It was early in the morning when Li Mei skipped out of her dorm to run some errands at another peak. Breathing in the fresh mountain air, she smiled.

Tasks weren’t particularly hard for young cultivators like her unless they had high cultivation or were prodigies like Sun Ying-shidi, who often received risky missions such as wiping out serpents or local river gods. As Li Mei was only a regular disciple, all she had to do was deliver a few odds and ends to her own peak’s brother peak, Qian Cao Peak.

“I’m going!” Li Mei waved to her disciple sisters before setting off happily.

Li Mei liked the air in Qian Cao Peak. It was clean and always filled with a lingering smell of herbs. As she descended on the outer garden and made her way in, she greeted the other disciples coming in and out of the peak’s main building.

“Li-Li, you’re in for a treat,” whispered one of the disciples, a slender girl with twin buns on her head, to her. “Our shizun is in today, as is our seventh shidi.”

Li Mei nodded. She had heard many stories about Qian Cao Peak, particularly that of its lord’s unparalleled good looks. Tall, with broad shoulders and a slim waist, he was like a walking dream.

“I’m actually looking for Qian-shishu,” she said. “I’m glad he’s around. May I know where he’s currently located, so I can send him these precious bottles? There was a hidden realm that had opened recently and our disciple sisters decided to gift some of these to Qian Cao Peak as thanks for all the times they’ve helped us.”

“He’s in the main hall today,” replied the girl, nodding back. It was understood that her shizun spent time all over the sect, running here and there to do a bit of everything. “Hurry, or you’ll miss him!”

Li Mei ran off with thanks to the main hall. Sure enough, the man in question was already on the move elsewhere—but oh, what’s this? It seems as if he’s being slowed down by something!

That something – or rather, someone – happened to be the peak’s seventh disciple, Qian Yuan. He was a little more than two meters tall, with a straight nose and dark eyes. Everything about him was perfect, except his extreme tendency to stick to his shizun and refuse to let go.

Li Mei was speechless. Although Qian Yuan was very tall and looked every bit like a gallant young man, he was wrapping his arms around his shizun’s waist like a little boy, rocking to and fro merrily. Meanwhile, the peak lord himself looked to be placating and pandering towards him. Suddenly, he noticed her gazing at them.

“You must be Li Mei,” a smile broke across his handsome face. “I suppose you’ve come with the bottles your peak lord wanted me to have. Thank you very much for coming all the way here!”

Without shaking off his sticky disciple, he trotted towards the girl as if it was a usual occurrence that a man his height was glued to his side. From beside him, Qian Yuan smiled and nodded at the girl as if it was a usual occurrence that he was stuck to someone’s waist.

“You have mine and my master’s thanks,” said the young man graciously.

“Yo… You’re welcome, shishu and, uh, shidi,” said Li Mei politely, not knowing which man to bow at. It was as if it was needed anyway, since two of them took the space of one person…

“Feel free to rest a bit before returning,” said the peak lord, gesturing to her kindly towards a table laden with teacups and a steaming teapot. Beside him, almost synchronously, the sticky young man did the same. It was as if they were one single organism, moving at the same pace with one mind.

Neither of the two were separated as they moved towards the table. The peak lord simply sat on his disciple’s lap as he readied to serve his disciple niece some tea. Qian Yuan pushed some cakes towards her.

“As compliments,” said the peak lord, speaking on his disciple’s behalf. Qian Yuan nodded brightly.

Li Mei put one in her mouth – mm! Delicious!

After sipping the tea that the two men had served her, Li Mei set off to return to her peak. Along the way she met some other disciple sisters who were excited to hear about her visit. As she recounted her strange but charming experience to them, they cultivated and progressed a little.

“Were they always like that?” asked Li Mei curiously. The other girls looked at each other, unsure how to explain it. Min Yi, who was also present, smiled as she told the tale.

“Qian Cao’s peak lord dotes on all his disciples, but none more than his seventh disciple, who was sickly when he first arrived at the sect,” said Min Yi. “He eventually got better and became quite skilled in medicine. A few years later, Sun Guang Peak’s lord somehow offended a local god after losing a gambling match with nothing on himself to exchange as losses and it chased him all the way to the sect, destroying things along the way. Qian Yuan took the blow for his master, as the two had happened to be nearby during the incident, and as he thought he was about to die, he confessed his feelings. And well, later on a few things happened…”

“I see,” nodded Li Mei. “So it was like that. A disaster had turned into a happy ending.”

“Yes, and it was also the reason why we didn’t say anything about Qian Cao Peak possibly objecting to a love affair between a certain Xin Jin Peak’s disciple and one of theirs,” explained Min Yi, smiling. “Xin Jin’s a different story, though.”

Sated and relaxed after hearing the story, the girls sat in the sun for a bit to rest after cultivating. As they stood up to leave together, they suddenly heard a shout from afar.

“Li-Li! Everyone! I have big news! Hu Die-shijie is leaving the sect!”