At nine years old, they were a year older than Huaijin, but in "trouble years," they were about a century old.

In her past life, Huaijin had avoided them like the plague. They were "Naughty" with a capital N. They didn’t just break rules; they shredded them and turned them into confetti.

Chi Kai was currently holding a high-powered slingshot, while Chi Kun was trying to shove a handful of snow down the back of a very stoic bodyguard’s neck.

"Hey, look! It’s the pigtail girl!" Kai shouted, pointing at Huaijin. "I heard you’re Grandpa’s favorite. Do you have a golden brain? Can we see it?"

"If we poke her head, does a gold coin come out?" Kun wondered aloud, narrowing his eyes mischievously.

Huaijin puffed out her cheeks. "My brain is for thinking, not for poking! And if you try, Luo Ming will turn you into ice sculptures!"

Luo Ming didn’t move a muscle, but his aura suddenly became ten degrees colder than the mountain air. The twins blinked, felt a shiver run down their spines, and immediately decided that poking Huaijin’s brain was a "Phase Two" plan.

"Whatever! We’re going to be the first ones to the top!" Kai declared, and the two of them sprinted up the path, slipping, sliding, and laughing like hyenas.

The climb was long. The North Mountains were known for their "Thousand Steps of Reflection." As they climbed higher, the trees became draped in thick, white fur, and the silence of the mountain began to swallow the sounds of the world below.

Even the twins slowed down after the first hundred steps, their "wicked ideas" replaced by "heavy breathing." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Huaijin watched her cousins. She noticed Song helping Yuanying when the path got icy. He didn’t say anything, just reached out a steady hand.

He was practicing being a leader, not because a butler told him to, but because he wanted to.

’The "Robot like cub" is finally growing a heart,’ Huaijin thought happily.

But then, disaster struck. Or rather, the twins struck.

Kai and Kun, bored with just walking, had decided to "improve" the path. They had spent the last five minutes quietly packing snowballs and hiding them behind rocks.

As Yuanying and her "Tail" (Butler Lin) passed by a large boulder, a barrage of icy projectiles exploded from the side.

"AMBUSH!" Kun screamed.

A snowball hit Yuanying right on her designer earmuffs. Another one hit Butler Lin’s stopwatch.

"MY REPUTATION!" Yuanying shrieked, her face turning as red as a cherry. "YOU LITTLE MONSTERS! I WILL TURN YOUR TOYS INTO FIREWOOD!"

She lunged for them, but she tripped on a patch of ice. Butler Lin caught her, but the momentum sent both of them sliding toward the edge of the path, where the snow was deep and powdery.

"STOP!" Song shouted, but it was too late.

Yuanying and Lin were face-down in a snowdrift, looking like two very grumpy penguins. The twins were doubled over with laughter, pointing and hooting.

Huaijin felt a spark of her temper flare up. Being naughty is one thing, but making Yuanying cry is a violation of the ’Happy Family’ protocol!

She looked at Luo Ming. Luo Ming looked at her. A silent understanding passed between them.

"Butler Luo," Huaijin whispered. "Do we have the ’Special Supplies’?"

"Always, Little Miss."

Huaijin didn’t scream, nor did she chase them. She sat down on a flat rock and opened the bag Luo Ming had handed her.

"Oh wow!" Huaijin said, her voice loud and clear. "These Hot Cocoa Bombs that melt into little marshmallow stars are so heavy. I don’t think I can carry them all to the top. I guess I’ll have to eat them all right now with Yuanying and Song."

The twins stopped laughing. Their ears perked up like radar dishes.

"And these Caramel-Crusted Snow-Pretzels," Huaijin continued, pulling out a glittering bag. "They’re so crunchy. But only for people who are ’Mountain Friends.’ Ambushers don’t get any. It’s an ancient monk rule."

Kai and Kun looked at each other. Their tummies let out a synchronized growl. The smell of high-quality chocolate and caramel wafted through the freezing air, mocking their empty pockets.

"We were just... testing your reflexes!" Kai said, walking back toward them with a sheepish grin.

"Yeah! It was a ’Safety Drill’!" Kun added, trying to hide his slingshot behind his back.

"Is that so?" Huaijin asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Well, ’Safety Drill’ participants have to help Yuanying out of the snow and carry her bag for fifty steps. That’s the fee for a marshmallow star."

The twins grumbled, but the lure of Luo Ming’s snacks was too strong. For the next ten minutes, the two "Wicked Chaos-Makers" were transformed into "Professional Bag-Carriers" and "Snow-Brushers."

Song watched the whole thing with an expression of pure awe. She’s only eight years old, and much younger than him, but he already saw the potential to lead people blooming in her.

She just defeated the Terror Twins with a bag of pretzels. Uncle Yuanfeng didn’t just raise a daughter; he raised a tactical genius.

By the time they reached the golden gates of the temple, the sun was beginning to dip, turning the snow into a field of sparkling diamonds. The air here was so thin and pure it felt like drinking cold water with your lungs.

A young monk in saffron robes stood at the gate, bowing deeply.

"The Abbot has been expecting the children of the Chi family," he said, his voice like a gentle bell. "He says the mountain has already taught you your first lesson."

"What lesson?" Kun asked, his mouth full of a caramel pretzel.

"That the path is easier when you walk together than when you push each other," the monk replied with a wink.

Huaijin looked at her cousins.

Song looked tall and proud. Yuanying, despite her messy coat, was holding Huaijin’s hand. Even the twins were standing relatively still, mesmerized by the quiet beauty of the temple.

Grandpa Chi hadn’t sent them here just for "wisdom." He had sent them here to see if they could become a team.

Huaijin felt a tug on her sleeve. It was Song.

"Hey, Huaijin," he whispered. "Thanks for the snacks. And for... You know. Making them behave."

Huaijin grinned, her pigtails dancing under her beanie. "Don’t thank me, Brother Song! Thank the chocolate! It’s the most powerful force in the universe."

As they walked into the temple courtyard, leaving the "Capital’s Best" bodyguards at the gate, Huaijin felt a sense of profound excitement.

The "Plot" of her past life felt like a distant, bad dream. In this life, she had a mountain to conquer, an Abbot to meet, and a bag of chocolate that could change the world.

’Whatever you want to teach us, Mr. Abbot,’ Huaijin thought, ’we’re ready. Just make sure you have enough tea, we’ve brought the snacks!’

***

The living quarters assigned to the Chi children were a far cry from the marble-floored, gold-trimmed halls of the Manor.

Nestled against a jagged rock face that seemed to pulse with the ancient heartbeat of the mountain, the "Cloud-Whisp Dormitories" were a collection of minimalist timber buildings.

The air inside smelled of cedar, aged parchment, and the lingering, sweet-smelling smoke of sandalwood incense. There were no plush carpets here, only polished wooden floors that groaned underfoot like a grumbling old monk.

The Head Disciple, a man named Brother Jing, possessed a face that looked as though it had been carved from a single piece of unyielding granite.

He stood before the group with his hands tucked into the wide sleeves of his saffron robes, his gaze skipping over the shivering children with the detached calm of a mountain lake.

"Here," Brother Jing said, his voice a low, resonant hum, "you are not masters or misses. You are guests of the mountain. You will sleep on the mats provided. You will wake with the first bell. You will find that the mountain gives only what you are willing to earn."

He gave them a few more instructions, mostly regarding which hallways led to the meditation halls and which led to the "cliffs of certain death", and then, with a soft swirl of his robes, he vanished into the mist like a ghost.

For the rest of the day, the "Great Picnic Expedition" turned into "The Great Survival Test."

Yuanying was currently undergoing a spiritual crisis.

"Huaijin," she whispered, staring at the thin straw mat on the floor of their shared room.