Chapter 291 - Memory Rewind
Li Tianlan thought that was bullshit.
Good-looking legs should be considered as beautiful legs, without all those fancy statistics.
Li Tianlan had been stealing glances at Dongcheng Rushi’s legs.
Dongcheng Rushi’s legs were slim and long; they looked pale and fit as a whole. Under the sunlight, the shining pair of legs that closed together and leaned on one side made him feel thirsty.
That was a very straight and yet enchanting feeling.
Li Tianlan didn’t want to look.
But he couldn’t help but steal a glance every once in a while.
Her legs below the denim shorts were pale and tender; every inch of skin was screaming her youth and vitality.
Dongcheng Rushi’s hair was tied in a ponytail.
With her long hair tied up, those short sleeves with open shoulders showed her tender and clean shoulders entirely.
Her collarbone was very pretty as well.
Li Tianlan’s eyes wandered.
He felt like a creep.
But he couldn’t fucking control himself.
The cold and bitter journey on the vast glacier in the polar region was quiet.
Quietness also meant loneliness.
Li Tianlan didn’t notice how lonely he was while he was figuring out his Martial Arts. But now that his Martial Arts had almost been completed, he didn’t walk to the end of the path. At the moment he was in the fancy outside world, facing Dongcheng Rushi beside him; he remembered she was his fiancée.
Such a subtle relationship; her delicate fragrance and her skin were all deadly threats to Li Tianlan.
In the past three years, Li Tianlan had never seen a beautiful woman.
But he did have sex with women.
Li Tianlan felt dry in his mouth. He licked his lips and couldn’t help stealing one more glance at her.
She was really white.
And he was such a creep...
Feeling confused, Li Tianlan shook his head; he wanted to grab a bottle of water.
“Stop the car.”
Dongcheng Rushi suddenly said.
“This is a freeway.”
Li Tianlan pointed at the front of the road that kept moving backwards. “We can’t stop here.”
His tumultuous beating heart seemed to calm down a bit as he spoke.
The red sports car drove fast on the freeway.
They were heading from Zhongyuan to Huating.
Tribulation didn’t accompany Li Tianlan to Huating.
After they met each other and Li Tianlan got Falling Stars, Dongcheng Rushi left with him.
Early that morning, the High-level officials of Zhongzhou State finally decided on the date of that year’s graduation manoeuvre of Sky Academy and Deep-sea Academy.
July 31st.
The day before Army Day.
The location was in Huating.
The manoeuvre was about a month away.
At the moment, the order of suspending classes had spread to the two Special Warfare Academies.
The elites of Deep-sea Academy were about to head to Huating in the next few days and adjust their state over there.
Dongcheng Rushi was heading to Huating right then, just a few days ahead of others.
The Permanent Minister of Army Headquarters, Dongcheng Wudi, who hurried to Zhongyuan after the meeting asked Tribulation to stay.
So Li Tianlan headed to Huating with just Dongcheng Rushi.
From morning to afternoon, they had driven more than a thousand kilometers; Huating was getting closer and closer.
Li Tianlan didn’t expect that Dongcheng Rushi would ask him to stop the car when they were about to reach Huating.
But after she spoke, Li Tianlan felt a lot relieved in his heart.
Neither of them was the chatty kind. They stayed silent most of the time during the ride.
The atmosphere was strange and ambiguous.
Li Tianlan’s mind seemed to get restless with the silence.
Talking was good for concentrating.
“We’re about to reach the service area of Huating.”
Li Tianlan said, “Can you wait?”
“But, can you wait?”
Dongcheng Rushi asked Li Tianlan while staring at him. Her eyes were big and clear.
Eyes were windows for the heart.
Li Tianlan wasn’t sure if that was true, but women with beautiful eyes were all very good-looking.
Qin Weibai’s eyes were cold and dreamy; those eyes would still be bright like the Milky Way, even when they were the softest.
Wang Yuetong’s eyes were dark and pure, with bits of wittiness and craftiness; they had that kind of enchanting charm.
Dongcheng Rushi’s eyes were clear.
Clear like water, pure and flawless, even holy.
Their eyes were beautiful in different ways.
Li Tianlan looked at her with confusion; he didn’t know what she meant.
Dongcheng Rushi looked at Li Tianlan quietly; her stare was strange.
Li Tianlan felt like she was looking at him as an extremely wretched pervert.
He felt awkward and his face seemed stiff and uncomfortable.
It was so shameful being caught as a peeper.
Li Tianlan decided to stop looking at her.
“It’s alright.”
Dongcheng Rushi said with a stiff tone, “Stop the car, I’ll switch seats with you.”
Thank God she didn’t throw him off the car.
Li Tianlan thought to himself quietly and parked the car at the emergency lane aside.
Dongcheng Rushi got off the car but stood still.
Li Tianlan bypassed the rear of the car and walked to the passenger’s seat.
Dongcheng Rushi looked at him; her stare was still a bit strange.
Li Tianlan touched his nose. Before he could say anything, Dongcheng Rushi had turned around and walked to the driver’s seat.
The red sports car started again and drove to Huating with the roar of the engine.
Dongcheng Rushi took a pack of cigarettes from the storage box and handed it to Li Tianlan. “I remembered that you’re a smoker. This is for you; I’m not sure if you can get used to it. I asked for the best ones and they gave me these.”
Li Tianlan took it and had a look.
There was the mark of the Deep-sea Academy printed on the cigarette box, and there were a few ancient writings on it.
Li Tianlan had heard of that kind of cigarettes. They didn’t have in the market, it could only be found in Sky Academy; a pack was worth three credits, which was enough for a student to buy food for more than half a month.
“Thank you.”
Li Tianlan unpacked a cigarette and lit it up.
He took a drag into his lungs.
His brain felt dizzy because that was the first time he smoked for a very long time.
Li Tianlan fell silent and looked pleased.
“Why are you always peeping at me?”
It seemed that Dongcheng Rushi didn’t have anything else to talk to Li Tianlan anymore, so she threw out a question that made Li Tianlan extremely embarrassed.
Li Tianlan coughed in the smoke.
He was too ashamed to deny it. He already felt embarrassed enough that he had gotten caught, at the moment he felt even more embarrassed when she said it out loud. What a hypocrite he would be if he denied it?
He subconsciously touched the silver bracelet on his wrist and said while pretending to be calm, “Oh, you have beautiful legs, I just want...”
Dongcheng Rushi reached her hand and grabbed Li Tianlan’s hand.
Her hands were very tiny, white, tender and soft, without any calluses.
Li Tianlan could feel her soft skin trembling mildly.
She grabbed Li Tianlan’s hand and placed it on her thigh.
Dongcheng Rushi’s small face turned red.
Maybe he didn’t have time to react, maybe he wanted it.
Li Tianlan didn’t fight it.
He placed his hand on Dongcheng Rushi’s thigh and instantly felt the softness and elasticity of the Second Mistress of the Dongcheng Clan, also known as the genius of Jade Pool.
“Go ahead and touch it.”
Dongcheng Rushi said directly, “You keep staring at me, as if you want to eat me up. You’re not concentrating while you drive, it is dangerous.”
So she switched seats with Li Tianlan. Would be it more convenient for Li Tianlan to touch her?
Li Tianlan touched her.
He really touched her!
Dongcheng Rushi’s legs were very slim, but they felt indescribably thick and smooth, like a piece of warm jade.
Dongcheng Rushi’s legs tightened slightly, her face turned redder and redder. “Your hand is cold,”
She said.
“Maybe because I stayed too long in the polar region.”
Li Tianlan answered, his stare was exceptionally hot.
“The polar region.”
Dongcheng Rushi hesitated for a second. “When I entered Fire-flaming Realm back then, Master wanted me to go to the polar region. But I thought it was too far away for me to go. A year ago, when I entered Thunder-shocking Realm, I was thinking about going there and look for you, but Master didn’t agree that time.”
“It was nice there.”
Li Tianlan said, “But it was a nice place for girls. It was such a big place; I don’t think you would have found me there.”
He stroked Dongcheng Rushi’s legs gently, like admiring and playing with a precious work of art.
About the fact that Dongcheng Rushi had entered the Thunder-shocking Realm, he didn’t seem to be surprised at all.
Till then, Dongcheng Rushi suddenly realized that, although they didn’t talk much on the way, they had things to talk about if they wanted to.
Especially for Li Tianlan.
He had left for three years. Since he was back, even he was unwilling to talk about the general trend of the Dark World and the horribly chaotic situations.
At least he needed to pay attention to the younger generation.
But Li Tianlan didn’t ask at all; he just simply asked about the few members of East Emperor Palace.
He changed the subject before he got any bad news about them.
Wang Shengxiao?
Gu Hanshan?
Jiang Shangyu?
Or other people...
Li Tianlan didn’t ask about them at all.
He didn’t ask about Tribulation or Dongcheng Rushi.
Dongcheng Rushi didn’t think that he was neglecting them. Was it that he didn’t want to ask? Or that he didn’t care enough to ask?
Dongcheng Rushi turned her head and looked at Li Tianlan; she wanted to ask about his current realm.
He stroked her thigh harder and harder, more and more wildly.
The big hand reached up.
Dongcheng Rushi could feel the hand full of calluses touching her tender skin.
She stepped on the gas a little harder.
That hand finally went into her shorts.
Li Tianlan touched a piece of seemingly thin fabric.
Dongcheng Rushi’s legs closed completely.
She bit her red lips and looked at Li Tianlan.
Her eyes didn’t look happy or angry, they didn’t show rejection or acceptance.
Just ghostly...
Strange stare.
Li Tianlan’s hand reappeared from her shorts; he looked calm.
“Not in the car.”
Dongcheng Rushi bit her lip and said with a low voice.
That was a rejection with another meaning behind it.
Li Tianlan looked at her, surprised.
Not in the car.
Was the first word in the sentence important? Or the other part?
Li Tianlan got his hand off Dongcheng Rushi’s thigh.
He put his hand in front of his nose and smelled it.
That movement was so natural, as if he had just casually lit up a cigarette.
Dongcheng Rushi’s pretty little face became completely red; she was so shocked that she didn’t know what to say.
“Do you think I’m a pervert? A very dirty pervert?”
Li Tianlan savored the delicate fragrance and asked softly.
Dongcheng Rushi shook her head subconsciously, her face was red and she didn’t dare to look at Li Tianlan. After a while, she stuttered. “We... we’re engaged...”
“You...”
Li Tianlan frowned. “You don’t mind?”
“Do you like that?”
Dongcheng Rushi asked him back.
Li Tianlan fell silent. He had always been a person who could face his desires directly.
He answered, “Yes, I do.”
He was telling the truth.
Snow Country and the polar region.
It was so cold living there in the past three years that his blood seemed to have frozen.
He wondered if it was the fact that he hadn’t seen a woman for too long, or the fact that Dongcheng Rushi kept changing in the past three years.
Seeing Dongcheng Rushi that time, Li Tianlan felt that she was even prettier than three years ago, and she had a fitter figure.
Li Tianlan couldn’t repress the desire inside of him.
He needed a woman.
He needed the softness and warmth that he desired.
He saw the mirage on the sea.
That scene was beautiful, but it was cold there, even colder than the polar region.
Li Tianlan really liked the feeling of stroking Dongcheng Rushi’s thigh; it felt warm.
Without any reason.
He didn’t know whether he liked Dongcheng Rushi or not, but he liked how that felt.
Nobody would dislike it.
“Then, I don’t mind.”
Dongcheng Rushi said softly, “As long as it makes you happy.”
In Zhongyuan.
She asked for a hug from Li Tianlan.
Because that would please her family.
Right then, she was willing to let Li Tianlan touch her.
Because it would please Li Tianlan.
As for herself.
She didn’t really care about being happy. It seemed that she felt happy when he was happy.
Then she wouldn’t mind.
All the things she learned since she was a kid, weren’t all those for his pleasure?
As long as he liked it.
“You want this even when I don’t like you?”
Li Tianlan thought about it, then asked her seriously. That was a shameless question, but his eyes gradually became earnest.
Dongcheng Rushi thought about it.
She wanted to say that they stayed together because of the marriage contract, that she didn’t like Li Tianlan, either.
But was that true?
She didn’t know, she really didn’t know. All her life, she felt like she had lived her whole life for Li Tianlan.
That feeling was like an instinct.
It didn’t matter whether she liked him or not.
“Well, do you like me?”
Dongcheng Rushi took a careful look at Li Tianlan.
Li Tianlan stayed silent for a while.
He thought about his new phone.
The picture on the phone screen wasn’t the same old one.
Qin Weibai’s name was gone in that social network software.
He had been blocked; he couldn’t reach her.
His hands trembled for a second, then he said with his raspy voice, “I like Qin Weibai.”
Dongcheng Rushi seemed to think about something; she reached her hand toward Li Tianlan.
She wore a woman’s watch on her wrist.
The watch was simple yet exquisite; there were a few color diamonds on it.
Under the light, the watch looked luxurious and precious.
“Big sister gave it to me. It’s one from a pair of watches; our names were carved on the pointer. It’s micro sculpture, you need a magnifier to see it. The letters on the clock dial are ancient Greek. It’s a birthday gift from big sister last year, it’s very pretty, right?”
Li Tianlan laughed and nodded. “From Sister Qiuchi? How generous of her.”
“Not her.”
Dongcheng Rushi shook her head. “It was Little Sister Bai.”
She looked at Li Tianlan and said, “Qin Weibai.”
Li Tianlan looked at the watch on Dongcheng Rushi’s wrist while feeling dumbfounded; there was a complicated expression in his eyes.
“Sister had four pieces of watches custom made. She gave me one, sent one to the Wang family of Beihai and kept one for herself. I had sent your watch to East Emperor Palace. On her watch, her name and your name were carved on the pointer. But your piece is more complicated, it has the names of all four of us on it.”
Dongcheng Rushi looked at the watch on her wrist and put on a smile on her pretty face; she looked so pure and happy.
Li Tianlan’s emotions surged inside his heart.
He didn’t know what it could mean.
But looking at Dongcheng Rushi pure smiling face, he suddenly realized something.
Four watches.
Micro sculpture on the pointer.
Dongcheng Rushi, Li Tianlan.
Qin Weibai, Li Tianlan.
The last watch must have Wang Yuetong and Li Tianlan on it.
Dongcheng Rushi looked simple and pure when talking about that.
That was definitely not how a woman should react.
However simple and pure she was.
Li Tianlan finally understood where the problem was.
Behind the pretty and pure appearance, underneath the shackles of the marriage contract, Dongcheng Rushi seemed to have lost her own obsession.
She would be happy as long as he was happy.
That was different from how Li Tianlan remembered Dongcheng Rushi.
His memories about her were mostly from the time when they stayed together in East Island and Heaven Capital.
His memories kept rewinding.
At that moment, Li Tianlan truly understood.
It turned out that the Dongcheng Rushi he saw in Heaven Capital wasn’t herself in most of the time, apart from the beginning.
It was her other personality, Dongcheng Yueshen.
Li Tianlan’s eyes became a bit cold.
He suddenly patted Dongcheng Rushi’s thigh and said softly, “When we get to Huating, I’ll take you to a place.”