Qingnu retraced her steps and found Hongluan fluttering around the cave entrance, chirping incessantly. She reached out and grabbed the bird by its tail, asking, "What's wrong? You haven't gone mad after one winter, have you?"
Startled, Hongluan saw it was Qingnu and let out a huge sigh of relief, diving into her arms!
"Stupid snake! I thought you'd been hunted down and taken away!"
Qingnu looked at Hongluan, then glanced back at the cave entrance with a look of realization. "So that person with no conscience earlier was you!"
Hongluan: "..."
"Drop dead, stupid snake!"
The bird sister irritably trampled Qingnu's hair into a mess. "And here I was worried you'd starve to death, so I even brought back fruit for you!"
Qingnu scratched her head and grinned.
In two thousand years, this was the first time someone had waited for her to wake up.
It was a nice feeling!
"Where's the fruit?"
Hongluan held a bunch of green fruit in her beak and flicked them at Qingnu with a snap. "Eat until you choke!"
Qingnu, showing a lack of gratitude, grabbed the fruit and sniffed them. With a playful smirk, she bowed slightly to Hongluan. "My thanks to the bird sister for the feeding!"
"Shameless! You're two thousand years older than me!"
"What do I need shame for?"
Seeing Hongluan turn her head away and ignore her, Qingnu patted her own shoulder. "Little Hongluan, don't be angry. Come on up; I'll take you to see Haojing in the spring."
Hongluan cracked one eye open to peek at her, gave a haughty snort, and flapped her wings to land on Qingnu's shoulder.
Qingnu waved her sleeve and set off toward Haojing. She plucked a fruit and bit down with her silver teeth, juice splattering.
She paused, her expression unchanging.
"Hongluan..."
It was rare for Qingnu to call her name so seriously.
Hongluan tilted her head and asked, "What is it?"
"Next time, just let me starve!"
...
The pair arrived at the gates of Haojing amidst their banter, only to see the citizens streaming out of the city in single file!
Clearly, they weren't coming out to welcome them.
"Hey, hey, stop!"
Qingnu grabbed a man and threw a handful of cowrie shells at him. "What's going on today? Did they find some rare treasure or game in the mountains outside Haojing? Is everyone racing to dig it up?"
Inside that snake brain of hers, besides becoming a dragon, there was only 'what to eat today' and 'what to eat tomorrow'.
The man was furious at being grabbed so suddenly.
But before he could see who it was, he was pelted by cowrie shells hitting his face.
The clatter of the shells sounded like falling rain!
His face instantly transformed into a blossoming smile as he hurriedly bent down to gather the shells.
He wiped his old face and replied, "It's the Great King! Last year, he traveled west with the immortal masters to seek the Dao. He has returned today and summoned the citizens to an audience in the western suburbs of Haojing! He must have found true immortals!"
Qingnu sized the man up.
Could he be one of those legendary, all-knowing passerby NPCs that novel protagonists always encounter?
Pffft!
So it was just Ji Man. That was worse than finding wild game.
Qingnu wanted to take her shells back.
But the man had already pocketed them and bolted like a streak of smoke! He seemed to realize that if he didn't run, this shameless snake might try to snatch the money back.
"Hey..."
Qingnu's eyes widened, and her mouth hung open.
Perched on her shoulder, Hongluan sighed and shook her head. "What a stupid snake. If you wanted to know why, you could have just followed them. Did you really have to pay? Now look—the news is boring, and the money is gone!"
"I have plenty of treasures; I don't care about that little bit!"
Qingnu shook her head, comforting herself.
If worst came to worst, couldn't she just pilfer something from the palace?
It just so happened that there were few people inside Haojing right now. The snake girl acted like a bandit entering a village, specifically picking the homes of nobility to loot. These fellows didn't produce anything; their wealth was all tribute from below. What was the harm if Qingnu took a little?
"I am robbing the rich to help the poor!" Qingnu declared.
Hongluan retorted, "Bah! The rich are robbed, but where's the poor? How are you helping?"
"Isn't that simple?"
Qingnu wandered the streets of Haojing with Hongluan. When she saw someone she liked the look of, she would buy something and pay extra shells.
Amidst her shopping, she not only helped the 'poor' but also gathered news about Ji Man.
It turned out that Yao Jiang had died on the return journey from the Kunlun Mountains!
That old fellow's constitution had already been half-shattered by the long, grueling journey and the climb up the mountains. Then, after being infuriated by Qingnu on the peak, he couldn't hold on long enough to return and went straight to report to the King of Hell.
'Poor King of Hell,' Qingnu lamented. She then heard from a vendor that Ji Man planned to hold a grand funeral for Yao Jiang.
Furthermore, he had issued an order to arrest all women dressed in green throughout the land!
"Oh my, noble lady, your dress is also green. You should change quickly, or you might be seized as a demoness! The people from Tianyuan Palace are not reasonable," the vendor said nervously.
Qingnu looked down at her dress.
This garment was formed from her own shed green scales from the past; it was incredibly precious!
Change it?
She'd rather go give Ji Man a beating!
No sooner said than done.
That night, Qingnu slipped into the royal palace with Hongluan and gave Ji Man a severe thrashing. To prevent him from fighting back, she even used a bit of venom.
Ji Man felt as though he were having a dream filled with aches and pains. When he woke the next morning and saw himself covered in bruises, his eyes went dark, and he immediately went back to sleep.
Regarding this, Qingnu remarked that Ji Man’s psychological resilience was simply too poor.
Ji Man remained bedridden for over a month before the injuries on his face healed enough for him to be seen in public.
The first thing the bastard did upon summoning his ministers was to strictly urge them that state affairs could be set aside—catching the snake was the priority! They had to capture that beautiful little snake demon immediately; he wanted to "teach her a lesson" day and night!
Qingnu was gratified that the bastard called her beautiful.
But she didn't like his words.
So, she beat him up again!
Not only that, but under the cover of a dark and windy night, she dragged Ji Man to Ji Fa’s grave and scolded him to his face. Only then did Ji Man recall the royal legend passed down from King Wu: the exiled immortal who would come to take the heart-blood of the last king of Zhou!
"You... no, Your Ladyship is the exiled immortal?"
Ji Man knelt on the ground, staring blankly at Qingnu, his words stumbling.
"Could it be... that I... I am the last king of the Great Zhou? Is that why Your Ladyship has appeared before me?"
"No... how could it be!"
"My Great Zhou has the submission of all the surrounding tribes!"
"Why..."
Hongluan stood on Qingnu's shoulder, preening her feathers. She whispered, "You hit him too hard. Look, you've turned him into an idiot."
Qingnu remained silent. She turned to look at Ji Fa's tomb.
"I didn't bully your descendant on purpose. Don't come haunt my dreams tonight. Bye-bye!"
With those words, she vanished.
Ji Man also fainted.
It was normal for things to go missing in the palace, but losing the King was a life-and-death matter! The palace attendants felt worse than if their own parents had died when they discovered Ji Man was missing. They searched for half the day before finding him at King Wu's Tomb. Ji Man's only explanation was that he had missed his ancestors in the middle of the night and come to pay respects; he didn't dare mention Qingnu's existence at all.
However, this explanation naturally drew a round of scolding from the ministers who upheld the Rites of Zhou!
Your Majesty!
You missed your ancestors and snuck out alone? Do you know that the palace attendants almost went to see their own ancestors when they found you gone?
Does this accord with the Rites of Zhou?
Ji Man apologized repeatedly, not daring to argue.
This scare from Qingnu actually produced a "King Mu." Fearing he might be the last king of Zhou, the bastard governed with diligence and worked hard for several decades before finally going to see King Wu with a clear conscience.
Rate on N.U.
