Little Alpaca – Chapter 38

Volume 1: Little Alpaca

Things are getting interesting. Just kidding.

At noon, at Xianlu Sect, in the Huamo Pavilion.

A strange-looking 「sheep」 swaggered in from outside, attracting the attention and gathering a crowd of the disciples in the pavilion.

“Is this a sheep? It’s so cute!”

“Can I pet it?”

“Jiang-shijie¹ brought back a Miss Bai last night. I heard this is her spirit pet, and it’s very smart!”

“It’s carrying a piece of paper in its mouth. Is it here to deliver a letter?”

“Someone take a look, the paper is all wet, full of saliva……”

Yi Qiu, with a menu in her mouth, stared blankly and a bit awkwardly at the female disciples of Huamo Pavilion who had surrounded her.

These young girls, around fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen, always had little resistance to small, fluffy animals. When the first girl boldly reached out and touched her, the other girls also extended their small hands towards this little alpaca who only wanted to bring food back to honor her master.

In an instant, the weak, pitiful, and helpless little alpaca was so easily lost in this 「land of tenderness」.

Hmph! Hey girls, can you please look at the menu in This Grass Mud Horse’s mouth?

Hmph-woo—— If This Grass Mud Horse is late getting back and the bird woman gets hungry, This Grass Mud Horse’s crimes would be worthy of ten thousand deaths.

Hmph! Hmph—— If you won’t help give directions, then at least make way, sisters!

【Ding——】

Yi Qiu squeezed outwards while 「hmphing」 and calling out, trying hard to break through the encirclement.

Just then, a slender and long, jade-like hand reached out from the side and took the piece of xuan paper, which was covered in saliva and wrinkled by the wind, from the little alpaca’s mouth.

Hmph? Why did you take it from me? Are you going to help?

【Ding——】

Yi Qiu’s eyes widened as she looked up.

All disciples of Xianlu Sect wore white robes, and the woman before her was no exception.

She wore no hair ornaments, not even a single wooden hairpin. Only a white ribbon was used to tie her ink-black hair into a braid that hung low behind her, with a few stray strands scattered by her temples, looking extremely simple.

The woman’s appearance couldn’t be called stunning, but she possessed an exceptionally hard-to-describe temperament. With just one glance, it would make people feel that such an otherworldly woman should not belong to the mortal world.

【Ding——】

Just as Yi Qiu was staring in a daze, she saw a woman approach and ask curiously, “Sixth Senior Sister², what’s written on it? Is this…… a list of dishes?”

Sixth Senior Sister! She was familiar with this form of address!

At that moment, the little alpaca’s eyes lit up, and her gaze truly couldn’t be moved away.

You Yan had helped a lot with the matter of subduing demons in Moshui City. Although it was all unhelpful help, the main characters didn’t know that.

In the early stages of the novel’s serialization, Jiang Yuyao had always regarded You Yan, who was using the alias Bai Jianyou, as a righteous path immortal friend. She both admired her free and unrestrained nature and her skills of unknown origin. Since she had brought her to Xianlu Sect, she naturally had to treat her as an honored guest.

Because of this, the residence Jiang Yuyao arranged for You Yan was the most secluded guest house in Xianlu Sect.

This place’s front door faced east and its back door faced south, making both ventilation and lighting excellent. Not far away, there was a clear spring for drawing water, and few disciples from the sect would usually come here, making it very suitable for a guest’s quiet stay.

There was another point, which was that this place was located on the southern side of the mountain peak, making it the closest to Huamo Pavilion, one of the three pavilions of Xianlu Sect.

Huamo Pavilion mostly had female disciples. By placing You Yan here, Jiang Yuyao had also considered that she might not always be free. If You Yan had any needs and couldn’t find her for a while, she could go directly to Huamo Pavilion to seek help.

You Yan was beautiful and might be pestered by male disciples, but if women looked out for each other, a lot of trouble could be saved.

It had to be said that although Jiang Yuyao was not good at expressing herself, she had always been a meticulous and thoroughly gentle woman.

And such a gentle woman was bound to have a guardian belonging to her, and that was the second female lead in 《Thin, Withered Branch》, the Wood God Goumang³.

Chao Yun⁴, the Sixth Senior Sister of Xianlu Sect, the strongest female disciple in Huamo Pavilion——this was her identity in the mortal world.

In the original text, she was undoubtedly a tragic character. She loved the Golden Crow⁵ and guarded Fusang⁶, never asking for anything or complaining, only silently standing behind them, giving and dedicating all she had.

She did not fear heavenly punishment⁷, sealed her own divine power, changed her appearance, and secretly descended to the mortal realm, just to secretly protect Fusang and the Golden Crow so they could successfully pass this final life’s tribulation.

But she was a god, and her heart was ultimately filled with mercy. How could she ever contend with the ruthless and cruel You Yan?

In the end, she was still forced into the demonic path. Fusang and the Golden Crow both died before her eyes one after another. No matter what, she couldn’t protect even one of the people she truly cared about. In the end, she was left with nothing, only able to live alone like a lonely soul, a wild ghost in that cold and desolate Demon Realm.

Right, right, right!

In the original text, Bai Jianyou and Chao Yun got acquainted because Chao Yun was entrusted by Jiang Yuyao to go to the guest house three times a day to deliver meals to Bai Jianyou.

Looking at it now, this part of the plot probably hadn’t started yet, but she had run into it ahead of time.

Speaking of which, when You Yan saw Jiang Yuyao earlier, she had already anticipated that she might meet Goumang, and even said very chuuni-like⁸, 「Things are getting interesting」.

So, to You Yan, Goumang should be similar to the male and female leads, one of the 「sources of amusement」 in her boring bird life.

If she brought this second female lead to You Yan today, You Yan should be quite happy, right?

And if You Yan was happy, she probably wouldn’t hold that little trivial matter from this morning against a well-behaved and obedient little alpaca, right?

As Yi Qiu thought this, she couldn’t help but lift the corners of her lips.

“Hey, wait a minute, since the person before me is the second female lead, why are there no fifty-cent special effects⁹?”

Yi Qiu couldn’t help but ask the system in her heart, “Is it because the second female lead isn’t worthy?”

【Due to the host’s multiple suggestions, the system has undergone a comprehensive upgrade. The optimization of the prompt effects is also part of the upgrade content.】

“Is that so? Then what did you optimize?”

【The glaring prompt effects have been removed for the host.】

“So you just don’t prompt me at all?”

【I did 「ding」.】

Damn… When This Grass Mud Horse is concentrating, how could it possibly notice something strange 「dinging」 on the side!

Can this broken system be a little more reliable? This is even worse than a wave of fifty-cent special effects!

While Yi Qiu was frantically roasting this increasingly scam-like¹⁰, useless system in her heart, she saw the 「Sixth Senior Sister」 before her lower her brows and look towards her.

“You are Miss Bai’s spirit pet?”

“Hmph!” Yi Qiu nodded her head quickly.

Seeing this, Chao Yun’s eyes curved, and she smiled, “Come with me.”

With Chao Yun’s help, the little alpaca, who had just been “taken liberties with” by six or seven young girls for a long time, finally breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly followed Chao Yun’s steps and walked out of the enthusiastic encirclement of the Huamo Pavilion’s female disciples.

These cultivation sects usually ate big pot rice¹¹; whatever the cooks made, everyone ate. There wasn’t much room to be picky.

However, You Yan was a very particular bird woman. She had written several dishes on that xuan paper, and as luck would have it, none of them were available today.

The junior martial sisters¹² of Huamo Pavilion couldn’t possibly neglect the person their Eldest Senior Sister brought back. The disciple in charge of cooking¹³ today saw the menu, immediately walked back to the stove, and, following the dishes on the paper, cooked a separate meal for that 「Miss Bai」.

During the wait, Yi Qiu lay prone outside the kitchen, drooling from the aroma of the food wafting out from inside.

Chao Yun sat beside her, gently stroking her fleece with her soft fingers, saying that when the food was ready, she would help her deliver it.

Although this was the plot from the original text, Yi Qiu was still moved to tears by it.

On the way here, she had been pondering a question: how exactly was she going to carry the food You Yan ordered back?

Carrying it on her back would be easy to spill. Dragging it on the ground was even more inappropriate.

If someone was willing to get her a wooden lunchbox and let her carry it in her mouth all the way back, it wasn’t impossible, but she was afraid it would hurt her teeth.

Thank goodness the second female lead was such a good person, willing to take the initiative to deliver takeout for the little alpaca, saving the little alpaca a lot of effort.

After the food was ready, it was packed into two layered wooden lunchboxes. Chao Yun carried one in each hand and, under the little alpaca’s guidance, walked towards the guest house not far away.

As Yi Qiu walked, she was thinking about things in her heart.

In the novel, Chao Yun and You Yan knew each other’s identities the moment they first met, but neither of them exposed the other. They tacitly engaged in a contest of acting, countering each other’s moves¹⁴ along the way, which was quite exciting.

These two, one a god and one a demon, had already had some entanglement three thousand years ago.

But the author never elaborated on their past history, only mentioning it two or three times, saying that Goumang had once saved You Yan’s life on Kunlun Mountain. Because of this debt of saving her life, You Yan had several opportunities to take her life but never struck the fatal blow.

Even at the end, when the male and female leads and the vicious third female lead were all dead, this second female lead was still not disposed of by the villain.

Thinking of this, Yi Qiu’s heart couldn’t stop being curious.

She couldn’t wait to see what kind of expression You Yan would have when she saw her 「old acquaintance」.

At that moment, the little alpaca’s guiding steps became much more cheerful.

Before long, she had led Chao Yun to the entrance of the guest house where she and You Yan were temporarily staying.

You Yan had never liked light, and the door to the room was tightly shut at this moment.

Yi Qiu 「hmphed」 and ran to the door, using her front legs like a dog to paw open a crack. Then, she pushed the door open with her body and bounced over to the side of You Yan, who was sitting quietly at the table.

Hmph! The little alpaca tilted her neck up, her small, round eyes shimmering with a light of anticipation, intently observing the change in You Yan’s expression as she looked up towards the door. However……

You Yan’s expression didn’t change at all. She just stood up very normally, walked to the doorway, smilingly took the two lunchboxes from Chao Yun’s hands, exchanged a few casual pleasantries, and then closed the door.

Their exchange was merely two or three sentences before they parted ways cursorily. Neither of them revealed even a tiny hint of an unusual look in their eyes.

Don’t they recognize each other?

Yi Qiu couldn’t help but fall into a deep thought.

You Yan stood by the table, taking the dishes out of the lunchboxes one by one.

Finally, she lowered her brows, glanced at Yi Qiu, and said faintly, “You’re quite good at slacking off. It’s just a few dishes, and you still had to find someone to help.”

“I……”

Hey, that’s going too far!

You really can’t say that. Didn’t I diligently bring back one of the sources of your amusement?

Did you not recognize her?

Even if you didn’t recognize her, you can’t blame me for being lazy!

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