Chapter 55. He was wearing the clothes she had given him, and he did it on purpose...
On this unknown island, Si Yao and Xia Chongyun sat on the beach.
Night fell, the bright moon hung high, and its pure light spilled onto the sea.
Si Yao liked this moonlight.
Xia Chongyun turned around, his face full of guilt. "Si Yao, I'm sorry for last night. I shouldn't have taken you to the cave to see the fireflies."
"It's nothing," Si Yao replied calmly, not looking at Xia Chongyun, but instead keeping her eyes on the waves in front of her.
"I hope you won't take it to heart, and even more so, don't keep blaming me for it."
Xia Chongyun's voice was quickly drowned out by the waves, but Si Yao still nodded.
"Are you feeling better?" Xia Chongyun asked again.
Si Yao then turned to look at him. "I'm fine now, Chongyun. What happened last night is over. You don't need to keep worrying about it."
Upon hearing this, Xia Chongyun felt relieved, and a smile finally appeared on his face. He had clearly made a mistake, but now it was Si Yao who was comforting him. He hadn't misjudged her; Si Yao was truly worthy of his admiration.
He was eager to try and test the waters further.
But then a sound came from the sea not far away.
Three small boats are heading towards the shore.
They were the three elders of the Hehuan Sect and their respective disciples.
In addition, Si Yao saw another person on Yu Ke and Tang Che's boat.
The person was tall and slender, and had changed into an apricot-colored outfit, the light fabric fluttering in the sea breeze.
Si Yao recognized the dress; wasn't it the one she had given her apprentice when he came of age?
She was surprised to see Li Ye there, and that he was currently exchanging glances with Tang Che on the boat, the two of them seemingly talking about something.
Si Yao remembered that the two of them weren't that close, were they?
She had a feeling that Li Ye might be up to some kind of wicked scheme.
Upon seeing the newcomer, Xia Chongyun's eyes flickered with panic; this was not the situation he had wanted to see.
After arriving at Tianchen Island, he longed to spend time alone with Si Yao, but such opportunities were few and far between. Last night, he finally managed to ask her to watch the stars and fireflies together, but he still managed to ruin it.
Thinking about all this, Xia Chongyun felt extremely frustrated and hated himself for being so useless.
She and Si Yao were finally enjoying a peaceful moonlit night by the sea when, not long after, all her fellow disciples and apprentices arrived.
This gave Xia Chongyun a real headache!
"Siyao, we're planning to grill something here, do you want to join us?"
As Yu Ke spoke, Tang Che had already unloaded a lot of supplies from the ship and transported them to the seaside.
As Tang Che passed by Si Yao, he whispered, "Elder Si Yao, it's rare for Senior Brother Xiao Yezi to attend our barbecue gathering. You're his master, so there's no reason for you not to join us, is there?"
Si Yao couldn't help but look at Li Ye, and was shocked to find that he was actually helping to move various ingredients, and even started to build a tent on the beach with Qi Lan.
This... is a bit surreal.
Si Yao lifted her foot and walked into the busy crowd, with Xia Chongyun following behind her. "Let's participate together."
Seeing the two approaching, the busy Tang Che glanced at Xia Chongyun beside Si Yao, then turned around and secretly said to Qi Lan, "What is he doing here at our Hehuan Sect's small gathering? I don't remember inviting him, right?"
Qi Lan lowered his voice and said, "He's right here. We can't just leave him here, can we?"
Tang Che shook his head. "You mean, these Taoists from the Seven Star Temple always claim to be dedicated to cultivating Taoism? Why are they always following Elder Si Yao around all day long?"
"He's Elder Si Yao's... um... you know what I mean." Qi Lan said cautiously, "Be careful not to say the wrong thing and anger Elder Si Yao!"
Li Ye heard their conversation. He was lighting the shed when he slowly turned to Tang Che and said, "More people will be coming later."
Tang Che asked curiously, "Who is it?"
"Look, they're here." Li Ye pointed ahead.
Tang Che and Qi Lan then saw several male and female disciples of the Seven Stars Temple arrive at the shore in a small boat.
Tang Che was stunned for a moment, "They..."
Li Ye stated bluntly, "I invited him."
Tang Che suddenly realized, "Since it was Senior Brother Xiao Yezi who invited us, then there's no problem. This small gathering was originally your idea."
With the arrival of disciples from the Seven Stars Temple, the scene suddenly became lively.
Several female disciples of the Seven Stars Temple surrounded Xia Chongyun, and one of them even grabbed his arm, saying, "Senior Brother, I knew you'd be here."
Xia Chongyun was stunned to see his fellow disciples. "Jiu Xin, why are you all here..."
"If our senior brother can come, why can't we?"
The female disciple who was holding Xia Chongyun's arm, named Jiu Xin, said, "Senior Brother can't play around behind our backs."
Xia Chongyun frowned, looking at Si Yao with a helpless expression, then immediately withdrew his hand and said seriously to the Seven Stars Sect disciples, "Hurry up and pay your respects to the elders of the Joyful Union Sect."
The disciples of the Seven Stars Temple, together with Xia Chongyun, bowed to the elders of the Joyful Union Sect.
With more people, naturally no one can take care of anyone else.
Si Yao had already reached Li Ye and asked him coldly, "Did the sun rise in the west today? You actually took the initiative to participate in such an activity."
Moreover, this was even when she wasn't there.
Li Ye closed his eyes slightly. "Isn't it okay to strengthen relationships with fellow disciples?"
"Okay, of course it's good." Si Yao nodded repeatedly, then looked at Li Ye and said, "You chose a good outfit, you have good taste."
Li Ye noticed that she seemed a little smug, so he explained, "I just grabbed it randomly and put it on without paying special attention."
Si Yao almost choked on her breath. This disciple really came here on purpose to annoy him.
She turned around and walked away, deciding not to speak to him at all.
Yu Ke, Qu Sui, and the others had already started skewering fresh beef, preparing to grill it over charcoal.
She didn't sit idle either; she immediately rolled up her sleeves and joined in, placing all the fresh meat, such as chicken feet and chicken legs, onto the grill.
Tang Che, who was standing nearby, came over at this moment, grinning, "Elder Si Yao, Senior Brother Xiao Yezi is so thoughtful. He was the one who suggested this small gathering, and he prepared everything."
"What?" Si Yao tilted her head. "Did I hear that right? He actually does these things?"
Based on her understanding of Li Ye, there was absolutely no way he would propose holding a party on his own initiative.
Something unusual must be going on.
At this moment, Xia Chongyun was being pestered by his junior sister Jiu Xin, who was pulling him along to look for seashells on the beach, leaving him no time to look for Si Yao.
Thus, Si Yao was able to have some peace and quiet, eating her barbecue while occasionally glancing at Li Ye across from her.
Qu Sui, with her keen observation, couldn't help but chuckle, "What's wrong with you two, master and disciple? The master is always secretly glancing at the disciple, and the disciple never takes the initiative to talk to the master. It's quite interesting."
Si Yao ate the crispy roasted pork belly, wrapped it in lettuce, and swallowed it in one gulp.
Ignoring Qu Sui's words, she instead made a satisfied sound, "Mmm...this barbecue is so delicious."
After saying that, he reached for a crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside chicken foot on the grill, but Yu Ke slapped his hand.
"Don't try to take it from me, these are my chicken feet!"
Si Yao wasn't going to give it up, "I just baked these!"
Yu Ke had already picked up the chicken feet. "I don't care, no one can take my chicken feet from me!"
Tang Che quickly said, "Master, please let Elder Si Yao have her way. She has to grill everything herself, unlike you, who I grill all the food for you."
Yu Ke smiled, beaming with pride, "Whatever she wants to eat, just have her apprentice bake it for her."
However, Li Ye did not take any action at all.
Seeing this, Su He gave a meaningful look and said, "Si Yao, so you and your master are having a falling out?"
Si Yao turned around abruptly, facing away from them, and coughed violently a few times before slowly turning back and saying, "What are you talking about?"
She looked up and met Li Ye's gaze. "Our master-disciple relationship is very good, right, Yezi?"
Si Yao thought Li Ye wouldn't pay any attention to her, but to her surprise, he said cooperatively, "Master is right."
Yu Ke rolled her eyes. "Hmph, just a small fry!"
After playing on the beach for a while, several disciples of the Seven Stars Temple walked over to the barbecue tent.
All who come are guests, and the people of the Hehuan Sect do not take turns. They quickly made room for them and handed them the grilled food.
Several disciples of the Seven Stars Temple started eating, praising the food highly. Jiu Xin finally let go of Xia Chongyun's arm and began to enjoy the meat skewers.
Xia Chongyun finally managed to shake off his junior sister's entanglement and strode over to Si Yao, where he sat down.
Si Yao was engrossed in her meal and had no interest in paying him any attention.
However, Xia Chongyun said, "Want to go swimming and have some fun?"
When Li Ye saw Xia Chongyun appear, his expression darkened again.
Tang Che, who was standing to the side, responded, "Go into the water? I think it's a good idea."
Not receiving a response from Si Yao, Xia Chongyun looked somewhat embarrassed and turned to Tang Che, "Junior Brother Tang, are you interested too?"
Tang Che snapped his fingers. "I suddenly have an idea. We can't just eat barbecue, we have to drink too. But how should we drink it? I have an idea right now."
Si Yao became curious, "Tell me about it?"
Tang Che said, "We will form groups of two."
He glanced around and said, "I counted, and the number of men and women is currently the same, so let's pair them up."
Yu Ke ate the grilled tofu, speaking as if her mouth was burning, "Apprentice, and then?"
“Each group of men and women has to go swimming, and they have to swim together.” He then roughly looked at the number of people on site. “I calculated that we can divide into seven groups, so the seven groups will compete together.”
When it comes to having fun, Tang Che had learned quite a bit back when he was in the outer sect of the Hehuan Sect, and he was talking about it with great enthusiasm.
He channeled his spiritual energy to push a small boat to a point about 15 zhang (approximately 33 meters) from the shore. "Use the current position of that small boat as the boundary, about 15 zhang. Since the sea is undulating, the position of the small boat may change, but everyone just needs to remember to swim about 15 zhang and then swim back to the shore. The group that swims back first will be the first. As for the other groups, the result will be determined by the time taken."
Tang Che explained the competition rules: "The group that ranks first can be exempted from drinking, the second-place group members will each have to drink one cup as punishment, the third-place group members will each have to drink two cups as punishment, and so on. The last-place group members, who are seventh, will suffer. On top of the six cups each, they will have to drink one more cup as punishment."
"Alright, everyone, let's form teams now."
After Tang Che finished speaking, Xia Chongyun's voice was filled with excitement. He leaned close to Si Yao and said, "Si Yao, we can..."
Before she could even say the word "group," Jiu Xin had already run over, "Senior Brother, I want to be in your group."
Upon hearing this, Si Yao agreed, "Chongyun, you should take good care of your junior sister."
Xia Chongyun froze, his eyes instantly losing their light.
The others quickly formed teams, except for Si Yao and Li Ye, who remained indifferent.
Yu Ke scolded, "Since you're master and disciple, then be a pair! What's with all the fuss? Honestly!"
-----------------------
Author's Note: Jinjiang crashed yesterday... causing the update to fail, sob!!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
