Villainous Emperor (2)
Song Xuyi carefully observed the little girl on the ground when suddenly, Jiang Ruyu opened her eyes.
The little girl seemed not fully awake, drowsily rubbing her eyes and looking at the not-yet-bright sky outside. She sat dazed on the prayer mat for a while, then turned around, knelt on the mat, and respectfully bowed to Song Xuyi—
“Divine Sister, I apologize, this is the twelfth time I’ve taken fruit from your altar.” She stood up, slowly picked the smallest fruit from the offering table, hid it in her clothes, and earnestly kowtowed to Song Xuyi: “I am a person of impurity, and I assume you wouldn’t notice me, but I still must thank you.”
After kowtowing, the little girl curled up under the offering table with the fruit. The table was so wide that one couldn’t tell someone was hiding underneath. Soon after, there came a distinct sound of unlocking from outside, and two Taoist priestesses entered while yawning, holding their horsetail whisks (cultural reference – “浮塵” a traditional Taoist ceremonial implement).
The priestesses looked around, then went out to fetch water and clean the temple’s dust. During this time, a small figure darted through the temple door’s gap as fast as lightning before one can cover their ears.
Song Xuyi floated along behind Jiang Ruyu.
The little girl seemed extremely familiar with the route. In the dim morning light, she specifically chose to walk in shadows where people wouldn’t notice her, like a wandering spirit drifting between darkness and light, going further and further from the ornate palace buildings into the overgrown wilderness, gradually entering deeper into the shadows…
Behind the prosperous court was a row of dilapidated palaces, where in some places the thatch grass appeared taller than Jiang Ruyu herself. She stumbled to the front of a rundown palace, where several old eunuchs were eating breakfast. When they saw Jiang Ruyu returning from outside, a large wolf dog tied nearby began barking threateningly at her—
Two dirty steamed buns lay by the wolf dog’s feet.
Jiang Ruyu circled around the wolf dog and approached the group of eunuchs: “Sir Li, our breakfast.”
“Oh my, Seventeenth Princess,” an old eunuch lifted his eyelids and looked at Jiang Ruyu, speaking in a mocking tone: “What happened? Your buns were knocked over by Da Huang. Da Huang is always fierce, we didn’t dare to pick them up—”
Song Xuyi looked at the fierce wolf dog, then at Jiang Ruyu standing there with clenched fists. Although knowing Jiang Ruyu might be a future villain, after a moment’s hesitation, Song Xuyi still used her divine powers to make the wolf dog lie down docilely.
Seeing the wolf dog wasn’t as fierce as before, the little girl’s dark eyes moved slightly. She looked around, slowly stepped forward, picked up a large stone from the weeds, held it to her chest, and gradually approached the wolf dog…
“So the Seventeenth Princess knows fear after all! Wandering outside all day instead of staying home, if you offend any favored noble, who knows how you might die…” The eunuch spoke again in his sneering tone.
“This Da Huang is the Fifteenth Princess’s new pet. If you hurt this dog and the Fifteenth Princess throws a tantrum, when Noble Consort brings down punishment, none of us in this entire palace hall will escape unscathed—”
“Well, you might be fine,” another old eunuch continued with a false smile: “You at least have some royal blood, so Noble Consort might spare you for the Emperor’s sake, but the crazy one inside might not be so lucky. His Majesty probably doesn’t even remember who she is…”
The old eunuchs were extremely harsh. Song Xuyi hadn’t expected these people to be so venomous towards a five or six-year-old girl, and finally couldn’t help but summon a gust of wind.
The wind carried sand and dust, sweeping towards the old eunuchs. Afraid of getting sand in their food, the eunuchs cursed and grumbled but had no choice but to move inside the courtyard wall.
During this time, Jiang Ruyu had already reached the front of the wolf dog and quickly picked up the two steamed buns. She ignored the eunuchs’ gossiping remarks about “what kind of princess when even a dog eats better than the two of them,” carefully dusted off the buns’ surface, and ran into the dark, dilapidated palace.
By now the sun had risen. The cold palace had only one window large enough for one person to pass through. Through the weak light, Song Xuyi barely made out the room’s condition: several chairs with missing arms and legs, a table full of dents and holes, and an ancient porcelain pot on the table.
Jiang Ruyu placed the buns on the table, stood on tiptoe, skillfully poured a bowl of water, and carefully carried it to the bedside, softly calling out “Mother!”
On the bed was a blackened blanket, with stuffing showing through in some places. Hearing Jiang Ruyu’s voice, the blanket moved slightly, and a black head slowly emerged, followed by an emaciated face that Song Xuyi saw.
This face had no flesh left, appearing smaller than a palm. Because the face was so small, a pair of bloodshot eyes appeared particularly striking.
Those eyes initially had no focus, but upon seeing Jiang Ruyu, they flashed with obvious hatred. Song Xuyi didn’t know how such skeletal hands could possess such strength, but the woman pushed Jiang Ruyu away, clutching the tattered blanket and fearfully retreating to the inner part of the bed, shouting loudly: “Get out, don’t touch me…”
Jiang Ruyu stumbled and fell to the ground, the bowl in her hand shattering with a ‘bang’ into several pieces. Jiang Ruyu’s previously emotionless eyes finally showed a trace of distress, and she said in a low voice with a hint of grievance, “That was our last bowl.” She looked at the woman who was like a frightened bird, pressed her lips together, lowered her head, carefully picked up the bowl fragments, and slowly walked outside accompanied by the woman’s increasingly panicked shouts.
Outside, Jiang Ruyu dug a hole in the empty ground, buried the fragments, then sat motionless on the steps, hugging her arms.
The woman’s penetrating screams continued from inside, while the eunuchs outside began their unrestrained gossip—
“Did you hear that? She’s having an episode again! You might not believe it looking at her crazy state now, but she was once known as the First Beauty of the Dong Kingdom when she entered the palace. The Emperor fell for her at first sight. However, the Emperor likes docile and coquettish women, so he deliberately made this crazy woman serve as a palace maid to break her spirit. Who knew this mad woman was so strong-willed, actually enduring the filthy work of a palace maid.”
“So when one plan failed, the Emperor tried another. Now everyone says the Emperor took advantage of this palace maid while drunk, but that’s just a rumor! Though we’ve lost that function, weren’t we all men before being castrated? If truly drunk, how could he possibly… hehe!”
“They say this mad woman was the daughter of the Dong Kingdom’s Grand Chancellor before entering the palace, with a childhood sweetheart as her fiancé. But what did her high status matter then? The Dong Kingdom was defeated and became a vassal state, and now this mad woman eats worse than dogs. She’s not even equal to us castrated servants…”
Song Xuyi knew the future villain’s childhood in the cold palace would be difficult, after all, the imperial palace was a place where people stepped on the lowly to curry favor with the powerful, but she hadn’t expected Jiang Ruyu to endure such torment at such a young age.
If this world had never shown her any kindness from childhood, it was no wonder that later Jiang Ruyu would wield the Huan Sword to slaughter across three realms, bloodthirsty and fallen into demonhood.
Song Xuyi didn’t know if Jiang Ruyu had heard these troubling words, or perhaps heard but pretended not to. The little girl sat curled up on the steps, breaking apart a steamed bun and slowly chewing it, her gaze fixed blankly at the sky above the crumbling palace walls.
After some time, the frenzied screaming from the room finally stopped. Jiang Ruyu stood up, shook her head, patted her own cheeks, and surprisingly displayed what appeared to be a very happy smile.
She took out the offering fruit from the temple, carefully wiped its surface with her sleeve, and walked into the room. The woman on the bed now had clear but pained eyes.
The woman looked at Jiang Ruyu with heartache and spoke hoarsely: “Ruyu, did Mother frighten you again?”
“I won’t be frightened by Mother,” Jiang Ruyu shook her head, seeming somewhat embarrassed as she held the fruit to the woman’s lips: “Mother, that noble person gave me some fruit again today. I found them delicious and ate quite a few, leaving only one for you. Would you like to try it?”
The woman’s gaze fell on the fruit, then looked at Jiang Ruyu again, coughing twice and frowning: “Rose fruit is sour this season, Ruyu, you shouldn’t eat too much—”
“Ah?” Jiang Ruyu clearly didn’t recognize this fruit, hesitating for a moment before softly speaking: “Mother, won’t you try it? Although… although this fruit is sour, the palace servants wouldn’t dare short-change that noble person, and I thought it tasted quite good…”
As soon as Jiang Ruyu finished speaking, the woman embraced her, tears flowing from her sorrowful eyes: “Ruyu, you didn’t eat this fruit, did you?”
Seeing that Jiang Ruyu seemed about to say something, the woman gently interrupted: “Rose fruit becomes sweet as honey once it turns red, without any trace of sourness—”
Looking at the red fruit in her hand, Jiang Ruyu finally realized she had fallen for her mother’s trap, and pressed her lips together, lowering her head.
The woman’s tears flowed even more fiercely.
“Mother has failed you,” the woman held Jiang Ruyu, looking towards the high courtyard walls outside, muttering painfully: “If there’s a chance in the future, you must escape this place, don’t worry about Mother! Mother only hopes you can become a light feather (connecting to the character’s name “Ruyu” meaning “like a feather”), able to fly over these high walls and leave this man-eating palace forever…”
Jiang Ruyu didn’t speak, perhaps understanding that nothing she could say would comfort her distraught mother. She simply held her mother’s head, skillfully and gently supporting her skeletal back.
Finally, mother and daughter shared the small rose fruit, taking turns to eat it. The lucid woman tenderly braided Jiang Ruyu’s hair, asking about the appearance and character of the noble person who gave her the fruit. Jiang Ruyu described according to the goddess statue’s appearance, and the woman didn’t suspect anything. After warning Jiang Ruyu to always be cautious of others, she began teaching Jiang Ruyu to read characters…
Watching Jiang Ruyu kneeling at the bedside massaging her mother’s legs, Song Xuyi bit her lower lip.
This future villain was far more intelligent and heart-wrenching than Song Xuyi had imagined.
Within these cold palace walls, Jiang Ruyu was like an unnoticed blade of grass that everyone could step on.
If the world had only ever given Jiang Ruyu pain, how could anyone expect her to return kindness?
Fortunately, it wasn’t too late for everything now.
Song Xuyi floated back to the goddess temple, listening to the Taoist priestesses discussing “lately there seems to be less fruit on the offering table,” as a plan slowly took shape in her mind…
LP: Re-translated on November 23, 2024
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