Upon hearing Zhang Laotou's words, Xiao Wu, who was still struggling with a carrot, turned her clear yet foolish gaze towards Ye Qiu.
"Grandpa Zhang, isn't this inappropriate?"
Ye Qiu felt a bit awkward. This was a Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beast, and more importantly, there was only one bed at home!
Before he could explain further, Zhang Laotou quickly said,
"What's wrong with it? They're just children! And you're here to deliver money, right? You child, why are you being so particular? Take this money back, and take the girl back too. Consider it her food expenses!"
"This is a bit un..." Ye Qiu's expression became unnatural upon hearing this. To be honest, he was somewhat tempted.
"You're still unwilling?" Before he could finish, Zhang Laotou interrupted him.
"No, no, Grandpa Zhang! You've misunderstood," Ye Qiu rubbed his small hands, smiling awkwardly.
"What I mean is, this money isn't enough; you need to add more!"
"Add more!?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Laotou almost pulled off his beard.
"Look how much she can eat; this little bit of money isn't quite enough!" He pointed in Xiao Wu's direction, shrugging helplessly.
"I... I don't eat that much!" Xiao Wu glared at Ye Qiu with wide eyes.
"Ugh~" A sudden long burp escaped, and she quickly covered her mouth, her face flushed.
Feeling Zhang Laotou and Ye Qiu's gazes, her eyes became somewhat shifty.
Finally, Zhang Laotou agreed to the additional money and made an arrangement with Ye Qiu that they would send them both to Nuoding City Spirit Master Academy when it opened in about a month.
Under Zhang Laotou's watchful eye, Ye Qiu naturally took the rabbit home.
Along the way, Ye Qiu walked in front, and Xiao Wu followed behind.
Unlike Xiao Wu's lively demeanor, Ye Qiu was quiet, simply focusing on the journey.
"Hey! How much further?" Xiao Wu hopped beside Ye Qiu, tilting her head to ask.
"I'm not 'hey'..." Ye Qiu pouted, expressing his displeasure with the impolite rabbit.
"My name is Ye Qiu. There's still some distance; just hold on."
"Hmph! What are you so arrogant about? Be careful, Xiao Wu Jie will beat you up!"
Hearing this, Ye Qiu said nothing more, rolling his eyes and muttering to himself, 'Truly a beast difficult to tame.'
The journey was silent, and night fell.
Bathed in the faint starlight, Ye Qiu finally returned home.
"Wow! What a cute little rabbit! I didn't expect you to keep a pet rabbit!"
Seeing the small rabbit in the cage in front of the stone house, Xiao Wu seemed to have found her kind and quickly rushed over to play with it.
"That's not a pet..." he murmured. As soon as he entered the door, Ye Qiu pointed to the bathing area separated by a wooden board and told Xiao Wu, "Hurry and take a bath; you smell really strong!"
"You're talking nonsense! What smell do I have?" As she spoke, Xiao Wu sniffed her sleeve, her voice growing softer and her face turning redder.
"Smell it? You smell like carrots, and, well, a bit like a rabbit."
Ye Qiu also walked over and sniffed beside her.
"Ah, what are you doing? I'm not a rabbit..." Xiao Wu quickly covered her chest and moved away from him, her expression a little flustered.
'What a stupid rabbit!' Ye Qiu shook his head and said impatiently, "I didn't say you were a rabbit. Go take a bath!"
Watching her enter the bathroom, Ye Qiu began to tidy up the bed.
Since the silly rabbit had no extra clothes, Ye Qiu had no choice but to throw his own clothes to her.
He hung the clothes on the wooden board and instructed her from inside,
"For now, just wear my clothes. I'm going to rest first. The other end of the bed is yours!"
"What! We're sleeping together?"
"What 'sleeping together'? We're thousands of miles apart!" Ye Qiu shouted back.
"Why are you being so fierce? If we sleep, we sleep!"
After what could be considered a somewhat friendly conversation, the two fell silent, with only the sound of water flowing inside.
When Xiao Wu came out, Ye Qiu was already lying across one side of the bed. Seeing that the bed was large enough to fit five or six Ye Qius horizontally, she didn't make a fuss.
But after looking around, she couldn't help but speak, "Hey!"
She called out once with no response, so Xiao Wu hummed and spoke again, "Ye Qiu, do you have a mirror here?"
"No. See the water Cylinder under the window? Make do with that!" With that, Ye Qiu turned over.
Xiao Wu pouted and carefully took out a small comb from her pink satchel, as if holding a precious treasure.
She went to the water Cylinder, and using the moonlight streaming through the window and her reflection in the water, she meticulously combed her hair. Her crimson eyes revealed a deep longing.
Once her hair was mostly dry, she carefully put the comb away again, slowly climbed to the other end of the bed, and placed her small satchel by her pillow.
As if not quite trusting Ye Qiu, she didn't forget to lay down a threat before sleeping, "Hey! Don't you dare cross the line, or you'll see how I deal with you!"
Her reply was met with silence, which made her grind her teeth. She thought he was already asleep and had no choice but to lie down indignantly.
As night deepened, and Xiao Wu's breathing became steady, a red glow lit up in Ye Qiu's eyes, looking at her through the darkness.
He hadn't actually been asleep; he simply didn't want to bother with the silly rabbit. He sighed inwardly.
'Sigh~ I don't know if bringing her back was right or wrong. For now, let's just go with the flow! A Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beast... that's still a bit far off for me.'
Ye Qiu believed that as long as his Sharingan fully awakened, his achievements would certainly not be low!
In the east, purple energy rose, and the sky gradually brightened.
Ye Qiu, slowly waking up, saw Xiao Wu lying on top of him, and his eye twitched.
'She managed to flip all the way over from that distance. Do rabbits always sleep so restlessly!?'
He gently pulled her off, slowly got up, and looked back at her fair, rosy face and delicate appearance. Ye Qiu couldn't help but feel a surge of protectiveness.
After watching her for a while, Ye Qiu covered her with the quilt and picked up the small satchel next to him, placing it beside her.
Creak! The sound of the door opening echoed as Ye Qiu left to prepare breakfast.
Xiao Wu, who was still on the bed with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them. Seeing Ye Qiu's retreating back, she covered her hot, pretty face with both hands and burrowed into the covers, turning into a constantly wiggling worm.
A muffled sound came from under the covers, "So embarrassing... Ah!"
The embarrassment didn't last long, interrupted by the protest of her stomach. After quickly washing up and re-tying her original scorpion braid, Xiao Wu walked out the door.
"You're up?" Ye Qiu's hurried voice came from a distance.
"Mm, what are you doing?" Looking at Ye Qiu lying on the ground, Xiao Wu couldn't help but walk over and squat down to ask.
"Plank, a way to exercise the body."
"Oh, that's really strange..." Xiao Wu mumbled, touching her stomach, hesitant to speak.
"You're hungry, right? I've already bought carrots. They're on the table; just wash them and you can eat."
"Really? You bought carrots!" As expected of a rabbit, her eyes lit up at the mention of carrots.
"Why would I lie to you?" Ye Qiu got up, gave her a speechless look, and then led the way into the house.