The Lingering Keepsake

Upon returning home, the pair, resembling two salted fish utterly devoid of energy, collapsed onto the plush sofa the moment they stepped inside, utterly disinclined to move.

‘So tired…’ Liuxia murmured, lying on her back, her eyes vacant as she stared at the ceiling, feeling as though she were on the verge of burning out.

‘Indeed,’ Li Chunsheng weakly agreed, nodding his head in affirmation. ‘It was only half a day, yet it felt as if several days had passed.’

Time flowed slowly in their shared silence. For a long while, the apartment was filled only with the gentle patter of rain outside the window and the steady rhythm of their breathing.

Just as this tranquility seemed destined to last forever, Liuxia abruptly broke the silence.

‘Speaking of which…’ the girl, still staring at the ceiling, spoke with a flatness that betrayed no hint of emotion. ‘Chunsheng, when did your relationship with Saint… Mu Shengling… become so close?’

Li Chunsheng’s heart gave a sudden lurch. ‘What was bound to come, has finally arrived,’ he thought. His senior, she had finally asked that question.

‘No… there’s no such thing!’ he feigned composure as he retorted. ‘Senior, how did you come to think that Mu Shengling and I are close?’ As her junior, the last thing he wanted was for his senior to misunderstand any ambiguous relationship between him and that woman.

‘Hmph—?’ Liuxia let out a long, drawn-out sound, ambiguous and noncommittal.

‘Is that so? But today, Mu Shengling called you… quite intimately, didn’t she?’

‘She kept calling out ‘Chunsheng~ Chunsheng~’ without stop~’ As she spoke, the girl perfectly mimicked Mu Shengling’s somewhat ‘green tea’ tone.

This abrupt shift from a weak, flat tone to an intimately affectionate, coquettish voice sent a shiver down Li Chunsheng’s spine.

‘How would I know?! That woman clung to me of her own accord!’ He, too, found it utterly baffling!

However, Li Chunsheng dared not voice these thoughts. He surmised that his senior, as Mu Shengling’s ex-boyfriend, would likely explode on the spot if he said such a thing. What implication would his words carry if he did?

‘Oh~ so Mu Shengling is that aloof with you, yet she’s completely different with me~’

Just imagining it made him feel like punching someone. Such words would undoubtedly be like a handful of salt, cruelly rubbed into the already troubled wounds of his senior’s heart.

Thus, Li Chunsheng could only reiterate with utmost sincerity, ‘Seriously, Senior! I truly, truly have nothing to do with that woman!’ He did his best to make his tone sound utterly genuine, hoping to convince Liuxia.

‘Nothing to do… with her?’ Liuxia slowly mumbled these words. Then, in a voice barely audible, she muttered, ‘Actually… even if there is something, it’s fine, you know?’

‘Eh?’ Li Chunsheng was taken aback by her words.

‘What… what did she mean by that?’

Was his senior implying that she had completely let go of that woman? Or was this merely a linguistic trap, designed to test him?

Li Chunsheng dared not be careless. He could only reiterate solemnly, ‘Senior, besides the most basic employer-employee relationship, there truly is no other connection between me and Mu Shengling!’

Hearing this, Liuxia fell into a prolonged silence.

‘How strange,’ she mused, ‘why did I even bring this up? Chunsheng must be very troubled right now, mustn’t he?’ She had already resolved to forget about that pendant and to feign ignorance of any potential intimacy between him and Shengling.

Yet, recalling the scene she had witnessed today, of Shengling treating him in that manner, Liuxia’s heart still pulsed with pangs of loss and bitterness.

‘I… I seem to have become a little strange,’ she mused. ‘Ever since my junior gently patted my head, I’ve felt quite peculiar. Even now, my body feels faintly warm, and my head often feels light. It seems… even my heart has become much more fragile than before, prone to suspicion, sensitivity, and constant overthinking.’

‘Just end the topic here… just end it…’ she told herself.

Yet, despite these rational thoughts, Liuxia couldn’t resist asking the question that had lingered in her heart for so long.

‘Then… Chunsheng… why do you possess Mu Shengling’s keepsake?’

The girl turned her head, gazing deeply into Li Chunsheng’s eyes. Within those clear red pupils, it seemed as though all lies could be pierced. She could almost anticipate the panicked expression he would display when his lie was exposed before her.

However, there was none. Li Chunsheng’s face revealed only unadulterated confusion.

‘Huh? I have Mu Shengling’s keepsake? What keepsake?’ His utterly bewildered expression seemed entirely unfeigned.

‘??’ Now it was Liuxia’s turn to be bewildered. This reaction completely defied her expectations. Based on her understanding of Li Chunsheng, his previous reaction was undoubtedly genuine.

‘Chunsheng… he genuinely doesn’t know what ‘Mu Shengling’s keepsake’ is?’

But… but she had personally found that identical pendant beneath his bed…

‘You… you wait for me!’

Liuxia propped up her somewhat weary body, rising from the sofa. She quickly hurried towards Li Chunsheng’s bedroom. Though Li Chunsheng was bewildered, he obediently remained seated, not moving a muscle.

A moment later, Liuxia returned. In her palm, a delicate, silver, pagoda-shaped pendant rested quietly.

Upon seeing it, Li Chunsheng immediately exclaimed in surprise, ‘Oh, Senior, how did you find this?’

‘I thought I had lost it ages ago.’

‘Hmm? So, Chunsheng, you recognize this item?’ Liuxia’s expression was tinged with doubt.

‘Of course I do. Speaking of which, this thing was sent to the orphanage with me.’

‘Ah?’ Liuxia trembled at his words.

‘Are you saying this item was already on you… before you entered the orphanage, Chunsheng?’

Li Chunsheng scratched his head, recalling, ‘Yes. The old dean only gave this to me before she passed away. She said that when she found me back then, this item was with my swaddling clothes, and she had kept it safe for me all these years.’

However, after I received it, I didn’t wear it often, and at some point, I couldn’t find it anymore. I never expected to see it again today.

Li Chunsheng had no personal memory of this. His transmigration consciousness had awakened within the orphanage, leaving everything prior a complete blank.

‘Speaking of which, the reason my surname is Li is also because a small character ‘李’ [Lǐ] is engraved on the bottom edge of that pendant…’

Hearing this, Liuxia quickly brought the pendant closer to her eyes for a careful look. Indeed, on the bottom edge of the silver pendant, a small character ‘李’ [Lǐ] was clearly engraved in an ancient script.

‘It… it really is!’

‘Hiss…’ The girl sharply inhaled. A conjecture so bold that even she found it preposterous instantly exploded in her mind.

‘Li… Li… Mu Zi… Son of Mu… Could it be that Chunsheng and Shengling are actually… siblings?!’

‘This… this is truly mind-blowing!’

In that instant, countless plots from melodramatic eight o’clock TV dramas she had once watched surged uncontrollably into Liuxia’s mind: family feuds, lost heirs, long-separated siblings reuniting…

‘No wonder… no wonder Chunsheng’s looks are so striking… He truly doesn’t resemble an ordinary commoner.’

‘Then… why is Shengling so good to Li Chunsheng? Could it be that she had already recognized their sibling relationship long ago?’

However, Chunsheng and Shengling don’t really look alike, do they? And Chunsheng’s innate talent is quite poor, too…

Suddenly, Liuxia’s mind was a tangled mess of unanswered questions.

But if Chunsheng truly were Mu Shengling’s brother, then why was he cast out into the common world, abandoned in an orphanage? She had heard that the upper families of the Holy Tower Church were quite particular about their bloodline传承.

For the first time, Liuxia realized how little she truly understood about this world, especially the upper echelons of the Church’s Holy Temple. She simply couldn’t deduce any credible conclusions from these intricate clues.

Yet, one thing was certain: the depths of this mystery were profound. So profound, in fact, that Chunsheng, with his current abilities, couldn’t possibly grasp it.

‘Anyway, thank you, Senior, for helping me find it!’ Li Chunsheng smiled as he leaned closer, reaching out to retrieve the pendant, which held considerable meaning for him.

However, Liuxia deftly evaded his grasp.

The girl looked up, speaking with an undeniable tone, ‘Chunsheng, I rather like this. Since you always misplace it, why don’t… I, your senior, keep it safe for you?’

Without waiting for Li Chunsheng’s reaction, Liuxia smoothly fastened the pendant around her fair neck. Then, she performed an action that left Li Chunsheng dumbfounded: she gently tucked the silver pendant, still warm from her body, into the deep, soft valley formed between her two snowy peaks.

‘Uh…’ At this, Li Chunsheng no longer dared to reach for it.