Volume 3, Chapter 365 – We Won’t Be Separated

The silence stretched on for a moment.

Chi Xiyan drew in a slow breath.

She raised her eyes and found both Huang Shangshang and Lu Zhuxin staring straight at her. A rueful smile worked its way onto her face despite herself.

“I need to… think about it a little more…”

“Of course.”

Huang Shangshang waved a hand.

“Only, Miss Chi, I should give you one thing to keep in mind.”

“Jiang Hongliang, the sect master of Lingxiao Sword Sect, may be close to leaving his closed-door cultivation.”

Chi Xiyan went quiet. A fresh shadow settled over her eyes.

“I understand.”

Huang Shangshang smiled warmly. “If you need anything, send someone to find me.”

“I may not have much say elsewhere, but here in Tianshui City, my word carries some weight.”

“And try to breathe a little. A bowstring pulled too tight will snap.”

Chi Xiyan thanked her several times over.

Huang Shangshang didn’t linger. After a few more words to ease Chi Xiyan’s mind, she rose and took her leave.

…

Deep in the night.

The moon had slipped behind clouds. The stars were sparse.

Lu Zhuxin came up to the rooftop with a heavy cloak in her arms and found Chi Xiyan sitting exactly where she had been for half the night.

“Older Sister.”

“It’s cold up here. Put something on.”

The girl’s gentle, concerned voice reached Chi Xiyan’s ears. She tilted her head slightly and looked toward the sound.

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“Little Xue’er… why did you come up?”

“You’ve been sitting here for a long time, Older Sister.” Lu Zhuxin stepped forward and draped the cloak around Chi Xiyan’s shoulders.

The warmth wrapped around her all at once, and some of the heaviness gathered between Chi Xiyan’s brows began to ease.

She pulled the cloak closer around herself, and something soft moved across her face.

“Thank you…”

Lu Zhuxin bit her lip lightly and sat down beside her. “Are you still thinking about the Empress, Older Sister?”

The moment the girl settled in beside her, Chi Xiyan caught that familiar, faint sweetness again.

So close…

So nice…

That scent tugged at something restless inside her. She turned her gaze away from the girl and looked out into the distance.

The cool night breeze carried some of that restlessness off with it.

She let out a sigh.

“Little Xue’er… what do you think I should do?”

“Do I actually have any chance of persuading the Empress?”

The smile on Chi Xiyan’s face was full of self-directed bitterness.

“The reason I was confident I could persuade Lingxu Sword Sect was because I understood what they needed. I knew exactly how much the Chi family’s resources would mean to them.”

“But the Empress is nothing like a sword sect.”

“In terms of power, she rules over the entire human race.”

“In terms of strength, she is a Venerable Saint.”

“I don’t know what something like her could possibly want. I don’t know what could move her.”

As she spoke, a self-mocking smile crept further across Chi Xiyan’s face.

“Everything the Chi family takes pride in, all our resources and connections, they wouldn’t even register to someone like the Empress…”

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“Little Xue’er… I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore…”

Lu Zhuxin watched Chi Xiyan’s profile quietly. She reached over and pressed her hand gently over Chi Xiyan’s.

The sudden warmth made Chi Xiyan go still for just a moment.

Then the girl’s soft voice came.

“Older Sister…”

“I don’t really understand all of what you’ve said.”

“But no matter what happens… I’ll be at Older Sister’s side…”

“We made that promise before… didn’t we?”

Chi Xiyan drew her gaze back from the distance and looked at the girl sitting right beside her.

The inn and its surroundings were in full bloom, flowers everywhere. But in those bright, dark eyes, only one person was reflected.

Their eyes met for just a moment, and Chi Xiyan felt an inexplicable heat rise in her chest.

The girl’s gaze was like a flame, burning and steady, and Chi Xiyan found it difficult to hold.

She remembered. The girl had said something like this before.

Back then, Chi Xiyan had assumed it was because this girl was drawn to women, and that those feelings were the reason for those kinds of words.

Those unconventional sentiments had made Chi Xiyan want to keep her distance.

But now, hearing something similar again, what she felt inside was entirely different from before.

“Muxue… I…” A trace of hesitation showed on Chi Xiyan’s face.

She wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words.

Seeing her expression tangled with unspoken things, Lu Zhuxin raised her hand and lightly pressed the pad of her finger against Chi Xiyan’s lips before she could speak.

“Older Sister, you don’t have to say it. I understand.”

A pure, sweet smile rested at the corner of the girl’s lips.

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“Do you remember when we first met, Older Sister?”

“My mother and I had wandered to Beihe Commandery. My mother was gravely ill. I had nothing, and nowhere to turn…”

“To save my mother, I sold myself to Five Immortals House…”

“But what is an ordinary farm girl with no background and no exceptional gifts worth to a place like Five Immortals House…”

“I thought that was how it would go. A miserable, winding life with no way out.”

“That I would sink and disappear in a darkness where there was never any hope…”

“But by some fortune, just when I had given up, a sun appeared. Her light tore through the dark like nothing could stop it and pulled me back from the edge of the abyss…”

“Older Sister saved me. And she saved my mother…”

“If not for Older Sister, I might never have gotten to see my mother one last time.”

“It was Older Sister who told me that any problem money can solve isn’t really a problem.”

“And it was Older Sister who told me that not everything in the world can be measured by money.”

“From that moment on, I made up my mind. I wanted to stay by Older Sister’s side. I wanted to help Older Sister accomplish what she set out to do…”

“Everything I have… belongs to Older Sister.”

“So…” Lu Zhuxin tightened her grip on Chi Xiyan’s hand. “Whatever decision Older Sister makes, I will support it without question.”

Chi Xiyan sat very still and looked at Chi Muxue.

The girl’s steady words sent a warmth rushing through her that she couldn’t hold back.

Not even the biting night wind could chase away the heat blooming in her chest.

Was this really how Chi Muxue saw her?

Her sun. Her hope.

This guileless girl, with eyes that held room for only one person.

At that thought, Chi Xiyan lowered her gaze quietly.

And what had she done in return?

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From the very beginning, Chi Xiyan had only been using her.

Chi Muxue’s mother’s death had something to do with Chi Xiyan.

But she had never once told Chi Muxue that.

She had lied to her.

Deceived this bright, warm girl.

Chi Xiyan was a merchant.

Merchants chased profit. Sweet words, hidden blades.

Chi Xiyan was no one’s sun.

“Little Xue’er…” Chi Xiyan turned her hand over and held Lu Zhuxin’s in return. “Thank you…”

“Thank you for being willing to stay by my side…”

“Older Sister.” Lu Zhuxin leaned softly against her, a small smile at the corner of her lips. “Can you promise me that no matter what happens, we won’t be separated?”

“…” Chi Xiyan was quiet for a moment.

It wasn’t the first time she had heard something like this from Chi Muxue.

And yet, right now, something bittersweet sat heavy and wordless inside her.

She pressed her lips together firmly.

“ Mm …”

“We won’t be separated.”

“Little Xue’er, no matter what happens, I will always be by your side.”

Lu Zhuxin heard that and couldn’t help raising an inward brow.

Hm? She agreed that easily?

Chi Xiyan, do you even know what you just said?