Lively Welcome Banquet

Xiao Yun opened his eyes and glanced at the sunlight outside the window.

True God—things like that were still far too distant. What he had to do right now was take it one step at a time.

Xiao Yun put away the Lord Panel, rose to his feet, and walked to the window.

Outside the window, gardeners were still trimming the branches and leaves in the garden. Several maids carried fruit trays through the flowers, chatting and laughing as they went. In the distance, a few white clouds drifted across the sky, and beneath them lay the dense rows of houses and streets of Heaven Dou City.

Far away, the outline of Years Manor stood quietly in the afternoon sunlight. In Spring Garden, the peach blossoms had fallen, but a ring of daisies had been planted beneath the peach trees—yellow, white, and purple, blooming in full splendor. In Summer Garden, a few lotus flowers had opened, their pink petals half-translucent in the sun. In Autumn Garden, the maple trees had put out new leaves, tender and green. Beneath the plum trees in Winter Garden, grass pushed up through the cracks in the stone, and dewdrops sparkled in the sunlight.

He had returned. This was home.

The setting sun sank westward, and dusk from Heaven Dou City crept in from beyond the city walls.

The peach forest in Spring Garden was gilded with a layer of golden-red light. Frogs began calling from the lotus pond in Summer Garden. The maple leaves in Autumn Garden rustled in the evening breeze. Though the plum blossoms in Winter Garden had already fallen, a quiet, lingering fragrance still drifted from between the branches and leaves.

Tang Yuehua was the first to return.

Her carriage came to a steady stop at the manor entrance. The carriage