Chapter 156: We Are Husband and Wife • Grand Finale

Chapter 156: We Are Bound in Marriage • The Grand Finale

The takeout arrived quickly, still carrying that familiar smell—equal parts delicious and stinky.

She picked up a bite with her chopsticks, only to find she couldn't taste a thing.

Xi Qianqian sat there crying again.

What a weird way to get dumped!

She'd had a brief romance in a book, had even done the whole wedding ceremony and shared the wine, and now she was heartbroken.

Xi Qianqian had no desire to look at her computer, scroll through her phone, or eat her luosifen (snail rice noodles).

She grabbed two cans of beer from the fridge, drank until she passed out, and fell asleep.

The next day, Xi Qianqian woke up in a fog. While washing up, she thought of Qi Chengyun again, and started crying without meaning to.

Ugh, she was the only one hurting!

But him? He was just a character in a book. Did he even have feelings?

Was he even still around?

After washing her hair and taking a shower, she sat at her desk with two puffy, swollen eyes and opened the novel again.

It had updated!

The page that was blank yesterday had actually been updated!

Xi Qianqian didn't even bother to gripe about how ridiculous this was—she dove right into reading.

The Consort of the Sixth Prince had passed away, and the Sixth Prince decided to go into mourning!

Zeng Shi hugged Xun Geer and sobbed: "No wonder your sister refused the hundred thousand taels of silver I offered—this was a sign from above, yet I was too foolish to notice."

Qi Jing placed third in the spring imperial examination, and countless noble ladies wanted to marry him, but he turned them all down. Instead, he went to see Zeng Shi and Xun Geer every single day.

Xi Qianqian's heart was racing—the story was still going!

One day in her world meant three years in the book.

Would she soon get to see an old, gray-haired Qi Chengyun?

Xi Qianqian got pumped and glued herself to that novel, ignoring everything else.

By evening, the book still hadn't updated. Her mother sent a WeChat message, telling her to come by for dinner.

Xi Qianqian muttered to herself—good thing she'd come back when she did, or she wouldn't have been able to reply to her mom.

But Xi Qianqian stayed up all night, and the book still didn't update.

She couldn't stay awake any longer and finally crashed in the early hours of the morning.

She was woken up by her brother calling: "Sis, be real—did you get a boyfriend?"

Xi Qianqian was half-asleep: "What are you talking about? I don't have a boyfriend!"

"Huh? Then how come she looks so much like you? Open Douyin—there's this influencer looking for his wife, and she looks just like you."

Xi Qianqian was totally confused and opened the link her brother sent.

Whoa, no way, is this for real?

Qi Chengyun was a social media star now?

He was dressed in ancient robes with his hair in an old-school bun, looking every bit the refined young lord.

"This is my wife—my bound-in-marriage wife! I don't know where she is now, but I want to find her. Qian Yue? Qianqian? Xi as in Xi Qianqian."

He held up a portrait of her—the exact one she'd drawn before.

Xi Qianqian's phone blew up. Old classmates and neighbors she hadn't talked to in years were all messaging her.

"Didn't you say you'd never had a boyfriend? You secretly landed a hot influencer and disappeared?"

"Fighting is fighting, but don't go into hiding. If you don't reach out to him, I'm sending him your address!"

"He's so hot—how can you stand to ditch him? If you don't want him, hand him over to me!!!"

Xi Qianqian skimmed a few messages and then closed them all.

Tears in her eyes, she watched the guy on her phone two more times, then quickly messaged him.

"I'm Xi Qianyue—also known as Xi Qianqian. Where are you? I'll come to you."

She sent the message and waited forever, but got nothing back.

Right—who knows how many people were blowing up this newly famous hot influencer's DMs? How could he possibly read them all?

Xi Qianqian, eyes all teary, wondered how this ancient dude had become an influencer and learned to make videos.

She sent more DMs and comments, but none got replies, and they all showed as unread.

She kept refreshing his page, and then suddenly—he went live!

Xi Qianqian was shocked—this ancient guy was actually this good at this?

Soon people were lining up to talk to him, and gifts were pouring in nonstop.

When he connected with someone, he'd ask, "Do you know Xi Qianqian?"

If they said no, he hung up!

Xi Qianqian laughed through her tears—what an idiot!

She quickly got in line to connect and changed her username to: Xi Qianqian (the real one).

When she finally got through, she couldn't help but yell through tears, "You idiot."

The livestream went crazy; gifts flooded in nonstop, covering the screen until her face was almost completely hidden.

After a ton of effort, the two finally added each other and started chatting.

"Where are you? I'll come to you. Just stay put."

But Qi Chengyun ignored her thoughtful offer: "Send me your address. I'll take a taxi."

Xi Qianqian was totally amazed—how could an ancient man be living it up so easily in the modern world?

She waited anxiously, and realizing she looked like a wreck, she hurriedly grabbed an ice pack to hold over her eyes.

Her eyes were so puffy—she had to get the swelling down fast.

Once the swelling had gone down a bit, she quickly did her makeup nicely.

She was just thinking about changing into something nicer when the doorbell rang.

Xi Qianqian peered through the peephole—oh my god, it really was Qi Chengyun!

She yanked the door open and threw herself into his arms.

Qi Chengyun wrapped his arms around her tightly, burying his face in her hair: "Six years—I've finally found you."

It took Xi Qianqian a moment to lift her head and get a good look at him.

He looked more mature, and there was no denying he was incredibly handsome.

That kind of handsome and noble aura that outshines every young idol out there!

Qi Chengyun scooped her up and, acting like he owned the place, sat down on the sofa.

Xi Qianqian thought of something and quickly grabbed the novel, and the two of them flipped through it together.

Sure enough, there was a new update.

"So you had a chance to take the throne, but you gave it up and disappeared without a trace! And that vanishing act—that's how you ended up here in our world!"

"Third Brother's doing fine as emperor; I have no interest in the throne. I kept searching for a master of the arcane to help me find you. I refused to believe you were dead; I knew you must have returned to this world. The master did a ritual for me... Luckily, we're bound as husband and wife, with a connection that carries across lifetimes. It took six whole years, but I finally succeeded.

Don't worry about your mother and Xun Geer—besides Qi Jing looking after them, I also left some of my people to watch over them. And I told her that you didn't die; you just came to another world, and I would follow you here.

She asked me to tell you that if I really found you, we should live happily together. She said she would be strong and make sure she and Xun Geer live well. Xun Geer has grown up too—he's ten now and has already passed the children's imperial exam. He also promised to take good care of your mother."

At the thought of Zeng Shi and Xun Geer, Xi Qianqian's eyes welled up again—they were family she had truly loved!

Knowing their thoughts, she felt relieved.

"My mother originally wanted to give me a hundred thousand taels of silver, but I'm glad I didn't take it. She and Xun Geer can't be short on money. By the way, what's your situation since you got here?"

Qi Chengyun tapped her nose and pulled something out of his pocket to show her.

Xi Qianqian was stunned: "Wow, you not only have a phone, but also an ID card! And a bank card! Is there really money in this card?"

"There really is money, and it's an amount you can't even imagine. Just like when you first arrived in our world, you had an identity and money! Same for me. When I woke up, I was in a hotel, and these things were right beside me. I spent a week adapting to life here, learning all the skills—ordering takeout, hailing cabs, and so on. I mastered it all before I started posting videos and going live to find you."

Xi Qianqian marveled again: "You even say things like 'a week' now! So, how much money is in your bank card?"

"I'm a prince, after all! The money in this card—I can never spend it all. In fact, the daily interest alone is more than I could ever spend."

Xi Qianqian thought of the silver she had earned before and felt a twinge of regret.

"Originally, the system told me I'd earned over ten thousand taels of silver, worth over ten million RMB. But I used that ten million to buy the antidote to save you. However, I did earn some more silver afterward—about a thousand taels, I think—but unfortunately, I couldn't bring it over."