“Brother, promise me you’ll listen to me! I’ve found a good method for dealing with the zerg…”

On the other end of the Thousand-Mile Transmission Talisman, Lu Gui heard the urgency in Lu Xiaoyao’s tone; she was practically panting.

It sounded strange.

“Little sister, what happened to you? Are you in trouble?”

“Nothing… I, uh!”

“What? Lu Xiaoyao, don’t push yourself. Where are you? Hang in there! I’m coming…” Hearing Lu Xiaoyao’s sudden muffled groan, Lu Gui’s expression changed immediately. He really thought something had happened to her. He walked out of the shop, looking at the darkness outside.

This late at night was indeed the best time for murder and arson!

“No, you don’t need to come. I’m fine… Uh!”

“Fine? Are you kidding me? How can I believe you when you sound like that? What exactly is wrong?” Lu Gui had already taken out a flying artifact he’d saved up for as a cultivation world wage slave, and was about to take off when he heard a voice—

“I have a stomachache.”

At this moment, Lu Gui’s face, which had been filled with anxiety while talking through the Thousand-Mile Transmission Talisman, suddenly froze.

Lu Gui: ???

What the hell!

“You’re a cultivator… How can you get a stomachache?”

Lu Gui felt like he was about to laugh out of anger. What other “surprises” did his little sister have in store for him?

“How would I know~ I just had a bowl of egg drop soup~~ Uh, gotta go…” With a snap, the transmission talisman disconnected, making Lu Gui imagine the impending flood.

Hiss—

Was this conversation so flavorful?

Just as Lu Xiaoyao was having a very flavorful conversation with her brother, Mingmei and Mei Jiu were being escorted back to their courtyard by Mu Chen.

Immediately, they saw the Fifth Elder, who had been meditating in his room during the day and had now come out.

“Come here.” The Fifth Elder had a stern face, completely different from his usual smiling appearance. Moreover, his eyes held scrutiny and vigilance as he looked at Mu Chen.

Mu Chen stood where he was, only watching as Mingmei and Lu Xiaoyao walked towards the other. As Mingmei walked, she couldn’t help but turn her head, but the Fifth Elder’s large hand had already reached out to block Mingmei and Mei Jiu’s view.

His rejection of Mu Chen was blatant.

Mingmei was puzzled. Mu Chen’s gaze met the Fifth Elder’s from afar. He merely gave the Fifth Elder a disciple’s salute and retreated without a word.

This made the Fifth Elder frown even more, and he couldn’t help but murmur strangely.

“What’s strange?”

Mei Jiu had been curious about the Fifth Elder’s actions since earlier, and when she looked up, she heard him say this.

“It’s nothing, just… little girls shouldn’t talk to strangers casually, understand?”

“Why?” Mei Jiu tilted her head to look at the Fifth Elder and said, “Wouldn’t that be very impolite?”

Fifth Elder: “Then don’t talk to boys casually.”

The Fifth Elder looked at the two sisters with such different personalities and didn’t know what to say for a moment. Mingmei obviously understood his hint, but Mei Jiu was so carefree that he had already made it so clear.

“But mother said. Boys are not for looking at, but… uh!”

This time, Mingmei covered Mei Jiu’s mouth with lightning speed!

Her mother’s lifelong reputation was about to be ruined by this shout, okay?!

She really couldn’t say the rest of that sentence!

Didn’t she see the Fifth Elder’s expression turning very strange when she said that?

Their mother was just occasionally flamboyant, but in reality, she was devoted to her father. Mingmei didn’t admit that her mother had taught them these strange things!

It was all Mei Jiu’s own mishearing and misremembering!

“In short, it’s getting late, you should go back to your rooms and sleep.”

Seeing Mingmei give him an awkward smile, the Fifth Elder knew that he probably wouldn’t hear any “interesting” gossip. So, after taking the two back to the courtyard, he slapped another talisman on the courtyard door.

Instantly, a transparent罩子 (zhàozi – cover/shield) with a faint blue glow unfolded and enveloped the courtyard where they were.

“Where are you going, Elder?” Only then did Mingmei realize that the Fifth Elder was still dressed as he was during the day, and even had his sword hanging at his waist.

“Going for a walk.”

Dressed so neatly and carrying a sword, he didn’t look like he was going for a walk.

However, he wasn’t willing to tell the two little girls the real reason. Even, the Fifth Elder turned back to look at Mingmei and said, “Children should act like children. Don’t worry about adult things, you’ll become ugly.”

Mingmei: …

After saying that, he left. Mei Jiu also urged Mingmei to return to the house. After eating and drinking her fill, and taking a walk, it was a good time to sleep.

However, Mingmei lay on the bed, her eyes open, staring at the ceiling in silence.

[Guigui, do you think I’ll forget Mu Chen if I keep my eyes open until dawn?]

[Yes, you’ve tried it,] Guigui reminded Mingmei not to waste her effort.

[How many times?]

[More than twenty times, I guess.]

[Oh, so I just endured it like this for the first twenty or so times?]

[No, sometimes you would get up to write letters, sometimes you would carve words on the bed board with a small knife, and you also used magical artifacts that could save voice recordings and images.]

[And I forgot all that?] Mingmei felt incredulous. For a moment, she really wanted to do what Guigui had mentioned.

Guigui nodded. Who else could remind Mingmei but Guigui itself?

[I don’t believe it.] Suddenly, Mingmei silently sat up from the bed, her face still stubborn. [I don’t believe I don’t have any other way besides you.]

Guigui: […]

It really wanted to tell its host that she had said this many times too.

So, early the next morning, Mingmei’s panda eyes startled the awakened Mei Jiu!

“What did you do last night?”

Mei Jiu looked at Mingmei, who seemed to have stayed up all night, with a confused expression. Mingmei herself was also confused, frowning and pondering for a moment, then shaking her head: “I forgot.”

Mei Jiu: “…”

Mei Jiu’s worried gaze fell on Mingmei, and for a moment, the words of concern reached her lips, but she didn’t know what to say.

She knew that Mingmei’s condition seemed to be not very good, but she was young, and she didn’t understand some of the things her parents said.

What did it mean by “it’s not serious, it doesn’t affect normal life”?

Mei Jiu didn’t understand the words her father said to comfort her mother. Anyway, she was very worried, she thought it was very serious!

How could she forget what happened last night? It wasn’t like it was last year.

“Oh, it’s nothing, I just forgot why I stayed up… Maybe I just had insomnia.”

Mingmei smiled indifferently, but Mei Jiu couldn’t help but say, “Then how can that be? Is it because you were hungry and couldn’t sleep? Or were you so happy to see Xie Chen that you couldn’t sleep?”

“This… What does it have to do with Xie Chen?” Mingmei’s smile disappeared, and then some vague figures seemed to appear in her mind.

Last night, she and Mei Jiu were drinking soup in the kitchen. Lu Xiaoyao and Zhen Po were also there. She and Mei Jiu drank two bowls of very delicious soup, and the hand that handed over the soup bowl looked familiar… Was that “Xie Chen”?