Sha Chen was sowhat at a loss for words.
The Jade Rabbit had clearly been bullied too much; she was vehently resistant to returning to Guanghan Palace and even considering becoming a demon to eat Monk Tang’s flesh.
However, in the original story, that’s exactly what she did.
Sha Chen hadn’t wanted to ddle too much, intending to simply send her off and be done with it. But then he suddenly ca up with a brilliant sche.
He was currently short-staffed, and Great White Plane had plans to trick him, even thinking of sending female immortals to seduce him. He felt that he couldn’t be too passive. He had to lay out his plans. He couldn’t let everyone’s attention be focused on him; he needed soone to draw away those malicious gazes. Since the Jade Rabbit descended to the mortal world because of Great White Plane, if she beca a demon, the karma would fall on Great White Plane. Then, Great White Plane could forget about seeking help from Guanghan Palace and might even offend the Tai Yin Star Monarch, leaving him exhausted from dealing with the aftermath. Furthermore, he wanted the Jade Rabbit to be his informant, to find out about major events in the Three Realms. Although he was very familiar with the Journey to the West and the ancient era, he truly knew nothing about the five hundred years when Sun Wukong was suppressed. Only by knowing both himself and his enemies could he survive longer.
Through the formation, Sha Chen listened as the Jade Rabbit muttered to herself. The more she thought about it, the angrier she seed to beco, and the more convinced she was that being a demon was a promising career.
Sha Chen chuckled to himself and said, "Jade Rabbit, do you really want to be a demon?"
The Jade Rabbit replied, "Free and unfettered, of course I do. But I don’t know where to beco a demon or what to do."
Then her eyes lit up, and she said, "How about this? I could be a female demon at Flowing Sand River and just take care of washing clothes and cooking for you."
Sha Chen broke out in a cold sweat and quickly said, "No, no, my place is too humble to accommodate you."
"And as a female demon, how can you think of washing clothes and cooking? You should be thinking about the grand ambitions of being a demon."
He then started filling her head with grand ideas, telling her how promising a career being a demon was. He even made an imdiate career plan for the Jade Rabbit as a demon, fearing she would lose her goals and then pine for Guanghan Palace, thereby giving up this promising career. He also set a great goal for her—Female Demon Great Saint.
Sha Chen said, "If you beca the Female Great Saint of the Demon Clan and were then bestowed a title by the Heavenly Court, your status would surpass Su E, even higher than your master, Chang E."
The Jade Rabbit’s eyes shone brightly as she asked, "Really?"
Sha Chen said, "The Great Sage Equal to Heaven of Mountain of Flower and Fruit, Sun Wukong, after being conferred a title by the Heavenly Court, was his status not high enough?"
The Jade Rabbit replied, "Just the Stable Minister."
Sha Chen said, "Later on, didn’t he get the Great Sage Equal to Heaven Mansion and was in charge of the Queen Mother’s peach garden? With a status almost equal to heaven, all gods had to give him face, isn’t that grand?"
Sha Chen knew it wasn’t actually that grand. It was just the Heavenly Court fooling Sun Wukong. But that didn’t prevent him from fooling the Jade Rabbit right now.
Sure enough, the Jade Rabbit, who wasn’t very worldly, lit up upon hearing this and said, "So it seems that being a demon really does have prospects."
"General for Folding the Curtain, why don’t you beco a demon with ? I can’t make decisions on my own; you be the Demon King, I’ll be the second king, or even the Demon King’s pet would do, just so long as no one bullies ."
She then thought of Su E and ground her teeth in anger.
Seeing the Jade Rabbit so naive, Sha Chen, who originally intended to set her up big ti, softened his heart and decided to simply use her a bit.
He said resolutely, "I don’t want to leave this place; no need for further words."
The Jade Rabbit looked sowhat disappointed, but she didn’t try to persuade him further.
Sha Chen was too mysterious, seemingly unlike the other divine generals of the Heavenly Court.
Sha Chen said, "You go to a kingdom with many people, beco the king of a mountain, and either defeat or unite all the demons in the entire kingdom; then you will beco the Demon King."
"And you’d actually be doing a good thing. Even if sothing goes wrong, it’s not a big issue. Plus, when dealing with demons, you’re a free and unfettered female Demon King. When dealing with people, you can create an identity for yourself; you can be a holy maiden, a princess—anything goes."
He still decided to let Jade Rabbit do so good things: help the Realm of People by getting rid of so troubleso demons, and along the way, help him gather information about the Three Realms, acting as his informant. In kingdoms with many people, information circulated quickly and widely, making it more convenient to gather intelligence.
Sha Chen said, "On that basis, you help collect so big and small news about Gods, Humans and Demons."
Jade Rabbit said, "Don’t you know everything already? Why do you need to gather information?"
Sha Chen said, "What I know is the big stuff. What I want you to collect is the small stuff. For big matters, you don’t have the capability."
Jade Rabbit imdiately got angry. With her hands on her hips, she said, "Who says I’m incapable? Su E says that about , and now you too. I won’t allow it. I will certainly gather big news for you."
Sha Chen smiled. Through the formation, he decided to give Jade Rabbit a shock she would never forget.
He said with a smile, "Alright, then. I don’t have anything much to give you as a reward. You probably like to drink your own osmanthus wine, so I’ll give you a jar of it."
Then, a jar of osmanthus wine flew out from within the formation.
Jade Rabbit took it, opened it at once, and took a sip. She was almost lost in its intoxicating effect, then, startled, nearly shattered the jar.
"You, how do you have osmanthus wine?"
"I... I haven’t even given it to you yet! Plus, I was tricking you. I actually didn’t bring any osmanthus wine; this year’s stock was divided up a long ti ago."
After saying that, Jade Rabbit was more shocked than ever.
Sha Chen said with a mysterious smile, "That’s nothing. If you do a good job, even if you don’t return to Guanghan Palace, I could still make you the unique osmanthus wine and osmanthus cakes of Guanghan Palace."
All he wanted was to persuade Jade Rabbit to leave so that he could get the osmanthus trees. Then it would be easy to brew osmanthus wine and make osmanthus cakes. Eventually, he might even trick her into revealing so of Guanghan Palace’s secret recipes for making osmanthus products. After all, the osmanthus flowers harvested from the trees contained divine power, and Guanghan Palace could surely make perfect use of them.
Indeed, Jade Rabbit was deeply shaken and had trendous respect for Sha Chen. At the sa ti, she was also very touched.
This was sothing Sha Chen had not expected.
Because even in Guanghan Palace, Jade Rabbit didn’t have many chances to drink osmanthus wine; after all, with only a hundred jars a year, they were allocated early on. As an immortal beast, she might not get the chance to taste it even once in a thousand years.
Yet now she had an entire jar to herself, and Sha Chen was inviting her to co often, promising other delicious osmanthus treats. Naturally, this moved her to tears.
She clasped her fists and left, silently deciding in her heart not to let Sha Chen look down on her.
The General for Folding the Curtain thinks I can’t find out about the big events, so I will make sure to find out about them for him and be a useful demon.
Jade Rabbit thought for a mont, then suddenly smiled broadly. The General for Folding the Curtain wants to go to a populous kingdom, probably for my own good, but how could I hear about big events in a crowded place? If I go, I will choose the most dangerous place, where demons are plentiful and ferocious. I won’t finish this osmanthus wine; it can serve as a perfect gift for first introductions.
Sha Chen hadn’t anticipated that just a jar of osmanthus wine and a feigned courtesy would cause Jade Rabbit to be so utterly devoted and trusting towards him.
If he knew, one wonders if he would feel a twinge of guilt.
Perhaps he might, but under the influence of the osmanthus wine, he probably wouldn’t rember it.
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