What about us What will happen to us

"Wait a minute!" Jiang Xinyao subconsciously reached out and grabbed Qin Hao's sleeve.

Qin Hao looked at her hand on his sleeve with a playful expression, asking knowingly, "Hmm? What is it?"

Jiang Xinyao bit her lower lip, her cheeks still flushed red. Her eyes darted away, not daring to look at him. She could only lower her head, her voice as quiet as a mosquito's, carrying a hint of imperceptible grievance and urgency.

"I... I... I didn't say no."

"Didn't say no to what?" Qin Hao feigned ignorance, though the smile at the corners of his mouth could not be suppressed.

"Just... just like ordinary Dao companions... hugging waists... and standing closer when talking." As she spoke, her voice became almost inaudible.

"Oh—" Qin Hao dragged out the syllable as if suddenly enlightened, his eyes full of mirth. He bent down slightly, bringing his face close to her small visage that was as red as a ripe apple.

"So, Her Highness the Imperial Daughter wants to experience having her waist hugged and standing closer while talking."

"You... don't twist my words! I... I just meant I'm not opposed to it... I didn't say I had to experience it!"

Both shy and annoyed, Jiang Xinyao raised her watery eyes and glared fiercely at Qin Hao.

However, this glare had no lethality at all; instead, it looked more like a coquettish pout.

Qin Hao laughed heartily, then took Jiang Xinyao's soft, boneless little hand. "Alright, I'm just teasing you. Didn't you want me to take you out for a stroll? Let's go."

After the two left, in the Jiang family estate, the First Ancestor of the Jiang family, Jiang Qitian, glanced at the man beside him and snorted coldly.

"Is this the future head of the Jiang family you told me about? If she takes charge, will our Jiang family be surnamed Jiang or Qin in the future?"

Jiang Xinyao's father, Jiang Changsheng, looked utterly embarrassed. His daughter was completely wrapped around that Qin boy's finger.

"Ancestor, Xinyao is still young and hasn't interacted much with the opposite sex. She will get better in the future."

Pausing for a moment, Jiang Changsheng continued to ask, "Ancestor, actually, there is one thing I have never understood. You seem to have always had a very repulsive attitude towards the Qin family, but we don't have any major conflicts with them, do we? Why is that?"

Jiang Qitian was slightly taken aback by the question. He looked in the direction Qin Hao had left, then said faintly, "You know, I, or rather our entire Jiang family, only have what we have today because of the grace of Fairy Miejue. When I was just a minor cultivator in the Qi Condensation realm, she guided my cultivation and entrusted the Hongmeng Fate-Plundering Stele to me. She was the one who told me that no one surnamed Qin is a good person."

"That's why I don't show any good face to those surnamed Qin."

Speaking of this, Jiang Qitian revealed a strange expression. "Thinking about it now, I might have misunderstood her meaning."

...

The Three Realms and Nine Heavens consisted of the Immortal Realm, the Earth Realm, and the Origin Realm. The Immortal Realm was the world where cultivators resided, the Earth Realm was the world of mortals who could not cultivate, and the Origin Realm was the beginning and end of the world, devoid of cultivators, populated only by naturally born Chaos Fiendgods.

The Immortal Realm was divided into Nine Heavens. Top-tier factions like the desolate ancient families of Qin Hao and the others were located in the Upper Three Heavens, while the Great Cang Kingdom, where Su Qingyue and Xia Lingxi were from, was in the Lower Three Heavens.

Qin Hao took Jiang Xinyao from the Immortal Realm to the Earth Realm. Because of the restrictions of the laws of heaven and earth, their cultivation bases were suppressed by the power of the laws upon arriving in the Earth Realm.

In a small courtyard by the river, one could see awning boats gliding past just by pushing open the window.

Qin Hao looked at the sleeping Jiang Xinyao and reached out to pinch her nose.

Before long, Jiang Xinyao woke up from the lack of air. "You're bullying me again."

She playfully swatted Qin Hao's hand away with feigned anger.

Qin Hao chuckled softly. "Stop sleeping, little lazybones. I'll take you to experience mortal delicacies."

Qin Hao took Jiang Xinyao's hand, pulling her to squeeze into a stall crowded with mortal craftsmen and low-level cultivators, lining up to buy freshly steamed meat buns.

It was Jiang Xinyao's first time eating a mortal food like buns. With one bite, the scalding hot soup splashed all over her.

Qin Hao laughed at her embarrassed state while wiping her mouth, then blew on the bun to cool it down before feeding it to her.

After breakfast, they strolled along the bluestone path by the river. Qin Hao would point at the unnamed but vibrantly blooming wildflowers by the roadside and make up outrageous legends, making Jiang Xinyao laugh out loud.

At night, people were floating lotus lanterns on the river. The warm, starry lights drifted downstream, making the entire river look like a galaxy in the sky.

"So beautiful~"

Just as Jiang Xinyao was marveling, Qin Hao produced two river lanterns as if by magic, handing one to her. "Here, let's write a wish too."

Jiang Xinyao peeked at Qin Hao secretly, then quickly wrote the words "Always together" on the lantern.

Taking it all in, Qin Hao smiled and asked, "What did you write?"

Her cheeks flushed red, Jiang Xinyao stammered, "Just wrote something random. It has nothing to do with you anyway."

Listening to her unconvincing denial, the corners of Qin Hao's mouth curled up.

Looking at his incredibly handsome side profile, Jiang Xinyao tentatively hooked Qin Hao's hand with her pinky finger. Noticing her little gesture, Qin Hao openly held her hand.

For the next month, the two wandered around this Earth Realm like an ordinary mortal couple.

Weaving through bustling mortal markets, the dignified Imperial Daughter of the Jiang family would jump for joy just because Qin Hao bought her a stick of crystal-clear candied hawthorn.

At the mortal market, Qin Hao taught Jiang Xinyao how to haggle with stall owners like a normal person.

On a peak where no one bothered them, Qin Hao and Jiang Xinyao sat shoulder to shoulder watching the galaxy cascade down. Jiang Xinyao would nestle in Qin Hao's arms, listening to him recount bizarre and fantastical stories from his past life.

Qin Hao's stories always stopped abruptly at the most beautiful or tragic points, making Jiang Xinyao scratch her head in anxious suspense every time.

"After Dong Yong and the Seventh Fairy were separated by the Queen Mother, did they really never see each other again? That... that must be so sad."

Qin Hao pursed his lips. "The two were separated by heaven and earth. The Seventh Fairy was pregnant and sent the child back to the mortal realm to be raised by Dong Yong alone. When the child grew up, he searched for his mother, and they later reunited at the Immortal-Gazing Bridge."

"What about The Cowherd and The Weaver Girl? Is it the same for them?"

Qin Hao rubbed Jiang Xinyao's head. "They are a bit better off. Magpies built a bridge for them, and they can meet once a year."

"And Xu Xian and Lady White Snake? She was locked under the Leifeng Pagoda. Did she ever get out?"

Qin Hao remained silent for a long time, so long that Jiang Xinyao thought he wouldn't answer, before his deep voice finally came.

"She got out, but things had changed, and people were no longer the same. They missed out on too much. Some things cannot be retrieved just by breaking a pagoda."

Jiang Xinyao frowned slightly; she didn't like this kind of ending.

She tilted her head up, looking at Qin Hao's chiseled face under the hazy starlight, and asked cautiously, "Then, what about us?"