Love from the Male Protagonist's Harem

Chapter 36- Ancestral Tomb Part 2

Translated by Snowfall77

[You Were Under The Lost Deer’s {soul capture}], the system told Xia Ge.  [Whatever You Were Seeing As You Followed It Was Most Likely Fake.]

Xia Ge stared blankly at the stone wall, still trying to wrap her head around the current situation.  “Fake?  ……lost deer?  You mean the sika deer with the blue plum blossoms just now?”

System: [Yes, That’s The Lost Deer.]

Xia Ge: “What was it up to?  Why’d it come and find me?  Do I owe it money?”

System: [……I Don’t Think That You Owe It Money.  However, It Must Have Had A Reason Why It Came To You.]

A stumped Xia Ge: “The reason……?  It has to be because I owe it money, right?”

System: [……]  Everything’s about money with you, isn’t it?!

But the system decided to change tacks: [Have You Ever Heard Of Realizing The Error Of Your Ways And Getting Back On The Right Path?]

Xia Ge was vaguely uncomfortable: “Sure……”

System: [Souls Are Reincarnated, And Those Reincarnated Souls Will Walk A New Path, Yes?  Because The Reincarnated Souls Won’t Have The Memories Of Their Past Lives In Their Present Life.]

Xia Ge half-understood: “Yeah, I guess.”

The system explained further: [The Usual Meaning Of Realizing The Error Of Your Ways And Getting Back On The Right Path Is To Not Stay On The Wrong Path, But To Return To The Righteous Path As Soon As Possible.  But There Can Be Another Layer Of Meaning To It.]

[As In–Don’t Be Fixated On Your Past Lives, Live In The Present.]

Now Xia Ge felt she got it: “The lost deer……earlier you told me not to follow it.”

[Yes.  The Lost Deer Appearing To You Means That The Karma Of Your Past Life Is Not Yet Over, So It Found You In This Life.  Yet Your Past Lives Are Lost To You.  You Can’t Unravel What Happened In Previous Generations, And If You Try To, The Outcome Is Not Likely To Be Good.]  Then the system’s tone lowered: [Although There’s Probably No Avoiding It Now.  What’s Done Is Done.  Had You Heard ‘The Way Is Lost, Don’t Know How To Return’ Somewhere Before?]

Xia Ge cupped her fist: “I did!  In a dream I had yesterday, some nasty girl was singing nonsense and ‘lost the way, don’t know how to return’ was one of the things she said!”

Expression growing tense, Xia Ge added: “Did I owe someone a ton of money in a past life and I never paid it back?  If I’ve been reincarnated and the lost deer still came to find me—-crap, I must’ve owed a lot of money!  This is awful!  The way really is lost!!”

System: [……]

Deciding to ignore its host’s panic about being pursued by creditors, the system simply said: [In Any Case, If You Did Hear ‘The Way Is Lost, Don’t Know How To Return’ Somewhere, There Was No Avoiding Meeting The Lost Deer.]

Xia Ge: “???”

The system: [Hearing It In A Dream Was A Forewarning Of Encountering The Lost  Deer.  It Doesn’t Matter Where You Are, Where You’re Located, You Will Cross Paths With It……And It Won’t Be Coming After You Because Of Money.]

Xia Ge smacked her lips: “That’s impressive……well, if it’s not about money, that’s a relief at least.”

System: [……]  Having it be simply about money would’ve been a best-case scenario.

“Alright, now that I’ve been found by it, what are the consequences?”  Xia Ge wondered, “I don’t remember anything about a lost deer from the novel.”

System: [I Don’t Know Why It Brought You Here.  I Only Know It Would Be Related To A Past Life……And Not About Owed Money.]

“A past life?”  Xia Ge thought for a second and then her eyes suddenly lit up, “Yeah, a past life!  The lost deer wouldn’t have sought me out in the modern world, right?!  Whoa, this is interesting!”

System: [……Please Don’t Get Overly Excited, I Don’t Think It Would Have.]

Sighing, Xia Ge’s tone was heavy with rarely expressed genuine melancholy: “I’ve been in this book for several years……luckily, before I left, I was soft-hearted enough to give my brother the bank account password.”

Her brother shouldn’t be suffering any hardships.

System: [Yes, That’s Very Good.]

But Xia Ge’s sadness was not so easily shaken: “Ugh, when I think about it though, I probably shouldn’t have told him.  Cause after all, comfort leads to debauchery.”

The system was without mercy: [Oh?  And Aren’t You A Prime Example Of Hunger And Cold Leading To Thievery?]

Glancing down at her all-black dress, Xia Ge rubbed her nose: “Little puppet, if you’re aren’t going to pull any punches, how am I supposed to respond?”

[Hehe.]  The system was happy: [You’ve Let Me Win.]

Finished with hokey nonsense, Xia Ge regretfully banged the stone wall with the sickle again: “Yep, it’s really solid……I wonder if my brother has got himself a girlfriend……”

System: [……Host, Look, There’s A Night Pearl Over There.]

Xia Ge: “!!!!”

Finally paying attention to the fist-sized night pearls embedded in the stone wall about every three steps, Xia Ge was enthused: “Fuck, they really are night pearls!  I thought they were just an illusion!!”

System: [……]

“—I’m gonna get rich quick!”  Xia Ge rushed over to the nearest night pearl, and with a ‘whoosh’ of her sickle, struck it off the wall.  Shining like a lantern, the night pearl made the dark stone passage bright as daytime.

“Little puppet, will you buy these night pearls?”  Clutching two of them, Xia Ge tossed them into her silver ring, then stared at the next one, dollar signs practically glowing in her eyes.  “Well, will the system give me points for them or not?”

The system’s tone was coldly detached: [I Don’t Buy Dead People’s Things.]

Xia Ge, clasping another night pearl: “……???”

Issuing a friendly reminder, the system added: [This Place Appears To Be The Tomb Of One Of Your Lingxi Ancestors.]

Xia Ge: “……how do you know that?”

System: [Look At That Stele To Your Left.]

Turning her head to left, Xia Ge’s eyes found a small stone tablet leaning against the wall.

And it was indeed inscribed-Tomb of Lingxi Ancestor.

Xia Ge: “……”

迷途知返   [mí tú zhī fǎn]

become aware of one’s errors and turn back from one’s wrong path; able to correct one’s own mistake; be aware that one has strayed from right path; be determined to correct mistakes one has made

饱暖思淫欲 [bǎo nuǎn sī yín yù]

When one is fed and warmed, one’s sexual desires will come up; Debauchery is a common vice among the wealthy; Luxury leads to sex; Material comforts lead to sexual desire

饥寒起盗心 [jī hán qǐ dào xīn]

Hunger and cold tempt men to steal