Memories (13): Openly Repair the Plank Road, Secretly March to Chencang

I took a deep breath, suppressing my turbulent emotions, and restored that habitual, slightly detached gentleness to my face. My gaze swept over the stubborn face of Yi Jiang and then landed on the resentful eyes of Yi Xuan, as I spoke earnestly, attempting to guide their fiery emotions into the realm of "reason":

"Yi Jiang, Yi Xuan," I softened my voice, adopting an older brother's tone, trying to reason with them, "you are both still young and haven't experienced much in life. Often, you cannot distinguish between what is reliance, what is gratitude, and what is true... love."

I paused deliberately on the word "love," observing their reactions. Yi Jiang's eyelashes fluttered imperceptibly, while Yi Xuan pressed her lips together tightly.

"I brought you back and took care of you, which perhaps gave you some misconceptions," he continued, his tone as calm and objective as possible. "When you grow older, see more of the world, and can truly distinguish your own feelings..."

He paused, offering a promise that seemed open-ended but was actually full of stalling:

"It won't be too late to discuss this then."

This tactic was called "shelving disputes and delaying resolution." By using age and emotional immaturity as an excuse, he extended the fuse of the emotional bomb currently ticking before him. Yun Lan felt like a negotiator trying to appease restless investors.

Yi Jiang stared at him steadily, the smile on her face gradually fading, finally turning into a very faint, knowing chuckle. "Heh..."

She didn't say anything sharp, nor did she refute the claim that they "couldn't distinguish" their feelings. It was just that her gaze seemed to pierce through Yun Lan's barrier of delay, seeing the helplessness and avoidance hidden deep in his heart.

"Alright," she suddenly smiled again, this time the smile returning to its usual sweetness, even carrying a hint of cunning, as if the confrontation just now had been a mere illusion. "Then we will wait for the day when my sister and I 'distinguish' it clearly."

She emphasized the words "distinguish clearly," then took a step forward, almost leaning into Yun Lan's space, tilting her head up, and speaking clearly, in a volume only the three of them could hear:

"When that time comes, Brother, you must listen carefully."

She stepped back and took the hand of the silent Yi Xuan.

"Don't you dare run away again."

Having said that, she stopped looking at Yun Lan's reaction, turned around, and walked toward the door with her sister, her steps light. Yi Xuan, being pulled by her sister, looked back at Yun Lan one last time before leaving the room; in that resentful gaze, there seemed to be a hint of... certainty?

The door opened again and then closed softly. The figures of the two sisters disappeared into the light and shadow of the corridor outside.

The room returned to silence, leaving only Yun Lan alone, along with the faint, lingering scent of a young girl in the air. He stood there for a long time before letting out a very soft, helpless sigh to the empty room.

Rubbing his throbbing temples, he walked to the window and looked at the scenery in the courtyard outside.

I'll just drag it out for as long as I can, I thought to myself. At least, I had managed to handle the situation for now. As for what to do when the day of "distinguishing clearly" arrived... I would deal with it then.

The optimism (or perhaps ostrich-like mentality) of a transmigrator came into play at this moment. However, a faint voice in a corner of his heart reminded him: that final smile from Yi Jiang and that "don't you dare run away" were likely not so simple to brush off. The path they had chosen seemed to be one they never intended to turn back from.

The room returned to absolute silence, and the subtle tension left over from the silent struggle with the Yi sisters seemed to still vibrate faintly in the air. Yun Lan let out a long, helpless sigh, the sound of which was exceptionally clear in the overly tidy room. He raised his hand to rub his temples, feeling more exhausted than after a training session.

My gaze wandered aimlessly, eventually landing on the corner of the desk—where the apprenticeship application handed to me by Ye Shunguang lay quietly. It had a plain indigo cover with slightly rough paper edges. Earlier, at the master's place, my mind had been in chaos due to the sudden intrusion of the two girls and the master's "watching a show" attitude. I had only taken it and glanced briefly at the neat but familiar handwriting, feeling that something was off about the script. At the time, that slight doubt was like a ripple on the water's surface, quickly covered by larger waves.

Now that I was free to look at this application, it felt like there was something extra on it. "Wait a minute, no way? It couldn't be what I think it is, could it?" I immediately turned off the room lights and took out a flashlight to shine it on the application.

To my surprise, new text emerged under the light of the flashlight, with the words "Marriage Contract" written at the beginning.

"Good grief, so this is what you had in store for me? No wonder Xiao Guang wanted to become my apprentice; it turns out there was a marriage contract written in invisible ink on this application."

"What a clever ruse—'openly repairing the plank road while secretly crossing the Chencang.' If I had signed this application, Xiao Guang would have become my fiancée."

"This little girl..." Ye Shunguang's clear yet stubborn eyes appeared before him, and his mood was complex and indescribable. "Looking so innocent and pitiful, yet her schemes... were truly precise and far-reaching, landing directly on the most critical move. Even I almost fell for it."

Beyond the shock, a deeper sense of helplessness and a faint headache surged up. I put down the application as if it were a hot potato and leaned back in my chair, staring at the rafters of the ceiling.

"One is Yi Jiang, the other is Yi Xuan; their feelings have clearly 'spoiled,' carrying an intense possessiveness that leaves me exhausted," he rubbed his temples, as if they were truly throbbing with pain. "And now, to top it off, there's Xiao Guang... seemingly out of gratitude and reliance, but she ends up handing me a 'marriage contract'? Is the speed and manner of this emotional 'spoilage' a bit too jumpy and direct?"

"What am I to do..." Yun Lan sighed softly, this sigh filled with genuine distress.

He was not cold-hearted, and he respected sincere emotions. But the current situation was like being handed a handful of tangled, knotted red threads.

The intensity and sharpness of Yi Jiang, the stillness and resentment of Yi Xuan, and now adding Ye Shunguang—the girl who was ostensibly seeking an apprenticeship but was actually tricking me into signing a marriage contract...

Having too much "romantic luck" could sometimes truly become a "romantic disaster." Especially when these "flowers" were none of them easy to deal with, and all possessed extraordinary obsessions.