The Tian Xuan Sect welcomed its first snow of winter.
Today, Jiang Huai was in the courtyard drinking his goji berry and ginseng tea. It was the middle of winter, after all, and one had to pay attention to health.
Chu Xianning had been dressing a bit warmer these days. She was always clad in a snow-white Daoist robe. When she woke up in the early morning, the courtyard was already covered in white snow. Jiang Huai was sweeping the snow, and Chu Xianning sat in the pavilion. Before long, two bowls of steaming Yangchun noodles were brought over.
Chu Xianning liked her fried eggs with a runny yolk, and Jiang Huai had always remembered that.
Jiang Huai had been cooking for her since she was very young. He had built the kitchen himself. He had always prepared all sorts of delicious meals for Chu Xianning, and he remembered clearly what she liked to eat in each season.
After breakfast, Jiang Huai put away the bowls and chopsticks and brought over hot date cakes as tea snacks for their morning chess game. Chu Xianning picked up a cold chess piece and looked at the snow falling in the courtyard.
After playing two rounds of chess, she stopped. Instead, she quietly gazed at the winter-blooming plum blossom trees in the courtyard. The white and red plum blossoms reflected each other, appearing and disappearing amidst the white snow.
Uncharacteristically, Chu Xianning suddenly asked, “What do you usually do in Wen Wanwan’s courtyard?”
Jiang Huai broke into a sweat in an instant.
Of course, he couldn’t tell her the truth. The truth was more dissolute than anything written under his alias, A Mumu, bordering on drunken revelry and lavish indulgence. Therefore, he answered with all seriousness, “Wanwan teaches Fufu sword techniques, I teach Su Qingyi talisman arts, Mu Yao teaches Su Qingyi formations, and I happen to be teaching Xu Qing sword techniques.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“Oh.” Chu Xianning nodded and suddenly asked, “How long has it been since we slept together?”
“Eighteen days.”
“Why do you remember so clearly?” Chu Xianning was slightly startled.
“This… perhaps because I’ve been thinking of you, so I remember it clearly?” Jiang Huai replied softly, smiling gently at Chu Xianning. Chu Xianning’s delicate pink lips pouted slightly. She looked at the winter-blooming plum blossoms in the snow and said softly, “It’s been so cold lately.”
“Yes, yes.”
Chu Xianning looked at Jiang Huai and realized his answer was innocent. After a while, she whispered again, “My quilt is a bit thin.”
“Then I’ll go to Ziyun Pavilion later to buy Master another fine snow-silk quilt.”
Chu Xianning suddenly realized she didn’t know if Jiang Huai was genuinely clueless or pretending to be.
But the next second, she heard Jiang Huai say, “If Master is still cold at night, my fox tail is also very warm.”
“Shameless.” Chu Xianning stopped biting her lips and instead, the corners of her lips curved slightly upwards.
“Heh, it’s so cold today, Master should stay warm. Don’t let your little feet get cold.”
Jiang Huai’s gaze shifted to the slender ankle beneath Chu Xianning’s Daoist robe. The moment Chu Xianning stepped out of her room today, he guessed that she might allow him to enter her room. This was because today, Chu Xianning was not wearing white socks that covered her little feet. Instead, she came out with her bare, icy-snow lotus feet.
“Oh.” Chu Xianning softly agreed.
“Your disciple will help Master warm them up,” Jiang Huai said, seizing the opportunity.
Chu Xianning raised her snow-white calf from beneath her Daoist robe. After a moment’s hesitation, her white and tender little feet rested on his leg. They were slightly cool at first but were quickly warmed by Jiang Huai’s burning hot hands. Jiang Huai playfully separated Chu Xianning’s delicate pink toes, which were like crystal grapes, or straightened her toes that would subconsciously curl up like a sensitive plant. He was endlessly amused.
Chu Xianning was no longer shy and annoyed as she used to be. Instead, she cupped her cheeks and looked at Jiang Huai in front of her, saying softly, “Don’t you ever get tired of playing?”
“Of course not.”
“You’ll get tired of it someday.”
“Why is Master so pessimistic?”
“Everything in the world is like this. If desires are not fulfilled, one craves them; once fulfilled, one becomes bored. At this moment, are you still as joyful as when you first held my ankle?”
“Master.” Jiang Huai looked up and winked at her. “Words are pale.”
“So?”
“If Master were to give me foot punishment once a day, I would look forward to it every day. Moreover, it would become a conditioned reflex. As soon as I see you lift your leg, I start to feel itchy. Master can try it and see.”
This was Pavlov’s Huai Law.
Chu Xianning rolled her eyes at him and gently poked his lower abdomen with her white and tender foot. “You scoundrel.”
“Huh? Master can roll her eyes too.”
“What? Can’t I?”
“No, I’ve just rarely seen it. It’s so cute.”
“Shameless.”
“Master, curse me a few more times. I like to hear it.”
Wen Wanwan’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, and then she looked up at him fiercely. However, even if she racked her brains, she couldn’t think of many insults. In the end, she merely poked his lower abdomen again with her white and tender foot, which was inconsequential.
“Speaking of which, I really want to know what Master has been thinking about lately,” Jiang Huai asked softly.
Chu Xianning shook her head slightly. “I haven’t thought of anything.”
“Eh?”
“It seems I don’t like complicated things. The more I think, the more uneasy I become. But last night, when I woke up in the middle of the night, I suddenly saw snow falling in the courtyard, and those awkward feelings seemed to have quietly disappeared.”
“Mm?”
Chu Xianning extended her hand, and a few snowflakes caught by the wind landed on her palm. She said softly, “I like snowy days. Everything is white and so clean.”
“I like it too.”
In his previous life, Jiang Huai had lived in the south, where heavy snow was rare. On snowy days, he would play snowball fights and build snowmen with his sister. Even if he didn’t want to, his sister, who would come bouncing back from outside, would stuff a handful of snow down his neck. Thus, he would angrily chase his sister downstairs and engage in a snowball fight with her.
In his previous life, he was actually much more melancholic than he was now. His parents had passed away, and he and his sister depended on each other. During the most difficult times, he was constantly worried about his sister’s future and tuition fees. Fortunately, his sister, Jiang Ning, never made him worry. At that time, he had never considered his own future. Fortunately, he didn’t have many aspirations anyway; he just wanted to live his life in a daze.
In this life, he was much more cheerful and sunny. Because he was so talented, his Sword Dao talent had never caused him any hardship. Moreover, he was Chu Xianning’s personal disciple, and Chu Xianning was so beautiful and pleasing to the eye, with such a cold and aloof personality. She perfectly matched his preferences. Thus, the gloomy parts of his heart gradually dissipated. Now, he felt lazy and leisurely every day, wanting only to enjoy his life happily without any worries.
Chu Xianning’s white and tender feet were still in his hands. He gently rubbed them, making Chu Xianning’s feet warmer. Chu Xianning looked at the falling snowflakes and said softly, “This snow reminded me of many things.”
“What?” Jiang Huai asked, puzzled.
“In my youth, my sword was my companion. At that time, my Master was the famous True Person Mu Ye of the Eastern Region. My Master had a gentle disposition. Back then, she often teased me, saying that my personality was cold all year round and asked if I needed her to find a marriage for me. She said my sword techniques couldn’t improve further, perhaps because my personality was too cold, and thus my sword was also too cold.”
“I refused Master, saying I disliked liveliness. But Master always liked to tease me about it. So I told her that if someone wanted to be my Dao Companion, they had to at least defeat me in sword techniques first.”
“For some reason, this statement spread. Later, many people came to spar with me, but none of them could defeat me. Eventually, no one came anymore, and I was happy to have leisure to continue diligently studying my sword techniques. Even practicing swordsmanship alone, I was quite satisfied with my sword momentum.”
“Later, Master ascended, and I gradually forgot about it.”
It was rare for Jiang Huai to hear Chu Xianning talk about her past, and he became interested. Of course, he knew a lot about Chu Xianning’s past, but he hadn’t heard it from her directly. Chu Xianning’s sword momentum was very powerful. Her cultivation level was relatively low, but within her realm, she had no equal. The strongest sword momentum in the Eastern Region currently, besides his Mirror Flower Water Moon, was Chu Xianning’s Silver Ray. She had defeated many Evil Cult cultivators by challenging them across realms, which was also the origin of her title, Flower-Plucking Fairy.
“Centuries passed, and I myself gradually forgot about it. But when you were eight years old, I taught you my sword techniques. It only took you three days to learn my Silver Ray and master my sword momentum. Three days later, you were already using it better than me.”
Jiang Huai chuckled softly. Chu Xianning, however, looked at him with a slight hint of grievance. “Don’t laugh.”
So Jiang Huai obediently straightened his face and listened obediently as Chu Xianning continued.
“It was as if my words from centuries ago had finally received a response centuries later. I watched you grow up, and I watched you gradually change from a good child to a bad boy. I began to feel anxious and tried to escape. So, I found Luo Yueguan and arranged this marriage for you. Luo Yueguan is the only friend I’ve ever had in my life. Marrying her daughter, I thought, was the best arrangement for you.”
“But it seems everything was still destined. I couldn’t escape the end of fate. I quietly fell in love with you… But even I don’t understand when it started, that I developed feelings for you. These past few nights when I couldn’t sleep, I thought about it repeatedly, but I couldn’t find an answer.”
“When I woke up this morning, the snow was covering the courtyard. I remembered the last time it snowed at the Tian Xuan Sect was when you were brought back covered in blood early this year, with your meridians severed. Granny Jiuy came and prescribed that medicine for you. I thought about it all night, but all I thought about was how to persuade Luo Yueguan to treat your injuries, not how to persuade myself. Then, I seemed to understand.”
“It seems I fell for you, this little bastard, a very, very long time ago. I thought I could rely on escape, on deceiving myself, to pretend that nothing had happened. But I’m not good at lying. The closer you got, the more flustered I became, until there was nowhere to run. I had to admit… when I went to find Luo Yueguan to arrange a marriage for you that day, my heart was filled with reluctance.”
At this point, Chu Xianning’s eyes became wistful again. Jiang Huai’s eyes, however, were bright. He suddenly felt his heart pounding faster and faster, to the point where he couldn’t breathe. He softly said, “Is Master confessing her love to me?”
Chu Xianning turned her face away. “Not at all.”
She looked at the winter-blooming plum blossoms slowly opening in the courtyard and said softly, “I’m just answering your earlier question… These past few days, I’ve probably been thinking about these things.”
“Is that so…” Jiang Huai gazed into Chu Xianning’s eyes and said softly, “I want to kiss Master.”
Chu Xianning tilted her head slightly. “You’ve already reached the Fourth Level of the Seventh Realm. I can’t beat you anymore. You’ve graduated. You don’t need to call me Master anymore.”
“I want to kiss Ningning.”
“You’re not allowed to… You keep calling me Ningning… I’m not used to it yet…”
“I want to kiss you, Chu Xianning.”
Chu Xianning finally turned her face back slowly. A faint blush appeared on her snow-white cheeks, and she said softly, “Only for… a little while.”
