Chapter 1013: Familial Affection
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The two played around for a while before Ji Tianqing said, “Regardless, you have something to show after going back to your sister . This is a good thing . ”
Li Kuanglan sighed . “Is that a good thing? I simply can’t tell . ”
“Of course it is! Do you think she’d still recognize you as her sister if you ignored something she ordered so seriously?”
Li Kuanglan was silent . “Say Tianqing, can this be considered a sacrifice for the family?”
“Of course . ”
“But she’s my sister . Does she have no familial love for me at all?”
“To her, she’s doing it for your own good . ”
“My own good? But she never asked if I was willing before using force to pressure me . ”
Ji Tianqing said, “Your will is no longer that important . She does have familial love, but it isn’t for a single person… it’s for the entire Li family . What she wants is the family’s prosperity, and for it to become a major clan after a decade . Whoever blocks this path will be kicked away, even her own sister . ”
Li Kuanglan laughed wryly, “I’d rather not have such familial love!”
“Is that why you dress like a man and focus only on swordsmanship?”
Li Kuanglan nodded silently .
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Ji Tianqing remained silent for a while before saying, “I didn’t understand before, but grandpa told me once that every clan throughout history had done the same thing . . . rowing upstream and never stepping back . They couldn’t allow their family and clan to gradually fall into decline . The other members of the nobility wouldn’t hold back just because you choose to avoid certain methods . The only exceptions to this rule are the Zhang and Zhao clans . Just like the Imperial clan, these two are like dragons in the sky . Their families would produce numerous geniuses in every generation, and these scions would always rise up to turn dangerous situations around . Grandpa said we should just follow old traditions if we don’t have the talents of those two clans . ”
“I understand this reasoning, but I can hardly accept it . ”
“There’s no other choice, is there? If you think about it carefully, it’s not that bad . ”
“That’s true . ”
Chuckling, Ji Tianqing suddenly groped Li Kuanglan’s chest . “That changed pretty quickly, have you decided to accept reality?”
Li Kuanglan gnashed her teeth and pounced over, pressing Ji Tianqing down under the water .
Moments later, the latter rushed out of the water, shouting, “Timeout! I’ll catch a cold if this keeps up . Seriously, do you need to go all out? Unlike a certain person who was so resigned last night . Humph, who knows what state you’d be in if I hadn’t saved you when I did . I wouldn’t have helped had I known you’d forget favors like so… Mmm . . . ”
Li Kuanglan dunked her into the water, drowning out the last part of her sentence . Releasing her grip only after a good while, she said, “Humph, you’re not my match right now . Better not provoke me or I’ll take your clothes away and make you run around naked!”
Ji Tianqing’s eyes shifted about, and then all of a sudden, she cried out at the top of her lungs . “Qianye, save me! Someone’s doing bad things, aren’t you going to control her?”
This shout shocked Li Kuanglan out of her wits .
Flustered, she tried to cover Ji Tianqing’s mouth, but the latter dodged to the side . “How long are you going to peep? Save me and I’ll let you see as much as you want!”
Qianye didn’t know whether he should go out or not . He was standing behind a tree—not to mention peeping, he wasn’t even listening in on their conversation . It was just that Ji Tianqing’s loud voice poured into his ears . It wouldn’t be entirely true to say that he wasn’t engaging in voyeurism because he had inadvertently seen them when he had first arrived . With Qianye’s eyesight, a single glance was enough to notice every minor detail and never forget them . There was little difference between a glance and a prolonged stare .
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Since he had been called out, it would be wrong not to walk out . Yet, Qianye couldn’t really walk out because—despite her saying that she would let him look to his heart’s content—he might be beaten to death afterward .
Qianye was unwilling to make an appearance, but Li Kuanglan was so flustered that she let Ji Tianqing slip away from her grasp . “Stop shouting and I won’t attack . How’s that?”
“Deal!” Ji Tianqing was quite straightforward .
Having reached a truce, the two came ashore and got dressed .
Although Qianye never looked at them, he could outline their activity just by the sounds .
Li Kuanglan acted quite naturally after the initial loss of composure . It had been more than once that she was intimate with Qianye . Ji Tianqing also walked ashore calmly and clothed herself while facing Qianye . There were no origin fluctuations around her, which meant that she wasn’t channeling her disguising powers . This was her true self, and Qianye needed only to poke his head out to see everything .
Very soon, they finished dressing and arrived beside Qianye . Ji Tianqing patted his shoulder, saying, “I’ll give you this for your sincerity . ”
With that, she stuffed a palm-sized clamshell into Qianye’s hands .
“What’s that?” Qianye knew nothing apart from the fact that the clam was still alive . However, the shellfish was exuding dense waves of vitality and clearly not an ordinary creature .
“I don’t know, either . It’s definitely good stuff, nonetheless, and I only found a couple of them at the bottom of the lake . You didn’t rush to my rescue when I needed you, so you’re not getting the rest . ” Ji Tianqing stuffed five more of the same clams into her spatial storage .
Qianye smiled wryly . He didn’t try to justify anything and merely put the clamshell away . How was he to go out under those circumstances? Actually, he was already finding it inappropriate that he had accidentally seen Ji Tianqing’s body . Fortunately, the girl had her back toward him, so he only saw her rear-side . This was a barely acceptable outcome .
Li Kuanglan looked up at the sky, saying, “It’s late, we should hurry on!”
Ji Tianqing also agreed . The three thus packed up their things and set out on their way .
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After confirming their direction, Ji Tianqing took the lead through the forest, with Ji Tianqing in tow, leaving Qianye alone . The two just waltzed off as if nothing had happened just now .
Qianye wanted to ask what had happened last night, but the two girls walked away in due haste . They had almost run out of his sight in the blink of an eye . Qianye followed with a wry laugh, knowing that they were denying him the opportunity to ask .
The trio spent the entire day in transit . They only stopped a couple of times to collect resources, and even then, they would not stop for long .
The resources in the core region of the Great Maelstrom were vastly superior to that of the outer regions . Both Qianye and Ji Tianqing had stuffed their spatial gears full in the area with ten times the gravity .
The night was soon upon them . The three continued traveling for another hour before picking a place to pitch camp .
At this point, the gravity was only four times that of the empire . The group felt relieved of a heavy burden, and every movement felt incomparably relaxed . Qianye was still feeling a bit sore, however, as he was still in the process of recovering from the fatigue . He really wanted to know what had made him so tired .
He had already recalled that, just like before, he was preparing to help Li Kuanglan with his blood core . Meanwhile, Ji Tianqing was causing mischief nearby and almost set things on fire . This young miss had always been this way—she was never afraid of causing trouble since she was never the one to suffer .
The last thing he remembered was Ji Tianqing sealing his mouth and feeding him a large amount of liquid—nothing thereafter . The dreams and memories he had experienced were so fragmented from reality that he couldn’t find a single clue .
At this point, the camp had been set up, the fire lit, and Li Kuanglan was roasting meat on the flames . It was once again time to face one another . The trio descended into an odd silence where none of them spoke .
Thus, a wordless dinner went by and midnight closed in . The frigid night in this area was no longer as bitter . Although it was still much stronger than recorded by the Empire, even Li Kuanglan could get through it without intimate contact with Qianye .
Qianye could finally hold back no longer . “What did I do last night?”
The two girls exchanged glances and countless thoughts .
Afterward, Ji Tianqing asked, “Do you not remember anything?”
Qianye frowned, not knowing whether to speak the truth . After some deliberation, he decided to speak honestly despite knowing he might not get the truth in return .
“I remember you feeding me something, then nothing else . ”
Ji Tianqing snorted . “You want to get away with all the bad things you did just by saying you don’t remember? You think it’s that easy?”
Qianye started to sweat . A feeling of restlessness emerged from his heart as he asked, “What bad things? Can you be more specific?”
Ji Tianqing just about to speak when Li Kuanglan stopped her . “Don’t listen to her nonsense, all she knows is to scare other people . ”
Qianye should’ve felt relieved, but for some reason, he just couldn’t feel at ease . He thought back silently for a moment, and then looked toward Ji Tianqing . “Was it white-fruit wine that you fed me?”
Ji Tianqing poked her tongue out . “You even remember that! How did you know that was white-fruit wine? Did you try drinking it while I wasn’t looking?”
Qianye ignored her interruption . “Why did you make me drink that?”
Ji Tianqing wanted to say something, but Qianye stopped her and turned to the tense Li Kuanglan . “You tell me . ”
This increased her nervousness even further—she looked down at her trembling hands, unable to gaze into his eyes . This stoked Qianye’s suspicions even further . He raised Li Kuanglan’s face by the chin and asked word by word, “What happened last night, tell me! Don’t leave out a single thing!”
Li Kuanglan’s expression fluctuated wildly . Her eyes darted about as she did her utmost to avoid his eyes . However, Qianye was so powerful that she couldn’t escape .
“Last night…”
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