"What is it? Why don't you want to go in? Are you worried they'll reject you, or are you afraid that once you see her, you won't be able to suppress your feelings? Girl, sometimes there are things you have to fight for yourself. If you keep hesitating like this, you'll end up losing everything."
"Maybe I'm putting it too harshly, but I think you understand what I mean. Staying true to your heart is a good thing, but if you let certain people slip away, you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Li Mingxue's voice sounded beside her ear. The white-haired girl froze slightly upon hearing it, yet still made no move.
Perhaps for the girl, such silence was itself the strongest answer. After all, she truly did not know how she was supposed to get along with Chu Lian and the others, even though they had once spent a very happy period together.
Recently, however, she had always felt somewhat out of place among them. Their liveliness belonged to them, not to her.
They lived beneath the same roof, yet it felt as though they had been divided into two different worlds. It hurt her heart, but there was nothing she could do to change it.
Perhaps because of those years spent fleeing, the girl had not only forgotten parts of her past, but had also forgotten her true nature. Before meeting Chu Lian, only two convictions had existed in her heart—to survive and to take revenge.
Or perhaps there had only ever been one—to take revenge. She had wanted to survive because she wanted revenge. Now, although the desire for vengeance remained deeply rooted in her heart, living was no longer as simple as merely surviving like it had once been.
As for what exactly had changed her, she did not want to know, did not want to know, did not want to...
"Huh?" While she was still tangled in those complicated emotions, Li Mingxue finally could not stand watching any longer. She reached out, firmly grabbed her hand, and pulled her into the room.
The other girls had already known the two of them were outside. Even so, when they saw this scene, they still pretended to be surprised. Chu Lian was the most suitable person to speak at a time like this, so she asked, "Mom, why are you here?"
"My Little Lian'er is awake. How could I, as your mother, not come see you? I think that's only natural, isn't it?" Li Mingxue came to the bedside and flicked Chu Lian's forehead with a bent finger.
Watching her rub her head, Li Mingxue finally relaxed a little. It was wonderful that she was all right.
"Satsuki, good evening." After exchanging a few ordinary words with her mother, Chu Lian turned her gaze toward the unusually quiet Kurosaki Satsuki.
She knew the girl's emotions were very complicated right now, but she did not particularly want to dwell on that, so she simply raised a hand in greeting.
"Good evening, Chu Lian." Chu Lian could still be considered ill, and the weak sight of her lying in bed made one's heart ache.
Even though so many people already cared about her, Kurosaki Satsuki still felt she should at least greet her at a time like this.
Chu Lian smiled faintly but did not answer right away. Instead, she looked Kurosaki Satsuki up and down before saying in surprise, "You're already showing signs of reaching the peak of Spirit Rank? How did you improve so quickly?"
"Even Inori didn't grow that fast after receiving energy from me."
Her surprised exclamation made the other girls turn their attention toward Kurosaki Satsuki as well. On one hand, they were curious about how she had improved so quickly. On the other, they could not help feeling envious.
If only they could improve that quickly too, then surely they would be able to help Chu Lian.
Among the girls, only Inori knew why Kurosaki Satsuki had improved so quickly. But she would not explain it in front of so many people.
She would only tell Chu Lian clearly when the two of them were alone.
Of course, just because she would not say it did not mean no one else would. Li Mingxue, who had already made up her mind to force the white-haired girl to integrate into the group, chose the most brutal method possible and directly tore open the matter she wanted to hide.
So when Chu Lian brought it up, Li Mingxue glanced at the silent Kurosaki Satsuki before saying, "It's simple. She spends more than twenty hours a day training. And the one sparring with her is Hiyori going all out."
"If Hiyori didn't hold back every time they reached the final moment, this girl would either be in the hospital or lying in bed recuperating by now. How could she possibly still have this much energy?"
"Still, this method really is effective. Combined with her talent, her rate of improvement is far faster than we expected."
She explained the whole matter simply and concisely in one breath. The girls immediately understood what was going on, and the way they looked at the white-haired girl became somewhat strange.
Just what kind of motivation could drive someone to spend almost every waking moment of every day training? She was a young and beautiful girl in the prime of her youth, yet this was practically equivalent to spending all of that youth on cultivation.
They could not understand what she was thinking, but that did not stop them from admiring her. They could not do such a thing themselves, nor would they choose to.
"Mm..." Kurosaki Satsuki bit her lower lip. Li Mingxue had exposed something she had never wanted to say, and now that everyone was staring at her, she immediately felt unable to remain there.
She turned around, intending to flee.
"Will you stay?" A soft, delicate hand grasped hers. She knew she could break free with the slightest bit of strength, yet she could not bring herself to use even that much force, because this was Chu Lian's hand, and this was Chu Lian's request.
"If you let certain people slip away, you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Li Mingxue's words from moments ago echoed endlessly in her ears.
Kurosaki Satsuki did not know what would happen if she shook off Chu Lian's hand, but she understood that whatever followed would certainly be something she could not accept.
She said nothing and made no promise. She merely exerted a little force and slipped free from Chu Lian's hand.
Just as Chu Lian's gaze dimmed slightly, thinking the matter was about to end there, Kurosaki Satsuki turned back around.
She still said nothing, but the fact that she obediently stood there was already the best possible answer. Seeing this, Chu Lian relaxed inwardly.
At the very least... at the very least, she still cared.
"She wants to catch up to someone she's always been striving to surpass, so no matter where she is, she's constantly training every moment she can. It's a clumsy method that requires enormous perseverance, but for her, it's genuinely effective."
"If you girls want to grow quickly too, you can try finding methods that suit you. I'm sure you'll benefit greatly from them." With Li Mingxue's strength, how could she possibly fail to see their realms or the methods by which they were growing?
She simply did not want to interfere too much with their development and preferred to let them make their own choices.
Only that way would truly suit them best. Even if her interference could make them grow much faster, it would also make the future increasingly uncertain.
These days, she hardly dared to take action at all, because she was afraid it would cause more and more changes in the future.
Those kinds of changes had already happened to Chu Lian many times. If things kept changing, would the next time bring a disaster from which there was no escape?
She did not know, but she could predict that it certainly would not lead to a pleasant ending.
"All right, you need to rest properly. If there's anything you want to ask, wait a couple of days and ask me then. I won't disturb you girls anymore. Spend some time together."
Li Mingxue lowered her head and gently kissed Chu Lian on the forehead, then dragged the unwilling Anna away with her.
Now was the time for her daughter's "harem" to spend time with her. Li Mingxue did not want to interfere, nor would she allow the little girl to interfere either.
Regardless of whether Anna wanted to leave with her, she was taking this obviously scheming little thing out of the room.
"No matter what you're thinking, don't leave so casually, okay?" Chu Lian said softly. Everyone present knew who she was speaking to, so none of them answered.
They simply waited for the girl herself to respond.
"Mm." Kurosaki Satsuki gave a soft reply, then retreated several steps and hid herself behind everyone else.
She was not accustomed to standing beneath so many people's gazes. A quiet corner suited her much better.
"Chu Lian." Yaya called out softly. She had watched everything that had just happened, but she knew this was not the right time to get jealous, so she had not reacted.
After all, if one really thought about it, she was the last one to join this group. If she wanted to be jealous, she could do it when she was alone with Chu Lian.
Doing it now would only make Chu Lian dislike her, right?
"Good girl. Let's talk about something else now." Chu Lian stroked her little head, then looked at the other girls.
After pondering for a moment, she asked, "What do you think we should do next?"
"Record a few songs. Didn't you promise you'd help me make an album before? It's been a really long time already. If you still don't help me, you'd better watch out. Hmph, hmph."
Cai Ya was the first to answer. Chu Lian had honestly almost forgotten about this matter, and hearing her bring it up now, she awkwardly scratched the back of her head.
It really had been a long time. And she still had several cover songs she had not released. Originally, she had planned to release four at once and finish the task in one go.
But now those four songs could not be released at all. If she wanted to put them out, she would probably have to wait quite a long time.
More importantly, she had run out of Culture Points. Relying only on her own memory, there were very few sets of lyrics she could remember in full, nowhere near enough to satisfy what she needed.
So this matter would have to be delayed for a while. At the very least, she had to find a way to earn a large reward of Culture Points before she could begin.
So she replied, "I didn't plan this properly, but it shouldn't be too long. Recording songs takes time too, after all. And lately, I haven't had any inspiration."
"Those four songs from before used up all my inspiration. If I want to create more, I'll probably need to wait for a while..."
Before she could finish, Cai Ya cut her off. "You could just say you don't want to help me for now."
As she spoke, her cheeks puffed out, instantly making Chu Lian's heart soften. Just as Chu Lian was about to solemnly swear that she would get it done by some specific time, Cai Ya suddenly burst into laughter.
"All right, just focus on recovering. Yanran and I will see if we can write a few good sets of lyrics ourselves. When you're free, come help us with the accompaniment."
"But let's make one thing clear. You still have to write at least two original songs for me. I've already reduced my demand from an entire album to two songs. I'm being extremely generous."
As she spoke, she raised one hand and wagged a finger, clearly looking forward to it.
Chu Lian found it a little strange that Cai Ya was suddenly being so easy to talk to. Normally, either she would say nothing at all or she would react much more strongly.
This kind of behavior was actually the abnormal one.
But a young girl's heart was as deep as the sea. Making wild guesses before discovering the reason would only put Chu Lian at a disadvantage.
After thinking for a moment, she decisively killed off that line of thought. Mm, let's leave it at that. I'll ask her later.
In truth, this was nothing more than a rare moment of tenderness Cai Ya occasionally revealed. Chu Lian was simply overthinking it.
"Big Sis, you can decide for yourself. But Chu Chu is planning to start serializing a manga. If you have time, you can come give Chu Chu some setting ideas so Chu Chu can flesh out an entire world."
"Of course, Chu Chu would prefer to get Big Sis' authorization. I could draw a manga adaptation of your previous The Wizard of Oz, or serialize a manga adaptation of the current Sword and Fairy 1."
As Chu Lian listened, she could clearly tell Chu Chu leaned more toward the latter option. After thinking for a while, she stared at the girl and asked, "You should understand that if you make an adaptation and it succeeds, half the credit will go to me."
"If it fails, everyone will say you ruined the original work. And since it won't be your own original work, the road to making a name for yourself in the future will be much harder."
"Big Sis is an idiot. Forget how amazing Chu Chu's drawing skills are. Just the fact that I'm your little sister is already enough to attract countless people's attention."
"You have to understand, it's not just Big Sis. Chu Chu is also a super-duper beautiful girl! Becoming famous and attracting popularity would be ridiculously easy."
"Besides, we can play up the whole sisters-working-together angle, or something like two sister prodigies creating a world together. Those can all become selling points."
"And another thing, Big Sis. You need to pay attention to Chu Chu's age. You're thirteen, and Chu Chu is twelve. We're both this young and already starting to do things like this. Tell me, wouldn't that attract people?"
Chu Chu seemed to have prepared an answer for Chu Lian long ago. The moment she heard what Chu Lian said, she immediately rattled off a huge string of rebuttals.
Seeing Chu Lian's stunned expression, Chu Chu said smugly, "Big Sis, are you surprised Chu Chu knows all this? Hmph, Chu Chu isn't stupid either."
"Of course I know succeeding could never be that simple. So while Big Sis was asleep, Chu Chu already looked up lots and lots of information and made preparations."
Chu Chu's current appearance reflected in Chu Lian's eyes, and suddenly Chu Lian smiled. She pulled Chu Chu closer and gently kissed her cheek.
Seeing Chu Chu's surprised expression, Chu Lian said, "Our Chu Chu has grown up. I'm very happy, so this is your reward."
"The fact that you thought of so many things I didn't means you genuinely want to take this seriously. As your big sister, I'll support you. I'll give you all the adaptation rights."
"No matter what you end up making, I'll always be your strongest shield. Don't hesitate. Use your own strength to show everyone that you're my little sister—and that you're a genius too."
"Of course!" Chu Chu smiled sweetly. This was not the first time Chu Lian had acknowledged her, but this particular acknowledgment made her especially happy.
Big Sis, Chu Chu can do things that earn your approval too!
Listening to the conversation between the two sisters and watching them smile, everyone else began to smile as well.
A life like this really was wonderful...