The wine in the cup rippled slightly.
Xu Qing’s eyes seemed to grow brighter and brighter, while Jiang Huai gradually began to find it difficult to distinguish what was before him. His alcohol tolerance had never been particularly high, and he couldn’t drink endlessly. He could already barely see Xu Qing’s face before him.
Xu Qing had already put down her wine cup. She rested her elbow on the table, her fair and tender jade hand supporting her cheek, concealing the slight blush that had appeared. Her eyes were quietly gazing at Jiang Huai before her, her dark pupils filled with countless complex emotions that she couldn’t describe.
She had many things she wanted to say, but when the words reached her lips, she didn’t know how to begin.
“I want to…” Her lips moved slightly.
Jiang Huai looked up into her eyes, waiting for her to finish her sentence.
“I want you to take another look for me, at the sword techniques you taught me… where am I not practicing well,” she said softly. Jiang Huai nodded gently, rubbed his face, and tried to sober himself up a bit. Xu Qing stood up, took out the spirit sword she carried, and began to wield it under the peach blossom tree in the courtyard. Sword winds swirled, and petals fell like rain.
Jiang Huai watched intently, then stood up and reached out his hand, taking the spirit sword from her. He swung the sword once. Xu Qing just watched seriously, gradually becoming distracted.
“Thank you…” she said softly.
“It’s nothing,” Jiang Huai shook his head and sat back down in his chair. At this moment, the two of them were once again speechless.
Peach blossom petals lay scattered on the ground before them. Xu Qing also sat back down beside him. Perhaps she had wanted to raise her wine cup several times, but hesitated each time, so she brought the cup to her lips and drank by herself.
Jiang Huai had been lost in thought. Seeing this out of the corner of his eye, he snapped back to reality and couldn’t help but laugh and cry, “Why are you drinking alone without inviting me?”
“I was afraid you’d drink too much and feel uncomfortable,” Xu Qing replied softly. Jiang Huai immediately picked up his wine cup, brought it to his lips, and drank it in one gulp. He looked at her snow-white profile and said softly, “You seem to have something on your mind.”
“Do I?” Xu Qing nervously averted her gaze.
“It feels like it. Are you unhappy because you lost to Gu Ci during the daytime?”
“No,” Xu Qing shook her head. “My cultivation level is too far below hers, so losing was expected.”
“Then why didn’t you surrender earlier when she warned you the first time?”
“I wanted to try again.”
Jiang Huai thought for a moment and scratched his head. “If you know that no matter how hard you try, the outcome won’t change, I think it’s best not to force yourself too much.”
Jiang Huai reminded Xu Qing of this because he remembered how she had stubbornly refused to reach Foundation Establishment for several years just to spite him. It seemed that despite her gentle exterior, she had a particularly proud nature. Jiang Huai had only wanted to remind Xu Qing not to be too stubborn, as excessive rigidity could lead to breakage. However, when he accidentally looked into Xu Qing’s eyes, he suddenly noticed her eye sockets were slightly red, and her beautiful eyes were misted over with a layer of water.
“What if I insist on forcing myself?”
Jiang Huai was suddenly at a loss for words. “I just meant… there’s no need to overthink it if you lose. There’s plenty of time in the future, and who knows what will happen? Perhaps one day you’ll win it back. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself…”
Xu Qing just looked at him with tear-filled eyes, not speaking.
Jiang Huai’s tone gradually became weaker. After a few seconds, he dared to cautiously ask, “So… why are you suddenly crying?”
“It’s nothing,” Xu Qing reached out the back of her hand to wipe away a tear. She sat there silently, just gazing at his eyes.
She couldn’t explain why she suddenly started crying. But when she heard him say that if some things were destined to have no outcome, it was better to give up early, she felt that Jiang Huai seemed to have an implied meaning, and an indescribable bitterness instantly spread throughout her heart. Perhaps Jiang Huai hadn’t intended it that way, but she was too sensitive and couldn’t help but overthink.
Recently, many issues had been troubling her. She repeatedly asked herself if liking someone required a reason, or if it didn’t. But no matter how she asked, she couldn’t find an answer. She truly couldn’t explain when the thought in her heart had quietly sprouted. Perhaps it wasn’t just during their second encounter in the Daoji Ancestral Land. She still remembered the first time she met Jiang Huai in the Daoji Ancestral Land. She had lost to Jiang Huai, utterly defeated, with no chance to fight back. Yet, Jiang Huai had still lent her the Qingxuan Zizai Guan to copy.
That day, Jiang Huai had formed a three-patterned Heavenly Way Spiritual Elixir in the Secret Realm. Thus, the idea of not accepting defeat quietly grew in her heart. For several years, she continuously tempered her physique and sought Heavenly Way Spiritual Qi, all in order to one day form a better spiritual elixir than him and stand before him, as if this could vent the pent-up frustration in her heart.
During those years, she also quietly began to pay attention to rumors about Jiang Huai. She heard that he had won the Sect Grand Competition again, heard about the engagement he had made with Luo Qingyu, and later heard that he had been crippled by an evil cultivator while saving a group of children, and heard that Luo Qingyu had broken off their engagement. She didn’t know when it started, but she became so concerned about someone’s life. Yet, Jiang Huai never knew that there was someone behind him quietly observing everything about him.
Later, when they met again in the Daoji Ancestral Land, just as she was about to despair, someone reached out to her.
But what she remembered most vividly was Jiang Huai’s choice at that time. He could have stayed out of it, but he chose to accept the inheritance, and thus he descended like a god and saved all the surviving cultivators in the Daoji Ancestral Land. While waiting silently in the Qingxuan Secret Realm, she realized that she had no other recourse besides praying. Perhaps it was from that moment on that she suddenly fell in love with this person.
But he had his own Dao Companions, and his Dao Companions were beautiful, and not just one. Sometimes, Xu Qing would doubt whether she had fallen in love with a mere illusion, a shadow she had constructed through her own illusions. But the closer she got, the clearer that shadow became. Yet, she couldn’t embrace that shadow, and that shadow had never belonged to her.
“I thought of something…”
“Hmm? Go on,” Jiang Huai said softly.
“Wen Wanwan is your Dao Companion, so what about Luo Qingyu?”
“This…” Jiang Huai scratched his head and answered with a touch of awkwardness, “She is too.”
“What’s going on?”
Jiang Huai had to retell the story. If this matter was to be explained, he had no room for self-justification. It was nothing more than greed. He saw Wen Wanwan’s hand reach out and then retract, so he grabbed that hand and didn’t give her another chance to escape.
“Do they argue with each other?”
“No,” Jiang Huai answered innocently.
Wanwan and Qingyu are not plastic sisters anymore; they have a very good relationship.
“Then who do you think is more beautiful?”
This question that felt like a death sentence made a drop of cold sweat appear on Jiang Huai’s forehead. “Well… they are both very beautiful. I can’t say who is more beautiful. They each have their own advantages. Qingyu is a bit cuter, and Wanwan is a bit more cold and aloof.”
“Then what am I…?”
“Hmm?”
“I want to know… in your eyes, what kind of woman am I?”
“Gentle and kind, generous and magnanimous, with a delicate mind?”
Jiang Huai knew a lot of words to compliment women. It was always safe to use a few of them. His first impression of Xu Qing was indeed like this. However, Xu Qing’s eyes became resentful. “So… I’m not good-looking?”
Jiang Huai immediately looked at her cheeks seriously.
Xu Qing’s question was strange. Her birth mother, Pei Ning, was the most beautiful celestial fairy of Aolai Continent, and her father, Xu Ting, was excessively handsome. Her appearance inherited from her parents, so no one could say she wasn’t good-looking. Her figure was also slender and tall, neither excessively thin nor overly full, but her Daoist robe concealed her figure, making it not very apparent.
“Of course not. It’s just that everyone already knows you’re good-looking, so there’s no need to say it,” Jiang Huai blinked at her.
“Then would you prefer a woman’s beauty or her heart?”
This was a particularly interesting question. Jiang Huai pondered it seriously for a moment. “To answer honestly, it would definitely be her heart. But if her appearance wasn’t good, I might not even want to get to know her heart…”
Xu Qing looked into his eyes for a very, very long time. Several times she wanted to speak but stopped herself. In the end, she still couldn’t utter the words “Then would you want to know my heart?” She ultimately lacked the courage. Once some words were spoken, perhaps they wouldn’t even be able to be ordinary friends.
When one likes someone, how can they make themselves so humble and cowardly?
So she just lowered her eyes, silently picked up her wine cup, and refilled it. She raised the cup to her own lips. Seeing this, Jiang Huai was instantly a little displeased and grumbled, “Drinking alone again.”
Xu Qing was startled, and then immediately brought the wine cup in her hand to his lips.
Jiang Huai was also stunned, but after a moment, he lowered his head and drank all the wine liquid in the cup. However, perhaps because Xu Qing had fed him wine like this, a few drops accidentally spilled from the corner of Jiang Huai’s mouth, falling onto his collar. She was about to reach for a handkerchief to wipe it, but Jiang Huai shook his head, “It’s nothing.”
“It’s your turn to feed me,” Xu Qing looked at him eagerly.
Everything before Jiang Huai was actually a bit blurry. He vaguely saw Xu Qing’s slightly flushed face. He poured half a cup of wine, brought it to Xu Qing’s lips. Xu Qing obediently tilted her head up, not a drop of wine spilled. She picked up a handkerchief and gently wiped the corner of her mouth. After the wine cup was put down, the two of them seemed to be at a loss for words again, not knowing what to say.
The more silent it was, the more disappointed she felt. The more disappointed she felt, the more she wanted to drink. Seeing her pick up the wine cup again, Jiang Huai immediately grew afraid. If she drank a couple more cups, Jiang Huai might turn into a demon. So he hastily grabbed Xu Qing’s wrist. “Let’s rest for a while, let’s rest for a while and chat. It’s boring to just drink.”
“I don’t know what to say…” Xu Qing’s eyelashes drooped slightly again.
“Then let’s not say anything. I’ll play a piece of music for you.”
Jiang Huai took out a guqin and gently placed his fingertips on the strings.
