Chapter 62: “You Should Stay Far Away.”

Ren Qingyue.

On the thin Xuan Paper, black ink on white paper.

Yan Zhao silently repeated these three words.

Ren Qingyue’s handwriting was neat and beautiful, elegant and refined, just like the person herself.

Yan Zhao felt it was even easier to read than the characters in the Alchemy Book.

She memorized these three words, but Ren Qingyue didn’t let her go. She continued to hold the brush and wrote two more characters.

“Yan Zhao.” Ren Qingyue taught her to recognize them. “Do you know these two characters?”

Yan Zhao stared at the writing on the paper, lost in thought.

This was the first time she’d seen her own name. So that’s how it was written.

Yan Zhao answered: “I recognize them now.”

Ren Qingyue then released her hand, removed the top sheet of paper, and revealed the blank Xuan Paper underneath.

“Alright, you can start copying now.”

Yan Zhao: “…”

Seeing her holding the brush but not moving, Ren Qingyue raised her eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”

Yan Zhao glanced at her once, her lips murmuring as if she’d said something, but Ren Qingyue hadn’t caught it clearly.

“What did you say?” Ren Qingyue asked.

Yan Zhao tightened her grip on the brush handle and spoke: “How do you write ‘Snowball’?”

Ren Qingyue: “…”

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, her gaze full of meaning. “Why do you want to write these two characters?”

Yan Zhao answered truthfully: “My fox is called that.”

Ren Qingyue feigned sudden understanding with an “Oh,” then seized the topic to guide Yan Zhao. “If you want me to teach you to write, shouldn’t you be a little more polite?”

Yan Zhao tilted her head, not understanding what “being more polite” meant.

So Ren Qingyue added: “You need to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ This is essential etiquette.”

Yan Zhao was surprisingly obedient and immediately mimicked: “Please, thank you.”

Ren Qingyue: “…”

Her temple twitched violently. It took all her patience not to lose her temper.

Why is Shizun’s child so… incredibly… STUPID!

“Say it again. Repeat after me.” Ren Qingyue reached out and poked Yan Zhao’s nose. “Eldest Senior Sister, please teach me to write. Thank you.”

Yan Zhao met Ren Qingyue’s eyes. From within Ren Qingyue’s clear, cold gaze, she detected two parts of gentleness, as if a soft light had shone into the depths of her eyes.

“Eldest Senior Sister, please teach me to write.” Yan Zhao repeated along. “Thank you.”

Only then was Ren Qingyue satisfied.

She took Yan Zhao’s hand again and guided her to write “Snowball” on the paper.

Yan Zhao looked at the two new characters on the paper and exhaled a breath.

Ren Qingyue let go, replaced the paper with a clean sheet for her, and tapped the blank space with her slender fingertip. “Write.”

Yan Zhao gripped the brush tightly, suddenly feeling at a loss.

Yuan Yi occasionally taught Yan Zhao to recognize characters, but he had never taught her to write.

It had seemed so effortless and easy when Ren Qingyue held her hand and guided the brush. Now that it was her turn, she didn’t know how to begin writing.

Afraid that Ren Qingyue would seize her little fox if she didn’t comply, Yan Zhao lowered her head and began copying, feeling wronged.

When the tip of the brush touched the paper, she pressed down too hard, causing a huge blob of ink to bloom.

Seeing this, Ren Qingyue held her forehead.

Copying medical properties and such was still too profound and difficult for Yan Zhao. They needed to start from the very basics: holding the brush and learning to write.

Ren Qingyue felt her task was arduous and the road ahead long.

“Forget it, no more copying medical properties.” Taking pity on her, Ren Qingyue closed the Alchemy Book and took out the paper with their names written on it again. “Let’s start by learning these characters.”

Ren Qingyue glanced at the seven characters on the paper, then pointed to the simplest one, Ren, and said to Yan Zhao: “First, try writing this one.”

Not knowing how to maneuver the brush, Yan Zhao simply gripped the brush shaft in her fist, imitating the shape as best she could, sketching the general form.

Even though the character was crooked and slanted, it at least had some semblance of a shape.

Ren Qingyue’s brow smoothed out, and she didn’t hold back her praise. “Not bad.”

This compliment, delivered in a noticeably lighter, appreciative tone, reached Yan Zhao’s ears and seemed to stir her heartbeat.

Yan Zhao pursed her lips and moved on to the next character, Qing.

At first glance, it was impossible to tell how many horizontal strokes it had. Yan Zhao’s strokes were haphazard; the character looked nothing like it should, written very ugly.

This time, she didn’t hear Senior Sister praising her.

Yan Zhao lowered her gaze.

Suddenly, Ren Qingyue grasped her hand again.

“Look, write it like this.”

Whenever Ren Qingyue held her hand and guided her, the characters that landed on the paper were exceptionally beautiful.

It was worlds apart from the Qing character she had written herself.

Yan Zhao looked at Ren Qingyue’s handwriting, then at her own crooked characters, staring blankly.

Ren Qingyue released her hand and patiently encouraged her: “Try writing it again.”

Yan Zhao tightened her grip on the brush handle and carefully set the brush down.

No matter how careful she was, her character still wasn’t pretty.

But this time, it had a recognizable form, and the stroke order was correct.

A smile rose on Ren Qingyue’s lips, and a soft light flowed in her eyes. “You’ve only just started learning; you’re already writing quite well.”

Yan Zhao looked up, feeling that today’s Eldest Senior Sister was different from before.

Her gaze fell, and she realized that the blank paper before her was already soaked with ink unknowingly. Her strokes were thick; after writing only two characters, there was no more room to write.

Ren Qingyue simply swapped out that sheet. Instead of crumpling it up and throwing it away, she placed it beneath the Xuan Paper with their names written on it.

Before Ren Qingyue could even speak, Yan Zhao took the initiative to set down her brush and start writing the next character.

Writing all seven characters of their names took her an entire hour.

Especially the character Qiu in Snowball and Yan Zhao’s own surname were too difficult to write; who knew how many times she had to practice them.

The blank papers on the table were replaced sheet after sheet, and the practice paper stacked up into a small pile beside her.

By the end of the practice session, her writing was already taking on a decent form.

Ren Qingyue was immensely gratified.

When Yan Zhao set down her brush, Ren Qingyue conjured a string of candied hawthorns as if by magic.

Yan Zhao’s attention was immediately captured by the snack. After studying for so long and having her earlier bowl of dumplings completely digested, she was indeed hungry.

The candied hawthorn was offered to her. Yan Zhao reached out to take it, but just as her fingertips were about to touch the bamboo skewer, Ren Qingyue pulled it back.

Yan Zhao blinked and looked at her.

“Call me Eldest Senior Sister,” Ren Qingyue coaxed, as if teasing a child.

Yan Zhao complied readily: “Eldest Senior Sister.”

Ren Qingyue then… broke off a single hawthorn from the stick and handed it to her.

Yan Zhao: “…”

She opened her mouth and, right from Ren Qingyue’s offering hand, swallowed the hawthorn ball whole in one bite. She didn’t even chew, nor did she bother to spit out the seeds.

But Ren Qingyue froze as if struck by an Immobilization Spell.

Yan Zhao tilted her head and glanced at the remaining majority of the candied hawthorn skewer in Ren Qingyue’s hand.

Meeting Yan Zhao’s gaze, Ren Qingyue felt her heartbeat flutter inexplicably.

Her original intention had been to tease Yan Zhao, to coax her into calling out “Senior Sister” a few more times so it would stick firmly in her memory.

She hadn’t expected Yan Zhao to be so unrefined, too lazy to even reach out, simply opening her mouth to snatch the food from her hand.

Lips brushed against her fingertips—wet, soft, unfamiliar, and strange.

It reminded her for no reason of what happened in the woods that day…

Ren Qingyue panicked, quickly yanking her hand back and hiding it behind her back.

The lingering sensation on her fingertips slowly spread.

Yan Zhao’s eyes were now solely on the candied hawthorn. She bit off a hawthorn ball; it was sweet and sour.

She didn’t understand why Ren Qingyue had first broken off a piece, only to give her the entire skewer now.

But as long as there was food, she never overthought things.

A whole skewer was gulped down in a few bites. Yan Zhao even licked the sugar syrup stuck to the bamboo stick clean.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew into the small tower, and her ears twitched.

The sound of the howling wind seemed strange. Mixed within it seemed to be the sound of a child crying.

She put down the bamboo skewer and turned her head to look at Ren Qingyue.

Ren Qingyue didn’t seem to have heard it, as she was busy with her head down, tidying up the writing materials on the table.

Yan Zhao got up and headed outside.

Seeing this, Ren Qingyue snapped back to her senses and asked, “Where are you going?”

Yan Zhao had already reached the door, wanting to pull it open and take a look outside.

Just then, a faint noise came from the inner room.

Yan Zhao turned back and saw the little fox burrow out of the bedding, yawning lazily.

The tail exposed from the blanket was white, yet the body emerging from underneath was red.

Yan Zhao: “?”

Ren Qingyue also heard the commotion this time and followed Yan Zhao’s gaze.

“…”

There was that red fox, stretching lazily. Her fluffy, big tail wagged from side to side, and the flour used to dye it white scattered with a few flicks, revealing its original color.

The room fell silent.

Bai Jin had just woken up, still groggy and unaware of the situation, when suddenly her body felt light and she was lifted.

She opened her eyes. The one holding her was that human Cultivator with the outwardly obedient but inwardly wicked heart.

Yan Zhao lifted her up into the air, looking left, then right.

After a long while, she frowned deeply, half in doubt. “Snowball? Is your fur losing its color?”

Bai Jin: “…”

Pfft, she was originally this color!

And she wasn’t called Snowball!

Besides, it wasn’t like Yan Zhao was meeting her for the first time. How could she still make this mistake?

Yan Zhao met the fox’s eyes.

The red fox’s eyes weren’t so green; they leaned towards blue, different from Snowball’s eyes.

Yan Zhao let go.

Bai Jin landed on the ground and tumbled head over heels.

“!!!” Bai Jin was utterly furious now.

This person was really too much!

Yan Zhao’s expression was blank with confusion.

She clearly saw Snowball sleeping here just moments ago. How come the one that crawled out of the blankets was the red fox?

Then where did her Snowball go?

Yan Zhao turned her head. Ren Qingyue, who had been sitting in the room moments ago, was nowhere to be seen.

Could it be…

Yan Zhao’s pupils shrank.

Panicked, she shouted, “Snowball!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, a rustling sound came from under the table.

Yan Zhao followed the sound, dropped to the floor, lifted the edge of the tablecloth, and looked underneath.

A white fox head poked out from beneath the tablecloth’s edge.

Yan Zhao was sprawled on the floor, staring at her, two pairs of eyes locked together.

“So you were here!” Relief washed over Yan Zhao. She scooped Snowball into her arms instantly. “You scared me to death! Don’t go running off like that!”

She hugged the little fox and planted two kisses on her—smack, smack—making the little fox dizzy.

As the little fox was still in a daze, Yan Zhao suddenly poked her nose and earnestly instructed her: “If you ever encounter Ren Qingyue, you must stay far, far away.”

Yan Zhao spoke with utter seriousness: “Eldest Senior Sister specializes in catching little foxes.”

The little fox: “…”

Hah, her teeth were itching again.