Love from the Male Protagonist’s Harem

Chapter 25-Suxi Pavilion Part 2

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Translated by Snowfall77

 

 

Just as Xia Ge’s mind started wandering, there came the quiet creak of someone pushing the bamboo gate open.  A detached voice asked: “You’re awake?”

Turning her head, Xia Ge saw Gu Peijiu framed in the doorway.

Complicated thoughts flew through Xia Ge’s head until finally settling on the scent of sandalwood mingled with peach blossom.

“……hello, Senior Sister.”

Xia Ge was relieved to hear that her voice sounded normal.

After all, this was the big shot who’d slain a thousand demon puppets with one move!!

“Let’s go.  We’re going to Suxi Pavilion, where I’ll teach you liandan.”

Gu Peijiu’s gaze swept over Xia Ge, inadvertently resting a second on the bandaged left hand and neck.

Xia Ge: “……”

Turning to leave, Gu Peijiu discovered that the boy didn’t follow.  She cast him another look over her shoulder, an eyebrow slightly quirked: “Well?”

“”

The boy’s pained voice trailed out from the room: “Senior, Senior Sister, I think I have a disease that makes me unable to refine dan……”

Gu Peijiu: “……”

“Can you play the pipa?  Can you play the sheng?  Do you know any musical instruments at all that you could teach me instead?  Or maybe you could teach me the zither, Go, calligraphy……how about painting?”

Gu Peijiu’s voice was cold: “Our Danfeng entrance examination only tests liandan.  Xia Wuyin, don’t forget your own words.

Xia Ge: “……”

The system, who’d decided on another cold war with its host, chuckled deridingly: [What’s Your Big Problem?  Go On.]

But desperate times called for desperate measures.

All the way to Suxi Pavilion, Xia Ge did not let up on her Senior Sister—-

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“Oh, oh, Senior Sister, look at the pretty purple butterflies here——”

“Wow, this pattern is so beautiful!”

“Senior Sister, Senior Sister, there’s still mulberries over there!”

“……”

Striding on ahead, Gu Peijiu’s face was stoic.  Until, after going around a bend, she realized things were a little too quiet behind her.

Gu Peijiu paused and looked behind her.  Sure enough, that bastard with the green ribbon had disappeared.

Forced to backtrack, Gu Peijiu went back the way she’d come.  The mountain path was rocky, with a wild profusion of thickets on either side, no tracks of a little asshole to be detected.

“Xia Wuyin.”

Her brow furrowed for a moment, then Gu Peijiu tilted her head marginally.  She reached out a hand, grasping three or four small things coming from some secret place.

Purple butterflies flew in front of her face, their wings adorned with beautifully intricate patterns, like something out of a painting of a butterfly fairy.  A brat’s clear and open laughter sounded from the trees: “Senior Sister, aren’t these butterflies charming?”

Gu Peijiu raised her head, spying the young man sitting on a thick branch.
 Holding a clump of green hawthorn, a piece of dogtail grass dangling from the mouth, his smile was as bright as spring sunshine.

“Come down.”

Her heart wasn’t completely unmoved, but Gu Peijiu kept her face impassive.  “We’re going to keep going.”

“How cold.”

Spitting out her piece of dogtail grass, Xia Ge nimbly jumped down from the branch.  Once again following Gu Peijiu, Xia Ge grinned to herself: “Senior Sister, liandan is no fun.  That formation you made yesterday, could you teach me that instead?”

“I’ll teach you what you need to know to become a Danfeng inner disciple.”

The young lady was walking ahead, wide white sleeves exquisitely embroidered with red maple leaves covering her hands, her tone inscrutable.

“But I don’t think my true desire is to make Bigu dan……”  Xia Ge’s voice was utterly aggrieved, “It’s certain to be a disaster!  Ye Ze was financially ruined by the time he succeeded!”

Gu Peijiu answered: “……it’s not that difficult.”

Xia Ge’s eyes sparked and she leaned to one side: “Will Senior Sister provide the materials?”

Gu Peijiu: “……”

Xia Ge squeezed out a couple crocodile tears: “Yesterday, you said……”

Gu Peijiu: “I will provide the materials.”

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Internal abacus activated, Xia Ge immediately began try and work out how much of the materials she’d be able to sell.

“There is still half a month before the next examination, and you must learn during this time.”  Walking in front of Xia Ge, without even looking back, Gu Peijiu intuitively guessed what the slippery brat with calculative eyes was thinking.  “I will watch you refine one ingredient per day.

Xia Ge: “……”

……ai, too heartbreaking.

Another vast sum—slipping through her fingers.

System: [……]

After that, Xia Ge was quite depressed, and her chattering ceased.

Ahead, Gu Peijiu glanced down at what she’d caught in her hand earlier.

Three or four red hawthorns, bold against her slender white hand, coordinated with the red embroidery on her sleeve, creating a pretty harmony.

Gu Peijiu’s eyes rippled, then she expressionlessly tucked the hawthorn into her sleeve.

Honestly……what a slickster.

 

 

 

 

Suxi Pavilion-

 

“Uh, the Liuli tree is three points……why the hell is so much carbon needed……”

Xia Ge squatted by a furnace in the corner, bitterly glaring at the Danshu.  Gu Peijiu cast her a quick look.  Xia Ge promptly sat up straight, holding the Danshu and intoning in a contrived manner: “Ah, Senior Sister, the book says I need three kilograms of silver carbon……”

Gu Peijiu: “……it’s three coins.”

Taking another hasty look, Xia Ge corrected herself: “Oh, that’s right.  It’s three coins, three coins.”

Gu Peijiu’s mood became a little complicated: “Xia Wuyin, read out the list of materials to me.”

Xia Ge eyed the massive number of rare, unfamiliar characters in the Danshu: “……ha?”

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Sitting on a fiery red cushion, Gu Peijiu’s posture was unspeakably elegant and her expression perfectly tranquil: “Read aloud.”

Xia Ge: “……this……”

She stared at the characters【啠木】, sinking into contemplation.

How would you even pronounce that……?

“……Senior Sister, I think, actually some of these characters……we know them well, but why should we call them out?  Some of these characters are deliberately so rare, they must not want people to say them.  We shouldn’t make thing difficult for such strong-minded characters……”

Fixed by the emotionless gaze from the upright young lady dressed in exquisite red and white, Xia Ge’s voice grew smaller and smaller, until it was finally almost inaudible.

Time to grasp at a last-minute straw.

{little puppet, how is this character pronounced?}

The system sneered: [Why Are You Asking Me?  We’ve Already Broken Our Ties.]

Xia Ge: “……”

We’ve broken up?

When were we ever together?

No, no, no.  Now wasn’t the time to get sidetracked.

Highly uncomfortable under the weight of Gu Peijiu’s scrutiny, in the end Xia Ge closed the book with a ‘pop’ and threw it to one side.  For the first time, her indestructible cheekiness had failed her.  Face flushed, she snapped: “I don’t know this word.”

Apparently, sixteen years of compulsory education and four years of college in the motherland had all been for naught.

Shame.jpg

Gu Peijiu’s black eyes were unreadable: “You don’t know?  But why close the book?”

“If it’s closed, it can’t see me,” Xia Ge replied in all seriousness.

System: [……]

“I don’t know it and now it can’t know me.”

Gu Peijiu: “……”

System: [……Host, Please Quickly Withdraw From The Group.  I’m Guessing Lingxi Sect Doesn’t Want You Anymore.]

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琵琶 pípa

pipa, Chinese lute, with 4 strings, a large pear-shaped body and a fretted fingerboard

 

笙 shēng

sheng, a free reed wind instrument with vertical bamboo pipes

 

Danshu=dan book

 

 

啠

Smart.
Clever.
Wise.

(“wise, sagacious; wise man, sage”).

(This character, 啠, is a variant form of 哲.)

 

木  mu      tree / wood