After My Thoughts Were Read, My Master Led Me to Change My Fate - Chapter 54.1

Ran Fanyin simply took the newly poured tea from Duanxi without changing her expression. She glanced at Duanxi and said lightly, “Miss, please sit down here first. There are some matters I’d like to ask you about.”

Duanxi smiled seductively and sat down as Ran Fanyin requested. “This young master in white does not seem to favor this humble one very much. Compared to the beautiful girls in our Floating Jade Pavilion, Young Master seems to be more attentive to this beautiful young gentleman.”

“…” Ran Fanyin drank her tea in silence, her gaze focused lightly on the surface of the tea where the leaves floated.

Ning Songwu quickly took over the conversation from Duanxi. “That’s not true, Miss Duanxi. I do indeed have some things I’d like to ask you. Are you willing to chat?”

“You are my guests. If you wish to ask, I will naturally answer.”

“Is the person who has reserved the entire Floating Jade Pavilion currently staying in the Grand Lake Chamber to the north? Have you seen him?”

Duanxi was startled by the question, then she lazily propped her head on the table with her hand. When she spoke again, she used ‘I’ instead of the humble ‘this humble one.’ “Yes, I have seen them. But it’s not ‘him’; it’s ‘them.'”

Ning Songwu and Ran Fanyin exchanged a look. Ning Songwu continued to ask, “How many of them are there? What do they look like?”

“I only saw them once when they first arrived. The leader was a man wearing a black bamboo hat. He should be their master; I don’t know what he looks like. Following behind him was a strong man carrying a saber, and another woman wearing Miao-style clothing.”

“Only those three?” Ran Fanyin asked faintly.

“There were also some attendants, all dressed the same way.” Duanxi’s soft hand gently stroked her brow ridge, looking at Ning Songwu with keen interest. “Why are you asking this? Do you know those people?”

“…What do they talk about with the travelling martial artists? Do you know?”

Lin Yuxue watched Ran Fanyin for a moment, then showed a slight smile. “Want me to teach you?”

Ran Fanyin glanced at Lin Yuxue. “Mm.”

“What benefit is there for me?” Lin Yuxue turned with a playful smile to stir the contents of the pot.

“No benefit whatsoever. If you are unwilling, I will try it myself,” Ran Fanyin replied expressionlessly.

“You are truly too dull,” Lin Yuxue laughed and shook her head. “At a time like this, shouldn’t you be asking me nicely? Then I would string you along for a while, and once you agreed to one of my conditions, I would relent and teach you the culinary skill. That’s the normal sequence of events.”

Ran Fanyin’s brows softened, and she couldn’t help but curve her lips into a smile. “It’s not that I am dull; it’s that you have too much free time.”

“Is that so? That’s truly strange. I always have plenty to talk about with anyone, yet talking with you, whatever I say is often met with a bucket of cold water, making it quite awkward.”

Ran Fanyin silently gripped the egg in her hand and didn’t speak. “What are you doing here?”

Luo Sheng’s voice suddenly came from behind. Ning Songwu quickly wiped the corner of her eyes discreetly and smiled, “Nothing at all.”

Luo Sheng walked around to the front of Ning Songwu, saw the candied hawthorns in her hand, and chuckled softly. “So you were hiding here to snack. Your Senior Sister Cen Ran brought these specifically for you. There’s also a big bag of candied fruits and preserves there. She said to share them with Helan Mianmian.”

“Mm. Thank Senior Sister for me.” Ning Songwu put the candied hawthorns back into the paper bag, her gaze unreadable.

“She’s right there in front of you. Do you still need me to relay a message?” Luo Sheng folded his arms across his chest and paused. “…Ning Songwu, it’s just the two of us now. I want to ask you a couple of questions. Don’t be shy; tell your Senior Brother the truth.”

Ning Songwu raised an eyebrow, genuinely curious. “What questions? Why would I be shy?”

Luo Sheng chuckled awkwardly, then spoke with a slight hesitation. “Do you… have someone you like? …I mean, a person in your heart?”

The smile froze on Ning Songwu’s lips. After a long pause, the smile slowly faded. She lowered her head, fiddling with the firecrackers beside her, her voice flat. “Why do you ask that?”

“Jing Xu, the head disciple of Martial Uncle Cheng Yunhuan, you know him too. He’s two years younger than me, twenty-three this year, and can be considered half a fellow student. I often practiced with him before. I executed missions with him in earlier years. He’s very reliable and an absolute talent…”

“I know all this. I know him, after all. So what?” Ning Songwu interrupted Luo Sheng.

“So? So… he’s five years older than you. Isn’t that the perfect age? He can take care of you and indulge you. Plus, he’s the head disciple of the Grand Elder’s head disciple, so his future is limitless… He told me that he feels toward you…”

Although the Northern Expedition cultivates the Tao, most of its disciples are lay followers. Only a few genuinely do not intend to marry, like the three Venerable Masters or Ping Zilai. Most ordinary disciples, given their often noble birth, cannot let their family lines end, so they are permitted to marry or form Taoist partnerships with the person they like. That is why many male disciples in the Hall of Rising Flight openly pursue Helan Mianmian.

Clearly, Luo Sheng was trying to set up a match for Jing Xu.

“It has nothing to do with me.” Ning Songwu’s voice instantly turned cold. She interrupted Luo Sheng again, standing up as if to leave.

Luo Sheng watched Ning Songwu leave, but he did not stop her. He only spoke again, “Ning Songwu… don’t be angry. Think about it seriously.”

Ning Songwu suddenly turned back. Luo Sheng thought she had changed her mind and was about to smile and speak, when Ning Songwu simply grabbed the bag of preserves and candied hawthorns, turned neatly, and walked away again, leaving behind one sentence:

“Not a chance.”

Luo Sheng gave a wry smile, rubbing his head.

At dinner time, Ran Fanyin, Luo Sheng, Cen Ran, Ning Songwu, and Helan Mianmian were all eating at the long table in the main hall. The Withered Glory Pavilion, usually quite cold and quiet, suddenly became crowded and lively.

Helan Mianmian did not manage to cozy up to Cen Ran. Instead, she came over and sat next to Ning Songwu. Her eyes were narrowed dangerously; she was clearly here to settle a score.

“Ning Songwu, have I wronged you or held a grudge against you in the past? I’ve treated you well, haven’t I?” Helan Mianmian smiled innocently, even putting food in Ning Songwu’s bowl. It looked like an affectionate gesture, but on closer inspection, one would realize she was only putting chicken butts in the bowl.

“You have treated me well,” Ning Songwu smiled faintly, letting Helan Mianmian put strange things in her bowl.

“Senior Sister Cen Ran is angry at me for flirting with people everywhere, but did anyone else gossip about me to her? Didn’t you report my little affair with Senior Brother Jing Xu to her right in front of me?”

“I did such a thing?” Ning Songwu raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise. “Helan Mianmian, you must have remembered wrong. We’ve slept in the same bed for so many years…”

Helan Mianmian saw Cen Ran’s gaze shift lightly toward them and quickly stopped her. “Who slept in the same bed with you!” Ning Songwu chuckled, and Helan Mianmian lowered her voice again.

“Are you truly unaware or are you pretending? Senior Brother Jing Xu likes you! He deliberately dragged me to ask me all those small, trivial things about you today. It wasn’t me flirting with him at all.”

Ning Songwu’s smile faded. After a while, she said, “…If that’s the case, just explain it clearly to Senior Sister and be done with it. Why are you bothering me?”

“I won’t tell her! I want her to be jealous. I love seeing her care about me because of other people,” Helan Mianmian smiled slyly.

“You’re asking for trouble.” Ning Songwu scoffed, glanced at Luo Sheng who was talking happily with Cen Ran beside her, and with a mischievous smile, secretly swapped her bowl full of chicken butts with his.

Helan Mianmian gave her a look that said, well done.

Ran Fanyin, who had been eating quietly, suddenly spoke. “Ning Songwu.”

Ning Songwu quickly put away her playful expression and looked seriously at Ran Fanyin. “Yes, Master.”

“Come to my chambers after dinner.”

A smile bloomed in Ning Songwu’s eyes. “Yes, Master.”

After dinner, Ning Songwu indeed followed Ran Fanyin to her chambers.

But it was impossible for the past to come true. Time would not freeze due to one person’s obsession, nor would it reverse due to one person’s regret.

Once inside Ran Fanyin’s chambers, Ran Fanyin looked around, dismissed all the maids, and sat down in a chair nearby.

Ning Songwu sat down next to Ran Fanyin and asked, “Master, why did you call me here?”

Ran Fanyin picked up her teacup, took a sip, looked up at Ning Songwu, and spoke with slight hesitation. “Didn’t you… say you would make a lantern with me after we finished making dumplings?”

Ning Songwu was momentarily stunned, then recalled that this had indeed been mentioned a while ago.

Ran Fanyin pointed to the table opposite her. “I had someone bring the bamboo strips and red cloth over. You can start making it now.”

“Alright, but Master has to come and make it with me too.” Ning Songwu looked at Ran Fanyin, finding her absolutely adorable at this moment—a little awkward, her earlobes starting to flush slightly red. Truly cute.

“I naturally… naturally will make it as well.” Ran Fanyin cleared her throat twice, walked over to the table piled with assorted materials, picked up two bamboo strips, and looked at Ning Songwu.

Ning Songwu also walked over and sat down. She had previously asked Senior Sister Cen Ran to specifically teach her, so while her technique for bending the bamboo strips was not expert, it was respectable. Ran Fanyin leaned in slightly, focusing intently on Ning Songwu’s movements, and then awkwardly mimicked the movements with her own hands.

The wide cuff of her robe, printed with white cranes, slid down Ran Fanyin’s wrist a little, revealing the dark red, lotus-like scar on her left wrist. Ning Songwu’s gaze lingered on it intermittently, repeating the observation several times.

“Master, you have never said anything about that scar on your wrist… I remember your wrist was injured when I was little, but I never heard you say how you got hurt,” Ning Songwu said gently, looking at Ran Fanyin’s soft profile.

“It has nothing to do with you,” Ran Fanyin replied indifferently.

Ning Songwu was slightly taken aback, then gave a wry smile. Yes, so many of Master’s affairs truly have nothing to do with her.

Snap.

Ran Fanyin looked at the bamboo strip she had accidentally broken. Her ears showed a tendency to flush red again.

Ning Songwu stood up and walked to Ran Fanyin’s side. She picked up another strip of bamboo, placed it in Ran Fanyin’s hand, and covered Ran Fanyin’s hand with her own. “Master, your strength is too much. You only need to bend it like this…”

Ran Fanyin woke up as if from a dream. The warmth on the back of her hand made her extremely uncomfortable. She instinctively pulled her hand away. “Don’t touch me.”

Ning Songwu’s hand hung awkwardly in the air, the dimness in her eyes almost overflowing. After a long pause, she sheepishly retracted her hand and sat back down in her seat.

After a while, Ning Songwu spoke slowly. “Master, why, as I grow older, do you become increasingly distant from me?”

“You are older. That is why we should maintain distance,” Ran Fanyin replied earnestly.

Every night, Helan Mianmian saw her go out to practice her sword, sleeping far too little, and tried to persuade and stop her, utterly unable to watch. But as long as she recalled the powerlessness she felt when Master was so exhausted she coughed up blood, where she could do nothing at all—she knew that unless she was coughing up blood herself, she did not have the right to stop.

No one knew how many times the hardships she endured at the Hall of Rising Flight surpassed others. Only she knew exactly how much sweat and blood she had shed.

She did all of this for Master.

Yet, the growth she achieved through such difficulty was exchanged for Master’s growing distance. Was it possible that she was truly inferior to the little child she had been seven years ago?

Ran Fanyin saw Ning Songwu’s unusual silence, quietly stood up, and left.

After a while, Ran Fanyin returned with a piece of white paper, about three palms in length, on which something was vigorously written. Ran Fanyin handed the calligraphy to Ning Songwu. “You said before that you liked my writing. That previous piece has already been pasted above your door. I just wrote another one when I returned. Take it if you want it.”

The extinguished candlelight in Ning Songwu’s eyes seemed to rekindle, sparkling with small, flickering lights. She carefully accepted it. The paper was very thin, and on it were four large characters written in fine Huizhou ink: “One Lifetime Ning Songwu.” The font was almost identical to the previous horizontal scroll, only slightly smaller.

“Thank you, Master,” Ning Songwu whispered.

“Consider it an early New Year’s gift. There is an even better gift that I will be able to give you later.”

“I love anything Master gives me.”

Ran Fanyin glanced at the somewhat messy tabletop and said, “You should go back. I will finish the rest myself.”

“Yes, Master.”

Ning Songwu held the paper and slowly walked out of Ran Fanyin’s chambers. She clutched the paper, looking back at the closed door for a long time.

Only when the sky began to lightly snow did Ning Songwu regain her senses. She carefully and neatly folded the paper along the corners, reducing the thin sheet to a tiny square. She then put it into the brocade pouch she always carried close to her body, meticulously placing it inside her inner clothing.

It was almost New Year’s Eve; the weather was truly getting a bit cold.

Ning Songwu pulled out the Flowing Jade amulet that she never let leave her neck and held it in her palm, seeming to want to draw a trace of warmth from it.

Lin Yuxue scoffed. “Alright, I won’t tease you anymore. Given your current skill in the kitchen, making some steamed egg custard would be best. Here, take this bowl and crack the eggs into it.”

Ran Fanyin’s expression was as still as a cup of water. She simply held the egg over the bowl that Lin Yuxue handed her. She paused for a moment, then squeezed her fingers. The fragile eggshell instantly shattered in her hand. The thick egg white and yolk ‘splashed’ out, covering her hands. Because she used too much force, a few tiny drops of the egg mixture flew up, almost splattering onto Lin Yuxue.

“My heavens… are you trying to crush a dead man’s skull?” Lin Yuxue exclaimed, leaping to the side.

Ran Fanyin looked at her hands, covered in egg goo, with a puzzled expression, her brow slightly furrowed as she scrutinized the broken eggshell.

Lin Yuxue sighed, realizing that teaching Ran Fanyin how to cook was going to be an exceptionally challenging task.

“…How about, Venerable Master, you step outside first? I’ll make it and bring it out to you.”

Ran Fanyin shook her head. “No. Why is it so easy for her to cook, yet I…”

“Are you talking about your little disciple? I tasted the dishes she made in Huaxu Realm before; they were indeed very good,” Lin Yuxue mused slightly. “Speaking of which, you seem to treat your disciple very specially, always showing a different attitude when it comes to her. You…”

Ran Fanyin finished her sentence. “I like her.”

Lin Yuxue: “…”

“I raised her myself. She is the disciple I like the most,” Ran Fanyin spoke a rare extra sentence, though her gaze remained fixed on her hands, not looking at Lin Yuxue.

Lin Yuxue quietly sighed in relief, her mood inexplicably lightening, though a subtle anxiety still lingered, as if something was pressing on her heart, making it hard to breathe. Her fingers habitually went to the white jade mask hanging behind her, rubbing it for a moment. Seeing Ran Fanyin focused on the egg, she let her gaze rest on Ran Fanyin for a long time, the corners of her lips curving into a soft smile.