CHAPTER 342: CHAPTER 341 "ANCIENT AND MODERN LEGENDS

Zhen Yan started interrogating Zhen Yu as soon as she walked in, "Jiaoyang has been here for half a day already, why did it take you both so long to get back?!"

"Xiao Yu accompanied me to book a room at the guest house," Han Mingyue hurriedly explained.

"Oh." Zhen Yan stopped pressing the issue once he heard it was for a legitimate reason.

He stopped talking, but Zhen Yu had questions of her own, "Why are you here instead of staying in your room with Jiaoyang?!"

Zhen Yan’s eyes darted around as he quickly grasped at a far-fetched excuse, "It was too noisy over there."

"You’re not studying anyway with Jiaoyang around, so what does it matter if it’s noisy?!" Zhen Yu glanced disdainfully at her brother, "Get going!"

"I’m not going!" Zhen Yan immediately refused, and then with a stroke of quick thinking, counter-asked, "Why are you so eager to get rid of us, what are you planning to do with Han Mingyue?!"

A tightness gripped Zhen Yu’s chest as she became so frustrated and embarrassed that she was lost for words.

Seeing Zhen Yu angry, Han Mingyue immediately reprimanded in a low tone, "Zhen Yan!"

His voice was filled with disapproval!

"..." Zhen Yan also realized that what he had just said went too far, but he couldn’t bring himself to apologize to his sister in front of an outsider. Speaking of which, his sister and Han Mingyue had not seen each other for a long time, if it were him and Gu Qing...

"Ah! Forget it! Stop thinking about all these fanciful things!"

Zhen Yan sighed inwardly, stood up, and said, "We’ll go downstairs and stay for a while, and come back up after half an hour!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he pulled Jiaoyang out the door, even taking the door with him.

---

A good while after Zhen Yan went downstairs, Zhen Yu was still standing motionless inside the bedroom door!

Han Mingyue had no choice but to give her a gentle nudge, comforting her, "It’s okay, don’t be mad at your brother."

"Hmm." Zhen Yu responded noncommittally, still not moving from her spot.

"Xiao Yu..." Han Mingyue suddenly called out to her in a pleading tone.

Zhen Yu heard that something was off in his voice, and immediately turned to look at him, "What’s wrong?"

Han Mingyue asked earnestly, "Are you not happy to see me?"

Zhen Yu blurted out, "I am happy!"

Han Mingyue smiled knowingly, raised his hand to pat her head, and then let his hand slide down her long hair, "Me too!"

"Ah!" Caught off guard as Han Mingyue pulled her into his embrace, Zhen Yu let out a small shout, her hands immediately bracing against his chest.

"Han Mingyue!" Even Zhen Yu herself didn’t know why she called out his name at that moment.

It was completely instinctive, and after calling out, she hesitated, unsure whether to let him let go.

Han Mingyue seemed to ignore Zhen Yu calling out his name, his arms tightened, pulling her firmly into his embrace.

He drew in a deep breath, gently resting his face on the top of Zhen Yu’s head, exhaling with satisfaction.

"Xiao Yu!"

Just those simple two words meant more than a thousand words could convey.

"Xiao Yu?"

"Ah!"

"Xiao Yu."

"Ah."

...

"Xiao Yu..."

"Are you done?!"

Han Mingyue chuckled at being rendered speechless.

Only after a moment did he say, "We’ve finally gotten through half the semester! There’s only half left."

Zhen Yu fell silent for a moment, "Less than four months!"

Han Mingyue disagreed with her, "There are two months of summer vacation too!"

"...That’s true."

"Right! I have some good news to tell you!" Han Mingyue suddenly said excitedly.

Zhen Yu looked up and retreated, stepping out of Han Mingyue’s embrace. "What good news?"

"My ’Immortal Tribulation’ is finally complete!"

"Really? That’s amazing!" Zhen Yu was extremely surprised!

Her first novel had only progressed halfway! There was no way she could finish it before the summer vacation!

"Of course it’s true! I want to try submitting it!"

Zhen Yu couldn’t wait to raise both her hands and feet in agreement, "Submit it! Of course, you should submit it! What if it gets published!"

"How is that possible!" Han Mingyue still had some self-awareness. "I’d be happy enough to get serialized!"

"Yeah! Even serialization is good! Isn’t the next step after serializing getting published?!" Zhen Yu guessed wildly from the perspective of a layperson, "Anyway, we are still young, we can take it slow! By the way, have you decided where to submit it?"

"Not yet! I,"

Han Mingyue hadn’t finished her sentence, but suddenly there was a banging on the door from behind him.

"Bang bang bang!" Just by hearing it, it was clear that it was Zhen Yan knocking!

Han Mingyue reluctantly exchanged a look with Zhen Yu and turned around to open the door.

"Arcade games, wanna go?" Zhen Yan didn’t enter the room but asked from outside the doorway.

Thinking that she had already spent half an hour alone in the room with Han Mingyue, Zhen Yu feared her brother might get suspicious if she stayed any longer, so she decisively nodded, "Let’s go!"

"Then hurry up and put on your cotton-padded jacket and let’s go!"

"Okay."

——

The next chance for a private conversation came after dinner when Zhen Yu and her brother were accompanying the Han Family Brothers to the guesthouse.

"About your intention to submit your work that you mentioned this morning, do you have any magazines in mind?"

"There’s only one, ’Ancient and Modern Legends’!"

"Why just one? Why not pick a few more to try?" Zhen Yu asked, puzzled.

Han Mingyue gave her a look, "My novel is based on Chinese mythology, and I only found this one magazine that publishes such stories."

Zhen Yu: "...Alright then!"

After all, it’s only 1998, and the categorization of novels at this time is indeed quite complicated! Besides martial arts and romance, the third category one could barely distinguish was Huang Yi’s ’Different Heroes’.

"When do you plan to submit it?"

"I’ll mail it in as soon as I get back!"

Zhen Yu said with a smile, "Good luck!"

——

As they were nearing the guesthouse, Han Mingyue hesitated for a moment but still pulled on Zhen Yu’s sleeve.

"?"

"Xiao Yu, haven’t you always been learning vocal music?"

"Yeah!"

"I was thinking... could you help me record a few more songs?"

Han Mingyue’s voice was low and soft, like a feather lightly sweeping over the tip of Zhen Yuxin’s heart.

Zhen Yu’s scalp tightened, and immediately she pretended nonchalantly and stretched out her other hand to Han Mingyue, "Hand it over!"

"What?" Han Mingyue was confused.

Zhen Yu contorted her mouth slightly, "Didn’t you ask me to record songs?"

Han Mingyue also contorted her mouth slightly, "Don’t you have a small tape recorder? No blank tapes?"

"Uh, I forgot!" Zhen Yu said somewhat embarrassed, "I’ve got plenty of tapes! I’ll just erase one and it’ll be fine!"

"...Can you record it tonight?"

Han Mingyue didn’t say it explicitly, but Zhen Yu understood his implication. He wanted to take it with him when he left tomorrow!

"Okay! I’ll give it to you tomorrow morning!"

——

Zhen Yu, who had agreed so readily, found herself incredibly conflicted when it came time to select songs back at home!

"Why?! Why must I face this dilemma every time?!"

Zhen Yu locked herself in her room and pounded the bed as she lamented softly.

Asking a reincarnated person to casually sing was easy, but asking her to pick songs that existed before 1998 to sing was simply torture!

Half an hour flew by, and Zhen Yu had only chosen one song, "Crossing the Ocean to See You."