The snow at the Shasheng Sect fell for many days.
The jade steps were sheltered by the eaves, covered only by a thin layer of snow, so one wouldn’t sink too deeply when stepping on them.
But Jiang Xidai felt as if she could still hear the sound of Yan Huirou’s slow departure that day in the rustling wind and snow, as if it were right by her ear.
A few large snowflakes brushed past her brow, icy cold, like the feeling of Yan Huirou’s lips leaving her forehead, the cool wind leaving a chill there.
Jiang Xidai turned to look back.
A string of footprints was left on the snow. Before, Yan Huirou’s would have been there, but suddenly, there was only her own.
This scene couldn’t help but make her frown.
Yan Huirou…
A faint bitterness welled up in Jiang Xidai’s heart. She hadn’t felt it when Yan Huirou was by her side.
But after the little girl left, she suddenly felt the wind and snow were cold. Although snow was rare, there was nothing to see.
Such days seemed even harder to endure in the long passage of time.
The only consolation was that since coming out of seclusion, Yan Huirou had been practicing her sword with exceptional diligence and seriousness.
But it was precisely because Yan Huirou would always finish her practice neatly and go home, no longer acting spoiled with her—that Jiang Xidai sometimes wanted to say a few more words to the little girl, but found she couldn’t find the opportunity.
Jiang Xidai stood and watched the snow, feeling inexplicably lonely. She had never been very fond of this bleak scene, and after a short while, she returned to Qionghua Hall.
With a casual wave of her hand, the bright lamps beside her lit up, one after another.
She lit all the lamps and brought out several treasure chests she had gathered from the storeroom.
The warm lamplight shone on the beautiful gems, the translucent ones pleasing to the eye, the sparkling ones a delight to behold.
Jiang Xidai picked one up and placed it in her palm, watching the priceless little bead roll around like a dewdrop.
After rolling for a long time, it also rolled her drowsiness into a thicker bundle.
She yawned and turned over.
Perhaps she was a little distracted. As she closed her hands, a sharp pain shot through her, and a gem with a sharper edge cut her skin.
Jiang Xidai let out a muffled grunt and quickly opened her hand, watching as a line of blood, along with the stone, fell.
Injured again.
It hurts a little.
I don’t like this kind of pain.
…But it was fine, not too unbearable.
Jiang Xidai leaned back in her chair, her lashes slightly lowered, and opened her palm, watching the beads of blood seep out one by one.
Drip, drop.
She was in no mood to deal with it. Her gaze was fixed on her continuously bleeding palm, and Yan Huirou’s face suddenly appeared in her mind.
Jiang Xidai was quiet for a long while.
As if possessed, she picked up the shattered jewels from the floor.
She took the sharpest piece and aimed it at her own wrist, frowning as she cut it. But in the end, she was still a little afraid of the pain, and this cut only made a shallow gash.
So Jiang Xidai picked up a few more broken jewels and clenched them in her hand. She closed her eyes and, after a long, slow moment, squeezed them tight, watching more blood flow down her arm…
She opened her bloodied palm, which was trembling slightly from the pain.
But Jiang Xidai felt much more comfortable than before. She didn’t stop the bleeding and just leaned against her hand. She relaxed a little, and gradually, the pain slowly faded, and she fell asleep without realizing it.
Wen Xianyin learned that the Sect Master was out of seclusion and, as was custom, had to come and report the major and minor events within the Shasheng Sect over the past half-year. Fortunately, the sect had been peaceful for the past six months, so there wasn’t much to say.
She organized her thoughts a little, knocked on the door of Qionghua Hall, and then pushed it open.
At a glance—
Wen Xianyin’s heart leaped. What is she doing again?
Wen Xianyin looked at the blood on the floor and the woman sleeping soundly, and couldn’t help but take a small step back.
She retreated out the door, her footsteps hurried as she went straight to Bright Moon Pavilion to find Yan Huirou.
At this moment, Yan Huirou was playing chess with Bi Luo outside. They were winning and losing, with several strips of paper stuck to their faces.
Yan Huirou’s brows were relaxed, and she would smile at her from time to time, looking as gentle as ever. But Bi Luo always felt that the person in front of her was not focused on the chessboard.
She held a chess piece, slowly rubbing it between her fingertips. Just then, a noise came from the main gate.
“Miss Yan.”
“The Sect Master has lost a lot of blood. She—”
Before Wen Xianyin could finish, she saw the chess piece fall, crashing onto the chessboard, startling Bi Luo as well.
Yan Huirou’s expression was dazed. She frowned and looked up. “What?”
Inside Qionghua Hall of the Shasheng Sect.
The woman curled up on the seat slowly opened her eyes. She was still groggy from sleep when she heard the loud sound of a door opening.
The white snow outside reflected the daylight, flooding in all at once, exceptionally glaring.
In the hazy gap, she saw Yan Huirou walking toward her in a hurry, or to exaggerate, rushing over—and she immediately lifted her hand.
Yan Huirou pressed down on her hand, her expression a little dark.
“Stop the bleeding quickly. What are you doing?”
Jiang Xidai smelled the strong scent of blood. She squeezed her hand slightly and found that the cuts were still oozing blood.
The floor was already spattered with red, a rather frightening sight.
Yan Huirou had rushed over in such a hurry that she hadn’t even put on her outer robe properly, and naturally, she hadn’t had time to avoid the snow.
Her hair was full of snowflakes, and she brought with her a thin chill.
But Yan Huirou had no time for these details. She quickly sprinkled some Hemostatic Pill powder on Jiang Xidai’s wound. Only when she saw the wound had clotted did she look up.
“Senior Sister Wen told me on the way here that this isn’t the first time.”
Yan Huirou was usually gentle, but when her face was serious, she was quite intimidating. “Right?”
Jiang Xidai stared at her hand for a long while. “I cut it by accident. I thought it was a small cut and would heal quickly, so it was nothing.”
“Quickly? How could a wound near the wrist heal quickly?”
“Even if it were quick,” Yan Huirou said angrily, “you just slept like that? Without even bothering to take care of it? Sect Master Jiang, don’t you know your own constitution, that every time you’re injured, it takes several times the effort to stop the bleeding?”
“Yan Huirou.”
Jiang Xidai originally didn’t want to be close to her anymore. Leaving was fine, moving back to Bright Moon Pavilion was also fine. It was as if the great master of the Shasheng Sect was lacking a Yan Huirou to take care of her.
When Yan Huirou wanted to go back, Jiang Xidai’s attitude was very indifferent, even deliberately cold. Her crimson lips parted, and she had only tossed out a harsh phrase: “As you wish.”
“…”
Yan Huirou’s anger and worry, upon encountering the woman’s unusually fragile posture, were instantly like a damp firecracker, unable to go off at all. She could only let it out quietly in her heart.
It’s over, she thought.
She couldn’t be angry with Jiang Xidai, so there was nothing she could do.
Yan Huirou sighed softly, applied the medicinal powder more evenly, then bent down to pick up the few blood-stained jewels on the floor, tidying up the other side.
“I won’t say anything more. Why are you always so worrying?”
Jiang Xidai’s attitude softened for no reason, perhaps it was the emotions in her heart acting up.
She let Yan Huirou tend to her arm, even leaning against her quietly, watching her bustle about.
A thought emerged.
How nice.
Jiang Xidai was extremely fond of being taken care of. When Yan Huirou leaned over to wipe the blood for her, she suddenly felt her arms were a little empty.
She subconsciously wanted to hug Yan Huirou, but just as she raised her hand, she found that Yan Huirou had imperceptibly shied away.
Her hand paused, then she lowered it.
She pretended nothing had happened, her lashes lowering, her fingertips rubbing her clothes in small circles, as if smoothing out the wrinkles.
‘Was this not the way an elder and junior should behave?’ But Yan Huirou didn’t seem to think so.
Jiang Xidai thought to herself that she was indeed a despicable person. On one hand, she longed for effortless hugs and warmth, and on the other, she was afraid to offer her own feelings.
She frowned slightly and, after thinking for a long while, realized that she was indeed a little scared.
So she could be a thousand times, ten thousand times good to Yan Huirou, she could trust her, she could go through life and death with her, but the one thing she couldn’t offer was her own tattered love.
But looking at it this way, why would Yan Huirou resist… What did she think of her?
If it wasn’t a love that crossed boundaries, why the extra anger and care? But according to the System’s speculation, Yan Huirou didn’t like women, so it probably wasn’t love for her.
Then what could it be? In that full 129 favorability, what could the System’s mechanical numbers calculate?
Jiang Xidai didn’t know and wasn’t willing to think about it.
She couldn’t even see her own heart clearly and just acted according to her preferences. If Yan Huirou were still as intimate with her as before, and she got what she wanted, she probably would never have thought so deeply about it in her entire life.
A string in her mind tightened, giving her a headache.
Jiang Xidai pressed her brow and rubbed it, turning to her side and letting out a faint sigh from between her lips.
There’s really no helping it with her.
“Yan Huirou, after you’ve finished cleaning up, are you still going back to Bright Moon Pavilion?”
Jiang Xidai asked, seemingly unintentionally.
Yan Huirou answered without looking up, “I just hope that next time, the Sect Master won’t make me clean up a pool of your blood-stained fragments.”
“It’s snowing heavily today, you shouldn’t go over there.” Jiang Xidai said, “Walking back and forth will let the wind into my Qionghua Hall. This hall is spacious, and every time it’s opened, it takes a long time to warm up.”
She sat up a little, and the light robe on her shoulders slipped down, revealing her charming, rounded shoulder. “I don’t want to be in a cold draft, and I don’t like to wear clothes to block the wind. So wait until the snow stops and the weather is better.”
When the woman’s voice was soft at the end, although her tone was light, Yan Huirou could hear a hint of reserved reluctance in it.
Her heart softened, and she looked at Jiang Xidai intently. “…Sect Master.”
The woman, however, was completely unaware and just curled her red lips, saying leisurely, “No need to say more.”
Yan Huirou opened her palm. “In Bright Moon Pavilion, my cultivation will be faster.”
Jiang Xidai had checked on her once, and her progress was indeed more significant than in Qionghua Hall. She couldn’t help but feel displeased. “Why?”
Yan Huirou: “…”
She didn’t want Jiang Xidai to think of the real reason. She felt an unspeakable shame.
So she shook her head and quickly changed the subject. “Perhaps I’m more focused. So Sect Master, for your safety… and mine, I have to cultivate properly, so I won’t come over.”
“No.” The master of the Shasheng Sect appropriately displayed her arbitrary willfulness. “At least not before the snow stops.”
“Then when you sleep at night, you can’t hold me.”
Seeing that there was no room for discussion, Yan Huirou had no choice but to take a step back and raise an objection—she really didn’t want to be stimulated during the day and have that strange dream again.
“…”
Jiang Xidai said, “What’s the big deal.”
So Yan Huirou stayed for a day.
But the next day, the sky did not clear.
The snow actually fell harder.
It was just the will of heaven.
On the third day, it still didn’t clear.
It was just the will of heaven.
From the fourth and fifth day, to the tenth and so on, the snow had melted and turned into a drizzling rain. But it still didn’t clear.
It was just… the will of heaven?
Yan Huirou stood on the balcony of Qionghua Hall, pushed open a crack in the window, and stroked the vermilion window frame.
The clouds in the sky were rolling, swallowing layers of ink, a deep, shallow, gray-black expanse that covered the entire sky above the Shasheng Sect, not moving for a moment.
Yan Huirou looked back at Jiang Xidai.
Jiang Xidai was sitting on the side, a pot of wine on a low table. She had just had a few cups and had let her beloved wood-and-stone butterfly fly.
The beautiful red shadow landed on her fingertip, then flapped its wings and flew away, before landing on her shoulder again.
“Do you like butterflies?”
“Mm.”
Yan Huirou: “Coincidentally, Bi Luo has some skills in catching butterflies. Next time, I’ll catch a netful with her.”
“No need. I don’t like living ones.”
Yan Huirou was surprised. “Why?”
“A creation of wood for a body and stone for a heart, that is very good.”
Jiang Xidai tossed the butterfly out, and it still flapped its wings in the air, steadying its small body, and flew back to her gracefully.
“You see. No matter how many times I let it go, it will always fly back to me.”
“If it were alive, it would want to fly away, it would avoid my hand, and become a little annoying.”
The fiery red wings, outlined in gold, gently closed. This time, the butterfly landed in her hair. The butterfly became the only decoration on her dark hair, as if she had pinned a flower there, but it was surprisingly fitting.
Jiang Xidai touched the butterfly in her hair, her face obscured in the dim shadows.
She casually poured a cup of light wine, held it to her lips, and looked up at Yan Huirou quietly.
But I hope the wind and rain come, to keep you here.
