Chapter 84: Priestess Yuan: Take it Easy My Child
Ruan Chanchan tried to sit up, but when a bone-crushing exhaustion hit her body, she fell back on the floor of the cave and muttered, "I feel like I have been caught in between a stampede." She truly felt like she had been tossed around quite a lot before her body was allowed to rest.
Priestess Yuan’s lips twitched when she recalled the mess at the Xie family. The second Ruan Chanchan fainted, and both Chief Xie and her husband were scared silly. They immediately called for her, and when she arrived, she saw the two of them shaking and slapping Ruan Chanchan here and there in an attempt to wake her up.
Thus, it was not a surprise that Ruan Chanchan felt like she was tossed around, because she was! Chief Xie was throwing her up and down when she arrived at the Xie family’s cave! It was really a close save.
"You are thinking too much," said Priestess Yuan. She then picked up a small leaf, which was curved and pinned to the side by small sticks and handed it to Ruan Chanchan. "Here, take a sip of water. You must be quite thirsty."
It was only then that Ruan Chanchan realised that she was indeed quite thirsty. She took the leaf from Priestess Yuan and then took a sip. At least that brought quite a relief to her parched throat.
Once she had almost emptied the water in the leaf, she placed it on the ground and asked, "What happened?"
"You fainted," Priestess Yuan kindly told her. "I think it’s because you used too much energy to heal that girl, which is why you fainted, because your body couldn’t keep up with the loss of energy. And as you are not a beast woman with your core broken, it’s even harder on you to make up for the lost energy."
Ruan Chanchan: "..."
So I fainted in the end?
She felt a bit speechless. No wonder everyone made such a fuss. Their newly found treasure ended up falling sick; no wonder they were hurrying down this cave to look for her. She turned and looked at Priestess Yuan, who was still smiling at her, and questioned, "Is Zeqiu—"
"Ah, do you want to know about Zeqiu? Don’t worry. He did lose his temper with Chief Xie, but he is sensible enough to know that he first needs to make sure that you are doing better," replied Priestess Yuan. "So he has put the matter of you fainting at Chief Xie’s place for the time being, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is really upset."
Ruan Chanchan’s throat worked as she swallowed hard. She was half worried and half relieved. Relieved because Ruan Zeqiu didn’t kill anyone, but at the same time, she was worried that now that she had woken up, that mer would certainly go outside and kill someone.
Sure enough, just as Ruan Zeqiu ran inside, he erupted.
"Sister! I am glad you are alright," he yelped as he threw himself in her arms and said to her with tearful eyes, "I was worried that those beasts really killed you. It’s a good thing that you are alright, or else I would have killed them all and burnt this entire tribe together with you. Of course I am kidding."
Ruan Chanchan and Priestess Yuan: "...." Your eyes are not smiling; in fact, they look quite serious, Zeqiu.
"Who are you killing, huh?" Realising that she needed to teach this mer a few more things about restraint, Ruan Chanchan raised her hand and smacked him on the head lightly. She controlled her strength, but her voice was quite stern as she said to Ruan Zeqiu, "Do you think you are the leader of the world just because you have little strength? Don’t go around throwing words like that; you’re going to kill someone. It’s really scary!"
"Oww!" Ruan Zeqiu didn’t expect his sister to hit him. He raised his hand and rubbed the spot where she had hit him and said to her, "I didn’t mean — it’s their fault that they worked you too hard. I told them to stop, but they didn’t listen to a word I was saying." He was pouting quite hard while saying those words!
Ruan Chanchan was simply speechless by his response, but at the same time, she knew that he was only worried about her. Thinking about the situation like this, her expression softened, and she rubbed Ruan Zeqiu’s hair affectionately. "I am sorry for worrying you, Zeqiu. But I am fine, so you should quit being angry. Okay?"
Ruan Zeqiu snorted. "I will agree to your request if you promise to eat more meat tonight, sister. You are way too thin!"
"Hahaha."
"This is no time for you to be laughing. Just tell me yes or no."
Ruan Chanchan hurriedly nodded, realising that she couldn’t fool her brother.
"You should eat something," said Priestess Yuan as she placed a red fruit in front of her. This fruit resembled a cherry, only twice its size. Ruan Chanchan picked it up and took a bite of it. The fruit was slightly sour, but it was still a bit sweet, which allowed Ruan Chanchan to keep munching on it. However, the fruit was big enough for Ruan Chanchan to hold it with both of her hands. It was not a surprise that she couldn’t eat most of it. However, when she tried to put it down, Ruan Zeqiu stared at her hard.
In the end, Ruan Chanchan could only pick it back up and start eating it again. Fortunately, the taste of the fruit was somewhat like the pink guava that she had eaten, and it tasted quite nice with no seeds in it. It was, in fact, quite refreshing and sweet!
Ruan Chanchan finished the fruit after a long time and refused to eat another one. She was not a beast woman; at most, she was just a human with an extra set of skills; she didn’t need to eat a lot to make up for her strength.
Ruan Chanchan was thinking about whether to return to her cave or ask Xiao Xi how many points she earned in total when someone came running inside Priestess Yuan’s cave.