[ZHUILING] More Than Enough

Chapter 4

   Jin Ling spent his morning with a bunch of insults thrown at him. Out of all the mornings he'd ever gone through, that new one was the liveliest one yet. It wasn't that he was inexperienced with insults—in fact, he was adept at it from his uncle—but it hadn't even been a day yet, and he'd counted about four hundred seventy-seven insults.

     He never asked for it, but it came.

     He never asked for his parents to die, he never asked for a year of studies at Cloud Recesses, he never asked for a punishment from Lan Qiren, but it came.

     The morning lesson ended earlier than expected, with every second out of Jin Ling's grasp.

     His punishment was to copy the GusuLan sect disciplinary rules at least 'five' times. Four thousands rules multiply by five—which means twenty thousand rules—was practically impossible to finish. Which was why Lan Qiren demanded them to use a maximum of a month. But there was a twist.

     They needed to do handstands. Fucking handstands.

Jin Ling swore under his breath as he failed to balance well on one hand. Sizhui was next to him, deliberately sending concerned glances his way. The GusuLan disciple was perfectly stable on only one hand, while performing great calligraphy on the scroll of blank paper below them. Sizhui had copied superbly from his memory, writing all the GusuLan sect rules starting from 'no talking while eating'. Jin Ling was amazed at the speed that Sizhui was going at.

It was almost as if the cultivator was a live mechanical robot.

They were trapped inside of the Library Pavilion, a topic that Wei Ying had always brought up during dinner. Oh, Lan Zhan! Remember how we spent all that time in the Library Pavilion copying books for a month? It was nice getting to spend my time with you alone. Wei Ying would always remark slyly.

Jin Ling never expected to be in the same situation as his uncle, but with Sizhui.

     "Are you okay, Young Master Jin?" Sizhui asked. The fact that it was him asking the question had infuriated Jin Ling, while igniting a fire in his heart. "I am fine. No need to ask." Jin Ling snapped. His voice was as ferocious as a calamity-like beast, snarling and chomping everything up in its path.

"I'm sorry about last night. It's all my fault." Sizhui gloomed.

Jin Ling's eyes widened as he watched Sizhui pause momentarily in his punishment. The GusuLan disciple flashed Jin Ling an apologetic smile, with sweetness enveloping the Young Mistress' body. Unfortunately, Jin Ling had a sweet tooth, which horrifyingly made him melt at the sudden smile directed towards him. He felt important for once, as if he was finally the victim of a case, and not the culprit.

Blush scraped by his cheek as he had a temper tantrum. "Just because it's you that's apologizing doesn't mean I'll forgive you so easily!" Jin Ling huffed. Warily, he hesitantly sidewards glanced over at Sizhui. "But... I'll make an exception for this case. And only this one."

"Oh, thank you, Young Master Jin!" Sizhui cheered.

"Don't call me that." Jin Lingblushed. "Just 'Jin Ling' is fine."

"Then, allow me to reintroduce myself, Jin Ling." Sizhui began, showing off a toothy smile that warmed Jin Ling's cheeks. "I am Lan Sizhui, honoured to learn of your entitlement as the next Lanling Jin sect leader."

"Don't make this anymore embarrassing for me!" Jin Ling stammered.

Suddenly, his hand slipped. A relentless shriek had wrestled out of his throat as he flipped in a full circle, then slamming his back against the wooden planked floor. "Jin Ling!" Sizhui cried. The GusuLan disciple had jumped back onto his feet in a stable manner and hurried to Jin Ling's aid, not bothering to continue their punishment. "Are you okay?" Sizhui asked, concern written all over his face.