(Lin Xiao Celebrates by Eating Sugar-Coated Hawthorns at the Capital Night Market & Balcony Peace)
The midnight revelry in the grand courtyard below gradually softened into a calm, melodic murmur.
Leaving the students, titan bears, and river otters to finish their late-night hot pot songs and wine toasts, Lin Xiao had quietly floated away from the banquet. He drifted up through the misty garden terraces like an azure soap bubble. He arrived at his private cedar porch perched atop the highest pavilion of the Floating Mountain.
Here, three thousand paces above the sleeping canopy of the Grand Desolate Spirit Forest, the air was crystal-clear, cool. Then it infused with the subtle perfume of night-blooming white orchids.
Manifesting a wide, deeply contoured wooden rocking chair crafted from ancient spirit-pine, Lin Xiao settled into a thick cushion of stitched golden silk. His round, squishy blue body wobbled as he found the perfect balance point, rocking back and forth with a slow, rhythmic creak that harmonized with the whispering mountain wind.
Beyond the cedar stone railing lay a panoramic sea of clouds lit up by the silver radiance of the twin moons.
Lin Xiao reached a slime arm into his void storage ring, pulling out a long, polished bamboo skewer.
