Li Guanqi stood up and walked over to Meng Wanshu. With a wave of his hand, he produced a tea table and cushions from his storage ring.
He gestured invitingly. "Let's not be so stiff with each other. Isn't that right, wife?"
Meng Wanshu's pretty face flushed slightly. Rolling her eyes at him, she lifted her skirt, sat across the tea table, and snapped, "Who's your wife! Shameless."
"That was all when we were children. How could that count?"
Holding the teapot, Li Guanqi poured the spirit tea with an exaggerated look of dismay. "What? Wife... are you saying you don't want to take responsibility for me anymore?"
"I remember you being awfully protective of your husband back when we were kids. Those little girls in the village took quite a few beatings from you."
Meng Wanshu covered her mouth and chuckled. Utterly relaxed, she leaned against the table, resting her chin on her hand as she gazed at Li Guanqi.
After watching him for a long while, she murmured softly, "Just as handsome as when you were little, after all."
Suddenly!
Meng Wanshu planted both hands on the table and thrust her face right up to Li Guanqi's.
The abrupt move startled him, and he instinctively leaned back an inch.
Her brows furrowed, and she wrinkled her nose, asking fiercely, "Confess! When you were eight, could you actually see or not?!"
Without a split second of hesitation, Li Guanqi blurted out, "No! I couldn't!"
He would never dare admit he had seen everything back then. At that time, he had just awakened his mind's eye and could hardly bear to keep it closed for even a moment.
It had just so happened that day that Meng Wanshu's mother, Li Guifen, had cooked a meal and told him to go inside and fetch it. And in the kitchen, Meng Wanshu had been taking a bath in the tub...
Meng Wanshu leaned closer, scrutinizing him, before suddenly reaching out to pinch his cheek. "Impossible! You could definitely see!"
"My mother never even told you where the food was, yet you walked right over and grabbed it yourself!!"
Li Guanqi froze slightly. He hadn't expected Meng Wanshu to remember even such small details.
He hurriedly offered an appeasing smile. "Aiya, how could I?"
"I really couldn't see. Auntie Li always put the food right beside the stove."
Taking the opportunity, he pulled her hand away from his cheek. It felt cool to the touch, her skin remarkably smooth.
Seeing her look up in confusion from her brooding thoughts, Li Guanqi didn't linger on the sensation in his hand.
Hurrying to change the subject, he said, "Right, by the way..."
"Since Uncle Meng brought you back to the Taiqing Domain, what about Auntie Li?"
"What I mean is..."
Meng Wanshu's eyes dimmed slightly. She naturally knew what Li Guanqi was asking.
She murmured softly, "Mother came with us, of course. Father is still very good to her."
"The people there are also very respectful toward my mother, yet she always seems rather unhappy."
"With my father's current strength, helping my mother cultivate would be effortless."
Hearing this, Li Guanqi suddenly understood a bit of why she was so dispirited.
Li Guanqi smiled. "Auntie Li probably can't calm her mind to cultivate, right?"
"Does she feel out of place?"
Meng Wanshu's eyes lit up, and she nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at grain.
Li Guanqi leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Listen to me. When you go back this time, buy some chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep from the mortal markets."
"Not too many, but not too few either."
"Then find a few ordinary women from the foot of the mountain—entire households of them—and bring them along."
"Find a slightly remote spot for Auntie Li and settle them there together. You can assign some manual labor to the people you bring."
"And after that, build a large vegetable garden for Auntie Li."
Meng Wanshu looked baffled. "Will that work? Isn't that just going back to the old li—"
"Wait!!"
"You mean... let my mother return to how she used to live??"
Li Guanqi took a sip of tea and nodded. "Exactly."
"Why? Her life now is full of fine clothes and delicacies, anything she could ever want, and anyone who sees her must respectfully address her as the Domain Lord's wife."
Li Guanqi shook his head and explained to Meng Wanshu, "It took you years to adapt to all these changes."
"But you were only seven years old back then, while Auntie Li was already in her thirties."
"Such an abrupt shift basically forced Auntie Li into an entirely new world. It's only natural that she feels lost and out of place."
Hearing this, her eyes brightened instantly, a warm smile blooming across her face. Looking at Li Guanqi with her lovely eyes, she teased, "I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful, thinking of even this."
With her worries eased, Meng Wanshu's mood visibly improved. Setting down her teacup, she praised, "Not bad. I didn't expect you to be so skilled at making tea. Have you brewed tea for other women before?"
Li Guanqi looked up at Meng Wanshu and smiled. "No."
"Really?" Meng Wanshu asked, half-convinced, half-suspicious.
"Really."
The corners of her lips curved. Satisfied at last, she nodded, then took a slightly nervous sip of tea and asked, "Mhm... then, is there any woman you fancy?"
"Yes."
Her fingers trembling faintly, she took a drink of tea and feigned calm as she smiled. "Oh? Who?"
Yet as she said this, her tone was tinged with grit teeth.
Seeing this, Li Guanqi hurried to say, "Careful, don't crush the cup..."
"There's always been someone. A childhood sweetheart I grew up with. Her mother makes an amazing chicken stew."
"Ever since I was little, I've said that whoever marries her would have immense good fortune."
Only then did Meng Wanshu realize he was talking about her. Her cheeks flared crimson, and she quickly sat back in her seat, gulping down the rest of the tea in her cup.
Li Guanqi smiled softly. Everything the young woman did seemed utterly endearing to him.
The corners of his lips curved up unconsciously, his eyes tender as he looked at her.
And so, the two conversed from night until dawn, sharing their experiences over all these years.
Toward the end, however, it was mostly Li Guanqi speaking.
After all, Meng Wanshu held a special status; Meng Jiangchu would never let her roam the world alone for trial and experience.
Li Guanqi, on the other hand, had walked tens of thousands of li alone after being driven down the mountain by his grandfather, beholding vast rivers and mountains.
Meng Wanshu rested her chin on her hand, her bright eyes fixed on Li Guanqi. The tales he recounted fascinated her completely.
In those undulating stories were hot-blooded passion, deep camaraderie, and the warmth and cruelty of human nature.
The treacherous deceits and far-reaching plots of the cultivation world made her intensely nervous, her palms sweating as she listened.
Time flew by. Ye Feng sat cross-legged upon the bulwark of the cloud boat, slowly circulating his breath toward the rising morning sun.
"Phoo..."
Opening his eyes, a sharp glint flashed in them as he exhaled a breath of turbid air. Turning toward the room, he couldn't help muttering, "Did they really just chat all night long?? That doesn't make sense..."
He stood and stretched his back when suddenly, a faint spatial fluctuation surged abruptly behind him!!
A slender, tall man appeared out of nowhere upon the bulwark!!!
The man had a face as fair as jade, elegant and dashing. He wore a magnificent white robe, his black hair bound behind his head.
From both his ears hung fiery-red pendants.
Beside him trailed two dark-gray flood dragons, their crimson eyes scanning Ye Feng with vigilance!
The overwhelming pressure caused Ye Feng's right hand to instinctively reach for the hilt of his sword!!
With his hands clasped behind his back, the man completely ignored Ye Feng. His face was slightly dark as he walked straight toward the room.
Boom!!!!
Ye Feng drew his sword in an instant, barring the path outside the door. Leveling his blade at the man, his eyes narrowed as he said, "Halt."
The man lowered his gaze impassively toward Ye Feng, glanced at the tightly shut door behind him, and murmured softly,
"Scram."
Chapter 515