Zhu Yanyi looked at Zhu Shunyao’s gloomy expression and smiled. "Dad, after dinner, I’ll check your health. Tomorrow, I’ll prepare some health pills suitable for you. I guarantee your beer belly will disappear soon."
"Daughter is the best," Zhu Shunyao said, touched.
"So, Dad, don’t eat the braised pork elbow today. Let Aohan have it." It turned out she wasn’t being a caring daughter, but favoring her husband. Zhu Shunyao blinked at Zhu Yanyi, looking confused, as if asking, "What am I doing?"
Yi Yunfei and the others nearby laughed at the father-daughter interaction. It was truly amusing.
Zhu Yanyi made a funny face, perfectly fine with occasionally teasing her dad.
Zhu Yanli stayed quiet but kept serving dishes Taishu Yuanxiang liked. Taishu Yuanxiang did the same for her. Their years of marriage had deepened their bond.
Zhu Shunyao was happy his daughter’s marriage was blissful, but unhappy that the meat on his plate was vanishing. "My meat! Save some for me!"
"Dad, you eat Mom’s cooking every day. Today, we should eat more. You just watch," Zhu Yanli said directly.
"You ungrateful daughter! If you don’t let me eat, I’ll have to eat the northwest wind," Zhu Shunyao grumbled, glaring at his eldest daughter.
Zhu Yanyi looked outside. "It’s not winter. There’s no northwest wind. If Dad really eats the northwest wind, she’ll starve. It’s too warm for that now."
"You two daughters are no longer my sweet little jackets," Zhu Shunyao pouted, protesting.
Yan Aohan quickly added a large piece of meat to Zhu Shunyao’s bowl. "Dad, eat."
Taishu Yuanxiang also served a large lion’s head meatball. "Dad, eat."
"Sigh. It seems sons-in-law are better," Zhu Shunyao sighed, though his smiling eyes betrayed his joy.
Zhu Yanyi and Zhu Yanli exchanged a smile. Their dad was becoming more delicate. They ignored her and served Xie Xinlian instead.
Xie Xinlian was delighted. She chatted with Zhu Yanli and Zhu Yanyi, while also greeting Yi Yunfei and the others.
Yi Yunfei and her friends enjoyed long-lost family warmth at Zhu Yanyi’s home.
That night, they stayed in the courtyard house Zhu Yanyi arranged. They sat in the yard, looking at the sky.
"Shiwu and Lord Yan went on a date?" They noticed Zhu Yanyi and Yan Aohan were missing.
"Normal. They are engaged," Sikong Xuran said, holding a bottle of wine. "The wine here tastes good. Let’s try it."
Ouyang Tianyun took out three cups from his storage. They drank together.
Ouyang Tianyun also brought out peanuts and dried beef. Eating and watching the sky was a rare, cozy moment.
It was already October. The capital was cold, being far north. While other places weren’t freezing yet, here it was chilly. Only these three cultivators didn’t feel the cold.
"Meeting Shiwu’s family today, I realized what family is like. I don’t know how long it’s been since I felt family love," Yi Yunfei said.
People like them came from cultivation families or the mortal world. Over time, they had forgotten what family love meant.
"I entered the Sage Academy at seventeen and never returned. I don’t know if my parents are still alive," Sikong Xuran said. He came from a cultivation family. His parents had reached the Foundation Establishment stage when he left, gaining five hundred years of life. But he had been gone for nearly a thousand years. He wasn’t sure if they were still alive.
In cultivation families, few truly succeeded in cultivation.
Yi Yunfei spoke calmly. "I come from a mortal plane. My family is now a low-level cultivation family. I haven’t returned in hundreds of years. Honestly, I forgot what family love is."
"I’m an orphan, but I have an adoptive father. He is still alive. So, I still have family love to enjoy," Ouyang Tianyun said slowly.
"Today, Junior Sister Shiwu let us feel family love. Honestly, for the first time, I found family love so warm," Sikong Xuran said, surprised. It wasn’t his fault for being surprised. In his family, family love was useless. Cultivators didn’t value it.
Even his parents married for利益 (benefit). So, family love was a luxury for him.
"Honestly, I didn’t expect to feel family love again. But I’m happy," Yi Yunfei smiled.
"Coming from a mortal plane, my parents were happy but reluctant when I was chosen for the Sage Academy. I thought I had forgotten that feeling. But after today, I found that emotion was still buried in my mind and hidden in my bones."
Sikong Xuran looked at Yi Yunfei. "You are luckier than me. At least you had it." He had never felt it.
"Having it and losing it makes you cherish it. I think I didn’t dare to go home these years because I knew I had no family left. So, I subconsciously forgot them and sealed away family love," Yi Yunfei said.
"But today, at Shiwu’s house, just for one meal, I deeply felt that long-lost family love. And at this moment, I realized how cold-blooded I had become. I left my family behind. Even if some were mediocre, they were still family. And I had forgotten them all."
After Yi Yunhang became a sword cultivator, Yi Yunfei knew his family, though mortal, wanted to become a true cultivation family. The idea was good, but hard to achieve.
Establishing a cultivation family required talented disciples and resources.