“Where shall Qian Bao’er stay?” Lu Zheng asked.
“She can stay with me.” Liu Qingyan said. “Live together with me and Qing Quan.”
“Qian Bao’er?”
“Mm mm, Fox Sister?” Ao Qian responded to Liu Qingyan.
“You can call me Liu Sister or Qingyan Sister from now on.” Liu Qingyan said. “We shall live in seclusion among mortals in future; they do not know our true identities.”
Ao Qian’s eyes sparkled, and she nodded repeatedly. “That is good! That is good!”
“So there is one more issue.” Liu Qingyan pointed at the two short fuzzy horns on Ao Qian’s head. “Can you retract these dragon horns?”
“Of course!” Ao Qian touched her short horns, then wiped them forcefully with her hand, and the two short horns vanished.
Now, Ao Qian looked like an utterly ordinary, adorably cute little loli. With the spell that had even fooled Lu Zheng, living in the mortal world, ordinary people would not discern her true nature.
“Perfect!” Liu Qingyan laughed. “From now on, you are my distant cousin. Besides, the Ao surname is too obvious. Since you can transform into a koi, let us use Li as your surname. Call yourself Li Qian, and we shall call you Qian Bao’er. Is that alright?”
“Alright, alright.” Ao Qian’s eyes narrowed into slits, and she nodded repeatedly with a giggle. “I shall be called Li Qian from now on.”
…
Flying over Ling Mountain and returning to Tonglin County, Lu Zheng lowered the cloud and landed in the Liu family courtyard.
It was just past the you hour then. Old Man Liu had just returned from Renxin Hall and was clinking cups with Uncle Fan for a few sips, while Du Yueyao and Liu Qing Quan were together accompanying Madam Liu in conversation.
The cloud had merely evaded the sight of ordinary people on the outskirts, but not their own folk, so upon seeing the white cloud descend, Liu Qing Quan leaped up and out of the front hall, landing in the courtyard.
“Sister, brother-in-law are back! We are just having dinner; join us… eh? Who is this little girl?”
“Hee hee, hello, sister. I am Li Qian, Qingyan Sister’s distant cousin.”
Old Man Liu and Madam Liu exchanged a glance. How did they not remember having such a pink-and-jade-carved distant relative?
Liu Qing Quan also blinked, somewhat dazed.
So cute. Lu Zheng could not help it and gave Liu Qing Quan a flick on the forehead. Liu Qing Quan clutched her head, looking pitiful. “Brother-in-law?”
Liu Qingyan took Ao Qian’s hand with one of hers and led Liu Qing Quan with the other, arriving in the front hall. “The child from a senior’s family, staying with us for a few days temporarily. Called Li Qian, little name Qian Bao’er.”
Regarding Ao Qian’s true identity, Lu Zheng planned to tell no one except Shen Ying. That way, it would actually be safer for everyone, including Ao Qian.
Ignorance would prevent exposure.
“Oh dear, come here, let Auntie have a look. Tsk tsk, what a pretty little thing.” Madam Liu pulled Ao Qian over, chuckling. “Have you eaten? Auntie made roast chicken; serve it quickly.”
And indeed, Ao Qian had not eaten for over ten days. Though not hungry, upon smelling the aromas from the table, she could not help swallowing a mouthful of saliva.
“Alright! Thank you, Auntie!”
…
Thus, Ao Qian settled down in the Liu household. On ordinary days, when Liu Qingyan went out on calls, she would read and play with Liu Qing Quan.
“Yes, yes, no using magic; use technique, just like this.”
Ao Qian was kicking shuttlecock under Liu Qing Quan’s guidance. Besides the most basic kicking methods, there were various fancy styles, whose difficulty and aesthetics, if placed in the modern world, would shock schoolchildren to tears.
“Fun! Fun!”
“Is it not fun? This is still a shuttlecock brother-in-law made by hand, using feathers from a rooster that had become a spirit!” Liu Qing Quan said proudly.
“Really? The one we ate yesterday?” Ao Qian asked.
“No, this is from Mr Wang’s household in the north of the city. That spirit one was eaten by us long ago.” Liu Qing Quan said.
These days, Ao Qian was living in the Liu household without a thought of returning home, utterly content.
Besides kicking shuttlecock, there was jumping rope with other children in the alley, and after sealing her magic, playing sandbag toss.
In addition, playing Go-moku and draughts with Liu Qing Quan was endlessly enjoyable, as was playing marbles with stones or wood ground into round balls.
There were also various modular wooden blocks made of wood, which could be assembled into all sorts of things, like city walls, houses, carriages, animals, and so on.
And a large wooden board painted with beautiful pictures, yet cut into hundreds or thousands of pieces in various ways; after scrambling, one reassembled them.
These were for play, but by the bedside when sleeping, Ao Qian also saw over a dozen fluffy animal dolls. Though they looked utterly unrealistic, they were exceedingly cute. Her favourite was a plump yet not bloated dragon-shaped plush toy, which she had to hug to sleep.
However, what Ao Qian anticipated most was the decadal rest day, once every ten days, and she had arrived just in time for it on her fourth day.
This decadal rest’s theme was the Midsummer Sports Day, with participants besides the Liu family also including sisters from Wu Xiu Village and Taohua Ping. The sports day included individual events like running, high jump, long jump, javelin, archery, badminton, and team events like volleyball, tug-of-war, relay race.
They played from morning till evening that day, and the first place in each event won a cream cake made by Lu Zheng himself. Ao Qian got one for first in the team tug-of-war and nearly melted from the sweetness.
Thus, she was extremely, extremely looking forward to the next decadal rest activity.
If not for Ao Qian’s mother contacting her from time to time on her own initiative, Ao Qian might have forgotten to keep in touch with home, and the daily content she shared was all Ao Qian showing her mother these various novel things.
Do not even mention it; even Ao Qian’s mother had never seen such things. Upon hearing they were inventions by that scholar brother, she was utterly amazed, making Ao Qian all the prouder.
Oh dear, one hopes Father does not catch that demonic dragon so quickly?
Ao Qian: ?( ^?^* )
…
Ao Qian was living so leisurely, so Lu Zheng’s days were naturally even more leisurely.
In ancient times, listening to storytelling, drinking tea; returning to modern times for meals, strolling streets, entering early retirement like the elderly.
No helping it; the wave from Wild Wolf Mountain, the wave from Ao Qian, these two waves exceeding seven hundred strands of qi yun light credited, made Lu Zheng bold and unrestrained.
“Jade Seal, upgrade!”
Besides cultivation, physique, spirit, and other basic attributes, as well as cloud techniques, thunder techniques, sword arts, and other skills, all welcomed a major surge.
Even painting, music, medicine, information technology, and other miscellaneous studies were elevated by a large margin.
What? You say information technology?
That was naturally for safely withdrawing money from Grant without being inexplicably tracked.
Besides that…
“Lu Lang, why do I feel you have become even more formidable?”
“Cultivation has advanced, that is normal.”
“Is it? Mm~~~”
In red and white shadows the divine sword flies, in Peach Blossom Village the peach blossoms bloom.
