Love from the Male Protagonist’s Harem

Xia Wuyin’s face was not lost.

Instead, she felt her body lighten, gentle hands holding her waist. Pulled into this soft embrace, she raised her head. The icily-set jaw of Senior Sister met her eyes.

Light as a feather, Senior Sister touched down on the forest floor.

Feeling overly confident that she hadn’t humiliated herself, and knowing the scarf was still over her face, Xia Wuyin at once began to court disaster. She hugged Gu Peijiu’s waist and started blabbing: “Older sister graciously came to my rescue. My humble self can’t thank you enough. But I didn’t know sister was so good-looking. Your heart must match your lovely face…”

The blade in Xia Wuyin’s right hand was pressed against the back of Gu Peijiu’s waist, the tip pointed straight at Gu Peijiu’s vital point. Yet her left hand touched Gu Peijiu’s face, her tone dubious: “Both soft and sweet?”

Dressed as a male, with the affected voice of a sweet young boy, joined with beautiful slightly raised eyes, Xia Wuyin’s allure was nearly criminal.

Yet Gu Peijiu’s face remained expressionless, not letting go of her hold on Xia Wuyin. About 1.7 meters tall, Xia Wuyin had been only eight or nine years old when she’d arrived. Now she was only twelve or thirteen. Being held by Gu Peijiu, Xia Wuyin’s feet didn’t even touch the ground. She could only endure with her arm wrapped around Gu Peijiu’s back, sharp knife still accurately positioned.

“Seeing how Senior Sister is so pretty, won’t you let me find a way out of this predicament?”

Since she wasn’t carrying her own weight, Xia Wuyin’s whole body was pressed against Gu Peijiu’s. Therefore, the two of the them were very close, and Xia Wuyin kept the words coming from her mouth sweet. Very sweet. For, even with her knife at the ready, Xia Wuyin felt no sense of security.

Gu Peijiu simply regarded Xia Wuyin for a long moment before suddenly releasing her hold on the smaller girl.

Caught off guard, Xia Wuyin landed on her feet, but her knife lost its position. Her arm twisted behind her back by Gu Peijiu, to Xia Wuyin’s dismay the red silk whirled up, tying down both arms. Spinning around her, the red silk soon knotted Xia Wuyin into something resembling a dumpling.

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Bound up like a red worm, Xia Wuyin contemplated her situation, stealing a terrified look at Gu Peijiu. Gu Peijiu’s face was still impassive. Xia Wuyin immediately knew that she was dead meat—no, she’d been dead meat the second her knife had been moved from its target.

Completely disheartened, Xia Wuyin shivered, cool air hitting her face.

Her covering scarf had been removed.

Her last ‘fig leaf’ stripped away, Xia Wuyin could have died on the spot.

But, opening her exquisite eyes wide, Xia Wuyin wracked her brains whilst desperately striving to squeeze out some crocodile tears. Adopting the vulnerable expression of one just violently assaulted, Xia Wuyin sputtered: “I’m sorry, Senior Sister…I…”

Danfeng’s great Senior Sister, the one who’d appeared out of nowhere, finally spoke her first words to Xia Wuyin.

“You’re a disciple of Danfeng?”

Xia Wuyin who’d been an unskilled disciple of Danfeng for two years: “……”

Truthfully Xia Wuyin wasn’t surprised Gu Peijiu didn’t know her. Gu Peijiu had come to Danfeng about half a year ago. But it’d been immediately clear how exceptionally talented Gu Peijiu was. With the purity of her qi, the lightning speed of her cultivation, she’d promptly risen to a high position. Meanwhile, Xia Wuyin was preparing to inevitably fail the examination to be an inner disciple of Danfeng for the sixth time.

(Best not to mention results of said examination.)

So while Xia Wuyin knew who her bright and beautiful Senior Sister was, it was understandable that Senior Sister did not know such a little offshoot as Xia Wuyin.

Continuing to lay on the waterworks, Xia Wuyin introduced herself with mournful theatrics: “Sister! Great Senior Sister! I am Xia Wuyin, No. 88, a 556th generation outer disciple of the Danfeng, Lingxi Mountain in region XX!”

Paying no mind to Xia Wuyin’s self-reported identity, complete with geographical details, Gu Peijiu directly reached out to Xia Wuyin’s waist. As expected, Gu Peijiu grasped Xia Wuyin’s identifying jade pendant. Trussed up and squirming, Xia Wuyin couldn’t resist, so she resorted to wailing about indecent touches. Gu Peijiu utterly ignored the phrases of nonsense that she didn’t understand coming from ridiculous caterpillar-like individual before her, like ‘sexual harassment,’ ‘eating tofu,’ and ‘taking advantage.’ After confirming the authenticity of the jade pendant, Gu Peijiu asked in a cold voice: “How is it that you remember your status so well, yet don’t recall your Danfeng training?”

Xia Wuyin went mute at once. She stopped her wiggling, holding still and glassy-eyed like a red tropical salted fish.

Expression as inscrutable as ever, Gu Peijiu continued: “Do you need me to recite it for you? Danfeng training rule #88-any disciple of Danfeng is forbidden from entering the back of the mountain, any violators will be expelled from Danfeng…”

In a bid to reverse her fortune, Xia Wuyin’s eyes’ lit up: “Really?! That’s good to know! I understand the rules of the sect, but I’ve always wanted to ask…after I’m banished from Danfeng, can I go to Jianfeng?”

Gu Peijiu: “……Or copy the menxun 3000 times, to serve as a warning to others.”

Maybe the despair on Xia Wuyin’s face was too apparent, for Gu Peijiu tried to restrain herself: “Is there something wrong with Danfeng?”

Xia Wuyin lifted her chin dispiritedly, and Gu Peijiu followed her gaze. Because of the tussle between them, the fruit of Xia Wuyin’s hard labor…no, more accurately her stolen goods—the Liuli tree, was now lying atop withered leaves on the ground. Under the moonlight, its crystal rainbow of colors shone bright and clear.

Gu Peijiu frowned: “Liuli tree?”

“Yes…”

On her last gasp, Xia Wuyin moaned: “I really am grateful for Danfeng’s nurturing kindness to me…”

“The innumerable merits of Danfeng are too many to count…from top to bottom, everything is harmonious. The bromance vibes are off the charts…No, I mean respect between older brother and junior brother…”

“But Senior Sister…there is a fact I’m loathe to speak, too embarrassed to say…”

Having discovered Xia Wuyin’s great talent for equivocating, Gu Peijiu snapped: “Get to the point.”

After Gu Peijiu had rushed to rescue a falling Xia Wuyin, the troubling demonic qi she’d sensed on the back mountain had faded away. That was the only reason Gu Peijiu could waste her time listening to this little idiot’s bullshit.

Then she heard the troublemaker proclaim in all earnestness: “Senior Sister…Danfeng disciples are too poor.”

Gu Peijiu: “……”

Danfeng-Dan Peak Jianfeng-Jian Peak
Menxun-sect teachings

Seeing Gu Peijiu’s expression, Xia Wuyin knew herself in to be a delicate position. At once Xia Wuyin employed tears of blood and tones of dolorous complaint: “Senior Sister! You must have pity on this hateful person! It was wrong of me to disobey the rules about the back mountain, drive me out from Danfeng…No, what I mean to say, you see, this Liuli tree only sells for twelve silver ingots in the secular world. And it’s worth only two mid-grade spirit stones amongst cultivators. But don’t you know, I work myself to the bone every day for three copper coins, barely able to feed and clothe myself. I have to save for almost half a month before I can afford a bottle of rice wine…”

Gu Peijiu: “…Alcohol is banned in Danfeng.”

Xia Wuyin’s face shone with incomparable respectability: “I drink it outside, therefore it doesn’t count.”

If you got caught drinking at Danfeng, you were penalized ten mid-grade spirit stones!

With the three copper coins a day Danfeng’s outer disciples got, how was Xia Wuyin supposed to earn a living?

“You’re only about twelve or thirteen years old,” Gu Peijiu pointed out, “What kind of wine are you drinking?”

Grinning, Xia Wuyin chanted: “Whose brother is distinguished and accomplished enough, solving a thousand sorrows when drunk!?”

Stone-faced, Gu Peijiu answered: “Wrong, you have spoken improperly.”

What crooked words…

Xia Wuyin coughed: “It doesn’t matter…Senior Sister, please understand, to change from an outer Danfeng disciple to an inner named disciple, you have to refine the Bigu dan during the monthly sect examination…Isn’t the material of the Bigu dan this Liuli tree?!”

“If I use my fingers to count, I’ve been learning for three years and I’ve failed six times in a row…”

“Two years,” Gu Peijiu corrected.

“All the same,” Xia Wuyin retorted cheekily, “I’ve lost a fortune.”

Gu Peijiu couldn’t help herself: “The Bigu dan is not a complex dan to refine. It doesn’t require that much ability or spiritual power. Secular senior apothecaries occasionally produce a similar pill…”

…How could you fail six times in a row?

Raising her eyes to the night sky, Xia Wuyin gave a long sigh: “It’s a talent.”

Gu Peijiu: “……”

Possessed by deep emotions, Xia Wuyin continued: “Senior Sister, I think that, just maybe, I might be better suited for Jianfeng. Fuck, I’m profoundly chivalrous, courageous…I should be robbing the rich to feed the poor, or wandering faraway places as a career swordsman…”

Snatches of the black clothing she’d worn for nocturnal sneakiness peeked through Xia Wuyin’s cocoon of red silk, Gu Peijiu eying it thoughtfully.

Even though she caught Gu Peijiu’s meaningful stare, Xia Wuyin’s skin remained thick: “Sometimes even valiant thieves are very admired in the Jianghu.”

Indifferently pulling Xia Wuyin up by the red silk, Gu Peijiu spoke coldly: “What a pity that we don’t have a ‘thief’ peak here on Lingxi mountain.”

Held tight in Gu Peijiu’s hand, Xia Wuyin trembled a little and her face went a little white, however her mouth still held strong: “It really is an awful pity.”

Gu Peijiu sneered: “Danfeng outer disciple Xia Wuyin, you have violated the peak rules #88, #44, and #32. You will copy the Danxun three thousand times, be penalized a month’s salary, and in addition, you will face the wall and ponder your mistakes for a month!”

Her name and number being on her jade pendant, Xia Wuyin didn’t find it odd that Gu Peijiu knew her name.

Instead she forced a smile: “My disciple # is also 88…how auspicious. But I’m not rich…No, I’m not rich, Senior Sister! Why must you add #44 and #32? A month’s salary?! That’s 90 copper coins!!”

An arrow at the end of her flight, Xia Wuyin’s face was ghastly pale, but firmly fixed with a ‘rather die than surrender’ expression. She had to seek justice for herself.

Gu Peijiu took in Xia Wuyin’s determined appearance. Upon consideration, while the miscreant had done wrong, they were only twelve or thirteen years old. Still, Gu Peijiu simply took the tied Xia Wuyin up onto her back, saying in a voice just as callous as before: “Rule #44, showing insufficient respect to a senior, penalty is to pay a fine.”

Insistent on making clean her unjustly impugned character, Xia Wuyin protested: “When did I disrespect?! The moment we met, I called you Senior Sister!”

It hurt it even think about it.

Impervious to Xia Wuyin’s protests, Gu Peijiu continued: “Even worse, Rule # 32, threatening a senior. That’s a first class sin.”

Xia Wuyin steadfastly refused to admit the truth: “Not true! I did not!”

Gu Peijiu: “Rule #31, denying wrongs committed, penalty is the fine of one month’s salary.”

Xia Wuyin’s heart was reduced to dead ashes.

Sensing the silence from the load she carried on her back, one corner of Gu Peijiu’s mouth quirked up.

The noisy kid was finally quiet.

Turning around and about to leave the back mountain, Gu Peijiu suddenly heard a very cautious tone from her burden: “That…the fruit of my labor…No, I mean the Liuli tree…”

“Could you possibly, it wouldn’t take much effort…bring it for me?” Xia Wuyin felt her heart was dripping blood.

Then, before Gu Peijiu could even respond, Xia Wuyin started wailing: “You can’t leave without it! I have to have it for my seventh retake of the examination! Senior Sister! I am needed for Danfeng’s bright future!”

At such broken-heartedness, how could the audience not weep? Hearing of such wrongs suffered…

Gu Peijiu’s question was slow and composed: “Does this mean you no longer intend to go to Jianfeng?”

Xia Wuyin: “……”

“Hmm?” Gu Peijiu slightly raised an eyebrow.

Xia Wuyin tried to exercise prudence: “Upon careful consideration, I find that the people of Jianfeng are too vicious, too fierce, much too antisocial, for a such honest and pure person as myself.”

“I don’t think Danfeng is very suitable either,” Gu Peijiu replied coolly.

It was a rare occurrence for someone to fail at making a Bigu dan six times in a row.

Sensing an opening, Xia Wuyin chose her words with great care: “If you would reconsider, Senior Sister…don’t make me copy the Danxun, just directly expel me from Danfeng. I hear that Shoufeng has been running short of manpower recently…”

“Oh?” Gu Peijiu’s tone lilted a little, “If that’s the case, I guess you don’t need that Liuli tree to pass the Danfeng examination after all.”

Saying that, Gu Peijiu again turned to leave.

Xia Wuyin immediately burst into heartrending, lung-splitting howls: “Noooo—–Senior Sister! I find that I still like Danfeng the most! I like it the best!! And my Danfeng Senior Sister is so fucking good-looking! The prettiest! I want to stay in Danfeng all my life, just so I can always bask in Senior Sister’s beauty!!”

Meanwhile, startled jackdaws jolted in the trees.

Gu Peijiu’s face darkened: “Shut up!”

Xia Wuyin promptly and obediently shut up.

She was afraid Gu Peijiu would claim she disrespecting a senior again, and use it as an excuse to take another month’s wages from her.

The young lady with exquisite red embroidery on her cuffs inscrutably picked up the Liuli tree, tucking it into a sleeve. “When you’ve copied the Danxun three thousand times, come to me to exchange it.”

“……Oh.”

“Also, be true to your words.”

“Oh…huh?”

“Rule #46…”

“Ah, ah, you can count on it, definitely count on it! I will stay in Danfeng for a lifetime, watching Senior Sister!”

Her face now almost black, Gu Peijiu barely managed to restrain herself: “I wasn’t referring to that.”

Xia Wuyin was confused: “Then…Senior Sister is the best-looking?”

Gu Peijiu: “…No.”

Becoming a bit desperate, Xia Wuyin asked: “Then what did you mean?”

A blue vein throbbed in Gu Peijiu’s forehead: “Shut up!”

Who the fuck know what it means?!

Shoufeng-Beast Peak