Chapter 200: The Lucky and Lonely Little Red Carp
Chapter 200: Chapter 200: The Lucky and Lonely Little Red Carp
She tried several phrases in a row, but none of them worked. Zhao Nuanyue was so frantic she was on the verge of tears. If she couldn’t get out, she would be done for.
"The Little Red Carp is the prettiest!" In a moment of desperation, Zhao Nuanyue tried one more phrase. Her eyes lit up, and she found herself looking at the Little Red Carp, who was gazing at her with an adorable expression.
She was actually out.
’Little Red Carp, you’re so... so narcissistic!’
Zhao Nuanyue was truly impressed!
’The cutest, the prettiest... Only the Little Red Carp could say something like that out loud. As her big sister, even I feel a little embarrassed for her.’
"So? Do you like it?" the Little Red Carp asked, looking at Zhao Nuanyue with anticipation. "Yours is the biggest. My brother’s and mine only have one room each."
Zhao Nuanyue took a few deep breaths to calm her excitement, then asked, "The space is huge, but it looks familiar. Isn’t it one of the rooms beneath the Dragon King Temple?"
"Mhm, mhm! Sister, you’re amazing! You figured it out," the Little Red Carp said, nodding repeatedly. "The Old Dragon King is gone, and the things there weren’t very useful anymore, so I made use of four of the rooms."
"This won’t affect Nianqiao Village, will it?" Zhao Nuanyue asked. The Old Dragon King had blessed this place for a thousand years; she didn’t want to ruin that goodwill and merit for her own selfish gain.
The Little Red Carp shook her head. "I wouldn’t have done it if it would harm Nianqiao Village. Those rooms were all useless! I even put some useful things from the Dragon Palace inside, like clamshells that can stop bleeding, Dragon Bright Grass, and Dragon Wisdom Grass. But you can’t put any other living things in there, aside from what was already living in the Dragon Palace."
Hearing this, Zhao Nuanyue nodded. "I wasn’t planning on putting any living things in it anyway. I just want to gather up all the gold and jewels from the cave. We can put the antiques and paintings in your brother’s ring. By the way, what did you put in yours?"
The Little Red Carp grinned. "Good stuff, of course! My treasured collection from over the years."
When Zhao Nuanyue entered the Little Red Carp’s space to have a look, she was utterly dumbfounded. What was all this stuff! It was like a junk collector’s hoard.
A small rattle-drum, a broken kite, a wooden spinning top that a child had played with until it broke...
At first, Zhao Nuanyue didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She was inwardly chuckling at the Little Red Carp, but after thinking about it more carefully, her eyes suddenly stung. She could perfectly picture a lonely Little Red Carp at the bottom of the stream, watching the children play games on the bank, listening to their laughter, while she could only swim all by herself in the water.
Other than the Old Dragon King, she was the only one in the canals of Nianqiao Village who had developed human-like thoughts.
She was fortunate, yet so lonely.
Previously, Zhao Nuanyue had thought the Little Red Carp’s high, squeaky voice and her often childish behavior were just an act. But seeing this large box of junk that the Little Red Carp treated as treasure, Zhao Nuanyue realized she had been wrong.
The Little Red Carp was, in fact, just a child. She might have lived for a long time and understood many mystical things, but she had never interacted with humans. She was just a simple little carp, a little girl.
’From now on, I will treat the Little Red Carp as a real child,’ Zhao Nuanyue decided. ’I’ll dote on her, spoil her, and give her the wonderful, happy childhood she deserves.’
Zhao Nuanyue exited the Little Red Carp’s Space Ring, then pulled the little carp into a tight hug, peppering kisses on her chubby little cheeks.
The Little Red Carp was a bit baffled by her sister’s sudden embrace. Still, being held by her sister was very comfortable, a different feeling from when her brother held her. The Little Red Carp blissfully closed her eyes, sniffing the pleasant scent coming from her sister and humming in contentment.
After a while, Zhao Nuanyue finally released the Little Red Carp and said with a light laugh, "Little Red Carp, so this is the kind of stuff you like. Those things are all broken. When we get back, how about I make you a new spinning top, a pinwheel, and a kite?"
"Ah?" Happiness had come so suddenly. The Little Red Carp was so excited her eyes turned red. She nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes! Those ones are broken, so I can only look at them, not play with them. If Sister makes new ones for me, I’ll be able to play!"
Seeing how much the Little Red Carp truly liked the idea, Zhao Nuanyue was very happy as well.
The Little Red Carp didn’t need a lavish material life; what she loved were all the little trinkets that human children enjoyed.
"Alright, then. Let’s load everything up, find Nuanyang, and give him his ring," Zhao Nuanyue said. "This way, the three of us will have our own secret stashes. We can store a lot of things inside them."
"Okay, okay, let’s hurry up then," the Little Red Carp agreed, nodding excitedly. She wanted to get this done as fast as possible so they could go home and make toys.
Getting the items into the ring was actually very simple—they just had to be within about half a foot of her. It was incredibly convenient. Zhao Nuanyue quickly stored everything. Having been dirt-poor just moments before, she now felt like she was rolling in money.
After leaving the cave, she had just made it halfway down the mountain when she unexpectedly ran into Liu Lanhua and Wang Cuihua. They were on the mountain digging for wild vegetables. Their families had used all their grain to pay off debts, so they could only eat wild greens to stave off hunger. In Nianqiao Village, both their families were living miserable lives.
"Well, well, isn’t that the Zhao family hussy?" Liu Lanhua said, watching Zhao Nuanyue come down the mountain holding the Little Red Carp. ’What’s she doing up the mountain with a child?’
’She isn’t carrying a basket or anything. Doesn’t look like she’s here for wild vegetables!’
’Is she just out for a stroll?’
’Must have nothing better to do, then.’
Wang Cuihua squinted, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand. After a careful look, she nodded. "Yeah, that’s Zhao Nuanyue. What’s that little vixen doing on the mountain? We don’t have to work today, but if we weren’t out of food at home, we wouldn’t be wasting our time wandering around the back mountain either!"
"Strange!" Liu Lanhua’s eyes darted about as her mind raced through several possibilities. "You think she’s meeting some man in secret?"
At that, Wang Cuihua’s eyes lit up. "Look at that tiny waist, and the way she sways her hips! So seductive! That Hua fellow left and doesn’t want her anymore. She can’t stand being lonely, so of course she couldn’t take it. I bet she really is seducing other men!"
"Oh, you know, a while back I saw Li Guihua’s son, Li Jianjun, going to the Dragon King Temple a lot. You think there could be something between those two?" Liu Lanhua’s eyes brightened, growing more and more certain her guess was right.
Liu Lanhua grew excited at the memory of seeing Zhao Nuanyue secretly meeting Hua Yusen in that cave last year. ’Now that Hua Yusen is gone, I wonder if she’s still using that place?’
"You know, I even saw Zhao Nuanyue delivering things to Li Guihua’s house before!" Wang Cuihua said in a conspiratorial whisper. "And after that, I saw Li Jianjun going over to the Dragon King Temple a lot, too. It’s definitely got something to do with Zhao Nuanyue. Let’s follow her. If we can catch Zhao Nuanyue and Li Jianjun together, we can get our revenge and humiliate Li Guihua at the same time."