Little Alpaca – Chapter 200

by Little Panda

Volume 6: Bound by the Life Soul

That’s What You Get for Not Speaking Nicely!

Yi Qiu gently placed You Yan on the soft bedding. She rubbed the tiny head with her index finger and watched as You Yan turned and curled into a ball. Only then did she walk back to the table to eat her own portion of congee.

While eating, Yi Qiu would glance back from time to time. She saw You Yan remained curled up in the center of the bedding, nestled in the small depression she had made, her eyes shut tight and unmoving. Her newly grown feathers were fluffy and soft, making her look like a motionless plush doll—small and adorable.

As Yi Qiu watched, she couldn’t help but wonder if You Yan was feeling shy.

In the past, whenever You Yan was embarrassed, she also wouldn’t want to talk and would just lie in one spot without moving, using a pout to cover up her awkwardness.

Could a little red bird blush? If so, her little head must be burning hot right now.

It was just like when an alpaca was filled with shame; its face and ears would get hot, but its thick fleece made it impossible for anyone to tell.

Yi Qiu had been unconscious for a full five days, after all, relying on her own spiritual power to sustain herself. Her stomach had shrunk, and she couldn’t eat much at once. So, after a few bites to fill her belly, she cleared the dishes from the table, ready to return them.

Just as she stood up and walked to the door, You Yan’s voice floated over softly.

“You’re leaving?”

Her tone was small, trying hard to sound indifferent, but it couldn’t completely hide the displeasure within.

Yi Qiu suppressed a laugh. She turned to look at You Yan, who had opened her little eyes to watch her from the bed. Tilting her head slightly, Yi Qiu said, “I’m not leaving. I’m just taking the things back.”

Hearing this, You Yan paused awkwardly, then closed her eyes and let out an “en.”

Yi Qiu’s lips curved up. “I’ll be right back. Be good, okay?”

You Yan once again averted her gaze, putting on an extremely awkward expression of non-anticipation.

No matter how proud this little bird was, there was no way Yi Qiu would actually abandon her.

No matter what, You Yan had been injured this badly for her sake. It was only natural that she would take meticulous care of her.

But this Bird Woman, You Yan, was incredibly proud. During the day, she would get upset if she didn’t see Yi Qiu for even a moment, yet when night fell, she would insist on shooing Yi Qiu away.

“Why? You’re so small, you don’t take up any space. This bed is big enough for both of us.”

“You… I’m afraid you’ll move around in your dreams and crush me.”

“I’m a still sleeper, you’ve always known that. I’ll hold you in my arms, I definitely won’t crush you,” Yi Qiu argued earnestly. “If you’re still worried, you can sleep by my pillow. I’m not going to crush you to death with my head, am I?”

You Yan fell silent.

Yi Qiu had reason to suspect that You Yan wasn’t afraid of being crushed, but simply didn’t want to sleep beside her in this state.

It made sense. Anyone, after being held and cuddled like a little chick by a weak little demon they used to protect day and night, would find it incredibly humiliating.

But Yi Qiu loved seeing You Yan humiliated.

Every time the little bird revealed an embarrassed expression, she couldn’t resist the urge to bully her. Although this behavior was very unkind, she truly couldn’t help herself.

This sort of vengeful behavior was practically carved into her bones and blood, bringing her spiritual satisfaction and joy every second of every minute.

If she weren’t afraid that You Yan would hold a grudge, she would have loved to pinch the little bird’s tiny wings and tease her while laughing, “Look how the tables have turned!”

In the end, You Yan didn’t manage to drive Yi Qiu away. With what little strength she had left, she was held in Yi Qiu’s arms, kneaded, pinched, and petted until she was so mortified that she finally resigned herself to sleep.

The days that followed seemed to return to the peacefulness of the past.

Once she no longer needed to be cared for, Yi Qiu carried You Yan back to the Guest House they had stayed in the longest.

Everyone was now recuperating at the Xianlu Sect. Xun Chi was the most lightly injured; his internal injuries were mostly from the Heavenly Realm’s punishments. Jian Li and Yue Zhuo were next, and they had regained their human forms within a few days.

As the most durable tank in the entire novel, Luo Mingyuan naturally had a cheat-like self-healing ability. Despite being so severely injured, he regained his human form only two days later than the little black dog.

As for Jiang Yuyao, who had been the largest target that night and had been struck the most miserably, she remained buried weakly in the soil. During this time, her father, Sect Master Jiang, came to water her every day, wishing he could apply some fertilizer for her. After more than half a month, she was finally pulled out of the dirt like a radish and, borrowing a bit of spiritual power from Luo Mingyuan, transformed back into her human form.

Although each of the injured had a pale complexion, they at least had the strength to maintain their human forms, so they were likely out of danger. But You Yan was different. She was still a little bird, spending her days eating and sleeping, her spirits never quite lifting.

“How long will it take for you to change back?” Yi Qiu whispered, poking the bedridden You Yan with a finger.

“Tired of serving me already?” You Yan asked back, her eyes closed.

“I am. I’m dead tired,” Yi Qiu said, poking the tiny bird head. This prompted You Yan to flutter her wings and peck threateningly at the air in protest.

These days, You Yan had been so listless, which made Yi Qiu both worried and heartbroken—though these feelings didn’t stop her from taking the opportunity to bully the little bird.

After all, this version of You Yan only showed a bit of vitality when she was angry. And when You Yan got angry, she would never hurt her in the slightest.

She actually quite liked this kind of life. Waking up every day to see the little Qinyuan Bird curled up quietly by her pillow would warm her heart. It felt as if, after experiencing a thousand sails, she had finally arrived at a distant shore, free from any further dangers. It was an incredibly reassuring feeling.

Yi Qiu liked taking care of You Yan. In the past, it was always You Yan who took care of her, and she wanted to prove that she could do it too.

She had never been a clumsy person. She could also wait on You Yan hand and foot, making her comfortable. Every time she fed You Yan, every time she washed her, she would do it herself, absolutely refusing to miss any of You Yan’s awkward moments.

These days not only made her feel especially useful, but they also made her feel that You Yan couldn’t possibly leave her now.

Although, she was already quite confident that You Yan could never leave her anyway.

Raising a bird wasn’t as lively as raising a cat or a dog, especially a bird as awkward, proud, and aloof as You Yan. This left Yi Qiu with a lot of free time every day, and she decided to do something with it.

You Yan would be unhappy if she left, and it wasn’t convenient to bring this bird with a thorny butt into the city. So, Yi Qiu had to trouble a disciple from the Xianlu Sect to make a trip down the mountain for her, bringing back some materials for needlework.¹

Yi Qiu had always remembered that she owed You Yan a love token.

You Yan had given her a Scented Pouch, so she would give You Yan a Round Fan.² It was embroidery either way, and a first attempt for both of them, so neither could accuse the other of being half-assed.

And so, whenever Yi Qiu had free time, she would sit by the bed or at the table, her head bowed in concentration as she embroidered.

Every time You Yan curiously came closer to look, she would be shooed away or tossed back onto the bed with a spell. The Demon Lord, who had never suffered such an indignity, didn’t give her little alpaca demon a pleasant look for several days straight.

Not that Yi Qiu particularly needed a bird to give her a pleasant look. A nice expression wouldn’t look that great on a tiny bird’s head anyway.

This was the love token she was making for You Yan. Although circumstances didn’t allow her to hide it from You Yan and embroider in secret, she could at least maintain a little mystery, right?

Under You Yan’s repeated curious interruptions, the gift took Yi Qiu a total of four days from start to finish.

On the afternoon of the fourth day, with the help of a junior sister from Huamo Pavilion, Yi Qiu finally turned her embroidery into a small Round Fan. She happily skipped back to her room and bounced in front of You Yan, who was standing on the windowsill with her eyes closed, basking in the sun. “Ha!” she shouted.

You Yan squinted open half an eye, her gaze full of resentment yet trying hard to appear indifferent. She looked at Yi Qiu, who had neglected her for a full four days and was now blocking her sunlight. A single glance was enough to spell out the word “displeased.”

But in the next second, Yi Qiu leaned forward slightly and brandished a Round Fan from behind her back with one hand, covering her own smiling face.

“What do you think? It’s for you!”

The Qinyuan Bird couldn’t help but stretch her neck forward. A glimmer of light flashed in her sullen eyes, but she quickly concealed it.

Yi Qiu was overjoyed, but she received no response for a long time.

After a brief silence, she couldn’t help but frown. She tilted the fan that was blocking her view, looked at the little red bird on the windowsill, which had tilted its head but maintained an indifferent expression, and pouted. “Why aren’t you saying anything? This is a gift I spent four days embroidering for you!”

You Yan stared at the Round Fan for a long while, then suddenly blinked her bean-sized eyes and asked, “Are those sparrows?”

“They’re Paired-wing Birds!”

“The shape of this tree is very strange.”

“It’s Intertwined Branches! Those are Intertwined Branches! It’s two trees tangled together, what’s so strange about it!” Yi Qiu nearly shoved the fan in her hand into You Yan’s face. She took a deep breath to calm herself, then said with a frown, “『In heaven, we wish to be Paired-wing Birds; on earth, we wish to be Intertwined Branches.』³ Have you never heard of that?”

She admitted to being a very conventional person, so after thinking it over, she had chosen something conventional.

Some things might be clichés, but they had good symbolism!

Yi Qiu still remembered how Jiang Yuyao had embroidered a pair of Mandarin Ducks⁴ last Qixi Festival. She and that Little Pig Trotter probably got together that very night.

Since this was a gift for You Yan, she couldn’t just copy Jiang Yuyao. Besides Mandarin Ducks, the only things she could think of were Paired-wing Birds and Intertwined Branches.

Heaven knows how hard this stuff was to embroider. There were trees and birds, and to make the pattern look a little better, she had even specifically asked a junior sister from Huamo Pavilion to help draw a design, which she had then painstakingly followed, stitch by stitch.

She thought her embroidery was actually quite good. Although it deviated significantly from the original drawing by the junior sister from Huamo Pavilion, it was still a thousand times better than You Yan’s Scented Pouch. What right did You Yan have to look down on it?

After her loud correction, Yi Qiu was still fuming. She slammed the window shut, knocking You Yan, who had been standing on the sill, back into the room.

“I’m an invalid!” You Yan’s voice came from the other side of the window.

But Yi Qiu just stomped in through the door with steps that recognized no relatives.⁵ She put her hands on her hips and glared at the little bird, which had fallen onto the tea table by the bed in a daze.

“I embroidered this for four days!” Yi Qiu gritted her teeth, gripping the fan’s handle tightly. “Are you looking down on it?”

Seeing this, the little red bird stood up and shook her feathers. “I didn’t say it was ugly.”

“So you were thinking it?”

“…”

“You’re not denying it, so you think it’s ugly!”

“Actually, it is a tiny bit better than mine.”

Yi Qiu took a deep breath, then suddenly broke into a smile and walked slowly toward You Yan.

The little red bird couldn’t help but shrink back toward the window.

Footnotes

Needlework (女红, nǚ hóng) was traditionally considered one of the essential skills for women in ancient China, encompassing embroidery, sewing, and other textile arts.
A Round Fan (团扇, tuánshàn), also known as a moon fan, is a traditional Chinese fan, often made of silk and decorated with painting or embroidery. It is a common symbol of union and happiness.
This is a famous line from the classical Chinese poem ‘Song of Everlasting Regret’ by Bai Juyi. It is a powerful declaration of eternal, inseparable love. Paired-wing birds (比翼鸟, bǐyìniǎo) are mythical birds that must fly together, each having only one wing. Intertwined branches (连理枝, liánlǐzhī) are branches from different trees that have grown together. Both are potent symbols of lovers.
Mandarin Ducks (鸳鸯, yuānyāng) are a common symbol of love, fidelity, and marital bliss in East Asian culture, as they are believed to mate for life.
The idiom ‘steps that recognize no relatives’ (六亲不认的步伐, liùqīnbùrèn de bùfá) describes walking with a furious or arrogant gait, as if one is so angry they would not even acknowledge their own family.

Volume 6: Bound by the Life Soul

Footnotes

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