"Mommy's precious babies, I missed you so much."
The moment Jiang Yu and Ning Tian stepped into the Nine Treasure Hall, Ning Yunxiu swept them into her arms before they could react, her eyes slightly red.
Jiang Yu and Ning Tian had been away for an entire year, and Ning Yunxiu had spent that entire year in torment.
After losing her son and then her husband, her ability to bear emotional strain had deteriorated to a degree even she found unbelievable.
Over the past year, her duties as Sect Master of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had rarely left her idle. Yet whenever she had a moment to spare, endless emptiness, loneliness, and cold filled her heart. With nowhere to vent those feelings, they simply kept piling up inside her.
That was why she lost her composure upon seeing Ning Tian and Jiang Yu, whom she had yearned for day and night.
Seeing this, Wu Feng considerately stepped out of the hall. She had family to visit as well.
Of course, more than anything, she wanted to show off her current cultivation and strength to her grandfather.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yu and Ning Tian felt rather awkward in Ning Yunxiu's embrace.
That awkwardness did not stem from Ning Yunxiu's surging emotions, but from each other.
Ning Yunxiu was hugging them so tightly that their bodies were forced flush against one another.
Jiang Yu swallowed involuntarily.
Ning Tian's body was soft and fragrant, with full curves that far exceeded her age. This close, he could feel a softness like cotton warmed by the spring sun, and each breath carried a warm, moist touch.
Jiang Yu knew he was no Liu Xiahui, able to remain unmoved with a woman in his lap. On the contrary, he was a man with genuine affection, but affection for more than one person.
With his keen perception and sensitivity, Jiang Yu had long sensed that, as Ning Tian grew older, her feelings for him were gradually becoming something beyond ordinary friendship. His approach was neither to initiate nor to reject, leaving Ning Tian to find her own way.
But when it came to his own feelings, Jiang Yu admitted that he had never been content to stop at friendship with Ning Tian either.
After all, Ning Tian had an exquisitely beautiful face. Although her figure was not as eye-catching as Wu Feng's, her skin was as snow-white and silky as milk, wonderfully pleasant to touch.
As for why Jiang Yu knew that so well... that was a secret.
On the other side, Ning Tian's heart was racing too, and her whole body was growing warmer.
Jiang Yu was the little brother she had watched grow up and flourish, as well as the person in whom she had invested countless hazy feelings before and after her first awakening to love.
Unlike Jiang Yu's self-image as a "scumbag," Ning Tian had a very traditional understanding of love. She was the typical sort who would find it difficult to change her mind once she had chosen someone.
Coupled with her precocious maturity and practical needs, this had led her to resolve long ago to gradually change the intent and atmosphere of her interactions with Jiang Yu. But Wu Feng, that "third wheel," kept sticking close to them, leaving Ning Tian no choice but to postpone her plan until now.
Thinking of the problem involving Wu Feng, Ning Tian pressed her lips together.
She felt she needed to find an opportunity later to ask her mother, with all her life experience, for a solution that would satisfy both sides.
Once her initial stiffness and embarrassment passed, Ning Tian gradually relaxed. She even took the initiative to lean a little closer to Jiang Yu.
At such close range, she could clearly feel the warmth radiating from Jiang Yu like a little sun. It felt like being utterly exhausted, then lying on a soft bed beneath a fluffy cotton quilt that had just spent the day basking in brilliant sunshine, a comfort that reached deep into the heart.
Jiang Yu also sensed Ning Tian drawing closer and leaning on him, and something stirred faintly within him.
By the time Ning Yunxiu finally released them, Jiang Yu, an old hand at keeping a straight face, looked perfectly normal, while a faint blush had spread over Ning Tian's face and neck.
As though she had noticed nothing at all, Ning Yunxiu looked them both up and down, then led them to their seats and asked about their lives and cultivation over the past year.
The night was deep.
Fresh from her bath, Ning Tian still carried a mist of moisture all over her body. She walked barefoot across the slightly cool floor, her white silk nightdress clinging to her freshly bathed skin. Her wet golden hair rested on her shoulders, and droplets slid from its ends into the shallow hollows of her collarbones.
The nightdress fell along her waist, tracing the lovely curves just beginning to take shape in the young girl's figure. As its hem swayed, it revealed a dazzlingly white stretch of calf and her dainty, jade-like feet, their five rounded toes like cardamom buds.
Looking at the familiar furnishings in her room, Ning Tian lay contentedly on the soft, large bed. Just as she was about to close her eyes, a quiet laugh sounded in the room.
"Who's there?!"
Ning Tian's eyes flew open, and she sat up, her wary gaze sweeping across the entire room.
"Me. Your mom." Ning Yunxiu emerged from the darkness behind the bed curtains, then sat smiling on the edge of the bed.
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Ning Tian straightened her nightdress, covering some of her exposed skin, then asked in surprise.
Ning Yunxiu said nothing. Her eyes, strikingly bright in the darkness, swept over Ning Tian before she said with satisfaction:
"Good, very good. My daughter truly has beauty fit to outshine a nation. Just look at that alluring little figure. Who knows which rotten brat will get to enjoy that good fortune someday?"
"Mom! What are you saying?!"
Ning Tian froze for a moment, then pulled up the quilt in flustered embarrassment.
Ning Yunxiu merely smiled at her embarrassment, then leaned closer and lowered her voice:
"It felt nice leaning against little Yu, didn't it?"
That single sentence made Ning Tian's entire body stiffen.
The embarrassment of being caught by her own mother sent her temperature soaring, and crimson clouds instantly spread across her face and neck.
"Look how sensitive you are. All you did was lean against him. If you really become a couple someday and do something even more daring, I can't imagine how entertaining your reaction will be."
Ning Yunxiu chuckled. Her words brought Ning Tian back to her senses while also stirring a little resentment.
What kind of mother teased her own daughter like this?
"Mom~ I knew I couldn't hide anything from you."
After suppressing her embarrassment, Ning Tian gently rested her head on Ning Yunxiu's lap, just as she had as a child, then said softly:
"Mom, but our relationship is still a little... is this really okay...?"
"Of course it is. It's wonderful." Ning Yunxiu pinched Ning Tian's cheek, then smiled. "Honestly, this is exactly the outcome I most want to see."
"Really?" Joy rose in Ning Tian's heart, only to give way to a little melancholy:
"But I think little Yu only sees me as his older sister..."
"Bullshit!" Ning Yunxiu said bluntly.
There was no need for a mother and daughter to beat around the bush. Besides, this concerned both her daughter's lifelong happiness and the future of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Ning Yunxiu felt she needed to reach an understanding with her daughter in advance, while also passing on some experience in keeping a man wrapped around her finger.
"When I hugged you two today, it was partly because I truly missed you, and partly because I wanted to use the opportunity to test what you both really felt."
"You silly girl, you couldn't hide your feelings for little Yu if you tried. And although little Yu hid his extremely well, he still couldn't fool my eyes."
As she spoke, Ning Yunxiu gave a mysterious smile, then said:
"Can you guess what I caught deep in his eyes when you leaned closer to him?"
"What?" Ning Tian asked, nervous and expectant.
Ning Yunxiu looked straight into Ning Tian's eyes, then enunciated each word:
"Greed! The greed of a starving wolf spotting a big, fat sheep with snowy-white fleece! He really wants to devour you..."
Before you continue