Dugu Yan: Eat First~ or~?

A flicker of reminiscence and helplessness crossed Yan Cailing's face. She sighed softly. "Sigh... wasn't it all because of your father...?"

She sank into her memories. "Back when I married your father, he suffered terribly from the backlash of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison. Afraid of burdening me, and afraid the poison would affect our descendants, he absolutely refused to... touch me."

"I watched as the deadly poison tormented him day after day, his body growing weaker and weaker. Yet our Dugu Family had not even left behind an heir, and I was frantic with worry... With no other choice, I... I resorted to this measure and used some... aphrodisiac medicine."

"Later, I became pregnant with you as I wished... but because of that, the poison in my body deepened as well... Fortunately, Mother ultimately held on and gave birth to a healthy you."

There was lingering fear in her voice, but even more than that was a mother's unyielding strength.

"Your father and I watched you grow up day by day, so lively and adorable. Though our bodies worsened with every passing day, and the time we could spend with you might have been limited, in our hearts... we were happier than anything. We felt that everything had been worth it."

"You know what happened afterward." Yan Cailing's tone turned grateful and wistful. "That brat Lin Chuan appeared out of nowhere. He wasn't even six at the time, was he? Yet he dared to boast that he could cure your father's and my poison..."

"Those words of his sounded absurd, yet they made a certain amount of sense. So, with the attitude of treating a dead horse as if it were alive, we let him give it a try..."

"Who would have thought that Heaven would smile upon us, and he really cured us!"

She looked at her daughter with a smile in her eyes. "But because of that, you little girl seemed to have lost your soul. Your whole heart became tied to him. Every day, it was 'Lin Chuan Younger Brother' this and 'Lin Chuan Younger Brother' that."

"What a pity..." Yan Cailing sighed. "That kid was trapped in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect at the time. All his thoughts were focused on that young miss Ning Rongrong, and toward your sincere feelings, he was always neither close nor distant."

She took her daughter's hand, her tone carrying a trace of regret and speculation.

"Yanzi, sometimes Mother wonders, if... I mean, if your grandfather had brought him back from the Orphanage to our Dugu Family first, then by now... wouldn't I already be a grandmother, holding my grandchildren and enjoying my later years?"

Hearing this, Dugu Yan seriously considered it for a moment. Then, blushing, she said in an exceptionally firm tone:

"If Lin Chuan had been brought back by Grandfather back then... then Mother, you would have been the grandmother of at least two children by now!"

Her voice grew softer and softer, filled with fantasy and a hint of resentment. "I... I'm several years older than Lin Chuan... As long as he was willing, he could have become a father three or four years earlier..."

"Why would he have needed to live such a stifled, miserable life in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?"

She recalled the exhaustion that could never be dispelled from Zhao Linchuan's brow whenever he came to the Dugu Family, and said with heartache:

"Every time he came, I could feel it. He lived so tired... so tired..."

Yan Cailing silently nodded and gently patted the back of her daughter's hand. Everything was understood without being said.

After the mother and daughter exchanged a few more intimate words, Dugu Yan finally bade her mother farewell. Carrying the little jade bottle and a heart full of anticipation, she went to "report" to her grandfather, Dugu Bo.

She found Dugu Bo and merely said that Zhao Linchuan's strength had improved somewhat, and that she wanted to go cultivate with him at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, using the environment there to consolidate her cultivation.

Dugu Bo suspected nothing. He greatly approved of his granddaughter's diligent attitude toward cultivation, merely reminding her, "Go on, but be careful. Watch out for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. They may not have given up their evil intentions."

After receiving her grandfather's permission, Dugu Yan returned to her room and carefully dressed herself up once more, determined to appear before Zhao Linchuan in her most perfect state.

Then she found Zhao Linchuan stretching his limbs in the courtyard.

She walked up beside him, deliberately putting on a domineering expression. With her hands on her hips, she said, "Lin Chuan! You promised to play with me before! The punishment isn't over yet! You're going camping with me today! No refusing!"

Zhao Linchuan looked at her adorable appearance, clearly harboring ulterior motives while pretending to be fierce. Then he thought of the intoxicating sensation from the daytime and the alluring words she had left behind.

His thoughts raced, and he instantly understood the true meaning behind this "camping trip."

Suppressing the flutter in his heart, he put on an outwardly helpless look while readily nodding in agreement. "All right, all right. I'll go with you."

Night quietly fell. The stream in the valley rushed on without end, its splashing sound making the night seem even more tranquil.

The campfire crackled at the campsite, its dancing flames illuminating Zhao Linchuan's somewhat absent-minded face.

He held a long stick and poked at the campfire now and then, while his gaze drifted toward the tent Not Far Away from time to time.

After a moment, he took a deep breath and called loudly toward the tent, "Yanzi! The grilled meat is ready! You can come out and eat!"

As his voice fell, silence lingered within the tent for a moment. Then came a gentle, soft and glutinous reply that seemed to carry a hook. "Younger Brother~~ you... come in for a moment~"

Zhao Linchuan looked over at the sound, and his heart instantly skipped a beat.

On the tent canvas, a clear silhouette appeared, exquisitely curved and alluring.

The shadow slowly and seductively used a hand to caress downward—from the beautiful hair on her Martial Soul, to the neck on her Martial Soul, to the chest on her Martial Soul, to the waist on her Martial Soul...—as though silently displaying the captivating figure of her Martial Soul.

Zhao Linchuan felt a scorching current of Soul Power surge straight into his lower abdomen. He threw away the stick in his hand, rose to his feet, and walked over almost impatiently.

He lifted the tent flap, and the sight before him made his breathing catch—

Dugu Yan wore a purple silk nightgown as thin as cicada wings. The robe was loosely tied, revealing a large expanse of snowy skin and delicate collarbones.

She had just bathed, and her damp, beautiful hair hung casually over her shoulders, glittering droplets of water still clinging to the ends.

The material of the nightgown could not fully conceal the mature, enticing body beneath it. Her graceful curves appeared and disappeared in the dim yellow light, making her far more seductive than outright nudity.

She lay on her side atop a soft beast-hide mat, one hand supporting her head while her other arm stretched toward Zhao Linchuan. Lazily and enchantingly, she Beckoned with her slender fingers. Her eyes shimmered, and her voice was so sweet it seemed to drip honey—

"My good Younger Brother~ do you want to eat first? Or do you want to... eat me first?"

Zhao Linchuan's eyes instantly burst with blazing light. Every shred of reason and hesitation was cast beyond the Nine Heavens in that moment.

Without saying a word, like a fierce beast pouncing on its prey, he lunged forward, tightly pulling that purple enchanting figure into his embrace and pressing her down onto the soft mat...