Das Grab von Qin Shi Huang

Kapitel 34

Yeah, because ever since you joined the tennis club and got together with Zhan Xiaohui, you haven't contacted Yan Qi at all! What a heartless and ungrateful man!

"You still haven't told me what happened to her!" The senior's voice gradually rose, sounding somewhat impatient. "Perhaps I'm not in a position to meddle, but as a friend, I..."

Yan Wuyue slowly inhaled, drawing the breath deep into her dantian. "Friend?" Her eyebrows shot up sharply, but unfortunately, the boy on the other end of the phone couldn't see her challenging expression. "After going through so much hardship and dealing her such a huge blow, do you really think we can still be friends, Senior Brother?"

"You're not worthy at all!" Yan Wuyue's pent-up anger finally erupted. Her roar into the phone reverberated through the radio, reaching her senior brother's eardrums and causing him a dull ache. Her senior brother seemed overwhelmed by her aura, remaining silent for a long time. Only when the aftershocks of her anger subsided did he murmur softly:

"Indeed... I was the one who fell in love with someone else first..."

"But you don't know how much pain I'm in!" the senior brother growled in a low voice. "You don't understand anything at all!"

Indeed, Xiao Lan was initially very happy. Yan Qi was easygoing and dependent, and Xiao Lan completely understood and protected her petulant nature. However, when news came that Xiao Lan was about to intern at a company in Shanghai, Yan Qi was both happy and worried. She was happy that her senior's talent was being recognized, but worried about the long-distance relationship. From countless senior students, she had heard countless examples of long-distance relationships, and 99% of them ended in breakups, especially in a place like Shanghai. She had heard that the girls there were open-minded and materialistic, dressing up every day just to "hook up with rich men." There was indeed such an incident: a group of businessmen went to Shanghai on business and invited five female college students they knew to go out for karaoke and dinner—of course, the men paid the bill. After the meal, the five girls complained in unison that they were too stingy, "not even willing to buy a gift," and insisted on taking 10,000 yuan as a "gift fee." 10,000 yuan, what an astonishing amount! For Yan Qi, that was almost twenty months' worth of living expenses, nearly two years' worth, while those five girls easily earned that just by accompanying men to karaoke. In her mind, Shanghai had become a symbol of materialism, a decadent and corrupt city that only cared about money. Would her senior, who grew up in a simple and honest place, be bewitched by those seductive women when he first entered that city of bright lights and debauchery?

“She started acting strangely from then on.” In a field of vision that Yan Wuyue could not see, her senior brother gently turned his head to the side. “Although she didn’t openly oppose me, she was always throwing tantrums at me in private, and we would argue and fight all the time, which annoyed me a lot. Several times we almost broke up.”

"She doesn't want you to leave here, right?" Yan Wuyue finally grasped a clue.

The senior student nodded heavily. "It wasn't until much later that I understood her intentions. However, at that time, every time we met, we would have many inexplicable reasons to argue. I was really annoyed, and I felt that her personality had suddenly become very difficult to deal with... But as soon as I mentioned breaking up, she would immediately burst into tears, crying so sadly..."

"After all, I was the one who pursued her first, and there weren't any major issues of principle, so I couldn't just break up with her like that. So I tried my best to comfort her, hoping she would understand my ambitions—only in Shanghai could I truly unleash my talents. I don't want to live with her in this small city!" The senior's breathing became heavy. "Anyway, it's only been two years apart, it'll pass quickly..."

"But you still betrayed her!" Yan Wuyue screamed sharply, as if a steel needle had pierced her senior brother's heart. "Yan Qi's premonition was not without reason."

“That’s not betrayal!” the senior brother retorted weakly, his voice barely audible to Yan Wuyue, “If you were in that situation, I believe you would feel the same way!”

Volume 3 Hell Records: My Eyes Are Only on You (Part 14)

Something in his tone caught Yan Wuyue's attention. She deliberately suppressed her breathing and slowly took a deep breath.

"If it were me... what do you mean?"

Ever since her senior's men arrived in Shanghai, Yan Qi's soul seemed to have gone with them. She called several times a day, pressing him relentlessly, as if she wanted to monitor his every move—of course, in Yan Qi's eyes, this wasn't surveillance at all, just a girlfriend's concern for her boyfriend far away. But for her senior...

“I’m really troubled.” He lowered his voice, as if there was an unresolved sorrow in his heart. “Her love is too deep and too heavy, it’s suffocating me… I can’t bear it.”

After much deliberation, on the night of their first official dating anniversary, Yan Qi frantically dialed her senior's number, only to receive his heartless words: "You are a good girl, the fault lies with me. Perhaps, we really are not suitable to be together."

For the next few hours, all he heard on the other end of the phone was the girl's uncontrollable sobs. He could only listen silently, his heart filled with a fierce struggle between guilt and pity for her and his reason.

"No, that's not right!" Yan Wuyue exclaimed before he could finish. That night... wasn't it the day before Yan Qi called her at midnight? She remembered how Yan Qi described it: she waited all night for her senior's call, only to find him in bed with another girl the next day... Thinking about it carefully, she couldn't help but be filled with suspicion. Her senior was supposed to be a simple and honest young man; they knew his character well enough. How could he be so promiscuous, sleeping with other girls so casually...?

"That's what she told you?" the senior brother asked, his astonishment no less than Yan Wuyue's. He then gave a wry smile, "Never mind, it doesn't matter anyway..."

"But if Yan Qi says this about you... isn't that a bit irresponsible?" Yan Wuyue felt guilty. After all, the one who believed Yan Qi's words the most and secretly cursed her senior brother the most was none other than herself.

"Let her be. Anyway, I'm the one who wronged her first, so I deserve to be talked about like this..." The senior sighed. "In her heart, if I weren't a heartless and unfaithful man, why would I have abandoned her?"

That seems to make sense... Yan Wuyue nodded repeatedly. The reason for breaking up, "incompatibility," was too weak and unconvincing. If it were "finding a new love," public opinion would overwhelmingly favor the "old flame." Perhaps that was the kind of comfort Yan Qi wanted.

However, Yan Wuyue quickly thought of something else, "But what about the girl who asked for lodging?" If everything her senior brother said was true, was that girl really his new girlfriend? He was quite decisive!

"Bai Ling and I (finally remembered, her name is Bai Ling!)... are just good friends..." The usually fluent senior suddenly became hesitant, "After breaking up with Yan Qi, I was very depressed, and it was Bai Ling who comforted me..."

Yan Wuyue's tone turned cold. "So, the story about you and Bai something wasn't just something Yan Qi made up? Most people don't get a new girlfriend that quickly. Before that night," she threw out her conjecture viciously, "you were already dating behind Yan Qi's back, weren't you?!"

Outside her sight, large beads of sweat appeared on her senior's forehead, dripping uncontrollably. "Uh... we're just good friends... we haven't even kissed or anything, and as for sleeping together, that's just a pipe dream..."

"Really?" Yan Wuyue, who had almost been fooled by her senior brother again, couldn't believe it.

"Absolutely true!" The senior brother wiped his sweat and calmed down. "Although I made a mistake, I wouldn't do something so shameless..."

Having been forced into this situation, it seems her senior brother was right. First, Yan Qi lied, and then her senior brother tried to cover up his actions. Yan Wuyue felt like she was experiencing a living, breathing version of the Luo Sheng Men, where everyone lied to beautify their own position, and the truth only existed in those fragmented lies. She couldn't help but sigh, "Not to criticize you," she asked, "but what exactly is it about Bai that's better than Yan Qi... Putting appearances aside, Yan Qi is deeply devoted to you. Does that Bai guy love you more than Yan Qi?"

“No,” a knowing smile played on his lips, “quite the opposite. Bai Ling is definitely not like Yan Qi treated me… She’s like a sponge, tolerant and forgiving, allowing me to breathe freely… Yes, that’s how she always was…”

"Originally?" Yan Wuyue repeated meaninglessly.

“You might be happy to hear this,” the senior student frowned, “but I broke up with her too.”

"Huh?" What surprised Yan Wuyue wasn't the content of the sentence, but her senior brother's tone. What was so surprising? That girl named Bai Ling packed her things and left; it was obvious she lost to Yan Qi and was dumped by her senior brother! Her senior brother thought no one knew, so he said it so solemnly. So she responded indifferently, and her senior brother sounded somewhat disappointed by her reaction.

"Don't you find it strange?" he asked. "He dumped two girlfriends in one month. Don't you condemn such a playboy?"

"Three times, right?" Yan Wuyue retorted coldly. "So, you and Zhan Xiaohui are completely together now?"

Yan Qi twice, Bai Ling once—it's truly shocking that my senior could so decisively toy with women. At first, I felt a sliver of sympathy for him after hearing his story, but now it's completely replaced by loathing. If he kept saying "Yan Qi suffocated me," he shouldn't have gotten back together with her, let alone pretended to be all sweet-talking by giving her a ruby necklace. Losing a relationship is sad, but the blow of gaining it and then losing it again is like adding insult to injury, like rubbing salt into a wound!

After a long silence from his senior brother, he assumed the senior brother knew he was in the wrong and dared not utter a word. Just then, his weak defense came through:

"If possible, I also want to stay with Bai Ling forever. But she changed. She started monitoring my every move, afraid that I would cheat on her. Not only that, she even scrutinized my QQ chat history, interrogating me relentlessly at the slightest suspicious detail. That possessiveness was unbearable... Oh right, it all started after we got back to Shanghai from here..."

"Is Bai Ling coming back to Shanghai with you from here?" she asked quite naturally.

The senior brother hummed in agreement.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Yan Wuyue raised her voice slightly so that her voice could be heard more clearly on the other end of the phone.

"Wasn't the person who went to Shanghai with you Yan Qi?"

Volume 3 Hell Records: My Eyes Are Only on You (Part 15)

That day, Yan Qi took her senior's arm and coquettishly expressed her desire to go to Shanghai together. Abandoning her studies, the most important thing for a student, just to keep a close eye on her boyfriend and not give him any chance to cheat, she was willing to accompany him to a distant place. Yan Wuyue had no right to interfere with her decision, and while surprised, she gave her full respect.

Yan Qi had described life in Shanghai before. Being unfamiliar with the place, even though she wanted to go shopping in that bustling Eastern metropolis, she had to abandon the idea because of her senior's meager budget. Her senior left their rented room around 7 a.m. every day to take the subway to work, not returning until evening. During this long, uneventful day, Yan Qi had only a few things to do: cook, do laundry, clean the room, and watch TV. Even though so much time was wasted on these trivial matters, she still felt happy. For Yan Qi, nothing was more gratifying than her senior eating a hot meal. The company's fast food was terrible; only her homemade bento boxes were the best source of energy for her senior. Whenever she saw her senior happily eating a hearty dinner, growing stronger day by day under her supervision, all her grievances vanished—facing her senior's smile, she truly felt incredibly happy.

Is the true meaning of love really about devoting oneself entirely to the one you love? Yan Wuyue didn't understand; she was simply genuinely confused. Yan Qi had no regrets about her life in Shanghai; on the contrary, she was completely absorbed in it. However, what exactly did her senior brother mean by that?

"Yan Qi? Shanghai?" He seemed unable to calm himself down and appeared somewhat anxious. "No, I don't understand what you're talking about."

“Yan Qi and I broke up a long time ago!” he continued.

"The 'early' you're referring to is the time a month ago, right?" Yan Wuyue asked.

The senior brother nodded silently, then remembered that Yan Wuyue couldn't see, and immediately said "Mm". "We broke up peacefully," he emphasized, "Yan Qi showed unexpected strength."

Peace, my foot! Yan Qi almost caused chaos, but then again, no matter how much she made a scene, she couldn't stir up a ripple in the heart of a man who had already changed his mind, could she?

"After that, you stayed with Bai Ling?" Yan Wuyue continued to ask.

“That’s right,” the senior affirmed. “After returning to Shanghai, Bai Ling said she wanted to quit her job and stay home to take care of me. Although I didn’t want her to give up her job for me, she said she loved being a housewife—so I agreed.”

Yan Wuyue felt a sudden darkness engulf her vision; something was wrong. A strange shadow seemed to be appearing beneath the water's surface, and behind the mist lay an even deeper fog, preventing her from seeing the truth... She steadied herself, calming her dizzy head, and managed to squeeze out a sound from her dry throat:

"So, the person you shared a room with in Shanghai, who cooked and did your laundry, was Bai Ling, not Yan Qi?"

"How many times do I have to tell you before you understand!" the senior student said impatiently. "Yan Qi and I had already broken up by then! Why would I take her to Shanghai?"

Chaos! Chaos! Yan Wuyue's mind was a jumbled mess, the faces of Yan Qi, Bai Ling, and her senior brother flashing before her eyes, overlapping, magnifying, freezing, and then rotating. When was the last time she saw Bai Ling? The day she bumped into the astrologer, she clearly saw her senior brother and Bai Ling together, and even made a couple of sarcastic remarks to them—then, the two of them, her senior brother and Yan Qi, not Bai Ling, were passionately kissing downstairs. Yes, that was the night Xiao Yu came to report to them. After that, Bai Ling never appeared again, until one day, while they were in class, Bai Ling secretly took her luggage. It was from that passionate kiss that night that her senior brother and Yan Qi reconciled, leaving behind alluring silhouettes throughout the campus—and later, they both went to Shanghai.

But now her senior brother was vehemently denying it, insisting that Bai Ling was the one he was living with all along? Impossible! Yan Wuyue thought about it carefully. Not only herself, but even Xiao Yu and the others could testify that Yan Qi and her senior brother had indeed reconciled. She really didn't understand why her senior brother would tell such an easily seen-through lie. So she slowly followed his tone and answered:

"So, the stunning ruby necklace from Chow Tai Fook was also a gift from you to Bai Ling?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than his senior brother exclaimed loudly on the other end, his surprise barely concealed, "How did you know?"

"The circular pendant features a 'pigeon's blood' ruby from Myanmar in the center, surrounded by a ring of small diamonds, priced at 5700 yuan." Yan Wuyue recalled from her memory, "Is that right?"

The senior student looked even more surprised, his voice trembling, "You...how did you know? I clearly..."

"Still being stubborn!" Yan Wuyue sighed inwardly, thinking that her senior brother was truly stubborn until he was faced with a fatal mistake. "Listen," she said, gradually losing interest in her senior brother's lengthy conversation, "You don't need to pretend with me anymore. Even if you got back together with Yan Qi and then abandoned her, there's no need to hide that fact." She furrowed her brows, her tone becoming even sharper. "I've personally witnessed the necklace you claimed to have given to 'Bai Ling' on Yan Qi's neck more than once, which is why I can describe it so clearly. And before going to Shanghai, you were holding hands with Yan Qi." Her senior brother tried to argue, but Yan Wuyue cut him off without hesitation. "It's not just me; we have many eyes here to prove it—it was Yan Qi, not Bai Ling, who accompanied you to Shanghai; and you personally hung that necklace around Yan Qi's neck, not Bai Ling's—even now, you still insist that the person who's been by your side for the past month wasn't Yan Qi but Bai Ling?"

The senior student was silent for a moment, then asked her cautiously in an unusually trembling voice, even though the answer to the question was ridiculously simple:

"Are you saying that in all of your eyes, I've been with Yan Qi for the past month?"

Without even thinking, Yan Wuyue answered decisively, "Of course!" Just as she spoke, a faint, continuous murmur came from the phone, "No wonder she quit her job, no wonder her personality changed drastically after returning to Shanghai, no wonder she restrained and interrogated me, just like Yan Qi..." Similar words kept bursting from her senior brother's lips, but unfortunately Yan Wuyue couldn't hear them at all. She only heard her senior brother let out a short scream before the call was silently cut off.

Volume 3 Hell Records: My Eyes Are Only on You (Sixteen)

"Senior Brother! Senior Brother!" Yan Wuyue called out repeatedly, the ominous shadow in her heart spreading larger and thicker. Yan Qi had always been by his side, so why was he so astonished, so flustered like a thief, unable to even speak coherently? Could it be…? A strange thought involuntarily surfaced in her mind. Judging from his earnest tone, perhaps what he said earlier wasn't a lie; for a long time, he truly believed that the girl he was dating was Bai Ling, not Yan Qi…

"How could that be?" Yan Wuyue shook her head vigorously, dismissing her own imagination. Her senior brother wasn't blind; surely he could recognize his girlfriend's face? Even with heavy makeup, the difference between Bai Ling's round face and Yan Qi's oval face was still immediately obvious…

Regardless of what her senior brother thought, the fact remained that he had dumped Yan Qi and gotten together with Zhan Xiaohui… Sigh, Yan Qi should let go as soon as possible. Looking at the overcast sky, Yan Wuyue sighed listlessly. Having such a fickle boyfriend, even if things seemed fine now, was bound to change his mind later; it was better to break up sooner rather than later. While it's easy for bystanders to offer their reasoning, the person involved—especially a pure and naive girl like Yan Qi—might get stuck in a rut and refuse to let go. Yan Wuyue's head began to throb again; she foresaw that she would be giving a long lecture and facing Yan Qi's reaction, which would be like throwing a stone into the sea.

All the way, she meticulously crafted her speech, striving for objectivity and fairness, subtle philosophical insights within its gentle tone, and encouragement within its comforting words… As she approached Yan Qi's dormitory, she swallowed hard, patted her pounding heart, and shouted to herself, "It's okay, keep going!" At the same time, she clenched her fist tightly. She extended two fingers and gently knocked on the door.

The door slid open silently.

Yan Wuyue curiously peeked inside, but there was no one there. Should she go in and wait for her? But what if Yan Qi wasn't there? Her heart was pounding. Everything else was fine, but she was terrified that if she rashly sat down inside, someone would mistake her for a thief, and that would be terrible. Just then, someone called out to her from afar:

"No moon!"

She turned around at the sound, her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets in fright. A girl walked down the corridor, her figure, voice, and gait resembling Yan Qi's. She was carrying a basin of water, and the towel floating in it was also strikingly similar to the one Yan Qi used—but her face… was terrifying. It was completely covered in a sticky, fiery red mud-like substance, making it impossible to discern her features. Through a few cracks in the mud, she could glimpse her gleaming eyes…

"Yan...Qi..." Yan Wuyue didn't dare to pretend to be her and asked cautiously.

Because she was holding the basin with both hands, she couldn't exert much force, so the girl used her body to push the door open wider. "What do you need? Come in and sit for a while."

Yan Wuyue responded and followed her into the house. The first thing she did was ask her:

"What happened to your face? Do you have a fever or..." Actually, what she really wanted to say was "you were boiled," but she had to swallow the rest of her words.

"I'm putting on a face mask!" Yan Qi's mouth was rarely open, so it wasn't surprising that her voice sounded muffled. "Hasn't Wu Yue seen this?"

"A face...mask...?!" Yan Wuyue gasped in surprise. So this was the legendary, unparalleled face mask that could transform ugly ducklings into beauties and keep beautiful women forever young? "One sheet, two sheets...my skin is as smooth and white as a peeled egg...my skin can play the piano!" Oh, what an enticing advertisement! Although she seemed carefree on the surface, she was still a woman after all! With boundless admiration and reverence, Yan Wuyue's eyes shone with a dreamlike light:

"Is this what peeling an egg is like?" She leaned closer, almost pressing her face against Yan Qi's, trembling. "Can you allow me to..."

"...Shall I touch it?"

Yan Qi smiled silently, because one shouldn't make facial expressions while wearing a face mask, otherwise wrinkles are more likely to form. So she could only signal with her eyes. Having received permission, Yan Wuyue tremblingly extended a finger, moving it millimeter by millimeter towards the unhatched egg.

Poke... What a disgusting feeling, like half-dry, half-wet clay, and so soft... The thought that such a strange thing could create the myth of eternal youth for beautiful women is simply unbelievable. At this moment, Yan Qi added:

"This is a volcanic mud mask, so it's a type of mud mask... Hasn't Wuyue made one before?"

She'd never even tried a mud mask, let alone a simple cotton sheet mask. Yan Wuyue always felt that makeup and dressing up were things only mature women did, things irrelevant to her. Or, conversely, no matter how well she dressed, who was she showing it to? She firmly believed that loving someone shouldn't be based solely on appearance. A Cinderella in rags wouldn't be liked, but once she changed into beautiful clothes and dressed up as Snow White, she became a heartthrob, with even princes falling at her feet. Did those boys really like her, or her gorgeous clothes? Shallow men who only chase after appearances!

However, isn't it perfectly understandable for a girl to dress up for someone she likes? Take Yan Qi, for example. Before she was in a relationship, she was similar to Yan Wuyue, described from head to toe as "simple." Now, she knows about skincare and beauty, and takes care of her skin. But even if she dresses up stunningly, an irretrievable relationship is destined to end…

Yan Wuyue chewed on something with a faint bitter taste. At that moment, Yan Qi inadvertently called out:

"Oh dear, I forgot to check the time. Wuyue, can you tell me what time it is?"

Yan Wuyue casually mentioned the time, and Yan Qi closed her eyes, muttering "It's almost time," before reaching for the basin and placing it on the chair. The water in the basin was slightly steaming, and Yan Qi reached in to test it, making no sound.

"Is it cold now?" Yan Wuyue asked. It wouldn't be surprising if the water temperature dropped since they started chatting. Ignoring Yan Qi's repeated "No need," she insisted on going to find the thermos. In the blink of an eye, Yan Qi had her head completely submerged in the basin, fiery red mud trickling down her face like blood, staining the basin a deep crimson.

"Why are you in such a hurry!" Yan Wuyue nagged enthusiastically. "I haven't even heated water for you yet..." Her words suddenly stopped, and her eyes widened as if in tacit agreement, becoming bigger than copper bells.

In her eyes, "Yan Qi" slowly raised her head from the basin of blood-red water, her wet hair clinging to her cheeks, making her look so wild. "Yan Qi's" eyes were still shining brightly as she arrogantly glared at Yan Wuyue.

With Zhan Xiaohui's face.

Volume 3 Hell Records: My Eyes Are Only on You (Seventeen)

Yan Wuyue was so frightened she almost screamed, but thankfully she bit her lip in time. "Who...are you?" After a long pause, she managed to squeeze out the words. The latter smiled sweetly, her voice warm and familiar, and replied: