Chapter 99: A family of three
The sun set behind the western mountains, and the evening sun sunk into the peaks.
In the Jiang Mansion, over a dozen maids scurry around, lighting up the lanterns and stone lamps within the mansion. At this moment, Ye Anping was seated at the desk in his dormitory, using cinnabar as ink and spirit as water to craft talismans on specially made yellow oil paper.
On the adjacent bed, two girls, one tall and one short, were engaged in a game of chess, resembling a genuine family of three.
A diligent father, a playful mother, and a clinging daughter—like a real family.
Since Liang Zhu left the Jiang Mansion in the afternoon and hadn’t returned, Liang Ahting had been following him and his junior sister, even joining them in bed. Although Liang Ahting had been reserved and pleasant in her interactions, Ye Anping could sense that this was just a glimpse of her true personality.
During their conversation in the pavilion with Liang Zhu, she even climbed over the wall to join them. Glancing at the two playing chess on the bed, Ye Anping took a deep breath and refocused on drawing talismans.
He was currently working on a talisman called the “Moving Eye Talisman.” Initially planning to buy it from other cultivators in a couple of days, he decided to give talisman-making a try during this free time.
To his surprise, he discovered a natural talent for talisman-making. Despite being his first attempt, he only faced three failures among the six eye-moving talismans he crafted— one of medium grade and the rest of high grade.
He also sensed a connection between talisman-making and his physical therapy skills, both involving the use of spiritual power. Physiotherapy used spiritual power to create a small knife that unblocked or cut open the meridians in a cultivator’s body.
Similarly, talisman-making involved crafting a small knife with spiritual power, drawing patterns on talisman paper resembling meridians, and embedding spiritual powder from precious materials into various “talisman eyes” of the pattern.
Due to his knowledge from his past life, he easily comprehended the “talisman diagram” part.
“Uncle,” Liang Ahting’s voice suddenly interrupted Ye Anping’s focus, startling him.
Turning to look, he saw Liang Ahting approaching him. Now leaning by the table, she gazed at the talismans he just created with curiosity.
Ye Anping withdrew his spiritual consciousness and asked, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you playing chess with your aunt?”
Liang Ahting grinned and pointed towards the bed, “Aunt lost five times and didn’t want to play with me anymore.”
Ye Anping was perplexed and turned to look at his junior sister on the bed. Pei Lianxue was sitting with determination, biting her lips and focused on the chessboard. She was thinking about where she went wrong in the previous game.
If this were a game of Go, Ye Anping could understand his junior sister losing to a twelve-year-old girl, as she didn’t know how to play. But what they just played was backgammon.
Could she lose in backgammon?
Ye Anping rubbed Liang Ahting’s head,
“That’s awesome. This uncle will accompany you later.”
“hehe…”
Liang Ahting was touched by him so much that she narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. Then she looked at the eye-moving charms on the table and asked,
“Uncle, what are these talismans for?”
“This is called the eye-moving charm…”
Ye Anping suddenly thought that Liang Ahting could be used for experiments, so he simply picked up two of the talismans and pasted one on his body and the other on Liang Ahting’s forehead.
“Did your adoptive father teach you how to mobilise your spiritual power?”
“Taught!”
“Try transferring spiritual power to the talisman.”
Liang Ahting nodded, then took a deep breath, awkwardly mobilised her spiritual power, and sent it to the talisman on her forehead.
Instantly, her light green eyes emitted bursts of light, and the dull hair on her head stood up like an exclamation point.
“Um!”
“How? What did you see?”
“I saw… me? Eh? I’m so tall…”
Liang Ahting had a look of surprise on her face, waved her hand, and pinched her face, but after she took a step to the side, she suddenly fell without being able to stand still.
Ye Anping quickly stretched out his hand to support her and, at the same time, pulled the talisman off her forehead in case she really bumped into it. Liang Zhu would have to fight him desperately when he came back.
“Is it fun?”
“It’s fun.” Liang Ahting covered her head and shook her head, “It’s just a little dizzy.”
“This talisman comes in a set, allowing cultivators to share vision and hearing. Some cultivators like to attach this talisman to eagles and use them to detect the surrounding situation.”
“I see… hmm!”
Ye Anping smiled and patted her head, then glanced out the window. Seeing that the night outside was quite dark, he said,
“Uncle and aunt are going to rest. You should go back to sleep.”
“Hey…” Liang Ahting seemed a little reluctant. After thinking for a while, he asked, “Didn’t Uncle say that he would play chess with me later?”
“Then, in the next round, if you lose, just go back to your room and sleep.”
“Good!”
Ye Anping sighed a little depressedly. It was inexplicably miserable for other people to take care of their children, but fortunately, the bed in this room was quite big.
He simply tidied up the desk, then walked to the bed, climbed up, and sat down cross-legged.
When Ye Anping went to bed, Pei Lianxue came back to her senses from the chess game just now and looked at him eagerly,
“Ah…”
“What? You lost to a twelve-year-old girl five times in a row.” Ye Anping pinched the tip of her nose and teased, “You have been with me since you were a child. Why haven’t you made any progress?”
Pei Lianxue curled her lips, moved slightly, and said with a puffed face,
“Husband, help me win it back.”
Ye Anping smiled and nodded, “Okay!”
Half a quarter of an hour later——
Ye Anping dropped the last white letter,
“Okay, go back to sleep.”
Looking at the five words formed by the white chess pieces on the chessboard, Liang Ahting was about to pout like a pig, but after looking at Ye Anping, she didn’t dare to make a fuss.
After thinking for a while, she asked,
“Uncle, tell me a bedtime story.”
“Didn’t we agree that you would go back to bed after losing the chess game?” Ye Anping raised his eyebrows, tapped her head lightly, and said, “Uncle and aunt hate little girls who don’t keep their words.”
“Just tell me one story! Tell me a story, and I’ll go back to sleep immediately! I promise,” Ye Anping pleaded with a bit of helplessness. Glancing at Pei Lianxue beside him, who seemed quite happy, he thought for a moment and said, “Well… let my aunt tell you.”
“Ah!” Pei Lianxue was surprised, shrinking her neck. “Me, tell a story!”
“Why not? Coaxing someone to sleep is part of being a mother, right?” Ye Anping teased.
“Mother…” Pei Lianxue blushed, lowering her head, “Um, okay.”
Seeing this, Ye Anping had a mischievous smile on his face. The mother-in-law is telling a bedtime story, He thought.
However, the next moment, he noticed Pei Lianxue’s actions and couldn’t hold back his laughter.
Pei Lianxue thought for a moment and directly pulled out the book “Erotic Pictures of Immortal Palace” from her storage bag, handing it to Liang Ahting.
“Auntie has a little book here. Take it back and read it. Remember to come back tomorrow,” Pei Lianxue said.
“Huh!” Liang Ahting took the book with a smile, not bothering to check the cover. “Thank you, Auntie.”
Ye Anping was about to reach out to intercept but hesitated, realising that if Liang Zhu knew about Pei Lianxue giving such a book to the girl, he might not allow them to help with the child in the future. So, he let it go.
“Good night, uncle! Good night, aunt!” Liang Ahting bid farewell.
“Good night,” Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue responded.
After Liang Ahting left, Ye Anping turned to his junior sister. “Junior sister…”
“Aunt!” Pei Lianxue corrected, frowning and puffing her face.
“Lady!” Ye Anping acknowledged with a chuckle. “Madam, about that book… didn’t I ask you to take it and ask Senior Sister Xiao before? You never went?”
“No… What’s wrong?” Pei Lianxue asked innocently.
