"How about we each take a step back... I'll be your mother, how does that sound?"
Yin Tingxue was facing such a situation alone for the first ti. Unlike Chen Yi, she couldn't handle it with such ease, let alone joke and banter with demons and spirits. Her understanding of their personalities was limited to what she'd read on paper—uncertain at best, and even if certain, completely out of grasp.
At this mont, Chen Yi was unreliable, and she was left with just her soul. Everything had to rely on her own resourcefulness to negotiate with the Gu Huo Bird.
The Gu Huo Bird ca back to her senses and took another look at the young girl's expression. Amidst her tension, there was a touch of sincerity—no signs of deceit—which instinctively struck her as funny.
After years of abducting demon and human children, this was the first ti she had heard soone offer to be her mother.
And the one saying such words was a teenage girl.
Yin Tingxue asked as if seeking confirmation, "You're not angry, are you?"
Seeing the girl nervously staring at her, the Gu Huo Bird didn't show the slightest displeasure. Instead, she found it quite amusing and said, "Childish words carry no consequence. I'm not angry. In fact, what you said is rather interesting."
With the No-Life Tripod in hand, the Gu Huo Bird was even inclined to humor Yin Tingxue, exchanging a few more words.
Once she'd accustod herself to treating Yin Tingxue like her other offspring, it would be all the more entertaining to jest about these past monts of defiance. This amusent, this familial joy—there was nothing like it.
In light of this thought, the Gu Huo Bird even teased, "Why don't you tell what you are thinking? Who knows, perhaps you'll persuade ."
Yet, as she prompted Yin Tingxue to speak, the girl fell silent instead, rely staring into her eyes intently.
The Gu Huo Bird raised her eyebrows and was about to press her for an answer when Yin Tingxue spoke first, "If saying it would make you angry, then I'd rather not say anything."
"Why would I be angry? After centuries of cultivation, I can handle the words of a re adolescent girl."
"It's not about whether you can handle it," Yin Tingxue shook her head. "It's about fearing you'll force ."
The Gu Huo Bird noticed her unwillingness to speak, and her captivating, vivid eyes fixated on the girl. She instinctively found Yin Tingxue intriguing—not only was her soul crystalline and radiant, hinting at exceptional talent that would make her the most outstanding among her potential children, but her past... seed equally curious, arousing an undeniable sense of fascination.
In the banquet hall, the atmosphere remained lively. Yin Tingxue turned her face, gazing out from a small window at the boisterous crowd of demons exchanging cups of wine and laughter.
"It's so lively..."
The Gu Huo Bird looked toward her and then heard another comnt,
"I've never been part of such liveliness with siblings."
She saw the girl staring at the gathered children of the Gu Huo Bird seated at the table. Her eyes lacked luster; she simply gazed at them.
Her eyes seed dull, like an orphan looking through a paper window at another family's reunion dinner during the New Year.
No need to proclaim her own misery—just quietly watching was enough to evoke an ache in the heart of the motherly Gu Huo Bird.
"Silly child, we'll join them soon," the Gu Huo Bird mused for a long mont, her voice low as she said, "They won't give you any trouble... You may be human, different from us demons, but it's only humans who discriminate against demons; demons never look down on humans."
"Hmm."
"Then... recognize as your mother. I'll proclaim you my new foster daughter at the feast. How about that?" The Gu Huo Bird paused. "Let's see who dares utter a word against it."
The girl did not answer. Instead, she asked an unrelated question, "Yu Auntie, have you ever married?"
The mont the words left her mouth, the Gu Huo Bird's eyes chilled, sharp as an eagle's for an instant, sending shivers down one's spine.
Nevertheless, she responded softly, "I did."
All Gu Huo Birds are ford from won who die in childbirth. So were victims of difficult labor, but such resentnt is often fleeting—most would transform into malicious spirits, rarely into Gu Huo Birds.
To beco a Gu Huo Bird and rise as a Great Demon requires lingering and profound grievances. Thus, most Gu Huo Birds were abandoned mothers, or won whose families fell into ruin, or those displaced from their hos.
She was born a Zhang, a daughter of a prestigious family. She even had a marriage that was the envy of all—a union of phoenix and dragon, and her husband was a mber of a wealthy clan. It was the perfect match. She married into his family at the age of fifteen, and by the following year, she was pregnant.
However, in the twenty-fourth year of Qingying, the Grand Secretary Zhang was implicated in corruption. The emperor issued an edict, leading to arrests, execution, and exile for three familial generations. Due to a distant relative she had never t, she was also implicated—her husband's family cast her out early on, and she died in childbirth during exile.
Suddenly, the girl said beside her, "I've married as well."
The Gu Huo Bird turned to her, saying, "You have a husband too?"
"Hmm, he treats very well."
It was unlike her... The Gu Huo Bird's gaze softened with lancholy, mingling with the loneliness of a heart that no one could truly understand.
"Where is he now?" The Gu Huo Bird asked with a hint of mockery.
"I don't know," Yin Tingxue sighed lightly. "Actually, it doesn't really count as marriage—it was just being taken in."
The Gu Huo Bird froze.
Suddenly, she felt an inkling of understanding toward this girl.
In these tis, abandoned concubines were all too common.
"My family fell into decline. When I was taken into his household, he treated well, so I started treating him as if he were my mother..." Yin Tingxue gave a bitter smile, her voice soft as she said, "That's why I say to you, Yu Auntie, my mother is a man."
"And your birth mother..." The thought crossed her mind, and the Gu Huo Bird couldn't help but ask.
Before she could finish speaking, the girl lowered her head, looking forlorn.
At that mont, the Gu Huo Bird seed to grasp much more, murmuring, "Poor child..."
Yin Tingxue raised her hand, brushing away her tears, and said quietly, "Hmm, so please don't force ... alright?"
Her pitiable appearance tugged at the Gu Huo Bird's heart, as if struck heavily, stirring an unexpected sense of compassion.
......
A dance floor was cleared in the center of the banquet hall, where dancers perford.
Yin Tingxue was brought back into the hall.
Though the Gu Huo Bird did not explicitly force her, she had silently regarded her as her sixth foster daughter, seating her by her side.
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