Above the blooming pomegranate tree and the grape trellis of the Frost-Pine Courtyard. A million golden Porch-Lantern Stars blinked to life in the twilight sky of the Supreme Origin Heaven, casting a warm, honey-amber glow over the yard.
At the sound of Gu Changsheng’s three spatula clangs from the kitchen. The original round cedar dining table that Carpenter Liu had built in Frost-Pine Town gave a gentle, creaking hum of Rank 10 Household Law. Smoothly expanding its warm, walnut-oiled tabletop just enough to comfortably seat the entire family around a single circle without anyone having to sit at a separate kids’ table!
Look at the bustling, heartwarming dance of domestic teamwork unfolding around that round wooden table:
First, twenty-seven-year-old Ye Xiao (Rank 10 Righteous Ruler-Sword Sovereign & University Chancellor) walked briskly around the perimeter of the table with his [Homework-First Golden Bamboo Ruler] in his left hand. A bundle of thirteen pairs of smooth bamboo chopsticks in his right.
Click. Click. Click.
With scholarly precision, Ye Xiao aligned all thirteen pairs of chopsticks and thirteen porcelain soup spoons to within zero-point-zero-one millimeters of the table’s edge. Placing the two pairs engraved with “Head of the House” and “Beloved Wife” at the northern master seats for Gu Changsheng and Empress Luo Qingxue. Setting a brand-new pair of floral-carved chopsticks right beside Gu Nian’s seat for Lin Wanwan!
