After Breaking Off the Engagement, I Started Pursuing My Master-Chapter 12 - Inexpensive Companions

Chapter 12: Inexpensive Companions

In the early morning, the mountains were shrouded in mist.

For today’s breakfast, Jiang Huai prepared rice noodles, adding them to the clear stewed lamb soup, sprinkling some chopped green onions and coriander, and topping it off with a portion of the prepared braised crispy meat.

Chu Xianning, of course, opened her room door on time and appeared in the courtyard. Today, his master wore a white spring dress, draped with a light purple gauze, the hem of the dress was very long, covering the curves of her legs completely, barely revealing a pair of ankles. Below the ankles, her feet were clad in white socks, stepping into white embroidered shoes.

Her hair was not tied up, casually draped behind her head, giving off a slightly lazy appearance.

Jiang Huai’s most anticipated moment of the day was to wake up five minutes earlier than the master and then sit in the courtyard to watch the master’s expression when she got up. At that time, his master would shed some of her aloofness, her eyes revealing a bit of drowsiness, showing a cute contrast.

Seeing the master get up, Jiang Huai turned and went to Luo Qingyu’s room. He reached out and gently knocked on the door. Luo Qingyu softly said to enter, and Jiang Huai opened the door to find Luo Qingyu sitting on the bed, her fingertips still pinching a pair of white panties that she had just pulled up to her thighs.

Their eyes met, and their gazes intertwined in mid-air.

Luo Qingyu seemed oblivious to what she was doing and jumped down from the bed, her feet touching the ground, her fingertips continuing to hook the edge of her panties. Meanwhile, Jiang Huai closed the door, pretending to see nothing.

He couldn’t give her any chance to find fault! Ha!

Luo Qingyu waited a while before coming out because she had to comb her hair, apply light makeup, and style her hair nicely. It took quite some time, and when she finally opened the door, she saw Jiang Huai sneakily eating the crispy meat from her bowl with chopsticks.

“That’s Qingyu’s!”

Luo Qingyu hurried over, hugging her bowl to her chest, while Jiang Huai mumbled.

“Who told you to get up so late?”

“Jiang Huai brother, give it back to me,” Luo Qingyu looked at him with a pitiful expression.

Jiang Huai pointed to his mouth, happily chewing on her crispy meat, but Luo Qingyu leaned in, hand on his shoulder as if she was about to snatch it back from his mouth.

In the next second, Jiang Huai had swallowed it all, and he pointed to his stomach,

“Nono, it’s in here now.”

Luo Qingyu gave him a deep look and had no choice but to pick up her bowl and slowly start eating the rice noodles with her chopsticks. She ate very slowly but had a good appetite, especially enjoying the meals Jiang Huai made.

Chu Xianning quickly finished eating and went out for a walk in the sect. Jiang Huai sat at the table, watching Luo Qingyu earnestly slurping the rice noodles.

This girl seemed to have changed a lot compared to two years ago.

…….

Jiang Huai first met her when she was fifteen.

That year, Jiang Huai was sixteen, and she was fifteen. Chu Xianning took Jiang Huai to the Qingxuan Sect to propose marriage.

Proposing marriage wasn’t just about meeting and deciding on marriage if they liked each other. Luo Yueguan always liked grand events, so she arranged a competition for Jiang Huai. She wanted Jiang Huai to stand on the Qingxuan Sect’s sword-fighting platform and face challenges from all Qingxuan Sect disciples. If anyone could defeat Jiang Huai, she would retract her decision and betroth her daughter to him.

On that day, Jiang Huai single-handedly defeated one hundred and thirty-seven challengers, winning the respect of all Qingxuan Sect disciples, and only then did Luo Yueguan announce to the sect that from then on, Jiang Huai would be her daughter Luo Qingyu’s companion. Jiang Huai only met Luo Qingyu late at night.

At that time, the girl was already tall and pretty, but she was naive and silly. When Jiang Huai first saw her, he always felt that her eyes were shrouded in a gray fog.

Luo Yueguan gave him time alone with Luo Qingyu, so Jiang Huai entered Luo Qingyu’s room, closed the door, and sat opposite her.

He didn’t speak, and Luo Qingyu didn’t speak either, but their eyes met.

In that instant, Jiang Huai suddenly felt like he was taming a hawk as if speaking first would mean losing. So, he took an interest in staring at Luo Qingyu for an hour until he couldn’t hold back, and the first thing he said was,

“Staying motionless is like a turtle.”

“What’s a turtle?”

“It’s something that’s delicious when braised in soy sauce.”

“Qingyu hasn’t eaten it.”

“No matter, I’ll make it for you tomorrow. By the way, your mother has betrothed you to me, saying you’ll be my Dao companion from now on.”

“What’s a Dao companion?”

“You don’t know?”

“Qingyu doesn’t know.”

“It means officially getting married and then staying by my side, accompany me every day with laughter, practice swordsmanship, cultivate, and by the way, sleep together at night.”

“Hmm.”

“What does ‘hmm’ mean?”

“Hmm just means hmm.”

“Do you want to be my companion?”

“I’ll listen to my mother.”

“Never mind her for now. If you don’t want to, you can also not listen to your mother.”

“Mother’s arrangements are always right.”

“That’s not necessarily true. Oh, what happened to your hand?”

“It hurts.”

“I know it hurts, what I mean is… who hurt you?”

“I did it myself.”

“Why?”

“If my hand hurts… my chest doesn’t hurt.”

“Does your chest hurt?”

“Hmm.”

“What kind of pain?”

“Qingyu can’t explain it, it hurts and it’s cold.”

“Then come here.”

“Come?”

“Hmm, stand up.”

Luo Qingyu stood up blankly, and Jiang Huai quietly watched the girl who was half a head shorter than him, extending his hand to gently embrace her. Her body was cold as ice, her black hair soft and smooth. Jiang Huai just held her gently, feeling the girl’s body suddenly stiffen. She didn’t move or speak, but after a while, her body seemed to gradually soften.

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“Does it still hurt?” he asked softly.

“It seems… a bit better.”

He kept holding her until her body warmed up before letting go. Luo Qingyu stood there, her eyes seemingly reluctant to part. Jiang Huai took out two orange-flavored lollipops from his pocket, unwrapped one, and put it in her mouth.

“It’s sweet,” Luo Qingyu said blankly.

“Do you like this flavor?”

“I like it.”

“If you become my companion, you’ll have candy every day.”

“Okay.”

And so, Jiang Huai successfully coaxed an inexpensive companion with a piece of candy.

When Jiang Huai first met her, Luo Qingyu was like a well-behaved puppet or a cute little frog, responding to a poke, with a very introverted personality. He could vaguely sense the loneliness deep in the girl’s heart and felt a quiet pity for her. So, he always took her out to play, accompanied her in sword practice, made her delicious food, occasionally gave her small snacks and jewelry, taught her how to interact with strangers, and shared with her some strange, twisted logic. Gradually, Luo Qingyu became much more cheerful.

Jiang Huai also set rules with her, forbidding her from doing foolish things again. If she did, he wouldn’t accompany her to play. Since then, Luo Qingyu has become very well-behaved and never hurt herself again. Her only flaw was that she liked to stick to him. Aside from the time needed for closed-door cultivation, she always wanted to come to play with him.

Jiang Huai always felt a sense of guilt in his heart.

What are a fifteen-year-old girl’s thoughts be? She was innocent and easy to deceive. He didn’t need to do much, and it seemed that he inadvertently became the tree she relied on.

But Jiang Huai still hoped she would rely more on herself. Placing hope in others is equivalent to giving up on oneself.

“Jiang Huai brother.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m not full.”

Luo Qingyu rubbed her belly, put down her chopsticks, and looked up at him with a pitiful expression.

“What if you get fat like a little pig?”

“Will Brother Jiang Huai still like me if I become a little pig?”

“Of course not.”

Jiang Huai said this while taking some pastries out of his storage ring and pushing them towards Luo Qingyu.

However, Luo Qingyu turned her face away, looking aggrieved,

“Then Qingyu won’t eat.”

“I’ll eat them myself.”

As Jiang Huai said this, he stuffed the pastries into his mouth one by one. Luo Qingyu watched him with envy, her eyes fixed on him until Jiang Huai pinched a piece of mung bean cake and brought it to her lips. The girl obediently opened her mouth and took a bite. After finishing that piece, she continued to look at him with longing eyes, so Jiang Huai pinched another piece to feed her.

When the mung bean cakes on the table were all gone, Luo Qingyu’s eyes showed a hint of satisfaction. She obediently cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks and went to wash the dishes while Jiang Huai continued to sit in the courtyard, lost in thought.

…….

There were six days left until the inner sect competition.

Jiang Huai began to recall the rules of the inner sect competition. If he remembered correctly, it seemed that cultivators of the same realm were paired up, lots were drawn, and each person had to fight at least five matches without losing the first two consecutively. If one lost the first two matches, then it seemed they had to win five in a row to secure their spot.

These rules were quite troublesome. In the past, when Jiang Huai participated, his opponents usually conceded automatically. He didn’t even have to draw his sword and was basically guaranteed first place. Occasionally, there were those who wanted to challenge him or who had reached a bottleneck in their swordsmanship and hoped for his guidance, which he was always willing to provide.

Over the years, Jiang Huai’s reputation in the Tianxuan Sect had been quite good. Apart from being helpful and generous, he had been admired by countless Junior Sisters for many years and had never been involved in any scandals with any woman.

The last point was because if there were any rumors about him abandoning a female disciple, he would probably be beaten by his master upon returning to the courtyard and hung from a tree to weep and repent.

Moreover, because he had been with his master since he was young, his standards of beauty were extremely high. Unless someone was as beautiful as Luo Qingyu, he would inevitably be somewhat disappointed.

He had nothing better to do every day, so doing some good deeds within his capabilities made him feel at peace, and sometimes he even felt a bit smug, satisfying his sense of moral superiority.

In the past, many disciples who couldn’t afford to go to Alchemy Mountain for medicine would come to him for help. If he had time, he would occasionally help them refine medicine. If some outer disciples were bullied too much by inner disciples, he would stand up for the outer disciples. After all, he had his master and the sect master behind him and was once the number one influential figure in the Tianxuan Sect. No one could compete with his background.

It was just a pity that his cultivation was now almost completely gone.

But Jiang Huai wasn’t worried about this at all.

Although his spiritual veins were ruined, he had made some preparations quietly in the past because he was afraid of pain.