Talulah, I'm still a child.

"What are you afraid of? I don't need it if you don't make any mistakes."

The little fox rolled his eyes, picked up the ruler and stuffed it back into his tail. He wasn't a violent person, and besides, the two sisters were already so grown up, it wasn't easy to beat them.

"I still have some psychological trauma from this. You know, when I was little, what I was most afraid of was my older sister chasing me with this thing. She even had powers attached to it. I always felt like she wanted to beat me to death."

"Your sister isn't that kind of person."

Mei Xue shook her head slightly, but after thinking about it for a moment, she felt that this statement was not entirely correct.

"But she did suggest that I just give you away to someone else to raise, otherwise no one but me could stand eating chili peppers every day."

Nian was very willful when she was a child. She had to eat chili peppers with every meal, and in winter she ate hot pot every meal. The key was that Mei Xue was the only one who cooked at home, so she couldn't always accommodate her. In any case, Xi had argued with Nian several times because of this.

"Yes, I don't know who it was when they couldn't tell their older sister and mother apart when they were little."

Xi mocked her good sister in annoyance. This matter had become an inescapable dark history for Nian. She had worked for Da Yan for two hundred years to erase the record of this matter from Si Sui Tai, so as not to be laughed at in the future.

"You're not much better. You're a grown man and you're still afraid to sleep alone. Don't think I don't know you were woken up by a fright."

Nian's sharp retort: ​​As the youngest sister, Xi has never been very brave. The "thousand-year sleepless" sounds impressive, but frankly, it's still because she's scared of Sui. She's most afraid of returning to Sui's consciousness after entering a dream and losing herself.

"That's better than you. You make bad movies, and you still have the nerve to ask your brothers and sisters to do the music and martial arts direction."

Poetry, songs, calligraphy, painting, medicine, forging, military strategy—besides the abilities bestowed upon them by age itself, the twelve brothers and sisters also learned a great deal from people: forging by year, painting by evening, poetry by order, and of course, martial arts by their eldest brother, Shuo.

Mei Xue reluctantly took a bite of her apple, letting the two sisters continue arguing, as if she had returned to those days.

"It's the same as before. You don't need to worry about me. I'm here, lying in my hotel room. I didn't come out to relax because I was in a bad mood."

No one knows a daughter better than her father. After all, he raised her himself. Mei Xue is not so clueless as to not understand what the two of them are thinking. She just saw him here and thought that her conversation with Ling earlier had upset her.

"I knew I couldn't hide it from you after all..."

“I already told you, Father understands us best.”

Xi glanced at Nian, then gently stroked Mei Xue's tail. Just as the little fox had guessed, the two of them were curious about what Ling and he had talked about before, how they saw Mei Xue lying here, and how they learned about that matter because he was in a bad mood.

"I know about Jie's matter."

Upon hearing this, Nian and Xi's expressions changed rapidly. They hadn't expected Ling to actually tell Mei Xue about it, but the little fox just shook her head slightly while munching on her apple.

"You all know I'm here, so how could Jie not come if he knew?"

"..."

The two remained silent. They both knew that Jie was most dependent on and concerned about Mei Xue. Back then, the fox spirit entered the human world and did not appear for a thousand years. The brothers and sisters searched for her in their own ways. The eldest brother even risked arousing the suspicion of the Si Sui Tai by traveling to other countries. If Jie knew that Mei Xue was here, how could he not come?

"Come back with me this time, let's go home and visit."

"When you go back this time, your second sister and third brother..."

Nian hesitated, knowing that the harmonious scene between her brothers and sisters back then was hard to return to. Decades ago, a great upheaval caused the Si Sui Tai to grow rapidly. The Great Yan changed its attitude towards them. Even for the sake of the fox spirit, they could not be biased in their dealings with Sui, and even prohibited more than three of Sui's agents from gathering.

"It's alright if they don't come. I'm just going back to visit. I'm not doing anything else. Whether they become officials or live in seclusion in the mountains, as long as they are doing well, that's fine. Don't make things too difficult for the people of Da Yan."

Mei Xue knew that Da Yan could not delay any longer regarding Sui's matter. In addition to what had happened before, Si Suitai's decision was not actually wrong. When the consequences of an event are significant enough, one cannot help but consider the consequences more carefully.

Even Mei Xue, the fox spirit who has protected the Great Yan for a thousand years and is a folk deity, has certain things that the Great Yan cannot tell him.

"Go to Shangshu first, then find your older brother, and finally go home."

"We'll listen to you."

She raised her hand to express her opinion. She didn't care. Whatever the little fox said went. She trusted Mei Xue's judgment, just like back then, when she chose the craft of forging after hearing some of his stories.

"Me too, it's been a long time since I've seen my elder brother. But now there are four agents, and Si Suitai is over there..."

"It's alright. I'll write to Si Suitai. With me keeping an eye on things, nothing will go wrong."

As she spoke, Mei Xue took out the ruler from her tail, which scared Nian and Xi so much that they covered their bottoms. They were really afraid of this thing. They had been beaten a lot when they were young. Their older brothers had only been beaten by Mei Xue a dozen times, but the two of them were punished by Ling almost every three days.

"You go back first, Nian; you stay here, Xi."

"Ah, why?"

Nian, whose name was called, was a little unhappy. She glanced at Xi, then at Mei Xue, and felt as if she had caught wind of something secret. Could it be...?

"Father, don't be biased! I'm not bad-looking either, and I know more tricks up my sleeve, so I'll definitely sleep better than Xi Geng... Father, I'm leaving now!"

Seeing Mei Xue holding up the ruler, Nian was so frightened that he wished he had two legs when he was young, and he fled in a panic.

Xi was left sitting alone, feeling somewhat uneasy. She looked around; it was late at night, and there was no one else on the beach, but occasionally flashlights would shine through – those were the lights of the city patrol to prevent anyone from lingering on the beach and getting into trouble.

(Really in a place like this? I... ah, maybe I should cover it up with a painting.)

"What are you thinking about?"

"Father, perhaps we should find another place. It would be too embarrassing if we were seen here."

Seeing Xi's flushed face, Mei Xue was stunned for a moment. She turned her head and thought for a while before she understood what Xi was thinking. Her eyelids twitched slightly, and she hit Xi's butt with a ruler. It wasn't hard, but it was scary.

"ah!"

Xi jumped to the side in fright, and Mei Xue rubbed her temples helplessly.

"What inappropriate thoughts are you having? I just wanted to say that next time you should properly put on your clothes and not try to get away with it by using your abilities."

Because her ability is to bring objects to life through drawing, Xi has often used this trick to be lazy. For example, she makes the little creatures she draws help her with housework and cooking. She's even too lazy to change her clothes. "A touch of ink in a painting, and colorful robes appear on their own"—that's exactly what Xi is like.

However, this ability was useless to Mei Xue. In the little fox's eyes, ink was ink and painting was painting. No matter how magical the ability was, it could not cover up the essence of things. The little fox had been thinking this since she saw her this morning, but Xi did not like to sunbathe. After coming out for a while, she retreated back into the painting.

"……Oh."

Rubbing the spot where she had been hit, Xi honestly took out a painting, took out a piece of clothing from it, and changed into it in front of Mei Xue. Actually, she only used this trick because she knew it wouldn't work on Mei Xue; otherwise, wearing a piece of clothing wouldn't kill her.

She just didn't expect that the little fox was not so easy to fool now, and she could not be forced like before. Xi was glad that she had succeeded back in Laterano, otherwise she would have gotten nothing but a scolding now.

She wasn't as carefree and unrestrained as Ling, nor did she have the proactive and charming side of Nian. She was aloof and could never say anything seductive (the side story doesn't count, right?).

"Go back to sleep. I'll stay with you tonight, so you won't get scared."

The little fox rubbed Xi's head and walked ahead. Xi was stunned for a moment before following, a smile playing on her lips. She thought to herself that she shouldn't sleep tonight.

Bonus Chapter: Mei Xue's Years Raising Children

Taking care of children is a very tiring thing. Mei Xue can now understand her sister's feelings back then. However, Little Fox felt that he was much more well-behaved than these children back then. Although he couldn't even beat a crab, there were only two of them at home, so there was no need to worry about them fighting.

"Wow!! Dad! Ninth Sister stole my rice cake again!"

Mei Xue heard her youngest daughter's loud wail, which made her shake her head helplessly. Before the little fox could even get up, another problem arose.

"Dad! My eldest sister has been stealing your wine again!"

"Why don't I just go home and sleep for hundreds of years?"

The little fox snapped the spatula in its hand with one hand, then quickly took two deep breaths to calm its inner turmoil.

"Don't be angry, don't be angry. I've lived for so many years and seen all sorts of things. They're just a few naughty kids. Even if they're adopted, they're still our own children. Let it go!"

Mei Xue wagged her tail slightly, scooped the food from the pot into a plate, then put down the pot and the broken spoon and went outside.

Upon entering the living room, the second son was discussing the story of Jiang Liuer that he had told the day before with his third daughter. The second and fourth daughters were sitting together engrossed in reading "A Thousand Sad Reasons for Zhang San's Imprisonment." The eldest daughter was quite drunk, the youngest daughter, the eleventh daughter, was crying sadly, and the ninth daughter hadn't even wiped the crumbs from the corner of her mouth.

The third and fourth sons looked like they had just had a fight and were ignoring each other, while the eldest son was nowhere to be seen.

Where is your eldest brother?

“My eldest brother probably went out to practice his martial arts. Ever since you told him that story about getting up to practice martial arts at the crowing of the rooster yesterday, he has decided to follow in his footsteps.”

The second son, who was pondering the principles of chess, turned around and said something, then turned back to continue playing chess.

"...My bamboo grove."

Mei Xue covered his face helplessly. He had just glanced at it and saw that a small patch of the bamboo grove he had planted had fallen. Although the plum blossoms and peach trees in the backyard had not been damaged, what kind of situation was this?

This eldest brother is a bit of a handful, but he's actually quite good at being a clothes hanger.

But we need to deal with the younger daughter's crying first; her cries are too loud.

"Nian, why are you stealing your sister's food again?"

"Gurgle... Father, rice cake also has the surname Nian, right? So it should be mine!"

The ninth daughter is named Nian. This name was not given by Mei Xue, but by the third daughter. However, there are twelve brothers and sisters, each with their own characteristics. Mei Xue named the third daughter, but she has not yet thought of names for the remaining eleven. Only the eldest son Shuo, the third son Ling, the ninth son Nian, and the eleventh son Xi have their own names (because I only know these few names now).

As for the rest, they mostly addressed each other like that between the second and fourth brothers and sisters. After all, family members know each other's affairs, and it's enough that they know who it is when they call out the name.

"That's sophistry. If it happens again, you won't be allowed to eat spicy food for three days."

Mei Xue reached out and tapped Nian's head, ignoring how her cheeks puffed up. She then picked up Xi, who was lying on the ground. Xi looked to be only six or seven years old, but in reality, her siblings were only a little over a year old.

"Alright, alright, don't cry, Xi Bao. I'll make you another dessert later."

Mei Xue didn't say she wouldn't let Nian eat it, otherwise Nian would probably cry again. She just scared her by saying she wouldn't let her eat chili peppers for three days, and now the girl looks aggrieved and about to cry.

"Father, hit her!"

"Alright, alright, sweetie, I'll go down the mountain tomorrow and buy you some good food. Hmm, I should also prepare some writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstones for you."

"But Father, don't we have some at home?"

The third daughter, Jie, held up the dictionary in her hand. The little fox shook her head slightly and used her tail to dispel Xi's bad mood.

“You are naturally intelligent, and there is not much I can teach you, nor is there much time I can spend with you, so I need to teach you some things as early as possible.”

Hearing Mei Xue's words, the second son looked at the book in his sister's hand. It was indeed something that the Great Yan Dynasty could not produce at present. The material and font were very different from what he knew. It seemed to be something that would only exist hundreds or thousands of years from now.

"Don't cry, don't cry. You liked that painting of plum blossoms in early spring, so I'll give it to you."

"really?"

Xi's eyes were still wet with tears, but she had already smiled. That's how children are; they can cry and laugh as they please. It had taken Mei Xue a year to finally figure out what they were thinking.

The eldest son is honest, straightforward, and focused; he is gentle and kind but also a bit dull. The second son is thoughtful but always keeps things to himself and doesn't trust anyone but himself. The third son loves to drink and dream when he's drunk, but after being startled awake by a scare, he'll tug at his sleeve and ask all sorts of questions.

Needless to say, Nian likes lively atmospheres, but ultimately she is most afraid of loneliness. She likes to tease Xi not only because this younger sister is easy to bully, but also because she wants to help the other girl relieve the pressure brought by Sui.

"Of course it's true, but you have to keep it safe. It's one of the few things your aunt left me."

Mei Xue placed her youngest daughter on the ground, then reached out and gently grabbed at the air. A delicate black fist landed in her palm, and a boy with black hair streaked with white appeared out of thin air in the living room.

"Ugh?"

Shuo was a little stunned. He was practicing martial arts in the bamboo forest just a second ago, and he appeared here the moment he threw a punch, without any warning.

As the eldest son of the Sui family, he is the most powerful among his siblings. If it were a matter of spatial or temporal abilities, he would certainly be able to detect it, but this is truly unfathomable.