The fourth week of my pregnancy brought none of the peace I had hoped for. After only one day of staying shut in at home, I was called outside by an outer sect disciple.
"What?"
"The flower-viewing gathering held by Heavenly Sword Peak and Bright Moon Peak? The hosts invited many female cultivators, and they want me to go too?"
"I'm on the list as well?"
The disciple looked extremely respectful. "Yes. Senior Sister Qingxian specifically requested your presence. Senior Sister Xiaoyao, you're truly blessed to have a senior sister who never forgets you."
Getting close to the Female Protagonist gets you killed.
You can have this blessing. Do you want it?
Seriously... I was speechless.
The disciple who had delivered the message soon left, leaving me alone with my back against a corner of the wall, my legs gradually losing strength as I slid to the floor.
"No."
"What is wrong with that Ye Qingxian? She didn't name anyone else, but singled me out."
I had heard of this ridiculous flower-viewing gathering before.
It was merely an affectation put on by highly cultivated female cultivators to indulge in refined pursuits.
No one had ever informed me of it before.
Now Ye Qingxian had suddenly invited me. She had to have gotten her head caught in a door.
"Hiss."
The floor was too cold. I hurriedly patted my backside and scrambled to my feet.
I couldn't afford to get chilled. What if I froze my baby?
I was still quite clever. It only took me a few moments to figure out the Female Protagonist's train of thought. Perhaps our last encounter had suddenly reminded her that she had a forgotten Junior Sister, so she had casually thought to give this Junior Sister of hers a little attention.
One drink, one peck—who could know whether fortune or misfortune lay ahead?
During a lesson with the Female Protagonist, I had successfully stolen her talent, while also letting her know that there was someone like me on Heavenly Sword Peak.
I paced around the room twice, rubbed my belly, and simply changed into a pretty dress with black as its main color and red as an accent on the skirt hem.
I was going.
I could get a free meal and observe the prodigies of Bright Moon Peak while I was at it.
Why wouldn't I go?
I took a sesame flatbread from my bosom, then patted the little purse at my waist, which contained absolutely nothing, ready to go empty-handed. A sly smile spread across my face.
You were the one who invited me.
If I stuffed myself the moment I arrived, don't blame me for embarrassing you.
I could already imagine Ye Qingxian's increasingly awkward smile at the flower banquet.
You won't dare bring me next time, right?
The lively flower-viewing banquet had been arranged beside Huaqing Pool, with numerous round tables laid out.
One table was closest to the lake, and Ye Qingxian sat in the seat of honor.
As soon as I arrived at the banquet, I was preparing to find any table at random and begin my feast-until-I-couldn't-eat-another-bite-and-take-some-home mode.
But the next second, a gentle voice rang throughout the area.
Ye Qingxian called me out in front of everyone.
"Junior Sister, come sit over here."
Following Ye Qingxian's words, countless assessing gazes turned my way. Even I, a small-time nobody who had always been careless and unrestrained, felt awkward for that brief moment. I could only brace myself and walk over to Ye Qingxian.
"Sit beside me."
When she saw me trying to sit in the farthest possible spot, Ye Qingxian, that living ancestor, spoke up again.
I ground my back teeth, lifted my skirt, and plopped down in the seat beside Ye Qingxian.
Fine. You really are my living dad. If you want me to sit, I'll sit.
I ate and ate and ate.
I chewed and chewed and chewed.
I was going to embarrass you completely.
The scene fell silent for a moment, and many gazes secretly slid in my direction.
These female cultivators were all paragons of bearing and talent. The banquet's hosts would naturally invite only fairies of the same level.
This was the first time anyone had attended a banquet and, shortly after sitting down, begun wrestling with the food on the table. It wasn't exactly that I had no table manners, but all in all, it was truly hard to describe.
I kept my eyes straight ahead, pretending I had no senses at all. In reality, I was screaming like a mole rat in my heart. So what if you were a Female Protagonist who hadn't gone mad yet? When you ran into someone like me, Ye Xiaoyao, were you trembling yet?
Still, this really was delicious.
I'd fight you spirit-stone-rich cultivators to the death.
Poor as I was, there were delicacies on this table I had never even seen before, much less had the chance to eat.
With both motives driving me on, I grew happier the more I ate, treating everyone else as air and simply gorging myself. The strange looks from nearby only grew more numerous.
Any female cultivator who could attend the flower-viewing banquet was a renowned, peerless fairy outside these walls.
Anyone randomly picked from this gathering would have countless excellent suitors, and would be comparable to a true noble lady. Who would do something so completely lacking in refinement and manners?
Faced with the delicacies at the banquet, most of the female cultivators merely smiled demurely. Like beauties half-concealing their faces behind a pipa, they parted their vermilion lips slightly and tasted a bite of food before stopping.
Their every smile was enough to make a hundred flowers bloom.
The secretly disdainful gazes grew more numerous.
I pretended not to notice. In reality, I had been watching the Female Protagonist from the corner of my eye the entire time.
Who would have thought that Ye Qingxian not only didn't get angry, but gently brought me a cup of water? "Eat more slowly. Be careful not to choke. Have some water."
She sighed inwardly.
It seemed she had neglected too much in the past.
She was, at any rate, her only Junior Sister, while Master was someone who never managed anything. Just what had she let happen to her Junior Sister? Could it be that the poor girl had never once eaten her fill?
Qi Refining Third Layer. It really was a little too difficult.
I had embarrassed the Female Protagonist, yet she wasn't angry. She was even giving me water?
Was there some mistake? What kind of plot development was this? I was completely dumbfounded.
My increasingly dazed expression looked soft and adorable no matter how one saw it.
At the very top of my head, a wisp of pale pink cowlick drooped down, as though reflecting my confusion.
Gurgle.
It wasn't until I swallowed a mouthful of the finest Spirit Water that my exceptionally clever head finally began to recover from its stupor.
Ye Qingxian's words were the strongest signal of all.
Someone immediately followed her lead and praised me. "Junior Sister Xiaoyao has such a pure, unaffected nature. She's like a natural piece of uncut jade—a truly adorable and forthright young lady."
No, if you wanted to flatter the Female Protagonist, then flatter the Female Protagonist. But are the words you're using to praise me even sincere?
I would admit that I was adorable.
But as for everything you said before that, touch your own conscience. When you forced out those insincere compliments, could you keep yourself from laughing?
Plan one had failed.
I was so furious my teeth itched. I viciously bit into something resembling a mooncake.
"Recently, you haven't contacted that person again, have you?" No matter whom Ye Qingxian spoke to, her voice was gentle enough to make one feel bathed in a spring breeze and instinctively develop endless goodwill.
Was this a follow-up survey?
Or a spot check?
I blinked my big eyes and made up a blatant lie. "No. His Ghost Fire Flying Sword was recently confiscated by his father, and I don't like him anymore."
Who cared what the answer was?
I'd give an answer first and worry about the rest later.
Before coming to the flower-viewing banquet, I had already thought through my strategy. Since the Female Protagonist didn't know I was carrying a baby, I would keep it hidden.
If one day I could no longer conceal it, I'd spout some other nonsense.
In any case, as long as I didn't let the Female Protagonist think of herself, everything would be fine.
"Ghost Fire Flying Sword?"
Another peerless fairy descended from the sky and smoothly picked up the conversation.
Yue Wuhua.
The number-one female cultivator of Bright Moon Peak.
She was so beautiful that even moonlight would lose its luster beside her. That was how stunning she was.
I really had to hand it to the names of these female cultivators. Each one was more outrageous than the last.
Ye Qingxian—so beautiful that even immortals would be captivated.
And when it came to me, I was Ye Xiaoyao.
Fine. Apparently, I was the only cannon fodder here. I took a hard bite of the giant mooncake.
I chewed and chewed and chewed.
For a long time, I had been puzzled by one thing. At this so-called flower-viewing banquet, there was only a dark, murky pool in the distance and barely any flowers worth looking at. What exactly was everyone here supposed to admire?
After seeing it today, I suddenly understood.
The flowers being admired at this flower-viewing banquet had never been flowers at all, but the bearing and talent of the fairies themselves.
Yue Wuhua slowly gathered the long sleeves of her ethereal Immortal Skirt in front of her, like a graceful lotus standing tall. Her smile was so beautiful that wine would get one drunk without anyone drinking it. Carrying a faint, intoxicating fragrance, she approached the table where Ye Qingxian sat.
I raised my eyes and stole a glance.
[Yue Wuhua: Talent??]
Very good.
Her first appearance came with a talent marked by two question marks.
Just who exactly was this Yue Wuhua?
Yue Wuhua—she was precisely the female cultivator from Bright Moon Peak whom I had wanted to observe last time.
With talent marked by two question marks, she couldn't possibly be an unknown nobody in the plot.
As for Yue Wuhua, I racked my memories of the name, trying to recall what role she played in the story.
Oh. I couldn't remember for the moment.
As I watched the question marks above Yue Wuhua's head grow increasingly glaring, I stared at my own pitiful twelve points of talent and vented by taking another savage bite of the giant mooncake.
Damn it.
Why was I the only cannon fodder? Just wait. One day I'd pluck every last one of you bald. Let's see if you could still laugh then.
Stealing other people's talents wouldn't weaken their talents, but it could raise my own talent an unlimited number of times.
I, Ye Xiaoyao, was the world's greatest villain, fit only to live in the sewers.
At this moment, I was crawling through the darkness.
"Junior Sister Xiaoyao, were you just talking about the Ghost Fire Flying Sword?" Yue Wuhua didn't stand on ceremony and plopped down beside me.
My body went rigid for a second.
No, girl, there were so many empty seats. Why did you sit beside me?
Wasn't this our first time meeting?
Could you not act so familiar?
You're making it seem as though I'm the center of attention.
I was only at Qi Refining Third Layer, and I was already trembling.
This was a great way to attract hatred, you know?
Seeing that Yue Wuhua had spoken, I lightly pursed my cherry-red lips and revealed an obedient-to-the-point-of-exploding smile. "Yes. I think it's especially cool."
Just as I had appeared in everyone's eyes for countless years.
So obedient that I seemed like a punching bag everyone could bully.
What a pitiful child. Yue Wuhua sighed inwardly. Junior Sister Shuang Yue hadn't been wrong at all. Perhaps she had never seen many good things, which was why she had developed such a long-standing admiration for an ordinary flying sword that could merely glow.
Combined with her consistently docile nature and her habit of never causing trouble, it was easy to arouse wicked thoughts in others.
Seeing Yue Wuhua secretly examining me, my body grew even more rigid.
Hey, what was going on?
We had just met, and you kept sneaking glances at me. Why?
It wasn't as if lolis were anything rare.
She really was adorable, though—rarely seen in the mortal world. No wonder that girl Shuang Yue was always muttering about wanting to take her home and use her as a cuddle pillow. She also kept grumbling that she had been making a nest for seven or eight years and still hadn't gotten to rub her head even once.
She really did inspire pity. Yue Wuhua made her assessment inwardly.
"The Ghost Fire Flying Sword is merely an ordinary object. Next time, take a liking to something better."
Yue Wuhua's gaze swept across the table. Then, she suddenly reached over and brought me a plate of crabs that I had never been able to reach. "Eat this. It tastes good. These are crabs from White Cloud Lake, brimming with Spiritual Energy and very nourishing for the body's deficiencies."
She was bringing me a plate the moment we met. Could she also be one of the hosts?
I could only stay farther away from her in the future.
So she was another person like Shuang Yue.
Forgive me, but my gloomy self couldn't help feeling profoundly unaccustomed to this.
The feeling of not knowing what to do made me lower my eyes slightly.
My small, fair hand moved faster than my brain and immediately pulled the crab over.
But then.
The moment I picked up the crab, I smelled a fishiness far stronger than anything I could ever have imagined before.
With a clang,
the crab crashed back into the jade plate.
My stomach churned violently as uncontrollable nausea rose within me.
And so, right there in front of Yue Wuhua and Ye Qingxian,
under the gazes of countless famous fairies,
I simply tilted my head to the side and yue-ed.
Before you continue