When Jing Yi woke up the next morning, a smile pulled up the corners of his lips. He was home. This thought immediately echoed in his mind, making him feel like the whole world was especially bright today.

He sat up in his bed, pushed down the blanket and then looked over at his mother’s bed. To his surprise, he found that she had already gotten up and left the room. She had probably sneaked out of her own room to let him sleep a little longer since he had only arrived yesterday. Thinking about it, he was a little embarrassed.

Jing Yi sighed, feeling like he should tell her later on that she didn’t have to be like this. He was her son and already at the age where he could be considered an adult. If anything, he should be the one taking care of her.

He got up, washed up, and put on his clothes before he left the room, going to look if she was currently eating breakfast. He shouldn’t have slept so long that she had already gone to the teahouse, right?

When Jing Yi left the room, a certain someone quietly followed, his figure still hidden from few. Ah, this night had been absolute bliss! Qiu Ling couldn’t help but smile brightly just thinking of it. In the Yun Zou Sect, he had often needed to lie on the roof opposite of the house where Jing Yi lived and had only been able to see a small part of his room. That was truly too inconvenient!

Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to help it since the room was way too small. It was only a few steps in every direction so the risk of being discovered was too high. After all, hiding his figure didn’t mean that it disappeared. If somebody ran into him, then they would still discover that there was an obstacle in the way.

Now, though, he had been able to follow Jing Yi into this much larger room and spent the night next to him, quietly watching — Uh, quietly making sure that nothing could happen to him. Ah, he felt so accomplished this morning!

He probably would have felt even more accomplished if the one he had been guarding had been his beloved Jing He instead of his reincarnation but still. This was already quite good.

The two of them arrived in the dining room. Jing Yi’s mother was already sitting there together with Mi Fan while Zhong Gang’s voice could be heard close-by. Just when Jing Yi wanted to greet them, Zhong Guanyu dashed over, only stopping directly in front of him. Jing Yi froze and instinctively tensed, trying to lean as far away from her as he could.

Guanyu didn’t seem to notice at all. She peered at him with narrowed eyes as if she was angry.

Jing Yi gulped. "Uh … What is it?" It took all he had not to step back. If this had been five years ago, he certainly would have run away but by now, he was old enough not to be afraid of girls anymore. The fact that the martial sisters in the Yun Zou Sect had always treated him just the same as his martial brothers might have had something to do with that or maybe it was because a certain someone hadn’t screwed with his relationships for a while.

Guanyu took a deep breath as if she also had something to suppress. "Where is he?"

"What?"

"I asked where he is!"

Jing Yi glanced over to his mother and Mi Fan, hoping for help. He didn’t know what Guanyu wanted from him and right now, he even started to feel afraid again. Madam Zhong glanced at them, looking also worried. Mi Fan only furrowed her brows, feelings that her daughter wasn’t living up to her expectations. She had already talked with her husband yesterday evening and he felt the same as her: It would be good if the children could get closer and marry. But for that, Guanyu’s cooperation would be needed. They couldn’t do it without her.

Guanyu didn’t wait for the two women to say something and just continued with her interrogation. "Your senior brother! Where is he?!"

Jing Yi tensed even further. "That … Probably in his room?" He actually hadn’t checked on Qiu Ling and just went to search for his mother …

"No! You’re lying!"

This time, Jing Yi took a step back. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"I went to look and he wasn’t in his room!"

Jing Yi looked away. He already hadn’t liked Guanyu back then and this episode just demonstrated the reason for that once again. "I also don’t know where he is then. I could only go and look for him there."

"Then do that!"

Jing Yi turned around and wanted to leave when the person in question already appeared behind him. Jing Yi blinked in surprise. Could it be Qiu Ling had also just gotten up and come to see if they were going to eat? He wouldn’t have felt neglected, would he? He had a bit of a guilty conscience and couldn’t help but call out to him. "Qiu Ling."

"I’m here!" Qiu Ling hurried over, taking a good long look at his beloved. Ah, watching him sleep was nice but it was still much better to be able to look into his eyes and get a smile back!

Guanyu rushed forward and smiled at Qiu Ling as well. "Qiu Ling, good morning!"

Qiu Ling didn’t even glance at her or acknowledge her in any other way.

Guanyu stared at him in a daze. Why was this man only looking at her stupid cousin? She really felt like pushing him out of the way! Unfortunately, that might leave the man of her dreams with a bad impression. Thus, she could only thicken her skin and call out again. "Qiu Ling, where were you? I went to look for you but you weren’t in your room."

Mi Fan and Madam Zhong also looked over and Jing Yi looked at him questioningly as well, so Qiu Ling finally had to stop pretending the girl didn’t exist. "Maybe I didn’t hear."

"Ah, naturally, you didn’t hear. You weren’t in, after all. You also forgot to close your window. I did that for you." She looked down as if she was shy but Qiu Ling only glared at her.

"Oh? Now, that makes me wonder what you were doing, visiting a stranger’s room this early?"

Guanyu looked up with her mouth agape. This … Was this really the type of question you should ask if somebody showed their concerns for you?