A spring breeze bloomed overnight.
The branches in the courtyard were stained white with snow, resembling clusters of blooming pear blossoms. Jiang Huai was in the kitchen simmering a warming red date sweet soup. He had replaced the previous small clay pot with an extra-large one so he could cook a large batch at once and deliver it to the girls in portions.
Chu Xianning had not yet gotten out of bed.
Perhaps it was the cold winter weather, or perhaps Chu Xianning had become increasingly pampered lately. Even she, who was usually cold and disciplined, had started lingering in bed.
He delivered the sweet soup in portions to the courtyard, finally carrying a bowl to the door of Chu Xianning’s room. He didn’t bother knocking this time but pushed the door open directly. However, Chu Xianning was currently sitting on the bed, her hands clasped behind her back, struggling with the buttons of her underwear.
She wasn’t used to the buttons on the new style of underwear from Ziyun Pavilion. The moment she saw Jiang Huai, a hint of playful displeasure flickered in her eyes, and a faint blush appeared on her usually cool cheeks.
Even though Jiang Huai had kissed every part of her body last night, she still blushed now.
Jiang Huai placed the sweet soup aside, and Chu Xianning withdrew her hands, turning her back to him, waiting for him to fasten the buttons. But Jiang Huai grabbed her underwear, tossing it aside. The next moment, her soft, full breasts fell into Jiang Huai’s grasp.
He leaned closer to Chu Xianning’s ear. “Is Master feeling uncomfortable again like last time?”
“No! I am!” Chu Xianning gritted her teeth, as if recalling an unpleasant memory.
Last month, when her Flower Spirit Physique’s desires surged, although they weren’t as clingy and tormenting as before, she was just more sensitive than usual. Thus, she was dual cultivating with Jiang Huai in the room to suppress them. However, her mind was hazy, and she happened to hear this guy deliberately trying to make her blush and call that name. Just as her body convulsed and trembled, some inappropriate fluids unexpectedly seeped out.
“Oh… let me check.”
As soon as Jiang Huai finished speaking, Chu Xianning lowered her head and bit down hard on his arm. Jiang Huai had to restrain his Overlord Art to prevent Chu Xianning from hurting her teeth. After being bitten solidly, he obediently withdrew his hand, fastened Chu Xianning’s buttons, picked up her dress from the side, and was about to help her put it on. But Chu Xianning snatched it away, saying indifferently, “I can dress myself.”
“Oh…”
Jiang Huai sat obediently to the side.
Watching Chu Xianning dress was also quite interesting because under his gaze, she would become especially awkward and clumsy, and a little blush would appear on her cool face.
After she was dressed, she finally sat by the bedside, looking at Jiang Huai in front of her, her voice growing colder, “I shouldn’t have gone soft on you last night.”
“Master bullied me so much, hmph, don’t I get to bully you a little?”
Unfortunately, Jiang Huai couldn’t reason with Chu Xianning. Chu Xianning’s white and tender little feet lightly kicked him before she finally got up and walked out of the room with her bare, snow-like lotus feet.
Even without shoes, it was more natural than stepping into those sticky crystal shoes last night.
Jiang Huai had to move the sweet soup back to the courtyard and sat opposite Chu Xianning, sipping the sweet soup slowly with a spoon.
***
Jiang Huai still hadn’t used up the Green Vine Spirit Source that burst out after Lin Qing’s death.
After all, it was the origin power of the Life Divine Tree, accumulated over hundreds of years. Although Jiang Huai’s cultivation level was currently stuck at the fifth level of the Ninth Realm and he couldn’t improve with the Green Vine Spirit Source, this spirit source had significantly boosted the cultivation of the girls in the courtyard.
Jiang Huai had already entered his retirement life. He practiced sword techniques very rarely. He had practiced occasionally in the past few months and had already mastered the cultivation of the fifth level of the Ninth Realm. Further practice wouldn’t yield any progress unless someone with much better sword technique experience than him suddenly appeared, allowing him to learn their techniques. Otherwise, relying on his own research and comprehension, it would be difficult to achieve further breakthroughs.
So, he would occasionally practice sword techniques with Jiang Zhi, finding a secluded spot and engaging in a real fight without suppressing their cultivation levels. Anyway, Jiang Huai now possessed the Azure Water Green Vine Divine Art, which he had cultivated to the tenth level and understood the meaning of Lin Qing’s previous words.
Below the Tenth Realm, no means, no matter what, could completely kill him. Therefore, Jiang Zhi could attack him with all her might. Her cultivation was at the ninth level of the Ninth Realm, four minor realms higher than Jiang Huai’s. She often left Jiang Huai covered in sword wounds, her eyes cold, as if venting some unidentifiable resentment.
Jiang Huai didn’t mind. He wasn’t afraid of pain and treated it as practice for ascending to the upper realm. Thus, he maintained the habit of letting Jiang Zhi “beat” him once a week. Gradually, he noticed something more subtle: it seemed that after each sword practice session with Jiang Zhi, her coldness towards him would lessen slightly.
However, in the past six months, neither of them had mentioned dual cultivation again, not even in passing. Jiang Huai often sent her a portion of the pastries and food he made. Although he was occasionally subjected to foot punishment by her in the courtyard as a reprisal, Jiang Huai’s thick skin was now like a city wall, and such minor humiliation couldn’t harm him.
Jiang Zhi had been treating him better and better lately, her attitude becoming more amiable, unlike her previous unpredictable moods. However, Jiang Huai knew very well that Jiang Zhi likely didn’t have any romantic feelings for him.
Perhaps in Jiang Zhi’s eyes, he was merely a child with talent and destiny. She had never placed him on the same level as herself. Fortunately, Jiang Huai didn’t care. He didn’t need Jiang Zhi’s love to make their future dual cultivation less awkward.
He was originally someone who appeared well-behaved and polite on the surface, but was actually a shameless scoundrel.
Recently, there were several gatherings and meals in the courtyard. Most of the dishes were co-prepared by Jiang Huai and Chu Xianning. Chu Xianning learned quickly and had already mastered about seventy to eighty percent of Jiang Huai’s signature dishes. Jiang Huai often experimented with new recipes with her in the courtyard. He loved this warm and simple atmosphere, which brought immense peace to his heart, making time seem to fly by.
He used to always ask Chu Xianning if Master, who had lived for six hundred years, felt that six hundred years was a long time. Chu Xianning would reply that if one’s heart was calm, those years might feel like a mere flick of the finger in retrospect.
It seemed this was indeed the case. Before he knew it, it had been half a year since Ji Qingxuan and Jiang Huai were married.
***
It was midsummer again.
Jiang Huai woke up groggily, feeling a slight pain in his chest. He looked down and saw that Jun Anshui’s little dragon horns were poking his chest.
The dragon tribe had no custom of marriage, and Jun Anshui had no concept of marriage. She preferred to call Jiang Huai “little brother.” It had to be said that whenever she rode on him and gently, slowly called him “little brother,” Jiang Huai always felt a tinge of shame.
Jiang Huai picked her up and groggily got out of bed. In the courtyard, he saw another spiritual pigeon arrive. It was Su Qiang, who planned to stay with Su Qingyi for a while to escape the summer heat. Jiang Huai had no objections. She had also come to the Eastern Region in the spring to admire flowers. That night, she had invited him to the mountaintop to enjoy the flowers and then forcefully took advantage of him amidst the blossoms. It was too much.
Although Little Huai also had the ability to flip her over and pin her down to bully her, Little Huai desisted. Looking at the swaying flower petals and the cool night, with boundless romance, it seemed not bad either.
Jiang Huai also took the opportunity to ask her if she wanted to marry him. Su Qiang’s answer was no. In the words of the Fox Clan, only they took people to marry them; there was no reason for them to marry someone else. Jiang Huai didn’t care… let her be. It just felt like he was always doing something particularly immoral, like stealing a bite of forbidden fruit, even though the girls in the courtyard also knew about it.
After Su Qiang left, Wen Wanwan often teased him, asking if he had secretly done bad things with Su Qiang while admiring flowers and the moon. At these times, Jiang Huai’s face would turn red, but he would absolutely not dare to lie, and would eventually be met with a burst of laughter.
As the seasons changed, the girls in the courtyard wore increasingly lighter clothing. When they were playing in the pool, Jiang Huai would watch from the side, feeling a little restless, but he absolutely dared not walk over.
If he chose one to grab and bully, many pairs of eyes would be watching him, as if asking, “Why are you bullying her and not me?” So, he could only sit there obediently, waiting for someone to come and tease him, and then be “bullied” by him as a natural consequence.
It was a lie that the harem king’s body would tremble and all the girls would put on a “dimwitted halo.”
***
Midsummer, with lush foliage.
Jiang Huai, holding a glass of peach soda he had just made, went to Jiang Zhi’s courtyard. The transparent glass contained freshly squeezed peach juice and bubbles, with ice cubes clinking inside. When he arrived, Jiang Zhi was lazily lying on a lounge chair, gazing at the setting sun.
Jiang Huai sat down beside her and handed her the glass of peach soda. Jiang Zhi took it and took a gentle sip.
At this moment, she was wearing a white, form-fitting qipao. While it was tight, the slit on the lower part was extremely high. Her slender, white and tender thigh revealed warm skin. The sunlight cast upon her, and she turned her head to look at Jiang Huai beside her, suddenly narrowing her eyes and lazily asking, “How much time is left until the day we agreed on last year?”
“Two months have already passed,” Jiang Huai replied truthfully.
Jiang Zhi was stunned, then said coldly, “Why didn’t you remind me?”
Jiang Huai scratched his head.
Jiang Zhi took another sip of the peach soda and said lightly, “I’ve changed my mind.”
“Hm?”
“I don’t want to be the one exploiting you anymore. I want you to serve me well.”
“Okay.” Jiang Huai agreed readily and cheerfully. Jiang Zhi then asked, “Then do you have any requests?”
“Not really…”
Jiang Huai thought for a moment, then changed his mind. “If Sister doesn’t mind, maybe you could not take off this qipao?”
Jiang Zhi pondered for a few seconds and very, very lightly agreed.
The two, convinced that they didn’t love each other, seriously discussed the night’s events. After a long conversation, Jiang Zhi finished her peach soda and tossed the ice cubes in her cup into her mouth, chewing them. After a while, she stood up and gently tapped Jiang Huai’s forehead with her fingertip. “Come.”
Jiang Huai followed her into the room. The afterglow of the sunset streamed in through the window. She sat on the bed, the hem of her qipao falling loose. As Jiang Huai kissed her, she avoided his lips. Jiang Huai didn’t feel ashamed or defeated. Instead, he switched to kissing her neck.
Until her waist began to arch, her eyes became gentle and hazy, and her body became pliant and submissive. Even though her heart was devoid of love, the honey-like fluid still flowed slowly. She bit her lip tightly, as if everything from the past thousand years was finally coming to an end.
But it wasn’t as painful and humiliating as she had imagined. She only felt her body continuously falling, falling, but not into the abyss of hell. It was as if all the sounds of the world had stopped. In her peripheral vision, she could still glimpse the setting sun, which was now just a faint afterglow in the distance. Once the sun completely set, the world would be plunged into darkness.
“The sun has set.”
This was the first sentence she spoke, and a line of tears slowly slid down from the corner of her eye.
“There are still stars and the moon,” Jiang Huai whispered in her ear. “You should be looking at me now.”
“I won’t,” Jiang Zhi turned her face away, grabbing a pillow and covering her face. At this moment, her toes were clenched tight, her calves instinctively lifted, kicking and thrashing around, but she had no branch to cling to.
