Transmigrated as the Villain and Driven Crazy by the Vengeful Male Lead - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Filicide — She’s only seven!! You’re insane!

The spiritual medicine of the Baoshan Sect was highly effective; in just one day, Lu Shuyao’s wounds had scabbed over. At nightfall, while he was clumsily changing his dressings, Su Cheyue called from outside the door: “Lu Shuyao.”

His hand jerked, nearly spilling the precious medicinal powder. He called back through the door, “Ah?”

“Open the door.”

Not early, not late, but right when I’m taking off my clothes!

“Wait a second,” Lu Shuyao said, gritting his teeth.

“It’s urgent,” Su Cheyue urged. “Open the door immediately.”

Fine… screw it. We’re both men, who’s afraid of who!

Lu Shuyao grabbed a roll of gauze and went to open the door with a stiff face. When the door opened, Su Cheyue was sitting while he was standing; his firm lower abdomen was exposed right at eye level for Su Cheyue.

He hadn’t slacked on his cultivation these past few months. Under his efforts, the original host’s thin body had developed a layer of well-defined lean muscle that rippled slightly with his steady breathing.

Su Cheyue’s gaze flickered, and he looked away.

Lu Shuyao explained awkwardly, “I was changing my bandages.”

Su Cheyue rolled his wheelchair into the room. “Lie down.”

“Huh??”

Su Cheyue looked speechlessly at the messy, tangled gauze Lu Shuyao had managed to wrap around himself. “Afraid I’ll poison you? I was the one who applied your medicine the night before last. Hurry up.”

Lu Shuyao could only obediently lie face down on the bed. Su Cheyue’s legs were incapacitated, but his hands were incredibly agile and efficient. He applied the medicine and wrapped the bandages in no time. Lu Shuyao didn’t feel any pain, and he didn’t even have time for his face to get hot.

He muffled a “Thanks, Second Young Master.”

The Second Young Master didn’t even bother with a “you’re welcome,” getting straight to the point: “I heard it again.”

“Heard what?” Lu Shuyao climbed up to put his clothes on.

“Tianjin Lane. ‘We cannot let him live any longer.’ I heard that voice once before when we were preparing to leave that night.”

So he wasn’t talking about me that night! Lu Shuyao felt a great sense of relief and asked, “Tianjin Lane again?? How is that possible? Didn’t you already capture the Racoon-Ghost and give it a form?”

“It’s not the ghost. Its body is unstable; it’s still recovering in my spiritual pouch,” Su Cheyue said firmly. “It’s someone else.”

How could such a tiny, unremarkable alley produce so much trouble?

Lu Shuyao tested the waters: “You… want me to go with you?”

Su Cheyue looked at him silently.

“You’re… not going to find the Eldest Young Master?”

Su Cheyue turned his wheelchair around. “Correct. I am going to find my brother.”

Lu Shuyao immediately jumped off the bed to stop him, grinning provocatively. “I’ll go, I’ll go.”

From behind, he saw Su Cheyue’s elegant shoulders relax slightly.

“Even if you go, we still have to call for my brother.”

“Fine—” he replied, drawing out the word submissively.

…

The System had returned some of his cultivation, so his sword-flight was much steadier this time. When the three of them landed in front of a certain house, all of their expressions changed.

“The Meng family again?!”

Su Qingyang’s first instinct was to check Su Cheyue’s spiritual pouch. “Did that cunning fellow escape again?!”

Su Cheyue pressed his hand down. “It’s still in there. It’s not the ghost.”

“How is that possible? Is there something else hidden in Rou-rou?!”

Su Qingyang moved forward to knock, but suddenly heard something. He turned back and made a “shh” gesture. The three of them pressed their ears to the door.

“Wife, look at Rou-rou. Doesn’t her appearance seem a bit… changed?” It was Meng Shijie’s voice.

“Husband, don’t talk nonsense. We are with her every day; we wouldn’t notice a change. Children grow every day; how can you claim to see it so clearly?”

“But two days ago…”

“Two days ago in the snow, didn’t you hear what she said to Young Master Su and the others! Rou-rou was possessed by Tangyuan’s soul; she was innocent. She’s a victim too!”

“I heard it, of course,” Meng Shijie’s voice trembled with tension. “But Wife, we watched with our own eyes as Rou-rou—no, as Tangyuan—tried to kill the Second Young Master. Who knows what happened out there? Who can guarantee the one who collapsed at our gate was the real Rou-rou, or if it was still Tangyuan!”

Mrs. Meng’s voice was dazed. “Husband, you…”

“Even if Tangyuan has left her body, who’s to say Rou-rou’s nature hasn’t been warped by this ordeal! If Tangyuan’s malice eroded her spirit, and one day she remembers the pleasure of killing while possessed… if she turns a knife on her own parents, how are we to protect ourselves?”

“That’s impossible…” Mrs. Meng’s voice trailed off.

“Wife, the spectator sees more clearly than the player! Turn up the lamp. Look closely at our daughter!”

“She used to have a round face… isn’t it now a sharp, pointed chin?! She used to have gentle apricot eyes just like yours… aren’t her eyes now upturned? Just like… like Tangyuan… like a fox…” Meng Shijie’s voice shook so much it cracked.

A terrifying silence fell over the room. Lu Shuyao saw Su Cheyue lower his head in thought, then whisper, “Shouldn’t you go explain it to them?”

Su Cheyue shot him a cold look. “Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear him? For someone who refuses to wake up, explanations are a waste of breath.”

Lu Shuyao felt wronged. Su Cheyue had been deaf and blind himself; wasn’t there a saying that those who have walked in the rain want to hold an umbrella for others?

But Su Cheyue was different. He had walked in the rain, so now he wanted to throw mud and knives at everyone else—especially at Lu Shuyao!

“Then what do we do? A-Yue, what ‘evil desire’ did you hear? Does Meng Shijie want to settle scores with the raccoon again?”

The raccoon-ghost inside the spiritual pouch poked its misty head out.

“He won’t survive,” Su Cheyue said, his brow furrowed as he repeated the voice in his head.

Who was “he”?

Inside, Meng Shijie spoke again. His voice had regained a strange, eerie calm. “Wife.”

“A few days ago, when we thought Rou-rou had lost her spirit from the fright, we took her to the doctor. He took your pulse too. Do you remember?”

Mrs. Meng let out an “Ah.”

“The doctor said you are over a month pregnant. With all these strange events, we ignored it. Wife.”

Mrs. Meng responded blankly, “What are you trying to say?”

Meng Shijie swallowed. “It’s heaven’s will. Wife, we will have other children.”

What does he mean?

“Look at how sweetly Rou-rou is sleeping. She must be having a beautiful dream. Beautiful dreams make people never want to wake up, right?”

“Wha—What are you doing? You’re insane!!”

The sound of a chair crashing followed instantly. People were struggling and scuffling. “She’s your daughter! She’s your daughter! She’s only seven!! You’re crazy! You’re crazy!”

It was Mrs. Meng’s heart-wrenching wail. Meng Shijie shouted fiercely, “Cherish things without being obsessed by them; be adept in affection without being trapped by it! I will not only have more daughters, I will have sons! But first, I must live—live well, live better! My promotion at the academy is imminent. If it gets out that I have a daughter who killed someone, my career, your security—it all turns to ash!”

“Women’s sentimentality! Let go!”

The three outside exchanged a look. Su Qingyang kicked the door open with a bang!

The Meng couple froze. The loud noise broke their struggle. Mrs. Meng’s hair was disheveled as she clawed at her husband’s sleeves.

And Meng Shijie… he was holding a pillow, pressing it down hard over Rou-rou’s face, sealing her nose and mouth. The pillow was even embroidered with bright silk-tree flowers.

Everyone was stunned.

“Even a tiger doesn’t eat its cubs,” Su Cheyue, being somewhat “crazy-batch” himself, recovered from the shock the fastest. “You really are a madman.”

Having his true nature exposed, Meng Shijie no longer acted respectful. “I appreciate the concern, Immortals, but this is a Meng family matter. The Baoshan Sect has no business here, does it?”

What a two-faced hypocrite!

“Second Young Master, stop pretending to be a gentleman. From the moment you were willing to use that method to catch Tangyuan seven years ago, I knew you were just a hypocrite who would do anything to reach his goals. You and I are the same. I admired you; that’s why I thought of you all these years and wanted to see you again.” He chuckled. “I didn’t expect that after your injury, your mind would become so weak. How tragic.”

Lu Shuyao felt indignant for Su Cheyue. He had helped this man out of the goodness of his heart, and in the end, he was being bitten back. The villain was being made out to be Su Cheyue!

But Su Cheyue wasn’t angry. His dark brown eyes glittered with a dangerous, cold light. “Your memory is excellent. Then you should also remember how you knelt on the ground seven years ago, begging me, saying your wife was pregnant and that I must harden my heart to eliminate the evil ghost.”

“Why don’t you reenact it now? Kneel before me again, crying and snotting just like seven years ago.” Su Cheyue curled his lips into a smirk. “And I will, just like seven years ago, consider hardening my heart to not eliminate this monster before me.”

His words were a bit convoluted. It took a moment for Meng Shijie to process them, and then his face changed drastically.

“I am a mortal! The purpose of your cultivation world is to slay demons and protect the common people! I am one of those people!” Meng Shijie threw the pillow aside. “This concerns the Dao of the cultivation world and the reputation of your sect. How would the Second Young Master dare kill me!”

“Wasn’t it you who said it?” Su Cheyue channeled a bit of spiritual energy, moving his sword closer to the man’s face. “I am a mere cripple now, barely able to look after myself. How could I have the energy to worry about the Dao or reputation?”

“I’ve listened to Mr. Meng’s advice: I’ll just look after myself.” He hovered on his sword, leaning down to grip Meng Shijie’s throat. “Since I’m only looking after myself, naturally, I’ll do whatever makes me happy.”

Meng Shijie glared at him unwillingly, but no matter how “crippled” Su Cheyue was, he was still a cultivator with a spiritual core. A little pressure from his fingers rendered the man immobile. Even the raccoon in the spiritual pouch let out a few vicious snarls at him.

“Rou-rou? Rou-rou! Rou-rou, wake up!” Mrs. Meng suddenly began to wail at the bedside. Su Cheyue’s brow furrowed, and he released his grip to check Rou-rou’s pulse.

After a moment, his expression softened slightly. “She’s fine, just too weak.”

He didn’t hesitate to infuse a bit of spiritual energy into her. Su Qingyang stepped forward to stop him. “Let me handle this.”

With the spiritual energy, Rou-rou slowly woke up. Seeing so many strangers in the room, she immediately burst into tears: “Daddy, Mommy…”

Mrs. Meng hurried to comfort her. While everyone’s attention was focused on the little girl, Lu Shuyao’s peripheral vision caught a sudden, sharp glint of light flashing from behind!

“Watch out!” he screamed in panic.

No one had time to react—except for a sudden movement in front of Su Cheyue’s robes.