Reborn, I Became a Male God - Chapter 46

Tan Yunshu almost believed what Jing Ling said. After all, boys liking to watch war movies was perfectly normal. But she subconsciously felt that something was off, and her intuition had always been accurate. So she went through the whole process again from the beginning and even tested it herself.

After bringing the giant bear back to the dorm with the delivery girl, she opened her laptop, picked a war movie on a video platform, paid to watch it, and dragged the progress bar to a battle scene. She turned the volume up to the maximum, then borrowed a phone from a roommate, dialed her own number, connected the call and placed the phone next to the laptop, while she herself took another phone and left the dorm, holding it to her ear.

“Rat-a-tat-tat—Boom—” Gunfire and explosions intertwined. It was the same sound, but it felt different to the ear. Moreover, that sentence inserted halfway was far too obvious—watching a movie, and the movie just happened to have someone making a phone call? How could there be such a coincidence?

Clearly, what Jing Ling had just said was a lie. But why would he lie? What was the point of doing so?

Tan Yunshu thought of a possibility. Her eyes suddenly widened, filled with terror, and she stood frozen in place.

“Yunshu, what’s wrong?” A girl from the neighboring dorm opened her door and, seeing her strange expression, asked with concern.

That voice pulled her back to reality. She frantically ended the call, then found Jing Ling’s number and dialed it. “Please be okay… please be okay…” The usual blink-of-an-eye waiting time now stretched endlessly, each second as long as a century. She finally heard a voice, but it was what she feared the most.

“Sorry, the number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later…” After the Chinese, an English message followed, then the cycle repeated.

Tan Yunshu couldn’t believe it and called several more times, but still couldn’t get through. Her heart was in chaos, and a sense of helplessness welled up. “I should’ve realized earlier…”

She knew all too well what status Tan Yunzhong held at home—pampered and cherished since childhood. That day at the Jiang family, he had been beaten so badly, and it had all started because of her. Given that family’s character, how could they just let it go so easily? Not only did they not come looking to get back at her, there hadn’t even been a single phone call, text, or message online. It was even quieter than when nothing had happened. It was so obviously wrong, yet she had overlooked it just because Jing Ling said it had been resolved.

Had she become dull, or was there some bewitching power in his words that made her believe without question?

Leaning against the cold wall and clutching her phone, she thought about many things. From the first meeting until now, it had only been a few days. They weren’t even acquaintances, let alone friends. But thinking back on everything Jing Ling had done—the care, the gentleness, the attentiveness—not even her best friends could compare. Not to mention, he even knew her birthday…

At this thought, her heart clenched again.

“Please, let him be alright!”

Suddenly, she felt a vibration in her hand. She was stunned for a moment, her eyes lit up instantly, and she quickly raised the phone to her face. The moment she saw the caller ID, her eyes dimmed again. The two-character note was not “Jing Ling” but “Xinyao.”

She stared blankly at those two characters, letting the phone vibrate until it went silent and the screen went dark. But just two seconds later, the phone buzzed again—it was still Yang Xinyao calling.

“I once read his fortune. You are his destined one.” Without warning, that sentence suddenly echoed in her mind.

“Fortune telling…” she murmured, and an idea popped into her head. At the same time, she slid her finger across the screen and brought the phone to her ear. “Xinyao, help me! I want to know where Jing Ling is and what happened to him!”

“…Huh?” There was a moment of silence on the other end, then an obviously surprised response.

Yang Xinyao had just happened to be passing through the capital and had called to ask Tan Yunshu out. She hadn’t expected her to ask about Jing Ling the moment she answered the call.

“I mean, Yunshu, it’s bad enough that Jing Ling would ditch his friends for a girl, but you can’t be like him!” At the milk tea shop near the school entrance, in a private booth, Yang Xinyao said while chewing on her straw. It had been about half an hour since their call ended.

Her tone was clearly joking, but Tan Yunshu wasn’t in the mood at all. “Xinyao, you said before you could tell fortunes, right? Please help me. I called Jing Ling about forty minutes ago and heard gunshots. He lied and said he was watching a movie, but I tested it later and it wasn’t true. After that, I couldn’t reach him at all… Xinyao, Jing Ling will be okay, right?”

Before this, Tan Yunshu had been a firm atheist. Rather than relying on the illusory blessings of gods and Buddha, she believed in working hard with her own hands. But now, she couldn’t help but pray, hoping that he would be safe and sound.

Compared to her nervousness, Yang Xinyao seemed completely unconcerned. She waved her hand and said, “Don’t worry, your Jing Ling is basically Superman reincarnated. Nothing will happen to him. Before he left, I did a reading for him. Though the process would be a bit dangerous and thrilling, he’d come through unharmed. As for why his phone won’t connect, I bet he accidentally dropped it in water or something.”

“Relax, I promise he’ll be totally fine and will be back soon. So let’s put his situation aside for now and talk about the important stuff. They say only food and beauty shouldn’t be let down, so I came all this way just to see you, this great beauty. You have to play host and take me out for something good to eat, okay?”

“…Alright.”

“Let’s go, let’s go, time for something tasty!”

“Xinyao, when you said Jing Ling and I were destined to be together, what did you mean?”

“Just the literal meaning, I guess. You two are fated to meet, then fall in love at first sight or something like that. Fate is such an abstract thing—no one can say it’s accurate for sure. Especially since his fate is so weird.”

Yang Xinyao wasn’t wrong. Jing Ling really had accidentally dropped his phone in water—more precisely, into a river. He was hiding in a tree, waiting for a chance to take out the enemy. When the enemy came into view, he hung upside down from the tree, aimed, and fired. At the moment the gunshot rang out, there was a splash—his phone had fallen in.

That section of the river was deep and murky. Recovering the phone would’ve been a hassle, so he gave up on it.

After taking care of the pursuers, he returned to the mountaintop and rejoined the main team. They took a helicopter and left, by which time more than an hour had passed. He borrowed Captain Fei Hu’s phone to call Tan Yunshu and briefly explained that he had gone out to take care of something. She didn’t seem suspicious. After a bit of small talk, she suddenly asked if he would be at school that weekend because she and Yang Xinyao were planning to visit.

She thanked him for the birthday gift and said she wanted to treat him to a meal.

Jing Ling knew her too well and understood that wasn’t her real reason—it was just an excuse. Something must have happened during the time his phone was lost. But since she didn’t say anything, he didn’t ask and just answered her question, “Yeah, I’ll be there. See you on the weekend. I’ll come to the airport to pick you up.” By then, he was already back at school.

The weekend came quickly. Jing Ling left for the airport at noon. It was a half-hour drive, and after waiting for about twenty more minutes at the airport, he saw them arrive.

He walked over with a smile and naturally took the suitcase from Tan Yunshu’s hand, but she suddenly grabbed his hand and asked, “Jing Ling, you like me, right?”

“What made you ask that?” Jing Ling looked at her.

“Just answer yes or no, or nod or shake your head.” She raised her head slightly, pursed her lips, and looked stubbornly at him.

“Yes, I like you.” Jing Ling not only answered but also nodded.

The next moment, Tan Yunshu suddenly let go of the suitcase and wrapped her arms around his neck, then stood on tiptoe.

A sweet, fragrant kiss landed on his lips.

(TL note: damn, that was fast)