Title: Did We Agree To Be Arch-Rivals?
Original Title: 说好成为彼此的宿敌呢[穿书]
Author: 轻风白杨 (Qingfeng Baiyang)
Translated by: ~PurpleLy~
Fan Xi and Pu Lingyun had already escaped, but Gu Feidi had taken the initiative to come back, so it seemed like he would not run away again.
It was getting late and autumn nights in the Wasteland were very cold. Su Yang didn’t rush to travel urgently at night. He ordered them to set up camp, light a bonfire so they could have a warm sleep before setting off again the next morning.
Mei Shisan did not object. He silently took the order and began setting up camp with the flower aides.
As a prisoner, Gu Feidi was supposed to be bound with his hands behind his back with a loop around his neck, but after the earlier events, they all saw that he’d no intention of escaping and was allowed to move around freely.
Gu Feidi bandaged the wound on his palm properly and assisted Su Yang to straighten the felt pad and fur blanket. He then sat cross-legged beside Su Yang in silence.
Su Yang was also unwilling to let Gu Feidi be guarded by the flower aides, fearing that Mei Shisan and the others would resent him for the earlier fight and torment him, so he gave the order for Gu Feidi to be his pillow, and that he wasn’t allowed to move.
Gu Feidi couldn’t help laughing. He stretched out his legs to sit, letting Su Yang, who’d wrapped himself in a fur blanket, to lie on top of his lap. The fire in the camp flickered, and Su Yang was perturbed by the glaring light.
He tossed and turned, unable to sleep. At last, he angled his head to look at Gu Feidi and said, “Come, sing a song for the Young Saint?”
Gu Feidi looked down at Su Yang, frowned, and was contemplated seriously before he finally said, “……I don’t know how to sing.”
Su Yang didn’t believe him: “Nursery rhymes will do. You’ve learned nursery rhymes before, right?”
Gu Feidi shook his head and said, “I haven’t learned before.”
Su Yang: “How’s that possible? You didn’t learn nursery rhymes when you were younger? Then what did you do?”
Gu Feidi grinned, “Martial arts training, naturally.”
This time Su Yang was really astounded and felt it was unthinkable: “Since you were a child?”
Gu Feidi nodded. “From as long as I can remember. Every day, I would study and train martial arts without fail. Every now and then, when we left home and socialised, we were all children from prominent martial arts families. When we met, we would merely compare and learn from each other’s skills as well as discuss martial arts.”
This kind of childhood was actually quite sad, and Su Yang’s eyes couldn’t help revealing a trace of pity.
Gu Feidi didn’t comprehend the expression in his eyes and asked, “Wasn’t your childhood like that?”
Su Yang was about to refute, but he suddenly remembered that since the “shell” of his Devil Sect’s Young Saint was able to possess the current martial arts skills, it seemed that he couldn’t have escaped from this kind of fate either.
So he made an ‘en’ sound and stopped talking.
The fire cast oblique rays on Gu Feidi’s face, making one side of his face gleam like gold, while the other side was hidden in the darkness and indistinct. There was only a pair of jet-black eyes twinkling faintly as if there were stars in them. They stared fixedly at Su Yang for a moment.
Su Yang felt a bit uncomfortable in his gaze. He wrapped himself in the blanket, made a savage expression, and bared his teeth. “What are you looking at?”
Gu Feidi smiled slightly. “You seem to have changed a lot.”
Su Yang was taken aback.
“Previously, when you were in Lesser Jade House, you weren’t as recklessly carefree as you are now.” Gu Feidi said in a low voice, “In those days, you seemed constrained by something for everything you said and did. Even when we met again in the Wasteland, you also… looked as if you were bearing some burden that you couldn’t cast aside.”
Su Yang couldn’t say anything.
Gu Feidi paused, then added: “During the time of Lesser Jade House’s selection, you appeared cruel and haughty. After getting to know you for half a year, I slowly realised that you weren’t happy. Nowadays, seeing how you are at present, I’m even more certain… at that time, you were deliberately estranging us Central Plains martial artists.”
Su Yang didn’t expect Gu Feidi to be so perceptive.
Back then… he’d just transmigrated over, and he hadn’t yet figured out what was going on, so naturally, he couldn’t let his guard down. For the sake of carrying the character and reciting his lines, he’d practically been racking his brains, and even when he’d tread so carefully, the storyline had still sped off in a direction he hadn’t expected.
It wasn’t until he’d entered Lesser Jade House—which had no description in the script—that he gradually felt less stifled.
However, by now, he almost couldn’t recognise the script he had—the circumstances at this very moment was something that he previously couldn’t have possibly imagined.
The storyline had indeed collapsed, but why…… had he unknowingly forgotten to act out the character of the Devil Sect’s Young Saint?
If it were the actual Devil Sect’s Young Saint, right now he wouldn’t be resting so peacefully on Gu Feidi’s lap, laughing comfortably with him, and chatting amiably together.
Su Yang’s face gradually changed. His fingers tugged at the fur blanket and couldn’t help tightening their grasp.
If it were the actual Devil Sect’s Young Saint, he would never be softhearted just because he saw Gu Feidi being injured… No, in the first place, he would never be so considerate as to detoxify Gu Feidi. Maybe the poisoned Gu Feidi would already have been slashed by his sword when they were in the cave at the Sword Sage Retreat.
Perhaps even before that, he wouldn’t have to block the fatal stab for Gu Feidi at the Wasteland cliff edge!
—But the reality was that he had personally screwed up the Devil Sect’s Young Saint’s character and forced the storyline in an unpredictable direction—all for the sake of preventing Gu Feidi from dying.
But if he didn’t save Gu Feidi, what else was he supposed to do?
Just let the protagonist in the script die and then lead the Devil Sect to dominate the world?
Not to mention whether or not the absence of one ‘Gu Feidi’ would devastate the Central Plains martial world to the point of no recovery. Simply speaking of his own will and capability, he was definitely not the kind that could bear the formidability of his fate alone.
Besides, if that was the case… how would he return to reality?
Although… he wasn’t as certain now as he was before whether or not he could return to reality.
Su Yang’s gaze gradually faded and fell on the distant sky with its shining stars. His thoughts were chaotic.
For a while, he recalled his life in the cast before transmigrating, then he thought of the tenseness and richness in Lesser Jade House, for a time, the daily prosaic waves of nothingness of reality and sometimes, the intense, thrilling, and unpredictable Jianghu…
Somehow, he suddenly remembered the time at the cliff edge of the Wasteland, the instant that he blocked the sword for Gu Feidi.
—His choice at that time was entirely within a single thought, and even he himself couldn’t tell whether it was to save Gu Feidi’s life or to save the life of ‘the protagonist of the script’.
His mind was in a state of confusion and Su Yang suddenly lifted the fur blanket, covered his head, and howled inside.
“I’m mentally retarded!” He said, “This game is too difficult to play!”
Gu Feidi was startled by him. He stretched out his hand to tug the blanket and asked softly, “Su Yang? What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”
……It looks like it’s too late.
Su Yang lifted the blanket and eyed Gu Feidi gloomily. He wanted to curse, but he didn’t know where to start.
Gu Feidi stretched out his hand and gently swept Su Yang’s hair behind his ear, staring at him silently.
Su Yang covered his face with his hands.
He said inwardly: Well, the heroine has run away with someone else, and the storyline had collapsed until this state. Just… proceed with caution and take things as they come, that’s all!
Having figured it out, Su Yang immediately quit pretending and complained to Gu Feidi, “The fire’s too bright! The light is keeping me awake!”
Gu Feidi couldn’t stop himself from laughing heartily.
He raised his head and glanced at the flower aides around him, who were pretending that they hadn’t heard the two of them. He untied his headband, folded it twice, and put the blindfold on Su Yang’s eyes.
“It won’t be bright this way. Turn around; I’ll fasten it for you,” he said softly.
Su Yang turned his head silently, allowing Gu Feidi to secure the ‘blindfold’. He sighed, lay down, and pretended to sleep.
He thought he would be vexed tonight and would definitely not be able to fall asleep. Who knew that after smelling the faint fragrance of flowers from Gu Feidi’s body, he actually dozed off in a daze.
He had a good night’s sleep. When the sky started to lighten, the flower aides began packing up. Su Yang was still lying on Gu Feidi’s lap.
Mei Shisan stepped forward and patted Su Yang’s shoulder, and said, “Young Saint, it’s time to set off.”
Su Yang mumbled and twisted his body to hug Gu Feidi’s thigh, then he retracted his head into the fur blanket and he refused to awaken.
“Young Saint, you ought to wake up.” Mei Shisan persisted, but there was no surprise on his face. He was obviously used to this situation.
Su Yang buried his face in Gu Feidi’s clothes, waved his hand, and covered his head with a blanket, trying to escape reality.
Mei Shisan called several times more. Su Yang lay dazedly on Gu Feidi’s lap, and as he continued to avoid Mei Shisan’s voice, he slowly moved into Gu Feidi’s arms.
Gu Feidi’s breathing was getting quicker, and a thin layer of red appeared on his cheeks. He nudged Su Yang’s head and called him together with Mei Shisan: “Su Yang, wake up.”
Su Yang’s brows wrinkled; he shifted up and pillowed heavily on Gu Feidi’s lower abdomen as if he was feeling uncomfortable, and shook his head.
Gu Feidi took a deep breath.
Mei Shisan: …
This… Young Saint is really not awake, or is he sneakily pretending to be asleep?
Unable to stand it anymore, Gu Feidi finally manipulated his internal strength and condensed the sound into Su Yang’s ears: “GET UP!”
Su Yang instantly flung open the blanket and sat up in shock. His eyes were still blurry, and he looked at Gu Feidi uncertainly.
The sound generated by internal strength to wake him up was too familiar, and he hadn’t heard it for a long time. It also awakened his fear of being dominated by high-pressure training during the period of time when he’d first entered Lesser Jade House.
Su Yang had been scared witless, and he couldn’t react for a while until he realised what had just occurred.
He glared at Gu Feidi angrily: “Are you a GHOUL?!”
Gu Feidi was resentful: “Are you WRAITH?!”
Su Yang: …
Looking at Gu Feidi’s pale face, Su Yang was anxious that things could be different. “I told you not to use your internal strength; you still had to use it?”
Gu Feidi gritted his teeth: “Would you wake if I didn’t use internal strength?”
Mei Shisan… ignored the insipid, childish banter between the two of them. He handed over a piece of damp handkerchief for Su Yang to wipe his face.
After freshening up, the flower aide brought over the toasted breakfast rations.
Su Yang took a piece of flat cake, rolled his eyes, and snatched the piece of cake that the subordinate had passed to Gu Feidi. He grinned and said, “You are injured; it’s inconvenient for you to eat; I’ll feed you.”
Gu Feidi looked at Su,Yang who was sporting a wicked smile, and he couldn’t help shrinking back: “My right hand is fine.”
Su Yang raised his eyebrows and said, “Don’t move, or I’ll order them to tie you up.”
Gu Feidi: ……
How come he didn’t know that Su Yang would be grumpy if he didn’t sleep properly?
Sure enough, Su Yang’s idea of ‘feeding’ was in no way altruistic.
He held a piece of hard cake the size of his palm to Gu Feidi’s mouth and smiled sweetly: “Come on, open up.”
Gu Feidi couldn’t avoid it and had no choice but to open his mouth——then Su Yang stuffed the whole piece of cake inside. There was no way he could chew it.
After he finally managed to soften the cake enough to swallow it bit by bit, Su Yang unscrewed the water sack and beamed at him: “You’re choking; come and have some water?”
Gu Feidi stared at Su Yang with a guarded expression.
Su Yang stuffed the spout into Gu Feidi’s mouth and upended the entire water sack.
Gu Feidi’s was face and neck were completely flushed with water, but he didn’t even manage to drink a drop.
Su Yang smiled and said, “You’ve eaten and drank your fill. Get ready to set off.”
The flower aides who were looking on: ……
If truth be told, Young Hero Gu was really pitiful.
HAHHHAQHQHHQ IM DEADDS THIS SCENE IM IN LOVEEE