How To Survive as a Villain

Chapter 181: You Were Buried Under The Nine Springs, Where Your Bones Turned Into Mud¹.

The scream of the maidservant escaping, was the first sound to break the silence of the night sky. Before the Imperial Bodyguards outside the bedchamber could react, Xie Chungui had already locked the doors of the bedchamber, and blocked the windows with tables and chairs. As soon as he looked back, he saw that Xiao YuAn had taken off his coat, and was using it to try and stop Yan HeQing’s bleeding. His coat was dyed red, and since Yan HeQing wasn’t able to support himself, he fell down shakily.

“Yan-ge! Yan-ge!” Xiao YuAn sat in a corner with Yan HeQing in his arms. Because of the massive blood loss, Yan HeQing felt extremely dizzy. As he felt that his consciousness was starting to blur, he struggled to open his mouth; as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he wasn’t able to utter a single word.

“Yan-ge, don’t say anything. Don’t talk, everything will be alright.” Xiao YuAn was on the verge of collapsing, his mind filled with the thought that Yan HeQing wouldn’t die. However, Yan HeQing’s breathing began to gradually become faint, and his consciousness was lax as he slowly closed his eyes.

Xiao YuAn immediately panicked as he pressed his hands on Yan HeQing’s shoulders, shouting at him: “Yan-ge, don’t fall asleep! Don’t sleep, look at me, look….” Xiao YuAn’s words were interrupted when he was suddenly grabbed by the collar and pressed against the wall.

Xie Chungui’s eyes were bloodshot as he tightly clutched Xiao YuAn’s collar: “Your Majesty, what are you doing? Don’t you remember? He’s the one who killed the soldiers of the Northern Kingdom! He’s the one who conquered our country! Shouldn’t you hate him? Why don’t you hate him? Your Majesty, do you still remember your own name? It’s Zhou Yu! You’re our Emperor! You’re the Emperor of the Northern Kingdom!”

Xiao YuAn couldn’t answer. Instead, he kept shaking his head, murmuring ‘sorry’ again and again. The sound of his voice was like that of a heinous sinner; a sinner that was finally punished, leaving only endless remorse and unforgiven sins behind.

“Enough! Your Majesty, why do you keep apologizing? Why!?” Xie Chungui roared, but he didn’t get an answer for a long time.

Suddenly, outside the bedchamber, the sound of the doors being hit, the hurried horses’ hooves, as well as the shouts of Xue Yan, could be heard. It seemed that the soldiers who escorted the Emperor had arrived in a hurry.

Xie Chungui’s face was calm and extremely cold. As he picked up the dagger that was still dripping with Yan HeQing’s blood, he was about to rush out the door. However, he was pulled back by Xiao YuAn, who shouted pleadingly: “Don’t go, you’ll die!!! Chungui, go away, escape. You’ll definitely be able to escape. Go back to Taoyuan Village, go back.”

“Your Majesty, there’s no way I can go back.” Xie Chungui shook his head and slowly withdrew his hand. His tone of voice was calm, but it also seemed extremely cruel, as he said: “Your Majesty, the descendants of the Xie family have only two ends. They either die of old age in the prosperous Northern Kingdom, or they die in the battlefield. Three years ago, I was unable to follow my Xiongdi. Now, it’s time for me to go find them.”

After saying that, Xie Chungui righteously waved his dagger and rushed out without any hesitation; his determination was so heavy that it could make people shudder.

As soon as Xiao YuAn knelt on the ground, leaning on the last unbroken string in his mind, he turned back and continued to press on Yan HeQing’s wound, repeatedly shouting at him to not sleep. Then, someone rushed in, stopped Xiao YuAn, and restrained him, pressing him to the ground. After that, Xiao YuAn was dragged outside, and someone hurriedly arrived to treat Yan HeQing’s wound and stop the bleeding.

Everything seemed to be mute, lost its color, leaving only chaos and confusion behind. Xiao YuAn wanted to ask if Yan HeQing was alright, but he was dragged out of the bedchamber in a mess. Outside the bedchamber, the snow was flying around, and the weather was cold. Xue Yan’s face was pale with anger and fear. When Xiao YuAn was escorted to his feet, he heard Xue Yan say: “Emperor of the Northern Kingdom, how could you be so cruel? How could you take advantage of His Majesty’s feelings for you, and assassinate His Majesty together with the remnants of the Northern Kingdom? How could you be so vicious?”

Xiao YuAn didn’t reply, and didn’t try to defend himself. He simply curled up on the ground, without being able to shed any tears. He was a complete mess; his whole body was hurting and his limbs were aching. He kept asking himself over and over again why has this happened, but he didn’t know where to find such an answer.

Perhaps, from the moment he thought that he could protect the Northern Kingdom, he was doomed to end up like this.

Xue Yan has always done things simply and decisively, and he knows that the former Emperor of the Northern Kingdom can no longer stay. Yan HeQing’s insistence on doing things his own way in the past, can still be considered as acts made out of undying love. But if Yan HeQing still kept him around even after an assassinations attempt, he can only be reduced to a laughing stock!

Today, the former Emperor of the Northern Kingdom must die.

The wind was howling, the snow was icy cold, and the weather was piercing. Xue Yan exhaled a mouthful of white fog, slowly pulled out his sword from his waist, and said: “Does the former Emperor of the Northern Kingdom have something else to say?”

Xiao YuAn’s body still carried Yan HeQing’s blood on him, and his clothes were soaked by the falling snow. Black and white mixed together. Covered by the snow, Xiao YuAn supported his body, slowly getting up. His limbs were frozen because of the cold, his eyes were numb and lightless when he asked: “Yan-ge, is he okay?”

Xue Yan clenched the sword in his hand, and stared at Xiao YuAn for a long time. Seemingly unable to believe that even at this moment, Xiao YuAn would be thinking about Yan HeQing. He was silent for a while before he answered truthfully: “His Majesty isn’t in a life-threatening situation.”

“That’s wonderful….” Xiao YuAn’s voice trembled as he smiled and burst into tears.

Xue Yan then realized that he may have misunderstood the man in front of him. However, for Yan HeQing’s sake, for the Southern Yan Kingdom’s sake, and for the world’s sake, he won’t be merciful to this man today: “If the former Emperor of the Northern Kingdom doesn’t have anything else to say, then be on your way.”

It hurts (´；д；`) it’s so unfair （┬┬＿┬┬）

Footnotes

1. 君埋泉下泥销骨 jūn mái quán xià ní xiāo gǔ; From the poem《梦微之》(mèng wēi zhī), “The Dream Of Weizhi”, by (白居易 bái jū yì) Bai Juyi [772-846], a poet from the Tang Dynasty [618-907]. The first verse of the poem points out a meeting with an old friend in a dream, and the melancholy of waking up. The second verse describes that he’s physically ill, and that his old friend has been ‘sleeping underground’ for nearly ten years. The third verse envisions that his old friend’s dead bones have turned into mud, and that he was left behind. The fourth and last verse tells that his old friend, his sons, and sons-in-law, have passed away one after the other. The poem used the contrast between the pleasure of meeting someone in a dream with the pain of having to wake up, highlighting the longing for the deceased, and the sadness for one’s own misfortune in real life.