Three months—it was like a curse. Every time he modified the medical formula, its effects would only last about three months before becoming ineffective for him again.
Mo Sigui touched the jade pendant at his waist and sighed softly. His insomnia seemed to be getting worse.
After finishing a round of medicated smoke, he felt dazed and utterly exhausted, yet when he closed his eyes, his thoughts refused to settle.
Meanwhile, An Jiu slept soundly through the night without even a dream.
The next morning, before she even got out of bed, she noticed Mo Sigui standing outside her door. Thinking something was amiss, she quickly dressed and opened it.
Hearing the noise, Mo Sigui turned around. "I couldn’t sleep again."
"Clearly," An Jiu remarked, eyeing the dark circles under his pale, gaunt eyes. "Why?"
"Probably because no one’s talked to me about romance in a while," Mo Sigui said, tapping his palm idly with his fan.
"You just said you’ve grown indifferent to emotions," An Jiu pointed out.
"Must you always expose people like that?" Mo Sigui frowned.
An Jiu paused for a moment. "Are you missing Lou Mingyue?"
The topic was clearly a bad choice. Mo Sigui reacted like a cat with its tail stepped on, nearly jumping out of his skin. "Impossible! I’ve always been carefree—how could I be that kind of person?"
Coming to chat with An Jiu was clearly a terrible decision. She never bothered to cater to others’ moods and always cut straight to the truth. "Really? Last night, you called out Ning Yu in your sleep, and when you stepped out for a smoke, you touched this…" She pointed at the jade pendant hanging from his waist.
Together, they formed a whole; apart, they were broken. This was the token of love between Qiu Ning Yu and Mo Sigui—originally a single jade pendant. When Qiu Ning Yu "died," Mo Sigui buried the other half in her cenotaph. Perhaps from that moment, their fate in this life was sealed.
An Jiu didn’t know any of this, of course. She only noticed the pendant was crescent-shaped and guessed it was related to Lou Mingyue. Hitting the mark was pure luck.
Mo Sigui clutched the pendant tightly. "Change the subject."
"What do you want to talk about?" An Jiu obliged.
Mo Sigui relaxed slightly. "Doesn’t have to be anything. Come, let’s drink. Who knew Second Madam had so much good wine stored away? Lucky for us."
The two headed to the cellar one after the other.
Da Jiu and Xiao Yue were still sprawled out, fast asleep inside.
Mo Sigui picked a jar and sat cross-legged on the floor.
An Jiu grabbed one at random, took a sip, and sighed. "If only Chu Dingjiang were here."
Mo Sigui gave her a strange look. "Even a woman like you can pine for someone—why can’t Mingyue?"
Lost in her own thoughts, An Jiu didn’t register his meaning. She smacked her lips. "Then we’d have plenty of snacks to go with the wine."
"Forget I said anything," Mo Sigui grumbled.
Only then did An Jiu respond, "You’re asking why Lou Mingyue doesn’t pine for you? It’s simple—she doesn’t like you at all!"
Mo Sigui clutched his chest dramatically. "What a perfect stab to the heart!"
An Jiu looked at him. "Besides, back when you were still decent-looking, she didn’t fancy you. Now that you’re even worse—"
Mo Sigui nearly spat blood. "You just had to twist the knife, didn’t you? Not satisfied until I’m riddled with holes? With a personality like yours, it’s a wonder you’re not insane."
Seeing he was genuinely upset, An Jiu fell silent.The two of them drank in silence for a long while. An Jiu cautiously added, "I've always been one to speak the truth."
What she meant was: I don't know how to be tactful. Please bear with me.
Mo Sigui didn't respond, taking sip after sip of wine.
After a long pause, he finally said, "I guess I'm just destined to be this way. So many people flatter me, but when it comes to heart-to-heart talks, I unconsciously seek you out."
Because An Jiu was genuine and straightforward, easy to see through—unlike others who hid countless twists and turns in their hearts. It was precisely because of her honesty that her words often came across as ill-timed and unpleasant.
Most of the time, the truth isn't necessarily beautiful.
"Love sickness gnaws at my bones," Mo Sigui sighed. "I don't know if it's because I've never attained it that I'm always yearning."
"Would you stop yearning if you got it?" An Jiu asked.
Mo Sigui wiped the wine from his lips. "Isn't that how people are? When you haven't obtained something, you obsess over it, thinking nothing in the world could compare. But once you have it, after time wears it down, it's just... meh."
An Jiu carefully considered his words and found them quite reasonable. "When I first started taking on missions, I found them incredibly thrilling. I'd think about how to kill the target while eating, sleeping, even going to the bathroom. But once I actually completed them, it didn't seem that interesting anymore. After a while, I'd forget about them entirely."
Mo Sigui stared at her speechlessly.
An Jiu earnestly sought his opinion. "Isn't that how it is? Then what counts as truly obtaining something?"
"Well, take you and Chu Dingjiang—you've obtained each other, I suppose," Mo Sigui couldn't resist trying to twist the knife.
Unexpectedly, the "stabbed" party remained completely unfazed, even nodding in agreement. "So you're saying after some time, we'll find each other boring?"
"Generally, men's hearts change faster," Mo Sigui said.
An Jiu breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good."
She genuinely felt relieved, but somewhere deep inside, a faint discomfort slowly sharpened into a needle-like sting. It wasn't particularly painful, but it made her heart constrict slightly.
Mo Sigui buried himself in his drink, no longer wanting to speak with her.
They spent the entire morning in the wine cellar. By lunchtime, Sui Yunzhu came to call them. Mo Sigui had collapsed onto a wine jar, fast asleep, while An Jiu was slightly tipsy from drinking.
Having consumed a bellyful of strong liquor on an empty stomach, An Jiu's stomach burned uncomfortably. She left the cellar, saying, "Mo Sigui rarely sleeps. Don't wake him."
"Alright," Sui Yunzhu replied, having likely guessed Mo Sigui had this kind of "hidden ailment." He then asked An Jiu, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," An Jiu said.
Mei Yanran was a skilled cook, and An Jiu had always loved her meals. She'd once thought how much better life was for those with mothers.
But today, faced with a table full of dishes, the first thought that popped into her mind was: Chu Dingjiang's cooking tastes better.
An Jiu froze, rice bowl in hand. This was the second time she'd thought of him.
Mei Yanran watched her for a long moment before softly asking, "What's wrong?"
"Why aren't you eating?" Zhu Pianxian, noticing An Jiu's distraction, added a slice of dried bamboo shoot to her bowl. "Eat up! Once you're full, go make some money!"
She couldn't stand seeing people idle away time in a daze—such a waste.
"Shi Si misses her dad," Lou Xiaowu pouted. "I miss my dad too."
"Don't butt in where you're not needed!" Zhu Pianxian knew Lou Xiaowu had never met her father. "Eat more—consider it your dad feeding you through me."Mei Yanran glanced at An Jiu but said nothing more, lowering her head to eat quietly.
An Jiu said to Sheng Changying, "I'll come find you later."
With that, she quickly finished her bowl of rice, set down her chopsticks, and got up to leave.
"Hey! What do you want with him?" Zhu Pianxian couldn't help asking. (To be continued...)
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