赌气
Wen Wanwan spent the entire afternoon in Brother Jiang’s courtyard.
Throughout this time, Jiang Huai Gege inevitably had to teach her sword techniques for quite a while, even holding the wooden sword to practice with her for a good time. A sword was merely an extension of the body; as the saying goes, “an inch longer means an inch stronger.” If it weren’t for Chu Xianning’s lack of knowledge, Jiang Huai would have actually preferred learning the spear.
What surprised Jiang Huai was that Luo Qingyu sat obediently the whole afternoon, neither throwing a tantrum nor appearing unhappy. Her eyes remained bright and obedient, which put him at ease. He continued to teach Wen Wanwan diligently until it was time to head to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Luo Qingyu ran over, lifting her dress, to help Jiang Huai in the kitchen.
“Brother Jiang…” During a brief moment while picking vegetables, Luo Qingyu looked at the water flow and suddenly called out to him softly.
“What is it?” Jiang Huai turned his head to look at her.
“Qingyu is feeling jealous.”
To Jiang Huai’s surprise, Luo Qingyu puffed out her cheeks and answered directly.
“Jealous of what?”
“Brother Jiang… how can you be so close to her when teaching her sword techniques?”
“I have weak spiritual energy, and I find it hard to guide her to sense the flow of spiritual energy in her body without getting closer,” Jiang Huai replied honestly. He had intended to add that she was just a good friend, but then he remembered what he had done with Wen Wanwan in the courtyard last night, which seemed to exceed the boundaries of friendship.
“Oh.” Luo Qingyu’s lips slightly pouted, and she still looked a bit upset. She murmured, “I want to learn Silver Ray too.”
“You don’t need to learn sword techniques anymore; I don’t have anything to teach you.” Jiang Huai responded helplessly.
Despite her sweet and harmless appearance, when Luo Qingyu picked up a sword, she was truly a deadly force. Her swordsmanship had been taught by Luo Yueguan since she was a child, and it was quite powerful and aggressive. There was no need for her to learn Chu Xianning’s Silver Ray; trying to learn too much would only muddle her original sword heart.
“Brother Jiang is biased,” Luo Qingyu said, looking aggrieved.
Jiang Huai thought seriously for a moment, “Do you really think so?”
Since he asked so earnestly, Luo Qingyu hesitated to answer. If she were forced to say, how could Brother Jiang be biased? She was still living in his courtyard, yet technically they were both supposed to have ended their engagement and should have had no further ties.
“Well, not really…” Luo Qingyu still looked a bit wronged.
“That’s good.”
But Jiang Huai was unreasonably silent, leaving Luo Qingyu feeling more aggrieved as she continued picking vegetables. Once they finished, she obediently stood aside, watching Jiang Huai cook. After leaving the kitchen, the four of them sat at the dining table. Wen Wanwan moved her chopsticks carefully; she had initially wanted to leave but couldn’t resist Jiang Huai’s earnest pleas to stay.
She ate her fill, and after finishing, Jiang Huai brought out a food container from the kitchen. It was filled with the dishes he had prepared earlier, along with steamed spiritual rice. He handed the container to Wen Wanwan. “You can take this back for your sister to try.”
Wen Wanwan paused and looked up at him.
While sitting at the table, she felt a small pang of guilt; her sister had been bored in the courtyard with her painting book while she enjoyed delicious food in someone else’s home.
It turned out Jiang Huai had already considered that. Suddenly feeling flustered, Wen Wanwan took a few seconds before quietly saying, “Senior Brother Jiang… you’re really kind.”
Jiang Huai smiled helplessly.
……………………………………
Wen Wanwan left the courtyard while holding the food container.
Luo Qingyu and Jiang Huai sat in the pavilion. Luo Qingyu’s cheeks were puffy again as she looked at him with a resentful gaze, as if she had suffered some great injustice.
However, Jiang Huai didn’t seem inclined to comfort her. With Luo Qingyu silent, he earnestly focused on reading an old scroll.
At some point, Luo Qingyu took off her shoes and socks, lifting her snowy and tender little feet to gently poke Jiang Huai’s calf with them.
Jiang Huai put down the old scroll and looked up at her.
The two looked at each other for a few seconds before Luo Qingyu quietly murmured, “Brother Jiang… why are you so nice to her?”
“Hmm? Because she works hard to take care of her sister. We are fellow sect members, so if I can help her a little, of course I will. If I have to find another reason, it’s probably because she’s really good-looking, so I want to get close to her.”
Luo Qingyu was at a loss for words and didn’t know how to respond.
“Just like how Qingyu is also very pretty, so I want to get close to Qingyu too,” Jiang Huai answered candidly. “Or do you think I should only be close to you for the rest of my life?”
“No, no, that’s not it…”
Though her words said otherwise, Luo Qingyu didn’t necessarily think that way in her heart.
She wanted to mention that they were already engaged, and her mother had once told her that as Dao companions, she was qualified to keep Jiang Huai from being too close to other women. But now that the engagement had been canceled by her mother…
Thinking of this made Luo Qingyu feel even more wronged as tears welled up in her eyes.
“Are you going to cry?” Jiang Huai sighed lightly.
“No.” Luo Qingyu rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, struggling to lift her head and stubbornly looked at Jiang Huai. “I’m not crying…”
“Hmm, very obedient.” Jiang Huai looked at the slender and white little legs peeking out from under her skirt, gently spread his palm, and Luo Qingyu obediently placed her snowy jade foot into his hand, allowing him to hold it lightly.
“I’ve always liked Qingyu.” Jiang Huai felt the soft touch of her tender little foot through his fingertips. “If you’re asking whether I like you or Wen Wanwan more, of course it’s you by a lot. No, it’s a huge difference.”
“She’s just my junior sister; how can she compare with you? Alright, alright, I’ll give those little feet a pinch as compensation.”
Yet even as he said this, Jiang Huai felt an inexplicable unease in his heart.
He had never been fond of lying; what he had done with Wen Wanwan’s slender, snow-white legs in the courtyard last night wasn’t something that should happen between senior and junior siblings. Once a lie was told, countless more would need to follow to cover it up, which was troublesome.
Thinking of this, he suddenly didn’t want to say anything anymore.
So, he just lowered his head, gazing at the girl’s beautiful long leg raised before him. She slightly lifted her skirt, and her delicate leg rested on his thigh, allowing Jiang Huai to tease her tender little foot while her snowy face flushed with a hint of red.
After a while, Jiang Huai retracted his hand and reached out to Luo Qingyu. She immediately spread her legs and leaned closer, wrapping her arms around his waist. He securely lifted her up and carried her back to the room, tucking her under the quilt. Luo Qingyu obediently poked her head out, turned to look at Jiang Huai, and waited for him to tell her a story.
Jiang Huai began to narrate the story of Li Xunhuan. As he told the tale, he drifted off into his own thoughts. The story continued until Luo Qingyu’s eyelids began to droop, and Jiang Huai extinguished the room’s lights before turning to leave.
In the courtyard, Chu Xianning sat quietly in the pavilion, propping her fragrant cheeks with one hand while fiddling with the pieces on the chessboard. Her long hair cascaded like a waterfall, and her white dress was hazy and ethereal.
Jiang Huai didn’t look at her, simply turning and going back to his room. Just before opening the door, he heard Chu Xianning’s cold voice, “One more game?”
“I’m tired; we’ll play next time.” Jiang Huai didn’t turn back, merely saying this softly as he returned to his room.
In the courtyard, Chu Xianning watched him close the door, remaining silent for a moment before slightly lowering her head.
……………………………………
Jiang Huai lay in bed, tossing and turning for a long time.
His mind spun with many thoughts, recalling the year he turned fifteen, when he switched his address for Chu Xianning from “mother” to “master.” It seemed she’d grown uneasy since, and thus arranged a marriage for him.
The person she wanted him to marry was the lone daughter of the Sect Master of the Qingxuan Sect, Luo Yueguan. In terms of status and appearance, she was impeccable. It seemed a great fortune for his master to secure such a marriage for him, and he shouldn’t harbor any dissatisfaction.
Yet, Jiang Huai hadn’t wanted to agree to the marriage at first. There were many reasons, but Chu Xianning had asserted that if he didn’t agree, it would be disobeying her orders, and he would not be allowed to cultivate on Guanxue Mountain anymore. She would let him go wherever he wanted for his practice. Her words were so resolute that Jiang Huai eventually acquiesced, leading to his engagement with Luo Qingyu.
It wasn’t all bad; being able to encounter Luo Qingyu and bring her out of a dark world felt quite fulfilling. Jiang Huai found her both cute and well-behaved, embodying all his fantasies of an ideal wife. Moreover, she listened well to him, seeming like a blank slate when they first met, as if he could raise her to be exactly as he liked.
He had no grounds to resent Chu Xianning at all; had it not been for her bringing him up the mountain, he would just be a mere commoner down below, perhaps living a life entirely different from the one he had now, solely relying on the memories in his head or this simple-minded system for a life that lacked the luxury and happiness he currently enjoyed.
So where did his dissatisfaction stem from?
Perhaps he shouldn’t have felt dissatisfied at all. From the year the engagement was set at fifteen, he should have simply complied with Chu Xianning’s expectations and lived the life she arranged for him. In fact, there wasn’t anything wrong with it; Luo Qingyu was also very beautiful, and perhaps in the future, she could be just as stunning as Luo Yueguan, who has never lost to Chu Xianning in beauty. The two of them were the most beautiful fairies in the Xue Lan Continent of the Eastern Region.
So what was he fantasizing about?
Jiang Huai tossed in bed for quite a while without being able to sleep. He felt a bit hot in the room and decided to get up for some fresh air. But as he stood up and walked to the courtyard, he found a woman in a white dress sprawled on the table in the pavilion, her face resting on her arms as if she were asleep, with several exquisite wine pots scattered beside her.
Chu Xianning needed to drink some wine to suppress her old injuries from time to time. She’d been drinking for many years, but her alcohol tolerance seemed to have improved little. When drunk, her personality would change significantly, becoming somewhat charming. However, Jiang Huai hadn’t seen her drink for quite some time.
Perhaps it was because the last time Chu Xianning got drunk, she had asked him while in his arms, to help her bathe… After he placed her into the bathhouse, she had come to her senses slightly but fled with her skirt lifted, and she hadn’t shared drinks with Jiang Huai since.
Jiang Huai approached her, looking at the woman slumped over the table, drunk. Her cheeks were still flushed, a flush that spread to her earlobe. He gently tugged her arm and said, “Master, let’s go back to your room and sleep.”
Chu Xianning hazily opened her eyes and, upon seeing Jiang Huai, suddenly reached out a finger to poke his chest. “You…are sulking with me.”
