Transmigrating into the world of Jade Dynasty, I was targeted by the female lead in a reverse romanc

Tian Buyi looked at Lu Xueqi with a deep gaze, then suddenly asked, "Xueqi, what level has your cultivation reached now?"

Lu Xueqi raised her eyes, met Tian Buyi's gaze, and calmly said, "Slight progress in the Shangqing Realm."

Tian Buyi's pupils contracted slightly.

He paused for a moment, nodded, and didn't ask any more questions. He only said, "It's good to have high cultivation, but you must also remember that the Dao follows nature and progresses step by step. You can't be greedy for quick results and damage your foundation."

"Xueqi will keep Master's teachings in mind," Lu Xueqi replied.

Tian Buyi hummed in response, seemingly at a loss for words, and Shoujing Hall fell silent again.

After a while, Tian Buyi seemed to have made up his mind and said to Jiang Xiaochuan, "Xiaochuan, come with me. There are some things I want to talk to you about alone."

Jiang Xiaochuan's heart tightened, and he subconsciously looked at Lu Xueqi. Lu Xueqi nodded slightly to him, indicating that he should go.

Su Ru also stood up and smiled at Lu Xueqi, "Xueqi, let the father and son talk. Come on, accompany your teacher's wife to the kitchen. We'll make some good dishes for lunch. What do you like to eat? Your teacher's wife will make it for you."

Lu Xueqi stood up and nodded slightly to Su Ru: "Thank you for your help, Master's wife. Xueqi is not picky about food, and everything you cook is good."

Su Ru smiled and took her hand: "Let's go then, let the father and son chatter on."

Tian Buyi had already walked towards the back hall with his hands behind his back, and Jiang Xiaochuan quickly followed.

Walking through the familiar corridor, we arrived at Tian Buyi's study in the back hall. Jiang Xiaochuan often came here when he was a child, where his master would pull his ear and scold him, or test his homework.

Everything was as it had been, except that the bookshelves were dusty and the writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstones on the desk were covered with a thin layer of dust, as if no one had touched them for a long time.

Tian Buyi sat down in the chair behind his desk and pointed to the stool opposite him: "Sit."

Jiang Xiaochuan sat down as instructed, his back straight, his hands on his knees, like a schoolboy waiting to be scolded.

Tian Buyi didn't speak immediately. He just stared at Jiang Xiaochuan, his gaze deep and intense, as if trying to see right through him. He looked at him for a long time, so long that Jiang Xiaochuan felt a little uneasy, before he finally spoke slowly, his voice low and weary:

"Four years, you little bastard, you're really ruthless."

Jiang Xiaochuan's nose tingled, and he lowered his head: "Master, I..."

"I know what you're trying to say," Tian Buyi waved his hand, interrupting him. "You're trying to say that you're afraid I'll be angry and that you don't dare to come back. You're trying to say that you're also thinking about me. I'm not stupid; I can see through that."

He paused, then let out a long breath, as if to release the pent-up frustration that had been building up in his chest for years.

"Xiao Chuan, do you know how I felt back then, hearing you say those things at Shoujing Hall?"

Jiang Xiaochuan was startled and looked up at Tian Buyi.

Tian Buyi's eyes were red, filled with complex emotions: heartache, anger, disappointment, and a deep-seated wound inflicted by those words.

"I raised you for twenty years," Tian Buyi's voice trembled slightly. He clenched his fist, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. "From the time you were a tiny little thing by the Hongchuan River, I picked you up and raised you with my own hands, teaching you to read, teaching you martial arts, teaching you how to be a person... I truly raised you as my own son."

Tears welled up in Jiang Xiaochuan's eyes. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but his throat felt blocked, and he couldn't make a sound.

"But what about you?" Tian Buyi stared at him, his eyes even redder. "For a woman, just for a woman! You could say such things! You made me... made me..."

He couldn't continue, abruptly turning his face away, his shoulders trembling slightly.

Jiang Xiaochuan slid off the stool and knelt on the ground with a thud, tears streaming down his face: "Master, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I was a fool, I was ungrateful... I deserve to die..."

"You deserve to die!" Tian Buyi whirled around, roaring, tears streaming down his face. "But I can't bear to!"

He stood up, walked to Jiang Xiaochuan, bent down, grabbed his shoulders with both hands, and shook him violently. His voice was hoarse and trembling with tears: "I can't bear to part with you! You're the son I raised from a baby! No matter how angry I was, no matter how disappointed I was in you, I never thought of really abandoning you! But you... but you..."

He couldn't continue, so he just grabbed Jiang Xiaochuan's shoulders and shook him violently, his tears falling in large drops onto Jiang Xiaochuan's face and mingling with his.

Jiang Xiaochuan knelt on the ground, letting his master shake him, crying uncontrollably, repeating over and over again, "I'm sorry... Master... I'm sorry..."

Tian Buyi shook him for a while before finally letting go, as if he had exhausted all his strength. He staggered back two steps, slumped back into the chair, covered his face with his hands, his shoulders heaving violently, and suppressed, muffled sobs leaked out from between his fingers.

Jiang Xiaochuan knelt on the ground, looking at his master's vulnerable appearance that he had never shown in front of others. His heart was breaking. He knew that the words he had spoken four years ago had not only hurt himself, but also severed the softest string in his master's heart.

After an unknown amount of time, Tian Buyi's sobs gradually subsided. He lowered his hand, his face still wet with tears, his eyes red and swollen, but his emotions seemed to have calmed down somewhat.

He sniffed, wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve, and looked at Jiang Xiaochuan, who was still kneeling on the ground, and said hoarsely:

"Get up, stop kneeling."

Jiang Xiaochuan didn't move, she just looked at him, tears still flowing.

"Get up!" Tian Buyi raised his voice.

Jiang Xiaochuan slowly stood up. His knees were numb from kneeling. He swayed for a moment and then grabbed the corner of the table next to him to steady himself.

Tian Buyi pointed to the stool: "Sit down and talk."

Jiang Xiaochuan sat down again, head down, not daring to look at his master.

Tian Buyi was silent for a while before slowly saying, "In these four years, I've thought about a lot of things. I think about what you were like when you were a child, how you were just learning to walk and wobbling over to call me 'Master,' how you were so excited that you didn't sleep all night when you first started cultivating your inner energy... I also think about how you knelt in Shoujing Hall that day, with red eyes and your neck stiff, saying 'It has to be her.'"

He paused, his voice lower: "I was angry with you, I hated you for being so useless, abandoning your sect for a woman. But later, your master's wife told me that I almost fell out with Senior Brother Wan back then to marry her, and I said such outrageous things... So I wasn't so angry anymore."

Tian Buyi looked at him, tugged at the corners of his mouth, the smile was somewhat bitter, but also somewhat relieved: "In this life, you will always meet that one person who makes you feel that all the rules, all the etiquette, all the expectations of your master and elders can be thrown to the back of your mind, and you just want to be with her, you just want to protect her, even if it means going against the whole world."

"Your teacher's wife said that I was like this back then, and so are you. She said that this is the fate of us two, both of us, and we've been ruined by women."

As Jiang Xiaochuan listened, tears welled up in his eyes again. He could tell that his master's words meant he had forgiven him.

"That child, Xueqi," Tian Buyi continued, his tone complicated.

"She has a strong personality, and her methods are... cough, a bit direct, but in these four years, she has been sincere towards you, I can see that."

He paused, looking at Jiang Xiaochuan with a deep gaze: "Xiaochuan, tell your master, were you happy these past four years with her?"

Jiang Xiaochuan nodded without hesitation, tears falling again: "Kaixin, Master, Xueqi...she's so good to me, really so good. It's me...it's me who's not good enough for her."

"Bullshit!" Tian Buyi glared.