Chà Chà Novel

After Lan Zhai returned to the palace, Wen Sheng could clearly feel Lan Tang’s possessiveness becoming unreasonable again.

“I only went for a walk by the sea. Do you really have to react like this?”

Sitting on Lan Tang’s lap, Wen Sheng helplessly squeezed his cheeks. Since Lan Zhai’s return, Lan Tang evidently had more free time, so Wen Sheng had failed to get back to his chambers before him. He had been coaxing Lan Tang for ages, but the man still wore a long face.

Lan Tang held Wen Sheng by the waist and would not let him get up. In truth, he was not angry because Wen Sheng had been gone when he returned. He simply liked being coaxed by him. He was indulging in the sort of petulance a spoiled child might show.

“I told you I wanted to see you when I came back. You promised, but you didn’t keep your word.”

…

If Wen Sheng had known Lan Tang would return in less than an hour, he would never have made that promise.

He wanted to argue, but Lan Tang clearly would not listen. There was no reasoning with the director of a whole jealousy factory.

Wen Sheng knew Lan Tang was worried that Lan Zhai might influence him. After all, Lan Tang believed he had come ashore for Lan Zhai.

He could not explain the truth, so when Lan Tang sulked, all he could do was soothe him. With a sigh, Wen Sheng leaned down and kissed him. A moment later, their breaths mingled.

…

Lan Tang might be sulking, but he did not miss a single chance to take advantage of the moment. The large hand at Wen Sheng’s waist began to wander, and things started heading in a strange direction…

In broad daylight, the temperature in the chambers seemed to rise sharply. Wen Sheng wondered whether he should refuse. He genuinely felt he could not take much more.

His body was so worn out that the exhaustion felt suffocating…

He was just about to push Lan Tang away when someone knocked on the chamber door. Wen Sheng instinctively lifted his head, breaking their kiss. Displeasure flickered in Lan Tang’s eyes.

“Someone’s here. Stop fooling around.” Wen Sheng tried to get off his lap, but Lan Tang held him so firmly that he could not move.

“So what if someone’s here?”

Lan Tang raised a hand and stroked Wen Sheng’s smooth cheek. There was unmistakable desire in Wen Sheng’s gray-blue eyes. This side of Wen Sheng belonged to him alone. No one else was allowed to see it.

Wen Sheng wondered how this man could be so shameless. In every world, Lu Yan, including the Lu Yan in the Supreme Space, seemed entirely at ease with having no sense of embarrassment.

It was remarkable. But even if Lu Yan had no shame, Wen Sheng still did. If someone caught them fooling around in broad daylight, he would never be able to show his face again…

Frowning, Wen Sheng tried to pry Lan Tang’s hands from his waist. “Someone’s here. Stop it and let me—”

“Let him go!”

Wen Sheng was cut off by a furious voice.

Lan Zhai had knocked several times without getting an answer. Thinking Wen Sheng was out, he had pushed the door open to check. But what was he seeing?!

His brother was holding Wen Sheng in his arms by force, and Wen Sheng could not break free no matter how he struggled!

Wen Sheng’s back was to Lan Zhai, so he could not see his expression. All he saw was Lan Tang’s cold, unyielding face. Anger surged through him. He strode into the room and pointed at Lan Tang, accusation plain in his voice. “Lan Tang, let Wen Sheng go!”

Lan Tang glanced sideways at Lan Zhai, his narrow eyes turning icy. Lan Zhai’s tone displeased him.

This man seemed to have misunderstood something. Wen Sheng was his.

What gave Lan Zhai the right to speak to him that way?

Far from releasing Wen Sheng, Lan Tang tightened his hold until Wen Sheng was pressed against him. His voice was thick with mockery. “Who do you think you are, coming in here and shouting at me?”

Lan Zhai was dressed in his fine clothes again, but his time on the island had left his skin rough, something a few days of care could not undo. He was still somewhat tanned. His features showed that he was handsome, but beside the rare beauty of Lan Tang and Wen Sheng, he seemed far less striking.

Lan Zhai had clearly noticed the contrast too. That faint sense of inferiority swept over him again, but anger quickly buried it. He looked at Wen Sheng and forced his voice to soften. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”

The words were laughable, at least to Wen Sheng. If the situation had been different, he would have laughed out loud. “I’m here”?

Here to do what?

As Lan Zhai’s outstretched hand was about to touch him, Wen Sheng pressed closer to Lan Tang. He glanced sideways at Lan Zhai with his lovely eyes and said, sounding a little embarrassed, “Prince Lan Zhai, I think you’ve misunderstood.”

“Lan Tang and I were flirting. Just a little intimacy between lovers. You understand, don’t you?”

The chill Lan Tang had radiated since Lan Zhai appeared vanished at Wen Sheng’s words. His wariness disappeared too. He gently stroked Wen Sheng’s back, the touch tender yet unmistakably intimate.

Lan Zhai’s hand closed on empty air. He froze, held that ridiculous pose for several seconds, then lowered his arm. Disbelief filled his eyes, and his voice rose. “What are you talking about? You don’t have to be afraid. I’ll protect you.”

Lan Zhai could think of only one explanation. Was Wen Sheng saying this because he did not want Lan Zhai and Lan Tang to clash?

That had to be it. Wen Sheng had come ashore for him. How could he flirt with someone else right in front of him?

Wen Sheng loved him…

Lan Tang glanced at Lan Zhai. His absurd expression seemed to amuse him, and laughter entered his voice. He lightly kissed Wen Sheng’s cheek before looking back at his brother. “Lan Zhai, you’re interrupting me and your brother’s consort. Be sensible and leave.”

“Shut up!”

Lan Zhai glared at Lan Tang, his eyes bloodshot, and reached for Wen Sheng. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his arm, so intense that he fell to the floor.

What?

Wen Sheng’s eyes widened slightly. Was Lan Zhai pretending to be hurt?

How could someone go from storming toward them to lying on the floor in the space of a second? It made no sense at all…

“It hurts! Ah! It hurts!”

Agonizing pain in his arm made Lan Zhai cry out uncontrollably, his face turning deathly pale. Lan Tang acted as though he saw nothing and continued scattering little kisses along Wen Sheng’s neck.

When Wen Sheng looked toward Lan Zhai in curiosity, Lan Tang turned his face back with a displeased expression and captured his soft lips.

Wen Sheng was not used to kissing in front of other people. But knowing how petty Lan Tang could be, he suspected that if he pushed him away now, his waist would pay for it later.

The fierce pain in Lan Zhai’s arm had come quickly and, strangely, vanished even faster. Still pale from it, he lay on the floor watching Wen Sheng and Lan Tang kiss.

Wen Sheng’s arms circled Lan Tang’s neck, while Lan Tang’s hand rested at Wen Sheng’s waist. Their posture and movements were so practiced, so intimate. Lan Zhai could only watch them from the floor, as wretched as a dog dragged from the water.

Why…

Why was everything different from what he had imagined? How could Wen Sheng kiss someone else? Wen Sheng loved him…

How could he kiss someone else?

This was wrong…

How had it become like this?

“Didn’t you come ashore for me?”

Lan Zhai trembled as he watched Wen Sheng close his eyes and lean into Lan Tang with complete trust. It seemed that even if Lan Tang raised a blade over him, Wen Sheng would only look up in innocent confusion and smile as he asked what Lan Tang was doing.

This could not be right. How could Wen Sheng be like this with someone else? Had he not come ashore for Lan Zhai?

Wen Sheng still felt uncomfortable kissing in front of someone else. Hearing Lan Zhai’s question, he pushed Lan Tang away with a little force. Thoroughly soothed, Lan Tang obediently released him. He did not mind when Wen Sheng rose from his lap. Propping his chin on one hand, he watched him with a smile, as though he had forgotten Lan Zhai lying wretchedly on the floor.

“Lan Tang, wait for me outside the door for a moment.”

Wen Sheng’s lips were vivid red, but his words dimmed the smile in Lan Tang’s eyes. Lan Tang neither moved nor spoke, acting as though he had heard nothing.

The fact that Lan Zhai could stand unharmed before Wen Sheng was already a result of Lan Tang’s restraint. Even though he knew Wen Sheng no longer liked Lan Zhai, he could not bear to leave the two of them alone together.

Wen Sheng really had once liked Lan Zhai. That was a fact.

If Wen Sheng’s feelings for Lan Zhai had been anything less than pure, the potion would not have worked, and Wen Sheng could never have come ashore.

It was a knot Lan Tang could not untangle in his heart.

Seeing that his request had made no difference and Lan Tang sat there as immovably as a mountain, Wen Sheng knew he would not leave today. It did not matter. There was nothing he was about to say that Lan Tang could not hear.

The sudden pain in Lan Zhai’s arm had vanished completely. Without even stopping to wonder why it had happened, he scrambled to his feet and looked at Wen Sheng.

“Lan Zhai, you’re right. I did come ashore for you.”

There was no denying it. The original Wen Sheng had come ashore for Lan Zhai; that was an unchangeable fact.

“A merperson has to endure three days and three nights of agony as their tail is eaten away before it can turn into legs. Do you know what that pain is like? For a human, it would be like having your heart cut out. The difference is that a human would die, while a merperson lives through it.”

The pain of having one’s heart cut out, for three days and three nights…

The smile vanished entirely from Lan Tang’s eyes. He knew how difficult it was for merpeople to come ashore. In the past, he had thought any merperson who chose to do it was a fool. But when he imagined Wen Sheng enduring it, he could hardly bear the thought.

Even the slightest bump or scrape on Wen Sheng made his heart ache. How much worse must that agony have been?

“I’m sorry. I treated you badly before. I’ll make it up to you. I’ll spend my life atoning for the mistakes I made.”

Hope rose again in Lan Zhai’s eyes. Though it hurt him to think of Wen Sheng’s suffering, a secret joy stirred beneath that pain. Wen Sheng had loved him so much…

Before that joy could grow, Wen Sheng’s languid voice slowly reached him.

“It’s too late, Lan Zhai. I don’t love you anymore…”

Wen Sheng said those words on behalf of the original owner of this body. It was only at the moment he turned into sea foam that the original Wen Sheng finally understood. He no longer wanted to be with Lan Zhai. He only wished to become an unforgettable love in Lan Zhai’s heart, so that every memory of him would bring a fresh wave of pain for the rest of Lan Zhai’s life.

“I endured the agony of having my tail eaten away to come ashore, only to find you happily in love with someone else. All those days we spent together on the island now feel like a joke. I don’t blame you for liking Yun Yin. What disgusts me most is that anyone could pretend to be me, and you still wouldn’t recognize the difference.”

Across four small worlds, Lu Yan had lost his memory four times. Yet each time, he had fallen in love with Yan Shiqing almost at once, without exception.

Whatever identity Lu Yan had taken, it happened every single time!

How could someone truly love a person and fail to recognize them? It was an instinct engraved in the soul. Yan Shiqing had worn a different face in each of the four worlds, and Lu Yan had never failed to find him.

Wen Sheng felt that the original owner of this body had deserved far better than to fall in love with someone like Lan Zhai.

It was terribly sad…

Embarrassment flashed across Lan Zhai’s face. He hurried to explain, his voice unsteady. “I was blind then, and Yun Yin deliberately copied you. I…”

“A person can imitate someone else’s words and mannerisms, but they can’t become that person completely. You could have noticed any number of little differences. For example, Yun Yin knows nothing about medicinal herbs, whereas I treated your wounds on the island myself.”

The seawater had left the wound on Lan Zhai’s leg almost rotten. Wen Sheng had treated it for him, while Yun Yin could not even identify the simplest herbs.

“Or take the faint smell of fish on Yun Yin. A merperson, on the other hand, carries a distinctive fragrance.”

When merpeople were happy or pleased, they released a special scent. It repelled mosquitoes and kept other creatures away.

“There are many more details, but I don’t want to list them. You had so many chances to realize Yun Yin wasn’t the person who saved you on the island, yet you never did. Let me think about why…”

“You liked the way Yun Yin looked at you with admiration. You liked how gentle and eager to please he seemed. He was your type, so you didn’t want to look too closely. You convinced yourself the person who suited your tastes had to be the one you were searching for.”

“That’s not true. It wasn’t like that. I… I…” Lan Zhai’s voice faltered. His explanation hung unfinished because he did not know what else to say.

“Go, Lan Zhai. Don’t come looking for me again. Let’s leave the little blind boy and the little mute boy on the island with one last beautiful memory.”

The little blind boy and the little mute boy…

Lan Zhai had used those words on the island…

He had once said that the little blind boy and the little mute boy were made for each other. But he was no longer blind, and Wen Sheng was no longer mute. They had missed their chance completely.

“But you’ll turn into sea foam…”

Lan Zhai looked at Wen Sheng, trembling. This was his last hope. A merperson who failed to receive the love of the one they loved would turn into sea foam when the hundred days ended. If Wen Sheng stayed with him, he certainly would not disappear…

“Then would you let me turn into sea foam?”

A smile touched Wen Sheng’s lips. His lovely eyes held an almost bewitching tenderness.

In that instant, Lan Zhai felt his heart surrender completely.

Wen Sheng would not turn into sea foam now. Lan Zhai had truly fallen in love with him. A merperson turned into sea foam only if their love went unreturned. Wen Sheng would be safe, even though he no longer loved Lan Zhai…