Dreaming With My Dragon Lover - Chapter 144

“What Gege said is not true. If you had not striven for excellence and pursued the truth, how would you have impressed Rong Qing so much that he had entrusted his heart to you?”

“Could it be that I dreamed of Rong Qing so many times that I summoned him out of the dream world, and the dream world and reality collided, thus he disappeared from that era of the Qing Dynasty, and the name associated with him on this artist ranking book was vanished as a result … ”

“But he was killed, sealed in a coffin and sunk in a pond, and was rescued and came back to life over a hundred years later. I’m afraid he was not summoned from the dream world as Gege said.”

However, at this point, Yuan Ge’s mind keeps popping up with scenes from a bunch of sci-fi blockbusters, and he simply cannot listen to what Rong Qiuchen has to say. He is so distracted by all the fanciful hypotheses and bizarre plots in those movies that he doesn’t know what he should believe.

“What the hell! This just can’t be! It makes no sense!”

Yuan Ge runs upstairs to his office to fetch a copy of this book he had previously made and quickly turns to the last page for comparison.

“Look at the copy in my hand. Rong Qiuchen is different from other artists. He was the number one Flower of the Opera Stage in Guangxu years, conferred by both Empress Dowagers Cixi and Ci’an, so his page not only contains the names of the two masters of the Jinyu Troupe, his name and his six brothers’ names, but also the seal of the Empress Dowager Cixi. If someone had stolen the last page of the book, how could it be that this valuable seal of Empress Dowager Cixi is still there but the names have disappeared? It makes no sense at all! Perhaps the ink was of such poor quality that it faded over time?”

“Paper and ink can last thousands of years. It’s only been over a hundred years since the Guangxu era, and there’s never been an incident of handwriting disappearing for no reason.” With a single statement, Rong Qiuchen puts a stop to Yuan Ge’s speculation.

Yuan Ge is in a complete daze. His rationality, which he has always prided himself on, was challenged and he mumbles uncertainly, “Could it be that there was nothing on this page in the first place, and that everything was made up in my dream? Like Zhuang Zhou, I dream of butterflies, and butterflies dream of me … Could I have made up a story so real that I even convinced myself of its veracity? I can no longer tell what is real and what is fantasy. Could it be that Rong Qiuchen never existed? Then when exactly did he appear in my mind …”

As Yuan Ge mumbles, he feels a chill down his back. Suddenly he pulls Rong Qiuchen to his side and pinches him  a few times on the cheek.

“Although this face is always cold and bloodless, it’s fleshy and soft. You can eat, talk, sing and fight, not like a zombie ghost or monster at all!”

Rong Qiuchen is speechless at Yuan Ge’s stream of consciousness; nevertheless, he solemnly states what was on his mind, “Perhaps there is a spirit in the Flowers of the Opera Stage that has brought Rong Qiuchen back to life in the present world, so that he can decipher the karma of previous lives and reunite with his old friends?”

Yuan Ge said doubtfully, “So, you are saying that whenever he finds an old friend, he writes a name back in the book? That’s just too freaky!”

But Rong Qiuchen replies confidently, “This book has been around for thousands of years, and each page records the most outstanding artists of each dynasty and period. Rong Qiuchen’s name was once on this list, and even though it has disappeared now, I vow to get this name written back in this history book again!”

“If a tree has no bark, it dies! If a man has no shame, the world is his oyster! My goodness, do you know how many famous artists in the entertainment industry nowadays have fans in the millions and billions? It is indeed a bold ambition that you want to be among the top ranked artists in the world today, to be recorded in this book, but the way you speak is even bolder! Who are you? I see that you have not even played a part in any film yet and already your ego is inflated!”

Ignoring Yuan Ge’s questioning, Rong Qiuchen looks solemnly at the jade-covered book again and says firmly, “If Gege and I work together and strive hard towards this goal. The time will come when our names will go down in history and you will witness the fulfilment of my vow!”

“Well, it’s good for young people to have dreams! Let’s take your good advice and both work hard!” Yuan Ge replies absentmindedly. His thoughts can’t help but drift back to the case of the mysteriously disappearance of the last page . He shakes his head and sighs, “I’ve never seen anything so outrageous and so inexplicable. Forget it, I’ll hide the book in the safe for now. Anyway, my mother is still abroad and ‘Qingqing’ hasn’t finished filming yet. I don’t think Uncle Curator will remember to ask for this book back for a while, so let’s put it away for now and figure out some ways to solve the problem later.”

Yuan Ge puts the “Flowers of the Opera Stage” back into its brocade box and locks it in the safe carefully. Together with Rong Qiuchen, he retires upstairs to his room to rest.

What they do not know is that, in the darkness, the jade cover of the book emits a pale, eerie white light, while on the last page, a faint bit of ink appears, slowly revealing the name of a person in ancient script – Wade.