Love from the Male Protagonist's Harem

Chapter 91-Wanting Vengeance Part 1

Translated by Snowfall77

Mouth full of roast pheasant, Xia Ge looked down at the little puppet’s remains with confused eyes: “……what is it?”

Chu Yao: “It’s not yours?”

Xia Ge’s expression didn’t change: “What the hell is it supposed to be?”

“It seems it used to be a doll,” Chu Yao answered, “A lot like the one you’re wearing at your waist.  Was this one yours?”

“No, it wasn’t,” Xia Ge blinked, “The one I’m wearing is the same one I’ve always had.  I haven’t changed it.”

Chu Yao silently examined Xia Ge’s doll.

The little doll smiled brightly, its face vivid and lifelike, dressed in exquisite red and white Danfeng clothes, and very much resembling the young man currently gnawing on a pheasant leg.

Chu Yao: “It didn’t look like this last time.”

When they’d gone to drink Dongqing bamboo leaf-green wine that first time, Xia Wuyin’s doll had been different from the one he had now.

“It’s the same one.”  Done with her pheasant leg, Xia Ge wiped her hands.  “I just changed its clothes and colored the face a little differently.”

Chu Yao simply looked at her.

“Don’t you know?  This doll can change its face.”  Carefully making sure her hands were completely clean, Xia Ge then took the small puppet off her waist, lifting it up to show Chu Yao.  “This face looks better than the one before, right?”

The brightly smiling doll swayed in front of Chu Yao’s eyes, and she reached out to grab it, only for the young man to jerk his hand back, going: “Don’t touch it!  You can already see it; you don’t need to touch.”

Chu Yao: “It’s very captivating-looking.”

Xia Ge: “Of course it is!”  Would Senior Sister make anything that was unsightly?

Chu Yao: “You won’t let me hold it?”

Xia Ge: “……”

Confronted with Xia Ge’s unwilling expression, Chu Yao sweetened the pot: “I’ll treat you to roast goose next time too.”

Xia Ge: “……”

Sensing that Xia Ge was wavering, Chu Yao continued: “I’ll even add three more jars of bamboo leaf-green wine.”

“……you, stop trying to bribe me!”  Xia Ge tried to hold firm.  “Even for a hundred jars of bamboo leaf-green wine, I won’t give it to you!”

How could she allow Senior Sister’s handiwork be casually manhandled by others?!

Chu Yao: “……”  I’m not asking you to sell your body.

Although she already knew the answer, Xia Ge asked: “Just why do you want to hold it?”

Chu Yao did not equivocate: “Several days ago traces of a puppet master were found in Jianfeng.”

Xia Ge: “……”  Do you have to be so fucking blunt?  I’m trying to put a performance on here.

Xia Ge settled herself: “And you suspect me?”

Chu Yao gazed at Xia Ge with clear eyes: “Is it you?”

Xia Ge: “How could it be?  I’m a good, law-abiding Lingxi Sect……”  Disciple.

Before Xia Ge could finish, she heard Chu Yao mutter to herself: “Truthfully, if it’s you, it can be overlooked.”

Xia Ge stared blankly at Chu Yao in disbelief.

Chu Yao continued, her voice low: “If it’s you, I should open another jar of wine.”

Xia Ge: “……”

“What nonsense are you talking, Sister Chu?  How could it possibly be me?”  With the guilty conscience of a thief, Xia Ge handed the small puppet over to Chu Yao.  “Here, take a look.  It’s just a small doll.  Puppetry is a forbidden pratice.  Give me the courage of a hundred people and I still wouldn’t dare try it.”

Chu Yao turned the small doll over in her hands.

Carved from white wood, its eyes were black chrysoberyls, its smile was bright, its soft black hair was tied with a tiny green ribbon, and its delicate Danfeng uniform was so detailed that even the red maple leaves on the cuffs were lifelike.

Exploring the doll with lingqi, Chu Yao found nothing latent within it.  It was indeed nothing more than a carved piece of white wood containing a small protection formation.

Grinning, Xia Ge asked: “Is it still captivating?’

Chu Yao returned the small puppet to Xia Ge: “It’s very nice.”

“Sister Chu seems disappointed?” Xia Ge’s tone was confused, “Why?”

Chu Yao: “I thought it would be you, but you say that it’s not.”

“……”  Xia Ge was slightly airy, “I’ve always been an honest person.”

Chu Yao: “But my intuition is never wrong.”

“That may be,” Xia Ge spoke seriously, “But if everything was as simple as ‘I thought it would be,’ the world wouldn’t be such a mess, would it?”

“I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Standing up, Chu Yao peered into Xia Ge’s eyes: “I simply wanted to thank that person.”

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The fire was stirred by night breezes, the burning branches faintly crackling.  Quietly putting the small puppet back on her waist, Xia Ge maintained eye contact: “……oh?  Is that so?”

“Mmm.”

“And……besides thanking them, I’d also wanted to tell them something else.”  Chu Yao gaze didn’t waver.  “It’s simply being a puppet master.  There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

After a long while, a nonplussed Xia Ge looked down into the dancing flames of the campfire, saying: “……Sister Chu, why do you keep looking at me?  I’m not the puppet master you’re talking about.”

“It doesn’t matter whether you are or not.”  Flickering firelight gleamed in Chu Yao’s eyes.  “Whatever your journey is……”

“So long as you stay you, I will stand by your side.”

= =

Jianfeng-

After the matter of the giant bats, all three peaks were under strict order, but Jianfeng especially so.

The night deepened.

While Chu Yao’s guard had been tasked with investigating.

“Quin Dao, Gaohan, Sun Zhu.  These three people, where were they at the time?” Li Liu read off the names, then asked the people on either side of him.

Ye Ze, next to Li Liu, gloomily furrowed his brow upon hearing the three names.

Those three people were the same three people who’d bullied Ye Ze when he’d first arrived at Jianfeng, and later been taught a lesson by Chu Yao.

Only even after Chu Yao had dealt with them, the three of them hadn’t restrained themselves, but instead intensified their malicious behavior towards Ye Ze, as if they had backing that left them with no fear of anyone.

When the disciple to Li Liu’s other side heard the names, he answered awkwardly: “They……”

Li Liu: “We must know where everyone was at the time of the bat attack.  Where were they?”