Chapter 38: Little Stars and Big Gorillas

Su Liyue silently echoed her mentor’s parting words, a faint sigh escaping her as three imaginary black lines descended her forehead.

‘Now, even her mentor was in on it…’ she thought.

“So, Yueyue, there’s truly nothing left for you two to hide now, is there?” Mu Wanqing chirped, her large eyes blinking with an air of complete innocence.

Su Liyue could only offer a silent ellipsis in response.

“Still, just as you said, Ye Xingchen makes for a perfectly suitable shield,” Mu Wanqing continued.

“Given your popularity at the academy, suitors like Xiao Qicai are surely just the tip of the iceberg, aren’t they? All those other admirers must be practically chomping at the bit.

After all, who would want to see their goddess snatched away by a ‘study-hating slacker’ who spends all their time holed up in the alchemy lab?”

‘So, the good cabbage is being rooted up by a pig?’ Su Liyue mused, a wry thought bubbling up.

Setting aside the fact that this ‘pig’ was actually impossibly powerful, the crucial point was that the pig was her! What was wrong with her rooting herself?

“Cabbage and… pig?” Mu Wanqing asked, her expression a picture of bewilderment.

“It means… a beauty falling for an oddball, a waste of good resources.”

“Oh! So it’s like ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ the story you told me once!” Mu Wanqing exclaimed, a light of understanding dawning in her eyes.

“Goddamn ‘Beauty and the Beast’!” Su Liyue nearly shouted. “Why not ‘Beauty and King Kong’ instead?”

“Your powers of comprehension… I’m utterly speechless.”

“The main thing is, with so many male suitors, can your Xingchen truly handle them all?” Mu Wanqing pressed on.

“Hold on! ‘Male creatures’?” Su Liyue’s eyes widened in alarm. “You haven’t included non-humans in that count, have you? I couldn’t possibly possess that much charm!”

“Just look at my Jiuwu…”

“Stop!” Su Liyue quickly clapped a hand over her best friend’s mouth. “Jiuwu is female! Don’t spout such nonsense!”

She spared a quick glance for Jiuwu, relieved to find that the phoenix didn’t seem offended.

Mu Wanqing nodded vigorously, and the moment Su Liyue released her, she immediately pressed,

“But isn’t a certain Xiao still watching you two from outside? What if, as soon as class ends, he—”

“Relax,” Su Liyue reassured her with a dismissive wave of her hand. “That ‘stingy talent’ (TL Note: A pun on Xiao Qicai’s name, where ‘Qicai’ sounds like ‘qicai’ meaning ‘stingy talent’) isn’t exactly human, and besides, our mentor already escorted him away.”

“Escorted away? When did that happen?” Mu Wanqing narrowed her eyes, a suspicious glint within them. “And how exactly do you know?”

“Uh… Ye Xingchen told me,” Su Liyue mumbled.

Su Liyue secretly wiped a bead of sweat from her brow, having nearly let the truth slip.

“After all, he’s our knight in shining armor, keeping a close eye on that ‘stingy talent’ for us.”

“In that case, your little star (TL Note: ‘Xiao Xingxing,’ meaning ‘little star,’ also sounds like ‘Xiao Xingxing,’ meaning ‘little gorilla’) seems quite reliable after all!”

“Of course he is… Wait! Could you please stop calling him ‘little star’? It always makes me think of that giant gorilla that swats down airplanes with a single slap…”

“But didn’t you just call him that yourself a moment ago?”

“That was a slip of the tongue! A complete slip of the tongue! Just call him Xingchen!”

“So, Yueyue… you’re actually jealous, aren’t you?” Mu Wanqing asked, her eyes twinkling as a cunning smile suddenly played upon her lips.

“Goddamn jealous!” Su Liyue nearly leaped out of her seat.

‘Now I’m jealous of myself again?’ she wondered. ‘What kind of preposterous development is this?’

“I recall you used to sing me lullabies before bed, didn’t you?”

Mu Wanqing suddenly began humming, mimicking Su Liyue’s voice.

“‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are~’ That song was actually about Ye Xingchen, wasn’t it?”

“Huh?” Su Liyue’s eyes widened in surprise.

She had indeed sung that song, but what connection did it possibly have to Ye Xingchen?

“No, that song was about the starry sky above my hometown…”

“Yueyue, aren’t you and Ye Xingchen childhood sweethearts?” Mu Wanqing asked, tilting her head. “Doesn’t that mean your hometowns are the same place?”

“Uh… that’s certainly true,” Su Liyue mumbled, reluctantly admitting the point.

After all, whether in this life or her previous one, her hometown had always been the same place.

“When I was a child, I often went to the back mountain with Ye Xingchen to gaze at the stars. The night sky there was truly beautiful, though I could never spot the familiar twelve constellations…”

“The twelve constellations?” Mu Wanqing pressed, her curiosity piqued.

“Yes, like Pisces, Aries, Virgo, Sagittarius…”

“Vir-Virgo?!” Mu Wanqing’s face suddenly flushed a deep crimson, and she clapped both hands over her burning cheeks.

“Hold on! It’s just the name of a constellation, purely that! Qingqing, don’t get the wrong idea!” Su Liyue hastily clarified.

“I-I don’t know anything at all!” Mu Wanqing stammered. “Don’t explain; explanations are just cover-ups! And what does this have to do with stars anyway?”

“Uh… in any case, Xingchen and I would gaze at the beautiful night sky, singing children’s songs and reminiscing about our wonderful hometown…”

“Wow~” Mu Wanqing’s eyes suddenly sparkled with delight. “So you two were that romantic as children? No wonder you’re not interested in any other boys, and you even get jealous of me!”

‘Whether it was romantic or not, I couldn’t say,’ Su Liyue thought. ‘But it was certainly true that, in my current female body, I genuinely disliked interacting with men other than myself and my parents.’

“No, Qingqing, it’s not like that. That ‘star’ (TL Note: ‘Xingxing,’ meaning ‘star’) truly sounds like ‘gorilla’ (TL Note: ‘Xingxing,’ meaning ‘gorilla’)…”

“But isn’t that still a star?” Mu Wanqing asked, tilting her head innocently.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Su Liyue exclaimed, realizing that this cultural nuance was simply too difficult to explain in the moment.

“Qizai! Come over here and explain to my Qingqing the difference between a star and a King Kong gorilla!”

“Coming right up~” Qizai chirped, instantly manifesting in the form of the Yaochi Saintess’s sword spirit. With an elegant lift of her slender, jade-like finger, she began to conjure a brilliant starry sky in the air.

“First, this is the starry sky, or what we commonly refer to as stars~”

As her fingertip gracefully moved, countless points of starlight twinkled in the air, weaving together to form a breathtaking Milky Way pattern.

Then, with a sudden shift in Qizai’s hand gesture, the ethereal drawing transformed, sketching out a hulking, muscular silhouette in the air.

Though the specific features of its face remained indistinct, the exaggerated lines of its pectoral muscles and bulging biceps unmistakably depicted a colossal King Kong gorilla!

“And this~” Qizai declared with a playful wink, “is what we commonly refer to as the gorilla that swats down airplanes with a single slap!”

Mu Wanqing stared at the muscular silhouette, her eyes wide with fascination. Unable to help herself, she turned her head to compare it with the distant, slender figure of Ye Xingchen, and whispered,

“Yueyue, so that’s what a gorilla looks like… It really is quite different from your Xingchen…”

“Qingqing!” Su Liyue suddenly exclaimed, noticing her best friend’s gaze growing increasingly peculiar. “What is with that look in your eyes?!”

Mu Wanqing suddenly produced a small notebook and began jotting something down with intense concentration. “So, Yueyue,” she murmured, “you actually prefer the slender, handsome bishounen type…”

“I’m not! I don’t!” Su Liyue cried, practically hopping on the spot in agitation.

Nearby, Qizai chuckled mischievously as she sketched a Q-version (TL Note: Chibi or super deformed style, often used for cute, exaggerated characters) stick figure of Ye Xingchen, deliberately emphasizing his delicate, refined features.

Meanwhile, the phoenix Jiuwu used its fiery tail to draw a heart beside the sketch, specifically adding the label:

[Master’s Aesthetic].