As she spoke, she turned and walked out.
The moment she stepped out the door, A’Nan could no longer hold back and immediately started cursing:
“Where did they dig up this precious gem, Shen Yuqing? Her acting addiction is way too strong! What is she even playing at here, some kind of righteous heroine?
She eats from one bowl while eyeing the pot.
At first, I thought you were too much like a villain and it wasn’t good to deceive her, but now I think you’ve been way too kind to her!
You should have scolded her just now! Harshly!
What kind of decent girl sneaks into her master’s room at midnight because she’s scared of ghosts, runs to his room when there’s thunder, and insists that her medicine is too bitter unless her master personally feeds her?
If we say it out loud, let’s see how she plans to bury herself in the ground!”
“What’s the point of bullying a little girl?
At the end of the day, it’s just because Shen Yuqing and Pei Zichen enjoy this sort of thing,” Jiang Zhaoxue said, trying to calm A’Nan.
“A slap doesn’t make a sound by itself.
Stay out of other people’s business.
Let’s first trick Shen Yuqing into leaving, then we can take the opportunity to get Pei Zichen out.
Once he returns the Tianji Spirit Jade to me and dissolves the Heartbound Contract, those three can act however they want.”
“That makes sense!”
A’Nan was still fuming but hesitated and asked, “But, Master, aren’t you afraid Mu Jinyue will go back on her word?”
“Afraid of what?”
Jiang Zhaoxue looked puzzled.
A’Nan tentatively said, “What if she didn’t take the medicine and turns it against you, accusing you of poisoning her? What would you do?”
“Haven’t you noticed the pattern in this world?” Jiang Zhaoxue raised a hand and pointed to the sky.
A’Nan looked up.
“Huh?”
“Fixed events always happen, sooner or later.
She and Shen Yuqing still need one more night alone to advance their relationship, so it will happen eventually.
And even in the worst-case scenario,” Jiang Zhaoxue smiled, “so what if she accuses me?
If she didn’t take the medicine and makes a big fuss, at most, I’d be confined for a few days.
The one who’ll suffer is Pei Zichen.
Maybe after some torment, he’ll decide to leave with me.
If she did take the medicine and doesn’t go to the Wuyou Secret Realm, then she’s just waiting to die.”
“Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!”
A’Nan cheered, quickly flattering her, “Master, your plans are flawless!”
Jiang Zhaoxue folded her arms and chuckled lightly, her expression calm, without a response.
Sensing something was off, A’Nan turned to look at her.
After a long pause, she tentatively asked, “Master?”
“Hmm?”
“Aren’t you… feeling sad?”
“Huh?”
Jiang Zhaoxue looked surprised.
“Why would I be sad?”
“Uh…” A’Nan hesitated, then mumbled, “It’s just that… even if you’re controlled by the author, your feelings are still real…”
Jiang Zhaoxue looked at A’Nan, her gaze shifting.
A’Nan was hesitant to say more, but she finally continued, “The author can’t create emotions out of thin air.
Otherwise, even the character themselves would notice.
He only amplifies what’s already there.
So whatever you feel right now… it’s real.”
A’Nan didn’t explain clearly, but Jiang Zhaoxue already understood what she meant.
So, those two hundred years weren’t completely manipulated by the author.
Her emotions were real just exaggerated beyond reason.
That’s why she always felt impulsive yet couldn’t fully recognize that her actions weren’t entirely her own.
She quietly gazed at the Lingjian Immortal Pavilion and let out a soft laugh.
“I see.”
But no matter what kind of feelings they were, no matter what Shen Yuqing thought
From the moment he responded to Mu Jinyue with that one word, “yes,” it was over.
If she had believed in the book before, then at least in that moment, she had believed in a person.
Jiang Zhaoxue calmly walked through the scenic corridor and returned to her room.
After instructing her servants to start preparing the account records, she recalled what Pei Zichen had said about Pangpang and turned toward the kitchen, bringing some meat to feed the dog.
It was an old dog, nearly eight years old, with some missing teeth.
At first, when it saw Jiang Zhaoxue, it bared its fangs, but when she called its name, it froze for a moment before happily running up to her.
Jiang Zhaoxue sat at Pei Zichen’s door and watched the dog eat.
The dog was old and tired after eating.
She casually tidied up its bed.
Later, when she lay down on her own bed, she felt the need to claim credit for her good deed, so she stayed up and called out, “Pei Zichen!”
There was a long silence before a hesitant response: “Miss?”
“I fed that dog tonight,” Jiang Zhaoxue said seriously while staring at the ceiling.
“Guess what I gave it to eat?”
Hearing this, Pei Zichen chuckled.
He had just undergone torture, his blood dripping into the water.
Afraid that the woman on the other end would hear his pain, he adjusted his voice and responded warmly, “What was it?”
“Dog meat!” Jiang Zhaoxue said with a straight face.
“Freshly cooked.”
“Is that so?” Pei Zichen replied in an equally serious tone.
“Then I must thank you for giving it such a feast.”
“You!”
Jiang Zhaoxue could tell he knew she was joking and couldn’t help but say, “Aren’t you worried I actually fed it dog meat?”
“You wouldn’t.”
Pei Zichen was certain.
Jiang Zhaoxue pouted.
Thinking of the dog’s age, she asked, “When did you bring it up the mountain?”
“At the beginning.”
Jiang Zhaoxue was surprised.
Thinking back, she recalled that when she first met him, there did seem to be something tucked into his sleeve.
“I picked it up on my way to the Lingjian Immortal Pavilion.
I had taken some money and traveled with a merchant caravan.
I met a kind old man, and I worked odd jobs in an opera troupe while he led me to the Lingjian Immortal Pavilion.
But a few days before we arrived, the troupe was attacked by bandits.
Everyone died except for me.”
Jiang Zhaoxue listened.
Though he spoke lightly of it, she knew how difficult that journey must have been.
Bandits, disasters, starvation…
Yet he had persevered, traveling all the way from Jiangzhou, all because of a joke she had made about “Lingjian Immortal Pavilion, Shen Yuqing.”
“I was injured, collapsed on the road, and burning with fever.
I thought I was going to die.
Then I felt something nudging me.
When I opened my eyes, I saw Pangpang.”
Pei Zichen smiled.
“It was just a tiny puppy at the time, rubbing up against me.
When I woke up, it was just the two of us in the whole world.
Maybe its mother had died, or maybe she abandoned it.
I had no choice but to take it with me.
At first, I called it ‘Little White,’ but we were starving the entire journey.
By the time we reached the Lingjian Immortal Pavilion, it was all skin and bones.
So I renamed it Pangpang so it would always be full and grow fat and healthy.”
Jiang Zhaoxue smirked.
“No wonder you’re always so keen to feed it.”
Jiang Zhaoxue listened, her expression unchanged, but she had already sensed something unusual.
He had no intention of overturning Pei Zichen’s case.
If he did, he wouldn’t have immediately said “impossible.”
Every concern he raised should have been something to verify first after verification, if it was confirmed that this “demonic cultivator” was innocent, they should naturally be allowed to testify.
But he had rejected it outright.
Pei Zichen was his disciple, and his character was evident to all.
Even if he didn’t trust him completely, as a master, he should at least give Pei Zichen a chance.
Yet he had no such intention at all, even going so far as to deny the possibility of Pei Zichen’s exoneration entirely just like the Shen Yuqing in the book who had pushed Pei Zichen off a cliff.
She stared at Shen Yuqing in silence for a long time.
Seeing her remain quiet, Shen Yuqing looked up at her.
“Why aren’t you speaking?”
“Oh,” Jiang Zhaoxue snapped out of her thoughts and smiled.
“I was thinking about what you said.
I think you’re right.
That demonic cultivator’s words are indeed untrustworthy.”
“Where is this demonic cultivator?”
Shen Yuqing asked calmly.
Jiang Zhaoxue paused, then smiled.
“Found them at the foot of the mountain.
I have them under watch there for now.
Tomorrow, I’ll have them escorted to the Punishment Hall.”
“Hmm.”
Shen Yuqing responded.
Jiang Zhaoxue felt she had tested enough and quickly picked up her chopsticks, serving him food.
“Let’s eat.
We can chat after dinner.”
Shen Yuqing looked at her suspiciously.
Jiang Zhaoxue thought for a moment before saying,
“We’ve known each other for over two hundred years.
That night when the fire poison flared up, I did a lot of reflection.”
Hearing this, Shen Yuqing hesitated.
He wanted to apologize but couldn’t bring himself to say the words, gripping his chopsticks stiffly.
Jiang Zhaoxue acted as if she didn’t notice his discomfort and smiled.
“Stay tonight and have a drink with me?
Don’t worry,” she said seriously.
“I won’t do anything to you.
Being friends is good too.”
“Boring.”
Shen Yuqing rejected the idea, but after dinner, he didn’t leave.
Jiang Zhaoxue led him to the courtyard and had two jars of wine prepared.
Shen Yuqing had poor alcohol tolerance, so she had specially prepared a paired pot his side filled with wine, hers with clear water.
Shen Yuqing eyed her wine pot suspiciously.
Jiang Zhaoxue, feeling a little nervous, laughed.
“Sit down.”
At her words, Shen Yuqing took the seat farthest from her.
Jiang Zhaoxue, displeased, scooted closer.
Shen Yuqing looked slightly embarrassed.
Seizing the opportunity, Jiang Zhaoxue poured him a drink and handed it to him.
“Come on, let’s drink the first cup.
I apologize to Mu Jinyue I shouldn’t have kept punishing her for no reason before.
You and she are master and disciple; I shouldn’t have let my imagination run wild.”
Hearing this, Shen Yuqing thought for a moment before stiffly saying,
“It’s good that you understand.”
With that, he clinked cups with Jiang Zhaoxue and drank.
Jiang Zhaoxue quickly poured him a second cup and reminisced.
“The second cup is my apology to you.
I used to keep forcing you.
You tried to push me away so many times, but I still kept clinging to you.
I heard you once say that your heart is set on the path of destiny and righteousness, with no interest in romantic entanglements.
Did you never plan to marry?”
Shen Yuqing held his cup, suddenly at a loss.
For some reason, he was afraid of this apology.
It felt like a rejection an admission that everything before was wrong.
But it was wrong.
So why was he afraid?
Jiang Zhaoxue, seeing him lost in thought, urged,
“Drink up!
Or do you actually enjoy me chasing after you?”
“I don’t.”
Shen Yuqing snapped back to reality and only said,
“We are already married.
There’s no point in discussing this.”
“Don’t say that,” Jiang Zhaoxue poured him another drink and observed his expression.
“A cultivation bond can be formed, but it can also be broken.
It’s not like we have to stay together forever.”
“Can the Heartbound Contract be broken?”
Shen Yuqing looked at her coldly.
“You wrote our fate in the Book of Destiny.
Can we undo that?”
Jiang Zhaoxue paused.
She clinked her cup against his and jokingly asked,
“If it could be undone, would you do it?”
Shen Yuqing’s breath hitched.
He suddenly felt uneasy and frustrated.
He replied stiffly,
“What’s the point?
I’ve endured for two hundred years and have already accepted it.
If breaking the contract had a heavy price, why bother?”
He took a sip of wine and added,
“Besides, I promised to protect you for this lifetime.
Since I made that promise, I’ll keep it.
I won’t abandon it halfway.”
“Oh.”
Jiang Zhaoxue nodded.
She quietly refilled his cup and casually said,
“Hearing you say that, I feel reassured.
I was just afraid that one day, if you fell for someone else, you’d abandon me in times of danger.”
“Nonsense.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Jiang Zhaoxue played along and urged another toast.
“To be honest, you’ve actually been pretty good to me…”
She paused, racking her brain for material.
“Uh… every time I caused trouble, you took the blame for me.
Like in Jiangzhou, when I injured those disciples and they failed to capture the Forsaken One, you took the punishment for me forty-nine lashes.”
As she spoke, she realized that many things had suddenly become clearer.
“Oh, and when we were subduing demons, you hid me in a pile of corpses.
You could barely hold your sword, but you still carried me out.”
“Oh, and…”
For every memory she recalled, she poured him another drink.
Shen Yuqing listened, feeling both uneasy and strangely warmed.
He didn’t know what to say.
Since he had come to make amends, he didn’t refuse.
By the time he was thoroughly drunk, Jiang Zhaoxue helped him to bed.
She originally intended to have servants change his clothes, but Shen Yuqing refused to let anyone near him.
Seeing that he wasn’t quite drunk enough, Jiang Zhaoxue sat at his bedside, fanning herself and watching him carefully.
The wine had a strong aftereffect.
Soon, Shen Yuqing should be fully intoxicated.
The sheer curtains fluttered, candlelight flickered, and fireflies danced.
Shen Yuqing felt a faint breeze on his face.
He opened his tired eyes and saw the woman sitting by his bed.
Summer was near, and she wore a thin gauze dress.
Her long hair cascaded down, a round fan in her hand.
When the wind rose, her hair lifted lightly.
When it fell, her shadow cast over her porcelain skin.
He watched her quietly, feeling an unfamiliar peace and beauty.
It was like returning to the past
To when he had first met her.
Unable to resist, he reached out and grasped Jiang Zhaoxue’s wrist.
Jiang Zhaoxue flinched and turned, seeing Shen Yuqing silently watching her.
She stiffened and asked nervously,
“What are you doing?”
Shen Yuqing didn’t answer.
His amber eyes locked onto her for a long time before he finally asked,
“Why do you remember Pei Zichen?”
Jiang Zhaoxue’s heart leapt into her throat.
At that moment, Shen Yuqing’s own heart clenched.
For an instant, he felt as though he had grasped something crucial.