Chapter 62: Peeping Part 2

The instant Bo Xuenong lifted her head from Shen Yanting’s embrace, she happened to see Shen Yanting continuously scooting back, getting closer and closer to Junior Sister Feng’s legs.

She instinctively reached out and pressed Shen Yanting’s waist to stop her from retreating further. Her thick eyelashes trembled lightly: “Master, are you tired? Shishu Feng seems fine now. Why don’t you go back to your room and rest?”

Before Shen Yanting could nod, the ever-meddling Junior Sister Feng set down her tea bowl and blinked at Shen Yanting: “Senior Sister, if you’re not at ease about me, you can sleep with me too. Jin’er can share a room with Xuenong for the night.”

Before Shen Yanting could react, Feng Jin hurriedly pounced onto the bed and covered Junior Sister Feng’s mouth.

“Mmph…” Junior Sister Feng finally pried Feng Jin’s hand away and grumbled discontentedly: “Feng Jin, are you trying to murder your own mother?”

Sweat beaded on Feng Jin’s forehead as she smiled at Bo Xuenong: “Eldest Senior Sister, don’t listen to Junior Sister Feng.”

Shen Yanting found it odd: “Little Jin, your mother seems to be asking me.”

Junior Sister Feng pushed Feng Jin’s hand away: “Exactly, I’m asking Senior Sister. Telling Xuenong not to listen to me is useless.”

Junior Sister Feng’s energy had indeed improved a lot; she even had the mind to fool around here.

Even knowing Junior Sister Feng was this frivolous and unreliable, Bo Xuenong still felt annoyed.

Junior Sister Feng continued asking: “Senior Sister, will you stay with me for the night?”

Bo Xuenong circled Shen Yanting’s waist tighter, practically hugging her.

Shen Yanting stroked Bo Xuenong’s head. A strange feeling rose within her; she seemed to smell the scent of sour spirit fruits on Bo Xuenong.

Her lips moved, but she still refused Junior Sister Feng: “Junior Sister Feng, I’m not used to sharing a bed with others.”

Junior Sister Feng picked up the basin-sized bowl and mumbled while biting the rim: “But Senior Sister, don’t you sleep with your disciple too?”

Shen Yanting and Bo Xuenong both heard the mumble. Shen Yanting pretended not to, while Bo Xuenong showed a bit of smugness.

Bo Xuenong looked as if she had just won some monumental battle, her tail almost wagging—though fortunately, she remembered Shen Yanting’s warning.

Feng Jin knew Junior Sister Feng meant no harm, but she still felt her mother was courting death everywhere. She pushed the large bowl in Junior Sister Feng’s hand while signaling her to finish all the tonic tea she had exchanged, then deliberately shifted the topic to Bo Xuenong: “Senior Sister, was it fun outside?”

Only then did Bo Xuenong remember she should tell Junior Sister Feng and Feng Jin about the Sound Retaining Fruit.

She climbed up from the floor and beckoned to Ji Caiyan.

Ji Caiyan finally withdrew her gaze from Ye Zhiyao and took the initiative to explain the Sound Retaining Fruit to Feng Jin and the others, giving Ye Zhiyao a chance to breathe.

Junior Sister Feng was unreliable, yes, but she had a true sense of justice. After hearing it, she could not help mumbling: “That Xu Hongyong is truly too despicable.”

Her tea bowl was too large; she had drunk for a long time, yet the level had not dropped much.

Junior Sister Feng simply set the bowl down again. Her eyes darted around, and she suddenly asked Feng Jin: “Jin’er, do you still want a dad?”

The abrupt question stunned both Bo Xuenong and Feng Jin. Before they could respond, Junior Sister Feng suddenly gestured a knife-chop at Feng Jin’s neck: “Be careful he kills you!”

Junior Sister Feng’s words seemed like a question but were actually a threat.

Feng Jin rolled her eyes exasperatedly at her un-serious mother: “Mom, you can’t assume all fathers in the world are bad just because your dad treated you poorly and Second Senior Sister’s fiancé treated his daughter poorly.”

“Nonsense.” Junior Sister Feng poked Feng Jin’s forehead hard with her free hand. She was uncharacteristically serious: “Jin’er, remember that your grandparents are the best parents in the world. They loved me so much, and if they were still alive, they would love you just as much.”

Her words left not only Feng Jin puzzled but even Shen Yanting confused.

The Imperial Serenity Sect had always said Junior Sister Feng had fled to the mountain back then because she refused an arranged marriage.

Bo Xuenong asked first: “Shishu Feng, did you really join the Imperial Serenity Sect back then because of a forced marriage?”

“No.” Junior Sister Feng shook her head honestly: “My mom and dad didn’t have me until they were in their forties. They doted on me endlessly, so how could they bear to force me into an unwilling marriage? I said I didn’t want to marry and wanted to stay with them forever, and they agreed without regard for the village’s mockery.”

Feng Jin blinked oddly: “Then how did you end up on the mountain?”

Feng Yingbo’s eyes dimmed a little, and a brief sadness appeared on her face. “I originally wanted to stay with my parents until they passed away. That year, a traveling physician came to the village. Not only could that physician treat illnesses, but he was also extremely accurate at physiognomy.”

“That traveling physician was spot-on with his readings. He could even predict exactly how many eggs a family’s old hen would lay that day. He said I had an innate look of an immortal and shouldn’t stay in the village. I should seek immortality and the Dao, and in the future, I would achieve great things. My parents deeply believed this and insisted I pursue the immortal path. I was naturally unwilling. But then, my parents suddenly fell gravely ill. They feared I would be left all alone after they died, so they made me choose: seek the immortal path or marry a good husband. At that time, I felt that all men in the world except my father were heartless and lustful. Of course, I refused to marry, so I joined the nearest sect to home, the Imperial Serenity Sect.”

No wonder Feng Yingbo had such a big heart. She had been pampered growing up.

Her ready acceptance of Feng Jin was probably because she had received so much love from her family that she was deeply reliant on familial bonds.

“Senior Sister.” Feng Yingbo smiled embarrassedly at Shen Yanting. “Actually, after I went up the mountain and received the cultivation dharma formula, I went back home. At that time, the Old Sect Master was on the verge of death and unable to manage the sect, and there was no successor decided yet. The outer sect disciples were unsupervised. I went home to accompany my parents for five years, seeing them through their old age until they passed, before returning to the mountain, and no one even noticed.”

“…”

Bo Xuenong remembered that Shen Yanting had said Feng Yingbo joined the Imperial Serenity Sect at thirty-five. Without pills to support her and without guidance from seniors, she reached foundation establishment peak in less than ten years, with foundations even better than Ji Caiyan and the others, who had top-grade foundation establishment pills. She could truly be called a heaven-sent genius.

Now, Bo Xuenong realized Feng Yingbo’s talent might be even better than they had imagined. She never expected that during her time in the outer sect, Feng Yingbo had actually snuck back to the mortal world without even a spirit array for five years to cultivate.

This was somewhat beyond Shen Yanting’s expectations too.

The most shocked was Ye Zhiyao.

A flash of jealousy passed through Ye Zhiyao’s eyes, and after it faded, there was a sense of relief. “Little Junior Sister has such talent; it’s truly a waste for her to stay in the Imperial Serenity Sect.”

When Bo Xuenong heard Ye Zhiyao call it a waste, she suddenly had the urge to hold her forehead and sigh.

After all, according to the original book plot, Feng Yingbo died before even appearing in the main story, done in by a struggle with spirit fruits.

Bo Xuenong felt that Feng Jin’s “stubborn one” didn’t quite capture Feng Yingbo anymore. She thought Feng Yingbo was a bit dim-witted.

Feng Yingbo had no idea Bo Xuenong was secretly criticizing her. Even mentioning her parents’ deaths still brought her sadness. “Speaking of which, it’s quite strange. That traveling physician was so accurate about everything, including my talent. My cultivation path has indeed been smooth. But why… was he off about my parents’ lifespans?”

Feng Jin asked curiously, “What did he predict for Grandma and Grandpa?”

Feng Yingbo thought for a moment and said, “He said my parents were long-lived people who could at least live to a hundred. But they only lived to eighty.”

Everything was spot-on except for that one deviation. It really wasn’t reasonable.

Traveling physician? Fortune-telling?

It couldn’t be such a coincidence.

Bo Xuenong remembered that in the original book, Sang Fan disguised himself as a traveling physician to trick the male protagonist into ditching Yu Cenwan, that drag on his progress. Pretending to point out her path, he said mortal doctors couldn’t save her, but immortals might, coaxing the ten-year-old Yu Cenwan to set off on the immortal path alone.