My Senior Sister Says She Will Marry No One But Me - Chapter 42

Generally speaking, the true faces of master disguise artists are not particularly attractive. Since every person has a unique appearance, to flawlessly transform into someone else, one must first alter their own face. No matter how beautiful the original face may be, it must be forcibly reshaped into an ordinary, unremarkable one through methods like bone shaving and flesh removal. Only a face that is utterly plain and devoid of any distinctive features can achieve the most fundamental state, serving as an ideal base for applying disguises with twice the result for half the effort.

However, it’s not impossible to take an unconventional approach to disguise such as creating a mask directly from another person’s face and wearing it. Masks made this way are not only incredibly lifelike but also inexpensive to produce. As long as they are worn for no more than two hours at a time, they won’t come loose. Apart from the significant damage to the skin and the need for meticulous care after each use, this method is nearly perfect.

The problem lies in the subsequent maintenance. Among the series of tedious care procedures, obtaining fresh colostrum from a ewe is particularly challenging. Without this ingredient, wearing such a mask even three times would lead to disfigurement. Yet, ewe’s colostrum is extremely precious, even among the Hu people, and they are unlikely to sell it to the Han Chinese, with whom they have long-standing conflicts. Moreover, this colostrum must be used continuously for at least three months.

In theory, then, those who dare to wear such masks nowadays are either wealthy scions of prominent families or the Hu people themselves. But if a family were rich enough to raise so many ewes for their colostrum, why would they allow their members to learn such unorthodox skills? Even among martial artists who have no qualms about using disguises, very few are wealthy enough to afford such expenses. Even the Miaoyin Sect, renowned for its business reach and rumored possession of a treasure map, can only barely manage the enormous cost.

Given these constraints, it’s almost certain that if someone uses this short-term, fast-acting, yet costly method to change their appearance, that person is most likely a Hu.

Qin Shanshan hummed a cheerful tune as she stood on tiptoe, stretching her arm to pluck a blooming red plum branch from the top of the wintersweet tree. Delighted, she hurried toward the main hall. She had already planned it out: if Xue Shuyan wasn’t there, she could deliver the flower and then whisk Du Yunge away though the likelihood of that was slim. If Xue Shuyan was present, it wouldn’t matter much. After all, her lightness skill was hailed by her master as the best in the world; no one could possibly catch up to her. If she couldn’t find an opportunity during the day, surely she could under the cover of night?

Sure enough, when she arrived at the Tianzaishui main hall with the plum branch, Xue Shuyan was still by Du Yunge’s side. Judging by how clingy she was, if not for her distinctly non-Han features, who would believe this was the esteemed senior disciple of the Miaoyin Sect?

At that moment, Du Yunge noticed her and beckoned her over, though she still kept a cautious distance, whispering softly:

“Please don’t blame my senior sister. It’s just that I’m truly not used to being too close to outsiders.”

Qin Shanshan had been floating on cloud nine just moments before, thrilled to be near Yunge again. But Du Yunge’s words snapped her out of the self-indulgent fantasies she had inherited from Xue Shuyan. Only then did Qin Shanshan belatedly realize her current identity an obscure girl from Tian Zaishui, not the famed Qinhuai courtesan or the Emei disciple, much less.

Du Yunge was still waiting for her reply. Qin Shanshan cleared her throat and replied meekly with lowered eyes:

“Thank you for your concern, Sect Leader. I am not one to hold grudges and have long forgotten the matter.”

As she spoke, she handed the plum blossom in her hand to Du Yunge and asked:

“Do you like this, Sect Leader? Placing it in a white porcelain vase filled with clear water and displaying it on the curio shelf would be both elegant and beautiful. I thought you would surely like it, so I picked it for you.”

Du Yunge took the branch, examined it carefully, and replied, “Of course I like it. But looking at this flower, it doesn’t seem to have grown in the wild. It looks more like it was cultivated in a greenhouse.”

Startled, Qin Shanshan laughed, “As expected of the Sect Leader, you recognized it at a glance. Indeed, this plum blossom was picked from the greenhouse at Tian Zaishui. But how did you recognize it?”

“Wintersweet is one of the Four Gentlemen among flowers and also one of the Three Friends of Winter. Those grown in a greenhouse, never weathered by wind or rain, nor touched by the slightest frost or snow, are naturally different from their counterparts outside, who grow more beautiful and vibrant the colder it gets.” Du Yunge’s slender fingers gently brushed the blooming branch, causing a red plum blossom to tremble and fall, landing perfectly in her palm.

She cupped the blossom in her hand. The vivid red stood in stark contrast against her fair, delicate palm tinged with a hint of pink, like a beauty in a crimson cloak standing beneath a plum tree in a vast expanse of snow, a sight that captivated the heart. Especially when Du Yunge lifted her gaze, instinctively seeking out Xue Shuyan’s location before speaking with a smile, it made Qin Shanshan’s eyes burn with envy and her heart ache with regret, wishing she were that perpetually expressionless ice-faced figure to receive such treatment:

“My senior sister transplanted a plum tree for me in recent years, right at the entrance of our Wuyou Mountain training hall.”

“If one day you become the head of Qinhuai and come at the year’s end to settle accounts and collect receipts, come find me, and I’ll show it to you.”

Fortunately, Qin Shanshan’s self-control held strong; otherwise, she would have blurted out, “Sect Leader, if you come with me, forget one plum tree even ten, a hundred, or an entire garden, as long as you smile at me, I’ll transplant them all for you.” However, Xue Shuyan’s icy gaze had already swept over. Qin Shanshan wasn’t afraid of it, but in her current identity as an ordinary girl from Tian Zaishui, she had to feign fear. She quickly bowed and excused herself.

Before leaving the main hall, Qin Shanshan couldn’t resist taking one last glance at Du Yunge, thinking to herself, Such a beauty. Even if I get to see her again tonight when I come to abduct her, the beauty of the night is still different from the beauty of the day. Each has its own charm, and it would be a shame to miss either. Especially this flower-holding beauty truly a peerless sight in the mortal world. Each glimpse is a rare treasure, so I must take it all in and feast my eyes.

But the very next moment, she regretted it so much she wished she could gouge her own eyes out.

She saw Xue Shuyan, with an air of nonchalance but with swift and decisive movements, pluck the blooming red plum blossom right out of Du Yunge’s hand and say to her:

“This plum blossom is too fragrant. If you place it in your room, the scent might be too overpowering and disturb your peaceful sleep.”

“If you really like it, why don’t we go pick a fresh branch instead? One that’s only half-bloomed would last longer in a vase. Wouldn’t that be better?”

Du Yunge sincerely praised, “Senior sister, you’re so thoughtful.”

Qin Shanshan: ??? Please, speak with a conscience. When has plum blossom fragrance ever been considered ‘overpowering’? It’s only because the young sect leader trusts you so blindly that she doesn’t question such blatant nonsense!

Enough is enough! Spurred by the scene she had just witnessed, Qin Shanshan resolved to carry out her plan to kidnap Du Yunge that very night. She clicked her tongue regretfully, feeling as if a magnificent, unparalleled beauty was accompanied by a ferocious, colorful tiger, a rather jarring sight.

Whether on Mount Wangyou, Mount Emei, or now that they had arrived in Qinhuai, the sleeping arrangements for the two remained unchanged: if there was a suite, they would share it, with Du Yunge sleeping in the inner room and Xue Shuyan in the outer room. If there was no suite, they would partition a single room with a green gauze screen and an extra bed, splitting the space in two just so they could sleep together. The Emei sect leader had arranged it this way.

Although this arrangement was entirely for Du Yunge’s protection, given her lack of martial prowess, it was still overly intimate. If the two sharing such quarters were a man and a woman they’d probably have half a dozen children by now. Fortunately, it was Xue Shuyan sharing the room with her, so their reputations remained untarnished. If Xue Shuyan were replaced by an outsider of the same age, who knows what kind of gossip would spread.

Because Xue Shuyan was in the outer room, Du Yunge felt completely secure, sleeping even more peacefully at night. However, whether one’s dreams are pleasant or not likely has little to do with having company. Otherwise, Du Yunge wouldn’t have fallen asleep surrounded by the delicate fragrance of plum blossoms only to have such a heart-pounding nightmare.

As soon as Du Yunge sank into her dream, she was startled by a gaping, bloody maw lunging at her. The warm, fishy-scented wind felt so real it hardly seemed like a dream more like something she had personally experienced.

She scrambled away from the spot she had just been in, and immediately, the sound of crumbling earth and rocks echoed behind her. A cloud of dust erupted, splattering all over Du Yunge’s face and blinding her. Stumbling as she ran farther away, she struggled to turn her head and see what had just happened. Only then did she realize that a deep mark had been left where she had been standing moments before, and the thing that had nearly taken her life was still chasing her relentlessly. Even though she had mustered every ounce of skill she had ever learned in her frantic escape, she couldn’t put even the slightest distance between them:

It was a wolf.

No. Du Yunge suddenly realized something. No matter how lacking her skills might have been, her lightness skill shouldn’t have been this ineffective. Unless someone was deliberately trying to kill her, given her recent diligent training, she should have at least been able to put up a fight or escape from a mere beast. So why was this happening?

Sure enough, when she looked down at herself, she realized her body was still the same as in her previous dream young, with short limbs, clearly not built for fighting or running. And what she had lost was precisely this memory. Could it be that this was fate at work? Was this dream specifically meant to help her recall this inexplicably lost memory?

If this wasn’t a dream, but something that had truly happened.

Then how had she, with her underdeveloped skills as a child, managed to survive the jaws of this clearly ravenous wolf?

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