[Remaining Lifespan: 100 days 5 hours 20 minutes 13 seconds]
Qi Zhimu acted as though he hadn't seen the system prompt visible to him alone.
A calm, airy smile rested on his face as he set a plate of seasonal pastries on the table.
"Senior, may I ask… has Teacher's research still not reached a stopping point?"
"It's been a hundred-odd years. When are you going to stop calling me 'Senior' and start calling me Sister Qingtu? That A-Ruan of yours—what did she even teach you, to raise such a stubborn, wooden student?"
Yu Qingtu shot Qi Zhimu a helpless sidelong glance.
Trying to make this rule-following blockhead change the way he addressed her was harder than climbing to the heavens. Who knew how many rigid, inflexible doctrines Ruan Mei had poured into his head.
A flicker of apology crossed Qi Zhimu's controlled expression, but he did not answer.
Toward the woman before him—classically poised, elegant, looking no older than twenty-six or twenty-seven—he maintained impeccable courtesy.
Hundreds of Amber Eras ago, Yu Qingtu had already been a member of the Genius Society.
She loved classical music and mixology, much like his teacher, Ruan Mei—though their temperaments couldn't have been more different.
To outsiders, Yu Qingtu was a brilliant but eccentric alchemist.
To him, she had gone from lukewarm indifference at first to… well—kind, these days.
Probably because he made excellent pastries—just so happened to satisfy this genius senior's impossibly picky palate.
But regardless, rules were rules.
Hierarchy could not be muddled. Etiquette could not be broken.
Otherwise, Teacher would be displeased.
It had been one hundred and fifty-seven years since Teacher was last displeased.
Like most people forgetting the majority of their unhappy early-childhood memories, Qi Zhimu no longer remembered what, exactly, had angered her back then—only that it had something to do with breaking the rules.
Then came the punishment: five days without medicine, plus confinement.
Only when the virus was about to take his life did she open the little dark room and let him out.
In Qi Zhimu's mind, even the matter of how one addressed another was part of "the rules."
"I'm guessing you're about to say, 'This junior dares not disrupt our seniority,'" Yu Qingtu said, utterly certain from the look on his face.
"Senior is Genius Society Member #55. How could this junior disrupt our seniority?"
See? Right on the mark.
"You've already graduated. What seniority is there left to disrupt? Even within the Genius Society, there are plenty of oddballs who have not the slightest respect for their seniors."
Yu Qingtu rolled her eyes harder and spoke with ill temper.
"Besides, your teacher isn't even a 'genius,' and I've never seen her treat me like an esteemed senior. She won't even see you now—yet you still take her side?"
"A teacher for a day is a teacher for life. This junior cannot allow Teacher to be shamed."
"You're hopeless. Fine, fine. In another hundred days it'll be your birthday—what gift do you want?"
"A gift bestowed by a genius—whatever it may be—is an honor to this junior."
Qi Zhimu kept his perfectly measured smile and smoothly guided the conversation back on course.
"Senior still hasn't answered my question. Teacher's research…"
"Not finished. That woman shut herself in for decades. If I couldn't still detect her vital signs, I'd be wondering if she died in there."
"Thank you for telling me, Senior."
"Little one, sit. I have things I want to ask you."
Yu Qingtu's eyes shifted, motioning for him to stop standing there like an idiot.
Qi Zhimu hesitated, then sat opposite her with textbook posture.
"So long as it doesn't involve Teacher's privacy, this junior will answer whatever he knows."
"Relax. It does involve privacy—but not hers. Yours."
"…Mine?"
"Tell me honestly—your sudden graduation… was it because you tried to stop A-Ruan from pursuing that forbidden research?"
Qi Zhimu lowered his gaze. After a few seconds of silence, he shook his head slightly.
"Teacher's thoughts are beyond my ability to presume."
Yu Qingtu had her answer.
As a genius in chemistry, she had long been adjacent to the field of life itself.
How could she not see it? Ruan Mei was attempting a forbidden subject: reviving the dead.
And the deceased were none other than Ruan Mei's own parents.
Not interfering with another member's work was basic etiquette within the Genius Society.
Yet it didn't stop Yu Qingtu from privately sneering: How does someone who scorns the laws of life teach a student who worships rules like scripture?
Don't tell her Qi Zhimu had broken the rules to talk back, and been expelled for it—ending up like this.
"If I'd met you back then, cured your illness, and taken you as my student, you wouldn't be this stiff."
Qi Zhimu could only smile.
Yu Qingtu was used to him and didn't mind. She finished the pastries—perfect in color, aroma, and taste—her brows easing in satisfaction.
"Alright, little one. I should go. But before I do, one last question."
"Please ask, Senior."
"Do you admire—no. Do you like A-Ruan? In the romantic sense."
"Senior, please don't tease. Toward Teacher, this junior feels only respect. How could I harbor such an irreverent, absurd affection?"
"Is that so…"
Yu Qingtu studied his open, unguarded expression—no trace of a lie.
And no trace, either, of concealed longing.
Still, something about it all felt profoundly strange.
The strangest part was the building not far from this bamboo cottage: a residence identical in every detail to Ruan Mei's ancestral home.
Yu Qingtu had gone inside. The layout was exact down to the smallest furnishing.
She couldn't tell whether it had been moved here whole—or recreated by Qi Zhimu's own hands.
If it was the latter, why build it and not live in it, yet clean it regularly, keeping it spotless?
Compared to that, Qi Zhimu sending plum-blossom wine to Ruan Mei every year looked almost normal—like a dutiful student honoring his teacher.
Unable to make sense of it, Yu Qingtu could only chalk it up to the fact that master and student were both freaks.
"…Until next time, little one." Yu Qingtu waved a hand and took away ten jars of plum-blossom wine.
"Safe travels, Senior. When you deliver the wine, please leave Teacher a message—remind her to rest regularly and eat on time."
"You've been saying that for decades. Don't worry."
As for whether she would listen—that was Ruan Mei's business.
Qi Zhimu escorted Yu Qingtu to her ship and watched her depart. Only then did he turn toward the residence.
Yet Yu Qingtu was still watching.
Seeing him go, as always, to clean that one-to-one replica, she found the student even harder to understand than the teacher.
In the end, she sighed and withdrew her gaze.
"Perhaps this is what they mean: a genius is not a genius in every field."
Only after he sensed that hidden presence had fully left did Qi Zhimu finally exhale.
The healthy color drained from his face in an instant. His youthful features collapsed into age; the hair at his temples whitened rapidly.
He coughed hard several times. A metallic sweetness clogged his throat, nearly spilling at the corner of his mouth.
He was about to die.
Of course, with what he'd learned from Ruan Mei, he had countless ways to extend his life.
But there was no need.
As a short-lived species, a lifespan of one hundred and seventy-five was enough for a complete life.
Like the protagonists of so many stories, Qi Zhimu had a system of his own.
Only his system didn't hand out overpowered cheats.
The only thing it provided was: lives.
To be born like a person, to die like a person—repeating, again and again.
Natural death was a law for sapient life, and also a blessing. He would not break it lightly.
Teacher Ruan Mei aside, the eccentric Yu Qingtu was unpredictable.
If she learned the truth—that he was close to dying—who knew what a genius who had lived for untold ages might do to him?
So there was no need to tell them.
But before he died, there were still things that had to be finished.
Ruan Mei.
-------
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