Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud

"Yeah, let's drink him out of house and home!" Xiao Wu cheered from the side, still holding onto Jiang Lan's Penguin Suit sleeve.

Jiang Lan said with a bitter face, "You can't do this, I still need to save money to get married."

The two girls burst out laughing at the same time. Xiao Wu poked his forehead. "How old are you? You're already thinking about getting married. You little brat."

"My Mom Bo Saixi, said that finding a wife should start from childhood," Jiang Lan said, spouting nonsense with a straight face.

Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu couldn't help but laugh when they heard Jiang Lan's words.

Seeing Ning Rongrong and the others laughing at her, Jiang Lan put her hands on her hips and said, "What are you laughing at? Believe me or not, I'll marry you all when I grow up."

Xiao Wu smiled and said, "Okay, then you'll have to carry me in a sedan chair with eight bearers."

Ning Rongrong smiled and nodded, finding Jiang Lan truly interesting.

After laughing and joking for a while, Ning Rongrong suddenly remembered something, turned to look at Zhu Zhuqing who was standing silently to the side, her eyes darting around, and a mischievous smile appeared on her lips, "Zhuqing, you were so proactive when you hugged him just now, why aren't you saying anything now? Come on, come on, let me hug you again."

Zhu Zhuqing's ears flushed red instantly. She subconsciously took half a step back, her eyes looking away in a flustered manner. "No need."

"Oh dear, you're blushing." Ning Rongrong laughed like a little fox who had stolen a chicken.

"No," Zhu Zhuqing said stubbornly, but the color of her ears betrayed her.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jiang Lan slipped away from Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu's encirclement, ran to Zhu Zhuqing's side, looked up at her and stretched out her hand. "Sister Zhuqing, when you hugged me just now, I wasn't ready. Now you can hug me, just once."

Zhu Zhuqing looked down at him, a faint smile appearing on her usually icy face.

She knelt down and gently pulled Jiang Lan into her arms.

"You little thing," Zhu Zhuqing said softly, her voice carrying a tenderness she herself didn't even realize.

When Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong saw this scene, they looked at each other and their faces showed expressions of being completely charmed.

Happy times are always fleeting.

Jiang Lan played with the three girls for a while longer before waving goodbye with her short little hands.

"I'm going back to the Milk Tea Shop, otherwise Sister Yanyan will scold me." Jiang Lan straightened her crumpled Penguin Suit and patted the dust off her hat. "Remember to come visit me, sisters!"

"We'll definitely go!" Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu said in unison.

Zhu Zhuqing didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly.

Jiang Lan turned and ran out of the courtyard. He hadn't gone far when Doro suddenly appeared out of nowhere and ran alongside him, his short legs moving incredibly fast, a pastry given to him by Ning Rongrong dangling from his mouth.

A human and a soul chased each other along the academy path in the setting sun, their laughter mingling with Doro's cries as they faded into the distance.

Tang San's room was on the second floor, around the corner.

He opened the window and saw Jiang Lan and Doro running away into the distance.

The setting sun cast long shadows of the man and his soul, like two rolling glutinous rice balls.

Tang San's gaze followed them, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the windowsill.

The Nine Yang Manual.

Thousand Illusory Shadow Step.

And then there are those exquisite moves that even he doesn't recognize.

This child named Jiang Lan harbors so many things that are both familiar and unfamiliar to him.

"I King Little Guga, am back..."

Jiang Lan returned to the backyard of Honey Snow Ice City, but froze halfway through her sentence.

He saw Xue Qinghe sitting in the middle of the courtyard, looking at him with a smile.

Jiang Lan's short legs tripped on the threshold, and he almost knelt down. He steadied himself by holding onto the door frame, quickly put on his innocent smile, and skipped over to Xue Qinghe. He looked up at her, his voice so sweet it could stretch out sugar threads. "Boss, what brings you here? You came all this way so late without even telling me beforehand, so I could have prepared some of your signature milk tea to take home!"

Xue Qinghe sat at the stone table in the courtyard, his fingers gently tapping the surface, a gentle smile that never changed on his face.

She was dressed in a moon-white dress today, which made her look even more Qing Ya and otherworldly, but there was a light in her phoenix eyes that sent chills down Jiang Lan's spine.

"Manager Jiang is a very busy man. If I hadn't come in person, how could I have gotten you to come?" Xue Qinghe said with a smile.

"Boss, you're too kind. Just tell me what you need, and I'll do it for you right away." Jiang Lan stood up straight, her belly sticking out from under her Penguin Suit costume, her little hands clenched into fists at her sides, looking ready to serve at any moment.

Doro followed suit, straightening his round body, but then, due to his unstable center of gravity, he stumbled back two steps before regaining his balance.

Xue Qinghe looked at the two of them, and her mood seemed to improve somewhat.

She stopped beating around the bush and slowly took something out of her sleeve, gently placing it on the stone table.

It was a deep blue triangular crystal with flowing seawater patterns on its surface.

Jiang Lan's eyes widened instantly.

The Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud.

The thing he had always dreamed of was casually placed on the stone table, less than three feet away from him.

He could feel the power belonging to the Sea God within him stirring, as if he had smelled a shared aura.

Doro's purple eyes widened, and his little hand unconsciously reached out.

Beautiful! I want one!

"Do you recognize this?" Xue Qinghe took in Jiang Lan's reaction, and the corners of his mouth curved up even more.

"I don't recognize it." Jiang Lan swallowed hard, trying to appear completely clueless. "But it looks like a treasure."

"I don't recognize it..." Xue Qinghe drawled, gently stroking the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud her finger. "Then I'll take it back."

"Wait!" Jiang Lan exclaimed anxiously, her short legs involuntarily taking two steps forward. The eagerness in her eyes was impossible to hide. "Boss, you took it out so I could see it, didn't you?"

Xue Qinghe didn't say anything, just smiled and looked at him.

Although the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud is a national treasure, it's something that people would find easy to take out.

No one usually checks this thing; I bet even if he became emperor, no one would notice it was missing.

Jiang Lan took a deep breath, then raised her head and stared intently at Xue Qinghe with her large, clear eyes. She softly called out, "Boss Xue, what do you want from me?"

Xue Qinghe raised an eyebrow and said with a smile, "If you can make me happy, maybe I'll give it to you."

Jiang Lan stood there, looking up at Xue Qinghe's smiling face, then looking down at the azure crystal on the stone table. Her face was scrunched up, as if she had gone through an extremely intense internal struggle.

A few seconds later, Jiang Lan took a deep breath, took a step forward, crossed her little arms in front of her chest, and called out in a childish voice, "Boss Xue is wise and mighty, dashing and handsome, good-looking, strong, and very generous. He is the best Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire!"