The two of them sat down next to each other and Zheng Yin carefully brushed Xin Lan’s sleeve aside. Pressing his fingers to his wrist, he took his pulse. He closed his eyes while doing so, afraid to look at the handsome face in front of him and lose his focus.

Even though he took this precaution, he still felt like he must have done something wrong. After checking the pulse, he couldn’t find any issues. Thinking that he had probably been distracted after all, he simply checked again but the result remained the same: He really couldn’t see an issue.

Zheng Yin opened his eyes and looked up at Xin Lan, only to directly meet his gaze. Seeing the man he liked stare at him so openly, the heart that hadn’t had time to calm down yet thumped even louder. Taking back his hand, Zheng Yin faintly cleared his throat. “Actually, what is the matter?”

“I’m not sure.” Xin Lan’s gaze slipped to Zheng Yin’s lips as the spiritual beast spoke, pondering. Maybe he should try something a little more intimate to see how he would react. Even if it didn’t help with figuring anything out … maybe it could at least distract him. He didn’t want to constantly think about his Xiao Yu or Xiang Yu. And this could keep him occupied for a while.

Zheng Yin leaned back, uncertain of what to think or feel. He couldn’t find an issue with Xin Lan’s body and now, Xin Lan even said that he wasn’t sure what was wrong. Instead, he looked at him like this. It was almost as if … this had only been a pretext to come and see him.

The idea made his breath hitch but he forced himself to give up on that thought. Xin Lan didn’t like him. He probably never had. For this kind of man, he could only be a temporary lover if he even reached that status. From Xin Lan’s side, all of it was simply physical, and obviously, even that attraction wasn’t too big when it came to him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ignored him like that the other day.

Zheng Yin lowered his head and thought of the other people around: Longjun Jinde had been known as the greatest beauty of the dragon race and he deserved that moniker. Even though he himself was a good-looking person, he couldn’t compare. When it came to that fallen god … well, he actually didn’t think he was that far off. At most, that guy seemed a bit more innocent but, for one, that impression was lessened by the fact that he was a fallen god and, two, he didn’t really think that Xin Lan was into the inexperienced type.

Zheng Yin folded his hands, wondering what he was doing even thinking about that. What type Xin Lan liked or didn’t like had nothing to do with him. Anyway, he wasn’t included in that type or at least he didn’t match up well enough to be considered. Clearly, he was simply jealous and couldn’t let it go. That … really wasn’t a good thing.

He forced himself to raise his gaze again, trying to face Xin Lan as calmly as possible. “Xin Lan, why are you here? If you have no health issues, how am I supposed to help?”

Xin Lan also raised his gaze back to Zheng Yin’s eyes and gave a faint hum. “I am trying to figure out what the issue is. I …” He tilted his head, wondering how to say this. “Well, I had an interesting run-in with a special person recently and I might have made a bargain that had an unknown influence on me. I’m trying to find out what that actually entailed.”

Zheng Yin’s brows furrowed. He didn’t really understand but this at least cleared up the messy thoughts from before. It seemed like Xin Lan really had an issue. He was just unsure of what it was. This … was probably to be expected. Assuming that Xin Lan had come for him was really too narcissistic.

Since he knew that Xin Lan didn’t like him, why think he’d still be interested enough to come by to see him? As long as Xin Lan walked out of the doors of this palace, he could probably find ten people willing to do anything for him and each and every one of those might be able to fit his type much better than he did.

He smiled wryly at himself and then reached out again, taking Xin Lan’s pulse for the third time. “Then let me check again.” Since Xin Lan hadn’t noticed any symptoms yet, the issue should be a subtle one. Maybe he hadn’t checked carefully enough.

Even though he had already checked twice, Zheng Yin took even longer this time to try and find what could be wrong.

Meanwhile, Xin Lan continued to look at him, trying to recreate the feeling he had had when he saw Xiang Yu two days ago or when he thought of him since then. Unfortunately … there really wasn’t anything. He couldn’t work up even the slightest interest whether that was physically or emotionally.

Xin Lan pursed his lips. It seemed that Xiang Yu being the original incarnation of Hua Lin Yu was influencing him after all. Unless there was another explanation he hadn’t thought of. He pondered for a moment, wondering what the difference between Xiang Yu and Zheng Yin was.

Maybe … this actually had to do with the circumstances of how he had met them. After all, he had been with Zheng Yin while waiting for Hua Lin Yu to be free for him. Since this was the case, maybe he felt a bit guilty and thus couldn’t work up the interest?

On the other hand, he had known Xiang Yu before Hua Lin Yu was ever a topic in his life. While he had originally disliked him, there was still a part of him that was similar to his Xiao Yu. After the first weeks of grieving, maybe he was instinctively looking for that small connection and thus felt attracted to him. It … seemed to make sense if he thought of it like that.