Amnesiac General and Infatuated Brothel Keeper 7

Following the original worldline, Su Jinzhi invited Yun Mengchen to stay long-term at Huaqi Pavilion.

When the two became more familiar with each other, on one of the nights Yun Mengchen came to treat his illness, Su Jinzhi told him about his background and the matter concerning Jiang Lishan. He observed Yun Mengchen's reaction the whole time, but from beginning to end, his eyes only flickered once, and his expression did not change in the slightest.

Su Jinzhi grabbed his hand, tears in his eyes. "Brother Yun, you are my only close friend. Only you can help me."

"Rest assured, I will definitely help you." Yun Mengchen wore a gentle and compassionate smile on his face, patting his shoulder to comfort him, without mentioning a single word about his seventh junior martial brother, who had now changed his name to Feng Jiuli.

Help my ass, you've gone astray, brother.

Su Jinzhi felt very helpless, but since Yun Mengchen absolutely refused to speak, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't possibly force the man to open his mouth, could he?

The young escorts in Huaqi Pavilion were highly interested in Yun Mengchen, a handsome, polite doctor who neither whored nor gambled. They flocked to him all day long; even when they weren't sick, they would pretend to be sickly just to have an excuse to stay around Yun Mengchen for a while.

"I'm more handsome than him, so how come none of the little brothers come to flirt with me?" Su Jinzhi saw this and felt sour in his heart. Planning to go out for a walk to relax now that spring had arrived, he sat in front of the bronze mirror, waiting for Xile to tie up his hair.

Hearing him say this, No. 0 carefully chimed in, "Lord Host, your current body is not fit to receive guests. You need to listen to Doctor Yun's advice."

Su Jinzhi: "..."

Yun Mengchen said his body was too depleted. If he wanted to cure his illness, he first had to abstain from sexual desires. Not only could he not receive guests, but he also couldn't ejaculate. The implication was that he didn't even have the chance to jerk off himself.

"What do you mean receive guests? I washed my hands of that business many years ago, okay?" However, hearing this made Su Jinzhi feel both unresigned and disappointed. If he had known he'd need to be abstinent, he should have jerked off back when he wasn't sick. Now he had no chance even if he wanted to. "Sigh, I really miss that night of electric shock. If I couldn't jerk off, at least I could still feel some pleasure. What a pity, I'm afraid there won't be any chances to try it again in the future."

No. 1, who had been missing for a long time, suddenly spoke up: "Nonsense, there will be plenty of chances to try it in the future."

Su Jinzhi asked, "Try it on who?"

No. 1 said, "On you, the host, of course."

Su Jinzhi was greatly alarmed. "Why? What did I do wrong?!"

"You didn't do anything wrong; you were just born in the wrong world." No. 1 sounded very matter-of-fact. "This is a punishment world. It's just that the host is currently still in the buffer period, so there is no punishment."

"Buffer period?" Su Jinzhi felt an ominous premonition envelop him.

No. 1 said, "Yes."

Su Jinzhi asked again, "Then when does the buffer period end?"

No. 1 said, "When the Salvation Target appears."

Su Jinzhi: "..." He knew it!

Xile looked at Su Jinzhi's despairing face and assumed he had drowned himself in sorrowful past memories again. However, the Divine Doctor Yun had said they needed to watch the young master constantly so he wouldn't dwell too much on past grief, otherwise the heartache and mental fatigue would worsen his condition.

So Xile hurriedly squeezed out a smile, walked over to the wardrobe, and called out to Su Jinzhi, "Young Master, spring has already arrived. What color robes would you like to wear today?"

Su Jinzhi snapped out of his daze. Seeing the row of red garments Xile was pointing at, his temple twitched. He sighed and said, "I'll wear white..."

The moment those words left his mouth, Xile started glaring again. "To wear the white color of mourning at the start of spring, how could you do that, Young Master?"

No. 0 also reminded him, "Lord Host, it's not suitable for you to wear white right now."

That was true. With his current identity, it wasn't appropriate to wear such a plain color. So Su Jinzhi poked his head out to look at the wardrobe again, cleared his throat, and pointed at a touch of purple in the corner, saying casually, "Then that one."

"Eh?" Xile let out a small gasp of surprise, then immediately turned around and carefully brought out the folded garment. "Young Master, are you finally wearing this set of robes? You had Sister Lan Wen spend three months making these clothes but never wore them; I thought you disliked how they were made..."

When the purple robe was shaken open by Xile, the beautiful luster of the brocade poured out, radiating a hazy halo of light under the warm sun.

Su Jinzhi searched through the memories in his mind and immediately understood why Jun Changle refused to wear this purple robe: it was because this was the outfit he wore when he first met Jiang Lishan.

No. 0 had sped up the progress of the worldline for him, but to avoid breaking his character setting and the world itself, the past seven years had simply been a repetition of the events Jun Changle had already experienced.

And this set of clothing was designed overnight on the very evening the original host retired and stopped receiving guests. He then spent a heavy sum of money to have Lan Wen, the number one embroiderer of Zhuhua Kingdom, spend three whole months making it. But he never wore it. Not because he didn't like it, but because he couldn't bear to, and also out of an inferiority complex—he felt that although his outer flesh and skin were intact, inside he was nothing but a pile of rotting bones. How could he be willing to wear the outfit he had on when he first met Jiang Lishan?

But it was too late to change his mind now. Su Jinzhi touched the purple robe, feeling its smooth and soft texture, and after hesitating for a moment, he still put it on.

"Young Master looks so beautiful!" Xile praised with a beaming smile as he looked at him.

Su Jinzhi felt a bit light-headed with joy, feeling that the self-confidence that had been struck down by Yun Mengchen had returned. Even his footsteps as he went downstairs were a good deal lighter.

However, No. 1 suddenly reminded him, "Be a bit more aloof and melancholic, pay attention to your character setting."

Su Jinzhi didn't care at all. "I'm in the buffer period. What can you do to me?"

No. 1 let out a cold laugh. "Oh? Is that so?"

Su Jinzhi hurriedly changed his tune. "No, I'm just talking nonsense."

"I forgot to tell the host, I found that the punishment skill 'Profoundly Mysterious Electric Shock' acquired last time had pretty good power, so I returned to headquarters not too long ago to get a new skill."

No wonder he had been missing for so long. Su Jinzhi asked him, "What new skill did you get?"

No. 1 replied, "Heart-Scratching Agony."

Su Jinzhi inhaled sharply and asked, "That doesn't sound like a proper skill at all."

"It's quite proper," No. 1 said. "From the description, the effects seem pretty good. When there's a chance, I'll invite the host to give it a try."

Su Jinzhi: "..."

His good mood for the day was completely gone just like that. Filled with melancholy, Su Jinzhi went downstairs. Just as he stepped out of his room, he saw Yun Mengchen walking toward him. The moment he caught sight of him, Yun Mengchen's eyes lit up, seemingly extremely joyous, but he quickly returned to his usual calmness. Lowering his head slightly, he bowed to him, his voice flat and plain. "Jinzhi, is your body doing well today?"

Xile happily greeted him, "Divine Doctor Yun!"

"Many thanks for Brother Yun's concern, Jinzhi is already doing much better." Su Jinzhi leaned against the wall and smiled, his brows and bones exuding a vibrant charm as he teased, "Is no one looking for you to treat their illness today?"

Yun Mengchen shook his head and smiled. "Good, good, good... It's good that you are better. Drink that medicine one more time tonight, and tomorrow I will change your prescription to something with a milder potency."

Su Jinzhi thanked him. "Then I will have to trouble Brother Yun."

It was Yun Mengchen's first time seeing him wearing purple, and he found it a bit strange. "Jinzhi, this is—"

"Oh, seeing that the spring scenery is just right, I wanted to go out for a spring outing. Does Brother Yun want to come along?" Su Jinzhi didn't even raise his head, just asking out of courtesy.

Who would have thought that the corners of Yun Mengchen's lips would curl up, and he immediately agreed. "To be able to go on a spring outing together with Jinzhi, Mengchen couldn't ask for more."

Su Jinzhi: "..." What should he do now?

However, No. 0 advised him, "Lord Host, No. 0 suggests you go out together with Divine Doctor Yun."

Hearing this, Su Jinzhi suddenly understood. "Has Jiang Lishan come to Zhuhua?"

No. 0 said, "Yep!"

"I suddenly don't want to go anymore." Su Jinzhi hesitated. "If I go, the buffer period is going to end."

No. 0: "..."

No. 1 sneered. "If you don't go, I can prematurely end the buffer period right now under the pretext of the host being passive in doing tasks."

He would get slashed whether he stretched his neck out or pulled it back anyway. Su Jinzhi sighed. "Then I'd better go."

Inside Huaqi Pavilion, thick curtains were drawn, and silver-thread charcoal was constantly burning, making it warmer than spring. But outside the building, the sparse rain had just stopped, and the chill in the air was still heavy.

The moment Su Jinzhi stepped out of the building, the cold wind made him shiver. He quickly gathered his collar and conveniently used his cloak to cover his face well. Yun Mengchen suggested they take a painted pleasure boat for their outing. After all, his fame as a "flower" had spread far and wide, so showing his face during a spring outing would likely be inconvenient. But if they rode in a painted boat engraved with the emblem of Ghost Cloud Valley, they could not only enjoy the best spring scenery on the Linqing River but also prevent any blind fools from disturbing them.

Su Jinzhi felt that Yun Mengchen's idea was very good. After boarding the boat, he glanced at the Ghost Cloud Valley emblem on the right side of the painted boat and said to No. 0, "No. 0, I feel like I could forge ten of these emblems. I think I can just do this every time I go out from now on."

No. 0 was very worried about him. "Lord Host, your health is not very good right now, so how about you don't go out all the time?"

Su Jinzhi pondered for a moment and felt that No. 0's words made a lot of sense. After all, preserving his life was the most important thing.

The painted boat produced by Ghost Cloud Valley was gorgeous and exquisite, with high-upturned eaves and vermilion lanterns hanging beneath them, swaying gently in the river breeze along with the soft gauze edges of the eaves.

Su Jinzhi sat on his knees in front of a low table, brewing tea for Yun Mengchen, who was sitting equally upright opposite him.

Jun Changle came from a prominent aristocratic family and had learned excellent tea-brewing skills since childhood. His chess skills were equally superb; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to absolutely crush Yun Mengchen and the bad friends he had mistakenly made back then. However, Su Jinzhi was a person from the interstellar era, so he didn't know how to brew tea. Fortunately, the original body's muscle memory was still there; otherwise, his character setting would have truly collapsed.

Following the rhythm of the body, Su Jinzhi watched as the emerald-green tea poured out from the spout, carrying a dense, fragrant steam, before finally settling quietly into the elegant jade-colored porcelain cup. He thought to himself that he was incredibly awesome.

As for Yun Mengchen sitting in front of him, while inhaling the intoxicating fragrance of the Lushan Yunwu Tea, his heart and eyes were completely filled with the person pouring tea for him right before him.

It was now the start of spring in March, and the peach blossoms along the banks of the Linqing River had already bloomed, blazing across the riverbanks. Pedestrians didn't need to stay near the trees for long; just slowly walking past underneath them would leave their bodies coated in a fragrant mist. Whenever the spring breeze blew, the peach blossoms covering the branches would take their leave from the trees, falling into the river to be carried away by the flowing water. Yet, even if the person in front of him was no longer wearing gorgeous clothes, he could still make this river full of spring scenery seem completely plain by comparison.

Yun Mengchen stared blankly as the young man lowered his eyes, placing a cup of hot tea in front of him with fair, slender fingers, and then gently chanted a heart-stirring tone from his pale pink lips: "Brother Yun, please."

—Brother Yun.

Hearing his respectful address, for a fleeting moment, Yun Mengchen wished he was not his respected close friend, nor the world-renowned doctor who practiced medicine to save the people, but rather an esteemed patron in the room of Huaqi Pavilion's master, Hua Wuyan, able to stay awake with him all night, share the spring scenery together, and carefully admire the peerless Peony Tattoo on his body.

But unfortunately, he was not, nor could he be.