Chapter 26 The Real Information: "Those people treat monsters as pets, and..."
Jiu Su understood immediately from her look. She smiled helplessly and explained, "At first, during the few days you were preparing for your exams, I borrowed Uncle You's phone to keep you company. Later, when you weren't around, I used your device to switch to my account to reply to messages... I can't hide even a single wound from you, how could I dare to hide a phone in your house?"
"Oh," Shu Qing nodded, her eyes still looking strange, and questioned him, "You didn't do anything else, did you?"
Jiu Su raised an eyebrow slightly and asked in surprise, "What other?"
Shu Qing was embarrassed because she still had chat history with her best friend Tu Nan on her phone. Xiao Hong and Jiu Su were frequently mentioned in the conversation, and the content of the discussion... wasn't really suitable for the person in question to see.
"You can't just touch a girl's phone like that," she lectured him sternly. "It's only because you're my pet snake. If anyone else dared to look at my phone when I wasn't looking, I would have slapped them already. Modern people's phones are all about privacy, okay?"
This time, Jiu Su was genuinely asking for advice: "Why? Uncle You doesn't seem to care."
Shu Qing tried hard to recall, and finally remembered that "Uncle You" was the uncle next to Jin Wanli when she went to the Supermarket Management Bureau to take the license test. Since he was from the same country as Jiu Su and Jin Wanli, he must be an old monster, but she didn't know whether he was hundreds or thousands of years old.
“Because he’s not a modern human at all!” Shu Qing glared at him. “To you, it’s just a communication tool. You don’t care if you don’t have it, but to us, it’s a necessity of life. Please respect our modern lifestyle.”
Jiu Su said "Oh," accepting her explanation, which satisfied Shu Qing. She opened the shopping app, browsing as she asked, "What color do you want?"
"What?"
"A cell phone?" Shu Qing looked up at him and said curiously, "It's quite troublesome not having a cell phone. I just withdrew the money I spent on tips on short video platforms a couple of days ago, it's almost ten thousand yuan, enough to buy you one."
Jiu Su instinctively refused, saying, "No."
“You absolutely must. You need to be familiar with modern life.” Shu Qing didn’t even look up this time. “No matter what era you originally lived in, you are living in the present now. Unless you tell me you can travel back hundreds of years.”
"That's impossible," Jiu Su shook her head, still insisting, "You need the money more."
"It's nothing, just a small fraction," Shu Qing said nonchalantly. "My main income last month came from that video the young lady asked me to film. I still have a lot of ads waiting for me to take on, and I can still afford a new phone. Besides, you're the main character in the video, so most of the tips are for you. Just consider it my share of the profits?"
According to her own aesthetic sense, she picked out two of the latest iPhone models and held them up to Wen Jiusu: "Choose one? If you don't choose, then I'll buy this one. Anyway, you'll definitely be using it when you're in human form, so silver-white will match better."
Since she had already said all that, Jiu Su had no choice but to swallow her refusal and nod, "...Okay."
Another new debt.
After buying the phone, Shu Qing went to a clothing store to buy him clothes: "I was wondering why you always wear the same outfit every time we meet. Fine, I'll do it. You need two sets of clothes for going out and two sets for your loungewear. Don't you even know what size clothes you should wear?"
Jiu Su actually knew that he opened his mouth, wanting to speak.
"Try on any sizes that are close to what's available," Shu Qing said, completely absorbed in online shopping, without giving him a chance to speak. "Let's get a couple of ordinary clothes for everyday people first. Once this is all over, I'll take you to a physical clothing store..."
Jiu Su finally placed a hand on Shu Qing's shoulder and said softly, "I don't need it."
Shu Qing finally raised her head and met his eyes.
He calmly told her, "I'll be leaving once all this is over."
The question that I hadn't dared to ask has now been answered.
Actually... she thought, the fact that she didn't dare to ask already indicated that she already knew the outcome in her heart.
Why does Jiu Su always avoid the topic of "liking" her? Why didn't she just tell her back then that he was Xiao Hong? And why did she tacitly allow her to go to Jin Wanli today to gather information and confirm her guess?
Ultimately, it's all because there will always be a day when they part ways. She didn't say anything before because she and "Jiu Su" had a very shallow relationship. He could disappear from her world without a trace at any time. At most, she would just lose a pet snake that couldn't speak.
The reason she's bringing it up now is because Jiu Su is becoming increasingly important to her. If she can use her interactions with Xiao Hong to cover up the slight and fleeting attraction between them, then that would be a good thing for her.
Shu Qing felt a pang of sadness. She asked, "Why? Is it absolutely necessary to leave?"
“It’s not good for either of us if I stay,” Jiu Su said calmly. “You are human, and I am a monster.”
Shu Qing felt this was utterly unreasonable and argued, "There are many people living with monsters these days."
“That’s different,” Jiu Su said. “Those people treat monsters like pets, but what do you take me for?”
There was no way to respond to that, and Shu Qing couldn't very well say to a handsome man, "I can treat you like a pet." Her eyes darted around, and she changed her approach: "...Can I treat you like a little brother of a different race?"
Jiu Su's expression went blank for a moment—he was the Demon King, and no one in the demon race dared to say to him, "I treat you as my little brother." Faced with such arrogant words, he really didn't know how to deal with it for a while.
"Although I know your mental age is definitely older than mine," Shu Qing continued, taking advantage of the situation, "your body was conceived in my home, and besides, you don't look... well, you're not that old. Let's just treat each other like siblings. My mom and I are both only children, and I haven't had much experience with siblings. What could be wrong with that?"
"Siblings?"
Shu Qing, quick-witted, detected the grinding of back teeth in the name "Jiu Su" and added, "Then, based on mental age, siblings are fine too. If we're siblings, I'll take care of you more. If we're siblings, you can take care of me more."
Jiu Su smiled silently, realizing that in terms of verbal sparring, she could never win against her, whether in this life or the past.
He then gave up arguing with her and simply shook his head.
Shu Qing bit her lip gently, wondering if bringing up the danger she was currently facing and her short video account would be effective.
“I won’t leave now,” Jiu Su said. “At the very least, I’ll help you deal with these people. I’ll leave once you’re safe and your life is stable. If you still want to raise monsters, I’ll find you a cute one as compensation. How about that?”
He seemed to have mind-reading abilities. Shu Qing retorted irritably, "What do you think? If one day I were to leave and find a rich man... let's say a young lady, and send you to be raised by her, do you think that would be acceptable?"
Jiu Su had no answer, yet she refused to budge. A profound silence filled the air as the two remained locked in a silent stalemate.
Shu Qing looked at him for a while, sighed as if in resignation, and asked again, "Is it absolutely necessary to leave?"
"yes."
"Where are you going? Can you tell me?" She paused, then guessed, "The Super Management Bureau?"
"No, I am a monster born from the mountains and fields, so of course I should return to the mountains and fields."
Shu Qing finally stopped arguing with him—because no one can stop someone from going home; besides, she really couldn't control whether Jiu Su wanted to stay or leave. Even if he quietly left one day, she probably wouldn't even notice.
Emotionally, he had already made up his mind, and there was no point in arguing any further; it might even hurt their relationship. Realistically, he promised to compensate her with another little monster, which would at least guarantee her social media career.
“Then let’s be online friends and keep in touch,” she said frankly. “I hope you don’t go back to some remote mountain forest with no signal.”
Jiu Su seemed to smile slightly and said jokingly, "That's hard to say."
Shu Qing rolled her eyes at him: "If I needed something, would I even be able to find you?"
"...Hope you're doing well."
Shu Qing was amused by him. If he had promised something like "I'll be there whenever you call," she definitely wouldn't have believed him, because people who keep their promises don't make them lightly. But this ambiguous statement seemed quite plausible to her, because this guy was never afraid to express his refusal directly; on the contrary, he was always good-natured and always kept it hidden.
"When you leave, remember to come see me to say goodbye," she demanded. "Treat me to a nice meal, it has to be a big one!"
“Fine,” he rolled his eyes at her, “the creditor is the boss.”
The two reached a consensus on whether Jiu Su should stay or leave, each suppressing their unspoken sorrow and reluctance, and pretending nothing was wrong.
Shu Qing lowered her head to reply to Jin Wanli's message, and finally asked, "Is there anything I can do now?"
She asked Jiu Su the same question, and Jiu Su told her, "There's nothing you can do about this. Just stay here and focus on making your videos."
Shu Qing said self-deprecatingly, "I can't do anything about my own affairs."
“No,” Jiu Su said. “You’ve already done a lot. Do you remember those two photos you reconstructed?”
Shu Qing nodded.
“They have many methods for dealing with monsters, and they know there are many ways to track them,” Jiu Su explained to her. “So they first tried to interfere, and then set up a magic array to counterattack.”
"Is that the counterattack formation Jin Wanli mentioned? It only targets monsters and has no effect on humans?"
“Yes.” Jiu Su affirmed, “If I forcibly break through the outer interference when I am spying, then both Niannian and I will face this formation directly. I may be fine, but Niannian will probably go blind even if she doesn’t die.”
Shu Qing gasped, listening to him continue, "However, you recreated the magic circle using a photograph. A photograph is static, and the magic circle's power is greatly reduced. You not only saved Niannian, but we can also be prepared for this. Does that count as 'being unable to do anything'?"
His gentle coaxing was incredibly effective. Shu Qing was appeased and said smugly, "That's true. Although I didn't contribute any damage, I did contribute some assists."
Jiu Su's understanding of modern society was still not deep enough, and she couldn't understand the gaming slang she was spouting, but at least she knew that Jiu Su no longer felt helpless about her powerlessness, so she relaxed and said lazily, "Besides, making you make videos isn't for nothing."
Shu Qing, having shaken off her feelings of helplessness, immediately understood. "You mean, use my 'golden finger'?"
Jiu Su nodded to her. She could help the little demons cultivate, and in turn, the little demons would be more powerful in protecting her—for example, the auspicious bird Fa Cai, its feathers could help her avoid misfortune and bring good luck, and Nian Nian would also have the opportunity to glean more information.
"I understand." Shu Qing finally understood. "I'm not an assister, I'm the 'commander'."
Jiu Su couldn't even understand it this time, and was completely confused.
"In other words, I'm responsible for figuring out how to upgrade and strengthen the little monsters, and they help me fight monsters and do chores." Today, he especially revealed his confusion about modern life, which was completely different from his usual aloof and knowledgeable image. Shu Qing liked it and shared her card-raising experience in a card mobile game with him with a smile.
After hearing this, Jiu Su smiled and dismissed it, saying, "Then you can continue raising them."
Shu Qing actually turned on her phone, thinking that since she was going to shoot videos anyway, she might as well take on an advertisement while she was at it. The 100,000 yuan she received last month was unexpected income, purely money paid by the young lady for accompanying others on a whim.
She plans to save half of it for a rainy day, and use the rest to buy a new house she has her eye on after the current troubles are over.
Regardless of whether Xiao Hong is still by her side in the future, she doesn't want to live in that apartment anymore.
Other sources of income—the studio is still a pipe dream, and even if it is set up, it will be in the early investment stage, so let's leave that aside for now; although tips are not very stable, with more updates, they can be considered somewhat controllable.
Another source of income is advertising. She's a new account, and advertisers have been contacting her since last month, offering relatively low prices. As her follower count grows, both the number of advertisers and the prices they ask for will increase, making it another important source of revenue.
She figured that even though it was an advertisement, she couldn't just randomly insert it into the video; she wanted to make it look more sophisticated. A couple of days ago, a multi-functional cooker company contacted her. After all, she kept a picky snake, so she was quite interested in the cooker.
Shu Qing opened the short video app, skillfully tapped away a bunch of red dots for likes and coins, and went to the backend to check her private messages, trying to find the advertiser's product introduction.
The moment she opened the private message interface, her hand trembled, and she almost dropped her phone.
Jiu Su appeared to be focused on making paper peach blossoms, but he had actually been paying close attention to Shu Qing's every move. He quickly took the phone from her. Remembering Shu Qing's words about "respecting modern lifestyles," he didn't even glance at her phone screen, only asking, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," Shu Qing gritted her teeth as she took the phone. "This is never going to end. Let me see which heavenly generals are behind this."
A flurry of "heavenly soldiers and generals" flooded her private messages in unison. Upon opening them, she discovered several were newly registered accounts. Scrolling down, she found seventy or eighty accounts, all sending the exact same few messages:
Do you think the Supermarket Management Bureau will keep watching you forever?
"Do you really think those little monsters of yours can be trusted?"
“I’ve deleted your ‘public service announcement.’ You should apologize in the same way that Jin Yaoyao publicly apologizes.”
"Otherwise, you will see your real information online, your address, your former company, and your real name."
"Miss Shu Qing."
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Author's Note: Commander: A term used to refer to players in some card games.
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