After Swapping Identities With My Archenemy - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Moving

Jiang Huaiyi fell asleep on the way back. When she woke up, she found herself lying on the sofa in Shen Wensi’s living room, covered with a fluffy blanket. She didn’t know how she got back.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked at the time on her phone. It was already two in the afternoon.

She got up and found her backpack next to the sofa. A note was placed on the transparent, dark brown coffee table.

On it was a line of elegant small script: “I went to buy groceries.”

Jiang Huaiyi held the note. Her slender, white fingers ran through her messy hair, gently rubbing her aching head.

Her mind was still unclear when she heard the sound of a key unlocking the door.

Then came the rustling of a plastic bag. Jiang Huaiyi turned her head to look in the direction of the sound.

Shen Wensi walked in wearing a pair of house slippers. Her clothes had clearly been changed.

It seemed that she had already showered. She was carrying two large bags of things. The slender stems and leaves of celery poked out from one of the bags. They looked very fresh. Shen Wensi had gone grocery shopping.

She put down the things in her hands, looked down, and saw Jiang Huaiyi sitting on the sofa. “Are you awake?” she asked.

Jiang Huaiyi put down the hand that was on her head and nodded frantically. Then she looked down at Shen Wensi, feeling that she had troubled her to take care of her.

She lowered her eyes and saw the white sofa. She remembered that she wasn’t very clean. She immediately stood up and looked at the small amount of dust on the sofa, feeling a little helpless.

Shen Wensi was already sitting on the other sofa. Her long legs were perfectly propped on the edge of the coffee table. She leaned back on the sofa, relaxed. Seeing her suddenly stand up, she asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Huaiyi’s face flushed. She stammered in a low voice, twisting her hands together. “I accidentally dirtied your sofa, Daoist Shen. I’m sorry.”

She should be a very clean person. Yesterday, she even wore gloves to help her. Now, Jiang Huaiyi watched her take off the gloves and throw them into the trash can, which further confirmed her thoughts.

Shen Wensi’s gaze looked over. There was indeed some dust on the sofa.

She pointed to the two bags of things next to her, not caring. “You should take a shower first.”

Jiang Huaiyi pointed to the bags and then to herself in surprise.

She saw a bag of clothes inside. Was it for her?

Jiang Huaiyi’s face became even redder. It didn’t feel right to shower in someone else’s house, did it?

Shen Wensi lifted her chin, gesturing for her to hurry. “Wash your hair too. When you’re done, come out. I have something to discuss with you.”

She stood up and bent down, handing the bag of things to Jiang Huaiyi. With no room for refusal, Jiang Huaiyi went into the bathroom on the first floor.

She looked at the clean and bright shower room in front of her with a sense of embarrassment. The moment she closed the door, she felt the whole world become quiet.

The typhoon seemed to have only passed by yesterday. The weather outside was now clear again.

Outside the opaque glass, sunlight shone in. Outside the window were some withered willow leaves, casting a mottled light and shadow.

The fresh air felt like she could smell it as soon as she opened the window.

She took a deep breath, fumbled for a while, and started the water.

When she was in the temple, the conditions were not very good. Jiang Huaiyi had to boil water to take a shower. Now, entering her modern shower room, she was a little unaccustomed.

Fortunately, she had used a water heater at her uncle’s house before, so she didn’t make a complete fool of herself.

The moment the warm water hit her skin, Jiang Huaiyi let out a great sigh of relief. She looked at the shower room.

It was very clean. Some ghost cultivators’ homes were very strange, especially places like bathrooms, which often had various unclean things.

But this place was so clean it looked like it had never been used.

She quickly took a shower, washed her hair, and put on the clothes Shen Wensi had bought for her.

She must have had them dry-cleaned. The tags on the clothes had been cut off, and there was a faint fragrance.

In the mirror, her face looked a little tired, but she looked much better than she did yesterday when she looked like she was at the end of her rope.

She dried her hair and walked out. She found that the sofa, which had some dust on it before, was now as good as new.

Shen Wensi was sitting in front of the sofa, drinking tea. The smell of “Yuqian Longjing” green tea wafted in the air. This kind of tea was perfect to drink on a sunny afternoon.

Shen Wensi saw her come out and made a “please” gesture.

Jiang Huaiyi subconsciously grabbed the hem of her clothes and sat down on the clean sofa.

She took a sip of the tea Shen Wensi had pushed toward her and asked, “Daoist Shen, what do you want to discuss with me?”

Because of her nervousness, she hadn’t let go of the teacup. Shen Wensi clasped her fingers together, looked at her, and said, “You should move in with me.”

“What did you say?”

Jiang Huaiyi almost spit out a mouthful of tea and quickly wiped the corner of her mouth.

Shen Wensi leaned back on the sofa: “You can’t live in your old place anymore. You don’t want your uncle to see it, do you? How would you answer him if he asks?”

Jiang Huaiyi thought about her uncle’s look of hatred for evil. When he saw a ghost cultivator, it was like seeing a ghost. He wished he could get rid of them quickly. If he knew that his master’s house was now occupied by her, she was afraid she would really end up on the streets.

Seeing Jiang Huaiyi’s conflicted expression, she rested her hand on her leg and turned her body slightly toward her: “I’m not short on money. You don’t need to pay rent if you live here. It’s just for convenience so we can go out together in the future. You wouldn’t disagree, would you?”

“Of course, if you want to pay me back after you make some money, that’s fine too. You can just help me clean the house, buy groceries, and cook.”

No matter how she looked at it, it was a good deal. Jiang Huaiyi was shamelessly tempted.

She had lived in her master’s dilapidated house for more than twenty years. The power and water would often be cut off, and her quality of life was not very good.

She subconsciously nodded. By the time she came to her senses, she was already in the car with Shen Wensi.

It was a black Mercedes-Benz S450. Jiang Huaiyi didn’t know much about luxury cars, but this car was very rare. It was very eye-catching among the buses, electric scooters, Toyota Camry, and Wuling Hongguang that filled the streets.

The driver was wearing sunglasses and hadn’t said a word since they got in the car.

Shen Wensi was a person of few words, and Jiang Huaiyi also felt it was inappropriate to talk.

A moving truck was following them. When they arrived at Qingyun Temple, Shen Wensi began to direct a group of people to start moving things.

The other things were not easy to take away, so as not to let her uncle see them and ask her why the things inside were all gone.

All her personal belongings and some of the magic tools her master had left for her were all loaded into the truck.

Qingyun Temple had been there since she was a child. She was an orphan adopted by her master.

Before she was adopted, her master, Jiang Younian, had already passed away. As a wandering master, the first time he appeared in her dream, she didn’t feel a trace of fear.

At that time, her master praised her for being a good seedling and asked her if she was willing to become his disciple. The little girl who couldn’t even speak clearly nodded without hesitation, feeling the warmth in her dream.

The next day, her uncle, Jiang Jiling, came to pick her up, accompanied by a small, adorable child who smiled sweetly at her and called her “Shimei” (junior sister).

Later, she naturally became her master’s disciple and naturally inherited this Taoist temple. She grew up in this small temple.

She used the inheritance her master left her to go to school during the day and learn Xuanmen knowledge in her dreams at night.

Her master was the most prestigious Daoist priest of this lineage.

Before her official courage test, her relationship with her fellow disciples was average, but because of her excellent talent, she was often praised by her other uncles as a model example.

Everyone envied that although Master Jiang had not accepted any disciples while he was alive, he could still have such a fate after his death.

Everyone had a faint respect for her.

Until she was scared senseless by ghosts in the courage test ground and was found by her uncle, those kind smiles from the past became contemptuous.

Although she was a coward before, with her respect for her master and her self-reliant personality, she had barely overcome it.

But there were countless wandering spirits in the ten-mile graveyard, and she was unlucky enough to encounter the Ghost Festival.

It was adding insult to injury for a coward like her, not to mention the series of tests that followed.

From then on, Jiang Huaiyi was in a slump. She went from being the most talented disciple to a laughingstock in the Xuanmen.

Although her senior sister and uncle comforted her, and even her master told her in her dreams not to mind, not to care, and that everyone has weaknesses.

But she still became depressed. From then on, she became even more afraid of ghosts and tried every means to close her “Tianyan” (Heavenly Eye).

She had been living in a daze here until now. Jiang Huaiyi stared blankly at the carved wooden bed for a moment.

This bed was actually a little cramped for her.

It was the little old lady’s belongings. She had slept here since she was a child. Other ghosts could scare her, but for some reason, from the first time she saw her, she was not afraid.

She could even imagine that small, slightly hunched body, how she gently fanned her to sleep every night in the hot afternoons when she was a child.

She sat on the empty bed and murmured, “Master, for the past twenty years, others have always said I’m a coward, that I’ve achieved nothing, that I’ve disgraced you, and that I’m not worthy of being your disciple. I think from now on, you won’t hear those words again.”

The wooden bed, which was usually a little cold, now had some warmth.

The sword tassel in front of the window swayed slightly, gently brushing her hand, as if saying goodbye silently.

Jiang Huaiyi stood up. Her eyes were filled with a determination she had never had before.

She strode out of the room. Shen Wensi stood in the main hall with her hands in her pockets, looking at the statue of the “Three Pure Ones” hanging on the wall, wondering what she was thinking.

Seeing Jiang Huaiyi about to take down the painting, she stopped her. “You don’t need to take this home. You can just secretly come back and offer incense later.”

Jiang Huaiyi nodded. She almost forgot that she was a ghost cultivator. It would definitely not be okay to have the statue of the founding masters in her home.

Shen Wensi naturally didn’t know what she was thinking. She just didn’t want to see a few old men staring at her.

The things were almost all moved. The two of them got into the car. Jiang Huaiyi’s pocket was filled with the fine silk paper. She took it out and looked at it. Her pupils contracted. Words had appeared on it again: “Dead fish facing the mouth.”

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