Chapter 45: Plucking a Plum Blossom for Whom
Everyone witnessed the scene of Ning Ruoque being put in her place.
“Hahahaha!” Chu Xuan didn’t hide it at all, her laughter extremely unrestrained.
Even the most gentle Qieyu couldn’t help but cover her mouth and chuckle.
Ning Ruoque pressed her lips together and poked Chu Xuan’s waist with the back of her scabbard.
The latter howled in pain, but laughed even more happily.
After Chu Xuan had laughed enough, she leaned against the door without any proper form and asked in a low voice.
“The thing that fell into your body just now, was it a fragment of your life-bound sword?”
Without waiting for Ning Ruoque to answer, she consciously added, “Don’t worry, I won’t mention this to the Immortal Alliance.”
Now was not a good time to reveal her identity. Putting other things aside, they had to at least wait until Ning Ruoque’s cultivation was higher before she could go and meet those old, undying enemies.
“You guys go and rest first. I’ll go and clean up. Yin Buran said that everything in the basement has to be dealt with.” Chu Xuan let out a long sigh.
Even after walking a long way, her rambling complaints could still be heard, “Oh my, I still have to prepare the documents to report to the Immortal Alliance. So troublesome.”
“…”
Qingtong was about to help Qieyu to rest.
But her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the sword cultivator’s bloody right hand, which was only casually wrapped with a few rounds of black cloth, and she suddenly felt a little pity.
“Let me treat it for you?”
Ning Ruoque answered in a muffled voice, “Thank you.”
So Qingtong let Qieyu lean on her shoulder and raised her hand to form a spell.
She squinted her eyes. “My medical skills are not as good as Little Senior Sister’s.”
Not to mention that she had used most of her energy to treat Qieyu before. Now, she could only barely stop Ning Ruoque’s bleeding and repair a part of her meridians.
Regarding this, Qingtong said with perfect justification, “Besides, leaving a little injury, you can also play the victim to Little Senior Sister, right?”
Ning Ruoque lowered her head, her dense eyelashes drooping, hiding a part of her emotions.
“She doesn’t seem to want to see me.”
Seeing her dazed appearance, Qingtong was so angry that she couldn’t help it.
She put her hands on her hips with a menacing air and lowered her voice, “Why are you so rigid? If you can’t go through the door, can’t you just climb through the window?”
Although the main door was tightly closed, it was unknown if Yin Buran had forgotten or if she had done it on purpose, but the window of the room was half-open, and one could completely climb in.
After Qingtong finished speaking, she took Qieyu’s hand and glared at Ning Ruoque.
“We’re leaving. You can figure it out yourself!”
The two of them quickly returned to their room, leaving Ning Ruoque alone in a daze.
After a long hesitation, Ning Ruoque still walked to the window and vaulted in with one hand.
She landed as lightly as a swallow, not even stirring up a speck of dust.
The room was dark, and only the bright moonlight shone in, serving as illumination.
And in the corner of the bed against the wall, a small figure was curled up, looking indescribably lonely.
Ning Ruoque called out reservedly, “Yin Buran?”
The figure did not move and did not respond to her.
Seeing that Yin Buran had buried herself in the soft pillow, as if she were asleep.
Ning Ruoque had no choice but to lean against the bed, sit down cross-legged to regulate her breathing, and plan to apologize after Yin Buran woke up.
It was too quiet all around, a little hard to bear.
So she simply closed her eyes, and the passage of time seemed to have a tangible form, in every breath of Yin Buran.
When she counted to Yin Buran’s three hundredth breath, a gentle breeze brushed past the tips of her hair, and Ning Ruoque suddenly opened her eyes.
She saw a palm-sized white lotus flower hovering by her right hand, as if it were examining her injury.
The small lotus flower was condensed from spiritual energy and emitted a faint light. When the wind blew, the light would flicker a little.
Ning Ruoque stared at it intently, unconsciously holding her breath.
After a few breaths, the small lotus flower extended a petal and slowly pressed it against the wound.
The spiritual energy, carrying the fresh scent of herbs, spread out. Wherever it passed, the broken bones fused, and the flesh slowly regenerated, even the poison of the Shirou was brought out.
It was cool and icy, not painful at all, only a tingling itch.
When it came to treating the more important meridians, the small lotus flower even deliberately got closer, touching the top and sticking to the bottom for a while.
Ning Ruoque actually saw a bit of caution in it.
She found it amusing, the corners of her mouth turning up uncontrollably, and she even wanted to poke it.
She did as she thought. She decisively extended a finger and approached it tentatively.
The small lotus flower first dodged lightly, refusing to let her touch it.
Then it floated back to her right hand and continued to repair the damaged meridians.
When she poked it again, the small lotus flower still dodged.
When she poked it again, it impatiently pricked Ning Ruoque’s fingertip with its petal.
However, the more it was like this, the more interesting Ning Ruoque found it.
When Ning Ruoque was about to make a move for the fourth time, trying to sneak up from the side, the small lotus flower suddenly rushed forward and slapped fiercely on Ning Ruoque’s wound.
A certain sword cultivator’s face was instantly contorted in pain, and she barely managed to suppress the cry of pain at the tip of her tongue.
Now Ning Ruoque was completely obedient. She put her hands behind her back and obediently let the small lotus flower treat her.
Before long, Ning Ruoque’s right hand had recovered, not even leaving a scar.
She clenched her fist and tried it. There was no discomfort at all.
The small lotus flower circled around her right hand, and the light it emitted was even brighter than before, as if it were also very satisfied with its own results.
Ning Ruoque couldn’t help but chuckle.
This lotus flower was just like Yin Buran. Whether it was seriously treating her injuries or fiercely pricking her finger, it was very cute.
Her gaze followed the small lotus flower, watching it sway back into Yin Buran’s body.
The person on the bed shrank and wrapped the quilt even tighter.
Only then did Ning Ruoque remember that this was the small lotus flower controlled by Yin Buran.
She was speechless for a moment, but a certain place in her heart swelled with a sour and soft feeling.
Guilt and a faint joy were squeezed together, and the taste was really hard to bear.
It was dark all around, and only where Yin Buran was curled up was there a clear and bright moon shining.
Ning Ruoque half-knelt by the bed and carefully poked the bundle of quilt. “Yin Buran.”
The bundle of quilt moved inwards, avoiding a certain sword cultivator’s harassment.
However, Ning Ruoque poked relentlessly. Wherever the bundle of quilt dodged, she would follow.
She kept muttering, “Yin Buran, thank you for treating me? Are you asleep? Are you listening to me? Yin Buran?”
Yin Buran was so annoyed by the noise that she suddenly sat up in a rage and kicked at Ning Ruoque.
She was not wearing shoes or socks. This kick not only did not move the person, but it also happened to land on Ning Ruoque’s waist.
Ning Ruoque: “…”
The fair and beautiful ankle was right in front of her, and their posture was not quite proper. Ning Ruoque’s face was burning hot, and her gaze shifted.
She could feel Yin Buran’s toes curling slightly.
When she looked up again, the moonlight happened to reflect the faint red on both sides of the person’s cheeks, and her eyes, which were wet from anger.
It was three parts more beautiful than the frosty peach blossoms in early spring.
Yin Buran bit her lip and simply gave up, continuing to step on Ning Ruoque’s waist with force.
The latter’s whole body stiffened, and she quickly “fell” to the floor, pretending to be a block of wood with no feeling.
Ning Ruoque looked up at the ceiling and patiently listened to Yin Buran’s breathing.
Only after her breathing had gradually calmed down from being rapid and unstable did she speak.
“Yin Buran, are you no longer angry? If you’re still angry, can you hit me a few more times?”
Yin Buran still did not answer.
After a long while, Ning Ruoque heard Yin Buran’s voice again.
“What’s the use of hitting you? Your words don’t count. You clearly promised not to leave me behind again, and then?”
“Liar.”
Yin Buran’s tone was icy, so cold that Ning Ruoque shivered and hurriedly explained.
“The situation was urgent at that time. I had no way to take you and He Zhen away together.”
She thought that by taking He Zhen away, she had taken away most of the danger. Yin Buran had a talisman to protect her and would be very safe.
But in the end, it was still that her current strength was too weak.
But what’s done is done. There’s no point in denying it.
Ning Ruoque just lay on the floor, thinking that no matter what Yin Buran said or did, she would just go along with it.
Finally, Yin Buran let out a soft breath and actually let it go just like that.
She just asked softly, “Then you were so ruthless to yourself. Don’t you feel pain?”
“It’s fine,” Ning Ruoque really thought she was asking her and answered seriously, “I’m used to it.”
“Compared to this little injury, if something happened to Qingtong and Qieyu, you would be sad for a long time.”
Yin Buran fell silent after asking.
It was quiet all around, and the atmosphere was so tense that a pin drop could be heard.
Ning Ruoque was not used to this kind of atmosphere. She frowned and cautiously poked her head out from under the bed.
“If you can’t sleep, how about we go over our memories again?”
Perhaps we can find some clues from it?
Yin Buran did not make a sound, so Ning Ruoque took it as a tacit agreement.
She said to herself, “One year, it snowed heavily outside Suwen Peak. Did you invite me to stay the night?”
“…”
Yin Buran buried her head in the quilt, really not wanting to mention it.
That was the first time she had invited Ning Ruoque to stay the night. For this, she had carefully chosen her dress, put on a nice fragrance, and even adjusted the silk ribbon in her hair several times.
She had also prepared several different ways of saying it, secretly practicing in front of a water mirror, striving for perfection.
Later, it happened to snow heavily outside, and she was secretly happy for a while.
And the result?
This completely unromantic sword cultivator had actually easily refused her, insisting on riding that sword and rushing home in the snow!
Just thinking about it, Yin Buran could grit her teeth in anger. “That’s right.”
Then her tone changed. “But on the Flower Festival night that followed, you stayed at Suwen Peak. That night…”
The Flower Festival night was originally a festival for lovers in the human world to spend together.
Ning Ruoque’s heart suddenly beat a few beats faster. “And then?”
Yin Buran: “And then you played ten rounds of pitch-pot with me, and ten rounds of chess. You won six rounds of the former, and I won six rounds of the latter.”
At first, Yin Buran had just mentioned it casually.
She had thought of playing two rounds and then inviting Ning Ruoque to soak in the hot spring, so she was absent-minded.
She didn’t expect to lose both rounds of pitch-pot. A certain sword cultivator didn’t even let her have a single arrow, so she lost very badly.
Yin Buran was instantly angry and annoyed, and wanted to play two more rounds. Of course, Ning Ruoque did not refuse.
So they played two more rounds, and after ten rounds of pitch-pot, she still lost two more rounds than Ning Ruoque.
So she suggested playing chess, determined to win back.
When the last chess piece was placed, she finally got her wish and also won two more rounds than Ning Ruoque.
Of course, it was also dawn.
The wine, incense, and some of the sweet nothings that she was too shy to say during the day were all not used.
After Ning Ruoque left, Yin Buran sulked alone for half a day, blaming it all on Ning Ruoque.
She was a little too competitive, but couldn’t Ning Ruoque just let her win?
Even now, this anger had not subsided at all.
Seeing Ning Ruoque sit down by the bed, revealing that wooden face, it became even more intense.
Yin Buran wrinkled the corner of the quilt.
It was clear that Ning Ruoque had not noticed her abnormality and was still asking with a dazed face, “Do you like to play pitch-pot and chess very much?”
“…”
As soon as her voice fell, Yin Buran kicked her waist again and scolded in a hoarse voice, “Get down!”
