"The meridians are open, the blood is flowing smoothly, the True Yuan faces no obstruction, everything is perfect. We’re basically done!"
"Done?" Ye Chuxue instinctively asked.
Hearing Li Chen’s affirmative response, Ye Chuxue finally breathed a sigh of relief. She managed a sweet smile toward Li Chen, "Hehe, am I not quite impressive?"
However, before she could finish speaking, she felt a darkness descend over her vision and fainted.
Li Chen quickly grabbed Ye Chuxue’s wrist, checked her pulse and found it stable, her heart rate normal. The worry in his heart then settled.
"It’s all right, no serious harm done. She’s just overly exhausted and temporarily unconscious!"
He didn’t leave. Instead, he firmly held onto Ye Chuxue’s small hand, staying by her side to accompany her.
Unbeknownst to them, the eastern sky was already showing the first light of dawn.
The bright morning sunlight, filtering through the gaps in the curtains, spilled into the room, casting a gentle halo on Ye Chuxue’s exquisitely delicate features, making them even more radiant.
Ye Chuxue was woken by the sunlight and slowly opened her sleepy eyes, waking from her slumber.
At that moment, the ringtone of a cell phone sounded!
Ye Chuxue pulled out her phone and gestured to Li Chen to be quiet, "Shh, it’s mom’s call!"
As soon as she answered the call, Tang Lan’s voice came through: "Xue’er, have you gotten up yet?"
"Mm, not yet, mom. Why are you calling so early?"
Tang Lan did not answer Ye Chuxue’s question but casually inquired, "Is Li Chen back yet?"
Ye Chuxue looked at Li Chen, shook her head, and said, "I don’t know, mom. What happened, are you looking for him?"
Tang Lan replied, "Nothing much. Your birthday next Tuesday, isn’t it? Your grandmother called earlier and said they want to throw you a proper coming-of-age ceremony in Hang City!"
Hearing her mother’s words over the phone, Ye Chuxue’s expression involuntarily stiffened.
A coming-of-age ceremony in Hang City was treatment reserved for a direct granddaughter. Besides, many in the Tang Family looked down upon them, thinking that her mother had disgraced the family by insisting on marrying into a poor family against the family’s wishes.
The two families weren’t close at the beginning, practically estranged, until Ye Chuxue was born, and her mother and father’s relationship was set in stone. Only then did relations somewhat thaw.
Even with the slight improvement, they wouldn’t just allow an outsider like her to enjoy the treatment of a direct granddaughter, right?
Ye Chuxue sensed something fishy and tentatively refused, "Mom, I have a lot of studying to do. We can just hold a simple ceremony at home. There’s no need for extravagance."
Usually indulgent Tang Lan abruptly changed her tone, "Xue’er, it’s not up to you. It’s hard to explain over the phone. We’ll talk when we meet. Are you still at Qian’er’s place? I’ll have your dad pick you up right now!"
Frightened at the mention of her dad coming to pick her up from Qian’er’s, Ye Chuxue quickly refused, "Mom, there’s no need to trouble yourself, I’ll come home later!"
Tang Lan noticed the unusual tone in her daughter’s voice but didn’t press further, just admonished briefly, "Well, be safe on your way home!"
After hanging up, Ye Chuxue tossed her phone onto the bed, her voice carrying a sense of gloom, "Grandma wants to hold a coming-of-age ceremony for me in Hang City, mom wants me to head back immediately!"
Li Chen shrugged, saying, "Then go back!"
Ye Chuxue’s brows furrowed slightly, "But I always feel something is off about this. You know the relationship between my family and grandma’s has never been good. To them, I’m at most a half-member of the Tang Family. Why would grandma be so eager to arrange a coming-of-age ceremony for me? It doesn’t make sense."
Li Chen tightly held Ye Chuxue’s hand, smiled lightly, and said, "No worries, I’m here!"
Looking up into Li Chen’s bright, confident eyes, Ye Chuxue smiled back at him with a nod.