Sister-in-law of the cave, please take me with you.
On a drizzly night, Yan Huanyue had a dream.
In my dream, she was wearing a misty pink dress and walking on a gentle mountain path.
A sword sheath floated beside her, and Junior Brother Pei sat quietly on it, wearing an indigo cloak that rippled casually across his cloud-patterned shoes.
She didn't know where they were going either, only vaguely realizing that it was him who had suggested coming out this time, so she turned her head and asked, "Junior Brother Pei, how much further?"
The girl faced the hazy yet brilliant morning sun, her vision blurry. She rubbed her eyes, but still couldn't see clearly.
His voice could be heard coming from near and far in the wind: "There's a cave not far ahead. I went to see it yesterday. It's very suitable. Let's go in and take a look."
She subconsciously started walking forward, unsure of what kind of cave dwelling was suitable for her, and subconsciously felt a little hesitant.
Junior Brother Pei then floated behind her, his cool hands landing on her shoulders, gently pushing her forward.
His erratic voice coaxed softly, "There are many pomegranates and grapes growing in the cave. I'll pick them for you to try myself, but you can't actually swallow the seeds. It'll cause trouble. We don't need those things."
He pushed Yan Huanyue forward for a while, and when she saw a cave hidden in the mountain mist in the distance, she stopped involuntarily and said, "I'm not going with you, I want to go back..."
The person behind him advised, "But the juices are so sweet, and the ripe berries are so fragrant and sweet. What do you want to eat..."
Yan Huanyue hesitated.
After struggling with her conscience, she finally succumbed to his temptation and stepped into the dim mountain mist, entering the cave.
The gate slowly closed, cutting off the daylight.
The person behind her floated down from the sword sheath and pressed close to her back, slowly saying, "There's no one else here, just you and me. I really missed you..."
She asked, "What about what you were talking about?"
He pulled her waist into his arms and squeezed it tightly, gently sucking and nibbling at her earlobe as he said, "Mmm... here you go..."
Several wisps of golden mist quietly touched her ankles, gently rubbing against her silk stockings, and then couldn't help but rustle and rub upwards along her ankles.
Yan Huanyue suddenly realized what he was about to do, and abruptly dodged forward, sitting up directly from the bed.
In the inn's room, the candle wax that had congealed on the table hung upside down on the candlestick, twisted into a strange shape.
Yan Huanyue rubbed her temples, her heart still pounding.
She no longer wanted to think about why she had such a dream. Her junior brother Pei wouldn't go so far as to trick her into going to a deserted place. Was this all just her imagination about him?
When did she ever think about such things?
She jumped out of bed, washed her face with the now-cold water, changed into a worn-out cloth dress, and went out of the room.
I had already eaten breakfast, and a light drizzle was still falling outside the eaves.
Su Xianqing hadn't eaten breakfast. He had already gone out and wandered around the area in the morning. After the breakfast on the table was cleared away, he walked to the front of the inn with an umbrella.
She returned but didn't go inside. She just stood outside the door, her robes fluttering in the wind. She waved to the three people sitting near the door, and Yan Huanyue, Jian You, and Li Ji got up together.
The waiter who had helped her add candles yesterday chased after her to the door, handed her two old umbrellas, and said, "Judging from the sky, the rain may get heavier. If you don't have enough umbrellas, please use these for now."
I didn't go out much after arriving yesterday and forgot to buy an umbrella. Who knew it would still be raining today?
It wouldn't be appropriate to expend spiritual energy to drive away the rain here, as it would seem too arrogant. Li Ji was worried about having to share an umbrella with Su Xianqing after going out.
He lingered behind Jian You, hoping to squeeze in the moment she opened her umbrella, so that Senior Sister Yan would have to share the umbrella with Senior Brother Xian Qing.
Senior Sister Yan was raised in Changqing Palace for a period of time when she was a child, and Senior Brother Xianqing also personally took care of her. They were already familiar with each other.
When Senior Sister Yan is with Senior Brother Xianqing, she doesn't act like she's lost her mind or become a walking idiot, unlike when she's with him.
Speaking of the time he was raised under the sect leader's care, he suddenly thought of Pei Xuanzhi and pondered it for a moment.
The sect leader was very busy with affairs. He had just returned from the clutches of a demon and had sentenced himself to lightning punishment. After the punishment, he should have been cultivating and managing the sect's affairs.
He could have easily placed Senior Sister Yan in the care of other elders, but in the end he chose to raise her in Changqing Palace.
Could it be because that succubus lied to him, saying that Junior Brother Pei had been refined by the mother body and that he had lost a child, that seeing the newborn Senior Sister Yan made him think of his child who would never see the world?
Logically speaking, for someone like the sect leader to be abducted by a succubus is already a disgrace, and to have a child with a succubus is an indelible mark on their life.
The child was refined by her and spared from birth. The sect leader should have breathed a huge sigh of relief. What is there to regret?
The more Li Ji thought about it, the more contradictory his conjectures seemed. But almost eight hundred years had passed, and Junior Brother Pei had already returned. What use was thinking about these things now?
Seeing that Li Ji seemed a little lost in thought, Yan Huanyue took the two umbrellas from the young servant and said, "Thank you, we will return them."
As she spoke, she took out a few copper coins and gently placed them in his palm. "But we might be back late, and there's a chance we won't be able to return the umbrella. Take this money and go buy two new umbrellas so you won't be in trouble if we can't pay us back. If we come back, we'll exchange the old umbrellas for the new ones, okay?"
The waiter gently grasped the money, and a tingling sensation spread from the cool copper coins in his palm to a warm current flowing into his heart.
Then, with a sudden "bang," it exploded without warning, sending shivers down his spine and filling his chest with an indescribable sense of pleasure and tenderness.
He seemed to see and hear nothing but her.
He unconsciously pursed his lips, lowered his head and nodded his bewildered head, without uttering a single word.
Yan Huanyue nudged Li Ji with the umbrella handle and handed him the umbrella.
She had just opened her umbrella and stepped out of the inn, and hadn't gone far with the three of them, not even out of the street, when a figure suddenly rushed out of the inn behind her and jumped under her umbrella.
The newcomer, her face still damp from the light rain, smiled and whispered, "I came in a hurry. There are too many outsiders, and the umbrellas at the ferry are all sold out. I got soaked in the rain last night. Please take me with you, sister-in-law."
Yan Huanyue kicked him directly. The boy, dressed in a purple brocade robe, moved like a lotus flower, quickly circling around under the umbrella and reaching her other side.
Yan Huanyue struck out with her palm and said coldly, "Yu Shiliulang, are you looking for death?"
Yu Yi dodged for a moment, tiptoed down under Li Ji's umbrella, and laughed, "It's just sharing an umbrella. Fellow Daoist Yan is quite stingy. The last time I saw you was outside Hengsu City. When you learned that my twelfth brother's medicine had been stolen and sold in the Ghost Market by a fox demon, were you worried too?"
"Really? Junior Brother Yu's medicine is lost? Would you mind telling me what happened?"
Su Xianqing, who was walking at the front, turned around, and an invisible and intangible pressure followed.
The oppressive aura caused Yu Yi to feel a metallic taste in her throat, and she almost collapsed to her knees. Suddenly, the oppressive aura vanished.
He hadn't noticed Su Xianqing earlier, assuming that anyone who came out with the outer disciples was just another outer disciple.
Upon seeing Su Xianqing there, he immediately dropped his bluff, coughed for a while, spat out a mouthful of blood, which was washed away by the drizzle.
He showed no anger whatsoever, but simply made a hand seal, bowed, and said, "Greetings, Fellow Daoist Su."
Li Ji nudged him from behind and said, "Yu Shiliulang, how dare you slander someone's innocence out of thin air? When did Senior Sister Yan come here for Senior Brother Yu?"
The silent Jian You beside her only sneered. She had seen many of these loudmouthed brats who couldn't say anything decent.
Because the "Heavenly Eye" between Yu Yi's eyebrows was injured by Yan Huanyue's natal sword, it carries her innate spiritual energy, and its healing is somewhat slow.
It had been raining these past few days, and the wound between his eyebrows was still a little sore and itchy. Because of this, he thought of her for many days and nights.
To his surprise, he saw her walking not far away as soon as he left the inn. He had intended to vent his anger on Yu Zhao, but instead, he kicked Su Xianqing right in front of her.
He had met Su Xianqing before; he was not as gentle and easy to talk to as Mu Huaci outside Hengsu City. Su Xianqing was someone who would actually take action himself.
Yu Yi said in a low voice, "I was just talking nonsense to get your attention."
Yan Huanyue sneered, "Your brother is ill and you don't feel sorry for him, yet you still talk such nonsense to him. If you continue to use Senior Brother Yu to talk nonsense with me, I can open your Heavenly Eye and crack your skull open."
Yu Yi glanced at her coolly, then lowered her head and said, "I understand, Fellow Daoist Yan, I was wrong."
Just as Yu Yi turned the corner and was about to walk into the rain alone, Su Xianqing asked, "What did you just say about Junior Brother Yu's medicine?"
Yu Yi stopped in her tracks, swallowed a pill to suppress the rising blood in her chest, and replied:
"The medicine was originally meant to be taken to the Mingde Sect to treat my twelfth brother's illness, but it was stolen by a fox demon on the way and resold to merchants in the ghost market. My elder sister ordered me to bring people to retrieve it, but the people I brought have already gone ahead. I'm going to find them now. Goodbye."
He bowed to the four of them and ran off, splashing a string of water droplets.
Water droplets fell intermittently from the eaves. The waiter standing by the door clenched the copper coins in his hand, his face gloomy as he stared at the deserted end of the long street.
A woman in a pale yellow dress brushed past him, her plain white veil rippling in the wind.
She turned to the man who had followed her and said, "Brother Jiang, let's go."
Dressed in peasant attire, Jiang Xusheng strolled out slowly, holding an umbrella, and said, "Miss Tan, wait a moment, umbrella."
Tan Guiyi laughed and said, "It's just a light drizzle. It's actually quite refreshing to get soaked. I'm not a pretentious woman."
As she spoke, she didn't even notice the innkeeper beside her, and stepped into the drizzle, lifting her skirt.
As Jiang Xusheng reached the door, someone dressed like a farmer held an umbrella over his head and said:
"Speak softly... Your mother warned you that your injuries haven't fully healed yet, and the Ghost Market isolates spiritual energy, so you need to be careful."
Jiang Xusheng took the umbrella and said, "Xiaocheng, share this umbrella with me."
The small town was filled with trepidation and repeatedly declined.
Jiang Xusheng opened his umbrella and pulled him inside, saying in a low voice, "So that some people won't regret it later."
Tan Guiyi stood at the door and said, "Brother Jiang, how old are you? You still have to be controlled by your mother when you travel far away. How much freedom will you get in this life? Aren't you being a little too submissive?"
Jiang Xusheng didn't respond to that, but just smiled and said, "Miss Tan, let's go. Didn't you still want to get back Brother Yu's medicine to atone for your sins?"
A few more people walked into the rain and disappeared at the end of the long street.
The unnoticed waiter put the copper coins in his pocket, took an old umbrella from inside the door, and followed at a distance.
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2024-05-07 23:39:19 and 2024-05-08 22:53:49!
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