After Liu Shui left, Xiao Mo walked back to the bamboo courtyard alone.
The moment he stepped through the gate, he saw a graceful woman in a white dress standing quietly in the courtyard.
At the sight of her, Xiao Mo felt a measure of surprise, alongside a small, weary sense of resignation.
It seemed his little bamboo courtyard had hosted quite a procession of visitors today.
"My respects to the Lady."
Xiao Mo stepped forward and gave a deep, respectful bow.
"There is no need for such formality."
Tushan Xinhua gave a small nod, her gaze settling on the young man before her, now fully grown.
Her bewitching eyes moved slowly over him, the expression in them difficult to read, as though she were appraising him, or perhaps recalling something from the past.
"I have come today because there is a question I would like to ask you." Tushan Xinhua said slowly. "Xiao Mo, will you answer me honestly?"
"Of course." Xiao Mo gave a nod. "Whatever the Lady asks, I will answer truthfully."
"Why?"
Tushan Xinhua did not draw the matter out any further and asked directly, genuine puzzlement in her words.
"Xiao Mo, why did you not go with Yun Xi? If we speak of appearance alone, Junmeng and Jingci are identical. And Junmeng is human, and possesses a Dao Vessel constitution. If you became partners on the Dao with her, you could ascend the great path together. To be honest, I cannot think of a single reason you would refuse."
"There is no particular reason." Xiao Mo smiled and shook his head with quiet ease. He was not at all surprised that the Lady knew everything that had happened that night. "I simply felt I could not abandon the Young Miss."
"Could not abandon her." A flicker of surprise crossed Tushan Xinhua's eyes, mixed with something playful. "Is Jingci more important to you than a path that leads to the heavens? Do you know how many people in this world would sell even their own wives and daughters for the sake of that intangible great path?"
"That is other people. It is not me." Xiao Mo raised his head, his gaze calm and resolute. "If I were to watch someone important to me die before my eyes, what use would that path be, even if it led all the way to heaven?"
Listening to Xiao Mo's answer, Tushan Xinhua found herself without a reply for a moment, only looking steadily into his eyes, as though confirming something but she could feel that everything Xiao Mo had said, every word of it, came from genuine conviction.
"You really are an odd one."
Tushan Xinhua shook her head, an indefinable smile rising to her lips.
"Though I suppose you humans can be strange in that way sometimes."
Tushan Xinhua clasped her hands lightly before her and turned to walk out of the bamboo courtyard, her steps composed and unhurried.
"Two months from now, you and Jingci will conclude your studies at the Hanshan Academy early. The Demon Realm is on the verge of great upheaval. Though Cun Caiguang holds this place steady, the Hanshan Academy is not as secure as it seems. Too many people see it as a thorn in their side and intend to move against it."
"And the two of you ought to go and see this world with your own eyes. As for what path lies ahead of you, that will be yours alone to walk."
She paused her steps, turned her face slightly, and added in an even tone, "Beyond that, if you wish to see Jingci, you may do so at any time. I will place no more restrictions on either of you."
"Lady." Xiao Mo called after her, his tone carrying a note of seriousness. "I have a question of my own, if I may ask it of you."
"Speak." Tushan Xinhua said the single word from between her thin lips.
"What does Gui Junmeng mean to you, Lady?"
At Xiao Mo's words, the entire courtyard fell into a deep stillness.
The bamboo leaves stopped their rustling, and even the moonlight seemed to hold still for a moment.
After a long while, Tushan Xinhua turned her head slightly, glanced back, and said in a slow and clear voice, "Whether it is Jingci, or Junmeng, to me, they are both my daughters."
…
The following morning, Tushan Jingci slowly woke from sleep, her mind gradually clearing.
"Mother... Mother..."
As the young girl woke, the fragmented memories of the previous night returned to her, and she recalled everything that had happened.
She remembered that she had set out to find Xiao Mo, only to run straight into her mother in the courtyard.
Her mother had said she was waiting for someone's answer.
Tushan Jingci had no idea who exactly her mother had been waiting for.
No matter how she pressed, her mother would not say another word about it.
In the end, Tushan Jingci had given up asking, but she had used the excuse of visiting a friend's home to try to slip away secretly and find Xiao Mo but there was no way such a thing could fool Tushan Xinhua.
Tushan Jingci had been knocked unconscious by her mother's technique.
By the time she woke again, it was already morning.
"Why did Mother come so suddenly last night? It is not any special occasion these days."
Her mother's visit left Tushan Jingci more puzzled than ever.
"Wait! Could Mother have come to do something to Xiao Mo?"
The thought rose suddenly in Tushan Jingci's mind, and the more she considered it, the more plausible it seemed.
After all, over these three years, she had run to Xiao Mo's courtyard at every spare moment and even if Elder Sister Liu Shui had never reported anything to her mother, there were other attendants in her own courtyard who might have.
Beyond that, her mother surely had eyes planted somewhere out of sight.
How could her mother possibly fail to guess her feelings for Xiao Mo?
What if her mother had come this time specifically to kill Xiao Mo?
The further her thoughts went, the more her heart filled with panic.
The young girl sat up abruptly in bed.
She bit down on her teeth, dressed hastily, and was about to go and find Xiao Mo but the moment she stepped out of her room, she saw her mother still sitting in the courtyard, sipping at a bowl of spirit rice porridge with small, unhurried mouthfuls, her manner relaxed and at ease.
Hearing the sound of footsteps, Tushan Xinhua raised her head and looked at her daughter, her tone calm and unhurried. "A young woman of your age, already past the age of marrying flowers, and yet still this reckless. Your clothes are not even properly fastened, your hair is a mess, and you intend to go out like that? What kind of manner is that?"
Tushan Jingci looked down and only then noticed that her dress was crooked, her shoulder showing a flash of pale skin, and her hair entirely disheveled, the whole picture of someone careless.
"Mother, what exactly did you come here for last night?"
She hastily pulled her dress straight, smoothed it into order, and used a touch of spiritual energy to bring her hair back into place.
Tushan Jingci walked forward and sat down beside her mother, pushing out her lips, a note of wariness in her expression. "Tell me the truth! Did you come to do something to Xiao Mo?"
"Ha ha ha." Tushan Xinhua gave a soft laugh, the sound carrying a hint of something knowing. "Even if I had come to do something to Xiao Mo, what could you possibly do about it?"
"I... I..." Tushan Jingci pressed her lips together.
"All right, all right, stop guessing wildly." Tushan Xinhua gave her daughter a reassuring word. "Xiao Mo is perfectly fine."
"Good, that is good." Hearing her mother's answer, Tushan Jingci let out a breath of relief. "But really, Mother, coming here without even letting me know beforehand."
"And what, your mother needs to file a report with Miss Jingci before coming to see you?"
"That is not what I meant." Tushan Jingci's eyes curved into two crescent moons, and her peach-soft figure shifted closer to her mother, taking hold of her arm with a coaxing voice. "It is just that when you come to visit, your daughter should at least have some time to prepare, should she not?"
"Prepare for what?" Tushan Xinhua set down her bowl and chopsticks, looking at her daughter with an expression somewhere between amusement and seriousness. "More time for Miss Jingci to hide whatever there is between you and Xiao Mo more thoroughly?"
"Mother, what are you talking about..." Tushan Jingci's cheeks flushed an alluring shade of red. She bit lightly at her lip, both pale, slender fingers twisting together in embarrassment, and mumbled with lowered eyes, "What could there possibly be between me and Xiao Mo?"
"What could there possibly be, you say? Were you not just asking me a moment ago whether I had come to harm Xiao Mo? If there is nothing between the two of you, why would you ask such a thing?"
Tushan Xinhua let out a quiet sigh, a note of weary resignation in her tone.
"And do not think I do not know. These past three years while Xiao Mo was in seclusion, you ran to his courtyard every spare moment you had, as though you would have liked to simply move in and live there."
She looked at her daughter and shook her head. "A young woman with not the slightest sense of restraint. You have not even been married off yet, and you are already like this. What will become of you once you actually are?"
At her mother's words, Tushan Jingci's eyes lit up suddenly, as though she had caught hold of some tremendous hope. She quickly took her mother's arm and asked eagerly, "Mother, does that mean you approve of me and Xiao Mo being together?"
"Did I say I approved?" Tushan Xinhua turned her head and looked her daughter directly in the eye, sensing that this girl's heart had already given itself entirely to someone else before she was even married.
"I... I do not care!"
The young girl rose to her feet in a huff, no longer bothering to hide anything, lifting her chin and speaking with full conviction.
"Whether you approve or not, I am going to be with Xiao Mo! I have set my heart on Xiao Mo for the rest of my life. It will not matter who comes to stop me!"
"Oh?" Tushan Xinhua smiled, a playful glint in her eyes. "And what if I simply refuse to allow you to be with Xiao Mo? What would you do then?"
"I..." Tushan Jingci puffed out her chest and gave an indignant huff. "I would elope with Xiao Mo!"
When it came to matters concerning the person she loved, and standing before her own mother, the young girl seemed to lose all the poise and refinement she had cultivated through her studies, becoming somewhat unreasonable and difficult.
"Elope, indeed! Setting aside everything else, has Xiao Mo even agreed to be with you? And you are already talking about eloping?" A snow-white fox tail suddenly emerged from behind Tushan Xinhua's long skirt and gave Tushan Jingci a light tap on the head. "Sit down."
Tushan Jingci turned her head away, both hands on her slender waist, her cheeks puffed out round, looking exactly like a squirrel with its mouth stuffed full of chestnuts.
"Sit down." Watching her daughter's stubborn manner, Tushan Xinhua let out a helpless sigh, her tone gaining a measure of calm. "If you do not sit down, you really will end up eloping with Xiao Mo."
"So Mother really does approve of me and Xiao Mo being together." Tushan Jingci immediately sat back down beside her mother, happy again, her eyes bright with hope and anticipation.
"I told you, I never approved." Tushan Xinhua reached out and flicked her daughter's forehead lightly, though a barely visible smile rose at the corner of her lips. "But from now on, I am not going to manage this girl's affairs any longer. Do as you like. You may see Xiao Mo whenever you please."
"Thank you, Mother! I knew Mother was the very best!"
Tushan Jingci threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around her mother's shoulders and rubbing her cheek against her mother's again and again, delighted as a little fox that had been given a piece of candy.
Though her mother had said in words that she "did not approve," the fact that she had not objected meant, in truth, that she had already given her quiet consent and as long as she had her mother's support, Tushan Jingci felt that was enough.
As for what the rest of the Tushan clan might think, what did that have to do with her?
There were only two people she cared about.
One was her mother. The other was Xiao Mo.
"Calling me the best now? A moment ago you were glaring at me with eyes as round as bells." Tushan Xinhua patted the back of her daughter's hand gently, her tone full of indulgent affection.
"Was I? Where? I was not." Tushan Jingci shook her head quickly, putting on an innocent expression, her pretty fox eyes blinking as though nothing at all had happened.
"All right, all right, no need to play the fool with me." Tushan Xinhua's smile gradually faded, her eyes growing serious. "But you should prepare yourself. Two months from now, you will bring Xiao Mo and return to Tushan. Do not linger here any longer."
"Return to Tushan?" Tushan Jingci paused, momentarily wondering if she had heard wrong, staring blankly at her mother.
"That is right. Return to Tushan." Tushan Xinhua's eyes grew deeper still, like a pool whose bottom could not be seen. "The Demon Realm is about to fall into great chaos, and Tushan itself will not be spared from it either. As members of the Tushan clan, having enjoyed the cultivation resources the clan has provided, we have an obligation to do something for the clan in turn."
She paused, her tone softening slightly. "Well, it is getting late. Your mother must be going. Someone will come for you when the time is right."
Tushan Xinhua reached out and gently rubbed her daughter's head, the gesture warm and familiar.
"Remember this." Her gaze suddenly turned solemn, and she spoke each word with careful weight. "Once you return to Tushan, whatever happens, whoever you meet, you must see things with your own eyes and think things through with your own mind. Trust no one too readily. Do you understand?"
"Do not worry, Mother." Tushan Jingci gave an obedient nod, her tone certain. "I only trust you and Xiao Mo."
"Foolish girl."
Tushan Xinhua shook her head helplessly, a complicated smile rising to her lips, but she said nothing further.
She simply took a single step forward, and her figure vanished instantly from before Tushan Jingci, already risen into the sky in the blink of an eye.
She looked back.
Her daughter still stood in the courtyard, her face turned upward, watching quietly in the direction her mother had gone.
Foolish girl.
You trust me and Xiao Mo but foolish girl, do you know.
Xiao Mo and I will deceive you too.