Daily Survival After Inheriting a Harem (GL) - Chapter 10

After lunch, Qiu Qi continued returning to the study to work on her ring-removal plan. Once she had more or less thought it through, she called Yan Wan over.

“Steward Yan, can you help me buy some hot spring water from Guluo Mountain?”

Yan Wan did not ask what Qiu Qi wanted the hot spring water for. Instead, she very straightforwardly took out an abacus.

“My lord, how many liters do you need?”

“Wait a second…”

Qiu Qi first looked up how many milliliters a “liter” in this era was, then converted it.

“Buy five hundred liters first. After using it this time, we can store some for next time.”

“All right.”

Yan Wan moved her fingers over the abacus a couple of times.

“Five hundred liters of Guluo Sacred Water will cost two hundred and fifty gold in total.”

The currency in this world was a rectangular thin piece about the size of a palm. Its value differed according to the material of the piece.

One gold = one hundred silver = one thousand copper.

Here, one copper could roughly buy five eggs. If converted according to the modern price of one yuan per egg, then one gold would be five thousand RMB.

“H-How much?”

Qiu Qi felt her heart tremble.

“Two hundred and fifty gold.”

Yan Wan very considerately raised her volume.

Qiu Qi’s eyes rolled back, and she nearly fainted.

Two hundred and fifty gold. Wasn’t that one million two hundred and fifty thousand RMB? Boohoo, she suddenly felt that the four-yuan water bill per meal in her neighborhood back home was really too cheap!

“My lord, are you still buying it?”

“How much money do we still have in the courtyard?”

Qiu Qi pinched her own philtrum.

“After deducting this two hundred and fifty gold, there will still be around one thousand gold left.”

Qiu Qi’s eyes instantly lit up. With a grand wave of her hand, she said,

“Then buy it! Buy a thousand liters and store it for later use.”

Yan Wan moved the abacus a few more times.

“All right, my lord.”

The two agreed to go buy it together early the next morning. Qiu Qi looked at the lines of plans on the paper, all of which had already been marked with little check marks, and smiled in satisfaction. Then she went back to her room to rest in peace.

Everything was ready except the sacred water. Once she helped Pei Yuqing remove the rings, the other woman would definitely be so moved that she would offer herself in marriage!

…

“My lord.”

Qiu Qi had just prepared a basin of water to wash her face and go to sleep when a knock came from the door.

She put down the basin.

“Come in.”

Yan Wan walked in carrying a board. She placed it flat on the table and lifted the cloth covering it.

“My lord, it is time to draw tonight’s plaque.”

Qiu Qi: “Can’t I just sleep alone for once?”

Mainly, she did not know whether she would be lucky enough next time to avoid someone else’s assassination attempt.

“My lord, this is the rule.”

Yan Wan shuffled the plaques once.

“If you do not draw a plaque at night, then the next morning, you will have to randomly choose one person to drag to the beast-fighting arena. At that time, life and death will be up to fate.”

Qiu Qi recalled it and discovered that there really was such a rule. Moreover, it had been passed down by every generation of Beast God. Yan Wan was not randomly lying to her.

Thinking of those delicate beauties being thrown into the beast-fighting arena and torn apart by ferocious beasts, Qiu Qi hugged her arms and trembled.

“Then tonight… I’ll draw Madam’s plaque.”

“Madam?”

“My madam, of course.”

Qiu Qi reached out and picked up the wooden plaque with “Pei” written on it.

“From now on, I’ll favor only her alone. I won’t draw anyone else’s plaque anymore. This step can be skipped from now on.”

Yan Wan nodded.

“All right, my lord. I will go invite Madam Pei now.”

Qiu Qi sat by the bed. The longer she waited, the more nervous she became. She had not sat still for long before she quickly stood up and ran to the washbasin, planning to wash her face first.

The original body did not like looking in mirrors, so there was none in the room. Qiu Qi could only lower her head and use the candlelight reflected on the water’s surface to observe her current face.

It would have been better if she had not looked. The moment she did, she nearly frightened herself into a heart attack.

Dark circles heavier than a level-ten overnight-stay-up expert. The flesh on her cheeks drooped softly. Her skin had no luster and was tinged with an unhealthy gray-green color. One glance and it was clearly the appearance of someone who had overindulged too much.

To be honest, the original body’s foundation was not bad. It was just that her complexion was poor, and her hair had not been taken care of for a long time, making her look very rough. Added with all those infamous evil rumors about her, it was not strange that people called her a great demon behind her back.

Qiu Qi worked hard to wash her face with water and spent a lot of effort combing her frizzy hair smooth.

Wait…

As she combed, Qiu Qi’s movements stopped.

So she had been using this miserable-looking face to crazily act cute and spoiled toward Pei Yuqing all this time?

Qiu Qi replayed that scene in her mind and immediately felt that she did not even have the courage to crawl into a hole.

No wonder. She was so sweet. There was no reason Pei Yuqing would not like her. So it had all been this face’s fault!

If Pei Yuqing were here right now, she would definitely reply coldly: Where did you get that confidence?

Unfortunately, Qiu Qi could not hear that. Also, she really did have confidence in her own acting-cute skills.

Knock, knock—

The door was knocked on from outside again. A steady voice passed through the heavy wooden door.

“My lord, it is me.”

Creak…

The door opened a crack from inside. A short little figure with white cloth covering her head poked out.

“Madam, you’re here.”

Her voice was muffled. Pei Yuqing, used to the other woman’s noisy and lively tone, raised her brow and felt somewhat unused to it.

“My lord, are you injured?”

“No. Come in first.”

Qiu Qi moved aside.

Pei Yuqing walked in. Her gaze first paused on the comb in front of the dressing table, then she sat down beside the table.

“What happened? Let me see.”

As she spoke, she reached out to lift the cloth covering Qiu Qi’s face.

“Don’t.”

Qiu Qi straightened her waist and dodged Pei Yuqing’s hand.

“It’s precisely because the person I’m facing is you that I covered my face…”

“Mm?”

Qiu Qi sighed. Her little cloth-wrapped head lowered.

“I’m too ugly… I’ll scare Madam.”

Pei Yuqing choked.

“You will not. If I truly could be scared, I would have been scared long ago.”

Qiu Qi, who had been hoping to hear comfort from the beauty: “…”

“If you are dissatisfied with your current skin, you can ask Xu Zishe for another shed skin.”

Xu Zishe’s beast form was a snake, and she was also a member of the original body’s harem. If one placed the snake skin she had shed over one’s face, in just ten minutes, one could become the appearance they imagined in their heart. In short, it was a disguise technique, and a long-lasting one at that.

The only flaw with this method was that the shed skin had a limited shelf life. After about ten years, it would begin to age, and the disguised appearance would gradually start to change.

The original body often asked her for shed skins to change faces. Counting the time, the current face was also almost at the end of its shelf life.

Qiu Qi raised her hand and tugged at the loose flesh on her face. No wonder it had sagged like this.

“I’ll go ask for one right now!”

Qiu Qi sprang up.

Was there anything more embarrassing than sleeping beside a beauty while wearing such an ugly face?

No! So she could not wait another moment.

“My lord.”

Pei Yuqing grabbed her hand.

“Steward Yan previously stored several pieces in the warehouse. If you want one, I can go retrieve it. If you go find Xu Zishe now, she should already be asleep.”

Qiu Qi thought about it and felt that was true. It would be faster to go get one from the warehouse.

Pei Yuqing moved efficiently. She flew out and flew back, taking less than half an incense stick’s time.

“Have you thought about the appearance for the skin?”

Pei Yuqing held the disinfected shed skin and asked beside Qiu Qi’s ear.

If one did not have an extremely detailed imagination of the desired appearance, then the final result after applying the shed skin might be unsatisfactory. So before using it, most people would first draw the appearance they wanted on paper, then refer to the drawing while imagining and applying the skin.

Qiu Qi nodded.

“I have.”

Since she could change it according to her own wishes, Qiu Qi’s first choice was, of course, her original face. After all, she did not want to occasionally see a mirror and be frightened by a strange face inside it.

Qiu Qi lay down properly on the bed. Pei Yuqing soaked the shed skin in water and gently placed it over Qiu Qi’s face. Qiu Qi was very confident in her memories of more than twenty years of herself, so she simply closed her eyes and began visualizing out of thin air.

The cool sensation was actually quite similar to a face mask. It was just that she felt the skin pressing tighter and tighter against her own skin, giving her the feeling that it was about to merge into her body.

After about ten minutes passed, the shed skin completely dried, forming a crisp, thin film on the surface. Pei Yuqing reached out and lifted it away, revealing Qiu Qi’s newly changed face underneath.

Upon seeing that face, Pei Yuqing raised the end of her brow, and a faint trace of doubt appeared in her eyes.

The original body preferred aggressive-looking appearances. Every time she changed skins, without exception, she chose a high nose bridge, deep eyes, and strong features.

But the face before her eyes was filled with pure, harmless innocence. A round eye shape paired with long lashes. It was not thick-browed or heavily striking, yet it had a distinctive charm that became more pleasing the more one looked. Beneath the small nose were pale pink lips. The flesh on the cheeks was slightly plump, making her look very young. And… it seemed like it would feel very nice to touch.

Pei Yuqing’s mind wandered. She suppressed her right hand, which was beginning to stir restlessly.

“Madam, is it pretty?”

Qiu Qi held her face in both hands and moved closer to her, looking at Pei Yuqing with expectant eyes.

Pei Yuqing lowered her eyes and met her gaze. Looking at her from such a close distance, she could see even more clearly than before. She could even see her own indifferent reflection in Qiu Qi’s sparkling eyes.

It could not be called overwhelmingly stunning, but for some reason, it was pleasing to the eye.

“It is pretty.”

The curve of Pei Yuqing’s lips lifted slightly.

Author’s Note:

Sister Qiu holds her face: Madam praised me!

Of course, this currency also has paper versions. This chapter is just setting up the exchange concept.