As the day dawned, the golden bird spread its wings, circling in the early morning sky above **Heavenly Gate City** before swooping down into the window of the second floor of an inn in the *Western District*, coming to rest on the youngster's shoulder.

Ye Anping looked at it, thinking that it was most likely sent over by Si Xuanji to check on the situation. He took out some jerky from his storage pouch and fed it before continuing to scrub the clothes and pants that he had just changed out of with water.

*Woosh Woosh Woosh---*

The soft sound of water splashing echoed in the room.

Xiao Yunluo, who was still asleep, woke up leisurely as the sound of washing clothes came to her ears. Opening her eyes, she looked at the ceiling, a bit confused.

She turned her head, and when she saw Ye Anping squatting in front of a wooden basin by the window, washing clothes, the events of last night surfaced in her mind.

Under the quilt, her small hands tried to squeeze into fists.

"Oh~~"

So sore...

Her wrist was so sore that she couldn't even clench her fist tightly...

Xiao Yunluo quickly covered her mouth, but then she sniffed a peculiar odor on her palm and froze.

Ye Anping, who was washing his clothes, turned his head when he heard the sound and saw Xiao Yunluo lying on her side on the bed, covering her mouth with her hands. He thought she wanted to smell it on purpose, and suddenly he had some mixed feelings in his heart.

He averted his eyes, and after a while, he spoke. "Sister Xiao?"

Xiao Yunluo's cheeks flushed with shyness, and she quickly moved her little hand away from her nose with a look of embarrassment. However, after taking a deep breath, she forced herself to suppress her shyness.

"Ah... um." Xiao Yunluo nodded, got off the bed, and whispered, "Ye Anping, your yang energy... are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Good." Xiao Yunluo put on her embroidered shoes, then stood up. She thought about it before saying, "I was afraid that something would happen to you last night, so I helped you as a last resort..."

"Yeah, I know. Thank you."

Ye Anping answered calmly, but he couldn't help but reminisce in his heart.

As expected of Xiao Yunluo, who had read thousands of those books, she was a bit awkward at first, but soon she got the hang of it and got better...

"Sister Xiao, come and wash your hands first, then change your clothes. I just washed them for you. Do you have any spare clothes?"

Hearing this, Xiao Yunluo was stunned. She looked down at the ***Black Star*** Sect uniform she wore, then turned to look at the quilt with some embarrassment. She quickly walked forward, washed her hands with the water Ye Anping poured for washing the clothes, and touched her storage bag.

"I didn't bring any other clothes... they were all left in the *Seven Fragrance Pavilion* in the east of the city."

"..."

Ye Anping silently sized up Xiao Yunluo before standing up. He shook off the water droplets on his hands and, with his sword finger, took out a plain dress that looked like something a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl would wear from his storage bag.

"Try this one. It should fit you nicely."

Looking at the dress Ye Anping handed over, Xiao Yunluo paused.

"Whose dress is this?"

"It's the dress my sister used to wear."

"Aren't you buying her new clothes?"

"Every time I bought her new clothes, she was reluctant to wear them. She basically only wore this one, and if it was torn, she just mended it. In the end, she changed it when she couldn't wear it anymore, so I kept it as a souvenir."

"..."

Xiao Yunluo pursed her lips, feeling somewhat bad, but she still wanted to take it.

*---Ye Anping gave me Pei Lianxue's clothes. Is that implying that he already treats me the same as her?*

She tucked her hair behind her ear, then took the clothes and said shyly, "I'm changing now. You... you're not allowed to peek..."

"...It's not like I haven't seen you before."

"You're still not allowed to look!"

"Yes, yes, yes..."

Ye Anping slightly shrugged, shook his head, and then squatted back down to scrub the clothes.

*What do you mean, it's not like you haven't seen it before*... Xiao Yunluo puffed up her cheeks, and when she saw the parrot standing on Ye Anping's shoulder still staring at her, she suddenly frowned. "Parrot, you too!"

The parrot was taken aback, then turned its head and said, *"There's nothing to see!! There's nothing to see!!"*

?

Xiao Yunluo lowered her head to look down, and seeing that she could see her feet unobstructed, her face suddenly darkened. Although those words were very irritating, they seemed to be true. She was just like her mother...

However, she still hoped that Ye Anping would secretly peek at her changing her clothes, so she simply stood three feet behind him and started to undress.

*Rustle---*

Xiao Yunluo kept her eyes on Ye Anping. Seeing that he really didn't take a peek at her changing clothes, she felt a little disappointed and scolded in her heart, *Scumbag!*

After changing her clothes, they really fit as Ye Anping said.

Although it fit her perfectly, she wasn't happy at all.

Did she really take after her mother, or was her father also a shorty?

"Sigh--"

With a sigh, Xiao Yunluo went to Ye Anping, put the changed clothes into the wooden basin, squatted down, and looked at him while propping her cheeks. "Next time, if there is something wrong with your yang energy and Lianxue is not here, you can come to me."

"Eh? Sister Xiao, didn't you say last night that it won't happen again?"

"I changed my mind!" Xiao Yunluo blushed and was silent for a while, looking for an excuse. She finally said, "I am your senior sister after all, and you are my accompanying student, so I must take good care of you. Your yang energy might put your life in danger..."

Ye Anping looked her up and down. "Okay, little senior sister."

"Little..."

Xiao Yunluo immediately understood that he was teasing her for being short and wanted to be his senior. She puffed up her cheeks and grabbed Ye Anping's face. "My cultivation level is higher than yours! Where are your manners?!"

Ye Anping pushed her hands away. "I'm just kidding."

"So, you can also joke?"

"I am a human being, you know. Why wouldn't I make a joke?"

"I think this is the first time you've joked with me." Xiao Yunluo hugged her knees, resting her face on her thighs as she gazed at Ye Anping's profile with half-squinting eyes with a smile. "Ye Anping..."

"Hm?"

"Can I call you Anping from now on? It's more affectionate. After all, we have known each other for so long."

"...You can."

"Then..." Xiao Yunluo put her lips next to Ye Anping's ear and called softly, "Anping..."

"..."

"You should respond."

"Oh."

Xiao Yunluo sighed helplessly, then smiled, and moved a step closer to Ye Anping, about to rest her head on his shoulder.

However...

*"Enemy attack!! Enemy attack!!"*

The parrot on Ye Anping's shoulder suddenly opened its beak in agitation.

Its words immediately alerted Xiao Yunluo and Ye Anping.

They both knew that the parrot's perception far exceeded that of an ordinary *Core Formation* stage cultivator and that it often helped Si Xuanji find people and whatnot.

*Boom---*

The wooden door was kicked open from the outside, and Pei Lianxue rushed in with the *Snow Jade Spirit Sword* in hand.

She had just finished washing up and came to Ye Anping's room, but when she was about to knock on the door, she heard the parrot's *"enemy attack"* shouts from inside the room, and she got scared, thinking that something was going on.

"Brother?!"

"..."

When Ye Anping saw his sister rushing in, he immediately realized who the "enemy" was. He turned his head to look at the parrot with a speechless face with a sigh. "Everything is okay, sister."

"Oh..."

Pei Lianxue nodded blankly. She put back the sword after her brother said it was okay, and seeing Xiao Yunluo awake, she came forward with a look of delight.

"Yunluo, when did you wake up?"

Xiao Yunluo now looked like a sneaky concubine who bumped into the real lady of the house, and she nervously answered, "...I woke up at night, and my clothes were dirty. Ye Anping happened to do the laundry, so I asked him to wash mine too."

Pei Lianxue's eyes fell on her clothes. "Is this my old dress?"

"I didn't have any spare clothes, so Ye Anping let me wear this."

Pei Lianxue pursed her lips and looked at Ye Anping curiously. "Brother, why do you still keep these clothes?"

Ye Anping shrugged slightly, stood up, and replied naturally, "You used to like wearing this so much, you didn't even wear the new clothes I bought you, so I kept it as a souvenir. It just so happened that Sister Xiao is short and it fits her well, so I gave it to her to wear it."

Xiao Yunluo wanted to speak but hesitated.

Pei Lianxue replied, "I was trying to save money at that time..."

"Then, you won't be able to wear the new clothes I bought you anymore."

"He heh heh..."

Ye Anping stepped forward and knocked on her forehead. "There should be nothing going on these days. You can go with Sister Xiao for a walk in the city. I didn't sleep much last night, and I need to take a rest. I'm going to the *Justice Division Office* later."

"Okay."

Pei Lianxue nodded and looked at Xiao Yunluo, asking, "Yunluo, how are you feeling? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Xiao Yunluo avoided Pei Lianxue's gaze. "I'm pretty good, just my hands are a little... sore."

She said that subconsciously and immediately covered her mouth in an attempt to save the blunder.

Fortunately, Pei Lianxue didn't understand, and she just tilted her head in confusion. "Sore hands?"

*"Jade hands caress the hero!! Jade hands caress the hero!!"*

Ye Anping turned to look at the parrot: ?

Xiao Yunluo looked at the parrot: !

Pei Lianxue also looked at the parrot and asked blankly, "What was the jade hand caressing?"

"It's nothing. The parrot likes to say strange things," Xiao Yunluo quickly answered. "My sister often teaches it weird things."

The parrot puffed out its chest and retorted. *"Self-taught!! What a talent!! Self-taught..."*

Before it finished speaking, Xiao Yunluo reached out and flipped it from Ye Anping's shoulder. "Lianxue, let's go and visit the morning market. Ye Anping also needs to rest."

With that, she took hold of Pei Lianxue's wrist and tugged her, half-dragging her out of the room.

Pei Lianxue originally wanted to kiss her brother good morning, so she looked back at Ye Anping, but Ye Anping nodded helplessly and signaled, *We'll talk about it when we get back; go have some fun first.*

After seeing the two girls leave, Ye Anping breathed a sigh of relief; he could finally do the laundry in peace.

So he closed the door of the room, silently walked back to the basin, and continued to rub his clothes.

But he only got to rub the clothes a few times, when...

*Bang---*

Suddenly, the door that he had closed was kicked open again.

A white shadow rushed into the room.

"Young Master Ye!!"

For fuck's sake, can you let me do some laundry here?!!

Irritated, Ye Anping stood up, turned around, and pulled Feng Yu Die's face, making it into a pie.

"Ouch, hey, hey---!"

"Knock before entering the room!! How many times have I told you..."

Feng Yu Die looked at Ye Anping's eyes and saw that he seemed really angry. Suddenly, she was bewildered, and with tears in her eyes, she grabbed his hand in grievance.

"But I'm worried, Sister Pei is missing!"

?

"Missing?"

"Well, I went with Sister Pei to handle paperwork in the *Justice Division Office* last night, but she disappeared after I fell asleep."

Ye Anping closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let go of Feng Yu Die's red face. He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling quite tired. "Now that you have come back, accompany me to the *Justice Division Office*. On the way, I have something to tell you about the demonic cultivator from yesterday."

Feng Yu Die rubbed her somewhat swollen face and pouted. "Ah... I just came back from the *Justice Division*. Where is Sister Pei?"

"She went with Sister Xiao to visit the morning market."

"I want to go too..."

Ye Anping sighed, took his coat from the hanger on the side, and put it on.

"I'll treat you to roasted chicken."

"Roasted chicken..." Feng Yu Die was in a quandary. "But I still want to go to the morning market with Sister Pei."

"Didn't you want to ask me about that demonic cultivator yesterday?"

"Well, yes, but there's no rush."

Ye Anping felt even more tired. "...You'll have enough roasted chicken for today."

Feng Yu Die raised three fingers, "Three days of roasted chicken."

"...So be it!"