Don’t Discriminate Against Species - Chapter 101

Under the guise of a company, the management bureau had many staff fitness areas and was once elected by the media as the company with the most beautiful environment in the entire country. It was unknown how many people experienced envy, jealousy, and hatred upon seeing the conditions of Chang Long’s lodging.

Zhuang Qing’s gaze was silently fixed on Fu Li. He didn’t reject this suggestion, but also didn’t agree to it.

What an awkward yao.

Fu Li gripped his shoulder. “Let’s go, let’s go. We still have two hours of rest time in the afternoon anyway, we can chat while walking.”

“What do you want to talk about?” Zhuang Qing ambled along a tiny path with greenery. He had been here more than a hundred years, but strolled at this place. He had no idea what was so interesting about this sort of boring and slow method of exercise.

“Anything,” Fu Li kicked his legs out. “For example, love?”

Zhuang Qing sneered. “What, you were provoked by the toilet ghost’s words?”

“No. Every yao has their own ambitions – some yao feel that love is the most important, other yao feel that pursuing the Dao is the most important, and there are even some who revere power. As long as they don’t harm the world, there is nothing wrong regardless of what they pursue.” The him now was truly a coward through and through, thought Zhuang Qing. There was clearly no one who wanted Fu Li to understand what love was more than him, but at the same time, he didn’t want Fu Li to worry about these emotions.

He hoped that the day Fu Li understood love would come not because of someone’s prompting, but because he had feelings for him. ‘In love, those who act as saints are all fools’ – he had once seen this statement in a human book. He hadn’t understood love at that time, but inwardly approved of this statement. Only when love came did he understand that no one wanted to be a saint when in love. Love was simply too gentle and cautious; it was nothing more than an unwillingness to let the other party suffer.

Fortunately, his life was long enough, and there would be a day when Fu Li understood.

“You have a point,” The tiny bit of awkwardness in Fu Li’s heart vanished without a trace after hearing Zhuang Qing’s words. He looked at several half-grown children who were playing basketball at the basketball court. As they were playing, they turned into their original forms, rolling together. A small sika deer secretly kissed a tiny lion.

“Cough, cough,” Fu Li turned his head away. The little yaoguai nowadays also started dating early.

“Tell me about your past, for example… that human pet,” Zhuang Qing looked down at the ground. “You mentioned that pet in front of me quite a few times. Was he very important to you?”

“He was the first pet I raised, and also the last,” Fu Li thought about it. “He was a cute human who could cook, write, draw, tell stories, and play chess. He knew many, many things. Elder White Ape said that he’s one of the more outstanding humans.”

Zhuang Qing plucked a green tree leaf and fiddled with it. “He’s very competent, you like him very much?”

“En, I quite like him.” Fu Li saw Zhuang Qing’s serious expression and hurriedly soothed him. “You want to raise a human pet?”

Zhuang Qing’s face iced over. “Can’t I?”

“Of course you can’t. Human law now prohibits the buying and selling of slaves, it’s illegal,” Fu Li hastily consoled him, wanting to let Zhuang Qing give up on this absurd thought of his. “You can’t know the law and still break it.”

“No, I don’t want to raise another person.” Zhuang Qing threw the rotten tree leaf in his hands onto the ground and replied in an almost-disappointed manner, “But I’m thinking about raising a rabbit.”

“Rabbits are quite good,” Fu Li nodded. “They have an entire body of fluff and are also cute.”

Zhuang Qing turned to look at Fu Li. “I think so too.”

Fu Li stared blankly and reacted the next instant. “You were teasing me on purpose.”

Zhuang Qing stroked his head. “Seems you’re not foolish after all.”

“Impudent, who’s foolish?” Fu Li wanted to stroke him back, but ended up missing after Zhuang Qing took a step back. “Zhuang little dragon, I’m not a dragon but a mighty and majestic Hou, got it?!”

There was a smile yet not a smile on Zhuang Qing’s face. “A rabbit-like Hou?”

Fu Li felt that his dignity as a great yao had been challenged. Rolling up his sleeves and striking a pose, he was about to put Zhuang Qing in his place when Zhuang Qing turned tail and ran.

The two people started chasing each other on the grass.

Qing Xu came out from the dining hall and saw Fu Li and Zhuang Qing running and chasing after each other outside. The change in his expression could not be expressed in a mere few words. This sort of ‘play chase’ game had actually appeared in relation to the boss and Fu ge, wasn’t this too scary?

“What are you looking at?” Chu Yu saw Qing Xu standing there in a daze and slapped him on the shoulder. “Lost your mind from looking at it?”

“The boss and Fu gek2026;” Qing Xu didn’t know whether he should tell Chu Yu about what he had seen that day. Chu Yu might be a fish and him a human, but from his perspective, there was a gap in seniority between them. Even the master of his temple would obediently give a junior’s bow to Chu Yu.

“Fools in love are all like this, it’ll be okay when you’re used to it,” Chu Yu said breezily. “You spend all your days in the Daoist temple, so it’s normal not to understand these.”

Qing Xu: …

“If you have the time to look at them playing boring games, then why not practice drawing talismans? It’s not that I like to pick on you. Just look at your rain-soliciting process at Zhongshan Province, the rain only came down after soliciting for one or two hours. Back in those years, the seniors from your temple were much stronger than all of you.”

Qing Xu hurriedly responded. “Please be assured, elder. This disciple will definitely train more. I will not bring down the prestige of us Daoists.”

“Good that you have such heart,” Chu Yu lectured Qing Xu and then strutted his way to the fitness area. Hiding behind a thicket, he took out his phone and snapped shots of the men playing around in the distance.

Tsk tsk tsk. He hadn’t expected the boss to be such a person. He almost couldn’t bear to look on.

“What is Chu Yu hiding there for?” Fu Li glanced at Chu Yu, who was hiding behind a tree. His stature was so robust, did he think no one would be able to spot him once he hid behind a tree? Had this fish watched too many television dramas?

“Don’t bother about him, the brain of a fish…” Zhuang Qing shot a cold glance at Chu Yu’s hiding place. “You’re aware of it.”

“That’s true,” Fu Li nodded in sympathy.

Indeed, the brain of a fish couldn’t be considered good.

After Zhuang Qing sent the Feiyi to Taihua Mountain, the management bureau once again became tranquil. No great yao appeared, nor did any little yao come out to cause trouble. Apart from expelling ghosts or soliciting rain, all other moments could only be spent idly watching television dramas or playing games.

The temperature in the capital had already started to drop. Everyone in the management bureau was a cultivator, so they had no need for a heater. Everyone lay on their office desks lazily as they waited to get off work.

Zhang Ke clicked on a video titled Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars’ Pet Owner> in boredom. The camera lens was a little shaky and the noisy sound of a motorbike’s engine could also be heard. A man in a suit walked unhurriedly along the roadside while carrying a dog, treating the dog like the most precious of treasures.

After the camera lens zoomed in, Zhang Ke felt a bit embarrassed. He glanced back secretly at Fu Li. Who knew when this video was shot? It was actually the boss carrying Fu ge in his original form.

“What are you watching?” Xu Yuan stretched her head over and sucked in a breath of cold air.

“Hush,” Afraid that Xu Yuan’s movements would attract Fu Li’s attention, he forwarded the video link to Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan clicked open the video, put on her earphones, and started watching. Upon hearing the statement ‘I cherish him, so I can’t bear to see him suffering’, Xu Yuan covered her mouth. She hadn’t expected the usually stingy and cold boss to actually have such a side.

Was this the legendary tender sentiments of an iron-willed man?

“There’s a new development,” Huang Can strode in and stuck all the photos in his hands onto the presentation board. “Quick, look at these.”

Everyone shifted their gazes to the presentation board and were struck dumb by the golden-bright, dazzling pictures of a fall harvest.

“What pretty photos, the trees are so heavily laden with fruit.” Zhang Ke asked in confusion, “What’s wrong with these photos?”

“Do you know when and where these photos were taken?” Huang Can’s expression was grave. “At a small rural village in the capital’s suburbs. Within one night, so many ripe rice crops appeared in the fields yesterday night. That small rural village is now packed with travelers saying that it’s a miracle.”

“Wasn’t it snowing yesterday night?” Zhang Ke shifted closer to the photos. He couldn’t quite bring himself to believe in this. These rice crops were abundant with grains, creating an expanse of gold. No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like an illusion created by a yao cultivator.

But if it wasn’t an illusion, who would be so bored that they would rather be arrested by the management bureau than not carry out such mischief?

“This doesn’t make sense at all,” Xu Yuan couldn’t resist commenting. “But this ability is quite interesting. It would really be a miracle if there was a bumper harvest all year round.”

“Suppress the rumors about the incident first,” Although Lin Gui was a bit lazy, he considered things more thoroughly. “The larger the ruckus, the more incredible the rumors will become. On our side, we’ll first investigate the nature of this incident. Some materialism believers on the internet will definitely take the initiative to help us come up with all sorts of perfect reasons.”

“Then let’s just say that somebody stole the crops from an agricultural research center and deliberately put them in the snow to attract everyone’s curiosity,” Xu Yuan thought for a moment. “Then, emphasize the importance of these experimental rice crops, and how the mischief has resulted in huge scientific, technological, and economic losses.”

“That works too, netizens are best at imagining the wildest things after all. They can come up with countless stories of the vicissitudes of life with one simple announcement,” Lin Gui approved of Xu Yuan’s method. “We’ll go with that then. Arrange for the information and public opinion departments to disseminate this message at once.”

“One last thing…” Lin Gui yawned. “I’m a tortoise and ill-suited to going out during winter. Who will be investigating the scene?”

“I’ll go with Fu Li,” The travel-worn Zhuang Qing walked in wearily, unmelted snow still on his shoulders. He took a photo from the presentation board and gave it a few looks before telling Fu Li, “Come with me.”

“Okay,” Fu Li took two scarves from the drawer and followed Zhuang Qing out.

After they left, the other colleagues looked at Lin Gui with respectful eyes. He was worthy of being called the meticulous brother tortoise – even managing to calculate that the boss was about to come over.

What was that about tortoises being ill-suited to being outside during winter? After cultivating for so many years, he was still scared of a little bit of winter snow?

Fu Li passed a scarf to Zhuang Qing after leaving the management bureau. “For you.”

“I don’t need it,” Zhuang Qing rejected it.

“Everyone outside puts it on, we have to follow the crowd,” Fu Li wrapped the scarf around Zhuang Qing’s neck. “Let’s go to the train station.”

There were many people in the train. Fu Li and Zhuang Qing covered half their faces with the scarves, so nobody realized that they were the ‘Chairman Zhuang and Little Assistant’ who had blown up on the internet previously.

Leaving the train station, the two people then took a public bus for a while before rushing to the small rural village. His feet treading on hard snow, Fu Li glanced at the long procession surrounding the place. He told Zhuang Qing in a low voice, “The humans still have the most vigorous enthusiasm when it comes to watching a show.”

Both of them didn’t move forward. When the police rushed over, they used the reason of the crops being stolen experimental products from a research center to disperse the surrounding crowd. Many people were unwilling to leave, so they took two to three hours to disperse the crowd in its entirety.

When Fu Li and Zhuang Qing walked into the rural village, the police officers on duty were either standing or crouching as they dug into their lunchboxes. On such a cold day, the lunchboxes would lose their heat the moment it was taken out. But these few people weren’t unhappy and were instead eating very blissfully.

“Leaders, the surroundings have been cordoned off,” The person-in-charge of the policemen had long received the news that the higher-ups would dispatch specialists to deal with this matter, so the person-in-charge guessed their identities immediately after catching sight of them.

He took out several aerial photos and handed them to Zhuang Qing and Fu Li. “These were taken by drones. The rice crops occupy almost two fields’ worth of space.”

Zhuang Qing took the photo to look at it and then turned towards the golden paddy field in the snow. He spoke to the police officer in charge, “It’s been hard on our fellow police comrades.”

“It’s fine,” The person-in-charge smiled. He watched Zhuang Qing and Fu Li walk into the paddy field, making no move to follow them in. His job was to maintain order at the scene, there was no need for him to be too curious about other things.

It was said that these rice crops were stolen from a research base, who knew if the experiment would be affected.

“There is a very faint layer of spiritual qi on these rice crops, but they can’t compare to the spiritual rice grown by the Fields Sect,” Fu Li picked up several rice grains to check and smelled the light scent of rice. He found this matter extremely strange.

“These rice crops don’t seem like they were moved here using a transportation skill,” Zhuang Qing pulled out the root of a crop. The root had dug in very deeply and sturdily. “I heard from the police that rice crops had indeed been planted in this paddy field in the past. After the grains were collected, the owner of the farm went bankrupt, and nobody came to collect the rice sprouts in the field. They rotted a long time ago, even the field dried up.”

The two people stepped on the moist and slippery field. Fu Li gazed around their surroundings. “The closer we get to the center, the stronger the spiritual qi. There might be something at the center.”

The two looked at each other and hastened towards the center of the field. However, apart from ears of rice so heavy that their stalks bent over, no yao creature was found.

“There’s something there,” Zhuang Qing spread the rice crops and felt about the ground for a while before picking up several green strands of hair. The strands of hair on Zhuang Qing’s palm gave off a faint golden glow.

Zhuang Qing clenched his fist, sealing the spiritual qi on the green hair. The wind swept up the fragrance of rice. In the midst of the wind, a few golden grains fell from the rice crops that didn’t drop even one grain no matter how they were bumped about.

Zhuang Qing furrowed his brows. A mere few strands of hair could trigger the growth of so many rice crops. How strong was this yao?

As he was in a state of absent-mindedness, a warm hand unfolded his hand. He came to his senses. Seeing that it was Fu Li’s hand, he hurriedly spread open his palm.

Fu Li held up these three green strands of hair. He stared at it a long while and then said pensively, “I might have smelled the scent on these three strands of hair somewhere.”

But he rarely left the mountain, where could he have smelled it? The elders on his mountain didn’t smell like this. Could it have been a yao cultivator who came over to the mountain as a guest? In his memories, Reflecting Mist Mountain rarely received outside visitors. For the most part, the yao who could come to Reflecting Mist Mountain had a pure and simple nature. Unfortunately, he only wanted to have fun at that time and wasn’t fond of receiving guests with his elders.

“But I can’t remember,” Fu Li hung his head. Why was he so playful when young? Couldn’t he have been a bit more sensible, a bit more obedient?

“It’s okay,” Zhuang Qing kept the three strands of hair in a jade box. “You can’t be faulted, I don’t know what hair this is either. But we can ask two yao.”

“Who?”

“The Kunpeng and Gong Fu.”

The Kunpeng and Gong Fu sat cross-legged on a soft carpet. Faced with the burning gazes of two juniors, both yao looked at each other. It was still Gong Fu who spoke, “What’s the matter? Say it.”

“This junior has something I would like to consult daren on,” Zhuang Qing took out the jade box and placed it in front of them. “Would daren know which yao beast’s fur this is?”

Gong Fu picked up the jade box, opened the cover, and took a look before passing it to the Kunpeng with no change in his expression. The Kunpeng’s reaction was much bigger than Gong Fu. Gritting his teeth, he fixed his eyes on the hair inside and said with a cold smile, “Of course I know.”

“Then… whose is it?” Fu Li endured the Kunpeng’s ugly expression and bravely posed this question.

The Kunpeng threw the jade box onto the carpet, unwilling to answer. Gong Fu let out a laugh and placed the lid back on the jade box. “If I didn’t guess wrong, this is the Dangkang’s fur.”

“The Dangkang is an auspicious beast representing the harvest. As long as he’s around, there will never be a need to worry about a bad harvest, so not only humans but many yao cultivators will make offerings to him. However, the Dangkang has been missing for more than four thousand years. Legends of him in the human world have nearly died out, and there aren’t many who make offerings to him,” Gong Fu placed the jade box back into Zhuang Qing’s hand. “The Dangkang has probably reappeared.”

“The Dangkang… has reappeared?” Fu Li stared blankly. He repeated the question another time with some disbelief, “Has the Dangkang really appeared?”

Gong Fu was a bit surprised by Fu Li’s overly-excited reaction, but he refrained from asking too much out of consideration. He nodded and said, “That’s probably the case, or some yao cultivator could have obtained the Dangkang’s fur and lost it by accident.”

Hearing the latter conjecture, Fu Li’s face fell slightly but very quickly returned to normal. “Thank you daren, I understand.”

He remembered where he had smelled that scent.

More than three thousand years ago, he was playing with a little yao on the mountain and secretly hid in King Ganglie’s cave dwelling. It was there that he smelled this scent. Back then, King Ganglie said that the scent had been left behind by a guest who had already left.

He hadn’t thought much of it at that time. Coupled with the fact that he didn’t smell it again, he gradually forgot about this matter.

However, after he suspected King Ganglie of being the auspicious beast Dangkang, he discovered something suspicious about this matter. This guest’s smell had only been present in King Ganglie’s cave dwelling; he had never smelled it anywhere else.

Had… King Ganglie intentionally concealed his special characteristics and lived on Reflecting Mist Mountain using the appearance of an ordinary wild pig spirit?

But why did he conceal it?

Fu Li walked along in a daze. Sister Zhu Yue, King Ganglie, Elder White Ape, Elder White Tiger, Elder White Goat, and the various yao on the mountain – had they all concealed their special characteristics?

What were they hiding from?

All of a sudden, he came to a halt, looking at the dusky sky outside the window.

Heavenly law!

Could they have been hiding from heavenly law?

“Be careful,” Zhuang Qing put his arm around Fu Li’s shoulder. “Keep your eyes on the road when walking. You’re a Hou, not a mouse. Can your eyes only see one inch away?”

“Zhuang little dragon.” Staring at Zhuang Qing, Fu Li mumbled, “My previous guess wasn’t wrong, turns out I really am a super powerful second generation yao.”

Zhuang Qing walked forward, his arm around Fu Li. “Mr Rich Second Generation Yao, can you give some face to this rich first generation yao who built everything from scratch and walk properly?”