Chapter 07-1: Fierce, Few Words, Beautiful as an Immortal / Chapter 08-2: What the Heck Is "Kissing Specialization"?

"So that's why I was chosen as the Flower Master—you wanted to help the Flower God escape from the Flower God Ring... And since flower people could strengthen the Flower God, you needed me to gather them."

Qin Xiangyi added a final clarification. She had titled the novel Urban Flower Picking Record because, to help the Flower God escape the ring and even ascend to the upper realm, the male lead had to meet more flower fairies and create more flower people to strengthen Huangquan.

But to align with core socialist values, all it took to plant a flower seed inside a woman judged to be a flower fairy was a kiss.

The first kiss planted the seed; the second activated it, allowing the flower person to be summoned.

Back when Qin Xiangyi had come up with the idea, she'd treated it like a convenient gacha system. Now that all those rules applied to her, she couldn't help feeling conflicted.

"Explaining it won't help. Why not let the Flower Master try planting a flower person?" Seeing Qin Xiangyi still staring at Huangquan, the Flower God, Hua Nu spoke up.

Qin Xiangyi felt even more awkward. She wanted to say she wasn't into women, but she'd stolen the male lead's role to stay alive and couldn't exactly give it back. This seemed to be her only option.

"Flower Master, relax." Hua Nu expertly guided Qin Xiangyi through every step. To make the novel more entertaining, Qin Xiangyi had given Hua Nu—a beautiful woman who'd lived for ten thousand years—the personality of a mischievous old child.

Hua Nu knew all about refined pleasures and would occasionally sneak the male lead a few pointers. Now, she really had become an Old Driver, patiently coaching the two of them through their first kiss.

Huangquan still wore that cold expression. As she drew near, Qin Xiangyi caught the scent of an unfamiliar flower.

Chapter 7-1: A Woman of Few Words, Beautiful as an Immortal

The Flower God's original form was Manjusaka, whose name symbolized endless love, the harbinger of death, and the call of the underworld.

Legend held that Higanbana bloomed only in the underworld, usually along the Sanzu River, on the far bank of the River of Forgetfulness, where it guided the dead. As red as blood, it carpeted the road to hell. It was the underworld's only flower, with blossoms but no leaves. Thus it came to symbolize death and parting, and was often used at funerals. It was also known as the flower of death.

The name Huangquan, the Flower God, was chosen to fit the legend: they met in death, only to return from the brink.

"Flower Master, don't be so stiff. Lord Huangquan isn't going to eat you." Hua Nu kept encouraging Qin Xiangyi from the side. Huangquan seemed to think Qin Xiangyi was taking too long, so she simply pulled Qin Xiangyi into her arms and kissed her first.

System: Received the Flower God Huangquan's first kiss. Spiritual Power increased by 1,000.

The sweet fragrance grew stronger. Kissing her felt different from kissing Zhou Muning.

It was hot, but the heat came from her lower abdomen.

"Flower Master, hurry and give the Flower God some Spiritual Energy. Then she can give birth to a flower person right away." Hua Nu's voice reminded Qin Xiangyi not to lose herself in Huangquan's allure.

It was the allure of death. If she truly lost herself in the moment, Huangquan would drain her dry.

A chill ran down Qin Xiangyi's back. She followed Hua Nu's instructions, pushing the energy out from her lower abdomen, and heard the system's icy voice.

System: Plant a flower seed inside Huangquan?

Qin Xiangyi answered yes without hesitation. She felt a surge of power flow out of her and toward Huangquan.

The previously aloof Huangquan seemed to sense the Spiritual Power and began holding Qin Xiangyi tightly. Her grip was so strong it felt as if she were trying to pull Qin Xiangyi into her embrace.

The fragrance grew richer. When the transfer of Spiritual Power was complete, Huangquan released her. Her white clothes turned red. Eyes closed, she let out a low moan, and a flower emerged from her chest.

Unlike flower seeds planted in ordinary humans, a Flower God's seed grew incredibly fast. In an instant, the blossom opened, revealing a tiny person about the size of a palm.

System: Obtained flower person—Shaoyao. Spiritual Power increased by 500.

"Shaoyao, is it?" Hua Nu narrowed her eyes, recognizing the flower person.

"Granny Hua, it's been a long time." The tiny person called Shaoyao greeted Hua Nu with a Wanfu salute. Dressed in red, she was only palm-sized, yet her face was already breathtakingly beautiful.

Flower people were servants of the Flower Gods, each of them incredibly beautiful. But they still fell far short of the Flower Gods themselves, which gave Qin Xiangyi some idea of just how beautiful Huangquan must have been in her prime. She hardly dared imagine it. Her meager prose could never capture that kind of beauty, and she wondered if she would ever get to see it with her own eyes.

While Qin Xiangyi's attention wandered, Shaoyao knelt before Huangquan and bowed, her reverence plain.

"Lord Huangquan."

But when she turned to Qin Xiangyi, Shaoyao was far more casual. She even raised an eyebrow at her, looking rather disdainful.

"Greetings, Flower Master."

Qin Xiangyi nodded, unaffected by Shaoyao's attitude. In the flower people's eyes, she was just an ordinary person who'd gotten lucky.

Qin Xiangyi could understand why they thought that way, so she didn't say much. Looking at Huangquan, she continued, "There's no time to waste. Let's try for a second one."

Huangquan shook her head.

Hua Nu immediately understood and explained on the Flower God's behalf. "Flower Master, Lord Huangquan hasn't recovered yet. She'll need some time before she can continue."

Qin Xiangyi was stunned again, cursing herself for digging another hole for herself. She'd gotten a thousand Spiritual Power from the Flower God's first kiss and wanted to try a ten-pull, but who could have guessed her own wild ideas would trip her up again?

She'd made the Flower God frail and delicate, able to create only one flower person a day. Now she couldn't expand her workforce at all.

"Then let's continue tomorrow." Qin Xiangyi gazed at Huangquan's tempting lips, reluctant to look away. She had to admit the kiss had been wonderfully strange, making her think that perhaps being with the Flower God wouldn't be so crazy after all.

"The Flower Master's body is much stronger than expected. An ordinary person would probably be too exhausted to get up by now." Hua Nu had gained some respect for Qin Xiangyi. She respectfully held out a small ceramic bottle.

Puzzled, Qin Xiangyi took it and felt its weight.

"What's this?"

"This is honey I brewed myself. It contains Spiritual Power and can help improve the Flower Master's constitution." Hua Nu tactfully hinted at Qin Xiangyi's current condition. Even Little Grass could kill Qin Xiangyi with one hand.

Qin Xiangyi looked over the delicate bottle and asked Hua Nu, "I see. Can I drink it straight?"

"With your constitution, you'll need to dilute it about a hundredfold. Oh, we also have some excellent dew here. Little Grass, go heat some water and chop firewood." Hua Nu spoke briskly, then quickly sent Little Grass off to prepare the water.

The water-heating tools were all quaint and old-fashioned, steeped in a classical charm. Qin Xiangyi sat on a wooden chair and looked toward Huangquan.

Shaoyao stood facing her. The two stared at each other in silence. Seeing Qin Xiangyi's confusion, Hua Nu explained, "They're sharing memories."

Qin Xiangyi nodded. As the author, she knew all about the "memory sharing" skill she'd invented to save herself effort. It let one person see another's memories, making it easier for flower people to awaken while cutting down on unnecessary exposition.

Of course, they shared only memories. As for each flower person's unique abilities...

At that thought, Qin Xiangyi nearly wanted to cry.

To make things harder for her protagonist, Qin Xiangyi had made every flower person stay in tiny form for the first few weeks after birth. Only after absorbing enough Spiritual Energy could they grow to human size. And only then could they obtain their abilities.

Qin Xiangyi looked at Shaoyao again and silently thought, View Shaoyao's information.

An interface instantly appeared before her.

Name: Shaoyao.

Copyable active skills: Assassination, SR-class; Disguise, R-class; Information Theft, R-class.

Copyable passive skills: Eidetic Memory, SSR-class.

Overall rating: SR-class.

As her starter card—no, starter flower person—Qin Xiangyi had given Shaoyao the most practical skills. Eidetic Memory, in particular, was an absurdly powerful skill that felt like cheating.

Eidetic Memory could speed up learning, and it was the first skill Qin Xiangyi absolutely had to get her hands on.

Naturally, thanks to Qin Xiangyi's ridiculous setup, skills could only be obtained randomly while giving Shaoyao Spiritual Power to level her up.

The drop rate for SSR-class skills was 1%, SR-class skills 13%, R-class skills 65%, and UR-class skills 0.1%.

Chapter 8-2: What the Heck Is Kissing Mastery?

Put simply, to get this passive skill, she had no idea how many thousands of times she'd have to kiss Shaoyao before Eidetic Memory finally dropped. Active skills were obtained the same way, through random Spiritual Power draws.

"Shaoyao, I'm here to give you Spiritual Power."

"Shaoyao, don't hide. I brought your favorite candy."

At the White Delay Sanatorium, Qin Xiangyi continued to pretend to take the medicine the sanatorium prescribed. Whenever she had free time, though, she went into the Flower God Ring.

Every day, she kissed the Flower God Huangquan once, then clung to Shaoyao, who had grown into a human-sized person.

"You menace, stay away from me!" Shaoyao still wore the same red clothes, her figure graceful, but her eyes blazed with anger.

Ever since Qin Xiangyi had kissed her, she'd kept pestering her for Spiritual Power. At first, Shaoyao had been happy about it. But over time, she realized something was off. Qin Xiangyi wasn't giving her Spiritual Power—she was lusting after her body.

Shaoyao had gone from delighted to terrified. But the Flower God Ring's space wasn't very big, and Qin Xiangyi caught her after only a few steps.

"Shaoyao, behave. Just one kiss today!" After nearly a month at the sanatorium, thirty months had passed inside the Flower God Ring. Qin Xiangyi had copied all of Shaoyao's active skills, but still hadn't gotten the SSR-class passive skill Eidetic Memory.

"Don't! The Flower God is watching."

Shaoyao begged her, feeling as if she were cheating on the Flower God.

"What are you afraid of? We're just transferring Spiritual Power. Look, you've gone from a level-one flower person to level five." To get Eidetic Memory, Qin Xiangyi had poured almost all her Spiritual Power into Shaoyao. She hadn't expected it to be so hard to obtain.

Shaoyao had even gained Kissing Mastery from all the kisses, but Qin Xiangyi still hadn't gotten what she wanted.

"Lord Huangquan, save me!" Shaoyao seemed even more embarrassed. She pointed behind her, but Qin Xiangyi didn't believe her. Huangquan was cold by nature and wouldn't care about Qin Xiangyi's mistreatment of Shaoyao.

Truth be told, Qin Xiangyi was only showing Shaoyao affection. But as Shaoyao called out, Qin Xiangyi caught that familiar floral scent. She turned around awkwardly and saw the cool, beautiful woman behind her. It was none other than the Flower God Huangquan.

Huangquan's expression was bland, her eyes holding little emotion. Qin Xiangyi had designed her as the popular ice-queen type: not only ruthless, but also a woman of few words. In all this time, Qin Xiangyi had heard her say fewer than ten sentences.

"Flower Master, you haven't come to see me in a long time." The Flower God finally spoke on her own, and even Qin Xiangyi could hear the reproach in her voice.

"Uh, all the flower seeds we planted before grew into Little Grass, so I thought I'd take a break." Qin Xiangyi answered awkwardly. That was why she'd been pouring so much Spiritual Power into Shaoyao.

For some reason, every time she planted a seed with the Flower God, all she got was weeds. Hua Nu was delighted to see the Little Grass people flourishing, but as the fighting force Qin Xiangyi would need to face the world's malice, they weren't enough to improve her situation.

Huangquan seemed to think that made sense. She turned as if to leave, but then she noticed Hua Nu's kindly smile in the distance. She hesitated and came back toward Qin Xiangyi.

"It's been a week. Let's try again."

Even though Huangquan was a Flower God, she apparently couldn't refuse the woman who'd raised her. Seeing Hua Nu's encouraging look, Qin Xiangyi could only lean in and offer her lips.

Faced with a beauty who could charm both men and women, Qin Xiangyi always tried to keep her feelings in check. Huangquan was a woman, and Qin Xiangyi knew she was only a tool in her story, so she didn't let herself feel anything for her.

But the truth was that the more invested they were and the more they understood each other while creating a flower person, the higher its grade would be. Yet Huangquan's character made it impossible for her to fall for someone easily, and Qin Xiangyi's orientation was ordinary, so she couldn't develop any other feelings.

Watching Huangquan move closer, Qin Xiangyi suddenly felt awkward.

Huangquan seemed to notice her reluctance. She frowned slightly but said nothing.

"How about we try a different approach? We can each ask the other one question every day, then try again afterward." Qin Xiangyi could only force herself to suggest a new way for them to learn more about each other.

"Fine."

Huangquan didn't understand, but in the end she agreed.

"I'll ask first. What kind of flower are you?"

Qin Xiangyi started with the simplest question. She'd thought it would help her get to know Huangquan better, but Huangquan froze.

"Can I not answer that?"

"..."

Qin Xiangyi hadn't expected their question game to end before it even began.

Seeing her awkwardness, Huangquan thought for a moment, then asked, "Then I'll ask you. What kind of Flower God do you think I am?"

"An awkward Flower God who doesn't know how to express herself."

"..."

Qin Xiangyi quickly ended the conversation, and their lips met. Just as she'd expected, they produced another Little Grass.

Qin Xiangyi was so frustrated that she thought about it for a long time but still couldn't figure out why Huangquan had refused to answer. In the end, she could only ask Hua Nu.

Hua Nu didn't seem surprised. Her eyes opened slightly, and she spoke in a sad voice. "Lord Huangquan doesn't like her kind of flower, so she doesn't want to tell anyone about it."

Qin Xiangyi froze, then immediately realized why Huangquan disliked her flower.

Huangquan was a Manjusaka—the flower of death.

It was known throughout the world as an ill-omened flower, and Qin Xiangyi had deliberately given Huangquan that background. She hadn't expected it to become such a deep-seated fixation for her.

"Should I go apologize?"

"No need. You already called her awkward." Hua Nu laughed, as if she found the rivalry between Qin Xiangyi and Huangquan amusing.

Qin Xiangyi's face reddened as she listened. She hated how small the Flower God Ring's space was, with no room for them to keep secrets from each other...

A few days slipped by. Somewhere in the White Delay Sanatorium, Qin Xiangyi had coaxed Shaoyao out again, luring her with the promise of Spiritual Power.

"Shaoyao, I'll give you today's Spiritual Power again."