LoserQueen

Chapter 37 Apathetic Family

The day of the competition came in the blink of an eye. Dugu Muyou opened the wardrobe and picked out a black dress from it. Most of the clothes of Nangong Xun were dark colors, black in particular. Dugu Muyou did not pay much attention to it and picked out a dress she saw fit.

The dress was oversized for her. Dugu Muyou snipped the dress with her dagger and made some adjustments, which refined the dress. She put away the dagger, checked the Magical Essence stored in Yuehua Diamond, and left the yard after she made sure she was prepared.

Blood Fox had already hidden in the Yuehua Diamond. It was greatly wounded and did not fully recover. Last night, it told Dugu Muyou that it would need time to heal itself and asked her to leave it alone. Without the sarcastic remarks made by Blood Fox, Dugu Muyou felt even a bit strange. The Magical Essence of Jiuqi Demon was unabsorbed. Perhaps Blood Fox could not absorb it given its current injuries.

Dugu Muyou thought after she finished the family competition, she would think of a way to let Blood Fox get an early recovery. She wondered what the little thing got, which let it boast all day in front of her.

Dugu Muyou walked through the streets and reached the front door of the Dugus.

"Huh?"

She looked at the closed door and felt a little strange. Today was the day of the competition of the Dugus. In principle, it should be bustling with visitors, and the house should be full of guests. However, the view was quite the opposite. From time to time, people walked past the door and took a look at the plaque of the Dugus, but nothing more.

Was she early or late?

That should not be the case. She calculated the time needed to reach here and arrived in time.

Dugu Muyou could not comprehend it and went forward to knock on the door. After a while, a servant of the Dugus opened the door.

The servant dressed in blue asked, "Who is it?" When he looked up and saw her, he was stupefied. "Miss... Miss Muyou?" He said without closing his mouth.

"Hmm," said Dugu Muyou and pushed the servant aside. Entering the house, she looked around and sensed the feeling of strangeness.

Turning back, Dugu Muyou asked the servant, "Isn't the family competition held today? Why are there so few people?"

He seemed to be overwhelmed by shock and looked at Dugu Muyou as if he had been seeing a ghost. Suddenly, his body shivered, and he took a big step back. The door behind him was closed, and he cornered himself.

The servant in blue garment stammered with horror, "Are you a human or a ghost?"

Dugu Muyou took her eyes off his face and noticed that his legs began to shake. The corner of her mouth turned up, and she was suddenly in the mood for a prank.

Dugu Muyou let out a sigh and stared at the servant dressed in blue ruefully, "I died in the Valley of Magical Animals. I wanted to rest peacefully and be reincarnated in a new body. However, our family just won't bury me, leaving my soul wandering in this world. Thus, I have to come back here and explain the matter to my father."

She deliberately made her voice ghostly and did a pretty good imitation of a ghost, which made her act a bit more convincing.

"Ghost!"

The servant screamed and turned back to open the door. However, he was too anxious to open it.

A guard nearby, who was on duty, heard the noise and scolded angrily, "What are you shouting about? There's no ghost in broad daylight!" However, his expression changed in the next moment, which was no better than that of the servant. He stuttered in disbelief, "Miss... Miss Muyou?"

Nonetheless, he was smarter than the servant and instantly realized what was happening.

"I'll tell the master!" The guard ran towards the mansion while shouting, "Miss Muyou is back!"

The servant who was previously scared to death realized the prank, but the fear was lingering inside him.

"You... Are you really not a ghost?"

Dugu Muyou thought he was quite a sheep.

Dugu Muyou ignored him. She turned around and left with a swing of her ponytail.

It did not seem that a competition was going to take place at all. However, no one came to tell her what was going on.

The servant in the blue garment was relieved when he saw Dugu Muyou left. At the same time, he remembered Dugu Muyou's question, so he followed her and said hurriedly, "Miss Muyou, the competition was postponed."

Dugu Muyou was surprised and stopped walking, "Postponed? Why?"

Although Dugu Muyou had not participated in the family competition before, her memories recalled that it was a very lively and crowded event. Everyone in her family would concentrate on the competition. Judging from the tone of Nangong Xun, she sensed this competition was given great importance. Why it was postponed? Dugu Muyou was curious about it.

"I don't know the reason. The postponement was ordered by the master a while ago. A lot of visitors who came to watch the competition stayed in the town owing to the change in time, and the business of inns got better overnight..."

The servant said, and he was no longer scared as before.

The Dugus welcomed others to watch the competition. Not many people were invited to the event, and only the prominent families would receive the invitations. The Dugus would arrange accommodation for those who came from afar. There was a separate courtyard in the family, which was specially built to accommodate the guests. Most people were uninvited, and the Dugus would not entertain them, so they had to find places to stay.

"When is the competition?" asked Dugu Muyou while walking.

Relying on the memories of the original Muyou, she knew the family inside out. The thought that the family was so apathetic that they did not try to save the original Muyou or bury her body made her uncomfortable, and her heart was stiffened because of it.

"The master did not announce the time yet," answered the servant in the blue garment.

Dugu Muyou slowed her step for a moment because the situation was out of her expectation. Was there some kind of accident in the family so dire that they had to postpone the highly valued family competition? The competition was a family matter, so they did not need to explain it to others. Even if people asked about it, they could just come up with random and vague reasons.

Dugu Muyou decided to meet her mother. In her memories, the original Muyou's mother was good to her, so she decided to meet her first.

Her mother's name was Liu Pianpian, from the Liu Family, one of the four prominent families in Honglie Mystery Land. Although the Liu Family gained a strong foothold in the land and many talented people were from this family, Liu Pianpian did not possess any talent in this regard. She was in the early stage of the blue rank and failed to achieve the Heaven rank via breakthrough. She would probably remain at this level for the rest of her life. In this regard, Liu Pianpian and Dugu Muyou had something in common. Nonetheless, the original Muyou's situation was far worse than her mother's.

Turning a corner, Dugu Muyou walked towards her mother's yard but met a group of people stepping towards her hurriedly.

A beautiful lady was at the front. Her manner was graceful, and her face was a bit red because of the quick walk, which made her even more attractive. Behind her were a woman who served her and a few girls. On the left was the guard who ran away earlier.

"Madam, Miss Muyou is here!" The woman who held the lady said joyfully.

"It is... It is her..." The beautiful lady's eyes went red, and she nearly shed tears.

Dugu Muyou was slightly moved. The beautiful lady was her mother. She was surprised she would be missed in this family.

In her previous life, she became an orphan at a young age and never had the chance to experience kinship with her parents. She experienced a lot of hardships when she was a child for survival and a brighter future for her younger sister. She was always worried about her sister and tried her best not to burden her. Thus, she took on a lot of responsibilities, and few people would concern her.

Now she thought about her younger sister who betrayed her and realized her sister had never been close to her. Her sister was all Dugu Muyou got in that world, so she clung to her. The work kept her busy from noticing what was going on around her back then.

Liu Pianpian came to Dugu Muyou in the blink of an eye and held her hand excitedly. She gripped her hand with a great force as if she had been worried that Dugu Muyou would disappear.

"Mother," said Dugu Muyou hesitantly.

Perhaps she was under the influence of her body's original host. After she overcame the initial resistance to call the lady mother, the way she said it sounded rather natural. Seeing Liu Pianpian, she felt warmth. Was that what it was like to be loved?

Dugu Muyou was kind of attached to this feeling and had a sad realization that her previous life was such a failure. Her boyfriend, who said he would love her all the time, had hardly done anything for her. She had achieved everything by herself, but she did not realize that back then. In fact, that man was very selfish and rarely cared about her.

"Muyou, you are back finally. I... I thought..." Liu Pianpian could no longer hold back her tears. She had not slept well these days because she was constantly worried about Dugu Muyou.

"Madam, Miss Muyou is back. You should be happy." The woman took out her handkerchief and wiped Liu Pianpian's tears.

Dugu Muyou recognized her. Her surname was Lin, and Muyou used to call her auntie.

"Mother, sorry for making you worried about me these days. Auntie Lin is right. Now that I'm back, we should be happy about the reunion." Dugu Muyou took the handkerchief from Auntie Lin and wiped her mother's tears.

Liu Pianpian tried to stop the tears. Perhaps it was the tears of joy. She could not stop crying. She was crying and laughing at the same time, almost like a child.

"Let me have a look at you. Did you get injured? The Valley of Magical Animals..." Liu Pianpian became concerned speaking of the place.

"I'm fine." Dugu Muyou spun her body to show she was healthy.

Liu Pianpian felt relieved, "Your elder sister left to find you and did not send any news back. After another three days, she would be back as we have agreed upon."

"My elder sister left to look for me?"

Dugu Muyou was surprised. The elder sister Liu Pianpian mentioned was Dugu Qinglan, also the daughter of Liu Pianpian. Unlike Dugu Muyou, Dugu Qinglan was extremely gifted and was thought highly of among the direct line of the family. She was only a few years older than Dugu Muyou but already reached the peak stage of the black rank. When the turning point came, she might make a breakthrough and become a heaven-level illusionist from a mortal illusionist at any moment.

Dugu Qinglan was passionate about cultivation and spent a large chunk of her time on practice. She was talented and diligent, which explained why she made such great achievements. She had an apathetic personality and was a bit indifferent to Dugu Muyou, so Dugu Muyou was not very close to her. Perhaps Dugu Muyou felt inferior and was a bit afraid of her gifted elder sister.

What Dugu Muyou did not expect was that Dugu Qinglan went to look for her. Perhaps the original Muyou did not know her sister well. Maybe her elder sister seemed apathetic but was rather considerate deep down. She might be concerned about Muyou but did not know how to express her feelings.

Liu Pianpian nodded and held Dugu Muyou's hand while saying, "Since you're back, pay a visit to your father."

Liu Pianpian's words pulled Dugu Muyou back to reality. Thinking of her father, Dugu Muyou could only laugh grimly.