The four of them spoke for a while longer. Unfortunately, Nie Huang was currently cultivating so she couldn't come over to join in their chat. After all, each moment counted for her. Even though her cultivation speed would be much faster since she was in the dragon realm, she wouldn't take any chances.
After his own experience of how hard it could be to cultivate and how things could come to a standstill even in a good environment, Jing Yi could understand very well why she was focusing on it so much.
When Qiu Ling eventually cut the connection, it was already late and Zhong Gang was already returning home as well.
Madam Zhong glanced at her son but didn't say anything. She really would've liked to talk to Jing Yi about what she had found out before but now probably wasn't the right time for that. She should wait until they were alone.
Zhong Gang didn't know yet that Qiu Ling and Jing Yi had returned so he was surprised when he stepped into the room and saw the two of them sitting at the table.
Jing Yi got up and nodded. "Uncle."
Qiu Ling glanced at his beloved and then also stood up, nodding at Zhong Gang as well. "Uncle-in-law."
"Jing Yi, Qiu Ling, you're back!"
Jing Yi nodded. "Yes, we just arrived today. There isn't much to do in the sect right now so we thought that it would be nice to come to visit again for some time."
Zhong Gang nodded eagerly. It was indeed good if they stayed for a while. Having more family members around was always nice. And anyway, now that his daughter was already married, there also shouldn't be any trouble in the family anymore. "It's good that you're back. You should accompany your mother for a while. By the way, have you seen Guanyu and her husband already?"
"We did see Guanyu when we went to the teahouse before. But I don't think her husband was there at that time." At the very least, he hadn't seen any person that looked like that Bai Mu. Even though he wouldn't necessarily have noticed considering that the last time he and Bai Mu met, his thoughts had been occupied by something else, but Qiu Ling should have seen him. Since that hadn't been the case, that Xiao Li probably hadn't been there in the first place.
"Ah, so it was like that." Zhong Gang sat down next to them and leaned forward, seemingly not interested in discussing the topic any further. Anyway, they'd get to meet him sooner or later. "So how is life in the Yun Zou Sect? Are you still doing well?"
Jing Yi gave another nod. "Very well." He pondered for a moment, wondering what it had been that he had said the last time. It had already been such a long time so he wasn't quite sure just how up-to-date his family was. Back then … That should have been when he and Qiu Ling had been traveling outside for a year. At that moment, he hadn't even managed to take in spiritual energy and had scrambled to try and learn to become a practitioner with Shao Hai's help instead. His life had been completely different compared to now.
Unfortunately, his uncle didn't know too much about cultivation and even though they had tried to explain to him, who knew if he could still remember? After all, it had nothing to do with his own life and several years had passed since then.
Jing Yi pondered again and finally decided that he should use the easiest example. "You know, I've even become an inner sect disciple by now just like Qiu Ling."
Zhong Gang raised his brows. He didn't know too much but with how Jing Yi said that, it sounded like something very good. And hadn't his fiance already been pretty impressive back then? "My congratulations! Well, I always knew that you would manage to make something out of your life."
"Uncle is too nice." Actually, he wasn't quite sure if his uncle had indeed thought like that before but thinking back to their last visit, he hadn't said anything contrary either. To him, just getting into the Yun Zou Sect was probably very good already. Well, in a sense, that was also right. After all, not everybody was able to get into a cultivation sect and the Yun Zou Sect was a very good one.
Before they had time to reminisce further, the door opened and Mi Fang came in together with her daughter. Jing Yi couldn't help but turn vigilant. Before, Guanyu hadn't been too welcoming. Maybe she wouldn't be happy to see him now either. If that was the case … Wouldn't he have to leave soon? After all, it had been like that the last time as well.
To him, this time was different though. He had seen that his mother wasn't doing as well as he had hoped. He just couldn't bring himself to leave so soon. Since there was nothing they could do in the Yun Zou Sect for now and also nothing that could be done outside since they weren't supposed to go on missions, he felt that they should stay here for a while longer and take care of her. Wasn't that the least he could do after once again vanishing for so many years?
He turned to Qiu Ling who reached over and grasped his hand. "It's alright. Isn't she married now? If that guy is really related to Bai Mu, he should be a good guy and she should be satisfied. So there's nothing for us to worry about. Let's just wait."
Jing Yi nodded. That was also right. He should probably just trust that everything would turn out well.
Mi Fan was just as pleasantly surprised to see the two of them return as her husband. She greeted them happily and then turned to her daughter to remind her to do the same.
Guanyu pursed her lips though. She really couldn't understand why her mother was reacting like this. What was so good about Jing Yi and that man? She wouldn't mind if they just stayed at that whatever sect all the time! They didn't need to be here. Wasn't it enough when her parents had her and Xiao Li?
She could hardly say that though. Otherwise, her parents would probably scold her. "We already saw each other before in the teahouse." With that, she went upstairs to change her clothes. There was no way she would sit through this dinner before her husband had returned. Anyway, just because Jing Yi had found a good man, it didn't mean that she didn't have one either. She'd let him see later on. Then, he might very well regret not having yielded to her back then.
She never would have thought that things would turn out completely differently from her imagination.