IMGH Chapter 16

Is This Person Sick?

Qiu Rui had waited a long time without seeing any response from Jiang Yi. He turned his head and found Jiang Yi wearing a blank, wickedly dazed expression, and immediately knew his love-struck condition had flared up again.

Jiang Yi felt those sharp, piercing eyes burning into him and snapped back to his senses, only to find Qiu Rui staring at him with an ice-cold gaze. Somewhat embarrassed, he scratched his hair and grinned. “Rui’er, where were we?”

The nerve of this guy!

Qiu Rui decided not to pick a fight with him for now. The most pressing matter was finding Taoist Cao to break the formation.

“I’m afraid the formation doesn’t just restrict my freedom — it also prevents me from moving beyond your range.”

At the thought of having to spend every moment with this idiot from now on, Qiu Rui couldn’t help feeling irritated, and his tone carried a cold, unmistakable contempt.

Jiang Yi clearly hadn’t grasped what Qiu Rui meant and asked in puzzlement, “Rui’er, what do you mean? Are you saying this formation is actually trapping you by my side?”

Qiu Rui explained with impatience. “If I’m not mistaken, that should be exactly it. It explains why yesterday I could walk from the bedroom to the living room, but not from the living room to the balcony. It wasn’t that my range of movement was limited to five meters — it was that I couldn’t move more than five meters away from you.”

Jiang Yi carefully turned over the meaning of Qiu Rui’s words and had a sudden flash of understanding. “Right — that day I was sitting in the bedroom typing, and you were in the living room. That distance couldn’t have been more than five meters. But when you walked from the living room to the balcony, the distance from the bedroom to the balcony exceeded five meters, so the red light blocked you.”

Qiu Rui nodded. “That should be it. Later, when you came out to the balcony, my range of movement became the five-meter radius centered around you.”

Jiang Yi’s face was full of astonishment. “How could this be?”

Qiu Rui shot him a look of disdain. “What’s that expression for? I’d rather be trapped inside the house for the rest of my life and never get out than have to spend it with an idiot like you.”

Jiang Yi stared at Qiu Rui with a wounded look. “Rui’er, do you really find me that unbearable?”

Qiu Rui gave a cold snort and refused to dignify that with a response.

For reasons he couldn’t quite explain, the moment Jiang Yi learned that Qiu Rui would be following him around every hour of every day from now on, the terror he had felt at their first meeting had completely vanished — replaced, instead, by a quiet and unbidden sense of delight.

****

Qiu Rui kept his face sour. “Missing a little sun is fine, but it’s rather harsh right now.”

Jiang Yi thought for a moment and suggested, “How about I run upstairs and grab an umbrella to block it?”

Qiu Rui had no better alternative, so that was the only option available.

Jiang Yi rummaged around in the bedroom for a good while before finally digging out an umbrella. He headed downstairs, popped it open, and Qiu Rui looked at Jiang Yi’s smiling face, shot him a resentful glare, and then reluctantly ducked under the umbrella.

Afraid that Qiu Rui might get any sun at all, Jiang Yi angled the not-very-large umbrella entirely over him.

The sight of a man on the street stretching his arm out at a strange angle to hold an umbrella drew pedestrians to stop and whisper among themselves.

Before long, Jiang Yi was struggling to hold on. He glanced at Qiu Rui standing comfortably beside him and lamented with a pained face, “Rui’er, could you move over a little this way? Everyone’s starting to think I’m mental!”

“An idiot and a mental case aren’t that different. It’s not exactly an unfair assessment.” Though those were his words, Qiu Rui still shifted a few steps closer to Jiang Yi’s side.

Jiang Yi watched the gap between them shrink away to nothing, and his heart bubbled over with a warmth he couldn’t contain.

…..

They left the residential compound and flagged down a taxi at the roadside. Jiang Yi pulled the door open and let Qiu Rui get in first, then folded the umbrella and settled in beside him.

The taxi driver watched Jiang Yi’s peculiar behavior and couldn’t stop turning it over in his mind. This guy looks perfectly presentable — surely he’s not some kind of nutcase.

With that thought, he asked cautiously, “Buddy, where to?”

Jiang Yi noticed the driver’s expression and knew there had been a misunderstanding. His mischievous streak immediately took over. He grinned and said, “City God Temple. Nice day today — thought we’d go stretch our legs.”

It was rare for anyone to visit the City God Temple on a day that wasn’t the first or fifteenth of the lunar month, and the driver grew increasingly convinced that this passenger was not quite right in the head. “The customer is always right” — that was the golden rule of the service industry, and however strange Jiang Yi’s behavior was, it wasn’t grounds for refusing the fare. The driver started the car with resignation, but kept stealing glances in the rearview mirror, worried his passenger might suddenly have an episode and threaten his life and property.

Jiang Yi caught the driver’s furtive, watchful eyes, curled the corner of his mouth into a sly grin, and said to Qiu Rui beside him, “Rui’er, it’s been a while since we’ve been out. Are you happy?”

Qiu Rui caught the devious glint of mischief at the corner of Jiang Yi’s eye and decided to ignore this idiotic man entirely.

“Boring.”

He let those two cold words drop and then quietly turned to watch the scenery rushing past outside the window.

“Rui’er, if you don’t like the incense offerings at home, you should try the ones at City God Temple! Every first and fifteenth of the lunar month, it’s gongs and drums thundering, incense and candles burning — absolutely lively. I guarantee you’ll eat your fill in one go!”

Jiang Yi had worked himself up to such enthusiasm that he was gesturing wildly with his hands, leaving the driver in the front seat utterly bewildered.

The driver asked Jiang Yi, his voice a little shaky, “Buddy — who exactly are you talking to?”

He then watched as Jiang Yi turned to the empty seat beside him with a cheerful smile and said, “Rui’er, say hello to the driver! I brought you out today to learn the roads — so in the future, when you go out on your own, remember to take this driver’s cab.”