Love from the Male Protagonist's Harem

 Chapter 75 Black-Eyed Butterfly Spirit Part 2

Translated by Snowfall77

Xia Ge picked a bookshelf at random, walked up to it, and feigned some alarmed bewilderment: “Yi, where is it?  Where has it gone?  It was right here before.  Did someone take it away?!”

“Ah?”

“You’re not playing with us, are you?”

“……”

Just as Xia Ge was about to open her mouth and start spouting nonsense, an apathetic voice sounded.

“Diji-level Danfang?”

Xia Ge’s back went rigid, and the disciples who’d followed her instantly fell silent.

Stiffly turning her head, Xia Ge beheld Gu Peijiu standing at the far end of the bookshelf.

Gu Peijiu, her flawless face like pale jade, was wearing her red and white Danfeng clothes.  Holding an old book remnant in one elegant hand, her long-lashed black eyes stared back at Xia Ge, betraying no emotion: “You’re looking for a Diji-level Danfang?”

Xia Ge’s fake smile wavered a bit: “Um……that……I……”

She’d made stuff up.  What Diji-level Danfang?  She’d just wanted to distract everyone away from the third floor.

Now Gu Peijiu was walking up to her, holding out the book remnant and asking her: “Is this it?”

Xia Ge: “……”  She’d been lying……so, no, that definitely wasn’t ‘it.’

While everyone else was hovering like tigers watching prey, Xia Ge didn’t dare meet Gu Peijiu’s gaze again.  Instead she braced herself and said:  “Ah……yes, that’s it.”

Although the crowd stayed quiet, they eyed both a waffling Xia Ge and the book remnant in Gu Peijiu’s hand with suspicion.

Gu Peijiu’s voice rose slightly: “Really?”

Recovering her courage, Xia Ge promptly and solemnly declared: “Yes!  Correct!  Yes, yes, yes, that is what I saw earlier!”

Everyone: “……”

Gu Peijiu paused, casting Xia Ge a light glance: “This is only a useless fragment of a Danfang that I’d stored here before.  I had come to get it back, though I guess you’ve already seen it.”

A small pause.  “But if you still want to look at it further, I’ll leave it here.”

Having said that, Gu Peijiu put the book remnant back on the bookshelf.  However no one dared moved, and Gu Peijiu ended up beckoning to Xia Ge: “You, come with me.”

Xia Ge: “……oh.”

Gu Peijiu then took Xia Ge to the second floor.

The crowd left behind took turns eying each and eying the book remnant left on the shelf.  After a couple seconds of silence——

——Rushing forward!

“Mine!!”

“Bullshit, I saw it first!”

“Fuck you, I was clearly first!!”

“……”

Chaos ensued and a disciple who worked at the library rushed over: “Ai, ai, what are you all doing?!  If you want to fight, go do it outside!  Fighting in the library is not allowed!!”

Up on the sunlit second floor, Gu Peijiu did not say anything to Xia Ge, but instead just walked over to a bookshelf and randomly pulled out a book.

Xia Ge, feeling nervous, quickly glanced at the book in Gu Peijiu’s hands.

Carving Wood.

……it was……?

Turning her head, Xia Ge realized that they were in the ‘Folk Art’ section of the library.

While the young lady in front of her was quietly turning the pages of the book, her posture beautifully straight, and the atmosphere was peaceful.

But Xia Ge was not feeling peaceful herself.  Unable to calm down, eye blinking, she spoke the first words that popped into her head: “Senior Sister must be interested in wood carving.”

The hand flipping pages paused for a moment and Gu Peijiu cast a sideways look at Xia Ge.

Dressed in hemp, book clutched in one hand, Xia Ge’s eyes were bright, and her slightly messy hair was tied back with a red ribbon.  Though the broken jade that’d usually hung at her waist had been replaced by a wooden doll.

The doll had black hair and eyes, vermilion lips, and a pale face. It was altogether quite exquisite and lovely.

“Not particularly.”  Gu Peijiu looked up from her book, her tone apathetic: “Just idle curiosity.”

Xia Ge: “Oh……”

Stealing another glance at the doll at Xia Ge’s waist, Gu Peijiu inquired: “Where’s your jade?”

“Ah?  My jade?”  Belatedly realizing that Gu Peijiu was referring to Guilongyu, Xia Ge scratched her head, “Um, it actually belongs to someone else and I want to return it to them.”

Gu Peijiu didn’t respond, but instead kept staring at Xia Ge’s doll.  Xia Ge didn’t know why, but she was too embarrassed to say she’d carved it herself, so she feigned ignorance, pretending not to notice the way Gu Peijiu was peering at it.

Gu Peijiu: “Puppet.”

Xia Ge: “……huh?”

Looking Xia Ge in the eye, Gu Peijiu repeated: “Puppet.”

Xia Ge had to abandon the pretense: “Um, this puppet……it was a gift from someone!”

Gu Peijiu continued her steady gaze.

Stricken with a guilty conscience, Xia Ge looked away: “Haha, it’s pretty, right?”

Gu Peijiu’s expression turned thoughtful: “You like it?”

Xia Ge: “Well……it’s alright.”

“Mmm.”  Gu Peijiu was about to go back to reading her book when she caught sight of something behind Xia Ge.  Eyes narrowing, Xia Ge stretched out a hand, pulling Xia Ge behind herself.

Caught off guard, Xia Ge found her body closely blocked between the bookshelf and the young lady in red and white.  She voiced an ‘ah,’ but after hearing a certain voice, she promptly clamped her lips shut, and clutching at Ge Peijiu’s clothes, shrank herself more tightly against Gu Peijiu’s back.

It was Chu Yi’s cold yet soft voice floating through the air: “Who was the boy with the red ribbon just now?”

The obsequious servant following Chu Yi answered her carefully: “That……is not clear.”

Inwardly grumbling, the servant privately thought that Chu Yi didn’t seem to realize that they were at Danfeng’s library.  Disregarding the few Jianfeng and Shoufeng disciples that visited, the vast majority of people at the library wore a red ribbon in their hair.  Such a description was way too vague to identify someone, alright?

As Chu Yi walked by the bookshelf where Gu Peijiu was at, she paused for a second, glancing in Gu Peijiu’s direction.

Gu Peijiu, feeling someone’s eyes upon her, glanced up from her book’s titlepage.  Making sure to block the person behind her from view, her pitch-black eyes were cold.

That iciness was like a thorn to Chu Yi’s flesh.  Her brow furrowed and her gaze turned haughty.  Plastering on an aloof smile, Chu Yi gave Gu Peijiu one last look, saying to her servant: “No matter.  I’ll find that person myself.”

Then she swung her sleeves and continued walking.

一拥而上[yī yōng ér shàng]

rush forward; dash up; come forth with a rush; rush up in a crowd