Chapter 378: Repressed

While Ye Wenxin was frowning slightly, Gu Xiangsi moved in closer, hugging her from behind. She rubbed her face against Ye Wenxin’s a few times and continued to ask, “Sis, they didn’t make things difficult for you, did they?”

Seeing that the peach blossom chains weren’t affecting Gu Xiangsi, Ye Wenxin naturally didn’t mind her actions and nodded lightly. “Of course not.”

Gu Xiangsi sighed with relief and noticed that Ye Wenxin had already finished changing her clothes. She had to pull back her greedy gaze and help Ye Wenxin comb her hair. In just a short while, Ye Wenxin was done grooming, and followed Gu Xiangsi outside. Although she had only been in that formation for ten days, Ye Wenxin felt as if she had truly experienced ten years in a daze.

They sat by the entrance for a moment until Abbess Jiunan appeared, dressed in casual clothes. “Benefactor Wenxin, you’re already up.” She was quite surprised to see Ye Wenxin sitting in the courtyard.

Ye Wenxin was more astonished to see Abbess Jiunan in casual attire. However, it must be said that she had only dressed up slightly, and was indeed a stunning beauty. The bright apricot-yellow outfit seemed slightly at odds with her usual abbess persona.

“Mm, can’t sleep anymore, so I decided to sit out here for a while.” Ye Wenxin subconsciously made a grabbing motion, but as she did it, she realized she was no longer inside the Bright Mirror Formation. No matter how she tried to grab, there was no book within reach.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, she quickly grabbed the teacup on the table instead. Abbess Jiunan looked at her and smiled subtly. Outside the Bright Mirror Formation, she had regained her elegance and charm. Even though she had become a nun, she still carried an innate noble air about her.

Abbess Jiunan shouldn’t be a member of the Golden Age Dynasty’s royalty. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have ended up having to become a nun. Ye Wenxin was quite curious about Abbess Jiunan’s identity, yet she only found those eyes gently smiling at her, as Abbess Jiunan naturally picked up the teapot and poured tea for her.

Although they had only interacted for ten days in reality, in the time that had passed inside the Bright Mirror Formation, they could be considered book friends for ten years. Ye Wenxin’s mind was still filled with various scriptures, so seeing Abbess Jiunan had triggered a conditioned reflex.

The scriptures in her brain had converged, and completely integrated into her memory. It seemed the formation also made one develop an eidetic memory. The benefits outweighed the drawbacks, but Ye Wenxin found that she couldn’t sit still now. She took out a medical book from her bag of holding, feeling that her hands seemed empty if she didn’t grasp something.

“Why did you suddenly start reading, Sis? Abbess Jiunan is still here,” said Gu Xiangsi, surprised by Ye Wenxin’s impolite behavior of reading directly in front of the abbess. She couldn’t understand how, after just ten days, Ye Wenxin had become more composed, yet developed quirks she didn’t have before.

“It’s fine, she had been repressed inside, after all.” Abbess Jiunan smiled, revealing a hint of admiration. The more she looked at Ye Wenxin, the more she wanted to take her in as a closed-door disciple.

However, considering what she had learned these days about Ye Wenxin’s character and her loose lifestyle, Abbess Jiunan decided to take it slow. They had already spent ten years together; in twenty or thirty years, Ye Wenxin would surely relent.

If she could truly endure this period, it would prove that she was destined for the Southern Dipper Temple, and should enter the monastic life. Plans swirled in Abbess Jiunan’s mind as she looked at Ye Wenxin, full of smiles.

The younger Gu Xiangsi noticed how Abbess Jiunan was staring at Ye Wenxin. She remembered Jin Xiaoqin’s urging before she descended the mountain, so she continued to ask, “Repressed? Weren’t you supposed to be cultivating and nurturing yourself?”

Ye Wenxin didn’t stop turning the pages. She thought about the two Yin-Yang ghosts, who were still lying limp in bed, and continued, “Right, that’s what I did.”

What she meant was entirely different from what Gu Xiangsi imagined, but Gu Xiangsi couldn’t comprehend the actual implication, while Abbess Jiunan, as a nun, naturally had no clue what part of Ye Wenxin was so repressed.

However, after suffering inside the formation, Abbess Jiunan would feel a wave of nausea whenever a book was in sight. She instinctively averted her gaze and continued, “The moonlight is just right tonight. I wonder if I have the honor of inviting Benefactor Wenxin for a stroll in the city.”

Ye Wenxin stopped flipping through the book, finally understanding why Abbess Jiunan had changed into casual clothes. It turned out she wanted to have some fun after being cooped up in the Bright Mirror Formation.

But at this moment, books were far more alluring than an elegant, top-class beauty like the abbess. Just as she was about to decline, Gu Xiangsi, hearing that they could go out to play, eagerly answered on Ye Wenxin’s behalf.

“Let’s go for that stroll, Sis. I also feel repressed.”

Different meanings of ‘repressed¹’ filled the air. When Gu Xiangsi was tugging on Ye Wenxin’s arm, the soft, fragrant temptation was especially evident. Ye Wenxin silently recited a few more lines of sutras before saying, “Alright, let’s go for a walk nearby.”

Gu Xiangsi was overjoyed and, as usual, gave Ye Wenxin a kiss on the cheek. “I knew you were the best, Sis! I’ll go call Cuihua over now!”

With that, she took off running. Ye Wenxin almost forgot about their tag-along, Wang Cuihua. She had wanted to stop Gu Xiangsi from calling her over, but Gu Xiangsi had already run off, and it was too late to chase after her. Ye Wenxin simply picked up the nearby teacup and took another small sip, only to see a strange expression on Abbess Jiunan’s face.

“Is there something wrong, Abbess?”

“Benefactor Wenxin, surnamed Ye, I wonder what your relationship is with Benefactor Xiangsi, surnamed Gu?” Abbess Jiunan asked directly, not mincing words.

Ye Wenxin suddenly realized something. She recalled the rumor that had circulated in the Azure Wings Sect after the secret realm about her having two lovers at the same time—one was Jin Xiaoqin, and the other was Gu Xiangsi, who came to her room every day to report.

Abbess Jiunan naturally did her research as part of her plan to get back the umbrella sword, so it was normal for her to know about these messy affairs. Faced with Abbess Jiunan’s question, Ye Wenxin explained, “We hit it off at first sight, so she calls me Sis, and I treat her like a younger sister.”

Abbess Jiunan nodded before asking, “Then do you have a Dao companion, Benefactor Wenxin?”

Ye Wenxin began to feel something amiss with the atmosphere, as if she was back in the fatal three-question interrogation when meeting relatives. If she said she had a Dao companion, Abbess Jiunan would definitely ask who it was, their cultivation level, and monthly salary—the typical nosy questions.

If she said no, maybe Abbess Jiunan would introduce all her relatives and friends to Ye Wenxin.

But she quickly dismissed this idea. Ye Wenxin suddenly remembered that although Abbess Jiunan had hair, she was still a nun, so she simply said, “Never had one.”

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Footnotes:

1. 1. There’s a double meaning to the Chinese term 憋坏 (repressed). One is along the lines of feeling stifled, suffocated, or cooped up. The other would be sexually frustrated. Doesn’t translate well in English. ↩︎