Ha, Karma! – Chapter 100
by Little Panda【Extra Chapter · Ancient IF Timeline】
The Bright Moon of Bygone Years (2)
Ye Zhaoqiu was inspecting the guest room.
The bedding was tidy, the room swept spotless, meeting Miss Ye’s requirements.
Moreover, this room faced the street; pushing open the window, one could see the winding, graceful Qing River waterway.
One could also see the distant mountain ranges, continuous and hidden in mist and clouds, like an ink wash painting1.
Fu Lianxue leaned against the window, took a deep breath of Yunshui Town’s fresh air, her brow clearing as she said, “Not bad, you’re quite good at picking places.”
Blue tiles and white walls2, weeping willows swaying gracefully, the river water sparkling green as it meandered away.
People rode boats upon it, some for leisure, some hawking their wares along the way, a scene of joyful harmony.
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say Yunshui Town was a little Jiangnan3.
Fu Lianxue pulled Ye Zhaoqiu’s hand, her eyes bright: “Let’s go, let’s go play!”
Coming to such a beautiful place and not having a good time, not taking a look around, wouldn’t that be desecrating the beautiful scenery?
Ye Zhaoqiu grasped her hand in return, reminding her, “We didn’t come here to play.”
Fu Lianxue blinked, saying, “You didn’t, but I did.”
Ye Zhaoqiu: “……”
Irrefutable.
Ye Zhaoqiu released her hand.
Seeing this, just as she was withdrawing her hand, Fu Lianxue suddenly grabbed it, threading her five fingers through Ye Zhaoqiu’s, clasping her hand tightly.
If anyone saw them, they would assume they had a very intimate relationship.
“What’s wrong, you want me to accompany you on your training?”
She spoke as she drew closer.
Things like propriety, like a sense of boundaries, were utterly non-existent for her.
She just wanted to tease this Ye Zhaoqiu, even if she was a blockhead—a good-looking blockhead at that!
“If you want me to accompany you, just say so. What kind of relationship do we have? I won’t refuse you.
“Whatever you want… I won’t refuse you anything.”
Her voice was soft and tender, her eyes like silk, full of charm and allure.
Ye Zhaoqiu: “……”
Fu Lianxue: “En?”
Ye Zhaoqiu: “……”
Ye Zhaoqiu attempted to withdraw her hand.
Unsuccessful. Fu Lianxue clung to her hand tightly, refusing to let go.
Ye Zhaoqiu tried two more times.
Fu Lianxue simply hugged her entire arm, staring at her with righteous confidence.
Ye Zhaoqiu: “……”
“Stop fooling around,” she said.
Her tone was utterly helpless, her gaze equally so, finally no longer appearing so calm and unruffled.
Fu Lianxue knew she wouldn’t make a move against her, thus becoming even more audacious and secure: “Then say you want me to accompany you.”
“Say it! If you don’t, I’ll hold your arm like this every time we go out, so you can’t use your sword or any spells!”
“Quick, say it, I’m listening.”
“…I want you to accompany me.”
“En en, then also say you’ll buy me the lotus pastries4 from that stall downstairs later.”
Ye Zhaoqiu paused for a moment, walked towards the window, and looked down.
Sure enough, a small stall selling lotus pastries was set up by the roadside, directly opposite the inn’s entrance.
A gentle breeze wafted by, carrying the fragrance of lotus pastries, sweet as honey.
She turned her head to look at the yaoguai still hugging her arm.
Fu Lianxue was eager, her eyes shining: “How about it, isn’t it wonderfully fragrant?”
Ye Zhaoqiu: “……”
She couldn’t help but ask, “When did you see it?”
Fu Lianxue said, “When we first entered the inn.”
Ye Zhaoqiu asked again, “Then why didn’t you just say you wanted to eat it earlier?”
She asked with an air that suggested if Fu Lianxue had said she wanted to eat it on the spot, she would have immediately paid for it.
Unfortunately, even she herself hadn’t noticed this.
Fu Lianxue said, “Wasn’t it because you needed to find a place to settle down first? So we came into the inn first.”
After speaking, she nudged Ye Zhaoqiu with her shoulder, smilingly saying, “How about it, am I not quite considerate of you? Moved to tears, aren’t you?”
Ye Zhaoqiu: “……”
“Downstairs.”
“Are there any yaoguai or monsters causing trouble in town?”
The Innkeeper repeated Ye Zhaoqiu’s question, stroking his chin in thought.
“Our town has always been very peaceful, I haven’t heard of any evil spirits causing disturbances…”
Hearing this, Ye Zhaoqiu nodded lightly, not at all regretful.
Although she had come down the mountain for training, the country being prosperous and its people living in peace, with citizens living and working in contentment, free from demonic harassment, was the true purpose of yaoguai slaying. So, no evil spirits causing trouble was something to be happy about.
At worst… she could just play here for a while.
Thinking this, she unconsciously turned her head to look at the charm meiyao beside her.
Fu Lianxue was standing next to her, holding a lotus pastry, eating happily.
This meiyao was truly here to play.
Seeing Ye Zhaoqiu suddenly turn to look at her, Fu Lianxue very politely offered the lotus pastry in her hand: “Have a bite?”
Knowing she liked cleanliness, she was also very considerate, turning the lotus pastry around to offer the part she hadn’t bitten.
Ye Zhaoqiu was expressionless.
She clearly had no interest in this.
Fu Lianxue, as if understanding something, said “Oh oh” twice in realization.
Then she handed the entire package containing the other lotus pastries to Ye Zhaoqiu.
Ye Zhaoqiu: “……”
She didn’t mean she wanted to eat a whole one.
“I don’t want any, you eat them yourself.” She averted her gaze.
Fu Lianxue regretfully withdrew her hand: “It’s very fragrant and delicious…”
She turned her head to look at the Innkeeper, very much in a sharing mood, offering the thing in her hand: “Boss, care for a piece?”
The Innkeeper smiled and waved his hand: “No thank you, I live here, I eat them often. Your family has it tough, you should eat more.”
The Innkeeper still remembered the fib she had told.
Fu Lianxue smiled, not exposing herself.
Then, the Innkeeper suddenly remembered something and said, “Ah, right, the East Mountain over there hasn’t been very peaceful lately.”
Ye Zhaoqiu immediately turned to look at him.
The Innkeeper tucked both hands into his sleeves, took a breath and said, “I heard that immortals used to live on East Mountain, so it’s abundant in spiritual energy. Consequently, it has nurtured many spirits and yaoguai, and many heretical, unclean things hide there. Few people dare to go towards East Mountain.
“Just a few days ago, Young Master Liao5, the elder brother of our local money-lender’s wife, was harmed by a tree yao6 on East Mountain. His corpse was brought back with great difficulty by his friend, Young Master Lin7, who was traveling with him.
“Aiya, he died so tragically, his eyes were even gouged out!
“Young Master Lin is also in a terrible state, covered in wounds and blood! Ai, pitiful for a blind man, unable to even see the road, yet he had to bring his friend’s corpse back…”
Once these words were spoken, even Fu Lianxue, who had been detached, paused.
“A blind man? A tree yao?” she asked, “How would a blind man know what kind of yaoguai harmed someone?”
Just as the Innkeeper said, how could a blind man, who couldn’t even see the road, see what kind of yaoguai had harmed his friend?
It sounded very strange, very suspicious!
“Young Master Liao shouted it,” the Innkeeper said, “Young Master Lin said that when Young Master Liao was caught by the tree yao, he yelled ‘There’s a tree yao!’ and then desperately told him to run, as far as he could, otherwise, if both stayed, both would die.
“What do you think a blind man could do? He couldn’t see the road; going up would just be sending himself to his death. He could only listen to his friend and run first.
“Fortunately, Heaven took pity, and he truly escaped with his life.
“But he really couldn’t stop worrying about his friend, hoping in his heart that Young Master Liao might also have escaped. So he cautiously turned back, only to find a corpse by touch…”
After speaking, the Innkeeper sighed: “To think of letting his friend run first when facing a great disaster, Young Master Liao was indeed a man of great righteousness. It’s just a pity… ai!”
Fu Lianxue and Ye Zhaoqiu looked at each other.
Ye Zhaoqiu said, “Didn’t you say East Mountain is very dangerous? Why would they still go to East Mountain?”
The Innkeeper thought for a moment and said, “It seems Young Master Liao said he wanted to go play.
“There’s another town on the other side of East Mountain, with many novel things. He wanted to take Young Master Lin there to have fun.”
Ye Zhaoqiu asked again, “Were they the only two on this trip?”
“En, just the two of them.”
“Have you found that tree yao?” Ye Zhaoqiu asked.
“No, the authorities only sealed off the mountain, not allowing anyone in. Who would dare to enter!”
“Then what are you going to do now?” Fu Lianxue asked curiously.
“This is the Liao family’s and the government’s business, how would an outsider know? But I think the Liao family will probably look for a highly accomplished Daoist master to enter the mountain and subdue the yaoguai.”
They were all ordinary people; how could they resist evil spirits with their mortal bodies?
Moreover, that yaoguai even gouged out people’s eyes, its methods cruel; it was even less something ordinary people like them could easily challenge.
To deal with yaoguai, naturally, one had to find those who cultivate the Dao.
The Innkeeper looked at Ye Zhaoqiu, sizing her up and down before saying, “Judging by this guest’s demeanor, you should be a person of the Xuanmen?”
Ye Zhaoqiu did not deny it: “Yes.”
The Innkeeper nodded in understanding: “No wonder you’d proactively ask if there were any evil spirits causing trouble.”
Fu Lianxue, listening to their conversation from the side, became interested and eagerly joined them, asking, “What about me? What kind of person do I look like to you?”
The Innkeeper looked at her, then at Ye Zhaoqiu, and replied, “You don’t look like a Daoist cultivator. You should be her sister from the same family.”
He thought, since she knew the family was having a hard time, they must be family.
Ye Zhaoqiu hadn’t spoken yet.
But Fu Lianxue suddenly leaned against her, her expression inexplicably shy.
“I’m not her sister, I’m actually her… unmarried young lady8.”
Ye Zhaoqiu: “?”
Innkeeper: “???”
What a sudden piece of gossip!
“She fell in love with me at first sight, so she abducted me to elope. Because of this, she had a very ugly falling out with her family and had to come out to fend for herself…”
Weaving up to this point, Fu Lianxue lowered her eyes, putting on a pitiful appearance as if on the verge of tears.
“It’s all my fault, for being born so beautiful…”
After spouting a stream of nonsense, Fu Lianxue sneakily glanced at Ye Zhaoqiu.
The other party was staring at her intently, her eyes full of warning.
She shrugged and waved her hand: “Alright, alright, I’m just teasing you. I’m not some young lady, just kidding. Innkeeper, don’t take it seriously, or she’ll get angry with me later.”
The injustice swiftly clarified, Ye Zhaoqiu calmly retracted her gaze.
But the next moment, she saw Fu Lianxue put down the lotus pastry, clap her hands, then link arms with her, and say mysteriously to the Innkeeper: “But she really did fall in love with me at first sight.”
Ye Zhaoqiu: “?”
Fu Lianxue: “And she’s so deeply in love with me she can’t extricate herself.”
Ye Zhaoqiu: “??”
Fu Lianxue: “Aiya, she can’t live without me in this lifetime!”
Ye Zhaoqiu: “……”
“Don’t listen to her nonsense,” Eldest Miss Ye said, heart weary.
The author has something to say:
Xiao Fu: When out and about, identity and wife are self-provided! (takes a bite of lotus pastry)
Eldest Miss: My ears aren’t deaf yet…
Innkeeper (stupified): You young people really play hard…
Footnotes
- 水墨畫 | shuǐmòhuà | A traditional Chinese painting style using black ink in various concentrations, without other colors, akin to calligraphy.
- 青瓦白牆 | qīngwǎ báiqiáng | A characteristic feature of traditional Chinese architecture, especially in regions like Jiangnan, evoking a sense of simple elegance.
- 江南 | Jiāngnán | Literally “South of the River (Yangtze River)”; a region in China known for its prosperity, culture, and picturesque water towns.
- 荷花酥 | héhuā sū | A traditional Chinese dessert. It’s a flaky pastry shaped like a lotus flower, often with a sweet filling.
- 廖公子 | Liào gōngzǐ | Liao (廖 – surname); Gongzi (公子 – young master, son of an official or wealthy family). A polite term of address for a young man from a prominent family.
- 樹妖 | shù yāo | Shu (樹 – tree); Yao (妖 – yao). A yao that originates from or inhabits a tree.
- 藺公子 | Lìn gōngzǐ | Lin (藺 – surname); Gongzi (公子 – young master).
- 未過門的小娘 | wèi guò mén de xiǎo niáng | Lit. “little mother/young lady who has not yet passed through the gate (of marriage).” This term implies a woman who is betrothed or in a relationship akin to a concubine but not yet formally married or officially part of the household, often suggesting a less formal or even clandestine arrangement. “Xiaoniang” can mean young lady or, in some contexts, a young concubine or wife.
0 Comments