Questioning (1/4)

Swish!

She snatched the bamboo scroll from the table and tucked it firmly under her arm.

Carrying a biting chill that heralded an impending storm.

Bang!

She pushed open the heavy wooden door of the alchemy room.

With large strides, she headed straight for the east wing.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Who is it?”

Xun Xue’s clear and pleasant voice came through, and the door opened.

Seeing the young man in the white shirt outside the door, whose face was so cold it could crack ice…

She seemed completely oblivious to his thunderous anger, her eyes still curved in a smile as warm as a spring day.

“What are you standing there for? Come on in~”

As soon as they met…

“…”

Lu Qiancha felt as if her heart had been fiercely seared by something. The sense of trust and intimacy from the depths of her bloodline spread uncontrollably like warm spring water.

The anger she had just gathered instantly dissipated like melting snow in spring, and the expression on her face unconsciously softened.

Tsk, it was the side effect of severing the bloodline link.

Lu Qiancha pursed her lips, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel any aversion towards Xun Xue.

“Sigh.”

A long, extremely frustrated sigh replaced the icy accusation she had intended to throw at her.

Lu Qiancha resignedly stepped into the room.

Smack! The soot-smelling bamboo scroll was slapped onto the table with a hint of a temper.

“Mother,” Lu Qiancha tried to make her voice sound less affectionate, “the pill recipe you gave me… has a problem.”

“A problem with the pill recipe?”

Xun Xue was stunned for a moment. She quickly picked up the bamboo scroll and unfolded it to examine it closely.

Her gaze swept over the ancient and elegant, flawless characters line by line…

“There’s no problem with the pill recipe.”

Xun Xue looked up, her azure eyes filled with genuine confusion. “The process, ingredients, dosage… it’s exactly the same recipe, not a single thing is different!”

“How is that possible?”

Lu Qiancha took a step forward, her paw tip poking the bamboo scroll with a hint of a temper. “Here! Adding the Nether Abyssal Stone directly after the Mist Dew Flower, a clash of water and fire! Without adding any wood-elemental supplementary herbs to buffer it! And then adding them later, isn’t that a mistake?”

She pointed to several other places. “Here, the monarch and minister are reversed, the supplementary is stronger than the main, the cart is put before the horse! And here, the main ingredient, the Shapeshifting Stone, is added last, which doesn’t conform to the principles of pill condensation at all!”

“…Aiya!” As Xun Xue listened, her originally confused expression suddenly lit up.

She slapped her forehead.

Looking at her daughter, whose expression was a little resentful, with dawning realization, her eyes were filled with a mix of amusement and exasperation.

“I understand now…” Xun Xue’s voice trembled with suppressed laughter.

“Understand what?” Lu Qiancha squinted.

“Pfft…” Xun Xue finally couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing. She quickly straightened her expression, trying very hard to hold back her laughter, and said, word by word, “Little Qiancha, you read the pill recipe backwards.”

“Huh?”

Lu Qiancha’s face was filled with confusion when she heard this.

“I read it backwards?”

She repeated subconsciously, her voice filled with disbelief. “I… read it from right to left? But the pill recipe is written from left to right?”

“Mmm-hmm! That’s right!” Xun Xue nodded like a garlic-pounding pestle, confirming this absurd fact.

“…”

Lu Qiancha stared at the bamboo scroll, where the characters were indeed illogical when read from right to left, but perfectly smooth and pleasing to the eye when read from left to right…

She gritted her teeth and cursed inwardly: ‘The person who wrote this pill recipe must have been seriously ill. Isn’t it normal for people to write from right to left?’

It was well known that when writing on bamboo slips, one would generally hold the scroll with the left hand and write with the right.

If one were to write from left to right, the right hand would have to both hold the scroll and write, and the wet ink would easily smudge one’s sleeves.

“So, why did the predecessor who wrote this pill recipe go against the grain and change the writing habit to from left to right?”

Lu Qiancha’s voice was a little dry, and she couldn’t help but ask.

“Oh,” Xun Xue blinked, her tone casual, “because he was a leftie.”

Lu Qiancha: “…”

That was a reason that couldn’t be refuted.

The last trace of Lu Qiancha’s already small resentment towards Xun Xue also instantly dissipated, quietly disappearing.

In its place was a heavy, suffocating feeling, as if her chest were filled with wet cotton, heavy and helpless.

She looked at Xun Xue and asked, “Mother, the ingredients for the Shapeshifting Pill… are there any more?”

“No, I only prepared one set.”

Xun Xue shook her head and said.

“Oh…”

The last bit of light in Lu Qiancha’s eyes… was extinguished with a poof.

She felt as if she had been completely drained of her strength, even losing the will to maintain her disguise.

Swish!

Her figure fluctuated slightly.

The disguise dissipated like water ripples, and she returned to the gloomy, dejected little wolf loli with azure fur.

Her two furry paws rested dejectedly on the hard, cold table, supporting her little face, which was written all over with “I’m shutting myself off.”

The tail behind her drooped to the floor, whipping back and forth with a thump, thump, thump of frustration.

“Um… that is…”

Xun Xue cautiously sidled up to her, her cool fingertips tentatively stroking her daughter’s blue fur, which was slightly bristled with frustration. “Is Little Qiancha angry?”

“Ngh~”

The extremely depressed blue furball, like a little puppy being petted, half-closed her eyes in comfort and couldn’t help but let out an extremely soft, nasal sound.

The next second!

Lu Qiancha, as if she had been scalded, suddenly darted to the side.

She tried to create some distance, and only then did she manage to dispel the damn sense of comfort brought by the bloodline resonance.

She rubbed the tips of her ears, which had become hot from being touched, and forced a smile on her small face, shaking her head vigorously. “I’m not angry… really.”

The ingredients belonged to Xun Xue, and the pill recipe belonged to Xun Xue. What right did she have to be angry?

She was just a little frustrated, frustrated that she hadn’t bothered to check and had just followed the wrong method to refine the pill.

At this moment, Lu Qiancha looked at the white wall to the side and actually had the idea of scratching the wall with her small paws to vent her frustration…

Lu Qiancha shook her head, throwing that absurd idea out of her mind.

Xun Xue looked at her daughter’s figure, which was trying to maintain its composure but was filled with desolation, with a heartache. Her heart felt as if it had been lightly pricked by a needle.

A thick layer of guilt and heartache that couldn’t be dispelled instantly filled Xun Xue’s azure eyes.

Her voice dropped. “It’s all my fault. I didn’t tell you about the problem with the pill recipe in advance.”

“It’s not your fault, Mother.”

Lu Qiancha’s voice was filled with genuine helplessness. She shook her head and sighed heavily again. The frequency of her tail’s flicking revealed a sense of resigned dejection.

“…”

Hearing this, Xun Xue pursed her lips, looking at her sensible daughter with heartache.

Suddenly, a bright light lit up in her azure eyes.

Since her daughter was in a bad mood, she would take her out to play and dispel the gloom with some fun.

“Little Qiancha!”

Xun Xue instantly put on a brilliant smile, like the sun breaking through the clouds. Her voice rose an octave, filled with infinite temptation. “How about I take you to the seaside to relax?”

“Huh?”

Lu Qiancha’s face was stunned. “To the seaside?”

“Yes, to the seaside!”

Xun Xue seemed to not see her daughter’s astonishment and gestured enthusiastically. “Golden, sandy beaches! Huge waves that can swallow all your troubles!

“Step on the soft, warm sand! Catch the silly, stranded little fish! Pry open rocks to catch the hidden little crabs!

“When you’re hungry, you can grill the freshest seafood! With the salty wind blowing…”

Xun Xue’s description was so vivid that you could almost smell the sun and sea salt.

Her sparkling eyes were filled with a cautious expectation…

Lu Qiancha looked at Xun Xue’s enthusiasm and her cautious plea for forgiveness, and she couldn’t bring herself to say no.

But to be honest, forcing herself to cultivate with such a downcast mood would probably lead to her Qi going astray.

It would be better to go out with Xun Xue for some fresh air and relieve her worries and frustrations.

“…Alright.”

Lu Qiancha resignedly nodded her little head. Her voice was listless, but the tip of her tail honestly perked up a little.