Two Zhao’ers, two different feelings.
One very familiar, just like the one now sitting quietly beside you, serene as a chair; while the other, you feel is extremely foreign, as though she is another person, with no connection to you whatsoever, and in her gaze, there is only curiosity, devoid of any warmth.
After coming to your senses, you realize it’s only three o’clock in the morning when you wake up. You sat on the bed and thought for a long time until the sunrise in the east around five o’clock. The golden rays pricked your eyes and also awakened you.
Since you had figured it out, you then decided to lay it all out for your brothers and sisters beside you.
Wei Shuxian pushed up his glasses and said in a deep voice, "Tell us about it, none of us here are strangers."
You nod your head, and at this moment, Zhao’er, who hadn’t made any slightest movement, gently placed her hand on the back of yours.
Turning to look at her, you smiled faintly.
"Well, I guess everyone must be curious about Zhao’er’s origins and identity. That’s something I’ve been searching for as well." You covered Zhao’er’s tender jade hand with your other palm and said, "Zhao’er... I found her beneath the Wordless Monument in the underground palace of Qian Ling Mausoleum."
As soon as these words were said, everyone’s expressions were surprisingly unanimous—astonishment, stupefaction!
Yu Xiaomei’s eyes flashed sharply, and she clapped her hands and laughed, "I knew it, there is no one else in this world as perfect as a fairy."
"Yeah, I agree," Wei Shuxian nodded.
Han Lele tugged at Xiao Feng’s arm, whispering, "Is the president joking? Zhao’er doesn’t look like..."
Xiao Feng mimicked your movement, smiled, and patted Han Lele’s hand: "Let Little Yunyun continue speaking. He is a deep thinker, once he starts talking, it means he’s ready to be completely open with us."
If the person who understood you the most in this world was Wu Qiyi, then the man who understood you best was Xiao Feng.
"To this day, I still know nothing about Zhao’er’s identity. The only thing that’s clear is that there seems to be some inexplicable connection between Zhao’er and me, as if we were meant to meet in some predestined way."
The conversation pretty much ended there. In truth, you didn’t know much about the secrets surrounding Zhao’er. As for the unclear relationship between her and the Empress, several people in the club did understand, so there was no need to go over it again.
Looking around, you noticed that everyone’s view of Zhao’er hadn’t changed in the slightest. In their eyes, Zhao’er remained a unique, irreplaceable goddess.
Wei Shuxian pushed his glasses up again: "This information, to us, is optional. After all, none of us are normal people. As the future wife of the Detective Agency’s president, even if she was a thousand-year-old female corpse, what of it?"
Nie Ying was the first to echo Wei Shuxian: "Mm, I agree with this. If we’re talking about being unusual, I’m a united body of two souls. Even now, when I go out shopping for clothes, I sometimes experience a split in personality."
Jin Qi, who was usually reserved, suddenly interjected, "President, what exactly is your goal?"
The question from Jin Qi caught you off guard.
Seeing the inquisitive look you gave him, he immediately spoke up: "Before, you mentioned that Goddess Zhao’s condition was somewhat strange, that her life force was continually ebbing away. What you’re seeking now, is it a way to treat her body or to restore her autonomous consciousness, making her into a real thinking person?"
Dai Zhenan, who had always had a good relationship with Jin Qi, cocked his head and asked, "Is there any difference?"
"If it’s just healing the body, then even if Goddess Zhao’s body is healed, her thought process would still be the same as it is now, slowly forming a self-system. Hasn’t anyone noticed? Although Goddess Zhao rarely takes the initiative to speak, she has started to sense the changes in the club president’s emotions and react appropriately. I believe this is part of her personality awakening."
"Oh—now that Little Jin has pointed it out, I get it," Wei Shuxian said. "Little Luli has been calling Old Shu and Zhao’er ’daddy’ and ’mommy’ from the start, which shows she knows something, she just doesn’t say it. Putting Little Luli’s motives aside for the moment, let’s just talk about this method of restoring Zhao’er’s consciousness. Now the question is, what does ’consciousness’ refer to?"
Tao Wenwen said softly, "It should mean memory and autonomous consciousness, I guess."
"Exactly! Wenwen’s comment contains a crucial word, and that is ’memory’!" Wei Shuxian’s glasses reflected the dazzling light shining in through the window. "Once a person loses their memory and never gets it back, in essence, they have become a different person, with only their outward appearance remaining unchanged. My concern is, if Zhao’er regains consciousness and her original memories, will she still be Zhao’er?"
Wei Shuxian hit the nail on the head!
That was the reason for my tossing and turning last night!
"I don’t think there’s anything to worry about," Yu Xiaomei pointed at the Grandma Meng Soup on the table in front of you and said with a smile, "Don’t we have this?"
The ordinary-looking Yu Xiaomei’s face flushed with a hint of rosiness, "Yeah, any Huaxia person would know what Grandma Meng Soup is. Isn’t it said that the souls of people drink Grandma Meng Soup at the Bridge of Helplessness to enter the cycle of rebirth? So in this case, the role of Grandma Meng Soup should be to erase Zhao’er’s original memories, allowing her to start anew, right?"
You vigorously slapped your thigh, your face beaming with joy as you looked at Yu Xiaomei and said with a laugh, "Xiaomei, thank you, you’ve truly awakened the dreamer!"
Yu Xiaomei shrugged with a smile: "Who would do it if not you, our club president? If you’re down all the time, how can we, the club members, feel like catching ghosts?"
Before you could speak, Yang Kai, who had the Order Barrier already removed, came over sweaty and smug, and said to Yu Xiaomei, "Hey, Xiaomei, you’re not getting any younger, why haven’t you found a boyfriend yet?"
"Scram! Aside from having a big chest, what about me is old? I’m still young!" Yu Xiaomei lifted her foot and stomped hard on Yang Kai’s instep!
Seeing this, Nie Ying coldly interjected with a single word: "Deserved!"
Now that my thoughts were clear, the next step was to find the remaining two items.
You turned your head to Zong Wangyue and said, "Zongzi, get me the glass box."
Zong Wangyue complied, taking a glass box from another table, which had a bowl-shaped indentation inside.
You opened the glass box, carefully placed the Grandma Meng Soup inside, closed the lid, and said to Xiao Feng sitting in front of you, "Madman, you and Lele move to the seat over there."
Although Xiao Feng didn’t know what you were planning, he still got up, holding Han Lele’s hand, and moved to the side.
Once they had left, two Sen Luo Curse Marks appeared in your pupils. As the Sen Luo Curse Marks slowly rotated, everyone heard you give a light shout, "All Forms of Sen Luo, Mount Sumeru!"