Chapter 600

Fang Qi looked at the silver-haired girl before him, her mismatched eyes sparkling now that he had finally cheered her up…

He covered his already-numb hands and smiled again.

Ha ha!

To be honest, he didn’t really care that his hands were covered in blood.

It only hurt a little.

After all, he was a man who had died so many times!

Was he really going to be afraid of pain?

What a joke!

Besides…

Seeing Liguang happy made him happy too.

This pain was worth it!

However…

He lowered his head and looked at his ten fingers, all worn raw and bloody.

The nails on every finger were in terrible shape, and several of the nail beds had tiny splinters lodged in them.

Even the slightest movement sent a sharp pain through him.

He shook his head helplessly.

Sigh. Humans really were useless when it came to working without tools.

Human fingernails were just too pathetic!

If only they could be like a cat’s—sharp and pointed. If you didn’t trim them, they would even have to sharpen themselves, and could scratch wooden furniture to pieces!

Why was he suddenly envious of kittens…?

As a human, he was so slow at carving letters with his fingernails!

The main problem was…

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

It really did hurt a little!

The wood shavings kept getting under his nails, and every stroke felt like torture!

Fang Qi shook his hands, then bared his teeth in pain.

Oh, well. As long as his wife was happy, that was all that mattered.

His wife had even jumped into the sea for him. So what if his fingers hurt a little?

This minor injury could count as the “postage” for the love letter he was sending his wife!

Anyway, all he had to do was bang his head against the wall and die once…

“Master! Master!”

Liguang suddenly straightened up on her knees and looked in his direction!

Her amber-and-crimson mismatched eyes sparkled brightly, filled with excitement!

But…

Fang Qi blinked.

Because she couldn’t see him, her gaze wasn’t aimed directly at his face.

Instead, it was slightly off to the side, landing…

To his left.

Hmm…

Fang Qi covered his bloody hands and shifted a little to the side, positioning his face directly in his wife’s line of sight.

Looking at those beautiful eyes filled with delight, Fang Qi raised an eyebrow.

Yep, perfect!

“Master, rest for a while and watch Liguang preserve these carvings!”

With that, the silver-haired girl scampered out barefoot, pattering away with a series of light footsteps.

Fang Qi froze slightly.

What was she doing?

Was she going to fetch something?

But then…

His gaze suddenly sharpened!

The opportunity had arrived!

He looked at the few fingers that had already been worn down to a sorry state.

He took a deep breath, leaned back slightly, fixed his eyes on the floor in front of him, and suddenly—

Bang!

…

Not long after, Liguang came running back with a wooden bucket in her arms. Inside was a large mass of sticky, transparent liquid that gently sloshed with every step.

She also had a small brush tucked under one arm, and she looked absolutely delighted.

“Master, Master! Look, this is seaweed extract!”

With a plop, she knelt down and set the bucket on the floor…

Then she blinked her eyes at the spot where Fang Qi had been sitting earlier.

“This can protect the carvings and keep them from becoming blurred by the dampness!”

Fang Qi lowered his head and looked at Liguang, who was blinking at empty air.

…What?

He instinctively lifted his freshly revived hand and scratched the back of his head with his perfect fingers.

Was it some kind of protective wax?

Seaweed extract could do that?

…Whatever. This was his wife’s world, so his wife made the rules!

If she said this stuff could preserve the carvings, then it definitely could preserve the carvings!

He would even believe her if she said it could repair the sky!

Meanwhile, Liguang continued to hold the bucket as she knelt upright, blinking at the spot where he had been.

She seemed to think he was still there.

“Master, may I use it?”

Fang Qi blinked.

If you want to use it, then use it. It was such a small matter—why did she even need to ask?

He opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to answer…

Only then did he belatedly remember that Liguang couldn’t hear him when he spoke!

The corner of Fang Qi’s mouth twitched.

Ah, got it.

His wife wanted him to respond!

…Fine!

He crossed his hands and gave them a sharp twist. Two crisp cracks rang out from his bones!

Perfect. Your husband was back at full health!

He took a deep breath, extended a finger, and jabbed it toward the floor.

Watch me keep carving!

…

【Okay!】

Hmm.

He had only carved one character and one punctuation mark…

Fang Qi looked helplessly at the nail on one of his fingers, which had been worn completely smooth.

One character was enough to ruin one finger’s nail…

Did that mean a single life only gave him ten painless characters?

Liguang stared at the words that had appeared out of thin air on the floor. Her eyes blinked once, and her mismatched irises shone even more brightly!

“Hee-hee!”

She immediately giggled and stood up with the wooden bucket in her arms.

“Then watch closely, Master!”

Saying that, she dipped the brush into the thick, transparent liquid and carefully spread it over the characters Fang Qi had carved, bit by bit.

“These are the words Master carved for our home. They have to be preserved perfectly!”

As she brushed, Liguang muttered to herself:

“We have to preserve them completely, firmly and securely. Not a single stroke can become blurred!”

“Once Liguang finds a way to see Master…”

“Liguang will come back here with Master to look at these words together!”

Fang Qi sat cross-legged beside her, rubbing his fingers, which had begun to ache again, and raised his eyebrows slightly.

Carving with his fingers hurt, but seeing his wife treasure the words so much—and even wanting to preserve them forever…

It made him feel that all the pain had been worthwhile.

The pain had real value!

Besides…

He stroked his fingers, which had just grown back, and his eyes began to shift mischievously…

The corners of his mouth curled upward!

In the future, Liguang would find out…

That he had actually been using his own fingers to carve words for her every time they communicated!

And every time, his fingers had ended up covered in blood!

The wounds would heal, only to be ground raw again. Then they would heal, and be ground raw once more!

Wouldn’t that make this crazy woman feel terribly sorry for him when she found out?

Heh heh heh!

She would definitely become incredibly obedient then!

If he wanted her to strike any particular pose, she would do exactly as he said…

Ahem!

Fang Qi raised a hand and rubbed his nose, then cleared his throat forcefully, putting on a serious expression.

He was a respectable man—a perfectly respectable man!

He meant poses for taking pictures!

Just as he was thinking this…

Scritch…!

He suddenly heard the sound of something being carved.

Hmm?

He immediately turned to look, only to see…

The silver-haired girl was lying beside the character he had carved, holding the sharp seashell she had carefully chosen…

She was carving something onto the floor with utmost concentration. Her long silver hair drifted lightly in the sea breeze behind her.

“Hm-hm-hm~”

She had started humming another tuneless little song, and her bare feet swung back and forth.

It was obvious that her mood had improved considerably!

Fang Qi smiled.

That was true. Although the situation was still far from normal, their moods had plunged and then soared again. At this moment, for both of them…

There really was plenty to be happy about!

So he sat cross-legged beside her and quietly watched her carve.

Liguang was taking it very seriously.

The tip of the seashell scratched against the wooden board, and she even blew away the wood shavings with little “whoo-whoo” sounds.

The marks on the floor gradually formed a shape before his eyes.

Fang Qi tilted his head and watched for a long while before finally realizing what she was carving.

They weren’t words. They were chibi-style doodles of him and Liguang!

One on each side of the character “Okay.”

The tiny figure on the left had a few tufts of hair sticking up from its head, thick bushy eyebrows, and eyes curved into two little slits, grinning in a silly, endearing way.

There was no mistaking it — that was him!

The little figure on the right had hair that fell all the way down to her hips, her two eyes were etched to slightly different depths, her mouth curved into a big wide smile, and there was a tiny little star right next to her ear.

Yep, that was his wife!

Then Liguang drew a big, bold heart around the character for "Good!" to circle it in.

The whole scene ended up looking like...

the two little figures were right there, grinning foolishly at the heart with the word "Good" written in the middle between them.

Once she finished carving, Liguang stood up, tilted her head to look over her work, then giggled happily.

"What do you think, master? I did a really great job carving this, right?"

Fang Qi looked at her proud little face, beaming as she waited for his praise, and couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Great. Really great. Absolutely perfect!

He was so close to reaching out to ruffle her hair!

But halfway through the motion, he awkwardly pulled his hand back.

Ugh, he still couldn't touch his own wife!

So annoying!

He shook his head and settled back into a cross-legged seat.

Meanwhile, Liguang picked up her brush again, and carefully, gently coated the newly carved pattern with that "seaweed extract" solution.

Her movements were so soft and so focused.

Fang Qi rested his chin on his hand, watching her as she worked, and drifted off a little in a daze.

To be honest...

this current situation actually felt pretty nice.

He could see her, hear her, and smell that sweet strawberry scent on her that carried a hint of the ocean.

She could feel his presence through the etchings, and they could talk to each other like this, across the gap between them.

It really felt like...

he and Liguang had started a whole new kind of life together.

A way of connecting that no one else could ever intrude on, something that belonged only to the two of them.

And besides...

Hmm...!

Fang Qi put on a serious face, resting a hand on his chin, as he looked over at the silver-haired girl who was on her hands and knees on the ground right then, her little rear sticking up in the air as she focused on carefully brushing on the protective solution.

The morning sunlight outlined her soft, curvy figure.

Her off-white swimsuit was half-soaked through with seawater that hadn't dried yet, clinging tight to her skin.

A few little beads of water were perched at the small of her back, just barely holding on before they'd roll down.

Yep.

Wait a second...?

He squinted slowly, tilting his head unconsciously, trying to adjust his angle to see a little better...

"Ahem! Ahem!"

He suddenly sat up straight, coughing loudly.

He was a proper, respectable man!

But...

Fang Qi rubbed his nose hard again.

He could see his wife perfectly clearly, but she couldn't see him at all...

It did feel a little bit thrilling, he had to admit.

Right.

A proper, respectable man! He would never do that kind of...

【Is this the choice you've made?】

That strange voice rang out again.

Fang Qi: "......"

Huh?

What the hell, why are you back again...!

Wait.

Wait a minute.

Fang Qi blinked slowly.

Come to think of it... there was this other guy here, wasn't there?

But...

He slowly turned his head to look back at Liguang, at her swimsuit half-soaked and see-through from the seawater.

And at her totally unguarded, sweet, girlish little look.

She even shifted her weight a little, wiggling gently, making his eyes twitch.

That's when he realized — this silly girl was posing like that, moving like that... totally on purpose!

She knew he couldn't touch her, so she was deliberately being this teasing...!

Tch!

But then...

He slowly narrowed his eyes again.

...Wait, what does that mean?

That means... his wife looking like this... other people, or other things, could be seeing her right now?

...Hey.

Hey, hey, hey.

He slowly lifted his head and scanned every inch of the area around him.

There was nothing there, except Liguang still hard at work.

But he could feel it...

A faint, smoldering fire started to burn deep in his eyes.

Hey, you weird, nosy voice...

you already made it impossible for me to hug my wife, to kiss my wife, and I can't even do anything but carve words with my hands here...

...Who the hell said you could get to look at her?!

GET THE HELL OUT!!!