The bed was like a kiss from heaven. Having been used to a mattress that was closer to rock than mattress, Songmei for the past few days had been waking up in bliss. This morning in particular, Songmei woke up to a view of snow. The sky was cloudy and there was gentle snowfall.

Rolling over in bed, Songmei wanted to stay under the covers forever, but, hearing the bustling sounds of life outside, she knew she had to get up.

Songmei kicked her legs out from under her blankets and sat up, gasping a little at the cold air. Sitting there, Songmei stumbled her way to the bathroom, washing up and fixing her bed hair that looked like a white-ish, silver-ish tangled mess. ‘They’ll give me a letter today... I think? I wonder if it’ll be paper... or maybe even like parchment? That’d be fancy...’

Feeling a little more alive after washing up, Songmei put on one of the cute outfits given to her by the sect that she had left folded on a chair near her bed and made her way down to the first floor. There’d probably be some breakfast laid out on trays down there that she could eat.

Life was good.

Songmei didn’t have to do anything at all!

Well, she knew she’d have to do stuff in the future, but for now... she was free! She just did some exercising everyday and... that was it. Songmei didn’t mind this new life, though Liu Xueli had told her that for a while she’d still be going to the school in the sect.

Sad...

Most cultivation novels Songmei had read had no school at all! And yet, here she’d be, returning to carpal tunnel land!

Picking up one of the food trays while sitting down at table, Songmei lamented her future schooling while waking up every so slowly by eating.

The food was steaming hot, glistening under the lamp light that illuminated the first floor. Moreover, the food in the sect was... amazing, to put it lightly. Songmei had asked an elder and they had explained it was something called Qi Infused cooking, but all Songmei really knew was it made the food taste exquisite.

‘I wonder what soup this is... it’s... it’s so good.’

Sipping her amazing tasting soup in small spoonfuls, Songmei sat back in her seat, blinking her eyes awake while looking at the snowfall outside.

Songmei could see some people walking to their morning jobs... well she called it their job in her head but she didn’t know. Life seemed good, people greeted each other, street lamps illuminated the outside while the cloudy sky made it bright, but not too bright.

‘I wonder if those two outside are going to start a snowball fight... That senior sister and senior brother do seem rather close too...’

Smack.

Bolting upright in her seat after getting hit in the face by a letter, Songmei looked down at the sealed letter that had fallen onto her lap. Making sure not to spill any soup on it, Songmei looked up only to be greeted by a smiling Liu Xueli.

“G-... Good morning?” Songmei murmured, giving a small wave to Liu Xueli who had taken a seat across from her.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Propping her elbows onto the table and resting her chin on her hands, Liu Xueli, with an exuberant smile as always—she really was energetic all the time somehow—greeted Songmei back. “Good morning~ Did you sleep well? Just wake up?”

Songmei gave a small nod, sipping her soup while putting the letter down onto the table.

Sip.

Ah... the soup was nice.

Feeling Liu Xueli’s burning gaze, Songmei relented, picking up the letter and sliding her fingernail under the seal.

Songmei opened the letter with delicate movements, putting the un-ripped envelope back down onto the table before unfolding the letter inside.

Calligraphy.

Her eyebrows raised, impressed at the care and effort put into the letter, Songmei read the handwritten calligraphy.

[Dear Lin Songmei,

As the Sect Leader of the Starlight Lake Sect, I, Tu Weiping, would like to congratulate you on finishing the interview process of becoming a direct disciple!

Good job!

We know that talking to a bunch of old people can be intimidating, but good job on pushing through! Not that you had a choice, but it’s still worth congratulating.

Below, I’ve written the elder you’ve been matched with, I wish you two plentiful happy times!

Your matched elder:

Liu Xueli

With warm regards,

Tu Weiping]

Songmei felt like the letter was... full of fluff. It could’ve been one sentence, yet it had so much fluff Songmei could practically make clothing out of it.

Looking up, after reading the letter, Songmei was enlightened, no wonder someone like Liu Xueli came to deliver the letter herself. “Well... I hope we get along, Elder Liu.”

Liu Xueli burst out into laughter, reaching over and taking a small bit of pastry off of Songmei’s tray, “It’s the tax~ Anyhow, it’ll be great! This auntie... no... this older sister will take care of you, okay? Now that you’re under me, just call me Xueli!”

A little aggrieved, she had just been robbed of some food, Songmei asked, “Can I really? Or... should I really? You’re important... Even the other elders call you by Elder Liu!”

“It’s fineeeee~ and I tell them to call me by Xueli... I hate being called by ‘Elder’ what what,” Xueli snorted, crossing her arms while sitting back in her chair, “I’m not that old yet I swear, I’m hip with the kids, I’m young!”

Not this again...

A small sigh escaping her lips under her breath, Songmei made some light conversation with Xueli while continuing to eat her breakfast. “How are you?”

“I’m hanging out~ The only thing I have to do today really is take care of you, help you move and stuff and pick up the other direct disciple that I chose.” Xueli shrugged, waving over someone to get her her own bowl of soup.

“You chose two people?” Songmei couldn’t help but ask, a little curious now to what the other person was like, “And why do you have to pick them up? Shouldn’t they already be here at the sect like me?”

Thanking the person who delivered some soup, Xueli took a long sip, letting out a satisfied sigh. “This soup hits the spot~ Ahhh~ and, to answer your question, her situation was a little unique. So we did the interviews with her while she stayed at her house. Some of the elders like me did theirs in person, others just did it online.”

“I see... I’m, I’m excited to meet her then...” Songmei murmured, a little bit of shyness creeping into her voice, she had been meeting a lot of people tho in the recent days, so she was ready! If she told herself she had social skills, she’d have them, that’s how it worked... right?

Sipping the last of her soup and giving the pastry to Xueli, Songmei stood up, patting down her clothes. “I’m finished with my breakfast, so let me go pack my things and we can go to your place. You live on one of the floating islands, right?”

“I’ll just wait here then, take your time~” Xueli reassured, having just gotten another bowl of soup, “My house is quite nice, so look forward to it! And don’t worry, the other disciple is great~ I’m sure you’ll love her!”