Chapter 55
Staring at Yu Sui's reply for a moment, Mei Liangyu laughed outright.
He picked the last apricot and asked Saint Chang Gen if Yu Sui had eaten all the apricots from the tree.
Saint Chang Gen replied: "Though she picked them, I didn't see her eat them all."
Mei Liangyu searched around the Saint Hall but didn't find any apricots Yu Sui had hidden. He sent her messages while returning to the dormitory to wash and change clothes.
He also summoned his friends to search for Junior Sister.
His friends opened sleepy eyes, saw Mei Liangyu's "searching for Junior Sister" message, then slapped their Wind-Listening Rulers back onto their beds, yawning as they closed their eyes to continue sleeping.
Yu Sui and Xue Mushi were currently sitting in a row at the Yin-Yang Five Elements Field, looking obediently attentive as they listened to Li Jin Shuang continue:
"Over these years, I've tried communicating with it many times, but it's been useless."
Yu Sui obediently raised her hand to ask: "Your sword spirit won't communicate with you?"
Li Jin Shuang's eyes showed momentary hesitation, but she finally shook her head honestly: "No, it seems to have given me hints... but I'm not sure."
She looked up, gazing at Yu Sui with confusion. Her originally calm eyes now seemed covered with a layer of mist, rarely abandoning that "coldness" to reveal deeply hidden vulnerability.
"What aren't you sure about?" Yu Sui asked gently.
Whether in tone or expression, the warmth and softness she conveyed were gradually making Li Jin Shuang lower her guard, venting her hard-to-suppress desire to confide.
"Not sure if what I understand is what the sword spirit wants." Li Jin Shuang kept her face tense, struggling to utter a few words: "It doesn't like me."
Xue Mushi scratched his head in confusion: "How could a sword spirit that lives symbiotically with its master not like you? But your sword spirit is special. Maybe you unintentionally did something wrong to it. Why don't you apologize to it?"
That was all he could think of.
Yu Sui rested her head on one hand, glancing at him: "This doesn't seem like something an apology could solve."
Xue Mushi was stumped, out of ideas.
"What it doesn't like is me, now, the me you see with your eyes." When Li Jin Shuang said this, her gaze was vacant, as if she didn't dare confirm the looks others gave her at this moment.
After hearing this, both Xue Mushi and Yu Sui couldn't help but examine Li Jin Shuang.
"Is there something wrong with her now?" Xue Mushi asked Yu Sui in a small, nervous voice, very afraid of saying the wrong thing.
Yu Sui also replied quietly: "Right now, the problems we see with her should be lack of rest, poor complexion, bad mood, and cross-dressing as a man."
Xue Mushi had a sudden realization.
Yu Sui tried to simplify the problem: "You mean your sword spirit doesn't like men and prefers women?"
Xue Mushi was shocked, amazed at this line of thinking he couldn't have come up with.
Li Jin Shuang silently accepted Yu Sui's words, nodding without sound.
The problem probably wasn't this simple, but for a brief summary, it could be explained this way.
Xue Mushi thought about it and said: "But you're already a woman."
Yu Sui continued simplifying the problem: "You're currently dressed as a man, so your sword spirit doesn't like you. By that logic, as long as you change back to women's clothing, won't it like you?"
Xue Mushi found this reasonable, nodding in agreement: "Very possible. Maybe it's your male clothing that made your sword spirit angry, so it's acting up like this."
Yu Sui thought Xue Mushi's cooperation was really good.
Li Jin Shuang still kept her face tense, not looking at either of them, head lowered as if extremely nervous, suppressing inexplicable fear in her heart, sweating profusely.
In a hoarse voice, she spoke words she had said countless times: "I am a man."
Previously, when others heard her say this, they would either mock or become angry.
Now Li Jin Shuang heard Yu Sui say: "You're not."
And Xue Mushi's obvious agreement: "Right, right, you're not."
Yu Sui's words carried some seriousness, but her tone remained gentle, like comforting a startled kitten: "If you like wearing men's clothing, then I have nothing to say."
She remembered what Blackbeard had said before about the Nanjing Li family's internal strife nearly wiping out the male lineage, while the matriarch grandmother who barely held the Li family together stubbornly maintained old-fashioned views, believing only the family's men could stand tall and bring honor and security to the clan.
Some elderly people's outdated concepts were very difficult to change, especially stubborn ones who held power and could manipulate you at will. Whatever they thought you should be, you could only follow their prescribed methods.
"Li Jin Shuang, wearing men's clothing doesn't make you a man, nor does it necessarily make you the family's honor, a representative of bravery, decisiveness, and composure. Women can accomplish these things too. They're not exclusive to men."
Yu Sui said unhurriedly: "Strength isn't divided by gender, but your power was born from a woman, not something a man can control."
Li Jin Shuang's sword-holding hand trembled as she slowly looked up at Yu Sui.
Yu Sui's gaze was calm, without much emotion, her words just casual conversation.
Looking at Xue Mushi again, he still appeared slow and dull, seeming to suddenly understand Yu Sui's meaning after a moment, nodding to show agreement.
Xue Mushi said: "I remember your Nanjing Kingdom's future heir is a Saint Maiden. Why does your family..."
Li Jin Shuang interrupted: "The Li family is different. The Li family only has women and children left, no men."
Yu Sui asked her: "Are there no men at all, or no boys with high talent?"
Li Jin Shuang opened her mouth but couldn't speak.
Yu Sui met her trembling eyes with a slight smile.
"So there are some, right?" Xue Mushi lightly touched his face, his tone somewhat wistful. "Then you're only disguised as a man because of family elders' orders, not voluntarily or by preference."
Li Jin Shuang lowered her eyelashes again, saying quietly: "His Majesty also dislikes the Li family. The more useless the current Li family is, the better. But Grandmother wants to restore past glory, under the current Emperor's nose, wanting to return to that splendid Li family of the past, second only to one, above all others."
Rather than saying Grandmother wanted to restore the Li family's honor, it was more accurate to say she had personally witnessed the deaths of her husband, children, and grandchildren, harboring resentment and unable to swallow that bitter pill, wanting to avenge them.
The current Nanjing Emperor was her enemy.
"I know what she wants to do. I think... now isn't the time. She's being too obvious. If this continues, the other surviving members of the Li family will all be in danger." Li Jin Shuang took a deep breath, saying with a tremor in her voice: "I'm willing to protect them. I'm willing to make myself like this, willing to be the person who guards the Li family."
The sky gradually brightened, morning bird songs were crisp, and the coolness slowly dissipated.
Yu Sui looked down at her Wind-Listening Ruler with continuous incoming messages. Senior Brother seemed to have finished his work and was asking where she was again.
"Protecting family is naturally right." Xue Mushi racked his brains: "What we're discussing doesn't seem to be this, but the sword spirit. If you want to protect the Li family, you need your sword spirit's power. Your talent is very good, your sword spirit is also very strong, stronger than any I've seen, and very special."
"Right, reconciling with your sword spirit doesn't conflict with your intention to protect the Li family." Yu Sui tapped character grids while replying to messages, not looking up: "It sounds like you actually realize how to reconcile with your sword spirit, but you can't accept it temporarily, unable to do it."
"What method?" Xue Mushi asked her.
"The simplest one: restore Li Jin Shuang's original appearance, use your most authentic self to negotiate with your sword spirit." Yu Sui's tone was light: "Take off men's clothing and put on women's clothing."
Xue Mushi turned to look at Li Jin Shuang and nodded: "Right, right."
Li Jin Shuang's expression was extremely strange, showing resistance mixed with fear: "I can't."
"Why can't you? This isn't Nanjing Kingdom, it's very far from Nanjing. Your grandmother can't come here, can't control you. Even if your grandmother knew, she has no way to come here and scold and beat you." Yu Sui smiled lightly: "The mountains are high and the emperor is far away. At Taiyi, you can dress however you want. No one can control you."
She looked up at Li Jin Shuang, seemingly blinking playfully: "In Qingyang I wouldn't dare show attitude to my parents, but now you could let me curse them however you want."
"Right, right, she's not having it easy either. She still has three brothers competing for succession." Xue Mushi said, then felt something was wrong and added: "It's four."
Li Jin Shuang was covered in sweat, her collar dampened, several strands of hair sticking to her skin after getting wet. Yu Sui and Xue Mushi's words at least made her feel less miserable.
When you feel embarrassed and painful, having people nearby who don't say cruel, cutting words brings incredibly strong comfort.
Perhaps she had never received such "kindness." A woman's gentle words and calm gaze also gave her momentary peace.
Li Jin Shuang remained silent, not knowing what to do.
Yu Sui knew Li Jin Shuang was too awkward to expect her to make decisions herself, so she spoke up: "If there's a problem, find a way to solve it. We can start by changing your appearance. If you're willing, after today's classes, I'll take you to the Outer City to try on clothes."
She smiled with curved eyes: "I'll buy them for you."
The sky brightened fully. Yu Sui stood up and said to Li Jin Shuang: "I'll send you a message then."
Xue Mushi also stood up, overjoyed that the problem was finally solved.
……
After washing up, Mei Liangyu changed into clean clothes, loosely wearing his long robe with his hair down as he sat in the rocking chair in his room, squinting at his Wind-Listening Ruler and asking Yu Sui where she was again.
His Wind-Listening Ruler continuously received new messages, but he didn't look at them, just staring at Yu Sui's message interface.
Soon he got a reply: "Senior Brother, are you angry about the apricots?"
Mei Liangyu smiled, tapping character grids to reply: "What do you think?"
Yu Sui: "A few days ago I was practicing control over Five Elements Energy and accidentally picked all the apricots from the tree. I couldn't eat them all, and was afraid they'd spoil if left alone, so I used them to make wine."
Only after she had almost picked them all did she remember Senior Brother had said to save some.
Mei Liangyu: "......"
Freshly made wine couldn't be drunk immediately.
Yu Sui replied again: "I also made apricot jam, apricot cakes, and candied apricots. They're on the table in my bedroom. If Senior Brother can't wait, you can go get them first. I'm about to go to class."
Mei Liangyu's gaze paused.
New messages quickly appeared: "The big bottle is apricot wine, the small jar is apricot jam, the food box contains apricot cakes and candied apricots."
"Senior Brother, it's getting hot. When you eat cooling water cakes and milk cakes, you can add some apricot jam with honey for flavor. It'll taste better."
"If Senior Brother really wants to eat apricots, I'll go to the Outer City later to buy some for you."
Mei Liangyu, who had been lazily curled up in his chair, gradually sat up straight as Yu Sui's messages arrived one by one.
More than being surprised that his seemingly innocent and pure Junior Sister actually had schemes and calculations, Mei Liangyu was amazed that Junior Sister could make apricots into so many different things.
Yu Sui unhurriedly tapped character grids to ask: "Senior Brother, are you still angry?"
Mei Liangyu laughed again, not angry at all.
What was there to be angry about?
He couldn't find anything to be angry about.
Mei Liangyu got up to tie his hair. After getting ready, he went out to Yu Sui's dormitory, asking her on the way: "Where are you going to class?"
"Ghost Way," Yu Sui replied. "This afternoon I'm going to School of Names and Medical School."
New disciples were busy, having to attend basic courses from every school.
Unlike Class A disciples who didn't need to worry about attending classes, except for necessary ones. Occasionally when Saints from various schools came to give lectures, Class A disciples would obediently go sit in the study halls.
Most of the time, Class A disciples relied almost entirely on self-study and various trials for cultivation, while helping maintain various low and mid-level trials and giving difficult problems to disciples below Class A.
Mei Liangyu knocked on the door. Shu Chujun came to answer.
She seemed to have been waiting for someone, knowing someone was coming, so she opened the door without any guard. Who knew it would be Mei Liangyu? She was momentarily stunned.
But Mei Liangyu didn't care, going straight to Yu Sui's bedroom, opening the door, closing the door.
Shu Chujun gasped in shock.
Xun Zhiya came out asking: "Who?"
"He, he, he..." Shu Chujun pointed at Yu Sui's room.
Mei Liangyu had a clear target, not glancing anywhere else, heading straight for the table Yu Sui had mentioned with bottles.
His gaze swept over the wine bottle, then he opened the jar with jam and smelled it, detecting the sweet and sour scent of fruit jam. Opening the food box, the candied apricots and apricot cakes were different shades, golden-yellow tinged with red, quite attractive colors.
Mei Liangyu messaged Yu Sui back: "Why doesn't your room have spell locks?"
Anyone could come in this way.
"No need," Yu Sui replied. "There's nothing worth taking in my room."
Mei Liangyu: "......"
Even without deliberately looking, weren't there valuable things everywhere in this room?
Mei Liangyu glanced at the open jewelry box on the vanity table with its sparkling contents, then at Yu Sui's message, finding it amusing.
Another door opening sound came from outside. Shu Chujun saw Gu Qian and Ji Meng standing at the entrance and immediately whispered: "Mei Liangyu is inside."
Gu Qian stopped. Ji Meng said incredulously: "How is he here? What's he doing?"
"As soon as he came, he went into Nangong Sui's room. How would I know what he's doing?" Shu Chujun said helplessly.
Hearing this, Gu Qian's face darkened. He strode forward, wanting to drag Mei Liangyu out of Yu Sui's room.
As he approached the door, Mei Liangyu came out carrying a food box, seeing the people standing outside. He raised an eyebrow slightly, holding his Wind-Listening Ruler in one hand, unhurriedly messaging Yu Sui: "Your Brother Gu is here too."