The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 33

It was exactly because Fu Xiaoba did not understand many things that Qu Linyan had tricked her away from Wuyou Valley so easily back then.
But no matter how little Fu Zhuochen wanted to teach her about the small matters of the mortal world, he would never let a little girl who would one day pass a love trial fail to understand what marriage meant.
Fu Xiaoba understood what Qu Linyan’s words meant.
A name. A promise. A firm decision to hold her tightly, even if other people looked down on them.
In that moment, she did not even think. She hugged Qu Linyan back and answered happily, “All right!”
“I only need those words from you. Leave everything else to me.”
That night, Qu Linyan’s words made her feel deeply at ease.
Several days later, with Xiangsi’s help, Qu Linyan had recovered from most of her injuries. She called the clanspeople together and announced that she would marry Fu Xiaoba.
The moment those words came out, the whole clan was shocked. After a few seconds of stunned silence, voices of protest appeared.
“Clan Leader! That little bird demon is a woman, and you are also a woman. This… this is improper!”
“As clan leader, you should put the flood dragon clan’s future first. The fine bloodline of the late old clan leader should be passed down with a strong man of the clan. How can it be stained by some weak little demon?”
“The flood dragon clan leader marrying an unknown little demon from the bird clan, and that demon is a woman too. If this spreads, will our flood dragon clan not lose all face?”
“This cannot happen. Absolutely not! This act is an insult to the flood dragon clan!”
The clanspeople spoke one after another, all saying it could not happen. Qu Linyan only closed her eyes and rested, as if she had not heard a single word.
Xiangsi watched Qu Linyan from far away. Her expression was complicated, but in the end, she held her tongue.
After a long while, amid the clan’s objections, Qu Linyan opened her eyes and said lightly, “I did not come to discuss this with you. I came to inform you.”
After saying that, she stood and gave a faint smile. “If you think it cannot happen, stop muttering with your mouths and speak with your ability. If you think I have shamed the flood dragon clan, then come replace me!”
The clanspeople looked at one another.
After a stretch of silence, someone complained in a low voice, “If the former clan leader were still here, she would never allow you to do something so absurd…”
That voice was not loud, but in the silent spiritual cave, it was especially sharp.
Xiangsi instinctively looked toward Qu Linyan. Seeing Qu Linyan’s brows tremble and her fingers clench in that instant, Xiangsi could not help stepping forward. Softly, she said, “Weiyuan, you should not speak that way. When A-Qing was here, she never blamed A-Yan harshly for anything…”
“Xiangsi, you are an outsider. Should you be speaking about our clan’s affairs?”
“Exactly. The former clan leader left you in the clan only out of kindness. Staying here a long time does not mean you are qualified to interfere in our clan’s business,” the man named Weiyuan said coldly as well.
Xiangsi fell silent. Under the angry eyes of many clanspeople, she stepped back several paces.
Qu Linyan frowned. “If you are unhappy with me, there is no need to vent your anger on Xiangsi. I have decided to marry Fu Xiaoba, and I know some of you are unconvinced. I will give you ten days. Within ten days, whoever can defeat me will be the new clan leader. You may drive me out of the flood dragon clan and protect the clan’s face that way!”
“Clan Leader!”
Qu Linyan glared at Weiyuan and said coldly, “If you cannot do it, then stop getting in my way.”
Xiangsi’s brows drew together slightly. Her silent gaze followed Qu Linyan’s figure.
Qu Linyan turned and left, leaving the angry, dissatisfied clanspeople talking behind her. Xiangsi thought for a moment, then turned and followed her.
The two walked one before the other for a long time, but neither spoke a word.
In silence, Qu Linyan came to the place where Qu Muqing slept. She crouched beside the black ice bed and quietly looked at the pale woman lying there. After looking for a long time, her eyes suddenly reddened.
“Am I truly that absurd…” she asked softly.
She knew the person before her could not answer, but she still held those jade-like hands folded before Qu Muqing’s chest. They were as cold as ice.
Ever since Qu Muqing had left, Qu Linyan had hated when others always compared her to Qu Muqing. But even being compared was better than someone scolding her whenever she made a mistake, saying, “If Qu Muqing were here, she would never let you act this way.”
“If you were still here, would you really oppose me being with Xiaoba?”
Xiangsi stood behind Qu Linyan. Her gaze hesitated for a long time. At last, she stepped forward, crouched beside Qu Linyan, and said softly, “She would not. She loved you most. Others may not know that, but do you not know it yourself?”
Qu Linyan was silent for a while. Then she raised her eyes to Xiangsi. “Do you also think I am absurd?”
“I…” Xiangsi lowered her lashes. After thinking for a moment, she shook her head and let out a soft sigh. “A-Yan, how other people see it is not important. What matters is how you see it. Will you think liking a woman is wrong just because others do not understand?”
Qu Linyan shook her head.
Xiangsi asked, “Then what are you still worried about?”
Qu Linyan said, “I am afraid… if Sister wakes and sees Xiaoba and me… she will be unhappy.”
She lowered her head as she spoke. “She has always been so calm. She would never be reckless and impulsive like me. Perhaps in her eyes, a decision that shames the flood dragon clan like this truly cannot be accepted…”
“No.” Xiangsi looked at Qu Muqing, her gaze gentle. “She would understand you. She would also accept the person you truly love.”
“Really?” A trace of joy appeared in Qu Linyan’s lost eyes. Only when she saw Xiangsi nod firmly did she finally seem relieved.
Seeing Qu Linyan breathe easier, Xiangsi said again, “But A-Yan, are you certain your feelings for that little peacock are true, and not just a passing interest? And what about her feelings for you? How long have you known each other? Why are you so sure she is worth enduring all those cold looks for? And why are you sure she is willing to face everything with you?”
“Xiangsi, in this life, I will recognize only her.” Qu Linyan’s voice was firm. “I know my own heart very clearly, and I trust her feelings for me. Everything between us cannot be measured simply by how much time has passed.”
“A-Yan, do not blame me for worrying too much. Most little demons from the human world are sly and cunning. Your cultivation is far higher than theirs. If they come close to you, perhaps they want something.”
“Impossible!” Qu Linyan denied it at once. “You do not need to be so guarded against her. She is only a child who understands nothing. I was the one who tricked her back here…”
Xiangsi was silent for a moment, then asked, “Then can you tell me how you met?”
Qu Linyan thought for a while, then turned and sat with her back against the ice bed. Seeing this, Xiangsi also turned and sat beside her. Her quiet eyes looked toward the person beside her, Qu Muqing’s younger sister, who seemed to have grown up and yet seemed as if she would never fully grow up.
“Back then, I fled Qixia Mountain with heavy injuries. My mind was blurred, and in panic, I hid in a mountain river valley where the demon aura was rather thin. But my injuries were too severe. I had completely lost the strength to move spiritual power and heal myself. My wounds would not close, and I nearly could not hold on. She happened to pass by and saved me.”
As Qu Linyan spoke, she seemed to fall into memory, and the corner of her mouth lifted slightly. “Her cultivation was low, and she could not even take human form. She caught insects to feed me. When she saw I could not eat them, she used those clumsy little wings to build a stove and fire, cooked me a bowl of very bad porridge, and even gave me her own comfortable nest…”
At that time, Qu Linyan had thought, This mountain chicken is truly foolish. So foolish that she probably cannot even take care of herself, yet she keeps thinking of caring for others. What a little fool.
That day, Qu Linyan told Xiangsi many things that had happened between her and Fu Xiaoba since they first met. The only things she hid were the dream she had accidentally entered and the phoenix bloodline flowing inside Fu Xiaoba.
After Xiangsi finished listening, she no longer tried to persuade her. She only sighed softly and closed her eyes.
Qu Linyan rose and left, leaving Xiangsi alone in that cold ice cave, keeping company with the person sleeping there.
*
Qu Linyan had declared that if anyone defeated her within ten days, she would give up her place to that person. But during the ten days after that, not one clansperson dared challenge her.
After passing through life and death several times, she was no longer the foolish girl from years ago who judged everything by whose fist was bigger. She knew that no matter how much the clanspeople looked down on her, no matter how reckless and brainless they thought she was, none of them dared deny her strength.
When the old clan leader was alive, the clanspeople scattered across different waters and ran wild. Outsiders were angry but did not dare speak. Once the old clan leader was gone, the outside clans resisted one after another, and that resistance reached its peak after they gained the Fox King’s support.
In the end, it was because the flood dragon clan had no one strong enough to frighten the clans who had once feared them.
In the thousand years since Qu Muqing left, Qu Linyan had used every method she could to find a way to bring her back.
It could be said that whenever she left Soul-Wounding Valley, she basically never did anything good.
Five hundred years ago, she broke into the heavenly realm. Five hundred years later, she stirred up trouble in the demon realm. Between those times, no one knew how many problems she had caused. In every realm and every clan, anyone with a little knowledge knew the flood dragon clan had a leader with very high cultivation, a leader who would not even care about her life once she went mad.
Qu Linyan’s name had long spread through the three realms. Many people gritted their teeth whenever they mentioned her. Even people who had never suffered because of this great trouble usually said ugly things when they spoke of her name.
“She is a madwoman. She lost her parents when she was young, and her elder sister died a thousand years ago. Since then, she has not known how high the sky is or how deep the earth is. No one can control her.”
On the surface, they disdained her. In their hearts, they feared her very much. Nothing else needed to be said. The fact that she had charged alone into the heavenly realm and still come out alive was enough to prove how strong this demon was. No matter how lightly others spoke of her, in their hearts, they did not want to provoke such a huge problem.
For many years, outsiders had seen Qu Linyan that way, and the flood dragon clan had seen her the same way.
Some clanspeople had many complaints about this clan leader, but they also understood that no one in the clan was Qu Linyan’s match. They also understood that after Qu Muqing left, the flood dragon clan remaining steady for so many years was at least partly because of Qu Linyan.
Whether Qu Linyan’s name was famous or infamous, her existence was the symbol of the flood dragon clan’s current strength.
Ever since Qu Linyan created such a wicked reputation, many outside clans who had once mocked the flood dragons hiding back in Soul-Wounding Valley gradually felt the old fear toward the flood dragon clan again.
If they had not wanted to avoid trouble, the fox and bird clans would not have let the earlier matter at Qixia Mountain pass so easily.
No matter how much they looked down on their current clan leader, they had to admit that as long as Qu Linyan existed, those outsiders would fear the flood dragon clan for one more day.
Because of this confidence, she had dared say such words even before her injuries fully healed.
During these ten days, no one was willing to help her prepare the wedding. So she did it herself, adding bright red everywhere in the spiritual cave that had been cold and empty for so long.
Qu Linyan said Fu Xiaoba had grown up in the human world. From childhood to now, all the stories she heard had been human stories, so the wedding should follow human customs too.
Hundreds of clanspeople were angry but did not dare speak. They could only watch helplessly as their clan leader followed human habits and put red paper cuttings and red silk all over the clan, changing it little by little into a new look.
Fu Xiaoba knew Qu Linyan’s clanspeople did not like her very much, so she usually did not leave Qu Linyan’s room alone. She sat obediently at home, like a bride waiting in her chamber, making no trouble at all.
Then one day, Qu Linyan brought her out of that small place. Only then did she see the red everywhere, and she was so shocked she could not close her mouth.
“Xiaoba, I have prepared everything. I sent invitations to every clan in the demon realm. I am going to marry you, and I want everyone to know.” Qu Linyan reached out and stroked Fu Xiaoba’s cheek. “Three days from now, you will be my wife.”
“What about Brother?” Fu Xiaoba’s eyes widened, and she asked carefully, “Did you tell Brother?”
Qu Linyan gently bumped Fu Xiaoba’s forehead with her own and said fondly, “He is your family. Even if he rushes over to cut me down, I would never leave him out.”
Joy appeared in Fu Xiaoba’s eyes. “Then, then do you think he will come?”
“This… perhaps.” For a moment, Qu Linyan did not know how to answer.
She had indeed asked someone to send the invitation, but the messenger said the invitation had been burned as soon as it was delivered. Fu Zhuochen had not even glanced at it. He probably would not come.
Seeing Qu Linyan act this way, Fu Xiaoba knew there was no hope. She quickly shook her head. “It is all right. He is still angry. After he stops being angry, can you go with me to the human world again?”
“All right.” Qu Linyan touched Fu Xiaoba’s head. “I forgot to tell you. According to custom, a married couple cannot see each other before the wedding.”
“Ah?” Fu Xiaoba looked confused.
The next second, Xiangsi beside her bowed slightly and said politely, “Miss Fu, I must trouble you to stay with me for the next few days.”
“Why… why?” Fu Xiaoba tilted her head and instinctively grabbed Qu Linyan’s sleeve. Panic showed in her eyes.
“People in the human world say it is unlucky for a couple to meet before the wedding.” Qu Linyan pinched Fu Xiaoba’s cheek and smiled. “Silly girl, can you not leave me for even one or two days?”
Fu Xiaoba frowned, then turned her head away. “That is not true!”
“Then wait for me. Wait for me to marry you and bring you home.”
“All right.” Fu Xiaoba nodded, then followed Xiangsi away, looking back every few steps.
Qu Linyan turned and saw the unhappy eyes of the clanspeople. Her face suddenly turned cold, frightening them into quickly turning and scattering.
*
Fu Xiaoba stood before a full-height clothes stand and gently touched the rich wedding dress Qu Linyan had sent over. Her phoenix-like eyes were full of joy and longing.
Xiangsi quietly studied Fu Xiaoba. This little demon had not been here long and had mostly hidden in Qu Linyan’s room. When she first arrived, Xiangsi had not looked carefully at the girl’s face. Now that she examined it closely, she finally understood why Qu Linyan had been so completely charmed.
Among peacocks, males were always more beautiful than females. But this girl was already stunning at such a young age. Her brows and eyes held a clear beauty, and her skin and bones seemed almost immortal. When she did not speak, she looked like a still painting of a beauty. When her gaze moved, she was bright and charming, neither overly seductive nor common.
Anyone who saw this little demon change from a silly bird into such a peerless beauty would likely feel moved for a moment. That was even more true when the girl’s eyes were so clear and her heart so simple.
There was always much unfairness in the three realms. Some people were born to cold eyes and were pushed away wherever they went. Some people were born lovable, able to soften hearts with a single tear.
Just like that person who had died…
“Sister Xiangsi, has Little Black… oh, I mean, has Qu Linyan ever worn red?” Fu Xiaoba seemed to remember something. She turned, widened her eyes, and looked curiously at Xiangsi.
Xiangsi came back to herself and smiled. “When a demon takes human form, if there is nothing nearby to wear, their fur or scales can turn into clothes. A-Yan is a black flood dragon. From the day she took human form, she wore black. After a long time, she grew used to it and no longer liked clothes of other colors.”
“So that is how it is…” Fu Xiaoba’s eyes rolled, and she muttered quietly, “I always thought she would look very good in red. I bought her a few red outfits in the human world before, but she refused to wear them for me. This time, she should let me see, right?”
“She will,” Xiangsi said.
Fu Xiaoba nodded and said no more. She only brought over a small wooden stool, sat beside the wedding dress, and looked up at that stretch of red in a daze.
Xiangsi noticed that this little peacock liked to stare into space. If Xiangsi did not start a conversation with her, she would look at one place in a daze. Yet her eyes did not show any complicated thoughts, as if she truly were only passing the time in the simplest way.
“Were you always like this?” Xiangsi could not help asking.
“Like what?” Fu Xiaoba came back to herself.
“Looking at one place without moving, not speaking to anyone,” Xiangsi said.
“Probably. Other than urging me to cultivate, Brother did not talk with me much. Before I met Little Black, I was used to staying alone.”
Xiangsi said, “It sounds as if Fu Zhuochen did not treat you very well.”
Fu Xiaoba shook her head. “No. He was very good to me.”
Xiangsi asked, “Then he raised you for hundreds of years. How did you go against his wishes and come here with A-Yan?”
Fu Xiaoba thought for a moment. “Maybe because… Little Black treats me a little better.”
Hearing this, Xiangsi could not help teasing her with a smile. “You little peacock, how are you so easy to coax? Whoever treats you well, you follow?”
“Not really. If it were someone else, I think I would still choose Brother.” As Fu Xiaoba spoke, she lowered her head shyly. “But Little Black is different… If I must choose, nothing can compare to her.”
“I do not quite understand. A-Yan said Fu Zhuochen is not related to you by blood. Though I have never met this demon, I have heard he is very handsome and very powerful.” Xiangsi asked curiously, “Such a person stayed with you for hundreds of years, yet your heart never moved. How did you fall for A-Yan, a child who has been awkward since she was little?”
“That is different. She watched me change into a human, and I have also seen the weakness buried deepest in her heart.”
“In less than half a year, you are already so sure what you saw is true? Are you not afraid of being deceived?”
“Between her and me, there is not only half a year in the human world…” Fu Xiaoba thought for a while and continued, “She and I… should have gone through many things together. Even if it was only a dream, to her and me, it was very real. We spent decades together. Those days and nights cannot be false.”
As Fu Xiaoba spoke, she lowered her eyes and smiled. “As for deception, she truly did deceive me. But she also honestly explained the cause and result. I am willing to believe her, and I am willing to forgive her.”
After speaking, she raised her eyes and saw Xiangsi’s gaze had gone a little distant. She could not help asking, “Sister Xiangsi, did I say something that made you unhappy?”
“No.” Xiangsi came back to herself, smiled faintly, and shook her head. She rose, covered the wedding dress with black silk, then turned to Fu Xiaoba. “It is late. Rest early. Three days from now, you cannot marry with dark circles under your eyes.”
“Mm!” Fu Xiaoba obediently got up and walked into the inner room, closing the curtain behind her.
Xiangsi turned and entered her own room. Her brows and eyes lowered as she looked at the Dreamweaving Shuttle that had appeared in her hand at some unknown time.
“Even if it was only a dream… a dream…”