Against the Heavens

Chapter 13- The Dangerous Haze

“Um… Little aunt, why are you looking at me with such a strange expression?” Suddenly realizing that the atmosphere had become a bit awkward, Xiao Che held his breath for a while before cautiously asking.

Only then did Xiao Lingxi’s beautiful eyes, which had a dazed look for a long time, tremble slightly. She hastily wrested her gaze away and lowered her head, softly spitting out: “Aren’t you afraid that your wife Qingyue will hear those words that you said just now?”

Xiao Che put on a show of looking around, and then innocently said: “It doesn’t seem like there’s anyone around us, so what are you afraid of? But even if she did hear me, I still don’t have anything to fear. You did not know that she actually doesn’t sincerely want to marry me, and I also do not really want to be married to her. If it was little aunt though, I…”

“Don’t talk… Don’t keep talking!”

Xiao Lingxi reached out her hand and forcefully pressed them against his lips, firmly sealing his next words. Only after a long time did she release him, once again resting her body against Xiao Che’s shoulder, peacefully saying: “Little Che, even though I’m younger than you by a year, I am truly, without a doubt, your little aunt. There are some words that you can say to other girls, that you can not say to me… In this lifetime… you can not say them… I know in your heart, you really think like this… but that’s enough…”

At the last two sentences, Xiao Lingxi’s voice had become very, very quiet. Within her muttering contained a sense of bitterness and sadness that would break the heart of anyone listening.

Xiao Che’s heart also heavily shook. He didn’t say anything else, closed his eyes, and peacefully listened to the breathing and heartbeat of the girl beside him.

“When I was young, I was thin, dark, and short. Everyone called me an ugly duckling and always made fun of me, bullied me…” Xiao Lingxi snuggled against him, a dreamy voice escaping from her mouth: “Only you would play with me. When someone bullied me, little Che would always rush up to fight with them and chase them away. You were always covered in cuts and bruises… The injuries you received at that time were all because of me. I got used to, and also enjoyed the feeling of little Che’s protection. I believed that you would always be able to protect me this way…”

Xiao Lingxi’s words reminded Xiao Che of the younger Xiao Lingxi. At that time, she truly was thin, dark, and short as she had just described, in every sense an “ugly duckling”. But because she was his little aunt, as a man, and also because he was older than her by a year, he would always, as if it was his mission, protect her with all his might…Who could have thought that this young woman would become very different from the little girl she once was. The once ugly duckling had transformed into today’s beauty. Who knows how many young men of the Xiao Clan would watered at the mouth while longing for her.

(TL: Idiom – “this girl changed eighteen times between childhood and her coming of age”)

“Afterwards, little Che found out that his profound veins were deformed. I started to bitterly cultivate my profound strength right away… because it was my turn to protect little Che. At that time, I thought whether it was little Che protecting me, or me protecting little Che, it was all one and the same. Either way we could be together… It wasn’t until I slowly grew up that I understood. That little Che would find a wife, and that I would also have to get married. By that time, we absolutely could not be as we were before… In addition, out of all the girls in the world, the only one little Che could not marry was me… Out of all the boys in the world, the only one that I could not marry was little Che…”