Chapter 480: I Absolutely Refuse to Agree!
Chapter 480: I Absolutely Refuse to Agree!
"Starting today, please move out and live elsewhere."
Tushan Xinhua said to Xiao Mo.
Tushan Jingci and Xiao Mo had grown up alongside each other.
Although Xiao Mo and Tushan Jingci were in the same courtyard but in separate rooms, and Tushan Xinhua also knew that in his everyday conduct Xiao Mo was very mindful of propriety, in Tushan Xinhua's view, whatever the circumstances, they had grown up now, and it truly was time to pay attention to the distinction between male and female.
At their age, if they had been in an ordinary mortal household, they would already be married.
So one of the purposes of Tushan Xinhua's visit this time was to have Xiao Mo move out.
"Xiao Mo is moving out? Where to?"
The moment Tushan Jingci heard Xiao Mo was to move out, the color drained from her soft, pink face.
"To a place at the foot of the mountain." Tushan Xinhua said. "When Jingci goes to the study hall, Xiao Mo, you will still accompany her as before. As for attending to Jingci, there is no longer any need for that. Yueshi and the others are here to look after her. This way you will also have more time for your own cultivation."
"Understood. Xiao Mo will comply."Hearing Tushan Xinhua's words, Xiao Mo clasped his hands in a bow and offered no refusal.
The request was entirely reasonable.
Xiao Mo even felt that he should have moved out when Tushan Jingci reached the hairpin age. To still be living in the same courtyard as these young women, even if only as a book attendant, was genuinely not proper.
He felt the Lady of Mount Tu must have noticed this long ago, and that it had taken until now for her to raise it.
"Mother, I do not think there is any need for Xiao Mo to move out. It is perfectly fine for Xiao Mo to stay here."
Tushan Jingci said from the side. She was naturally unhappy about Xiao Mo moving out.
If Xiao Mo moved to the foot of the mountain, did that not mean she would no longer be able to step out her door and find Xiao Mo right there?
Did it not mean she would no longer be able to sneak over while Xiao Mo was asleep and draw a little turtle on his face?
She absolutely refused to have that.
"This is not a matter of what you want or do not want." Tushan Xinhua said sternly. "You are a young girl. Mortal girls your age are already married. You should be thinking about your own reputation. What will become of you when the time comes to find a match?"
"I..."
"That is enough. This is decided." Tushan Xinhua waved her hand. "Xiao Mo, pack your things. Move out tomorrow evening. I have already arranged a courtyard for you."
"Yes, Lady." Xiao Mo clasped his hands in a bow.
"Jingci will never speak to Mother again!"
Tushan Jingci saw that her mother's decision was final, and with tears welling in her pale pink eyes, she wiped at them and ran out.
"Jingci!" Tushan Xinhua called after her daughter, but in the end could only let out a sigh. "Aah, that girl..."
"You horrible person!"
"The most horrible person!"
"Abandoned me in the Hanshan Academy without even coming to see me, and now you will not let Xiao Mo live with me either."
"Elder Sister Yueshi is no fun. If Xiao Mo leaves, who am I supposed to play with?"
"What distinction between men and women? Xiao Mo and I have been completely open and above-board, completely proper, with nothing whatsoever between us!"
On the summit of Jianshan.
Tushan Jingci, who had run out of the courtyard, picked up stones from the ground and hurled them one after another down the mountainside.
The young girl's soft pink cheeks were puffed out like a blowfish. She looked thoroughly furious.
After about a quarter of an hour, when the stones were flying faster and faster from the young girl's hands and her indignation was at its peak, the young girl suddenly paused, and her fox ears shifted slightly.
"Hmph!"
The young girl gave a snort and turned her body away, tilting her head to one side.
Xiao Mo, who had just arrived at the summit, smiled and strolled forward, smoothed his blue robe, and sat down beside her and Tushan Jingci, as though deliberately trying to show her displeasure with Xiao Mo, did not spare him so much as a single glance.
"The Lady has left."
Xiao Mo spoke.
"The Lady asked me to tell the Young Miss that the Demon Realm has been unsettled lately and there are many matters in the clan that need attending to. She has been very busy and may not be able to come and visit the Young Miss for a while. She hopes the Young Miss will study diligently, cultivate properly, and not do anything to make her teacher angry."
"Hmph..." Tushan Jingci yanked a blade of grass from the ground beside her. "Mother left already and she is still giving me instructions. She keeps coming and going more and more quickly lately."
Hearing Tushan Jingci's complaints, Xiao Mo smiled. "Although the Lady says nothing of what she is busy with, I feel that everything she does, she does for the Young Miss."
"Everything she does is for my good, yet she never once asks me whether I like it or not."
Tushan Jingci flung another stone down the mountain, then her eyes suddenly brightened.
"Hey? Xiao Mo, since Mother has left and will not be coming back for a long time, you do not have to move out, do you?"
"I do."
Xiao Mo smiled and shook his head.
"Setting aside whether Elder Sister Yueshi would tell the Lady about it, or whether the Lady would find out on her own, I genuinely should move out. I should not continue living in that little courtyard. It is not good for the Young Miss's good name."
"As the Lady said, if some unfavorable rumor were to spread in the future, how would the Young Miss ever find a suitable match?"
"Marriage and matching and all of that, I have not thought about any of it."
Tushan Jingci hugged her knees to her chest and looked out at the stars spread across the sky.
"I do not want to get married. I think the way things are right now is just fine."
"With you, and Elder Sister Yueshi, and horrible Mother, as long as all of you are here with me, I am very happy."
"Ha ha ha... Young Miss simply has not yet met someone she likes. Once you do, you will not feel that way anymore." Xiao Mo said with a smile.
"Someone I like..."
Tushan Jingci blinked her large eyes.
"People always say we of the fox clan attain the Dao through love, and that we are certain to meet someone we love. But what does it actually feel like, to like someone?"
"Well..."
Xiao Mo thought for a moment, then spoke.
"Perhaps liking someone means thinking of them constantly in your heart. You always want to be with them. Even a moment apart feels unbearable. You would do anything for them. Nothing in the world compares to them."
Hearing Xiao Mo's answer, the young girl puffed her cheeks. "Xiao Mo, how do you know all this so clearly? You could not possibly have someone you like already, could you?"
"I read it in books."
Xiao Mo shook his head.
"Whether I will have someone I like in the future, I honestly do not know. But I know that I will stay by the Young Miss's side for the rest of my life, protecting her."
"Really?" The young girl looked at him.
"Really." Xiao Mo gave a nod.
"I do not believe you!" Tushan Jingci turned her small head away again, her pale pink fox eyes shifting from side to side. "Unless you promise me one thing. Then I will believe you!"
"What thing?" Xiao Mo found himself genuinely curious.
"In the future, the girl you like must be better-looking than me! At the very least, she must be as good-looking as I am!" Tushan Jingci said with a laugh.
"As good-looking as the Young Miss?" Xiao Mo paused.
"Yes..."
Beneath the starry sky, the young girl's eyes curved into crescent moons.
"If she is not even as beautiful as I am, what right does she have to be liked by you?"
"I absolutely refuse to agree to it!"
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