Chapter 119: 117. Shen Qingyi's Change (2/2)

117. Shen Qingyi's Change (2/2)

"Daddy!"

Chen An was performing Sword Flight above the house; before he could even land, he heard his daughter shouting from the courtyard below.

Without needing to think, he knew his daughter definitely wanted to perform Sword Flight again.

When he steered the sword to a height of only a few meters from the ground.

Chen An moved his mind, pulled his daughter up from below through the air, placed her standing in front of him, and said to her, "Hold tight to Daddy's legs, Daddy is going to accelerate."

"Holding tight!"

Chen Yuejian said in a crisp voice.

Chen An smiled and patted his daughter's head, then moved his mind to accelerate instantly, taking his daughter for a ride above the entire South Lane.

After more than a quarter of an hour.

The father and daughter returned home.

Both of them stepped down from the sword.

"Husband, I made some Spirit Cake, come over with Xiao Yuejian and have a taste."

Gu Xinyue stood in front of the house door and called out softly to the father and daughter in the courtyard.

Hearing this, Chen An scooped up his daughter and said to her with a smile, "Let's go, Daddy will take you to eat the Spirit Cake made by Gu."

"Yay, yay."

Chen Yuejian's little face was full of smiles.

In the hall.

The family sat together eating Spirit Cake.

Shen Qingyi was there too.

Although Shen Qingyi was unwilling to marry and refused to be a concubine.

Everyone in the house did not treat her as an outsider and already considered her a part of the family.

Whether she was a concubine or not was just a title.

Strictly speaking, the current relationship between Shen Qingyi and Chen An was actually no different from that of a husband and wife.

"Husband, I'm giving this hand rope to you."

Sitting to the side, Song Huaying took a somewhat rough hand rope from her sleeve and handed it to Chen An with a sweet face.

Chen An took the hand rope and looked at its rough, fuzzy surface, his heart filled with confusion.

With such poor workmanship, where did this hand rope come from?

Was it woven by his little wife?

That was unlikely; his little wife was clever and dexterous, and the things she wove would not have such poor workmanship.

Chen An could not figure it out and looked at Song Huaying, asking, "Ying, where did this hand rope come from?"

"Guess?"

Song Huaying said with a playful look.

Chen An was just about to guess when he suddenly saw his daughter on the other side staring straight at him, her little face full of anticipation.

He understood and said with a smile, "Such an artistic hand rope must have been woven by my clever and bright Xiao Yuejian, right?"

"You guessed it right, Husband is so amazing!"

Song Huaying's face was full of admiration; this look of admiration was thirty percent real and seventy percent fake, mainly to please her husband, similar to fawning and flattering.

As for Chen Yuejian on the other side, it was a one-hundred-percent pure and innocent smile.

After hearing her father's praise, her whole little face blossomed like a flower, and her slender little legs under the table swung excitedly.

"Daddy, this is the hand rope I wove, do you like it?"

"I like it, Daddy likes the hand rope, and likes Xiao Yuejian even more. Come, Daddy will reward you."

As Chen An said this, he kissed his daughter on her little cheek, making her so happy that the smile on her face became even more radiant.

After finishing the Spirit Cake.

The family soon went about their own business.

Song Huaying took her daughter back to their room to teach her chess, zither, calligraphy, and painting, wanting to cultivate her into a fairy talented in both appearance and skill.

Gu Xinyue cleaned up the dining table and holed up in the kitchen to study culinary arts.

Wen Zhiyun returned to her room to rest; now, her belly was becoming a heavier burden day by day, and she became very prone to drowsiness, but she couldn't really fall asleep—it was just pure sleepiness, which was very tormenting.

Shen Qingyi returned to her room to cultivate.

Chen An went into the Alchemy Room to refine pills for a while, and incidentally refined some Spirit Stones to cultivate.

In the blink of an eye.

Time reached the evening.

Chen An came out of the Alchemy Room and walked into Wen Zhiyun's room to check on her condition.

"Yun'er, still can't sleep?"

Seeing Wen Zhiyun tossing and turning on the bed, looking as if she couldn't fall asleep no matter what, Chen An stepped forward and sat on the edge of the bed, concerned.

Wen Zhiyun sat up from the bed and said with a weary face, "Husband, I find it very hard to fall asleep now; I always feel restless and very anxious."

"It's alright, I will accompany you to sleep."

"Husband, why don't you just use the Sleep Aid Technique on me? I'm really sleepy now, but I just can't fall asleep."

"That works too."

After Chen An finished speaking, he cast a Sleep Aid Technique on Wen Zhiyun, instantly causing her to lie on the bed with a sweet expression and enter dreamland.

He adjusted Wen Zhiyun's sleeping posture.

He covered her with a thin quilt.

Chen An looked at her protruding belly, his face full of worry.

What on earth was going on with the child in this proud concubine's belly?

How could she have been pregnant for 11 months and still not have given birth?

Could she really be pregnant with a Nezha?

The more Chen An thought about it, the more worried he became.

Forget it, thinking too much would only increase his troubles.

Let nature take its course.

Take it one step at a time.

Thinking this, Chen An left Wen Zhiyun's room and turned to walk toward Shen Qingyi's room, intending to talk to her about the Masked Heroine he had heard of today.

However, when he pushed open Shen Qingyi's door, he found the room empty.

Not in the room?

Where was she?

Chen An frowned slightly, a foreboding premonition in his heart.

The Masked Heroine really might be Shen Qingyi!

Carrying this question in his heart, Chen An began to search the house.

Shen Qingyi had a Dharma Artifact that shielded Divine Sense, making it difficult to perceive her with it; if she were too far away, he would have to rely on his five senses to find her.

The hall.

The kitchen.

The bathroom.

The courtyard.

Other rooms...

Chen An searched all these places, but never found a trace of Shen Qingyi.

At this moment, he felt that Shen Qingyi was most likely that Masked Heroine.

And this "most likely" turned into a certainty in the next second.

Chen An heard an extremely faint landing sound coming from the courtyard outside.

It was the landing sound of Sword Flight.

Judging by the volume of the landing, it was undoubtedly Shen Qingyi.

Chen An restrained his aura and sat quietly in Shen Qingyi's room, waiting for her to enter.

Soon, there was movement at the window by the bed.

He looked toward the sound.

He saw Shen Qingyi, dressed in white brocade, sneaking into the room from outside the window, her face covered by a piece of white cloth that hid most of her features.

"Fellow Daoist Shen, you are a fairy with the demeanor of a great hero; why are you sneaking back into your own room like a thief?"

Chen An's voice rang out without warning.

Shen Qingyi was startled and instinctively took two steps back.

Afterwards, seeing Chen An sitting by the bed, she became somewhat at a loss.

"Come over and sit."

"Mm."

Shen Qingyi obediently walked to the bedside and sat down.

She was a bit far from Chen An.

They were not sitting close together.

Chen An did not question her with emotion, but asked in a very calm tone: "Fellow Daoist Shen, dressed like this, where have you just been?"

Shen Qingyi was silent.

Chen An did not continue to ask, just quietly waiting for her answer.

After a long while, Shen Qingyi replied: "I just went out to punish evil and promote good."

"Is it really that hard to endure?"

Chen An was very puzzled; he could not understand why someone would be so obsessed with punishing evil and promoting good to this extent.

Shen Qingyi pursed her thin lips and explained in a low voice like a child who had done something wrong: "Alchemist Chen, I did go out to punish evil and promote good, but I was very restrained in my actions; I only injured people, I didn't kill them..."

"Fellow Daoist Shen, the targets of your punishment are people from the Red Fire Gang; whether you injure or kill them, there is actually not much difference."

Chen An's tone remained calm as he continued: "The Red Fire Gang has just taken control of Baicao Lane; a new official applies new rules, and they are exactly at the point where they need to establish their authority."

"And what you are doing now is undoubtedly going against them."

"Do you think they will choose to let you go just because you only injure people and don't kill them?"

Chen An knew, and Shen Qingyi knew, that the answer was certainly no.

Therefore, Shen Qingyi fell silent.

Chen An did not want to say anything more, and said to Shen Qingyi with some disappointment and helplessness: "Fellow Daoist Shen, if you insist on punishing evil and promoting good without absolute strength, then I can only say that our paths are different and we cannot work together; let us part on good terms when the time comes."

After dropping these words, Chen An left the room.

What he said was half true and half false.

Parting on good terms was impossible.

He could not bear to.

However, it was true that their paths were different and they could not work together.

He has an entire family to look after and will not let Shen Qingyi bring any risk to this home.

Inside the room.

Shen Qingyi sat on the bed, blankly looking at the room where only she remained, feeling somewhat uncomfortable in her heart.

She had changed; she had become concerned about what Chen An thought of her.

Perhaps, this is what they call affection growing over time.

In the blink of an eye.

Half a month passed.

It was time to pay the Protection Fee again.

Manager Gao came knocking at the door.

Chen An brought the Spirit Stones out to pay.

Seeing this, Shen Qingyi followed him out.

This time, just like the last, Chen An did not give Manager Gao any gifts, only giving 2 Middle-grade Spirit Stones.

Because he knew that people like Manager Gao could never be satisfied; they were bottomless pits.

There was no longer any need to feed him.

Seeing that Chen An only paid the Protection Fee, Manager Gao took the Spirit Stones and turned to leave without saying an extra word, acting very aloof.

In the time that followed.

Neither Chen An nor Shen Qingyi rushed back inside the house.

Instead, just like last time, they stood silently at the doorway watching Manager Gao go to other households to collect the Protection Fee.

Manager Gao, unable to change his nature, still ran over to harass the widow who lived not far ahead selling spirit fruits.

Chen An's eyes were looking toward the widow, but his peripheral vision remained on Shen Qingyi beside him, observing her every move.

Seeing that she had watched the scene of Manager Gao harassing the widow for so long without any reaction.

Chen An smiled with relief, reached out to wrap his arm around her slender waist, and said softly, "Fellow Daoist Shen, let's go, let's return to the room."

"Mm."

Shen Qingyi said, sparing her words like gold.

On the way back to the room, one of her hands remained gripped on her sword hilt; it was clear she wanted to act, but she was trying her best to restrain herself.

Chen An saw all of this in his eyes and comforted her, saying, "Fellow Daoist Shen, actually, you don't need to worry too much about that widow; if you don't intervene, she can still live well every day, at most being harassed and taken advantage of by that Manager Gao."

"But once you intervene, her fate might become incomparably miserable; in all likelihood, she would meet her end because of your impulsive actions."

"Mm, no, that's not right, it wouldn't be 'fragrant death,' it would be 'death of the body and dissipation of the Dao' instead."

Chen An felt that using the term 'fragrant death' in front of his own woman for another woman was not very good; it felt like looking at a passing beauty right in front of his own woman.

Hearing these words from Chen An, Shen Qingyi pursed her thin lips and accepted the reality with some resignation, saying, "Alchemist Chen, you are right."

Upon hearing this.

A smile of relief appeared on Chen An's face.

It really wasn't easy.

Shen Qingyi's near-pathological obsessive-compulsive disorder for punishing evil and promoting good had finally improved somewhat.

PS: Setting out the bowl, begging for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets!