Chapter 3137: My Wife and I Roleplay Daily Life 22

The mountain spring was cool and refreshing, the sun was just right—it couldn't be more pleasant.

Jin Chen lay on Chenshu's knee, feeling his fingertips slowly rub from behind his ears to the nape, smoothing the water-soaked stray hairs, then he scooped up a handful of water and poured it over.

He would occasionally lift his head, stealing a kiss when Chenshu wasn't looking, then lean in to gauge his reaction; Chenshu lowered his eyes, scooped another handful of water and poured it over, the stream tracing Jin Chen's forehead, he blinked to clear the water, looked at Chenshu as if such back-and-forth kissing were already routine for him.

Jin Chen hissed inwardly.

Logically, after leaving the illusion, their relationship shouldn't still be as tense as before; following the normal plot progression, they should be gradually drawing closer, playing hard to get, mutually affectionate—when he kissed Chenshu, Chenshu's heart ought to race, so why is he so used to his kisses?

Jin Chen paused a second, flipped over in the water and lay back on Chenshu's lap; taking advantage of the moment while Chenshu had finished combing his wet hair, waiting only to dry it with Spiritual Power after they got ashore, he wrapped his arms around Chenshu's waist and kissed him again.

In the water it ultimately couldn't compare to being on shore; the ripples surged, rolling up layer upon layer of waves, as if anything they did could add a cheerful, ambiguous atmosphere.

Mist rose from the water's surface, and the waterlight filtered through the edges of their overlapping silhouettes, scattering flecks of gold across the surface.

Jin Chen's lips pressed against the corner of Chenshu's mouth, rubbing twice, then he slightly withdrew, lowered his gaze to the water-soaked skin beneath Chenshu's chest cloth, bowed his head and bit through the damp fabric below the collarbone, then stared straight at Chenshu.

Chenshu finally supported Jin Chen's cheek, lifting him from his chest, brushed his thumb over the water stain at the corner of Jin Chen's mouth, and said helplessly, 'I told you not to do this here.'

He hesitated, almost saying, 'If you want it, we can come again on a day when we don't have to bring our instructors.'

But then he reconsidered: he was still hiding from Jin Chen the fact that he had regained his memories, and he sensed this might be Jin Chen's test. For a moment, a smile blossomed in Chenshu's heart, and he swallowed the latter half of his sentence.

Jin Chen hummed vaguely: 'What if you want to?' He lifted his face to look at Chenshu, his eyes glistening with moisture, 'After parting in the illusion, I've really missed you, senior brother.'

He put it cleverly. Since leaving the illusion they don't claim to see each other every day, yet Jin Chen often goes to Unending Peak to bother Chenshu every few days—sometimes to borrow a magical artifact, sometimes to return something, sometimes for no reason at all, just to sit awhile. Where does this talk of parting come from? What exactly is he missing? They both know full well; Chenshu heard the coquettish tone in his words and didn't respond.

Chenshu, unwilling to be outdone, retaliated with a bite to Jin Chen's chin, then lightly stroked his cheek, his tone laced with deliberate provocation: 'If you want it, wife, you'd better beg me. Better yet, let the whole sect know that the Law Cultivation lineage's personally transmitted Senior Brother Jin Chen has devoted himself to me as your wife.'

Jin Chen tilted his head in his palm, eyes crinkling, utterly unbothered: 'Sure, sure.'

Only an incompetent husband worries about saving face in others' eyes.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Chenshu flicked his forehead, utterly unsparing: 'Nice try, you wish.'

Jin Chen made a sound, turned his head away, hummed twice, muttering, 'Still so fierce.' His voice muffled against the side of his face, half‑true, half‑feigned; after grumbling he turned back to glance at Chenshu, his gaze lingered on Chenshu's face for two breaths, then shifted away.

He must be addled to think his wife also has memories.

Jin Chen quelled that doubt, rested his head back on Chenshu's knee, and lazily let him finish smoothing the last damp strands of hair.

The spiritual energy of Spirit Peak's Back Mountain is abundant; the flora grows better than elsewhere, spiritual beasts often pass through the woods—sometimes short‑legged snow rabbits, sometimes shelled pangolins, occasionally long‑winged birds flit between the treetops, and the goo‑goo birds that Chenshu had once painted on Jin Chen's face are among them.

This bird resembles a great roc, entirely pearl‑white, its wings shimmering with iridescent spiritual light, capable of human speech. In short, it is as famous for its talkativeness as the goo‑goo bird, thanks to its gorgeous, cool‑looking plumage.

A goo‑goo bird about half a person tall stood on a flat stone by the shore, entirely pearl‑white, the edges of its wings faintly glowing with spiritual light, its neck slender, its tail long and thick, trailing a stream of light; it folded its wings, tilted its head at the water‑bound Jin Chen, its black‑bean eyes swiveled, and it cheerfully cried, 'Handsome senior brother! Handsome senior brother!'

Jin Chen turned his head, sat up slightly. The goo‑goo bird excitedly shook its wings, lowered its head, plucked its most beautiful tail feather from itself, carefully placed it on the shore‑side stone, then nudged it toward Jin Chen with its beak.

Just as Jin Chen sat up straight from the water, his hair still damp and clinging to his shoulders, seeing the goo‑goo bird bring the tail feather to him, he was about to reach out when Chenshu beside him suddenly spoke.

'Goo‑goo birds never lightly give away their feathers,' Chenshu said in a neutral tone, 'especially tail feathers, which are used for courtship.'

Jin Chen: '……'

He slowly turned his head to look at Chenshu, then glanced at the tail feather shimmering with iridescent light in the sunlight, smiled slightly, reached out, picked it up and kept it; the feather spun between his fingers, the goo‑goo bird, seeing him accept it, hopped excitedly in place, its wings fluttered and then settled, and it kept chirping 'chick‑chick‑goo'.

Chenshu raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone tinged with danger and resignation: 'Jin Chen.'

Jin Chen hid the tail feather behind his back, then in an instant pulled a three‑life flower from his sleeve and placed it on the goo‑goo bird's head, saying, 'Reciprocity is proper.'

As everyone knows, the goo‑goo bird has a trait: it gets excited when its courtship feather is accepted, yet many cultivators, when trading with it, usually give a three‑life flower as a return gift. These two actions convey completely different meanings in the bird's social life; receiving both signals at once, its cognitive system suddenly fell into confusion.

The goo‑goo bird's black‑bean eyes widened round, its fluffy chest feathers rose and fell slightly, as if two conflicting rule sets were wrestling in its mind; after a while neither side prevailed, it looked at the tail feather Jin Chen held, and its gaze shifted from bewildered to sorrowful.

It watched helplessly as Jin Chen turned, slipped the very finest tail feather into Chenshu's hair, pinched Chenshu's face to examine him, then planted a kiss on his cheek, saying, 'You look gorgeous, senior brother.'

His youthful nature really makes it impossible to feel any urge to reprimand him; Chenshu, after all these years, has never been able to develop any immunity to it.

The goo‑goo bird let out an angry, sorrowful 'goo,' then flapped its wings and flew off; its silhouette quickly vanished among the treetops, faintly one could still hear a few broken 'goo‑goos' drifting from the direction it had gone, like someone cursing in the street.

In the sea of consciousness, System 00 hesitated for a long time, then finally asked in a complex tone: 'Is this… the host's… should I suppress it?'

Chenshu withdrew his gaze from Jin Chen, lowered his eyelids, and said, 'You still want to stare?'

System 00 let out a desperate wail: 'Ah ah ah ah I don't want to!'

It's just a rival system—why must it endure this torment!