Daily life of a cultivation judge

Ma Yuan couldn't hide the joy on his face when he heard Ma Ling's response as he grinned ear to ear, with the rims of his eyes reddening with emotion.

Yang Qing went ahead and introduced Ma Yuan and Ma Ling to Dai Chen and Zhang Qingge.

"Ma Yuan, if you have the time, would you mind helping my friend Qingge with her place? You can even bring Ma Ling there to help you with it if you want. It's not a problem, is it, Qingge?"

"Mmh, it's not.." answered Zhang Qingge mumbling her words in a low tone when she became the center of attention.

"So pretty.." Ma Ling absentmindedly muttered before she heard herself talk and couldn't help but yelp when she realized she had spoken her thoughts out loud.

"S.s.sorrry.." she meekly said as she cast a furtive glance at Zhang Qingge. She couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief when she saw her smiling.

As shy as Zhang Qingge was toward receiving attention, she only reacted excessively to attention that was directed with impure motives, however, when the reaction was similar to the one Ma Ling had, she warmed up to it and even grew slightly confident when the person was more flustered than she was. It usually gave her an odd sense of comfort, and little by little she gets used to them.

"Treat her like you would your daughter, Ma Yuan. Don't be as stiff. Even if she is a palace realm expert, you are her senior several times over, me too, and she becomes uncomfortable when people older than her treat her like a senior.."

Yang Qing used the little interlude to telepathically transmit his thoughts to Ma Yuan on how he should act around Zhang Qingge in case he accepted the job.

Ma Yuan covertly nodded understandingly to him as he turned to face Zhang Qingge.

"If you don't find it beneath you, I would be happy to work on your abode, just like I did here. Though I am not sure I can replicate it, but I will try my best.."

"No, no, it is I who should be thanking you, after all..." Zhang Qingge's voice went lower as she mumbled .. after all, I won't be able to pay you.

Ma Yuan couldn't help but smile slightly as he watched her reaction which reminded him of the face Ma Ling made whenever she wanted to join him on his expeditions to dangerous areas when he was looking for specific herbs and resources for his garden. She always wore a similar look to the one Zhang Qingge was wearing at the moment, which was a mixture of guilt and hope.

Something seemed to have shifted within as his gaze turned warmer when he looked at Yang Qing, Zhang Qingge, Dai Chen, and then Ma Ling. Their high cultivation bases had led him to overlook their ages. He had already lived close to 400 years, even if the three added their ages together, it would not reach a quarter of the years he had spent walking the planet.

In a certain aspect, they were no different than his daughter. Once his thoughts reached there, he could feel the pressure he had imposed on himself because of their cultivation wither away, replaced by a warm feeling of endearment that a grandfather would feel whenever they would see their grandkids growing.

The fact that three were palace realm cultivators wasn't lost on him and he still held reverence for what they had achieved, seeing them for who they were made him less reserved and stiff around them.

Yang Qing smiled as he noticed the change in him, Dai Chen nodded with a smile, while Zhang Qingge slowly maintained her eye contact with him, her shyness slowly receding. With her nervousness reduced she was able to plan the schedule with Ma Yuan, with Dai Chen deciding to request his services too, but unlike Yang Qing and Zhang Qingge, his was not a complete transformation of his abode, he just needed help with growing a few fruits, which came not as a surprise to Yang Qing or Zhang Qingge that the fruit trees he requested were known for their wine brewing qualities.

After they were done, Yang Qing took out a few dishes from his storage ring which he left with Ma Yuan to share with his daughter. He would have liked for all of them to share the meal together, but Ma Yuan needed the time with his daughter which was easier done when there was less of a crowd. Nodding appreciatively toward Yang Qing, Ma Yuan continued the grand tour with Ma Ling, while Yang Qing and the rest headed to the back of his courtyard.

"So where have you been?" asked Dai Chen as he arranged a few of the futons moving them closer to a fire pit, where he briskly started a fire with a snap of his finger.

Yang Qing removed the dishes he had ordered from the restaurant, along with a wine jar that he was hesitant about producing, warily glancing at Dai Chen, before finally shrugging his shoulders, as if to say, "Whatever happens happens.."

Dai Chen couldn't help but raise his eyebrows as he looked curiously at the wine jar, alternating a questioning gaze between the jar and Yang Qing on noticing his strange reaction. Zhang Qingge had already started nibbling on some of the dishes with a gleeful expression.

Yang Qing pulled a futon next to the fire Dai Chen had started, he picked up a branch that was lying next to him and poked the fire creating sparks that floated above the colorful azure flame.

"I was at the library..." Yang Qing said with a heavy tone, which prompted his two companions to look at him with incredulous gazes as his reaction was completely opposite to how he usually was like whenever he left the library.

"I was on the low-tier gold floor.." Yang Qing added after a pause.

"Dai, Qingge, have you ever felt that the world is hiding something from you? Some massive secret that only a select few no, while the rest live either oblivious of its existence, or just go off the nagging feeling that something is not right here..'