“Alright, now that we’ve set our goal, tell me—what’s your plan?” Mo Li looked at Meng Ruji with satisfaction and asked expectantly, “Let me hear how you plan to use your true heart to make him burn hotter!”

At these words, Meng Ruji froze in place, feeling her heated cheeks cool down: “This… shouldn’t you be the one saying it for me to listen?”

In the gray dreamscape, Mo Li, with his arms folded, and Meng Ruji, blinking her eyes, stared at each other.

When they both realized the other person was clueless about this matter, Mo Li was the first to shirk responsibility:

“You want me to give ideas for you two as husband and wife in mutual devotion? Is that reasonable? Of course, you should think of this yourself.”

“You’ve been matchmaking with so many ideas, and now at the crucial moment, you have no plan?” Meng Ruji also found it incredible.

“All along this journey, besides creating more opportunities for you two, didn’t you complete everything else yourselves? What did I plan?” Mo Li spoke frankly. “Little Meng, don’t you know how?”

Yes, she didn’t know how!

After a brief moment of speechlessness, Meng Ruji pinched her forehead: “I’ve only raised children, never raised a man…”

“Who told you to raise him—seduce him!”

“…Seducing is even harder than raising him…”

“Then how did you manage before?”

“I…” Meng Ruji choked, “I didn’t do anything…” At this point, she was genuinely confused. “Why did he fall for me?”

Mo Li found this absurd: “You don’t know?”

“I don’t know.” Meng Ruji patiently asked for guidance. “Give me some hints.”

“Of course I don’t know either!”

“…”

Looking at Mo Li’s overly pale face, Meng Ruji wanted to slap a red handprint on it to wake him up.

“Then why did you choose me?” Meng Ruji demanded.

“Well, last time I chose many people for him, but none were useful. This time, you happened to come to the Land of No Refuge with him, landing by the Nai River…”

Meng Ruji was completely speechless: “So all you did was make us into half-dead people and life-sustaining objects…”

“I told you, only a little bit.”

Mo Li defended himself:

“But even this little bit took great effort. I had to remove your original life-sustaining object, get his life-sustaining object, then make him into a life-sustaining object, and finally connect you two together—very difficult! For this, I even slept by the Nai River for quite a while before finding you two. Little Meng, show some respect for this old man.”

Meng Ruji sighed deeply: “Forget it, this is useless talk.” She pinched her chin thoughtfully. “Help me analyze—so far, what exactly made Mu Sui fall for me?”

Mo Li also learned from Meng Ruji and stroked his chin. After holding back for a long time, he said hesitantly: “Growing feelings over time?”

“Then why didn’t he develop feelings for Tuzi?”

“…” Mo Li thought of Tuzi’s appearance, then asked, “Do you have this question?”

Feeling it was inappropriate, Meng Ruji changed her example: “Let me put it this way… when he came to the Land of No Refuge last time as Zhuliu City’s lord, he could have whatever he wanted—beauty, sincerity, companionship. This time, why did I become the exception?”

“Perhaps…” Mo Li thought, “Just because you are you.”

Meng Ruji shook her head.

“If he were just that Mu Sui with no memories, I’d believe he could simply fall for someone. But he’s remembered everything now. He was once a heavenly god, experienced so much, became human, saw the darkness of human hearts, and deeply understands worldly chaos. He wouldn’t be moved for no reason.”

Mo Li was convinced by Meng Ruji and fell into silence with her.

“There must be something different from before…” Meng Ruji murmured, then suddenly, as if struck by lightning, she immediately widened her eyes. “Half-dead person and life-sustaining object! That’s it! It must be because of this.”

Mo Li was confused: “Last time he came, he also had a life-sustaining object—Tuzi, right?”

“No!” Meng Ruji was certain. “Last time he came as a half-dead person. A half-dead person’s body cannot leave their life-sustaining object. But as the life-sustaining object, one has irrepressible spiritual dependence on the half-dead person! Tuzi has a strong dependence on Mu Sui. Even now, when he’s no longer Mu Sui’s life-sustaining object, this dependence continues.”

Mo Li raised an eyebrow: “So you think Mu Sui’s feelings are an illusion brought by being a life-sustaining object?”

“Not an illusion, but an opportunity.” Meng Ruji analyzed rationally. “At first, he remembered nothing, so due to the life-sustaining object rules, he became dependent on me, wanting to touch me. Later, though he recovered his memories, the desire to touch me had already taken root in his mind!”

Mo Li found this very reasonable and kept nodding.

“So…” Mo Li continued expectantly, “To make him more dependent on you, you plan to…”

“Hug him more!!”

“Do him!!”

“Hug” was what Meng Ruji said.

“Do” was what Mo Li said.

Similar sounds but vastly different meanings!

These two blurted phrases made both fall into silence again.

After a while, Meng Ruji closed her eyes, sighed, and rubbed her head—each step very practiced: “I really… can’t communicate with you…”

Mo Li also stared at Meng Ruji in shock, feeling she had some problems:

“Little Meng, you’re trying to save ‘everyone’—everyone! You plan to save people with a hug? You’re too disrespectful to people.”

“Don’t be so ridiculous!” Meng Ruji was breaking down somewhat. “Is your method very respectful to ‘people’?”

Mo Li was more confused: “Isn’t that what you meant after all that analysis?”

“I meant more touching! Making him more dependent!”

“Isn’t my method the most touching, producing the most dependence?”

Silence.

Even more deathly silence.

Meng Ruji really couldn’t stand it anymore and directly exited the heart-flow dream.

She opened her eyes, patted her bottom, and stood up. Just as she was about to leave, a figure jumped down from a tree—Mo Li had just been sitting in the tree.

Mo Li blocked her path, tilting his head to look at her: “Little Meng, are you still a child? Why are you running away?”

Meng Ruji rolled her eyes: “I’ll follow my method. Your method… You go do it yourself.”

“If I were you, I would have done it long ago, but he doesn’t like…”

Before he finished speaking, Meng Ruji glimpsed someone standing in the tree shadows ahead. Meng Ruji coughed heavily, and Mo Li stopped talking in time, pouting: “I’ve been tired all day, I need to rest.”

Mo Li turned into a stone and rolled to Meng Ruji’s feet.

Though Meng Ruji still felt somewhat embarrassed and frustrated, she still picked up the stone. She wanted to put the stone in her bosom, but seeing the figure over there, she turned the stone in her hand and finally stuffed it into her sleeve.

Meng Ruji walked over in the moonlight and saw Mu Sui standing under the tree, arms folded, face cold, staring at her silently.

Moonlight outlined clean lines on this excessively handsome face, making his features appear even sharper, truly like a deity from heaven, distant and emotionless.

But precisely under this cold gaze, Meng Ruji’s mind kept repeating one terrible word…

“Do!”

“Do!”

“Do!”

Too terrible!

Meng Ruji shivered several times and slapped her face before completely driving that voice from her mind.

Looking up, she saw Mu Sui frowning at her.

“What did he chat with you about in the dream?” Mu Sui asked. He had guessed what they had just been doing.

“Nothing, I took a nap.” Meng Ruji lay with her eyes open. “What dream, what could we chat about…”

Mu Sui’s frown deepened.

Meng Ruji quickly changed the subject: “Weren’t you meditating? Why did you follow?”

Hearing this, Mu Sui’s frown didn’t ease, but he looked in another direction and answered stiffly: “Here… is better for meditation.”

His words had the same quality as Meng Ruji’s earlier “took a nap.”

Meng Ruji pressed her lips together, stared at him for a while, then decided to be merciful. She wouldn’t ask things like “Does the soil over there poke your bottom?”

“Then meditate. I’ll continue sleeping.” Meng Ruji casually pointed somewhere, about to leave, but before lifting her foot, she had another idea.

She turned around, found a flat spot, sat down, muttering, “This place is flatter.”

Mu Sui looked at her strangely.

Seeing he didn’t come over, Meng Ruji actively patted beside herself, saying indistinctly, “Aren’t you going to meditate? Come sit here.”

Mu Sui raised an eyebrow slightly but said nothing else and sat over.

Under the tree, moon shadows swayed.

Meng Ruji and Mu Sui sat side by side. Mu Sui wasn’t meditating, and Meng Ruji wasn’t resting.

Meng Ruji looked east and west, just not at Mu Sui.

She did psychological preparation for a while, then quietly scooted her bottom closer to Mu Sui until their arms touched intentionally or unintentionally.

She couldn’t help turning to look at their touching arms.

But with just this glance…

“Not sleeping?” Mu Sui asked her.

Meng Ruji was like a startled horse, immediately bouncing away, even farther than when she first sat down…

Her large movement left Mu Sui somewhat puzzled.

Meng Ruji scratched her head and pointed at the ground with stable emotions: “Bug… there was a bug… avoiding it…”

Mu Sui: “…”

Having bounced away, Meng Ruji didn’t see Mu Sui’s expression because she had already buried her head deeply in her curled-up knees.

Help…

She didn’t know how…

What to do…

After having improper thoughts, she couldn’t even manage a hug…

Meng Ruji buried her head and sighed deeply.

No wonder they say she has a toiling fate. Just when she didn’t have to toil for money, she had to start toiling for “love”…

She’d rather be earning money…

Hearing Meng Ruji sighing over there, Mu Sui glanced at her sideways. He saw Meng Ruji hunched over, legs curved, sitting curled up like a ball, one hand grabbing her hair, the other on the ground, picking at stones and pulling grass.

Though he didn’t know why, her embarrassment and discomfort were palpable even from this distance.

What exactly did that stone tell her in the dream…

Mu Sui thought, his eyes growing uncontrollably cold.

“Tomorrow, Tuzi and the others should find us.” Mu Sui suppressed the surging emotions in his heart and spoke proactively. “We can’t return to Zhuliu City, but I still need the thousand gold. I’m going somewhere to find someone.”

“Hmm?”

With Mu Sui proactively bringing up other matters, Meng Ruji’s embarrassment lessened considerably. She picked up the conversation: “Can Tuzi find us?”

“Yes, I left a technique with him when I went to find you.”

“Good. Where are you going? Who are you looking for?”

“Someone with a thousand gold.”

Hearing this, Meng Ruji examined Mu Sui thoughtfully.

There was still someone in the Land of No Refuge who had a thousand gold they weren’t using? And going to find this person with a thousand gold now? Why not before? Was getting a thousand gold from this person harder than earning it in Zhuliu City?

Regardless, she needed to follow Mu Sui now. The half-dead person and life-sustaining object relationship was secondary; most importantly, she had to watch him. She couldn’t let him take the thousand gold and run off to the human world…

Lost in thought, Meng Ruji rubbed the grass she had casually pulled between her fingertips and began weaving.

Mu Sui watched her, seeing her fingertips seemingly dancing with the grass. Soon, a grasshopper took shape.

Meng Ruji wove the grasshopper almost from muscle memory. When she turned her head, she met Mu Sui’s eyes directly, and she held out the grasshopper:

“Here, for you to play with.”

Mu Sui looked at the grasshopper, then at Meng Ruji.

Meng Ruji held the stem with the grasshopper dangling from it. In the night breeze, the grasshopper bobbed up and down as if alive. But Meng Ruji, in the brief silence, seemed to die of embarrassment…

She didn’t know how to seduce men…

She only knew how to raise children!

Making a grasshopper for him to play with…

It was fine before, but this was a god with memories who wanted to destroy the world…

The grasshopper swayed in the air several times. Meng Ruji wanted to quietly take it back, but suddenly a slender hand reached out and took the grasshopper.

He didn’t directly grab the grasshopper below, but took the grass stem above.

When their fingertips touched, initially there was only slight warmth, but after the grasshopper passed from one hand to another, the skin that had touched slowly began to burn as if scalded by boiling water.

Meng Ruji stared at him in a daze. She saw him seriously moving the grasshopper in his hand, the grasshopper jumping up and down like a heartbeat.

“Weren’t you going to be my enemy?” Mu Sui turned to look at her. “Wife.”

Under the moonlight, his eyes seemed to contain water, rarely showing tenderness.

“At least…” Meng Ruji slowly began to speak, “Not now.”

What I mean is…

Before midnight…

It’s still today!!!

I’m not a big dog!!