Chapter 9: Talk more. Could it be that... you don't hate him now...
(Nine)
When I returned from the dueling arena, it was already dark.
Li Shanglu lit the candlestick, and at once a tiny warm flame emerged from the candlestick, and flew around like a candlestick with wings. In just a moment, all the eternal candles in the Shutong Pavilion were lit.
She looked at the brightly lit house in surprise. For the first time, she realized how powerful the outside world was. The difference between the world of cultivators and the world of mortals was truly as vast as heaven and earth.
In the kitchen, Shen Changyi brought out the cooked meal and placed it on the round table.
Different from those monks who rely heavily on spells, he seldom uses spells. Except for things he really doesn't know how to do, he does everything by himself.
Li Shanglu stared at him as he took a bite of the hot pancake, and he could probably guess why he did that.
She always said that cultivation was useless, and Shen Changyi probably thought she hated magic. Now that she thought about it, she was indeed judging others by her own standards. But who would have thought that Shen Changyi was actually extremely talented?
"You're not having a good time in the sect either," Li Shanglu said calmly. "If I hadn't been here today, would you really have duelled with that person?"
Shen Changyi shook his head and said, "I was waiting for the Sect Master to come."
Once on the duel stage, the two must fight to the death. This was originally set up for those disciples who betrayed the sect, but no one expected it to be used on him.
Li Shanglu snorted lightly and said nonchalantly, "I should give him a good beating first. I've never seen anyone more unreasonable than me."
Hearing her words, Shen Changyi suddenly raised his head and looked at her straight.
"Why are you looking at me?" Li Shanglu frowned. "If I hadn't been unable to defeat him, I would have definitely beaten him. Of course, not for you."
Hearing this, Shen Changyi chuckled, "I suddenly remembered my childhood."
"Back then, I was often bullied by the neighborhood kids because of my slow personality," Shen Changyi looked at her and said softly, "My parents raised me too well when I was young. I was very fat, and it was difficult for me to get up after falling down. Those kids didn't like me, so they pushed me down and kicked me like a ball."
Li Shanglu couldn't help laughing out loud. She really didn't remember this incident very clearly. The only thing that impressed her was that Shen Changyi was indeed chubby when he was a child. Although he was a little fatter, she always felt that he was much pleasing to the eye than now. At least he looked honest and loyal, unlike now, where that smart face was wasted.
She rarely responded to his words properly, and looked at him with her chin on her hand. "What happened next? You don't want to say that I happened to save you, do you?"
Shen Changyi pursed his lips and said, "You were the one who started the kick."
Li Shanglu: “?”
Is this true?
She seemed to remember vaguely.
At that time, she was the leader of the children in the city. She would chase and play on the streets every day when she had nothing to do. However, in her memory, the little fat boy who she had kicked like a ball was the one who voluntarily played with them.
Why do I say it is voluntary? Because no matter how many times she bullies him, he will always come to play with her.
When she was in a good mood, she would play with him for a while, and when she was in a bad mood, she would bully him. Seeing him look aggrieved, she would feel better.
Gradually, the blurry face in her memory merged with the person in front of her. Li Shanglu laughed so hard that she couldn't breathe. She had really forgotten about this, otherwise she would have laughed to death every time she thought about it.
"Are you stupid? You kicked me and came to me?" Li Shanglu wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes, "I think I didn't kick you enough."
Seeing her smile so happily, Shen Changyi's lips curled up slightly, and he said softly, "Because other children told me that you are a very loyal person. If you make friends with me, they will make friends with me."
In Shen Changyi's opinion at that time, her prestige among the children was no less than that of the sect leader in the Mingzhou Sect, and all the children followed her lead.
Shen Changyi knew that he was a boring and taciturn person with few good qualities. He was weak and sickly when he was young, and his body became fat due to long-term medication. When Li Shanglu first came to the Shen family with his father and mother, he was like the first plum blossom blooming in early spring, breaking through the ice, melting the snow, and breaking into his world with vigorous vitality.
He wanted to talk to her, say anything, or just sit beside her and look at her. He wanted to become someone like her, never afraid of getting sick, being alone, or being disliked and boring.
Unfortunately, Li Shanglu didn't even remember his name at all. He only knew that he was the son of his parents' friend.
He could only think of other ways, to quietly approach her, even if she pushed him down and laughed at him, it didn't matter, that little bit of force wouldn't hurt at all.
Ever since Shen Changyi became Li Shanglu's "friend", he followed her around every day, climbing trees, digging bird nests, catching crickets, and catching snails in the river... Li Shanglu would share his favorite candied haws and steamed sweet cakes with him, and would teach him how to play with the most popular flower rope among children.
If other children bullied him, Li Shanglu would push them behind him like he did today on the duel stage and fight with them without hesitation.
It's more like protecting someone rather than being loyal. The person she has chosen can only be bullied by herself and no one else.
Later, Li Shanglu married Shen Changyi.
The person I wanted to be close to the most when I was young, I don’t know when I started to dislike him.
His thoughts stopped here, and he didn't want to think about what happened next.
"I can't remember those things anymore," Li Shanglu said, increasingly suspecting that he was secretly holding a grudge. It must have been something from when he was three or four years old, yet he could remember it so clearly. "Are you planning to keep this grudge in mind so you can take revenge on me someday?"
Shen Changyi was stunned for a moment, then whispered, "How can this be considered a grudge? I have never blamed you."
Li Shanglu scoffed and stood up to cut the candle flames. "It's just a joke. It's boring. You're always so serious."
After he finished speaking, Shen Changyi's body stiffened and he lowered his eyes woodenly.
Yes, he was such an unpleasant person, and the originally warm atmosphere was so easily ruined by his own words.
He talked too much today, he should talk less in the future. As long as he keeps silent, he will never go wrong.
The candle flame was snuffed out, and the room fell into darkness.
"Go practice now, I'm going to sleep." Li Shanglu yawned and prepared to go to bed, but she saw Shen Changyi still sitting at the table motionless. She asked puzzledly, "Do you have anything else to say?"
Shen Changyi slowly shook his head, stood up and left silently.
Before he could open the door, Li Shanglu's cold voice suddenly rang out from behind him, "I was just asking you a question, shouldn't you at least give me a reply?"
He turned around, carefully considered his words in his heart, and said cautiously, "I have nothing to say."
Li Shanglu took a deep breath and raised his hand to press on the door panel to block his way. "What do you mean, you suddenly have nothing to say to me?"
As soon as these words came out, Shen Changyi seemed to have encountered a huge problem, which made him even more helpless than the stagnation of his cultivation. He hesitated for a moment, then simply hardened his heart and pursed his lips in silence.
Seeing him like this, Li Shanglu got angry and hesitated, making her unable to figure out what he was thinking. She simply lowered her tone and said, "Just say whatever's on your mind!"
Shen Changyi raised his eyes to look at her, and under the intimidation of her gaze, he had no choice but to slowly open his lips.
"I want to stay here and sleep with you."
Li Shanglu: ...
The air froze for a moment, and both of them fell silent. The muddy bed, the narrow room, the rapid breathing and the scorching body temperature that night emerged in their minds.
Under the moonlight, Li Shanglu managed to squeeze out a few words from between his teeth, "I told you to say it, and you really dared to say it."
Fortunately, it was dark at night and the blush on her cheeks could not be seen.
Shen Changyi put his hand to his lips, and the side of his face quickly became hot in the dark night.
"Feel sorry."
Li Shanglu always felt that if she had not stopped Shen Changyi to ask clearly, some misunderstanding would have arisen between them.
Now it's okay, the misunderstanding is gone, and what Shen Changyi wanted to say was indeed not something good.
The memories were too painful, and she really didn't want to go through this with Chen Changyi again. Li Shanglu simply turned his face away and said indifferently, "I'm still used to sleeping alone."
This was already expected, so Shen Changyi was not too disappointed. He just responded and turned to leave.
As he stepped out of the door, he suddenly heard a woman's very soft and low voice behind him, "Chen Changyi."
Shen Changyi's eyelashes trembled suddenly, and his boots stopped in place.
"Talk more."
His chest heaving, he barely held onto the door frame and didn't turn around to look at his wife beside the couch, fearing that one more glance would destroy this hard-earned tenderness like a dream.
"Yeah, I understand."
*
During the peaceful days, Li Shanglu gradually became familiar with the sect disciples.
Teng Xu, who fainted because of her anger that day, shook hands with Shen Changyi and made peace with him under the patient mediation of the sect leader. However, every time Li Shanglu appeared in front of him, Teng Xu would slip away as if he had seen a ghost.
She clearly looks older than her father, yet she is so timid.
Li Shanglu was very happy. The more Teng Xu avoided her, the more she wanted to go up and talk to him.
So, when Shen Changyi went out to fight demons, Elder Teng Xu became Li Shanglu's "playmate".
"So you are an alchemy practitioner, no wonder you don't need to exorcise demons." Li Shanglu looked at the various alchemy furnaces placed in the hall with curiosity. They were really magical. A few weeds that looked like wheat seedlings were put in, and after half a minute of blessing from spiritual energy, they turned into a pill.
Teng Xu had been tortured to the point of losing his temper, so he patiently replied, "That's not the case. Dan practitioners can also exorcise demons, but they just use poison."
Li Shanglu was very sensitive to the word "poisoning". She coughed lightly and said, "Elder Teng, do you think I have the talent to become an alchemy practitioner?"
Hearing this, Teng Xu glanced at her in surprise, "You?"
He folded his arms and looked at her for a moment, then shook his head, "No, you can't even condense the most basic spiritual energy."
Li Shanglu: "Oh."
She didn't expect much from herself whether she could become a cultivator. After all, there were only a few people in the world who could practice cultivation.
After a while, Teng Xu saw her coming up to tinker with his alchemy furnace again. The corners of his mouth twitched, and a thought suddenly popped up in his mind, "Oh, right, I have a disciple who, like you, can't condense spiritual energy. If you really want to learn, you can go and ask him for advice."
He couldn't wait to send Li Shanglu away, and before Li Shanglu could answer, he asked someone to summon the disciple.
Li Shanglu's heart moved slightly. If she could really become an alchemist, she might be able to live a good life without Shen Changyi in the future. She had heard that a pill could be sold for hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver.
Not long after, a tall figure strode through the door. Before I even saw him, I heard a hearty laugh, "Elder Teng, how did you know I was thinking about seeing you today?"
Li Shanglu looked over when he heard the voice. The man was dressed in white and looked handsome. There was a smile on his lips, and two beautiful dimples were embedded in his face, which made him inexplicably feel a bit of favor towards him.
When the disciples in the hall saw him coming, the atmosphere instantly became much more lively, and everyone came forward to chat and laugh with him.
"You're such a chatterbox." Even Elder Teng, who had a bad temper and a rigid personality, smiled. "Lan Jin, come here. I'll introduce someone to you."
Li Shanglu stood in front of him and met his gaze.
"This is Master Jianxian's cousin, Li Shanglu. She wants to learn alchemy from you."
"This brat is my disciple, the only genius in the entire Ming Zhou Sect and even in the world of cultivation who can slay demons with a mortal body, Helan Jin."
Helan Jin's gaze fell on her, a smile in his eyes, and he bowed and saluted, "So you are the Sword Immortal's cousin, nice to meet you."
Li Shanglu continued to stare at him for a long while, but did not respond.
The scene became awkward. Helan Jin looked at her in confusion, "Miss Li?"
Li Shanglu suddenly looked away and said calmly, "You're so pretentious. It's really disgusting. Elder Teng, I won't learn from you anymore."
Helan Jin froze in place, watching her turn and leave without looking back. After a moment's reaction, he gritted his teeth and chased after her.
"Miss Li, Miss Li..."
The other party kept walking and had no intention of paying any attention to him.
Helan Jin couldn't help but feel a little angry. He rushed forward and grabbed her wrist. "Miss Li, why are you prejudiced against me? This is clearly the first time we meet."
The force was quite strong, and Li Shanglu frowned in pain and had to turn his head to look at him.
Why?
Others can't see it, but she can.
"You hate Shen Changyi, right?"
Helan Jin looked at her in astonishment, and subconsciously defended himself, "How could the young lady misunderstand me like this..."
Li Shanglu sneered and shook off his hand. "Just now, when Elder Teng introduced me as his cousin, your eyes showed extreme disgust for a moment. They couldn't see it, but I could. Because I looked at Shen Changyi the same way before, so I know it best."
After hearing her words, Helan Jin was silent for a long time. He suddenly laughed out loud, "How amazing."
He slowly approached Li Shanglu, half leaned over, stared at her and said, "So, Miss Li and I are like-minded, why are you angry?
Is it possible that... you don't hate him anymore?"
Li Shanglu's face was slightly dull and he stood there in a daze.
She was speechless.
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