“It’s me, Yunfei, it’s me…”
The woman in his arms nodded, “Yunfei, what happened to you? Why are you like this? Are you okay?”
“It’s...it’s really Xinyun!!”
By now, the light in Bai Yunfei’s eyes were back to normal with full clarity. Bringing his hands up to touch at the shoulders of the young girl in his arms, Bai Yunfei gingerly held her further away from him so he could take a good look at her face.
Skin so seemingly fragile that even blowing on it would bruise it, lips a crimson hue like cherries, eyelashes long but dainty, eyes filled with both tears and concern—this was the face Bai Yunfei had longed to see for many days and nights.
Who else could this be but Tang Xinyun?
“Xinyun….it really is you!!” Bai Yunfei exclaimed, “How...how did you get here?”
He was a little startled by the concern she was giving him. Blinking once before he realized the reason why, Bai Yunfei smiled at her, “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I lost control of my emotions for a moment, but I’m all good now.”
“Lost control?” Tang Xinyun studied him for a good two seconds, “What in the world happened? How could you lose yourself like that?”
“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later….” Bai Yunfei smiled, “But you shouldn’t worry. Just look at you—you’re close to tears already. It’s been a long time since we last met and I’ve already made you cry almost. Auntie Zhao would think I’m bullying you if she were to see this.”
“Nnh…” Tang Xinyun nodded meekly before smiling. “As long as you’re fine….I was scared to death seeing how you were just now….”
“Brother strawhat!! Brother strawhat!! I’m here too! How come you’ll hug sis Yun and then just ignore me?!”
Another exuberant voice called out next before the two figures behind Tang Xinyun finally caught up to them. Shortly afterwards, a shorter and younger girl came flying to Bai Yunfei with a disgruntled pout on her lips.
“Err….” It took a moment before Bai Yunfei was able to tell who they were, “Doraemon?! Tingting? You two are here as well?”
These two people were Huangfu Rui, the little princess of the Crafting School, and Kou Tingting, the daughter of headmaster Kou Changkong.
“Ah!!”
Still in contact of both of Bai Yunfei’s arms, Tang Xinyun let out an embarrassed cry from her intimate position with Bai Yunfei and pulled herself away.
“Heehee, sis Yun’s done hugging, it’s my turn now!!”
Huangfu Rui giggled, tossing the little white piggy in her hands to the ground to run and hug Bai Yunfei.
“Haha….” Bai Yunfei smiled as he hugged the young girl back. “You’ve grown up, Doraemon, but why do you seem more playful than before?”
With the passage of a few years, Huangfu Rui was truly a lot taller than she was before, though the juvenile air to her person was still the same as ever. From her actions, her cute mischievous side could still clearly be seen, but strangely, she looked like she was sixteen or seventeen years old still on the outside.
He nodded to Kou Tingting with a smile, “Long time no see, Tingting.”
As always, Kou Tingting was wearing a long blue dress as gentle as the ocean colors and looked even more kinder than before. “How have you been, Yunfei? Doing well?”
“I’ve let you all worry, don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”
Bai Yunfei turned his attention next to the little white pig on the ground and the little bird on Tang Xinyun’s shoulder. “Xiao Hong, Xiao Bai, it’s been a long time. You two look a lot stronger than before.”
Xiao Hong was what Bai Yunfei named the red magiboar, rather than the name Xiao Rourou Huangfu Rui gave it. Xiao Bai was of course, the quickshade bird that contracted with Tang Xinyun.
“Snrf….” The red magiboar snorted twice and pawed at the ground in greeting. From the looks of things, it didn’t look all too pleased at being tossed onto the ground for Huangfu Rui to greet Bai Yunfei.
“Chirp chirp~” The quickshade bird tweeted at Bai Yunfei. It looked a lot more intelligent and lively than it was before.
……
“Hey!! Bai Yunfei! Are you going crazy or not? If you’re done, maybe you can clean up your toys? I’m starting to get nervous here!”
From a good distance away, the voice of someone calling out to him caused Bai Yunfei to turn around. In the skies, the assistant headmaster Wu Dijian was holding the Cataclysmic Seal up above his head with a disgruntled look.
“Uh….” Quickly, Bai Yunfei waved his hand to call the Cataclysmic Seal back to him. He bowed apologetically to the elderly man, “I….this one apologies, assistant headmaster Wu. Please forgive this one for my actions….”
Wu Dijian gave him a long look before he finally nodded. “Are you really fine there, you brat? You’ve the balls for trying to go against me, it’s a good thing you woke up as soon as you did, or I’d knock you out for two whole days. What is wrong with you? Going crazy over such a small matter like this, where is your dignity?!”
Bai Yunfei dropped his head in embarrassment. He knew he was in the wrong here.
“Well then, let’s leave it at that since you’re all fine and dandy now. You can deal with this situation here, I’ll be leaving.”
Wu Dijian gave a final look at the injured people laying on the ground before flying away from the place.
Bai Yunfei turned to the fearful looking people laying on the ground in front of him. “You may go,” He spoke to the bloody and bruised Zhao Feng, “report to your lords and tell them that if they really want to take revenge for their sons, I don’t mind. I’ll play their game. But if they still wish to continue after this, I’ll be sure to find the time later to pay a visit to your homes in the future.”
……
After Zhao Feng and his group left, Tang Xinyun gave Bai Yunfei a strange look, “Who are those people, Yunfei? They’re all Soul Exalts….just what do so many experts like those want with you?”
“They’re the experts from some of the families of the empire’s ministers. There was a conflict between them and I, so they came to look for trouble. I’ll explain this story later too.”
Xiao Qi finally flew on over back to Bai Yunfei’s shoulder, “Yunfei, are you okay? Who were those guys?”
“Wow!! This bird can talk!”
Huangfu Rui exploded in delight as she pointed at Xiao Qi—this reaction was almost identical to princess Wu Ping when she first saw Xiao Qi as well.
Likewise, Tang Xinyun and Kou Tingting were surprised. Even the red magiboar and quickshade bird had shocked looks in their eyes.
“Haha, let me introduce you all.” Bai Yunfei smiled, “This is Xiao Qi, my contracted soulbeast. He’s a class seven prisma oriole and can talk.”
“Class seven!!”
The group exclaimed, giving Xiao Qi yet another stare in astonishment.
“Hello everyone, I’m Xiao Qi. Please treat me kindly.” Chirped Xiao Qi in greeting to everyone. When he saw Xiao Bai on Tang Xinyun’s shoulder, a curious look entered its eyes.
Just at that moment, another group of people came forward to greet Bai Yunfei. It was Mo Wanxia and the other students, and a curious Zheng Kai.
“Are you alright, instructor Bai?”
Mo Chen asked while giving Tang Xinyun and the other two females a glance.
“Yunfei, you alright? Who are these young misses?” Zheng Kai asked as well.
“Yunfei,” Tang Xinyun started, “These are…?”
Bai Yunfei felt slightly dizzy with so many people gathered around him. Waving his hands, he spoke, “Please don’t rush everyone, I’ll introduce you all in a moment.”
He pointed first to Mo Chen and the group behind them. “Xinyun, you should probably know by now that I’m teaching here in Tianhun Academy, right? These are my students.
He glanced to Mo Chen next, “These three are fellow students from the Crafting School, this is Tang Xinyun….”
The eyes of everyone in the group sparkled at the very mention of her name. Confused, Bai Yunfei trailed off his words to think about just why they were making that reaction. Heart skipping a beat, Bai Yunfei realized then just what kind of mistake he had just made!
Gleeful, Mo Chen took a step forward to bow respectfully to Tang Xinyun and spoke the very words that made Bai Yunfei nearly faceplant into the ground….
“It’s nice to meet you, instructor Bai’s wife!!”