A breeze from the mountains carried a hint of morning chill into the room.
An Wenxin leaned over her desk, carefully working through the stack of letters before her.
She furrowed her brow slightly, her fingertips tapping against the desk in a rhythmic motion, as if weighing something.
These people from The Association are quite unhappy about Xiao Ye’s temporary leave…
Every single one of them wants to know Xiao Ye’s exact whereabouts. Is The Association truly incapable of functioning without him?
She picked up the teacup beside her, took a sip of the slightly cooled tea, and gazed out the window, her thoughts drifting a thousand miles away to River City.
That child, Xiao Ye, should be adapting by now, right?
Knowing her personality, I wonder how much effort she put into explaining her identity.
She recalled the phone call with Lin Xiangyi yesterday, and her mind couldn’t help but drift to some pleasant thoughts, a smile curling at the corners of her lips.
But looking at the results, it turned out fairly well.
The only pity is that I can’t be there in person to watch my always-spacey senior disciple perform in front of her junior brother.
“Heh heh.”
That scene alone is amusing to imagine.
An Wenxin chuckled softly.
The more she thought about it, the more she looked forward to seeing them again.
“Master—!”
A voice full of energy came from outside the door, interrupting her thoughts.
An Wenxin’s smile froze.
What’s coming has come.
“Master~ Are you in there?”
The voice grew closer, carrying a joyful bounce. As the door slid open, a young girl with a high ponytail came hopping in.
“I’m back~ Master!”
Appearing before An Wenxin was a lively, adorable young girl.
She smiled happily, her sparkling almond-shaped eyes gleaming as she looked at An Wenxin. Her small, delicate nose was slightly flushed, and her pretty face radiated barely contained excitement.
“Xiao Meng? Why aren’t you at your brother’s place?”
Lin Xiaomeng, nineteen years old, was the youngest junior sister of the Azure Cloud Sect, and Lin Xiangyi’s biological younger sister.
“Isn’t it because I missed you? My dear Master~”
An Wenxin looked somewhat helpless, propping her cheek on one hand, a doting smile tugging at her lips as she regarded her young disciple.
“You’re missing your senior brother, aren’t you?”
Even with her thoughts seen through, Lin Xiaomeng just let out a little heh-heh. She walked over, wrapped her arms around An Wenxin’s hand, and swung it back and forth while speaking in a coquettish tone:
“Heheh, the person I miss the most is definitely Master~”
“I brought lots of gifts for you guys from my trip. Take a look.”
Lin Xiaomeng pulled out a bunch of things from her backpack, chattering away about this and that, like a lark that had just returned to its nest, brimming with youthful vitality.
An Wenxin watched her energetic young disciple, tracing the rim of her teacup as she pondered what to say next.
How should I put this? Should I hide it from Xiao Meng? Use the same story I used on Xiao Yi?
Hmm…
She propped her cheek on her hand, staring at Lin Xiaomeng with a slight daze, then dismissed the idea.
With Xiao Meng’s personality, if she learned that her most beloved Grand Senior Brother was in trouble, she would stop at nothing to uncover the truth.
Unlike her brother, who could be fooled with a couple of sentences, Xiao Meng wouldn’t let it go until she saw the real person. If it came to that, it would only cause more trouble.
An Wenxin felt a headache coming on.
This is a bit hard to handle.
“Oh right, Master,” Lin Xiaomeng looked around the room, then asked suspiciously, “Where’s Senior Brother? Why isn’t he here? I didn’t see him outside either.”
“Usually he’d be around at this time.”
An Wenxin’s hand holding the tea froze.
Here it comes.
She steadied herself and spoke with feigned calm:
“Your brother? Isn’t he at your place in River City?”
“Huh?”
Lin Xiaomeng raised an eyebrow, as if she’d found a discrepancy.
“Master—”
She drew out the last syllable, thick with dissatisfaction.
“That’s way too fake. You know full well I wasn’t asking about my brother, and you’re still trying to brush me off.”
She planted her hands on her hips, looking thoroughly displeased.
“Shen Ge’s in his room, right? I’m going to go find him!”
With that, she dashed outside, looking as if she were about to go find Shen Ye.
“Hey hey, come back, come back.”
An Wenxin quickly called out to stop her.
Lin Xiaomeng halted, turned around, clasped her hands behind her back, tilted her head to look at An Wenxin, her lively almond eyes narrowing slightly, and a meaningful grin curling at the corner of her mouth.
“Master~”
Her voice lilted upward with that sweet tone unique to a young girl, as she slowly walked back.
“Are you hiding something fun from me?”
An Wenxin looked at her youngest disciple like this and sighed inwardly.
This child is far harder to deal with than her brother.
“Where did Senior Brother actually go? I checked, and there aren’t any major missions at The Association that need him right now, are there?”
Lin Xiaomeng blinked her big, beautiful eyes, looking at An Wenxin with a pitiful expression.
She tugged at her master’s sleeve, swaying it back and forth, and pleaded:
“Master, just tell me~ I haven’t seen Senior Brother in forever. I want to play games with him~”
An Wenxin’s head spun from all the shaking, and she quickly pressed down on Lin Xiaomeng’s hands.
“Alright, alright, stop shaking.”
She looked at the young disciple before her and considered a possibility.
Maybe.
With Xiao Meng there, things might be easier for Xiao Ye?
That child is in a special situation right now. It’d be good for her to have someone else looking out for her. And since they’re both girls, Xiao Meng could probably teach her a thing or two.
…Probably?
“Fine, come here.”
An Wenxin beckoned for Lin Xiaomeng to lean in.
Lin Xiaomeng leaned her ear close.
As An Wenxin spoke, her eyes grew brighter and brighter.
Finally, she covered her mouth in disbelief, exclaiming in shock:
“What?! Senior Brother actually—!”
An Wenxin raised a finger to her lips, signaling Lin Xiaomeng to be quiet.
“Shh, don’t make a fuss.”
“Really? Master, is this news real? Senior Brother really—”
Lin Xiaomeng lowered her voice, covering her mouth in excitement, unable to believe what she’d just heard.
“It’s true. Absolutely true.”
An Wenxin smiled and gave a definitive answer.
“Yay!” Lin Xiaomeng could barely contain her excitement and jumped up. “Then I’m going to go find Senior Brother and the others to play!”
“Heh heh heh, go on then.”
An Wenxin waved her hand, a somewhat helpless smile on her face.
Lin Xiaomeng let out a cheer, grabbed her backpack, and rushed out the door, her footsteps fading into the distance.
An Wenxin watched the room return to silence and chuckled softly.
“This is going to get lively now.”
She propped her face on her hand, murmuring to herself, a hint of gleeful mischief in her tone.
“You’re on your own, Xiao Ye.”
—
River City, in front of the entrance to some shopping mall.
“Achoo~”
Shen Ye sneezed out of nowhere.
She scrunched her delicate nose, and a hint of adorable confusion flickered across her cool, pretty face.
That’s strange. I’m pretty sure I tucked the blanket in properly last night.
“Caught a cold?”
Lin Xiangyi, walking ahead, noticed the girl’s odd behavior.
He stopped and turned to Shen Ye with an apologetic look:
“I’m really sorry. It was careless of me to let you catch a chill. You have a frail constitution; I should have taken that into account.”
His concern was genuine, his tone tinged with self-reproach.
Shen Ye shook her head and replied softly:
“No, no. My nose just itched a little. Please don’t worry about it.”
“I see. Well, alright.”
Lin Xiangyi didn’t say more, but he slowed his pace so the girl behind him could keep up more easily.
Looking at the crowds bustling around her, Shen Ye instinctively shrank her neck, her cute eyes filled with timidity.
So many people… I’ll just buy what I need and head straight back. Staying at home is much better.
She swallowed hard and hurried forward to stay close to Lin Xiangyi.
What she didn’t know was that a thousand miles away, a little troublemaker she never expected was racing toward her.
Lin Xiaomeng hopped merrily along the forest path, her steps light, her ponytail swaying behind her.
“So that’s how it is.”
She murmured to herself, her voice brimming with barely contained excitement, a mischievous grin curling at the corner of her mouth like a little devil.
“Hehehe, here I come~”
“My dear, Grand—Senior—Brother~”