Chapter 20: Anjing is not 'Anjing'

With a knock to inform them of my arrival, I entered the courtyard.

And immediately after I got thrown outside.

No. It wasn't an attack.

It was Hu Anjing. And she was hugging me, or so she tried.

A moment later, I could feel the ground on my back and Hu Anjing on top of me.

'Can you even call this a hug?' I thought dumbfoundedly.

Looking at her eyes I spoke to her.

"This kind of hug is very beneficial for breaking through in body cultivation, but I would still rather not to be thrown to the ground, little Anjing." I told her with emphasis on little.

"Uncle Huang, I had no intention of throwing you to the ground. It's just that you were not strong enough to receive all my love." She told me without getting up from the top of me. She was inches away from my face and was looking straight into my eyes. If someone would see us in this exact moment, they would think that Hu Anjing 'pushed me down'.

If I was really 14 or maybe a dense protagonist I might have got frustrated or something but the reality is different than those options.

Lifting my hand to her face, I brushed her face with my fingers and in the same motion, tenderly tuck a strand of hair behind her left ear.

"Then I guess I have to get stronger, for receiving more love…" While doing so, I spoke to her.

She didn't expect this and her reaction made this all worth doing.

For a moment her cheeks got as red as her hair but she got her composure back the next moment.

"Was that a confession?" she teased soon after.

"Was your last words a confession too?" instead of answering I teased back.

Hearing my words she had an amused smirk on her face.

"You are getting bolder and bolder, Junior Uncle." She had a predatory smile on her face.

"Says the one who is on top of me." I told her nonchalantly.

As she heard my words she started laughing and now she was sitting on me with one of her hands on my chest and the other one on her own stomach.

After a few seconds she calmed down and she gave me a hand to get up from the ground.

"But Uncle Huang, I have always been this bold so it has to be you that is getting bolder…" she told me with a pondering look on her face.

After dusting off my robes a little with help of my Qi, I answered her.

"Well, time after time I have interacted with you, so in the end, I have also started to learn the method." I shamelessly declared.

But Hu Anjing was not someone who would lose when it comes to shamelessness.

"So… what you are saying is that I am your master, are you not, junior uncle?" she tried to look like a confused kitten but no matter how you looked at it, she was the feisty lion.

But I didn't care about it and continued.

"This disciple greets the master." I cupped my fist to her.

Well, I could do the extreme and kowtow to her but we are just joking around and even if you don't talk about my willingness, doing so just makes her uncomfortable and also Yuan Jia would kill her so we better not…

Laughing a little, we got back to the courtyard.

"Where is sister Jia?" I asked Hu Anjing when I saw that Yuan Jia is not there.

Hu Anjing stopped in her tracks and looked at me.

"Master had some matters to finish in the main hall and from what i know, she will be here soon…" she answered.

"I see…" I nodded.

"By the way Anjing, who named you Anjing?" I asked her.

She was taken aback by my question.

"Why this sudden question?" she asked back.

"Well, to be completely honest with you, you don't fit with neither 'An' nor 'Jing' meanings…" I shrugged. [A/N: (An) meaning "peace, quiet" and (Jing) meaning "quiet, gentle, still".]

"Junior uncle, are you calling me wild?" she raised her eyebrow.

"I'm not calling you wild, you are literally called wild." I told her with my hands raised in surrender. [A/N: (Hu) meaning "recklessly, wildly, barbarian".]

We looked at each other for a few seconds and then burst out laughing.

"I'm not saying I'm living up to my name, but for someone whose name means 'still' and 'gentle' you look like a huge ball of energy…" I added after we stopped laughing. [A/N: (Huang) meaning "bright, shining, luminous".]

"Well to be fair, how could they know it when I was in my crib?" Anjing answered while she was wiping her tears from laughing.

"That is surprisingly convincing…" I didn't think about it this way.

As we were talking about our names, the door to the courtyard opened and Yuan Jia entered.

Seeing us there, a small smile formed on her face.

Although Yuan Jia is the master of Hu Anjing and she is her disciple, they act like a big sister and a small sister with each other. Well, at least they act so when they are not in public so that they don't cause a commotion.

"Did you wait long for me?" she asked.

Me and Hu Anjing shook our heads almost at the same time.

"No, we were talking about useless things.." I told her with a smile of my own.

Hu Anjing who heard my words put a hand on her chest as if she was hurt by my words.

"Uncle Huang, di—did you just call my name useless." You could even see her eyes tearing up. What can I say, she is a natural.

Seeing the flow of conversation, I didn't delay and cupped her cheeks with my hands.

"How can it be? The useless part was the talking, here, here." I played the part of an over-dramatic uncle. As I finished my words I took out a lollipop and some candies from my storage ring and put them in Anjing's hands.

"There, there." I continued by patting her head.

On the other side, the corner of Yuan Jia's mouth twitched.

She couldn't stop herself and asked.

"Who is the adult here?" she asked both of them.

Li Huang and Hu Anjing looked at her and then looked at themselves for a moment and turned back to face her.

""It is you, big sister."" They said in unison.

This answer however didn't help to quench Yuan Jia's dissatisfaction and she just narrowed her eyes at them.

This time, Li Huang moved faster than Hu Anjing to answer.

"In my defense, I have to say that she started it." I told her with my finger pointing at Hu Anjing.

Did I sell her? Yes.

Do I feel bad? Not at all.

Hu Anjing opened her mouth but couldn't form words to defend herself or reprimand me.

Yuan Jia on the other side looked at our interactions and sighed.

"*sigh* do you two even plan to grow up?" she asked.

"Big sister Jia, this is my inner child so it won't grow up at all." I nodded to my own words.

This time not only Yuan Jia, but Hu Anjing was confused.

"…inner child? What is that?" Yuan Jia asked.

"Is it something like an inner demon?" Hu Anjing asked and shuddered at the thought.

It was at this time that I remembered that here they probably have a different type of psychology and they don't know about the inner child so my clever answer doesn't mean shit to them.

As an intellectual, what I did was to explain to them about 'modern psychology' and what is 'inner child' for more than an hour.

You might be asking how did I know these? Well, a couple of my past girlfriends were into these kinds of things so I have learned a bit.

"So do you understand what I meant by my words when I said my inner child won't grow?" I asked the main reason for my explanation.

"Yes, now I get what you meant." Yuan Jia smiled and said.

"I still don't but it might be because I didn't listen." Hu Anjing shrugged.

In turn, I ignored her.

"Oh! Now I remembered. I had something to tell you two." Yuan Jia suddenly told us.

We looked at her with full attention as if to tell her 'go on' with our eyes.

"There is an expedition next week and the two of you would be participating in it." She told us.