Chapter 13
◎A Quiet Moment of Love◎
Jiang Qiye felt this was childish and was unwilling to lend a hand.
On second thought, I realized I had already entered the path of ruthlessness, so I might as well let myself be pulled along.
It's not a big deal for a man to be pulled by a woman.
So he remained still, letting the hand gently caress him.
Her slender fingertips danced in his palm, yet he felt only a stillness in his heart.
It seems that this ruthless approach is indeed quite effective.
The girl beside him smiled brightly, but he remained calm and composed, showing no sign of emotion.
The two enjoyed tea and snacks, and also ordered two bowls of plain noodles, finding it quite pleasant.
However, after traveling for several hours, both the person riding the donkey and Jiang Qiye, who was walking alongside, were a little tired.
There happened to be a private room inside the teahouse, elegantly furnished and quiet enough. Pei Xueyan thought that her third uncle was well-off, so there was no need to save money for him and she chose this room directly.
He reclined on the long chaise lounge, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
Jiang Qiye remained seated in his chair, in a meditative posture.
Actually, he didn't really want to go into seclusion.
I had only closed my eyes for a moment when I lost patience and opened them again in less than half an hour.
Jiang Qiye found it strange. In the past, he could sit quietly all day and remain calm. Why was he so restless today?
He turned his head to look and saw the girl with red lips and white teeth, sleeping peacefully. He quickly looked away, got up and walked briskly to the door.
On a spring afternoon, the sunlight was warm and gentle, carrying a touch of lazy comfort.
He gazed at the apricot grove that was faintly visible in the distance, raised his hand, and a branch of apricot blossoms covered with buds gently landed in his hand.
If you bring it close to your nose and take a light sniff, the fragrance is not strong, but has a faint, sweet scent.
She looks a bit like her.
When Pei Xueyan woke up, she found the chair empty. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she went out and happened to see Jiang Qiye staring into the distance, looking somewhat deep in thought.
Could it be that Uncle San also has some enemies or troubles?
"Third Uncle!" she called softly from behind him.
Jiang Qiye turned to look at her and said rather coldly, "Sleeping so soundly."
"With you here, I naturally sleep well!" Pei Xueyan praised him without reservation. "If only Uncle San could always be by my side, I could sleep just as soundly every day!"
"Stop talking nonsense!"
"I'm not talking nonsense," Pei Xueyan quickly defended herself, her eyes serious. "Everything I said is true."
Jiang Qiye suddenly found it amusing. She was indeed very serious; without testing, the core was definitely more than half formed.
It turns out that human emotions can indeed be established in just two or three days.
In this light, my previous ideas of writing love letters and sneaking into the room seemed superfluous.
Simply being by her side, even with cold words, is enough to move her heart.
In the next, and final, illusion, he would still treat her as an elder, without getting involved in any romantic entanglements.
Jiang Qiye: "You've come of age, why do you say you want to stay with me forever? That's ridiculous."
Pei Xueyan pouted: "Why do you always say things like 'absurd' and 'nonsense'? Is it because you always do absurd things and talk nonsense that you're reminding me like this?"
Jiang Qiye: "I always follow the rules."
Pei Xueyan laughed. "What rules are you following? Does wearing clothes like a Taoist priest mean you're following the rules? Does pretending to be profound mean you're conforming to the rules? My father isn't particularly handsome, but he loves to talk and likes to comment on everything. He can even write a few poems while drinking, yet my mother still loves him to bits."
Seeing that Jiang Qiye had no reaction, Pei Xueyan continued, "However, my father is ruthless and cold-blooded when he kills people, and his eyes are full of ruthlessness. It seems that you have no sincerity towards me at all and have always treated me as a stranger."
Jiang Xiye will probably never understand how this conclusion was reached.
Perhaps women like men who are unpredictable?
But what does that have to do with him?
Pei Xueyan's gaze fell on the white apricot blossom in his hand: "You like apricot blossoms too? Then why were you so indifferent earlier? And you said you weren't pretending?"
How is he going to put on an act?
They have another lifetime to live, and no one can say for sure what kind of emotional entanglements they will experience.
I think it's best to pretend to be indifferent.
It's really difficult to appear indifferent and apathetic while simultaneously making people happy.
Thinking of this, Jiang Qiye became somewhat anxious. His figure flickered in front of Pei Xueyan, and she softly fainted on his shoulder.
He raised his hand and used his spiritual power to probe her, discovering that her core condensation process was only halfway complete.
It seems that "Chen Wei'an" is much more cunning than the simple and infatuated "Xue Lian".
She spoke with such sincerity, saying she wanted to be with him forever, but in reality she was heartless and had no trust in him whatsoever.
In order to help her successfully condense her core, we still need to treat her well.
No matter what you think in your heart, you still have to do the outward appearance right.
When Pei Xueyan woke up, she was already lying on the donkey.
She rubbed her eyes, quickly sat up straight, and snorted several times at the person holding the donkey's rope.
“If you’re not happy, you can get down and walk; I’ll sit here,” Jiang Qiye said calmly.
Pei Xueyan bent down and reached out to tug at his hair.
This action shocked Jiang Qiye. Hair is a private part of a stand-in, how could it be pulled so lightly?
He immediately loosened the donkey's rope and took several steps back.
"You..." Jiang Qiye wanted to say "nonsense," but seeing her nonchalant attitude, he swallowed the words back.
Pei Xueyan looked at him with amusement in her eyes: "Why did you stop talking? You hypocrite, you used some low-class drug from the martial arts world to knock me out, who knows what you did to me, and you still have the nerve to call yourself an elder? I don't have an elder like you."
Seeing that he remained silent, he continued, "You are not a gentleman, but a villain, a treacherous villain."
After she finished speaking, she quickly jumped off the cart and walked away angrily, not wanting to travel with him any longer.
When has Jiang Qiye ever suffered such humiliation? Who in the world dares to call him a treacherous villain?
I'm absolutely furious that I've been slandered like this by a female demon!
He quickly caught up with Pei Xueyan, grabbed her wrist, and coldly questioned, "How am I a villain? Explain yourself."
Pei Xueyan was forced to stop because her wrist was gripped so tightly by him.
"You told me you were my third uncle when you saw me, but you refused to provide any evidence. When you saw me being chased, you took the opportunity to manipulate me and take advantage of my vulnerability. You clearly like me and know me, but you pretended to ignore me and acted reluctantly. You even drugged me and kept touching me. You are clearly a hypocrite who is lustful, immoral, and despicable. You got angry and ashamed when I exposed you."
"You!" Jiang Qiye's face immediately turned bright red. This was the first time in his life that he had been rendered speechless.
"Look, you're blushing and getting anxious, aren't you? I've hit the nail on the head, you're speechless!"
Jiang Qiye felt that he was not here to save people, but to undergo tribulation.
He was very angry and furious, but he couldn't vent his anger. He needed her to condense her inner core to end all of this.
Kill her?
But wouldn't that be going back on your word? You've already forgiven her and even accompanied her through an illusion.
Thinking of this, Jiang Qiye suppressed his anger and instead smiled, feigning generosity as he spoke: "Wei'an, you are young and I won't hold it against you. Father used to say that I had a very capable and intelligent older brother who could have passed the imperial examinations, but he was obsessed with martial arts and roaming the world. I greatly admired your father, and now that he is dead, how can I appear happy? I can only feel sad. You don't understand the pain of parting, so I won't hold it against you. It's just that with both my brother and sister-in-law dead, it's inevitable that I feel sad and think about the impermanence of life. If you think I'm deceiving you and that I'm a petty person, I have nothing to say."
Pei Xueyan was speechless after hearing his words, and finally stammered, "Anyway, my father never mentioned you, nor did he mention my grandfather."
"He doesn't mention it because your father opposed your parents' wandering life and wanted your father to marry a lady from a prestigious family. Never mind..."
Jiang Qiye made it clear that he didn't want to say anything more.
Pei Xueyan felt a surge of grievance when he criticized her for being heartless and unfeeling that her parents had died.
How could she not be heartbroken?
Her father and mother died right before her eyes, and she was so frightened that she trembled and didn't dare to say a word.
On the run, I woke up crying every night.
But gradually, fear and hardship overshadowed the sadness. In order to survive, in order to live, one had to learn many skills.
Every day, I long for the day when I can finally stop hiding and running away.
These past few days have been the most peaceful days of my life, yet he has mocked me like this.
Pei Xueyan lowered her head, feeling increasingly saddened, and couldn't help but burst into tears.
Jiang Qiye was very pleased with himself; he had the upper hand in this round of confrontation!
Once Pei Xueyan's sobs subsided, he took out a handkerchief and handed it to her: "Since you know you're wronged, why do you arbitrarily blame others? Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you."
Pei Xueyan took the handkerchief. Her eyes were swollen like walnuts, and she was still sobbing softly while sitting on the donkey.
There are still hundreds of miles to go, which will take several days to walk, and walking or riding a donkey is not a solution.
But he also wanted to cultivate a relationship, so after much thought, he bought a dilapidated carriage.
The carriage was shaking violently, so Pei Xueyan often came out of the carriage shed to accompany him on the journey.
When she gets tired, she will lean on his shoulder and fall asleep.
Occasionally, Jiang Qiye would be allowed to rest, and she would take over driving the carriage.
After this argument, the two of them were actually quite peaceful for two days and got along much more harmoniously than before.
The weather suddenly turned hot, and Jiang Qiye gave Pei Xueyan some silver so that she could buy some suitable and light clothes.
Beautiful, close-fitting clothes are all custom-made, and even with extra money, it takes three or four days to arrive. Pei Xueyan really liked this fabric, and her eyes clearly showed that she wanted to wait.
Jiang Qiye wasn't really going to Jiangnan; his trip was purely to spend time with her and cultivate their relationship.
He deliberately pretended to be hesitant at first, and then relented and agreed.
Unexpectedly, such a small matter led him to discover that Pei Xueyan's core had already formed more than halfway when he checked her core formation that night.
Women are strange; they can be moved by such small things.
For the next three days, Pei Xueyan would sit on the second floor of the inn, staring blankly at the street. Occasionally, she would go out to buy some food, but she was always listless and had completely lost the lively appearance she had when she first met him.
Given her poor condition, the fact that she could still fall for him shows that she's a hypocrite.
On the third day, Pei Xueyan stayed in bed, unwilling to get up or even go shopping, and just kept sleeping.
Jiang Qiye took her pulse while she was asleep and found that her breathing was indeed unstable.
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