Chapter 81 Forty-Eight Seconds

Chapter 81: Forty-Eight Seconds

Cheng Ge felt like he was being set up by the system, his heart thumping wildly.

The feeling was exactly like being caught secretly playing with a phone in high school, only to turn around and find the head teacher staring death at him from the window.

Lin Nanshu's expression didn't change much; he continued eating his pastry gracefully.

Cheng Ge looked at Cui Ji walking toward him and instinctively swallowed, grabbing Lin Nanshu's sleeve.

"Haha, Cui Ji, why are you back? Couldn't sleep and want to invite me for a candlelit night stroll?"

Cui Ji glanced at Lin Nanshu, then turned to Cheng Ge, giving him the death stare.

Cheng Ge felt like needles pricking his back, sitting on pins and needles, with a lump in his throat, walking on thin ice...

He wished he could have a spaceship to shoot himself straight into space.

"Your lamp's broken. Here's a new one." Cui Ji handed the glazed lantern to Cheng Ge.

In his original world, Cheng Ge was used to sleeping with a bedside lamp on, and he kept that habit here too.

But just now, he noticed the glass on the lamp seemed a bit damaged. He didn't expect Cui Ji to bring a new one at this moment.

Hurriedly taking it, he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well... would you like to, uh... stay and watch the moon together?"

"Watch the moon?" Cui Ji smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Cheng Ge nodded quickly, chuckling twice, "How does it go? 'I raise my cup to invite the moon, with my shadow, we are three!'"

He counted on his pinky finger, "One, two, three. Perfect."

Cui Ji couldn't help but snicker, "Are you sure that poem refers to three people?"

"Isn't it...?" Cheng Ge's lips twitched awkwardly, turning to Lin Nanshu.

"Ah... I was a sports major, don't really get poetry.

But... isn't it a refined thing for good buddies to watch the moon together at night?"

Lin Nanshu finished the pastry in his hand and nodded, blindly praising him, "This night won't last long, next year where will the moon be? I think Muyu's right."

Cui Ji turned sideways, looking at the sky speechlessly, "Clouds heavy, stars sparse, deep clouds darkly lock the Moon Palace gate. Which moon are you two admiring, exactly?"

As the saying goes, eloquence is silver, silence is gold; at this moment, everyone wanted to gain an advantage by staying silent.

Cheng Ge glanced at Lin Nanshu, then at Cui Ji, and with one long leg swung over, he sat on the windowsill.

Looking up at Cui Ji, swinging his feet, "All things under heaven are born from being; being is born from non-being. This 'non-being' isn't nothingness, but another side of existence."

With that, he raised his hand and gently covered Cui Ji's eyes, "Can you see me now?"

Cui Ji froze for a moment; the warm touch on his eyelids made him dazed.

Cheng Ge's palm was soft, and the light contact was surprisingly warm.

Just as he was about to say something, Cheng Ge continued, "You can't see me, but I truly exist.

Just like this moon, though hidden by clouds, it still hangs high in the sky.

The famous five-star general, MacArthur, once said, we don't need to dwell on being or non-being..."

Cui Ji grasped Cheng Ge's wrist, listening to his nonsense, but didn't contradict him.

Cheng Ge finished his little speech, then turned to Lin Nanshu for a concluding question, "Yuli, right?"

Lin Nanshu cooperated perfectly, "Muyu speaks wisely. Such a brilliant argument makes me suddenly see the light."

Having been affirmed, Cheng Ge triumphantly raised an eyebrow and turned his gaze back to Cui Ji, "So, moon-watching is all about the state of mind."

Cui Ji slowly lowered Cheng Ge's hand, speechless, glancing sideways at Cheng Ge's fanboy rival.

Cheng Ge chuckled, patting the spot beside him, "Come on, sit here and feel the breeze. Dad will tell you a story."

Cui Ji shook his head helplessly, but still sat down beside him.

Lin Nanshu also squeezed over, the three of them sitting side by side on the windowsill.

"This story is called 'Waiting at the Bronze Door for Ten Years, Little Wife Goes Wild Outside.'

Once upon a time, fifty years ago, a group of grave robbers from Changsha unearthed a Warring States silk manuscript that recorded a mysterious ancient tomb..."

The thick clouds gradually dispersed, moonlight spilling through the gaps, the remaining cloud wisps illuminated, three slanted shadows falling onto the corridor.

Cheng Ge didn't know when he fell asleep; he slept straight until midday.

Stretching lazily in bed, his whole body felt limber.

After meditating in bed for a full five minutes, he prepared to get up.

But before his feet touched the ground, he quickly pulled them back. Cheng Ge covered his head with the blanket.

Wrapping himself tightly, leaving no gaps, he occasionally let out a few muffled sounds, fiddling with something unknown.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before the blanket was suddenly yanked open. Cheng Ge sat there, dazed.

Damn... forty-eight seconds...

Cheng Ge felt the sky was falling; he'd accidentally become a 48-second man. He used to be quite enduring.

"No, I have to try again."

With that, he buried his head and got tangled with the blanket again.

The result... he couldn't get up anymore.

Cheng Ge wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes, stumbled out of bed, radiating an air of profound desolation.

When Lin Nanshu came to find Cheng Ge, he saw him sitting in the courtyard, chin propped on his hand, looking utterly hopeless, listlessly stuffing goji berries into his mouth.

"What's wrong? Encountering some trouble?" Lin Nanshu picked up a bamboo fan and fanned Cheng Ge.

Cheng Ge glanced at Lin Nanshu, then suddenly asked, "Brother Yuli, are you married?"

Lin Nanshu paused while pouring tea, then shook his head, "Not married. Why does Muyu ask this all of a sudden?"

Cheng Ge listened and quickly squeezed closer to Lin Nanshu, their elbows almost touching.

A faint scent of storax drifted into his nose.

Cheng Ge glanced left and right and whispered, "Then do you have concubines or maids?"

They were so close that he could almost see the fine hairs on his skin catching the light, and his breath tickled Lin Nanshu's chin.

Lin Nanshu stiffened, blushing as he averted his gaze from Cheng Ge's face. "None either. Muyu, why do you ask?"

Seeing his shy demeanor, Cheng Ge's eyes lit up. Could he be of the same persuasion?

He coughed twice and pretended to ask, "Why haven't you married at this age? Is there some unspoken difficulty?"

The tips of Lin Nanshu's ears turned red. He lowered his eyes and took a sip of tea, momentarily unsure how to answer.

After a moment, he slowly spoke: "My mother married my father when she was young, but in the end she trusted the wrong person, wasted her life, and died of a broken heart.

If I'm to marry someone, I think it should be mutual affection, like the fidelity of wild geese, growing old together."

Cheng Ge hadn't expected that Lin Nanshu, a man of this era, could have such enlightened thinking. He was momentarily moved.

"Then the girl who marries you in the future will probably live quite well."

Lin Nanshu turned to look at Cheng Ge, his curled eyelashes casting crescent shadows under his eyes.

His heart stirred, and he tightened his fingers slightly. "Muyu, I actually..."

"Hehe, when your bro here saves up enough money, I'll marry a gentle and elegant woman, and have a few chubby babies!"