Love Apartment: Yifei is my junior aunt

Chapter 179 An outrageously absurd justification

Just cause, just cause…

What legitimate reason do I have?

Ziqiao was immediately in a dilemma. He felt that his reason for using braised pork knuckle as an excuse to pick up girls was quite legitimate.

Although I didn't greet Meijia, the braised pork knuckle itself didn't object.

[Braised pork knuckle: ???]

If the reason itself is not legitimate, then perhaps...

Can you come up with a legitimate reason?

His eyes darted around, and a picture seemed to slowly unfold in his mind.

……

"Mika! Mika!"

"Mika, I'm back!"

With his clothes torn and his face bruised and battered, Ziqiao limped back.

He staggered and hunched over as he approached the furious Mika.

"Lu Ziqiao, I just spat out a mouthful of soda... What's going on with you?"

Meijia hadn't even finished her "greeting" to Ziqiao when she was startled by Ziqiao's bruised and swollen face.

"Lu Ziqiao, what kind of trick are you up to now?"

"Let me tell you, this young lady does not accept offerings of apology; she only accepts death as an atonement!"

"Mika, I'm alright..."

Ziqiao smiled warmly, seemingly wanting to comfort Meijia, but in the end, he was too exhausted to stand up and knelt down in front of her.

Ziqiao spoke tremblingly, his voice barely audible.

"Meijia, I was just waiting for you at the shop entrance with a braised pork knuckle in my arms..."

"As a result, a dog dealer suddenly rushed up and snatched the braised pork knuckle away."

"I rushed over immediately, but I never expected that they were a gang."

"They outnumbered me and I was no match for them in a one-on-one fight."

"Mika, it hurts so much!"

Seeing that Zi Qiao could barely speak and blood was slowly flowing from the corner of his mouth, Mei Jia, who was originally furious, immediately burst into tears.

"Ziqiao! Are you alright, Ziqiao..."

"Why did they hit you so hard?"

"An ambulance! I'll go call an ambulance right now!"

Meijia cried as she pulled her phone out of her pocket to dial 120.

"Absolutely not!"

Ziqiao instinctively grabbed Meijia's wrist, his strength so great that even Meijia was stunned.

"You're so strong?"

"Perhaps... perhaps it's just a final burst of energy before death..."

Ziqiao reached out his trembling hand and wiped away the tears from Meijia's eyes.

"Don't cry. Girls look prettier when they smile, and you look beautiful when you smile."

"The best looking."

His eyes were glazed over, as if he were on his last legs. With his last strength, he handed the braised pork knuckle wrapped in his coat to Meijia.

"But it's alright, the braised pork knuckle..."

"I, snatched, back, it,!"

Ziqiao's voice grew softer and softer until it was almost a whisper.

He eventually closed his eyes slowly.

"Ziqiao! Ziqiao!"

Meijia no longer cared about the braised pork knuckle. She hugged Ziqiao and burst into tears, her tears falling like pearls.

"I must be dreaming, this can't be real."

"Ziqiao! Ziqiao!"

Fairy tales say that a rainbow appears after the rain...

As sad music blared from somewhere in the mall, Meijia's tears finally burst forth like a bursting dam: "Lu Ziqiao, you bastard!"

"Why did you have to give me such disgusting lines?!"

……

Very good, that reason is valid enough, isn't it?

Ziqiao was very proud of his brilliant idea.

With this legitimate reason, Meijia must have nothing to say now.

Moreover, as a hero who rescued the dog, he would surely earn Meijia's gratitude and live a happy life with no worries about food or drink.

That's decided. I'll go put on some pain makeup later and buy some ketchup or something to make blood packs!

"Dog dealers? There are no dog dealers these days."

While picking out pet supplies, Yifei said into the Bluetooth headset, "Yumo, stop making up excuses for this jerk."

"Besides, your legitimate reason won't work. What dog trafficker would kidnap a dog in a shopping mall?"

Yifei turned her head and glanced at Ziqiao's lower body, then grinned maliciously and said, "Meijia just told me that if Ziqiao dares to try to fool her with some excuse like being a dog dealer..."

She broke three of Ziqiao's legs, so that he would be bedridden for the rest of his life.

"That way he can live a sexless life with no worries about food or drink and everything he could want."

Ziqiao shuddered upon hearing this.

Xiaoli asked in confusion, "Xiaobu, what's going on...?"

"It's probably because it's too cold today, and the heating here isn't warm enough. I'm a little cold," Ziqiao replied casually, not caring about Xiaoli at all.

"You really need to take care of yourself in this cold weather."

Xiaoli waved to the shop assistant: "Hello, could you please turn the air conditioning up a bit?"

"Okay," the clerk replied.

"Thanks."

Ziqiao continued chatting with Xiaoli in a casual manner, but because he was not concentrating, the content of their conversation was not as interesting as before.

However, Xiaoli didn't think so. Anyway, it was better than chatting with Zhang Wei.

Ziqiao was still struggling with his legitimate reasons.

[Damn, how did Chen Meijia come up with such a brilliant reason beforehand?]

Is she a genius like me?

If the dog dealers aren't up to par, then maybe...

Want something more exciting?

Then the scroll slowly unfurled once more.

……

"Mika! Mika!"

"Mika, I'm back!"

"Lu Ziqiao, I just spat out a mouthful of soda... What's wrong with you now?" Meijia was stunned after saying that. "Why did I say 'again'?"

Zi Qiao was wearing a purple-gold crown with three forks, a red brocade robe with flowers from Sichuan, a beast-faced chainmail armor, and a lion-head belt.

He carried a bow and arrows, held a halberd, and rode the Red Hare... well, horses don't seem to be allowed in shopping malls.

Then he won't have a horse.

In short, Ziqiao, dressed as a military general, rushed up to the furious Meijia.

With a loud thud, the forty-pound halberd slipped from Zi Qiao's hand and crashed heavily to the ground.

Before Meijia could continue her tirade, Ziqiao had already hugged her tightly.

This battle-hardened, indomitable war god finally shed two lines of tears.

"Mika, I'm back."

"I'm finally back."

Ziqiao cupped Meijia's face in his hands and said tenderly, "Do you know, for eighteen hundred years, I've thought of you for a full eighteen hundred years!"

"Lu Ziqiao, even if you want to shirk responsibility, you don't need to damage your brain like that!"

Meijia angrily tried to push Ziqiao away, but his armor was too heavy, and she couldn't break free from his embrace for a moment.

"No, Mika, listen to me."

Ziqiao said in a serious tone, "I know what I'm about to say might be outrageous, but I swear on my father's behalf that everything I'm about to say is true."

"Why didn't you use your aunt's name to guarantee it this time?"

"Um...that's not important."

Ziqiao continued, "Meijia, do you know that just now I traveled back to the time of Emperor Ling of Han and became a lowly soldier in Bingzhou?"

"With the innate superhuman strength I gained after transmigrating and my already indestructible body, I became a martial arts prodigy, a once-in-a-millennium talent."

"After countless life-or-death battles, I finally became the strongest man on land, and Lü Xiaobu's name resounded throughout Bingzhou."

Ziqiao straightened his body and said in a deep voice, "To show respect for me, everyone has voluntarily omitted the 'Xiao' in my name, Lü Xiaobu."

"The world respectfully calls me... the Flying General Lü Bu!"

Lu Bu... no, Little Bu... that's not right either.

In short, this guy who called himself Lü Bu looked at Meijia with deep affection.

At this moment, Mika's expression was quite interesting.

Meijia: (⊙⊙)?

Could this guy have really damaged his brain trying to shirk responsibility?

Ignoring Meijia's stunned expression, Ziqiao continued, "Meijia, there I obtained everything a man could only dream of."

Power, troops, force, wealth, beautiful women...

"But every time I wake up in the middle of the night, I see your face in my dreams. So many times I want to hug you, but I'm afraid of disturbing your beautiful dream."

"When I had everything, I realized that if you weren't in my life, what would be the point of having so much?"

"You mean... you sleep with Diao Chan every night, and then only think of me in your dreams?!"

"Um...that's not important."

Zi Qiao almost lost his focus because of Mei Jia's spitting.

Why is Chen Meijia, whom I imagined, so difficult to deal with?

"Meijia, please listen to me. Ever since then, I've been looking for a way to travel back in time."

"Through my continuous exploration, I finally discovered the greatest secret of the late Eastern Han Dynasty."

"Zhang Jiao is not dead at all!"

"He faked his death to escape and manipulate the chaos behind the scenes in order to collect the fortune of the Han Dynasty and open the tomb of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang."

"Zhang Jiao's ultimate goal was to obtain the inner elixir left behind by Liu Bang, the son of the Red Emperor, who had been killed by Liu Bang!"

"It is said that Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, relied on this inner elixir to gather the fortune of the world and finally defeated Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King."

"As long as one takes this elixir, one can emulate the Yellow Emperor and ascend to heaven on a dragon. However, Liu Bang ultimately left it in his tomb to ensure the eternal prosperity of the Han Dynasty."

"Wait a minute."

Meijia was so surprised her jaw almost dropped. She pushed Ziqiao away and used her hand to close her jaw, which had almost dislocated.

"With such good things, why didn't Liu Bang, that bastard, eat them himself and leave them for his descendants to maintain the country's fortunes?"

Are you sure you're talking about Liu Bang?

"Um...that's still not important." Ziqiao waved his hand, trying to skip the topic.

"Also, given how powerful the White Emperor's inner core was, how was it managed to be killed by Liu Bang?"

"Forehead……"

"That's not important, is it?" Meijia rolled her eyes at Ziqiao.

She held up one finger: "One last question."

Who is Zhang Jiao?

"Um...none of these questions are important!!!"

Ziqiao clutched his head and broke down, saying, "The point is, I time-traveled! Time-travel, you know?!"

"I know, I've seen 'Love Through Time' before."

Meijia looked at Ziqiao with disdain: "Are you trying to tell me you traveled through time and how you got back?"

"……right."

"Then you continue, I'll cooperate with you."

Meijia sighed. Being the character Ziqiao imagined was just so devoid of human rights.

So the two of them closed their eyes to calm themselves down.

【Action!】

"Oh my god, Ziqiao, you've time-traveled!"

With tears welling up in her eyes, Meijia rushed over and hugged Ziqiao. She stroked Ziqiao's handsome face and said, "Tell me, tell me quickly how you got back?"

Ziqiao looked at Meijia with deep affection: "After I learned the truth, I also faked my death to escape, just like Zhang Jiao."

"Finally, on the day of the Battle of Red Cliffs, when the fate of the Han Dynasty was most turbulent, we entered the tomb of Emperor Gaozu of Han together."

"Zhang Jiao and I, one a martial arts master and the other a near-divine immortal, fought to the death at the tomb of Emperor Gaozu of Han."

"During the fight, I accidentally split the White Emperor's inner core in two. Zhang Jiao and I each got one half. We swallowed the half of the inner core and gained the ability to live forever."

"In order to obtain half of the inner core within me, Zhang Jiao and I have been locked in a fierce struggle for the past 1,800 years, refusing to give up."

"Finally, not long ago, I exhausted the power of the White Emperor's inner core and all my martial arts cultivation to finally kill the mastermind behind the chaos that had been controlling the world for eighteen hundred years."

"Even if I lose my immortality and the martial arts skills to kill Yifei in an instant, I can finally return to your side and grow old with you."

"Just to maintain the timeline, I have to wait until the original me travels back in time before I can appear in front of you."

"Mika, you won't blame me, will you?"

Meijia looked at Ziqiao, who was still young but whose eyes were full of vicissitudes, and burst into tears. Her tears were as bright as pearls.

"How could I? You've made so much effort and sacrifice to come back. I'm heartbroken for you, so how could I blame you?"

"By the way, Mika, I just waited at the spot where I traveled through time and retrieved the braised pork knuckle."

Ziqiao pulled out a braised pork knuckle from somewhere and handed it to Meijia: "Now we can finally be together again."

Meijia called out affectionately, "Ziqiao, no, General Lü Bu..."

Ziqiao responded gently, "Meijia, you are my Diaochan..."

The two embraced tightly.

The braised pork knuckle, feeling incredibly uncomfortable being sandwiched between the armored vehicle and the airport, grumbled as it squeezed out of the two men's arms. It nimbly landed and ran to the side of Nanfeng and the others who were watching the show.

Yifei put down the watermelon, picked up the braised pork knuckle, and muttered, "Where would you get a watermelon in winter?"

"They've already released a mythological version of the Three Kingdoms, and you're still wondering if there will be any watermelons in the dead of winter?" Nanfeng asked helplessly, looking at the two tightly embracing. "According to Ziqiao's idea, what should we be doing right now?"

Yu Mo shook her head and sighed, "What else can we do but clap?"

The mall erupted in applause, seemingly bringing this bizarre and outrageous thousand-year love story to a close.

Amidst thunderous applause, Ziqiao passionately tried to kiss Meijia.

"Ziqiao..." Meijia called softly with her eyes closed.

"Um?"

Do you really think I'd be that stupid in real life?

Ziqiao thought for a moment and honestly said, "I think with your intelligence, I have at least a one in ten chance of succeeding."

"I'm not that stupid."

Meijia opened her eyes and smiled faintly at Ziqiao, revealing two dimples. The glistening tears in her eyes flowed down and stopped on those two dimples.

Mika, with tears in her eyes despite her smile, is breathtakingly beautiful.

Even if the whole story is full of loopholes, at least one thing is true.

Mika is someone who could truly make people travel 1,800 years just to return to her side.

"And you don't dare tell me you like me in real life, but you actually want to kiss me in your imagination. Aren't you being a bit too repressed?"

Ziqiao shrugged: "I just think the atmosphere right now is perfect for ending with a kiss."

"You know perfectly well that if you just say you love me, I will forgive everything you do."

"It's because you'll forgive everything I do that I don't dare to easily say I love you."

Ziqiao looked up blankly around, and only after confirming that he was still in his imagination did he hesitate before speaking.

"You will have better options."

"Of course I have better options, but do you really want me to choose better options?"

Ziqiao remained silent.

Meijia gently patted his back and said, "This is your world of imagination. All the questions and answers are already in your heart."

"Follow your heart," Mika whispered.

Ziqiao chuckled self-deprecatingly: "If I could follow along, would I have waited until now?"

"It's okay." Mika smiled playfully. "It's just imagination anyway, you can confirm with me as many times as you want..."

She tiptoed and gently kissed Ziqiao.

Just as Ziqiao said, the atmosphere is indeed perfect for ending with a kiss.

"I love you."

Imagine the world collapsing, everything begins to blur, and all sounds turn into scattered words.

So apart from Ziqiao, probably no one else can confirm who said the last "I love you".

But as Ziqiao said.

It does not matter.

I'm coming

As for the style of this chapter, even Pigeon can't say for sure.

Try using a more abstract approach to develop the relationship between Ziqiao and Meijia; the advantage is that it won't seem so dramatic or intense.

Of course, whether it's good or not is ultimately up to everyone to decide.

Do you all think there's a problem with this approach? As I said before, I read every single comment. Your comments are the driving force behind my growth.

Please subscribe, add to your favorites, give me monthly tickets, recommend me—I'll give you anything you can ask for, please!

(End of this chapter)