Ge Nianlan waited eagerly for the day Jia Chiying’s lesson came back around. With Sigu tucked into his robes, and a book of romantic fiction in one hand, he rushed to the library with determination flaring in his eyes. He threw the doors open and marched in.
Jia Chiying glanced over his shoulder. “You’re here early. Are you that eager to learn—”
“Answer this question first.”
“…Okay,” Jia Chiying awkwardly set down the book in his hand.
“Do you like Zhao-jiejie?”
Jia Chiying raised a brow. “What a silly question. Of course, I like Lord Zhao.”
“I don’t mean in a friendly fashion. I mean like this,” Ge Nianlan said as he flipped open to a specific page. He held it out to Jia Chiying.
He watched as Jia Chiying’s face slowly reddened. The man closed the book and looked at Ge Nianlan.
“Is this what you’ve been reading with the knowledge I’ve given to you?”
“Just answer the question,” Ge Nianlan insisted.
“I enjoy his presence,” Jia Chiying said.
Ge Nianlan stared at him. “Is that all?”
Jia Chiying sighed and placed the book down. “Is it because of these books that you’ve taken to playing matchmaker? You’re trying to help Qianwu and Miss Zheng mend their relationship too, right?”
Ge Nianlan pouted. “You don’t understand at all. I’m doing this for your own good!”
“My own good?” Jia Chiying chuckled. He gently patted Ge Nianlan’s head. “Young Lord, I appreciate the kind thoughts, but it won’t work out between me and Lord Zhao.”
“Why not!? You haven’t tried, so why do you think it won’t work out?” Ge Nianlan asked.
Jia Chiying smiled. “I tried. It didn’t work. So, it’s okay. Don’t waste your energy on us.”
Ge Nianlan stared, flabbergasted. “Wait—what? You’ve tried?”
“A long time ago. However, Lord Zhao lives a lifestyle that is incompatible with mine,” Jia Chiying said. He sheepishly glanced at Ge Nianlan. “I’m too possessive. And he…doesn’t like that kind of person.”
“But possessiveness is because you care,” Ge Nianlan said. He flipped through the book. “I think I read that somewhere in here.”
“So, you can already read that much?” Jia Chiying asked.
“I can recognize words pretty easily, but for some reason, when I try to write them, I—wait, you’re distracting me,” Ge Nianlan pouted. He put the book down. “You should just explain to Zhao-jie! I think he’ll understand.”
“It’s okay,” Jia Chiying said with a light laugh. “I’m fine with the arrangement we have now. So, stop thinking about such silly things and just concentrate on your studies. You’re the one who wants to get better faster, right?”
Ge Nianlan reluctantly hummed.
He could just do both, couldn’t he?
Jia Chiying gripped the book in his hand a little harder, but slowly released it again after the pages had creased. He forced the smile to stay on his face and started on the lesson he had been preparing for the week.
Once the lesson was over, Ge Nianlan moped as he left the library, leaving Jia Chiying alone amidst the piles of books.
He sat down and glanced at the book that Ge Nianlan had left behind with a small chuckle. He absentmindedly flipped through the pages as the doors creaked open and the familiar scent of pear blossoms reached him again. He looked up as Zhao Cuihong made his way over. The man sat down on the table and snatched the book from Jia Chiying’s hands.
“A romance novel? How unlike you.”
“Young Lord brought it. He was showing me the passages he could half read,” Jia Chiying chuckled.
“He can read this? Isn’t that a little fast?” Zhao Cuihong asked in shock.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Qfii, tlr wfwbglhjalbc jylilas lr nfgs lwqgfrrlnf,” Alj Jtlslcu rjlv. “Dfrlvfr, P atlcx tf kjr jigfjvs jyif ab gfjv j ilaaif yfobgf kf rajgafv tlr ifrrbcr, rb la lrc’a abb regqglrlcu.”
“Qf vlv afjmt tlw j ilaaif ktfc tf kjr sbecufg,” Itjb Jeltbcu rjlv. Lf rfa atf ybbx yjmx vbkc jcv qgfrrfv tlr olcufg ab la. “Dea jgf sbe regf tf’r jiibkfv ab gfjv atlr raeoo?”
“There’s nothing explicit in it. I’ve already looked,” Jia Chiying said. He leaned his head against Zhao Cuihong’s arm. “Were you looking for the Young Lord? He already left.”
Zhao Cuihong gently nudged Jia Chiying. He observed the man for a moment before he reached his arm around and played with his hair.
“I was looking for you.”
“Me?” Jia Chiying smiled. “Did you not have a satisfying meal? I’m still tired from last time though.”
Zhao Cuihong pouted. “I wasn’t thinking about that, you pervert.”
“Then, is it official business?” Jia Chiying asked as he closed his eyes.
Zhao Cuihong hummed. “It’s about the cursed artifact.”
Jia Chiying’s eyes slowly opened. He looked up at Zhao Cuihong. “Are there finally leads?”
“We traced it to a small town in the north,” Zhao Cuihong said. He slipped his hair through Jia Chiying’s hair. “His Excellency has asked me to fetch you for this reason.”
Jia Chiying felt his blood boil, just thinking about the situation with the cursed artifact again. However, he hesitated.
“But if I leave, what about the Young Lord’s studies? Will you take over?”
“I will also be accompanying you,” Zhao Cuihong said.
Jia Chiying’s eyes widened. “How come? Why not Lord Wen or Lord Nie?”
“Do you not want me to go with you?” Zhao Cuihong asked.
Jia Chiying immediately sat up. “No, that wasn’t my intention at all. I was just thinking that it would be better if you remained here at least, so that the Young Lord won’t feel like he’s suddenly alone. You know that Lord Guan and Lord Wen don’t exactly enjoy the Young Lord’s presence.”
“While you are correct, I volunteered to go this time because I’m worried.”
Jia Chiying frowned. “Worried?”
Zhao Cuihong nodded. “The chances are unlikely, but if it was a spy, then they may know us better than we know them.”
“In that case, I can go alone,” Jia Chiying said.
“I already said that it’s too dangerous to go alone,” Zhao Cuihong snapped. “Are you that unwilling to spend time with me?”
“It really isn’t that. I would spend an eternity with you, trapped in one room, if I had the chance to,” Jia Chiying said. He awkwardly cleared his throat. “If anything, I’m worried that you do not want to be with me.”
Zhao Cuihong felt his heart pinch a little at Jia Chiying’s downcast expression. Ge Nianlan’s words from the day before ran circles around his head, but he quickly pushed them away.
“If I didn’t like being around you, then I would have stopped talking to you completely,” Zhao Cuihong murmured. “If I despised you, I wouldn’t go to you for yang energy even if my cultivation had to suffer. So, get your head out of the gutter. I’m not just using you for your body. I really think of you as my…closest friend.”
Jia Chiying smiled in a way that made Zhao Cuihong’s chest hurt even more. “I know. Then, if you’re sure, I have no qualms. But what should we do about the Young Lord’s lessons?”
“Have Miss Zheng and Qianwu take over for now,” Zhao Cuihong said after a moment of thinking. “At most, it will take a month before we come back. Lord Nie is the one teaching the subject that the Young Lord is struggling with. With us, it’s a walk in the park for him.”
“Alright,” Jia Chiying agreed. He released Zhao Cuihong and stood. “I will report to His Excellency then.”
Zhao Cuihong hummed. The doors fell shut. Zhao Cuihong glanced at the wrinkled book and picked it up. He flipped through a few pages and smiled to himself.
It truly was a silly little love story. However, it was far too sweet to be realistic.
Romance like this would never exist in real life.
It was announced later that week that Jia Chiying and Zhao Cuihong would be leaving on a mission for a month.
When the day of their departure came, Ge Nianlan moped around for the day before going to bid the two men farewell.
Although it wasn’t goodbye forever, Ge Nianlan somehow felt anxious. A pit opened up in his stomach, making it difficult to let them go with a smile. His mind irrationally spun all sorts of different scenarios and Ge Nianlan could only comfort himself by saying that Huai Zhen hadn’t even stepped foot in the Yinxue Region yet, so there was no way anything would happen to them. After all, the only reason anything had happened to them was because of Huai Zhen.
“…Father.”
Ge Jinsheng glanced at the boy by his side.
The teleportation array had already dimmed and cooled down, yet they were still standing around because Ge Nianlan hadn’t budged when Ge Jinsheng told him it was time to leave. He was worried about the child, but there was little he could do. He didn’t know what was going through the boy’s mind and he kept referring back to what Physician Lv had told him, not too long ago—Ge Nianlan was different from other children.
Because he saw the future, he will be more mature. On top of that, depending on what he saw, he will have psychological trauma. It was a very delicate situation. Adding on his already rupturing mental sea, Ge Jinsheng didn’t know what to do other than treat Ge Nianlan like a fragile flower.
So, if he wanted to stand around and space out, then Ge Jinsheng would accompany him.
“What is it?”
“Have you heard anything from Yunkong Pavilion?” Ge Nianlan asked.
It had been a week. A long, anxiety-inducing week.
“I haven’t,” Ge Jinsheng said.
Ge Nianlan shifted from one foot to the other. “Is there a way you could check on the situation?”
“I could send them a letter,” Ge Jinsheng said. He gently ruffled Ge Nianlan’s hair and scooped him into his arms. “Would you like that?”
Ge Nianlan nodded.
The sooner Huai Zhen got away from the people who bullied him and into Ge Nianlan’s stew of kindness, the better.
“Are you lonely?” Ge Jinsheng asked.
Ge Nianlan looked at Ge Jinsheng in surprise. Why would Ge Jinsheng think he was lonely? He had Luo Qianwu, Jia Chiying, and Zhao Cuihong. On top of that, he had his maids. Now, he even had Zheng Yuying, who reluctantly allowed him to bother her. And if things were really rough, at the end of the day, he still had Ge Jinsheng at dinner time.
Ge Nianlan shook his head. “Not at all. There’s a lot of people to play with.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Ge Jinsheng said with a sad smile.
…Why the sad smile though?
Ge Jinsheng sighed and cradled his son’s head against his shoulder. It’s all because he didn’t have time to spend with Ge Nianlan that the boy thought he needed to lie to him. Why wouldn’t he be lonely? He didn’t have anyone around his age to play with. That was why he was asking about that Huai Zhen child. He needed a playmate!
Ge Nianlan was unaware of what wild thoughts were running through Ge Jinsheng’s mind. If he knew, he would stop the man where he was and tell him “Huai Zhen is not my playmate. He is my fated enemy”.
Little did he know that this misunderstanding would actually help him in the long run.
After Ge Jinsheng gave his son to Luo Qianwu and Zheng Yuying, he went straight to his study and started drafting a letter to the Eternal Pagoda.
As for what was happening across the River of Forgotten Souls during this time, Ye Mingxi could only describe it as “an already rotting house that was then set aflame again”.
He and Baili Liuye were not having a great time. After returning to Yunkong Pavilion, they immediately departed for Eternal Pagoda. And, for an entire week, they spent their time sitting in the conference room, listening to people give reasons as to why they shouldn’t comply with Ge Jinsheng because, by doing so, it would be “bowing down in the face of evil”.
At one point, Ye Mingxi wanted to ask “what evil?” but Baili Liuye held him back with a stone-face.
By the time Ge Jinsheng’s letter came, both Pavilion Master and Dragon Tree Guardian were ready to break free from Eternal Pagoda and start their own alliance.
The contents of Ge Jinsheng’s letter didn’t make them feel any better either. It was a short and curt “how are things going?” with an underlying meaning of “can’t you move faster, you imbeciles?”
But unfortunately, Yunheng Region didn’t work like the Yinxue Region. The Yinxue Region were afraid of power and most lived by seeking wealth and comfort. In Yunheng Realm, there were a plethora of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, scattered about the forest. All had their own agenda—some might truly be seeking justice and others are searching for power under the guise of righteousness. Because of this, their meetings would draw on and on and on and on. The longest meeting, before anything was settled, actually held a record of a hundred years.
To say that the righteous cultivators of the Yunheng Region had a lot of free time on their hands was hardly an insult, with these types of stories circulating.
Luckily for Ge Jinsheng and Ge Nianlan, despite Baili Liuye’s cold appearance and untouchable image, he was extremely impatient.
On the second day after Ge Jinsheng sent out the letter, Baili Liuye finally stood.
The entire conference room fell silent as they watched the man make his way to the highest point in the conference room. He placed his hand on the podium and spoke in a calm, mellow tone.
“We received a letter from His Excellency,” Baili Liuye announced.
The people of the conference rooms held their breaths as cold sweat started to dribble down their chin. Had they taken too long? Has Ge Jinsheng finally snapped?
Baili Liuye looked out into the audience. “The disciple is mine—the treaty drawn was also mine. If you all have such conflicting interests, then we, Yunkong Pavilion, will withdraw.”
Ye Mingxi said nothing as the conference room erupted in protests and shrieks of horror.
“N-now, hold on, My Lord! How could you come to such a hasty decision!?”
“Hasty?” Baili Liuye asked. “It’s been nearly two weeks. I asked you a simple question: ‘do you agree or not’. And what did I get? An entire two weeks of you people bickering about who knows what. If we sum up the ages of everyone in this room, it will be older than a hundred thousand, yet you can still bicker like school children? This is a treaty with Ge Jinsheng, the first Devil Lord in over three centuries. If you want to waste this opportunity, then feel free. I, for one, would like Yunkong Pavilion to stay safe in the event that something truly happens.”
“Hold on! Lord Hanjing, you aren’t truly thinking of pulling out of the Eternal Pagoda alliance, are you?”
“And if I am?”
“You cannot!” the entire conference room chorused.
“Why can’t I?”
“B-because Yunkong Pavilion is the holder of the Dragon Tree!”
“And I am the Dragon Tree Guardian. What do you want us to do? Dig up the Dragon Tree before we leave? Do not be ridiculous,” Baili Liuye said.
“Alright, alright, we get it!” someone shouted. “W-whatever you want to do, Lord Hanjing.”
Baili Liuye folded his hands on the podium. “You all agree to whatever I want to do?”
“Yes!”
The single affirmation made the frost in Baili Liuye’s eyes melt several degrees. A few cultivators who were close enough would later claim that Baili Liuye even smiled.
Although the conference was over and no one gained anything, those who returned home would later tell their family members that they saw Baili Liuye’s warmth. And it was a warmth that was rare rthan the sight of the sun in the Land of Eternal Frost.
Due to this event, Ge Jinsheng received a reply a week after his letter.
The reply was simple and curt, making Ge Jinsheng have a few more points of appreciation for his partner.
“To Your Excellency of the Black Mane Palace,
It has been done. Please get ready to receive my disciple, Huai Zhen, in a week’s time. Unfortunately, I will not be there to personally greet you, but I am sure the Pavilion Master will suffice.
Well wishes,
Hanjing.”
A/N: Hello! I hope you’ve all been well during this month! I have decided to try to post two chapters every other week. There will always be an update on Friday (unless I take another hiatus lol) though, so no worries about not having that weekly update! Thank you to those who have tipped me and for those who have been waiting for this story’s return. It means a lot to me!
Ah, we get to meet Huai Zhen at last ^^
I wonder how Ge Nianlan is going to handle trying to befriend him considering he doesn’t know other children his age
Thank you for the chapter, I’ve been looking forward to it all week! I’m really looking forward to Huai Zhen coming online! eating melon seeds 🤔
Thanks for the chapter
Looking forward to seeing Huai Zhen’s visit and how will Lil’lan react hehehe
Thanks for the chapter. Hope for more 🙂
i feel like Zhao Cuihong and Jia Chiying have some sort of misunderstanding… i was bout to be like “maybe Ge Nianlan will lock them in a room to talk about it” but also theyre locking into this month-long outing so!! perhaps there!!!