Volume 3, Chapter 415 – Study Hall Monitor

Chi Xiyan stepped inside and looked around.

The dormitory for branch disciples felt somewhat unfamiliar to her.

The room wasn’t large, yet it held four beds.

The windows were shut tight, the space cramped and narrow, and a strange, hard to describe odor lingered in the air.

Chi Xiyan covered her nose and frowned.

At that moment, two plainly dressed girls sat resting on their beds inside the room.

When they saw Chi Xiyan, surprise crossed their faces.

“Chi Xiyan, you’re back?”

Chi Xiyan let her gaze sweep over the girls.

She noticed that when one of them met her eyes, her gaze instinctively flicked toward a corner of the room.

Chi Xiyan followed her gaze and saw a single bed sitting alone, facing the window.

“Oh, so this is where little Xiyan lives?”

Chi Muxue stood in the doorway, peering in curiously.

“Young Miss!” The two branch disciples immediately jumped up from their beds at the sight of Chi Muxue, their faces full of shock.

Chi Muxue paid the two girls no mind. She walked naturally to Chi Xiyan’s side and asked, “Xiyan, which bed is yours?”

Chi Xiyan said nothing.

Her fine brows knitted together slightly, a trace of hesitation on her face.

“Young Miss!” One of the girls seized the opportunity, stepping eagerly in front of Chi Muxue. “Chi Xiyan’s bed is the one over there.”

She spoke too quickly to notice the complicated look on her companion’s face.

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“Oh, so little Xiyan usually sleeps here.”

Chi Muxue blinked and walked toward the old bed by the window.

Chi Xiyan reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Never mind… there’s no need to look… let’s go back…”

Chi Muxue blinked. “What’s wrong?”

She raised her hand, Chi Xiyan’s wrist still held in her grip. “Little Xiyan, your hand is so cold. Are you feeling unwell?”

“No… I’m fine…” Chi Xiyan still gripped her wrist tightly. “I just… I’m not used to… having so many people gathered here…”

Chi Muxue looked puzzled by her explanation.

She blinked, but didn’t move forward. Instead, she glanced at the maidservant standing to the side.

The maidservant understood at once what Chi Muxue meant. She stepped forward and lifted the bedsheet on Chi Xiyan’s bed.

“Ah!!”

“What is this?!”

The one who screamed first was the very girl who had just eagerly ingratiated herself to Chi Muxue.

Chi Xiyan’s expression remained mostly composed, but her rapidly paling face and her tightening grip betrayed what was in her heart.

Chi Muxue raised her other hand and gently laid it over the back of Chi Xiyan’s hand.

That warm, gentle touch brought a little color back to Chi Xiyan’s face. She turned to look at Chi Muxue.

Chi Muxue pressed her hand and said soothingly, “It’s alright, Xiyan, it’s alright. It’s just some garbage. It’ll be cleared away in no time.”

Beneath Chi Xiyan’s bedsheet lay a dense mass of dead rats.

The rat carcasses had already rotted and bred maggots, white maggots squirming through the torn flesh.

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The stench that had been sealed underneath crashed over them like a wave the moment it was uncovered.

Though Chi Xiyan had already guessed what it was, the sheer visual impact still sent a violent shock through her mind.

Chi Muxue swept a cold glance over the dead rats.

She gave no direct order, but the maidservants understood her meaning all the same.

The lifted sheet was dropped back down.

Several maidservants came in and, working together clumsily, carried the entire bed out to the courtyard.

Soon, a fire was lit in the courtyard.

Chi Xiyan didn’t follow them out. Chi Muxue raised her hand and pressed her fingers lightly against the sides of Chi Xiyan’s brow, rubbing gently.

A stream of warm spiritual energy flowed in through her fingertips, easing some of Chi Xiyan’s physical discomfort.

“Feeling a little better, little Xiyan?”

Chi Xiyan lowered her eyes slightly and let go of Chi Muxue’s wrist. “I’m fine.”

After a moment, she added, “Thank you…”

Chi Muxue smiled faintly. “Little Xiyan, I’m your sister, looking after my little sister is only natural, why would you need to thank your sister for that?”

An older sister looking after her younger sister, was that only natural?

Chi Xiyan murmured to herself.

She recalled that she herself had once said something similar to Chi Muxue.

They were sisters after all.

“Little Xiyan.” Chi Muxue took her hand again and continued, “You won’t refuse me anymore now, will you?”

“Earlier, when I asked you to move in and live with me, your face was written all over with reluctance.”

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“Only by keeping you close to me can I protect you properly.”

Of course Chi Xiyan was reluctant.

But she had a feeling that if she kept resisting Chi Muxue’s closeness, incidents like today’s would only keep happening.

She let out a sigh. “I never meant to refuse you, sister…”

Chi Muxue happily held onto Chi Xiyan’s hand. “Good little sister, this older sister will protect you.”

Chi Xiyan’s wooden bed was burned, and as for who had played this prank, Chi Muxue sent people to investigate.

With nowhere else to go, Chi Xiyan had no choice but to obediently move into the courtyard belonging to the eldest daughter of the Chi family.

Chi Muxue arranged for her to stay in the side chamber next to the main bedroom, separated from Chi Muxue’s own room by only a single door.

Chi Xiyan found this somewhat strange.

She remembered that Bu Lianshuang had once lived right next to Muxue in exactly the same way.

…

The next day.

Chi Xiyan was woken up early by Chi Muxue.

The moment she pushed open her door, the nine year old girl naturally looped an arm around hers.

“Little Xiyan, let me go with you to morning class today.”

Chi Xiyan tried to push her away, but couldn’t budge her.

Looking at that bright, smiling face, she sometimes doubted whether this girl was really only nine years old.

Chi Xiyan reminded her helplessly, “Young Miss… you’ve never needed to attend morning classes with the schoolhouse students before.”

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Back when she herself had held that position, Chi Xiyan had rarely attended morning classes alongside branch disciples either.

At most, she would show her face briefly before class started and exchange a few pleasantries with clan relatives.

“You’ll see in a moment.” Little Muxue said mysteriously.

…

Soon, the two of them arrived together at the Chi family schoolhouse.

The moment they stepped through the door, Chi Muxue instantly drew every gaze in the room.

“Young Miss!”

Chi Xiyan saw reverence and awe in the eyes of the students.

That kind of expression was something even she herself had rarely seen back in her day.

The true eldest daughter of the Chi family was, after all, quite different from an impostor like her.

Standing beside Chi Muxue, Chi Xiyan seemed to fade completely into the background, not a single gaze landing on her.

Little Muxue raised a small hand and greeted everyone with a bright smile.

“Good morning, everyone~”

With that, little Muxue naturally took hold of Chi Xiyan’s hand and led her to sit at the very front seats.

Just then, the teacher in charge happened to walk in.

He saw Chi Muxue, and no surprise crossed his face.

“Silence…”

The teacher gave a light cough. “Yesterday, we discussed how the family head asked us to elect a Study Hall Monitor… and the one you all elected was Chi Ning…”