Xun'er's First Love Ended Before It Even Began?

Just as the air in the private room was compressed to the point of explosion by Xiao Xun'er's violent jealousy and killing intent, and An Yi was practically drafting his will in his head.

An Yi's frantically racing mind suddenly went "click," like a jammed machine that had instantly been cleared.

Wait! Fuck! That wasn't right!

There seemed to be absolutely no relationship between him and Xiao Xun'er, did there?!

Other than playing in the mud together for a few years when they were children.

Over the years in the Xiao Household, their interactions had amounted to little more than nodding hello whenever they met, maintaining a safe, neither-too-close-nor-too-distant "normal neighborly relationship"!

Especially after he became a Dou Practitioner. To stay alive and hide his strength, he had kept to himself and focused on cultivation.

More often than not, ten days or half a month would pass without him exchanging a single word with this young miss!

The most intimate thing they had ever done was probably lying side by side on the grass in the back hills, watching the stars when they were children.

Even if he really started making out with Little Fairy right here, or even consummated their marriage on the spot.

What did that have to do with this young miss?!

He hadn't abandoned her after leading her on! He hadn't confessed to her, nor had he ever treated her badly. What the hell did he have to feel guilty about?!

Damn it! He had nearly been scared by this young miss's unreasonable aura of a rightful wife and actually thought he had been caught cheating!

Having sorted out that logic, An Yi took a deep breath. The panic and guilt vanished from his face, and he returned to his usual lazy, calm demeanor.

His gaze was clear, and he even looked at Xiao Xun'er with a hint of confusion as he asked:

"Xun'er, what... is wrong?"

Faced with An Yi's gaze, which held nothing but pure confusion without the slightest trace of guilt or remorse.

Xiao Xun'er's overwhelming aura, as though she wanted to burn everything to ashes, instantly collapsed like a deflated ball.

She bit her lip hard, an indescribable bitterness rising in her heart.

That was right... What right did she have to be angry?

What standing did she have to question him? To control him?

At the end of the day, apart from the flimsy label of "childhood sweethearts," she and An Yi truly had no substantive relationship at all.

Even her right to be jealous seemed so unjustified.

Xiao Xun'er lowered her lashes, concealing the gloom in her eyes. She loosened her clenched fists, took a deep breath, and forced a smile. "N-Nothing. I just... saw you with someone of unknown origins and was worried you might get deceived."

"Oh, I'm fine. Little Fairy is a good person, so you don't need to worry."

An Yi waved a hand and changed the subject. "How about you? Have things been all right in the Xiao Household this past year?"

"The same as before. Nothing has changed." Xiao Xun'er lowered her head, her voice very soft. After a pause, she asked tentatively, "You... now that you're back in Wutan City, don't you plan to visit the Xiao Household?"

An Yi shook his head without hesitation. "No. When I left a year ago, I already cut all ties with the Xiao Household."

"Xun'er, don't tell the Xiao Household people that I'm back either. Just pretend that An Yi died in the Magic Beast Mountain Range a year ago, so we don't all feel awkward when we meet."

"...All right, I understand." Xiao Xun'er's voice became even quieter.

An Yi stood up and took Little Fairy's hand. "Anything else? It's getting late. I still need to take her back to the auction house."

Xiao Xun'er looked at their clasped hands, a flash of pain crossing her eyes. She shook her head slightly. "Nothing else."

"Then we'll head back first. If you ever get bored and want to catch up, you can come to the auction house and just tell Sister Ya Fei."

An Yi waved at her. "See you."

With that, An Yi pulled Little Fairy along and pushed open the door, leaving the teahouse.

After walking out of the teahouse and blending into the bustling street.

Little Fairy finally could not suppress her curiosity any longer. She gently shook An Yi's arm and asked, "Hey, what exactly is your relationship with that Xun'er?"

"Didn't I say? We were childhood playmates, more or less."

An Yi shrugged. "But we were only close during those few years as children, when we often ran all over the hills and fields together. After we grew up, there really wasn't much interaction between us. We were basically just acquaintances who nodded and said hello whenever we ran into each other on the road once every ten days or half a month."

"That's it?!"

Little Fairy's face was full of disbelief and confusion. "Then what was with that murderous look she had in the private room just now? I thought you two were tragic childhood sweethearts who had secretly pledged yourselves to each other behind the adults' backs, deeply in love, and determined to marry no one else!"

An Yi's eye twitched. "How would I know? Maybe... Brother here is just so damn charming that she was deeply captivated by me without even realizing it!"

"Pah! Shameless!" Little Fairy spat at him disdainfully.

Then she asked curiously, "So... what's the situation with the Xiao Household?"

"That's a long story."

An Yi sighed. "My parents used to follow the Xiao Household's previous clan chief, Xiao Lin. But when I was very young, they both died in battle saving Xiao Lin. So I was raised by the Xiao Household as the orphan of martyrs."

"However..."

"Families are, at their core, extremely exclusionary communities of interest bound by blood. I don't share a drop of blood with the Xiao Household. At the end of the day, I was simply a complete outsider living under someone else's roof."

"Other than the old clan chief and the current clan chief, Xiao Zhan, who still showed me some consideration, the Xiao Household's elders and other clan members never liked me from childhood onward. In their eyes, I was just a freeloader eating and drinking for free."

"Then, a year ago, I accidentally killed an elite inner disciple of the Cloud Mist Sect in self-defense. Those Xiao Household elders were afraid of being implicated and could not wait to hand me over as a scapegoat. Seeing that, I naturally couldn't sit around and wait to die. So I cleanly severed ties with them and ran straight into the Magic Beast Mountain Range to live like a wild man."

"Enough of this old nonsense. It's all in the past."

Little Fairy looked at the youth's profile. He appeared carefree, but there was a trace of loneliness beneath it, and her heart could not help aching for him. Unconsciously, she tightened her hold around his arm.

Elsewhere.

Xiao Xun'er returned to the Xiao Household in a daze, returning to her cold, secluded courtyard.

She lay weakly over the cold stone table in the courtyard, burying her face in the crook of her arms, her emotions tangled to the extreme.

A black shadow silently emerged from the darkness.

Ling Ying looked at his young miss's despondent appearance and sighed painfully. "Young Miss, are you... all right?"

Xiao Xun'er shook her head. Her voice was muffled and slightly hoarse. "I'm fine."

Ling Ying hesitated. As an observer who had watched the two youngsters grow up, he ultimately could not hold himself back. With a sigh, he advised, "Young Miss, forgive this old servant for asking. Since you care so much about Young Master An Yi, why... don't you simply tell him your feelings openly and honestly?"

Ling Ying had observed An Yi from the shadows for many years. In his view, An Yi and his young miss were actually the same kind of person.

They appeared gentle and easygoing toward others, but deep down, both possessed immense wariness and found it extremely difficult to truly open their hearts to anyone.

It was simply that Xun'er's aloofness was displayed openly. She was like a proud blue lotus. The moment one tried to approach her, one could immediately feel the distinct sense of status and distance surrounding her.

An Yi's aloofness, on the other hand, was deeply buried in his bones! On the surface, he seemed careless and heartless, even somewhat roguish and shameless. He could call anyone brother and joke around with them.

But in reality, his thoughts were extremely deep and meticulous!

Even after observing him from the shadows for so many years, Ling Ying often could not understand what An Yi was truly thinking.

However, judging by An Yi's closeness to that woman from the Mittel Auction House named Ya Fei.

An Yi was more like a lonely beast lacking any sense of security and desperately craving a sense of belonging. Having been alone and dependent on others since childhood, seeing all the warmth and coldness of the world, he did not dare trust people easily.

But once someone truly entered his heart and cared for him without reservation, he would become fiercely protective of them, even willing to give everything for their sake.

Hearing Ling Ying's advice, Xiao Xun'er raised her head with a complicated expression.

"Tell him directly? Elder Ling, his thoughts are so deep, and his guard is so strong. Even if I told him, would he believe me? What if he thinks I'm joking, or that I have some ulterior motive?"

Ling Ying looked at Xiao Xun'er's hesitant, anxious appearance and said solemnly:

"Young Miss, this old servant cannot say whether he would believe you. But if you keep hiding your feelings like before, if you still refuse to take the initiative and fight for him... then I'm afraid you truly will never have another chance in the future."

Xiao Xun'er bit her lower lip, a rare trace of timidity flashing through her eyes. "But what if... what if he really only sees me as a childhood playmate and has no feelings like that for me at all?"

"You can only know the answer by asking him yourself whether he has those feelings."

Ling Ying sighed softly. "And even taking a step back, if he truly does not... then a short pain is better than a long one. The sooner you give up, the better than watching him hold someone else's hand while you secretly grieve here alone, isn't it?"