When it said "warming his bed and folding his quilts," it even winked deliberately.
"You... Snow Robe!"
Qing Dai froze at first. Once she grasped the meaning behind its words, her cheeks flushed scarlet in an instant. Mortified and flustered, her usual calm composure shattered by this loose-beaked bird, she raised a hand as if to strike it. "Keep talking nonsense! I... I'll tear that mouth of yours apart!"
"Squawk! Can't catch me!"
Snow Robe had anticipated this. With a nimble beat of its wings, it flew up and landed on the carved ornamentation of a roof beam. Looking down from its lofty perch, it smugly continued its "grand discourse." "Looks like he was right. Hit the nail on the head, didn't I? If you ask me, worrying that your martial arts are too weak is just an excuse. What you're really worried about is Master refusing to take you along! I say you should crawl into his..."
Before it could finish, a soft creak sounded.
The door opened from outside, and Lu Changfeng stood quietly in the doorway.
For a moment, silence fell over the building.
Qing Dai's raised hand froze in midair. The flush rapidly drained from her face, only to be replaced by even deeper embarrassment and panic. She wished she could find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.
Snow Robe instantly fell silent on the beam as well. Its eyes darted about before it promptly adopted an innocent expression that said, "I didn't say anything. I'm just a pure, guileless little parrot." It began pretending to devote all its attention to preening its wing feathers, though its little eyes still stole furtive glances at Lu Changfeng in the doorway and Qing Dai standing stiffly below.
"Qing Dai, go get some rest."
After saying