GBSG Chapter 23: Human Skin Lantern (10)

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Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

“Is it even possible?”

“This…is a little, well what if…”

“When I first hearing it, I thought it wouldn’t work, but after thinking about it carefully, I think it might…”

Li Xuan and the other two veterans gathered together and discussed in low voices. Chen Caixing flipped his hair and calmly nibbled on the fruit. When he finished the second piece of fruit, Xia Ting, the only female representative among the veterans, said: “Yuan Xing, we think your idea is feasible, so we’ll listen to you.”

Although this method sounded very bold and unconventional at first glance, when thinking about it carefully, it would be very effective against the deeply superstitious in the village. The other point was that they couldn’t come up with any other good ideas.

It was better to try anything possible, even if it was grasping at straws.

“Then thank you for giving me the center stage to debut.” Chen Caixing flipped his hair with a charming appearance and spoke in a graceful manner: “All the boys under the age of eight in the village, make sure not to miss a single one, kidnap them all.”

Everyone: ???

Kidnap…Kidnap all the children?

Wasn’t the plan to create a god?

“Without any suffering, how can I, the Holy Mother, make my debut?” Chen Caixing said confidently, raising his head and glancing over at the three veterans who seemed to have the most questions to ask. “Is there anything else?”

Xia Ting could only shake her head under his gaze.

“Xiao Jiu, do you have any more candy?” Chen Caixing wanted to make sure that things wouldn’t go wrong.

Yuan Jiuwan stretched out his little hand and rummaged inside his small pocket. The amount of candy he took out was definitely not something that could be held in the small pocket. The newcomers were confused, but the veterans knew that it was taken out from the game backpack. The three looked at Chen Caixing with admiration.

Fruit candy, lollipop, chocolate; there were only three types. So they cost at least three gold coins.

Thirty thousand yuan for candy. Moreover, the game story was only open before entering the game, which meant that Yuan Jiuwan hadn’t bought the expensive candy specifically for the plan, but that he had bought it before entering the game as mere snacks!

Yuan Xing was so generous to her younger brother.

She was also rich.

Chen Caixing noticed the three people’s gazes. He, who only had two gold coins on him, calmly accepted admiring gazes.

The world doesn’t understand the pain he had suffered.

“Take it.” He said casually.

Xia Ting and the other two really didn’t have any complaints this time.

The children were kidnapped as planned. Su Da provided a hidden cave in the mountains, not far away from the village, and usually unknown to outsiders.

Recently, the village was preparing for the Holy Maiden Ceremony. Everyone had their own duties, so the children were allowed to run around on their own. In fact, no one usually restrained them, so the precautions were not high. In addition, the university students had been here for a few days, so the villagers had long lost their curiosity about university students.

The cart was ready.

This time, Chen Caixing paid 90,000 yuan and went with Su Le and Jia Di. Su Da helped Xia Ting and the other two kidnap the village children. Liu Shasha, Mei Qing, and Lu Zhou stayed in the village to do work.

On the way out, the ox-cart passed by a few villagers, and someone greeted them: “Are you going out?”

Jia Di didn’t say anything and just stared at him with a dark expression.

“My brother and I want to see the scenery in the mountains, so Uncle Jia Di brought us around.” Chen Caixing said casually. Ever since yesterday when they found out that Auntie Su had been killed by the villagers, the three members of the Su family had been like this.

The villager laughed awkwardly and left with his companion. Their conversation could still be heard from afar.

“What’s wrong with Jia Di? Why is he looking at me like that?”

“Isn’t that normal? His wife and daughter are gone, so he’s always like this. Just ignore him.”

“Serves him right. Who told his wife to teach his daughter…”

Su Le clenched his fists tightly and endured. He knew that Sister Yuan Xing had a plan and didn’t want to ruin it. Chen Caixing sat in the cart. From here, it was obviously summer, but the entire village seemed to be shrouded in a layer of black mist.

Especially in the middle of the village, but it became fainter towards the outskirts.

The thing under the willow tree was getting stronger.

“Let’s go.” Chen Caixing retracted his gaze and looked at Jia Di and Su Da, saying: “The dead are gone. Don’t let Auntie Su and Ah Xiang’s deaths be in vain.”

The ox-cart carried fewer people and moved briskly. Jia Di and his son hurried along and arrived at the peach grove an hour earlier than yesterday.

First, they dug out Sister Xiao Fang’s bones from under the tree. Jia Di and his son picked up firewood and poured animal fat on it, which caused it to burn quickly. Chen Caixing took Xiao Jiu around the peach grove, trying to find the place where the villagers had dug up the Buddha statue to see if there was anything else there.

How could it be so easy to create a new god, especially when people have believed in the previous one for hundreds of years?

“…We still have to set it on fire.” Chen Caixing muttered to himself.

Yuan Jiuwan, who was following behind: … If Xingxing wants to set it on fire, then let’s just set it on fire.

The peach grove was too big, and everything had happened so long ago that no one knew exactly where the statue had been dug up from. Chen Caixing walked around and found nothing suspicious. He could only stand there helplessly and let out a sigh.

“I’m still too poor.” If only there were props.

If he really couldn’t find it, he could maybe ask Sister Xiao Fang or Ah Xiang, but Sister Xiao Fang and Ah Xiang wouldn’t appear during the day. Chen Caixing was worried when he suddenly heard Xiao Jiu cry out. He turned around and Xiao Jiu, who was been following behind him, had disappeared.

“Xiao Jiu?”

“Jiejie, I’m here.”

Yuan Jiuwan’s voice came from afar.

In broad daylight, it was easy to navigate through the dead branches scattered on the ground of the peach grove by following the sound of Xiao Jiu’s voice. Chen Caixing walked over and saw that his little brother had been tripped by a branch and was now sitting on the ground. His little foot seemed to have been caught on something.

“Why did you suddenly fall? Does it it hurt? Where did you fall?” Chen Caixing hugged Xiao Jiu in distress.

Yuan Jiuwan rubbed against Chen Caixing’s arms and said pitifully: “It hurts. Something tripped my foot.”

“What bad thing tripped our Xiao Jiu’s foot? Jiejie will teach it a lesson!” Chen Caixing was amused by Xiao Jiu’s cute words, so he coaxed the child and childishly lowered his head to look for something to ‘take revenge’ for Xiao Jiu.

The two of them were very happy. One was acting while the other was learning how to act.

There were dead branches all over the ground. Chen Caixing used his foot to kick it, but one end was buried in the soil, so only some soil was kicked up. Yuan Jiuwan stood at the side and said angrily: “Jiejie, it’s still not coming out!”

“It doesn’t dare!”

Chen Caixing squatted down and used some strength in his hand. This time, the branch was pulled out, but the one end that had been buried in the ground was covered in a reddish-brown soil, like dried blood.

Chen Caixing was originally just teasing Xiao Jiu, but now that he saw that, he immediately said: “Xiao Jiu, stand back a little.”

Yuan Jiuwan’s chubby little face immediately became nervous. He stuck out his head and whispered: “Jiejie, is there something wrong?”

“I don’t know yet.” Chen Caixing didn’t have any tools on hand, so he called Jia Di and Su Le over.

The father and son led the way and started digging. After digging for awhile, they heard a clear ‘clink’ sound.

“Sister Yuan Xing, sounds like a jar.”

“Be careful.”

This time, they dug carefully. After awhile, the jar’s appearance was revealed. It was a pitch-black jar with vermillion talismans drawn on the mouth and body of the jar. Because they had used too much strength earlier, the mouth of the jar had broken, revealing the contents inside.

Chen Caixing’s heart thumped. His pregnant woman’s sixth sense told him that they had just found something important.

“Sister Yuan Xing, it’s something furry.” Su Le reached out to touch it.

Jia Di shouted for him to stop, so Su Le retracted his hand. Chen Caixing found a peach tree branch and pulled out the thing inside the jar. The sudden rotten smell made Chen Caixing nauseous. He suppressed the urge to vomit and laid the thing flat under the sun.

It was a whole piece of furry animal skin.

The person who had peeled it seemed to be very skilled. It was easy to tell what it was from the head to the tail.

“Jackal.” Jia Di said.

Chen Caixing noticed the words carved at the bottom of the jar. It roughly said that more than a hundred years ago, there was a spirit that harmed people here. Half of the villagers had died tragically. Later, they met a Daoist who helped them catch the spirit that harmed people. In order to vent their hatred, the villagers skinned it alive and broke its bones. The bones were ground into powder and stored inside the Buddha statue to suppress it. The skin was sealed in the jar and buried in the peach grove.

All so that the spirit would never cause trouble again.

“Sister Yuan Xing, what do we do? Take it back and show them? This is the ancestor that has harmed many people.” Su Le was furious.

You’d only take it back if you were crazy. The spirit’s strength was weak because of the bones and skin being separated. Every five years, it would struggle to come out and harm people. Moreover, the mouth of the jar was broken, so it was useless to try to reseal it and bury it again. It was almost the Hungry Ghost Festival. Chen Caixing made a prompt decision and said: “Burn it with the peach tree branches.”

There was still some animal fat, so after it melted and spread, the furry animal skin was burned clean along with the peach tree branches.

“Bring back the jar. It’s still useful.”

On the way back, Yuan Jiuwan sat cross-legged in the ox-cart. He took out a plum candy from his small pocket and said, “Jiejie, eat this.”

“New flavor? How much did you buy?” Chen Caixing ate the candy and didn’t feel like vomiting anymore, but he started to feel distressed.

Yuan Jiuwan said fawningly: “It’s a mixed flavor and not expensive, jiejie.”

“Little weasel.” Chen Caixing didn’t get angry. He stroked his little brother’s curly hair and said, “Today’s success was all thanks to Xiao Jiu. Xiao Jiu is a lucky little star.”

If Xiao Jiu hadn’t tripped earlier, then they wouldn’t have found the jar. Today was the fourth day. If this incident hadn’t happened, according to the original progress, Sister Xiao Fang or Ah Xiang would probably tell them that something was buried in the peach grove. On the fifth day, they would find the jar and burn the skin. On the sixth day, the chosen Holy Maiden would probably die.

Now, all the progress was ahead of schedule.

Whichever Holy Maiden was chosen, he’d just blow everything up on the spot.

When they returned, the sky was still bright. Chen Caixing noticed that the black mist above the village was much lighter than it had been in the morning. It seemed that the ‘ancestor’ had also been affected by the burning of the furry animal skin.

“Sister Yuan, you’re back.” Mei Qing opened the door and said, “We’ve finished preparing the things. I even cooked food-“

Chen Caixing supported his waist and said: “If you continue, it won’t be considered a good merit.”

This sister’s cooking skills were not as good as his.

Mei Qing: “It’s not that bad, right?”

Chen Caixing thought of the messy bowl of noodles yesterday and stayed silent. Su Le spoke up: “Sister Yuan Xing, I’ll go cook. What do you want to eat?”

“I’m not picky.” Chen Caixing flipped his hair after a moment’s thought.

Mei Qing at the side: …Sister Yuan, you’re targeting me. I’ve got the evidence.

Lu Zhou helped to move the things. There were two jars in the car. One was brought out by Jia Di in the morning. He knew that it contained Sister Xiao Fang’s ashes. He held it with both hands respectfully and muttered: “Sister Xiao Fang, be rational. Don’t be impulsive. Look, we’re all good people. Don’t confuse us for the enemy…”

“Why is there an empty jar?” Liu Shasha was a little scared but wanted to help. She thought about how expensive the props were. If she didn’t make some money in this world, what would she do in the next world?

Chen Caixing washed his hands and face before wringing out a towel to wipe Xiao Jiu’s hands. The two of them went to the square table in the main room. He saw Liu Shasha holding the jar with a broken mouth, and her face was wrinkled by the smell inside. When she saw him, she probably didn’t want to leave impression of being delicate and squeamish, so she forced a smile and took a deep breath, relaxing her expression.

Chen Caixing: …

Girls don’t have to be so practical.

“Sister Yuan, do you want me to wipe the jar? It looks dirty.” Liu Shasha put the jar on the table and asked in a proactive manner.

Chen Caixing looked at her smile and couldn’t bear to say anything more. “Just stay away from it.”

Liu Shasha just thought that the jar must be very important and didn’t think much else of it. She watched as Sister Yuan asked Lu Zhou to take the jar away and wipe the table for dinner.

“I’ll wipe it, I’ll wipe it.”

Later, when everyone returned in the evening and Liu Shasha found out what had been in the jar, she wanted to curse! But the current Liu Shasha didn’t know anything and happily wiped the table.

In the evening, before the sky turned dark, Li Xuan and the other two veterans came back with Su Da.

The table was filled with delicious food.

Chen Caixing looked at the three who didn’t leave and said protectively: “There’s not enough food here.”

Xia Ting’s eyes twitched. How could this girl still remember to eat at this time!?

“Who do you think needs to support two people with one body?” Chen Caixing saw their reactions and said: “You haven’t given birth and been a mother yet, so you don’t know how it feels. I’m not being greedy. I’m just poor mother.”

Everyone looked at Xia Ting as if she was being unreasonable and bullying a pregnant woman.

Xia Ting: “…”

“Let’s…Let’s go back and eat first.” Meng Haocong persuaded softly. “Yuan Xing is pregnant. Don’t be angry.”

“That’s right, Xia Ting. There’s no hurry. Let Yuan Xing eat first.”

Xia Ting couldn’t catch her breath, and she really wanted to shout out ‘Are you guys blind? This Yuan Xing is just like a green tea!’ but she could only bear it and go back. Although Yuan Xing was a bitch, a green tea, and occasionally a fake white lotus, she didn’t do anything stupid in the game world and was still able to act intelligently. Despite thinking about it this way, a bitch was still a bitch. Anyway, Yuan Xing’s husband was the one who would suffer.

She wondered what kind of man Yuan Xing had hooked up with.

How pitiful.

“Jiejie, eat the meat. It’s delicious here.” Yuan Jiuwan picked up the most tender meat of the fish belly.

“Good Xiao Jiu.” Chen Caixing ate the meat happily. His little brother was really obedient and cute.

While they were eating, everyone heard the old woman with small feet scolding loudly from next door: “Where’s Hu Zi? I told you to take care of Hu Zi. What are you doing every day?”

“Mother, you said that the Holy Maiden Ceremony was soon and that we needed to cover the ancestors with paper cloths-”

“You still dare to talk back! Zha Li, control your wife!”

“Mom, Hu Zi is probably just playing somewhere. He’ll be back soon. Let’s eat first.”

Chen Caixing ate dinner in a happy mood.

After dinner, the sky became completely dark. In the past, when the sky turned dark, every family in the village would close their doors and not come out. Now, there were shouts one after another, calling out all kinds of children’s nicknames. The adults all ran out to look for their children. For awhile, it was lively outside.

The gate of Jia Di’s courtyard was tightly shut.

Chen Caixing told the others about the jar in the peach grove that they found during the day. Liu Shasha, who had just finished eating, thought of the deep breath she had taken earlier when holding the jar. She covered her mouth and went to the backyard to vomit. Li Xuan and the others were puzzled. Wasn’t this girl too timid?

“Next, you mentioned the paper in the fish belly-“

“The fish was stewed in the afternoon.” Chen Caixing thought of the taste of dinner and said while eating fruit: “It tasted pretty good.”

Li Xuan and the others: …

The original plan was to use a paper in the fish belly, a bonfire, and a fox’s cry; borrowing the means of gaining public opinion from Chen Sheng and Wu Guang’s uprising.

(T/N: Chen Sheng & Wu Guang were army rebels who used many techniques to sway public opinion to support their campaign to overthrow the government. They once wrote ‘King Chen Sheng’ on a piece of silk and put it in the belly of a fish which was bought by an army soldier.)

But now there was a ready-made plan with the jar. The fish that Su Da brought back had been fat and tender, so Chen Caixing had asked the two brothers to cook it for dinner.

“Then what should we do now?” Xia Ting really didn’t dare to argue with Yuan Xing now. She knew she was no match for this woman.

As they were talking, Liu Shasha’s cry came from the backyard.

“I put Sister Xiao Fang’s jar in the back.” Lu Zhou said and ran to the backyard.

Chen Caixing held his waist and still hadn’t gotten up yet when Liu Shasha and Lu Zhou’s voices came from behind. Both of them were fine, so he simply sat back down. Yuan Jiuwan stuffed a fruit into Chen Caixing’s hand. Chen Caixing returned to eating the fruit.

There was no need for him to ask what happened. Anyway, Chen Caixing’s mouth was already occupied.

Liu Shasha said it all: “I went to the backyard and was about to vomit… then I saw a woman with disheveled hair and a bloody body staring at me by the pond. I was so scared that I swallowed it back…”

The fruit in Chen Caixing’s hand no longer seemed appetizing.

Yuan Jiuwan took it, tasting sweeting as he ate at the spot from where Chen Caixing had already nibbled at the fruit.

“Didn’t you say that you didn’t like the fruit because it was too sour?” Chen Caixing asked, puzzled.

Yuan Jiuwan held the fruit and said, “Jiejie, this one is very sweet.”

Sweet? Chen Caixing thought about it and found the fruit to be quite sour. He looked suspicious, still thinking about whether the fruit was sweet or sour.

Li Xuan and the other started discussing.

“It must be Sister Xiao Fang.”

“She only glanced at you and didn’t hurt you.”

“Then what should we do?”

Chen Caixing could only throw the matter of the sweet and sour fruit aside.

He explained: “It just so happens that I plan to deal them a hard blow and directly set fire to the ancestral hall.”

The original plan was to smash the roof of the ancestral hall, make some ghostly wails and howls, and throw the drawings that Mei Qing and the others had made in the afternoon. He still had a safety talisman, so he could go all out. Now that the jackal skin was gone, Chen Caixing, the arsonist, could satisfy his hobby again.

It made him very happy.

After the matter settled, they went back to their rooms and waited for midnight.

Chen Caixing was in a daze when he heard someone call him Sis. Ah Xiang had arrived. But Sister Ah Xiang, what was wrong with you? If I hadn’t known that you were our ally, I would’ve had a miscarriage because of your ghostly whispers in my ear all night long, did you know that?

“Sister, can you move a little further away?”

As soon as Chen Caixing opened his eyes, he saw that Ah Xiang was very close to him and couldn’t help but lean back.

Ah Xiang was no different from his dream. Her facial features were ordinary, and her skin was a healthy wheat color. Right now, she was looking at him with joy and envy. “Sis, you’re so beautiful, and your skin is so white. I like you so much.”

Chen Caixing: … Don’t like me. It won’t work out.

“Gege.”

Yuan Jiuwan’s sleepy voice came from behind. He leaned against Chen Caixing and stared at Ah Xiang beside the bed with his almond-shaped eyes, asking curiously: “Gege, who’s this?”

Chen Caixing noticed that the joy in Ah Xiang’s eyes slowly turned into something else.

“I’m not- I don’t- Don’t think too much!”

He wasn’t really a pervert.

It was a long story about a child not having a mother. Chen Caixing shed tears of grievance. He really wasn’t a pervert. It was just that the beer belly that suddenly appeared in the game forced him to do business like this.

The room fell into silence.

After a long while…

“G-Gege?” Ah Xiang stuttered.

Chen Caixing used his thick skin to say: “You should just call me Sis.” Without waiting for Ah Xiang’s reaction, he asked: “Why are you looking for me?”

“Sister Xiao Fang went to find them.” Ah Xiang said sadly. “I’m afraid of that tree, so I don’t dare to go near it and Xiao Lan and the others. Sis, please save Xiao Lan. I can’t stay any longer, I have to go.”

She had persevered for so long. Her mother was saved, so her wish had been fulfilled.

“Ah Xiang, you’re a good girl.” Chen Caixing handed out the good person card and said solemnly: “I will do my best.”

“Thank you, Sis.”

Ah Xiang was gone.

Chen Caixing knew that she wouldn’t come back. Before he could feel sad, he heard Xiao Jiu say: “Gege, don’t like that sister. You can only like me, okay?”

“Did you do that on purpose just now?” Chen Caixing reacted.

Xiao Jiu was usually the smartest, always calling him sister.

Yuan Jiuwan lowered his head and said pitifully, “I only have gege. Gege can’t like anyone else.”

Chen Caixing felt uncomfortable when he heard that. He didn’t think have any other thoughts about Ah Xiang. He wholeheartedly liked Xiao Jiu, so he hurriedly promised: “Gege likes Xiao Jiu the most. I only like Xiao Jiu. I don’t like anyone else.”

Not to mention that Ah Xiang wasn’t human. Even if Ah Xiang had been human, they wouldn’t fall in love because of different genders.

Yuan Jiuwan became happy and kissed Chen Caixing on the cheek with a red face. Chen Caixing felt that his little brother was the cutest.

Since Ah Xiang had already woken them up, there was no need to sleep anymore. The two carried their things and went out.

The whole village was quiet.

Yuan Jiuwan led the way to the ancestral hall quickly. The two walked around the willow tree and arrived at the back. The ancestral hall’s door wasn’t locked. Chen Caixing pressed the talisman against his palm and pushed open the door easily. The inside was dark and cold, with an uncomfortable smell.

Chen Caixing held the torch stained with oil and looked at the neatly arranged memorial tablets.

The row of lanterns on the beam sensed what Chen Caixing was going to do, and they swayed violently. They heard auditory hallucinations of pitiful girls begging for mercy.

“Please let me go.”

“Save me. Don’t burn me.”

But this time, Chen Caixing had no fear in his heart.

It wasn’t the girls who begged for mercy but the jackal spirit under the willow tree.

‘Boom—‘

Chen Caixing threw the lit torch inside, and soon, there was a burning smell.

There was a strong gust of wind that blew in the square, causing the willow tree to rustle loudly. Countless ghosts turned into jackals and rushed at Chen Caixing.

“Xiao Jiu, let’s go!”

Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

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inueko: Sorry if the flow feels a little weird, I’m still trying to get the hang of staying true to the text but also making it sound smoother than the MTL… =v=;;

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(*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

GBSG Chapter 22: Human Skin Lantern (9)

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Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

The room was quiet for a moment.

No one made a sound, as if in a silent standoff.

Chen Caixing’s heart was beating fiercely as he wondered if he had mistaken her for someone else. What if the ghost wasn’t Ah Xiang? Before he could think of a solution otherwise, the female voice by the bed spoke.

“Sis, please save my mother.”

“Under the crooked tree in the peach grove.”

Listening to the sound of her voice, Chen Caixing fell into a drowsy slumber once more. He knew that Ah Xiang was entrusting him with another dream, just like the first night.

Awakening in the dream–

The six girls were either numb and resigned to their fate or trembling in fear. These was even one who was happy. Chen Caixing was an outside observer this time. The happy girl was especially obvious among the six. She had obviously been brainwashed by her family since she was a child, saying that being a Holy Maiden was an honorable thing.

It wasn’t even laughable, only pitiful.

The village chief used a knife to cut open the girls’ palms. Reverently, he brushed the lowest hanging willow branches across the blood of the girls’ palms. The youngest girl, who was fourteen or fifteen, cried out in pain. The village chief glared at her.

“This is for the honor of our ancestors. Why are you crying?”

Then he sent the six girls to the ancestral hall. The one who was originally happy could not help but tremble in fear when they arrived at the gloomy ancestral hall. One of the girls, who was fourteen or fifteen, cried out softly: “Sister Ah Xiang, I’m so scared, Sister.”

The tallest girl among the six was around seventeen or eighteen. She had a long braid that fell in front of her chest. Her facial features could only be described as common, but her eyes were clear with a bit of tenacity. This was Ah Xiang.

She stepped forward and hugged the young girl, patting the girl’s hair and coaxing: “Xiao Lan, don’t be afraid. You’re still young. Our ancestors will not choose you.”

“Really? Sister, I’m so scared. I don’t want to be a Holy Maiden.”

“It’s true. If our ancestors are truly our ancestors, they will not harm us.”

The girl who was happy at first jumped out and retorted: “Ah Xiang, what nonsense did your mother teach you again? It’s an honorable thing to be a Holy Maiden by our ancestors’ side. Why would our ancestors harm us? This is to bring us blessings.”

“Look, Xiao Lan, there are people who want to be a Holy Maiden while we don’t want it. Our ancestors can surely hear us and will know.” Ah Xiang said, stroking the hair of the young girl in her arms.

After awhile, the girls fell asleep. Ah Xiang didn’t know what happened after they fell asleep, so when the scene changed, the Holy Maiden had already been chosen.

It was the young girl named Xiao Lan.

It wasn’t Ah Xiang.

Chen Caixing suddenly thought of something very important. The village had been performing the Holy Maiden Ceremony for hundreds of years, and the selection would be held every five years. So many innocent souls had been killed, but why was Ah Xiang’s soul the only one who could appear in dreams? What about the other victims?

“Sister Ah Xiang, I don’t want to be the Holy Maiden.”

“I’m so scared.”

Xiao Lan wept bitterly, unwilling to be scolded by her relatives. Several old women even tied her up and changed her into the Holy Maiden clothes. Obviously, they were used to such a scene.

The third day was the Hungry Ghost Festival.

A banquet was held in the village.

In the crowd, Jia Di and his two sons were relieved when they saw that it was not Ah Xiang who had become the Holy Maiden. Su Le even smiled and invited his sister to go home to wash up, saying that their mother would wait for her. After taking a bath and having dinner, his sister would not need to be a Holy Maiden candidate anymore.

It was evening again.

The struggling and unwilling Holy Maiden Xiao Lan was forcibly sent into the ancestral hall.

With a cold face, Ah Xiang suddenly smashed the door of the ancestral hall.

“…It’s a lie, a lie to all of us.”

“What lantern? There’s no need for a lantern. Mother said that people outside don’t do this.”

“They want to kill Xiao Lan.”

When night fell, all the women and children had already gone home. The square in front of the ancestral hall was filled with only the men of the village. The village chief was angry. “Jai Di, why aren’t you restraining Ah Xiang? What will the ancestors think of this?”

The willow tree rustled and swayed.

Suddenly, there was a gloomy wind blowing in the square, accompanied by the sound of wailing ghosts and howling wolves. They had just mentioned angering the ancestors, and now it seemed that Ah Xiang had truly angered the ancestors.

In the end, Ah Xiang was beaten to death by the men of the village. Jia Di and his two sons were injured and could not stop them. They could only watch as Ah Xiang died. Because Ah Xiang had offended the ancestors and was unclean, she wasn’t worthy of being buried in the ancestral hall. The village chief wrapped Ah Xiang’s body in a rotten straw mat and burned it outside the village.

Save Mother.

Be careful…

Chen Caixing woke up from the dream. This time, as an outsider, he was more objective and calm. He was still thinking about the contents of the dream when he suddenly heard a shill scream next door. Xiao Jiu, who had been sleeping soundly on the inner side of the bed, was awakened. He rubbed his eyes and said sleepily, “Brother?”

“Something must’ve happened.”

The scream continued, long and shrill. Listening carefully, there was also the scolding of the old woman with the small feet. The sound came from the second floor of Hu Zi’s house next door, not from their side.

The girls over there were Xia Ting, Liu Shasha, and Zhou Zihan, but the voice was so shrill that Chen Caixing couldn’t tell who it was.

Yuan Jiuwan narrowed his eyes and raised the corners of his mouth slightly.

The noise outside was getting louder and louder, so Chen Caixing decided to go take a look. When he was putting on his shoes, he looked down and saw a pair of red embroidered shoes neatly placed beside the bed.

It was not the shoes he had worn before.

What Su Le had lent him was a pair of black cloth shoes embroidered with a few small yellow flowers.

These red shoes were worn by Holy Maidens.

Sister, isn’t it enough that I’m helping you? Was it necessary to do so many things?

If there are too many tricks, I feel like I’ll lose my mind.

Chen Caixing calmly withdrew his foot and said: “No, go back to sleep. We’ll know what happened tomorrow.” If someone died, they would’ve died long ago. If someone didn’t die, it’s not like he could save them either. It was too late to go and watch the fun.

Yuan Jiuwan’s small face showed a little pity, but he still laid down obediently.

This time, Ah Xiang didn’t appear again. The other party’s soul power seemed insufficient as she only told him half of everything. For example, saying ‘Be careful.‘ She had told him this but didn’t tell him anything else. Even though there weren’t any ghosts, Chen Caixing still didn’t sleep well. The people next door kept talking and making noise intermittently, regardless of whether there were ghosts or not.

The two rooms on the second floor were next to each other. The rooms were made of wood, so there was basically no sound insulation.

In the morning, Chen Caixing woke up with tiredness in his eyes. He pinched Xiao Jiu’s face. The child’s big eyes were full of undisguised worry. Chen Caixing felt better after pinching and said with a smile: “Sister is fine. I can sleep in the afternoon after finishing my business.”

Today, he was planning to go to the crooked tree in the peach grove and also fish for information from Su Le.

When going downstairs, Chen Caixing noticed that Mei Qing and Lu Zhou were looking at him in an unusual manner. Chen Caixing was a little sleepy sitting at the square table, especially after washing up. Mei Qing took the initiative to pour him a hot cup of water and spoke in a slightly enthusiastic tone: “Sister Yuan Xing, drink some hot water. You didn’t sleep well last night?”

It was obvious what she was trying to say.

Last night, Chen Caixing had gone out to borrow a lantern with Yuan Jiuwan. Li Xuan and the other two veterans hadn’t dared to go over. The pregnant woman and primary school student went to the battlefield and came back safe and sound.

Mei Qing felt that Yuan Xing was the hidden boss in their team.

It was already the third day, and the only clue that Li Xuan and the others found was that there was a water ghost in the river. The Holy Maiden Ceremony and the lantern were both important clues found by Yuan Xing.

Who was the real boss? The two newcomers knew how to follow where the wind blew.

“Sister, what are we doing today?” Lu Zhou asked shamelessly.

Chen Caixing almost choked on his water. Yuan Jiuwan reached out his small hand and patted Chen Caixing’s back. Lu Zhou’s face turned red from embarrassment. Chen Caixing pretended not to see Lu Zhou’s embarrassment. If he looked, he would be even more embarrassed, so he could only ask casually: “What happened next door last night?”

These two could be called chatty parrots.

“Zhou Zihan encountered a ghost. She and Liu Shasha slept in the same room. Last night, she suddenly woke up and grabbed Liu Shasha’s neck, saying that Liu Shasha was a ghost who wanted to harm her. She made a lot of noise and woke up the whole house.” Mei Qing said.

Her room was close to Liu Shasha’s, so she had heard everything clearly.

“Just a haunted nightmare?” Chen Caixing thought that something bad had happened.

Up until now, except for Lili who had died at the beginning, the rest of the ten people were fine. The difficulty of this game wasn’t very high. Chen Caixing thought about it but didn’t say much. It was better to be cautious.

There was only one life after all.

Today’s breakfast was very perfunctory, made by Jia Di. He cooked millet porridge with pickled vegetables and heated up the unfinished steamed buns from yesterday. Compared to the previous two days, Chen Caixing, a pregnant woman, was very delicate and had no appetite, idly stirring the porridge in the bowl.

“Where are Su Le and Su Da?” Chen Caixing casually asked Jia Di as if they were chatting. Mei Qing and Lu Zhou glanced at each other. Sister Yuan was trying to get information from the NPC, so they pricked their ears up and listened.

Jia Di’s expression wasn’t good. “They went out this morning and haven’t come back yet.”

“Oh.” Chen Caixing guessed where the two brothers went and drank the porridge from his bowl resignedly.

The father and sons were descended from the same blood, but the son’s cooking was so delicious in comparison. As a father, aren’t you ashamed?

Chen Caixing’s expression of disgust for the porridge was too obvious. Jia Di’s hand on the bowl tightened, and he poured the porridge into his mouth expressionlessly.

Cold and heartless.

Lu Zhou and Mei Qing: …

What kind of information was Yuan Xing trying to get? She was just complaining that the food tasted bad.

After a simple breakfast, Jia Di roughly cleaned up. Chen Caixing sat at the table in a state of sleepiness. Before the Su brothers returned, Li Xuan and the others came by first. Liu Shasha arrived last. Her neck was red, and there were obvious strangulation marks at first glance.

Zhou Zihan stared at Liu Shasha with a suspicious expression.

“She’s a ghost. She’s a female ghost without her skin.” She muttered.

Xia Ting had been suppressing herself until now and said impatiently: “Zhou Zihan, shut up.”

“You’re back? Did you find any clues when you borrowed the lantern last night?” Li Xuan asked.

Chen Caixing glanced at him in amusement. “Why should I tell you the clues I found? We agreed to share clues, but all you’re sure about is that there are water ghosts in the river and now you come to ask for clues empty-handed?”

“That’s right!” Yuan Jiuwan agreed angrily.

Chen Caixing patted the child’s head.

Li Xuan was embarrassed. He took a deep breath and said: “Yuan Xing, that’s not what we meant. We’re all in the same team. If we help each other, won’t we be able to get out earlier?”

“The game ranks the players according to the importance of the clues.” Chen Caixing smiled faintly. “Rank B is 25 gold coins. A safety talisman is 19 gold coins. One gold coin can be exchanged for 10,000 yuan. What level do you think you can get if you stay in the game?”

“I used a safety talisman last night.” Chen Caixing put the half-burned safety talisman on the table and looked at Li Xuan. “190,000 for one, and you want to get a clue with just one sentence? You’re too shameless.”

Who are you trying to bluff?

Newbies knew that players would be rewarded when they left the game, but they didn’t know that life-saving items would be so expensive!

Mei Qing and Lu Zhou looked at Li Xuan and the others who suddenly appeared shameless in their eyes.

That was 190,000 yuan after all.

“Let’s go.” Meng Haocong said.

Li Xuan was humiliated on the spot. When he left, he looked at Chen Caixing as if he was looking at a scumbag, and said in a hurt tone: “Yuan Xing, I didn’t expect you to be such a materialistic person, someone who only cares about temporary gains and losses. What a disappointment.”

Chen Caixing: ???

Weren’t gold coins better?

What nonsense was he spouting, trying to deceive an ignorant girl? He was a smart and mature pregnant woman! Don’t even think about tricking him.

Li Xuan and the other two left, and Zhou Zihan followed closely behind. Before she left, she glared at Liu Shasha. Liu Shasha covered her neck and didn’t leave, pleading in a hoarse voice: “Can I live here? Zhou Zihan is crazy. She strangled me while I was sleeping.”

Mei Qing felt sympathetic, but she didn’t say anything and glanced at Chen Caixing.

“Why are you looking at me? Isn’t there an empty room upstairs?”

“Yes, there’s still an empty room.” Mei Qing remembered and continued, “I’ll take you up.”

Liu Shasha and Mei Qing went upstairs together. Chen Caixing looked at Liu Shasha’s back in a trance. Zhou Zihan said that there was something wrong with Liu Shasha. Had Zhou Zihan been frightened by her ghost story or had she really seen something?

He had to be more careful at night.

After waiting for awhile, the Su brothers came back. Their clothes were damp with weeds hanging on them, and their cloth shoes were muddy, as if stained by dew from the grass.

Chen Caixing didn’t know what time they came back last night, but they had gone out before dawn.

People in the mountains woke up early. It was only seven in the morning now.

Su Le’s eyes were red. It was obvious that he had cried. Su Da didn’t look any better. When the two brothers saw Chen Caixing, they called her sister. Su Le had a heavy nasal voice and raised his hand to cover his eyes, trying not to cry. Chen Caixing remembered the dream Ah Xiang had given him last night and asked: “Did you go to see your sister?”

“Sister Yuan, how did you know?” Su Le was surprised.

Chen Caixing originally wanted to fish for information, so he spoke half-truthfully and half-falsely: “I dreamt of some things. Was your older sister tall and did she have a long braid? Was she called Ah Xiang?”

“Yes, that’s my sister.” Su Le choked, looking anxious.

“In my dream, she asked me to help save your mother.” Chen Caixing always paid attention to the expressions of the two brothers. When he mentioned ‘save your mother,’ there was no sadness in their eyes, only confusion. Obviously, they didn’t know what was wrong.

Last night, Ah Xiang’s words indicated that their mother might be dead. But it seemed that the two brothers didn’t know.

“Our mother secretly left the village after my sister’s accident.” Su Le said absentmindedly.

The old woman with the small feet once said, ‘Serves her right for running away,’ but she had been quickly stopped by her son. Su Le’s mother ran away from the village. Everyone knew, but no one talked about it in detail. Chen Caixing thought of a possibility, but he didn’t elaborate. “Then I don’t understand. Ah Xiang mentioned in my dream something about a peach grove and crooked tree to save your mother. If your mother left, how could Ah Xiang ask me to save her? It seems that it was just a messy dream. Don’t take it to heart.”

He had already said it so clearly, yet he still asked them not to take it to heart. Wasn’t this clearly causing their hearts to be in a mess?

Su Da clenched his fists as he pondered the idea that something may have happened to his mother. Su Le was at a loss for a few seconds before thinking of something and looking at Su Da in disbelief.

“Brother, brother, it can’t be! Mother only left. She just left, right?”

Su Da didn’t dare to say anything after witnessing his sister being beaten to death with his own eyes. He felt in his heart that something definitely happened to their mother.

“Whether it’s true or not, we’ll know when we go and see.” Chen Caixing stood up, glanced up at the sky, and asked: “Do you know where the peach grove is? Will we be able to return before it gets dark?”

The 190,000 yuan talisman had been destroyed, so Chen Caixing didn’t want to encounter any ghosts.

“I’ll prepare the ox cart.” Su Da gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Su Le followed.

In the backyard, Jia Di asked why they wanted to prepare the ox cart, which soon turned into the two sons angrily venting their accusations in low voices. After awhile, the bell of the ox cart rang. Jia Di’s face had an ugly expression. He drove the ox cart and said to Chen Caixing: “Get on, let me go and have a look. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe that they’d do this to me.”

It seemed that the three of them, father and sons, had been kept in the dark.

Chen Caixing shamelessly hugged Xiao Jiu and got on the ox cart. Lu Zhou, Mei Qing, and Liu Shasha also joined the journey. Jia Di’s face was dark, and he obviously didn’t want to bring so many people with. But he didn’t say anything and let Mei Qing and Liu Shasha get on the ox cart.

The men walked beside the cart.

When Liu Shasha got on the cart, she tripped over someone and touched Chen Caixing’s arm. She panicked and whispered sorry.

Chen Caixing smiled understandingly. “It’s okay. Just be careful.”

He had just touched her arm, and it was warm. There was also nothing strange about her behavior. Liu Shasha seemed to be a normal person.

The ox cart went out of the village, jingling all the way, and followed the path they had originally entered the village from.

The trees on both sides covered the sky and sun, and there was a cool breeze blowing in the mountain forest. It was still a very cool morning. But after walking for more than an hour, the sun rose and became hot. Chen Caixing felt a little sleepy under the sun. He hugged Yuan Jiuwan and dozed off bit by bit. In the end, he couldn’t take it anymore and leaned on Xiao Jiu’s body to nap a little.

“We’re here, Sister.” Yuan Jiuwan whispered in Chen Caixing’s ear. His breath made Chen Caixing’s ears turn slightly red. Yuan Jiuwan saw it and couldn’t help touching it. Chen Caixing woke up immediately with a jolt and was relieved when he saw that it was only Xiao Jiu. His earlobe was tingling just now. He hadn’t known that his ears were so sensitive.

However, this topic could easily become dirty and was not suitable for children.

“Sister, we are here.” Yuan Jiuwan recovered himself, opening his round almond-shaped eyes and appearing childish and innocent.

He had probably only touched it by accident. Chen Caixing didn’t think too much about it. It was almost noon and very sunny. He didn’t recognize where they were. It was a patch of dead trees, short and stout, and they looked like peach trees. Mei Qing’s face turned slightly pale as she said: “I remember, this is the place where Lili was killed.” She pointed to the spot.

This place had beautiful mountains and clear waters, but there was only dead trees in this peach grove, which was a bit strange.

“Why are the trees all dead?” Chen Caixing asked casually after getting off the ox cart.

Su Le didn’t have any time to pay attention to this. If Chen Caixing hadn’t asked, he wouldn’t have wanted to even speak. Now he shook his head and said: “I don’t know, it’s been like this since I was a child.”

Peach wood suppressed evil.

Those villagers killed Su Le’s mother. Were they afraid of her ghost’s revenge, so they just threw her away here?

“Look for a crooked tree.” After he finished speaking, he remembered Ah Xiang’s words of caution and added: “In my dream, Ah Xiang told me to be careful. One of our female college students had an accident here at that time, and she didn’t come back. Those who escaped said that they met a young female ghost who wanted to borrow their skin.”

Jia Di and his sons had strange expressions on their faces. Su Le said quickly: “It must be Sister Xiao Fang. She…She once escaped.”

“Xiao Fang?”

“A daughter-in-law from the village who studied and had a good relationship with my mother. My mother had also studied before.” Su Da’s voice was low, and then he continued: “Later, Sister Xiao Fang disappeared. I heard from the villagers that she had escaped.” He thought of his mother. The villagers had also said that his mother had left.

He didn’t expect that she had been skinned, killed, and thrown here.

Chen Caixing thought of Ah Xiang’s resistance of the Holy Maiden Ceremony and her comfort to Xiao Lan in the ancestral hall. Her mother must’ve educated her.

“I felt sorry to her.” Jia Di’s face was dark with tears in his eyes as he murmured: “I thought that since Ah Xiang was gone, she had left in disappointment. I couldn’t help her. It’s all my fault.”

At noon, the sun was the hottest.

“Let’s find her.”

Chen Caixing was a little dizzy from the sun, but his eyes were cold. He just wanted to leave this man-eating place as soon as possible.

Ah Xiang’s mother was obviously a well-educated girl who had been ‘begged’ back to the village.

Unable to escape her situation, she had been subtly influencing her husband, sons, and daughter. Chen Caixing had spoken many words to the father and sons, saying that the lantern was useless. He thought that he had created the crack in their belief, but in fact, it had been the long accumulated effort of Mother Su.

But it was a pity that the power of one person could not fight against an entire backwards and ignorant village.

It didn’t make sense based on science and logic.

Chen Caixing felt that the game sent them to Jia Di’s house for a reason. If they had been sent to the house of the old woman with small feet or the woman in the square who had said that ‘accompanying the ancestors is a blessing,’ then their knowledge and foundation would be so rotten that they couldn’t be saved. It was the spilled blood of the Su family’s mother and sister that gave awareness to the Su brothers, giving the players a chance to learn the truth.

The crooked tree was easy to find.

The father and sons trio had brought along their tools and dug up the tree after a short while. Beneath them was a corpse that had already turned to white bones. The Su brothers recognized their mother through her rotting clothes. They held their heads and cried, sobbing and unable to speak. At the bottom of the peach grove, Mei Qing and Lu Zhou found two corpses. One of them was fresh and bloody. Judging from the attire, it was Lili, who had been killed on the first night. The other one was mainly bones of a skeleton, which should be Sister Xiao Fang.

Xiao Fang’s remains were incomplete, and the rest was probably still buried in the peach grove. These remains most likely slid down the mountainside due to rain and water flow.

Her resentment from dying had been suppressed by the peach grove, and now she had turned into an evil ghost who was forced to repeat her tragic death.

“Let’s take another look.” Chen Caixing looked around the peach grove. “I feel like this place is important.”

Mei Qing asked smoothly, “Why, Sister Yuan?”

“Maybe it’s just a woman’s sixth sense.” Chen Caixing glanced at Mei Qing and said: “It’s okay. You’re still young.”

Mei Qing: !!!

Are you saying that she was not feminine enough!?

Also where was she younger than her???

Sister Xiao Fang’s bones were easy to find. They just needed to follow the traces. Few people came here. After collecting Sister Xia Fang’s and Mother Su’s bones, they discussed whether they should find another place to bury Sister Xiao Fang’s bones. Chen Caixing took a look and said: “Burn them. She couldn’t get out when she was alive, so it would be good if someone could take her out after she died.”

The Su brothers, who were crying with their mother’s bones, were shocked at the realization that they could still leave and get out of the this mountain village.

However, it was late, and they hadn’t brought any jars with them. They could only bury Sister Xiao Fang and Lili’s bodies in a place far away from the peach grove for the time being. As for Mother Su’s bones, they were wrapped in clothes and carefully carried back. The two brothers’ eyes were red and swollen. Su Da said to Chen Caixing: “Sister Yuan, let’s come back tomorrow.”

“The sky is going to change.” Jia Di said suddenly, looking up at the sky.

They quickly got on the ox cart and didn’t dare delay. When they arrived at the entrance of the village, it was already dark, and rain had started to fall.

Chen Caixing looked at the center of the village. The cumulus clouds were thick and gloomy.

“Why did it suddenly become cold?”

“Yeah, it’s so cold.”

Lu Zhou rubbed his arms. Mei Qing also felt cold. In the past, the temperature in the mountain was also low at night, but it wasn’t as freezing cold as today. It became even more uncomfortable as they travelled further into the village.

“There are still two days before the Holy Maiden selection.” Chen Caixing withdrew his gaze.

The two looked at each other, worried for a moment. Lu Zhou asked, “Sister Yuan, what should we do? I don’t want to die.”

“Eat first. I’m hungry.” Chen Caixing didn’t answer. They needed to check the tree again.

Su Le and Su Da only found out today that their mother, who had left home, was dead, so they were in a low mood. Chen Caixing was not Zhou Bapi (T/N: a Chinese archetypal character who likes to exploit people), so he was too embarrassed to ask the brothers to cook for him. Mei Qing and Lu Zhou took the initiative to boil a pot of water. After everyone washed up, they cooked a simple meal.

Jia Di’s family had dry noodles, which were cooked and served with pickled vegetables.

Chen Caixing was hungry but delicate. He couldn’t help but retch when he ate. He helplessly put down his chopsticks and touched his stomach. He said sadly: “Alas, this child is as delicate as me. Can’t even bear a little bit of food.”

Mei Qing: Sister Yuan, please give me a break. I thought you were a hidden boss, but I can’t bear your green tea look.

(T/N: ‘green tea’ refers to acting fake)

In the end, Su Le went to the kitchen to cook noodles for Chen Caixing and Yuan Jiuwan.

Chen Caixing, who had acted delicate and fragile just now, held the big bowl and lowered his head while happily slurping noodles.

Mei Qing: …

How could there be such a woman in the world!!!

It was raining heavily outside. After dinner, everyone went back to their rooms.

“Brother, what’s wrong?” Yuan Jiuwan asked as he sat on the bed.

Chen Caixing’s eyelids kept twitching. He felt that someone would die tonight, so he didn’t hide it from Xiao Jiu.

“Brother, I still have a protective talisman. Take mine.” Yuan Jiuwan took out the protective talisman and handed it over. Chen Caixing felt warm in his heart, and his worries dissipated. He said, “Good boy, take it yourself. Brother is not afraid.”

“Then Brother and I will hold it together.” Yuan Jiuwan tilted his head and said cutely: “Brother, just hold me and put the talisman in the middle.”

Ah, whose good little brother was this? He was too cute. Chen Caixing kissed Xiao Jiu’s face, rubbed the child’s curly hair and said: “Okay, Brother will hold Xiao Jiu and sleep together.”

Xiao Jiu’s face turned red. What a cute and innocent child.

Sure enough, screams rang out in the middle of the night.

Chen Caixing woke up from his sleep. Xiao Jiu, who was in his arms, also instantly woke up and looked at him with sleepy eyes. Chen Caixing said: “Something must’ve happened next door.”

“Was it the bad person who scolded Brother?” Yuan Jiuwan rubbed his head against Chen Caixing’s chest.

Chen Caixing: “?”

“The bad person who cursed Brother and the baby in your belly.”

For a moment, Chen Caixing didn’t know whether to correct Xiao Jiu about the baby or to say that Xiao Jiu’s memory was too good, good enough to still hold a grudge.

However, protecting the child’s shortcomings was the same as protecting his own. Chen Caixing himself was someone who was very overprotective. If others held such a grudge, he might secretly stay away from them, but for Yuan Jiuwan, the child could only be a considerate little brother. He even know how to protect his big brother at such a young age. He hadn’t doted on the child in vain.

“En, it should be Zhou Zihan.”

The sound tonight was different from yesterday. Yesterday, Zhou Zihan exerted her strength to scream for a long time, and her voice had been sharp and shrill. But tonight, after a short sound, everything returned to silence.

It wasn’t hard to imagine that the other party was already dead.

The two got up and went to the corridor of the second floor. Lu Zhou, Mei Qing, and Liu Shasha also came out. Liu Shasha looked in the direction of the next door house and said: “Something happened to Zhou Zihan. There’s something wrong with her brain. Yesterday, she woke up in the middle of the night and called me Lili. Then she tried to strangle me. How did Lili die?”

“At that time, it was dark, and I couldn’t see clearly. I was behind them. Lili ran over first, and then there were screams. Zhou Zihan ran over and pulled my hand, shouting that there was a ghost. Then we ran out blindly.” Mei Qing fell silent after she finished speaking.

In fact, she had also suspected Zhou Zihan. The three of them hadn’t known each other for more than half a day. No one would be kind enough to risk their lives to save another, especially when ghosts were so scary. But Zhou Zihan had kept saying that Lili died to save her, so because the person was already dead, Mei Qing didn’t refute Zhou Zihan’s possible lies.

“Someone died! How unlucky!”

The old woman with small feet next door scolded.

Everyone looked at each other. Liu Shasha said: “Zhou Zihan really died? How did she die?”

“Lili is here for revenge.” Chen Caixing said calmly.

In fact, the newcomer had guessed it, but he didn’t dare to say it out loud. Lu Zhou asked: “Why did she wait until today to take revenge?”

“Maybe Lili is in a good mood today.” Chen Caixing answered perfunctorily.

They went to the peach grove today to help Sister Xiao Fang resolve her obsession. Without Xiao Fang suppressing Lili, it was Zhou Zihan’s turn to die just like Lili.

“Sister Yuan, why didn’t the ancestors of the village kill Zhou Zihan?” Mei Qing was curious.

Chen Caixing glanced at Mei Qing and said: “Do I look like a little gossiping auntie? This isn’t class, but why are there so many questions?”

Sister, your joking is too harsh. Mei Qing was intimidated and could only say: “Oh.”

“Think about it yourself.” Chen Caixing ignored the noise outside and took Xiao Jiu back to the room.

Why didn’t the ancestors of the village kill people?

Because it wasn’t the Hungry Ghost Festival yet. There was a pattern to the ghostly deaths in the village. Those who entered the ancestral hall or died on the willow tree, such as Xiao Ya who had been hanged by Hu Zi’s grandmother. Those people died, and their souls disappeared or were detained. Those who died outside and were killed by the villagers, such as Sister Xiao Fang, Mother Su, and Ah Xiang, still had souls.

However, Sister Xiao Fang and Mother Su had been trapped in the peach grove. One was unconscious, and the other’s soul was about to dissipate. Otherwise, Ah Xiang wouldn’t have come to him to ask for help.

Ah Xiang became a ghost, but her ghost power was only to appear in dreams, scare people, and turn into embroidered shoes. The time she appeared was short. Because she didn’t stay in the village for long, it seemed as if she was afraid of something. As if she was afraid of the ‘ancestors.’

“I don’t know if a fire can burn everything clean.” Chen Caixing muttered while holding Xiao Jiu.

Since the wax museum had been set on fire, Chen Caixing was addicted to being an arsonist.

“Brother, we might be killed by the villagers before the fire is lit.” Yuan Jiuwan reminded him in a whisper.

Chen Caixing said: “…That’s true.”

These stupid villagers had been brainwashed for hundreds of years, and he’d be pressed down and beaten before he even got close to holding a torch. How had Ah Xiang died? She smashed the ancestral hall door, and someone had said ‘The ancestors are angry’ before the villagers became afraid of the ancestors retribution and killed Ah Xiang to appease them.

He was just a poor pregnant woman now.

He couldn’t win.

The difficulty of this world wasn’t high. The difficult part wasn’t the ghosts but the ignorant villagers.

The ‘ancestors’ could only come out to harm people once every five years during the Hungry Ghost Festival when the yin energy was strong enough. This meant that the ghosts weren’t particularly strong or that there were restrictions placed on them. They could only rely on the villagers to offer up women filled with yin energy every five years to increase their strength. But sooner or later, the ghosts would be raised up by the villagers.

Chen Caixing didn’t know if this game they came to was the last sacrifice to raise a strong ghost.

He thought that might be the case.

“This game never lacks malice towards players.” Chen Caixing muttered.

Yuan Jiuwan blinked and said eagerly: “I don’t have any bad intentions towards Brother. I like Brother the most.”

“I didn’t say that you weren’t a good, Xiao Jiu.” Chen Caixing patted his little brother’s head. He had just muttered softly and was misunderstood by the child. “Go to sleep. We still have work to do tomorrow.”

Early the next morning.

Chen Caixing was eating breakfast. They still had to go to the peach grove today, so everyone woke up early.

There was a knock on the courtyard door.

Lu Zhou ran to open the door. It was Li Xuan and the other two veterans. The three of them came in directly. This time, Xia Ting said: “Zhou Zihan died last night.”

Mei Qing and Liu Shasha glanced at Chen Caixing. Chen Caixing was eating and received their gazes with a question mark. Why were they looking at him? In the end, the two girls thought that they had received a hint from Big Sister Yuan. They expressed that they understood and continued eating, ignoring Li Xuan and the other two.

It was an invisible show of strength towards the three of them.

“Yuan Xing, don’t be like this.” Li Xuan’s tone was a little anxious. “I know the way I spoke yesterday wasn’t very good, so I apologize. But time is almost up. Let’s not have internal strife.”

Chen Caixing ate an egg and wiped his mouth. “Your tone doesn’t sound like you’re apologizing at all. I said that it’s okay to share clues, but you want to use one clue to trick me into giving you two important clues. Is it internal strife because I rejected it? The next time you want to exchange something, it has to be of equal value, understand? Otherwise, you’ll just be beaten up. Only a kind-hearted and good-tempered person like me can endure such unreasonable grievances.”

“Sigh, honest people will be bullied. It’s too hard on me.” Chen Caixing sighed.

Yuan Jiuwan nodded and said crisply: “Those who bully Big Sister are all big bad guys.”

Everyone: …

Mei Qing: Big Sister, there’s nothing wrong with your words, but I always feel like you are bullying others.

“…” Li Xuan opened his mouth and didn’t know what to say.

Meng Haocong was a nerd and didn’t know what to say. The two looked at Xia Ting. Shouldn’t it be easier to communicate since they were both women?

It was the first time Xia Ting had met such a difficult female player. She took a deep breath and said: “We have new clues. Did you go to the peach grove yesterday?”

Chen Caixing didn’t answer. The meaning in his eyes were obvious. Just say what you want to say, and don’t try to trick me.

Can you communicate with more sincerity and less tricks?

“Sorry, I’m just used to it.” Xia Ting said awkwardly. “We found out the origin of the ancestral hall.”

“Interesting.” Chen Caixing took the initiative and knocked on the table. “Tell me.”

Xia Ting wanted to negotiate, but it was obvious who had the upper hand now. Thus, she could only continue: “The willow tree and the ancestral hall were built together a hundred years ago. A long time ago, there were wars everywhere, and the outside world was chaotic. The people of this village came here to avoid the disaster and survived by hunting in the mountains. After things settled down, someone suggested building an ancestral hall. It was all thanks to the blessing of the ancestors that they found this place. They hoped that in the future, they would be safe and not affected by the war.”

“A willow tree has yin energy. When they were looking for a willow tree, they found the peach grove. Someone dug out a wooden Buddha statue in the peach grove and buried the Buddha statue in the hole that they used to plant the willow tree.”

In order to find these clues, the veterans had used two items in exchange.

“We think the ‘ancestor’ of the village is the Buddha statue. What should we do next?”

They knew that the evil thing caused trouble, but the three of them couldn’t make a decision, especially since they had used items. They really couldn’t make a single mistake.

Since the three of them were sincere, Chen Caixing didn’t hold back and told them what happened yesterday.

“…So far, we have helped Ah Xiang, Mother Su, and Sister Xiao Fang, but we haven’t completely solved everything. If we want to leave this world, we have to deal with this evil thing and the village worshippers.”

“Kill them?” Lu Zhou asked.

Chen Caixing looked like he hadn’t expected Lu Zhou to have the guts. Lu Zhou said awkwardly: “But… But you said to deal with them all.”

“There are only a few of us and so many people in the village. I don’t even dare to kill a chicken.” Mei Qing tried to smooth things over.

“Then what should we do?”

Everyone couldn’t help but look at Chen Caixing.

Chen Caixing was speechless.

Everyone’s eyes were burning with anticipation. At this moment, it was as if he was wearing the halo of a holy mother. He lovingly touched his beer belly and said helplessly: “Then I’ll suffer a little and become their new god.”

Everyone was speechless.

–

The author has something to say:

The little gossiping auntie Xingxing is thinking about starting a class. The advertisement shows a blooming Sunflower Mother. Xingxing is very self-aware.

Thank you for supporting Xingxing and Zaizai. Let Xiao Yuan perform for you on the spot #How to be a primary school monk and eat your wife’s tofu#

Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

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inueko: OMG this chapter was SOOOOOOOOOO long. Almost 10k characters HOLY! This is 3x as long as last chapter… It took me so long to translate T_T;; I thought about breaking it up, but I don’t really like to break up chapters unless they exceed 10k. I’m not a masochist though I swear… Will probably be changing ‘brother’ to ‘gege‘ in the next few chapters hehe.

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(*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

GBSG Chapter 21: Human Skin Lantern (8)

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Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

When Chen Caixing and Yuan Jiuwan went out, it was already dark.

The doors of every house were closed tightly. If it was past eight o’clock in the summer of modern times, there would be many old people and children enjoying the cool air out in the village. But everyone here seemed to be afraid of something. Once it was dark, they would not leave their homes, and no one would answer the door at night.

On the first night, when Zhou Zihan and Mei Qing came back, they had knocked on every door, but no one had answered.

There were no street lights in the village, so it was pitch black outside with only the faint moonlight illuminating the path.

“Are you afraid?” Chen Caixing asked.

Yuan Jiuwan shook his head and said cutely: “I’m a man full of yang energy. Sister, if you’re afraid, you can hold onto me tightly.”

Chen Caixing was amused, pinched his younger brother’s cheek, and said, “Okay.”

There were too many trailing paths in this place that you would get lost if you walked during the day, let alone at night. But fortunately, the Sang family was holding a funeral tonight, and there were sounds of a suona and gong. The two of them followed the sounds and soon arrived smoothly.

Looking from afar, there were four figures in the square in front of the ancestral hall. All of them were men.

One of the two men in front was beating the gong and the other was playing the suona. With a knock and a blow, one of them shouted: “Please bestow your light, ancestors. Let us borrow a lantern.”

Behind them should be the two brothers, Su Le and Su Da. Each carried an oil lamp in hand, illuminating their figures dimly.

“You can go in now. Be careful.”

“We- We’ll wait for you outside.”

The two men playing the suona and gong said.

It was too dark here, not even the moonlight could shine through, as if it was being blocked by something. Chen Caixing looked at the sky and frowned.

Creak-

It was clear that none of the four men had moved, but the originally closed ancestral hall door suddenly opened.

A gust of cold wind rushed out. The two men, who were leading the group with musical instruments, shouted in alarm. They were so scared that their legs and feet became weak, saying:

“I-I’ll wait for you at the head of the path.”

“Me too.”

The two men ran away without saying anything more, leaving the two brothers where they were.

Chen Caixing saw that Su Le’s legs were shaking in fright. He was also scared of this creepy place, but he was a single mother who still had to raise a child. Chen Caixing followed the script of a pregnant female college student and touched his belly with a worried expression.

It seemed to have become a little rounder?

He must’ve eaten too much in the afternoon.

“Waiting for us?” Chen Caixing didn’t think too much about it and led his little brother forward.

Su Le was startled by the sudden voice. Seeing that it was Chen Caixing and Yuan Jiuwan, his young and tender face was dripping with cold sweat under the oil lamp, and he said in a panic, “Sister Yuan Xing, you should leave quickly. You can’t go in.”

“You guys should go back,” Su Da said. “There are ghosts in the village.”

Chen Caixing looked at the pitch-black ancestral hall with countless memorial tablets and said: “Aren’t they your ancestors? Don’t be afraid. Let’s go in and take a look.” He held Xiao Jiu’s hand tightly in one hand while the other touched the protective talisman in his pocket.

He needed to put in some effort to show that the talisman that cost him 190,000 yuan was worth its cost.

Even if it was all an act, he couldn’t afford to lose face.

Chen Caixing seemed to be walking calmly before turning back to look at the two brothers. “Still not following?” He was a pregnant woman with a child at his side. It was very scary for him to take the lead ah!

Su Da and Su Le carried the oil lamps and followed. In front of them was clearly a pregnant women who spoke gently and softly. But now, her figure from behind had become very dependable in their hearts. Su Le thought of something, and his eyes became sour. He raised his hand to rub them and didn’t let his tears fall.

The ancestral hall was sealed in all directions, and the air was stuffy with the smell of rotting wood. However, Chen Caixing’s nose was sharp, and he detected the dusty scent of blood. Right in front of them were several rows of densely packed memorial tablets. According to Jia Di, the Holy Maiden Ceremony had a history of hundreds of years. Whenever the village elders died, their memorial tablets would be put in here.

Those memorial tablets were obviously inanimate objects, but Chen Caixing always felt as if there were countless eyes staring back at them.

Behind them were two doors. When they took a step forward, they could see countless tall and slender traditional lanterns hanging on the beams.

The lanterns swayed slightly. Under the weak light of the oil lamp, these slender shadows appeared like the swaying of ghostly figures.

“How do we get them?” Chen Caixing asked the two brothers who were stunned in place.

“H-Hang them on the pole.” Su Le said.

The beam was high, and the lanterns were narrow and thin while hung on this high beam. If they wanted to take the lanterns down, they needed to use an iron hook on a pole. But the hanging pole was placed next to the table full of memorial tablets. If they wanted to get it, they had to walk through a row of lanterns.

They knew what the lanterns were made of, so it took a lot of courage to walk through them.

Chen Caixing felt that his retribution had come. He had just told a ghost story to Zhou Zihan, which scared the girl enough to make her scream. Now his scalp was numb, and his hair stood on end. Who told him to talk so big in front of Jia Di and his sons in the afternoon?

“I’ll get it.” Su Da said.

Su Le was scared. “Brother, I’ll go with you.”

“Go where? Don’t stop me, I’ll go.” Chen Caixing encouraged himself in his heart. It was up to him to break the superstition and curb violence with violence. Tonight, he was the messenger of justice, the incarnation of the Virgin Mary.

It was time to step up to the challenge.

Chen Caixing didn’t wait for the two brothers to respond before he took a step forward with the courage of having expensive talismans. Yuan Jiuwan followed behind him without letting go of his hand. When passing under the lanterns, Chen Caixing felt a cold wind blowing from the top of his head to his neck, brushing against his skin.

It caused him to break out in goosebumps.

There were auditory hallucinations of young girls’ soft and delicate voices saying:

“It hurts so much.”

“My skin is gone.”

“Your skin is so good, can you give it to me?”

“Give me your skin, please?”

Chen Caixing had a wooden expression on his face.

Sister, your last sentence was plagiarized. Can’t you change the line you speak?

Only by complaining like this could he calm down a little.

Yuan Jiuwan smiled at Chen Caixing, who seemed to be comforting himself mentally, but when he raised his head and swept a glance at the row of lanterns on the beam, his chubby little face had no expression at all. It was gloomier and scarier than a ghost’s.

The auditory hallucinations suddenly disappeared.

Chen Caixing went to the table of memorial tablets and took a closer look to see that these were just pieces of rotten wood tablets. He quickly took the hanging pole and turned his head to see Xiao Jiu staring at the lanterns in a daze. He was startled, saying: “Xiao Jiu, what are you looking at? Let’s go quickly.”

Yuan Jiuwan withdrew his gaze and said obediently: “Okay.”

There seemed to be a flash of red light in Xiao Jiu’s eyes. Chen Caixing looked carefully again, but there was no red light. His little brother’s almond-shaped eyes were widened due to fear. They were round and cute along with his chubby cheeks. If it weren’t for being in the wrong place, he would have loved to pinch them.

Chen Caixing held the pole in one hand and led Xiao Jiu to the lanterns, casually picking one at random.

The wind was calm now, and there seemed to be no ghosts.

The young girls’ cries of pain earlier seemed to be just auditory hallucinations.

It was so smooth that Chen Caixing wondered if there was a trap waiting for him.

As a result, when they stepped outside with the lantern, the ancestral hall door slammed shut behind them. The sound of the door slamming was very much like driving away an unwanted guest. Chen Caixing was emboldened by his own imagination.

“Nothing happened.” He gave the lantern to the two brothers and said: “Take it back.”

After seeing Chen Caixing smoothly taking the lantern, Su Le became tense, and blue veins popped out on his forehead. Su Da’s face was gloomy and ugly. The two brothers didn’t say anything and left with the lantern.

Chen Caixing looked at their departing figures and finally remembered something.

At the very least, they should’ve left an oil lamp with him.

The way back was too dark.

“Xiao Jiu, do you know the way back?”

“Brother, I remember.”

Chen Caixing: …The child was better than himself.

“Xiao Jiu, you’re the best.”

One big and one small walked back together. When they passed by the willow tree, the drooping branches gently brushed against Chen Caixing’s shoulder. Chen Caixing felt that his shoulders were itchy, and the summer T-shirt he wore was too thin. When he turned his head and saw the willow branches, he thought of the walnut tree in the previous world, and his heart skipped a beat.

The leaves rustled.

Because it was too dark, the willow tree seemed very sturdy with thick branches, and there were many clusters of hanging branches at the very top that swayed with the wind. It was impossible to see anything clearly, but he felt that something was in the tree.

“Brother?”

“Nothing, let’s go.” Go back first.

Xiao Jiu really did remember the way and quickly brought them back.

The courtyard door wasn’t closed and was slightly ajar. Chen Caixing pushed it open and saw an oil lamp lit in the main room. Jia Di was sitting under the lamp, holding a pipe in his hand. When their eyes met and Jia Di saw it was only them, he lowered his head and continued smoking.

Jia Di seemed to be waiting for his two sons.

“They went to send the lantern. They should be back soon.” Chen Caixing said. Without waiting for an answer, he took Xiao Jiu to the backyard to wash up and went upstairs.

The original quilt in the room was returned, but the thin embroidered quilt had not been taken away either.

Chen Caixing took off his shoes and went to bed. When he touched his trouser pocket, his fingertips felt something hot, so he took out the contents of his pocket. Half of the safety talisman that he bought for 190,000 yuan had turned into ashes.

“Xiao Jiu, what about you?” Chen Caixing’s heart ached. First, he was distressed about the money. Second, he wondered when the talisman had saved him tonight.

Yuan Jiuwan took out the talisman paper from his pocket. The yellow triangular talisman paper was still intact.

It couldn’t be the ancestral hall. Both of them had entered the ancestral hall together. Maybe it was because Xiao Jiu hadn’t used the hanging pole to pickup the lantern. But Chen Caixing had an intuition that the talisman had been triggered when the willow branch touched him.

Could the ‘ancestor’ be a willow tree spirit?

The ancestor’s choosing depended on wiping the blood of a girl’s palm on a willow leaf.

No matter whether the ‘ancestor’ was the willow tree or not, the willow tree was definitely not a good thing.

He would ask Su Le tomorrow. After what happened tonight, it should be much easier to get information from the two brothers. Chen Caixing’s mind was in a mess. He wasn’t very sleepy after sleeping all afternoon, but he was deep in his thoughts and felt a little restless. He patted Xiao Jiu’s chest to coax the child to sleep and finally fell asleep after awhile.

“Sis, Sis, I want to pee.”

Someone whispered in his ear. Chen Caixing was sleepy and thought it was Xiao Jiu. He answered: “Wait a moment, Sister will take you.” After saying this, he immediately woke up.

Xiao Jiu had never called him ‘sis’ before.

Chen Caixing’s heart sank. He didn’t know if the half-burnt talisman would still be useful. Xiao Jiu was sleeping on the inner side. The room was so quiet that he could hear the child’s breathing while asleep. The voice was clearly not Xiao Jiu.

The voice on the outside of the bed was still saying: “Sis, why are you ignoring me? Can you look at me?”

Chen Caixing cried: Was it okay not to look? He really needed to pee now.

“Sis, I know you’re awake. I just want you to help me…” The girl’s voice was filled with tears.

Chen Caixing thought: Help you by giving you my skin?

That’s absolutely not possible.

“Sis, Sis…”

Chen Caixing’s scalp went numb. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. “Ah Xiang, if you have something to say, just say it. Don’t call for me like this. I’m pregnant and can’t stand being scared. If the baby is gone, we, mother and child, won’t let you go even if we become ghosts.”

The voice beside the bed suddenly stopped, as if frightened by Chen Caixing’s words.

Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

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inueko: I was rereading and realized that I sort of miss reading Xiao Jiu calling Chen Caixing ‘gege‘ lol. Do you think it would too much if the only thing I really kept pinyin was this? (˶˃ᆺ˂˶)

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(*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

GBSG Chapter 20: Human Skin Lantern (7)

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Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

Sang Ba’s mother cried sorrowfully, lamenting that she would be unable to bear the consequences if they didn’t help. The previous incident with Ah Xiang wasn’t that their family didn’t want to help them, it was the village’s decision-

“Enough.” Su Le clenched his fists and shouted.

Sang Ba’s mother was frightened and immediately stopped talking about Ah Xiang. She began to cry again, saying that Sang Ba had a hard life and didn’t even leave behind a bloodline.

When the young woman with the numb expression heard this, there was a faint light in her eyes. She said softly, “Mother, there is still Hua Hua…”

“Hua Hua is just a little girl. What kind of bloodline can she carry?” Sang Ba’s mother cried again and complained about the young woman, “I spent a lot of money to beg you back, but you didn’t even leave behind a bloodline for Sang Ba. What’s the use of having you?”

She acted as if she was about to beat the young woman.

“Enough, I’ll go with Su Le.” Su Da, who had been silent, finally spoke up.

Sang Ba’s mother stood up quickly and said happily, “That’s great, that’s great. Remember to come at seven in the evening. Let’s leave quickly! What are you waiting for? Go back and prepare.”

The two women walked far away, but they could still hear Sang Ba’s mother scolding Sang Ba’s young wife.

Chen Caixing listened from the beginning to end with a cold expression. He used to treat this place as a game with merely NPCs, but the people in this village were alive. When the young woman with a numb expression mentioned her daughter, her eyes were filled with a protective desire, but her strength seemed too weak and insignificant.

In such an environment, Chen Caixing wondered if the woman who was bought from outside would be able to adapt to the village.

In the end, she could even become someone like the old woman with small feet.

This kind of thing wasn’t an impossibility.

Such a rotten place needed to be broken for new hope to be brought in.

Chen Caixing roughly knew what to do, but first, he had to find out more about the ‘ancestor’ who skinned young girls to make lanterns.

Which proper ancestor would want to skin their own descendants?

This kind of troublesome ancestor could be solved with a single punch.

“Uncle Jia Di, what’s the matter with borrowing lanterns?” Chen Caixing pretended to be curious and asked the sullen Jia Di. He realized that Su Le and Su Da were very sensitive about the lanterns and wouldn’t necessarily speak about them.

Jia Di was different. He was the guide, and his attitude was usually complicated and conflicted.

Sure enough, Jia Di glanced at him first. Obviously, he didn’t want to say more, but he still replied, “There are lanterns hung on the cross beam of the ancestral hall. If anyone in the village dies, they have to go to the ancestral hall at night to borrow a lantern from the ancestors. The lantern can help the dead find their way to reincarnate. Without the guidance of the lantern, the dead soul will get lost on the road and lose itself.”

“Who said that lanterns can guide souls?” Chen Caixing’s tone was full of disdain. Shrouded in the light of a university student’s wisdom, he spoke resolutely and decisively: “Karma is reincarnation, and retribution is unpleasant. Villains who harmed others in life don’t need any lanterns to guide their souls after death. The Ghost Envoys will just directly capture them and send them to hell.”

Chen Caixing wanted to talk about the concept of scientific development, but firstly, there were ghosts in this world. Secondly, the villagers had grown up brainwashed by feudalism, so it was already deeply ingrained in them. They had not been educated, so it was just better to curb violence with violence rather than talk about science.

You said your ancestor was great, but there are others who are even more amazing. How could ghosts compare to gods?

“You don’t need a lantern?” Su Le suddenly interrupted.

Chen Caixing nodded confidently and said contemptuously: “I’ve never heard of using a lantern to guide souls. When people die, there are special Ghost Envoys that lead the way. When you reach the underworld, the King of Hell will know exactly what you did when you were alive. Good people will be reincarnated, and those who harmed others will be tortured in hell.”

“With Ghost Envoys, Ox-Head and Horse-Face, why would we need a lantern to lead the way?” Chen Caixing’s face was full of arrogance.

(T/N: Ox-Head and Horse Face are two underworld guardians in Chinese mythology – see chapter picture.)

When Su Le and Su Da heard this, they were in disbelief and began to waver. Chen Caixing thought of Ah Xiang and knew why the two brothers were struggling. If the lantern was truly useless, then their sister would have died in vain.

She was killed by the villagers’ and their own ignorance.

“Don’t say anymore.” Jia Di glanced at his two sons and said: “Our village has been making lanterns for hundreds of years. It’s different from outside.”

Chen Caixing knew when to hold back, but his face still showed disapproval with a curl of his lips.

Yuan Jiuwan’s cheeks puffed up as he held back his laughter. Xingxing’s mouth that was full of lies was very cute.

Jia Di said that he didn’t believe, but his eyes flickered slightly. Chen Caixing thought to himself that the ancestors had been brainwashing these families for hundreds of years while he had only refuted it once. If he could make a crack in that belief, it would be good.

It was also because Su Le and Su Da had deep feelings for their sister. Their painful struggle showed that they could still be saved.

“You want to borrow a lantern at night? It just so happens that I want to see the world and take a look at what these special lanterns look like.” Chen Caixing said with a tone of disdainful skepticism.

Su Le was still in a trance. Su Da shook his head and said: “If a lantern needs to be borrowed from the ancestors, you can only find a strong young man to help. Otherwise, something could happen. You’re pregnant, and a woman’s energy is full of yin, so you can’t go.”

Chen Caixing, who relied on his big belly to cheat food and drink, shed tears at this moment.

Why don’t you open your eyes and take a good look at me ah? I am also a strong young man.

“I haven’t hurt anyone, so I’m not afraid of these superstitions.” Chen Caixing didn’t forget to brainwash the two brothers at every opportunity. “We have a saying ‘If you didn’t do anything wrong in your life, you won’t be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door in the middle of the night.’ I’m a kind and good girl. I’ll be protected by my merits.”

“Merits?” Su Le murmured.

Chen Caixing smiled faintly, like a conman pretending to be a saint. “As long as you do good deeds, you’ll be protected by the gods. If you don’t believe me, I’ll go with you tonight and you’ll see.” He still had a safety talisman in his pocket anyway.

If he didn’t enter the tiger’s den, how could he find that ‘ancestor’?

“Sister, I’ll go too.” Yuan Jiuwan puffed out his small chest and said: “I want to protect Sister.”

Chen Caixing agreed without hesitation.

Su Da wanted to persuade them, but thinking about what Yuan Xing said just now, if the lanterns were really useless…

“Then I’ll see you in front of the ancestral hall at eight in the evening.”

It was still early before eight. After the agreement, the two brothers went to do their own things. The afternoon sun was too bright. Chen Caixing was a little sleepy after eating, so he took Xiao Jiu upstairs to rest. The quilt in his room had been taken out to dry, but it wasn’t too cold in the afternoon. Chen Caixing originally wanted to make do, but who knew that Xiao Jiu would say that he wanted to go get a quilt.

‘The baby in Sister’s belly will catch a cold,’ was Xiao Jiu’s reason.

Chen Caixing: Xiao Jiu, did you forget that brother is still older and bigger than you!?

But when he thought of that time in the wax museum and seeing that his belly was getting bigger… Forget it.

After awhile, Yuan Jiuwan came back with a thin embroidered quilt in his arms. It obviously belonged to a girl and was very clean.

It should be Ah Xiang’s.

“Who gave it to you?”

“Brother Su Le.” Yuan Jiuwan put down the quilt and climbed into the bed obediently, saying: “Sister, let’s go to sleep. I’m so sleepy.”

Chen Caixing pinched his little brother’s chubby cheeks and fell asleep after a short while.

When the two woke up, the sun was just about to set. The smell of food wafted over from downstairs. Chen Caixing was hungry, so he rubbed Xiao Jiu’s curly hair and took him downstairs to wash their faces just in time for dinner.

There was a fish soup stewed with milk on the table, and it was particularly delicious.

Chen Caixing drank two bowls, and then he saw that Lu Zhou and Mei Qing didn’t touch the soup and were only picking up the vegetable dishes to eat. When he had been drinking the fish soup, the two of them looked like they wanted to say something but were hesitant. He suddenly remembered that the fish was caught from the river. The river had water ghosts and even Sang Ba’s corpse had been in the river.

…

He finished drinking his bowl of fish soup.

The fish soup was too delicious. Chen Caixing drank another bowl to calm himself down.

Mei Qing looked at Chen Caixing with a sense of confusion. Was this person a hidden boss or just a stupid person?

After dinner, the Su brothers went to clean up. Chen Caixing took Xiao Jiu for a walk in the yard to digest the food. Seeing Mei Qing’s confused gaze in his direction, he smiled gently and said: “The doctor advised that I exercise more so that it’ll be better for when the time comes. Oh, you’re still single, you’ll know in the future.”

Mei Qing: !!!

Was this pregnant woman stupid!?

At seven in the evening, Su Da and Su Le got ready to go to Sang Ba’s house.

Jia Di frowned while smoking heavily. He glanced at his two sons who were about to leave and said: “Be careful, and come back early.”

“I know, Dad.” Su Da replied.

Su Le didn’t say anything.

After the two brothers left, Jia Di went back to his room. Only the players were left in the yard. Chen Caixing sat on a chair and ate fruits. He didn’t recognize the wild fruits in the mountains. They tasted sweet and sour, and there weren’t any seeds each time he took a bite. He couldn’t help but sigh: “If I had known, I would’ve brought some money so that I could bring back some local specialties when I leave. Since I’m already here, I might as well enjoy them.”

When Mei Qing heard the last sentence, she looked at Chen Caixing like he was an idiot.

The sky turned dark early in the mountains. Not long after, there was a long and penetrating sound of trumpets and suonas in the distance, as well as the high-pitched cries of an old woman visiting a grave.

It was a lonely funeral in the village.

The Sang Ba family wanted to borrow lanterns tonight.

It seemed that the funeral would take awhile. Chen Caixing estimated the time and planned to wait for awhile before going to the ancestral hall. However, Li Xuan and the two other veterans, along with Zhou Zihan, came over. Li Xuan got straight to the point and said: “Are you going to the ancestral hall to borrow a lantern tonight? It’s too dangerous.”

When Chen Caixing was talking to the Su brothers in the afternoon, Lu Zhou and Mei Qing were in the yard. He didn’t need to guess to know that the two of them had passed the message on. The three veterans seemed more reliable than him, a pregnant woman with a big belly.

“If I’m not going, are you planning to go?” Chen Caixing asked.

Li Xuan hesitated and told the truth. “That place is very strange. I know that time is tight, but we can ask around for more information before going there. Or we can go during the day, so you don’t have to take the risk alone.”

Chen Caixing had been there during the day. Other than it being a bit gloomy, there was nothing special.

He didn’t mention the clue about the human skin lantern, but in the morning, he had said that after the death of the Holy Maiden, there would be an extra lantern on the cross beam of the ancestral hall. Everyone could guess the obvious.

“I’m going. It has nothing to do with you.” Chen Caixing didn’t want to waste his breath if these people weren’t going to go.

Zhou Zihan’s face had been lost in the morning, so now she rushed to say: “Brother Xuan has good intentions. You don’t know how to appreciate good intentions. Be careful that you don’t die, becoming a corpse with two lives lost.”

“You’re cursing me?” Chen Caixing’s tone was unkind.

Zhou Zihan spoke with a stern expression. “S-So what?”

“It’s nothing.” Chen Caixing smiled again and said gently: “I just want to tell you that there’s a bloody, skinless female ghost lying on your shoulder, dripping with blood. She’s blowing into your ear and asking you, ‘Can you give me your skin?‘…”

Zhou Zihan had bumped into a skinless female ghost, so when the imagery came up, her hair stood on end as she screamed and ran out with a pale face. She shouted: “Don’t follow me, don’t follow me! Find Lili to change your skin!”

“Tsk, you really can’t take a scare.” Chen Caixing wiped away the fruit juice on his hands and spoke with a smile. “I was just telling a story.” He held Xiao Jiu’s hand and said: “It’s time to go borrow the lantern.”

One pregnant woman and one child left. This time, no one stopped them.

Everyone’s eyes were complicated, especially Mei Qing. Was this Yuan Xing really great or was she just a paper tiger? This was the first time they had seen such a reckless pregnant woman!

Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

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For your reference:

Here’s a suona:

Here’s what the Chinese funeral would sound like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw3yeKt_UPk&ab_channel=WestChinaTeaCompany

According to the video, ‘This crazy death music is called “suo na dui” 阳朔唢呐队, named after the horns “suo na” and the onomatopoeia of the drums, “dui.” It’s intended to scare demons away from the body until the soul can reach the afterlife.’

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(*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

GBSG Chapter 19: Human Skin Lantern (6)

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Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

“Xiao Jiu, you’re awesome!”

Chen Caixing praised, and the child was happy and satisfied. He told Chen Caixing everything he knew: “They said that to perform the Holy Maiden Ceremony, the spirit must first be invited by praying. Their parents wouldn’t let them watch, but I gave them two candies, and then they told me.”

The Holy Maiden Ceremony couldn’t be completed in one day. It needed three days. This was a very crucial period of time. If the players believed what Jia Di originally said of ten days and thought there was plenty of time, then the ending that awaited them would be very tragic.

The Holy Maiden Ceremony began three days before the Hungry Ghost Festival. On the first day, the village chose girls of suitable age. In the evening, when the sun set, the ritual would begin. According to Xiao Jiu, one of the boys’ original words were ‘cut the sisters’ hands, smear the blood on the leaves, and send them to the ancestral hall for a night.’ At this stage, the place was usually cleared out so that no children were allowed to watch, but a boy had peeked out of curiosity before, thus he was able to talk about it and earned more candy than others.

On the second day, the ancestral hall opened. Only one girl’s palm would be healed. This was the symbol of ‘innocence and purity.’ She would become the Holy Maiden recognized by the ‘spirit.’ On this day, the Holy Maiden would dress up and fast for the whole day. In the evening, the whole village would kneel and send the Holy Maiden into the ancestral hall.

‘At night, I can hear the sister’s cries from inside. Grandma said that she is accompanying the ancestors.’

When the rooster crows in the morning, the ancestral hall will open, and there will be a new lantern on the beam. Other than a little blood stain, the Holy Maiden completely disappears.

The Holy Maiden Ceremony will then come to an end.

On the third day, a large banquet would be set up, and people would feast from morning to night.

“Then there are only six days left.” Chen Caixing frowned slightly.

Fortunately, the flow of time here was normal.

On the way back, the two met the old woman with small feet. She looked at Chen Caixing and walked past him as if she was avoiding bad luck. Her small feet moved quickly. When Chen Caixing saw her, he took Xiao Jiu’s hand and quickened his pace.

He followed behind the old woman with small feet by two or three steps.

The old woman with small feet walked faster, but she couldn’t avoid Chen Caixing. They walked one behind the other as if they were in a race. Chen Caixing had long legs, and he was still young and energetic, so he didn’t get tired from jumping around. On the other hand, the old woman with small feet walked faster and faster until she was panting and chased to the door of her house. When she hid inside the door, she tripped and fell to the ground with a cry.

“Why are you walking so fast? Look, now you have fallen.” Chen Caixing spoke with a kind face, “Come, let me help you up.” But his feet didn’t even move.

“You unlucky thing, don’t come into my house.” The old woman with small feet got up, limped back and angrily shouted at her daughter-in-law: “I’m going to die, hurry up and close the door!”

Chen Caixing clicked his tongue, stood at the door and said pitifully: “I kindly wanted to help her, but she scolded me. Xiao Jiu, it’s too difficult for sister. It’s not easy to be a good person.”

It’s obviously because he was being childish and deliberately chasing people for fun. However, Yuan Jiuwan thought that he quite liked the childish and righteous Xingxing.

After hearing that Xiao Ya was hanged, Chen Caixing chased and caused the old woman to fall as a small way to vent his anger.

Back at Jia Di’s house, the little old woman next door was screaming in pain like a pig being slaughtered. Chen Caixing was in a good mood and sat on a chair to eat fried melon seeds with Yuan Jiuwan; he cracked the skin of the melon seeds and listened to the drama next door. However, this interest didn’t last long. Lu Zhou stumbled back and shouted as soon as he entered the door: “People are dead, people are dead.”

“Who died?” Chen Caixing’s hand stopped bringing melon seeds to his mouth.

Lu Zhou replied, “I don’t know. It’s not one of us. It’s someone from the village.”

Chen Caixing nodded when he heard that it was someone from the village. He continued to eat and said: “Do you want to eat melon seeds? Calm down and speak slowly.”

Lu Zhou shook his head, but he slowly calmed down after listening to the sound of them eating melon seeds.

“After breakfast in the morning, you guys left early. Li Xuan, who lives next door, came over and said that he heard something. Hu Zi’s father said that there were water ghosts in the river. Once, when he was walking by the river, he had fallen in. The river was shallow, but he was caught by something and dragged down. Because there are water ghosts in the river, he told them not to get close. Li Xuan felt that there was something wrong with the river and wanted to take a look. I-I was afraid and didn’t want to go, but they said that if we don’t find clues, even if we survive, it’ll be more dangerous in the next game.”

Those three veterans weren’t bad and also seemed quite clever.

Once the stakes were clear, the newcomers would take the initiative to find clues quickly.

“What happened after that?” Chen Caixing saw that Lu Zhou didn’t speak and reminded him to continue.

“We arrived. The river was calm, and there wasn’t anything, so everyone split up and searched. When we reached the narrow area downstream, we found a corpse.” Lu Zhou shuddered. “He was lying in the water. The water was shallow, but he had still drowned. There are ghosts, there must be ghosts.”

Chen Caixing’s mouth was dry. He drank some water and said, “It’s normal for there to be ghosts here.” Otherwise, why else would they be playing this game?

After a while, Li Xuan and the others came back. The three new girls were trembling in fear with pale faces, feet covered in mud, and clothes that were wet and dirty. Seeing Chen Caixing sitting at the table while eating melon seeds and drinking tea, the girl named Zhou Zihan was very unhappy. She pointed at Chen Caixing and said: “We were busy early in the morning, and you’re just sitting here drinking tea? So what if you’re pregnant. In a place like this, even pregnant women and children have to work. Why are you just here enjoying yourself?”

Chen Caixing: ???

“This little sister-“

“Don’t call me little sister. I’m not familiar with women like you.” Zhou Zihan said sharply.

Chen Caixing: What kind of woman was he???

“Don’t think I can’t tell. I knew you were a scheming green tea bitch from the first day. You’re pregnant and still want to seduce Brother Xuan. Women know women the best. You’re pregnant at such a young age, who knows how messy your private life is.” Zho Zihan said loudly.

Chen Caixing, who had been single since birth, shed tears of grievance.

He wanted to have a private life, but he couldn’t have a private life at all.

And sister, with which eye of yours did you see me seduce Li Xuan? It was clearly Li Xuan who was seducing me. They were both women, but why was she so malicious towards him!?

“Alright, stop talking nonsense.” Li Xuan spoke up to stop the scene.

Chen Caixing glanced at Li Xuan. Zhou Zihan had already finished speaking, and now you speak up. From the moment they had entered the game until now, Li Xuan had automatically become the leader of the entire team. Now, the crowd was complaining about this poor pregnant woman. Anyway, the big-bellied waste had made no contribution, so it didn’t matter if he was criticized a few times.

Ying. (T/N: Crying sound)

“Sister is a kind and good girl. Don’t talk nonsense.” Yuan Jiuwan retorted angrily.

‘Good girl’ Chen Caixing: Good Xiao Jiu, you can say so, but it’s not necessary. Truly.

However, Chen Caixing still didn’t want to suffer a wrong after being scolded for no reason. He asked in return, “You’ve been running around all morning. Did you find any clues?”

Zhou Zihan felt that Chen Caixing was targeting her and said angrily: “We found that there’s a ghost in the river, what about it?”

“Isn’t it obvious that there’s a ghost in the river? Didn’t Hu Zi’s father say this? Is this still considered a clue you found?”

“You!” Zhou Zihan stomped her feet.

Xia Ting said coldly: “Yuan Xing, if you didn’t do anything, don’t make sarcastic remarks. We confirmed that there’s a ghost in the river this morning. Everyone worked hard to find this.”

“What am I sarcastic about? Aren’t I speaking the objective truth?” Chen Caixing was too lazy to argue with these people and said directly: “My brother and I found out what’s going on with the Holy Maiden Ceremony.”

Everyone present was stunned, especially Zhou Zihan. Her face flushed red as she said angrily: “I don’t believe it. You’re talking nonsense.”

However, no one helped her this time. From the first day, Jia Di mentioned the Holy Maiden Ceremony. This term was the most important part of the game. All of them tried to ask the villagers about it, but they couldn’t get a word out of them.

“Yuan Xing, I’m sorry. Can you tell us the clues? We’ll share with you any clues we find later.” Xia Ting apologized directly.

Li Xuan stood there and said to Zhou Zihan: “If you’re feeling uncomfortable, you can go back first.”

“You guys!” Zhou Zihan stomped her feet again and said angrily: “Fine, I’ll leave.”

Li Xuan looked at Chen Caixing with an attitude of ‘I’ll vent your anger for you, so don’t be angry.’

Chen Caixing: Thank you very much.

However, he wasn’t in the mood to chat idly with them. He quickly told them the information he found in the morning. Regardless of whether they believed him or not, he chased them away. “I’m hungry and want to eat. You guys should go back now.”

Li Xuan and the others soon left.

Lu Zhou and Mei Qing sat at the square table. Mei Qing secretly looked at Chen Caixing. Chen Caixing noticed it but didn’t care. He said to Xiao Jiu: “Don’t eat too much candy. Wash your hands before eating.”

“Okay, Sister.”

Chen Caixing took Yuan Jiuwan to wash his hands.

Jia Di and his son also came back. They were carrying wild animals and dried goods in the bamboo basket. The eldest son carried a plump fish in his hand and said to his younger brother in the kitchen: “Let’s drink fish soup tonight.”

“Okay, Brother.”

The siblings seemed to have a good relationship.

Lunch was placed on the table. As usual, it was meat and vegetables with four dishes and one soup. Chen Caixing loved the wild animals and firewood rice here. He ate very happily and gave Xiao Jiu some food from time to time. Lu Zhou and Mei Qing didn’t have much of an appetite. They just saw a corpse in the morning, and it had been swollen from soaking in the river water.

They couldn’t think about it without feeling sick.

After eating, everything was cleaned up.

There was a series of footsteps outside the courtyard, and a person next door was making a lot of noise: “Everyone is neighbors. My family’s Sang Ba is gone. Let Zha Le help. His soul is lost outside…”

“Don’t go, don’t go. Zha Le, if you dare to go, I’ll hang myself on the tree. You’re not allowed to go.” The old woman with small feet shouted.

The noise next door was too loud. The old woman with small feet was howling at the top of her lungs, so naturally, they heard it. Chen Caixing noticed that Jia Di and his sons stopped what they were doing. Su Le and his brother suppressed their emotions.

“Go, go, go. Don’t look for Zha Le. Sang Ba is gone. Get out.” The old woman with small feet chased the people away.

The two families were neighbors, so those people quickly came over to them.

It was an auntie and a young woman. The woman was supporting the auntie. As soon as they entered, the auntie cried: “Jia Di, you must help Sang Ba. I beg you to help him borrow a lantern. Otherwise, how can his soul come back?”

“I beg you.”

Plop. The auntie knelt down directly, kowtowing and crying. The young woman beside her also knelt down, but her face was numb.

“Su Da, Su Le, you and Sang Ba grew up together. You are good brothers. You can’t watch him die outside. His soul is trapped in the river and can’t reincarnate. I beg you to help him. Go to the ancestral hall and get a lantern to guide his soul back…”

The river trapped the soul, and the lantern needed to be taken out to guide the soul back.

Chen Caixing thought of the corpse that had been found in the river during the morning. That corpse must be Sang Ba.

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(*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

GBSG Chapter 18: Human Skin Lantern (5)

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inueko: hi guys!! I’m sort of back-ish, just translating a novel I enjoyed awhile ago and rereading it at the same time lol. This novel is good for turning off brain and just enjoying the story and worlds for what it is, and I really like MC’s silliness so that’s why I decided to reread this hehe. hope you enjoy!

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Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

Chen Caixing changed his shoes and planned to go for a walk in the village.

Su Le wanted to say something but seemed to hesitate. Finally, he looked at Chen Caixing’s belly and didn’t say anything more.

Chen Caixing saw this and figured that Su Le must’ve silently thought that he was dirty and impregnated by an unknown man, meaning that he didn’t meet the selection criteria of the village’s noble Holy Maiden.

It was nothing more than idiotic feudal superstitious ideals.

“I’ll buy a pair of shoes for Xiao Jiu later.” Chen Caixing took his little brother’s hand.

Both of them were at home when the game suddenly prompted them to enter. They were both wearing short-sleeved pajamas and slippers. Xiao Jiu’s little feet had on a pair of cartoon pig slippers, which were quite cute but inconvenient for running when in danger.

The layout of the village was very messy, like a maze. The small paths ran horizontally and vertically, while most of the houses looked the same. Chen Caixing’s sense of direction was good, but even he almost got confused. After the village children led the way, Chen Caixing finally arrived at the ancestral hall.

The ancestral hall was at the center of the village, and there was a large circular open space paved with bluestone slabs. In the middle, Chen Caixing saw the big willow tree. It was full of lush branches and leaves, facing the entrance of the ancestral hall. He didn’t know why, but he was suddenly reminded of the walnut tree that was raised with human flesh and blood in the previous game world.

With his little knowledge of metaphysics, he knew that willow trees were yin and tended to attract dirty things, and this willow tree also faced the ancestral hall.

There was an old woman kneeling on the ground and kowtowing to the willow tree.

Chen Caixing saw that it was Hu Zi’s grandmother, the stubborn old woman with small feet.

“Wow, Grandmother is really sincere. She pays her respects every day.”

The Holy Maiden Ceremony was coming, and there were a bunch of middle-aged women sitting around the square, chatting and doing handicrafts. Chen Caixing thought of his identity and shamelessly mixed in with his big belly, treating himself as one of the ‘women.’

“Isn’t that Hu Zi’s grandmother?” Chen Caixing asked with a smile as if they were all gossiping.

The women glanced at him before shifting their gazes to Chen Caixing’s purposely bulging belly. Only then did they smile and chat, “You look very unfamiliar. Are you a university student who came to our village to observe the Holy Maiden Ceremony?”

Chen Caixing looked at his belly, feeling sorry that he was going to embarrass the reputation of a female college student again.

“Yes.” He rubbed his belly and said with a sad look on his face. “Yesterday, on my first day here, I got into an argument with Hu Zi’s grandmother. She seems to dislike me because I’m pregnant…” He wanted to speak more, but stopped while appearing aggrieved.

The woman wasn’t surprised and said, “Zha Le’s father died early. When Zha Le was young, he went to the river to play and almost drowned. Zha Le’s mother carried Zha Le to pray for the ancestors’ blessing. At that time, Zha Le was almost gone, but he was saved. The ancestors’ power could be seen, and from then on, Zha Le’s mother believed in these kinds of things. Perhaps she thinks that pregnant women are unlucky, especially at this time.”

“In order to have a healthy grandson, she even took the initiative to send her granddaughter to accompany the ancestors.” Another woman said.

Hu Zi had an older sister? Chen Caixing was a little confused and deliberately asked, “Was she called Ah Xiang?”

“Ah Xiang was from Jia Di’s family. Hu Zi’s sister was called Xiao Ya.” The woman corrected.

Maybe because Chen Caixing was pregnant with a child and didn’t ask about the Holy Maiden Ceremony, the women were more than happy to talk to him. After all, it was gossip, so of course they’d be willing to speak more.

Ah Xiang was chosen to be the Holy Maiden during the Holy Maiden Ceremony five years ago. The women were hesitant to talk about this, so they didn’t elaborate. As for Xiao Ya, she died ten years ago, before Hu Zi was even born. Hu Zi’s grandmother only had one son and valued the family line very much. At that time, Zha Le’s wife only gave birth to a girl who was Xiao Ya. Then Zha Le’s wife’s stomach didn’t show any signs of pregnancy for ten years. It wasn’t known where the little old woman heard about it, but she sent Xiao Ya, who was only seven or eight years old, to be hanged at the willow tree.

After Xiao Ya was hanged, Zha Le’s wife became pregnant with Hu Zi in the same year.

After Chen Caixing heard this, he couldn’t help but look at the little old woman again. It could be said that his gaze was full of disrespect for the elderly.

“Xiao Ya was also pitiful.” A woman sighed.

Someone immediately replied, “What’s pitiful about it? Isn’t it good to accompany the ancestors? What a great blessing.”

“This type of blessing, do you want it for your son?” Chen Caixing asked.

The woman who replied earlier immediately raised her eyebrows and scolded Chen Caixing in the village dialect. Chen Caixing appeared soft and weak, speaking in a gentle voice: “Big sister, you said that this blessing is good. I was just asking. I thought that if this blessing came to your family, you would definitely be happy.” It could be said that he was very shameless and pretentious.

“Yes, yes. The university student didn’t say much.”

“What’s the point of scolding? They are all guests, and the village chief said to treat them well.”

“What you just said seemed good, so people are just asking casually.”

The surrounding women tried to persuade the scolding woman, but there were also some who didn’t like her and took the opportunity to step on her. Anyway, in the end, the woman became so upset that she took her son back angrily.

“Ah, is big sister angry? I really didn’t do it on purpose.” Chen Caixing appeared innocent.

What a pure and innocent white lotus.

Yuan Jiuwan watched with great interest and even took out a lollipop that was in line with his primary school student character.

The women in the square were working, and their young sons were watching by their side. The children were playing nearby. After awhile, Yuan Jiuwan was surrounded by a few boys around the age of five or six years old. They were all staring at the lollipop in Yuan Jiuwan’s hand.

Only then did Chen Caixing notice. “Where did the candy come from?”

“I bought it from the store.” Yuan Jiuwan raised his hand and handed him the lollipop. “Sister, do you want one?”

Xiao Jiu’s pajamas only had a small pocket. Chen Caixing was sure that he didn’t put any candy inside, so the candy must have been bought with gold coins! He thought of the candy that was worth one gold coin and almost had a miscarriage on the spot!

One gold coin could be exchanged for ten thousand yuan!

Ten thousand yuan could buy an entire box of lollipops.

Chen Caixing felt suffocated. In the end, when he met Xiao Jiu’s innocent and caring eyes with an outstretched little hand giving him candy, Chen Caixing quickly recovered. Forget it, forget it. It was normal for children to like candy. It was his fault for not telling Xiao Jiu. Was it expensive to buy candy for one gold coin? Of course, it was expensive. But it wasn’t Xiao Jiu’s fault that it was expensive; it was because he, Chen Caixing, was just too poor.

It was all his fault!

Chen Caixing was very overprotective of the child.

“Eat.” Chen Caixing also wanted to try the lollipop that was worth one gold coin in the game store.

Yuan Jiuwan happily gave the candy to his ‘sister,’ and Chen Caixing took a lick and began cursing the game in his heart.

Trash!

It was just an ordinary milk-flavored hard candy, but it was so expensive! If there weren’t any cleansing and beautifying effects, how could it be worth ten thousand yuan!?

“You eat it.” Chan Caixing lost interest. With every lick, he felt that he was one step closer to a miscarriage.

Yuan Jiuwan nodded obediently. He took the candy that Chen Caixing had tasted and licked it himself. It was really sweet.

“Sister, I’m going to play with them.”

“Go ahead, but don’t run too far.” Chen Caixing didn’t stop Yuan Jiuwan.

There were so many boys in the square, which showed that boys were safe here. However, there wasn’t a single girl in this wretched place, especially those innocent and pure type of girls.

‘Female ally’ Chen Caixing chatted with this group of women for a while. It was all trivial matters, but he could still get some useful information.

The disappearance of Jia Di’s wife was a well-known matter among the women. However, it was taboo to talk about it. The head of the families had emphasized not to talk about it at all. Chen Caixing was even more certain that there was something fishy about Jia Di’s wife’s disappearance.

There were very few adult girls in the village. It wasn’t that there weren’t any, but there were more men than women. Therefore, the only way to get a wife was to buy them from outside.

Of course, people didn’t use the word ‘buy,’ but saw it as spending money to ‘beg’ a wife from outside.

There were very few girls in the village, but there was only one Holy Maiden. The six girls in his dream were all candidates for the Holy Maiden. If all the young girls in the village were Holy Maidens, then five years would not be enough, let alone ten years.

The women were very tight-lipped about the Holy Maiden Ceremony. Whenever Chen Caixing mentioned it, the topic would be diverted to something else.

For a moment, Chen Caixing felt that he wasn’t just facing a group of NPCs in the game. This place was too real, and everyone had their own thoughts and ideas.

He spent five yuan to buy a new pair of children’s shoes from a woman.

“Xiao Jiu, come try it.” Chen Caixing waved to Yuan Jiuwan who was not far away.

Yuan Jiuwan ran over, followed by seven or eight little boys. Yuan Jiuwan had become the leader of the children in such a short time, which made Chen Caixing proud. Then, he saw that each little boy was holding a fruit candy in a colorful plastic package.

Chen Caixing: It’s better to abort the child.

“Mom, that boy gave me candy.”

“Mom, mom, I have some too.”

“I have a lot of candies.”

The women were a little embarrassed when the little boys showed off their treasures. The village was very secluded, so unless they wanted to ‘beg’ a wife or go out to trade for salt regularly, they wouldn’t leave the village. Therefore, these things with beautiful packaging were even rarer.

They had candies too, which were usually just sugar candies made by their own family.

Because of these few rare candies, the little boys’ mothers were much more friendly to Chen Caixing, and the shoe seller even gave him an extra pair of insoles. Yuan Jiuwan tried on the shoes. They were a little big, but with the insoles and straps, they fit just right.

This place was feudal, ignorant, backwards, and indifferent, but the people were also very enthusiastic. But Chen Caixing knew that this enthusiasm was only for trivial matters. If their interests were infringed upon, it would only be crueler when they took action.

Chen Caixing thought of the girls who had been skinned and couldn’t feel any sympathy for the people in this village.

He only had a heart of stone.

As they left, the young men in the village were cleaning the ancestral hall. Two dark wooden doors creaked open. It was obviously summer, but Chen Caixing could still feel a cold breeze even from far away. Through the half-opened doors, a row of lanterns hung on the ceiling of the ancestral hall, fluttering in the wind.

It was unknown how many wronged souls of young girls there were.

“Let’s go.” Chen Caixing held Xiao Jiu’s hand and left.

Chen Caixing’s heart was a little heavy. Yuan Jiuwan sensed it, tilted his head and asked, “Brother, do you want to eat the candy?”

Speaking of this, Chen Caixing’s attention was diverted. “Xiao Jiu, tell me, how many gold coins do you have?”

“It says I have twenty-five.”

In the previous world, Xiao Jiu was amazing and helped a lot, so Chen Caixing believed it. “Did you buy a lot of candies?”

Yuan Jiuwan shook his head. Chen Caixing heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, his little brother wasn’t completely stupid.

“I also bought potato chips, soda, and ice cream-“

“I think I’m really going to have a miscarriage this time.” Chen Caixing’s face was filled with pain.

Yuan Jiuwan held Chen Caixing’s wrist with a slight smile in his eyes and a nervous expression on his chubby face. He played along and said worriedly, “Sister, the baby will be fine. I want sister to have a little baby.”

Chen Caixing: ……

How many times did he have to say that there was no baby; men couldn’t have babies. It was just a beer belly. Xiao Jiu didn’t have to act so realistically.

However, the child had already bought it, and Chen Caixing didn’t have the hobby of beating children either.

“Next time, we can make a plan. Buy some snacks and save the rest.”

“I’ll listen to you, Sister.” Yuan Jiuwan bounced beside Chen Caixing and said, “Sister, just now, the boys in the village talked about the Holy Maiden Ceremony. I gave them candies, and they told me about it.”

Chen Caixing: !!!

His little brother wasn’t stupid at all!

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YPTKMWM Chapter 41

Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

An ordinary plastic bucket managed to hold down a huge polar bear weighing more than 800 kilograms. 

If Qiao Qixi hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it. However, Odis did compromise. When the little bear looked back three times, he saw Odis obediently guarding the bucket. 

Qiao Qixi laughed secretly, but at the same time, he felt warm inside. 

Because he knew that it wasn’t Little Yellow who held Odis back, but himself. 

No matter what animal it was, hunting was always a dangerous thing. They might get hurt and bleed, and they might never return. 

Qiao Qixi hunting alone in front of Odis was undoubtedly sending a message to Odis saying: I want to be a bear who can charge into battle alone, and maybe I might never return, but you can’t follow me or else I’ll be angry and ignore you.

Therefore, Odis couldn’t be calm. 

It was just that the little bear had strongly requested it, so he had no choice but to agree. 

The big polar bear seemed to be calmly watching the little bear leave, but in reality, his heart must be going through a tug-of-war to decide whether it was better to anger the little bear or indulge in the little bear’s willfulness. 

In the end, he still couldn’t do anything. 

He probably didn’t want to make the little bear angry. 

After completely leaving Odis’ line of sight, the worried Qiao Qixi seemed to be able to sense Odis’ concern, so he decided to end the hunt quickly and bring the prey back as soon as possible to appease the big guy. 

Before Qiao Qixi returned, he thought that Odis might be unhappy, the usual ordinary kind of unhappy. 

But he didn’t expect that Odis would immediately rush over after smelling blood, having red eyes and a strong aura of concern around him. 

Ah, the situation seemed a little serious. 

Odis was usually very introverted and rarely had big emotional changes, but a certain little bear knew very well that these rare events always seemed to have something to do with him every time. 

“Ao ao.” Qiao Qixi dropped his prey and ran over to hug and comfort Odis. 

He stopped just short of kissing because he had just killed a seal, and his face was covered in blood. 

However, Odis didn’t mind. He turned his head and carefully licked the blood off the little bear who was almost as big as him. He only calmed down after he finished licking the little bear clean. 

Animals’ emotions came and went quickly. Seeing that the little bear was safe and sound, Odis began to enjoy the spotted seal on the ground without any hesitation. 

Qiao Qixi also ate, but at the same time, he thought about the fact that Odis seemed to really be against him hunting. 

It even caused great emotional fluctuations, which was very bad for the body. 

Alright, then he would stop torturing Odis’ little heart in the future. 

In fact, a polar bear’s heart was not small. For a bear with a huge body like Odis, its heart would be at least the size of a human head. 

From that day on, Qiao Qixi was very obedient and no longer sneaked out to hunt without Odis. 

Therefore, during this period, Odis was in a very good mood. 

He wouldn’t let the little bear leave his sight to hunt alone, but he could accept the little bear hunting with him. He would contribute, and the little bear would watch. 

Little Bear Qiao Qixi: Bullshit, it’s clearly a three to seven split!

This division of labor was very suitable as it wouldn’t tire Odis too much and it wouldn’t make Qiao Qixi’s claws become useless. 

He felt that the progress of adapting to each other in this relationship had improved a little. It was just a matter of time before they became soulmates. 

During this summer’s southward migration, Qiao Qixi obtained the right to lead from Odis by acting spoiled. He was the one who would lead the way throughout the entire process. It was time to see if he, who had traversed this route so many times, had turned from a useless bear to a useful one.

Swimming was different from hunting. Odis didn’t seem to be worried because he was always by the little bear’s side. If something were to happen, he would be able to help in time. 

The drone was also able to capture the scene of the two polar bears migrating southward this year. Oh, it seemed that Alexander was actually the one leading this year. This was too shocking. 

#This Summer, Alexander Will Lead the Southward Migration#

: Clap clap clap. I hope Odis doesn’t get brought to the shark-infested waters. 

: (facepalm/) (facepalm/) (facepalm/) Really? Alexander has grown up, and he’s actually the leading bear this year?

: Odis sure dotes on him. He actually entrusted such a huge matter to Alexander. 

: I still remember the terrifying tale of Alexander bringing Odis into the wolf’s den last summer. 

: It’s alright, they’re always by each other’s side. If there’s a problem, Odis will correct it. 

: Support +1. Alexander should have known how to swim the route a long time ago. I think that Odis did the right thing. 

: Odis will probably quickly regret that he only allowed Alexander to lead the way when he’s almost five years old, which I don’t think is anything to brag about. 

On the surface of the ocean, Odis, who was having to carry the burden of many crimes, followed closely behind the little bear. When Odis’ judgment deviated from the route taken, the method he chose was not to correct it but to stop following it. 

The troublemaker Alexander knew that he had led the wrong direction. While feeling ashamed, he quickly swam back and chose a new direction. 

Qiao Qixi really couldn’t be blamed for not remembering the route. Even though he had traveled back and forth so many times, he still possessed a human’s way of thinking. 

This meant that he was destined to doubt whether his memory was correct and would experience hesitation and difficulty in decision-making. 

Real wild polar bears didn’t have this kind of problem. 

They were quite confident in their own judgment and rarely made mistakes. 

When Qiao Qixi returned to Odis’ side, Odis didn’t make fun of him. Instead, he rubbed against the little bear, who was not in a good mood, and encouraged him to set off again. 

Qiao Qixi also rubbed against Odis. In fact, the annoying drone was the reason he was depressed. He looked up, thinking that he really wanted to send this thing back to where it came from, but he couldn’t do it. 

The two-faced little bear could only whine and beg. Please delete the record of me swimming in the wrong direction, please.

Qiao Qixi’s humble begging didn’t receive any pity from the staff. His performance during this southward migration was repeatedly watched countless times. 

The most outrageous thing was that the multiple scenes of Alexander swimming in the wrong direction and being corrected by Odis was cold-bloodedly edited by the staff. 

A total of eight mistakes were made into a five-minute video. 

Not long after, this video became Alexander’s most viewed work. 

Qiao Qixi: There’s something wrong with you guys…

Odis, who loved the little bear, was still very calm, as if the little bear’s eight mistakes weren’t worth his attention. 

After climbing ashore, Qiao Qixi even felt that Odis, who was licking his fur, was looking at him with praise. 

“…” The little bear Qiao Qixi’s feelings were too complicated. 

Speaking of which, did Odis mean that there was no harm if there was no comparison?

If there was a slightly better child, then Odis would definitely know how bad his child was. 

However, the southward migration was over, and Qiao Qixi wouldn’t remember this terrible first experience. 

Anyway, there would be another chance. 

So the question was, would Odis still let him lead the way next time?

The little bear Qiao Qixi thought shyly: Although I swam wrong eight times, I still dare to think about the next time.

This was Alexander’s fourth summer in the Arctic. He seemed to be very familiar with the place. As a grown-up, he already knew what he was going to face next. 

The past three years have not been without good news. 

According to accurate human statistics, the climate in the Arctic hadn’t continued to deteriorate, and it had remained almost the same for more than three years. 

The annual sea ice didn’t decrease, but of course, it didn’t increase either. 

This was good news for all animals that relied on the sea ice to survive. 

It was fortunate that the climate didn’t suffer from continuous deterioration, but even so, the current living environment for polar bears was still terrible. 

Except for the first year when they had encountered a beached whale not long after they came ashore, the little bear and Odis had a hard time in the past two years. It was common for them to not have enough food to eat, but it wasn’t to the extent that they would starve their bodies. 

They had encountered a polar bear that had fallen on the road because of hunger, and it looked too pitiful. The image struck the heart directly, but they were helpless and could only silently pass by the polar bear. 

Luckily, their lives were not in danger. 

Odis had found a fixed place to spend the summer in the past two years, and it provided their basic needs. 

Alexander had always been thinking about the cabin, but they didn’t go there last year or the year before. As for the reason, it was very simple. The owner of the cabin had learned his lesson. 

After being burglarized by the polar bears once before, he didn’t dare to leave any extra food in the cabin. 

Of course, the owner of the cabin didn’t necessarily know that the burglars were two polar bears. It could’ve also been humans. 

After all, there wasn’t even a bottle of hard liquor left. 

This was too much like the work of a human being, a despicable drunkard with low morals who didn’t even spare the stinky dried fish. 

It was a pity that they couldn’t go to the cabin. 

Qiao Qixi even complained for a while about the shrewdness of humans. It was a pity that they couldn’t eat delicious canned fruit. 

As a polar bear who hadn’t tasted sweets for a long time, Alexander often dreamt of candy in his sleep and cried. He guessed that Odis also wanted to eat sweet things like himself. 

This problem was easy to solve. Bees liked to build their nests in familiar old places. 

Alexander, who was more than 500 kilograms, was ready to go search for honey when passing by the familiar areas. He had remembered four or five such familiar old places in the past five years. 

It was time to harvest again this summer. 

In fact, in nature, the human-thinking Qiao Qixi was not the only animal that would do this. The memory system of animals was very effective, and they would firmly remember events, feelings, and places. 

For example, they wouldn’t go to a place where they had been injured before. 

If there was a place with delicious food, they would explore it again and again. It was that simple and direct. 

Odis wasn’t a greedy polar bear. If he lived alone, Qiao Qixi was afraid that he wouldn’t go out into the forest to dig for beehives. 

Digging for beehives didn’t match the domineering Odis.

Of course, Qiao Qixi didn’t let him do it now anyway. The little bear would always bring back the spoils of war to share with him. 

The two polar bears enjoyed the sweet taste, and there was the inevitable scene of licking each other. 

Just next to the bush, the robbed bees were still circling around, but today was different from the past. Alexander was no longer afraid of being stung by bees. 

After he grew up, the bees couldn’t hurt him at all. 

The sticky honey inevitably got on his mouth, chest, and claws. However, Odis licked and cleaned the little bear’s fur until he got to Alexander’s lower abdomen. 

Alexander kicked the big polar bear’s face away for no reason. 

What was he doing?

Odis took a step back to avoid being kicked. This was because the little bear was no longer the same little bear as before. If he was kicked by the little bear’s foot…

If he was kicked, it would more or less hurt a little. 

Qiao Qixi also noticed this detail. He couldn’t help but sigh as he remembered that when he was three years old, Odis didn’t even care if he ran into him after a 100-meter sprint. 

Haha, are you scared now?

The occasionally naughty little bear stood up and pressed down on Odis. 

He wrapped his arms around Odis’ neck and opened his mouth to roar. In a standard polar bear duel, he initiated a male challenge. 

Odis: “…” 

Odis narrowed his eyes and licked the little bear’s face. He looked like he was very protective of this opponent. 

Alexander became bored of howling by himself, so after a few times, he got tired and got down from Odis to rest. 

After resting in the shade for a while, the two polar bears slowly continued their journey. 

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Not long after, Odis brought the little bear back to the stone house and taught the little bear his last lesson: fasting. 

This was a normal routine for adult polar bears. 

There was a period of time every summer when they would find a place to hide, and they didn’t eat, drink, or defecate. 

In the summers of previous years, all the researchers knew that Odis had never stopped hunting. 

That was because Alexander was still young and needed to eat a fixed amount of nutrients to survive the summer. 

Now that Alexander had grown up, of course his treatment wasn’t as good as when he was young. 

“???”

Qiao Qixi thought that their next step was to hunt for beluga whales.

“Wu wu wu wu wu.”

Qiao Qixi didn’t want to sleep, so he pushed Odis. Why did they have to skip the part of hunting for beluga whales?

He still wanted to showcase his valiant hunting skills to make up for his previous defeat by the beluga whales. 

Without the part of the journey where they hunted for beluga whales, how could he appear to the research station after losing face?

The big glutinous rice ball, who weighed more than 500 kilograms, stuck close to Odis and acted coquettishly. He wanted to go hunt beluga whales. 

Odis was pushed to the left and right, and his back was pressed tightly against a big rock. At this moment, the rock that was stuffed into the crack of the house was suddenly knocked down by their movement. 

Alexander immediately froze. Apparently, he had forgotten that with his current weight, fighting with Odis was not considered fighting but rather shaking the earth. 

Then, he could only be gentler. 

The little bear wasn’t shy at all. He continued to rub Odis’ neck and chest. 

Odis tried to hug him. Although he couldn’t hug him tightly, he still doted on him. 

“Roar…”

The big bear pretended to roar and warned the little bear to sleep quietly. 

“Wu wu wu wu.” Alexander tried his best to express himself and let the other party know that he didn’t want to be forced to sleep in the stone house. 

He wanted to go out and have fun. 

Let’s catch beluga whales!

Odis was too lazy. Even when it came to eating kelp, he only liked to eat bundles of kelp that appeared by the roadside. 

Odis used his broad paw to press the head of the coquettish little bear against his chest, just like how he used to coax the little bear to sleep when he was a child. 

He licked the little bear’s ears while he was at it.

He licked it twice and even took a bite. 

The big polar bear was in a good mood. 

After half an hour trying to communicate, the little bear realized that Odis was actually playing dumb. The other party was actually very smart and understood the little bear’s intentions. 

When he didn’t want to agree, he would just play dumb. 

This was what Qiao Qixi had concluded. He accepted the fact that Odis wouldn’t take him out to catch beluga whales. 

Then why were they still sleeping together?

Wasn’t it hot?

Alexander sensibly rolled to the other side to sleep. 

Because of the limited space in the stone house, even if he slept against the other wall, he was still very close to Odis. 

Odis carefully leaned over and found a comfortable position. Satisfied, he leaned against Qiao Qixi and began to sleep. 

Ever since he picked up a little bear to raise, Odis hadn’t slept well for a long time. 

This was similar to how a mother wouldn’t sleep well after giving birth to a child.

Now that the child had finally grown up, Odis wanted to sleep soundly.

How could he master the technique of falling into a deep sleep?

Qiao Qixi was obviously not very familiar with it. When he woke up, only a few hours had passed.

Odis was still sleeping, and it was a deep sleep too. 

Fortunately, he wasn’t snoring. 

Qiao Qixi scratched his feet out of boredom. He couldn’t go out to play nor catch beluga whales, so he could only continue to try to induce sleepiness.

Deep sleep, deep sleep, and deep sleep. 

He really admired polar bears that could sleep for a month if they wanted to.

Sigh. The little bear opened his eyes and couldn’t help but get up. He secretly went out to catch two fish. 

After he had a good meal, he went back to sleep.

He was very lucky because this time, he actually succeeded in falling asleep deeply.

In the stone house by the sea, two polar bears fell into a deep sleep and didn’t move around at all.

Therefore, their still positions attracted the attention of the research station. 

The researchers sent Little Stone to understand the situation.

Once again, Little Stone stepped into the territory of the two polar bears and sneakily wandered around the area. 

That was enough to understand the exact situation. 

It turned out that Odis and Alexander were sleeping.

#Alexander’s First Deep Sleep in the Summer#

: In the past, they didn’t sleep in the summer. What’s wrong with this summer? Is it because there isn’t enough food?

The headlines quickly aroused people’s concerns. 

: No, this is a common practice for polar bears. As long as they can afford to use up their fat, it is fine. 

: Laughing and crying. It’s probably because Odis is lazy and doesn’t want to run around in the summer to find food for Alexander. 

: After all, he’s grown up. The treatment will be different. Hahaha, poor Alexander. 

In fact, Qiao Qixi felt that it was good for him to sleep with Odis because they could afford to use up their fat. 

There was limited food on the shore, so he could let the other polar bears eat. He couldn’t eat it anyway. 

He didn’t know if anyone was now occupying the entrance of the tributary that was usually full of beluga whales. 

How was the big sister bear whom they had met two years ago? 

Many years of living in the Arctic had enriched Alexander’s dreams. 

Now, there were very few human figures in his dreams. Instead, Odis’ figure began to appear more often. 

As the saying goes, a day in heaven is a year on earth. A polar bear’s sleep was a month in the human world. 

While they were sleeping, time flew by quietly. 

Of course, it didn’t mean that there was never an instance in which they woke up during the deep sleep. 

Odis woke up twice, and licked the little bear’s head after seeing that the little bear was still sleeping and that there were no threats around. 

He continued to sleep. 

This was the same as a parent taking care of a child. It was different whether there was a cub or not, but even if the parent slept soundly, they would keep watch for the child. 

When the two bears first fell asleep, the weather was hot, so the two polar bears weren’t very close to each other. Later, when polar night arrived, the temperature dropped.

The two bears couldn’t help but hug each other. 

Odis hugged Alexander from behind. Even though the little bear was all grown up, Alexander still felt soft when Odis hugged him. 

Oh, maybe because there was also a lot of meat. 

The happy Alexander woke up and realized that the sky was dark. 

The stars hung in the sky, blinking at him. 

Alexander’s eyes were hazy as he remembered his previous ambition. He seemed to have said that he wanted to take on the responsibility of leading the way back. 

He looked outside. Aiya, there was so much fog on the water’s surface. This was too scary. 

Forget it. As long as he gave up fast enough, failure wouldn’t be able to catch up with him. 

However, a voice in his heart said, “You can do it, little bear.”

The little bear once again felt re-inspired and kicked Odis awake.

“Ao…”

It’s going to snow soon. Weren’t they going to return back home?

Odis looked outside lazily and then hung his arm over his head to continue sleeping.

Qiao Qixi translated what his boyfriend’s actions meant: It’s not snowing yet, right?

Okay, okay, fine. Sleep for a while more. 

While his boyfriend was sleeping, Alexander went to the sea with the bucket in his mouth.

The little yellow bucket had been traveling with the two polar bears all these years. It was still in good condition, and the quality was still excellent. 

Alexander put the fish he caught into the bucket. After accumulating enough fish to fill the bucket, he happily brought it back to the stone house. 

As a surprise gift for his boyfriend, he hoped that the other party would like it. 

Odis smelled the fish, opened his eyes, and came out to stretch. 

When he received Qiao Qixi’s gift, which was a bucket full of fish, he stared at it for a long time as if asking: Is this for me? Really?

The big bear’s dumbfounded expression was too cute. 

Qiao Qixi: Yes, yes, yes, yes~

It’s for you. Eat one!

After more than a month of sleep, the big polar bear was very hungry now. It was impossible for Odis to not want to eat, but instead of first eating the bucket of fish that had been given to him, he pressed down Alexander and rolled around on the beach happily.

It was as if the most important thing after waking up was not to eat food but to be intimate with his little bear. 

Qiao Qixi clearly felt Odis’ enthusiasm. 

After being happy, it still wasn’t time to eat the fish. 

Odis calmed down and carefully licked the little bear that had just come back from the sea. 

The little bear’s fur was wet and needed to be cleaned. The vulnerable parts that had not been cleaned for more than a month also needed to be taken care of, such as the eyes and so on. 

Odis carefully tended to all the parts of the little bear that needed to be cleaned. 

After everything was done, there was nothing else to do. Odis seemed to be looking at the bucket of fish very happily, and he finally took one fish and began eating it gracefully. 

The big bear ate while Qiao Qixi watched while in a good mood.

“Ao~” The little bear, who was speaking softly, thought to himself: See, Odis? Actually, I am as strong as you.

So please don’t worry when your boyfriend goes hunting alone. 

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Hi guys, just wanted to apologize for the late chapter. I actually had a terrible health scare on Wednesday night, so I forgot to post up. After everything that has happened since then, I’ve decided that I will stop translating after finishing this first arc of You Plan to Kill Me with Meng. I would like to focus on my health and my job, and I don’t have time to translate properly and I can’t put out great quality as I had wanted to. Originally, I only wanted to put out a few chapters to spark interest in the novel so someone can actually pick it up, but a lot of kind people encouraged me to continue so I had stuck around for them. I appreciate everyone’s kinds words, and I hope you can still continue to enjoy these last few chapters with me. ^^

(*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

YPTKMWM Chapter 40

Bonus Kofi chapter! Thanks for the kofi ヾ(＠^∇^＠)ノ

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At the end of spring, the kind and lovely little bear would uphold the principle of mutual love and occasionally go on a ‘date’ with Odis so that the big bear could be in a good mood for several consecutive days. 

Why not be generous?

Besides, the hot summer was just around the corner. Based on Qiao Qixi’s understanding of animals, it seemed that no animals would go into heat outside of spring other than dolphins. 

It was hard to imagine how hot it would be for a thousand-pound bear to play pyramid in the summer. 

That was his thoughts at the time. In summer, Alexander felt numb, and his face was a little swollen. 

Odis didn’t go into heat during summer, so he would often walk with Odis. They would chase each other and also roll around on the ground and play together. 

Additionally, there was also the peak restlessness period before bedtime. 

It wasn’t difficult to conclude that physical touch was the key in turning on Odis’ switch. Other than that, he was pretty calm. 

In fact, the big bear was also very calm when they were walking. Sometimes, Qiao Qixi would look at the big bear’s lower body by chance and discover its activeness. 

When he saw that Odis didn’t seem to care and acted as if nothing had happened, the little bear was very curious. 

Ahem, Odis actually left it just like that. 

Was it really not uncomfortable?

After thinking about it, it might be the restlessness of spring that made him uncomfortable. The rest of the seasons were considered to be intermittent, so it wouldn’t be very uncomfortable. 

‘No,’ Qiao Qixi thought. ‘Perhaps only a real polar bear would understand.’

The naive Alexander thought that Odis, this abstinent bear, had gone through a week of baptism on the mountain and felt that XXOO was just so-so. It probably didn’t make him as happy as the legends said, so he had simply transcended the world and returned to his original heart. 

He most likely didn’t want to think about it at all. 

Qiao Qixi combined the curiosity of a human with the curiosity of an underage polar bear. He especially wanted to find an opportunity to try and see if Odis really didn’t want to do it or if the big bear was just pretending. 

There was no time like the present. After lunch, the little bear teased Odis and fought with him. 

Odis had just finished his meal and was still cleaning his claws. He wasn’t aware of the danger that was quietly approaching. 

The little bear suddenly launched a bite attack at the strong Odis. Seeing that the other party didn’t move, he changed to another place to bite. 

After five different attacks, Odis shifted his position while continuing to clean his fur with his butt facing the little bear. 

The opponent Odis didn’t want to fight at all. Qiao Qixi cursed under his breath. 

The little bear didn’t give up. He adjusted his posture and continued to harass Odis. 

After Odis finished licking the last sharp black claw, he let out a few warning sounds. It sounded a little bit like disapproval and a little bit of exasperation, because the little bear loved to play and cry too much. 

He really couldn’t afford to play. 

Of course, this wasn’t the only reason. The real reason might be that Odis was afraid that he couldn’t control his strength well enough and could hurt the little bear. 

Qiao Qixi saw that the big bear was unwilling to fight him. 

Forget it. 

Fortunately, physical contact didn’t have to be achieved by fighting. Bearing the status of Odis’ beloved little bear, Qiao Qixi just wanted to have physical contact with Odis. 

Did he have to find a reason to?

Of course not. He just wanted to be close to his boyfriend. 

The little bear had a belly full of evil tricks as he walked over to Odis, softening his waist and laying down. 

He stretched out his foot that was closest to Odis and scratched the other party’s big furry leg. 

At this second, Odis’ tongue was still licking, but he had licked the air several times in a row now. 

His gaze was focused on the little bear, and the claws and mouth began to drift apart from each other…

It was a bit like a hooligan looking at a beauty on the street. 

It was then that the little bear teasingly scratched again. 

Qiao Qixi didn’t know why he wanted to find out the truth. Maybe it was because he still had a yearning for knowledge. 

Did polar bears really abstain from sex outside of spring?

Odis admired the little bear with a deep gaze and seemed to like this straightforward show of love, so he quickly reacted. 

But that was pretty much it. 

Before the little bear took the initiative to rub against him, Odis was a gentleman and didn’t bully the little bear just because little Odis came out. 

When Qiao Qixi took the initiative to touch him, he squinted his eyes with happiness. 

Of course, he didn’t refuse. Instead, he was quite cooperative. 

After their intimacy, Odis also launched a very enthusiastic ‘fur cleaning service’ for Qiao Qixi. It was no exaggeration to say that he almost licked the little bear bald. 

This action was enough to prove that Odis was pure and simple. 

He was unrestrained in his heart. 

Qiao Qixi always felt that the gains didn’t make up for the losses. It was better not to explore the truth casually next time. 

Anyway, if he didn’t take the initiative, Odis usually wouldn’t be interested in doing something to him. 

This was worthy of praise, but there was one thing that had to be criticized. 

After living together for a long time, Qiao Qixi realized that Odis was quite bad, and there were times when he had a temper and deliberately bullied him. 

For example, like when the mantis stalks the cicada unaware of the oriole behind… that was when the big bear deliberately interrupted the little bear’s hunting so that the prey that the Qiao Qixi should’ve gotten had somehow become Odis’ trophy. 

“!!!”

This kind of act was very much like a rogue, okay?

Every time this happened, Alexander would grit his teeth and think: Forget it, forget it, I won’t be angry.

So what if you caught it? You still have to obediently bring it to me and beg me to eat it!

Also, when they were sleeping together, the matter of who was on top or bottom was a very serious problem.

It had nothing to do with who went up or who went down. It was mainly a matter of attitude. 

Odis clearly knew that he liked to act shamelessly and be petty, but the big bear still liked to always put his paws on top. Every time Qiao Qixi tried to put his paws on top of the other bear, Odis would press him back down again. 

Very quickly, very ruthlessly, and very accurately. 

Every move was full of confrontation, and he didn’t even bother to hide it. 

Ah ah ah, every time the little bear would let out a fierce roar, crying to show that he was angry, extremely angry!

Only then would Odis not go against him. 

Also, occasionally, in order to take revenge, the little bear would muster up the courage to intercept Odis’ prey. This matter could only be complained about in tears. Even if he successfully intercepted and caught the prey, Odis would tear apart the seal piece by piece and chase after him to force-feed him. 

The big bear would then make the little bear eat all of it himself. 

Including the fatty meat, which was the most important part. 

Wasn’t that scary?

Too frightening. 

Therefore, Qiao Qixi had only tried to intercept him once. 

He didn’t dare to do it a second time. 

The good thing was that the next time Odis intercepted him, Qiao Qixi found a way to deal with it. 

It was nothing more than giving him a taste of his own medicine. 

That day, the drone captured Alexander chasing Odis all over the vast Arctic continent with meat in his mouth. From time to time, he would let out a fierce roar. 

The researchers didn’t know what was going on, and they didn’t dare to ask. 

They were afraid that if they investigated further, they would find out that it was just the daily life of two male polar bears. 

Reality proved that they had guessed right. If it were other polar bears, it would be impossible for one bear to force feed a strong male with meat in their mouth. 

It was only… bears in love that would do this kind of thing. 

Although he complained a lot, the little bear still liked Odis very much. 

Odis was very good to him, and he didn’t really bully him. 

On the contrary, Qiao Qixi actually liked it when Odis occasionally showed his childish side, which meant that Odis no longer needed to be vigilant and strong all the time. 

It also meant that the little bear had truly grown up. 

Odis would occasionally treat him as an equal bear of the same age. 

Of course, this occasionally was really only ‘occasionally.’ 

The chances of it happening were still very small. 

As a partner, Qiao Qixi felt that he had to continue working hard. 

Their life in the Arctic was still continuing peacefully. 

It seemed to be the same every day, and even the same types of seals were eaten all year round, but in fact, there were still changes, whether it was to the little bear or Odis, or even the environment around them. 

Every day, it was quietly changing. 

Thinking that polar bears only had a lifespan of 30 years, Qiao Qixi cherished every day very much. 

If he could eat more meat, he would definitely not eat less. If he could hug Odis more, he would definitely not hold back.

The two polar bears’ lives were full of hardships but also warmth. Day after day, they ate and drank. Other than the next meal, they didn’t have to worry about anything else, and there were no emotional entanglements or conflicts. 

This was mainly because they didn’t know how to talk, so they didn’t have to quarrel. 

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The days passed by very quickly. 

Alexander’s years going from two and half to four and half years old slowly passed, unhurried, and soon became a thing of the past. 

He had been quite busy in the past two years, mainly learning survival skills, mastering the travel route back and forth, and striving to be the model Arctic independent bear. 

Although learning these things might not necessarily make him independent, he definitely wouldn’t be independent if he didn’t learn them. 

Therefore, he had to study hard!

If he were to break up with Odis one day, he would still have his handsome looks and excellent skills. 

It would be easy to find another home. 

Odis would never know that his beloved little bear had such thoughts in his heart. 

No, Alexander was only just thinking about it casually. If he broke up with Odis, he wouldn’t find another home. 

There was no better polar bear than Odis in the Arctic, just like there was no cuter little bear like him in the Arctic. 

Alexander stood on a rock by the water and glanced at his tall and strong reflection in the water. 

He didn’t seem to feel that there was anything wrong with calling himself a cute little bear despite weighing more than 500 kilograms. 

At four and a half years old, his weight had increased to about 600kg, slightly smaller than Odis when he had been at the rescue station. 

But compared to bears of the same age, his physique was above average and could be considered outstanding. 

After growing up, Alexander was still chubby. 

Fortunately, in the animal world, anyone who was chubby was cute. Even when looking for a partner, it was more desirable to find a mate who was chubbier. 

This meant that they didn’t lack food and drink and also had enough ability to hunt successfully. 

Living in the Arctic, Qiao Qixi got rid of another anxiety: worrying too much.

In the past two years, Odis’ weight had been increasing steadily. Other than the change in weight, there didn’t seem to be any changes to his personality. 

This was normal for animals. When they passed the growth period and finished shaping their social image, they would pretty much stay the same until they were old. 

Even if there were changes, it would only be slight changes. 

In the past two years, Odis’ aura had only become stronger and more domineering. The whole bear looked more reserved. 

That was all. 

Everything else was very stable, including his feelings for the little bear. Odis, this calm guy, still loved the little bear as much as he had in the past three years. 

Maybe… this was the benefit of dating a polar bear?

A warm spring had just passed, but unfortunately, it was still difficult to be alone. 

Even Odis, who was usually patient and wasn’t too keen on bullying the little bear, couldn’t help exploring Alexander’s lower abdomen three times a day during spring. 

He confirmed with his smell, didn’t believe it, and then re-confirmed with his taste. Finally, he believed that Alexander was not mature yet. 

Qiao Qixi was helpless. He didn’t know how to tell Odis that the big bear didn’t have to inspect him everyday. He would only mature next spring. 

Also, he had every reason to worry that Odis would stare at him every day. Would his little brother (little Qiao Qixi lol) be so scared that he wouldn’t dare to come out?

Let’s talk about the activities of the research station for the past two years. The recording work was still ongoing. 

There were no changes to the staff who were already there. Instead, there was some new blood. 

Qiao Qixi wished them good luck and success with their work in the Arctic region. 

Since following Odis two years ago, the photography team hadn’t focused on following the male polar bear couple for the past two springs. 

They knew that Odis wasn’t interested in other females. The researchers predicted that it would only be meaningful to follow them in the spring of 202X, when Alexander would become sexually mature. 

During the rest of the time, the humans wouldn’t disturb this loving ‘little’ couple. 

Perhaps it was more appropriate to use the word ‘big’ to describe them. As they grew older, Alexander’s weight had increased to a considerable extent. It made him and Odis look like they were about the same size. 

People no longer had to worry that Odis would crush the petite Alexander. 

An objective fact was that when Alexander and Odis joined forces, they could be said to be the strongest fighting force in the Arctic. 

This was an advantage that other male polar bears didn’t have. 

There was one more thing worth mentioning. Sigh, after Alexander grew up, his beloved yellow bucket had become too small, and unfortunately, it could no longer fit on his head.

However, Alexander didn’t abandon it because he still liked it very much. 

Fans expressed their willingness to pay for a suitable-sized bucket as a gift for Alexander. 

The research station hurriedly said that there was no need. It was too unsuitable, and Alexander might not like it. 

Thus, the matter could only be dropped. 

Yes, Qiao Qixi had picked up the small yellow bucket from the sea back then, so that there was one less piece of marine garbage floating in the ocean and one more property belonging to himself. This was the best of both worlds. 

If it was a gift, then there was no need. 

The groggy little bear woke up when he heard the sound of ice being pushed. He quickly ran to the water’s edge, waiting to enjoy the spectacular natural scenery. 

This was because the layer of ice on the water’s surface was being pushed by big waves. 

The strength of the big waves in the sea directly pushed the icy water against the layer of solid ice, forming all kinds of sharp and strange shapes. 

They were like crystals, reflecting all kinds of light from the sun. 

In fact, Qiao Qixi watched it every year, but he still didn’t get tired of it. 

He would come out as soon as there was movement, just like a child waiting for a movie. 

Odis didn’t seem to be too interested in this. If he happened to be awake, he would come over with Qiao Qixi. Anyway, it was the same for him wherever he was. 

If he was sleeping, then he would get up and go to another place to continue sleeping. 

However, the movement of the pushing ice was a little noisy. Odis could only lie on the iceberg and close his eyes to rest, but he couldn’t really fall asleep. 

Even though Odis knew that the little bear would no longer be in danger, his long-term habits still seemed to be deeply imprinted in his mind. 

Therefore, he still insisted on staying within a 20-meter radius of the little bear and wouldn’t take his eyes away from him. 

Unless the little bear secretly went out to hunt, just like now. 

After Qiao Qixi was done admiring the spectacular view of the sea, he was ready to hunt a seal. 

He looked at the huge figure sleeping on the iceberg and didn’t want to disturb the big bear, so he walked away quietly. 

However, not longer after he left, he glanced back and saw that the big guy was following him sleepily. 

It looked like he hadn’t even woken up fully yet. 

Qiao Qixi more or less felt helpless. His polar bear boyfriend was good in every way except that he was a little clingy. 

After walking for a while, Odis fully woke up, and his eyes regained their sharpness. 

He acted in a gentle manner after catching up with the little bear’s footsteps, rubbing against the other party briskly and then taking the responsibility of hunting onto himself. 

The big bear became responsible for leading the way. 

Qiao Qixi knew that he wouldn’t have to work today, and so it was just another day of being a vase and cheerleader. (TN: Being a vase basically means someone who doesn’t contribute but takes up resources.)

He didn’t want to say it, but it wasn’t good for a couple to always be like this. 

Although he knew that Odis could afford to raise him, wouldn’t be too burdened, and would even be very happy to feed him, there were so much more that he couldn’t list them all, and if he tried to, he would be suspected of pretending to be humble but wanting to show off. 

(TN: The text is 再說下去不免會有凡爾賽的嫌疑 which basically touches on the subject of a Chinese internet slang of ‘Versailles literature’ aka Fan Xue (凡学) that describes someone who brags about something in a ‘humble’ manner. So someone who lives a luxurious life and wants to inadvertently reveal their superior lifestyle through self-criticism/self-questioning, pretending to complain or be dissatisfied but actually wanting to show off. How interesting!)

The little bear, who firmly believed that he was still very young, used his considerable furry butt to happily bump Odis’ furry butt. 

Hehe, I’m going hunting with my boyfriend.

Odis had always been calm and steady, so he usually didn’t react to the little bear’s naughtiness. 

His pupils, which were squinted in the sunlight, only dilated a little in reaction, but there was no big movement. 

Of course, he still glanced at the bear next door. 

Qiao Qixi stayed obediently for a moment. As he walked, he stared at Odis’ tail again. 

Polar bears’ tails were very short, about 10 centimeters long. The shape was very similar to a rabbit’s tail and looked very cute. 

Recently, Alexander has been very obedient, so it has been a long time since he pulled Odis’ tail. 

This time, Odis couldn’t bear it. In the end, his eyes widened, and he chased after Qiao Qixi on the ice. 

“Wu wu wu wu wu wu wu wu.”

Comrade Qiao Qixi once again showed the people of the Arctic what it meant to love to play and cry at the same time. 

Odis: “…”

The little bear was dazed when he felt the big bear’s forceful pressure on top of him. 

But Odis seemed obviously a little unwilling to let it go just like that. 

After a momentary stalemate, Odis finally compromised, and he gently bit the little bear’s two ears in turn. 

Then he let the other party go. 

Qiao Qixi didn’t understand Odis’ hobby. If he liked to bite ears, then just bite the ear at once. Why did he need to keep nibbling and teasing…

Probably just social behavior showing affection. 

After the playful banter came to an end, the two polar bears felt hungry. They finally remembered that they had to finish carrying out their previous hunting plan to the end. 

Before the ‘conflict’ between them happened, their keen sense of smell had already detected a seal nearby. It hadn’t been far away, just needed to catch up. 

Now that they stretched their necks and sniffed the air again, there wasn’t even the smell of seal feces in the air, let alone the scent of a seal. 

Obviously, the scent of the fat seal had slipped away. 

The little bear kicked Odis. “Ao ao!” 

It’s all your fault!

Odis looked around, but in the end, he still couldn’t find the scent of a seal. 

It seemed that the seal was indeed gone. 

He, who had calmed down from the playful banter, shrugged his eyebrows and licked his lips in disappointment. 

Qiao Qixi chose a direction and continued to walk forward. Based on his sixth sense, there should still be traces of the seal. 

Odis followed the little bear. It seemed that he was determined to intercept the little bear’s prey today. 

The little bear’s intuition was very accurate. After about three kilometers, he detected the scent of the seal again. 

Odis, who was following beside him, naturally detected it too. 

“…” Qiao Qixi’s heart skipped a beat. Was Odis trying to intercept his prey again?

That wouldn’t do. His claws were almost rusty. He used his fat body to block in front of Odis, not allowing the other party to move forward. 

He wasn’t allowed to steal his prey!

Odis, who was blocked, took a detour. 

“Wu wu wu wu.” The little bear cried and blocked in front of him, not at all acting reasonably. 

Odis was helpless to do anything. 

Qiao Qixi put the small yellow bucket in front of him and let him be responsible for looking after it.

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TN: My heart did a flip because the author did a time skip and I thought the arc was ending! But we still have six more chapters xD But aw Alexander is getting to big to be held in Odis’ arms but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop cuddling!

Also insert bonus baby cuddles hehe~

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(*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

YPTKMWM Chapter 39

Happy Tuesday~ I am trying my best to crank out chapters, but am finding it difficult to keep up with the quality of text with editing. What do you guys think? Spend time on releasing chapters with less quality (not enough time to edit properly) or release less chapters with higher quality (more time to edit properly)? Or should I consider finding an editor… Idk too indecisive lol let me know in the comments, ty!

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Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

The snowstorm stopped in the morning, and the clear blue sky was completely lit up. This meant that from now until September, there would be no more night. 

As the sound of the outside wind gradually subsided, some blush-provoking movements also relaxed from their fervor. 

As long as the little bear didn’t shy away from him immediately, Odis would always lick Qiao Qixi first to express his affection and comfort.

Only then did the big bear care about his own condition.

In the first few days, the little bear would indeed run away, but later on, he didn’t. 

Run away, my ass. He couldn’t wait to lie down and sleep. 

After all, Qiao Qixi couldn’t count how many times they’ve been intimate in the past few days. In short, the frequency was so often that he, who was shy by nature, could already treat it as normal. 

Qiao Qixi thought that since there was only himself and Odis living atop such a high snowy mountain, there shouldn’t be anyone crazy enough to take spring pictures of two male polar bears.

If there really was such a person, then he respected that person as a man. 

After staying in the den for a while, Odis had calmed down a lot. He was no longer tormented by the turbulent undercurrent that invoked a desperate feeling of drowning and needing relief to calm down. 

The throbbing restlessness that naturally occurred during springtime had gradually decreased to a tolerable level. 

Thanks to Odis’ calmness, the little bear didn’t stay in the den for long. Today, after sleeping on Odis’ stomach for the last time, they planned to go down the mountain to catch a seal to eat. 

It was for nourishing the body. 

During the short heat period, Odis had lost more than two hundred pounds, which was quite a significant number.

Qiao Qixi didn’t know what other polar bears were like, but he felt that Odis’ stress response was too scary. If they didn’t go back to the ice soon, the big bear might even lose five hundred pounds during this spring.

However, he also knew that Odis’ weight loss wasn’t entirely due to hunger. Hunger wouldn’t be the sole reason why the big bear lost weight so quickly.

For example, Qiao Qixi had also lost weight, about five to ten pounds. 

Odis’ weight loss was obviously because he didn’t have five or six female bears to accompany him. He was simply asking for trouble. 

The main culprit Alexander was snoring but still had an innocent look on his face.

After the little bear woke up, he was told by Odis that they were going down the mountain. Qiao Qixi immediately jumped up. 

Gotta grab Little Yellow!

The camera hidden in the distance discovered that the two bears had come out of their den and were walking down the mountain. At this time, it was a very strange move, so all sorts of guesses were thrown around. Could it be that Alexander didn’t like this mountain? Was Odis going to find him a better mountain lovenest?

Or was Odis going to find someone else to date?

No one seemed to have guessed that Odis and Alexander would actually return to the ice to catch seals. 

People always thought that male polar bears were invincible and were keen on squandering their energy, so they wouldn’t return to the ice surface until the end of spring. 

Everyone thought that Odis would be the same. 

Indeed, scientifically speaking, the reproductive needs of male polar bears could not be satisfied with only one partner, whether it was physical or psychological needs. 

But soon, those people were slapped in the face. 

It turned out that the goal of the two polar bears was to return to the ice surface. This was really…unexpected. 

After thinking about it, the people felt that this was actually heart-warming and cute to think about how Alexander must’ve been hungry and pestered Odis, saying “seal, seal, seal” in an endless loop.

Then Odis probably couldn’t take it anymore and could only agree soft-heartedly.

Although it was a pity, the people still approved of Odis’ demeanor. The truth was right in front of them. The little bear was still only two and a half years old. It was already good enough that he was willing to accompany Odis to the top of the mountain, which was an impressive feat. 

The prudent gentleman Odis probably thought so too. Hence, he picked a sunny day and led Alexander, who missed eating seals, down the mountain.

To be honest, this strong male polar bear, who was supposed to have at least five or six dates, might not have experienced such a good time, but who asked him to fall in love with the young Alexander?

It was probably just a small annoyance anyway. 

The photographer followed the two polar bears and took a lot of photos on the way back.

Under the intense sunlight, Alexander’s fur was white as snow. His eyes were big and round, and in the perfect front view, he was so cute that it made people’s hearts tremble. 

When this round and smooth glutinous rice ball carrying a 20 liter yellow bucket entered the picture frame, the two formed a sharp contrast with the blue sky as a backdrop. 

It could only be described as pleasing to the eye. 

Compared to the photos taken when he was a little over a year old, the cute Alexander’s facial features had already matured. Although his facial features were still very cute, he appeared a bit more handsome.

It wasn’t difficult to see that he would also be a very domineering polar bear in the future. 

Time passed really quickly. People were a little emotional and reluctant to let Alexander grow up so fast. 

In the photos taken this time, there were also many photos of Alexander with Odis. Actually, almost every photo featured Odis.

The two polar bears in love were inseparable. 

But on this land full of spring, there weren’t only beautiful scenes. 

Female polar bears with cubs probably disliked spring the most. 

In this season, they would be chased by male polar bears who would try to kill their cubs. Therefore, mother bears could only hide with their cubs. 

Not every mother bear could hide, so sometimes, it was inevitable to fight. 

On the way back, Qiao Qixi smelled blood. Originally, he didn’t take it too seriously. As long as it wasn’t the scent of seals, it wouldn’t attract his attention. 

But then he suddenly thought, could it be that a polar bear was injured?

He glanced at Odis. This big bear with sharper senses than him must’ve noticed it long ago. However, the other party hadn’t reacted at all and continued to lead him in the direction of the sea ice.

The big bear’s footsteps were firm. It seemed that nothing could stop him. 

Yes, Qiao Qixi admitted that eating was important, but it was also important to help when there was injustice on the road. 

Imagine, if Odis hadn’t been discovered when he was injured, then Odis might’ve not existed today.

Alexander, who couldn’t leave in peace, turned his head and bit Odis’ thigh. “Ao.”

Then, he turned his head and walked in another direction. 

Odis couldn’t do anything but follow the little bear.

Looking at the other party’s expression, Odis already knew that the little bear was going to check out the scene.

There were a few other polar bears like Qiao Qixi. After all, polar bears were a group of very curious animals. 

When Qiao Qixi and Odis rushed over, two polar bears had already surrounded the injured female bear. They didn’t hurt the trembling cub. 

Fortunately, Qiao Qixi and Odis had a photography team following behind them. The situation of the injured polar bear on the ground was quickly discovered by the humans.

“A polar bear is injured.”

People immediately applied for a helicopter from the rescue station. 

Before the helicopter from the rescue station arrived, the surrounding polar bears didn’t leave. It seemed that Alexander and Odis weren’t the only polar bears who wanted to protect the mother bear and her cub. 

The scene was very touching. 

Just like human society, there were bad people, but there were more good people. 

Polar bear society was the same. There was no lack of gentle and kind people in their society. 

After the rescue team arrived, they really didn’t dare to approach. 

“Ah, there’s a group of polar bears below.” The staff smiled helplessly. 

“I see them.” The number was indeed quite scary. 

But there was never a lack of brave people in this world, so after a bit of planning, the rescue team still approached alone.

First, they checked the female bear’s wound and then brought her back to the rescue station for treatment. 

The cub was still too young, so it was also taken along. 

During this period, people were nervous about the surrounding polar bears. They hoped that this group of curious fellows were just watching the show and wouldn’t attack them. 

Seeing that the mother and cub were taken away, the surrounding polar bears soon dispersed.

Alexander and Odis, who had played an important role, also hurried on their way again, like Uncle Fei Lang who did good deeds without leaving his name. (TN: Lei Feng who lived from 1940-1962 was a model of altruism and dedication to the Chinese Party.)

Secret message T-T please read at inuekohouse.wordpress.com

The photography team completed their recording task after taking a set of photos of the two bears’ return journey. 

Their next goal was to film the process of other bears going up the mountains. 

A team’s task wasn’t just to follow a single pair of polar bears. When Odis and Alexander chose to go down the mountain, the team could only set their sights on a second pair of mating polar bears. 

The second pair was a short-lasting couple. 

The difficulty of recording them was only Level 1. This male polar bear was really too careless. He directly started mating on an empty hillside. 

When they openly observed the male polar bear toss the female polar bear around while mating, the photography team members’ didn’t blush nor did their hearts beat fast either, showcasing that they were far less excited than when they had watched Odis and Alexander. 

Perhaps this was the reason why a secret relationship was better than an open one. (The direct text is 可能這就是妾不如偷，偷不如偷不著的道理 which is part of a proverb that translates to “a wife is not as good as concubine.” I just changed the translation to fit more of the context so that hopefully it makes more sense.)

The more secretive something was, the more interesting it was. 

“Achoo!” The little bear sneezed on the way, startling Odis and making him glance back at him. 

The big baby, who was already very tall, wrinkled his nose to show that he was fine. It was just that his nose was a little itchy. 

It was quite interesting. When they went ashore, many polar bears had not yet come ashore. When they returned to the sea ice, most of the polar bears were still on the mountain. 

The polar bear version of a spring festival was avoided just like that. 

Because he was hungry on the way down the mountain, the little bear’s thinking ability inevitably decreased. Qiao Qixi naturally didn’t have much time to care about Odis and whether the big bear was still uncomfortable or not.

It wasn’t until they returned to the sea ice and ate their first full meal that the little bear regained his ability to think carefully about matters. Spring wasn’t over yet, right?

Would Odis still have thoughts now?

The little bear, who had just eaten his fill, squatted on the ice and licked his paws while turning his round eyes to look at Odis’ lower body…

Odis was still eating, but he wasn’t too focused because part of his attention was always on the little bear. 

Perhaps because he had noticed the little bear staring at his lower body so Odis, who was originally very bold and unrestrained, chose to lie down on his back and eat on his stomach for a while.

“…” The peeping tom little bear felt a little embarrassed. 

But he didn’t see anything. 

Odis ate while looking at the little bear with the same gaze that he used while on top of the mountain.

This reaction fully answered the question in the little bear’s heart. 

How could the big bear not have thoughts?

It was just that Odis could ignore it. Losing 200 pounds, he hunted wildly after returning to the sea ice.

Perhaps it was to replenish his energy as soon as possible so that he could be able to vent more of the excessive heat stored in his body. 

After watching Odis catch seals, the little bear had some insights. It could only be said that his conditions were really quite good. 

He could slowly learn from Odis instead of hurriedly developing a flawed hunting habit in order to survive. 

The weather in the Arctic Circle had been very good recently. On a sunny afternoon, Qiao Qixi was taking a nap out of boredom.

Next to him, Odis was also taking an afternoon nap and sleeping quite soundly. 

It was probably because the big bear hadn’t slept for two consecutive days. 

Qiao Qixi pondered for a while, then got up and left secretly. He went out to practice his skills. 

The seals in spring were more relaxed because there were fewer polar bears on the sea ice at this time. 

A safe environment would make the seals relax their vigilance. 

Qiao Qixi walked on the sea ice and discovered this fact, which was a good thing for him. 

A few months ago, hunting was still a problem for Qiao Qixi, and the issue had been hanging over his head. 

It couldn’t be said that Qiao Qixi wasn’t anxious. 

However, some things naturally came to him as time passed on, such as his posture and aura when he walked on the sea ice, all of which have clearly changed. 

Although he couldn’t be as calm and sharp as Odis, after a few adjustments, this overly spoiled little polar bear still succeeded in hunting.

Although the first kill came a little late, it was still done in a timely manner and of good technique. 

Previously, Alexander used to have a childish and foolish look on his face, but he also showed a fierce expression and gave off a murderous aura when he successfully caught his first seal. 

It was just that dragging a seal back was a little tiring for him. 

After all, with his chubby body, it was obvious that he was a hunter who relied on explosive strength and not endurance. 

Fortunately, when Odis woke up and didn’t see the little bear, the big bear had rushed over with the small yellow bucket in his mouth. 

Seeing the seal lying on the ground, Odis walked in front of the little bear and lowered his head to lick the blood stains on the other’s face. 

Alexander licked his mouth and thought: Why clean it so much? 

Won’t my face be covered in blood anyway when I eat later?

Faced with the fruits of the little bear’s labor, Odis didn’t refuse. He happily tore off the seal skin and ate in big mouthfuls. 

It was a critical time to store fat before the summer, so they had to eat a lot of seals in the next two months. 

Looking at Odis eating the food he had hunted, Qiao Qixi’s heart was happy. His great dream of taking care of Odis had finally come true. 

This was the latest update on the forum. 

#Alexander finally learned how to hunt after returning from a trip to the snow mountain#

: This title, hahaha.

: It means that the child was starving during his time on the mountain. 

: I am considering a conspiracy. Is Alexander possibly trying to become independent as soon as possible?

: Is the above poster implying that Odis is too strong and Alexander can’t handle it?

: Being independent is a good thing. Congratulations Alexander!

Being independent was indeed a good thing. As he grew older, the little bear’s appetite won’t be the same for the next ten years. He will want to eat more and more. Odis alone won’t be able to hunt enough food. 

A growing child will eat his family poor. That’s why a mother bear chased away her cubs when they reached a certain age because of the lack of food. 

After the little bear learned how to hunt, it undoubtedly reduced Odis’ burden. 

Although Odis this bear may not care. 

He still worked as hard to feed the little bear like before. 

In order to gain experience, Alexander would sometimes hunt seals with a full stomach. 

Then after returning from hunting seals, he would say while belching: I’m not hungry yet, let Odis eat it!

Odis: ~~

Seals: !?!?

However, the little bear didn’t hunt all the time. Laziness and playfulness was still the nature of most bears, and he also enjoyed sleeping and playing. 

When the weather was good, the little bear liked to swim backstroke in the icy sea. 

He had just learned this posture. 

He found that when he laid on the water’s surface, his body would automatically float up. Then he could kick the ice with his chubby legs and the whole bear would float far away. 

Then he’d kick the next piece of ice when he countered it and swim half by himself. He was as happy as a fairy!

There were many other ways to play with the ice. 

Some ice cubes would form a huge ice ball in the water. They had discovered this when they were walking, and stepping on it really trained their balance. 

Odis didn’t feel any pressure and could easily pass through and reach the next piece of ice. 

However, after Qiao Qixi stepped on it, the ice ball kept spinning. He could only move forward with the speed of the rotating ice ball as if he was performing acrobatics. 

It was actually quite interesting. 

Although their journey progress was halted, Odis didn’t rush him. The big bear looked at the playful little bear and waited patiently. 

Inertia made the ice ball spin faster and faster. After playing for a while, the little bear on the ice ball began to panic and couldn’t keep up with the speed. 

“Wuwuwu.” The little bear looked at Odis for help. 

Odis couldn’t do anything about it. He could only worry from the sidelines. 

The little bear had just dried his fur and didn’t want to get wet again by falling into the water. He took a risk and jumped. Most of his body landed on the ice, but one of his legs was still soaked by the water. 

Alexander quickly climbed ashore and shook his wet hind leg. 

Not bad, he was lucky. 

He could accept it if only one of his legs was wet. 

Odis rubbed against the little bear and then turned to lead him forward to continue walking. 

A small white seabird in the sky saw the polar bears and landed on the ice nearby. 

They were smart enough to know that if the two polar bears hunted here, they would be able to eat their fill. 

Unfortunately, the two polar bears were just passing by. They weren’t hungry for now. 

At present, they had been walking for a day or even longer. 

Now, they had to find a more suitable place to rest. 

The little bear had grown up, so it was no longer suitable for him to be completely wrapped up in Odis’ arms like when he was younger. 

Odis wasn’t used to this. There were several times when he tried to completely wrap up the little bear in his arms, but the ‘little’ bear had grown too quickly in the past few months and had become too big. When holding in his embrace, either the little bear’s head or his feet were still exposed. 

Also, both of them would feel a bit uncomfortable because one of them would feel heaviness pressing his chest while the other would feel suffocated because the space was too small. 

Qiao Qixi: Odis, let’s just accept reality, okay?

After trying a few times, Odis seemed to have finally accepted reality. He went from sleeping while embracing the little bear to sleeping side by side instead. 

Not only was Odis a little uncomfortable, but Qiao Qixi was also a little uncomfortable. 

In the past, he could lie down on Odis’ stomach and play without worrying about crushing Odis. 

But now, he couldn’t. 

He couldn’t lie down on the big bear’s stomach nor could he directly step on the big bear’s back. 

The days when he was free to parkour on Odis was now a thing of the past. 

However, Odis’ attitude was still the same. He didn’t stop doting on the little bear just because the other party had learned to hunt and sleep on his own. 

As both of them transitioned to this new stage in their relationship, the little bear felt that he didn’t dote on Odis enough. 

According to Qiao Qixi’s observation, Odis was simply too tolerant. He could be called a pioneer of abstinence. 

Ever since they went down the mountain, the big bear didn’t bully him anymore.

Other polar bears could spend an entire spring on dates, but Odis only did it for about a week. 

He didn’t know if the big guy could hold it in. 

Qiao Qixi reflected on himself and finally decided to dote on Odis before going to bed. 

The little bear, who was sleeping in a row, suddenly hugged the big bear. At this time, the little bear had already accepted Odis, but the other party was still too big to continue to the final step.

And it was still a little embarrassing. 

It seemed that Odis also wanted to hug the little bear, but the conditions didn’t allow it. 

Soon, Odis realized that the little bear’s purpose wasn’t to hug him but to burrow under his abdomen. 

The big polar bear’s heart was probably extremely surprised, but he couldn’t express it. 

The only thing that could be seen was the flames flickering in his dark eyes, smoldering just like the temperature of a certain part on his body. 

All Odis could do was prop up his upper body and bend down to lick the little bear’s fur. 

After that, he played intimately with the little bear in the snow, and they rolled around for a long time. 

Qiao Qixi could easily feel the other party’s happiness and comfort from his performance. 

After playing around, Odis lazily stretched and laid down. 

However, his eyes still occasionally glanced at the bear beside him until they slowly closed when he couldn’t hold on anymore and fell asleep. 

Qiao Qixi rubbed his face and felt a little shy. 

Of course, there was nothing to be unwilling about because he believed that Odis would wait until he reached maturity. 

In fact, Odis would probably actively help him three times a day when the time came.

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I imagine that QQ looks a little funny like this when he is trying to balance on the ball of ice xD

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YPTKMWM Chapter 38

Happy Thursday~ As a reminder, I will try to get out an extra chapter next week. If not possible, I will most certainly do it the following week! Hope you guys enjoy another chapter of lovey-doveyness hehe.

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The alternation of day and night was just around the corner while spring had just begun. The land that was not usually favored by polar bears was now bustling with activity. 

The foot of the snowy mountains was completely full of bear couples. Of course, this wasn’t an exaggeration. In short, if a pair of polar bears weren’t on a date, they were most likely making their way up the mountain. 

It was rare to see polar bears like Odis and Alexander who had already occupied the mountain’s summit. 

The light under the leeward cliff was rather dim, and the huge male polar bear used his strong body to encircle the white fluffy body in his arms. 

It was another polar bear. He was younger, with a round and cute body and fluffy white fur. However, this polar bear couldn’t be considered as a little bear. 

Regardless of age or size, it was no longer appropriate to continue using the nickname ‘little bear’ to call Alexander. 

In terms of age, Alexander was already a sub-adult bear. He had reached the age where he could leave his mother and live alone. Just like Odis back then, he was already independent at this age. 

Alexander, who was two and a half years old, had developed very well. Even a three-year old male polar bear might not be as big as him. 

Odis, who had been raising the little bear, didn’t seem to care about these small problems. It was as if he had never thought of developing a relationship with the little bear like how a mother would raise a cub. 

Whether Alexander was two and a half years old or three and a half years old, it was as if this big guy had never really taken it seriously. 

Perhaps that was what Odis thought. Even if the little bear was ten years old, he would still be his little bear. 

He needed to be fed, hugged to sleep, and accompanied by his side all the time. 

After a while, a glimmer of light rose from the horizon, finally bringing a touch of light to the land that had been covered in darkness for months. 

Of course, the sky wouldn’t be suddenly filled with brightness, so they would have to wait patiently. 

While waiting, it started to snow, and the sky became dark once again. 

Qiao Qixi woke up with a yawn. Hearing the sound of the wind and snow outside, he immediately felt that this location was really good. The wind and snow didn’t blow in at all. 

With Odis warming him up, he didn’t feel the cold at all. 

He turned his head to look at Odis. Odis had been resting with his eyes closed but immediately opened them and just like that, their eyes met. One pair of eyes looked sleepy and adorable while the other pair appeared deep and focused, undercurrents surging under the calm darkness. 

There seemed to be something hidden deep inside that gaze. 

Qiao Qixi blinked his round eyes in amazement. He rubbed Odis’ face and thought that if he hadn’t known Odis, he might have never realized that polar bears also had a mysterious side. 

Simple, honest, and clumsy. These things had nothing to do with Odis. 

When the little bear rubbed his chin, Odis’ eyes immediately lit up, and he looked very happy.

He had many ways to express his happiness. Usually, he preferred to express it through actions, and occasionally, he would also make short calls, such as today. 

Qiao Qixi couldn’t help smiling and feeling warm when he thought about Odis’ usual calls with his fierce voice when chasing away intruders, including the soft tone he used when seeking intimacy.

But as he was feeling happy, Qiao Qixi suddenly couldn’t smile anymore.

He didn’t forget the purpose of Odis’ trip to the mountain which was because he liked him and wanted to mate with him. 

Although Qiao Qixi had now accepted Odis’ love for him, it still made the little bear’s scalp tingle, but at the same time, he didn’t intend to reject this incredible love. 

This acceptance didn’t mean that he had a strong ability to just accept anything nor was it because of the feelings of brotherhood or guilt between them. 

It was because Qiao Qixi had accepted his new identity wholeheartedly. What was wrong with a polar bear falling in love with another polar bear?

Secondly, Odis was very good to him. They had a mutual understanding and communication, and they could live together. Odis was gentler and stronger than many of the humans Qiao Qixi had interacted with, and the big bear was also full of emotions. 

Being partners with him… should be very blissful. 

Qiao Qixi thought to himself. Even if he refused this relationship and insisted on leaving, would Odis let him go?

There was no doubt about the answer. 

“…”

It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried before. Thinking back to his previous experience, he was caught before he could run ten kilometers. 

Qiao Qixi sighed slightly in his heart. How should he put it? Actually, it wasn’t a question of whether to accept Odis’ feelings or not, but more a question of whether he could withstand Odis’ heat. 

They had already built a nest at the top of the mountain, and even the little yellow bucket placed next to the nest knew that they definitely didn’t come up just to see the scenery before going back down. 

The problem was clearly in front of him!

It was because Qiao Qixi’s physique was too different from Odis’. If they really went all the way, the little bear would definitely be injured. 

Although Odis, who regarded the little bear as his life, might not even think about going in, Qiao Qixi still believed that there was a possibility of this. But he also knew that Odis was very smart and knew what could and couldn’t be done. 

He definitely wouldn’t let himself get hurt. 

If the little bear was a bit more selfish and didn’t care about the other party’s suffering, he could just contribute his chubby back and be done with it. Then, they could survive this breeding season. 

However, Qiao Qixi wasn’t such a selfish person. 

Usually, he would complain, but when it came to serious matters, he was also a man who could take responsibility. 

Sigh, wasn’t it just a breeding season? Let him think about the short movies he had seen, besides the usual way, there were still many other methods to try. 

Odis was just a polar bear who had never seen the world, and now, he had just stepped into the door of a new world. 

At the very most, the big bear had only experienced the feeling of rubbing twice before. He couldn’t be more pure.

As a pure bear with a low threshold, he might be able to be fooled with a little trick. Qiao Qixi thought as he held his forehead with his paw. 

Perhaps it was because the little bear had been very resistant to rubbing before, but after he woke up, Odis didn’t immediately want to do that kind of intimate act. In fact, if it wasn’t for the difference in his body temperature and breathing, Odis wouldn’t seem any different from usual. 

However, Qiao Qixi still knew that if Odis turned his abdomen over now, he would definitely see the thing that made him most nervous. 

Even so, Odis didn’t seem to intend to do anything other than lick his fur occasionally.

Although Qiao Qixi didn’t understand why Odis didn’t even want to rub, he knew that it definitely wasn’t because Odis wasn’t interested in that kind of thing. 

Maybe he was just holding back. 

Because the big bear knew that he didn’t like it. 

Idiot Odis, if you knew this would happen then why didn’t you accept the goodwill of those female polar bears from before?

Now you have to work so hard to hold in the urges. 

The bad little bear thought gloatingly but also with a bit of heartache. 

At first, he was too embarrassed to do anything else. It wasn’t until the snow storm became heavier and the surrounding environment became darker that he felt a sense of security. 

The little bear, who wanted to seriously accept the big bear’s feelings, finally made a move. He turned around in Odis’ arms. His head was originally facing up, but now it was facing towards Odis as he moved down. 

“…”

This action alarmed Odis, and the big guy, who couldn’t take any stimulation, immediately raised his head and arms, trying to imprison the naughty little bear in his embrace. 

However, Odis only moved a little bit before Qiao Qixi’s next action immediately made him widen his eyes and stop abruptly. 

It was rare for Odis to be in such a situation. Even when he was shot by poachers and was bleeding all over the ground, he had never felt as if he was facing a powerful adversary then as he did now. 

But he had to admit that he didn’t dare to move now, for fear of disturbing the little bear. 

At this moment, the little bear that had been pampered since he was young was now doing the cleaning just like how Odis used to help him clean up in the past. 

Now, the little bear didn’t seem to mind much… But well, at first, he still wasn’t used to it. 

He felt very shy.

But the truth was that Qiao Qixi thought that he should’ve gotten used to this kind of thing long ago. If it wasn’t for Odis helping to clean him this past year, he would’ve probably been a dirty-looking bear. 

But there was still a difference between the two actions. Odis simply cleaned the little bear while the little bear was responsible for more than just cleaning. 

It was just that he wasn’t sure if what he was doing was really useful or not? 

Of course, it was. Odis’ eyes, which were originally wide open, slowly narrowed during this moment, leaving only a deeply lit gaze to watch the little bear’s back. 

Obviously, he was very focused. 

Because only his forearms were free, he sometimes moved cautiously, as if he wanted to touch the little bear who was close at hand, but he was afraid of disturbing the other party. 

The round bear paws could only grasp the air lightly. 

After an unknown amount of time, Odis turned his neck uneasily, and his eyes were no longer fixed in one direction. 

If one looked closely, they would find that his eyes were no longer calm and focused but slightly absent-minded. 

A little later on, Odis’ throat made a low sound, which filled the narrow yet comfortable cave. 

In order to achieve his goal as soon as possible, Alexander had temporarily forgotten his shyness and bottom line. After all, he knew that this kind of thing would continue for the whole spring. 

The little bear froze abruptly, and then immediately moved away from Odis. 

Odis got up immediately and lowered his head to finish the cleanup by himself. 

“…” The little bear with white fur fortunately had black skin underneath, otherwise he might have become a red-faced little bear by now. 

Ahhhhh! 

Alexander’s shyness soared to the peak in an instant. Then, he crawled out of the den and plunged into the snow, trying to use the thick snow to cool himself down. 

In his mind, as he was recalling the moment just now, the little bear’s world seemed to explode. 

Pa! (Hitting sounds.) Couldn’t Odis have informed him in advance!?

“Wu wu wu wu wu wu.” Qiao Qixi strongly requested that he be a dead bear at this moment and didn’t want to be disturbed by the outside world. 

Whoever bothered him was a dog! 

Odis quickly finished cleaning his fur and immediately looked for Qiao Qixi. Then, he quickly saw a white butt sticking out of the snow. 

In an instant, Odis’ eyes filled with warmth, and then he recovered his laziness and stretched comfortably, all while his gaze was fixed on Qiao Qixi. 

But occasionally something would flash across his gaze, and he would glance elsewhere. It seemed that the little bear wasn’t the only one who was shy.

Odis, who had been pleasured for the first time, probably had a similar feeling to Qiao Qixi. 

Who knows?

Odis laid down at the door of the den and waited for a while, but the little bear still didn’t return. He had to get up and intervene. 

The fur on his back was rubbed, and the little bear immediately poked his head out of the snow to see which dog disturbed him. 

Unsurprisingly, it was the dog named Odis. Wait, didn’t that make him the bear? 

(Qiao Qixi is referring to the idioms: Don’t poke the bear & Let sleeping dogs lie which basically mean “don’t make it worse, stay away from trouble.” In context, he is the bear, and Odis is the one causing trouble by ‘poking’ him.)

“…”

He didn’t care. He didn’t want to play with Odis right now. It was still too embarrassing!

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The photography team, who had been paying attention to the situation, was overjoyed. Odis and Alexander had finally come out. 

After a while, a team member asked, “ Leader, did you see anything?”

The leader said with mixed feelings, “I saw Alexander hitting Odis again.”

Another team member reminded him again, “Leader, that’s not hitting, that’s acting spoiled.”

Everyone thought about it and felt that it made sense. Could a -5 hit damage still be called damage?

Obviously not. 

One morning in early spring, the two polar bears flirted in the snow at the door of the den. After about half an hour, they once again entered the tightly enclosed den that was difficult to spy on. 

When the weather was slightly better, the photography team used an expensive drone to go up the mountain despite the risk of breaking it.

Fortunately, the drone successfully approached the mountain’s summit and found an opportunity to shoot from an angle that wasn’t easily spotted by the bears inside the den. 

In the image sent back, Odis and Alexander were indeed being intimate. 

They could clearly see Odis’ body moving, but they didn’t know to what extent he was doing. Was he simply rubbing against Alexander like before, or was he having a stronger desire with the arrival of spring?

They wanted to see more clearly. 

But it was very troublesome because Odis was too cautious. The other party kept using his huge body to block the view of Alexander. Only occasionally could they get a shot of Alexander’s face or one of his chubby legs. 

That was it?

Anyway, they couldn’t get any more intimate photos. 

After three days, the team members were all extremely anxious. “Shit!” Odis you waited for so many days and this is all that you showed us!?

At the very least, they should have taken a full-body photo of the little bear for a report. Unfortunately, Odis was like a possessive husband who liked to get jealous. He didn’t even allow such a humble request. 

“Odis’ body is too big. I’m a little worried that the little bear will get hurt.” One of the team members watched the video and said in a worried tone. “I hope he’s just rubbing against Alexander.”

“Probably not.” The team leader said, but then added comfortingly, “You have to believe that Odis knows what he’s doing. I believe that he’s a reliable man.” 

It was an strange yet wonderful thing for a group of people to believe that the big polar bear would rather hurt himself than hurt the little bear. 

In the den of the two polar bears that were being spied on, romantic scenes played out intermittently over the past three days. 

Odis seemed to have gathered all his needs this spring. 

He, who couldn’t calm down, wanted to pester the little bear all the time, but he didn’t act on his urges. He was still rational.

This was very different from other polar bears. Whether it was during normal times or during the restless spring, Odis didn’t seem to have the trait of indulging in his urges. 

He was quite introverted.

Even if he frequently pestered the little bear, it was mostly because he couldn’t suppress it anymore. 

It was because of this strong desire to reproduce that male polar bears would mate with so many female polar bears throughout the springtime. 

But Odis only had Qiao Qixi. Other than Qiao Qixi, he didn’t want to find anyone else. This would inevitably place a burden on the little bear. 

Fortunately, this fake little bear had a lot of knowledge that other bears didn’t have. Otherwise, this spring trip to the mountain’s summit might have ended right then and there. 

Also fortunately, Odis’ character was steady and restrained even during the most torturous times like when his irritation was bad enough that he could probably smash the rock wall to pieces with just one hit. 

But he would never use any more force on Qiao Qixi, and his actions of licking the little bear’s fur were still so gentle. 

In the bears’ den at the top of the snowy mountain, there was a strong air of romance and sweetness. 

Slowly, Qiao Qixi understood a little bit, and he no longer called Odis a dog. 

Odis wasn’t a dog. Odis knew everything and also loved him very much…

Qiao Qixi felt sorry for the other party and obediently accompanied Odis through more and more intense suffering and torment. 

Qiao Qixi was worried that Odis might be tired of the old tricks and that it would become harder to deal with the urges, so he clenched his teeth and changed to another trick. 

This kind of trick was very dangerous. If he wasn’t careful, the fake could become real. If he hadn’t had complete trust in Odis, he wouldn’t have dared to try it. 

It turned out that even the honest Odis liked novelty, and he really seemed to like this new trick…

The atmosphere in the bears’ den was extremely thick. The unique smell and the temperature of spring intertwined in the air, as if it was a different world apart from the world of ice and snow outside. 

Qiao Qixi was very tired, but Odis still hugged him and occasionally rubbed his nose, as if to comfort and apologize: I didn’t do it on purpose. I like you a lot. 

The little bear felt that he might be sleepy and confused. Otherwise, how could he translate such a meaning?

But thinking about it, it seemed that there was nothing wrong with it. It was normal for Odis to confess his feelings, and it was by no means a fact that Qiao Qixi was thinking too much. 

Qiao Qixi persisted for a while longer, but in the end, he couldn’t hold on anymore and fell fast asleep. 

Odis, who had calmed down a little, didn’t sleep at all these days. Even if he closed his eyes to rest, he couldn’t fall into a normal sleep at all. 

When the little bear was sleeping, he would either quietly hug him or help clean the little bear’s fur. These days, it was easy for the little bear to get dirty.

Every time he cleaned up a part of the little bear’s immature body, Odis would stop for a moment and use his sense of smell to confirm. Unfortunately, the little bear wasn’t mature yet, so he had to continue to wait. 

This was something that Qiao Qixi didn’t know about. It turned out that Odis’ standard for judging whether the little bear could do it or not was whether the little bear was mature yet. 

But it was obvious that there was still a long time before the little bear matured, so Odis could only wait patiently. 

It might not be too difficult for him. 

After a long period of tenderness between them, the two polar bears had an urgent need for water. When the little bear woke up, they went outside to eat fresh snow. 

Qiao Qixi cherished the hard-won time to get some fresh air. Luckily, they were able to see the sunrise atop the mountain’s summit. 

The polar sky, without wind and snow, finally brightened up. The warm sun shone on their bodies, making them feel very comfortable. 

Even Odis, who hadn’t seen the sun for a long time, seemed to like this kind of weather. 

With the bright sun, Qiao Qixi accidentally saw that Odis’ eyes were bloodshot. Under the sun, the other party leaned his face against the rock and squinted his eyes, looking a little tired. 

Under the rare sunlight, the big polar bear gently rubbed against the rock to scratch himself. 

Qiao Qixi didn’t want to disturb Odis as he hoped that Odis could sleep comfortably. 

As he wished, within this warm comfortable environment, the recently relieved Odis slowly closed his eyes. 

For the first time since spring, Odis slept for four or five hours. Although it wasn’t a long time, it still brought him a comfortable relief to his body and mind. 

Seeing that Odis was also lazy after waking up, the little bear naively thought that the restlessness of spring had passed so easily. 

He excitedly picked up his small bucket and sent a message: Odis, do you want to go down the mountain?

Odis and the little bear looked at eachother, blinking twice, but there still was no answer from the big bear. 

What did it mean to pretend to be dead and not answer?

The two and a half year old Alexander knew that it meant that the big bear didn’t want to go down the mountain. 

“Wu wu wu.” Alexander let go of the bucket and threw it away. He threw himself over and pretended to cry: I’m hungry, let’s go down the mountain to eat seals. 

Didn’t Odis feel that the fat on his body had deceased? Was it comfortable to hug him like this?

Being hugged by his beloved little bear, of course Odis was clearly happy. This time, he chose to express his happiness through his actions, such as dragging the little bear back into the den. 

The big bear had just woken up, and now his body was full of energy. 

Since the little bear took the initiative to provoke him, why should he be polite?

The camera in the distance clearly captured the video of Odis driving the little bear back into their love nest. 

The two male polar bears were pulling and flirting along the way, and the sour smell of love overflowed from the screen. 

“Odis is so domineering. The little bear obviously doesn’t want to go back to the nest…”

“Haha, because the little bear doesn’t have those urges right now.” One of the team members accidentally revealed his wretched thoughts: “I can’t wait to think about what will happen two and a half years later when both of them reach the restless period. Will they fight?”

When Alexander matured physically, he would also be a huge polar bear. At that time, would he still be willing to be bullied by Odis?

One of the team members replied, “They definitely won’t fight. Personality determines who is in charge. The calm and wise Odis is definitely the top.”

The little bear was delicate and soft. Even if he grew up, he wouldn’t be able to get rid of his squeamishness. 

Unless Odis was willing to let him go.

(The author has something to say: Domineering Husband Odis: Let him go? No, I’ll pester him forever.)

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Dog Odis poking the Embarrased Bear Qiao Qixi xD

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