Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan, from behind the curtain, slowly lifted her eyes and looked at Fa Ning’s hand gripping her wrist.

If you keep holding it, I swear I’ll break your claws.

Fa Ning might’ve picked up on her thoughts — he let go, and Yuan Yuanyuan took the opportunity to snatch her hand back.

Fa Ning froze for a moment, seemingly deep in thought, but in the end, he didn’t seem to remember anything.

Yuan Yuanyuan didn’t bother with him anymore. She waved a hand and had one of the nearby low-level yokai escort Fa Ning out.
In her mind, she was muttering, He definitely noticed something… maybe the next chapter of the manga will drop some clues?

Fa Ning didn’t protest being thrown out. In fact, he looked relieved — like he’d just avoided a disaster.
He hurried off to find Yuan Yingli and excitedly shared everything that had just happened.
Yuan Yingli had been in the middle of brooding in silence, but when he heard that Fa Ning had actually gone to the Red-Dressed Woman and touched her hand, his face went blank.

“I… I was just kidding,” he said after a moment. “I didn’t expect you to actually go! I mean, sure, you’re hard to kill, but I didn’t mean for you to go dig your own grave.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Fa Ning huffed. “I think it was a meaningful encounter! At the very least, I’m almost sure I’ve seen her before. That hand — I know it from somewhere.”

“You saying that with such confidence just makes it sound less reliable,” Yuan Yingli retorted. “You’re familiar with her hand? Like what kind of familiar?”

“I’m telling you, I’ve definitely seen it before. I might’ve even stared at it.”

The two of them sat in the room wildly guessing.

“Maybe it’s some actress you always see on TV?”

“Hand model?”

“That lady who used to sell pancakes at the street corner?”

“…Why the hell would you be staring at her hands?”

The two kept guessing wildly but never got close to the real answer.

After all, even if it were the pancake lady, her gender was still female — and to both Fa Ning and Yuan Yingli, the possibility of the Red-Dressed Woman being a man didn’t even exist in their minds.

So they spent an entire day speculating, only to end up with nothing but bizarre and improbable theories.

Meanwhile, Yuan Yuanyuan had been keeping her guard up for days, wary of another ambush from Fa Ning. But it seemed like he’d sensed her wariness and hadn’t come back again.
When the next issue of the manga came out, she quickly flipped through it, trying to see if anything had been revealed.

And what she saw… was completely unexpected.

That entire incident had been handled with an oddly light tone.
There was no mention of Fa Ning possibly suspecting the Red-Dressed Woman.
Instead, it was portrayed as a simple accident.

The plot went like this:
Fa Ning, as usual, visited the Red-Dressed Woman. They were chatting, and during the conversation, he accidentally touched the curtain — and brushed against her hand.

They both froze for a moment before letting go.

That was it.

Fa Ning, upon reading the latest issue, was overjoyed.
He thanked the heavens that Jiuqiu hadn’t included all the nonsense he and Yuan Yingli had speculated about — like whether the Red-Dressed Woman might be the pancake lady. That would’ve been too humiliating.

Although Yuan Yingli didn’t seem to care much, Fa Ning still felt the cringe.

…Wait a minute.
Why hide that part on purpose?

Fa Ning suddenly paused, a strange feeling tugging at him.
Was it just his imagination, or had something been deliberately left out?

He sank into deep thought.

At the same time, Yuan Yuanyuan also let out a sigh of relief.
It looked like Fa Ning wasn’t that interested in her identity… though it was still likely to show up in future chapters.

No — wait a second.

Why even include that scene?

Knowing it could very well expose her identity, why draw it at all?
Was she just being paranoid?

Yuan Yuanyuan also fell into deep thought.

In any case, Fa Ning’s first attempt at investigating Yuan Yuanyuan’s identity had officially failed.
He’d really hoped to use that moment to test the waters… but he came away with nothing.

Well, not nothing — he’d at least seen her hand.
And sometimes Fa Ning’s brain worked in strange ways. He thought maybe, one day, somewhere, he’d suddenly see someone and go, “Ah! That’s your hand!”

After all, if it’s someone familiar — and still alive in this world — then they’re bound to meet again someday.

Yuan Yuanyuan had also been following the recent chapters of the manga.
Readers had been reacting strongly to the latest developments — especially the Red-Dressed Woman’s relationships with both Yuan and Fa Ning.
A full-blown love triangle war had erupted in the fandom.

On one side, you had Yuan x Red-Dressed Woman, the “Old Lovers” pairing.
Their fans chanted things like:

“He even gave her his rib! A rib, people! They’re childhood sweethearts! Who can beat that?”

Weekly magazines were feeding these shippers a constant stream of content.
There were fan theories galore, like how Yuan had traveled thousands of miles to hand her his bone whistle before dying. These theories filled entire essays — too many to read.

Worth noting: fanworks supporting this ship almost always depicted Yuan as dead, which made Yuan Yuanyuan feel cold just reading them.

As for her…

The fans cried, “Yuan, don’t die!” while continuing to write stories where he absolutely did.

Yuan Yuanyuan couldn’t help but clutch at her chest in despair whenever she saw that.
She’d been sneezing non-stop lately too… probably because a thousand fanboys and fangirls were cursing her behind their screens.

Meanwhile, the Fa Ning x Red-Dressed Woman side had rapidly grown into a formidable cult following.
Ever since their brief physical contact in the previous chapter — their only one so far — the ship had exploded in popularity.

Even though they’d barely exchanged words, their shippers clung to every frame.

The “Red-Fa” faction was not backing down.
Their argument:

“Fa Ning is the main character! Yuan is just the tragic supporting role!”

A nonsensical take — but it somehow carried terrifying persuasive power.

“Red-Dressed Woman and Yuan’s love is stronger than gold! That ‘tragic widow’ angle can’t be broken!”

“Bull! That ‘tragic widow’ angle is exactly what makes people want to imagine all sorts of things!”

Sometimes Yuan Yuanyuan sat in front of the comment sections thinking mischievously, If this truth ever comes out… oh man…

Otaku tears, fujoshi heartbreak…
What a beautiful, chaotic scene it would be.

Honestly, she was kind of looking forward to it.
But at the same time, she wondered: When is this all going to end? When will it be over?

Jiuqiu, the artist, was being extra sneaky lately — dropping ship-bait for Red-Yuan fans on Mondays and for Red-Fa fans on Saturdays, just to sit back and watch the two factions tear each other apart.

The drama had spilled beyond the fandom. Even outsiders had started asking, “You guys still fighting over that love triangle?”

Everyone was having a blast in this warzone.

Recently, Yuan Yuanyuan also learned something important from the boss lady.
She finally discovered the identity of those yokai she saw in the chat group that day.

“The Li family?” Yuan Yuanyuan was stunned. “Which Li family?”

“There’s only one Li family here,” the boss lady said, sitting down beside her.
“So it’s finally clear — back then, before you disappeared, that bone whistle ended up in the hands of the old Li family head.”

Yuan Yuanyuan froze for a long time.
Eventually, she muttered, “Oh…”
She had been surprised at first, but when she thought about it more — it wasn’t that unexpected.

So… the whistle ended up with the Li family head.
Was that before or after Seventeen was killed?

She suddenly sat upright and asked, “I once saw those yokai massacring humans… why would they do that? Is that Li family head still working for the King of All Yokai?”

“Of course he is,” the boss lady said.
“You know what kind of man he is.
But his health has been deteriorating these past few years. Maybe the killings are a kind of dark magic to extend his life?”

“Ah…” Yuan Yuanyuan muttered again.

“But back then, before you entered Red Sand Well, did you really say that to him?” the boss lady suddenly turned and asked with interest.

“What?” Yuan Yuanyuan couldn’t recall.

“You told him that if you ever saw him again, you wouldn’t remember him,” the boss lady said.
“To be honest, that was pretty harsh. Especially for someone like him. Did you already know, back then, that you’d survive and make it back out?”

“Was it harsh? I thought I was just stating a fact,” Yuan Yuanyuan said, looking up at her.

The boss lady raised an eyebrow, gave her a strange look, then grabbed her tray and walked out.

“You two really are something else,” she muttered.
“Next time you go see him, bring me along.”

“…Okay,” Yuan Yuanyuan replied weakly, watching the boss lady disappear from the room.