Mentor Yu Xuan suddenly shot to her feet. She circled behind Yan Zhen, knelt down beside him, and wrapped her slender arms tightly around him. She pressed her entire body against his, squishing even her ample bosom flat.
“Yan Zhen is mine! You can’t do this to him!”
Eyes squeezed shut, she shouted at the top of her lungs, sounding just like a little girl whose favorite toy had been snatched away—furious and deeply wronged.
But after her outburst, no one said a word. It was as if everyone was completely ignoring her.
Mentor Yu Xuan’s heart ached even more. She opened her eyes and glanced around. Her great-aunt and aunt were watching her with knowing smirks, while Little Aunt wore an expression of guilt mingled with concern.
Mentor Yu Xuan wasn’t some naive child anymore. She understood at once and turned toward the great-aunt who had started it all.
“Great-Aunt, you… all of you…”
Elder Yu Yan smiled warmly as she stroked her niece’s hair.
“I have no idea what went on between you and Little Yan Zhen, Xuan’er, but throwing a tantrum like this isn’t becoming. Husband and wife—even if a real rift forms between them—should talk it out and work to mend it. Dodging the issue blindly will only widen the gap and invite outsiders to slip in.”
Shui Bailan nodded in agreement.
“Exactly. If it had been some other woman instead of us, Yan Zhen might have been swept right off his feet. Hehe~”
Mentor Yu Xuan puffed out her cheeks, her voice thick with grievance.
“You all… you just know how to bully me.”
Elder Yu Yan’s beautiful eyes narrowed into sly crescents.
“How is this bullying? It’s the loving concern of your elders. Isn’t that right, Little Qing?”
“Uh…”
Dean Yu Qing shifted uncomfortably. She had just pieced it together: her sister and best friend had been deliberately cozying up to Yan Zhen to goad Xuan’er into reconciling with him. It wasn’t that they were actually flirting with him right in front of her… She wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and crawl into it. She quietly released her hold on Yan Zhen’s arm.
“Y-Yeah, cough cough. I don’t particularly like this little punk, but… since you’re a couple, you ought to make it work. Mm-hmm.”
Shui Bailan shot her best friend a sidelong glance, thinking that this girl hadn’t been trying to help Xuan’er at all a moment ago. No, she’d just wanted to cop a feel from Yan Zhen. What a heartless little aunt!
She, on the other hand—this aunt—might have seized the chance to get a little close to Yan Zhen, but her main goal had been to give her niece a nudge.
Dean Yu Qing caught that disdainful look from her best friend and felt even guiltier. She ducked her head and shoveled food into her mouth, pretending to be nothing but a brainless foodie.
Mentor Yu Xuan snapped out of it too. She had been stubbornly fixated. Deep down, she knew Yan Zhen hadn’t lied to her. It was just that the thought of his mouth full of milky fragrance made her blood boil.
“Sorry, Yan Zhen. I… I shouldn’t have taken my temper out on you.”
Yan Zhen hadn’t said a word until then. Now he offered a faint smile.
“It’s okay. But why did you get so suddenly upset, Mentor?”
He truly seemed oblivious. So it must have been Mother who had done it while he slept… A strange feeling stirred in Mentor Yu Xuan’s chest. She couldn’t imagine her own mother—that frigid woman—doing such a thing.
“You were with Mother so late. I made you a midnight snack, and you didn’t even come back to eat it.”
Yan Zhen turned his head toward her.
“My apologies, Mentor. I wasn’t thinking. It won’t happen again.”
His words only made Mentor Yu Xuan feel more remorseful.
“We both messed up somewhere. Let’s call it even this time.”
She leaned in and planted a kiss on his cheek. But a sour tang lingered in her heart.
The image of those three beautiful elder women holding Yan Zhen’s hand, feeding him bites, wiping his mouth—it gnawed at her. Unwilling to let it go, she tilted her head and ambushed his lips with a sudden, fierce kiss. Yan Zhen was caught off guard as she pressed the attack.
As if putting on a deliberate show for them, Mentor Yu Xuan cupped Yan Zhen’s face with one hand. She teased the tip of his tongue between her lips, filling the air with wet slurping sounds while humming her pleasure through her nose.
The three elder beauties stared in stunned astonishment. Shui Bailan covered her mouth with a hand. Dean Yu Qing gulped down a mouthful of saliva. Even Elder Yu Yan’s squinted eyes popped open.
“Oh my, the young ones have some fire~”
“So practiced… Is this what real lovers do?”
“Xuan’er…”
Mentor Yu Xuan finally pulled away when her breath grew ragged. Her beautiful eyes brimmed with affection as she gazed at her fiancé. His flushed cheeks and dazed expression ignited a fresh impulse to tease him.
She kissed him again—a quick dragonfly skim of the lips—then another, pouring out the emotions swelling inside her.
Satisfied at last, Mentor Yu Xuan spoke in a coquettish lilt.
“This is our makeup ritual. Once it’s done, no more sulking in secret from each other, got it?”
Yan Zhen was left dizzy from Mentor Wife’s fierce-as-a-tiger onslaught of kisses. He nodded obediently.
Suddenly, an indifferent voice drifted in from the doorway.
“What exactly are you all doing?”
The five in the room came to their senses and whipped their heads around. There stood the Family Head Yu Lu in the entrance, her delicate brows furrowed as she surveyed them.
She had shed her ceremonial robes for simple yet elegant attire that highlighted her noblewoman’s poise. That frown lent her the unmistakable authority of a family head.
Mentor Yu Xuan jolted fully awake and hastily released Yan Zhen.
“Mother.”
“Mother-in-law.”
Shui Bailan bowed her head.
“Greetings, Sister-in-law.”
Elder Yu Yan chuckled genially.
“Little Lu, you’ve arrived. Come, take a seat.”
The Family Head Yu Lu slipped off her embroidered shoes and glided into the room with graceful steps. Her jade feet, sheathed in white silk socks, peeked out as she moved.
She eyed the disarrayed seating and settled opposite her sister.
She opened her mouth to speak, only for Elder Yu Yan to cut her off.
“Xuan’er, back to your place.”
Blushing furiously, Mentor Yu Xuan returned to her spot and sat up straight, prim and proper.
She might be a reincarnator whose past-life cultivation had surpassed her mother’s, but a mother was always a mother—especially one as stern and imposing as hers.
The Family Head Yu Lu glanced at her daughter, then at her son-in-law. After a moment’s thought, she said nothing.
Yan Zhen heaved a sigh of relief. With Mother-in-law here, at least Elder Great-Aunt and Dean Little Aunt wouldn’t keep his hands pinned anymore. Otherwise, even a simple meal would be impossible in peace.
Elder Yu Yan asked, “All the business wrapped up, Little Lu?”
The Family Head Yu Lu gave a soft hum.
“Mostly. The rest goes to the Chief Manager.”
Dean Yu Qing huffed in protest.
“It’s the holiday. Can’t you take it easy for once? Always rushing about—leave the trifles to Aunt Hui.”
The Family Head Yu Lu shot her sister a flat look.
“Eat your food. So much talk.”
“Hmph~”
“Sister’s advanced already. What about you, Little Qing?”
“I… I’m nearly there too.”
“You’ve slacked off. Otherwise, you’d have broken through before the holiday.”
“…”
Dean Yu Qing fell silent. Over the past half year, every time she sat down to cultivate, thoughts of a certain someone derailed her focus, slashing her efficiency.
The Family Head Yu Lu showed no sign of rebuke, her tone still cool.
“After the holiday, head to Rain God Peak with Bailan for advanced training. Hand off Outer Academy duties to someone else for now.”
“Eh?”
The abrupt command left Dean Yu Qing at a loss.
Ignoring her, the Family Head Yu Lu peered past the daughter seated between them toward her alluring little sister-in-law.
“Bailan, what do you say?”
