Chapter 88
Chapter 88
The two children were intensely curious about the changes in their bodies.
But the three people and one cat in their household all treated those changes as perfectly ordinary, so the children assumed this was a normal part of growing up and were delighted.
After all, they could now climb the tallest tree in the courtyard with ease.
They even began playing a dangerous game in which they jumped from the courtyard wall to see who could leap farther.
Zhu Yin saw them and did not intervene. They could not be hurt by a fall anyway. “You may play, but the neighbors must not see you.”
“If the neighbors catch you playing like this, it will cause trouble. Anyone who gets caught once will not come along the next time I go out to have fun!”
The threat proved extremely effective. With the sharper senses of Qi Refining cultivators, the children never once let the neighbors discover them.
In the blink of an eye, the year drew toward its end.
The weather was rather overcast that day. After breakfast, Zhu Yin cheerfully announced, “You have wanted to go out for a long time, have you not? I will take you for a stroll later!”
Barbara had its own seat at home. Perched on its specially made little chair, it meowed: Clearly, Host is the one who wants to go out and play, right?
The two children were very supportive, however. Hooray!
Each wore a thick, bright red cloak. A ring of snow-white fur trimmed the hood, and two large fluffy ears drooped from the back.
Adorable!
The ears were a little heavy, though. Yun Lie tugged at his hood, opened his round black eyes, and said, “Master, Ah Lie is not cold.”
Of course Zhu Yin knew they were not cold. Even without any proper cultivation, both children were already true Qi Refining cultivators.
She had simply seen a mortal girl dressed like this the last time she went out. It looked lovely!
If someone else’s children had one, hers had to have one too.
Zhu Yin found the same style in a clothing shop and happily bought one for each disciple.
“Be good, Ah Lie,” Zhu Yin coaxed him with a perfectly solemn face. “The wind outside is very strong. If you catch cold and fall ill, you will feel awful.”
“Oh!” The innocent children believed her.
Satisfied, Zhu Yin took them out and successfully attracted countless curious and admiring looks from passersby.
They were children of destiny in this world, so their looks were naturally exceptional. Tempered by spiritual energy, both possessed a pure and elegant bearing. Anyone who saw them would praise them as little immortals.
Naturally, Zhu Yin had used a concealment technique to hide their spiritual power and cultivation level.
Nandu might not be an immortal capital, but plenty of true cultivators still lived there.
Zhu Yin first took them to the market. With the New Year approaching, it was packed with people and bursting with activity.
She held one end of a multicolored cord and had her young disciples clutch the other. “Stay with Master and do not get lost. Many kidnappers would love to carry off pretty children like you.”
The threat made both senior brother and junior sister open their eyes even wider and grip each other’s hands tightly.
Zhu Yin burst out laughing.
Barbara, walking beside them: …
What sort of master treats children this way? Meow, meow, meow!
Zhu Yin began shopping.
Something tasty? Buy it!
Something fun? Buy it!
Plenty of other adults had brought children out for the New Year. But in every other family, the child clamored for this or that while the adults either refused or indulgently agreed.
Only in this family did the children not even have time to speak before the adult swept out a hand and bought everything, stuffing little pinwheels, candied hawthorns, and all manner of treats into their arms.
A chubby little boy nearby had been rolling on the ground and throwing a tantrum for a sugar figurine. He turned, saw this scene, and promptly broke down.
He burst into loud sobs.
He wailed, pointing at Zhu Yin as he cried, “Waaah! I do not want you to be my parents anymore! I want to be a child in their family!”
The surrounding crowd burst into laughter.
Yun Lie and Yun Xi’s eyes widened. Their possessiveness instantly emerged. They spread their arms in front of Zhu Yin to block the chubby boy’s view. “No! Master already has the two of us clever children, and that is enough!”
The boy’s father hurriedly bought a sugar figurine and stuffed it into his son’s hands, then carried the brat, now smiling through his tears, into the crowd.
How humiliating.
Zhu Yin was among those laughing loudest.
Her reaction clearly gave the two children a sense of crisis. Master looked so happy laughing at that chubby boy. Could she truly be planning to raise another child?
Each hugged one of her arms and sweetly wheedled, “Master, we do not need sugar figurines or toys. We are very obedient. Please do not raise any other children, all right?”
Zhu Yin froze. After studying their expressions, she tapped each on the head. “What are you thinking? Raising the two of you is more than enough!”
.
At noon, they found a restaurant outside for lunch.
After eating, Zhu Yin took her disciples to a clothing shop and bought several outfits for herself and each of them.
Barbara received some too.
When the tailor heard that they wanted little clothes made for a spirit pet, they found nothing strange about it. They did, however, become captivated by Barbara’s beauty and praised it for a long time.
Yun Xi looked up and asked, “Master, do Uncle Heipao and Uncle Heiwu not need new clothes?”
Zhu Yin said, “Hmm…”
She began considering how to explain that ordinary clothing was unsuitable for Heipao and Heiwu.
Yun Lie had already spoken. “Xixi, you dummy! Uncle Heipao and Uncle Heiwu cannot wear new clothes!”
He firmly remembered Master’s instruction never to reveal anything unusual about their household outside. Leaning close to his junior sister’s ear, he whispered, “Last time, I accidentally tore Uncle Heiwu’s sleeve, and it repaired itself the very next moment. Their clothes are not ordinary. Understand?”
Yun Xi nodded thoughtfully.
Snow began drifting from the sky on their way home.
All of Nandu was lively, and people everywhere cheered.
Zhu Yin had lived there for five years, but this was the first time she had seen snow.
The children were wildly excited too and raced ahead the entire way.
By the time they arrived home, a thin layer of snow covered the ground.
Heipao waited at the entrance and told Zhu Yin, “A guest has come.”
A guest?
Zhu Yin entered and casually handed her storage pouch to Heipao. She had bought a vast assortment of miscellaneous things and stuffed them all inside. Heipao would know how to handle them.
Once through the gate, she saw a somewhat familiar figure standing beneath a tree in the courtyard.
The young man wore a dark robe and carried a longsword on his back.
Zhu Yin stared at him with puzzled suspicion. “You did not accept my spirit stones only to go back on our agreement, did you?”
The young man: “…”
His complicated gaze swept across Zhu Yin’s face, then moved to the two festively dressed little bundles beside her.
He slowly placed something on the table.
It looked very familiar.
It was the storage pouch from last night.
Zhu Yin asked, “What is the meaning of this?”
The young man said, “That person came to cause trouble for you last night. You spared his life and took only a little wealth. That was not excessive.”
“There is no need to give a witness a share.”
He had never witnessed such a self-righteous division of spoils, especially one conducted by throwing an entire pouch of spirit stones straight at his chest. For an instant last night, he had been utterly stunned.
By the time he recovered, Zhu Yin was already gone.
He had no habit of entering other people’s homes in the middle of the night, so he could only wait until today to visit.