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

A few days later.

A rumor started circulating in the village: Lin Chu had a young woman from the city who brought him food every day and even caught pheasants.

Lin Chu heard it from Aunt Wang next door.

Aunt Wang was also the one who most frequently brought things home.

That day, Aunt Wang stopped him and came closer mysteriously: "Young man Lin, whose wife is that? She's really pretty, so fair and delicate, she doesn't look like she's from our village."

"I'm not a naive young wife," Lin Chu said.

"Okay, okay, no, no." Aunt Wang winked, giving him a knowing look.

"I understand that young people are shy, but you have to treat her well. I think that girl is quite interested in you." With that, she walked away with a smile.

Lin Chu stood still and rubbed her temples.

During dinner that evening, Mr. Chen mentioned it briefly: "Everyone in the village says that Yao is the little wife you abducted. What do you think?"

"The villagers are just talking nonsense." Lin Chu picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks.

"Hmm." Mr. Chen nodded, and after a while added, "His nonsense is quite accurate."

Lin Chu almost choked.

Cang Yao knew nothing about any of this.

She came every day as usual, catching wild game and pestering him to teach her to read.

However, the actual work was left to Mr. Chen.

He was quite happy to agree.

Cangyao's reading speed is getting faster and faster, from the initial "heaven, earth, man, water" to being able to read simple sentences from the Analects of Confucius, albeit haltingly.

One day, Lin Chu asked her curiously, "Why are you studying so diligently?"

Cang Yao stammered, "We might need it in the future."

"That's true, it's never a bad thing to learn more."

"Lin Chu is an idiot," she mumbled, then lowered her head to write again.

……

Winter has arrived, and the stream is beginning to freeze over.

Cang Yao came less often, and Lin Chu knew that she was afraid of the cold—after all, she was a fish, and winter was not a comfortable season for her.

But she still came every few days, each time with her neck hunched and her face red from the cold.

Before we knew it, the end of the year was approaching.

Before the Lunar New Year, Cang Yao asked him, "What is the Lunar New Year?"

Lin Chu thought for a moment and said, "It's just a family meal together."

Cang Yao was silent for a moment, then asked, "May I come?"

Lin Chu looked at her.

"My family doesn't celebrate the New Year," she said casually, as if it were just a casual remark, but her fingers gripped the hem of her clothes tightly. "Can I come here and spend the New Year with you?"

"Okay," Lin Chu said.

Cang Yao smiled.

This time it wasn't a small, restrained laugh, but a huge, big laugh, like a spring flower.

"It's settled then."

"It's settled."

Snow fell again and again in December, and the snow in the yard was already above ankle height.

Lin Chu took a bamboo broom and swept the snow to both sides, creating a narrow path.

Cang Yao sat on the threshold, her neck hunched, her hands tucked into her sleeves, and an open copy of the Thousand Character Classic at her feet.

She didn't read aloud as usual, but read it softly in a low voice.

"Heaven and earth were dark and yellow, the universe vast and boundless. The sun and moon waxed and waned, the stars and constellations were arrayed in their places. Cold came and heat went, autumn brought harvest and winter..."

She suddenly stopped, looked up, and stared at Lin Chu with bright eyes: "Lin Chu, is the character '藏' in '秋收冬藏' pronounced cáng or zàng?"

Lin Chu was sweeping the snow when he heard this. He paused, put down his bamboo broom, thought for a moment, and said, "It should be 'cáng,' meaning autumn harvest and winter storage, that is, harvesting in autumn and storing in winter."

Cang Yao nodded, then lowered her head and stretched out her fingers, which were red from the cold, to carefully write the character "藏" (cang) on ​​the snow.

She wrote very slowly, each stroke deliberate, as if she were etching it into her heart.

"So, is this character the same as the character for 'hide' or the character for 'hide'?"

"Yes, they are all the same," Lin Chu said. "Hiding things is also about hiding them away. In winter, we hide our food and people away to hibernate."

Cang Yao listened and suddenly laughed, a sly laugh: "Then I also hide. In winter, I hide underwater, and no one can find me."

As she spoke, she glanced down at the words on the snow again, then gently brushed them away with her sleeve.

"I've remembered it. Autumn harvest and winter storage, pronounced cáng."

As darkness fell, the last vestiges of gray light shone on the snow.

Cang Yao closed the "Thousand Character Classic," stood up, and patted the snowflakes clinging to her skirt.

She looked up at the western sky, where a faint orange-red hue peeked through the clouds, as if someone had lightly painted it with a brush.

"Lin Chu, it's getting dark." Her voice carried a hint of reluctance, her fingers unconsciously tracing the edges of the book pages.

Lin Chu leaned the broom against the wall and patted the snow off her hands: "Hmm, it's time to go back."

Cang Yao didn't move immediately. She stood there, her toes lightly drawing circles on the snow, and after a long while, she whispered, "Can... I take this book back with me?"

Lin Chu looked at her and smiled, "Take as much as you want."

Cang Yao's eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously.

She picked up the book "Thousand Character Classic" from the threshold, patted off the thin layer of snow on the cover, and hugged it to her chest as if it were a precious treasure.

"Then I'm leaving," she said, but didn't turn around immediately.

Lin Chu stood at the door, looking at her.

Cang Yao took two steps, then stopped, looked back at him, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she just curved the corners of her mouth and revealed a faint smile.

"Then I'm leaving."

"Um."

She took a step forward, then turned back: "I will definitely come on New Year's Day."

"understood."

She took two more steps, then turned back again: "I'll bring some delicious food."

"it is good."

Lin Chu stood at the door, watching her red figure disappear into the night.

Cang Yao took a few steps, looked back once more, then quickened her pace and jogged away, disappearing into the shadows of the woods.

She ran very fast, leaving almost no footprints in the snow.

The surface of the East China Sea shimmered with silvery ripples under the moonlight, stretching outwards in layers.

Cang Yao paused on the shore, took a deep breath, and then plunged into the water.

It flicked its tail and shot into the deep sea like an arrow.

The further down you go, the dimmer the light becomes.

After passing through an invisible barrier, the scene before me suddenly changed.

A colossal coral palace appeared on the seabed, gleaming softly in the deep blue water.

Dragon Court.

This is the location of the East Sea Dragon Court in the Realm of Ten Thousand Demons, and also the last stronghold of the Dragon Clan in ten thousand years.

Cang Yao swam into the palace, passed through the long corridor, and arrived at her residence.

As soon as she pushed open the door made of seashells and coral, a small figure darted out.

"elder sister!"

A girl with her hair in two buns stood in front of her, hands on her hips, looking at her angrily.

The girl looked a little younger than Cang Yao, with a round face, big eyes, and wore a light blue dress with a silver belt around her waist.

She is Cang Xiaoxiao, a little sea turtle who has recently taken human form. She is Cang Yao's maid and her closest younger sister in the Dragon Court.

"Sister, you ran ashore again!" Xiaoxiao stamped her foot. "I was so worried about you! Qianyuan Pavilion came looking for you today, but luckily I was quick-witted and told them you were in seclusion!"

"It's good that you're alright." Cang Yao patted her chest, squatted down, and stroked Xiao Xiao's head. "Xiao Xiao, I've told you so many times, the place I went to is very safe."

"Safety what?!" Her little face flushed red. "That's human territory!"

"Sister, have you forgotten? A few days ago, they went on a group hunt down demons on the beach, specifically targeting our fellow sea creatures! They took their inner cores, stripped off their scales and armor, pulled out their tendons and bones, and didn't even spare the newly transformed little demons! Aren't you afraid, sister?"

Cang Yao shook her head and said, "Xiao Xiao, I know you're worried about me. Don't worry, there's someone there, it's very helpful."

"Good?" Little Xiao's eyes widened. "What's good about it?"

Cang Yao thought for a moment and answered seriously, "He taught me to read and braided my hair."

Xiao Xiao was stunned. She opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say for a moment.

After a long pause, she finally managed to utter, "That's it?"

"Um."

"Just because he taught you to read and braided your hair, you run ashore every day?"

"Um."

Little Xiao got anxious, stamping her feet and saying, "Sister! There isn't a single good person among humans! Humans are all bad!"

Cang Yao did not rush to refute.

She held her small hand and sat down on the coral steps at the entrance of the bedchamber.

"But Xiaoxiao, I think many things can't be generalized. There are bad fish in the sea, and the same goes for people. There are bad people and good people in this world."

"Hmph!" Xiaoxiao turned her head away. "People are all bad!"

"But he's different."

"That's not necessarily true!"

"He's different."

Xiao couldn't argue with her, so he angrily flung his hand away, transforming into a tiny turtle the size of a palm, and darted into a crevice in the nearby coral.

She buried her head tightly in her body, her tail tip twitching defiantly, refusing to look at her again.

Cang Yao looked at the turtle and couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright." Cang Yao stroked the little shell. "Little one, trust your sister, he really is a good person."

She stirred slightly, then buried her head even deeper.