Blame the Villain – Chapter 193

Villainous Zombie King (12)

“Miaomiao, don’t be afraid. I was just joking with you,” Song Xuyi said. She didn’t expect Zhao Miaomiao to be so scared of Ye Shuiyu, so she quickly changed the subject: “Miaomiao, do you have any other family members at home?”

“No,” Zhao Miaomiao bit her lower lip, glanced at Song Xuyi, and lowered her head: “I was raised by my maternal grandparents. They were bitten by monsters and told me not to open the door for anyone. They piled up a bunch of food next to me, including some treats they usually didn’t allow me to eat…”

“After they went out, they locked the house from the outside and never came back.”

Song Xuyi was stunned for a moment: Zhao Miaomiao’s words had actually revealed a lot. It was clear that her grandparents had met with misfortune, and Miaomiao obviously had a rough idea of what happened. She lowered her head and didn’t say anything more.

The atmosphere became awkward and stagnant. Song Xuyi suddenly didn’t know how to continue the conversation.

It was Ye Shuiyu who seemed to notice Song Xuyi’s predicament. She turned her head, looked at Zhao Miaomiao expressionlessly, and sneered: “I don’t see how you like me—”

“It’s true!” Zhao Miaomiao raised her head and tried to put on a brave face while looking at Ye Shuiyu: “Sister Shuiyu is so beautiful, I really like you…”

Seeing that Zhao Miaomiao’s attention had been diverted, Song Xuyi felt relieved and turned her head to continue driving.

During the rest of the journey, perhaps to prove that she wasn’t lying, little Zhao Miaomiao apparently became Ye Shuiyu’s “little dog leg” (an idiom meaning a sycophant or yes-man).

Along the way, Song Xuyi often heard Zhao Miaomiao trying to chat with Ye Shuiyu—

“Sister Shuiyu, do you want some water?”

“Sister Shuiyu, you’re so pretty, like a fairy from heaven…”

“Sister Shuiyu, I have chocolate beans in my bag that mom packed. Do you want some…”

Probably because Song Xuyi was present, Ye Shuiyu couldn’t be too cold. So whenever Zhao Miaomiao asked a question, she would briefly and coldly reply with a simple “Mm” or “No need.” Little Zhao Miaomiao, being the resilient child who had lived alone in the house for so long, wasn’t defeated by Ye Shuiyu’s cold attitude. Instead, she became more determined, racking her brains to maintain the illusion of ‘getting along well with Ye Shuiyu’.

When Ye Shuiyu heard about Song Xuyi secretly giving Zhao Miaomiao chocolate, her eyes immediately swept over to Song Xuyi. Song Xuyi instinctively felt a chill down her spine and hurriedly explained: “Shuiyu, I was afraid you’d get a stomachache if you ate chocolate, that’s why I didn’t give you any…”

Only then did Ye Shuiyu’s expression soften, and she turned her head away again.

The long drive was extremely monotonous, and the voices of Zhao Miaomiao and Ye Shuiyu were a rare diversion on the journey. Seeing Ye Shuiyu’s impatient yet forced attempt to maintain a facade of peace with Zhao Miaomiao, Song Xuyi felt a subtle sense of schadenfreude (pleasure derived from another person’s misfortune), thinking: “So you have days like this too…”

Perhaps because of the chattering Zhao Miaomiao, unlike her previous talkative self, Ye Shuiyu became extremely quiet. For a moment, as Song Xuyi looked at Ye Shuiyu’s profile, she even felt as if she had turned into another cold and distant adult.

This feeling was strange and complex, like watching a flower gradually grow up. Even though she knew the past couldn’t be changed, Song Xuyi still wanted to make Ye Shuiyu happier.

“Sister Shuiyu, are you tired sitting in the front passenger seat? You still need to wear a seatbelt there. Why don’t we switch?”

It wasn’t until Zhao Miaomiao asked this that Ye Shuiyu’s attitude showed a noticeable change.

Ye Shuiyu turned her head, frowning vigilantly at Zhao Miaomiao: “No switching!”

“I’ve always sat in the front passenger seat,” Ye Shuiyu held back, but still couldn’t help saying: “Zhao Miaomiao, don’t go too far!”

Looking at the confused Zhao Miaomiao, Ye Shuiyu’s tone carried a hint of obvious smugness and warning: “Only the front passenger can see Xuyi’s face all the time and observe her mood. The back seat can only see the back of her head. Only a fool would switch with you…”

Zhao Miaomiao’s eyes widened!

As it turned out, Ye Shuiyu had overthought the situation.

Little Zhao Miaomiao obviously hadn’t considered this aspect when she asked the question. After being reminded by Ye Shuiyu, she looked enviously at the front passenger seat, but she didn’t dare to compete with Ye Shuiyu. She sighed, “So sitting in the front passenger seat is so good!” Then she quieted down, but after a while, Zhao Miaomiao started asking Ye Shuiyu other questions again.

Zhao Miaomiao was only four years old after all. Probably realizing that Ye Shuiyu wasn’t as scary as she had imagined, Zhao Miaomiao’s questions gradually became more tricky, such as “Sister Shuiyu, what exactly is mom to you? Is she your friend or relative?”

“Why do you want me to call you sister when you look the same age as mom…”

At this point, even Song Xuyi couldn’t help but slow down the car and turn to look at Ye Shuiyu: Now that Ye Shuiyu’s mental age had reached ten years old, a ten-year-old girl could naturally perceive that she wasn’t her mother.

However, Ye Shuiyu avoided Song Xuyi’s gaze.

She turned from the front passenger seat and looked coldly at Zhao Miaomiao: “Zhao Miaomiao, you’re sleepy.”

“I’m not sleepy!” Little Zhao Miaomiao was utterly confused, widening her eyes to look at Ye Shuiyu: “Sister Shuiyu, are you trying to coax me to sleep?”

Ye Shuiyu pursed her lips, her face becoming even colder.

She met Zhao Miaomiao’s gaze, her tone as cold as if it contained ice shards, and repeated: “Zhao Miaomiao, you really are sleepy!”

“Huh?” Zhao Miaomiao uttered in confusion, then yawned, her voice becoming lower: “How strange, Sister Shuiyu, I do seem to be a bit sleepy…”

“Shuiyu, that’s not good,” Zhao Miaomiao was clearly being put to sleep by Ye Shuiyu’s ability. Song Xuyi sighed and couldn’t help but say: “Miaomiao likes you and wants to get along with you. You should try to communicate with her more. Miaomiao is actually very cute…”

“She’s not cute at all!” Hearing Song Xuyi praising someone else, Ye Shuiyu was obviously a bit unhappy and pouted. But she seemed to suddenly think of something and turned to look at the drowsy Zhao Miaomiao again: “Zhao Miaomiao, you’re not cute at all. You actually lied to us, didn’t you?”

Song Xuyi didn’t expect Ye Shuiyu to do this and was about to stop her when he saw Zhao Miaomiao nod—

Song Xuyi was stunned.

“Do you still have other family members at home?” Ye Shuiyu raised the corner of her lips and continued to ask.

Zhao Miaomiao nodded again.

Song Xuyi’s eyes widened as she saw Ye Shuiyu ask a few questions and quickly extract the address of Zhao Miaomiao’s family from her.

“I knew it!” After getting the address of Zhao Miaomiao’s family, Ye Shuiyu put Zhao Miaomiao to sleep again and raised her head proudly to look at Song Xuyi: “Xuyi, Zhao Miaomiao is indeed a little liar. She’s not cute at all!”

Song Xuyi hadn’t expected Zhao Miaomiao to lie at such a young age.

Fortunately, the address of Zhao Miaomiao’s family was on Song Xuyi’s way to Beijing City, so they didn’t need to take a detour.

After Zhao Miaomiao woke up, she forgot everything she had revealed, and was delighted to find that Ye Shuiyu was treating her much better than before. She thought Ye Shuiyu had been moved by her and was no longer targeting her, not knowing that Ye Shuiyu’s change in attitude was only because she heard Song Xuyi say, “Then let’s send Miaomiao home first!”

Originally, after discovering that Zhao Miaomiao had no relatives, Song Xuyi had planned to take her to Beijing City to settle down. But since Zhao Miaomiao now had relatives, the better option was naturally to find Zhao Miaomiao’s family and let her stay with them.

Therefore, in Ye Shuiyu’s mind, Zhao Miaomiao had already become someone who was about to leave. Since Zhao Miaomiao was about to leave, although Ye Shuiyu was still somewhat dissatisfied with Song Xuyi’s attentive care for her, after discovering that handing Zhao Miaomiao a glass of water could earn her a praising look from Song Xuyi, Ye Shuiyu began to pretend to take care of Zhao Miaomiao.

Soon, another three days passed, and the group arrived in the city where Zhao Miaomiao’s home was located.

According to the pattern of memory growth of one year per day, in these three days, Ye Shuiyu’s memory had already grown to thirteen years old. However, Ye Shuiyu’s personality was visibly becoming gloomier day by day.

Although Ye Shuiyu no longer actively spoke about her feelings, Song Xuyi knew that all of this was probably related to Ye Shuiyu’s father.

On the third day, early in the morning when she woke up, Song Xuyi found Ye Shuiyu staring at her thoughtfully, her gaze looking somewhat strange. But when Song Xuyi asked, Ye Shuiyu said it was nothing.

The system in her mind also confirmed that Ye Shuiyu had probably had a nightmare, which was why she was staring at Song Xuyi strangely after waking up.

Since the system said it was nothing, Song Xuyi let it go and focused on finding Zhao Miaomiao’s relatives.

Fortunately, by now the post-apocalyptic world had taken shape, and a small base had been built in the city where Zhao Miaomiao’s family was located. It was very likely that Zhao Miaomiao’s relatives were still alive.

Thinking about how Zhao Miaomiao had been unwilling to go home before, Song Xuyi discussed with Ye Shuiyu and decided to split up: Song Xuyi would go to inquire about Zhao Miaomiao’s parents, while Ye Shuiyu would stay in the car with Zhao Miaomiao, not letting her know about the plan to send her home yet.

However, the news Song Xuyi heard was not good: Zhao Miaomiao’s parents were indeed still alive, but they had a notorious reputation in the city.

The reason why Zhao Miaomiao grew up with her maternal grandparents was purely because Zhao Miaomiao’s paternal grandparents’ family favored boys over girls. Zhao Miaomiao had three older sisters, and after Zhao Miaomiao was born, her father was originally going to abandon her. Her maternal grandparents couldn’t bear it, so they raised Zhao Miaomiao.

When Zhao Miaomiao was one or two years old, her parents would come to see her occasionally at the request of her maternal grandparents. Two years ago, Zhao Miaomiao’s younger brother was born, and after that, except for visiting during the New Year, Zhao Miaomiao’s parents never came to see her again.

After the apocalypse, Zhao Miaomiao’s eldest sister became an ability user, and now the whole family relied on her for support.

Song Xuyi hadn’t expected Zhao Miaomiao’s family situation to be like this. No wonder Zhao Miaomiao was unwilling to go home.

But since they had come here, Song Xuyi still wanted to see how Zhao Miaomiao’s family members felt about her.

Song Xuyi used the excuse that the city’s security was poor and that wealth shouldn’t be displayed, so she and Zhao Miaomiao changed into dirty clothes to enter the city. Zhao Miaomiao had never been home before and didn’t know this was the city where her parents lived. She looked around with wide eyes, full of interest, as Song Xuyi guided her to the small stall run by Zhao Miaomiao’s second sister.

Zhao Miaomiao’s mother was helping at the stall. Zhao Miaomiao looked very much like her mother, but now her mother’s face was sallow and she looked extremely haggard.

Song Xuyi led Zhao Miaomiao, deliberately haggling with Zhao Miaomiao’s second sister, saying she was very poor, while observing Zhao Miaomiao’s mother’s reaction. Zhao Miaomiao’s mother obviously recognized Zhao Miaomiao, her pupils suddenly constricting, and she lowered her head uncomfortably. However, even until Song Xuyi bought the goods and left, Zhao Miaomiao’s mother didn’t call out to stop him.

Zhao Miaomiao didn’t seem to realize that the people around her were her family members, and she continued to happily look at the surrounding scenery.

The attitude of Zhao Miaomiao’s family was already very clear. Song Xuyi really couldn’t feel at ease letting Zhao Miaomiao go home. However, Ye Shuiyu had been extremely looking forward to Zhao Miaomiao going home during this period. Song Xuyi was afraid that Ye Shuiyu would have an emotional reaction, so after taking Ye Shuiyu home, she had a private conversation with her.

Contrary to Song Xuyi’s expectations, Ye Shuiyu didn’t immediately refuse. She looked at Song Xuyi and then lowered her head as if embarrassed, speaking softly: “I want to talk to Zhao Miaomiao alone—”

Zhao Miaomiao looked at Ye Shuiyu vigilantly. Although Ye Shuiyu’s attitude towards her had changed somewhat during this period, Zhao Miaomiao was still a bit afraid when alone with Ye Shuiyu.

“I can promise to let you stay with us,” but Zhao Miaomiao heard Ye Shuiyu say softly: “But I have one condition—”

“What condition?” Zhao Miaomiao was overjoyed, not expecting Ye Shuiyu to tell her such news. She jumped up happily, looking at Ye Shuiyu expectantly: “Sister Shuiyu, as long as you’re willing to let me follow you, I’ll agree to any condition…”

However, a slight blush appeared on Ye Shuiyu’s cheeks. She coughed lightly, looked at Zhao Miaomiao, and then spoke softly: “Didn’t you ask about my relationship with Xuyi?”

Even though she knew Song Xuyi couldn’t hear, Ye Shuiyu still instinctively blocked out the outside world: “I’ve figured it out! I think I’m Xuyi’s suitor, I like Xuyi…”

At thirteen, Ye Shuiyu received her first love letter.

The letter described how the person’s mouth went dry and limbs couldn’t move when they saw Ye Shuiyu. The person said this was love at first sight.

Ye Shuiyu recalled the description in this love letter from her memory and couldn’t help but think of Song Xuyi. When she met Song Xuyi, she was in a similar state – staring blankly, limbs stiff, only wanting to get close to Song Xuyi and hug her, even wanting to kiss her…

At that time, her brain wasn’t working properly, so she probably couldn’t distinguish what was heartfelt attraction. And Xuyi’s healing-type ability naturally made people feel close to her, so that’s why the brain-damaged self at that time embarrassingly called Xuyi ‘mom’…

But now she understood her feelings for Xuyi! Xuyi is so good, she must like her…

However, Ye Shuiyu discovered an obvious problem in front of her – ever since she stubbornly clung to Xuyi, Xuyi had been treating her completely as a junior to take care of, and hadn’t had any other thoughts about her…

Thinking of this, Ye Shuiyu raised her head and looked at Zhao Miaomiao seriously: “I want you to help me pursue Xuyi.”

“Now,” facing Zhao Miaomiao’s shocked eyes, Ye Shuiyu raised her head: “Start by changing how you address me to ‘Aunt Shuiyu’…”

The author has something to say:

Thirteen-year-old Ye Shuiyu: Different generations, how to pursue Xuyi?

So she must make the little brat call her ‘auntie’, this is about creating a sense of ritual (*^▽^*)~

LP: Re-translated on November 12, 2024