Love Affairs in Melbourne-Chapter 112 - 109 The Divine Logic of the Divine Calculator

Chapter 112: Chapter 109 The Divine Logic of the Divine Calculator

Yan Yan decided to keep her previous thoughts to rot in her stomach.

Those thoughts, if voiced, would surely be embarrassing for both her and Qi Yi.

"Qi Yi." Yan Yan rarely called Qi Yi by his name; she had too many nicknames for him, so the occasions that required his full name were particularly rare.

"Hm? What’s up?" Every time Yan Yan called Qi Yi by his name, it took him by surprise.

Whether it was ’Grandpa’ or ’Xiao Qizi’, Qi Yi had grown accustomed to it, only his own name made him feel strange, as if it wasn’t his name at all.

"Nothing much, why do you look so surprised? Names are meant to be called, aren’t they?" After realizing she had been overthinking, Yan Yan’s mood became cheerful.

"Used to being ’Xiao Qizi’ for too long, one inevitably develops a sort of subservience; suddenly being addressed formally by name, I find myself unaccustomed to it," said Qi Yi, seeing Yan Yan happy made him feel much better.

Yan Yan wasn’t really meeting a handsome guy on the plane and walking out hand in hand; the fact that her cousin wanted to return to China was something she could not refuse, no matter what.

"So, subservience is that easily nurtured, huh?" Yan Yan joined in the banter, then remembered a very classical matter because of the word "subservience": "Weren’t you going to tell me how you figured out the connection after the Spring Festival of 1073?"

"Are you still thinking about that?" Qi Yi thought Yan Yan had forgotten the supposed past life connection he had casually mentioned before.

When Qi Yi first brought it up, Yan Yan asked him daily, eager to know what it meant, but Qi Yi never revealed his "method", hoping to keep Yan Yan busy whenever she had nothing to do, and prevent her from overthinking.

After asking three or four times, Qi Yi told her he would explain when they met; since then, Yan Yan had not brought it up again and had not offered any guesses of her own.

In high school, Yan Yan studied science; history wasn’t her strong suit.

Especially the year 1073, which was too far back, during the Northern Song, the Sixth Year of Xining, the year of the Ox, and a leap year at that.

For the connection in 1073, Yan Yan even went to the State Library specifically to look up a Chinese history book.

But for such a distant era, the historical records were extremely limited, and the official histories mostly chronicled praiseworthy deeds.

In the first month, arguments about the imperial ancestral temple; in the second, a battle of neither significant loss nor victory.

Yan Yan perused back and forth twice and still could not make heads or tails of it.

What exactly after the Spring Festival of 1073 was to determine her and Qi Yi’s connection?

In the end, she had to accept that there was a considerable gap between her intelligence and the "Divine Calculator".

"How could I not think about it? You spoke so confidently, claiming it was not a figment of your imagination, just to leave me puzzled, right?" Yan Yan was genuinely curious.

But after pondering too long and killing off many brain cells, she was waiting to meet Qi Yi and have him tell her the answer.

"Is it really that exaggerated? What have you been thinking about?" Qi Yi had only brought it up on a whim to give Yan Yan something to ponder over.

"How could I have any ideas about something as remote as the Northern Song? In any case, I just checked history books and found no clues," Yan Yan honestly confessed her "actions".

"History, huh? You looked in the wrong direction," Qi Yi found Yan Yan’s earnestness particularly adorable.

"Ah? It’s the year 1073, if not history then what should I be looking into?" Yan Yan’s curiosity grew even stronger.

"Try looking from the perspective of literature," suggested Qi Yi, providing some hints to the clueless Yan Yan.

"Literature? Isn’t that even more uncertain? How do you look for dates in literature? If it’s 1073, Wang Anshi hadn’t retired yet. The Tang and Song Eight Great Masters? Wang Anshi?" As she researched history books, Yan Yan came across a familiar name.

"It’s one of the Tang and Song Eight Great Masters, alright, but not Wang Anshi. Someone with a bit more literary achievement than him," Qi Yi continued to hint.

"Uh, if we’re talking fame, Su Shi?" Yan Yan tried to recall her knowledge of ancient literature from high school; she seemed to have forgotten one or two of the Eight Masters.

"Mm, clever, it’s indeed Su Shi," Qi Yi praised Yan Yan.

"Clever what? Please stop assaulting my intelligence; I’m still completely confused. Just give me the answer straight," Yan Yan knew she definitely couldn’t come up with the answer herself.

"From 1071 to 1074, Su Shi served as the Deputy Prefect of Hangzhou and wrote many poems about West Lake," Qi Yi began, pausing slightly.

"And then?" Yan Yan knew Qi Yi was intentionally mimicking her typical speaking rhythm.

"After the Spring Festival of 1073, he wrote the second verse of ’Drinking at Lake Pavilion after the First Clear Sky Following Rain’."

"Is it ’West Lake is likened to Xizi, suitable in both light and heavy makeup’?" As someone from Zhejiang, Yan Yan had a relatively better memory of poems about West Lake.

"No, it’s the two lines above: The lake’s shimmering light is best when it’s sunny, the mountain hues even more mystical in the rain. The previous line contains your name, while the latter has mine; and after Yi, there’s even the word ’qi’, which read backwards still is the complete ’Qi Yi’. Su Dongpo had written our fate back in 1073, don’t you think it was predestined?" Qi Yi detailed the basis of his belief.

"Qi Yi! Don’t you think this might be a bit too silly? Can this even be called a predestined connection from a past life?" Yan Yan was at a loss for words.

"How is it not fate? Since I read this poem in high school, I’ve always thought this way. Tell me if this isn’t predestined fate, then what is?" Qi Yi’s expression invited a counter-argument.

"Alright, I find myself at a loss for words; you win," Yan Yan was defeated by the phrase "Since I read this poem in high school."

"If I’ve won, is there a prize?" asked Qi Yi.

"Um, no, there isn’t. What about those letters you wrote me?" Yan Yan decided to change the subject to the main reason she had called Qi Yi out today.

"I didn’t bring them. When I went back to China for the New Year, I coded the letters I wrote to you. Back in high school, we wrote letters every day and hardly ever dated them in the letters.

I started converting my letters into digital files after dinner tonight; I’m just a bit short of finishing.

I’ll first take the letters you wrote to me back with me, and once I’ve sorted yours and arranged them in chronological order into a digital file, I’ll return the ones I previously wrote to you.

By the time you return to Melbourne, I’ll be able to give you a complete digital file," explained Qi Yi, not having his letters on him.

Yan Yan had called him out spontaneously, and Qi Yi hadn’t finished creating his part of the digital files, so he decided to organize all the correspondence thoroughly before giving them to Yan Yan.