Chapter 50 - Shui Yuner
Chapter 50 – Shui Yuner
Bright light teeters in the sky, soon to disappear behind the horizon.
The sky is a little dim right now.
Several hours have passed since the girl in a purple dress appeared, and the bright yellow sunlight has become darker in color.
When you’re waiting, time seems to be flowing at a snail’s pace, specially when you know that the thing you’re waiting for will come, but not when it will come.
This is torture. Perhaps it is also a trial.
“I’m afraid it won’t be my turn today.” A girl murmured, and then saw a youth come out of the hall.
Dejected, he didn’t perform well? He is already the fifteenth one.
No one can be sure that they will be selected. The expression of everyone who comes out of the hall is the same, a mixture of numerous emotions – unwillingness, hesitation, disappointment, frustration, bitterness…
All this is a statement to the high threshold of the Merak Temple.
Can I pass? The girl doesn’t know, nobody knows.
But one thing is for sure – if you don’t try, don’t even talk about hope.
The only thing the girl can do is to go all out; the rest is left to fate.
“… the last one today.” A loud voice interrupted the girl’s musing and drew her attention.
The speaker is a Merak Temple disciple called Qian Duoduo. As he has introduced himself before, the girl knew his name. He walked out of the hall after the previous applicant, and is now looking at the information in his hands.
“Shui Yuner.” He shouted a name, the girl’s name.
As she didn’t expect that she would make it today, the girl was a little stunned, and didn’t respond immediately.
“Is Shui Yuner here?” Probably because he didn’t get a response right away, Qian Duoduo looked around, puzzled.
“I’m her.” Shui Yuner finally answered loudly.
When Qian Duoduo’s eyes fell on Shui Yuner, surprise crept onto his face. The girl didn’t know what the youth was surprised about. He quickly withdrew the look of surprise and put a smile on his face. This isn’t something worth paying attention to. After all, she was used to such surprise.
She stands out, for better or for worse.
“Okay, come with me.” Qian Duoduo beckoned Shui Yuner, and then looked at the crowd, “Those whose name has’t been called today come again tomorrow. You can disband.”
As he made this announcement, Shui Yuner seemed to hear numerous sighs of relief.
Is this something to celebrate? No, maybe this brief respite will take some weight off their mind. The girl mused. But this isn’t the time to indulge in her thoughts.
Qian Duoduo was standing in front of the door, waiting. Shui Yuner approached him quickly.
As the distance between the two gradually got closer, the feeling of breathlessness inside her became more obvious.
It’s a feeling of nervousness that comes close to the feeling of deadly danger.
The girl counted the steps in order to distract herself. Unfortunately, it was of limited effect. In the end, she had to take a deep breath, and then expel her nervousness.
“Don’t be nervous, just follow your own pace.” Qian Duoduo stopped in front of the door to the hall and said with a smile.
Is he comforting me? It was clearly just a simple sentence, yet the tension in my heart seems to have eased by a lot! How amazing! Shui Yuner smiled and nodded.
“Alright, come in.” The young man nodded with satisfaction, and then opened the door and made an inviting gesture.
Shui Yuner looked up.
The hall isn’t bright due to the sun setting in the horizon. Three figures half-hidden in the dusk are sitting behind the long table, and their outlines can barely be seen.
Even so, their eyes are still bright, and the most eye-catching among them is a pair of bright yellow beads.
The pair of eyes shine unusually bright.
The owner of the pair of eyes was looking at Shui Yuner with kindness.
It’s her! Shui Yuner saw the little girl with an astonishing aura around her again.
Shui Yuner doesn’t know her name, but she does know the name of the other two.
“Go ahead.” Qian Duoduo kindly remind Shui Yuner that she spaced, and let her come back to her senses.
“Thank you, Senior Disciple Brother Qian.” The girl smiled, and then took a step forward.
The next moment, a sharp sound suddenly reverberated.
The sharp sound is similar to an arrow whistling through the air.
Something is shooting towards me, and fast! Incredibly fast! Although she couldn’t catch sight of it, but Shui Yuner stepped back instinctively because of the critical sense of danger.
“…!” A sharp pain came from the tip of her nose.
Something brushed past the tip of her nose. It felt like a sharp knife has scratched her gently.
What if I didn’t dodge in time…? Shui Yuner felt a chill in her heart, and then looked at the attacker in confusion and anger.
“… what is the meaning of this, Elder Xia?”
“You know that it was me?” Xia Xue asked with a smile.
What does she mean? Shui Yuner hesitated for a moment, until she saw the little girl sitting next to Xia Xue signalling with her eyes from the corner of her eye.
… is she telling me to answer truthfully? The girl guessed.
“Yes, I know. That true qi was ejected from your left had, Elder Xia.”
“Well done.” Xia Xue face froze, and she praised a little reluctantly.
In contrast, the little girl next to her urged with a pleased expression: “Little Xue, what are you spacing out for. Write ‘qi perception excellent’!”
“Xue Jiujiu, it seems you don’t know what it means to respect your teacher. Why are you instructing me?”
So her name is Xue Jiujiu? Is she Elder Xia’s disciple? Shui Yuner’s mind revolved lightning-fast. For some reason, she just cares about this lass with bright yellow eyes.
Is it due to a specious feeling of familiarity? Shui Yuner feels that there is some resonance between them.
“Then you better distinguish between public and private!” Xue Jiujiu folded her arms and said with a dissatisfied expression.
“Hey, you’re so biased.”
Xia Xue is obviously mocking Xue Jiujiu, but what does she mean with biased? Biased towards whom?
Shui Yuner feels confused regarding the interaction between the two, and she tilted her head inadvertently.
“Elder, Elder Xia, it’s getting late.” Probably aware of Shui Yuner’s puzzled look, Gong Tianqing who has been silent until now remind timidly.
“Miss Shui [1], I will ask you some questions next. Please answer them truthfully.” Following the flow, Xia Xue went back on track, unconcerned.
Her display is too natural and a bit abrupt, as if nothing happened, which caused Shui Yuner’s response to be delayed by half a beat. “Oh, okay. Please go ahead.”
“Okay.” Xia Xue seemed to ask casually, “Are you a prostitute? A performer?”
“I’m just selling my music for a living. I’m not a prostitute.”
Xia Xue nodded, and then wrote something on the notebook in front of her.
“Why does it say in your place of origin ‘don’t know’?”
“I’m an orphan.” Shui Yuner lowered her gaze and answered.
Xia Xue stopped, and then asked another question: “Do you know who your parents are?”
“I don’t.”
In fact she does know, but she answered that she doesn’t.
“Please don’t take offense, but we have the responsibility to make sure that your background is clean.” Xia Xue explained, and Shui Yuner nodded her head in order to express her understanding.
“It’s good that you understand.” Xia Xue nodded with satisfaction, and then asked seemingly casually, “The last question. If your enemy is in front of you, will you take revenge?”
A ba-thump sound came from Shui Yuner’s heart.
Does she know something? She tried to read Xia Xue’s face, but the other side just looked at her with a poker face, quiet.
Keeping her cool, Shui Yuner asked calmly: “What sort of enemy?”
“Hmm…” Xia Xue thought for a moment, and then spoke in a tone of negotiation: “How about an enemy who killed your parents?”
“I will.”
“At all cost?”
“At all cost.” She blurted out without thinking. In fact, who knows what she wanted to answer at first, but for some reason, she replied truthfully.
“You obviously don’t know who your parents are; you can say that you never had any parents, so what makes you so sure that you can go so far to avenge your parents?” Propping her head up with her hand, Xia Xue looked at Shui Yuner and asked full of interest.
“… because it’s human nature.”
“Human nature, you say…” Xia Xue repeated meaningfully.
“Hey, Little Xue, where are you going with this?”
“Who is the one in charge here?”
Dissatisfied, Xue Jiujiu complained, but then was stumped by Xia Xue’s reply.
Are they really teacher and disciple? Why do they feel more like siblings? Shui Yuner wondered again about the relationship between Xue Jiujiu and Xia Xue. Something isn’t right.
[1] – Shui (水) means water. A few chapters ago, she was referred to as the water-colored girl.