After Ning Xingyuan left, Pei Si seemed to have returned to his life before Ning Xingyuan’s appearance.

But fundamentally, something had changed somewhere.

Elder Pei and Pei Li were much kinder to him. When he disappeared for a day and night and returned to the doorstep again, the two of them were clearly startled.

“Fourth child, you…you didn’t leave with the immortal?” Pei Li looked at him with reddened eyes, wanting to approach but appearing afraid to do so.

“Mother, I want to sleep first before going to the fields.” Pei Si said in a low voice.

“Alright, sleep, go sleep in your room.” Pei Li hurriedly nodded. Elder Pei’s face looked unpleasant as he wanted to say something, but Pei Li grabbed his arm in one motion, “Go quickly.”

Pei Si returned to his room without saying a word.

Elder Pei took a puff of his pipe and said irritably, “If he’s so capable, why didn’t he go back with him?”

“Say less!” Pei Li tugged at his sleeve, “Hurry up and go to the fields.”

“Not going!” Elder Pei sat on the threshold holding his pipe.

Pei Li looked at Pei Si’s tightly closed door and sighed, “My heart is pounding, I always feel uneasy. Do you think that little immortal went back to heaven and might send someone to take Fourth child away?”

“If they take him, they take him! I’ve fed and clothed him well for over ten years, I don’t owe him anything!” Elder Pei puffed on his pipe, but was clearly also restless.

“What kind of situation is this!” Pei Li clutched her sleeve and wiped away tears, “I was still thinking that Fourth child is grown up now, I should quickly find him a wife…”

“That immortal surnamed Ning looked young, but he’s no pushover. He kept dragging his feet and wouldn’t leave because he wanted to take Fourth child away.” Pei Li said quietly, “Before, when I urged Fourth child to work the fields and scolded him a few times, that immortal came out right after and gave me a pouch of silver ingots, telling me to treat Fourth child better…”

As Pei Li spoke, she began crying again, “How could I not treat my own son well! Although Fourth child didn’t come from my belly, didn’t I still raise him with my own hands through all his mess and tears? I’m his mother, what’s wrong with me scolding him a few times?”

Elder Pei smoked his pipe with deeply furrowed brows, “Don’t feel wronged. Do you dare say you treat Fourth child the same as you treat Fifth child?”

Pei Li cried even harder, “How are they different? If our family had money, wouldn’t I send him to study in the county? Do I enjoy watching him work in the fields with you every day scraping together that bit of grain!?”

“So I enjoy it, do I!” Pei the eldest growled lowly.

“You still have the nerve to talk about me! Every time you beat Fourth child, you nearly beat him half to death. If I hadn’t stopped you, you would have beaten him to death long ago, you brute!” Pei Li went to hit him, “It’s lucky that Fifth child has been away at the county these past two years. When he was home, you beat him plenty too!”

Elder Pei’s face darkened, “Which family doesn’t beat their children? Spare the rod, spoil the child! Would he listen if you don’t beat him? I was also beaten by our father, and am I not fine now!?”

“If you’re so capable, go say that to those immortals!” Pei Li said through tears. “If they take my Fourth child away, I’ll fight them to the death!”

“They could crush us to death without lifting a finger.” Elder Pei coughed from the smoke.

The two of them whispered and muttered outside for quite a while before Pei Si came out of his room again.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” Pei Li asked.

Elder Pei snorted coldly, “If you want to leave, hurry up and go wander around those mountains again. If you meet the immortals, let them take you back. Our Pei family can’t afford to support you!”

“I don’t want to leave.” Pei Si said dully with downcast eyes, “I just… want to go see him off.”

He just wanted to see Ning Xingyuan one more time before leaving.

Unfortunately, he didn’t succeed.

“Do you think he cares about your send-off?” Elder Pei vigorously knocked out his pipe and supported himself on his knees to stand up from the threshold, “If you’re not sleeping, come work the fields with me!”

Pei Si silently followed behind him, enduring the scorching sun as they went to the fields.

The fields in Yuquan Village were all adjacent to each other. There were already quite a few villagers out working. When they saw the father and son come out, they all looked over curiously.

Some acquaintances even shouted to ask Pei Si, “Fourth child, did you catch up with the immortal?”

“He lived at your house for three months, didn’t he leave anything for your family?” someone said enviously, “He must have left quite a few treasures. Your family’s ancestral graves are really smoking green smoke!”

“That immortal was very kind. He even told me to take good care of Fourth child. Of course I’ll take care of my nephew, right Fourth child?” An uncle gripping his hoe and standing with hands on hips laughed.

Not knowing what kind of illusion Ning Xingyuan had used, the villagers hadn’t noticed at all that they shared the same face.

Pei Si followed behind Elder Pei with his head down, and they soon reached their family’s plot.

It was when the sun was most vicious. The hot weather felt like being roasted by a furnace. The two crouched in the field pulling weeds. Even wearing straw hats, they were soon drenched in sweat.

Not far away in the shade of trees, Ning Buwei and several others watched the movement in the fields, but were equally suffering from the heat.

Ning Xiu had long refused to stay in Ning Buwei’s front clothing due to the heat. When he came from the Seventeenth States, he was still wearing a small cotton jacket, but now he only wore a red belly band and small pants, stepping in the small shoes Chu Jun had made for him, crouching on the ground watching ants.

Chu Jun slowly fanned him. Ning Buwei was also quite hot and shamelessly took advantage of his son’s breeze. Fang Wanchen looked at the villagers working in the fields and sighed. “Back then the Li Dynasty had heavy taxes, the ruler loved warfare, the national treasury was severely depleted, and Shuangjing County especially couldn’t make ends meet. If they hadn’t later discovered the jade mines, these people would probably have become refugees too… the people’s livelihood is so difficult.”

Ning Buwei had never seen what the mortal world looked like and found it hard to understand Fang Wanchen’s sentiment. He couldn’t understand why someone would be so worried about a group of people unrelated to himself.

He only wanted to find a cool place to dispel the heat from his whole body.

Chu Jun remained as composed as always, focused on fanning Ning Xiu and Ning Buwei, as if there was no great difference for him whether in the Seventeenth States or the mortal realm.

Ning Xiu watched the ants for a while, then went to pluck grass leaves. He pulled off several and turned to hand them to Chu Jun, “Mother~ pick~ one~”

Chu Jun opened his palm.

Ning Xiu froze, “Where?”

Chu Jun’s eyebrow moved slightly as he raised his hand a bit higher.

Ning Xiu thought for a moment and generously put all the grass leaves into his palm.

Chu Jun pointed behind him. Ning Xiu turned around but found nothing, then obediently turned back, only to see that Chu Jun’s palm was completely empty. He grabbed his hand and turned it over to look. “Where?”

Where are the leaves?

Chu Jun pointed at his palm, “Give me a few more.”

Ning Xiu had no choice but to diligently pull two more grass stalks and place them in Chu Jun’s hand, staring straight at the grass leaves, afraid they would disappear again.

Chu Jun stared behind him and made a questioning sound. “Hmm?”

Ning Xiu couldn’t help but turn around again. When he turned back to see Chu Jun’s empty palm, he opened his little mouth with a confused expression. “Leaves~ where?”

Ning Buwei glanced down in boredom and saw several grass leaves clutched in Chu Jun’s hand that was hidden behind his back.

“…………”

Over a thousand years old, and he didn’t even blush when deceiving a one-year-old child.

Ning Buwei pulled a few grass leaves from his hand and folded them for a while, then called to Ning Xiu who was still persistently pulling grass for his mother, “Ning Xiao Xiu, come here.”

Ning Xiu toddled over on his short legs. Chu Jun also turned to look at Ning Buwei.

Ning Buwei handed the nine-leaf lotus he had folded from grass leaves to Ning Xiu. Ning Xiu cupped it in both small hands and exclaimed in amazement, “Pretty!”

Ning Buwei chuckled and took out another one from his palm, inserting it into Chu Jun’s hair, “Here, one flower each for the children, don’t fight.”

He was indirectly mocking Chu Jun for being childish.

Chu Jun calmly removed the grass leaf flower. It was a nine-leaf lotus that looked quite delicate, not really like something Ning Buwei could make.

“Ning Xingyuan taught me.” Ning Buwei squinted and reached out to snatch it back, “If you don’t want it, give it back.”

Chu Jun moved his wrist nimbly and the folded flower disappeared. Ning Buwei also pulled out his hand from behind his back, which was equally empty. Just as he was about to search him, he saw Chu Jun smiling.

Ning Buwei belatedly realized that his current behavior was the same as his son’s just now – being played with by Chu Jun. He didn’t feel annoyed though, and mischievously stuck a grass stalk in his hair.

Ning Xiu hugged his little flower and jumped hard on the ground, trying to pull down the grass stalk on Chu Jun’s head. When he failed, he simply imitated Chu Jun and stuck a grass stalk in his own hair too.

Fang Wanchen watched in stunned silence, holding back for a long while before speaking, “Brother Chengfeng, this isn’t quite… appropriate, is it?”

“What’s inappropriate?” Ning Buwei was puzzled.

Fang Wanchen said quietly, “Sticking grass in one’s head means selling oneself cheaply.”

Ning Buwei was stunned for a moment before reacting. Sure enough, he saw the teasing smile in Chu Jun’s eyes and said fiercely, “Yes, I’m planning to sell him cheap! Buy the big one and I’ll throw in the small one for free!”

“Da!” Ning Xiu imitated his father’s expression and tensed his little face, thinking he looked super fierce. He ran forward two steps but fell flat on the ground with a thud.

Originally Fang Wanchen wanted to bend down to help him, but the child nimbly got up by himself, patted his little belly band, and said to himself, “Oh my~ doesn’t hurt~”

Ning Buwei reached out and plucked the grass from his head, poking his little belly, “The flower got flattened.”

Ning Xiu looked down and saw that the flower his father had folded for him had now become a flat grass leaf. He stood there in a daze.

He didn’t cry or make a fuss, like a little dummy.

Seeing this, Chu Jun said, “Why don’t you fold him another one?”

Fang Wanchen also felt the little child was sad and agreed. “Brother Chengfeng, fold him another one.”

The great demon who had originally been mocking his son suddenly felt uncertain. He reached out and poked Ning Xiu’s little arm, “Should father fold you another one?”

Who knew that Ning Xiu would lift his head himself, looking at Ning Buwei with bright eyes, saying in his baby voice, “Remember~ now~”

The adults were all confused. Ning Buwei asked puzzledly, “Remember what?”

Ning Xiu raised his right hand to show Ning Buwei, “Father~ pretty uncle~ left something~”

Ning Buwei grabbed his slightly dusty little hand, but there was nothing on it. “What pretty uncle?”

Ning Xiu grabbed his hair ribbon, “Father’s~ Yellow Yellow! In mouth~ ribbon~”

“Pretty!” Ning Xiu pointed at the flattened nine-leaf lotus on the ground, then pointed at his own palm, “Same~ thing!”

Ning Buwei stared at him solemnly. “……What the hell?”