“Mom, please stop crying. Didn’t we talk about this already? I’m returning to my sect to cultivate, so I won’t be in any danger. It’s just… I’ll be gone for a while.” Qiao Mu grasped Wei Ziqin’s hand and comforted her, “Mom, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of myself. I guarantee that I’ll return chubby and whole!”
Wei Ziqin was between laughter and tears as she looked at her daughter and sighed.
Their daughter had previously brought this up with her and her husband, but she had thought that her daughter would at least attend Xiao Sen’s one-month feast before leaving. She did not think her daughter would leave so soon.
Their separation was imminent, so she naturally found it hard to accept.
Qiao Mu looked look at her sound asleep brother laying in his swaddle and softly smiled.
“Qiaoqiao, allow your dad to escort you part of the way tomorrow.”
“Mom.” Qiao Mu swung Wei Ziqin’s sleeves. “Dad doesn’t need to escort me! Have you forgotten that I have the great mystic cultivator, Ao Ye by my side?!”
Qiao Zhongbang regained his status as a mystic cultivator two months ago, and his cultivation also advanced a level after he ate the peach, so he was now a level-six mystic cultivator.
With her dad, a level-six mystic cultivator, holding down the fort at home, Qiao Mu felt more at ease about leaving.
“Mom, do you have enough food?”
“You just like to fret needlessly, child. Mom already told you we have enough. You gave us 30 talismans filled with food, and the remaining provisions in our kitchen will sustain us for more than half a year. Also, didn’t the City Lord’s Estate send us a cart of grains and beans last time? The city lord is truly too polite. He insisted that it was the ration for Xiao Mo, but Xiao Mo didn’t eat that many meals here in reality. Yet, he gave us so much, and we can’t even return it.”
“Do you have enough storage talismans?”
“There’s enough, enough. We’ve stored everything that the City Lord’s Estate gave us inside of them and still have empty talismans. Don’t worry. Moreover, your dad and second uncle will occasionally accept a few minor missions, so our family will definitely improve even more.”
“Mom.” Qiao Mu buried her head into her mother’s arms.
Wei Ziqin caressed her daughter’s long hair with a smile. “Good child, you must remember Mom’s words when you’re outside on your own. You must be very, very careful when you run into trouble.”
“The whole family is waiting for you to return, alright?”
She seemed to have exchanged parting words for a whole night and reluctantly parted with her parents, Second Uncle, Brother Qiao Hu, Xiao Lin’er, and Shaoyao one by one.
The next morning, when the first glimmer of light crept onto the horizon, Qiao Mu silently left and headed for the Ah-Wang Trading Company located in the central district.
When she arrived at the entrance of the Ah-Wang Trading Company, she saw that the whole caravan was ready to go and the leader, a middle-aged man, was looking around.
When he saw her tiny figure, he immediately went to receive her and courteously nodded. “You must be Miss Qiao, right? City Lord Gu already told us the details. We’ll be in charge of bringing Miss Qiao safely to the western border of Qiu Kingdom.”
Qiao Mu looked at the rolls of fabric in the carriages and looked up at the leader. “You must be the Uncle Wang that the city lord mentioned, right? Thank you.”
“You’re too polite, Miss Qiao,” Uncle Wang said with a chuckle. “You’ll ride in the first carriage. It’s a long journey to the Qiu Kingdom and will take at least 10 days. It might be a bit bumpy part of the way.”
“Thank you for your trouble.” Qiao Mu nodded and boarded the first carriage.
This carriage had a bit more space compared to the carriages behind it that were brimming with rolls of fabric, but there was still a lot of fabric piled in the corner.
Qiao Mu sat leaning against the side of the cabin and ignored all of the astonished gazes of the workers following the caravan.
When the carriage driver whipped his rein and the wheels started rolling forward, Qiao Mu could not resist flicking open a corner of the curtains and longingly looking at the direction of Pear Blossom Alley.
She had no idea that this departure would lead to years of separation, and the world would drastically change…