Guardian: Zhen Hun (Novel) Vol. 2

by Priest

“We can talk about this after we get back tonight,”

However, Zhao Yunlan’s shame was nowhere to be seen. “And just how would yo...

Zhao Yunlan winked. “Oh, dear gege, I want you so badly I can’t stand it. Won’t you please give me what I want?”

Angry with embarrassment, Shen Wei shook off Zhao Yunlan’s hand. But then, seeing Zhao Yunlan’s hand grasping aimlessly in the air, he gave in after a moment’s hesitation and subtly took hold of it again.

“The chief of our tribe asked me to bring this to the Guardian, and also told me to relay this message: In the future, if the Guardian needs anything, just let us know. We’re all at your disposal.”

Shen Wei swiftly grabbed him around the waist, turning and holding him close to block the view of the crowd of little yao who were trying to sneak a peek.

Fourth Uncle took note of Shen Wei’s possessive behavior.

Shen Wei’s expression was growing darker by the second.

Some tiny voice in his heart was absolutely insistent that those seemingly unrelated things were actually tremendously significant.

Shen Wei pulled Zhao Yunlan behind him, gaze growing cold.

When Shen Wei spoke, his voice held no trace of his usual refinement. Instead, it was dark and ominous. “How dare the Crow tribe harm you? Wretched, ungrateful things! Even death by a thousand cuts or their total extinction could never make up for—”

Every syllable dripped with bloodlust,

Zhao Yunlan wrapped both arms around him. Instinctively, Shen Wei began...

“Xiao-Wei!” he exclaimed. Shen Wei went utterly still in his arms. After a moment, Shen Wei turned and gave Zhao Yunlan a disbelieving look. Voice tremb...

Daqing shoved him with a paw. “Pung, your ass! Shen-laoshi, hurry and lead this noisy donkey away—four bamboo!”

Shen Wei obligingly dragged Zhao Yunlan away. In his hands, a full-grown man or a fifty-kilogram lacquer box seemed equally weightless, as easy to carry around as a thin old book.

Shen Wei took a seat and let Zhao Yunlan lie down and use his thigh as a pillow. He gently massaged Zhao Yunlan’s temples. “Close your eyes. They haven’t fully recovered, so don’t strain them trying to see. You’ll overwhelm yourself.”

But Shen Wei was clearly a little distracted and didn’t hear.

Shen Wei didn’t bother denying it. “All parents want their children to be safe and healthy for their entire lives. They hope their son will be happy and at peace with a wife and kids. Bringing me over like this… How can you deny your parents a good New Year?”

“If I didn’t invite you home with me, where would you spend Lunar New Year?”

Not that Shen Wei had ever thought anything of it. He had lived thousands of years like that, each day exactly like the one before. But somehow, after hearing Zhao Yunlan put it that way, it suddenly struck him as unfair. He was long since accustomed to passing his days like that, but now a feeling washed over him: the feeling that he couldn’t bear a single day more of it.

And yet Shen Wei still tenaciously honored the oath that had long since been forgotten by even the person he had sworn it to. His entire existence had been devoted to that single sentence.

“But someone once said to me that while ‘mountain ghost’ was fitting, it was perhaps naming me into a corner. He told me that in this world, the mountains and seas are all connected, and lofty peaks stretch out endlessly. He suggested, ‘Why don’t we add a few more strokes and make it a proper name?’”11

This mysterious “someone” had a way of speaking that sounded rather familiar.

He logged into the “Lord Meow Number One in the World” account and started idly taking selfies with the webcam and uploading them.

With a click of the camera, Daqing uploaded his large pancake face onto the web, captioned it “uniquely handsome meow,” and posted it. In no time, cat lovers were littering the post with comments. Some praised the solid, pure color of his fur while others gave such friendly suggestions as, “OP, your cat’s too fat. Please adjust its diet and make sure it gets more exercise so it can be healthy.”

Daqing deleted the comment at the speed of light. Indignant, he thought, You’re the fat one, stupid human.

With Zhao Yunlan stuck to him like a barnacle, Shen Wei had little choice but to head to his own frigid apartment.

Shen Wei’s breath hitched. He carefully smoothed back the stray hairs on Zhao Yunlan’s forehead before pulling a blanket over him. He gently caressed Zhao Yunlan’s lips with his thumb. Despite his reluctance to leave, he finally leaned down and kissed Zhao Yunlan’s forehead, then grabbed the file his supervisor wanted as well as his car keys and headed out.

“There’s no ‘we.’ Hurry and get this stuff outta here,” Zhao Yunlan commanded. “He’s going to end up on my household register sooner or later. Am I supposed to have two addresses in the same household register? Just looking at all his single-use belongings pisses me off. Be here in five minutes, got it?!”

Then his pen paused as an incredibly perverted thought took root: Where does Shen Wei keep his underwear? Especially the ones he’s already worn?

He had recently managed to force Shen Wei to reluctantly stay with him in his tiny apartment, but in the process, he had wound up maintaining the excellent tradition of “starting from affection while restrained by etiquette.” During his half month of blindness, despite his ulterior motives, Zhao Yunlan hadn’t quite managed to obtain his heart’s desire. He spent his days and nights under the same roof as his beloved, but he could neither see nor consume him. It was a heroic feat of cultivation both physically and mentally; he felt as though he was on the verge of being able to take a monk’s ascetic vows.

“You drove me t...

His fingers danced across the door as though someone were guiding his hand.

The paintings covered every inch of the walls. Large and small, depicting anger or laughter, they were all the same person. Zhao Yunlan’s hands trembled so violently that his phone nearly fell to the floor. The last trace of tipsiness evaporated.

The person was drawn with delicate brows and an almost lifelike expression. His long hair reached the ground, and he wore the simplest green robe imaginable. His head was tilted slightly, lips curved in the faintest hint of a smile. The brushwork was so vivid that it seemed the man might step out of the painting at any moment…and it was clearly none other than Zhao Yunlan himself!

Laying eyes on Kunlun-jun for the first time, in the shades of the grove. A single fleeting glance and the melody of my heart faltered. By Wei.

No secrets could be kept when faced with the Soul-Executing Blade, which could discern right from wrong, kindness from evil.

Shen Wei left without a backward glance, anxious fury filling his mind with hundreds of possible scenarios. He was, after all, a gentleman. It could never have crossed his mind that someone might go to such lengths to lure him away just to move his belongings and steal a couple pairs of underwear.

icy dread gripped his heart.

As he stood frozen in the doorway, an uncontrollable desire to kill boiled up inside him. The urge awakened like a vast dragon that had lain dormant for countless years, jarred into wakefulness by an assault on its weak spot. Ever since Zhao Yunlan’s eyes had been injured due to Shen Wei’s own carelessness, a string in his heart had been stretched taut, and now the sight of the empty living room threatened to snap it.

Shen Wei’s heart, which had leapt into his throat, thudded heavily back into his chest. That was when he realized he had actually broken out in a cold sweat. Even his palms were clammy.

In a smarmy, provocative voice, he said, “C’mere, babe. Come give your husband a hug.”

Teasing Shen Wei had already become a habit. Most of the time, Shen Wei ignored it, but this time, he walked over and swept Zhao Yunlan into his arms. Burying his face in the dip of Zhao Yunlan’s shoulder, he slipped his arms around Zhao Yunlan’s waist, pulling him away from the windowsill and closing the window. “Don’t you know it’s cold out?”

A hint of a subtle, peaceful smile spread across his face, like a big cat that had eaten and drunk its fill.

The closer they got to Zhao Yunlan’s family home, the more nervous Shen Wei became. If he weren’t a gentleman of his word, he might very well have made his escape long before this point.

Shen Wei was too embarrassed to speak.

“You? Buying? If you had that kind of awareness, I could have died peacefully ages ago.

“I, your son, spent over half a year doing everything I could—cajoling and lying, consulting all thirty-six stratagems and seventy-two transformations… I used every trick I know. It would’ve been easier to start an uprising. And now he’s finally, finally mine. If you feel like you need to kill or maim someone, come at me, but please don’t go out there and ruin all my hard work. It’ll break my heart.”

Zhao Yunlan smiled. “To me, it’s like people say: he’s like ‘the finest polished jade, completely unique.’