Blame the Villain – Chapter 138

Villainous Fake Eunuch (15)

In the days that followed, Gu Ruyu never came to see Song Xuyi again.

Gu Ruyu seemed very busy, meeting many of her subordinates every day. The relationship between the two seemed to have reverted to the state it was in when they first left the capital: except for seeing each other at meal times, they spent the rest of the time in their respective carriages, merely greeting each other when they met…

Ever since she learned about Gu Ruyu’s background, Song Xuyi had given up on trying to persuade her to abandon her hatred. Putting herself in her shoes, if she were Gu Ruyu, she would probably also be unable to let go of her family’s blood feud.

Song Xuyi could understand Gu Ruyu’s determination to seek revenge against the royal family. However, the people of He Kingdom were innocent, and although the male lead Zheng Lian was Zheng Ye’s son, he had not been involved in the events of that year. To complete her mission, Song Xuyi still wanted to protect the male lead’s life and the innocent people.

But now, Song Xuyi was merely a mascot princess displayed in front of others, and she had no capital to participate in the treacherous political struggles.

Song Xuyi had no choice but to place her hopes on the male lead Zheng Lian.

According to the plot summary, Zheng Lian actually had considerable military talent. If she assisted Zheng Lian in ascending to the throne, they might be able to fend off foreign invaders in the future.

Thinking that her stance was ultimately opposite to Gu Ruyu’s, even though her relationship with Gu Ruyu was not as distant as before, Song Xuyi still harbored some wariness towards her. Therefore, Song Xuyi believed that the reason for their distant relationship was her own proactive caution and did not notice anything unusual.

“What’s wrong with her? Why hasn’t she come to see you lately?” The system, however, noticed something unusual. After all, it was highly abnormal that the annoying big villain had recently stopped coming around!

“She’s probably busy!” Song Xuyi answered casually, continuing to write in her booklet.

Song Xuyi decided to use the knowledge she had accumulated over several lifetimes to compile a booklet summarizing some experiences in livelihood and military matters. After all, information was scarce in this era, and the things she wrote would be extremely advanced for this time. In the future, it could serve as a bargaining chip when she pledges allegiance to Zheng Lian.

“But didn’t she take a liking to you?” The system felt something strange in its heart and couldn’t help but worry, “Could she be plotting something bad?”

“System—” Song Xuyi’s hand shook, and her brush dropped a big black spot on the paper, causing her to blush deeply. “Can you stop mentioning this matter in the future?”

“That must have been my own misconception.” Song Xuyi lowered her head, feeling somewhat ashamed. “At the time, I thought she was a man, so I wrongly assumed she had feelings for me. But after thinking about it over the past few days, she probably remembered the friendship between the Liu and Song families and regarded me as a good sister. That’s why she treated me differently…”

Thinking about her previous assumptions, Song Xuyi felt extremely embarrassed.

“Oh—so that’s what you think?”

The system elongated its tone, laughing with a ‘hehe.’ Song Xuyi always felt that the system’s laughter had a peculiar tone, with a hint of schadenfreude, but before she could ponder it further, the system’s cheerful tone shifted to another topic…

In a couple of days, the group arrived in the Jiangnan region.

The Jiangnan area was dominated by powerful families. Zheng Lian had been assassinated and lost his memory because he had touched upon the interests of these powerful families. To avoid alarming them, the search for Zheng Lian had to be conducted covertly.

Song Xuyi and Gu Ruyu’s false identities were that of a wealthy sibling pair seeking refuge with relatives. Gu Ruyu was extremely meticulous in her arrangements, having set up a so-called ‘relative’ in Jiangnan in advance. However, their group was too large and unfamiliar, attracting a lot of attention as soon as they entered the city gate…

As soon as the convoy entered the city where Gu Ruyu had disappeared, subordinates reported that the local powerful families had already sent people to tail them.

Even though the people Gu Ruyu brought were highly skilled, the saying “a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake”¹ held true. The powerful families had entrenched themselves for years, and even Gu Ruyu dared not act rashly. Every day, she posed as a graceful young master, visiting various guests with the arranged ‘relative,’ spending money lavishly to create the impression that she wanted to establish a business network locally.

Meanwhile, Song Xuyi began to accompany the ‘relative’s’ wife on tours of the surrounding mountains, rivers, and historical sites, familiarizing herself with the city’s landscape.

Seeing that there was nothing unusual about Song Xuyi’s group, the spies sent by the powerful families initially planned to withdraw. No one expected the problem to arise from Gu Ruyu.

Gu Ruyu’s face was indeed too attractive, and having posed as a man for years, she was indistinguishable from a real man. In the eyes of others, Gu Ruyu was exceptionally handsome, lavishly wealthy, with no family except for a sister, and kept herself clean without any concubines or maidservants… Given such favorable conditions, many people began to have their sights set on Gu Ruyu, hoping to marry their daughters to her, including a certain declining powerful family in Jiangnan.

This powerful family had several wastrel sons who squandered the family fortune, barely maintaining the name of their house. Upon seeing Gu Ruyu’s wealth, they conceived the idea of marrying their illegitimate daughter to Gu Ruyu to gain her support.

Because it was discovered that this family had also participated in the assassination attempt on Zheng Lian, Gu Ruyu endured and pretended to be friendly with the head of the family a few times. However, she underestimated her own charm. After seeing Gu Ruyu once through the curtain, the illegitimate daughter fell for her. Learning that many other families in the city also fancied Gu Ruyu, the daughter hardened her heart and started scheming to corner Gu Ruyu, determined to marry her…

Gu Ruyu, fed up, used the excuse of “the anniversary of my parents’ death is approaching, and I wish to pray for the deceased in seclusion” to buy a manor outside the city and moved the ‘whole family’ there.

To avoid the entanglement of the illegitimate daughter, Gu Ruyu chose a manor located farthest from the city, which made Song Xuyi somewhat anxious. Though she appeared to be touring scenic spots, she was actually investigating in secret. With the system’s help, she had almost pinpointed the location of the male lead, Zheng Lian, who was on another mountain not far from the manor.

Song Xuyi knew that Gu Ruyu had no intention of finding Zheng Lian. Gu Ruyu’s pretense of searching for Zheng Lian during this period was only to show the emperor’s escorts. In fact, one of Gu Ruyu’s reasons for coming to Jiangnan was to ‘find Zheng Lian and eliminate him completely.’ Once Gu Ruyu learned of Zheng Lian’s whereabouts, death awaited him.

Through the system’s observations, Song Xuyi knew that Gu Ruyu had privately taken control of the iron mines in Jiangnan. This was the primary reason Gu Ruyu suggested accompanying her to Jiangnan.

By this time, they had been in Jiangnan for nearly a month, and two secret letters had arrived from the emperor. The first inquired about the progress of the search for Zheng Lian, while the second subtly hinted at urging Gu Ruyu to return.

Just a few days after Song Xuyi followed Gu Ruyu to the manor, the emperor’s third secret letter arrived.

The emperor’s letter was no longer subtle, straightforwardly ordering Gu Ruyu to return as soon as possible.

Gu Ruyu opened the third letter in Song Xuyi’s presence. After a quick glance, she handed the letter to Song Xuyi, making her intentions very clear: it was time to return!

Song Xuyi bit her lip, having already anticipated this outcome, but she still displayed a look of disappointment.

“Can’t we wait just two more days?” Song Xuyi sighed, “I have a feeling that in another two days, we might be able to find the Third Prince…”

“The emperor has sent people over, urging us to depart within two days,” Gu Ruyu spoke coldly. Sensing that her tone might have been too harsh, she paused and then continued, “I understand your concerns, Princess. But rest assured, even if we don’t find the Third Prince, no one can force you to leave the palace if you don’t want to. You will always remain the supreme princess.”

Except for the failed escape attempt, Song Xuyi had behaved very compliantly along the way. The spies monitoring Song Xuyi had also reported that there was nothing unusual about her behavior in recent days. Gu Ruyu had thought long and hard but couldn’t figure out why Song Xuyi had proactively suggested searching for Zheng Lian. She recalled Song Xuyi’s previous attempts to stay in the palace and speculated that Song Xuyi’s proposal to find Zheng Lian might be an effort to prove her value to the emperor and secure her place in the palace.

Song Xuyi hadn’t expected Gu Ruyu to think along these lines, but now was indeed not the right time to reveal herself to Zheng Lian. So, she acquiesced to Gu Ruyu’s arrangements. After all, she now knew Zheng Lian’s exact location. Upon returning to the palace, she could find an excuse to say she dreamt of Zheng Lian’s whereabouts and ask Zheng Lian’s mother to secretly send people to find him…

Thus, under the urging of the emperor’s envoys, the group began to prepare intensively for their return to the capital.

No one expected that the illegitimate daughter of the powerful family would bring several retainers to visit.

At this point, Gu Ruyu had lost her patience for pretenses and coldly rejected the illegitimate daughter. The daughter left in tears, covering her face, and no one noticed the flicker in the eyes of a retainer accompanying her when he saw Gu Ruyu…

Gu Ruyu rarely appeared in the capital, but it wasn’t as if no one had ever seen her. By chance, the retainer accompanying the illegitimate daughter had seen Gu Ruyu once before.

That night, the manor faced an attack from the powerful family.

The torches illuminated the entire manor, making it as bright as day. The number of people sent by the powerful family was more than ten times that of Gu Ruyu’s group. Upon discovering the enemy’s presence, Gu Ruyu immediately issued the order for everyone to retreat separately.

Gu Ruyu quickly found Song Xuyi.

Knowing that she was the primary target in the eyes of the powerful family, Gu Ruyu initially thought of disguising herself. However, she realized that Song Xuyi was unaware of her ability to disguise and feared that Song Xuyi might recognize her as Zhao San. After a moment’s hesitation, Gu Ruyu decided to dress up as a maid along with Song Xuyi.

However, the powerful family had long heard of Gu Ruyu’s reputation and made thorough preparations. They surrounded the mountain where the manor was located, continuously shooting poisoned arrows into the manor, laying countless ambushes on the roads, and even setting the mountain on fire.

If Gu Ruyu were alone, she was confident she could escape quickly. But with Song Xuyi in tow, Gu Ruyu had no choice but to blindfold Song Xuyi with a cloth strip and carry her swiftly through the mountain forest.

Song Xuyi hadn’t anticipated this unexpected situation. She originally planned to seize the opportunity amidst the chaos to escape and find Zheng Lian under the system’s guidance. However, Gu Ruyu quickly found her. Song Xuyi argued logically for them to escape separately, but Gu Ruyu didn’t believe that Song Xuyi had the ability to escape. During their argument, Gu Ruyu must have accidentally touched something, causing Song Xuyi to suddenly become immobilized and mute. She could only be blindfolded and carried by Gu Ruyu.

“Female bandit!” the system cursed in Song Xuyi’s mind.

Song Xuyi’s feelings were incredibly complicated. Her plan had been abruptly disrupted by Gu Ruyu, and she felt she should be angry. However, noticing Gu Ruyu’s increasingly rapid breathing and realizing that Gu Ruyu’s first reaction in a life-and-death situation was to find her, Song Xuyi discovered she couldn’t bring herself to be angry.

Something unknown happened, and with a muffled grunt, Gu Ruyu’s body paused and suddenly stumbled forward.

“She’s been hit by an arrow!” the system whispered, its voice somewhat dazed.

—Song Xuyi didn’t know, but the system saw it clearly: the stray arrow was originally aimed at Song Xuyi, and Gu Ruyu had taken it for her.

“Ruyu, you…” Song Xuyi was startled and suddenly realized she could speak again. Before she could react, Gu Ruyu had already stood up as if nothing had happened and fumbled to remove the cloth from Song Xuyi’s face.

“Xuyi, the wind has blinded my eyes,” Gu Ruyu interrupted Song Xuyi, her voice extremely calm. “I will need you to guide me from here on!”

At this point, the system couldn’t afford to hold onto its prejudice against Gu Ruyu and continually helped to provide directions. Even though they encountered several ambushes, they managed to escape the ambush zone successfully due to their prior preparations.

“It’s safe now!” The system’s voice, filled with relief, echoed in Song Xuyi’s mind, though it was unclear how much time had passed.

Song Xuyi also breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately following that, her body relaxed—Song Xuyi found that she had regained her ability to move.

She quickly got down from Gu Ruyu’s back.

Facing the burning mountain, Song Xuyi looked at the towering flames, almost unable to believe that she had successfully escaped from that inferno.

Instinctively, Song Xuyi glanced at Gu Ruyu. With her disheveled hair and eyes reflecting the blaze, Gu Ruyu exuded an almost otherworldly beauty—

Then, Gu Ruyu’s figure swayed and she collapsed softly to the ground—

LP: Re-translated on August 24, 2024

1. Strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake: A Chinese proverb meaning that an outsider, no matter how strong, cannot easily overcome the local power or influence entrenched in a place.