The scene shifted back to the mansion’s Main Hall.
Lu Qiancha sat cross-legged on the bed, utterly bored. She attempted to pass the time by practicing her cultivation and meditation, but her mind was restless, and her efforts yielded little result.
She had just closed her eyes and had yet to fully steady her breathing when—
*Creak—*
The bedroom door was pushed open just a crack.
Immediately following it was a familiar, cold, and frosty breeze that swept through the room like a gentle tide.
Before Lu Qiancha could even open her eyes, a soft, slightly cool embrace wrapped around her.
This was followed by a gentle voice whispering in her ear, “Surprise! Little Qiancha, did you miss Mama?”
The sudden assault caused Lu Qiancha’s body to stiffen instinctively.
However, once she caught the scent of the fragrance that was etched into her very bones and heard that voice, her tense nerves instantly melted.
Her entire body felt as if its bones had been removed, and she went completely limp.
Without hesitation, she adjusted her posture to snuggle into Xun Xue’s warm and fragrant embrace.
Her small face rubbed longingly against the soft fabric of the woman’s clothes as she replied in a soft, sweet voice, “I missed you.”
However, the warmth of their private moment did not last.
“I am here too,” a cold, clear voice rang out from the doorway, sounding like ice pellets being dropped into a lake.
Ling Wanbai walked in expressionlessly. Her silver-gray eyes were like two bottomless, cold springs as she walked straight to the bedside to announce her presence.
She stood perfectly straight, looking like an exquisite ice sculpture. She silently watched the little blue fur ball as she squirmed around and acted like a spoiled child in Xun Xue’s arms.
Lu Qiancha was still immersed in Xun Xue’s warmth, her tail wagging slightly in contentment.
Hearing the voice, she merely lifted her face from Xun Xue’s shoulder, gave Ling Wanbai a very perfunctory glance, and then buried her head back into the embrace she loved so dearly.
She acted as if the person standing outside the bed was nothing but air.
*Stare—*
Having not received the expected response, Ling Wanbai’s gray eyes did not turn away. Instead, she locked her gaze directly onto Lu Qiancha.
Watching the little wolf cub nuzzle into Xun Xue’s arms with such abandon, the corners of Ling Wanbai’s normally flat lips twitched downward slightly.
A sour sense of being neglected and forgotten quietly bubbled up from a corner of her heart, sprouting like an inconspicuous but stubborn seed.
She silently reached out her hand. Her slender, slightly cool fingertips gently hooked Lu Qiancha’s large, fluffy blue tail, which was swaying lazily outside of Xun Xue’s arms.
“?” The strange sensation of her tail being touched caused Lu Qiancha to turn her head in confusion, her blue eyes filled with questions.
Ling Wanbai met her gaze, her gray eyes remaining calm and waveless, but the question she asked carried a sort of stubborn earnestness. “Did you miss me?”
“No,” Lu Qiancha replied crisply. She even gave an annoyed little eye-roll. “Trash fish priestess, haven’t we only been apart for a short while? What is there to miss?”
As she spoke, she nimbly snatched her precious tail back from Ling Wanbai’s cool fingertips.
She was being protective.
The little wolf cub quickly hugged her tail with both hands and then retreated further into Xun Xue’s embrace.
The expression on Ling Wanbai’s exquisite but empty face remained as calm as a waveless glacier.
She automatically ignored the eye-roll. Silently, she unfastened her outer robe and changed into a plain cotton nightgown.
Then, Ling Wanbai lifted the corner of the blanket next to Lu Qiancha. Like a clever and persistent silver fish, she slid inside and lay down right next to the blue-furred wolf cub.
***
Next, a slightly cool arm reached around from behind, gently resting on Lu Qiancha’s waist and pulling her closer into her own embrace.
“Mm…”
Lu Qiancha instantly felt as if she had become the cream filling forced into the middle of an Oreo.
“Trash fish priestess,” Lu Qiancha said huffily as she wriggled her body. She reached out her small paws and turned around to push the little wolf away.
“There is clearly an empty room right across from the Main Hall. It is big and spacious. Why do you have to squeeze in here and fight me for space?”
“Cold,” Ling Wanbai’s answer was short and concise. Her gray eyes blinked in the dim light, her tone flat but carrying a sense of persistence. “I do not want to go.”
“Cold?!” Lu Qiancha was nearly laughed at this poor excuse. She couldn’t help but look back, her blue eyes wide as she glared at the other girl.
“It is almost the season of Grain in Beard. The cicadas outside are about to make a deafening racket, and you are telling me you are cold?”
‘Who is she trying to fool?’
Unable to contain her annoyance, the little wolf cub decided to strike back.
She reached out with her two restless little paws and precisely cupped Ling Wanbai’s cheeks—the ones that were always so calm and undisturbed—and began to knead them without mercy.
She treated those fair cheeks like dough, rubbing and squeezing them in an attempt to pull out some kind of different expression.
“Excuses, all of them are excuses,” Lu Qiancha complained while she rubbed. “You are squeezing in here on purpose. You are a bad-hearted trash fish priestess.”
“I am not lying to you…” Ling Wanbai’s voice was a bit muffled from being kneaded, but she used her actions to prove her innocence.
She took the cool little hand that had been resting on Lu Qiancha’s waist and, like a nimble little snake, suddenly slipped it under the hem of the other girl’s thin nightshirt.
The chill of her hand pressed gently against the warm, delicate skin of Lu Qiancha’s lower back.
“Eek—ya!” The sudden icy sensation on her waist felt like an electric current running through her.
Lu Qiancha was so startled that her whole body jolted. Like a cat that had its tail stepped on, she suddenly bounced, letting out a cry that was both embarrassed and annoyed.
“Trash fish priestess, what are you doing? Hurry up and take your hand away. It is so cold!”
Instead of withdrawing her hand, Ling Wanbai tightened her arm with even more justification, pinning the little wolf cub who was trying to escape even tighter.
She lowered her head slightly, her gray eyes staring at Lu Qiancha’s flushed cheeks from point-blank range.
Her voice remained clear and calm, carrying an almost innocent sense of self-vindication. “See. I am very cold. My hands are like ice.”
“I know, I know! Just take your ice claws back!”
The cold, mischievous hand that was slightly moving and rubbing against her waist made Lu Qiancha turn a shade of red that was more from annoyance than shyness.
She was like a fuming kitten whose ticklish spot had been poked, squirming fruitlessly between Xun Xue’s warm embrace and Ling Wanbai’s cool restraint.
“No,” Ling Wanbai’s refusal was crisp and direct, carrying a newly learned streak of rascality.
Perhaps it was a case of “he who touches pitch shall be defiled.”
Having been influenced by a master of shamelessness like Lu Qiancha, the little grey wolf was now well-versed in the craft herself. Not only did she not withdraw her hand, she actually intensified her efforts.
That cool arm tightly entangled Lu Qiancha’s slender waist, making her completely unable to move.
Immediately following that, the silver-gray head buried itself stubbornly and deeply into Lu Qiancha’s somewhat thin chest.
*Purr…*
Ling Wanbai even adjusted her position as if she had found the most comfortable pillow. She rubbed her cheek against the soft fabric with satisfaction and let out a nearly inaudible sigh.
“Mm…” Lu Qiancha’s body instantly froze.
A wave of icy breath seeped through her thin nightshirt, pressing clearly against the sensitive skin of her chest. It formed a stark contrast of ice and fire with the warmth of Xun Xue’s embrace.
Her small face turned beet red—half from anger and half from embarrassment.
‘It’s over, it’s all over. This trash fish priestess has gone completely bad.’
Lu Qiancha wailed in her heart. She felt like a Eucalyptus tree that had been targeted by a koala, only able to watch as the other party stuck to her without a single gap.
She raised her watery blue eyes toward Xun Xue like a plea for help. Her gaze was filled with a silent accusation that said, ‘Respected mother, please do something about her!’
Meanwhile, Xun Xue, who had been watching the farce with a smile, felt her eyes soften even more.
She did not rescue her hijacked daughter. Instead, she reached out and gently stroked Lu Qiancha’s slightly sweaty forehead hair as a gesture of comfort.
Then, she tenderly gathered both of these clingy children into her own broader, warmer embrace.