Why do you always want to be my Taoist partner?

"When you were in a daze just now, you seemed to be thinking about a lot of strange things."

"I..." Jiang Li hesitated for a moment and lowered his head slightly, "I had a very long dream yesterday."

"Dream? Can you tell me about it?"

"I dreamed that three months later, you called me late at night and told me you were drunk and asked me to pick you up. Then I confessed my love to you under the street light." Jiang Li turned his head to look at the girl beside him. Seeing her blushing cheeks, he whispered, "You agreed, and then we fell in love."

"How is that possible?" Ling Wei pursed her lips slightly. "With so many beautiful girls around you, why would you confess to me?"

"So it was a dream, do you want to continue listening?"

"I'm listening."

"And then... and then you know, I have always been a playboy and promiscuous. When I was in love with you, I cheated on you like crazy. During that time, I don't know how many girls I deceived. I kept it a secret from you. Later, I found out that you knew it all along, but you just believed me again and again, hoping that I would change my mind and look forward to confessing to you one day, but I never did. Instead, I was still complacent because you were always by my side. So when I was trying to capture other girls, I never worried about failure, because you were always my retreat."

"...Although it was just a dream, I still want to scold you." Ling Wei's voice became very resentful.

"We dated for two years. I was so happy that I thought I had done it perfectly, until one day you called me crying and said you wanted to see me. So I ran to you and you stabbed me three times, leaving six holes. Even though I started crying and begging for mercy after the first stab, you didn't show any mercy in the end and stabbed me to death."

Ling Wei beside her burst out laughing, "How scary."

Jiang Li also laughed, "I also dreamed that you had Yuyu syndrome in my dream. You had it since high school, and it became more and more serious in college, but you hid it from me perfectly."

Jiang Li looked at her eyes seriously.

Ling Wei's smile froze for a moment. Noticing Jiang Li's gaze, she turned her face away and smiled again after a second or two. "Everyone is suffering from Yuyu syndrome now. Everyone is a little depressed. Isn't that quite common?"

Jiang Li suddenly stretched out his hand and gently pinched Ling Wei's face.

"How about we two really have a relationship?"

Ling Wei looked into his eyes and seemed stunned for a moment, but the next second, she snorted, "No way."

"What a decisive refusal! I'm so embarrassed!"

"You don't look serious at all. Besides, which girl around you isn't prettier than me?"

"What if I just like you like this?"

"I do not believe."

"I can take out my heart and show it to you."

"Oh, no." Ling Wei smiled happily, as if she had never believed what Jiang Li said was true. She stood up, untied her ponytail, and said, "Okay, it's time to go back to the hotel. No, you said you would treat me to hot pot."

"I've ordered a really good hotpot restaurant. Let's go." Jiang Li walked to her side.

“How much per capita?”

"Eighth uncle."

"Where did you get so much money?"

"It was a birthday present from a senior from the music department. I sold it for four thousand dollars."

"...I suddenly want to scold you."

"Kill the rich and help the poor, okay? Besides, I didn't agree to date her. She insisted on giving it to me. She started crying and making a fuss when I refused to accept it. Her monthly living expenses are tens of thousands of yuan. It's just a drop in the bucket."

"But this is...not good."

"I know." Jiang Li nodded.

Ling Wei said quietly beside him, "You won't change even if I tell you."

“I’ve always been like this.”

"You weren't like this before." Ling Wei suddenly stopped and said to him seriously, "You really weren't like this before."

"But everyone has to grow up, and growing up means change."

“Why change?”

“Because of the pain of dissatisfaction with the current situation, you want to change it.”

"So, why are you feeling miserable?"

"Because I'm used to being poor, because no one loves me, and because... I want to be loved."

Before falling in love with Ling Wei, Jiang Li never lied to her. Whenever he did something bad and felt guilty about it, he would always like to talk to Ling Wei about it. He would feel much better if Ling Wei scolded him, because he would not change anyway.

But Ling Wei really has always regarded him as the most important person in her heart.

Ling Wei couldn't refute what Jiang Li had just said. Maybe she wanted to say something in her heart, but she knew that it would be meaningless, so she chose to remain silent. But the two of them walked a few more steps, and she suddenly stopped and asked in a low voice, "Can the hot pot be returned?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"No, let me make a phone call and ask. I don't believe you."

Jiang Li couldn't do anything to her, "Then what do you want to eat?"

"Let's go eat barbecue." Ling Wei winked at him, "Let's go to the one we used to go to in junior high school."

"I... can do anything."

Jiang Li was stunned for a moment, and he suddenly realized that the world line in this memory had changed. In his previous life, he did not talk about these things with Ling Wei, so the two of them naturally went to eat hot pot and then went back to the hotel together, but now the hot pot turned into barbecue.

"Ling Wei."

"Ok?"

"Can you let me hold you for a bit?"

"What?" The girl next to him jumped lightly to the side, looking alert.

"Just... hug."

Jiang Li looked into her eyes. Perhaps it was the puppy-like pitifulness in his eyes that made Ling Wei irresistible. She walked up to him, stretched out her hand, and gently hugged him.

It's very light, but feels very real.

Jiang Li suddenly felt his nose getting a little sour.

Chapter 202: Chapter Illusion

The barbecue restaurant was located in the alley next to Jiangli Junior High School.

Barbecue restaurants in such places are usually run by couples. The owner is a taciturn man and his wife looks very gentle, but because of the years of oil smoke, her face inevitably looks a little older than that of ordinary women.

The advantage of this barbecue restaurant is that it is very cheap. Jiang Li and Ling Wei both attended private junior high schools, which had poor teaching conditions. Most of the students who graduated from these junior high schools went to technical secondary schools, or played for a year or two and then became fresh blood in various low-level labor industries.

But Jiang Li and Ling Wei are different. They know very well the purpose of studying. It is not for anyone, not for the praise of their parents, not for the envious eyes of others, but purely for themselves.

They studied very hard in junior high school, and finally managed to get into the city's high school through exception.

Looking at the familiar store in front of him, Jiang Li felt a little dazed at the moment. He suddenly couldn't tell whether he was the Jiang Li who came back with Ling Wei during the summer vacation of his freshman year, or the Jiang Li who had died and traveled to another world and was now overcoming his inner demons.

He turned to look at Ling Wei beside him. Her smile was so familiar. What was she? Was she an illusion constructed by his memory? But when he hugged her, it was so real. Her glasses were so moving, and there was no difference in his memory.

Jiang Li sat with her in the store and ordered some starch sausage, chicken wings, potato chips, roasted bean curd, and an eggplant. They also ordered some lamb skewers. Ling Wei had a small appetite and was a little thin. Jiang Li looked at her hands carefully. Her hand joints were nice, but her skin was no longer so white and smooth.

Because Ling Wei used to do a lot of temporary work with him to earn some living expenses.

"What are you thinking about?" Ling Wei held her cheek with her hand and looked into his eyes.

Jiang Li came back to his senses, "No."

The barbecue the two people ordered was quickly served. The proprietress on the side smiled and said that she hadn't seen them for a long time. She asked them what they had been doing recently. After a few simple greetings, the two people started to eat the barbecue.

Jiang Li really wanted to find something to talk about, but he didn't know what to say for a moment. To Ling Wei, perhaps this was just an ordinary meeting in countless days, but to him, it was a reunion with an old friend in a dream.

But after a few seconds Jiang Li laughed at himself again. Why should he talk to himself in the illusion when he knew it was fake and did not exist?

Compared to the hotpot meal that cost 800 yuan per person, the barbecue meal for two people cost 102 yuan. The boss rounded off the charge and charged a full 100 yuan. The two people walked out of the barbecue restaurant. The street lights were on and the sun was setting slowly. They were walking on the path home from school, and in a trance they seemed to have returned to the past.

In the past, they lived very close to each other, in the same alley, and the rent was very cheap, but there were endless cockroaches and rats in the house. Jiang Li still remembered that when he was in the third year of junior high school, he was bitten by a rat while sleeping at night, leaving a small mark on his arm. He raised his hand and looked at it, and the mark was still there.

If all this was a dream, how should he wake up?

Why did the illusion happen on such a day? Nothing special happened on this day. Jiang Li turned to look at Ling Wei beside him, not knowing the meaning of it. He saw Ling Wei's hair fluttering gently in the wind and her footsteps brisk. When she noticed his gaze, she turned her head, stopped under the street light, and looked at him in confusion.

"You look weird today?"

"Have it?"

"Yeah, it gives me a weird feeling. Has anything happened to you recently?"

"No, you know I've always been heartless." Jiang Li replied, and then asked, "Where are we going next?"

"Let's go back to the hotel. Where else do you want to go?"

"I'm directionally challenged...you lead the way."

All the memories in Jiang Li's head seemed to become familiar again. Ling Wei walked in front of him and led the way. He looked at all the familiar things in the past and followed Ling Wei closely. Finally, they arrived at the door of the hotel. The hotel was booked by Ling Wei. There happened to be a 40% discount coupon. It was a twin room for a man and a woman. It was actually very subtle. Fortunately, neither of them felt awkward.

For them, the only people they can truly trust in this world are each other, so many things seem unimportant. Ling Wei returned to the room, and then played rock-paper-scissors with him to see who would take a shower first. The loser was Jiang Li, so Ling Wei took out her nightgown from the suitcase, humming a song as she went to the bathroom. Her figure was vaguely visible through the frosted glass of the bathroom, while Jiang Li lay on the bed and turned on the TV.

Everything was familiar yet strange. He felt as if he had woken up from a dream, and could not find any trace of falsehood in this illusion.

It seemed that girls took a long time to take a shower, so Jiang Li was usually too lazy to wait. He would use all kinds of excuses to coax girls to take a shower together. Anyway, as long as you never ask her if she wants to take a shower together, it will be fine. He felt that many things would come naturally. Half an hour later, Ling Wei came out wearing a floral nightgown, which covered her figure without outlining her underwear. Jiang Li didn't even look at her. He went straight to take a shower, then changed into loose clothes casually, and then lay back on his bed.

The beds for both of them were not big, with a table in the middle. An old movie was playing on TV. Ling Wei was watching it very seriously, but Jiang Li had no mood to watch it. He couldn't calm down to face it all. The sun outside the window had completely fallen. After a long while, the movie ended. Ling Wei yawned and asked him, "Aren't you going to sleep yet?"

Jiang Li came back to his senses and answered subconsciously, "I usually go to bed at two in the morning."

"You want to die, Jiang Li."

"got used to."

"Go to bed early. Staying up late is bad for your health." Ling Wei's voice seemed to reveal some dissatisfaction. Jiang Li looked at her cute pouting face and said, "Then... shall we sleep together?"

Ling Wei pulled out a pillow from the table and threw it directly at him. Jiang Li smiled happily, but then he became dazed while holding the pillow.

Ling Wei lay on her side, staring at him without blinking.

"What are you staring at me for?"

"Depends on when you plan to go to bed."

"I really can't sleep." Jiang Li smiled helplessly. Just when he was about to say something else, his cell phone rang. He subconsciously picked it up and saw the note was 172, mature lady, eats spicy food, tsundere, music department, rich woman.

Then he suddenly remembered who this person was, but he couldn't even remember his name. This illusion was too real. He remembered that there seemed to be such a phone call in his previous life. He picked up the phone and tried to answer it, and the sound of tides came to his ears.

"Guess where I am?"

"The beach?" Jiang Li asked tentatively.

"Hehe." The girl opposite sneered. Although Jiang Li guessed the correct answer, the girl probably still wanted to kill him because he had canceled her appointment with Ling Wei.

Jiang Li subconsciously thought of many words to coax the other party, but he didn't say them when they came to his mouth. After several seconds, the voice from the other side came, "Video."

"I'm inconvenienced."

"reason?"

"You'll definitely get mad if I video chat with you, so it's better not to."

"Have you ever thought that I'm already furious?"

"I'm sorry." Jiang Li said suddenly.

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, and then Jiang Li heard her ask, "What do you mean?"

"It means I'm sorry."

"Apologizing for hanging me up?"

"Yes and no, there are still many things you want to apologize for."

"For example?"

"I cheated on you, tricked you into giving me gifts, and cheated on you with your body. In fact, I never thought about taking responsibility. In my heart, you are just like any other girl. I never really liked you. Everything I said was just carefully constructed rhetoric. I am a scumbag, a bastard, and a dirty rat in the sewer."

"and then?"

"No more... I'm done." Jiang Li was silent for a while, "I'm sorry, I'll find a way to return the gifts you gave me in equal amounts later."

There was no sound on the other end of the phone. Perhaps she didn't know what to say, or maybe she was angry. Jiang Li waited patiently until she asked hysterically, "What do you mean?"

Her voice trembled, mixed with the wind from the seaside.

"It's... nothing. I just wanted to apologize to you." Jiang Li sighed softly and hung up the phone. His phone rang again soon and he chose to turn it off.