Chapter 142 - 3.38

"Your goal is.. related to your origins, right?"

After spending this much time with Xu Jiaqi, and capturing every single one of her words, Xie Yongrui had guessed that Xu Jiaqi still had an attachment to her past. She would mention her background over and over again, speak poorly of herself no matter how high her achievements were, and never became fully proud of herself.

Even though in his eyes, she was so perfect. The one he envisioned every single time he had a happy dream, the one he.. wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

Was his feelings too burdensome? For someone like Qiqi... He knew her well. She hated burdensome things.

If she wasn't comfortable with his raging emotions, then she would definitely turn away from him. If that happened, how could he handle it?

"So you've already guessed it. You're correct... it is connected to my past. The past that I never learned in the first place. I want to look for my father. It's probably a pointless venture, because if he even had a shred of real love for my mother, he wouldn't have disappeared into dust like that. If only my mother didn't fall in love with a fraudster, and instead found another man.. Someone who can be a real father figure to me. Every since I was a child, I dreamed of that happening. Over and over again."

"I just want to know who he is. Why he pretended to love the woman called Xu Yan for so long. How he was able to do that. It's going to be hard. I will have to grasp at straws, trying everything to track him down in this large world. I know that, but I still want to do it."

Xu Jiaqi took a long, deep breath before continuing with her imagery.

"I saw many families pass through the busy streets. They would have wide smiles on their faces. And my heart.. felt like it was being squeezed every time I encountered that type of family. They lived an ordinary life, but that was beautiful in itself. I honestly... you are right, to live the life I spoke about, I don't need to erect an entire Empire or what not. I could just get off right now and live like that. But I felt like I wouldn't be satisfied that way. I want to prove.. to whom? Maybe to myself, to the world, to my parents who threw me away, to those who wronged me before. I don't really know my own goal, but I just want to..."

Xu Jiaqi stopped, and looked up to the sky.

"Qiqi? Are you alright..?" Xie Yongrui asked in a careful tone.

"My lord, do you know the saying that the sky is the limit?"

"I do."

"To me, the sky is something that I have looked at so many times. I had to stretch my neck and tilt my head upwards, just like this.. in order to get a glance of the vast, endless landscape. I want to be.. a figure like that. Someone who everybody would have to look up to. Like the sky, watching over everything."

"But one day, I have to disappear, so I can't exactly be the one who holds the power. That's why I'm pushing it all to you. Do you hate me for that? I am using you in a sense."

"...No, I don't. How can I hate our peerless Qiqi? Your dreams and goals.. they will come true. I will make sure that it becomes real." Xie Yongrui stared deep into Xu Jiaqi's eyes as he drew closer and closer. He admired the girl's beauty and captured it all in his mind.

Right before the space between them disappeared, Xie Yongrui stopped, and he probed, wanting to seek what Xu Jiaqi thought of the whole situation that was unfolding.

Xu Jiaqi's heart actually skipped a beat, apart from her acting. She locked eyes with Xie Yongrui for a few seconds, an ambiguous tension wrapping them up tightly.

Then, her lips curved into an arch. Her hands moved up, trailing Xie Yongrui's body and finally settling down in the narrow distance between their faces. She slid it up to cover Xie Yongrui's eyes.

Xie Yongrui was prepared for Xu Jiaqi to push him away, but instead of that, she decided to leave him with a little gift.

She moved forward ever so slightly, and the distance between them finally turned to naught, and their lips pressed against each other. A light, fluttery one that made both of their hearts quiver.

(Disclaimer: For those who are uncomfortable with Qiqi technically being underage in her body, this is set in the old ages, and you should already be familiar with the views they held. It's not abnormal back then. I know that this will still be concerning for some of you, so if I do plan to add mature stuff, I will obviously wait until Qiqi is of age, don't worry.)

Xie Yongrui was instantly put into a daze the moment their lips separated from each other and Xu Jiaqi removed her hand out of the way. His eyes went straight to Xu Jiaqi, who in turn placed her index finger over her lips, gesturing for him to not say anything.

The two savored their moment, and needed time to process everything that just happened. The abrupt kiss that weren't in their plans at all, and how they felt towards it.

Xie Yongrui was sure of his feelings, and didn't want to back out of it. Xu Jiaqi initiating the kiss like this, didn't it mean that he had a fair chance in this game?

Meanwhile, Xu Jiaqi was still in dispute with her own views. She didn't like to participate in romance because she once thought that the emotion was simply hateful and unnecessary. But now, after experiencing several worlds, she was beginning to feel like having a companion like her Zicheng ge and Zenith was quite the pleasant thing.

And now that she knew Xie Yongrui was the possessor of Zenith's soul, what other reason did she have to move away from all this?