Chapter 010: Delicate
Ji Zhu was startled by Jiang Bai’s sudden cold shout, and the fur all over her body stood on end for a moment.
She looked at Jiang Bai angrily, opened her mouth, and let out a torrent of meows at her, thinking this person was truly sick!
Why are you suddenly throwing a tantrum!
Jiang Bai, who had been meowed at: “…”
Although she couldn’t understand it, she had a feeling she was being cursed out quite filthily.
She frowned. Seeing the little thing’s lingering fear, she ultimately felt she was in the wrong and closed her mouth, treating it as if she were having a fit.
Anyway, I can’t understand it.
After cursing out the enchantress, Ji Zhu felt much better. She snorted lightly, turned around, and trotted out. Since the enchantress herself had told her to find Qiong Yin, of course, she would not be so polite as to refuse!
Seeing Ji Zhu actually turn and leave without any hesitation, Jiang Bai’s face darkened again, and she felt a tightness in her chest from anger.
She really left just because I told her to? Why haven’t I seen her be so obedient usually?
However, Ji Zhu, who had already run out of the room, was completely unaware of the enchantress’s winding and convoluted thoughts. She arrived next door, lifted her paw, and started scratching the door. Before she had scratched twice, the door opened.
Ji Zhu walked in as if she owned the place. Qiong Yin laughed at the sight, leaving the door ajar. She asked with a smile, “Why aren’t you in the room with Junior Sister?”
“Meow~” She told me to come find you herself.
Unfortunately, no matter how she meowed, Qiong Yin couldn’t understand.
Since she couldn’t understand, Ji Zhu ignored her and jumped onto the table. Seeing the clothes and needle and thread on the table, she tilted her head in confusion.
Qiong Yin picked up the clothes. Seeing Ji Zhu’s cute appearance, her eyes suddenly lit up, and her smile became even more gentle and beautiful.
“Little Cat, how about I embroider you onto the clothes?”
Gah?
Ji Zhu’s eyes suddenly widened in terror. She unconsciously took a step back, looking at Qiong Yin with an expression that said, I was wrong about you. Her four legs were even trembling a little.
How did I not see that Qiong Yin was this kind of person! She wants to embroider me onto clothes?
What kind of new cat abuse method is this!
“Hmm? What’s wrong with you?”
Seeing her reaction, Qiong Yin was a little confused. She then carefully thought back on her words and realized there might have been some ambiguity. Seeing Ji Zhu looking like she was ready to bolt at any moment, she was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
“Little Cat, what kind of person do you think I am? I meant I would use you as a model to embroider a pattern on the clothes.”
Oh. Ji Zhu finally realized she had misunderstood. Her expression was a little sheepish and embarrassed. Perhaps she had really gotten used to being a cat and had started to become sensitive.
“Little Cat, in your heart, am I such a cruel person?” Qiong Yin looked aggrieved, raising a hand to her chest, deeply hurt.
Seeing her like this, Ji Zhu felt even more embarrassed. She quickly went forward and rubbed against her arm ingratiatingly, looking at her pitifully, hoping she would be magnanimous and let her off this one time.
Qiong Yin couldn’t hold back a chuckle at her guilty and fawning appearance. She chided, “Sometimes I really suspect you’ve become a spirit!”
But alas, she had no spiritual energy on her at all.
Seeing her laugh, Ji Zhu knew she didn’t really mind. Hearing her say she had become a spirit, she couldn’t help but wag her tail a little smugly.
Heh, didn’t expect that, did you? Although I haven’t become a spirit, I’m human in essence!
Qiong Yin shook her head, picked up her needle and thread, and explained, “Although we’ve never felt there’s anything wrong with being from the Hehuan Sect, the world’s prejudice runs too deep. If we don’t want to get into too many disputes with them, it’s alright to hide our identities.”
It was a rare trip out. If they spent the whole journey in conflict with various people, Qiong Yin would feel that the trip was wasted on such meaningless things.
Ji Zhu’s eyes were thoughtful. With Qiong Yin’s gentle and non-confrontational nature, it was normal for her to want to avoid such things.
But Ji Zhu had a feeling that Jiang Bai would be too lazy to hide. If anyone dared to provoke her, she would just teach them a lesson directly, letting them see that the “enchantress” they spoke of was not someone they could afford to mess with.
Ji Zhu sighed softly in her heart. Watching Qiong Yin sew on the clothes, she felt it was a little unfair.
It’s clearly the world’s prejudice that runs too deep. Why aren’t they the ones shutting up, but instead, we have to cover ourselves up?
Ji Zhu felt a little sad in her heart, but she also knew that such deep-rooted prejudices were the most difficult to change, especially when it involved women and so-called “peach-colored” matters. Malicious stigmatization would only deepen this prejudice.
Ji Zhu stayed by her side for quite a while. Seeing Qiong Yin embroidering so earnestly, she got bored, and her stomach started to rumble. So, she jumped off the table and ran back to the enchantress’s room.
As soon as she entered the room, Ji Zhu smelled the aroma of food. Her eyes instantly lit up, and she trotted over to the table, her nose twitching nonstop.
Once on the table, Ji Zhu glanced at the enchantress leaning against the window, looking out. The afterglow of the sunset spilled over half of her body. In the hazy light and shadow, Ji Zhu couldn’t see her expression clearly, only guessing that it was probably faint and without fluctuation.
She looked at Jiang Bai, then at the food on the table, pouted, and jumped down again. She went to Jiang Bai’s side, opened her mouth, bit her sleeve, and tugged at it. Her pair of deep blue eyes looked at her pleadingly, the entreaty within them almost tangible.
Jiang Bai lowered her eyes. No matter how Ji Zhu bit and pulled, she remained motionless. Instead, she propped her head with one hand and watched her leisurely.
“Wuu! Wuu!” I can’t eat those things!
Ji Zhu was both hungry and aggrieved. If Jiang Bai didn’t help her process those dishes into a suitable size for her to eat, she would definitely get her mouth full of oil if she just bit into them. Even though Ji Zhu didn’t have much of a cleanliness obsession, she couldn’t accept that.
Jiang Bai raised her hand and pulled her sleeve out of Ji Zhu’s mouth. She raised an eyebrow and said, “This is made of the finest celestial silkworm silk. If you bite it and ruin it, how will you compensate me?”
Gah?
Ji Zhu’s body stiffened. Following the enchantress’s words, she looked at her sleeve. Seeing no tear, she breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she hadn’t ruined it. Otherwise, even if she sold herself, she wouldn’t be able to afford it.
But she quickly realized something was wrong! Celestial silkworm silk was impervious to blades, fire, and water. How could her two teeth possibly bite through it!
She glared at the enchantress angrily, thinking this person really knew how to make a corporate drone like her nervous!
Jiang Bai, with a faint smile, gently twirled the whiskers on Ji Zhu’s face with her fingertip. “Didn’t you go looking for Senior Sister? You still know how to come back?”
Ji Zhu blinked. Why did that sound so strange? Her sixth sense told her there was a trap in this question, so she simply put on a bewildered look, tilted her head at her, and made a purring sound to indicate that she was hungry.
Jiang Bai gave her a deep look, then stood up and casually picked Ji Zhu up, carrying her all the way to the table before putting her down.
Ji Zhu: “…”
For a moment there, she felt like she had turned into a handbag, being carried around at will.
But when she saw the enchantress start to prepare her food, she instantly threw all her previous dissatisfaction to the back of her mind, rubbing against the enchantress’s hand to get her to feed her a little first.
Jiang Bai pinched a peeled shrimp between her fingertips and held it to Ji Zhu’s mouth. Ji Zhu opened her mouth, bit down, and ate it with a satisfied roll of her tongue.
The food in this world was really delicious. The quality of the ingredients themselves was more than just a little higher than in her original world.
Jiang Bai’s gaze slightly condensed. Looking at the oblivious Ji Zhu, the fingertips that had been feeding her curled slightly. It seemed the warm touch of Ji Zhu’s tongue accidentally licking them still lingered.
After finishing one shrimp, Ji Zhu looked eagerly at Jiang Bai’s hands again. Seeing that she had stopped moving, she patted her wrist with a paw, urging her to hurry up and peel more. She wasn’t full yet.
Jiang Bai gave her a distant look. This time, she placed the peeled shrimp directly on a small plate next to her instead of feeding it to Ji Zhu’s mouth.
However, Ji Zhu, whose heart and eyes were filled only with food at this moment, didn’t notice anything unusual. After eating a few shrimp, she even started to pick out what she wanted to eat. It was only after she had eaten a bit of everything she wanted that Ji Zhu collapsed to the side in satisfaction, her fluffy tail flicking from time to time.
Seeing her turn into a pancake as soon as she was full, and worried that her tail would sweep into the food and get dirty, Jiang Bai had someone come and clear the plates.
“You certainly know how to enjoy yourself.”
Ji Zhu opened her eyes with some difficulty. Hearing the enchantress’s words, she reflected on herself and realized that it was indeed as the enchantress said. Ever since she had become a cat, she had been enjoying herself quite a bit.
Her brain had been corroded by a life of ease.
She yawned and stretched. Ji Zhu felt like she was about to die of sleepiness. She didn’t know when she had developed the habit of getting sleepy after eating her fill.
Jiang Bai’s gaze fell on Ji Zhu’s suddenly blooming little paws. She couldn’t help but reach out and hold one, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“!”
Ji Zhu shivered in fright. When she saw that the enchantress was only interested in her paws, she relaxed and let her knead them as she pleased.
The pads of her paws were pink and tender, and they felt surprisingly good to squeeze, especially when her claws had bloomed out just now, which Jiang Bai found rather novel.
After kneading for a good while, Jiang Bai finally let go of her paw. Seeing that it was getting late, she had someone bring hot water. She separated herself from Ji Zhu with a screen and soaked her whole body relaxingly in the hot water.
Perhaps it was a habit she had developed before she started cultivating. She felt that compared to a cleansing spell, she preferred to clean herself by taking a bath.
While the enchantress was bathing, Ji Zhu jumped onto the bed by herself. However, not long after she lay down, she stood up again with a look of discomfort. The inn’s bed was too hard, and since it was autumn, which was neither cold nor hot, the quilt provided by the inn was also exceptionally thin. Even sleeping on the quilt, she felt it was uncomfortably lumpy.
When Jiang Bai came back from her bath, she saw Ji Zhu biting the quilt, seemingly trying to fold it. But she was much smaller than the quilt, so it was obviously not that convenient for her to move. Instead, she gradually started to get angry and stomped on the quilt several times.
Jiang Bai clearly guessed why she was doing this. She got into bed, lay down, closed her eyes, and said slowly, “This is a good chance to cure you of your delicate habits.”
Delicate?
She’s calling me delicate!
Ji Zhu was so angry her face was almost contorted. Finally, seeing the enchantress lying there without any discomfort, she, who was about to jump up and down in anger, suddenly became bold—and climbed onto the enchantress’s body.
