Cold and Hard

Having Rose as his first candidate wasn’t his initial decision.

Cai Ning would have been the preferred candidate. She’d practiced cultivating her internal energy since young. Naturally, she was the most suitable candidate for this.

However, Yang Chen also considered that Cai Ning had practiced martial arts from the Tang Sect which focused more on hidden weapons and feminine strength. When compared to the Endless Resolve Restoration Scripture, they were both fundamentally different. Revising her fundamentals wasn’t going to be an easy task.

Rose was different. Although she had a foundation in wushu, she was a blank canvas in the cultivation world. In addition, Yang Chen thought her analytical skills were as good as Cai Ning so teaching Rose cultivation might have a larger chance of success although her initial abilities were weaker.

Once her cultivation improved, Yang Chen would let his other women enter this unchartered territory.

He didn’t know how much time he had left in his life either. If he were to remain this young while his women grew old, he’d end up being very lonely.

Also, picking Rose who’d been with him since day one gave her security and deeper certainty in their relationship.

Yang Chen dared not teleport to his living room in fear of startling Guo Xuehua and Wang Ma. Instead, he appeared in his room before making his way down.

The living room was filled with the smell of delicious food. Even after the huge commotion that day, Zhenxiu had to come home too. The child still had her exams tomorrow and the day after. Good food was what she needed after a long day of exams.

A wave of awkwardness washed over him when he saw Lin Ruoxi walk out from the kitchen.

Zhenxiu was watching a reality show on the couch. It seemed like the child didn’t know what had happened today. She looked relaxed.

“You’re back.” Guo Xuehua was walking out of the kitchen when she saw Yang Chen. She gave a seemingly natural smile. “Zhenxiu, time for dinner.”

Zhenxiu got up to turn the television off. She ran to the dinner table, then asked curiously when she saw Yang Chen. “Brother Yang, what happened this afternoon? Ruoxi wouldn’t tell me.”

Yang Chen noticed Lin Ruoxi’s icy glare at him. He understood, saying, “Qianni from next door wasn’t feeling too well. Nothing much.”

“Oh…” Zhenxiu didn’t dare to ask too many questions. It didn’t seem like anything was out of the ordinary though.

Once Lin Ruoxi was certain Yang Chen didn’t say anything he wasn’t supposed to say, she went back into the kitchen to bring out more dishes.

He sighed privately. If it weren’t for Zhenxiu’s examinations, perhaps Lin Ruoxi wouldn’t even react to him.

The entire family sat down for dinner as usual.

Although everyone was secretly nervous, they didn’t want to affect the child’s mood due to her exams. Everyone pretended as if nothing had happened. Coincidentally they were all very good at acting, so dinner proceeded peacefully.

After the meal, Lin Ruoxi helped Wang Ma with the dishes while Guo Xuehua asked Zhenxiu about her exams. She was a little unnerved by the questions and her answers made Guo Xuehua laugh.

Yang Chen was stressed out thinking about how to proceed with Lin Ruoxi. He waited until Lin Ruoxi had finished her chores before following her upstairs.

As they headed up the flight of stairs, Yang Chen called her from behind.

“Ruoxi, wait.”

Lin Ruoxi knew Yang Chen was following her but didn’t turn back. She only stopped when he called.

“I know you won’t forgive me easily, no matter what I say. I don’t want to say anything that would upset you either. It’s just that I have something I haven’t given you since I came back.”

She turned, her expression was mild and her eyes were cold. Without a trace of emotion, she said, “What.”

He smiled, embarrassed, then took out something yellow, flat, and circular from his pocket. It was an old pocket watch he’d taken from the dead FBI director Robert.

He walked up to Lin Ruoxi, then held the antique pocket watch up before Lin Ruoxi’s eyes.

“I’ve brought two gifts from my trip to the US. At first… I wanted to give the pink diamond ring to you too, but I was worried about Qianni so I gave it to her. But this pocket watch, this is something I must keep for you,” he said, smiling.

She narrowed her eyes at the watch. It was thick and heavy, like a regular antique watch. There was nothing special about it. Other than the ability to turn, it wasn’t anything special!

Her lips curled into an icy smile. “How could you give me such an amazing gift?” Her tone was full of sarcasm.

He replied awkwardly, “This really is a good watch! I took it from the head of the American FBI…”

“The head? Took?” She laughed, shaking her head. “Are you going to tell me about what happened with the FBI if you’re about to give me this watch? I’m aware you’re so capable, you’d even give out diamond rings worth millions. How could I not like this…”

When she finished, Lin Ruoxi took the watch from his hand and held it in her palm. She was too lazy to even take a look but sneered. “Thank you so much, my dear husband! Thank god you gave me a watch but not a clock…”

[TL note: Gifting somebody a clock would mean wishing for their death in the Chinese culture.]

Her eyes reddened as she finished speaking. She bit her lip, gave him a death stare, turned to enter the study and slammed the door!

He stood, speechless. Yang Chen sighed sadly, mumbling to himself, “This really is a good watch…”

Lin Ruoxi had just closed the door when she leaned on it. Tears flowed as she looked up.

When she saw her man give another woman a diamond ring that afternoon, she even felt the urge to die!

She did pity that woman though. She’d wanted her childhood friend to find happiness too. But why did it have to be the same man?!

She blamed herself over and over. If only she’d never given in to this man. But the heavens liked to joke like that.

Her mind was in chaos. She didn’t know if she felt resentment, hate, or something else. She wanted to bite him so hard that he bled!

Lin Ruoxi had also thought about how divorce might be a release from all of this.

But if she chose to divorce, didn’t it mean she was admitting defeat? That she had lost to the other women, that she was personally handing them her man?!

They must be waiting for that day to come. To mock her behind her back, saying she couldn’t even keep a man…

How could she admit defeat like this? She immediately pushed her thoughts away.

Even if she had to curse that jerk for the rest of her life, she’d never let him enjoy his life in peace!

That was how she comforted herself, but… she wouldn’t have the heart to do it.

As she held onto the hard object in her hand, she lowered her head. She examined the old pocket watch gifted by the man. The antique pocket watch was made of metal. It was heavy and cold.

Lin Ruoxi suddenly felt that this watch was like her heart right now. Working but cold and hard.

Silently, she pressed the old pocket watch to her heart.

… …

Yang Chen didn’t know a pocket watch he gave to Lin Ruoxi would send her mind whirling like this.

He couldn’t think of anything to quickly break down the wall between them now. He could only rely on the magic cure—time.

After returning to his room, Yang Chen took a cold shower then collapsed on his bed. He started to think about how he could start Rose’s cultivation.

Song Tianxing was the one who had led him into the world of cultivation. The only technique Yang Chen practised was the Endless Resolve Restoration Scripture. This technique was extremely difficult and not everyone would be able to master it. If Rose were to practice it, her results might not even be tangible. She might not even understand it.

Also, he’d already cultivated the scripture for more than ten years, in addition to being exposed to the divine light. It was the various near-death experiences that helped him get to where he was now.

If she were to start learning now, without any major incidents, she may not even see results after decades of practice!

That was why Yang Chen felt like he had to think of something unorthodox for Rose to enter the Xiantian stage as soon as possible.

As long as she entered this stage, her lifespan would increase drastically. Everything else would naturally fall into place.

In the past, he thought reaching the Xiantian stage was a very high-level achievement. Right now, although he wasn’t sure what level he was currently at, he didn’t think it was a difficult obstacle.

What he needed was a safe and suitable method.

As for whether she could enter the Soul Forming stage after that, as per how Yan Sanniang had helped him, he had no way to help Rose.

After some consideration, Yang Chen felt like he should check out other internal energy classics. As for someone who could tell him what to do, it seemed like the most suitable person would be Abbess Yun Miao who was in Beijing.

Although he wasn’t too happy to have to talk to the abbess, he had no choice. He found Yun Miao’s phone number, then hit ‘call’.

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