Fantasy Farm

Chapter Ch69.2 - Hidden meaning

translator: baumkuchen

Yin Xun was like a child as he played around happily with the little pigs and the little fox, even wanting to try tying the little fox to the other kite and letting it fly. Lu Qingjiu, as their parent, could only heartlessly stop these bear children from performing their death-seeking antics, saying that foxes couldn’t fly, and that if it were to fall, the whole village would be coming to their home to eat.

Yin Xun, “Why would the whole village be coming to our home to eat?”

Lu Qingjiu, “To celebrate your funeral, of course.”

Yin Xun, “……”

In the end, Yin Xun said that he didn’t want to bother the entire village, obediently tied the kites to a little tree, then sat down and began to eat.

Lu Qingjiu had made the fried chicken himself. They’d been coated in a thin layer of flour, then slowly fried in warm oil. After frying, their outer layer was crispy, and the inside was soft and juicy. With a bite, the light yellow chicken juices would seep out. Because it was made from young chickens, even the bones were crisp. With just a bit of force, they’d break in their mouths.

As Lu Qingjiu drank cold soda and ate the still-steaming fried chicken, he felt like life was actually still very good, there weren’t so many obstacles that couldn’t be overcome.

Halfway through eating, Lu Qingjiu suddenly felt the urge to pee. He put down the food in his hands, wiped them off with a tissue, then said, “I’m going to pee.”

“Oh.” Yin Xun’s mouth was stuffed full with a chicken leg. “Come back quick, or I’ll have eaten all the chicken.” As he spoke, he even looked over at Bai Yuehu.

Bai Yuehu stared back coldly. Yin Xun instantly cowered, pulling the chicken leg out of his mouth and taking a bite. “……It’s fine, I’ll leave you a leg.”

Lu Qingjiu said, “You’re so dramatic.”

Yin Xun pretended to hmph, aggrieved.

Lu Qingjiu went into the nearby woods and found a secluded corner to solve his issue. Just as he was about to take off his pants, however, he noticed something strange by his feet. Taking a closer look, he found it was a pile of black ants, crawling around in the grass.

If it were just black ants, that would be fine, but Lu Qingjiu felt as if the trail the ants were making was very strange. After careful observation, to his shock, he found that the black ants had unbelievably formed two words: A-Jiu.”

A-Jiu, was what Lu Qingjiu’s grandmother had called him. Other than that elderly woman who had already passed, almost no one called him that.

A layer of goosebumps formed on Lu Qingjiu’s back. Before he could react, he saw the black ants form another two words: Come here.

A-Jiu, come here—— A gentle, elderly-sounding voice rung out by his ears. It was as if Lu Qingjiu had been possessed by a demon, his mind going blank, leaving only one thought: He needed to go over to take a look, his grandma was calling him.

The black ants marked out a path, leading the entranced Lu Qingjiu into the woods. A-Jiu, come here, A-Jiu, come here…… Lu Qingjiu’s mind constantly echoed with his grandmother’s calls. Only when an unfamiliar man appeared before him did Lu Qingjiu snap out of this trance-like state.

“You…… who are you?” A guess as to the man’s identity had already taken a vague shape in Lu Qingjiu’s mind.

The man was standing against the light, in the deep part of the woods. He was dressed in black, wearing a long robe that was a little similar to Bai Yuehu’s. His hair was scattered across his shoulders, and his eyes were closed. Even though his features were a little blurry, his handsomeness could still be seen.

Unknowingly, Lu Qingjiu had already walked into the deep part of the woods. Around him, the surroundings were unfamiliar. The slight wind that had originally been blowing against his face had stilled. There were no birds singing in the trees, leaving only silence.

The man walked up to Lu Qingjiu.

Seeing this, Lu Qingjiu instinctively turned, wanting to run, but due to his panic, he tripped over a stone on the ground and staggered forward a few steps, in the end, still falling to the ground from losing his balance.

“Ah!” Lu Qingjiu’s palm just so happened to land on a sharp stone. The prick of pain of his palm being cut open made him cry out involuntarily.

The man’s eyes were closed, but he evidently had already sensed what had happened in front of him, frowning slightly and walking towards the fallen Lu Qingjiu.

Lu Qingjiu watched as the man stopped in front of him, forming a silhouette haloed by the light.

“What did you bring me here for……” Lu Qingjiu should have been terrified, but upon seeing that man’s face, mere inches from his own, he strangely calmed, even becoming able to politely ask the question he wanted to ask, “Is there something you want from me?”

The man didn’t speak, squatting down. Even though his eyes were closed, Lu Qingjiu strangely felt as if he was being stared at by him.

“Did you kill my parents?” Lu Qingjiu asked, “Do you want to kill me, too?”

The man’s lips pursed slightly, forming a tight arc. Lu Qingjiu felt as if he wanted to say something, but he just shook his head slightly, saying nothing.

“You don’t want to kill me?” Lu Qingjiu relaxed. He could tell that the handsome man before him didn’t seem to feel any hostility towards him, at least for now. “Then what do you want to tell me?”

The man held out his hand towards Lu Qingjiu, motioning him to place his hand on his.

Seeing this, Lu Qingjiu hesitated slightly, thinking about what to do. But as he was thinking, Bai Yuehu’s voice sounded from the trees behind him, “Lu Qingjiu, Lu Qingjiu, where are you?” His voice was extremely frantic, and he was clearly going to find them at any moment.

The man’s eyebrows furrowed even more. He didn’t give Lu Qingjiu any more time to hesitate, directly grabbing his hand, then writing a word in his palm with a finger.

As his finger brushed against his palm, he only needed to write it out once before Lu Qingjiu understood what the word was.

It was “leave”. The person in front of him, was telling him to leave.

“What do you mean?” Lu Qingjiu was a little confused, “You’re telling me to leave? Leave? Why do I need to leave?”

As Bai Yuehu’s calls became closer and closer, a hint of anxiety appeared on the man’s face. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he could only utter aborted sounds. And Lu Qingjiu, sitting in front of him, could clearly see that in the man’s mouth, was only half a tongue.

The man before him was, without question, was the black dragon who had been trapped in the put. He’d escaped his cage and found him, just to write a single word on his palm?

Bai Yuehu’s voice was right behind Lu Qingjiu. He just needed to aside a few trees before he would enter Lu Qingjiu’s vision.

The man also knew that he was out of time. He lifted his hand and lightly stroked Lu Qingjiu’s head, a slightly sad, tender smile on his face. Then, he turned, and instantly disappeared before Lu Qingjiu’s eyes.

Lu Qingjiu still wanted to hear what the man wanted to say, but the man clearly didn’t want to run into Bai Yuehu. His posture as he left was incomparably determined.

“Lu Qingjiu!” Bai Yuehu’s panicked voice rang out from right behind Lu Qingjiu. Seeing Lu Qingjiu sitting on the ground, he hurriedly walked forward and pressed down on Lu Qingjiu’s shoulders. “Are you alright? He didn’t do anything to you?”

“No.” Lu Qingjiu glanced at Bai Yuehu. As if possessed, he didn’t tell Bai Yuehu about what the man had written on his hand, just shaking his head. “He didn’t seem to be able to speak.”

Bai Yuehu said, “You’re hurt.”

Lu Qingjiu’s palm had been sliced open by a nearby rock when he fell. At this point, his palm was completely filled with blood. Just now, all his attention had been focused on the man, so he hadn’t noticed at all. Only now, with Bai Yuehu saying that, did he feel his palm begin to burn with pain.”

“I accidentally fell.” Lu Qingjiu was a little embarrassed. “It’s just a small wound, it’ll be fine after I just go back and clean it with some alcohol.”

Bai Yuehu didn’t agree. His nose twitched slightly, as if he was smelling something. Then, he stared at Lu Qingjiu with a serious look in his eyes. “You smell of him. He touched you.”

Lu Qingjiu was dumbfounded for a second, then explained, embarrassed, “No, he just held my hand.” And patted my head.

Bai Yuehu’s lips pursed, the serious expression on his face somewhat similar to that of the man’s from before. Then, he did something that Lu Qingjiu would never have suspected—— He lowered his head, and licked the blood on Lu Qingjiu’s palm clean.

“Ah!” The warm and soft tongue slowly brushed against his palm, cleaning the dirt near the wound bit by bit. This kind of action didn’t bring about any pain, moreso numbness. Lu Qingjiu’s face instantly turned red. In a trembling voice, he said, “Don’t, it’s dirty!”

Bai Yuehu was a little unhappy. “It’s not like I’ll get sick after eating it.”

Lu Qingjiu said, “But……”

Bai Yuehu said, “It needs to be cleaned.”

This “cleaned”, should have been in reference to his wound, but inexplicably, Lu Qingjiu felt like there was another meaning hidden within. Bai Yuehu’s actions were so serious, making him actually unsure as to whether he should refuse for a moment. By the time he’d managed to react completely, Bai Yuehu’s movements had already stopped. He was pulled up from the ground by Bai Yuehu, and obediently let Bai Yuehu neaten up his disheveled appearance.

After patting off the last of the dirt on Lu Qingjiu’s clothes, just as Bai Yuehu was about to finish up his cleaning, he sensed something else, his eyebrow’s furrowing. Lu Qingjiu then felt a hand press against the side of his head, forcing him to turn it. Then, a forceful kiss landed on his hair.

Lu Qingjiu was stunned by Bai Yuehu’s action. “You……”

Bai Yuehu’s voice was a little stifled, like he was angry. “He touched your hair.”

The originally indignant Lu Qingjiu was actually made to feel a little guilty by that sentence. His mouth opened and closed uselessly. Only after a long time, he said in a small voice, “He just touched it.”

“Even touching isn’t allowed,” Bai Yuehu said coldly, “It’s best if he doesn’t even look at it.”

Lu Qingjiu, “……” Sigh.

Bai Yuehu, holding Lu Qingjiu’s hand, led him out of the forest. Only then did Lu Qingjiu realise that he hadn’t actually gone all that far away from where they were having their picnic, only being a short distance away.

“Lu Qingjiu, are you okay?!!” Seeing Bai Yuehu bring Lu Qingjiu back, Yin Xun let out a huge sigh of relief. He had already come up with countless terrifying possibilities just now, and what he had been most afraid of was seeing Bai Yuehu bring back an utterly broken corpse, or even…… there not even being a body to bring back.

“I’m fine,” Lu Qingjiu said, “He didn’t seem to feel any malice towards me.”

“No malice?” Yin Xun mumbled to himself, “If he didn’t have any malice then what did he bring you away for, I was so scared that I’m covered in cold sweat.” Fortunately, Bai Yuehu had brought him back in one piece.

Lu Qingjiu said helplessly, “If he did feel malice towards me, I would already be dead right now.” Even though the dragon had been through tortue, he was still a dragon. Even the most powerful human would be nothing more than an ant in front of this mythical creature.

Yin Xun’s mouth twitched. He clearly didn’t quite agree with Lu Qingjiu’s words. In his point of view, anyone who sneakily brought Lu Qingjiu away couldn’t be anything good.

Without him noticing it, the sun had already gone down. Lu Qingjiu hadn’t at all realised that he’d been gone for so long.

Today’s outing ended here. They packed up their things, and prepared to go down the mountain. However, as they were leaving the mountain, Lu Qingjiu couldn’t help but look back at the forest. He had a kind of feeling, that that man was still there, just that he wasn’t showing himself.

After the wound on his palm had been cleaned by Bai Yuehu’s saliva, he didn’t feel too much pain, but the writing left by the man’s slender index finger has like it had been burned into his palm, making Lu Qingjiu unable to forget it.

“Leave”? What did he mean by leave? Did he want him to leave with him? Or did it have some other meaning? Had he fled that place, just to tell him this?

Lu Qingjiu truly couldn’t understand. He couldn’t help but sigh.

Yin Xun said, “What are you sighing for?”

Lu Qingjiu didn’t answer. “Let’s eat squid tomorrow.”

Yin Xun, “Why?”

Lu Qingjiu said, “Because I kept feeling like your kite had a strong squid flavour.”

Yin Xun, “……” What’s wrong with squid flavour, didn’t it fly really high!

The author has something to say:

There was a heavy expression on Lu Qingjiu’s face: I……

Bai Yuehu: What’s wrong? There’s no need to worry about me, I’ll definitely protect you.

Lu Qingjiu: No…… There’s something……

Bai Yuehu: ?

Lu Qingjiu: I think I forgot to pee just now.

Bai Yuehu: ………… 

baum: next up from Avis (@bewarethemandragora)- the fighting chickens!!