Chapter 339 Chess Game
Zhongli stared at Shen Qianluo for a while.
Shen Qianluo stared back, but his slender wrist was grabbed.
"Aren't you surprised, Ali?" Seeing this, he was not flustered. The teenager sat on Longlong's lap with a smile. His hand, which wanted to do some small movements, was held, and exuded a little lingering warmth.
"If it's you, then there's no point in being surprised." The arm around Shen Qianluo remained steady. Zhongli's voice brushed against his ear, creating a lingering wave. "Instead of being surprised, you should be curious about when my identity was exposed."
She put her arms around his neck with great interest, and rubbed her curled hair against him: "During the days when we entered the desert, Ali refused to pretend, so I had to pretend to be confused."
"But..." Shen Qianluo said with a dragging voice, blinking his eyes, and whispered quietly like bewitching, "Since Longlong likes to be held by me, why don't you transform back to your original form more often in the future, so that the young master can hug you and love you well?"
Naturally, he was touched on the head, and a sentence "It depends on your performance" was uttered.
"? Ah Li is such a fussy person."
"If I don't add some more conditions, I'm afraid you'll pester me again and do some weird things to amuse yourself with me."
Hearing this, he opened his eyes slightly, with a completely pitiful and innocent look on his face. He leaned on his arms and struggled, rolling around and rubbing against each other.
"When have I ever been harsh to Long Long? Hugging and kissing can be considered as a reward to A-Li - if that's the case, Long Long should behave well and work hard for the young master, selling his body and performing arts."
Perhaps it was because of the feeling of being apart for a long time is better than a new marriage (?), relying on his height advantage as he has not grown up yet, Shen Qianluo happily pulled Zhongli and talked nonsense. He was fearless and even touched and nibbled him, with the corners of his mouth curled up like a little fox stealing fish, and he took advantage of Longlong openly.
"I still have the body of a child. At thirteen years old, Ah Li must be extremely unbearable. I understand, I understand. It's just like my loneliness when facing the weak dragon. The delicious food is right in front of me, but I can't eat or drink it. Even if I sleep in the same bed with you, I toss and turn and can't sleep or eat... Ugh!"
In the end, because the little mouth was chattering too loudly, it was forced to remain silent.
……
After an unknown amount of time, Shen Qianluo, with his head drooping and his hair drooping, supported his chin with both hands, and stood aside with a sullen look on his face and his silver hair messy, not saying a word.
Zhongli had a smile on his face, still not satisfied, so he went to coax him again.
"Although the young master was more powerful, you are still more familiar now. Such obvious growth is worthy of the title of God."
"Is it delicious? Is it more fragrant?"
Still humming in silence, Shen Qianluo continued to talk in a gloomy voice and chose to change the subject, "A-Li and I have been fooling around for a long time, and he never mentioned my father. I guess it must have been decided."
When talking about business, the two looked back at each other and became serious.
"That's right. In reality, he signed a contract with me and was forced to stay in the Red King's Mausoleum. But I never expected that even if he was imprisoned and sealed, he could still sneak into your dreams, causing you to sink into your old dreams and unable to wake up."
Shen Qianluo frowned slightly upon hearing this, thinking about something, and murmured softly: "It is my fault that he is still alive."
Unfortunately, the whispering lines are not so gentle, but frivolous and dark, revealing a completely cold murderous aura, "Using the difference between good and evil, you want to make me lose myself? Oh, my father has been in a high position for a long time, and now he can only use some tricks that Jiang Cailang has exhausted."
Zhongli glanced at him, as if he had not noticed that the extremely indifferent "Shen Qianluo" at the moment was different from the gentle and graceful young master in front of everyone. He nodded slightly: "But this time, I noticed something strange about Him. Qianluo, have you learned about your parents?"
Shen Qianluo was slightly startled.
"Father doesn't quite understand. And Mother..."
He paused in a rare moment of hesitation as he spoke, and the loneliness in his sigh was real, which further revealed the unusualness of the matter. "My mother was once a qualified god."
Just a few words from Qing Qian were like a bolt from the blue, causing Zhongli to stare at her seriously.
"She is gentle, kind, and considerate. The Smiling Devil did not lie, Ah Li, all the initial kindness I learned came from "Mother". "
Shen Qianluo looked at the slightly surprised Zhongli with cold golden eyes, and said, "But one day later, when the last heir of Tianli, Shen Qianqiao, was born and the selection war for Tianli began, she changed."
"She became less human, less loving, and no longer close to her children... Even I, who was raised by my mother since I was a child, could not understand this sudden change."
"Qianluo... since it happened so suddenly, I think she may have something to hide." Zhongli spoke to comfort her, noticing that the boy's tone was indifferent and his expression was normal, but there was a flash of loneliness between his eyebrows.
"Well, I can guess." But he saw the young god leaning on him, gazing at the sky calmly, the vast and transparent clouds fell into his warm golden eyes, like a pool of reflection that carried the world.
"I also guessed that there was a reason for this, and after continuous interactions and testing in the future, I found the most accurate description."
When he glanced sideways, Shen Qianluo chuckled. His posture seemed to be talking about a very sparse and ordinary thing, but his eyes were sparkling, pouring out indescribable profoundness, "She is like a puppet controlled by some force--"
"Using puppets to represent the principles of heaven seems a bit rebellious, but my guess was confirmed the moment I saw my father."
"Ali, 'Father' comes from outside the world."
"He suddenly appeared in front of me and told me that I had passed the test and was qualified to access the truth of the world. He wanted to pull me into the camp he represented."
"So I gladly accepted the invitation that went beyond the laws of nature—" The boy's tone was always unhurried, elegant and calm, especially when he raised the corners of his mouth and smiled, "and I made up my mind to overturn all the chess games."
As expected, Zhongli raised his eyebrows slightly.
He knew his child's personality very well, so he asked the great young master to follow the steps of his predecessors and complete the set chess game step by step...
He must have been the first to rebel.
Just like he chose to defy the laws of nature without hesitation...
It was unclear whether he was sighing or thinking, Zhongli was stunned for a moment: "If that's the case, then your battle with Tianli, could it be..."
Shen Qianluo nodded: "That's right, the existence of "Father" makes me realize that the transformation of "Mother" must be related to the existence outside of Heavenly Law. And if that's the case, is the war for selecting the position of Heavenly Law, which was started by her who was controlled, also a conspiracy that "They" are happy to see succeed?"
"Perhaps what they need is not a qualified god or heavenly principle, but a 'container'."
“…It is indeed possible.” After thinking for a moment, Zhongli continued his analysis, “From this, it can be seen that overthrowing the laws of nature is not the best option. The sudden rebellion of the eldest son broke their conspiracy and allowed them to safely retreat from the chess game.”
“…Hmm.”
It's not really safe.
Feeling guilty, he nodded quickly the next second. Shen Qianluo's smiling face showed nothing unusual, and he just continued to whisper in the other party's tone.
"After entering Teyvat, I worked together with the Red King, the Tree King, and the Flower God to create a body, and gave it to my past self with the help of Ajo's power of time."
"No matter what the standpoint is, the gods of this 'low-dimensional' world need to rely on the power of an outsider from the 'high-dimensional' world, and fortunately, Aqiao and I should have found him."
"Nibelungen is right. The reason why I dream about the past, the invincible me in the past, is because I lost to the law of nature and experienced the only failure in my life."
"But when the former Young Master Tianli was truly in a state of disgrace, standing on the land of Teyvat, and could only look up at the sky, Ali, do you know how I felt?"
Staring at the boy's expression, Zhongli seemed to have thought of something. He raised the corners of his mouth slightly and whispered, "I guess I feel a little bit of anticipation, or excitement."
Shen Qianluo's eyes lit up, and he finally chuckled: "A-Li is the only one in this world who understands me. I have long been at the top of the world, but now that I know there is a new world above the sky, I am even more curious about what position I am in on the chessboard."
When he looked back, the young man's golden eyes smiled faintly, the corners of his lips slightly raised, and his silver hair shone brightly under the scorching sun, "A-li, I want to know the answer."