Chapter 446: The Amnesiac Fairy and the Past Life Husband
A dazzling light flashed.
What appeared before him was a beauty meticulously carved from mutton-fat jade.
Her skin was fair and lustrous, her dark hair cascaded over her shoulders; from head to toe, not an inch was imperfect.
A look of genuine astonishment flickered in Shen Anyu's eyes, and he found himself involuntarily swallowing. The air in the room seemed to still, thick with a sudden, evident sanctity. Even for a man like him, who had assembled a veritable gallery of world-class beauties, this woman was a paradigm shift. The sight of her filled him with an endless, almost reverent admiration that bordered on shock.
This woman's beauty wasn't just physical perfection; it was a fundamental law of the universe made manifest. Among all the women he had ever seen, she unassailably claimed the pinnacle. It was her aura, an ethereal, fairy-like demeanor that seemed to push the mundane world away from her very presence. She was a celestial being who had somehow drifted down into the mortal realm, a concept made flesh, or in this case, spirit.
With a soft, almost inaudible sigh, this fairy-like woman slowly opened her eyes. They were like twin pools of starlight, impossibly bright and deep. Her gaze, unfocused at first, slowly sharpened and fixed upon Shen Anyu. Her jade-like lips, perfectly sculpted, parted slightly.
"You… who are you?"
Her voice was like the chime of a distant temple bell, clear and carrying an echo of profound sorrow. She seemed utterly unaware of her situation; that she was not a physical body, but a soul so potent it appeared substantial. Moreover, the ethereal tatters of clothing that clung to her form were just that—tatters, barely concealing the flawless contours of her spiritual body. She looked pitiful, a fallen angel evoking an instinctual desire to protect, to offer warmth and aid.
Shen Anyu, however, felt no fluster. His mind, which had momentarily stalled in admiration, was already spinning, weaving the opening threads of a grand deception.
"Oh!" The fairy finally noticed her own predicament. A wave of crimson washed over her jade-white complexion, a blush so profound it seemed to warm the very air around her. She instinctively crossed her arms, her slender hands covering her vital parts as she chided him, her voice losing its ethereal calm for a flicker of mortal indignation.
"You! Quickly, close your eyes and turn around!"
Watching this sacred, peerless being display such a shy, human-like beauty was immensely amusing to Shen Anyu. A charming, apologetic smile touched his lips. With a grace befitting a true gentleman, he turned his body and dutifully closed his eyes.
Of course, his physical eyes were closed. But in the unseen dimensions of the room, dozens of nanometer-scale monitoring robots, extensions of his will, swiveled their microscopic lenses. They aimed at the fairy, observing her from top to bottom, front to back, left to right, capturing her form in a perfect 360-degree, unobstructed view. This wasn't for lechery; a man of Shen Anyu's caliber was a genuine gentleman, not a base voyeur. It was purely a security measure, a tactical precaution to prevent a sneak attack. After all, this female fairy, who was almost certainly the Huangfu Xian from his intel, was an unknown quantity. Her allegiance was a mystery.
He would not—could not—lower his guard just because she possessed a beauty that could topple nations. That was a fool's path, and one he had no intention of treading. One moment of weakness could lead to a death he'd never see coming. Young Master Shen was, if nothing else, meticulously cautious.
"Alright… you can turn around now."
Her voice, clear and tinged with a residual shyness, broke the silence. Shen Anyu turned, allowing a hint of genuine admiration to grace his features as he looked at her. He didn't know what spiritual art she had employed, but her tattered garments were gone. In their place, she wore a light, flowing immortal dress of the palest blue, its wide sleeves and hem rippling gently with the breeze drifting in from the open window. Despite being a soul, she appeared as solid and real as any living person, a fact that deeply astonished Young Master Shen.
At that moment, the woman's delicate brows furrowed in a knot of profound confusion. She pressed a translucent hand to her temple, murmuring to herself in a lost whisper.
"Who… who am I again?"
Shen Anyu's meticulously crafted expression faltered for a fraction of a second. He watched her, her star-like eyes clouded with a genuine confusion that he could tell was not an act.
'Good heavens,' he thought, a cold amusement rising within him. 'How utterly cliché. She actually lost her memory?'
This kind of amnesia plot was a cornerstone of countless television dramas and novels. He supposed he should be grateful it wasn't accompanied by a car accident, a terminal illness, or the sudden revelation of long-lost siblings. It was a clean slate. A perfect opportunity.
Shen Anyu swiftly composed himself, his smile returning, now warmer and more reassuring than before. "You are Huangfu Xian," he said, his voice a gentle balm. "And my name is Shen Anyu. Do you… still recognize me?"
"Huangfu Xian? Shen Anyu?"
The names seemed to echo in the hollows of her mind. Huangfu Xian's delicate brows knitted even tighter. She felt a deep, instinctual resonance with the name 'Huangfu Xian'; it felt right, like a key fitting a lock she couldn't see. But the name 'Shen Anyu' drew a complete blank. She searched the fog of her non-memories for his face, for their connection, and found nothing.
"You… are you my husband?" she asked tentatively. Her brilliant, star-like eyes narrowed, a flicker of nascent suspicion within their depths. Though her memories were gone, a fundamental instinct remained. The concept of a husband felt foreign, an article of clothing she was certain she had never worn.
Shen Anyu shook his head, a graceful, disarming smile playing on his handsome face. He met her suspicious gaze with utter frankness. "No," he said, his tone clear and honest. "I am not your husband. At least… not yet."
Jokes aside, lying about something so fundamental was a rookie mistake. With amnesia, who knew when her memories might return? Young Master Shen would never tell such an easily disprovable lie; the backlash could be disastrous. Apart from her name, which he'd gleaned from the appraisal of the Child of Destiny Long Hao, he knew virtually nothing about her. He wasn't even one hundred percent certain this was her, as the system had yet to provide a favorability prompt.
But of course, Young Master Shen had always been a compassionate man. A girl in such a miserable state, reduced to a soul with no memory of her past… he simply had to take care of her. He would certainly become her husband, but that was a matter for the future. There was no need to lie about the present.
Shen Anyu could feel the immense power coiled within Huangfu Xian's soul. It was currently weak, a flickering ember, but the quality of that energy—its very essence—was extraordinarily high. It was even more refined than the remnant soul of the Sword Palace Master, Lin Xuanyan, whom he had encountered before. It was just dormant, far too weak to manifest any significant power, much weaker than the sliver of Lin Xuanyan that had resided in Ye Linyuan.
"Not… yet?"
Huangfu Xian caught the implication in his words. Her suspicion softened into curiosity and doubt. She looked at him, truly looked at him, trying to find a foothold in the shifting sands of her mind.
Shen Anyu's smile deepened, and his peach blossom eyes, which could make the very air seem to blush with affection, gazed at Huangfu Xian with a look of profound, doting tenderness. His voice dropped to a soft, intimate murmur.
"After I obtained this Mo Yu Qilin jade pendant, I began to have dreams. I dreamt of a divine goddess, an immortal consort, every night. In those dreams, I recalled our past life together. You and I… we were husband and wife in a previous life. It was in those dreams that I learned your name in this one: Huangfu Xian."
It was difficult to lie about the present, but a past life? That was a blank canvas he could paint with any story he wished. He held her gaze, his expression a perfect blend of sincere longing and deep affection, filled to the brim with a fondness that felt achingly real.
"For days, I have been tirelessly pouring my internal energy into the jade pendant," he continued, his voice laced with a carefully manufactured exhaustion. "Doing everything I could, all for the sole purpose of awakening you."
He let his eyes shine with relief and joy. "And now… you're finally awake. That's wonderful."
As he finished speaking, Shen Anyu swayed on his feet, his body trembling as if about to collapse.
"Oh—!"
Huangfu Xian gasped. She instinctively glided forward, her lotus-like steps making no sound, and an invisible force surged from her, supporting Shen Anyu and steadying him. She saw his handsome face, now pale and beaded with cold sweat, and the last vestiges of suspicion in her sharp, star-like eyes melted away into a soft, gentle concern.
"Such… such a destiny?" she whispered, more to herself than to him.
Looking at this sincere, gentle, and deeply affectionate man before her, she gradually began to believe. It felt more real than the emptiness in her own head.
[Ding! Detected Destined Heroine Huangfu Xian's favorability +20, plundering +60,000 Destiny Points!]
[Ding! Detected Destined Heroine Huangfu Xian's favorability +10, plundering +30,000 Destiny Points!]
With the system's confirmation, Shen Anyu finally knew for sure. The fairy before him was indeed Huangfu Xian, the primary heroine of the Rebirth Investment protagonist, Long Hao. In his previous life, Long Hao had failed to activate the Mo Yu Qilin jade pendant. And in this life, after his rebirth, the Opportunity had already been seized by another.
He had never met Huangfu Xian in either life. It seemed their destiny was a shallow one indeed.
Shen Anyu sneered inwardly, the warmth in his eyes a perfect mask for his cold triumph. 'Long Hao, oh, Long Hao. Since fate has deemed you unworthy, allow me to take care of Huangfu Xian for you. There's no need to thank me.'
...
On the other side of the city.
Achoo!
Long Hao sneezed violently, rubbing his nose with a look of profound misfortune. "Damn it, who's talking about me now?"
His face was a mask of distress and gloom. He had been tailing Immortal Doctor Lu Ran for an entire day, but he hadn't managed to make even the slightest bit of headway in building a relationship. Lu Ran, having understood Shen Anyu's unspoken warning, knew that he and Long Hao were enemies, not friends. Naturally, he didn't give the reborn protagonist the time of day.
After being repeatedly and coldly rebuffed by Lu Ran, Long Hao had attempted a roundabout approach: trying to curry favor with the Immortal Doctor's sister, Lu Qiong. This, however, only served to further enrage Lu Ran, who had him unceremoniously kicked out of their clinic's vicinity.
"Ah, I'm so worried. Can it be that I can't hold onto this future awesome golden thigh, Immortal Doctor Lu Ran?"
"Which charity foundation is it, that's actually cutting me off and ruining my grand plan?"
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