“Frugal!”
“It’s not being frugal. Just want to keep the vail of secrecy for now!”
“What vail of secrecy? You just want to dangle that in front of us is all. Why made excuses?”
“You are exactly right!”
Cheng Biyuan did not interrupt the bickering between the two. In fact, it gave him a warm and homely feeling.
“Oh yeah, dad, Uncle Zhou. Remember to have Abacus pick a good location, our Cultivation Doctrines Pavilion will be an important location and also have him set up a tactical arrangement. We don’t want just anyone to be able to have easy access to it.” Cheng Xiao Xiao brought up something that had just occurred to her.
Cheng Biyuan nodded and said, “No problem. We will have him come with us to pick the location in a bit.”
“Exactly. If this is going to be our Cultivation Doctrines Pavilion, we must make sure it’s completed before we recruit disciples.”
Zhou Jinjiang stood up as he was talking, “I am going to go look for guye right now and make a decision on this right away. Then we will bring in the best architects and construction team and have them complete this within a month!”
Having said that, he left in a hurry to look for Mo Xuanzun.
After the father and daughter due discussed some more and finalized more details, Cheng Xiao Xiao left her father’s main courtyard.
“Xiao Xiao.”
“Hi, Mom. What are you doing here?”
Cheng Xiao Xiao saw her mother walking toward her as soon as she walked out of the study. She couldn’t help but asked, “Are you looking for Dad?”
“Of course not. He has been keeping himself busy and there aren’t much I can help with. Come with me. I want to talk to you about something.”
“Oh, okay.”
Not knowing what her mother wanted to talk to her about, Cheng Xiao Xiao followed her to one of the secondary living rooms. The two of them sat down and the maids immediately brought them tea and water before they bowed out.
Mrs. Cheng looked at her daughter who looked a lot like her. Smiling happily, Mrs. Cheng reached out her hand and brushed a strand of Cheng Xiao Xiao’s hair back behind her ear and said tenderly, “Decades had gone by so quickly. Xiao Xiao is all grown now and looking at you is like looking at myself from just yesterday.”
“Mom, you are still pretty younger, alright?” Cheng Xiao Xiao could feel her mother’s love for her so her voice was a bit coquettish.
“That’s so not true. Mom’s getting old. Definitely not young anymore,” said Mrs. Cheng with a smile.
“Mom, don’t say that about yourself. You don’t look any worse than shi mu or Aunty Gong. The last few years had been rough and you weren’t able to take care of yourself too well but, truth be told, you looking much younger than you were six months ago!”
Cheng Xiao Xiao smiled and said, “As long as Mom’s cultivation level increases, you will get younger and younger like shi mu and Aunty Gong.”
“I don’t care too much about being young or not. I just want you and your brothers and sister to be happy. Nothing else matters.”
Mrs. Cheng patted her daughter on her hand and said, “But, now that you are all getting higher and higher in your cultivation levels, Mom should work on that too, so you won’t be ashamed of me!”
“Oh, c’mon, Mom. Don’t say that!”
Cheng Xiao Xiao frowned and said, “Mom, you have done so much for this family over the years. Even though you had fallen behind on your cultivation, but that wasn’t your fault. If it wasn’t for you, mom, this family probably would have already fallen apart. We will never get to where we are today.”
She might have come later in time, but she had a pretty good idea the kind of sacrifices that Mrs. Cheng had made for this family. Her father had sustained severe injuries multiple times. If it wasn’t for Mrs. Cheng who worked day and night taking care of everything and supporting the household, she couldn’t even imagine where they’d be right now.
“Xiao Xiao, I didn’t mean anything by that. I am just saying it.”