“…what?”
The sudden intrusion of Sima Ji-Hu’s rapid language and Xu Lingxin’s subsequent yell in Mandarin caused the young girl’s mind to become overloaded, and confuse the two messages into an almost indecipherable heap. When she could bring her head around the set of confusing words that had been uttered by the two, An Fei’s heart crawled in great confusion and fear.
Husband… was that the word?
When did she have a husband?
Was it the Soul-Binding Contract that Tian Mu had hurled onto her head?
No, that was long before she had encountered the brash youth of the Violet Jade Pavilion at Chunwoo Battlegrounds. For the youth to remark something regarding her ‘husband’, if it wasn’t the Heavenly Sword Sect disseminating the news…
Since it wasn’t to be the Heavenly Sword Sect, then the only person was who could have planted himself the title…
WEN JIU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A soundless scream blasted through the interior of the luxury-ridden pagoda that was Plum’s Grove. An Fei’s fingers dug deep into her palms with enough intensity and strength to draw thin rivulets of blood, but she seemed not to notice as she continued staring towards the outside world separated by a thin crack in the set of iron doors.
Just a thin crack, and she could slip through and pretend none of this happened –
“Miss Wen?”
“…what’s with that girl? She seems rather startled…”
“Hmph, its the rampaging emotions of a mortal girl chasing after cultivators. Don’t they ever learn?”
“This Little Sister is rather pitiful, ah. Although her appearance is only average for a mortal, her slender figure…”
Having failed to receive any reply for several moments, Sima Ji-Hu couldn’t help himself but raise his voice in inquiry as the nearby cultivators ripped their lips open in gossip. Given his state of youth and innocence as a cultivator compared to the ‘seasoned veterans’ lounging in the open area within the pagoda, the youngster’s voice boomed through and through, unintentionally or intentionally…
“…ah –“
That damned bastard!
Her ears stinging with the set of syllables she distinctively remembered the accursed Wen Jiu tossing towards the youth following their emergency landing in the jungle-filled Chunwoo Battlegrounds, An Fei’s heart smoldered with aggravation and fury. Her fingers threatened to dig further into her palms as a means of returning her mind to reality, and the young girl inhaled a full shuddering breath of air as she turned around.
“Little Sister, are you alright? Before that, what’s this matter regarding a husband?”
She turned around to deliver a scathing reply to the innocent youth who had been hoodwinked by a desperate bachelor of a cultivator, only to be stabbed deep in the chest by someone who had drunk tea with her just moments earlier. It really… really was just a bit too…
“Little Sister?”
“…I don’t have a husband.”
The words were forced from her lips, and the dull lustre within her irises flashed with a rare, brilliant gleam of danger. Nonetheless, it was a sheer pity that the target in question, had sufficiently thick skin and a misguided prejudice to be affected in any sort.
“Little Sister, if you have any trouble, talk it through with your Elder Sister before doing things you regret later in the future, ah?” Xu Lingxin placed both palms on the young girl’s shoulders, drawing her face closer in concern.
She was the one who paid for the tea and meal. She was also the one paying for their temporary residence due to Bei Tang’s malignant winter rain.
How could she – a penniless cultivator – not be concerned?
“Sometimes, things can get rough with matters such as these. As long as you keep calm, think long before committing to any decision, everything will be alright.”
It really hurt, alright!?
“Ai-yo, for you to have such a pale expression – did he… he get a side woman?”
The temple maiden continued with her monologue while increasing the strength in her hands on An Fei’s shoulders. Perhaps it was because she failed to recognize the true reason for the latter’s increasingly darkening expression, or it was guided due to misplaced sympathy; for every time the young girl’s brows twitched, Xu Lingxin’s conjectures became ever-increasingly dark.
“Did he bring him a few concubines, or even several serving maids? No, was it that he had engaged in such illicit relationships beforehand and now brought offspring home before you? Little Sister, stay strong, ah – there will be a solution in the future, you just need to be patien –”
“I. Sincerely. Don’t. Have. A. Husband!!!”
A high-pitched roar capable of unsettling hearts erupted from a delicate and small frame, and An Fei broke free from Xu Lingxin’s vice-like grip. Having expended all of her breath in a single shout and forced to gasp for thin streams of air, the young girl raised her misty eyes in an attempt to survey her surroundings for an apt means of escape.
She didn’t realize that her current actions had perfectly complemented the pitiable impression the cultivators loitering around had managed to derive, nor was she prepared for the lethal blow aimed towards her side. The bait was set, surely aided by the malicious and scheming fate…
“Such a pitiful mortal…”
“First time encountering a heartless cultivator? Well, I don’t particularly blame him as she is a mortal girl… not to mention one with an undeveloped body…”
“Miss Wen, c… could something have happened after we last met? Please accept my apology for disrupting your emotions –“
Pa!
The young girl ignored the scorching burst of pain that rushed throughout her body as she ignited the golden kernel of light nestled deep in her chest. Her body invigorated by dense, revitalizing streams of spiritual essence, An Fei rushed forwards to grasp and lift the bewildered and apologetic Sima Ji-Hu by the frontal folds of his robes, and unleashed a painful scream into his ears.
“You’re misunderstanding it!!!!”
“M-M-Miss Wen! Please, regain control of your emotions! I understand that it might be a painful experience, but please stay strong…”
Wen Jiu and the other cultivators within the luxurious pagoda might have been talented enough to learn multiple languages, but Sima Ji-Hu had never committed to such a boring and arduous task meant only for those of the secular world. As such, with his ever-powerful voice that easily drowned out An Fei’s pitiful scream, the youth wielded the divine hammer of gossip and slammed it onto the ground in revelation.
With one empowered proclamation, the cultivator disciple of the Violet Jade Pavilion had stamped the seal of approval onto the dreams of the turtled bachelor of the Wen Family… at least in Bei Tang.
Please… please just let me stab him once? Or fan him… just one time?
It most certainly won’t be the one stamped with ‘death’ – I promise!
–
“Don’t talk to me. Don’t come near me.”
“Little… Little Sister, have you regained your calm?” Xu Lingxin earnestly comforted with her soothing pair of hands.
“Alright, alright, don’t start crying again now. Just don’t think of him anymore for the time being, and your heart can settle.”
The temple maiden sat besides An Fei as she consoled the latter. Though she received both soothing words in her ears and warm massages on her back, An Fei’s expression was stony and devoid of calm.
She knew that just as she didn’t know much of Bei Tang’s dual language system and its absurd writing system, Sima Ji-Hu didn’t know much regarding Great Yong’s language and the numerous definitions belonging to a single word.
Logically, since Wen Jiu was the sole person capable of speaking to both parties at that instance, it was easy for the youth to become susceptible to some form of deception…
Yet deep within her heart, she really, really wanted to kill that youth at that moment, even if she would draw the ire of the Violet Jade Pavilion for killing one of their disciples in public. Through political machination regarding her father, she had managed to obtain the utmost malice of the Empress of one of the three great nations of the continent – one more sect added to the list was hardly a significant matter.
Yes… in the matter of a few minutes, a youngster who wasn’t even at the age of twenty had completely decimated the identity of Xu Lingxue, causing her to transform from an innocent village girl from the far stretches of the world to a recently married lady who had been utterly betrayed by her husband…
“…pretty pathetic, ah?” An Fei sighed in defeat.
“In the end, not even the managers of this Plum Grove dared to accept an exorbitant fee after getting wind of the news…”
On a twisted, ignorant perspective of the matter, she had managed to save fifty gold coins that should have been the residential fee for three months at a luxurious settlement such as the Plum’s Grove. However, the price was that the jianghu of Bei Tang now recognized the young girl Xu Lingxue as the distressed and disillusioned mortal wife of a cultivator surnamed Wen.
Gossip was bound to spread far with godspeed, especially when the people responsible for its medium were cultivators who could run faster than the usual horse…
“Little Sister?”
Xu Lingxin’s eyes snapped open as her fingers noticed movement from the young girl. Surprised and confused, the temple maiden stared towards the young girl’s figure who had quietly approached the door with great resemblance to a thief.
“It’s so late outside, and its going to rain soon,” she complained, rubbed her eyes in drowsiness.
“Ah, Little Sister, come and sleep.”
“After I get a midnight snack.”
The young girl left behind a confusing remark as she closed the door shut behind her, leaving behind the blinking and bewildered temple maiden. Resting her head against the wooden surface, An Fei heaved a quick sigh of dismay, and trudged towards the exit leading out of the pagoda.
