Love from the Male Protagonist's Harem

LFTMPH Chapter 74-Wanting To Return Home Part 4

Translated by Snowfall77

There was, in fact, nothing particularly important for Xia Ge to do in Gu Peijiu’s study.  All she did was sort some papers.  And Danfeng didn’t even have that many papers, so once they were sorted, Xia Ge just furtively watched Gu Peijiu marking them up with red ink.

Why wasn’t Gu Peijiu asking anything?

Gu Peijiu, steady as Mount Tai, showed no interest in Xia Ge.  While Xia Ge could hardly sit still from nerves, feeling that even if Gu Peijiu used eighteen methods of cruel torture, it could be endured and dealt with.  Xia Ge could just lie and keep lying.  However, the more Gu Peijiu calmly carried on as usual, the more restless and worried Xia Ge got.

Trying to figure out what to do, Xia Ge settled on popping up by Gu Peijiu’s elbow like characters she’d watched on TV, cheerfully declaring: “Senior Sister, I’m finished with the papers!”

Gu Peijiu went: “Hmm, I have nothing else for you to do, so you may go back.”

Xia Ge: “……”

Really, you don’t want to ask me anything?  You’re just going to let me go back to my room like that?  I went to the black market!  You don’t find that suspicious?  Please, quickly ask me a question!  Then I can determine a way to deceive you.  If you can’t do that, at least punish me to some copying?!

This feels too strange, don’t you know?

If you don’t ask anything, I’ll be making up horrible scenarios in my mind.  Can’t you see I’m about to cry?

Noticing that Xia Ge hadn’t moved, Gu Peijiu paused the strokes of her brush: “Why haven’t you left?”

“Er……mmm,” Xia Ge put her hands behind her back, “Um, Senior Sister, when will I start attending lessons?”

“Soon enough,” Gu Peijiu answered, “Tomorrow you will be issued your Danfeng clothes, don’t go running around helter-skelter.”

Thinking there was a hidden meaning in ‘don’t go running around helter-skelter,’ Xia Ge’s heart dropped: “Oh……that, that……”

“What?”

Xia Ge: “Mm, it’s……you don’t……wow, Senior Sister is looking particularly beautiful today.”

The second she finished speaking, Xia Ge felt herself very foolish.

What Xia Ge had really wanted to say was ‘If you’re not going to punish me, can you take back this red ribbon on my head?’  But she’d chickened out, thinking it not wise to call attention to her wrongdoings.

Only now, Xia Ge felt that what she’d said instead wasn’t really all that better.

……oh well, hadn’t the system said that Gu Peijiu knew Xia Ge was a girl?  Wasn’t it normal for girls to praise each other’s looks?

Wait a minute, didn’t that mean Senior Sister should tell Xia Ge how beautiful she was too?

“Go back now.”  Gu Peijiu simply nodded her head again, “I am aware.”

Xia Ge: “……”

Xia Ge left, completely muddleheaded.

Outside the study, bright red bulbous flowers were blooming, and Xia Ge gawked at them, vaguely feeling that something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

Ai, when complimented on her beauty, all Senior Sister had said was: “I am aware.”  ……what?

Had Senior Sister always been like this……?

Xia Ge stared at a butterfly landing on a cluster of flowers.

……forget it

Xia Ge would go back to her room and make more little puppets to play with.

In the study-

Once Xia Ge left, Gu Peijiu laid down her brush, abnormal qi filling her pitch-black eyes.  Closing her eyes and opening them again, her expression returned to normal.

——Senior Sister is looking particularly beautiful today.

Hand to her lips for a long time, Gu Peijiu’s pupils slightly shrank.  Then she put her hand back down.

The next day-

“Oh, Xia Wuyin, you’re here to get your clothes too.”

The place where inner Danfeng disciples were issued their clothes presently had a long queue.  Xia Ge was almost at the tail-end of it, with Mao Qing right behind her.  Recognizing Xia Ge, Mao Qing patted her on the shoulder and handed her a piece of candy with a smile: “I got some of the new cherry blossom candies from the sweets shop.  Here, I’ll share with you!”

“Ah……oh.”

Xia Ge took the piece of candy.  White paper wrapped a piece of pink, heart-shaped sugar candy with a cherry blossom on top of it.  It was very pretty.

“Where’s Huo Bai?  Have you seen him? I bought one for him too.”  Having given Xia Ge her piece of candy, Mao Qing stretched her neck, looking around at everyone else, not noticing how Xia Ge had stiffened.  “Um, that……I haven’t seen him yet.”

Mao Qing, not finding Huo Bai, felt a little down.  Shoving another piece of candy at Xia Ge, Mao Qing told her: “Fine, I’ll just give you his piece than.”

Mao Qing added: “He probably wouldn’t like this color anyways.”

Xia Ge eyed the cherry blossom candy in her palm: “……”  Then why did you buy it for him?

Apparently reading Xia Ge’s thoughts at a glance, Mao Qing snorted through her nose: “I just wanted to give him a candy in return.  But never mind if he isn’t here.”

Xia Ge: “Why give to me then?”

Mao Qing answered without hesitation: “Because you’re good person.”

Xia Ge: “……”

System: [Pfft.]

“Hey, never mind that, it that a new hair ribbon?”  Mao Qing peered curiously at Xia Ge’s red ribbon, “It’s so pretty, it must be new, right?”

Xia Ge, newly issued the ‘good person’ card, lied without thinking: “No, it’s not really new, I had a cloth-seller down in the village shear it off for me.”

Mao Qing: “Which one?  I’ll go have one cut too.”

“Ai, it was some place, I don’t know,” Xia Ge waved vaguely.

“Oh.”  Mao Qing next noticed something else new about Xia Ge, pointing at it in surprise: “Huh, what is that?”

Instead of a piece of jade, Xia Ge had a carved wooden doll hanging from her waist.  With black stone eyes, vermilion lips, and long black hair, the doll was particularly lovely.

Xia Ge’s face didn’t so much as twitch: “Nothing much, just a doll I made.”

Mao Qing’s eyes were wide with appreciation: “Wow, it’s so cute, Xia Ge.  I didn’t know you had such craftmanship.”

“Haha, well, I do.”  Xia Ge grinned.  She was a puppet master after all, making a fine ‘doll’ was only natural.

And since her silver ring was a substandard item, while her new puppet was a special thing, Xia Ge had decided that instead of hiding the puppet in the ring, she would keep it by her side.  After all, sometimes the most dangerous place was also the safest.  Xia Ge intended on simply pretending the puppet was a plaything.

Little puppets could have two forms.  One was an ‘ordinary’ puppet, the other form openly displayed what it was.  Either form could be sculpted according to whatever the puppet master preferred.  ‘Ordinary’ puppets concealed their qi.  So as long as a person wasn’t a very powerful puppet master, they wouldn’t notice any peculiar about the ‘ordinary’ puppet.

When Xia Ge had been at the black market, she’d spent all her points on a ‘Paper Pill’ and sanitary napkins.  Fortunately she’d been able to make another puppet, for which the system had generously rewarded her with a whooping 15 points.

“Um……wait a minute.”  Squatting down, Mao Qing peered thoughtfully at Xia Ge’s puppet: “Why do I think your doll is a bit familiar-looking……?”

Xia Ge was surprised: “Really?”

Another moment and Mao Qing suddenly realized: “I know why it looks familiar!  This doll looks like……”

Xia Ge, looking around, interrupted: “Hey, Huo Bai is here.”

Turning her head, Mao Qing spotted Huo Bai too.

Huo Bai’s complexion wasn’t that good, his black hair was pulled back a little messily, and he wasn’t wearing the nice clothes he’d worn before.  Instead he was wearing the hemp clothes of an outer disciple, although his white jade pendant still hung on his waist.

“Why are you so late?”  Mao Qing asked automatically.

“I got delayed by some matters,” Huo Bai answered.

His tone was natural, that of one greeting a friend, not a trace to be found of that ice-cold, wild ruthless voice that he’d had in the black market.  Blinking, Xia Ge unexpectedly found herself admiring Huo Bai’s spying capabilities a great deal.

With such superb acting skills, Bairen should have been a king of the silver screen.

If it wasn’t for the white jade at his waist, would Xia Ge have ever guessed who he was?

No……between the white jade pendant and the fleeting trace of her first little puppet, Xia Ge had been slightly suspicious.  She just hadn’t dwelled on it much though.  Not until she saw Huo Bai off guard at the black market, his true face exposed.

“Congratulations.”  Huo Bai nodded to Xia Ge.

“Congratulations?”  Now Xia Ge was the one caught off guard.  “Congratulations on what?”

Huo Bai gave her a bemused look: “Congratulations on being an inner ‘special disciple.’”

Being reminded of Xia Ge’s status, Mao Qing clapped her hands and laughed: “How could I forget?  Xia Wuyin, congratulations on becoming a special disciple!”

Xia Ge: “……”

The system interjected: [Congratulations To The Host For Receiving Sincere Felicitations From The Demon Sect Spy Bairen.]

Xia Ge did her best to ignore her cold sweat: “Haha……no need for congratulations, I’m still very surprised about it myself.”

Clothes were being handed out quicky, meaning the queue was moving quickly as well, so the three of them didn’t talk much more.  When Xia Ge got to the front, Liu Xiaoqian was the one at the ledger.  Seeing Xia Ge, his eyebrows rose: “Oh, it’s the promising talent.  My goodness, guess you’re finally an inner disciple, mmm?”

Xia Ge laughed cheekily: “Accidents do happen.”

Liu Xiaoqian gave her another glance: “Good, good, study hard, have self-confidence, and give Danfeng face in the future.  Your clothes are over there, go ahead and take them.”

Xia Ge grabbed her clothes and didn’t tarry.  Taking leave of Huo Bai and Mao Qing, she hurriedly left.

Watching Xia Ge’s back as she scampered off, Mao Qing shook her head: “There was something I was going to tell him, but I forgot.  What was it?”

Huo Bai, giving her a quick glance, went ahead and asked: “Tell him what?”

“Oh, that doll.  Did you see it?  Did you know Xia Wuyin knows how to make very beautiful wooden dolls?!”  Mao Qing hugged her new inner disciple clothes, her tone both excited and slightly vexed: “I thought his doll seemed a little familiar and I wanted to tell him who it reminded me of, but I couldn’t quite place it.”

Huo Bai was losing interest: “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Uncultured.  Your loss though, I’ve never seen such a lovely doll before.”  Mao Qing snorted before added happily: “In any case, I figured out who that doll resembled.”

Huo Bai cooperatively asked: “Who?”

“Senior Sister!”  Mao Qing declared, “I don’t know how to say it, it’s hard to put into words……but like the same kind of temperament?!”

Huo Bai: “……”

TN-I know I shouldn’t ship Huo Bai/Bairen with Mao Qing.  But I’m doing it anyways.

稳如泰山 [wěn rú tài shān]

be as steady as Mount Tai; as stable as Mount Taishan — standing firmly in place; as firm as a rock; like a rock

不蒸馒头争口气Don’t steam the steamed buns to fight for breath

is a colloquial term , which means to describe a person who must have self-confidence and backbone.