Yu Guiwan was taken aback, her eyes inexplicably reddening. She naturally opened her mouth to eat the grape, laughing self-deprecatingly. "Qingfeng might be useless at cultivation, but he sure is fast at peeling grapes."
Xu Lai laughed as well. For the first ti in a hundred thousand years, he felt the grapevines that filled the courtyard had a purpose. They were no longer just a way for him to compensate for past regrets.
His senior sister said, "Considering all the hard work you put into peeling them, you may have one. Just one, okay?"
Xu Lai, who hadn’t touched or eaten a single grape in a hundred thousand years, felt an appetite for the very first ti. But he didn’t eat it. He saw Ruan Tang’s gentle smile, picked up a second grape, and offered it to her, his voice warm.
"Honey, you have it."
"Is it sour?"
"A little."
"Are you talking about the grape, or ?"
"..."
Xu Lai didn’t dare admit that both were quite sour. He just stared blankly at the sky, pretending he hadn’t heard a thing.
Yu Guiwan watched this unfold with a grin. "You’re just like my father. Why are you so afraid of your wife?"
"I’m not afraid of her. I’m doting on her," Xu Lai said without turning his head. "Co on, open wide, darling."
Gazing at Xu Lai’s back, Yu Guiwan seed sowhat dazed. Her father, Yu Shouzong, had once said those very sa words. But her mother... in the end, she had chosen to leave her father, abandoning her when she was only seven years old.
"You have one, too," Ruan Tang whispered, secretly feeding Xu Lai a grape. "Senior Sister didn’t see."
Yu Guiwan: "..."
If Taotie, Baize, or any of the other Divine Generals had seen Xu Lai eating a grape, they would have been utterly astonished. In the Heavenly Court, one could find specialty fruits from every corner of the Immortal Domain, even sacred fruits that could extend one’s life by a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand years. But there were never any grapes. The Supre Emperor would often go alone to the backyard of his celestial residence, staring blankly at the courtyard full of grapevines, the mountains of musical scores, and the story-filled Jade Slips. No one ever knew what he was thinking.
「...」
If having a daughter and marrying Ruan Tang was like building a new house for Xu Lai’s life, then finding out his senior sister was still alive was like adding a window, allowing a great beam of sunlight to flood in and drive away the darkness in the room.
Yu Guiwan sat on the swing on the back hill, eating grapes and chatting idly with Ruan Lan. Xu Lai and Ruan Tang were preparing dinner. Daoist Yunlong and his daughter, Cui Cui, were also there. Although they had been invited by Yu Guiwan, they were still incredibly embarrassed and tense. Before them was The Supre Emperor, after all!
But soon, their shock intensified, and they began to tremble. A petite figure erged from the gilded palanquin—a lovely, doll-like girl who looked to be five or six years old. She rubbed her eyes and said in a sweet voice, "Daddy, Yiyi is hungry."
"Right away," Xu Lai replied without turning. "Go see your Senior Aunt."
"A senior... mushroom?" Xu Yiyi mumbled, still a bit groggy.
Everyone: "..."
"You little foodie, it’s ’aunt’ as in ’auntie’," Ruan Lan chuckled, waving her over. "Over here."
The Supre Emperor’s daughter!? Daoist Yunlong sucked in a breath of cold air, feeling even more on edge. If Wu Ying hadn’t been constantly reassuring him, the old Daoist at the peak of the Divine Bridge realm would have probably grabbed his daughter and fled.
My life is over! Who knows if this al won’t be our last supper? For the hundred recorded eons in the Immortal Domain, it’s been common knowledge that those in the Emperor Realm cannot have children. It’s more like a curse. But now... Emperor Qingfeng has broken it. Will The Supre Emperor kill us all to keep it a secret?
Yu Guiwan was equally surprised, as she had also just learned that her little junior brother had a daughter. She imdiately swept Yiyi into her arms, gently pinching her cheeks. The affection in her eyes was practically overflowing. "Those big eyes... you must have gotten them from your mother. Co, call ’Auntie’ and let hear it."
"Auntie," Yiyi said without a hint of shyness, her beautiful eyes curving into crescents. "Auntie is so pretty! Just as pretty as Mommy."
"Then what about your Auntie Ruan Lan?" Ruan Lan chid in, not wanting to be left out.
"You’re okay."
"???"
Ruan Lan’s mind filled with question marks. What did "okay" even an? She quickly understood, however, when she saw her niece’s eyes scanning up and down her and Yu Guiwan’s chests.
Ruan Lan was fuming! My niece’s values are all wrong! How can a woman’s beauty be determined by her appearance? It should be about the soul! Beautiful faces are a di a dozen, but an interesting soul like mine is one in a billion!
"Yiyi, you’re still young, so I don’t bla you. You’ll understand when you’re older," Ruan Lan said with a sigh.
"Oh," Xu Yiyi replied, looking as though she only half-understood.
The wedding banquet that evening was much more formal than lunch. Xu Lai went to the back hill again and dug up a jar of Plum Wine their master had brewed.
"Are there only two jars left?" Yu Guiwan asked.
"Mhm."
"Rember to save the last one."
"..."
The hand Xu Lai was using to hold his chopsticks paused. He understood what his senior sister ant. The last jar was to be drunk when she passed away.
"Senior Sister, on such a happy day, saying sothing like that... it isn’t very appropriate, is it?" Xu Lai said calmly.
Yu Guiwan pinched Xu Lai’s cheek. "Is Qingfeng angry?"
"..." said Xu Lai.
anwhile, Daoist Yunlong and his daughter Cui Cui continued to tremble, eating with extre caution.
When dinner finally ended, Xu Lai’s wedding feast was officially over. Fortunately, the late appearance of his senior sister, acting as a mber of the ’bride’s family’, made it feel especially complete. Ruan Tang took Ruan Lan and Yiyi back to the palanquin to rest, while Wang Bainian and his wife, along with Daoist Yunlong, tactfully took their leave.
「In the back mountain of the Sect.」
Xu Lai buried the coffins of his master and two senior brothers. He was just about to erase Yu Guiwan’s burial mound when she stopped him.
"Qingfeng, now that we’ve t, I won’t hide it from you. My lifespan... I have less than twenty years left," Yu Guiwan said with a self-deprecating smile. "Leave it. It will be needed soon enough."
"Even if I have to empty the entire Heavenly Court, I will extend your life," Xu Lai said, looking directly into his senior sister’s eyes and enunciating every word. "At any cost."
"It’s no use." Yu Guiwan sighed. She had consud countless Elixirs and Spirit Plants that were hundreds of thousands of years old within the Quasi-Emperor’s inheritance Barrier, developing a strong resistance long ago. An Elixir that could extend a normal person’s life by a thousand years would be lucky to grant her a single extra year.
Xu Lai didn’t continue the topic. Instead, he asked, "Senior Sister, why was your disciple with Jing Ke?"
"Who is Jing Ke?" Yu Guiwan asked, looking completely clueless. "I don’t know him."
Xu Lai frowned and sent a Divine Sense ssage to summon Wu Ying, only to receive even more troubling news.
"Little Uncle, I actually don’t know him either," Wu Ying said, shaking his head. "It was two years ago. I ca to the Sect on Master’s behalf to pay respects to Grandmaster and my two senior uncles. He stopped and said..."
"Said what?" Yu Guiwan narrowed her eyes. She had a vague feeling that sothing was wrong. Her disciple, Wu Ying, had never ntioned any of this to her before.
Reviews
All reviews (0)