“Look at this, Da-Yu what is this?” There was a transparent ball held within Shu Yu’s hands. Inside the ball, there were two golden, glowing butterflies contained inside the ball, flying and bumping around in an attempt to escape the transparent ball; these were, of course, part of the large wave of lights that had surged past them just moments ago.
Somehow, these two little golden butterflies were unlucky enough to get inside this transparent ball and were separated from the others, and were now extremely anxious within the ball’s confines, crashing around, unable to find an exit. Shu Yu turned the transparent ball over and over in her hands. The touch was like that of a rubber ball, soft-like but also elastic. Who knew how those two little golden butterflies got inside though, there weren’t any slits on the transparent ball surface.
“Da-Yu? Is something wrong?” Shu Yu couldn’t solve this mystery no matter how much she tried to think, so she raised her head to ask Fu Wang, and only then noticed that his expression was slightly strange.
Fu Wang withdrew his hand as if nothing had happened. He looked at the transparent ball in Shu Yu’s hands and said, “That’s a ‘Dumpling Trapper’1, it’s also a spirit creature. It likes to trap small animals or other spirit creatures to play. It will automatically let them go after a while.”
“Eh? This ball is also a spirit creature? Then how can it be opened?” Shu Yu asked.
Wordlessly, Fu Wang reached out and pinched the little ball, grabbing hold of a small bit and pulling it away, and after letting go, the little ball issued a shrill cry at the sudden pain of its skin snapping back. It also grew two thin and noodle-like legs and tried running away, but it was grabbed swiftly by Fu Wang who was prepared for its escape.
Seeing him make a movement to pull on its two legs without a change in his expression, the little ball finally understood fear, and with a spitting noise it spat out the two little golden butterflies it had trapped. Then, its body shrunk into the size of a thin and transparent membrane. It was casually thrown away somewhere by Fu Wang, to float wherever the wind carried it.
Shu Yu gave the shrunk-down transparent ball an extra glance, and suddenly thought that this thing looked a bit like protection. Cough, never mind, she didn’t think of anything.
But speaking of, she and Fu Wang had never taken any aftercare measures after doing those things, or maybe Fu Wang did it, but she didn’t realize it. Anyhow, according to Fu Wang’s manner of doing it – plugging it and not letting it come out every time – then the chances of conception should be pretty high, right? What if she really had gotten pregnant?
Every time Shu Yu’s thoughts wandered unconstrainedly, her face would always involuntarily turn very serious, making her look incredibly stern. Sometimes Fu Wang could guess her thoughts, but at times like this it really was impossible to figure out her scattered thoughts.
“Xiao-Yu, what are you thinking about?” Fu Wang decided to just ask her.
Shu Yu looked at him, troubled, and after a bit of squirming, she asked in a tiny voice, “Will I get pregnant?”
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Fu Wang paused. There were complicated emotions in his eyes, but they were quickly concealed. He smiled slightly and asked back, “Xiao-Yu likes children. Do you… want to have your own child?”
“Well, about that, actually I– I still am not ready to be a mother,” Shu Yu said haltingly. She quickly glanced at him, looking worried that he would get angry, but she still earnestly voiced her thoughts. “And, with our situation, it isn’t a good time to have a child either.”
She has always been like this, treating everything earnestly and seriously, never brushing him off or lying to him. Fu Wang internally sighed. He reached out and held Shu Yu’s shoulders, looking at her somewhat guiltily. “Xiao-Yu, I’m afraid I will never be able to have a child of my own.”
“You are aware of it, I’m a lowly slave within the Qing Fox Clan. I was previously raised to serve the masters of the Qing Fox Clan, but my bloodline is impure, so I was not allowed to sire any children. That’s why I have already taken that medicine long ago.” He caressed Shu Yu’s cheek carefully and preciously, his eyes full of guilt.
In truth, his guilt came from the lie he was telling Shu Yu. Indeed, he had been fed that kind of medicine when he was in the Qing Fox Clan, but this was not the real reason he was unable to conceive. The true reason was because he had become a Devil. Devils cannot conceive offspring, Devils only come into being from the corruption of living creatures or are naturally formed and created by nature itself.
Contrary to what he thought, after hearing Fu Wang’s words, Shu Yu was greatly relieved instead. Although she had gotten together with Fu Wang, she still thought that if she could find a way home, she would still go home because she still had loving parents back home, except that she wanted Fu Wang to come with her back to her world.
If she gave birth to children, things would get very troublesome, so it was better to not have any. Besides, it would be nice if Fu Wang treated her and only her so sweetly, and no one else. It was rare for her to have such small selfish thoughts, and they felt too shameful to say out loud.
“I don’t want children. I want you, and that’s enough for me.” But looking at Fu Wang’s glum expression, she still couldn’t help but blurt out those words. Just as she said them, she was abruptly embraced.
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AD
“It’s enough for me to only have Xiao-Yu, as well.” Fu Wang snuzzled Shu Yu’s temple, his eyes were melting with warmth, and his tone was softer than the spring breeze in April.
Once a person who never thought they’d fall in love actually fell in love, they would willingly devote their entire being to dying and living for their beloved, falling so deep that it would be too late to attempt any struggle.
Fu Wang gazed into Shu Yu’s eyes, his expression extremely tender, but in the depths of his eyes was concealed an agitation that couldn’t be quelled, as well as some hints of forcefully suppressed malice.
Metaphorically, if he were a single piece and gave all his being to Shu Yu, and Shu Yu were ten and only gave him nine tenths of herself to him, then he still wouldn’t be satisfied.
He was so irrevocably, so deeply in love with this person, so in love that even he was terrified of this very different side of himself. He wanted to possess everything about her. Even though he clearly was in possession of too much already, the ravines inside his heart still couldn’t be completely satisfied. He could no longer tell if that perpetual greed came from himself, or if it came from the devil qi’s influence inside his body. He also couldn’t tell to what extent he had to reach for, in order for this clamoring desire to be quelled.
Fu Wang only hugged her for a bit, and then released her with a neutral expression. He pointed at those golden butterflies who were fluttering like headless flies, unable to settle on a direction, and said with a smile, “They can’t seem to find their way.”
Shu Yu didn’t notice anything off with him. She followed his finger and looked at those two golden butterflies, and sure enough, they were fluttering their wings anxiously, and if you listened carefully, you could also hear some sobbing and crying. Shu Yu’s attention was naturally turned towards the two golden butterflies. She tentatively held out a finger, and the two little golden butterflies docilely landed on them.
“Xiao-Yu seems quite popular with these little spirit creatures.” Fu Wang stood to the side with his hands folded, smiling. He was the opposite of Shu Yu. These little things never approached him of their own volition. They didn’t do so before, and now they were even more terrified of him.
“We’re not in a hurry elsewhere anyways, how about we go look around for the other golden butterflies? If they stray from the group, they will die, won’t they?” Shu Yu asked.
“Alright. Those golden butterflies, they seem to have gone in that direction.” Fu Wang pointed at the dark mountainous forest in the distance.
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Shu Yu hadn’t paid attention to them, but she would never doubt Fu Wang, so she nodded. “Then let’s hurry and take a look.”
The two only explored the night market a little before they went to chase after the wave of golden butterflies from before, and directly entered the mountainous forest. After getting far away from the bustle of the night market, only Shu Yu and Fu Wang were left walking on the mountain path. Those two golden butterflies fluttered up and settled on Shu Yu’s head, flickering and twinkling; from afar, it looked like there were two small light bulbs on top of Shu Yu’s head.
The surroundings gradually quieted down. Shu Yu was just chattering about a stall she saw in the night market that sold little snacks and how they had to go try it out when they returned, when she suddenly felt Fu Wang grab ahold of her from behind.
Shu Yu stopped in her tracks. She felt Fu Wang holding her, his face buried in her neck as his breathing lightly puffed against her, it was a bit ticklish. Shu Yu blushed slightly and turned to look at him sideways and felt it was a bit strange. Although Fu Wang liked to act intimate with her, she didn’t know why but she felt something was off this time. “Is something wrong?”
Fu Wang didn’t answer. He only buried into her neck and tenderly licked her and kissed her.
For one single moment, Shu Yu subconsciously felt danger and goosebumps involuntarily bristled on her back. That unique feeling that she only got every time there was danger put Shu Yu on her guard. She even stopped paying attention to Fu Wang and looked at her surroundings. But aside from her, Fu Wang and those two golden butterflies, there was nothing else around.
That feeling only lasted a moment and vanished as quickly as it came.
Fu Wang released her, his steady and gentle voice was particularly reassuring in the dark of the night, “Is something wrong, Xiao-Yu?”
“Nothing.” Shu Yu quizzically looked around. She really didn’t feel anyone else, so she shook her head. “It’s just, I think I felt something very dangerous just now.”
“Oh?” Nothing could be discerned from Fu Wang’s voice.
Shu Yu pulled down the hand that was holding her shoulder and grasped it tightly in her hand. She said obliviously, “Let’s stick closer, just in case there’s really any danger, that way I will protect you.”
Fu Wang said nothing.
He was led in hand by Shu Yu as they walked. After that, Shu Yu no longer felt that threatening feeling again, so she felt that maybe it had been a mistake. When they turned around a thick cluster of trees, their vision suddenly brightened up.
A massive tree was growing not far away, it was so massive it could reach into the sky and conceal the moon. Its surroundings were covered in a thicket of yellow leaves, like the layer of a golden carpet. This tree that seemed to have shed all of its leaves also seemed to be growing new ones —— The golden butterflies they were searching for were perched on the tree now, giving the illusion that the tree had already grown all of its new leaves.
Such a scene was unbelievably beautiful. It didn’t look like something that could occur in real life.
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The two small golden butterflies perched on Shu Yu’s head fluttered their wings and returned to their huge cluster. Before they left, they flapped around in front of Shu Yu’s nose twice, probably expressing their gratitude.
After standing there for a while, Shu Yu pulled Fu Wang’s finger. “Let’s return and continue exploring the night market.”
However, Fu Wang pointed at the tree. “Look.”
Shu Yu turned her head and saw that the golden butterflies that were originally resting on that tree had all flown up, from the very top they began to scatter towards the sky, seeming like layers upon layers of golden clouds in the sky. Then, they abruptly fluttered downwards, stirring up the layer of yellow leaves on the ground. For a moment, it was even impossible to distinguish whether the ones in the air were yellow leaves or golden butterflies.
The dance performance of these golden performance was only for a short while, but it was the most mind-blowing performance of any dance Shu Yu had ever seen. Even when seeing it with her own eyes, there were no words that could describe such a romantic and magnificent scene.
When the two of them walked back on the mountain path, Shu Yu was still excitedly chattering about the scene they just saw. Fu Wang only listened to her with a smile, sometimes chiming in with a sentence or two, but it was enough to keep Shu Yu happily talking.
They hadn’t encountered any problems on their way here, but on their way back, as they passed by a big piece of stone, Shu Yu suddenly heard a ghostly cry. It came from the depths of the darkness in thin and broken hiccups, instantly conjuring the image of female ghosts in those bizarre horror stories. Shu Yu was most afraid of these kinds of things, so once she heard it, she instantly hugged Fu Wang’s waist.
“Help~ Someone help me~” That weeping and grievous female voice suddenly said.
“It seems like, someone over there is asking for help?” Shu Yu said as she tightly squeezed Fu Wang’s waist.
Smiling, Fu Wang watched how Shu Yu looked like she wanted nothing more than to plaster herself to his waist. He breezily asked, “Want to take a look?”
Shu Yu looked over there with a struggling look, and just in time, there came the sound of the begging woman again. She could only nod. “Let’s have a look.” Although she agreed, she was practically dragged along by Fu Wang, and later Fu Wang decided to simply carry her in his arms. Shu Yu didn’t struggle either and even hugged his neck in a particularly obedient manner.
Seeing at her like this, Fu Wang suddenly seemed to have understood something. So, it turned out, she was this afraid of these things.
The moonlight cast dim spots of light through the dense forestry, coincidentally casting light on a piece of stone. That stone seemed to be crushing something underneath, only showing a long swath of pitch-black hair. That large patch of hair scattered on the ground vividly rendered the surroundings with the atmosphere of a horror movie.
Shu Yu was practically strangling Fu Wang, squeezing so hard he almost couldn’t breathe. However, looking at her scared little expression, Fu Wang could only pat her back gently and reassure her, “Don’t be afraid. That’s an ‘Elder Ginseng’, it’s a spirit creature as well.”
“Eh?”
“Elder ginseng like to burrow underneath stones to sleep, but when they sleep, they start growing a beard. If they let it grow long enough it will get accidentally stuck underneath the stone, then they will be unable to get out. That’s when they will imitate the voice of young women to seek help.” As Fu Wang explained, he raised a leg and kicked away the large stone crushing the swath of hair, revealing a palm-sized, dried-up, old man-like little person. That ‘black hair’ was growing from the old man’s chin, showing that it was was clearly its beard.
Shu Yu: Ha ha.
“Aigoo aigoo~ Thank you for saving old little me~” That bizarre-looking elder ginseng dragged its frightening amount of beard, climbed up, and proceeded to try to bow towards the two. “If it weren’t for the aid of you two, who knows for how much longer this old little man would’ve been stuck in there~ To show my gratitude, this old little man will give the two a jar of liquor, I hope you two don’t disdain this gift~”
After it finished speaking, it dragged out a sealed jar from underneath the stone, lugging it with two hands as it shuffled and pushed it in front of the two. It flapped its hands, and then bowed again while sweating, and then gathered its swath of beard and walked away while puffing.
Shu Yu pointed at the ‘black hair’ getting farther and farther way, then looked at the jar in front of their feet that was said to contain liquor, seeming at a loss of words. After struggling for a while, she finally squeezed out, “It can talk?”
“Certain spirit creature that live long enough can indeed speak. Aside from appearance, they become no different from the demon race.” As Fu Wang explained, he picked up that jar of liquor. He opened the seal and brought it close for a whiff. “It’s top-quality ginseng liquor.”
“Since we have inadvertently obtained a good jar of liquor, then let us first visit the liquor fair,” Fu Wang said suddenly. “Before, when I visited the night market, I often brought a jar of liquor with me and exchanged drinks with others for the night. It was quite pleasant.”
“Ah?” Shu Yu looked at him strangely. She never knew Fu Wang could drink liquor, and it felt like she’d never seen him drink either. She had assumed that he did not drink. “Then how much can you drink?”
Fu Wang laughed while shaking his head. “In the drinking sessions of the night market, no one has ever beaten me at drinking. No matter how much I drink, I won’t get drunk. So, Xiao-Yu can rest assured, but I will have to trouble Xiao-Yu into accompanying me for a while.”
“It’s fine. If you want to go, we will go.” Shu Yu generously patted his shoulder.
.
Chapter Description: That which she did not know.
Author’s Note:
Happy New Year’s Day to everyone, I hope your year goes by well~
T/N: At the time this chapter came out, it was Chinese new year.
1困团子; 团子 is Dumpling and here refers to “small and little things”.
“Look at this, Da-Yu what is this?” There was a transparent ball held within Shu Yu’s hands. Inside the ball, there were two golden, glowing butterflies contained inside the ball, flying and bumping around in an attempt to escape the transparent ball; these were, of course, part of the large wave of lights that had surged past them just moments ago.
Somehow, these two little golden butterflies were unlucky enough to get inside this transparent ball and were separated from the others, and were now extremely anxious within the ball’s confines, crashing around, unable to find an exit. Shu Yu turned the transparent ball over and over in her hands. The touch was like that of a rubber ball, soft-like but also elastic. Who knew how those two little golden butterflies got inside though, there weren’t any slits on the transparent ball surface.
“Da-Yu? Is something wrong?” Shu Yu couldn’t solve this mystery no matter how much she tried to think, so she raised her head to ask Fu Wang, and only then noticed that his expression was slightly strange.
Fu Wang withdrew his hand as if nothing had happened. He looked at the transparent ball in Shu Yu’s hands and said, “That’s a ‘Dumpling Trapper’1, it’s also a spirit creature. It likes to trap small animals or other spirit creatures to play. It will automatically let them go after a while.”
“Eh? This ball is also a spirit creature? Then how can it be opened?” Shu Yu asked.
Wordlessly, Fu Wang reached out and pinched the little ball, grabbing hold of a small bit and pulling it away, and after letting go, the little ball issued a shrill cry at the sudden pain of its skin snapping back. It also grew two thin and noodle-like legs and tried running away, but it was grabbed swiftly by Fu Wang who was prepared for its escape.
Seeing him make a movement to pull on its two legs without a change in his expression, the little ball finally understood fear, and with a spitting noise it spat out the two little golden butterflies it had trapped. Then, its body shrunk into the size of a thin and transparent membrane. It was casually thrown away somewhere by Fu Wang, to float wherever the wind carried it.
Shu Yu gave the shrunk-down transparent ball an extra glance, and suddenly thought that this thing looked a bit like protection. Cough, never mind, she didn’t think of anything.
But speaking of, she and Fu Wang had never taken any aftercare measures after doing those things, or maybe Fu Wang did it, but she didn’t realize it. Anyhow, according to Fu Wang’s manner of doing it – plugging it and not letting it come out every time – then the chances of conception should be pretty high, right? What if she really had gotten pregnant?
Every time Shu Yu’s thoughts wandered unconstrainedly, her face would always involuntarily turn very serious, making her look incredibly stern. Sometimes Fu Wang could guess her thoughts, but at times like this it really was impossible to figure out her scattered thoughts.
“Xiao-Yu, what are you thinking about?” Fu Wang decided to just ask her.
Shu Yu looked at him, troubled, and after a bit of squirming, she asked in a tiny voice, “Will I get pregnant?”
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Fu Wang paused. There were complicated emotions in his eyes, but they were quickly concealed. He smiled slightly and asked back, “Xiao-Yu likes children. Do you… want to have your own child?”
“Well, about that, actually I– I still am not ready to be a mother,” Shu Yu said haltingly. She quickly glanced at him, looking worried that he would get angry, but she still earnestly voiced her thoughts. “And, with our situation, it isn’t a good time to have a child either.”
She has always been like this, treating everything earnestly and seriously, never brushing him off or lying to him. Fu Wang internally sighed. He reached out and held Shu Yu’s shoulders, looking at her somewhat guiltily. “Xiao-Yu, I’m afraid I will never be able to have a child of my own.”
“You are aware of it, I’m a lowly slave within the Qing Fox Clan. I was previously raised to serve the masters of the Qing Fox Clan, but my bloodline is impure, so I was not allowed to sire any children. That’s why I have already taken that medicine long ago.” He caressed Shu Yu’s cheek carefully and preciously, his eyes full of guilt.
In truth, his guilt came from the lie he was telling Shu Yu. Indeed, he had been fed that kind of medicine when he was in the Qing Fox Clan, but this was not the real reason he was unable to conceive. The true reason was because he had become a Devil. Devils cannot conceive offspring, Devils only come into being from the corruption of living creatures or are naturally formed and created by nature itself.
Contrary to what he thought, after hearing Fu Wang’s words, Shu Yu was greatly relieved instead. Although she had gotten together with Fu Wang, she still thought that if she could find a way home, she would still go home because she still had loving parents back home, except that she wanted Fu Wang to come with her back to her world.
If she gave birth to children, things would get very troublesome, so it was better to not have any. Besides, it would be nice if Fu Wang treated her and only her so sweetly, and no one else. It was rare for her to have such small selfish thoughts, and they felt too shameful to say out loud.
“I don’t want children. I want you, and that’s enough for me.” But looking at Fu Wang’s glum expression, she still couldn’t help but blurt out those words. Just as she said them, she was abruptly embraced.
Advertisement
AD
“It’s enough for me to only have Xiao-Yu, as well.” Fu Wang snuzzled Shu Yu’s temple, his eyes were melting with warmth, and his tone was softer than the spring breeze in April.
Once a person who never thought they’d fall in love actually fell in love, they would willingly devote their entire being to dying and living for their beloved, falling so deep that it would be too late to attempt any struggle.
Fu Wang gazed into Shu Yu’s eyes, his expression extremely tender, but in the depths of his eyes was concealed an agitation that couldn’t be quelled, as well as some hints of forcefully suppressed malice.
Metaphorically, if he were a single piece and gave all his being to Shu Yu, and Shu Yu were ten and only gave him nine tenths of herself to him, then he still wouldn’t be satisfied.
He was so irrevocably, so deeply in love with this person, so in love that even he was terrified of this very different side of himself. He wanted to possess everything about her. Even though he clearly was in possession of too much already, the ravines inside his heart still couldn’t be completely satisfied. He could no longer tell if that perpetual greed came from himself, or if it came from the devil qi’s influence inside his body. He also couldn’t tell to what extent he had to reach for, in order for this clamoring desire to be quelled.
Fu Wang only hugged her for a bit, and then released her with a neutral expression. He pointed at those golden butterflies who were fluttering like headless flies, unable to settle on a direction, and said with a smile, “They can’t seem to find their way.”
Shu Yu didn’t notice anything off with him. She followed his finger and looked at those two golden butterflies, and sure enough, they were fluttering their wings anxiously, and if you listened carefully, you could also hear some sobbing and crying. Shu Yu’s attention was naturally turned towards the two golden butterflies. She tentatively held out a finger, and the two little golden butterflies docilely landed on them.
“Xiao-Yu seems quite popular with these little spirit creatures.” Fu Wang stood to the side with his hands folded, smiling. He was the opposite of Shu Yu. These little things never approached him of their own volition. They didn’t do so before, and now they were even more terrified of him.
“We’re not in a hurry elsewhere anyways, how about we go look around for the other golden butterflies? If they stray from the group, they will die, won’t they?” Shu Yu asked.
“Alright. Those golden butterflies, they seem to have gone in that direction.” Fu Wang pointed at the dark mountainous forest in the distance.
Advertisement
AD
Shu Yu hadn’t paid attention to them, but she would never doubt Fu Wang, so she nodded. “Then let’s hurry and take a look.”
The two only explored the night market a little before they went to chase after the wave of golden butterflies from before, and directly entered the mountainous forest. After getting far away from the bustle of the night market, only Shu Yu and Fu Wang were left walking on the mountain path. Those two golden butterflies fluttered up and settled on Shu Yu’s head, flickering and twinkling; from afar, it looked like there were two small light bulbs on top of Shu Yu’s head.
The surroundings gradually quieted down. Shu Yu was just chattering about a stall she saw in the night market that sold little snacks and how they had to go try it out when they returned, when she suddenly felt Fu Wang grab ahold of her from behind.
Shu Yu stopped in her tracks. She felt Fu Wang holding her, his face buried in her neck as his breathing lightly puffed against her, it was a bit ticklish. Shu Yu blushed slightly and turned to look at him sideways and felt it was a bit strange. Although Fu Wang liked to act intimate with her, she didn’t know why but she felt something was off this time. “Is something wrong?”
Fu Wang didn’t answer. He only buried into her neck and tenderly licked her and kissed her.
For one single moment, Shu Yu subconsciously felt danger and goosebumps involuntarily bristled on her back. That unique feeling that she only got every time there was danger put Shu Yu on her guard. She even stopped paying attention to Fu Wang and looked at her surroundings. But aside from her, Fu Wang and those two golden butterflies, there was nothing else around.
That feeling only lasted a moment and vanished as quickly as it came.
Fu Wang released her, his steady and gentle voice was particularly reassuring in the dark of the night, “Is something wrong, Xiao-Yu?”
“Nothing.” Shu Yu quizzically looked around. She really didn’t feel anyone else, so she shook her head. “It’s just, I think I felt something very dangerous just now.”
“Oh?” Nothing could be discerned from Fu Wang’s voice.
Shu Yu pulled down the hand that was holding her shoulder and grasped it tightly in her hand. She said obliviously, “Let’s stick closer, just in case there’s really any danger, that way I will protect you.”
Fu Wang said nothing.
He was led in hand by Shu Yu as they walked. After that, Shu Yu no longer felt that threatening feeling again, so she felt that maybe it had been a mistake. When they turned around a thick cluster of trees, their vision suddenly brightened up.
A massive tree was growing not far away, it was so massive it could reach into the sky and conceal the moon. Its surroundings were covered in a thicket of yellow leaves, like the layer of a golden carpet. This tree that seemed to have shed all of its leaves also seemed to be growing new ones —— The golden butterflies they were searching for were perched on the tree now, giving the illusion that the tree had already grown all of its new leaves.
Such a scene was unbelievably beautiful. It didn’t look like something that could occur in real life.
Advertisement
The two small golden butterflies perched on Shu Yu’s head fluttered their wings and returned to their huge cluster. Before they left, they flapped around in front of Shu Yu’s nose twice, probably expressing their gratitude.
After standing there for a while, Shu Yu pulled Fu Wang’s finger. “Let’s return and continue exploring the night market.”
However, Fu Wang pointed at the tree. “Look.”
Shu Yu turned her head and saw that the golden butterflies that were originally resting on that tree had all flown up, from the very top they began to scatter towards the sky, seeming like layers upon layers of golden clouds in the sky. Then, they abruptly fluttered downwards, stirring up the layer of yellow leaves on the ground. For a moment, it was even impossible to distinguish whether the ones in the air were yellow leaves or golden butterflies.
The dance performance of these golden performance was only for a short while, but it was the most mind-blowing performance of any dance Shu Yu had ever seen. Even when seeing it with her own eyes, there were no words that could describe such a romantic and magnificent scene.
When the two of them walked back on the mountain path, Shu Yu was still excitedly chattering about the scene they just saw. Fu Wang only listened to her with a smile, sometimes chiming in with a sentence or two, but it was enough to keep Shu Yu happily talking.
They hadn’t encountered any problems on their way here, but on their way back, as they passed by a big piece of stone, Shu Yu suddenly heard a ghostly cry. It came from the depths of the darkness in thin and broken hiccups, instantly conjuring the image of female ghosts in those bizarre horror stories. Shu Yu was most afraid of these kinds of things, so once she heard it, she instantly hugged Fu Wang’s waist.
“Help~ Someone help me~” That weeping and grievous female voice suddenly said.
“It seems like, someone over there is asking for help?” Shu Yu said as she tightly squeezed Fu Wang’s waist.
Smiling, Fu Wang watched how Shu Yu looked like she wanted nothing more than to plaster herself to his waist. He breezily asked, “Want to take a look?”
Shu Yu looked over there with a struggling look, and just in time, there came the sound of the begging woman again. She could only nod. “Let’s have a look.” Although she agreed, she was practically dragged along by Fu Wang, and later Fu Wang decided to simply carry her in his arms. Shu Yu didn’t struggle either and even hugged his neck in a particularly obedient manner.
Seeing at her like this, Fu Wang suddenly seemed to have understood something. So, it turned out, she was this afraid of these things.
The moonlight cast dim spots of light through the dense forestry, coincidentally casting light on a piece of stone. That stone seemed to be crushing something underneath, only showing a long swath of pitch-black hair. That large patch of hair scattered on the ground vividly rendered the surroundings with the atmosphere of a horror movie.
Shu Yu was practically strangling Fu Wang, squeezing so hard he almost couldn’t breathe. However, looking at her scared little expression, Fu Wang could only pat her back gently and reassure her, “Don’t be afraid. That’s an ‘Elder Ginseng’, it’s a spirit creature as well.”
“Eh?”
“Elder ginseng like to burrow underneath stones to sleep, but when they sleep, they start growing a beard. If they let it grow long enough it will get accidentally stuck underneath the stone, then they will be unable to get out. That’s when they will imitate the voice of young women to seek help.” As Fu Wang explained, he raised a leg and kicked away the large stone crushing the swath of hair, revealing a palm-sized, dried-up, old man-like little person. That ‘black hair’ was growing from the old man’s chin, showing that it was was clearly its beard.
Shu Yu: Ha ha.
“Aigoo aigoo~ Thank you for saving old little me~” That bizarre-looking elder ginseng dragged its frightening amount of beard, climbed up, and proceeded to try to bow towards the two. “If it weren’t for the aid of you two, who knows for how much longer this old little man would’ve been stuck in there~ To show my gratitude, this old little man will give the two a jar of liquor, I hope you two don’t disdain this gift~”
After it finished speaking, it dragged out a sealed jar from underneath the stone, lugging it with two hands as it shuffled and pushed it in front of the two. It flapped its hands, and then bowed again while sweating, and then gathered its swath of beard and walked away while puffing.
Shu Yu pointed at the ‘black hair’ getting farther and farther way, then looked at the jar in front of their feet that was said to contain liquor, seeming at a loss of words. After struggling for a while, she finally squeezed out, “It can talk?”
“Certain spirit creature that live long enough can indeed speak. Aside from appearance, they become no different from the demon race.” As Fu Wang explained, he picked up that jar of liquor. He opened the seal and brought it close for a whiff. “It’s top-quality ginseng liquor.”
“Since we have inadvertently obtained a good jar of liquor, then let us first visit the liquor fair,” Fu Wang said suddenly. “Before, when I visited the night market, I often brought a jar of liquor with me and exchanged drinks with others for the night. It was quite pleasant.”
“Ah?” Shu Yu looked at him strangely. She never knew Fu Wang could drink liquor, and it felt like she’d never seen him drink either. She had assumed that he did not drink. “Then how much can you drink?”
Fu Wang laughed while shaking his head. “In the drinking sessions of the night market, no one has ever beaten me at drinking. No matter how much I drink, I won’t get drunk. So, Xiao-Yu can rest assured, but I will have to trouble Xiao-Yu into accompanying me for a while.”
“It’s fine. If you want to go, we will go.” Shu Yu generously patted his shoulder.
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Chapter Description: That which she did not know.
Author’s Note:
Happy New Year’s Day to everyone, I hope your year goes by well~
T/N: At the time this chapter came out, it was Chinese new year.
1困团子; 团子 is Dumpling and here refers to “small and little things”.
