Xing Tiantian pulled Liang Zhi and Jiang Yuejing away in a hurry, then arranged a single room for Jiang Yuejing, saying, "Junior Sister Jiang, you should rest here first. We're heading out."
On the way, Xing Tiantian muttered, "Oh. Oh. Oh."
Liang Zhi asked, "What are you 'oh'-ing about?"
Xing Tiantian said, "Don't you find it strange? Senior Brother Yun actually said 'oh'."
Liang Zhi was puzzled. "Is there anything strange about saying 'oh'?"
Xing Tiantian replied, "Under normal circumstances, Senior Brother Yun usually says 'hmm'." Liang Zhi thought back, and it was indeed true.
Xing Tiantian continued, "And when she entered the door, Senior Brother took an extra look at her. The two of them definitely have something going on! Junior Sister Jiang might have been lying to us; actually, they're betrothed!"
Liang Zhi looked completely shocked. "No way! You can deduce all that from a single word 'oh'?"
Xing Tiantian smiled mysteriously, then dragged Liang Zhi back to the main hall. Yun Shuo was still there. Xing Tiantian gave a salute and said, "Senior Brother Yun, Junior Sister Jiang's accommodation has been arranged in Single Room 204."
Yun Shuo replied, "Hmm. You two go and rest as well."
After Xing Tiantian left, the other disciples departed one by one. Xing Tiantian pulled Liang Zhi aside and said, "Come on, let's go for a walk."
Liang Zhi asked, "Why did you just blurt out Junior Sister Jiang's room number? And you even arranged a single room for her."
Xing Tiantian smiled without a word, pulling Liang Zhi along for a walk. As they made their second circle around the station grounds, they saw Yun Shuo enter Jiang Yuejing's room. Liang Zhi's eyes went wide, and his mouth opened, but he didn't dare make a sound. Seeing that Xing Tiantian was still strolling along as calm as ever, he had no choice but to follow. Once they were far enough away, Liang Zhi couldn't help asking, "Did you see that just now?"
Xing Tiantian patted Liang Zhi on the shoulder. "Saw it. Understand what I meant earlier now?" Seeing Liang Zhi nod fiercely, Xing Tiantian continued, "You didn't pledge allegiance to me as your Senior Sister for nothing. Listen more, look more, and learn more." Hearing this, Liang Zhi immediately gave a thumbs-up.
Yun Shuo knocked and entered Jiang Yuejing's room. Jiang Yuejing was holding a book and reading it. Yun Shuo came straight to the point and asked, "Is your mother Qin Wenyu?"
Jiang Yuejing was somewhat surprised, but still nodded. "Yes."
Yun Shuo said, "She is my Junior Sister. Have you been in contact with her after you recovered?"
Jiang Yuejing shook her head. "No. I don't know how to contact my mother, and I don't know where she is."
Yun Shuo asked again, "When did you recover?"
Jiang Yuejing answered obediently, "Over three months ago."
Yun Shuo said, "Senior Uncle Qin is in the Northern Territory. I will send a message to her." With that, Yun Shuo added, "While you are in the Taqing Sect, I will do my best to take care of you."
Jiang Yuejing hadn't expected Yun Shuo to be so kind. "Thank you." Just as Jiang Yuejing finished expressing her gratitude and wanted to ask a few more questions about her mother, Yun Shuo left.
Jiang Yuejing lay on the bed, staring at the canopy and pondering how this Senior Brother Yun Shuo knew who her mother was. When she turned over, she brushed against the Soul-Guiding Bell on her neck. Jiang Yuejing stroked the Soul-Guiding Bell. Could it be because of this? Should she tuck the Soul-Guiding Bell inside her clothes so as not to run into people who didn't get along with her mother, just like her aunt and uncle, and bring unnecessary trouble upon herself?
The next morning, Xing Tiantian knocked on the door. "Junior Sister Jiang, get up for breakfast! The dining hall is behind the main hall."
Jiang Yuejing gave a response, then got up to wash up. Soon, she ran into a difficult problem: she didn't know how to do her hair in this era. In the past, Qingyue always combed her hair for her, but now she was on her own and had no idea what to do. After thinking about it, she finally tied her hair into a simple low ponytail and went to the dining hall for breakfast.
A dozen newly recruited disciples were already seated in the dining hall. Jiang Yuejing nodded in greeting and began to eat. After finishing breakfast, Jiang Yuejing prepared to return to her room to read. Just as she stepped out of the dining hall, she saw Xing Tiantian, who waved at her. "Junior Sister Jiang, come to the front hall to chat!" With no other choice, Jiang Yuejing followed Xing Tiantian to the front hall. Yun Shuo was still sitting in the central master seat.
Xing Tiantian pulled Jiang Yuejing along and shouted cheerfully upon entering the door, "Senior Brother Yun! We're here!"
Yun Shuo raised his head for a glance, took in Jiang Yuejing's strange hairstyle, and asked, "Why didn't you do your hair?"
Jiang Yuejing answered, "I don't know how to do my hair."
After a moment of silence, Yun Shuo said, "I don't know how to style women's hair either."
Xing Tiantian had just sat down and was bantering with Liang Zhi, but upon hearing this, she immediately raised her head. "Senior Brother, I know how! I'll go help Junior Sister Jiang with her hair right now!" Then she grabbed Jiang Yuejing and ran off.
As Xing Tiantian combed Jiang Yuejing's hair, she taught her how to style it. Once it was done, Xing Tiantian took a look. "Pretty." Then she dragged Jiang Yuejing in a flurry of motion back toward the front hall, thinking proudly to herself the entire way that she was simply Senior Brother Yun's considerate little helper.
After Yun Shuo arranged the assignments for the disciples going out to recruit today, he saw Xing Tiantian bringing Jiang Yuejing in again. He walked straight up to Jiang Yuejing and said, "I'll take you out to have a look." Then he walked right out. Hearing this, Xing Tiantian immediately pushed Jiang Yuejing to follow.
Seeing Yun Shuo and Jiang Yuejing leave, Liang Zhi quietly asked Xing Tiantian, "Should we go over for a walk too?"
Xing Tiantian gave Liang Zhi a knock on the head. "What would we go for? It's bad to disturb them. What if our presence makes Senior Brother Yun unable to let loose?"
"Hey, do any of you think Senior Brother Yun is acting very strange today?" a disciple said. This immediately drew responses and discussion from the others.
"Yeah, yeah. Senior Brother Yun has talked so much today."
"Why would Senior Brother Yun care about a new disciple's hairstyle?"
"Why would Senior Brother Yun say he doesn't know how to style hair either? A normal person wouldn't answer like that."
"That female disciple is quite pretty. Could Senior Brother Yun be..."
"But isn't Senior Brother Yun always obsessed with cultivation? How could he be swayed by beauty?"
The crowd chattered noisily, then turned to look at the giggling Xing Tiantian and Liang Zhi. "That female disciple was recruited by you two. You guys must know the reason." They all crowded around.
Liang Zhi made a hand gesture and then closed the door. The others followed Liang Zhi's movement, bending down with their ears close. Liang Zhi lowered his voice and said, "Because she is Senior Brother Yun's fiancée!"
"Really..." A disciple gasped in astonishment, then immediately lowered his voice. "Fake?"
Liang Zhi said, "Of course it's real. When I was over there, everyone knew about it."
"Damn it..." Realizing his language was inappropriate, the disciple immediately clamped a hand over his mouth to stop the bad word from coming out.
Liang Zhi said, "I'm telling you guys because I treat you like good brothers and sisters."
Hearing this, the crowd patted Liang Zhi on the back and repeatedly hailed him as a good brother.
Following Yun Shuo into the street, Jiang Yuejing found the market bustling with activity. There were various snacks, colorful dough figurines, fragrant sachets, pretty porcelain, and so on. Jiang Yuejing looked at everything with great wonder.
Yun Shuo asked, "Would you like some candied hawthorns?" Candied hawthorns were a food Jiang Yuejing had only ever seen in other people's essays. Now that she had the chance to try them, she was quite looking forward to it. "Yes, Boss, two sticks, please." Then she took spirit stones out of her storage bag and asked, "Boss, how much is it?"
The peddler holding the candied hawthorns handed two sticks to Jiang Yuejing and said, "Young miss, I don't accept spirit stones here. Just give me ten copper coins." Jiang Yuejing was in a bit of a bind; she didn't have any copper coins, only the spirit stones the clan elders had given her before she left. Yun Shuo directly reached out and handed the peddler a spirit stone, then said to Jiang Yuejing, "Take them and let's go."
Jiang Yuejing caught up, muttered a thank-you, and offered one to Yun Shuo. Yun Shuo didn't take it and said flatly, "I practice inedia."
Jiang Yuejing gave an "oh" and withdrew her hand, biting into a candied hawthorn. It was sweet and sour. But she accidentally bit down too hard on something hard and chipped her tooth slightly. Yun Shuo said, "There are pits. You have to spit them out."
Hearing this, Jiang Yuejing spat out the pit and couldn't help laughing, mocking herself, "How silly of me, I've never eaten these before."
Yun Shuo replied, "Hmm." Then he saw Jiang Yuejing smiling brightly as she offered him the candied hawthorn in her other hand. Yun Shuo recalled that the last time he ate candied hawthorns was when he was a child, when Qin Wenyu had given him one. Looking at the bright red candied hawthorns before him, he took them on an impulse. He bit into one. Ah, the taste hadn't changed.
At noon, the two entered a restaurant and ordered a few signature dishes. The dishes were all things Jiang Yuejing had never seen before. According to the restaurant owner, they were all made from fine spiritual beasts and spiritual plants, and the taste certainly lived up to the price. Jiang Yuejing ate her food while watching the singing and dancing on stage with great relish, though she still couldn't help asking, "Senior Brother Yun, didn't you say you practice inedia?"
Yun Shuo swallowed the food in his mouth before replying, "Food made from these spiritual beasts and spiritual plants is beneficial to cultivation."
After they had eaten their fill, Yun Shuo roughly explained matters concerning the Taqing Sect to Jiang Yuejing. The Taqing Sect had many peaks, such as Sword Peak, Medicine Peak, Beast Taming Peak, and Dharma Peak. Jiang Yuejing's mother, Qin Wenyu, belonged to Dharma Peak. As Yun Shuo was talking, out of the corner of his eye he looked at Jiang Yuejing's neck and didn't see the Soul-Guiding Bell, figuring she must have tucked it inside her clothes. Thinking that she wasn't a fool after all of three months, he asked another question: "Can you understand what I've just told you?"
Although Jiang Yuejing was puzzled as to why he would ask that, she still answered, "I can."
Jiang Yuejing seized the opportunity to ask some questions about her mother: "Senior Brother Yun, you know where my parents are, right? How can I go find them? Can you tell me about them?"
Yun Shuo took a gentle sip of tea. "Senior Uncle Qin is a very gentle person. Right now, Senior Uncle Qin and Senior Uncle Jiang are in seclusion in a cave dwelling in the Northern Territory. No one below the Golden Core Stage may enter that place."
Hearing this, Jiang Yuejing asked anxiously, "Does that mean I can't go right now? Do I have to wait until I cultivate to the Golden Core Stage before I can go to the Northern Territory?"
Yun Shuo answered, "Yes. In the next few days, you can think about which peak you want to join after entering the Taqing Sect."
Jiang Yuejing asked curiously, "Can I choose for myself?"
Yun Shuo said, "You have a Wind Spiritual Root. There's a high probability that elders from many peaks will fight over you, so you can choose." Jiang Yuejing nodded. Before leaving, Jiang Yuejing packed two dishes she thought were quite good.
Yun Shuo said, "If you like eating them, you can come back tomorrow."
Jiang Yuejing shook her head. "No, I want to take them back for Senior Sister Xing."
Yun Shuo said, "If she wants to eat them, she can come eat them herself."
Jiang Yuejing said, "You don't understand." In her past life, the children in the orphanage always took care of each other; whenever the older brothers and sisters had food, they would bring it back to share with everyone. So later on, when Fang Jing earned money from part-time jobs, he would always bring some food back for everyone whenever he returned to the orphanage. Moreover, Senior Sister Xing had taken good care of her, and she was very grateful.
Although Yun Shuo didn't understand, when the boss brought over the packed food, he still took the initiative to take it and carry it. On the way back, Jiang Yuejing bought some pastries to carry in her hand. Returning to the station, Jiang Yuejing was puzzled. "Why is the door to the front hall closed?" Then she glanced at Yun Shuo.
Yun Shuo said, "I don't know." He then flicked his sleeve, using spiritual power to push the door open. The moment the door opened, they saw the disciples inside playing around and building a human pyramid while laughing hysterically.
Jiang Yuejing: "?"
Seeing the door suddenly open, the Taqing Sect disciples immediately scattered, stood up, and straightened their attire. "Senior Brother Yun." They quickly stood in line and dutifully admitted their mistake. The air suddenly became exceptionally quiet, with only Yun Shuo slowly walking through the parted crowd back to his seat. Xing Tiantian quietly signaled to Jiang Yuejing with her eyes, and soon afterward, Jiang Yuejing received distress signals from several senior brothers and sisters she had only met that morning.
Jiang Yuejing felt very helpless inside. *Don't look at me. What can I do? I don't dare speak either.* The crowd stood there quietly for a spell, the front hall looking like a painting, everything seemingly frozen in time.