NOVEL WEB Chapter 66 - Senior sister secret
Tang Yuan gazed at Jiang Zi’s dark eyes in astonishment. “You wrote it?”
Jiang Zi replied again, “I wrote it.”
Tang Yuan ventured a bold guess. “Could it be that you also wrote Tales of Qin Yan?”
Jiang Zi chuckled softly, stepping back a little. She reached over to delete two unlucky words from Tang Yuan’s nickname and gestured for her to fill in her own name instead. Only then did she say, “No, I got involved in this show purely by chance.”
During that period, fragmented memories of Jiang Zi’s past life in the cultivation world would surface intermittently in her dreams. Bit by bit, the scenes pieced together into a coherent narrative of her entire life. Once the memories fully aligned, she realized those were real events from her past.
Not long after, she stumbled upon this web drama. At the time, with her limited fame, the best role she could land was that of the secondary female lead—playing the junior sister.
Tang Yuan joined the cast later, managing to pay her way into replacing the originally slated female lead. In exchange, the displaced actress was given a role in a more prominent IP drama.
Thus, by a twist of fate, Tang Yuan ended up playing the senior sister.
To Jiang Zi’s astonishment, much of the show’s plot mirrored her memories: the characterization of the junior sister, her fate, and the female lead’s storyline—all bore uncanny resemblance to her past.
While playing the role of the junior sister, Jiang Zi retraced the junior sister’s tragic path, ultimately ‘dying’ in defense of the sect.
Yet the pain depicted on screen was a far cry from the unbearable agony she remembered—her junior sister’s blood-soaked, unrecognizable body in her past life.
She couldn’t bear to imagine how excruciatingly painful Tang Yuan’s death must have been.
Far worse than the countless times Jiang Zi had inflicted wounds upon herself—on her arms, palms, and thighs.
Moved by this connection, Jiang Zi purchased the adaptation rights to the story, funding a new ending where the junior sister and senior sister found happiness together.
Tang Yuan filled in her name. The story began with the junior sister’s first day in the sect after being taken in.
Tang Yuan exhaled deeply and immersed herself in the narrative.
“Today, Master picked up a girl down the mountain. She’s currently in the discussion hall. Master plans to take her in as our junior sister. Let’s go and take a look.”
“Eh? Senior sister, you’re back from training? Come join us at the discussion hall!”
Jiang Zi, clad in elegant azure robes, her hair tied high, wore a cold, indifferent expression. Her chiseled features and aloof demeanor radiated an icy charm. Hearing her junior brother’s invitation, she merely nodded expressionlessly.
This marked Jiang Zi’s tenth year as senior sister. Before the arrival of the junior sister, she had been the sect’s strongest and the unrivaled prodigy admired by all.
Yet, upon her return today, no one paid her much attention. All were eagerly urging each other to see the new junior sister.
Jiang Zi stood in place momentarily before following the crowd to the discussion hall.
The hall was reserved for the inner disciples, but the entrance was crowded with outer disciples craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the junior sister.
Upon her arrival, Jiang Zi used her spiritual power to part the crowd, walking calmly into the hall.
Inside, she saw the girl Master had brought back.
Though described as “picked up,” the girl was clad in a shimmering golden celestial gown, the patterns flowing with golden mana. Her hair ornaments sparkled, her long, inky-black hair cascading down to her waist, adorned with faintly visible golden-pink tassels. Every gesture exuded a captivating allure.
Her petite, exquisite face was breathtakingly beautiful, every smile radiating a charm that stirred an inexplicable protective instinct in others, as though any demand she made, no matter how unreasonable, would be fulfilled without hesitation.
She was smiling brightly at something Master had said, her star-like eyes curving into crescent moons. In her presence, the world seemed to lose its luster.
Sensing someone enter, Tang Yuan turned to look, capturing Jiang Zi’s figure in her gaze.
Her voice was soft and sweet, pure and clear. “Are you the senior sister? Hello, I’m the new disciple Master just accepted. My name is Tang Yuan.”
This was the first meeting between the senior sister and the juniorsister.
Jiang Zi didn’t respond, her dark eyes fixed unwaveringly on the lively sprite before her. Yet in her heart, she was wondering if her cries would sound as alluring and soul-stirring.
The senior sister had a secret—she seemed to have fallen for her junior martial sister at first sight.
However, Jiang Zi’s aloofness made her seem unapproachable. Tang Yuan assumed she was simply socially awkward and avoided her, instead forming close bonds with the other senior brothers.
Since joining the sect, everyone has doted on the junior sister. Both the Master and senior brothers lavished her with affection, bringing her all sorts of rare treasures.
One day, by chance, Tang Yuan discovered that many of the resources she enjoyed came at the expense of her senior sister. This realization gave her the urge to reach out to Jiang Zi.
That day, Jiang Zi returned from a treacherous training mission in a dangerous secret realm. Though the realm posed a high mortality rate, Jiang Zi’s immense strength allowed her to not only survive but also secure its inheritance and most of its treasures.
Jiang Zi had always worked tirelessly for the sect. The resources used by most of its disciples came from her exploits. Yet since Tang Yuan’s arrival, the amount distributed to ordinary disciples had noticeably dwindled.
Jiang Zi knew that anything she handed over to Master would first be picked over by the junior martial sister, leaving only scraps for others.
Unsurprisingly, this caused dissatisfaction among the disciples—not toward the pampered junior sister, but toward the senior sister, whom they accused of selfishly hoarding resources.
That day, Jiang Zi brought the resources she had gathered to Master, who happened to be in the hall with Tang Yuan and several senior brothers.
“Ah Zi, you’re back? I heard you had a fruitful trip this time. Come, let me see what you’ve brought.”
Standing in the center of the hall, Jiang Zi looked up at her Master seated at the head of the table, with Tang Yuan beside him in the first seat.
Without a word, Jiang Zi used her spiritual power to present five spatial pouches.
Master, in her presence, handed all five pouches to Tang Yuan with a doting smile. “Take a look, Ah Yuan. Take whatever you want—take as much as you like.”
Tang Yuan held the pouches, their faint scent of freesia from Jiang Zi making her palms tingle. She blinked blankly, suddenly feeling as though they were scalding hot.
Instead of picking through them, Tang Yuan asked the lone Jiang Zi below, “Did you bring all these back, senior sister?”
But before Jiang Zi could answer, the other senior brothers chimed in.
“Junior sister, just take whatever you want. Don’t worry about her.”
“Exactly. You deserve the best of everything.”
“Senior sister is amazing. Even if you take everything, she’ll just gather more for us. You don’t need to feel burdened.”
Jiang Zi’s dark eyes deepened as they landed on Tang Yuan—or rather, on her soft, delicate fingers fidgeting unconsciously with the pouches.