Chapter 265: Waves of Pain

“You’ve got some nerve, using her as a substitute.”

“I wonder if the Main Wife would be happy or angry if she knew,” Zhu Siyao muttered as she sat by the edge of the bed of soft jade. She kicked off both her feet, shed her embroidered shoes, and sat cross-legged in her silk socks, whispering beside Jiang Huai.

After seeing Jiang Huai agree, Qin Xuange said nothing more. She simply stated she needed to return to her clan to explain the situation before moving in.

Since Jiang Huai had already given his word, Zhu Siyao found it difficult to interfere. With a sour heart, she could only watch as Qin Xuange departed.

“What substitute?” Jiang Huai denied with a calm expression and a flat tone. “I am merely helping a fellow cultivator resolve a mental knot in her cultivation. This is the duty of any cultivator.”

Though his words were high-sounding, the slight reddening of his earlobes that flashed for a moment was caught by the sharp-eyed Zhu Siyao.

‘He clearly has a guilty conscience! He has designs on that face! Shameless!’

Zhu Siyao spat in her heart and pouted her red lips. She nudged closer to Jiang Huai, her small hips shifting until she was almost pressed against him.

She tilted her head, carefully studying Jiang Huai’s profile. She made a tsking sound and continued to tease him. “If the Main Wife were here, would you still have agreed?”

“Speak up. Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Seeing Jiang Huai pursing his lips and letting his gaze wander without answering, she grew even more spirited.

She propped herself up slightly and leaned in closer. The warm breath of the young girl, mixed with a faint fragrance, brushed past Jiang Huai’s neck and ears. Her voice dropped lower, carrying a seductive lilt.

“Jiang Huai, have you ever, for even one moment, treated me as my mother’s substitute?”

Her voice was soft and gentle, like a feather brushing against his eardrums, carrying a faint sweetness and a hidden sense of anticipation.

“Have you?”

Jiang Huai’s mind wavered slightly at her sudden, tricky question. He couldn’t help but turn his head to look at the pretty face just inches away.

At this moment, Zhu Siyao’s eyes were clear, reflecting his image. Within the rippling depths of her eyes, there was indeed a shimmering light of expectation.

In terms of resemblance, the likeness between Qin Xuange and Qin Qingyue was far inferior to the likeness between Zhu Siyao and Zhuxin.

After all, though Zhu Siyao was Zhuxin’s daughter, she had been conceived by Zhuxin alone, making them naturally very similar. From the shape of her eyes to certain small gestures, the similarity was incredibly high—especially that outward brightness and the occasional glimpses of charming naivety. They were practically carved from the same mold.

“Why aren’t you talking again?” Seeing his silence, Zhu Siyao deliberately acted surprised. she covered her small mouth and widened her eyes.

“You couldn’t really be looking at me as my mother, could you? Oh my, that won’t do! We are ‘father and daughter’ after all. The laws of etiquette won’t allow it. We can’t be like this!”

Despite saying “we can’t be like this,” she quietly moved back a little and then slowly began to slide off the snow-white silk socks from her feet.

Her movements seemed casual, yet they carried a deliberate temptation.

She took the discarded socks, which still held her body heat and a faint scent, and carefully wrapped them circle by circle around Jiang Huai’s waist, even tentatively probing a bit deeper.

After finishing this, a faint flush of excitement rose to her face, yet her eyes feigned hesitation and shyness. Her voice dropped even lower.

“But… Father… Mother isn’t here right now… if you are really… um… feeling uncomfortable… I… I’m not unwilling…”

As she spoke, she stared intently at Jiang Huai’s side profile. Her heart hammered against her chest like a drum, and the blush on her face grew more obvious.

This thrill made her head feel dizzy. The way they addressed each other especially made her heart race.

Jiang Huai slowly turned his face toward Zhu Siyao and grabbed her fair, translucent little foot.

“Um… we can’t do this,” Zhu Siyao said with feigned shyness. Her clean toes wiggled incessantly, hooking forward in an attempt to step on something.

Jiang Huai gave a light chuckle. “How could that be, my dear treasure?”

“Since you’ve called me Father, it wouldn’t be right for me not to take action.”

Hearing this, Zhu Siyao said shyly, “Actually, you can take action. I am willing to endure this longing on my mother’s behalf.”

Jiang Huai gripped her jade-like foot, stood up, and dragged her outward. Ignoring Zhu Siyao’s posture, he said mildly, “Since you love asking questions so much, how about I let you experience some fatherly love today?”

“That’s not the kind of fatherly love I wanted!” Zhu Siyao allowed herself to be dragged, her two legs spreading naturally as she spoke with a bashful look.

“Come, I’ll let you feel it properly.” Jiang Huai grinned with a cruel smile and yanked her off the bed.

—

“Jiang Huai, this isn’t what I wanted!”

In the courtyard, Zhu Siyao brandished a red longsword, speaking indignantly to Jiang Huai, who sat nearby leisurely sipping tea.

Jiang Huai took a light breath and exhaled comfortably. He said calmly, “Didn’t you want to feel fatherly love? Checking your swordsmanship is also a form of fatherly love.”

“I see your cultivation is rising quickly, but your swordsmanship has become mediocre.”

Zhu Siyao swung the longsword with a whistle of wind. Streaks of sword qi crisscrossed as she gritted her teeth in frustration, complaining, “Compared to you, how many people’s swordsmanship isn’t mediocre?”

“You’re just angry because I asked if you were treating Qin Xuange as the Main Wife’s substitute!”

“So petty. You won’t even let me ask.”

Jiang Huai still didn’t want to respond. Sitting on his stool, he looked at the afterglow in the sky. The warm yellow sunlight splashed across his face, and the clouds on the horizon formed beautiful shapes.

His gaze pierced through those layers of clouds, as if trying to see the Immortal Realm, trying to see Qin Qingyue and Wu Zhaohua.

“When we first parted, why wasn’t I this sad?” Jiang Huai murmured to himself.

Shortly after Qin Qingyue had left the Five Provinces and Jiang Huai and the others were fleeing on the Xianzhou, his longing for her hadn’t been that deep. It was as if he felt she had only left temporarily and they would meet again soon. Thus, he had remained composed, waiting and practicing his cultivation within the Small World.

But after seeing Qin Xuange, his longing surged into his heart like lake water. Jiang Huai finally realized that his previous composure had just been a physical illusion.

The illusion was a hint, a suggestion that Qin Qingyue’s departure was only temporary and would not last long. So long as he waited, Qin Qingyue would eventually return to the Nine Heavens Palace after a few days away—just as she always did—and come to see him with a smile, holding him in her arms.

But as time passed, the illusion vanished, and cruel reality set in. The surging longing finally began to crash wildly against Jiang Huai’s heart, bringing bursts of pain.

Perhaps his body had been protecting him. This pain should have appeared the moment Qin Qingyue left, but it had been delayed until now.

That was why, when Jiang Huai saw Qin Xuange, he couldn’t help but want to keep her by his side so he could often see that face. If it weren’t for the fact that she looked so much like Qin Qingyue, he wouldn’t have cared about some wager for her to be his maid. He wasn’t lacking such things.

“Weren’t we practicing? Why aren’t you giving me any pointers, my dear Father?” Zhu Siyao asked petulantly, her thigh twitching uncomfortably.

She had been so ready for something else earlier, yet he had actually dragged her up to practice the sword!

Thinking of this, Zhu Siyao felt a burst of annoyance. She secretly used her lingli as a fire cultivator to dry herself, thinking, ‘Just you wait for tomorrow when your Yin-Yang Body acts up again.’

‘Jiang Huai, next time I really am going to step on you.’

“Your heart isn’t quiet. What kind of sword practice is that?” Jiang Huai said flatly.

Zhu Siyao was about to snap back with a few more words when she saw a streak of light from a Black Dragon across the horizon. She knew when to keep her mouth shut and began to dance her sword with renewed indignation.

“You’re here. You don’t need to bring anything; the Nine Heavens Palace has it all,” Jiang Huai said, standing up and speaking softly toward the courtyard gate.

The newcomer was indeed Qin Xuange. Jiang Huai hadn’t expected her to come so quickly—arriving almost immediately after she left.

Qin Xuange had changed out of the long dress that symbolized her status as the Saintess of the Black Dragon Clan, replacing it with a simple set of black clothes without any ornamentation.

However, she had applied makeup to her face, causing Jiang Huai to pause.

“Young Master Jiang, I will be troubling you for a while,” Qin Xuange said with a salute, bowing slightly.

Zhu Siyao looked at Qin Xuange, her mouth twitching wildly as she gripped her longsword tightly.

It seemed this woman knew exactly what she was doing. The parts of her face that didn’t resemble Qin Qingyue had been modified with makeup, making them look almost identical.