qizi / 54
The author has something to say:
- Before, there have been readers who questioned why injected-with-Embers Ling Xiao couldn’t defeat Ying Feng, yet yesterday’s injected-with-Embers Zhu Yue defeated Zhen He; this point has already been very clearly addressed in the original text. By the time Ling Xiao faced Ying Feng, the Embers drug was already wearing off, and it was under these circumstances of side effects + heavy injuries that he held the Adult Ceremony with Ying Feng.
There was a special training assignment today. The instructor arrived at the drill grounds early in the morning to set up the place, then saw Ling Xiao and Ying Feng in the middle of their morning run. Ling Xiao was running along much farther ahead and Ying Feng stopped when he saw him.
“You two sure work hard enough,” the instructor expressed amazement, “But didn’t I say that in terms of physical fitness, both of you already have more than enough to deal with the entrance exams?”
“It’s Ling Xiao’s personal requirement.” Ying Feng stepped to the side, watching alongside the instructor as the silhouette in motion sprinted along the athletic track. After deciding to take the exams, Ling Xiao treated his Qizhu as a future rival and didn’t lower his personal standards just because he was a Qizi.
“Recently, he runs every morning, works on special spiritual training during the day, real combat skills in the evening, and when he returns, he continues to read history books late into the night.” Nearly every night, he needed to employ some coercive tactics before Ling Xiao agreed to turn off the lights.
The instructor nodded in appreciation and said, “Ling Xiao is exceptionally gifted. It’s rare to see someone with outstanding innate talent also work as hard as he does. Over the past many years, he has always aimed to surpass you. There were a few times that I’ve accidentally run into him training alone late at night on the eve of the exam. After the exam was over the next day, when he would ask me who had the higher scores between the two of you, I never have the heart to break it to him. In fact, placed in any other class year, he could’ve come out on top with his abilities, but it just so happened he had you in this class year.”
Ling Xiao just finished a lap and came up to the two of them, asking, “What are you both chatting about?”
“Nothing,” the instructor hurriedly changed the topic, “Ying Feng just said you read until late at night each day. In fact, reading is certainly not the only channel to studying history. Visiting a history museum can also be very beneficial.”
“Museum?” Ling Xiao’s eyes lit up. As a matter of fact, after immersing in the bitter hardship of studying these past few days, his view on history has greatly changed. He no longer thought this subject matter was dry and boring—on the contrary, he even took some interest in it. Hearing there was a museum he could visit, he promptly cast eyes towards Ying Feng, his intentions written clearly on his face.
“Let’s go.” Ying Feng turned to leave while Ling Xiao bid farewell to the instructor and quickly followed. The instructor gazed at their receding backs and breathed a sigh of relief—that he couldn’t become a Qizhu was admittedly a pity but it seemed like he already found his new path forward.
The history museum the instructor mentioned was not too far from Bikong. It only took a little effort to drive and then they were there. The museum was open to the public for tours and didn’t need tickets for entry.
This museum did not divide the display areas by era, but rather by type. Ling Xiao studied the floor plan and decided to start the tour from the top floor pertaining to military affairs and politics.
Once he got to the top floor, his line of sight was immediately drawn to the busts on each side of the long corridor. These statues were made by later generations, and in front of the base of each statue, a glass showcase was arranged. In it displayed the dagger once used by that person while below was an engraving of their life story.
Ling Xiao who had been hard-at-work studying history for the past several consecutive days was finally no longer utterly unfamiliar with these famous historical figures when he saw them. He recognized the first person at the front right away.
Ying Feng let out a dull hum of approval, affirming that his recitation of common history knowledge from first-year textbooks was accurate.
Ling Xiao acquired “Ying Feng-style encouragement”, and with great enthusiasm, went down the line talking about one after the other until the ones behind he could recognize became fewer and fewer. Ying Feng then took over to also give him an explanation in turn.
After walking through the long corridor, it was as if they surveyed Tianxiu’s entire history. At the very end of it, there were still a certain number of seats left vacant. Ling Xiao thought with mixed feelings: “If my bust can also appear here in the future, then this life also won’t be considered a waste.”
“We are naturally always sleeping and waking up, how do you know there is no you in front of you?”
The question woke Ling Xiao up. He looked back, only to find that every portrait now felt more vivid and familiar. Maybe every person here came from the same era as him, maybe they were respected heroes in hard times, but maybe they were also close companions, comrade-in-arms, or even intimate family members—maybe they were even himself. Thinking this way, it seemed as if the estrangement of time ceased to exist.
“You are totally right, maybe who’s in here is not only me, but also you, too.” He took a look around in all directions. Finally, he pointed to the founding Grand Marshal, “I think this one looks quite like you.”
Ying Feng silently attached the three words “face blindness disorder” he read from a foreign planet’s medical textbook onto Ling Xiao. It looked like there was yet another sickness that Tianxiu people can suffer from.
If the face blindness disorder were real, then what Ling Xiao said about how there was a first-grade Nestling at school who looked like an ancestor of the Tianxiu people also couldn’t be trusted.
“Ah,” At this time, Ling Xiao suddenly pointed to the front, “Isn’t that person Xing Lou?”
Ying Feng followed where he pointed to see a single person standing forlornly next to the most central showcase in the hall. He didn’t seem like the typical tourist that bent over to scrutinize the piece in detail, but rather, it seemed as if nearly his whole person was pressed up close to the display case, with a raised right hand that was even more glued to the glass.
He was looking down at the cultural relics on display inside. Rather than say he looked like he was sight-seeing, it was better to say he looked like he was mourning. There was an indescribable emotion coursing through his eyes—but a person definitely wouldn’t show this sort of expression towards an lifeless object.
“Xing Lou!” Ling Xiao’s voice was particularly loud in this spacious and quiet museum. Xing Lou’s hand shot off the glass as if electrocuted, and his body also followed suit, taking a huge step back and forcing some distance between him and the display case.
Xing Lou’s abnormal behavior just now was not noticed by Ling Xiao at all. Instead, he felt like it was fate to have run into someone he recognized here, and asked, “Are you here for a visit too?”
Xing Lou responded, “The teacher mentioned this place in history class so I came to take a look out of curiosity.”
After he said this sentence, he shifted his attention to the person next to Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao suddenly felt very uneasy—if the other party were to ask about Ying Feng, there was absolutely no way he could be like other Qizi and generously introduce this man as his Qizhu.
But thankfully, Xing Lou’s eyes merely swept over him before they were retracted. By no means did he bring up the question that would embarrass Ling Xiao.
“Xuezhang, I already finished looking around this floor. You should continue exploring, I’m going downstairs.”
“Oh, okay.” Seeing that he said it that way, Ling Xiao just nodded and said goodbye.
Xing Lou walked farther and farther away and Ying Feng also did not look back, so the distance between their backs gradually expanded. But Ling Xiao followed him with his eyes for a moment.
“Strange, I saw a restored portrait on TV the other day and thought it looked exactly like him, but after seeing him again today, I don’t think they look so alike anymore.”
For example, him and the principal’s Qizhu whom he never met.
“What was he looking at just now? He was so fascinated by it.” Ling Xiao ran over to look at the showcase at the center. The cultural relic displayed inside was only the size of his palm. He could vaguely make out that it was a severely corroded insignia from an ancient era.
To the side of the showcase, there was a 3D projection of what should be the restored cultural relic, allowing people to clearly see its original appearance. It had the outline of a hexagram with intricate designs engraved in the middle, the most obvious of which was a crown.
“This is the insignia of the ancient imperial family,” Ling Xiao read the description, “It has more than 4,000 years of history and is one of the oldest cultural relics so far.” He felt rueful after reading it, “Since things 4,000 years ago can still be preserved so well, we can clearly see civilization back then was very advanced.”
“Is he really only a first grader?” asked Ying Feng suddenly.
“Of course, why do you ask that?”
“His eyes don’t look like a Nestling’s.”
“That’s because you didn’t see his face when he was scared to death by a spider.” Ling Xiao thought it was funny when he recalled the situation, “But what should a Nestling’s eyes look like?” He only knew what color they should look like.
Ying Feng did not continue to express his opinions. After the two of them toured the current floor, they went down to the floor below which displayed folk artifacts.
The exhibit for folk artifacts was evidently not as solemn and serene as the top floor, with soft lighting and soothing music playing in the background.
“The, Yearning, Stone” Ling Xiao read out the name of the historical relic in front of him.
He looked down. As it turned out, this stone was not one piece, but rather a row, from left to right of approximately ten or so more. Each stone’s surface was engraved with ancient characters he did not understand and in front laid a label with an age.
Only then did he notice that these stones were not all unearthed as one batch. Even the estimated eras were different. From the leftmost one that dated as far back as 4,000 years ago, the later to the era the newer it was, all the way until the rightmost one. The marked age on this one was surprisingly only 70-80 years ago.
“In the ordinary course of events, objects within the last 100 years should not be classified as historical artifacts, but this type of collection is the only exception in this museum. The existence of the Yearning Stone, from several thousand years ago to several decades ago, has spanned a considerably large time frame and already surpasses those of cultural relics. To this day, it remains an unsolved mystery in the study of history.”
Ling Xiao lifted his head and saw the museum staff, who gave the explanation, standing courteously to the side.
“Can I ask what these stones are about?”
“These stones are ancient artifacts that come from different time periods. They all possess the same distinctive feature, and that is, they have the exact same characters carved on them. When historians discovered the first Yearning Stone, they thought it was just an ordinary rock engraved with an ancient saying, but after finding the second, and then the third in succession, they realized that these rocks weren’t nearly as simple as they thought.”
“There is no one that can live for thousands of years,” said Ling Xiao, “The characters on these stones were probably carved on by different people. Take the most recent one for example, as long as it’s someone who’s dropped by the museum, anyone can copy it.”
“In theory this is the case, that’s why the discovery of the most recent stone led to a fairly large controversy, it’s precisely because the culture of Yearning Stones had already been widespread and there were numerous imitations. But after repeated inspections by forensic graphologists, whether through the lenses of handwriting habits or carving techniques, the characters on these stones originate from the same person. This is the true inconceivable aspect of the Yearning Stone.”
“It’s really so magical?” Hearing this, Ling Xiao was stunned, “Then what exactly is written on it?”
“It’s a type of old expression, pronounced Oh Sa-mi-shu-ka. Translated into modern language, it means ‘I miss you’.”
“Oh Samishuka,” repeated Ling Xiao.
“Yes.”
Ling Xiao recited it silently twice again, thinking it sounded pretty nice. Then he turned his head to see that Ying Feng, who was here just now, had already gone off to another display case. He was probably not interested in this sort of content.
“The museum has opened this service where interested tourists can carve their own Yearning Stone. We can send it to your partner through a time machine.”
“Time machine?”
The staff smiled, “It’s not the type you are imagining. We’ll take proper care of your Yearning Stone, then three, five, or maybe ten years later, we’ll send it to the designated terminal number.”
“So that’s how,” thought Ling Xiao aloud, “It’s not like I have anyone I miss so no thanks.”
“Not missing them today doesn’t mean you won’t miss them in the future. The Yearning Stone is currently a very popular token for expressing love. The interpretation of it is: ‘I wish to spend every minute of every hour with you’, and even intimate lovers will choose this thoughtful type of gift to leave a small surprise for their partner in the future.”
Ling Xiao couldn’t help but admit he was very good at marketing and he was even a bit moved by his pitch. He had no lover now, but since his own life managed to turn upside down in just ten days, who knows what countless hardships the next ten years will harbor?
“Okay then,” he agreed, “I’ll carve one too.”
The staff chose a stone for him and provided a writing sample of the old expression. Ling Xiao took out his own dagger and carved onto the surface, copying it stroke by stroke.
“Done.” He handed the finished product over to the staff. The other party smiled as he received it, then his expression froze.
“The handwriting you imitated looks so real.”
“Really? Maybe it’s influenced by what I saw just now.”
The staff nodded in agreement, “I’ll help you take good care of it. Have you picked the date for sending it?”
“The one that’s the furthest away.” Ling Xiao swiped his card. He hesitated when it was time to register a terminal number, but finally filled in Ying Feng’s.
As soon as he finished writing, Ying Feng returned, “What are you fooling around with now?”
“Nothing,” Ling Xiao hurriedly stuffed the thing back to the staff, “Just buying some souvenirs.”
Ying Feng looked at his empty hands and honestly didn’t think these words held any credibility.
Ling Xiao really did develop an interest for the museum and actually stayed in it for a whole day. Ying Feng thought after he returned, he would go back to the dorm to rest, but the other asked to go to the training hall to exercise “for a little while.”
After “a little while”, Ling Xiao was on the floor soaked in sweat, and even Ying Feng was forced to sit on the ground, panting.
Ling Xiao managed to stabilize his breathing with difficulty, “Let’s take a break and go again.”
“Again?”
“I didn’t train at all today and will waste another whole day donating blood tomorrow. If I don’t continue to work hard, I’ll be left behind by other people.”
Ying Feng couldn’t resist asking, “Do you need to be so intense like this?”
Lying flat on the floor, Ling Xiao raised one hand, holding up a tiny distance between his thumb and index finger.
“Look, this was me and you in the past, the gap between us was only this small. I always thought that with just a little more effort, I’d surpass you.”
He widened the gap between his thumb and index finger completely, “This is you and me now. The gap between us is so large that no matter how hard I try to catch up, I’m still far behind.”
He put his hand down, stared straight at the ceiling, and calmly said, “Ying Feng, I may never catch up to you in this lifetime, but no matter if it was back then or now, my commitment to closing that gap still hasn’t changed. Regardless of whether the gap is as large as a finger or as small as a pinch, I’m still going to do my best to get close to where you are up ahead.”
Ying Feng was silent for quite a while, then stood up from the floor and extended a hand towards him.
Ling Xiao gripped his hand back and Ying Feng exerted force, pulling him off the floor.
He took a step back and showed a ready position towards Ling Xiao.
“Bring it.”
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