Eighty-four
You Shu chatted with his family for a while and had lunch together. Then he hurried back to his room, took out his mobile phone and started searching the Internet. Fortunately, his phone was set to a fingerprint lock, otherwise he would definitely not be able to remember his unlock password.
You Shu opened a certain app based on his memory and tried to find the novel in the completed works he was following. He wanted to see if there were any changes to the article, but he scrolled down the favorites list, and then back from the bottom to the top, but he still couldn't find the novel he was looking for.
Did I remember the name wrong
You Shu was puzzled. He quit the app and searched Baidu again, but still found nothing. The novel titled "The Road to Counterattack of the Tall, Rich and Handsome Emperor" disappeared without a trace on the entire Internet, as if it had never existed. He changed his method to search for the name of the protagonist Xiao Weixin, but all the results were irrelevant people.
But that book was a new work by a veteran author last year, and it was quite popular at the time. How come it can't be found anywhere on the Internet? Did the author change his name later
So You Shu immediately clicked on the author's column again and read the introduction of each book carefully, but still couldn't find the book he remembered. At the corresponding time last year, the author updated another book that he had never read.
No, it shouldn't be like this...
You Shu's mind was a little confused. He held his phone and refused to believe it, so he simply ran to leave a message under a new post that the author had just opened.
'Master, why is your article missing?'
After he posted the comment, he waited anxiously for a reply, but he also knew that these great people left too many comments under the posts every day, and maybe he couldn't even see his comments, let alone a reply.
You Shu put his phone back and sat cross-legged on the bed in deep thought. Xiao Yueer saw that his door was open, ran in with a bag of potato chips, and said excitedly: "Big sister brought us gifts, brother, come quickly!!!"
You Shu was dragged by her to the second floor. The gifts brought back by the eldest sister were placed in the study. After they opened the door of the study, they saw the things on the low table next to the sofa at a glance. Xiaoyue threw the potato chips aside and rushed over happily.
You Shu was also pulled along to choose. The table was filled with various specialties brought back from other places, including food, drinks and entertainment items. Xiaoyue liked to eat, so she basically took away all the delicious ones, and You Shu began to pick out the rest.
A new SLR camera, a new drone, and a set of mobile Gundam models that were said to be out of print. You Shu carefully fiddled with these familiar yet unfamiliar things, and suddenly remembered that this seemed to be the gift he particularly wanted when he made a wish for his 18th birthday.
He still vaguely remembered that his sister, who was with him on his birthday at that time, didn't say anything, but he didn't expect that she really bought it back at the end of the year. Especially this out-of-print model, everyone in the circle knows that money alone can't buy it, and his sister must have used a lot of connections to get it.
In fact, after fifteen years, You Shu no longer remembers his wishes from that time, and these things have also lost the desire and interest he had back then.
It turns out that he was so naive back then...
You Shu's eyes were a little moist, and he tried hard to control himself from crying again. Although he no longer liked these things, he still cherished them.
Xiao Yue ate the dried fruit without a care in the world. She turned her head and saw him holding Gundam in a daze. She asked in confusion, "Brother, what's wrong with you? Weren't you always the happiest when you saw these things before?"
"It's okay." You Shu shook his head and put away his things. "I'll take it back and clean it up."
Xiaoyue sat there in confusion watching him leave, feeling vaguely that something was wrong.
Is this really her brother
You Shu returned to his room and carefully placed the gift in the display cabinet, and then went to fiddle with his new SLR. He vaguely remembered that he had a camera that he lent to someone and accidentally broke. It was his only camera, which his father bought for his twelfth birthday, and he always took it with him when he went out to play. After it was broken, he did not ask the classmate to pay for it, because he did not do it on purpose, and his family was indeed in financial difficulty, so he did not pursue his responsibility.
But his sister told him that he should be responsible for his own affairs. Since he lent it to someone and it broke and he refused to pay for it, he should buy another one with his own ability. His family would not pay for his mistake.
At that time, You Shu didn't understand why his sister was so strict with him, but he still obeyed and didn't ask his family to buy him a new one. Instead, he found ways to save money and even participated in work-study programs at school.
Unexpectedly, just when he had saved enough money to buy a new one after the New Year, his sister had already replaced it for him.
He didn't understand what his sister meant back then, but now he understands that everyone has to pay a price for any choice they make, but she still couldn't bear to let her brother down.
You Shu thought that after fifteen years, he would have forgotten many things, but when he really came back, he found that those things he thought he had forgotten were actually remembered all along, just until a specific point in time.
He suddenly had an illusion, as if someone had pressed the pause button on his time, and when he came back, that button was canceled again, and his life could go on again, as if the fifteen years in between were just a blink of an eye.
You Shu put the camera back on the bed and took out his cell phone to open it. As expected, his comment did not receive a reply from the author himself, but it did receive responses from many enthusiastic readers.
'We have never written this book.'
"Are you confused? I have never written this."
"Brother, this is considered ky, right?"
You Shu looked through the dozen or so messages below with an expressionless face. Although the attitudes of the people were different, the meaning they expressed was similar, that is, the author of this book had indeed never written it.
what on earth is it
You Shu had the illusion that he was in a strange world for a moment. He couldn't possibly remember wrongly the book he had stayed up late to read his favorite book, nor could he remember wrongly the author's name. But why was there no proof of its existence on the entire Internet
Between him and this world, whose memory is wrong
You Shu was upset. He fell back on the bed, but found something slipping out from his collar. He subconsciously reached out to touch it, and suddenly he shuddered all over and immediately sat up again.
He was not a person who liked to wear things. He rarely even used a scarf in winter before. But now he saw a emerald green pendant lying in the palm of his hand. It was delicately carved and looked very valuable. It was in the shape of a fish tail. When placed in the sunlight, the color was transparent and warm, with a hint of gentle luster.
This is the jade pendant that Xiao Weixin specially made for him, because he said he wanted to wear the same one as him, like a lover's pendant.
You Shu looked at the small fishtail pendant in his hand in shock, his breathing becoming a little rapid.
No, this pendant shouldn't be here. It, it should have fallen into the surging Yellow River along with its other body.
It shouldn't be here.
You Shu became frightened.
Does the world I live in now really exist
———
When Xiao Weixin opened his eyes, he saw the familiar carved beams.
Hua Chun had been standing by for a long time. Her red eyes showed that she had been crying all night. When she saw him wake up, she came over and looked at him carefully: "Your Highness, are you awake? Are you feeling unwell?"
Xiao Weixin seemed to have heard her question, but also seemed not to. He just lay there in a daze, neither speaking nor moving, like a wooden dummy.
When Huachun saw him like this, she started crying again and called him with a trembling voice: "Prince..."
Her prince has been like this for the past three days since he came back. He wakes up and falls asleep, and doesn't talk to anyone or answer anyone. He doesn't even listen to or read the news from the palace. He is like an empty shell that has lost its soul and doesn't respond at all.
Xiao Weiming was so anxious that his hair was about to catch fire, so he simply moved into Prince Ling's Mansion. Perhaps it was because he saw Xiao Weixin's distraught look with his own eyes that he grew up a lot overnight and behaved much more calmly. These days, he had been helping Hua Chun to deal with matters in the mansion, and had to be on guard against the difficulties caused by Prime Minister Xia in the court. His burden became much heavier.
However, without Xiao Weixin, the backbone, Xiao Weijing and Shen Qingyu were both overwhelmed and unable to cope. Even if the evidence of collusion was handed to Xiao Weishen, he did not dare to deal with it. The border was in crisis right now and Xiao Weishen could only rely on his uncle to survive, so he dared not suspect him.
This time they went on an expedition in vain, and Xiao Weishen was a hopeless case.
Xiao Weixin lay in bed for a long time, completely immersed in his own world, no longer caring about any information from the outside world. Xiao Weijing came to him several times to discuss the current passive situation but received no response, and was so angry that he didn't eat for several days.
The one who was even more anxious than him was Xie Feiyuan. He rushed into Xiao Weixin's bedroom with murderous intent, kicked open the flower and bird screen, dragged Xiao Weixin off the bed, and shouted viciously: "Get up, you little bastard!"
"Who are you showing this to?"
"Do you know what time it is now?"
"That son of a bitch Xiao Weishen has already sent five border cities away. Rivers of blood are flowing. Do you know that?!"
"And that bastard Xia Maoan, do you still want revenge?"
Hua Chun cried anxiously, and tried desperately to pull Xie Feiyuan's hand away, shouting at him: "What are you doing, you bastard!? Who allowed you to be so rude!"
"Go away!" Xie Feiyuan scolded Hua Chun impatiently, "What's the point of crying? Your prince is about to die, do you know that?"
He looked at the dazed Xiao Weixin, and anger rose in his heart. He swung his arm and slapped Xiao Weixin's face two or three times, each time with full strength, until the corner of his mouth bled.
"You bastard, do you still remember Concubine Xian?" Xie Feiyuan was disappointed. "Have you forgotten the oath you swore in front of her coffin?"
"You want her to sleep forever in that simple mausoleum?"
Xie Feiyuan glared at him coldly, "Look at your half-dead look, I really misjudged you."
"It's just that a shadow guard died, and you look so half dead!"
"Is a mere lowly shadow guard worthy of you doing this?"
When the word "shadow guard" was mentioned, Xiao Weixin's eyes moved slightly, the corners of his mouth trembled, and his eyes gradually began to focus. He raised his hand to shake off Xie Feiyuan's hand and slowly sat up. Both sides of his cheeks were swollen. Because he had not eaten or drunk for a few days, a lot of dry skin broke out on his mouth, and his hair was messy and tangled. In his life, except for the few days after his mother died, he had never been so embarrassed.
"Xiao Shu, you are not a lowly shadow guard."
"She is my future princess."
"I won't let you... say that about him."
Xiao Weixin suddenly jumped up from the ground and punched Xie Feiyuan in the chest. Xie Feiyuan was caught off guard and was knocked back repeatedly, spitting out blood.
But seeing that he had regained some consciousness, he spat to the side and let out a long sigh: "Wouldn't it be better if you had realized this earlier?"
"He's just a shadow guard. If he dies, he dies. Who cares about his status?"
"You just have to remember who you are."
Xie Feiyuan threw down these words, turned around and walked out without looking back.
"stop."
Xiao Weixin raised his head and stared at Xie Feiyuan's back for a long while, "I can handle my own affairs myself."
"But, to you, is Xiao Shu really just a shadow guard?"
Xie Feiyuan turned around with a sarcastic smile on his face, ruining his originally handsome and masculine face: "Your Majesty, you are really joking. I have more than a hundred shadow guards under my command, and if you count those who have died, there are even more."
"If I take everyone seriously, will I still be able to hold the position of the film leader?"
"Don't forget that you are a prince."
"Don't do stupid things."
Xiao Weixin stood there in a mess. After hearing what Xie Feiyuan said, he did not refute but just watched him walk away quietly.
The warm autumn sun outside the window shone into the house, illuminating the ground. Xiao Weixin stared at the light for a long time without saying a word.
After Xie Feiyuan left the yard, he looked as usual and passed by Shen Qingyu and Yang Nanruo who came to visit him. Shen Qingyu looked back at him, only to see a cold and resolute back.
After walking through several corridors, Xie Feiyuan turned the corner and came to the back of the rockery. It was deserted and quiet here, and no one would come here except for one or two birds flying by occasionally.
A bleak autumn wind blew by, and a few golden ginkgo leaves fluttered down before his eyes.
Xie Feiyuan stood silently facing the rockery for a while, then suddenly squatted on the ground with his hands covering his face. Tears flowed down his rough fingers and suppressed cries came out from between his fingers, like a wild deer that had lost its cub in the mountains and wanted to roar and cry, but could only hide and sob secretly.
How can it not hurt
That child had been raised and taught by him personally since he was young. He was so well-behaved and sensible, and was careful in everything he did, which never gave him any worries. From the very beginning, he had a different status in his heart from other children.
The respectful voice of "Lord Shadow Leader" was still lingering in my ears, but who knew that the person was gone suddenly.
Xiao Weixin had only known him for a year, but he and the child had been as close as father and son for fifteen years.
Who wouldn’t cry when their son died
But Xie Feiyuan couldn't do that. He could only cry secretly in a quiet corner where no one was around, and he couldn't let even a sound be heard by outsiders.
After leaving this rockery, he had to put on a cold face and continue to be the cold-hearted and emotionless Shadow Leader.
This world is so cruel.