Blame the Villain – Chapter 222

Villainous Emperor (22)

Even though Song Xuyi knew she was doing the right thing, she still couldn’t help feeling guilty in her heart.

Her mind was extremely chaotic. Song Xuyi bit her lower lip and closed her eyes, yet before her eyes still lingered Jiang Ruoyu’s face that could captivate all beings [Buddhist term meaning to enchant/bewitch people].

Song Xuyi covered her face with the blanket and forcefully focused her thoughts on the mission—

After observing for these couple of days, Song Xuyi had discovered: although Jiang Ruoyu’s temperament had become cold and strange, she wasn’t being controlled by Yinshen. Based on Jiang Ruoyu’s inner thoughts, one could deduce that Jiang Ruoyu and Yinshen had developed some kind of harmonious coexistence. This meant that if Jiang Ruoyu could feel happiness, perhaps the future wouldn’t unfold as recorded in the plot outline.

But how could she make Jiang Ruoyu feel happiness?

She already possessed the world under heaven…

The problem seemed to have come full circle.

If only she hadn’t unnecessarily used this body to approach Jiang Ruoyu! Then she wouldn’t have fallen into such an awkward situation. Based on their previous relationship, it would probably have been easy to achieve the goal.

But now she occupied a body that Jiang Ruoyu had fallen in love with at first sight…

Song Xuyi sighed and tried not to think about matters related to Jiang Ruoyu. Because Jiang Ruoyu was on the roof, Song Xuyi couldn’t enter the Mirror Flower Water Moon to practice. She originally thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep, but perhaps because her mind had been tense for so long and suddenly relaxed, Song Xuyi actually fell asleep…

When she woke up again, it was already dark.

There seemed to be a divine consciousness observing her in the room, but as soon as Song Xuyi woke up, that divine consciousness immediately vanished. Song Xuyi wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination.

Not seeing Jiang Ruoyu’s figure anywhere around, Song Xuyi pushed open the door and walked out to find Jiang Ruoyu standing tall and graceful in the middle of the courtyard, practicing sword movements…

In the original plot outline, Jiang Ruoyu had refined Lin Zhu into the Huan Sword, and afterward, wielding this Huan Sword, she killed throughout the three realms.

But even without the Huan Sword, Jiang Ruoyu’s swordsmanship was extremely exceptional. Graceful as a startled swan, agile as a swimming dragon. Her masterful swordsmanship combined with her pleasing-to-the-eye beautiful face was particularly eye-catching.

Although Song Xuyi was secretly vigilant about guarding against Jiang Ruoyu’s beauty trap [strategy of using beauty to seduce], the Jiang Ruoyu showing herself now revealed a side that Song Xuyi had never seen before. The fully concentrated Jiang Ruoyu had a different kind of charm, looking dangerous yet alluring. Song Xuyi still couldn’t help raising her head and staring at Jiang Ruoyu for quite a while…

Jiang Ruoyu seemed to be purely practicing sword movements. At first, she focused on the aesthetic beauty of her postures, but later, the sword tip became streaks of arc-light, her whole person nearly became an afterimage, her movements too quick for the eye to follow.

Yet the blackness in Jiang Ruoyu’s eyes gradually grew deeper.

Though she clearly hadn’t used any divine power, an osmanthus tree several meters away was cut clean through at the waist by Jiang Ruoyu’s sword energy…

In the distance hung a bright moon, osmanthus flowers filled the sky, falling like scattered rain, spreading throughout the courtyard. Song Xuyi’s head and face were covered with osmanthus flowers, their fragrance enveloping her entire body.

Struck by the sword energy, Song Xuyi’s back tingled and her legs went weak. Looking at Jiang Ruoyu under the moonlight, a strange emotion inexplicably arose in her heart. She wanted to flee in panic, but momentarily couldn’t move her feet, and could only watch as Jiang Ruoyu put away her sword and slowly walked toward her—

“For you!”

Jiang Ruoyu hung a fragrance pouch at Song Xuyi’s waist. The darkness in her eyes gradually receded, replaced by joy brighter than the moonlight: “Is it pretty? I learned this from Mother today.”

“Mother said the osmanthus flowers on the south side that bathe in sunlight are more fragrant, so I picked some and put them in the fragrance pouch. This osmanthus tree won’t live much longer anyway, so I might as well give you a courtyard full of fragrance…”

So, she hadn’t thought wrong, Jiang Ruoyu was indeed using beauty to seduce her?!

Remembering what the system said about Jiang Ruoyu practicing her smile, Song Xuyi unconsciously glanced at Jiang Ruoyu’s smile. Sure enough, while it looked fine at first glance, upon closer inspection, one could clearly see the stiffness in Jiang Ruoyu’s smile.

But the smile in Jiang Ruoyu’s eyes was a thousand times more moving than the smile on her face.

Meeting Jiang Ruoyu’s gaze, Song Xuyi’s heart suddenly skipped a beat…

Her heart once again began reciting the 《Heart Sutra》, Song Xuyi took a deep breath, barely regaining her rationality, and for a moment felt both like crying and laughing—

Oh my—

Song Xuyi remembered why the osmanthus tree couldn’t live long near Jiang Ruoyu: because Yinshen lived inside Jiang Ruoyu’s body, and plants were naturally sensitive to the energy of heaven and earth. Near Yinshen, which symbolized impurity, no plants could survive long.

And the reason why Yinshen came to live in Jiang Ruoyu’s body was because of herself…

Song Xuyi lowered her head, unable to harden her heart to reject Jiang Ruoyu’s actions, allowing Jiang Ruoyu to hang the fragrance pouch at her waist.

Like any obedient servant, she stepped back after Jiang Ruoyu hung the pouch, pretending not to know Jiang Ruoyu’s intentions, and respectfully said: “Thank you, Your Majesty, for bestowing this fragrance pouch.”

“Don’t always keep your head down like this,” Jiang Ruoyu seemed to notice Song Xuyi’s evasive attitude, slightly furrowing her brows: “I-I find you quite an interesting palace maid. From now on, you may interact with me as an equal, no need to strictly observe etiquette…”

Why would Jiang Ruoyu suddenly make such a request? Hadn’t she previously complained about Song Xuyi being presumptuous?

Song Xuyi couldn’t help raising her head, and seeing Jiang Ruoyu’s wandering gaze, suddenly had a thought—could it be that Jiang Ruoyu treated her differently precisely because of her previously slightly presumptuous attitude?

Song Xuyi couldn’t help thinking of modern TV dramas she had watched before, with those cringe-worthy lines like “Woman, you’ve successfully caught my attention.” Although she couldn’t believe Jiang Ruoyu would have such shallow mate-selection criteria, there seemed to be no other explanation…

Since she wanted Jiang Ruoyu to stop liking her, Song Xuyi instantly decided her future path—as long as she became like others around her, fawning and toadying [meaning: to curry favor with the powerful], Jiang Ruoyu would surely lose interest in her!

Thinking this way, when Jiang Ruoyu asked with reddened ears “How was my swordsmanship?”, Song Xuyi began imitating the bootlicking palace maids around Dong Rou, starting to flatter Jiang Ruoyu: “Your Majesty’s swordsmanship is naturally excellent. Although this servant doesn’t understand sword arts, Your Majesty practicing sword is like a celestial being descending to earth, mesmerizing to behold. This servant could barely move from watching…”

“R-really?” Jiang Ruoyu’s ears reddened, not expecting the little palace maid to give such high praise, the weight in her heart immediately lifted.

Indeed, ginger gets spicier with age [jiang hai shi lao de la, wordplay on Jiang/ginger], Mother’s taught techniques really worked, worth being teased by Mother for half a day!

In the afternoon, when Jiang Ruoyu peeked and saw Song Xuyi sound asleep, remembering the little girl’s fear of her, she thought for a moment and still went to seek help from her mother Dong Rou.

Dong Rou noticed Jiang Ruoyu’s unusual attitude toward the little palace maid, but didn’t expect Jiang Ruoyu to recognize her own heart so early. In all these years, this was the first time Jiang Ruoyu had confided in Dong Rou about having someone she liked. Though teasing Jiang Ruoyu outwardly, Dong Rou still gave her many suggestions.

However, Dong Rou herself had little experience in romance and didn’t understand the schemes and strategies of emotional games. Her only experience was her youthful relationship with Fu Sheng, so based on her memories, she edited and told some stories about what Fu Sheng did when pursuing her…

After much thought, Dong Rou felt this wasn’t secure enough, so she ordered palace servants to send many popular romance novels to Jiang Ruoyu.

Jiang Ruoyu hadn’t had time to read these novels yet.

Following Dong Rou’s advice that “regardless of gender, everyone likes capable people, why not let Liu Yi see your abilities,” Jiang Ruoyu made her move, and sure enough, the little palace maid praised her for the first time!

What next?

Remembering Dong Rou’s words “proceed slowly, cater to their interests”, Jiang Ruoyu forcefully suppressed the joy welling up from Song Xuyi’s praise, trying to speak calmly: “Your words bring me great joy. The more I look at you, the more clever I find you. How about this – if there’s anything you want or wish to do, I can help you…”

For a moment, Song Xuyi wanted to directly tell Jiang Ruoyu to like someone else, but she didn’t dare speak plainly now, and could only continue her flattering approach, compromising with another wish: “This servant’s wish is rather grand. Having experienced the turbulent times, this servant deeply feels the hardships of common people in chaotic times. If Your Majesty permits, this servant wishes for peace throughout the realm, tranquility within the four seas, and for Your Majesty to become a wise ruler for ten thousand generations.”

Song Xuyi felt she had done quite well with this flattery, expressing hopes for both the country and Jiang Ruoyu’s future, but unexpectedly, after a moment’s pause, Jiang Ruoyu sighed and patted Song Xuyi’s head: “Silly girl!”

?!

Looking at Song Xuyi’s confused eyes, Jiang Ruoyu’s heart filled with tenderness, feeling that every moment spent with the little palace maid made her like her more. In this instant, Jiang Ruoyu somewhat understood why she liked Song Xuyi: because like Goddess Sister, she had a kind and gentle nature that seeped from her very bones…

Though merely a palace maid drifting like duckweed in chaotic times, she still strived to protect all under heaven.

Jiang Ruoyu wasn’t sure if it was her imagination: she always felt the little palace maid sometimes really resembled Goddess Sister.

This made Jiang Ruoyu increasingly guilty, feeling that she hadn’t let go of Goddess Sister, which was why she sought her shadow in the little palace maid.

But letting go of someone you’ve missed for so long isn’t something that happens overnight. Jiang Ruoyu knew she would eventually put things right, but before then, when facing the little palace maid, she felt inexplicably guilty.

“I have my own plans.” Due to that guilt, Jiang Ruoyu’s voice became gentler: this country has bred too many maggots [metaphor for corrupt people], things can’t be rushed. This was the realm that Goddess Sister had carefully maintained, and naturally Jiang Ruoyu wouldn’t let the Jiang Kingdom decline. But this involved too many matters, and Jiang Ruoyu didn’t want to taint the little palace maid’s ears with these things, so she changed the subject: “We’ll discuss this wish later. I can grant you another wish. Is there anything you want to do recently?”

Jiang Ruoyu’s gaze was too gentle, and that strange heart-racing feeling arose again. Song Xuyi hadn’t expected Jiang Ruoyu to be so agreeable, but she really couldn’t think of what she wanted at the moment…

It was the unblocked system that reminded her she could ask Jiang Ruoyu to release the female protagonist Lin Zhu from the palace and let her be with the male protagonist Jiang Bai…

So Song Xuyi casually made up a lie, saying she had once received kindness from Lin Zhu and wanted to request a favor for her.

Song Xuyi hadn’t expected Jiang Ruoyu to agree immediately.

“I won’t let you owe others any favors.” Jiang Ruoyu held Song Xuyi’s hand, returning to her chambers to write an imperial decree granting marriage to Lin Zhu and Jiang Bai.

Song Xuyi was kept by Jiang Ruoyu’s side grinding ink [traditional method of preparing ink for calligraphy], unsure whether her path of flattering Jiang Ruoyu was right or wrong. She felt that things seemed somewhat troubling, as Jiang Ruoyu appeared to really enjoy being flattered this way…

While feeling conflicted, Song Xuyi accidentally glimpsed a large pile of books stacked beside Jiang Ruoyu’s bed. After clearly seeing titles like 《The Domineering Young Master Leased a Fish Pond for the Maid》, 《You Run, I Chase, You Can’t Escape Even With Wings》, 《Woman, You’ve Caught My Attention》… and other covers, Song Xuyi’s eyes widened—

Jiang Ruoyu really… had this kind of preference in choosing partners?

---

The author has something to say:

Dong Rou (*￣︶￣): The child is a silly child, the books I sent should be able to help her~~~

---

LP: Re-translated on January 02, 2025

---

---