After Faking My Death, I Became the Male Lead's White Moonlight - Chapter 5

We must! Nip the relationship between those two right in the bud!

The system was spinning around in front of Song Lianzhou like a spinning top, nearly sparking fire off its little head: [Do you even know who Mei Zaijue is? That is Ye Xisheng’s early-stage golden finger, human-shaped external cheat device, and money-dispensing boy plus!]

Mei Zaijue was Ye Xisheng’s best friend, his greatest support in the early stages, and the only person he could truly trust. The two practiced cultivation together and went on experiential trials side by side, elevating their strength step by step. Beyond that, Mei Zaijue even shared a large portion of his own inner-sect disciple resources with him.

Unfortunately, in the middle stages, Mei Zaijue died saving someone, never getting to witness the day his dear friend stood at the very peak.

Therefore, regarding Mei Zaijue, Ye Xisheng always felt a lingering sense of indebtedness.

[If you let the two of them get together, that’ll be the end of it—Ye Xisheng’s spiritual power will skyrocket!! By then, you won’t have a single shred of hope left to make a comeback!]

Song Lianzhou replied: [Understood, I’ll make sure to keep them apart.]

The three of them first made a trip to Song Lianzhou’s dwelling cave to pick out a residence for Ye Xisheng, which delayed them on the road for some time before they hurried over to Hua Zuojiu’s cave.

Just as they neared the entrance, Song Lianzhou suddenly caught sight of a dark-robed youth standing ahead. Upon spotting them, the youth turned his head and spoke to someone inside the house: “They’re here.”

Upon seeing this person, Feiyi couldn’t help curling her lip in disdain: “Tch, why is this pampered young miss back too?”

A pampered young miss? Hearing this form of address left Song Lianzhou amused.

Looking closely, the youth was lavishly dressed in opulent garments, wearing an exquisite white-jade diadem on his head. His scabbard was studded entirely with pearls and gems, and his attire was even more extravagant. As he moved, silver chains collided and jade pendants chimed crisply.

It seemed this must be Gu Qingci’s fourth disciple, Qiamiao.

Song Lianzhou and Feiyi walked in together. Passing right by Qiamiao’s side, Song Lianzhou greeted him, “Fourth Junior Brother.”

Qiamiao turned his head sideways, replying with a cold and perfunctory attitude, “Greetings, Eldest Senior Brother.”

“Don’t mind him, Eldest Senior Brother. He treats everyone with that same deadpan expression.” Finding Qiamiao objectionable in every possible way, Feiyi snapped back loudly.

Naturally, Qiamiao overheard this remark, and he whipped his head around with a snap: “What did you say?! Say it again!”

“Did I say something wrong? You wear that stinking expression for everyone to see, as if we all owe you 500 taels of silver. Do you really think anyone is dying to talk to you?”

“That’s still better than you—a violent maniac with a simple mind whose only skill is shouting about fighting and killing! Violent maniac, violent maniac, violent maniac!”

“What did you say?! You exquisite cultivation world profanity, you’d better not eat anything today, or this young lady is going to dump every poison I have straight into your food!”

“Hmph, you’d better sleep with your eyes open tonight; I’m getting up in the middle of the night to rip up every single vegetable in your garden!”

“That fucking is an herbal medicine garden!”

Song Lianzhou, who had observed the entire spectacle from the sidelines: ……

He had initially thought Qiamiao was some gloomy little youth with an arrogant, life-weary persona, but it turned out… he was still just a child who hadn’t fully grown up.

As the two continued bickering, Feiyi unclipped her whip from her waist while Qiamiao drew his sword from his side. Song Lianzhou’s brow twitched, and he stepped forward a few paces, intending to intervene.

Suddenly, someone walked over from the side.

“Senior Sister, Fourth Senior Brother, why are you two arguing again?”

A waft of plum blossom fragrance drifted past as a white-robed youth gracefully stood still right between them. Raven-black hair draped down one side of his shoulders, and his cuffs and hem were embroidered with lifelike plum blossoms, as if a branch of winter plum had truly burst into bloom amidst a snowy landscape.

With features so distinctly characteristic, this without a doubt had to be the fifth-seat personal disciple, Mei Zaijue.

Wielding her whip, Feiyi barked, “Little Junior Brother, don’t stop me! I am going to teach him a lesson today!”

“Bring it on, who’s afraid of you!” Qiamiao refused to show any weakness either.

Holding a plate of plum blossom shortbread in his hands, Mei Zaijue calmly stuffed a piece into each of their mouths: “Third Senior Sister, Fourth Senior Brother, Master said whoever keeps arguing has to clean the commodes for a full month.”

The world suddenly fell quiet.

With no other choice, Feiyi and Qiamiao glared angrily at each other before reluctantly walking into the house.

Only then did Mei Zaijue act as though he had just noticed Song Lianzhou, handing him a piece of plum blossom shortbread as well: “Eldest Senior Brother, congratulations on coming out of seclusion.”

Song Lianzhou looked into his eyes, pausing slightly before returning the polite nod: “Junior Brother has recently returned from experiential training; you’ve worked hard as well.”

Ceasing to speak, Mei Zaijue gradually restrained his expression before turning around to walk inside.

Left completely by himself outside, Song Lianzhou gazed at Mei Zaijue’s retreating figure thoughtfully and mused, “This Little Junior Brother doesn’t seem to like me very much.”

[?] The system glanced back and forth between Mei Zaijue and Song Lianzhou. [Host, did you get it wrong? He even gave you pastries. The only one I could tell wasn’t too fond of you was Qiamiao.]

“Qiamiao doesn’t dislike me nearly as much as he puts on,” Song Lianzhou remarked. “Mei Zaijue is different. Even though he was speaking to me with a smile and trying his hardest to mask his aversion toward me, I could still catch that tiny trace of it inadvertently leaking through.”

“You saw his fingertips trembling when he handed it to me, and how he quickly pulled his hand back right after.” Song Lianzhou pinched the piece of shortbread between his fingertips. “Look closer this pastry is a good half-inch smaller than the others, and the shape is far cruder, too.”

Listening to this, the system was left in utter admiration: [If you didn’t go play a criminal investigation protagonist with this kind of observation skills, it would be a complete waste…]

Much obliged. Eyeing the small sprite fluttering its wings right in front of him, Song Lianzhou abruptly shoved the pastry straight into the system’s mouth: [Help me test if there’s any poison in it.]

The system, its entire mouth stuffed full of pastry crumbs: ??? Do you have any manners!

Those who practice the immortal path have long since achieved breath-taria. However, Hua Zuojiu possessed exceptional culinary skills; rumor had it that a sword-cultivating grandmaster had once tasted his pastries and achieved sudden enlightenment on the spot the kind of culinary standard where missing out would make you wake up in the middle of the night just to slap yourself across the face.

At the same time, this was a rare opportunity for fellow martial siblings to gather together under one roof.

Song Lianzhou walked over to the table and took a seat. A moment later, Hua Zuojiu emerged from the inner room carrying a bowl of broth and handed it to him: “A-Zhou, today I made your favorite clearing white fungus soup. Have a taste.”

Song Lianzhou hurriedly accepted it with a word of thanks. Feiyi came bouncing over joyfully, insisting she wanted a bowl too, and Hua Zuojiu went to ladle her a portion with a smile.

Mei Zaijue, who had been sitting quietly beside Hua Zuojiu watching silently all this time, finally couldn’t maintain the smile on his face any longer. With a stiff grin, he asked, “Senior Brother, where is my Yijianmei tea?”

“We’re pressed for time today, and since A-Zhou has finally come out of seclusion with such difficulty, I cooked a few more things he likes to eat,” Hua Zuojiu said, patting his head. “Come tomorrow, and I’ll make some for you.”

“That won’t do; I could never bear to let Senior Brother work this hard.”

Feiyi, who had been slurping her soup noisily, suddenly jerked her head up and let out an exclamation of wonder: “I feel like Senior Brother’s personality has really changed a lot since coming out of seclusion. If I didn’t know him so well, I’d honestly think Senior Brother had been soul-snatched.”

Song Lianzhou was startled, nearly dropping the bowl in his hand right onto the floor: “Wh—what makes Junior Sister say such a thing?”

Feiyi looked at him quite strangely: “Senior Brother, you forgot? Whenever we used to ask you to come join a gathering like this, you’d always decline with every excuse in the book.”

“And that’s not all. Back then, even though you tried hard to project friendliness, you still couldn’t hide the aloof aura around you. But now, this kind of aura actually feels…” Feiyi giggled, “…like a spring breeze.”

“Tch, what a sheltered ignoramus.” Qiamiao sat at the furthest possible spot from Feiyi, speaking in a sarcastic, winding tone, “Eldest Senior Brother’s cultivation is high; attempting to forcibly snatch his body carries the risk of having one’s soul scattered to the winds.”

“Right, right, right, you’re the most knowledgeable one here.” Feiyi rolled her eyes.

Seated at the head of the table, Gu Qingci chuckled heartily: “You children—you’re still just as fond of bickering as when you were little, your affections haven’t faded a bit.”

“Who has affections with him/her!”

Hua Zuojiu took his seat beside Song Lianzhou and flashed that same knowing, meaningful smile once more: “A-Zhou’s change is precisely because of a certain person, isn’t it?”

“?” Sensing that Hua Zuojiu’s tone was somewhat off, Song Lianzhou hurriedly attempted to cut the topic short: “No, it has nothing to do with anyone else; I simply figured things out on my own.”

Hua Zuojiu countered, “Not necessarily.”

Mei Zaijue asked curiously, “Who is it?”

“Naturally, that young brother Ye,” Hua Zuojiu looked at him and smiled. “I heard you even brought him back to live right inside your own dwelling cave, didn’t you?”

The spoon in Song Lianzhou’s hand nearly flew out of his grasp: ?

Wait a minute, he and Ye Xisheng had absolutely nothing going on?!

Wait another minute, how on earth did Hua Zuojiu find out about this??!