"Alright." Mu Qingyun retracted the healing device and looked at Xiong Ruoyou's forehead. "Does it still hurt now?"
"No, it doesn't hurt anymore, Mu Ge." Xiong Ruoyou replied, reaching up to touch her head. The bump was smaller but still raised.
Though the bump was a bit of an eyesore, it really didn't hurt anymore.
"Mu Ge, am I really ugly now?" She covered the bump on her forehead, glanced at Mu Qingyun, then quickly lowered her head, cautiously asking.
Hearing that, Mu Qingyun tilted her head. "Not ugly. Whoever says you're ugly, we'll have a problem with them."
"Pfft." At those words, Xiong Ruoyou finally laughed, and her hand covering her forehead dropped.
"Alright, eat something and rest a bit. We still have to keep building the house this afternoon." Mu Qingyun glanced at everyone and then looked at Kazel. "Eat some fish, okay?"
Though it sounded like a question, it came out as a statement. She wasn't going to change her mind depending on Kazel's answer.
They all needed to eat.
"Alright, eat more," Kazel smiled at her, but a cold glint flashed in his eyes. "Be careful not to choke."
"..." Mu Qingyun glanced at him and nodded lightly. "Thanks for the reminder."
...
After eating and drinking their fill, the group unconsciously sat by the shore, quietly watching the tide roll in — a rare peaceful moment to enjoy the not-so-scenic view.
When Fan Xuanye woke up, it was nearly evening.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Mu Qingyun placing woven seaweed on top of the house.
"Awake?" A voice came from beside him. He turned his head to meet Kazel's gaze.
"They've been working all afternoon. Looks like I'm going to lose the bet," Kazel said with a tilted head, unconcerned.
He didn't seem bothered at all by losing; if anything, he seemed indifferent.
Fan Xuanye didn't answer. He frowned, sat up, and took a deep breath.
The fatigue from last night's insomnia had been fully restored after resting just now.
Seeing Mu Qingyun and the others still working hard, he propped himself up and walked over.
Was he going to help?
Seeing him walk up and take over Su's work without a word to start building the house together surprised Kazel.
What a waste — when there's finally a chance to slack off, he comes right over to work. Tsk tsk, didn't expect their team to have such strong spirit.
[Number of people building the house +1]
[I'm really looking forward to how this house will turn out.]
[Me too. Judging from the shape so far, it looks pretty big, but I wonder if it's sturdy.]
[Haha, what if this house collapses while they live in it?]
[It's seaweed on the roof, so probably won't cause serious injuries, just a big scare.]
[Seriously though, who gave them the confidence to build a house under these conditions?]
...
After carefully placing the seaweed roof, Mu Qingyun glanced down at the wooden stakes she used to fix its position.
The stakes were branches from an orange tree. She had even baked the soil and covered the stakes to hide their natural color.
After securing the roof and tamping it down, she felt it was just right and leapt down from the roof.
But as soon as she landed, she heard a familiar shout nearby—
"You pervert again!"
Hmm?
Mu Qingyun paused, then turned toward the voice.
It was Yue Hu and that butterfly woman.
"Oh, are you building a house?" Die Wu looked surprised as she sized up the house they were building, finally focusing on the seaweed roof.
"How did you get those plants?"
But no one answered her.
Because of Fan Yunche's bad reputation, they all viewed him and those around him negatively, including these two.
"Uh, hey, can you guys pay attention to me?" Die Wu smiled awkwardly, seeing everyone ignoring her.
"It's a secret, not telling." Yi Beixuan, ever the nice guy, couldn't stay silent and replied with a smile.
"Oh, okay." Die Wu quickly responded, relieved someone acknowledged her, though not with the answer she wanted.
"Pervert, don't ignore people," Yue Hu's eyes landed on Mu Qingyun, frowning. "You have a grudge with Fan Yunche, but you don't have one with me."
Hearing that, Mu Qingyun looked at Yue Hu, a little confused about her attitude.
Seeing Mu Qingyun look at her, Yue Hu quickly added, "I have a reason to call you a pervert. Who else grabs people's tails? If you don't like it, fine, I won't call you that anymore."
[Wow, that sentence has a lot of meaning. I feel like I get it now.]
[No, that's way too obvious.]
[Heh, this woman is quite scheming, trying to make friends with Mu Qingyun by distancing herself from Fan Yunche and bringing up the tail-grabbing incident. Such a schemer.]
[That's scheming? Grabbing tails isn't exactly off-limits. Even as a Mu Ge fan, grabbing someone's tail is indeed not nice.]
[Yeah, otherwise why would Mu Ge keep holding back when fighting her before? Mu Ge is no gentleman, when fighting, he never holds back regardless of gender.]
[... Upstairs, I'm not sure if you're a fan or a hater.]
...
"Do you need something?" Mu Qingyun raised an eyebrow, not understanding why these two suddenly approached her.
Their relationship wasn't exactly good.
"Just running into someone familiar, saying hi." Yue Hu replied, glancing at the nearly finished house. "Is your house sturdy enough? Won't it suddenly collapse?"
Hearing this, everyone fell silent.
Mu Qingyun: ...
Su: What a mouth.
Yi Beixuan: Intelligence must have all gone to the beauty.
"Ahem, Yue Hu, let's go catch some food," Die Wu clearly felt the atmosphere turning awkward and tugged Yue Hu's sleeve to signal her to leave.
But Yue Hu seemed oblivious to the awkwardness and continued, "Why aren't you talking now?"
"The house is sturdy enough. Whether it collapses or not is none of your concern," Mu Qingyun said coldly, not wanting to waste words on Yue Hu.
"Can't you speak properly?" Yue Hu got annoyed. "I never did anything to you."