The Joys and Sorrows of Decades Ago

"At that time, I was carefree and lived a wealthy life as a rich lady. But in my father's eyes, I was not a very obedient child. I was a little more naughty than the average girl. Of course, my father also thought that I was smarter than the average girl." Yue Qingya had a sweet smile on her face. Those days were still very happy for her.

"Then, what about Aunt Mei?" Song Yumei couldn't help but ask, "Have you and Aunt Mei known each other since childhood?"

"When Xiaomei and I met, I was only six years old. That day, she came to my doorstep to ask for food. It's really strange to say, there seemed to be an inexplicable fate between us. Even though she was a little beggar and I was a rich lady, when we first met, it was like we hit it off. Then, I gave her half of my favorite osmanthus cake at that time." Yue Qingya said slowly: "From then on, we became best friends."

Song Yumei was surprised and looked a little unbelievable: "Sister Yue, are you saying that Aunt Mei was a beggar when she was young?"

"Yes, when Xiaomei was very young, she was an orphan beggar. She didn't even know her birthday or her age. At that time, she didn't even have a name." Yue Qingya nodded, "Later, when it was my birthday, I told her that she should celebrate my birthday with me in the future. Since then, her birthday has been the same day as mine, and she is the same age as me."

After a short pause, Yue Qingya continued, "She has a piece of jade on her body. At first I called her Xiaoyu, but later she said that Xiaoyu was not a good name. I said she looked very charming, so it would be better to call her Xiaomei. Then, the name was decided, and she became Yumei. Then she said that she should also have a surname. I asked her to share the surname Yue with me, but she said that was not a good name either. After thinking about it, she said that she should have the surname Ye, because the moon always appears at night, and the moon and night will never be separated. From then on, she had a formal name, Ye Yumei."

"So that's how Aunt Mei got her name." Song Yumei said to herself. These things alone were enough to make her understand that the relationship between Yue Qingya and Ye Yumei was simply incomparable to the relationship between her and Ye Yumei.

"From the age of six to eight, Xiaomei and I spent two very happy years together. Although in the eyes of others, we had different identities, we were best friends. We talked about everything, and no matter what it was, we would give each other half. I once told Xiaomei that no matter what I had, half of it would be hers. My home was her home, and everything I had was everything she had." Yue Qingya continued to narrate that past event, "I once asked her to move to my house, but she didn't agree. She was still her little beggar, and I was still my daughter, but the two of us were still best friends."

"Only two years?" Song Yumei sensed something was wrong. "What happened after that?"

"As I said just now, our world is a world where immortal cultivators are respected. So, even though my family is quite famous in Yanyun City, we are no match for an immortal cultivator." The smile on Yue Qingya's face had disappeared, replaced by a kind of sadness. "My father offended an immortal cultivator, and as a result, my family was wiped out."

"Ah!" Song Yumei exclaimed in shock. She never thought that Yue Qingya had experienced such a tragic past.

"That day, that immortal cultivator slaughtered my entire family. That day, Xiaomei and I were playing at home. We hid in the cellar, but when I heard my father's screams and the screams of other people in the family, I couldn't help crying. I was very scared at that time. I wanted to crawl out of the cellar. Xiaomei covered my mouth and stopped me from speaking, but I still struggled. Then, she knocked me unconscious." Thinking of that past, Yue Qingya still couldn't hide her sadness. "When I woke up, I was the only one left in my family. I threw myself on my father's body. I wanted to die with him because I felt that I had nothing. But Xiaomei told me that I still had her. She said she would take care of me."

Looking up at the distance, although she couldn't see the stone house, the direction Yue Qingya was looking at was obviously there: "At that time, I was greatly stimulated, my mind was in a daze, I did nothing, even had to be fed. From that time on, Xiao Mei had been taking care of me alone. She was worried that the immortal cultivator would come back, so she kept me hidden in the cellar. She went out to beg every day, and then came back to give me food. The things she begged were both good and bad, but she always gave me the best. In this way, she took care of me for more than three months."

An image unconsciously emerged in Song Yumei's mind: an eight-year-old girl, relying on food begging to take care of another eight-year-old girl. She had never had that kind of experience, but she could imagine how difficult it was.

"More than three months passed before I gradually recovered from the blow, and then I began to prepare to accept the fact. Xiaomei planned to take me away from Yanyun City and go to another place. However, just as we were about to leave, I met another person." The sadness in Yue Qingya's tone gradually disappeared. The sad past had passed for a long time, and she was now able to deal with it calmly. "That was another cultivator, a cultivator from Piaomiao Immortal Sect. I only found out that day that the reason my father offended the cultivator who killed my family was because he helped this cultivator from Piaomiao Immortal Sect."

"Then, did you start to become a cultivator?" Song Yumei asked softly at this time.

Yue Qingya nodded gently: "That cultivator felt that he owed me, so he took me to Piao Miao Xianmen. When the aptitude test was conducted at Piao Miao Xianmen, I was found to have extraordinary aptitude. Then, I was accepted as a personal disciple by the master of Piao Miao Xianmen. From an ordinary little girl, I became the disciple of the master of Piao Miao Xianmen."

"Then, where is Aunt Mei?" Song Yumei couldn't help but ask.

"She came with me to Piao Miao Xianmen, but her aptitude was not suitable for practicing Piao Miao Xianmen's techniques. Piao Miao Xianmen didn't want to accept her as a disciple, but I told Master that I would not be separated from Xiao Mei, so Master still accepted her." Yue Qingya showed a trace of helplessness at the corner of her mouth, "I thought that with so many techniques in Piao Miao Xianmen, there must be one suitable for Xiao Mei to practice. However, in the past two years, Xiao Mei still couldn't step into the threshold of cultivating immortals, while I made rapid progress in the past two years. Master also gave me the best technique of Piao Miao Xianmen, which is the Piao Miao Heart Technique that you practiced."

"Then how did you get into misunderstanding?" Song Yumei asked again.

"I have been trying to tell Xiaomei that even if she can't practice, I will take care of her like she took care of me. I also told her that I will definitely find a method suitable for her to practice. I even taught her the Piaomiao method, which is strictly prohibited by the sect." Yue Qingya's tone was bitter, "But when we were ten years old, Xiaomei told me that she wanted to leave Piaomiao Sect because she knew there was a sect that was very suitable for her."

"What kind of sect is that?" Song Yumei unconsciously found herself in that story.

"That sect is called the Sun and Moon Sect, but it also has another name, the Dual Cultivation Sect. We in the Piao Miao Sect simply call this sect the Demon Sect, which is a sect that the Piao Miao Sect has always despised." Yue Qingya said in a low voice: "Because of this, I tried my best to stop Xiao Mei from going there, but Xiao Mei seemed very determined. Then, I said something that I still regret until now."

"What?" Song Yumei asked hurriedly.

"I told Xiaomei that if she went to the Sun Moon Immortal Sect, we would no longer be friends, but enemies." Yue Qingya exhaled slowly, "I just thought that this would make Xiaomei change her mind, but I didn't know that Xiaomei would not only remain unswerving, but also hate me for nearly 30 years because of this sentence. Until now, she still refuses to forgive me because she feels that I have betrayed her and our friendship."

Song Yumei didn't say anything. She didn't know what to say because she felt that neither Yue Qingya nor Ye Yumei was wrong. The only mistake was that their circumstances were different.

"The Sun Moon Immortal Sect has a very special cultivation method called the Ice Moon Heart Sutra. Originally, this method was only suitable for girls with extremely yin bodies, but the Sun Moon Immortal Sect came up with another way to make this method suitable for ordinary girls to practice. However, it has a great side effect. After adulthood, girls will have to choose a male cultivator to practice with, otherwise, they may be burned to death by the Yin Fire." Yue Qingya continued, "And this is the reason why I least want Xiao Mei to practice this method. Fortunately, although Xiao Mei practiced this method, she also kept herself clean, and her progress was indeed quite fast. In less than ten years, she became the number one young master in the Sun Moon Immortal Sect. Later, she found me and wanted to fight with me. She wanted to prove that her choice was not wrong."

"Then, who won among you?" Song Yumei was quite concerned about this matter.

"No one won." Yue Qingya shook her head gently. "It was that decisive battle that caused us to accidentally trigger an unknown formation and open up a passage to this world. Then, we came here, but after coming here, we were not together. I once thought that Xiaomei was dead, until a few months ago, when I found out that she was still alive."

At this point, Yue Qingya turned to look at Song Yumei: "Yumei, I don't want to lose Xiaomei again. I don't want her to return to that world. Are you willing to help me?"