Little Alpaca – Chapter 121

Volume 3: Old Tales of Kunlun

——You Yan.

Was that tiny shadow You Yan’s father?

A shadow like that absolutely couldn’t be human-shaped; perhaps it was a Qinyuan¹. You Yan had said that Qinyuan were usually only the size of a mandarin duck, which seemed to be about the same size as that shadow.

However, You Yan said her father’s cultivation wasn’t low. Since his cultivation wasn’t low, why wouldn’t he appear in human form?

Even if, even if You Yan’s father had some peculiar habit, that was a bird. It shouldn’t be moving along stuck to the ground, right?

And why would it be a red shadow?

You Yan had said that Qinyuan were only the size of a mandarin duck, but she had also said that the feathers of the Qinyuan clan were all yellowish-brown; only she had been born with a dark red color.

When Yi Qiu thought of this, her heart couldn’t help but skip a beat.

That size, that color, that shadow that seemed to be moving along stuck to the ground… it looked like Little Red Flower!

But Little Red Flower shouldn’t be here. That little spider was always a homebody; it had never been anywhere more than a hundred meters away from that withered tree. How could it have possibly run all the way over here and even entered the room of You Yan’s father… This wasn’t right. You Yan had clearly said that Little Red Flower hated her father.

So what was the situation now?

After that shadow went inside, not a single sound was made. If You Yan’s father was really in there, how could he allow an outsider to enter so freely, yet remain completely silent?

For a moment, a bizarre thought couldn’t help but surface in Yi Qiu’s mind.

She suspected that there was no one in that room at all. And not just no one at this very moment, but that there had never been anyone there from the very beginning!

Yes, she had always suspected this, but she couldn’t find a shred of evidence. After all, the meals You Yan placed at the door each time were always eaten, more or less, and there were indeed occasional sounds from within that room.

But there was no saying those sounds were necessarily made by a person.

If there was no one inside at all, then what had You Yan been taking care of with all her heart and effort all these years?

Could it really be Little Red Flower?

But if that shadow just now really was Little Red Flower, then where on earth had You Yan’s father gone?

Was he alive and had abandoned You Yan, or had he long since… died, without a sound?

Could there be a possibility that Little Red Flower had known all along that You Yan’s father was gone, but it was afraid of You Yan being sad, so it had been pretending to be You Yan’s father all this time? Every day, while You Yan wasn’t looking, it would eat the food, then shrink back into the room, and find another time to quietly run back to its tree hollow.

Because of this, Little Red Flower would hate You Yan’s father so much, because it knew that You Yan had been abandoned by her father.

And You Yan, afraid that her father didn’t want to see her, never dared to push open that door. As long as someone was eating the meals she made every day, she was willing to believe her father had always remained by her side.

If that was really the case, then all of this… was really like a fucking ghost story!

How could something like this happen in this world?

The most crucial thing was, something like this was clearly preposterous, yet the more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

She had to figure this out for You Yan…

But what if she guessed wrong? What if it wasn’t Little Red Flower inside, but was indeed You Yan’s father?

Yi Qiu stood by the door in terror. She wanted to go over and see, but she didn’t dare to step forward.

She took deep breaths again and again. As her heartbeat continued to accelerate, she couldn’t stop letting out several loud sneezes.

Finally, she summoned her courage, shook the clothes draped over her body to the floor, used her hoof to scratch open the door, and tiptoed out through the crack.

There was no brazier outside. The cold wind instantly made her shiver, but she didn’t shrink back into the warm room, nor did she turn back to put on You Yan’s clothes. She just took a deep breath of the cold air and, with extremely light steps, approached the tightly shut door.

Actually, she should have put on those clothes. After all, protection from the cold was only one aspect. The most important thing was that the clothes were transformed from You Yan’s spiritual feathers and possessed some of You Yan’s spiritual power. If she really encountered any danger, it might just be able to save her one alpaca life².

But then she had another thought. If that red shadow was Little Red Flower, Little Red Flower probably wouldn’t hurt her.

If it wasn’t Little Red Flower inside, but You Yan’s father, then if she went in wearing clothes transformed from You Yan’s spiritual feathers, she would probably infuriate him. Even if she managed to save her own little life, she would cause You Yan to get a scolding because of it.

As Yi Qiu thought this, she had already braved the cold wind and, in a state of extreme tension, arrived before that tightly shut door.

She took another deep breath of the cold air, turned her body slightly to the side, and forcefully slammed into it.

That door, which to her had been tightly shut for several months, was easily rammed open by her in an instant.

She thought she would see Little Red Flower. Even if it wasn’t Little Red Flower, she should have been able to see a bird with a thorny butt, or a scruffy, bearded middle-aged man.

Or perhaps, it was neither of those, but some other kind of terrifying thing that was hard to describe.

For example, in many xuanhuan³ novels, there are things like “heart demons.” The idea of a major villain raising a heart demon at home as a child also seemed plausible. After all, the existence of this room was just so damn weird!

But in fact, when the little alpaca pushed open the door, she saw absolutely nothing.

The room was empty, but the furnishings inside were very clean. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like someone had been living here long-term.

What’s going on…

“Uncle… Uncle You, are you here?” the little alpaca asked softly, her heart in her throat. Seeing no response from within, she couldn’t help but take a few steps inside.

This room, which normally had neither its door nor its windows opened, and was never lit with a lamp at night, was extremely dim at all times.

To make it a bit brighter inside, Yi Qiu opened the door especially wide. She didn’t like the dark at all, and she was particularly, particularly afraid that as she walked, a fist-sized spider would suddenly appear silently at her feet.

She swore that under such a high state of mental tension, even if that spider was the Little Red Flower she was incredibly familiar with, she could still be scared into fainting on the spot.

Fortunately, none of what she worried about happened.

She circled the room once and even boldly called out Little Red Flower’s name a few times, but in the end, she saw nothing at all.

The little alpaca bit her lip, the doubt in her heart growing deeper and deeper.

Does You Yan’s father really exist?

If he really does exist, then since he clearly lives in a place where they’re practically looking up and down at each other⁴, why hasn’t he shown his face even once after so long?

As Yi Qiu thought about this with curiosity, she suddenly and involuntarily walked to the writing desk by the window.

A breeze blew into the room. Yi Qiu saw on the desk a thick stack of Xuan paper⁵ covered in writing, a corner of which was lifted by the wind.

She instantly summoned her courage and ran forward, placing her two front legs on the stool and resting her furry head on the desk.

Many ink treasures⁶ were held down by a paperweight⁷. She blew on them with her mouth and could faintly see some of the content. Some of the handwriting was cursive and messy, while some was elegant and graceful; it didn’t look like it came from the hand of one person.

The little alpaca pondered for a long time, then couldn’t resist lifting a hoof with some difficulty and, with the help of her chin, pushed the paperweight aside, causing all the ink treasures underneath to fall to the floor.

She thought that when someone came later, she would definitely be scolded to death, but she couldn’t be bothered with that right now.

She jumped back to the ground and, while sneezing, began to flip through the traditional calligraphy characters that were somewhat difficult for her to read.

She thought there would be something incredible written inside, but after flipping for a long time, she only saw some sappy poems and songs. Moreover, they were either about love or scenery. The two different styles of handwriting seemed to be communicating through ink and brush.

One party signed off as “You Shuo⁸,” and the other as “Ting Lan⁹.” It looked——like love letters from when the bird woman’s parents were young.

Eek! Even ancient birds needed to be cultured to fall in love. This new century’s old illiterate trembles in fear¹⁰.

But with such a huge stack of letter paper, could they all be “you are me and I am you”¹¹ love letters?

The more Yi Qiu thought about it, the more she felt something was off, so she began to flip frantically toward the back. As she flipped, she finally reached a page that was closer to the end.

In that instant, her mind went blank.

On that sheet of paper, there was no signature.

But in fact, many of the preceding pages no longer had signatures either. Perhaps after they got together, they no longer exchanged sappy love letters as they did before.

So the lack of a signature wasn’t strange. What truly astonished Yi Qiu was that on this sheet of paper, there were only four characters.

It was the same name, written in two different styles of handwriting.

——You Yan.

It was You Yan¹², not You Yan¹³.

Little Red Flower had said, and little You Yan had also once said, that her name was the yan from “loathing.”

But why was “You Yan” written on this desk, and why did it come from the handwriting of You Shuo and Ting Lan?

What on earth happened five hundred years ago, where did the person in this room go, and what was the deal with this name…

Was everything here You Yan’s real memory?

“System, System!”

【Here.】

“What’s the deal with this name?”

【This is a side storyline. Host, please explore it on your own.】

“Then, then can you tell me, this guy named You Shuo, who is You Yan’s father, where on earth did he go? Did he ever live here?”

After a moment of silence, the System finally responded.

【You Shuo abandoned You Yan when she was very young. You Yan grew up in solitude, which is what forged her later disposition.】

You Yan grew up in solitude…

Then what was the deal with the “father” in this room? And what was the deal with Little Red Flower?

Yi Qiu’s mind was thrown into chaos. A thousand loose ends¹⁴, and not a single one she could grasp.

She stood there blankly in a daze for a long time, until a very light set of footsteps came from behind her.

The little alpaca raised her head, only to see You Yan standing behind her, quietly gazing at the sheet of Xuan paper on the floor that she had pulled out.

“You——Yan——” the young woman recited the name, her gaze filled with unfamiliarity toward it.

But after a brief moment of unfamiliarity, a glint of tears welled up in her eyes.

She squatted down, reached out to pick it up, and stared at it quietly for a long time.

“You Yan, this…”

“Why did you come in?” You Yan said softly, raising her eyes to look at Yi Qiu.

Yi Qiu couldn’t help but tremble.

In that instant, You Yan’s gaze carried a hint of danger, just like the person who had always intimidated her in the past.

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