On the warm, flower-covered platform at the foot of the Ten-Thousand-Year Frost Pillar, the five children stood shoulder-to-shoulder in a crisp, stair-step line from tallest to tiniest.
On the far left stood thirteen-year-old Ye Xiao in his round spectacles, holding his [Homework-First Bamboo Ruler Sword] neatly against his seam. Next to him stood twelve-year-old Gu Nian in his bright Yellow Bunny Apron, his hands trembling with excitement at his sides.
In the middle stood ten-year-old Su Nuannuan hugging her [Ten-Thousand-Herb Pink Watering Can], followed by nine-year-old Jiang Tuntun in her floral bib holding her [Giant Wooden Rice Spoon.] Finally, on the far right, chubby three-year-old toddler Little Fifth (Ao Xing) with his two tiny silver dragon horns poking through his floppy white chef hat.
Wrapped in her fluffy red-and-white fox-fur cloak with Gu Changsheng’s arm around her shoulders, Empress Luo Qingxue looked at the five children standing before her.
Suddenly, for the very first time in her life, the invincible Rank 8 Ice-Sword Empress—who had stared down ten thousand Star-Realm warships without blinking—felt a wave of sheer, heart-pounding shyness!
I haven’t held Nian’er since he was three months old, Luo Qingxue thought, her fingers tightening nervously around her warm ginger-soup thermos as she tried to tuck a strand of frost-Tousled hair behind her ear. *And I’ve never met Xiao’er, Nuannuan, Tuntun, or Little Fifth in person...
