The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 11

Fu Xiaoba had a beautiful dream.
In the dream, she was still that small peacock from Wuyou Mountain, with a green neck and muddy yellow body. She lived with her brother deep in the valley’s bamboo forest, in a quiet bamboo courtyard.
One day, she placed her wings behind her back and wandered out of the bamboo forest. She slowly walked to the river valley and lay down.
She had just yawned when someone hit her on the head with a stone.
Turning around, she saw Qu Linyan pulling down her eyelid with a finger and making a face at her.
She had a thin little body, features not yet grown open, and slightly babyish cheeks. She looked extremely cute.
Fu Xiaoba rose and cried out while flapping her wings toward Qu Linyan, only to be picked up halfway by A-Qing.
A-Qing rubbed the little head that had been hurt by the pebble. Then she turned and looked at Qu Linyan, who stood at the side with both hands behind her back and her head lowered in silence. In a gentle voice, she scolded, “A-Yan, how old are you? Why do you still bully Xiaoba every day?”
“A-Qing, why do you always side with Fu Xiaoba?” Qu Linyan pouted in dissatisfaction, then turned and ran away.
For some reason, when Fu Xiaoba saw Qu Linyan run off, she wanted to chase her.
After chasing and chasing, she saw Qu Linyan run to Fu Zhuochen’s side. Qu Linyan tugged his long sleeve with her little hand and complained in a soft milky voice, “Fu Xiaoba said that when she grew up, she would let me eat her. Now A-Qing protects her every day, and she even shows off in front of me!”
Fu Zhuochen heard this, turned, looked at Fu Xiaoba, and smiled. “She is already quite big. Why not stew her and eat her now?”
When Fu Xiaoba heard this, she was so frightened that she took off running. But after only a few steps, her two little feet suddenly grew as heavy as a thousand pounds.
When she looked back, Qu Linyan had already set up a fire in the courtyard. Above the fire sat a pot of boiling water.
Qu Linyan turned back and smiled widely at her.
“I have no way to repay a life-saving kindness. Come quickly and let me eat you.”
“Help… help!”
Fu Xiaoba’s little wings jerked, and she woke from the dream with a cry.
So it was only a dream…
She knew it. How could Fu Zhuochen possibly help Qu Linyan stew her? It had scared this peacock to death.
Fu Xiaoba let out a breath of relief and lifted her head. A torn half blanket covered her body, and a red robe embroidered with dark patterns lay on the ground. It was dirty and wrinkled, as if someone had stepped on it.
The room was empty, but it was a complete mess.
This was not an exaggeration: anywhere she could see, every spot that could be destroyed had been destroyed. Even the roof was included.
In the whole room, only the peacock nest where she slept had not been affected at all.
What was going on? Had thieves broken into the house?
No, no. Qu Linyan had said she and Fu Zhuochen had a grudge. Now that the house was this messy, they had probably fought!
Fu Xiaoba hurriedly got up. The moment she stepped out of the little nest, the spiritual power she had gathered through cultivation inside the dream broke through the spiritual points throughout her body. As spiritual light gathered and scattered, she changed into a graceful woman without a stitch on.
She instinctively stopped. Lowering her eyes, she looked at this uncovered snow-white skin. After thinking for a moment, she shook herself and changed into a yellow robe. Then she lifted her skirt and ran out of the dirty, messy room.
Fu Xiaoba searched the whole home. Everywhere had been torn up. The bamboo courtyard, once elegant, looked as if vicious people had ransacked it, then casually torn the house apart before leaving. It was too miserable to look at.
“Little Black! Little Black, where are you?”
“Brother! Little Black! Where are you?”
Fu Xiaoba called and shouted, but no one answered her.
The wind in the valley blew through the white world with a special chill. Apart from that, everything around her was silent.
She stood blankly before the bamboo fence gate. For some reason, she could not hold back, and her eyes grew wet.
This place was no longer that dream. Those dozens of years in the dream had truly been a short happiness she had luckily stolen from life.
Qu Linyan had indeed promised that after they left the dream, she would take Fu Xiaoba to find A-Qing.
But that fellow had gone back on it in the end. She had said she was an ingrate and that she would not repay the kindness…
Fu Xiaoba bit her lip and told herself in her heart that whether Qu Linyan and Fu Zhuochen had fought or not, no matter how fierce the fight had been, and no matter who had won or lost, Qu Linyan could not possibly stay here anymore.
That little black snake, who had suddenly become huge, had finally stopped wanting to eat her. But she would not play with her anymore either.
A stomach full of wrongs suddenly rose into Fu Xiaoba’s heart. She gritted her teeth hard, clenched her fists, and shouted into the wind and snow, “Little black snake! You do not keep your word! Big liar!”
This shout used all the spiritual power in her body, and it was full of strength. It instantly echoed through the valley. Even the snow on the roof and branches trembled with it.
But while the echo still rang through the valley, Fu Xiaoba lifted her eyes and saw Qu Linyan not far away, dressed in black and walking back through the snow.
Her black hair was loosely tied, and fine snow clung to her clothes.
In her hand, she was even carrying a rabbit.
“Who are you cursing?” Qu Linyan walked to Fu Xiaoba’s side and threw the rabbit in her arms. “The moment you wake, you speak ill of me. I caught this rabbit for nothing.”
Qu Linyan, who had been tiny and easy to bully for dozens of years in the dream, had suddenly returned to this tall, cold appearance. Fu Xiaoba could not help staring stupidly.
The current Qu Linyan was a head taller than Fu Xiaoba. The presence Fu Xiaoba could show only in the dream naturally disappeared into smoke along with her lost height advantage.
Holding the rabbit in her arms, Fu Xiaoba lifted her eyes to look at Qu Linyan. She swallowed lightly by instinct. “You… you did not leave?”
“Are you driving me away?” Qu Linyan frowned and looked at Fu Xiaoba. Anger rose in her at once. “No matter. I did not plan to stay long anyway. This rabbit is female. Raise it well. Once its descendants fill the place, you can eat them if you want. Count it as me repaying your kindness!”
After speaking, she turned as if to leave.
How could it be counted like that?
“No!” Fu Xiaoba quickly grabbed Qu Linyan’s sleeve and said anxiously, “How can you be like this? You think one rabbit is enough to send me away?”
Qu Linyan argued unreasonably, “Is this one rabbit? Can you not see the beautiful future hidden inside its tiny body?”
Fu Xiaoba shook her head again and again. “I do not know how to raise rabbits. I am hungry right now and will eat it immediately. It cannot possibly have a future. So this way of repaying kindness does not count at all!”
Hearing this, the corner of Qu Linyan’s mouth could not help lifting. But in an instant, she hid the smile and said lightly, “Then what do you want from me?”
“You… you…” For a moment, Fu Xiaoba did not know how to speak.
Her whole heart was a mess. There was only one thing she knew clearly: she could not bear to part with Qu Linyan. She did not want to never see Qu Linyan again like this.
Qu Linyan turned back and swept a light glance over Fu Xiaoba. “How about I take you to undergo your tribulation?”
Fu Xiaoba froze.
She seriously suspected she had heard wrong. Her hands tightly clenched Qu Linyan’s sleeve, and she asked again and again, “What? What did you just say? You will take me to undergo my tribulation?”
Qu Linyan caught her slender wrist with her other hand. “What else? Are you coming or not?”
“Coming, coming, coming!” Fu Xiaoba was so excited she dropped the rabbit in her arms and jumped while holding both of Qu Linyan’s hands.
Seeing her like this, Qu Linyan unconsciously curved her beautiful brows. Her eyes seemed to hold a bit of indulgence.
But for some reason, Fu Xiaoba’s expression suddenly sank, and a trace of struggle rose in her eyes.
She could leave Wuyou Valley. She could secretly slip away with Qu Linyan. But if Qu Linyan had truly hurt Fu Zhuochen, then as his younger sister, she had no reason to leave with Qu Linyan…
“What is wrong?” Qu Linyan asked with a frown.
Fu Xiaoba was silent for several seconds. Holding Qu Linyan’s hand, she asked worriedly, “Where is Brother?”
Great. The pheasant had just been coaxed, and now she was starting to talk about the turkey again.
Qu Linyan said irritably, “How would I know?”
Fu Xiaoba’s brows drew tight. “Did you… did you not fight?”
Qu Linyan asked back, “Who said that? Which eye of yours saw it?”
Fu Xiaoba opened her mouth, and her expression slowly turned subtle.
The traces of fighting were still behind them. It was clearly fierce enough to see with the naked eye. How could Qu Linyan lie with her eyes open?
Fu Xiaoba hesitated for a good while. Then she turned and pointed at the broken bamboo courtyard behind her, saying angrily, “Is this not proof? I saw it with both eyes!”
Qu Linyan raised her eyes and looked. She gave a soft laugh. “This really was my doing.”
“You are quite brave about admitting it!” Fu Xiaoba widened her phoenix eyes. She was so anxious her eyes reddened. “You… why did you do this… You did not eat Brother, did you? You…”
“Me, eat him? If that turkey knew you looked down on him this much, he would be furious enough to die!” Qu Linyan snapped. Then she could not help slapping Fu Xiaoba’s forehead. At the end, hearing that silly girl hum in pain, her anger somehow faded. “When I woke from the dream, I did not see him. There was not half a trace of his spiritual presence in the mountains. Who knows which direction he went to chase and kill me…”
“He might not have gone to chase and kill you…” Fu Xiaoba said blankly.
“Come now. Did you not say he only leaves once every hundred years and stays in this valley the rest of the time? If not to kill me, why would he leave again after coming back?” Qu Linyan gave a cold snort. “Am I someone who leaves grudges unpaid and swallows anger willingly? Back then, he helped a stinking fox and a bird woman badly injure me. Now he wants to wipe me out completely… If not for your sake, I could burn this place down with one fire and leave him not even a leafy tree!”
“I only tore down a house, and you still question me…” As Qu Linyan spoke, she turned her head and sulked.
Fu Xiaoba froze, then asked, “Really?”
“Could it be false?” Qu Linyan could not help rolling her eyes.
Every word she had said was true. She had clearly only caused a little damage, yet Fu Xiaoba spoke as if she had murdered and set fires.
She almost had to wonder whether peacocks were cold-blooded animals. Counting the years in the dream, they had spent more than fifty years together. How was Fu Xiaoba still not familiar with her at all?
Seeing that Qu Linyan was angry, Fu Xiaoba quickly stepped forward and tugged her sleeve, shaking it left and right. “I was wrong, Little Black… I, I was worried, so I panicked… I do not know many people. In this world, the only ones who treat me well are you, A-Qing, and Brother… I do not want you to fight. Whether you hurt him or he hurts you, I would be sad!”
Qu Linyan secretly glanced at Fu Xiaoba, then drew back her gaze and shook off her hands, pretending to be angry. “Really? Why can I not see it?”
“Really…” Fu Xiaoba showed a sincere, devout gaze.
“Forget it. You do not need to say things against your heart. I will fix this place and clean it up. Count that as repaying your kindness.” As Qu Linyan spoke, she lifted her hand to cast a spell.
Fu Xiaoba immediately clung to Qu Linyan’s arm like a hanging ornament and refused to let go.
“No. Leave it like this! Little Black, he hurt you. He deserves it. Let him clean up when he comes back!” After Fu Xiaoba spoke, she forcefully pulled Qu Linyan outside. “Let us go. If we run into Brother coming back, you really will fight!”
Qu Linyan was half pushed and half dragged out of the small bamboo forest by this little peacock. But the corner of her mouth could not stop lifting wildly.
Advancing by retreating, catching by releasing. Truly useful.