After hearing Cen Xi'er's words, Lin Zhiyue had originally intended to stop once she got the general picture. However, seeing how her Second Senior Sister's fingertips turned slightly pale as she stirred her tea with her head lowered, she couldn't resist asking one more question. “Then, Second Senior Sister, when did you start...”
Cen Xi'er looked up at her.
See? Even a little junior sister she had only known for a few days could see right through her... She let out a soft laugh, one carrying a hint of bitterness that had been worn smooth by time.
“Your Eldest Senior Brother is an idiot.” She rested her teacup on her lap, her gaze drifting toward the distant silhouette of Tiance Palace's side peak. “I was only eight years old when I first arrived at Tiance Palace. I didn't know anything, and even circulating my spiritual energy was a struggle.”
“Master—our Master—took me in six months after he took in Chu Zhixun. You know how Master is: a man of few words, cold-faced and cold-hearted, detached from everyone. He was even worse back then.”
“He hadn't learned how to interact with little girls back then. I was the first female disciple he ever took in, and he had no idea what to do with me. So, he just raised me the exact same way he raised Eldest Senior Brother.”
Lin Zhiyue nodded. She could easily picture the scene—Qi Yan, looking like a youth himself, standing before an eight-year-old girl, probably not even knowing what to say.
“Later on, the disciples in the sect gave me a nickname behind my back,” Cen Xi'er said in a flat tone, as if she were talking about someone else. “They called me a tomboy. It was because I had a fiery temper, a loud voice, never cried when I fell during sword practice, and never backed down when fighting with Chu Zhixun.”
“In truth, I was only eight or nine at the time. Hearing them call me that made me feel incredibly wronged. Once, I overheard a few senior brothers joking near the martial arts field, saying I was wilder than the male disciples and must have reincarnated into the wrong body, that I should have been a boy. I hid in the back mountain and cried all afternoon by myself.”
Lin Zhiyue's heart tightened.
“And then, your Eldest Senior Brother found me.” At this point, Cen Xi'er's lips finally curved up. “I don't know where he heard about it, but he came storming up to the back mountain. Seeing me sitting on the ground crying, he didn't say a word at first. He just took off his outer robe and draped it over me. Then he squatted in front of me and said, very seriously—”
Mimicking Chu Zhixun's tone from back then, Cen Xi'er lowered her voice, capturing the righteous confidence of a young boy: “‘How are you not like a girl? Your hair is so long, your eyes are so big, and your dimples are so deep when you smile. You're clearly very pretty. Those people are blind to call you a tomboy. Have you ever seen a man as good-looking as you?’”
Lin Zhiyue couldn't help but burst into a chuckle.
Cen Xi'er laughed too, then let out a soft sigh. “He was only eleven then. I have no idea where he learned those sweet-talking words. But after that day, I never cried over that nickname again.”
“Later, Master found out about it too. He actually felt a bit guilty because of it, so he specially asked someone to buy me dresses and disciplined the disciples who had been gossiping.”
“But Master was always busy and couldn't look after us every single second. So, I just kept following Eldest Senior Brother around, growing up by his side from the age of eight until now.”
Lin Zhiyue listened quietly, then reached out to gently pat the back of Cen Xi'er's hand without saying a word.
Cen Xi'er gave her hand a light squeeze in return.
Some things, once left unresolved for eight or ten years, were no longer a matter of whether one could bring them up or not.
In the middle of the night, Lin Zhiyue went out for some fresh air and ran into Xiao Yuan under the corridor of the inn.
The youth was sitting on the railing, the moonlight sharply defining the contours of his profile. The overflowing spiritual energy of a wind-attribute spiritual root cultivator made the surrounding air ripple slightly, causing the hem of his robe to flutter gently.
Lin Zhiyue sat down beside him. After a moment of silence, she asked softly, “Third Senior Brother, you're not sleeping. Are you thinking about something?”
Xiao Yuan didn't look at her. His gaze was fixed on the distant, rolling mountain shadows. Only after a long silence did he speak, his voice scattered into the air, broken by the night wind. “It's nothing.”
Lin Zhiyue patted his shoulder. The answer was already laid out right in front of her.
On the journey back the next day, she pieced all the details together. Chu Zhixun was equally enthusiastic toward everyone, making no distinctions in his treatment.
Cen Xi'er liked Chu Zhixun and had liked him for at least eight years, yet she had never spoken up. Xiao Yuan liked Cen Xi'er and had also liked her for who knows how many years, and he had remained silent as well.
The three of them still called each other senior brother, senior sister, and junior sister in front of her, laughing merrily and brightly. Yet that layer of paper window pane was almost completely transparent, and still, no one reached out to poke through it.
It was already the evening of the third day when they returned to Tiance Palace. Lin Zhiyue closed her courtyard gate, sat down at her desk, and submitted her quest findings on the system screen.
“Eldest Senior Brother Chu Zhixun: oblivious, holds no special feelings for Second Senior Sister. Second Senior Sister Cen Xi'er: harbors a one-sided crush on Eldest Senior Brother Chu Zhixun for at least eight years. Third Senior Brother Xiao Yuan: harbors a one-sided crush on Second Senior Sister Cen Xi'er. The three of them are unaware of each other's feelings, maintaining a surface-level harmony. Eldest Senior Brother remains completely clueless, while Second Senior Sister and Third Senior Brother each keep their hearts full of secrets, with neither willing to make the first move.”
The system screen fell silent for a few seconds before a line of text popped up: 【Quest complete. Reward: Premium Draw Ticket ×5 has been distributed.】
Lin Zhiyue leaned back against her chair, staring blankly at the ceiling for a moment, before murmuring under her breath, “What kind of love triangle cycle is this...”
She closed her eyes. These three were her senior brothers and sister, and they treated her wonderfully. Caught in the middle, she was in a very difficult position; trying to play matchmaker for any of them felt wrong.
It wasn't as if she hadn't seen her seniors date in her past life, but she had truly never run into a love triangle drama like this.
She tucked away the five premium tickets and flipped through the system's quest list for the next stage. Then, remembering that she had skipped two days of swordplay lessons with Qi Yan, she shrank her neck and decided to go to the main peak first thing tomorrow morning to beg for forgiveness.
Early the next morning, carrying the guilt of having skipped two days of lessons with her Master, Lin Zhiyue arrived at the martial arts field half an hour early.
Qi Yan was already there. The morning light crept up from the edge of the cliff, bathing most of the blue jade platform. He stood in the center of the field, wearing his usual red and black training robes, his hair neatly bound, and holding his silvery-white long sword. His expression was much the same as always—calm and unreadable. Yet, Lin Zhiyue couldn't help but feel that Qi Yan was slightly different today.
She couldn't put her finger on what was off, but he was definitely different.
She quickly walked over and bowed, honestly admitting her fault. “Master, I went down the mountain with my senior brothers and sister for an excursion over the last two days and missed my swordplay lessons. I will practice for an extra half-hour today to make up for it.”
Qi Yan glanced at her, resting his sword horizontally across his palm. His voice was calm. “An excursion down the mountain for two days? What did you experience during your training?”
Lin Zhiyue was taken aback.
She quickly racked her brain to recall her “training experiences” over the last two days—on the first day, they had eaten three meals of roasted spirit beast meat at the market town at the foot of the mountain, accompanied Cen Xi'er as she browsed through half a street of spiritual accessory stalls, and helped Chu Zhixun pick out ten catties of premium spiritual wine.
On the second day, she had sipped tea and pried for gossip in the inn's backyard, and spent the night enjoying the breeze and looking at the moon under the corridor with Xiao Yuan. All things considered, the only thing that even remotely resembled “training” was sitting by the roadside to watch a passing rogue cultivator demonstrate some fist and kick moves, and even that had broken up after less than the time it took for an incense stick to burn.
She fell silent for two seconds.
Qi Yan didn't rush her, simply standing there and waiting, his finger lightly tapping the spine of his sword twice, producing a soft tap-tap sound.
“...I ate roasted meat,” Lin Zhiyue confessed honestly. “I browsed some spiritual accessory stalls. I helped Eldest Senior Brother carry ten catties of spiritual wine. And I watched half of a fight between rogue cultivators, but it wasn't very interesting, so I left.”
The corner of Qi Yan's mouth seemed to twitch slightly, but it happened so fast she couldn't be sure.
“Nothing else?”
“Nothing else.”
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