Chapter 86 Xie Baoqiong showed no fear on her face…
Xie Baoqiong showed no fear on her face; instead, she took another step forward, and the distance between the two quickly closed.
The red mole between his brows shone brightly, and his words carried the fearless spirit of youth:
"If Lord Akamatsu tells me why, I will naturally not mention it again."
That includes him back then.
...
He was getting old, after all. He turned to the side, glanced at Xie Baoqiong, and spoke slowly and deliberately:
"You're quite clever, knowing to take the opportunity to make a request."
But they didn't seem to want to kick people out.
Xie Baoqiong understood the meaning behind Chisong's words and followed him closely.
As soon as I stepped into the center of the room, the scene before my eyes suddenly changed.
The tables, chairs, and decorative items, along with the carved screens, twisted and straightened in the field of vision, transforming into simple lines that intersect and run parallel, radiating a strong white light.
The dazzling light slowly faded, and the scene in view changed from Akamatsu's room to a desolate gray-white landscape.
The gray sky met the gray earth, merging together at the edge of the field of vision.
Smoke and dust filled the air, obscuring the sky and earth.
The figure leading the way vanished, and Xie Baoqiong, feeling the deathly desolation around her, plunged into the unfamiliar world like a fawn orphaned from its mother, letting out an uneasy cry:
"Lord Akamatsu?"
The sound was swallowed up by this space where even the wind did not exist, leaving behind only deathly silence.
Xie Baoqiong took a step forward, her footsteps landing on the rough ground, the barely audible sound becoming the only noise in this place.
His pace gradually quickened as he aimlessly searched for an exit.
Then a rumbling sound came from the sky, and the ground beneath our feet began to shake.
Xie Baoqiong steadied herself and was enveloped by a familiar spiritual force, which then carried her to a high hill.
Standing high in the sky, he finally saw a different kind of color in this gray world.
A colossal, dark blue beast perched atop a high hill. Its body was slender, and golden eyes were set within its dark blue scales, resembling a bright moon reflected in a pool at night.
Above his eyes, one of the two horns that should have been matching was forcibly cut off.
Xie Baoqiong was enveloped by spiritual power and landed in front of those eyes that were almost as big as him.
The behemoth stared at him intently, its mouth tightly shut, but its voice resonated deep within his mind:
"How can you have no patience at all? You can't even sit still for a short while?"
Xie Baoqiong recognized the giant beast before the sound rang out; he had seen a miniature version of the red pine tree during the Spring Festival.
"Lord Akamatsu, where is this place?"
Chishong's tone was light and casual, without any blame. Xie Baoqiong didn't take it to heart and turned around to look at the gray expanse below the hill.
"You don't know?" The giant beast raised its head, its gaze fixed on Xie Baoqiong.
Xie Baoqiong recalled all the places she had been during her short demonic life, but she couldn't remember any such gray and desolate place. She truthfully replied:
"I've never been here before."
"Of course you've never been here before."
Xie Baoqiong frowned, turned to look at Chisong, and spiritual power surged again, carrying him onto the giant beast's body.
The next instant, the colossal, dark blue beast soared into the sky, its booming voice reaching his ears:
"This is my world. A heaven beyond heaven that cultivators can create once they reach a certain level."
Against the gray sky, Xie Baoqiong sat on dark blue scales, his rapid flight creating a gust of air that blew his hair back, revealing his smooth forehead and excited eyes.
"What level of attainment is required to achieve that?"
"Half-step ascension."
The powerful blast of air did not dispel the simple and plain four characters of Chishong, but it left Xie Baoqiong somewhat dazed.
Chishong's usual behavior and his state before transforming into a dragon were really not like that of this realm.
Xie Baoqiong rested his palm on the jade-like scales, feeling the cool touch in his hand. He suddenly remembered that during the Spring Festival, the true form of the Red Pine was hidden in the sea of clouds, and there were some parts that he had not seen clearly.
All I remember is that when he first met Chishong, the tail clinging to his ankle was shaped like a snake's tail, but it had no tail fin.
Upon closer inspection of the red pine tree, two antlers resembling deer antlers have grown from its forehead.
His gaze was fixed on the flattened dragon horns.
Jiaolong either has a single horn or a short, unbranched horn, and it has no tail fin.
He turned around, trying to see clearly whether the tail a hundred meters away had a tail fin, but the dark blue dragon suddenly turned into particles and dissipated in the air.
Xie Baoqiong's body suddenly plummeted downwards.
He quickly came to his senses and extended his spiritual energy to envelop his body, but was pulled into an embrace by a pair of hands. The sound of the shockwave faded away in his ears. He looked up and Chishong saw his calm expression, a hint of boredom flashing across his face.
"Is Lord Chishong a dragon?" Xie Baoqiong asked this rather impolite question out of curiosity.
The two landed on the ground. Chishong put Xie Baoqiong down, his expression inscrutable.
If you think so, then so be it.
Xie Baoqiong's eyes were full of confusion, but Chisong, who had regained his human form, no longer distinguished himself from a dragon.
He glanced at Chishong a few more times, but didn't dwell on the matter for too long:
"Lord Akamatsu, what are we doing here?"
He looked around, and the surroundings were still a gray blur, no different from where he had been before.
"Didn't you want to know about my feud with Lin Zhechun? You should always be discreet when talking about someone behind their back."
Xie Baoqiong's gaze was drawn to the sound, and she saw Chisong gently raise his hand, the dust on the ground in front of him dissipated, revealing a large area of artifacts exuding spiritual energy.
Various ritual implements of different shapes emerged from the sand, stretching endlessly, and Xie Baoqiong, unaware of their existence, stared wide-eyed.
Compared to this, the only half-magical artifact he possessed was truly pathetic.
Xie Baoqiong, who had little experience, was completely unaware that both the jade pendant given by Xiaochun and the cat brother who had once transformed into human form were treasures that would attract a frenzy of people.
He was truly shocked by the sheer number of magical artifacts before him.
But what does this have to do with the feud between Chishong and Lin Zhechun?
Thinking this, he casually asked.
Chisong cast a weathered glance at the half-buried ritual implement, then gave an irrelevant answer:
"The owners of these magical artifacts are all dead."
Xie Baoqiong immediately conjured up a grudge involving the extermination of her clan, but Chishong's next words shattered that notion:
"Lin Zhechun's aloof attitude only benefited me."
"Were all of these killed by National Preceptor Lin?" Xie Baoqiong looked up at the endless array of magical artifacts, finding it hard to reconcile Lin Zhechun's pure and untainted image with a veneer of ruthlessness.
"...Some are, some aren't." Akamatsu searched his memory, only to find that those years had become blurred by the passage of time, and even the deep-seated hatred of the past had been shrouded in a thick fog by the erosion of time.
The hatred was unclear, yet it continued to linger and entangle him.
The path to immortality is difficult, and the transformation into a dragon seems a distant dream. Only his hatred lingers, pulling him forward through time.
"Is the owner of these ritual implements a friend of Lord Akamatsu?"
Stripped of all emotion, Xie Baoqiong stood on the ground beside Chisong, unable to empathize with him.
"No," Akamatsu answered crisply.
But after those two words were spoken, the world returned to silence once more.
The revealed magical artifacts emanated spiritual power, intertwining in the air before finally dissipating into the world.
Xie Baoqiong suddenly realized something.
There was no wind in this space, and apart from the spiritual energy emanating from the magical artifact in front of them, there was not a trace of spiritual energy at all.
This is a place devoid of spiritual energy.
"Lord Akamatsu...?" He was about to bring up the question when Akamatsu interrupted him:
"After thinking about it carefully, I feel that if I just tell you this outright, I'll be at a disadvantage. Why don't you tell me your story first?"
Red Pine's golden vertical pupils swept over the figure that was several heads shorter, carrying a hint of scheming.
"For example, how did you end up with such a face? And by chance, you became Xie Zhuo's child?"
Both of them were fully aware of Xie Baoqiong's demonic identity and naturally concluded that he and Xie Zhuo were not related by blood.
Xie Baoqiong didn't hide anything, pouting and confidently saying, "It's because he looks like me."
Hearing Xie Baoqiong's anti-Heavenly Gang remarks, Chishong's doubts grew stronger:
"How long have you been conscious?"
Xie Baoqiong counted on his fingers, "Thirteen years in the human world." He added, "But before I developed consciousness, I must have been a stone for many years."
Chishong ignored his addition, muttered the number again, stepped forward and grabbed Xie Baoqiong's wrist. A domineering spiritual power surged in, and Xie Baoqiong's figure suddenly disappeared, revealing a square tombstone in front of him.
The pupils contracted when their gaze fell upon the inscription on the tombstone.
The moment the hand was released, the tombstone instantly reverted to human form, its face stern as it pulled back a distance.
"It's quite a coincidence that you're with their family."
Akamatsu gritted his teeth and said this sentence in an unfriendly tone.
But Xie Baoqiong inexplicably felt that the tone wasn't directed at her.
As expected, the next moment Chishong's expression softened, and he asked with a complex look in his eyes:
"Are you aware that Lin Zhechun and Princess Huayang have a good relationship?"
Xie Baoqiong remembered seeing Lin Zhechun in Princess Huayang's courtyard, and instead of answering immediately, she asked:
"Lord Akamatsu, do you know something?"
His sincere gaze met Chishong's cold, calculating vertical pupils, and he explained the reason for his descent from the mountain.
...
"You said you came to the capital because your cultivation stagnated due to unresolved karma?" Chishong looked at the little demon in front of him with an inscrutable gaze.
Xie Baoqiong nodded vigorously, temporarily forgetting Chishong's recent offense.
In a world shrouded in gray, Die Lan's figure drew ever closer, the gold thread embroidered on her clothes gleaming as it struck Xie Baoqiong's heart along with Chi Song's icy voice:
"If Lin Zhechun was truly behind this, what could a little demon like you possibly do?"
The wide blue robe hung down around Chishong's body, like his dragon scales, or like butterfly wings that had stopped fluttering, caught in a golden net.
Even more merciless words emanated from the trapped butterfly's body:
"Even if his strength is not at its peak now, what can you do?"
“But there’s also Lord Chishong.” Xie Baoqiong’s face showed no sign of defeat. Her eyes shone brightly as she looked up at the beautiful butterfly. She said soberly, “Besides, this is just a hypothetical scenario.”
Chishong paused for a moment, then lowered his eyes and seriously scrutinized Xie Baoqiong. He made no attempt to hide his true feelings; he didn't want to involve any unnecessary people in his feud.
I won't help you.
As for what Lin Zhechun actually wanted to do, I don't know. I didn't pay much attention to what happened back then; I only remember that the situation in the capital was chaotic at the time, and Lin Zhechun left the capital for a period of time.
Xie Baoqiong noted this news down, her gaze meeting that of Chishong, who was deep in thought, and she held it there for a long time until Chishong spoke:
Why are you staring at me?
"Lord Akamatsu already knows about my affairs; it's my turn to hear about Lord Akamatsu's affairs now."
"It's not good to pry into other people's sad stories." Chishong said the word "sadness," but there was no sadness in his golden eyes. His gaze was instead fixed on the magical artifacts spreading across the ground.
The intertwined spiritual energy spread into the air and no longer dissipated, but gradually gathered into figures whose faces were indistinct.
Xie Baoqiong spotted a familiar figure among them. "Is that the Imperial Preceptor Lin?"
"yes."
"And the one following behind? Is that Lord Akamatsu?"
"Ha, don't compare me to a dead man." Akamatsu's words suddenly turned cold, like thick frost in winter.
Xie Baoqiong deduced from Chishong's tone that the person was probably someone Chishong disliked.
Numerous illusory figures condensed above the magical artifact, some clear and some blurry. Xie Baoqiong tried to discern the faces of these figures, but found that he recognized none of them except for Lin Zhechun. His gaze swept towards a blurry figure in the distance that was almost inhuman, yet it seemed strangely familiar.
A calm, even voice interrupted his gaze, drawing his attention back to Akamatsu:
"You haven't even set foot in the realm of cultivators yet?"
Before Xie Baoqiong could answer, he continued, seemingly not expecting an answer from her:
"That's a world that has no shortage of geniuses."
"Are all these people?" The phantom formed by spiritual energy swayed slightly. When he looked back, the familiar phantom he had just seen was now obscured, and he didn't know where it had drifted off to.
"Most of them are fallen geniuses."
The gloomy sky contrasted with Chishong Pingdiao's voice, creating an indescribably eerie atmosphere.
"Is Lord Akamatsu also a genius?" A childish voice broke through the desolation.
Unable to find the illusory figure, Xie Baoqiong boredly withdrew her gaze and instead looked at Lin Zhechun, who was closest to them.
"Of course I am..." The smug voice sounded more like the Chisong that Xie Baoqiong used to know.
"But it's all in the past." The spirit of the following sentence was completely worn away, leaving behind only the heavy twilight.
The image of the dark blue behemoth on the high hill and the severed dragon horn appeared in Xie Baoqiong's mind.
As he pieced together what Akamatsu had said, the answer he had guessed became clear.
The illusory figure in front of them suddenly faded away, leaving only the two closest to them.
Xie Baoqiong held onto Chishong's lost left hand, "It's not over yet, Lord Chishong is still very powerful."
Red Pine lowered his eyes, glancing over the point where the two hands met. The nimble mechanical hands, even through the thinnest gloves, had no tactile sensation.
But he didn't shake off the hand that was holding his.
"You don't need to comfort me. It was my carelessness that led to my dragon transformation and the subsequent ambush."
Despite saying that, a deep sense of resentment was evident beneath the surface.
It wasn't that they were less skilled or lacked talent; it was just that they lacked that final bit of luck at the crucial moment.
He was only one step away, yet that step stopped him from ever reaching his goal in this lifetime.
How could he accept this! How could he not hate it!
If it weren't for that person, if his foundation hadn't been completely destroyed, with his talent, why would he have needed to borrow dragon energy to take another small step forward?
The phantom appeared and disappeared intermittently as Akamatsu's emotions changed.
Xie Baoqiong's gaze, as if guided by a sudden inspiration, fell upon another person beside the illusory figure of Lin Zhechun:
"Is it that person?"
"He's not entirely stupid."
Chisong, ignoring the illusory figure, waved it away, his powerful spiritual energy also significantly diminishing Lin Zhechun's illusory form.
“But isn’t he dead?” Xie Baoqiong recalled what Chisong had said. It couldn’t be that Chisong deliberately said someone was dead just to vent his anger.
"He's dead, killed by Lin Zhechun's sword." The endless sarcasm in his words left Xie Baoqiong even more confused.
As he pondered, Xie Baoqiong unconsciously tightened his grip on Chisong's left hand, but even as his mind went blank, he still couldn't understand how the relationship between Chisong and Lin Zhechun had turned out this way.
"Shouldn't Lord Akamatsu be happy?"
Having avenged their great grudge, they should naturally be happy.
Akamatsu couldn't feel the force in his left hand, just as he couldn't feel joy when that person died.
There was only a vague sense of shared sorrow for the fallen, a deep sense of absurdity, and a barely perceptible fear.
Do you know who that person is?
Xie Baoqiong shook his head in confusion. Not long ago, he had mistaken someone for Chishong, a person who had died before he developed consciousness. How could he recognize him?
"That person is Lin Zhechun's junior brother."
Xie Baoqiong's confusion was dispelled by surprise, but Chishong's words were not yet finished.
“I was invited to their sect, but I broke through to the Dragon Transformation stage. He took advantage of my Dragon Transformation to launch a sneak attack, intending to use my body to reforge his senior brother’s broken sword.”
Chishong spoke calmly, like an outsider. He looked at the astonished Xie Baoqiong beside him and spoke with the experience of someone who had been there:
"When you live longer, you will find that humans are indeed despicable."
"Then, then..." Xie Baoqiong paused, suddenly realizing he didn't know the man's name. "After he injured you, did the Imperial Preceptor Lin kill him?"
“If Lin Zhechun had killed him back then, things wouldn’t be like this between us now.”
Xie Baoqiong understood the choice Lin Zhechun had made from Chisong's words.
The next moment, Chishong's lips curled into a mocking smile: "But Lin Zhechun also got his comeuppance. He was bitten back by that mad dog and ended up in a situation that's not much better than mine."
Xie Baoqiong glanced at the only remaining phantom on the magic artifact. It didn't look much like the Lin Zhechun he had seen before. Although the face was not clear, it was still... missing the white silk ribbon on the face.
"Was it his junior brother who injured National Preceptor Lin's eyes?" Xie Baoqiong asked uncertainly.
"More or less." Akamatsu glanced at him strangely, as if wondering why he wasn't sure: "It's not surprising that one madman raises another madman."
Xie Baoqiong lowered her eyes, pondering Chishong's words.
Akamatsu withdrew the mechanical hand that he had been holding, and a chilling voice rang in his ear:
"Alright, now that you've heard my story, it's time to silence you."
Xie Baoqiong silently raised her eyes, sensing the calm, windless environment around her, devoid of any murderous intent.
"Lord Akamatsu, how long have we been out?"
In this world where the sun and moon are invisible, he cannot judge the flow of time, nor does he know if Xie Zhuo and Xie Rongjing will come looking for him.
"Why are you just as boring as Xie Zhuo?"
Chisong picked up the cub in front of him and stepped into the burial ground of the magical artifacts:
“My outer heaven is in dire need of spiritual energy, so burying a stone like you here is just right.”
Xie Baoqiong showed no sign of impending death. She wrapped her arms around Chisong's neck, adjusted herself into a comfortable position, rested her head on Chisong's shoulder, half of her cheek pressed against his shoulder, and her voice, muffled, reached Chisong's ears:
"Are we leaving now? I still want to ride the dragon."
"I'm not a mount." Chishong's forehead twitched, once again thankful that he didn't have a cub.
Xie Baoqiong, without a dragon rider, didn't cause any trouble and asked curiously:
"What kind of person does Lord Chishong think the Imperial Preceptor Lin is?"
He was somewhat bothered by what Akamatsu had mentioned.
"A stubborn madman."
"And what about Princess Huayang?"
"Not familiar. It's just that Lin Zhechun treated her differently than usual. I originally thought she was that person's reincarnation, so I paid more attention."
Xie Baoqiong then realized with a start that Chishong had omitted the cause of the man's death when recounting the past:
"Why did National Preceptor Lin kill that person?"
The two gradually arrived at the edge of the world, where sandstorms raged. Chisong pressed down on his head, which he had suddenly raised, and erected a spiritual energy shield to isolate him from the outside world.
"He did something wrong."
After Chishong finished speaking five words, there was no sound for a long time. After waiting for a while, Xie Baoqiong turned her head and looked at Chishong's lips, which were no longer moving, and said in disbelief:
"Just because of this?"
Chishong patted his head but didn't answer.
"We can be considered to be in the same boat. My advice to you is to find another way to resolve your cultivation issues and stay as far away from Lin Zhechun as possible."
Before Xie Baoqiong could figure out where he and Chisong shared a similar plight, the surrounding sandstorm suddenly intensified.
The wind and sand lashed against the spiritual energy shield, making a series of thumping sounds.
His gaze was drawn to the surrounding environment where he couldn't see the sky and earth clearly, and he suddenly remembered that the Heaven Beyond Heaven of Chishong was an extremely sacred place.
Although he did not know what a normal outer heaven looked like, he was sure it wouldn't be like this space, which was not only devoid of spiritual energy but also attacked its master.
The only "symptom" on his cultivation path was stagnation, and the same was true for Chisong.
"But I don't know any other way." And he was worried that Xie Zhuo and Xie Rongjing wouldn't be willing to leave with him.
That's right, he had already figured out a solution. Since he couldn't give up either path, he would take them all. Xiaochun had taught him not to wrong himself.
"Moreover, the last time I chased down the person who kidnapped me, my spiritual energy fluctuated, which should be useful in resolving the karmic ties between me and Princess Huayang."
Chishong stared at the obscured road ahead, undisturbed by the increasingly fierce sandstorm: "The karma on your shoulders is not heavy."
Xie Baoqiong looked at Chisong's profile with a puzzled expression.
"The reason why Xiu stopped progressing may not be entirely due to this."
The loud sound of the wind and sand hitting the cover drowned out Chishong's voice, so Xie Baoqiong didn't fully hear the second half of Chishong's sentence. Only the four words "Xiu Zhi Bu" entered his ears.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Akamatsu's furrowed brow: "Lord Akamatsu is still bothered by what happened back then?"
His face was pressed against Akamatsu's shoulder, and his breath, damp with the cub's scent, brushed against Akamatsu's neck as he spoke.
"But Lord Akamatsu survived. Lord Akamatsu was one of the few geniuses who survived."
The sandstorm that collided with the spiritual energy shield suddenly turned into a gentle breeze, and the large grains of sand slid off the shield, revealing the gray sky.
"Your mouth is more pleasing than Xie Zhuo's."
As the storm subsided and the dust returned to the ground, the spiritual energy shield collapsed, and the butterfly-blue robes billowed, enveloping Xie Baoqiong's figure. They surged towards the sky, gradually elongating and transforming into a colossal dark blue beast.
Xie Baoqiong leaned over the giant beast's head, her eyes widening in surprise, a childlike smile on her face.
A long, low dragon roar, accompanied by his silly laughter, passed through a burst of white light.
He returned to the embrace of humanity.
The surroundings were no longer a gray blur, but rather the room of the red pine.
He looked at the dim yellow light reflected on the window paper and struggled off the red pine tree, which had regained its human form.
"Lord Akamatsu, this is for you. I'm going back to find my father."
Suddenly, Chishong's arms were empty, and then a hand suddenly squeezed into his right hand, leaving behind only half an orange with a missing segment.
The figure in front of him ran out of the house, turned around and waved at him before disappearing in a flash.
Chisong used his spiritual power to close the door.
On the black gloves, the orange segments, stripped of their pith and white fibers, were squeezed together, glistening and translucent. Bathed in the yellow light streaming into the room, they appeared even more golden, their plump flesh resembling the smiling eyes of a seemingly not-so-annoying baby.
Red Pine accepted the gift from the cub, its mechanical fingers deftly plucking a petal and putting it into its mouth.
He hadn't tasted mortal food for a long time, and to his surprise, when he tasted it again, it wasn't a delicacy, but rather half an ordinary orange.
The moment the translucent membrane is bitten open, the juice from the fruit bursts out, and a burst of sourness fills the mouth.
A hint of doubt crept into his eyes. Do kids these days really like eating such sour fruit?
...
Meanwhile, Xie Baoqiong, having finished her misdeeds, skillfully followed the scent and slipped into the dining room.
"father!"
Xie Zhuo took the figure rushing over and asked someone to add a bowl and chopsticks.
"Where did you and Chishong go? We sent people to his house, but no one answered the door."
Xie Zhuo grabbed his two hands and rubbed them in the basin of water that had been brought over.
"Lord Chishong, take me riding..." Xie Baoqiong was unsure whether Chishong's true form was widely known, and paused for a moment on the word "riding".
"Riding a horse?" Fortunately, Xie Rongjing filled in the rest of the question for him.
Xie Baoqiong was stunned for a moment, then nodded vigorously in agreement with Xie Rongjing's words.
"What kind of horse were you riding?" Xie Zhuo took his hand out, wiped it dry with a handkerchief, and asked as if they were having a casual chat.
“A horse with horns,” Xie Baoqiong said, picking out the most distinctive feature.
"Oh? A horse with horns?" Xie Zhu put down his handkerchief and picked up some sweet and sour lotus root cubes with his chopsticks, placing them in Xie Baoqiong's bowl.
Xie Baoqiong belatedly realized that, apart from demons, there seemed to be no horned creatures in the world that could be horses.
"Qiong'er, did you not see the deer and mistake it for a horse?" Xie Rongjing's gentle voice once again came to his rescue.
"Anyway, it has horns." Xie Baoqiong chewed on Xie Zhuobu's food, swallowed it, and then muttered an explanation.
"Alright, alright, it was your brother who shouldn't have said you were calling a deer a horse." Xie Rongjing looked at his younger brother's cheeks, which had thinned out, and doted on him.
Two soft chuckles rang out from the dining table.
Xie Baoqiong glanced at the two of them strangely, then buried her head in scanning the dishes on the table.
Yet another poorly crafted lie has been glossed over.
After dinner, Xie Baoqiong lingered in Xie Zhuo's room, a peanut candy that Xie Rongjing had secretly given him to sweeten his mouth, crunching as he chewed on the peanut inside.
There were no outsiders in the room, so Xie Zhuo let him sit without leaning against anything, rubbing his round belly with one hand while holding a piece of paper under the lamp in the other.
The more he looked, the more his brow furrowed.
The small candy was chewed up and eaten by Xie Baoqiong in no time, and his body slowly slid down to Xie Zhuo's lap.
His head circled around Xie Zhuo's lap, finally looking up at Xie Zhuo's face, which was hidden by the paper:
"Dad, what are you looking at?"
Xie Zhuo raised his hand to rub his temples and handed the paper in his hand to Xie Baoqiong.
The small sheet of rice paper was covered with childish handwriting, occasionally interspersed with a few circles drawn with ink.
The further to the left you go, the more circles there are.
The last few columns were almost entirely filled with circles, with only the signature in the lower left corner consisting of three Chinese characters.
As Xie Baoqiong looked at the familiar handwriting on the paper and the three characters "Xie Baoqiong" at the end, the guilt in her eyes was gradually replaced by admiration that was perfectly rounded.
Xie Zhuo tapped Xie Baoqiong's forehead with his finger, saying with a headache:
"I think you shouldn't be called Xie Baoqiong, but Xie Quanquan instead."
“Didn’t Dad say to just circle the words you don’t know how to write?” Xie Baoqiong said confidently.
"What about the last few columns?"
This afternoon, Xie Zhuo saw Xie Rongjing mysteriously hand him a piece of paper, claiming that Xie Baoqiong's first policy essay should be submitted to her father for review. He was both comforted and delighted, never expecting such a "surprise".
Xie Baoqiong glanced at the circles at the back and thought he had drawn them quite well, but under Xie Zhuo's unappreciative gaze, he honestly explained, "I don't know how to write the rest."
Xie Zhuo sighed, ultimately unable to bear scolding the child. He ruffled the child's hair, took the paper from Xie Baoqiong's hand, and muttered a few words:
"You must be persistent in doing things. You can't be so perfunctory in the future. If you don't know something, you can ask your father and brother."
...
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Author's Note: Xie Rongjing: I don't read anything that damages brotherhood.
I had a recurring low-grade fever for the past few days and didn't update. Today the fever subsided and hasn't returned, so I'll write a bit more to catch up. I don't know if I'll have another fever. It's the changing season recently, so everyone should take care of their health.
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