64 One Night Spring II (1/2)

The night was cool and the moon pale. The scent of flowers drifted along with the long breezes, making one feel as though he was in a faraway place.

It was the perfect atmosphere for one particular girl to share her troubles.

”If you were not just a guinea pig, there's no way I'd tell you.” Meng Fuyao smiled, narrowing her eyes while looking at Lord Yuan Bao. ”I don't believe that you'll be able to translate everything I'm about to say to that owner of yours.”

Lord Yuan Bao never stopped chewing on his fruit. He did not lift his head even the slightest.

”Your owner... sigh...” Meng Fuyao turned to the glimmer that passed through the bathroom wall, a frown evident on her face. She slowly drew on the table, while confessing, ”I think I like him just a little bit. What to do?”

Split––

Lord Yuan Bao chewed on his fruit with more force than before. A mouthful was all it took for the fruit's core to be exposed.

”Don't be so angry,” Meng Fuyao coaxed. ”There won't be a good outcome from a cross-species love. Let me advise you, Yuan Bao. You should keep your feelings hidden. Even if your owner isn't mine, he won't be yours either. Aren't you tired of blocking his love interests all day?”

Lord Yuan Bao raised his claw abruptly, flicking a seed right into Meng Fuyao's widely-opened mouth. Not expecting him to take revenge so quickly, Meng Fuyao almost choked to death. She spat it out quickly, cursing, ”You! Pea-brained guinea pig!”

After some more scolding, she felt better and rested her chin on the table, continuing her writing. ”Sigh... won't be mine... I can't like him, no.”

Lord Yuan Bao glared hatefully at her. 'What a coward.'

”What do you know,” Meng Fuyao waved her hand lazily. ”Do you think I'm the kind to hold back? I just don't want to harm him. I've chosen to leave so why should I carry unnecessary emotions and relationships with me? To ruin their future?”

She stared blankly at the moon outside, and slapped the table after a short pause, grabbing the wine pot and enthusiastically downing its content.

Drowning sorrows in alcohol wasn't something a bold and powerful girl like her should do. She hated it, but she needed it.

Gulp, gulp, gulp––

Alcohol flowed down her chin, wetting her shirt.

After downing three pots, she was finally drunk.

”Yuan Bao... Yuan Bao...” Meng Fuyao burped, her dreamy eyes searching about for the guinea pig. ”Listen to me... Eh? Where did you go?” Eh.?”

The light from next door flickered. Yuan Zhaoxu had freshened up and was reading a book when he heard soft, squeezing sounds coming from between the wall cracks. Lord Yuan Bao crawled in shortly after.

He dashed straight to his side, and Yuan Zhaoxu immediately caught a whiff of the wine. He put his book down and smiled. ”You stole some wine again?”

”Squeak, squeak!”

”Not you but her?” Yuan Zhaoxu raised his brows.

Lord Yuan Bao straightened his back and wagged his short tail.

”You have something to tell me?” Yuan Zhaoxu asked before reaching a hand out to let him sit on his palm. ”What is it?”

Lord Yuan Bao scratched his head, sensing the difficulty of conveying the words Meng Fuyao had written on the table. He could recognize the shapes of those words but was unable to translate them into his language. Anxious, he spun about on Yuan Zhaoxu's palm.

Upon seeing that Lord Yuan Bao was deep in thought, Yuan Zhaoxu laughed. ”I remember when we used to play the character recognition game.”

He clapped his hand, and a man in black immediately appeared outside the window. ”Yuan Bao's toy,” Yuan Zhaoxu said.

The man in black retrieved a box from inside of his sleeves and handed it over before vanishing into the night.

Lord Yuan Bao jumped in joy, hurriedly going over to flip the box. There were many small pieces of paper inside, but upon closer inspection, one would realize that those weren't pieces of paper but meticulously crafted fungus biscuits. On them were printed words that Yuan Zhaoxu used to teach Yuan Bao, and in order to motivate him to study, Yuan Bao would get a bite of the biscuit whenever he recognized a word.

Yuan Bao jumped into the box and rummaged through it, seemingly unable to find the words he needed. He whipped his head toward Yuan Zhaoxu, who let out a small smile. ”No need to find. There's no 'Meng' in it. It's not a common word, and I wasn't planning to teach it to you.”

Yuan Bao replied grumpily, to which Yuan Zhaoxu responded, ”No need to find her name. I know it's about her. Something's off with her. Did she tell you something?”

”Squeak, squeak!” Lord Yuan Bao turned back to his pile and started flipping around. After some time, he picked up a ”Li” and ”Kai”.[1]

Yuan Zhaoxu's smile faded as he focused on the characters without a word.

Lord Yuan Bao continued flipping. He knew how to express the word he was looking for but wasn't keen on doing so. A short while later he picked out the characters ”Xi” and ”Huan”.

A light flashed across Lord Yuan Bao's eyes and he no longer flipped about frantically. With both claws, he picked up a ”Ni”. Upon looking at it for a long time, he couldn't get himself to show it to Yuan Zhaoxu. He bit into the biscuit fiercely.