Chapter 71: Outside Lumen City Lies the Deer Platform (9)
Bai Chunsheng only let Yan Yi get away with it once before he struggled out of Yan Yi’s grip. He was a soft, round ball of fluff. Yan Yi had to summon all his willpower to restrain himself from giving the plump white duck a squeeze.
Bai Chunsheng rolled on the ground and immediately transformed back into his human form. Thanks to the earlier experience, his clothes manifested in time.
He stood up, turned around warily, and glared at Yan Yi. “Why did that demon turn into my appearance?”
And it didn’t even wear clothes—ugh, shameless thing.
Yan Yi’s expression remained calm. “How would I know? Go ask it yourself.”
Damn this Yan Yi!
That guy must have gained some secrets during the day Bai Chunsheng was trapped in the jade figurine town. Gritting his teeth, Bai Chunsheng muttered, “Fine, don’t tell me. Who cares?” He figured it had to do with the incense stick—likely the key to Yan Yi’s escape.
Bai Chunsheng thought to himself that he didn’t need Yan Yi to tell him. He already had a theory.
He guessed that bringing the jade figurine here and lighting the incense would trigger an illusion based on the person trapped inside the figurine. If someone wasn’t fooled by the illusion and could recognize it as fake, extinguishing the incense would then free the trapped person.
Although this explanation still seemed a little far-fetched, since it was something he had come up with himself, Bai Chunsheng habitually ignored the inconsistencies and thought he was brilliant.
Being able to escape at all was enough to make him cry with joy.
Seeing that Bai Chunsheng was speaking out of anger, Yan Yi didn’t bother coaxing him. He raised an eyebrow and picked up the brocade box on the small table, pretending to inspect it.
Inside the brocade box was a painting. Yan Yi didn’t open it to look. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bai Chunsheng standing still, sulking on his own.
Bai Chunsheng was taken aback when Yan Yi said nothing. After a long pause, he finally realized what that meant.
Yan Yi was hiding something from him—and had no intention of telling him at all.
—He didn’t trust him anymore.
Yan Yi… Yan Jingqiu, had he recovered his memories? Bai Chunsheng quickly shook his head. Impossible. If Yan Jingqiu had really regained his memories, he wouldn’t have saved him. At most, he would’ve stuffed his jade figurine form into a box, and whenever he remembered him, he’d pull it out just to mock him.
But then why?
Didn’t Yan Yi like him?
Bai Chunsheng mulled it over again and again. In the end, he gritted his teeth, held his nose, turned back into his original form, and decided to seduce Yan Yi a bit—rekindle the flames of love.
At the very least, until they returned to the Wutong Tree Sea, he couldn’t afford to lose Yan Yi’s affection.
The plump white duck waddled and swayed over to Yan Yi’s feet, then squatted down. Bai Chunsheng looked up at Yan Yi and said, “I’ll let you touch my feathers.”
A long time passed. Bai Chunsheng could clearly feel that Yan Yi was watching him, but he still didn’t say a word.
Just as Bai Chunsheng began to doubt his own charm, Yan Yi finally asked slowly, “…Bai Chunsheng, what are you doing?”
Seeing that his move didn’t work, Bai Chunsheng lowered his head, a bit discouraged.
He turned back into a human. As thoughts came to him, he spoke them—his words coming even faster than his thoughts.
Bai Chunsheng lifted his head, eyes shining with hope. “Yan Yi, do you still like me?”
The moment the words left his mouth, Bai Chunsheng sensed something was off. But asking it out loud still felt much better than bottling it up.
He saw—and heard—Yan Yi laugh. The temperature in the air seemed to rise. The floor, though made of jade, suddenly ignited.
In the very center of the grand hall, the flames blazed.
The burning wood resembled a bonfire.
Compared to the side halls, this main hall had always been much dimmer. The mysterious light from earlier never lingered here. It was as if this palace held a forgotten memory, a dust-covered secret, that only by being deliberately avoided could it remain intact.
Yan Yi sat down right next to Bai Chunsheng.
Bai Chunsheng, seeing that Yan Yi still said nothing, finally couldn’t hold back. “Say something! If you like me, then say so. If you don’t, then say that. Do you really need to think about it for so long?”
Yan Yi tilted his head and asked, “What about you? I want to hear you say it.”
Bai Chunsheng recalled what had happened when he was once trapped at the Deer Platform. Back then, Yan Jingqiu had also asked him the same question. But at that time, Bai Chunsheng had immediately jumped up and shouted, “Why are you so full of yourself? No, of course I don’t like you!”
But now, things were different. If he said he didn’t like him, then Yan Yi would be even less likely to like him back.
Not that he truly liked Yan Jingqiu. No, definitely not.
Bai Chunsheng stared straight into the burning flames, speaking slowly, “I do.”
His voice was so soft that it was nearly drowned out by the crackling of the fire.
But Yan Yi had already heard him. He looked over at Bai Chunsheng, his voice just as low, “I like you too.”
Because of the fire, the hall had become much brighter. Bai Chunsheng’s face was lit up, glowing a little.
His eyes sparkled, too.
Bai Chunsheng’s heart was pounding fast—so was Yan Yi’s.
He felt like all his thoughts were spinning wildly. Everything around him turned into a blur of lines and blotches. The only thing he could see clearly was Bai Chunsheng, surrounded by the flickering firelight.
Bai Chunsheng’s eyelashes fluttered softly like crow feathers. Yan Yi watched him as if the moonlight and starlight from the heavens had wrapped themselves gently around the glowing figure of Bai Chunsheng.
He didn’t know what to call this feeling. Maybe this was what people meant when they said they liked someone.
His kind of liking.
Yan Yi’s kind of liking, not the one he used to have.
Calm. Quiet. Steady.
The fire grew larger and larger, devouring everything within sight. The flames even began crawling up the legs of their trousers and the sleeves of their robes, but neither of them moved away. They let the blazing fire spread freely.
Bai Chunsheng glanced at the flames and said, “The fire’s huge. It’s about to reach the roof.”
Yan Yi replied, “Then let it burn.”
He turned his head and gently kissed Bai Chunsheng’s lips. Bai Chunsheng’s lips were dry yet soft, like a piece of jade warmed by body heat.
Bai Chunsheng hesitated for a moment, as if considering whether to push Yan Yi away. This time, Yan Yi neither held his head nor grabbed his chin—if Bai Chunsheng wanted to push him away, it would’ve been easy.
But Bai Chunsheng didn’t move. After a short pause, he hesitantly parted his lips slightly, allowing Yan Yi to deepen the kiss little by little.
He wanted Yan Yi to kiss him… and yet he also didn’t.
Bai Chunsheng’s foolish brain couldn’t make sense of all these complicated feelings. The only thought that surfaced was: since Yan Yi kissed him, maybe that meant he wouldn’t abandon him so easily.
He didn’t want to be left behind by Yan Jingqiu.
Amid the overwhelming blaze, Bai Chunsheng saw the edge of his vision distort like the curling pages of a well-worn book—slowly curling in, then being devoured by the licking flames.
The second illusion finally came to an end. Yan Yi and Bai Chunsheng sat on the floor of the main hall.
The stick of incense in the lotus-shaped burner had burned down to its final bit.
Between the roaring flames and the burning emotions, only one of them had been real.
Author’s Note:
The first illusion was about false appearances—it required recognizing what was truly real. The second illusion amplified emotions—it forced the characters to suppress their true feelings. So whether it was Yan Yi’s initial coldness toward Bai Chunsheng, or Bai Chunsheng trying to comfort and deceive himself into thinking he didn’t actually like Yan Jingqiu, those were all results of suppressed emotions.
But love can’t be suppressed forever. That’s why the fire ignited.
Technically, the second illusion was a failure. But since Yan Jingqiu is one of the strongest characters in the story, he and Bai Chunsheng stayed in that chaotic illusion until the incense finally burned out and released them.
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
