Chapter 425: 425: Qingyue VS Zhaoyue... Fang Yuan lost.
After a few minutes passed, Fang Mei finally spoke.
"Oh? So you were talking about the cultivation wells."
"Y-Yes, Elder Mei," Fang Haotian replied with a forced laugh. "We were simply reminiscing about the past, haha..."
Beside him, Lin Xiaolao nervously observed every slight change in Fang Mei’s expression.
If anything they said happened to displease her, who knew what kind of punishment she would throw at them?
Hopefully not Rosewood Garden... he prayed internally.
What was Rosewood Garden, one might ask?
[Well, its first appearance had been all the way back in Chapter 352, yet no proper explanation had been given, so here it is.]
It was one of the Four Special Areas within the Fang Estate.
The Fang Estate itself was jointly inhabited by both the Fang Family and the Lin Family within Skyhowl Mountain.
During the years when Fang Yuan had gone missing, the Matriarch gathered the two families together and established four unique territories within the estate.
Rosewood Garden was one of them.
Senior Xiao Pei had been given full authority over the area.
Despite its elegant name, the garden did not contain flowers.
It contained beasts, spirit beasts.
And disciples assigned there usually treated it as a punishment.
After all, who the hell wanted to spend their days cleaning spirit beast waste?
Aside from Rosewood Garden, there was also Snowman Prison, which Elder Lu Yi oversaw.
For reasons nobody truly understood, the so-called "prison" had somehow turned into a massive brewery.
Now everyone desperately wanted to be assigned there despite the terrifying name.
Then came the Heaven Library.
Its name sounded lofty.
Its contents were even more ridiculous.
The cultivation techniques stored within were mostly spoils of war gathered personally by the Matriarch herself.
Whenever she got bored, she would drag along several Grand Elders, existences in the Hollow Spirit Realm and casually "visit" nearby sects and kingdoms.
Soon after, those same sects and kingdoms would respectfully hand over copied versions of their cultivation manuals.
As for whether they truly wanted to hand them over...
That was another matter entirely.
And lastly...
The Love Pavilion.
The Matriarch personally named that place herself, declaring that it would be the residence of the Patriarch and Matriarch.
Naturally, everyone present at the time immediately praised the decision and agreed that such a place was absolutely worthy of being one of the Four Special Areas.
But then she suddenly scolded everyone on the spot.
Why?
Because according to her, the Love Pavilion shouldn’t merely be one of the Four Special Areas.
It should be one Grand Area accompanied by only three Special Areas.
Truly...
Being a bootlicker was difficult when the person you were flattering was mentally unstable.
Luckily for everyone involved, Fang Mei actually had the courage to talk back to the Matriarch.
She even scolded her back.
In the end, after both sides finally "reached an agreement" or more accurately, after Fang Mei was beaten one-sidedly before being forced to lie on the Matriarch’s lap and calm down.
Lin Zhaoyue reluctantly agreed for the Love Pavilion to remain merely one of the Four Special Areas.
Because of that incident, Lin Xiaolao could not help but nervously gulp as he watched Fang Mei quietly sink into deep thought before them.
Beside him, Fang Haotian also swallowed hard.
Seriously, who in the clan hadn’t heard of the legendary argument between the so-called "mother" and "daughter"?
Of course, the title was only a nickname since the two weren’t actually blood related.
Still...
Despite getting beaten up every single time, Fang Mei somehow still possessed the courage to openly argue against the Matriarch again and again.
Honestly, that alone was terrifying.
After a long moment of silence, Fang Mei suddenly nodded to herself.
"I think that’s actually a good idea."
She stood up calmly.
"I’ll go discuss it with elder brother later."
The instant those words left her mouth, both Fang Haotian and Lin Xiaolao nearly sighed in relief at the same time.
At this point, Fang Haotian no longer cared whether the cultivation wells would actually be added or not.
Meanwhile, Lin Xiaolao no longer cared whether Fang Haotian had been telling the truth in the first place.
The two hurriedly cupped their fists, gave their farewells, and escaped as quickly as possible.
Fang Mei quietly watched the two flee into the distance before lowering her gaze back toward the baby in her arms.
The moment she looked at the tiny child again, her cold expression immediately softened.
"Aww, Xiao Didi is so cute..."
She gently pinched the baby’s cheek before speaking with complete seriousness.
"Don’t worry, jiejie will make sure you grow up healthy and properly."
"I definitely won’t let any strange women corrupt you in the future."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Especially someone like the Matriarch. That woman’s basically a witch."
Not far away, Lin Xiaolao, who had just returned after remembering he forgot something instantly froze.
Then, with a loud thud, he slipped and fell directly onto the ground.
His face turned pale in horror after hearing Fang Mei casually curse the Matriarch so naturally.
Lin Xiaolao immediately climbed back to his feet.
Without making the slightest sound, he silently turned around and walked back the way he came.
At this point, preserving his life was far more important than retrieving some random worldly possession.
Meanwhile, elsewhere within the estate, an intense private competition was currently taking place.
Lin Zhaoyue was currently engaged in a completely one-sided private competition against Fang Qingyue.
At the moment, Fang Yuan was seated peacefully while holding both of them in his arms.
Fang Qingyue simply looked extremely happy to be there.
Every now and then, she would rub against Fang Yuan affectionately or happily lean against his chest while enjoying the warmth around her.
Meanwhile, Lin Zhaoyue treated the situation with terrifying seriousness.
Whenever Fang Qingyue moved closer to Fang Yuan, Lin Zhaoyue would silently move even closer.
If Fang Qingyue hugged one arm, Lin Zhaoyue would immediately hug the other.
At one point, she even narrowed her eyes slightly after noticing Fang Qingyue resting comfortably against Fang Yuan for too long.
Then suddenly—
"Achoo."
Lin Zhaoyue sneezed softly.
Fang Qingyue immediately raised her head in concern.
"Mother, are you okay?"
Lin Zhaoyue instantly softened after hearing the worried voice.
She gently patted Fang Qingyue’s head.
"I’m fine. It was only a sneeze."
Hearing that, Fang Qingyue visibly relaxed before immediately moving closer again, carefully checking whether Lin Zhaoyue was uncomfortable anywhere.
Meanwhile, Fang Yuan’s expression gradually became strange.
Because he suddenly realized something.
This little girl...
She seemed to have already figured out who held the highest authority in the household.
Despite him literally carrying both of them in his arms right now, Fang Qingyue had completely ignored him from beginning to end.
Her entire attention was focused solely on Lin Zhaoyue.
It was almost as if she had already decided who she needed to suck up to the most in this family.
