FBWCFCBH 15

Chapter 15

Li Qingqing, the Jinx

She tossed the wood into the earthen kiln, then sealed the top with another layer of yellow clay, leaving only a small hole for ventilation.

“Cousin, light it up — make the fire strong this time.”

Chi Lin did as she said. The heat radiating from the kiln soon became unbearable, forcing everyone to take several steps back.

“Li Qingqing, what are you doing now?” Xiao Ziye asked suspiciously.

“To smelt iron, of course we need charcoal!” Li Qingqing replied matter-of-factly.

“Charcoal?” Ling Mo repeated, frowning. It was another word he’d never heard before — just like “iron.”

Feng Hao stared at the new, strangely capable Li Qingqing before him and couldn’t help wondering — had she really received a divine revelation from the Beast God?

Li Qingqing suddenly remembered that charcoal was also excellent for lighting fires. “If there’s any left over later, you can each take some home. It’s great for cooking meat.”

No one responded; they clearly thought ordinary wood burned just fine, so why bother making charcoal?

After a while, Li Qingqing felt the timing was right and told Chi Lin to stop.

She waited a bit longer, then opened the layer of clay sealing the kiln. “Cousin, help me take the charcoal out.”

Chi Lin suddenly wanted to call her out — she clearly had fire powers herself, yet she kept bossing him around.

If it were before, he would’ve snapped at her. But today, for some reason, he obeyed everything she said without complaint.

He scooped the charcoal out of the kiln, and in seconds, his hands were blackened.

Chi Lin grimaced in disgust and tossed the charcoal onto the ground. Xiao Ziye burst out laughing. “Hahahaha! Old fox, you do whatever she tells you! I knew she was up to no good.”

Li Qingqing silently reminded herself — Xiao Ziye likes soft, cutesy women. Don’t lose your temper. Don’t die being stupid. She was just holding back her irritation when—

“This Li Qingqing is a total jinx,” Xiao Ziye sneered. “Anyone who listens to her ends up cursed.”

Li Qingqing froze. Her muscles stiffened, her back went straight, and she couldn’t even find the strength to argue.

She’d heard that word too many times in her life.

Back in the orphanage, everyone knew her parents had died in an accident — so they’d called her a jinx, too.

She still remembered her grandmother, in those early days after the tragedy, staring at her every day and muttering,
“Why are you the only one still alive? Did you curse my son to death?”

“What’s wrong?” Ling Mo asked gently, noticing something off about her expression.

Xiao Ziye snorted. “What could be wrong? Probably just scheming her next evil trick.”

When Li Qingqing lifted her head, her eyes shimmered with tears — not the fake kind meant to gain sympathy, but raw, real emotion.

Still, she refused to let them fall.

“Xiao Ziye,” she said quietly, voice trembling but steady, “have you finished humiliating me? If so, then leave. You don’t need to be here.”

Xiao Ziye froze when he saw the tears in her eyes. He had never seen Li Qingqing look like that.

For one strange moment, he thought maybe… they were the same kind of person — both hiding something painful behind a mask.

“Hmph, fine! You think I want to stay? Helping you out a few times and you think you’re someone special. I was just bored — needed a distraction.”

The air turned heavy. No one responded.

Xiao Ziye left, still muttering under his breath.

Li Qingqing exhaled deeply. Then she threw all the charcoal, iron ore, and limestone into the kiln at once. “If you guys want some charcoal, take it. I can handle the rest alone.”

Ling Mo and Feng Hao, curious about the mysterious “charcoal,” wrapped a few pieces in leaves and took them home.

Soon, only Li Qingqing and Chi Lin were left.

As she focused her fire ability on the kiln, she noticed Chi Lin was still standing there. “Why haven’t you left?”

Chi Lin smiled faintly. “You’ve got quite the cold heart, cousin. You only call for me when you need help, and when it’s done, I don’t even get my name.”

Li Qingqing wasn’t in the mood to banter. She kept concentrating on the fire.

After a moment of silence, Chi Lin spoke again, this time in a gentler tone. “Do you remember, cousin — when Uncle once took you back to the Red Fox Tribe? There was a big tree in the middle of the village. You loved climbing it. None of the other fox cubs could climb as high as you.”

Li Qingqing’s hands paused mid-gesture. She didn’t know why he was bringing this up, but she answered calmly, “Was that really because I liked climbing? They used to gang up on me because I was an outsider with no attack power. Climbing was the only way to escape.”

Chi Lin chuckled softly — that sly, foxlike grin with his eyes half-closed and mouth tilted up. “Then I must be getting old. My memory’s failing.”

He then pointed at the leftover charcoal on the ground. “Bai Yuan helped today but didn’t take any. I’ll bring some to him.”

Without caring about the soot, he scooped up a pile and started walking toward Bai Yuan’s cave. But when he reached the corner, he turned back and stared at Li Qingqing’s silhouette for a few silent seconds before leaving.

Li Qingqing didn’t relax until his footsteps faded. Her heartbeat slowly steadied. Could it be… Chi Lin suspects I’m not the real Li Qingqing?

【Host, don’t worry. You won’t be discovered.】

The system’s voice reassured her, and she took a deep breath before continuing the smelting.

The fire ability roared, and the kiln grew hotter and hotter.

After about an hour, cracks began forming on the kiln’s surface from the extreme heat.

She quickly used her water ability to extinguish the flames.

Without thinking, she reached straight into the kiln to grab the refined iron — and instantly burned the skin off her fingers.

“Ah!” She yelped, snatching her hand back, and quickly used her healing ability to repair the damage.

Then she poured more water inside until the iron’s heat finally subsided.

When she picked up the heavy lumps of pig iron, excitement surged through her — at last, she could make an iron pot!

She dug a shallow pit near the cave entrance, leaving a small round bump in the center.

After melting the pig iron into molten metal, she poured it into the mold.

As she kept cooling it with water, steam billowed out. Gradually, a pot-shaped object took form.

Once it cooled, she polished it smooth with sand and washed it clean — and there it was, a real, solid iron pot.

Next, she looked for a few long sticks, comparing their sizes until she found a thick, short one to use as the pot handle.

“If only I had some fat meat to season it,” she murmured, suddenly remembering that she still owed Ling Xiaoyu a meal.

So she grabbed the pot and headed toward Ling Mo’s cave.

Outside, Ling Xiaoyu and Ling Xiaotuan were playing happily, chasing each other around.

When they saw Li Qingqing approaching, they panicked — thinking she’d come to scold them for wrecking her kiln — and immediately hid behind a tree.

Peeking out, the bolder Ling Xiaotuan shouted, “You promised my sister spicy stir-fried meat! You still haven’t made it!”