Here is the translated text:
Chapter 118: Teaching You a Lesson
Jiang Huai ran at full speed.
But he was only at the first level of Qi Condensation. Luo Yueguan was a Mahayana cultivator in the Eighth Realm. With just a thought, a wisp of spiritual qi transformed into a spirit rope, binding Jiang Huai and pulling him back. He was tightly ensnared, while Luo Yueguan, with her legs crossed and arms folded, glanced at him sideways. A faint blush still lingered on her cheeks. “Who allowed you to pinch me?”
As she spoke, she lifted her calf, her clear, snow-white jade foot rising higher and higher until it pressed against Jiang Huai’s chest. Jiang Huai, unable to move, looked at the shy and annoyed Luo Yueguan before him. He heard her speak, “Do you really think I can’t teach you a lesson?”
“I was wrong.”
Jiang Huai never struggled when he shouldn’t, so he adopted a proactive attitude in admitting his fault. Unfortunately, Luo Yueguan didn’t seem to be so easily placated. Her toes repeatedly poked his chest, and she muttered, “I’ll let you pinch my earlobe, I’ll let you pinch my earlobe…”
However, her toes weren’t actually that forceful; the poking sensations on his chest were ticklish. And because she had lifted her leg like that, a good portion of her skirt had fallen away. Her slender, smooth jade legs seemed to glow in the dim light.
Jiang Huai dared not look any longer.
He was well aware of his willpower. He often spoke of pure love, yet his resolve could be shattered by desire in a matter of moments. Now, bound by the spirit rope and unable to move, Luo Yueguan wasn’t content with just poking his chest with her foot. She lifted her calf even higher, her tender, jade toes wiggling gently like silver fish before clamping onto Jiang Huai’s ear.
“Hmph.”
A hint of girlish charm inadvertently appeared on Luo Yueguan’s cheeks.
Jiang Huai gazed into Luo Yueguan’s eyes and suddenly paused, then let out a soft laugh.
“What are you laughing at?!” Luo Yueguan’s face flushed a light pink, making her incredibly cute, as if she’d stepped on a cat’s tail.
“Nothing, I just suddenly realized… Auntie Luo can also have a childlike side.”
“You’re the child!” Luo Yueguan quickly retracted her leg, crossing them again. However, her eyes held a hint of forced stubbornness. Jiang Huai lowered his head to see that the spirit ropes binding him had been completely undone. He chuckled helplessly, “Isn’t this me calling Auntie Luo cute?”
Luo Yueguan quickly shed her prior coquettishness and then looked at him with disdain and contempt. “Do you think your tactics for teasing little girls will work on me?”
Jiang Huai sat down and looked at her helplessly. “What tactics for teasing little girls do I have?”
“Then how did you coax Qingyu into wanting to be by your side every day back then?”
“I just gave her some candy.”
As Jiang Huai spoke, he took out a handful of candy and placed it before Luo Yueguan. She turned her face away. “I don’t like sweets.”
But before she finished speaking, Jiang Huai had already unwrapped a pineapple-flavored lollipop and brought it to Luo Yueguan’s red lips. She hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth and gently took it.
“Eating something sweet occasionally can lift your mood,” Jiang Huai said, while also unwrapping a lychee-flavored lollipop and popping it into his own mouth.
Judging by the slight hint of pleasure on Luo Yueguan’s brow, she might not actually dislike sweets.
“Did you make this candy yourself? I’ve never tasted candy like this before.”
“Mm.”
“You don’t focus on your cultivation every day, but instead spend your time pondering useless things…” Luo Yueguan began to grumble again. Perhaps it was only at times like these that Jiang Huai felt a sense of her being an elder.
He couldn’t help but smile. “Cultivation, in my opinion, involves training both one’s cultivation level and one’s heart. Cultivating one’s cultivation level is one aspect, but if one exhausts themselves and endures hardship solely for the sake of cultivation, then with a heart full of holes, it won’t be easy to mend.
“Desires are always endless. Even if one cultivates to the Ninth Realm, the Tenth Realm, or even gains omnipotent power, where one can decide the life and death of countless people with a single thought, what does it matter? If the heart cannot find peace, then no amount of cultivation is meaningful. But if the heart is fulfilled and at ease, even with a less profound cultivation level, one can live a clear and happy life.”
“Laziness is just laziness,” Luo Yueguan replied dismissively.
“Then do I look like I’m capable of cultivating right now?” Jiang Huai sighed helplessly. “Or, Auntie Luo, with your Eighth Realm cultivation, are you able to look down on the entire Moon Wave Continent and find peace every day?”
Luo Yueguan’s eyes flickered slightly. “Of course. What is there for me to be uneasy about? It’s just you, a little brat, who’s always causing trouble.”
“That’s just twisting words,” Jiang Huai said, placing the handful of candy, which he had taken out earlier, onto Luo Yueguan’s tightly pressed legs. “For you.”
“Keep them for yourself. I’m not interested.”
“I made so many of them earlier, I can’t eat them all. They’ll go bad if I keep them too long. Please eat some for me.”
Only then did Luo Yueguan reluctantly gather all the candy. The sweetness of the candy seeped into her tongue, and her mood seemed to improve considerably.
She suddenly thought of something and smiled. “Speaking of which, I thought of something.”
“Go on.”
“Do you believe that if I were to dual cultivate with you, Chu Xianning’s probability of dual cultivating with you would be seventy percent?” Luo Yueguan asked Jiang Huai with a smile, but Jiang Huai’s expression remained unchanged. He simply nodded. “Then she would expel me from the sect, or leave the Eastern Region herself, because she wouldn’t know how to face what comes next.”
“That’s still sleeping together,” Luo Yueguan pouted slightly.
“For all these years, what I’ve wanted has never been Master’s body, but her heart.”
“Acting, keep acting. The reason you like Chu Xianning is simply because she’s beautiful.”
“There are so many beautiful women in the world, wouldn’t I like every single one I see?”
“Don’t you?”
“Then Auntie Luo is also very beautiful. Wouldn’t I have to like you too?” Jiang Huai asked, also smiling at Luo Yueguan. Luo Yueguan was speechless and glared at him in dissatisfaction. “Who is more beautiful, me or your Master?”
“Why does Auntie Luo insist on asking a question that will inevitably lead to my own humiliation?”
“Ungrateful thing,” Luo Yueguan said unhappily, lifting her leg and kicking Jiang Huai’s chest again. “Get out.”
Jiang Huai stood up and turned to walk out of the bamboo grove.
Only when his figure was far away did Luo Yueguan take out the colorful candies and begin to ponder what flavors they might be.
There were eighteen candies in total. She decided. She would eat two every day, one in the morning and one in the evening.
…
Jiang Huai returned to the courtyard.
At this moment, Luo Qingyu was teaching Bai Li how to play chess. Bai Li sat by the chessboard, scratching her head and staring at the board. She was always impatient and not someone who possessed much patience; it was too difficult for her to play chess calmly.
Jiang Huai took out a box of Ludo he had bought from the system store out of boredom. “How about we play this instead?”
After a simple explanation of the rules, Bai Li rolled the dice with curiosity and soon began to play happily. Jiang Huai, who had always disliked mentally taxing activities, was also quite interested in Ludo. Only Luo Qingyu’s eyes showed a hint of boredom, but she concealed it very well. She simply leaned closer to Jiang Huai, and once she was by his side, any boredom vanished.
“Brother Jiang Huai, what were you whispering about with Mother just now?”
“It’s nothing, your mother was asking about our marriage. I told her we’ll set the date for your twentieth birthday.” Jiang Huai replied casually. Luo Qingyu rolled the dice, and as she watched the spinning dice, she suddenly turned her head and said softly, “If Brother Jiang Huai wants to set the wedding date a bit later… it’s okay.”
“Then let’s set it for your twenty-second birthday?”
Luo Qingyu’s eyes instantly became incredibly sorrowful. But then she suddenly realized that Jiang Huai was staring at her, his eyes filled with a smile, and so this hint of sorrow could not be contained.
“Brother Jiang Huai is bullying me…” Luo Qingyu hugged his arm and began to act spoiled, her full and soft chest almost forming a “milk cake.” Jiang Huai chuckled helplessly, “I was just kidding. We’ll set it for twenty.”
“Actually, twenty-one is also fine…” Luo Qingyu whispered again.
“Really not?”
“Really.”
“Really, really not?” Jiang Huai stared at Luo Qingyu.
Luo Qingyu averted her gaze guiltily. After another second or two, she finally whispered, “It’s fake… Qingyu doesn’t want to get married at twenty-one.”
“So, sometimes it’s okay to tell me your true thoughts. I won’t get angry.” Jiang Huai reached out and gently pinched Luo Qingyu’s cheek; it was soft and smooth.
“Qingyu knows she was wrong…” Luo Qingyu mumbled very, very softly. Then, she brought her face close to Jiang Huai’s ear, her delicate pink lips moving slightly. “Tonight… Brother Jiang Huai, please punish Qingyu properly?”
“You,” Jiang Huai turned his head, leaned closer, and suddenly gave her lips a gentle kiss.
Luo Qingyu froze, her fair and tender cheeks almost instantly flushing crimson.
Jiang Huai gazed at her blushing face.
The earlier claim of not caring was false; it was a tactic of strategic retreat.
But the blush now was real.
With more than a year left until Luo Qingyu’s twentieth birthday, Jiang Huai was not in a hurry. He believed that in this year, he would eventually have an honest moment with Luo Qingyu. He would gradually see Luo Qingyu’s true self and strive to teach her… not to deliberately put on a show just because he liked her.
“Why suddenly… a kiss…”
“It’s a reward.”
“A reward… for what?”
“For Qingyu telling the truth.”
“What… Qingyu rarely lies…” Luo Qingyu seemed to suddenly realize something, but just as she tried to ponder the meaning of Jiang Huai’s words, he leaned closer again. His fingertips gently lifted her chin, he moved a little closer, and his lips met hers again. This time, however, it wasn’t a fleeting touch. Luo Qingyu’s heartbeat quickened, and her mind lost its ability to think.
When their lips parted, Luo Qingyu’s lips were glistening slightly. Jiang Huai was about to take out a handkerchief to wipe her clean, but she had already licked her lips with her delicate tongue.
Her body, soft and yielding, leaned against Jiang Huai. She said nothing more.
