My Senior Sister Says She Will Marry No One But Me - Chapter 11

He Zhenzhen gritted her teeth in frustration, feeling like a fish bladder filled to the brim, a single prick of a needle would make her explode with rage on the spot. But a loss was a loss, and even as the esteemed master of the He Manor, she could only force a display of magnanimity. Clasping her hands in a salute, she said with a strained smile:

“Young Lady Xue, your exceptional skill and youthful prowess are truly admirable. I, He, am thoroughly impressed.”

Xue Shuyan, on the other hand, was inwardly overjoyed. After all, those capable of defeating her were either elderly men and women in their seventies or eighties none of whom would recklessly challenge her at such a critical moment as a martial arts contest for marriage. Doing so would be akin to “a pear tree crushing the begonia,” a blatant disrespect to the Miaoyin Sect. Moreover, many of them hadn’t even shown up today, sending only younger disciples from their sects instead. Which meant?

Having just defeated He Zhenzhen before everyone’s eyes, wasn’t she now justified in rightfully marrying Du Yunge?

At this thought, Xue Shuyan felt so elated she could almost hum a frontier folk tune to express her delight. But she had long grown accustomed to maintaining an expressionless facade, for it was the safest demeanor for “Senior Sister Xue of the Miaoyin Sect.” No one could discern anything from her unshakable, stoic exterior.

Years ago, when she had made her resolution and sworn a solemn oath before the four guardians of the Miaoyin Sect to remain on Wangyou Mountain forever, accompanying and protecting Du Yunge, she had already embraced this mindset. Whether it was Feng Chengchun, the Spring Guardian who taught her the theories of various martial arts, or the Winter Guardian who instructed her in swordsmanship, both had earnestly admonished her:

“Yunge falls far short of you in both cunning and martial talent, Shuyan. If you truly intend to stay here, you must be prepared to protect her for the long term. Never allow your enemies to seize any leverage or weakness from you.”

“You must remain unfathomable, showing no reaction even if Mount Tai collapses before you. Only then will your opponents fail to see through you or grasp your depths, allowing you to gain a slight advantage before even making a move.”

Xue Shuyan had never been one for exuberance to begin with, and after that, she became even more inscrutable, never betraying joy or anger. Even now, in her immense happiness, it was difficult for Feng Chengchun or Du Yunge to discern her true feelings, let alone an outsider like He Zhenzhen.

Thus, in He Zhenzhen’s eyes, Xue Shuyan appeared as someone who had effortlessly defeated her yet couldn’t be bothered to spare her a single thought still aloof and seemingly indifferent to everything in the world.

He Zhenzhen had always been infuriated by Xue Shuyan’s demeanor. Glancing at Du Yunge, who had already risen and was preparing to leave in the distance, she abandoned her failed scheme and hatched another. Lowering her voice, she said to Xue Shuyan:

“But you must not forget, Young Lady Xue, this is a martial contest for marriage.”

“You’ve defeated me, and I concede wholeheartedly. However, from another perspective, you’ve single-handedly thwarted your sect leader’s auspicious wedding plans. After all, men should marry and women should wed, and today is a rare, propitious date. If missed, who knows if the next time your sect leader weds will coincide with such an auspicious day?”

“Given this, aren’t you afraid your sect leader might hold a grudge against you?”

Xue Shuyan also turned her head, glancing at Du Yunge standing on the high platform in her crimson attire, and spoke calmly:

“Auspicious days and fortunate hours have never been known to err. There’s no need for the Master of He Manor to trouble herself over this.”

He Zhenzhen: What do you mean by that?!

However, Xue Shuyan gave He Zhenzhen no chance to voice her confusion. After uttering those words, she turned and left without hesitation, returning to the competition stage to await the next challenger.

Yet, the formidable reputation of Xue Shuyan of the Miaoyin Sect was simply too overwhelming. Though she stood alone on the stage, leaning on her blade with downcast eyes in serene silence, she gave off the illusion of an insurmountable mountain. Forget the time it takes for one incense stick to burn even if ten more were added, it was unlikely anyone would dare challenge her.

He Zhenzhen gritted her teeth as she watched Xue Shuyan on the stage, realizing that no matter what she had planned for the day, it was now impossible. Silently, she departed surrounded by her He Manor reinforcements. Before leaving, she cast a resentful glare at Xue Shuyan and Du Yunge, muttering through clenched teeth:

“Miaoyin Sect just you wait.”

“All the suffering I’ve endured over the years, I will repay in full. I, He Zhenzhen of He Manor, and the Miaoyin Sect shall be sworn enemies for life!”

Each challenge in the marital competition was limited to the time it took for one incense stick to burn completely. If no one dared to challenge within that time, the current contender would be declared the final victor. After Xue Shuyan stood unchallenged on the stage for the full duration, Feng Chengchun, the host of the competition, finally let out a relieved sigh, unsure whether to feel disappointment or relief:

“This marital competition has concluded. The winner, Xue Shuyan!”

Feng Chengchun’s announcement, delivered in a thick Liaodong accent, settled the matter like a thunderclap. Nearly everyone assumed that Xue Shuyan would either rise to become the illustrious deputy leader of the Miaoyin Sect or marry the breathtakingly beautiful sect leader, Du Yunge. It seemed like a life with no further desires, enough to turn anyone green with envy.

Even Xue Shuyan herself thought so.

But when she descended from the stage and stood before Du Yunge as the ultimate victor, she suddenly noticed something that forced her to reconsider:

Du Yunge’s gaze had changed.

Before Xue Shuyan had stepped onto the stage, Du Yunge’s eyes had been filled with complete trust and affection, if not the look one reserves for a beloved, then at least the gaze one directs toward a close friend or a dependable senior sister. However, since Xue Shuyan’s victory, her eyes now held a trace of resistance and fear, subtle enough that even Du Yunge herself seemed unaware of it.

Xue Shuyan felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over her elated heart, instantly sobering her. Yet, such complex emotions did not show on her face at least, not in Du Yunge’s eyes.

The moment Xue Shuyan defeated He Zhenzhen, Du Yunge should have felt overjoyed, yet she couldn’t help but shiver slightly.

As the saying goes, once bitten, twice shy. Having ended her previous life and marriage in the most tragic way, Du Yunge understood this principle all too well. She had been doing her utmost to avoid any interaction with He Zhenzhen. However, what Du Yunge never anticipated was that the psychological shadow cast by He Zhenzhen, who had once crushed the Miaoyin Sect, destroying its century-old foundation, and even personally run her through with a sword was far too overwhelming.

He Zhenzhen had not only made Du Yunge fear the still-unsuspecting version of her in the present but had also instilled in her a deep-seated terror of marriage itself. Even after being reborn, even with He Zhenzhen defeated by Xue Shuyan, and even though the final victor of the martial arts contest for her hand was Xue Shuyan, whom she trusted implicitly, this fear could not be diminished in the slightest by such uplifting news.

Yet Du Yunge was truly a foolish girl. She didn’t even realize that her fear had escalated from “dreading He Zhenzhen, the one who had killed her” to “dreading marriage.” She still managed to offer a faint smile to Xue Shuyan as she approached:

“Thank you for your hard work, Senior Sister Xue.”

Judging solely by Du Yunge’s tone, her current emotions seemed perfectly normal, no wonder Feng Chengchun couldn’t resist teasing her about it:

“Today is a rare auspicious day, perfect for weddings. If we wait until the twenty-fourth, that’s also acceptable, but it still can’t compare to this Frost’s Descent day. After all, the twenty-fourth was chosen for outsiders, it’s suitable for marriages and alliances, but this Frost’s Descent is ideal for all matters, especially weddings.”

“If the sect leader were to marry an outsider, the ceremony would be held on Frost’s Descent, and you’d descend the mountain on the twenty-fourth. But since Shuyan is one of our own and has won the martial arts contest, why not seize the day? Let’s hold the wedding today! That way, there’s no need to strictly adhere to the twenty-fourth for descending the mountain. You can both stay on Wangyou Mountain, how fitting.”

However, contrary to Feng Chengchun’s expectations, neither Du Yunge nor Xue Shuyan responded.

This was utterly unusual. Her heart sank:

Xue Shuyan wasn’t one for jokes. She had always been steady, reliable, and reticent, mature beyond her early twenties. If someone teased her and she didn’t refute it, there was only one explanation Xue Shuyan tacitly acknowledged the joke as truth. As for Du Yunge, she had always been a somewhat naive girl. In situations like this, she would typically banter and laugh it off that was her usual way.

For both Xue Shuyan and Du Yunge, this silence was far too abnormal. Feng Chengchun had no choice but to stop her teasing, furrowing her brow as she reassessed the two young women she had practically raised:

“What’s going on with you two today?”

Du Yunge didn’t know what was wrong with herself. The term “grand wedding” felt suffocating to her. Even though Feng Chengchun had only mentioned it jokingly and the one being teased was the utterly harmless Xue Shuyan, she still found it hard to breathe. She could only force a smile and say:

“Nothing, I just spaced out for a moment.”

Xue Shuyan was still carefully observing Du Yunge’s every move, even the slightest shift in her gaze, which naturally caused her response to Feng Chengchun to be a half-beat slower:

“I was thinking, does the sect leader not wish to have a grand wedding?”

Feng Chengchun and Du Yunge reacted in completely different ways to this counter-question.

“You can’t possibly actually want to marry the sect leader?!” Feng Chengchun stared at Xue Shuyan in shock, feeling as though the cabbage she had painstakingly raised had turned out to be a pig intent on devouring another cabbage she had nurtured, how could she have misjudged her so badly? Though she had often joked about the two of them before, if Xue Shuyan truly intended to marry Du Yunge, the considerations would become far more complicated. It seemed this was the mindset of all mothers under heaven:

“Shuyan? Say something.”

“No.” Xue Shuyan lowered her eyes and gently patted Du Yunge’s head, just as she had done before Du Yunge took the stage. She remained the same cool, steady, and reliable Senior Sister Xue, as if she had never truly considered the idea of “marrying Du Yunge”:

“Yunge, don’t worry. No one can force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

Du Yunge lowered her head and rubbed the corner of her eye.

When Xue Shuyan uttered those concise and unyielding words,”No one can force you” she felt an inexplicable warmth in her eyes. It was then that she fully and completely realized that the path she was walking now had diverged entirely from the one she had taken in her previous life. She would never again be led or coaxed into leaving Wangyou Mountain, nor would she die alone in the dungeon of the He Manor.

And now, Xue Shuyan was still by her side, clearly voicing such protective words.

This promise felt like an eternal, unbreakable vow. The lingering echo of her words made Du Yunge’s eyes redden, stirring in her a tearful sense of having narrowly escaped disaster. Overwhelmed with emotion, the young sect leader of the Miaoyin Sect found herself momentarily speechless. She could only clutch the hem of Xue Shuyan’s sleeve and whisper intermittently:

“Thank you! Senior Sister Xue.”

Feng Chengchun, being astute, naturally understood the situation. But since Xue Shuyan herself had not made anything explicit and had even taken a step back to avoid frightening Du Yunge, there was no need for her to complicate matters further. She sighed and said:

“Very well, it’s just a pity to let such a rare auspicious day go to waste.”

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