Love from the Male Protagonist's Harem

LFTMPH Chapter 74-Wanting To Return Home Part 3

Translated by Snowfall77

Jianfeng-

Pale moonlight shone on drifting snow, being blown back and forth by icy gales as a cold crow lowly whistled in a tree.

Ye Ze was dreaming.

He dreamt that he was huddled in underbrush, body shivering, while the sound of a young girl’s naïve and innocent laughter rang in his ears.

Giggle, giggle……

“Mother, is this alright?”

Raising his eyes, Ye Ze looked towards the very familiar doorway.  There, in the branches of the old banyan tree, sat a girl dressed in white.  Small silver bells hung on her ankles and the swirling shadows of the tree branches covered her face.  Ye Ze couldn’t see her clearly, but he could hear her laughter tinkling.

But there was also a pool of blood under the banyan tree where lay two people.  Two people Ye Ze knew, knew down to his bones.

They had raised him.  One had been the head of the Ye household, tall and strict, who’d taught Ye Ze to be a person of indomitable spirit.  The other had been gentle and kind, never speaking grandiosely, but always holding Ye Ze’s hand, walking him through the garden to show him the newly bloomed peonies.

And now they just lying there, silent.

""

A slender woman dressed all in black stood by them, innumerable bronze-masked demon puppets behind her, angrily roaring, drowning out a black dog’s howls of grief.  That black dog had been Ye Ze’s.  When he’d been six or seven, the black dog had always been by Ye Ze’s side, following him everywhere——

“Where did that feral dog come from?  Why is it making so much noise?  Hasn’t it ever seen killing before?  Too annoying.”

Despite seeming a little aggrieved, the small girl was brimming with innocent excitement: “Mother, mother, if you’re going to silence them, does that mean you have to kill all of them, even a dog?”

The woman below glanced up at the girl sitting in the tree, the expression on her bloody face affectionate: “Yes, my little darling, that is correct.”

Gesturing her hand downwards, the woman’s face became cruel.

“It is correct……that not even a dog should be left alive.”

The demon puppets’ roaring grew even more excited and savage!

So, as the night wore on, accompanied by the howling of wild dogs, more than two hundred people of the Ye Family were murdered by demon puppets.  A nightmare Ye Ze could never forget.

“Ah……mother.”  The small girl chuckled, turning around to look in Ye Ze’s direction.  “Over there, isn’t that a fish that escaped the net?”

Ye Ze abruptly opened his eyes!

Outside the window the moon glimmered, just like the bloodstained moon on that night, sending its light into Ye Ze’s hut.

When he touched his forehead, Ye Ze found that, sure enough, it was covered with cold sweat.

Letting the moisture dry off his hands, Ye Ze slowly clenched his fists, nails biting into his palms until he almost bled.

= =

When Xia Ge woke up, it was almost evening.  Outside the window, the sun was setting in the west.

Staring blankly, it took her a while to realize she was in her new Danfeng lodgings, with her sickle leaning in a corner about two meters away.

Scenes from the black market flashing through her mind like a movie, her final memory was right before the incense had taken affect.

——What’d happened, why was she in her room?

Xia Ge asked the system: “How did I get back?

System: [……Someone Brought You Back.]

Xia Ge: “Who?”

Before the system could answer, Xia Ge heard the soft ‘squeak’ of her door being pushed opened.

Turning her head, Xia Ge saw a young lady in red and white Danfeng clothes standing in the doorway, black eyes gazing at Xia Ge with an expression Xia Ge couldn’t read.

System: [Hmm, That Person Is Both Far Away From You And Right In Front Of Your Eyes.]

“……Senior Sister?”

Xia Ge felt like her brain kept crashing on her: “You brought……you’re looking for me?”

Gu Peijiu nodded: “Yes, I want you to come help me organize.”

Completely nonchalant, as if nothing had happened.

Xia Ge glanced down at herself: “Oh, right……let me change my clothes first?”

“Mmm.”

Giving Xia Ge a calm look, Gu Peijiu closed the door to wait outside.

Taking clothes out of her silver ring, Xia Ge continued her conversation with the system: “What did you mean just now?  Senior Sister is the one who brought me back?”

System: [Yes, Literally What I Said.]

A little pause, and the system’s tone was permeated with malice: [Oh, By The Way, She Has Discovered That You Are A Girl Dressing As A Boy.]

Xia Ge suddenly started quivering: “What do you mean?!  Impossible——”

System: [Believe Me Or Not, But You Had Better Be Careful From Now On.]

Xia Ge felt like she’d been invited to a ‘Hongmen banquet.’  The guest was about to get killed by the host.

While the system sounded like it couldn’t care less: [So What If You Were Discovered?  It’s Not Like She’s Going To Eat You.  Besides, At Least It Wasn’t Ye Ze, The One You’ve Been Deceiving For Years, Who Found You Out.]

Xia Ge supposed that made sense, although it still didn’t sound quite right though……

Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, Xia Ge paused.

The person in the mirror had clean, clear skin, the makeup from before washed off.  With a red ribbon tying back the black hair, Xia Ge somehow managed to look energetic and polished.

But that red ribbon……Xia Ge stared at it for a long time.

The red ribbon tried playing dead, however Xia Ge was not to be fooled.  Eventually the ribbon couldn’t pretend anymore and shook itself uneasily.

“So it really is you.”

Eyebrows twitching, Xia Ge considered both the system’s words earlier and the little Yimei currently wrapped around her hair.  Xia Ge wasn’t stupid; she now had a pretty good idea who that cloaked person at the black market had been.

“Are you about ready?”  The voice outside the door was aloof.

“……yes, almost there.”

Xia Ge rubbed her forehead, then walked out the door, immediately following Gu Peijiu to her study.

鸿门宴 [hóng mén yàn]

a dinner at Hongmen where treachery was planned; Hongmen banquet; a dinner party intended to kill the guests