180.2 – Savior
“Hey!” Qi Qiqi stomped her feet impatiently, “Have you ever used your brain?”
Shui Yun’er, who has been tidying up the room silently, chuckled and butted it to explain, “Simply put, Young Teacher, since you are regarded as a senior and play a critical role in the Martial World, in that case, it is not surprising that people would want to befriend you, right?”
“Ah, there’s still such a thing? Then wouldn’t that make me a big shot? Tsk tsk tsk, what a surprise!”
Xue Qilin has a smug look on her face.
“Ah–!”, a yell sounded. Qi Qiqi inserted her hands into her hair and scratched her head, vexed.
“Please! Can you be a bit more self-aware? From the moment you walked out of the Sword Mound, you are already a ‘big, shot’!”
“Oh…” Xue Qilin contemplated for a short while, and then spread her hands, “I don’t really get it.”
Shui Yun’er smiled unconcernedly and continued to sort out the mess in the room. Qi Qiqi put on a troubled expression and sighed in resignation.
“I really don’t know what to do with you. Whatever… hurry up and see who sent you the letter, okay?”
“Oh, right.”
Xue Qilin turned the letter around, but didn’t find the signature. The envelope only has a few words written on it — Attn: Merak Temple’s Xue Qilin.
“The signature is inside!”
“Huh?”
Xue Qilin suddenly saw the light.
Just when she was about to open the letter–
“Young Ancestor, er… do you need help?”
Gong Tianqing interrupted abruptly.
“What?”
At a loss, Xue Qilin stopped mid action and looked up in amazement.
“… with the room.”
Gong Tianqing pointed to Shui Yun’er, who has been silently arranging the room, with some expectation.
“Can I help Big Sister Shui…?”
I see, she wants to help me tidy up the room! Xue Qilin finally understood what Gong Tianqing meant. However, before Xue Qilin had time to think it over, Shui Yun’er has already tactfully declined Gong Tianqing’s good intention.
“Little Sister Gong, just let me do it.”
Shui Yun’er smiled and went on to say, embarrassed, “After all, since we were the ones who left this mess last night, we should take care of the aftermath. Therefore, how could we trouble you, Little Sister Gong?”
Probably because she feels a bit embarrassed, Qi Qiqi unnaturally combed her hair with her fingers and echoed Shui Yun’er’s sentiment, “That’s right. Qing’er… as the saying goes, one should answer for one’s mistakes oneself. Um–”
“Waah, I feel like I haven’t heard that phrase in a long time!”
Xue Qilin exclaimed and interrupted Qi Qiqi.
“But it seems like it doesn’t really fit this situation?”
“Qilin, shut up!”
Angry from embarrassment, Qi Qiqi flicked Xue Qilin’s forehead.
“Oh, ouch!”
Xue Qilin yelled in pain, then covered her forehead, muttered in a low voice, “I sternly protest against violence against lolis”, and looked at Qi Qiqi with accusing eyes from time to time.
Qi Qiqi, not paying attention to the aggrieved look on Xue Qilin’s face, continued to talk to Gong Tianqing.
“Little Qing, Isn’t your schedule full for today? You told me yesterday that you promised the Elder of Martial Guidance that you would go to the outer temple as a guest lecturer this morning. With the time for the lecture quickly approaching, do you have the time to help the Young Ancestor sort out her room?”
“But…” Gong Tianqing hesitated, and then uttered, “There is still some time before the lecture…”
“You’re right. But you should be there early to prepare. This is your first time giving a lecture on martial arts, so you must to do well. You don’t want for the disciples to be disappointed, right?”
Yes — Gong Tianqing nodded firmly.
Qi Qiqi showed a kind, motherly smile and stroked Gong Tianqing’s head.
“So be obedient. You are ‘needed’ there more, so hurry up and go.”
Gong Tianqing originally looked uncomfortable. But when she heard the word “needed”, her expression changed at once. She said, “I understand”, and then turned around and left without looking back.
Qi Qiqi watched Gong Tianqing’s back disappear behind the door with shiny eyes.
Then, she sighed swiftly.
“How worrying…” Qi Qiqi turned her gaze and found that Xue Qilin is watching her with a blank expression, “So annoying. What’s with your expression?”
The word “stupefied” probably refers to Xue Qilin’s current appearance. As if she has been frozen, she is staring at Qi Qiqi with wide eyes and wide open mouth, which could even fir a first.
“Little Seven, are you okay? Do you have a fever?”
Xue Qilin regained her senses abruptly, then touched Qi Qiqi’s forehead in order to measure her temperature. There is a mixture of worry and shock in her expression — well, mostly the latter.
“What!? I’m fine. How could I have a fever?”
Qi Qiqi rolled her eyes and helplessly pushed aside Xue Qilin’s hand.
“…wrong, something’s wrong.”
Xue Qilin rubbed her chin and mumbled.
“What’s wrong?”
After hearing Qi Qiqi’s question, Xue Qilin lifted her head vigorously, looked at Qi Qiqi with a wavering expression, and said hesitantly.
“How could our Little Seven put on such a motherly expression!”
“Hey, Xue Qilin, you are really infuriating! What’s wrong with me now?”
Qi Qiqi turned her head and snorted.
“Uh…”
I seem to have said something wrong… After finally realizing that she said something rude, Xue Qilin felt that she should coax Qi Qiqi. But she doesn’t know where to start momentarily, so she just stood there helplessly and anxiously.
At this time, Xue Qilin faintly heard Shui Yun’er’s snickering and realized that the other party is watching the show. Xue Qilin gave Shui Yun’er an accusatory look for not helping her to smooth things over.
Qi Qiqi, who saw this, was suddenly no longer in the mood to bicker with Xue Qilin. She sighed helplessly.
“Anyway, aren’t you going to read the letter?”
“Oh, right!” Xue Qilin patted her forehead, “I almost forgot!”
“I really don’t know what to say to you.”
“Then don’t say anything.”
Xue Qilin responded with a grin, then went to the bed, sat down, and proceeded to open the letter.
“By the way, Little Qing is really helpful.”
In Xue Qilin’s impression of Gong Tianqing, in addition to being gifted in handling all kinds of affairs, she is also willing to extend a helping hand to others. Others making requests goes without saying, but she even goes out of her own way to offer to help when she sees that someone is in need. In short, if she is needed somewhere, she will appear there.
Xue Qilin thinks that this is because Gong Tianqing is kind and helpful. But–
“That’s not it. Qilin, that’s not it.”
Qi Qiqi’s eyes dimmed.
At the time, Xue Qilin didn’t realize that Qi Qiqi’s tone contained endless sadness. At the time, her attention has completely shifted to the signature on the letter, so she didn’t notice Qi Qiqi’s expression and tone.
“What… it was written by Xihe.”
The name written at the place of signature is “Xihe”.
Xihe — ten days ago, the Sky Demon dubbed as Martial Demon Rebellion engineered a ploy by herself. Martial Demon Rebellion, who was once enemies with Xue Qilin, due to some strange fate, received help from Xue Qilin and thus became friends with her.
“She wrote you?”
Qi Qiqi is clearly also interested. She pulled her dress, sat down beside Xue Qilin, and put her delicate face next to Xue Qilin’s face.
There is only a short distance between the two.
However, Xue Qilin is not in the mood to let her imagination run wild, to think about whether the other party is too close.
“Yes…”
Is she okay? This thought drove Xue Qilin to make reading the letter her top priority. She focused all her attention on the graceful and elegant writing.
