Daily Survival After Inheriting a Harem (GL) - Chapter 27

Before dinner, Pei Yuqing still led Qiu Qi to Zu Mianmian’s place. Her room door was tightly shut, sealed so firmly not even wind could get in.

At Pei Yuqing’s eye signal, Qiu Qi stepped forward and knocked.

“Zu Mianmian, are you awake?”

No matter how much someone could sleep, with dinner approaching, she should be awake by now.

There was not the slightest sound inside. Qiu Qi withdrew her hand and stood back beside Pei Yuqing.

“Madam, maybe she still hasn’t woken up.”

Pei Yuqing nodded. Then she stepped forward herself and stood before the door. She did not knock, only opened her mouth faintly.

“My patience is limited. I’ll give you three seconds to decide whether to open the door.”

“Madam, I’ll count for you.”

Before Qiu Qi could even say “three,” a burst of hurried footsteps immediately sounded inside. The person within quickly came forward and opened the door.

Zu Mianmian stood barefoot in place with messy hair, looking somewhat bedraggled. She glanced at Qiu Qi standing beside Pei Yuqing, then quickly looked away. No one could be more obvious about trying to hide something.

“Sister Pei, how do you have the leisure to come see me? Hehe…”

Pei Yuqing did not answer her. She pushed the door open with force, letting the sunlight outside flood into this stuffy room that was almost growing mold. She looked around and did not miss the large bed that was nearly piled into a dog’s nest. Her brows furrowed imperceptibly, with a hint of dislike.

“What kind of state is this?”

Zu Mianmian lowered her head and did not dare make a sound.

Qiu Qi shook her head sympathetically. Zu Mianmian’s current appearance was basically her daily life. Every time Pei Yuqing’s sharp gaze, as if it could see through everything, looked over, she would also shrink into a turtle like this.

“Speak. What happened at Heyang House? And what is the matter with Anbao?”

Pei Yuqing sat down beside the table, taking on an interrogation posture.

Qiu Qi obediently ran over and sat beside her. In an instant, she felt that Pei Yuqing was the one who was the Beast God, while she was just the little maid attending at her side.

“Who told you…”

Zu Mianmian had not told anyone about this, because she could not be sure whether it had been her own hallucination.

As it happened, if someone else had asked about this matter, they might not have been able to find out anything. Fortunately, that green-clothed woman’s beast form was a marmot. Her specialty was burrowing underground, and her hobby was using burrowing to eavesdrop on gossip everywhere. After hearing it, she would run. She spied invisibly and without form. In this courtyard, there was no gossip she could not uncover.

Pei Yuqing stared at her without speaking. Very soon, Zu Mianmian surrendered on her own and confessed everything.

“Yes. After I came back from Heyang House, I kept dreaming of her, so my mood has been bad these past few days and I didn’t want to go out. Sister Pei, don’t worry. I’ll be fine after staying by myself for a while.”

“I am not worried about you. I want to ask clearly about what happened that day.”

Qiu Qi clicked her tongue and shook her head from the side, thinking that her madam really was straight among iron-straight people.

When a girl said she was fine and told you not to worry, the subtext was: I am very not fine! Hurry and coax me!

But Pei Yuqing was great. She directly said, “I am not worried about you.”

Sure enough, after Pei Yuqing finished saying those words, Zu Mianmian’s expression immediately darkened a lot, and even her voice sounded weak and powerless.

“What do you want to ask?”

“My lord said that day, you shouted ‘Anbao’ at Shi Luoning. Why did you call her that? I remember her beast form is a fox.”

“Anbao,” full name Zu An’an, was Zu Mianmian’s younger half-sister from the same father but different mother. She was also a sheep beast. They had lived together since childhood. However, unlike Zu Mianmian, her younger sister had displayed astonishing talent from a very young age. At five years old, she could fight an adult beastman for over thirty rounds, and she could freely control the transformation between beast form and human form.

Among beastmen, those with superior ability came first. Whether it was property, land, or power, everything was distributed according to ability. So from childhood, Zu Mianmian’s position in the family was very different from her younger sister’s. Because she performed ordinarily in every aspect, she was not valued at all. However, this did not affect the relationship between the two sisters.

Her stepmother did not agree with the two of them playing together often. She even found Zu Mianmian annoying for always wandering around and often locked her in the pigsty. As for her father, he loved his wife more than his daughter. Although he knew very clearly about the grievances his eldest daughter suffered, he still turned a blind eye and pretended not to see. After the stepmother gave birth to the prodigy-like Zu An’an, his favoritism became even more severe.

In the entire family, only Zu An’an cared about this older sister of hers. But because her mother controlled her strictly, she could only secretly run to the little hut where Zu Mianmian was locked up at night and let her out. The two of them would go to the mountain to play together.

The hypnotic song she heard at Heyang House that day was exactly the one Zu An’an often sang for Zu Mianmian. Zu An’an had once said, “Everyone falls asleep as soon as they hear me sing. Only Older Sister is different. Not only do you listen seriously, you even clap for me. That’s why I like Older Sister.”

However, Zu An’an’s hypnosis was clearly different from the past now. Even Zu Mianmian, who came with natural resistance, could not withstand it.

When Zu An’an said those words, Zu Mianmian had gripped her hand tightly in return and said, “Older Sister will protect you for life.”

But that sentence was like a flag. That very night, a heavy rain fell. The playful Zu An’an ran too anxiously and hurriedly, and in front of Zu Mianmian, she accidentally fell off a cliff. Zu Mianmian cried and shouted while searching below the cliff all night. Even after her lips had gone blue from cold, she still did not find her.

After she returned home like a walking corpse to ask her parents for help, the two who heard the news were instantly furious. They directly threw her, still burning with fever, out of the house. Before closing the door, they threw down one sentence: “When your sister comes back, that’s when you can crawl back and atone.”

Zu Mianmian suddenly fell into her memories, and her eyes quickly turned red. She almost could not get out of it.

She raised her head and met Pei Yuqing’s eyes.

“I wasn’t shouting at Shi Luoning. I was shouting at the person beside her.”

“Explain carefully.”

“That day, I was originally controlled by Shi Luoning, and my consciousness was always in a half-dreaming, half-awake state. But then I suddenly heard a familiar song and abruptly woke up.”

Zu Mianmian emphasized her voice, as if trying to increase the credibility of her words.

“You might not be able to guess it, but that song was exactly the same as An’an’s. That was why I couldn’t help calling her name.”

Qiu Qi nodded in agreement.

“I also did hear that when Shi Luoning called that person, she called her by the name ‘An’an.’”

Zu Mianmian looked at her.

“Really?”

Before she heard the singing, the sounds around her had all been very blurry. She had not heard Shi Luoning call the person.

Qiu Qi nodded.

“There’s no need for me to lie to you about this.”

Now Zu Mianmian became even more emotional. She nearly pounced forward to grab Qiu Qi’s arm, but halfway through the motion, as if remembering something, she sat back down as if she had touched a spring.

“So I want to discuss something with you.”

“What?”

Qiu Qi thought, what matter of yours still needs to be discussed? Just say it. Would I dare resist?

“I want to go to Heyang House again.”

Zu Mianmian clenched her fists.

Pei Yuqing did not speak and instead looked at Qiu Qi first. The latter tested the waters.

“To do what?”

She already had a psychological shadow toward that place.

“I must go confirm whether that person really is An’an.”

Zu Mianmian pressed her lips together.

“If she is, then I must save her… I owe her.”

Qiu Qi could not bear to speak. She flattened her lips and looked up at Pei Yuqing. Her gaze seemed to be pleading for Zu Mianmian too.

Pei Yuqing threw the ball back to her.

“This matter should naturally be decided by my lord.”

Zu Mianmian then turned and looked at Qiu Qi pitifully.

Qiu Qi raised her hand to block her face, cutting off eye contact with Zu Mianmian. She really could not stand being stared at with that kind of gaze.

“I didn’t say I disagree. It’s just…”

Qiu Qi hesitated for a moment.

“This matter is not as simple as it looks. Shi Luoning’s bewitching arts, the fact that your younger sister’s hypnosis is so powerful yet she hasn’t found a chance to leave on her own, and whether this matter has anything to do with Heyang House’s owner—I need to investigate all of these first. Once we’re prepared, can we set off then?”

Zu Mianmian’s nose was red. Qiu Qi’s words left her stunned. She had thought that with Qiu Qi’s personality, she would either slap the table and angrily refuse, or directly and simply nod and agree. The only thing she had not expected was that Qiu Qi would take this matter so seriously, as if before Zu Mianmian had even spoken, Qiu Qi had already thought all these things through.

“Then An’an won’t have anything happen to her, right?”

Zu Mianmian was somewhat worried.

Qiu Qi looked at her and smiled.

“Don’t worry. As long as your younger sister is still useful to Shi Luoning, nothing will happen.”

Zu Mianmian felt that she might be going blind. Just now, she had actually felt a reliable sense of safety from this great demon she hated the most?

After realizing that she had this thought, she immediately turned her head away and hugged her arms, rubbing the goosebumps on them.

Pei Yuqing studied the small interaction between them, her eyes somewhat dark and unreadable. But she only lightly tapped her fingers on the table, reminding Qiu Qi,

“My lord, it is time for dinner.”

“Ah, right.”

Qiu Qi nodded and waved at Zu Mianmian.

“Let’s go. Time to eat.”

Zu Mianmian slowly stood up. When they were almost at the door, she suddenly reached out and tugged at Qiu Qi’s clothes.

Both Pei Yuqing and Qiu Qi turned their heads and looked at her questioningly.

“I want to speak to my lord alone for a moment. Is that all right?”

Zu Mianmian looked at Pei Yuqing when she asked, as if Pei Yuqing were Qiu Qi’s master and she had to get her approval first before they could chat privately.

Pei Yuqing lifted her leg and stepped out the door, but she did not go far.

“One incense stick. If you have something to say, speak quickly.”

Zu Mianmian nodded and carefully closed the door.

Qiu Qi found a chair and sat down by herself.

“What is it?”

Zu Mianmian had both hands behind her back. She was the one who had taken the initiative to bring up the conversation, but she was also the one keeping her head lowered and not daring to look at Qiu Qi.

It was strange. Ever since Heyang House that day, every time she saw Qiu Qi’s face, she would remember the way Qiu Qi’s cheeks had been flushed peach-pink and her eyes had been wet that day. Then her heart would keep beating faster and faster.

“Cough.”

She cleared her throat and injected some confidence into her voice.

“I just wanted to declare something to you. That day, I only did this and that to you because I had been drugged. I don’t actually have those kinds of feelings for you.”

A question mark popped up over Qiu Qi’s head: That’s it?

“I know that even if you don’t say it.”

“There is one more thing I want to confess to you.”

Zu Mianmian bit her lower lip, looking somewhat nervous.

“That day… originally, I wanted to kill you.”

Qiu Qi: Actually, this doesn’t count as a secret either. bitter smile.jpg

“I originally even prepared the medicine. Who knew…”

Zu Mianmian rapidly lifted her head and glanced at Qiu Qi.

Who knew that this silly fool would first stand up for her and rescue her in public, then, after being drugged, would rather get hurt herself than strike and injure her.

Zu Mianmian was not someone who easily believed others. But since childhood, she had been abandoned by her family and had suffered all kinds of hardship and grievance outside. No one had ever cared about her or valued her. So even if everything Qiu Qi had done perhaps had a purpose, or was meant to win her trust, she still could not help feeling moved in her heart.

“Consider it that I owe you once.”

Zu Mianmian curled her lips.

“Why tell me? Do you think that after knowing you wanted to kill me, I would still spare your life?”

Qiu Qi put on a stern face, preparing to scare her.

Who knew Zu Mianmian was not afraid at all?

“What’s there to fear? You can’t beat me anyway.”

Qiu Qi: “…”

“However, if there is another chance next time, I definitely won’t be this soft-hearted. Remember that.”

Qiu Qi clicked her tongue inwardly. What, you’re the only one who can say harsh words?

“Then you remember this too. I absolutely will not do anything to hurt any one of you again.”

Qiu Qi reached out and fiercely rubbed her head.

“This time, I didn’t fight back because I was repaying what I owed you before. If you dare casually choke me again next time, I won’t be polite either.”

Zu Mianmian slapped her hand away. Her ears secretly turned red, but her mouth remained stubborn as she said,

“Did you forget what I just said? If you fight me, whether you can last three rounds is hard to say. And you still say you won’t be polite? A fool really is a fool.”

Qiu Qi glared: Have you ever seen a fool as cute as me?

…

That night, Qiu Qi rarely did not draw. Instead, she gnawed on the end of her brush and sat among a pile of messy drafts, brainstorming.

In the afternoon, aside from the things she had said out loud, the main reason she had not immediately agreed to Zu Mianmian was that she suspected this matter was related to that S-rank case issued by the guild.

Back when Pei Yuqing had casually mentioned it once, she had rejected it on the spot. Afterward, however, she still had Yan Wan find the information for her to look at.

The materials said that this serial disappearance case had already happened dozens of times. Each time, there would be a scent left at the scene, lingering for a long time, as if both sandalwood and rose.

Previously, she could not imagine what kind of smell this was, but that day at Heyang House, she had clearly smelled it.

Qiu Qi took out the small bottle hidden in her robes. Inside the glass bottle was a piece of red cloth. It was something she had torn from Shi Luoning’s body that day while she was not paying attention.

She raised her right hand and fanned the air under her nose, closing her eyes to carefully sense the faint fragrance left on the fabric.

Within the rose scent, there was another heavier smell. It was indeed very similar to the scent described in the materials.

Moreover, the materials also mentioned that the father of one missing woman had once said that a few days before his daughter disappeared, she had seen a red-clothed woman wearing a mask near their home. But because she had not seen the face, and because there were too few points connecting the two, the people investigating the case had removed it from the evidence. But in Qiu Qi’s eyes, it was full of suspicion.

Qiu Qi opened the attached portraits in the materials and began studying the images of the missing people, searching for commonalities among them.

First, their gender was completely uniform: all women. Moreover, they were all very beautiful. Most of them were from the human race or herbivore beastmen, these delicate types who were easy to control. Qiu Qi propped her chin on her hand and thought carefully.

The victims were all beautiful young women, and Heyang House was also a pleasure house. It was difficult for her not to overthink what the criminal’s goal was.

Remembering the pitiful past she had just learned from Zu Mianmian about Zu An’an, she sighed uncomfortably. She had been able to ignore this case before because she had no sense of involvement. But now that she understood it, she could no longer let it go.

…

At night, Qiu Qi hugged her ghost-doodle-like draft papers and happily ran back to the bedchamber.

Pei Yuqing had just finished bathing. It was as if her whole body emitted a warm and gentle aura. She sat beside the chair combing her hair. Her damp long hair, after being lightly stroked by her palm, became dry and smooth. It was glossy and soft at a glance, clearly of very good quality, and her fingers slid all the way to the ends without any tangles.

Qiu Qi felt like a husband returning home after a tiring day and seeing his virtuous wife sitting on the sofa patiently waiting for him. That kind of satisfaction.

Although Qiu Qi knew that this wife hid knives in her smile and could take off her dog head at any time.

“What are you standing there stupidly for?”

Pei Yuqing lifted her eyelids and looked at Qiu Qi.

“Come here.”

The tail behind Qiu Qi swayed. She immediately darted to Pei Yuqing’s side and very impolitely hugged her. After hugging, she even shamelessly rubbed against her.

“Madam, you smell so good.”

Pei Yuqing was forced to straighten her waist and support her, feeling as though she were hugging a large dog. She patted Qiu Qi’s back, telling her to get down.

“Sit still.”

“Oh.”

Qiu Qi answered softly and reluctantly climbed down from her body, sitting on the chair. Both hands were properly placed on her knees, looking like she was asking for praise.

Pei Yuqing glanced at her trembling ears, reached out, and patted her face once.

“Turn around.”

Qiu Qi obeyed and turned her head to the side, exposing the left side of her face that Pei Yuqing had patted. On her chin, in a place she herself could not see, there was a large patch of black ink.

Pei Yuqing frowned.

“Did you fall asleep in the study again?”

Qiu Qi answered weakly,

“How did Madam know?”

Pei Yuqing rubbed her thumb against Qiu Qi’s chin.

“What do you think?”

“Just for a little while…”

“Put a reclining chair in the study. Next time you are sleepy, sleep on it first. Sleeping sprawled over the desk all day—what kind of behavior is that?”

Though she said this, Pei Yuqing still took a handkerchief, dampened it, lifted Qiu Qi’s chin, and wiped it for her.

Qiu Qi first shrank back in fear. After being pulled back by Pei Yuqing and feeling that her strength was not as brutal as before, she relaxed slightly and answered her earlier words.

“I know. There won’t be a next time.”

Qiu Qi’s skin was fair. After being rubbed with the handkerchief twice, it turned red. If someone who did not know saw it, they might really think she had suffered domestic violence.

Only…

Pei Yuqing lowered her head and looked at the handkerchief, where wiping the ink had also rubbed off a little strip of dirt. She frowned and asked Qiu Qi,

“How long has it been since you bathed?”

Fuck.

Qiu Qi embarrassingly covered half her face, and her ears drooped as well.

“Not… not many days.”

It was not that she did not love cleanliness. After all, in the past, even if she stayed up drawing until two or three in the morning, she was still a fragrant princess who would wash before sleeping.

The problem was that ever since she turned into beast form, she had become especially afraid of water. Every time she entered that pool, she felt like she was going to be submerged. She had to grit her teeth fearfully just to finish one whole bath. So reducing the number of baths was her way of comforting her young heart.

Hearing this answer, Pei Yuqing’s face instantly darkened.

Qiu Qi could understand this. After all, among the elf race, nine out of ten had a cleanliness obsession, and the remaining one was a combination of obsessive-compulsive disorder plus cleanliness obsession.

Pei Yuqing probably now thought of how she had just been hugged and rubbed by such a dirty thing, and her mental state was already walking along the edge of explosion.

Fortunately, she was not the type of person who easily revealed emotions… At most, her eyes were a little terrifying, her expression was a little cold, and the hand gripping the handkerchief looked a little forceful…

Qiu Qi: Help!

Pei Yuqing grabbed Qiu Qi by the collar and dragged her to the bathtub.

“Get in.”

Qiu Qi hugged her arms and trembled.

“Can I not, Madam?”

Pei Yuqing’s tone allowed no refusal.

“No. If you do not bathe, do not get on the bed.”

Qiu Qi weighed the options.

“Then I’ll sleep in the study tonight—ah!”

Before she could finish, Pei Yuqing grabbed her by the waist and threw her in. The bathtub was not big, but the water was quite deep. After sitting down, it could reach her chin. The water was warm, exactly her favorite temperature. But none of this could stop Qiu Qi, who was now like a cat with exploded fur, from being filled with “a kind of plant” and collapse inside.

She kept trying to stand up, but time and time again, Pei Yuqing cruelly pressed her back down.

“Madam, Madam, spare me! I’m scared!”

“My lord, it is only for a while. Endure it.”

Hearing these words made Qiu Qi even more afraid. This was Pei Yuqing’s classic terrifying line, the kind she had to say every time before trying to kill her!

Although she knew that for now, her little life was temporarily guaranteed, that did not stop the eruption of fear in her heart at all.

With this eruption, not only did she fail to be like the characters in anime, whose beast core power would increase greatly, breaking through restraints and transforming into a Saiyan. Instead… she very spinelessly became so frightened that she instantly transformed back into full beast form.

“Aow, aow, aow, aow!”

After transforming into beast form, Qiu Qi’s legs became even shorter. She could only work hard to paw at the edge of the bathtub to avoid drowning.

The little cat-beast’s fur was soaked. The way she trembled and whimpered was truly pitiful. Pei Yuqing showed great mercy and reached out, supporting Qiu Qi beneath the belly so she could float.

Who knew this push-her-luck thing would grab onto her hand and scramble upward? Her wet fur pressed without any restraint against the white clothes Pei Yuqing had just changed into. Most fatal of all, after doing all these bad things, she even raised a wrinkled little face and looked at Pei Yuqing with wronged beast eyes.

“I will give you two choices.”

Pei Yuqing grabbed one of Qiu Qi’s ears.

“I throw you in and let you fend for yourself, or you obediently settle down and I help you wash.”

Qiu Qi’s plump pink nose twitched. She stretched out a paw and patted Pei Yuqing’s right hand, asking quietly in a milky voice,

“Is there a third option?”

Pei Yuqing’s answer was cruel.

“No.”

So she automatically helped Qiu Qi choose option two: she would help wash her.

Although Pei Yuqing’s technique was very gentle, it was difficult to suppress Qiu Qi’s stress response toward water. As long as her paw touched the water, she would start transforming into a living paddle. In only five minutes, Pei Yuqing was splashed all over, but in the end, she still patiently sped up and washed this stinky thing clean.

By the time Qiu Qi was lifted out of the water, the entire beast had wilted into a lump, and even her cries sounded weak.

“Madam is bullying me.”

She accused with tears in her eyes.

Who knew Pei Yuqing would nod very calmly and accept it.

“Mm. You did need to be taught a lesson.”

Qiu Qi flipped over, her paws kicking Pei Yuqing’s stomach.

“Madam, you’ve changed. You weren’t like this before. You used to treat me so well. You wouldn’t even say one harsh word to me!”

Pei Yuqing’s movements as she wiped her body paused. She grabbed Qiu Qi’s troublemaking foot and suddenly leaned closer, her gaze deep.

“My lord, do you truly want me to return to how I was before?”

Qiu Qi choked. Her mind rapidly went through it and instantly dug out several thrilling nights of narrow escapes from death from her memories. Her bones immediately softened, and very spinelessly, she hugged Pei Yuqing’s arm and whimpered.

“Actually, I think Madam spoils me more now. Hitting is affection, scolding is love, and hitting and scolding is true love. I am receiving so much of Madam’s love. I don’t even know how happy I am. QAQ.”

“It is excellent that my lord can think this way.”

Pei Yuqing pressed her hand against Qiu Qi’s softest belly and, in quite a good mood, rubbed it.

“My feelings for my lord can be witnessed by the sun and moon.”

Yes, feelings full of hidden malice witnessed by the sun and moon.

Qiu Qi: Some people smile and smile until they cry.