48 A Date 3 (1/2)

\”Mao Lu what are you doing!?\” Gates freaked as it watched this scene, \”You're a Gatekeeper, have some dignity! Why are you throwing yourself at him?!\”

\”I'm not throwing myself at him, I'm being honest about my feelings and it feels great.\” Mao Lu replied whilst he continued to hug Chàng Bo.

\”We still don't know how he's connected to the key, he may be a large threat. He may have ulterior motives. I know that you like him but this…this is too rushed. You don't even know if you can trust him. What if he betrays you?\” Gates said, \”You should have been more calm when you told him about the fate Companionship, now you sound like you're hopelessly in love with him. You're making yourself seem weak and easy to manipulate. You know I'm right.\”

\”I know. I know that I'm being rash. I know that by confessing my feelings I'm coming across as weak.\” Mao Lu's expression hardened, \”But you should know that I'm not weak, and that I won't be easily manipulated.\”

Mao Lu pulled away from Chàng Bo and said, \”I'm not expecting a response to my feelings. And I'm not expecting you to act in any way towards me. I'm sorry if I've inconvenienced you. But I feel great, being honest and straightforward about my feelings is very relieving.\”

He stood up and smiled at Chàng Bo, \”So do you want to do some shopping, and there's so much of Beijing I want to show you.\”

He stretched his hand out to Chàng Bo, \”Let's go.\”

Chàng Bo stared at Mao Lu in confusion. \”He confesses his love to me but he doesn't want a response or an answer. He's doing all of this for me, even willing to become my fate companion even though our feelings aren't mutual. Does he really not want me to act in a certain way around him? Or is he just saying that? This man is very confusing. But regardless I will be the one winning at the end of this, having a Gatekeeper as a Fate Companion, I'm so lucky. Even when he finds out later about my intentions, the only person he has to blame is himself.\”

Chàng Bo thought all this as he took Mao Lu's hand and stood up. \”Well then I should be straightforward as well. I don't mind becoming your fate companion. It will benefit me greatly. About your feelings… I won't respond to them just yet.\”

Mao Lu nodded, \”That's perfectly fine.\”

\”So when is our Fate Companionship exactly? Chàng Bo asked as they walked out of the snack streets and back to the main Qianmen street.

\”I'm not sure myself. The first ranked Gatekeeper, Argenti, told me that she'd make the arrangements and inform me when the preparations were all done. She hasn't contacted me back yet.\” Mao Lu said casually.

\”The Gatekeepers are arranging the ceremony!\” Chàng Bo exclaimed.

\”Is there something wrong with that?\” Mao Lu was surprised.

Such a ceremony is usually very private because a fate companionship is such a personal matter. Only held between the two individuals. But the Gatekeepers controlling the ceremony means this will become a very public affair…it makes sense since Gatekeepers rarely had fate companionships, even in the past, and they usually did it with each other. They want to publicise the event, probably to make themselves look better and relatable to the people.\”

\”What do you mean? How will our relationship make Gatekeepers more relatable?\” Mao Lu inquired.

\”You're a new Gatekeeper right, and you live in a mortal Realm so I'm not surprised that you don't know, but Gatekeepers generally have a bad relationship with practitioners. I mean you have such mysterious powers and secrets, this obviously leads to a lot of distrust. And there are many evil Gatekeepers that have killed practitioners in their realms and treated them like toys.

In many Realms there are various uprisings and revolts against the Gatekeepers. Movements that have been growing stronger everyday. I believe that they'll use our fate companionship as a symbol. We'll represent that Gatekeepers aren't just evil dictators but also capable of emotions and relationships just like regular people.

I doubt that our union will stop any riots or prevent the growing movement against the Gatekeepers, but it will help them improve their image, and may even give hope to other practitioners.\”

\”Hope? How will it give them hope?\” Mao Lu turned to Chàng Bo.

\”Haven't you ever dreamed of marrying rich or into power before you became a Gatekeeper. You can only dream about these things because it's happened to someone else, someone of a low status married to royalty, or someone poor married rich. Because of that you begin to think, 'if that person can do it, why can't I?\” The same thing will apply to us. 'If Chàng Bo can marry a Gatekeeper, why can't I?\” you know what I mean right?\” Chàng Bo explained

Mao Lu nodded, he understood. So their fate companionship would be used as some huge PR campaign to improve the image of the Gatekeepers and in affect calm down the practitioners that are against them. No wonder the other Gatekeepers had agreed to his proposal so easily, it wasn't just because becoming Chàng Bo's fate companion would give them the answers about the key that they were looking for, but because it would also help them out politically.

They were glad that Mao Lu had offered himself as a sacrificial lamb.

\”Probably by now, the news of our fate companionship is spreading across the realms.\” Chàng Bo continued. Not knowing how right he was, in fact at this moment across the four-hundred realms, huge news was spreading quickly.

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STAR REALM, REALM 348

Chàng Bo's father, Chàng Xing, was drinking blue spirit tea with Lee Èmó.

\”Again I am very sorry for your loss Èmó and I am glad you have smartly chosen to stop pursuing my son.\”

\”Well what could I do, you gave me all the evidence that he didn't do it. To think one of her guards killed her out of heartbreak, my poor daughter. I made sure that that man's entire family and relatives were all killed for his actions, I apologise for my followers framing your son and spreading such unfounded rumours Xing. I should have disciplined my followers more and made them investigate properly before they spread such harmful lies.\” Lee Èmó said apologetically.

Chàng Xing smiled at him but his smile didn't reach his eyes, his gaze was cold. \”Your daughter goes to visit my star Realm with only one guard and she is stabbed by him and then he also stabs himself in the throat. It was such an obvious murder. I'm surprised that you didn't notice this straight away Èmó.\”

\”I was so blinded by grieving, I wasn't thinking straight and I got the wrong people to investigate.\” Lee Èmó said with a fake smile, his pale face and sharp teeth showing through his scraggy black beard.