Chapter 16: The Puppet Show Part 1

It had to be said that Shang Wanqiu not only hit Ling Yunchu’s exact taste in looks, but everything she made suited her palate perfectly.

Plum blossom cake, soft and sweet, with that chewy texture Ling Yunchu loved.

She followed Shang Wanqiu into the newly built little kitchen for the very first time.

Shang Wanqiu turned around and caught sight of the little girl trailing silently at her heels, and a rich warmth of amusement spread through her eyes.

“The kitchen’s dirty. Why don’t you go play outside for a bit, A-Yun?” She squeezed the girl’s soft little hand, then couldn’t help pressing a kiss to her forehead, coaxing in a gentle voice.

Ling Yunchu blinked, shook off the outstretched hand, stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around that slender waist, her voice faintly disgruntled. “No.”

“I want to stay with Qiuqiu.” She looked up at Shang Wanqiu, lips curving, her pretty eyes sparkling, and murmured in a small, wheedling tone.

There was still a nasal note in her voice, sweet and soft.

Who on earth could resist that?

Shang Wanqiu froze for a moment, then broke into a smile.

Bending down, she pressed a rewarding kiss to the lips of the girl half a head shorter than herself and tapped her small nose with a fingertip. “All right.”

Then she turned around, rolled up her sleeves, and set to work.

She had done this many times before; practice made perfect, and by now her movements flowed as smoothly as drifting water.

Except… today things went a little differently.

Shang Wanqiu set the freshly shaped cakes aside to steam, waiting for them to cook through so they’d be ready to eat. But out of the corner of her eye, a fair little hand crept sneakily onto the stove, found a cake in the steamer that hadn’t gone into the pot yet, and snatched one away at lightning speed.

…Pfft.

Shang Wanqiu quietly took in the entire sequence, lips curling in a soundless laugh. She said nothing to stop her.

Behind her, the little girl’s eyes curved into crescents as she lifted the cake to her mouth and took a big bite, just like always. And then… her entire face scrunched up.

Ling Yunchu chewed, the taste of raw flour making her frown, and glared at the woman whose shoulders were shaking with silent laughter, her eyes full of accusation and grievance.

Why was it different from before?

Shang Wanqiu chuckled a few times, then turned around, saw just how wronged the little girl looked, and immediately softened. She hurried her into spitting out the mouthful and rinsed her mouth, and only then was the matter settled.

“It doesn’t taste good.” Ling Yunchu frowned slightly, tossed the dough in her hand onto the floor, and gave it an annoyed kick. It went rolling off into a corner.

“It hasn’t been steamed yet. How could it taste good?” Shang Wanqiu pulled out a handkerchief, amused, and gently wiped the flour from the corner of her mouth.

“Then you should have warned me.”

Her little girl was no fool. She tilted her head, eyes narrowed, the corners lifting ever so slightly, her tone tinged with displeasure.

Shang Wanqiu… Shang Wanqiu smiled helplessly, finally out of excuses to explain away her wanting to watch the show.

She pulled the girl into her arms, kissed and cuddled her with practiced ease, and apologized in a low voice. “I was wrong. Next time I’ll be sure to warn you, A-Yun.”

Her beautiful cat-like eyes curved slightly, shimmering with a warm, gentle light, as if a little sun lay hidden within them. Tempered by darkness, yet resilient, and all the more dazzling for it.

Ling Yunchu couldn’t help widening her eyes a little, her disgruntled expression freezing in place, struck by her beauty. A trace of fondness flashed through her pupils, and she leaned in to kiss her eyes.

“Don’t let it happen again.”

I forgive you.

A good master ought to forgive a puppet’s minor misdeeds.

She stood obediently to one side, perfectly still, staring at Shang Wanqiu, her gaze earnest and undivided.

As if… in her whole world, there was only you.

A soft sweetness crept up into the depths of Shang Wanqiu’s heart.

Once the food had steamed a while, the plum blossom cakes were done.

This time, Ling Yunchu tasted the flavor she loved. The sweet fragrance spread through her mouth, and she narrowed her eyes in delight.

Suddenly she paused, then turned with a bounce of excitement toward the woman quietly watching her, chin propped on one hand. “I want to show you my treasured collection!”

She said it with a faint smile, and even her expression gentled the moment her treasures came up.

Shang Wanqiu studied her face and agreed without betraying anything.

Her treasures?

Under any other circumstances, she would have been overjoyed and agreed on the spot.

But now she couldn’t help thinking twice.

What did A-Yun mean by treasures?

The dolls she used to play with?

Shang Wanqiu smiled bitterly inside, but on the surface her features stayed soft and gentle as she gave a slight nod.

Oh well. It was all just A-Yun’s way of showing how much she loved her, wasn’t it?

Even if Ling Yunchu showed her a blade of grass or a handful of dirt, Shang Wanqiu would still be happy.

The collection Ling Yunchu spoke of was kept on this very mountain peak, hidden in a Secret Chamber halfway up the slope.

Basically only Ling Yunchu could enter this place. Shang Wanqiu could claim the honor of being the first puppet she had ever brought inside.

In Ling Yunchu’s view, sharing one’s treasures and one’s Secret Base was something only the closest of people did.

She liked this puppet. Shang Wanqiu was obedient and beautiful, and she made her delicious food.

Ling Yunchu liked Shang Wanqiu.

A Formation guarded the entrance to the Secret Chamber. Ling Yunchu placed her hand on an unremarkable boulder, and a door materialized out of thin air amid the dense jungle.

A few steps in, Ling Yunchu suddenly found her hand empty and stopped, glancing back.

With one look she saw Shang Wanqiu standing frozen in silence where she’d been left behind. A trace of puzzlement flickered through her pupils.

But toward this puppet she loved so dearly, Ling Yunchu was exceedingly patient.

She walked back a few steps and took Shang Wanqiu’s hand.

“Let’s go.”

“Mm, let’s…” Shang Wanqiu lowered her gaze, studying their two clasped hands, her expression unreadable. Then she laughed softly and shifted her grip, changing the position.

Fingers interlaced, clasped tight.

As if that alone could keep them from ever parting.

What was hidden behind this door?

Shang Wanqiu finally learned what Ling Yunchu’s treasured collection actually was.

One glance, and a little color drained from her face.

They were all… parts of a body.

Eyes, hands, feet, even an entire head…

All sealed away in Ice Seals, eerie beyond words.

And yet looked at individually, every piece was exquisitely beautiful.

A trace of infatuation crept into Ling Yunchu’s brow, and her voice took on a note of excitement.

She asked softly, as if afraid of startling these things, “Aren’t they pretty?”

Carrying the childish joy of sharing a prized possession, and the pride that came with it.

Pretty?

Shang Wanqiu examined the pieces bit by bit, then after a while calmly withdrew her gaze and looked at the girl beside her.

At the smile on the little girl’s face, at that expectant look begging for praise, she paused, then pressed her lips into a smile.

“They’re beautiful,” she said softly.

“But… which is prettier, them or me?” Drawing the girl into her arms, she stroked her fair cheek and asked in return with a soft sigh.

That…

Ling Yunchu was stumped by the question. She blinked, looked at her, then glanced over at her collection, hesitating.

Her fingers twitched inside her sleeve. Frowning, she thought it over, and in the end she said haltingly, “…You’re prettier.”

Shang Wanqiu extended a fingertip, brushing it past the corner of her eye. Hearing the little girl’s answer, she curved her lips into a tender smile.

“Then… with me, isn’t A-Yun already content? Why keep other people’s belongings?”

“I’ll get jealous…” she murmured, bending slightly to press a kiss to Ling Yunchu’s lips.

A faint melancholy seemed to settle over her features, as if she were truly, genuinely jealous.

“But…”

Had anyone else dared say such things in front of her, Ling Yunchu would have sent them straight to hell without so much as a blink.

But this person was Shang Wanqiu.

The puppet she currently loved most.

Her darling puppet was jealous, wanting her to choose between herself and these treasures.

In other words, to compare who held more weight in Ling Yunchu’s heart?

Yunchu sneered inwardly, coldly committing Shang Wanqiu’s expression at this very moment to memory.

Those mangled pieces of flesh had never been taken from living people.

She had found them on the dead.

Her subordinates, Mo Ning and the like, knew of her collecting habit, and the Cultivation World was rife with killing and bloodshed.

So to curry her favor, they kept an eye out for the corpses of the fallen.

If a set of remains was pretty enough, they would bring it back for her to choose from.

The Ling Family naturally knew something of this quirk of hers, one that bordered on the Devil Path, but they had all kept it buried.

This body’s mother had died shortly after giving birth to her. The Ling Family Head was her father, but the two were hardly close, strangers in all but blood.

And yet Ling Yunchu’s talent was truly the sort seen once in thousands of years, and she was the sole direct-line heir.

So even her somewhat abnormal little habits, the elders had endured.

But Yunchu was scum, and more than a little twisted.

Still, she wasn’t so depraved as to dissect living people who bore her no grudge and owed her nothing, then keep their remains as keepsakes. Such a thing was, in her view, both vulgar and revolting.

If someone had truly angered her, fine: break their limbs and toss them aside.

But to quiet the strangeness of this body, she had no choice but to collect severed remains, satisfying its twisted desires and aesthetic.

Except… now her mission target had spoken up.

Was there even any comparison to be made?

Ling Yunchu hesitated only a moment before making her choice.

“Then… will Qiuqiu stay by my side forever?” She wrapped her arms around Shang Wanqiu’s waist, buried her face in her embrace, and nuzzled against her, voice muffled.

Will you stay with me until I grow tired of you?

“I will.” Shang Wanqiu lowered her eyes, and a genuine smile flashed within them.

She had coaxed this little girl into her arms. How could she bear to let go?

You reached for me first, that hand extended through darkness and ice.

From that moment on, I was yours.

Unto death, unwavering.

The girl in her arms stirred against her, a few soft strands of hair rubbed up into sticking out, brushing against Shang Wanqiu’s chin.

Yet it felt like a feather tickling her heart, soft and sweet.

“Then… then I don’t want them anymore.”

“I want you.”

The little girl’s muffled voice carried grievance and reluctance. After a long hesitation, she had still decided she liked her current puppet better.

Shang Wanqiu’s gaze dipped, catching the girl’s tightly pressed lips and the tears welling in her eyes, and her heart ached with tenderness.