Chapter Ch80 - [Extra: The Pianist] First bow to the heaven and earth.
Translator: reiyu; Editor: GlitteryPanda, fraise
The two of them waited outside the prop room. Gu Kaifeng stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the window, his expression thoughtful. Light shone in through the window, casting half his face in shadows, giving him a suave air different from his usual demeanor.
A few steps away, Lin Feiran looked at him, then scooched over and leaned against him. “What are you thinking about?”
Gu Kaifeng pulled Lin Feiran close to him and put his nose to Lin Feiran’s snow-white shirt collar. He breathed deeply, then whispered, “I just remembered that day at your house, when I knelt in front of the piano and cut your nails.”
It suddenly struck Lin Feiran that Ji Xuan had also gone down on one knee to kiss He Jingyun’s fingers just now. The two scenes were indeed somewhat similar.
“In previous lifetimes,” Lin Feiran suddenly looked down and said, “were we this pitiful, too?”
“We couldn’t have been.” Gu Kaifeng pinched Lin Feiran’s cheeks and said half-jokingly, “If I were locked, I’d find a way to see you if I had to bite my way out.” Seeing that Lin Feiran was tickled, Gu Kaifeng opened his mouth and gnashed his teeth together fiercely, to show that his jaws were very strong. He was still as Gu Kai-crazy as ever!
“When I remember that we couldn’t be together in our previous lifetimes, I feel that I have to treasure you even more now. I have to stick to you as much as I can.” Even though it was hot out, Lin Feiran wrapped his arms around Gu Kaifeng’s upper body like a koala, using his Little Sticky Cake Technique to its fullest extent to stick to Gu Kaifeng with his whole body. He whispered, “Don’t move. Let me hug you a while.”
“Can’t. I have to move,” Gu Kaifeng said with a smile. He pressed his long legs forward against Lin Feiran’s, taking hold of Lin Feiran’s waist with one hand and catching Lin Feiran’s chin with the other, pulling him into a kiss. Overcome by passion, he bit Lin Feiran’s lips lightly and the two of them were in such close contact they seemed to melt together.
Right then, Lin Feiran heard a light cough from behind him. He turned and saw that Ji Xuan and He Jingyun were standing behind them, hand in hand, as if they had something to say.
They had been apart for decades and yet were not as sticky as these two who saw each other every day.
Lin Feiran’s face went red and he deeply felt that he should do some self-reflection!
He Jingyun’s smile was as warm as a passing spring wind. After their resentments had been dispelled, these two ghosts turned out to be quite good-looking, especially He Jingyun. Although his features were not as fine as Ji Xuan’s, they were well-proportioned and he seemed to get more good-looking the more one looked. Moreover, he carried himself well and drew the eye, seeming to get more handsome and elegant the more one looked at him, leaving them even more unable to look away.
“We came to say thank you.” He Jingyun started speaking, his gentle voice inexplicably making one think of warm water flowing over a porcelain container. “Although I was not acquainted with the two of you, you did your utmost and travelled so far to solve our predicament… we will always remember your kindness. If, in the future, you need our help with anything…” He Jingyun awkwardly paused. Even he thought it funny.
After all, they had both become ghosts. They wouldn’t be able to repay Lin Feiran and Gu Kaifeng anything.
“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Seeing He Jingyun’s awkwardness, Lin Feiran waved a hand in dismissal and cut He Jingyun off. “As long as the two of you have made up, that’s enough. Everything else doesn’t matter.”
He Jingyun’s eyes were bright and shining. With the innocence and ardor of someone his age, he smiled with gratitude. He and Ji Xuan bowed deeply to the two of them. “Thank you very much.”
Lin Feiran was suddenly embarrassed by their thanks and his face went red. Gu Kaifeng, seeing this, thought it amusing and changed the subject. “What are the two of you going to do? Go to reincarnate, or stay like this?”
“We’re not going to reincarnate.” Ji Xuan tightened his fingers which were interlocked with He Jingyun’s. “I want to make up for all the years we’ve missed together.”
They wanted to be a gallivanting ghost couple in the human world!
Gu Kaifeng nodded; this was within his expectations. Lin Feiran started imagining things, and his ideas flowed like an unstoppable river: “You two can tour the world! Take the train, or a car, or a plane, or a boat, stay at any hotel you like and visit any tourist spot you like. You can even see movies for free, or go to stadiums and attend concerts for free…”
Ghosts did not tire, so they could play to their hearts’ content. They could drift anywhere, and could even float in the sky… As Lin Feiran continued to imagine, he even began to envy the ghosts a little!
The only drawback was that they could not consume food. Especially for Chinese ghosts, not being able to taste Chinese delicacies was truly cruel. These two things cancelled each other out, and being a ghost now did not seem so good after all.
Gu Kaifeng asked, “Is there anything you want? To eat, to play with, or to use. We can burn some for you.”
He Jingyun hurried to refuse politely. “There’s nothing. We’ve troubled you two enough already…”
“Ooh.” Lin Feiran suddenly propped his chin on his hands and looked Ji Xuan’s wedding suit up and down. Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration and suggested, “Right! Do you want to have a wedding?”
Ji Xuan was the only one wearing a wedding suit, so it looked as if his partner did not want to get married. This was slightly awkward…
At this suggestion, both the ghosts’ eyes lit up. Without waiting for a reply, Lin Feiran happily clapped his hands and said, “Then it’s set.”
Lin Feiran did some online shopping and bought some wedding things, alongside a Chinese-style groom’s suit for He Jingyun. The style of the wedding suit was selected by He Jingyun and Ji Xuan. Several days later, the items arrived one by one by mail. Lin Feiran opened the packages and kept all the items in the dorm room. On Saturday evening, the moment school let out, Lin Feiran and Gu Kaifeng returned to the dorm room and decorated their bedroom with the wedding decorations. They put up the double-happiness symbol on the wall, placed two red candles on their desk and changed the sheets on the top bunk to a celebration red. Lin Feiran even scattered jujubes, peanuts, longans and lotus seeds on the bed.
Gu Kaifeng was amused. “Baby, what are you scattering these for?”
Lin Feiran scratched his nose. “It’s for the atmosphere…”
Although they wouldn’t be able to give birth to a ghost baby, this wedding ceremony certainly looked like it had that end in mind!
“It’s quite good.” Gu Kaifeng stared unblinkingly at Lin Feiran who was kneeling on the red bedsheets scattering lotus seeds and whispered, “RanRan, I think the red makes you look especially pale.”
Lin Feiran was a little proud. “My skin is naturally pale.” After a pause, he bragged proudly, “Like milk.”
Gu Kaifeng swallowed, his voice hoarse. “Tonight when I get home I’ll change the sheets in my bedroom to red ones.”
Lin Feiran asked, although he already knew the answer, “What for?”
Gu Kaifeng licked his lips. “Are you as pale as milk everywhere? Your husband will need to check properly.”
“I didn’t say everywhere…” Lin Feiran resisted at first, but then he imagined the scene and found it thrilling, so he could not hold himself back. “Forget it. I said it.”
He wanted to be checked!
The room had been decorated. Lin Feiran brought out the incense burner and some sticks of incense, and offered He Jingyun’s wedding suit to him according to the method described by his grandfather.
Gu Kaifeng was idle for this part. He sat facing the back of his chair, his arms crossed on the back of the chair. His chin rested on his arms and he watched Lin Feiran attentively. He said, “Little charlatan.”
Lin Feiran stuck out his tongue at him and said severely, “Don’t disturb me. I’m concentrating here.”
Gu Kaifeng rode the back of the chair over to Lin Feiran. “Concentrating on what?”
Lin Feiran answered honestly, “Concentrating on He Jingyun. I need to give these things to him.”
Gu Kaifeng tsked in dissatisfaction. “What are you thinking about? You’re not to think of anyone else. Think of me.”
Lin Feiran’s expression was complicated.
Gu Kaifeng ruffled his hair. “I was kidding. Concentrate then.”
Lin Feiran caught hold of Gu Kaifeng’s hand and pinched it hard. His voice was soft. “I think of you all the time. Aside from when I’m sleeping and when I’m doing homework, I’m thinking of you.”
“Me too. Even when doing homework.” Gu Kaifeng said smoothly. “On a smooth surface there is a little sticky cake A and little sticky cake B. If the frictional coefficient between little sticky cake A and the surface is μ…”
He was very taken with eating his little sticky cake.
Lin Feiran smiled, showing a row of small white teeth.
“Even when sleeping, I think about you.” Gu Kaifeng bent down and kissed his forehead. “When I dream of you…”
Seeing he had not finished, Lin Feiran anticipated what he was going to say. “Wet dreams, are they?”
Gu Kaifeng: “How did you know?”
Lin Feiran whispered, “Me too.”
Gu Kaifeng’s blood ran hot. He got up and pulled Lin Feiran into his arms, touching him thoroughly all over before letting go.
When the incense finished burning, He Jingyun’s wedding suit finally reached him.
“You can use our dorm room for your wedding. It’s been decorated and no one sleeps on the top bunk, so you can sleep there tonight,” Lin Feiran said. “We’re on vacation tomorrow so we’ll be going home tonight. There are no ghosts staying long-term here, so you can, ah, freely…”
Do whatever you want to do, you won’t be disturbed by other ghosts!
Ji Xuan understood and leisurely made a noise of assent.
He Jingyun heard Ji Xuan’s magnetic voice and his face went red to his ears.
They had not thought in a million years that they could still papapa even after death!
“We’ll only borrow it for one night.” Ji Xuan’s voice was gentle. “After we’re married, I’ll take Madam Ji to tour the world.”
He Jingyun found a ghost-free spot to change into his wedding suit. He and Ji Xuan looked at each other and his gentle appearance was suffused with warmth.
Ji Xuan held out a hand to He Jingyun, who also held out his hands. Their transparent hands held each other tightly in the air.
As if they would never let go again.
Shoulder to shoulder, they passed through the wall into the room Lin Feiran had decorated for them. Lin Feiran locked the dorm room door and faintly heard Ji Xuan’s voice, long and low, from inside.
“First bow to the heaven and earth.”