Villainous Undercover (4)
Song Xuyi no longer wants to pay attention to her.
The word “Little,” which Song Xuyi has heard countless times today, has already numbed her.
Song Xuyi took a deep breath, feeling she should not argue with the little villain, as the more she argues, the more likely she is to fall into the little villain’s trap.
Song Xuyi thought for a moment: In front of others, the little villain behaves and acts smoothly. Even though she always wears a cold, icy face that seems hard to get along with, due to her outstanding talent and the arrogance typical of martial arts geniuses, everyone’s evaluation of her is still considered good.
The reason the little villain targets Song Xuyi, she feels, is possibly because she is the sect leader’s second female disciple. Fearing that her presence might obstruct the little villain’s spy career, the little villain wants to force her away.
The more she behaves like this, the more I cannot let her succeed!
Anyway, since she currently hasn’t fully developed her wings and openly can’t harm my life, I was fooled before because I was too greedy. As long as I treat her words as air, she naturally has no way to anger me again.
Thinking this way, Song Xuyi ignored her and did not look at the sachet the little villain threw over, appearing respectful as she hung her head and stood in place.
Looking at Song Xuyi’s demeanor, the smile in Fu Xiyu’s eyes gradually disappeared as she pressed her lips.
“This sachet contains my monthly silver for this month,” Fu Xiyu coldly spoke again: “Consider it as a meeting gift from this senior sister to you, take it and buy yourself some candy!”
However, Song Xuyi still did not pay attention to her.
Fu Xiyu pressed her lips.
But just as Song Xuyi anticipated, Fu Xiyu indeed did not do anything. She withdrew her hand pinching Song Xuyi’s cheek, coldly looked at Song Xuyi for a moment, then turned and returned to her own room.
Listening to the door being slammed with a “bang” by the villain, Song Xuyi pressed her lips.
Her face appeared very calm, but inside, Song Xuyi’s heart was overjoyed —
“System! She seems to have been angered by me!” Song Xuyi knows such behavior is very childish, but seeing the little villain’s angry expression, Song Xuyi still felt extremely relieved inside.
She picked up the sachet the little villain threw over and slowly hung it at the little villain’s doorway, feeling more and more happy as she thought about it:
She had previously learned that some sects, in order to retain highly talented disciples, give them money every month. From Fu Xiyu’s words, it seems the Taiji Sect also has this tradition, so in the future, Song Xuyi will certainly have a monthly allowance.
Not having to worry about money every month, Song Xuyi certainly doesn’t want the little villain’s charity!
Hearing the sound of what seemed like a teacup breaking inside the little villain’s room, Song Xuyi’s lips curled slightly, feeling that even the air suddenly became a bit fresher, while the system unabashedly laughed out loud in Song Xuyi’s mind.
Song Xuyi felt full of confidence, and that night she slept well without any dreams.
However, early the next morning, a knocking sound came from Song Xuyi’s doorway, and Fu Xiyu’s cold voice came through the door: “Morning practice is about to start.”
“She is definitely intentionally tormenting you!” The system looked at the still dark sky outside and confidently spoke: “The stinky villain is really shameless! Targeting a child like you!”
“Not really, right?” Song Xuyi quickly got up and put on her clothes, not having time to tie her hair into a bun in her haste, she casually washed up, used a hairband to tie her hair, and then pushed open the door. She didn’t know why, but she still felt that although Fu Xiyu’s temperament was relatively bad, it wasn’t to this extent.
Sure enough, when Song Xuyi followed Fu Xiyu to the martial arts field, the other disciples had already arrived. The leading second senior brother, Qian He, had already lined up the disciples. Seeing Fu Xiyu arrive, Qian He even joked with her: “Senior Sister, today you arrived later than usual! The hall master of Fulu Hall might dock your monthly silver later.”
Fu Xiyu’s face was cold, and she did not speak, but Song Xuyi silently lowered her head: Fu Xiyu was probably late because of her.
“You first ask her about her basic skills, and I will go teach them sword practice.” Fu Xiyu instructed Qian He and then went to the martial arts stage to teach swordsmanship.
Unlike the patient meticulousness Song Xuyi saw yesterday in Lu Dun, Fu Xiyu’s swordsmanship teaching is extremely strict. Once she sees a disciple doing something wrong, she immediately points it out and relentlessly makes them train back and forth repeatedly… She herself has the ability to teach disciples this way, her martial arts movements are extremely standard, sharp, and concise, with a natural rhythm and beauty, like a ruler carved.
Having such a perfect ruler in front naturally allows everyone to quickly compare and identify omissions in their practice process, speeding up the learning progress.
No wonder in the plot summary, Fu Xiyu has such a high status in the Taiji Sect, and no one ever doubted her: after all, most disciples were trained by her single-handedly. Who would doubt the teacher who introduced them to the sect?
“Don’t look! Senior Sister Fu is always strict, and watching her is scary. Unlike our Master, who is generally gentle and kind, I still prefer to let the Master teach me.”
Seeing Song Xuyi staring at Fu Xiyu’s situation over there, Qian He laughed out loud and tugged on Song Xuyi’s carelessly tied little ponytail with a hairband: “Tsk, it seems Senior Sister still hasn’t taught you how to tidy your appearance! The way you looked yesterday was really hard to look at, yet Master still laughed at you. Don’t be fooled by Master’s daily smiles; Master actually cares a lot about appearance…”
Even from a distance, Qian He could still feel the cold gaze from Fu Xiyu’s side landing on his hand.
Qian He dared not ramble further and immediately withdrew his hand, awkwardly smiling as he returned to the main topic: “Junior Sister, have you practiced martial arts before? What moves do you know?”
After all, the original owner was a child of the Jianghu, and her family had taught her some basic martial arts skills before. After Song Xuyi demonstrated a bit, Qian He let Song Xuyi practice alone for half an hour, while he went to the shade to meditate.
Song Xuyi practiced for half an hour, stopped panting, hesitated for a while, but still went forward to gently shake awake Qian He, who was leaning against the tree sleeping soundly, and softly spoke: “Senior Brother Qian, I have already practiced for half an hour, can I ask you a few questions?”
“You speak.” Qian He opened his drowsy, sleepy eyes, yawning and imitating Lu Dun’s manner as he took out a folding fan from behind and shook it.
“You said Senior Sister Fu was docked her monthly money, so how much was she roughly docked?” Song Xuyi, wary of Fu Xiyu’s movements, continued to inquire.
“Fulu Hall has always been strict in its dealings,” Qian He yawned again and carelessly replied, “Senior Sister Fu will probably be docked three taels of silver this time, right?”
“Three taels?!”
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Song Xuyi was taken aback, not expecting so much money to be docked: three taels of silver was what Song Xuyi had planned as her food money for an entire month.
Before coming, Song Xuyi inquired and learned that because she is a disciple personally taught by the sect leader, she does not need to pay tuition. However, all other disciples need to pay a high entrance fee after joining, and all living expenses for food and clothing inside the sect must be paid by the disciples themselves. Moreover, there are many wealthy disciples in the Taiji Sect, and prices within the sect are somewhat higher than market prices.
“Then… how much is our monthly allowance?” Song Xuyi cautiously asked, continuing her inquiry.
“What do you mean by our monthly allowance?” Qian He tapped Song Xuyi’s head with his fan, lightly laughing: “Senior Sister Fu and I receive a monthly allowance because we teach new disciples martial arts, but you, a newly entered young disciple, still expect to have a monthly allowance?”
No monthly allowance?
Song Xuyi froze in place, her mood suddenly plummeted to the bottom: then… with Fu Xiyu being docked three taels of silver because of me, how long will it take for me to save enough to repay Fu Xiyu?
But Song Xuyi also understood that she couldn’t blame Fu Xiyu; it was her own assumption based on Fu Xiyu’s words that made her think she would have a monthly allowance…
Song Xuyi was extremely annoyed, and Qian He continued speaking: “Senior Sister Fu is diligent; both of us get merely ten taels of silver each month, yet she still treats all the disciples meticulously, carefully teaching even those with less talent.” Qian He assumed Song Xuyi was dejected because she had no monthly allowance and didn’t pay much attention, lazily lying back on the tree: “But what use is it? No matter how hard they work, these average-talented disciples can’t catch up to us.”
“Actually, if Senior Sister Fu doesn’t mention it, Fulu Hall wouldn’t know she was late today, but with her temperament, she’ll probably go there herself to report it…”
“It’s also good for you to hear this now. In another five or six years, if you want a monthly allowance, you can earn this hard money too.” Qian He tiredly lay back on the tree and handed Song Xuyi a scroll: “If it weren’t for the fact that overseeing new disciples’ martial arts practice gains more favor from the Master, I wouldn’t want to come at all.”
“Follow the scroll to practice, and if there’s anything you don’t understand, ask me…”
Song Xuyi looked at Qian He’s lazy appearance, feeling somewhat subtle in her heart, but at this moment she couldn’t afford to think about Qian He; more urgent was returning the three taels of silver to Fu Xiyu.
Even though she knew it was Fu Xiyu’s Demon Sect that plundered the Song family, one thing is one thing. Moreover, yesterday, she was tricked by Fu Xiyu because of her greed for money, so Song Xuyi didn’t want to owe her any favor.
With a blank face, Song Xuyi received the scroll and began calculating in her heart while practicing: To practice martial arts, nutrition must be maintained. She had originally planned to drink a bowl of porridge, eat two buns, and an egg in the morning, but to repay the debt, she decided to remove the egg and only eat one bun, and it couldn’t be meat-filled. For lunch, no meat dishes, and only steamed buns for dinner…
This way, in about two months, she could save enough to return the three taels of silver to Fu Xiyu.
Song Xuyi sighed in her heart. In previous worlds, the main god had always given her relatively good identities, but in this world, a deviation appeared, and Song Xuyi experienced the long-lost feeling of a penny forcing a hero to death.
This feeling was extremely familiar, as in long-ago memories belonging to her, when Song Xuyi desperately earned and saved money to treat her family’s illness…
With a plan made in her heart, Song Xuyi then began to practice with focus. However, her young body simply couldn’t withstand such high-intensity practice, and when the bell signaling the end of the morning class finally rang, Song Xuyi was gasping for breath, collapsing on the ground exhausted.
The previously spiritless Qian He, however, seemed suddenly energized and shouted to Song Xuyi: “You’re not going to the dining hall yet? If you go late, there won’t be any food!”
?!
Song Xuyi was already so hungry that her front was sticking to her back, and upon hearing this, she hurriedly climbed up from the ground, unintentionally glancing over at Fu Xiyu’s side, where Fu Xiyu was still in the hall teaching several disciples with improper movements.
“Don’t mind her, Senior Sister has had this old problem!” Qian He pulled Song Xuyi to the dining hall.
Following her plan, Song Xuyi painfully got a bowl of porridge and a bun, nibbling in small bites—eating slowly can increase the feeling of fullness.
Qian He, being a rough-minded half-grown boy, simply didn’t notice Song Xuyi’s struggles, and he ordered a large pile of food for himself, devouring it heartily in front of Song Xuyi.
Song Xuyi felt a bit bitter in her heart. After finishing the porridge, she put away the bowl, then grabbed the bun and ate it while walking, heading to the practice field to continue practicing martial arts:
Time is tight, and she must quickly learn martial arts well. This way, she can better protect the male and female leads in the later plot.
After finishing the bun, Song Xuyi returned to the practice field, where Fu Xiyu was still teaching the others’ movements. Seeing Song Xuyi approach, Fu Xiyu raised her head and glanced at Song Xuyi.
Song Xuyi, however, continued with her principle of treating Fu Xiyu as air, not acknowledging her, and began to focus on practicing according to the scroll Qian He had given her—
As the sun gradually rose, Song Xuyi practiced for a while longer. Fu Xiyu then stopped instructing the disciples and dismissed the last one. By this time, there was clearly no food left in the dining hall, but Fu Xiyu didn’t mind. She walked over to Song Xuyi and sternly corrected several of her movements.
Putting aside previous grievances, Fu Xiyu’s guidance was indeed very professional. Even though seeing the little villain’s face made Song Xuyi somewhat annoyed, after Fu Xiyu finished guiding her, Song Xuyi still lowered her head and said, “Thank you, Senior Sister.”
Fu Xiyu looked at Song Xuyi, pressed her lips together and nodded, her eyes darkening slightly, then turned and walked toward the direction of Lu Dun’s residence.
“Ah, Senior Sister has gone to Master again.”
At this time, Qian He also returned to the martial arts field, burping as he enviously watched Fu Xiyu’s retreating figure: “Every day, Senior Sister gets to learn with Master for an hour. Except for her, no one else has been individually taught by Master like this! I really hope that in the future I can be as skilled as Senior Sister, so I can receive individual guidance from Master, which would surely annoy Third Junior Brother and the others…”
Song Xuyi also noticed that the relationship between the senior brothers learning martial arts under Lu Dun seemed not good. Each of them hoped to gain Lu Dun’s attention and would even secretly compete and sabotage each other.
Song Xuyi didn’t want to get involved in these disputes and focused on practicing her own martial arts.
Qian He also shook off his lazy attitude and began seriously practicing his swordsmanship, occasionally guiding Song Xuyi. It must be said that Qian He indeed had a reason to be proud; at a young age, his martial arts were already quite commendable, and passing elders would all stop to praise him aloud…
But after practicing for more than an hour, Qian He stopped, and seeing Song Xuyi still practicing seriously, he laughed out loud: “Of all people to learn from, you choose to learn from Senior Sister Fu!”
With a sigh, he carried his sword and returned to his residence.
The Taiji Sect’s arrangement for young disciples’ martial arts practice is relatively free: before the disciples turn ten years old, all must participate in morning classes. Morning class is the time for teaching new knowledge, and after breakfast, disciples return to the martial arts field to spar and fight in groups. After noon, they each arrange their own activities, with most choosing to practice martial arts at their residence.
After lunch, Song Xuyi returned to her own courtyard. After all, the martial arts field is open on all sides, and Song Xuyi’s clothes weren’t particularly thick, making it too cold to practice there.
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Fu Xiyu did not return, and Song Xuyi was happy and at ease, practicing basic movements in the courtyard until evening.
After Song Xuyi finished eating dinner, she did horse stance exercises for a while upon returning. Once she had washed up and lay down to sleep, there was a bit of noise in the courtyard…
Was the little villain this busy inside the door?
The busier Fu Xiyu became, the deeper her infiltration into the Taiji Sect.
Song Xuyi felt a sense of crisis arise in her heart, but after a day of exertion, she was too tired and fell asleep involuntarily.
The next morning, the system punctually sounded the alarm in Song Xuyi’s mind, but she had practiced too intensely the previous day. Her waist and back were extremely sore, and she could barely lift her hands…
Song Xuyi almost used all her strength to put on her clothes and hastily tidied herself.
And just as Song Xuyi carelessly tied her hairband, there was a knock at the door.
Song Xuyi didn’t want to owe Fu Xiyu three or two silver taels, so she hurriedly pushed open the door. Fu Xiyu seemed somewhat surprised and looked at Song Xuyi, her hand at her side curled slightly. She pressed her lips and turned around to walk ahead—
Song Xuyi, despite her whole body being sore, moved her short legs and followed behind Fu Xiyu, finally reaching the practice field before all the disciples arrived.
Qian He looked at Song Xuyi’s messy hair again and winked at Fu Xiyu: “Senior Sister, this is your fault! Look at how you’ve raised this child to be like this?”
Song Xuyi pressed her lips, thinking that if she let Fu Xiyu do her hair, it would probably look even worse. But considering they were in front of others, she decided not to be as inconsiderate as the little villain and refrained from complaining out loud.
The training intensity was the same as usual that day, and by the end, Song Xuyi felt like her body was no longer her own. Fortunately, the bathroom had a hot spring pool, and soaking in it for a while relieved her pain. After bathing, she returned to her room and fell asleep on the bed.
However, the consequence of not eating enough showed up in the middle of the night. Song Xuyi felt her stomach growling and woke up hungry after not sleeping for long.
She remembered that there seemed to be a wild jujube tree outside the courtyard, full of wild jujubes that she could perhaps pick to fill her stomach. Just as she was planning to go out and pick some, she saw Fu Xiyu in the courtyard.
Fu Xiyu was rummaging through a pile of weeds in the corner of the courtyard, seemingly looking for something…
With Fu Xiyu there, Song Xuyi was naturally too embarrassed to go out and pick wild jujubes to eat. However, after waiting for a long time and not seeing Fu Xiyu return to her room, sleepiness overcame her. She thought of her bed and, covering her empty stomach, fell asleep once again.
The next morning, the system’s set alarm clock sounded punctually once again. Song Xuyi went through the difficult process of getting up, groggily rose, and after washing, hadn’t yet had time to comb her hair when there was a rhythmic knocking at the door.
“Open the door!”
Why is she here so early today?
Song Xuyi was startled, hesitated for a moment, but still holding the comb, walked over to open the door, hurriedly saying: “Let me comb my hair first…”
However, Fu Xiyu took the comb from Song Xuyi’s hand.
She looked intently at Song Xuyi, pressed her shoulder, and signaled her to sit on the stool.
“Don’t move.”
Is she… wanting to comb my hair again?
No wonder she came so early.
Following her previous principle of ignoring and treating her as air, Song Xuyi let her be, quietly sitting on the stool and starting to doze off with her eyes closed.
Song Xuyi originally just wanted to take a nap, but at this time, her body was only six years old, and children at this age often lack sleep. When Song Xuyi woke up again, she found herself already at the martial arts field, lying on Fu Xiyu’s thin, lean back.
The surroundings were noisy, and in her daze, Song Xuyi was placed on the ground by Fu Xiyu.
“Senior Sister, now this is reasonable! Little Junior Sister is still young, you definitely need to take better care of her. If you couldn’t do her hair before, then go learn!”
“Don’t say, Little Junior Sister’s hair is done well today, and she actually looks quite good!” Qian He came over with a grin to scrutinize Song Xuyi.
He originally thought that Fu Xiyu would ignore his words, but unexpectedly, Fu Xiyu nodded and actually gave him a light “mm” in response before turning around to continue teaching the other disciples.
Qian He was initially stunned for a moment, then became extremely happy, turning his head towards Song Xuyi: “You see, Senior Sister has admitted she didn’t treat you well before! Aren’t you going to thank your Senior Brother? With me watching over you, Senior Sister will treat you better and better in the future—”
Song Xuyi casually said, “Thank you, Senior Brother,” but her gaze involuntarily fell on Fu Xiyu nearby.
Did Fu Xiyu not know how to comb hair before?
Involuntarily, Song Xuyi recalled how serious Fu Xiyu looked the first time she combed her hair, and also remembered the way Fu Xiyu looked holding the weeds last night…
Some matters became gradually clear in her mind:
So, was Fu Xiyu using weeds to practice combing hair last night?
Perhaps she had wrongly blamed her the day before; when meeting Lu Dun earlier, Fu Xiyu actually did not intentionally mess up her own hair…
The lingering anger in her heart dissipated somewhat, but remembering that this person is the future big villain, Song Xuyi pressed her lips and still decided to continue practicing her principle of “not paying attention to her, treating her as air,” resolutely refusing to soften towards the little villain.
Time flies, and very soon Song Xuyi had been in the school for nearly half a month.
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Under Song Xuyi’s thrift policy, she successfully saved one or two taels of silver.
And taking advantage of moments when no one noticed, Song Xuyi climbed the tree and successfully hoarded a big bag of wild jujubes. Although these wild jujubes were really very sour, when Song Xuyi was hungry, she still had something to fill her stomach, preventing her from being too hungry to sleep at night.
Song Xuyi was very satisfied with such progress and also very pleased with her way of getting along with Fu Xiyu—
Fu Xiyu seemed afraid of others gossiping, so every morning she would come to comb Song Xuyi’s hair and carry Song Xuyi to the martial arts field. At first, Song Xuyi was somewhat shy and did not want Fu Xiyu to carry her, but Fu Xiyu was extremely forceful at this time. If Song Xuyi was unwilling, she simply wouldn’t go, leaving Song Xuyi with no way but to compromise…
Apart from this, there was fundamentally no other communication between the two.
Song Xuyi also figured out Fu Xiyu’s routine: every morning, she led the disciples in their morning class, then went to the sect leader to learn martial arts. In her spare time, she also had to help the sect leader manage Taiji Sect affairs, and sometimes she would go down the mountain without anyone knowing what she did… undoubtedly one of the busiest people in the Taiji Sect.
Unconsciously, Song Xuyi again sped up her martial arts learning process: Fu Xiyu’s infiltration into the Taiji Sect was really too deep, and she currently could not stop it. Only by enhancing her strength to take over Fu Xiyu’s work could she have a chance to reduce her influence on the Taiji Sect.
However, while Song Xuyi was satisfied with everything, someone else was not—
That morning, while Song Xuyi was practicing martial arts, Qian He, looking at her appearance, approached Fu Xiyu, frowned, and spoke: “Senior Sister, you must persuade Little Junior Sister to eat! Her appetite is pitifully small, look at her, her cheeks have thinned so much…”
Small appetite?
Fu Xiyu raised her head and looked at Song Xuyi’s no longer chubby cheeks, and then recalled the scene of Song Xuyi climbing a tree a few days ago to secretly pick and eat wild jujubes. Her eyes slightly darkened, and she pressed her lips.
The author has something to say:
Work is about to start again, adjusting schedule and update times.
If there is no update by 23:30 in the future, then little angels don’t wait~
LP: Re-translated on October 03, 2024