Why Are You Here?

Looking at the courtyard, which had been tidied and cleaned once again, Su Qing was slightly surprised.

She had only been out for half a day.

Could these two really be so bored that they spent their time fussing over the courtyard like this?

At least they weren't making it worse; if anything, the place looked better and better.

Thus, Su Qing didn't feel the need to say much. She simply walked into the house and found Jingyue and Yudie chatting.

"I'm back! I bought some groceries while I was at it. Are your furniture and the servants all sorted out?"

Neither Yudie nor Jingyue seemed particularly surprised by her return.

"You're back so soon!? I thought you wouldn't be back until evening, Big Sister Xiao Qing!" Jingyue said, looking a bit startled.

Su Qing curled her lip and replied, "I just went to ask a few questions. How long could that possibly take?"

"Hmm? I suppose so..." Jingyue shrugged, not pressing further. She continued, "Yudie and I have already picked out the furniture. But as for the servants, neither of us really knows what to look for... so we haven't done that yet! While we were waiting for the furniture to be delivered, we just tidied up the main courtyard again."

"Is that so? You've worked hard... Since the servants aren't settled, I'll head to the brokerage this afternoon to hire some," Su Qing said with a nod after hearing the explanation. "By the way, Yudie, come and help. If you don't want to go hungry at noon, get moving."

Yudie had originally thought she had nothing to do, but upon hearing Su Qing call her name, she scrambled up and followed Su Qing to the kitchen to help prep the ingredients.

When she had gone to Chang'an Avenue that morning, Yudie had actually eaten quite a lot of delicious food. However, as a sword spirit, she didn't really have a sense of hunger or fullness. Therefore, hearing Su Qing say there was lunch to be had, she naturally hurried to help.

She never said no to food.

Jingyue also claimed she couldn't sit still and came along to help.

Lunch was a simple affair of stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots and fried tofu. However, Su Qing's culinary skills were excellent, and the meal she prepared was quite delicious.

After lunch, Su Qing followed her original plan and went to the brokerage to hire servants.

The clerks at the brokerage were as full of smooth talk as ever. Fortunately, Su Qing was something of a master of persuasion herself, so she wasn't easily swayed by their chatter.

She soon hired six or seven servants. Since there were only girls in her household, she hired only women. Aside from one older woman, they were all young girls around fifteen or sixteen years old.

The older woman's primary role was to train the girls, while the girls would be the ones managing the courtyard in the future. After all, life was long, and younger girls could look after the place for many more years.

Once the hiring was done, Su Qing brought the girls back to the courtyard.

The courtyard was vast; even with several more people, it didn't feel crowded. It just felt a bit livelier than usual, with a touch more human presence.

Su Qing didn't need to worry too much about settling them in. She simply warned them that under no circumstances were they to approach the study.

The study was where she usually practiced her spells. Although she wouldn't live here often, the rules had to be established.

By evening, Su Qing had prepared dinner and sat down to eat with Yudie and Jingyue, discussing her future plans.

"Tomorrow, after we arrange a few things here, let's head back to the Changbai Mountains," Su Qing said. "Yudie, you've been wanting to go back for a while now, haven't you?"

Hearing this, Yudie nodded vigorously. "Mhm! I've wanted to go back to the Changbai Mountains for ages. I haven't seen Mother in so long; I really miss her."

Su Qing nodded slightly. "In that case, we'll leave tomorrow."

Jingyue asked, "Is everything finished here?"

"More or less."

"What about Chaoyan? Are we just leaving her?"

"She's with Senior Guanyin, so there's no need to worry about her. If she wants to see me in the future, Senior Guanyin will likely bring her to find me," Su Qing said with a nod. "Besides, even if she doesn't know where I am, don't I know where she is? I can just go find her directly."

Su Qing wasn't worried about Chaoyan. With Senior Guanyin there, she could rest easy.

Hearing Su Qing's words, Jingyue didn't say anything more. "That's good then... I'm also very eager to see the place where you live, Sister! But don't forget what you promised me. You said you'd accompany me back to Flower-Fruit Mountain!"

"Of course I won't forget. How could I forget a promise to you?" Su Qing replied with narrowed eyes and a beaming smile.

Jingyue rolled her eyes at Su Qing's confident declaration. She knew exactly how unreliable her sister could be. The number of promises she had forgotten was certainly not small.

"If that's true, then that's for the best. But if you forget, Sister, your little sister might just bite you," Jingyue said, putting on a fierce expression.

Yes, very fierce indeed!

Su Qing nodded quickly, fearing that if she hesitated, she really would end up with teeth marks on her arm.

Seeing Su Qing so resolute, Jingyue curled her lip and said no more. They finished their dinner in quiet conversation.

After some light post-meal exercise, they went to bed as scheduled.

The next morning, the sound of a rooster crowing woke Su Qing from her sleep.

Su Qing rubbed her aching head as she sat up. Her sleep hadn't been particularly pleasant; she'd had a headache-inducing dream and a vague premonition of the situation she might face upon her return.

Even so, they were going back to the Changbai Mountains today.

Even if she knew she might get a scolding, she had to go. Firstly, the Changbai Mountains were her home, and secondly, she truly missed them.

After getting up, Su Qing washed up and ate the breakfast brought by the servants. Then, she arranged the tasks the servants needed to complete for the day.

Su Qing didn't explain much to the servants. She simply told them she would be away for a while and instructed them to keep the courtyard in good order.

The servants were quite bewildered that the master was leaving the very day after they had arrived, but as it was an order from the master, they could only obey. They had been paid for their service, so they had to work diligently.

Knowing this, Su Qing didn't bother with further explanations. The more one says, the more room there is for error; by saying nothing, there would be no mistakes and no need to worry about chaos.

It didn't take long for Su Qing to finish the arrangements.

Once everything was settled, she took Yudie and Jingyue and left Chang'an City, riding their horses until they were well outside the city walls.

After ensuring no one was around, Su Qing formed a hand seal and summoned a Somersault Cloud, speeding off toward the Changbai Mountains.

Up on the cloud, the horse was still terrified of heights, crouching on the cloud and not daring to move an inch.

Yudie was exceptionally excited, overjoyed at the prospect of going home soon. Jingyue, however, was somewhat silent, seemingly lost in thought.

Su Qing glanced at her and asked, "What's wrong? A bit nervous?"

Hearing Su Qing's voice, Jingyue snapped out of it and looked at her. "Not really... I'm just a little curious."

"Curious about what?"

"A lot of things..."

"..." Su Qing threw up her hands. "That's the same as saying nothing."

Jingyue didn't speak again, clearly not intending to explain much to Su Qing. Seeing this, Su Qing didn't bother asking further. What was the point if she wasn't going to get an answer?

She focused on controlling the Somersault Cloud, racing toward the Changbai Mountains.

The speed of the Somersault Cloud was as fast as ever. Although Su Qing didn't push it to its limit, they arrived at the Changbai Mountains in the time it took to exchange a few sentences.

Floating above the mountains, Su Qing didn't immediately descend. Instead, she stayed in the sky to observe the changes that had occurred in the Changbai Mountains over the years.

Her temple was still exceptionally busy. Even though the weather was quite hot today, there were still many pilgrims coming to burn incense.

Su Qing listened in briefly. After all these years, the wishes of the mortals were still as varied and strange as ever. Just listening to a few gave her a bit of a headache.

What Su Qing found interesting, however, was that among the people burning incense, there were actually several demons who had already taken human form. It seemed that most of them hadn't transformed very well, as they looked somewhat furtive.

"It looks like the plan I left behind is still being implemented normally... I wonder how many transformed demons are near the Changbai Mountains now," Su Qing thought, stroking her chin.

Withdrawing her gaze, she searched for the other demons in the mountains. Although she had been gone for a long time, the demons of the Changbai Mountains seemed to remain quite well-behaved. Most of them stayed within the areas she had designated for them.

There were also many transformed demons here. These demons were similar to the ones she had seen at the temple—their transformations were mediocre. Some even looked remarkably similar to the demons she had encountered on the road, appearing semi-human with more beastly features.

"Not bad... Even without me, everything in the Changbai Mountains is running very smoothly." Su Qing felt much more at ease seeing this.

But then again, it made sense. Leng Xiang hadn't come looking for her, and she hadn't heard anything about the Changbai Mountains from other immortals, so it was only logical that things were stable here.

After finishing her observation, Su Qing remained silent for a moment before descending the cloud into the heart of the mountains.

The peak of the Changbai Mountains looked just as it always had. Su Qing followed the familiar path to her old courtyard.

Before Su Qing could even knock, Yudie pushed the gate open and rushed into the yard with a giggle.

She shouted at the top of her lungs, "Mother! I'm back with Mama!"

Yudie's voice was quite loud, so much so that even Su Qing, still outside the gate, found it a bit noisy. She shook her head helplessly and led the horse into the courtyard.

The courtyard was exactly as she remembered, though more winter plum trees had been planted. Since it wasn't the season for them to bloom, their beauty wasn't on display.

However, looking at the incredibly familiar courtyard, Su Qing's mood lightened considerably, and many memories of the past surfaced in her mind.

What Su Qing found a bit strange, though, was that despite Yudie's loud entrance, there was no response from inside.

"Could they have gone out?" Su Qing raised an eyebrow, feeling puzzled. "Or is Leng Xiang planning to jump out and scare me like last time?"

As she thought this, she tied up the horse and said to Jingyue, "Make yourself at home. Just treat this place as your own."

Jingyue had been observing the surroundings. Upon hearing Su Qing's words, she nodded slightly but didn't say much.

As Su Qing finished speaking to Jingyue, Yudie said curiously, "That's strange, Mama. Where did Mother and the others go?"

"I don't know either... Let's go inside first!" After a moment's thought, Su Qing didn't overthink it. After all, Leng Xiang and Ao Ying were both reliable; she didn't believe anything could have happened to them. Moreover, with the Changbai Mountains being managed so orderly, it didn't seem like a place where trouble would arise.

Pushing the door open, Su Qing set her things down in the living room and then went to her own room.

Everything inside was untouched, looking as though it were still cleaned regularly. While Su Qing was lost in thought, Jingyue's voice suddenly came from outside.

"Huh? A flying cobblestone? What a big one," Jingyue said, sounding confused and surprised.

Hearing this, Su Qing's eyebrow twitched, and she listened closely.

"You're the cobblestone! We're sparrows, sparrows!"

"Exactly! Cobblestones don't become spirits!"

Hearing those voices, Su Qing knew exactly who was talking to Jingyue. She couldn't think of anyone else with such sharp tongues besides those few sparrows.

"You're sparrows? But you're so round," Jingyue said, seemingly amazed as she studied the sparrows before her.

"This is called being healthy! Who are you, and why are you here?"

"My name is Liu Jingyue, and I came here with Big Sister Su Qing. But who are you? And why are you here?"

"This is our home, why wouldn't we be here?"

"You said you came back with Big Sister Xiao Qing? Where is she?"

"Inside. So you know her too?"

"Of course we do! Of course we do!"

"We only came back because we heard Yudie's voice!"

"Exactly, exactly!"

"Yudie and Big Sister Xiao Qing are both in the house," Jingyue said with a smile, pointing toward the room where Su Qing was eavesdropping. "She's been listening for a while now."