Cultivation Online

"Mmm…" Chu Liuxiang woke up from her long slumber when it was almost evening.

After stretching her body on the bed, she sat up and looked around the dark room with a dazed face.

She quickly noticed Yuan, who was still cultivating in the balcony.

After staring at Yuan's figure for a couple of moments, she got off the bed and went inside the bathroom to wash her face.

As she walked out of the bathroom, she noticed her cell phone ringing.

"Father? I wonder what he wants…"

Chu Liuxiang answered the call after realizing who the caller was.

"Hello? Father? Did something happen?"

"My dear daughter… When do you plan on letting us know that you have returned to the mountain?" Chu Shijian's sighing voice resounded through the phone.

"Oh, I completely forgot. Sorry, father. I planned on calling you once I settled in this place, but I had spent the past week inside Cultivation Online." Chu Liuxiang said.

"Cultivation Online? You never showed interest in that game before. In fact, you even refused to play it after trying it out for a few days." Her father said in a surprised voice.

"Well, I didn't have Yuan by my side before, and I had no reason to play. Things are different now that we're playing together. The game seems so much more intriguing when I follow him compared to playing with the family."

"Yuan… I heard about his most recent achievement. He'd opened a floodgate to the next realm for all players."

"And I was there to witness everything from the beginning to end! If you were there to witness his trials and what he had to endure, you would admire him even more!" Chu Liuxiang said in a somewhat proud voice.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Chu Shijian asked her, "When do you plan on coming back to the family? You're already back in the Dragon Spiral Mountain, so you might as well come back to us now."

Chu Liuxiang quickly responded, "On the contrary, father, now that I have returned to the mountain, I can stay with Yuan as long as I want since I am, technically, already home."

"You… Aiya… Forget it. I will give you until the end of the month with him."

"W-Wait—!"

However, Chu Shijian hung up the phone before she could even respond.

Chu Liuxiang stared at her phone in a dazed manner.

"Until the end of the month…" she mumbled to herself.

She looked at the calendar a moment later only to realize that she has less than three weeks left before the Chu Family starts making things difficult for her and Yuan if she doesn't return.

"Were you talking to someone just now?" Yuan's voice suddenly resounded as he returned to the room after he ended his cultivation.

"I was just speaking to my father on the phone…" She sighed.

"I see… Did something happen to your father? You seem down…"

"That's because he wants me to return to the family, and he has given me until the end of the month to return…" She said with a bittersweet smile.

"Oh… But your family also lives on the mountain, right? I don't think it's going to be that bad, since we're basically neighbors."

Chu Liuxiang shook her head, "It's not that simple. Once I return to the family, they will most likely start arranging my future and forbid me from leaving the house. By the time I am allowed to leave, I would already be married to someone chosen by my family, and I would most likely have to leave this place."

Yuan frowned when he heard this even though he's already heard similar words from Sebastian back at the Jaded Garden.

"Are you okay with that?" Yuan asked her after a moment of silence.

"Of course not! My desire is to start a family with you! You should already know that!" She quickly refuted.

"But does your family know that?"

"..."

Chu Liuxiang didn't immediately respond this time because she has never mentioned it to her family.

"No…" She eventually muttered in a low voice.

"Then you should let them know your feelings."

"That won't do anything. They will simply refuse and do as they please, anyway. That's just how the Chu Family operates."

"You won't know for certain until you do it. Don't worry, even if they refuse, they can't force you to do something that you don't want, because I will be there for you." Yuan smiled.

"Really?"

He nodded and said, "One thing that I cannot stand is when a family forces their own children, adopted or not, to do things against their will, as I have experienced first-hand how horrible that feels."

"If the Chu Family still refuses to listen, then I will forcefully take you away from them just like how I took Min Li from her family."

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Sometime later, Yuan and Chu Liuxiang went downstairs for dinner, but to their surprise, dinner wasn't prepared, and Meixiu was nowhere to be seen.

"Did Meixiu forget to cook dinner? How rare…" Wang Ming said when he arrived at the dining room and saw the empty table.

"It's only been a week since we've started living together and it already feels off when she misses a single meal. I think we're relying on her too much." Wang Bingbing said.

"I will go check up on her just in case." Yuan said to them.

He arrived at her room a few minutes later and knocked on her door.

"Meixiu, are you in there?"

The door opened a moment later and Meixiu came outside while wearing her pajamas.

"Did something happen?" she asked him.

"I was about to ask you the same… Everyone is wondering about dinner."

It was at this moment that Meixiu realized she'd forgotten about dinner.

"I forgot about dinner… Sorry."

"It's okay, you don't need to apologize. But what should we do about dinner now?"

Meixiu pondered for a moment before speaking, "Well, there's this convenience store a few minutes away, and they have a couple of restaurants there. Maybe we can eat out today."

"That sounds great. I will tell the others, you can take your time." Yuan said before returning to the dining room to let the others know of the situation.