Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
Advance chapters available for patrons on Patreon. And a chapter can be sponsored by buying me a ko-fi.
Bonus chapter sponsored by Melanie Nelson, Maresa H and Arkham Butterfly…. Thank you for the ko-fis….❤️❤️❤️❤️
After leaving the Demon Management Bureau, Jiang Lan took the little ones to find a restaurant for dinner.
After dinner, he went to the supermarket to buy daily necessities, snacks and fruits, and then went straight back to Ying Qiao’s villa.
Jiang Lan and his three little brats were currently in a state of freedom without their brothers’ supervision. As soon as they got out of the car, the little brats grabbed snacks and followed Jiu Ding, rushing into the villa like fledglings returning to their nest.
Snacks and fruits, games everywhere, endless joy!
In short, they completely forgot about all the rules set by Jiang Lan.
Jiang Lan muttered, “All they do is play games,” but ultimately didn’t stop the kids. He only went inside together with the remaining shopping bags after Ying Qiao parked the car.
Just as he reached the door, he suddenly remembered something and said, “Didn’t you say you were going to contact Ji Xian? Why is there no sign of it?”
“No rush, let’s do some preparatory work first.”
Ying Qiao placed the shopping bag on the coffee table, rummaged through it to find the letter paper he had just bought, and then went to the study to find a pot of drooping, short bamboo. He casually broke off a bamboo stalk about the thickness of a thumb, wrote two short sentences on the letter paper, rolled it up, and stuffed it into the hollow part of the bamboo stalk.
Although this half-dead bamboo looked short, its branches were very thick and the middle nodes were very long, just enough to stuff a rolled-up letter into.
After sealing the letter, Ying Qiao tossed the bamboo stick into the air and whispered, “Return to your place.”
The bamboo branch, about the thickness of a thumb, swayed and flew upwards, higher and higher until it disappeared into the clouds and was no longer visible.
Seeing this, Ying Qiao carefully put the bamboo away and said, “The message has been sent out. Let’s see if Ji Xian comes in the next couple of days. If she doesn’t, we’ll think of another way to contact her.”
“???”
Jiang Lan was shocked. Wasn’t this method of communication a bit too casual?
Will she be able to receive this?
“Uncertain.” Ying Qiao frowned and said, “This method of communication was devised by Geng Chen. Initially, it was because he often had to go out and patrol in the Upper Realm. In order to contact Ji Xian during his patrols, he came up with this method.”
—Actually, Ying Qiao omitted a part, mainly because Geng Chen’s past actions were too shameful for him to mention.
Back when Geng Chen wasn’t with Ji Xian yet, he would frequently visit her to curry favor.
But sometimes when he really had to go out, fearing that Ji Xian would forget him, he would beg and plead to plant a specially refined bamboo in Ji Xian’s courtyard. This kind of refined bamboo had two types, mother and sapling. The sapling was naturally attracted by the scent of the mother bamboo and would instinctively find the location of the mother bamboo and then take root near it.
Geng Chen took advantage of this, and whenever he went out, he would write long and detailed letters and stuff them into a bamboo tube, which would then be delivered to Ji Xian’s house by the bamboo.
However, he talked too much nonsense, sending back five or six letters in two days. At first, Ji Xian was probably curious and would open them to read, but later she probably realized that what he said was all nonsense, so she was too lazy to open them and just hung the bamboo shoots on the mother bamboo.
Once, when Ying Qiao accompanied Geng Chen to Ji Xian’s house, he saw that the sturdy mother bamboo was covered with bamboo tubes— all of them were letters that Geng Chen had sent back when he left home.
Those that were opened and those that weren’t were crammed together, densely packed.
At that time, Ji Xian coldly said that if Geng Chen dared to bother her with nonsense again, she would make him and the mother bamboo get out of here, and only then did he stop.
Later, Geng Chen finally caught up with the person. So the mother bamboo, which was covered with bamboo tubes, had been growing steadily in Ji Xian’s courtyard before they descended to the mortal realm, and it was getting taller and taller.
When they descended to the mortal realm, Geng Chen specially took the bamboo flowers from the mother bamboo and crafted a jade pendant to give to Ji Xian, while he himself carried a sapling of bamboo. Later, when they were forced to live separately in the southern marshland and the northern desert in the mortal realm, they often used this pendant to send messages.
After that, Geng Chen died, and Ji Xian left in anger. Ying Qiao collected Geng Chen’s belongings, including this potted bamboo, and had kept them to this day.
He never imagined he’d ever need it again. He just wondered if Ji Xian had thrown away that bamboo flower jade pendant.
Jiang Lan, unaware of the inside story, thought the bamboo tube looked very unreliable.
But to everyone’s surprise, this seemingly unreliable bamboo was surprisingly efficient— Ji Xian arrived in the middle of the night that very day.
Jiang Lan was awakened by a wave of heat.
At that time, he and Ying Qiao had already fallen asleep in each other’s arms. In the middle of the night, they suddenly felt a scorching heat approaching. Jiang Lan woke up with a start and got up to check the situation in the courtyard. There he saw Ji Xian coming in with flames.
Ying Qiao, who had gotten up with him, walked to his side and stood there. Looking at Ji Xian, whose clothes were fluttering, he couldn’t help but purse his lips: “You came so fast?”
He thought Ji Xian would have to wait and see Geng Chen for a while.
Unexpectedly, after all these years, Ji Xian was still as soft-hearted as ever.
She said they would sever all ties, but the bamboo flower jade pendant had never been lost over the years. And upon receiving his letter, she rushed over overnight.
A wave of heat swept over them as Ji Xian descended from the sky, her white dress cascading down like butterfly wings, her unbound black hair reaching her ankles. Her voice was cool, a stark contrast to the surrounding temperature, like cold jade striking a plate: “You were looking for me?”
Her pupils were very light in color, and when she gazed at people, there was a sharp coldness in them. But if you looked closely, you would find that her eyes were actually gentle.
Ying Qiao nodded and invited her inside: “It’s related to Geng Chen, let’s talk inside.”
Ji Xian’s eyelashes fluttered, and she moved lightly with them to the living room.
After the three of them sat down, she didn’t rush to talk about Geng Chen, but instead turned her gaze to Jiang Lan: “Is he the partner you found? We met last time, are you Taotie?”
Jiang Lan recalled their less-than-pleasant meeting last time, and for some reason, a slight nervousness arose within him. He sat up straight, nodded, and blurted out, “Hello, Auntie.”
After saying that, he realized what he had said and immediately wanted to cover his mouth: !!
I was just thinking about it, how did I end up saying it out loud?!
Jiang Lan blinked repeatedly, afraid that Ji Xian would be unhappy because of this title.
Fortunately, Ji Xian didn’t mind the form of address. She nodded slightly to Jiang Lan, took out a delicate little box, placed it on the coffee table, and pushed it in front of Jiang Lan: “A meeting gift for you.”
Jiang Lan was hesitating whether to accept the gift or not when Ying Qiao accepted it for him, saying without any politeness, “I’ll make up for Geng Chen’s share later.”
Ji Xian subconsciously prepared to nod, but suddenly realized what was happening and abruptly raised her eyes to stare at him.
“Geng Chen?”
Ying Qiao then told her about Geng Chen: “I found a wisp of remnant soul in the Nine Cauldrons before. Although I suspected it was Geng Chen, I wasn’t sure. Recently, he has become more lucid, and after I confirmed that the wisp of remnant soul was him, I sent you a letter.”
Ji Xian lowered her eyes, her gaze growing increasingly cold: “Where is he?”
“…”
He’s still drinking milk at the Demon Management Bureau.
Ying Qiao thought to himself, but said aloud, “His soul is very weak and can only be nurtured in the cauldron for now. He can’t come out for the time being. If you are willing to see him, I will take you there tomorrow.”
Ji Xian paused for a moment, then stood up and said, “Then I’ll come to see you again tomorrow.”
After saying that, she turned and left without looking back, but her hurried departure revealed a hint of panic.
Jiang Lan watched her retreating figure and asked Ying Qiao in confusion, “Why didn’t you just let her stay?”
Ying Qiao said, “Knowing that Geng Chen is not dead, she needs to sort out her feelings.”
Although Geng Chen was of a higher generation than him, he wasn’t much older, and the two were used to addressing each other by their first names. Back when Geng Chen was pursuing Ji Xian, he had no one to confide in, so he liked to talk to him about it, which was why he knew Ji Xian quite well.
Having grown accustomed to living alone and having few close friends, she had long since become used to remaining composed and rarely showing her emotions.
Later, after Geng Chen went to great lengths to win her over, she only showed her true emotions to Geng Chen. Most of the time, she remained cold and aloof, like a statue.
Now that Geng Chen is not here, even if she loses her composure, she is unwilling to do so in front of others.
Ying Qiao wasn’t worried about Ji Xian. Ji Xian wasn’t weak; on the contrary, she was very strong. She just needed some time to process the news on her own.
Once she recovers, she’ll get her just fine sooner or later.
Seeing that Jiang Lan still seemed a little worried, he stuffed the gift Ji Xian had given him into his hand and said, “Look at what Ji Xian gave you. Once Geng Chen recovers, we’ll ask him for double the compensation.”
Jiang Lan then regained his composure, opened the box, and discovered that it was filled with fire crystals of all sizes.
Fire crystals were special gemstones that only grew in extremely hot places. They were pure red in color, rich in spiritual energy, and contained a very gentle fire energy within, making them an excellent material for crafting magical artifacts. Currently, they were almost impossible to find even if they were highly sought after.
Because of the scarcity of spiritual energy, only a few could be seen every few decades or even centuries.
Ying Qiao clicked his tongue and said, “Ji Xian is indeed much more generous than Geng Chen.”
If Ji Xian were to present this as a gift, Geng Chen might actually cry.
But what does it matter to him whether Geng Chen cries or not?
As a dignified dragon, the gift he gave upon meeting his wife could not be too much less than what he would give his wife.
If Geng Chen still had any sense of shame, he wouldn’t have given less.
Ying Qiao smiled and instructed Jiang Lan, “Keep this box of fire crystals safe. Don’t eat them yet. Take them to Geng Chen after he recovers. You can exchange them for more good things.”
To avoid accidentally eating it and then denying it.
Ying Qiao was shrewd; Geng Chen hadn’t left behind many belongings, and given his stinginess, who knew how many valuable items he might have hidden elsewhere.
Once he recovers, I’ll move some money from Geng Chen’s place to support my boyfriend.
Guys, ads are my only source of revenue, so please do not turn on the AdBlock when you are accessing this website…. Thank you, this would be a great help…
You can buy me a ko-fi and sponsor a chapter on: https://ko-fi.com/midnightrambles
Or become a Patron or access advance chapters on: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=45665005
If you support me, I would be able to provide more chapters….
Previous • Table of Contents• Next
