Chapter 121: Extra 5
Because the plump duck he had finally gotten his hands on had turned into a person, and Yan Yi still could not bring himself to harm a human, he endured it again and again. After rummaging through the wardrobe in the back courtyard for quite some time, he found a tattered old cassock and handed it to Bai Shijiu to barely serve as something to cover himself with.
Bai Shijiu was not very pleased. Wiping his tears, he said that Yan Yi was despising him.
Yan Yi said, “Wear it or don’t. If you freeze to death, that’s your problem.”
“Oh,” Bai Shijiu replied. He slowly put the clothes on. After a while, he asked Yan Yi again, “Then when you sleep with me at night, do I have to wear it? When you used to sleep with me before, I never wore clothes.”
Yan Yi: “……”
He might as well have let the duck fly away. Instead, he had meddled and picked up an ancestor in the mountains.
Yan Yi suspected that Bai Shijiu was some kind of spirit. After cooking the potatoes, he handed Bai Shijiu a bowl and asked, “Who exactly are you?”
Bai Shijiu lay sprawled on a broken mat in the back courtyard. Yan Yi had covered him with the heap of dull, dusty cassock cloth, yet Bai Shijiu still lounged lazily there. Amid the gray, black, and yellow tones of the ruined temple, his whiteness stood out strikingly, like a white lily blooming on a cliff in the desolate mountains.
Whenever Yan Yi spoke to him, he found himself unconsciously wanting to turn his head away.
When Bai Shijiu heard the question, he lifted one leg toward Yan Yi. His leg was very fair, like a vast snowfall that had fallen overnight. Around his lotus-pale ankle was tied a red string.
Yan Yi’s heart immediately skipped a beat. He swiftly averted his gaze again, cursing inwardly that this truly was a seductive spirit.
“Look,” Bai Shijiu said, not feeling there was anything inappropriate about it. He had always liked lying around like this. In the past, whenever Yan Yi saw him sprawled on the bed, he would usually grab him by the wings and toss him down. Today, for some reason, Yan Yi neither drove him away nor looked at him.
Pointing at the red string around his ankle, Bai Shijiu said, “You tied it yourself.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Yi walked out of the ruined temple’s back courtyard with an extremely dark expression.
The little duck worried anxiously: What was wrong with Yan Yi today? What exactly was he feeling guilty about? Surely he wasn’t still thinking of eating duck meat?
Several hours passed. The rain outside gradually stopped. Bai Shijiu was almost convinced that Yan Yi had abandoned him and run off, when Yan Yi finally returned.
In one hand, Yan Yi carried a sharpened branch with its tip whittled to a point. In the other, he held two fish strung together with a grass rope. Each fish had a bloody hole in its belly—he must have pierced them through with the sharpened branch.
Yan Yi was about to toss the fish to the ground. All along the way back, he had been thinking about how he would order this little spirit to work for him. The creature had freeloaded in his home for so long; surely it did not possess any real skills.
Since this spirit could understand human speech and say such shameless things, it obviously understood the principle of currying favor with him.
In the days to come, if Bai Shijiu behaved and obeyed him, Yan Yi would consider their chance meeting and treat him well, eventually finding a day to release him back into the mountains so he would not have to wade through the murky waters of the mortal world. But if Bai Shijiu refused to listen, then he could not blame Yan Yi for being impolite.
Yet before Yan Yi could toss the fish into Bai Shijiu’s arms, he first saw Bai Shijiu’s pair of wet, glistening eyes.
Yan Yi paused. He went into the courtyard himself and scaled and gutted the fish, which still twitched faintly now and then. From the back courtyard, he found some salt and rubbed it over the fish, then made a simple yet fresh and delicious fish soup.
Bai Shijiu, starving, stared eagerly at Yan Yi. Wearing the tattered cassock that could not fully conceal him, he got off the bed and circled around Yan Yi and the bowl in Yan Yi’s hand.
When he used to beg for rice paste, he had circled around Yan Yi’s feet just like this.
Yan Yi let out a snort. “It’s not like I’m not giving you any. What are you in such a hurry for?” As he turned his head, he nearly bumped into Bai Shijiu, who had leaned in close. His eyes were filled with pure longing—so clear and black-and-white distinct that they seemed empty, as if there were nothing inside but innocence.
Bai Chunsheng blinked his eyes. Yan Yi sighed. “Fine. Sit properly. I’ll divide some for you.”
While eating, Yan Yi finally snapped out of that gaze. Irritated, he said, “Originally, I had planned to head south and seek refuge in Chu. But with a burden like you tagging along, I can only find a mountain and proclaim myself king.”
“Why?” Bai Shijiu asked.
Yan Yi shot him a glare. “Look at the way you are. How could I possibly feel at ease…”
He sighed. “Forget it. I won’t explain it to you.”
That night, thinking that he had eaten Yan Yi’s fish during the day, Bai Shijiu obediently transformed back into a duck. He burrowed into Yan Yi’s arms and found a comfortable position to sleep.
Yan Yi, who was awakened by the commotion: “……”
The next day, Bai Shijiu had already unconsciously turned back into a human and was curled up, clinging to Yan Yi.
Yan Yi opened his eyes to a field of snow-white. His hand seemed to be wrapped around Bai Shijiu’s waist, smooth as congealed cream. With his eyes closed, he ground out through clenched teeth, “What exactly are you trying to do?”
Bai Shijiu blinked his round black eyes again and said innocently, “If you don’t sleep with me, how can I lay eggs? If I can’t lay eggs, you’ll blame me.” Yan Jingqiu’s face turned alternately green and white.
After saying that, seeing that Yan Yi’s expression was wrong, Bai Shijiu immediately reverted to his original form. Twisting his round, perky backside, he pattered off with small quacking steps to hide in the corner.
They lingered like this in the abandoned temple for three to five days, until news of Zhao’s fall completely spread.
This land had originally belonged to Zhao. Qi imposed heavy taxes and harsh levies—far more severe than under Zhao—practically draining the people to the bone. Many were forced to abandon their registered households and farmland, becoming refugees.
Yan Yi truly did find a mountain and proclaim himself king. He gathered many refugees and bandits who had taken to the hills. Three years later, after assembling his forces, he drove the Qi people out of this land.
Another five years passed. Within the borders there were no plagues or disasters; the weather was favorable and the people recuperated and rebuilt their lives. The other five states of the Central Plains were not so fortunate. Their territories suffered successive locust plagues and floods. It was as though heaven had bestowed an opportunity, advancing Yan Yi’s planned ambitions by ten years.
He swiftly annexed the neighboring states of Qi and Chu.
After more than a decade of effort, Yan Yi pacified the wars and established a new and stable nation, changing the dynasty’s title to Xin Zhou—New Zhou. His former single-character name, Yi, was clearly unsuitable for an emperor. Thus he renamed himself Yan Jingqiu. At the same time, he gave Bai Shijiu, who resided in the harem, a new name as well: Bai Chunsheng—because he had hatched in the spring.
In the past, whenever things reached a critical moment, Bai Chunsheng—who had clearly already been coaxed into stripping and lying on the bed—would sense something amiss and suddenly revert to his original form to escape. With his muddled little brain, he could not understand why, when he lay on his back in human form, Yan Jingqiu always looked somewhat more frightening.
Bai Chunsheng even assumed that Yan Jingqiu simply preferred his original form. After all, whenever Yan Jingqiu saw a plump duck flopped onto the bedding, he would gently and affectionately pat Bai Chunsheng on the head.
The turning point came in the winter when the New Zhou dynasty was established. A Daoist who had crossed the sea from a distant island presented an ancient family manuscript.
In the spring of the second year after Yan Jingqiu ascended the throne, he finally followed the manuscript’s instructions and lit an incense in the bedchamber that prevented demons from reverting to their original forms. Without the slightest courtesy, he truly slept with Bai Chunsheng—who had been loudly claiming he was being taken advantage of, yet secretly trying to climb into bed.
“My butt hurts,” Bai Chunsheng complained. “I’m a male duck. I can’t lay eggs.”
“I don’t want eggs. Shut your mouth,” Yan Jingqiu snapped.
Bai Chunsheng refused. While crying out that it hurt, he muttered and chirped under his breath, “Are you going to torture me before you eat me? I already told you I can’t lay eggs. Wuwu, being a duck is so pitiful.”
Yan Jingqiu: “……”
“Fine.”
Yan Jingqiu gave a dark, chilling smile. “If you can’t produce any, then I won’t let you get out of this bed. You can stay right here and try.”
Author’s Note: The extras have ended as well—this truly concludes everything. Bows. Thank you all for your companionship. If fate allows, we may meet again at the end of May. I’ve been revising the new novel’s title and summary recently, and there may still be some changes.
Ciacia/N: in the end i still don’t know how Yan Jingqiu is Bo Yan because Yan Jingqiu alone has 3 identites and how can he (Bo Yan) accumulate all those reputations and surbordinates while also being Yan Jingqiu. I guess the author skipped over these details? or i just forgot the plotline along the way??? ANYWAY!! Thank you so much for reading this translation! If you like the novel pls give 5 stars rating on Novel Update! See you~
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
