Villainous Fake Eunuch (3)
When Song Xuyi arrived at the carriage company, she was almost completely soaked. The icy cold clothes clung tightly to her body, and Song Xuyi couldn’t help but sneeze several times as her teeth chattered.
But this was not the time to change clothes. Moreover, Song Xuyi was busy escaping and had only brought two sets of inner garments and no coat, so she had no conditions to change clothes even if she wanted to.
In this dynasty, transportation was not convenient. For long-distance travel, one had to rely on carriage companies. Because the price was expensive, it was common for several people to pool money and share a carriage for travel.
On rainy days, the carriage company’s business was not good. There were only a few sparse customers waiting for carriages there.
Song Xuyi’s goal was to leave this city as quickly as possible, even if it meant taking a longer route. She glanced around and then walked toward the carriage with the most people gathered around it.
This was a carriage near the stable, surrounded by several haggard and ragged commoners, each seemingly in urgent need. Among them, a woman with reddened eyes was pleading persistently with the coachman—
“Big brother, I beg you, Liu Family Village is only two days’ carriage ride from here. We’ve already given you ten percent more than the market price; this is truly all the money we could gather! Please, have mercy. Our relatives are on the verge of dying. We implore you to make this trip…”
The coachman’s face looked equally troubled.
“It’s not that I’m deliberately making things difficult for you, but recently there’s been an outbreak of plague in Liu Family Village. People are panicking, and the boss just raised the price a couple of days ago. Even if I make this trip, it’s like I’m risking my life…”
Both sides had their difficulties and were at an impasse.
Song Xuyi stood aside.
She was initially somewhat wary of the plague mentioned by the coachman, but seeing the honest-looking, red-eyed men and the woman who was nearly in tears by the carriage, Song Xuyi remembered the days she had run around everywhere to seek medical treatment for her grandmother in her fragmented memories. She sighed and still walked over: “Count me in, I also have matters to attend to in Liu Family Village.”
“Great! You all wait here for a moment; I’ll go settle the accounts with the boss!” With Song Xuyi joining in, the coachman became cheerful and headed to the back courtyard to settle the accounts with the carriage company boss. Once the accounts were settled, the carriage would depart.
Even though these people looked honest, Song Xuyi remained cautious. After paying, she boarded the carriage and shrank into a corner without speaking. The woman, however, looked at the drenched Song Xuyi, hesitated to speak, and then noticed that Song Xuyi only had a small bundle. Thinking for a moment, she took out a clean piece of clothing from her luggage and handed it to Song Xuyi: “Sister, you’re not from Liu Family Village, and I owe you a favor. This clothing looks worn, but it’s freshly washed. Don’t mind it. There have been rumors of plague outbreaks in several nearby villages, and everyone is panicking. Don’t catch a cold…”
Song Xuyi hadn’t expected the woman to be so observant. She was indeed very cold, so after a moment of hesitation, she went to the back courtyard to change clothes.
Song Xuyi changed her clothes as quickly as possible, but when she returned, there was an additional person in the carriage.
He was an unremarkable-looking man. A long sword was strapped to his waist, and his figure appeared extremely thin. He was wrapped in heavy black clothing, and his face was sallow, as if he had tuberculosis. He sat in the corner of the carriage with his eyes half-closed and his brows tightly furrowed, not uttering a single word. At a glance, he seemed like someone difficult to deal with.
On the ground next to the carriage lay a torn-off sleeve. The woman who had given the clothes to Song Xuyi shrank back timidly, looking at the thin man with a fearful expression: “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you don’t like being touched…”
Song Xuyi instantly understood the origin of the torn-off sleeve on the ground.
The man didn’t spare a single glance at the timid woman, kept his lips tightly pressed together, and said nothing, with half of his face hidden behind the carriage curtain.
Whether it was due to the lighting or not, although the man’s face was sallow and even somewhat ugly, in the half-light and half-shadow, his profile seemed to carry a few traces of handsome elegance…
Song Xuyi suspected that she had seen wrong and shifted her gaze away.
The others were somewhat afraid of the man who had boarded last, but the coachman was extremely happy: he had already paid the carriage fare to the carriage company boss, and the fare of the last man to board was essentially the coachman’s earnings. Additionally, since everyone’s destination was Liu Family Village, there was no need to take detours, which made the coachman even more delighted.
The coachman set the carriage in motion.
After all, the journey was still two days long, and standing all the time was not a feasible plan.
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Song Xuyi glanced around. The carriage space was not large; the woman and several men had already crowded one side, leaving only a large space next to the difficult man. Meeting the worried gaze of the woman, Song Xuyi took a deep breath and mustered the courage to sit next to that man.
Song Xuyi’s movements were extremely cautious, not wanting to touch the cold man and incur his displeasure. However, as fate would have it, the carriage suddenly jolted, causing Song Xuyi to stumble and nearly fall onto the man—
The man’s body was extremely cold, chilling to the touch, feeling like an iceberg.
“Sorry!” Song Xuyi almost immediately withdrew her hand and apologized.
The man’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and he opened his eyes to look over—
Only then did Song Xuyi realize that although the man had an otherwise unremarkable face, his eyes were exceptionally beautiful. His eyelashes were long, and the corners of his eyes tilted upwards, resembling the most graceful and elegant strokes in an ink painting, carrying a natural charm and allure…
At this moment, those eyes were like congealed frost, gazing deeply at Song Xuyi.
“Sorry!” Meeting the man’s gaze, Song Xuyi inexplicably felt a bit flustered, and couldn’t help but apologize again, carefully curling up into a ball and sitting beside the man.
Probably because the “iceberg” beside her exuded a strong sense of oppression, the carriage continued on its way, but the interior was unexpectedly quiet.
Song Xuyi couldn’t help but listen to the sounds outside the carriage. The rain outside was getting lighter, but she did not hear the sound of any carriages chasing from behind…
Had Gu Ruyu and the others not yet discovered her escape?
Seeing that the carriage had left the city, the chances of being caught and taken back were much smaller, and Song Xuyi breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps it was due to the mental tension suddenly easing, but Song Xuyi sneezed several more times in a row…
Inside the carriage, there was only a dim oil lamp, and the interior carried a damp and musty smell that must have been there for many years. Previously, it hadn’t been noticeable, but now it suddenly made her feel nauseous.
The woman and several burly men opposite her had already fallen asleep. Not wanting her sneezes to disturb their rest, Song Xuyi quickly covered her mouth and nose with her hand. However, suppressing the sneezes was so uncomfortable that her tear ducts instinctively released tears.
Probably disturbed by Song Xuyi’s sneezing, the man beside her opened his eyes once again. He frowned and glanced at Song Xuyi, pausing for a moment when he saw the tears in her eyes. He then tightly pressed his lips together, furrowed his brows, and took out a water pouch from his bag, handing it to Song Xuyi with a cold voice: “Drink!”
This was the first time the man had spoken since they met.
The man’s voice sounded extremely rough, as if something was stuck in his throat.
Song Xuyi glanced at the water pouch. It looked new and unused. She hesitated, unsure whether to drink something from a stranger, but the man’s eyes were still fixed on her without blinking. Song Xuyi had no choice. Remembering the man’s apparent obsession with cleanliness, she reluctantly opened the cap and took a sip.
The water pouch contained some medicinal herbs for inducing sleep and preventing cold, making the taste extremely spicy. Song Xuyi almost choked, but after drinking it, a warmth spread from her chest, and she indeed felt a bit better.
Song Xuyi took another sip, then handed the water pouch back to the man. The man lowered his eyes and gave Song Xuyi an indifferent look before turning his head and closing his eyes again.
Song Xuyi silently withdrew her hand.
Given the man’s apparent obsession with cleanliness, he probably didn’t want the water pouch anymore.
“Thank you,” Song Xuyi whispered, thinking that since the man didn’t want the water pouch, she might as well drink all the medicine. She opened the pouch and took a few more sips. Perhaps due to the medicinal effects, Song Xuyi yawned and soon felt sleepy.
“Xuyi,” the system’s voice suddenly sounded hesitant in her mind, “I sense something strange, but I’m not sure. I’m a bit scared…”
“Hmm?” Song Xuyi fought off her drowsiness and responded to the system, “What’s wrong?”
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“Never mind!” The system glanced at Song Xuyi, who was starting to nod off, then looked at the sallow-faced man beside her and sighed, “You should sleep for a while! It’s probably just a sensory error from when I traveled through time and space.”
Otherwise… this isn’t a world where people can change forms at will. How could it sense that this ordinary-looking man is Gu Ruyu?
……
The simple-minded system didn’t know there was a technique in this world called disguise. It just thought to observe this strange, sickly man more closely and planned to tell Song Xuyi about the suspicion the next day when she woke up, advising her to stay as far away from him as possible.
However, things did not go as planned.
The next day, Song Xuyi didn’t wake up for a long time, and the system called out to her several times but got no response.
Seeing Song Xuyi’s flushed cheeks and her curled-up figure, the system instantly understood: Xuyi had fallen ill from getting drenched in the rain!
The man beside her also seemed to notice Song Xuyi’s unusual condition, frowning and glancing at her several times.
“Oh, what should we do now?”
The woman opposite looked at Song Xuyi and couldn’t help but sigh, “This young girl, with her delicate skin, clearly hasn’t suffered much. Yesterday, she came to the carriage depot in such heavy rain, probably because she was fleeing from something… But the outside world is not so easy! Now we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere, and we can only wait until we reach Wangjia Village to find a doctor and buy medicine…”
Saying this, the woman stepped forward, intending to touch Song Xuyi’s forehead. However, the man’s cold stare made her scalp tingle. After hesitating for a long time, remembering the sleeve that had been cut off and left on the ground, she couldn’t help but withdraw her hand, looking at Song Xuyi with sympathy and guilt—
But Song Xuyi was unaware of everything happening inside the carriage.
At this moment, her mind was groggy, and her whole body felt like it was being roasted over a fire, indescribably uncomfortable, while beside her was an iceberg exuding cold air…
At first, Song Xuyi’s subconscious kept reminding her not to get close, but later, she felt so uncomfortable that she couldn’t help but move closer.
Bit by bit… Wearing the woman’s obviously oversized, dull gray clothes, with her nose red, Song Xuyi’s movement looked like a chubby little rabbit—
However, somehow, whenever Song Xuyi got a bit closer, that iceberg would move a bit away…
Feeling increasingly hotter, Song Xuyi couldn’t bear it any longer. Finally, she couldn’t help but stretch out her arms, using both hands and feet to hug that iceberg!
Feeling the coldness emanating from the iceberg, Song Xuyi happily curled her lips and rubbed her face against it contentedly…
“Hiss—”
In the carriage, the woman gasped.
The woman looked at Song Xuyi, who was tightly hugging the man’s arm, then glanced at the man’s lips, which had pressed into a straight line, and the obvious furrows between his brows. She mentally lit a candle, bracing herself for the man to throw Song Xuyi out.
It wasn’t just the woman who thought so; the system was also worried about Song Xuyi’s fate, screaming incessantly in Song Xuyi’s mind, trying to wake her up. However, the groggy Song Xuyi couldn’t hear the system’s voice at all…
The man’s eyes flickered, and he reached out a hand—
Was he going to strangle the young girl’s neck?
The woman clenched her fists, almost unable to bear watching any longer.
However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, although the man looked extremely impatient and did not hide his menacing aura, and even spoke harshly, saying “troublesome,” he clumsily yet gently placed his hand on the young girl’s head…
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What…?!
The woman stared at the man for a long time, and only when she was sure that the man didn’t seem to have any intention of throwing Song Xuyi out did she finally relax.
Maybe she was overthinking it!
The woman glanced at Song Xuyi’s delicate face, which remained beautiful even in deep sleep. The young girl was still sleeping soundly, completely unaware of what was happening around her…
Such a pretty and endearing young girl, unlike an old hag like herself, would naturally be liked by others!
Thinking this, the woman let out a long breath and completely relaxed.
The author has something to say:
Gu Ruyu: I only think that, since she carries the title of a princess, I can’t be too harsh. It’s not because I find her a bit cute like this!!!
Don’t overthink it!!!
LP: Re-translated on August 11, 2024