Chapter 90: The Unsociable Mage

Luo Qi walked out of the courtyard where Majiang was, and walked for a while on the stone-paved road of the Ancient Town. The warmth of early spring had just arrived here, and the stuffiness of the plum rain season was still far off; it was just the right time now.

Luo Qi searched for traces of the cats, walking straight ahead along the narrow stone-paved road. In the high walls and narrow alleys of Jiangnan, he was somewhat disoriented. The old houses had not been lived in for a long time; moss grew on the stone-paved road, and the tall gray walls were mottled, carved with the traces of countless years.

The stone-paved road led to a river, over which a small bridge was built, and Majiang's cats were gathered on the bridge basking in the sun. Luo Qi stood at the bridgehead, looking at the opposite side of the small river; it was still white walls and black tiles, and the weeping willows at the bridgehead had already added new green. He stood there blankly, as if he saw a woman holding an oil-paper umbrella passing by him in the past, and when she looked back and stood still, he did not know who would sigh that "you were born when I was not yet born."

He came back to his senses and found a clean spot by the river to sit down. An orange cat on the bridge railing stretched slowly, got up and walked toward him, leaped down from the small stone lion at the bridgehead, and darted into his arms.

Du Zhengyi walked up behind him at this moment, slow and unhurried, with a hint of arrogant elegance, as if he were also a cat.

Luo Qi did not turn his head, and a small black cat with yellow eyes suddenly darted onto Du Zhengyi's shoulder.

Du Zhengyi stopped abruptly and said threateningly, "Luo Qi!"

"What does that have to do with me?" Luo Qi's hand was still stroking the orange cat's back. "What's the use of telling me about the cat's business?"

Du Zhengyi kicked him in the butt. Luo Qi didn't make a sound, but the black cat screamed as if its fur had been ruffled, its claws digging into the fabric on Du Zhengyi's shoulder.

"Luo Qi!" Du Zhengyi kicked him again. "Don't think that just because you use a cat's mouth to talk back, I won't know it's you calling out."

"Why did you come to find me?" Luo Qi still didn't turn his head. He sat cross-legged by the river, coaxing the cat on his lap, looking at the clouds reflected in the river water. "Do you think I'm going to have a mental breakdown?"

Du Zhengyi did not answer. He raised his head to look at another small bridge in the distance; he had never counted how many small bridges there were here.

There was no chance of winning if one compared silence with Du Zhengyi. It wasn't because Du Zhengyi had patience, but because he didn't care about you; in his eyes, these things were all trivial matters that one could listen to or ignore. After being silent for a while, Luo Qi realized that he either had to seize the opportunity to use Du Zhengyi as the stone lion at the bridgehead to talk to, or he would have no chance to talk to anyone at all. "I can't understand why my parents would treat me like this. What right do they have to do this? Saying it's for my own good is just like a joke."

Du Zhengyi really didn't say a word.

Luo Qi was a bit discouraged and said in a low voice, "I feel a bit bad inside. Guan Xinyue's grandfather is already dead, and he still thought about seeing her one last time after his death. My parents are still alive, yet I can only be homeless outside. I contacted my Mama last night; I begged her, but she was just furious. Guan Xinyue's grandfather clearly didn't approve of her tossing herself about like this either; how easy it would have been for him to interfere with a human girl's consciousness, it would only have taken some psychological suggestion. But he didn't even try to control Guan Xinyue's actions at all, he just silently preset remedies for the consequences of her actions. Isn't this at least the minimum respect for a person as a person? My parents have always told me about the sin of Mind Mages violating others' consciousness, but it turns out they have been violating my consciousness all along..."

Luo Qi choked up, his voice saying vaguely, "They don't care at all about what kind of suffering I've endured, not even as much as you care about me. Why is this? What exactly did I do wrong?"

"I don't know." Du Zhengyi suddenly spoke, giving him a start.

He held back his embarrassing choking, hoping in his heart that Du Zhengyi could say more. Anything would do; he was just too lonely, and he felt that he would never have the day where he understood why his parents abandoned him.

"I don't know," Du Zhengyi said. "My parents died when I was eight."

Luo Qi was stunned for a moment, and this time the choking and tears were completely held back. He turned his head to look at Du Zhengyi with his own eyes, not the cat's eyes.

Du Zhengyi's expression was strangely blank, as if he had shut down all his emotions. "Parent-child relationships have always been a mystery to me."

Luo Qi stared at him blankly, speechless for a moment.

"But competing in misery is not my style." Du Zhengyi looked at Luo Qi, a smile appearing on the corners of his lips.

Only then did Luo Qi know he was making a joke, and suddenly the depression from just before was swept away; he couldn't help but laugh.

Du Zhengyi watched him for a while, then turned back to the river surface. "I wanted to ask you, what are your plans for the future?"

"Maybe go into human society and become an animal behaviorist," Luo Qi said. "I might be quite good at it; finally, I'll have a chance to publish papers."

"Very good," Du Zhengyi said.

"Are you here to say goodbye to me?" Luo Qi said in surprise, suddenly feeling a bit panicked again. "I'm still a fugitive from Qionglin, and you have quite a few troubles yourself, don't you?"

"Hmm," Du Zhengyi admitted generously, leaning leisurely against the stone at the bridgehead. "But I have already submitted a formal written appeal. If it's fast, there will be a formal appeal at the office within two or three days. I copied Teacher Liu Li; she will come forward when the time comes. I'm already too lazy to keep dodging those colleagues who are looking for trouble with me."

"Then I..." Luo Qi swallowed. "Can't I help you with anything?"

"You can stay here and help Majiang. Pei Shu will take at least a month or more to come out of seclusion, and the work of decrypting the Crystal stored by Guan Yushan can only be left to Majiang for the time being. Guan Xinyue will also stay here to help Majiang; I think the key might be some words in Guan Xinyue's life. I just told Majiang that if you have nowhere to go, you can stay with Majiang for the time being," Du Zhengyi said.

Perhaps seeing that Luo Qi's expression was really not very willing, he added, "Majiang is a good teacher, it's just that sometimes his brain doesn't work very well; don't mind his suspicions of you. He will still teach you a lot of knowledge about Mind Mages. Once you can better adapt to this living situation, you can go wherever you want."

Luo Qi racked his brains for a while and tried to say, "My dad said you need a high-level Mind Mage..."

"First of all, you aren't even a junior Mind Mage," Du Zhengyi said.

Luo Qi's face fell.

"Secondly, I like to be on my own; I don't like working in teams," Du Zhengyi said.

Guan Xinyue was startled by the sound of Luo Qi slamming the door.

"What are you doing?" Majiang turned his head to look at him, bewildered. "This door of mine is also an antique; if you break it, you'll have to pay for it. Do you have any money now?"

"I've never seen a Mage as unsociable as him!" Luo Qi said angrily.

"Hehe," Majiang gloated. "To be honest, have you ever seen a sociable Mage? Being unsociable is a major reason why we can't develop past humans."