Chapter 61

Zhao Zhanlei was the first to notice Fu Shuxing's gaze sweeping over.

Having originally intended to interrogate Ji Xun about how they had fallen out, Zhao Zhanlei quietly stepped back a half-pace to distance himself slightly from Ji Xun. Valuing self-preservation above all else, he adopted a strong survival instinct and blurted out, "Let's find Brother Xing in the second half. This is his busiest time."

His volume was neither too loud nor too soft, ensuring that Fu Shuxing, who had not walked particularly far away, would certainly hear him.

Sure enough.

Fu Shuxing withdrew his gaze.

Seeing that Fu Shuxing really was busy socializing, Zhao Zhanlei immediately pulled Ji Xun further away and asked with gossipy curiosity, "What on earth did you two fall out over?" Surely it wasn't because of Brother Xing's low-EQ, blunt pursuit?!

Given the circumstances, Ji Xun had no intention of keeping it a secret anymore and said, "Didn't I miss the final exam?"

"Yeah."

"It's related to Brother Xing."

Zhao Zhanlei wore a look of utter shock. "Don't tell me Brother Xing is the reason you ended up in the hospital?" That was completely unexpected!!

Ji Xun condensed the incident into a brief summary and told Zhao Zhanlei.

Once he finished, Ji Xun suddenly realized that it made complete sense for the military academy to have strict requirements regarding the physical fitness of guides. Recently, as he trained alongside Stone, not only had his physical endurance caught up, but his spiritual power had also stabilized significantly.

Otherwise, his make-up exams a few days ago wouldn't have gone so smoothly.

Even Mentor Tina said that his mastery of spiritual power was visibly much smoother.

Perhaps by the time the new semester started, his somnambulism would be cured and would never relapse again.

Upon hearing about this thing called "somnambulism," Zhao Zhanlei finally fully grasped the cause and effect of the whole situation.

No wonder Brother Xing had said Ji Xun could perform spiritual soothing for him.

Deliberately skipping spiritual soothing the day before the final exam was probably to prove this very point, wasn't it?

Ji Xun had said he couldn't do it, and Brother Xing wanted to prove that he could.

All of Brother Xing's strange behaviors during the half-month leading up to the final exams now also had a reason. He had most likely truly gone crazy; in order to plunge into a manic state, he had destroyed the barrier originally used to protect a sentinel's five senses...

The end result was a misguided mishap that sent Ji Xun to the hospital.

Driven by a sense of guilt, Fu Shuxing simply skipped the exam as well, and there was an even more important point...

Zhao Zhanlei recalled Fu Shuxing's aloof and cold attitude just moments ago.

He couldn't help getting a headache!

He kept wondering why it felt so familiar!!!

Wasn't this exact attitude identical to the previous time—the time when Fu Shuxing deliberately called Ji Xun a little good-for-nothing without a spiritual beast??

He had once again silently activated the mode of keeping everyone a thousand miles away.

Zhao Zhanlei turned to look at Ji Xun and, seeing the little guide still talking about those matters, felt a strange twinge of discomfort in his chest.

Good lord, wasn't this just toying with people?

Is the universe simply unable to bear seeing people happy together??

Ji Xun gave Zhao Zhanlei a poke. "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking the heavens are blind for letting you and Brother Xing..." Zhao Zhanlei's mouth moved faster than his brain, and he hurriedly stopped midway through the sentence.

However, Zhao Zhanlei's reaction to this topic didn't seem abrupt under the circumstances.

Ji Xun went along with it, "Maybe he's bad luck for me!"

Zhao Zhanlei dared not agree, thinking to himself that it was probably the other way around...

The two of them chatted until roughly the second half of the banquet.

Ji Xun felt that the time was right; it was time to find Fu Shuxing to "catch up on old times" and eliminate the "rift" brought about by the somnambulism.

New year, new beginnings, after all.

Even though there had been unpleasantness in the past.

There had been plenty of unpleasant things anyway! He could just keep a tally in his little notebook!

A mature man must know how to play the game on the surface, and superficial brotherhood had to be maintained!

Ji Xun held his drink, led Zhao Zhanlei along, and successfully intercepted Fu Shuxing just before he was about to leave the venue.

"Where are you off to again, Brother Xing?"

Ji Xun stopped him and intentionally remarked, "You're so busy that you can't even spare the time to talk to us childhood friends?"

Zhao Zhanlei decided to play deaf and dumb on the side.

Fu Shuxing looked at the juice in Ji Xun's hand, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly. "You haven't just been drinking juice all night, have you?"

Ji Xun answered righteously, "I couldn't find any food!"

For some reason, the banquet hall this time had been chosen at an unfamiliar hotel that Ji Xun had never been to before. The banquet hall was decorated in an extremely lavish and complicated manner across multiple levels. After glancing around and failing to spot any, Ji Xun simply couldn't be bothered to look further.

Fu Shuxing remarked, "When you're too busy chatting with others, how could you possibly remember you're hungry?"

As the "others" mentioned by his good friend, Zhao Zhanlei silently raised his cup to shield his face, attempting to lower his presence even further.

Ji Xun had more or less observed Fu Shuxing for the entire evening as well and immediately retorted, "As if you ate anything!"

Fu Shuxing said calmly, "I'm not hungry."

Ji Xun: "............"

Fu Shuxing led Ji Xun and Zhao Zhanlei to the food station.

Holding a large plate, Ji Xun swept through the remaining food on the buffet table like a locust plague. Even so, with his sharp peripheral vision, he immediately spotted Fu Shuxing turning around to leave. "Where are you going?!"

Ji Xun didn't call him by name.

Fu Shuxing's footsteps paused slightly.

Because he had been "caught red-handed," Fu Shuxing couldn't leave and was forced to sit down and eat with them.

Ji Xun decided to offer an olive branch first.

Because he already knew how petty Fu Shuxing was, putting up a front to save face while suffering inside, with an immensely difficult temperament.

Ji Xun cleared his throat and said, "As for what happened the night before the final exam, I won't hold it against you anymore."

Fu Shuxing lowered his gaze and gave a lukewarm acknowledgment at his words.

Seeing that was all he got, Ji Xun felt somewhat dissatisfied. But thinking that his make-up exam had been successful, he persuaded himself to be magnanimous—a mature person doesn't dwell on petty grievances—and then asked Fu Shuxing, "That night, were you doing it on purpose or not?"

Fu Shuxing picked up some food without even lifting his eyelids. "It's not important anyway."

"Of course it's important!" Ji Xun quickly asked, "And why did you still enter a manic state even though you clearly underwent spiritual soothing? Do you remember what happened in your spiritual realm that night?"

Fu Shuxing gripped his chopsticks tightly, and the next moment, he looked straight at Ji Xun. "Are you interrogating me?"

Ji Xun was startled into a daze!

He suddenly realized how heavy Fu Shuxing's hostility was.

Although they had fallen out and experienced cold wars in the past, Fu Shuxing had never dealt with him in such an impatient tone, nor with this kind of look in his eyes.

At that moment, stirred by some undefinable emotion, Ji Xun pressed his lips together. He offered no explanation and said nothing, swallowed a lump of grievance in his throat, and lowered his head to eat without speaking.

Zhao Zhanlei, who had been playing mute for ages, hurriedly tried to smooth things over. "We haven't seen each other in so long, we can chat slowly about anything. By the way, Brother Xing, what glorious achievements did you have over the past month? I saw Uncle Fu won another victory—how many Zerg did you kill?"

Fu Shuxing glanced at Zhao Zhanlei and resumed his flat, monotonous tone. "Didn't count."

Zhao Zhanlei probed, "It didn't seem like there were particularly many battles recently, though. Do you guys just eat and live in the war zone now and never come home?"

Fu Shuxing lowered his gaze and said, "I got back home a few days ago."

Ji Xun's chopsticks slowly came to a halt. He looked up at Fu Shuxing. "You're lying. When did you ever come home?"

Although he hadn't paid frequent attention to the opposite side lately.

Could he possibly not know whether there was any activity at the Fu residence or if anyone had returned?

"I got home four days ago." Fu Shuxing looked back at Ji Xun, his tone stiff and cold, as if every single word had plummeted to freezing point. "Is there any need for me to lie to you?"

Ji Xun jabbed his plate and opened his mouth, about to speak!

Fu Shuxing had already withdrawn his gaze. "Oh, forgot to tell you—I've moved."

A buzzing sound echoed in Ji Xun's head!

Fu Shuxing had delivered that last sentence as lightly as a breeze, as if he were simply discussing the weather.

Ji Xun immediately demanded, "Moved?? Moved to where???"

"Naturally, the Marshal's Mansion." Fu Shuxing's tone was calm and restrained. "The place where we are truly supposed to live."

Ji Xun didn't speak again.

His lips were pressed tightly together as he stared straight at Fu Shuxing!

Fu Shuxing hadn't been looking at Ji Xun anymore, but under that prolonged gaze, a sharp ache bloomed in his chest.

Those fragile, collapsing emotions threatened to stage a comeback.

Unable to endure it a moment longer, Fu Shuxing finally put down his chopsticks and stood up. "You guys eat. I'm leaving first."

This time, Ji Xun did not call out to stop him.

Yet Fu Shuxing's departing figure faltered on its own—though only for half a second—before the next moment, his retreating steps became even more resolute!

Zhao Zhanlei tentatively called out "Brother Xing" first, then looked over at Ji Xun with a worried expression. "Xunxun, are you okay?"

Ji Xun asked, "Did you know about this?"

"About what?"

Ji Xun turned to look at Zhao Zhanlei. "Did you know that he's moved?"

"I didn't." Zhao Zhanlei immediately raised a hand in pledge. "I swear I didn't know, I really didn't! Brother Xing never mentioned it to me; I only found out right along with you!"

Ji Xun pressed his lips together hard, set down his chopsticks, and stood up.

"Xunxun, aren't you going to finish eating?"

"I'm full of anger!!"

The banquet had already reached its final stages.

Ji Xun found his mother and father and boarded the flying vehicle home with them.

Ji Xun remained silent the entire way. Just as they stepped out of the vehicle, he suddenly spoke up: "Mom, Dad, you guys knew Uncle Fu and the others moved, didn't you?"

The Ji couple, who had been chatting and laughing just moments before, both froze at those words.

The two of them exchanged an involuntary glance.

"Yes, we knew." Mother Ji chose to tell a well-intentioned lie. "Previously, the Marshal's Mansion wasn't finished yet, so Uncle Fu and his family continued living in the government housing compound. It was completed recently, so they moved in."

Ji Xun asked, "Why didn't you tell me something like that?"

Mother Ji replied, "We originally intended to tell you, but we just hadn't found the right timing..."

"Why would something you can bring up at any time require looking for the right timing?"

Seeing her son's emotions fluctuating intensely, Mother Ji reached out. "Xunxun..."

"I'm fine." Without another word, Ji Xun carried a belly full of fury and strode off ahead!

Mother Ji hurried to give chase, but having consumed alcohol at the banquet, she stumbled after just two steps, prompting Father Ji to rush to steady her.

When he looked up again, Ji Xun was already out of sight.

However, Ji Xun didn't have the house keys.

Thus, when the couple hurried all the way home, they found their son standing outside the front door with a tight, tense little face.

It was cold outside; whatever needed to be said should be discussed inside first.

Father Ji opened the door.

As soon as they stepped inside, Mother Ji reached out to gently touch her son, feeling helpless in her heart, yet still choosing to deceive him: "Xunxun, Mom apologizes to you. Mom was just worried that since you and Xiao Xing have such a close relationship, you'd make a fuss once you knew he was moving away."

Ji Xun looked at his mother. "I would make a fuss? If the Marshal's Mansion was simply finished and they were moving to a new home, at most I'd just feel reluctant to see him go. Why would you guys assume I'd make a fuss?"

Mother Ji: "Because..."

Ji Xun cut her off: "When I asked if you knew they were moving just now, neither of you looked surprised at all. If you truly believed Xiao Xing and I are close, wouldn't he have told me the moment it happened? You didn't think that at all—you were dead certain he hadn't told me. Could it be that he was worried I'd make a fuss, too?"