Stepping in for the Heroine to Crush the Protagonist Group [Transmigration] - Chapter 15

Hu Li placed Gu Sheng on a desk, saying, “There are no cushions or chairs here, so you’ll have to make do for now.”

With that, she pulled out the red jade hairpin from her sleeve, flipped her hand to transform it into a long sword, gripped it, and slowly shifted her steps. She used the tip of the sword to nudge the door latch open.

Standing outside was a woman, holding the hand of a child about seven years old. Fear was evident in her eyes as she looked at Hu Li.

Hu Li noticed this and frowned slightly. After a moment of hesitation, she withdrew her sword.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

The woman shielded the child behind her and explained, “Sir, we are farmers from down the mountain. We came up this morning to dig bamboo shoots, but we saw the sky turning bad, and it would take time to go back down, so we hoped to take shelter from the rain in your yard.”

Hearing this, Hu Li glanced at the bamboo basket slung over the woman’s arm and moved aside. “Come in.”

The woman quickly said, “Aye,” repeatedly thanking her. She led the child into the bamboo house.

“Mom, I’m scared,” the child said, noticing Gu Sheng sitting on the desk. He gripped the woman’s clothing tightly, refusing to let go.

The woman also saw Gu Sheng. Seeing the black robe, she swallowed, her trembling hand patting the child’s shoulder as she comforted him. “Huzi, don’t be afraid. These two esteemed elders are good people.”

Gu Sheng looked up at the woman, pulled her hood lower, and turned her back.

Hu Li walked over, realizing she hadn’t consulted Gu Sheng before letting people in, and felt instantly guilty. “Elder Qi, I was thoughtless to let them in without asking.”

Gu Sheng closed her eyes and sighed. “They’re just hiding from the rain. It’s fine.”

[Interrupting Mouth Mouth’s moment, Mouth Mouth must mind.]

[Mouth Mouth is definitely angry that the Fox Demon let people in casually.]

[Fox Demon, you’ve gone soft!]

[Mouth Mouth says: A perfectly good private moment is gone just like that. Mouth truly can’t.]

[Mouth Mouth is actually quite solitary. Mouth probably doesn’t want to interact with anyone other than the Fox Demon.]

[Fox Demon, quickly comfort your Mouth Mouth, or I will step in.]

******

It was another deluge of Mouth Mouths. Hu Li didn’t know what sudden fit the book reviews had thrown to produce so many censored words.

But she grasped the general idea: her casually letting people in must have angered her boss, and she needed to proactively accept the punishment.

“Elder Qi.” Hu Li stepped forward, intending to say a few more words in her defense.

But just then, the woman beside them suddenly spoke. “This esteemed elder must have sprained their ankle. Conveniently, I have safflower oil on me. Let me rub it for you.”

“Safflower oil? You carry that when you go up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots?” Hu Li grew suspicious.

The woman smiled and replied, “Elder, you wouldn’t understand. The mountain is full of uneven terrain, and it’s easy to sprain an ankle. So, my man always packs a small bottle of safflower oil for me before I go up.”

“I see,” Hu Li nodded. This time, she was smarter and asked Gu Sheng, “Elder Qi, what do you think?”

Gu Sheng rested her hand on the desk, pursed her lips in indecision for a moment, then looked at Hu Li and said, “You rub it for me.”

With that, she turned her head away and lifted her foot.

Hu Li’s gaze lingered on the suspended foot for a moment, then she looked at the woman, formulating how to borrow the safflower oil.

The woman smiled, took a small porcelain bottle from her bamboo basket, and placed it in Hu Li’s hand. “Elder, please use it.”

Hu Li took the bottle and quickly bowed her thanks. “Thank you, Big Sister.”

The woman helped Hu Li up. “It’s nothing. I should be thanking you two elders for lending us a place to shelter from the rain.”

Hu Li scratched her head bashfully, thanked the woman again, and then swiftly squatted down, placing Gu Sheng’s foot on her thigh.

She pulled down Gu Sheng’s shoe and sock slightly, revealing the red and swollen ankle. Then, she pulled out the jade stopper on the porcelain bottle, poured the safflower oil into her palm, and rubbed her hands together.

Everything ready, Hu Li carefully reached out, held Gu Sheng’s ankle, and began to gently rub it.

Gu Sheng bit her lip against the pain, preventing any sound from escaping, but the slight tremor in her foot let Hu Li know something was wrong. She lightened her touch.

After a few minutes, the swollen bruises had noticeably gone down. Hu Li released her hold and pulled Gu Sheng’s shoe and sock back up.

By this time, Gu Sheng was asleep, leaning against the wall. The woman, holding her child, was also dozing with half-closed eyes.

Outside the bamboo house, the ink-like rain had started falling steadily at some unknown point. The pattering on the roof strung together a soothing lullaby.

Hu Li walked out of the bamboo house, extending her hands past the eaves, letting the ink rain wash away the sticky safflower oil.

With the oil washed away, Hu Li turned around, her gaze settling on Gu Sheng. A thought suddenly popped into her head: If I were to lift Elder Qi’s hood right now and see her face, would I be free from her threats later?

As she thought this, her feet felt glued to the floor; she couldn’t move.

Attacking an elder who still uses priority seating on the bus. Hu Li was genuinely hesitant.

Elder, Hu Li’s thoughts suddenly paused here.

She looked down at her own hands, remembering the sensation of rubbing Gu Sheng’s ankle earlier. Her brow furrowed, and suspicion rose in her heart.

The smoothness and tautness of Elder Qi’s skin didn’t feel like that of an elderly person; it felt like a young woman’s.

Connecting this to the earlier strangeness of the book reviews, Hu Li’s mind raced, trying to fill in the missing Mouth Mouths. But just then, Gu Sheng suddenly called her, interrupting her thoughts.

“Little girl, help me up. I want to watch the rain too,” she said.

Hu Li walked into the bamboo house and helped her up. “Elder Qi, your ankle isn’t well. You shouldn’t walk around.”

Gu Sheng insisted, “It rarely rains in this painting. I’ve missed it every time I’ve come here. I can’t miss it now.”

She held Hu Li’s elbow, hopped down from the desk, and pulled Hu Li outside.

Hu Li had no choice but to support her and walk to the outside of the bamboo house to watch the rain with her.

“This rain is lovely,” Gu Sheng said, extending her hand to catch a few drops. Her mind inadvertently drifted to the past.

It hadn’t rained on Tingfeng Cliff for over a decade. This current ink-colored rain somewhat made up for that regret.

“Little girl,” Gu Sheng turned back to Hu Li. “Do the Fox Clans have rain like this?”

Fox Clan. Hu Li’s memories about that place were sparse to begin with, let alone a common, unmemorable rain like this.

So, she simply told the truth. “I haven’t seen it.”

Gu Sheng was silent for a moment, then added, “When I was young, I had a playmate named Ning Ning. She absolutely loved the rain, but sadly, it was difficult for it to rain where she lived, even once every few years.”

Ning Ning… Sister Ning Ning.

Hu Li recalled the dream from before, mused on it for a second, but dismissed it as mere coincidence.

“Then she would surely be very happy to see this rain,” Hu Li said casually.

Gu Sheng’s grip on Hu Li’s hand tightened slightly. After a while, she lowered her eyes, her voice wistful and melancholic. “Perhaps.”

It’s not Li Li. Gu Sheng thought to herself, then told Hu Li, “I’m tired. Let’s go back inside.”

Hu Li agreed and helped her back into the house.

The ink rain was fierce. It didn’t let up until the sky was completely dark. In fact, it only intensified, becoming so heavy it felt suffocating.

Hu Li rummaged through the cabinet in the bamboo house and found several worn-out prayer mats, distributing them for everyone to sit on.

“Mom, Huzi is scared,” Huzi whispered, hiding in the woman’s arms, his eyes tightly shut as he listened to the howling wind outside.

The woman gently patted his back, telling him a story, trying to distract him.

However, the wind was too loud and the night too dark. Huzi continued to tremble with fear.

Seeing this, Hu Li thought that some light might make Huzi feel better. She took out a tinder stick from her storage bag, preparing to light it.

Gu Sheng had good eyesight and noticed Hu Li’s action. She warned her via spiritual transmission: “No open flames are allowed inside the painting.”

Hu Li paused her action of lighting the fire and put the tinder stick away.

The night was long. Though Huzi was scared, the woman soon managed to lull him to sleep.

But even after Huzi fell asleep, the wind and rain outside didn’t subside at all. In the latter half of the night, a tremendous “Boom!” of thunder tore through the sky.

Hu Li’s keen ears were startled. She sat up from the mat, sweating profusely.

Thunderous nights were always difficult, and the Fox Clan’s sensitive hearing magnified the sound infinitely.

Left with no choice, Hu Li covered her ears and buried her head in her lap, learning from the ostrich to briefly escape reality.

Gu Sheng was also startled awake by the thunder. She leaned against the wall, and Hu Li’s appearance was reflected in her deep black eyes, which were as calm as stagnant water.

[Mouth Mouth is staring at her wife.]

[Mouth Mouth killed Mouth Mouth Mouth and Shampoo (He Shiqing), but won’t touch the Fox Demon. This must be true love.]

[Fox Demon: Thunder scary, Mouth Mouth hug.]

[Victory CP, locked forever.]

[Li Mouth CP, locked forever.]

[Is Mouth Mouth unable? It’s a thunderstorm night; the atmosphere has been set. Hurry up, up, up!]

[In the flower market, this is the sign to get in the car.]

[Mouth Mouth, I’m begging you, Mouth Mouth the Fox Demon!]

[I ship the Fox Demon as the top, and I just want to see the Fox Demon cry and beg Mouth Mouth to Mouth Mouth her.]

[Crying-top is the GOAT!]

[I want to see the Fox Demon use her tail to Mouth Mouth the other person.]

*******

Gu Sheng’s gaze lingered on the string of Mouth Mouths. She raised an eyebrow, then waved her hand, and all the Mouth Mouths vanished, replaced by the complete sentences.

These strange captions had appeared a month ago, right after she finished her secluded cultivation. Initially, she thought she had suffered a deviation in her cultivation to be seeing such things.

But later, she found that these captions just liked to comment on her from time to time, posing no actual harm.

Furthermore, she learned from these captions that she was actually the Female Protagonist in a book. Although she wasn’t sure what a dog-blood abusive novel was, based on the captions, she got a glimpse of the trajectory of her life and the harm that Xie Qingyang and the others would inflict upon her.

However, she had already experienced these events countless times and knew them by heart.

The unexpected element, however, was Hu Li.

Hu Li seemed to also be seeing these captions and had made changes based on them.

But this, in Gu Sheng’s eyes, was a threat. She was afraid Hu Li would use these captions to learn everything she had done, so she had set a trap to lock Hu Li in the Floating Life Pagoda.

Unexpectedly, Hu Li’s behavior in the Pagoda was peculiar in every way. Thus, she temporarily changed her mind. After finding a way to erase everything about her from the captions, she released Hu Li for a test.

It was a pity, though, that she had gambled incorrectly. Hu Li was still the same Hu Li, not the person she was waiting for.

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