Chapter 11: Three Worlds In Exchange for A Lifetime With You

From the corner of his eye, Shi Ruijie watched furtively as Qian Siyu arose from the adjacent table, cradled her laptop in one arm and walked towards the exit of the college's central library. Immediately, he looked out of the window as his hands landed on the foldable umbrella sitting on the table beside his laptop. Seeing that it was still drizzling, he bounced up from his seat, unintentionally knocking over his chair.

The loud noise attracted the swivelling of heads around him.

"Hey, where are you going?" His friend glanced up from his reading materials, startled by his sudden movements.

"If I don't return, bring my belongings back to the dorm," Shi Ruijie said, unbothered by the attention as he took wide strides to catch up with her departing figure.

He dashed out through the automatic sliding doors, just in time to see Qian Siyu stretching out a hand to feel the rainfall. Smiling to himself, he came up beside her and held out his umbrella. "Use this."

Qian Siyu flinched slightly in surprise but when her eyes traced upwards from the umbrella to its owner's face, he noticed that she relaxed a little. However, there was a constant shift of emotions in those beautiful black eyes.

Then she averted her eyes. As if she was avoiding him.

That was right, she had been avoiding him ever since that day when they left the book. He didn't even get a chance to explain and to apologise to her.

"No need." She shook her head and pushed the umbrella away gently. Pointing towards the clear sky, she smiled with pursed lips. "The rain has already stopped."

"A-ah?" Shi Ruijie stuttered, feeling an embarrassing warmth spreading upwards from his neck, his checks, his ears. "Sorry, I thought that it was still raining and I saw that you didn't have an umbrella, so I came out to bring one to you."

Qian Siyu frowned. "Were you watching me?"

His hands gripped the umbrella tightly. "Um... I just so happened to see you. And you were just sitting right there at the next table—it would be hard to miss a living person. Right?"

"Thanks for your kind gesture, but since it has stopped raining I won't be needing an umbrella anymore." Qian Siyu said, sounding a little callous. "I'll be leaving now."

She tarried a little, but seeing that Shi Ruijie remained silent as he stared blankly at a puddle of water, she turned around impatiently to leave.

"Siyu, wait!"

The urgency in his own voice caught him by surprise.

Qian Siyu's halted her footsteps and turned back to face him, as if giving him a second chance. "Do you... have something to say?"

Shi Ruijie nodded quickly and rambled on without caring that they were standing at the entrance of the central library with constant foot traffic. "I admit that it was petty of me to take revenge on you like that. I'm sorry for my actions and for causing you distress. If there is anything I can do to make it up to you—as long as you don't stay angry with me—"

"Oh, I'm not angry with you."

"You're not?" he echoed, a little hope sprouting in his heart.

"Not anymore," she replied softly and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "In the first place, I was the one who offended you. Not only did you bring me back to reality in one piece, but you are also not pursuing the matter further. For this, I'm very grateful and have no right to remain mad at you."

At her cryptic words, the little hope in his heart floundered, but he collected himself and gazed at her with earnest, pleading eyes.

Qian Siyu continued: "But there's something I'd like to ask you about. Your feelings and your confession toward me—were they genuine or just an act to fool me?"

Shi Ruijie paled. "How could it be just an act? Were you not able to feel my sincerity? I may be a—a petty person, but I'm not a heartless person that I would play around with other people's feelings. In fact, I had waited a hundred and fifty years in the book for you to appear—that is a long enough time for my desire for revenge on you to dissipate. You have no idea how happy I was to see you walk into Moon Valley Sect that day. Those months we spent together are real, my confession is real, my feelings for you—Siyu-ah, I don't believe that you aren't able to feel it. "

His unfiltered and heartfelt flow of words was greeted by silence; but his sole listener coloured.

A wide smile cracked on her expressionless face. "A hundred and fifty years? Shouldn't you be able to jump into the story at any point in time?"

Although she had asked those questions, Qian Siyu was already well-aware of the answers.

After she left the book, Snow Path, she found herself standing in the middle of Shibao Pavilion shivering in the cold wintry night dressed in thin traditional clothing. Picking up her phone and tote bag which had fallen on the ground, she quickly checked the date and time. Only twenty-three minutes had passed since she left the research library at 7pm, but it felt as if a couple of years had passed. But before she had time to react to the strange transmigration experience she had just gone through, a security guard appeared while shining a torch in her direction. Berating her for lingering around in disregard of the museum's closing hours, the security guard escorted an indignant Qian Siyu through the exit of Shibao Pavilion and out to the busy main road.

That night, she tossed and turned in bed as memories of her time in the book with Shi Ruijie played repeatedly in her head. A few times she picked up her phone, pondering over whether she should drop him an email (as she did not have his phone number and was not friends with him on social media platforms); but she lacked the courage to do so. What if in reality Shi Ruijie was a skirt-chaser? Or what if he had just been playing with her feelings?

As she stared up at the ceiling painted with the morning light with heavy-lidded eyes, her phone suddenly buzzed with a notification of an incoming message. It was from an unknown number, but the sender was well-aware of her identity and the transmigration incident. Someone by the name of Fang Yuhan claimed to be a member of the Association of Private Libraries and wanted to have a virtual meeting with her.

Lacking sleep, her poor judgment got the better of her. Despite alarm bells going off in her head, Qian Siyu did the video call to Fang Yuhan. It was only on the call that she learnt about the truth behind the Wen clan leaving the Association, the modern art of transmigration, Shi Ruijie's petty revenge plan and Fang Yuhan's childish prank to make him suffer for a hundred and fifty years in the book universe.

Thinking back to what the xiaojiejie said over the phone, a laugh escaped her lips. As predicted, by keeping her distance from Shi Ruijie these past few days, it caused him to grow anxious. Qian Siyu was never a fan of such mind games, but having been earnestly persuaded by Fang Yuhan, she ended up following her instructions.

Answering all of her questions detailedly and earnestly, Shi Ruijie concluded with a heartfelt apology for his actions. He gazed at her through his long lashes with watery and pitiful eyes. "Are you also laughing at my foolishness? I bet you're thinking—how can someone plot a revenge plan so perfectly yet execute it so poorly?"

She was about to open her mouth to retort that his revenge plan was far from perfect but at that moment, an upperclassman walked out of the library and called out to Shi Ruijie while tossing a backpack at him. Qian Siyu recognised him—he was part of Shi Ruijie's clique.

Catching his bag, the expression on Shi Ruijie's face turned ugly, as if chiding his friend for being unable to read the room.

"I thought that you were rushing off to go somewhere? Why are you still standing outside here—Oh, who is this you are talking to?" Upon seeing Qian Siyu, his friend's eyes widened as he broke into a friendly smile. "Not going to introduce?"

"Hi, I'm Qian—" she started, but was interrupted by Shi Ruijie.

Speaking in an urgent yet adorably presumptuous tone, he declared: "She's my girlfriend, Qian Siyu."

"Girlfriend?" His friend gasped in surprise. "Since when did you get a girlfriend?"

"Since... a few months ago?" Shi Ruijie casted an apprehensive glance at Qian Siyu and saw that she still had that polite smile on her face. "Siyu, this is Chen Wei, also a final year History student."

"Hi, Chen Wei-xuezhang. Nice to meet you."

"Ah, so you're actually our xuemei! I'm not sure why Ruijie kept you hidden away all this time, but it's great to meet you."

After the brief customary pleasantries, Qian Siyu quickly turned towards Shi Ruijie with a small smile plastered on her face. "I'll be going off first. You don't have to walk me to my destination." Without waiting for his reply, she hurried off.

But it didn't take long before he reappeared beside her. "You didn't refute earlier when I bestowed that title upon you."

"What title?"

"My girlfriend."

"Then I humbly decline your bestowment."

"In that case, can I be shameless to ask if I may have the privilege of becoming your boyfriend?"

Her answer came after a long pause that felt as if it went on for eternity; but to Shi Ruijie, it was worth waiting for. He had already waited a hundred and fifty years and experienced life in three different worlds for her. What was a mere thirty seconds wait?

"Why are you asking me that only now? Haven't I already bestowed that title upon you a few months ago?"

*** *** END *** ***

A/N: This is the end of Shi Ruijie's story arc. Hope you've enjoyed this spin-off / sequel.

Actually, while I was planning/writing his side story, I made some adjustments to his age in the original story (ft. Fang Yuhan-Ji Kai).  In Ten Thousand Books (Part 2), he should be around 18 to 19, a third year high schooler. So, Three Worlds A Lifetime takes place around 4 to 5 years later. 

There are also easter eggs in Three Worlds A Lifetime! Some may not be identifiable at this moment, but one day they will be revealed. :-)

There is actually a prequel that I started writing way before this, but it has been a little tough to write as tons of research is required and the plot needs refinement. Recently, I had some inspiration and now may be the time to pick up the story again!