If it were an ordinary person who’d struggled through seven years of the apocalypse, who’d endured all that suffering, then returned to a peaceful, tranquil world, they’d probably choose to go back to their original life.
To follow their original path and quietly prepare for the apocalypse’s arrival, so they could live more smoothly once it came.
But Chen Jia’er, without even knowing whether Zengyue would come back, had sold off all her assets and gone straight to Sikun Mountain to find her.
Yang Zengyue wasn’t made of stone.
How could she not be moved? She just ached for this girl.
Her past life had been far too bitter.
Chen Jia’er, though, didn’t see it that way.
She felt that the reason she’d suffered all that was so she could meet her Sister Zengyue.
So she’d always been grateful. After coming back, she knew that if Yang Zengyue had returned too, she’d know what to do.
She’d surely build a farm.
That was something Yang Zengyue had once envisioned.
She, Chen Jia’er, had nothing.
All she had was money.
She knew Zengyue would definitely need funds to set up the farm she pictured.
She wanted to witness this farm’s birth with her own eyes, and then live on it together with her Sister Zengyue, spending a little apocalypse life completely unlike the one before.
Yang Zengyue could see how certain Chen Jia’er was, on that face still carrying a bit of baby fat, there was no confusion about the future. She heard her say, “No, the apocalypse will definitely come again.”
Before setting out for Sikun Mountain, Chen Jia’er had sold the ten apartments in her name, the storefronts, and the office building, keeping only some pretty, valuable jewelry.
She’d also sold the shares in the Chen family company left to her by her mother and grandfather to that scummy couple who’d long coveted them.
Anyway, in a few months all of it would be worthless, might even inexplicably vanish, holding onto it would be pointless.
Having dealt with everything, she’d taken her bank cards and a fortune and come to Sikun Mountain.
In her past life it was on the road back to Nanyuan that Zengyue had rescued her, and she’d heard Zengyue mention then her reason for returning to Sikun Mountain.
She remembered that clearly.
So the moment she got off the plane, she’d taken a taxi from the airport straight for her destination.
She hadn’t worried at all about whether Zengyue had come back, several of them had been granted this chance, so she didn’t believe Heaven would be so blind.
“Besides, I didn’t just sell those things, I sold them at a great price, thirty percent more than I expected, and I fleeced Su Baoxia clean too. So, Sister Zengyue, let’s give it our all, spend freely, don’t hold back!” With that Chen Jia’er grinned, waiting for Zengyue to praise her.
Listening to her quick, frank chatter, Yang Zengyue knew she’d certainly gotten the better end when handling all this.
Chen Jia’er was long past being the girl her stepmother could knead like putty.
Still, was it really a good thing for Chen Jia’er to be so decisive? Yang Zengyue nagged a few words.
But Chen Jia’er shot back, “Then how come you prepared so much construction material yourself?”
Wasn’t it the same idea?
She knew perfectly well what Zengyue would do before the apocalypse arrived, so she’d solved the funding problem for her, she was a thoughtful little sidekick!
Seeing through by Chen Jia’er, Yang Zengyue gave up being so weighty about it. “Remember the vision I once shared with you in my past life? Once I came back, I wanted to make it real, to build the farm on Sikun Mountain.”
From then on, she could live carefree with her master on this farm,
completely untroubled by the chaos of the apocalypse.
Chen Jia’er laughed. “Sister Zengyue, don’t you leave me out, now. Wherever you go, I go, don’t even think about driving me away!”
Yang Zengyue smiled and shook her head. “How would I dare drive away my little sidekick?”
Heh heh~
Chen Jia’er’s smile was a bit goofy. That was exactly how she’d introduced herself to Master Jiuxiao.
They talked at length, survivors of a catastrophe reunited.
When the two had reminisced their fill, Yang Zengyue told Chen Jia’er about running into Ren Xiyuan in Nanyuan.
“Sister Zengyue, you’re saying Brother Ren was a spy in our team?” Chen Jia’er said, brows furrowed.
Ren Xiyuan hadn’t talked much in the team, a very quiet person.
In battle, though he didn’t always charge at the front, he could be counted as brave.
And his strength ranked in the top ten of their team. Their team had thirty people in all,
every one of them top-tier.
“He must have had some dealings with the Bai family. Otherwise, why would he come making trouble for me the moment right after I clashed with Bai Jingyou? It doesn’t add up.” Since coming back she’d only traded a few jabs with Bai Jingyou, she hadn’t had contact with anyone else.
As for Yan Lingjun, she figured that, as her teacher, she wasn’t so idle as to probe into Yang Zengyue’s background. Whatever her reason for going through her file, it surely had to do with Master.
Yan Lingjun was highly suspicious too.
Now, with things calmed down, she’d thought through the matter of her going on exchange to another school in her past life.
It had been far too much of a coincidence.
Could someone have taken Master away while she was gone from Sikun Mountain?
After she returned to Sikun Mountain, she’d found many traces of people’s activity.
And Master had fought someone—
she’d found his usual weapon at Xingyun Temple, already nicked.
If he hadn’t been taken away, Master would never have left his sword behind.
Lost in her thoughts, Yang Zengyue was interrupted by Chen Jia’er. “I remember before we set out on that mission, Ren Xiyuan said he’d get married once he finished it. When we asked who the bride was, he only smiled.”
Yang Zengyue actually hadn’t known this. “He didn’t say who he was marrying?”
The doubts around Ren Xiyuan were mounting.
Chen Jia’er said, “Even though he was in the team, he never seemed truly close with Sister Yu, Brother Jiang, or the others.”
Chen Jia’er was the youngest, yet she’d been the first to follow at Yang Zengyue’s side.
In fact she knew a great deal about the team’s affairs.
In the Mid-Dimensional Realm, no one dared underestimate her.
And Ren Xiyuan telling only her about the marriage, was it a momentary slip of the tongue?
Yang Zengyue tucked the question away. “When summer break ends I’ll go back to Nanyuan once more. The business with those clans has to be cleared up, or it’s a ticking time bomb.”
Chen Jia’er nodded. “I’ll go to Nanyuan with Sister Zengyue.”
Yang Zengyue asked, “What about your studies?”
Chen Jia’er said indifferently, “I plan to apply for a leave of absence.”
She’d already handled it all, she’d even gotten a friend to procure a medical certificate of ill health and submitted it to the school.
Helpless, Yang Zengyue stretched out a slender, pretty index finger and tapped her forehead. “Alright, hurry off to sleep. We’re going up the mountain tomorrow.”
At that, Chen Jia’er grew excited again. She knew what going up the mountain meant, it was Zengyue’s holy ground.
She hurriedly asked what she should wear, whether there were any taboos, and so on.
Yang Zengyue told her patiently:
just ordinary clothes, light and easy to move in, don’t speak loudly on the mountain, and a few other taboos passed down from the older generations.
After that, each went to sleep.
In their dreams there were mountains and rivers, kin and friends, no more sorrow.
Only a long, drawn-out sigh remaining:
An immortal strokes my head, my hair bound, I receive eternal life. [1]a line from a Li Bai poem, the immortal’s touch grants long life jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2943106_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2943106_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
References[+]