The sixth floor of the library is not low at all. Ming Qiao has poor stamina, it takes him a long time to climb to the sixth floor.

“Shu Shu, does mommy get tired climbing stairs?”

Ming Qiao doesn’t know the book spirit’s real name, so he gives it a nickname, Shu Shu. (Shu Jing means book spirit, Ming Qiao takes the first name of it)

Shu Shu doesn’t respond to him. Ming Qiao sits on the steps to take a break, wiping sweat off his face with his chubby little hand. His face is red from exhaustion, and his breathing is a bit heavy.

“If mommy climbs stairs, it must be very tiring.”

Even though he is exhausted, he isn’t worried about himself. Instead, he is concerned about his mom. A book suddenly appears in front of him. He picks it up and looks at it curiously. There are many words in the book, but fortunately, there are also some illustrations too.

This is a miscellaneous book about the Ling Tian Sect. Since Ming Qiao doesn’t recognize too many words, he manages to understand the content by looking at the illustrations. After reading for a while, he closes the book and sighs in relief.

“Great! Mommy won’t get tired.”

Mommy knows magic and doesn’t have to climb stairs like him! Knowing that his mommy won’t tire himself out makes Ming Qiao feel happy as he continues to climb the stairs.

Once he reaches the sixth floor, Ming Qiao pokes at the barrier leading to the seventh floor. He doesn’t ask Shu Shu to open it, instead, he takes out a small blanket from his storage ring.

“Shu Shu, I’m going to sleep here tonight.”

The adults in the other courtyard don’t strictly require them to sleep in their rooms. As long as they have the bracelet given to them by the courtyard, they can move around freely.

Ming Qiao’s left wrist has the wooden bracelet from the courtyard, which monitors their safety. If their lives are in danger, the bracelet will emit light, and the guards will quickly locate them.

After spreading out the small blanket, Ming Qiao sits down with his chubby legs crossed and eats two pastries from the courtyard’s canteen. The meat pastry is mixed with medicine, he has a bowl of medicine brewed for him by the canteen aunt with his herbs.

The taste isn’t that good, but Ming Qiao still eats everything. “Shu Shu, look at my belly!”

Ming Qiao looks at his round little belly and giggles, his eyes squinting with delight as he pats it with his chubby hands, “It makes a sound!”

He laughs, finding it endlessly amusing. He and his dad often play this belly-patting game. Now that his father isn’t around, Ming Qiao can still have fun patting his own little belly. When he gets tired of playing by himself, he lies down, resting his chubby hand under his chin. He starts reading the literacy book he borrowed today.

“Qing, Heng.” He recognizes his mommy’s name. Ming Qiao repeats it over and over, liking how it sounds more each time

As he chants it, he tilts his face up to look at the floor above. “Mommy, Qiao Qiao is a little closer to you now.”

Sleeping under his mommy’s floor, Ming Qiao feels incredibly happy. That night, he doesn’t need anyone to tell him stories. Wrapped in his little blanket, he sleeps soundly in the dark stairwell.

Upstairs, Qing Heng, who is meditating with his eyes closed, suddenly furrows his brow slightly. The book spirit’s faint murmuring can be heard from the doorway again. Qing Heng has been hearing about it since a few days ago.

“Immortal General, someone is calling you mommy.'”

“Immortal General, your baby is as good-looking as you!”

“Immortal General, the baby is here to complain.”

“Immortal General, the baby is really cute! I let him go up to the sixth floor!”

“Immortal General, the baby is asleep. He’s so small, will he catch a cold?”

Qing Heng pretends not to hear the book spirit’s chatter. He tightly closes his eyes and focuses on his meditation. What baby, what mommy, none of this has anything to do with him.

Not even a quarter of an hour into his meditation, Qing Heng’s handsome face suddenly turns pale. The next second, he abruptly opens his eyes. It’s happening again. No matter whether he is in seclusion or traveling at the sect leader’s request, his condition never improves. If this keeps up, his cultivation will soon come to a standstill.

Qing Heng contemplates his cultivation issues. Qing Heng tries to calm his breathing and focus again. But after several attempts, he can’t reach his optimal state for meditation. In the end, he slowly opens his eyes, his cold gaze shows no emotion.

The book spirit is still mumbling about the baby to itself from time to time. Qing Heng frowns slightly. After a moment, he waves his hand, casting a silence spell that instantly quiets the area outside the door.

The book spirit, silenced by the spell: “……”

Waaaaaaaah (˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )

It wants to complain too! It wants to go find the baby and tell him!

The library is cold and quiet at night. Ming Qiao knows it’s cold here, so he wraps himself up tightly in his little blanket like a little caterpillar. But even wrapped up so snugly, he still feels cold later at night. His little body curls up, his little hands and feet feel icy. 

Just when he is about to be frozen awake, a warmth suddenly fills the stairwell. Not just the stairwell, the entire library tower becomes warm as if spring has arrived. The enveloping warmth wraps around Ming Qiao’s small body. His pale little face regains its color, and his cold hands and feet relax.

The blanket, which is kicked off by his little feet, is soon gently covered back over him by the book spirit, who quietly checks on him in the dark. The book spirit doesn’t dare show itself in the darkness. It feels its appearance is a bit strange and might scare the gentle and soft baby in front of it.

“Your mommy still hasn’t come to hold you.”

“But he has provided warmth for you.” The book spirit thinks, though it can’t speak out loud.

Tonight, with the warmth on this floor, the little one wrapped in the blanket can probably sleep well.

The next day. When Ming Qiao wakes up, his little face is still warm. He rubs his eyes, feeling he has slept very well! “Shu Shu, I dreamt of mommy!” 

His voice is still soft and sticky from just waking up. He excitedly shares with the book spirit, “In my dream, mommy was so good!”

He dreamt that his mommy sits beside him. Although he didn’t say a word, that is enough to make him feel so happy. Thinking about his mom from the dream, Ming Qiao can’t help but cover his heart with his hands. 

This is too much! Just thinking about it makes him so happy he feels like he could faint! Ming Qiao’s joyful expression is clearly reflected on his little face, easily seen by the book spirit not far away. The book spirit quietly watches him.

After a while, Ming Qiao calms down his emotions. He hums a little wake-up song he made up, giggling as he gets up to fold the blanket. He then drinks some water, and takes his medicine. After tidying up the stairwell where he slept, he greets his mom upstairs and also waves to Shu Shu.

“Mommy, I’m going out to take the test!”

“Shu Shu, I’m leaving! See you tonight.”

After saying goodbye, Ming Qiao happily descends the stairs. The book spirit watches his small figure walk away, then turns and flies back upstairs.

Bang bang bang— It can’t speak, but it can still make some noise. It floats over to the window and presses against the glass like a ghost. It slowly transforms into a line of bold, large text.

“Immortal General, are you going to check on the baby?”

“The baby is sick.”

The book spirit hears and sees the baby’s coughing and sees him take his medicine. Even though the library warmed up later in the night, it was still cold earlier! As a spirit born from the vast sea of books, the book spirit knows a lot, including medical knowledge from some books. It knows that sudden changes in temperature can easily make someone sick. The baby is already taking medicine, this surely wouldn’t make his condition worse, right?!

The book spirit’s bold text, combined with its unsolicited medical advice, finally get Qing Heng to rise from his seat after days of staying inside. He glances lightly at the window and then disappears from the spot. Seeing him vanish, the book spirit waves its newly formed hand behind him.

“You absolutely have to check on the baby!!!” It silently shouts, then it glances at the spot where Qing Heng was. After a brief moment of hesitation, it decides to open the stairwell barriers!

Qing Heng is usually cold and indifferent, but since the book spirit blamed him for the baby’s illness. So, from Qing Heng’s sense of morality, he will definitely want to take a look at the baby! With Qing Heng going to see the baby, the book spirit feels the chance of him watching in secret is even greater.

To ensure the baby can see Qing Heng, the book spirit opens all the stairwell barriers. Only Qing Heng has ever been able to get the barriers opened like this before. Now, there is his baby!

At first, the book spirit only paid more attention to the baby because of the resemblance to Qing Heng. But as time went on, it couldn’t take its eyes off the child! Imagining the scene of Qing Heng and the baby meeting, the book spirit happily settles into a sunny spot by the window and closes its eyes, enjoying the sunlight.

Outside. The book spirit isn’t mistaken, Ming Qiao’s cough has worsened a bit. After having breakfast in the cafeteria, he takes some extra herbs and asks the aunt to brew him some more medicine.

The cook, a soft-hearted woman, feels bad for the little boy who is clearly sick and feeling uncomfortable. Not only does she make the medicine for him, but she also gives him some sweets. “Poor thing, you’re still taking medicine, so why stay here?”

The aunt feels sorry for him and wants him to go home, where at least there are adults to take care of him. Ming Qiao shakes his little head, refusing to go back. After spending some time in the cafeteria with the aunt, Ming Qiao goes for the test.

By the afternoon, the results of all the children’s spiritual root tests, the quantity and attributes, are announced for the first time. Among the top five, three have dual spiritual roots. In second place is Du Sheng, who has the rare triple spirit root. With such a result, Du Sheng is sure to stand out wherever he goes—destined to become an inner disciple of a prestigious sect.

With such good results, Du Sheng should be satisfied. If only he hadn’t noticed the name attached to first place. Standing in front of the announcement board, Du Sheng looks at the number one ranking above him, along with the name, his eyes filled with coldness.

First place: Ming Qiao, five spiritual roots.

“Five spiritual roots… Is that even possible?! Is this test result real?”

“Oh heavens, I always thought Du Sheng was incredible, but it turns out there’s also a Ming Qiao.”

“Ming Qiao is only three years old, right? And he already has five spirit roots. His future is bright!”

“Five spirit roots are impressive, but it depends on their quality. What if they’re not as strong as they seem?”

“Plus, cultivating isn’t just about spirit roots. You need a strong body too. Look at Ming Qiao, he’s always sick. Who knows if he’ll even live to grow up.”

People are buzzing with discussions in front of the announcement board.

Standing on a chair he brought over, Ming Qiao spots his name and proudly lifts his face, beaming with joy. “Qiao Qiao won’t die!”

After seeing the rankings, Ming Qiao jumps down from the chair and huffs at the kids who talked about him, saying: “Qiao Qiao will work hard to grow up!”

The child who was mumbling about Ming Qiao: “……”

The other child doesn’t expect him to talk back, so he just glances at him, and stays quiet. Seeing that the other child has no words, Ming Qiao takes his little stool and strides away with confidence.

That day, Ming Qiao thought the announcement of the rankings wouldn’t affect him much. After all, he isn’t even with the other kids. But he doesn’t expect that even if he doesn’t interact with the other children, they will still seek him out for trouble. Especially Du Sheng, who becomes even more aggressive.

On the way, there are other children present. Du Sheng blocks his path, unabashedly asking with a malicious tone, “Little sickly, how much longer do you think you can live?”

As Du Sheng asks this, the image of his brother flashes through his mind.
That weak, small child always wearing an innocent expression. From the moment he was born, he received everyone’s pity, protection, and love. His brother’s presence has always made Du Sheng feel invisible. 

So when that annoyingly naive child accidentally fell into the water, he didn’t call anyone. That child is gone now. And now, here comes another child who resembles that one, but this one is even more detestable—a little sickly. 

Malice glints in his eyes as he grins. “I think you’re the same.” Just like his brother, just as short-lived. Du Sheng talks to himself as he walks away from Ming Qiao. 

Ming Qiao clenches his little fists. He doesn’t understand Du Sheng’s final words, but he can sense the bad intentions. “I’m not afraid of you!”

Ming Qiao declares loudly, “Don’t think you can bully me!”

Whether it’s tripping him, pushing him from behind, rolling his eyes at him, or speaking ill of him, he’s not afraid! Ming Qiao prepares himself well to face difficulties. He doesn’t go to sleep in his room, ignores everyone during the test, doesn’t drink the water others offer, and doesn’t eat the rice balls they give him. He is extremely careful.

Even though he is so careful, something still happens when it gets dark. While Ming Qiao is in the wood shed gathering firewood for the next day’s test, someone locks the door from the outside. Several kids seal it with a spell. Since his life isn’t in danger, the adults won’t notice these little incidents.

As the kids outside walk away, Ming Qiao presses his little face against the door, looking out through the crack. His sad, round face looks pitiful. “They’re all bad guys.”

With his face against the door, Ming Qiao’s bright eyes are filled with tears as he pouts, watching the bad guys leave without looking back. He sniffs, confirming that those people won’t return. He reaches into his storage ring to find something to unlock the door.

Before he finds anything, he catches sight of a white figure outside. A white figure… It’s his mommy in white clothes! Ming Qiao freezes for a moment before suddenly realizing, his little chubby hand halting, his eyes widening.

Mommy, it really is mommy!

The distance between them isn’t the ground and the eighteenth floor, nor countless stairways. It was just one door. Such a close distance, his mommy right within reach… Ming Qiao’s eyes suddenly redden, big round tears falling down his cheeks.

———————————————

Author’s note:
Qiao Qiao: Wuwuwu, mommy, hug me! (˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )