Chapter 19

Lu Qingyu returned to the seventh floor, “White Night,” with a book in her arms and saw Zhu Mingyu, her arms crossed, staring intently at Yu Tao across from her, as if she were eyeing a criminal.

Yu Tao, on the other hand, awkwardly kept her head lowered, her eyes focused on the book in front of her, her body fidgeting uncomfortably.

Lu Qingyu placed the book down and sat, her tone cool as she remarked, “Junior Sister Zhu is certainly surpassing her shishu.”

She observed Yu Tao trying to find some excuse, while Zhu Mingyu didn’t even bother to hide her intent, not even attempting to cover it up.

Zhu Mingyu caught the underlying meaning in her words, glanced at her, ignored it, and continued watching Yu Tao read.

“I’ve taken care of the copy of the book for you.”

Seeing Yu Tao had switched to another book, Lu Qingyu casually asked, “What are you reading, Junior Sister Yu?”

Yu Tao’s body stiffened suddenly.

This time, unlike before, where she would readily show her book, she now nervously pinched the pages, stuttering, “It’s… it’s just some book about interpersonal relationships…”

Lu Qingyu noticed her strange reaction and, combined with how Zhu Mingyu was staring at her like she was being monitored, raised an eyebrow.

“Let me see it.”

Yu Tao had no choice but to stand the book upright, revealing the cover. As she lifted it, her face almost buried in the book, her ears turned bright red.

Lu Qingyu fixed her gaze on the book title.

— ‘Three Ways to Spot a Scumbag’

Lu Qingyu froze for a moment, then glanced over the other books nearby.

‘The Complete Collection of Scumbag Quotes’

‘101 Ways to Get Revenge on a Scumbag’

‘Blood Stain Removal Tips’

‘Employee Manual for Crematorium Operations’

Lu Qingyu: ?

From training spirit pets to this entire process, isn’t the gap a bit too big?

Lu Qingyu turned her head to look at Zhu Mingyu with a faint gaze: “Why are you showing her this?”

Zhu Mingyu remained calm: “To help her learn.”

“Just keep reading yours.”

“Oh.”

Yu Tao obediently responded, then suddenly sneezed, rubbing her slightly red nose before continuing to read her book.

What kind of knowledge is this? Lu Qingyu’s forehead twitched with a black line, feeling speechless. Some things were hard to say in front of Yu Tao, so she decided to send a message transmission.

Lu Qingyu: 【She’s only sixteen, and you’re teaching her this?】

Zhu Mingyu: 【A scumbag won’t care how old you are. There are scumbags everywhere now, and Yu Tao is so innocent. I’m afraid she’ll be deceived. Is that okay?】

Zhu Mingyu: 【If she doesn’t learn now, she’ll be deceived and it’ll be too late.】

Lu Qingyu paused for a moment: 【…That’s true. But how come your whole process looks so proficient?】

Zhu Mingyu: 【It’s called professionalism.】

Zhu Mingyu snorted lightly: 【If you were like Senior Sister and were so naïve, Yu Tao would probably have already been deceived in both body and heart before you remembered to teach her this.】

Lu Qingyu: 【…】

That competitive spirit was triggered, and Lu Qingyu smiled, standing up to walk over to the bookshelf.

A moment later, she returned with a pile of books and placed them in front of Yu Tao. She then pulled out a small blackboard and took out a ruler.

“Junior Sister Yu, I think Junior Sister Zhu’s process needs some additional steps…”

Yu Tao’s pupils trembled.

And so, that day, under the guidance and demonstration of both women, Yu Tao not only learned how to spot a scumbag but also mastered a hundred ways to tear a scumbag apart, as well as the cremation process for crematorium workers.

She thought to herself that if she went down the mountain and applied for a job at a crematorium now, she would definitely earn the outstanding employee award after a month.

Zhu Mingyu, still injured, couldn’t stay long and needed to go back to change her bandages. The three girls left the library pavilion at dusk.

Shishu Lin Lin was still guarding the gate. Perhaps because there were fewer people in the evening, Qiu Chao had come out as well, casually sitting nearby drinking wine.

The evening air was chilly, and Qiu Chao only wore a thin spring gown. As she raised her hand to drink, her pale arm was exposed.

Lin Lin glanced at her several times, hesitated for a long while, then finally mustered the courage to drape his coat over her shoulders.

Qiu Chao was surprised and smiled: “What’s with you today? So considerate?”

“Fidgeting eyes, awkward movements, and suddenly being overly attentive—it’s obvious they’ve done something wrong or are planning to do something bad, which is why they’re feeling guilty.”

Yu Tao sniffed, nodded, and muttered to herself, ‘Scumbag.’

Both Senior Shishus immediately turned their attention to Yu Tao.

Zhu Mingyu and Lu Qingyu quickly pulled Yu Tao behind them, laughing awkwardly: “Uh, she’s just confused from reading too much.”

“No, I think she’s right.” Normally, Lin Lin only had books in his eyes, he was such a bookworm that he never even looked at people, so it was hard to imagine him being so considerate.

Qiu Chao propped her face up with one hand, lazily saying, “Go ahead, tell me what you did.”

Lin Lin looked wronged. “I haven’t done anything!”

“Oh? Then what do you want to do?”

Lin Lin: “…”

‘Cough, cough…’ “Well, isn’t it true that most of the disciples were tricked by you? I mean, they all said they loved learning, so they entered the library pavilion. But you don’t let them out until they’ve read at least two hundred books. Isn’t that a bit too much?”

Qiu Chao let out a cool laugh. “You said it yourself. They kept saying they were hungry for knowledge, so I let them in. Now that I’ve satisfied their needs, what’s wrong with that?”

Lin Lin hesitated. “They’re just a bit playful, but they’re young. It’s normal. There’s no need to be so harsh. I think a little punishment would be enough…”

“Get to the point.”

“They’ve been locked up in the library pavilion, and they won’t be out for at least ten days to half a month. What about morning lessons during this time?”

Qiu Chao raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t thought about that.

Zhu Mingyu suddenly spoke up from the side. “Senior Shishu Lin, morning lessons don’t need to be held in a fixed location. You can teach them in the library pavilion, right?”

Lu Qingyu also nodded lightly, recalling, “I remember there was a year when a group of students caught a cold, and for two whole months, you were teaching them through the Liuli Mirror, so whether or not we go to the teaching hall doesn’t seem to matter?”

Lin Lin was slightly taken aback. “Well…”

Qiu Chao gave them both a meaningful glance, then looked at the distracted Yu Tao behind them, and instantly understood.

She took a sip of wine and said to Lin Lin, “If you’re really uncomfortable, I can reluctantly create an illusion of the teaching hall for you to use.”

Since they all said so, Lin Lin thought for a moment and agreed, “Alright, let’s do it this way.”

Yu Tao, who had been swaying slightly, finally pulled herself together and slipped out from behind the two women. She asked, “By the way, Senior Shishu Lin, do you understand animal language?”

“It’s just animal language. Your senior Shishu can speak dozens of languages. What’s the problem? What can’t you understand?” Lin Lin said dismissively.

The two girls exchanged a subtle smile at the confident expression on Lin Lin’s face.

Yu Tao took out the Liuli Mirror, flipped to a post, and showed it to him. “It’s this one. I’m really curious about what they’re saying. What do these two characters mean?”

Lin Lin took the Liuli Mirror, and the next moment, the smile on his face froze instantly.

“This… this means…”

Qiu Chao mercilessly mocked him, “What’s this? You were boasting just now, but now you don’t know what to say?”

Lin Lin: “…”

It wasn’t that he didn’t know… it was just that could he really say this?

Lin Lin looked at Yu Tao’s innocent, eager eyes and swallowed hard. How was he supposed to explain this to her?

“Don’t pretend if you don’t understand. You’re misleading the younger generation. Let me do it.”

Qiu Chao shot him a look and snatched the Liuli Mirror from his hand, her eyes flicking over it as she carefully examined the text.

The next second, even the cold beauty’s face froze.

After a brief silence, Qiu Chao raised her eyes and immediately met the bright, clear gaze of the girl, full of hope and expectation.

The corners of Qiu Chao’s eyes twitched uncontrollably. No wonder Lin Lin had been stumbling and unable to speak.

The language of the beastmen, much like their nature, was passionate and direct, free-spirited, saying and doing whatever came to mind with no pretensions or reservations.

The phrase “δψ” usually appeared during the beastmen’s mating season, and its meaning was simple and blunt—definitely not something suitable for casual conversation.

If we were to put it in human terms, it would be: ‘I want to sleep with you.’

Qiu Chao glanced at the three of them. Lin Lin, well, he was excused, but Zhu Mingyu and Lu Qingyu were both staring straight ahead, pretending to be invisible. It was clear that they understood the meaning.

Even if they didn’t understand the beast language, they could still figure out what the post was about.

Yu Tao sniffed, and hesitantly asked, “Senior Shishu Qiu Chao?”

Qiu Chao cleared her throat lightly, handed the Liuli Mirror back to her, and composed herself before saying, “I’m not very familiar with beast language, so I don’t know much. But I can roughly tell what this phrase means. It’s a way the beastmen express affection, and in our human language, we could interpret it as… ‘I really like you.'”

The others widened their eyes slightly, all their gazes turning toward her.

Because I like you so much, I want to… you know…

… Saying it like that, it doesn’t seem so wrong.

It’s still Qiu Chao who has the answers.

Yu Tao was confused: “Then why did the post say that the spirit pet might eat its owner?”

“…”

Qiu Chao, with complete seriousness, started to fabricate a story: “In the cultivation world, there is a type of spirit beast called ‘^[1]Tao Tie (饕餮) is a mythical creature from Chinese mythology, often depicted as a gluttonous, insatiable beast. It is one of the “Four Evils” in Chinese folklore, known for its extreme … Continue readingTao Tie’, whose stomach is a chaotic void space that can consume anything.”

“This type of spirit beast likes to eat when it’s happy, and because it loves its spiritual master so much, it’s not uncommon for it to devour the master. But don’t worry, the master won’t come to any harm in the chaotic space.”

“The spirit pet in the post was probably this kind of beast.”

Yu Tao nodded thoughtfully, mentally noting, “So that’s how it is. Thank you, Senior Shishu Qiu Chao, for clearing that up.”

Qiu Chao stiffly tugged at the corners of her mouth and said, “No need to thank me for something so trivial.”

She truly hadn’t expected to be the one making up tall tales to deceive a younger disciple.

The other three present thought to themselves: ‘One dares to speak, the other dares to believe.’

Since Lin Lin and Qiu Chao didn’t really understand the beast language, Yu Tao hugged the book tightly in her arms and decided to ask someone else.

Yesterday… the little senior brother had said that if she encountered any problems, she could find him.

As she returned to Yunjing Peak, Yu Tao walked up the stone steps. Looking up, she saw the afterglow of the sunset and, intending to head to the Huaishui Bamboo Pavilion, paused for a moment before turning to walk higher up the mountain.

The evening glow was vibrant, and the clouds were all different shapes and sizes. Yu Tao casually found a rock to sit on. She noticed a small dark shadow beside her but didn’t pay much attention, assuming it was just the shadow of a tree.

She sat there, letting the mountain breeze gently blow, gazing at the setting sun, her sleeves fluttering.

Yu Tao stared at the scene for a long time, watching the sun sink lower and lower until it disappeared completely, leaving behind a sky full of stars and a crescent moon hanging nearby.

At this moment, without Zhu Mingyu and Lu Qingyu by her side, with only herself alone, the emotions that had been suppressed deep in her heart surged up.

She rarely looked at the sunset, or rather, she always subconsciously avoided it.

The place where she lived, a small coastal city, had sunsets that were particularly spectacular. The vast, tumultuous sea met the massive red sun, and golden light scattered across the water, forming a bridge to the setting sun, with mist rising from the ocean, creating a fairy-tale-like scene.

The people in the town always said that such a sight was so magnificent that even immortals would never forget it after seeing it just once.

Perhaps it was the evening breeze, but Yu Tao felt her face flush slightly, and her consciousness grew a little hazy.

She couldn’t help but think back to the past, slowly lowering her eyelashes, her eyelids trembling slightly.

…She truly couldn’t forget.

The girl’s face was tinged with a sickly red, curled up on the rock. Her face was half-buried in her arm, gently exhaling, her eyes misty, as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

She looked pitiful, like an injured little animal.

The surrounding air was silent for a moment.

In the darkness, a soft, pink paw suddenly stretched out, resting on the girl’s arm.

Then came a slightly hesitant, awkward sound.

“…Meow.”

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Word Count: 2,396