My Senior Sister Says She Will Marry No One But Me - Chapter 28.1

Du Yunge faintly sensed that Xue Shuyan’s words carried a deeper meaning. It wasn’t that Xue Shuyan genuinely thought her voice was pleasant or that her own name was particularly elegant, insisting on hearing it repeated at this moment rather, it was.

Highly suggestive.

Flustered, Du Yunge looked into Xue Shuyan’s eyes, but before she could call out her name again, the maid who had gone to fetch medicine hurried back, followed closely by Qiu Yueman. The jangling of a large bunch of keys announced her arrival, a classic case of “the sound precedes the person”:

“Sect Leader, Shuyan, what happened? How did you get injured just from practicing martial arts? Sect Leader, you really should be more careful. Honestly, I think you should just focus on learning how to manage accounts with Sister Chun and me. Matters of fighting and killing can be left to others.”

As soon as Du Yunge opened her mouth to speak, she stared in astonishment as Qiu Yueman approached with top-grade wound medicine, acting as if the esteemed leader of the Miaoyin Sect had contracted some incurable disease:

“Where is the Sect Leader injured?”

Only then did Du Yunge belatedly realize perhaps because her earlier shout hadn’t been loud or clear enough, or because the maid had panicked and misinformed Qiu Yueman that everyone seemed to think she was the one injured. Clearing her throat, she quickly explained:

“It’s my senior sister who’s injured, not me.”

The idea of “Xue Shuyan being injured” was already rare and unusual in itself. Moreover, given the current situation, it was clear that Du Yunge had somehow managed to injure Xue Shuyan. This made the expressions of the surrounding maids and Qiu Yueman turn peculiar, unsure whether to marvel at “how even a talent like Xue Shuyan could get injured” or to exclaim, “The Sect Leader has actually managed to injure Xue Shuyan, what remarkable progress!”

When Qiu Yueman first heard that “the Sect Leader and Senior Sister Xue were injured during martial arts practice,” she was so frightened that her soul nearly left her body. She had rushed over with priceless medicines like Black Jade Fracture Ointment and Purple Gold Bruise Powder retrieved from the storeroom. Yet, to her surprise, it wasn’t Du Yunge who was injured but Xue Shuyan and even more unexpectedly, it was just a minor scratch that would heal on its own without any treatment. This rendered the high-quality medicines she had brought utterly useless, as the old saying goes, “Why use a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken?” No matter how good the medicine, it must suit the ailment and be applied appropriately.

However, before Qiu Yueman could put away these two medicines, Du Yunge spoke up:

“Senior Sister’s injury doesn’t require these medicines, Protector Qiu?”

Qiu Yueman explained, “Such a minor injury doesn’t call for strong medicine. If such potent medicine is used, the excessive potency may linger in the tissues. Over time, with repeated use, the residual effects could penetrate deep into the bones. All medicine has some toxicity, no matter how minor the injury we must take precautions and apply the right remedy cautiously. That’s what Sister Xia says.”

Only then did Du Yunge feel relieved: “In that case, please use whatever medicine Protector Qiu deems appropriate for Senior Sister.”

Just as she was about to boast to Xue Shuyan, saying, “Look, Senior Sister, I’m always thinking of you,” Du Yunge suddenly noticed that Xue Shuyan’s expression had reverted to its usual unreadable, stoic calm. This left Du Yunge utterly baffled:

Senior Sister, why are you upset again?!

But Du Yunge was already used to it. She even managed to console herself, thinking that this must be the eccentric temperament of a top-tier martial artist, always holding themselves to impossibly high standards, growing displeased whenever they fell short, let alone getting injured over such a trivial matter. For someone like Xue Shuyan, this was undoubtedly a major blunder, so it was no wonder she was upset. She had even said something like “Call me that again,” clearly seeking comfort.

Having successfully convinced herself or at least believing she had Du Yunge’s gaze toward Xue Shuyan now carried a weight of tolerance and patience. Her tone softened considerably as she spoke:

“Senior Sister, don’t be too hard on yourself. This injury is entirely my fault and has nothing to do with you. If anything, I’ve burdened you, and I feel terribly guilty about it.”

To lend more sincerity to her words, Du Yunge even took Xue Shuyan’s uninjured hand, speaking with heartfelt emotion:

“Senior Sister, please rest and recover peacefully. I’ll make sure to take good care of you!”

Qiu Yueman, standing nearby, felt awkward staying but equally awkward leaving. Finally, mustering her courage amidst the strangely intimate atmosphere, she managed to interject:

“It’s not a serious injury Sect Leader, there’s no need to worry so much.”

As the saying goes in Miaoyin Sect: if Qiu Yueman knows something, it might as well be known by everyone on the mountain even the monkeys in the back hills would be able to recount it in vivid detail. And so, by that afternoon, everyone in Miaoyin Sect had heard the big news: “Xue Shuyan was actually injured by the Sect Leader during training!” Feng Chengchun even came personally to confirm the truth with Du Yunge:

“You really injured Shuyan?!”

Du Yunge replied guiltily, “Yes! It’s all because my skills are lacking.”

“Wait, Sect Leader, no one is blaming you. In fact, this is genuinely good news.” Feng Chengchun quickly waved her hands, hoping to dispel Du Yunge’s last trace of doubt:

“Look, Shuyan isn’t even holding it against you.”

Du Yunge wanted to say, “My senior sister treats me so well she probably wouldn’t blame me no matter what I did, Guardian Feng, so your argument isn’t very convincing.” But after a moment’s thought, she cautiously swallowed those words, sensing that saying them might leave Feng Chengchun choking on her own breath, unable to speak.

In the silence that followed, Feng Chengchun added:

“Shuyan’s protective qi isn’t something that can be easily broken. Even with my limited internal energy, if I were to strike her with a treasured blade, I’d likely be repelled before even making contact let alone getting close enough to touch her.”

“You were able to injure her during martial arts practice this certainly wasn’t due to the sharpness of your weapon, but because you’ve truly found the weapon that suits you. She wasn’t fully on guard, which is why you managed to hurt her. This means your martial arts can finally progress. Isn’t that a tremendous cause for celebration?”

“Exactly so.” Xue Shuyan’s voice came from outside the door. The senior disciple of the Miaoyin Sect, who should have been practicing sword techniques with Yun Anxue at that moment, hurried over. Her black, gold-sprinkled robe accentuated her deep-set features, carrying a hint of the cold, untamed aura unique to those of foreign descent from beyond the frontier. She strode in quickly, standing beside Du Yunge, and bowed respectfully to Feng Chengchun.

“Reporting to Guardian Chun, Yunge used a qin during her martial arts practice this morning.”

At first, Feng Chengchun didn’t grasp that what had injured Xue Shuyan was merely the sound of the qin a literal, unadorned musical note. She assumed Du Yunge had used a sword concealed within the qin. “But Yunge’s swordplay is average; it shouldn’t have been capable of this.”

Du Yunge quickly added, “We were practicing swordplay at first, we weren’t slacking off. It was only later, as we were walking out, that we casually brought up the qin techniques of the Miaoyin Sect’s founding master, which were said to be as enchanting as a demonic melody. Out of curiosity, I pulled my senior sister aside to try it out but I never expected the sound to be so unbearably discordant. It not only unsettled the mind, but as I withdrew my hands, all seven strings snapped simultaneously. My senior sister was injured by the strings while trying to protect my hands.”

Feng Chengchun was inwardly startled. The equipment in the training hall had been procured by her and Yun Anxue. Back then, Qiu Yueman, still a young woman, had been extremely frugal, spending only the bare minimum truly embodying the saying, “The richer they are, the stingier they get.” Even though it wasn’t her own money but the sect’s funds, Qiu Yueman budgeted as if spending one extra coin would cost her life. The Miaoyin Sect’s current foundation was built not only on the shrewd management of its twelve branch leaders across the land but also on Qiu Yueman’s habit of hoarding resources like a squirrel preparing for winter.

Every item in the training hall had been of the highest quality, costing a total of sixty thousand taels of silver. Yet, Qiu Yueman had allocated exactly sixty thousand one hundred and ten taels to Feng Chengchun and Yun Anxue before they descended the mountain, a stroke of foresight, precise to the last detail. The extra hundred-odd taels covered their travel expenses. By the time they hauled the weapons back, they had less than ten coins left. Feng Chengchun bought a stick of candied hawthorn for the young Du Yunge at the foot of the mountain, leaving exactly one coin which Qiu Yueman later took, cleaned, and wrapped in a dumpling. Feng Chengchun and Yun Anxue returned just in time to enjoy a steaming bowl of these “wealth dumplings” for the New Year, the hidden coin symbolizing prosperity. From then on, the entire Miaoyin Sect held Qiu Yueman in awe, and no one dared to pluck even half a feather from this seemingly round, amiable, yet iron-clad miser.

Because the initial purchases were of high quality, over the years, only the most frequently used and worn-out items had been replaced sporadically. A significant portion of the sixty thousand taels of silver had been spent on the “Flying Waterfall and String of Pearls” zither. Although the practice zither in the martial arts hall, used for training in the “Sword Within the Zither” technique, wasn’t particularly shabby, it was still just an ordinary instrument. After all, in this rather obscure martial art, the key element capable of harming others wasn’t the zither itself, but the sword hidden within it.

In other words, if Du Yunge could produce music as “disorienting and unsettling” as she claimed with such an ordinary zither, wouldn’t that mean she truly had the potential to advance further on this path?

Thus, Feng Chengchun repeatedly urged Du Yunge and Xue Shuyan to bring out the “Flying Waterfall and String of Pearls” and play it, of course, with Du Yunge performing and Xue Shuyan standing guard beside her:

“If such a mediocre zither could produce such extraordinary effects, what would happen with the unparalleled, finest zither?”

However, when Du Yunge, as before, channeled her inner energy through her fingertips to pluck the strings and played an entire Jiangnan folk tune, the previous sensation of churning blood and suffocating restlessness was absent. Feng Chengchun wondered if the zither’s harmful tones could only be produced with an unremarkable instrument, rendering this fine zither ineffective.

As they were speculating, Xue Shuyan spoke up:

“Yunge, try playing just that one note for now.”

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