How To Survive as a Villain-Chapter 55: I Must Have Helped the Wrong Way.

In the bustling lively street market, the four people looked at each other and the atmosphere around them became very strange and delicate.

Xiao YuAn coughed softly and decided to be the one to break the silence: “Ning-er, why did you come out of the Palace without an Imperial bodyguard?”

“That doesn’t matter, PingYang will protect me.” Princess Yongning gave a bewitching smile.

WTF?1 When did the female lead and the second female lead establish a revolutionary friendship, is this the first step of harmony for the future male lead harem?!

And if you want to feel protected, you must find Yan HeQing for that, okay!!!

Wait, this also seems to be the historic face-to-face meeting between the male lead and the female lead!!

Xiao YuAn took a deep breath, turned his head to look at Yan HeQing, and then looked back at Princess Yongning. He then retreated quietly, trying to make room for the both of them,

As soon as he retreated this way, he squeezed himself at Xiao PingYang’s side. Xiao PingYang was inexplicably pushed away by him, so she could only stand aside.

Yan HeQing saw every single move that Xiao YuAn just made. He frowned slightly and looked at Xiao PingYang unwillingly.

Xiao YuAn stared back at Yan HeQing and thought: Yan-ge, Yan-ge, did you just start to regret giving me the jade hairpin? Nevermind, I… wait why are you…

Why are you looking at the second female!!!

You’ll have your lifespan shortened2! The aura of the female lead can’t hold down the second female!

Xiao YuAn’s heart feel tangled for three seconds, but still, he decided to stand as the official matchmaker for the first couple. He turned his head towards Princess Yongning and asked her: “Ning-er, where were you planning to go?”

Princess Yongning replied: “I heard that there’s lanterns by the river! I’ve planned to take PingYang with me to look at them.”

Xiao YuAn nodded his head and his mind started to scheme. He then looked at Yan HeQing and said: “You will accompany Princess Yongning to the river first, I have something to discuss with the embassy of the Western Shu Kingdom.” After that, he added, “Protect her.”

Let’s give the male lead and the female lead some time alone!!! Xiao YuAn doesn’t believe that they won’t have any spark!!! And the heavens will surely help, for example, a little cannon fodder suddenly appears, and ignoring the breath of death he’ll make a move on Princess Yongning flirting with her, and then, the handsome protagonist, Yan HeQing, will save her!

Ah, the fucking dog blood3!

But it can’t be denied that these types of cliche moments are useful!! They work! They’re extremely beneficial

Xiao YuAn looked at Yan HeQing, but unexpectedly he didn’t see his face in full bloom. On the contrary, Yan HeQing’s face wasn’t looking good, his eyes were very dark and gloomy. He replied coldly: “At your Imperial Majesty’s command.”

Alright, pretending to be cool is also a good way of flirting with women. Xiao YuAn believes that he can still understand Yan HeQing’s thoughts.

Princess Yongning reluctantly glanced at Xiao PingYang and said to Xiao YuAn: “In that case, Imperial… cough, gege, come to the riverside as soon as you finish talking. At this time, don’t talk about business and let’s have a happy time instead.”

Xiao YuAn nodded his head and watched as the male lead and female lead quietly left away. He had quite a sense of matchmaking accomplishment, and just when he was feeling very complacent with himself, the confused voice of Xiao PingYang came from beside him: “Emperor of the Northern Kingdom, what do you want to discuss about?”

Oops, he forgot that she was still present.

Xiao YuAn was slightly embarrassed, he turned around and tried to find a topic to talk about: “Well… do you like sweets? There’s some people here that sell sweets, do you want them? Do you want me to buy you some?”

Xiao PingYang: “…Does Yongning like to eat sweets?”

Xiao YuAn: “……”

No, what kind of situation is this? Don’t you know that by knowing the enemy and yourself will get you unscathed through a hundred battles4?

“Ning’er doesn’t like sweets.”

Xiao PingYang nodded lost in thought: “Oh, then I don’t like it either.”

Xiao YuAn: “……”

Even though she realized that Xiao YuAn had nothing to actually speak with her, Xiao PingYang still behaved with indifference and didn’t ask him why, instead, she suddenly said: “Monarch of the Northern Kingdom, can I forget about our identities and talk with you freely?”

Xiao YuAn suddenly paused, and with a smile on his face he answered: “Of course you can.”

Xiao PingYang glanced at him and looked right into his eyes, then, she said: “I suddenly feel that you’re pretty much like a brother to me.”

“Huh? Why’s that?”

“The way you talk, your behaviour, and the most important thing, your eyes are very similar. I just spoke casually, I hope the Monarch of the Northern Kingdom won’t mind it.”

“No, I don’t mind.”

Xiao PingYang looked at Xiao YuAn and murmured something that sounded like ‘they’re both very similar’. Then she said: “Does the Monarch of the Northern Kingdom believe in destiny?”

This change of topic was a bit too sudden.

Xiao YuAn shook his head and said: “I don’t believe in it.”

He’s indeed a socialist successor! Of course he only believes in materialism.

Xiao PingYang added: “Is that so? Then, do you think that your life choices should be decided by yourself instead of just wanting for the death to arrive?”

Xiao YuAn felt that behind these questions, there were some traps waiting for him to jump right towards them, and after he thought about it, he answered her: “Yes.”

“Um.” Xiao PingYang pretended to be casual and said: “I hope that one day in the future, Yongning will also be able to make her life choices by herself, rather than someone else choosing for her instead.”

Why can’t you stop mentioning the female lead every three sentences!!

After the beginning of this last topic, Xiao YuAn slowly fell into a trance.

Because he remembered the cause of death of Princess Yongning in the original book.

In the original book, Wuning Wangye’s plan for rebellion was exposed, and Yan HeQing was implicated. The Emperor of the Northern Kingdom made up his mind to kill Yan HeQing once and for all. He put Yan HeQing in prison, and sent someone to severely torture him. Princess Yongning couldn’t bear this and helped Yan HeQing escape from the Palace; but the Emperor of the Northern Kingdom didn’t punish her for this because he loved her dearly.

Three months later, Yan HeQing led his army to break through the Northern Kingdom.

When Yan HeQing captured the Emperor of the Northern Kingdom right in front of the Palace’s gates, he vented his hatred on him by torturing him to death. Princess Yongning hanged herself with a three-foot long white silk at the Yongning Palace.

Princess Yonging didn’t leave any word behind for Yan HeQing, only shame for the Northern Kingdom.

Princess Yongning died, and she didn’t express her thoughts for Yan HeQing even until her death. No one knows whether she loved or hated Yan HeQing at the last moment in her life, or both, or neither.

What she left behind for Yan HeQing was just a cold body and a lifetime of regret and pain.

But, if he had the chance to go back in time, would Yan HeQing choose not to break through the Northern Kingdom?

Xiao YuAn doesn’t think so, because Yan HeQing was not only burdened by this hatred, but also he had to think of his Southern Yan Kingdom and the thousand soldiers that put their lives in his hands.

He can’t believe in fate, but he can choose by himself. But why is this book full of cruel words written with blood everywhere?

In the street market, Xiao YuAn raised his eyes in a daze, and a playful child passed him by. The peddler was shouting, the candlelights were dazzlingly shining, and the passers-by were talking loudly, all of this felt unreal.

“Monarch? Monarch of the Northern Kingdom?” Xiao PingYang called Xiao YuAn trying to bring him back to reality.

“Ah…” Xiao YuAn touched his cheek uncomfortably. “My mind was somewhere else, forget it. Let’s go to the riverside.”

At the riverside, women and children were laughing and talking, and the lanterns were accumulated at the middle of the river. They were slowly swimming down the river, it looked like the stars were floating in the water.

Both of them found Yan HeQing and Princess Yongning. Princess Yongning was sitting by the river, making a wish to a lantern. When they saw them, she stood up happily and pulled Xiao PingYang to her side: “PingYang, come quickly, let’s send the lanterns together.”

Xiao YuAn walked towards Yan HeQing and asked him: “Did something happen just now?”

Yan HeQing replied to him in a cold way: “Nothing happened.”

Ah? Heavens, where’s your helping hand?

Sensing a faint displeasure coming from Yan HeQing, Xiao YuAn asked him strangely: “What’s the matter with you?”

Yan HeQing restrained himself, and shook his head.

Princess Yongning and Xiao PingYang finished putting together the lanterns. She jumped over a few times while holding her skirt, smiled lovingly at Xiao YuAn and said: “Gege, we’ve already finished with the lanterns, we’re ready to go back to the Palace.”

Xiao YuAn said: “Huh? So early, Then let’s go back together…”

“No, you and your Imperial bodyguard will go around the street market to shop a little bit more. We will go back by ourselves.” Princess Yongning didn’t give Xiao YuAn any chance to reply. Her eyes were brightly shining, and with a smile, she took Xiao PingYang’s hand tightly and led her towards the crowd. Soon enough, they both disappeared into the masses.

“Wait…” Xiao YuAn stretched out his hand and helplessly said: “That’s not the way back to the Palace…”

Footnotes:

Footnotes

卧槽 wò cáo; It’s a Chinese internet slang, because it sounds like 我操 wǒ cāo (Fuck you / Fucking). It began to be used this way because of the Chinese censorship of some curse words, these would be seen as ****, so people started to get imaginative and started using other words to express these curse words online. It can either mean “Fuck”, “What the fuck?”, “Shit”, or in context mean “Awesome” or express someone’s feeling of surprise or frustration.折寿 zhé shòu; It’s a Chinese word that refers to the superstitious belief that too much favor or too much happiness will damage the natural lifespan, ending up reducing it. It comes from 《警世通言·王安石三难苏学士》(jǐngshì tōng yán·wáng’ānshí sān nán sū xuéshì), “Alarming the World: The Third Volume. Wang Anshi the Bachelor” written by (冯梦龙 féng mèng lóng) Feng Menglong [1574-1646] a late Ming dynasty novelist.狗血 gǒu xiě; Dog Blood is a popular internet slang word, it’s used to refer to the cliche tv-series plots, the frequently occurring and similar plots, poor imitations, or very exaggerated and fake performances.知彼知己百战不殆 zhī bǐ zhī jǐ bǎi zhàn bù dài; It’s a Chinese idiom, means that if we have a thorough understanding of both the enemy’s situation and our own, we will not fail in battle. From 《孙子兵法·谋攻篇》(sūn zǐ bīng fǎ-móu gōng piān), “The Art of War: Plot to Attack” by (孙子 sūn zǐ) Sun Tzu [544-496 BC] a general, strategist and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period [700-475 BC].