"Huh?" x2
Sister Xuan and Brother Gu's hands froze mid-air as they were drawing tiles. They stared blankly at Caelus, eyes wide with disbelief.
The lively atmosphere fell silent in an instant.
"Why has everyone stopped? Keep playing, will you?"
Caelus nonchalantly played a tile and declared, "Kong!"
With no mind left to savor the delicious treat, the green-clothed, tea-haired mahjong fiend stuffed the remaining half of the Spirit Cedar Cake into her mouth, her cheeks bulging with food.
She chewed tremulously a few times and then forcefully swallowed the half-chewed pastry, only to have it get stuck halfway down.
"Mmph...!"
Crumbs caught in her throat. Qingque's face turned red as she pounded her chest with her little fists, fumbling for the teapot on the table.
The teapot was incredibly light. Qingque's eyes widened.
It was empty!
"Here." Caelus quickly passed her the Ice Dew he had just taken a sip from.
In the emergency, Qingque didn't care that Caelus had already drunk from it. She grabbed it and chugged it down, finally catching her breath after swallowing.
"S-Saved."
The young woman panted, her fingertips still sticky with cake crumbs.[GENT_PBREAK]
But none of that mattered.
"Caelus, you... you're not joking, are you!?"
Qingque slammed her hands on the table and shot up from her seat. With her supreme height of 141.2 cm in the morning and 140.3 in the evening, she looked down on Caelus, the laziness in her eyes completely gone, replaced by an unprecedented sharpness.
New ways to play Celestial Jade? Tell her about that, and she was wide awake!
"Of course I was joking."
"How could you!"
Her heart nearly stopped. Qingque felt a dull ache in her chest, her little sparrow face falling into a deep pout.
A sigh of sorrow, a whimper of grief, a surge of anger, a cry of helplessness—it was as if her very soul had been wounded!
Gazed upon by the green-clothed, tea-haired girl with the resentful eyes one would reserve for a heartless lover, Caelus leaned back in his chair and said with a smile.
"—That sentence was the joke."
Opportunities to tease little Qingque were few and far between.
New ways to play Celestial Jade weren't just one of the few things that could stir Qingque's emotions; they were the only thing.
However, his words did little to improve Qingque's mood. With her king-tier slacker mentality, she wasn't about to fall for the same trick twice.
She just continued to stare at Caelus with eyes full of resentment. This emotional roller coaster was even worse than getting caught slacking off by the Master Diviner.
"You don't believe me? I can tell you two new ways to play right now. One of them requires adding a few more tiles: the Treasure Basin, the God of Wealth, the Rat, the Cat, and... The other one is..."
The Celestial Jade rules that Qingque had compiled from ancient texts were just one of many ways to play mahjong. Caelus immediately described two other variations.
Her little burst of indignation gradually faded, and Qingque's contemplative eyes began to brighten.
It was real!
"Actually, that legacy tome didn't just have the lost arts of Celestial Jade; it also had numerous ways to play with poker cards," Caelus added with a slight cough.
"Poker cards?" Sister Xuan and Brother Gu exchanged a look.
Playing cards did exist in the galaxy, but their use was more geared towards gambling, like in games of stud poker.
Casual games existed too, but not all of Earth's variations were present. Of course, there were also some variations that didn't exist on Earth.
"They're all pretty interesting. In my opinion, they're not that much worse than Celestial Jade."
Overall, mahjong offered more variety in gameplay than poker, and its complexity and fun could be increased through different rules and variations.
In comparison, while poker was flexible, it wasn't as rich as mahjong. The hands and strategies were relatively simpler, characterized by a strong focus on strategy and casual play.
Caelus didn't mind doing a good deed and bringing the more casual styles of poker to the Xianzhou.
"Is that so? We can try that later. But let's get back to Celestial Jade. Are there other rules?"
Poker was a bit too simple for Qingque; she was still more interested in Celestial Jade.
At this moment, the way she looked at Caelus had changed dramatically.
He was a rising star of Celestial Jade, a successor, a beacon of hope!
"There are, but I lost that book when I was a kid. I've forgotten most of the rules and variants."
Clunk!
Qingque's heart stopped again.
For real this time.
After all, Caelus had just mentioned other lost ways to play. The Treasure Basin?
The God of Wealth?
What were those, what were those?!
She had to know!
Qingque had to know!
And yet.
"You forgot? Brother Caelus, my dearest brother! You forgot? You really forgot?"
For a rare moment, Qingque lost her composure. She literally crawled across the table, her pinkish knees kneeling on its surface. Her soft, jade-like hands gripped Caelus's shoulders tightly, her gaze so intense it was as if she wanted to lend him her own brain to help him remember.
"Qingque, calm down," Sister Xuan said, having never seen Qingque so worked up.
"Sigh, I was looking for the Diviner who compiled the rules for Celestial Jade to discuss it with her, to see if I could recall anything."
The faint, fresh scent of the young woman reached his nose. Caelus looked directly at her adorable little face, feeling delighted but feigning a sigh.
Her small, elegant nose twitched. For a moment, Qingque had the urge to admit right then and there that she was that anonymous little Diviner who had revived Celestial Jade.
She really wanted to drag Caelus away for a detailed discussion, to delve deeper into Celestial Jade, the greatest cultural treasure of the ancient empire.
No wonder she felt an instant connection with Caelus. He was practically her soulmate!
To make Celestial Jade great again!
To make it a galactic sensation!
When that day comes, you'll be President Caelus, and I'll be President Qing!
Tell old Xuan I want to slack off. (×)
Summon little Xuan'zi to be President Qing's secretary! (√)
For a split second, Qingque pictured herself opening Celestial Jade franchises all over the galaxy. However, that was just one of the thousands of thoughts drifting through her mind.
Her salted-fish heart, allergic to major events and trouble, suppressed all the chaotic thoughts, allowing Qingque to regain her senses and gradually calm down.
Qingque returned to her seat and took out her Jade Abacus. "Beep beep beep, Caelus-lus, add me as a friend. We'll talk more later."
"Sure."
Seeing the friend request pop up on his phone, Caelus accepted it immediately.
Now that they knew of new ways to play Celestial Jade, Qingque was eager to try them out, and the other two deeply addicted players were just as excited.
"Caelus-cub, I thought you fell into a toilet or something! How'd you end up over here?"
A clear voice called out from the outer area, and the name it contained made Qingque and the other two players turn to look.
A tall girl with long gray hair came walking over, arms crossed to look more imposing, cheeks puffed out.
Stelle first smiled and nodded a greeting to the players at Caelus's table before standing behind his chair. She draped her left forearm over Caelus's head and rested her right elbow on her left arm.
"So, what are these square tiles? Hmm... Mahjong?"
You didn't need to be as sharp as little Qingque; any random passerby could tell that this girl and Caelus were as close as brother and sister.
"This is called Celestial Jade. Dad can teach you later."
Caelus shifted his head, nudging it against the soft, perky surface above him. He figured he had cast the bait and the hook had gone straight through little Qingque; it was about time to leave.
Dad?
Caelus's choice of title made the expressions on Qingque and her two friends turn strange.
Their relationship was father-daughter?
Although on the Xianzhou, a land of long-life species, it was easy for outworlders to mistake a parent and child traveling together for siblings, they themselves were Xianzhou natives!
They could clearly tell Caelus and Stelle weren't from the Xianzhou. Were they another long-life species, perhaps?
"Get lost, I'm the Reverse Butterfly!" Stelle retorted, poking Caelus's head with her chin.
Their brief exchange completely confused the others. What in the world was their relationship?
"Everyone, I came here with my friends. I just took a break to come play for a bit, but I have to go now."
Caelus stood up to leave.
"Oh, well..."
The three of them, including Qingque, looked reluctant to see him go, like players who were just getting into a game when one of their friends gets called home by his wife, leaving them unable to form a full table.
Although the three of them could try the new rules, Caelus hadn't even explained the second variation in detail yet!
Qingque wanted to ask him to stay, but then she saw five other figures look over as Stelle waved at them. He had that many friends.
In that case, she felt too embarrassed to ask Caelus to stay.
"By the way, are you visiting the Xianzhou as a tourist, Caelus? Where are you staying? We should hang out when you have time!"
Despite the extremely short time they had spent together, Qingque felt that old Caelus was a fellow Daoist who could make Celestial Jade great again with her!
"No problem. I'm at the Wenchen Inn," Caelus said with a smile.
"The Wenchen Inn?" Qingque was a little surprised.
She knew of the place. It was a high-end inn, and those who could afford to stay there were no ordinary people. A minor civil servant like herself would probably never get many chances to stay there in her lifetime.
Unless she really did manage to build a Celestial Jade empire that swept the galaxy.
"See ya~"
Caelus waved a cheerful goodbye to Qingque and the other two players, then returned with Stelle to the tea-sipping and drama-watching area.
"What's with that look?"
Caelus glanced at Stelle.
The gray-haired girl had her arms crossed, her eyebrows curved into crescents as she shot him a sidelong glance with a smug, mischievous expression worthy of an Anya meme.
"Not bad, Caelus-cub."
Stelle slung an arm around Caelus's shoulders and patted him.
"Hooking up with a cute girl in such a short time."
With just a few glances, Stelle had already picked up on the little sparrow's lazy charm.
Future wife material!
As for anything else...
Couple, lovers... these were just some of the many relationships between Stelle and Caelus. Caelus was herself, so of course Stelle wouldn't feel any jealousy.
Isn't Caelus's wife also her wife?
Then she could get all cuddly with her too!
Not only was Stelle not jealous, she even wanted to tell him to step on it.
"Even if you praise me, I won't go easy on you for the treasure chest on Tingyun," Caelus replied with a brilliant smile.
Stelle's little face fell into a pout. "Hmph, as if I need you to go easy on me?"
Unless the girl in question had a treasure chest on her, in which case Stelle would definitely be hoping for Caelus to fail.
Speaking of which, she really was lagging a bit behind Caelus-cub when it came to flirting. The two Bronyas and little Seele also seemed to have a thing for Caelus.
Why was that?
She was so much cuter than Caelus-cub, so why weren't any cute girls cuddling up to her?
Was it because she'd been hanging out with March too much and it had made her dumb?
Either that, or Caelus-cub was sabotaging her behind her back!
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