On the third morning of Guhan's ban from the game, there were still eight hours before his ban would be lifted and he could log back in.
The lighting in Guhan's new home was excellent. When Guhan opened his eyes, warm sunlight was already shining on his face. With the help of the sunlight, Guhan could clearly see every detail of Qingpin's innocent little face, a perfect little girl with not a single wrinkle on her skin.
Guhan couldn't resist rubbing his face against Qingpin's, then he quietly got out of bed, pushed open the door, and saw a table in the living room with a sumptuous breakfast already set out.
Last night, to cultivate Qingpin's combat skills, Guhan had guided her in practicing sword techniques for half the night, which had exhausted the little girl. Qingpin, who usually got up early to watch TV, was still sound asleep.
"Good morning, Master! Your servant will assist you with your morning routine!" Wenyun, the new maid in a black lace maid uniform, appeared behind Guhan at some point, holding a tray with three ceramic cups filled with warm water, a toothbrush, and a tube of toothpaste. Despite being 35 years old, Wenyun still had the graceful curves of a 25-year-old. The maid uniform, which doesn't usually highlight a woman's figure, somehow made Wenyun look incredibly alluring, and Guhan could feel a strange heat and excitement from her, which made him feel a bit uncomfortable... This was partly due to the morning, but we won't go into details.
"Your servant will help you rinse your mouth!" Wenyun handed Guhan a cup of warm water and a toothbrush, then squeezed toothpaste onto it. As she did so, she was very close to Guhan, and her hair brushed against his nose, giving off a mature and sweet scent.
"No, I'll do it myself!" Guhan snatched the cup and toothbrush and headed to the bathroom. Suddenly, Wenyun produced a spittoon, knelt down, and held it on her head. "Please rinse your mouth, Master!"
"I..." Guhan felt extremely uncomfortable being served like this, so he rushed into the bathroom with the toothbrush and cup, leaving behind the instruction, "Wake Qingpin up," and hid inside.
Last night, although the sword wielder called Lixuan had tried to intimidate Guhan with various threats to give up Wenyun, Guhan didn't take the creepy guy seriously. According to the rules of the Sword Committee, once a maid was registered, she became the exclusive property of that sword wielder, and no one, not even an Imperial Sword wielder, was allowed to take her away. If they did, the Enforcement Department of the Sword Committee would severely punish them, such as severing their sword marks and revoking their sword wielder status.
Of course, the law stated that even Imperial Sword wielders were not exempt, but in reality, even a Spirit Sword wielder could take away your exclusive maid, and the Enforcement Department couldn't do anything about it, as their strongest fighters were only at the Spirit Sword level.
Spirit Sword wielders and above could ignore this law, but Lixuan definitely didn't have the guts. The Sword Wielder Service Center was full of sword wielders, and even if Lixuan had a hundred reasons, he wouldn't dare to forcibly take Wenyun. Although he proposed a duel to decide Wenyun's ownership, Guhan ignored him.
Guhan was a newly minted Ancient Sword wielder, and according to the law, within the first year of becoming a sword wielder, he had the right to refuse any duel invitations from other sword wielders. Similarly, if a higher-level sword wielder challenged him to a duel, he could also refuse.
Although Guhan was confident that his sword skills could easily defeat the idiotic Treasure Sword wielder, why should he waste his time and energy on a duel? It would be better to spend that time reading, playing games, or doing quests.
So, when Lixuan issued a duel invitation, Guhan simply gave him a cold stare and left with Wenyun, who looked both obedient and relieved, leaving Lixuan fuming in his place.
Since bringing Wenyun home, Guhan hadn't asked her any personal questions, such as why she wanted to be a maid or if she felt uncomfortable being his maid. He just explained what he needed her to do, gave her a room, and the night passed without incident.
Wenyun was grateful for this. She knew Guhan didn't ask these questions to protect her dignity, and she didn't want to answer them either.
It was breakfast time. After washing up, Guhan ate a piece of bread and drank some artificial milk. Qingpin's little feet were on Guhan's thighs, her hands on the table, and she was intently watching the cartoon "Shuke and Beta" on the TV, her mouth opening and closing rhythmically as Wenyun fed her rice spoonful by spoonful.
If you ignored Wenyun's maid uniform, this was undoubtedly a sweet and warm scene of a happy family having breakfast together.
"You've worked hard! Feeding a child must be tough!" Seeing the sweat on Wenyun's forehead and Qingpin's full mouth, Guhan sincerely thanked her.
"Not at all! Qingpin is much better than Xiaoya when she was little. She swallows each spoonful easily!" Wenyun smiled. "Xiaoya was a much pickier eater. I'd feed her one spoonful, and she'd spit out two. Feeding Xiaoya was like taking a bath every day."
"Your daughter...?" Guhan wanted to ask what happened to her daughter, but he decided not to. If Wenyun had decided to be a maid, she must have made arrangements for her daughter, so he didn't need to worry about it.
Instead, Guhan asked, "Are you comfortable living here? Is there anything you need?"
"Thank you, Master. This place is better than where I used to live, and I'm very comfortable. There's only one thing I want to ask." Wenyun put down the empty bowl and chopsticks. This was Qingpin's fifth bowl of rice.
"What is it?" Guhan was taken aback.
"Master, about this month's... l-l-living expenses!" Wenyun hesitated. "This breakfast was paid for with my money. I planned to use it for a day's worth of food, but Qingpin ate it all in one morning... It cost 87 RMB, and I added half a pound of artificial pork because Qingpin likes meat... Could you please give me this month's living expenses?"
"Clack!" Guhan's chopsticks fell to the table, and his face turned red. He had forgotten to give Wenyun the living expenses. But that wasn't the reason for his red face. The real reason was that his personal terminal only had less than 50 RMB left, not enough to pay back Wenyun.
"I'll give you the living expenses tonight... Qingpin and I have something to do today, so you'll have to take care of lunch on your own. Don't worry about us." With that, Guhan picked up Qingpin and hurried out of the house.
Today was the day Guhan and Songhama were to report to Yuzhang Academy. According to the Sword Committee's rules, all sword wielders, after synchronizing with their sword maidens, must enter Yuzhang Academy to systematically study advanced combat skills and complete various beginner tasks and tests.
This was a mandatory requirement, and no one could refuse.
Guhan and Songhama met at the entrance of Yuzhang Academy. The two of them standing together were quite a sight. One had a little girl in a baby carrier, while the other was being carried by his sword maiden. They were automatically labeled as perverts by the onlookers.
"Hello, Qingpin!" Songhama, attracted by Qingpin's cute appearance, approached with a lecherous look, trying to win her over. However, Qingpin was so scared that she hid her head in the baby carrier, muttering, "So scary, so scary," which left Songhama feeling very awkward.
After meeting, Guhan and Songhama entered Yuzhang Academy together and completed the enrollment procedures. Fortunately, Yuzhang Academy didn't charge any fees, or Guhan's meager 50 RMB would have been insufficient.
The classes at Yuzhang Academy were formed based on the order of enrollment. In other words, thirty sword wielders who enrolled at the same time formed a class. Fortunately, Guhan and Songhama found that their student numbers in the class were 30 and 29, respectively. This meant they were the 30th and 29th new sword wielders to enroll, and if they had been a bit later, they might have been in different classes.
Walking down a quiet, tree-lined path, they reached Class 22694, which was the 22,694th class of new sword wielders in Yuzhang City. Many batches of sword wielders had graduated from this class and entered the harsh outside world.
Guhan sighed slightly and entered Class 22694 with Songhama, where they would spend the next year. Over the past thousand years, many famous and accomplished sword wielder teams had formed, interacted, fought, and shared life and death in this very class.
When Guhan entered the classroom, the other 28 students were already seated, waiting for the last two, Guhan and Songhama, to arrive.
"Will I find my future comrades here?" Guhan silently scanned the room, which included male and female students, some as young as 18 and others in their 30s.
"Guhan, sit here!" Suddenly, a voice called out Guhan's name.
"Wait, who here knows my name?" Guhan looked to the back of the class and saw someone he really didn't want to see.