"Tok, tok, tok-tok..."
The sound of the army's wooden night clappers, carried on the evening sea breeze, suddenly woke Lingyi.
"Oh, it's already the fourth watch."
She remembered only that, after playing the "Lotus-Picking Ballad," she had seen Xing Yan asleep and come over to tuck his covers in. Who would have thought that just lingering to look at him a little longer would leave her dozing against his bedside? Now, hearing the fourth-watch clappers, the Dragon Lady, exhausted by the previous day's labors, chided herself and hurried to her feet. With a sweep of her long sleeve, she extinguished the soft glow of the luminous pearls overhead, letting the pink bed tent sink into peaceful darkness.
It's getting late. I should go prepare his mountain jade-marrow soup.
With that thought, Lingyi was about to leave when she heard the soft, steady breathing of deep sleep behind her. Turning at the sound and focusing her divine sight, she saw Qiong Rong curled up like a kitten, asleep on Xing Yan's chest.
"This girl... isn't she afraid she'll crush her brother?"
Lingyi hurried back, gently lifted the sleeping little girl, and carefully settled her under the covers at Xing Yan's feet.
Once everything had been attended to, Lingyi quietly lifted the entrance curtain and slipped away with graceful steps to another tent, where she joined the maids and immortal attendants already busy preparing a tasty breakfast for Xing Yan. When she left the sleeping tent, dawn was still far off, and darkness lay all around. Looking up, she saw the stars and moon shining together in the deep-blue sky, twinkling as though winking a greeting at her.
"Good morning to you, too!"
The Four Rivers Dragon Maiden, so solemn and dignified before others, saw that no one was nearby and made