Chapter 772 Constant Companionship
âItâs not about killing you or not, I just felt like you were very dangerous and doing anything to you would cause more trouble! Also, when have I ever saved you?â Ye Lang asked, confused.
âHave you forgotten⊠I was underwater andâŠâ Zhao Yarou blushed again. Thank goodness they were alone or other people wouldâve been in shock at her response.
Zhao Yarouâs odd moods were the times she did the most terrifying things.
âOh, youâre talking about that? That was just an impulse I had, I couldnât bear to watch you die so I saved the witch that you are,â said Ye Lang. He did not sound regretfulâ he did not regret it.
âLi Yueâs the witch, Iâm not a witch!â
âYouâre right, youâre not a witch. Youâre a monster,â said Ye Lang.
ââŠâ
Zhao Yarou was silent. She just walked with him as they walked around the huge prison to look for a place to stay. This was just the beginning, they had to live together for ten years.
She did not want to talk much now, they had too much time to do that.
âZhao Yarou, why are you always following me around?â
As they walked in silence for a while, Ye Lang finally asked.
âWho else would I follow? Weâre the only ones here. Youâre the only person I can rely on, my brother-in-lawâŠâ Zhao Yarou held his hand breezily, like a little girl that needed protection.
Zhao Yarou could be mesmerizingly adorable sometimes if one did not think about her psychotic side. But Ye Lang was the only person to see this.
At this moment, he did not notice this. He just shook his head. âIâm not talking about now. Iâm talking about before this. When I was locked up, you didnât have to come. Why did you follow me?â
ââŠâ Zhao Yarou didnât expect him to ask or notice.
âI donât know. Maybe thereâs something wrong with my brain. I abandoned my good life as an empress to be locked up with you in jail.â Zhao Yarou finally answered after a very, very long time. Ye Lang hadnât spoken as he waited for her to answer his question.
After she spoke, he said, âYouâre lying!â
ââŠâ Zhao Yarou fell silent.
âJust be honest with me. Weâre the only ones here, thereâs no need to hide anything,â said Ye Lang as they walked.
ââŠâ Zhao Yarou fell silent once more, her expression complex. She hesitated to tell him her secret.
She had hidden this secret for too long. She felt like it wasnât worth telling him right now. But just as he said, they were alone. They had to get along for ten years.
Anything could happen in ten years. Could she really hold a secret for that long?
Also, once ten years passed, her objective wouldâve been completed. Whatâs the use of keeping it in?
âNo, I wonât tell! Iâm not telling you before I rule the world!â Zhao Yarou finally decided not to tell him. Even if they had to spend ten years together, or her dream was attained, she couldnât say it.
She chose not to tell him. This was something she had been holding on to for more than ten years!
âThatâs fine, I know the answer even if you donât. Iâm not that dumb,â said Ye Lang mildly. There was some emotion in his voice, as if he knew something.
âWhat do you know?â asked Zhao Yarou nervously.
âI know itâs because youâll miss me!â he said with a grin.
ââŠâ
âYou shouldnât rely on your brother-in-law like that, this is a serious matter.â
ââŠâ
After some silence, she looked up at the âskyâ and said wistfully, âIâll miss you and I want to rely on you but youâve always shut me out. You never let me follow you around, you say Iâm a madwomanâŠâ
Ye Lang seemed to have recalled incidents that heâd forgotten.
âI want to prove to you that I can do everything you say. Then you wonât shut me out anymore⊠But just for this, I had to lock you up for ten years, I wonât be able to see you⊠Itâs too long, I cannot accept it!â
âAnd that is why I followed you here!â vented Zhao Yarou, telling him her heartbreak and dilemma!
Ye Lang fell silent. He could feel the pain in her. He realised that his heart ached too. He was aching for her.
Why?
He did not know, he just understood somehow that everything Zhao Yarou had done, everything he thought was psychotic, was probably because of something he said.
If that was the case, how will he face her, how will he face anyone elseâŠ
This was absolutely horrifying!
Zhao Yarou was deep in thought. She felt like the biggest idiot in the world but she did not regret it. She did not regret coming here, she did not regret giving up on all her hard work for the past years.
She wanted to keep him here for ten years to solve the problem being a hindrance to her ruling the world. Once he was locked up, she would be free to act.
But she did not want him to die. If he were anyone else, she wouldâve killed them. But she couldnât do it to Ye Lang.
Hence she could only put him on house arrest. But he was going to escape any place she locked him up in. That was just a matter of time.
That was how she thought of this place, a place specially for locking up alchemy prodigies. It was the most restricted prison in the Tiangongyue tribe. Even regular alchemists werenât locked dup here.
Zhao Yarou had already thought about all the possibilities. Ten years was the best time span. She could do five years but it was very likely that her goals wouldnât be completed in five years. Hence, she chose ten years.
But ten years was so long. When he was outside and not with her, at least she received intelligence on his activities. That had been enough for her.
She would not receive any news about him for ten years. She could not accept this.
She felt so horrible that she decided to give up everything, give up all her plans and her position as the empress.
T was a huge dilemma. This was supposed to be the key step to the success of her plan, yet it was also the downfall!
This was the dilemma of life. Sometimes, one had to make choices so abruptly. Choices sometimes required sacrifices.
It was a tough decision to make. These fleeting decisions had to be made quickly or the opportunity would be lost forever.
You had to be very sure and decisive about what you wanted or youâd regret it for the rest of your life.
Just like Zhao Yarou. She had such a short time to make her decision, yet she still chose what she wanted. Other than being a decisive person, Ye Lang was just too important to her.
What Sha Lan said five years later was correct. Zhao Yarou did not like him less than anyone in this world!
This was a kind of stubbornness that only Zhao Yarou would understand!
Perhaps Ye Lang could sense it too.
âWhat did I say to you? What have I ever told you to do?â asked Ye Lang, confused. He couldnât remember what he said as a child.
He wasnât mean, he just couldnât remember. At that point, part of his soul had been missing. He was a very clueless person then, he couldnât remember much.
If Zhao Yarou never mentioned it, he wouldâve never remembered it. Other than special circumstances, he didnât recall much.
âNothing⊠Nothing matters nowâŠâ Zhao Yarou smiled and pulled him ahead.
They werenât walking without an aim, they werenât wasting time.
They were actually walking towards a building. Yep, there was a building in this peculiar space.
What building was it? A sign of civilisation? Was there anyone else here?
Neither of them knew the answer. But they did not think it was odd that a building would be present.
The reason was simple- this was a prison, there should be a room for them. Although this place looked more like a luxurious garden.
âPerhaps they lock up many people in here at a time?â
Ye Lang entered the garden houses.
He estimated at least a hundred rooms in these groups of houses. There were even pathways that connected these garden houses. And these walkways had roofs with tiles, not just simple paths.
At least a hundred people could live here. If more than two people lived in a room, probably more.
Both of them wondered how many people were locked up here. More than ten? Even ten was a very small number for such a large area.
WAs this even prison? This was a place better than many peopleâs houses in their lifetimes. With such beautiful scenery and the fresh air, it was a holy place to cultivate.
âNot bad. At least weâre not exposed to the elements for ten years,â she said with a grin.
Exposed to the elements? There are so many rooms here. Itâd be enough even if there were ten of you. The facilities were all very complete.
âZhao you, Iâve checked! There arenât just bedrooms, thereâs a hall, a dining hall, bathrooms, cultivation arenas, drawing rooms, laboratories⊠Basically, they have everything you can imagine!â
Ye Lang ran around to tour the place while Zhao Yarou sat in the courtyard feeding fishes. Not sure what kind, she just knew that they were very lively and very pretty.
It wasnât because she didnât want to go with him, he was just too quick. After losing sight of him, she sat in the courtyard to feed fishes.
âWhat kind of place is thisâŠâ Zhao Yarou was stunned when she heard him.
âI donât know. I think itâs just a good place for anyone to cultivate here. They could train and break through instead of plateauing in their cultivations. I also saw a library tower, there are many lost books in there! Zhao Yarou, Iâve got much to do for these ten yearsâŠâ Ye Lang was very excited.
âWhat?â She was quite surprised.
They both didnât know that although the Tiangongyue people locked people up, they still provided the best cultivation environment so the prisoners could immerse themselves in cultivation and not waste time.
Wasting time was a shameful thing. As alchemists, they understood this. Most of the Tiangongyue people understood this, as they were alchemists.
That was why they prepared the best of everything, even the best books here. They made copies of the best books across the mainland.
All of them were technical books, not on literature or history. Perhaps alchemists didnât like these subjects and thought they were a waste of time?
That was why Ye Lang could only read about magic and alchemy. He wouldnât know what happened in the past.
But this was enough to excite him. These were alchemy knowledge that had been lost over the generations.
Ye Lang now had access to knowledge that built the ancient ruins.
The value of this far exceeded what was outside!
This wasnât what Zhao Yarou expected too but she didnât mind. She just wanted him to see her rule the world, that didnât mean she wanted to.
Theoretically, if she didnât enter this place, she wouldnât mind if Ye Lang destroyed everything she did when he came out after ten years. Her goal wouldâve been achieved, nothing would matter.
âA laboratoryâs useless, you canât use magical essence here. Just a setup,â said Zhao Yarou.
âAlchemy isnât just about magic, there are many things too. Youâd spend your whole life learning them all.â He shook his head.
âThat would be best. How else will I spend my ten years? I donât want to see you every day,â she teased.
âYou donât want to see me? Thatâs fine. You can live over there and Iâll live in this room. Then we wonât meet each other.â Ye Lang pointed at the building from the other side of the courtyard. It was quite possible for them to not see each other ever again.
âNo way, Iâm too scared. Brother-in-law, I want to follow you around.â She hugged his arm lovingly.
âHey, hey stop it. Iâm not used to this at all.â
âDonât worry, you just have to get used to it! We have ten yearsâŠâ
Ye Lang fell silent and said seriously, âNo, I will find my way out. I wonât stay here for ten years. It wouldâve been fine if I was alone, but with youâŠâ
âWhat? Iâm not even disturbing your work? Iâm keeping you company out of kindness, yet youâre abandoning me,â she said, annoyed.
âItâs the same whether youâre with me or not, whatâs the difference?â he asked. He sounded quite mean.
Although it was true. It was the same for him. Just another companion. And he didnât even like her that much.
She also knew his personality well. She knew that it was useless arguing. Perhaps he would feel differently if she were Zhen Xiaoyan or Tigress.
âI know Iâm not important to you, that itâd be the same even if Iâm not here but I feel like itâs quite differentâŠâ said Zhao Yarou. She wasnât upset.
âIs it different? Whatever, Iâm just going to figure out the way to escape. This place was built by humans, there must be a way to break free.â He smiled, anticipating the day.
Perhaps he was more interested in breaking free than anything. If no one had broken out before, that just means it was a difficult problem.
A difficult problem was the best way to kill time. Even if it was a meaningless problem, it was still great to kill time. The things he learned along the way would be more useful.
Sometimes, the process was more important than the outcome!
That was how they started living together, form this peculiar situation. As time went on, the situation became more and more interesting.
Three years laterâŠ
âBrother-in-law, time to eat! Stop hiding in there already!â
Zhao Yarou was clad in a leisure outfit usually seen on housewives. It seemed to accentuate her beauty.
At this moment, Ye Lang was sitting in the courtyard, staring at the fishes deep in thought. There was a messy pile of books next to him. He was thinking about something
ââŠâ Ye Lang did not answer, perhaps he didnât hear her.
When she noticed, she tiptoed towards him with a mischievous look on her face.
âBrother-in-law!â She shouted in his ear.
âAh⊠Zhao Yarou, what are you doing?â Ye Lang was startled as he sprung from his chair and went into a battle stance.
âHahahaâŠâ Zhao Yarou laughed happily. She did not cover her mouth, she did not care about how she looked.
Jaws would drop if other people saw this. They did not know their cold empress would have a mischievous side.
At the same time, her outfit was shocking. And the table of vegetables, did their empress cook her own food? It was unbelievable.
Over five years, Zhao Yarou and Ye Lang had gradually grown closer. It was only natural. Zhao Yarou had always been very nice to him and Ye Lang wouldnât be mean to anyone who treated him wellâŠ
[Countdown to finale chapter: T-7]
If you find any errors ( Ads popup, ads redirect, broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.