In Ge Nianlan’s memory, Ge Jinsheng had rarely paid attention to him aside from holidays and birthdays. In the past, he would throw tantrums, hoping to see more of his father, but after a few weeks of walking around, hiding in corners, and listening to the servants and maids speak, Ge Nianlan felt some sympathy for the man who raised him.
On the one hand, seeing his son reminded him of his late wife and in spending time with him, enemies might believe this son would be a good way to threaten him; on the other, Ge Jinsheng loved this son of his dearly and held him carefully in the palm of his hand, allowing him to be spoiled beyond compare. Even with how much Ge Jinsheng tried to hide his affection, he had the moniker of a doting father, due to how much he observed his “neglected” son’s activities. The maids, servants, and disciples knew this fact very well and tried their hardest not to offend the tantrum throwing little lord. If they upset him, they would very likely lose their lives.
It was fascinating to Ge Nianlan.
Just a month before, he would have never known this side of things. He would have continued to believe that Ge Jinsheng despised him for leading to the death of his wife. Now, he realized that the man who commanded fear and terror into many people’s hearts was actually a family man.
Ge Nianlan almost sighed in pity out loud. No wonder Ge Jinsheng still took care of him after he found out he wasn’t his son. Even if it was a lie, the “Ge Nianlan” in question hadn’t purposely deceived Ge Jinsheng and after spending so many years together, the familial bond Ge Jinsheng felt was probably quite strong.
The boy remained squatting in the corner, his cheeks resting in his hands as he listened to the maids whisper and gossip. A few minutes later, the maids moved away to clean another part of the hall. Ge Nianlan was about to leave when a shadow fell over him.
Ge Nianlan looked at the group in front of him and the girl leading the group looked back at him.
A sweet smile graced his face. “Zheng-jiejie!”
The disciples who were following behind Zheng Yuying glanced at each other in surprise and started whispering. Jiejie? When did Zheng Yuying get a little brother? And who was this adorable little dumpling?
Zheng Yuying felt a cold chill run down her back. “Why are you—”
“Jiejie, are your tests over?” Ge Nianlan asked. “Will you read to me again?”
“Um, Young—”
“Jiejie, did you forget me?” Ge Nianlan held Zheng Yuying’s hand and looked at her pitifully. “I’m A-Lan.”
“Ah…” Zheng Yuying’s brows twitched.
Ge Nianlan’s expression turned sweeter. It was so sweet that Zheng Yuying could sense the poisonous intent behind it.
“Did you really forget me?” Ge Nianlan asked with a pout.
“Ah…A-Lan…No…No, I didn’t,” Zheng Yuying awkwardly murmured. She glanced behind her at the group of curious disciples.
“Yuying, who is this?” one of the disciples asked.
“Um…It’s…A-Lan,” Zheng Yuying said. She glanced at the child uncertainly. “He is…”
“I’m Fu Qing-jiejie’s cousin,” Ge Nianlan whispered. He looked rather sheepish. “His Excellency allowed me to visit while my parents went away for a trip.”
A few of the disciples’ eyes sparked in recognition.
“Fu Qing? The Young Lord’s maid?” one of the disciples said. “I like her! She’s very sweet.”
“And pretty.”
“Hey, don’t think of anything weird. She already has a sweetheart!”
“I know, I know. I’m just stating the facts!”
Zheng Yuying smiled stiffly and glanced down at Ge Nianlan. Her gaze was pleading with him desperately. The question “why are you here?” was being transmitted loudly through her eyes, but Ge Nianlan deflected it with a smile.
Black Mane Palace sat on a mountain range and spanned wider and further than most sects in Yinxue Region. As its territory was rather large, it wasn’t surprising that people didn’t know what the Young Lord looked like. In fact, the outer sect disciples might not even know what the Palace Master looked like. Right now, Ge Nianlan had wandered into the area where the inner sect disciples ate and studied. One could call it the main area of the sect. These disciples, who were on the younger side, rarely came into contact with the other Saints, much less have caught a glimpse of the Young Lord, who had been a recluse up until he had cleared his head recently.
“And where is Fu Qing?” Zheng Yuying finally asked through gritted teeth.
“She’s busy taking care of the Young Lord,” Ge Nianlan said. He looked at her innocently. “Fu-jiejie said that Black Mane Palace is very safe and the people here are nice, so she said I could go around and explore.”
“So, you decided to explore this corner?” Zheng Yuying asked.
“Mn! The paintings over there look pretty!” Ge Nianlan shamelessly replied.
The two stood off with each other for a brief second before one of the disciples spoke up.
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.
“Xiao Lan, if you have nothing else to do, do you want to come and sit in on a lesson? We were heading to class.”
“Jijrr?”
“Rb!”
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Xf Rljcijc uijcmfv ja Itfcu Teslcu klat j rwlif. “Qts cba?”
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“I wanna see,” Ge Nianlan said with an innocent tug of Zheng Yuying’s robes. “I promise I’ll be good!”
This little puppy act worked on Zheng Yuying’s peers, but Zheng Yuying could only stare at Ge Nianlan’s shameless act with bulging eyes. Without being able to read minds, Ge Nianlan could hear Zheng Yuying’s thoughts loud and clear: This little swindler!
The disciple behind Zheng Yuying looked at Ge Nianlan and smiled. “Little brother, if Yuying doesn’t want to take you, we can just take you!”
Ge Nianlan gasped. “Thank you, gege!”
Zheng Yuying wanted to shout at the youth behind her. Are you insane?! You’re inviting a wolf into your house!
However, under Ge Nianlan’s smile, Zheng Yuying could only keep her thoughts to herself as she trudged after the group. If she spoke up about the little lord’s appearance right now, wouldn’t she be the one who got in trouble?
Later, class went about as well as Zheng Yuying had predicted.
The teacher, upon seeing Ge Nianlan sitting with a group of disciples, nearly dropped the material he was holding. The entire class, he couldn’t help but glance at Ge Nianlan cautiously, as if he were waiting for the boy’s head to split open and reveal a multi-eyed monster living inside him. The disciples attending class clearly noticed something was wrong, but no one said anything.
And when class ended, Zheng Yuying said a sloppy excuse and coaxed Ge Nianlan out of the room.
“Are you angry?” Ge Nianlan asked.
Zheng Yuying was about to lose her mind. She turned to look at the boy. “Young Lord, just what are you thinking? Why are you running around without any attendants or guards? I thought you were recovering from an ailment!”
“Did Luo-gege tell you?” Ge Nianlan asked.
“It doesn’t matter who told me. What matters is that you shouldn’t even be here,” Zheng Yuying quietly hissed.
“I was recovering from something last month. I’m perfectly fine now,” Ge Nianlan said. “Besides, I was just exploring. It’s not like I left Black Mane Palace or anything.”
“It’s still dangerous,” Zheng Yuying said. “You should be careful at all times! Especially when you…”
Zheng Yuying stopped her next words from coming out of her mouth. Ge Nianlan watched her silently, as if waiting for her to continue. When she said nothing, the boy smiled.
“Especially when I’m not even a cultivator, right?”
From what Ge Nianlan had learned recently, it seemed that most people—especially those who were raised in a family of cultivators—would start cultivating at age three. Only disciples who were from normal families that ended up joining sects later might start cultivating at ten. In reality, Ge Nianlan wouldn’t be behind. However, in the sphere of nobility and cultivation clans, Ge Nianlan was far behind many of their children.
“I don’t mean it like that,” Zheng Yuying said. She glanced at Ge Nianlan and tried to see if she had upset the child. She sighed and squatted down. “It’s just dangerous. Black Mane Palace is well-protected, but there have been instances before of assassins sneaking in. So, you should—”
“Yuying?”
Zheng Yuying stiffened. She slowly turned around and watched the teenager walk up to them.
Luo Qianwu was dressed in the disciple’s uniform of black robes, with the signature golden embroidery of a black lion. After he returned from his trial, it was clear that he had gotten a breakthrough in cultivation. His appearance seemed to glow now and there was a new power in his every step.
When he looked at Zheng Yuying, his eyes showed his deep affections for the girl and his smile was far softer than anything Ge Nianlan had seen.
“I’m glad I caught you. I wanted to ask if you wanted to eat lunch with me,” Luo Qianwu said.
“I…” Zheng Yuying averted her gaze. She quickly collected herself and glared at him. “You call yourself a guard?!”
Luo Qianwu’s smile fell. “Huh?”
Zheng Yuying stepped aside to reveal Ge Nianlan. “He was just wandering around by himself!”
“Young…Young Lord?” Luo Qianwu stared at the boy in shock. Without waiting for another beat, he scooped the child up into his arms. “How could this be? I thought you were taking a nap in your room.”
Ge Nianlan drew circles against Luo Qianwu’s shoulder. “I got bored and wanted to explore.”
Luo Qianwu glanced at Zheng Yuying and sighed. “Still, Young Lord, you shouldn’t run off without telling anyone. They’ll be worried. And what if something really happened? Then, we won’t know if you were hurt or if you had just gone out to play again.”
Ge Nianlan hugged Luo Qianwu’s shoulders. “Alright. I’m sorry.”
“Mn. Don’t do that again,” Luo Qianwu said. He turned to Zheng Yuying. “Sorry, Yuying. I should bring the Young Lord back.”
“Whatever. It wasn’t like I was planning to eat lunch with you anyway,” Zheng Yuying said. She gave Ge Nianlan a warning look before she jogged off.
Once she left, Ge Nianlan straightened. “Does she not like you?”
“Um,” Luo Qianwu awkwardly laughed. “It isn’t that she doesn’t like me. It’s more that…she doesn’t like that I’m her fiancée?”
Seeing Ge Nianlan’s questioning look, Luo Qianwu felt a bit embarrassed.
“The engagement was from before we were born. At first, we were allowed to break it off when we came of age, but after my parents passed, her parents felt like they should honor my parents’ last wishes so…” Luo Qianwu sighed. “She just doesn’t like that she doesn’t have control over this decision.”
“So, are you going to break the engagement off?” Ge Nianlan asked curiously.
“I’ve tried to, multiple times, but they rejected me every single time. Now that I’m of age, I’ll try it again soon,” Luo Qianwu said. He smiled half-heartedly. “She probably doesn’t view me as a romantic partner anyway. It would be better for her if we weren’t engaged.”
Ge Nianlan observed Luo Qianwu silently as they headed back up to the Eternal Palace.
In the cursed artifact, Luo Qianwu had betrayed the master he swore loyalty to because he thought “Ge Nianlan” had killed Zheng Yuying. However, even without that piece of information, just by looking at Luo Qianwu, Ge Nianlan knew that he had strong feelings for his childhood friend.
Ge Nianlan sighed. He patted Luo Qianwu’s shoulder. “Maybe she’ll learn to like you.”
“I doubt it,” Luo Qianwu said. “If she feels shackled by me, there’s no way she’ll ever like me. I’d rather be a close childhood friend of hers instead of a burden.”
Ge Nianlan wasn’t sure how to respond, so he said nothing. He hung off of Luo Qianwu’s neck and frowned slightly. People always viewed human emotions as something so difficult, but in the end, wasn’t it the people themselves who were making it difficult?
Ge Nianlan wanted to sigh about the vicissitudes of life, as if he were already an aged old man. But his youth and lack of experience only led him to be confused.
As he pondered this difficult question, they had already reached the entrance to Eternal Palace. Luo Qianwu wanted to set Ge Nianlan down. He squatted down and allowed the boy’s feet to touch the ground. As he stood, he caught sight of two unfamiliar figures in the distance, walking with Ge Jinsheng. He squinted slightly to try and get a better look and soon realized that they were walking over to them.
“Nianlan, Qianwu,” Ge Jinsheng frowned slightly. “Where were you two? The maids said you were in your room.”
“He was,” Luo Qianwu said. “But he looked a little bored so I took him out to get some fresh air.”
Ge Nianlan smiled sweetly. He glanced quickly at the two men beside Ge Jinsheng and greeted them. “Hello Uncles! Are you my father’s friends?”
Without even speaking, Ge Nianlan could already tell that these two men were not from this region.
For starters, they dressed in pastel colors. Their hair didn’t have as many horrifying ornaments, such as snakes or dragons, and were pinned rather subtly by a jade crown. One man held one arm behind his back while the other held onto a fan. Both were the same height, but one was clearly higher in arrogance while the other was humble with an air of a gentle scholar. And upon further observation, Ge Nianlan noticed that the arrogant man’s eyes were silver instead of brown.
“Nianlan, don’t be rude,” Ge Jinsheng said. “This is the Pavilion Lord and Guardian of the Dragon Tree from Yunkong Pavilion.”
Ge Nianlan’s smile stiffened significantly.
Luo Qianwu quickly clasped his hand into a deferential salute and greeted the two lord immortals. Ge Nianlan followed him, but doubt appeared in his eyes as his head lowered. There was no mention of these two people appearing so early in Ge Nianlan’s life. In fact, he shouldn’t have met them until he was kicked out of Black Mane Palace. Was this yet another deviation in the foretold timeline?
“The children didn’t know any better, Your Excellency. Please do not blame them,” the Pavilion Lord said. He glanced at the two boys again and smiled. “I’m the Pavilion Lord of Yunkong Pavilion, Lord Immortal Weidan, Ye Mingxi. This is Lord Immortal Hanjing, Baili Liuye, the Guardian of the Dragon Tree.”
“Dragon Tree?” Ge Nianlan echoed.
Baili Liuye’s gaze fell onto the boy. The silvery eyes reminded Ge Nianlan of frost that froze over tree branches in the summer. He almost wanted to take a step back. Not because he was afraid, but because he felt as if Baili Liuye could see right through him.
“My apologies, Lord Immortal,” Ge Jinsheng said. “My son has been very sickly up until recently, so he was not given proper lessons about the state of the world yet.”
“I can see that the Young Lord is doing much better now,” Baili Liuye said.
“Yes. Everyone in my sect says it is a miracle that he is so healthy now,” Ge Jinsheng said.
“A miracle indeed,” Baili Liuye said with a curt nod.
Ge Jinsheng turned back to the children. “Lord Immortal Weidan and Hanjing will be staying with us for a few days. We have some things to talk about.”
The underlying message telling them to not make trouble was loud and clear.
Luo Qianwu nodded profusely. “Don’t worry, Your Excellency! We understand.”
“Mn, we understand,” Ge Nianlan mumbled as he glanced at Baili Liuye.
The man was still watching him attentively. Although there was nothing threatening behind this stare, Ge Nianlan wanted to run away. And at the first chance he could, he took Luo Qianwu and bolted.
However, he never would have guessed that when he went to the library later the next day, he would run into the man that he had been wanting to avoid most.
Sitting on the window sill, head leaning against the wall, Baili Liuye had his eyes closed. There was not even a book in sight to act as an excuse for why he decided to nap here in the library. Seeing this, Ge Nianlan felt a bit flabbergasted.
Was Baili Liuye this casual in the cursed artifact? From what he had seen of him, this man was a horrifying and cold presence! So, what was he doing now, sunbathing in the library? This man was clearly playing hooky!
Ge Nianlan stood where he was and silently criticized him several more times before he took a deep breath and tried to bypass the slumbering beast. Unfortunately for him, Baili Liuye was a cultivator with many years of experience. The moment Ge Nianlan took a step beside him, the man’s lashes fluttered open. He stared at Ge Nianlan, who was walking on his tiptoes, and let out a soft scoff.
Ge Nianlan froze. He slowly turned to look up at Baili Liuye, who had already shifted into an upright position, and slowly set his feet back onto the ground.
The two had a silent stare off until Baili Liuye let out what might be considered a laugh.
“Why are you sneaking around like a little rat?”
A rat?!
Ge Nianlan felt offended.
He knew that there was no way that this man knew he was his missing son. After all, according to the cursed artifact, he had been surprised when Ge Nianlan suddenly showed up at his doorstep after so many years of presuming his own son had passed. Then, did that mean that this man was just rude to strangers he just met?
Ge Nianlan couldn’t hide the disappointment in his expression, leading Baili Liuye to raise a brow. He shifted so that he leaned against his thighs and could lower himself to Ge Nianlan’s height.
He tilted his head slightly. “You do look similar.”
Similar…?!
“To…who?” Ge Nianlan asked awkwardly.
“My mentor,” Baili Liuye said.
Ge Nianlan stared at him. “Is my father your mentor?”
“You look nothing like your father,” Baili Liuye bluntly said.
Ge Nianlan felt a chill run down his spine. “How could you say that? I’m his son!”
“His son?” Baili Liuye echoed. He let out a soft sigh. “Why must you insist on saying that when you know it isn’t true?”
Ge Nianlan’s eyes widened. “What are you—”
“Maybe it’s because our connection was reestablished, but the appearance distortion spell doesn’t work on me at all,” Baili Liuye said. With a flick of his wrist, he brought out a mirror and held it up to Ge Nianlan. “This is your true face.”
Ge Nianlan stumbled back in shock.
The boy staring back at him had sharper features than what he was used to. With just a glance, one could make out the similarity between him and Baili Liuye. Anyone could tell that he would grow up to become a fine gentleman. Gone was the devilishness that resembled Ge Jinsheng and the gentle eyes that belonged to Qiao Lanying. Although it was shocking, Ge Nianlan realized that the emotion behind his hammering heart was not anxiety or terror. Rather, it was excitement.
Oooooh, He saw his true face
Thanks for the chapter
thanks for reading!
Lol that was fast…face reveal
Ge Nianlan is such a little ….. whats the word im looking for. it’s like little shit/brat adjacent but more gremlin energy but thats not quite it either >.> whatever the term, its affectionate as i am like “you go you funky little dude” …that sorta works akxhakdb
also Ge Jinsheng “was actually a family man” 😳😳😳😳😳
GNL indeed has grand gremlin energy LMAO he’s just a silly lil guy tho :’3 thanks for reading!