Chapter 367 |
"Where is the drawing?"
When Liguang's voice sounded in his ear, Fang Qi was staring blankly at the latest entry in the notebook.
An Lian's childhood, Xiao Qi's candy, those heavy yet gentle records written by his mother...
The question by his ear made him start slightly and raise his head.
The silver-haired girl was leaning in very close.
She stood beside him, slightly inclining her body.
In her amber pupil, that awakened hint of deep blue was still flowing steadily, while her crimson eye flickered gently, now bright, now dim.
And in her hand, she was carefully holding a piece of yellowed paper with fold marks.
Fang Qi stared at that piece of paper, slightly dazed.
"The First Draft of the Silver-Haired, Heterochromatic Older Sister."
"Codename: Liguang."
When he had flipped to that page earlier, the drawing had slipped out of the notebook, and Liguang had gently caught it...
She hadn't let go of it since!
She held the drawing carefully in her hands, staring at it for a very, very long time!
When he turned to the later pages of the notebook, her gaze kept sweeping back and forth between this rough sketch and the notebook!
Whenever Fang Qi turned a page, she would glance at the notebook's content and then immediately look back at this sketch!
Her amber and crimson eyes were flickering happily, and the corners of her mouth were curling higher and higher!
Even though on the surface, it was just an incredibly crude child's doodle.
The figure's head was crooked; the silver hair was a mess of countless silver lines piled together, like a ball of silver yarn.
The eyes were indeed drawn with care—the left one dotted bit by bit with a lemon-yellow colored pencil, and the right one painted with a scarlet watercolor pen, curving slightly upward.
Beside it were crooked pencil words:
"Like amber gemstone" and "Like crimson flames."
It was clear that she really, really liked this drawing!
"Master?"
At that moment, she was holding the sketch carefully in her palm, looking at Fang Qi:
"What about the second drawing tucked into the notebook?"
She asked again, looking at the leather notebook in his hand.
"Second drawing...?"
Fang Qi repeated blankly.
His mind was still not fully detached from the content of the notebook.
But Liguang had already turned her head to look over at Lin Xiaoyou.
The genius girl was currently lying on the table.
To be precise, she was lying on the table with her bottom sticking out, bent over the desktop.
Her round face was pressed against her folded arms, and her two little white legs swayed slightly under the table.
The noticeably larger curve on her bottom compared to usual meant she dared not sit down at all!
So, from just a moment ago, she had been in this position, resting her chin on her hand, watching Fang Qi and Liguang flip through the notebook.
Occasionally, she would let out a "hiss," inhaling sharply...
Then she'd switch positions and continue resting her chin, watching them.
When Liguang looked over, Lin Xiaoyou was startled at first, blinking her almond-shaped eyes.
Then she quickly guessed something, widened her eyes, and hurriedly pushed herself up from the table!
"That has nothing to do with me!"
She covered her rear with one hand while frantically waving the other!
"At that time, this notebook only had that one sketch tucked inside!"
She pointed at the rough first draft in Liguang's hand:
"The one you're holding in your hand! Just that one—there wasn't any second one!"
Liguang's crimson eye flickered slightly.
She narrowed her phoenix eyes slightly, a friendly smile curling at the corners of her mouth that sent a chill down one's spine, and stared at Lin Xiaoyou.
"Really only that one..."
Lin Xiaoyou's tone immediately softened by a few degrees, a fawning smile piling onto her little round face:
"When I first flipped through that notebook, I went through it from start to finish. Honestly, I only found that one tucked-in sketch!"
"I kept that notebook one hundred percent intact! I looked at everything inside it and put everything back. I definitely didn't steal anything or lose anything!"
With one hand still covering her bottom, she raised three fingers!
"Whatever happened to that drawing, it really has nothing to do with me—you can't hit me anymore—!"
Her voice even carried a hint of tears as her reddened almond-shaped eyes looked pitifully at Liguang, looking as innocent as could be.
She even cautiously glanced at Liguang's right hand.
Seeing that hand wasn't raised, she let out a small sigh of relief.
Then her almond eyes shifted, and she stole another glance at Liguang:
"And I think..."
Her tone suddenly turned a bit subtle. Blinking, she said:
"That sketch was probably taken by Senior's parents, right? And then..."
She looked at Liguang and blinked again.
Fang Qi pursed his lips.
...Taken by his parents?
He also looked at the silver-haired girl beside him.
Liguang seemed to be convinced. She withdrew her gaze, no longer looking at the trembling, round-faced girl lying on the table.
She lowered her head, her slender fingers pinching that yellowed rough draft, and carefully folded the paper.
Aligning the corners, pressing flat the creases—her movements were incredibly gentle!
Then, she opened the zipper of her small black crossbody bag and gently placed the folded sketch inside.
Fang Qi watched her, a little lost in thought.
He understood what Lin Xiaoyou had meant.
The second drawing tucked into the notebook might have been taken by his parents...
to serve as the actual "Liguang design draft."
That was why it was no longer in the notebook.
Because that drawing...
had already become the silver-haired girl before him.
Silver hair.
Heterochromatic eyes.
Graceful figure.
On her ear, that little plastic star shimmered gently.
Except for that little star...
Everything about her matched what was described in the notebook.
Everything.
From Xiao Qi's sketch when he was seven,
to his mother's promise—"When you grow up later, I'll make you this silver-haired big sister according to this design draft"—
to this real, vivid silver-haired girl before him.
Her amber left eye, her crimson right pupil, that head of silver hair, even the slightly mischievous curve when the corner of her mouth lifted...
All of it was there in his seven-year-old self's ugly doodle!
It was as if everything was predestined.
At an age when he couldn't yet write, when he couldn't yet hold a brush steadily, when he could only squat on the sofa with his thumb in his mouth watching cartoons...
He had already... drawn her?
Drawn the color of her eyes, drawn her hair as silver, drawn the way her right eye would curve deeper than her left when she smiled.
Drawn what she should look like.
But back then, he wasn't himself...
At that time, he hadn't transmigrated into this world.
Back then, Fang Qi was the native-born Fang Qi of this world.
He was the son of Fang Chu and Su Yue, the popular troublemaker in kindergarten, the toothless little brat grinning with a gap in his front teeth.
He had none of those memories.
When he had transmigrated into this world, the first scene his eyes opened to...
was Liguang kneeling on the opposite side of the tea table, holding a white porcelain cup in her hands, smiling gently at him.
"Master, your tea."
"The temperature has been adjusted to your favorite 52 degrees Celsius."
That was the starting point of his memories.
That was, to him, the beginning of this world.
If it really was like this, then it was really a bit irritating.
He had always thought so before.
But now...
...No.
That's not right.
Not right at all!
Back then... was that really not him?
Really not him?
There were far too many inconsistencies in the notebook!
Fang Qi stared at the side of Liguang's face, his pupils trembling slightly.
When he was born, he didn't cry. Instead, his eyes widened, staring at the world in shock.
Since childhood, he'd had an inexplicable fixation on silver-haired older sisters.
And...
That story!
The one he told the other kids in kindergarten before nap time—a monkey wielding a stick all the way up to the heavens!
His mother, Su Yue, wrote in the notebook, "I have no idea where he got these stories."
This world had experienced two Machine Uprisings, had awakened AI companions, had Dusk, had Dawn Corporation, and the ghost-like 'watchers'...
But there was no monkey.
That story came from another world! A story from the world he'd crossed over from!
Fang Qi's teeth chattered slightly.
He suddenly felt a chill.
What...
was going on here?!
Could it be that the "him" back then was already him?
That he had already crossed over back then...?
"Xiao Qi's" personality was indeed very similar to his own childhood self, but...
But he had absolutely no memory of that time...?
Reading his mother's notebook from this world felt like watching a stranger's story from the outside!
What was really happening here...?
Fang Qi felt utterly lost.
He looked down at the notebook again.
Those bits and pieces about "Xiao Qi"—they were unfamiliar...
But somehow deeply familiar.
Really, deeply familiar.
He shared the same name, the same body, the same parents with the "Xiao Qi" in the text...
And the same obsession.
The obsession with "that silver-haired older sister."
The obsession with "Liguang, my wife."
But he really had no memories of it!
Or was it...
Fang Qi stared at the dense text, at the familiar skillful handwriting, his pupils trembling.
Had he...
forgotten something?
Just as Liguang had forgotten those eighty-two years of memories...
Had he also forgotten something?
He...!
"Master, why don't you turn the page?"
A soft voice suddenly sounded beside him.
Fang Qi jolted slightly, his chaotic thoughts interrupted.
He looked up and saw the silver-haired girl had put away the drawing and leaned forward slightly, tilting her head to look at him.
"Master?"
Her face wore a standard...
benevolent smile.
Fang Qi: "...?"
He blinked, focusing, and stared at her pretty face for two seconds.
What was going on? Why had she suddenly switched to that smile again?
He saw Liguang extend a slender finger, gently tapping the notebook still open in his hands.
"Master, hurry up and turn the page, won't you?"
"Liguang wants to see more."
The aquamarine in her amber eyes swirled steadily, her voice sweet!
"The young master..."
"Surely didn't really like Miss An Lian, did he?"
Fang Qi: "?"
He opened his mouth, looking at the silver-haired girl in front of him.
Honey, you...?
But Liguang just tilted her head, hands clasped behind her back, smiling brightly at him:
"Master even..."
"gave little An Lian such expensive candy."
"A whole handful."
"Candy stolen from Mommy's private candy jar."
"The kind of candy that's hard to get~"
Her tone began to float lightly!
But that scarlet gleam in her one crimson eye flickered rapidly now!
It flashed so intensely that Fang Qi almost couldn't keep his eyes open!
"How thoughtful of you, Master~"
"How good of you, Master~"
"Liguang is truly..."
"so envious~"
Fang Qi: "I..."
Honey, your focus is...
a little off, isn't it...?
