Shen Qingci said, “A gift from an elder cannot be refused. Thank you, Clan Uncle.”
“It is only right, only right.”
Shen Nanxing's eyes crinkled into slits as he smiled. He stood up, rubbing his hands together. “Eldest Young Lady, please sit for a moment. I will go invite your Ancestor Tinglan over.”
He took two steps before stopping and turning back to wave at Shen Shun. “Go prepare the feast. I will go myself.” After saying that, he chuckled and added in a lowered voice, “I will grab a few jars of her fine wine while I am at it. Ancestor usually treasures them like life itself, but now that the Eldest Young Lady is here, she surely won't be stingy.”
Shen Shun's lips twitched, and he withdrew.
Shen Nanxing hurried out of the courtyard. Before his footsteps could even fade, Shen Qingci had already stood up from her stone stool.
She walked over to Chi Yuan and sat down right next to her senior sister. It was not a proper, side-by-side seating arrangement; rather, she squeezed inward sideways, shoulder pressing against shoulder, knee brushing against knee, as if she wished she could shrink herself entirely into Chi Yuan's embrace.
Squeezed by her, Chi Yuan leaned back until her spine pressed against the edge of the stone table, leaving her with nowhere to retreat.
“Senior Sister~”
Shen Qingci looked up at her, so close that she could count individual eyelashes on Chi Yuan's lids. “You gave the earth source crystal to my clan uncle. Weren't you afraid Frostchill would throw a fit?”
Chi Yuan lowered her gaze. Her little junior sister's face filled her entire field of vision, and her warm breath brushed against her chin...
“I discussed it with Frostchill. It won't throw a fit.”
“Discussed it?” Shen Qingci could barely hold back her laughter. “How did you discuss it?”
Chi Yuan turned her head away, her earlobes growing hot once more.
How did she discuss it?
She had drawn Frostchill from its scabbard, laid it across her lap, and talked to it for an hour.
From the uses of the earth source crystal to her little junior sister's family background.
Frostchill had lain quietly across her lap, the ice patterns on its blade showing not a hint of a reaction.
She had talked for another hour.
In the end, Frostchill had vibrated twice on its own, nudging its hilt into her hand, as if to say, “Fine, stop nagging.”
Chi Yuan fell silent for a moment before saying vaguely, “Just... reasoned with it.”
“You carry Frostchill with you every day to nurture its spirituality, and it actually didn't complain?” Shen Qingci did not believe her. She tilted her head and snuggled closer into her embrace, reaching out to touch the Frostchill sword at Chi Yuan's waist. “Let me ask it.”
The moment her fingers brushed the scabbard, Frostchill suddenly vibrated. It was not a vibration driven by spiritual energy, but a spontaneous tremor from the blade itself, humming softly like a cat having its chin scratched.
Shen Qingci looked down at it.
Frostchill vibrated twice more, its hilt nudging against her palm.
Shen Qingci tried gripping the hilt and drew it out by half an inch. The moment the blade left the sheath, a clear, resonant sword chime echoed through the courtyard, devoid of any killing intent, carrying only joy.
Frostchill broke free from her grip, transforming into a streak of white light that circled the two of them three times. The ice patterns on the blade lit up layer by layer, scattering fragments of brilliant light all over the ground.
After completing three circles, it still refused to return to its scabbard. It hovered in front of Shen Qingci, gently nudging her shoulder with its hilt over and over.
Its movements were incredibly careful, as if terrified of cutting her.
Tickled by its nudges, Shen Qingci reached out to pat the hilt, suppressing a laugh. “You are certainly more honest than your master.”
Frostchill nudged her again, its blade tilting toward her hand, perfectly placing its hilt into her palm.
Shen Qingci gripped the hilt and looked down at it, her tone turning serious. “As long as you obediently listen to Senior Sister, never mind Earth-grade materials—I can even get Heaven-grade ones for you.”
Frostchill's chime instantly soared by twenty percent.
Sitting nearby, Chi Yuan watched her own natal sword frolic in her little junior sister's hands, her expression utterly indescribable.
Frostchill was an ice-attribute natal sword. Its temperament mirrored her own, usually extremely cold. Back when she had first established her foundation and drawn this sword, its sword qi had pierced a hundred feet into the sky.
When her master praised her with, “A clear sword heart, born with a sword bone,” Frostchill had only buzzed faintly in response.
And now?
Nudging shoulders, offering its hilt, flying in circles...
It was even changing the pitch of its chimes, as if desperate to carve the word “sycophant” onto its own blade.
“Senior Sister.” Shen Qingci turned to look at her while cradling Frostchill, her eyes filled with teasing amusement. “Your sword really does like me!”
Chi Yuan reached out her hand, intending to summon Frostchill back. However, Frostchill broke free from her palm and circled back to Shen Qingci's side, its hilt pressing against her little junior sister's hand, refusing to budge.
Chi Yuan: “...”
She took a deep breath. Just as she was about to forcibly summon her sword, the restriction at the courtyard gate trembled slightly, and two powerful Soul Transformation auras descended.
Chi Yuan looked up.
Shen Nanxing and Shen Tinglan stood side by side at the courtyard gate.
Shen Nanxing was cradling two wine jars in his arms. His left foot had crossed the threshold, but his right foot hung suspended in mid-air, his entire body frozen in place.
Shen Tinglan stood half a step behind him. A plain-colored silk sash was draped over her arm; she ignored the wind blowing it askew, her gaze locked onto the scene in the courtyard.
Beneath the parasol tree, by the stone table, Chi Yuan sat with her back against the edge. Her little niece was snuggled entirely in Chi Yuan's embrace, leaning sideways against her senior sister's shoulder, still cradling Chi Yuan's natal sword in her hands.
Chi Yuan had one hand resting near Shen Qingci's waist. It was not a tight embrace, but a hovering, protective gesture, as if she wanted to support her but dared not apply any pressure.
Frostchill lay across their laps, its hilt rubbing against Shen Qingci's palm, its blade still trembling slightly as it let out a soft, low hum.
Shen Nanxing's Adam's apple bobbed.
Having lived for nearly a thousand years, what grand scenes had he not witnessed?
He had stood guard when the Grand Supreme Elder of the Tianyan Sect underwent his lightning tribulation; he had sat in the very front row during the auction of Earth-grade magic vessels at Linlang Pavilion; and three hundred years ago, during the Northern Region beast tide, he had defended an entire city all by himself.
Yet, he had truly never seen a scene like the one before him now.
With his left foot still hovering, he did not know whether to step forward or pull back. His mind raced, and the final thought that popped up was...
【Could the earth source crystal Fairy Chi just gifted actually be her dowry?!】
【Should he inform the Family Head to start preparing the betrothal gifts for the Eldest Young Lady?】
Standing behind him, Shen Tinglan's divine sense swept over Chi Yuan's hand hovering near Shen Qingci's waist, then over her little niece's posture as she leaned against the other's shoulder, and finally rested on Frostchill.
Her reaction was far calmer than Shen Nanxing's.
【Though Chi Yuan is a sword cultivator, her cultivation, bearing, and character are barely worthy of our family's precious cabbage.】
Her divine sense then shifted to her own niece. Seeing Shen Qingci snuggled in the other's embrace without the slightest hint of bashfulness or embarrassment—looking instead entirely at ease and self-assured, as if this were exactly how things should be—
Shen Tinglan understood.
【Our family's cabbage wasn't coaxed away; she's the one doing the harvesting.】
【Fortunately, the one she's harvesting is also a precious cabbage.】
Hearing the commotion, Shen Qingci poked her head out from Chi Yuan's embrace and saw the two figures frozen at the courtyard gate.
She did not panic, nor did she scramble out of Chi Yuan's arms. Instead, she merely shifted her body slightly and smiled at Shen Tinglan, her eyes curving into crescents. “Oh, Aunt is here.”
Chi Yuan wanted to stand up and salute, but with Shen Qingci leaning against her shoulder, her little junior sister would tumble over the moment she stood.
Left with no choice, she could only maintain her posture, nodding slightly to the two elders at the gate. Though her expression remained calm, her earlobes were red enough to bleed.
Frostchill completely ignored the tension, continuing to nudge Shen Qingci's palm.
Rate on N.U.
