Jing Yi didn't say anything until they reached the bamboo hut. When Qiu Ling dropped to the ground and put him back onto his own two feet to open the door, he turned to him and raised his brows. "Do you really just want to leave them alone with this?"
Qiu Ling blinked his eyes as if he had no idea what his beloved was talking about. "But I did tell them what to do, didn't I? And there's nothing they can do for the next few days. They can only wait and then go talk to him a while later. If they do it now, it won't work out. So what do you want me to do? Wait with him? I'd much rather spend my time with you." He pulled Jing Yi back into his arms and pecked his lips. "Don't tell me you think any different."
Jing Yi sighed and let Qiu Ling pull him into the house. "I didn't keep track of the time we spent in that realm but it should have been several years. Can you really not bear to do something else for even a few hours? You could've at least explained in some more detail to them. Senior martial brother Nian is very worried about his lover's situation. Wouldn't you be the same if this was about me?"
Qiu Ling stopped and turned back around, his expression turning solemn. "Of course, I would. In fact, isn't this almost like when you were trapped in that realm in the Leyuan region? I was very worried about you. But I did everything I could to get you out of there. I still knew that it would take time though. That Nian Hong Fang … He can't expect everybody else to do this for him. He'll have to do something himself if he wants to get his lover back."
Jing Yi bit his lip. He really hadn't thought this through. To him, while he had missed Qiu Ling just after he entered the secret realm, it hadn't been too bad. He had focused on cultivating and trying to gather his memories. But Qiu Ling on the outside … He had had no idea how he was doing. Naturally, that was a very similar situation to the one of Nian Hong Fang and Ma Zhi Wu just that Qiu Ling had always known where he was and how it had happened.
Most likely, it wasn't too good to talk about this situation with Qiu Ling in detail. But on the other hand, he also felt that this comparison was a bit mean-spirited. "Senior martial brother Nian didn't know anything. He only knew that his lover never came back. He didn't know where he disappeared. He didn't know what happened. How could he have done anything? He tried to get help but nobody ever listened. Isn't that already doing what he could?"
"He didn't know these things, right. But he didn't try to find out either, did he? Just finding out where he had gone on that mission might have been enough to find some clues. But he never did so. He asked Wu Min Huan but didn't go to the Sect Master himself. He also didn't ask his lover's Master, did he? If he had, then maybe things would be different now. Maybe Xiao Dong and Shao Hai wouldn't have disappeared either. After all, he once again asked them to do it in his stead, didn't he? And he didn't bother to tell anyone else."
Jing Yi shook his head, unable to believe what was happening right now. "While that is true, he did so because he thought that they were more suitable for the task, didn't he? And he didn't tell anybody because the things he had said before had never been taken seriously. And I mean it's been years. He was trying to get somebody to listen to him for five years. But nobody did. Can't you understand that he had some doubts?"
Qiu Ling nodded. "Still. Even if they were more suitable, this is his lover we're talking about, isn't it? It is the person he wants to find. Nobody else owes him anything. But he still went and asked somebody else to do it. If he had gone himself, even he had been caught, he might've been able to reunite with him. But he wasn't willing to take that risk."
"So what do you want to say? That he's too weak? That he doesn't deserve to get his lover back?" Jing Yi couldn't help but feel upset at that. Even though back then, the person that had vanished was him and the one who had been searching was Qiu Ling, it did remind him of all the things that had gone wrong between them. If he had been stronger, then things might be different now.
Wasn't that the same what Qiu Ling was saying about Nian Hong Fang right now? It made him feel … inadequate. If Nian Hong Fang didn't deserve to be with Ma Zhi Wu, then how did he deserve to be with Qiu Ling? Most likely, his past self had been better in that aspect. That was the thought that really hurt him.
Qiu Ling looked at him and then sighed, pulling him back into his arms. "That's not what I'm trying to say. I just think that … It's not our problem. Why should we do everything? The last time he involved somebody like this, it ended with the two people vanishing as well. And now he once again expects others to do something.
"I already told him what to do. I think that this is as far as we should get involved. Now, it's on him to go and talk to Shen Qiang. If that doesn't yield any results, then we could talk about it again. But he hasn't even tried and already expects more. I just think that for the time being, we should let him do what he can instead."
Jing Yi still wasn't quite happy with that but he didn't have anything to retort either. So in the end, he could only nod and give in. Anyway, maybe Nian Hong Fang would be able to make this work just as Qiu Ling had said. Then there wouldn't be any reason to speak about this any longer anyway. Although he couldn't help but wonder just why Qiu Ling was so passionate about this. He couldn't help but feel that there was more to this and he didn't think that it would be good to ignore the reason for long. Otherwise, new problems might surface.