When Jiang Huai’s palm touched Wen Wanwan’s cheek, her snow-white face flushed with heat.
Her eyes darted away in shyness, but with Jiang Huai cupping her face and forcing her to look at him, she had nowhere to hide. As they gazed at each other, Jiang Huai suddenly mumbled, “Does Junior Sister Wanwan think I’m a bastard?”
“Huh?” Wen Wanwan looked at him in confusion.
“Because I say these sanctimonious things, like how senior and junior disciples should look out for each other, or how I felt pity seeing Junior Sister Wanwan so diligently taking care of her sister. Honestly, you can only believe twenty to thirty percent of that. Most of it is because Junior Sister Wanwan is beautiful, and I treated you specially because of that.”
Wen Wanwan looked at him, confused and innocent, for a while before she finally understood. She blinked at Jiang Huai and said, “Even if Senior Brother Jiang Huai’s intentions were ninety percent because I’m pretty and he wants to be good to me… I wouldn’t be sad. I’d be very happy. It means there are still parts of me that Senior Brother Jiang Huai likes.”
“If Senior Brother Jiang Huai is angry or worried because of Qingyu Fairy, it’s not Senior Brother Jiang Huai’s fault. Senior Brother Jiang Huai has always been very restrained, and he never did anything excessive to me at first. It was always me who actively seduced Senior Brother Jiang Huai. I’m the bad woman… it’s not Senior Brother Jiang Huai’s fault.”
Jiang Huai was at a loss for words. “How can you blame yourself for this?”
“Actually, I have many little thoughts too, starting from when Senior Brother Jiang Huai was tending to my wounds…” Wen Wanwan bit her lip, hesitated for a moment, and then said very seriously, “Senior Brother Jiang Huai, sometimes… you don’t have to consider my feelings too much. If, I mean if, Qingyu Fairy dislikes me from now on and wants Senior Brother Jiang Huai to distance himself from me. If Senior Brother Jiang Huai also thinks that way, you can just tell me… I won’t pester you, and I’ll try not to cause you any trouble.”
“Will you be sad?” Jiang Huai looked into Wen Wanwan’s eyes.
“Yes…” A mist began to form in Wen Wanwan’s eyes. “But, but in the past, my sister and I relied on each other. In the future, even if Senior Brother Jiang Huai isn’t around, it will be no different from before. My sadness might just be because I’m too greedy, and that’s my own fault for being greedy… it’s not Senior Brother Jiang Huai’s fault.”
At this moment, half of Jiang Huai’s mind wondered if this was a tactic of retreating to advance. The other half of his mind felt as if it were melting.
He couldn’t refuse her, he simply couldn’t.
“But if I see you sad, I’ll be sad too, so let’s not talk about that. I’ll find a way with Qingyu,” Jiang Huai leaned closer, looking at the corner of Wen Wanwan’s eyes. “I wasn’t testing you when I asked if you’d be sad just now, don’t cry.”
Wen Wanwan tilted her head up and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. “I’m not crying.”
“Then give me a kiss.”
Wen Wanwan hugged his neck again, leaned in, and her delicate pink tongue quietly darted out.
***
The Dragon Blood Spirit Pill was finally refined.
Jiang Huai and Wen Wanwan sat in the bamboo forest, talking for a long time until the pill was ready. Jiang Huai collected the ten pills in a porcelain bottle, stood up, and returned to the courtyard with Wen Wanwan. He placed the bottle on the table and looked at Chu Xianning, saying softly, “One pill a day, for ten days. Although it can’t completely heal Master’s old injuries, you should feel better on rainy days from now on.”
Chu Xianning’s icy expression seemed to soften. She glanced at Jiang Huai, her gaze falling on the porcelain bottle, and said softly, “You’re thoughtful.”
“It’s what a disciple should do. What do you want for dinner, Master?”
“I’m not very hungry. You and Wen Wanwan can eat,” Chu Xianning stood up. “I’m going to sleep for a while.”
Jiang Huai paused, watching Chu Xianning walk towards her room.
Chu Xianning was always so expressionless, he could never figure out her thoughts. Was she in a bad mood because she heard that he had personally agreed to marry Luo Qingyu from Luo Yueguan, or did she not care at all and was just sleepy and wanted to rest?
There was no point in dwelling on it now, he would deal with it tomorrow. Jiang Huai went to the kitchen. There were ingredients he had prepared earlier in the ice house. He took some out and made four small dishes, steamed spiritual rice, and had a simple dinner with Wen Wanwan. Jiang Huai also saved a portion for Wen Fufu. After dinner, Wen Wanwan took the food container and went back.
Jiang Huai, however, sat alone in the pavilion, watching the sunset in the distance slowly descend. The world gradually darkened from bright to dim, and the moon quietly appeared in the darkened night sky, casting a serene moonlight.
He suddenly remembered that he had also picked a lotus for Chu Xianning. He hurried to find a suitable porcelain vase, went to Chu Xianning’s room door, and gently knocked.
“Enter,” Chu Xianning said indifferently.
Jiang Huai opened the door. Chu Xianning was sitting at the table, putting a thick notebook into a cabinet. There was still some ink on the brush on the table. Jiang Huai said curiously, “I thought Master had already gone to sleep.”
“I was writing my diary.”
Jiang Huai was stunned. He had stayed in the courtyard for over ten years and never knew his Master had the habit of writing a diary.
*Who keeps a diary these days?*
Seeing Jiang Huai dazed, Chu Xianning gave him a cold glance. “If you dare to peek at my diary, I’ll dig out your eyeballs.”
Chu Xianning rarely spoke such harsh words. Jiang Huai winced. “How dare I? Besides, why does Master always think I’m so bad?”
As Jiang Huai spoke, he took out the porcelain vase containing the Winter Snow Youlian. He blinked at Chu Xianning. “I found this spiritual flower in the secret realm. Where would Master like to put it?”
Chu Xianning was silent for a moment. “You pick the spot.”
So Jiang Huai carefully found a place and put the lotus by Chu Xianning’s bookshelf. A faint floral fragrance soon filled the room. However, Chu Xianning’s room was already fragrant; it was her own scent, but she had been accustomed to it since childhood. Now, as she smelled the faint fragrance of the lotus, her ink-black eyes seemed to deepen.
Chu Xianning stood up and walked to the bedside, gently lifting the quilt and sitting on the bed. Her bed was high, so her snow-white, slender legs dangled in the air. Now, in her room, she had changed into a light white nightgown. The ruffled hem couldn’t completely cover her calves, revealing that slender, smooth, snow-white section, like tender lotus roots.
“If Master wants to sleep… I won’t disturb your rest.”
“Aren’t you sleeping yet?” Chu Xianning said faintly.
“Then, Master, can you talk with me for a bit?”
“Talk about what?” Chu Xianning glanced at him sideways, always having a bad premonition.
“Your disciple has been troubled by love recently and has some things he wants to ask for Master’s opinion.”
“Your love life is your own business. You don’t need to report to me, and I can’t give you any advice,” Chu Xianning turned her face away, seemingly uninterested in the topic.
“I just want to hear your thoughts. What is Master’s view on love?”
Chu Xianning was silent for a moment, unable to come up with an answer.
For six hundred years, she had always been alone. It wasn’t that she deliberately treated every man coldly, but no man had ever moved her heart. She wasn’t cultivating the Sword of Emotionless Love, but for the past six hundred years, she had focused more on cultivating her sword and slaying evil cultivators.
At twenty, when she had the most suitors, she should have found a Dao Companion. Among her admirers were male cultivators with higher cultivation levels and more outstanding talent, gentlemen, gentle as jade, humorous and witty. She had met them all, but her heart had always been calm, without the slightest ripple. She had always rejected them decisively, without any hesitation.
For these six hundred years, she had never felt lonely. Instead, this solitude brought her great peace. All the twists and turns occurred thirteen years ago when she brought that boy back to the Tian Xuan Sect from the foot of the mountain.
Initially, she just wanted to bring him back and find him another sect in a month or two. She had never taken a disciple, and she didn’t think she could accept someone suddenly disrupting her silent world with noise. But after a month or two, seeing the boy looking at her with a wronged, teary look, she felt an inexplicable softness.
He wasn’t that much of a bother.
So, she struggled for an entire night, and finally, she accepted him as her personal disciple, considering it as leaving behind an inheritance in this world in case she failed to break through to the Ninth Realm and perished.
But as the boy slowly grew up, his features matured. From the initial gentle, obedient, and sensible lamb, he gradually turned into an indoor wolf.
When Jiang Huai was fourteen or fifteen, Chu Xianning began to think about sending him to another sect to cultivate, or perhaps letting him marry Luo Qingyu, thus handing him over to Luo Yueguan. Then she could resign from her position as an elder of Guanxue Mountain and travel the world, perhaps finding peace for her restless heart after a period of wandering.
Yet, every time she looked into his eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to say the words she wanted to travel the world, and that she would hand Guanxue Mountain over to him after she left.
In the final analysis, was it her own reluctance to part? Chu Xianning had asked herself countless times during her sleepless nights, but she couldn’t find an answer.
Perhaps she should have handed Jiang Huai over to Luo Yueguan from the beginning. Luo Yueguan would have doted on Jiang Huai immensely
