First Meeting with Qian Xunji

Deng Tianxin asked with some wariness, "If I lose, how will you punish me?"

Bibi Dong chuckled and said, "If I win, I'm going to spank your bottom every single day."

As soon as those words left Bibi Dong's lips, Deng Tianxin's little face instantly crumpled.

"Every day?" His voice rose by half an octave. "No, Auntie, isn't that a bit too cruel? If you spank me every day, will my bottom even survive?"

Bibi Dong looked at him with a chuckle, her smile looking anything but well-intentioned. "What's wrong? Weren't you quite ambitious just a moment ago? Saying things like 'words spoken are like spilled water'—now that you've heard the stakes, you're getting cold feet?"

Provoked by her, Deng Tianxin puffed out his small chest again. "Who's afraid! A bet is a bet!"

"Good." Bibi Dong stood up, brushed the non-existent dust from her hands, and looked down at him from her height. "Ten years is the term; I'll remember that."

"Then you'd better keep that promise," Deng Tianxin said, tilting his head and solemnly extending his pinky finger. "Pinky swear."

Bibi Dong looked down at that short, small pinky, which was even smudged with a bit of dirt, and the corner of her mouth twitched. "How old are you? Still doing pinky swears?"

"Pinky swears are the only ones that count," Deng Tianxin insisted, holding his hand up stubbornly with his pinky held high. "An agreement without a pinky swear is just playing around; that's what the village chief taught me."

Bibi Dong was silent for two seconds, but eventually, she bent down and extended her own slender, fair pinky to hook it around his dirty little finger.

"Pinky swear, cross my heart, a hundred years without change," Deng Tianxin chanted, bobbing his head, and gave it a firm tug once he finished. "Alright, it's too late to back out now."

Bibi Dong retracted her hand, looked at the smudge of dirt left on her pinky, and the corner of her mouth twitched again.

But she didn't wipe it off.

"Let's go," Bibi Dong said, turning around and starting to walk. "If we dawdle any longer, it'll be dark."

Deng Tianxin trotted to catch up, grabbing the hem of her robe once more.

After walking a few steps, Deng Tianxin suddenly looked up and asked, "Auntie, if I win in ten years, I can make any condition I want, right?"

"Right."

"Then what if I want to marry you as my wife?"

Bibi Dong's footsteps came to an abrupt halt, and she nearly stumbled.

She took a deep breath, lowered her head, and glared at Deng Tianxin with a murderous look in her eyes.

Deng Tianxin immediately raised his hands in surrender, offering a fawning smile. "Just a joke, just a joke. Don't be angry, Auntie, I was just testing the upper limit of this condition."

"The upper limit is that you are forbidden from making such absurd requests," Bibi Dong said, enunciating every word. "If you dare to bring it up again, I'll hang you from a tree and spank you until your bottom blooms."

"Understood," Deng Tianxin nodded vigorously, his expression exceptionally serious. "Then let's change it to something else, like me spanking Auntie's bottom?"

"..."

"That's not allowed either? Then how about Auntie being my free bodyguard for three years?"

"Deng Tianxin."

"Alright, alright, I'll stop, I'll stop!"

The two figures, one large and one small, gradually faded into the distance along the dirt road.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

"It's so huge! Is this Spirit City?"

Deng Tianxin couldn't help but exclaim as he looked at Spirit City not far ahead.

Bibi Dong stood by his side, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly.

Over the past half-month, she had traveled across mountains and rivers with this little brat, and she had been driven half-mad by his mouth more than once along the way. But now, seeing his expression of being too stunned to speak, a subtle sense of satisfaction welled up in her heart.

The two entered Spirit City together, and Deng Tianxin looked around with curiosity.

"I'm taking you to meet my teacher."

"Alright, Auntie."

"Call me Big Sister."

"No."

A vein throbbed on Bibi Dong's temple.

"Why not?"

"Because Auntie is Auntie," Deng Tianxin said, tilting his head and speaking with complete seriousness. "If I call you Big Sister, the seniority gets all messed up."

"What seniority?" Bibi Dong looked at him suspiciously.

Deng Tianxin grinned, revealing a row of small white teeth. "If I marry you in the future, you're my auntie now, and then you become my wife—that's a drop in seniority, so I don't lose out. But if I call you Big Sister now, and you become my wife later, we'd be the same generation, and there wouldn't be that thrill of forbidden fruit."

Bibi Dong closed her eyes.

She stood on the main street for a full three seconds, counting to ten in her head, before she managed to suppress the urge to beat the child right there in the street.

People were coming and going on the main street of Spirit City, and many recognized Bibi Dong, stopping to bow in respect.

As Bibi Dong nodded in return, she gritted her teeth and whispered to Deng Tianxin, "If you say such things in public again, I will throw you into the dungeons of Spirit Hall for three days."

"Okay, okay," Deng Tianxin raised his hands in surrender, but his dark, round eyes clearly signaled that he would dare to do it again next time.

The two continued walking, and Deng Tianxin looked at the palace on the mountain, asking curiously, "Auntie, what place is that largest palace?"

"That is the Pope Palace," Bibi Dong said without turning her head, "the core of Spirit Hall. The current Pope resides there."

"Oh," Deng Tianxin nodded, then asked, "Then where do you usually live, Auntie?"

"The Saintess Palace, on the east side of the Pope Palace."

"Then where will I live in the future?"

"With me."

Deng Tianxin's footsteps suddenly came to a halt.

Bibi Dong walked a few steps further before realizing there was no sound behind her. She turned back to see Deng Tianxin standing where he was, his hands cupping his cheeks, his eyes shining like two stars.

"Auntie," Deng Tianxin's voice trembled with a feigned shyness, "are you going to live with me?"

Bibi Dong felt her blood pressure instantly soar to a brand-new height.

At least seven or eight passersby on the street heard this, and they all looked over with strange expressions.

Bibi Dong walked back in two or three strides, grabbed Deng Tianxin by the back of his collar, and hoisted him up like a chick, then strode toward Spirit Hall without changing her expression.

"Auntie, I'm losing face like this!" Deng Tianxin kicked his legs in mid-air to protest.

"You have no right to ask for face."

"This is child abuse!"

"Say one more word and I will hang you upside down from the rafters of the Saintess Palace."

Deng Tianxin immediately quieted down.

The main gate of Spirit Hall was even more magnificent than he had imagined.

Two rows of guards clad in silver armor stood at the entrance, and upon seeing Bibi Dong approach, they saluted in unison.

Bibi Dong nodded slightly and passed through the gate without slowing her pace.

Her expression changed the moment she crossed the threshold; the casual and relaxed air she had on the street vanished, replaced by a cold, dignified, and majestic demeanor.

Deng Tianxin, being carried by Bibi Dong, was able to notice this change from his angle.

Upon arriving at the main hall, Deng Tianxin saw a man.

This man had long golden hair and was dressed in magnificent clothing, exuding an incomparably majestic aura.

He was none other than Qian Xunji.