My Green Tea Junior Sister Smells So Good - Chapter 4

The crowd fell silent in an instant. Shen Qingyi had always been a person of unshakeable composure and measured conduct. While everyone had speculated that she might expel this mortal woman from the mountain for pestering her fiancé, no one expected her to strike the girl in public.

The Fifth Junior Sister stepped between them to mediate. “Miss Yuanluo, this is Senior Brother’s childhood fiancé, Shen Qingyi. You say that by mortal rules, a woman must be faithful to one man forever but have you thought about what Senior Brother’s fiancé is supposed to do?”

Du Yuanluo looked at Shen Qingyi, overwhelmed. At that time, Shen Qingyi was in the prime of her youth, radiating the spirited confidence of a star pupil of the Yunyin Sect. Immediately feeling inferior, Du Yuanluo lowered her head.

“I did not know Brother Jiang already had a marriage contract. Since that is the case, I am willing to be a concubine or a servant, if only I can stay by his side.”

Du Yuanluo used the exact same words as in the previous life, but this time, hearing them didn’t make Shen Qingyi feel as if a thorn were stuck in her throat. This was simply the girl’s nature, just as a cat eats fish or a monkey climbs trees. Since Shen Qingyi now held a greater righteousness in her heart, there was no need to dwell on such trivialities.

However, Jiang Linchuan, a man who couldn’t distinguish right from wrong and was rotten at the core was not worth following. Shen Qingyi immediately drew a line: “I have no marriage contract with him.”

“Junior Sister…” Jiang Linchuan looked on in utter shock.

At this moment, Shen Qingyi was still the ethereal, indifferent immortal maiden in everyone’s eyes.

Du Yuanluo’s eyes lit up, seemingly about to say something, but Shen Qingyi cut her off: “Stop obsessing over your ‘Brother Jiang.’ He saved you only because he was following Master’s orders to save the common people from suffering. If you want to show gratitude, show it to the Yunyin Sect.

“If you must insist on mortal rules, he saved your life, and you repaid him with yours [by attempting suicide]. That makes you even. The person who has brought you back to life now is me. It has nothing to do with Brother Jiang.”

The Third Junior Sister immediately chimed in: “She’s right! Miss Yuanluo, Second Senior Sister sacrificed her own Natal Golden Core to save you. Why do you only credit Eldest Senior Brother?”

Du Yuanluo looked at Jiang Linchuan in confusion. “Brother Jiang, wasn’t it you who knelt before the Sect Leader for three days to save me?”

The Third Junior Sister fell silent. Though she defended Shen Qingyi, Jiang Linchuan was still the most talented disciple of the sect, no one wanted to offend him.

But Shen Qingyi was no longer the proud, detached girl of the past. She wasn’t just going to distance herself from Jiang Linchuan, she was going to distance Du Yuanluo from him too.

“Eldest Senior Brother did indeed kneel for three days. But the rules of the Yunyin Sect forbid interfering with mortal karma. He couldn’t obtain a life-saving pill, and he wasn’t willing to use his own Natal Core to save you.”

“Junior Sister, how can you say that? I simply hadn’t thought of that option, nor would I dare commit such an act against the rules,” Jiang Linchuan argued.

If Shen Qingyi were still her younger self, she would have disdained such verbal sparring. But now, she wasn’t just going to argue; she was going to win.

“So, if you had thought of it, would you have been willing? Now that Miss Yuanluo has followed you to Yunyin Peak at the risk of her life, asking only to marry you, will you marry her?”

Shen Qingyi had no intention of letting Du Yuanluo marry Jiang Linchuan. She simply understood his mind perfectly. At this time, Jiang Linchuan was only slightly better than her in cultivation, no one knew what the future held. He wanted a cultivation partner of equal strength to act as his support, he would never offend Shen Qingyi for the sake of Du Yuanluo.

Shen Qingyi used this tactical retreat to force his hand.

Sure enough, Jiang Linchuan immediately distanced himself from Du Yuanluo: “No, no, no. Though there is gratitude between Miss Yuanluo and me, there is no private affection. Junior Sister, please do not misunderstand.”

“Miss Yuanluo, did you hear that? Your ‘Brother Jiang’ said there is no affection between you, and he certainly won’t marry you.”

Jiang Linchuan’s words had been vague. Shen Qingyi made them brutally clear.

The truth is what hurts most. Du Yuanluo pursed her lips, unable to say a word, as pea sized tears splashed down.

In this life, Shen Qingyi only wanted to protect her, but she truly didn’t know how. Whether she used her words or her hands, she always ended up causing pain. She had forgotten that to the current Du Yuanluo, Jiang Linchuan was her entire world. Shen Qingyi’s words were like twisting a knife in her heart.

Shen Qingyi wanted to comfort her, but she didn’t know where to start. She reached out to take Du Yuanluo’s hand, the one bruised from the strike. In her previous life, she had been just a hair’s breadth away from catching it, but she had always missed.

Unexpectedly, Du Yuanluo flinched, pulling her hand back in panic. Shen Qingyi’s grasp hit empty air again. Seeing the shock in Shen Qingyi’s eyes, Du Yuanluo forced a smile through her tear-stained face: “I… I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt.”

Shen Qingyi didn’t force the issue. She pulled a small medicine bottle from her sleeve and handed it to her.

Du Yuanluo took the bottle and summoned her courage: “It was my fault. Immortal Shen, please do not take your anger out on Brother Jiang.”

At this time, the members of the Yunyin Sect were still on Shen Qingyi’s side.

“Second Senior Sister is a reasonable person. As long as you stop pestering him, it will be better for everyone.”

Amidst the whispers of blame directed at Du Yuanluo, Shen Qingyi didn’t want to hear more. She dismissed the crowd and told Du Yuanluo to rest.

To the others, it was just an ordinary day. But Shen Qingyi, having just lived through the great catastrophe of the Yunyin Sect, could not find peace.

To live again meant not only making up for her debt to Du Yuanluo but also protecting the Yunyin Sect. The tragedies of the past must not repeat, and the source of that disaster was Jiang Linchuan.

But those memories belonged only to her, they hadn’t happened yet. Speaking of them would sound like a delusion. She couldn’t convict him based on a “hallucination.”

Shen Qingyi even considered fighting him to the death, sacrificing herself if necessary to protect the sect. But she was not yet a match for Jiang Linchuan. A fight now would only draw the intervention of the Sect Leader and Elders, leaving her with nothing but a ruined reputation.

As she was plotting how to deal with him, she faintly heard Jiang Linchuan’s voice.

“Third Junior Sister, you are the closest to her. Please help me clear up this misunderstanding. My affection for Junior Sister is clear to everyone in the sect. How could I ever betray her for a mortal woman?”

Jiang Linchuan always called Shen Qingyi “Junior Sister” because they were the first two disciples. Even after others joined, he called the others by their rank but never gave Shen Qingyi a numerical title.

His reasoning was: “Qingyi was my only junior sister once, she is special and cannot be compared to others.”

Thinking back on those words now made Shen Qingyi feel physically ill. She realized she had walked too far and was now standing outside the Third Junior Sister’s door.

Naturally, the Third Junior Sister spoke in Shen Qingyi’s favor: “Eldest Senior Brother’s affection for her is indeed known to heaven and earth. It’s just that you shouldn’t have kept that mortal girl, it’s a slap in Second Senior Sister’s face.”

“It’s not that I want to keep her, but she refuses to leave. If I force her out and she seeks a short end to her life, what then?”

“Can’t you see Second Senior Sister’s attitude?”

“Sigh… I am at my wit’s end. That is why I am asking for your help, Junior Sister.”

Shen Qingyi suddenly realized that in this farce, Jiang Linchuan was the one playing both sides while remaining seemingly innocent. Listening to him was more disgusting than listening to Du Yuanluo in her previous life. Shen Qingyi turned and went back to her room out of sight, out of mind.

Lying in bed, she couldn’t sleep. She tried to recall what happened after Du Yuanluo woke up in her past life. Too much time had passed, the details were blurry. She hadn’t fully recovered from the trauma of her soul’s destruction, and she eventually fell into a weary, heavy sleep.

In her dreams, the distant memories began to wake up.

On the second day after Du Yuanluo was saved, after morning lessons, Du Yuanluo appeared with a tray of pastries, eagerly trying to please every disciple.

In truth, cultivators didn’t need three meals a day. But perhaps her pastries were too tempting, or perhaps the disciples were simply following their teachings of kindness, no one refused her. Shen Qingyi was no exception, she wasn’t so petty as to hold a grudge over a snack.

But when she reached out, Du Yuanluo instinctively stepped back. Shen Qingyi’s hand caught nothing. She didn’t know if Du Yuanluo was trying to humiliate her on purpose, and her appetite vanished.

She pulled her hand back. “No, thank you.”

To her surprise, Du Yuanluo immediately fell to her knees, crying, “Immortal Shen, I was wrong! I’ll change!”

That one cry drew everyone’s eyes to them. Because of the public confession the day before, everyone knew they were rivals. Originally, Shen Qingyi had the moral high ground, but with this scream, those who didn’t know the context assumed Shen Qingyi was bullying her.

Before Shen Qingyi could speak, the Third Junior Sister scolded the girl: “Why are you crying? What did Second Senior Sister do to you?”

Du Yuanluo trembled at the scolding. Finally, the Fifth Junior Sister went to help her up. “Get up. Second Senior Sister is above worldly matters, she isn’t blaming you for anything.”

But as soon as she touched the girl’s arm, Du Yuanluo flinched as if struck by lightning, her face contorted in pain. The Fifth Junior Sister pulled up the girl’s sleeve, revealing fresh, bloody welts.

“What happened here?”

The disciples crowded around, demanding to know how such a thing could happen at the Yunyin Sect. Pressed for an answer, Du Yuanluo looked at Shen Qingyi with a terrified expression, then shook her head frantically. “It’s nothing… I just hurt myself by accident.”

She didn’t blame Shen Qingyi, but her reaction made everyone certain that Shen Qingyi was the culprit. Fuming with anger and frustration, Shen Qingyi said nothing and stormed away.

She had only walked a few steps when she heard someone cry out: “Miss Yuanluo has fainted! Quick, find Eldest Senior Brother!”

Shen Qingyi bolted upright, waking from the dream. Looking at the pre-dawn sky, she realized how young and naive she had been. Du Yuanluo was an orphan with no one to rely on, facing a powerful “rival.” She had only been trying to gain a little sympathy; she wasn’t truly hateful.

Shen Qingyi realized that Du Yuanluo had only harmed herself because she felt unprotected.

I will go tell her, from now on, I will protect you. You don’t have to hurt yourself to get attention anymore.

Shen Qingyi flipped out of bed, tied on a cloak, and walked toward Du Yuanluo’s room under the moonlight.

Du Yuanluo lived in a small hut near the outer mountain gate. In the darkness, Shen Qingyi noticed how lonely the hut looked, standing solitary among the peaks, much like the girl herself, always drifting on the edge of the sect.

Shen Qingyi pushed the door open. With a creak, the already huddled Du Yuanluo shrank back, having nowhere left to hide. Under the dim, flickering light of a single candle, Shen Qingyi saw that Du Yuanluo was already covered in wounds.