bookbashuk Chapter 1348 What an ordinary family!
Chapter 1348 What an ordinary family!
After listening to Diluc's words, Shao Yun smiled and shook his head, waving his hand to indicate that he was not there to discuss business.
He held up two fingers and explained crisply, "I'm here for two things."
"First, the Secret Source Agency on the northern coast of Nata has recently shown abnormal signs of resurgence. The Flower Feather Society asked me to inform you, hoping you can go there to help keep things under control."
Upon hearing this, Diluc nodded knowingly.
"Serving the tribe is my duty. I understand. I will report to the Flower Feather Society after I finish what I need to do."
As he spoke, he raised his chin, his gaze falling on Shao Yun's fingers, which had not yet been withdrawn, signaling him to continue.
"And the second thing?"
Shao Yun grinned, his tone becoming much more relaxed.
"The second thing is simple: come visit. We're neighbors, aren't we? You've been to my ranch before, but I haven't visited your new winery yet."
“Neighbor?” Diluc stroked his chin and muttered to himself.
"Hmm, that's true. Considering the remote location I chose for my winery, your ranch is definitely the closest one to here..."
After muttering to himself, he said no more, turned to the side and made a "please" gesture, inviting her in a low voice.
"Come on, let me show you my new home."
Shao Yun and his group followed Diluc into the manor. Paimon looked around curiously, his eyes darting around as he examined the interior layout of the manor.
She couldn't help but comment, "The layout is almost exactly the same as the Dawn Winery in Mondstadt! It's practically a one-to-one replica!"
Diluc glanced at Paimon's surprised expression and offered a calm explanation.
"Once you get used to this kind of decor, you'll feel uncomfortable if you change it easily."
For him, the layout of Château de la Décor is already ingrained in his life, so moving to Nata to replicate it saves him the trouble of getting used to a new environment.
He turned to the side, gesturing for everyone to feel free to look around, his tone remaining indifferent.
"Be casual, don't be reserved."
"Yay!" Paimon rubbed his little hands together with a grin, looking eager to go.
"Hehe, then we won't be polite!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she darted to the sofa on the right side of the manor hall and sat down, patting the empty seat next to her to indicate that Ying and Shao Yun should also sit down.
Just then, Adeline, dressed in a neat maid outfit, came over and quickly went to prepare drinks when she saw that guests had arrived.
Before long, Adeline returned carrying an exquisite silver tray with four cups of steaming dark brown liquid on it.
She placed the silver tray on the coffee table and said softly, "Please, everyone, have some of Nata's bitterness."
"I'm so sorry, the winery's grapes are not ready for harvest yet, so we can't prepare refreshing grape juice for you at the moment."
Paimon picked up a glass curiously, his eyes sparkling, and asked, "Head Maid Adeline, you can make bitter soup? I thought you were going to serve apple wine!"
Upon hearing the words "apple wine," Adeline showed a hint of regret and explained gently:
"If it's apple wine, it will take some time to ferment. Once it's finished, please have Paimond try it."
Seeing that Adeline had taken over the hospitality arrangements, Diluc straightened his clothes and said:
"Adeline, I'm leaving this to you. Take good care of Shao Yun's family. There's something that needs your help with at the Flower Feather Society, so I'll go and fulfill my duties as a tribal member."
“Yes, Lord Diluc.” Adeline bowed slightly in response, her tone respectful and proper.
Diluc nodded, then nodded to Shao Yun and the others before turning and striding out of the hall, his figure quickly disappearing outside the door.
……
After Diluc left, Adeline took over the hospitality work in an orderly manner, and it seemed that she planned to have Shao Yun's family stay for lunch.
She was busy preparing authentic Mondstadt dishes, nothing particularly fancy, just manor scones, braised pork with Northland apples, and Paimon's favorite sweet flower-stuffed chicken—all homely and ordinary flavors.
While Adeline was busy running around, Shao Yun and his group sat down to rest on the soft sofa in the manor's living room.
This sofa... feels softer than the ones on our own ranch... Where did you buy it?
Paimon sat by the coffee table, sipping the steaming bitter water, while Little Dragon sat on the floor, playing with his belly...
Looking at Adeline's respectful and capable figure, Shao Yun suddenly thought of Ningguang for some reason.
Ever since he buried Ningguang's three loyal secretaries, he felt that Ningguang had become a different person.
Ningguang used to be a very cautious and polite person on the ranch, always busy with chores, just like Adeline, a dutiful maid.
But now things are different. She truly considers the ranch her home, and she smiles more often, her initial reserve gradually fading away.
Thinking of this, a thought suddenly popped into Shao Yun's mind.
He pondered for a moment and felt that this matter should indeed be put on the agenda. In order for Xi Neng to have a warmer and more harmonious environment to grow up in, it was time to sort some things out.
He turned his head to look at Ying sitting next to him and said softly, "Ying, I want to talk to you about Ningguang."
Ying was gently stroking Xiaolong's head when she heard this, she paused: "Ningguang? What happened to her?"
Shao Yun unconsciously fiddled with his hands in front of him for a moment, his tone becoming more serious.
“As you know, after everything that’s happened, Ningguang probably plans to live with us for the rest of her life. But after thinking it over, I still don’t want to keep treating her like a maid in the house.”
When Ying heard Shao Yun say that Ning Guang should stay at home as a maid, she immediately narrowed her beautiful eyes, her gaze filled with an inexplicable strangeness, and she looked Shao Yun up and down several times.
"Not letting Ningguang be a maid... then you wouldn't be thinking of...?"
He deliberately paused to finish the second half of his sentence, but the way he raised his eyebrows and suppressed a wicked smile clearly indicated that he was thinking in a wicked way.
Shao Yun saw through her little scheme at a glance, and with a mixture of anger and amusement, he stretched out his index finger and gently tapped her forehead.
"What nonsense are you thinking about? Your little head is always wandering into weird places."
After knocking, he ruffled her hair before explaining seriously, "What I mean is, like Shen He, didn't we already have Xi call Shen He 'godmother'?"
"From now on, how about letting Xi call Ningguang 'Auntie'?"
Ying instinctively shrank back when she was hit, her little hand still covering the spot where she had been struck, but she couldn't quite grasp the situation. Should the child call Ningguang "Auntie"?
If that's the case... then doesn't that mean Ningguang is equivalent to my sister?
She blinked, staring blankly at Shao Yun's face: "You...you mean, you're going to make Ningguang my sister?"
Seeing this, Shao Yun helplessly spread his hands.
"What else could it be? I can't exactly make Ningguang my child's aunt, can I?"
“Auntie is pretty good too!” Ying’s eyes lit up instantly, and she continued along with his words, not forgetting to lean forward and tease him.
"It would be perfect to get you a little sister, wouldn't that be great?"
Seeing that she was still making trouble and acting unseriously, Shao Yun quickly waved his hand, put away his smile, and became serious.
"Stop fooling around, we're talking about serious matters."
He composed himself and continued, "There's a reason why I want Ningguang to be our child's aunt."
"You were the one who was soft-hearted and insisted on keeping Ningguang. Logically and emotionally, shouldn't you have been more understanding of her?"
He paused, pondering how to phrase it more appropriately, and organized his thoughts for a while before continuing.
"I really don't want to treat her like a maid. After all, our family isn't one of those wealthy and noble families that are all about rules and etiquette."
"How should I describe it... we're just an ordinary family living our daily lives, don't make things too formal for each other."
Ying felt increasingly uneasy as she listened, especially when she heard the words "ordinary family," as if she were hearing some kind of fantastical tale.
She recognized each of those words individually, but when they came out of Shao Yun's mouth together, they sounded so unreal.
She quickly raised her hand to interrupt Shao Yun, and said incredulously, "Wait a minute, you said our family is very ordinary?"
Shao Yun nodded emphatically to Ying, slowly counting on his fingers, and said in a serious tone:
"Of course it's ordinary! Think about it carefully. Put aside my human-shaped natural disaster constitution, your 'filter canister' that can purify the energy of the abyss, and Paimon's little stomach that can eat wherever it goes and is never full."
"And there's Shen He, whose strength can uproot mountains and whose spirit can easily lift boulders; Yuan Shang, who knows everything from astronomy to geography; and my brother-in-law, His Highness the Prince..."
“Look, once we remove all these special identities, our family is no different from ordinary people, just ordinary people, right?”
("Fake" Gan Yu: A family of gods...)
"Hey! Why?!" Paimon complained to Shao Yun, clearly annoyed that he had been categorized as having a "small appetite."
"How did I become a small stomach? I only need to eat a normal amount of rice to maintain my energy!"
After listening to Shao Yun's twisted and convoluted logic, Ying's lips twitched uncontrollably, she rolled her eyes, and retorted with a vivid and precise metaphor:
"The way you put it is like when you're peeling potatoes, you throw away all the edible parts and carefully pick up the useless potato peels as if they were treasures. It's absolutely absurd."
Shao Yun ignored Paimon's little temper and didn't refute Ying's complaints. His expression calmed down a bit, and he leaned forward, staring intently into Ying's eyes, his tone becoming much more serious.
"What I really want is for our daughter Xi to live a normal life in peace and have the interpersonal relationships that ordinary children should have. Do you understand what I mean?"
After listening, Ying shrugged indifferently, leaned back on the soft sofa, and said listlessly:
"You can make your own decision about this. I have no objection. Anyway, she has nowhere else to go besides our ranch."