Chapter 56-Working Hard Part 2

Translated by Snowfall77

Xia Ge just needed to come up with a logical-sounding story……

But before Xia Ge could weave together a convincing tale, Gu Peijiu interrupted her thoughts with a causal yet salty question: “How did you get the wound to your abdomen?”

Xia Ge quivered: “Oh, I just ran into something!”

Gu Peijiu gave her an expressionless stare.

Xia Ge: “……”

Alright, that had sounded like complete bullshit.

A flustered Xia Ge: “……I ran into a knife.”

Gu Peijiu remained as icily cold as ever: “Did you run into this knife all by yourself?”

Xia Ge: “……”  Well, answering that question was a disaster waiting to happen.  Next, please.

Taking a deep breath, Gu Peijiu gave Xia Ge one more chance: “What about the lash marks on your back?”

""

Wow, there was the next one——

But those wounds aren’t from a whip……

……never mind, between trespassing Lingxi’s great ancestor’s tomb or getting caught by the demonic guardian puppets of the back mountain, Xia Ge figured the punishment for the latter would be a little lighter, right?

Xia Ge plunged ahead with her newest foolish lie: “It, it was……I was grabbed by the puppets on the back mountain.  And they whipped me.”

Gu Peijiu observed her quietly for a long time.

Opening her eyes wider, Xia Ge tried to make her smile even more sincere.

Done with watching Xia Ge’s obvious playacting, Gu Peijiu stood up, about to walk away.

But, unsurprisingly, her sleeve was pulled at yet again.

Gu Peijiu’s voice was indifferent: “If you’re not going to tell me the truth, why should I stay?”

Xia Ge actually felt the pang of a guilty conscience: “……I, I was telling the truth.”

Gu Peijiu: “What weapons do the guardian puppets of the back mountain possess?”

A moment of silence.  “They don’t have whips and they don’t have daggers for you to run yourself into.”

""

Xia Ge did not let go her hold on Senior Sister’s sleeve: “Um, I bumped into one that did……I can’t help my bad luck.”

Gu Peijiu: “Xia Wuyin.”

Xia Ge: “Yes.”

“Danfeng disciples must be trustworthy.”  Pursing her lips, Gu Peijiu slowly removed her sleeve from Xia Wuyin’s grasp, “I’m not asking you to spill every secret you have, but at the very least……”

The cool sensation of soft, smooth silk gently left Xia Ge’s hand.  “When will you be ready to believe me?  Can’t I take my time and tell you the whole story then?”

Outside the window, the sun had sunk at last, the last glow of daylight gone, the dim radiance of starlight now flickering in the dark sky.

There was the ‘creak’ of a door and the young lady in red and white was gone from the room.

Xia Ge: “Little puppet, are you awake, huh?  What’s my credibility percentage with Senior Sister?  Is it at 0%?”

Trying to rouse her system for a long time, Xia Ge received no response.

“……”  Forget it.  Why even bother to ask?  It was definitely at 0%.

Besides, it wasn’t the first time her system had done this.  Sometimes it didn’t respond for a whole day, sometimes half a day.  No matter, at least it didn’t happen very often.  Xia Ge would just consider it as sleeping and not worry about it.

Looking down at her body, Xia Ge considered again her bandages, especially the wrapping around her upper chest.  Thankfully Senior Sister didn’t seem to be harboring any suspicions.

So there was at least one blessing amidst a sea of misfortune.

With no one else there and no system to pester, Xia Ge took stock of the room she was recuperating in.

It wasn’t lavishly appointed, but it was very clean and tidy.  In the corner was a cabinet carved with ‘eight treasures,’ while in the arabesque window hung a green curtain.  In front of the window was a pearwood table upon which were the ‘four treasures of study,’ its décor finished off by a snow-white porcelain vase filled with decorative reeds.

Even though it wasn’t an opulent room, its ambience was utterly peaceful and refined.

The faint scent of sandalwood lingered in the air.  Wait a minute……the room didn’t look like a place prepared for random Danfeng disciples’ recoveries……no, it looked like a lady’s bedroom.

Oh, hold up!

It couldn’t be……

Xia Ge was more than a little afraid of where her brain was taking her.  Clearing her throat, she stole another look at the small stand placed next to the bed, papers stacked very neatly on top of it.

Stacked so precisely in fact, that whoever had done it probably had OCD.  Staring at the perfectly placed red ink and pen, Xia Ge figured she wasn’t looking at a makeshift work table.

No, she was beholding a work of art.

Still, being that neat and orderly, Senior Sister had to be suffering from OCD, right?

Xia Ge gawped at the Danfeng Entry Examination Final Evaluation right on top, thoughts churning in her head.

Yikes, she supposed the more a person was entrenched in OCD, the more they’d insist on the exact truth.  If Xia Ge didn’t tell the truth, she probably be……

Why did it have to be so hard to come up with a believable lie for all her injuries?

Never mind all that though, shouldn’t Xia Ge take a sneak peek at the Danfeng Entry Examination Final Evaluation?

She was going to see the results sooner or later anyways.  It wasn’t like she was breaking any real rule!

It would just a very small……quick look!

Xia Ge’s hand had already started reaching out when she heard the ‘creak’ of the wooden door——

Quickly jerking her hand behind her, Xia Ge inadvertently hit herself on her wounded back.  She hissed from the pain, eyes getting teary.

When she looked up, she saw a strange woman dressed in black walking into the room, carrying a basin of water.  The woman had an oval face with big eyes, lips pressed tight, and black hair bound back in a simple knot, revealing a not particularly pleasant face.

Ignoring her discomfort, Xia Ge opened with: “I don’t think I know you?”

“I am the young lady’s personal maid,” the woman replied, “My name is Bixi.”

Bixi glared at Xia Ge, making Xia Ge feel vindicated in her initial snap judgement that the maid was not amiable.

“Sister Bixi is very pretty,” Xia opted for flattery, in total disregard of the truth, “ Danfeng really is a place endowed with natural beauty and people of talent, including beautiful women.”

Setting the basin of water down, Bixi snorted: “With that lecherous mouth, it’s easy to see you’re not an upright person.”

Xia Ge: “……”

Well, it seemed her false praise had not landed as intended.

“Miss sent to me to take care of you,” Bixi continued, “But I’ll tell you, as soon as you can move freely, get out of my Miss’ room.”

Xia Ge: “Yes, yes, not a problem……huh?!”

Having just recovered her senses not that long ago, Xia Ge was stupified all over again: “Whose room is this?”

Bixi’s face scrunched up like someone smelling a foul odor: “What’s it to you? Leave tomorrow!  Hurry up and get out of here!”

Xia Ge: “……”

Let her digest this heavy information first please!

What did this Bixi mean……Miss’ room?  Which young lady was Bixi referring to?  Surely it wasn’t Senior Sister?!

Xia Ge proceeded very cautiously: “Your young lady……who is she?”
Bixi’s face was now exceedingly stony: “The young lady who just left.”

Xia Ge: “……”  Waah, waah, she was still dreaming, right?  Yikes, her head was hurting so much, she should just go back to sleep.  No, no, this was all just a big dream she hadn’t yet woken up from——

For her part, Bixi couldn’t have cared less what Xia Wuyin was thinking.  Bixi was fixated on how this shameless child had grabbed hold of the young lady’s sleeve and refused to let go.  Resentment brewing in her chest, and staring at Xia Ge all the while, Bixi rather ferociously twisted a wet towel.  It seemed as if Bixi were wishing the towel was the other party.  Xia Ge shrank herself back into the corner of the bed.

Did her dream really have to be so scary?
Done wringing the towel like it were a certain someone’s neck, Bixi couldn’t help herself and tossed the towel back into water.  In the blink of an eye, Xia Ge watched the towel become sodden again.  For a second, she didn’t know if she was sorry for Bixi wasting all that arm strength or for herself, the person about to face Bixi’s fury——

With one hand on her waist and the other pointing a finger at Xia Ge’s nose, Bixi spoke fiercely: “You!  You were just pretending to sleep earlier, weren’t you?!”

If Xia Ge hadn’t been rendered mostly immobile, she would have raised her hands in a show of innocence: “No!  I wasn’t!”

Why would she have pretended to be asleep?  She didn’t even known how she’d done in the entry examination, therefore what did she have to gain from feigning sleep?!  She must still be dreaming?!  Must be!

“Bah!  Clinging to my young lady’s hand for almost two days!  Not letting Miss change her clothes for almost two days!”  Bixi’s anger soared when she thought about it.  Her precious young lady had never taken care of someone in such a way.  Not since coming to Danfeng.  If this little bastard hadn’t been so grabby, Miss would have never bothered with him!
“You were just pretending to sleep so you could take advantage of my Miss!!”

Xia Ge: “!!!”  What?!!

The Eight Treasures are traditional auspicious patterns . Taoism regards the eight utensils held by the Eight Immortals as symbols to remember the Eight Treasures, see “Eight Immortals of Darkness”. In Buddhism, the “eight auspiciousness” is used as the symbol of the eight treasures.

https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%85%AB%E5%AE%9D%E7%BA%B9/8786895

The Four Treasures of the Study are the unique Chinese calligraphy and painting tools (calligraphy and painting utensils), namely pen , ink , paper and inkstone .

https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%96%87%E6%88%BF%E5%9B%9B%E5%AE%9D/25870

强迫症qiǎngpòzhèng

obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

钟灵毓秀 a place endowed with the fine spirits of the universe

Or- endowed with a natural beauty that nurtures people of talent

Flattering the horse’s leg/hoof   (instead of the bum)

‘He wanted to please someone stronger than himself, but he accidentally said something to offend him.’