30 – Ye Zhen and Qi Qiqi
She opened her heavy eyelids and woke up.
A dim wooden ceiling was reflected in her eyes. When she moved her gaze a little, she could see a white bed curtain embroidered with cyan floral patterns.
This is my room. Xue Qilin"s blurry consciousness gradually converged, and then she realized that something was wrong. She felt heavy. There was something pressing on her belly.
She propped her upper body up and looked down. There was long pitch-black hair scattered on the quilt and a beautiful face in front of her eyes.
The long eyelashes were slightly raised, the delicate nose was contracting and expanding, the cherry lips were slightly opened, the warm breath seemed to be visible, and the most pleasing part – the cheeks were slightly rosy.
The owner of these exquisite features was naturally Qi Qiqi. Using Xue Qilin"s belly as a pillow, she slumbered peacefully.
“Why is Little Seven sleeping here…”
“… the Palace Master has been taking care of you for the past few days. After we returned to the palace and settled you down last night, the Palace Master didn"t return to her quarters. She stayed here all night.”
Is that so… A tender feeling sprang up in her heart, and Xue Qilin gently pushed the strands of hair that fell on Qi Qiqi"s face aside.
Then, looking at Qi Qiqi"s smooth nose, she couldn"t help but poke it, and the nose wrinkled.
That"s a little cute! Xue Qilin couldn"t help poke again.
“Anyway, Little Zhen… can you announce your presence beforehand? If it was someone else, you might have scared them to death.” As she grumbled angrily, Xue Qilin gently circled Qi Qiqi"s face with her fingertips.
Be that as it may, she has actually noticed Ye Zhen"s presence the moment she woke up. Without concealing their aura, a Heaven Realm expert was just like a sun, and any martial pract.i.tioner who reached the Human Realm could sense their aura.
“… martial grandnephew will pay attention next time.”
Xue Qilin nodded with satisfaction.
Suddenly, she noticed that her arms were still wrapped in white cloth, but there was no blood on it. The blood should have stopped at an earlier time. Xue Qilin moved her wrist for a while, but didn"t feel particular pain. After the circulation of true qi was returned to normal, her body"s self-healing ability has increased significantly, which was why the discomfort caused by her injuries has lessened greatly.
It was too tiring to prop her upper body up. Xue Qilin found it embarra.s.sing to wake Qi Qiqi up, so she just lied back down.
She looked sideways at the black-robed Ye Zhen and asked softly: “How long did I sleep?”
“It"s been three days.”
“That so…” Xue Qilin looked at the ceiling, “At that time, you were the one who lured Hua Tianji away?”
“Yes.” Ye Zhen responded flatly, showing no desire of taking credit.
“Sorry for troubling you.” Xue Qilin"s face turned a little red, and she thanked Ye Zhen in an uneasy tone.
“Young Ancestor, you flatter me. It"s what I should have done.”
“It was also hard on Little Seven…” Xue Qilin suddenly thought of the cyan figure, “Right, where"s Little Qing.”
Normally, Luo Qing would definitely stay guard by her side, but Xue Qilin hasn"t seen her until now.
Did she go to take a rest? Inexplicably, Xue Qilin felt a little uneasy.
“… Martial Niece Luo hasn"t returned yet.”
“What?!” Forgetting about Qi Qiqi slumbering on her belly, Xue Qilin suddenly sat up. Qi Qiqi"s head slid away from her belly, and then…
“It hurts!” Rubbing her forehead, Qi Qiqi looked at Xue Qilin with tears in her bright red eyes, “You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, can"t you warn me before you get up?!”
Xue Qilin scratched her head awkwardly and laughed coa.r.s.ely: “I"m sorry, I"m sorry, I didn"t pay attention for a moment. “
“You did it on purpose! Scoundrel! And I took care of you for the past few days!” Enraged, Qi Qiqi denounced Xue Qilin.
Perhaps he couldn"t stay by idly and watch, but Ye Zhen eventually defended Xue Qilin: “Palace Master, it"s not the Young Ancestor"s fault. She just learned that Martial Niece Luo hasn"t returned yet. Startled, she forgot herself for a moment.”
Ye Zhen"s voice prompted Qi Qiqi"s shoulders to shudder suddenly, and she turned her head stiffly. When she saw Ye Zhen, she spoke embarra.s.sedly: “So you were here, Uncle Teacher…”
“I"ve been here a while now. I was going to take a look, but then I woke the Young Ancestor up, and had a chat with her.”
“That…” Qi Qiqi shrunk back and then went on, ashamed: “You don"t have to explain yourself.”
Ye Zhen was stunned, and then revealed a wry smiled: “Palace Master, didn"t you say that if I don"t explain myself, you won"t understand…”
“Well, I seem to have…”
Seeing Qi Qiqi"s face getting redder and redder, Xue Qilin couldn"t help but think – Little Seven has really thin skin.
Then, the both of them went silent at the same time, and the mood became a bit awkward.
Xue Qilin looked strangely at Qi Qiqi and saw the latter bit her lower lip, looking embarra.s.sed. Then, she looked at Ye Zhen, and found out that his expression was rather strange, as if he had accidentally run into something awkward and was embarra.s.sed to make a sound. The situation was similar to a father walking into his daughter"s room, only to find her changing clothes.
Xue Qilin burst into laughter. At the same time, she wondered whether something has happened between the two.
“Little Seven, why hasn"t Luo Qing returned yet?” She was more concerned about Luo Qing"s safety than the change in relationship between the two.
“Uncle Teacher, have you told the Young Ancestor?” Qi Qiqi"s expression stiffened, and she questioned Ye Zhen with a tone laced with ill intentions, “The Young Ancestor will learn sooner or later, so why hide it?”
The more she heard, the more Xue Qilin felt like something wasn"t right, and she frowned unwittingly, “Little Seven, what"s going on?”
“This…” Qi Qiqi looked rather hesitant.
What is she hesitating about? No, she"s worried about me! When she saw the worry in Qi Qiqi"s eyes, Xue Qilin concluded as such. Therefore, she uttered in a soft voice, which felt both soothing and pleading: “Tell me.”
In a daze, Qi Qiqi"s eyes widened. Xue Qilin smiled back.
“Okay.” Qi Qiqi"s expression relaxed, “Senior Disciple Sister Luo stayed behind to block the pursuers, she has yet to return…”
When she reached here, Qi Qiqi took a deep breath, “Uncle Teacher Ye said that it doesn"t bode well for Senior Disciple Sister Luo…”
When she heard Qi Qiqi"s answer, Xue Qilin was dumbfounded.
After she heard that Luo Qing has yet to return to the palace, she had a bad premonition, but she didn"t expect Ye Zhen"s conclusion – “doesn"t bode well”.
Luo Qing"s smile flashed in her mind, forcing Xue Qilin to steady her turbulent heart, “… Did you send people to look for her? Why doesn"t it bode well for her?”
“From the moment when the Heavenly Sword Gate captured you, they effectively declared war on us, Young Ancestor. And there"s also our rescue mission. Although it doesn"t seem like a big deal now, but there"s already an irreconcilable enmity.”
Xue Qilin was slightly annoyed at Ye Zhen"s grave tone of voice: “So what?”
“So under these circ.u.mstances, it"s hard for us to send people to search for Martial Niece Luo. The Heavenly Sword Gate won"t sit back and watch. It might not end well for the people we"ll send… what"s more, now that the pot was stirred, if Martial Niece Luo really fell into the Heavenly Sword Gate"s hands, then there"s no way Hua Tianji will let her go.”
“Little Seven, you think so as well?”
Qi Qiqi nodded, looking ashamed.
“In other words, it"s just a speculation, right?” She couldn"t suppress the anger in he voice.
Ye Zhen and Qi Qiqi exchanged a look. Finally, Qi Qiqi spoke: “Young Ancestor, calm down…”
“Calm down?” A burst of anger suddenly arose inside her, and Xue Qilin stared at Qi Qiqi and slapped the headboard.
“I don"t know what you think of a sect, but in my view, the sect is home, and everyone in the sect is family. A member of my family is missing, and you want me to calm down?”
Xue Qilin didn"t want to see anyone else lie unresponsive before her eyes like her niece did, let alone suddenly turn into cold bodies and return to her like her parents did.
… don"t want to. I don"t want to feel that suffocating sense of loss, never again.
But the reality is often unsatisfactory. If I"m really that unfortunate as to lose people around me again, then at least… at least let me say my goodbyes. If you can"t even say your goodbyes, then that"s really sad.
“… family?” A dull look in her eyes, Qi Qiqi ruminated this word.
“Yes, a family! A sect should be considered a home, so isn"t everyone in the sect our family?” Ye Zhen paused, and then continued with a tone of reminiscence, “Not so long ago, the Great Ancestor has told me that I should treat the fellow disciples as relatives, yet… I forgot this principle unwittingly. Where it not the case, then I and the Palace Master would have no need to doubt one another…”
When he reached this point, Ye Zhen"s expression flickered, and he looked at Xue Qilin closely, “But Young Ancestor, even if Martial Niece Luo is suspected of harming you, do you still think of her as family?”
“… I don"t believe that she really wanted to harm me.”
Truth be told, Xue Qilin also suspected Luo Qing. After all, ever since they went on a journey to the Heavenly Sword Gate, she had noticed many strange things about the other party.
If Luo Qing was the one behind the incident, then Xue Qilin had no doubts that she had her reasons – she certainly didn"t want to harm me. Otherwise, how could her guilty expression be explained? Why did she rescue me at her own peril? And she even stayed behind to block any pursuers, with her life and death being uncertain.
Even if it wasn"t the case, even if her sentiment was groundless, Xue Qilin wouldn"t believe it, she didn"t wan"t to believe it, “If… if Little Qing truly wanted to harm me, then it"s just…”
… too sad.
“However, do we have more family members take risks for the sake of one family member?” Ye Zhen"s words were rather reasonable, leaving Xue Qilin at a loss for words for a while.
If you really think of everyone in the sect as family, then you should treat everyone equally.
There was never a reason to sacrifice the majority for the sake of the minority.
Otherwise, it would prove that her pretty words just no were just that, words, and in fact, she regarded Luo Qing as more important than others. She would show that she"s just a hypocrite.
However, who could attribute the same value for everyone? Even family members had different degrees of importance… just like some people liked one parent more than the other.
Xue Qilin drooped her eyes and said in a flat but indisputable tone: “Then I"ll go myself.”
Ye Zhen suddenly sighed and uttered emotionally: “Just like I don"t understand the Palace Master, and haven"t put myself in her shoes, we often stand on the side of reason, but forget about what"s called human heart… your straightforward approach is admirable, Young Ancestor.”
Ye Zhen paused, and then said something that caught Xue Qilin by surprise, “Young Ancestor, you"re not in a good condition right now, you still can"t leave the bed. Let me be the one to go in your stead…”
When she heard his words, Xue Qilin gazed blankly at Ye Zhen.
“What do you think, Young Ancestor?”
“That"s not ideal… Just like you said, we already stirred the pot. Although you may not be afraid of Hua Tianji, but there"s still Luo Hong…”
Qi Qiqi and Ye Zhen exchanged a look, and then Qi Qiqi spoke with a smile: “Ohhhh, how come your att.i.tude has changed 180 degrees?”
She even imitated Xue Qilin"s speech pattern.
“So annoying! I wasn"t thinking clearly just now…” Embarra.s.sed, Xue Qilin looked away. After Ye Zhen"s poignant remarks, she realized that she was being selfish.
“Don"t worry, Young Ancestor. If I"m not mistaken, Luo Hong isn"t really colluding with the Heavenly Sword Gate. I think that he was prompted by Martial Niece Luo to act.” Ye Zhen spoke confidently.
“… have you figured things out?”
“I reckon that the wily old fox Uncle Muster Ye has guessed the truth of the matter for the most part.” Perhaps because she thought that Ye Zhen often pretended to be profound, Qi Qiqi hummed adorably. Ye Zhen shook his head and smiled wryly.
Has Ye Zhen changed? Previously, even if someone made a cutting remark, he would just take it with a straight face. He never showed so many expressions. As for Little Seven, she has never revealed such a petulant behavior in front of other people before.
Although she thought that the two were a little odd, but Xue Qilin didn"t delve into it. After all, Luo Qing"s matter was more important, “What happened exactly? Spill it out.”
“After you and Senior Disciple Sister Luo set out for Jinling City, Qin Chen was found dead.”
“Dead? How did he die?”
“He was murdered. At that time, Senior Disciple Sister Li"s whereabouts were unknown, so we suspected her. Later, we heard that Luo Hong joined hands with Hua Tianji, and that Luo Hong owed Senior Disciple Sister Luo a favor. According to this, Uncle Teacher Ye concluded that Luo Hong didn"t fall out with the Merak Palace out of the blue. Thus…” Qi Qiqi stole an uneasy glance at Xue Qilin.
Are you concerned about my feelings? Xue Qilin smiled bitterly.
In order to show the other party that it didn"t matter, she rolled her eyes at Qi Qiqi and asked helplessly: “You suspect that everything was Little Qing"s doing?”
“Yes. In a secret chamber inside Martial Niece Luo"s living quarters, we finally found the missing Martial Niece Li.”
Ye Zhen chimed in, and then returned the floor to Qi Qiqi, “When Senior Sister Ting saw us, she urgently asked us to stop Senior Disciple Sister Luo, to not let her do anything stupid.”
“Did…” Xue Qilin suddenly stopped and looked up.
… a Heaven Realm expert was approaching the Merak Palace, and their aura felt familiar to Xue Qilin.
It"s Luo Hong? She frowned.
“It seems that the person who will dispel the fog has come at last.” The corners of Ye Zhen"s mouth rose slightly, and he spoke meaningfully.
“Little Seven, bring me my clothes. Let"s go meet our guest.” Xue Qilin narrowed her eyes and uttered in an unquestionable tone.