by Catofdreams
"But… honey… if he knows about our secret and tells others, he might put himself in danger. Besides, I will only wipe the memory from our trip, and nothing else.", Xue Yan told her husband. Lang Jie thought that she had a valid point, but he still couldn't bring himself to let his friend's memory be erased since he thought that Yang Wei might have had made beautiful memories in the country.
Little did Lang Jie know that if he had agreed to wipe his memories, Yang Wei would feel extremely thankful to him as his sad time of being ignored and rejected in the country would all be erased, which would bring back his confidence.
"Well… what if we try to confirm it first? Whether or not he really does know or not…", Lang Jie offered a suggestion. Wen Cheng wanted to deny it since it left too many loose ends, but as he looked at Xue Yan, he knew that he had no choice but to accept. Xue Yan wouldn't anyone to tell her husband that his idea is bad.
"What a good idea darling! Let's do that!", Xue Yan never wastes an opportunity to hug her husband as soon as she finds an opening. She shot a look at Wen Cheng, who could only nod in response.
"O-okay… let's talk to him tomorrow…", Lang Jie told the two of them.
And that brings us here. The three of them nodded to each other as they were now around 80% sure that Yang Wei didn't know.
"It's up to you two now.", Wen Cheng whispered towards them as he waved them goodbye. Xue Yan and Lang Jie hesitantly nodded as they made their way to the car.
Xue Yan and Lang Jie talked the night before and wanted to come up with a plan to test Yang Wei. She told Lang Jie about how she disguised herself as Xue Jin at the airport when she met them.
Lang Jie looked at Xue Yan and pretended to be angry at her since his suspicions on the plane really were true. As Lang Jie pretended to ignore her as she apologized to him, tears started to form in her eyes, which made Lang Jie immediately tell her that he was just kidding and started apologizing back to her. As he looked at Xue Yan's sad face, he couldn't resist his wife's beauty. His wife also felt the same as she saw her husband intensely looking at her.
What followed was something that I cannot describe here, but what I can say is that they, for sure, did not manage to plan anything.
Lang Jie looked at Xue Yan and saw that she seemed to have something ready, which she indeed has. While her husband was asleep, she thought of a solution in order to make Lang Jie see her as a more capable woman. In the airport, she would once again disguise herself as Xue Jin and take the opportunity to read his mind, just like what she did to the man who drove Lang Jie and Yang Wei to the hotel. She decided to do it in secret since she knew that Lang Jie would immediately realize what she was up to as soon as he saw Xue Jin.
While on the car, Lang Jie and Yang Wei talked about their vacation. Xue Yan didn't want to disturb her husband who was happily chatting with his friend, so she sat silently and imagined her husband praising her when she successfully executes her plan.
As they arrived in the airport, they all followed proper procedures. They went through the security check, and when everything was okay, they went to the gatehouse. The entire time, Xue Yan was looking for an opportunity to hide somewhere and transform herself, but she couldn't find an opening since Lang Jie was sticking to her. She felt conflicted since she wanted to execute her plan, but she also felt incredibly happy with Lang Jie being close to her.
Finally, after fighting a battle within her heart, Xue Yan finally found an opportunity to hide and transform herself as they sat in the gatehouse, waiting for their plane to arrive.
"Honey, I'll go get a cup of coffee with Yang Wei. Do you want anything?", Lang Jie asked Xue Yan.
"No, I'm fine darling, but I have to use the bathroom.", Xue Yan stood up and hurried towards the ladies' restroom. She went into a stall and quickly covered herself in qi and made herself look like Xue Jin. She hurriedly made her way back to their seats in the gatehouse since she wanted to be there before Lang Jie and Yang Wei in order to surprise them.
She sat down and waited for a while before realizing that Lang Jie and Yang Wei were taking too long. She went to the coffee shop and saw her husband and Yang Wei sitting with a woman. She moved to an angle in order to clearly see her face and saw that she looked exactly like her in her disguise.
She heightened her senses and listened in on their conversation.
"I can't believe we meet again, Miss Xue Jin!", Yang Wei laughed as he talked to the woman in front of them. Lang Jie had a look on his face that says that he completely misunderstood the situation. He was smiling as if thinking that everything was Xue Yan's plan.
"As I said, my name isn't Xue Jin, but I don't mind if you two keep calling me that. It makes me feel as if you two have met my doppelganger or something, and I love folktales like those!", the woman laughed. Unlike Xue Yan's version of Xue Jin, the woman seemed to be a bit of an oddball, but she looked exactly the same as Xue Yan's disguise, so she was still incredibly gorgeous. Whenever she talked, she would continue rambling for a while, but the two men didn't seem to mind. Yang Wei was happy to listen to anyone talk, and Lang Jie was just happy since he thought that his wife was just trying her best.
"An espresso for Yang Wei!", the barista of the coffee stall called. Yang Wei immediately got up and went to retrieve his coffee.
As Lang Jie and the woman were left behind on the table, Lang Jie gave the woman a thumbs up. The woman looked at him with a confused face.
Lang Jie's phone suddenly started vibrating. He picked up the phone and saw a text from Xue Yan, which he found quite odd since Xue Jin was in front of him.
As he read the message, he suddenly realized that he was mistaken all along.
"That's not me! Look to your left!"
Lang Jie immediately looked left and saw a woman completely identical to the one in front of him, shaking her head while making an X symbol with her arms. He quickly realized that that one was his wife.
Lang Jie looked at Xue Yan in her disguise and the woman in front of him, and there really was no difference between them. The woman felt confused seeing as Lang Jie suddenly start to act weird.
"Wow, what a crazy coincidence…", Lang Jie couldn't help but say his thoughts out loud out of sheer amazement.
"What coincidence?", the woman still had a confused look on her face. She noticed that Lang Jie seemed to be looking at something behind her.
"Is there something behind me?", the woman asked. Time suddenly started to move extremely slowly as Lang Jie realized that he messed up. If the woman saw another person that looked exactly the same as her, then she might freak out, which could lead to others finding out their secret.
As he realized the massive mistake he had just made, he couldn't help but feel his body become frozen as he realized that he had done what he was not supposed to do a day after he was just warned.
He closed his eyes and apologized towards Xue Yan and Wen Cheng in his mind repeatedly.
"Woah, it really is a crazy coincidence…"
He heard the woman say with a surprised voice. He slowly opened his eyes to see the mess that came from the mistake he had done, but what he saw was completely out of his expectations. He couldn't help but let out his thoughts once more as his surprise got the best of him.
"W-what the…"
CHAPTER 18 – “THE MARRIED COUPLE’S COORDINATION STARTS A REDEMPTION ARC!”
Behind the woman that looked like Xue Jin, an unbelievable spectacle was happening.
Xue Yan's heightened senses saw that she was about to turn her head and see her, which could be incredibly bad since she was wearing the disguise that looked exactly like her.
She had to think quickly. Even if time seemed incredibly slow for her when her senses are on its peak, time was still ticking. She thought of forcibly trying to stop time, but she felt that the aftermath would be too much to deal with since it would go against the natural order.
Every time a major action that goes against the will of the world is done; nature would immediate
ly try to correct it. An example of this is when a cultivator breaks through to the next realm, a heavenly tribulation would occur since the cultivator took power from nature. In Wen Cheng's case, he didn't have to undergo a heavenly tribulation since the power he used to breakthrough came from Xue Yan.
Xue Yan thought that the moment that she makes time move again, a heavenly tribulation at the same scale as when she broke through to the Immortal Emperor Realm would strike, causing the hundreds of civilians around her to be caught in the storm, including her husband, so she immediately rejected the idea.
Time continued to flow slowly for Xue Yan as she tried to rack up more ideas. What seemed like a second to normal humans felt like an eternity to her. She looked around, trying to see if there was anything that she could do to salvage the situation.
As her gaze landed on the television screen that showed a movie with a beautiful actress, she realized that she was completely overthinking things. There wasn't any need to use any big moves at all!
Xue Yan cursed herself silently as she realized how incompetent her way of thinking was. The people that she wanted to deal with were normal mortals, so she didn't have to think too much about it.
She looked around and checked if there were people that had her in their peripheral vision. The ones that did see her, even if she was just by the corner of their eyes, were immediately flung a small bead of physically manifested qi, identical to what she flung towards Wen Cheng when he talked about Xue Yan and her stance on weapons.
Xue Yan put just enough force on the bead to tilt their heads a bit, which completely removed her from their peripheral vision. She did that to everyone except her husband, which she didn't mind seeing what was going to happen next.
She then changed her appearance to the first person she thought of, which was the actress on the television screen.
As the space around her became distorted, Xue Jin's disguise slowly faded and turned into another woman. She had an extremely cute appearance. Her face was small, but her eyes were big. Her straight black hair was the last finishing touch that appeared, which made her look like a life-sized doll.
Time now flowed normally once again for Xue Yan. The people that got their heads hit with her qi all suddenly turned their head away from her with a snappy motion, as if they were getting slapped.
The woman that looked like Xue Jin turned around and saw her. She then glanced towards the television screen and looked back at Xue Yan.
"Woah, it really is a crazy coincidence…", she muttered under her breath as she saw the actress in the show move in real life.
Lang Jie slowly opened his eyes and saw that the place where his wife stood before, disguised as Xue Jin, was now replaced with a woman that he recognized right away due to his love of movies. He also saw the TV screen that starred the actress, which then made him realize that Xue Yan had managed to pull off a last-minute change in order to salvage the situation.
'Good job…', Lang Jie silently praised his wife for being so quick on her feet.
"Isn't that woman a famous actress? How is no one able to notice her when her movie is playing right beside her?!", the woman looked at Xue Yan with awe and stood up in order to approach her. She wanted to ask for an autograph from Xue Yan, so she took a pen from her bag and a napkin on the table before making her way towards Xue Yan.
"Ah… excuse me! You're Han Min Ji right? The same one that stars in that movie over there?", the woman nervously asked Xue Yan as she pointed towards the television screen.
Xue Yan nodded with a smile on her face. The woman gasped and held out the pen and napkin in her hands.
"My name is Jane! Jane Kang! I'm a fan of yours, but I have nothing else you can write on except for this, but please sign it!", the woman bowed towards Xue Yan, who took the napkin and scribbled on it randomly since she had no idea who the actress she disguised as was.
Xue Yan continued to stay silent and handed the napkin back to Jane, who had an extremely grateful look on her face, having received the autograph of a celebrity.
"Thank you very much!", Jane bowed once again and ran straight back towards their table. Yang Wei also looked at Xue Yan with shock, but he didn't dare to approach her. He already had enough trouble approaching normal women, so approaching an actress was just too high of a hurdle for him.
A few other people approached Xue Yan and asked for autographs, which she obliged. When people asked for photos however, she would immediately decline it since the real Han Min Ji might see it floating around on the internet.
After finally taking care of all the actress's fans, Xue Yan went back into the ladies' restroom and went in a stall, where she got rid of her disguise. She immediately went back out and approached the table where Jane and the others were. Jane was talking about Han Min Ji with Yang Wei while Lang Jie was just seated there, still trying to get over the shock of having almost messed up.
Xue Yan took a chair from one of the empty tables and placed it beside Lang Jie. She sat down and held Lang Jie's hand. Lang Jie didn't notice she was there until he felt another hand creeping up on his own hand. As soon as she realized Xue Yan was now beside him, he instantly felt relieved.
"Oh, do you know this beautiful woman Mister Jie?", Jane asked Lang Jie as she noticed the woman that had suddenly joined them on the table. Jane looked in awe, seeing the woman's beautiful appearance. She knew that she herself had an above-average appearance, but the woman beside Lang Jie was just on another level.
"Ah! This is my wife!", Lang Jie responded.
"Hello! My name is Xue Yan.", she enthusiastically introduced herself. Jane seemed to be a nice woman, which made Xue Yan feel a bit relieved as he thought that her husband wasn't talking to some thieving cat.
"Ah! My name is Jane Kang! You can call me Jane!", Jane introduced herself as well and held out one hand for a handshake, which Xue Yan happily took.
"Mister Jie, you told me that you had a beautiful wife, but I think that beautiful is an understatement!", Jane complimented Xue Yan, which immediately put her on Xue Yan's good side. Even though Xue Yan was an extremely powerful cultivator, she was very easy to please.
"Oh, Miss Jane! You're also quite beautiful yourself!", Xue Yan responded with a cute giggle. The two women immediately hit it off and started talking about random things, which made the men feel incredibly left out.
Lang Jie realized that this was the first time that he felt this way. Whenever he was around, Xue Yan would always give him her attention and let him do what he wants. This was the first time that he saw Xue Yan happily conversing with another woman.
Lang Jie let out a sigh of relief as he thought that even if his wife was a cultivator, she was still a woman after all. He listened to his wife talk with Jane about their love lives and their beauty secrets.
Most of the talking was done by Jane since Xue Yan always loved to listen to others. It seems like every time she opens her mouth, an endless stream of words just come gushing out. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing though since she kept the atmosphere quite lively. Xue Yan started to feel that she had made a good friend as continued to listen to Jane.
"It seems like your love life is going very well… I wish I had a man that could make me as happy as you are with your husband Xue Yan…", Jane sighed as she felt jealous towards Xue Yan.
"Oh, Jane… a woman as beautiful as you could easily find someone like that!", Xue Yan responded.
As Lang Jie listened to the women talk, he looked at the other man that was seated beside him. He wondered why Yang Wei was so silent the entire time, but when Lang Jie saw Yang Wei's expression, he started to feel worried.
Yang Wei was incredibly pale. He was trembling as he watched the two women talk with each other.
"Yang Wei! What's wrong?!", Lang Jie asked Yang Wei silently with a worried expression on his face. He kept his voice down so that he wouldn't disturb his wife and her newfound friend, who were both enjoying their conversation.
Yang Wei tried to talk, but the on
ly thing that came from his mouth was incorrigible words that were hard to comprehend due to his trembling voice.
Lang Jie felt extremely worried since he had no idea what just happened. Suddenly, a thought passed by in Lang Jie's mind.
'Did he find out about our secret…?'
Lang Jie thought of the worst possible scenario since he had no idea what could've made Yang Wei so scared.
"Yang Wei! Talk to me! What's wrong?", Lang Jie leaned in closer towards Yang Wei, who still had an extremely pale complexion on his face.
"T-trauma…", Yang Wei managed to say a word that Lang Jie comprehended.
"Trauma? What do you mean?", Lang Jie asked.
"S-single…"