Little Alpaca – Chapter 92

Volume 2: Fuzhu Huodou

Does the little alpaca not deserve sweet love?

After a brief moment of awkwardness, Yi Qiu started protesting guiltily, “No—never eaten pork, but haven’t I seen pigs run?!”¹ “I said the people back home are like that, I didn’t say the alpacas back home are like that!”

With that, she grabbed a few hazelnuts, popping them into her mouth one after another, trying to hide her embarrassment that way.

You Yan didn’t press further, only rose to the table and poured a cup of warm tea.

Yi Qiu ate a bit too fast and half-choked, but her eyes instinctively followed You Yan; seeing her pour tea, she suddenly wanted some too, so she stood and went over.

But before she’d even taken two steps, she saw You Yan already handing the freshly poured tea to her.

Yi Qiu took the cup in a daze from You Yan’s hand, drained it in one go, then silly as ever handed the cup right back to her.

You Yan set the cup back on the table, sat again by the window, and didn’t resume questioning the slip Yi Qiu had let out a moment ago.

Yi Qiu stood awkwardly to the side for a while, then took a few steps toward the door and said, “Um, I’ll go see if the dishes are ready…”

She had wanted to find an excuse to slip out and breathe a bit, to ease the awkwardness, but heaven wouldn’t have it; no sooner were the words out and the door opened than a waiter² came in balancing a tray.

Fortunately, the meal itself wasn’t awkward; the deepening night outside gradually soaked all of Moshui City, and as usual, Yi Qiu ate while telling You Yan everything she’d seen in the day.

She told You Yan that Chao Yun was going to make lots and lots of qiaoguo³ to send up the mountain for everyone rebuilding Xianlu Sect.

Luo Mingyuan hadn’t yet recovered from old wounds and had added new ones, so he really couldn’t contribute much and only managed to shell hazelnuts for a whole day.

Jiang Yuyao, who usually kept Luo Mingyuan company, spent the whole day hiding in her room, secretly embroidering a pair of mandarin ducks, and when Yi Qiu ran into her, she refused to admit who they were for no matter what.

At this, You Yan raised an eyebrow, and with studied nonchalance asked, “How’s the stitching?”

“Like a teal duck,” Yi Qiu said, poking the bottom of her bowl with her chopsticks, then added on purpose, “but it’s much prettier than yours!”

“If you dislike it, burn it,” You Yan said coolly, holding out her left hand as if to say to Yi Qiu—if you don’t like it, give it back.

Yi Qiu instantly took the sachet off her waist and tossed it into You Yan’s hand with a look of distaste.

Apparently not expecting Yi Qiu to actually return the sachet, a flicker of surprise crossed You Yan’s eyes; after a brief silence, just as she was about to react, Yi Qiu said, “It’s almost lost its scent—I don’t know what you put inside, so please change it for fresh ingredients.”

The slight furrow between You Yan’s brows slowly smoothed; without a ripple she tucked it away into her spirit pouch and said, “If you think Jiang Yuyao’s embroidery is good, you can have her stitch you another; saves me the trouble of adding new spices for you.”

“Human women’s embroidery is usually for their lovers—what am I to Jiang Yuyao?” Yi Qiu said, flicking a glance up at You Yan, “This humble little alpaca demon of mine can pick up what the Demon Lord doesn’t want—that’s already a blessing.”

“So you do know,” You Yan said, and at last there was a hint of amusement in her eyes.

“I’ve got that much self-awareness—enough, enough,” Yi Qiu said, hurriedly lifting her chopsticks to pick food into You Yan’s bowl, “Eat, let’s just eat properly!”

Yi Qiu’s way of changing the subject had always been very blunt, and thanks to You Yan never prying too much, it worked every time.

Sometimes, Yi Qiu wondered whether You Yan seemed to know everything; did she even need to keep hiding things.

But did You Yan really know everything? Or did she actually not know much and only pretend she did, then use little details to keep coaxing things out of her.

In truth, she very much wanted there to be no secrets between herself and You Yan; she just didn’t know how to start, and she was afraid she wouldn’t accept the truth.

For example, that this was nothing but a world under an author’s pen, where everyone’s life and tragic past were invented out of thin air by a heartless writer called “Little Bird Gu-Gu Flies.”

Or that this little alpaca had been bending her elbow outward⁴ from the very beginning—selfishly helping the protagonists single-mindedly for a final goal.

The most important point was that she still didn’t dare determine how important she really was to You Yan, nor whether she would stay in the future.

Maybe if she was sure one day, she would dare tell her everything; by then, it would feel like she’d guessed seven or eight-tenths already and would be mentally prepared.

But that was for later; right now the two protagonists didn’t even have a single stroke of their Eight Characters⁵, so she didn’t dare say anything.

After all, she’d just witnessed Huodou go insane from losing Fuzhu, and the heart still had lingering fear.

If that extreme bird-woman found out that once Luo Mingyuan and Jiang Yuyao successfully overcame their tribulations and came together, her little alpaca might leave this world, she would probably rush to them on the spot, hand rising and knife falling⁶, and just slice the two of them down while she was at it.

As for the mission failing and the little alpaca possibly being erased by the system, she probably wouldn’t care when she went berserk.

——Either way she was going to leave, so might as well have this old lady⁷ send everyone to die!

That kind of thinking was very You Yan, and just imagining it scared Yi Qiu.

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As Qixi drew nearer day by day, Yi Qiu also, for no clear reason, became busy.

It started because Chao Yun was overwhelmed making qiaoguo, and when Yi Qiu went over to gawk in curiosity, she all muddled and confused became one of the “strapping laborers”⁸.

Back in her previous world, after graduation Yi Qiu had always lived alone and ate very casually; to sum it up—buy a flatbread on the way for breakfast, eat at the unit canteen for lunch, and at night either order takeout or fry up rice/boil noodles with yesterday’s leftovers.

She’d never really cooked proper dishes, and naturally this was the first time making sweets, so it all felt wonderfully new and she was excited.

Chao Yun had deft hands and had carved several molds of different shapes for the qiaoguo; at first the dough had been pre-kneaded and rested by Chao Yun, so all Yi Qiu needed was to cut small segments, dust with flour, press into the mold, and pop them out—still counted as helping.

Later, under Chao Yun’s guidance, she tried doing it from scratch; the result was not entirely to one’s wishes⁹, but it wasn’t too much of a failure either.

Since the quantities were large, Jiang Yuyao also came to help; like that, the three girls sat at a flour-dusted wooden table and worked three afternoons in a row, finally, on the eve of the Qiqiao Festival, finishing many qiaoguo in different shapes and flavors and sending them up the mountain with porters¹⁰.

Before the qiaoguo were packed and sent off, Yi Qiu wrapped a share for herself and happily ran back to You Yan.

“Here! I made these—awesome, right?” The girl’s eyes shone with pride; chin up, shoulders back, standing straight, as if ready at any moment for praise.

“You’ve been busy with this these past few days?” You Yan couldn’t help asking.

“Try one first!” Yi Qiu said, sitting to the side, propping her chin and watching You Yan with expectant eyes.

Under her gaze, You Yan ate one as well, finally gave a mild “Mm,” and said, “Not bad—at last not entirely good-for-nothing.”

The words weren’t pretty, but for Yi Qiu—long used to negative phrasing—they were very pleasing.

After all, You Yan had never used to acknowledge her at all.

Yi Qiu wrapped the qiaoguo layer by layer and stowed them in her spirit pouch, saying happily, “Tomorrow is Qiqiao; let’s find a place to sit and eat them together… The waiter said that every year on Qiqiao, lots of women take to the streets to sell ‘craft items’—embroidered pouches and sachets, silk kerchiefs¹¹ and round fans¹², and all kinds of accessories—we must buy some!”

She turned back to glance at You Yan and tilted her head to ask, “Do you know what ‘craft items’ are?”

You Yan gave a slight shake of the head.

Seeing this, Yi Qiu immediately put on her little-teacher face: “In Moshui, Qiqiao has the custom of ‘Worshiping Qijie’¹³—that Qijie¹⁴ is the Weaving Maiden¹⁵; after worship, there’s a lantern fair¹⁶ in the market.

“To show off their deft hands and skillful hearts¹⁷, girls usually thread needles and make little items in advance to ‘compete in skill’¹⁸.

“If no one gifts these items, they’ll bring them to the lantern fair at night to sell; those items are called ‘craft items’¹⁹—not expensive, but very meaningful!”

“And where did you learn all that?”

“Chao Yun told me!”

At that, You Yan shut her eyes, and in a dismissive tone said, “Pointless.”

“You Yan!” Yi Qiu frowned.

After a brief silence, You Yan said, “If you like them, I’ll buy them for you.”

Seeing her relent, Yi Qiu let it drop; after all, she knew it was too hard to make a bird-woman take an interest in human affairs.

The next day, Qixi arrived.

Yi Qiu changed into a water-green dress and admired herself in a small bronze mirror for ages.

Not long after lunch, hearing the noise outside swell, she hurriedly dragged the shut-in²⁰ You Yan, who was sitting on the bed with eyes closed, out the door with her.

No sooner had they stepped out of the inn than they saw, not far off, people carrying a flower palanquin²¹, bustling their way over.

On the palanquin sat a girl dressed as an immortal; besides incense and fruit plates, the palanquin was hung with all kinds of exquisite embroidery, with many bouncing children following on both sides and plenty of adults joining the fun.

“That girl is playing Qijie; the palanquin will end up at Qijie Temple²², and many people will go offer prayers there today!” Yi Qiu said, gently tugging You Yan’s sleeve, “Let’s go look too!”

“What’s there to see?” Clearly, You Yan wasn’t interested.

Yi Qiu pressed her lips together and said, “It’s about praying for deft hands and praying for heaven-bestowed good matches²³… When in a village, follow its customs²⁴—let’s just take a look!”

“What’s so worshipful about a little fairy like the Weaver Girl with no real ability? Better to worship me,” You Yan said coolly, drawing quite a few bewildered looks from those nearby.

Yi Qiu’s heart gave a jolt, and she hurriedly grabbed You Yan’s arm and squeezed them out of the crowd in a few quick steps, escaping those unfriendly stares.

“My ancestor! Keep your voice down when you say things like that! You might not worship, but other people do!” Yi Qiu nearly knelt to this old auntie.

“Did I say anything wrong?”

“…,” Yi Qiu thought it through seriously—and it did seem she hadn’t.

“Whatever you like, I can give you—what need is there to beg immortals and gods?” You Yan said, giving Yi Qiu a cool glance before continuing, “As for human love, a useless thing—don’t even think about it.”

That’s going too far—does a little alpaca not deserve sweet love?

An alpaca can’t—at least shouldn’t… stay single for a lifetime just for a bird!

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The author has something to say:

The little human days are about to end; countdown to wrapping up Volume Two (probably), and Volume Three will be the feelings-deepen volume.

No idea when the tardiness will end; red envelopes before the next update.

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