July 7th.
“Baby, do you still remember your birthday?”
I was stunned for a moment.
Birthday?
My last birthday was the day I left the Su family.
My final hopes and obsessions vanished like smoke in the empty villa.
Later, I learned that it was Su Liumeng’s reward for passing the test.
And I was nothing but a failure.
“My birthday, huh.” I slowly drew out my words, my tone full of emotion, “I seem to have almost forgotten.”
I turned to look at the young girl beside me, “Besides, if it’s my birthday, isn’t it more or less your birthday too?”
Su Liumeng is only about ten days younger than me.
“Old already.” I picked up one of my daughter’s toys, putting it away carefully. When Su Liumeng saw what I was doing, her gaze paused for a beat.
“What do you mean old? You’re still so young.” Su Liumeng stubbornly tried to correct me.
“No, I’m not saying I’m old now. I’m just sighing at how fleeting time is.”
“Don’t you notice? Whether it’s been a year, two years, or five or ten years, the moment you look back, it all feels like it was just yesterday.”
“But the truth is, time never flows backward. You and I are always being pushed forward.” My almond-shaped eyes froze, dazedly staring ahead, watching the swaying shadows of trees. My gaze seemed to cross time and space, as if I could see what would happen a hundred or two hundred years from now.
By then, I’d probably be old and frail.
Su Liumeng might still be as young as ever.
So would my daughter.
There’s no shortcut to cultivation.
Why was I only blessed with the right roots for cultivation after I became an adult?
I lowered my head, clenching my fists tightly, a flash of unwillingness flickering in my eyes.
If only.
If only I were still as ignorant as before, knowing nothing.
Quietly dying in silence.
Maybe then, I wouldn’t think so much.
But instead, I’ve been made to know everything—and fatefully encountered my destined other half and daughter in my dreams.
Once you have love, you don’t want to let go.
Those who’ve experienced it know the pain of losing it all the more.
“Baby, what have you been thinking about lately?” Su Liumeng suddenly grabbed my small hand. My gaze dropped to the table, staring at where she pressed down, warmth lingering on the back of my hand. The emotion in my eyes was something Su Liumeng couldn’t begin to understand.
I didn’t answer her question, but instead asked another, one she couldn’t quite grasp yet. “Am I a bit too mature?”
“Mature?” Su Liumeng froze where she stood, watching as I gently stood up and slipped my hand from her grasp.
“I didn’t want to grow up so fast, but time forces me to mature.” I met Su Liumeng’s gradually stunned gaze and suddenly grew serious. “Su Liumeng, we’ll stay together forever, won’t we?”
Countless years later.
When Su Liumeng recalled this moment, she finally understood the meaning behind the emotion in Sì Xinyan’s eyes.
It was the sorrow she couldn’t comprehend at the time.
In her youth, just like always, without a second thought, she could speak innocent and romantic words, “Of course we will. No one can keep me from being with Baby.”
I smiled faintly.
Sunlight reflected in my eyes, revealing a thousand mottled patterns. “We definitely will.”
At night.
I looked at my daughter’s sleeping profile, then rolled over and hugged Su Liumeng tightly. “Mengmeng.”
My gaze was shadowed, my voice nasally. “How likely do you think it is that you’ll break through that last step?”
Su Liumeng hesitated for four or five seconds before replying, “Definitely.”
Her tone was certain, as if victory was already in her grasp.
Yet, we both knew.
From ancient times until now, no one had ever completed that final step. What would the real chance be?
Suddenly, I hugged her even tighter, the force making Su Liumeng sense something was wrong. My voice was thick with emotion, stubbornly repeating again and again, “Mm, definitely, definitely.”
“Baby, lately you—”
“Shh, don’t say anything.” I’d grown increasingly quiet lately.
So quiet it almost hurt.
“Just let me hold you for a while.”
The night grew ever more silent, as if only the faint wind outside the window remained, and a few dim stars accompanied the moon through the long night.
*****
July 8th.
“Miss, are you going to cultivate again?” Perhaps it was from living under the same roof for so long, but Chunqiao and Chunlan had become closer than ever. Now the two little maids both looked at me with hopeful eyes. Sometimes I wondered if the two of them even curled up under the same blanket at night.
“Mm, don’t bother me unless it’s important.”
“Make sure you keep a close eye—don’t let Zhizhi eat anything she shouldn’t.” I looked at Zhizhi, who was sitting quietly on the sofa, watching TV with great focus. My eyes softened with a bit of indulgence.
“We maids will always take good care of Young Miss.”
In the bedroom, there was still a lingering trace of Su Liumeng’s scent.
It’s hard to smell your own scent. Only in a fleeting instant can you catch a whiff.
It’s kind of like, oh, I actually smell quite nice after all.
Settling into my cozy corner, I assumed a meditative posture and began trying to run the Dual Cultivation Technique through my meridians.
This was my first real attempt.
Once I confirmed there were no blockages in circulation, I could basically use it normally.
After an hour, fine beads of sweat dotted my forehead, as if I’d just been pulled from a steam room. With a deep breath, I perfectly ended this cultivation session.
“Not bad at all.”
I stared at my fingertips, dispersing a wisp of yang energy I’d just passively refined.
That stuff is real poison to me.
Because of the method, it always converts some of my yin energy.
Accidentally refining a little is fine; it’s easy to just disperse it outside.
But if I absorb too much, I’ll be seriously injured at best—or have my foundation shattered at worst.
Su Liumeng possesses the purest dragon blood; the yang energy in her body is beyond powerful. That’s why she can temporarily suppress the cold poison. Yang energy is a true tonic for her.
I pushed open the glass door and went out onto the main bedroom’s small balcony to gather the underwear I’d left out to dry.
In the bathroom.
I looked at my stretch marks. With the help of special herbs these days, they’d already faded several times over.
There were still some traces, but they were no longer so glaring.
All in all, I was satisfied to have improved this much.
The effects of pregnancy had mostly faded after half a year of recovery. My weight was slowly returning to normal as well.
My gaze dropped, looking at my body as water droplets gradually dampened my skin.
I wondered if my cup size would shrink back.
Being too large really does affect daily life. I seriously missed the old days—if only I could sleep on my stomach again.
Besides, even a D cup feels too big to me, let alone my current size.
Will it shrink?
Not quite sure, I pursed my lips and casually lathered up with shower gel.
Long used to my own body, I was unfazed by bathing.
Wrapping a towel around myself, I gave my hair a quick rub, yawned, and stepped out of the mist-filled bathroom.
There was always cool air circulating in the bedroom, and when I first entered, I couldn’t help but shiver twice.
Knock, knock.
Chunqiao gently knocked on the door.
“Young Miss has been making a fuss in the living room—she probably misses her mom.”
“Have her wait a bit.” I changed into a dress and went to the living room to pick up my daughter.
Zhizhi’s eyes lit up the moment she saw me, and she stopped fussing.
I smiled helplessly. “You, you. You’re so clingy to your mom already. I wonder what I’ll do when you grow up.”
Back in my bedroom, I weighed myself since I’d forgotten earlier.
Ninety-three jin.
Looking at the number, I couldn’t help but grumble, “Still so fat…”
I get anxious about my weight too.
Can’t help it—now that I’m married, I worry about being disliked.
“Yiya!”
Zhizhi babbled, seeing me on the scale and wanting to try too.
Helpless, I lifted her little body up onto the scale as well.
“Not bad! Our little princess weighs twenty jin already.” I squatted down, pinching her chubby cheeks. “You’ve got to eat more so Mommy can raise you all plump and healthy.”
Su Liumeng had just finished work and returned home when she was greeted by this heartwarming scene.
The moment I saw her, my gaze shifted subtly.
At this moment, I was mentally calculating my period.
Maybe it was due to a cold uterus, or maybe it was my second time—my cycle hadn’t stabilized to a regular rhythm yet.
It had already been a full month since my last period, and there had been no sign of it recently.
Since it hadn’t come, that was actually a good thing.
Just right for my plans.
“Su Liumeng, come here. I have something to tell you.”
I hummed lightly, lifting my chin.
Su Liumeng looked at me, stunned for a second.
In that brief daze, she seemed to glimpse some of the old brightness and vitality in the frail girl before her.
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