My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion-Chapter 76 - 61 In an Instant, Flowers Scatter

At dusk, Chen Yi returned home.

Pushing open the door, Yin Tingxue wasn’t sitting in the hall as she usually did. Chen Yi glanced around, unable to find the girl’s figure.

A strange tightness gripped his heart, and he quickly walked towards the study, noticing the contract for his maid was missing from the table.

Had she finally escaped?

Unable to find her figure, Chen Yi felt a sense of loss.

A moment later, Chen Yi broke into a faint smile.

She finally escaped!

Chen Yi turned and walked out of the study.

He headed to the hall, just about to stride out through the door, but suddenly halted.

"...Are you looking for me?" a cautious voice of a girl came from behind.

Chen Yi turned his head to see Yin Tingxue carrying tea, taking small, careful steps towards him.

"Where did you go?"

Chen Yi asked.

"I brewed you some tea, here, drink up."

She held the tea high in front of him.

Chen Yi took the tea bowl, the color of the tea blend was harmonious, and he glanced at Yin Tingxue’s expression before drinking the tea.

The smooth tea flowed in, and as Chen Yi placed the bowl down, she took the bowl to leave, but Chen Yi wrapped an arm around her waist,

"Where did the contract on the table go?"

Yin Tingxue shivered, then looked up at him:

"I... I burned it."

"Oh, you wanted to escape? But halfway through, you thought of my return and had no time to flee, so you made me tea, afraid I’d pursue it... So many thoughts you have, little fox."

Chen Yi said slyly, pulling her closer.

Yin Tingxue didn’t resist him; instead, she nestled into his arms, timidly saying:

"... I won’t run away anymore. I didn’t touch anything else. I told you... I’ll always serve you."

Chen Yi looked at her in surprise,

"Then why did you..."

Yin Tingxue lowered her eyes, as if she didn’t know how to answer him, always being afraid of him, even trembling in her dreams.

Chen Yi wanted her, she understood, so she only burned the maid contract, touching nothing else,

She wanted to give Chen Yi a reason, a reason he could use her, and after using her, be kind enough to her.

Perhaps, this was also her last... bit of excessive resistance.

Holding her, Chen Yi spoke in a very calm tone:

"Not saying anything means you admit it. Even if you don’t actually want to run away, burning the contract counts as half an escape. Honestly, I’ve been waiting for this day, to take revenge, so you could have a good cry."

Yin Tingxue glanced at him, both shy and frightened.

"Tonight you just wait patiently, whether you don’t like me afterwards or hate me, what does it matter?"

Chen Yi teased.

Even while speaking such cruel words, he himself shivered a little.

To his surprise, Yin Tingxue quivered a few times but did not struggle, just nestled into his arms and replied softly,

"...Mm."

Chen Yi paused for a moment, she acknowledged it, she agreed to his shameless words about sharing a room with her.

"...The hairpin you bought for me, I saw it, it’s beautiful,"

Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke softly:

"I’ll try it later; then I can style my hair like my mother."

She spoke words of acceptance, yet her eyes brimmed with tears, indescribable grievance and sorrow.

"Mm... I’ll help you style it."

Chen Yi said as gently as possible.

After holding her for a while, she gently pushed away, took the tea bowl to wash, and after washing it, she went to the bedroom, seeing Chen Yi already sitting on the bed, smiling at her. She shivered, despair flickering in her eyes, yet she also smiled gently at him.

Just as Chen Yi was about to pull her in, Yin Tingxue poked at his clothes, softly saying:

"...Will you buy me a candied hawthorn skewer?"

"Candied hawthorn?" Chen Yi asked, puzzled.

"Mm, buy a candied hawthorn when you come back, then I’ll take a bath, you take a bath too, and then... we’ll share a room."

Yin Tingxue sounded afraid that he might refuse, her voice very soft.

Chen Yi thought for a moment, nodded, not questioning further.

Watching his figure fade away, Yin Tingxue took a deep breath, then buried her face in the bedding, curling up for a while before getting up to freshen up, a little dazed.

Mother always bought her a candied hawthorn when she was asked to do something unwillingly, as if bitter medicine was often paired with dried tangerine peel candied fruit.

Yin Tingxue wanted to eat a candied hawthorn, to bite into its crisp shell like before, savor its sweet and sour flavor. It couldn’t take away the bitterness of leaving the family, but at least when he kissed her... there might be a hint of sweetness.

This was just... a small comfort a girl consoled herself with facing the time of leaving home.

After freshening up, Chen Yi returned with the candied hawthorn, and Yin Tingxue carefully tasted the sweetness as she bit through the crispy shell. Crackling, she finally smiled happily.

She ate them one by one, and when Chen Yi returned from washing up, there were two left.

"Want one?"

Yin Tingxue offered the candied hawthorn, lowering her eyelids,

"Husband, let’s... have one each."

It was the first time she called him husband, and Chen Yi felt a tremor in his heart, pausing before smiling:

"What, trying to win me over?"

Chen Yi took one without hesitation, eating it slowly.

They finished the candied hawthorn almost simultaneously. Watching Yin Tingxue, Chen Yi began to breathe heavily, kissing her forehead.

"...Promise me... promise me three things."

Whether out of fear or another reason, her breath became rapid, but she still gathered the courage.

"Oh? What?" Chen Yi asked curiously, not as an inquiry but as a demand, "Speak."

Yin Tingxue gently raised a finger:

"In the future... don’t bully me."

"I won’t promise that."

The girl stiffened a little.

Chen Yi watched her playfully. freewēbnoveℓ.com

"Don’t humiliate me..."

The girl’s voice trembled.

"I won’t promise that either."

"Why... why won’t you promise anything? How can you be like this..."

Yin Tingxue gasped, her almond-shaped eyes brimming with tears, stammering.

"Because you’re my concubine."

Just one sentence silenced Yin Tingxue’s words.

Hearing this cruel statement, Yin Tingxue felt dazed, opening her mouth to speak but finding nothing to say.

She feared herself yet could only nuzzle close to his presence as submissively as possible.

This much, Chen Yi understood.

According to the laws of the Great Yu, a concubine belonged to her husband’s family, everything at his disposal, thus she had no right to set terms from the start.

"There’s still one thing, feel free to say it. Maybe in a good mood, I’d agree."

Seeing her tears welling up, Chen Yi couldn’t help speaking gently.

Yin Tingxue let out a soft "Mm", hesitated, took a deep breath, and pleaded:

"Don’t... don’t hurt me."

Chen Yi reached out, gently holding this anxious girl, his chin on her trembling shoulders,

"Don’t be afraid."

After a while, Chen Yi reached to undo her clothes.

Yin Tingxue was already absent-minded, cooperating in a detached manner.

The day of departure arrived, and thinking of this, Yin Tingxue’s mind went blank, dazed, tears streaming down uncontrollably.

In a haze, her thoughts drifted, as if returning to Yintai Temple, seeing her younger self perplexedly asking her mother the origin of her name.

"Mother, why did you give me this name?"

"Isn’t it nice?"

Her mother laid down the Buddhist Scripture, smiling at her.

"It’s nice... but why Tingxue? Why not catch snow or watch snow?... Listening to these... fleeting little white flowers?"

Watching the falling snow, she liked the name very much, yet she couldn’t understand the reason, looking at her mother in confusion.

"There’s Zen in it."

"What is Zen?"

"Snow is a momentary flower, you see it, only its appearance, you hold it in your hand, and you’ll realize it’s fleeting, but form is emptiness, emptiness is form, seeing the emptiness is not the emptiness, seeing the form is not the form, that’s Zen, it cannot be caught, cannot be seen, only listened to."

Her mother patiently explained to her.

"Mother... I don’t really understand..."

To her, those words were too profound.

"Then just remember, snow is a momentary flower... a momentary flower, momentary scattering."

Her mother spoke warmly, gently stroking her head. Meanwhile, the man on the bed was also gently stroking her. In her mind, her mother’s figure seemed to merge with his.

Yin Tingxue instinctively held him tightly.

"Oh, how beautiful."

She let out a small exclamation, just like when she was a child,

"Mother, snow... snow is a momentary flower."

Then, she grew quiet.

She once quietly listened to the snow fall, now she listened to the momentary flower scatter.

He came in...

That sounded like... the scattering of the momentary flower.

She heard it,

So this is... so sad!