Love from the Male Protagonist’s Harem

Chapter 105-Both Real and Unreal

Chang Lan and the other Jianfeng disciples stood out in the pavilion’s courtyard, an indecisive mood hanging over them.

Wei Yu: “Senior Brother, don’t believe them.  They’re probably faking, they’re just trying to cover……”

But even Wei Yu had no confidence in his words.  After Xia Wuyin had finished refining, the Danfeng master had confirmed that the dan was Xuan-level.

The Danfeng master probably didn’t have in-depth knowledge about many other different disciplines.  When it came to dan though, that master would know it at a glance.  After all, ginger is hotter when it’s older.

Chang Lan shot Wei Yu a sharp glance, and Wei Yu lapsed into silence.

After a long time had passed, another Jianfeng disciple plucked up the courage to diffidently say: “After all, Senior Brother……there was no real evidence that……”

Chang Lan didn’t respond, his head aching intolerably.

“But Xia Wuyin is the most suspicious!”  Wei Yu couldn’t help himself.

Someone else suddenly muttered: “Xia Wuyin was with Danfeng’s senior disciple the night we found the puppet remains.”

Rendered temporarily speechless, it took Wei Yu a minute to impatiently assert: “Anyways, there’s no other suspects!”

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Wei Yu had always looked down on Ye Ze.  Unfortunately Ye Ze was talented.  He’d been chosen to go fight against the Demon Tide and Wei Yu had not.  Sure that people were laughing at him behind his back over this, Wei Yu also held a great deal of hostility towards Ye Ze’s good friend Xia Wuyin.

Then many Jianfeng disciples had been horribly injured in a Demon Sect attack, and Jianfeng’s hatred towards Demon Sect spies was intensified.  They’d heard that Xia Wuyin was the spy, so naturally they wanted to capture him and teach him a bitter lesson.

Only now the ‘Demon Sect spy’ had abruptly become the sole ‘savior’ of Jianfeng.  Not knowing what to do with his grievances, Wei Yu found it very suffocating.

“Are you……Jianfeng disciples?  What are you doing here?”

Hearing a female voice, the crowd of Jianfeng people turned around, and Chang Lan was surprised to realize that he recognized the woman: “You are……Bixi?”

Wasn’t she Danfeng’s head disciple’s attendant?

Bixi frowned: “Are you here for dan?”

Chang Lan too slow to stop him, Wei Yu straightforwardly blurted: “We’re here to catch a spy!  Xia Wuyin is a spy!”

Eyebrows raised very high, Bixi looked to Chang Lan: “You mean you’re accusing Danfeng’s acting senior disciple of being a Demon Sect spy?”

Chang Lan first gave Wei Yu a glare, then tried to placate Bixi: “There’s no solid evidence yet, we’re not jumping to any conclusions……”

Bixi: “Oh?  So you do suspect Danfeng’s acting senior disciple of being a Demon Sect spy?”

Chang Lan: “……”

Well, the truth of the matter was that, yes, they did.

Chang Lan: “This……”

“If you don’t have any actual evidence, please go back and get some rest.  There are many Danfeng disciples who are ill with soul poison, and they’re waiting for our acting senior disciple to give them medicine.  If you’re not here to request dan, please don’t disturb the injured by making a scene.”

Bixi paused, before once more glancing at Chang Lan and asking in a slightly mocking tone: “What does Senior Brother think?”

Chang Lan: “……”

Sensing that Wei Yu was about to say something he shouldn’t again, Chang Lan gave Wei Yu one last extremely cold glower.  Wei Yu jolted and not a word came out of his mouth.

Chang Lan next turned his gaze to Bixi, silent for a long moment  before eventually saying: “We’ll see ourselves off.”

Bixi assumed a patently fake smile: “Farewell then.”

Inside the pavilion, Xia Ge fed Mao Qing the Baihun dan, and a minute later Mao Qing opened her eyes.

Xia Ge: “What are you looking at me for?  Do you feel alright?”

Perhaps the soul poison hadn’t been as severe as it could have been, but Mao Qing had still suffered from some derangement.  Now that she’d ingested the dan, a fragrant scent filled her nostrils, and the chill of her body faded away, every discomfort buried by an exquisitely soft steadiness that gently dispelled the toxin that’d invaded her spirit.

Mao Qing laughed softly: “I feel fine.”

She added a second later: “Very good.”

“Good, good,” Xia Ge said, “Get some rest, you should be back to normal after some sleep.”

“Mmm.”  Mao Qing obediently closed her eyes.

It was very late at night, and Xia Ge plopped herself down at a small table.  Ignoring the noises outside, Xia Ge was ready to get some rest herself.

But just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard Mao Qing speak.

“Xia Wuyin.”

Very tired and her brain foggy, Xia Ge murmured: “……hmm?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Ask……”  Xia Ge started to drift back to sleep.

“What does it feel like to save someone?”  Mao Qing’s voice was very low.

Xia Ge: “Huh……?”

Scratching her head, Xia Ge tried to formulate an answer: “This question……”

“If you’ve saved the person you wanted to save, you feel very satisfied,” Xia Ge finally said after some thought.

Mao Qing looked at Xia Ge.

Xia Ge grinned at Mao Qing in return: “If what you’re really asking is how it feels for me to save you……if you give me half the candy in your pocket, I’ll reluctantly tell you.”

After gazing at Xia Ge for a long time, Mao Qing quietly closed her eyes and rolled over on the bed so that her back was to Xia Ge.

“Tell it willingly or not at all.”

Xia Ge: “……”

It seemed……the Baihun dan had taken effect?

Harsh words meant Mao Qing was back to normal, right?

Her lingering doubts washed away, Xia Ge laughed: “Ai, don’t be like that.  It’s just some candy, why are you so stingy?”

Mao Qing: “I’m poor.”

Xia Ge: “……”

Xia Ge: “Fine, I’ll tell you then.”

Carefully moving to face Xia Ge, Mao Qing’s eyes were shadowed and framed by long lashes.

Xia Ge spoke in a profound tone: “If I had to say it, it feels like……”

“I’m so awesome.”

Mao Qing: “……”

System: [……]

Xia Ge: “Am I not amazing?”

After a long stretch of silence, Mao Qing replied dryly: “Haha, truly amazing.”

Pulling her blanket higher, Mao Qing turned her back to Xia Ge again.

Xia Ge: “……”

Xia Ge doubtfully turned to the system: {i am amazing, aren’t i?}

System: [It’s Good If You Feel Happy With Yourself.]

How to say it?  When it came to a person’s ‘skin,’ how were they to know how thick or thin it was……right?

The room was hushed and still.

Mao Qing seemed to be sleeping.

Considering how late it was, Xia Ge was very loath to disturb Mao Qing’s rest.  And apparently someone had finally shooed out that noisy bunch of Jianfeng disciples.

There was a bright moon outside and silence within the pavilion.

If Xia Ge had to say it……

Laying her head down on the small table, Xia Ge whispered to herself: “What……I actually feel……”

“Not disappointing you……it feels really good.”

Moonlight streamed in through the window.

Where Xia Ge was unable to see, Mao Qing’s eyelashes moved.

= =

It felt as though she’d traversed through endless times.

Yet there was something wet, falling with the tick-tock rhythm of a clock.

Slowly gaining consciousness, Gu Peijiu opened her eyes.  Wonderous stalactites hung over her head, glowing with an eerie wandering light.  Water dripped from them in tiny droplets, forming small pools on the ground.  Although there was only the subtle sounds of the water, Gu Peijiu found the tranquility suspicious.

Getting to her feet, Gu Peijiu observed her surroundings more critically.

She was in a forest of milky stones.  Light shimmered a distance behind her and a distance in front of her, making it possible that the stone forest was some kind of passage.

Remembering everything that’d happened before she found herself in this place, Gu Peijiu acted without hesitation.  She causally took out a seemingly blank piece of yellow talisman paper and started walking in a random direction.

She’d only taken a few steps when there came a somewhat morose voice.

“Do you know……where you are?”

The voice lacked substance, coming hollowly from every direction, and made even more frightening by accompaniment of the dripping water.

Not looking to either side, Gu Peijiu gave the voice no answer.  Instead she nonchalantly flung the yellow paper away, only to watch it instantaneously ignite into flames.  Several fierce talisman marks suddenly appeared on the yellow paper, until finally it seemed the talisman had encountered something, hanging in midair.

The still atmosphere began to move, the earlier peacefulness gone as scenery around Gu Peijiu distorted, the dripping water, the stalactites, the little pools of water……

The yellow talisman quivered, as if it were wrapping itself around something unseen.  Then with a ‘puff,’ it burned even brighter, and Gu Peijiu’s surroundings disappeared, a vast bamboo forest replacing everything from before.

Wind rustled through the trees.

The flames of the talisman were finally extinguished, the thing it’d wrapped itself around listlessly falling.  Gu Peijiu extended an arm, the thing slowly drifting to rest on her outstretched hand.

It was a tiny piece of cloth, the dried blood on it burnt black by the talisman, but not eradicated.

Gu Peijiu’s gaze was cold, a flame igniting in her palm!

Huff——

The second the flame blazed, the little piece of blood-stained cloth threw itself towards Gu Peijiu’s face!

Whish——

Responding instantly, {heavenly punishment} tore the cloth into infinitesimal fragments!

The strange voice came again, full of anger at being exposed: “……I’ll see how long you can last!”

But a moment later it laughed: “Anyways, you’ll never be able to guess……where you are……”

The fragments of the cloth dispersed on the gentle breeze, tree leaves softly whispering.

There was a blue sky with sparse clouds overhead, a light wind,  and all around a bamboo forest——

Putting {heavenly punishment} away, Gu Peijiu found that her sleeves were slightly damp, as if the dripping water from the stalactites had been real.

Truly real.

Raising her head, Gu Peijiu stared into the blue sky, deep in thought.

From the first second, she’d felt that this bamboo forest was……familiar.

A long, long time ago, she had seen it……somewhere.

The wind stirred.

“Oh my goodness……”

There was more rustling in the bamboo trees, and a somehow familiar yet unfamiliar voice broke Gu Peijiu out of her reverie.

“Why can’t I find it, can’t find it, can’t find it……”

The clear, girlish voice sounded rather vexed.

Since the speaker was coming closer and closer, Gu Peijiu hid herself, {heavenly punishment} ready to attack the moment necessary.  The noises continued until finally a girl appeared in Gu Peijiu’s field of vision.  Carrying a bamboo basket on her back, the girl’s skin was fair and her distressed eyes vaguely foxlike.  She was using a wooden stick to poke amongst the weeds, clearly searching for something.

Seeing that face, Gu Peijiu’s hand clenched tightly around {heavenly punishment}.

Real……or not real?

Could it be real?

In the stone forest, Gu Peijiu had been able to break the illusion with a talisman, but here, in the bamboo forest……there was no abnormality.

But even if it was all real, why would Xia Wuyin appear here?

This scene……

“Aha!  Found it!”

Leaping for joy, the girl plucked a greyish mushroom from the ground and threw it into her basket, a satisfied glow spreading across her face.

Busy with her own thoughts, Gu Peijiu was taken aback when the girl suddenly turned her head and said in astonishment: “Peijiu, aren’t you supposed to be looking for mushrooms too?  Why are you just standing there?”

“生姜还是老的辣”

“Ginger is still hot when it is old”, a proverb, which means that the older the ginger, the hotter it is. It is a metaphor for an old person whose disposition is hard to change or an old person with rich experience.

https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/406075831

石林 Shílín

Stone Forest, notable set of limestone formations in Yunnan