The Obligations of the Elderly - chapter 33

Chapter 32

He saw that the other’s face was, at first, just as surprised as his own. But was it only for a second? In that fleeting instant, the surprise faded into a smile.

A smile he was all too familiar with.

Anger surged in his heart. Gong Si’s right hand, clutching the curtain, quickly clenched into a fist, and he swung it at Xi Liu’s face!

But in the next moment, his fist was perfectly caught by the other.

“Why is it you?” Gong Si looked annoyed. Wasn’t it supposed to be a seventy-year-old man? The kind that’s about to die.

“I should be asking you, why is it you? My vice class monitor…” Xi Liu was still smiling, his hand gripping Gong Si’s fist tightly, refusing to let go.

His whole body weak, Gong Si was pulled by the motion and tumbled toward the bed. To avoid crushing Xi Liu, Gong Si had to swing one leg over and kneel on the bed beside Xi Liu’s legs.

Uh… He just realized, this really was a bed-a huge, soft, unbelievably comfortable bed. The sheets were white, the quilt was red, both made of some slippery material, embroidered with subtle patterns. It felt familiar, and Gong Si immediately thought of all those “intimate items” now filling his own room.

He looked sharply at Xi Liu, and only then did he realize a possibility-an almost unbelievable possibility.

“That rich and powerful ruler, the old man who’s about to kick the bucket… is you?” Eyes wide, Gong Si was stunned.

“Uh… Should I say, as expected of the vice class monitor? Still so blunt.” Xi Liu raised his eyebrows. “It’s one thing to say someone’s rich and powerful, but calling me an old man about to die… Don’t you think that’s a bit too hurtful?”

“Screw you, it’s you!” With that answer, there was no more doubt. Once he was sure, Gong Si’s expression quickly shifted from shock to anger.

He placed Ah Ji, who was on his chest, to the side of the bed, freeing up his other fist, and punched Xi Liu in the face-

“I’m the one who’s surprised, okay?” Xi Liu said, aggrieved, catching this fist with his other hand. Now, Gong Si was on top, Xi Liu below; on the surface, it looked like Gong Si was pinning him down and beating him, but in reality, Gong Si’s “weapons”-both fists-were completely controlled by Xi Liu, leaving him at a total disadvantage.

“You-” Gong Si’s eyebrows shot up, his face flushed with anger!

“I was about to die. When I finally woke up, they told me they’d found a suitable Vessel for me. Very young, with great potential. Even if he couldn’t fully contain me, he should at least make things easier for me. After all, the doctor who’d been treating me died, and there would never be anyone to heal me again. I didn’t ask about the Vessel, because I was originally against it. I’m old, almost dead, and I didn’t want to drag someone else down.” Xi Liu explained slowly, quoting Gong Si’s own words at the end. His tone was gentle and slow, but the sadness and sorrow in his voice were unmistakable.

It seemed-

He really was quite aggrieved…

Gong Si looked Xi Liu over carefully, and at a glance, he noticed the difference: Xi Liu was thinner. He’d always been slim, but it used to be the kind of slim that looked good in clothes. Now, though, it was different. Beneath the heavy black robe, he was gaunt, his wrist gripping Gong Si’s own frighteningly thin. If Gong Si hadn’t been so weak from soaking in the hot spring too long, Xi Liu wouldn’t have been able to hold him at all-he’d have been punched flying from the start.

Thinking this, Gong Si couldn’t help but relax his grip a little.

Sensing the change, Xi Liu continued speaking slowly:

“I kept refusing to Form Contract. As long as I didn’t agree, Xie Kai and the others couldn’t force it, no matter how much they insisted. Then I thought, I’m about to die, finally ending this painful life. The feeling of release seemed pretty good.”

“When I saw the message you sent me, I called you back.”

“I just wanted to hear your voice before I died. After all, all my friends have died one by one. You’re my only friend left…”

“And then you said those things to me…”

“You encouraged me to live, that good things would happen if I kept living.”

“You made me want to go back to that beautiful Lengshui Town, that little town you can only visit if you’re alive…”
“Hey… you lied to me. The way you talked to me made it feel like you were right in Lengshui Town. That’s why, even when they told me in the end that the Vessel they set for me was a child, and that he had three older brothers, I never thought of you at all.”

Just like that, unhurriedly, Xi Liu finished explaining everything that had happened on his side.

His tone was gentle, yet there was a grievance that was hard to ignore, and he hinted at all the coincidences that led to this situation. As he spoke-

“Sorry,” Gong Si apologized to him.

“If it’s you, I’d feel more at ease leaving Ah Ji with you than with anyone else.” Even so, Gong Si still hadn’t forgotten where they were and what they were doing.

Kneeling on either side of Xi Liu’s body, Gong Si propped himself up, turned his head, and beckoned to Ah Ji, who was crawling around on the big bed playing with the curtains. “Ah Ji, come here. Do you remember this brother?”

Hearing his brother’s voice, Ah Ji finally let go of the cloth in his mouth, turned around, and crawled toward Gong Si.

Lying by his brother’s leg, Ah Ji tilted his head to look at Xi Liu, as if trying to recognize who this person was.

“So Ah Ji is the Form Contract partner Xie Kai prepared for me. This…” Looking at Ah Ji, Xi Liu showed a smile with an unreadable meaning. “I still remember the time Ah Ji peed on me.”

“Hey! Ah Ji doesn’t mind that you’re old, and yet you mind that he peed on you? Besides, didn’t I already compensate you for that.” Hearing Ah Ji being disliked, Gong Si was displeased again.

Xi Liu laughed again, but as he laughed, he looked weak and lay there, while Ah Ji seemed to sense something, his little body stiffening as he pressed tightly against his brother’s thigh.

“Is it time to Form Contract?” After a pause, Gong Si immediately thought of this possibility.

Xi Liu slowly nodded.

Looking at Xi Liu, then at his little brother, a complicated expression appeared on Gong Si’s face.

“I’ll say this again, and I would say it no matter who you are: you must treat Ah Ji well. Of course, if he does something wrong, you should tell him, and I will too. But when he hasn’t done anything wrong, please treat him well. He’s just a child, a child who can’t decide his own life.”

Finally, Gong Si looked at Xi Liu, his black eyes staring into another pair of dark eyes. He spoke, word by word: “I acted tough in front of Xie Kai, saying the only reason I agreed to his request was for Ah Ji.”

“But I know in my heart that’s not true. I can’t resist them, can’t resist Ah Ji’s fate, can’t help him wait until he grows up and can choose his own partner.”

“There’s nothing else I can do for him, except to stay by his side, to accompany him all the way.”

“So now, I solemnly ask you to treat Ah Ji well. He is not just your Vessel, but also my brother, my family. He’s still young, and now that you’ve Form Contract with him, you two are not just User and Vessel in the future, but should be partners, even family, shouldn’t you?”

Staring at Gong Si’s face, Xi Liu gradually put away the vulnerability and smile from his own face.

Quietly, he just looked at Gong Si, the two of them gazing at each other in silence.

He watched as two lines of tears flowed from Gong Si’s eyes.

“I heard you stayed with Ah Ji the whole way?” Xi Liu suddenly spoke.

“You accompanied him as he left his hometown, helped him adapt to my energy signature, soaked with him in the spring for twelve hours, and then brought him here.”

“Why?”

Xi Liu quietly watched Gong Si.

Wiping the tears from his face, Gong Si muttered, “What else could it be? Taking care of your younger brother-isn’t that the elder’s duty?”

“I’m just asking you, do you promise or not?” Will you treat Ah Ji well?

His eyebrows raised, his eyes once again sharp as knives, Gong Si glared fiercely at Xi Liu.

Xi Liu smiled again, nodded, and said softly, “Alright, I promise you.”

“Come here.” Then, he continued to speak gently to Gong Si.

“You want Ah Ji to come over?” Sniffling, Gong Si looked at Xi Liu, and after a while, dragged Ah Ji, who had somehow ended up behind him, out.

“So what exactly do we do? That Xie guy just told me to hand Ah Ji over to you, but one of you can’t move at all, and the other is so small. Do you need my help?” Gong Si asked.
“Come over here, open your hands, and match them with mine.” Xi Liu spoke softly.

Gong Si lifted Ah Ji by the armpits and brought him over to Xi Liu.

Lying flat on the bed, Xi Liu propped himself up on his elbows, raising both hands, his slender fingers glowing faintly under the light.

Honestly, the scene was beautiful.

But Gong Si had no mind to appreciate it. He tried to guide Ah Ji’s small hands into Xi Liu’s, but the usually obedient Ah Ji refused to cooperate. With no other option, Gong Si knelt again at Xi Liu’s sides, grasped Ah Ji’s hands himself, and, in this somewhat awkward posture, leaned forward step by step, slowly pressing Ah Ji’s little palms against Xi Liu’s.

He didn’t notice that, from beginning to end, Xi Liu’s gaze remained fixed on his face, just watching, watching…

Ah Ji struggled fiercely, and sweat began to bead on Gong Si’s forehead. Just when he thought he would finally succeed, Ah Ji’s little hands broke free again. As if he’d seen something terrifying, Ah Ji suddenly burst into tears, snot and tears everywhere, rolling off Xi Liu and scrambling to the farthest corner. Looking at his brother still there, Ah Ji wanted to run but didn’t dare, crying out “Ah ah,” looking both aggrieved and worried.

“Why did he run again… I’ll go get him back.” Gong Si tried to leave Xi Liu, but just as he moved, a sudden dizziness struck him. His body felt aflame; he went limp, about to collapse, and reflexively grabbed Xi Liu’s hand.

In that instant, their palms met perfectly.

Xi Liu’s hand was so hot!

That was Gong Si’s first thought. Then, to his shock, he felt something surge from Xi Liu’s palm into his own!

Intense heat! Like molten lava!

A torrent of magma-like energy pierced through Xi Liu’s palm into his own, then rushed throughout his body. The sensation was so scorching that, in a split second, Gong Si felt utterly weak, collapsing downward, breathing rapidly, his body burning unbearably!

With their bodies now in greater contact, even more heat surged from Xi Liu into him. Gong Si felt the heat flow weaving through him, turning him into a sieve, into a thin membrane. When that final membrane ruptured, Gong Si felt as if he ceased to exist!

With a “boom”-

Gong Si felt himself become mist!

Countless tiny droplets filled the canopy instantly. He felt he could see everything around him from every angle, 365 degrees without blind spots. He saw Xi Liu on the bed from above, from the left, from the right, from every direction.

But Xi Liu was different now.

To be precise, Xi Liu looked the same as usual, yet somehow entirely different.

Red and white canopies and sheets… even Ah Ji at the bed’s corner-all of it vanished from Gong Si’s sight. All he could see was Xi Liu, only Xi Liu. His luminous white body was surrounded by a shroud of black mist, endless and all-encompassing.

The black mist swirled around Xi Liu. Wherever it touched, Xi Liu’s body seemed to be swallowed, like a black hole.

Gong Si saw Xi Liu smiling, reaching out from the mist, arms open toward him.

With that motion, countless wisps of black mist slid from his arms, like water, like fire, like long black serpents.

Gong Si reflexively reached out to him, but this time, when their palms met again, Gong Si was shocked to feel his hand sink further into Xi Liu’s palm!

Not just his hand-his head, chest, thighs, calves… He felt himself melting into Xi Liu’s body.

As if he had become water, and Xi Liu was water too-his water merging into Xi Liu’s.

They became one.

The burning sensation flared up again, and Gong Si felt himself curling helplessly within Xi Liu. Faintly, he heard someone whisper softly in his ear:

“Pact Formed.”