How To Survive as a Villain
chapter-104

After hearing the voice and words of Lin Shenling, Xiao YuAn had a sudden epiphany as he subconsciously trembled all over. After he jumped three feet high, he was about to run to the back hall; however, who could know that the person Lin Shenling helped wasn’t the one Xiao YuAn thought, but Zhang Changsong.

Zhang Changsong went up the mountain to collect medicinal herbs and accidentally hurt his back. The pain was so bad, he couldn’t walk back with those old bones of his. Fortunately, he met Lin Shenling.

“Xiao-gongzi?” Lin Shenling was extremely surprised to see Xiao YuAn.

Xiao YuAn quickly helped Zhang Changson lie down and went to look for the ointment: “Shenling, go to the back hall and call Zhang Baizhu out. Tell him that Shifu is injured.”

“Xiao-gongzi, what’s wrong with your voice?”

“It’s hard to explain, go call him first.”

“Ah!” Lin Shenling nodded and ran towards the back hall: “Anyone, please, is anyone here?!”

Zhang Baizhu was changing his clothes, because when he went to pick up medicinal herbs, he ended up covered in mud. After hearing the voice coming from outside, he thought it was Xiao YuAn’s voice after being affected by the small red fruit, so he didn’t pay much attention to it and ran outside topless: “What’s wrong?!”

As a result of running out to take a look, and before Lin Shenling could even react, Zhang Baizhu covered his upper body, screamed, and ran back to the room.

“Gong-… Miss… that’s not right. Gongzi..?” Lin Shenling hesitated for a while before shouting.

“It’s Gongzi! And this isn’t how my voice usually sounds!” There was a cry coming from the inner room: “You-you, who are you?”

“Oh, Gongzi!” Lin Shenling then began to explain: “There’s an old Xiansheng¹ outside who hurt his back, so go take a look please.”

Zhang Baizhu hurriedly dressed himself and ran out of the back hall. In the main hall, Xiao YuAn was already applying some ointment on Zhang Changsong’s back. After seeing that the old man was getting better, he felt relieved that this didn’t escalate to a bigger problem.

Everyone then breathed a sigh of relief. After listening to Zhang Changsong explaining what had happened, Zhang Baizhu repeatedly expressed his thanks to Lin Shenling, and then asked her: “Guniang², what’s your name? Your face is unfamiliar, are you new to Taoyuan Village?”

After receiving Lin Shenling’s reply, Zhang Baizhu turned around and seized Xiao YuAn: “You really brought back a girl!!!!”

Xiao YuAn slapped his hand away.

This is the Male Lead’s wife! What the fuck are you so excited about?!

Zhang Changsong coughed violently, and the two of them became extremely quiet. Then Zhang Changsong said: “Zhang Baizhu, please go and take care of Lin-guniang. Xiao YuAn, there’s something I have to say to you.”

Zhang Baizhu led Lin Shenling to the back hall. Zhang Changsong pounded his back and said to Xiao YuAn: “I fell down today because I saw an old turmeric³ plant on the cliff. The stalk and leaves have withered, but the roots aren’t dead, and are still growing well. I heard that there’s an ancient recipe that uses turmeric as an elixir, that could cure your Didi’s insanity. So I wanted to dig it; but since I’m old, not only was I unable to dig it, but I also hurt my back in the process. If you want, you can go dig it yourself. It’s very far away from Taoyuan Village, deep in the mountains.”

Xiao YuAn thought about it for a while, until finally he said: “Thank you, Shifu.”

Zhang Changsong waved his hand to indicate that it was nothing. Xiao YuAn thanked him again and went to find Lin Shenling, to take her back home. In the back hall, Zhang Baizhu was telling some jokes that made Lin Shenling shiver with laughter. When she saw Xiao YuAn come to see her, she prepared to leave together with him.

Since Xiao YuAn thought about the turmeric all day, he tossed and turned repeatedly that night. When he woke up in the middle of the night, he found that Xie Chungui, who usually slept in the bed on the other side of the wing room, had gone missing.

Since setting down in Taoyuan Village, Xiao YuAn has been living in a wing room together with Xie Chungui. Firstly, it was so he could take care of Xie Chungui after he lost his mind. Secondly, he can use it as an opportunity to treat his inability to sleep without the sound of breathing.

And, under the thin moonlight spreading on the room, the bed at the other side was empty.

Xiao YuAn panicked while he got up to dress himself and then lit a candle. He rushed to the door, but once he opened it, he suddenly stopped moving.

Xie Chungui was sitting on the steps in front of the wing room, facing the courtyard and looking up at the white moon in complete silence. Xiao YuAn looked at his silent figure, for a moment feeling like he was a statue made out of stone. He then blew out the candle and lightly walked to Xie Chungui’s side.

Xie Chungui slowly raised his head, looked at Xiao YuAn and softly whispered: “Your Majesty.”

Xiao YuAn wanted to shake his head and say that he wasn’t, but he couldn’t do it in the face of Xie Chungui.

“Your Majesty, the Northern Kingdom is gone.” Xie Chungui murmured in a low voice.

Xiao YuAn’s voice was silent for a long time, before he replied with a hoarse voice: “Yeah.”

“The Southern Yan Kingdom, it was destroyed by the Southern Yan Kingdom…..”

“No, it wasn’t the Southern Yan Kingdom.”

“What?” Xie Chungui raised his head in disbelief.

Xiao YuAn placed his hand on Xie Chungui’s shoulder, hoping that he would feel better: “It was the Six Kingdoms themselves that exterminated the Six Kingdoms, not the Qin Empire. It was the Qin Dynasty that wiped out the Qin Empire, not the rest of the world⁴.”

Xie Chungui murmured for a long time, until suddenly, he reached out and grasped Xiao YuAn’s arm in a death grip. He lowered his head and shouted hysterically: “Your Majesty, I didn’t deliver the Military rations on time! I’m the one who killed General Li. I’m the one who killed my Xiongdi. Everything’s my fault!”

Xiao YuAn knew that Xie Chungui was worried about the destruction of the Northern Kingdom, but he didn’t expect that Xie Chungui would be so self-recriminating. Xiao YuAn was flustered while he tried to calm him, but he saw how Xie Chungui growled a couple of times, and then he looked up in a daze. The bloody red in the corners of his eyes hadn’t subsided, and his face appeared confused: “Xiao-gege? Why am I here? What happened?”

Xiao YuAn was dumbfounded as he reached out to try to pull up Xie Chungui: “Nothing happened, let’s go back to our room and rest.”

Xie Chungui, who sounded as if he were an eight or nine year old child, suddenly grabbed his chest and said to Xiao YuAn: “Xiao-gege, I feel bad, but I don’t know why. I just feel so bad, like I can’t breathe well.”

With that, Xie Chungui suddenly burst into tears. He reached out to rub his eyes in doubt, as he kept asking Xiao YuAn: “Why am I crying Xiao-gege? Why? I don’t want to cry. Why am I crying? Is something missing? Is someone missing? Why is it so hard to stop?”

Xiao YuAn, however, couldn’t answer him. He just kept asking himself: ‘In this world full of cheers and clamors, why is it that all the grief looks the same as “Separation of Life and Death⁵”?’

Xie Chungui cried all night until dawn. He was so tired from crying, that he slowly fell asleep.

That early morning, Third Aunt saw Xiao YuAn carrying a medicine basket and a small shovel⁶ tied around his waist, ready to go out: “Hey, where are you going, YuAn?”

“Third Aunt, I’ll go to the deep mountains to look for some medicinal herbs. This may take a few days, so could you help me by telling LiuAn and Fengyue to remember to take care of Chungui?” Xiao YuAn bumped the medicine basket and said with a smile. Then he turned around and walked out of the residence heading towards the deep mountains.

Hahahaha that part of Zhang Baizhu running away from Lin Shenling is so funny I can’t XD and the fact he covered his chest! And screamed !! And then walked back all properly dressed up like nothing happened xDDD and let’s not forget he has a woman’s voice while all of this is happening 😂😂

And XCG always making me cry 😭😭😭😭💔💔💔

Footnotes

1. 先生 xiān sheng; The term “Xiansheng” has been around for a long time. However, in various periods in history, the term “Xiansheng” was addressed to different targets. For example: For teachers as an honorific for intellectuals and adults of certain status; To call someone else’s husband or to call one’s own husband; Another name used to refer to Doctors. If translated literally, it means a person who was born earlier and is older than oneself. After the 1980s, all men can be called “Xiansheng”.
2. 姑娘 gū niang; Guniang is a Chinese word that generally refers to a young woman who is not yet married. The age range is generally from birth to marriage. This word also has other meanings, for example: A Daughter / In the ancient times this word was used to refer to a prostitute / An Aunt (married) from the Father side of the family; The Husband’s younger Sister, Sister-in-law. It can also be translated as: Young woman; Young lady; Miss.
3. 姜黄 jiāng huáng; Also known as Curcuma, as a medicinal herb, it’s used to help relieve menstruation pain, to treat chest and abdominal distension and pain, shoulder and arm pain, heartache, postpartum blood pain, irregular menstruation, amenorrhea, bruises and injuries. It’s also used to extract yellow food dye. It can also be used as a food seasoning. It’s lightly spicy, slightly peppery, musky and a mixture of sweet orange and ginger, slightly spicy and bitter.
4. 灭六国者六国也，非秦也。族秦者秦也，非天下 也。miè liù guó zhě liù guó yě，fēi qín yě。zú qín zhě qín yě，fēi tiān xià yě。; From《阿房宫赋》(ē páng gōng fù), “A Poetic Essay Of The Epang Palace”, written by (杜牧 dù mù) Du Mu [803-852], a literary scholar of the Tang Dynasty [618-907]. Through the depiction of the construction and destruction of the Epang Palace, the article vividly summarizes the historical lesson of the Qin Dynasty rulers’ arrogance and extravagance, and sends a warning to the Tang Dynasty rulers, expressing an honest scholar’s concern for the country and the people, as well as his desire to help the common people. Xiao YuAn used it to refer to the fact that the destruction of the NK was due to the arrogance of its rulers. If the late Emperor of the NK hadn’t attacked the SYK then the SYK wouldn’t try to get revenge and conquered them in the future. Also, with the lack of his and his son’s inability to rule over the land of the SYK, giving the possibility of their army to grow and eventually destroy them.
5. 生离死别 shēng lí sǐ bié; It’s a Chinese idiom, it means separation, as in, a farewell to the dead. Referring to a permanent parting, in which it’s difficult to see each other again / Separation between loved ones in life or death / Be parted in life and separated by death. From《为焦仲卿妻作》(wèi jiāo zhòng qīng qī zuò), “For Jiao Zhongqing’s Wife”, by an anonymous writer from the Han Dynasty [206 BC-220 AC].
6. 锄头 chú tou; It’s a traditional long-handled farming tool in China, with a thin and horizontal blade, which can be used for harvesting, digging holes, cultivating, covering the soil, building weeds, breaking up the soil, plowing and cultivating the soil. It’s one of the most common tools used by farmers. The handle is held in two hands to make rotary impact movement. Its structure, shape and weight vary depending on the location and soil quality. It looks like THIS.