The Little Peacock Raises a Snake (GL) Chapter 9

What jade bones, graceful and light? What word for a beautiful woman?
Did Qu Linyan really think that changing the explanation would keep Fu Xiaoba from knowing she was calling her “mountain pheasant”?
Fu Xiaoba was furious. The louder Qu Linyan laughed beside her, the angrier she became!
If it had not been someone close and trusted, she would never have let that person choose her name!
Qu Linyan was like a bratty child who had amused herself. Now she held her belly and laughed so hard she nearly ran out of breath.
Fu Xiaoba endured it for several seconds. Then she could not bear it anymore. She flipped over and reached out to cover Qu Linyan’s mouth.
Qu Linyan instinctively lifted her hands to block her, but she discovered that Fu Xiaoba was now not only taller than her, but also stronger. In a few moves, Fu Xiaoba caught both her wrists together and pressed them to the pillow with one hand.
“No more laughing!” Fu Xiaoba said fiercely.
“Not laughing…” Qu Linyan nodded, her eyes full of seriousness.
Fu Xiaoba took a deep breath and was just about to let go when she saw the corner of Qu Linyan’s mouth lift again. After two seconds of wild struggle between wanting to laugh and not daring to laugh, Qu Linyan finally failed.
“Pfft… hahahahahahaha!”
“Laugh again. If you laugh again, you die!” Fu Xiaoba shouted this threat with an extremely dramatic air.
Qu Linyan worked very hard to hold back her laughter. She had just opened her mouth to say something when Fu Xiaoba’s other hand touched her waist. Her eyes instantly widened. “Where are you putting your hand?”
Was this pheasant trying to act like a hooligan toward her?
Before Qu Linyan could feel shame and anger, Fu Xiaoba flipped over and pressed down on her legs. One hand held both her wrists. The other patted her waist, and then…
Began tickling her!
Qu Linyan froze in pure bewilderment.
Back in Wuyou Valley, if Fu Xiaoba slacked off during cultivation and Fu Zhuochen discovered it, she could never escape a small punishment.
That punishment was usually Fu Zhuochen casting a spell. For the next half hour or so, it felt as if someone chased her all the way while tickling her. She would roll all over the ground, crying and laughing.
Once, after a punishment ended, she laughed until she nearly stopped breathing. Holding her aching belly, she walked to Fu Zhuochen’s side with tears in her eyes and said pitifully, “Every time it is this. You might as well hit me…”
After hearing this, Fu Zhuochen stood, went outside, and broke off a bamboo branch. He smiled. “Then I will hit you.”
Fu Xiaoba looked at that bamboo branch, which faintly glowed with red spiritual light. How could she still dare run her mouth? She immediately turned and fled in large strides.
Nothing else could be said, but when it came to tickling, Fu Xiaoba was absolutely a professional. She knew better than anyone where to tickle so it was most unbearable, so unbearable a person could not breathe.
Qu Linyan laughed until tears came out. If she was going to be tickled like this, she would rather Fu Xiaoba act like a hooligan toward her!
“Ahahahaha, Fu Xiaoba, how dare you! Hahahahahaha, stop. Stop right hahahaha…”
“Are you laughing? Will you still laugh?”
“No, not laughing! Hahahahahaha, not laughing… My stomach hurts, ahahahaha…”
“Who are you trying to trick? You are clearly still laughing!”
Qu Linyan nearly choked on anger.
Why was she still laughing? Did Fu Xiaoba truly not know?
Now her height only reached Fu Xiaoba’s chest. Whether strength or spiritual power, she was a step below Fu Xiaoba and could not escape her claws at all. For a while, she was bullied into shrinking into the corner of the bed, her back pressed to the stone wall with no way out. She laughed wildly and begged for mercy again and again.
Fu Xiaoba grabbed Qu Linyan and made a mess for a good while. Finally, she grew tired. After letting go, she flopped onto her back, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
Qu Linyan’s voice was hoarse from laughing, and her belly hurt for a long time. Curled by the wall, she took deep breaths for quite a while before recovering.
This was the first time in her life that someone had pinned her in the corner of a bed and bullied her for so long. The “culprit” had then acted as if nothing had happened and fallen asleep after tormenting her.
She silently remembered this grudge in her heart. Once they left the dream, she would definitely get payback.
At that moment, Fu Xiaoba lightly turned over. Her small arm swung out and landed across Qu Linyan’s chest.
Qu Linyan instinctively trembled, thinking this wretched girl was about to wake and torment her again. She was just about to admit defeat when she looked up and saw Fu Xiaoba smack her lips in her sleep, as if she had dreamed of something delicious.
Qu Linyan froze. After she came back to herself, she could not help stretching out a finger and lightly poking Fu Xiaoba’s waist twice.
Fu Xiaoba suddenly shrank her waist and made a soft “mm?” like a little puppy.
Qu Linyan drew back her finger and waited nervously for a moment. She saw Fu Xiaoba lick her lips, turn onto her side, and sleep near the edge of the bed, looking as if she could roll off at any time.
Good if she falls. I should kick her down myself.
Thinking this, Qu Linyan carefully moved her little foot under the blanket. Her eyes were eager to try.
But after thinking for a moment, she rolled her eyes at the air, reached out, grabbed Fu Xiaoba’s arm, and gently dragged her back twice. Then she shared half the blanket with her.
A five-hundred-year-old little peacock was still a child in the end, even after taking human form.
Qu Linyan was so old already. How could she be petty with a little girl?
*
Qu Linyan said her injuries had mostly recovered. Although years inside the dream were only an instant outside, they had stayed in the dream for nearly fifty years. Instant after instant outside the dream, that plump pheasant body of Fu Xiaoba’s had probably slept through the long winter night.
Fu Zhuochen was not stupid. If too much time passed, he would surely notice.
With his cultivation, it should not be hard for him to detect this dream spread through Fu Xiaoba’s body. When that time came, if Qu Linyan wanted to leave, she would have to fight him again. Just thinking about it made her head hurt.
Once a person entered someone else’s dream, there were two ways to leave.
The first was to wait for the dream to collapse. The second was to find the dream’s exit.
If a dream collapsed, it often turned the intruder into dust along with the dream. But if the person entered through the Dreamweaving Shuttle, they could retreat safely even if the dream collapsed. The only problem was that this meant wasting a very long time in the dream. After all, no one knew how long a dream might last.
Qu Linyan had an impatient temper. Naturally, she was not willing to stay here and wait for the dream to collapse on its own.
Every dream had an exit.
That exit was usually hidden in the place the dream master least wanted to face deep in their heart.
“Xiaoba, we need to look for the dream exit.” Qu Linyan sat by the small stone table in the bedroom, propping up her cheek. Her young little face was full of old seriousness.
When Fu Xiaoba heard this, she lifted her skirt and ran forward, sitting across from Qu Linyan with both hands under her chin. “Are we leaving so urgently? Is this place not pretty good?”
Qu Linyan rolled her eyes. “This is a dream.”
“It is a dream, but you and I are both very awake. If we are here, then it is actually no different from outside the dream.” Fu Xiaoba tilted her head. Her bright eyes held a little confusion. “Staying here is happy and joyful, and it does not affect our lifespans outside the dream. Why not stay a few more days? Little Black, do you not feel that the time the three of us spend here, you, me, and A-Qing, is time stolen from our busy lives?”
As she spoke, she blinked at Qu Linyan. “Since it is stolen anyway, why not enjoy it while we can?”
Hearing this, Qu Linyan could not help losing focus.
Leisure stolen from a busy life. Was it truly worth forgetting oneself over and lingering for…
No. A moment of sinking could still be saved. If one willingly sank into it day after day, how was that different from being a walking corpse?
Qu Linyan frowned, lifted her hand, and slapped Fu Xiaoba’s forehead. In a milky but fierce voice, she lectured, “You know it is stolen! If it is stolen and you still dare enjoy it, are you not afraid you will be unable to repay it in the future?”
Fu Xiaoba was stunned by the little hand’s slap. After coming back to herself, she fixed the loose hair before her forehead, puffed out her chest, and argued, “Repay what? This is only a dream. Who will come ask for this debt?”
Qu Linyan was speechless for a moment. After wanting to speak and stopping herself for several seconds, she turned her head and said sulkily, “If you do not leave, I will leave alone!”
Fu Xiaoba opened her mouth. At last, she reached out and grabbed Qu Linyan’s arm. “Do not, do not be angry… I will go with you. I will not stay here.”
Qu Linyan instantly felt much better. She had just wanted to say something when she saw Fu Xiaoba stand, walk to her side, and crouch down with worry on her face. “After we go out, will you fight Brother?”
Qu Linyan thought for a moment and said, “Since he is your brother, some grudges are not impossible to drop on my side. But if I let it go, that does not mean he will be willing to let me go. I can only promise you that as long as he is not waiting outside the dream to block my way to life, I will leave quietly and will not have any conflict with him.”
“That is wonderful!” Fu Xiaoba let out a breath of relief, stood, spread her arms, and gave Qu Linyan a big bear hug. “Thank you, Little Black!”
Qu Linyan had wanted to dodge, but she failed. Her little head was instantly pressed into those soft twin peaks, and her ears reddened without her noticing.
After several seconds, Fu Xiaoba let go of Qu Linyan and bit her finger. “Wait, that is not right, Little Black… If you leave Wuyou Valley, then what about me?”
Qu Linyan’s cheeks were bright red right now. She was too embarrassed to even look at Fu Xiaoba. Naturally, her answer was very casual. “What relationship do you have with me?”
Fu Xiaoba blinked and tilted her head. “Are we not very, very good friends? Should friends not always, always play together?”
Qu Linyan turned her head aside. “Friends do not stay together forever. Those who stay together forever are called spouses.”
“Spouses?” Fu Xiaoba took a good while to react. Then she suddenly understood and went, “Oh, oh, oh! I know this. The white snake legend mentioned it. A human man saved the white snake, and the white snake returned to repay the kindness, so she married him and wanted to spend her life with him! When I first heard that story, I asked Brother what spouses meant. He said I would naturally understand when I underwent my tribulation.”
At this point, she seemed to think of something. Her eyes widened, and she raised one finger at Qu Linyan. “Ah! Ahhh! Ahhhh!”
“Ah?” Qu Linyan could not help frowning. “Why are you making strange noises?”
“I know what Brother meant. Since I am undergoing a love tribulation, of course I have to find a husband!” Fu Xiaoba was especially excited as she spoke. She sat down on the stone table beside Qu Linyan and said eagerly, “Little Black! I saved you, right? Are you not supposed to repay my kindness? You, you, you…”
“You, you, you…” Qu Linyan instinctively leaned back a little.
This ignorant little demon could not be asking the grand flood dragon clan chief to offer herself in repayment, could she?
Absurd. Truly absurd!
She was thinking too much. Far too much!
Qu Linyan was just about to righteously refuse when she saw Fu Xiaoba snap her fingers with one hand. Fu Xiaoba wore a look that said, I am far too clever, and lifted her brows at Qu Linyan, her eyes full of laughter.
“Little Black, I am an honest person. I will not ask you to repay a drop with a spring. Since you owe me one kindness, then…”
“Think clearly before you speak!” Qu Linyan threatened.
Fu Xiaoba ignored it and continued, “Take me to the human world to find a husband!”
Qu Linyan was instantly full of shame and anger.
Good, you little pheasant. You really do covet my body. You really…
You…
Wait. Something seemed wrong.
Qu Linyan shook her head and looked at Fu Xiaoba in a daze. “What did you say?”
Fu Xiaoba scratched her ear. “I said, take me to the human world to find a husband, and I will count that as you repaying my kindness.”
Qu Linyan could not help closing her eyes and taking a long, deep breath.
Her clenched fist trembled faintly.