Chapter 189 - 188: Sisters Continuation, Recalling the Past

About ten minutes later, Li Jing arrived at the Canghai villa district with Liu Sisi.

They landed in Chen Jing’s courtyard, with Liu Sisi looking at the open door of the distant villa and reaching out to grasp someone’s hand.

"I’m a bit nervous," she admitted.

Li Jing turned his head at her words, lowing his voice.

"Dealing with Auntie can be a bit tough, but it’s not that bad. Given her relationship with your mother, there shouldn’t be any issues."

With that, he led Liu Sisi forward.

As they approached the villa, they saw Jiang Jingxian sitting next to Chen Yuran, talking with her.

The usually composed Chen Yuran now looked skeptical and worn out.

Seeing this, Liu Sisi couldn’t help but tighten her grip on Li Jing’s arm.

Li Jing also startled.

They had been gone for awhile, perhaps held up longer than expected.

However, it was just less than twenty minutes.

In just twenty minutes, how did Chen Yuran appear so mottled and jaded?

On the other side.

Noticing the two at the door, Chen Yuran’s face lit up, as if she had seen her salvation.

Jiang Jingxian’s eyes twinkled, and she quickly stood up.

"Sisi! Why are you standing there? Come in and let your Auntie have a look."

Liu Sisi did not recognise Jiang Jingxian.

However, she felt a unique warmth from her gentle voice.

"Excuse us."

Speaking softly, Liu Sisi, bolstered by Li Jing, stepped into the house.

As they approached, Jiang Jingxian pulled Liu Sisi over for a closer look.

Liu Sisi felt uncomfortable being inspected so closely, reminiscent of the feeling of a new bride meeting her in-laws.

"You look so much like her, it’s uncanny," Jiang Jingxian sighed.

"You’re the spitting image of your mother. Don’t just stand there, let’s sit down and have a good chat."

As she spoke, she pulled Liu Sisi to sit and glanced at Li Jing.

"Xiaoli, let us women have our talk. You go check to see how Elder Chen’s meal preparations are coming along. Hurry him up, he’s still dawdling even though everyone’s here."

Li Jing who was about to sit down saw Liu Sisi, nodded, and walked away.

Chen Yuran wanted to get up but seeing the look Jiang Jingxian gave her, she obediently sat back down.

Liu Sisi noticed all this and was secretly impressed.

Auntie Jiang was quite something, to be able to have Chen Yuran so well-behaved...

Just as she was marveling, Jiang Jingxian sighed deeply.

"You’ve suffered a lot over the years."

The gentle words seemed to hold a compelling magic.

With them, Liu Sisi felt a chill along her spine.

All the bitterness and struggles of past years ascended into her consciousness and tears sprung into her eyes unbidden.

Seeing the wavering tears in Liu Sisi’s eyes, Chen Yuran startled and was about to speak, but Liu Sisi looked at Jiang Jingxian and managed to smile.

"The path was mine to choose, so it’s not really about how tough it was. Living alone isn’t too bad, I just wonder how my mom is doing at home."

Jiang Jingxian shook her head.

"You seem not only to look like Liu Shi, but also share her stubborn personality. You prefer to bear the burdens alone, even when unnecessary."

After speaking, she calmly continued.

"As for how Liu Shi has been doing in the capital, I’m not sure. But given that the Liu family has survived and is even showing signs of returning to prosperity, she must be doing well. Instead of worrying about her, you should focus more on yourself. Your happiness will give her peace of mind. If she’s the Liu Shi I knew, she’s definitely keeping an eye on you, you’re just not aware of it."

At her words, Liu Sisi fell silent.

She wasn’t sure if her mother was keeping an eye on her.

Years have passed since she left her family to come to Jianghai, and there was not even the slightest contact between them.

It was what she demanded.

It was also the cost of her leaving the Liu family.

Seeing Liu Sisi silent, Jiang Jingxian motioned to Chen Yuran on the opposite sofa.

Chen Yuran hesitated but then stood up and walked over to sit beside her.

Just as she sat down, Jiang Jingxian took a hand of Liu Sisi with one hand and Chen Yuran with the other, then joined their hands together.

?

Liu Sisi looked up.

???

Chen Yuran was also perplexed.

"Regardless of Xiaoli, no matter how things turn out, I hope you two can get along well and support each other."

Jiang Jingxian said with a smile.

"When we were young, Liu Shi and I were quite inseparable. Despite our differences at first, we eventually grew to get along - skipping class together, fighting together, sleeping together. Even though we’ve chosen different paths and grown apart, the camaraderie of those years remains. It might be a bit selfish of me to say, but I’d like to see that connection continue with you two."

With those words, Liu Sisi felt a tug at her heart.

From the moment she met Jiang Jingxian and felt a unique familiarity, she had realized there was an extraordinary relationship between the woman and her mother.

Now, it seemed there were many stories between them.

And then...

Did something strange just creep into Jiang Jingxian’s words?

On the other hand, Chen Yuran was lost in thought while listening to Jiang Jingxian’s words.

She knew exactly what kind of person her mother was.

The attitude Jiang Jingxian was showing at the moment had nothing to do with anything else, it was simply due to her expectation of continuing the friendship she had with Liu Shi.

They hadn’t been in contact for over two decades.

No matter how good their relationship was before, it should have faded by now.

What made Jiang Jingxian harbor such deep feelings and expect this friendship to continue to the next generation?

As she pondered, Jiang Jingxian suddenly looked at her, with her eyes sparkling.

"Of course, if Yuran someday decides to make her relationship with Sisi genuinely familial, that would be the best outcome."

!!!

Chen Yuran.

On the other side, Liu Sisi was momentarily stunned by Jiang Jingxian’s straightforward words.

A real family?

What...

What did she mean?

Reflecting on Jiang Jingxian’s earlier words and the comment to "leave Xiaoli out", Liu Sisi could not help but stare wide-eyed.

Spotting Liu Sisi’s incredulous expression, Chen Yuran hurriedly explained.

"Sisi, don’t get me wrong, I...."

Before she could finish, Liu Sisi pursed her lips.

"I didn’t say there was a misunderstanding."

"..."

Chen Yuran.

Seeing her daughter choked up, Jiang Jingxian burst out laughing, "Sisi, you are indeed very much like Liu Shi, although Yuran, compared to me, lacks a certain charm. But she is good enough, after all, she follows my nature."

With that, she put her arms around the two of them.

"Before dinner starts, shall I tell you two about what happened between Liu Shi and me in the past?"

"Sure."

Liu Sisi’s eyes lit up, eager to listen, and she sneaked a glance at Chen Yuran.

What surprised her more than Jiang Jingxian’s words were Chen Yuran’s self-conscious behavior...

She was prepared for the fact that she couldn’t have Li Jing all to herself.

But she truly hadn’t expected that certain signs had already sprouted, and they had sprouted in Chen Yuran.

Even if it hadn’t been for Jiang Jingxian’s recent declaration, she and Chen Yuran were already close, even referring to each other as siblings.

In Liu Sisi’s eyes, it was almost impossible for Chen Yuran to have feelings for Li Jing.

The key was Chen Yuran’s nature.

She never concerned herself with the matters of the heart.

Her daily visits were only to grab a free meal.

After eating, she would run off, only sticking around to chat when Liu Sisi would occasionally take a break from cultivation.

Given that, could she really have feelings for Li Jing?

The idea couldn’t have been formed over a meal, right?

That would be too degrading.

Chen Yuran was gifted, she was already in the Four Realm at a very young age, and within a few years, she should be able to advance to the Fifth Boundary smoothly.

Having her attracted through food alone just seemed too easy.

However, reality had slapped Liu Sisi in the face.

At least from Chen Yuran’s recent reaction, it seemed the seeds were already sown.

She herself might be unaware of it, or she might just be refusing to acknowledge it.

Which it was, was hard to tell.

...

While two youngsters and an adult chatted in the living room, Li Jing was helping Chen Jing in the kitchen.

Initially, Chen Jing didn’t want him to do anything.

Guests ought not to lift a finger, after all.

But after Li Jing was herded into the kitchen, he couldn’t exactly say there was no need for him here and send him off to find something else to do.

As they were diligently working, the sound of silver bell-like laughter came from the living room.

When Li Jing heard it, he looked over, a slight frown on his face.

When he heard Liu Sisi’s laughter, he felt relieved.

It seemed Jiang Jingxian wasn’t too unreasonable, and the two were getting along well.

But...

Why were three of them laughing so much?

Liu Sisi’s sense of humor might be low, but she was always reserved, never prone to laughing out loud.

Not to mention Chen Yuran.

She was usually more cheerful privately, but always wore a poker face in public.

Happy moments were mostly spent sneaking a few chuckles.

What on earth could all three of them be laughing about so much at this moment?

While he was wondering, Chen Jing spoke in a light tone.

"Outside, your aunt must be reminiscing about her past. You see her as peaceful and reserved, but she was quite unruly when she was young, Liu Shi wasn’t much better. When the two of them got together, the young men their age from the Seven Great Families had to give them a wide berth."

"Was it really that exaggerated?"

Li Jing turned to look at him.

Chen Jing chuckling, he flipped the dish in the pan with his spatula.

"You should know, the combination of Immortal Learning and technology only really developed in the last few decades. In our day, to put it bluntly, there was only Immortal Learning and no technology. What the youngsters enjoy now, the internet, was connected through telephone lines, and hard disks were only a few megabytes. Not to mention games, it was hard to surf the internet. With such a restricting environment, entertainment options were very limited, and the young people of the time, full of vigor and vitality, naturally sought out their own fun."

After rambling on for a bit, Chen Jing continued.

"When two women of high cultivation talent, unique status and complementary personalities come together, what do you think would be their pastime?"

Before Li Jing could answer, he spoke in a low voice.

"The happiness of a person often comes at the expense of others."

"..."

Li Jing.

Listening to Chen Jing’s words, he was a little lost.

But the last line gave him a rough idea of what was going on.

Thinking that it wasn’t his place to intrude into the past of the two elder women, Li Jing asked,

"Uncle, did you stay in the Capital when you were young?"

"I went for further studies after graduating from university but I was just a student then."

Chen Jing casually remarked, saying,

"Jingxian and Liu Shi are the same age, more than a decade younger than me. They were still playing in the mud when I was studying in the Capital, we can’t be considered of the same generation. Our Chen family was just a small clan from Jianghai, we had no connections with the Seven Great Families in the Capital. I met them many years later when I had to investigate a major case involving the outstanding youngsters of the Seven Great Families."

Upon hearing this, Li Jing was surprised.

"So, you met Auntie while you were investigating the case?"

"Yes."

Chen Jing nodded and said,

"The case back then was very complex and involved a lot of key relationships. All the people in the Capital Inspection Headquarters had roots in the Capital, so no one wanted to get involved. I was temporarily transferred from Jianghai to be the bad guy in this situation. Because of the significant pressure from above, my methods were a bit crude."

With that, he sighed.

"At that time, including the Jiang family within the system, I managed to offend all of the Seven Great Families in the Capital. Looking back, I was a bit arrogant after stepping into the Six Realm, which gained me quite a few enemies. However, that is also how I met Jingxian."

After hearing Chen Jing’s words, Li Jing felt a bit uncomfortable.

After all that talk, Chen Jing didn’t say how he met Jiang Jingxian, only mentioned about his arrogance when he first stepped into the Six Realm.

However, through this, Li Jing was able to confirm something.

Judging by Chen Yuran’s age, Chen Jing should have been in his fifties when he was in the Capital, and he was already in the Six Realm then.

Doing the math, he should be close to the Seventh Realm now.

Liu Shi, Liu Sisi’s mother, probably isn’t far off either.

They may have even reached the threshold of the Seventh Realm, suppressing their boundaries.

Breaking through to the Seventh Realm isn’t easy; it requires not only breaking the bottleneck, but also facing divine tribulations.

Crossing the tribulation, a term that made all contemporary cultivators pale with fear.

Under the jealousy of the heavens, all beings are equal.

Whether one could successfully cross the tribulation depended on life and death.

Success meant life.

Failure meant death.

The hard work of nearly a hundred years of cultivation might be destroyed in an instant, and one might even die an unnatural death.

Nowadays, Hua Country has quite a few people in the Six Realm who are suppressing their boundaries.

To breakthrough to the Seventh Realm, there’s a one in ten chance of survival.

Out of ten people who cross the tribulation, at least half would die under the jealousy of heaven.

This kind of affair, even though people dare to try it, still requires careful planning.

If one dies, there’s nothing to say.

It’s simply fate, no one’s to blame.

If one succeeds, attaining the Seventh Realm means being a Guardian God of a nation, whether it’s people in the system or the offspring of great families, they must all retire and cannot be casually involved in worldly affairs.

This is an unwritten rule of the world.

The power of the Seventh Realm is too great, so great that an individual can pose a threat to a nation.

If existences in the Seventh Realm were to emerge openly, they would indeed be like human-shaped autonomous nuclear warheads, a higher-level one at that.

Such beings cannot be permitted to move about freely.

In a way, the Seventh Realm is even less free than the Fifth Realm.

Even matters of family affairs are not to be meddled in lightly, making sure to do so after important preparations are in place.

Just how many in the Seventh Realm Hua Country has, is hard to say.

Those in the Seventh Realm who openly declare themselves to the outside world, there are only three.

These three exist to serve as a warning to the existences in the Seventh Realm from other nations.

Looking at Chen Jing, who was diligently cooking in an apron, Li Jing glanced at the neatly stacked plates on the side and said,

"Uncle, we’re just having a simple meal, there’s no need to make it so elaborate. Once this dish is done, why don’t we both clean up and set the table?"

"Fine, I’ll go with your plan."

Chen Jing smiled and said,

"You first take these dishes out and set the table, I’ll be done here soon."

...