A voice casually asked, “Didn’t place a bet? By the way, did you all bet on today’s match between Hua Yan’er and Li Chengfeng?”
“I lost half my fortune! Damn! No wonder the Hehun Sect even gave odds of 0.3 for what seemed like a sure win! Those cunning bastards must have known Hua Yan’er’s strength all along!”
“Don’t even mention it! Who would have thought Li Chengfeng would lose? Caused me to…”
“I lost quite a bit too…” another male voice chimed in with curses, and the others echoed, full of complaints.
“Hahaha! How did you know I had nothing better to do and casually placed five hundred top-grade spirit stones on Hua Yan’er?”
The male voice that had just asked suddenly laughed triumphantly.
“Get lost!” the other nine cursed in unison.
The next evening, Hua Yan, who had once again brought Hua Xiangrong back from Ji Ling’s courtyard, stepped into the courtyard.
But this time, she returned later than usual, and was carrying a tree a full six zhang tall on her shoulder.
“Xue Shang, what do you think of this tree?” Hua Yan called out excitedly as soon as she entered the courtyard, toward Yun Xuechang, who was practicing sword techniques in the yard.
Yun Xuechang turned around, put down her Zi Wu Jia Ying Cheng, and looked at the large tree on the red-haired young woman’s shoulder.
The bark was slightly grayish-white, the trunk straight and tall, with no leaves among the bare branches but full of large red flowers, much like the young woman’s fiery red hair.
Yun Xuechang blinked.
“Yan’er, what tree is this?”
“It’s a kapok tree! On the way here, I heard people say there’s an island nearby covered in these trees, so I took Rongrong on a trip and picked this one to bring back.”
Hua Yan straightened her full chest, satisfied, reached out, and patted the sturdy trunk.
“Look, this one is just the right size, well-proportioned and tall, with flowers that bloom brilliantly. It should be perfect to plant in our courtyard! What do you think?”
“I think it looks very beautiful.” Yun Xuechang answered honestly.
Actually, she didn’t know much about the quality of trees, but the fiery red flowers on it always reminded her of Hua Yan’s red hair.
Thinking that, the tree looked pleasing no matter how she looked at it.
Hua Yan, praised, grew even more proud. She lifted her chin and turned to the pink-haired little girl beside her: “Girl, come help me decide where in the courtyard this tree would look best planted.”
Hua Xiangrong nodded vigorously.
Yun Xuechang stood to the side, watching as Hua Yan, with Hua Xiangrong clapping and cheering, used spiritual power to pry up the paving stones, dig out the soil, and plant that kapok tree.
She blinked softly.
She always felt that Hua Yan was like a little sparrow that loved liveliness and beautiful things, always liking to decorate the home with all kinds of nice things—yesterday she brought back a string of conch shell wind chimes hung under the eaves, and today she moved back a large tree full of red flowers.
It was the same back at the Xiaoyao Sword Sect. Hua Yan had taken her simple, cold courtyard where she had lived alone for many years and little by little fixed it up to be beautiful.
The sun was setting in the west. The red-haired young woman stood under the tree full of red flowers, smiling as she taught the pink-haired girl beside her how to stabilize the roots and water the soil with magical power.
Yun Xuechang watched this scene, her eyes curving into crescents.
This, she thought, compared to before, was perhaps what “home” should look like.
Suddenly, that graceful red shadow hurried closer. Yun Xuechang felt a tickle at her temple, and a flower had already been tucked into her hair.
“Mm, indeed my eye wasn’t wrong. You look beautiful no matter what flower you wear.”
Hua Yan stepped back two paces, then gently cupped Yun Xuechang’s face, turning it slightly to one side, examined it carefully, and nodded with satisfaction.
“Nice, this looks good. You’re not allowed to take it off today.”
Yun Xuechang looked at Hua Yan’s bright smile.
The setting sunlight draped over the young woman, her red hair like fire, complementing the tree of red flowers behind her, dazzling and hard to look away from.
And now, at her own temple, there was also this vivid touch of red.
Joy quietly spread in her heart. “Okay. I’ll use my magical power to preserve it forever. I won’t take it off when I sleep tonight.” She nodded solemnly.
“It’s just an ordinary flower, what’s so special about preserving it! And who said you have to wear it while sleeping?” Hua Yan rolled her eyes, half exasperated, half amused, and let go.
“If you like it that much, you can wear it whenever you want in the future. These flowers can still bloom for about two months.”
“I want to wear one too! I want to wear one too! Mother, you can’t be partial and only give them to Mommy!”
The little one beside them, seeing the interaction between the two, immediately chimed in.
“What partiality! Where did you learn these weird words!” Hua Yan blushed and scolded Hua Xiangrong.
“I’ll put one on you, okay?” Turning, she picked another kapok flower in full bloom, bent down, and tucked it into Hua Xiangrong’s hair.
“By the way, Xue Shang,” she straightened up and turned to Yun Xuechang, “when I went to pick up Rongrong today, Elder Ji said that the day after tomorrow, Tinghai Pavilion will take the lead to host a Flower Viewing Party, inviting all the sects that have arrived to gather together and discuss matters related to the Secret Realm. She told me to let you know and prepare in advance.”
“Mm, I understand.” Yun Xuechang nodded.
It was only reasonable for Tinghai Pavilion to want to use this opportunity to build connections and celebrate the gathering.
The elders and disciples of major sects usually spent most of their time in seclusion training, rarely venturing out, and gatherings of so many sects were rare.
So the host, Tinghai Pavilion, took the lead in organizing this Flower Viewing Party.
It seemed that all the major sects that were supposed to come had arrived—just like that day when Li Chengfeng and the other two gathered together.
Yun Xuechang withdrew her thoughts and looked down at Hua Xiangrong, who also had a red flower in her hair and was smiling happily. “Yan’er, rather than this, let’s go make dinner first.”
“Rongrong, what do you want to eat tonight?”
Hua Xiangrong looked up with her small face and gently requested, “Can I have clam vermicelli, Mommy?”
“Okay.”
Just as the two were about to head to the kitchen, the pink-haired girl called out again, “Oh, right! Now both Mommy and I have flowers, but Mother doesn’t have one yet!”
She stretched out her little hand, pointing at Hua Yan’s empty hair—actually, it wasn’t completely empty; Hua Yan still had quite a few hairpins and dangling ornaments in her hair.
She looked up at Yun Xuechang and pleaded, “Mommy, the flowers on the tree are too high for me to reach. Can you put one on Mother too? That way our whole family will match!”
“Okay.”
Yun Xuechang blinked, raised her hand, and lightly waved. A red flower drifted down gently into her palm. She stepped close to Hua Yan—
Hua Yan only felt a wave of cool, faint fragrance brush her face, and then she reached up to touch her temple. A delicate kapok flower was securely tucked into her hair.
Yun Xuechang looked at her and sincerely praised, “Yan’er, you are truly beautiful.”
“Oh… oh…” Hua Yan met the faint smile on her cool, clear face and unconsciously blushed.
She seemed to understand a little why Yun Xuechang had said “I won’t take it off when I sleep tonight.”
Hua Yan felt her heart pounding fiercely.
Because at this moment—
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