The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 22

On that snowy night, Miss Shen looked at the distrust filling Fu Xiaoba’s eyes and smiled as if she did not care. Then she turned and walked back toward the inn alone.
After only a few steps, she softly hummed that devil-realm song again.
Qu Linyan and Fu Xiaoba quietly followed behind her. They were clearly three people traveling the same road, yet it was as if they had never known each other.
After they returned to the room and washed up together, Fu Xiaoba lay on her side on the bed and watched Qu Linyan for a long while. Seeing that Qu Linyan kept staring blankly with her eyes open, Fu Xiaoba could not help reaching out and poking her arm. “Little Black, why do you keep your eyes open?”
Qu Linyan subconsciously blinked and asked, “Xiaoba, do you believe Miss Shen?”
“What does Little Black think?” Fu Xiaoba asked back.
“I do not know.” Qu Linyan thought for a moment, then turned sideways to look at Fu Xiaoba. “To tell the truth, the promise she made to me back then, and every sentence she said tonight, all sound rather fake. But for some reason, I just feel…”
Qu Linyan’s words suddenly paused.
Fu Xiaoba could not help asking, “Just feel what?”
Qu Linyan frowned and thought for a while. Only then did she organize her words. “I feel that she might really have that ability, enough to do those things that sound completely impossible.”
As she spoke, she lightly bit her lip. “All these years, I have kept disappointing the hopes of my clan. The clanspeople have many complaints about me, but I do not care… I know Qu Muqing is better than me in every way. They all like her. No matter what I do, I cannot receive their approval. In their eyes, I am useless when things matter.”
“Actually, the meaning of my existence is very simple… I only need to do one thing. That is to return Qu Muqing to them. As long as I can do that, I can pay any price.” Qu Linyan sighed softly. “Anyway, I will not care about anything after that. No matter how much trouble I cause before she returns, she will have the ability to handle it all, will she not?”
“Little Black…”
“But I originally thought I feared nothing. Only after failing again and again did I realize that little bit of courage in my heart was not worth mentioning. For so many years, I risked my life again and again chasing those tiny hopes. In the end, not only did I fail to bring her back, I also made enemies for the flood dragon clan on all sides. Everything grew worse and worse…” Qu Linyan smiled at herself. “Xiaoba, I am not clever. From childhood to now, I only knew how to compare fists with people. Small problems can be solved with a fight, but big matters? I cannot do a single one well. I can only run.”
“I run everywhere and search everywhere. I want her to come back too badly. To bring her back, I have done more and more wrong things. Too many things are pressing down on me, and I am more and more afraid… I am afraid that one day, when she comes back and sees the flood dragon clan dragged into such a terrible state because of me, she will blame me for being useless…”
The reason she had been willing to bring Miss Shen along was because of that promise Miss Shen had made.
Over the years, in order to save Qu Muqing, Qu Linyan had chased shadows and tried countless methods. She could no longer count how many people she had offended because of it.
It was not that those people who hated her did not want revenge. They simply did not dare provoke the powerful flood dragon clan.
That day, she had entered Qixia Mountain alone to steal Coldwater, which must have offended the bird clan.
Everyone in the demon realm knew that for over a thousand years, the fox and bird clans had been very close. Now most clans in the demon realm honored the fox clan. Offending the bird clan was the same as offending more than half the demon realm.
If the bird clan did not pursue it, that was fine. But once they investigated what happened that day, who knew how many small clans would follow the wind? When that time came, the flood dragon clan, which had made many enemies over the years, would likely lose its footing in the demon realm completely.
Qu Linyan acted rashly, but she was not unable to imagine the consequences.
She knew very clearly that stealing a clan treasure was one thing if she failed. But if she had succeeded, then there would be no way to repair the relationship between the flood dragon clan and the fox and bird clans.
From childhood to adulthood, her clanspeople had never thought much of her. In strategy, temperament, and cultivation, she truly was inferior to Qu Muqing in every way.
But when it came to shamelessness, she had never feared anyone.
Since she planned to risk everything, she naturally had to think of a path of retreat.
So before she even went to the human realm, she had already prepared the route for the whole clan to migrate in the future. After she caused trouble and endured a scolding from the clanspeople, she would lead everyone to abandon the flood dragon clan’s old nest and move together into the devil realm. From then on, the sky would be high and the emperor far away. She did not believe the bird clan would lead people into the devil realm over one treasure.
However, a long time had passed since the matter at Qixia Mountain, and the bird clan seemed to have no intention of pursuing responsibility. That had truly let Qu Linyan breathe a little easier.
But everything had a possible turn. Once a grudge was formed, even a small friction in the future could lead to conflict. If that day truly came, then they still had to run when it was time to run.
Only, moving the whole clan into the devil realm meant leaving home. Thinking of the day Qu Muqing came back and opened her eyes, only to see that the land where their clan had lived for tens of thousands of years had been lost by her younger sister, and that the whole clan could only live cautiously under the eyes of the devil clan, Qu Linyan feared Qu Muqing might become so angry she died again on the spot.
But if Qu Linyan could successfully attach the clan to the devil clan, that would be different.
If the flood dragon clan had the devil realm as a backing, then forget the people in the demon realm who had grudges with her coming to settle accounts. Even if the people in the heavenly realm were too bored and brought up what happened five hundred years ago, she would not need to fear them anymore.
She said that if there was a choice, she wanted to return to Qu Muqing a flood dragon clan so powerful that it feared neither heaven nor earth.
Rather than saying she believed Miss Shen, it was more that she hoped Miss Shen had not lied to her.
Even if that promise was very likely only a lie, she still wanted to confirm it with her own eyes before giving up.
“I am only thinking, what if… What if everything she said is true?” Qu Linyan closed her eyes and said softly, “That is the kind of person I am. I have not changed after all these years. I always act on one rush of feeling. As long as there is even one chance in ten thousand, I do not want to miss it.”
Fu Xiaoba listened and was silent for a long time. At last, she moved forward and buried her head in Qu Linyan’s arms. “I think Miss Shen is a pretty good person. She probably will not lie to us.”
“I hope so.” As Qu Linyan spoke, she thought for a moment and said, “Actually, it does not matter even if she lied. I have lived like this for so many years. I seem to have grown very used to the feeling of hope falling empty. It is only…”
“It will be all right, Little Black. Do not think so much. Everything will get better.” Fu Xiaoba gently rubbed against her in her arms. “Anyway, we are going the same way, so let us send her back. If she keeps her promise, that is best. Everyone will still be friends. If she truly is a liar, then… then we will never talk to her again!”
Fu Xiaoba’s thoughts were always that simple, as if everything in the world was black or white.
Qu Linyan did not know how to tell Fu Xiaoba that what she truly cared about was not whether Miss Shen’s promise was true or false, but that she could not predict what danger she would face if she went to test whether that promise was true.
She knew very clearly that no matter whether Miss Shen’s words were true or false, the trouble around her was real.
This devil woman had too many secrets. Although she could still hide her aura and avoid those “troubles” now, “trouble” was not dead. If those people could not find her anywhere, they would surely wait near the entrance from the human realm to the earth realm.
Now, the closer they were to Qianyang, the closer they were to those troubles.
In the past, Qu Linyan had never feared dangerous places. But now, she was afraid she would fail to protect Fu Xiaoba, this foolish girl.
That night, to make Fu Xiaoba hurry and sleep, Qu Linyan obediently closed her eyes.
Seeing that she was willing to sleep, Fu Xiaoba also fell asleep in peace.
But Qu Linyan did not sleep. Chaotic thoughts troubled her for the entire long night.
So people were right. Once a person’s heart had something it cared about, the whole body became full of weaknesses.