Chapter 1171 - 644: Acting Spoiled

"If you say so, then it is." Li Zhibai looked at the dull student in front of her and shook her head.

What she meant was, wine is the drink of young women, while tea is loved by women who have aged.

So, what does it mean when she transitions from someone who loves tea to someone who starts savoring wine?

It means she has truly become somewhat weak.

She wants someone she can rely on.

’Are those... worldly women who get married thinking the same thing.’

If she were to turn back time, Li Zhibai definitely wouldn’t have thought that there would be a day she’d truly consider ’getting married.’

But there’s no avoiding it.

When a woman realizes she is ’weak,’ she desires someone she can depend on... this is the most natural thing, regardless of whether Li Zhibai is someone close to the Heavenly Dao.

Or perhaps it is precisely because she is close to the Heavenly Dao that she has such a weak thought.

After all... even Yun Qian is a delicate girl.

If even Yun Qian needs someone to rely on, if Yun Qian needs to be like a Cyan Rattan, sucking nutrients to survive... you can’t blame anyone for emulating her.

"Chang’an, is having a young heart a good thing?" Li Zhibai asked softly.

Her voice was somewhat hazy, like singing but also like murmuring. Like the ringing of wind chimes, like rain touching the lake surface, it was unreal.

Realizing that his teacher had undergone significant changes, Xu Chang’an was slightly stunned and then said, "Being young... is naturally a good thing."

"Is it?" Li Zhibai took a deep look at Xu Chang’an and asked a somewhat inexplicable question: "I have shown you Zhu Tongjun’s past scrolls, compared to her past self, is Zhu Pingniang now younger... or more mature?"

"Ms. Zhu?" Xu Chang’an pondered.

In the scroll, Zhu Pingniang is cold and ethereal.

His Ms. Zhu is seemingly flirtatious yet genuinely pure... loves to act spoiled but makes people feel incredibly at ease.

Thus Xu Chang’an had his answer.

"Ms. Zhu’s change... should be her mindset turning younger."

Actually, this might be a kind of maturity, but from the surface, Zhu Tongjun becoming Zhu Pingniang is a process of moving from maturity to ’childishness’—after all, would an unchildlike girl act spoiled from the heart, especially acting spoiled to a brother?

"Young... hmm, since you also say so, then I’m at ease." Li Zhibai nodded lightly, smelling the faint scent of wine beside her, she smiled: "Tong Jun becoming younger indicates... becoming young is a good thing."

So, if she has slightly changed from an old woman to a girl, it’s not a big deal, right?

"..." Xu Chang’an expressed that he completely didn’t understand, he vaguely felt that it seemed Li Zhibai felt she had become younger, hence was somewhat bewildered?

But from the beginning, he was merely someone to listen, not needing to know what his teacher was thinking in her mind.

"Teacher, is it a good thing for one’s mindset to become young, do you... need to?" Xu Chang’an was somewhat puzzled.

"Whom do you think to be blamed." Li Zhibai gently wiped away a trace of wine from her lip, then slightly bent down and pinched Xu Chang’an’s face, teasingly: "Would I be thinking about this if it weren’t for your precociousness?"

Xu Chang’an: "...?"

Stunned.

He himself...

Precocious?

Before Xu Chang’an could understand, he heard Li Zhibai said: "Look at your personality, does it have the slightest youthful spirit? How can I not worry."

Li Zhibai wanted to say, if there were so many mysteries about Xu Chang’an, then his maturity perhaps verifies that having a young heart isn’t necessarily a good thing...?

Thus, from her initial bewilderment, a large part was out of worry for Zhu Pingniang and Shi Qingjun, as their changes contrasted sharply with the characteristics of Xu Chang’an, all of them including Paul Li Zhibai, were becoming more youthful, their youthful hearts becoming clearer... yet Xu Chang’an seemed to become more mature.

Or rather, he has never shown ’youthful energy.’

"Teacher, Chang’an’s incompetent, I don’t understand." Xu Chang’an rubbed his cheek.

"What I’m saying is, you lack youthful energy, which I really don’t like." Li Zhibai candidly said, she paused in her tone, continuing: "If you had half the sharpness of youth, half the sensibility of a young person, why would I be like this."

"Truly... strange." Xu Chang’an chuckled bitterly: "Teacher, now you seem to think... being sensible is a bad thing."

He was truly bewildered.

In the past, being mature and sensible was clearly an advantage, yet at this moment how could he not understand Li Zhibai’s dissatisfaction?

"Not strange at all." Li Zhibai waved her hand, her face bore the blush of alcohol: "After all, I am no longer your teacher... mentally."

"Teacher, actually... the student wouldn’t say if he’s naïve, but the sensibility... does exist." Xu Chang’an said.

"Really?" Li Zhibai was taken aback.

Despite the teasing, Chang’an has always satisfied her greatly, never once being like an immature child.

Thinking deeply, every action of Xu Chang’an contains an extreme ’purpose’—Yun Qian.

"Put simply." Xu Chang’an gently shook the wine bowl: "Who among those mature of mind would, in the absence of a person they desire to see, come alone to clean the Sword Hall?"

He has cleaned alone for nearly a year, during which not only did he never see Li Zhibai’s face, he didn’t even receive a sound transmission.

If this isn’t sensibility, then what is?

"You saying this yourself, really does sound a bit odd." Li Zhibai smiled helplessly.

However, she also understood Xu Chang’an’s thought.

He really is.

At that time, Chang’an was unaware of her methods, she was just an ordinary ’teacher.’

If Chang’an were truly mature and calculated for the sake of cultivation, emotionally and logically, he shouldn’t have spent so much effort on an ordinary teacher.

She had made it clear she wouldn’t see him again, nor be his teacher.

Though he clearly had the chance to know more people on Muyu Peak, he spent time on her alone.

Just this matter is enough to prove Xu Chang’an... is a sensitive person.

"Really strange." Li Zhibai sighed.

As a mother, there are bound to be mental changes.

And...

Neither teachers nor mentors have the reason to act spoiled, but as a mother it’s different... a young mother might feel some attachment to an overly mature child, perhaps it’s really not much.

Yet she couldn’t truly think with a young girl’s heart, for until Chang’an truly grew, she would be his support.

Such as she was, naturally couldn’t harbor the bewildered, aimless emotions.

So slowly, Li Zhibai abandoned stray thoughts and returned to her previous composed demeanor.