The Beautiful Pariah Thought He Could Be Loved - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Xin Qishu knew that He Lvqing was determined to…

The horizon was a deep ultramarine, and the air held a tint of murky yellow. Swirling snowflakes sliced diagonally across the handsome face of a man dressed in deep blue robes.

A few cuts had been opened on his sculpted, jade-like countenance. His long brows slanted toward his temples, and his narrow eyes were slightly lidded; even the curve of his eyelids possessed a grace that transcended the mortal world. He climbed upward, step by step.

Rounding a bend, a few small houses stood on the flat ground in the distance. A plaque hung at the village entrance, inscribed with: Chu Family Village.

He Lvqing walked inside.

Under the dim, yellowish light, the main road was deserted. The doors of the houses on both sides were tightly shut, and snowflakes spiraled down to the ground. He Lvqing frowned; he didn’t smell blood. He rested one hand on the hilt of his sword and held the other before his chest, ready to form a hand seal. Shifting his body, he found a narrow alley to head deeper in.

The path was a tight gap between the houses and the mountainside. With his back to the mountain, He Lvqing suddenly caught sight of a string of footprints outside one of the doorways. They weren’t large—left by a child.

The snow intensified. A few flakes fell before He Lvqing like sharp blades; the man closed his eyes for a heartbeat, and his wounds miraculously healed. When he opened them again, his pale green eyes were full of alertness. Tensing his body, he used his lightness skill to follow the tracks.

He Lvqing tracked them all the way to the southeast corner of the village, where a plaza stood. From a distance, he could see a crowd gathered, filled with the sounds of laughter and joy under red lanterns. He even smelled the aroma of food. The people were chatting and playing naturally.

It looked perfectly normal.

Half a moment later, He Lvqing relaxed his nerves. He turned around with a slight smile, but the moment he did, his gaze swept over the people, and his body froze.

The clothes of every single person there were varying shades of purple!

Chu Family Village had no custom of wearing purple.

With a sweep of his sleeve, He Lvqing burst into the crowd. Looking at the many excited faces, his heart sank into ice. He asked, “What is going on here? Who ordered you all to wear purple?”

…

The Breaking Point

Coming back to his senses, the Xin Qishu in front of him was crying hysterically. His eyes held no reflection of He Lvqing—only pain.

Lvqing closed his eyes and stumbled back a few steps, his voice hoarse. “I don’t believe you. You can’t possibly let me go without making me promise never to enter Kuangjinjing again.”

“I haven’t made demands of anyone else; I only asked that you don’t go!” He Lvqing believed he was being very generous.

Must I keep forcing this? Xin Qishu asked himself.

“Fine…” Xin Qishu murmured, looking at He Lvqing imploringly.

He could do it. He could completely abandon his friendships. As long as you stay…

He Lvqing looked at him with ice-cold eyes. “How can you guarantee it? I don’t trust your word.”

Xin Qishu cried until he nearly fainted. “I’ll move in with you. I’ll be inseparable from you.”

He Lvqing frowned. “Disgusting.”

Xin Qishu knew then that He Lvqing was determined to leave. His heart felt like an apple being gnawed from the inside by a worm. In truth, between friendship and love, he couldn’t choose either.

Xin Qishu’s voice shook. “Fine. Fine. Go then…” He sank to his knees on the ground. His ink-black hair trailed in the dirt, catching the dust, its luster gone.

…

The Fallout

“What happened here?”

The red gauze of the bed curtains swayed gently as a woman in a scarlet dress entered the inner chamber. The gold-threaded patterns on the curtains were a blur in the dim light.

Fei Jia said succinctly, “He Lvqing ran away.”

“Ran away?!” The woman’s voice was startlingly loud in the empty hall. “Wait, with the demonic mist there, he—” Qing Qianqian stopped and lowered her voice. “Qishu let him go?”

Fei Jia nodded.

Xin Qishu stared at the ceiling with tearful eyes.

“Qishu?” A figure sat by the bed. Qing Qianqian called his name softly. She reached under the quilt and took his ice-cold hand.

“Sister Qingqing. I’m awake,” Xin Qishu said hoarsely.

Qing Qianqian pulled back the bed curtains. “Did you sign a severance contract with He Lvqing?”

“No… we just fought. In the heat of the moment, I let him go…” Xin Qishu hid under the blankets, revealing only a pair of watery eyes.

A flash of ruthlessness crossed Qing Qianqian’s eyes. Her soft, boneless hand stroked his. “Do you regret it now? Wait here; I’ll send people to drag him back immediately.”

“Don’t be afraid, we are in the right. It was all agreed upon, and the betrothal gifts were accepted. If he’s unwilling to return,” Qing Qianqian smiled, “then we’ll just take those gifts back.”

“No. Don’t.” Xin Qishu turned his face away, groaning in pain. Tear-soaked hair clung to his cheeks. He tossed and turned, feeling as though the world had turned pale and colorless.

Suddenly, he sat up. The brocade quilt slid down to his waist. As Qing Qianqian watched in confusion, Xin Qishu took out a book and asked in a low voice: “Sister Qingqing, this book you gave me… what kind of book is it, exactly?”

It was the manual on bedchamber secrets in the pure-blood demon script.

Qing Qianqian was momentarily unsure of his meaning. “Didn’t you look at the title when you took it that day? It’s… exactly what the title says.”

Xin Qishu looked at her, his face pale. “I opened it, but I didn’t recognize the words.” He had only recognized that it was pure-blood demon script and taken it.

Qing Qianqian was speechless.

That day, Xin Qishu had suddenly come to her, saying He Lvqing wanted to see a pure-blood demon cultivation manual. What a joke—how could she give something like that to a righteous cultivator? She didn’t feel like educating Xin Qishu; if his own father didn’t care, why should she?

So she grabbed a random leisure book for him. Who would have thought she’d grab that one? She hadn’t actually wanted to lend it to him. She knew the situation between him and He Lvqing; if trouble started, she’d be dragged into it.

But based on her knowledge of Xin Qishu, he didn’t seem like the type brave enough to show that kind of book to He Lvqing. So she gave it to him, thinking that once he saw the title, he’d get flustered and she could brush him off by not lending him anything at all. Who would have guessed he’d glance at the title and walk away happy?

She had assumed he had finally grown some courage and that the book happened to hit the mark for him. She let it go. Little did she know, it wasn’t that he was brave—it was that he was illiterate and hadn’t understood the title at all.

Thinking she had been clever, she realized the disaster had still landed on her. She asked tentatively, “He Lvqing didn’t like it?”

“It seems so,” Xin Qishu nodded gloomily, his ponytail swaying.

Lvqing hadn’t told him the details, and Qing Qianqian didn’t plan to tell him what was in the manual either, lest he turn on her.

“Hmph, he doesn’t look at his own situation—disdaining this, looking down on that.” Qing Qianqian shifted all the blame onto He Lvqing.

Xin Qishu said, “He told me to go to my dad and have him teach me every single word.”

Her face instantly turned cold. Wisps of black energy coiled around her beautiful features. Her hand gripped the scroll tightly as she said slowly, “He insulted you like that…? Next time. Next time I see him, I will kill him.”

Xin Qishu looked at her in a panic. He didn’t understand how she had reached that conclusion.

After Qing Qianqian left, Xin Qishu called Fei Jia to his bedside. Fei Jia was silent for a long moment before saying:

“This is the Manual of Bedchamber Secret Techniques.”

Xin Qishu lost all his strength and collapsed back onto the bed.