The Qing Ying that Xiang An’ge saw at Bei Dou was quite different.

She was like a fish finally returned to water, unrestrained, and also like a flower blooming in spring, sunny and brilliantly radiant.

Initially, Xiang An’ge spent most of his time saving people busy being injured. Whenever Qing Ying came to find him, she would tread lightly, place things beside him, and leave without disturbing him.

Xiang An’ge kept waiting for when she would finally be unable to resist talking to him, but surprisingly, this girl showed extraordinary willpower, firmly refusing to speak to him when he was busy.

After the storm passed, he should have returned to Wu Fang Kingdom long ago.

Qing Ying had never tried to keep him, but instead always asked, when do you plan to go back?

Xiang An’ge asked her: “What would you do if you knew?”

“See you off, of course,” Qing Ying said. “You came from afar, so naturally, I should accompany you part of the way when you leave.”

Just that?

Sitting under the eaves watching the sunset, Xiang An’ge glanced at her.

Qing Ying sat nearby, pouring tea and peeling nuts, looking quite busy.

She said, “Now that the divine oracle is gone, you probably don’t need to stay in Wu Fang Kingdom all the time to avoid the divine oracle’s control.”

Xiang An’ge said: “It’s not entirely because of the divine oracle.”

“What other reasons are there?” Qing Ying asked.

Xiang An’ge rested his chin on one hand, lazy and casual like a cat, yet with a layer of detachment.

Qing Ying guessed as if bored: “Do you have many enemies outside?”

“People who became my enemies are all dead,” Xiang An’ge said. “I killed them.”

Qing Ying nodded: “So in other words, you have no enemies outside now, but there are quite a few people who have been saved by you and need to repay your kindness. Isn’t that good?”

What a peculiar train of thought.

Xiang An’ge couldn’t help but turn to look at her. Qing Ying smiled back: “I’m also one of them.”

“Your debt, your senior sister has already repaid,” Xiang An’ge said. “She exchanged it with artifact techniques.”

Qing Ying leaned on the table and smiled: “My senior sister is so wonderful.”

Xiang An’ge looked at her, thinking to himself that the outside world was quite nice too.

*

While at Bei Dou, Qing Ying would invite Xiang An’ge to go wherever she went, seemingly afraid that he would be bored staying alone.

Qing Ying took Xiang An’ge on a tour of the entire Seven Star City, experiencing all the major and minor festivals throughout the year. These mundane human affairs were things Xiang An’ge had long abandoned.

He still found them tiresome, but was accustomed to walking alongside her.

Xiang An’ge also accompanied Qing Ying to some distant places, watching her perform various heroic deeds, eliminating evil and promoting good. He merely watched, not offering his hand casually.

Whether people lived or died had no meaning to him.

Unless there was something Qing Ying couldn’t handle.

“We’ve been out for quite a while, it’s time to go back,” Qing Ying waved to the person lounging in the tree. “Senior Sister has already sent messages urging me to return.”

Xiang An’ge lazily flash-stepped down from the tree.

After what these Bei Dou people had experienced before, whenever Qing Ying went out, she would receive greeting messages from her senior brothers and sisters at regular intervals.

Qing Ying said to Xiang An’ge as he came down from the tree: “Let’s go.”

So, Xiang An’ge followed her.

*

Xiang An’ge heard Qing Ying say there were no green cherry blossoms in the world. The next day, he transported a cherry tree with sparse green flowers from Wu Fang Kingdom and planted it in her courtyard.

Qing Ying woke up early, pushed open the window, and froze at the sight of the cherry tree in the courtyard.

On the branches with few leaves hung one or two pale green cherry blossoms.

Xiang An’ge, standing under the flowering tree, said to her: “Though this kind of flower is rare and precious, it’s not that it doesn’t exist.”

Looking at those sparse little flowers, Qing Ying said softly: “But I’ve already outgrown the age of caring about the meaning of names.”

Xiang An’ge said, “This flower is very beautiful.”

Qing Ying looked at him for a long time, then smiled: “Yes!”

The two walked around the flowering tree, with Qing Ying curiously asking many questions. Suddenly, someone came to the courtyard.

Zhou Zixi casually knocked on the door and entered, saying, “Senior Sister is asking about the unused drawing paper from last time…”

He looked up and saw the two standing in front of the flowering tree, then raised his gaze to see the flowers hanging from the branch tips.

In a brief moment of silence, Zhou Zixi asked Qing Ying: “Are there any more? Plant one in Senior Sister’s courtyard, too.”

Qing Ying’s eye twitched slightly: “Figure it out yourself.”

Zhou Zixi glanced at Xiang An’ge, knowing he couldn’t compete, and left.

*

A year is neither too long nor too short.

Xiang An’ge returned to Wu Fang Kingdom and fixed the substitute spirit that walked unsteadily. The next day, he went to see the vegetable garden behind the palace. All the fruits and vegetables in the field had been well cared for by the substitute spirits.

He sat alone between the vegetable and fruit gardens for a long time, watching the substitute spirits busily working, fertilizing, watering, pruning, and harvesting.

Surrounded by nature, Xiang An’ge belatedly wondered what Qing Ying was doing at that moment.

Realizing this, he couldn’t help but hold his forehead and smile. It was both unexpected and expected that now in this world, the only person he could miss was her.

So Xiang An’ge sent a message to Qing Ying under the pretext of discussing artifact techniques, asking her to relay it to Ming Li. This way, he legitimately heard Qing Ying share her daily amusing stories:

Today, I competed with Junior Brother Zhou Zixi in Resonance Meridian techniques, and I won.

Today, I taught Wen Su how to draw. Wen Su said it was harder than learning spirit techniques.

Today, I went to help at Li Niang’s shop and encountered cultivators making trouble. They were driven away by Zixi.

“What are you doing?”

When Xiang An’ge saw this message, he glanced at the substitute spirits beside him and slowly stood up. He did indeed have things to do.

All the substitute spirits in Wu Fang Kingdom needed maintenance.

The two exchanged messages about their daily lives every day.

Only Ming Li had to listen to Qing Ying relay Xiang An’ge’s artifact technique discussions every day. She lightly tapped her fingers on the table, smiling without a word. Beside her, Zhou Zixi rolled his eyes: “Doesn’t he have your contact information?”

Ming Li said, “He might be blind and can’t see my communication talismans.”

Since she could get Xiang An’ge’s artifact technique insights for free, Ming Li didn’t expose him.

*

In another winter, Xiang An’ge came to Bei Dou with a harvest of fruits and vegetables, filling dozens of carriages, astonishing the disciples of Bei Dou’s seven halls.

Qing Ying stood at the side of the delivery road, staring at the long line of carriages: “Didn’t you keep any for yourself?”

Xiang An’ge said, “I’m the only one in Wu Fang Kingdom. There’s no use keeping it.”

Qing Ying tilted her head to look at him, and Xiang An’ge was also looking at her. Snow was falling from the sky. A substitute spirit handed over an umbrella, which Xiang An’ge took and held out to Qing Ying, shielding her from the wind and snow.

“Will you leave after the delivery?” Qing Ying asked.

Xiang An’ge said, “When do you want me to leave?”

Qing Ying smiled: “That should be your own decision.”

Xiang An’ge looked at the snowy night sky, then back at Qing Ying, meeting her smiling eyes and said: “When I need you, I will come myself.”

*

Standing on the high mountain path, Chen Zhou watched the two people sharing an umbrella and supervising the substitute spirits delivering the carriages. He stroked his chin and said to Ming Li beside him: “The more I look at this person, the less satisfactory he seems.”

Ming Li said, “How are you looking at him?”

Liang Junxia, crouching on the ground, said: “If judged by Qing Ying’s husband’s standards, he has a solitary personality, is not good at socializing, is cold to people, doesn’t know how to take care of others, and doesn’t understand romantic sentiment. Life with him would be dull and joyless.”

Similarly, crouching, Dong Yeyun also said: “No father, no mother, no savings, no family background, and inconvenient to travel around.”

Ming Li looked down at the two of them, wondering when they had become so materialistic.

Chen Zhou, however, nodded with satisfaction.

Black Fox Mask, crouching between Liang Junxia and Dong Yeyun, pondered for a moment and said: “But he saved both of you, didn’t he?”

Liang Junxia continued: “…Although, as an Eighth Meridian Boundary Pilgrim, he’s invincible. Personality issues aren’t issues as long as he can protect Qing Ying safely.”

Dong Yeyun also said, “Having no family means no disputes or troubles. That’s quite good.”

Chen Zhou looked at these two with disdain and said to Ming Li, “You say something.”

She was so familiar with Xiang An’ge, surely she knew some of his shortcomings.

Ming Li said, “As long as Qing Ying likes him, it’s fine.”

Chen Zhou said, “How can it just be about her liking him? We need to consider multiple aspects of compatibility, whether he’s worthy of her.”

Ming Li blinked at her senior brother.

Chen Zhou said, “None of you gives me peace of mind. Such lifelong matters require strict scrutiny, both of you.”

Holding the umbrella for Ming Li and silent throughout, Zhou Zixi’s eyelid twitched as he slowly looked up.

After hearing Chen Zhou’s words, Dong Yeyun and the other two also looked up at Zhou Zixi standing beside Ming Li, then back at Chen Zhou.

After an eerie silence, Chen Zhou said to Ming Li with an unchanged expression: “Forget it, as long as you like him, it’s fine.”

Ming Li laughed at his words.