I just became the Pirate King, and you're telling me I also time-traveled at the same time.

Chapter 1030 Washed the Pot

After she finished speaking, the courtyard fell silent for a moment.

Sun Wukong couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter, "Hahahaha! Brother, wouldn't you call this a blessing in disguise? You picked up a fox that even comes with the ability to serve people!"

Tang Sanzang couldn't help but smile slightly, but still gently reminded her, "Female benefactor, the word 'servant' is too heavy. If you truly wish to stay, we can travel together."

Su Wanwan stubbornly shook her head, her gaze fixed only on Chu Yang.

Chu Yang found it somewhat amusing to see her with red-rimmed eyes, yet still trying to appear serious.

He reached out and gently flicked her forehead.

"Alright, get up."

Su Wanwan winced in pain, clutching her forehead, and looked at him expectantly: "You agreed?"

"I'll reluctantly agree," Chu Yang said lazily, "but there are a few things I need to clarify first."

"you say."

"First, you are not allowed to make any more advances toward my master."

"...I'm not playing anymore."

"Second, you are not allowed to wander around at night."

"……good."

"Third," Chu Yang drawled, a smirk playing on his lips, "since you chose to stay as a servant, you're not allowed to complain about doing laundry, cooking, massaging your legs, or patting your back."

Su Wanwan: "..."

The emotion she had just felt was almost choked up by this sentence, and after a long while, she gritted her teeth and squeezed out, "...No complaints."

Chu Yang nodded in satisfaction and reached out to pull her up from the ground.

"Then it's settled. Don't rush to show your loyalty. Go help the shopkeeper repair the courtyard wall. Brother Monkey went too far just now, tearing it down like this. We can't just leave like that."

Sun Wukong immediately protested: "What do you mean by 'too heavy-handed'? Clearly, half of the one with horns was also smashed!"

"So you go carry bricks, and she goes mix mud." Chu Yang made the final decision.

Su Wanwan, whose eyes were still red, paused for a moment upon hearing this: "Me, go and mix the mud?"

"What, you don't want to?"

Looking at Chu Yang's self-righteous face, and then at Sun Wukong who was laughing gleefully beside her, she didn't actually tremble with anger like before. Instead, she lowered her head, pursed her lips, and suddenly felt like laughing herself.

She wiped away the last trace of tears from the corner of her eye and softly responded.

"willing."

The voice wasn't loud, but it carried on the morning breeze and sounded much more genuine than the previous soft and affected tones.

In the backyard, crabapple blossoms are still falling.

The white dragon horse snorted softly in the stable, while the white donkey, sometime during the day, began gnawing on the piece of wood again, making a crunching sound. The innkeeper finally mustered the courage to peek half his head out from the front. Seeing that the monster was really gone, he shakily stepped out, and the first thing he saw was the beautiful girl, her sleeves rolled up, actually squatting by the collapsed wall, preparing to mix mud. He was completely dumbfounded.

"This...this..."

Chu Yang raised his chin at him: "What are you standing there for? Go get the shovel."

The shopkeeper exclaimed "Oh!" and hurriedly ran to find the tools.

Sun Wukong had already picked up the largest blue brick from the broken wall and grinned as he approached Su Wanwan: "Newcomer, come on, let me teach you how to make mud."

Su Wanwan rolled her eyes at him: "I will."

"You know nothing! You've already made a mess of that lump of mud."

"That was my first time!"

"It's the first time, so why are you being so fierce?"

Tang Sanzang stood aside, looking at the mess and the noisy group. He first shook his head helplessly, and then couldn't help but laugh.

The morning mist gradually dissipated, and the sun slowly rose, making the broken bricks scattered on the ground in the courtyard shine.

Su Wanwan squatted there, her hands covered in mud, her skirt stained, and a few strands of her hair loose. But as she bent her head to work with the mud, a faint smile never quite reached her lips.

She suddenly realized that being a servant wasn't so bad after all.

When we set off the next day, the morning mist in the town had not yet dissipated.

Su Wanwan squatted by the well in the backyard, washing her hands. A little bit of dust from last night's muddy work still clung to her fingertips. The well water was very cold. She took a deep breath as she dipped her hands in, and then looked up to see a clean cloth draped over the edge of the well.

She paused, then looked around.

There was no one in the backyard.

The white horse was swishing its tail by the stable when the white donkey stretched its head over, trying to steal a bite from the small cloth bag of dry rations beside her. She instinctively slapped the donkey's mouth away, muttering, "Get lost! Yesterday you were gnawing on wood, and today you're trying to eat my rations. How can you be so indiscriminate in your eating?"

The white donkey let out a pitiful "Ah-uh," tilted its head, and tried to get closer again.

"If you lean in any closer, I'll twist your ear off."

"Why don't you try twisting one?"

A lazy voice sounded from behind.

Su Wanwan turned her head and saw Chu Yang leaning against a pillar, holding a string of newly bought sweet cakes in his hand. His collar was loose and he looked a bit sleepy and nonchalant.

"If you dare twist this donkey's ear, it will chase you and bray all the way today."

"Who told it to steal things?" Su Wanwan hugged the cloth bag to her chest, then glanced at the cloth on the well's edge. "Who put this here?"

"It was a gift from the shopkeeper."

"Is the shopkeeper really that meticulous?"

"No," Chu Yang mumbled, taking a bite of the sweet cake. "I told him to put it there."

Su Wanwan was taken aback.

Chu Yang seemed oblivious to the expression on her face and casually tossed another package over. She caught it hastily and looked down to see a pair of new shoes. The uppers were made of fine, soft, bluish-gray cloth with neat stitching and thick soles.

"Your shoes from yesterday, the heels are all worn out," Chu Yang said. "Walking on mountain paths is hard on your feet, change into these first."

Su Wanwan looked down at the shoes in her arms and remained silent for a moment.

The shoes she originally wore were a style she casually made when she conjured them up. They were beautiful, but after days of traveling and walking through mud and water, the edges had started to fray. She wasn't unaware of it, but she hadn't paid attention to it or thought much of it.

As it turned out, this person actually saw it.

"What are you spacing out for?" Chu Yang raised an eyebrow. "Do you think it's ugly?"

"...No." She hugged the shoes tighter, her voice lowering, "They're quite pretty."

"That's good. Hurry up and change, don't dawdle. Monkey King is urging us from ahead."

Outside the front gate, Sun Wukong, as expected, was already impatient. Carrying his golden cudgel, he shouted, "You two, taking so long to change your shoes? You've already finished two pancakes!"

Tang Sanzang sighed helplessly, "Wukong, don't rush me."

"Master, it's not that I'm rushing you, it's that I'm afraid my brother will stand there and talk nonsense again."

Su Wanwan couldn't help but let the corners of her mouth curl up slightly.

She turned her back and sat on the platform by the well, taking off her old shoes. The morning breeze blew, chilling her ankles. She bent down and slowly put on the new shoes; the uppers were soft, and the size was just right, neither too tight nor too loose, making her feet feel stable.

She tried to stand up and take a couple of steps.

Chu Yang glanced at her: "How is it?"

"Perfect."

"Then let's go."

After he finished speaking, he turned and walked out, as if he had just done something very ordinary.

Su Wanwan stared at his retreating figure for a moment before lowering her head to put away the old shoes, then picked up her small bundle and followed him.

As we left the town, the fog gradually thinned.

The willows by the river swayed gently in the breeze, their branches brushing against the water's surface, creating ripples like scattered gold. The breakfast stalls along the roadside were still steaming, the fried dough sticks fresh from the pan, and the aroma of soy milk filling the entire street. Su Wanwan still held the half-packet of sweet cakes Chu Yang had given her; she took a few steps, then took a bite, the sweetness making her tongue feel sticky.

She had thought that after what happened last night, things would be a little different today.

For example, Tang Sanzang would be more wary of her, Sun Wukong would make fun of her, and Chu Yang would take even more drastic measures to order her around, in order to remind her that "you are now begging to stay."

After walking for about half an hour, she discovered that it wasn't like that at all.

Tang Sanzang walked ahead, chanting scriptures as usual, occasionally glancing back at her. Only when she tripped over a vine by the roadside did he gently remind her, "Female benefactor, the mountain path is slippery, watch your step."

Sun Wukong, meanwhile, darted about, picking wild peaches and breaking off pieces of bamboo; when bored, he would tease the white donkey. As for Chu Yang—

Chu Yang was walking beside her, holding a foxtail grass that he had picked from who-knows-where.

"What are you looking at?" He suddenly turned his head.

"...It's nothing."

"Is there anything wrong that you're staring at me?"

"Who's staring at you?" Su Wanwan retorted subconsciously, but her ears burned slightly. "I'm watching to see why you didn't make me take the blame today."

Chu Yang chuckled: "You've become addicted to memorizing them?"

"I did not mean that."

"So what do you mean?"

Su Wanwan pursed her lips, her voice a little soft: "I mean...didn't you agree to take me as your servant yesterday?"

"yes."

"Then why didn't you ask me to do anything today?"

Chu Yang paused, turned his head and looked her up and down, making Su Wanwan feel inexplicably uneasy.

"Are you out of your mind, you fox?" he said.

"You're the one who's messed up."

"Others would rather do nothing, but you're the one who woke up this morning and kept asking me why I didn't order you around." Chu Yang clicked his tongue. "What, did kneeling like that yesterday make you a little servile?"

Su Wanwan's face flushed red: "What nonsense are you talking about!"

Sun Wukong, with his keen ears, immediately turned around upon hearing this, a malicious smile on his face: "What servility? What are you talking about behind my back?"

"Get lost." Chu Yang said without even looking up.

Tang Sanzang coughed lightly, "Benefactor Chu, you should be more careful with your words."

"Alright," Chu Yang readily agreed, "Then I'll put it again. Miss Su, you're now an unofficial member of our team. Do the work if you can, and don't do it if you don't want to. Nobody's forcing you. Understand?"

Su Wanwan was stunned.

"But……"

"There's no 'but' about it," Chu Yang said. "Besides, have you forgotten that your true form is a demon? If you really try to take the blame and carry water, and word gets out, other demons will think we're abusing our own kind."

"Who is like you?"

"That's true." Chu Yang said thoughtfully. "At least we don't steal people's things."

Su Wanwan almost laughed in anger, and raised her hand to hit him, but he gently blocked her wrist.

"Stop fooling around, there's a pit ahead."

She looked down and, sure enough, saw a shallow pit hidden under the moss. Her toes were already touching the edge; if she hadn't been stopped earlier, she would have slipped and fallen, though not badly, but still in a sorry state.

She silently pulled her foot back without saying a word.

Chu Yang released his grip and continued walking forward as if nothing had happened.

Su Wanwan followed beside him, but suddenly felt a little soft-hearted and a little awkward.

This feeling is strange.

In the past, when she approached men, the most common gazes she encountered were filled with greed and lust, occasionally tinged with feigned pity. In the end, they all conveyed the same meaning. She knew those gazes too well; she knew them so well that she could tell what the other person was thinking with just one glance.

But these people are different.

Tang Sanzang looked at her as if she were someone who had gone astray—gentle, but not clingy. Sun Wukong, on the other hand, saw her purely as something new and intriguing, like a little fox with a bit of a temper, but also quite amusing at times. As for Chu Yang—

Su Wanwan glanced at the person beside her.

When this person looked at her, his eyes contained everything: disdain, teasing, mischief, and occasionally a touch of nonchalant malice, but there was nothing about him that would make her feel disgusted.

She paused for a moment when she thought of this, then quickly looked away, muttering "Damn it" to herself.

Around noon, a pedestrian walkway passed through a pine forest, and we stopped to rest by the stream.

Sunlight filtered through the treetops, dappling the ground, and the wind carried the scent of pine resin and damp earth. The stream was crystal clear, the stones gleaming from the washing, and occasionally a small, silvery fish would dart across between the rocks.

Sun Wukong swiftly climbed the tree and picked a handful of wild fruit.

"Try it, the fruits from these mountains are sweet." He said, tossing two to Tang Sanzang first, and then casually tossing one to Su Wanwan.

Su Wanwan was a little taken aback when she caught it: "For me?"

"If not you, then who?" Sun Wukong squatted on a tree branch and swung his legs. "If you're not going to pick sour fruits for Master anymore, then I'll just have to treat everyone the same."

"I didn't mean to do it that time."

"Oh, the fruit was deliberately sour."

"you--"

"Alright, stop fooling around." Tang Sanzang sat on a rock by the stream, shaking his head with a smile. "Wukong, you come down and eat too."

Sun Wukong flipped onto the ground, squatted down by the fire, and snatched the freshly baked pancake from Chu Yang's hand: "I want this one!"

"This is mine."

"You bake it again."

"Don't you have hands?"

"You have hands, but yours smells delicious."

Chu Yang raised his foot to kick, but Sun Wukong dodged it with a sidestep. The two exchanged blows around the fire, and in the end, Chu Yang cursed and threw the pancake to him, then rolled out a new one himself.

Su Wanwan wanted to fetch water, but as soon as she stood up, Tang Sanzang said gently, "Female benefactor, please sit and rest. Let Wukong fetch the water."

Sun Wukong, who had a cake in his mouth, widened his eyes upon hearing this: "Master, I just sat down!"

"You'd already picked half a basket of fruit from the tree before you sat down, and you even stole a pancake from someone else," Chu Yang added sarcastically from the side. "Go on, and wash the pot while you're at it."

"Why should I—"

"You talk the most."

Sun Wukong rolled his eyes, but still carried the pot to the stream.

Su Wanwan stood there, feeling somewhat awkward: "Actually, I can go."

"Sit down," Chu Yang said. "You spent half the day yesterday mixing mud, and the red marks on your hands haven't faded yet."

Su Wanwan subconsciously glanced at her palm.

Last night, while moving bricks and mixing mortar, the edges of the blue bricks were rough, and she hadn't been careful with her strength, so her palms did indeed have a slight red mark. To her, such a minor injury was practically nothing; a little demonic energy would smooth it out in a while. She hadn't even thought about it, but she hadn't expected Chu Yang to remember it. (End of Chapter)