Su Qing had just picked up her teacup, ready to take a small sip to moisten her throat… when the Snake General uttered something astonishing, nearly making her choke. She had never imagined he would abruptly steer the conversation to this topic.
Su Qing was somewhat speechless, a look of utter helplessness on her face as she asked, “Senior, why did you suddenly bring this up?”
The Snake General naturally understood that his words had come too suddenly, leaving Su Qing a bit bewildered. He stroked his chin and said, “Oh, it’s nothing much. I just found our conversation very congenial, and I feel that Sovereign is definitely a capable and excellent immortal, and a good match for a woman. I happen to have several daughters of suitable age who are not yet married, so I thought if Sovereign intended to take a concubine, I would offer one of them to you.”
Upon hearing this, Su Qing’s eyelids twitched, and the corner of her mouth couldn’t help but twitch. So, I’m treating you as a senior, but you want to be my father? She thought. Are you serious?
And as for taking a concubine, setting aside whether she even wanted to, Leng Xiang and the others would never agree! So, Su Qing would undoubtedly have to refuse.
Su Qing exhaled slowly, calming herself, and said, “My apologies, Senior, I have no such intention… Moreover, when it comes to matters of affection, I’ve always believed in mutual willingness. I am a woman, and your daughters are also women. While I do like women, your daughters might not! After all, not every woman under heaven is like me! So, let’s just forget about it.”
“Sovereign has considered quite a lot… However, since Sovereign has no such intention, then so be it.” The Snake General looked at Su Qing, then chuckled and shook his head, saying, “It’s just that I have many children at home. If you ever change your mind in the future, you can always come and tell me! As for affection, one can marry first and cultivate feelings slowly over time!”
Later? Su Qing’s mouth twitched. She wondered which ‘later’ the Snake General was referring to… But no matter which ‘later’ it was, it didn’t matter to Su Qing. After all, she truly couldn’t agree to such a thing. Even if she were to take another wife in the future, it would definitely be based on mutual affection, not forced by parental decree or matchmaker’s words.
Su Qing pursed her lips, offering an apologetic smile, and said, “Let’s talk about it later then.” Su Qing didn’t complain much about the Snake General; as for ‘later,’ it likely meant never.
Upon hearing this, the Snake General wasn’t particularly bothered… He simply began discussing other matters with Su Qing. The Snake General was very talkative. Although the previous discussion about concubines had made the atmosphere slightly awkward, he was unaffected during the subsequent casual chat, continuing to speak and converse as before.
Seeing this, Su Qing stopped dwelling on the matter… and simply continued chatting with the Snake General. Time passed quickly. Before they knew it, the sky had gradually darkened.
Seeing the sky darken, Su Qing also stood up and said, “Senior… it’s getting late.” Although Su Qing didn’t explicitly state it, her intention to return was clear.
The Snake General was no fool; he naturally understood Su Qing’s meaning. So he nodded and said, “Indeed! It is getting late. It’s time to go back and rest! My wife is probably waiting for me to return for dinner.”
Su Qing nodded upon hearing this and said, “In that case, this junior will also take her leave!”
“Good! Sovereign, take care!” The Snake General nodded and stood up, moving aside.
Su Qing, seeing this, cupped her hands to the Snake General and said, “Then this junior bids farewell.”
“Farewell!” The Snake General returned the salute, saying, “If I have time later, I’ll find Sovereign again to chat about everything under the sun!”
Su Qing nodded politely, thinking helplessly to herself, ‘You’re so talkative, it’s probably better if you find me less often… Once we start chatting, time flies too quickly.’
With that thought, Su Qing headed back towards her sleeping quarters.
Upon returning to her sleeping quarters, dinner had already been prepared… And everything in the quarters was neatly arranged. Even the Little Sparrows had returned just in time for dinner.
Su Qing looked at the Little Sparrows and snorted, saying, “So you remember to come back for dinner!” Su Qing hadn’t seen the Little Sparrows since she returned today… Although she wasn’t worried about these little ones, and knew roughly where they had gone, she hadn't seen them return all day, so she naturally had to grumble a bit.
Upon hearing Su Qing’s scolding, Tuanzi immediately started acting cute and making excuses, truly pushing shamelessness to its extreme. Su Qing felt utterly helpless about this… It was also her own fault for being so doting on these little ones. She couldn’t bring herself to discipline them.
After a few casual scoldings, she let them go off to play. Su Qing shook her head, then quietly ate her dinner. After dinner, Su Qing read a book in the courtyard for a while, practiced her spear, then washed up and rested. After Su Qing retired for the night, the maids and the Spider Spirits obediently left the sleeping quarters and went to their own residences.
The Spider Spirits’ residences were naturally arranged by the Dragon Girls… Because Su Qing didn’t have many maids, there were plenty of empty rooms, so accommodating the Spider Spirits was no problem at all. That night, the Spider Spirits didn’t rush to rest. Instead, they gathered to discuss how to please Su Qing and avoid accidentally losing their lives.
“Sister, do you remember Pilanpo Bodhisattva once said… that One-Leaf Bodhisattva is not only a Buddhist, but also a Daoist, and also fond of women?” Zhu Xue said after a moment of thought. Zhu Yue was stunned at first, then quickly understood what her sister meant in her heart. “Will that work? We said we wanted to convert to Buddhism!”
“But we’re not Buddhists yet! And One-Leaf Bodhisattva isn’t just a Buddhist, either!”
“This… but she’s a woman!”
“What does it matter if she’s a woman? Don’t you dislike men, Sister?”
“This… forget it, let’s consider it further!”
“Alright, Sister, consider it further! I’ll follow my own idea.”
“……”
The three sisters couldn’t reach a unified opinion, so they each returned to their rooms to rest and continue planning for the future. Meanwhile, Su Qing, who was sleeping soundly, had no idea that in the eyes of some, new schemes were being hatched against her. If Su Qing knew, besides being utterly speechless, she would naturally give these Spider Spirits a harsh lesson. She would make them understand that making calculations about a lesbian was not a good idea. However, Su Qing didn’t know.
Just like that, time slowly flowed by… In the blink of an eye, another half a month had passed. Over the past half month, everything had been exceptionally smooth. No disasters had occurred in the Northern Continent; there had been no drought, no floods, no earthquakes, nor any demon calamities. Therefore, Su Qing was naturally very idle, only able to handle her daily official duties as usual, being an unremarkable, idle guardian, a civil servant coasting to retirement… just eating and waiting to die… eating and waiting for disaster to strike.
Not only was everything smooth at the Daoist monastery, but nothing significant had happened with Su Qing’s two clones either. Even if they encountered minor issues, they were mostly just small skirmishes. All were insignificant matters.
On this day, after Su Qing finished her usual daily official duties, she sat in her chair and closed her eyes to rest for a while. Though she called it resting, she was actually going into her Mental World to play with the two sisters. At the same time, she wanted to see if they had changed after receiving that branch so long ago.
Su Qing once again entered her Mental World. Many days had passed, but this space hadn’t changed much… The space was still slowly expanding, but as only a little over ten days had passed, the expansion was very small. However, more than the changes in this space, Su Qing was more concerned about the changes in the Bodhi Tree.
Su Qing came to the Bodhi Tree and looked up at it… The Bodhi Tree didn’t seem to have changed much, but if one looked closely and compared it to the Bodhi Tree seen recently, one could notice the difference. “This Bodhi Tree has new wood grafted onto it… and it has already sprouted!” Su Qing, sharp-eyed, found the branch she had given to Yan’er earlier. That branch had been grafted onto the Bodhi Tree. Because it wasn’t the same kind of tree, it looked a bit out of place after being grafted, and even on such a large tree, Su Qing quickly spotted it. Now, more than ten days later… The previously dry branch had sprouted under the nourishment of the Bodhi Tree, and was emitting an indescribably rich vitality… The vitality emanating from that branch now was even richer than the vitality from the osmanthus tree’s Wood Heart. Compared to when she first received it, when it was ordinary and unremarkable, like a common twig broken off a roadside tree, it was worlds apart.
“It seems these two sisters are very dedicated to this branch! They must be wholeheartedly nurturing it…” Su Qing thought as she looked at the Bodhi Tree. “This branch must indeed be extremely important to these two sisters, and it must genuinely bring them great benefits. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so dedicated.”
“However, although the branch is now alive, it will probably take a long time for it to truly grow. I wonder how long it will take.”
“Never mind, I don’t need to be anxious… Everything will proceed step by step.”
After seeing this, Su Qing stopped thinking and called out to Yan’er and Ying’er several times towards the Bodhi Tree… However, Su Qing called many times, but there was no reply. This made Su Qing frown… Normally, after Su Qing called twice, Ying’er might ignore her, but Yan’er would definitely scamper out excitedly to play with her; there would never be no response… But now there was indeed no response… This meant that either the two were asleep and didn’t hear her, or they were temporarily unable to respond due to the branch.
However, no matter the reason… Su Qing was definitely destined not to play with them today. Su Qing felt a little regretful about this, but she didn’t blame them. “Never mind, I’ll find another opportunity later,” Su Qing stretched, thinking, “Perhaps after the branch matter can be put aside, these two girls will be free.” Thinking this, Su Qing felt there was no need to stay in her Mental World anymore. So, after saying a casual farewell to the Bodhi Tree, she withdrew her consciousness from the Mental World.
Returning to reality, Su Qing opened her eyes… and then noticed Liu Xixi staring at her. Su Qing asked, “Why are you looking at me?”
“Is Sovereign tired?”
“Not really, these official duties aren’t tiring.” Su Qing shook her head and said, “I just rested for a bit.” These official duties were indeed nothing to Su Qing… After all, splitting her mind to control three bodies was far more exhausting than doing these duties.
Upon hearing this, Liu Xixi nodded and said, “If Sovereign is tired, please go and rest…”
Su Qing pursed her lips, smiled, and shook her head: “I’ve already taken care of everything. I am resting now.”
“……” Liu Xixi.
Just then, Su Qing looked at Liu Xixi, as if suddenly remembering something, and said: “Oh, right, I need to leave for a while these next few days… I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you with the official duties again.”
“Oh? Where is Sovereign going?” Liu Xixi wasn’t trying to stop Su Qing from going anywhere; she was simply curious.
Su Qing said, “I’m going home for a trip to spend a few days with my wives and daughters.” Su Qing had promised Su Ying’er that she would make time to go back and accompany them… And recently, there were no urgent matters, nor any major disasters requiring her personal intervention, so it was natural that she should go back and accompany them. Not just Leng Xiang, but Bai Suzhen and Bai Yuhe also needed her company, otherwise, they would start to complain…
Upon hearing Su Qing’s words, Liu Xixi was stunned for a moment… Then she remembered that Bi Ling Yuanjun was a woman with wives and daughters. And one of her wives was even a princess of the Dragon Clan. “I see… Sovereign is going back to accompany her wives and daughters, so this subordinate naturally wouldn’t have any objections.” Liu Xixi nodded and said, “Sovereign, please rest assured, I can handle those official duties alone.”
For Liu Xixi, her workload wouldn’t actually increase much after Su Qing left… After all, the work Su Qing needed to handle personally would still have to wait for Su Qing to return before being personally handled. So, while the workload would increase, it wouldn’t be by much.
Su Qing nodded upon hearing this and said, “That’s good then! Thank you for the trouble.”
Liu Xixi shook her head and said, “It’s merely my duty. Oh, right, when will Sovereign depart?”
“No rush, I’ll leave tomorrow,” Su Qing said.
Liu Xixi heard this and said no more, simply nodding before saying, “Then I’ll come to see Sovereign off tomorrow!”
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