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Au…Aunt?
Ye Zichen looked at the girl, who was sticking out her pretty little jaw as she placed her hands on her hips and demanded he call her his aunt. Despite himself, Ye Zichen felt his expression darken.
“Girl, even if you want to pull one over on me, you shouldn’t take it that far.”
She looked only fifteen years old. Even though in the Upper Three Realms, appearance wasn’t a reliable indicator of age, Ye Zichen was certain that she was less than a hundred.
Ye Zichen had only lived a bit over one hundred years. Calling a little girl like this “aunt”? Wouldn’t that be a joke?
“Who’s trying to pull one over on you? I’m really your aunt!” She glared at him, but she seemed serious. “Your mom is Ye Rong, right?”
“That’s right!”
“Well, I’m the youngest daughter of the Gu Family, Gu Luolin. Given your mom’s level of seniority in the Gu Family, as her son, you ought to call me ‘aunt’!” She pouted her lips, but looked rather excited.
The Gu Family hadn’t had any new descendants in one hundred years. She’d always been the youngest. If her clansman wasn’t an older brother or sister, they were an aunt or uncle. Even Ye Rong, after returning to the family as the Lord of Seven Stars, was her senior. They were of the same generation, but Gu Luolin still had to call her “Clan Sister”.
She’d always dreamed of being a senior, so when she learned that Ye Rong had a son, she was delighted. She’d been going on about making Ye Rong bring him back to the clan all this time so she could meet her dear nephew, yet Ye Rong had never introduced Ye Zichen to the family. Outside, she never used the surname “Gu”, either.
She never would have guessed she’d meet her nephew in the Transcendent Mausoleum of all places.
She was so happy, she couldn’t keep her mouth closed. She just sat there in the straw, her eyes flashing with delight while she waited for Ye Zichen to call her “Aunt”….
“You say you’re from the Gu Family? So my mom went back?”
“That’s right!”
“I know my mom is a member of the Gu Family, but that was in the lower planes. Is this Gu Family the same one as down there?”
“I don’t know, but my dad says Ye Rong is a member of the Gu Family, and my clan sister.” From the way Gu Luolin spoke, it was clear she was young and inexperienced in the ways of the world. Ye Zichen’s initial guess, that she was perhaps close to one hundred years old, seemed like an overestimate. She might really be as young as she looked: fifteen or sixteen.
Ye Zichen tilted his head at her. He could understand her feelings.
It was a classic example of a kid in a hurry to grow up.
When he saw how excited she looked, Ye Zichen couldn’t help but sigh. “I suppose that, if my mother is your clan sister, that does indeed make you my aunt.”
The girl giggled. “Then hurry up and call me aunt! Hurry, hurry!” She urged him on repeatedly, then sat up straight amidst the straw.
From time to time, she even imitated the gestures of her seniors, as if recalling how they behaved when they saw her.
Ye Zichen glanced at her, then ignored her.
Calling Xuan Ji “Aunt” was a matter of course; she was Ye Rong’s dear friend, and both her age and her cultivation made her worthy of the title.
But Gu Luolin…
She just looked like a little girl. Also, if he really called her his aunt, wouldn’t that effectively be a declaration that he was a member of the Gu Family?
He hadn’t forgotten what happened to the white-robed Gu Zichen. He’d sworn that, no matter what, he wouldn’t join the Gu Family. If he did, it would be like the same old story repeating itself. He wanted to change history, so…. No matter what, he wouldn’t join the Gu Family.
He wouldn’t use the surname “Gu”, either.
“Hey, what are you doing! Hurry up and call me ‘aunt’! Hurry!” Gu Luolin cried out.
Ye Zichen simply raised his hand and patted her on the head. She couldn’t help but recall the way her clan brothers and other seniors often did the same. “Don’t pat my head! You’ll kill my brain cells.”
She said this practically instinctively. As soon as the words left her lips, she covered her mouth. Then, she changed her tone, responding with the anger befitting a senior. “You don’t know your place!”
“Honestly, girl, being a junior is so great. What do you want to play senior for? You can forget about me calling you my aunt. There are so many families with the same surname. Who knows? My mom might have found the wrong one. Or perhaps, you deliberately tricked her to rope in the Lord of Seven Stars.”
“Nonsense!” She roared in her cute, youthful voice. She really seemed angry.
“Throughout the Yao, Demon, and God Realms, there’s only one Gu Family. Everyone knows of our position! The Lord of Seven Stars…? Even if she were the Emperor Star, it wouldn’t be so easy to win our approval. You think we’d try to rope her in? Hurry up and apologize!
Lolis were lolis. Even when she was angry, there was cuteness mixed into it.
Ye Zichen only laughed in the face of Gu Luolin’s rage, but as he was about to speak, he suddenly recalled something. Then, he turned to her and said solemnly, “You’re saying there’s only one Gu Family?”
When she sensed how serious he was, the youthful, inexperienced Gu Luolin said in a quavering voice, “That’s right. What of it?”
“Is the Gu Family famous in the Upper Three Realms?”
“Of course it is! Although we don’t occupy our own Divine Mountain, our reputation is superior to even the Divine Mountain’s Holy Lands, and by quite a bit too. I don’t dare say that everyone knows of us. Diviners and supremes are too weak to learn about us. But I will say that rulers have all heard of us!” Gu Luolin stuck out her jaw and snorted proudly.
Rulers all knew!
Ye Zichen’s brows sank. He stroked his temple, his eyes flashing with contemplation.
Gu Luolin took in his heavy gaze, then tilted her head. “What is it?”
“Are you sure all of them know?”
“Wendy wouldn’t I? After becoming a ruler, everyone learns of our Gu Family. Some people even report in after becoming a ruler to let us know about their breakthrough.”
Ye Zichen’s expression only grew more and more solemn. At the same time, he took out a cigarette and lit it.
Those familiar with Ye Zichen all knew that, when he lit a cigarette, it meant a weighty problem was occupying his thoughts.
“Cough… What is that….?”
“Quiet.” Ye Zichen narrowed his eyes, startling her. Then, he took out a couple of lollipops and tossed them to her. “Go play over there.”
Gu Luolin had definitely never seen a lollipop before, but for a junior to treat her like this naturally infuriated her.
Her eyes widened, and she was just about to scold him when she saw how serious he looked. She was afraid that if she interrupted his thoughts, he’d scold her again. All she could do was pout and pick the lollipops up off the straw.
She flared her nostrils. Just the scent was enough to make her gulp.
After taking off the wrapper and putting it in her mouth…..
“It’s so sweet!”
Gu Luolin’s faint anger disappeared, replaced with a joyous smile. Afterward, she really did stop kicking up a fuss. She just obediently ran over the grass and savored her lollipop. She also carefully put the others away so she could take her time enjoying them later.“
“Could it be him?” Ye Zichen’s eyes glinted as he lit up on cigarette after another and stuck them in his mouth.
Gu Luolin’s words really had made him think of some rather serious issues. In the past, he’d thought them strange, but they suddenly seemed even stranger.
“But he never ascended to the mountains. What was his goal in doing all this?”
Only Ye Zichen knew who the “he” he referred to was.
Gu Luolin simply sat on the straw, licking her lollipop and listening to Ye Zichen muttering to himself. She didn’t understand any of it.
It was just like back in the clan, where her seniors were always going on about things she didn’t understand.
“He’s my nephew, but he refuses to call me his aunt. He really doesn’t have any manners.” Gu Luolin pouted, but the lollipop had left her lips incomparably lustrous. She kept licking in, which improved her mood a fair bit. She snorted, “Since he gave me this, I’ll let him off for his bad manners!”
“Who exactly is he?” Ye Zichen was still lost in thought. Everything that person had done replayed through his mind like a movie, floating back into view repeatedly.
The more he thought about it, the more obvious it was how strange “he” was, and the less Ye Zichen could find a reasonable explanation for it. “Could it be that he did this on purpose? Or that he really didn’t know? But if that were true, it ought to have been hard to keep it all a secret.”
Ye Zichen’s forehead was already knit into three lines, like the character, “川”. The box was down to its last few cigarettes.
“Scree!”
Suddenly, a piercing, resonant cry carrying a hint of resentment emanated from afar. The sound was familiar; it seemed to belong to the giant condor.
“Big White!” Gu Luolin’s response was far more certain than Ye Zichen’s, as she’d spent more time with the bird. She knew it was his.
She instantly rose from the straw, while Ye Zichen pushed his earlier thoughts to the back of his mind.
When he saw how anxious Gu Luolin looked, he asked, “What happened?”
“Big White is in trouble!” Gu Luolin looked frantic. She rushed to the entryway. “We have to hurry up and save him!”
“….” Ye Zichen solemnly reached out and grabbed her. “Look, miss, quit joking around. Do you think we’re on the ground? This is a cliff! There’s a hundred thousand feet between us and the ground! If we fall, never mind becoming a meat pancake; there won’t be anything left of us by the time we hit the ground!”
“Miss?” Gu Luolin blinked. “Aha! So, you admit that I’m your senior?”
“????” Ye Zichen looked baffled.
When did “miss” become a way of addressing your seniors?
Why hadn’t Ye Zichen heard anything about that?
Besides, he was clearly using it expressively, just like everyone else. That was common both in the Modern Realm, as well as in the Upper Three Realms.
It seemed that this Gu Luolin…
Really was young and inexperienced!
Ye Zichen could only understand it that way!
However, her excitement at being addressed so “respectfully” only lasted a moment before she suppressed it. “Big White’s plight is serious! We have to hurry and save him right away!”