Blame the Villain – Chapter 12
by Little PandaThe Villainous Film Empress (12)
A little rich girl bent on saving the world X A paranoid, dark, and vengeful Film Empress
Song Xuyi had gone numb.
Every time she saw Zhao Qingyu, she inevitably lost face.
The morning temperature was low. Song Xuyi was bundled up thick, so she wasn’t hurt when she fell — but when Zhao Qingyu pulled her up, suppressing laughter, Song Xuyi’s face flushed red despite herself.
The smile on Zhao Qingyu’s face was truly hateful!
“Xuyi, why are you here?”
Zhao Qingyu was dressed with extreme simplicity — hair pulled back into a ponytail, no makeup, a sporty outfit. After Song Xuyi explained her purpose and Zhao Qingyu heard that Song Xuyi would also be staying in the village for over a month, Zhao Qingyu’s smile grew even more delighted.
“I’ve been here for quite a few days. I was just about to go for a run — do you want to come with me for a lap around the village?” Though she asked, Zhao Qingyu was already pulling Song Xuyi into a run.
The two bodyguards insisted on following alongside, so Song Xuyi ended up running with them in tow. Having been buried in her studies this past year with little time for exercise, she naturally couldn’t keep up with a female star who worked out year-round and professional bodyguards. Before long, Song Xuyi was gasping for air, while the other three looked like nothing had happened.
Song Xuyi soon fell a considerable distance behind. She glanced around, planning to slip back halfway — but Zhao Qingyu stopped, turned, and looked at her with a half-smile, waiting ahead. “Xuyi, hurry over here!”
Song Xuyi grit her teeth and ran reluctantly to Zhao Qingyu’s side.
“Wipe your sweat.”
Zhao Qingyu gazed at the approaching Song Xuyi, whose face was bright red, her own gaze darkening slightly. She pulled a wet wipe from her pocket and tore open the packaging with deliberate care, then lowered her head to gently wipe the sweat from Song Xuyi’s forehead.
— Song Xuyi’s hand, reaching to take the wet wipe, froze in midair.
She hadn’t expected Zhao Qingyu to wipe her sweat for her.
They were too close — close enough that Song Xuyi could feel Zhao Qingyu’s light breath. Zhao Qingyu’s expression seemed utterly focused, her long lashes like butterfly wings, somehow carrying a strange gentleness.
Song Xuyi froze, an inexplicable tension rising in her heart. She pressed her lips together, turned her head slightly, and spoke with a dry throat: “I… I’ll do it myself!”
“Don’t move.” The female villain laughed softly, her voice so quiet that only Song Xuyi could hear. Her tone remained gentle, but the words struck Song Xuyi as utterly wicked: “Are you sure you can do it yourself?”
“A child who needs two parents trailing her just to go for a run…”
Song Xuyi’s eyes went wide.
Before, the female villain had at least pretended. Now… had she abandoned all pretense in front of her?
Even more infuriating — she was the one who caused this mess, yet she had the audacity to turn the tables!
Song Xuyi rounded her eyes, knowing the female villain was deliberately provoking her, yet unable to stop the anger from rising in her chest —
So infuriating!
If not for Zhao Qingyu’s face being so beautiful, she would’ve wanted to punch that hateful expression right off her face!
…
But the female villain seemed completely oblivious to Song Xuyi’s shame and frustration. Seeing the two bodyguards turn to look, she slowly finished wiping Song Xuyi’s forehead, then petted Song Xuyi’s head — wrapped in a hat — like one would a small animal, reverting to her considerate big sister persona as she jogged alongside Song Xuyi.
“Xuyi, you’re going to be a doctor. With this tiny body, how will you ever handle a whole surgery…”
“You need to exercise more…”
Song Xuyi kept her face wooden, ignoring the female villain’s hypocritical nagging. She silently pulled out her small Bluetooth earphones, stuffed them in her ears, and with a chest full of frustration, surged forward with everything she had…
Perhaps because she was angry, Song Xuyi performed exceptionally well, quickly completing a full lap and returning to the courtyard entrance.
After condemning the female villain with the System all the way back, Song Xuyi finally calmed down: This was fine. The female villain had exposed her facade — no need to pretend to be a fan anymore.
Relieved, Song Xuyi was about to enter the courtyard gate when suddenly one of her earphones was pulled off by Zhao Qingyu, who had caught up, still wearing that annoying smile: “What song has you so absorbed? Let me listen too…”
She didn’t finish saying “listen.” Upon hearing the ancient bells and wooden fish sounds of the Heart Sutra1 from the earphones, the smile on Zhao Qingyu’s face froze. A rare awkwardness appeared in her expression.
She turned her gaze toward Song Xuyi. Song Xuyi pursed her lips and glared at her, her entire face clearly writing: I’m angry.
“You…” Zhao Qingyu laughed despite herself —
She laughed more freely than ever before, until tears streamed from her eyes, until Song Xuyi’s look shifted from condemnation to confusion…
She must think I’m crazy, right?
Zhao Qingyu said nothing more. She slowly placed the earphone back into Song Xuyi’s hand, then suddenly, gently, embraced Song Xuyi.
“Xuyi, you’re truly adorable.”
Adorable like a persistent, innocent child, making me want to draw closer, yet fearing I might taint you.
The female villain was absolutely detestable!
Song Xuyi felt that coming here had been a mistake.
She was like a pitiful rabbit, confused and dizzy, hopping right into the gray wolf’s territory. With Zhao Qingyu here, Song Xuyi could practically guarantee that the coming days would be extraordinarily ‘colorful.’
Sure enough, that evening, a text from Zhao Qingyu arrived on Song Xuyi’s phone.
“You need to exercise! Let’s run together tomorrow morning at seven!”
Song Xuyi pursed her lips, not wanting to respond — but another text arrived immediately.
“I’ll wait for you downstairs on time. If you oversleep, no worries — I’ll come upstairs to get you ^_^”
Song Xuyi read Zhao Qingyu’s subtext: Don’t even think about escaping.
This was a naked threat!
Song Xuyi grit her back teeth hard. But she knew the female villain’s character all too well — if she said it, she’d do it. So she reluctantly set her alarm for 6:30 the next morning.
Song Xuyi tossed and turned all night, prepared to be tormented by the female villain while running — but to her surprise, Zhao Qingyu didn’t deliberately tease her during their run afterward. She seemed to have returned to that seemingly gentle and kind Zhao Qingyu who kept everyone at arm’s length.
A villain’s heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea2.
Song Xuyi didn’t want to guess at the reason for Zhao Qingyu’s change. At least Zhao Qingyu wasn’t teasing her anymore — Song Xuyi was happy to be left alone.
Besides her morning runs with Zhao Qingyu, Song Xuyi spent the rest of her days following the old master on house-to-house free medical consultations. She also figured out why Zhao Qingyu had come here.
Zhao Qingyu’s visit was related to her next project: her previous two roles had been in films, but recently she wanted to challenge herself with a television series, so she’d accepted a drama about Emperor Su Qing’s early years.
A legendary figure like Emperor Su Qing was naturally popular material for adaptations — countless films and shows about her had appeared in recent decades. To put new wine in an old bottle, to bring fresh perspective to a story everyone already knew by heart, was extremely difficult. One wrong move and the whole thing would become a laughingstock nationwide.
For the currently popular Zhao Qingyu, this wasn’t a wise choice — no wonder she hadn’t announced her itinerary or gone public.
And this trip included not just Zhao Qingyu, but the director and investors for this project as well. They planned to build sets in this mountain village and film the first half of the series here.
No wonder the town mayor had taken Zhao Qingyu’s group so seriously.
Once the project was finalized, even after the crew left, the actual buildings they constructed would remain. Add in that this village was Emperor Su Qing’s hometown, plus the natural scenery and local cuisine, and it could develop into a tourist destination.
Zhao Qingyu’s group had already been here nearly ten days. The investors, having stayed a few days, had been full of praise and had already signed contracts with the town to build sets, with plans for a small-scale Film City.
Yet despite her confidence in Zhao Qingyu’s script-selection judgment, Song Xuyi still had questions. She felt Zhao Qingyu had chosen this project for reasons beyond the obvious — but present-day Zhao Qingyu had reactivated her hypocrite mode, and Song Xuyi couldn’t get anything out of her. Still, from Zhao Qingyu’s daily routine of leaving early and returning late, it was clear: she was deeply invested in this project.
Song Xuyi stopped asking. Ultimately, this was a good thing for the local people.
Days passed one by one.
Soon, Song Xuyi had been here for half a month.
Song Xuyi had tanned a little. The villagers had affectionately started calling her ‘Little Song’ the doctor. Though she no longer did daily check-ins with Zhao Qingyu, Song Xuyi still saw her every day for their morning run.
Most young people from this area had gone elsewhere for work; the village was mostly left with the elderly, women, and children. Though they knew Zhao Qingyu was a big star, likely because they’d never seen her films, they had no particular concept of her profession. Zhao Qingyu lived quite comfortably here — and Song Xuyi discovered something surprising: Zhao Qingyu could actually understand the local dialect, and could even sing the regional folk songs quite authentically.
Song Xuyi was stunned when she heard Zhao Qingyu singing folk songs during their run. She knew Zhao Qingyu was dedicated — always using her own voice in films — but she hadn’t expected her to learn the local folk songs so well.
Song Xuyi wasn’t the only one surprised. An elderly grandmother in a nearby vegetable garden squinted at the singing Zhao Qingyu, seemingly in disbelief, and said something. Song Xuyi couldn’t understand what she said, but Zhao Qingyu lowered her head, and after a long moment, shook her head at the grandmother.
“What did she ask?”
Zhao Qingyu glanced at Song Xuyi and smiled, her expression casual: “She asked if you were my younger sister.”
Song Xuyi frowned, feeling Zhao Qingyu was deflecting — but Zhao Qingyu’s mood seemed somewhat low, so Song Xuyi wisely didn’t press further.
A few days later, the second batch of supplies donated by Song Xuyi’s parents arrived at the village. Song Xuyi didn’t follow the old master on consultations that day; she went with the two bodyguards on a guide’s tractor to bring the supplies in.
No one expected that halfway through the journey, a sudden storm with hail would strike, and the temperature dropped by nearly 20 degrees Celsius. Fortunately, among the supplies Song’s parents had donated were down jackets — the group put them on and finally warmed up.
Because of the rain, darkness fell early. By the time they returned to the village, the sky was already dim.
The ground floor was in chaos — many people had caught cold from the sudden foul weather, and numerous people had come to ask the old master to see them. Song Xuyi had just soaked in a hot bath and was lying under two blankets, finally recovering, when suddenly she heard a startled cry from next door. She couldn’t understand the local dialect well, but she clearly heard the word ‘Qingyu’ among it. Her heart seized:
Zhao Qingyu hadn’t come back!
The author has something to say:
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Rubbing hands together, starry-eyed: My lovelies, surely you’re considering sending a few bottles your author’s way? (*^__^*)
Footnotes
- The Heart Sutra (Xīnjīng) is one of the most important Buddhist scriptures, often chanted or played as audio for meditation, blessing, or protection. The 'wooden fish' (mùyú) is a hollow percussion instrument used in Buddhist ritual to keep rhythm during chanting.
- A twist on the Chinese idiom 'a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea' (nǚrén xīn, hǎidǐ zhēn), meaning someone's thoughts are impossible to fathom. Here, 'villain' replaces 'woman,' suggesting Zhao Qingyu's motives remain inscrutable.
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