“Shuo…
Ah, no, Chongyue.
That brat really has become famous throughout the land.”
Hongyu accepted the letter Wang handed him and couldn’t help feeling somewhat sentimental.
“So Big Brother isn’t coming home this year either?”
Ling naturally draped herself over Hongyu’s back, leaning her head forward to get a better look at the contents of Chongyue’s letter.
A faint, pleasant fragrance reached Hongyu’s nose.
It was a scent he had long since grown accustomed to.
Hongyu brushed aside the strands of Ling’s hair obscuring the writing and read through the letter once more.
Then he put it away in a drawer.
“Mm.
He won’t be coming back.”
“That fellow has his own things to take care of.”
“A hundred years already…”
“Time really does fly.”
He sounded rather nostalgic.
“Ah…
Has it really been a hundred years?”
Ling scratched her head, only now seeming to realize how much time had passed.
She laughed.
“I honestly haven’t noticed…”
Hongyu chuckled and gently rubbed her head.
“Of course you haven’t.
All you do is drink yourself senseless every day and drift through life in a drunken haze.”
“Heaven only knows what the world looks like through your eyes.”
Ling brushed his hand away.
Over the past century, she had grown increasingly beautiful.
Now, a faint blush appeared on her cheeks as she grumbled in dissatisfaction.
“I’m not a little girl anymore, you old geezer!”
“Hahahaha!”
“You’ve gone from calling me ‘Yu’ to calling me ‘old geezer,’ and you still claim you haven’t noticed the passage of time?”
“That little change in how you address me certainly makes me feel how much time has passed!”
“Haah, what do you know?”
Ling raised a finger and poked Hongyu’s still-youthful cheek.
“Calling you ‘old geezer’ is actually my way of wishing you a long life!”
“After all, I’ve never met another mortal who’s lived as long as you have.”
“So when I call you ‘old geezer,’ you should understand that you’re receiving a blessing from a giant beast!”
She grinned mischievously.
“And speaking of helping you live longer…”
“Why don’t you try calling me…
Big Sister Ling?”
Her expression grew increasingly playful.
Then she reached toward the silk bandages that Hongyu always wore over his eyes, apparently intending to pull them off.
‘Come to think of it…’
‘Yu doesn’t seem to mind other people looking at his eyes…
right?’
Ling suddenly became uncertain.
Had she confused something she’d experienced in a dream with something that had actually happened?
Hongyu smiled, caught her finger, and gently moved her hand away from his face.
“Ling, I’ve noticed you’re getting more and more disrespectful toward me lately.”
“Do I need to help you remember what your childhood was like?”
Ling instantly behaved herself.
To be fair, when she first heard from her eldest and second eldest brothers about how Hongyu had once flown her through the sky like a kite while she was still a dragon bubble—and how Nian had nearly lost her in the mountains—she had assumed they were joking.
It wasn’t until Big Brother produced the actual kite with a nostalgic expression that Ling finally accepted the truth.
Apparently, the Hongyu of those early days really was capable of doing such outrageous things without the slightest concern for his image.
Although, to be fair, Hongyu’s personality had never been particularly dignified in the first place.
Of course, being flown around in the sky couldn’t possibly have caused Ling any actual harm.
But it was still unbearably embarrassing!
She absolutely did not want to experience anything like that again.
And so, Ling backed away with an awkward smile.
As she left, Hongyu could hear her muttering something along the lines of:
“Tch.
You’re nowhere near as easy to tease as you used to be…”
‘Since when was I ever easy to tease?’
Hongyu felt rather helpless.
‘Don’t tell me you’ve confused your dreams with reality again…’
For some reason, Ling had recently begun having difficulty distinguishing her dreams from real events.
Hongyu had asked about it on numerous occasions, concerned that something might be wrong.
Eventually, after receiving the same answer so many times, Hongyu stopped asking.
He treated all the Sui fragments in much the same way.
Each of them had their own life to live.
Asking too many questions or interfering too much would only become annoying.
Once Ling left, the house returned to silence.
The empty rooms felt unusually cold and lonely.
For some reason, Hongyu suddenly felt like sighing.
“Everyone’s busy…”
“Well, I suppose it’s good to have things keeping you occupied…”
Over the past century, almost all the Sui fragments had left the residence for various reasons.
The only exceptions were Ling, who had always been particularly attached to him, and Dusk, who was somewhat socially anxious.
The others had followed paths of their own, just as Chongyue had done all those years ago.
Some had embarked on journeys to establish and strengthen their own identities.
Others simply wanted to explore the world.
And some had left because Great Yan needed their help, or because they cared deeply about the ordinary people living across the land.
Wang had gradually taken over the responsibilities of Grand Warden.
Making his appointment official would probably require little more than a word from Hongyu.
Nian had traveled all the way to Shangshu at the request of Great Yan’s Ministry of Works.
Judging by the letters she sent every few days, she seemed to be having a wonderful time there.
Considering her natural fondness for spicy food, Hongyu wasn’t particularly surprised.
As for Shu…
The moment she heard that Dahuang City was suffering from a famine, she had immediately approached Hongyu to request permission to go there.
Once he agreed, she set off without wasting another moment.
Hongyu had offered to help her, but Shu turned him down.
Her reason was simple.
“I don’t want to cause Sir any more trouble.”
‘Heh.
Silly girl.’
‘Out of all of you, you’re the one who’s caused me the least trouble.’
Hongyu’s thoughts returned to the present.
He rose to his feet, intending to go for a walk or perhaps prepare breakfast.
Ever since the youngest of the Sui siblings had also moved out, responsibility for cooking had naturally fallen to Hongyu, who at least possessed some basic culinary skills.
There was no helping it.
As far as Ling was concerned…
Well, Hongyu had absolutely no expectations of that hopeless drunkard.
And as for Dusk…
He really didn’t want to eat another meal made entirely from ink.
To ordinary people, the food Dusk created with her paintings might look and taste like an exquisite feast.
But whenever Hongyu ate it, all he could taste was ink.
Nothing but ink.
Unfortunately, discovering this had left Dusk feeling miserable for quite some time.
Dusk: ‘The old geezer doesn’t like me anymore…
He won’t even eat the food I “make”…’
She sat sulking in a corner, drawing little circles with her brush.
Hongyu helplessly pressed a hand against his forehead.
He had suddenly realized that the older he became, the more he enjoyed reminiscing about the past.
Noticing that Dusk still hadn’t come out of her room, Hongyu decided to go wake her up.
He walked over to her door and knocked.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Dusk, time to get up.”
Knock, knock, knock.
“…”
‘Still asleep?’
Hongyu thought for a moment.
Then he simply opened the door.
“Yu…”
A weak voice came from beneath the blankets on the bed.
A small mound shifted.
Slowly, Dusk poked her head out.
Her normally beautiful face was deathly pale.
“I’m scared…”
Her fingers gripped the bedsheet tightly, her knuckles turning white.
Tears had already begun overflowing from her reddened eyes, slipping down her cheeks one after another.
The moment she saw Hongyu enter the room, Dusk threw herself toward him.
She had barely finished speaking before she collided with his chest, knocking him to the floor.
“Dusk, what are you—”
He was about to say something, but when he looked down at the girl in his arms, he fell silent.
Dusk was desperately trying to hold back her tears.
“It’s alright.
It’s alright.”
“Don’t be afraid.
You’re safe now.”
Hongyu gently stroked her trembling back, repeatedly reassuring her.
She looked like a frightened kitten that had just encountered a lion.
After quite some time, Dusk finally began to calm down.
Hongyu gently wiped the tears from her swollen eyes before asking in a soft voice.
“What did you dream about?”
“How could a dream frighten you badly enough to make you cry like this?”
To be honest, Hongyu had always known Dusk was timid.
But he hadn’t realized she could be frightened to tears by something she saw in a dream.
Dusk struggled to regain control of her emotions.
When she finally spoke, her voice was hoarse.
“Yu…”
“Is Sui…
still alive…?”
“I…
I dreamed about it…”
“We…”
“We all died…”
Hongyu’s eyes widened instantly.
He seemed to have forgotten something.
When he defeated Sui all those years ago, the giant beast hadn’t actually died.
Which meant…
‘Damn it!’
‘Has Sui’s consciousness already begun showing signs of awakening?!’
‘But…’
‘According to what I remember, Sui shouldn’t begin awakening for another several thousand years!’
‘It’s true that I intended to resolve the matter of Sui completely before my own death, but…’
‘Isn’t this happening far too early?!’
‘Could this be a butterfly effect caused by my travels through time?!’
‘And considering how Ling has been spacing out so frequently lately, occasionally struggling to distinguish her dreams from reality…’
‘Sui…’
‘Are you angry because you were defeated by a mere mortal?’
‘You’ve begun fighting to reclaim your divine authorities thousands of years ahead of schedule…’
‘You really are something else…’
Hongyu’s expression turned serious as he held Dusk in his arms.
However, a moment later, his usual smile returned.
“Dusk, it was only a dream.
If you dream about Sui again tonight…”
“Yu.”
Dusk interrupted him.
She raised her head and looked at Hongyu, her eyes glistening with tears like those of a frightened fawn.
Her lips parted slightly.
“Can I sleep with you?”
“When I’m with you, I feel safe, Yu…”
“…”
A casual conversation among the Sui siblings…
“Sir’s sleeping habits are…
rather poor…”
For some reason, Dusk’s face began turning red.
She scratched her flushed cheek before continuing.
“He seems to have trouble falling asleep unless he’s holding something…”
What Dusk didn’t realize was that while she was explaining this, Chongyue and Wang were staring at her with a mixture of bewilderment and curiosity.
Meanwhile, the expressions of her other siblings—particularly Ling, Shu, and Nian—had darkened considerably.
Their faces were practically as black as the bottoms of cooking pots.
“Little Dusky…
how exactly do you know that?”
Nian asked with a rather dangerous smile.
Dusk turned her bright red face away and refused to answer.
She was so flustered that she didn’t even notice Nian using her embarrassing nickname.