Red Rose [Never Let You Go, Again Book 3]

28: Possessive Prides of Yunmeng

It's been over seven years since she left, Jiang Qiao frowned, dangling her feet in the cool lake. What's taking her so long to come back? Secluded cultivation. Over seven years of secluded cultivation should be enough, right? Baozhai... She sighed and turned around to see a little seven-year-old boy writhing his hand round and round, gripping the purple handle, slashing his sword into Jiang Meilien's Baishan while Zhao Haoxuan watched from afar, keenly observing. He's all grown up, Baozhai, as skilled as you are. The only Jiang who dares to challenge Meilien other than myself. And guess what, he found a friend! A-Xuan and the boy are as close as shixiong and Jiang Cheng are. Oh, not to mention, the Nie daughter loving to pick a fight with him all the time! Jiang Qiao smiled to herself as she wrote it all down in a sheet with a calligraphic brush, careful not to let the water being splashed around by her feet drench the paper.

There, all done, she dusted her hands and folded the paper up into a swan. Smiling, she let the swan off into the air. Wide white wings flapped slowly and gracefully as the swan fluttered away from Lotus Pier in search of the recipient of the letter it bore.

"Ooh, look, it's a swan!" Haoxuan pointed. Both Jiang Delun and Jiang Meilien stopped to admire the way it twinkled in the sunlight.

"Pretty," Meilien gasped.

"I wonder where it's headed to," Delun cocked his head.

To your mother, Little Ai, Qiao smiled as she watched them. To your mother.

**********

"So, you mean to say you can't find them anymore?"

"No, Hua Cheng. It's like they've vanished. Nie-xiong's trying hard but..." Wei Wuxian shrugged. "Barely a quarter-hour after Darling and I left that day with the rest back to Cloud Recesses, the Nie troops and several others were sent over to arrest the Lius and Nie Jiuyue but..." He shook his head. "Nowhere to be found. All those huts and whatnot were empty, every last person had disappeared. Only a couple of innocent villagers were left, we let them be."

"To have vanished out of the place with all those people so soon... Think they used a teleportation talisman?" Xie Lian suggested.

"Mn, possible," Lan Wangji nodded.

"I mean, if they can call corpses to my earlier non-Immortal Yiling Laozu level of skill, then I bet they can create teleportation talismans too!" Wei Wuxian flapped his tail with a sigh.

"Hey, stop that, I'm getting soaked here!" Xie Lian flung his hands at the rain of water. 

"Oh, sorry," Wei Wuxian snickered. "Darling?"

"Mn," Lan Wangji threw Wei Wuxian's black robe and belt over to the rock in the springs. Wei Wuxian spun in the water, transformed, tossed the robe over his shoulders, tied up the belt and stepped out, dripping from head to toe, shivering.

"Is it that cold?" Xie Lian grinned.

"Course it is! Give a try," Wei Wuxian nodded to the stream before sitting on Lan Wangji's lap and snuggling into his warmth. Lan Zhan wrapped his hands around his waist and pulled him back, closer and warmer. "It's way too cold."

Xie Lian walked over and dipped his hand in the water before retracting with a hiss.

"Gege!" Hua Cheng ran over. "What's wrong?" He gripped the flailing hand and stroked it. Sure enough, the hand was nearly frozen.

"Goodness, how do you swim in this!" Xie Lian shuddered and walked back to sit with his husband, Hua Cheng still stroking his hand. "San Lang, it's fine, really. Just a wee bit cold."