"Li-shidi!" Qiu Yunru cried out helplessly. "Can't we talk about this later?"
"No!" Li Chenyuan cried out in return. "I have a really bad feeling, and I don't want to be on bad terms! Do you hate me, gege?"
"No, no!" Qiu Yunru protested. "I don't hate you! I'm just--Lei-shijie!"
Across the cliffside clearing, Yan Wenqing and Lei Ruolan were locked in an intense sparring match. Somehow, despite her broken arm and profusely bleeding shoulder, Lei Ruolan was managing to hold her own again Yan Wenqing's great Mo blade.
Qiu Yunru couldn't help but marvel at her technique. In a hundred years, Lei Ruolan would surely go down in history as a legendary hero. With her non-dominant arm, she was blocking blows and slicing at Yan Wenqing's legs, and she dodged all of his heavy, slow blows with nimble feet.
"Is that all you've got?" She laughed, her voice high-pitched and delirious. "Pathetic! Hahaha..."
"You--!" Yan Wenqing swung his blade again, and it crashed into the ground inches from Lei Ruolan's feet, splitting the earth there in two.
"Lei-shijie!" Qiu Yunru shouted, panicked. "Stop it, please! Let's talk!"
"Talk with me!" Li Chenyuan insisted, grabbing Qiu Yunru's shoulders and turned him towards himself. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. It seemed Maiden Li had returned, crying pitifully and begging for his attention. "She's doing fine, can't you see?"
It was true that Lei Ruolan was holding her own quite well, but Qiu Yunru couldn't help but be panicked. She had lost so much blood--there was absolutely no way she could hold on for that long!
"Qiu-ge, I'm sorry for what I said earlier!" Li Chenyuan bawled. "Forget I said anything! It's really not important!"
"Li-shidi..." Qiu Yunru bit down on his cheek, closing his eyes. Li Chenyuan's grip was as strong as iron, and he clearly wasn't going to let go. Was he really going to have to talk about this right now?! "Li-shidi, I don't hate you. I--if you want me to forget about it, I will! But we can talk about this later!"
Li Chenyuan's eyes lit up with hope upon hearing that 'I don't hate you', but his face darkened with disappointment at that 'If you want me to forget about it, I will'. He grabbed one of Qiu Yunru's wrists, tugging him closer desperately.
"Wait! Don't forget about it just yet!" He begged.
Qiu Yunru thought he was going to surely combust.
Forget about it? Don't forget about it? What the hell does this kid want?!
"Don't tell me if you like me! That doesn't matter--if you don't like me now, that can change. But does gege like men?"
Qiu Yunru's face burned. Nearby, Lei Ruolan had managed to slice at one of Yan Wenqing's ankles, causing him to shriek in pain and trip over.
"HAHA!" Lei Ruolan cackled. "You were ranked second? Who decided that?"
"You--you bitch!" Yan Wenqing roared. His face was as red as a tomato as he pulled himself back up. "I wouldn't usually call a woman a bitch, but you are one!"
"Gege! Don't look at them, look at me!" Maiden Li cried out in distress.
"You--I've never met someone as needy as you!" Qiu Yunru frustratedly shouted in retort. As soon as he said it, he regretted it. Li Chenyuan's face paled before his very eyes, and he seemed to shrink in on himself like a deflating balloon. Qiu Yunri's heart immediately began to hurt. "Wait! Wait, I--I'm sorry! Listen, I'm not sure if I like men--maybe...Maybe! I really don't know, okay?!"
Li Chenyuan's face, which was steeped in grief, suddenly lit up once more. What a fickle person! How could such a back-and-forth attitude exist?! He grabbed both of Qiu Yunru's wrists, his face shining with hope once more.
"That's good! That's enough! If gege isn't sure, then he probably does! If there's a chance, then I can do it!"
"What?!" Qiu Yunru spluttered, leaning away. "What kind of logic is that? Haha...I'm not...How can you assume I'm gay?!"
"What does gay mean...?" Li Chenyuan frowned, puzzled.
That's right--that word didn't exist in this era. Qiu Yunru cleared his throat awkwardly, a flush creeping up his throat.
"A cutsleeve! That's what I mean!"
"Ah!" Li Chenyuan's eyes brightened with recognition. "Isn't that how it goes? If you think there's a chance you are a cutsleeve, you probably are! Didn't gege know this?"
Qiu Yunru opened his mouth to protest further. However, he never got the chance.
At that moment, something crashed into both him and Li Chenyuan, sending them sprawling.