Grand View Garden Survival Rules [Infinite] - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Great Golden Pheasant

The courtyard gate had already been locked. Huainan Yue walked over and tried to push it, but it didn’t budge.

An elderly matron was on duty in the outer room of the main building. Huainan Yue crouched low and walked very lightly, but her high heels were a real hindrance.

She clicked her tongue in annoyance, simply took off her shoes, and carried them in her hand.

Stilettos are actually quite good, she thought. In a pinch, they can be used for self-defense.

The matron’s eyes were half-closed as she dozed lightly. However, it wasn’t a deep sleep; as soon as Huainan Yue drew slightly closer, the woman noticed her.

“What are you doing, Miss?” the matron asked in a raspy voice.

Huainan Yue replied, “Relieving myself.”

Relieving oneself was the specific reason for leaving the room written into the Grand View Garden rules.

Rule 3: When going out to relieve yourself at night, the dark shadow near the large rock is a golden pheasant. Do not mistake it for a person.

To relieve oneself, one had to go behind the rock.

The shadows of the trees loomed all around, and the moon hid behind the clouds. The closer she got to the rock, the darker it became, until it was nearly impossible to see her own hand in front of her face. Huainan Yue took quite a while to adjust before she could barely discern her surroundings.

Sure enough, a shadow was crouched by the rock. Huainan Yue squinted at it, only to see that it was not a great golden pheasant.

It was clearly a person!

The two side rooms where the two girls and the two men were lying were separated only by a wall. All four were sleeping deeply, looking like internet-addicted teens who hadn’t closed their eyes in three days. Consequently, when a rustling sound came from outside the room, they didn’t wake up immediately.

Xue Xi was tickled awake by a furry sensation on her face.

She was cautious; she hadn’t eaten many pastries, just enough to stop the hunger, so her sleep wasn’t that heavy. The moment she opened her eyes, she saw a deathly pale face. The skin was as gray as someone who had been dead for three days, the pupils were massive with pitifully little white showing, and the corners of the mouth were pulled wide in a high-impact grin.

Xue Xi nearly screamed. The air was already rushing to her throat when she suddenly remembered the rule: “Loud shouting is prohibited after six o’clock.” She desperately forced the breath back down.

She didn’t dare move a muscle, trying to close her eyes and play dead, but she felt a blast of icy air brush past her ear, followed by a girlish, chirping voice:

“You’re awake. I saw you. Accompany me.”

Xue Xi was brave, but not that brave. This was her first time facing a real ghost since childhood; the yin energy blew directly onto her face, and she almost thought she was going to die the next second. Fortunately, the ghost didn’t seem to want her dead.

The NPC said, “Play a game with me.”

Xue Xi composed herself and asked, “Play what?”

“Chess (Go).”

Xue Xi nearly fainted with fright again, thinking to herself: How did I run into the supplemental rule so quickly?

Instance Specific Rule: If someone wants to play a game of Go with you, it is best not to refuse.

Xue Xi gritted her teeth and followed the NPC out of bed to the table. She saw that a Go board had appeared on the surface that had been empty before they slept. The NPC plopped down at the table, took a black stone, and placed it right in the center of the board. Then she looked up, staring at Xue Xi with a face full of anticipation.

Xue Xi… Xue Xi didn’t know how to play Go.

Thus, the two of them played five games in ten minutes. The record: 5–0.

Xue Xi wanted to cry but had no tears. She didn’t know Go, but she had read Dream of the Red Chamber; she knew Yingchun was someone who could play, and played well. She was secretly calculating the connection between this NPC and Yingchun when she saw the NPC push the board away, quitting.

“Your skill is too poor,” the NPC said.

Xue Xi apologized.

“I haven’t played enough, you must compensate me,” the NPC continued.

“How should I compensate you?”

“Play something else with me.”

“What?”

“Write poetry.”

“…”

Xue Xi… Xue Xi also didn’t know how to write poetry.

The NPC looked at the chicken-scratch handwriting on the paper, her brow furrowed: “I have never been well-versed in poetry and lyrics, but how can you write even worse than me?”

Xue Xi continued to apologize, her voice lacking confidence. The NPC stared at her for a few moments and then laughed, the corners of her mouth stretching to her ears.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “There is one last game.”

“What?”

“Hide and seek. If you don’t catch me before six o’clock tomorrow evening, you lose. You lost three games, if I’m not happy playing, I will hate you.”

An electronic voice rang out alongside the NPC’s trailing words—

Triggered Side Quest: Find *** before 6:00 PM

Success Reward: None

Failure Penalty: *’s Disgust

Quest Points: 20

Xue Xi’s heart suddenly began to pound wildly. The NPC left gracefully, but Xue Xi found that her limbs wouldn’t move, and her eyelids grew heavy… Her head slumped as if her neck had broken, and she fell asleep on the table.

Huainan Yue was sprinting through the courtyard clutching her high heels, silently cursing the rules.

…What do you mean “Do not mistake the golden pheasant for a person”?! That d*mn thing WAS a person!!!

Was she supposed to give herself a psychological suggestion? She had already tried to suggest it to herself countless times, but it was useless. That half-human, half-beast thing was still hot on her heels!

Worse, because she had made noise, the surrounding creatures—biological or otherwise, began to manifest in forms different from their original appearance. For instance, waist-high crickets, trees with long legs, three-eyed birds, and flying bricks and tiles all lunged toward her.

The surroundings were as dark as a polar night. She could almost feel the wind from a wing about to slap her back.

…Wait. Basic Rule 3: “When going out to relieve yourself at night, the dark shadow near the large rock is a golden pheasant. Do not mistake it for a person.” This rule was very strange. The other basic rules were broad, like what you couldn’t do at a certain time. This one alone fixed a specific location and a specific creature; its scope was too small.

For something so specific to be included in the basic rules was out of place. Unless—it was an extraordinary location. Perhaps a place where one could glimpse the core of the instance.

But the things behind her were far too aggressive now; she couldn’t stop no matter what. She was certain that given their level of madness, she would die the moment she stopped!

Huainan Yue’s eyes flickered. In a flash, she circled halfway along the courtyard wall and dashed toward the main building. Keeping her voice low, she said to the matron on duty at the door, “I’m not relieving myself. I came out to find a handkerchief I dropped.”

“Then please return quickly, Miss,” the matron yawned and said slowly.

As those raspy words fell, everything behind her vanished instantly. The tree trunks stood properly in place, the birds dozed in the trees, the crickets were buried in the grass, and the bricks and tiles sat quietly atop the wall. It was peaceful. As if nothing had ever happened.

…The gamble paid off.

This rule had a conditional constraint: relieving oneself. The medium was that matron. Tell the matron you’re relieving yourself, and Rule 3 triggers automatically. Otherwise, it doesn’t.

But Huainan Yue didn’t intend to quit while she was ahead. If that place really could touch the core of the instance…

Huainan Yue blinked softly. When she opened her eyes again, the moonlight cast a thin silver glow on her eyelashes. “But I want to relieve myself now,” she said softly to the matron.

This time, her luck was good. The shadow crouching by the rock was a genuine, high-quality golden pheasant—not a person, and no bizarre things came to chase her. It seemed there was something beneath the pheasant.

Huainan Yue squatted down, looked closer, and neatly fished the object out. It was a diary. No dates, only entries.

Woke up a bit early today. The osmanthus tree at the door has bloomed; it’s very fragrant. Siqi and I gathered some so I can thread flower-chains.

Today Her Highness made lantern riddles. Of all the sisters, I was the only one who didn’t guess right. But that’s fine; I have never been clever at such things.

Today Third Sister started a poetry club and invited the sisters to join. I don’t care for poetry and can’t write it well, but I didn’t want to dampen Third Sister’s spirits, so I went. I was given the task of setting the rhymes, it was quite interesting.

Read the Treatise on Response and Retribution again today. It is truly good.

Had a headache this morning. I felt as if something was about to burst out from my heart, but I was too lazy to call a doctor. Siqi said I’m probably just tired lately.

I look at myself in the mirror and only feel that I look less and less like myself.

I saw her. She is different from me; she is bright and must be first in everything. If you ask me, that’s not good—it’s so exhausting.

I have to leave.

I have to leave. I don’t want to go. If only I were her, then I could be brave enough to fight for it.

Forget it. It is fate.

Is it really fate? I don’t believe it.

I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it I don’t believe it I don’t believe it I don’t believe it I don’t believe it I don’t believe it I don’t

The diary stopped abruptly there. It belonged to Yingchun.

In the original novel, Yingchun never fought or grabbed for things. Whenever she encountered something awkward, she would just smile and let it pass. But her ending was tragic—her father sold her to the Sun family for five thousand taels of silver, and she was beaten to death by her husband. She was not even seventeen when she died.

The long string of “I don’t believe it” at the end was written in a brownish-red ink, like dried blood, which had seeped through the paper and stained the next page.

After thinking it over, Huainan Yue placed it back where it was. She walked toward the side room. After a while, she suddenly turned around. Squinting, she saw the golden pheasant and the diary disappear together.

Disappeared… Will it refresh?

Huainan Yue arched an eyebrow, turned back, and walked up to the matron while carrying her heels. “I want to relieve myself again.”

Matron: “…”

The matron’s lips moved, but she ultimately said nothing, waving her hand to signify that she should go ahead. Huainan Yue suspected the matron thought she was high-maintenance.

This time, the shadow by the rock was a person, not a golden pheasant. That person and the group of mutated creatures lunged at her. Familiar with the routine now, she let that person and the mismatched, unlucky things chase her in a circle, eventually rounding back to the matron. “I’m not relieving myself; I’m looking for a handkerchief.”

Matron: “…”

The things disappeared. Huainan Yue repeated the trick three or four times, resulting in being chased around the courtyard three or four times. The golden pheasant did not reappear, and the diary did not refresh again.

That diary probably won’t refresh tonight, Huainan Yue thought.

The sun rose high. Rabbit woke up leisurely and felt quite puzzled. “Did nothing happen last night?”

Xue Xi’s voice drifted ghost-like from the corner of the room: “You slept well, while I ran into all the trouble.”

Rabbit rubbed her eyes and asked, “What happened?”

Huainan Yue sat at the foot of the bed, listening to Xue Xi recount the events. The house and the yard were unusually quiet; all the NPCs had vanished without a trace. While Huainan Yue caught the key points in Xue Xi’s story, she tilted her head to listen for movement nearby.

But there was no sound.

Xue Xi called out “Sister Moon,” bringing Huainan Yue back to her senses.

“Sister Moon, where do you think that ghost will hide?” Xue Xi looked miserable. “This place is so big and there are so many rooms. Where am I supposed to look?”

Xue Xi felt both admiration for this “older sister” and a slight sense of keeping her at arm’s length. The sister’s actions seemed to look out for people, but when she looked at you with half-lidded eyes, the gaze leaking through her lashes always made one feel that she saw right through the boundary of truth and falsehood. It was a bit frightening. Hard to get truly close to.

Huainan Yue rubbed the bed frame. Instead of reaching a conclusion immediately, she asked something seemingly unrelated.

“You said just now… that was a ghost?”

“Yeah. Pupils that big, so little white in the eyes, a face that white—definitely not a normal person.”

“So…” Huainan Yue said, “She is very special.”

Xue Xi didn’t understand, but Rabbit had a sudden realization. “Oh, right! All the other NPCs look like normal humans. Only the thing Xue Xi ran into last night was special.”

“Could it be because NPCs mutate at night?” Xue Xi was a bit hesitant.

“No,” Huainan Yue said in a deep voice. “I went out last night. The matron on duty in front of the main house still looked like a normal person.”

“Oh…” Xue Xi was lost in thought.

“Think about it. In an instance, what does ‘special’ mean?” Huainan Yue said word by word.

“It means… important?” Xue Xi met her gaze.

Huainan Yue nodded slightly, not continuing further.

Important, loves Go, bad at poetry.

It sounded a lot like… Yingchun.