Snow-covered Xuanling New Year's Eve
Chapter 53
If it were the Chen Muyao of the past, she wouldn't be like this.
"Why?" Zhou Yulin took a step forward and, before he could retreat, grabbed Chen Muyao's hand and lightly pinched his neck. "You shouldn't have been choking me so hard, coldly questioning me about your relationship with him, all the while tightening your grip on my neck and staring at me with disgust."
As Zhou Yulin spoke, she slowly tightened her grip on Chen Muyao's hand.
The air in his lungs gradually thinned, but he didn't make a sound. He just quietly looked at Zhou Yulin, and it was she who let go of his hand first.
"I won't." The red marks on his neck were quite glaring. Zhou Yulin had used a lot of force, but he showed no panic or fear. Instead, his eyes were filled with anticipation and interest as he looked at her.
"So that's why you avoid me like the plague."
He chuckled softly, sending a chill down Zhou Yulin's spine.
"You think I'm going to kill you? How interesting."
Every word felt like stepping on a knife's edge. Zhou Yulin's heart was pounding, as if some unspoken truth was about to break free.
"But why?"
"Could it be... that we have known each other for a long time?"
He glanced at Zhou Yulin, whose face was grave, with a half-smile, and slowly uttered the conjecture he had long anticipated.
“And you are my enemy, a sworn enemy of mine.”
Zhou Yulin: ...You little brat, you guessed right.
Spending time with Chen Muyao makes one forget that he is not a good-natured raccoon. Even if a wolf puts away its claws, it doesn't necessarily mean it's being friendly; it just means the prey in front of it is too weak.
Zhou Yulin didn't want to hide this fact. From the moment she decided to help Chen Muyao, she had thought that if he remembered everything and realized the opposing positions between the two of them, Zhou Yulin would not cooperate with him. She would take the initiative and deal with him ruthlessly.
"You should go into the Jiangzanghua lineage."
Chen Muyao did not expose Zhou Yulin's evasive tactics.
"I advise you to stay away from Jun Fengqiu. He played a significant role in getting Quan Jin expelled from the sect."
"What?" Upon hearing the name Quan Jin, Zhou Yulin quickly grasped the key point and pressed, "Is his connection to Quan Jin's expulsion from the sect?"
Chen Mu glanced at Zhou Yulin's worried face and said with a mocking tone, "It seems you don't care about Quan Jin that much. You don't even know that his expulsion from the sect was orchestrated by someone."
After entering the Qingyun Sect, Zhou Yulin was either cultivating or on the path of cultivation.
For the past month, he has been mostly cultivating. As for Quan Jin...
She wasn't really that worried. This person didn't care. Even if she did care, she would first need to understand what had happened.
The rumors circulating outside the sect are nothing but unfounded gossip.
So she originally planned to study it properly after entering the inner sect.
However, "he seems like a nice person."
Zhou Yulin muttered, "It looks fine."
What could be wrong with someone who looks exactly like Pigsy?
"Heh." Chen Muyao knew she was talking to a brick wall and there was no point in saying more.
Only after Chen Muyao had walked away did Zhou Yulin remember what she really wanted to say.
"Chen Anheng! You come back here!"
"Who told you to act cool? Get to first place in the afternoon session!"
A true mortal enemy is someone who does the opposite of what you say.
What appears to be a compromise is actually a strategy.
Chen Muyao once again topped the list of those who made Zhou Yulin furious.
*
I may be angry, but I still need to eat.
That evening, the group met for dinner at Lanyuelou Restaurant outside Zongwai.
Qu Suiwan had only been lying down for a short while when she immediately jumped up. Looking at Zhou Yulin, who was flipping through a book at her desk, she hesitated, then stopped, then spoke again, then stopped again, and finally stopped again. "Zhaozhao, you actually know Chen Anheng, the first place winner in the martial arts competition! He's a handsome guy with a cold face. Introduce him to me, please."
Zhou Yulin, seeing that Qu Suiwan's thoughts were already drifting to someone else, closed the book and said seriously, "Let me correct you, it's not a cold-faced handsome guy, it's a cold-faced killer."
Qu Suiwan gritted her teeth, "An assassin it is, as long as he's good to me."
"To correct you further, he treats everyone equally."
"Oh, is it a central air conditioning system?"
Qu Suiwan was a little disappointed when she heard this, and punched her pillow twice. "I thought he was a quiet and aloof guy! I didn't expect him to be a playboy!"
"What I mean is, there are only two kinds of people in his world: himself and the dead."
Okay, with those words, along with the dead love, Qu Suiwan's broken heart also died. She clutched her chest and said, "Endure! I can endure it! I understand this kind of obsessive man, and I believe I can redeem and warm him."
"The last person who tried to warm your heart is now buried under a grave where the grass is taller than you," Zhou Yulin warned quietly. "Be careful when it comes to love, young lady."
"..."
Okay, faced with this man-eating flower, Qu Suiwan has completely given up hope.
She said with great distress, "So all those stories were just lies to me."
"A warm, sunny person and a gloomy, obsessive man are simply not meant to be together."
"Just like Chen Muyao and me, one of us is outside, and the other is in a coffin."
Qu Suiwan only sighed for a while, then remembered something and sat down next to Zhou Yulin. "Actually, the one sitting next to you watching the game is... passable."
Gu Ling, who only received the word "make do," would probably die of anger in the latrine.
"That guy is passable in looks, I think he's barely a good match for me!"
As Qu Suiwan spoke, she listed the cosmetics and face powders she needed. "No, I still need to do my makeup properly for tonight's meeting. I can't let people think I'm a casual person. My first impression isn't good enough, so I need to salvage the second impression."
In the blink of an eye, the cosmetics she took out filled the entire table. Qu Suiwan, also intrigued, rubbed her hands together, looked at the ready-made test subjects on the spot, and smiled brightly, "Zhaozhao, would you like to be my test subject, ah no, I mean, would you like me to do your makeup?"
Seeing the man's lewd smile, Zhou Yulin quickly refused, "No, I'm plain-looking, it doesn't matter what I wear."
“Hey, that’s why we need to wear makeup, we’re just ordinary people! You have to trust me, I’ll make you look beautiful.” Qu Suiwan held up the rouge, looking very interested. Zhou Yulin tried to refuse, but finally gave in and said, “Alright then.”
As dusk settled, the outer sect competition of the Qingyun Sect came to an end, and the streets became much more lively. Lanyue Tower was the most famous restaurant outside the Qingyun Sect, and it was said to have a history of over a hundred years.
Zhou Yulin and Qu Suiwan arrived late. A waiter from the restaurant led them to a private room on the third floor. Upon entering, they were greeted with a pleasant surprise.
The most conspicuous person sitting in the middle was staring at the ceiling with a look of utter despair. To his left was Gu Ling, who, Yu Tao'er, and Gu Shuangshuang were huddled together, discussing what to eat. As for why they looked so dejected, it seemed there was a reason. A seat away sat the bookworm Tu Ya, who was holding a book and humbly seeking advice from Chen Muyao.
Hearing the door open, Gu Ling was the first to look up, smiling broadly as she said, "Beautiful Zhou, you've arrived!"
Hearing the opening title, the person who reacted the most was probably Qu Suiwan.
She waved her hand modestly, "Keep it low-key, my makeup skills are so amazing, it's possible that one day they might steal my job from a beauty app."
Gu Ling looked at the heavily made-up Qu Suiwan with a puzzled expression. The woman walked towards him, sat down on the table, and winked at him. For some reason, Gu Ling felt a chill run down his spine, and his hand holding the menu trembled. He politely asked, "Miss Qu... what's going on?"
Seeing that Gu Ling was "shy," Qu Suiwan covered her mouth and giggled, "When ordering food, if you don't show me the menu, I can only look at it like this."
Yu Tao'er saw through the man's trick at a glance and remained silent.
"I'll get you another one."
Gu Ling pulled Zhou Yulin out the door, and only after they had gone some distance did he quietly ask, "Sister, does your friend seem... a bit problematic?"
"Um."
"She kept winking at me. Well, no one winks at me less than me, but she's different from everyone else. I feel like she's going to eat me up any second."
"Don't worry about it," Zhou Yulin patted the man on the shoulder. "It's a fact."
Gu Ling pouted, "Of all the men I've seen, they've chosen me out of their affections. I guess this is my fate, destined to be liked by many women."
"..." Faced with the narcissistic Gu Ling, Zhou Yulin simply said, "You're overthinking it. She just wants to sleep with you, that's all."
Gu Ling, who had been so smug just moments before, now looked like a wilted flower. He clenched his fist at his side and said, "Damn it, I have so many good qualities, how could I have fallen for the most insignificant one?"
Zhou Yulin accompanied Gu Ling down the path. Suddenly, the person beside her stopped. She looked down and saw that the three men and two women traveling with her were all dressed in the inner sect attire of the Qingyun Sect. Among them was Jun Fengqiu.
There was another person who surprised Zhou Yulin: the lantern stall owner.
Unexpectedly, the class I was rushing to was an inner sect class.
Zhou Yulin didn't recognize the other three people, but it seemed that she should recognize Gu Ling.
Seeing that the group was about to go upstairs, we suggested, "Let's go around to the stairs next door."
Zhou Yulin didn't ask why, and quickly caught up with Gu Ling's brisk pace.
Once he reached the other end, Gu Ling, who had been tense all over, seemed to relax.
"Those three people are old friends of mine."
Gu Ling seemed somewhat bewildered as he looked out at the crescent moon, his fingers unconsciously fidgeting. "The man is my childhood friend, and the two women are my childhood sweetheart and her best friend. I haven't been in contact with them for a long time, so I don't want to run into them."
"You must not be from an ordinary family, right?"
Gu Ling's smile was more like a grimace, and he vehemently denied it, saying, "How could that be? I'm just an ordinary person from the poor, and I don't come from any ordinary place."
"You must be the crown prince who disappeared from the imperial city."
Zhou Yulin hit the nail on the head.
Under Gu Ling's dumbfounded gaze, Zhou Yulin pointed to each of them and said, "The first time we met was at a gambling den in Jiangning. You weren't pretending to be blind, but you helped me. You were dressed in rags, but your hands didn't have a single callus. You said you were a beggar, how could I believe you?"
"You are actually!" Gu Ling finally understood why he felt a sense of familiarity when he first met Zhou Yulin. He thought it was fate from a past life, but he didn't expect it to be this life. "You actually know how to gamble."
"That's no reason to guess..." Gu Ling pouted, "What's the point of you all having such smart brains?"
"Of course, on the second day of the Lantern Festival, do you remember? You gave me a lantern, and that lantern was the one Chen Muyao released. According to the one-way flow of the river, we unfortunately ended up downstream. And where do you think the next river mouth we could find is?"
Gu Ling had no more excuses to offer, and in a fit of desperation, he asked, "Where is it?"
"Inside the imperial city."
"People without proper identification are not allowed in."
"So, should I call you Gu Ling or Jun Ling?"
Zhou Yulin has always kept his points brief, and today was no exception.
"Just call me Gu Ling."
Gu Ling scratched his head, sighed deeply, and said with great melancholy, "Alas, I didn't want to tell you my identity because I was afraid it would put pressure on you. But I was overthinking it. People like you who can disregard even imperial power would not be afraid of a mere crown prince."
Zhou Yulin chuckled and slapped the other person on the head. "You think you can fool me so easily? You'll probably be a bit more cunning in a few years."
Gu Ling scratched his head and looked at Zhou Yulin, knowing that she was no longer angry with him. The slap he had given her earlier hadn't been very forceful. "Forget it. I don't like this kind of fighting. Watching you two scheme against each other is enough for me."
As he walked down the stairs, he noticed that Zhou Yulin hadn't followed. He turned around and saw a woman standing on the upper floor. Her ordinary face was made more colorful by rouge and powder. Standing at the boundary between light and shadow, she looked at him with complicated eyes, as if she were looking at someone through him.
On a snowy New Year's Eve, a child wandered into the foot of the Xuanling Sect mountain.
Zhou Yulin, who was on duty that day, went to check and found a child a few years younger than himself, wrapped in a thick red cotton-padded coat. He was tightly clutching a red envelope embroidered with a dragon in his arms, and his nose was red from the cold. He was unwilling to say a word, but just lowered his head and looked at him warily with his eyes.
"Today is New Year's Eve." Zhou Yulin was simply stating a fact. Even if others didn't want to celebrate, she still had to. Her senior brothers were waiting for her to come back for the New Year's Eve dinner!
But a simple sentence seemed to hit a nerve with the other person.
The child, who had been silent, suddenly had tears in his eyes. A large tear rolled down his cheek, and then one after another, more tears fell freely. He seemed to feel ashamed of crying in front of strangers and turned his body away.
"Don't look."
Zhou Yulin: I don't want to watch it either, thank you.
Perhaps the other person's suppressed sobs were too pitiful, because Zhou Yulin actually sat with the person in the snow for a while. After the person had cried themselves out, she asked softly, "Are you done crying? Feeling any better?"
The child puffed out his cheeks and shouted, "No!"
Zhou Yulin stretched out her warm hand and covered the person's small face, which was red from the cold. "It's so cold in the snow, do you really want to stay here?"
"..." He was still quite honest and followed Zhou Yulin up the mountain.
Later, after the New Year, she learned that the child's name was Junling. Because his parents had no time to take care of him, he secretly ran away. Unexpectedly, he was kidnapped by human traffickers. He escaped and fled to the foot of Xuanling Sect Mountain.
"Sister, so what is home?"
That night before going to sleep, Junling asked Zhou Yulin a question.
"For me, home is the Xuanling Sect." The girl pondered for a few seconds. "Home is where all the people I care about are, and it carries all my hopes and expectations for the future. It allows me to always believe that there is a way home."
"Home is a place you always return to, no matter how high or far you fly."
"It is because there are attachments that we call it home."
"Yu Lin." Someone called her name.
I don't know when the little boy from back then became the young man before me.
He was looking at me anxiously. "What's wrong?"
Zhou Yulin shook her head. "It's nothing. Let's take a few more menus."
Gu Ling chuckled twice, "What a coincidence, you're thinking the same thing as me."
When the two returned, the atmosphere in the room dropped to an eerily cold level.
Upon seeing the uninvited guest at the head of the table, Gu Ling quickly stepped in front of Zhou Yulin, blocking her way. "What are you doing here?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com