After Breaking Off the Engagement, I Started Pursuing My Master-Chapter 3 - A long, long time ago

Chapter 3: A long, long time ago

In the evening, the mountains were shrouded in mist. When Chu Xianning returned to the courtyard, the evening sky was still ablaze with the glow of the setting sun and wisps of cooking smoke curled up in the air. She paused for a moment, then walked into the kitchen, where she saw Jiang Huai, wearing a homemade apron and seriously cooking a pot of tomato beef brisket.

“Master has returned? The meal will be ready soon.”

Jiang Huai turned and smiled at her.

Chu Xianning, dressed in a white gown, simply stood there, and the evening glow fell on the hem of her dress, making her look like a budding white flower, serene and aloof. No matter how many times Jiang Huai glanced back, he would be momentarily stunned.

Chu Xianning had gone to seek Granny Jiuyou for advice. Granny Jiuyou gave her a displeased look and told her that she only needed to see Jiang Huai once to ensure his head was fine. Perhaps it was just the shock of his cultivation being destroyed that caused some hysteria. He would be better after a short while once he accepted reality. Granny Jiuyou even took the rare step of advising Chu Xianning to spend more time with her disciple, lest he couldn’t cope with such a downfall and sought to end his own life.

But seeing Jiang Huai now, with a smile on his lips, where was the slightest sign of someone seeking to end his own life?

The tomatoes were grown by Jiang Huai in his own spiritual field, and he had somehow procured the seeds from some secret realm. The beef was bought from the sect market, where the sect raised spiritual cattle that fed on spiritual grass and drank from spiritual springs, making the meat delicious and nourishing.

Cultivators could naturally go without food for days, but the Tianxuan Sect advocated that natural desires were part of being human and did not promote cutting off emotions and desires. Thus, many cultivators still retained the habit of occasionally indulging their taste buds.

But most did so only occasionally.

Jiang Huai had volunteered to stand by the stove and cook for his master since he was ten, even coming up with a bunch of strange seasonings. Initially, Chu Xianning disdained this, merely reminding him not to neglect his cultivation. She hadn’t had much desire for food for many years, but this fellow seemed to have a more terrifying talent for cooking than for sword practice. After Chu Xianning tasted his cooking for the first time, her usually cold expression melted away.

After that, Jiang Huai would prepare two delicious dishes for Chu Xianning every day, using everything that could fly in the sky, run on the ground, or swim in the water. He picked everything edible in the sect and brought back wild game from secret realms to stew. Not to mention, he grew countless fruits and vegetables in his spiritual field and even made small desserts for his master. It was really… too much!

Eating someone’s food softens the heart, and since then, Chu Xianning’s coldness towards Jiang Huai had melted quite a bit.

When Jiang Huai was fifteen, he got beaten for the first time because he made a dessert called “Yangzhi Jade Dew” for Chu Xianning, claiming it was a medicinal dish. When asked what kind of medicinal dish it was, he said it was for regulating a woman’s body. Upon checking the ingredients in ancient texts, goodness, it was for nourishing a woman’s body and slightly enhancing the chest.

That night, Jiang Huai was hung up and spanked with a wooden sword by Chu Xianning.

The tomato beef brisket in the pot was stewed until tender, and the fragrant aroma spread throughout the entire courtyard. Jiang Huai served up a bowl of rice for Chu Xianning, and the master and disciple sat at the stone table in the courtyard. Jiang Huai picked up his bowl and ate heartily.

“Why are you eating in such a hurry?”

“Because I’ve been drinking the porridge Master made every day, and now just thinking about porridge makes me nauseous. Finally, I can eat something good.” Jiang Huai mumbled indistinctly.

Chu Xianning raised an eyebrow slightly.

“You find my cooking unpalatable?”

“Not at all. Master’s cooking is definitely sweet, and you even fed me by hand. How could it taste bad? It’s just that drinking too much of it can get tiresome.”

As soon as Jiang Huai finished speaking, his foot was stepped on under the table.

But when he looked up, Chu Xianning’s face was expressionless. Jiang Huai could only look at her gloomily. Indeed, women of a certain age are unpredictable, and one can easily offend them without care.

Fortunately, Chu Xianning only lightly stepped on his foot before letting go. Compared to Jiang Huai’s voracious eating, Chu Xianning was much more elegant.

She glanced at him lightly.

“Does it not hurt anymore?”

“It still hurts a bit, but it’s bearable.”

“Tomorrow… Luo Yueguan will be coming to the Tianxuan Sect.”

“How does Master know?”

“Her spiritual boat set off yesterday. Calculating the time, she should arrive tomorrow morning,” Chu Xianning answered indifferently.

Luo Yueguan was his Master’s old friend, and Jiang Huai was originally to marry Luo Yueguan’s daughter, Luo Qingyu. However, over the years, it seemed to Jiang Huai that Master’s relationship with Luo Yueguan was somewhat like that of ‘plastic’ best friends. But considering Master’s cold nature and her penchant for sharp words, Jiang Huai thought it was quite impressive that she even had a friend, heh.

“Why doesn’t she fly here on her sword?” Jiang Huai asked casually, knowing that with Luo Yueguan’s cultivation, flying on a sword would definitely be much faster than traveling by spiritual boat.

“The day you and Luo Qingyu announced your engagement, the whole Eastern Region knew about it. Now that you’ve lost your cultivation and her family is coming to annul the engagement, they naturally want to make a big show of it to make it easier for her daughter to marry someone else in the future.”

“That makes sense.”

Jiang Huai nodded, taking a big bite of beef brisket.

Chu Xianning stared intently into his eyes, trying to see a trace of disappointment, but all he seemed to care about was the piece of beef brisket, not paying any attention to her words.

“Aren’t you the least bit disappointed?” Chu Xianning couldn’t help but ask.

“Disappointed about what?” Jiang Huai innocently countered.

“Don’t you care?”

“Why wouldn’t I care?”

“I seem to recall that when I confiscated those erotic albums from you, the women in them were all as voluptuous as Luo Qingyu. You were so happy when I arranged the marriage, sending her gifts and teaching her swordsmanship. Now that the engagement is being annulled, don’t you care?”

Jiang Huai waved his hand.

“I do care a little, but her breaking off the engagement actually costs her more.”

“You’re now a cripple,” Chu Xianning said bluntly, usually not thinking before speaking sharply.

Jiang Huai instantly looked aggrieved, “Master, shall I cry for you to see?”

Chu Xianning was speechless, turned her face away, and said softly,

“Luo Yueguan comes to annul the engagement tomorrow. That woman was somewhat reluctant to agree to the marriage in the first place. Now that she’s breaking it off, her demeanor will probably be unpleasant.”

“It’s fine, I have thick skin.”

Chu Xianning glanced at him, “You really don’t care?”

“I really don’t,” Jiang Huai said with a helpless smile.

Having spent so many years with Chu Xianning, he could guess what she was thinking. She was probably worried that he would feel sad deep down, as it was an engagement that had been agreed upon, and now the duck that was almost cooked had flown away. She was afraid he couldn’t handle such a psychological gap and would never recover.

If he were a few years younger, Jiang Huai could have looked at Chu Xianning with a pitiful face and said he was also aggrieved and needed a hug. She might have reluctantly hugged and comforted him. But now he was older, and Chu Xianning had seen through his tricks… that approach wouldn’t work anymore.

If he now said, “Master, hug me and comfort me?” There was a chance he would be hung from the crooked tree in the courtyard and beaten.

Jiang Huai didn’t want Chu Xianning to worry, so he said softly,

“Actually, Master is right. I’m a cripple now. If my cultivation can’t be restored, I only have a few decades left. The path of cultivation is long, spanning thousands of years. Even if Luo Qingyu is willing to stay by my side, I can’t continue to accompany her. Not to mention, in the future, we will be worlds apart. Continuing the engagement would only add to her troubles. I still have that much self-awareness.”

Chu Xianning suddenly fell silent.

Jiang Huai was taken aback, looking at his master’s slightly lowered eyelashes, and suddenly realized he might have said something wrong.

Chu Xianning, and now with her eyelashes lowered and her eyes showing a hint of sadness, she looked even more pitiable. She held her chopsticks, stirring the grains of rice in her bowl, and said softly,

“Even if you can’t cultivate, there are many elixirs that can extend your life… Master will make sure you live a very long time.”

Jiang Huai’s heartbeat seemed to slow down for a moment.

The sky was resplendent with the evening glow, and the pink light fell on her cheeks. Despite the sadness in her eyes, she was still stunningly beautiful.

“What’s the point of living so long if I can’t cultivate?” Jiang Huai murmured softly.

Chu Xianning looked up at Jiang Huai’s eyes. Although his gaze was still gentle, she suddenly remembered what Granny Jiuyou had told her when she left, to spend more time with her disciple, lest he seek to end his life because he couldn’t cope with the psychological gap.

She suddenly felt her heart tighten and her throat constrict, unsure of how to respond to Jiang Huai’s words. But the next second, Jiang Huai’s voice rang in her ears again.

“But when I think about being able to accompany Master every day from now on, cooking and doing laundry for Master, watching Master practice swordplay and daydream, it seems like there’s still something to look forward to.”

A smile appeared on Jiang Huai’s face.

Chu Xianning avoided Jiang Huai’s gaze in a fluster, her voice a bit hurried,

“You’re a grown man. Don’t you have bigger aspirations? Spending all day cooking and doing laundry for your master… what kind of future is that…”

“But I was picked up by Master, I’m like Master’s puppy. I’ll go wherever Master tells me to, do whatever Master asks me to. If Master is unhappy, I’ll wag my tail to cheer you up. If Master is unhappy, I’ll be unhappy too, so Master can’t be unhappy.”

“Who calls themselves a puppy? Shameless.”

“It was Master who called me that when you were hanging and beating me.”

Chu Xianning paused, “What did I say?”

“Master said I was a little dog.” Jiang Huai replied innocently.

Chu Xianning tried hard to recall, and then she remembered. Her eyes immediately showed a hint of annoyance,

“That’s because you deserved it!”

“Master, that was really a misunderstanding. Those pair of Evil Repelling Ice Silk White Socks really got mixed up when I was doing laundry, that’s why they ended up by my bed.”

Chu Xianning scoffed coldly, not speaking.

“Never mind, I’ve already been beaten for it, I’ll just accept it.”

Jiang Huai sighed softly, lowering his head. But after a moment, he looked up at Chu Xianning again and said softly,

“But really, Master, you don’t need to worry about me. In half a year, I will take the top spot in the Eastern Region again.”

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“You? On what basis?”

Jiang Huai winked at Chu Xianning.

“When have I ever lied to you, Master?”