“One won’t stay unchanged once thrust into a different situation.”

Wen Kexing was startled at that for a few seconds. Then he laughed out loud, unconstrained, to the point of tearing up. Zhou Zishu watched him, expressions remaining the same, his sickly skin not betraying any emotions. His eyelids lowered, and he looked like he wanted to search deep inside Wen Kexing’s soul.

After an unknown amount of time, Wen Kexing stood upright again, breathing hard, hands wiping the tears at the corner of his eyes. “Ah-Xu, I’ve found out that you are the first person in my entire lifetime that suits my taste the most… You know, I am actually a little knowledgeable in the art of disguise too.”

He looked at Zhou Zishu without blinking, to the point that even the fake layer of skin on his face felt uncomfortable. He answered without thinking, “Are you really?”

Wen Kexing said with absolute sincerity, “Therefore maybe I will transform myself into Gu Xiang.”

Zhou Zishu stood there in a daze. When he saw that Wen Kexing was looking at him up and down crudely, he immediately recomposed himself, turning to head towards the inn without a word.

Wen Kexing stared after his back, his gaze drawn to the shoulder blades hidden under clothes. To him, even when the other man was dressing in rags and looked dejected in his own misery, there was always an indescribable aura that he exuded. It took him back to that afternoon with the brilliant sun, when Zhou Zishu closed his eyes and leaned onto the wall by the main street, his beggar-like demeanor looking more relaxed than anyone else in this world.

But Wen Kexing knew that he was only sunbathing.

How can such a man not be a stunning beauty? Wen Kexing thought smugly. During the near thirty years he had lived, he had never been wrong about that.

Seeing that Zhou Zishu was now far away, Wen Kexing hurried after him, mumbling under his breath, “How can one ever know if they will change? And whether one is averse to meat or not, won’t it be miserable anyway if they’re thrown into a desolate place with nothing else to devour?”

At night fall, Cao Weining caught up to them. He felt the atmosphere between the other two had become strange, so he asked cautiously, “Did Brother Zhou and Brother Wen… have a quarrel?”

“Don’t think too much into it, Brother Cao.” They replied at the same time—again.

Wen Kexing narrowed his eyes at Zhou Zishu, his gaze sharp and full of tease. Zhou Zishu feigned ignorance.

Cao Weining scratched his head. “Actually… I don’t know how to word this, but yes, I have heard of such a thing before, but never in my life have I seen it with real men…”