People who are drowning often exhibit a struggle, and Xu Ziyi was no exception.
Zhou Li was not stupid; of course he knew Xu Ziyi wasn't directly dead and unable to move. If he held him under the water, the other party would definitely struggle. So he quickly stepped on him to prevent the other person from hitting his upper body.
However, Zhou Li had miscalculated.
He hadn't anticipated that Xu Ziyi, even in a state of utter disarray and having been slapped into the water, would still make a final effort to struggle.
Subconsciously, Xu Ziyi grabbed hold of the cloth bag at Zhou Li's waist, trying to pull himself up. But the bag was merely tied there with a string, and with his forceful tug, not only did he fail to rise, but he also caused Zhou Li and the cloth bag at his waist to stagger and plunge headfirst into the water.
Thump.
By the time Zhou Li realized what happened, the cloth bag was already floating to the surface. Just as he was about to bend down and pick up the bag, the pool's spring water suddenly dissipated with a surge, vanishing entirely.
"No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
In that instant, Tang Wan's petite body exploded with incredible strength. She rushed into the dry spring, staring blankly at the empty bowl-like spring mouth, standing still as a statue, without moving an inch.
And at this moment, Xu Ziyi underwent a breathtaking transformation.
The rounded chest, the jade-smooth, tender skin, as well as those long, straight legs. Zhou Li, holding Xu Ziyi up by the nape of his neck, revealed a face as beautiful as the blooming spring before everyone.
In this moment, Hou Jue, who had been ready to give his adversary a thrashing with his stick, froze. Tang Wan, upon seeing this, let the tears flow from her hollow eyes.
"Zhou Li, you really deserve to die."
Tang Wan looked at Zhou Li and said faintly, "You really deserve to die, really do, really do..."
"No, haven't you understood yet?"
Zhou Li weighed the Xu Ziyi in his hand, asking in puzzlement, "This is not any Pool of Rebirth at all, it's a spring that changes people's genders. You took this thing for your brother..."
Before Zhou Li could finish speaking, he saw Tang Wan extend her pale finger, showing him a delicate and slender middle finger. Upon seeing this gesture, which only he had ever made before, Zhou Li was momentarily stunned, then...
Wait a second!!!
Suddenly, Zhou Li had an epiphany, an indescribable feeling welling up inside him. In that instant, literary works he had read in a past life sprung up in his mind like a king's treasury—Kindaichi, Sherlock Holmes, Storm Villa, Astolfo, Hideyoshi, soul possessions... Looking at the girl in front of him, with a resentful air, a terrifying conjecture formed in Zhou Li's mind.
"Parity does not change."
Zhou Li's expression turned solemn.
"Acid melts, alkali resists."
With a face full of despair, Tang Wan uttered these words.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, you're actually Tang Cen, aren't you?!!!"
Upon hearing the response that only a close friend from the Tang Family, who had shared three years of classes with him, would know, Zhou Li felt as if he had been struck by thunder, his whole body twisting wildly like an eel, his demeanor as dramatically intense as the famous painting The Scream.
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Everything makes sense now.
What "serious illness" in my brother, mysterious trust, inability to understand symbols, empathetically feeling the pain when chickens fly and eggs break, not knowing English, it's all bullshit!
This is Tang Cen! The beast I went with to blow up our senior's outhouse back in school! We were such close friends that exchanging trousers and wearing each other's felt completely normal, the very translator who partnered with me, Zhou Li, to translate foreign erotica to sell to classmates for money, the iron bastard who devised the scheme of "wrapping paper around gold juice, lighting it, and throwing it at the enemy's doorstep".
"Why did you turn into a beautiful girl?!"
In that instant, Zhou Li felt his own transmigration seemed quite trivial at the moment, after all, a plot like "good buddies not seen for years suddenly turning into blue-haired beautiful loli girls" could absolutely make for its own novel, and it would definitely be more popular than the adventures of someone like him, just seeking fun. His face twisted with shock as he looked at Tang Cen and exclaimed:
"You didn't disappear all these years because of that, did you?"
"Yes."
Tang Wan nodded, her face numb as she said:
"When I went home to visit, I was ambushed and hit with the Gender-Change Spring. After returning to the Tang Sect, my whole family mocked and played with me, feeding me medicine every day to see if there would be some miraculous change. Later, I made up an excuse to escape and found out about the Pool of Rebirth. It turned out these horse bandits were also after the spring water, so I followed them here."
"Why didn't you say something earlier?"
Zhou Li's face crumbled, incredulously asking, "Why did you hide it from me?"
"Tch."
Tang Wan clicked her tongue, turning her head away with a world-weary expression on her delicate cheeks: "I figured if I told you, a crook like you, it would just add to the mockery. I planned to find you after drinking the spring water, but I didn't expect..."
Looking at Xu Ziyi, fair-skinned and beautiful with long legs, yet unconscious and still clutching a weapon, Tang Wan gritted her teeth in anger and despair, saying, "That buffalo drank all the spring water for eight people, the beast."
"Wait, both of you, it seems like you've forgotten about me."
At this moment, from the sidelines, Hou Jue, who had just regained his senses from one surprise to the next, coughed and leaned on his stick, speaking feebly, "You see..."
What Hou Jue actually meant was quite straightforward: he simply wanted to get some golden sore medicine or something to stop the bleeding from his wounds. After all, although he had gained the upper hand earlier in the great battle by using "chickens flying and eggs breaking," he too had been quite injured.
After all, Xu Ziyi had mastery over the "Long and Short Gun" Qi Spirit, and in terms of sheer strength, Hou Jue was actually at a disadvantage. So he felt if he didn't find some way to stop the bleeding soon, he might well die there.
But...
"I understand, I understand."
Hearing this, Zhou Li quickly put on a smile, chuckling as he approached Hou Jue. With Hou Jue's eye full of hope and expectation, Zhou Li pulled out a golden melon seed and placed it in Hou Jue's hand, "A small token of appreciation, I hope the gentleman... young master can forgive me."
Seeing Zhou Li get it so right, Hou Jue's face stiffened. As a Jinyiwei who "thought he was," he could see Zhou Li's almost templated behavior for what it was.
Upon closer inspection, Hou Jue noticed Zhou Li's sincere look and tone, as well as his skilled and natural way of offering a bribe, clearly someone used to making regular contributions to officials.
Suddenly, Hou Jue thought of his own heroic performance just before, and the "electric stick" skill that everyone in the Jianghu knew, and he subconsciously thought:
Could he know I'm Jinyiwei?
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