The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 46

Yun Su felt that Heaven had played an enormous joke on her.
She truly had not wanted to marry Zhiming, to whom she had a marriage contract. She truly had a thousand unwillingnesses in her heart, yet because of her sister’s last wish, she had never been able to explain things clearly. She truly had chosen to climb into the flower sedan while feeling no romantic affection for Zhiming.
Thinking about it this way, she really was not a good bird, but that still was not a capital crime, right?
If the five hundred years of mortal tribulation were not counted, she was already more than eighteen hundred years old. But in those eighteen hundred years, she had never imagined that after living so peacefully in heaven for so long, with a temperament that could almost be called free from worldly conflict, she would be snatched back to a notorious demon’s lair on her wedding day and locked inside this dim stone cave.
Even more frightening was that this demon was the black flood dragon she had viciously stabbed eight hundred years ago. And three hundred years ago, Zhiming had personally gone to the earth realm and heavily injured her.
Now that this demon had captured her, she was afraid the demon meant to settle both new grudges and old hatred on her head…
Hateful as it was, the demon had used some unknown method to seal all her immortal power. Not only that, she had taken away every sharp object on Yun Su’s body, including Zhu Yu. Then she stayed there, waiting for Yun Su to wake, wanting to do improper things to her.
How could Yun Su let her clean reputation be ruined in the hands of a demon? What was more, this was a female demon. She had never heard that two women could even perform such bedroom matters. Naturally, she struggled with all her might, ashamed and furious.
She shouted and pushed, but at that time, her heart was ash. She was so afraid she felt her entire life was already over.
Without exaggeration, in that situation, she had even roughly thought through such questions as how she should end her own life afterward, and where her corpse might be thrown after she died, exposed in the wilderness.
She thought through a pile of things useful and useless, yet never imagined that she would come out intact from under the black flood dragon’s claws.
By rights, those vicious demons were the kind of creatures who would not move no matter how hoarse the victim screamed. But this demon happened to stop.
The black flood dragon said, “I am alive. I remember. How can those vows be void?”
She also said, “I will not let you go, and I will not force you. I will wait. I will wait until you remember me, wait until you are willing from the heart, just as you were before…”
At that moment, Yun Su saw obsession fill the black flood dragon’s eyes. Even a single look was like a bird skimming across a calm lake, deliberately startling the hidden undercurrent beneath, leaving a person with nowhere to escape.
After the black flood dragon left, Yun Su curled up and quietly leaned against the damp, cold cave wall. She seemed to be trying hard to remember something. But no matter how she followed that faint stirring in her heart, she could not recall even the tiniest connection between herself and the black flood dragon.
Everything she remembered from the past three hundred years was no more than a dream.
In that dream, there was only suffocating despair, broken fragments, and a blurred face she wanted to see clearly but could never make out.
If it was important, how could she bear to forget?
But if it truly was not important, how could it remain in her dreams for so long, impossible to shake off…
That night, what accompanied her into sleep was nothing but the cold cave wall behind her and the tangled thoughts in her heart that she could not sort out no matter what.
The next day, Yun Su woke from sleep. Everything around her was exactly the same as it had been before she slept the night before.
Clearly, Heaven’s joke with her would not end so easily just because a dream had ended.
She was still in the bridal chamber arranged inside the stone cave. Red silk still hung all around. The red candles on the table and floor were still there, extinguished early before they could burn down. The room’s furnishings were no different from last night. Even the broken phoenix crown that had fallen to the floor had not moved half an inch.
And she was still wearing the bridal robe that had once been gorgeous, but had been torn into a mess by the black flood dragon the night before.
She wanted to change into another set of clothes, at least so she would not be as exposed as she was now. But with her spiritual power sealed, she could not even use the simplest transformation spell.
In the end, just as before, she could only clutch the opening at the front of her robes, cover the left shoulder her clothing could not hide, and curl up in the corner of the bed, not knowing what to do.
With a very soft sound, the barrier at the entrance was opened. Yun Su was badly startled and instinctively shrank back a little.
As soon as Qu Linyan entered, she saw Yun Su react this way. For a moment, she did not know whether to laugh or cry. “Is Upper God trying to wedge herself into the wall?”
Yun Su frowned. “I am warning you. Do not come over, or I…”
Qu Linyan asked back, “Or what?”
Yun Su froze.
Right. Or what? This was the black flood dragon’s place. Shouting was certainly useless. Was there anything she could threaten her with?
Yun Su could not help falling into thought. Qu Linyan actually gave her time to think. With a sweep of her sleeve, she removed the red silk and candles around them, then sat unhurriedly beside the stone table and studied Yun Su with interest.
They had not seen each other for three hundred years. Her face was still the same, only she had become a little thinner. Could it be that the heavenly realm’s food was not very good?
As Qu Linyan thought this, she suddenly saw Yun Su clutching the front of her robes, crawling sneakily to the edge of the bed in a posture that was not very elegant.
“What are you doing?” Qu Linyan asked casually, only to see Yun Su suddenly lift her eyes and glare at her.
That little gaze actually held a bit of solemn defiance, as if she would rather die than yield. It made Qu Linyan instinctively want to apologize.
But in the next second, Yun Su reached out and grabbed the broken phoenix crown from the floor. With strength from who knew where, she snapped off half of a golden phoenix feather and aimed the somewhat sharp broken edge at her own fair neck. Stammering, she said, “A scholar, a scholar may be killed, but not, not humiliated!”
Seeing Yun Su this way, Qu Linyan instantly grew angry. “Fine! You want to guard your chastity for that turtle-snake?”
“What turtle-snake? He is clearly the divine beast Black Tortoise. Why are you, a demon, so…” Yun Su’s voice grew quieter and quieter. At last, her eyes lowered. She instinctively dodged Qu Linyan’s gaze. Before she could think of any fierce and virtuous words, Qu Linyan threw something into her face, startling her into an “Ah!” as she closed both eyes.
The thing Qu Linyan had thrown was soft. It slid from Yun Su’s head and face at once and landed across her legs.
She hunched her thin shoulders and slowly opened one eye. She saw that what lay on her legs was a clean set of clothes. She could not help opening the other eye too and looked at Qu Linyan in surprise.
Qu Linyan only stood, swept her hand over the table, and left behind the meal she had specially risen early to prepare for Yun Su. Then, unhappy, she turned and left.
Yun Su stared blankly for a long time before lowering her head to pick up those clothes and change out of the tattered bridal robe.
The clothes were black. They did not fit her very well. They were probably Qu Linyan’s, and they carried a faint, clean fragrance.
Yun Su dragged the hem, which was a little too long for her, and walked barefoot to the dressing table. She combed through her scattered long hair, then turned back to look at the very abundant meal on the table. A trace of disdain could not help showing in her brows and eyes.
What immortals ate were fruits of jade trees, and what they drank was rootless water. How could they look up to the grains and ordinary fare of the lower realm?
“How can these things be eaten?”
But even an upper god, once she lost her magic power, could not slow the loss of energy inside her body.
Before long, her stomach began to growl.
“…” Yun Su once again hugged her knees and curled up on the bed, stubbornly saying, “I will not eat. I will not eat. How can I compromise with a demon? How can I eat the black flood dragon’s things? If she finds out, how embarrassing… Who wants to eat this lower-realm food!”
She closed her eyes, wanting to quiet her heart.
But while her heart quieted, her stomach refused to. Before long, it growled again, making her especially irritated and unsettled.
Yun Su could not help opening her eyes and looking, by the faint spiritual light left in the room, toward the “ordinary grains” already cooling on the table.
She was so hungry…
She pressed her lips together and whispered, “Maybe… I will eat just a little…”
Just a little of each kind. Then she would not be hungry, and the black flood dragon would not find out. It would not be embarrassing!
Thinking this, Yun Su lifted her skirt, walked to the table, and sat down. She picked up a small piece of sweet-and-sour rib with her chopsticks. After hesitating for a long time, she finally made up her mind and put it into her mouth.
The next second, Yun Su’s eyes suddenly brightened.
So lower-realm food was actually much tastier than heavenly food…
No wonder, in her dreams, there was always a voice telling her that being an immortal was not all that good, and being a demon was freer and happier.
She looked at the other plates of food and the pretty pastries, could not help swallowing hard several times, then picked up her chopsticks and tried them one by one.
Just like that, Upper God Yun Su, who absolutely would not eat “lower-realm food,” ate a table full of dishes and pastries clean.
“It is over…” After satisfying her appetite, Yun Su blankly stared at the spotless plates on the table. Her head immediately began to ache, and she regretted it endlessly. “How am I able to eat this much?”
Now she was trapped here, yet she had been tempted by good food. She truly had no integrity at all. When she next saw that evildoing black flood dragon, how would she lift her head…
“I cannot go on like this. Next time, I absolutely cannot compromise again!”
That was what she said. But when Qu Linyan brought delicious food again, she still could not resist eating it all.
Fortunately, Qu Linyan did not mock her for it. She did not even speak to her anymore each time she came. She only silently took away the empty plates, left behind fresh food, then turned and left.
Other than that, at most, she came at night to deliver a basin of hot water for Yun Su to wash with.
This situation lasted about three days.
On the fourth day, Qu Linyan brought Yun Su out of the dim stone cave room, passed through the unfamiliar yet orderly underwater cavern, entered a river through an undercurrent, then broke through the ice on the river surface and brought her back beneath the open sky.
Outside the cave, heaven and earth were covered in white snow. Yun Su wrapped herself tighter in the cloak Qu Linyan had prepared for her and did not dare fall even one step behind. “Hey! Black flood dragon, where are you taking me?”
Qu Linyan did not answer. She only walked silently ahead.
Yun Su frowned and stopped asking. Now she had no magic power on her body, and the earth realm was full of demons and devils. If she wanted to live, she could only keep following this demon who had captured her here.
Only, she herself did not like moving, and her constitution had never been very good. Without her spiritual power, her feet hurt when she walked. Before she had gone far, she began to pant heavily.
“Hey… black flood dragon, can you, can you slow down a little…” Yun Su bent down, supporting herself on her knees, her forehead covered in sweat. “I cannot walk anymore.”
Qu Linyan was speechless for a moment. After a silence, she turned and walked back to Yun Su’s side, then reached out and lifted her by the waist.
Yun Su was startled into crying out. Her hands instinctively hooked tightly around Qu Linyan’s neck, while her mouth shouted, “What are you doing! Hurry and put me down!”
“Are you sure you want to go down?” Qu Linyan said. She tilted her hands forward, pretending she was about to drop Yun Su.
That sudden feeling of weightlessness scared Yun Su into quickly leaning into Qu Linyan’s arms. She closed her mouth and shook her head, her eyes blinking nonstop in fright.
Her feet hurt anyway. Walking less was not a bad thing.
In any case, the tired one was this hateful demon. Who told her to imprison her like this? She deserved to get tired.
Besides, this demon’s arms were quite warm…
Thinking this, Yun Su could not help leaning in a little more.
Seeing Yun Su’s obedient, resigned appearance, Qu Linyan remembered that Yun Su had eaten every meal she had cooked over the past few days until nothing was left. The corners of her mouth could not help lifting a little. The gloom in her heart from the past few days seemed to be swept aside, and her mood instantly improved a great deal.
She held Yun Su and walked slowly through the snow-covered mountains. She did not use spells or lightness skills. It was as if she very much enjoyed this feeling.
Yun Su leaned in her arms and did not dare say a word, obedient as a child.
The two of them walked like this for a long time. At last, they arrived at a bamboo forest.
Deep in the bamboo forest stood a bamboo courtyard.
Yun Su’s eyes could not help going blank. Why did everything before her feel familiar?
“Before, you always said that as long as you were with me, anywhere was fine. But I know the place you liked most was always Wuyou Valley. Yet I offended the heavenly realm and broke away from the demon clan, so it is truly difficult to bring you back.” Qu Linyan set Yun Su down and lifted her eyes toward the bamboo courtyard in the forest. In a daze, she said, “I knew you would definitely come back, so I spent three hundred years planting this bamboo forest here.”
“As long as you are willing, from now on, this place will be your home.” As Qu Linyan spoke, she lowered her head to look at Yun Su, her gaze especially gentle. “I will protect you and let you be just like before, the most carefree little peacock in the mountain forest.”
“Then, then I truly… thank you.” For a moment, Yun Su had no idea how to manage her expression. The corner of her eye twitched several times, and she corrected her seriously. “But I am not a peacock. I am a Blue Luan!”