Homebody Fairy Volume 1 Chapter 4

Inside the palace yard was a giant locust tree. Linlin adored the b.u.mpy and uneven shape of the tree. Shishi told her that the tree had been around since ancient times. It had survived all these years, and supported half of Heaven.

The tree had witnessed the rise and fall of Heaven, happiness and sorrow, partings and reunions, love and hate . . .  Every time Linlin stood in front of it, she felt herself become merely a tiny being and full of things she wanted to tell the tree.

As if telling herself those distant memories that she had forgotten in history.

When Linlin arrived at the sleep palace, she squirted the itchy water on the Heavenly King’s nose.

Screams rang out, waking up nearby neighbors, the sound as on-time as a rooster’s crowing.

Linlin’s itchy water made Youqun miserable. He started sneezing the minute he woke up and then didn’t stop all morning. When he was about to get angry, Linlin would kneel and apologize, saying, “Please forgive me, Heavenly King! I had no choice!”

. . . What was he supposed to do?

Heavenly King had to be the bigger person here, and since she already apologized, he would only suffer a little.

Youqun wanted to know, however, which of the Nine-Level G.o.ds a.s.signed the job to Linlin.

There were few G.o.ds around who were older than him, from the ancient times. They mostly just drank tea and played cards these days. Even though he was new as the Heavenly King, he knew they wouldn’t interfere in his affairs, so why send someone to him now?

Was there something going on?

“Do you know how amazing the outside world is?”

Linlin’s sudden statement pulled Youqun back from his inner musing.

Youqun’s ink brush pen shook and the ink soaked through the paper, making a big blob of ink. He couldn’t even focus on the ruined paper as he looked up at Linlin.

Linlin stood straight, with one hand behind her back, holding an old book as she read aloud. “The flowers, the trees, the gra.s.s, the birds chirping, rolling clouds . . .  Oh! How marvelous is the outside world!”

“If you only stayed inside your own world, how would you see the pleasurable things outside?”

Youqun stared at Linlin as she flipped the pages and read through the whole book; every word was on how amazing the outside world was, so if he didn’t venture outside, his life would be wasted . . .

So what?

Youqun still didn’t want to go out.

“So, Heavenly King, do you now feel like a frog at the bottom of a well? Do you want to see what’s out there?” Linlin looked at him expectantly, her fingers tightly clutching the book.

Youqun was sympathetic to Linlin for having taken on this job . . .

But he still shook his head. “You forgot I had a window above my bed. I could see anything that happened outside. Why would I waste my time walking around outside? It’ll be tiring and I’d have to greet people. Why bother?”

Youqun paused, seemingly trying to hold back before finally blurting, “Did you write this book? What is all this nonsense?”

Linlin would have denied, but she resisted. There was no purpose in arguing with him who had written the book. She continued the conversation.

“Unless . . .” Linlin squinted her eyes, examining Youqun. “. . . Unless Heavenly King has a social anxiety disorder?”

Youqun smiled.

He could use the excuse.

He was about to start ranting and fire Linlin for disrespecting the Heavenly King when she kneeled and kowtowed. “Forgive me, I know not what I speak!”

How could I mind if you act like this?! Youqun gritted his teeth.

How would this fairy know to use these tricks? Who taught her?

How did this fairy even end up in Heaven? He had never heard of this kind of fairy before. Had the Nine-Level G.o.ds created her just to mess with him?

Youqun felt uneasy as he considered, but he couldn't tell exactly what was wrong. He put down his brush pen and looked at the still-kneeling Linlin.

Hair on the back of Linlin’s neck stood up.

Being stared at by the Heavenly King made her feel as if she would be kicked out of Heaven soon, after being stripped of her fairy status and banished to be a mortal.

Just as Linlin was about to collapse under Youqun’s gaze, he coughed and said, “You can get up now.”

Linlin took a deep breath and got up.