There was a three-day window available when someone wanted to leave the Clear Wilderness. Of course, Shu Yu and Fu Wang won’t wait until the final day to be forcibly ejected. On day one, they already concealed their faces, changed their auras using Fu Wang’s pills, and then split into two groups before leaving the Clear Wilderness.
At the entrance, the carriage carrying the Twelfth Elder and Tianfeng Linlang was so luxurious it could blind everyone on site and there were hundreds of servants at their beck and call, this made the demons that were leaving the secret realm look over a few times.
Fu Wang was the first to come out, and he, too, looked over curiously, before walking away casually. Of course, everyone was none the wiser to what he was internally scheming. He didn’t venture too far but hid himself in a nearby area and observed the ongoings over there. After around two periods1 of waiting, Shu Yu came out. The moment she appeared, Fu Wang paid attention to the movements of the Twelfth Elder— he seemed to have glanced at Shu Yu, but didn’t do anything else.
Everything went smoothly. Shu Yu left without a hitch, and they regrouped. The two didn’t encounter any problems on their way, rushing day and night until they reached Dayan City, one of the Snake Clan’s nine cities.
Dayan City was one of the nine cities belonging to the Snake Clan, located in the outermost area of the miasma ring. Although he had created a miasma-repelling formation that Shu Yu could carry with her everywhere, he had still been concerned she couldn’t adjust to it, which is why he chose this particular place. As for him, although on the surface he was also carrying a miasma-repelling formation, the truth was that he no longer had to fear miasma after becoming a Devil.
Most snake demons were aloof creatures, so Dayan City seemed much emptier than other cities, such as those within the twelve branches of the Fox Clan. There were plenty of demons on the streets, but they all went their separate ways, and even the shops and stalls along the streets didn’t have sellers belting out prices, which was why it seemed to quiet.
Shu Yu has been excited since they left the Clear Wilderness, even more so now that they arrived at Dayan City. It’s been a long while since she’s seen so many people at once; ever since she came to this world, she hadn’t been able to visit the streets properly, so even though Dayan City wasn’t very rowdy she was still very happy. Although she looked expressionless, Fu Wang was accustomed to observing every detail of her expressions, so he was naturally aware of her delight.
The two walked side by side, one in black robes and the other in gray. Fu Wang didn’t have his trademark gentle and slightly smiling expression; it was more of a frosty expression to match their current identities as snake demons. He looked gloomy in a way he had never shown in front of Shu Yu, especially when he was wearing black robes— he looked no different than any of the snake demons around them.
For her part, Shu Yu was also mimicking Fu Wang, but her eyes were still stealing glances around; that gaze full of wonder and light was very different from the empty, sullen eyes of the others. Fu Wang felt a bit resigned, but he still bemusedly linked their fingers and tugged at her slightly. Shu Yu immediately took her eyes off a nearby food stand and looked directly ahead, but her little eyes were a bit disappointed.
Fu Wang moved closer to her and murmured in her ear, “Wait until evening, then I’ll take you out to sightsee.”
Shu Yu’s eyes brightened and turned to look at him. She made the effort to convey “Really? Is that true?” with her eyes.
“One year ago, I said I would take you to sightsee the night market. Although it’s not any sort of demonic festive, there should still be a full moon tonight, so the night market should still be enjoyable.” Fu Wang’s disguise was on point, even his tone was dour like his appearance, cold and distant. However, it was a bit warmer because it was just a whisper between them.
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Shu Yu nodded eagerly, the anticipation in her eyes couldn’t be suppressed. Fu Wang led her to an inn, and Shu Yu noticed that this unlike any she had ever seen in TV shows or novels, where there’d be a servant greeting them with a “Customers, would you prefer a meal or a room~” In fact, no one seemed to pay them any attention.
The place they entered – in Shu Yu’s opinion – didn’t even look like an inn. If anything, it looked like a hakka tulou2, the kind of structure that looked like a circle from above with several floors and each floor having countless rooms.
“Da-Yu3, is this an inn?” Shu Yu pulled on Fu Wang sleeves and quietly asked.
Fu Wang blinked when he heard the way she called him, feeling unused to it. Since they had changed their looks, voices and so on, it was better if they changed their names as well. He could still call her Xiao-Yu and asked her to pick a nickname for him, but after brainstorming for a long while, she tentatively decided to call him “Da-Yu”4. Fu Wang didn’t understand her line of thinking, but he didn’t really mind little things like this, so he agreed.
“Yes, it’s an inn. Shu Yu probably doesn’t know, but places that have lantern trees like this one are able to provide housing for demons at any time,” Fu Wang explained. The manor would naturally prepare everything for Tianfeng Jinyu if she went out, so of course, she had no need to come live in a place like this, which is why Shu Yu didn’t know either. Seeing Shu Yu’s eyes full of interest, Fu Wang didn’t say anything else and led her inside so she could see for herself.
There was a single tree in this bizarre-looking inn. It looked like a persimmon tree with no leaves, and there were orange fruits that looked like tiny lanterns attached to the branches, which looked very pretty against the dark tiles. Shu Yu appraised it and secretly thought these fruits looked somewhat delicious, although who knew if she could or couldn’t pick at them.
As she thought this, Shu Yu heard Fu Wang say, “Wait here.” Then with one leap, he landed on top of the tree and plucked one of the bigger fruits.
After Fu Wang returned to her side, Shu Yu was very touched. She didn’t say anything about eating one yet, but Fu Wang already went to pick it.
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However, why did he only get one?
Fu Wang could see what Shu Yu was thinking with one glance. He gently flicked her forehead, and his voice was slightly mirthful as he said, “It can’t be eaten, they’re lanterns borne from the lantern tree.” After he finished, the fruit on his hand turned into an orange lantern.
Shu Yu gawked at it with wide-eyed eyes like a country bumpkin. People entered after them and, like Fu Wang, also jumped on the tree and plucked some fruits, which then turned into lanterns. Fu Wang pulled Shu Yu aside to make room for others and led her towards one of the staircases.
The stairs were a bit old, making creaking noises, and the orange light of the lanterns shone on the stairs, casting a dark shadow on the carvings on the walls, giving it an eerie and mysterious atmosphere.
The two continued upwards layer by layer, passing by many rooms along the way. Shu Yu noticed a lantern hanging on one of the doors, the lantern was just like theirs. There were some rooms that didn’t have any lanterns, so maybe that meant there wasn’t anyone living inside? Shu Yu trailed behind Fu Wang and saw him finally stop on the sixth floor, in front of a room with no hanging lantern.
He hung his lantern on the door, and then patted a small, frog-like stone statue in front of the door – the thing even had moss growing on it – and it called out “GUA GUA!” after being patted twice. Shu Yu eek’ed and inched closer for a look, she also tentatively touched the moss-topped stone frog, and the stone frog screamed “GUA GUA!” again. She didn’t know how, but Shu Yu could hear the feeling of annoyance in its call this time.
Fu Wang took out a small piece of shiny silver stone from his sleeve, this was the common currency for the demon race. He put the money in front of the frog, and the stone frog suddenly stretched out its tongue and dragged the money inside its mouth, and then its cheeks bulged and moved as if chewing something.
After chewing a bit, it stopped moving.
Shu Yu squatted there looking at the stone frog, then she looked at Fu Wang, she had no idea what he was doing.
The next instant she understood then, because Fu Wang suddenly raised his leg and stomped on the stone frog’s head. He said, “Open the door.”
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The frog croaked “GUA GUA” pitifully, but it didn’t dare mess around any further, and the room in front of them opened its door, the lights inside also automatically lit up one by one. Fu Wang led Shu Yu inside, but she was still looking back at the frog, and after the door closed, she turned her head and curiously asked Fu Wang, “Da-Yu, what did you just do?”
“That is a small spirit creature raised by the Demonic Inn, there’s one at every door and they’re in charge of collecting room expenses. However, these little creatures love money very much, so if they encounter an unfamiliar customer, they will play tricks by eating the money and not opening the door, so customers must feed them a little more.” After they entered the room and it was only the two of them, Fu Wang’s expression was no longer frosty, and he was wearing his usual smile. He tilted his head. “This kind of spirit creature is best at being shameless, so at times like this, beating them up will solve the problem.”
Shu Yu rubbed her nose and coughed once, mumbling, “I thought it was still kind of cute, the noise it made was really nice.”
After saying that, she felt something drop from the ceiling and smack her head. She yelped involuntarily, and looked down and noticed that what smacked her was a small piece of shiny and silver stone. She picked up the stone and looked up at the ceiling, which didn’t have a single crack, then she looked at Fu Wang with a face full of question marks.
Fu Wang pulled her to sit next to him and continued explaining, “It’s a bit of the money the spirit creature at the door ate. These spirit creatures oversee everything inside the room, so if there’s anything you need you can tell it, they also each have different preferences and they’re unpredictable. Those words you just said probably made it very happy, so it spit out a bit of the money for you.”
Just as Fu Wang finished explaining, the stone frog outside also started screaming “GUA GUA!”. Fu Wang understood then, this spirit creature liked listening others praise its voice.
Shu Yu was dumbfounded while holding the rock money. So, this kind of thing was possible?
After a while more, the stone frog outside was still endlessly “GUA GUA”-ing, it was probably singing. In the beginning it was okay, but when Shu Yu was preparing to take a nap, she realized she couldn’t sleep.
Originally, Fu Wang was reading a book, but when he saw her toss around restlessly, he put down his book and went to open the door. She didn’t know what he did, but the frog instantly stopped screaming. Fu Wang closed the door, returned to his seat, and continued reading.
The frog wasn’t screaming anymore, but Shu Yu still couldn’t sleep. She simply got up and didn’t really do anything, just wandered in front of Fu Wang back and forth.
On the second time, Fu Wang sighed, and without raising his head, “If you want to feed the frog you can go, but you can’t feed it too much, or it will get a stomachache from overeating.”
“Ehe! I definitely won’t overfeed it!” Shu Yu beamed. She didn’t ask how Fu Wang knew she wanted to go play with the frog, after getting permission she excitedly rushed to the door to feed the frog.
Preductably, Shu Yu ended up overfeeding it. Fu Wang sat there and watched as the lights started swaying, even the chair he was sitting on started shaking. He knew that Shu Yu would feed it too much.
Wearing a guilty expression, Shu Yu sat on one of the wooden chairs in the room, the furniture in the room occasionally swayed and shook, and would sometimes shudder and tremble, kind of like a drunken person. Before, she was curious what would happen if that spirit creature ate too much, now she knew it wasn’t any different from a drunkard. She felt the whole room could break out dancing any time now.
She glanced at Fu Wang again. No matter how much the furniture in the room tossed and turned, he sat there reading his book with a calm face, as if he wasn’t affected at all. Shu Yu couldn’t do it though, she felt like she would eventually try to scuffle with the room.
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“Actually, it’s a bit interesting this way, isn’t it?” Shu Yu said, looking guilt-ridden. Fu Wang raised his eyes and looked at her, and she quickly changed the subject. “Why haven’t I seen this kind of little thing in the Tianfeng Manor before? There weren’t any in the Clear Wilderness either.”
Fu Wang explained as he continued reading, “These small spirit creatures will actively look for a place to settle, and it won’t relocate easily after settling down. Generally, they like to watch over these kinds of places. In places like the Tianfeng Manor, where it’s very common to use middle-rank demons as servants, there’s naturally no need for these low-rank little things. And these spirit creatures have no discipline, so unlike those who cling to and want to uphold their positions, they can’t be placed in the buildings.”
Fu Wang flipped another page. “Inside the Clear Wilderness, there are no people that can feed it money so it will die, so there aren’t any there, naturally. That’s why they will only be used in places like this, where people from everywhere gather for lodging. There are many other things just like this, and since they’re ‘not good enough’, Shu Yu wouldn’t have seen them in Tianfeng Jinyu’s memory. When we visit the night market in the evening, there will be more interesting trinkets there, you will probably like them.”
Since Fu Wang said that, Shu Yu was even more interested in the night market. She wished nothing more but for the evening to come as soon as possible, but it was only noon outside, so she would have to wait for quite a while. Seeing that she was restlessly pawing at this and pawing at that in the room, unable to stay in one place, Fu Wang ended up waving her over.
Shu Yu walked over and was pressed onto the couch by him. He covered her eyes with his sleeves. “For now, rest for a while. I will call you when it’s nighttime.”
Turning around, Shu Yu straight out used his legs as a pillow and hugged his waist, nuzzling against his clothes and then closing her eyes. His scent was very reassuring, and Shu Yu fell asleep after closing her eyes for a bit.
She was still a bit groggy when Fu Wang woke her up.
“Xiao-Yu? Wake up, it’s time to go to the night market.”
Hearing this, Shu Yu sat up straight. “Let’s go! Go go go!” She hopped off the couch and made a beeline for the door, only for Fu Wang to grab her collar.
“We aren’t going that way, but this way.” Fu Wang pulled her towards a window and pushed open the wooden frames. It was already deep into the night outside, the moon hung in the vast sky, casting a hazy ring of moonlight over the surroundings. On the sixth floor, they could see the city under their feet and the rolling hills in the distance from where they stood on the window, it was all shrouded in a mist-like color and was very nice to look at.
Fu Wang smiled at her and curled an arm around her, then they jumped through the window. They didn’t fall but soared through the air towards the cyan hills in the distance. The night market wasn’t in the city, but in the mountains around it. Shu Yu saw many people jump out of the inn’s window like them and fly in the same direction. The number of people wasn’t small either. It felt like everyone was rushing together for market sales.
Shu Yu wrapped her arms around Fu Wang’s neck, looking at his bellowing hair and robes as well as his side profile under the moonlight. Although his disguise wasn’t as handsome as his actual face, it was still good-looking in her eyes.
So, Shu Yu couldn’t help but go closer and peck the corner of his lips, causing Fu Wang to look down at her with a small smile and saying softly, “We’ll be arriving soon.”
“En~” Shu Yu had a smile on her face.
“So when we get there, I will kiss you back,” Fu Wang said. His eyes were especially bright under the moonlight. “Your kindness shall be returned with a burst of spring5.”
Shu Yu: … Eh?! Nonono! There’s no need! This development isn’t quite right! Right now, it should be enough to just gaze passionately at each other!
Fu Wang: It isn’t enough.
Chapter Description: Gua gua gua gua gua gua gua~ (frog singing)
Author’s Note:
I like these weird and fantasy-esque worlds, so I can’t stop myself at all. _(:3」∠)_
T/N: Hello! Niom here! The next update will be dragged on until around early August because I’m ending my semester and preparing for graduation! I decided it was better for me to focus my all in these few weeks on this (and other related stuff) before anything else, sorry for this :c See you with the next translation on August though. <3
14 hours
2客家土楼 – Small earthen buildings that can accommodate all families, with shared central space.
3大鱼, Da-Yu, means Big Fish.
4Since her own nickname is “little fish” AKA Xiao-Yu, she improvised and decided to call him Big Fish AKA Da-Yu
5涌泉相报, part of “滴水之恩,涌泉相报”, a drop of water in need shall be returned with a spring. When you give someone kindness in their time of need and the other repays you with XXX times the kindness. AKA Fu Wang wants to give more than a kiss.
There was a three-day window available when someone wanted to leave the Clear Wilderness. Of course, Shu Yu and Fu Wang won’t wait until the final day to be forcibly ejected. On day one, they already concealed their faces, changed their auras using Fu Wang’s pills, and then split into two groups before leaving the Clear Wilderness.
At the entrance, the carriage carrying the Twelfth Elder and Tianfeng Linlang was so luxurious it could blind everyone on site and there were hundreds of servants at their beck and call, this made the demons that were leaving the secret realm look over a few times.
Fu Wang was the first to come out, and he, too, looked over curiously, before walking away casually. Of course, everyone was none the wiser to what he was internally scheming. He didn’t venture too far but hid himself in a nearby area and observed the ongoings over there. After around two periods1 of waiting, Shu Yu came out. The moment she appeared, Fu Wang paid attention to the movements of the Twelfth Elder— he seemed to have glanced at Shu Yu, but didn’t do anything else.
Everything went smoothly. Shu Yu left without a hitch, and they regrouped. The two didn’t encounter any problems on their way, rushing day and night until they reached Dayan City, one of the Snake Clan’s nine cities.
Dayan City was one of the nine cities belonging to the Snake Clan, located in the outermost area of the miasma ring. Although he had created a miasma-repelling formation that Shu Yu could carry with her everywhere, he had still been concerned she couldn’t adjust to it, which is why he chose this particular place. As for him, although on the surface he was also carrying a miasma-repelling formation, the truth was that he no longer had to fear miasma after becoming a Devil.
Most snake demons were aloof creatures, so Dayan City seemed much emptier than other cities, such as those within the twelve branches of the Fox Clan. There were plenty of demons on the streets, but they all went their separate ways, and even the shops and stalls along the streets didn’t have sellers belting out prices, which was why it seemed to quiet.
Shu Yu has been excited since they left the Clear Wilderness, even more so now that they arrived at Dayan City. It’s been a long while since she’s seen so many people at once; ever since she came to this world, she hadn’t been able to visit the streets properly, so even though Dayan City wasn’t very rowdy she was still very happy. Although she looked expressionless, Fu Wang was accustomed to observing every detail of her expressions, so he was naturally aware of her delight.
The two walked side by side, one in black robes and the other in gray. Fu Wang didn’t have his trademark gentle and slightly smiling expression; it was more of a frosty expression to match their current identities as snake demons. He looked gloomy in a way he had never shown in front of Shu Yu, especially when he was wearing black robes— he looked no different than any of the snake demons around them.
For her part, Shu Yu was also mimicking Fu Wang, but her eyes were still stealing glances around; that gaze full of wonder and light was very different from the empty, sullen eyes of the others. Fu Wang felt a bit resigned, but he still bemusedly linked their fingers and tugged at her slightly. Shu Yu immediately took her eyes off a nearby food stand and looked directly ahead, but her little eyes were a bit disappointed.
Fu Wang moved closer to her and murmured in her ear, “Wait until evening, then I’ll take you out to sightsee.”
Shu Yu’s eyes brightened and turned to look at him. She made the effort to convey “Really? Is that true?” with her eyes.
“One year ago, I said I would take you to sightsee the night market. Although it’s not any sort of demonic festive, there should still be a full moon tonight, so the night market should still be enjoyable.” Fu Wang’s disguise was on point, even his tone was dour like his appearance, cold and distant. However, it was a bit warmer because it was just a whisper between them.
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Shu Yu nodded eagerly, the anticipation in her eyes couldn’t be suppressed. Fu Wang led her to an inn, and Shu Yu noticed that this unlike any she had ever seen in TV shows or novels, where there’d be a servant greeting them with a “Customers, would you prefer a meal or a room~” In fact, no one seemed to pay them any attention.
The place they entered – in Shu Yu’s opinion – didn’t even look like an inn. If anything, it looked like a hakka tulou2, the kind of structure that looked like a circle from above with several floors and each floor having countless rooms.
“Da-Yu3, is this an inn?” Shu Yu pulled on Fu Wang sleeves and quietly asked.
Fu Wang blinked when he heard the way she called him, feeling unused to it. Since they had changed their looks, voices and so on, it was better if they changed their names as well. He could still call her Xiao-Yu and asked her to pick a nickname for him, but after brainstorming for a long while, she tentatively decided to call him “Da-Yu”4. Fu Wang didn’t understand her line of thinking, but he didn’t really mind little things like this, so he agreed.
“Yes, it’s an inn. Shu Yu probably doesn’t know, but places that have lantern trees like this one are able to provide housing for demons at any time,” Fu Wang explained. The manor would naturally prepare everything for Tianfeng Jinyu if she went out, so of course, she had no need to come live in a place like this, which is why Shu Yu didn’t know either. Seeing Shu Yu’s eyes full of interest, Fu Wang didn’t say anything else and led her inside so she could see for herself.
There was a single tree in this bizarre-looking inn. It looked like a persimmon tree with no leaves, and there were orange fruits that looked like tiny lanterns attached to the branches, which looked very pretty against the dark tiles. Shu Yu appraised it and secretly thought these fruits looked somewhat delicious, although who knew if she could or couldn’t pick at them.
As she thought this, Shu Yu heard Fu Wang say, “Wait here.” Then with one leap, he landed on top of the tree and plucked one of the bigger fruits.
After Fu Wang returned to her side, Shu Yu was very touched. She didn’t say anything about eating one yet, but Fu Wang already went to pick it.
Advertisement
However, why did he only get one?
Fu Wang could see what Shu Yu was thinking with one glance. He gently flicked her forehead, and his voice was slightly mirthful as he said, “It can’t be eaten, they’re lanterns borne from the lantern tree.” After he finished, the fruit on his hand turned into an orange lantern.
Shu Yu gawked at it with wide-eyed eyes like a country bumpkin. People entered after them and, like Fu Wang, also jumped on the tree and plucked some fruits, which then turned into lanterns. Fu Wang pulled Shu Yu aside to make room for others and led her towards one of the staircases.
The stairs were a bit old, making creaking noises, and the orange light of the lanterns shone on the stairs, casting a dark shadow on the carvings on the walls, giving it an eerie and mysterious atmosphere.
The two continued upwards layer by layer, passing by many rooms along the way. Shu Yu noticed a lantern hanging on one of the doors, the lantern was just like theirs. There were some rooms that didn’t have any lanterns, so maybe that meant there wasn’t anyone living inside? Shu Yu trailed behind Fu Wang and saw him finally stop on the sixth floor, in front of a room with no hanging lantern.
He hung his lantern on the door, and then patted a small, frog-like stone statue in front of the door – the thing even had moss growing on it – and it called out “GUA GUA!” after being patted twice. Shu Yu eek’ed and inched closer for a look, she also tentatively touched the moss-topped stone frog, and the stone frog screamed “GUA GUA!” again. She didn’t know how, but Shu Yu could hear the feeling of annoyance in its call this time.
Fu Wang took out a small piece of shiny silver stone from his sleeve, this was the common currency for the demon race. He put the money in front of the frog, and the stone frog suddenly stretched out its tongue and dragged the money inside its mouth, and then its cheeks bulged and moved as if chewing something.
After chewing a bit, it stopped moving.
Shu Yu squatted there looking at the stone frog, then she looked at Fu Wang, she had no idea what he was doing.
The next instant she understood then, because Fu Wang suddenly raised his leg and stomped on the stone frog’s head. He said, “Open the door.”
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The frog croaked “GUA GUA” pitifully, but it didn’t dare mess around any further, and the room in front of them opened its door, the lights inside also automatically lit up one by one. Fu Wang led Shu Yu inside, but she was still looking back at the frog, and after the door closed, she turned her head and curiously asked Fu Wang, “Da-Yu, what did you just do?”
“That is a small spirit creature raised by the Demonic Inn, there’s one at every door and they’re in charge of collecting room expenses. However, these little creatures love money very much, so if they encounter an unfamiliar customer, they will play tricks by eating the money and not opening the door, so customers must feed them a little more.” After they entered the room and it was only the two of them, Fu Wang’s expression was no longer frosty, and he was wearing his usual smile. He tilted his head. “This kind of spirit creature is best at being shameless, so at times like this, beating them up will solve the problem.”
Shu Yu rubbed her nose and coughed once, mumbling, “I thought it was still kind of cute, the noise it made was really nice.”
After saying that, she felt something drop from the ceiling and smack her head. She yelped involuntarily, and looked down and noticed that what smacked her was a small piece of shiny and silver stone. She picked up the stone and looked up at the ceiling, which didn’t have a single crack, then she looked at Fu Wang with a face full of question marks.
Fu Wang pulled her to sit next to him and continued explaining, “It’s a bit of the money the spirit creature at the door ate. These spirit creatures oversee everything inside the room, so if there’s anything you need you can tell it, they also each have different preferences and they’re unpredictable. Those words you just said probably made it very happy, so it spit out a bit of the money for you.”
Just as Fu Wang finished explaining, the stone frog outside also started screaming “GUA GUA!”. Fu Wang understood then, this spirit creature liked listening others praise its voice.
Shu Yu was dumbfounded while holding the rock money. So, this kind of thing was possible?
After a while more, the stone frog outside was still endlessly “GUA GUA”-ing, it was probably singing. In the beginning it was okay, but when Shu Yu was preparing to take a nap, she realized she couldn’t sleep.
Originally, Fu Wang was reading a book, but when he saw her toss around restlessly, he put down his book and went to open the door. She didn’t know what he did, but the frog instantly stopped screaming. Fu Wang closed the door, returned to his seat, and continued reading.
The frog wasn’t screaming anymore, but Shu Yu still couldn’t sleep. She simply got up and didn’t really do anything, just wandered in front of Fu Wang back and forth.
On the second time, Fu Wang sighed, and without raising his head, “If you want to feed the frog you can go, but you can’t feed it too much, or it will get a stomachache from overeating.”
“Ehe! I definitely won’t overfeed it!” Shu Yu beamed. She didn’t ask how Fu Wang knew she wanted to go play with the frog, after getting permission she excitedly rushed to the door to feed the frog.
Preductably, Shu Yu ended up overfeeding it. Fu Wang sat there and watched as the lights started swaying, even the chair he was sitting on started shaking. He knew that Shu Yu would feed it too much.
Wearing a guilty expression, Shu Yu sat on one of the wooden chairs in the room, the furniture in the room occasionally swayed and shook, and would sometimes shudder and tremble, kind of like a drunken person. Before, she was curious what would happen if that spirit creature ate too much, now she knew it wasn’t any different from a drunkard. She felt the whole room could break out dancing any time now.
She glanced at Fu Wang again. No matter how much the furniture in the room tossed and turned, he sat there reading his book with a calm face, as if he wasn’t affected at all. Shu Yu couldn’t do it though, she felt like she would eventually try to scuffle with the room.
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“Actually, it’s a bit interesting this way, isn’t it?” Shu Yu said, looking guilt-ridden. Fu Wang raised his eyes and looked at her, and she quickly changed the subject. “Why haven’t I seen this kind of little thing in the Tianfeng Manor before? There weren’t any in the Clear Wilderness either.”
Fu Wang explained as he continued reading, “These small spirit creatures will actively look for a place to settle, and it won’t relocate easily after settling down. Generally, they like to watch over these kinds of places. In places like the Tianfeng Manor, where it’s very common to use middle-rank demons as servants, there’s naturally no need for these low-rank little things. And these spirit creatures have no discipline, so unlike those who cling to and want to uphold their positions, they can’t be placed in the buildings.”
Fu Wang flipped another page. “Inside the Clear Wilderness, there are no people that can feed it money so it will die, so there aren’t any there, naturally. That’s why they will only be used in places like this, where people from everywhere gather for lodging. There are many other things just like this, and since they’re ‘not good enough’, Shu Yu wouldn’t have seen them in Tianfeng Jinyu’s memory. When we visit the night market in the evening, there will be more interesting trinkets there, you will probably like them.”
Since Fu Wang said that, Shu Yu was even more interested in the night market. She wished nothing more but for the evening to come as soon as possible, but it was only noon outside, so she would have to wait for quite a while. Seeing that she was restlessly pawing at this and pawing at that in the room, unable to stay in one place, Fu Wang ended up waving her over.
Shu Yu walked over and was pressed onto the couch by him. He covered her eyes with his sleeves. “For now, rest for a while. I will call you when it’s nighttime.”
Turning around, Shu Yu straight out used his legs as a pillow and hugged his waist, nuzzling against his clothes and then closing her eyes. His scent was very reassuring, and Shu Yu fell asleep after closing her eyes for a bit.
She was still a bit groggy when Fu Wang woke her up.
“Xiao-Yu? Wake up, it’s time to go to the night market.”
Hearing this, Shu Yu sat up straight. “Let’s go! Go go go!” She hopped off the couch and made a beeline for the door, only for Fu Wang to grab her collar.
“We aren’t going that way, but this way.” Fu Wang pulled her towards a window and pushed open the wooden frames. It was already deep into the night outside, the moon hung in the vast sky, casting a hazy ring of moonlight over the surroundings. On the sixth floor, they could see the city under their feet and the rolling hills in the distance from where they stood on the window, it was all shrouded in a mist-like color and was very nice to look at.
Fu Wang smiled at her and curled an arm around her, then they jumped through the window. They didn’t fall but soared through the air towards the cyan hills in the distance. The night market wasn’t in the city, but in the mountains around it. Shu Yu saw many people jump out of the inn’s window like them and fly in the same direction. The number of people wasn’t small either. It felt like everyone was rushing together for market sales.
Shu Yu wrapped her arms around Fu Wang’s neck, looking at his bellowing hair and robes as well as his side profile under the moonlight. Although his disguise wasn’t as handsome as his actual face, it was still good-looking in her eyes.
So, Shu Yu couldn’t help but go closer and peck the corner of his lips, causing Fu Wang to look down at her with a small smile and saying softly, “We’ll be arriving soon.”
“En~” Shu Yu had a smile on her face.
“So when we get there, I will kiss you back,” Fu Wang said. His eyes were especially bright under the moonlight. “Your kindness shall be returned with a burst of spring5.”
Shu Yu: … Eh?! Nonono! There’s no need! This development isn’t quite right! Right now, it should be enough to just gaze passionately at each other!
Fu Wang: It isn’t enough.
Chapter Description: Gua gua gua gua gua gua gua~ (frog singing)
Author’s Note:
I like these weird and fantasy-esque worlds, so I can’t stop myself at all. _(:3」∠)_
T/N: Hello! Niom here! The next update will be dragged on until around early August because I’m ending my semester and preparing for graduation! I decided it was better for me to focus my all in these few weeks on this (and other related stuff) before anything else, sorry for this :c See you with the next translation on August though. <3
14 hours
2客家土楼 – Small earthen buildings that can accommodate all families, with shared central space.
3大鱼, Da-Yu, means Big Fish.
4Since her own nickname is “little fish” AKA Xiao-Yu, she improvised and decided to call him Big Fish AKA Da-Yu
5涌泉相报, part of “滴水之恩,涌泉相报”, a drop of water in need shall be returned with a spring. When you give someone kindness in their time of need and the other repays you with XXX times the kindness. AKA Fu Wang wants to give more than a kiss.
