The mistresses of the two sects had a close relationship. They knew what each other was like, and their backgrounds were suitable as well. Such a marriage was as good a match as possible; almost everyone called them a match made in heaven. However, the two involved felt otherwise.
Ever since he was born, Jin ZiXuan had been a moon worshipped by the stars. He was born fair-skinned and delicate. With a mark of vermilion on his forehead, along with his elite background and exceptional intelligence, he was loved by almost everyone he met. Madam Jin had brought him to Lotus Pier a couple of times. Neither Wei WuXian nor Jiang Cheng liked to play with him; only Jiang YanLi wanted to feed him the food that she made. Jin ZiXuan, however, didn’t really like to pay her any attention. This made Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng yell with anger in a few instances.
Back then, Wei WuXian stirred up trouble in the Cloud Recesses and wrecked the marital engagement between the Jin and the Jiang Sect. After returning to Lotus Pier, he apologized to Jiang YanLi, but Jiang YanLi didn’t say anything, only stroking his head. Thus, Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng both thought that the matter passed. To end the engagement would grant everyone satisfaction. However, the only understood afterward that Jiang YanLi must’ve been feeling quite dejected on the inside.
In the middle of the Sunshot Campaign, the YunmengJiang Sect had been to the Langya area to assist the LanlingJin Sect. Because they were short of hands, Jiang YanLi went to the battlefield along with them.
She knew that her cultivation wasn’t high, so she did what she could, busying herself with the meals of the cultivators. In the beginning, neither Wei WuXian nor Jiang Cheng agreed, but Jiang YanLi had always been adept at cooking. She felt happy, had good relationships with others, didn’t force herself either, and was actually quite safe, which was why the two didn’t find it such a bad idea.
Due to the difficult conditions, the meals were very bland. Jiang YanLi worried that her two brothers wouldn’t get used to the meals because of their usual luxuries, so she’d secretly make two extra bowls of soup for Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng. However, apart from her, nobody knew that she had been making an extra third bowl for Jin ZiXuan, who was also at Langya at the moment.
Jin ZiXuan didn’t know either. Although he really enjoyed the soup and felt grateful for the cook’s intentions, Jiang YanLi had never left her name. Nobody knew that another low level female cultivator had seen all of this. The cultivator was a servant of the LanlingJin Sect. Since her cultivation wasn’t high, she did the same job as Jiang YanLi did. She had fair looks and knew to take opportunities. Out of curiosity, she followed Jiang YanLi for a few times before she was able to guess what was going on. Keeping her composure, she loitered outside of Jin ZiXuan’s house after Jiang YanLi brought the soup, purposely letting Jiang ZiXuan see her shadow.
Jin ZiXuan had finally managed to catch the person, so of course he was going to ask questions. Cleverly, the woman never acknowledged anything, but instead denied it ambiguously, her cheeks flushed, making it sound as though she was the one who did it, but didn’t want Jin ZiXuan to know how much trouble she went through. And thus, Jin ZiXuan didn’t force her to admit it any longer. However, in action, he had began to respect the cultivator. He began to pay attention to her, even raising her from a servant to a guest cultivator. For a long time, Jiang YanLi didn’t realize that something was wrong. This went on until one day, after Jiang YanLi brought the soup, she ran into Jin ZiXuan, temporarily there to pick up a letter.
Naturally, Jin ZiXuan was going to ask what Jiang YanLi was doing in his room. Jiang YanLi didn’t dare say it in the beginning. However, hearing that his tone sounded more and more doubtful, no matter how anxious, she had to tell him the truth.
Yet, somebody had used this reason already.
One could easily guess what Jin ZiXuan’s reaction was after he heard this.
And so, right then and right there, he ‘exposed’ Jiang YanLi’s ‘lie’. Jiang YanLi hadn’t expected something like this to happen at all. She had never been the type of person to show off; not even many people knew that she was a daughter of the YunmengJiang Sect. In the short amount of time, she couldn’t find any strong evidence. She tried to protest, but the more she did, the more she felt cold at heart. In the end, stiffly, Jin ZiXuan told her, “Don’t think that just because you come from a powerful sect that you can steal and trample other people’s feelings. Some people, even if they come from poor backgrounds, their character are much better than the former’s. Please watch your conduct.”
Jiang YanLi could finally tell a few things from Jin ZiXuan’s words.
From the beginning, Jin ZiXuan had never believed that a maiden like her, born from a noble sect but had low cultivation, could do anything on the battlefield or help with anything at all. To put it simply, he thought that she just wanted to find a reason to approach him, that she was just here to add to the trouble.
Jin ZiXuan had never understood her, and hadn’t ever wanted to understand her either. Due to this, of course he wouldn’t believe her.
After he said a few harsh words to her, standing where she was, Jiang YanLi had burst into tears. When Wei WuXian returned, this happened to be the scene that he saw.
Although his shijie had an easy temper, except for how they cuddled and cried together the day the three of them reunited after Lotus Pier was destroyed, she hadn’t really shed many tears in front of others, much less cry so loudly, so pitifully in front of so many people. Wei WuXian was filled with panic. As he tried to ask her, Jiang YanLi was crying so badly that she couldn’t even speak properly. Then, when he saw Jin ZiXuan standing on the side, astonished, he fumed with anger, wondering to himself why it was the dog of a person again. With a kick, he pounced on Jin ZiXuan. The fight between the two would have alerted the Heavens. All of the cultivators around the base came to break up their fight. Amid the ruckus, he finally understood what was the cause of all this, and became even more angered. He spread his tough talk, saying that one day he’d definitely make Jin ZiXuan die in his hands, he told people to drag out the cultivator woman.
A round of questions later, the truth emerged, and Jin ZiXuan’s entire body was frozen. No matter how much Wei WuXian continued to curse at him, he returned neither words nor fists, his face dark. If not that Jiang YanLi held up her hand a while later, while Jiang Cheng and Jin GuangShan came to pull Wei WuXian away, it was likely that even now Jin ZiXuan wouldn’t be able to attend the hunt of Phoenix Mountain.
Afterward, although Jiang YanLi continued to work at Langya, she only did her own things. Not only did she stop bringing Jin ZiXuan soup, she wouldn’t even give him a proper look. Soon after, the crisis of Langya was solved, and Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng brought her back to Yunmeng. However, Jin ZiXuan, on the other hand, began to ask more and more about Jiang YanLi after the Sunshot Campaign ended, either out of guilt or having gone through Madam Jin’s scoldings.
Those who knew about this all said that it was only a misunderstanding. What was wrong now that it had been clarified? Yet, Wei WuXian didn’t feel the same way. He hated Jin ZiXuan to the extreme, who was to him a conceited male princess, an ostentatious peacock, a blind man who only looked at appearances. He didn’t at all believe that a narcissist like Jin ZiXuan could realize his mistake and suddenly take interest in Jiang YanLi. He’d probably been hurried and scolded too much by Madam Jin, and thus the reluctant completion of his tasks.