How To Survive as a Villain

Yang LiuAn rushed forward as fast as an arrow, hugging Xiao Fengyue, and shouted several times. His eyes were so red that bloody tears could come out.

But Xiao Fengyue had stopped breathing and a pulse couldn’t be felt.

Xiao YuAn quickly took Xiao Fengyue from Yang LiuAn’s arms, which were about to collapse, and laid him flat on the ground. Without a word, he made a set of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

After three CPR cycles, Xiao Fengyue’s throat made a muffled sound, suddenly coughed, and slowly opened his eyes.

Xiao YuAn sat directly with his buttocks on the ground for a long time but didn’t feel relaxed.

SON OF A BITCH1!!

Fortunately, in order to become a Tyrannical President and to deal with the situation if his beloved were to drown at any time, his father made him learn first aid.

And by fortune, that time he studied really hard. Unlike the Tyrannical President next door who didn’t learn anything for a long time. When he was in real trouble, he almost broke the ribs of his true love when doing chest compressions.

When Xiao Fengyue opened his eyes, after trying for a while, he discovered that he was unable to speak because of his neck injury. When he saw Yang LiuAn, a line of tears fell from his eyes while he sobbed.

Yang LiuAn held his hand tightly, his voice choked and trembled: “Why…why would you do something like this…”

Xiao YuAn couldn’t look at this anymore. He stepped forward and pushed Yang LiuAn to make him hold Xiao Fengyue into his arms.

Why the hell2 are you still asking! Hold him!!

The miserable couple hugged each other and sobbed. Xiao YuAn, who was distressed, wiped the cold sweat that was provoked by the scare he just experienced. After that, he stood up at the side of the table.

Yang LiuAn let go of Xiao Fengyue and knelt down to Xiao YuAn again. Xiao YuAn shouted: “Don’t kneel! You have to take him to bed first, and then bring him a cup of hot water.” Yang LiuAn stared at Xiao YuAn in an incredulous daze, feeling that he may have heard him wrong.

Xiao YuAn gently touched his forehead and smiled: “What are you waiting for?”

Yang LiuAn, regardless of the consequences, hugged Xiao Fengyue and gently put him onto the bed, gave him a quilt and poured hot water inside a porcelain cup for him.

Xiao YuAn felt the pulse of Xiao Fengyue. Only after making sure that there was no problem, did he take a long relieving breath.

This was also a great blessing.

Seeing that Yang LiuAn was helping Xiao Fengyue drink the hot water, Xiao YuAn said to Xiao Fengyue: “I will ask you some questions, and I know you can’t speak right now so just nod your head for yes and shake it for no. The first question, is there someone inside the Jing Yang Palace that is aware of your relationship with Yang LiuAn?”

Xiao Fengyue’s eyes were sorrowful, and he nodded his head.

“Then, did this person threaten you with Yang LiuAn, and obligate you to harm Yan HeQing?”

Xiao Fengyue nodded again. Yang LiuAn breathed heavily, he was very upset.

“Did you hear?” Xiao YuAn jokingly pushed Yang LiuAn with his elbow.

“Your Majesty…”

“He was trying to protect you. That’s why he participated in this bad plan, he didn’t change his love3.” Xiao YuAn explained for Xiao Fengyue.

Yang LiuAn knelt down heavily: “Your Majesty, this is all my fault. If you want to punish someone, you can punish me alone!!”

Why are you kneeling again? Are you addicted to kneeling!

Xiao Fengyue heard this and shook his head repeatedly, struggling to get out of bed he was trying to kneel besides Yang LiuAn.

“Alright, alright!” Xiao YuAn hurriedly pressed Xiao Fengyue back to bed. “The both of you will be punished, no one can run away from it.”

He had expected that this would be the case, so Yang LiuAn stopped apologising, leaned down, and bowed again.

“You, and you.” Xiao YuAn’s face was solemn. He pointed his finger for a little bit towards Yang LiuAn and then did the same to Xiao Fengyue: “The both of you are fired. Fired!”

Yang LiuAn raised his head in astonishment: “Ah…?”

Xiao YuAn hummed: “Ah, whatever, I’ll send both of you out of the palace.”

Yang LiuAn, who for a while didn’t understand whether they were being punished or rewarded, didn’t know how to respond.

“LiuAn, go to the Taiyi Palace first to get some medicine to treat strangulation. Take some more for later, then go and pack up clothes, money and other valuable things; it doesn’t matter. Then you’ll go to find a carriage, take Xiao Fengyue with you at night, and wait for me at the East gate of the Imperial City.” Xiao YuAn explained.

Yang LiuAn reacted all of a sudden and he almost fainted from happiness: “Emperor…Your Majesty? I…but I…”

Xiao YuAn smiled and said: “Alright, alright, go ahead and quickly prepare everything. Time is running out.”

After coming out of Xiao Fengyue’s wing room, Xiao YuAn ran to Yan HeQing and explained the cause and effects4 of the incident to him.

Yan HeQing was silent for a while, then, he asked: “How are you going to deal with them?”

Xiao YuAn had an overflowing smiling expression. He picked up some grapes from the fruit tray on top of the table and sent them to his mouth: “There’s an old saying from my last life: I would rather destroy ten temples then to ruin a marriage5. So today, I still can be called Cupid-Xiao.”

The night was quiet, and the lights from the lamps were everywhere. Slowly, a carriage was driving out of the Imperial City. The Imperial Guards guarding the gate immediately stopped it. When the curtain was lifted, they saw that the Emperor was sitting inside. Through the faint curtain, the Imperial Guard could also see that there was a man sitting besides the Emperor holding a Guqin.

Xiao YuAn said: “Don’t worry, we’ll go out for a stroll and we’ll be back in a while.”

The Imperial Guards naturally didn’t dare to stop him any more. The carriage passed through the heavy and big vermilion wall. The wheels ran over the ground leaving traces in the snow, leaving behind only the sound of the horse’s hooves clattering,

When there was no one around, the carriage stopped. The driver took off the bamboo hat, jumped out of the carriage and went to open its door. Xiao YuAn stepped out of the carriage. While pointing out towards a box inside the carriage, he said to Yang LiuAn: “It’s full of money. You will take Xiao Fengyue with you and go all the way to the East, there’s a place called Taoyuan Village at the junction of the four countries. If you settle your home down there, and sell tea or salt, you will soon become rich enough to support your family.”

Yang LiuAn burst into tears and knelt down to salute him: “Your Majesty’s great kindness, Yang LiuAn has no way of repaying it. In my next life, I’m willing to repay it with my own life.”

Xiao YuAn smiled and murmured softly: “No, you’ve already paid me with your life in your last life. By the way, LiuAn, I have something to ask from you. On the second day of February from next year, please come back and wait for a message at the post station outside the Imperial Palace. If you don’t get any messages by February 15th, then you can go back. Whatever happens in the Northern Kingdom, don’t worry about it. Live a good life, don’t think about the Northern Kingdom ever again.”

Yang LiuAn nodded heavily: “Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I will keep it in mind.”

“Then go.”

Yang LiuAn and Xiao Fengyue bowed down to Xiao YuAn deeply, then they disappeared into the boundless night while driving the carriage.

Xiao YuAn returned to the Imperial City with a lantern in his hand. He passed by the gate and the Imperial Guards guarding it were shocked and frightened: “Your Majesty? Why did you come back alone, where’s your carriage?”

Xiao YuAn smiled and answered: “I’ve exchanged it.”

“Exchanged???”

“Yes, I’ve exchanged it for two genuine hearts.” With that, Xiao YuAn left humming a tone, completely ignoring the surprise on the Imperial Guards’ faces.

On this snowy night, the ground was covered with white frost. The cool moonlight fell on the Palace, making it look completely covered in white, even in the lighting. Xiao YuAn walked a few steps and saw a man standing in front of him. He had been waiting for such a long time that there was a little bit of snow on top of his shoulders.

Xiao YuAn was slightly surprised, he walked over a few steps: “Were you waiting for me?”

Yan HeQing’s dark eyes looked at him and nodded slowly.

Xiao YuAn walked side by side with him and asked strangely: “There’s Imperial Guards everywhere, why didn’t you get caught?”

Yan HeQing replied: “I avoid them.”

Xiao YuAn suddenly groaned and turned to look at Yan HeQing: “Oh no, I forgot to ask Xiao Fengyue who’s the one that wanted to hurt you.”

Yan HeQing said; “It doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter!” Xiao YuAn was distressed. “This isn’t the end, who knows what other things that person will do next. Although I can let Hong Xiu investigate it and she can surely find the behind the scenes within three days; but, what if she does find that person and there’s someone else plotting to hurt you too…”

Xiao YuAn mumbled to himself for a while, then he bowed his head and thought hard for quite some time. Then, he suddenly snapped his fingers and said to Yan HeQing: “I have a way that will end it once and for all!”

Footnotes:

Footnotes

MMP; it’s a curse, a forbidden word in Sichuan dialect, something like: “Your mother is a bitch”. Which equals to “Son of bitch”.“还问个P啊！抱他啊！！” The P here stands for 屁, which means ‘fart’ or in this case a vulgar way of saying ‘nonsense/rubbish’.移情别恋 yí qíng bié liàn; It’s a Chinese idiom, it refers to someone that change their feelings to another love / To fall in love with somebody else / To turn the back on one lover and go with another.前因后果 qián yīn hòu guǒ; It’s a Chinese idiom, it refers to the entire process of a development / The beginning and the end of a matter / The sequence of events. From 《南齐书·高逸传论》(nán qí shū·gāo yì zhuàn lùn), “History of the Southern Qi Dynasty: The biography of Gao Yi”. A compilation by (萧子显 xiāo zǐ xiǎn) Xiao Zixian [487-537 AC], a writer and historian from the Qi Dynasty [479-502 AC] and Southern Liang Dynasty [502–557 AC].宁拆十座庙, 不毁一桩婚 níng chāi shí zuò miào, bù huǐ yī zhuāng hūn; It’s a Chinese proverb, as sacrilegious that it would be to destroy a Buddhist temple, it’s even more unpardonable to break up a marriage. The original intention of this sentence is to advise people to not provoke the feelings between others. It should be noted that it’s always a lot of hardship to cultivate a positive relationship, and it’s really a crime to break up the feelings of others due to the intervention of outsiders and the dissolution of a marriage.