My cultivation is too warm

The person most heartbroken by Ye Qingyue's passing must be Liang Huanhuan, since she and Ye Qingyue had the best relationship and the deepest affection.

They've been together ever since they started.

Liang Huanhuan entered the sect a few years later than Ye Qingyue, and she couldn't quite remember how the two of them went from meeting to getting to know each other.

It was as if they were destined to be best friends for life, and they naturally came together.

If she remembered correctly, Liang Huanhuan vaguely recalled that when she went to collect her sect salary in the first month after joining the sect, the amount was wrong. She should have been an inner disciple, but she received the salary of an outer disciple.

This thing that shouldn't have happened actually happened to her, and she felt very wronged, so she squatted in a corner and cried loudly, because she didn't dare to argue with the butler in charge of distributing salaries.

Just then, Senior Sister Ye happened to pass by her and saw her crying. Senior Sister Ye didn't seem to want to pay attention to her at first, but she instinctively felt that this senior sister who was passing by was reliable and that she could rely on her.

So she cried even louder and stared at Senior Sister Ye with her teary eyes, trying to get her attention.

Just as she had predicted, after hearing her heart-wrenching cries, Senior Sister Ye stopped and knelt down in front of her, gently asking, "Junior Sister, what happened? Can I help you?"

Hearing this, she felt relieved and then, sobbing, recounted her experience, "Huanhuan, Huanhuan's salary has been reduced."

Upon hearing this, Senior Sister Ye was furious. "What? There's actually such a thing?"

She then grabbed her own hand and walked towards the direction of the Internal Affairs Hall. "Junior sister, let's go and argue with them. How dare they withhold our salaries! I, Ye Qingyue, hate this kind of thing the most. Our salaries are already meager, not enough to live on each month. And these people from the Internal Affairs Hall dare to withhold ours! I'm going to go and fight them to the death!"

Seeing Senior Sister Ye's fierce demeanor, she felt truly at ease and admired her greatly. She herself wouldn't dare to confront the people from the Internal Affairs Hall, but Senior Sister Ye was incredibly brave, showing no sign of fear whatsoever.

"Huanhuan, Huanhuan doesn't dare," she said weakly, reluctant to go over.

Senior Sister Ye glared at her, looking exasperated, and said, "You were shortchanged by so many spirit stones, what's there to be afraid of? We'll not only make them pay back the shortfall, but we'll also make them compensate us double! Don't worry, I'll take you to make a scene. If anything happens, I'll take responsibility. However..."

At this point, Senior Sister Ye paused for a moment, then said somewhat shyly, "Junior Sister, if I help you get your salary back and also make them compensate you, I want to take 20% of the compensation as a reward. Is that alright with you?"

After speaking, Senior Sister Ye lowered her head slightly, not daring to meet his gaze.

Seeing this, she quickly said, "It's okay, Huanhuan just needs to get back the missing part. No need for compensation. If there is compensation, give it all to Senior Sister. If there is no compensation, Huanhuan will still give Senior Sister a reward."

Upon hearing this, Senior Sister Ye's eyes lit up. She suddenly looked up and her gaze felt very familiar, as if she herself looked like this whenever she saw something she liked extremely.

"Well, how could I possibly accept that? Don't worry, Junior Sister, they made a mistake and they have to make amends. I only need 20%, you don't have to give me the whole thing..." Senior Sister Ye's face was flushed, and she looked very happy.

Later she learned that on that day, Senior Sister Ye had just lost five spirit stones. It was said that she had slapped a fellow disciple in a moment of impulse and had to pay compensation.

And so, Senior Sister Ye led me to the Inner Affairs Hall in a menacing manner. Under her direction, I went to the steward in charge of distributing salaries, and then slammed my fist on the table with a loud "bang".

The old deacon was so frightened his eyes nearly popped out, and he asked her tremblingly, "What, is there something you need?"

After Senior Sister Ye recounted her experience of being shortchanged on her salary with great force, facing the imposing Senior Sister Ye and the growing number of disciples watching, the deacon slowly extended a finger, pointed to the plaque above his head, which read: "Outer Sect Hall," and said in a calm tone:

"My lady, please look carefully. I am in charge of distributing salaries to outer disciples here. Since you are an inner disciple, you should go over there to queue up."

After speaking, the deacon pointed to the other side of the line.

"This..." Senior Sister Ye blushed, then turned to look at her incredulously. Facing Senior Sister Ye's gaze, she nervously counted on her fingers and said somewhat uneasily, "Huanhuan, Huanhuan didn't know that salaries were distributed by different branches."

Seemingly speechless at her own foolish behavior, Senior Sister Ye slapped her forehead and then helped apologize to the deacon.

The deacon was a good man. He waved his hand and said nonchalantly, "It's alright. To be honest, I've been here for so many years and this is the first time I've encountered a disciple who has gone to the wrong hall. You guys... you've really opened my eyes."

After the steward finished speaking, he suppressed a laugh, glanced at himself, and continued, "Well, since she's come to my place and lined up, it's fate. She doesn't need to return the salary she's already received. Speaking of which, this is the first time in all these years that I've distributed salaries to inner disciples. She's given me a taste of what it's like to distribute salaries to inner disciples."

Hearing the steward's words, she breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't being blamed; that was good. But then, her senior sister Ye suddenly blushed, her eyes gleaming with a blinding light, staring intently at the steward, and said, her breathing slightly rapid:
"Senior, would you like to experience what it's like to distribute salaries to inner disciples again? They're inner disciples too."

Senior Sister Ye's reaction left the deacon speechless. He stared at her with wide eyes, as if he had seen some rare and exotic mythical beast. He opened his mouth for a long time before finally managing to say, "I've never heard of inner disciples' treatment being reduced. It seems like you can't even afford to eat anymore."

After saying that, he patted his chest, sighed helplessly, and said, "In all my years in the Tianxuan Sect, this is the first time I've encountered someone like you... who just asks for it outright, and an inner disciple at that, is asking me, the steward in charge of the outer sect, for his salary. It's truly an eye-opener."

After a long while, he calmed down, let out a long breath, and said, "Fine, since you've already swallowed your pride and come to me for it, I'll just give you one more person's salary."

After saying that, he flipped his palm over, and a small cloth bag appeared in his palm. He handed it to Senior Sister Ye and said, "Take it."

Upon seeing this, Senior Sister Ye immediately reached out and took the small cloth bag. Then, as if it were some rare treasure, she placed the small cloth bag next to her cheek, gently stroking it while letting out silly giggles.

She really couldn't understand why Senior Sister Ye was so happy when the small cloth bag only contained two spirit stones and a bottle of ordinary Qi Refining Pills.

Senior Sister Ye stroked the small cloth bag for a while, then suddenly her expression stiffened. She belatedly looked at the deacon and said, "Senior, will this... have any impact on you? Will the sect hold you accountable?"

The steward rolled his eyes at her and said irritably, "You only just remembered? When you reached out to me for it, didn't you think about whether I would be punished? Now that you have it, if I were to be punished, would you give it back to me?" "This... I was just too excited just now," Senior Sister Ye said shyly. After a moment of hesitation, she clutched the small cloth bag in her hand, as if she had made up her mind, and handed it over tremblingly, saying in a slightly hoarse voice, "If the sect will blame you, Senior, I... I'll give it back to you."

Although Senior Sister Ye said that, both she and the deacon could tell from Senior Sister Ye's reaction that her inner thoughts and words were completely different. They could almost feel that Senior Sister Ye's heart was bleeding and she was in great pain.

Moreover, Senior Sister Ye gripped the small cloth bag very tightly, her hands turning white.

Seeing Senior Sister Ye's reaction, the deacon was stunned for a moment. Then he wiped his forehead and said in a somewhat speechless tone, "Seriously, is your life in the inner sect really that miserable? It's making me consider suggesting to the sect that we investigate the management of the inner sect. Is there any corruption involved? Otherwise, how could an inner sect disciple be so greedy for money?"

After saying that, he waved his hand and said to Senior Sister Ye, "Alright, take it back. Don't worry, I've been an outer sect steward for so many years. Giving out a few more points of salary is no problem for me. This little thing won't affect me."

Upon hearing this, Senior Sister Ye was overjoyed and bowed deeply to him in gratitude. The steward wiped his forehead, waved his hand, and said, "Alright, quickly take your junior sister to the inner sect hall to collect her salary."

Then he glanced at himself, who was still somewhat bewildered, and added, "By the way, you'd better take her with you next time you go to collect your salary. Your junior sister seems a bit... well, a bit slow. I'm worried she might get lost again next time."

The deacon lowered his voice, thinking he wouldn't hear her, but she heard him perfectly. Her immediate reaction was to glare back at him and tell him she wasn't stupid; she just hadn't seen clearly at the time.

But as soon as the thought popped into her head, she remembered how she had embarrassed Senior Sister Ye in front of so many people, and suddenly felt a little insecure, her initial confidence vanishing instantly.

Then she quietly leaned towards Senior Sister Ye, nudged her shoulder, and whispered, "Senior Sister, Senior Sister, Huanhuan isn't stupid. Huanhuan just didn't pay attention. When she saw so many people queuing, she subconsciously joined the queue."

After saying that, she stuck out her tongue and said apologetically, "Senior sister, I'm so sorry, Huanhuan made you look bad."

Senior Sister Ye is really kind. She wasn't angry with me at all. Instead, she reached out and touched my head, saying with a smile, "It's okay, Junior Sister Huanhuan, you don't need to worry. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to get this."

After saying that, she happily twirled the small cloth bag in her hand containing two spirit stones and a bottle of pills. It was the outer disciple's stipend, which she really liked.

Seeing Senior Sister Ye's expression, she pondered for a moment and asked softly, "Senior Sister, do you really like this? Huanhuan has one too, why don't you have it too?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she clearly saw Senior Sister Ye's expression of excitement, but Senior Sister Ye quickly composed herself, took a few deep breaths, and refused, "How can that be? It's yours, you can keep it safe."

Upon hearing this, she quickly said, "It's alright, Huanhuan will take care of it after she collects her salary..."

Before she could finish speaking, Senior Sister Ye interrupted her, saying, "That won't do either. Alright, stop talking. I'll take you to collect your salary."

Afterwards, under the guidance of Senior Sister Ye, she successfully received the salary that belonged to the inner disciples.

After that day, she and Senior Sister Ye naturally became best friends and spent almost every day together.

With Senior Sister Ye around, she never had to worry about making any mistakes, because Senior Sister Ye was exceptionally reliable and took everything very seriously, which made her feel very at ease.

Thinking about it carefully, it was actually because she felt that Senior Sister Ye was reliable that she naturally clung to her. However, Senior Sister Ye never found her annoying and always let her be willful. No matter what mistakes she made, she would always forgive and comfort her.

She was genuinely curious whether, over all this time, Senior Sister Ye had ever felt impatient with her capriciousness, or even considered getting rid of her, this "tagalong"?
If it were me, I might also get impatient with someone like myself. As for Senior Sister Ye, she probably did too, but being gentle, she couldn't bear to say anything that would hurt me, so she gently tolerated and endured it.

After all, that's how Senior Sister Ye is; she's the gentlest person in the whole world to Huanhuan.

It wasn't until Senior Sister Ye left that she truly realized she had to grow up and mature, and could no longer be willful, because the person who could gently guide her was no longer there.

No one can do what Senior Sister Ye did.

She was really upset. I felt like the sky had fallen and everything had hit me.

However, she knew she couldn't be sad for too long and had to pull herself together as soon as possible. Even if she was sad, she couldn't show it.

Because my junior brother is still here.

My junior brother will live on, and he will face even more separations and deaths in the future. If I am devastated because of Senior Sister Ye's departure, I will be unable to recover.

So how will my junior brother face the future? The pain he will have to endure will be many, many times greater than mine.

Therefore, I must make my junior brother understand that no matter how much someone he cares about leaves, he can still live on with strength, optimism, and cheerfulness.

Only in this way can the junior brother persevere after he and his senior brother Wang Er leave.

Therefore, she not only couldn't be sad for too long, but she also had to quickly become cheerful so that her junior brother could see her smile.

She originally planned to be sad for only three days, but she felt that this time was too difficult. She couldn't do it. What she could do was cry as hard as she could, cry desperately, and let her tears run dry as quickly as possible, until she couldn't squeeze out a single tear from her eyes anymore.

And so it dragged on until the seventh day. She rubbed her stinging eyes, practiced in front of the mirror for a long time, then skipped out of her room, stood in front of her junior brother, and gave him a smile:
"Junior brother, good morning! Huanhuan is hungry. Could you please cook a big feast for her? Hehe~"

(End of this chapter)