Little Alpaca – Chapter 34

Volume 1: Little Alpaca

This Isn’t Right!

Ah, people. You really can’t give them a little sunlight and expect them to become brilliant¹; to get an inch and advance a foot² will never lead to a good end.

But then again, people often understand every principle, yet still can’t manage to live this life well.

The alpaca was also like this.

Yi Qiu was very clear that even if she wasn’t smart, she wasn’t stupid either. She couldn’t possibly be unaware of how capricious the great villain was.

But for some reason, every time You Yan was the slightest bit nice to her, she couldn’t help but gain an advantage and still sell cuteness³, ending up with not even half a bit of good to show for it.

To this, she attributed everything to the overwhelming lethality of You Yan’s “sugar-coated cannonballs,” which easily lowered one’s intelligence.

That’s right, it must be like that.

Everyone says people in love are brainless, but that’s not really true. It’s a normal state for a person’s intelligence to drop when faced with emotions, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be about romantic love. As long as you care about the other person and can feel that they care about you in return, you’ll easily become willful and mischievous, making yourself seem like a child who never grows up.

Yi Qiu felt that her current self was just a small pet, unable to lift things with its hands or carry things on its shoulders. It was perfectly normal to rely on her master and to become arrogant from being doted on⁴ in front of her master.

If she had a different master, by acting coquettishly and being cute, who knows how good her little days could be.

But she had no choice. Her master was a great villain with a belly full of bad water⁵, who was fierce to her and laughed at her, and had told her more than once: “No acting coquettishly.”

Who wants to act coquettishly?

She was already a corporate livestock rushing towards three⁶. If she hadn’t inexplicably arrived here, if she hadn’t turned into this form, if it weren’t for the sake of survival, who would want to act coquettishly towards a fierce woman!

Yi Qiu looked sorrowfully at the seven hundred and fifty favorability points in the attribute bar, and the more she looked, the more sorrowful she felt—can’t this thing just increase a little faster?

This villain is too hard to win over!

After her four hooves were washed, You Yan carried the basin of dirty water and left the room. The little alpaca, with patches of wet and dry fur on her body, stared with longing eyes at the open door and let out a couple of muffled hums.

The journey from Moshui City to the Xianlu Sect had thoroughly exhausted Yi Qiu. At this moment, her body was damp and her stomach was empty, so she should have been unable to sleep, yet sleepiness surged over her, and the little alpaca’s heavy eyes closed.

Although it was still a scorching summer in the mortal world, the Xianlu Sect was located at the peak of a high mountain, so the temperature was much lower than at its base.

The night wind blew past from outside, carrying a hint of chilliness, causing the still-damp-furred Yi Qiu to shiver uncontrollably.

Yi Qiu couldn’t help but open one eye and began to consider whether she should go and close the door.

But You Yan hadn’t closed the door when she left. If I were to close it now, what would happen if You Yan got angry?

Forget it, let the wind blow if it wants. It’s not that cold, anyway. As a southerner who has perennially suffered the “magic damage”⁷ of cold winters, what great storms and waves has she not experienced?

I’d better leave the door open for You Yan…

Thinking this, Yi Qiu huddled into a ball of fur and closed her eyes once more.

The wind continued to blow, and the little alpaca’s body trembled lightly and unconsciously along with it.

In a daze, it seemed as if someone walked into the room and gently closed the door behind them.

The person’s footsteps were very light, as if they were afraid of waking the soundly sleeping little alpaca.

But a slight sound still registered by her ear.

Yi Qiu forced her eyes open into a narrow slit. Through her blurry vision, she saw a white figure fold a quilt into several layers, gently spread it on the floor, and then walk towards her.

“Hmm?” The little alpaca hummed softly a couple of times through her nose. She saw the white figure walk to her side, bend down, pick her up from the floor, and then gently place her on the quilt that had been laid out.

So soft and warm, so much more comfortable than the cold, hard floor.

The little alpaca, her consciousness hazy, whimpered twice. It seemed she wanted to say something, but she was too sleepy to form any clear words.

You Yan was silent for a moment, then placed her hand lightly on Yi Qiu. A gentle spiritual light emanated from her fingertips, slowly sweeping inch by inch over the little alpaca’s damp fur, taking away the wet chill from her body.

The feeling was very warm, like basking by a stove in the winter.

Finally, the candle in the room was blown out.

The exhausted little thing finally drifted peacefully into dreamland.

The next morning, Yi Qiu was woken by hunger.

She stood up, yawning, and looked around with sleepy, squinted eyes.

You Yan was not in the room.

The little alpaca walked out of the guest room with bewildered steps. She looked all around, wandering about for a bit, but still couldn’t see You Yan anywhere.

Her stomach rumbled.

She was truly hungry, having been hungry since last night, but the great villain who was supposed to feed her was nowhere to be seen this early in the morning.

Yi Qiu stood in place and thought for a moment, figuring You Yan had probably gone to find Luo Mingyuan.

It must be. That’s how it was written in the novel. Ever since “Bai Jianyou” came to the Xianlu Sect, she would go to every corner of the Changqing Pavilion to find Luo Mingyuan and grind favorability points whenever she had a free moment.

“You, you ‘Saintly Product of the Lotus⁸,’ running off to that little pig trotter the moment you open your eyes, without any regard for whether I live or die…”

“At the very least, you could have left me something to eat before you left!”

Yi Qiu stomped her front hoof huffily. She had originally intended to find something to eat herself, but unexpectedly, the more she thought about it on the way, the angrier she became. In the end, she couldn’t stop herself from heading in the direction of the Changqing Pavilion.

When they arrived last night, Jiang Yuyao had pointed out the general locations of the three pavilions to You Yan. Now, Yi Qiu followed a small path paved with crushed stone and, surprisingly, didn’t get lost, soon arriving at the Changqing Pavilion.

The novel had written that at this time of day, the ordinary disciples of the Changqing Pavilion would all be at their morning practice. Only Luo Mingyuan was an exception.

Many years ago, a young Luo Mingyuan had injured his heart meridian because the demonic energy in his body clashed with the cultivation techniques he practiced. Jiang Xuan had then said to him in front of all the disciples, “If you can’t endure it, you don’t have to practice.”

The Sect Leader Shizun⁹ had only said it casually. It couldn’t be called heartache, nor could it be considered disgust. He simply believed there was no need for this child to continue cultivating. He would shelter him for his entire life and protect him for his entire life, so naturally, there was no need for him to torment himself with such effort.

But it was precisely this sentence that led all his martial brothers to regard Luo Mingyuan as a good-for-nothing who had been officially stamped as such by their master. Thereafter, every time they encountered him during practice, they would mock him a little.

As time went on, the young child no longer had the courage to go and bring humiliation upon himself.

For this reason, at this time when everyone else was practicing, Luo Mingyuan should be doing menial chores.

Perhaps in the woodshed, perhaps in the forest, perhaps in any place where there was manual labor to be done.

You Yan must have gone to find him!

A Grass Mud Horse who was determined to change the main plot could not let the easily swayed little pig trotter and the great villain be alone together for too long.

Thinking this, Yi Qiu hurriedly rushed into the Changqing Pavilion and began to wander around, looking in all directions.

The kitchen, the woodshed, the warehouse—the little alpaca hopped about on an empty stomach, searching one place after another. Finally, on the back mountain, she found that unlucky child chopping firewood.

Surprisingly, she only found the unlucky child and couldn’t see You Yan.

The little alpaca walked forward with a bewildered expression, finally stopping beside Luo Mingyuan. She tilted her head, her small eyes filled with great confusion.

Luo Mingyuan didn’t dare to be disrespectful in the slightest. He immediately stopped his work and gazed back with an equally puzzled expression at the little alpaca before him, who could spit in his face at any moment.

For a moment, in the small, mist-filled grove, one tall and one short, one person and one pet, stared at each other—big eyes meeting small eyes—for a good ten seconds or more.

Finally, Luo Mingyuan was the first to speak. “How did you get here?”

Yi Qiu: “Have you seen You… You?”

“Youyou…” Luo Mingyuan took half a second to process the name, then it dawned on him. “Oh, oh… you mean Miss Bai. I haven’t seen her. She probably wouldn’t come here, either.”

Strange. If You Yan didn’t come here, where did she go?

“Eh?!” Luo Mingyuan suddenly exclaimed.

Yi Qiu was startled and looked with astonishment at the unlucky child before her, who seemed even more astonished than she was. “What are you shouting about!”

“You can actually talk!” Luo Mingyuan’s face was a picture of shock.

Yi Qiu was momentarily speechless, her mouth moving slightly.

Luo Mingyuan subconsciously took two steps back.

Yi Qiu rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to spit on you!”

Luo Mingyuan: “Oh…”

Yi Qiu pondered for a moment, then craned her neck to look around. Seeing no one nearby, she made a decision.

Since You Yan hasn’t come to brainwash this little pig trotter yet, I might as well strike first. Anyway, this kid is easy to fool, so what’s the difference who does the fooling?

First, I’ll try to get close to him by using our shared identity as the same kind.

Yi Qiu: “I’m not afraid to tell you, I’m a yao.”

Luo Mingyuan: “Ah?”

Yi Qiu: “I grew up with my master since I was little. I don’t hurt people!”

Luo Mingyuan: “Oh…”

Yi Qiu: “My master treats me very well. She never looks down on me for being a yaojing¹⁰.”

Luo Mingyuan: “Ah…”

Yi Qiu: “But she’s afraid that if others discover I’m a yao, they’ll try to harm me, so she never allows me to speak in front of anyone.”

Luo Mingyuan: “Oh!”

Yi Qiu couldn’t help but roll her eyes and take a deep breath. She looked up and asked, “Can you only say ‘ah’ and ‘oh’?”

Luo Mingyuan: “…”

The little pig trotter demonstrated with his actions that he could also be silent.

Yi Qiu was speechless for a moment. She spun around a couple of times on the spot before continuing, “I can tell that you and I are the same kind. You won’t tell anyone that I’m a yao, will you?”

“You…”

“It’s so strange. You’re a yao, what are you doing at the Xianlu Sect?”

“I’m a half-demon…” the young man said stubbornly. “I… I’m half human!”

“That’s still a yao!” Yi Qiu said, walking forward and kicking a pile of firewood with her hoof. “You can’t even cultivate the sect’s techniques. Are you just here doing free labor for them?”

“What do you understand?” Luo Mingyuan said, plopping down on the woodpile. He argued in a low voice, “Master and the Shishubo¹¹ reinforce my seal once a year just to hide my demonic aura. Even so, a weak yaojing like you can still see through it. If I really left this place, I’d be killed by someone sooner or later…”

“Don’t you have any ability to protect yourself?” Yi Qiu said. “On my way here, I overheard someone talking about you, saying you can’t even hold a sword steady. Is that true?”

“The person who said that isn’t even as strong as I am…” Luo Mingyuan unconsciously tightened his grip on the axe in his hand.

“Then hit him,” Yi Qiu said irritably. “You just let people belittle you like that?”

“Or what?” Luo Mingyuan said, pulling his sleeve up slightly to reveal a series of old scars. He fell silent for a moment before saying indifferently, “My cultivation level is low. I can’t last more than a few moves against them. As long as they want me to be unable to hold it steady, then I definitely won’t be able to.”

Yi Qiu: “…”

Luo Mingyuan: “You think I have a good temper? It’s useless… The more you say, the more mistakes you make. You’d just be asking for a beating.”

Although I knew from reading the novel that this was basically the xianxia¹² version of school bullying, at the time I had lamented his misfortune and been angry at his lack of resistance¹³.

Such an awesome reincarnation of a Golden Crow, bullied for so many years by a bunch of mortal underlings. Is that even appropriate?

But at this moment, she was faintly realizing that she was just looking at things from a god’s perspective¹⁴. To put it bluntly, it was a case of standing while talking, the back doesn’t hurt¹⁵.

Many times, it’s not that the persecuted don’t fight back, but that they truly cannot win…

Some people, if they want you to kneel and you refuse, will just break your legs. No matter how tough your bones are, they can’t withstand a malicious beating.

Especially in this kind of world where the strong are revered, there is no reasoning to be had beyond the fist.

Yi Qiu was silent for a moment, then couldn’t help but ask, “You… you have a power inside your body. Why don’t you use it?”

Hearing this, Luo Mingyuan couldn’t help but frown. “How do you know that?”

Yi Qiu froze.

How does she know? Of course she knows! Not only does she know that, she knows a whole lot more!

Although Luo Mingyuan was born of a yaojing, the power blocking his meridians wasn’t true demonic energy, but the demigod power of a Golden Crow.

The Golden Crow is a sun god bird, and its power is too formidable to be compatible with any cultivation method, which is what led to his current inability to practice the sect’s techniques.

But those self-righteous mediocrities of the immortal sect didn’t understand this, so they just treated him as a good-for-nothing, causing a young child to gradually lose himself under so many strange looks.

But this was all stuff she had read in the novel, and no one would believe her if she tried to explain the reasons.

So she could only start spouting nonsense with a straight face. “I sensed it… My master took me as a spirit pet, so of course it’s because there’s something different about me!”

Upon hearing this, Luo Mingyuan couldn’t help but fall into a brief silence.

After the silence, he said in a low voice, “I can’t use it…”

Yi Qiu opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated for a moment and ultimately couldn’t say anything.

“That power… if I use it even once, I’ll no longer be considered a person in the eyes of others.”

Luo Mingyuan said, a trace of disappointment flashing in his eyes, “I want to be a human, not a yao.”

For some reason, even though Yi Qiu knew the story’s ending, understood the plot’s direction, and knew that this man’s words were nothing but lies, a trace of sympathy still welled up in her heart.

The next second, comforting words almost tumbled out of her mouth.

“Actually… it’s not so absolute. Whether you’re human or yao, good and evil lie in a single thought. As long as you can hold fast to your original heart and devote yourself to good, everything will be fine!”

Yi Qiu lectured him, hating the iron for not becoming steel¹⁶, “Since you’re destined to be unable to practice the immortal sect’s techniques, why not cultivate what you can cultivate? Evil people can use orthodox techniques to do evil, so why can’t a yaojing use demonic power to do good?”

As her words fell, she saw Luo Mingyuan’s gaze grow increasingly complex. She snapped back to her senses and screamed inwardly that this was not good.

Wait, wait!

This isn’t right!

Those words I just blurted out… aren’t they the villain’s brainwashing package¹⁷ for the protagonist?

How did I end up stealing You Yan’s lines?

She remembered it well. In the novel, the first time this little pig trotter heard someone say such things to him, he was so moved his eyes lit up, and then he started to get a big head.

Ah, this… wasn’t I here to stop You Yan from brainwashing this guy?

Is it too late to take back what I just said?

Just as Yi Qiu was panicking, a trace of resistance flashed in Luo Mingyuan’s eyes. Then, he shook his head and said in a low voice, “You should go…”

With that, he pushed himself up from his knees and resumed chopping the tree in front of him.

Eh? What’s going on now?

Yi Qiu was completely baffled.

This reaction is wrong. Logically, shouldn’t these words have ignited the fire buried deep in Luo Mingyuan’s heart? Why did he just order me to leave?

Could it be because… this guy is a face dog¹⁸, and he thinks that since a little alpaca isn’t a beauty, her words don’t carry enough weight?

If that’s really the case, that’s too infuriating!

The characters in this world are more infuriating than the last!

“You…” Yi Qiu bared her teeth, about to demand an explanation, when she suddenly heard a system notification.

【You Yan Favorability -100】

Yi Qiu subconsciously turned her head and immediately saw You Yan walking towards them.

You’ve got to be kidding me. Is this Ghost-Sees-Sorrow toxic or something? She can just show up, but why does the favorability have to drop just like that?

Could it be that Ghost-Sees-Sorrow came to find the little pig trotter to deliver her brainwashing package, only to find her own little alpaca had stumbled upon everything, so she flew into a rage out of humiliation?

Forget it, forget it. I’m used to it being reduced. I’m already numb to it.

Anyway, You Yan really did come to find the male lead by herself. What does that prove? It proves that everything is going according to her predictions. As long as she has the original novel’s script in hand, it’s like she has turned on the cheats¹⁹, able to predict the future.

Knowing the future, I can definitely think of a way to stop the male lead from turning to the dark side…

Thinking this, Yi Qiu closed her mouth and said no more to Luo Mingyuan.

However, in the next second, You Yan rushed over and grabbed the little alpaca by the ear.

Hey, hey, hey! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!

“Wuwuwu!”

Why are you grabbing a Grass Mud Horse’s ear!

“What did you run here for?” You Yan said with a frown, then looked up and gave a faint smile to the baffled Luo Mingyuan at her side. “My spirit pet is misbehaving. I’ve disturbed Luo-dage. I’ll take her away now.”

“No, she was quite quiet…” Before Luo Mingyuan could finish, he saw the little alpaca who had just been talking to him get dragged away by her master.

Yi Qiu was dragged along by the ear by You Yan for quite a while. She couldn’t help but start crying out like a ying-ying monster²⁰, which was when You Yan finally let go of her ear. She patted her on the rump and, like herding a duck²¹, drove her all the way to a deserted spot.

Yi Qiu: “What are you doing!”

You Yan: “You first. What were you doing here?”

Yi Qiu: “I, I… I came looking for you!”

You Yan: “You came here to find me?”

As You Yan spoke, she raised the corners of her lips in a cold sneer, as if she had heard an incredible joke.

Yi Qiu said, aggrieved, “What’s wrong with that? You did come here. I just arrived a little bit before you did…”

Hmph, Ghost-Sees-Sorrow, you’ve got nothing to say now, do you?

Don’t think this witty little alpaca doesn’t know what you’re up to!

“You’re really good at finding things, aren’t you,” You Yan said, squatting down. She gripped Yi Qiu’s neck with both hands, her eyebrows curving into a smile. “I followed your spiritual aura all the way here. I suppose that counts as you ‘finding’ me.”

Yi Qiu: “What?”

What kind of joke is this… You Yan came here to find me?

This isn’t right!

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