“Don’t give me that nonsense. Before, you were clearly the one who didn’t dare to sleep alone and pestered us to stay with you. How did it suddenly become a case of us being unable to leave your side?”
Hua Yan crossed her arms, glaring irritably at the pink-haired little girl in front of her.
“Give me an honest explanation. Why do you suddenly want to sleep by yourself?”
“I-It’s just that I’m a Big Sister Head now… I asked my classmates at the Academy, and they all said their parents stopped sleeping with them a long time ago.”
Hua Xiangrong held her pillow, her small head hanging low as her voice grew smaller and smaller.
“Even Little Pomegranate is such a coward, but she sleeps by herself… I-I bragged to them that I did too…”
“So, starting from today, I’m going to sleep by myself too!”
“Psh, what’s the big deal? It’s just a little lie—”
The words were at the tip of Hua Yan’s tongue when she suddenly felt that she shouldn’t teach a child like that.
She quickly cleared her throat and changed her tune.
“Ahem, I mean, A Gentleman’s Word! Since you’ve made such a boast, you must work hard to achieve it! Er… Rongrong is amazing!”
“Mm!”
Receiving her mother’s affirmation, the pink-haired girl’s eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously.
“Then Mother, I’m going to sleep in the side room! I’ve already prepared the bedding, so you and Mama don’t have to worry!”
“Goodnight!”
As soon as she finished speaking, she hugged her pillow and ran out the door with a series of quick thuds.
“Goodnight.”
Hua Yan waved at the tiny figure and used her Divine Sense to confirm that the girl had settled down comfortably in the side room. Only then did she turn back.
Upon turning, she was met with a quiet, cool face.
Yun Xuechang was sitting on one side of the bed, her head slightly tilted as she watched her.
Wait! This isn’t right!
Now that Rongrong is gone, tonight… doesn’t that mean only Yun Xuechang and I are left to sleep here?
Hua Yan suddenly grabbed the quilt, pulling her knees up and shrinking back onto the bed.
She buried half of her reddened face into the bedding as the realization finally dawned on her.
‘We aren’t even married! This… two people alone together… how improper!’
“Yan’er?”
Seeing her strange behavior, Yun Xuechang tilted her head slightly and asked softly, “Is something wrong?”
She paused, seemingly thinking of something.
“Are you worried about how we should sleep now that Rongrong is gone?”
The White-haired Fairy’s expression was calm, and her tone was considerate.
“I promised you on the first night we slept together that if it was inconvenient for you, I could sleep outside. I would return early the next morning and tell Rongrong that we slept together.”
“That offer… still stands.”
For some reason, even though she usually acted with straightforwardness, her heart felt as if something was slightly stuck as she said those words, causing her voice to falter for a moment.
“I…”
Hua Yan lifted her face slightly from the blanket, her almond-shaped eyes wide as she stared at the white-haired girl by the bed.
Under the warm glow of the candlelight, the other woman’s face still bore that calm, rippleless expression, as if saying such things was the most natural thing in the world.
‘You want to avoid sleeping with me that much? As soon as Rongrong leaves, you want to leave too?’
‘Am I, Hua Yan, not worth staying for even a moment longer?’
A sour, stifling feeling of irritation suddenly surged in her heart, making her words carry a hint of spite.
“I don’t care where you sleep! Go wherever you want!”
After saying that, she rolled over, wrapping herself tightly in the quilt and leaving Yun Xuechang with nothing but the back of her red-haired head.
“All right.”
Yun Xuechang took her words as silent consent. She lowered her eyes, nodded, and stood up from the bed to walk toward the door.
…
“Wait.”
Just as her hand was about to touch the doorknob, Hua Yan’s somewhat awkward voice suddenly rang out behind her.
Yun Xuechang turned around and looked at the beautiful figure on the bed, who still had her back turned.
“You… tell me honestly. Do you… want to stay, or do you want to sleep outside?”
The red-haired girl kept her back to her, her hands tightly clutching the bedding.
Her small, exposed ears were already burning red. Her voice drifted out low and muffled.
‘Hmph, Yun Xuechang! I’ve already asked this much. If you dare say you’re disgusted by me… you’re dead!’
“I…”
Yun Xuechang was stunned for a moment, then her eyes crinkled slightly as she answered honestly, “I want to sleep with Yan’er.”
“…”
“S-Since you put it that way…”
The red-haired girl still didn’t turn around, but her voice couldn’t hide the joy that was quietly bubbling up.
“T-Then it wouldn’t be right for me to actually kick you out… It wouldn’t be good to let you sleep outside alone… I-I am very considerate, after all!”
She paused, her voice becoming as thin as a mosquito’s buzz.
“Hurry up and get in… before I change my mind…”
“Mm, okay.”
Yun Xuechang gave a soft reply, the smile in her eyes growing warmer.
She extinguished the lamp and lightly climbed onto the bed, sharing the brocade quilt with Hua Yan.
She left a gap the width of one person between them—the space that usually belonged to Hua Xiangrong.
She didn’t move closer, lying honestly in her original spot.
‘So fragrant…’
In the quiet darkness, a hint of floral fragrance drifted over from the pillow.
It was the same scent Yun Xuechang had smelled in the Illusionary Realm—rich yet not cloying.
She couldn’t help but move her body, the rustling sound echoing as she turned from lying flat to lying on her side, facing the direction of that floral scent.
“…”
The room fell back into silence, leaving only two shallow breaths and heartbeats that were quietly accelerating in the dark.
“Yan’er, thank you.”
After a long while, Yun Xuechang spoke softly.
“What are you thanking me for? Just for letting you sleep in the room?”
Hua Yan replied quickly in the dark, clearly having no intention of sleeping either.
“No, I want to thank you… for being here. If it weren’t for you, I certainly wouldn’t be able to play the role of Rongrong’s mother well.”
Yun Xuechang’s voice was ethereal and sincere. Unlike what Hua Yan expected, the topic she brought up was actually about the child.
She paused, her words carrying a hint of hesitation.
“Actually, lately, I’ve been thinking… am I very incompetent as Rongrong’s mother? Perhaps I only agreed to play this role because I liked Rongrong’s well-behaved appearance, or because I craved this rare familial affection… But can I really do a good job?”
Listening to her words, Hua Yan turned around. In the darkness, she met those red eyes that held a trace of apology.
“Why would you think that? Rongrong clearly likes you so much, and she never realized she had come to another world.”
“Because from Rongrong’s descriptions, the ‘me’ of the other world wasn’t a competent mother.”
Yun Xuechang’s eyelids lowered slightly, her voice tinged with a sense of loss.
“She is like me—she doesn’t know how much seasoning to put in when cooking—but Rongrong has already grown used to it…”
“She is like me—she gets swindled out of Spirit Stones by roadside peddlers—even as a mother, I have to be reminded by my daughter, Rongrong…”
“She raised Rongrong alone outside the Sect… I don’t know, if it were me—the me who is so similar to her—would I also have the heart to let Rongrong wait and hope outside all by herself, waiting for her mother’s occasional visits…”
“I feel like… no matter which world’s me it is, perhaps I won’t be a good mother.”
Her voice grew softer.
“After all, I was raised by my Master… I didn’t have a mother. I…”
“That’s not true at all!”
Hua Yan interrupted her loudly, her tone indignant.
“You just said it yourself, those were the things the ‘you’ of the other world did—the you of this world is different!”
“The Yun Xuechang I know carefully looks after Rongrong’s emotions, works hard to learn how to make delicious meals, and clumsily but sincerely tries to play a motherly role she’s never encountered before!”
“You say you were raised by your Master and didn’t have a mother—then what about me?”
Hua Yan stared at her silhouette in the darkness, speaking word by word.
“I have parents, but they travel abroad all year round and have rarely been home since I was very young. I was also raised by my grandmother—but even so, don’t I still run and jump around, eating, drinking, and having fun just fine?”
“So what if we didn’t have mothers when we were young? In our lives, there were still people who took care of us like mothers—for me, it was my grandmother; for you, it was your Master. That doesn’t stop us from giving that same care to Rongrong!”
“I don’t even know how to cook, and when I first met Rongrong, I would bicker and fight with her… but that doesn’t stop me from loving her as my own daughter, even though for the first ten years of her life, in any world, there was no such person as Hua Yan!”
“If you don’t know how much seasoning to use, it’s fine, just leave it to me! If you’re easily tricked out of Spirit Stones, that’s also fine, I have plenty of Spirit Stones anyway!”
She glared at Yun Xuechang huffily.
“Anyway, whether it’s Rongrong or me, we’ve already chosen you! You are Rongrong’s mother! Since you promised me back then, don’t overthink things, and don’t even think about running away!”
“I…”
Yun Xuechang stared blankly at her silhouette in the darkness.
Although she couldn’t see clearly, she could vividly imagine Hua Yan’s current appearance—she must be pouting slightly as usual, looking at her with a mix of disdain and annoyance.
Just like her usual vibrant and bright self.
According to Rongrong’s terminology, this was probably what they called a “Tsundere,” right?
A tender, heartfelt smile slowly spread across Yun Xuechang’s lips, filled with warmth.
“Thank you, Yan’er.”
‘Having you here is truly wonderful.’
“Tch, how troublesome.”
Hua Yan muttered softly, rustling as she turned her back again, falling silent.
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