Junior Brother Pays Respect to You: Chapter 21 - Unwillingness
Chapter 21: Unwillingness
Qin Zheng was awakened by the cold once again.
When he opened his eyes, everything before him was pitch black.
Qin Zheng knew this wasn’t the Tianque Sect.
Just a moment ago, he had still been waiting for Qin Su in front of the master's stone hut.
Then everything went dark—and he was back here again.
In the end, he never managed to see him come out.
Qin Zheng reached out and touched the icy blanket beside him, shivering uncontrollably. The fire pit at the foot of the bed had long gone out, the firewood reduced to ashes.
Without the fire’s warmth, and having just returned from the well-provided comforts of the Tianque Sect, the cave now felt even colder than before.
Reluctantly, Qin Zheng climbed out of bed, groped around in the darkness, and slowly made his way to the corner of the cave where the firewood was stored. He grabbed a few more dry sticks and fumbled his way back to the bed.
He threw the firewood onto the floor before the bed, and soon the cave lit up again.
By the fire’s light, Qin Zheng glanced at the cave entrance—the snow outside had piled up to nearly half a foot, and it was still falling, with no sign of stopping.
Aside from the crackling of burning wood, the only sound was the snowflakes landing outside.
Qin Zheng was freezing. The two thin layers of clothing he wore were no match for the winter chill. He quickly huddled closer to the fire and crouched down.
Still not warm enough, he added more firewood and built two additional fires around him. Only then did he feel somewhat satisfied, holding out his hands to warm them.
His hands were so cold that they were nearly numb.
But fortunately, no matter how cold he got, he never fell ill.
Qin Zheng turned to glance at the bed. The time-travel scroll was currently lying atop his blanket.
By his count, he had already used three chances.
And the third time—he hadn’t even managed to bring anything back before being forced to return.
Qin Zheng felt a growing sense of unwillingness.
They had gone through life and death together, and he had protected Qin Su. Everything had been falling into place. Even if Qin Su wouldn’t take the initiative to promise him anything, Qin Zheng was certain that as long as he asked, Qin Su wouldn’t refuse.
He had been so close!
If only Qin Su had woken up a bit earlier, or if he himself could’ve stayed just a little longer, he would’ve succeeded.
The more he thought about it, the more unwilling he felt!
Qin Zheng suddenly stood up, walked over to the bed, grabbed the time scroll, and returned to the center of the fires.
He opened the scroll and glanced at it, then turned to look at the cave entrance.
It was probably still the middle of the night—and at this temperature, there was no way he could fall back asleep.
Should he go back again?
The gap between the two time travels was six months—so why not jump six months forward?
Frowning, Qin Zheng tried to recall—he vaguely remembered that Qin Su had indeed been injured once, and had stayed with the master to recover.
It seemed like he hadn’t been seen for four or five months.
As for why Qin Zheng remembered this so clearly, it was because he was used to bullying Qin Su, and during that time, when Qin Su hadn’t shown up for several months, Qin Zheng had even gone out of his way to ask Qin Shuang about him.
From that perspective, even if he went six months forward, there might still be time to salvage their relationship.
Even if his interference this time caused Qin Su to wake up earlier, the two of them wouldn’t have had much contact due to cultivation anyway, so their relationship probably wouldn’t deteriorate too much.
Looking at the scroll, Qin Zheng muttered to himself, “Rather than waiting here for daylight, might as well go one more time.”
Having made up his mind, Qin Zheng returned to bed, wrapped himself in his blanket, picked up the brush, and prepared to add six months to the third recorded time.
While thinking “just add six,” he moved his hand to adjust the number on the scroll.
The moment he finished writing—before he could even set the brush down—a flash of golden light appeared before his eyes, and the scenery changed.
The cold, dark cave turned into a cool, well-lit room.
Qin Zheng, who had been wrapped in a blanket on the bed, now found himself sitting on a meditation cushion.
He looked around to confirm—this was indeed the first-tier room he had been forced to stay in for years.
Six months had passed, and he was still in a first-tier room. That meant his depleted cultivation really hadn’t returned.
But he had long since accepted that. Besides, his goal this time would be accomplished soon—there was no need to return to the third-tier room.
Even if he was eventually forced to go back there, he could always try venturing into the forbidden area again.
Qin Zheng stood up, his neck noticeably stiff.
He had clearly been asleep here earlier.
When he stepped out of the first-tier room, the door seemed slightly shorter than he remembered—was it just his imagination?
His top priority now was to find out how Qin Su was doing. He needed to know how Qin Su currently felt about him so he could plan the best way to improve their relationship.
After some hesitation, Qin Zheng made his way toward the small grove where Qin Su lived. After half a year, his junior brother should have recovered.
Along the way, Qin Zheng repeatedly felt like the plants around him had grown much bigger.
Excitedly jogging, he finally arrived in front of the small wooden house in the grove.
Just as he stood at the door, slightly out of breath and taking deep breaths, the door, which had been tightly shut, suddenly opened.
……
For a moment, Qin Zheng’s mind went blank.
A graceful young man who looked strikingly like Qin Su walked out of the house.
Wasn’t this what Qin Su would look like all grown up? Did he have a brother?
The young man frowned at Qin Zheng standing not far away and said, “Senior Brother, to think you’ve got free time to come knocking on my door now?”
There was a faint trace of impatience in his voice.
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