As these words were spoken, Youlan’s expression changed slightly, but she quickly resumed her smile and pointed in a direction. “The kitchen is that way.”

“Thank you.” After expressing her gratitude, Fuhuan walked toward the kitchen.

Youlan stood in place for a moment, the booklets in her hand already crumpled from her grip. Finally, only after being reminded by a waiting maid did she have someone announce her to Siqing.

…

In Siqing’s study, after handing over some important matters to Siqing, Youlan stood in place with no intention of leaving.

“Anything else?” Siqing glanced at Youlan, his tone neither cold nor warm.

Youlan curved the corner of her lips, looking at Siqing with a fleeting emotion passing through her eyes. “Master has always not needed others to make meals for you, so why today did you let the Phoenix Lady…”

Youlan didn’t continue, her tone mixed with a hint of complaint that she hadn’t noticed.

“That seems irrelevant to you.” Siqing’s expression remained blank as he continued flipping through the booklet in his hand. Inside, he felt somewhat irritated—just how many messes had the previous Lord of the Underworld left for him?

…

…

“I misspoke.” Youlan quickly adjusted her emotions, bowed slightly to Siqing, and prepared to leave.

Just as she turned, the study door opened, and Fuhuan entered carrying a bowl of red bean porridge. As she liked sweet food, she had added quite a bit of honey to the red bean porridge. The aroma filled the air, permeating it with a hint of sweetness.

Youlan walked toward the door, glimpsed the bowl of red bean porridge, and raised a light smile. “Supreme Deity Fuhuan, the master doesn’t like sweet…”

“Bring it here!” Before Youlan could finish, she was interrupted by the person at the desk.

Fuhuan glanced at Youlan, then at Siqing, and suddenly seemed to understand something…

This Immortal Lord Youlan didn’t like her.

After giving Youlan a polite yet distant smile, Fuhuan carried the red bean porridge to Siqing and placed it beside his hand.

“All this time, and you only made this?” Siqing looked at the bowl of red bean porridge, his voice slightly mocking.

“Mm.” Fuhuan didn’t say much, only pushing the red bean porridge closer to Siqing.

Youlan, who hadn’t yet left the room, had been hoping to hear the sound of a bowl breaking or scolding, but by the time she reached the door, what she heard was the sound of a spoon hitting the bowl.

“It tastes bad,” came Siqing’s displeased voice.

“Is it that bad? It shouldn’t be…” Fuhuan still had some confidence in her culinary skills.

Siqing ignored her. Though his expression was full of impatience, he continued with a second spoonful, then a third…

Outside the door, Youlan clenched her fingers, her eyes somewhat dark.

…

Fuhuan stayed with Siqing for two days. During these two days, Siqing was busy and nothing else but busy, leaving absolutely nothing for her to monitor.

Fortunately, Siqing wasn’t giving her a hard time. During these two days, she either ground ink in the study or helped Siqing make red bean porridge.

For someone naturally idle like her, staying in one place for two or three days was fine, but any longer and she would become restless…

“Um…” Fuhuan covered her wrist, sore from grinding ink, and looked at the busy Siqing. “Besides being busy with these matters, don’t you have anything else to do?”

She remembered meeting Siqing at the Tree of Mortal Life that day.

“What do you want to do?” Siqing raised an eyebrow.

“Nothing.” Fuhuan recognized that she was here under the pretext of punishment, so how could she ask to go for a walk? She could only swallow her thoughts.

Siqing glanced at her, then at the time, and said, “In half an hour, I need to go out on some business.”

“Really?” Fuhuan was excited.

“Why are you so excited?” Siqing, seeing her eyes sparkle brightly, could guess what she wanted to say without using mind-reading.

Fuhuan pressed her lips together, bent slightly to make her gaze level with Siqing’s. “What business are you going to handle? Why not take me along? The Heavenly Emperor sent me here to gain experience, and besides endlessly grinding ink, you should teach me something else.”

“Don’t you think so, Master…” After speaking, Fuhuan added one more sentence.

Hearing this, Siqing took a sip of water and smiled faintly. “I remember it was you who couldn’t handle being an executioner. How did it become me making you grind ink endlessly?”

“Or have you changed your mind and are ready to go to the Eighteenth Level of Hell to punish those evil people?”

“…” Fuhuan no longer wanted to talk to Siqing. Every time, she was left speechless by his retorts.

Continuing to grind the ink, Fuhuan thought that since the Heavenly Emperor had sent her to monitor Siqing, it would probably be for a long time, at least about a month.

Fuhuan pressed her lips together, feeling somewhat irritated inside.

Before she knew it, half an hour had passed.

The Ink Qilin suddenly emerged from hiding and let out a soft roar at Siqing.

Hearing the Qilin’s roar, Siqing realized half an hour had passed. Unhurried, he put down the booklet and pen in his hand, stood up, and walked out.

Fuhuan stayed in place, about to ask Siqing what she should do, when she saw Siqing turn around, his gaze falling on her. “Come with me.”

“Alright!” Fuhuan immediately smiled broadly, readily agreeing to Siqing’s words.

Finally, she could go out!

Siqing’s mind was slightly dazed by the joyful smile on Fuhuan’s face. Pressing his thin lips together, his gaze fixed on her face.

How long had it been since he’d seen such a smile?

Leaving the study, Fuhuan followed Siqing’s side, walking forward.

Realizing this path led to the gates of the Underworld, Fuhuan’s smile deepened. But after a glance at Siqing beside her, she obediently suppressed her smile.

Siqing took in all these little details, perhaps not even noticing himself that the corner of his lips was curved into a slight arc.

When Youlan came out from the gate of the You Mansion, she saw from a distance two figures walking side by side—one with a faint smile, the other wanting to smile but not daring to, though her starry eyes were curved.

Siqing was smiling…

They were both smiling…

Seeing this scene, Youlan felt these smiles were like countless sharp thorns, piercing fiercely into her heart. In just a brief moment, she felt she could hardly breathe.

“Master.”

“Supreme Deity Fuhuan.”

As the two passed in front of the You Mansion gates, Youlan bowed slightly to them in greeting.

Siqing passed by her expressionlessly, while Fuhuan smiled at her. Then the two continued walking out, as if no one else existed.

Youlan watched their retreating figures until they left the gates of the Underworld.

“Fuling.” After returning to the gate of the You Mansion, Youlan summoned someone.

“Immortal Lord.” The celestial attendant called Fuling bowed to Youlan.

Youlan’s gaze fixed on a spot for a long while before finally falling on Fuling, her meaning profound as she said, “Do you still remember what you reported to me after accompanying me to the Heavenly Emperor’s birthday banquet last time?”

“I remember.” Fuling nodded, then continued, “After the Lord of the Underworld entered Floating Flower Garden, the Heavenly Realm’s Third Princess, Fifth Princess, and Sixth Princess stared at the master for several glances. Even during the opening dance and music, they were still stealing glances at the master.”

“And the Heavenly Realm’s Supreme Deity Lengyuan looked at the master the most times, many times sending glances toward the Lord of the Underworld while raising her cup to drink. Her affection was very obvious.”

After hearing this, Youlan gradually curved her lips into a bewitching smile. “Supreme Deity Lengyuan, isn’t she the Phoenix Lady’s elder sister?”

“It’s said they were both evolved from star formations, so they address each other as sisters and have a very close relationship,” Fuling answered.

“Is that so…” Youlan took a sip of water.

Sisters.

A very close relationship…

Well, she would see just how close these sisters could be.

“Fuling, go handle a matter for me…”

…

Fuhuan followed Siqing out of the Underworld, originally thinking they would go to the Heavenly Realm or somewhere else to handle important matters. Who would have thought that Siqing would come to the Tree of Mortal Life?

Whether he was waiting for someone or something else, Siqing walked straight to the Tree of Mortal Life, then sat down, leaning against it.

The divine beast, the Ink Qilin, also sat down, lying nearby.

Seeing this, Fuhuan simply walked toward the Tree of Mortal Life and sat down at some distance from Siqing.

As soon as she sat down, the Five-colored Divine Phoenix emerged from her back, flying to the Ink Qilin and speaking in the divine beast language that she couldn’t understand.

Fuhuan quietly leaned against the tree trunk. Siqing maintained the same posture, but neither spoke, just sitting quietly.

For a long time, until the sky outside was gradually darkening, Fuhuan finally spoke. “When are we returning to the Underworld?”

“You want to go back?” Siqing’s voice was calm.

Fuhuan shook her head, curved her lips slightly. “No, I just thought you had fallen asleep since you’ve been silent for so long.”

Siqing didn’t speak.

“You…” Seeing he wasn’t speaking again, Fuhuan turned to look at him. “Do you come here often?”

“Mm.”

“I also come here often. Why have I never seen you…” Fuhuan calculated the number of times she had come here before. Since moving to Phoenix Feather Pavilion, she would come here every few days.

In the Heavenly Realm, she wasn’t as free.

Siqing turned his head to look at Fuhuan. “What, do you want to see me?”

“…” Fuhuan felt she’d better keep quiet.

The two sat under the Tree of Mortal Life for a long time more before Siqing finally stood up, preparing to return to the Underworld.

Fuhuan also stood up, somewhat speechless. His idea of going out on business was to sit under this tree for several hours.

Fuhuan felt she truly couldn’t understand this man.

The Heavenly Emperor sending her to monitor Siqing was completely a wrong decision, because even if there was something, this man would not reveal any weakness.

Even after staying in the Underworld for nearly three days, she hadn’t discovered what relationship the person imprisoned in the forbidden area had with Siqing.

Nor did she know when he would choose to act to rescue the person from the forbidden area.

As Fuhuan thought, she watched Siqing’s back, and a terrible idea suddenly arose in her heart…

If Siqing truly fulfilled what the Heavenly Emperor feared, then the Heavenly Emperor would certainly be no match for this Lord of the Underworld.

At that time, fear would…

…

After the two left, a figure emerged from hiding.

It was Lengyuan.

Lengyuan had been there for a while. Since her arrival, she had seen Fuhuan and Siqing sitting under this tree.

Though they were somewhat far apart, the atmosphere gave people a particularly peaceful and serene feeling.

Although they didn’t communicate much, Lengyuan could still sense that Siqing didn’t dislike Fuhuan…