Nurturing All Things Silently

The night was deep, and all was silent.

Ning Chuan's spiritual body withdrew from the Heavens Trash Station, and his consciousness returned to his physical body.

He slowly opened his eyes. The room was pitch-black, with only the faint starlight outside filtering through the window paper and barely outlining the simple furnishings within.

Listening closely, he could clearly hear his parents' steady breathing from the next room, along with the occasional soft murmur of his younger sister Ning Xiaohe in her sleep. They had clearly all fallen asleep.

Ning Chuan silently sat up and, by the faint light, looked at his tightly clenched right hand.

In his palm lay the amber pendant, quiet and still. It felt warm and smooth to the touch, giving off a reassuring aura.

Ning Chuan carefully raised the pendant before his eyes and examined it closely.

In the darkness, the teardrop-shaped pendant appeared a deep inky shade. It seemed as though stardust flowed slowly within it, while the dark brown cord looked plain and unremarkable.

Anyone who saw it would have assumed it was merely an ordinary, perhaps even somewhat cheap, stone pendant.

Perfect.

This was exactly the effect he wanted.

Next came the question of how to naturally give it to his sister and make her willing to wear it for a long time.

Give it to her directly? Say he had picked it up? His sister might be happy, but his parents would probably ask questions. They might even think it was worthless and casually throw it away.

He needed a suitable opportunity and a good reason.

Ning Chuan carefully hid the pendant in the inner pocket of his clothes, lay back down, closed his eyes, and began planning in detail.

The next morning, life proceeded as usual.

He helped his mother light the fire and prepare breakfast, then went to work in the carpentry shed with his father.

Ning Chuan behaved as he always had, if anything even quieter. He simply kept his head down and worked, as though the novelty of yesterday's trip to town and the overwhelming joy of gaining forty Gold Soul Coins had both been deeply buried away, leaving behind only a steadiness beyond his years.

Ning Dazhuang still seemed immersed in the excitement of yesterday's "windfall." A faint smile lingered at the corners of his mouth even as he worked, while he pondered how to spend this "huge sum."

Liu Lan, as always, busied herself with the household chores. Her face bore a contented smile, and whenever she looked at her son and husband, her gaze was full of tenderness.

Only Ning Xiaohe remained as innocent and lively as a girl her age should be. Like a happy little butterfly, she ran all over the yard, chasing chickens and ducks or squatting on the ground to watch ants move house.

While planing wood, Ning Chuan kept watch over his sister from the corner of his eye.

The opportunity quietly came that afternoon.

Liu Lan took out the new cloth Ning Dazhuang had bought in Nuoding City yesterday, preparing to measure Ning Xiaohe and make her some new clothes.

The little girl was so happy that she hopped and bounced, then obediently stood still for her mother to measure her.

"Our Xiao He has grown up. It's time for her to wear pretty new clothes," Liu Lan said with a smile as she used a wooden ruler to measure her daughter's shoulders and arms.

Ning Xiaohe's little face was flushed with excitement, and her big eyes were full of anticipation.

Ning Chuan set down his plane and walked over, a hint of curiosity and the teasing unique to an older brother in his expression. "Mom, make them sturdy for this wild girl. Don't let her tear them again after running around for two days."

"Brother!" Ning Xiaohe immediately puffed out her cheeks and glared at him indignantly.

Liu Lan was amused as well. "Don't worry, I know. Sigh, this girl really is rough and tumble. She ran out to play yesterday and came back with her braids nearly undone. Even that old hair tie on her head had been rubbed almost to the point of breaking."

As Liu Lan spoke, she casually smoothed her daughter's somewhat messy hair. The old hair tie, which had been used for a long time and had nearly faded of all color, truly looked rather shabby.

Ning Chuan's heart stirred. The opportunity was here!

With just the right look of sudden realization and a trace of embarrassment, he took the prepared pendant from his inner pocket and held it out to his sister. "Here. Don't say your brother doesn't care about you. When I went into town with Dad yesterday, I saw this at a roadside stall. I thought the color suited that old dress of yours, so I bought it with my pocket money. Throw it away if you don't like it."

His tone was deliberately casual, even carrying the awkward indifference of a young boy, as though he had merely picked up some little trinket on a whim.

The teardrop-shaped amber pendant glowed softly beneath the sunlight. It was not dazzling, but it possessed an understated gentleness.

Ning Xiaohe's attention was instantly drawn to it. Blinking her big eyes, she curiously took the pendant. "A stone?"

Liu Lan glanced at it too and smiled. "This child, you actually have a good eye. The color of this stone is quite warm. How many Copper Soul Coins did it cost?"

She clearly did not consider the "stone" to be anything valuable, merely a token of her son's affection.

"Not much," Ning Chuan replied vaguely, though his heartbeat quickened slightly as he carefully observed his sister's reaction.

Ning Xiaohe held the pendant and examined it from every angle, then touched its smooth surface. She seemed to quite like its warm, gentle feel.

Then she looked up at her brother, a sweet smile blooming on her little face. "Thank you, Brother! I like it! It feels warm!"

Ning Xiaohe did not know the pendant's true value. She was simply happy to receive a gift from her brother, and the "stone" really did make her feel quite comfortable.

Ning Chuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on his face as well. "As long as you like it. Have Mom replace the cord with this one. Don't keep that old one."

He pointed again at the old hair tie on his sister's head, which was nearly broken.

"Mm!" Ning Xiaohe nodded vigorously and impatiently stuffed the pendant into her mother's hands. "Mom, hurry and put it on me!"

Liu Lan smiled and shook her head. Taking the pendant and the old hair tie, she compared them briefly. "This cord is quite sturdy. We can just tie it on directly. Xiao Chuan, you really put thought into this."

With nimble hands, Liu Lan threaded the thin cord through the knot of the old hair tie and tied a firm knot. She then removed the old hair tie and carefully tied the cord with the new pendant around her daughter's slender wrist. The pendant was a little too large to wear as a necklace for a little girl, but it was just right around her wrist, like a bracelet.

The amber pendant dangled from Ning Xiaohe's fair, tender wrist, swaying gently with her movements. It truly matched her pale yellow old dress, faded from countless washings.

"Does it look good, Mom? Brother?" Ning Xiaohe happily raised her wrist, showing off her new gift.

"It looks beautiful. Our Xiao He looks beautiful in anything," Liu Lan said, affectionately patting her daughter's head.

Ning Chuan also smiled and nodded. "Yes, it looks good."

Yet inwardly, a huge weight had lifted from his heart.

He had succeeded! His sister was willing to wear it, and she seemed to like it very much.

His parents had not grown suspicious either. They merely regarded it as an ordinary little accessory.

Next came a long wait filled with hope.

He hoped that the Thick Earth Nourishing Power from the myriad worlds would truly, as the Station had assessed, quietly improve his sister's constitution and nurture a thread of impossible miracle for her ordinary Little Wildflower Martial Soul.

Having received a new gift, Ning Xiaohe was delighted all afternoon. From time to time, she would lift her wrist to look at the swaying amber pendant, touching it with her hand and enjoying its warm, smooth feel, as though it were the most precious treasure in the world.

Watching her joyful appearance, Ning Chuan's heart filled with warmth and hope.

He returned to the carpentry shed and continued wielding his plane. Amid the flying wood shavings, his gaze drifted from time to time toward the slender figure hopping about in the yard, toward that small patch of warm amber on her wrist, glimmering beneath the sunlight with an almost imperceptible radiance full of hope.

The silent nourishment had already begun.