My Senior Sister Says She Will Marry No One But Me - Chapter 34

Xue Shuyan had never been one for many words.

It wasn’t due to any accent being mocked or nonsense about ethnic divisions. Although the Miaoyin Sect had been founded to champion women’s causes since its establishment, it was by no means a charitable organization spending vast amounts of silver on lost causes just to uphold justice for free? Du Baoqin was no fool. Rather, the founding sect master, who had boldly rescued the wife of a revered martial arts master (who could no longer endure his infidelity) from his heavily guarded residence, was a shrewd strategist. Ever since she used this unconventional method to spread the Miaoyin Sect’s reputation, along with her wildly ambitious declaration of “championing all women under heaven,” the sect’s harsh, almost inhuman rules also became widely known:

From the moment you set foot on Wangyou Mountain, everything below becomes irrelevant to you be it your parents, children, or closest friends. All ties are severed, unless you are willing to bring the women among them up the mountain with you.

If you go back on your word, regretting your decision to join the sect and wishing to descend, the lightest punishment would be severing your own meridians and crippling your hands or feet. For more severe cases since the warning has been given upfront, don’t blame them for showing no mercy you’ll be thrown to the wolves in the back mountains.

After all, Wangyou Mountain wasn’t home only to monkeys. Why else would they go through the trouble of sealing the mountain every winter?

Thus, only women who had endured unimaginable suffering and hardship would seek refuge on Wangyou Mountain. Anyone attempting to exploit the situation would be dealt with according to sect rules. Even cutting ties with the secular world below was done thoroughly and willingly, without the slightest hesitation.

With all connections to life below completely severed, there was no room for bringing up prejudices like ethnic divisions. This was why, even when Xia Yecheng initially disapproved of Xue Shuyan upon her arrival, she never acted against her and even helped heal her injuries.

Thanks to this, the Miaoyin Sect managed to maintain peace in these turbulent times. Even though Xue Shuyan was of pure foreign descent and spoke Mandarin with a heavy accent, no one would truly use that against her.

In other words, her reticence was entirely a matter of personality. The only one who could soften her aloof demeanor was Du Yunge.

At that moment, Xue Shuyan sat by the bedside of this sole exception, allowing Du Yunge to hold her hand and murmur secrets to her. Du Yunge’s thoughts wandered wildly she was the type to speak whatever came to mind. One moment, she might be praising the scenic beauty of Mount Emei, the next imagining how delicious the fish from its clear waters must be, and in the following breath, eagerly planning with Xue Shuyan to specifically seek out the legendary drunken fish dish in Qinhuai, prepared by a chef rumored to make only five fish a day.

Wealthy and confident, without a care in the world.

Xue Shuyan listened with unwavering patience, showing no signs of impatience whatsoever. Occasionally, she would respond with a few words, clearly taking in every bit of Du Yunge’s aimless chatter, a feat that was no small task. It wasn’t until Du Yunge was nearly asleep that she vaguely recalled what the Emei Sect Leader had mentioned about the “Nine Heavens Circling Jade” zither during their tea session earlier that day. She murmured:

“The Sect Leader said that if one wishes to cultivate the ‘Heavenly Demon’s Enchanting Melody,’ the Nine Heavens Circling Jade is the finest zither. But many treasures were lost or went missing during the chaos of the Five Barbarian Invasions years ago. Even the Nine Heavens Circling Jade likely ended up beyond the frontier. What a pity.”

Xue Shuyan fell silent for a moment before suddenly asking:

“What does the Nine Heavens Circling Jade look like? Describe it to me, and I’ll write back to inquire. If it exists, I’ll have someone send it to you.”

Overjoyed, Du Yunge felt the drowsiness she had so carefully cultivated through her ramblings vanish instantly. Just as she was about to exclaim, “That would be wonderful!” she suddenly remembered that Xue Shuyan hadn’t returned beyond the frontier in many years. She rarely spoke of her original tribe, and given that she had been on Mount Wangyou for so long, her relationship with her former clan was likely strained. Du Yunge couldn’t bring herself to ask Xue Shuyan to write a letter and risk humiliation for a zither that might not even be in the hands of the barbarians anymore.

“I can’t put you in such a difficult position,” Du Yunge thought, realizing that perhaps it was simply her fate to be without the Nine Heavens Circling Jade. She tightened her grip on Xue Shuyan’s hand and said:

“Senior Sister, don’t trouble yourself like this. You are the esteemed senior disciple of our Miaoyin Sect. Who among the martial artists of the Central Plains doesn’t treat you with the utmost respect? Why subject yourself to their disdain? I don’t absolutely need the Nine Heavens Circling Jade. Surely, there are other zithers that can be used to practice the Heavenly Demon’s Enchanting Melody.”

Though she said this, Du Yunge’s attempt at consolation had inadvertently hit upon the truth. If the Emei Sect Leader’s analysis was correct, aside from the long-lost zither of Du Baoqin, the founding master of the Miaoyin Sect, only the Nine Heavens Circling Jade was truly worthy of the Heavenly Demon’s Enchanting Melody.

Just as Xue Shuyan was about to press further, she abruptly stopped speaking. Her gaze sharpened as she looked toward the window, her eyes as piercing as a sword freshly tempered in ice water. The intensity of her stare sent an involuntary shiver down Du Yunge’s spine, and she followed Xue Shuyan’s gaze to the pitch-black night outside.

No, there couldn’t be nothing out there otherwise, Xue Shuyan wouldn’t have halted so abruptly and stared outside with such a guarded, wary expression.

That meant something was truly lurking in the quiet darkness beyond the window, listening to their conversation something that even Xue Shuyan had to brace herself against with utmost vigilance.

Du Yunge had always been terrified of supernatural matters, and this sent her into a state of sheer panic. For a moment, she even forgot her own name. When she finally regained her senses, she found herself huddled under the covers, trembling so violently that her teeth chattered incessantly. Xue Shuyan was holding her through the quilt, whispering soothingly:

“It’s alright, come out now. There’s nothing to fear. That thing is gone.”

Du Yunge still dared not peek out, burying herself in the quilt like an ostrich, though her trembling body gradually stilled. Xue Shuyan then carefully peeled back the layers of the quilt, as if unraveling silk from a cocoon, and embraced her with a gentle, albeit somewhat awkward, touch now that the barrier of the quilt was gone:

“Don’t be afraid, Yunge. I’m here with you.”

In the end, Du Yunge couldn’t recall how she fell asleep, only remembering that before she drifted into dreams, Xue Shuyan was softly patting her back to lull her to sleep. Lingering in her ears was a wordless, out-of-tune yet strangely familiar melody, a folk song from beyond the Great Wall.

Though Xue Shuyan had left the frontier regions many years ago, some things etched into one’s bones can never be erased. No matter how many places you traverse or settle in, when you return home, it’s the purest local dialect that flows from your lips. No matter how many lullabies or soothing methods you learn, when you finally have a child of your own blood, it’s the songs passed down through generations that you instinctively sing.

Such generational songs are like symbols carved into the bloodline, handed down from an unknown great-grandmother in the family tree, continuing to this day and likely extending further into the future, symbolizing the unbroken chain of lineage.

If you hear a song and it feels familiar even if you can’t sing it, it must be because someone hummed it to you in your childhood. During those countless sleepless nights haunted by nightmares in your early years, when memories of that time have faded, this comforting melody was there by your side.

The subconscious never lies. Even if you forget, it feels familiar. Even if it only feels familiar, if you keep thinking and thinking.

Eventually, you will remember.

However, Du Yunge did not have any clear dreams related to the song that night. Perhaps it was due to the excessive fright she experienced before sleep, or perhaps it was the price of being reborn her memory of a certain period in her childhood was particularly hazy, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall it.

After realizing she had lost this part of her memory, Du Yunge had subtly probed Feng Chengchun and others for answers. Setting aside others, just Feng Chengchun’s attitude alone suggested that this memory might indeed be significant. Feng Chengchun doted on her immensely, almost treating Du Yunge as her own daughter, yet whenever Du Yunge brought up this question, Feng Chengchun would become uncharacteristically evasive, hedging until she ultimately condensed her response into a phrase everyone has heard, perhaps even grown tired of hearing since childhood:

“Don’t worry, it’s for your own good. We would never harm you.”

Over time, Du Yunge stopped asking. After all, the world never bestows favors without reason there are no free lunches. No one benefits inexplicably without cause. Perhaps this is the way of fate, silently at work.

Those who have done evil will eventually pay for it; those who have done good will eventually benefit; those who study diligently and practice hard will surely make up for their shortcomings through perseverance; those who are arrogant about their talents will end up like Zhong Yong, wasting their potential.

If this standard truly holds, then Du Yunge, having been a good person for two lifetimes, deserved this chance at rebirth, an opportunity to correct the mistakes of her past. Losing only a portion of her childhood memories was already a great bargain. What did it matter if she couldn’t remember? It didn’t hinder the important affairs of the Miaoyin Sect.

Although Du Yunge had recently dreamed of something, it wasn’t as vivid as the previous dream she’d had, the one where Xue Shuyan, having succumbed to a qi deviation, came to guide her soul back to her homeland. This new dream was like viewing flowers through a fog hazy and indistinct, separated by a layer of mist. Even so, she glimpsed something different in this dream.

She saw Xue Shuyan in her youth.

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