The Villain Recognizes the Female Lead as His Master [Transmigration] - Chapter 38

Awakening!

Su Tingxi arrived at Yuan Shao’s door just as Chi Jinnian was leaving. After receiving his master’s permission, he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

“Mas. Master, I have something to tell you.” Su Tingxi hesitated for a long while but couldn’t utter a single word. Spotting a wine jug on the table, he walked straight over, picked it up, and gulped it down.

Yuan Shao wanted to stop him, but it was already too late. Well, it was just a jug of wine. If A’Nian wanted to drink, she could always ask the innkeeper for another one later.

The wine was soon finished. Su Tingxi casually wiped the moisture from his lips with his sleeve and sat down at the table.

Yuan Shao had no idea what he intended to do, so she simply sat opposite him, quietly observing her eldest disciple.

After a long silence, Su Tingxi took a deep breath, as if finally mustering his resolve. He then took out a jade pendant from his robes, placed it on the table, and pushed it toward Yuan Shao. “Master, I want to give this to you.”

Yuan Shao didn’t take it, leaving the pendant lying on the table as she looked down at it with a detached gaze.

The jade wasn’t particularly translucent, but the carving was quite exquisite, depicting a dragon and phoenix, a symbol of harmony and prosperity.

“Don’t you want to ask where this pendant came from?” Su Tingxi broke the silence when Yuan Shao remained quiet.

“Where did it come from?” Yuan Shao humored him by asking.

Su Tingxi stared intently at Yuan Shao, his voice filled with tension. “It’s the only keepsake my mother left me.”

Yuan Shao let out an “Oh.” What did this mean? Was he trying to acknowledge her as his mother?

Su Tingxi, oblivious to her thoughts, blushed and lowered his head. “Master, my mother said that if I ever met a girl I liked, I should give it to her.”

Before Yuan Shao could respond, Su Tingxi raised his eyes and fixed his gaze on her. Though she had altered her appearance, the spirit in her eyes remained unchanged.

Staring into Yuan Shao’s peach-blossom eyes, he spoke slowly, “Master, I like you. Not as a disciple likes a master, nor as mortals revere an immortal. It’s the affection between a man and a woman. I want to be good to you, to stay by your side forever, to have you like me back.”

Yuan Shao looked at the young man, whose face was flushed crimson, and asked, “Like?”

The young man nodded.

“But why do you like me?” Yuan Shao inquired.

“Well. Master, you’re so wonderful beautiful, kind-hearted, and compassionate toward all living beings. Naturally, everyone would like you.”

Yuan Shao murmured in repetition, “Everyone likes me?”

Then, a figure seemed to surface in her mind.

She rose on her own and walked to the window, where the scene before her overlapped with the image in her thoughts.

A young woman in fiery red robes stood in the vast, snowy landscape. Under the night sky, the cold wind lifted the veil of her mask, revealing glimpses of her snow-white skin beneath.

She held a pure white goose in her hands and, looking up, happened to meet Yuan Shao’s gaze by the window. Raising the goose, she seemed to be showing off her prize. Though the moonlight was hazy, her smile was radiant.

Yuan Shao’s eyes grew profound. Does everyone like me? What about her?

Yuan Shao wanted to know the answer. She couldn’t wait another moment. She wanted to go down and ask her: If everyone likes me, what about you?

Do you like me?

Yuan Shao turned to leave but was stopped by Su Tingxi, who grabbed her sleeve.

“Master, you haven’t answered me yet,” Su Tingxi said.

“Answer what?” Yuanshao hesitated as he looked at him. He said he liked him, and then what?

Su Tingxi wasn’t in a hurry and patiently asked Yuanshao, “If I want to stay by your side forever, and not as your disciple, would you be willing?”

Seeing Yuanshao about to speak, Su Tingxi cut in first, “No need to rush your answer, Master. You can think it over carefully. I can wait.”

With that, he turned and hurriedly ran out the door as if fleeing in panic.

When Yuanshao arrived at the backyard, Huang Er was still clinging to Chi Jinnian’s pant leg. “Benefactor! You’re here for the Winter Cold Conference too, right? Benefactor, let me follow you! Don’t worry, I’ll do whatever you say and won’t talk back!”

Huang Er felt that the young girl who had saved him was his lucky star. With a benefactor by his side, he would naturally thrive.

Since they were all here for the Winter Cold Conference, having an extra ally increased their chances of success. The top priority was to prevent Yuanshao and Chi Jinnian from taking first place. If he could seize the opportunity to make a name for himself, that would be even better.

Chi Jinnian hesitated. “I’m just a little girl. I came here with my young master. If you want to follow me, I don’t have the final say!”

As soon as she finished speaking, the disguised Su Tingxi and Yuanshao arrived in the backyard one after the other.

“Oh my god! What is that smell?” Su Tingxi pinched his nose, glancing at Chi Jinnian and then at Huang Er by her feet. “What’s going on here?”

Su Tingxi had a poor impression of Huang Er. According to Chi Jinnian, Huang Er played a major role in Yuanshao’s memory loss. If it weren’t for his meddling, his master wouldn’t be treating him this way now. Perhaps his confession would have already succeeded. The thought made Su Tingxi burn with anger, his eyes turning fierce.

Just then, Chi Jinnian’s gaze fell on Yuanshao, and she instinctively called out, “Young Master!”

“Young Master, I just saved him, but now he insists on following us!” Chi Jinnian signaled to Yuanshao to use his identity as the young master to send Huang Er away.

Both Su Tingxi and Yuanshao recognized Huang Er, but they now had new identities and were no longer members of the Changqing Sect, so they couldn’t settle scores with him directly.

Huang Er lay on the ground, pitifully shedding tears. “Benefactor, please let me follow you. I promise, I’m only here for fame, not fortune. I won’t compete with you for the top prize, and if we encounter tough opponents, I have a way to drive them away.”

“What way?”

“I’ll stink them out!” Huang Er replied with a serious expression.

Chi Jinnian:

Just as Su Tingxi was about to send Huang Er away, Yuanshao spoke first. “What do you think?” she asked Chi Jinnian.

Chi Jinnian shook her head. “I, I’ll listen to the young master.”

“Alright.” Yuanshao said to Huang Er, “I’ll let you follow us, but you have to take a bath first.”

Huang Er nodded eagerly. “I’ll bathe, I’ll bathe. I’ll do whatever the young master says.”

Yuanshao turned to Su Tingxi and instructed, “After he bathes, he’ll stay in your room tonight.”

“Ah!” Su Tingxi’s face was full of refusal, but realizing that Huang Er couldn’t share a room with his master, he gritted his teeth and agreed.

Huang Er made himself at home, slapping Su Tingxi on the shoulder and asking, “Buddy, it’s been so long since I’ve had a bath. Later, help me scrub my back I’ll owe you one!”

Su Tingxi: “Get lost! Who wants you to scrub my back!”

Yuan Shao pulled Chi Jinnian along without looking back as they headed upstairs.

“Young master, young master, why are you bringing him along! Young master, slow down!” Chi Jinnian was being dragged back by Yuan Shao while asking the question on her mind.

Yuan Shao recognized Huang Er. Even if it wasn’t convenient to settle scores directly, there was no need to help him by taking him in.

“I have my reasons,” Yuan Shao dismissed casually, then turned and led Chi Jinnian into the room.

Once the door was closed, Yuan Shao asked her, “What do you think is the best way to minimize an enemy’s attacks against you?”

Chi Jinnian caught on: “You mean, if you can’t beat them, join them?”

Yuan Shao: “The principle is similar, but it’s not about not being able to beat them.” She pulled Chi Jinnian to sit at the table and removed the mask from her face. “I just don’t want anyone who might pose a danger to you around. Look at how he was acting just now he wouldn’t give up easily. If we didn’t agree, he would definitely make a scene for a long time. If it drags on, and your identity gets exposed, it wouldn’t be worth it.”

There was another reason: Yuan Shao had more important matters to attend to. She didn’t want to be delayed for even a moment, and matters like Huang Er were trivial to her so trivial they weren’t worth spending too much time or thought on.

“I rushed to bring you back because I have something important to tell you.” Yuan Shao moved her stool closer to Chi Jinnian, sitting nearer to her.

Seeing this, Chi Jinnian thought Yuan Shao wanted to discuss the competition the next day, so she poured herself a cup of tea and brought it to her lips. “Master, go ahead.”

“Just now, Su Tingxi said he likes me.”

As soon as Yuan Shao finished speaking, Chi Jinnian choked on her tea and coughed repeatedly.

Yuan Shao quickly reached out to pat Chi Jinnian’s back.

Chi Jinnian hadn’t expected Su Tingxi to be so direct. After calming down a bit, she looked at Yuan Shao beside her. “And then?”

“And then I came down to find you,” Yuan Shao said. “A’Nian, what do you think about this?”

The question left Chi Jinnian confused. “What do I think? Shouldn’t it be about what you think?”

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao rested her arm on the table, propping her chin with her hand. “He said his feelings for me aren’t the kind a disciple has for their master. But, are there really so many types of liking someone?”

“Of course there are,” Chi Jinnian said. “If it’s the kind of liking a disciple has for their master, that’s based on the teacher-student relationship. In other words, if you weren’t master and disciple, you wouldn’t have this kind of bond, and he wouldn’t treat you well.”

“What about the other kind?” Yuan Shao asked. “What does the other kind of liking feel like?”

Chi Jinnian had never been in love. If you asked her about the specific feelings, she couldn’t answer.

But she was a die-hard reader of a certain online literature platform, and when it came to the tropes in novels, she had plenty to say.

Recalling the scenes from the novels she’d read, Chi Jinnian said, “Liking someone probably means you want to see them all the time. You feel unhappy when there’s someone else by their side. You want all their attention to be on you. You trust them unconditionally, always stand by their side. When they’re happy, you share their joy; when they’re hurt, you wish you could take their place. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

Yuanshao rested her cheek on her hand, quietly watching her little disciple list the signs of liking someone. With each point mentioned, her heart sank a little deeper. When the other finished speaking, she withdrew her arm, her gaze drifting elsewhere, unable to meet Chi Jinnian’s eyes. She said nonchalantly, “Su Tingxi just said that I’m wonderful, that everyone would like me.”

Chi Jinnian nodded. “That’s true. Master is beautiful and kind-hearted, so of course everyone would like you.”

“And you?” Yuanshao asked.

“Me?”

Yuanshao nodded. “Yes, Anian, do you like me?”

“Of course I do,” Chi Jinnian replied.

“Then what kind of liking is it? Is it the kind a disciple has for their master? Or the other kind?”

As soon as the words fell, silence filled the room.

Did Chi Jinnian like Yuanshao? She probably did. After all, Yuanshao had been good to her she had sheltered her in her warm cloak in the snow and waited for her at the end of the stone steps in the dark of night.

But her liking for Yuanshao was not the second kind.

The silence gave Yuanshao her answer. She didn’t press further, choosing instead to give herself an out: “Forget it, don’t take it seriously. I was just joking…”

“Master, I like you too,” Chi Jinnian interrupted Yuanshao. “I like you, and I want to follow you, not because you’re my master, but because you’re Yuanshao.”

“Because, I’m Yuanshao?”

“Yes.” Chi Jinnian nodded. “Because you’re Yuanshao, I’m willing to become your disciple, to follow you. So, Master, I like you. It’s not the first kind or the second kind it’s just because you are you. That’s why I like you.”

Hearing this, a flicker of joy passed through Yuanshao’s eyes. Her little disciple said she liked her. Though it wasn’t the second kind, it wasn’t entirely dependent on their master-disciple relationship either.

“Can liking change?” Yuanshao asked her.

What did that mean? Was she testing her loyalty or asking whether Su Tingxi’s liking would change? But no matter which it was, Chi Jinnian’s answer was the same: “Master, I can’t speak for others. But my liking for you will only grow, never diminish. In my heart, you will always be my master.”

Her master? For the first time, Yuanshao disliked hearing Chi Jinnian call her that. But she had said that liking could change. Could it shift from its current state to the second kind?

So Yuanshao took Chi Jinnian’s hand. “Anian, I have something to tell you.”

After a long moment of thought, she finally spoke slowly: “Anian, I like you too.”

Not the kind a master has for a disciple. I like you. It’s the second kind you just mentioned.

But Yuanshao didn’t dare tell Chi Jinnian the truth just yet, because she knew the other didn’t feel that kind of liking for her.

Still, she wasn’t in a hurry. She could wait. After the Winter Cold Assembly ended, she would show the world that this was her disciple, and that she liked her.

She would take her home.