Volume 2: Fuzhu1 Huodou
I sold you…
Yi Qiu squatted by the side of the copper basin filled with water, gazing at her own reflection in the water.
That was a strange yet lovable face, cherry lips2 and apricot eyes3, the small goose egg face4 still carried a bit of baby fat, fleshy, yet not appearing fat. She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, just a half-grown child5.
The pure white fluff had transformed into a plain white dress, her ink-black hair was slightly curled, somewhat disheveled and draped over her shoulders.
She had finally become a person.
Happy, yet not so happy.
With this little girl’s appearance, when she saw the little pig trotter later, she would have no face to say she was older than him.
Yi Qiu stared at her own hands, which had stretched and broken the gauze, in a daze for a good while. She opened and closed her fingers to move them a bit, and instantly pulled at the burns on her hands, frowning and sucking in a breath of cold air from the pain.
Not just her hands, her bare feet had also stretched and broken the gauze. Stepping on the ground at this moment, there was an indescribable feeling of pain.
Yi Qiu stood up, looking at You Yan somewhat at a loss.
She had thought about what she would do after becoming a person. But at this very moment, she was very ill at ease, completely unaware of what she should do.
It seemed it was not a misperception; she was no longer an alpaca. Standing in front of You Yan, she always felt a bit… unnatural.
This feeling was like having always paid attention to a person, but also having always stood far away. She was familiar with that person, but that person was not familiar with her.
Then, suddenly one day, she came before that person, apprehensive, flustered, and also a little timid.
Would that person like her?
And she, in what way should she approach that person?
She could no longer be like before, always like a small animal, lying beside You Yan and yawning.
She could no longer be like before, every time she made a mistake, hugging You Yan’s thigh and whimpering for mercy.
She could no longer be like before, when she had nothing to do, always moving close to You Yan’s side, rubbing against You Yan’s body, or letting You Yan rub her fur.
In other words, You Yan was still that You Yan, but the little alpaca was already not the little alpaca.
“Come here…” You Yan sat on the bed and said to her faintly.
Yi Qiu thought for a moment, and as if there were nails on the floor, she walked a step and it hurt, it hurt and she hopped, baring her teeth and spreading her mouth6 as she hopped all the way to the bedside. Failing to stand steady, she shouted in her mouth 「yeyeye」 and pitched forward.
You Yan reached out and supported her right elbow. She was on her tiptoes, with her butt sticking out, in a strange posture, supporting herself with one hand in front of the bed.
“Hiss—” The hand supporting her on the bed, hurt so much…
Yi Qiu couldn’t help but frown and suck in a breath of cold air.
Today, it seemed she had sucked in all the cold air for the recent month.
The tears she had just managed to hold back were now hurt out again.
If it were in the past, You Yan would probably say she was being delicate7 again.
But now, with the favorability rating so high, she probably wouldn’t be disdained anymore, right?
“Delicate…” You Yan frowned and released the hand supporting Yi Qiu.
Yi Qiu slowly curled up her body, squatting by the bed with a wronged look on her face—the motion of curling up her body was as natural as when she was still an alpaca.
She silently bit her lip, wanting to retort but finding she had no face to open her mouth.
Today, among the people lodging in this small courtyard, aside from Chao Yun who brought everyone here, which one wasn’t more heavily injured than her, this water-paddling8 alpaca?
She was clearly the one with the lightest injuries, yet she received everyone’s care.
You Yan saying she was delicate was not the least bit false.
But she really hadn’t been injured much before!
In her original world, minor scrapes and bleeds were things you could post on Weibo9 and Moments10 to sell misery11. How was it like now, where she was almost eaten by a 「hot dog (huodou)」 and had nowhere to complain.
As Yi Qiu thought, she couldn’t help but withdraw the hand that was resting on the bed, lowering her head and silently blowing cool air onto her palm and fingers, huhu.
As she was blowing, her wrist was suddenly grabbed by You Yan. Before she could even react, she was pulled forcefully by that ice-cold hand.
This pull carried a force that was completely irresistible, just like when she used to be pulled by a whip. It made her feet leave the ground in an instant, and with an 「eiei」 sound, she fell onto the bed, her body even pressing onto You Yan’s thigh.
Although falling onto a bed wasn’t particularly painful, the fall still left Yi Qiu stunned.
She foolishly raised her head and looked towards You Yan at her side.
You Yan: “Sit properly…”
Hearing this, Yi Qiu quickly propped herself up with her elbows and, in a second, did a salted fish flip12, sitting obediently beside You Yan.
She lowered her head in fear, but her gaze couldn’t help but steal a few glances towards You Yan.
You Yan didn’t say much, only took Yi Qiu’s hand, her fingertips carrying spiritual power as they lightly brushed over the hand full of burns.
Although it couldn’t heal the wounds, that feeling was cool and refreshing, instantly soothing the previous fiery, stinging pain.
Yi Qiu was stunned for a moment. Seeing You Yan gently put down her left hand and then gently pick up her right, she belatedly came back to her senses. She wanted to pull her hand back a little, but couldn’t win against You Yan.
“You, you you, don’t waste spiritual power on me…” Yi Qiu frowned and muttered in a small voice, “Your own injuries aren’t even healed, why are you bothering with this little injury of mine!”
You Yan didn’t pay her any mind, just continuing to heal her injuries with spiritual power.
Yi Qiu thought for a moment, lowered her eyelashes, and said in a small voice: “You Yan, I never thought… they would come back to save us.”
You Yan responded faintly: “It is quite laughable.”
Yi Qiu pondered for two seconds, then continued speaking: “I never thought we would be able to survive. At that time, they were holding me, not letting me go back, so…”
“So?”
Yi Qiu nervously swallowed her saliva. Subconsciously, like an alpaca, she stretched her neck forward, found it wasn’t long enough, so she moved her body along with it, and only then did she get close to You Yan’s ear.
She said softly: “So, I sold you…”
You Yan couldn’t help but frown.
Yi Qiu quickly explained again: “But whether I sold you or not, they would have suspected you! Your spiritual power, your voice, you… anyway, you were exposed!”
When she woke up today, neither Luo Mingyuan nor Jiang Yuyao asked her anything. Everyone seemed to have a heart-shining, unspoken understanding13, one by one pretending that nothing had happened.
But the matter of the Xianlu Sect’s bird demon had to be explained to them.
This matter, You Yan could not be unaware of.
You Yan was silent for a moment, then said: “It doesn’t matter, I’ll explain later.”
“Mm…” Yi Qiu nodded her head with an obedient look.
Actually, this matter wasn’t that hard to explain. It was nothing more than having good intentions but doing a bad thing. After the explanation was finished, what Luo Mingyuan thought wouldn’t be important, as long as You Yan wasn’t angry.
You Yan put down Yi Qiu’s right hand and said in a low voice: “Feet…”
“No, that’s not necessary, is it…”
Yi Qiu was refusing out of politeness, but was glared at by You Yan. She instantly cowered from the heart14, and hesitantly shifted her bottom, changed her sitting posture, and presented her feet to You Yan.
Heavens, what virtue and what ability did she possess!
These four hands and feet, which were good for nothing, had today enjoyed various heavenly king-level treatments one after another.
Even the emperors of the human world couldn’t out-show-off her.
While healing her injuries, You Yan said faintly: “With your ability, you cannot digest the Blood Condensation Pearl, so this power is still within my control. You have to listen to my words. If I become unhappy, with just a single thought, I can make you change back.”
“Ah?” After hearing this, Yi Qiu frowned and bit her lip.
No wonder, no wonder You Yan didn’t directly transfer power to her, but insisted on spending great effort to refine this Blood Condensation Pearl.
After all this time, You Yan just didn’t trust her, and still wanted to hold her in her hand in another way, to keep her by her side.
And to think she was so moved just now that she almost cried out loud!
“Have an opinion?”
“No opinion!” Yi Qiu replied, biting her teeth and grinding them, wishing she could directly shove the two words 「opinion」 in her eyes onto You Yan’s face.
Seeing this, You Yan gave a light laugh: “That’s more like it.”
As her voice fell, she released Yi Qiu’s ankle, casually flicked it aside twice, lowered her brow and conjured a silk handkerchief, and began to wipe her own hands. Although there wasn’t a hint of disdain in her eyes, her actions and mannerisms undoubtedly expressed the two words 「disdain」!
Yi Qiu took three deep breaths in a row.
This bird woman, was too much.
After wiping her hands, You Yan tossed the handkerchief away. With a raise of her index finger, she made a pair of shoes and socks appear from under the bed.
“Get down.”
Yi Qiu took one more deep breath.
Understood, she understood, she was not worthy to sit on the bed for a moment longer. The young girl, with a displeased face, endured the pain to put on the socks and shoes, and walked to the door with a limp and a hop, muttering in a small voice: “I’ll go get you something to eat.”
She thought, although the bird woman was still not very good to her, she now had hands and feet, so she should take more care of the bird woman while she was injured.
“Wait a moment.” You Yan suddenly called out to stop her.
Yi Qiu stopped her steps, her cheeks slightly puffed out, and looked back at You Yan, raising a highly professional smile: “What other instructions does Master have?”
“You cannot go out without tying up your hair15.”
“…” Right, there was this saying in ancient times. For both men and women, going out with hair unbound was an injury to the prevailing customs16.
But she didn’t know how to tie up hair. Could she just tie a single ponytail?
Would it be very much like patterns not entering17 in this world?
And she didn’t have a hair tie in her hand, what would she use to tie it?
As Yi Qiu was thinking this, she looked down at her own hands, just pondering how to tie up her hair, when she saw a flash of spiritual light pass over her body. That head of slightly curly little black hair had actually been tied by strips of grass-green small hair ties into two fluffy lantern braids18, hanging low on both sides of her shoulders.
Yi Qiu stared at You Yan with a look of astonishment for a good while.
“Why aren’t you going?” You Yan raised her eyes and asked.
Yi Qiu looked down at the two braids, pouted, and asked: “Does it look good?”
You Yan looked her up and down a few times and said: “It’s alright.”
“Alright?”
“Mm…”
Two… lantern braids…
No way, was the bird woman’s aesthetic sense so childish? Yi Qiu’s eye corner couldn’t help but twitch. After a brief hesitation, she walked crookedly to the side of the water basin to take a look.
It seemed it really was alright.
Forget it, forget it, let’s make do. Not to mention she didn’t know how to tie anything besides a single ponytail, even if she did, it was difficult to move her hands now.
“You, you wait, I’ll go get you something to eat.”
“Mm…” You Yan responded. Seeing Yi Qiu pull open the room door, she suddenly remembered something and said with a frown, “Go and ask how we escaped danger that day.”
“It should be Chao Yun who saved us, right,” Yi Qiu said.
“Impossible…” You Yan denied this answer without even thinking.
“But…” Although Chao Yun had denied it, apart from her, there should be no one else with the ability to save everyone.
“She doesn’t have that ability,” You Yan said with certainty.
“Ah?” Yi Qiu couldn’t help but be stunned.
Thinking about it carefully, it seemed she really didn’t…
Not to mention that Gou Mang19 had secretly descended to the mortal realm by sealing his own divine power, even if she hadn’t sealed her divine power, a wood god encountering a Huodou that can control heavenly fire… it seemed she really wouldn’t get any advantage.
But besides Chao Yun, who else could have stepped in to save them?
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