I Snatched the Male Lead’s "Cool Novel" Script - Chapter 16

“I know there are some grudges between you that others don’t know about, but at least…”

“At least what?” Yin Beiqing flipped her palm over, admiring the newly changed silver-thread nail guards. She tilted her head to look at Yan Yu. Her gaze seemed to pass over casually, yet somehow carried a bit of sharpness.

Yan Yu instinctively swallowed, but still finished the second half of her sentence. “You can resolve conflicts in ways that don’t draw blood.”

“Oh?” Yin Beiqing raised a brow. Just when Yan Yu thought she was about to get angry, she unexpectedly saw her nod lightly. “Understood.”

Understood?

Yan Yu was surprised by the speed of her compromise.

Then she saw Yin Beiqing withdraw all the icicles piercing Jiwu’s body. With a reverse motion, Yin Beiqing pulled a dark-brown leather whip out from behind her. With a swing of her long arm, the whip struck the ground and kicked up a choking cloud of dust.

Pa—

She turned back and asked Yan Yu, “Can I use this?”

“…”

There was simply no way to communicate with this person!

While the two were still discussing the correct way to educate Beast Souls, the three “children” behind them had already gathered around a plant and started chatting.

“You have this fruit here too.” Guipan used its paw to fiddle with the Lotus Bead Flower.

“Master specially ordered people to plant it here.”

Saying “plant” was actually a bit exaggerated. They had simply turned over a patch of soil in the front courtyard, uprooted the Lotus Bead Flowers and Soul-Gathering Grass from beside Gulao Spring, and stuck them here.

But perhaps because maidservants carefully watered them with Gulao Spring water every day, they were growing quite well.

Lujia was much smaller than them, just right to squeeze into the gap beside Panpan. “Is this good to eat?”

“It’s really good!” Guipan patted its chest in guarantee. “I’ve grown it before.”

“Is it poisonous?” Before being tamed as a beast pet, Lujia had lived deep in wild mountains for many years. It knew that the brighter and prettier a plant looked, the more poisonous it often was.

“Of course not. I’ll eat it for you to see.” Guipan picked one and stuffed it into its mouth. “Mm! It’s so sweet!”

Lujia honestly said, “Oh,” then said, “Then I’ll try it… So sweet!”

It felt as though an entire jar of sugar had been poured into its mouth. Sticky, cloying, and coating its throat.

“It’s only good because it’s sweet.” Guipan found this very hard to understand and picked up the half Lujia had thrown away. “You can’t waste food. And eating this is good for your body. You’re at the age to grow, so you need to eat more.”

Lujia was not young, but its body really was not very big. It thought for a moment, then picked up another one and ate it.

Meanwhile, Guilian, who had originally been indifferent beside them, suddenly opened her snake mouth wide. With a loud sweep, she devoured a small patch of Lotus Bead Flowers, swallowing roots and leaves together. That ferocious momentum directly stunned the other two.

“What are you doing?”

“I want to grow taller.”

Guilian had reached Special-rank several decades later than Jiwu, so her physical body still looked like a child. Because of this, Jiwu mocked her every day as a little shrimp. If this fruit could make her grow taller, she would be willing to eat a whole bucket every day!

Over on the other side, Yan Yu had finally managed to persuade Yin Beiqing to put away the whip. The expression on her face had only just eased a little when she turned and saw the ruined medicinal field. Her face immediately darkened again.

“Who did this?” As soon as that familiar questioning tone came out, Guilian reflexively lowered her head and did not dare make a sound.

Guipan, whose white fur around its mouth had been smeared with large patches of red fruit juice, was the first to raise both front paws.

“Not Panpan! Not Panpan!”

Yin Beiqing’s gaze circled around its face. Enduring it, she closed her eyes. After taking a deep breath, she turned her head and said to Yan Yu, who was standing beside her, “Come. Educate one for me to see. Let me see whether your method really works better than mine.”

Yan Yu walked over and saw the mess on the ground, as well as Guipan’s face, which had “I am lying” written all over it. Smoke was practically rising from her forehead.

Beast Souls were harder to raise than her three-year-old niece.

“I’ll clean it up.” Yan Yu could only take the initiative to shoulder this mess.

“Suit yourself.” Yin Beiqing, unusually, did not continue pursuing the matter. She glared at the panda, who was shrinking its head, then flicked her sleeves and left.

This was not the only mess. The artificial mountain Jiwu had just crashed through was what truly made her heart ache.

“Master, I’ll help you.” Guipan wiped its mouth and rubbed over. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“I know. But lying is more serious than making a mistake.”

Yan Yu picked up the iron shovel nearby, tied up the hem of her skirt, and rolled up her sleeves. After tidying herself up neatly, she crouched down and began working.

“Master, I’ll dig for you.” Lujia stretched out its claws. “I’m good at this.”

“Thank you, Lujia.”

“Pan…” Guipan’s shoulders drooped, trembling little by little.

But after acting pitiful for quite a while, Yan Yu still did not look at it properly. It began to panic a little.

“I know I was wrong.” Yan Yu’s skirt hem was tugged, and a round head popped out. “Don’t be angry, okay? I promise there won’t be a next time.”

“What else?”

“There’s… there’s more?”

“Who is the owner of this medicinal field? You have to apologize to that person.” Yan Yu tapped its head.

“Oh.” Guipan patted its paws on the ground and said rather unwillingly, “When fierce sister comes back, I’ll admit my mistake to her.”

“Mm. Good.”

“Then do you forgive me now?”

“Come here and help.”

“Mm-hm! I’m super strong!” Guipan had never been this happy after being called over to work.

Watching the backs of the three of them busying themselves, Guilian felt an isolated loneliness. Her tail swept lightly across the ground, and her mood became a little downcast.

“Um…”

“Hm?” Yan Yu had thought Guilian had left with Yin Beiqing, but she had not expected her to still be here. “What is it?”

“Actually, I was the one who messed up that patch. I’m sorry.” Everyone else had admitted their mistakes, but she had not. If she did not say something, a piece of discomfort would remain stuck in her heart.

Such a large python, yet her speech was so warm, slow, and soft. Yan Yu suddenly began to suspect whether the Beast Soul that had nearly frightened her into fainting back then was really the same one before her eyes.

“It’s fine. Just be more careful next time.” Yan Yu crouched down and patted the soil firm.

Guilian saw that after being tidied, a large empty patch remained in the medicinal field. Very perceptively, she said, “I know where these herbs grow! I’ll go to the back mountain and find them!”

“All right. Thank you for the trouble.” Yan Yu smiled at her.

“Master, why are you so gentle to her, but so cold to me?” After Guilian left, Guipan pouted unconvinced.

“Did she lie?”

“No.”

“Now you know the reason.”

…

By evening, Yin Beiqing finally strolled back. Guipan moved over in tiny steps, reaching out a paw to poke her.

“Are you angry?”

This little thing lifted its head, looking up eagerly as it waited for a response. It was actually rather likable. Yin Beiqing stopped and pinched its ear, placing it in her palm and rubbing it.

These furry things still felt better to touch. Guilian and Jiwu were harder to rub than the other.

“What do you think?”

“Master told me to apologize to you.” Although it very much disliked others rubbing its ears, a bear under someone else’s roof had no choice but to lower its head. Guipan grabbed Yin Beiqing’s hand with both paws and shook it. “Don’t be angry, okay? I promise I won’t lie next time. And we already cleaned up your medicinal field.”

Was this thing acting spoiled?

Yin Beiqing frowned and looked inquiringly toward Yan Yu, who was sitting beneath a large tree beside the medicinal field.

No one knew where she had found a rattan lounge chair. Holding a yellowed dictionary, she lay on it and was reading with her head lowered, completely absorbed. She did not even care that Yin Beiqing had returned.

“Sickly weakling, take your fatty back.”

Yan Yu slowly turned a page. “It made a mistake, so now it’s yours to deal with.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll skin it alive?”

“No!” Guipan was so frightened that both ears stood upright. “Help, help, help! Killing a Beast Soul is illegal!”

Yin Beiqing was so annoyed by the noise that her brows only furrowed more deeply. She stretched out her leg and kicked Guipan’s chubby butt. “Get lost, fatty.”

The little fatty rolled back to Yan Yu’s side without stopping, wiping away tears that did not exist with its fleshy paws. “Master, wu wu wu.”

Yan Yu raised her hand and patted its big head, but her gaze remained on the book page. Her comfort was absentminded.

“It’s fine. She was teasing you.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a large patch of sunlight above her head was blocked. Yan Yu raised her eyes and happened to meet someone’s lips pressed into a straight line.

Even with the mask covering her face, it was clear that her current mood was extremely displeased.

“What are you reading so intently?”

Yan Yu flipped the cover toward her. “Something I found casually.”

This was the pharmacopoeia from her Soul Domain. She had not finished reading it that day, and since she happened to have time now, she had taken it out to read. It was more convenient this way.

The cover of the pharmacopoeia was very old, and the page corners were curled. But if one looked closely, the title could still faintly be made out.

“Lingxi Pill Arts?” Yin Beiqing caught her wrist. “Where did you get this book?”

Such a big reaction?

Yan Yu felt somewhat uncertain. The original book had never mentioned anything about this Lingxi Pill Arts. The male lead’s pill-refining prescriptions had all been exchanged from the system.

Judging by Yin Beiqing’s reaction to this pharmacopoeia, she probably knew something. If Yan Yu casually lied and tried to hide it, she was afraid she would quickly be exposed.

“The original version of this pharmacopoeia was lost long ago. Only two hand-copied booklets remain in the world. One is with Lin Hegui, and the other circulated among the people, its whereabouts unknown. Which one is the book in your hands?”

When Yan Yu heard this, she thought, had the excuse not delivered itself to her door?

“Right. Mine is the remaining one.”

The way Yin Beiqing looked at her became somewhat strange. But she only stared at Yan Yu’s face for a while longer and did not continue asking.

She pointed behind her with the back of her hand. “Since you are proficient in pill arts, then take care of this medicinal field for me.”

“I’ll take care of it for you?” Yan Yu pointed at herself.

Yin Beiqing shot her a cold glance. “Consider it making up for your Beast Soul’s mistake. What, unwilling?”

“Willing, willing.” Before this Living Yama, how would she dare say no?

“Then take this.” Yin Beiqing threw a packet to her.

Yan Yu opened it and looked. Inside, there were many small paper packets densely packed together. Each packet contained tiny seeds.

Lingxi Pill Arts did not only contain prescriptions. It also had illustrations of the medicinal herbs required for each prescription. The illustrations included the appearance of the herbs at every stage of growth, including the seed stage.

Yan Yu pinched up a few seeds and quickly identified them according to her memory. These were all rare varieties that were worth a fortune on the market, or could not be bought even if one wanted to. If one casually took even a single seed out and gave it to a knowledgeable pill refiner, the other party would rather ruin their entire fortune than fail to keep it.

She had no idea where this ancestor had obtained such ability. Like someone bargaining down cabbages in bulk, Yin Beiqing had brought back such a huge packet.

“Is there some pill you need me to refine?” Yan Yu felt uneasy.

Pill refining seemed simple, but the knowledge inside it was truly deep. Right now, she had only read some pharmacopoeias and could discuss theory on paper. Her practical experience was limited to occasionally helping her family boil traditional Chinese medicine.

If Yin Beiqing truly placed high hopes on her, Yan Yu worried that she would fail to produce anything and be branded a fake goddess in minutes, then dragged away to feed the wolves.

“As for what to refine, decide for yourself.” Yin Beiqing smoothly became a hands-off shopkeeper. “Do I have to guide you by hand even for these little things?”

Yan Yu held the packet of seeds worth hundreds of millions, feeling as though she had been struck dizzy by a pie falling from the sky.

Giving her a medicinal field with excellent soil, stuffing her with a packet of priceless rare seeds, and completely not restricting what she planted, nor setting any pill-refining KPI…

Thinking again of the last time this person had handed her a full bundle of Soul-Gathering Grass on the back mountain, Yan Yu suddenly understood something.

She put down the book and ran after Yin Beiqing.

Yin Beiqing had just entered the room and was preparing to change out of the clothes stained with blood and dirt. Hearing Yan Yu’s footsteps, she turned her head. “What else is it?”

Yan Yu held onto the doorframe with both hands. Her brows and eyes curved gently as she smiled at her. “Thank you, Yin Beiqing.”

Someone’s movement of untying her belt paused. She turned her back. “Who allowed you to be so presumptuous as to call me by name and joke with me?”

Her tone was cold, clearly issuing an order to leave.

But Yan Yu was not as afraid of her now. “Right, thank you for last time too. The Soul-Gathering Grass was very useful.”

“I’m keeping you alive because you are useful to me.” Yin Beiqing frowned and tossed aside the outer robe on her body. She walked over and pinched Yan Yu’s chin with one hand. Without the smell of blood covering it, the cold fragrance on her body became even richer. “Don’t misunderstand. And you absolutely must not reveal any flaws. Otherwise…”

“Otherwise, you’ll drag me off to feed the wolves, right?” Yan Yu took over her words, her smile not fading. “I know. But what do you think I’ll misunderstand? Misunderstand that you have feelings for me—”

“Get out!”