Volume 1, Chapter 210 – Returning Home

A youth of about sixteen or seventeen appeared at the corner of the street and slowly made his way toward the residence.

His steps were unsteady, and he was covered in dust from head to toe. The dark blue fitted outfit he wore had also been torn in many places, making him look rather bedraggled.

The servant left at the gate hurriedly went up to him.

“Third Young Master, where did you go last night? Second Madam was worried sick.”

The youth brushed aside the servant’s outstretched hand and glanced doubtfully at the woman in green standing by the gate.

“You…”

Before he could ask, the woman turned her face, her gaze settling on his.

“Qinghu…?”

The voice that reached his ears was pleasant and clear. Compared with the one in his memory, it lacked a few degrees of that affected, irritating drawl.

Although the woman’s appearance differed somewhat from the face in his memory, seven or eight parts of the resemblance were still visible.

His gaze dropped. Looking at the woman’s graceful figure, the confusion on the youth’s face turned into horror. He staggered back several steps, eyes wide.

“Big… Big… Big Brother?!”

His voice carried the hoarseness unique to adolescence.

At this moment, Shi Qinghu only felt as though a thunderclap had exploded inside his head. It buzzed so violently that he almost lost the ability to think.

“It has been a long time…”

Looking at the youth before her, who was now taller than she was, Shi Lan nodded, a faint smile curving her lips.

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More than a year had passed since they last met, and Shi Qinghu’s appearance had changed quite a bit. If not for the growing sharpness of her memory, she might not have recognized him at a glance.

“Lan?”

Hearing the soft call from behind her, Shi Lan’s expression paused slightly, and she turned to look into the courtyard.

At the entrance stood a beautiful woman in purple robes who looked a little over thirty.

Before Shi Lan could speak, she was pulled into a warm embrace and tightly wrapped in a pair of arms.

Su Lanyue held Shi Lan fast, tears nearly spilling from her eyes.

The bond between mother and daughter ran deep. Even though Shi Lan had changed a great deal, Su Lanyue recognized her at a single glance.

For nearly two years, Shi Lan had vanished without a trace, her whereabouts unknown. Countless times, Su Lanyue had woken in the middle of the night from dreams of Shi Lan meeting with all manner of misfortune.

No one understood better than she did just how naive Shi Lan was, after having lived almost twenty years under her nearly cloistered protection.

The outside world was so chaotic. With Shi Lan’s gentle, soft-hearted nature, and with no experience weathering hardship, how could she possibly take proper care of herself?

Every time Su Lanyue thought of it, it felt as though knives were twisting in her heart, and she regretted more and more why she had not kept a tighter watch on her.

Later, unable to bear the worry any longer, she laid everything out directly before Shi Tianlu. The position of matriarch of the Shi family, the secret she had kept for twenty years being exposed, and all the other complications—she cast them all behind her.

She only wanted her daughter to come home safely.

The result of that confession took her by surprise. Shi Tianlu merely assured her again and again that Shi Lan had always been safe, saying nothing else. As for Shi Lan’s being a daughter, he did not mention a single word.

And the rage she had imagined never appeared in the slightest.

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The affection that welled up from the bottom of her heart made Shi Lan refrain from pushing away the woman holding her so tightly. She slowly suppressed the berserk true qi that had nearly burst forth in an instant.

A slender hand rose to caress her cheek, tracing the line of her face and smoothing the sideburns she had not arranged very neatly.

Looking at Su Lanyue, whose eyes shimmered with tears, Shi Lan’s thoughts were in turmoil. She wanted to speak, yet stopped herself.

This love and worry of Su Lanyue’s did not belong to her; it belonged to “Shi Lan.” On that point, her heart was perfectly clear.

In truth, on the way here, Shi Lan had thought about confessing part of the truth. But seeing Su Lanyue as she was now, she found that she could not force out a single word.

In the end, she raised a hand and held the hand cupping one side of her face, offering a slightly awkward smile.

“Mother, I’m home.”

The moment they touched, Shi Lan discovered that Su Lanyue also possessed martial cultivation: the fourth stage of the Innate Realm. It was not particularly strong, but she had already cast off the mortal body.

Su Lanyue stepped back two paces, rubbed the corners of her eyes, then took Shi Lan’s hand and led her into the residence.

“Have you eaten breakfast yet? Are you hungry?”

“Your father only left two days ago. He already knows the truth, so you won’t need to keep hiding it from now on…”

Listening to the gradually receding murmur at his ear, Shi Qinghu—utterly ignored—slowly came back to himself, his eyes full of disbelief, his mind unable to quite turn the corner.

The one who had just gone inside… really was Big Brother…

Or was it… Big Sister?

A strange feeling rose in Shi Qinghu’s heart as he followed them into the courtyard.

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…

Shi Lan followed Su Lanyue through the residence.

Compared with the old Shi Residence, this place was far smaller, and most of the servants and maids were unfamiliar faces.

After turning through several bends, Su Lanyue brought Shi Lan to an empty room.

Inside, aside from a large bed draped with pale blue gauze, the most eye-catching thing was a dressing table with a glazed mirror that reflected the room with perfect clarity.

Clearly, this room had long since been prepared in full.

As soon as they entered, Su Lanyue impatiently pressed Shi Lan down before the dressing table, tugged away the cloth ribbon binding her hair, picked up a jade comb from the table, and began combing through her hair.

Shi Lan struggled twice in slight embarrassment, only to be gently pressed still again by Su Lanyue.

“Let Mother dress your hair once…”

The fingertips moving through her long hair trembled slightly.

Shi Lan silently withdrew her hand and stopped resisting.

After a while, the hair at the back of Shi Lan’s head had been tied into a swallowtail style. Locks on either side hung over her shoulders, while the hair down her back was gathered with a golden cord.

After inserting a green jade hairpin into the layered strands of dark hair, Su Lanyue withdrew her hand in satisfaction and began to apply makeup to Shi Lan.

However, Shi Lan had already perfected the ninth level of the Jade Tempering Art, and her glazed jade body had reached great accomplishment. Mundane substances could not cling to her, and rouge, powder, and cosmetics simply would not remain on her face.

After trying several times, Su Lanyue could only give up helplessly.

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“A sage once said, the Heavenly Dao is utterly impartial; all living things are born of heaven and nourished by earth…”

Suddenly, the sound of reading came from outside the window. Shi Lan looked at Su Lanyue in puzzlement.

“That is your second younger brother. Last year, he felt that he was unlikely to achieve much on the martial path, so he abandoned martial arts for letters and now devotes himself to the scholarly Dao.”

Shi Lan nodded in understanding.

“Never mind him. Come with me.”

Su Lanyue looked rather excited as she pulled Shi Lan over to the wardrobe and flung open its doors with a sweep.

Inside, an array of garments and dresses hung in dazzling abundance.

“What colors do you like? What style?” Su Lanyue casually took down two outfits and held them out.

Shi Lan let out a somewhat helpless sigh.

Seeing that there was little delight on Shi Lan’s face, Su Lanyue frowned slightly.

“You do not like any of them? Then later I’ll have someone replace them with two more wardrobes’ worth.”

“Mother, there’s no need to trouble yourself.”

Shi Lan shook her head, letting a trace of fatigue appear on her face at the right moment.

“Then get some proper rest first. I’ll have someone bring you dinner later.”

Su Lanyue came to her senses, took two or three quick steps out of the room, and closed the door behind her.