Volume 3: Old Tales of Kunlun
A New Clue.
Yi Qiu tiptoed back over to You Yan and looked her over. Seeing that You Yan hadn’t even opened her eyes to acknowledge her, she let out a theatrical, coquettish “Aiyo!” and plopped down right beside her, deliberately bumping You Yan’s arm with her elbow.
“You’re impossible, you know that? When I’m right next to you, you ignore me. When I run off to play somewhere else, you just have to stare at me!” Yi Qiu mumbled, leaning back against the mountain rock. “What’s been up with you these last two days, anyway? Are you unhappy?”
“No,” You Yan said, cracking open one eye to glance at Yi Qiu before closing it again. “I’m just bored, that’s all,” she added faintly.
“Then what counts as interesting, huh?” Yi Qiu asked. Her fingers found the long strands of You Yan’s hair that fell over her shoulder, and she began to gently twist and coil them, one strand after another.
You Yan opened her eyes and stared thoughtfully at the sky for a while. For some reason, the corners of her eyes suddenly crinkled. “Perhaps you could sing a song for me,” she said.
“No way.” Yi Qiu shook her head with her eyes closed. “I’m the one who sings every time. You’ve never sung for me.”
“I’m a terrible singer,” You Yan replied softly.
The PUA1 Master bird-woman was suddenly showing self-awareness. It was so unbelievable that Yi Qiu felt a bit dazed for a moment.
She thought about it, her eyes widening. She scooted her butt a little closer to You Yan and asked tentatively, “But every time I sing, you say I’m terrible!”
You Yan was silent for a moment, then chuckled. “It’s passable, I guess.”
Yi Qiu’s mood instantly brightened. She nudged You Yan’s arm with her elbow again, deciding to gain an inch and want a foot2. “Hey, when are you going to learn to speak properly? Is it really that embarrassing to say what’s on your mind? Sometimes I really don’t get you people who can’t just be direct and have to make others rack their brains guessing. Can’t communication between people be a little more simple and brutish?”
The moment Yi Qiu’s voice fell, she got a very real taste of what “brutish” meant—the bird-woman had grabbed her by the braid again.
“You mean this kind of communication?” You Yan asked, a half-smile on her face.
“Let go, let go, let go, let go!” Pulled closer to You Yan against her will, Yi Qiu grabbed You Yan’s wrist with both hands while frowning and trying to reason with her. “Use your words, not your hands! Don’t pull my hair! If you pull mine, I’ll pull yours, and then things will get ugly for both of us, right?!”
Hearing this, You Yan released the thick braid. She gently poked Yi Qiu’s temple a couple of times, earning a muffled groan and a frown, and chuckled. “It was already ugly.”
“I’m at least considered cute among alpacas!” Yi Qiu retorted, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.
Never mind being cute among alpacas; even compared to most humans, this face was pretty darn good.
Back in the twenty-first century when she was a corporate livestock, if she’d had a face like this, there’s no way she would have reached twenty-eight without ever being pursued once.
As Yi Qiu’s thoughts drifted, she realized You Yan had gone silent again. She pouted and fell into a bout of wild speculation.
For the past few days, that little pig trotter had been trying to press Yue Zhuo for the whereabouts of Yi Bird. But that little hot dog Yue Zhuo was a total blank on everything.
It was obvious Yue Zhuo had been in contact with Yi Bird before. But after Jian Li appeared, Yi Bird wasn’t even worth a fart in Yue Zhuo’s mind, so why would he bother keeping in touch?
The clue they had been doggedly chasing had just snapped right here. After all their questions, the only thing they could find out was that bit of old history from Jian Li’s memory, which was hardly a secret—on the day Snake Mountain was burned, the Wood God Gou Mang, who was responsible for guarding the Fusang tree, had rescued Yi Bird and brought her back to the Jade Sea.
This act could be described as—first raising a tiger to invite future disaster3, then releasing the tiger back to the mountain4.
As for why Yi Bird was so dead set on killing the Golden Crow and Fusang, Yi Qiu’s guess was—love turning to hate, jealousy driving her to madness.
To prove her theory was reasonable, she rattled on and on with a whole bunch of stories about “she loves her, she loves him, he loves her, and she loves him too.” She went on about love for so long that she completely fried everyone’s brains, forcing them to sit around the campfire and seriously sort through their thoughts for ages.
“I just feel like something’s not right.” At the time, Luo Mingyuan had rubbed his temples for a long time before finally forcing out a sentence. “You said the Wood God cares most about the Golden Crow and Fusang, and that Yi Bird only acted during their tribulation so she wouldn’t have to just watch the Wood God from afar… but I feel like that doesn’t quite add up. Even if the Golden Crow and Fusang both died, the Wood God would never get together with Yi Bird, who harmed them, right? Besides, the Golden Crow is the son of the Heavenly Emperor. By doing this, isn’t Yi Bird afraid of incurring the wrath of the Heavenly Realm at all?”
“That’s simple. Yi Bird never made a move before because she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to explain it away later. So she waited until You Yan acted, and then she started playing along with the plan,” Yi Qiu had said seriously. “When the dust had settled on everything, she could play innocent and frame someone else. You Yan is a demon. Never mind that she never bothers explaining herself to people—even if she did, those idiot gods wouldn’t believe her!”
“But even if no one suspected her, would the Wood God get together with her? There’s no necessary connection there…” Luo Mingyuan pondered for a few seconds before asking seriously, “If after doing all that, the Wood God is still the Wood God, and Yi Bird is still Yi Bird, and the distance between them is still the same as before, then what exactly was the point of Yi Bird going through all that trouble?”
At the time, Yi Qiu’s first instinct had been to curse this little pig trotter for being so argumentative, frustrated that she couldn’t reveal Chao Yun’s identity to back up her point. But after the discussion went nowhere, she thought it over carefully and suddenly felt that Luo Mingyuan’s words actually made some sense.
If Gou Mang liked Yi Bird, she wouldn’t have needed to do any of this. If Gou Mang didn’t like Yi Bird, then what was the point of her doing all this?
In the original novel, Yi Bird was in love with the Golden Crow. Because of this love, she didn’t want the Golden Crow and Fusang to be together, which is why she resorted to any means necessary to get rid of Fusang. Generally speaking, the motivation for such extreme behavior isn’t usually about “gaining” something, but rather a twisted mentality of “if I can’t have you, no one can.”
To be fair, not being able to stand seeing one’s beloved happy with a rival is a fairly common mindset for a vicious female supporting character.
But the situation is different now, isn’t it? No matter how you looked at it, the one Yi Bird liked was Gou Mang. The Golden Crow and Fusang were in love with each other; neither of them was competing with Yi Bird for Gou Mang, so why did she have to be so twisted about it?
Gou Mang is still single! If you want to pursue him, why not just pursue him properly? Why insist on playing out that vicious and complicated “eliminate the love rival” routine?
Sheesh, I just don’t get these weird birds.
Are all birds this weird?
As Yi Qiu thought this, she subconsciously glanced at You Yan, and in a single look, her conviction was solidified.
Yes, that’s right, birds are indeed all very weird—especially the kind with thorns on their butts and poison in their mouths.
Seeing the look in Yi Qiu’s eyes grow stranger and stranger, You Yan couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. “What are you thinking about now?” she asked languidly.
Yi Qiu snapped back to reality and shook her head, answering perfunctorily, “What could I be thinking about? The clue is gone, of course.”
“The clue is gone…” You Yan repeated Yi Qiu’s words softly. Then, the corners of her lips lifted into a slight smile as she asked nonchalantly, “Where is it gone?”
“Where else could it be gone? We wanted to ask Yue Zhuo about Yi Bird, but he knows nothing. We all discussed it together, and the conclusion just left everyone more confused.” As Yi Qiu thought this, she couldn’t help but let out a long sigh. “What on earth does Yi Bird want? I thought I understood her motives, but now I don’t get it anymore…”
She looked up at You Yan and asked in a small voice, not holding out much hope, “You Yan, do you have a plan? Where are we going to look for Yi Bird next?”
“Can’t we just stand by a stump waiting for a rabbit5?” You Yan said faintly. “The person she wants to kill is right under my nose. You think I can’t wait her out?”
“But that’s so passive. I feel like we’re constantly being led by the nose6 by Yi Bird,” Yi Qiu said with a frown. “Isn’t there some way to take the initiative?”
Ever since leaving Xianlu Sect two months ago, they had been constantly reacting to events. They had even run into huge, unexpected trouble, and even the bird-woman who was supposed to be scheming against everyone else had been seriously injured because of it. It left her on edge, feeling every day like just staying alive was a struggle.
This didn’t fit the plot progression of hugging the villain’s thigh7 after transmigrating into a book at all.
If only they could get the initiative back. You Yan was clearly such a brilliant arch-villain; she shouldn’t be getting led by the nose by some vicious third female lead who didn’t even seem that smart in the original novel.
It just didn’t seem reasonable, no matter how she thought about it.
Sure enough, You Yan was silent for a moment, then suddenly said faintly, “It’s not tiring to stand by a stump waiting for a rabbit. But if you want to be proactive, that’s fine too. After all, the clue isn’t truly gone.”
“Eh?” Yi Qiu’s spirits lifted instantly, but in the next second, she couldn’t help but pout in dissatisfaction. “I knew it! You were hiding something from me!”
With a huff, she turned her head away, putting on an “I’m mad again” expression as she silently waited for You Yan to continue. What clue isn’t gone? I really can’t think of anything.
But she waited, and waited, and waited, and You Yan didn’t say another word.
“Why’d you stop talking?” Yi Qiu couldn’t hold back any longer and whipped her head back around to glare at You Yan.
At that moment, she saw You Yan’s eyes filled with laughter, the corners of her mouth curved into a beautiful arc, watching her quietly with crinkled eyes.
“You didn’t ask me—” You Yan said, tilting her head with an innocent look. She suddenly imitated Yi Qiu’s girlish voice and inquisitive tone, continuing the sentence, “You Yan, what clue isn’t truly gone yet?”
The corners of Yi Qiu’s eyes and mouth couldn’t help but twitch in unison.
Right. She’d forgotten again. This bird-woman needed a straight man8 to play off of.
She took a deep breath, forced a helpless smile onto her face, and tilted her head theatrically. “You Yan, what clue isn’t truly gone yet?”
You Yan let out a satisfied “Mm,” and smiled. “To get here from Mo River, even without flying, just riding a horse and resting three times a day, three days is more than enough.”
“Ah!” Yi Qiu froze for a second, then quickly understood. “Today is the fourth day! No matter how slow they were, they should have arrived by now!”
Even though Chao Yun had sealed her divine power, she wouldn’t be that slow at getting things done. If she hadn’t arrived, and it wasn’t because she didn’t want to, then she must have been delayed by something!
The author has something to say:
Who was it yesterday that mentioned the world-famous painting, 《Chao Yun on the Road》? This time, she’s really not on the road.
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