Someone had tried to poach her right to her face. Ming Huang puffed out her cheeks in anger. ’How could I be so pathetic?’
She couldn’t even manage the simplest Transformation. ’Some Phoenix I am. I must be a crow hatchling, born in a nest someone built in a parasol tree!’
She had learned so much from her Mother and Father, and she understood a great deal... which led her to a terrifying thought: ’What if I’m a male chick?’
Female hatchlings were always born individually in human form, but she and her brother had both come from shells. Her Mother had once said that there were cases of hens turning into roosters, so it seemed possible they had gotten her gender wrong...
’All that talk about brothers and sisters being born as twins or triplets in a single clutch must have just been to comfort me.’
’Is my Transformation into a female unstable because I’m actually male?’
Ming Huang frightened herself with the thought and guiltily ate her meal in silence. Afterward, she pretended to be sleepy and went back to her room. The moment she was inside, the door clicked shut, leaving Gong Chuan, who had followed her, outside.
"Wife?" Gong Chuan tapped lightly on the door, his voice laced with concern. "Are you feeling unwell, or are you unhappy? Whatever it is, we can talk it out. Don’t just sulk by yourself."
By now, the other males had gathered around as well. They were all annoyed with the Golden Matron for showing up and making their already sensitive wife overthink things.
Ming Huang pressed her lips together and didn’t open the door. "I’m fine, my brothers," she said. "I just want to be alone for a bit. Don’t worry about me."
"Alright, we won’t bother you," Ji Wen urged earnestly. "But don’t let your imagination run wild. We’ve all sworn an oath to be partners for life. Nothing can tear us apart."
Ming Huang hummed noncommittally in response.
That was one thing, but as she looked at the Glazed Mirror in the room, she flapped her wings and flew toward it, only to see a plump little crow, solid black without a single off-colored feather.
With a thought, she changed into a chubby little girl. She wasn’t overly fat; in fact, she looked just like the cherubic girls her Mother described from paintings. Her Mother, her sisters, and even Xu Ye and the others all loved to pinch her cheeks.
They said *she* was the real white dough dumpling.
Ming Huang closed her eyes again, circulated the Spiritual Power in her body, and transformed into the agile and charming female from before. Her highlighted hair gave her a bit of a wild look, and her facial features were bright and striking, just like the Princess from her dreams.
Her figure was exquisite and well-proportioned; from every angle, she was an absolute beauty.
But when she took a deep breath and opened her eyes again, the female in the mirror had shockingly become male. He bore about a fifty-percent resemblance to Feng Yu, but he was cast from the exact same mold as her fraternal twin brother from her previous life, as if only the gender-specific features had been swapped.
She stared wide-eyed at her reflection. ’Did they... did they really get my gender wrong?’
Ming Huang clenched her fists, fumbled for her hourglass, and began timing herself over and over. She could only maintain her female form for a short time—about a quarter of an hour, three or four times a day. But she could stay in her male form for a full half of a Beast Hour!
She was shattered.
Ming Huang thought about Gong Chuan’s words. ’He’s right. No matter what I look like, the nine of us are already bound together.’
To give her brothers a better, more... complete experience, she—her face flushing red—glanced at the apples on the table, grabbed two, and stuffed one into each side of her top over her flat chest!
Looking at her "magnificent" new figure in the mirror, she forced a smile that looked more painful than crying.
When she opened the door again, she saw eight males squatting or standing right outside.
"You..." Her voice came out a bit hoarse, like a male whose voice was breaking. Steeling herself, she forced her voice into a higher pitch. "What are you all doing guarding my door? Afraid your wife is going to run away?"
Something was a little off, but they couldn’t put their finger on it.
Xu Ye stepped forward, smiling as he ruffled her hair. "Wife, did you sleep well? You know, you used to be so energetic you’d be flapping all over the place if we weren’t there to coax you to sleep. Want me to go in with you and help you rest some more?"
His voice was low and husky. He and the others had discussed it before. They speculated that their wife could only take on her young female form when she was happy and completely relaxed. If she got a fright or felt unwell, she would immediately revert to her seven-year-old form or her black chicken form.
She hadn’t felt tired before, but now that he mentioned it, a wave of sleepiness washed over her. Ming Huang couldn’t help but yawn, her eyes welling up as she nodded listlessly.
Lying on the stone bed, Ming Huang placed an arm between herself and Xu Ye, her sleeping posture more prim and proper than ever before.
Once she was sound asleep, Xu Ye smiled and carefully pulled her into his embrace. He held her with gentle, contented pressure, but then he looked down in surprise at the two lumps digging into his chest. They felt different from before.
He couldn’t resist reaching in to find out what they were. They were apples?!
Xu Ye stared at the apples for a long time, unable to comprehend why her soft, steamed buns had turned into apples.
Nevertheless, he quietly stuffed the apples back in. ’Could this be his little female’s new way of hiding things?’
When Ming Huang woke up, she stretched comfortably, only to wince at the sharp pain from the apples digging into her. Annoyed, she huffily pulled one out and took a vicious bite.
Just as she sensed something was amiss, she looked up and saw Wei Chang frozen mid-stride, one foot over the threshold, unsure whether to come in or go out.
She pressed her lips together in an awkward smile. Then, on a bizarre impulse, she pulled out the other apple and offered it to him. "Brother Tuanzi, you want one?"
Wei Chang walked in numbly, took the apple that was still warm from her body heat, and took a crunchy bite. Out of the corner of his eye, he couldn’t help but notice that the spot on the little female’s chest where the apple had been was now completely flat.
As if he had just uncovered a major secret, his expression became exceptionally serious. "Wife, how about some steamed buns for lunch? What kind of filling do you like?"
Seeing he wasn’t reacting strangely, Ming Huang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She hunched her shoulders to make her flat chest less obvious. "Anything’s fine! But I like steamed buns with thick dough, and they have to be big. About the size of my palm... no, wait, about the size of your palm!"
She seemed to recall her Mother and sisters saying that she should eat more papayas to become the kind of female who was more than a handful for any male.
’Her body’s development might be stunted, but her mind was mature!’
"Brother Tuanzi, please go make them quickly! I’m so hungry, and that’s exactly what I’m craving."
"Okay, but the dough needs to rise for a while. I’ll go find Gong Chuan to set up a Time Array and get them done for you as fast as possible." Wei Chang went out, closing the door behind him and instructing Si Teng to stand guard.
Although Gong Chuan wasn’t very old, he had been in Cultivation since he was a child. His comprehension of the Time Law was now quite good, allowing him to set up an Array that made time pass fifteen times faster inside.
Wei Chang brought the steaming hot buns into the room. They were fluffy and generously filled. Ming Huang devoured two of them, her cheeks puffed out and her eyes sparkling as she nodded and lavished them with praise.
Nothing made him happier than seeing his little female enjoy his cooking. When Wei Chang saw she had eaten her fill, he said, "I also made some vegetable egg-drop soup. I’ll go get it for you."
The moment he left, Ming Huang hurriedly stashed the rest of the buns in the Nine-Colored Particle Space she wore around her neck. The two she kept, she wrapped in cotton cloth and tied them to her chest!
She looked at her reflection in the mirror with satisfaction. ’Now *these* are some impressive curves, aren’t they?’ She poked them. ’They’re nice and plump. The realism is pretty good...’