The Invitation

In the courtyard, leaves fluttered down, scattering everywhere to form a golden carpet.

Not far from the ginkgo tree, at the stone table, a woman with antlers on her head, dragon scales at the corners of her eyes, and wearing a cyan chest-high ruqun was teasing sparrows while chatting with Gongsun Zhixue.

Seeing that familiar figure, Su Qing couldn't help but feel amused. What kind of day was today? Was it truly just a day for good things?

"Ah~ Big Green Snake is back. You two chat! I need to go back and rest my head!"

Noticing Su Qing's return, Gongsun Zhixue alerted Ao Ying, then promptly vanished.

While Su Qing was accompanying Lady Chang'e in the Lunar Palace, Ao Ying had been chatting with Gongsun Zhixue, to the point that the socially awkward Gongsun Zhixue was now completely overwhelmed.

Seeing Su Qing return, she breathed a huge sigh of relief and immediately fled.

She didn't want to stay for even a second longer...

Leaving Ao Ying to chat with Su Qing.

Hearing Gongsun Zhixue's words, Ao Ying turned her head toward the entrance. Seeing that it was indeed the person she was waiting for, she became quite excited.

"Sister Xiao Qing, you're back!"

Ao Ying stood up and gave Su Qing a bear hug, saying:

"I haven't seen you for so long, I missed you to death."

Su Qing smiled helplessly, patted the girl's back, and tilted her head slightly.

Although the horns on this girl's head added a touch of dragon-like elegance, they were sometimes truly in the way. Just now, she had almost been poked by them.

"Alright, alright, don't be so excited." Su Qing laughed. "I missed you quite a bit too, not having seen you for so long."

Hearing that Su Qing also thought of her, Ao Ying couldn't help but smile. She let go of Su Qing and pulled her back to sit at the table.

"Does Sister know what happened at Flower-Fruit Mountain recently?" As soon as Ao Ying sat down, she brought up the matter of Flower-Fruit Mountain again.

Hearing this, Su Qing couldn't help but smile...

As someone who knew everything, was she now eating the same piece of gossip for the second time?

However, Su Qing didn't want to cut Ao Ying off, so she listened to her recount the event once more.

After all, it had been over a year since Ao Ying last came up to the Moon Palace; she couldn't let her run out of things to say so quickly.

"I see. That battle between the Flower-Fruit Mountain monkey and the immortals didn't affect you, did it?" Su Qing asked after taking a sip of clear tea.

Su Qing had known about the events at Flower-Fruit Mountain for a long time, so hearing it a second time left her quite calm.

Ao Ying shook her head slightly and said:

"How could their battle affect me? I was recuperating in the pool. Unless they blew up Flower-Fruit Mountain, it would be hard for it to reach me. It was just a lot of noisy clanging that disturbed my sleep."

Hearing this, Su Qing nodded slightly. This wasn't unexpected. She said:

"It's good that it didn't affect you! If you encounter such things in the future, just hide. Your injuries haven't healed yet, so don't get involved in such matters."

"If it's no good, come to the Moon Palace. If that's still no good, go back and hide in the Dragon Palace."

"Don't worry, Sister. I'm not stupid. How could I get involved in such things?"

Ao Ying said with a grin, then suddenly looked as if she had remembered something.

"Oh, right. Speaking of the Dragon Palace, I almost forgot. Besides missing you and wanting to see you, I have one more thing to tell you on this trip to the Moon Palace!"

Su Qing perked up and asked curiously, "Oh? What is it?"

Ao Ying smiled. "It's nothing major. It's just that a few days ago, my Father King called me to the Dragon Palace. Then he asked me to give this invitation to you."

As she spoke, Ao Ying took a golden silk invitation with a luxurious Dragon Palace aura from her bosom and handed it to Su Qing.

"An invitation? What is he inviting me for?"

Taking the invitation, Su Qing was somewhat bewildered.

Why did the Dragon King suddenly send her an invitation?

If she remembered correctly, that Dragon King had just complained about her to the Jade Emperor last time?

How could he be inviting her again so soon?

What on earth was going on in that Old Dragon King's head?

It was truly hard to fathom.

Ao Ying cupped her face in her hands and said with a smile:

"It's just a birthday banquet. In a few decades, it will be my Father King's 15,000th birthday, so he wants to invite you to celebrate together. But I guess he probably also intends to apologize for the matter of the complaint last time, right?"

Hearing this, Su Qing's mouth twitched slightly, feeling more or less speechless about the whole thing.

She wasn't speechless because the Old Dragon King invited her to a birthday banquet, but because he was sending the invitation so early.

A birthday banquet with an invitation sent decades in advance—this was truly one of a kind.

"Sending an invitation decades early, how interesting." Su Qing smiled helplessly.

"Actually, it's not that far in advance. After all, he has to consider the people from the Heavenly Palace! In that place, one day is a year on earth. To them, it's only a little over a month in advance." Ao Ying smiled and said, "But Sister, are you going to go when the time comes?"

Su Qing thought about it but didn't reach a conclusion. She only asked, "Well... do you want me to go? If you want me to go, then I'll go."

"Ying naturally wants Sister to go... Although I have some grievances with my Father King, he is my father after all. I have to go back to celebrate his millennial birthday."

Ao Ying said:

"But if Sister really doesn't want to go, Ying won't force you. After all, there was quite a bit of unpleasantness between Sister and Father King."

Hearing this, Su Qing shook her head slightly and put the invitation away.

"It's nothing. Decades have passed, and I've long since moved past it. However, since you want me to go, then I'll go. When the time comes, I'll take the opportunity to have a good chat with that Old Dragon King."

Seeing Su Qing agree, Ao Ying's face was full of smiles, thinking to herself that the plan had succeeded.

For Ao Ying, the birthday celebration was secondary; her main goal was to have Su Qing accompany her.

In fact, the reason Ao Ying had agreed to help the Dragon King deliver the invitation was that the Dragon King had promised to help her with some small favors.

Otherwise, Ao Ying wouldn't want to do anything for her Father King!

After all, her grievances against her father were far greater than Su Qing's.

"Sister is so good~ Thank you, Sister." Ao Ying happily gave her another bear hug.

Su Qing patted Ao Ying's back and smiled helplessly. This girl calling her "Sister" over and over so sweetly made Su Qing a little embarrassed.

After all, she was actually quite a bit younger than Ao Ying...

But it was better not to tell her that.

After confirming that she would accompany Ao Ying to the Dragon Palace to celebrate the Dragon King's birthday in a few decades.

Ao Ying and Su Qing chatted about other things.

Before they knew it, the sky had gradually darkened.

Looking at the sky, Su Qing couldn't help but say, "It's getting late. Why don't you stay here tonight?"

Hearing this, Ao Ying shook her head slightly. "No, I have to go back to the Dragon Palace tonight."

"Is that so? That's quite a pity."

Ao Ying smiled, stood up, and gave a light peck on the cheek, saying, "It's not a pity. There will be other chances in the future, but now is not the time... at least not before we get married~"

Su Qing smiled helplessly upon hearing this. It was just sleeping over, not doing anything else...

How did it become "not before marriage"?

For a moment, Su Qing didn't understand what kind of strange things were filling Ao Ying's head.

"Since you don't want to stay, then leave after eating dinner."

Ao Ying nodded. That was fine...

After dinner, Ao Ying left the Moon Palace and went straight back to the East Sea Dragon Palace.

First, it was to report back to the East Sea Dragon King, and second, it was to learn some knowledge from her Mother Queen and ask her to help find a teacher.