Daily Survival After Inheriting a Harem (GL) - Chapter 29

“Antidote.”

The first thing Pei Yuqing said after finding Xu Zishe was this.

Xu Zishe lazily glanced at her.

“Stop fussing.”

Pei Yuqing lowered her voice, increasing the pressure in her tone.

“How much?”

Xu Zishe rolled her eyes inwardly.

“Weren’t you dying for her to die? Why come here pretending to be a good person now?”

“I remember saying that now is not yet the time for her to die.”

Pei Yuqing’s face was cold, and her stance was very clear.

Xu Zishe raised her eyes and stared at her for a moment. It had been a long time since she had seen such an aggressive gaze on Pei Yuqing, who usually seemed like a living Buddha. It seemed that little drama queen did have some ability after all. She could really pry open this block of ice and make her care this much.

“Turn left. Second row of shelves, third white medicine bottle.”

Xu Zishe lay back down on her chair, her whole body soft as if boneless.

“Friendship price, ten gold.”

Pei Yuqing very readily paid, took the medicine, and left. Time could not be delayed.

She crushed the medicine, added it into the brewed ginger tea, and had Yan Wan casually find an excuse to deliver it to Qiu Qi. Then she quickly returned to her room.

Standing in front of the bathtub, she slowly removed the clothes on her body. A dart-shaped hidden weapon was embedded in her slender waist and abdomen.

Pei Yuqing took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and forcefully pulled it out. The barbs on the hidden weapon tore through flesh, enlarging the already deep wound a second time.

Pei Yuqing’s lowered lashes trembled, and her brows furrowed tightly. Afterward, she immediately took the mermaid blood left from last time, soaked a handkerchief with it, and covered the wound.

The pain receded little by little. She could even hear the sound of her own skin healing. Her gray-white lips finally regained a trace of color. She raised her leg, and her body slowly sank into the warm bathwater. Closing her eyes, she reviewed what had happened during the day.

The current emperor was indeed her older sister’s biological son, but the relationship between them was not very harmonious.

Since childhood, Pei Yuqing had not been allowed to leave Guluo Mountain without permission. She had only met this nephew of hers once. Between the two of them, they had only exchanged some shallow communication through letters. They were not close and could only be considered relatives in name.

Everything changed after Pei Yuqing’s older sister died. Her husband spent his days immersed in grief over losing his wife, and not long after, he also passed away from severe illness. That year, the emperor was only fifteen years old, but he already understood human affairs. He knew that it was the elf race’s refusal to save them that had killed his mother and father. So even though he himself was a mixed-blood child of humans and elves, after that, he deeply hated everything about the elf race.

In his eyes, every elf should have been buried with his mother. In the years after he took the throne, the relationship between the human race and the elf race worsened day by day, dropping to freezing point and entering a tense situation where conflict could erupt at any moment.

And now, the spiritual arts academy built right under his nose actually wanted to pay a large sum to invite an elf to become an instructor. How could he preserve his dignity?

So he proposed that Pei Yuqing fight every employed spiritual arts instructor in succession. Only if she ultimately won would she be allowed to stay.

Pei Yuqing was not interested in taking the position. If the headmaster had not offered a high price, and if “home” had not been short on money recently, she would not have come.

The emperor was deliberately making things difficult, and Pei Yuqing did not care about an official position in the first place. She could have simply turned around and left. But she was not a cowardly person, and she had never feared trouble. Spiritual arts had originally come from the elf race. As the former daughter of a War God, how could she have any reason to fear enemies? She agreed to the proposal on the spot.

A wheel battle meant making her fight one against a hundred. No matter how strong she was, as time dragged on, her stamina would be excessively consumed and openings would appear.

So Pei Yuqing struck very quickly, and she was ruthless. She strove to finish each opponent within three exchanges.

The human race’s spiritual arts practitioners were different from elves. Most of them also knew fist-and-foot combat. But in Pei Yuqing’s eyes, that was not a bonus. It was only a little trick played by people who had not studied deeply enough. Before absolute crushing strength, those were nothing but flowery fists and embroidered legs.

However, she still underestimated the slyness of humans. When she was fighting the final person, someone below the stage took advantage of her inability to split her attention and flung a hidden weapon at her, striking her soft abdomen directly.

But Pei Yuqing did not stop attacking. She even increased the release of her spiritual energy and instantly blasted the final spiritual arts instructor onstage off the arena. The erupting spiritual energy even spread to the audience seats, freezing and injuring quite a few people.

“Is there anyone else who wants to fight?”

Pei Yuqing turned around, but those cool eyes looked toward the emperor seated at the very top of the viewing seats.

At that moment, his face was blue with anger, but there was nothing he could do. As the emperor, his word was worth a thousand gold. How could he go back on his promise in front of everyone?

Headmaster Chen, caught in the middle, found it very difficult to be human. Only after the emperor left did he wipe his sweat and walk to Pei Yuqing’s side to ask her,

“Miss Pei, my apologies. I didn’t expect His Majesty to suddenly come to inspect the academy today either.”

Everyone knew that the current emperor hated the elf race, and everyone also knew the reason. But the elf race was different from the demon race and the beastmen. They were powerful, yet never took the initiative to provoke trouble. Although they were not warm or compassionate, they kept to themselves and did not harm other races.

The key point was that elves, whether men or women, were all beautiful in appearance. Added with the human race’s instinct to admire strength, they greatly envied the elf race’s powerful spiritual arts. So among humans, there was also a portion of neutral people who believed that although the Elf King had been somewhat cold-blooded back then, he had never done anything to harm the human race. There was no need to wipe out all elves.

Headmaster Chen was one of the neutral faction. He was especially obsessed with spiritual arts and was the youngest possessor of four spiritual arts on this continent.

He knew very clearly that if the relationship between the human race and the elf race improved, then the human race’s average level in spiritual arts would rise by a large step. That was why he had gathered his courage and invited Pei Yuqing into the academy right under the emperor’s eyes.

After all, Xuanning Academy had originally been organized and established by powerful civilian spiritual arts practitioners. Its operating rights were held by the organization, so even the emperor did not have much right to interfere.

“You are injured.”

Headmaster Chen looked at Pei Yuqing’s bleeding abdomen.

“Hurry, I have excellent wound medicine. Come with me.”

Pei Yuqing pressed her lips together and refused coldly.

“No need. Someone at home is waiting for me to return.”

The memory countdown ended.

Pei Yuqing, soaking in the bathtub, lowered her eyes. Her palm brushed over the wound on her abdomen. It had healed very well and was no longer bleeding.

After that, she washed herself several more times. Only after confirming that there was no scent of blood left on her body did she stand up from the water, dry herself, and change into fresh clothes.

When she left, her eyes glanced sideways at the hidden dart weapon on the ground and the bloodstained clothes. In the next second, orange flames devoured them. The raging fire was reflected in her eyes, like the unrest in her heart at this moment.

This account would be properly settled in the future.

…

When Pei Yuqing stepped into Qiu Qi’s bedchamber, her sharp eyes noticed that the ginger tea was still on the table, untouched.

She hurriedly approached the bedside and saw the person curled into a ball, her face deathly pale.

Qiu Qi’s hand had clenched deep creases into the bedsheet. Her eyelids were tightly shut, and her lips were a frightening gray-blue. Perhaps because her strength had leaked out, her beast form had appeared again involuntarily. Only, the fur on her ears and tail was no longer shiny. It was gray and dull, looking utterly lifeless.

Pei Yuqing’s breath caught. The scene before her eyes involuntarily reminded her of how Bai Tang’s corpse had looked back then, and her heartbeat abruptly slowed in that instant.

She held her breath and reached out to pat Qiu Qi’s face. There was a trace of panic in her tone.

“My lord, are you all right?”

For a long while, no answer came. Qiu Qi slept very quietly, the kind of quiet that made it seem as if she would never wake up.

With an indescribably complicated feeling, Pei Yuqing placed her fingers beneath Qiu Qi’s nose. Only after feeling a thin, warm breath did the heavy stone in her heart barely settle.

“My lord, wake up.”

Pei Yuqing shook her shoulder.

The sleeping person’s face wrinkled. She hummed and stretched before finally being willing to open her eyes. After discovering that the one calling her was Pei Yuqing, the corners of her mouth immediately lifted into a smile.

“Madam, you’re back!”

Pei Yuqing turned and picked up the tea.

“Come here and drink the ginger tea.”

Qiu Qi pressed her lips together. She had been poisoned, not caught a chill. Drinking ginger tea would be useless. And right now, she had no appetite at all and did not really want to drink it.

“Drink.”

After blowing it cool, Pei Yuqing brought the spoon to her mouth. Her eyes carried a urging look.

“Hurry. Be good.”

Qiu Qi gave a reluctant “oh” and opened her mouth to drink it.

“Hoo, hoo, hoo! Spicy!”

In order to cover the smell of the medicine before Qiu Qi’s sharp five senses, Pei Yuqing had deliberately brewed the ginger tea very strongly. One mouthful burned straight into the stomach.

Qiu Qi opened her mouth, her little tongue panting “ha, ha” as tears came out from the spiciness.

“Drink a little more.”

Pei Yuqing was worried the antidote would not be enough to take effect, so she continued feeding her.

Qiu Qi shrank back.

“No, no. My whole body is hot now. I’m warm enough.”

Pei Yuqing furrowed her brows slightly and stared at Qiu Qi with a gaze that allowed no refusal.

“Drink.”

“Why are you being so fierce…”

Qiu Qi accused in a small voice.

“I’m a patient. Madam, you should coax me. You can’t roar at me so fiercely.”

Pei Yuqing rubbed her forehead and sighed. Still, she softened her voice according to Qiu Qi’s wishes.

“Be good. Finish this bowl, all right?”

The moment that “be good” came out, Qiu Qi’s ears instantly softened. Like a kitten whose fur had been stroked smooth, her tail swayed behind her, as if afraid others could not see her smugness.

“Ah.”

Qiu Qi stretched her chin over and obediently opened her mouth, waiting.

Pei Yuqing spent tremendous effort before finally getting that bowl of antidote into Qiu Qi. Before she could get up to put down the medicine bowl, Qiu Qi hugged her waist with one arm.

Qiu Qi, with furry ears on her head, rubbed her face against Pei Yuqing’s. After rubbing, she rested her head against Pei Yuqing’s stomach.

“I want to sleep holding Madam tonight.”

Pei Yuqing’s body tightened. The wound in her abdomen ached faintly from Qiu Qi’s bump.

Qiu Qi sensitively sensed her stiffness and raised her head strangely.

“Madam, are you uncomfortable?”

Pei Yuqing shook her head.

After interacting for so long, the two of them could more or less read a bit of each other’s micro-expressions. Qiu Qi keenly caught the movement of Pei Yuqing lowering her eyes to look at her abdomen just now. Then she thought of Yan Wan saying that Pei Yuqing had gone out today, and the smile on her face faded.

“Were you injured outside today?”

Although Pei Yuqing had deliberately washed herself, Qiu Qi had just been so close to the wound that she could still smell some lingering scent.

Qiu Qi twitched her nose and moved her head over to smell again. This time, her tone became certain.

“You were. You’re injured.”

Pei Yuqing pushed her head away and said faintly,

“A small wound. It is nothing.”

“What small wound or big wound? If the wound is on your body, the pain is in my heart. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Qiu Qi reached out to undo Pei Yuqing’s clothes.

“Let me see.”

Pei Yuqing hurriedly grabbed her troublemaking hands.

“I have already used medicine.”

“I want to see.”

Qiu Qi glared at her, her expression very firm.

Pei Yuqing froze, then slowly loosened her fingers. Without obstruction, Qiu Qi easily undid her clothes and lowered her head to search for the wound beneath her ribs.

The blood had all been cleaned away, and there was only a faint fleshy red color. It looked like the wound had just healed, likely because mermaid blood had been used.

Qiu Qi blew gently toward that spot.

“Did I hurt you when I bumped into you just now?”

Perhaps the injured skin was too sensitive. Qiu Qi’s gentle breath scattered over her abdomen, and Pei Yuqing’s whole body suddenly grew hot. Her hand braced at her side immediately clenched the bedsheet, and her voice was hoarse.

“It is all right.”

“Nonsense. It clearly hurts.”

Qiu Qi lay down, resting her head on Pei Yuqing’s thigh, turning her face sideways to study the wound.

“This doesn’t look like it was stabbed by a sword. The wound is too uneven.”

And if it had been a sword, with Pei Yuqing’s skill, she definitely could have defended against it and would not have been injured. After thinking it over, Qiu Qi came to only one possibility—a hidden weapon.

That meant Pei Yuqing had been ambushed.

“Mm. It was a dart.”

“What exactly happened?” Qiu Qi asked.

Pei Yuqing lowered her eyes and met Qiu Qi’s worried gaze. Her lips pressed together, and she briefly told Qiu Qi about what had happened during the day.

“Fuck? Is he even her real nephew?”

Qiu Qi was so angry she wildly hammered the bed with her fist.

“What right does he have to bully my madam?”

Seeing that she looked even more anxious than Pei Yuqing herself, Pei Yuqing laughed faintly.

“If looking at the result, you said that backward. They were the ones bullied by me.”

The legendary elite academy had not had a single person who could fight. Not only had the emperor lost face, but hadn’t those people watching the excitement also all been slapped in the face?

Speaking of spiritual arts practitioners, Qiu Qi suddenly became curious about the current Saintess, Yu Nankong, the legendary five-spiritual-arts user rarely seen in a hundred years.

“I heard Yu Nankong also teaches at Xuanning Academy. How was it? Did you two face each other today?”

Pei Yuqing’s movement of kneading her ears stopped. Her tone was chilly.

“What? My lord is very interested in the Saintess?”

Qiu Qi, lost in thought, had not yet noticed the approaching crisis and still replied foolishly,

“Not really. I’m just curious whether she could fight you to a draw.”

Qiu Qi did not know why. Perhaps it was a woman’s sharp sixth sense. Although the tribute matter might not have come from Yu Nankong’s hand, deep down, she felt that this woman, who had ascended to the Saintess seat at only eighteen, was not simple.

If this kind of person appeared in a TV drama, whether righteous or villainous, she would be a major figure capable of raising monstrous waves.

If Pei Yuqing could crush the other party in combat strength, Qiu Qi would feel much more at ease—speaking of which, it was strange. Clearly, Pei Yuqing could not completely be counted as one of her own people, but she just blindly trusted her.

Perhaps this was the legendary face equals justice.

“If I am no match for the Saintess, will my lord transfer your affections elsewhere?”

Pei Yuqing’s fingers wound around Qiu Qi’s tail again and again. Her tone sounded casual, but it made Qiu Qi’s hair stand on end.

“What transferring affections? My true heart toward Madam has been tempered a thousand times and will never betray you!”

Under Pei Yuqing’s icy gaze, Qiu Qi pitifully nudged her head against her.

“Madam, how can you push me toward another woman? You clearly know I can’t leave you.”

Pei Yuqing laughed softly. What a fine preemptive move. With a casual phrase like “push me toward another woman,” Qiu Qi had thrown the blame onto her head.

But… had this person forgotten something?

“Mm.”

Pei Yuqing lowered her eyelids. Her palm gently stroked the soft beast ears on top of Qiu Qi’s head. The movement looked extremely tender, yet it instantly made the other woman freeze. She opened her mouth, and one sentence made Qiu Qi lose her composure.

“Then did my lord stay up late, unable to control yourself, drawing the Saintess’s portrait also out of true feeling for me?”

What had to come had still come. This was the rhythm of settling new and old accounts together!

Qiu Qi swallowed and said cautiously,

“If I say all of that was a coincidence, and that before I drew that booklet, I had absolutely no idea the Saintess looked like that, and I didn’t even know her, so how could I possibly have feelings for her… Madam, would you believe me?”

Pei Yuqing smiled without speaking, but her eyes clearly said: Do you take me for a fool?

“My lord means that the woman in your drawings was not someone you desired?”

Qiu Qi hurriedly climbed along the pole.

“Yes, yes. If I really liked her, why would I draw her in that kind of booklet for everyone to admire? And after Boss Lu reminded me, I was also very shocked. I destroyed the draft overnight. I really didn’t want Madam to misunderstand me because of this.”

Fortunately, that day when Pei Yuqing came to inspect her post, she had only drawn the “previous summary” and had not yet reached the real part. Added with the fact that she directly left the original draft with Lu Ren, Pei Yuqing probably had no chance to see the later content. There was still hope.

Pei Yuqing’s smile deepened, but her eyes grew colder and colder.

“Since that is so, why did my lord draw my picture in the pavilion that day?”

It was as if Qiu Qi’s neck had been instantly gripped by an invisible hand. Both her breathing and words were stolen away.

Life had finally still attacked her, a pitiful, weak little kitten. Wuwuwu.

That day, what she had drawn was a very real cool-body portrait. Unless Pei Yuqing was blind, Qiu Qi’s title as a pervert could not be taken off.

“That day in the pavilion, I could not help myself.”

Qiu Qi lowered her head and avoided Pei Yuqing’s staring gaze, pretending that her guilt was shyness.

“Every day, I share a bed and pillow with Madam. I am also a normal person. I also feel things. But I can’t bear to hurt Madam, so I could only think of you through drawing.”

“My lord is truly eloquent.”

Pei Yuqing’s fingers teased her ears.

Qiu Qi trembled sensitively. She hurriedly pressed the advantage, reaching out to hug Pei Yuqing’s arm and beginning to sell misery.

“Aiya… Maybe my diarrhea isn’t because I caught a chill. Maybe I ate something bad. After drinking that ginger tea, my stomach still aches faintly.”

Pei Yuqing reached out to check her forehead temperature.

“You are still a little hot. Then drink some more. Warming your body is never wrong.”

Qiu Qi pulled a small face and acted weak, shaking her head.

“I can’t drink anymore. But can Madam help me rub my stomach?”

After saying this, she very proactively lifted her own clothes, revealing her snow-white belly. Paired with those cat ears, she looked exactly like a house cat rolling over and asking to be rubbed.

Pei Yuqing clenched her hand, resisting the urge to move.

“Madam…”

Qiu Qi called her softly, pulled her hand, and pressed it to her own belly.

“Madam, rub.”

The sensation beneath Pei Yuqing’s palm was warm and soft. It was said that beastmen only exposed their most defenseless belly to the people they trusted most. This feeling of being relied upon wholeheartedly left Pei Yuqing somewhat dazed.

She mobilized spiritual energy and gathered warmth into her palm, then patted Qiu Qi, telling her to change into a more comfortable position and lean against her lap.

“If you feel unwell, sleep earlier.”

“Mm. I want Madam to hold me while I sleep.”

Qiu Qi rubbed her face against Pei Yuqing’s leg, displaying the phrase “pushing your luck” to its fullest.

“But we can chat a bit before sleeping. That will help me fall asleep earlier.”

Chat?

Pei Yuqing’s skill library did not contain this skill. Even when chatting about proper business, she went straight to the point and solved things quickly in a few sentences. If it was casual chatting… she had even fewer words.

“I went to find Mianmian today and told her about going to the guild.”

Qiu Qi took the initiative to open a topic.

Fortunately, it half-counted as proper business, so Pei Yuqing had words to reply with.

“Did she understand?”

“…”

It seemed everyone thoroughly understood Zu Mianmian’s intelligence.

“Mm. Anyway, as long as she knows Zu An’an’s matter is related to that disappearance case, that’s enough.”

Pei Yuqing nodded.

“Has my lord thought about it? If after this matter, Mianmian still has no home to return to, are you still willing to take her in?”

After all, Zu Mianmian had revealed killing intent toward Qiu Qi. On the surface, Qiu Qi did not care, but in her heart, that might not necessarily be true. Just like… Pei Yuqing last time.

Actually, when Qiu Qi bought that Soft Hedgehog Armor, what Pei Yuqing had been angry about was not her supposed intimate actions with Lu Ren, but the feeling of the other woman’s guard and distrust toward her. For some reason, there had been an uncontrollable sense of disappointment.

Perhaps she had heard too many sweet words and had more or less taken some of them to heart. She had actually thought that Qiu Qi was as heartless and carefree as she appeared, exposing herself wholeheartedly to her.

If not for the restriction of the master-servant agreement, perhaps Pei Yuqing would also be like those already-dismissed consorts, abandoned as a discarded piece.

A bitter smile slipped from the corners of Pei Yuqing’s mouth.

“She doesn’t want to go home?”

Oh right. Zu Mianmian had not run away from home. She had been driven out by her family. Although she had a good relationship with her younger sister, being treated so differently at home was ultimately a kind of torment. No one could be certain whether she still wanted to return to that home.

Pei Yuqing pressed her palm down, close to Qiu Qi’s skin, using the chance to read her thoughts. At this weak moment, the other party should not have extra strength to disguise herself. Perhaps this was a good chance to distinguish Qiu Qi’s true inner thoughts.

“Would my lord keep her?”

“Whatever. Anyway, raising one more of her doesn’t make much difference, and having one less of her doesn’t either.”

Qiu Qi curled her lips, not planning to express too many personal opinions about Zu Mianmian’s family members.

“Besides, she eats little and sleeps a lot. She’s pretty easy to raise.”

There was nothing. It was no different from what she said out loud.

Pei Yuqing relaxed. Compared to disappointment, her mood actually leaned more toward relief.

During the time Pei Yuqing fell into thought, Qiu Qi also stopped speaking, because following the matter of Zu An’an’s disappearance, she remembered Bai Tang.

Pei Yuqing was different from Zu Mianmian’s heartless parents. She had truly treated both Lan Tang and Bai Tang well. Then when she heard about An’an yesterday, had she also thought of Bai Tang?

Qiu Qi’s gaze moved upward and landed on Pei Yuqing’s flawless expression. From what Lan Tang said, Pei Yuqing should have smiled often in the past too. She did not know whether it was because of Bai Tang or because of her older sister that she had become this person who kept others a thousand li away.

Qiu Qi stared at Pei Yuqing’s lips, imagining what she looked like when she smiled.

She must be very beautiful.

“Mm?”

Pei Yuqing sensed her gaze and lowered her head, asking with her eyes.

Qiu Qi blinked. All she could see were those lips moving closer. Looking carefully from such a close distance, only now did she discover that Pei Yuqing’s lips were still somewhat red and swollen because of being bitten by her a few days ago. Their color was also much deeper than usual, like a gorgeous rose petal, tender and dripping, making the person looking unable to resist wanting to kiss them again.

Ah! What was she thinking!

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Author’s Note:
Dreaming of peaches.

P.S. The Saintess will appear next chapter.