After Becoming the Hero's Ex-fiancée

Let’s Be Friends (2)

The maiden’s slender body sank into the man’s wide white robes. Cui Wang leaned down and picked her up. A smooth and slender calf drooped down, flashing in and out of sight.
Zheng Wan leaned against him and listened to the beating of his heart.

For a while, the room was extremely quiet—so quiet that Ah Wan’s cheerful running duk duk duk could be heard in the distance.

Cui Wang put Zheng Wan on the long settee. Like a nimble fish in water, she burrowed under the soft coverlet in a flash, revealing a pair of black eyes that still shone with attachment.
“I’m a little tired, Cui Wang. Our agreement for the first day of the month—can it be put off till tomorrow?”

“…All right.”

“Then, wait until I fall asleep before you leave, okay?” she whispered. A hand that was hidden under the soft coverlet clutched him tightly.

Cui Wang nodded.

Only then did Zheng Wan close her eyes, reassured. After thinking for a moment, she opened them again.

“What is it?” Cui Wang asked.

“Cui Wang, when you finish dispelling the gu, the two of us…” Zheng Wan was thinking that he had started becoming really nice to her since yesterday, so maybe, he would agree to this request too. “Can we be friends?”

Cui Wang withdrew his hand, taking that trace of kindness along with it.
He looked at her expressionlessly, neither saying yes nor no.

The other shoe in Zheng Wan’s heart dropped.
The uneasiness that had arisen since yesterday receded like an ebbing tide. She thought to herself that this kind of Cui Wang who was cold and aloof was the Cui Wang she was familiar and felt at ease with.
That overly kind young swordsman was just an illusion.

She let her abundant tears well up, and reproached him half-heartedly, “Even Ming Yu can be your friend.”

“She’s not.”

Zheng Wan harumphed and turned her back to him.
“I don’t believe you. I heard you always look after of her.”

“She is Si Yi’s good friend,” said Cui Wang.

They had been with each other for a while, after all, and Zheng Wan instantly understood what Cui Wang meant. She quickly turned around and said in surprise, “So, you mean it’s because you think she is Li Siyi’s good friend that you treat her differently?

“No.”

No, as in he didn’t treat her differently?
Oh. Zheng Wan was suddenly happy. Whatever it was, Ming Yu being unhappy made her happy.

She patted the coverlet, “Alright. I’m going to sleep.”

Zheng Wan closed her eyes.

Cui Wang waited until her breathing became calm and even before he got up and left the warm pavilion.

Outside, the sun was already shining brightly in the sky. Ah Wan bounced over to him.
“Zhenjun, should I make some food for Zhenren?”

“Go and prepare it.”
Ah Wan bounced away to the kitchen.

“Where are you going?”
The old ancestor had been shut up for too long; the instant he was released, he saw that the scene around him was whizzing past him at an incredible speed, and he was dazed for quite a while.

When he saw a huge forest of green and golden bamboo, he let out a long “oh” and said, “So, it’s this place.”

“Little Wangwang, are you in a bad mood?”
This sullen great-grandson of his would find a place to practice swordsmanship whenever he was in a bad mood, and would not stop until he swings his sword about a million times.
However, as his cultivation level grew, many places were no longer suitable for him to practice. Only this green and golden bamboo forest was still sturdy and secluded enough.

“No.”

“You’re not in a bad mood, but you came here to practice swordsmanship?”
The old ancestor looked sadly at the bald bamboo——they were not fully grown back yet, but were about to be chopped off again.

Sword cultivation was not as glamorous as it appeared to be to outsiders. From sword Qi, sword intent, to the transformation of sword intent into form, in addition to understanding, every component was based on solid foundational skills. From the moment all sword cultivators stepped on the path of sword cultivation, they would need to constantly repeat practising basic sword techniques such as parrying, stabbing, slashing, and so on every day——
The mantra among sword cultivators was, “Everything is inseparable from its origin.” Even if one’s cultivation was at peak level, one would still need to repeat these basic skills every day.

It’s just that, in all of this old ancestor’s tens of thousands of years of sword cultivation, he had never seen anyone who was more diligent than this great-grandson of his.

When others brandished a thousand strokes of the sword, he would brandish five thousand.
When others brandished ten thousand strokes of the sword, he would brandish fifty thousand.
For example, in the training at the mountain range in the Western lands earlier, when others needed rest, his great-grandson never took any breaks. Didn’t he get tired? Naturally, he did, but he would never complain about being tired and would only seek to break through his limits.

Others all regarded him as a genius——
Of course, he was indeed a genius, but the sweat he shed and the hard work he put in had only ever increased and never became less.

“Take a break, take a break. Didn’t you always used to rest on the first and fifteenth days of the month?” The old ancestor wondered, “Did the little lady make you unhappy?”

“No.”

“No? Then, why are acting so crazy?”

“Stop, stop, stop! Stop training.”

Cui Wang turned a deaf ear to him and only stopped when the sun was setting.

His clothes were long drenched with sweat. Cui Wang cast a cleansing art over himself casually, then went to the house next to the bamboo forest to change into a white robe. When he came out, he didn’t leave, but sat at a round table for a little drink.

There was not a single leaf left in the green and golden bamboo forest, only bare stems standing jaggedly on the ground, creating a scene of destruction.

“You’re not going to see the little lady?”

“She’s sleeping.”

“Oh…” The old ancestor flopped down in his sea of consciousness, and his voice suddenly became indecent, “She must be tired.”

“Old ancestor.”

“Ohhhh okay, okay, this old ancestor will shut up. Now, are you willing to tell me what you were sulking about just now?”

Cui Wang was silent for a long time before saying, “She asked me if we could be friends after the gu is dispelled.”

“Oh, and then?”

“After the gu is dispelled, we would naturally return to our separate paths and go our own way.”

“So, what are you depressed about?”

Cui Wang pointed to his heart.
“But this gu keeps making waves when I’m not paying attention, making my heart so restless and not giving me a moment of peace.”

“……”

“But I’ve clearly been very obliging to it recently already.”

…Hah, this damned sweet love.
The old ancestor rolled his eyes and cursed secretly, “I—diot.”

The little idiot stood up.
“She’s going to wake up soon. It’s time for me to return.”