"Brother Lian..."
After a moment's thought, she finally voiced a question she had arrived at through careful observation:
"There is something Daiyu doesn't understand."
"I've often heard people say that Rongguo Mansion and Ningguo Mansion are branches of the same family, living side by side... But from what I can see, this place is a cluster of floating islands, not a single island?"
Her voice was gentle, but her question was clear and direct. It was what she most wanted to know.
"Ha!"
Jia Lian chuckled at her question, then explained:
"That's just a rumor that's been repeated until people believed it. How could two enormous immortal estates possibly fit on one little floating island?"
"Not even a particularly large one."
"As you can see, this place really is a cluster of islands."
"A single floating island could never support estates as extensive as the Ning and Rong Mansions, along with their attached gardens, businesses, servants' quarters, cultivation abodes, and all the rest."
"That's not even counting the Ning and Rong Mansions..."
"Even the floating islands where today's most powerful princes have their estates are only slightly larger than each of our main islands."
As he spoke, Jia Lian began pointing things out to the two of them, showing them which islands belonged to Rongguo Mansion, which to Ningguo Mansion, and which properties they shared.
"I see!"
Xueyan, standing nearby, stuck out her tongue, her face flushed with embarrassment.
Then she gave a shy, quiet laugh and said:
"I always thought Rongguo Mansion and Ningguo Mansion were two estates on one enormous immortal island, like Penglai and Fangzhang, the overseas immortal islands in the storybooks!"
Her innocent remark made Jia Lian laugh.
"There's more to it than that!"
"Floating islands are different from overseas immortal islands. They have no foundation,