Family Stealing System: your wife, mother, sister, all mine now!
Chapter 36: Warm and Cozy

Chapter 36: Warm and Cozy

They walked in silence for a long stretch, the servants’ path winding down through roots and loose shale until the villa was a smudge of white stone against the ridge behind them.

The girl in Kian’s arms did not stir. Her breathing was shallow but steady, and the faint pulse at her throat beat against his forearm with the regularity of a metronome.

"Nadura," Kian said, testing the word. It tasted foreign on his tongue. "That’s not a term I’ve heard before."

Hua Feimei’s stride didn’t break, but her shoulders stiffened visibly beneath the travel cloak. "Neither have I. And I have studied the old texts—the ones the sect keeps locked in the restricted pavilion, the ones that predate the founding families."

"I see."

Feimei ducked under a low-hanging branch and held it aside for him. Her red eyes flicked to the girl in his arms, and her jaw tightened. "I birthed a son. I raised a son. I watched him take his first steps, speak his first words, channel his first spark of Qi. But one day, his personality suddenly became colder. He no longer cared about his sisters, or mother."

Kian frowned. "Sudden personality shift, huh?"

His eyes moved to the pendant hanging on Hua Shulong’s neck. There was a spirit living inside, apparently.

Was it related to this?

Feimei said nothing. When Kian glanced at her, her face had gone very still. "Yes, sudden personality shift," she mumbled. "It was all after he got that jade pendant." Everything began after that."

Kian was curious about the facts but they didn’t stop. Soon enough, his new house became visible in the distance.

The house rose up against the darkening sky, its terrace catching the last dregs of sunset in a wash of orange and gold.

Kian could see a figure waiting there—no, two figures, one leaning against the railing with short hair lifting in the breeze, the other seated on the stone bench with her hands folded in her lap. Jia and Mia.

They must have been watching the path for hours.

"Mother!" Jia’s voice cracked across the distance.

Hua Feimei looked up at the sky.

Kian and her then walked into their house, and as they entered, they saw both Mia and Jia walk out.

Mia didn’t even glance at the unconscious person in Kian’s arms—she just threw herself at Hua Feimei with a force that made the older woman stagger, her arms wrapping around the girl.

"Mom! Now I understand everything!"

Jia followed at a walk, her long black hair swaying with each deliberate step.

Her eyes moved from her mother to Kian, then down to the slack face nestled against his chest, and the blood drained from her cheeks.

She stopped dead in the middle of the path, one hand rising to her mouth.

"Is that... is that him?"

Kian shifted the unconscious girl’s weight and walked the last distance into his home.

They closed the door behind them.

By now, Jiao Yin had appeared in the doorway now, a small booklet still clutched in one hand, her face pinched with confusion.

Kian laid the body down on the couch and stepped back. "Your brother isn’t your brother, I guess," he said. "Or he never was. We’re still figuring out what’s going on."

Hua Feimei had one arm around Mia and the other reaching for Mia, pulling both daughters against her as if she could fuse them to her ribs.

Her red eyes, still faintly luminous, met Kian’s over the tops of their heads.

Kian nodded and walked into his own room.

It was clear the mother and daughter trio needed some space for themselves.

So who was he to ruin a good reunion?

Though, he had to admit, it warmed his heart. Looking at all three of these stunning women together, with moist eyes and overflowing emotions, was a somewhat heart touching moment for him as well.

Jiao Yin walked in behind him.

"So that’s their mother?" she said.

"Yeah I guess so."

"It makes sense why both of the sisters are so pretty now, their mother is like..." she shook her head in awe. "Truly something."

Kian leaned against the bed and crossed his arms, watching Jiao Yin stare at the closed door.

"What about you?" he asked. "You’ve been trying to sense Qi all day. Any luck?"

Jiao Yin’s expression flickered, and she shook her head, the motion small and tight. "Nothing. I can feel something, maybe, when I sit still enough. But it’s like trying to catch smoke with my fingers. Every time I think I have it, it’s gone."

Kian’s expression flickered.

That was a sensation that most people didn’t have. People who had such sensations often sensed Qi very quickly.

Jiao Yin looked down at the booklet in her hands—Mia’s handwriting, cramped and earnest, notes on breathing cycles and meridian awareness.

"I don’t think I’m cut out for this."

"That’s the same thing everyone says before it clicks." Kian beckoned her. "Come here. Sit on the floor. Let’s try again, properly this time."

She obeyed, folding her legs beneath her and placing the booklet aside.

Her back was straight, but her shoulders were tight, her jaw clenched with the effort of trying too hard.

Kian reached out and pressed two fingers to the base of her throat, just above her rub, and a thin thread of his own Qi moved around her body, relaxing her posture.

"Breathe slower. Don’t chase it. You’re not hunting Qi, you’re inviting it. Like waiting for a cat to come sit on your lap."

She let out a shaky exhale and closed her eyes, the tension in her shoulders easing by a fraction.

No matter what, Kian had a way of making her feel secure. Around him, her fears became nonexistent.

He truly was a safety net.

The room fell quiet save for the distant murmur of voices from the living room and the soft cadence of her breathing.

Kian withdrew his hand and stayed still, letting her sit in the silence.

Minutes passed. Her breathing steadied into a rhythm that was almost meditative, her chest rising and falling with a slowness she hadn’t managed all day.

Just then, the door slid open with a soft rasp, and Hua Jia stepped inside, her face still flushed from tears that had been rubbed off.

She closed the door behind her and stood with her back against it, arms wrapped around herself.

Kian looked up, one eyebrow arching. "Shouldn’t you be out there with your mother?"

"Mom and Mia are having a good time. If I am there, I’d just..." She pouted. "Forget it anyway. I just want to let them have their moment, okay?"

"Then come here, sit with me."

"Who wants to sit with you?"

"Let me guide you in sensing Qi, come."

She quickly came to sit beside him. And Kian, with no shame, pulled her into his arms and wrapped his hands around her. She showed her cute fangs to him at first, but soon settled in there.

"What is it?" he asked, kissing her cheeks from the back. "Don’t feel like talking to your mother?"

"I’ve always seen her like an enemy, you know? It’s hard to look at her without feeling angry and frustrated. I feel like I might say something I will regret if I stay for too long."

She shifted slightly to become more comfortable in his arms, then gave him more access to her neck so that he could kiss her. He accepted the gift without a word, kissing her neck.

"Your mot..." Kian stopped his words halfway, turning to look at Jiao Yin.

Something was wrong.