Chapter 28: Poking Her Cheek Part 1

After Zi Jin left, Xun Changqing extinguished the lights in her own room to create an illusion. She left only one candle burning in Wei Lingci’s room. Ordinary people wouldn’t dare disturb them, but she worried Wang Pingjun might come looking.

As midnight approached, she grew increasingly unable to sleep. She touched the footstool beside the bed and sat on it. Perhaps for her own sake, she shouldn’t have interfered. It would have been better for Wei Lingci to marry someone else than to remain entangled with her.

In her previous life, Wei Lingci had saved her at the critical moment, which showed she harbored some affection for her. In this life, she had clearly been avoiding Wei Lingci, yet Wei Lingci kept inadvertently burrowing into her heart.

Emotions truly were beyond her control. She turned back to gaze at Wei Lingci’s serene sleeping face—her expression like carved ice and jade, a faint worry between her furrowed brows that she couldn’t hide, her usually deep eyes tightly closed. Xun Changqing stared fixedly for a long while, and Wei Lingci’s features appeared clearer than ever before.

Seeing no sign of her waking, Xun Changqing reached out and lightly touched the delicate skin on her face.

The touch brought a vivid yet bone-chilling daze. Her heart ached as she stared blankly at her fingertip. The sensation had been smooth and comfortable. With nothing else to do, she reached out again, pausing on Wei Lingci’s cheek. Recalling how Wei Lingci had poked her cheek earlier that day, she smirked mischievously.

She poked Wei Lingci’s cheek, and a strange sense of pleasure surged through her. It felt as if the pent-up resentment from her previous life had dissipated, stirring her desolate heart after so long. She muttered, “You have moments of stumbling too. I thought you feared nothing.”

Perhaps because time had passed and the drug’s effects were fading, Wei Lingci’s complexion had improved slightly, her face tinged with pink. Xun Changqing noticed and suddenly recalled a line from a play: face afflicted by peach blossom luck.

She shook her head to herself and murmured, “Why don’t you just get married? Your Second Martial Uncle isn’t bad; he’s just a bit lazy. But this time, I think he’s no good either. You were in danger, and he slept like a dead pig. No good. Xun Yiran has a vicious heart; he’s no good either.”

After pondering for a long time, she found none of them reliable. Her eyes sparkled as she climbed onto the bed, staring at Wei Lingci’s jade-like cheek. A sour itch rose in her throat. Thinking of how Wang Pingjun had tried to strip her clothes earlier filled her with anger. She should have chopped off those hands.

Wei Lingci was pure as ice and jade, nearly defiled—what a scoundrel!

The furrow between her brows deepened. Xun Changqing felt tired and leaned against the bed rail, starting to doze off. But just as she closed her eyes, sudden footsteps sounded outside the room. She jolted awake—was it Wang Pingjun?

She hurriedly got off the bed to check, but a hand suddenly grabbed her—warm and gentle. She turned quickly and saw Wei Lingci’s eyes open. Xun Changqing trembled involuntarily, feeling inexplicably guilty. She had woken so quickly—did she remember what happened?

Wei Lingci gripped her hand, then released it just as suddenly. Her expression darkened as she sat up without a word. She had also heard the approaching footsteps. Lowering her gaze to her neatly dressed clothes, she slowly exhaled in relief and shot Xun Changqing a glance. “Did you bring me back?”

Under the dim lone lamp, Wei Lingci’s freshly awakened expression was somewhat eerie, startling Xun Changqing into nodding quickly.

Wei Lingci said nothing. After the knock sounded outside, she got off the bed, grabbed a long sword from the corner of the room. Xun Changqing’s heart raced inwardly. Wei Lingci’s temperament was like this—if she swallowed tonight’s humiliation, Wang Pingjun would only grow more arrogant.

But Xun Changqing worried: Could Wei Lingci defeat Wang Pingjun? He was older and the Sect Leader’s chief disciple. If she lost, she wouldn’t get the better of it.

Lost in chaotic thoughts, Xun Changqing saw Wei Lingci open the door. The long sword unsheathed with a flash, and a white figure leaped out along the corridor. Xun Changqing rushed out to watch the fight. If others learned of this, it would damage Wei Lingci’s reputation too.

The key was whose side the Lingyun Sect Leader would take—they were both his disciples, and he couldn’t favor one hand over the other.

No—Xun Changqing’s eyes flashed as realization dawned. For the sake of Lingyun Mountain’s reputation, he would suppress such a scandal, clearly biasing toward Wang Pingjun.

Xun Changqing knew these unspoken rules well, but why confront him so directly? Unless she no longer wanted to stay in Lingyun Sect.

By the time she ran out, Wei Lingci’s figure was shrouded in cold light amid the darkness. Her sword strikes were fierce, silver flashes flying wildly. This sword style didn’t belong to Lingyun Sect—it was ethereal, unpredictable, and vicious. Wei Lingci was truly enraged.

Xun Changqing could see it clearly, and so could Wang Pingjun, the person involved. But he focused on how to suppress Wei Lingci. Compared to his upright and steady swordsmanship, hers was something he’d never seen, and he found himself constrained at every turn.

His skills were among the best on Lingyun Mountain, always victorious in annual tournaments. Yet now, Wei Lingci suppressed him completely, unable to raise his head. A fierce desire to win surged in him. Clearing his mind, his long sword suddenly drifted, gathering force in a do-or-die strike. It forced the watching Xun Changqing back a step.

Wei Lingci countered with her sword, meeting it head-on. Her brows furrowed sharply, energy surging along her blade. With a swing of her arm, before it even touched Wang Pingjun, he tumbled through the air several times, his momentum scattering. When his feet hit the ground, he staggered and half-kneeled, a trail of blood at his mouth as he spat fresh blood.