Chapter 174 : Chapter 174
Chapter 174. Divine Contract Holders Bound by Agreements with the Gods
That night, the star-filled sky wrapped around the border watchtower of Rift Valley Town.
“September’s torches burn bright and clear, lighting up the hills of East China~”
“...The torches burn and burn with hope, while the songs fly and fly into the distance~”
At the center of the watchtower plaza, around a bright, dancing bonfire, the people of Rift Valley Town held hands and sang and danced together.
They were singing songs Jiang Yichen could not understand, and every face was radiant with happy smiles.
Jiang Yichen did not join them. He had no talent for dancing anyway. But just watching them filled him with an indescribable sense of joy, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly.
He swirled the crude wine jug in his hand. Inside was the cloudy homemade liquor brewed by the villagers. He took a small sip and nearly got burned alive by the spiciness.
Jiang Yichen slowly set the wine down and picked up a glass of freshly squeezed juice instead. “This suits me better.”
“Sentry Captain Feng, come, we townsfolk offer you a toast. We truly want to thank you.”
At the long table, the mayor of Rift Valley Town rose with his cup in hand and raised it toward Feng Xiazi, who sat in the seat of honor.
But Feng Xiazi pressed a hand down. “There is no need to make it so formal. This is our duty.”
“And you lot are not allowed to touch alcohol. Drinking can easily lead to mistakes.”
He pointed at the border soldiers of the watchtower and gave the instruction with utmost seriousness.
The mayor stood there awkwardly for a moment, then hurriedly smoothed things over. “Then, Sentry Captain Feng, you can use water in place of wine. I will drink first.”
Only then did Feng Xiazi’s expression soften somewhat. He raised his old cadre tea mug and nodded with a smile.
As for the Divine Battle Team and Jiang Yichen’s group, they were free to do as they pleased.
Jiang Yichen could not be bothered with this sort of table-side politeness.
Back in his previous life, when he was interning in the military district, he had even had to curry favor with the examiners and give them gifts just to pass the recruit assessment.
He truly could not be bothered with that sort of behavior, always reading the room and watching other people’s faces.
Why not just relax, eat when it was time to eat, and drink when it was time to drink?
Jiang Yichen took a sip of juice, his expression relaxed and smiling.
“Brother Yichen, come on, let’s go dance together.”
From across the long table, Tang Long pointed at the girls dancing around the bonfire with a grin, looking full of eager excitement.
One look was enough for Jiang Yichen to know exactly what was going through that boy’s head. He shook his head. “No. I do not want your sister-in-law to misunderstand.”
Tang Long smacked his lips. “Brother Yichen, why are you getting more and more like your father? You are not going to turn into a henpeck—”
Jiang Yichen shot him a glare, and Tang Long immediately covered his mouth with his hand and ran off to dance by the bonfire.
With his round belly sticking out, he twisted his body along with the girls’ movements, looking utterly ridiculous.
“Haha, this little fatty is so funny. Minister, look.”
The female android Lingling tugged at the bearded Mei Xue’er and pointed at Tang Long while laughing nonstop.
“He dances terribly,” Mei Xue’er said with a look of disgust.
Tang Long: “...”
That scene made Jiang Yichen laugh outright.
He had instantly lost all priority in the mating market.
“Brother Yichen.”
Hm?
Jiang Yichen turned back at the sound of the voice and saw Su Linyu walking over to him with her hands hidden behind her back and a sweet smile on her face.
“Where did you go? Why are you only getting here this late?”
Rather than looking nervous at being questioned, Su Linyu’s eyes curved into crescents. “Brother Yichen, are you checking up on me? Being cared about feels amazing.”
Uh...
Jiang Yichen felt a little helpless. What exactly was going on in this girl’s head?
“I suppose so. So what were you doing?”
Su Linyu straightened up, put on a deliberately mysterious expression, and slowly brought her hands from behind her back to the front. “Ta-da!”
A beautifully embroidered sachet and a waist token swayed before Jiang Yichen’s eyes.
He reached out and took them. One side of the sachet was embroidered with himself, while the other bore Su Linyu’s likeness. Both were vividly lifelike, and it was obvious that a great deal of effort had gone into it.
The waist token, meanwhile, was engraved with many words of blessing and bore the emblem of the Su family.
“What is this?”
Su Linyu clasped her hands together and explained with a smile, “When I was walking around Rift Valley Town today, I found out that exchanging ‘sachets and waist tokens’ here symbolizes ‘a perfect match in status, a love bound for life.’”
“I thought that meaning was beautiful, so I made them myself and brought them to you.”
She placed the waist token in Jiang Yichen’s hand, while she herself happily held the sachet, which gave off a faint fragrance.
Jiang Yichen froze slightly, and his gaze fell on the needle marks on Su Linyu’s fingers.
No wonder she had been gone all afternoon. To embroider a sachet to this degree, she must have put in an enormous amount of thought and care.
“But if it is supposed to be an exchange, should I not be the one giving you the sachet?” he asked curiously.
Su Linyu blinked. “Oh, right.”
Then she took the waist token back, stuffed the sachet into his hands, and pretended that nothing had just happened before slowly stepping in front of him again.
“Brother Yichen, this is for you.” A young girl’s fluttering affection surfaced on Su Linyu’s face as she handed over the waist token engraved with blessings.
Jiang Yichen was a little stunned. He looked at the sachet in his hand and smiled helplessly.
Why did this girl always like preparing gifts for herself through him? She really never made him worry about a thing.
For some reason, he had never thought about preparing little daily surprises for Su Linyu, and yet Su Linyu was always taking care of his feelings at every moment.
Am I getting spoiled rotten?
Jiang Yichen did not expose the truth. Smiling, he took it and placed the sachet in Su Linyu’s hand, saying gently, “This is my return gift.”
Su Linyu’s lively eyes widened slightly, and an expression of pure delight appeared on her face. She held the sachet with both hands against her heart.
“Brother Yichen, so you had already prepared it. Your embroidery is so good. I love it so much.”
“Uh...” Jiang Yichen’s mind failed to keep up for a moment. He sighed, pinched her soft cheek, and said, “You have been busy all afternoon. Come eat with me.”
“All right.”
Su Linyu took out two candlesticks from her Spatial Bag, placed them on the long table, and lit the candles. With an adorably earnest expression, she said, “I read online that romance never goes out of style.”
Jiang Yichen froze for a moment, then flicked her forehead. “Stop learning random things from the internet.”
“Oh.” Su Linyu nodded obediently.
“Mo Yan, see? Boss and the captain are so affectionate.”
Off to the side, the shaggy-haired Sleep God pointed at Jiang Yichen and Su Linyu with an auntie-like grin on his face.
The refined and bookish Mo Yan wore a speechless expression as the folding fan before his chest turned over. “Can we change the subject?”
Sleep God scratched his head. His eyelids were already starting to droop as he said, “How about I sing you a song?”
The moment Mo Yan heard that, he immediately waved his hand in refusal. That was not singing at all. It was pure howling and wailing like ghosts.
It really was enough to wake the mind and drive away sleep.
He flipped the folding fan over again. On it were written the words: “Talk about yourself instead.”
“Me?” Sleep God pointed at himself with a sleepy face, then said with a nostalgic look in his eyes, “My life has been pretty miserable, but pretty lucky too...”
Sleep God began reminiscing about the past and launched into a long-winded account.
“...” The corner of Mo Yan’s mouth twitched slightly. If he could speak freely, he really wanted to grab Sleep God by the ears and shout at him.
He flipped the fan again.
“What I mean is, what agreement did you make with Hypnos, the god of sleep from Greek mythology? What does He want you to do in order for Him to be revived?”
Sleep God looked at the words on the fan and went still. The sleepiness in his eyes slowly faded.
“To kill in dreams,” he said in a low voice.
Mo Yan froze for a moment, and new words appeared on the fan once more. “How many people?”
“Ten more,” Sleep God said painfully.
Mo Yan gave a slight nod and patted him on the shoulder.
Every Divine Contract Holder had an agreement with a god, an agreement to help that god return to life.
“And you?” Sleep God asked.
Mo Yan thought for a moment. Then words appeared on the fan.
“My contract with the Jade Emperor, the sovereign of the Heavenly Court in Huaxia mythology, requires me to use ‘Words Become Reality’ to perform a thousand good deeds. It is still far from complete. I am short by 531 acts of kindness.”
Sleep God could not help feeling envious. He envied the fact that Mo Yan’s contract required doing good deeds, while his own required killing people in dreams.
As he continued thinking about it, drowsiness crept over him again, and his eyelids began to droop once more.
Mo Yan suddenly raised the cloudy liquor the villagers had given him and smilingly gestured for Sleep God to drink.
Sleep God nodded, clinked cups with Mo Yan, and downed it in one gulp.
Cough, cough...
The fiery liquor scorched his throat, and Sleep God clutched his neck and coughed, but the drowsiness also faded away.
Mo Yan and Sleep God exchanged smiles.