After Breaking Off the Engagement, I Started Pursuing My Master-Chapter 16 - Moon and Petals

Chapter 16: Moon and Petals

Jiang Huai left swiftly.

Staying any longer in Wen Wanwan’s courtyard made him feel restless.

Jiang Huai quickly returned to his own courtyard. Chu Xianning had already gone to bed. Jiang Huai approached Luo Qingyu’s room, where the lights were already out, indicating she was probably asleep.

“Already asleep?”

Jiang Huai asked very softly, receiving no response.

“Hm? So well-behaved tonight?”

Jiang Huai muttered to himself, then gently closed the door for her.

…….

The next day.

When Luo Qingyu woke up, there really was a strawberry cream cake arranged on the table.

She got up exceptionally early, wearing an orange spring dress. The little girl had a lot of beautiful dresses, looking beautifully dressed every day in the courtyard, and wearing transparent crystal sandals on her feet, bouncing around lively like a little rabbit.

She sat at the table and started eating the cream cake obediently.

Luo Qingyu liked sweets, and the cake in front of her quickly disappeared into her stomach. She looked at Jiang Huai with eager eyes, and when he brought out a red bean cake, she finally smiled contentedly, her eyes curving into crescents.

After breakfast, Jiang Huai continued to study ancient texts. He had already confirmed Wen Fufu’s pulse the day before, and now he was looking for medicinal herbs. After confirming the herbs, he glanced at Luo Qingyu and said softly, “I’m going out for a bit.”

“Where to?”

“To the sect’s medicine shop to find some herbs.”

“Can Qingyu come along?”

Jiang Huai thought for a moment, then gestured for her to follow, “Let’s go.”

…….

Luo Qingyu’s hand swung by Jiang Huai’s side, occasionally brushing against his hand. When Jiang Huai turned to look at her, she would guiltily look away.

In the past, when Jiang Huai took her for walks around the sect, he would always gently hold her hand.

Now that the news of their annulment had probably spread throughout Tianxuan Sect and Qingxuan Sect, the disciples were surprised to see Luo Qingyu standing by his side, hopping and skipping happily.

Weren’t they supposed to have broken off the engagement?

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“Brother Jiang Huai…”

After walking a while, Luo Qingyu couldn’t hold back her emotions and muttered softly, her pink lips pouting slightly.

“Hm?”

“Why aren’t you holding…”

“Hm…”

Jiang Huai couldn’t think of a response, so after hesitating for a moment, he still took Luo Qingyu’s hand. Her pouted lips instantly returned to normal, the corners of her mouth gently lifted, and her eyes brightened.

Jiang Huai thus led her by the hand to the sect’s medicine shop, placed a prescription in front of the elder there, and said softly,

“I’d like the sect to find these herbs for me, please name your price.”

The medicine shop was managed by retired alchemists from Alchemy Mountain. Although Jiang Huai had some old grudges with the young disciples of Alchemy Mountain, he generally had good relations with the elders. They had discussed pharmacology together in the past and benefited from each other.

The elder of the medicine shop, leaning back in a rocking chair, was momentarily stunned to see him, took the prescription, and asked,

“Is this to nourish your body?”

“No, it’s for a friend’s concoction.”

“How is your body? Is it true what they say… that you can no longer cultivate?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Jiang Huai smiled wrily, nodding his head without a trace of bitterness. The elder examined Jiang Huai’s prescription, and after a few dozen breaths, he looked up at Jiang Huai,

“These herbs won’t be cheap. Even with our friendship, the lowest price I can give you is eight thousand spirit stones, and it will take some time to find the herbs, probably about a month.”

Jiang Huai took out a pile of spirit stone notes from his storage ring. These were from the only company in the Eastern Region, Ziyun Pavilion, easily identifiable for authenticity, and no one dared to counterfeit them given Ziyun Pavilion’s methods.

He carefully counted the spirit stone notes. These eight thousand spirit stones cost him nearly half of his fortune, but actually, his relationship with Wen Wanwan wasn’t that good. An inner disciple would earn only fifty spirit stones for a whole month’s work, and eight thousand spirit stones would take an inner disciple thirteen years of hard work to earn.

He wasn’t so much pained by the loss of eight thousand spirit stones but worried that it might cause Wen Wanwan to misunderstand something.

In fact, he wasn’t entirely driven by overflowing kindness; seeing Wen Wanwan struggle so hard for her sister, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of compassion.

He had a sister in his previous life too.

“Here are eight thousand spirit stones, Elder Qin, please count them.”

Jiang Huai respectfully handed over the eight thousand spirit stones. Elder Qin took the spirit stone notes and didn’t count them, just sighed lightly, then his gaze suddenly fell on Luo Qingyu, who was standing obediently by Jiang Huai’s side.

“I remember… you and this girl… broke off the engagement?”

Elder Qin was somewhat surprised.

“My cultivation was destroyed, so breaking off the engagement was only reasonable. Qingyu just finished her retreat and came to Tianxuan Sect to visit for a while, so naturally, I should take good care of her.”

Jiang Huai spoke softly, but the next second, Luo Qingyu suddenly hugged his arm, her eyes showing a bit of grievance,

“It’s not reasonable at all. It was my mother who came to break off the engagement, not me.”

Jiang Huai rubbed Luo Qingyu’s head, smiling helplessly.

Elder Qin didn’t know the full story but didn’t pry further, assuring Jiang Huai that he would do his best to find the best herbs for him. After Jiang Huai thanked him, he left the medicine shop with Luo Qingyu.

Luo Qingyu wanted to wander around the sect, and since Jiang Huai had nothing else to do, he simply accompanied her. However, Luo Qingyu clung tightly to his arm the whole time, her soft, fair chest pressing against his arm through the fabric of her clothes.

“How am I supposed to walk if you hug me like this?”

“We can walk like this…”

Luo Qingyu muttered softly, “Let’s take a walk around the sect.”

“Why do you suddenly want to walk around?” Jiang Huai couldn’t help but smile.

“To let them know… that we haven’t broken off the engagement. It was just my mother who wanted to break it off for me. She’s not the one getting married, so why should she break it off for me?”

“But it was she who arranged your marriage in the first place.”

“Qingyu doesn’t care.” Luo Qingyu hugged Jiang Huai even tighter.

So Jiang Huai obediently accompanied Luo Qingyu on a walk around the sect. Luo Qingyu clung to his arm the whole time, her body almost sticking to him. The disciples passing by looked at them with surprise, wondering if there was a problem with the rumors they had heard a few days ago.

As a result, Jiang Huai received another batch of envious glances.

Over the years, Jiang Huai had become accustomed to this. He never thought he had achieved his current success through hard work; it was just good fortune and a cheap bone.

If he hadn’t clung to Chu Xianning’s thigh, whining and acting cute without letting go, being obedient and quiet without crying, Chu Xianning might not have taken him up the mountain.

Unknowingly, Jiang Huai and Luo Qingyu spent the whole day wandering around the sect. When they returned to the courtyard, it was already evening. Chu Xianning sat quietly in the pavilion, watching the sunset in the distance.

“What would Master like to eat tonight?” Jiang Huai managed to pull his arm free from Luo Qingyu’s tight embrace.

Chu Xianning’s gaze slowly returned to him, and after a moment, she replied indifferently, “Not hungry.”

She then stood up and returned to her room. Jiang Huai paused, said nothing more, and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner for Luo Qingyu.

Then he sat with Luo Qingyu in the pavilion, watching the moon. Luo Qingyu sat beside him, and at some point, she quietly stretched her delicate foot out of her crystal sandals, gently rubbing her toes against Jiang Huai’s calf.

On her third attempt, Jiang Huai suddenly caught her foot in his hand, then lifted her leg, and Luo Qingyu obediently turned her body slightly, resting her leg on his.

“Mmm, after the inner sect competition here is over, you’ll return to Qingxuan Sect, right?”

Luo Qingyu was just about to act aggrieved and coquettish, her eyelashes wet with tears, ready to unleash her well-prepared thoughts in one breath. But upon seeing Jiang Huai’s gentle yet serious gaze, she reined in her emotions and after a while, she obediently lowered her head and softly hummed in agreement.

“When the time comes, I’ll escort you back to your sect and have a good talk with your mother.”

Jiang Huai said, gently squeezing Luo Qingyu’s foot. Luo Qingyu obediently hummed again.

“Can Qingyu dance?”

Luo Qingyu shook her head.

“I’ve heard your mother is very good at dancing, so how about you learn from her when we get back?”

Jiang Huai shifted his gaze to Luo Qingyu’s face and said softly, “I would like to see that.”

“Okay… then Qingyu will learn well.”

“If you learn well and dance beautifully, you’ll get a kiss as a reward,” Jiang Huai said with a gentle wink.

Luo Qingyu was startled at first, then her heartbeat suddenly quickened, her breathing became somewhat rapid, and her eyelashes trembled with anticipation as she looked at Jiang Huai.

“Really?”

“Would Jiang Huai brother lie to you?”

“It’s not that, Jiang Huai brother likes to deceive people the most,” Luo Qingyu said with a hint of playful resentment.

Jiang Huai couldn’t help but smile wryly, unsure of how to refute her, so he simply bowed his head and continued to carefully and gently squeeze Luo Qingyu’s foot. The girl’s foot, cool to the touch like white jade, gradually warmed up. Jiang Huai spread her curled toes one by one, Luo Qingyu slowly closed them, and then they were spread again. The two of them played this game in the courtyard for a long time until Luo Qingyu’s foot became warm, and then Jiang Huai withdrew his hand. Suddenly, he picked up Luo Qingyu and headed towards her room.

Caught off guard by being lifted up, Luo Qingyu panicked and instinctively wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Jiang Huai lowered his head, and the girl’s pale face was just inches away as if he could kiss her with just a slight dip of his head.

In fact, he actually didn’t want to agree to this arranged marriage that year, but his master threatened to expel him from the sect if he didn’t comply. His initial plan was to make the girl he was betrothed to dislike him so that the marriage would naturally fall through. However, seeing Luo Qingyu’s weak and pitiful appearance at that time, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything bad to her. Gradually, Luo Qingyu became incredibly obedient and compliant towards him, leaving Jiang Huai at a loss as to how to treat her.

Luo Qingyu was no fool. She clung to his arm and strolled around the sect all day because she didn’t want rumors to spread that Jiang Huai had been humiliated by a broken engagement, which would make him uncomfortable.

The moon in the sky was unattainably distant, but the girl’s lips, as pure as flower petals, were within reach.