Chapter 014

After Zhaoxue returned home, she took a shower and then went to bed. She slept so deeply it was almost like being unconscious, her consciousness sank into complete darkness, and she had no dreams at all.

It wasn’t until she woke up that she felt terribly thirsty.

“Miss, here’s some water.”

A maid quickly handed her a cup of water.

Zhaoxue first moistened her throat, then slowly drank. The warm water flowed gently down her esophagus, bringing her a long-lost feeling of comfort and relief.

She twisted her sore neck and got out of bed. Just as she stood up, Zhaolan came in.

“Second sister, you’re awake!”

“I just took a nap.”

“You actually slept the entire day!”

Zhaolan came over and hugged her arm. “Oh my, you haven’t eaten all day, and you’ve lost so much weight, second sister!”

“That’s not that exaggerated…” Zhaoxue felt uncomfortable with Zhaolan’s affection and tried to pull her arm out of the embrace.

“I asked the maid to prepare some porridge for you. Would you like to drink some later?”

“Don’t I have to go to dinner?”

Zhaoxue looked outside at the sky, surprised. Before, when she didn’t want to attend dinner, she was always scolded for being impolite. This time, they actually allowed her to eat privately.

“Sister, your body is still recovering, and there are many people at dinner, it might feel stifling for you. Eating alone in your room is nice too—you can focus on your meal without others asking questions.”

“…Thank you.”

“It wasn’t my idea,” Zhaolan suddenly winked, “Mother allowed it today.”

“…”

Zhaoxue sat back down on the bed. “I understand. Zhaolan, you go eat dinner. I don’t mind being alone for a while.”

“I want to stay with you a little longer.”

Zhaolan pitifully hugged her arm, trying to linger.

“I want to be alone right now.”

Zhaoxue felt dizzy and heavy-headed. She had just woken up but felt uncomfortable all over. She had been hiding and doing physically exhausting work last night, and now her arms and legs ached.

Zhaolan slowly loosened her grip, seeming a bit disappointed. “Then I’ll go eat first. Second sister, rest well. I’ll come find you to play tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Tomorrow?

Play what?

The next day, Zhaoxue found out the answer.

Zhaolan pulled her out of the room, pushed her into the sunlight, and instructed her maid to bring her sword.

“Second sister, I heard you like sword dancing. Instead of just watching others, why not try it yourself? How about it?” The girl smiled brightly under the sun.

Zhaoxue: “?”

She hurriedly declined, “I can’t, Zhaolan…”

“Oh, how will you know if you don’t try?”

Zhaolan drew the sword, Splashing Snow, out of its sheath.

It was just a decorative sword, not very sharp—small, light, and exquisitely crafted. The blade looked as if it had been carefully carved, flowing like clouds and water, smooth and graceful like a dragon startled by the wind. In the perfect sunlight, it shimmered with dazzling streaks of light.

Zhaolan handed it to Zhaoxue. “Such a beautiful sword suits none better than our second sister!”

Zhaoxue couldn’t refuse and had to hold it. The hilt, having been held by Zhaolan, still felt warm.

“Come, I’ll teach you.”

Zhaolan eagerly demonstrated beside her.

“First like this, then—yes, raise your wrist a bit higher, and when you turn around, your speed should be faster… Wait, sister, you’re turning wrong! Move the joints, but don’t move your lower body!”

After half an hour, Zhaoxue was panting.

She shook her head, leaned on her knees, her lips pale: “I really can’t do it…”

Zhaolan patted her back comfortingly: “It’s okay, sister, it’s just your first time handling the sword, you’re still unfamiliar…”

Before she finished speaking, Zhaoxue’s face paled for a moment, and cold sweat dripped from her forehead. “Hiss—”

Zhaolan was startled. “What’s wrong, second sister, you…”

She pulled back Zhaoxue’s sleeve and found that, at some point, her wrist had been bumped and was swollen and bruised.

“Sprained.”

Zhaoxue shook her head, signaling not to worry.

“Second sister, I…”

Zhaolan moved her lips but only told the maid to get some medicine, then sat down beside Zhaoxue and lowered her head. “I’m sorry.”

“What does that have to do with you?”

Zhaoxue pulled her arm back and lowered her sleeve to cover the swollen bruise.

“It’s because I insisted on you learning sword dance that you got hurt.”

Zhaolan didn’t dare touch her again, she withdrew her hand and placed it on her own knee.

“Usually, people don’t sprain their wrists just from sword dancing, so don’t blame yourself too much. Anyway, Zhaolan, you can go back now. You don’t have to stay here all the time.”

Zhaoxue said this as she stood up and prepared to leave down the steps.

“Wait, second sister, I—”

Seeing her about to leave, Zhaolan quickly stood up, feeling a bit awkward. “I—I’ll come to your room later to apply medicine for you! Your sprained hand is your right one, it’s inconvenient to do it alone…”

“No need, I can manage on my own.”

“I really can help—”

“Zhaolan,”

Zhaoxue suddenly called her name, and the girl froze in place.

“I said, I can do it alone, okay? Let me be by myself. It’s such a small matter—I don’t need your help.”

Her voice suddenly took on a cold tone, becoming distant and unapproachable as if in front of outsiders.

“…”

Seeing Zhaolan’s expression, Zhaoxue felt a tightness in her chest.

This was exactly why people always said she was aloof and difficult. But she couldn’t be warm and gentle in this situation.

She was clearly a sickly person who couldn’t do anything right. Her younger sister was teaching her sword dance, and she couldn’t even complete the basics properly—she even hurt herself—and now her sister was worried enough to want to apply medicine for her…

She felt so useless and ashamed.

Covering her wrist, Zhaoxue turned away without looking at Zhaolan’s expression, climbed the steps one by one, and walked into her room.

A voice suddenly sounded from behind.

“Sis, do you remember when we were little? Back then, you taught me how to play chess just like this.”

Zhaoxue paused.

When Zhaolan was little…

“Mother is very busy today and not at home, so she can’t come to see you. Zhaolan, be good, big sister will teach you how to play chess.”

Round black chess pieces were placed into the little girl’s palm. Smooth and glossy, she looked at them in her hand, then suddenly stretched out her arm, trying to put one into her mouth.

“Wait, don’t eat that! Don’t eat! These are chess pieces, made of jade!” Little Zhaoxue quickly grabbed her sister’s wrist.

“Chess pieces?” The even smaller Zhaolan blinked her big round eyes, staring unblinkingly at the black piece in her hand.

“Yes, chess pieces. Big sister will teach you,” Little Zhaoxue sighed in relief when she saw Zhaolan no longer wanted to eat it. “The one in your hand is black. Black goes first, white goes second. You have to place the pieces on the intersections of the lines, right… don’t put it on the tengen first!”

“^[1]“Tengen” (天元) is a term from the board game Go (also called Weiqi in Chinese and Baduk in Korean). The Go board is a 19×19 grid. “Tengen” refers to the center point of … Continue readingTengen?”

Little Zhaolan pouted. “Big sister, I just want to put it right in the middle.”

“That’s okay… fine, I’ll keep teaching you. First here, then you put it here… the next step is to block the white pieces’ liberties, then you can capture them!”

—

Zhaoxue came back to herself.

Yes, when they were little, Zhaolan had always learned to read and play Go with her.

“—Since I was born, I never saw our eldest sister. You were the one who raised me, played with me, taught me to read, played chess with me, and folded paper kites for me. But later, after Mother took me away to practice immortal arts, our distance grew wider and wider.”

Zhaolan stepped onto the stairs, looking at Zhaoxue with a slightly low voice.

“I know, second sister, you can’t practice immortal arts, so I was always careful not to mention it in front of you. But gradually, you found new playmates… I really want us to go back to how things used to be, so I asked Mother if I could celebrate my birthday with you every year to bring us closer. You like the sword, but you don’t have a foundation and your health isn’t good. Last year, I chose a decorative sword with characters from your name as a gift. But in the end, I still can only watch the distance between us grow farther and farther…”

Zhaoxue tightened her grip on the Jianxue sword in her hand.

“Second sister, actually, I just wanted to use today’s chance to get closer to you. It’s better that you got hurt, and besides, we haven’t been this close for many years.”

Zhaolan lowered her head and spoke in a hoarse voice, “Big sister will still have plenty of time to spend with you in the future, but I might not see you again for a very long time. I will miss you a lot.”

Zhaoxue wiped her eyes and forced out a dry laugh, “What do you mean ‘won’t see’?”

“By the way, second sister, you don’t seem to know about this yet.”

Zhaolan hesitated, then explained, “Because didn’t you tell big sister you wanted to go exterminate demons together?”

“…”

“Mother agreed.”

“…”

“What kind of expression is that, second sister? Do you think I would lie to you?”

Zhaolan loudly protested, “Big sister talked with Mother for a long time. I even bent over outside the door trying to eavesdrop until my legs went numb! Although I didn’t hear much, big sister told me afterwards that Mother agreed. Even if you don’t trust me, you can’t not trust big sister, right?”

Zhaoxue felt her fingers clench tighter. “When did this happen?”

“During the time you were asleep.”

…That’s great.

What the system considered almost impossible to happen actually became real. Zhaoxue felt as if a heavy stone that had been hanging over her heart finally dropped. She breathed a sigh of relief.

If the system were still around now, it would definitely find this unbelievable and be shocked, wouldn’t it?

Zhaoxue couldn’t help but think.

But what does this have to do with what Zhaolan said?

Zhaoxue suddenly realized something.

She turned around just as Zhaolan spoke at the same time.

“—Second sister, aren’t you going to join big sister at the Hidden Sword Sect from now on? So, we might not be able to see each other anymore.”

What…

“Because on the morning of the Hidden Sword Sect’s selection, weren’t you in danger? I skipped the selection and quietly followed big sister to help rescue you,”

Zhaolan looked up at her and smiled sheepishly, her eyes curved happily, “Hehe, but in the end, I didn’t really help much.”

Zhaoxue was stunned.

“Wow, second sister, please don’t make that face! I went willingly. Although I won’t be able to go to the Hidden Sword Sect in the future, the day after tomorrow I still have the Heavenly Star Sect’s selection! With my talent, that’s a piece of cake, right? No matter which sect I join, I’ll definitely shine. So, second sister, please… don’t look at me like that, okay?”

Zhaolan glanced at her face, then lowered her head and slowly said:

“All along, I’ve never done anything for you, second sister, never helped you. That day, the things you said to big sister at the training ground—I heard them, and it really hurt my heart. To think you’ve been so unhappy staying at home, I’ve always wanted to do something for you. Besides, it’s just a small selection, right?”

“The Hidden Sword Sect and Heavenly Star Sect are different. You should know more than I do—the qualifications of the masters you can choose, and the resources you enjoy, are completely different. What’s more, big sister is at the Hidden Sword Sect. If you go there…”

“I know all that,”

Zhaolan said a little mysteriously, “So?”

“…”

“So should I ignore my own sister’s life and death just because of those things? You want me to watch you suffer alone in such a terrible place, and then calmly take the tests, serve tea, and accept masters?” Zhaolan widened her eyes and asked her.

Zhaoxue turned her face away.

Zhaolan took a deep breath. “Second sister, how unimportant do you think you are in our hearts?”

Zhaoxue had never thought about that question before.

After they grew up, they didn’t spend much time together. Zhaoxue thought that even if Zhaolan regarded her as a sister, she was definitely ranked far, far behind. First place would be big sister, second maybe mother, third perhaps father, then fourth, fifth…

Zhaoxue never wanted to think about these things before.

But today, Zhaolan suddenly asked her.

“We’re not actually biological sisters.”

Zhaolan widened her eyes, stunned for a moment, then her voice gradually softened, “After all these years growing up together, do you really think I would distance myself from you because of that?”

“I feel so sad, second sister.” Zhaolan lowered her head, her voice muffled.

“…”

“I don’t know how to fix our relationship. All I know is, we used to be very close, very close. But we’re about to be separated soon, so I thought, I might as well be honest with you now—big sister, in my heart, you are even more important than big sister. When I learned that you’ve been suffering all these years in the family, I felt so sad too—we live under the same roof, yet you’ve endured so much pain that I didn’t even know about.”

Zhaolan took a big step forward, grabbed her hand, sniffled, her eyes red,

“I really want to do something for you, like big sister does.”