I Need To Find A Way To Make Her Love Me Again - Chapter 29

Part 1: Lingering Warmth and Hidden Ties

Jiaoyu felt her cheeks flush a sudden, burning heat. Her breathing quickened as she tried to turn her head away, attempting to escape the other woman’s embrace before her physical reaction could be discovered.

Guan Fei, however, had no intention of letting her slip away. She tightened her hold, pressing her body close against Jiaoyu. Letting out a weary sigh, she murmured softly, “Yuyu, let me just hold you for a while, alright?”

“I missed you.”

The faint, airy quality of Guan Fei’s voice caused Jiaoyu to stiffen. Her worry for the woman eventually overrode her bashfulness. “Are you very tired?”

“Mm, a little.”

Hearing this, Jiaoyu reached out and wrapped her arms around Guan Fei, resting quietly in her embrace. Taking this as her silent response, Guan Fei felt her heart sink into the softness of the woman she held. She pressed a loving kiss to Jiaoyu’s forehead and whispered with a smile, “So well-behaved.”

Jiaoyu’s head felt as though it were filled with the thumping of her own heartbeat. She bit her lip, staying perfectly still, terrified that this cunning woman would notice how flustered she was.

Suddenly, a sharp birdcall pierced the silence of the room, shattering the atmosphere. Guan Fei’s expression darkened with displeasure as she reached out to snatch a jade bird flying beside her.

Seeing that Guan Fei wasn’t checking the message the bird carried, Jiaoyu asked, “Why don’t you listen to what it has to say?”

“This jade bird comes from my family.”

Jiaoyu sensed Guan Fei’s distaste for her kin, but seeing the bird chirp incessantly, she noted, “It wouldn’t hurt to listen. If you don’t, it’ll just keep crying. It’s quite noisy.”

Guan Fei remained silent for a moment before finally agreeing. As the streak of green light vanished into her ear, her brow furrowed into a tight knot. Seeing this, Jiaoyu reached out to smooth the lines on her forehead. “What did you hear that made you so unhappy?”

Distracted by Jiaoyu’s small gesture, Guan Fei’s expression softened. She gave a faint smile. “It’s nothing. My family just wants me to return for a visit.”

“Oh,” Jiaoyu replied. “If you don’t want to go, then don’t.”

“There is a specific reason this time. I have to go back,” Guan Fei said, pulling Jiaoyu’s hand to her lips for a kiss. “Believe me, if it weren’t necessary, I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Jiaoyu noted that while Guan Fei was blind, her hands were unerringly precise. She hooked a finger under Guan Fei’s chin. “Why must you go?”

Guan Fei chuckled. “Yuyu, I thought you weren’t curious about me?”

When her own words were thrown back at her like a boomerang, Jiaoyu huffed and made a show of struggling to leave. Guan Fei quickly took Jiaoyu’s hand and used it to playfully slap her own mouth. “My mouth… it really deserves a beating,” she coaxed.

Once she felt Jiaoyu settle down, she explained, “My mother found out about the Huos beast. She has ties to the Sect Master of Qingding Mountain, so I have to return to give her an explanation she can accept.”

Jiaoyu fell into a thoughtful silence upon hearing this. Fearing she might worry, Guan Fei added, “It’s no big deal. I just need to give her a satisfactory answer.”

“When do you leave?” Jiaoyu asked.

“Tomorrow at the latest.”

Such a hurried departure didn’t seem like “no big deal” at all. Jiaoyu made up her mind and said, “Take me with you.”

Guan Fei was stunned for a moment, then smiled. “That… I’ll have to consider.”

Part 2: Restored Power and Bitter Truths

On another bed, a pair of eyes snapped open. Feeling her internal luck and qi flowing without obstruction, Yan Xingyu stood up and gathered energy in her palm. A sense of unprecedented joy filled her heart.

Xiao Yin, seeing her awake, returned to her body and cheered, “Master! Your spiritual veins are finally repaired!”

Yan Xingyu tightened her fist, letting the spiritual energy dissipate. She grinned. “So this is what it feels like to have an endless flow of qi. This is incredible!”

Turning to see Yi Rong watching her from the side, she asked with a smile, “Yi Rong, how long have you been waiting for me?”

“Not long.”

Yan Xingyu got out of bed and approached her. “Do you know where Guan Fei went?”

“Jiaoyu took her back to her room to rest.”

“Oh, I see. I’ll go check on her later.”

“Mm, alright.”

Recalling that Xiao Yin had been outside earlier, Yan Xingyu asked, “Did you and Xiao Yin talk about anything?”

“No,” Yi Rong replied.

Yan Xingyu noticed that Yi Rong’s responses were consistently curt. It was obvious she had been waiting a long time for her to wake up, yet she showed no sign of it. What a stoic, Xingyu thought. “Well then, Yi Rong, do you have time to go out with me?”

“I do. What do you want to do?”

“Before, because of my broken veins, I had to rely on you all to carry me. Now that I’m healed, I want to experience the joy of sword-riding myself.”

Yi Rong nodded. “Fine. Is there anywhere you want to go?”

“Just a lap outside first. If there are no issues, I want to head back to Yulan Palace.”

The atmosphere shifted instantly. Yi Rong’s face darkened. “Why go to Yulan Palace?”

“Because I want to know the truth behind its destruction,” Yan Xingyu stated plainly.

“Those matters have nothing to do with you.”

It wasn’t the first time Yan Xingyu had heard this from Yi Rong, but this time, the coldness in her tone stung. She replied stiffly, “Just because you say it has nothing to do with me doesn’t make it true.”

Yi Rong saw the shift in her mood but remained stubborn. “You don’t need to involve yourself.”

A surge of nameless anger rushed to Yan Xingyu’s head. She barked, “Yi Rong! By what right do you force your ideas on me? What I choose to do is what’s ‘none of your business’!”

Seeing a flicker of sorrow in Yi Rong’s eyes, Yan Xingyu snapped out of her rage, realizing her words had cut deep. Yet, she was also frustrated by the way Yi Rong constantly shut her out.

After a long silence, Yi Rong turned and vanished into a shadow, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Left behind, Yan Xingyu’s mind was a mess. Xiao Yin’s voice echoed in her head: “Master, you’re doing it again.”

“Doing what again?”

Xiao Yin sighed. “Why do you let Yi Rong interfere with you over and over?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Master, when Yi Rong first brought you to Jiuxuan Palace, you two fought constantly. You tried everything to escape her control. She used every method to torment you, and you never yielded, except at the very end. Every time you looked at her face, you couldn’t bring yourself to strike.”

“You were awake while she was hurting you. Why do you still hold onto hope? Why do you think she’ll change for the better?”

“You’ve died seven times already. Isn’t that enough?”

One part of Xiao Yin’s words caught her off guard. “I… I allowed her to hurt me while I was conscious?”

“You saw her face,” Xiao Yin said. “Even knowing she was disguised as a man to deceive you, you chose to be fooled, believing she would change. But the truth is, she killed you over and over.”

“I thought you had finally learned your lesson and stopped trusting her. But now, you’re falling right back into the same state.”

“Master… your heart is wavering.”