The place where Ruan Qiuping's waist touched Yu Huan felt as hot as fire. Ruan Qiuping, almost in a panic, reached out to push Yu Huan away. However, halfway through the motion, his peripheral vision caught sight of Yu Huan's cane and his slightly bent right leg.
Ruan Qiuping's hand trembled, and he found himself unable to push Yu Huan away.
Yet he feared that the longer Yu Huan was in contact with him, the more bad luck would be transmitted. His heart began to race as if he were being roasted over a fire. Looking up at Yu Huan, he was so anxious he was almost in tears. "...Let go of me!"
"No," Yu Huan said, tightening his arm even more.
Ruan Qiuping's pupils were almost instantly clouded with moisture. He clenched his fists and, almost viciously, gritted his teeth and threatened, "If you... if you don't let go of me right now, I won't come back next year!"
Yu Huan was silent for a moment, then slowly loosened his arm.
Ruan Qiuping felt relieved and hurriedly moved away, jumping to a spot three or four meters away from Yu Huan.
He thought to himself, "Scared now, aren't you? Threatened, aren't you? You won't dare to be so bold as to touch me again!"
Ruan Qiuping looked at Yu Huan's lowered head and began to wonder if his words had been too harsh.
But in the next second, he heard Yu Huan laugh and say, "So, does that mean Ruan Ruan will come next year, and the year after, and every year after that?"
Ruan Qiuping was stunned for a moment.
That wasn't what he meant...
Yu Huan looked up at him, the corners of his lips curving slightly upward, his eyes soft and bright, seeming to sparkle with countless tiny lights.
Looking into those eyes, Ruan Qiuping found it impossible to say the word "no."
"Will Ruan Ruan keep his word?" Yu Huan's voice was soft and low, as if trying to bewitch him.
As if possessed, Ruan Qiuping nodded.
Yu Huan smiled again and then walked towards Ruan Qiuping.
Ruan Qiuping quickly retreated a few steps. "I-I told you! If you touch me again, I won't come back in the future, so, so you need to stay away from me!"
"How far away should I stay from Ruan Ruan?"
"Five meters!"
"That's too far."
"Four meters!"
"Ruan Ruan, I already walk slowly. If we're too far apart, we'll get separated in the crowd."
"...Then three meters! No closer."
Yu Huan nodded slightly, agreeing to the terms.
Ruan Qiuping breathed a sigh of relief, but he vaguely felt like he had overlooked something important.
He thought for a while but still couldn't remember what it was, so he decided to let it go for now.
He looked up at Yu Huan's glasses and asked curiously, "Why do you wear glasses? Is there something wrong with your eyes?"
Yu Huan frowned slightly, "What did Ruan Ruan say? I couldn't hear clearly."
Ruan Qiuping was shocked and asked loudly, "Is there something wrong with your ears too?!"
Yu Huan said, "I can hear clearly now. Perhaps Ruan Ruan's voice was too soft earlier."
Ruan Qiuping muttered, "But I was speaking at a normal volume."
"What did Ruan Ruan say?"
Ruan Qiuping took a deep breath and said loudly again, "I said, I was speaking at a normal volume, why couldn't you hear me?!"
Yu Huan glanced at the distance between them, "Maybe we're too far apart."
"But we're..."
"Ruan Ruan, I can't hear clearly."
"But! We're only 3 meters apart! Normal people can hear from this distance!"
"Then perhaps I'm getting old, and my hearing isn't as sharp."
Ruan Qiuping looked at Yu Huan with concern, "Why is everything wrong with you?"
Yu Huan blinked, looking very confused, "I can't hear clearly... What did Ruan Ruan say about me?"
Ruan Qiuping: "..."
Ruan Qiuping had no choice but to take two steps forward and ask, "Can you hear clearly now?"
Yu Huan nodded.
Ruan Qiuping looked down at the distance between them and said, "Then let's keep it like this. From now on, we'll stay... um... two meters apart."
"Alright," Yu Huan smiled softly.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" Ruan Qiuping asked again.
Yu Huan took off his glasses and said, "It's just mild myopia. I was looking at something in the car on my way here and forgot to take them off."
"Looking at what? Work documents?" Ruan Qiuping was curious.
"The hotel's surveillance footage." Yu Huan pointed at the camera above their heads.
Ruan Qiuping: "..."
Ruan Qiuping silently looked up at the camera, only now realizing that it was pointed directly at the corner where he had been standing earlier.
Ruan Qiuping thought to himself: No wonder he found me so quickly.
Wait a minute... Ruan Qiuping suddenly realized a very serious problem.
When Jing Yang gave him the Universe Bag earlier, it only blocked people's line of sight, but it couldn't block the overhead surveillance camera!
From the camera's perspective, wouldn't it have seen Jing Yang handing a Universe Bag to thin air?!
If Yu Huan had been watching the surveillance footage the whole time, he must have noticed this strange occurrence...
Ruan Qiuping was about to ask Yu Huan if he had seen anything strange in the surveillance video when he realized an even more terrifying problem—
His appearance! He hadn't done anything to change it! He looked exactly the same as when he first met Yu Huan!!
Twenty-seven years ago, he looked like he was in his early twenties, and twenty-seven years later, he still looked the same!!!
But during this meeting with Yu Huan, Yu Huan hadn't questioned his appearance at all!!!
Ruan Qiuping's hair was standing on end, and at the same time, he finally remembered what he had forgotten earlier.
When he had just crawled out from under the table, he had asked Yu Huan, "Do you know who I am? Do you know that if you touch me, you'll have bad luck?"
Yu Huan had replied, "What if I do know?"
At that time, Ruan Qiuping had been so preoccupied with worrying about what would happen if Yu Huan touched him and whether he would have terrible luck, that he had completely overlooked this response!
There were things that Ruan Qiuping hadn't paid attention to before, but now that he thought about it, there were holes everywhere, making his skin crawl.
Ruan Qiuping stiffly looked at Yu Huan and struggled to speak, "Yu... Yu Huan, what you said earlier about knowing my identity... is it true? Then... what do you think my identity is?"
Yu Huan raised his head and looked steadily at Ruan Qiuping.
Without the glasses blocking them, his eyes seemed even darker and more profound.
He slowly said, "If I tell you, will Ruan Ruan run away?"
"N-no, why would I run? Just... just tell me what you think."
Yu Huan was silent for a moment, then said, "Ruan Ruan is a celestial being from heaven, and moreover, one with bad luck who brings misfortune to others. For me, Ruan Ruan appears once a year, but for Ruan Ruan, he comes to see me every day."
Ruan Qiuping's legs went weak with fear.
Yu Huan not only knew his identity but knew it in such detail!
Ruan Qiuping stammered, "W-when did you find out?"
"I suspected your identity was unusual from the beginning. Ruan Ruan, you come to see me once a year, but no matter where I am, you always appear accurately by my side, and strangely, you only appear for 30 hours each time, not a minute more.
"However, the first time I was certain about Ruan Ruan's identity was on the day we were kidnapped. Although I closed my eyes, I heard the kidnapper's shout as you seemed to vanish into thin air in front of him. And later, when my grandfather checked the surveillance footage, I clearly saw the process of you becoming invisible in the video.
"Ruan Ruan, perhaps you haven't noticed, but you often let things slip. For example, you'll talk about something that happened last year as if it were yesterday, although sometimes you correct yourself quickly, it still made me suspicious. Also, because of your bad luck, you often fall, and you don't care about minor injuries, so I often see bruises on your body that last for two or three years."
Ruan Qiuping grew more alarmed as he listened, "...You... you've known about my identity since you were seven years old, why have you never mentioned it?"
Yu Huan lowered his head and said softly, "Does Ruan Ruan know the story of the Snail Maiden?"
"I do."
Not only did he know it, but he had also met her in person over a hundred years ago near the East Sea.
"The Snail Maiden left after the fisherman discovered her identity as a fairy. I was afraid you would leave too." Yu Huan looked up at Ruan Qiuping and said, "...But before I said all this, Ruan Ruan had already promised me that he wouldn't run away again."
"...I won't run away," Ruan Qiuping said softly. "My identity... it's not really a big deal. You just need to not tell anyone else."
Yu Huan: "Then Qiuping promises me."
"I promise you that for the rest of your life, I'll come down to see you every year."
"Good."
Yu Huan smiled and asked, "Is there anywhere Qiuping wants to go play? The human world has changed a lot in over ten years, with many new fun places."
Ruan Qiuping said, "Let's go eat something delicious. The food in this banquet hall is good, but I'd rather eat meat with big bites."
"Then let's go."
Ruan Qiuping had only taken two steps when he suddenly remembered the two team members eating on the 17th floor of the hotel.
Ruan Qiuping paused: "Is the food Chen Hai and Jing Yang are eating on the 17th floor good?"
"It's alright. Does Qiuping want to go up and eat too?"
"No, I want to eat something even better," Ruan Qiuping paused, then added pettily, "And I won't take them with us!"
What kind of people were they, especially that Chen Hai! When they were in heaven, he constantly mocked him, saying he was slacking off, not completing group tasks, making it sound like they were working so hard. But when they came down, it turned out all they did was eat and eat... Everything in their record book was copied from the internet, they didn't record Yu Huan's poor eyesight or his hearing problems... They weren't serious at all!
He definitely had to eat something even more delicious to spite Chen Hai!
As for Jing Yang... well, Jing Yang wasn't that interested in food anyway, so it didn't matter.
Yu Huan smiled and said, "Alright."
Ruan Qiuping walked in front, with Yu Huan following two meters behind.
It had just rained here. The sky was a clear, transparent blue with a faint rainbow hanging in it. There were still some puddles on the ground, with small pools of water every few steps.
Ruan Qiuping stepped half his foot into a puddle, splashing up a small wave.
He turned his head to look at Yu Huan again, his steps becoming even lighter, as if he was stepping on clouds rather than splashes.
"Yu Huan, where's the place with good food? Is it far?"
"...What did Qiuping say? I couldn't hear clearly."
Ruan Qiuping's eyes widened. He turned to face Yu Huan and said loudly, "How come you can't hear me clearly again? Didn't you say earlier at the hotel that you could hear clearly from two meters away?"
Yu Huan seemed a bit troubled: "That was because we were in the hotel then, which was not only indoors but also spacious and empty. Qiuping can see for yourself, this street is full of cars and people, it's very noisy. When Qiuping speaks to me from so far away, I really can't hear clearly."
"Your hearing must have a serious problem!"
Ruan Qiuping took a big step forward, leaving only one meter between him and Yu Huan, "You're so rich, why don't you go get your ears treated!"
Yu Huan looked at the shortened distance between them and smiled: "Thank you, Qiuping, for accommodating me."
Seeing that they were getting closer and closer, Ruan Qiuping felt a bit uneasy, but he suddenly remembered that when he came down to earth, he had specially brought a "divine tool" with him.
Ruan Qiuping quickly took out the ceramic shard he had picked up from the God of Fortune's trash can and threw it to Yu Huan: "Keep this with you! Carry it with you, but wrap it in a handkerchief so you don't cut yourself."
Yu Huan caught the ceramic shard and examined it: "What is this?"
"It's something from the God of Fortune in heaven. If you carry it with you, it can dispel some of the bad luck I might transmit to you."
Yu Huan asked: "If that's the case, if I carry this, does it mean I can touch Qiuping?"
"No, you can't!" Ruan Qiuping said seriously, "Yu Huan, can't you care more about your life safety!"
"Is Qiuping sure this shard is effective?"
"Of course it's effective. This is from that God of Fortune. My sister took his jade pendant and even won the grand prize in a blind box draw. This shard is from his cup, so the good luck on it should be even stronger!"
"If this thing is so useful and so magical, then why can't I touch you even when I'm holding it?"
"...Even if it's effective, you still can't touch me casually... You wouldn't stab yourself with a knife just because you have medicine, would you?"
"Then I don't want it. Qiuping should keep it. Although Qiuping says this shard is useful, if I can't touch Qiuping or get closer to Qiuping while holding it, then it's useless to me."
"Keep it even if it's useless!"
"I never keep useless things."
Yu Huan stretched out his hand, as if insisting on returning the shard to Ruan Qiuping.
Ruan Qiuping opened his mouth, but finally gave in. He took another step closer to Yu Huan.
The distance between their shoulders was now only ten centimeters.
Yu Huan put away the shard, the corners of his lips curling up slightly.
"But you absolutely cannot touch me! Absolutely not!" Ruan Qiuping emphasized.
"Alright."
Yu Huan smiled slightly, agreeing for now.