The Protagonist and the Villain Both Kissed Me [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 53.1

Pulling open the wardrobe, Su Xi fell into a deep contemplation as he stared at the rack of gaudy shirts. He rummaged through them for a long time before finally finding a few “normal” pieces of clothing that were easy on the eye.

“The difference between being loved and not loved is quite obvious,” he sighed almost inaudibly, silently mourning for the deceased Shen Chengzhou for three seconds.

The original host had always loved these bright, flamboyant colors especially burgundy and violet. But to attract Shen Chengzhou and be with him, he’d been forced to adopt a “pure white flower” persona, switching to a pale color palette.

However, no matter how much he tried to cover his reputation, his complete background profile had already been placed on the man’s desk long before he even designed a way to get close to Shen Chengzhou.

Once he realized the cat was out of the bag, he simply stopped pretending. Instead, he chose to drape himself in pure-looking clothes while seductively throwing himself at the man. As it turned out, older men really did love this “pure yet sultry” combination; Shen Chengzhou began to obsess over him uncontrollably.

Now that the man had died in a car accident, the original host had brought back his favorite clothes. If Su Xi hadn’t transmigrated here yesterday, the original host likely wouldn’t have shed a single tear.

“Host, maybe you should change into something else. Otherwise, the main system might flag you for being OOC (Out of Character),” System 1368 reminded him worriedly, watching Su Xi put on a emerald-green traditional jacket.

“My husband just died; dressing too flamboyantly would be the real character break. After all, I went to great lengths to marry into the Shen family. If I dress like that, who knows how that kid who hates me will use it against me to kick me out the door,” Su Xi explained calmly while fluidly tying the garment’s toggles.

In the dining room downstairs, a long table capable of seating twelve was already spread with a feast.

Su Xi felt it was necessary to act heartbroken. He walked to his chair as if he had lost his soul. He allowed Ji Zhuo to pull out the chair for him and sat down. Looking at the variety of breakfast items, he used his sheer willpower to force himself to silently sip the seafood porridge.

“Madam, is today’s breakfast not to your liking?” Ji Zhuo, standing to the side, noticed Su Xi’s abnormality and signaled for the servant carrying the tray to leave first.

Su Xi swallowed a mouthful of porridge and looked up at the empty seat across from him. He asked softly, “Where is Shen Jingye?”

“The Young Master is meeting with Lawyer Ding today,” Ji Zhuo replied succinctly.

With Shen Chengzhou gone, his assets would naturally be inherited by his son. However, according to Lawyer Ding, the situation was complicated. Shen Chengzhou had left letters containing many contradictory clauses; at present, it was uncertain who would actually take over the inheritance.

And those who could inherit, besides his son, naturally included only his nominal wife.

“I see.” After hearing Ji Zhuo’s words, Su Xi lost his appetite completely. He had only finished a third of the porridge. He set down the spoon and stood up to head upstairs, only to be stopped by Ji Zhuo. “Is something wrong?”

Ji Zhuo shook his head slightly. He took the soft handkerchief pinned to his chest and brought it toward Su Xi’s lips, moving as if to wipe them. “Your mouth is stained, Madam. Let me wipe it for you.”

For a butler to perform such an action was undeniably ambiguous. However, Su Xi’s mind was entirely on Shen Jingye meeting the lawyer, so he didn’t notice the impropriety—until a loud crash echoed through the silent space.

Turning toward the sound, he saw Shen Jingye, whom Ji Zhuo had claimed was out. He had kicked aside the nearest table and, fuming with rage, shoved Ji Zhuo aside. He grabbed Su Xi by the collar and raised his hand, delivering a sharp slap.

The crisp sound of the slap stunned everyone present.

The busy servants all lowered their heads, not daring to look.

Su Xi’s ears rang from the impact. Shen Jingye hadn’t held back at all; his cheek burned with a stinging pain. He looked up at the youth, his voice slightly raspy. “What is the meaning of this, Young Master?”

“What do I mean? My father has only just… and you’re already hooking up with people. You slut.” Shen Jingye let go and stepped back, wiping his hands with a tissue in disgust. His gaze landed on Ji Zhuo, who was about to step forward, and he spat: “Adulterers.”

Without looking back, he stormed out of the house.

“Madam, are you alright?” Ji Zhuo’s brow was furrowed. He clearly hadn’t expected Shen Jingye to strike him so openly. He carefully reached out to touch the reddened cheek; the vivid finger marks were clearly visible on the jade-like skin.

It was obvious significant force had been used.

“I’m fine.” Su Xi shook his head and lowered his eyelashes, hiding the swirling emotions in his eyes. He bit his lip and looked at the servants who were pretending to be busy, his voice deepening: “You saw nothing today. Do you understand?”

Not a soul dared to disagree; they all nodded in response.

Ji Zhuo brought a first-aid kit to apply medicine. Su Xi sat obediently by the table, letting him apply the ointment, only letting out a soft gasp when the pain became unbearable.

“Madam, the Young Master…” Before Ji Zhuo could finish, he was interrupted by a cold voice.

Su Xi pressed down on the man’s wrist and looked him in the eye. “He is young and doesn’t know better, which is why he misunderstood our relationship. You’ve been in the Shen family for so long; you should know which things can be said and which cannot.”

“I understand.” Ji Zhuo glanced at Su Xi before withdrawing his gaze to continue applying the medicine. If rumors of discord between the master’s son and his wife spread, it would surely cause an uproar.

But he wanted to say that Shen Jingye had gone too far. Regardless, Su Xi was still Mr. Shen’s wife and Shen Jingye’s stepmother. Furthermore, no one knew better than he how much Mr. Shen had once adored Su Xi.

He had wanted to hold him in the palm of his hand for fear he might fall.

After the medicine was applied, Su Xi had no desire to go out. Who am I kidding? How can I go out looking like this? If he were spotted by someone with an agenda, he’d likely be the headline on tomorrow’s news.

He went up to the fourth floor and headed to Shen Chengzhou’s study. The door, which looked more high-end than others, was equipped with a fingerprint lock. Driven by curiosity, Su Xi gave it a try to his surprise, his fingerprint opened the door, showing a green “Passed” signal.

Shen Chengzhou loved him so much he even let him into such an important place as the study.

“What a waste. He loved me, but I only loved his money,” Su Xi told System Xiao Ba with a hint of regret. “Why couldn’t Shen Chengzhou be the villain? That way, I wouldn’t have to work on favorability; I could just act like a complete brat.”

“Host, stay calm. The dead cannot return to life. Do you really want to love a cold ghost?” System 1368, seeing Su Xi’s genuine regret, couldn’t help but add: “If he really were the target, wouldn’t you be scared to tears?”

If the system remembered correctly, Su Xi’s profile clearly stated he was afraid of ghosts.

“…I was just speaking off the cuff. Don’t take it seriously.” Su Xi couldn’t imagine being haunted by a ghost; it was too creepy. He pulled a book from the shelf. The ancient cover featured embossed patterns and felt very textured. Upon opening it, it was all in French , he couldn’t understand a word.

Just as he was about to close it and put it back, a card fell out. He picked it up and saw two sentences written in fountain pen:

My life is just a gentle madness, with a sea in my eyes, but I refuse to go blue.

Su Xi didn’t know the exact intent behind the quote, only that it was a piece of Romantic poetry. However, the handwriting clearly wasn’t his; it likely belonged to the master of the study.

“The old man was quite the romantic?” Su Xi chuckled softly, tucked the card back into the book, and returned it to the shelf. He sat down on a nearby armchair, crossed his legs, and began to flip through a leather-bound notebook on the desk.

“Host, why are you looking at these things?” System 1368 was confused. One moment Su Xi said he was joking about wishing the dead man was the target, and the next he was rummaging through the study.

Su Xi murmured the words from the notebook as if reading a storybook. After finishing the last line, he spoke unhurriedly: “I’m bored since I can’t go out. I might as well find something to do. Besides, I’m quite interested in wealthy family gossip. An old, successful man like Shen Chengzhou must have had some romantic affairs in the past. I’m curious.”

He spoke nonchalantly, but his eyes caught some unfamiliar handwriting on an unfolded letter. He teased: “Here we go. Who wrote him this love letter? ‘Mr. Shen, I have admired you for a long time. I wonder if you like beautiful canaries? My body is soft, I have great flexibility and many positions…’ What on earth? This is written way too explicitly. Someone was really in a hurry to climb into his bed.”

“Actually… Host, you wrote that.”

System 1368 spoke hesitantly, sounding awkward.

The smile on Su Xi’s lips froze. Time seemed to stand still for a moment. He let out a small “Ah,” then feigned calmness as he changed the subject: “Oh. Well, it’s the truth. But what kind of hobby does Shen Chengzhou have to keep even this? Pervert.”

Shen Chengzhou, who had died mysteriously, was now getting blamed from beyond the grave.

Su Xi hurriedly put down the letter and decided to leave the study first, lest he flip through something even more explosive. He really didn’t want to see that stuff.

At noon, he didn’t go to the dining room but had a servant bring his meal up. Being stared at while eating by so many people in the dining room made him feel as if he were the one being consumed. The tray contained very light dishes: stir-fried seasonal vegetables, steamed egg custard, stir-fried shrimp with lettuce, and a bowl of mushroom and tofu soup.

As he chewed, he gradually fell into thought.

He felt that Shen Chengzhou’s departure was very suspicious. If it wasn’t the system’s arrangement, the death looked more like a long-premeditated plan.

“Xiao Ba, my face hurts so much. Where’s the pain suppression? Is it turned up to the max?” Because he chewed the shrimp too hard, his cheek twitched, causing Su Xi intense pain.

“It’s at 60%. Current permissions only allow it to go that high. Host, if it still hurts, do you want to take some painkillers?”

System 1368 had followed Su Xi through two worlds and knew he was very afraid of pain though he could still be ruthless to himself when necessary. Truly, you can’t judge a book by its cover.

“Adults must take responsibility for their actions. I’ll pay Shen Jingye back for this slap sooner or later.” Su Xi’s eyes darkened as he licked the corner of his split lip.

He wasn’t the type to take a hit without hitting back; he hadn’t acted today only because the time wasn’t right and there were too many people around.

After lunch, he went to bed to rest.

He slept fitfully until the middle of the night, when he was woken by hunger. Su Xi propped himself up to climb out of bed, only to suddenly meet a pair of pitch-black eyes glowing with an eerie light in the darkness. He let out a cry of shock and instinctively grabbed a nearby pillow and threw it.

When he looked again, there was no one there.

Those eyes seemed like a hallucination born of his drowsiness.

“Am I still dreaming?” Su Xi’s brow furrowed. He reached out and pinched his arm; he didn’t use much force, but he still felt the pain.

This isn’t a dream. His pupils shrank. He gripped his blanket tightly and buried his head inside, not daring to make a sound.

In the dark, when sight is stripped away, other senses become more acute. The previously warm bed now felt as if cold wind were being poured into it. Su Xi curled into a shivering ball. He moved the corner of the blanket slightly to look outside, but suddenly felt a wet sensation behind his ear as if something were licking him…

Holy sht, a ghost!*

Su Xi violently threw off the blanket, trying to get out of bed. As soon as he stepped down, he was tripped by the thick carpet and fell forward uncontrollably. A dull thud echoed in the massive bedroom as his knees hit the floor.

“Don’t come over! Don’t come over!”

He spoke with a trembling voice to the empty space in front of him, begging incessantly: “I’m a coward, don’t scare me…”

Perhaps his words were heard, because that strange feeling of attachment vanished. He was drenched in cold sweat from fright, and his back felt uncomfortably sticky, but he didn’t want to go to the bathroom alone.

Many horror movie tropes involved mirrors and bathtubs. Su Xi bit his lip hard; he desperately needed someone who could give him a sense of security right now.

Who?

Obviously, he had no choice but Ji Zhuo.

However… he had just said those things this morning. If he went to find him now, he’d definitely be misunderstood. But Su Xi didn’t hesitate for long before stumbling to his feet and running out. After all, his persona was that of a “glamorous trash”; since Shen Jingye thought so poorly of him and Ji Zhuo, why shouldn’t he just make it a reality?

Besides, Ji Zhuo was the Shen family butler and a great person to utilize.

Knock, knock. He reached out and tapped on the closed door.

Seconds turned into minutes. Half a day seemed to pass, and still, no one came to open the door. Su Xi bit his lip, wondering if it was too late and the man had already fallen asleep.