A Shift in Mindset

“I’m sorry, senior brother.”

Gan Tang flinched at the shout.
She hurriedly handed over a bowl of slightly hot ginger and brown sugar water with red dates and goji berries.

Lu Qiancha snorted heavily through her nose.

The next second after turning her face away, her little paw very naturally took the bowl.

“Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!” She downed it in several large mouthfuls.
The slightly hot, sweet, and spicy liquid slid down her throat.

She pushed Gan Tang away and walked straight to the stone pavilion at the foot of the mountain.

With a “splat,” she threw herself onto the cold stone bench.

Her two small paws propped up her cheeks, her eyes staring blankly at the rolling and unfolding clouds in the distance.

At that moment, a familiar red figure slowly approached from the road.

“Eh? Little Qiancha?!”

Shangguan Yunzhu’s footsteps paused, her eyes filled with surprise and unexpected joy, “You’ve finished your seclusion?!”

“It’s been over for a long time.”

Lu Qiancha said in an irritable tone.

“Uh…”

Shangguan Yunzhu’s bright smile instantly froze on her face.
She fidgeted with the silk tassel of the jade pendant at her waist.

‘Did I say something wrong?’

Her face was filled with undisguised bewilderment.

Then Shangguan Yunzhu hurriedly apologized: “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“Since you know you shouldn’t have asked, what are you still standing here for? If you want to talk about something, go find my master.
She’s on the mountain right now.”

Lu Qiancha said unceremoniously, her tail restlessly sweeping the snowy grass at the side.

‘Pouting.’

“Uh…”

Shangguan Yunzhu was completely stunned.
Her brain shut down on the spot from this sudden hostility.

Her eyes drifted towards Gan Tang for help.
She lowered her voice and asked quietly, “What’s wrong with your senior brother?”

“Don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask.”

Gan Tang rolled her eyes at her.
‘A girl’s period is one of her most private matters.
How could I tell someone else, especially when this person might be her love rival.’

“Alright…”

Shangguan Yunzhu was at a loss for words, the smile on her face a little forced.

She cupped her hands at Lu Qiancha with some helplessness: “Senior brother Qiancha, Yunzhu will come to bother you another day.”

“Go away, go away.”

Lu Qiancha waved her paw to shoo her away.

Almost at the instant Shangguan Yunzhu’s figure disappeared around the corner of the stone steps.

“Swoosh!”

A flash of ice light, and Xun Xue’s figure lightly emerged from the snow-covered path at the side.

“How are you feeling?”

She asked warmly, her deep blue eyes filled with inquiry, precisely landing on the blue-furred ball of fluff in the stone pavilion.

“Mother!”

The impatient look on Lu Qiancha’s little face was instantly replaced by a brilliant light of surprise.
She opened her paws, her blue eyes filled with undisguised longing, and looked at Xun Xue with pleading eyes.

Gan Tang, at the side, felt a pang of jealousy.
‘Damn it, I was here first…’

Xun Xue chuckled lightly and held Lu Qiancha in her arms.

“Ngh…”

‘So comfortable.’

The bloodline resonance made Lu Qiancha feel a sense of comfort, and the pain almost completely disappeared.
She wrapped her paws around Xun Xue’s neck, rested her little face on Xun Xue’s shoulder, and slowly closed her eyes.

After this incident, Lu Qiancha no longer rejected the resonance brought by her bloodline.

On the contrary, at this moment, she had a faint expectation for the comfort brought by this bloodline resonance.

“Huu…”

A small but steady and long breath came from Xun Xue’s shoulder.

“Heh, you little sleepyhead.”

Xun Xue dotingly rubbed the top of Lu Qiancha’s head.

The sleeping Lu Qiancha seemed to sense this touch and unconsciously nuzzled her little head against her palm.

At the side.

Gan Tang stood quietly, her gaze fixed on the large and small wolves who were pressed together.
An indescribable sourness and envy rippled through her heart, one circle after another.

‘No, no, that’s my future mother-in-law.
There’s nothing to be jealous of.’

Gan Tang shook her head and followed Xun Xue and Lu Qiancha back to the small courtyard.

In the middle of the night.

Perhaps because she had drunk too much ginger and brown sugar water, Lu Qiancha was woken up by a surging pressure.

She let out a long, groggy yawn, got out of bed, and took care of her business.

However, not long after she got back into bed.

“Ngh…”

Lu Qiancha frowned.
‘It was just a trip to the latrine, how did it start hurting again…’

Lu Qiancha endured the discomfort, fumbled to put a new fire spirit crystal into the red copper hot water bottle.
She wrapped herself tightly in the thick flannel quilt again.

The warmth gradually spread, but this lingering pain stubbornly persisted, refusing to give way.

All sleepiness was gone.

‘Forget it, I’ll cultivate instead.’

Lu Qiancha sat cross-legged, concentrated her mind, and tried to circulate the spiritual energy in her dantian.

Outside the window, a strong night wind slammed against the window frame.

“Hooo~~~”

A gust of cold air seeped in through the cracks in the window…

“Wuu~”

Lu Qiancha was instantly bent over in pain.
Never mind concentrating on cultivation, she could barely even sit still.

The large tail behind Lu Qiancha thrashed against the bed at her side, venting her pain.

“Thud!”

A heavy, dull sound.

Her tail had squarely hit the red copper hot water bottle at the side.

“Awoo…”

Lu Qiancha let out a cry of pain and curled up into a ball, clutching her tail.

‘So painful, so hot.’

Lu Qiancha tremblingly got up, shakily took out a bottle of crimson instant healing potion from her storage pouch, and without looking, took a big gulp.

The pain on her tail instantly disappeared, but the cold potion went down into her stomach.

The raging cold qi in her abdomen was instantly reinforced, churning and twisting even more violently, and her little tummy started to hurt again.

‘Driving away a wolf at the front door only to let a tiger in at the back; one straight line becomes blocked at both ends.’

“Wuwu~”

Lu Qiancha was completely defeated by this pain.
Her helpless sobs were especially clear in the quiet night.

She gritted her teeth and with great effort, propped up her small body from the bed, and tremblingly picked up the re-warmed red copper hot water bottle.

Step by step, she staggered out of the cold room.

On the other side, Xun Xue was lying on her couch, playing with a flowing, radiant communication jade signet in her fingers, idly chatting with an old friend through divine sense.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

A faint but unusually persistent knocking sound broke the silence in the room.

“?”

‘So late, who would be knocking on her door?’

Xun Xue’s brows slightly raised.
She put on her clothes, got up, and pushed open the door, hearing a soft, sweet cry.

The figure of the little wolf girl was wrapped in the thin moonlight, holding a hot water bottle wrapped in a pink and white cloth in her arms.
Her pair of deep blue eyes, which were shimmering with moisture in the moonlight, were now filled with a fragile and wronged look that had nowhere to go.

“So late, and you’re still not asleep?”

Xun Xue’s heart instantly softened at that look.
Her voice also became extremely gentle, her warm palm caressing the top of Lu Qiancha’s slightly cool head.

“My tummy hurts… I can’t sleep.”

Lu Qiancha’s voice was thick with a nasal tone.
She put the hot water bottle into her storage pouch.

As her voice fell, Lu Qiancha’s small body involuntarily leaned towards Xun Xue, burying the tip of her nose in the cool fabric of Xun Xue’s sleeve.
Smelling the clear, cold fragrance on her, the restlessness in her heart instantly calmed down a lot.

“Oh?” A hint of mischief flashed in Xun Xue’s eyes, and a playful curve formed at the corners of her lips: “Then, what does Little Qiancha want to do?”

“I want… I want…” The tips of Lu Qiancha’s ears uncontrollably turned red.
Her head was almost buried in Xun Xue’s clothes, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, her figure fidgeting: “…to sleep with Mother…”

“Eh? The wind is a bit too strong…” Xun Xue turned her head to the side, deliberately pretending to listen, her eyes flashing with undisguised cunning and a smile “…it seems a bit hard to hear? What did Little Qiancha just say?”