Ruan Qiuping slept surprisingly well last night. When he stretched and opened his eyes, he felt a lot lighter.
only…
How did he get to the bedroom? He slept in the living room last night.
Ruan Qiuping opened the door and walked out, searching every place including the bedroom, living room, study and garden, but still could not find any trace of Yu Huan.
"Mr. Ruan, are you looking for something?" Butler Zhang came over and asked.
Ruan Qiuping asked: "What about Mr. Yu who came with me? Didn't he come back last night?"
"He should have come back." Butler Zhang said, "But last night in the early hours of the morning, the bodyguard captain saw him go out again."
Did you leave again in the early hours of last night? Is being a teaching assistant really that busy
Ruan Qiuping couldn't help but frown.
After breakfast, Ruan Qiuping began to complete the task assigned by Siming.
There was a reason why Ruan Qiuping was teleported to this villa as soon as he came down.
Because his mission target is inside the villa.
According to the mission card, today is the third year that pastry chef Xiaoling and bodyguard captain Dazhuang have been secretly in love with each other.
Ruan Qiuping had only one mission this time, and that was to help those two people who were hesitating to break through that layer of window paper.
When Ruan Qiuping saw the content of the task card, he suspected that Siming had received a red envelope from Yue Lao and borrowed these students to help Yue Lao complete the task.
Ruan Qiuping made a lot of strategy plans last night and finally chose the safest one.
When evening came, Ruan Qiuping suggested having a barbecue, but said it would be too lonely to eat barbecue alone, so he asked the housekeeper to gather everyone in the villa to join in the fun.
While eating barbecue and drinking beer, Ruan Qiuping suggested that everyone play truth or dare. In the game, Ruan Qiuping used magic to cheat secretly. After several rounds, he forced the bodyguard captain to show off to the pastry chef.
The two hugged and kissed amid the lively cheers of the crowd, while Ruan Qiuping tilted his head to look towards the gate of the villa.
… Yu Huan hasn’t come back yet.
The atmosphere of the entire barbecue party reached its climax after the birth of a pair of beautiful lovers. There was noise and laughter everywhere, but Ruan Qiuping felt empty when he thought of Yu Huan's absence.
Where did Yu Huan go? What kind of difficult situation was he dealing with that would take him so long to come back
This time, because the difficulty is more complicated than the last time, the bracelet only seals half of the magic power of the student... Could it be that because the magic power of the student has increased, he started to cause trouble everywhere
Ruan Qiuping couldn't help but start to think wildly.
He lowered his head to look at the new call button on his wrist, and even wanted to abuse the emergency call to find Yu Huan.
At this moment, Butler Zhang came over in a hurry and said, "Mr. Ruan, my father heard that you were coming, so he rushed over to see you. I wonder if you are willing to see him?"
Butler Zhang's father, Yu Huan, started working in this villa when he was 42 years old. After Yu Huan passed away, he resigned from the job and let his son manage this ownerless and empty villa.
Ruan Qiuping also witnessed the transformation of that person from a young man who was efficient and effective into an old man with a kind smile.
Going back further, six-year-old Yu Huan was alone in a villa on the mountain, and the uncle Zhang Xuanzhong who was closest to him was the grandfather of the current old housekeeper.
Four generations of the Zhang family have been serving Yu Huan.
Because of this relationship, Yu Huan trusted him particularly during his lifetime, and Ruan Qiuping was also very grateful to him.
"Of course I am willing." Ruan Qiuping said, "I haven't seen him for many years. Is your father in good health now?"
Butler Zhang: "Thanks to Mr. Ruan for your concern, my father is in good health now, but he has some mild Alzheimer's disease and occasionally forgets some things, but most of the time he is normal. He always remembers things from his youth very well, so when I heard that you were coming, I wanted to come and see you."
"The old butler should be about 80 years old this year. It must be inconvenient for him to travel. Where is he now? I'd better go to see him."
"No, no, my father is on the way and will be here soon." Butler Zhang said with a smile.
The young servants and bodyguards at the dining table had already started the second round of the truth or dare game, but Ruan Qiuping suddenly felt bored.
He stood up, walked to the barbecue stall, and prepared to grill the meat himself.
Just when Ruan Qiuping was putting his favorite ingredients on bamboo skewers to prepare for the grill, Butler Zhang came over again.
The group of young people next to them seemed to be having a lot of fun and suddenly shouted "what", which just covered up half of Butler Zhang's voice.
Ruan Qiuping did not hear the first half of Butler Zhang's words clearly. He only heard him say that someone was coming.
"Is your father coming? So soon?" Ruan Qiuping said.
Butler Zhang shook his head and said, "No, it's that Mr. Yu who came back."
When Ruan Qiuping heard that Yu Huan had returned, his eyes suddenly lit up.
All the tiredness and boredom just now disappeared in an instant.
He immediately took off the gloves he had just put on when he was stringing the beads and ran towards the door like a flash.
Seeing Yu Huan's figure, Ruan Qiuping almost rushed over to hug him.
But Ruan Qiuping was still a little wise. He stopped in front of Yu Huan, raised his head and looked at him, his eyes sparkling with a smile: "Yu Huan, where have you been?"
Yu Huan was silent for a while, then suddenly asked, "Are you waiting for me?"
Ruan Qiuping nodded and said, "I'll wait for you for a day. It's getting boring here without you."
Yu Huan felt his heart being gently touched again.
He suddenly looked a little dazed.
… Maybe, that ring doesn't mean anything.
He was thinking too much.
Suppressing all the doubts in his heart, Yu Huan pursed his lips and said, "I received a notice saying that your mission has been completed. Do you want to go back early?"
The rules for descending to the earth this time are different from before.
Because now not only do we have to record, but we also have to complete more practical tasks, so the bracelet does not have a rule to send everyone back to heaven after five minutes. Instead, it is more casual, as long as you complete the task, you can go back at any time, but if you still can't complete the task within half an hour, it will be considered a failure and points will be deducted.
"Wait a minute. We have to wait for someone. The old housekeeper here wants to meet me." Ruan Qiuping happily pulled Yu Huan's wrist, "Let's go to the barbecue. I'll grill fish for you."
The fish has been cooked and placed aside, and you just need to keep turning it over and over while grilling.
"What are the other tasks for students?" Ruan Qiuping asked curiously as he flipped the grilled fish.
Yu Huan: "It's almost the same as you. It's all about bringing couples together."
Ruan Qiuping curled his lips: "How boring, I suspect that our Siming accepted bribes from Yue Lao."
Yu Huan picked up the skewers that Ruan Qiuping had just put on the grill and said, "I heard that Siming College is going to subdivide the majors, and one of the majors is Siming."
Yu Huan glanced at the young couple who had just been paired up next to him and said, "I think Ruan Ruan can consider this major."
Ruan Qiuping raised his eyebrows: "Are you praising my talent?"
"I saw quite a few students today, and among them, Ruan Ruan completed the task the best."
Ruan Qiuping had rarely been praised before, but now that he was praised, he immediately smiled with great joy: "It seems that my witty words are not really worth mentioning. From now on, just call me a love genius."
Yu Huan paused for a moment, but his voice was restrained without any ups and downs, and his expression was still calm: "It turns out that Ruan Ruan learned these skills from books. People who don't know would think that Ruan Ruan has rich experience in love."
"Who can a person like me fall in love with? Isn't it a waste of time?" Ruan Qiuping said carelessly, "Yu Huan, give me the salt."
Yu Huan slowly narrowed his eyes and handed the salt beside him over with a smile.
He really wanted to do it.
Yu Huan thought.
Perhaps, the ring was just a relic of Mr. Yu, and Ruan Ruan left the ring behind as a friend.
Maybe Mr. Yu just has a one-sided love for Ruan Ruan.
Maybe, it was just a ring that Ruan Ruan found in a trade shop many years ago, and she engraved her name on it simply for fun.
When Ruan Qiuping was sprinkling salt, he accidentally hit the oil bottle next to him. The oil dripped into the oven, and the flames jumped up instantly. Ruan Qiuping screamed in fright and hurriedly took a few steps back.
Yu Huan quickly put down the skewers in his hand and said, "Ruan Ruan, is it burnt?"
Ruan Qiuping shook his left hand and said, "It's not a big deal, just a little burn from the fire."
Ruan Qiuping frowned and took Ruan Qiuping's hand: "Let me see."
"It's really alright..."
"Don't move."
Yu Huan looked down and found that only a few hairs on Ruan Qiuping's fingers were scratched by the flames, but other than that, he was not burned.
Yu Huan was just about to put Ruan Qiuping's hand down, but he noticed some light mist on the ring finger of Ruan Qiuping's left hand.
Yu Huan's eyes were fixed on the mist.
…This is a high-end trick used by water-based immortals, and it is not something Ruan Qiuping can perform.
It's Xia Fushui's trick.
Although Xia Fushui's cultivation was not as good as Yu Huan who had been deified, she had at least been practicing for thousands of years and was the best at illusion. If it weren't for the loophole in this water magic when it encountered fire, even Yu Huan might not be able to see it.
Yu Huan moved his fingers slightly and cast a spell without making any sound, and the mist on Ruan Qiuping's fingers completely dissipated.
After the magic faded, Ruan Qiuping's ring finger was still covered with a thin layer of crude illusion.
But this trick was too low-end and was useless to Yu Huan.
So Yu Huan saw at a glance what was on Ruan Qiuping's left ring finger.
This is a ring with a strange shape, like two intertwined lines - it is exactly the same design as the ring on Ruan Qiuping's chest.
This is a wedding ring.
A wedding ring that two people tried so hard to cover with magic, but they were reluctant to take it off.
The ring on Ruan Qiuping's neck is engraved with Ruan Ruan's name.
So is the one in Ruan Qiuping's hand also engraved with that man's name
Yu Huan heard the sound of his own heart becoming silent in the dark night.
Yu Huan looked up at Ruan Qiuping and felt that the blood in his body had frozen into ice at this moment.
But Ruan Qiuping was completely unaware of this.
He pulled out his hand, waved the left hand with the ring in front of Yu Huan, and asked, "Yu Huan, what are you daydreaming about?"
Yu Huan grabbed Ruan Qiuping's hand.
Ruan Qiuping was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that Yu Huan was holding his hand harder and harder, with no intention of stopping.
Ruan Qiuping pulled his hand out with great effort. He flicked his wrist lightly, frowned, and said complainingly: "Yu Huan... you hurt me."
But Yu Huan said nothing.
Ruan Qiuping raised his head and looked at Yu Huan, and suddenly found that Yu Huan's expression became a little strange.
Ruan Qiuping was about to ask him what happened when Butler Zhang came up to him with a cheerful face, "Mr. Ruan, my father is here! It's just that his wheelchair is not convenient to come to this lawn, so please move a little."
Ruan Qiuping nodded to Butler Zhang, then took off her apron and said to Yu Huan, "Yu Huan, wait for me for a moment. I'm going to see someone."
Yu Huan lowered his head, as if nodding, but also as if ignoring Ruan Qiuping.
As Ruan Qiuping followed Butler Zhang forward, he turned around and took another look.
Yu Huan had returned to the barbecue stall and continued to grill skewers. He lowered his head and there was no visible change in his expression.
Ruan Qiuping took a look at his left hand which had just been squeezed so hard that it hurt, and felt a little strange.
When the old housekeeper saw Ruan Qiuping, he was so excited that tears were about to fall.
"Mr. Ruan, long time no see."
Ruan Qiuping sat opposite the old butler and chatted with him for a long time.
The old housekeeper said that although Yu Huan's ashes were taken away by Ruan Qiuping, Yu Huan had sponsored many disabled children throughout his life. However, when those children grew up and wanted to worship him, they found that there was no place to do so. Therefore, they spontaneously built a cenotaph on the cemetery originally chosen by Yu Huan.
The cenotaph was kept very clean. Although many years had passed, many people still went there to clean and worship.
Ruan Qiuping lowered his eyes and said, "I was too selfish. I just wanted to take him away without thinking about it, but I forgot that there are many people here who miss him."
The old housekeeper smiled and said slowly: "Mr. Ruan, don't say that. Mr. Yu has been waiting for you and looking at you all his life. If he knew that you were taken away by him, he would be very happy."
"Mr. Ruan, the reason I came here this time is that I have one more thing I want to give you personally."
"What is it?"
The old butler took out something from his arms, uncovered the layers of handkerchiefs wrapped around it, and revealed an exquisite long leather box.
The old housekeeper handed the long box to Ruan Qiuping and said, "This is a gift from Mr. Yu to you. However, this gift is purely handmade and took a long time to make. Mr. Yu did not have time to make it for you before he passed away."
Ruan Qiuping opened the box and found a black pen inside.
The top of the fountain pen is inlaid with a low-key but sparkling black diamond, and a circle of broken diamonds is embedded under the gem. Holding it in the hand, it feels heavy and quite textured.
"Mr. Yu said that this fountain pen is better than the one in his study. You will never run out of ink when you write with it."
Ruan Qiuping looked a little dazed. He suddenly remembered that when Yu Huan was 85 years old, he used Yu Huan's fountain pen in Yu Huan's study. After using it, he exclaimed: "Yu Huan, your fountain pen is more durable than mine. The fountain pen I bought in the trading forest often runs out of ink, which is very annoying."
Yu Huan gave him a pair of pens and said, "Ruan Ruan, these pens are not very good. I will give you a better one next time you come."
"The production period of this fountain pen was not that long originally. However, when it was almost finished, Mr. Yu unexpectedly saw this rare black diamond, so he had the fountain pen reworked and the original gemstone replaced with a diamond."
Ruan Qiuping looked at the pen: "… I just said it casually, why did he take it so seriously?"
"Mr. Yu didn't treat it as an ordinary gift." The old housekeeper said, "He told me that this pen is given to you as your wedding present."
"… A wedding gift? He's really thinking ahead."
The old housekeeper wanted to tell Ruan Qiuping that Mr. Yu had known about his other engagement for a long time, but he opened his mouth and then closed it again.
After all, Mr. Yu had been hiding something from others all his life, so why should he tell it out loud and make Mr. Ruan sad
The old butler chatted with Ruan Qiuping for a while. He spoke clearly and his thoughts were very coherent. He did not seem like an early-stage Alzheimer's patient.
But as he was talking, Ruan Qiuping heard the old housekeeper suddenly sigh: "Although Mr. Yu's ashes were taken away by Mr. Ruan, he sponsored many disabled children throughout his life. When those disabled children grow up, they want to come and pay tribute to him..."
Butler Zhang quickly leaned over and said to the old butler, "Dad, you said these words."
The old housekeeper was stunned for a moment and said, "... I didn't say that. When did I say that?"
"Mr. Ruan, I'm sorry, my father is ill."
"It's okay, it's okay." Ruan Qiuping waved his hands quickly.
Just then, Yu Huan suddenly walked over.
He stood in front of Ruan Qiuping and whispered, "I still have some things to do. I'll leave first."
Ruan Qiuping glanced at his bracelet, but it didn't light up.
Ruan Qiuping asked in confusion: "What's the matter with you? Isn't there anything special going on in his school?"
Yu Huan was silent for a moment, then said, "It's getting dark, I have to find a place to rest."
"Can't you rest here?"
"Do you think it's appropriate for me to rest here?"
Yu Huan looked at Ruan Qiuping solemnly, his dark eyes hiding difficult-to-interpret emotions.
Ruan Qiuping was slightly startled, and suddenly felt that something was not right with Yu Huan today.
"Mr. Yu!" The old butler in the wheelchair suddenly shouted with surprise, "You and Mr. Ruan are back together! How come you look younger! Now you two look exactly the same as in your wedding photo!"
Ruan Qiuping's body stiffened, and he felt cold sweat breaking out on his entire back.
Butler Zhang also hurriedly interrupted the old butler's words: "Dad, you are sick, please don't talk... You are mistaken, this is not Mr. Yu..."
"Ah... am I seeing things... they really do look alike... Yeah, but Mr. Yu is also a little different from the wedding photo..."
"Mr. Yu, I'm sorry... Mr. Ruan, I'm sorry." Butler Zhang said hurriedly, "I'm really sorry, my father is ill, I'll take him away now..."
After Butler Zhang finished speaking, he quickly pushed the old butler away.
Only Ruan Qiuping and Yu Huan were left here.
Yu Huan looked at Ruan Qiuping steadily, but Ruan Qiuping felt beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.
"Ruan Ruan." Yu Huan suddenly asked, "Do I look a lot like your friend?"
Ruan Qiuping's lips trembled and he shook his head like a rattle.
"Is it similar?" Yu Huan asked again.
Although the tone was very gentle, Ruan Qiuping felt a strong sense of oppression.
Ruan Qiuping whispered: "…The old housekeeper just got sick, he was talking nonsense."
Yu Huan took a step forward and looked down at Ruan Qiuping: "So, the story about you marrying that guy was also made up by him?"
Ruan Qiuping opened his mouth, but even though he was very thick-skinned, he couldn't lie so blatantly.
"Am I similar to him?" Yu Huan asked for the third time.
Ruan Qiuping closed his eyes and accepted his fate.
"His last name is not pronounced the same as mine, so is his given name pronounced similar to mine?" Yu Huan paused, stretched out his hand and touched Ruan Qiuping's face, his voice calm, "Perhaps, the good morning kiss you gave me after drinking that day was actually for him?"
"Yu Huan..."
Ruan Qiuping opened his mouth and suddenly felt that the situation couldn't get any worse.
He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and said, "Yu Huan, ah..."
"You don't have to hide anything from me, and you don't have to apologize to me." Yu Huan interrupted Ruan Qiuping, with no expression on his face. "Ruan Ruan said that we were only engaged because of the Heavenly Marriage Stone. We are just living together. There is no love between you and me, and there is no need to talk about love. Besides, we haven't officially married yet, and your relationship has ended. I am not qualified to ask about your emotional experience."
What Ruan Qiuping wanted to say was swallowed up in an instant.
"But not many people here know that you are not ordinary, which is wrong." Yu Huan looked into Ruan Qiuping's eyes and asked politely, "Can I erase his memory?"
Ruan Qiuping was stunned for a moment: "... Then he doesn't remember me."
"He doesn't need to remember a deity." Yu Huan said calmly, "This is not good for both of you."
Yu Huan waited for three seconds, but Ruan Qiuping didn't express his opinion.
So he said, "Since Ruan Ruan is willing, I will start."
Ruan Qiuping subconsciously clenched his fists.
Yu Huan stretched out his hand and slowly drew a talisman in the air. All the people in the villa suddenly fainted on the ground.
Yu Huan's tone was as cold as water: "After he wakes up, he won't remember that you have been here. He won't have your memory, so naturally he won't continue to work in this villa and wait for you. He will slowly leave the villa, and this place will be idle, and no one will remember that you have lived here."
Ruan Qiuping's eyelashes trembled.
Yu Huan lowered his head, and gently and carefully took off the necklace with a ring from Ruan Qiuping's neck, and also took off the ring on his left ring finger.
Under Ruan Qiuping's incredulous gaze, Yu Huan placed the two rings in Ruan Qiuping's palms and said softly, "Ruan Ruan, I don't mind you missing the old couple, but my wedding is coming soon, and these rings are too conspicuous. If someone sees them, it will be hard to explain. Ruan Ruan should keep them."
After Yu Huan cleared away other people's memories and all traces on Ruan Qiuping's body, he gently stroked the corners of Ruan Qiuping's eyes with his fingertips.
His voice is clear, light, gentle and pleasant to the ear.
"No one in this world remembers what happened between you and him anymore. Ruan Ruan should forget it sooner rather than later. I will also pretend that nothing happened."
"After all, a wedding between a mortal and a god shouldn't count."