Chapter 5

Master’s appetite kept improving. His temper softened considerably, too.

He answered whatever I asked.

He swallowed a mouthful of rice before answering me.

I rubbed his tail, distressed.

“It must have hurt terribly.”

This time, Chu She said nothing.

But he didn’t pull his tail away.

I held it for a long time.

It was warm and comfortable. I kept yawning.

The tail patted my back.

After a while, I fell asleep.

When I woke, it was wound through my hair, and my head was covered in flower petals.

I was about to grab it and deliver a lecture when I noticed Chu She sitting quietly beside me, the window wide open.

“The wind did it,” he said.

His appetite had grown greater than his murderous intent.

He no longer mentioned killing me.

Every day, we watched the mountains and falling blossoms and cultivated together.

Then a visitor arrived.

Our junior disciple.

She wept and scolded me.

Fang Ye had fallen and been injured while looking for a way to dissolve my spirit-pet contract.

She issued a challenge: a spirit-pet duel.

Fang Ye would grant the winner one wish.

A wish immediately came to mind.

Years ago, Mother had brought me into the Fang household to survive.

She’d signed a service contract lasting decades.

Fang Ye had promised to treat us well.

But he had also said servants would always be servants.

If I won, I would ask him to release Mother.

I’d saved enough money for her to enjoy her later years.

When I agreed, our junior disciple told me her wish.

“I’ll ask Senior Fang to take you as a concubine! Aren’t I good to you?”

“You wish you could become his cultivation partner, don’t you? Are you worthy of that?”

She went on and on.

When she first saw us together—a young master and a servant’s daughter, childhood sweethearts, with him even pouring tea for me—she found it ridiculous.

So she had taken all his attention away from me.

She smiled smugly.

“Angry? Jealous? Too bad! Come hit me!”

Then she skipped away.

I gave up.

There seemed to be something wrong with her.

Besides, my spirit pet was Master.

He couldn’t possibly lose.

I turned and bumped into him holding a bowl of rice.

He was standing silently behind the door. How long had he been listening?

His emotions were difficult to read.

I clasped my hands.

“You heard everything, didn’t you? Please help me. You’ll only need a tenth of your strength. I want to win so Fang Ye will…”

He interrupted.

Setting down his bowl, he swept away.

“I have no appetite.”

I hurried to taste a mouthful.

It was delicious.

Why wouldn’t he eat?

Before the match, Master went on a hunger strike.

He said he had no appetite.

He drank only morning dew.

Every day, he shut himself in his room. Not a sound.

Worried, I leaned outside the window to check whether he’d fainted from hunger.

Instead, I caught him standing before the mirror, squeezing his chest.

His brows were drawn together as though it troubled him.

He asked his tail quietly, “Are we too old?”

“The disciples are all slender. Is that what people find attractive?”

The tail drooped before the mirror, gazing sadly at their reflection along with his upper half.

I couldn’t help speaking.

“Master, you’re full of vitality now. Stop trying to lose weight. You look good!”

He immediately covered his chest.

And told me to get out.

At last, the day of the match arrived.

Our junior disciple had invited over a thousand spectators.

Quite a spectacle.

Fang Ye still had injuries on his face.

Seeing me, he slowly smiled.

“I told her to go easy on you. Where’s your spirit pet?”

I felt rather uncertain.

Master hadn’t paid me any attention for days.

When I called him that morning, he only turned his back.

His tail was listless, too.

He’d even asked whether I could stay home.

Never mind.

I would find another way to get Mother out of the Fang household.

I’d saved plenty. Enough for her to live well.

On the platform, our junior disciple summoned an enormous tiger, as big as a mountain, its eyes glowing green.

“To go easy on you, Senior Sister, I deliberately starved him for half a month. Where’s your black boar?”

I silently called Master several times.

Apparently, the gap in our strength was too great.

Even with our bond, I couldn’t summon him.

I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

Below the platform, Fang Ye told me to concede.

I valued my life, too.

I raised a hand to surrender.

But our junior disciple suddenly released the tiger.

“Oh dear! My hand’s too weak!”

The towering beast charged straight at me.