Chà Chà Novel

In the Boundless Space, Yan Shiqing woke inside a mechanical pod. His usually languid, carefree expression showed a rare flicker of emotion, and he hurried toward his private quarters.

Balala, who had been waiting beside the pod with a smile, froze. Lord Shiqing had walked straight past him…

How rude!!!

Lord Shiqing was so rude!!!

Yan Shiqing opened the door to his quarters. A vast white emptiness greeted him. He snapped his fingers, and the space transformed into an ordinary sitting room.

He opened a hidden compartment beneath the marble table and took out a finely crafted box. Inside lay an exquisite necklace made of bone.

Thank goodness he was still in time.

He was about to close the compartment when he noticed another small box inside, this one wrapped in beautiful red velvet.

In an instant, his thoughts returned to three years ago, when he and Lu Yan had divorced.

Lu Yan had created the Boundless Space. No—perhaps it was more accurate to say that he and Yan Shiqing had created it together. Lu Yan’s spiritual form was stronger, so he was the one bonded to the entire space. Yan Shiqing handled anomalies and entered smaller worlds on missions to retrieve the original inhabitants’ souls.

He and Lu Yan had been together for so long that, three years ago, Yan Shiqing had missed Lu Yan’s birthday for a reason he could no longer remember.

He hadn’t exactly forgotten. He had known what day it was; he simply hadn’t made it back in time.

Although he couldn’t remember what had delayed him, he did remember coming home and taking out the gift he had prepared well in advance. He had meant to apologize softly and coax Lu Yan into forgiving him. Instead, Lu Yan had said two words: “Let’s divorce.”

To be honest, Yan Shiqing had never imagined hearing those words from him. For once, he was stunned. He stared at Lu Yan and asked hoarsely, “Because I didn’t make it back for your birthday?”

If that was the reason, Yan Shiqing thought Lu Yan must have lost his mind. They had lived for countless years. A birthday was hardly important. If Lu Yan wanted, any day could be his birthday. Yan Shiqing didn’t even attach much importance to his own.

If Lu Yan failed to come home for Yan Shiqing’s birthday, or forgot to prepare a gift or a surprise, Yan Shiqing might not have remembered the occasion himself.

He thought Lu Yan was being unreasonable. But what had Lu Yan said in response? Let him think.

Oh, yes.

“Yan Shiqing, I’m tired. You never remember my birthday. I reminded you again and again, and you still missed it. It’s just like how I’ve told you more than once that I’m your husband and that I don’t like watching you laugh and joke with the other mission agents here. You know that person from Team Seven has feelings for you, but you still take missions with him. You don’t care how I feel. Not even a little.”

“Even when I deliberately get close to someone who’s trying to flirt with me and make sure you see it, you just smile, assume we’re discussing work, and close the door behind you. Yan Shiqing, do you really love me?”

Lu Yan had sounded hurt, almost painfully vulnerable. Yet Yan Shiqing hadn’t felt guilty at all.

He had only thought Lu Yan was making a fuss again…

Neither of them aged or died. Unless their souls dissolved, they would go on existing among the countless worlds. If they could never die, Yan Shiqing saw no reason to celebrate birthdays.

And birthdays were only the beginning with Lu Yan. There was their wedding anniversary, the Qixi Festival, Christmas, New Year’s Day, Lunar New Year, and a different color-themed Valentine’s Day practically every month. Somehow, the year seemed full of occasions Lu Yan wanted to celebrate.

The Boundless Space ran more smoothly now, and Yan Shiqing was not as busy as he used to be. So most of the time, however helpless he felt about it, he went along with Lu Yan’s wishes.

Missing that birthday really had been an accident. Something had gone wrong with his transport pod, and he simply couldn’t get back in time. Lu Yan had reminded him about it, and Yan Shiqing had tried his best to make sure he remembered.

As for the person Lu Yan claimed had feelings for him, Yan Shiqing felt unfairly accused. The person from Team Seven would probably feel even more wronged. He wasn’t interested in Yan Shiqing at all. He liked someone from a world Yan Shiqing had once entered on a mission, someone who had since become a mission agent himself.

That person had been a key figure Yan Shiqing knew fairly well, though he had a distant personality. The Team Seven agent had followed Yan Shiqing around for days only because he was trying to get closer to him.

As for laughing and joking with other people, Yan Shiqing probably did. No one spoke only to their husband; that would be absurd. He had thought Lu Yan’s demand unreasonable, but because he loved him, he hadn’t lost his temper over it. He hadn’t expected Lu Yan to turn around and blame him.

But Lu Yan had deliberately gotten close to people who were trying to flirt with him?

Yan Shiqing wasn’t sure about that. He had always been less perceptive than most people when it came to feelings. He hadn’t even noticed anyone trying to flirt with Lu Yan. Had he really seen it happen?

Had he smiled and closed the door on them?

That was entirely possible. Even if he found Lu Yan alone with someone, he would assume they were discussing work.

Then there was Lu Yan’s final question.

Yan Shiqing did love him. He might be slow to notice other people’s feelings, and Lu Yan’s frequent dramatics might drive him up the wall, but on this point he had never been confused. He loved Lu Yan.

Yet with Lu Yan acting like this, he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Lu Yan had been making a fuss more and more often lately. Today had simply been worse than usual—he had even brought up divorce.

Yan Shiqing didn’t answer him. Instead, he drew his hand from his pocket. His palm was empty. The gift he had prepared for Lu Yan remained tucked away, with no chance, it seemed, of being given.

He sat on the sofa opposite Lu Yan. The rushed journey home had left him tired. Crossing his long legs, he propped his head on one hand and regarded Lu Yan through half-lidded eyes.

“All right. You want a divorce? I agree.”

The sorrowful expression Lu Yan had put on froze. He looked up at Yan Shiqing in disbelief.

Yan Shiqing was acting differently today. He was a reasonable person. If he was in the wrong, he would always coax Lu Yan, never holding back the sweet words that usually left Lu Yan so delighted he forgot what he had been upset about.

And Yan Shiqing responded to tenderness, never pressure. All Lu Yan had to do was show the slightest trace of hurt at being overlooked, and Yan Shiqing would draw him into his arms and comfort him.

So why wasn’t he comforting him this time?

Lu Yan looked at him. Finding courage from somewhere, he spoke with a cold face. This time, he really was angry.

“Yan Shiqing, you have no heart.”

A knock at the door brought Yan Shiqing’s memories to an abrupt end. He closed the hidden compartment.

“Come in.”

Balala poked his head through the doorway. With his fluffy white hair and youthful face, he looked impossibly cute.

“Lord Shiqing, the Lord God wants you to come give another world report…”

Yan Shiqing acknowledged him and went.

When he arrived, Lu Yan was staring absently at the data from the latest world. This time, though, he felt entirely different from how he had after the last one. He was certain now that Yan Shiqing had known who both men were.

Tan Shen was him. Lu Yinghuai was him too. His Qingqing had known all along.

Host: Yan Shiqing
World difficulty: A
World completion: 100%
Original host’s satisfaction: 100%
Target’s regret: 100%
Time spent completing the world: 65.3 years

Sixty-five point three years…

A mortal life lasted only a few short decades. He had spent another whole lifetime with Yan Shiqing.

If the two of them had been ordinary people among the countless worlds, perhaps this was how they would have lived together too.

The door opened. The smile still lingered on Lu Yan’s lips as he looked up and saw Yan Shiqing as he truly was.

Not Xia Liangzhi. Not Shen Ci’an.

Yan Shiqing.

His Yan Shiqing.

He was not Tan Shen or Lu Yinghuai. He was Lu Yan—Yan Shiqing’s Lu Yan.

“Qingqing.”

Lu Yan dismissed the data panel and rested his chin on his hand as he called to him. His long, upturned eyes held a depth of affection. Unlike Yan Shiqing’s alluring, tender eyes, Lu Yan’s had a colder shape. When he wasn’t smiling, a glance from him could make anyone uneasy.

But when those same eyes filled with love, the contrast was more than beautiful. It could shake a person to the core.

And he would only ever look at Yan Shiqing that way.

For once since their divorce, Yan Shiqing offered no cutting remark. He took the box from his pocket and set it on Lu Yan’s desk.

“Happy birthday, Lu Yan.”

Lu Yan’s birthday was also the anniversary of their divorce. No—Yan Shiqing had arrived late that year. They had divorced the day after his birthday.

Lu Yan’s smile faltered. He couldn’t help remembering his birthday three years ago, the night he had told Yan Shiqing they should separate.

Three years had passed. He had celebrated neither his birthday nor any other holiday in that time. If not for Yan Shiqing’s gift, he might even have forgotten it was his birthday today.

Long ago, after Lu Yan had pestered him beyond endurance, Yan Shiqing had snapped, “Lu Yan, we’ve both lived for hundreds of years. How am I supposed to remember every holiday? It doesn’t mean I don’t love you. Could you stop being so sensitive?”

At the time, Lu Yan had only been angry at being called sensitive. He had gone cold and made Yan Shiqing spend ages coaxing him out of it.

Looking back now, divorcing over a birthday really did seem absurd.

Yan Shiqing had been right: after hundreds of years, it was hard to keep track of every holiday. In the past three years, Lu Yan himself had forgotten so many of them. The only date he still remembered was Yan Shiqing’s birthday.

Those holidays had never been what mattered. What mattered was that he wanted to spend them with Yan Shiqing.

Lu Yan opened the box. Inside lay a beautiful necklace made of bone. On the back of the bone was a tiny but clearly engraved character: “Yan.”

It was obvious Yan Shiqing had chosen the gift himself. He liked simple things: a fine chain with a small piece of bone hanging from it, and nothing more.

Lu Yan rose and came around the desk. After looking at Yan Shiqing for a few seconds, he pulled him into his arms. For the first time in three years, they held each other as themselves.

Yan Shiqing hesitated, then wrapped his arms around Lu Yan’s waist.

It should have been a tender moment. Unfortunately, someone had no sense of timing…

Balala hurriedly pushed open the door. The moment he saw Lord Shiqing and the Lord God embracing, he wished he could disappear into the floor.

What was going on? What was going on?!

Weren’t they supposed to be discussing a world report?!

Lu Yan looked up at him with murder in his eyes. Balala wanted to back out, but the matter was urgent. He forced himself to speak.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but Lord Shiqing, I entered the wrong time for your transfer to the next world. I meant to schedule it for three days from now…”

Yan Shiqing slowly stepped out of Lu Yan’s embrace and gave Balala a sidelong glance.

“And when did you schedule it for?”

Balala offered an awkward smile. The dimples in his youthful face made him look as adorable as ever. Trembling, he held up three fingers.

“Th-three minutes from now.”

Lu Yan was furious. With a snap of his fingers, he sent Balala away. Then he turned to Yan Shiqing and opened his mouth to speak.

Yan Shiqing sighed. He tugged Lu Yan closer by his tie and tilted his head up, stopping the words with a kiss.

It was a brief kiss, but it sent Lu Yan’s heart racing. When they parted, Yan Shiqing smiled at him and said softly, “See you in the next world, my ex-husband.”

……………………………………

When Yan Shiqing regained consciousness, every part of him hurt, as though his body had been shattered and put back together. The pain was so intense that he wanted to pass out again.

Seeing his distress, Balala hurriedly activated pain blocking. Only then could Yan Shiqing gather himself enough to take in the memories flooding his mind.

This was an interstellar world. The body he now occupied belonged to Wen Shilan, once hailed as the God of War on the planet Silan.

Once. Yan Shiqing had arrived just after Wen Shilan fought the insectoid queen. She had drained all his mental power, leaving him powerless.

No wonder he had been in so much pain.

In this world, mental power was the measure of strength. The more of it a person possessed, the higher their standing. Wen Shilan had been the strongest person on Silan. He had led its soldiers in repelling countless insectoid attacks.

Yet the insectoids could never be eliminated completely. Every insectoid soldier split off from the queen’s body. As long as even one survived, the queen would not truly disappear; she would only fall dormant.

This latest war had dragged on for a long time. The insectoid queen had gathered all her forces to attack Silan, and Wen Shilan had exhausted every last bit of his mental power to force her back into dormancy.

He had been gravely wounded and spent a long time recovering. Even after he lost his mental power, the Federation left him in his former post.

Could a general without mental power still lead soldiers?

No.

At first, they still admired and respected him. In time, however, everyone could see that Wen Shilan could not even withstand the lowest-ranking soldier. He could no longer give his troops the confidence that they would win.

Then, during a battle, he was taken prisoner. The enemy released him in a show of contempt, and he became a disgrace to Silan. Even his deputy, Tang Wan, who had once been in love with him, looked at him with cold eyes, though Wen Shilan had begun to return his feelings.

In fact, Wen Shilan had intended to accept Tang Wan’s pursuit when he returned from the war. But after losing his mental power, he never heard Tang Wan say he loved him again.

The young man who had once looked at him with admiration and affection took his position as general. When Wen Shilan was released and came back covered in wounds, Tang Wan said only, “You really disappointed me.”

Everyone wished he had died at the enemy’s hands. The people he had fought to protect, the soldiers who had risked their lives beside him, the Federation to which he had pledged his loyalty unto death—all of them seemed to forget what he had done.

They despised him for coming back alive, released like a humiliation instead of dying in captivity. No one asked what he had suffered. They only wanted him dead.

In the end, Wen Shilan did die. He went home and shot himself.

A man once revered as a god of war died hated by the very people he had protected.

There was no tangle of romance in this world, yet its cruelty chilled Yan Shiqing to the bone.

How absurd. The moment someone fell from grace, people forgot everything they had done for them. Wen Shilan had lost his power defending Silan, yet in the end, all anyone remembered was that he had become a disgrace.

Mission for this world: Keep the God of War’s light from fading and become Tang Wan’s eternal white moonlight.

Keep the God of War’s light from fading…

Merely keeping it alive wasn’t enough. Yan Shiqing wanted everyone on Silan to know what Wen Shilan had sacrificed. Only then would all he had suffered mean something.

And as for Tang Wan… Wen Shilan, Wen Shilan. Your taste in people really was terrible.

Wen Shilan had never once said whether he loved Tang Wan, but if he hadn’t, why would this have been one of his wishes?

After Wen Shilan died, Tang Wan took his place as the new God of War. He later married a delicate young man from the family of a high-ranking Federation official, someone who could hardly lift a thing.

Tang Wan hadn’t rejected Wen Shilan because he had become an ordinary man. He had simply stopped wanting him once the glory of the God of War was gone.

He had been drawn to Wen Shilan at the height of his fame, only to turn a cold eye on him when he fell. That kind of love… wasn’t worth much at all.

Having absorbed the memories, Yan Shiqing gave a scornful smile. A knock sounded at the door, followed by a voice bright with surprise.

“General, you’re awake?”

P.S.  The new world is here!