After Transmigrating into a Book as Cannon Fodder, I Pampered the Villain - Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Soothing Her

She was like a fluffball covered in catnip.

“Sister, why did you come here? The air is damp and smells unpleasant; why don’t we head back first?” Yu Yingxia stood beneath the tree, trying to coax the “cat” down.

Yan Huaixi was fastidious by nature; normally, she wouldn’t set foot in such a place. It seemed something had truly upset her something major, enough for her to temporarily ignore her surroundings.

Yan Huaixi leaned against the tree trunk, holding a music score. She had maintained that posture for a long time without turning a single page; clearly, her mind was elsewhere.

“If you don’t want to stay, you can go back first.” Yan Huaixi spoke with an air of indifference. Aside from her voice sounding slightly cold, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.

But Yu Yingxia knew this was the ultimate red flag! She couldn’t help but feel nervous. Yan Huaixi’s current attitude reminded her of the early days when they first met the same ice-cold tone, the same underlying sense that she might kill her at any moment.

Afraid of history repeating itself, Yu Yingxia knew she couldn’t just leave. She looked up at the height of the tree. Yan Huaixi was sitting quite high; with her current cultivation, Yu Yingxia could climb it, but… just climbing up wasn’t enough, as Yan Huaixi seemed disinclined to acknowledge her.

Yu Yingxia quickly came up with a plan. Gritting her teeth, she painted a ladder and leaned it against the tree.

Although Yan Huaixi’s gaze was fixed on the score, anyone sitting opposite her would have seen that her eyes were vacant. Her attention was not on the music at all.

The ladder Yu Yingxia painted was rudimentary. Just then, a mountain breeze picked up. Because Yan Huaixi was so high up, when Yu Yingxia reached the two-thirds mark, the wind began to sway her precariously.

Yan Huaixi tightened her grip on the score, nearly crushing the thin pages. As the wind whipped the paper into a noisy flutter, she flicked her sleeve, cutting off the annoying mountain wind.

Yan Huaixi thought that would settle it, but just as she relaxed, the person climbing up missed a step! Though she didn’t fall immediately, the flimsy ladder began to tilt!

In the nick of time, Yan Huaixi tossed aside the score and caught the girl before she fell, carrying her safely to the ground. As they landed, the music score was still fluttering in mid-air. Yan Huaixi’s face was dark. Before even setting the girl down, she began to scold her sternly: “You knew enough to paint a ladder, but couldn’t you paint a safer one? If I hadn’t been here and you fell, what would you have done? Were you waiting to be served as dinner to those ghosts out there?”

Yan Huaixi was already frustrated enough to come here to cool off, and now her temper flared. Such carelessness was a cardinal sin in cultivation! She had been somewhat relieved by the methods Yu Yingxia used against the skeletons earlier, but in the blink of an eye, the girl had reverted to her true form!

With Yu Yingxia being like this, how could she ever trust her to go out alone? The cultivation world was nothing like the mortal realm; danger lurked everywhere.

Yan Huaixi took a deep breath, intending to give Yu Yingxia a proper lecture, but before she could continue, she felt the person in her arms trembling.

Listening closer, she realized she heard the sound of sobbing.

Yan Huaixi’s stern facade instantly froze. Her mouth opened and closed, but for a long time, she didn’t know what to say.

She thought back carefully; she hadn’t said anything particularly harsh. Why was Yu Yingxia crying? Was she scared from the near-fall? That shouldn’t be it… she hadn’t even cried when she was almost eaten by a living corpse before.

“Sister’s tone was too sharp; don’t cry.” Yan Huaixi sighed heavily in her heart. Even though it was this girl who refused to “own up” to what happened, in the end, it was Yan Huaixi who had to apologize.

Standing there, Yan Huaixi didn’t know how to comfort her. Though she softened her voice, Yu Yingxia simply clung tighter to her neck. She stopped sobbing, but her slight trembling made her look even more pitiful.

“Sister, you haven’t come back for several days.”

After a while, the person buried in her arms finally spoke in a muffled, sorrowful voice. Her tone sounded utterly aggrieved, as if Yan Huaixi were some heartless person neglecting her home.

“Did I do something wrong to make Sister unhappy?” Yu Yingxia sincerely wanted an answer; she needed to know where the problem lay so she could fix it.

Although Yan Huaixi felt a pang of heartache at Yu Yingxia’s pitiful state, her molars still ground together at the mention of the “incident.”

But what could she say? The moment she brought it up, Yu Yingxia would slap the “incest” label on her! Yan Huaixi had a breath of frustration trapped in her chest that she hadn’t been able to release.

“No,” she squeezed out the words through clenched teeth.

Hearing those two words, Yu Yingxia understood that Yan Huaixi was likely saying the opposite of what she felt. After all, her tone sounded like she wanted to take a bite out of her.

It really was because of me?

Yu Yingxia couldn’t fathom how she had managed to anger Yan Huaixi so much. The only other person with that talent was probably Yin Duo. And she… a mere pawn acting as bait in Yan Huaixi’s hands, what power did she have to provoke such immense fury?

Yan Huaixi didn’t want to continue this topic, mostly because it made her “face” hurt, but… things had already progressed to this point, and she had no intention of letting Yu Yingxia off! Whether it was due to a clouded mind or being viewed as sisters, Yu Yingxia had to take responsibility for what she had done.

Sisters… heh. She could let Yu Yingxia call her that to her heart’s content in bed!

Yan Huaixi’s expression grew solemn as her conflicting emotions intertwined. Yu Yingxia stole a glance upward, then rubbed her eyes. Her eyelids immediately turned red and rimmed with moisture, looking as if she were about to burst into tears.

“But you haven’t come back for days. If it’s my fault, you can tell me, Sister. Don’t sit here sulking it’s bad for your mood and your health. If Sister doesn’t want to see me, I can move out…”

“No need!” Hearing Yu Yingxia talk about moving out, Yan Huaixi didn’t care what she was going to say next and immediately interrupted her with urgency.

Seeing Yu Yingxia’s reddened eyes and the trace of startled panic within them, Yan Huaixi’s voice softened instantly. “There’s no need to move out. Sister isn’t angry with you.”

“I was just looking for a quiet place to comprehend a music score I recently acquired.” Yan Huaixi glanced at the precious score lying nearby, grabbing a random excuse to stabilize Yu Yingxia.

Angry or not, she would never allow Yu Yingxia to move elsewhere!

“Then is Sister willing to go back with me?” Yu Yingxia blinked her seemingly innocent eyes. She acted spoiled with a sweet, soft voice, hooking Yan Huaixi’s already wavering will toward compromise.

“There’s sweet soup and snacks at home, and I’ll be very quiet—at least quieter than the wailing things over there.” Yu Yingxia pointed toward the rising and falling moans of the ghosts in the distance.

This place could be called quiet? Yu Yingxia could clearly see it was just an excuse, but right now, she had to stroke the cat’s fur the right way and absolutely not go against it.

Yan Huaixi felt her thoughts had been seen through, but she couldn’t resist Yu Yingxia calling her “Sister” over and over. That voice was like a fluffball covered in catnip rolling across her heart.

She had worked so hard to resolve to give this “forgetful” rabbit a small lesson, yet she was coaxed into a good mood in just a few moves.

Previously, she had stayed away for fear that she would go soft the moment she saw Yu Yingxia again. She thought she had escaped, but she hadn’t accounted for Yu Yingxia coming to find her.

And as it turned out, her intuition was correct. The moment Yu Yingxia fell from the ladder, the mental defenses she had painstakingly built cracked wide open, and the rabbit in her arms squeezed right through the gap.

Yan Huaixi felt she was too easy to win over, but after a moment, she found an excuse for Yu Yingxia. After all, everything had started because she was the one who said they should be like real sisters. She was also at fault, and being so much older than Yu Yingxia, she naturally had to be more patient and magnanimous.

The rabbit in her arms stared at her with watery eyes and asked again if she would go back. It looked like she would start crying again if Yan Huaixi didn’t agree.

Fine. Considering her young age, she wouldn’t hold a grudge over being angered.

“Alright, let’s go back.” Seeing the sudden burst of joy in the girl’s eyes, the last remnants of gloom in Yan Huaixi’s heart dissipated.

However, once they returned, she couldn’t let Yu Yingxia keep her previous ideas. If she weren’t afraid of damaging her soul, Yan Huaixi really wanted to wipe the “real sisters” concept from her memory!

The more she thought about it now, the more she regretted it. Why did she have to open her mouth and say that back then?

“Don’t talk about moving out anymore. As long as you don’t commit an act of betrayal, no matter how angry I get, I will never kick you out.” Yan Huaixi set the girl down and repeatedly cautioned her against having such thoughts in the future.

Yu Yingxia was slightly surprised. She couldn’t quite grasp Yan Huaixi’s true intentions, but she dutifully nodded.

Yan Huaixi smiled slightly and tucked a stray lock of hair back behind Yu Yingxia’s ear. “Good girl.”

That single word made Yu Yingxia’s ears turn red. Her mind wandered as she thought: Yan Huaixi is like a dangerous poppy; one mustn’t touch her, or they’ll become addicted.

Fortunately, she hadn’t harbored any inappropriate delusions from the start. Otherwise, if she hadn’t overheard what Yan Huaixi said to Jiang Li, wouldn’t she be devastated the moment the truth was revealed?

Yan Huaixi keenly noticed a flash of loneliness beneath Yu Yingxia’s smiling eyes. Her smile faded slightly, and a hint of confusion rose in her heart.

She took Yu Yingxia’s hand and discovered it was very cold. She wasn’t sure if it was from the wind or the scare from almost falling.

She held both of Yu Yingxia’s hands in her palms to warm them, using a bit of spiritual energy to help. Soon, Yu Yingxia’s hands became warm.

“Your hands are so cold. Did you use spiritual energy to protect your body like I taught you?” Yan Huaixi asked.

“I did.” Yu Yingxia realized her hands had indeed been cold; Yan Huaixi’s palms were so warm she didn’t want to let go.

Then it was from the scare.

“You, aren’t you the one most afraid of ghosts? Last time a ghost painting scared you to tears, yet you weren’t even sure if I was on the mountain and you still ran up here?” Yan Huaixi squeezed Yu Yingxia’s palm. She felt the rabbit was too reckless, yet she couldn’t bring herself to scold her.

“I have the strength to protect myself now. I have to overcome my fear of those things eventually. Besides, I was more worried that I had made you angry.” Mentioning that, Yu Yingxia’s face reddened slightly. This was a shameful past she didn’t want to bring up again!

Yan Huaixi hummed softly, then said half-jokingly, “Am I scarier than those ghosts?”

Yu Yingxia paused, then immediately flashed a bright smile. “How is that possible? I’m afraid of those low-level ghosts because they look terrifying and pop out unexpectedly, catching me off guard. You are so beautiful, Sister; those ghosts aren’t even fit to be compared to you.”

Her words were seamless and entirely sincere, though she hid a part of the truth. Ordinarily, this would have charmed Yan Huaixi into letting it go, but now was different.

Yan Huaixi had been observing the changes in her expression. Even though Yu Yingxia had only hesitated for a split second, it was captured perfectly.

Yan Huaixi’s heart gradually grew heavy. Could it be… that in the depths of her heart, Yu Yingxia was still afraid of her?

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