Little Pink Starfish

The proprietress froze at Yuan Yuanyuan’s words.

She turned around to look at Yuan Yuanyuan, who sat calmly, meeting her gaze without flinching.

…Actually, Yuan Yuanyuan hadn’t even drunk that much… Back when she was working in the kitchen heating wine, there was nothing else back there—only wine, plenty of it. During that time, she’d evolved from a complete teetotaler to someone who could identify the type of alcohol just by its smell.

When she first moved in, Yuan Yuanyuan was practically penniless—didn’t even have a water dispenser at home, just a battered old kettle. That led to some very questionable pairings… like black-market liquor with instant noodles. Honestly though, it wasn’t that bad. All in all, Yuan Yuanyuan could really hold her liquor, far beyond average.

But from the look on the proprietress’s face, this already seemed frightening enough. Yuan Yuanyuan figured Seventeen could probably also drink quite a bit—after all, he used to be a spy. Still, the proprietress’s reaction now seemed a bit over the top.

So really… just how tragic was the story between the former head of the Li family and Seventeen?

Yuan Yuanyuan downed all the wine left in the pot in one go, then tossed the empty pot back.

The proprietress didn’t say anything more—just silently watched Yuan Yuanyuan drink. The more she drank, the more energized she became. Eventually, she fully descended into drama mode. With such an attentive audience, how could she not put on a performance?

Then, she calmly walked out the door, looking perfectly sober—not the slightest hint of drunkenness. The proprietress chased after her, as if wanting to say something, but swallowed the words.

Yuan Yuanyuan walked ahead with an air of indifference, her sleeves swishing dramatically. A short walk, but she managed to imbue it with the aura of “the winds blow bleak and cold by the Yi River.”

The more the comic revealed, the more anxious the proprietress seemed. Sometimes Yuan Yuanyuan wanted to ask what she was even worrying about—none of this had any clear narrative yet. In fact, even she herself didn’t know much.

Back then, the entanglements between the Li family head and Yuan were just an inside joke among human readers of the comic. But among the monsters, it had become a widely discussed topic. People brought it up all the time, even if nobody really knew the details.

According to some recent scraps of info from Faning, the Li family head and Yuan were actually once very close friends… You couldn’t tell that from the earlier chapters. Many readers were simultaneously shouting “R.I.P.” and wondering how two guys that close had ended up like that.

Which brings us to someone else we have to mention…

Si Qun—who currently spends all his time in the back kitchen, diligently polishing glasses.

Si Qun is the younger brother of the Li family head. The name “Li Si Qun” sounds a little weird—makes people think of “Li Siguang” [a real historical figure]—but Yuan Yuanyuan never made fun of it.

Because the true meaning of that name is—“The fourth one that survived out of the jars.”

…Yeah, that’s right. According to tradition, Si Qun is a little Gu King.

Surprised? Unexpected?

Well, well, come on… even if that name sounds impressive, don’t you think it’s a bit too casual? Yuan Yuanyuan mentally complained. Is this that whole “give a lowly name so the kid lives longer” philosophy?

Dressed again in red, having changed out of her civilian clothes, Yuan Yuanyuan returned to the back kitchen. Watching Si Qun polishing glasses while munching sunflower seeds, she couldn’t help but wonder—is this really the legendary badass Gu King? Doesn’t look it at all.

But no, wait… Si Qun did have some Gu King traits. For instance, his attitude toward cockroaches and ants—dedicated and thorough. Keeping the Yi Ping Tavern pest-free was child’s play to him.

Yuan Yuanyuan tossed her sunflower seed shells into the trash can, grabbed a new handful, and thought—how come Si Qun was this lucky?

Why was he so lucky? Well… recently Ji Qiu had been drawing more and more of Seventeen and the Li family head, which naturally brought Si Qun into the picture…

When Si Qun first appeared back then, he blinded everyone with his brilliance—he was basically the textbook definition of a male god.

And a male god’s status is always propped up by those around him. If one passerby calls him handsome, he’s just a typical male god. But if a whole crowd does? Then he’s truly divine.

Si Qun back then was exactly that level of divine.

Yuan Yuanyuan only found out from the comic that Si Qun, the Li family head, and Seventeen had all been close brothers back in the day. Later, Si Qun and the Li family head joined a different monster army—not the Blood Jade Demon Army, but one on the same level.

At the time, Si Qun and Seventeen were practically the twin stars of the unit—their looks and presence representing the army’s public face. It was to show that not all soldiers were rugged grunts. Si Qun’s popularity back then was off the charts. Seventeen only started gaining fame close to his death, and because he was a spy, he had stayed under the radar most of the time.

To the public, Si Qun was the total package—handsome, powerful, and with a rumored personality like Yuan Yingli’s: chaotic and prone to stirring trouble.

A male god like that couldn’t possibly fly under the radar. Back then, everyone knew him—even the humans had heard his name.

But only a few decades later, he had become a nobody, quietly polishing glasses. Readers didn’t know he’d lost his mind, but Yuan Yuanyuan did.

Thinking of all this made her feel a bit melancholic. Honestly? Si Qun might be even more pitiful than Seventeen. Hard to say which one hurt more to think about.

Sigh… the Gu King—could this guy’s hair be used to make gu bugs or something? His mop of hair was always a mess, jagged and uneven, like someone had hacked at it with scissors. But to Yuan Yuanyuan, he didn’t look much different from when they first met.

With that thought, she suddenly froze, as if struck by lightning. Clutching her hand, she ran out the door.

What the hell was that?! Yuan Yuanyuan looked at her reddened hand, completely baffled. She had only meant to playfully pat the silly guy on the head, but something unexpected happened.

She’d touched Si Qun’s hair before! Nothing had ever happened back then… Now she stood there with her hand flushed bright red. As she pushed the door open, there Si Qun was—standing at the entrance, head tilted up, staring at her.

His eyes were wide and round…

Yuan Yuanyuan silently stared back. And then, quietly… quietly edged away…

She believed it now. She believed this guy really was the Gu King.

After that incident, she completely forgot about her original plan to dig into Si Qun’s past. The matter just faded away.

But readers didn’t know Si Qun had gone mentally off. So when they saw his fall from fame to obscurity, they didn’t feel any sadness—instead, they thought he’d transcended worldly concerns and reached enlightenment. And since Si Qun had always given off a quiet, salt-of-the-earth kind of male god vibe, that impression doubled.

That kind of character really appealed to girls and the artsy, clean-aesthetic types. So Si Qun’s popularity shot up again. For someone with such few appearances in the comic, his popularity was truly one-of-a-kind. Even back when Yuan had equal screen time with him, he didn’t come close.

But… the character in the comic wasn’t Si Qun at all. Neither the past nor present version. Yuan Yuanyuan sometimes wondered—maybe Ji Qiu felt too sorry for Si Qun, which is why she portrayed him like that…

That old scoundrel Ji Qiu actually seemed to be treating him pretty well.

The comic was still following Faning’s main storyline, occasionally cutting in with flashbacks from long ago—like classic long-running manga often do. Readers cursed Ji Qiu as a villain, but in truth they all felt she really knew her craft and clearly understood storytelling.

The main plot was, of course, the classic good-versus-evil tug-of-war. Standard shounen manga stuff. Sometimes it dragged out too long and readers complained, but Yuan Yuanyuan just wanted to say—hey, reality is even more frustrating than that.

She had no interest in those things anymore. These days, she was numb to it all. She noticed more details than even the readers did.

So now, the only thing that still piqued her curiosity was the nostalgia-filled flashbacks.

The story between Seventeen and the Li family head—so slow to reveal, like squeezing toothpaste. Even more bottled up than classified intelligence. But Faning kept digging. First, because Seventeen had left behind too many contingency plans (creating the illusion that more clues were out there). Second, because someone in Faning’s harem was Yuan Yingli…

An absolute diehard Yuan fanboy—utterly loyal. With him constantly fanning the flames, Faning couldn’t not investigate.

And this time, the two of them had stumbled upon a place that left Yuan Yuanyuan completely stunned—Red Sand Well.

When she saw it, she was utterly dumbfounded. These two—how did they manage to get into such a heavily guarded place?

“So this is Red Sand Well?” Faning looked at the desolate place in front of him and asked.
“Yeah,” Yuan Yingli nodded.
A crow cried mournfully overhead, flying slowly past…
Just like something from a long, long time ago.