What happened after the banquet left me dumbfounded. Those two... had really just gone and kissed?
Gulp. I hurriedly took a sip of juice to calm my nerves.
No, I should be angry.
Why was I calming down? They were obviously treating me like an alien. Who shoved dog food in someone's face so brazenly?
Who said I, Ye Xiaoyao, wasn't a baby? And then you show me this?
I kept repeating to myself: See no evil, hear no evil.
Under Ye Qingxian's gaze, a certain little loli pretended she hadn't seen a thing and took a huge bite of Spirit Rice. She must've taken too big a mouthful, because she couldn't swallow it right away and was secretly sticking out her tongue.
Ye Qingxian had been watching Junior Sister's every little move the whole time. The more she watched, the more she felt that her own Junior Sister's fluffy little head was adorable—perfect for occasional feeding. Compared to her, someone else's Junior Sister was just so-so.
Meanwhile, as I chewed the Spirit Rice, I nearly shed tears of bliss.
The very tip of my tongue had only been scalded, that was all.
So this was Spirit Rice.
It was delicious.
No wonder everyone liked having other people grow it.
Shuang Yue gradually fell silent, but kept throwing me resentful glances, whether intentionally or not. It made me feel like I was sitting on pins and needles.
No, girl, you can't just stare at me like that.
By rights, Yue Wuhua hadn't believed Shuang Yue's theory.
No one could know what Ye Qingxian was thinking.
After all, nobody could understand a female protagonist's thought process.
Mine was even simpler. I'd never believed it in the first place.
This long-prepared flower-viewing banquet came to an end in a somewhat strange atmosphere.
Yue Wuhua dragged Shuang Yue away, while she kept insisting she wouldn't give in.
My hearing was pretty good, so I could hear Yue Wuhua sounding close to breaking down.
"Junior Sister, your world is too crowded. I want to have a romance with just the two of us."
"What are you talking about? Cat Princess is family. She doesn't count as a third person in our romance."
At last, the world fell quiet. I left the banquet venue for good, noticing that my belly had grown a little bigger from all the eating.
All in all, it had been worth the trip.
Free food made me happy. Without a female protagonist going dark and losing her mind, she seemed like a truly generous person.
Mm, not bad!
As I walked back to my cave abode, the breeze curled gently around the backs of my knees.
Ye Qingxian hadn't followed me, which put me in an even better mood.
Just the way I liked it.
"I wonder what'll happen to Senior Sister Shuangyue when she gets back. Never mind. It's not like I'm a cat, so why should I worry about it? I should just mind my own business."
My muttering earned me a kick from the baby.
I rested one hand lightly on my belly and pressed down the tiny bump of her little foot.
I frowned, not quite understanding what the baby meant.
I simply categorized it as a challenge.
The nerve!
What kind of joke was this? She was so little and already knew how to turn the natural order upside down. How was she any different from the demon pill in that movie?
Whose genes had influenced the baby's personality?
While grumbling inwardly about Ye Qingxian's inhuman genes, I angrily tried to reason with the baby.
"I said I'm not a cat, and now you're protesting?"
"Come on, today your mother's going to have it out with you."
"You don't agree with my conclusion? Don't tell me you want to be a cat-human hybrid kitten?"
As I muttered, I stroked my chin and pondered what you called a daughter born between a cat and a human.
A half-demon?
A half-cat?
Or... a catgirl?
Whatever it was, none of them sounded like a good thing. I was still thinking about this very serious problem.
Suddenly, the baby kicked me again, not too hard and not too soft. A few black lines appeared on my forehead.
Still challenging me!
Were you asking for a spanking?
I puffed out my cheeks in a huff.
I'd only called you a cat-human hybrid kitten once. Why were you getting upset?
Forget it. I wouldn't hold it against the baby.
She hadn't been born yet. She wasn't even a person yet. Why get mad at her?
Perhaps she'd heard what I'd been muttering about.
Or maybe she didn't want to be a cat-human hybrid kitten either. Either way, my swollen belly went quiet in an instant.
I put one hand on my hip and suddenly frowned.
"Baby, you're not mad, are you?"
My belly still didn't react.
I curled my lip and prepared to give her some prenatal education. "And don't blame your mother for always talking about you. You have to know who's who, and who would never hurt you."
"She's just talking nonsense. You're still little, so don't take it to heart, okay? Besides, I'm your mother. If you won't listen to me, are you going to listen to someone else?"
People in the Lower Realm preferred to say "Mom," while those in the Upper Realm more often said "Mother."
I just used whichever I felt like.
I rambled on in a whisper. Sometimes the baby would move, as if she were replying to me.
As expected of my daughter. She'd inherited my personality from the very beginning.
So easy to placate.
My smile brightened a little more.
Suddenly.
I ended my interaction with the baby. My brows knitted almost imperceptibly, and I watched a certain direction out of the corner of my eye.
Who was it?
A sinister gaze.
Someone was watching me from the shadows.
I forced down my shudder, and my mood darkened.
Many disciples passed through the area. A good number of them were old monsters who'd joined the Wuya Sect over a thousand years ago, but still held the status of Inner Sect Disciples.
I refused to believe Zhuge Yun would dare come out and commit murder under so many people's noses.
How many years had he been in the sect? A few decades at most.
The people who gave me the most trouble when I distributed all these resources were the Inner Sect Disciples who'd joined not long ago.
They loved thinking themselves exceptional, convinced they deserved better treatment.
I'd seen enough of life's ups and downs.
I'd long since seen through the basest parts of human nature.
It was nothing more than bullying the weak and fearing the strong.
"You don't have to hurry me along. I already know there's a stray dog watching me from the shadows." Ever since I'd entered the late stages of pregnancy, the baby had become much more active. She could even communicate with me in simple ways now.
Back at my cave abode, I activated the restrictions.
Only then did I feel much safer.
Until the matter with Zhuge Yun was settled, it would remain like a bone-eating worm, gnawing away at me. Sooner or later, it would explode.
My gaze fell on a spirit talisman on the table.
Suddenly, my eyes grew strangely clouded.
Countless memories flooded my mind as I pieced together every detail.
Qing Ye was only a Qi Refining cultivator.
Whether I looked at it emotionally or logically, seeking her help wouldn't do me any good.
But.
Even so, I opened the Sound Transmission Talisman and sent her a message.
[I suspect Zhuge Yun's been trying to get at me. A few days ago, there was a man in black digging in the dirt by the entrance. What do you think I should do?]
After sending the message, I suddenly slumped over the table, gasping in great heaving breaths like a fish about to drown.
My pale pink hair fell against my cheek.
I lowered my head and stared at the wooden floor, pain suddenly showing in my eyes.
By rights.
I shouldn't have suspected Qing Ye.
But every detail had been telling me the truth, little by little.
Ever since Qing Ye helped me deal with that petty thief, the chaotic order on Heavenly Sword Peak had improved immensely in the blink of an eye.
A large group of cultivators of unknown origin had been weeded out from among the Outer Sect Disciples.
And the talismans she'd given me—even those famous fairies at the flower-viewing banquet hadn't been able to see anything unusual about them.
Lastly—
The baby reacted whenever I was with Qing Ye.
Didn't all of this prove the truth?
Actually, I should've suspected Qing Ye long ago.
Time and again, doubts had surfaced, only for me to suppress them with all my might.
Because she was the only person I'd come to trust, even a little, in my short life. She was the only fellow disciple who was willing to work with me without looking down on me.
Unless it was absolutely necessary, I truly didn't want to suspect her.
But the truth was right there in front of me.
The only person who'd ever thought well of me was, in fact, Ye Qingxian. Everything kept telling me the same thing.
Yes, Ye Qingxian.
It had always been Ye Qingxian.
Only she, the female protagonist I hated most, would help me again and again without expecting anything in return.
Wasn't that ridiculous?
How was I supposed to keep my emotions under control?
At that moment, I was only one step away from falling apart all over again.
I hoped.
I hoped that meeting Qing Ye had been nothing more than an accident.
That it wasn't a game Ye Qingxian had planned for a long time.
That way—I could tell myself in earnest:
I, Ye Xiaoyao, was different from before. I was no longer the useless little nobody everyone ignored.
"Qing Ye."
I kept murmuring her name, my fist clenched tight.
You... had better not be Ye Qingxian.
My eyes were even tinged with pleading and sorrow.
If she really was Ye Qingxian, then she couldn't possibly have no reaction after seeing this message.
Before you continue