The Cat That Steals Fish

Bang!

“Senior Brother! I—”

Just at that moment! The door was slammed open by a powerful force! Gan Tang burst in like a whirlwind, her voice as cheerful as a little bird released from its cage: “Senior Brother! I…”

The moment she saw the scene inside the room, her words were cut off as if by a sharp blade, getting stuck in her throat.

Her gaze was fixed on the dazzling red figure hanging on her Senior Brother’s arm!

Shangguan Yunzhu, like a startled rabbit, shot away from Lu Qiancha’s side with a swoosh, instantly sitting upright in a nearby chair, a barely perceptible blush on her cheeks.

“Hmph… a sly fox…”

Gan Tang’s mouth opened slightly, her cheeks puffed out, and her clear eyes narrowed dangerously, like a small bird whose territory had been invaded.

‘Wait, she looks like… that person who went on the expedition to Beiju Luzhou with my Senior Brother.’

‘Senior Brother even smiled at her back then.’

Gan Tang’s heart skipped a beat.

‘Oh no, could my home be getting stolen?!’

“Gan Tang, what did you come looking for me for?”

Looking at the finally well-behaved Shangguan Yunzhu, Lu Qiancha silently breathed a sigh of relief.

Just now, Shangguan Yunzhu had been rubbing and hugging her, making her ears feel itchy…

It made her particularly want to scratch them with her paws…

“Senior Brother!”

Gan Tang, as if finding her pillar of support, ignored Shangguan Yunzhu next to her and strode forward. She threw her arms around Lu Qiancha’s right arm, hanging onto him.

Then—

Buzz!

A warm and clear aura suddenly erupted from within her.

The cultivation of a peak Nascent Soul was clear for all to see.

She tilted her little face up, her eyes filled with an undisguised plea for praise: “I broke through!”

Lu Qiancha was slightly taken aback.

She looked at her junior sister’s clumsy yet sincere show of off.

The deliberate coldness in Lu Qiancha’s eyes suddenly melted, like a frozen lake thawing, filled with the gentle warmth of spring water.

She naturally lifted her other paw and placed it on Gan Tang’s soft hair, gently ruffling it.

The warm touch of her fingertips was transmitted through the strands of hair. Her voice of praise was filled with a genuine smile: “Yes, you did great.”

The warm fragrance in the room had not yet dissipated.

But Shangguan Yunzhu’s gaze was as if pricked by an invisible needle, fixed on the two of them in an embrace.

The air seemed to thicken slightly in an instant.

She felt like a glaringly bright spirit stone lamp at this moment.

She couldn’t sit, and she couldn’t stand.

Every second felt like being roasted over a fire.

An indescribable sourness and disappointment welled up from the depths of her heart, suffocating her so much that she could barely breathe.

Forget it.

A forced melon is not sweet. Staying here any longer would only lead to more embarrassment.

She took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil of her emotions, and made a proper bow to Lu Qiancha, who had a warm and soft jade-like figure in his arms: “Senior Brother… this junior sister still has important matters to attend to and will not disturb you any longer. I will take my leave now…”

Shangguan Yunzhu tried to keep her voice steady, but it still betrayed a hint of an imperceptible dryness.

“Mm, take care, Junior Sister.”

Lu Qiancha nodded casually, her response calm and even a little absent-minded.

That attitude was like a bucket of cold water, completely extinguishing the last faint spark in Shangguan Yunzhu’s heart.

She said no more, turned around, and almost fled from this courtyard that made it difficult for her to breathe. The bright red figure disappeared outside the courtyard gate very quickly.

With the person gone, Gan Tang immediately put her hands on her hips, like a little cat whose territory had been invaded, bristling as she addressed Lu Qiancha, who was leisurely sipping tea: “Senior Brother! Confess! What did that… that Senior Sister want from you?!”

“What, are you jealous?”

Lu Qiancha finally looked up, a hint of a teasing smile in her eyes.

“Hmph… who would be jealous!”

Gan Tang’s momentum faltered under that smiling gaze. Her little face turned slightly red, and she looked away, speaking toughly.

But before the words had left her mouth, she met her senior brother’s increasingly understanding and gentle gaze…

Her small fortress of stubbornness crumbled.

Gan Tang’s shoulders slumped, her mouth pouting, and she admitted in a small, awkward, and resigned voice, “Alright… yes… just a tiny bit, just a tiny bit!”

She even deliberately held up two fingers to show the distance of “a tiny bit.”

“Heh.” Lu Qiancha let out a short, bright laugh, shook her head, and put down her teacup. Her tone was calm, without any ripples: “She was just… following proper etiquette, coming to express her thanks. Thanking me for saving her life during the trip to Beiju Luzhou.”

“Oh…” The small, tightly wound heart in Gan Tang’s chest finally settled, and her tense lips quietly curved upwards. “So that’s it…”

“You were so close just now! I almost thought…”

“That you, Senior Brother, were going to be abducted by that kind of bad woman! That you would run away with her and completely abandon me, your pitiful, weak, and helpless junior sister, and our lonely master who can only drink alone under the moon in his old age, leaving us to be the abandoned old folks of Tianquan Peak! Woo woo woo—!”

At the end, Gan Tang even wiped away non-existent tears with the back of her hand.

“Gan Tang!”

The last trace of a smile on Lu Qiancha’s lips instantly froze!

A dangerous light in her eyes was like a drawn cold blade. She silently took out a bottle of a milky-white, unknown potion…

“Senior Brother, wait, what are you doing?!”

“Wah, no!”

Instantly, the south wing was thrown into chaos.

A moment later, on Creation Peak, inside the Star Pavilion.

The light patterns of the Spirit Gathering Array flowed across the ground.

Shangguan Yunzhu sat cross-legged within it, her eyes closed in concentration, trying to draw Qi into her body and break through the final barrier to the Void Refining realm.

But as soon as she closed her eyes, the doting smile on Lu Qiancha’s face after embracing Gan Tang would always surface in her mind.

Along with it, a sour and bitter feeling, as if a jar of aged vinegar had been knocked over in her heart, and an indescribable suffocation, surged wildly.

“Hm?!” Shangguan Yunzhu’s eyes snapped open! The emotions in them were complex and difficult to decipher, with a hint of panic and confusion that she herself had not noticed.

Clearly… it was just a normal interaction between a senior brother and a junior sister.

But why…

An undeniable, needle-like, sharp pain clearly spread from her heart.

“Alas…”

A soft sigh escaped her lips.

Shangguan Yunzhu got up helplessly, her steps unsteady, as if walking on soft cotton. She pushed the door open in a daze and wandered aimlessly along the winding corridor. The cool early autumn wind brushed past the hanging vines under the corridor, adding to the desolate atmosphere.

A faint, secluded fragrance, like a lone orchid in an empty valley, quietly wrapped around her.

“Yun’er?”

A gentle and soft voice sounded.

Shangguan Yunzhu looked up in a daze.

Next to a pillar in the corridor, a beautiful woman in an elegant, dark-patterned lotus dress with a simple cloud-like bun had appeared at some point.

A jade hairpin was inserted at an angle, and a dangling hairpin swayed gently.

It was her master’s wife, Qi Lanzhu.

“You child, your soul is about to be blown away by the wind.”

Qi Lanzhu reached out, and her cool fingertips gently brushed over Shangguan Yunzhu’s slightly furrowed brow, her voice rising slightly at the end. “Who made our Yun’er unhappy? Tell your master’s wife, and I’ll go and vent your anger for you!”

“N-No!” Shangguan Yunzhu was like a startled fawn, waving her hands repeatedly, trying to squeeze out a smile. “Master’s wife, you misunderstand! No one… is bullying me!”

Qi Lanzhu took in her obvious panic.

Her eyes curved into a smile, and her tone became even gentler, as if coaxing a lost child. “Silly girl. Your thoughts are written all over your face, and you still want to hide it from your master’s wife?” She took Shangguan Yunzhu’s cool hand and led her to a seat under the corridor. “Tell me, what great matter has made our Yunzhu so unhappy? Let your master’s wife help you figure it out.”