At eleven o’clock on the fourteenth night of the twelfth winter month, the snow-swept lane of Mud-Ditch Alley was unusually quiet.
Standing beside his [Rank 3 Nine-Flavor Earth-Fire Chef Wok] in his warm lambskin coat. Twenty-eight-year-old Gu Changsheng lifted the bronze lid off a freshly roasted platter of [Rank 3 Five-Spice Honey Roast Chicken]. Eight-year-old Gu Nian and six-year-old Su Nuannuan stood on tiptoe beside the low brick courtyard wall to arrange three lit sticks of sandalwood incense.
Two strawberry milk drops on the clean linen napkin.
“Strange,” eight-year-old Gu Nian whispered, looking up at the dark, shattered second-floor window of the boarding house across the alley as his frost-white breath puffed into the winter air. “Every other night, as soon as Dad fans the golden smoke up to the roof, a little silver breeze makes the incense smoke twirl in three happy circles. Tonight the window is broken, it smells like burnt rotten eggs upstairs, and the silver breeze hasn’t come out at all!”
Beside her big brother, six-year-old Su Nuannuan held up her freshly drawn crayon picture—a chubby. Smiling green turtle wearing a tiny pair of gold-rimmed spectacles and holding a drumstick—and blinked her big dark eyes worriedly:.
“Dad, did the Midnight Chalk Grandpa catch a cold because his window broke? Or did that bad man Lin Fan bully him again?”
Before Gu Changsheng could answer, [Dad’s Plot-Spoiler Notebook] popped open inside his mind, its pages flashing with an urgent crimson border. The system’s live plot-radar locked onto the dark alley two blocks east toward Peace Pharmacy!
[ URGENT RED ALERT! FOREKNOWLEDGE DECAY — RING-GRANDPA IN DANGER! ]
* Target Spirit : Master Yao Chen (Rank 6 Pill Sovereign Remnant)
* Crisis Reason : At 5:00 PM today, Master Yao Chen blew up Lin.
Fan’s cauldron with Thunder-Fart Croton Powder.
to stop Lin Fan from brewing a Child-Crippling.
Bone-Rot Pill aimed at Gu Nian!
* Current State : Trapped inside Lin Fan’s ring by a [Forbidden.
Blood-Slave Shackle Array]! Soul-Origin draining.
at 10%/hour (Already drained from 85% -> 65%)!
* Immediate Threat: Lin Fan (inflated to Rank 1 Peak via stolen.
soul-qi) is sneaking toward the back alley of.
Peace Pharmacy with a butcher cleaver to kill.
the kids’ puppy [Little Snowball] and use its.
heart-blood to devour Master Yao’s soul!
* POACHING REQUIREMENT:.
1. A Rank 3 Soul-Nourishing Physical Vessel for Master Yao Chen.
to inhabit the instant he leaves the ring!
2. A Flaw-Free Rank 3 Shackle-Cutting Kitchen Strike to sever.
the Blood-Slave Array without hurting Master Yao’s soul!
Reading those crimson lines, Gu Changsheng’s warm eyes turned as sharp. Winter steel for a fraction of a second—before he immediately knelt down in the snow between his eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter and spoke in a calm, reassuring voice:.
“Nian’er, Nuannuan, listen to Dad. This afternoon, that bad guy Lin Fan tried to boil a poison pill to hurt Nian’er’s legs. The kind old grandpa who eats our roast chicken at night and writes red-chalk notes on Auntie Qin’s chalkboard blew up Lin Fan’s pot on purpose to protect Nian’er!”
“Grandpa Chalk blew up the bad guy’s pot for me?!” eight-year-old Gu Nian gasped, his small fists clenching tightly inside his mittens.
“Yes, he did,” Gu Changsheng nodded seriously. “Because of that, Lin Fan locked Grandpa Chalk inside a dark, painful ring with a bad array and is sneaking toward our Peace Pharmacy right now to cause trouble. Since Grandpa Chalk is a spirit without a body, he can’t move out of that bad guy’s ring unless we give him a warm, safe new home of his own!”
Gu Changsheng looked down at the colorful crayon drawing of the smiling green turtle in six-year-old Su Nuannuan’s small hands and smiled:.
“Nuannuan, didn’t you say this afternoon that turtles live for ten thousand years and carry their cozy houses right on their backs? Let’s take five minutes right here at the cart with Auntie Qin’s sewing basket to turn your cute green turtle. Drawing into a real Rank 3 plush home for Grandpa Chalk—and then we’ll go rescue both Grandpa Chalk and Little Snowball!”
“Yes, Dad! Let’s make Grandpa Chalk the softest, warmest turtle house right now!” six-year-old Su Nuannuan and eight-year-old Gu Nian cheered in unison.
Their eyes blazing with fierce determination to save the old grandpa who had protected them.
Right there beside the warm Earth-Fire Wok cart—where twenty-four-year-old Auntie Qin had just hurried over from the corner of the street carrying a lantern. Her emergency medical and sewing kit after Captain Gu Tie signaled her—Gu Changsheng opened the covered compartment of [Dad’s Care-Package Upgrade Box].
“Brother Changsheng, is it true that the Midnight Chalk Grandpa who has been correcting my pill formulas every night is trapped inside that scoundrel Lin Fan’s ring?!” twenty-four-year-old Auntie Qin asked breathlessly. She set her sewing basket on the warm wooden shelf of the cart and threaded three silver needles with emerald spirit-silk thread.
“Over the past five nights, those red-chalk notes he left on my pharmacy chalkboard saved our clinic at least three years of trial and error!
Tell me how to sew his new vessel—even if I have to prick my own fingers to infuse my alchemist’s wood-qi into every stitch. I won’t let our pharmacy’s benefactor suffer a single breath longer!”
“Keep your fingers safe, Wan’er—your spirit-silk thread and goose-down cotton are already the purest in the county,” Gu Changsheng smiled warmly. Taking the threaded silver needles and the soft emerald velvet cloth from her hands. “Hold the lantern steady while Nian’er and Nuannuan help me lay out the pattern.”
“Okay, Dad! Look, I drew Grandpa Chalk’s shell with six big hexagons on the back so he has plenty of room to stretch his arms and legs inside!” six-year-old Su Nuannuan said earnestly.
Flattening her colorful crayon drawing on the chopping block and pointing with her tiny index finger.
“And right here on his tummy, Nuannuan drew a little pocket with a button so his papers won’t fall out when he jumps!”
“And I’ll carve four smooth iron-wood buttons from my spare broom handle so his pocket stays buttoned tight!” eight-year-old Gu Nian offered immediately. Pulling out his small woodworking pocketknife and whittling four neat, polished wooden buttons in ten seconds flat with his Rank 1 Peak Innate Chaos Bone finger dexterity.
Watching the young father, the gentle doctor, and the two small children gather around the warm stove cart. In the falling snow to craft a new home for an old spirit they had never even seen face-to-face. Thirty-five-year-old Captain Gu Tie felt his own eyes grow warm beneath his iron helmet.
No wonder every guard and farmer in Frost-Pine Town is willing to risk his life for our Patriarch, Captain Gu Tie thought. Gripping his steel spear tighter as he kept watch over the alley mouth. In our Gu Clan, anyone who shows a single ounce of kindness to the children is treated like family for ten lifetimes!
From his system inventory and Auntie Qin’s basket, Gu Changsheng placed four items into the glowing golden slot:.
1. [A 500-Year Warm-Soul Nephrite Jade Core] (confiscated from Second Elder Gu Ba’s secret vault five days earlier).
2. [Three Spools of Auntie Qin’s Emerald Spirit-Silk Thread & Goose-Down Cotton].
3. [Su Nuannuan’s Crayon Drawing of a Chubby Green Turtle with Gold Spectacles].
4. [Gu Changsheng’s Heavy Cast-Iron Kitchen Wok Spatula].
“System, spend 5,000 Dad Points! Fuse the Warm-Soul Jade Core, the Spirit-Silk Cotton, and Nuannuan’s Turtle Drawing into a permanent Rank 3 Soul-Nourishing Vessel for Master Yao Chen. Imbue my Kitchen Wok Spatula with a [Flaw-Free Blood-Shackle Severing Edge]!”
HUMMM—FLASH!
[ DING! 5,000 DAD POINTS DEDUCTED — RANK 3 VESSEL & SPATULA FUSION! ]
* Remaining DP : 68,210 DP.
* Output Item 1: [Rank 3 Perfection: Soul-Nourishing Jade-Turtle.
Plush Doll (Active Golden Core Spirit Vessel)]!
- Appearance : A two-foot-tall, irresistibly chubby emerald-green.
plush turtle with a soft velvet belly, a carved.
warm-jade shell pattern, and tiny gold spectacles!
- Effect : Permanently nourishes any righteous remnant soul.
at +5% Soul-Origin/day! Allows the spirit inside.
to walk on two stubby plush legs, drink tea, eat.
spiritual food, and channel up to Rank 3 Peak.
Pill-Fire & Spiritual Force through its flippers!
* Output Item 2: [Rank 3 Perfection: Father’s Shackle-Cutting.
Iron Kitchen Spatula]!
- Effect : One smack shatters any Blood-Slave or Soul-Binding.
Ring Array below Rank 5 with zero backlash to the.
protected spirit!
When the golden light faded inside the cart basket, Auntie Qin, Gu Nian, and Su Nuannuan all let out a collective gasp of delight!
Sitting on the folded linen cloth was a two-foot-tall, unimaginably soft emerald-green plush turtle doll that looked as if it had hopped straight off six-year-old Nuannuan’s crayon page!
Its round little belly was stitched from creamy white cloud-velvet, its back shell shimmered with warm five-hundred-year nephrite jade patterns that felt like a heated hand-warmer to the touch. A tiny pair of gold-rimmed reading spectacles sat perched on its stubby green nose. A miniature embroidered pocket on its chest was just the right size to hold children’s crayon notes!
“Whoa! It looks just like Nuannuan’s picture, and its shell is warm like our stove!” eight-year-old Gu Nian marveled.
Touching the plush turtle’s fuzzy green flipper before picking up his small [Fused Iron-Wood Broom] in his right hand.
“Grandpa Chalk is going to look so cute inside this turtle!” six-year-old Su Nuannuan beamed, hugging the warm two-foot-tall [Rank 3 Soul-Nourishing Jade-Turtle Plush Doll] against her pink rabbit coat with both arms.
Not only did the chubby green plush turtle radiate a gentle. Soothing warmth from the five-hundred-year nephrite jade core embedded inside its shell, when six-year-old Su Nuannuan gave its soft white velvet belly a gentle squeeze. The plush turtle’s tiny gold-rimmed spectacles glinted in the lantern light and its stubby green flippers wiggled.
If waiting eagerly for its owner to move in!
Even more impressively, when Gu Changsheng lifted his newly fused [Rank 3 Perfection: Father’s Shackle-Cutting Iron Kitchen Spatula] out of the box. The flat cast-iron blade gleamed with a faint, razor-thin hairline of pure golden disciplinary light.
To an ordinary mortal’s eye, it looked like a well-seasoned kitchen spatula used for flipping pancakes and stir-frying cabbage. Yet to anyone with spiritual vision, that thin golden edge carried an unbreakable household mandate capable of slicing. Through any demonic blood-contract or soul-shackle below the fifth realm without disturbing a single hair on the hostage’s head!
“Brother Changsheng,” twenty-four-year-old Auntie Qin whispered in amazement. She tucked a warm wool blanket around the plush turtle’s shoulders in Nuannuan’s arms so the snow wouldn’t wet its velvet fur. “Little Snowball’s doghouse is right under the back herb-drying porch of Peace Pharmacy!
Earlier tonight before closing the clinic, I gave Little Snowball a bowl of warm marrow-broth rice and locked the outer courtyard gate. If Lin Fan wants to sneak in with a cleaver, he’ll have to climb over the low wooden fence in the back lane!”
“Then we know the exact spot where he’ll jump,” Gu Changsheng said calmly. Checking that the bronze lid was resting over the platter of [Rank 3 Five-Spice Honey Roast Chicken] so the drumsticks stayed piping hot for Master Yao Chen’s housewarming meal.
He looked down at eight-year-old Gu Nian and six-year-old Su Nuannuan:.
“Remember our family night-patrol drill: Dad blocks the sharp blade in front, Nian’er scoops up Little Snowball and sweeps the bad guy’s shins. Nuannuan holds up Grandpa Chalk’s new turtle home as soon as the ring cracks open. Ready?”
“Ready, Dad!” eight-year-old Gu Nian whispered, gripping his small iron-wood broom with both hands as his dark eyes gleamed with protective resolve. Six-year-old Su Nuannuan nodded firmly with the chubby green plush turtle held tight against her chest.
Picking up the steaming porcelain platter of [Rank 3 Five-Spice Honey Roast Chicken] in his left hand and gripping his gleaming [Rank 3 Shackle-Cutting Iron Kitchen Spatula] in his right. Twenty-eight-year-old Gu Changsheng nodded to Captain Gu Tie and Auntie Qin:.
“Gu Tie, take ten guards to seal the north end of Peace Pharmacy Lane so the rat can’t slip out. Nian’er, Nuannuan, stay right behind Dad’s apron—let’s go evict a bad landlord and bring our Grandpa Yao home!”
[ DING! RESCUE PARTY DEPLOYED TOWARD PEACE PHARMACY LANE! ]
* Equipped Gear : [Rank 3 Jade-Turtle Plush Doll] & [Shackle-.
Cutting Kitchen Spatula]!
* Kids’ Darkening: Gu Nian 10% | Su Nuannuan 13%.
* Daily Income : +29,000 DP/day -> +32,000 DP/day!