“Young lady, young lady, I have some top-quality head ornaments over here. I guarantee they’ll look wonderful on you. Would you like to try them?”
The shopkeeper was currently focusing all her attention on Su Cheng. Su Cheng’s delicate features, quiet and dignified demeanor, and simple attire gave the shopkeeper a firm resolve that she “must give this girl a makeover.”
“No need,” Su Cheng refused again.
“Oh, young lady, you’re so beautiful and your aura is so outstanding. It would be such a pity not to dress up properly!” the shopkeeper persisted relentlessly.
“I said, no need.” Su Cheng’s voice suddenly turned cold, her eyes filled with disgust and impatience. “Do you not have ears? Can you not hear me?”
Upon hearing those words, the shopkeeper was instantly stunned.
Yun Qianxue was also stunned.
Other passersby nearby turned their gazes toward them and began to whisper in low voices. “Tsk, these outsiders really are…”
“What a complete lack of manners.”
“So disrespectful.”
Hearing the accusations from the surrounding people, the hair on Yun Qianxue’s body stood on end.
However, when she looked at Su Cheng, she found that Su Cheng turned around with an expressionless face and simply walked away!
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’m truly sorry!”
Yun Qianxue apologized repeatedly to the shopkeeper before hurriedly chasing after Su Cheng.
***
The two of them finally stopped after reaching a deserted, open area.
“What, what was that about just now? Why did you suddenly…” Yun Qianxue asked, stepping forward in confusion.
“It has nothing to do with you. Don’t ask,” Su Cheng replied coldly.
“But…” Yun Qianxue ran in front of Su Cheng, preparing to speak, but she stopped abruptly.
She saw Su Cheng staring particularly hard, to the point where the bloodshot veins in her eyes were visible. Her teeth were faintly clenched, and her expression seemed to be struggling.
Yun Qianxue suddenly realized something.
“Underneath that… is there a secret hidden there?” she said cautiously. “I’m sorry for making you remember something unpleasant.”
Hearing Yun Qianxue’s words, Su Cheng turned her head to the side and wiped her face hard. “I told you it has nothing to do with you… Why are you apologizing?”
“If it weren’t for me wanting to buy new clothes, you wouldn’t have — “
“Enough.” Su Cheng’s expression gradually softened. “This behavior of pointlessly taking the blame upon yourself makes you look very foolish.”
“That’s not true!”
Yun Qianxue placed her hand over her chest and pouted with a red face.
“The Cloud Family precepts state that if you make a traveling companion unhappy, you must reflect on whether you did something wrong or if there was a problem with your actions.”
“Although Big Sister arranged for you to accompany me so you could look after me, as a traveling companion, I must naturally look after your feelings as well. Therefore, as the one who made you remember a bad memory, I need to apologize!”
“Don’t you hate me? I told you it has nothing to do with you, so why bother apologizing to someone you hate?” Su Cheng asked.
“This is a matter of principle! It has nothing to do with what kind of person you are!” Yun Qianxue said excitedly.
“Tsk, the precepts of you great families really are strange.”
“So, do you accept my apology?” Yun Qianxue asked.
“Not interested.”
“No, you must accept it!”
“You… are very annoying.”
“If you don’t accept it, I’ll feel bad about it for a long time!”
“Oh? Then let it be like that.”
“What? You… you person!”
The two of them walked one after the other, heading toward the Fengqing Sect.
Although the noisy, anxious state of Yun Qianxue behind her made Su Cheng feel she was foolish, she didn’t feel any impatience.
Her current feeling was the same as when Huang Doudou had stood in front of her to protect her as a Senior Sister.
Even though Su Cheng had told Huang Doudou to leave her behind and escape alone, that Fifth Senior Sister — who was younger and smaller than her — had stubbornly stayed to protect her.
It was the same now. Even though she had told Yun Qianxue that this matter had nothing to do with her, she was still stubborn about wanting to apologize.
The stubborn behavior of these people should have made Su Cheng feel impatient.
However, in reality, Su Cheng experienced a different, peculiar sensation.
In Su Cheng’s life, the first person to give her this feeling was Yu Yi.
Yu Yi was the most stubborn person of all.
She had taken Su Cheng in back then. No matter how much Su Cheng distrusted her at first, Yu Yi was always good to her.
She had even bestowed the Heart of the Firm Rock Jade upon Su Cheng to improve her weak and sickly constitution.
It was precisely this stubbornness of Yu Yi’s that had earned Su Cheng’s trust. From then on, Su Cheng became wholeheartedly devoted to Yu Yi, to the point where her filial piety began to change in nature.
***
Su Cheng and Yun Qianxue returned to the Fengqing Sect. Before they even neared the mountain gate, they heard an irritable voice coming from that direction.
“Fu Yi! What kind of eccentric guest is that? Why is she still lingering even now? I don’t have time to see her! Hurry up and pick a few more people with good skills for me.”
“Qingxu town and Cangjin Cave need to be strictly guarded! Once the companions of those two Demonic Path followers realize they haven’t returned, they will definitely send others to those two places to look for things we don’t know about!”
Su Cheng and Yun Qianxue followed the sound and saw Fu Yi standing before the mountain gate, along with a familiar figure.
“Fourth Senior Sister,” Su Cheng said naturally.
That “Fourth Senior Sister” coming from behind caused Lü Qi’s entire body to freeze, her voice cutting off instantly.
She turned around and rubbed her eyes in disbelief upon seeing Su Cheng. After confirming she wasn’t seeing things, she cried out, “Little… Little Cheng?!”
“Long time no see, Fourth Senior Sister.” Su Cheng performed a salute.
“Hello, Fourth… Fourth Sister!” Yun Qianxue, beside her, also nervously performed a salute while thinking to herself, ‘Oh no, oh no! I left the sachet meant as a gift in my room. I don’t have it on me right now. What should I do!’
Lü Qi hurried over and gave Su Cheng a long-awaited hug. Her irritable demeanor vanished, replaced by her original mature and gentle self.
“Little Cheng, you’ve grown up.”
Lü Qi held Su Cheng’s hands, her eyes glimmering with tears as she spoke with emotion. “Are the other Junior Sisters and Senior Sisters… are they okay? How is… how is Master doing now? Also, why are you here?”
Su Cheng didn’t answer Lü Qi’s various questions. Instead, she asked, “Fourth Senior Sister, have you not seen Master?”
“Hmm?” Lü Qi was a bit dazed.
But soon, she realized the implication.
Her delicate body couldn’t help but tremble as her legs went weak, nearly causing her to collapse to the ground.
She shakily turned her gaze toward Fu Yi and asked with a complex expression, “Fu Yi, could that guest be…”
“Reporting to Master Child of the Wind God, it is exactly as you think,” Fu Yi replied respectfully. “This was a surprise Senior Yu prepared for you. Unfortunately, you were too slow, which has caused the level of surprise to diminish quite a bit.”
Lü Qi didn’t seem to hear the latter half of Fu Yi’s sentence at all.
After confirming that the “eccentric guest” was her own Master, Lü Qi was so nervous that her entire body shook, and her brain nearly shut down.
After a long while, Lü Qi finally managed to recover slightly.
She asked the three people beside her, “Little Cheng, Fu Yi, and this sister whom I’m meeting for the first time… look at… look at the dark circles under my eyes. Are they heavy?”
She could barely speak straight.
“Heavy. Quite heavy,” the three of them answered in unison.