Chapter 2
There were so many people in the neighboring courtyard that she didn’t dare go over, so she planned to wait until no one was around before placing the peach where Wanqi Yu usually sat. Then, after Sister Wanqi Yu ate it, she would go over and tell her that the peach was a gift from her.
She had given Sister Wanqi Yu such a precious peach, so surely she would be delighted.
And once she was happy, wouldn’t she start liking her?
Mo Shuangshuang thought she was simply brilliant.
Without further ado, she huffed and puffed as she dragged over a ladder and secretly climbed up. After making sure everyone in the neighboring courtyard had left, she laboriously lifted the ladder over the wall and lowered it into the other courtyard before quickly climbing down.
She sneaked into someone else’s courtyard, carefully placed the sliced peach on the stone table, and, taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, hurriedly slipped back.
After finishing everything, Mo Shuangshuang climbed back up and leaned against the wall, exposing only half her face as she observed the neighboring courtyard. She watched for nearly an hour, but no one came out. Figuring that her eldest and second sisters would be returning soon, she had no choice but to climb down and hide the ladder.
Before long, her eldest sister, Mo Aoshuang, returned while dragging her second sister, Mo Wenxue, by the ear. Even before they reached the door, Mo Shuangshuang could hear her eldest sister’s scolding and her second sister’s miserable cries.
“Eldest Sister…” Mo Shuangshuang stood by the doorway, looking timidly at Mo Aoshuang.
The fierce expression on Mo Aoshuang’s face instantly softened. “Shuang’er, go play for a while. Eldest Sister needs to have a word with Second Sister.”
Although Mo Wenxue was still being dragged by the ear, she angrily shouted at Mo Shuangshuang, “Well, well, Mo Shuangshuang! You little traitor! Just wait until I give you a good spanking!”
Mo Shuangshuang’s eyes widened, and she fearfully covered her bottom.
Mo Aoshuang reprimanded her sharply, “You still have the nerve to threaten someone else? You’d better worry about your own bottom first!”
With that, she dragged Mo Wenxue into the room by her ear and slammed the door shut with a bang.
Worried that Mo Wenxue might really get beaten, Mo Shuangshuang hurriedly leaned against the window to see what was happening inside. To her relief, her eldest sister hadn’t resorted to corporal punishment. Although there were sounds of arguing, she didn’t hear any miserable screams from her second sister.
Reassured, Mo Shuangshuang began listening carefully to their conversation.
Mo Aoshuang said, “You know perfectly well that Little Sister suffered a head injury from a demonic beast when she was young, which is why she’s different from ordinary people. So why do you keep making fun of her?”
Then came Mo Wenxue’s somewhat aggrieved voice. “I was just teasing her for fun. How was I making fun of her?”
Mo Aoshuang suppressed her anger. “Fine, let’s put that aside for now. Let’s talk about how you beat the young sect master of the Buyang Sect until his head was bleeding. Mo Wenxue, how many times have I told you that a little impatience can ruin a great plan? What if you lose your eligibility to participate in the Piling Cultivation Assembly because of this? No matter what grievances you have with someone, you can settle them in the martial arts arena. Why stir up unnecessary trouble in private?”
Mo Wenxue’s face darkened as she replied indignantly, “But that little bastard called Little Sister a fool! He even mocked our Mo family for having such poor cultivation…”
Mo Aoshuang’s scolding abruptly stopped. She stared blankly at Mo Wenxue for several seconds before falling silent. After a moment, she said dejectedly, “It’s my fault. I’m the one who hasn’t been able to restore the sect to its former glory, and now you’re all being looked down upon because of me.”
“Eldest Sister…” Mo Wenxue bit her lip and said awkwardly, “It’s not your fault.”
Leaning against the window, Mo Shuangshuang listened to the conversation between her two sisters, and her eyes immediately reddened. It was all because of her that her eldest and second sisters had to work so hard.
Both her sisters were doing their best to restore the sect to its former glory. She had to work hard, too!
She blinked rapidly, forcing back the tears gathering in her eyes. Then she turned to Siming and asked solemnly, “Sister Siming, as long as I listen to you and win over Sister Wanqi Yu, our Mo family will definitely regain its former glory, right?”
Faced with the little girl’s expectant gaze, Siming inexplicably felt somewhat guilty. She was confident in herself, but she had no confidence in Mo Shuangshuang! However, in this lifetime, all of Divine Venerable Feiyu’s karmic ties rested on this little girl alone. Whether Mo Shuangshuang was capable or not, she had to succeed.
Thus, Siming could only steel herself and reply, “That’s right.”
Mo Shuangshuang broke into a smile through her tears. “That’s good. Oh, right…” She suddenly remembered that she had already delivered her Xinghe peach. By now, Sister Wanqi Yu should be back, shouldn’t she?
However, when Mo Shuangshuang climbed back up to peek over the wall, she saw only a handful of Cangyu Sect disciples scattered around the neighboring courtyard. There were both men and women, some sitting and others standing, but none of them paid any attention to the little slice of Xinghe peach.
No, wait. Someone had noticed it.
Mo Shuangshuang looked more closely and saw a girl of about seventeen or eighteen walk over to the stone table and reach for the slice of Xinghe peach. Her heart immediately leaped into her throat, and she wanted to shout that the peach wasn’t meant for her.
Just as she was hesitating over whether to call out a warning, another disciple called to the girl. She instinctively put down the peach, turned around, and left.
Mo Shuangshuang let out a quiet sigh of relief and wiped the nervous sweat from her forehead. Once no one was around, she gritted her teeth, brought over the ladder again, and climbed into the neighboring courtyard to retrieve the slice of Xinghe peach, hiding it safely in her storage bag for the time being.
She remained perched on the wall until sunset, but Wanqi Yu never appeared. Instead, she overheard two disciples whispering in the neighboring courtyard.
One of them said, “This Piling Town is far too poor. This is supposed to be the most luxurious inn in town, yet they don’t even have a single Xinghe peach.”
“I did see one during the day, though. I wonder who was so inconsiderate as to casually throw away a leftover piece of Xinghe peach, and on Senior Sister Wanqi’s stone table, no less.”
“It must have been some newly admitted disciple who didn’t know any better. Fortunately, Senior Sister Wanqi was out. Otherwise…” The disciple clicked her tongue several times. The two exchanged a glance, understanding each other without another word.
Mo Shuangshuang stood motionless on the other side of the wall, having heard every word of their conversation. She lowered her head without saying anything, her little face flushed bright red. Only after the two disciples left did she sit dejectedly on the stone steps, take out the slice of Xinghe peach, and eat it one bite at a time.
To her, a Xinghe peach was an extremely precious treat, which was why she had wanted to divide it into three portions. Yet she had never imagined that such a small slice of peach would be worth absolutely nothing in the eyes of the Cangyu Sect disciples.
Siming fell silent for a moment before sitting down beside Mo Shuangshuang. She hesitantly explained, “Actually, Xinghe peaches are just ordinary fruits grown in the territory under the Cangyu Sect’s jurisdiction, so…”
Mo Shuangshuang’s little mouth turned down into a pout, and she became even more dejected. Siming was racking her brains for a way to comfort her when Mo Shuangshuang suddenly buried her face in her knees for a moment, then sprang to her feet, brimming with energy. “How can I give up just because of one little failure?!”
Clenching both fists, her eyes shining with determination, she turned to Siming and asked, “Sister Siming, can you help me?”
“Uh…” Siming was at a loss for words for quite a while before finally reacting. She glanced at Mo Shuangshuang, thinking that children’s emotions really did come and go quickly. Clearing her throat, she said, “As the saying goes, clothes make the person. First, you need to dress yourself up properly.”
…
The autumn wind blew bleakly, and wild geese flew south. Beneath a large locust tree stood the tiny figure of Mo Shuangshuang, looking around in every direction. She tugged uncomfortably at the men’s clothing she was wearing and quietly asked Siming, “Will Sister Wanqi Yu notice me if I dress like this?”
Siming rested her fingers against her chin and gave a vague hum of acknowledgment. Although Mo Shuangshuang was already fifteen, for some unknown reason, she was unusually thin and small, with only her face remaining round and chubby. This made her appear even younger than she actually was.
Nevertheless, the men’s clothing that had been altered to fit her didn’t look out of place. As long as she kept her mouth shut, she looked just like a little boy of around ten. According to the destiny Siming had arranged, Wanqi Yu was supposed to have a chance encounter with the male lead, Fu Xinhan, at this very moment…
Siming glanced thoughtfully at Mo Shuangshuang, her heart growing heavy. With that childish face and short stature, unless Wanqi Yu had a particular fondness for dwarfs, there was no way she would take an interest in a “man” like Mo Shuangshuang.
Siming’s expression grew solemn. Sensing that Wanqi Yu was about to arrive, she immediately pushed all other thoughts aside and shoved Mo Shuangshuang forward, saying hurriedly, “Remember what you promised me!”
Caught off guard by the sudden push, Mo Shuangshuang’s little face instantly turned bright red with nervousness. She took a deep breath, tried her best to puff out her chest, and looked ahead with a determined expression.
This was the passage connecting the main hall to the guest rooms in the rear courtyard. The doors of the main hall opened, and a group of cultivators entered in an orderly procession. Leading them was a woman with flowing black hair and snow-white robes, possessing a peerlessly beautiful face and an aloof expression. It was none other than Wanqi Yu.
Mo Shuangshuang hadn’t expected an entire group of people to appear. She immediately froze, her mind going completely blank. Before she could react, the cultivators walked straight past her without so much as a sideways glance.
Every cultivator from the Cangyu Sect was tall and slender, with even the shortest standing half a head taller than Mo Shuangshuang. She watched helplessly as the crowd swallowed her up. Everywhere she looked, there were cultivators in flowing white robes. Tilting her head back, she found herself unable to tell them apart.
Watching Mo Shuangshuang’s foolish appearance from outside the crowd, Siming desperately wanted to rush in, grab her by the collar, and throw her straight at Wanqi Yu.
Even after the Cangyu Sect cultivators had walked far away, Mo Shuangshuang still felt as though her vision was filled with fluttering white robes. Remembering Sister Siming’s instructions, she became so anxious that, without thinking, she shouted at the top of her lungs, “Wanqi Yu!”
Mo Shuangshuang had called out in desperation and hadn’t expected anything to happen. To her surprise, however, all the Cangyu Sect cultivators stopped in their tracks. With more than a dozen people staring at her, cold sweat nearly broke out across her forehead.
Siming hadn’t anticipated this turn of events either. She hurriedly floated to Mo Shuangshuang’s side and urged anxiously, “Quick, say something! Tell them your name is Fu Xinhan!”
Mo Shuangshuang blinked, nervously twisting her fingers together. A blush spread across her cheeks as she stammered, “M-my name is Fu Xinhan. I-I’ll become someone important in the future! I like Sister Wanqi Yu, and I want to be friends with her!”
Mo Shuangshuang secretly raised her eyes to look at them. There were too many people, and they were dressed almost identically, so she couldn’t tell which one was Wanqi Yu. However, she noticed that all the female cultivators wore peculiar expressions.
Siming slapped a hand against her forehead and said weakly, “Don’t go adding your own lines!”
Mo Shuangshuang immediately let out a startled “Ah!”
Had she said something wrong?
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