After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

Mr. Chen is back.

When they entered the courtyard, Cang Yao was sitting on a swing watching Lin Chu pacing around.

He didn't speak.

He put down his bundle, moved a chair, and sat down on the porch.

Cang Yao looked up: "Mr. Chen, you're back."

"Hmm." Mr. Chen picked up the teapot, poured himself a cup, and said, "You're back."

His tone was very calm, as if he had long expected that there would be an extra person in the yard.

Lin Chu came out of the house and was about to explain when Mr. Chen waved his hand.

"I knew this girl would move in sooner or later, even before I left home."

He took a sip of tea and added, "It's a few days later than I expected."

Cang Yao lowered her head and continued reading, the tips of her ears turning red.

Days passed by like this.

Cang Yao took over the cooking and then started doing the laundry.

Lin Chu said no, she said it was part of the tuition fee.

Lin Chu said the tuition wasn't that expensive, so she glared at him and said, "Then don't teach me to study."

Lin Chu was helpless.

Besides cooking and doing laundry, Cangyao also became familiar with the older women in the village.

At first, it was just Aunt Wang, but later Aunt Qin, Aunt Sun, and Aunt Zhao all became her acquaintances.

When she goes to the well to fetch water, she can be held in her hand and chatted for a long time; when she goes to the market to buy vegetables, she can be stuffed with a bag of radishes and cabbages, and they won't even take her money.

The older women liked her.

She's good-looking, has a sweet tongue, and is hardworking—who wouldn't like her?

But as much as I like it, these aunties really do have a lot of gossip.

That afternoon, Cangyao returned from washing vegetables by the well, put the vegetable basket on the stove, and walked to the locust tree.

Lin Chu was sitting there reading a book.

"Lin Chu." She sat down next to him, her expression serious, as if she had encountered some problem she couldn't figure out.

"Um."

"Aunt Qin talked about something today."

"What is it?"

She said that men are different from women.

Lin Chu paused for a moment as she turned the pages of the book.

Cang Yao tilted her head to look at him, her eyes clear and innocent: "But I've counted, you have eyes, a nose, a mouth, two hands, and two feet, just like me. What makes you different?"

Lin Chu remained silent for a while.

"What else did she say?"

"She said it's common sense and told me to go back and observe it myself." Cang Yao pulled her legs up onto the chair, hugged her knees, tilted her head, and thought for a while, but after thinking for a long time, she still couldn't see anything different. "Can you point it out to me?"

Lin Chu closed the book with a dark expression and stood up.

"I'm going for a walk by the stream."

"Hey—" Cang Yao jumped off the chair and took two steps after him. "You still haven't told me! What's different?"

Lin Chu left without looking back.

Cang Yao stood in the courtyard, her brows furrowed tightly.

She looked down at herself, then looked up at Lin Chu's back, and couldn't understand it at all.

……

Occasionally, Cangyao would return to Longting to visit Xiaoxiao.

That day, she carried a food box, passed through the barrier, and swam into the bedroom.

Xiao Xiao was lying on the tatami mat, idly flipping through old books, when he heard a noise and jumped up.

"elder sister!"

"I brought you something delicious." Cang Yao placed the food box on the table and opened the lid.

Braised fish, braised pork hock, glutinous rice lotus root, osmanthus cake—she learned to make them all on the shore.

It didn't look as appealing as the imperial chef's dishes at Longting, but it was steaming hot and the aroma was irresistible.

Xiao Xiao grabbed a piece of osmanthus cake and stuffed it into her mouth, her cheeks puffed out: "Sister, your cooking skills are getting better and better."

"Really?" Cang Yao's eyes lit up. "Lin Chu said the same thing."

Xiao Xiao rolled her eyes as she chewed on the osmanthus cake.

"All you know is Lin Chu, Lin Chu, Lin Chu."

"I also know Xiaoxiao." Cangyao sat down next to her and wiped the crumbs from the corner of her mouth. "Eat slowly, no one will take it from you."

Xiao Xiao grabbed another piece of braised pork knuckle, and while gnawing on it, asked indistinctly, "So how have you been lately? Is it fun on the shore?"

Cangyao then told her about everything that had happened recently.

Aunt Wang taught her how to pickle vegetables, Aunt Qin taught her how to sew buttons, and Aunt Sun taught her how to choose fabrics.

She said the village children would chase after her calling her "Fairy Sister," and she would give them candy.

Lin Yue came to her again to have her hair braided. After she finished, Lin Chu insisted that Lin Chu have hers braided too. The braid was crooked and messy, and Lin Chu laughed for a long time when she saw it.

As Xiaoxiao listened, she suddenly said, "Sister, you've changed so much."

"What has changed?"

"Back when you were in the Dragon Court, you either cultivated or just spaced out. Now you're all smiles every day." Xiao Xiao thought for a moment.

Cang Yao didn't say anything, but simply wiped the sauce off her small mouth and smiled.

Before leaving, Cang Yao casually took a few pearls from the Dragon Court's storeroom.

It's not large, but it's round and smooth, gleaming softly in the palm of your hand.

She swam ashore and exchanged her writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone at a traveling merchant at the village entrance.

The traveling merchant was a middle-aged man who had traveled all over the country. He took the pearl and looked at it against the light for a long time before looking up at Cang Yao.

He had walked this path for over a decade and seen many pearls, but every one he received from this young girl was the finest of the finest.

He didn't ask about his background.

When it comes to business, it's best not to ask about certain things.

Cang Yao hugged the new paper and pen to her chest and walked back with light steps.

Lin Chu's inkstone was old, and several of his brushes were worn out.

Life went on like that.

Before she knew it, Cang Yao no longer had to scrub clothes for ages, no longer mixed up salt and sugar when cooking, and no longer hit her foot with the broom when sweeping the yard.

She stood in front of the stove, tossing the food in one hand and sprinkling salt in the other, her movements so skillful it seemed like she'd been doing it for years.

Aunt Wang sat in the back picking vegetables and praised them sincerely.

"Yao girl, you look just like a virtuous young wife."

Cang Yao did not refute.

She just smiled, put the food into a plate, and arranged it neatly.

After winter set in, the weather got colder day by day.

Cang Yao started feeling sleepy frequently.

Lin Chu got up to read in the morning, while she was still sleeping in the room.

I sat under the locust tree at noon and dozed off while leaning back in my chair.

She said it was because it was winter and she was prone to feeling sleepy.

Lin Chu didn't think much of it.

Until that morning.

When Cang Yao woke up, it was already daylight.

She stretched, and when she pulled her arm back, her sleeve slipped down to her elbow.

I looked down at my forearm and saw a patch of scales on it.

It wasn't the dull gray color of ordinary fish scales; it was red with a faint golden sheen, as if dyed by the sunset.

The edges of the scales are slightly raised, and the skin underneath is a little itchy.

Cang Yao's expression changed instantly.

She reached out and touched the scale; it wiggled slightly and then fell off.

It fell onto the blanket.

Where the scales had once covered the skin, a small patch of smooth new skin was now exposed, whiter and more tender than the surrounding skin, faintly glowing with the light of flowing spiritual energy.

This is not an ordinary molting.

This is about to be a breakthrough.

Cang Yao sat on the bed, hugging her knees, staring blankly at the scale.

Once one's cultivation reaches a certain level, one is about to advance to the next stage.

Although the cultivation levels of the demon race are similar to those of the human race, they have an additional path—evolution.

And Cang Yao's path of evolution has only one end.

Leap over the Dragon Gate and transform into a true dragon.

But that's a very, very long time from now.

For tens of thousands of years, no demon has been able to advance to the level of a true dragon. Even though she possesses the essence of a true dragon, no one in the Dragon Court's higher-ups thinks she can reach that level.

The most pressing issue right now is that the true dragon bloodline within her seems to be awakening on its own, and some kind of tide in the world is resonating with her bloodline.

These changes in the body are signs.

She sat on the bed for a long time, then slowly hid the scales, put on her clothes, sat at the table, and spread out a piece of paper.

She picked up her pen and wrote a few lines.

After she finished writing, she folded the paper, placed it in the center of the table, and weighed it down with the wooden comb she had carried for a long time.

Then he went back to the bedside and folded the blankets neatly again.

Cang Yao bit her lip, forced herself to turn around, and gently pushed open the door.

Then he turned around and left.

It was past noon, and Cang Yao still hadn't gotten up.

Lin Chu sensed something was wrong.

Although she has been feeling sleepy lately, she has never slept until this hour.

He walked to the door of the east room and knocked.

No one answered.

He knocked twice more.

Still no movement.

Lin Chu frowned and pushed open the door.

The room was empty.

The bedding was neatly folded, the wildflowers on the windowsill were still there, and the apron behind the door was still there.

But the person is gone.

He walked to the table and saw the letter under the wooden comb.

When unfolded, the handwriting is a bit crooked, but each stroke is written very carefully.

"Lin Chu, I have some things to take care of at home, so I have to go back. I'll be back soon, so don't worry about me."

There was no signature below, only a crooked little fish drawn.

Lin Chu stared at the little fish for a long time.

Then fold the letter again and put it in your sleeve.

Having received the system notification, he already knew about Cang Yao's situation.

But it seems like there's nothing I can do right now.