“Da-Niang! Da-Niang, we’re here to stay the night!”

Two plump little peas shot up the stairs towards the main outer pavilion, hugging the two legs belonging to Sun Quan on each side. Sun Wu saw this and laughed.

“You’re very popular, Quan-Quan,” he remarked. His disciple scowled at him.

“Don’t call me Quan-Quan,” he said. “Anyway, what are these two here for?”

“Ah, this…” Sun Wu scratched his chin feebly. “Remember how I lost that one mah-jong match four days ago? Well, the one who won everything was Xian-Nu’s peak lord, so I owe her a favour.”

Xian-Nu’s peak lord was precisely the mother of these two young seedlings. As direct descendants of a peak lord, they had very high capability and advanced cultivation. They were bright like stars and every peak wanted them as disciples – but just like Xin Chen, they had to place in the disciple try-outs and select which peak to join.

Unfortunately for all the other peak lords, the two shining stars of the cultivation world seemed fixated on going to one of the poorest peaks in the sect. The same had also happened with the red-haired youth, Sun Ying, who was easily one of the strongest prodigies of their time. Sun Quan had been selling cookbooks to the other peaks thanks to these three, however, so he had very few qualms.

The problem was that the three of them ate a lot and always demanded to have meat in their meals.

“We’ll have to allow them to stay over this time,” sighed Sun Quan, giving in and folding his arms. “Bear in mind that they’re not disciples here yet, so we aren’t currently receiving allowances for them. A-Ye, A-Yang, you’ll have help out to collect your share of food.”

A-Ye and A-Yang nodded in affirmative. Clapping their fists to their palms, they declared, “Men work for food.”

Sun Ying, who had come from mending the chicken fences, nodded at them.

“Yo, brats,” he greeted them.

“Second shixiong,” they greeted back. Sun Quan stared in shock.

“You haven’t even joined the peak yet, but you’re calling him your shixiong already?” he barked. “And if you’re going to call him second shixiong, why am I still Da-Niang!?”

“Da-Niang is Da-Niang,” said A-Ye firmly.

“How can Da-Niang be anything else?” asked A-Yang.

“Right, right, right,” Sun Wu stepped in, sensing that his eldest disciple was going to make only vegetarian dishes for the whole day if he allowed it to go on. “Anyway, A-Yang, A-Ye, you can go and join Sun Ying to look for meat to bring back. At your cultivation stage, I believe you can each kill one small wild beast at least. Bring it back early so that your da-shixiong can decide what to make with them. Now off you go!”

The two scampered away with Sun Ying into the mountains to hunt for food. Sun Quan went to the main hall to mend some clothes while Sun Wu practiced his sword outside. Presently, they heard footsteps climbing up the steps of the peak and looked up.

“Da-Niang, Da-Niang!” cheered A-Ye and A-Yang from outside. “We’ve brought back something better than meat!”

Curious, Sun Quan put away his mending and walked to the door. He was greeted by a pair of phoenix eyes and a very handsome face.

“We’ve brought back money ah!”