But afterward, Xia Qing’s impression of Lou Guan Xue changed.
Lou Guan Xue didn’t seem like a rabid dog; he seemed like a fairy.
“Fairy,” this quirky nickname really fitted Lou Guan Xue perfectly, summarizing his finicky, obsessive-compulsive, refined, and picky personality traits seamlessly.
He truly is a genius at naming, Xia Qing thought
During this half month staying in the Zhai Xing Lou, the Queen Mother was worried sick. She either sent beauties or exquisite delicacies. The table was always filled with rare delicacies, but Xia Qing never saw Lou Guan Xue touch a single bite.
Day after day, he only drank a cup of clear wine, as if he wouldn’t starve to death.
It seemed the fairy really grew up drinking dewdrops.
Xia Qing asked, “Are you afraid of being poisoned in the food?”
Lou Guan Xue replied, “Not really, I just don’t feel like eating.”
Xia Qing was puzzled, “Don’t you feel hungry?”
Lou Guan Xue spun a delicate wine cup with his fingers and smiled, “I probably don’t experience hunger.”
Xia Qing: “What?”
Lou Guan Xue said, “After enduring pain for so long, I can’t tell the difference between feeling hot, cold, or hungry.”
Xia Qing froze, remained silent for a moment, then muttered, “Oh.”
Except for the frenzy on the night of Jingzhe, when Lou Guan Xue calmed down, he didn’t seem like a tyrant at all.
Gentle and elegant, bright as a pearl. Of course, Xia Qing now had a shadow over him and wouldn’t be deceived by his appearance.
The Queen Mother still sent beauties over every day.
After witnessing Lou Guan Xue recruit so many merfolk last time, she thought he had a preference for them, so she continuously sent a series of stunning mermaids into the Zhai Xing Lou for several days.
Some were pure, some sacred, some enchanting, displaying various charms.
Xia Qing watched them day after day.
He couldn’t leave Lou Guan Xue, so his favorite place to stay was on the beam.
It was a high place where he could clearly see everyone without disturbing them.
When Xia Qing observed people, he was always very focused, his light brown eyes calm and serene, showing no amazement at appearances or extravagant admiration for performances. It was like he was contemplating a flower or a blade of grass, pure and detached, lost in thought.
One evening, Lou Guan Xue casually asked, “You seem to be looking so intently. Are you trying to memorize everyone’s faces?”
Xia Qing, exhausted, yawned and honestly replied, “No, it’s just a habit I’ve had since I was young.”
Lou Guan Xue became interested, “A habit?”
Xia Qing wasn’t sure how to describe it and said vaguely, “Yeah, a habit of observing people.”
It was a peculiar hobby he discovered back in elementary school.
At first, he couldn’t control it. He would often fixate on someone while walking, staring at them as if he were a little weirdo, which often resulted in him getting beaten up. As he grew older, he learned to restrain himself.
It was more like an instinct to observe people, rather than saying he enjoyed it consciously.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Xia Qing grew up in an orphanage without parents. According to fortune-telling, he should be considered a “Tiansha Star“.
Being Tiansha Star was not good for oneself or others. Several families who took him in were not very warm. It was either quarrels or beatings; as an outsider, he was either neglected or affected. Once, the male head of the household was a pervert who, when drunk, laid hands on him. Terrified, he escaped through the window in the middle of the night, biting on an ice stickas he reported to the police. It was truly incredible that he could grow up healthy and upright.
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He wished he knew.
He had lived until now without finding an answer.
Lou Guan Xue paused and continued, “Tomorrow is the fourteenth of March.”
Xia Qing, already slumped on the desk, was startled awake by this remark, “Damn, it’s already mid-March? Are you going out?”
Had time passed so quickly?
Ten days had gone by in a flash?
“Yeah,” Lou Guan Xue nodded, lazily flipping through a page of the book in his hand, “Do you want to adapt to my body first?”
Xia Qing’s expression stiffened, remembering the pain of the last bone reconstruction, his face turning pale.
Seeing this, Lou Guan Xue tapped the table with his finger, smiling reassuringly, “Don’t worry, the demonic energy has dispersed, it won’t hurt.”
Xia Qing shook his head, forcing himself, “It doesn’t matter, let it hurt. You help me accumulate merit, and I’ll deal with the Queen Mother for you. It’s a deal.”
Lou Guan Xue: “Are you really going to deal with Yan Lan Yu for me?”
Xia Qing hesitated for a few seconds, feeling a bit uneasy. He had seen palace intrigue dramas on TV, where one consort was more cunning than the next, and the Queen Mother, as the champion of the previous palace intrigues, was undoubtedly not simple. As a young man who was relatively inexperienced, he wasn’t very confident.
Xia Qing rubbed his nose awkwardly and said, “I’ll try to speak less and make fewer mistakes.”
Lou Guan Xue: “Speak less and make fewer mistakes?” He smiled faintly, “It’s better not to. If you don’t refuse her, she can arrange everything for you, including how you die.”
So terrifying?
Xia Qing was already starting to fear the Queen Mother, “If I end up causing your death, who will be held accountable?”
Lou Guan Xue looked into his eyes and said, “I will be.”
Xia Qing: “With you saying that, I feel relieved.”
Lou Guan Xue put down the book in his hand and remarked, “After being around me for ten days, have you learned how to speak like me?”
Xia Qing pondered for a moment, “I haven’t learned, but I know that just smiling is enough.”
Lou Guan Xue: “Hmm?”
Xia Qing sat up straight and seriously analyzed, “I’ve noticed something, Lou Guan Xue. Whenever you smile, everyone around you is terrified. They either kneel or lower their heads, afraid to even look at you! I can learn this, so they won’t have time to notice anything unusual about me.”
“Of course, there are many types of smiles, like a cold smile, a gentle smile, or a strange smile. But in my opinion, all your smiles seem fake.”
He asked the ultimate question, puzzled: “Is there something so funny? Why do you keep smiling all the time?”
Lou Guan Xue’s expression blanked for a few seconds, then he looked at him, his lips gradually curling up, then disappearing, like a wisp of wind.
“Indeed, nothing is particularly amusing,” he casually remarked.
Xia Qing’s mind raced, “So you’re pretending to be crazy to seem mysterious? To make yourself seem unfathomable? To make them all fear you?”
Lou Guan Xue tilted his head, pondered for a moment, then chuckled lightly, “It’s a bit amusing now.”
Xia Qing grumbled internally.
Taking a deep breath, Xia Qing asserted, “I’m serious.”
Lou Guan Xue remained calm, tapping the table lightly, half-smiling, “Do you want to have a heart-to-heart talk with me?”
Xia Qing was puzzled, “Aren’t we already having one?”
Lou Guan Xue replied, “This isn’t how you have a heart-to-heart talk.”
Xia Qing asked, “Huh?”
With your crazy personality, have you ever had a heart-to-heart talk with anyone? You’re trying to teach me how to do things?
Lou Guan Xue smiled with an ambiguous meaning and said, “Heart-to-heart conversation is a gradual process. You’d better get to know me first.”
“Know that I was born in the cold palace, unloved. My mother was insane, and outsiders were selfish. I suffered from the coldness of human nature.” He propped his chin, calmly stating, “Know that I loved eating candied fruits as a child, and I have a thing for kites. Step by step, starting from catching my attention, getting closer to me.”
Xia Qing was puzzled “… ”
What the hell?
Lou Guan Xue read his expression, smiled, and continued, “Start with meticulous care, then affectionate looks, and unrestrained admiration. Or the opposite, openly disdain me, challenge me. Be clever, and create opportunities—guess how many kites have accidentally fallen at my feet over the years?”
Xia Qing was bewildered, “What are you trying to say?”
“The steps for having a heart-to-heart talk.” Lou Guan Xue lowered his head, his black hair falling over his face, smiling”, Xia Qing, you’ve already leaped several steps ahead. You know, previous men and women had to go through each step diligently before daring to ask me similar questions during a heart-to-heart conversation .”
Xia Qing was holding back the “Fuck” in his throat. His pupils dilated, and his voice didn’t sound like his own, “Do you… do you think I’m deliberately trying to seduce you?!”
What kind of divine understanding is this?
Just because I call you a fairy, do you really become one?
Lou Guan Xue turned away, chuckling incessantly, hand against his lips. After coughing for a while, he shook his head, “No, I just remembered something suddenly.”
Bringing up those matters, he remained emotionally detached, stating calmly, “Why do they think I enjoy having heart-to-heart conversations?”
Xia Qing twitched the corners of his mouth, and was about to lie down to sleep, “Do whatever you want!”
Lou Guan Xue looked up, gazing at him seriously, his lips curling into a smile, “No, I’ll have a conversation with you. Whatever you want to ask, I’ll answer.”
Xia Qing was really shocked by his earlier words. He sat up straight, feeling the need to redirect his thoughts, “I think you overthink things a lot. Maybe those people genuinely care about you? Do you really think anyone who treats you well is coveting you?”
Lou Guan Xue thought for a moment, then looked at him seriously and innocently.
“I’m not denying their care,” Lou Guan Xue said.
Xia Qing: “…”
Actually, it was very selfish to say this. If it were anyone else, they might come across as “ungrateful” and “snobbish.”
But when Lou Guan Xue looked at him quietly, Xia Qing felt a chill.
His eyes were beautiful, the mole ice-cold, carrying pure questioning.
At that moment, Xia Qing realized that when Lou Guan Xue wasn’t crazy, he was even more terrifying.
Lou Guan Xue’s gaze shifted to the window, beyond the vast palace.
The red light of the pagoda had dissipated, and the bright moon illuminated the eaves.
In the candlelight, his expression appeared gentle, his black hair flowing over his pale collarbone. Suddenly, he asked, “Do you remember the wall in ‘Dongzhou Miscellany’?”
Xia Qing was stunned, “I remember.” It stood on the Sea of Heaven’s Path, blocking the way home for the merfolk.
Lou Guan Xue’s smile had a hint of mischief, “Actually, if they really wanted to catch my attention, breaking down that wall might have been somewhat useful.”
Xia Qing: “…”
What the hell! If I can break that wall, who would care about your attention? You really do take yourself seriously!
Lou Guan Xue turned back, “Just joking. Since we’re having a heart-to-heart talk, what do you want to ask me?”
Xia Qing remembered the wall and thought of the merman he almost shot to death that stormy night. The recent events in the Golden Palace had deeply disturbed him, “How do you feel about the merfolk?”
Lou Guan Xue replied without hesitation, “My mother is a pure mermaid.”
Xia Qing was stunned.
Lou Guan Xue added, “Apart from Yan Lan Yu, you’re the second person in the entire Chu Kingdom to know this.”
Lou Guan Xue’s biological mother was a pure mermaid?
“Then you…” Xia Qing cautiously glanced at Lou Guan Xue’s ears.
Lou Guan Xue replied lightly, “I’m not a merman.”
Xia Qing continued, “…Oh. You said your mother was insane, was she really unkind to you? So you don’t like the merfolk?”
“This,” Lou Guan Xue said slowly, smiling, “is hard to say.”
Xia Qing pondered for a while before getting to the point, “Do you really like killing people?” It had always confused him, being around Lou Guan Xue.
Lou Guan Xue contemplated for a moment, then laughed, “You really dare to ask anything because you’re a ghost, huh?”
However, he answered seriously, his eyelashes trembling slightly as he undid the blue hairband, speaking calmly and deliberately.
“I laugh because I find it amusing. I have no need to pretend to be crazy; after all, in their eyes, everything I do is dangerous. I don’t like killing people; human or mermaid blood is equally filthy and disgusting to me. The only person I want to kill is Yan Lan Yu, but that’s only if I manage to stay alive in her hands. Is there anything else you want to ask?”
“…Yes.”
Xia Qing replied, “You seem so normal now that I feel like the ghost I saw on the night of Jingzhe was someone else.”
Lou Guan Xue smiled, “Oh, you might as well consider it seeing a ghost.”
Author’s Note:
The attacker: wants to have a heart-to-heart talk, chase after me first, I’ve taught you all the methods ^^
I’m so invested ahhhhh 🫶🏽🫶🏽
Their character settings are so intriguing! I’m so interested in learning more about lou guan xue and what made him the way he is right now. And please protect little cinnamon bun xia qing.
Their dynamic it’s something different
Thank you for your translation 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙