “?”

He stared speechlessly at the round little face before him and rolled his eyes slightly.

Obviously not!

If he had recovered his memories, would he still be sitting here like a clueless idiot?

His brain wouldn’t even turn as fast as his own wife’s tiny feet!

Was the genius girl trying to stab him right in the heart?

“Ah…!”

Seeing his expression, Lin Xiaoyou immediately rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

“I was just being cautious! After all, in this world…”

She pursed her lips, her gaze at Fang Qi growing somewhat complicated.

“Senior, you’re the only person in the world who’s ever managed to play me like a fiddle!”

“I had to make sure first!”

Then her little face drooped, and she muttered with a pout,

“I can’t let the memory-restored Senior toy with me again…”

Fang Qi: “…”

Looking at the genius girl’s conflicted expression, Fang Qi suddenly felt rather strange.

She had personally admitted that he had “played her like a fiddle”…

What was this? Flattery? Trying to win him over?

Well, that was awkward. He was currently nothing more than a good-for-nothing “idiot” who had given up on everything!

“…You can drop the act.”

He immediately waved his hand and admitted it himself.

“I really don’t have those memories. And, to be honest, I even feel that…”

A trace of melancholy crept into his heart as he murmured,

“The me before recovering my memories and the me afterward don’t feel like the same person.”

Was he really him? Or, to put it another way…

Was he really the same person as that other version of himself?

Tch.

He had said he wouldn’t think about it anymore, but whenever the subject came up, he still couldn’t help himself.

After all, if there were two versions of him, but only one Liguang…

Wouldn’t that mean he was being cucked by himself?

The more Fang Qi thought about it, the more his head began to ache!

What if, in the end… some other Fang Qi got to stay with Liguang forever?!

…Huh?

He blinked.

Wait, hadn’t his wife said something similar before?

“Senior, what are you thinking about? Of course there aren’t two of you!”

At once, Lin Xiaoyou’s almond-shaped eyes widened.

“Don’t forget, I’m the one who taught you about that switch in your head! I understand it better than anyone!”

Ah…!

Fang Qi’s gaze sharpened as he looked at the round-faced girl with her hands on her hips.

So the real culprit was right in front of him all along!

Then he paused.

Because he saw how serious she looked.

“Senior, I can tell you with absolute certainty that Lin You is me, and Lin Xiaoyou… is also me!”

Her round little face had turned solemn.

“Memories can be sealed away, and personalities can be shaped through suggestion, but the things at our core never change!”

“I’ve never thought that Lin Xiaoyou wasn’t me! In fact, I even think…!”

She opened her mouth, but then her momentum suddenly collapsed.

Her head drooped.

“Ugh…!”

She sighed deeply.

Fang Qi: “?”

She raised a hand and rubbed her cheek, pouting as she said,

“If I didn’t still need this…”

She tapped her head.

“…reasonably clever brain of mine to shoulder so many things, I’d really want to let ‘Lin Xiaoyou’ stay carefree forever…”

She stared down at the deck and muttered,

“Just go to work like an ordinary person, and chase after the senior she likes like an ordinary girl…”

“The most complicated thing on her mind every day would be figuring out how to spend five more minutes with Senior. How simple, how happy, how…”

“Hmm?”

A soft “Hmm?” suddenly drifted out from behind the half-closed cabin door.

The gurgling sound of the boiling water grew a little louder.

The corner of Fang Qi’s mouth twitched.

Well then. Lin Xiaoyou’s passive skill of courting death had activated again…

And the genius girl in front of him froze on the spot, her back snapping straight.

“It’s suggestion! Psychological suggestion! That’s all it is!”

Her expression was utterly serious.

“I don’t actually li-like Senior!”

As she spoke, she kept sneaking glances at the cabin door from the corners of her eyes.

Fang Qi could only shake his head helplessly.

“Ahem, Senior…”

Lin Xiaoyou cleared her throat and immediately put on a serious expression again.

She drew a deep breath and leaned forward slightly.

“Senior, you still want to stay in this world, don’t you?”

The look in her eyes was so serious that it made him uncomfortable.

Then she tilted her head slightly and added,

“I’m not talking about Liguang’s little ‘world,’ okay?”

After saying that, she quietly watched him.

Fang Qi frowned as he met her gaze.

Why was the genius girl suddenly asking him this?

He abruptly recalled what Lin Xiaoyou had said to Gu Xi before the rollback.

“He… belongs to our world.”

“We absolutely won’t let you take him away.”

Fang Qi’s gaze lost focus slightly.

Lin Xiaoyou knew that he was an outsider from beyond the heavens. She knew…

He did not belong here at all.

“Senior?”

When Lin Xiaoyou saw him spacing out, she waved a hand in front of his eyes.

Fang Qi came back to himself and met her gaze.

She pursed her lips, then gave him a playful smile.

“Let me put it another way!”

Her almond-shaped eyes curved into crescents.

“Senior, you definitely don’t want to be separated from Liguang, do you?”

Fang Qi’s eyelid twitched slightly.

For a moment, even the wind seemed to fall still, and the waves on the sea grew quiet.

The night over the sea suddenly seemed much darker.

He didn’t need to answer that question.

Lin Xiaoyou didn’t seem to need an answer, either.

She let out a soft sigh of relief, and then…

Her round little face bloomed with its usual mischievous grin!

“Hee-hee!”

Her almond-shaped eyes curved into crescents.

“If Senior really wants to leave, then you’ll never get to see Liguang again, you know?”

Her tone was teasing.

“Don’t wait until then to regret it, or you won’t even have time to cry. Hehe!”

The waves around the raft suddenly slapped against its edge with a loud splash, breaking into a spread of white foam.

“Whoa!”

Lin Xiaoyou abruptly lifted her little feet and looked down.

“So cold, so cold!”

Only after hugging her legs and curling up on the little stool did she finally relax.

Fang Qi stared at her, stunned for quite a while.

Just what did she know?

…It really seemed like he was the only idiot being kept in the dark.

But…

Even an idiot could have thoughts of his own.

So, almost instinctively, he spoke.

“If…”

He asked the question he had kept buried in the depths of his heart, never daring to think about too closely:

“What if I wanted to take Liguang away?”

He murmured:

“Take her back to my world…?”

The moment the words left his mouth, he froze himself.

The waves suddenly fell silent. The surface of the sea rippled faintly, while the Milky Way hung coldly overhead.

Lin Xiaoyou also fell silent.

The smile vanished from her face. Her almond-shaped eyes, usually darting about at lightning speed, were now fixed directly on him.

Fang Qi’s eyes trembled.

For the first time, he felt a chill from the girl’s gaze.

Then…

“Oh, Senior! What are you talking about?”

She suddenly smiled again, curving her brows and waving a hand in front of him.

“You can’t take her away.”

Her eyes, however, held no smile.

“It’s impossible. You can’t take her away.”

Fang Qi: “…?”

What…did she mean?

She lowered her head slightly, her fingers clutching the skirt gathered over her knees.

“We were born in this world, and we were destined…”

She raised her head. Her almond-shaped eyes were perfectly calm beneath the starlight.

“Unable to leave this world.”

The corners of Miss Genius’s lips curved into a self-mocking, bitter smile.

“If it were truly possible to ‘leave,’ I might have chosen to ‘leave’ a long time ago.”

Fang Qi: “?!”

Huh?

She continued murmuring:

“It’s precisely because I know I can’t leave that I…”

She didn’t finish. Instead, she pressed her lips together and shook her head.

Fang Qi stared blankly at her. He opened his mouth, but had no idea what to say.

Only then did he suddenly realize…

Lin Xiaoyou knew the true nature of this world, yet she had never once mentioned “leaving” to him.

She had never said that she wanted to go to a world that was…more “real.”

All she ever did was chase after Xiaoqing, talk about her father, and mention some perfect world.

She had never said that she wanted to leave.

Perhaps she had wanted to leave at first?

But then she discovered…

“…So, Senior!”

Lin Xiaoyou had already quickly returned to her infuriatingly cheeky grin.

She hugged her knees and shuffled backward—

“Whoa!”

She nearly toppled over backward, and hurriedly put her feet down on the raft to brace herself.

The corner of Fang Qi’s mouth twitched.

This girl really couldn’t stay serious for more than three minutes at a time!

Lin Xiaoyou gave him a giggle.

“So, Senior, you absolutely have to help me persuade Liguang later!”

She winked at him.

“The three of us are all in the same boat! You don’t want to be separated from Liguang either, do you?”

Fang Qi: “…”

Tch.

Was she threatening him now?

Still…he had more or less figured it out.

Behind him, he could hear the sound of Liguang pouring water and brewing tea inside the wooden hut. The fragrance of tea had already begun drifting over.

Fang Qi took a deep breath.

Every word Miss Genius had spoken since sitting down…

None of it had been meant for him alone.

This was Liguang’s “little world.” Not a single drop of water or grain of sand could escape her perception.

How could Lin Xiaoyou—the “smartest soul” of them all—not know that?

She knew perfectly well.

Yet she had deliberately used this furtive, roundabout manner to “act out” every word for Liguang to hear.

She was speaking to Liguang.

What she had just said actually meant—

Liguang, you don’t want to be separated from your master either, do you?

Don’t even think about leaving with your master. You have to do your best to make him stay.

He remained expressionless.

Did he want to go home?

Actually, yes. He did miss home, and had even made Liguang angry because of it.

But now, he no longer knew whether the home in his memories was real.

And if it wasn’t…

Then where exactly was he supposed to return to?

So it didn’t matter anymore.

He took a deep breath and looked at the round-faced girl in front of him.

“If that’s the case, then you should show some sincerity, too.”

“Stop speaking in riddles all the time. If you want to cooperate, then…”

He narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a low voice:

“Tell me everything you know.”

Miss Genius’s eyes immediately lit up, and she giggled.

“Of course. But let’s wait until Liguang comes. Once Liguang arrives, I’ll—”

“Miss Lin, you may speak now.”

Liguang’s obedient, gentle voice came from behind them.

After being toyed with mercilessly by Liguang during this period, Fang Qi couldn’t help but pause when he heard that obedient tone once again.

But it made sense.

Whenever there were outsiders around, his wife was always like this.

He turned his head slightly and saw Liguang stepping out of the little wooden hut with a wooden tray in her hands.

Her silver hair drifted softly in the breeze. Her cream-colored swimsuit did nothing to conceal her slender waist, and her bare feet stepped lightly onto the deck.

She even tilted her head and smiled at Lin Xiaoyou. The smile was incredibly gentle.

Lin Xiaoyou blinked at her and giggled.

“Liguang, whenever you dress like this, I can’t help remembering how brutally you beat me up on the beach!”

Fang Qi’s hand paused slightly as he sipped his tea.

Oh…

That beach volleyball match?

He remembered that Liguang had seemed to let Lin Xiaoyou win one point back then…

Liguang’s brows curved faintly as well.

She said nothing. She walked over to Fang Qi, bent slightly, and handed him the first cup of tea.

“Master, your tea.”

Fang Qi quickly accepted it.

It was the familiar white porcelain cup. He lowered his head and took a sip…

Mm.

Fifty-two degrees Celsius, just right.

His whole body relaxed.

Wonderful…

Liguang then handed the second cup to Lin Xiaoyou.

“I’m just saying, Liguang…”

Lin Xiaoyou accepted it with both hands and held it there, looking at Liguang with some confusion.

“Isn’t this a little troublesome?”

“You’re practically the goddess of this little world. Couldn’t you brew a cup of tea with just a thought? Why go through the trouble of boiling the water yourself…”

Liguang shot her a glance without replying. She merely gave a soft snort, then…

With a twist of her waist, she sat sideways in Fang Qi’s arms!

The sudden softness in his embrace made Fang Qi instinctively put an arm around her waist.

The silver-haired girl turned her head slightly, gave Miss Genius a gentle smile, and spoke softly:

“Tea brewed for Master naturally has to be made step by step. Liguang must brew it with her own hands.”

“Taking shortcuts would be disrespectful to Master.”

Her phoenix eyes curved into a smile.

“Miss Lin is merely enjoying the benefits of Master’s favor.”

Fang Qi: “…”

This was the sort of moment that called for seriousness, so he forced down the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

But his wife really knew how to give him face in front of outsiders!

Lin Xiaoyou blinked, then shrugged.

“Then I really have to thank Senior, huh? But…”

She took a small sip of tea, then looked at the two of them…

Suddenly, she broke into a mysterious smile!

“Senior, Liguang! I guarantee the news I’ve brought is absolutely worth this cup of tea!”

Her smile was filled with profound meaning.

“You still don’t know, do you?”

“In the last ‘dream’… you know, while you two have been drifting around on the sea for the past six months, this world…”

Her tone was laden with meaning.

“It’s already descended into complete chaos.”