Title: Did We Agree To Be Arch-Rivals?
Original Title: 说好成为彼此的宿敌呢[穿书]
Author: 轻风白杨 (Qingfeng Baiyang)
Translated by: ~PurpleLy~
“Fan Er! You stop right now!”
“I won’t!”
“Return my hairpin; otherwise, I’ll go to Li shijie to settle this!”
“Wintersweet flowers are so beautiful, why can’t they be used to adorn your hair?”
“ —You’re horrible!”
Xu Yunzhan took a slow sip of hot tea, turned his head, and looked up with a faint smile at the two people chasing each other using light footwork on the treetops outside the pavilion.
Gu Feidi, who was sitting across from him, picked up the kettle from atop the small stove, poured tea into his cup and laughed: “In the past six months, Lingyun and Fan Xi have become more familiar with each other.”
Xu Yunzhan said, “Lingyun is still like a child. Her temper isn’t good. Although Fan Xi always provokes her and gets her angry, Li shijie said that when it’s time to be serious, he would always take care of her. In fact, Lingyun… she probably wouldn’t be quarrelling with him like this if she truly hates him.”
Gu Feidi said, “She loves excitement and vivacity. When you and I go into seclusion a lot, she can’t find any playmates, so when she and Fan Xi are in the courtyard with Li shijie, they’ll naturally become friendlier.”
Xu Yunzhan paused with the cup in his hand and smiled: “You’re not worried about Lingyun being friendly with that guy?”
Gu Feidi said, “Although the Qinglian Sect is both righteous and evil, Fan Xi is not a villain if he can enter Lesser Jade House. If Lingyun is friendly with him, there’s nothing for me to worry about.”
Xu Yunzhan sighed when he heard the words: “My aunt and uncle passed away too soon, leaving Lingyun alone. At the beginning, my mother advocated sending Lingyun to Tengyun Pavilion instead of staying in Qianfeng Villa. Bearing in mind that her physique is not suitable for studying heavy swords, shouldn’t you be able to roughly speculate what the other motive is?”
Gu Feidi smiled: “If I can guess it, then I can guess it, but… I only see and treat her as my younger sister.”
Xu Yunzhan also smiled: “I believe Lingyun also treats you as an older brother. She’s at the age of having her initial experience with love. If she likes you, she’d see you in a different light. Nonetheless… after leaving Lesser Jade House, Lingyun’s marriage cannot be delayed. If Leader Gu has that intention, I am afraid he will also push for her—”
Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a figure in a goose-yellow outfit rushing in from outside the pavilion.
“It’s infuriating me to death!”
Pu Lingyun had been chasing Fan Xi for a long while without success. She landed in the pavilion, grabbed the teacup in front of Xu Yunzhan, gulped it down, and slammed the cup onto the table: “He snatched away my hairpin, but biao ge and xiao shixiong won’t help me either!”
Xu Yunzhan smiled: “Both of you study nimble and dexterous techniques, plus your light footwork skills are much better compared to mine. How am I supposed to help you?”
Pu Lingyun turned her head angrily and glared at Gu Feidi. “What about xiao shixiong? Xiao shixiong has achieved great success in cultivating Restoration Scripture, and your light footwork is much better than Fan Er’s. Why won’t you help me either?!”
Gu Feidi glanced at Pu Lingyun and said, “A wintersweet flower works better than a hairpin as an accessory. It complements your yellow outfit very well and also emits a delicate floral fragrance.”
Pu Lingyun raged: “Xiao shixiong, you’re actually speaking on that guy’s behalf!”
Gu Feidi laughed, “If you’re really dissatisfied with the spray of flowers, then take it off. How am I supposed to know?”
Pu Lingyun opened her mouth but was unable to refute, so she crossly sulked and ignored Gu Feidi.
All of a sudden, Xu Yunzhan startled: “Ah, how come some of the flowers on the sprig have fallen off?”
Pu Lingyun was shocked and straightaway raised her hand to feel it anxiously: “What? I’ve deliberately used internal force to protect—”
Seeing Xu Yunzhan’s mischievous look, her face instantly turned bright red: “Biao ge—you! You’re completely annoying!”
After that, she turned around and used light footwork to flee the pavilion to who knows where.
The two youngsters in the pavilion laughed as they looked at each other helplessly.
Xu Yunzhan said: “Speaking of which, Su Yang has been in seclusion since entering the House. It’s indeed surprising not to see him during the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Double Ninth Festival. If word gets out, surely no one would believe that the reckless, impetuous, and violent Devil Sect’s Young Saint could be so diligent.”
Gu Feidi was silent for a moment and hesitated: “He’s… probably not diligent.”
Xu Yunzhan was puzzled: “What makes you say that?”
Gu Feidi lowered his eyelashes, stared at the cup of tea, and only spoke after a while: “I always feel that he seems to be overly anxious, as if he’s fighting against time. It’s almost as if something bad might happen if he cannot achieve a breakthrough within a few years. He trains martial arts and techniques, only resting less than four hours a day. It’s been like this for the past six months.”
Xu Yunzhan frowned: “What’s so important that he’s to work himself to the ground and wrestle against time?”
Gu Feidi shook his head without answering, but his eyes gradually dimmed, and he was clearly a little distracted.
Both of them remained quiet when, presently, an emerald-green bird flew in from a distance with a fiery red hairband, in its beak.
The hairband trailed along, gliding like a wisp of cloud. It was a wonder how the dainty, little bird managed to fly so fast while carrying it in its beak.
The little bird dived towards Gu Feidi’s arms and released the hairband. It then flipped over, flapped its wings, and flew away again.
Gu Feidi retrieved the fallen hairband in bewilderment, instantly recalled something, and his fingers tightened slightly.
In the distance, a figure with dishevelled hair and dressed in a dark red outfit rushed forward.
Even without the wide-sleeved robes of the Devil Sect attire, the movements of the Prized Flower Steps were light, spirited, and still resembled an immortal’s.
Su Yang witnessed the emerald-green bird flick his hairband to Gu Feidi and couldn’t help rolling his eyes discreetly.
He murmured in his heart: Miserable Shizun, save it! There’s no way I’m going to forgo my destiny with Gu Feidi just because of your petty actions! I’m still waiting for him to stab me with his sword and send me back to reality!
It was practically impossible to miss seeing him while living together in Zhichun Garden, but now when encountering him outside, it would be better to ignore him as much as possible.
Xu Yunzhan watched Su Yang walk into the pavilion: “We were just talking about you, but we didn’t expect that you had actually exited seclusion.”
Su Yang kept a straight face, grabbed his hairband from Gu Feidi’s hands, and snorted coldly: “What business is it of yours whether I’ve come out of seclusion or not?”
He turned to leave without tying his hair.
“Since you’re already here, why don’t you sit down and have a cup of tea?” said Xu Yunzhan.
“No thanks.” Su Yang put on his airs, curled his mouth, and gave a repulsive look. “This Young Saint doesn’t drink anything except Wuyinfeng white tea.”
After he finished speaking, he really didn’t want to hang around, so he left using his light footwork.
Xu Yunzhan was miffed but still found it laughable: “As expected, he’s been spoiled and pampered! All etiquette and protocols.”
Gu Feidi cut in: “I’ve seen him scoop up cold water from the vat in Zhichun Garden and drink it directly.”
Xu Yunzhan was surprised: “Really?”
He spoke again: “Then he was shunning us and not the tea!”
Gu Feidi replied, “Perhaps.”
“You’ve spent half a year with him in Zhichun Garden; has he been treating you so coldly all this while?” Xu Yunzhan asked.
“More or less.” Gu Feidi gently turned the teacup in his hand and said, “Only at the very beginning, when I helped him read aloud the mental cultivation methodology scriptures, he was willing to say a few more words to me. Later, when he became familiar with the ancient records and I started to practice Return To The Nest volume, we rarely saw each other.”
“Tsk, tsk, you’ve clearly been used by him.” Xu Yunzhan shook his head and sighed, “And he casts you aside after using you, with no gratitude in his heart! Those from the Devil Sect really act arbitrarily.”
Gu Feidi gave a light laugh: “All right, let’s not speak of him.”
.…..
Su Yang casually tied a ponytail with the hairband as he walked downthe road.
He’d been chasing the mischievous little green bird, but it was actually the first time he’d walked around on the peak of Lesser Jade House. There were unfamiliar scenes everywhere. A thin layer of snow had fallen yesterday, and it was a clear day again today. There was still some residual snow left on the grass and bushes, but it had all already melted from the stone steps on the mountain road.
Su Yang followed the mountain path to a platform where a small, four-cornered pavilion had been built. Seeing that there was no one in the pavilion, he walked in.
This pavilion stood on the edge of a high cliff, and one could see a pond below. The pond was rather large, and the rocks on its edges were jagged. There was a waterfall gushing out of the high caves, which had since been completely frozen during these nine cold winters. The ice waterfall was connected to the ice surface of the pond, and in the sunlight, it looked as if it had been exquisitely carved.
Su Yang sat on the edge of the pavilion, staring at the ice waterfall in a daze.
—He doesn’t know what he should do.
Since entering Lesser Jade House, he almost immediately began seclusion, practicing martial arts, training swordsmanship, and studying ancient Chinese. In just six months, he’d cultivated these habits, and all this had become his life. It only took him two months from the time he could not understand the mental cultivation methodology to him being able to study Nine Cold Surging Shoots technique by himself. Soon afterwards, he’d broken through the first and second levels of the cold technique.
As of now, he was ready to start the third volume of that set of books.
Then yesterday evening, he’d suddenly received a letter from the emerald-green bird.
Di Ling followed the order, confiscated his book, and forced the jade bell back into his hand, saying that she would not bring him food until after the fifteenth of the first lunar month.
Su Yang made some calculations in his head. Currently it was only the middle of the twelfth lunar month and it would be another month before he could resume his previous routine and continue training.
But he really didn’t know what else he could do in Lesser Jade House besides practise martial arts.
He’d entered Lesser Jade House by mistake. Of course, he had to minimise his existence and hope that it might not affect the development of the plot.
“Young Saint—!”
An exclamation sounded from behind him. Before Su Yang could turn his head, someone had ploughed into him, and he was knocked heavily onto the railing of the pavilion. It almost made him throw up blood.
Fan Xi laughed loudly and extended his hand to pull him up. “You’re finally willing to come out of seclusion! I haven’t seen you in half a year and missed you to death!”
Su Yang rubbed the sore ribs, turned his head, and said with a stern face, “Hey! Have some self-awareness. How’s this gonna look? You hugging and cuddling!”
Fan Xi snorted and said, “You and Gu Feidi have been living together for half a year, and you’ve become an old fogey?”
As he was speaking, his expression abruptly changed, and he frowned, “Why did you cut your hair?”
Su Yang’s long hair was originally hanging down to his waist and hips, but now with his ponytail, it barely touched his neck.
When he’d first transmigrated, he’d assumed because it was a historical setting, not everyone would be willing to ruin their hair and skin. But later he discovered that it was not the case. Having said that, they were very particular and placed importance on selecting proper auspicious dates for haircuts—more so than during modern times.
So he happily sought out Di Ling, chose a date, and cut the burden short.
“Your new look is quite a big difference from what you originally looked like.”
Fan Xi took two steps back and eyed Su Yang with his arms folded.
A moment later, he smiled: “This look is good too, full of vigour, more spirited and manlier than before.”
The author has something to say:
This transition chapter had made you bald_(:з」∠)_I
The storyline feels redundant no matter how I write it, so I’ve finally decided to immediately progress forward… We’ll start to enter the key plots in the next chapter QwQ