The Demon Lord is My Dark Moonlight [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 28

Ultimately, Shen Chigui had to drag and carry the girl out of the courtyard. She didn’t even know why she was doing it. But when she finally peeled Gu Jinli off her back and saw that look of utter, sparkling trust, her annoyance strangely vanished.

How weird. I’m… acting strange today.

“Xiao Wu!”

Gu Jinli didn’t even know how she’d been gotten out, but she was currently leaning against the pear tree, gasping for breath, when a familiar voice called out. She looked over.

It was Nangong Jinyao. She was carrying a shovel she’d found somewhere, panting as she arrived. “I found this! Now we can get in!”

“Tch.” Shen Chigui saw the shovel and immediately knew what the other girl had been doing. She smirked, her voice dripping with mockery. “You’re quite late. We just decided to wait until morning to go back in.”

Nangong Jinyao: “?”

“Why wait until morning?” She looked at Gu Jinli in confusion.

“W-w-we… w-w-we…” Gu Jinli didn’t know how to explain, nor did she understand why Shen Chigui was being so hostile to Jinyao.

“We just went in. We didn’t find anything in the dark; we need the daylight for a proper search,” Shen Chigui interjected, showing zero politeness. “Like I said, you’re late.”

The mockery was palpable, practically calling Jinyao useless to her face. Jinyao had spent a lot of time searching for tools, dodging villagers and sneaking into yards to find that shovel. Now, it seemed she’d wasted her time.

“I see.” Jinyao’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the shovel. She looked at the two of them, opened her mouth to speak, but ultimately stayed silent.

Who could she blame for her own tardiness and dawdling?

She claimed she wanted to help, yet in the end, she had done nothing…

“It’s… it’s u-u-useful!”

Sensing Nangong Jinyao’s dejection, Gu Jinli quickly stepped forward and took the shovel, smiling. “A-a-after dawn, we can u-u-use it to p-pry the lock.”

After it’s light out, we can use this shovel to break the lock, so no one has to climb trees anymore! So it is useful! That was what Gu Jinli meant to say, but since her mouth wasn’t cooperating, she could only struggle to squeeze out those few words.

Even so, Nangong Jinyao seemed to understand.

“Xiao Wu! Thank you!” This was perhaps the first time she had felt such direct warmth from Gu Jinli. That instinctive bit of comfort made her heart flutter slightly.

“…Boring.”

Shen Chigui felt that Gu Jinli’s smile was inexplicably eyesore. She felt a wave of irritation, though she didn’t know why. She turned around abruptly and walked away, looking as if her patience had reached its limit.

“L-l-let’s go.”

Unaware of the lead’s displeasure, Gu Jinli pulled Nangong Jinyao along to follow.

******

Not daring to stay in the village for too long, the three of them returned to the mountains and found a large rock to sit on. It was only then that Gu Jinli realized something was off with Shen Chigui.

“W-w-why are you s-s-sitting so far away?!” Gu Jinli patted the space beside her and waved at the lead. “There’s r-r-room here.”

She and Nangong Jinyao were sitting on a flat rock large enough for three people. Gu Jinli didn’t understand why the girl insisted on standing against a tree when sitting down would be much more comfortable.

“Leave me alone.”

Just glancing over at them made Shen Chigui feel restless and irritable. She didn’t know what was wrong with her, but seeing their faces side-by-side made her feel a surge of unprovoked anger.

“Xiao Qi, come have something to eat!” Nangong Jinyao had picked some fruit on the way up and was now wiping them with her hem.

Her call received no response. Shen Chigui didn’t utter a word; instead, she nimbly scaled a nearby tree and vanished into the foliage.

Nangong Jinyao: “…” Am I really that disliked? Why does Xiao Qi always treat me so coldly?

“G-g-give it to me.” Gu Jinli took the fruit from Jinyao’s hand to break the awkward silence and stood up.

Her protagonist, her responsibility to coax—even if she didn’t know why Shen Chigui was throwing a tantrum again. But after the help she’d received today, Gu Jinli’s view of the girl had shifted slightly. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have bothered!

“X-x-xiao Qi.”

Holding the fruit, Gu Jinli looked up at Shen Chigui perched in the tree. “E-e-eat some fruit.”

“…”

This person is like a ghost that won’t leave. Shen Chigui looked down, her gaze sweeping over the girl below. Her turbulent emotions flared up again. Looking at the oblivious Gu Jinli, her mood soured instantly.

“I’m not eating.” She looked coldly at the fruit in the girl’s palm, her voice icy. “And don’t call me Xiao Qi.”

Don’t call her Xiao Qi? Then what?

“Sh-sh-Shen Chigui?” Gu Jinli tested the name out, then blurted: “B-b-but didn’t you s-s-say you h-h-hated it?”

She remembered just a few hours ago the lead had expressed total disdain for that name!

“…Noisy.” Shen Chigui’s eyes flickered as she looked away. “Just don’t call me Xiao Qi.” That perfunctory nickname made her feel like she was being treated as an afterthought.

“Okay, i-i-if you w-w-want.” Gu Jinli’s eyes sparkled with a hint of amusement. She thought she understood what the lead was being prickly about. Without her memories, this girl was actually quite cute. “I’ll… s-s-satisfy you.”

“…”

What does she mean “satisfy” me? The phrasing sounded strangely ambiguous, but Shen Chigui couldn’t deny that her mood had suddenly lightened. How strange… why am I feeling better? Does this person really affect me this much?

“Do you want to come up?”

The question slipped out of Shen Chigui’s mouth before she could think. The moment the words hung in the air, she stiffened. She didn’t know why she had asked, but it was too late to take it back.

“C-c-can I?” Gu Jinli, unaware of the lead’s internal struggle, simply thought the girl was finally ready for some fruit.

“…” Why did I ask?! Muttering to herself in annoyance, Shen Chigui nonetheless jumped down from the branch and bent her back slightly in front of Gu Jinli.

“Heh.” Seeing the gesture, Gu Jinli knew exactly what it meant. Drawing from her previous experience, she promptly hopped on.

“…”

And so, Shen Chigui found herself carrying the girl back up into the tree. By the time she realized what had happened, they were already sitting side-by-side on a thick branch. Truly strange… that’s the second time now.

“H-h-here.” Gu Jinli pressed the fruit into the lead’s lap, feeling quite pleased. Between the escape and the investigation, she hadn’t had a moment to just sit and relax. This was a rare, peaceful pause.

“What is your name?”

Shen Chigui looked down at the fruit. She didn’t actually want them; she felt like throwing them away. Yet, her hands stayed still. She turned to Gu Jinli and asked the question out of the blue. If her own name was Shen Chigui, what about this girl? She must have one too.

“M-m-me?” Gu Jinli was pleasantly surprised by the lead’s curiosity. She smiled warmly. “G-g-gu J-j-jinli.”

Gu Jinli. Jinli.

“…” The name felt hauntingly familiar. Shen Chigui suspected they must have been close before. But another thing piqued her interest. “What does it mean?”

Meanings? This was a tough one. Her name was given to her by her parents; she’d once wondered why her loving parents gave her such a mournful-sounding name. But as she grew up, she stopped caring. Now, put on the spot, she was at a loss.

“I-i-it probably m-m-means… not w-w-wanting to s-s-separate.” She scrambled to invent a meaning on the fly.

“Is that so.” Shen Chigui didn’t miss the hesitation in the girl’s eyes. She deduced that Gu Jinli’s name probably had a tragic origin, much like her own. She grouped Gu Jinli’s current stammering with the previous hesitation she’d shown when explaining “Shen Chigui.”

“But I like your name,” Shen Chigui said, her expression neutral.

“Th-th-thanks.”

Liking her name while hating her own? That was a form of validation, surely. Gu Jinli felt happy; her eyes brightened as she looked at the lead. She realized that a memory-less protagonist was unexpectedly easy to handle! Her temper was better, and her aura was softer. If the “real” Shen Chigui were like this, “conquering” her wouldn’t be such a chore.

“…”

The intense, bright gaze was as obvious as a searchlight in the dark. It made the naturally sensitive Shen Chigui feel extremely self-conscious. She looked away, staring into the distance. She noticed there was no moon tonight.

Crunch—

Shen Chigui began eating the fruit, one after another, rapidly. Gu Jinli watched her with a smile. “I th-th-thought you d-d-didn’t eat.”

Thinking back, this was the first time she had seen the lead eat anything. Even when they were tied up, Shen Chigui had refused all of Nangong Jinyao’s food.

“…” Shen Chigui froze, a piece of fruit halfway to her mouth. She swallowed stiffly and remained silent.

It was weird. She didn’t actually want to eat these fruits. Normally, if someone pushed them into her lap, she’d throw them on the ground. But for some reason, this time, she had accepted.

It wasn’t that she had “accepted” it, exactly. She just couldn’t bring herself to throw it away in front of this person.

So she kept it, and later, almost without realizing it, she ate it.

Her heart was in a mess, and her emotions felt untethered. She was nervous, she was being awkward—but why? Shen Chigui didn’t understand. But she knew with absolute certainty that it had everything to do with Gu Jinli.

Looking back, ever since meeting this person, she had been doing things entirely out of character. Investigating together, carrying her up trees, and now, inexplicably accepting food from her.

Everything, piece by piece.

Simply because it was Gu Jinli. It was food she brought; it was food Gu Jinli gave her. That was the only reason she didn’t toss it.

Gu Jinli was different. Shen Chigui suddenly realized this.

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