Junior Brother Pei, wake up. "In that case, let me help you back..."
Tan Guiyi remembers that when she turned her head to look at the little boy while sobbing, outside the tattered door, the bright moon shone on the snow, and the world was pure white.
He slumped against the wall, a thin, small man wrapped in empty, tattered clothes, his overly thin face covered in black ash from what he had just eaten.
He, on the other hand, looked quite pleased with himself, wiping the dust off his face with his dirty sleeve.
Tan Guiyi vaguely sensed that he seemed to be a person who valued appearances a lot.
But being in a filthy mud pit, no matter how much he wiped, he would only get dirtier. Yet he didn't seem to care at all whether he could actually clean himself up.
This is contradictory.
He might just be concerned with the posture, the posture of being stuck in the quagmire.
The collar and longevity lock around his neck, like him, were covered in blood and mud, gray and worn, and it was hard to tell where they were stolen or picked up; they were probably not of good quality.
The practice of children wearing longevity locks around their necks is far too common. They come in iron, copper, gold, and silver, and you can see them on every street corner. It's simply a way to show the love of elders and to show that the child has a family.
He had a longevity lock, but he was an abandoned child, living like a stray dog, with frostbite and various injuries on his hands and feet, and his hair was always messy.
He looked to be only six or seven years old. Perhaps due to long-term poverty and illness, hunger and cold, his health was not very good, but his temperament was very eccentric, strange and cold, weak and ruthless.
Although she looked a year or two older than him, after he found her, she could only get something to eat by relying on him, who was skilled in cooking, in this snowy wilderness.
After he finished eating, it took him a long time to recover before he had the strength to crawl over again. He stretched out a small hand to her and impatiently urged, "Give me back my things."
After she had cried enough, her stomach started rumbling. Changing the subject, she mumbled through her sobs, "Little brother, I'm hungry..."
The wind howled in through the broken window and door. Seeing that she had no intention of returning the things, he simply climbed and climbed until he found a sheltered corner and curled up in a ball.
With a "thud," half a cold, hard, icy bun landed at her feet like a stone, but he wasn't very strong and didn't hurt her.
She was filled with regret and couldn't help but cry again. But this time, she immediately grabbed the steamed bun and hid it in her sleeve to keep it warm, not daring to give him any chance to take it back.
The sparse moonlight streaming through the broken window shone on this abandoned child. He huddled in a corner, gazing at the lonely, cold moon in the sky, coughing all night while hugging his thin knees...
.
The window slammed shut, and Tan Guiyi snapped back to reality, her heart turning ice-cold.
One was a pampered young master, the other an orphan who died young; one was dressed in rags, the other was radiant with glory.
She had clearly and deliberately forgotten those three days in her childhood, so why did she suddenly think of him today?
Her throat was a little dry. She tugged at Yu Zhao's sleeve and asked in a low voice, "Yu Zhao, you mistook him for Sect Leader Pei. Is he the young master that Sect Leader Pei just found? In Chang'an?"
Yu Zhao stood facing the window, moved his lips, but suddenly didn't want to speak. He simply nodded in response to Tan Guiyi's question.
He couldn't quite describe his current state of mind; he just suddenly felt a sense of unreality and disorientation.
His fiancée, whom he had watched grow up and was certain he would never lose, left him in just a few days and gave herself to someone else...
He didn't believe that Huan Yue had no lingering feelings for him. How could she not choose him, but instead choose a half-demon who was practically useless? The other half of that half-demon's bloodline came from a succubus, a race that was considered beneath the notice of even the demon race.
It is likely that the sect leader pressured her with a promise of gratitude in order to save his only son, forcing her to make such a decision.
Otherwise, why would she speak rudely to the sect leader's son on the very day he arrived at the Tianyan Sect?
Her sudden, outrageous, and rude remarks that day were perhaps just a ploy to make him despise her...
On the Qingyun Terrace.
Yan Huanyue endured the pain, frowned, spat out a mouthful of blood, and slowly stood up, leaning on her knife. She made a difficult hand seal with her right hand and said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you... for your guidance, Junior Brother Li."
In the past, when people really got into a fight on Qingyun Platform, quite a few were injured. But with Han Shuangying watching over them, they wouldn't really get seriously injured. They would usually just take some pills and rest for a couple of days after the match.
Yan Huanyue was most afraid of losing miserably despite fighting desperately, and she would often admit defeat as soon as she was hit.
She was unusually temperamental today, which made people suspect that she had broken off the engagement but then regretted it, and was simply looking for trouble.
For Li Ji, defeating this junior sister with rather low cultivation level was not something to be particularly happy about.
He was quite dissatisfied with himself for failing to make her admit defeat and surrender within five moves, despite having been enraged by her earlier actions.
However, she did look quite pitiful, so he couldn't show it off and instead made a hand seal, saying, "Senior Sister Yan, you flatter me."
After saying this, he stepped forward to help her up and escorted her down from Qingyun Terrace.
Yan Huanyue took a pill from Han Shuangying, wiped the blood from her lips, and stood below the Qingyun Platform, continuing to watch others practice, silently noting how her fellow students internalized what they had learned in class into their physical forms.
As the sun began to set and the competition at Qingyuntai in Xinzizhai came to an end, Han Shuangying spent half an hour pointing out several points that needed special attention that day, especially highlighting Mu Huage's underestimation of his opponent, before letting them go to eat.
At this time, most of the disciples in the training ground were heading towards the dining hall, chasing and playing around in small groups, chatting and laughing.
As Yan Huanyue passed by Fenghe Pavilion, looking at the waterside pavilions and willows, she thought of Pei Xuanzhi, wondering if the disciple he brought with him had already sent him back to Changqing Palace.
It would be best to take a look.
She turned around and headed towards the Lotus Pavilion.
Han Shuangying asked from behind, "Junior Sister Yan, why aren't we eating in the dining hall? What are we doing at Fenghe Pavilion?"
Yan Huanyue turned around and said, "I met Junior Brother Pei here on my way here. Let's go see if he's still here."
Han Shuangying never pried too much into other people's private affairs. Although she had never met Pei Xuanzhi, she could roughly guess who she was talking about, so she didn't say anything more.
Yan Huanyue stepped onto the horizontal bridge and walked to the waterside pavilion. She then walked along the connecting corridor to the entrance of the Fenghe Pavilion. She gently pushed the door open and went in. On her right, she saw various potted flowers and plants displayed on several slender, tall shelves.
Behind the elevated structure, a row of bamboo curtains divides the main room into inner and outer sections.
The setting sun cast heavy shadows, and streaks of pale gold shimmered on the ground.
Beside the south window inside the bamboo curtain, there seemed to be a lone figure sitting.
She tiptoed to a bamboo curtain, gently lifted it a crack, and caught a glimpse of Pei Xuanzhi sitting at a table, wearing a cloak, leaning against the window and taking a nap while painting the wall.
The tea in the celadon teacup on the table had gone cold; it was unclear how long he had been sleeping there.
She pushed aside the bamboo curtain and went inside, deliberately making her footsteps heavy. He was still breathing steadily and showed no signs of waking up.
Yan Huanyue walked to his chair, tapped the back of the chair with her finger, and called out, "Junior Brother Pei, wake up."
The boy's long, fine eyelashes fluttered, and before he even opened his eyes, a look of weariness was already evident on his face.
He coughed twice before finally opening his eyes completely, looking at her sleepily.
Yan Huanyue asked, "Didn't someone come with you? It's already this late, why are you still sleeping here?"
Pei Xuanzhi had just fainted and had regained some strength, but he still had a terrible headache.
He straightened up by leaning on the armrest, frowning as he rubbed his temples, and answered her question, "That junior brother might be preoccupied with other things."
The urge to cough surged up in his chest and he could no longer suppress it. He covered his mouth with his sleeve and coughed for a while. Then the world spun before his eyes and his headache worsened.
He propped his forehead with one hand and reached for the teapot with the other, managing to pour himself a cup of tea.
Yan Huanyue noticed that the black jade bracelet on his wrist had been knocked onto the table several times, but he didn't seem to care at all, and didn't seem to cherish or care for this fragile jade piece.
His pale, slender fingers had just pushed the tea towards her when a soft, warm sensation covered her forehead.
Her palms, calloused from holding a knife, gently touched his forehead; it tickled slightly but wasn't bothersome.
"Does your head hurt? It feels a bit hot; you might have caught a cold."
Pei Xuanzhi was a little uncomfortable with this kind of contact, so he naturally avoided her hand and said casually, "I am weak and often like this. It will be fine in a while. Senior Sister Yan, you don't need to worry about it."
Yan Huanyue didn't mind his evasiveness and withdrew her hand, saying generously, "In that case, let me help you back."
Pei Xuan subconsciously declined, saying, "Thank you, Senior Sister, but I can walk by myself after a while..."
For some reason, he paused suddenly, pursed his lips, and slowly said, "I've forgotten the way I came. I'd like to ask Senior Sister Yan to escort me back. Is that alright?"
Having spent the entire afternoon at Qingyun Terrace, Yan Huanyue was quite thirsty. She picked up her teacup and drank it all in one gulp. "Of course."
Pei Xuanzhi felt somewhat weak and lazily slumped into a high chair to rest, his headache gradually subsiding.
He then noticed the slight swelling on her lower lip and couldn't help but ask, "Senior Sister, are you injured? Did you bump into something or bite yourself, or was it cracked by the force of a weapon?"
Yan Huanyue poured herself some tea. When he asked her, she unconsciously licked the wound on her lips. It stung a little, but compared to the times Li Ji had beaten her, this injury was nothing.
She gave a self-deprecating laugh and said, "I'm ashamed to say that I got injured on the Qingyun Terrace today."
Pei Xuanzhi tilted his head and observed her licking her lips.
When she was a little while later, she lowered her eyes, took out a porcelain bottle about the size of a thumb from her sleeve, placed it on the table, and said softly, "This medicine won't leave scars, Senior Sister Yan, you can take it and use it."
A note from the author:
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