My Senior Sister Says She Will Marry No One But Me - Chapter 19

After receiving the order, the maid immediately went to check if Xue Shuyan was in the outer chamber. She returned shortly and respectfully reported to Du Yunge:

“Master, Senior Sister Xue is indeed in the outer chamber, but her personal attendant said she is currently unavailable to see you and requests that you return in half an hour.”

Du Yunge was taken aback, and a sense of crisis surged from the depths of her heart:

In all the years they had known, understood, and accompanied each other, when had Xue Shuyan ever said she was “unavailable”? Someone who had sworn eternal loyalty to the Miaoyin Sect and to protect its master, how could there be anything inconvenient for her in front of Du Yunge?

Unless it was truly a personal matter, something like a young woman’s budding affections, that could be considered a private affair “not to be spoken of to outsiders,” and thus something she couldn’t share with Du Yunge.

For a moment, Du Yunge felt nothing but tangled sorrow. She had even managed to convince herself with this peculiar logic of hers:

If Senior Sister Xue refused to see her, it must be a matter of the heart. And if the one involved in such matters with Xue Shuyan was truly that saintess from the grasslands, wouldn’t Xue Shuyan end up leaving for the frontier, abandoning her?

At this thought, the immense shadow of her previous death at the hands of He Zhenzhen seemed to loom over her again. If that shadow were stretched out, it could likely cover the entire peak of Mount Wangyou, pressing down on her until her spirit nearly shattered. Naturally, her expression turned grim as well.

Those who serve others must be astute, especially when attending to the master of a prestigious sect like the Miaoyin Sect. Seeing Du Yunge’s troubled expression, the maid was horrified, feeling as though her monthly wages were fluttering away on wings. Without considering whether it was her place to speak, she hurriedly tried to console:

“Master, please calm yourself. Perhaps Senior Sister Xue is currently occupied with some personal matter and cannot see you immediately? After all, some things truly aren’t suitable for others to be involved in. Even though Senior Sister Xue is of Hu descent and has left the grasslands for over a decade, even I know of her unwavering loyalty to you. If you say one, she would never say two. There’s no need for you to worry. Since that’s the case, why not wait a while before going again?”

Du Yunge: You don’t understand. I’m worried about my own life here.

The maid’s words only made Du Yunge bristle even more, as they reminded her of the fabricated “Saintess of the Wuzhaka Tribe” that He Zhenzhen had mentioned in her previous life, what was her name again? Ma-something-la. She couldn’t quite recall the exact name, only that she was supposedly a well-known saintess from a tribe beyond the frontier.

The phrase “fabricated” was cunningly precise, capturing the essence of “it might exist or it might not,” or “it probably doesn’t exist, but if I want it to, it must.” In just three short words, one could appreciate the profound depth of millennia of Central Plains culture. And now, this saintess of the Wuzhaka Tribe, who was likely still freely roaming the grasslands thousands of miles away with her cattle and sheep was, to Du Yunge, like those fabricated letters of collusion. As long as she existed, she remained a tremendous threat.

If Xue Shuyan had truly married this saint in her past life, then they must have known each other early on. No matter the reason, given Xue Shuyan’s upright and self-restrained nature so much so that others found it exhausting to watch, she would never casually marry just anyone. If, as depicted in those third-rate romance books Du Yunge had secretly read, someone tried to pressure her into marriage by leveraging a favor, Xue Shuyan would likely have refused the proposal, canceled the engagement, and even taken her own life to repay the debt in one swift motion. Therefore, anyone who could marry Xue Shuyan must have shared a deep emotional bond with her. And if they had already met at this early stage, the only way to nurture such feelings across distances would be one thing:

Love letters carried by wild geese.

There! That explains everything! Senior Sister Xue must be exchanging love letters with that so-called Mara right now!

The more Du Yunge thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt. If Senior Sister Xue wanted to leave, that would be fine, but she should at least have given a heads-up. After all, who wouldn’t yearn for and rejoice in the pursuit of love? Besides, with no familial ties between them, how could anyone stand in the way of another’s destined romance just because of a past vow? Although the trauma caused by that beast He Zhenzhen had left Du Yunge with deep shadows regarding marriage, she wasn’t the type to let her own fears hinder someone else’s search for their fated partner. If only Xue Shuyan had informed her in advance, she would have had time to find someone with martial skills comparable to Xue Shuyan’s to continue as her personal protector.

Those who have brushed with death once tend to cherish their lives all the more, let alone Du Yunge, who had genuinely died once. While Xue Shuyan was by her side, things were manageable. But once Xue Shuyan left, Du Yunge would become as jumpy as a startled bird, seeing danger in every shadow. After pacing anxiously around her room a few times, she steeled herself and said to her maid:

“You may leave now. I know what I’m doing.”

The maid gave her a skeptical look and rightly so. Their sect leader, Du Yunge, had never been one associated with the phrase “knowing what she’s doing.” The world is full of all sorts of people, including a fair share of unreliable ones. There are countless ways to drop the ball, and while most just end up spectacularly tripping each other up, Xue Shuyan had never in her life been linked to the words “unreliable” or “dropping the ball,” creating a stark contrast with Du Yunge.

To put it simply, the esteemed leader of the Miaoyin Sect had never had much to do with “knowing what she’s doing.” It wasn’t that Du Yunge intentionally caused trouble; rather, she trusted others too much and was wholeheartedly devoted to repaying kindness with kindness. As a result, she delegated authority haphazardly. If it weren’t for the diligent efforts of the Four Guardians Chun, Xia, Qiu, and Dong and Xue Shuyan, Du Yunge would likely have been sold off long ago, happily counting the money for her traffickers.

But since Du Yunge had spoken to this extent, the maid couldn’t very well interfere further. She could only bow deeply and take her leave.

“Then I shall take my leave, Sect Master. If you have any needs, just ring the bell.”

After the maid departed, Du Yunge carefully confirmed that no one was around before darting out the door, heading straight for the outer chamber where Xue Shuyan currently resided:

She absolutely had to ask Senior Sister Xue whether she knew any saintesses from the Wuzhaka tribe of the great grasslands!

If she did, Du Yunge wouldn’t mind playing matchmaker ahead of time. After all, when it came to uncertain factors, it was best to control them as early and thoroughly as possible. Compared to the terrifying possibility of Xue Shuyan being whisked away by an outsider at any moment, Du Yunge would much rather take the initiative to set up this match herself. Knowing in advance roughly when Xue Shuyan might leave would allow her to find a suitable successor for the role of “personal guard to the Sect Master” wasn’t that a much safer approach?

However, when Du Yunge arrived in the outer chamber, she didn’t find Xue Shuyan bent over the desk writing at least, in her imagination, her Senior Sister Xue should have been penning a letter at this moment, perhaps for a messenger pigeon. Instead, she turned to Xue Shuyan’s maid, who had hurried over with a pot of fine Lushan Cloud Mist tea upon hearing the commotion, and asked:

“Where is my Senior Sister Xue?”

The maid froze for a moment, a hint of awkwardness and distress appearing on her face:

“Well! Sect Master, you’ve really stumped us with that question. Senior Sister Xue has never allowed us to serve her closely.”

Only then did Du Yunge realize that, given Xue Shuyan’s icy personality cold enough to freeze icicles, it was entirely in character for her to forbid these non-martial maids, whose agility was less than a tenth of her own, from attending to her personally. But right now, Du Yunge had no mind to ponder complex questions like, “With Senior Sister Xue’s aloof nature, how will she manage to get along with her beloved after marriage?” Instead, she cut straight to the point:

“I want to see my Senior Sister Xue. She will definitely see me.”

Before the maid could respond, Xue Shuyan’s voice came from the inner chamber, sounding uncertain:

“Yunge?”

With Xue Shuyan’s sharp hearing capable of detecting the subtlest sounds of Tang Sect hidden weapons from dozens of feet away she couldn’t possibly fail to recognize the voice of Du Yunge, whom she saw day in and day out. But this wasn’t her fault, because over the years, Du Yunge rarely practiced martial arts in the morning. Even if she did, she would find an excuse to slip away, and her whereabouts would be limited to just two places: her own study or the monkey troop in the back hills. On the rare occasions when she did complete a morning of training, she would spend the rest of the morning lounging lazily in her inner chamber, effectively demonstrating through her actions the saying, “Waking up early ruins the whole day.”

Under normal circumstances, Du Yunge truly wouldn’t visit Xue Shuyan at this hour. But today was an exception her intense desire to survive overrode everything else. Upon hearing Xue Shuyan’s response, she immediately raised her voice in a pitiful plea:

“Senior Sister Xue!”

“I really want to see you! Can I come in and talk?”

Perhaps it was the intense sense of desperation and will to survive hidden within Du Yunge’s words that struck Xue Shuyan. The usually cold and aloof senior sister of Miaoyin Sect not only took a long pause before responding, but her reply also carried a hint of hesitation:

“Come in.”

Without another word, Du Yunge pushed the door open and rushed inside. But before she could take more than a few steps, she saw the tall screen standing in the room and felt the heavy, damp air that enveloped her.

She froze for three seconds before finally realizing why the maid had given her such a strange look earlier when Du Yunge had confidently declared, “Senior Sister will definitely see me,” and Xue Shuyan had indeed allowed her in:

Xue Shuyan was bathing.

This realization made Du Yunge blush instantly. Her hands and feet felt awkward and out of place, as if she didn’t know where to put them. If only time could reverse, she would go back ten breaths and knock her head against this very screen as a warning to herself:

“Senior Sister Xue, I’m sorry, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have let my imagination run wild with nonsense about some grassland saintess. Could you please pretend I never came in?”

But as fate would have it perhaps specifically for moments like this, just as Du Yunge wished she could knock herself out against the screen and be carried away unconscious, Xue Shuyan spoke from behind it:

“Is something the matter, Yunge?”

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