The Endless Ache of Parting - Chapter 2

The tonics might not have helped much, but Yin Li’s tireless daily feeding hadn’t been wasted. I regained my human form, though I was still rather weak.

My human appearance was nothing like my true form.

Even Master had stared for a long time when he first saw it.

I rarely saw him so lost in thought.

Delicately pretty, with red lips and white teeth, I looked sweet and charming.

Afraid I might be bored, Yin Li brought the Left and Right Guardians to perform tricks for me. Before they even reached the doorway, he spotted me, stark naked.

He spun around at once and swept out a leg, kicking both Guardians out.

“Damn it. No clothes on. Letting other people see you.” He kept muttering.

“Damn it,” I copied him.

He hurriedly covered my mouth.

“Don’t copy me. Don’t copy me.”

“Tiaotiao, don’t copy me. I haven’t got any ink in my belly. I’m uneducated.”

“But I haven’t got any ink in my belly either.” I patted my stomach.

He sighed, then pulled off his outer robe and wrapped it firmly around me.

“Ink or no ink, you still have to wear clothes.”

His body, too, was thickly covered in scars.

Perhaps he noticed my gaze, because he covered my eyes as well.

“Don’t look. It’s ugly. I don’t want to frighten you.”

Yin Li really was a fool. If I frightened that easily, I would scare myself to death just looking in a mirror.

He thought I wasn’t wearing clothes because I didn’t like the way they looked.

So he had the Right Guardian make me a great many dresses, in every color and style imaginable.

The Right Guardian, Xuanye, was a stunning beauty: curvaceous, fair-skinned, and lovely. She knew a great deal about dressing up.

I knew humans had to wear clothes. I just couldn’t be bothered.

Ever since I fell from the Immortal-Execution Terrace, my vital energy had been damaged, leaving me constantly sluggish.

I lay naked on my stomach on the bed. The Right Guardian hauled me up, and I simply flopped onto her shoulder instead.

The Right Guardian smelled so nice.

She gave me a tender, motherly look, took my little face in her hands, and planted a loud kiss on it.

Then she set to dressing me, working away with all her limbs. In the morning, I wore a jade-green gauze blouse and a pleated skirt misted with scattered flowers.

At noon, it was a crimson blouse decorated with flowers and colorful butterflies, paired with a pleated silk skirt in the same shade and a bright pair of shoes embroidered in gold thread.

By the time Yin Li came, the Right Guardian had already done my hair in three different buns. Fed up with the fuss, I bared my teeth at her ferociously.

To my surprise, both she and Yin Li gave me that same tender, motherly look.

I bared my teeth even more ferociously.

Strange. Weren’t they frightened?

Instead, they grew even more excited. They were even about to take out an image-recording stone to capture it.

“Has Tiaotiao got excess internal heat? Her gums look a little red and swollen.” The Right Guardian suddenly leaned close.

I shut my mouth at once and stopped showing my teeth.

The demon realm really was full of fools.

Master had been right. All their intelligence had gone into fighting.

The Left Guardian, Xuanwu, was a burly, fearsome-looking man of few words. He also had no hair.

He called himself “so brilliant he’d gone bald.”

As young lord, Yin Li had plenty to keep him busy, so he left the “brilliant” Left Guardian at my side to keep me safe.

I woke in the middle of the night to find Xuanwu reading One Hundred and Eight Ways to Raise a Child by lamplight, completely absorbed.

His large head shone with a soft halo in the flickering candlelight. I couldn’t resist sneaking up behind him and giving it a stroke.

“Can’t sleep?” He turned around.

I nodded.

He sighed. Then he noticed my bare feet on the floor. His brows drew together in a stern frown, and he lifted me up.

After a moment’s thought, he worried I might be uncomfortable and tucked me under his arm. He hesitated again, decided that wasn’t right either, and sat me on his shoulders.

He wasn’t very good with children. His whole body was stiff.

“Tiaotiao, let’s play a game.” After much head-scratching, the Left Guardian came up with an idea.

“What game?”

“Let’s see who can fall asleep first.”

With such a boring game, there was no way I would fall asleep.