After giving his evaluation, this Crimson Evil still did not consciously move away. Instead, he drew even closer. Fu Sang felt that the skin on the side of his neck where Qi Changying had approached was actually a bit cold, to the point where it stirred a tingling, numbing sensation like an electric current from that spot.
He shot a glance at the increasingly audacious ghost that was clearly taking advantage of the situation:
“So this is your excuse for climbing on me to sniff me whenever you have nothing better to do?”
Then, he heard Qi Changying let out a soft laugh: “Sorry.”
The eerie coldness belonging to an underworld spirit lightly drifted away.
“Why does he smell good?” Huo Wei was still hung up on this: “What’s your reasoning behind this? Could it be because his character is more noble than mine? No no no, I don’t accept that! Oh, I know…it must be that whoever is as bad as a ghost smells better!”
“All your scents are much fainter than those of ordinary people.” Qi Changying suddenly added, successfully catching Huo Wei’s attention:
“‘All your scents’? Who are you referring to?”
Qi Changying thought for a moment: “Spirit masters.”
“The scent of karma.”
Hearing Qi Changying say that, Fu Sang seemed to understand something:
“Spirit masters have less karma on them, so their scent is fainter. Ordinary people don’t control this, so their scent is stronger?”
Huo Wei snapped her fingers: “That makes sense.”
But then again: “Then why does he smell better?”
She was really hung up on this.
“Fu Sang’s scent…” Almost entirely unconsciously, Qi Changying lowered his head and took another light sniff:
“Is very familiar. It makes me feel at ease.”
Hearing this, Fu Sang raised an eyebrow slightly: “Do you know what you’re saying?”
Qi Changying paused slightly at the question.
He looked at Fu Sang, then nodded.
Although he nodded, Fu Sang felt that he didn’t really understand: “What I mean is, if what you’re smelling really is karma, and my scent feels familiar to you, do you know what that represents?”
“It represents,” Qi Changying thought for a moment: “That you and I have unresolved karmic ties?”
“That’s normal, isn’t it?” Huo Wei yawned:
“You were the one who released the young general from the seal in the first place. It’d be strange if you two didn’t have karma, right?”
That was true.
But as Fu Sang looked into Qi Changying’s gray eyes in the night, what flashed through his mind was the image from that memory that didn’t belong to him…a young man in red, holding a Fangtian Huaji halberd, charging in on horseback.
“Alright, we’re really bored. We can fuss over a question of whether something smells good for this long… So, are you planning to keep standing in this cold wind? Or do another half-lap and reintroduce yourself? I’m not participating this time. If they ask about me, just tell them your girlfriend dumped you.”
Huo Wei tucked her chin into her furry collar and was about to run away when Fu Sang called out to her: “Wait, come back with me. You can give me a ride on your way.”
“What? You’re on campus, aren’t you staying in the dorm?”
“No.”
“Are you going back to the shop?”
“No.”
“…It’s just one block from here to your crappy old place. Can’t you walk back yourself?!”
“No. I’m too tired.”
“Psycho!!!”
Fu Sang still had suspicions about Wei Luyuan’s matter. He wanted to keep investigating, but clearly, now was not the time.
It really was quite cold today. He had no love to conquer the winter night wind with, so going home to eat and sleep was the best course of action.
Fu Sang wasn’t used to communal living. His shop was too far away, and commuting back and forth every day wasn’t practical, so he also rented a place near the school, just one block from the main gate. He stayed there when he had classes or was too lazy to go back to the shop.
The place wasn’t big, just one bedroom and one living room. And that “one bedroom” was just a single loft space, so small it could only fit a desk and a bed, with limited headroom…you couldn’t even stand up straight in it.
Fu Sang hadn’t worn much today, and after spending so much time by the lake, he was thoroughly chilled by the cold wind.
So as soon as he got home, he took a hot shower. When he came out, he saw Qi Changying in the loft but didn’t say anything. He just wrapped himself in a blanket, sat down on the sofa, and opened his laptop.
The loft was very quiet, and Fu Sang didn’t know what Qi Changying was doing. Occasionally, he’d glance up at the stairs, but most of the time, he was focused on his own things.
Later, someone knocked on the door. It was the delivery.
Fu Sang put down his laptop to open the door, picked up the takeout bag, and sat back down on the sofa. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Qi Changying watching him from the stairs.
“Are you expecting someone?”
“No.”
Fu Sang opened the takeout bag.
Tonight’s dinner was hot pot-style maocai.
The extra-spicy maocai looked like a sea of red, and even the smell was pungent.
Fu Sang split his chopsticks and picked up a piece of duck blood, bringing it to his mouth. During this time, Qi Changying had already reached the coffee table and knelt there, watching him.
“What are you looking at?” Fu Sang raised an eyebrow slightly: “You want some too?”
“I can’t eat.”
“I thought you didn’t know that.”
“I do. I was just thinking that Fu Sang only needs to sit at home, and someone will bring him food, without even having to exchange silver for it. That’s amazing.”
“Mm,” Fu Sang accepted Qi Changying’s compliment: “I’m the emperor.”
Hearing this, Qi Changying’s eyes widened slightly. But he quickly caught on: “You’re joking with me, right?”
“Obviously.”
So Qi Changying smiled: “In Great Li, if someone dared to say such a thing, they’d be beheaded.”
“Then come and behead me.” Fu Sang slowly chewed the food in his mouth.
“You’re joking again.” Qi Changying shifted to a more relaxed sitting position, his eyes still on Fu Sang:
“A thousand years later, and there are no emperors anymore, right?”
“Mm.”
“And no servants?”
“Mm.”
“There are a lot of new and novel things I’ve never seen.”
“Mm.”
“What is that big box you and Miss Huo sat in today?”
“A car.”
“We had cars too…horse-drawn, ox-drawn, or donkey-drawn. What kind of car is yours?”
“A motor vehicle.”
“What’s that?”
“A car.”
Qi Changying didn’t seem to have gotten any useful information from this exchange. He felt it might not be his fault, so he changed the subject:
“You don’t have a curfew?”
“Mm.”
“Women can go out in public?”
“Mm.”
“Men and women can be alone together without being betrothed?”
“Mm.”
He looked up at the ceiling again: “Why is the lantern hung from the roof? Wouldn’t lighting it be inconvenient? But it seems you didn’t light it, it lit up on its own. Why is that?”
“Electricity.”
“What is electricity?”
“…”
Fu Sang reached for something from the side of the coffee table and slapped it down heavily in front of Qi Changying.
Without even looking up, Fu Sang continued eating:
“Just stick your finger in and you’ll find out.”
It was a long box with holes on its surface, and a long cord trailing from the back.
Qi Changying nodded, picked up the box, and studied it for a long time. Finding the holes pitch black with no sign of a flame, he did as Fu Sang said and tentatively probed inside with his finger.
“Zzz!”
A strange noise came from the box, startling Qi Changying. He found that the previously dark hole had suddenly burst forth with a spark-like flash of light.
“Wonderful!”
Qi Changying held the electrical socket, completely fascinated:
“If we could have ‘electricity’ during military campaigns, it would make things much more convenient. We wouldn’t have to worry about the tinder boxes getting damp and failing to light in the rain!”
Hearing this, Fu Sang twitched the corner of his mouth. He hadn’t planned on paying attention to this ignorant ghost.
But after thinking about it, he still fished out a lighter from under the coffee table, held it up to Qi Changying’s eyes, and clicked it on right in front of him.
Three, two…
“Good heavens!”
The upward curl at the corner of Fu Sang’s mouth deepened, and he casually tossed the lighter to Qi Changying.
So now the ghost had two toys. Fu Sang gave him one last glance and was about to pick up his chopsticks again when he heard the ghost beside him say: “Fu…”
“Say one more word and get the hell out.”
“…”
Thus, the ignorant ancient ghost was forced to end his exploration.
Fu Sang could finally enjoy a quiet meal without the noise. Although Qi Changying was still beside him, clicking the lighter on and off with a “click-clack”, it was tolerable.
Fu Sang ate very slowly. And after the earlier warning, Qi Changying didn’t disturb him again.
Only when he saw that Fu Sang was about to finish eating did he carefully speak again: “Could I ask one more thing?”
Today’s takeout tasted good, and he was in a good mood having eaten his fill. Fu Sang graciously granted his request: “Go on.”
Then Qi Changying produced a palm-sized acrylic standee from somewhere and placed it on the table: “Why does this have my name on it?”
The standee featured an anime-style character with a high ponytail, dressed in bright red battle attire, with Qi Changying’s name written in traditional Chinese beside it.
This was Qi Changying’s character image from some game set in ancient times.
“Because the person in the picture is you.”
“…It’s me?”
“Mm.” Fu Sang nodded, but didn’t receive any further response from Qi Changying.
So he glanced up at him and saw him holding the standee again, his head down, lost in thought.
Fu Sang wanted to know his feelings and thoughts, so he asked directly: “What are you thinking about?”
“I was thinking that,” Qi Changying answered cooperatively, “…after a thousand years, someone still remembers me. That’s truly fortunate.”
“?” Fu Sang hadn’t expected that kind of answer from Qi Changying.
What kind of person was Qi Changying? He came from a military family, with generation after generation of officials of high rank. He’d grown up on the frontier, joined his father and elders in battle at twelve, became a vanguard officer at fifteen, took over the commander’s seal from his father at eighteen, and matched North to conquer six cities in a row, forcing the Chaosu Khan to bow and submit to Great Li.
The merit book couldn’t even hold all the achievements he’d made in his northern campaigns. Famous general of the Li dynasty, young hero, God of War of the Northern Campaigns…how dazzling those titles were.
This was why later generations couldn’t help but feel regret when mentioning him. Because he was only twenty-two when he died.
By that reckoning, he was even two years younger than Fu Sang was now.
And for someone like that to hear his name a thousand years later and only think of it as fortunate…
“That’s only right.” Fu Sang withdrew his gaze and rarely said something nice: “It’s hard for someone like you not to leave a mark in the history books.”
“Why?” Qi Changying was startled.
“You made a name for yourself at a young age and had almost no losses in your northern campaigns. Is there any reason you’d be forgotten?”
“…But in reality, I didn’t do more than others.” Qi Changying smiled, somewhat helplessly:
“War is brutal, and every battle claims countless lives. I just happened to win, happened to survive, and happened to be remembered. I may have led the troops, but the victories were actually paved with the flesh and blood of the soldiers. If all the credit were given to me alone, that wouldn’t be right.”
After a moment’s thought, Qi Changying suddenly asked: “Fu Sang, do you know the name of my vanguard officer?”
“Zhang Yuan.” Fu Sang answered almost without thinking.
After all, he had read the history related to Qi Changying countless times.
Qi Changying was very surprised: “You know!”
“Mm.”
“Then, then my two deputy generals?”
“Zhou Yong’an and Su Pingbei.”
“My strategist?”
“Shen Huarong.”
“Then… the seventh banner leader of the 17th battalion of the Qi Family Army?”
“?” Fu Sang took a deep breath, wondering why he’d been stupid enough to bring this topic up: “Do you have to ask such niche questions? Do you want me to give you a full roster of the Qi Family Army? Right down to the color of every warhorse and even the dogs guarding your camp tents?”
“Sorry.” Perhaps realizing how amusing he was being, Qi Changying chuckled softly and returned to the main point:
“Many people gave their lives for the war. They gave more than I did and received less, that’s too unfair. I always want everyone to be remembered. Every one of them deserves it.”
“…”
Fu Sang didn’t really want to talk to him anymore.
But after a moment’s thought, he still said: “War does claim many lives. Even back then, they couldn’t guarantee that the name of every corpse was recorded, let alone a thousand years later. Besides, a thousand years later, your name represents more than just you as a person. You can think of it as your achievements representing all of them in a sense. The name ‘Qi Changying’ nowadays is just a microcosm of those people and events.”
“I have a lot of things about you upstairs; books, films, fan-made merch. But I collected all of that because of what the name ‘Qi Changying’ symbolizes and the story of the northern campaigns. That includes your vanguard, your deputy generals, your strategist, all your banner leaders, and the dogs outside your tent. It’s not just because of you yourself. Don’t flatter yourself.”
After he finished, Qi Changying fell silent. Fu Sang didn’t know if he’d really understood what he meant and unconsciously clenched his jaw.
A long while later, he heard Qi Changying say: “I understand. Thank you, Fu Sang.”
It seemed the topic was over.
Fu Sang didn’t pay much attention, and was about to turn on his computer and get back to his own business when he heard a soft sound from beside him.
It was Qi Changying placing his newly acquired toys back onto the coffee table.
With his hands free, the ghost was already leaning toward him, bringing with him the distinct coolness of a Crimson Evil, but his tone was warm:
“…I want to smell you. May I?”
